Gideon: The Importance of Rooting Out Sin | Judges 6:1-10
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Julius Caesar and crossing the Rubicon. “The die is cast.” No turning back.
Context (Judges 6:1-6)
Context (Judges 6:1-6)
1 The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.
2 And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds.
3 For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them.
4 They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey.
5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in.
6 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord.
· The text no longer contains the word “again” in the introduction to the Judges cycle.
o Israel’s sin has become so common that it’s become a foregone conclusion that they would fall back into sin.
· This time, the lord gives them over into the hands of an enemy from before the conquest, the Midianites (helped again by the Amalekites).
· As we enter this era of Israel’s history, I would like you to take note of the escalation of things.
o Israel’s sin is escalating, as we will see in Gideon’s father.
o Israel’s separation from God is escalating, as we will see in the message of the prophet.
o The consequences of Israel’s sin are also escalating.
o Instead of domination, Israel is subjected to desolation and desperation.
· The Midianites reduced the Israelites to desperate subsistence, hiding away like animals.
o The Midianites are described in terms like the plagues of Egypt.
o They didn’t take, they destroyed, leaving nothing behind.
· Israel was again brought low…very low.
o Israel has been humbled, and so they do what they always do…they cry out to the lord for help.
o Now, this was the intent of the lordgiving them up, they would turn to Him…that they would repent.
o His desire for Israel is that they would come to a place where their heart cries out what is recorded by the psalmist.
8 Do not remember against us our former iniquities; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.
· The problem is that they have not fundamentally changed…they have not repented.
o For there to be repentance, there must be a reckoning with our guilt and a change of heart about our state before a holy and righteous God.
But Israel has not reckoned with their sin, and so God graciously moves to deliver His people again, this time from their delusional pretention.
Getting to the Heart of the Matter (Judges 6:7-10)
Getting to the Heart of the Matter (Judges 6:7-10)
7 When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites,
8 the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery.
9 And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.
10 And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”
· Rather than send a judge this time, the lord sends a prophet.
· Judges were sent to deliver Israel from their enemies and to bring them back to obedience to the lord and rest.
· Prophets were sent in the Old Testament in order to call the people to account for themselves.
· The heart of the matter is that there is a lack of fellowship between the lordand his people.
o Calling upon the name of the lord for salvation is to invoke a relationship with Him.
§ But for Israel, their relationship with the lord is based upon a covenant and therefore has certain stipulations, namely devotion and obedience.
· The prophet lays out the history of Israel’s covenant relationship with Him.
o He had been faithful…He had led them out of Egypt, brought them out from under slavery, delivered them out of the hands of the Egyptians and all other oppressors, He had driven out all their enemies.
o All he had required from them is that they worship Him as God and not to fear the gods of the land.
o And in the most uncomfortable ending to a sermon ever, he simply ends with, “But you have not obeyed my voice.”
· The implicit statement is that Israel, by her disobedience and infidelity, has forfeited the right to be delivered.
o They are calling upon a relationship that they have no right to rely upon.
But even in this moment of darkness, God never abandons His promise or His people.
· Their oppression under Midian is evidence of God’s mercy.
o He is restraining them from falling into greater evil by showing them their need for Him.
God is With Us in Our Weakness (Judges 6:11-24)
God is With Us in Our Weakness (Judges 6:11-24)
11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.
12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”
15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
17 And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me.
18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”
19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them.
20 And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so.
21 Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.”
23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”
24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.
· We find that Gideon does not match up to the stature of the judges that preceded him.
o In Gideon, we see a mirror of Israel and the state of her relationship with God.
o He is hiding in a winepress, threshing out grain.
§ He would be doing this to avoid being seen threshing grain, so that the Midianites would not see and destroy the little grain he had managed to hide away.
o While Gideon and Israel are weak and unworthy, their deliverer has lost none of His potency.
· The Angel of the lord is an enigmatic figure in the Old Testament.
o He is closely identified with God Himself, such that it has been argued by some that He is a manifestation of the pre-incarnate Son, come to do the Father’s will.
· Gideon’s resistance to the call of God indicates something about what the meaning of the angel of the lord’s message.
o He says, “the lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
§ Here, I would ask that you consider that it is not any innate valor in Gideon, the man hiding in the winepress, but the presence of the lord with him that makes him mighty.
· Proving the point, Gideon is doubtful of the lord’s goodwill toward Israel.
o How can things be so bad if God has not abandoned Israel?
§ This misses the point…God had not abandoned Israel, they had abandoned Him and were suffering the consequences of their choices.
· Yet God is not angry with Gideon for his doubts, but encourages him, “Go in this might of yours to save Israel.”
o What might? The presence of the lordwith him, of course.
§ If God is for him, how can he not be successful?
· Mirroring the doubts of Moses, Gideon demurs, stating that he is not worthy because he is too weak and low to undertake such grand activity.
o Again, God is gracious with him, reminding him how such an act will be accomplished.
o “I will be with you.”
Gideon is not worthy, but that is not the point. Gideon has the lord with him, and that makes all the difference.
o God counters Gideon’s inadequacy with His complete adequacy.
· Gideon, beginning to understand that there is something different about the person before him, asks for a sign to prove that God is with him.
o And again, God shows his graciousness in accommodating Gideon’s weakness.
· He answers by consuming the offering by fire, undeniable proof that Gideon has just had an encounter with God.
· Gideon’s response shows that he understands the momentous event that he has born witness to…and he is terrified, and rightly so.
o God had told Moses in the desert:
5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’ ”
20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
o Gideon would have certainly despaired that he would die, yet God again comforts him with an amazing statement.
· “Peace be with you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”
o This is a proto-gospel message…that God Himself makes peace with Him for us.
Jesus is the ultimate proof of God’s goodwill for us. He made peace with God through the cross. So, now we too do not need to fear, for God has made peace with us and we will live.
Further, we can count upon His strength to carry us through any trial and work that He has given us to accomplish.
· 2 Corinthians 12:9–10 (ESV)
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
But peace with God means nothing if it is not followed up with action on our part.
Peace With God Means War with Sin (Judges 6:25-32)
Peace With God Means War with Sin (Judges 6:25-32)
25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it
26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.”
27 So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.
28 When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built.
29 And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.”
30 Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.”
31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.”
32 Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.
· God makes it clear to Gideon that there is no room for two altars in Ophrah, nor in the hearts of Israel.
· His first command is to demonstrate the superiority of the God of Israel over the so-called gods of Canaan.
24 you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.
o He is to tear down the places of worship from the center of town and set upon the top of the old altar an altar to the Lord God of Israel.
§ By this act, Gideon would demonstrate two things: that the lord was the true God and that there could be no divided loyalties.
In order to lead Israel back from where they had fallen, Gideon would have to take a stand against the gods which had been corrupting the heart of Israel for so long.
o Gideon’s actions are a visual representation of repentance (turning) and regeneration (new life).
· Gideon’s action here would have been a line drawn in the sand…there could be no other meaning to his action than to express opposition to Baal and Asherah.
· Understandably, Gideon would have been fearful of taking this action.
o He was not only taking a stand against Baal, but also his father, to whom the altar belonged.
o He could not expect that things would turn out well for him.
· But it is here that we see that the lord was true to His promise. He was with Gideon, even in his fearfulness. And so, Gideon was obedient to do as God had commanded.
· Gideon’s example shows us that we, too, have a choice to make.
o Will we follow Jesus Christ or the world? And we must make a choice.
· The story of Gideon shows us that obedience is more important than heroism.
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
· If we would claim the name of Jesus, then that means that we must stand against sin and death, His great enemy.
o Like Gideon, we must be willing to make our opposition public such that we become defined by it.
· Gideon was preserved in the morning because through his bold action, he had shown one thing to be unavoidably true…Baal was no true god.
o His altar had been desecrated and the wood of the Asherah pole had been used to make an offering to the lord.
§ And neither Baal nor Asherah could do anything about it.
· The same spirit that was at work in Israel is at work in the world, and even in the church today.
o And we must reckon, as the people of Ophrah did, with where we will put our loyalties, and in whom we will place our trust.
§ But to follow Jesus means something radical must change in us.
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
o Nevertheless, God has not left us unequipped for the task.
§ He has given us a most precious gift, that even Gideon did not have.
· The abiding presence of God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
o So, it falls to us to make use of the gifts we have been given and entrust our lives to His care, whatever may come.
5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
· Jesus alone must sit upon the throne of our hearts.
o But following King Jesus means victory for us.
· Be sure, that where the church and the Christian take a stand against sin, you will see the gospel go forward in victory.
· For who can contend with Jesus?
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.
· And so, we hold fast to the promise of God.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Conclusion
Conclusion
· Let us consider what this story means for us in light of the cross.
o In Jesus Christ, we have an obedient Savior who obeyed perfectly for us and mediates peace with God for us.
o Through the Holy Spirit, we have the very presence of God dwelling in us to walk with us as we take a stand against sin, both in ourselves and in the world.
· And so we remember the words of Peter to encourage us in our way.
13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,
15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
o Indeed, we may suffer consequences for standing against the evils that the world calls good, but we have a sure promise that we are not alone>
9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
o And so, we have every reason to follow hard after our Savior and King, enduring the trials along the way after His example.
3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
· We too, can stand firm in the truth because God will fight for us.
· Don’t hold on to the things of this world…they are passing away…they cannot save themselves, much less you.
· But hold on to Christ and what He has already done for us.
o Let that give you the assurance and confidence to follow Him today.
