WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.440 So let's read together from the book of Judges, chapter seven, verses one to 23, 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:10.320 and then chapter eight, verses 22 to 28. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:17.679 And tonight we're in the second part and final part of the story of the judge Gideon. 00:00:20.080 --> 00:00:21.199 This is the word of the Lord. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:26.400 Then Jeruba, all that is Gideon, and all the people who are with him, 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:32.320 rose early and encamped beside the spring of Herod, and the camp of Midian was north of them 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:35.200 by the hill of Moray in the valley. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:41.519 The Lord said to Gideon, the people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their 00:00:41.519 --> 00:00:47.759 hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, my own hand has saved me. Now therefore proclaim in the 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:54.239 ears of the people, saying, whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away 00:00:54.240 --> 00:01:01.359 from Mount Gilead. Then 22,000 of the people returned and 10,000 remained. And the Lord said to Gideon, 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:05.680 the people are still too many, take them down to the water and I will test them 00:01:06.240 --> 00:01:12.719 for you there. And anyone of whom I say to you, this one shall go with you, shall go with you. 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:17.439 And anyone of whom I say to you, this one shall not go with you, shall not go. So he brought the 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:22.159 people down to the water and the Lord said to Gideon, everyone who lapsed the water with his 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:28.000 tongue as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, everyone who kneels down to drink. 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:32.159 And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths was 300 men, 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:36.879 but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink the water. The Lord said to Gideon, 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:41.120 with the 300 men who lapped, I will save you and I will give the Midianites into your hand 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:46.640 and let all the others go every man to his home so that people took provisions in their hands 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:51.840 and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent. But he retained 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:57.200 the 300 men and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. That same night, the Lord said to 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:03.200 him, arise, go down against the camp for I have given it into your hand. But if you were afraid 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:09.680 to go down, go down to the camp with Pura, your servant. And you shall hear what they say, 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:14.800 and afterwards your hand shall be strengthened to go down against the camp. Then he went down 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:20.240 with Pura, his servant, to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp. And the Midianites 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:25.760 and the Amelokites and all the people of the east lay along the valley like locusts and abundance. 00:02:25.760 --> 00:02:30.400 And their camels were without number as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:35.360 And when Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, Behold, 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:40.719 I dreamed a dream. And behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:47.120 to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat. 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:51.680 And his comrade answered, This is no other than the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:57.520 a man of Israel. God has given it into his hand Midian and all the camp. And as soon as Gideon 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:02.240 heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:07.280 Israel and said, Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand. And he divided 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:12.879 the 300 men into three companies. And he put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:18.799 with torches inside the jars. And he said to them, Look at me and do likewise. When I come to the 00:03:18.799 --> 00:03:24.799 outskirts of the camp, do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow 00:03:24.799 --> 00:03:31.280 the trumpet also on every side of the camp and shout for the Lord and for Gideon. So Gideon 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:35.840 and the 100 men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:40.960 middle watch when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and they smashed the 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:45.280 jars that were in their hands. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:50.159 And they held in their left hands the torches and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:55.600 And they cried out a sword for the Lord and for Gideon. Every man stood in his place around the 00:03:55.600 --> 00:04:01.200 camp and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. And when they blew the 300 trumpet trumpets, 00:04:01.200 --> 00:04:06.480 the Lord said, Every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:15.039 fled as far as Beth Shattah towards Zerarra as far as the border of Abel Mahola by Taboth. 00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:20.000 And the men of Israel were called out from Naftali and from Asher and from Al-Manasseh. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:28.639 And they pursued after Midian. And then chapter 8 verses 22 to 28. So the men of Israel said to 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:35.199 Gideon, Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:41.360 hand of Midian. Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you and my son will not rule over you. 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:47.199 The Lord will rule over you. And Gideon said to them, Let me make a request of you. Every one 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:51.919 of you give me the earrings from his spoil, for they had golden earrings because they were 00:04:51.919 --> 00:04:57.519 Ishmaelites. And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a cloak and every man 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:02.639 threw in the earrings of his spoil. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:08.399 1700 shekels of gold. Besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:13.199 worn by the kings of Midian and besides the collars that were around the necks of the camels. 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:20.240 And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city in Ofrah. And all Israel hoarded after it there 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:26.079 and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family. So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:32.639 and they raised their heads no more and the land had rest for 40 years in the days of Gideon. 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:37.680 This is God's word. It's great to be with you tonight. It's always great to be here with, 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:42.879 it's like coming home. So it's just, and I thank so much for your prayers. Thanks for your support. 00:05:43.599 --> 00:05:49.199 We do appreciate the prayers of God's people. And we've got a great passage tonight. It's great 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:54.560 the looking through judges. But let me, I'm just going to pray for us, commit this time into the 00:05:54.560 --> 00:06:00.480 Lord's hands. Almighty God, we do thank you so much for your word and we thank you that you do indeed 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:05.199 speak to us through it. We ask that you would speak to our hearts. We pray that you would change us 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:11.680 and mold us and fashion us into your likeness. We pray that you teach us and rebuke correctness 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:17.519 and train us in righteousness that each of us might be equipped for good works. And so far 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:26.959 the way we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. So the question, the question that I have this evening 00:06:26.959 --> 00:06:33.359 is what is a trial and what is a blessing? What is a trial and what is a blessing? That is a 00:06:33.359 --> 00:06:39.680 question I want us to look at this evening as we look at this second half of Gideon's story. Now, 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:46.799 you might think that that seems an easy question to answer because if you're going to answer that 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:52.160 off the bat, you'd say, well, trials, that's quite easy and trials are difficult, trials are things 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:58.960 that are hard. And blessings are good things that are given to us that it's grace, it's good things. 00:06:58.960 --> 00:07:04.720 We know what a trial is and we know what a blessing is. But I just, let me read this quote to you and 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:11.920 I want you to hold this as I'm speaking this evening. I read this a few years ago and I think 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:18.319 I think it was Mother Teresa who said it just before she died. She said, at the end of her life, 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:24.720 she said that she struggled to see the difference between a trial and a blessing. She struggled 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:29.200 to see the difference between a trial and a blessing. And as we go through that, I want you 00:07:29.200 --> 00:07:38.160 to think that through as we think through Gideon's life. Gideon in his life faces trials. He faces 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:41.920 the big trial that we're going to look at first and then he, but he also receives the blessings 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:49.520 of victory. In fact, you might say that the whole story of Gideon's centers really around how he's 00:07:49.520 --> 00:07:54.640 going to fare against the oppression of the Midianites. You'll remember from last week as you 00:07:54.640 --> 00:08:00.480 looked at that with Corey. It's one of the reasons he's called by God as a judge, isn't it, in response 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:06.400 to hearing the cries of God's people. God raises up Gideon as the judge who will deliver his people 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:11.439 from Midianite oppression. That is one of the patterns that we see all the way through the book 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:16.719 of the judges is that God raises up a judge as the people cry out and then he calls a judge to 00:08:16.719 --> 00:08:22.799 deliver them from oppression. But what I want to think about this evening is how does the role of 00:08:22.799 --> 00:08:29.919 the judge impact Gideon, his character? Because there's no doubt about it that in these two chapters 00:08:29.919 --> 00:08:35.840 that we see here, we see two very different sides to this man. We see Gideon before the victory, 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:43.040 leading up to the battle. And we see Gideon after the battle, after he's won. After the Lord has won 00:08:43.040 --> 00:08:48.639 through him. How he responds to blessings and trials. So that's how we're going to split up. We're 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:54.240 just going to split it up and to do things, get in before and get in afterwards. What happens in 00:08:54.240 --> 00:09:00.160 judges? It's good to remind if you've digged into the book of judges before. It's good to remind us 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:06.719 what happens in the book of judges. It is basically one big downward spiral where God's people go 00:09:06.719 --> 00:09:10.719 from pretty bad at the beginning to really terrible at the end. It doesn't get any better. 00:09:11.439 --> 00:09:15.439 So at the end of the book, we read one of the, I think it's one of the final verses, 00:09:15.439 --> 00:09:20.559 is everyone did what was right in their own eyes. That's what we see in judges. Judges is a book 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:25.919 that tells the story of how God's people get to that point. Just to bring us up to speed with 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:31.919 where we're at in Gideon's life from last week also before the victory over the Midianites. 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:38.000 In the previous chapter, God demonstrated with the fleece and the Jew that he was with Gideon 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:42.719 and that he would be with him against the Midianites. God had sounded, Gideon had sounded the 00:09:42.719 --> 00:09:51.439 trumpets and men across Israel had come to stand alongside Gideon to fight. So Gideon before, 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:56.640 before the battle. We can imagine how Gideon feels, right? We can imagine how Gideon feels 00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:03.280 seeing all these men answer the trumpet calls, signing on the dotted line to fight with him. 00:10:03.280 --> 00:10:08.800 Men from all over Israel answering the call to stand with God's man, Gideon, leading the way. 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:17.360 You look at the numbers, we read it, we know there's 32,000 men. That's 160 times the size of 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:23.840 St. Columbus membership. It's not bad, is it? It's a decent army. Can you imagine he's feeling 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:29.279 pretty confident in what lay ahead? But let's just, I just want to pause and put ourselves in Gideon's 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:36.639 shoes with what comes next. The army is whittled down by the Lord's instruction. Verse two, 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:44.720 just look with me. The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:52.480 hand lest Israel boast over me, saying, my own hand has saved me. We get a military call. 00:10:53.920 --> 00:10:59.840 Verse three, 22,000 people basically give them the chance to a runner. They're not, they're not, 00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:04.800 they're not up for it. They heard the call, they were full of enthusiasm, but given the chance they 00:11:04.800 --> 00:11:11.279 do a runner. 32,000 men down to 10,000 loses two thirds in one go. And the reason of the call, 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:18.799 I take it to me, I take it to me that the reason of the call is because they actually would win 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:26.399 the battle with that many. I take it to me that because that's what the Lord says. He says that 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:33.279 so that they can't boast, which means that it's likely that with 32,000 men they would actually 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:39.439 win and boast in themselves. And if they did, they would not be boasting God's provision but 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:44.960 themselves and their ability and strength God strips them down so that they can't win by their 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:50.880 own strength because if they did, they would boast. Now we'd be tempted to think, okay, okay, 00:11:50.880 --> 00:11:56.000 you've lost two thirds. That's a lot, a lot in one go, but he's still got 10,000. I mean, that's, 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:03.120 that's still a decent number, right? But stage two of the military call, it's on a whole different 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:10.080 level. We get this quite bizarre selection process with how the men drink water, whether they drink 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:17.600 it from their hand, whether they lap it, whether they kneel. And we get 9,700 a cold, leaving just 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:27.039 300. And we know about the Midianite army too, we read that it is not small. What do we read? 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:34.399 Is it, I think it's verse, is it verse 21? That we read it that it's like locusts in abundance, 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:42.719 camels without number, as the sand on the seashore. The army has gone from 32,000 men to 300, 00:12:42.719 --> 00:12:50.159 Gideon's army is less than 1% of what he started with. We look at their situation. 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:58.959 They are dead men. They're dead men. They would have thought exactly the same, they're as good as 00:12:58.959 --> 00:13:06.719 dead. You can picture the despondent faces of those 300 men and of Gideon, because they know that 00:13:06.719 --> 00:13:14.399 when they meet the Midianites on the battlefield, that they're as good as dead. I don't know if 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:21.679 you've heard of the Atacama Desert in Chile. They say it's the driest place on earth. There's very 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:29.439 little life and nothing grows. The land is dead. Every five to seven years, the rain does come. 00:13:29.439 --> 00:13:35.759 Nobody knows when it's going to arrive. It could be five, seven, perhaps sometimes longer. But deep 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:42.319 in the Atacama Desert, deep underground, there's seas that it doesn't matter how long they stay 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:49.120 there. Once the rain hits the deep underground, when that rain comes, they germinate. And the dead, 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:56.560 dry wasteland becomes a sea of purples and green oranges and red, blooming flowers full 00:13:56.560 --> 00:14:07.600 of life from a dead, dry wasteland comes life. On the day of Jesus' crucifixion, 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:16.560 Jesus' friends, the woman crying at the cross, they felt just like Gideon and his army of 300, 00:14:16.560 --> 00:14:24.879 because a dead man is put in a tomb. It looks like the end. It looks like a dry, dead wasteland. 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:34.960 But the rain comes. The rain does come. The Atacama Desert needs God to bring the rain so that life 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:40.960 can bloom. The desert doesn't water itself. New life comes. Jesus is raised. Victory for Gideon 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:50.240 and his army is impossible, but it is given to him. They are as good as dead the next day, 00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:58.080 if they go in without God. But rain comes. He gives victory into his hands. And we get this, 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:05.680 there is this small detail, this amazing picture, foretaste perhaps of Gideon, how he points forward 00:15:05.680 --> 00:15:11.680 to Jesus. You look at me, what happens? Gideon is led by the Lord. He is fearing of what is going 00:15:11.680 --> 00:15:17.200 to happen. The Lord tells him that he is going to win, but he still is not quite sure. And Gideon 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:22.560 leads him with his servant. The Lord leads Gideon with his servant, Purat, to overhear this dream 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:28.959 of one of the enemy soldiers retelling it to one another. And the dream reveals that despite how 00:15:28.959 --> 00:15:34.079 things look, despite the fact that they are as good as dead, that victory is at hand. And we see 00:15:34.079 --> 00:15:42.399 this, which I think is the high point of Gideon's life, is verse 15. As soon as Gideon heard the 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:48.959 telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. In the biggest trial Gideon faces, 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:55.200 the biggest test he had, he trust God's plan and worships the God who gives victory. It gives us 00:15:55.200 --> 00:16:01.200 a foretaste, points us to the character of Jesus Christ, because the night before Jesus faces his 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:07.280 biggest trial, the long road to Calvary, he would worship. Firstly with his friends, then alone as 00:16:07.280 --> 00:16:14.160 he prayed, also knowing the plan for the following day, knowing the plan that he made with his father 00:16:14.160 --> 00:16:18.560 before the creation of the world, to die the death of a slave, take on the sins of the world 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:25.039 and be separated from his father. Jesus trusts the plan, he goes ahead and because of the God who 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:34.399 gives victory in what looks like a dry desert wasteland. Victory looks impossible for Gideon. 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:45.119 300 men is weak. A dead man on a cross is weak. Who would have thought that night, out of those 300, 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:52.320 when they saw one another, that they would in fact triumph? And who would have thought on that 00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:59.360 crucifixion Friday that a dead man and a small number of grieving would become the church that 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:07.039 it is today? It looked like a dry, dead desert. The biggest victory God ever achieved was when 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:16.559 the church looked its weakest and most pathetic, the death of his own son. The pattern, what we 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:23.759 see here, what we really see here is the pattern of Jesus dying and rising. What we see in Gideon 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:30.639 is the cruciform life, the crucifixion, that it's the form of the crucifixion, which is the pattern 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:37.680 of life for all believers, that God works through weakness. And when we look our weakest, we're 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:45.520 actually strong because we depend on our Father. Gideon, the 300, because without any doubt this is 00:17:46.080 --> 00:17:51.200 victory comes at the hand of God because they depend on him in that moment. They trust the plan. 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:59.840 And so that question that I started out with, you do wonder, is this a trial? 00:18:02.080 --> 00:18:08.080 Or is it in fact a blessing? Yes, it's hard, but Gideon's character, his faith, it's the high point 00:18:08.080 --> 00:18:20.400 of his life in the middle of the trial he worships. Gideon is blessed, not despite the trial but 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:28.480 because of it. And so you do question, is this trial or blessing? The Lord's victory in your life 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:35.440 and mine and in the wider life of the church happens not in spite of weakness, but because of it. 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:42.240 Because of difficulty, because of suffering, because of situations when it looks like things 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:47.360 couldn't get any worse because we turn to him and cling to him in desperation and we're near to him 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:51.279 like at no other time in our lives and that's when victory happens. 00:18:56.399 --> 00:19:04.240 If you're experiencing hardships and difficulty today, what I'm saying could be hard to hear. 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:13.039 And it doesn't negate that what you're going through isn't real and isn't tough. And it doesn't 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:19.119 mean in any way that we should pray, that we shouldn't pray for hardship to end. Of course we should, 00:19:20.399 --> 00:19:24.480 but can I assure you, can I assure you if this is you today, if this is you tonight, 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:29.759 that as you cling to God, victory over darkness will come. I don't know when, but it will. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:39.279 It will come. That God will use it, not despite the fact that it's happening, but because it is 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:45.839 happening. With every fiber of my being, I want you to believe that. I want you to hold on to it 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:53.599 because that is what faith is. That is what faith is. It's holding on to Jesus when the situation 00:19:53.599 --> 00:20:03.920 looks like it can't get any worse. So that's Gideon before the victory. What about Gideon 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:11.840 after the victory? Well, Gideon, Gideon, Gideon. I mean, where do you start with this guy? 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:20.800 This is from the highs of the major highlight of his life, verse 15, he's down on his knees, 00:20:20.800 --> 00:20:27.279 he's worshiping when things can't get any worse. This is his big downfall. His life is basically 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:35.519 like the story of the judges from a height to a low. It would be great if you were reading this, 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:41.039 if you're reading the story of Gideon, you kind of get to the end of 22 or 23 of chapter 70, 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:45.279 because we just ended there. It'd be brilliant, wouldn't it? Well, great story, everything's 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:50.960 going well, but the human heart is deceitful. And from here on in, it all goes pear-shaped. 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:56.960 The victory goes to Gideon's head. He goes from being a nobody who depended on God to thinking 00:20:56.960 --> 00:21:03.120 he's a somebody who doesn't need him anymore. Now, we don't have time to look at everything 00:21:03.120 --> 00:21:08.960 that Gideon gets wrong in great detail. There's just too many things that he does, one after the 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:16.640 other. But I do think just to get a picture of how this descent, how he goes from such a place of 00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:21.440 a great height or a great low, I think it's worth just running through of where that goes. We read 00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:28.799 the very end of Gideon's descent, how it goes from bad to worse. The first thing you notice, 00:21:29.600 --> 00:21:35.039 and stick with me in chapter seven, he's not even finished the battle. He's not even finished the 00:21:35.039 --> 00:21:41.200 battle and he goes against God's plan. Straight away, he goes against God's plan. Remember what 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:46.640 God's plan was to use 300 men? Gideon goes with the plan initially, but just towards the end of 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:53.440 the battle, he thinks that he needs more. So 300 men's not enough anymore. Verse 24, look with me 00:21:53.440 --> 00:22:00.320 chapter seven, he calls for men, he calls for other men to join him, going against God's plan of 00:22:00.320 --> 00:22:06.240 view of just using 300 men. It's not going to go, well, is it going against God's plan, the first 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:13.759 incident of disobedience? Because this first act of disobedience using more than 300, it leads to 00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:21.039 the second mistake. Because when he asks for more men, he doesn't ask everyone. He doesn't ask the 00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:25.440 Ephraimites, they feel slighted that he didn't ask them. What is this that you've done to us, 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:30.160 not to cause when you went to fight against Midian? And so because of fear, he tries to 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:36.480 flatter them to keep them on the side because he fears them. Now, that might sound bad, 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:44.000 but it just gets progressively worse. It does get, it gets, it gets progressively worse. And 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:55.440 because what comes next? His torture. And then finally, just before he makes himself an idol, 00:22:55.440 --> 00:23:02.240 comes execution. Gideon very quickly has forgotten that victory came from the Lord. 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:06.480 He expects admiration for his achievements, that he's special and his men are special, 00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:11.440 and that they should be treated as the victorious, conquering heroes. He was a nobody. Now he really 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:17.599 believes he's a somebody. We read in chapter 8, the men of Sukkoth and Penuel, Israelites won't, 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:24.400 these Israelites won't feed his men. Gideon acts like a celebrity using his fame and notoriety to 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:30.559 gain privilege. You know that classic line, the celebrities trying to get into somewhere, 00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:35.359 trying to get into somewhere, and some, the bouncer doesn't know who he is, and he says, 00:23:35.359 --> 00:23:39.839 don't you know I am? And expects to be treated well because of their stardom. 00:23:40.399 --> 00:23:44.639 The men of Sukkoth and Penuel, they stand up to him, and so when the opportunity arises, 00:23:44.639 --> 00:23:49.519 he tortures them and kills them. He flails their flesh with thorns and breaks the tower, the tower 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:58.399 that kills. It's worth just pausing here as we think about that. This is God's man. 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:05.200 God's judge, treating God's own people as a commodity to be tossed aside when they get in 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:10.800 his way. It's the first time since Israel's coordination that we get Israelite upon Israelite 00:24:10.800 --> 00:24:17.040 violence, and it's brought about by the one who's called to lead them. It's not the way of the shepherd. 00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:23.759 It's not the Lord's way. There's no happily ever after here. After that, we get a cold-blooded 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:30.720 execution. He's chasing the kings from the Midianites, Zebra and Zalmona, and he catches up to them. 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:37.680 He orders his servant to kill them, to execute them. The servant won't do it, and so he does it 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:45.519 himself and then steals their gold. Success goes to his head. Success goes to his head, 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:52.240 and the people of Israel love him for it. They love him for it. It's not because they couldn't get 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:57.279 any worse. Maybe we think, could it get any worse? Torture execution? Well, it does because Gideon 00:24:57.279 --> 00:25:02.319 wants to be their king. He says he doesn't, but his actions betray him. He collects a treasure chest 00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:07.519 from the spoil of the battle, a treasure chest fit for a king. Here's the one that really takes the 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:15.519 biscuit. This is amazing. He calls his son a bimalek. You know what bimalek means? It means the 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:23.119 meaning of his son's name is my father is king. That's the name of his son, my father's king. So 00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:28.960 he acts like a king. He wants to be king instead of God. And we finish there. We're not finished there. 00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:37.279 We take it the final step. He takes the treasure chest. He makes a gold idol and he fought 00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:45.039 an Israel whore after it. Verse 27, it becomes a snare to Gideon and his family. The very thing 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:51.680 that Gideon destroyed in chapter six that you heard from Corey last week, Baal worship, worship 00:25:51.680 --> 00:26:01.200 of false good, he reconstructs. Just listen, just do a summary. He thinks so, so he thinks he's a 00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:06.559 somebody instead of a nobody. That's where it starts. He changes God's plan. He flatters those he fears. 00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:11.359 He tortures those he looks down on. He executes with a revenge. He desires to be king instead of 00:26:11.359 --> 00:26:19.119 God in the institutes pagan worship. It's catastrophic. It is car crash leadership. 00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:28.159 And you think, hang on a minute, am I, you listen, I can, I'm reading, I'm doing this, 00:26:28.159 --> 00:26:33.679 like preaching this to you. And I'm thinking, is this the same sermon as the first half? 00:26:34.959 --> 00:26:40.959 You remember Gideon from verse 15, he's worshiping. And now we've got Gideon who's instituting 00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:50.400 pagan worship. Is this the same guy? The victory that God gives Gideon and Israel is supposed 00:26:50.400 --> 00:26:57.279 to bless them and him. But the blessing ends up being Gideon's greatest trial. 00:26:59.600 --> 00:27:04.720 What will Gideon do with the victory, with the blessing? Will he continue with obedience to God? 00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:12.000 He takes the glory for himself and Israel is in a worse state than before he came. He goes from 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:17.279 being a nobody to thinking he's a somebody and success goes to his head. The real danger is not 00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:23.759 in the battle. It's what Gideon does afterwards. When the victory, the blessing has been secured. 00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:30.160 Seeing Gideon's heart, the admiration of the world and the devil's whispers, 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:36.320 the biggest trial when you least expect it, it's an ambush. Plays right into the enemy's hands, 00:27:36.320 --> 00:27:41.120 you take your eye off the ball and you're a sitting dog ready to be taken out. That's what happens to Gideon. 00:27:47.120 --> 00:27:54.400 Can I give you a warning? I want to give you a warning that if things are all good in your life, 00:27:55.600 --> 00:27:59.600 if you're feeling on top of the world, it can happen in lots of ways. And we praise God 00:27:59.599 --> 00:28:05.199 for when God gives us blessings. If you've got a job promotion, you've just got married or finished 00:28:05.199 --> 00:28:10.480 your degree, you've received blessings from the living God. The great things we thank God for them, 00:28:10.480 --> 00:28:16.319 we praise God for when God gives us blessings. Spiritually, maybe you're just every morning 00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:21.279 having great times of prayer. You're on a hot streak of spending time with the Lord in your Bible. 00:28:21.919 --> 00:28:28.000 And you seem to have the energy and time to bless others in a church led ministry. Or even 00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:34.160 you've just managed to, a victory by putting a persistent sinful character trait to death. 00:28:35.359 --> 00:28:43.359 Praise the Lord for those blessings in our lives. And hear me rightly, hear me rightly. Of course we 00:28:43.359 --> 00:28:48.480 want to know God's blessings. We pray that we would experience those blessings in our lives in 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:57.680 the absolute fullness of His goodness, of course we do. But remain alert. At those times is where 00:28:57.680 --> 00:29:04.000 we're most vulnerable to listen to the lies of our deceitful hearts, the evil one and what the 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:09.759 world has to offer. And if we're not alert in those moments, we'll be like a sitting duck. 00:29:12.799 --> 00:29:19.519 That's what Gideon did. And it can be funny, Kai, you read it, you hear Gideon here, 00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:26.799 you think about what Gideon does. And the temptation is when I'm reading, I can be tempted to think, 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:31.839 oh Gideon, he's such an idiot, isn't he? He's just, what a waste, he's such an idiot. 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:37.279 But if that's your response, if you hear, if you read this story and you're thinking, 00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:46.879 Gideon, what an idiot? We've kind of missed the point. Because the truth, the right response is, 00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:56.080 if it can happen to Gideon, it can happen to me. Gideon is God's man. He's the chosen judge. 00:29:58.560 --> 00:30:03.840 He's called to deliver Israel. If it can happen to Gideon, it can happen to you and me. 00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:10.240 So stay alert in the blessing. Don't let it go to your head. Be full of gratitude and praise and 00:30:10.240 --> 00:30:16.240 thanks. Jesus is the one in control. He's the king, not you or me. And everything you have is a 00:30:16.240 --> 00:30:22.240 gracious gift. You haven't earned it. It's a gift. Remember that you, even you being a follower of 00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:26.319 Jesus falls into that category, you didn't earn it. It wasn't given to you. Don't think for a minute 00:30:26.319 --> 00:30:35.920 that you earned this. Don't let it go to your head. Two very different sides of this man. 00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:41.440 What are we supposed to think of him? What are we supposed to make of Gideon's rise and his fall? 00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:53.840 Do we just throw him out and say, forget Gideon? Well, no, he don't because of the book of Hebrews. 00:30:55.279 --> 00:31:04.080 The book of Hebrews is a famous chapter, a big long chapter of all the heroes of the Old Testament 00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:13.439 and Gideon is listed there as a hero of the faith. Gideon is an example to the New Testament 00:31:13.439 --> 00:31:23.359 believers of a hallmark of faith, which means that everything Gideon did when we saw his downfall, 00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:31.439 Jesus atoned for. Isn't that incredible? Isn't that amazing that when Gideon 00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:40.880 decided to go his own way and be disobedient to God's plan, Jesus atoned for his sin. He took 00:31:40.880 --> 00:31:51.600 on the punishment for Gideon's being disobedient. When Gideon tortured his own men, his own people, 00:31:52.400 --> 00:32:00.000 it was Jesus who was punished for Gideon torturing those men. When Gideon executed people, Jesus 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:08.160 atoned for Gideon's sin. When Gideon wanted to be king instead of God, Jesus atoned for Gideon's sin. 00:32:09.200 --> 00:32:15.440 And even when Gideon instituted worship of a false God, Jesus atoned for Gideon's sin. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:29.759 Which means that no matter what we've done in our lives, no matter how there is no person who is 00:32:29.759 --> 00:32:36.720 too far gone that can't be rescued by Jesus Christ, there is no one. Because look at Gideon here, 00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:41.920 you think at the end of chapter eight, you think, man, this guy, what's happened to him? 00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:54.400 But Jesus rescued him. He saved. I started with that thought. Mother Teresa, at the end of her life, 00:32:54.400 --> 00:33:00.800 she said that she struggled to see the difference between a trial and a blessing. God turns trials 00:33:00.800 --> 00:33:06.960 to blesses. And when we receive blessing, be alert, cling to Jesus, still cling to Jesus when 00:33:06.960 --> 00:33:12.320 things are rosy and sweet. It is Jesus who went through the biggest trial, death and a cross, 00:33:12.320 --> 00:33:19.200 so that in your trial, you wouldn't face it alone. But you face it in relationship with it. 00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:23.200 Let me pray. 00:33:28.319 --> 00:33:29.120 Almighty God, 00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:40.559 we thank you for your word to us. And we thank you that you don't hold back about the real things 00:33:40.559 --> 00:33:50.079 of life that people go through. We thank you for this example that we see. And it's amazing how 00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:56.480 you've worked through the church, Lord, that you work through weakness and through examples that 00:33:58.159 --> 00:34:06.639 would look like desert barren wastelands. And I pray that you would use us in our weakness, 00:34:06.640 --> 00:34:12.960 that your grace is sufficient for us, and so that the power of Christ rests upon us in our 00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:19.760 weakness, that we would be strong in you. And that in our weakness, we would cling to you, 00:34:19.760 --> 00:34:25.200 and that we would know your goodness and mercy and grace to us. But Lord, I do ask also that 00:34:25.200 --> 00:34:30.079 when my blessed that you would give us the heart of gratitude, that we would never go from 00:34:30.079 --> 00:34:38.400 being a nobody to thinking that we're somebody. But we would know that everything is of grace. 00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:45.840 And so bless us and help us to stay alert. I thank you for the church community that we have, 00:34:45.840 --> 00:34:52.480 that we live in relationship with you and with one another, and help us also to be alert, 00:34:53.119 --> 00:34:59.360 to strengthen one another when we're going through trials, and when we're experiencing blessings, 00:34:59.360 --> 00:35:05.440 to always be pointing one another back to you. So we commit ourselves and we commit 00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:10.000 one another into your hands and pray for your blessing upon each one of us, we ask in the name of 00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:30.639 Christ, Amen.