From Victory to Vulnerability: Judges 7 & 8

In this Midweek Bible Study, we finish Judges 7 and begin exploring Judges 8 as Gideon and his 300 men experience one of the most remarkable victories in Scripture. Against impossible odds, God demonstrates that salvation belongs to Him alone, strengthening Gideon’s faith and delivering Israel through His power. Yet the story doesn’t end with triumph. As Gideon’s life unfolds, we see the tragic reality of how quickly the human heart can drift from God. This study examines faith, worship, leadership, repentance, idolatry, and the constant battle against our tendency to wander from the Lord. Through Gideon’s story, we’re reminded that our greatest need is not simply victory over our enemies, but a heart that remains surrendered to God.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Judges chapter 7. So we're going to finish up Judges 7, maybe kind of fall into chapter 8 a little bit, depending on how much time we have here. There's a lot of interesting things that are unfolding. Specifically when we get into chapter 8, you know, some interesting things that happen as Gideon kind of finishes up what God's called him to do. And then sadly, as we've seen in the book of Judges, there's these moments of high followed by moments of low. And, you know, there's just a tragic story to be told here of, you know, just how easily our hearts are swayed against the Lord. And, you know, when I think about songs, one that's always resonated with me is Come thou fount of every blessing. And I'm sure all of us can, you know, resonate with that song a little bit because there's that verse that I think just is jarring but so true. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. So here's the prayer we have to pray. Take my heart, Lord, then and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. And what are we praying in that? God, we need your grace. We need your sovereign work of salvation to solidify us because I know I feel in my own heart this desire at times to wonder. And I know because I'm prone to wonder, my only hope is being secure in you. And so, you know, what we're seeing in this story is the continual ebb and flow of the wondering heart, the heart that quickly falls back in love with the things of this world, the heart that quickly wants to return back to the old lifestyle that God has delivered us and saved us from. And this is the battle that we've been talking about on Sunday mornings, the spiritual battle that's taking place. This is the battle in every human heart. A battle of God, am I going to follow you, trust you, believe that what you say is the best, and God, there's more joy to be found in your presence than in the fleeting pleasures of the world. And it's just the struggle. It's the struggle that continues on and will continue on till the day that we're in glory with the Lord for forever, and faith has given way to sight, and sin is no more. But in the meantime, that's the struggle. And so I think we learn in these passages about the goodness, the grace, the mercy, the delivering, redeeming power of the Lord. We also learn about our frailty, our weakness, our quickness to turn, and why we have to be daily surrendered to the Lord, daily committing ourselves to follow Him, daily walking in repentance. And before things get too bad, we're quick to turn back to the Lord. And I think that is one of the signs of faithfulness in our life, is not just struggling to not sin, that's part of it, but also being quick to repent and turn back to the Lord when we do sin. That we don't allow our sin to take us too far, but we quickly turn back to God, knowing that He's merciful and gracious and forgiving. That being said, where we last left Gideon was with 300 soldiers. So God had whittled it down from the tens of thousands to the 300. And the reason that he's done this is that way when it's all said and done, that Israel will only be able to say, God is our rescuer, God is our redeemer, God is the one who did this. And so what we're seeing again is God's faithfulness to Gideon, walking him through the journey. He's afraid, he's asking for a fleece, he's asking for another sign, even though God's already said things, and God's just being merciful with him and saying, All right, Gideon, you need a little bit more prodding. I'm gonna give you a little more prodding. And we saw last week how in our own lives, like God's faithful to do that with us. He's walking with us in the journey of our life. He knows your weaknesses and my weaknesses, he knows our frailties, he knows our areas that we're tempted to sin, and he is good to walk with us and listen to us in the midst of that and be patient with us. And so here's what we see at verse 9. That night the Lord said to him, talking to Gideon, get up and attack the camp, for I have handed it over to you. Now what a confidence-building statement, all right? Gideon, I brought you to this point. Now it's time to act. You've trusted me, you've got to this brink, I've winnowed away at the number of uh of troops that you have, you have 300, and now it's time for you to get ready for battle. But look at what he says in verse 10. But if you're afraid to attack the camp, go down with Pura, your servant. Now, if you're afraid, and I think what God is saying here is, I know you're afraid. I know you're still worried. I know that you're still apprehensive. Why? Because God knows all things, right? He knows what's going on in our hearts, he knows what's going on in our minds, he knows what he's asked Gideon to do is unthinkable. 300 against this vast army, uh this vast conglomeration of militaries that have come together. So he says, if you're afraid, then just go on down with Puri your servant. Look at what happens in verse 11. Listen to what they say, and then you will be encouraged to attack the camp. So, what is it that these enemies are going to say that's going to encourage you? I mean, part of it is you would think if you snuck down on the hillside and got closer and you see the vast array of this military that's there, your confidence wouldn't increase, your courage wouldn't increase, but there's a fear that would come. But God has something that He wants him to hear. Verse 12. Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people of the east had settled down in the valley like a swarm of locuses, and their camels are innumerable as the sand of the seashore. So think about this imagery that we got here. Simply what it's saying is the enemy's more than we can count. It's bigger than what we can ever think. You know, I've referenced this movie a lot here recently because I think it just kind of fits with the theme, but the movie 300, talking about the uh, oh, you know, the stance of the Greeks or the Spartans there at Thermopylae. And one of the scenes as these 300 men go to this place where they're going to kind of narrow in the enemy to not let them pass, and it's the only way that they think that they have a military advantage, is they come out and they look across the sea where the Persian army has come, and it's just ship after ship after ship. And you're just looking out, and it's just this moment in the movie where it's basically showing the insurmountable odds that they're about to face against their enemy. And this is a similar picture that we see here with Gideon. I mean, they've gone down there and he's gone down to be encouraged, and what he comes across first is an army so vast that it's like a swarm of locusts, the account so innumerable that it's like the grains of sand on the seashore. Verse 13. When Gideon arrived, there was a man telling his friend about a dream. He said, Listen, I had a dream. A loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp, struck a tent, and it fell. The loaf turned the tent upside down, and so it collapsed. Aren't dreams weird? I mean, I don't know how many of you remember your dreams. I I remember dreams. And sometimes I wish I didn't, because sometimes I'm like, what are my dreams telling me about me? Because sometimes you can dream some unbelievably strange things. And so here's just this picture of a weird dream, right? A loaf of barley bread coming down a hill, knocking a tent over. Now you see what the dream symbolizes, right? I mean, a loaf of barley bread is not going to knock over a tent. I mean, you put together a pretty bad tent if a loaf of barley bread can roll down a hill and knock it over. But his friend answered, so there's the interpreter. This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon, son of Joash, the Israelite. God has handed the entire Midianite camp over to him. So think about the journey, right? Gideon's about to go to battle. He knows the amount, uh, the the odds are insurmountable that he's about to face. God says, basically, I know you're afraid, and because you're afraid, I want you to go down to the camp with your servant, and there's something that I have that I want you to hear. As he's going down to the camp, he's reminded of the size of his enemy because they're greater than what you know he can count. Yet when he gets there, he hears God saying to another person, an enemy, I've handed this over to you. Now look at what happens in verse 15. When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he gathered up the troops and went and won the battle. Not what it says, is it? Interestingly enough, here's what Gideon does, and this is the proper heart. God has said, I'm gonna give you victory. When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed and worshiped. He just stopped for a moment and said, God, thank you. God, you are a provider. You are a strong and mighty fortress. I mean, all of the things that we see recorded throughout the scriptures, just describing God. God, this is who you are. And I think it's just one of those little lessons in life that even in the midst of God working and doing, we're never in too big of a hurry just to stop and worship. Just to stop and praise God. And we don't know how long it went on. We don't know what all this was, but what we do see in the text is that Gideon is knowledgeable of who his God is and who's providing this. And he's saying, God, you deserve the glory for what's taking place. And here is a great sign of faith. He's praising God and worshiping, even though the battle's not yet done, he knows because God's at work, it's as good as done. And this is the picture of biblical hope and faith that we see throughout the Bible, that the men and women of faith were so confident in God that what he said he was going to do is as good as he's already done it. And I think if you want a good definition of biblical hope, it's that that what God speaks and says he's going to do in our mind, it's as good as done. It's what we talked about Sunday morning in our confidence in the midst of this spiritual battle. Why do we have such confidence? Because God says, I've already won, I've already been victorious. He's told us the end, and even though the end by our time frame hasn't happened yet, we say, God, it's as good as done, because you said it, said that. And that's what faith looks like. That's what hope looks like. So it says this he then returned to Israel's camp and said, Get up, for the Lord has handed the Midianite camp over to you. Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each of the men a ram's horn in one hand and an empty pitcher with a torch inside it on the other hand. Now, one of the things that I think is interesting in this passage is it's how God works through people. And when we get encouraged and strengthened in the Lord, it leads to other people getting strengthened and encouraged in the Lord. Gideon has narrowed down an army to 300 under the Lord's strength or advice. And these men are willing to f to fight and stand behind him. Now, why is that? Well, because God's working in their hearts and lives, but I think this is just how God works. When when you and I get strengthened in the Lord and get excited about the Lord or are walking in faith, it rallies other people around to do the same. And praise God for how he works in this, that he works through us to bring other people along in the journey to accomplish his purpose and his plan. In verse 17, he says, Watch me and do what I do. When I come to the outpost of the camp, do as I do. When I and every one with me blow our ram's horns, you are also to blow your ram's horns all around the camp. Then you will say, For the Lord and for Gideon. Gideon and the hundred men who were with him went to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, after the sentries had been stationed. They blew their ramshorns and broke the pitchers that were in their hand. The three companies blew their ramshorns and shattered their pitchers. They held their torches in their left hands and their ramshorn to blow in their right hands, and they shouted, A sword for the Lord and for Gideon. Each Israelite took his position around the camp, and the entire Midianite army began to run, and they cried out as they fled. When Gideon's men blew their three hundred ramshorns, the Lord caused the men and the whole army to turn on each other with their swords. They fled to Acacia house in the direction of Zerah, and as far as the border of Abel Mahola, Mehola, near Tabboth. Then the men of Israel were called from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh, and they pursued the Midianites. And so the picture here is that they surrounding them, and they're going to cause them to panic and go into confusion. But ultimately, who's the one that's doing that? It's the Lord. And that's what the passage is making sure that we understand very clearly here. The tactic is to cause them to panic in the middle of the night. Typically, battles would take place during the day. You would line up across from one another and fight, and Gideon has surrounded the group of guys, and with their torches and their pitchers and the sound that they're making, they think that they're under attack, and in confusion, they begin to fight against one another. But the text is very clear, lest we make sure that we just think, man, that Gideon's a great tactician and mastermind to be able to pull off such a feat that ultimately the Lord is the one who handed them into his hands. It was God who was moving and working. Now look at what happens in verse 24. Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim with the message Come down to intercept the Midianites and take control of the water courses ahead of them as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan. So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they took control of the water courses as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan. They captured Oreb and Zeb, the two princes of Midian. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeb at the wine press of Zeb while they were pursuing the Midianites. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeb to Gideon across the Jordan. Now very quickly, let's remember that when God was calling down the troops, one of the first things that he said is, Whoever is fearful and trembling, you can turn back, and 22,000 of the troops turn turn back. So some of these people that we're talking about are already those who have said, you know what, we're done. We're not going to go any further. Thanks for the out. But now again, God's confidence moving through other people is inspired others to come forth. One of the things that I've learned about leadership over the years is really what it is at the end of the day, is encouraging people to trust God. At the end of the day, that's what godly leadership is. It's just simply saying, let's trust the Lord. When God speaks, let's do what he says. When he reveals things into us in his word. And one of the things that I've learned, especially since the majority of my pastorates have been in churches that when I get there, you know, had seen better days. They're in decline. And then that's just kind of been, I've never walked into a church where uh they're just like, man, everything's running smooth and good and great. Uh partly because probably God's like, you just mess it up if I sent you to one of those. And so I'm gonna uh maybe send you one to where where things are hard, and so they're not gonna know any better if you mess it up. I don't know. But but part of the journey in the process is learning to trust God again. Learning to say, and you know, I've I've always it's interesting, you know, when I was at my first pastorate in uh Fort Cobb, God began to bless us with young adults, and and I said, we need to start a young adult life group, like our Sunday school class. Like we don't, we don't have one. Like, and this is what happens in every church. The young adult group was in their 40s and 50s, and like I get that now because like you you started like the young adult class, and like you think that you're the young adults, and then all of a sudden, like 20-year-olds show up and they're like, wait a minute, this isn't young adults, like these are my teachers, like these people are my parents' age, and so what happens is like we brand a class young adult and we just want to keep that title forever. And you're like, no, at some point you're not a young adult anymore. Like, and we we realized that here a few years back. We're like, we gotta start some young adult classes. Like, well, we have some, and I'm like, they're not young. Yeah, 37 is younger, but it's not young. Like, I mean, that's 17 years older than a 20-year-old. And so, anyway, I said, we've got to start a young adult class. And the first thing that I got from leadership in the church was it's not gonna work. And I'm like, they're like, we've tried that. And I'm like, well, we'll try it again. That's not gonna work. I'm like, okay, well, I'll fail then, like everybody else, but I'm not, I'll fail from trying, not from just you telling me that it's not gonna work. And by God's grace, God provided, right? Because you when you just choose to be obedient to the Lord, sometimes one of the things that we have to learn is let's trust God. Let's not say, well, it's always been a certain way, so it's got to stay a certain way. Let's not fool ourselves to believing that the best days are always behind us, but let's trust God that He has a purpose and a plan. And little by little you begin to march forward. And then what happens is those who are at one time naysayers begin to see, oh, wait, God can and will and wants to do those kind of things in us still today. And so that being said, what's happened now is as God has blessed Gideon and his faithfulness, others are being confident to say, All right, we'll join you. We were wrong. We're ready to get in the fight with you, and what a beautiful picture that is. Now, when chapter 8, verse 1, it says this. Then the men of Ephraim said to him, Why have you done this to us, not calling us with when you went to fight against the Midianites? And they argued with him violently. So here's what the other thing that I've learned. There's always those that are going to be naysayers. There's always those that even after victory in the passage, they've just won, they've cut off the or they've cut off the heads of two opposing kings. Uh they're like, Well, wait a minute, you didn't call us soon enough in the midst of this. And here's what he says. So he said to them, What have I what have I done now compared to you? Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abbeazer? God handed you over to you, Arob and Zeb, the two princes of Midian, what I was able, what was I able to do compared to you? When he said this, their anger against them subsided. He's like, wait a minute, you've got a better victory than me so far. You've already got more spoils than what I was able to get. And so because of that, they they they calmed down a little bit. Now, what happens next is this pursuit, and this is where I think things begin to get kind of strange in how we we understand this, just because the story gets a little uh I don't know what word I want to use, or maybe a little convoluted, but but what a lot of scholars want to point out in chapter eight is the typology that we see between Gideon and Christ. And so what we mean by a typology is that, and we've done this before, like every Old Testament story is telling us a story of the gospel. And so in every Old Testament character and story we can look at, there is a type there that's showing us a picture of the Christ to come and what he's done. And as we look at chapter 8, for instance, just like Ephraim and them complaining, but they they've gained a greater reward than Gideon. A typology of Jesus that we would would point to is that Jesus came and did the heavy lifting, but we received the blessing and benefit from it. And so just as Ephraim has been upset, like, wait a minute, I we didn't get into the fight soon enough. And if I'm Gideon, I'm gonna be like, because you were afraid. Because the whole rest of Israel wasn't in the fight. We we've been cowering and hiding from these people for a long time. Like, that's why you weren't in the fight, because you're afraid. But nonetheless, what he points out to them is simply this Have you not received greater blessing than I have? Have you not received greater spoil? I mean, you've had a greater victory so far than what I've been allowed to take hold of. And here's this typology picture of how Christ came for us and he fought the battle, and he won, but we receive the blessing and the benefit from it. Gideon and 300 men, verse 4, came to the Jordan and crossed it. They were exhausted, but still in pursuit. He said to the men of Succath, Please give some loaves of bread to the troops under my command, because they are exhausted, for I am pursuing Zeba and Zalmuna, the kings of Midian. But the princes of Succath asked, Are Zeba and Zalmuna now in your hands? That we should give you bread to your army. So what's happening is Gideon and his 300 are still chasing after this group of Midianites who have fled and they're starving. They're tired. They're worn out. They need physical provisions. So they stop to these two princes or kings and basically say, We need help. We need something to eat. And they're not wanting to get in the midst of the skirmish, and they don't think that Gideon is going to be able to win and overcome because there's not enough of them. And they're like, Do you have these kings in your hand? Because if not, we're not giving you anything. We don't want to be found to be aiding the enemy. And when you all get killed, then these other kings come after us and say, Well, why did you help them? So they're basically saying, You haven't won. I don't think you're going to win. We're not going to get involved and give you anything. So Gideon replied, Very well. When the Lord has handed Ziba and Zalmana over to me, I will tear your flesh with thorns and briars from the wilderness. Quite a retaliatory statement, isn't it? Well, I'll just have you know, we're going to move on. But when I'm done taking care of them, I'm coming back for you. This almost has like this western feel to it. Like I can just almost see, you know, the guys coming through town and the townspeople won't help him. And he's like, you know what? When I go get that sorry outlaw, I'm coming back, and I'm gonna teach you a lesson on on the way. And so Gideon replied, Very well, I will tear you thorns, wilderness, blah, blah, blah. Verse 8. He went from there to Pinuel and asked the same thing from them. The men of Pinuel answered, just as the men of Succath had answered. He also told the men of Penuel, When I return safely, I will tear down this tower. Now Ziba and Zalmuna were in the Karkor, and with them was their army about 15,000 men. So you can see why these other kings think that there's not a chance. 300 verse 15,000. Who were all left of the entire army of the people of the east. Those who had been killed were 120,000 armed men. Gideon traveled on the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbaha and attacked their army while the army felt secure. Sometimes when I'm reading these Old Testament passages, I feel like I'm reading Star Wars. I don't know how many of you are familiar with Star Wars, but like half the characters in places almost have like these impronounceable names. And uh, you know, when I was a younger man, I was able to read fast enough that I would just read it so fast that you guys couldn't understand what I was saying anyway. And uh now that the eyes have slowed up, probably because I'm gonna need readers before long, I just can't quite do that quite as fast. Uh but anyway, verse 12, uh Ziba and Zalmuna fled, and he pursued them. He captured those two kings of the Midian and routed the entire army. Gideon, son of Joash, returned from the battle of the ascent of Heraz. He captured the youth from the men of Succath and interrogated him. The youth wrote down for him the names of seventy-seven leaders and elders of Succath. Then he went down to the men of Succath and said, Here are Zebbah and Zalmuna. You taunted me about them, saying, Are Zebah and Zalmuna now in your power that we should give bread to your exhausted men? So he took the elders of the city, and he took some thorns and briars from the wilderness, and he disciplined the men of Succath with them. He tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city. He asked Zebba and Zalmuna, What kind of men did you kill at Tabor? They were like you, they said, each resembled the son of a king. So he said, They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you. Then he said to Jether, firstborn, Get up and kill them. The youth did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a youth. Zebah and Zalmuna said, Get up and strike us down yourself, for a man is judged by his strength. So Gideon got up, killed Zeba and Zalmuna, and took the crescent ornaments that were on their neck on the necks of their camels. Now that's a lot to say this is Gideon following through with what he said was going to happen. But if you want to know, well, what typology do we see of Jesus in this, it's the reality of judgment and retribution that comes against those who refuse him. And so one of the things that we see about Christ in the future is he will come back, and rightfully he will judge his enemies, and rightfully he will give a punishment appropriate for what they've done. And that's one of the things that sometimes we struggle to see and to wrap our minds around in the Bible, especially where we want to reduce our teachings of Jesus to only being some loving character that essentially, in our modern way of thinking, exists to affirm us in what we want to do and how we want to live. Whereas the Bible makes it very clear that while Jesus came the first time to preach a message of mercy and grace and to draw people unto his father, when he comes the second time, he will vanquish his enemies. And just as we see that uh Gideon ascends to fight the battle, then comes back down and brings judgment, we see that Jesus fought the battle, ascended to be with the Lord, but he's coming back a second time. And all those who have refused him and taunted him and not listened to him and not walked in faith and obedience to him will be judged accordingly, and will suffer punishment appropriate for the crimes that they've committed. And you know, the Bible tells us that God will not be mocked. What a man sows, he also will reap. And if we sow according to the Spirit, we'll reap the things of the Spirit. But if we sow according to the flesh, then we can expect to reap and experience the judgment that comes for that. And it's sobering. It's sobering for us to understand that that eternal judgment is awaiting those who refuse to submit to the Lordship of Jesus and by faith trust in Him and follow Him. But what I do know is this what Christ does in those moments of retribution are fair and just. I was having a conversation with a guy the other day, and we were talking about, you know, the sovereignty of God in terms of salvation and the response of faith and human will, and it's these age-old discussions that we wrestle with. You know, there and of course the conversations always lead to, well, what about the person around the world who's never heard about Jesus? What kind of accountability can we expect from him? And the response to that is I can't speak to that specifically, other than I do know this, that they've committed sin against God that is worthy of judgment. And so, whatever we want to do about them not knowing about Jesus or having heard from them, it doesn't take away from the fact that they are guilty. And Paul says it in Romans chapter 1, that there is enough knowledge of God in the world through the created thing to tell us that there is a God, and it's enough to indict us of our sin against Him. I also told him, here's what I know. I know that there will never be an innocent person in hell. So rest assured in this. God will never send an innocent person to hell. You want to know why? There's no innocent people. Can I tell you this? There's never going to be an innocent person in heaven either. No one gets to heaven on the basis of their innocence. What will happen in heaven is the forgiven, redeemed, righteous in Jesus will be allowed, granted, but not on the basis of innocence. And so at the end of the day, while there's a lot of questions that we don't understand, here's what we know: that God will never judge nor sentence an innocent person. Because they don't exist. Every one of us are guilty of transgressing against the Lord. We are sinners by nature and we are also sinners by choice. We have all willfully rebelled against the Lord. And as such, whoever suffers judgment at the end will suffer it because they deserved it. And whoever is in heaven with the Lord will not be there because they deserved it, but because they found themselves at the mercy of the Lord and by faith they trusted and believed in Him. And so I think, you know, there's a lot of things that we we ask and we struggle with, but here's the thing I think that we often forget. We want to act as if people are inherently good and innocent. And how dare God judge them for that? Well, the reality is none of us are good and innocent. God is judging us all fairly. Every person at the end of time that Christ comes back and judges will receive for themselves the due penalty of what they deserve. And so let us not confuse ourselves into thinking that there are a bunch of innocent people out there on the planet who just haven't been given a fair shake by the Lord. There's no righteous, no, not one. There's none of us that are on the planet that are out there today just haven't been given a fair shake. We've all chosen to rebel against the Lord. And as such, here's this picture and this reminder that for those who don't walk with the Lord by faith, they will suffer judgment. For those who reject Jesus, just as Gideon was rejected by them, Christ will come back and bring judgment in a fairer way, and that's a sobering way. Now, look at what happens, and we're gonna go ahead and finish this up so we can get through the story of Gideon. This story takes a tragic turn. I mean, Gideon goes from being weak and fearful to God building up this faith in him to where he trusts God, experiences great victory, but only for it to end in a tragic way. Then the Israelites said to Gideon, Rule over us. Isn't this the mistake of men? Right? We always want a man, and God works through leadership, but we're always looking for another person to fill the void of what God is supposed to fill. I mean, as a pastor, here's what I know that my responsibility is not to be the Lord over you, but to represent the Lord who's over you and to point you in his direction. I'm to shepherd you as who? The true shepherd, Jesus Christ. Not to for myself believe that I'm the authority, that any authority that's been given to a pastor only exists under the authority of the one who is the ultimate authority and to never lose sight. And men are slow to learn, right? Think about how later the people of Israel they want a king. God wanted them to be a different kind of nation. Yet they look around and they see kings. They're like, hey, we we want one of those. And you're like, and Samuel warns us like, do you not know what's gonna happen? I mean, they're gonna take from you and they're gonna send your men into battle, and there's gonna be a lot of things, and they're like, no, we we want a king. We want someone like this. And so, you know, we see this heart in them even earlier on. Will you, Gideon, rule over us? You as well as your sons and your grandsons, for you delivered us from the power of Midian. Who delivered them? Isn't it interesting how quickly we lose sight? Isn't it quickly how we are so quick to foolishly put our hope solely in the hands of men? But Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you, the Lord will rule over you. Then he said to them, Let me make a request of you. Everyone give me an earring from his plunder. Now the enemy had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites. They said, We agree to give them. So they spread out a cloak, and everyone threw an earring from his plunder on it. The weight of the gold earrings he requested was forty-three pounds of gold, in addition to the crescent ornaments and ear pendants, the purple garments of the kings of Midian, and the chains on the necks of their camels. Gideon made an ephod. Now I'm just going to stop here for a moment and say, we don't know exactly what this ephod is. There was a priestly ephod that was to be worn by the people of Israel, or the leaders of Israel, that was a garment, a robe, and involved kind of a breastplate. We don't know if he made something like that. Another idea of an ephod is a representative piece of worship. And so in pagans, an ephod could have been any type of idol that they formed or fashioned to represent something. We tend to probably think that it was some form of symbol that was representative of the priesthood and different things. And so we'll give Gideon a bit of a pass here because he just said the Lord is our king, he's our leader, he's the one that will rule over us. But what he's doing is he's trying to form and fashion something to be representative of this. Now we're gonna see the problem that comes from it, and I'm gonna give us a warning that I think is very important that has to do with what God commanded in the law. So verse 27. Gideon made an ephod from all of this and put it in uh Ophrah, his hometown. Then all Israel prostituted themselves by worshipping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his entire household. Now, what is one of the key things of the Ten Commandments? You shall not make for yourselves a graven image of any likeness. And the idea of the graven image wasn't just making idols of other things, although that was part of it. It was essentially saying the glory of God cannot be encapsulated into a thing that you're gonna make. And as such, be very careful that you never form for yourself something that you're gonna put up and say, this thing represents the glory, the majesty of God, because God is greater than anything that you can form or fashion. And it's the natural inclination of humanity to take an object and make it more important than it needs to be. I want to be careful what I say here, but one of the issues even in Catholicism is the representation of physical things and how I believe that hold the danger of creating graven images as if there's power in an object. Now, let me just speak to this because a while back someone said, Well, I know you don't like crosses, because I've made comments before like the danger of us thinking crosses have to be everywhere. Here's my point in that. There is no power in a cross. It is merely a reminder for us of the place that Jesus died. But when people say to me things like, Well, we've got to have pictures, or we've got to have crosses, or we've got to have this to be able to worship, here's my response. Be careful lest you find yourself committing the very same sin that God warns his people about, that there is no image or representation that fully is able to capture the glory of God. Let me just give you a clear picture on a cross. A cross does not tell the whole story. When you take a cross and you put it up there and you say, Well, we're worshiping, and that helps us because that's the place where Jesus died, that cross is inadequate to tell the story. First of all, thousands upon thousands upon possibly millions of people died on a cross. Jesus wasn't the first one. Secondly, while he died on a cross, he rose from the dead. If you put the cross at the end of that story, we're still trapped in our sin, in our death. And so the cross is an important part of it, but it's not the whole story. And so what you're doing is you're taking an image and you're trying to force upon it something far more majestic than it's what it's able to tell. The glory of God cannot be encapsulated in a cross. It's like pictures of Jesus. I've had someone ask me before, why don't you have a picture of Jesus? I'm like, does anybody have a picture of Jesus? Like, if you're the first one to find one, we'll talk about it. But like, they don't exist. Why? Well, there wasn't a camera. And so any other picture that we have is an interpretation. Believe it or not, I I had heard in my life the stories about the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jesus, and I had never seen it before, and I actually came across it, which to me, again, is just baffles my mind how someone wanted to take the image of Jesus who is a Jew by birth and make him blonde hair blue-eyed. But nonetheless, the point of the matter is like the glory of Jesus is not encapsulated in a picture of Jesus. So here's what I think happens in this in this passage. And interestingly enough, Israel's gonna do the same thing again, right? Or has done the same thing in their history. Remember when uh Moses went up to the mountain, and what did Aaron do? Give me your gold? Let's make an image. And so what's happened in this is I think Gideon in his mind has said, all right, we need to remember who gave us the victory. So I'm gonna make an ephod, whatever it is, that's gonna represent God and his victory. And we're gonna put it up there, and then that way every time you see it, you're gonna remember. And you wanna know what happens, just like in a thousand other churches, it becomes a sacred cow. And all of a sudden now they're worshiping the image. They're worshiping the thing rather than the God who says, don't make an engraven image, because there's nothing that you're gonna fashion with human hands that is ever going to encapsulate my glory and goodness. And I know your hearts, you're gonna start loving that thing more than you love me. And we do this in a thousand ways, right? You pray, you pray, you pray for a spouse. God gives you a spouse, you love the spouse more than you love the guy that gave it to you. You pray, you pray, you pray, you ask for a child, and all of a sudden the child that God gives you becomes, you know, it's one of the great stories of Hannah with Samuel. Like she says, God, if you give me a child, I'll give him back to you. And she does. Why? Because the giver was greater than the gift. And in her worship of the Lord, she says, I'm gonna give back to you the very thing. We see it even in the story of Abraham and Isaac. Like he takes Isaac up there, and even though he believes that God's gonna raise him from the dead because he knows that Isaac's the one whom he's promised to bring forth this great nation, he says, God, you're greater than the gift. And so if you require me to give back the gift to you, I know you're greater, and I'm gonna trust you in it. I'm not gonna let the gift become the replacement for you. And so what happens is we form for ourselves all of all the time things that in one sense represent the goodness of God, but later replace God in our life. Uh, you think about C.S. Lewis's story, The Great Divorce. I don't know how many of you are familiar with that, but but there's a it's basically a sh and you and you gotta read it, and it's just like a lot of C. S. Lewis stuff, it's a little difficult to grasp until you grasp it. But basically, it's about people who want to get into heaven, this the celestial place. And it's not that God's necessarily keeping them out, but there are things that they want there that God says, oh, that can't come. Like you can't have that there. And part of the story is about a lady who clearly lost a child, and in her mind, this child has been in heaven. And the only reason she, part of the story is the only reason she wants to go to heaven is because she wants the child. And so she gets there and basically she's trying to get in and like, well, bring him to me. He's like, Oh, you can come in and see him, but he's not coming to you. And I'm paraphrasing this, probably butchering it. But before long, she gets mad and she's like, How dare you not give him to me? And he's like, I'm not keeping him from you, but you gotta shuck this, you gotta give this up, and then you can come and take possession, and he's here. You you'll see him. But essentially, finally, she starts screaming and saying, Give him back to me. I want to take him back with me. I how dare you keep him from me? And here's the point of it what she wanted wasn't God, it was the gift that she had been given and that she felt like he had taken. And her whole desire for heaven, her whole life, had nothing to do with God. It's I want the thing that's there that you gave me. And that's resonated with me forever because I'm like, how many people follow God simply because there's something else that they want that they think God is the ticket to getting, and they forsake the greatest gift for a cheap substitute. When God's saying, I'm not going to keep that thing from you, I'm the giver of all good things, but I'm not going to let you have it the way that you want it. And I fear that, and I've kind of taken this in another turn, I fear that there's going to be a lot of people who miss out on heaven who think they're going simply because they don't want the heaven the Bible talks about. They want their version of heaven. And God says, Oh, I'm not giving that to you. I've got something better for you than that. And their whole idea of what the future is going to be is not at all what God's promise the future will be. And he tells them, Well, I'm not going to give it to you because you wouldn't like this anyway. Because heaven's not a place for people who just don't want to go to hell. Heaven's a place for people who love God and want to be with Him. Heaven's the place for people who think that God is the greatest gift that can ever be given, and you get to see Him there. And I'll just tell you, I get very concerned when I do funerals and meet with families when the only talk about heaven is about who they're going to see other than God and what they're going to get other than God. And they think the best thing about heaven is you're not going to have cancer. You're like, oh no, believe me, there are far better things in heaven than not having cancer. God's there. So Gideon makes this thing that's supposed to represent God. And I'm going to give him a pass because I think he thought he was doing well. But he broke one of the commandments. Don't make a graven image. And look what happens when he does that. Verse 27. Then all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there. And it became a snare to Gideon and to his household. The very thing that they thought would be the representation became the very thing that got in the way. So Midian was subdued before the Israelites, and they were no longer a threat. The land had peace for 40 years during the days of Gideon. Jerubabal, that is, Gideon, son of Joash, went back to live at his house. I think we see another decline in Gideon here. Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, since he had many wives, not God's plan. His concubine, who was in Shechem, also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech. Then Gideon, son of Joash, died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father, Joash, or for the Abizarites. When Gideon died, the Israelites turned and prostituted themselves by worshipping the Baals, and made Baal burith their God. The Israelites did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hand of the enemies around them. They did not show kindness to the house of Jerubabel, that is Gideon, for all the good he had done for Israel. How quick we are to turn back where we came from. How quick we are to love the gift more than the giver. And this is a cautionary tale for us. That it's possible for us to be obedient and do the things that God wants and receive blessing, only to slip right back into the very same thing that the story began with. You know, I'm just prideful enough that sometimes I can read this story and be like, those idiots? I'd never do that. I mean, what a bunch of fools. You know, one of the saddest things that that reminds that that haunts me as a pastor and a leader is if you're not careful, because sin is so deceptive, you can become the very thing that you hate and swore you would never become. I saw a recent study uh that came out, survey, you maybe have seen it, and it talks about how the trust in pastors is an all-time low. And essentially, as they poll different people, like, you know, do you trust the office, the role of pastor? And not necessarily do you trust your pastor, but what's your opinion of pastors? And it's at all-time low. I mean, the majority of people do not necessarily trust the role to office of pastor. Now, I I would tell you not to protect pastors, but if you polled people over leadership in general, people as a whole don't trust leadership anymore. And rightfully so. I mean, we've proven ourselves over and over again that we're guilty. And I think one of the biggest things that's come from it is because we have had the rise of mega pastors and celebrity pastors, and you know, I could spend a lot of times ranting and railing on that because I believe it's so against what we see in the Bible. But nonetheless, what we see happen is that there is failure, and it's just it's publicized more because it's a hot topic, because it's big, because it's out there right in front of you. But what's interesting is you begin to hear the stories. I think some of these men just started out bad. I mean, like you hear the stories, like there were red flags over. I think it's the danger of the entrepreneurial pastor who basically just like creates a system that would work in any form of business. I mean, it's essentially a business model, right? I mean, you you find a good that people want, you package it in the right way, you get that one rolling, and then you just start creating more of them. I mean, we see it every week in Starbucks, right? It's a great business model. Find something somebody likes, and you package it in a way that they like it, you brand it in a way that you feel like you're missing out. Like, here's the truth Starbucks coffee's not great. They got some flavored coffee drinks that aren't bad, but just like if you want to go get a cup of coffee, like the last place you want to go is Starbucks. Like it's not great, but why do you want it? Because oh, it's cool. It's what everybody gets, it's what everybody drinks and likes. And so you package it in a certain way and then you mass produce it, and people come and we do that in the name of ministry, and I think it's very dangerous. I don't think it looks anything like a model we see in the New Testament. But nonetheless, I think a lot of these guys, though, start out thinking we're not going to become this. We we got a better way. And they become the very thing that they swore they would never become, that they hate, because just lost sight. Pride creeps in, like there's a thousand things that that can affect all of us, and I see it, and I and I and I pray against it, and I and I pray, Lord, don't let me be a cautionary tale. Because I don't want to be. I mean, like, I can tell you right now, like, my heart's not to fail at this thing. But oh, how seductive sin is. And here's Gideon, and he ends his life, and Israel kind of ends their life being the very thing they didn't want to because of the deceptive nature of sin, which is why we can't lose sight of God, who he is, that he's the main focus, that he's the ruler, the leader of us all. And we just keep pointing ourselves back to him, which is why it's so important to stay in the word. It points us back to him. I can almost assure you this if you lose sight and get wayward, it's because you lost sight of God in the word. And the only way that I know to get back on track is to get back, get your sight, get your focus, your faith put back on him. Yes, ma'am. No, I don't either. I think I don't think uh it's wrong to have a cross in your house. I'm sure I have some in there. I'm trying to think. I'm sure I have one hanging in my house somewhere. Uh I've got them in my office, you know. I think it's important though that we don't make that cross so important that it becomes some symbolic representation that you would say, well, if I don't wear a cross, I'm not a Christian or I'm not following the Lord, or we can't meet. You know, I had a person tell me before, well, I can't worship if there's not a cross in the building. I mean, that that's a scary, dangerous statement. I mean, that, I mean, honestly, and and for the I mean, I'm just being as serious as can be. There's there's no jokes in this. Like, if that is true, we've lost sight. Now we can say, you know, we we like the way they look, they're a good reminder, but like that is definitely the grave graven image. And I can tell you at the last church that I pastored, there was this, and I don't know why old churches used to have this, maybe there used to be one here. They called them a parlor. Anybody ever been in a church with a parlor? I don't even know what they existed for. They're like typically like in a dungeon-y type area, like you know, they and every church I've ever been in, like, they're kind of downstairs, and in this parlor, there were these artifacts, if you will, that like became way too important in the church. There was this picture of Jesus, there was this cross, there was like this showcase like you would see like at a jewelry store almost, and it had like these church history things in it, and I mean it was it was very bizarre. And and anyway, so when we were getting ready to leave the church, you're like, are we gonna bring these things? And we're like, we don't have a place for them. We didn't build a new parlor. Well, what are we gonna do with them? I don't know. I mean, they look pretty nasty and old to me. I mean, I don't think goodwill would even take them. You could try that, or you can like cast lots to see who wins, you can have a private auction just as long as 25% of what you take in goes to the church building fund and the other 75% goes in the general budget. But like they were just all like, well, this picture, and it was freaky. It was like this 3D type picture that if you move, like the eyes kind of followed you. I don't know if you remember those. And so, like, honestly, I would walk through that room and Jesus was staring at me in a very weird way. Like, I mean, but but like they were so this group was so wrapped up in these things, like we gotta have them. And I said, for what? Like, we don't want to turn the new building into looking like grandma's garage. But it was a fixation on something with them. And I told them this, like, this is this is against the Ten Commandments here. We have a love for things and what they represent that steps outside the bounds and it's a starch warning against what God tells us about. So if you want to wear a cross, by all means, if you want to have crosses in your house, by all means, we have a cross over there. That's great. But but let me just tell you this there's no power in that thing. None. And if we took it down and it causes you to question faith, that is an idol that has got to be dealt with. And it can be a thousand things in your life. Like that's just the visible one that we like to pick out. We gotta stop. Huh? Did they fire me? No, not yet. I'm still working on it. There's been days I've prayed and asked the Lord for someone to fire me. I'm like, God, this would just be easier. That way I didn't quit. And uh I could just say, hey, it's their fault. But yeah, not happened yet. But I'm, hey, I'm still young. I'm still young. Let's pray. Father, we love you, we thank you, we praise you. God, help us to keep things in the proper perspective. This is why we need your spirit, we need your word, we need wisdom. God, our hearts can be deceitful. And so, Father, help us to be able to evaluate things appropriately. Father, may we learn lessons from Gideon, lessons of faith, lessons of obedience, lessons of trusting you in the middle of hardship. God, may we learn lessons of what not to do, falling back into patterns of same sin, making mistakes of not trusting you, creating things that God you explicitly warned us against. And Father, may we see a deeper picture in the life of Gideon that he conquered just as Jesus conquered.