Father, we confess before you that we are far better at seeing sin in other people than seeing sin in ourselves.
That we are far better at seeing evil motives and being cynical about others and very poor at seeing evil motives in ourselves.
But at the same time, Father, we confess before you that we often seem to go between great pride and great despair when our proud pretensions get pricked.
And so, Father, we are unstable and we give you thanks and praise that you have set it up, that your people gather once a week on your day to gather together and hear your word, to be recharged and recommitted as we hear the gospel and think about your word.
And so, Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would very powerfully bring your word this morning home deep into our lives, that we might be disciples of Jesus who are gripped by the gospel, learning to live day by day for your great glory.
And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
Some of you, I don't know how many of you have heard of David Woods in Acts 17 Apologetics Ministries.
I'd heard of him and some of you know as well, I actually spent several days, 10 days with him on a tour in Israel back in October and not just him but some other people.
And I had never watched his video about his conversion.
Everybody asked me on the tour, have you seen David Woods' conversion video?
And I said, no, I haven't.
So when I finally came back, I watched it.
I was really struck by it.
It just powerfully impacted me.
And I think I've shared it with you.
I told my family.
But I've noticed something.
I don't know how many of you have watched the video since I suggested, you know, Google David Woods' conversion video.
But many people are deeply offended and troubled by the conversion video.
Like deeply troubled and offended by it.
And I've been thinking about that.
I just had a conversation the other day about it by people who were worried about the man.
Just, you know, full disclosure.
And this fits very well with the book of Judges that we're looking at.
Because the book of Judges, part of the problem we have when we read the book of Judges is that it's filled with violence and evil.
Like today we're going to see a man who has sex with his slave, who murders and tortures people and produces a son who does even more murder and torture.
I mean, just like your normal uplifting thought on a Sunday morning.
But one of the things in the video is that part of the step of this fellow David Woods becoming a Christian is when he tries to hammer his father to death.
I'll give you a warning up front about it.
And I was thinking about, you know, why it is that I was so powerfully, I've never thought about hammering my father to death, by the way.
But why was I so powerfully affected by it?
And I think the reason was, is that I became a Christian in grade 12.
Continued on with my high school.
Went and did a degree in sociology and philosophy in graduate school.
And, you know, to be honest, for about the next seven or eight years of my life, I would go through bouts of doubting the Christian faith and almost giving up on being a Christian.
And for me, this is just saying something about me.
I was never tempted by Buddhism or Hinduism.
Never even for a moment was that a temptation to me.
My great temptation has always been nihilism, nihilism, atheism.
That's always been my thing.
And part of that is, and I just, I mean, when I talk to atheists, I try to restrain myself with this.
Because I actually think when somebody says they're an atheist, I said, no, you're not.
You know, because if you're a real atheist, you're gripped by Dostoevsky's statement that if God is dead, all things are permissible.
There is no meaning in life.
There is no morality.
There is no better or worse.
All there is is power and appetite.
Right.
And I don't know what that says about me, but for me, for seven or eight years, I would go through seasons.
I mean, I'm studying Marx.
I'm studying Feuerbach.
I'm studying Weber.
I'm studying all of these.
I'm studying Skinner.
I'm studying all these people at school.
I'm studying, you know, from a scientistic point of view and an atheistic point of view.
And I'd go through these periods of deep doubt.
And for me, the great temptation was that.
Is that true?
Am I wrong to be a Christian?
And if I'm wrong to be a Christian, that is what I would believe.
It would still be the case today.
If I was to stop being a Christian, that is what I would believe.
And that's what David Woods struggles with.
And I think that's why.
If any of you, if that's your temptation, then that's the video for you.
If you can't even begin to understand why somebody would even think those things, don't bother watching it.
It'll just offend you.
But I mention all of this because one of the things, it's a common Christian problem and it's a common human problem.
On one hand, there is a deep part of us that longs to arrive.
And when we've arrived, then life will be easier.
In Christian circles, it happens because we long that if we just had that miracle, if we just had that anointing,
if we just had that powerful religious experience, and after that, life would be easier and life would be better.
I wouldn't have these doubts.
I wouldn't have these problems.
I would have this certainty.
Praise the Lord.
I would walk in victory.
And there's many churches that teach that.
I grew up in a church that often taught that type of stuff.
If you just have this one spiritual, emotional breakthrough, then life is easier.
And we see it all around us in the world as well.
On one hand, if I just meet the right person, if I can just marry the right person, if I can just get this degree,
if I can just get this job, if I can just get this house,
if I can just get these kids, if I can just learn this technique of how to deal with people,
if I can just have this experience, if I can have this peak, then life will be easier.
And on one hand, it's a very powerful desire and drive.
And at the same time we have it, we doubt it.
And in fact, often if we hear somebody else talking about this,
in our hearts, we have a certain degree of despising of them
because we think it's very naive.
That's not how life works.
But at the same time that we see that in others,
we at ourselves, we always long,
could there just be this moment,
this relationship, this church,
this fill in the blank,
and then life will be better.
We're going through the book of Judges.
That's one of the things we do here at Church of the Messiah.
You know, the Bible is 66 books.
And other than Proverbs and maybe James and maybe 1 John,
they all have a very, very particular order.
They're written as books, and so we go through them as books.
And we're getting up to chapter 8 and chapter 9 of Judges today.
It's the longest text of Scripture I've ever tried to preach on in my life, 97 verses.
It has caused me lots of prayer and anguish all week, I will be honest.
And we've come to the story of Gideon.
And often what happens when people tell the story of Gideon,
they tell it in such a way that they think that by the end of the story of Gideon,
he lives happily ever after.
But that's, in fact, not how the story works.
Like, unconsciously, we Christians tell the story or part of the story of Gideon
as if it fits into this scenario.
But that's literally not how the thing goes.
If we were doing a Netflix of the series, limited series of the story of Gideon,
there'd be at least three episodes, maybe four,
depending on how you want it to break up chapter 8 and 9.
Really, it should be together.
But in chapter 6, and that's what we looked at a couple of weeks ago,
for those of you who don't know what the story of Gideon is,
it's a very, very powerful story.
It's one that's historically, like, you know,
I think to myself, you just watch the unfolding crisis in the Middle East,
and every time you think it can't get worse, it seems to get worse.
Hundreds of thousands of refugees trying to get into Turkey,
banned by Turkey, attacked by Russia and Syria and others.
And the story in chapter 6, 7, 8, and 9 of the book of Gideon
is that there's been this people group called the Midianites and the Amalekites
and their other different tribal allies.
And for seven years, they come into Israel,
and they don't try to take Israel over.
They don't try to annex it or occupy it.
All they do is they come in,
they steal all the food and eat as much food as they can carry and consume.
And then when they sort of load it up,
what they do is they kill, they destroy all the other food.
They try to destroy all the other food.
For seven years, you have genocide.
For seven years, you have what the Soviet Union tried to do
and killed millions of people in the Ukraine
by an artificial forced famine of stealing the food.
All the while, while the smart people in the West
were saying that the Soviet Union was a socialist, communist utopia,
they were forcing, they were creating forced starvation of the Ukrainian people.
And so this is what's going on in Midian,
and Israel can't fight against them,
and they're getting diminished and diminished and diminished.
And God goes and calls Gideon,
and if you look at chapter 6, in the course of chapter 6,
there's two very remarkable miracles
that finally convince Gideon
that God is calling him to go and deal with this.
The first miracle is where a large amount of food
is just put on a dry rock,
and the angel of the Lord representing God just touches it,
and the whole thing gets consumed in fire and disappears.
Just be honest, how many of us wouldn't love
to have the odd miracle like that appear
just to bolster our faith?
Just be honest.
And then the next one is the miracle around the fleeces.
And then in chapter 7, it would be episode 2
if we were doing a Netflix series about it,
that Gideon has to actually go and fight the Midianites.
And so he goes, the Spirit of God comes upon him,
he goes and he gathers up the tribes,
and he has 32,000 people who are going to go
and march up to this battle.
But in chapter 7, verse 2,
the verse which is the key to understanding
all four chapters, 6, 7, 8, and 9,
is in chapter 7, verse 2.
And God says to Gideon,
I'm concerned that if all of those soldiers
go and fight against Midian,
that what will happen when I deliver,
when I defeat the Midianites,
you folks are going to boast over me.
You're going to boast over me
as if it's something that you accomplished.
I'm concerned about that.
So it's a famous story.
So Gideon goes and tells people
if they're afraid, you don't have to go.
22,000 people leave, leaving 10,000 soldiers.
God says to Gideon, still too many people.
And so then, you know,
we know the famous thing about the water,
and the point is there's only 300 guys
left at the end of it,
and then there's Gideon and 300 guys,
and Gideon's still obviously afraid,
and then God does another miracle,
one which would have been very significant
for a paganized man like Gideon,
and that is that he has Gideon over here,
the dream of an enemy,
and how the enemy interprets the dream.
And in the ancient culture,
as in most of the world today,
dreams can have unbelievable importance
in terms of the gods speaking
or gods speaking to a human being,
and Gideon now really knows
that God's going to do this,
and there's the thing with the trumpets,
et cetera, et cetera.
The whole army of Midian is thrown into confusion.
They fight each other.
They kill each other.
They scatter,
and some of the Israelites come out of the mountains
and chase some of them
and hold the fords
and kill many, many more,
and that's how the story ends,
and usually in Sunday school
and in churches,
you don't hear what happens next.
You assume,
and they all lived happily ever after.
No.
I don't have time to read all of chapter 8 and 9,
but I'll just start to summarize
what happens immediately after.
Immediately after,
a very powerful tribe
that had been way up in the mountains
where it was hard for the Midianites
to go and fight them,
they come and they've actually killed
the two Midianite generals,
and they come and confront Gideon
and said,
how come you didn't call us
so we could go?
What do they want to do?
They basically say,
we wanted to share in the glory of that victory.
You robbed us of a chance to have glory.
Now, Gideon, in the story,
seems to give a very, very humble,
et cetera, et cetera, you know, answer,
but he's not humble.
They're too powerful for him to deal with.
In fact, one of the interesting things about this,
it's a very, very common biblical lesson.
Friends, how you treat very, very weak people
shows you who you really are.
If you meet somebody very powerful
or very rich or very famous
and you're nice to them,
that doesn't show you who you are.
It's when you meet somebody that nobody likes.
If you're in an office or if you're in a school
and there's the awkward, socially awkward,
irritating person that absolutely nobody likes,
and if you join in,
that reveals what you really like.
That reveals what you really like.
Because we see this very next, after this,
Gideon's going to try to kill
the two kings of Midian that have escaped,
and he comes up to a smaller city
and asks for some help,
and they won't give him any help.
And he says, listen,
when I come back successful,
I'm going to torture all the leaders.
And he goes to another little village
that he could easily handle,
and they don't give him any help as well.
And he says, listen,
when I come back victorious,
I'm going to kill you all.
And he gets the two kings,
and he goes back,
and he does torture, torture, torture,
all of the elders of the first city.
And he does murder all of the people
of the second city.
How many of you hear this in Sunday school?
How many of you hear this
in character studies of Gideon?
And then you discover that the reason
he went to capture the two kings
wasn't because he was concerned
for fulfilling God's will.
It was a private quest for revenge
because they had killed his brothers.
And he actually tries to get
his very young child
to pick up a sword to kill them.
But the child can't,
so Gideon kills them.
And now,
we'll get to the part
that we're going to read.
Verse 22 of chapter 8.
If you have your Bibles,
you can follow along.
Chapter 8, verse 22.
And here's what happens.
Then the men of Israel said to Gideon,
because, you know,
now obviously Midian's
completely and utterly crushed.
The men of Israel said to Gideon,
rule over us,
you and your son
and your grandson also,
for you have saved us
from the hand of Midian.
Don't say God did it.
300 huge army,
but it's,
Gideon's getting the credit.
Now Gideon seems to give,
in verse 23,
a theologically precise
and perfect response.
And it is
a theologically precise
and perfect response.
He says,
I will not rule over you,
and my son will not rule over you.
The Lord will rule over you.
And we're just going to stop here.
Now, what happens now,
we need to,
I forgot to bring it.
So just imagine for a second
that I don't have a Bible here.
This is like a fitness thing.
I'm a fitness star,
and I'm a YouTube influencer
on fitness and on diet,
and hundreds and hundreds
of thousands of followers,
and I'm now standing here
talking to you.
And I have a bowl here.
And as I start to talk to you
about what I,
you know,
my secrets
and what I'm sharing with you,
my secrets to success
and perfect health,
as I begin to talk to you,
I open a bag
of barbecue potato chips.
Kettle.
Southwest barbecue.
Potato chips.
The best tasting
barbecue potato chips
in the world.
We'll have to make sure
that's not on the,
unless they want to
give us an advertising dollars,
Andrew.
And I pour the bag
of potato chips,
the whole bag in there,
and I have this bag.
As I'm talking to you,
eating potato chips,
I say,
I treat my body
as a temple.
Chomp, chomp, chomp.
I never eat potato chips.
Chomp, chomp, chomp.
Potato chips are bad for you.
You should never eat them.
Chomp, chomp, chomp.
I never have saturated fats.
Chomp, chomp, chomp.
They're going to cause you
all these problems.
Chomp, chomp, chomp.
You get the picture.
Chomp, chomp.
So, Gideon says,
Oh, I'm not going to rule.
My sons aren't going to rule.
Only the Lord will rule over you.
And then look what happens
in the very next verse.
And Gideon said to them,
verse 24,
Let me make a request of you,
every one of you,
give me the earrings
from his spoil.
For they had golden earrings
because they were Ishmaelites,
the people that they defeated.
And the people answered,
We will willingly give them.
And they spread a cloak
and every man threw in it
the earrings of his spoil.
And the weight of the golden earrings
that he requested
were 1,700 shekels,
about 20 kilos of gold.
20 kilos of gold.
Because the crescent ornaments
and the pendants
and the purple garments
worn by the kings of Midian.
So, in other words,
not only does he get 20 kilos of gold,
he also gets some other ornaments.
Earlier, I forgot to tell you,
he takes the royal ornaments
from the battle horses
of the Midianite kings
and he keeps them for himself.
And then look at this.
And he also takes
the purple garments
worn by the kings of Midian
beside the collars
that were around
the necks of their camels.
Now, we'll get to the next bit
in a bit here.
Now, just look at what happens.
So he said,
No, no, no, the Lord...
So there's several things
going on here.
Imagine this.
I hope I'm not offending
anybody here.
But I...
And maybe afterwards
you can just pray
that, George,
you're very cynical
and you're lacking of faith.
And I do know I lack faith.
But when I see people saying
there's going to be
a miracle service
at a certain time
in a certain place,
I think to myself,
how on earth
could you ever possibly know
that God is going to do
a miracle at that time?
Like, I'm sorry,
it just seems very presumptuous.
Like, God does a miracle
when he's going to do a miracle.
How can you advertise
in advance a miracle?
I don't know.
Like, I just find that presumptuous.
But let's say,
having preached on that,
all of a sudden
we hear some shots outside
and some yelling
and a guy comes walking in,
stumbling in,
and you can see
three bullet holes
in his chest,
blood pouring out of it.
And he comes
and he falls,
white-faced,
right over there.
We're all completely
and utterly in shock.
I run over
and I pray,
Lord,
heal this man.
Father,
you can do this.
We believe,
you know,
if you don't heal him,
help him to be prepared
to meet Jesus.
But Father,
we ask that you would
heal this man.
And in front of all
of our eyes,
the blood stops.
The wounds are healed.
Color returns to his face
and he stands up
and thanks me.
Now,
that would be a church service
for the ages.
But then imagine,
I turn and say to you,
folks,
I'd like to pass the plate
right now
because I would really,
I really,
really,
really would like
a Porsche SUV.
And it's not a donation
to the church,
it's a donation to me.
You just saw the miracle
I did,
didn't you?
So if you could just
pass the plate,
I want to keep passing
and passing and passing
until there's enough money
in the plate
for me to buy a Porsche SUV.
I have a color in mind
as well
and I want all the features.
Don't be cheap.
Now you laugh,
but that would be just
so wrong
and so offensive.
Right?
So here's Gideon,
300 men
and I'm sure
when they were holding
the torches,
they weren't holding them
like this,
they were holding them
like this
because their knees
were going like this.
And God does this
remarkable thing
and God does this
whole miracle
and then after God
has done the whole miracle,
Gideon asked for
20 pounds of gold
and 20 kilos of gold.
That's 44 pounds.
That's a lot of gold.
So,
and it even gets worse.
Look at what happens
in 27 and 28.
And Gideon made
an ephod,
ephod of it,
some of the gold
and put it in a city
in Ophrah
and all Israel
hoared or prostituted
themselves after it there
and it became a snare
to Gideon
and to his family.
So Midian was subdued
before the people
of Israel
and they raised
their heads no more
and the land had rest
for 40 years
in the days of Gideon.
So what he does
as well is this.
He makes an ephod
and an ephod
was something
that was used
in connection
with worship.
Only the high priest
could wear it.
It would be connected
to going to the Ark
of the Covenant
and going into the tent
and part of the ephod
was that there was
something right here
that contained
the umim
and the thumim
and in times of crisis
in the context
of worship of the Lord
the high priest
could take the umim
and thumim
and ask God
to give them
an answer and direction
and that would be provided
by God.
And what Gideon has done
is not in connection
in fact in the original thing
it's probably in connection
to an idol
that he made
with some of the gold as well.
And so what God
what Gideon has done
is said in connection
with worshiping this idol
I am going to have
my own ephod
and if you want God
to speak to you
if you want
to hear what God
has to say
about your business deal
your marriage
your trip
you come to me
and I will use
my ephod
because I'm the one
who had all these miracles
happen to me
and look at all the wonderful
things I've done
and you come to me
to hear the voice of God.
And needless to say
it became
a snare
to the people.
Now
if you could put up
the first point Andrew
so one of the things
we see in this text
is success
can be your downfall.
It teaches you
to boast over God
and exalt yourself.
success can be
your downfall.
It tempts you
to boast over God
and exalt yourself.
Now let's be honest
about this.
If
I got
300 people
and
there were
120 some odd
thousand
Soviet
and Syrian
and Iranian
troops
that were going to be
coming against
a particular place
and I went off
with 300 of you
and not 300 of you here
but our congregation
a couple of others
and the 300 of us
go and God
does a mighty miracle
and the 120,000
Russian, Syrian
and Iranian
troops
are all defeated.
I'd have a hard time
not bringing that up
in conversation
occasionally.
You know
somebody's asking me
for some advice
and I'd say
well it makes me
think about that time
when I defeated
120,000 Russians
and Syrians
and Iranians
with 300 people.
Did I tell you
about the time?
Maybe I'm the only one
because I'm probably
a worse sinner
than most of you
but it'd be pretty hard
not to be tempted
to do something like that
on a regular basis.
So regular
you'd be sick
and tired
of hearing it.
Now
here's the thing
that's going on
in this text.
Remember I said
that we long
for some type
of experience
that's going
to just make
things all right.
Like many of us
sort of wish
that if God
could just do
a mighty miracle
that we could see
that would be
undisputed
that that would be
fine.
We would live
with that.
Life would be
better after that.
If only God
would speak to us
or communicate
to us
in a very powerful
powerful
unmistakeful way
then that would
be fine.
If only God
would do something
just to vindicate
us
and to show
that he's with us
and if he could
do it in a very
very powerful way
then life
would be fine.
But all of those
things happen
to Gideon
and it hasn't
changed his heart.
in fact
what is getting
pointed at here
and touched on
here is something
which is a very
very very deep
human problem
and it's a deep
human problem.
It doesn't matter
if you claim
to practice
Buddhism
or Islam
or you're an
atheist
or completely
and utterly
just indifferent
to the whole
topic
that there's
this very
very very
deep human
bias
and prejudice
that makes it
hard for us
to imagine
that
if the universe
is going
in its proper
direction
or if
God
is going to
work
in a way
that brings
him glory
then obviously
it has to
include me.
Like it's
impossible
for God
to be glorified
and for me
to do poorly
because we
have a very
very hard
time.
we very
very quickly
blur the
line between
us
I quickly
blur the
line between
God and
me
upon God's
glory and
my glory
God's success
and my
success
my success
and God's
success
it very very
quickly comes
that I
blur those
things
it's hard
to imagine
that I
could take
a stand
for God
or take
a stand
for justice
and I
don't get
any recognition
for it
and I
get fired
and I
end up
having to
be on
welfare
and I
lose my
house
and I
have to
live in
subsidized
housing
and we
all in
our culture
think that
that is a
very very
good argument
that God
doesn't exist
that there's
something wrong
with the
universe
because it
is just so
deeply a part
of our
imagination
that it is
impossible for
me to
not have
for the world
not to be
right and for
me not to be
able to have
success
but for me
not
it's just
it's a deep
thing in us
I don't have
time to read
the rest of
the story
I want to
unpack a
couple of
things but
the thing
if you go
back and
you read
the book
of chapter
nine it
even gets
worse
because you
know it's a
very very
common thing
in television
and movies
and stories
the sin
of the
mother or
the father
the way
that somebody
has treated
you and
how that
has consequences
that go down
for years
and years
and decades
afterwards
and Gideon
by the way
one of his
he ends up
having many
many wives
he has a
slave and he
makes one of
his slaves
a concubine
which means
he can have
sex with her
and she has
a kid
and he names
the kid
my dad
is king
that's what
Abimelech
means
my dad
is king
at the same
times that he
said he's
not a king
he names
his kid
my dad
is king
and Abimelech
goes and
seizes the
kingdom
he murders
his brothers
he ends
up causing
he ends up
being
responsible
for the
murder
of whole
region
of Israel
and the
sins
of Gideon
and the
consequences
of Gideon's
life
and his
pride
and his
vanity
and his
arrogance
have
reverberations
throughout the
whole
about the
generation
that comes
even after
he's died
if you
could put up
the next
point
Andrew
just to
try to
bring this
home
you know
I said
that on
one hand
there's this
very very
powerful
sense
of us
as human
beings
that there
must be
some way
that we
can arrive
some way
that we
can turn
a corner
and our
life will
always be
better
whether
it's the
degree
the amount
of money
in the
bank
the academic
accomplishment
the artistic
accomplishment
the business
success
the marital
success
the success
in children
the success
in terms
of learning
how to
practice
mindfulness
so that we
can manage
our emotions
some other
technique
for managing
our emotions
some type
of yoga
breakthrough
so that we
have some
type of
ongoing
and merging
peace
and we
have this
very very
profound
sense in
so many
different ways
secular
and religious
and spiritual
and even
Christian
versions of
it
and we
have this
deep sense
that there
should be
something like
that but at the
same time we
know that that
is not true
and we make fun
of other people
who have their own
way of doing that
and we make fun
of them
and what the
story in
Judges is
teaching us
is this
if both
success and
failure keeps
you from the
triune God
then only he
can act to
save you
see that's what
happening in
the story
is posing
riddles to
us
you think a
miracle will
change your
life
we'll do a
miracle of the
food
we'll do a
miracle of the
fleece
we'll do a
miracle of the
dream
we'll do a
miracle of the
battle
and Gideon's
heart is not
changed
and obviously
his failures
don't endear him
to the triune
God
nobody thinks
that his
failures
makes him
closer to
God
and so in
Gideon's
life you see
both this
mixture of
success and
failure
and if both
success and
failure keep
you from the
triune God
well then maybe
the nihilism
that I talked
about at the
beginning of the
service is
completely and
utterly correct
and Dostoevsky
is completely and
utterly correct
if God is
dead all things
are permissible
all that is
left is my
power and
my appetite
and my
desires
and my
comfort
and that is
all that is
left and
there is
nothing
no social
claim
no religious
or spiritual
claim can
make any
difference to
me
all that
matters is
my calculations
to maximize
myself
or maybe
there is a
God that's
just completely
and utterly
abandoned us
because the
fact of the
matter is
is if both
success and
failure do
not work
then unless
God has
mercy and
does something
for us we
have no hope
we have no
hope
only God
God
now if you
could put up
the next
point just
very briefly
you will
always have
to struggle
with the
world the
flesh and
the devil
until you
die that's
one of the
messages of
the Bible
that there
is no sense
of arriving
in that sense
that we're
often looking
for but if
you could put
up the next
point Andrew
by grace
alone through
faith alone in
Christ alone
you have both
the certainty
of eternal
security and
the certainty
of help for
the daily
struggle against
the world the
flesh and
the devil so
let me unpack
all of this
see if only
God if we
have this
basic problem
and you know
one of the
things which is
so powerful
about the
Bible if you
if you listen
to the stories
is that the
the Bible
regularly surprises
us because if
we're honest about
the longings and
the yearnings and
our doubts and
our uncertainties
time and time
and time again
we see that
only the Bible
fulfills in
its own way
in a deeper
and wiser
and truer way
the longings and
the yearnings of
our hearts and
can speak to
the cynicism and
the skepticism
that we bring
against our own
longings and our
yearnings you
see if we're
honest success
and failure don't
seem to work
because it
doesn't change
this fundamental
desire I have
for glory
and to be the
center
and so what
this is preparing
us for in the
book of Judges is
what's going to
happen in the
cross
you see at the
very very heart of
reality as is
revealed in the
cross isn't a
solitary God who
is lonely who had
to create human
beings because he
had nobody to
love or she had
nobody to love
and unlike in the
stories of the
east and in
paganism it isn't
as if there was
some type of God
and there was
some cosmic
catastrophe as
if for a
moment God
forgot that he
was God and
lost control and
some catastrophe
happened it
happened somewhere
else and and
now he might or
might not deal
with and get
around to dealing
with it no the
very heart as is
revealed in Jesus
and as he unlocks
the true meaning of
the Old Testament
the very heart of
who God is is
that from all
eternity the
father is love
the son and
the Holy Spirit
is both the
means by which
that love is
communicated and
his love himself
and the son has
received the
father's love and
his love the father
back and the Holy
Spirit is both the
very means by which
that is communicated
and carried and
his love himself as
well and from all
eternity the father
has revealed himself
to the son communicated
and carried by the
Holy Spirit and the
son has revealed
himself back to the
father in delight
and in love and it
is out of the
overflow of who
God is that the
triune God created
human beings and
when we decided that
we would be like God
ourselves and we
bent and warped and
twist our nature God
did not despise us or
abandon us because it
is the very nature of
God that he is love
an overflow of love
an overflow of
goodness and so in
the fullness of time
through stories like
this posing riddles to
us about how is it
that we have longings
for having arrived but
at the same time doubt
that we could ever
arrive and how is it
that both success can
ruin us and failure
ruins us and if both
success and failure
ruins us and we have a
longing to be whole how
can that ever be and
so the story is posing
these riddles for us to
read and enter into so
that when we come to
Jesus and we learn of
the father's eternal love
of the son and the son's
eternal love of the
father and the Holy
Spirit both God himself
but also the love that
flows between and the
creation of all things
out of the overflow of
love and God never
stopping being loving and
seeing you and me and
our profound unfixable
need that Jesus does the
exact God the son of
God does the exact
opposite of our
condition if our
condition is to be so
bent that we somehow
think we could be like
God God the son of God
remaining in nature God
strips himself of his
appearance of God of his
power as God and becomes
no human being is more
weak than they are when
then than when they are a
zygote in their mother's
womb no human being is
weaker than when they are a
zygote in their mother's
womb and God the son of God
takes into himself our human
nature becomes one person
and enters our human race as a
zygote in the womb of
Mary and the only thing that
can be lower than that is what
happens at the end of his life
when he dies because you can't
be poorer than dead that's
something Flannery O'Connor said
you can't be poorer than dead
and on the cross we see this
wonderful offer that God makes
to us to solve the riddle of
our longings and our yearnings
and the riddles posed by our
cynicisms and our doubts
that God the son of God says I
will die a death in your place
and you know George after you're
dead and gone and your kids
talk freely about the different
ways that you weren't a perfect
dad and you bent their life out
of shape and your grandkids and
you know the ministry interns in
your congregations and your
neighbors and all those other
people and not only all the
things the ways that your pride
bent you out of shape and bent
other people out of shape and
hurt them and helped to bend them
out of shape and all the things
that they could say against you
and all the things that they wish
that could be said to you and the
ways that you should be punished
because of the different ways they
hurt you hurt them all of those
will be on me George that will
unmake you and I offer to take your
place and have all of that come on me
because I love you and George your
inability whether through success or
failure to live a life that is in
harmony with God the Father and the
Holy Spirit and that love and that
truth and that the beauty and that
that wonder that's been eternally
communicated between the Father and
the Son through the Holy Spirit and by
the Holy Spirit and your inability to
ever even remotely be at home with
that and my perfect at homeness in
that I will offer that to you I will
trade places with you George I will
bear the consequence of your pride and
I will offer you the destiny of my
great humility and love to clothe you
and there is nothing you can do by
success or failure George all you can
do is receive it by faith and here's the
wonderful thing about this you see when
you put your faith and trust in Jesus the
Bible has this constant message of
eternal security it means that after
today if I have done before I came into
this church God does not love me any
more if I've done a good job in the
sermon than he will if I've done a bad
job in the sermon I standing with him
does not depend upon my ability to
accomplish these things when I put my
faith and trust in Jesus and I know
that he has done everything that my
pride doesn't demands to be punished
and he has taken that upon himself and
all that my success and failure cannot
accomplish because of my bended knee
that he clothes him with his own he
closed me with his destiny and I
receive both by faith when I put my
faith and trust in him it means that the
moment after I die it does not matter
how the world has evaluated me or how
the world has evaluated you but the
moment after I die or you die in Jesus
the words of the triune God to you will
be welcome home you are mine and I am
yours welcome home
so on one hand through the gospel I
have an eternal security not based on
my accomplishment or my failure and at
the same time as we are gripped by the
gospel and it begins to soften our heart
towards gratitude and soften our heart
towards humility as this story of the
gospel becomes that upon which we stand
and that by which we begin to see the
world and begin to see ourselves it
means that week by week and day by day
but week by week in particular when we
gather together with other people who
are followers of Jesus on the Lord's day
to be reminded of this it gives me and
gives you as the gospel grips us more
and more a firm place to stand and say
Lord my pride has really had a field day
of wrecking my life this week my
arrogance my selfishness thank you so
much for what you did for me on the
cross I give these things before you
Lord help me to amend my life that I
might be more like Jesus
it gives us the certainty without the
cynicism to live with Jesus by grace
alone through faith alone in Christ
alone you have both the certainty of
eternal security and the certainty of
help for the daily struggle against the
world the flesh and the devil until you
see God face to face and he says welcome
home my beloved invite you to stand
just bow our heads in prayer
father just as we go into this prayer you
know the state of all of our hearts and
father if there is one here or more that
have not yet at this time given their
lives to Jesus we ask father those of us
who know the the wonder of grace we ask
father that you would move in a powerful
way in their lives and help them even now
at this time to say Jesus be my savior
Jesus be my savior father save me through
Jesus and father for all of us you know our
hearts you know how our wake week has been
you know those of us who can't forgive you
know those of us who are filled with
revenge you know those of us who are
consumed with envy those of us who are
consumed with pride with gluttony with
greed with anger father you know those of
us who struggle with this all this week we
you're children but we still struggle with
it and father we thank you that we can be
reminded in your word of the gospel and we
ask father that you would make us disciples
of Jesus gripped by the gospel learning to
live for your glory that you would grip us
with this eternal security and in the power
of the Holy Spirit that we can look at our
day in our week in our lives with realism
but without cynicism without despair but
with hope and that you would bring those
things to our mind that we can lay at your
feet and ask for your help and your
strength that we might be disciples of
Jesus gripped by the gospel learning to
live for your glory and all God's people
said amen