Well, let's step back for just a moment and, excuse me, let's consider the movement of the text as it relates to Gideon in particular.
And we have to go all the way back to chapter 6 for that.
At the beginning of the narrative, more especially chapter 6 verse 11, perhaps you can notate it there.
We are introduced to Gideon as a surprising and, frankly, from a human perspective, unqualified candidate to lead Israel against Midian.
I mean, there is nothing extraordinary about this man when we're introduced to him in chapter 6.
And that's really a big part of the story, a big part of the point that we're drawing from it.
But Gideon was nonetheless God's chosen instrument.
And as we read through chapter 6 and chapter 7, we see God doing this amazingly gracious work as he calls Gideon, as he assures Gideon over and over.
And then as we see him progressively transforming Gideon.
All of these things, things that we would equate in gospel language to conversion and sanctification and the work of grace in each of our lives as we come to know God and grow in our walk with God.
And there's no doubt, it's not very hard to see that Gideon wasn't perfect.
But he did continually display faithfulness.
He was faithful to the call that God gave him.
And God proved himself faithful and patient and merciful in Gideon's many, many moments of weakness, especially his weakness in faith.
But in the end, in the smaller task of destroying the altar of Baal in chapter 6,
and the larger task of going up against the Midianites with only 300 men, Gideon demonstrates the kind of faith that is worthy of honor
and is commended to us by the author of Hebrews.
In Hebrews chapter 11, when he tells us in verse 32 through 34,
Time would not even grant me to be able to tell you all about Gideon and his faith and the way that the Lord used him.
So that's the movement that we see.
There is buildup in this text from chapter 6 and chapter 7 where we see this really weak and insecure and cynical man who is doing everything he can not to obey God.
And yet he's constantly wooed by the grace of God and the power of God at work in his life.
And then we see this wonderful victory that he experiences in chapter 7.
Now, it would be great if we could move from chapter 7 and verse 25,
which is when the victory over Midian is really won.
It would be great if we could just go straight from that verse to the two verses that we just read in chapter 8.
That the land had rest.
That Midian was, they couldn't stick their heads up even anymore.
The whack-a-mole is finished.
It's broken.
Right?
And Gideon just goes home and he rides out into the sunset until the day he dies and everything's good.
But we can't do that.
The problem here is that there's an essential piece of the story that's given for our instruction in chapter 8.
And it's a, it's honestly, it's an ugly piece.
It's a really ugly piece.
The fact is that Gideon did not finish well.
And the chapter shows us that the deliverers that God used were still sinners who very often reflected the sins of the nation.
They were people of their own times.
And they weren't very different from the people that they were tasked with delivering in these moments.
Of course, the best of men are still capable of tremendous spiritual failure.
And Gideon's no exception to that.
Which reminds us of one of the main points of the book of Judges.
There are no heroes here.
There's no heroes in the book of Judges.
There are only sinners used by God to show his own love, grace, and mercy towards his people.
These deliverers are meant to point us toward a greater deliverer.
And we remember the only hero here is the Lord Jesus Christ.
But what are we to think about, or what are we to think when our spiritual leaders fail us in the way that Gideon and others failed?
How are we supposed to deal with that?
How are we supposed to handle people that are called of God and even used of God tremendously to help us know Christ and grow closer to Christ?
What are we to think, what are we to do when they fall into sin and when they fail to lead as God has called them to lead?
What are the signs that someone we trust is drifting toward this devastating kind of sin in their leadership?
What should we be looking for even?
And in the end, is there any hope actually of someone who will not fail us?
And of course there is.
But there's only one.
And we don't read about him until we get to Matthew.
That's the Lord Jesus, right?
And so I want to work through this chapter and look at some of the notable things that is happening in Gideon's sin.
And then through that, maybe we can find some instruction and helpful application personally to these things in our lives.
Here's the first thing I want you to see.
Gideon first pacified his critics with flattery.
He pacified his critics with flattery.
Now I admit, this is a very small thing in the text.
Most of us would consider this inconsequential to Gideon's larger failures in this passage.
None of us would really consider it disqualifying, especially given the fact that he was successful in this.
I'm going to read the first three verses here in just a moment.
But here's the point that I want to drive before we read them.
Small matters can be indicators of potential greater sins.
And if they're not dealt with the smaller matters in our lives, they're only going to grow.
They're only going to produce greater sin and greater failure.
So that reason alone means that these verses are worth considering in terms of Gideon's weakness.
Now we wouldn't come to the end and say, this thing alone is the reason why Gideon is bad.
We wouldn't do that.
It's just, he's human, right?
This is something that probably all of us could be guilty of in any given context.
But it does speak to the larger picture of what's happening here.
Verse 1, the men of Ephraim said to him, what is this that you have done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against Midian?
And they accused him fiercely.
That's strong language.
And he said to them, what have I done now in comparison with you?
Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer?
In other words, isn't the things that's left over with you, Ephraim, better than what is the very best that we can offer as poor, humble Abiezerites?
God has given into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb, and Zeb.
What have I been able to do in comparison with you?
Then their anger against him subsided when he said this.
This is kind of an interesting little situation here.
The background of it is at the end of chapter 7.
The Ephraimites had not initially been summoned to the battle against Midian.
But Gideon did end up calling them to effect a critical victory as the surviving Midianites tried to cross the Jordan River.
So they ultimately, if you remember from last week, the army of Midian, ultimately they destroy one another.
But some of them do actually escape.
And they're trying to get out of the country.
They're trying to head back east again.
They're done with Israel at this point.
But they have to cross the Jordan to get there.
Well, Gideon strategically sends messengers ahead of them to get the soldiers of Ephraim to cut them off at the waters.
And that's exactly what Ephraim did.
They went there and they cut them off.
A few of them did get past them.
But they helped to bring this victory to a close.
Well, once the victory was won, the men of Ephraim fiercely confront Gideon here for not calling them to the fight in the beginning.
Which is just anecdotally just a reminder that even the greatest victories come with criticism from those who should be celebrating.
Isn't that what Ephraim should have been doing?
Should they not have gathered with Gideon's men and the rest of the army and rejoice that God has delivered us from this terrible, terrible enemy?
But that's not what they do.
They go to where Gideon is and they complain and criticize.
And this word fiercely, that's a strong word here in Hebrew.
It's they are so frustrated with Gideon, they might be on the verge of killing him because he didn't call them in the beginning.
And Ephraim was known for this kind of cantankerous attitude.
We'll see it again later on in the book of Judges.
They were easily offended.
They always had some axe to grind.
And in fact, in some leaders' lives, the most frequent frustration comes from people who are exactly like this.
They're filled with pride.
They can never really learn to let things go.
They always have some criticism to offer, especially when they weren't consulted in the decision making to begin with.
So it's no wonder, it's no surprise that Gideon just wanted to say whatever he could say to pacify them and be able to move on with what he wanted to do.
Many would even say this was prudent.
This was extremely diplomatic on Gideon's part to deal with him the way that he did and move on.
I think we should have a different perspective.
It's not that what he said to them was necessarily untrue.
Technically, as far as honor goes, they won a great victory.
Gideon didn't do anything.
Gideon smashed a pot and yelled, lit his torch.
God did all the work there.
The Ephraimites actually captured two of the princes of Midian and killed them.
They received the honor for that.
So it's not exactly that what Gideon says here is untrue, but by resorting to flattery, he missed an opportunity to point the men of Ephraim back to the glory of God.
Why did he say nothing about his divine call and enablement to fight against Midian?
Why did he not bring that up to Ephraim?
According to chapter 6, verses 34 and 35, it was because he was clothed in the spirit of the Lord that Gideon was able to gather the people that he did,
which means that the people who were called to the battle were called really by God, not by Gideon.
Gideon wasn't calling the shots in this.
God was.
He was just along for the ride, so to speak.
Well, why does he not say that?
Why not correct the Ephraimites by speaking of God's desire to receive glory by defeating Midian with as minimal of a human force as possible?
Some may consider Gideon's response here to be prudent.
I think it actually worked against the very purpose of what God had intended the battle to achieve.
Rather than giving God glory in this moment, Gideon strokes Ephraim's ego so that they might have some of the glory that they wanted for this battle.
Do you see the problem there?
It may be a little thing.
We may say, well, we're making too much of this.
Maybe I am making too much of this.
But we can't just pass this off as if this was a glowing, positive characteristic in Gideon's leadership.
He's actually robbing God of something here.
He should have been leading those men to acknowledge the work of God and the glory of God.
Instead, he just flattered them so he could get them out of the way.
But why would he want to just get them out of the way?
That leads us to the second thing.
Gideon pursued his own agenda.
Gideon, at this point, pursued his own agenda.
Let's read a large portion of the text here, beginning at verse 4.
This is so sad.
Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the 300 men who were with him, exhausted yet pursuing.
So he said to the men of Succoth, please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted.
I'm pursuing after Ziba and Zalmanah, the kings of Midian.
The officers of Succoth said, are the hands of Ziba and Zalmanah already in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?
Now, this gets personal for Gideon, verse 7.
So Gideon said, well then, when the Lord has given Ziba and Zalmanah into my hand, I will flail your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briars.
This is like an extreme way of saying, go out and cut me a switch.
You know, you've ever heard that?
And from there he went up to Penuel and spoke to them in the same way.
And the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered.
And he said to the men of Penuel, when I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.
Now Ziba and Zalmanah were in Karkor with their army, about 15,000 men.
Now look at this, this shows you the amazing victory God had won for Israel.
There's 15,000 men left.
These were all who were left of the army of the people of the east.
For there had fallen 120,000 men who drew the sword.
And they fell because 300 men stood around their camp at night and banged some pots and lit some torches and yelled a few things.
That's incredible.
Gideon went up by the way of the tent dwellers east of Noba and Jogbeha and attacked the army for the army felt secure.
Therefore, Ziba and Zalmanah fled and he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Ziba and Zalmanah.
And he threw all the army into a panic.
Then Gideon, the son of Joash, returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres.
And he captured a young man of Succoth and questioned him.
And he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth, 77 men.
And he came to the men of Succoth and said, Behold, Ziba and Zalmanah, about whom you taunted me, saying, Are the hands of Ziba and Zalmanah already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are exhausted?
And he took the elders of the city and he took thorns of the wilderness and briars and with them taught the men of Succoth a lesson.
And he broke down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.
Then he said to Ziba and Zalmanah, Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor?
Now we're getting some clarity as to why Gideon's doing this.
He's not acting on behalf of the Lord.
Notice.
They answered, As you are, so were they.
Every one of them resembled the son of a king.
And he said, They were my brothers, the sons of my mother.
And as the Lord lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.
So he said to Jeth, or his firstborn, Rise and kill them.
But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid because he was still a young man.
And it sounds a lot like his father a little earlier in the text, doesn't it?
And Ziba and Zalmanah pick up on that.
So they start to ridicule and mock Gideon as a result.
Verse 21, Then Ziba and Zalmanah said, Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength.
Well, Gideon can't handle that, right?
He's full of pride at this point.
His honor has been brought into question by these kings that he has very clearly defeated.
And he can't handle it.
So here's what he does.
He arose and he killed Ziba and Zalmanah.
And he took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.
Now, everything in chapter 7 emphasizes God's plan for saving his people.
And as long as Gideon trusted and obeyed God, things went better than he could have ever imagined.
But it's a different story in chapter 8.
The focus in these verses is on Gideon's pursuit of his own agenda, of his own glory.
And stepping outside of God's plan, he shows excessive pride.
He's driven by personal vengeance rather than humility and faithfulness that is required of spiritual leaders.
And there's so much in these verses that I'm just going to have to leave to you in your personal study to really dig deep into.
But let's at least hit the highlights here.
And here's one of the major highlights.
These are Gideon's plans, not God's.
These are Gideon's plans.
Everything up to this point in the Gideon narrative, I mean everything,
has seen the explicit instruction of God.
There's not a single moment in Gideon's life in chapter 6 and chapter 7
where he is doing his own thing or has been given permission to do his own thing.
Every single step of the way, he has been tasked with following the exact plan of God.
Whether it be the altar of Baal, the reduction of the army,
the unique action of the 300,
we are told that Gideon did what God told him to do.
He understood himself in those moments to simply be the instrument of God
responsible for trusting and obeying God's plan.
But in this episode, there's no mention at all of Gideon following God's instructions.
And as the story progresses,
it becomes clear that Gideon was most concerned about his own honor now
and a vendetta that he had against the Midianite kings.
Now, Barry Webb, I think, helps us here when he writes,
God now seems marginal rather than central to what is happening.
Gideon refers to God twice, but in both cases, it's to justify his own actions.
That's verse 7 and verse 19.
The author himself doesn't attribute anything that happens in this phase of Gideon's life to God.
Even at the climax in which Gideon comes upon the remaining enemy unaware,
it is he, not God, who throws them into a panic.
In contrast to what happened earlier,
this victory is Gideon's own achievement rather than God's gift.
How terrible to have great success apart from God.
That's exactly what Gideon experiences in this moment.
He has great success.
God has nothing to do with it.
And that's to Gideon's detriment.
He's just doing his own thing.
Doesn't matter what God wanted or what God said or instructed.
Gideon's got his own glory in mind.
And he's got a personal vendetta.
And nobody's going to stand in the way of him accomplishing what he wants to accomplish in that moment.
There's something to be said here when we get to verse 4
about Gideon only taking 300 with him across the Jordan.
Now think about this for just a second.
In chapter 7 and verse 23, we're told that
the army that had been sent home has now been called back.
And in their pursuit of Midian, catching up with Ephraim,
these other people from Naphtali and from Asher,
they have now gathered along with the 300 men.
Okay?
So there's more people than just 300 at this point.
We're also just told that the Ephraimites were angry
that Gideon didn't include them in the initial battle.
But then when we get to this point where Gideon has to leave
the borders of Israel, crossing the Jordan to chase after Midian,
it's just the 300 again.
Now why is that?
I think there's something for us to take from this.
One possibility is that it was clear to everyone involved,
victory had been won.
Why wouldn't they think that?
They now grossly outnumbered the Midianites.
Midianites aren't coming back.
God won the victory.
They should rejoice.
And no doubt, people understood that.
There was no reason for them to leave the land.
There was no reason for them to chase after the survivors.
It's also possible that Gideon kept his plans a secret
for a reason that isn't explained in the text.
In either case, the indication is that Gideon was pursuing his own plan
rather than obeying God here.
He's just doing his own thing.
Gideon has now gone rogue.
But it's not just that this is Gideon's plan, not God's.
The second thing that we find here, a huge part of this passage,
is that Gideon's pride turned him against his own people.
Turned him against his own people.
How tragic.
This episode that unfolds with the people of Succoth and Penuel.
It's an interesting one.
On one hand, it makes sense why they didn't want to help Gideon.
These two cities or towns, whatever they might have been, were the furthest east.
They were the closest to the Midianites and the people of the east at this point.
Which means that if Gideon didn't actually win
and the enemy found out that they had assisted Gideon,
guess who's first when the enemy comes back?
It's Penuel and Succoth, who at this point probably had escaped some of the damaging parts of this oppression.
So it makes sense, on one hand, why they would be reluctant to help Gideon.
On the other hand, these people of Israel,
they should have been able to look at Gideon and his 300 and what God had done
and say, God has won a victory here.
Of course, we are going to assist our people for the glory of God.
But at the end, this text is not about the people of Succoth or Penuel.
That's not the judgment that we're making here.
This passage is about Gideon.
And what do we find out about Gideon here?
Seeing that there's no explicit instruction for him to pursue Midian,
perhaps the resistance of these two towns
was God's subtle way of signaling Gideon not to go any further.
We're told in verse 4 that the 300 were exhausted yet pursuing.
Now those of us who are manly men say,
right on, doesn't matter if you're tired, you keep going.
Well, we could also look at that phrase and say,
this was foolish, his men were not prepared to fight again.
He was risking something massive here by continuing on.
Maybe these towns was God's subtle way, like God does with us sometimes,
where he's signaling to Gideon,
you better stop and think before you go any further.
Don't do this, Gideon.
You know, God's gracious to do that with us sometimes.
We get set in pursuing our own plans.
We want to do our thing.
And then God steps in the way.
And he just says, he sends somebody or something,
some obstacle that just says,
you better stop and think before you go much further with your plan here.
And what does Gideon do?
Well, he's offended and he blows right through the obstacle.
The problem is that when we're intent on pursuing our own agendas above God's,
we will allow no one to stand in our way.
Not even God.
Gideon's prideful pursuit potentially caused him to ignore a warning from God,
if that's what this was about.
But it definitely led him to turn against the very people he was supposed to be serving.
After he captures Ziba and Zalmanah,
he returns to the two cities.
And guess who he has with him?
Ziba and Zalmanah.
He keeps them alive on purpose.
Why?
Because he wants to go back to those two towns.
And he wants to show them,
look what I did.
I won the victory that you didn't think I could win.
Here they are.
Now tell me,
is that about God's glory?
Or is that about Gideon's glory?
It's not about God's.
He doesn't even mention the Lord at this point.
It's all about Gideon.
He boasts of his success,
then he humiliated and murdered
the people who had early defied him.
Now,
this is a problem with spiritual leadership that goes rogue.
We get set on our own way.
We stop doing the things that God has told us to do.
We're not going to let anybody stand in our way.
And when somebody tries to stand in our way,
we resort to humiliation
and destruction.
Destroy them
rather than serve them
and help them.
And that's what's happening with Gideon, I believe.
Spiritual failure always has some component
of spiritual pride at its heart.
And when we stop submitting to God's plan,
pursue our own glory,
the results are devastating.
This is a sad part of this story.
Whether it be through the leadership of your home,
leadership in our church,
some other relationship that you have,
pride will ultimately lead you to hurt
the very people you're responsible to love and to serve.
Number three,
it gets worse, believe it or not.
Gideon positioned himself
as God's priest and king.
Gideon positioned himself
as God's priest and king.
Verse 22,
then the men of Israel said to Gideon,
rule over us,
you and your son
and your grandson also.
For you, Gideon,
have saved us
from the hand of Midian.
Wow.
So in response to Gideon's actions,
the men of Israel declare
that they want Gideon to be their king.
And this was more than just a season of leadership.
This was clearly a royal structure
involving authority
and the throne being passed down
from generation to generation.
They say, we want you
and then we want it to be set up in such a way
that when you're dead, Gideon,
it's your sons
and when your sons are dead,
it's your grandson.
And so they want a king
and they want Gideon to be that king.
Now, their desire for a king
wasn't the problem.
In fact, that's one of the major points
of the book.
Israel needs a king.
They need a king
who will unite the nation.
They need a king
who will rule in righteousness.
But they don't just need any king.
They need God's king.
And that's eventually going to come in David.
And David is going to point them forward to Jesus.
But right now,
they're only concerned about their king,
not God's king.
The whole scene is a travesty, really.
Because it's exactly what God's actions
were intended to prevent
in chapter 6 and 7.
God comes to Gideon.
He takes the weakest one.
He whittles his army down to 300 people.
He gives them a victory
that didn't even involve them
using a sword.
Why?
He needed Israel to see
his glory,
his love,
his salvation,
so that they would turn away
from idolatry,
so that they would turn away
from their sin
and turn back to him
for their good,
for their blessing.
But that's the opposite
of what's happening here.
They're not actually turning to God.
They're turning to Gideon instead.
It's the opposite
of what occurred
in the earlier story
with Barak and Deborah.
There, the Lord had been praised.
Here, only Gideon is praised.
A man who has become
a God-like figure
in the eyes of his followers.
And Gideon went along with it.
Look with me at 23 to 27.
Gideon said to them,
I will not rule over you,
and my son will not rule over you.
The Lord will rule over you.
Sounds great
until you see
what he actually meant.
Verse 24.
And Gideon said,
Let me request of you.
Every one of you
give me the earrings
from his spoil.
For they had golden earrings
because they were Ishmaelites.
And they answered,
We will willingly give them.
And they spread a cloak.
Every man threw in it
the earrings of his spoil.
The weight of the golden earrings
that he requested
was 1,700 shekels of gold.
Besides,
that's in addition to
the crescent ornaments
and the pendants
and the purple garments
worn by the kings of Midian.
And besides the collars
that were around
the necks of their camels,
Gideon made an ephod of it.
Put it in his city
in Ophrah.
And all Israel
whored after it there.
Became a snare to Gideon.
To his family.
At first,
it seems like Gideon
was wise enough
to see the problem
and to point people
back to God.
But a closer look
reveals that
what Gideon
was actually doing
was positioning himself
as Israel's ruler.
Now we know
this is what he's doing.
Later on in the passage,
if you look at
verses 30 and 31,
now Gideon had 70 sons,
his own offspring,
for he had many wives.
And he had this concubine
who was in Shechem.
He also bore him a son
and called his name Abimelech.
That's foreshadowing
something that's going to get
even really bad
in chapter 9.
But what is that?
Gideon has accumulated
a harem of women.
This is consistent
with the kings of his day.
They had a harem of women
that they had lots of kids with.
That was a sign of honor.
It was a sign of royalty.
He takes all of the garments
of these kings
that he had just killed.
Their crescent ornaments,
their purple garments,
all the things.
He takes that for himself.
And when we get into chapter 9,
we find that the expectation
around Gideon
and the people of Israel
is that his 70 sons
would continue his reign.
So what Gideon says
on the surface
and what Gideon does
in practice
are at war
with one another here.
But the heart
behind Gideon's actions
revolves around this issue
of the ephod.
If you don't know
what an ephod is,
it's very simply
it was a vesture
that the high priest wore
when fulfilling his duties
in the tabernacle.
There was only one ephod
in Israel
and God made
very clear instructions
on how it was to be used
and where it was to be used
and who was to use it.
This ephod represented
by the high priest
or worn by the high priest
represented God's channel
of communication
and communion
with his people
in the tabernacle.
Gideon knows that.
What Gideon does
in essence
is he takes this ephod
to position himself
as the primary channel
through which God
would now communicate
to the people of Israel.
Do you see what he's doing?
The Lord will rule over you
through me.
So let me gather
all my kingly things.
Let me get it set up here
in Ophrah.
But we need a priest
and a prophet as well.
You know what?
Better for that to be me.
Let me take the spoil
of our war
and let's make an ephod.
Forget the tabernacle.
Forget what God
has said in the law.
This is the new ephod now.
You want to hear from God?
Come to me now.
You want judgment from God?
Don't worry about
the other stuff.
Come to me in Ophrah
now.
So when Gideon
tells the people
that the Lord
will rule over him,
he really meant
that God would rule
only through him.
And he was setting himself
up supposedly
under God's authority
to be Israel's
prophet,
priest,
and king.
But he had to go
outside of God's channels
to do that.
It's a tragic sin
in this narrative.
And it's going to have
enormous consequences
for Gideon's family
and for the nation.
Now,
it is not difficult
to see how spiritual leaders
can easily fall
into the trap
described here.
When we fall,
when we pursue
our agenda
above the Lord's,
we will find it easier
to circumvent
God's ordained methods
to establish
our own power.
And in the worst
cases,
we'll convince the people
under our authority
that we are the channel
for God's communication.
And in the end,
God's word
is diminished.
God's people
are deceived.
And sin reigns
in the place
of righteousness.
And where does it start?
With a man's desire
for his own glory
rather than God's glory.
And when that continues
unimpeded,
it becomes disastrous
for God's people.
Number four,
Gideon promoted
improper worship.
It's the final step
really, isn't it?
Improper worship.
Verse 27,
Gideon made an ephod
of it and put it
in his city
in Ophrah
and all Israel
hoored after it there
and it became
a snare to Gideon
and his family.
Do you remember
Gideon's nickname
through this story?
We see it once in a while.
Jerob Bell.
Let Bell contend
against him.
It identified him
as the one
who was willing
to attack
the nation's idolatry
in order to glorify
the Lord instead.
The author
sprinkles the name
throughout the narrative
as a reminder
that all of this
was ultimately
about
God confronting
the idolatry
of his people,
calling them back
to faithfulness.
But because of
Gideon's sin,
he promoted
improper worship
that just produced
a different form
of idolatry.
Again,
says Barry Webb,
the man who began
his career in Ophrah
by leading Israel
out of idolatry
ends his career
by leading them
back into it.
the ephod
becomes
Israel's new object
of worship
and it became
a snare
even to Gideon
and his family.
The one
who on multiple
occasions
had direct
encounters with God.
The one
who witnessed
God's power
at work
on behalf
of his people.
The one
who intimately
knew
God's peace
and mercy
in relationship
with him
in the end
is still
ensnared
by improper
worship.
Tremendous
sin.
Now to be clear,
there's no indication
that Gideon
stopped
worshiping
Yahweh
in favor
of a false deity.
Remember what we
talked about earlier
this morning
with the graven image
and what that
commandment
is all about.
He failed
to worship
the way
God had
commanded
him to worship.
He's doing
worship
his way
now.
And what
that does
is it
introduces
improper
forms of
worship
that led
Israel
into full
out idolatry.
glory.
What a
heartbreaking
end
to an
otherwise
glorious
story
of God's
grace
in the
life
of his
servant.
We come
to it
and we
think,
how does
this
happen?
How is
it possible
for someone
to have
experienced
all that
Gideon
experience,
to have
known God
in the way
that Gideon
knew God,
to see
all of
these things,
to still
fail in
such an
extreme
way?
How is
that
possible?
And yet
if we
read our
Bibles
carefully,
we find
that it
happens
again,
and again,
and again.
And if
we pay
attention
to the
Christian
world in
which we
live,
you'll see
it happens
over,
and over,
and over.
And we
say,
what are we
supposed to
do with
this?
How are we
to understand
this?
I get to
this point
in the
Gideon
narrative,
and I'm
nearly crushed
by it.
Like,
how does
this happen?
I mentioned
to you when
we first
started
several weeks
ago thinking
about Gideon,
reading about
Gideon here,
that he's one
of the most
relatable people
in the scriptures,
believers,
and he is.
We know
Gideon's
fear
because we
feel that
fear.
Personally,
we know what
it's like to
feel that way.
We know
Gideon's
weakness
because we
too are
weak.
We know,
we understand
Gideon's
constant need
for reassurance
from God
because we
need that
constant
reassurance
from God.
We understand
the fleece
because in
our own way,
we lay out
fleeces all
the time.
And we
love to
relate to
Gideon in
that way
because we
love to
see the
victory that
God brings
despite all
of those
weaknesses.
But how
many of us
have ever
spent much
time in
chapter 8?
Maybe not
many of us
at all.
You know
why?
Because
chapter 8
is hard
to read.
Because just
like we
see Gideon's
fear in
ourselves,
we see our
fear in
Gideon's
fear,
we also
see our
pride in
Gideon's
pride.
We
understand
what Gideon
is doing
in chapter
8 because
we do
the same
thing.
We get
in our
minds that
we have
an agenda
to pursue
for our
lives and
nobody's
going to
stand in
the way
of that.
Our
spouse
isn't
going to
stand in
the way
of that.
Our
church
isn't
going to
stand in
the way
of that.
Our
kids
aren't
going to
stand in
the way
of that.
No
one's
going to
stand in
the way.
Not
even God
is going
to stand
in the
way of
what I
want to
do
with
my
life.
Doesn't
matter
what God
says
related to
how we
should
give.
It's
my
money.
It's
my
resources.
I've
got an
agenda
for it
and I'm
going to
use it
the way
that I
want to.
Doesn't
matter
what God
says
about the
way that
I'm
supposed
to serve
and
disciple
others
and give
up my
life in
order to
serve the
ministry
of Christ.
That
doesn't
matter
because
it's
my
time
and it's
my
life and
I've
got a
plan for
the way
that I
want to
use it.
And it
starts in us
as kids
and as
young people.
We get
all of
these dreams
about what
we want
our life
to be
like and
we write
them out
and we
put them
on our
wall and
we dream
every night
about how
we want
our lives
to be
and we
get in
our head
this is
what I
want out
of my
life and
nobody's
going to
get in
my way.
And if
it means
that I
have to
sacrifice
my
personal
walk with
the
Lord
then so
be it.
I've
got a
plan.
If it
means that
I've got
to sacrifice
faithfulness
to the
church
and obedience
to the
Lord
then so
be it.
I've got
a plan
for my
life.
And we
start pursuing
our own
agendas
and when we
start pursuing
our own
agendas
guess what
ultimately
happens?
We position
ourselves
as the
only ones
that can
really
understand
God's
truth for
us.
And we
start making
statements
like this.
I hear
what you're
saying
but God
told me
to do
this.
Or God
told me
that this
is what
he wants.
It doesn't
matter what
you're telling
me God
said in
the Bible.
I know
what he
told me.
We position
ourselves as
prophet,
priest,
and king
of our
own lives.
It's not
Jesus anymore.
It's us.
And you
know what
that inevitably
ends in?
False
worship.
We become
the object
of our
own worship.
We live
our lives
for us.
Yeah,
we'll have
our Christian
thing around
us.
We'll do
the church
thing.
We come
to chapter
eight and
we understand
Gideon's
sin because
it's our
sin.
It's our
sin.
So what
do we
do?
Three ways
I think this
is instructive
for us.
First,
there are
gospel
implications
to this
text.
Really,
really
important
ones.
One of
the things
that makes
this text
terrifying for
me is that
I know
that I can
fall like
Gideon
Phil.
I don't
want to read
this text
because it
reminds me of
what I'm
actually capable
of.
And if you
think that
you're incapable
of falling
in the way
that Gideon
fell,
you're fooling
yourself.
As Paul
said,
let each
man consider
himself and
take heed
lest he
fall.
Every one of
us are capable
of doing this
and worse.
I'm terrified
by passages
like this
because it
exposes that
if it can
happen to
Gideon,
it can
happen to
me.
And I
don't want
this to
happen to
me.
So what
hope do I
have?
If I know
that today I
could blow it
in such a
way as it
would disqualify
me from
pastoring this
church or
from being
faithful to my
wife or my
kids or whatever
it is that it
may be.
That's a
possibility because
of the potential
of sin in me.
So what hope
do I have?
The hope that
I have is
that my
eternity,
Gideon's
eternity,
and my
salvation and
Gideon's
salvation does
not ultimately
rest on how
well we do.
It rests on
the person of
Christ.
The fact that
he did it and
he did not
fail.
And he did
not fall.
In him,
I am
secure.
I may fail
you in a way
that would
crush you.
I hope I
don't.
By God's
grace, I
won't.
But even if I
do, it's not
the basis of my
behavior and my
way to be the
best pastor you
can be.
That's going to
get me to
heaven.
It's the fact
that Jesus is
that for me.
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is in regards to how are we to handle it
when spiritual leaders in our lives actually do fall and fail.
Many of you probably have experienced this in some way or another.
You've had some type of moral failure in somebody
that was supposed to be a spiritual leader in your life
that was dramatic and difficult.
There's an entire realm of what people are calling now deconstructionism
that really is focused on this particular thing.
They see reports coming out of pastors who are sexually abusing people in their churches
and abusing kids and they say,
well, if my pastor can fail in that way,
I don't want anything to do with this Christian thing to begin with.
So how are we supposed to, is that really the right response?
Well, if we understand that our hope is in Jesus
and not in those leaders that he's gifted to us or given to us,
then our faith can stand even when the faith of others around us falls.
And there's an interesting thing happening with Gideon
in the larger context of the Bible.
On the one hand, when we get to Hebrews chapter 11,
Gideon is not condemned, he's praised.
He's commended, actually, for his faith.
Now we get to that and we think,
now wait a minute.
How can the author say anything good about Gideon after what he did?
And the fact is, Gideon's a human.
Christ has delivered us from the ultimate penalty of sin,
but we still have this issue of indwelling sin,
the presence of sin in our lives.
And we need to be careful that we don't have an expectation of other people
that only Jesus can live up to.
There is a reality here that Gideon was just a man who sinned.
And that doesn't mean that everything that he did well
should be ignored or denied.
And I think the Bible teaches us that.
Of course, the church must also be concerned
to holding their spiritual leaders accountable to the word,
even removing them if they disqualify themselves
through gross and unrepented sin.
So I think what we learn here in regards to spiritual leadership
is that there is a tension in the Bible that we have to hold on to,
a tension that honors those whom the Lord puts in our way as leaders,
but not idolize them in such a way that when they fail,
our faith is the one that's crushed
because our faith isn't ultimately in them.
The third thing, and we've talked about it already,
so we'll just finish here.
The third thing that I think is a helpful takeaway
is just seeing Gideon's failures
as a warning of the dangers of not finishing well ourselves.
I quoted the verse to you already.
Gideon says,
therefore let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
Gideon's sins are not limited to spiritual leaders.
They're just magnified when they exist in people
who have particular authority in our lives.
Everything that Gideon did,
we are capable of doing and often do.
None of us are above these sins.
So we need to approach these texts with great humility,
praying, asking for the Lord's grace
to deliver us from temptation,
to help us acknowledge and see the way of escape that he makes for us
so that we are able to endure the temptation
and the test that we face by his grace.
But ultimately, we need to live our lives
in light of the fact that we're sinners too.
And but for the grace of God,
we will fall in the same ways that these men fail.
So heed the warnings
and be faithful.
Be faithful.