Good morning. Let's all begin
our second service by standing and singing 110. Alas, and did
my Savior bleed 110. And did my Savior bleed? And did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I? Was it for crimes that I have
done He groaned upon the tree Amazing pity, grace unknown And
love beyond degree Well might the sun in darkness
hide, And shut his glories in, When Christ the mighty Maker
died, For man the creature's sin. The drops of grief can ne'er
repay the debt of love I owe. Dear Lord, I give myself away,
this all that I can do. Thank you. All right, I'm gonna read our
text, which is Judges chapter eight. It's a little long, so,
and we're not gonna look at every verse, so it'd be good to go
through them together. The first 23 verses, sorry, we'll
be reading from verse four to 23 of Judges eight. And Gideon came to Jordan and
passed over He and the 300 men that were with him, faint, yet
pursuing. And he said unto the men of Sukkoth,
give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me,
for they be faint. And I am pursuing after Ziba
and Zalmunna, kings of Midian. And the princes of Sukkoth said,
are the hands of Ziba and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should
give bread unto thine army? And Gideon said, therefore, when
the Lord hath delivered Ziba and Zalmunna into mine hand,
then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness
and with briars. And he went up thence to Penuel.
and spake unto them likewise. And the men of Penuel answered
him as the men of Succoth had answered him. And he spake also
unto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I
will break down this tower. Now Ziba and Zalmuna were in
Karkur, and their hosts with them, about 15,000 men, all that
were left of all the hosts of the children of the east. For
there fell 120,000 men that drew the sword. And Gideon went up by the way
of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Noba and Jogbeha
and smote the host, for the host was secure. And when Ziba and
Zalmunna fled, he pursued after them and took the two kings of
Midian, Ziba and Zalmunna, and discomfited or terrified all
the host. And Gideon, the son of Joash,
returned from battle before the sun was up, and caught a young
man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him. And he described
unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, even
threescore and seventeen men, or eighty-seven. And he came
unto the men of Sukkoth and said, Behold, Ziba and Zalmunna, with
whom ye did upbraid me, saying, Are the hands of Ziba and Zalmunna
now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thy men that
are weary? And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the
wilderness, and briars, and with them he taught the men of Sukkoth. And he beat down the tower of
Penuel, and slew the men of the city. Then said he unto Ziba
and Zalmunna, what manner of men were they whom ye slew at
Tabor? And they answered, as thou art.
So were they. Each one resembled the children
of a king. And he said, They were my brethren,
even the sons of my mother. As the Lord liveth, if ye had
saved them alive, I would not slay you. And he said unto Jethar
his firstborn, Up, and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword,
for he feared, because he was yet a youth. Then Ziba and Zalmuna
said, rise thou and fall upon us. For as the man is, so is
his strength. And Gideon arose and slew Ziba
and Zalmuna, and took away the ornaments that were on their
camels' necks. 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. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you, Father, for your grace. We thank you for your
gospel of your son, Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, for your
salvation, for the giving of your spirit, for the hearing
of the gospel, for the preaching of the gospel, for ears that
hear this word and believes our God and the promises of our God
made unto us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, you know what we
are in this flesh. And Lord, looking into your word,
we see, we have an idea, an understanding of what we are in this flesh
also. And Lord, we're so thankful when
you fill our hearts with faith and hope and love in the Lord
Jesus Christ. When you give us faith in this,
in our Savior, believing this word of promise made to us that
we should follow our Lord, though we are but a small remnant, a
little people who are weak and faint, and have no strength of
ourselves, but Lord, by your grace, by your keeping, Lord,
we continue. We continue in Christ and we're
thankful for that because we know it's of your hand. If it
was us, we would faint and fall away, but Lord, we're so thankful
for your grace and your keeping. Lord, glorify your son, Jesus
Christ in our midst. He is our ruler. He is our Lord. He's our king, our salvation,
our all. Lord, we have no glory but Him. And we want no other glory. Lord,
keep us. Deliver us from death in the
false way. Keep us in the way of Christ.
And Lord, we ask that you would remember our brethren, that you
would bless them, that you would keep them. Lord, we think of
our brother Scott in the hospital. Lord, how discouraged he is that
he wasn't able to go home yet. We thank you for keeping him
and helping him and directing the doctors in wisdom. But Lord,
he's still there another day or two, and we pray that you
would encourage him and strengthen him. Keep his heart. Keep him
ever looking to you and help him, Lord, to be able to come
home very soon. Even today, Lord, if it be your will. And Lord,
We think of Judy and her sickness. We think of the struggles of
our children and Lord, their difficulties. We pray that you
would help each one in the area where they are and the needs
that they have, that you would help them and give to them that
which they need. Lord, you know all of our weaknesses,
you know our struggles, you know the difficulties that we have
in this flesh and the trouble that we make for ourselves. But
Lord, we're so thankful for your grace and long-suffering and
patience with us, for your mercy for Christ's sake. And Lord,
help us always to remember that we're nothing in ourselves and
that without you, we can do nothing. But we pray that the day star,
the Lord Jesus Christ, would rise in our hearts and shine
gloriously and brightly, that we may see and behold the glory
of our God ever before our eyes. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. Our second hymn will be 222,
There is a Fountain, 222. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that
flood lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. And sinners plunge beneath that
flood. Lose all their guilty stains. A dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Then there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power. Till all the ransomed Church
of God be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Till all the ransomed Church
of God be safe to sin no more. E'er since, by faith, I saw the
stream, thy flowing wounds supply. Redeeming love has been my theme,
and shall be till I die, and shall be till I die, and shall
be till I die. Redeeming love has been my theme,
and shall be till I die. In this poor, list'ring, stammering
town, lie silent in the grave. Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. Then in a nobler, sweeter song
I'll sing thy power to save. Thank you. Judges 8 verses 4 through 23
is our text. I want to begin our study reading
verse 4. And Gideon came to Jordan and
passed over. He and the three hundred men
that were with him faint yet pursuing. There's a lot of sweet
remarks that can be made of Christ and his church from this text. We see the victorious captain
in Gideon, and he's leading his people in pursuit of their enemies
to destroy them, to overtake them, and to bring them to an
end. But this army is but a remnant. It's a remnant. It's a small,
weak remnant. A mere 300 men that were with
him. And it's described with these
three words, faint yet pursuing. Faint yet pursuing. Now Gideon's
going to take this little army past two cities. And these two
cities gave them no relief for their hunger. No rest for their
souls. They were cold and harsh to them,
mocking them. And this little army goes on
to pursue their enemy. Why would they continue this
pursuit? Well, because they believe the
promise of God made to them that he had delivered Midian into
their hand. that Midian was destroyed. They
believed the promise of God and so they continued on, faint yet
pursuing. And so they go and they return
victorious, having defeated their enemy, and they put to shame
those that mocked them, those that ridiculed them, those who
did not believe the word, they were put to shame. Who was shamed
in this thing? That little remnant army? Faint
yet pursuing? or those people in the cities
who confidently mocked Gideon and mocked their army and wouldn't
help them. They were shamed, weren't they? They were shamed.
Some men look at Christ and his church And they mock the church. They think that's for weak people.
That's for people who can't stand on their own. It's for people
who can't handle life and the difficulties of life. And so
they need a crutch. And a lot of religion is like
that. All false religion is that very
way. It's lies. It's condemning, damnable
lies and heresy. But they do this because they
have no regard for God. They give God very little thought,
and they despise the true and living God, and they despise
his Christ and his people. And typically, the Lord leaves
them to themselves, and nothing in this world challenges their
foolish notions and their no fear of God. Nothing seems to
challenge that. But their pride and their arrogance
is going to be brought unto them one day. All that they trusted
in and have confidence in is going to be found to be no refuge
at all. It's not gonna stand. They're
gonna have no protection, no covering for their sin. So that refuge will prove to
be nothing more than a refuge of lies. and a refuge of falsehood,
and it will utterly be destroyed in an instant under the judgment
of God. But those who follow Christ in
faith, they shall be satisfied. You whose hope is the Lord Jesus
Christ, whose righteousness is Christ alone, you shall never
be ashamed. You are justified before God. You are justified by God in the
Lord Jesus Christ and therefore you shall never be ashamed. No
matter how faint you are, no matter how difficult the way,
you have heard and believed the promises of God and continue
on in faith looking to Christ your salvation. So to begin,
let's see how Gideon and this weak little army is despised
by these men of Sukkoth and Penuel. I'm gonna read verses four through
six, and then we're gonna drop down to verse eight. It says,
and Gideon came to Jordan and passed over. He and the 300 men
that were with him, faint yet pursuing. And he said unto the
men of Sukkoth, give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the
people that follow me. For they be faint, and I am pursuing
after Zeba and Zalmunna, kings of Midian. And the princes of
Sukkoth said, are the hands of Zeba and Zalmunna now in thine
hand, that we should give bread unto thine army? Now look at
verse 8, and he went up thence to Penuel, and spake unto them
likewise, and the men of Penuel answered him, as the men of Sukkoth
had answered him. So at this time, the men of these
two cities, they likely didn't know what had happened to the
Midianite army, the destruction of 120,000 men who drew the sword. They may not have known that.
Perhaps Gideon did tell them, this is what happened. They're
destroyed. On the other side of Gideon,
the Lord has given us a great victory. And we're just now pursuing
this last little band of men. And we're going to overtake them,
according to the promise of God. And we're going to defeat them. And so, I don't know, it doesn't
say whether they knew or didn't know what happened on the other
side of Jordan. On this side of Jordan, because
they're now over Jordan here, on this side of Jordan, they've
seen, most likely they've seen Zalmunna and Zeba pass by with
a good-sized army, 15,000 men. That takes time. That takes time
to go by. I remember one time when I was
a young man with my dad in London. We went there once on a trip,
one trip with my dad and we were in London and I was sleeping
and right outside the window all I could hear is this loud
clopping sound of horses going by and it went on and on and
on and on forever and it was probably only a hundred a hundred
horses. I got up late finally out of
bed and went to look because it was about six o'clock in the
morning and I looked and I could just see the tail end of it but
can you imagine a 15,000 man army takes time to go by. It's a lot of logistics there
and so they see them go by and here comes Gideon and they can
see them all in one little grouping, 300 men. They're looking at them
and they're despising this little army that says, we're going to
get Zalmunna and Ziba, these kings of Midian and their 15,000
men, and we're going to take them and we're going to destroy
them. Can I have some bread? Because
we're tired. We've been up all night fighting these guys and
haven't eaten anything. We've got no sleep yet. They
look haggard and tired and weary. They're faint with hunger. And
so the men don't help them at all. What is shocking, though,
is that these cities here, Sukkoth and Penuel, they're actually,
these people dwelling there are brethren. They're Israelites.
They're of the tribe of Gad. That's where they came, on that
side of Jordan. They stopped, they parked it right there. I
think half the tribe of Manasseh and Reuben and Gad stayed on
that side of Jordan. And so they're descendants of
Israel. They're the people of God. They have the oracles. They
have the law. They have the promises. They
have the judges that are there and are familiar with what the
Lord has done in giving them this land. However, they have
no faith. They have no confidence in the
promises of God. They're looking at only what
their eyes can see. And they're taking it in. And
they're rationalizing and judging and using logic here. And they're
looking at it and saying, I don't think so. That's 15,000 men. You can say what you want happened
over there, but you're 300 guys. And you're pursuing an army of
15,000 men. So all they're seeing is what
man sees. They're judging things by what
man sees and accounts for. Samuel was a judge. He's not
alive at this time. He's the last judge of Israel.
And when the Lord sent him to anoint a new king, to anoint
one of the sons of Jesse, and he was going there, he was going
to anoint David. He didn't know it at the time.
And when he saw the first form, what did the Lord say to him?
He said, look not on his countenance. Don't look at his handsome face. And don't look on the height
of his stature. Don't look at this man over six
feet tall, good looking, strapping fellow. Those are things that
man's strength trusts in. People follow men who are charismatic
in that way, look good and are tall and seem strong and mighty
and have it together. He says, don't you look at those
things. That's what man trusts. That's
what man has confidence in. Because I have refused him, the
Lord said. For the Lord seeth not as man
seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord
looketh on the heart. And David was a man after God's
own heart. Now we know because God made
him so. God gave him that heart. and
made him a man after his own heart, and that's who God purposed
to be the king of Israel. And so these men of Sukkoth and
Penuel, they weren't thinking of the Lord's promises. It meant
nothing to them what the Lord said he would do for his people,
and so they had no regard for the Lord or his brethren, their
brethren. Instead, they gave, in reality,
who did they give aid to? they were aiding the enemy. By
doing nothing for their brethren, and despising their little army,
they were actually giving aid to the brethren, because they
were leaving them weary and hurting, and they did nothing to help
them. Let us not be like that to our brethren, but believing
our God, who tells us and promises us the victory is won by the
Lord Jesus Christ. His promise is that you have
everlasting life, and you shall see your God, and you shall be
received and accepted of your God because you stand before
His throne faultless, having no shame, because you have no
sin, and your nakedness is covered by the blood of Christ. You live
because of your mighty champion, your Savior, your Deliverer,
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the promise of God. You
don't need the things of this world the way that the world
needs them. The Lord will give you what you have need of. You
trust Him and believe Him and be kind and gracious to your
brethren, be charitable, generous with your love to your brethren,
be charitable. Hebrews 11, one says, now faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. That's faith. These men of Sukkoth
and Penuel weren't looking with eyes of faith. They were looking
with the eyes of man. They were seeing as man seeth
things. And so this is how, this faith,
in faith is how we are to walk on this side of Jordan, on this
side of Jordan. And when we speak of Jordan,
In the scriptures, Jordan is a picture of that passage of
death that separates us here in this flesh and that heavenly,
that heavenly land of inheritance, the land of promise, which is
secured for us by the Lord Jesus Christ. And God promises his
people, you shall be with me forever in the land of promise
on the other side of Jordan. But on this side of Jordan, we
walk by faith. We walk by faith. We hear the
promises of God and believe the promises of God. And we follow
him in faith. And the Lord says, you'll not
be ashamed. You that trust me, you that that man looks at and
despises and mocks the things that you hope in and trust in,
you're not gonna be ashamed. They're gonna be ashamed. who
don't hear, who will not hear, who refuse to believe the one
whom I've sent. And so the men of Sukkoth and
Penuel, they had no confidence in what happened on the other
side of Jordan, did they? They don't believe. They don't
have any confidence that the victory is won. Israel has salvation. She has been delivered from all
her enemies. And they didn't believe it, but
this little remnant, this little remnant with Gideon, they believed.
They believed the promise of God. Even though they were 300
men with Gideon, they believed that God was gonna give them
the whole victory just like he promised. Just like he promised. Turn over to Revelation 12. Let's go to Revelation 12 and
we're going to pick up in verse 7. Revelation 12 verse 7 says, And
there was war in heaven. I'll give you a moment. Revelation
12 verse 7. And there was war in heaven.
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon
fought and his angels and prevailed not, neither was their place
found any more in heaven. It's talking about the other
side of Jordan. This is talking about in the land of promise
there, on the other side of Jordan there. And the great dragon was
cast out, that old serpent called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth
the whole world. He was cast out into the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation, and strength,
and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ. For
the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them
before our God day and night. Reminds me of when John recorded
in heaven, he said, and there was silence in heaven for about
the space of 30 minutes, about a half hour. That yapping accuser
has nothing more that he can say. When he was sitting there
saying, destroy them. They're defiling your holiness,
your righteousness. They're rebelling against you.
Destroy them. Just put this, destroy this whole earth. Destroy
all those people. And Christ laid down his life
and obtained eternal redemption for us, putting away all our
sin. The price has been paid by Christ. And your accuser is defeated.
He's got nothing more to charge you with. Who can charge you?
It's God. who provided the son is God who
justifies you in the Lord Jesus Christ. So there's silence, nothing
more to say. And they overcome this evil one
by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony
and they love not their lives unto death. And so that's the
picture we have here with Gideon, this little 300 man army, this
little tiny remnant, they believe God. They are willing to go. Though there is an overwhelming
force, they love not their lives unto death. They are willing
to go because they believe the promises of God. They know God
has given them the victory. And our Savior has won this victory. Heaven, your eternal life, your
everlasting life and inheritance with God is secured by the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's secured. Heaven is secured
for you. He has gone and prepared a place
for you. If it were not so, He wouldn't have told you, but it's
yours. It's secured. It's already there for you. Therefore,
in verse 12, therefore rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell
in them. But here on this side of Jordan,
what does it say? There's still a battle underway.
Verse 12, woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea,
for the devil has come down unto you, having great wrath, because
he knoweth that he hath but a short time. But you know something?
It doesn't even mean anything to us. In reality, it really
means nothing, because where do you dwell? You're seated with
Christ. Your life is in the heavenly
places with Him, already secured with Him. Whatever happens, they
can't take away your inheritance in the Lord Jesus Christ, because
it's not you or them that decide it, Christ has decided it. It's
already fixed and secured. The victory is won. Therefore
set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth,
for ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. devil's
down here causing what havoc and what he can do but it's for
the inhabitants of the earth and your citizens of the New
Jerusalem even now we're even now even now we dwell with him
now this Gideon or rather this is Gideon's reply to the men
of these two cities verse seven and nine and Gideon said so yeah
judges eight verses seven and nine and Gideon said therefore
When the Lord hath delivered Ziba and Zalmuna into mine hand,
then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness
and with briars. Verse nine, and he spake also
unto the men of Penuel, saying, when I come again in peace, I
will break down this tower. Now, whenever we meet with thorns
and briars and thistles and bramble bushes in scripture, it's a picture
of the curse. It's a picture of what we are
in this flesh. It's a picture of what we in
Adam have brought upon this world. Our sin and death because of
our sin and the ruin of our wicked natures and what we are. So it's
a picture of the curse and Gideon's going to repay them with their
own words and with their own curses and with their own works.
He's going to repay them accordingly to what they trust in. Cursed
things. Cursed things. So Sukkoth, it
means booths. And both these cities are related
to Jacob, actually. Jacob is tied to Sukkoth and
Penuel because Sukkoth is where he went with his cattle when
he came back and saw his brother Esau, who would have killed them
before. He came back in peace, and he
built a city of booths, which means pens for animals. This
was to contain them, to give those animals security and protection. And these men, like the name
of the city, they felt secure. They felt confident. in their
provisions and what they had. And so they trusted in themselves
and they trusted in the works of their flesh. They certainly
didn't believe God. They didn't trust the promises
of God. They were professing believers, I suppose, as Israelites,
but in name only. In name only. There was no life
there in them. And so what the Lord is showing
you, his people, me included, by the grace of God. What he's
showing us here is that this flesh, our works, our good works,
our righteousnesses, they're no refuge. They're no hiding
place. There's no safety there. That's
all going to come down on them. and they're gonna be destroyed
by their own curses, by their own cursed works, they'll be
destroyed. Now, penuel means facing God, and that's where
Jacob had wrestled with God, except Jacob prevailed with God.
By the grace of God, by the Lord Jesus Christ, he prevailed with
God, and so he could face God, because he came not in his own
righteousness, but in the righteousness of another, just as we who believe
the promise of our God in Christ come to God. in the righteousness
of another, believing he is all my salvation. And they were trusting their
own strength, their own high tower, their own exalted views
of themselves and what they thought was strength and might and wisdom. And God says, that tower you're
trusting in, I'm going to destroy it. It's going to come down on
your own heads. You're going to be destroyed
with your strong tower that's no refuge at all. And so we see
here the plague of man is his sin. The sin in us is ruling
and reigning over our natures by death. We're subject to dead
things. We're subject to death. We're
going to return to the dust because this flesh is yet subject to
the law of sin and death. But we live in hope. in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We're delivered from that death.
We're delivered from that enemy and it has no power over us anymore. But those who trust in this flesh
and trust in our wisdom and trust in our strength and our works,
they're going to meet God, a holy God who will judge them according
to their own trusts and confidences. And so it's going to be torn
down. Turn over to Isaiah 28. Go to
Isaiah 28 and we'll pick up in verse 15. description of Israel here is
a description of all peoples who trust in their own righteousness,
who trust in their own works, who trust in that which they've
built up and laid up for themselves against that day thinking, this
will save me, this will be my deliverance. These men were trusting
in what they could see, they were trusting in their strong
tower, they were trusting in their wisdom and might. And the
Lord says in Isaiah 28, 15, because he has said, we have made a covenant
with death, and with hell are we at agreement. When the overflowing
scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us, for we
have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. Now, I can tell you, those weren't
the words that the people used. They thought what they did was
truth, was a strong tower, was sufficient to save them to the
uttermost, and God is telling them, your trusting in lies,
your trusting in falsehood, and when the judgment sweeps through,
you and all your works are going to be carried away with it it's
not going to stand in that day therefore verse 16 thus saith
the lord the lord god behold i lay in zion a foundation a
stone a tried stone he's been proven god's proved them on the
cross He bore the wrath of God against
our sin when he went as the substitute, bearing the sin of his people. He's a tried stone, a precious
cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. When the Lord returns in that
day, if we're still on this side of the dirt, when the Lord returns
that day, you won't make haste. When you see your Savior coming,
Great. That's wonderful. There's going
to be others that are going to be running for mountains and
hills, crying for the rocks to fall on them and to protect them
from the face of him who comes to judge the earth when he returns,
just like he said, in the clouds with all the host of his angels
and his people brought behind him. And so they're going to
return, but you won't need to make haste. If you're still here
when the Lord returns, Great Lord, come, take me. come Lord
Jesus, Maranatha. And so judgment also, he says,
well I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet, and the hell
shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the water shall overflow
the hiding place. And your covenant with death
shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not
stand. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall
be trodden down by it. Whatever foolish idea men have
of hell, and they think they're gonna Do this or that there?
It's all foolish, vain words of flesh that's going to be overrun
and trampled upon. Whatever station you think you'll
have there will be disannulled. Your covenant means nothing.
God will judge His creation as it pleases Him in and by the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so all who look at this world
and think, this is life, this is all that there is, they're
going to meet holy God with no covering in their own works. And they shall bear the judgment
of the inhabitants of the earth. And they're ignorant that God
destroyed the earth once by water. He tells us that. Peter tells
us they're willfully forgetting that this world's already been
destroyed by water. We see it in every culture. they
write of a flood. Every culture, they write of
it. And he tells us, but the heavens and the earth, which
are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. And so those people who have
no regard for God, they're going to stand before God in their
own flesh. And it's not going to stand for
them. It's going to be a terrifying
day for them. And then there's the self-righteous
and the religious people who look at their works and they
think God accepts their person, but they're soon going to meet
him. whom they despised, the Lord Jesus Christ, the salvation
of God, the one whom they disallowed and disapproved of it and said,
no thanks, I've got everything I need here, I'll take care of
it. And what they're doing is they're calling God a liar. They're
not hearing what the Lord is saying. But you've heard, Lord,
I'm a sinner. I cannot save myself. And we
fear God, but not in that fear that drives us to labor in ourselves
and spend and strive for our righteousness. We believe God. We know I cannot deliver myself,
but we trust the one who God says is your deliverer, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so he's our hope. And so those who said, well,
not have this man reign over us, Just keep them, don't send
them back. We got this, we'll take care
of it ourselves. Christ says, you'll die in your sins. Because
if you don't believe that I am hate, that I am the Christ, the
salvation of God, you're gonna stand in your own works and you're
gonna die in your sins, is what he's saying. So this truth, where
the hope of man perishes, is witnessed in the following account,
verses 10 through 12. So there are Judges 8, 10 through
12. Now Ziba and Zalmuna were in
Karkor. Karkor means soft foundation.
Think of sand. People who build their hope and
their confidence on shifting sand. It's no foundation. It's
no foundation. It'll come crashing down. And
their host with them about 15,000 men, all that were left of all
the hosts of the children of the east. For there fell 120,000
men that drew sword. And Gideon went up by the way
of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Noba, which means
barking. and jog be ha which means lofty
and smoke the host for the host was secure what that means is
they were confident in themselves the way men boasting glory in
themselves today right they don't see Christ coming in the clouds
and they think yeah When that day comes, I'll deal with it
then. I'll just speak to God. I'll talk my way out of it. I'll
bring this to bear or that to bear. It's all foolishness. It's
all nonsense. Today, in our flesh, when we
have no regard for God, we'll bark like a little dog who's
behind the other side of the fence, right? When something
comes by, and the way a little dog will bark, and he's so confident
in himself because the big dog can't get to him on that side
of the fence. And so he's barking and he's very confident in himself.
And it's just like us who are lofty and bragging and boasting
about how great we are and all the wealth we have and the strength
we have and the good works we have and all the things we've
done in the world that are good for people and things like that.
All garbage. All garbage. Men are confident
now, but they won't be confident in that day. They're like lofty
barking dogs right now. And they think everything's fine,
but it all comes crashing down in an instant. And so that's
where we are. We're very confident. That's
where they were. They were secure. They were secure, meaning they
thought they escaped death. They thought it was all good
now. The time of death has passed beyond us. They were very cocky
and very confident in themselves. But that's going to change in
an instant. In the twinkling of an eye, Christ
will return. And then we'll see him as he
is. So when Ziba and Zalmuna fled, Gideon pursued after them
and took the two kings of Midian, Ziba and Zalmuna, and discomfited
or terrified all the host. Now these names, Ziba and Zalmuna,
they both mean deprived of protection. Both names mean deprived of protection. Now Ziba has the sense of a slaying
of an animal, an animal that's been allotted to the slaughter.
It's deprived of protection. It can't be stopped. It's slaughtered.
It's done. It's purpose to that. And Zalmuna
has the sense of the removal of the shadow of covering. They're
deprived of the shadow of a covering. They're now all exposed to the
glaring heat of the sun. And there's nothing they can
do about it. They're deprived of protection.
but you whose faith rests in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know
why you're secure? Why you're delivered? Why you
may rest in the salvation of your God? Because the father
appointed the son to the slaughter for his people, depriving him
protection Christ willingly deprived himself of protection he did
not call for the father to send his angels and take him down
from that cross and show everybody that he's the Christ because
then we'd be left in our sins but he stayed there trusting
his father and was deprived of protection and was slain like
an animal for his people and and he was slain to provide a
covering He went and bore the wrath of God, bearing your sin
and my sin, bearing the sin of his people, having no covering,
in order that you would have his righteous covering for your
sin, that you wouldn't be left without any protection and stand
before God in your own nakedness, in your own works, all because
Christ faithfully laid down His life for you, His bride, whom
He loves, His people, His children. And so, thank your God for His
mercy and kindness. His life for your life. He died,
was buried, and rose again. to give you life. And he sends
his spirit to regenerate you, to deliver you from dead things
and trusting dead works that can't save and trusting in a
tower of our strength, which is all going to come down in
an instant when Christ returns. And so, though we're weak and
faint in this life, yet we follow Christ our captain. Faint yet
pursuing, believing the promises of God, knowing the salvation
is already won. The heaven is secure. The majority
of that army has been destroyed by Christ. There's just little
remnants here that are being dusted up to show us the purpose
of God, the salvation of God, the glory of God in his son,
Jesus Christ. And where he goes, we follow
and we shall live with him forever. Forever, brethren. And so we
read at the rest there that they returned, they took Zalmuna and
Ziba and they returned and spoke to those men and they, he taught
the men of Sukkoth by by whipping them with their own works. And
the Lord speaks of this too. He said, those which knew the
Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according
to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. And they shall
have their place with the unbelievers. All right, and then of Impenuel,
he slew the men of the city. He tore down their tower that
they trusted in, and he slew those men of the city. And our
Lord speaks of this as well, saying, those mine enemies, which
would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay
before me. They'll die. All right, there
are only in name, those that are in name only, to believe
the Lord. Those who have no faith don't
believe the promises of God and just see things and judge things
as man sees them and judges them. They're not believing the promises
of God. But by the grace of God, you do believe. And he stripped
you and withered your flesh and made you faint in your cells
so that you have no confidence in the flesh. If we could, we
would have confidence in the flesh. If we could, we'd build
ourselves up and make ourselves strong and forget about the terrors
and night terrors and being afraid because we see what we are in
his flesh. We'd deliver ourselves from that. But God has brought
you low. and humbled you, that you don't
have a strong tower in this flesh, but you need him. And you see
he's everything. And so you stay right there on
him, resting and trusting in him. And so Gideon arose, and
he slew those enemies. And Christ shall return, and
he'll put to death once and for all all our enemies. And we'll be delivered from them
forever and ever. And when the men came, saying,
Gideon, you rule over us. He said, no, I'm not going to
rule over you. He's a type of Christ. But here, he's showing
us we don't have any king but Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He shall rule over us. We're all his people. We're his
subjects. We're one body of the Lord who
is the head, the almighty king. And so I pray the Lord bless
you with his grace to rule in your hearts. Keep your eyes looking
to Christ. that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of
your understanding being enlightened that ye may know what is the
hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us were to believe according to the working of his
mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him
from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly
places on that other side Jordan." It's already secured. Far above
all principality and power and might and dominion and every
name that is named, not only in this world but also in that
which is to come. and hath put all things under
his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things of the
church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth
all in all. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you, Father, for your mercy and grace. We thank you,
Lord, for this salvation. Lord, we thank you to see what
Christ has done. how he has delivered us and been
gracious to us and delivering us from vain confidences in this
flesh and trusting our own ways and works, things that cannot
save. Lord, we thank you for your salvation.
We thank you for what you've accomplished and pray that you
would fill our hearts with love and joy and peace in Christ.
Lord, though we be faint, yet pursuing by the faith which you've
given to us, looking to Christ alone and following him wherever
he leads. We pray that you bless this word
to our hearts. We pray that you bless this word
to your people, to the hearts of your people, and settle us
and establish us in the Lord. Keep us ever looking to Christ.
It's in Christ's name we pray and give thanks, amen. Okay, we're going to take the
Lord's Supper. So, Brother Joe, if you would
hand it out, and I'll pray, and you just hand it out. I'll pray. No, I'll just pray
now, and then you can hand it out. Go ahead, go ahead. Let's pray and then we'll read
the scriptures from Mark. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your grace and mercy. We thank you for the salvation
you've provided in Christ. Lord, that he came and gave his
body and shed his blood for sinners, naked sinners like us, to clothe
us, to give us life, to redeem all that was lost by us in our
sin and wickedness. to deliver us from the curse,
and to justify us with our God in and by Christ and Christ alone. Lord, keep us ever, ever looking
to Him, not having vain confidences like these men of Sukkoth and
Penuel. Lord, You know what we are in
the flesh. We are just like them. But by Your grace, You keep us
and deliver us and keep us in that remnant of your people,
faint yet pursuing, following after our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. Bless this to the hearts of your people, with eyes fixed
on Christ, ever looking to him. Lord, thank you for this bread
and this wine. Lord, we know that in these things
is no power, but in Christ is all power. And we pray as we
partake of these things, you will bless them this to our hearts,
remembering Christ and what He has done, that He be to us what
He is to you, precious, precious, precious. It's in Christ's name
we pray and give thanks, amen. So, as you know, when I read
from Mark 14, I like to start in verse 27 and 28, which says,
and Jesus saith unto them, all ye shall be offended because
of me this night. For it is written, I will smite
the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that
I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. We see how
we're nothing. We have no part in making this
salvation. We were scattered. We ran. We
abandoned all hope. But Christ faithfully went. went
to the cross for his people, you his sheep. Now it says verse
22, And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and
break it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup, and when
he had given thanks, he gave it to them. And they all drank
of it. And he said unto them, this is
my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many. Verily
I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine
until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. And then when they had sung a
hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives." So remember,
there's no grace in this. We just remember our Lord. Remember
our Lord. Okay, brother. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn, Amazing Grace. We'll sing it a cappella. Be good to do that for a change. I just need a lot of help, so.
236, Amazing Grace. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
am found. Was blind, but now I see. was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils,
and snares, I have already come Tis grace hath brought me safe
thus far, and grace will lead me home. When we've been there
10,000 years Bright shining as the sun We've no less days to
sing God's praise than when we first begun.