All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn to the book of Judges. Judges chapter 6. Deuteronomy,
Joshua, Judges. Judges chapter 6. I'd like to be speaking out of
verses 11 through 24, but I want to read the first 10 verses to
give us some understanding, where we are here. Judges chapter 6,
verse 1 to 10. And the children of Israel did
evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into
the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed
against Israel and because of the Midianites, the children
of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains and
caves and strongholds. And so it was when Israel had
sown that the Midianites came up and the Amalekites and the
children of the east, even they came up against them. And they
had camped against them and destroyed the increase of the earth till
thou come into Gaza and left no sustenance for Israel, neither
sheep, nor ox, nor ass. For they came up with their cattle
and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude. For both they and their camels
were without number. They entered into the land to
destroy it. And Israel was greatly impoverished. because of the
Midianites. And the children of Israel cried
unto the Lord. And it came to pass when the
children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites
that the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel,
who said unto them, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought
you up from Egypt and brought you forth out of the house of
bondage. And I delivered you out of the
hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all that oppressed
you. Drave them out from before you
and gave you their land. And I said unto you, I am the
Lord your God. Fear not the gods of the Amorites
in whose land you dwell, but you have not obeyed my voice."
Now, Israel is being chastened by the Lord. God sent them a
prophet to rebuke the people, but they didn't obey. And the
Lord now is going to lovingly chasten them. Oh, how merciful
is the Lord to his people. Now, the scripture says in verses
11 and 12, and there came an angel of the Lord and sat under
an oak, which was in Ophrah. that pertained unto Joash, the
Abaizezrite, and his son Gideon, threshed wheat by the winepress
to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him and said unto him, the Lord is with thee, thou mighty
man of valor. The Lord, now here they are,
here's Israel. And the Lord, to correct His
people, He's put them now under bondage. The Midianites have
come in there and kind of taken over the land. They're Midianites
and Amalekites and they come and they set up camp. The Israelites,
they'll plant them some food and have them some cattle and
have them a little something to eat and the enemy comes in
and takes it. Takes it all. And now here's
Gideon and the scripture says he's threshing wheat by the wine
press. See, threshing floors were usually
very exposed facilities, and so by the winepress, the scripture
says, he's hiding from the Midianites, who now are in the land. And
the scripture says, the angel of the Lord, this is the Lord
Jesus himself. We'll see that. And he appears
unto Gideon. I think, what a blessing. Here's
Gideon, like all of the ones in Israel at that time, and the
Lord appeared unto this unworthy sinner. And like all of us, unworthy. And not only did He appear to
him, but the Scripture says that the Lord is with thee. Now look at that word, Jehovah. Here's the word, Jehovah is with
thee, thou mighty man of valor. Now this is the Lord himself,
the Lord Jesus, angel of the covenant, the person of Christ
Jesus, the express image of God who's been pleased to manifest
himself in form that Gideon has been able to behold. He can hear him. He can converse
with him. And he tells Gideon what Gideon
is. Not in Gideon, but in the Lord. The mighty man of valor. You know, the scripture says,
Romans 8, 37. Nay, in all things we are more than conquerors.
What? In ourselves? In our ability? In our jobs? No. Through him
that loved us. were more than conquerors through
him. So the Lord tells Gideon, you know, the Lord's with thee,
thou mighty man of valor. And the Lord knew the exact,
precise word that Gideon needed to hear. He needed to hear that
the Lord, the Lord's with you. The Lord is with thee. He knew
the dire strait that Gideon was in because the Lord sent the
dire strait. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. The Lord knows the trials, the
tribulations, the heaviness, the sufferings of his people
in this world. He knows. He ordered it. It's ordained. These things I have spoken unto
you that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. Be of good cheer. This is the
promise of God. You're going to have trials. You're going to have tribulation. In this situation, in our situation,
in every believer's situation, we need to hear the voice of
the Master say to us, say to our hearts, as we struggle, the
Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. And the scripture
says in verse 13, And Gideon said unto him, O my Lord, If
the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? And
where be all His miracles which our fathers told us of, saying,
Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord
hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. Now, which downtrodden child
of God can fail to enter in to that question that Gideon asked. The Lord told him, the Lord is
with you. And Gideon said, well, if the
Lord is with us, why are we going through what we're going through?
Why are we suffering? Where's all the mighty miracles
that we heard our fathers told us? How the Lord with a mighty
hand brought them out of Egypt and fed them with manna and gave
them sustenance every day. opened up the Red Sea and they
walked across and they sang victoriously. Where is that? Where's all the things that they
witnessed? Why has the Lord forsaken us
and now we're found to be in bondage? The Lord never forsook
them. The Lord had never forsaken them.
That's a misconception. The scripture says because of
disobedience that they were going through. So why are we not experiencing
now what we remember? I remember the way things were. I remember the way things used
to be. We used to have this, that, and
the other. We had big crowds. Why? Why? Why are we going through? Brethren, do we not find ourselves
questioning the Lord according to the looks of our circumstances?
The way we see it, how many congregations of the Lord's blessing where
the gospel has been consistently preached for years, how many
congregations behold the trials and troubles and tribulations. Oh, my Lord, if the Lord be with
us, then why is all this befalling us? And in the way that the Lord
knew best to answer. The Lord answered Gideon with
this command. Look at verse 14. The Lord looked
upon him and said, Go in this thy way, and thou shalt save
Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent thee? Now he again who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will." He said, in essence, Gideon,
you trust me. You believe me. Have not I sent
you? Did I not send you? Have I forsaken
you? Are we not still here? You trust
me. You know, there's many devices
in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the counsel of
the Lord, that shall stand. Gideon said in verse 15 unto
him, oh, my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family's poor in Manasseh,
and I'm the least in my father's house. Lord, oh, how weak is our faith when
we began to look at our outward circumstances. We began to look
around, look at ourselves. And like Gideon, we began to
question. And Gideon said, my family is
poor. I'm the least in my family. How am I going to do that? What
kind of influence am I going to be able to have in this salvation
of Israel? Oh Moses, when the Lord told
him, I'm going to send you and you're going to go before Pharaoh
and you're going to tell Pharaoh, let my people go. Moses said
in Exodus 4.10, Oh my Lord, I'm not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since
thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I'm slow at speech. I've
got a slow tongue. I don't have the ability to go
and talk to Him. The Lord said to Gideon, Have
I not sent you? Have I not sent you? Jeremiah
said in Jeremiah 1,6, Oh Lord God, behold, I cannot speak,
for I am a child. The Lord is with thee. Have not I sent you? Listen to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 2.16. Oh, how many times have we doubted? I said 2 Corinthians. I'm sorry.
It's 1 Corinthians 1. I looked at the wrongs. 1 Corinthians
1. Verse 26-29, you see your calling brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, Not
many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are
despised hath God chosen, yea, things which are not, to bring
to naught things that are that no flesh should glory in his
presence. Who's sufficient for these things?
Who is sufficient for these things? But the Lord is with thee. And I've sent you. And God is
able, He's able to save to the uttermost those that come unto
God by Him. I've sent you. Judges 6, 16,
and the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou
shalt smite the Midianites as one man. The one who sent Gideon is the one who confessed in his
high priestly prayer unto his father, as thou hast given him
power over all flesh. that He should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given Him. I sent you. He is God Almighty. God Omnipotent. All power in
heaven and earth is His. If God be for us, Who can be
against us? Almighty God who spoke this world
into existence, chose His people in Christ before the foundation
of the world, called them powerfully out of darkness, called us out
of false religion. That's the one God called out
of false religion. God Almighty that can save a rebel. Give him a heart, make him willing
in the day of his power. You think God can sustain us? I think so. Then Gideon asked
that which would truly be the desire of every weak and frail
creature of God's mercy that sees something to himself. He
asked in verse 17, he said unto him, if now I have found grace
in thy sight. Then show me a sign that thou
talkest with me. Lord, if truly, in fact, I'm
one to whom you've been pleased to show mercy, Lord, if you've
truly, if you've been pleased to show mercy to this place, if I've truly found grace in
your sight, would you confirm to me your commission for me. Show me a sign that you talk
with me. Lord, the way I see it, it doesn't
look real promising. But Lord, it's your word. That's
what Peter said, casting out on the other side. Lord, we fished
all night. We didn't caught anything. But that's your word. I know that many of the signs
in the Old Testament, those were marvelous signs, like those Plagues
in Egypt, Red Sea I mentioned a minute ago, Manna. That rock
from which that water flowed, oh my. Boy, I know God was with
them. No doubt about that. God was
with them. Here's Gideon. He's trying to
scratch a little something to eat. He's hiding from the Midianites
threshing wheat because They come in there and take everything.
We just don't hardly have anything. But though we don't see signs
like that, still the Lord's been pleased to grant unto us a sign
that He speaks with us. David said that. Lord, don't
be silent to me. Lord, if you're silent to me,
I'll be like those that go down to the pit. Speak to me. Get in and ask for a sign. Give
me a sign. I want to know what is that sign.
Whatever that sign is to Gideon, that's what it is to us too. Gideon didn't like us. He's struggling. He needs some encouragement.
Show me a sign. The Lord said, verse 18, I mean,
Scripture says in verse 18. Now, here's the thing. Now, Gideon,
just ask Him for a sign. That's what He said. Verse 17,
If I find grace, thy sight, then show me a sign, that thou talkest
with me. Then Gideon, in verse 18, actually
asked something that the Lord promised that He'd never do.
He promised he'd never leave, never forsake us. And Gideon
now, he just asked for a sign. Then Gideon says to him, depart
not hence, I pray thee, till I come unto thee, and bring forth
my present, and set it before thee. And he, that is the Lord,
said, I will tarry until you come again. Now, the Lord has
promised He's promised. Joshua 1.5, there shall not any
man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life as I
was with Moses, so will I be with thee. I will not fail thee
nor forsake thee. That's what he said. It was repeated
by the writer to Hebrews in Hebrews 13.5, let your conversation be
without covetousness. desiring or looking around concerning
the things of this world, be content with such things as you
have. For he saith, I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee. The Lord moved him to say this, I
tell you that. Depart not hence, I pray thee
till I come unto thee and bring forth my present. Now if you
have a marginal reference, is that word present right there,
in my margin, it says meat offering. Would you just not leave? Show me a sign, but don't leave
until I want to bring my present, my meat offering. Meat offering,
it's very significant. The meat offering was a bloodless
offering, bloodless meat offering. It was composed of fine flour,
fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, no lumps, oil, and frankincense. And that offering set forth the
perfect holy humanity. of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
there was a divine law concerning the meat offering. Now listen,
the word that the Spirit of God moved upon Gideon to use when
he said, I bring forth my present. You're going to bring a meat
offering. A meat offering. Don't leave. Hold your place
right here. Turn back to Leviticus 6. Leviticus
6. Would you give me a sign that
you talk to me? Would you give me a sign? If
I've found grace in your sight, if you've been gracious to me,
would you give me a sign that you talk to me? Leviticus 6,
verse 14 to 17. This is the law of the meat offering. The sons of Aaron shall offer
it before the Lord before the altar. And he shall take of it
his handful of the flour of the meat offering, and of the oil
thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meat offering,
and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savor, even the memorial
of it unto the Lord. And the remainder thereof shall
Aaron and his sons eat with unleavened bread, shall it be eaten in the
holy place, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation
they shall eat it. and it shall not be bacon with
leaven. I have given it unto them for
their portion of my offerings made by fire. It is most holy
as is the sin offering and as the trespass offering." Now,
here's the law. And Gideon knew this. He's an
Israelite. He knows the law concerning the
meat offering. Would you stay right here just
a second? I want you to give me a sign, but just stay right
here. And let me go and I'm going to bring my present unto you. So here's the way it is. Let
me bring my meat offering. That meat offering, this was
the law. When a meat offering was offered
unto the Lord, the priest would take a handful of that meat offering,
that flour, oil, frankincense, and it was offered first unto
the Lord. The Lord ate first. The Lord
ate first. He received the first portion
and then the remainder could be eaten by the priest. Aaron,
his sons, made sure that God ate first. That sweet savor of
Christ's perfect humanity. And that obedient one, this is
my beloved son, whom I'm well pleased. That meat often would
come, and God's gonna eat first. That's the law. After God eats
first, then the men could eat. Then the men, those priests,
We feast upon Him who is our Redeemer and our Lamb. But God
ate first. That's the rule. That's the law.
I want to make sure we understand that. Depart not hence, I pray
thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and
set it before thee. And He said, I will tarry until
I come. Scripture says in verse 19, Gideon went in, made ready
a kid, Unleavened cakes and an ephah of flour, the flesh He
put in a basket, He put the broth in a pot, He brought it out unto
Him under the oak, and He presented it. Now here, surely, by faith,
the Spirit of God has moved Gideon to do it exactly the way He did
it, and He brings this unto the Lord. He brings those things
that are honoring and glorifying unto the Lord, those elements
that set forth. What it says is that He went
forth and made ready a kid. Marginal reading, it says, a
kid of a goat. Go back for the sake of time,
I won't read it. I'll tell you, it's Leviticus 16, verse 21. On that great day of atonement,
two goats were brought, two goats to Aaron. One of them He took. The blocks were cast and one
of them, a goat, was for the Lord and was going to die. The
other one was the scapegoat. Aaron laid his hands on the goat
and transferred. Symbolically transferring all
the sins of Israel to that goat. A picture of the Lord made sin.
It made Him to be sin for us. So Gideon goes in and the scripture
says he got a kid, a kid of a goat. And he's unleavened cakes of
ephah, flour, a meat offering. And the flesh he put in a basket
and he put the broth. He cooked that, boiled it, the
juice out of the meat. He put that broth and he brings
it to the Lord. The scripture says he brings
that. Here it is, pictures, glorious
pictures of Christ Himself. That kid, that lamb. What did
John the Baptist say? Behold the Lamb of God. Here
it is, pictured him, the one who's made flesh, the lamb. One
who gave himself, laid down his life for the sheep. That meat
offering, he brought that. That perfect humanity, brought
that broth. That picture of the blood came out
of the meat. Came out of the meat. I'm going to show you what
he's going to do in just a second. I'm almost ahead of myself here. But that
broth, I looked up that word broth right there. Actually, it means soup. First,
and this is from a word that means to polish, to rinse, to
scour, which is also from another word, which is Strong's number
4832. In fact, if you'd like to look
it up, here's what it means. Here's the root word of that
word broth. Here's where it comes right down to. This is the foundation
of that word. It means a medicine, a cure. deliverance and healing. And
he comes and he brings this to him. Oh, can we fail to see the
beautiful pictures? This is what he's bringing. He's
bringing him that kid, that goat. He brings him that meat offering.
He brings him that broth. He asked him, he said, if I found
grace in your sight, show me a sign. And the scripture says
in verse 20, and the angel of God said unto him, take the flesh,
the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon, now look at this,
he didn't just say a rock, he laid them on this rock. He obviously
pointed out, you lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth,
and he did so. Pour out that broth. Oh, the
beauty of that. Listen, I'll just read it. Deuteronomy
chapter 12. I'll read this for you. Deuteronomy
12 verse 27. And I shall offer thy burnt offerings,
the flesh and the blood upon the altar of the Lord, and the
blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar
of the Lord thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh. He said,
here's my presence to you. Here's my meat offering. Here's
this kid. Here's this broth. And he said, you pour that broth
out. Pour it out. And oh, how beautiful. Gideon instructed, you take the
flesh and the unleavened cakes and you lay them upon this rock
and pour it out. And he did so. He did so. You put it on this rock, that
altar. It came in an altar. Exodus 20,
25, if thou will make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build
it of hewn stone. If I lift up thy tool upon it,
thou hast polluted it. Verse 21, he said, show me a
sign. Show me a sign that you talk
with me. Show me a sign that I found grace in your sight.
Verse 21 said, then the angel of the Lord put forth the end
of the staff that was in his hand and touched the flesh. and
the unleavened cakes, and there rose up fire out of the rock,
and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel
of the Lord departed out of his sight. That then, and only then,
when that flesh, that unleavened cake was laid upon that rock,
laid upon that altar, the Spirit of God said that then the Lord
put forth, he put forth, that means he cast out, pushed away,
it means to forsake, that's what those words mean, put forth.
The end of his staff, that is the meaning of that word, the
support. And touched the flesh and the
unleavened cakes, and when it said touched the flesh, it means
violently punished to strike smite. And that broth was poured
out. whenever our Lord willingly laid
down His life. And God Almighty, it pleased
the Lord to bruise Him, to crush Him. He hath put Him to grief. I looked this up in numerous
places to make sure of this. He made Him sick. We're sick. Crown of our heads, sole of our
foot, putrefying sores. And God made him sick, bearing
our guilt, made sin, and God Almighty touched him with the
rod of his justice and judgment and crushed him. Show me a sign
that you talk to me. Here's a sign. God's taught us
that. God has taught us that. God's
given us that knowledge, that sweet knowledge, that when Christ
laid down His life, He laid down His life for the sheep. He laid
down His life for His people. Teach me! Lord, would you give
me a sign that you talk with me? Here it is right here. I
believe God. I believe Him. I believe the
Lord. Verse 22-23, When Gideon perceived
that he was an angel, of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord
God, for because I've seen an angel of the Lord face to face,
and the Lord said unto him, obvious, the Lord had just left him, disappeared,
either to his heart or from heaven, he heard it. But the Lord said
unto him, Peace be unto thee. Fear not, and listen to this,
you don't give me a sign, you're not going to die. You're not
going to die. Thou shalt not die. Oh, here's the sign. Here's the
sign. Peace be unto thee. Don't be
afraid. Don't be afraid. Then Gideon,
last verse, built an altar there unto the Lord and called it Jehovah
Shalem. Unto this day it is yet an offer
of thee abide as rites. Oh, that blessed sign of God. I know the world and its false
religion looks and they want to see signs and healings and
these outwonders. Let me tell you something. One
of the greatest signs, I look at some people right now and
I see a sign that God has spoken to them. God has spoken to them.
You believe Him. What greater witness? He that believeth on the Son
hath life. He that believeth not hath not
life. What greater sign can we have? What else? We believe God. That blessed sign. that's been wrought through the
preaching of the gospel. God raised up the gospel here.
God raised this thing up 65 plus years ago. And we're still here. Yeah, but the Lord is with us. God has blessed us. God has sent
us. He's established peace. Peace
in our hearts. Peace before God. Colossians
1.20, having made peace. through the blood of His cross
by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself. By Him, I say,
whether they be things in earth, things in heaven. Hebrews 13, 20, 21. Now the God
of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ,
that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will,
working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through
Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Lord, if I found grace in your
sight, show me a sign. Show me a sign. Oh, for him to
show me that when he laid down his life, my name was on his
heart. That he died for me. He's given
me faith to believe and he's kept me He's kept me through
faith by His power. What a sign. You know, I can
die with that sign. I can die with God giving me
a settled heart for His glory. Amen. All right, Gary.