May it please almighty God to
bless us this evening as we meditate in his holy word. Let's turn
to the book of Judges, the sixth chapter, and we'll read the 13th
verse. The book of Judges, the sixth
chapter, and reading verse 13. And Gideon said unto him, O my
Lord, if the Lord be with us, Why then is all this before 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. We should be very thankful that
we have the Word of God which gives us a wonderful account
of some of the historical events which occurred in Old Testament
times and those events point us very clearly to the power
of God and to the grace of God and how that should be an encouragement
to us. We live in a difficult day. We
live in a day when we need the Lord's to come and appear for
us. And we know that he is able. We know that nothing is too hard
for the Lord. But in so many occasions in the
Old Testament, we find that Israel, that favoured nation, walked
contrary to the command of God, contrary to the instructions
of God and the word of God. And indeed, exactly that happened
with regards to Israel at this time. And the result was that
the Midianites came against Israel because of what they had done
in departing from the Lord God. people then, and through history,
and still today, treat God very lightly. They don't realise that
God is an almighty God, that God is a great God, and God is
that one who is to be worshipped. Those things that he says, those
things which are recorded in his word, we're not to pass over
as something which is irrelevant, we should realise that God has
given us things to say and to do which in accordance with his
will which will bring honour and glory to his great and holy
name and how relevant and important it is for us today to recognise
that you and I are on this earth for that one grand and glorious
purpose for the honour and glory of God. And so may we be truly
concerned in our lives, individually, in our church life and as a nation,
we do honour God, we do that which is right in his sight. Here we have this account of
the Midianites prevailing against Israel because we're told, first
verse of this chapter we read, the children of Israel did evil
in the sight of the Lord. And the result was the Lord delivered
them into the hand of Midian seven years. Well it was a difficult
time and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. But God was exceedingly
merciful in that day as he was in so many times in the recording
of the Word of God and as he is still today. He doesn't deal
with us as individuals, as our sins deserve. He doesn't deal
with us as a nation, as our sins deserve. Our God is on the throne. Well, the Lord in his love for
his people, for his church, raised up a man of God called Gideon. Gideon. And we read that how
he was, he was threshing wheat. by the wine press. He was hiding
there because of the Midianites. And the Lord came to him in a
special way and said, the Lord is with thee, thou mighty man
of valor. Well, that's a wonderful word,
isn't it? How encouraging we would be, all of us, I'm sure,
individually, if we had that confirmed to us that the Lord
is with us. and as such the Lord will go
with us. Well, in answer to that statement,
that's what Gideon responded then in our text. And he says,
O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this before
us? And where be all his miracles
which our fathers told us of, saying, did not the Lord bring
us up from Egypt? So how true it was. It was a
wonderful record of God's dealings with ancient Israel and how he
heard the cries of his people and how he delivered them on
numerous occasions. And therefore Gideon turns to
that and pleads with the Lord, why is this happening now? Did
not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But then he says, but
now The Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands
of the Midianites. Well they couldn't complain because
they disobeyed God and therefore the Lord forsook them and delivered
them into the hands of the Midianites. And how relevant that is really
for us today as we look around our own country and we see how
we've turned our back upon Almighty God. We followed man's desires
and left behind those great and glorious ways that God has ordained,
what we've done really as a nation, what we trifled with God. And although that's evident as
we look around, we should also not pass over the fact that it
may be relevant in each of our lives because God looks at our
heart. God looks at what we're really
thinking and what we are doing. And if we are following the way
of God, or if we're appearing to do those things which are
right. And yet, in actual fact, are
walking contrary to God. And as I often say, if we walk
contrary to God, he will walk contrary to us. We cannot expect
God to be with us. We cannot expect God to bless
us. We cannot expect God to direct
us if we walk in an opposite direction to that which is set
down for us in his word and that which he speaks to us. What a
blessing it is if we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. And if we come with that confession
of our sins, how important it is not to pass over that and
to think, well, that wasn't anything really to worry about. Remember,
one sin, and in our eyes, it could appear to be very small,
not in God's eye, because sin is sin. But nonetheless, it could
appear to us to be small, One sin could condemn us to eternal
punishment in hell. We cannot sin lightly. We cannot
sin without it having an effect. And so here we have this account
of Gideon. Now, what a wonderful favor to
know that God was gracious to Gideon and we're told, and the
Lord looked upon him and said, go in this thy might and thou
shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites have not I
sent thee. Now that was a wonderful condescension
of God to Gideon to encourage him to follow the right way and
to believe and that God was with him and therefore he could go
in God's might, believing that through that he could save Israel. But then he comes and he tells
us, and it's good to hear the response of Gideon. He said,
Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is
poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. It's good, isn't it? in that
position. Do not think we're somebody important. Somebody that is going to be
wonderfully used. We should recognise just like
Gideon did and be able to confess that we're the least in my father's
house. See that's a place of humbleness
and a place where God then raises us. God brings people down and
then he raises them up. Clearly he brought Gideon down
into this condition, realising what a great need there was,
and asking God why did he come upon us, but also recognising
his situation. good isn't it to be taught by
the Lord and come to this position and acknowledge that he was nothing
really at all but the Lord said surely I will be with thee and
thou shalt spite the Midianites as one man. Well, we know, if
we read on, of course, in this Book of the Judges, how the Lord
wonderfully appeared and brought down the army that Gideon had
put together of many thousands to just a mere 300. And that mere 300 didn't actually
have to fight physically. How good is God and how wonderful
it is. Because quite clearly then Gideon
could not take any credit to himself. He could not say, well
I organised this and it was my planning that won the battle.
Not at all. Because you may remember that
what happened in the end There were these 300 and they just
had pitchers upturned and they had a firebrand put inside and
they went and surrounded the Gideons, the Midianites, and
then when the trumpet was sounded then they were to cry out the
sword of the Lord and of Gideon and they broke the pitchers and
therefore the flame shot out and that was all they had to
do. And the Midianites fled. They
thought there was a great army and they fled. God gained a great
and glorious victory. And the truth is that God is
exactly the same powerful God today. He is the same yesterday
and today and forever. And nothing is too hard for our
God. The big problem is that it's
our sins which are separated between us and our God. And we need God to cause us to
repent of our sins, individually and nationally, to turn away
from those evil ways. And we only have to look around,
don't we? And see the laws which have been passed recently and
perhaps a few years ago also. So, contrary to the Word of God. But the Lord is merciful and
he hasn't cut us off yet. And we pray that he will not
cut us off. And we pray that he will be merciful to us still.
And he will turn again. But how necessary it is for our
nation to recognise we stand before an almighty God. And we
should need to pray that it might be a turning, a turning to serve
the ever-living and true God. We have many occasions in the
Word of God where this occurred. The Lord appeared for his people. Then they called upon the name
of the Lord and he delivered them out of all their distresses. That 107th Psalm goes through
so many encouraging times when God wonderfully blessed his people. We won't go through the list
tonight but just perhaps one or two, he starts the 107th Psalm
and this is always good. O give thanks unto the Lord for
he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. And he goes on, let
the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. God's people are not to be silent. That's the sad day in which we
live. God's people are not to be silent. No, what a mercy then if we are
able and willing to testify that we do serve the true God ever-living
God who is able to do for us far more and exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or even think. This is the great God
and he tells us, the psalmist tells us about what the laws
did, how they wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way. Again, we may find ourselves
individually, perhaps as a nation, often walking in a solitary way,
but God's people are not alone, because God is with them. And
although they wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way,
and they were hungry and thirsty, and their soul fainted within
them, then, then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, Did
God hear? Did God answer? Or did He turn
a deaf ear? No. And He delivered them out
of all their distresses. That's comprehensive, isn't it?
They didn't deserve it. We as individuals don't deserve
it. We as a nation don't deserve it. But we have a God who's able
to do far more. exceeding abundantly that we
can ask or think and therefore we come to that beautiful seventh
verse, and he led them forth by the right way that they might
go to a city of habitation. Let us never lose sight of the
fact that you and I are travelling through this world. It's not
our rest. We don't have any continuing
city here, but we're seeking one to come, a city of habitation. And so he goes and says, Oh,
the men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his
wonderful works to the children of men. It's good for us to sometimes
ponder and analyze God's goodness toward us and his wonderful works
toward us. It's good to think what he's
done for us in our life. And we need to carefully look
through and see how the Lord has appeared. And he satisfieth
the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness,
such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound
in affliction and iron, because they rebelled against the words
of God. you see the Lord brings us into
such situations when we rebel against the words of God that
really means very simply we walk in an opposite direction we don't
do God's will we do our own will because they rebelled against
the words of God and contemned the counsel of the Most High.
Therefore he brought down their heart with labour. They fell
down, and there was none to help. We won't find help in men. Our
eyes are upon the Lord. And therefore we're told, then
they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out
of their distresses, and he brought them out of darkness and the
shadow of death, and break their bands in sunder. Oh that men
would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful
works to the children of men. Well we won't continue, we could
do. It's a lovely psalm to meditate upon and it's wonderful to see
how God was so gracious on so many occasions. And don't forget God hasn't changed. He still condescends to hear
our prayers. He still condescends to send
us answers to our prayers and let us not forget when that occurs
to praise God, to come to Him with a thankful heart and to
render praise to Him from whom all blessings flow. Well, Gideon
was faced with this difficult situation. He didn't know really
what to do, but he was looking to the Lord that he would indeed
appear for him. And as the Lord said, surely
I will be with thee. And thou shalt smite the Midianites
as one man. And so, of course, it came to
pass. And we should be thankful today
to realize that this God is the same. And this God is ours. If we are a true believer and
a true follower of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Lord
sent him, surely I will be with thee. It's good, isn't it, when
we read a positive statement like that. There's no doubt.
He's used this word, surely. It was used to confirm to Gideon
that what he said was true and would come to pass, and as good
as it is to think of it, surely I will be with thee. And the
result, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. Now that was words, but obviously
there was a great army of Midianites before him. Was he going to be
able to do this? Would the Lord appear for him?
Would the Lord have mercy? Well, he comes and says, and
he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then
show me a sign that thou talkest with me. We do need signs from
God in our little life, when we have sometimes mountains before
us. Difficult it is, and we're not
sure how to overcome them. We seem utterly unable, but what
a blessing to know that we have such a God, such a kind and gracious
God who is able to do wonderful things. You and I can look at
the Word of God, can't we? We can read the Word of God and
we can come to God and point out in all humbleness those wonderful
occasions when the Lord has appeared And so he needed a sign that
God would indeed be with him. Surely I will be with thee, and
thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. And he said unto
him, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a
sign that thou talkest with me. Well, we read, of course, of
that sign which God granted to him. He said, if now I found
grace in thy sight, show me a sign. 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
they'll come. And so there was that appearance
then of this angel, and he appeared to stay until Gideon had gone
and prepared that food. And then he saw the angel put
forth. The angel of the God said unto
him, take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this
rock, and pour out the broth, and he did so. 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. Well, Gideon knew then. And when
Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon
said, Alas, O Lord God, because I've seen an angel of the Lord
face to face. And the Lord said, Peace be unto
thee. Fear not. Thou shalt not die. Well, we could go on. We read
the chapter together. We read there how the Lord wonderfully
appeared for Gideon. And he was told, of course, to
go and throw down the idols of Baal, which his father had erected.
That couldn't have been easy, could it? He had to go in the
face of what his father believed. But he did it, and he honoured
his God in so doing. And what a wonderful blessing
it is if you and I are able to do that which God instructs us
to do. And Gideon said unto God, If
thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, then
he asked the Lord to do this. Behold, I will put a fleece of
wool in the floor, and if the dew be on the fleece only, and
it be dry upon all the earth, then shall I know that thou shalt
save Israel by mine hand, as thou said, and it was so. He
rose up early in the morning, and thrust the fleece together,
and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. And then he asked for another
sign, that the reverse would be true. that the fleece would
be dry and dew on all the ground around. And God did so that night,
for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all
the ground. Compassion from our God, compassion
to Gideon. Yes, he wanted that encouragement
to know that he was doing the right thing. And perhaps in our
lives we need encouragement from our God that we're doing the
right things. We don't want to just go on without
any clear view that it is God's will. We want a confirmation.
Well, Gideon wanted a confirmation. In actual fact, God gave him
those, more than two, because he gave him initially when the
angel of the Lord came to him. So we see how God wonderfully
favoured Gideon. Now, my friends, let us remember
that our God is the same God that Gideon worshipped all those
years ago. And the Lord has told us, for
our encouragement, I am the Lord. I change not, therefore ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed. What does that mean? That means
that that same God is a prayer hearing and a prayer answering
God and how encouraging it should be for us in our little lives
to do that which the Lord directs us to do and to follow that way. Now, This came about because
of Israel's sin. And how sad it is, isn't it,
to realize that to pass through this trying time, and sometimes
we have to pass through trying times, because we may have disobeyed
God. We haven't done that which He's
spoken to us of. And we've made excuses. excuses
are not accepted by God. We should follow the word that
God gives to us. We thought this morning, didn't
we, upon the 119th Psalm and that very last verse, but throughout
that Psalm there is that wonderful encouragement about the word
of God. And my friends, we have the word
of God and that has given us to follow, not to just put on
one side, especially when perhaps that which we want to happen
doesn't appear to be happening in the way that we want. And if you want any example of
that, you can think again of Gideon's case, as you know, a
large army and God told him it had to be reduced first of all
those who were fearful they were allowed to go home and that reduced
them considerably but nowhere near enough and then God said
no there must be another reduction and this is what must happen
and they all they Army were told to drink water from the river. And they were to drink it, and
they would watch how they drank it. Some drank it by putting
their hands in the water and bringing up water and drinking
from that. And others bent down to the river and drank with their
mouth from the river. Well, it was the ones who actually
just used their hands and cupped the water drank from that were
the ones that God chose. How many were there? A mere 300. A mere 300. And the reason? God would not allow Gideon to
claim the glory. Gideon was just the tool. Gideon was the one that God had
ordained to perform this and so it may be sometimes in our
lives the Lord uses men, uses women to do those things which
bring honour and glory to himself but in so doing they won't be
able to claim the glory themselves and have to acknowledge it was
God that appeared for them. And it's good, therefore, to
realize that by the grace of God we worship the same God that
Gideon worshipped. And how we need God to appear,
perhaps in our own lives, the Lord knows the detail of our
lives. Very often it's just that between your soul and my soul
and God. No one else knows the problem,
the difficulty, the trial, the temptation. But what a good thing
it is if we can go in God's strength and do God's will and follow
His direction. It may seem the wrong way. It
may have seemed so to Gideon. What, 300 men? How can they possibly
defeat that vast army of the Midianites? God knew what He
would do. And my friends, God knows what
He will do in your life and my life. He knows what he will do
in our nation's life. What a blessing it is to have
such a great God. And what a mercy it is when he
gives us faith to believe. Faith to believe. And what a
mercy it is then when we look beyond our life on this earth. Because we're quickly passing
through time. for each one of us and one day
we shall pass out of time and we shall be found then in our
eternal state which shall never be changed. And what a wonderful
mercy then if we have the evidence that Almighty God has looked
upon us and has called us and has chosen us. Indeed, those
words we mentioned this morning, ye have not chosen me. But I
have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring
forth fruit and that your fruit should remain. We can't claim
any virtue ourselves. All we can come to the Lord with
is our sin. But what a mercy as we read so
clearly, if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just. to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We should never think that our
sin is hidden. David, you remember, thought
his sin was hidden. He thought nobody knew about
it. But of course God did know about it. And God came to Nathan
and told Nathan to go and speak to David. And he spoke to David
in a way that didn't directly refer to his sins, but the illustration
brought him to realise the condition. My friend, sometimes God deals
with us like that. Not always a direct position,
but something which is very similar and that conveys to us that which
is right and where we've been wrong well David was wonderfully
humbled and wonderfully blessed with that confession and with
that admission that he was guilty and he came and pleaded with
God that he would cleanse him that he would wash him yes what
a mercy that is if you and I come there we all need to be cleansed
we all need to be washed we're all sinners We're all deserving
endless banishment from God. But what a wonderful blessing
if God has put into our hearts that spirit of confession and
that desire to do God's will. And here it was in Gideon, he
was blessed with that desire to do God's will, even though
it seemed almost impossible. No, he was willing to do the
will of Almighty God and what a wonderful favour and a blessing
that is to realise he'd already known how God had delivered Israel
of old, brought them out of Egypt and delivered them from the Egyptians
on a number of times and many other enemies. But now you see,
the case was the Midianites. Now the case was Him. He had to face the situation. And again, sometimes we might
look and we may see wonderful evidences of how God has appeared
in the past. But now, you and I come face
to face with a situation. And you and I have to then stand
up and, as it were, be counted. we have to do that which is right
in God's sight whatever the cost and sometimes the cost would
appear to be very great but very often that cost virtually disappears
God appears and does that for you and me which we could not
do for ourselves that shows the sovereign will and purpose of
almighty God to show us his love, to show us his condescension
in not dealing with us as our sins deserve and we can come
and we can fall down then before God and praise him for his goodness
and for all his mercy which has been toward us and we will then
be able to confirm with David as he said surely Goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. He'd had the evidence,
he'd had the testimony of God's hand upon him, which directed
him for good. Well, here we have then in this
account of, in the Judges of Gideon, and my friends, it is
very relevant to us individually It's also very relevant to us
as a nation. And we need to pray for ourselves. We need to pray for our nation.
The Lord will indeed look upon us. Although we've turned our
back upon God, Israel turned their back upon God. time and
again and yet God heard their prayers, heard their cries and
dealt with them in love to their souls. It was a wonderful work
of his grace and favour towards them and we should indeed be
very thankful that we have such a kind and gracious God and just
again just referring to the 107th Psalm where the psalmist says
He maketh a storm a calm. We may have storms in our life.
We will have storms in our life. But God makes them a calm, so
that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad, because they
be quiet. So he bringeth them unto their
desired haven. And that's looking ahead. Let's
look into the end of our life to realise that he will bring
us safely home to glory. And it would be good if you and
I do have a desired haven. That means we have a desire,
as the Apostle said, to depart and to be with Christ, which
is far better. Then I'll be glad. because they
be quiet. So he bringeth them unto their
desired haven. He leads us by the hand. How good that is. Otherwise we
wander away. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. Let them exalt him also in the
congregation of the people. That's significant, isn't it?
we are to exhort our God in the congregation of the people and
praise him in the assembly of the elders. Well, these are great
truths and it's wonderful if God gives us that grace to lay
aside every sin and the weight that does so easily beset us
and let us be found looking unto Jesus. the author and the finisher
of our faith. Amen.