I'll stand and sing just as I
am. 249. Just as I am. I think I could sing this by heart,
but I can't. I'll mess it up. So I'm going to use my hymnal,
of course. Just as I am without one plea,
but that Thy blood was shed for me, land of God, I come. Just as I am and waiting not
to rid my soul of one dark lot, to thee whose blood can cleanse
each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Just as I am, though
tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt, findings and fears
within, without, O Lamb of God, I come. Just as I am, poor, wretched,
blind, sight rich is healing of the mind. Yea, all I need
in thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come. Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve, Because Thy promise
I believe, O Lamb of God, I come. I come. Thank you. Morning. Let's go to Psalm 5. Psalm 5 Give ear to my words,
O Lord. Consider my meditation. Hearken
unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God, for unto Thee
will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the
morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct
my prayer unto Thee, and will look up. For thou art not a god
that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with
thee. The foolish shall not stand in
thy sight, thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy
them that speak leasing. The Lord will abhor the bloody
and deceitful man. But as for me, I will come into
thy house, in the multitude of thy mercy, and in thy fear will
I worship toward thy holy temple." Lead me, right, looking to Christ,
looking to Christ. He's that holy temple that we
worship the Lord. Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness,
because of mine enemies. Make thy way straight before
my face. For there is no faithfulness
in their mouth. Their inward part is very wickedness. Their throat is an open sepulcher. They flatter with their tongue.
Destroy thou them, O God. Let them fall by their own counsels.
Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for
they have rebelled against thee. but let all those that put their
trust in thee rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy,
because thou defendest them. Let them also that love thy name
be joyful in thee, for thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous,
and with favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield. Let's go to the Lord of Prayer.
Our gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for your grace and mercy
which keeps us, which turns our rebellious hearts to look to
thee, to look to Christ, to worship you there in him, Lord, to the
praise, the glory, the honor, and the power of your name. Lord,
we have nothing to boast in of ourselves, but we have everything
to boast in of Christ. Lord, loose our tongues to speak
of him, to see him more and more, to grow in that grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Lord, fill us with thy
grace ever and keep us walking in the spirit and not fulfilling
the lusts of the flesh. Lord, we thank you for gathering
us together here this morning. Lord, we thank you for your grace
and mercy in blessing us the first hour. We pray that you
would bless us the second hour, that you would lift up our hearts,
open our ears, and bless your people in Christ. Lord, we pray
for those that are sick. We pray for those that are troubled
and going through various difficulties, Lord, Help them, have mercy upon
your people, be gracious and bless them. Gather us all together
to hear your word and to be fed of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord,
you know the things that we have need of and only you can perfectly
teach us and lead us and keep us. And Lord, we look to you. We pray that you would indeed
establish this work here, continue to bless and feed your sheep. Lord, it's in Christ's name that
we pray and ask these things. Amen. Our second hymn will be 242,
242, Jesus I Come. Out of my fondest sorrow and
night, Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come. Into thy freedom, gladness,
and light, Jesus, I come to thee. Out of my sickness into thy health
Out of my want and into thy wealth Out of my sin and into thyself
Jesus, I come to thee Out of my shameful failure and loss,
Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come. Into the glorious gain of thy
cross, Jesus, I come to thee. Out of earth's sorrows into thy
balm, Out of life's storms and into thy calm, Out of distress
to jubilant song, Jesus, I come to thee. ? Out of unrest and arrogant pride
? ? Jesus I come, Jesus I come ? ? Into thy blessed will to
abide ? ? Jesus I come to thee, Jesus I come to thee ? Out of
myself to dwell in thy love, Out of thee sparing to raptures
above, Upward foray on wings like a dove, Jesus, I come to
thee. Out of the fear and dread of
the tomb, Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come. Into the joy and light
of thy home, Jesus, I come to thee. ? Out of the depths of
ruin untold ? ? Into the peace of Thy sheltering fold ? ? Ever
Thy glorious face to behold ? ? Jesus, I come to Thee ? Boy, I love
that. Good song. It fits nice with
your first message. All right, brethren, let's turn
to the book of Judges, Judges chapter seven. This is the account of the battle
of Gideon over the Midianites, which was in fulfillment to that
dream of the barley loaf, which rolled into the camp and destroyed
it, brought it down. Now Gideon and the people of
Israel, they enjoyed a great blessing. They enjoyed the victory
which the Lord gave them, but the glory goes to the Lord, doesn't
it? It goes to the Lord. The Lord
is the one who accomplished, who brought that victory for
his people. They enjoyed it. They rejoiced
in that victory of their Lord. Truly the battle is won not by
our might, not won by our power, but by the Spirit of our Lord
and Savior. He's the one who accomplishes
the victory. And so over, against overwhelming
odds, this little army of 300 men overthrew a great army of
some 100, I forget exactly, 40 something thousand men. A lot
of Midianites and Amalekites and various people that all hated
the Lord's people there. And we see that as well, what
we will see is that their weapons were not the typical weapons
of warfare. I don't know if they had a sword
strapped on their belt. It doesn't say, but what we are
told, the weapons that they were given by Gideon was a trumpet
and a pitcher. A pitcher used to hold, to cover,
a torch. It's called a lamp in the scripture,
but it's talking about a fire brand, a torch that was lit and
shone the light there. And they were given one thing
to say, to shout out. which was the sword of the Lord
and of Gideon. And the men did exactly as they
were instructed to do. And in doing that, the armies
of the enemy were turned against one another. They ran, they cried,
they fled, and their swords were turned against one another so
that they struck their own people down. And that began the rout,
and the Lord gave the people of Israel victory over Now, I
want to show you from this passage this morning the pictures that
we see of Christ and how that he blesses his people, how that
he gives his people the victory over his enemies and theirs and
accomplishes his will in the earth and the salvation of his
people. Now we begin here with a look
to Christ. In verse 16, first let's read
this. Verse 16 says, Gideon divided
the three hundred men into three companies and he put a trumpet
in every man's hand with empty pitchers and lamps, or those
torches, within the pitchers. And so here we see these are
not the typical weapons of violence that we know and typically use
in warfare. At this time, they could have
had bows and arrows, and they could have had swords and spears
and shields. But they weren't spoken of here.
They're not used. What kind of a battle does this
picture? Well, this is a picture of the
battle of faith. It's a picture of faith. Paul,
when he wrote Hebrews, speaks of Gideon. He made mention of
Gideon in that chapter of faith, chapter 11. And he said, what
shall I say more? For the time would fail me to
tell of Gideon. And he listed others, Barak,
and Jephthah, and Samson, and David, and others. And he said,
who through faith through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness,
obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions." Which is a
picture of that roaring lion going about seeking to devour
whom he may. Through faith, the enemy of our
souls, the accuser of the brethren, is silenced. Silenced and has
nothing to say to the people of God. And now, our faith is
in Christ. He's the one who gives us the
victory. We don't have faith in our faith. We don't have faith
in our abilities. We don't have faith in what we
do. Our faith is fixed in Christ. Our faith looks to Him, the captain
of our salvation. We look to Him. We keep our eye
on Him. By His grace, our eye is kept
on the captain of our salvation. The scriptures speak like this
over and over again. The Lord said through the prophet
Isaiah, Isaiah 42 verse 1, behold my servant. Look at him. Look at him whom I uphold, mine
elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. The apostles, when that jailer
came in, crying, what shall I do to be saved? They told him, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy
household. You look to him, you believe
him. That's what they told him. Hebrews
12, verses 1 and 2. Wherefore, seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus. the author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the
throne of God." Well, who's our joy set before us? We were his
joy, and he is our joy. He's the joy that is set before
us. We look to him. We have that
blessed hope, that rejoicing, that joy as a as a bride looks
forward to her wedding day, who loves her husband, she looks
forward with great joy to that wedding day, so we look forward
to that great day, at that feast when we shall be called to the
wedding of our savior, of the bride and the bridegroom together,
we look forward to that, that's a joy to us. And so we look to
him in whom we stand, complete, and holy and righteous, clothed
in his righteous garment before the throne of God, and will stand
right there, faultless, before his throne, accepted of the Father,
to hear his words, well done, thou good and faithful servant,
enter into thy rest, which was prepared for you from before
the foundation of the world, all in Christ, when we were given
to him. We're not gonna be blown away
like the wicked, who appear in their own works, and are driven
away like a dead, rotten leaf that has fallen from the tree
will stand fixed in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Lord
assures us over and over in scriptures. Another one in Isaiah 55 verse
four, behold, I have given him for a witness to the people,
a leader and commander to the people. So he goes before us,
he's given to us, we look to him, we follow him. And that's
what's pictured for us here with Gideon. In the next verse, verse
17, look at Judges 7, 17, we see Gideon, a type of Christ.
He said unto them, Look on me, look on me and do likewise. The Lord shows you what you shall
do and you shall do it. And behold, when I come to the
outside of the camp, it shall be that as I do, so shall ye
do. And so our Lord is given he's
given himself for his people. He is the captain of our salvation. He's gone before us. He came
in the flesh like unto his brethren, like unto what we are, but without
sin, but came as the Lamb of God to make himself a perfect
sacrifice for his sheep, to go bearing their sin, to go as their
surety bearing their debt to pay that sin which we could never
pay off, we could never fulfill it with our own works, we could
never pay down our debt because of what we are in this flesh.
But Christ went to the cross as the Lamb of God, as the surety,
as the savior of his people and gave his life, shedding his blood
to make an atonement for our sins. Romans 3, 24, and 25 says
that we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption,
that blood purchase of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God hath set
forth, the Father sent him, sending him forth to be a propitiation,
to turn the wrath of God, which was justly against us, against
himself. That sword which was to fall
on us fell on Him in our place so that we live and go free and
have liberty and life in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
redeemed, purchased of Him. We're His people. We're His blood
bought. people whom the Father delights
in. And so the Father, by His Spirit,
declares in our hearts that He is the righteousness of God.
Look to Him. Look to Him. Believe Him. You
shall never be ashamed, you that look to Christ. You'll never
hear God say, what were you thinking? Trusting in Him. No, no. He'll
say, well done. Blessed are you. You are blessed. You shall stand before Me. robed
in his perfect righteousness for all eternity. Look to me,
not yourselves, for the remission of sins which are passed through
the forbearance of God. So Christ is the captain of our
salvation, and he commands us, as Gideon here, look on me. Look on me, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. That faith
which he has given to you given to you and looks to the Lord
Jesus Christ believing him because the just shall live by faith
it's what his purpose it's what he does that's why we walk ever
looking to him and are never made confident in ourselves but
always made looking to him seeing our need of him and crying out
to him because it's a walk of faith it's a constant walk of
faith so we're looking to Christ And we want to hear his instructions.
He says, you do what I tell you to do. You do exactly as I do.
You do it. And so he says in verse 18, when
I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow
ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and say,
the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. And what we see there
is that when the Lord wills, you shall. When He raises up
in you and moves you to cry out, to speak a word in season to
someone, whether it's a brother in the church or someone outside
of the church, when He moves in you, trust Him and say that
word in love, praying that the Lord bless it and that the Lord
use it. Don't say it in a judgmental
way or harsh way. Blow that trumpet, declare that
good news that the Lord has given you in that appointed hour of
his grace and mercy. And so when we look at the salvation
of our Lord for his people, we see various types of pictures
here in this battle of Gideon that the Lord works. and what
he works in his people and for his people and how he uses his
people. Verse 19, so Gideon and the hundred
men that were with him came unto the outside of the camp in the
beginning of the middle watch. At that time, back then, it's
believed that they had three watches. There was a first watch
earlier in the evening, and then around midnight was the middle
watch, and then the last watch being before everyone woke up,
whereas the Romans, I think, got into four watches, what they
instituted. But this was the middle watch,
so around midnight, and they had but newly set the watch,
and they blew the trumpets and break the pictures that were
in their hands." Now, again, we see pictures. When Christ
came to the earth, it's because great darkness was upon the earth. In fact, when he was born, we're
told that the angels appeared to the shepherds who were keeping
watch of their flocks by night, right? It was in darkness. It
was night. A picture of the darkness and
the night that's upon this earth due to the fallen atom and what
we are in ourselves. And so the Lord came in that
darkness and he preached the gospel. When he spoke, when he
taught the people, they were astonished at his doctrine. And
when he spoke, he proclaimed that word as a blaring trumpet,
as a sounding forth of the glorious word of God, the truth of God,
which they had never heard. They had not heard that. He went,
saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at
hand. Repent ye, and believe the gospel. Be turned from your dead works,
be turned from your righteousnesses to the righteousness of God. Believe on him whom the Father
has sent to save his people. Forget about what you're doing.
Look to me look to me and believe the Lord Jesus Christ So he carried
a weapon all he had for weapon was the sword of the Lord that
sword of truth that double-edged sword which which proceeds from
his mouth and by his faithfulness and obedience to the Father Did
the Lord accomplish the work which he came to do? Absolutely
Absolutely, he didn't come with might and power as we would expect
it to be. He didn't come with riches. He
didn't come with pomp and fanfare and charismatically in a way
that we would expect the Messiah to come. He came triumphantly,
lowly, on a foal, the colt of a foal, the foal of an ass. He
came lowly and weak, and even in that poverty, in that weakness,
in that lowliness, the weakness that he showed accomplished mightily. bearing the strength of the Lord,
overcoming all our strength and doing what we could not do ourselves. He did it in weakness, in weakness. And so we don't need greatness
of strength. We don't need our wisdom and
our power and our riches and our glory. We need the Lord. Because when the Lord appears,
he accomplishes his perfect will in our hearts and in the earth. He does what he will. Now, when
Christ regenerates His people, the life and the power that He
gives, He gives them spiritual gifts. Those are the weapons.
He gives us spiritual gifts which are given to His people and He
uses His people to accomplish His will in the earth. We are
fellow laborers with the Lord. He calls us that. He says that
we're made partakers of his grace. Not that the power of the glory
is ours, but we're brought into it. The Lord uses us. He uses
his people to preach, to encourage, to admonish our brethren. to
speak of the glories of our Lord and that our brethren would be
edified and encouraged and we care for one another and we love
one another and the Lord uses that and he stirs us and causes
us to be a help and an encouragement to one another. like that one
dear sister spoken of in the scriptures who just made sweaters,
who made cloaks for her sisters, and what a comfort and encouragement
that was to the brethren. The Lord, by his grace, works
that in us, that thoughtful word, that card, that gift, just that
care of looking after one another. The Lord blesses his people in
that manner. But he tells us, turn over to
2 Corinthians 10, 2 Corinthians 10 verses 3 through
5, it's not about our brute force. It's not about how sharply and
cuttingly we can say some doctrinal truth to put someone in their
place. It's not about how aggressive we can be in that way. We often pride ourselves in how
we've hurt someone in the name of truth. The Lord doesn't need those things.
He tells us to love one another, to be kind, to be forgiving,
to be gracious, to be patient with our brethren, and to wait
on the Lord, trusting Him. And Paul says it this way in
2 Corinthians 10 3, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not
war after the flesh. We don't have to cut down our
enemies and tear them apart. That's not how we walk or win
the battle. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. exemplified that when Saul pursued
him and Saul would have put him to death, there was a couple
opportunities where David could have put Saul to death, but he
wouldn't. He would not lay a hand on God's
anointed. He let the Lord take Saul away. He let the Lord put him away.
And when men came boasting that they had put Saul to death, they
were put to death, right? They weren't rewarded. They weren't
blessed. they were put to death. And so we wait on the Lord to
accomplish His will and purpose. And so everything that the believer
does is with the eye of faith, looking to Christ, looking to
Him, trusting Him. Pray, if you're troubled, pray,
cry out to the Lord by all means. Pray that his will be done, and
trust him that his will is perfect, that it's good, that it's right,
that it's accomplishing his will and purpose, not only for your
good, but for the good of your brethren as well. And so, by
faith we look to Christ, for consider him, Hebrews 12, three,
I've read one and two earlier, but this is verse three, for
consider him, that endured such contradiction of sinners against
himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." And we
wear ourselves out. You go lugging around a big sword
to cut people down and you're all worked up because you know
you're going to tell them what for and put them in their place.
It just troubles us and it wears us out. Pray. Pray that the Lord
work His will and go there seeking to be at peace and be kind to
those whom you love and would have here the truth. Now the
spiritual weapons are described back here in verse 20. Judges
7 verse 20. And the three companies blew
the trumpets and break the pitchers and held the lamps in their left
hands and the trumpets in their right hands to blow with all.
And they cried the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. Now there are four things listed
in verse 20 which give us a picture of what the Lord does in his
people to accomplish his will in them and in the earth. We
see this here. How the Lord does it, right?
He tells us that there's work to be done. He tells us there
is labor in the kingdom, not for our righteousness, but in
love, what the Lord calls us to do. Christ said to the disciples,
lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white
already unto harvest. There's work to be done, joyful
work in his kingdom. And this is what he gives us,
these four things we see in this verse for that purpose. First,
there's the trumpet. The trumpet's to be blown by
the soldiers of Christ, you who believe him. You are soldiers. You're soldiers in the army of
our Lord, in his kingdom. Joyful soldiers, reapers, harvesting,
working, laboring in the kingdom of our Lord. And so by these
trumpets, we understand we're to blow, we're to declare that
good news of what the Lord has declared to us, of what he's
accomplished. We're not, just like Gideon,
didn't go down there hacking away to start this thing off.
No, the Lord accomplished it all by that blowing of the trumpet. And that's what we do. We declare
what Christ has accomplished for his people. Isn't that much
more comforting, much more easier to say? He's not called you to
convince others and to make them believe. We don't have an inquisition
of people. We just proclaim what he's done,
what he's done for me, how he's comforted my heart and delivered
me from death, that's all. They may not believe it, they
may call you a fool and not care at all for what you say, but
trust him, that's all we do. We declare, we blow that trumpet
of what he's accomplished for us. We make known to others as
the Lord enables and helps us to say it, that good news which
Christ has done for his people. We don't have any other offensive
weapon. We're not charged to be offensive in any other way.
That's offensive enough to the flesh. They won't like that enough,
but you're just proclaiming what Christ has done. We have the
sword of the spirit. We read his word. We want to
know his word. That word, when the Lord helps
us to get it out as best we can, to speak according to the spirit
of that word and say what the Lord has done and what he said
to his people in his word. And so we trust Him. We trust
Him. We don't have any way to make
it effectual, but we trust that the Lord has laid it on our hearts.
And we say it, trusting the Lord to lay it to the heart of that
person. Oftentimes, I bet we all can
think back how it's usually the people we thought were going
to hate it and not hear it. And we think they won't hear
this. This won't be of any profit.
They're usually the ones that do hear it. And you see some
fruit, some glimmer of hope there, whereas those you are so certain
are going to believe are oftentimes the ones who work to make you
feel like a fool for even laboring or trying to share what the Lord
has done for you. Now it's essential that we preach
this word and that we preach the truth of it. We're not saved
by by just knowing the doctrine, but it's important that we do
preach the truth, but that we preach it in love. As we saw
with the Ephesian church, they knew the truth, but they lost
their first love. And they were just going through
the motions, and we can all do that. We're saved by Christ. We're saved by Christ and we
want to walk in that spirit of love and peace and kindness toward
others. But we trust the Lord. We trust
the Lord in him and we preach it because that's what our God
has ordained for his people. That's why we gather because
we know this is where the Lord meets with his people and he
teaches them. It's important. I encourage you all to read your
word, to read the word. Don't just go home and put it
on the coffee table and forget about it until the next time.
make time to read the word and pray that the Lord bless it.
And if you read something like three chapters a day, you actually
can get through the Bible in a year. And we pray that the
Lord make it profitable. But even if you do one chapter
a day, that's more than what most people will do. And you'd
be surprised how the Lord sometimes will just take a a word, a verse,
a passage and bless it to your heart because you didn't see
it or you didn't see it that way or you never saw it before
or you're reminded of it and you're blessed again. Read your
word and come to hear the word preached because the Lord saves
his people through the preaching. He delivers them from difficulties
and troubles. He instructs us. He counsels
us. He teaches us. He chastens us,
He comforts us, He does everything and He assembles and gathers
His people, giving them that blessing to hear the Word of
the Lord and to be comforted again in what He's done for His
people. And so we preach it because after
that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God,
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. So he's ordained preaching, the
folly of it, to save his people. And so we're moved by the Lord. We're moved by the Lord when
he moves and he stirs us up to teach us, we're moved by him
and we do as he says. We preach this word, we assemble
together and preach this word, trusting him. It says in Isaiah
52 verse 8, thy watchman shall lift up the voice with the voice. We lift up the voice with the
voice. As he teaches me and moves me
to study his word and to prepare and to seek him for a message
for you, we lift up the voice with the voice. Because my voice
isn't effectual. But the Spirit takes what He
wills and makes it effectual in the hearts of His people as
He's purposed to bless each one severally as He will. Together shall they sing, for
they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion."
Next, we see that there's a light pictured in that torch, that
lamp, which is given to each man. The light is the written
and living word of God. We want to know those scriptures
and we want to study them because if they speak not according to
this word, he tells us, it's because there's no light in them.
That's why we want to hear the word and we want to hear it preached
and we want to read it and we want to seek the Lord ourselves
as well as together in that body because the Lord corrects us
and he shows us the truth and there's so much vile corruption
in the world just as there always was and we need to hear the word
of God and we need to see the truth of God and we need to see
Christ in these scriptures So read it and seek Him. We're born
again creatures after Christ's work, after His spiritual seed. We're given life and light by
our Savior, by the Spirit of God through His word. Blessing
that word to us. It says in 2 Corinthians 4, 6,
for God commanded the light to shine out of darkness. For God
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He's shining that light, making
us to know and to see the truth of God in Christ. And in having
seen this light and believe the truth of God by His grace, we
preach it, we live it, we seek to know the true and living God
more and more, and to let that light shine forth. 2 Peter 1.19
We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do
well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark
place. I like that because it speaks
of where the dark place, my heart, my mind is the dark place by
nature. And we come to that word, looking to the Lord and praying
that that light shine into this dark place and expose that and
bring me to the Lord, bring me to see that what is raw to me
is of the Lord, to give him praise and glory and thanks for what
he's done. And so we come to hear this word,
which shines in a dark place until the day dawn. and the day
star arise in your hearts. And so we want to hear, believers
want to hear that word, but not all men want to hear that word.
Not everybody wants to hear it. And the scriptures tell us why
that is. Being left to themselves, they
hate the light because they love darkness. Now we all love the
darkness by nature until the Lord shines that light, until
the Lord, that day star of Christ rises in our hearts. and gives
us life and hope in him. So John 3, 19 through 21 says,
this is the condemnation, that light is coming to the world
and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. For everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved. All would be lost, but we see
in verse 21, here's the grace, he that doeth truth cometh to
the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are
wrought in God. And so all the glory is the Lord's. We preach the word, trusting
that he lays it to the hearts of his people, and he's always
glorified. Whether to some it's a savor
of death unto death, or it's a savor of life unto life, our
God is always glorified in the preaching of the word, in declaring
the truth of our God in the face of Jesus Christ. Next, we have
the pitcher. And the pitcher conceals that
light from view until that earthen vessel is broken. Until that
pitcher is broken, that light is concealed inside. Now it was
smashed, it was broken, and once that happened, that's when the
light shone forth out of that picture in the darkness at night
and was seen by all. Now it doesn't tell us exactly
how those pictures were broken. I read one man and he said they
smashed it on the ground. That may be, but I tend to think
they took the trumpet and smashed it and broke it, right? Which
would be a good picture because it's by the gospel that the Lord
smashes and breaks us, right? And so that picture was broken
and then the light shone forth. And we see there Well, that picture
represents us. We are the weak earthen vessel. We are that clay pot. And the Lord, by his grace, not
by birth, not by nature, but by his grace, gives light to
his people who are, by nature, earthen pots, who are empty vessels
by nature. And he gives the light through
the preaching of the gospel face of the Lord Jesus Christ, he
gives his people that light, that life, that understanding,
that new man born of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what the Lord
does is he breaks his people. He makes us broken people. He's the one that teaches us. He takes base things, weak things,
ignorant things, unwealthy things, people who have nothing in themselves. And he takes of us weak, broken
pots of clay, and he glorifies himself. He accomplishes a great
victory. Like 300 men over 130 40,000
something men, he accomplishes great things where we share in
the victory, but he gets all the glory and the praise because
all we are is empty pots. that are broken, that are weak
in ourselves and insufficient in ourselves and unable in ourselves
to do that work which is necessary for the salvation of his people,
he does it all. As Paul confirms in 2 Corinthians
4, 7, but we have this treasure, we have this light in earthen
vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. And so he takes you, his child,
and he humbles us as we have need of humbling, more than maybe
we think we do, but that just shows how much we need it. And
he humbles us and brings us low and puts us, our faces down in
the dirt so that we are made to look up to Christ, to see
that he is all glorious, that he's the Lord, he's worthy of
all praise, honor, and power, and not us. He humbles this pride.
and brings us low in ourselves to see Christ and his beauty
and glory. Psalm 51, 17 says, the sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit. He uses broken things. The sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. Oh God,
thou will not despise. And so that's what he makes us.
And so once we're broken, that's when that light shines forth.
That's when others see what the Lord has done. When we're nothing. When we're shattered and broken.
So that we don't receive any of the glory. He gets it all.
We don't even know what's going on. The Lord is the one who gets
it all. Now, the fourth thing here is
this message that they shouted, the sword of the Lord and of
Gideon. Now, it's kind of an odd thing
to say. We don't usually word things in that way. The Jews who said it, they understood
it, and it's like the gospel. It's odd, it's foolishness to
them that are perishing. Those who speak it know it, and
they rejoice in it, and to them, it's rejoicing. To them, it's
the victory of the Lord. We're declaring that God has
the victory, and we share in that victory, and all the glory
and praise is His. And that shouting instilled fear. It instilled fear in their enemies
because the Lord worked it so that they understood it to be
the fulfillment of that dream that spread throughout the camp
when that guy had the dream. And then he told his friend and
his friend interpreted the dream. They understood he's coming and
he's going to destroy us. And they heard that shouted and
they were terrified. They were afraid. And the Lord
worked fear in their hearts. And that's how it is with the
good news to us, to the Lord's people who are being saved. It
is a rejoicing and a joy. But to those who it isn't good
news to, to them, it's fearful. To them, it troubles them. To
them, they are perplexed. They may act like it or feel
confident today, but when they see him coming in the clouds
in that day, they shall be terrified because they're going to know
exactly what it's saying. They're going to know it then
because they've heard that Christ is returning for his people.
He's coming again. and they shall be moved with
great terror and great fear in that day." And so it speaks of
this in Revelation 6, for example. I won't read the whole thing,
but it tells us in Romans 6, 15 through 17, that in that day,
all the great men, the kings, and the wealthy, and the prime
ministers, and presidents, and everybody who thinks they're
somebody and has things of this earth, in that day, when they
see him coming, shall run to their underground bunkers, crying
out for the mountains and the rocks to fall on them and to
hide them from the face of Christ, who's coming again just as he
said. And so they'll be afraid, for
that great day of wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? You, brethren, you and the Lord
Jesus Christ shall stand, just as these Jews here stood in that
day. Back in Judges 7, verse 21 and
22, it tells us, and they stood. Every man in his place, round
about the camp, they stood. They stood in the Lord, and that's
where we stand. And that day, when the end is
coming... We'll stand. We won't be running for the mountains
and the hills and crying for rocks to fall on us. We'll be
glad at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every man stood. And it tells us, as they were
standing confidently, all the host ran and cried and fled. And the 300 blew the trumpets. And the Lord set every man's
sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host. And
the host fled to various places. And so to the many, whether they're
religious or not, they don't understand the gospel word. But
the Lord has made it understandable to you. He's given you knowledge
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, a hope in him. And so he gives
it to you. The children of God stood, every
man in his place, and we stand in the promise of God in Christ,
because the battle is the Lord's. And he's given you those weapons,
the gospel, he's given you his spirit, that new creation of
Christ in you, and he breaks you. And he bears that light
shining forth, declaring the glory of God. and he makes you
to stand confidently in the Lord Jesus Christ. Your enemies will
be troubled. Let them be troubled. The Lord
will work it perfectly. He'll either bring them in and
make Christ a saver of life unto life, or he'll leave them in
death, making Christ a saver of death unto death. All we do
is preach that gospel. walk in love, walk in faith toward
our brethren and toward one another, those within and those without,
trusting that the Lord will accomplish his will and purpose in the earth.
And we rejoice in him. Amen. Let's pray. Gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your grace. We thank you for the victory
which you have wrought for us in Christ. By the shedding of
his blood, by the power of his grace and mercy, his faithfulness
and obedience to you, Lord, keep us ever looking to Christ, our
righteousness, our hope, our all. Lord, make us to stand in
him. And Lord, though it please you
to break us, to humble us, to bring us low in ourselves, we
thank you, Lord, seeing the light which you shine forth of your
son, Jesus Christ, draw in to comfort and bless the hearts
of your people, given to Christ before the foundation of the
world. And Lord, we see how you stir up and trouble the nations
and the men of this earth, that they would tremble and fear and
be afraid. But Lord, bless your people.
Deliver us from that inheritance in Adam and stand us in the inheritance
of Christ. Fit us in Him, put us in Him,
Lord, keep us in Him. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. And Lord, if there's anything
on the hearts of your people, any trouble, any distraction,
bless them, comfort them, keep them. In Christ's name we pray,
amen. Let's all stand and sing number
56. I am his and he is mine. 56. With everlasting love, Led by
grace that love to know, Spirit breathing from above, Thou hast
taught me it is so. O this full and perfect peace,
O this transport all divine, In a love which cannot cease,
I am His and He is mine. In a love which cannot cease,
I am His and He is mine. Heaven above is softer blue,
Earth around is sweeter green Something lives in every hue
Christless eyes have ever seen Birds with gladder songs o'erflow
Flowers with deeper beauty shine Since I know, as now I know,
I am His and He is mine. Since I know, as now I know,
I am His and He is mine. Things that once were wild alarms
Cannot now disturb my rest Closed in everlasting arms Pillowed
on the loving breast O to life forever here doubt and care and
self-resign. While he whispers in my ear,
I am his and he is mine. While he whispers in my ear,
I am his and he is mine. ? His forever only is ? ? Who
the Lord and me shall part ? ? Ah, with what arrest of bliss ? ?
Christ can fill the loving heart ? ? Heaven and earth may fade
and flee ? ? Firstborn light in gloom decline ? But while
God and I shall be, I am His and He is mine. But while God
and I shall be, I am His and He is mine.