Hebrews chapter 11. And we'll begin here, but then we'll
move to Judges chapter 6, so if you want to turn there as
well. And the title of my message this
morning is, A Word to Those Weak in Faith. A Word to the Weak
in Faith. Now this text is obviously what
we call the Hall of Faith. It exemplifies, it examines the
faith of those saints that went before us so as to give us different
characteristics of true saving faith. Now there is a faith that
is not real. There is a faith that is pretend. There is a faith that is man-made. This is common. Ask anyone today
if they believe in Jesus and you'll have many, many, many
people raise their hand. They'll say they believe. This
is what we call professing to believe. Many profess to believe
in Christ. But what we are talking about
in this chapter is the necessity of true saving faith. True faith. True faith has one
object, Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. True faith repents
and turns to Christ, obeys the gospel of Christ. True faith
in Christ is willing to sacrifice and give up everything for Christ. True faith forsakes the world
and sin, choosing rather to suffer the afflictions of God. True
faith has one Passover lamp. True faith goes through the Red
Sea, which is the justice of God. True faith alone inherits
eternal life. True faith. Only true faith. And so all this chapter, it magnifies
and exonerates true faith. Without faith, listen, it is
impossible to please God. Impossible. And so now we've
come this far in this, and look at what he says in verse 32.
He said, what shall I say more? for time would fail me." He said
so many things. We have been in this chapter
now for how long? A long time. We've been in this
going over each one of these of faith. And he said, look,
I don't have enough parchment. I don't have enough to write. He said, time would fail me to
tell of Gideon, of Barak, of Samson, of Jephthah, of David,
and Samuel, and of the prophets. And he's true. Time would fail
him. But what these seven men here mentioned, he doesn't go
into great detail, but I thought it necessary to look at some
of these men. And I began with the first one
that he mentions here, Gideon. And that's the one we're going
to look at today. How does Gideon's faith represent true faith? And as I begin to examine Gideon's
faith in Judges chapter 6 and turn there, I want us to see,
first of all, Gideon's faith is shown to be very weak faith. Weak faith. You are believers
in Christ. I'll ask you, can you not identify
with this? I tell you the apostles many
times could identify with this because our Lord gave that rebuke
many times to them. O you of what? Little faith. Little faith. Gideon's faith is in this text
we're going to be looking at an example of weak faith that
is made strong. Weak faith that is made strong.
Is there anyone who believes on Christ who has weak faith? Is there anyone of us who does
not desire to have strong faith in Christ? We're going to look
at this example and see Gideon and his weak faith, and we're
going to see how it is his faith was made strong. Because it was.
It was made strong. You remember these Midianites
had captured the nation of Israel. They were oppressing the nation
of Israel. But in the end of this story,
you read of Gideon with those only 300 men, armed with candles
and horns. And God destroyed Midian. They routed the enemies of God. How? Through faith. Strong faith. Gideon had strong faith in the
end. But let's see his faith first of all at the beginning.
First thing I want us to notice is the times in which Gideon
lived. The times. Look at this in verse
1 of chapter 6. And the children of Israel did
evil in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord delivered them into
the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed
against Israel. And because of the Midianites,
the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains
and caves and strongholds. The time that they lived in was
a very dark time. Very dark time. This man Gideon
lived in a very dark time in the history of Israel. The children
of Israel, throughout this whole book, you'll read this in Judges.
If you read through the book, you'll read these things. They
did evil in the sight of the Lord. And this other thing. They
did that which was right in their own eyes. This is written over
and over in this book. Every man did that which was
right in his own eyes. Now let me ask you this, does
this not sound familiar? Does this not absolutely sound
exactly the day in which we live? Every man does that which is
right, what? In his own eyes. You can't tell
me you don't see that. Men do that which is right in
their own eyes today. You see a sodomite walking around. And what is he doing? He's doing
that which is right in his own eyes. You look at him and you
judge. What does he say? Don't judge
me. Don't judge me. Who are you to judge me? I'm
going to do what's right in my own eyes. Look at the adulterer,
the fornicator. Well, they say, don't judge me.
How dare you? and they try to shame you for
telling them what they're doing is sin. You see the woman go down to the
abortion clinic about to murder her child and what does she say?
Don't judge me. Don't judge me. Who are you to judge me? You
should be ashamed for judging me. What? For murdering your
son? Murdering your daughter? We live in a time where men do
that which is right. They do what feels good to themselves. And not only this, but we're
talking about religious men. They just worship the God of
their own imagination. They say, dude, they worship
the God that is right in their own eyes. Look, you go worship
your God, I'll worship my God and we'll all get to heaven.
Isn't that the idea? That's the idea of this modern generation.
They do that which is right in their own eyes. They worship
a God that is right to them. Millions go to churches. They
sing songs. They take this book and they
loosely use it. They mention it and they go off
on a tangent somewhere else. They worship a God that cannot
save. They worship a God that is obligated to the will of man. They worship a Christ that only
made salvation possible. They say, Jesus Christ did all
He can do. The rest is up to you. I find that nowhere in Scripture. Nowhere at all. It's not anywhere
in there. The Scripture says, He shall
save His people from their sins. I know of no Christ that made
salvation possible. I know of a Christ that actually
saved. That's who I know. And I know
it according to this book. You take a man and you show him
the Word of God, you show him Christ, you show him that God
chose a people, you show him that Christ died for those people,
you show him that the Holy Spirit comes to those people, and saves
them, and gives them faith, and keeps them, and gives them eternal
life and glory. And what do they say? Well, that's
just your interpretation. Isn't that what they say? Well,
that's just what you think. I'm going to do what's right in my
eyes, you do what's right in your eyes, and we'll all get to heaven.
It's the same thing that happened in their day. It's the same thing. And so then I ask you, where
are the saints? Where's the church? Where's the
church in such a dark day? Well, where was the church in
Gideon's day? Look at this. And the hand of
the Midianites prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites,
the children of Israel made themselves dens, which are in the mountains
and caves and strongholds. Where was Israel? Where was God's
people in this dark time? They were hiding. They were cowered down in these
little bitty caves and dens and strongholds, afraid to go out the door. All
around them, they were surrounded by men doing that which is right
in their own eyes. So are we. So are we. In this generation, men do evil
and defy God openly. Is that not true in this generation?
Wasn't there a time when all of these saints seemed to be
shameful? Men did them. There was no stopping them from
doing the evil, but at one time it was shameful. Why is it not shameful? I answer that by asking this
question, where's the church? Listen, the church of Christ
is a defense for a nation. Without the church, the nation
declines. That's just so. If the church
is hiding, the nation's declining. If the church is in the den and
caves, the nation is declining. That's what's happening in our
day. See the truth. Where's the church? You see, our nation is declining
because the church over many years has been compromising. Compromising. In the name of
saving people, in the name of winning souls to Christ, the
church has been compromising the gospel of Christ. They've been conceding to them
in order to get them to come in. That's not what the church
is for. The church is not for that. The church is for one purpose.
To preach the gospel of Christ. That's it. And by our faithful
preaching the gospel, we know this. The wicked are shamed and
the elect are called. That's right. The wicked are
shamed and the elect are called. And look at this, what happened
to Israel here. Look in verse 3. And it was so when Israel
had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites and
the children of the east, even they came up against them, and
they encamped against them, and they destroyed the increase of
the earth till it come to Gaza, and left no substance for Israel,
neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass, And they came up with their cattle
and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude,
for both they and their camels were without number. And they
entered into the land, listen, to destroy it. And Israel was
greatly impoverished because of the Midianites. And the children
of Israel cried unto the Lord. Israel sowed. They did work.
Listen, Israel was out there doing the work. They were out
there sowing the seed. They were out there feeding the
cows. They were feeding the sheep. They were hoping for an increase.
They were desirous to be fed. And what happened? Because of
their disobedience, the Midianites would come in and they destroyed
all the increase. They destroyed all the increase.
They worked hard. But they got no increase. They
were surrounded. Not only were they surrounded,
they were surrounded by a great multitude. A great multitude. Listen, is that not so with the
church? The church faithfully, faithfully
must be preaching the gospel. But yet, have you noticed that
the church seems to be diminishing in our day? It seems to be smaller.
It doesn't seem to be growing. And we're not talking about numbers.
I'm not just talking about that. I'm talking about spiritual growth.
You have people that have been in the church for years who don't
grow. They remain little children.
They seem to be lacking in desire to hear the Word and to grow
in the grace and knowledge of Christ. And I tell you, we're surrounded
by great enemies, aren't we? They were surrounded by enemies
so vast they were called grasshoppers. There were so many. And listen,
look around you. Are we not surrounded? Are you
not surrounded by this false religious world that seems so
large and so numerous? And yet the church seems so small.
What does this do? I tell you what it does to most
of us. It causes us to doubt and fear. and tremble. Will God put out the light? Has
that not crossed your mind? Will God continue to allow the
gospel to be preached in this generation? It causes us great doubt and
fear. And because of our enemies, at times our faith becomes weak. Weak. And what did Israel do? Listen.
They cried unto the Lord, verse 6. And it came to pass, verse
7, when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, because
of the many nights the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of
Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
I brought you up out of Egypt. and brought you forth out of
the house of bondage. I delivered you out of the hand
of the Egyptians, out of the hand of all that oppressed you.
I draved them out before you and gave you the land. And I
said unto you, I am the Lord your God." Listen, fear not the
God of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But you have not obeyed my voice. You have not obeyed My voice."
What happens when God's people cry unto God? What does He do?
He sends them a messenger. All right? He always sends a
messenger. Always. And what is the message
of the messenger? You listen. It's always the same.
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You know what the message of
taking them out of bondage from Egypt, you know what message?
That's the message of Christ. That was a picture of how God
saved sinners. Israel was in bondage to Egypt.
We, by nature, were in bondage to sin. You hear God choosing
Israel. He said, I loved Israel. I chose
Israel. I made a covenant with Israel.
That's a picture of God's election. God chose a people. And He chose
to save those people, what? Out of bondage. Out of sin. How did He do that? By blood.
You remember the Passover lamb, how God killed that spotless
lamb in the midst of the congregation and put the blood on the doorpost
and the lentil. And everyone that was in the
house with the blood, God said, I will pass over you. That's
a picture of Christ. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. He came to shed His blood as
the innocent, spotless Lamb of God. And to whomsoever the blood
is applied to the heart, God will pass over you. Justice satisfied. Sin paid for by the blood. And then you come to the Red
Sea and you see that sea before them. That's a picture of God's
justice. How should they reach the promised land? Except they
go through the justice of God. And as Moses lifted up his rod,
Christ was lifted up. And what happened? The justice
of God parted. The justice of God parted. And
we walk through right now by faith, walking through on dry
ground, which is Christ. The solid rock of our foundation
of our faith is Christ. That's a gospel message He's
preaching to them. When God sends a prophet to those
weak and feeble faith people, what does He preach to them?
He preached Christ. He said, look, I did this for
you. I saved you. I delivered you. I am the Lord
your God. Now listen, fear not. When you came into this land,
you know, God told them when they came into this land. When
God told them... Go to Deuteronomy chapter 18.
I want to show you what God said to them before they actually
came into this land. Deuteronomy chapter 18. Look at verse 9. He said, when thou art coming
to the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not
learn to do after the abominations of those nations. Listen, when you come into the
land, I don't even want you to learn about their gods. I don't
want you to learn about their doctrines. I don't want you to
learn about their practices. I don't want you to learn about
their religion. I don't care about their religion. Their religion
is vanity. It's nothing. You don't need
to be even concerning yourself with it. Don't learn it. Don't
learn it. Now listen. Over the past century,
is this not what the Church of God had failed to do? Men of
learning tried to persuade men by learning their religion. Men
who wanted to persuade Catholics, what did they do? They went out
and learned Catholicism. They wanted to persuade Mormons, what
did they do? They went out and learned Mormonism. You know what happened
to them? They went off into those religions.
Most of them are gone. Most of them are gone. You see,
it's not our business to learn other religions. I don't care
about other religions. The only one I care about is
the true religion, the true God. What is Israel to be doing? I
don't want you to learn about them. They're an abomination.
Look at verse 14, but at the end of verse 14, but as for thee,
the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee to do so. Listen, the Lord
thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee
like unto me, unto him shalt thou hearken. What is that? That's
a prophecy of Christ. In other words, don't learn about
their God, you follow Christ. What is a church to be doing?
What is the church to be doing? Following Christ. We're to be
believing in Christ. We're to be trusting in Christ.
We are to be preaching Christ. That's all. I'm so glad God doesn't
give us multiple things to do because we fail even when God
gives us one thing to do. Preach Christ. What did he tell
Timothy? He said, I charge thee, Timothy,
preach the Word. be instant when it's popular
and when it's not. In season, out of season, reprove,
rebuke, we exhort with all longsuffering. The church is to look by faith
to Christ, to preach Christ. This is our business. What is
our commission? Believer in Christ, what is your
commission? What has your Lord and my Lord commissioned us to
do? Go you into all the world and change the culture. Is that
what he said? Impact the culture for Jesus
That's the modern slogan today, isn't it? Look, I don't care
about them. What is our commission to do?
Our commission is this. Preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. This is our message. It doesn't
change. It doesn't change. It's good
for me. I don't have to keep up on the
times. I don't have to get sermonology
for the week or anything else. I don't have to be updated on
anything. This message is the same yesterday,
today, and forever because Christ is. It's our commission to preach
the gospel. And now we go to Gideon. Look
back at your text. Now you see what time Gideon
lived in? Now look at Gideon. He's a capsule of all of Israel. He's a great picture of all the
nation of Israel at this time. All the people of God. Verse
11, And the angel of the Lord, and there came the angel of the
Lord, and sat under the oak, which is an orphath, that pertained
to Joash, the Abizite, and his son Gideon threshed wheat by
the winepress and hid it from the Midianites." Now the first
thing I want you to know about Gideon's faith, it was cowardly.
It was cowardly. See Gideon didn't, he was rebelling
against the oppressors, but he was doing it at night. He was
out there. He said, I'm going to show them.
I'm going to get some wheat and I'm going to hide it. They're
not going to take this wheat from me. I'm going to hide it
in the wine press. They'll never know where it came
from. His faith was cowardly. His defiance was not open, but
secret. Is this not the lowest state
of the church trying to sneak the gospel in? Isn't that a picture of us? Isn't
that a picture of most believers? They're out there in the world,
and what they want to do, they said, I'm just going to slip
this in, the conversation. I'm going to sneak in the gospel. Where's our boldness? Where's our boldness to proclaim
the gospel? Where's our boldness to confront
the lies? Gideon was out hiding wheat,
and so is the church today, out there hiding. You have men who
profess to believe in the grace of God sitting in false churches. What are they doing? They're
saying, well, I'm going to sneak the gospel in real slowly, and
one day it's going to come. No. No, it's not. Our mission is not to sneak the
gospel, to preach the gospel. declare it boldly, plainly. What did God give the Israelites
power to do? To overcome the Canaanites. He
said, I gave you this land, but you did not obey my voice. You
didn't do what I told you to do. I told you to kill the Canaanites. I didn't told you to... What
Israel did is they made them pay taxes. They said, well, we're
not going to kill them. We'll just make them pay tithes,
taxes. No. That wasn't his commission.
His commission was go out and to take the land. Boldly. Yet where was the church? Where
was Israel? It was hiding. When it should
have been in faith taking the land. His faith was cowardly. Most believers now are trying
to dress up the gospel and smooth out its rough edges to make it
acceptable. That's cowardly faith. It's cowardly. Paul says this, if I preach circumcision,
yet why do I suffer persecution? Then is the fence of the cross
ceased. In other words, if I compromise,
then is the cross ceased. Then is the Gospel message ceased. It has no power if I compromise
it. In Galatians 1 and verse 10,
he says this, Now do I persuade God of men? Do I seek to please
men? For if I yet please men, I should not be a servant of
God. See, I'm not here to please men. What am I here to do? Preach the Gospel. Preach Christ. What are you here to do, church? What are you here to do? You're
here to do the same thing I'm here to do. Preach the gospel.
Declare the gospel at every opportunity. At every opportunity. Boldly
proclaim the gospel. At times, true faith may be weak
faith. I know this, believer, our faith
may be weak, but I want you to understand that weak faith is
still true faith. Our faith may be weak, but it's
true. And everyone who has true faith,
you listen, the Son of God will come to you just like He came
to Gideon, in order that your faith should be made strong.
Made strong. Look at that, the angel of the
Lord is coming to him in his weak condition, and look at what
he said in verse 12. The angel of the Lord appeared
unto him and said unto him, The Lord is with thee. Thou mighty
man of valor. You see how we see things? We
see things and we see Gideon over there hiding. You know what
God saw? God saw a mighty man of valor. Why? The Lord is with thee. Believer,
even in your weakest state, your most fearful condition, Even
when you fail to do what you have been commissioned and commanded
to do, know this, the Lord is with thee. Isn't that good news?
Even in your lowest state, the Lord is with thee. Now that's
grace, isn't it? Isn't that grace? The Lord is with thee. You remember
this, He said, I will never, no never, no never leave thee,
nor forsake thee. Remember, believer, that our
salvation was purposed by the Father. Our salvation was by
the redemption and accomplished work of Christ. Our salvation
come by the power of the Holy Spirit, who now dwells in us. Therefore, I will never leave
thee, and you are a mighty man of valor. You are. Why? Because God is with thee. You
are. You are these things. All believers,
see what Paul said, who shall separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus? Shall famine and persecution,
peril and nakedness, or sword? No. In all these things you are
more than conquerors through him that loved you. Therefore
I am persuaded that neither life nor death, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. O believer,
the Lord is with thee, and you are a mighty man of valor. Now
look at Gideon again, verse 13. And Gideon said unto him, O my
Lord, if And what does weak faith do? It questions God's Word. Weak faith always questions God's
Word. Listen. If the Lord be with us,
why then are this befalling us? What is Gideon doing? He's looking
at the circumstance, and he looks at God's Word, and he begins
to question, if God is for me, then how could this be? If God is with me, and I am such
a mighty man as you said, how then could this befall us? Where are the miracles our fathers
told us, saying, did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt? But
now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands
of the Midianites. All friends, listen, weak faith
always looks at the circumstances and questions God's Word. How, believer, are we troubled
and fearful when we look at the circumstances and providences
and try to trace them back to find God's love and mercy? You
remember that that prophecy of God's providence, the wheel within
the wheel. You had this wheel, and a wheel
within a wheel, and the wheel was always spinning. That which
is at the top comes to the bottom, that which is at the bottom comes
to the top, always changing, always moving. This is the providence
of God in time. Yet that wheel never turned to
the right or to the left. It always went straight forward. Everything that happens in time
is what God decreed in eternity. Everything. Nothing happens by
chance, accident. Everything moves according to
the sovereign will of God. And so then you look at God's
providence and you say, well God's Word says. He loves us. God's Word says Christ died and
our sins are removed. God's Word says that eternal
life is ours. But when I look at the circumstances,
I'm always in trouble. I'm always having difficulty.
There's always trouble, sickness, and affliction. When I was a kid, I used to turn my
bicycle over. I like to spin that wheel of
the bicycle. And I tried to look at one spoke. Try to look at one spoke. Your
head keeps moving and you just get dizzy looking, trying to
trace that one spoke from the outer rim down to the hub you're
tracing it. That's exactly how you're going
to get trying to look at God's providence and find God's mercies
and love in providence. Don't look at it. The only way
not to get dizzy is look at the thing that doesn't move. What
doesn't move? God doesn't move. God is the
center of all time and providence. All you need to do is look at
God. Look at Christ. He doesn't move. His salvation
doesn't move. So who cares what happens in
time and providence? God is the first cause of everything
in weak faith. Instead of just plainly, simply
trusting the Word of God, it tries to trace God's providence,
God's love through providence. Let us then look at the Word
of Christ that doesn't move. Go to verse 14. And the Lord
looked unto him and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt
save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent
thee? The church looks out and sees
all this trouble and all this false religion and we're so small,
so insignificant. How then are we going to save? How then are we going to fulfill
our commission with this great army against us? You listen,
go in this thy might What's our might? It is the Word of God
that's our might. That's my authority. My authority
to tell you how it is sinners are saved is the Word of God. Not my opinion. I don't care
about my opinion. You shouldn't care about my opinion. You shall only care, thus saith
the Lord. That's all my authority. So church, as you are commissioned
to go, go out in this. Thus saith the Lord. Thus saith
the Lord. And what's going to happen is,
thou shalt save Israel. Now listen, preaching in and
of itself doesn't save anybody. My ability to preach doesn't
save anybody. But I know this, no one is saved
without preaching. No one is saved without preaching. Go to 1 Corinthians. I'll show
it to you. I don't want you to take my word for it. 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. Look at verse 17. For Christ sent me not to preach,
not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not with the wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, what?
Foolishness. Listen, you think this is foolish?
Because you're dying. Because you're dead. Is that my opinion? Is that what
it just said? Not my opinion, it's what it said. To you that
are perishing, this is foolishness. There's got to be a better way
than preaching. Surely you can entertain folks. Surely you can
set on some plays and sing some songs, something that gets people
pepped up. Nope. Preaching. To them that
perish, this is foolishness. But unto us who are saved, what? It is the power of God. Why? I know it's the power of God
because that's how God saved me. Through the foolishness of
preaching. Look at that in verse 21. Now, for 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 believed. Why
preach? Because that's the means God chose. That's the means God
chose. Go forth in this thy might. and thou shalt save who? Who? Israel. Did he say thou shalt
save the Midianites? Nope. Who is this message going to
impact? Who is this message going to save? The elect. That's all. That's all. Some people, when
a man starts out in a ministry, a lot of people, some men just
quit after a few years because they have this unreal expectation
of preaching. They suppose that just the whole
world is going to come in. That's what they suppose. And
when they find out that the world don't have any interest in this,
if they're not God's preachers, they just go away. I don't have
any unreal expectation about this. You know who's going to
be saved? Israel. You know how they're
going to be saved? Preaching the gospel. And that's exactly what the Lord
does to Gideon. Go back and I'll show you this.
And we'll close with this. Look at this. In verse 19, Gideon,
he's still doubting this. In verse 17, he said, If I found
grace in thy sight, There's that word, if, again. He's still doubting
here. He said, "...if I found grace,
and I shite." Show me a sign that you talk with me. Look,
I know this. I know you're going to save Israel,
okay? I know you've got an elect people. I know that Christ died
for them. I know that the Spirit of God
is going to save them. But are you talking to me? How
do I know you're talking to me? Here it is. Gideon went out and
he brought a present to him. He went out and killed this goat. He sacrificed a goat, and he
brought the flesh of this goat, and he brought some cakes along
with him, some unleavened cakes. And then he brought some broth
in a pot, and he gave it to the angel of the Lord. Now look at
this. He made ready that kid, and He
brought it to the angel of the Lord. And verse 20, And the angel
of the Lord said unto him, Take the flesh of the goat and the
unleavened cakes, and lay it upon this rock, and pour out
the broth. Okay? So He did it. He took that flesh of that goat,
He laid it on that rock. He took those unleavened cakes
and He put them on the rock. And He poured that broth on top
of the cakes and on the flesh. And listen to what the angel
of the Lord did. And the angel of the Lord put forth the end
of his staff that was in his hand. And he touched the flesh
and the unleavened cakes. And there rose a fire out of
the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. And
listen, and the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.
What just happened? The gospel of Jesus Christ was
just preached. You get it? Anybody get it? Who
is the only offering for sin? It's Christ. He said, I came, He gave Himself
an offering for sin. Jesus Christ came into the world
to offer Himself, to lay down His life for the sheep. He is
the sacrifice, the only acceptable sacrifice. Those unleavened cakes. You know what unleavened means?
It's without the rising, the yeast to make it rise. Unleavened
in Scripture is a picture of sinlessness, without sin. Who
is the only one that came in the flesh without sin? It's the
Son of God. The Son of God came in the flesh
to offer Himself a sacrifice for sin. Listen, the rock. Who's
the rock? It's Christ. Christ is the rock. Upon this rock I will build my
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail. He's the rock.
This picture is His deity. His person, His unchangeable
character and holiness. And you listen, the angel of
the Lord wretched out with that rod, and what did He touch? Did He touch the rock? No, He
touched the flesh. and fire came out of the rock
and consumed the offering." When Jesus Christ was made sin for
His people, when He bore our sins in His own body, God struck
His own Son and the wrath of God came up out of deity and
consumed Him. He died under the wrath of God
for the sins of His people. And the angel of the Lord departed
out of his sight. What happened after his death?
He rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven. Listen,
out of our sight. Anybody seen Christ with these
eyes? No. How then does a man know
God's speaking to him? Only if he believes on the Son
of God. Dost thou believe on the Son
of God? Who is He, Lord, that I might
believe on Him? It is He that talketh with thee. Has the Son of God spoken to
you? Have you believed on the Son
of God? Then you listen. He's talking
to you. What does He say about you? I
will never leave thee. You mighty man of valor. What
about my circumstances? Don't worry about them. Go forth
in this thy might and thou shalt save Israel. Go preach the gospel. Do what I've commanded you to
do. And what happened to him? What happened to Gideon? Look
at this. And Gideon said, Alas, O my Lord God, For because I
have seen the angel of the Lord face to face..." In other words,
he said, oh no, I'm going to die. Gideon, this man understood
his sin. He saw the Lord and he knew he
deserved God's justice. Do you know that? True faith
knows that. And what does God say to those
who have true faith? Peace be unto thee. Verse 23,
the Lord said, Peace be unto thee. Fear not, thou shalt not
die. Isn't that what Christ said to
us? I am the resurrection and light. He that believeth on me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live. He that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? I tell you
Gideon believed this and look what Gideon did and verse 24
and Gideon built an altar unto the Lord and he called it this
Jehovah Shalom which means the Lord my peace the Lord our peace And you know how he built that
and the rest of that? He tells how he built that altar.
He went out to his dad's place. God said, you go out there and
you take that bullock that they were going to offer to their
false gods, you take that bullock and you're going to offer it
to me. And he said, I want you to tear down your dad's false
god idol. And then I want you to cut that
grove around, they had this grove, they grow wine, grow this grape
so they can get drunk and serve their gods. He said, you cut
all that down and use that as wood to burn that offering to
me. And he did it. He tore down his
false gods and he served the living God. True faith tears
down all our false gods. and serve the Living God. Serve the Living God. You know
when He did that? He burned His bridges. Everyone who believes in Christ,
we burn our bridges. I don't want anything to do with that.
I don't want anything to do with that. I serve the Living God. And you know what I'm going to
do? I'm going to go forth in His might. Not my own. In His
strength. and preach his gospel and his
people shall be saved. I'm not gonna worry about circumstances.
I'm not even gonna worry about the weakness of this man here. I'm just simply going to believe
God. That's what the church should
do in weakness. Believe God. Believe God. Is your faith weak?
Believe God. preach His gospel. Isn't that
what we're here for? Why does God not yet take us
home to be with Him? Wouldn't that be far better?
Why are you still here? That His gospel should be preached.
That we should have the world in derision. And that we should
comfort God's saints. Especially those that are weak.
Especially. May God ever give us strong faith. I pray in Jesus' name. Let's
go to our Lord in prayer. Stand up and we'll be dismissed
in prayer.