Gideon Cleans House

Introduction

As many know, we’ve been studying through the book of Judges and looking at the people that God used to deliver Israel.

(Speak of the Judges Cycle: Sin, Judgment [chastening], Repentance, Deliverance)

Othniel

(National Revival)

Lack of Separation leads to Assimilation

BECAUSE:

They Sorrowed, they Shouted

BECAUSE:

They Shouted, the Spirit Moved

BECAUSE:

The Spirit Moved and a Soul was Willing

BECAUSE:

Souls were Willing, Salvation was Wrought!

Ehud

When things are in your life that shouldn’t be, it’s not long before Eglon takes command. (Eglon being sin)

Sin & Apathy prevent Revival

You don’t have to be perfect to be used of God in a great way

God will Provide Victory if you provide availability

Shamgar

Jg. 3:31 - He did What he COULD with what he HAD

Deborah (w/ Barak & Jael)

Three Necessary for Deliverance:

Deborah - Stood in the Gap

Barak - Surrendered to the Call

Jael - Took a Stand

The next Judge that we encounter in this book is the man named Gideon. In great contrast to one like Shamgar, much is said about Gideon.

Today we’re going to begin a 3 part mini-series concerning the Judge Gideon. This first one I have titled ‘Gideon Cleans House’.

What we must notice first is Israel’s Condition

I. Israel’s Condition (v1-6)

The Evidence of Sin (v1)

We see that the COI did evil. But what I mean by 'the evidence’ is this: Look closely at 6 words found in v1 - ‘in the sight of the LORD’.

The evidence that I speak of is that their sin was EVIDENT TO GOD!

Their sin did not go by unnoticed

Their sin did not go by unaccounted - not to whom it mattered.

You may sin or live in sin all your life & I may never find out. However, I’m not the one you really need to worry about. The one you need to worry about is the one to whom you are accountable to!

Proverbs 15:3 “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Beholding the evil and the good.”

To all the nations round about, it might have LOOKED like the COI were a Holy people - but God knew better! Make sure you know that GOD KNOWS - and God holds man accountable for their sin, just like He did here.

The Evidence of Sin

The Effects of Sin

I’m not addressing the fact that God brought Judgment down upon them, what I want to notice is the specific things that sin cost them.

Church know this: Sin comes with a cost! Sin is not free!

Brings Dishonor (v2)

We see in v2 that the COI weren’t living out in the fields & the plains - but they had to retreat unto the mountains & make their beds in dens & caves. Their sin had caused them to move from an upright honorable life to one of a thief & vagabond - constantly hiding for fear and dread.

Sin will bring shame on you. It’ll cause you to want to hide yourself in a room & lock the door. (Ill.) Don’t believe me? Just get caught in a lie. Let your sin be spoken of amongst the people.

Sin brings Shame & Dishonor

Brings Dissatisfaction (v3)

This point and the next go hand in hand, but I want to point out first that sin brings Dissatisfaction.

In v3, the COI had sown seeds looking for increase. Looking for a harvest. Yet, they didn’t get it.

(Ill.) How many of you have worked & labored at something expecting a return on your labor - an increase or harvest, only to be disappointed? If you haven’t, then you probably have never taught or preached a Bible message. For those of us that have, we pray, sweat & agonize over what to teach, how to teach it - God then opens our eyes & hearts to the truths found therein, to the point where it effects you. And then you can’t wait to share it, because you KNOW that what it’s done for you, it will do for EVERYONE ELSE. Then Sunday comes and you deliver it with all that’s within you, and no visible effect has been made.

That’s just the way it is. It’s much like the Scripture: I or another will toil to plant, yet Satan comes along and tears up the increase.

Dissatisfaction is something that we all experience at one time or another, but church sin will most certainly amplify that in your life!

Sin brings Dissatisfaction

Brings Destitution (v4-6a)

We see in our Scripture, that the increase that the COI expected didn’t come - and it left them in want.

Sin will certainly do this - it will leave you destitute: In one of two ways:

If you’re lost, it will leave you without:

Light

Hope

or Help

In a place called Hell for all eternity

Whatever trinkets or baubles you’ve accumulated on this earth will stay right here when you leave this world, until they too are destroy by fire. Many will spend their lives accumulating THINGS yet to be empty for all eternity in torments & flames.

Sin will leave you destitute if you’re lost, but it will also leave you destitute if your saved as well.

If you’re saved, yet you spend your life in sin, you will at the last stand before a loving Saviour who died for your sins. Ransomed His own life to keep you out of Hell - and you’ll have nothing to give Him in return.

Sin will leave you Destitute

Prayerfully a Different Direction (v6b-8a)

One thing that I hope that sin brings YOU if this applies to you, is I pray it brings you to a different direction.

They had forsaken God, but now we see them turning to God and calling out to Him! This is Repentance.

Church, right now I want to encourage you in something. If you are stuck in sin, and you are struggling - Satan has had his way with you and YOU are in Despair, Dissatisfied & Destitute - CALL OUT UNTO THE LORD! STOP RUNNING FROM GOD AND RUN TO HIM! IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE!

God DESIRES to pull you up out of the muck & the mire of sin! He WANTS to deliver you! But you must call out unto Him!

It’s not too late - though you might be stuck in Sin, if you call out unto Jesus, it changes things!

We see Israel’s Condition

II. Gideon’s Confusion (v7-24)

As we go through this three messages, we’re going to see the triumphs & tragedies of Gideon’s ministry. Here we see Gideon kind of stumbling out of the gate.

His Lack of Discernment (v7-13)

The prophet begins to tell the COI about the Great things that God hath done for them, then abruptly says ‘but ye have not obeyed my voice’.

Then He turns to Gideon (v11), Solutes him (v12) and then we see Gideon’s response (v13)

Gideon thought that the reason they were experiencing their trials was because God forsook them. This was obviously not the case. Their trials wasn’t a product of God’s doing, but of their own!

All too often, Christians experience trials in life and they blame God or they look to God as if He had failed in His responsibilities, yet oftentimes, their trials aren’t God’s doing, it’s their own!

Gideon failed to understand that they were experiencing the Judgement of God for their sin, not the forsaking of God by HIS!

He showed a lack of discernment.

His Lowly Disposition (v14)

The Angel of the LORD doesn’t even correct Him (as He’d already addressed this through the prophet). But instead He tells Gideon that he’s going to deliver Israel (v14). To which, Gideon shows great humility - which is a good thing!

However, when he is speaking about how much of a nobody he was, he was failing to recognize how big GOD was!

Church, you may be nothing - I sure am! But our God is a big God! He can accomplish that which He pleases with whom He pleases! We can all do great things for God when we stop focusing on our frailties and start focusing on His ability!

His Lowly Disposition

His Longing for Demonstration (v17-24)

i.e. His Lack of Faith

This is first of multiple times to which Gideon is looking for a sign from God.

I’m not going to say much about this now as the ask & response doesn’t much matter to us now. Gideon asked & God gave. The reason he asked was a lack of faith in what God said.

We must remember the Words of Jesus: Matthew 16:4 “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.”

We don’t need to be seeking signs, as that is a demonstration of a lack of faith - and Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Gideon didn’t have what we have. Man in Jesus’s day didn’t have what we have. We have God’s complete Revelation in His Word - and we need nothing else!

His Longing for Demonstration

We see Israel’s Condition & Gideon’s Confusion

III. Gideon’s Cleansing (v25-32)

Now is Gideon’s time to act. God is going to use Gideon to deliver an entire nation!

But before God can do that, SOMETHING NEEDED DONE FIRST!

As we see, there are things in the home of Gideon that needed gone.

The fact of the matter church, is that God can’t use you to do great things in the world, if He can’t count on your to clean up your own home.

1 Peter 4:17 “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”

This is why most messages that come from this pulpit are focused on the church rather than lost people. We must get things right at home so that we can be used in great deliverances for God in the world!

This of course goes for our church too! We can’t hope to be a help to people OUT THERE, unless we’re right with God IN HERE!

Images Needed Cast Down

Things that Captivate our Attention

(Things we focus on more than God - our time / attention)

Many Christians have idols in their life. They have things that they are more focused on than God. They are captivating & dominating their attention. And these can be good things or bad things.

Let me rephrase: If it comes before God you can turn a good thing into a bad thing.

Let me ask you this: Are there things in your life that you pay more attention to than God? Whenever you have free time, what do you do with it? Do you spend it making money, seek your favorite hobby? Or do you try to utilize that time for the cause of Christ in some way? Do you ‘carve out time in your schedule for God or for something or someone else?

Am I saying that you can’t have a hobby or something that you care about other than God, no. But if that is getting more attention than God, then it’s a problem!

Idols can be anything church! They must be cast down in your home & heart if you’re ever going to do something great for God!

Images Needed Cast Down

Impediments Needed Consumed

Things that Consume our Affections

(Things that we consume our love / affection)

Oftentimes we see reference to ‘the groves’ in Scripture. The groves was a place of worship. So we see this as something that is consuming our affections.

Let me ask you this: What / Who is your #1 love of your life? If you’re a Christian, and you say that your spouse is #1, then your affections are in the wrong place. If you say your children, then they are again in the wrong place. If you say grandchildren, then they are in the wrong place. God DESERVES to be #1 in your life.

Remember the Words of Jesus when He said: Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

God must be first! If anything else is in the way, THEN IT’S IN THE WAY! IT NEEDS REMOVED!

Impediments Need Consumed

Offerings Needed Consecrated

Things that Prevent Full Devotion

In our text we see that God instructed Gideon to take the wood of the grove and use it to consume the offering.

(Ill.) I think back to Abraham & Isaac - Gen. 22. Isaac was the PROMISED child, he was a PRECIOUS child - but God demanded to be PREEMINENT in the life of Abraham! Isaac could have very well been a hinderance to Abraham instead of a blessing simply by putting him before God!

We must take our affections from anything that is above God and consecrate them unto God!

What is it that is a hinderance that prevents you from being what God’s calling you to be in your life? What’s preventing you from giving yourself wholly, totally unto Him? Give it to God! Don’t let it continue to be a stumbling block in your life!

Conclusion

Of course, the closing of our story shows that Gideon did what God instructed - God did see him through and kept him safe, and he became a testimony unto his idol worshipping father. He not only cleansed his house, but led to the saving of his family!

Thus, now that Gideon Cleaned House, he was fit to go on & do something even greater for God!

Church what do you want? Do you wish to do something great for God with your life? Do you want to accomplish something that will be remembered 1,000 years from now? Your only hope is to clean your own backyard, consecrate yourself unto the LORD and let Him do a work through you!