If you would turn with me again
to Judges chapter 8. I titled this, Lord Calls Us
to Finish Well. If I mentioned the name Robert
Robinson, it would probably be unfamiliar to most of us here
tonight. But if I mentioned that hymn,
Come Thou Fount, you would know immediately that great hymn and
you would recognize it. It's said that those words in
the hymn, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it prone to leave the
God I love. The story of Robert Robinson
who wrote that is told that one day while he was riding on a
stagecoach, a lady was humming that song and she looked at him
and she said, what do you think of the hymn that I'm humming? And his response was, Madam,
I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago,
and I'd give a thousand worlds if I had feelings to enjoy them
that I had then. That's the same thing that we
see in the last days of Gideon. I'm sure that at his death, Gideon
might have very well said the same thing. No sooner had Gideon
defeated the Midianites, and there was peace and rest, trouble
began again. Look at verse 22 here in Judges
8. Then the men of Israel said unto
Gideon, rule thou over us, both thou and thy son, and thy son's
son also, for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian. And
Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall
my son rule over you. The Lord shall rule over you. And Gideon said unto them, I
would desire a request of you, that you would give me every
man the earrings of his prey, or the victims, those that they
had taken. For they had golden earrings
because they were Ishmaelites. And they answered what we willingly
give them. And they spread a garment and
did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey. And the
weight of the golden earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels
of gold beside ornaments and collars and purple raiment that
was on the kings of Midian. And beside the chains, they were
about their camel's necks. and Gideon made an ephod thereof,
and put it in his city, even in Ophrah. And all Israel went
thither a-whoring after it, which thing became a snare unto Gideon
and to his house. And thus was Midian subdued before
the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no
more, and the country was in quietness, 40 years in the days
of Gideon. And Jerubal, the son of Joash,
had been Gideon, went and dwelt in his own house. And Gideon
had threescore and 10 sons of his body begotten, for he had
many wives. And his concubine that was in
Shechem, she also bare him a son, whose name he called Abimelech. And Gideon, the son of Joash,
died in a good old age, and he was buried in the sepulchre of
Joash, his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezarites. And it came to pass, as soon
as Gideon was dead," now look at this, "'that the children
of Israel turned again, and went a-whoring after Balaam, and made
Baal the wrath their God.'" And the children of Israel remembered
not the Lord their God, who had delivered them out of the hands
of all their enemies on every side. And neither showed they
kindness to the house of Gideon, according to all the goodness
which he had showed unto Israel." You know, in a short span of
time, Gideon had gone from being a fearful farmer into a courageous
and unrelenting warrior. We've looked over the past few
weeks at his life, how the Lord used him, how the Lord victoriously
conquered Midian for him. And he and his small band of
300 men defeated the Bennianite army, captured their last two
kings, slayed those in Israel that had refused to feed and
care for his soldier. And he destroyed all the symbols,
the tower that represented their self-made power. And Gilead had
been so courageous and victorious that Israel desired to make him
king, which he refused. He refused to rule over them.
He wouldn't be their king. And he pointed Israel in the
right direction. He said, the Lord shall rule
over you. Well, the Lord had ruled over
them and will continue to rule over them. And years later, as
you'll remember, the Lord allowed Saul to be king over Israel.
They always wanted a king. like every other nation. And
the Lord allowed Saul to be their king because they rejected the
Lord as their king. And sometimes God, in a way of
judgment, gives folks what they want. That's why men here often
pray, Lord, don't give me my way, my will. I don't want what
I want. I don't want you to give me what
I want. Israel didn't need a king. God was their sovereign ruler,
but they rejected him time and time and time again. And eventually
God gave them what they wanted. Isn't that a horrific thought? That's why I titled this, Lord
Calls Us to Finish Well. May the Lord be pleased to deliver
us from our way and our will. I think it's safe to say that
Gideon was a type of Christ. You know, all the Old Testament
types and pictures of Christ were given to glorify God and
the salvation of his people by showing us something of the Savior
who was to come into the world and save his people from their
sin. But in many ways, the Old Testament types and pictures
fail and fall short. We've seen that. And even in that, Christ is glorified. How? Because no fallen man, regardless
of the grace that God gives him, could perfectly picture the sinless
Son of God. And in the imperfections of Old
Testament pictures and types of perfection of Christ is even
more evident and more clearly seen. When you lay down a crooked
stick next to a straight one, the straight one exposes the
crookedness of the other. So in that sense, even these types that fall so
short of Christ glorify the Lord Jesus. Now getting his judge
and deliverer of the people is no doubt, as I said, a type of
our Lord Jesus. The prophet Isaiah tells us in
Isaiah 33, for the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver,
the Lord is our king and he'll save us. All the judges in this
book of Judges, picture and typify the Lord Jesus. Gideon was no
doubt a man of valor and courage, and there was none like our Lord
when He came into the world to save His people from our sin.
What a delivering judge He was, putting away all the enemies
of His people in spiritual warfare. Yes, men wanted to make Gideon
an earthly king after his victories, and he refused. But when men
saw the Lord's miracles, they sought, the scripture says, to
take him by force to make him a king. But Christ is no earthly
king. He's the King of kings. And our Lord later said, you
seek me to make me king, not because you saw the miracles,
but because you benefited from the miracles, eating the loaves
and the fishes. You want me as your king for
selfish reasons, and they did. And it's the same with Israel
desiring to make Gideon king. It was obvious that he had the
favor of God. I mean, who goes out and defeats
135,000 trained soldiers with 300 men. Well, I would want him as a king,
too, if I was to have one. I'd want a man like him. And
after Gideon's victory, the people were at rest for 40 years. But
after Christ's victory, his victory over sin and death and hell and
the grave, his people rest forever. We're resting. Lord, help us
to rest and cause us to finish well. And as I mentioned, we know that
there is no perfect representative of Christ. The best, we say this
often, it's so true, the best of men are men at best and do
as men do, they sin. We all come short of the glory
of God. There's none that do it good, not a single one. Our
best work, His filthy rags. Gideon was a man, he was an imperfect
man, but the Lord was perfect in every way. What a Savior we
have. Christ is the husband of one
wife, that being his bride, the church. Gideon had many wives
and at least one concubine that we know of. And our Lord has
one bride that's made up of a number that no man can number. And as
we've seen and will continue to see, there's no place in scripture
where having more than one wife had a favorable result. Nothing
against you ladies. That's just the way it is. Whether
it was Abraham, Solomon, or Gideon, it never ended well. In the case
of both Abraham and Gideon, their affection was strong for the
sons of their concubines. You remember how Abraham loved
Ishmael, and it was the same here with Gideon. It always proved
to be a problem. Both Ishmael and Abimelech were
great trouble for their father. And whenever a man tries to help
God out, that's usually what happens. Always repercussions. Now, as
I read these verses over several times the last few days, it seemed
very apparent to me that even though Gideon refused to be Israel's
king, it looked as if he was gonna live like a king regardless. Now, let me show you why that
seems obvious in reading these verses. What's the evidence?
Well, Gideon seems to exercise several royal prerogatives. His actions are common to kings
and rulers. First, he collects contributions,
a victory tax, so to speak, a king's share of the bounty. A lot of
kings did that. In verse 23, Gideon says, no,
I won't rule over you, my son won't rule over you, but then
the Lord is gonna rule over you. But in verse 24, he says, however,
I would desire and accept if you would give me the golden
earrings of our victims. In other words, I won't be your
king, God's your king, but I'll accept 1,700 shekels of gold. Secondly, Gideon here introduces
a new religious innovation. He takes a lead in the matters
of spiritual life of the people of God. That was something the
kings were often known to do. You know, you had prophets, priests,
and king, and each one had their particular office. And we know
that the Lord Jesus is all three of those. He's the only one that
was. But oftentimes kings wanna stick their nose in the priest's
business and in the prophet's business, so Gideon did the same. Thirdly, Gideon maintains a large
harem and he fathers many sons by as many wives, which was a
notorious practice among ancient kings. And then fourthly, what
I believe to really be the crowning Evidence is what Gideon names
his son born of his concubine. He names him Abimelech, which
literally means my father is king. So obviously Gideon or
someone thought that he was kingly. In chapter 9 verse 2, if you
want to look over there, Abimelech speaks to the men of Shechem
and he says, which is better for you? Is it better for all
70 of Gideon, the sons of Gideon to rule over you or just me?
After all, I'm one of you. I'm bone of your bone and flesh
of your flesh. And to me, that suggests that
Abimelech thinks that a hereditary kingship was established which
made Abimelech feel entitled. Well, Gideon never was king,
but he acted as one. And now Abimelech says, this thing's handed down to his
son. My father was king, so I should be king. So as the old saying goes, if
a bird walks like a duck and quacks like a duck and lays duck
eggs, it's more than likely a duck. And whether Gideon took the title
of king or not, he walked like a king and he quacked like a
king and he's acting like a king. Now immediately after Gideon
and Israel's victory, the decline of Israel begins. And this is
so obvious throughout this book of Judges, throughout all the
Scriptures. Over and over again, the Lord would send a judge,
and Israel would deliver Israel, and then the judge would die,
and they'd again fall right back into idolatry. And with the 1,700 shekels of
gold that Gideon collects, he commissions the making of an
ephod. And in our previous studies of
Exodus, we saw that an ephod of gold and blue, purple, and
scarlet was twined in fine linen, and a breastplate was made with
the 12 precious stones representing the 12 tribes of Israel. And
Jewish historians explain that the ephod was originally constructed
by Moses for Aaron, the high priest, with the Urim and the
Tumen, remember that? Which was obtained, to obtain
revelation from the Lord, according to these historians. It was believed
that the ephod of Aaron, the high priest, was consulted in
the judgment of spiritual matters. So the ephod God instructed Moses
to make for the high priest was a memorial of the great salvation
that God had wrought by his own sovereign hands for Israel. Well,
when they left Israel, there was no doubt in Israel's mind
or in the Egyptians' mind that the Lord had brought them out.
Plague after plague at the hand of God. And then they get to
the Red Sea. Pharaoh's heart is hardened again.
He pursues after them. The Lord divides the Red Sea. Israel crosses on dry ground.
And then the armies of Pharaoh are drowned in that same water. No doubt who delivered Israel. So Gideon making his ephod became
a symbol of an alternative way to approach God. Here Gideon
engages in a little do-it-yourself religion. It's an innovation
of human origin. God didn't prescribe that he
make this ephod. God didn't tell him to do it.
God didn't approve it. This was all Gideon's idea. All
human innovation in the matter of salvation, dear friends, always,
always spells trouble. Here we have Gideon. He's not
a priest. He's not of the tribe of Levi.
He's definitely not a high priest. And he's setting up this epod
and he's saying, now if you want to come to the Lord and to know
His will, we've got an alternative way. Does that sound familiar? That's what modern religion's
doing today. They've made a man-made way.
Look at verse 27. And Gideon made an ephod thereof,
and put it in his city, probably upon that altar that he made
in the beginning, you remember? Even in Ophrah. And look at this. And all Israel, all Israel, went
thither a-whoring after it. which thing became a snare unto
Gideon and into his house. They made an idol out of this
ephod and they worshiped it. False religion has introduced
a man-made way to approach God by the work of man's hand, making
another way for you to come to God and seek his will. That's
what false religion is. It's another way, it's a man-made
way. to approach God and to obtain His favor. And let me tell you,
God won't have it. He won't have it. You see, it's
hard to finish well. The Lord calls us to finish well. No sooner had Gideon established
his do-it-yourself epod, the people of Israel soon followed.
And verse 27 tells us, as I just read, that all Israel went whoring
after it. They all played the harlot with
Gideon's ephod and lusted after it. It was an object of their
affection. And again, verse 28, thus was
Midian subdued before the children of Israel so that they lifted
up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness
40 years in the days of Gideon. And Jerubal, the son of Joash,
who is Gideon, went and dwelt in his own house. And Gideon
had threescore and ten sons, seventy sons of his body begotten,
for he had many wives. And his concubine that was in
Shechem, she also bare him a son, whose name he called Abimelech. And Gideon, the son of Joash,
died in a good old age, and he was buried in the sepulcher of
Joash's father, an orpha of the Abiezrites. And it came to pass, as soon
as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again
and went a-whoring after Balaam, and made Baal bareth their God. And the children of Israel remembered
not the Lord their God, who had delivered them out of the hands
of all their enemies on every side. And neither showed they
any kindness to the house of Gideon, according to all the
goodness which he had shown unto Israel. After all that the Lord had done
for them, Israel soon forgot the Lord their God who had delivered
them time and time and time again. Oh, may we never forget what
the Lord has done for us. Same old story, as they say,
same old song and dance. They went a-whoring after Balaam,
and they made Baal-barith their God. Having been taken as the
spouse of Jehovah, They committed fornication and adultery as a
harlot. And as we'll see in future studies,
Israel was worse off now than when they first started with
Gideon. We often say, you know, one step
forward and two steps back. Well, this is more like one step
forward and 100 steps back. It's hard to finish well. It's
hard to finish well. Lord calls us to finish well. Well, how do we finish well?
I got good news for you. Is there anything we can do to
make sure that we finish well? Yes. We've all seen this personally. We've seen those who worshipped
with us consistently for years, those who showed an interest
in Christ and His gospel, but now they're gone. And we scratch
our heads sometimes and wonder why. And yet, deep down, I think
each of us pray, Lord, don't let me fall. Don't let me fall
away. Because we, by nature, we're
all capable. It's those who endure to the
end that'll be saved, and it's those that lay aside, as we read
in the beginning, every weight, that sin that so easily besets
us and runs with patience the race set before us. And you know,
I've thought about that so often. How do you run with patience?
Well, I'm pretty good at it. Someone said they ran the 100-yard
dash one time in 11 seconds, and I said, it takes me 11 minutes.
but I run with patience. We've got to finish the race.
If I may so speak, it's our Lord who has won the gold medal for
us. We run with patience. Where we
place at the finish doesn't matter. We already have the gold. That's
why we can run with patience. Where we finish doesn't matter,
the results are already in. Paul wrote, know ye not that
they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. Well, if I come in last, do I
get a gold medal? In this race, you do. In this
race, you do. Doesn't matter where you finish.
All that matters is that you finish. Christ is our gold medal. He's obtained eternal redemption
for us. Gideon and Israel sought to make
their own gold medal. And God won't have it. God won't
have it. Gideon's ephod became a snare
to his own house and all the house of Israel, much like the
brazen serpent did. You know, after Moses lifted
that up high on a pole and the people looked and lived, picturing
Christ who's high and lifted up, the Son of Man must be lifted
up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. Why? So that
all that looked to him might be saved. And what did they do
after that? They took that thing and they
started worshiping it. And oftentimes we're hard on
the people of Israel, but we'd done the same thing. And what
Hezekiah do? He ground it into powder. Because the people begin to worship
it. And that's exactly what we have
here with Gideon's ephod. They begin to worship it. Gideon
didn't take his self-made ephod to Shiloh, to Christ. where God met with his people.
He took it to his own home city, his own hometown, the city of
Ophira, where he continued to judge the people. But here's
something absolutely beautiful. And it just blessed my heart
as I studied and thought about it. Regardless of Gideon's sin
and his horrible actions here at the end of his life, Gideon
is still listed with the faithful in Hebrews chapter 11. Though you and I must strive
to finish the race that is set before us, it's not how or where
we finish, but who finishes for us. We say it often and it's so. And it's the beauty of the gospel. I cannot do anything to save
myself, and therefore I can do nothing to be lost. Not if my
righteousness is the very righteousness of Christ. God's not looking
at what I've done. He's looking at what Christ has
done for me. That's why we don't talk about
what we do. Haven't we, haven't we? Oh no, I don't want to talk
about what I've done. It's horrible, horrific, nothing
but sin, nothing but filthy wrath. But I love to talk about what
He's done. I can't do anything to save myself,
but I can't do anything to be lost, because I have the very
righteousness of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. He who knew
no sin was made sin for us, that we might be what? Made, the very
righteousness of God. in him. That's the gospel. That's the beauty of the gospel.
It was given to me justly by the one who gave himself for
me. It's not mine by works of righteousness that I've done.
It's mine by the righteous work that Christ did for me. But it's
as much mine as though I had kept God's law perfectly myself. How do we finish well? Only one
way. Only one way. Looking unto Jesus,
the author. My margin of Bible said the beginner.
It all began with him, didn't it? From the foundation of the
world. the beginner and the finisher
of our faith. And the word our there is italicized. Christ is the author and finisher
of faith. You see, that's talking about
his faith. That's not talking about our faith. Men have made
a savior out of their faith today. Oh, he's a man of great faith.
I kind of doubt it, kind of doubt it. who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and he sat
down on the right hand of the throne of God, because his work's
finished, the race has been won, and we rest in him. That's how we finish well. It's
the only way we finish well. How do we finish this race? How
do we endure to the end? How do we finish well? In our
beginner, in our finisher. the Lord Jesus Christ. I love
verse 28 in this text. I looked at it several times
today. It says, and Gideon made the
ephod, and he put it in his own hometown, and after his house
and the house of Israel worshiped him. And verse 28 says, thus
was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they
lifted up their heads no more and the country was in quietness
40 years in the days of Gideon. Why is that so beautiful? Well,
the heir of Gideon in Israel and the idolatry that they committed
did not in the least alter the promise of God, which is salvation
by grace. Not by what you and I do, it's
by what Christ done for us. Salvation is by grace and it
has to be God's grace. It has to be sovereign grace.
Why you always gotta put sovereign in front of grace? Because that's
the only kind of grace there is. We have to qualify from what
other people call grace. What I hear called grace today,
not grace at all. It's a more of a cooperation
with the center in God. But God's grace is sovereign.
It's alone. It's his and his alone. That's
how we finish well. You know what? I'm going to finish
well because of him and what he's done for me. To those who
are found in Christ, there's gonna be quietness, there's gonna
be peace, and there's gonna be rest forever. And beloved, it
doesn't begin when we get to heaven. It begins right now. If we can but run with patience
the race that's set before us. Our victory's certain. We gotta
finish. Gotta finish. Our substitutes
finish the race set before us. But as long as we're in these
bodies of flesh, we've got to endure to the end to be saved.
That's what the Lord said. Those that endure to the end
shall be saved. And the gospel is, having loved
his own, that we're in the world, he, Christ, loved them until
the end. That's why we're kept to the
end. That's the only way. We finish well because he finished
for us. Our only hope of enduring to
the end is being loved by Christ to the end. And listen, he is
faithful, they're promised. Lord calls us to finish well.
For your glory, our good, and for Christ's sake.