If you'll take your Bibles and
turn with me to Judges chapter 6. Judges chapter 6. I began preaching on this chapter
on Sunday, and I continued to study it this week, and the Lord
blessed the messages to me concerning this chapter, concerning Gideon. And I pray that tonight the Lord
will bless us with this as well. Judges chapter 6, we'll begin
our reading in verse 11. The title of the message is,
The Lord is with us. The Lord is with us. Verse 11
says, And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an
oak, which was in Orphra, that pertained to Joash the Abazite,
Asberite, and his son Gideon, threshed wheat by the winepress
to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty
man of valor. And Gideon said unto him, O my
Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen
us? And where be all his miracles
which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring
us up out of Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken
us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. And
the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and
thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have
I not sent thee?" The Lord is with thee. This angel of the Lord here that
appeared under the oak, we know that this is the pre-incarnate
Lord Jesus Christ. This is no angel. This is no
angel of God that was created. And we can see this in several
places, but just look at the fact that He sat down. Just look
at that. No angel has ever sat down. And here we have this one sitting
down. This one sitting down. And we
know this from verse 14 when it says, And the Lord Jehovah
looked upon him. This angel was none other than
the Son of God, Jehovah pre-incarnate. This is the prophet anointed
by God, the high priest and king. Jesus Christ. Now, He appeared
many times under this name. We know He appeared under Samson's
parents before Samson was born under this, the angel of the
Lord. In Daniel, He appeared in that same person, the angel
of the Lord. And this appearing of the Lord
Jesus to Gideon, we can truly see here The gospel of Christ. We can truly see here by His
coming down and supplying the need of Israel. Supplying the
need of a deliverer from the Midianites. And He comes to this
one man, this chosen man, Gideon. And he is sent to deliver Israel,
which is the elect of God. Now, the first thing I want us
to see again is the need. The need. Why did the Lord Jesus
Christ come down in this picture? Because Israel had a need. They had a need of deliverance.
They were oppressed by the Midianites for seven years. They were conquered. underneath this nation that they
were supposed to be rulers of. But yet they were conquered.
They were conquered. And friends, if there's ever
to be a deliverance, there must be a need. Isn't that right? If you don't need deliverance,
then what good is deliverance? Somebody wanting to do a good
deed. I saw this on a show. Somebody was doing a good deed
and he wanted to Bring this old lady across the street, and he
grabbed her arm and went across the street. She said, I didn't
want to go across the street. So, what good is it? What good
is it? If there's no need of deliverance,
what good is deliverance? You see, Midian is a type of
our spiritual condition. Midian, the oppressor, is a type
of our sin nature. It's a type of our depravity.
That all of us are born into the bondage of sin. Do not men think lightly of sin?
As though they could stop it at any time they choose to? What
arrogance! That just manifests depravity. That just shows depravity. To think that we can at any time
just commit ourselves to obedience. That's foolish thinking. That's
foolishness. We are oppressed by sin and can
no means escape the chains of the old man. Therefore, men flee from the
light. Last Sunday we were talking,
I showed you that Israel was hiding in dens and caves. This
is a picture of man running from the light, running into the darkness
to hide. As Israel hid in the dens and
caves of the earth, even so men hide from God." Is that not what
our Father did the first day? He heard the voice of God. What
did He do? He hid. And that's what men try to do.
When you witness of the Lord Jesus Christ to men, and you
stand as a light, what do they want to do? They want to get
out of there. They can't stand to be around you. They don't want to be around
you. You talk about that, I'm leaving. Why? Flee the light. They're fleeing light. Jesus said, this is the condemnation
that is coming to the world, that men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds are evil. I'll tell you this,
if you're charged of a crime and you're not guilty, you want
the light. You want the truth to come out
because you're not guilty. But what happens if you're guilty?
See, men try to hide it. They try to obscure the truth
in darkness because they're guilty. Men seek to hide from the darkness
in their works and religion. And so long as it's dark, they
think everything's okay. Jesus said, if you were blind,
then would you see? But because you say we see, therefore
your sin remaineth." You see, man thinks that somehow by his
works in religion he can deliver himself. And he cannot. Gideon was one of these Israelites
who did not believe in the promise of God. The first time he's seen
In the Scriptures, he doesn't appear to be as the Lord describes
him. He said, God said, the Lord is
with thee, thou mighty man of valor. But what was he doing? What was his appearance? He was
in the cloak of night, threshing wheat by the winepress. Now why would anybody thresh
wheat by a winepress? That's not where you thresh wheat.
You thresh wheat on the threshing floor. You crush grapes in the
wine press, not wheat. And he was doing this at night,
under the cover of darkness, so not to be seen by the Midianites. This man was anything but a mighty
man of valor. He wasn't facing these people.
He wasn't facing the Midianites. But he was working hard in the
middle of the night, threshing wheat, trying to get some food
for his family, working real hard. But no matter how much
he threshed wheat, he could never deliver Israel by threshing wheat.
He could never deliver Israel sneaking out in the middle of
the night and threshing some wheat. Now, he may have given
some food to somebody. Hey, that was good. I appreciate
you going out there and threshing that wheat so we can have some
bread for today. Man, by nature, is working so
hard to produce their own righteousness. They thresh out their good deeds.
They try to help others with their physical and emotional
needs. But as soon as it's over, men still hunger for more. I'll
tell you what, you can feed me a nice steak and a big baked
potato, but I'll be hungry tomorrow. That's the same way it is with
righteousness. We can't produce it. No matter
how good we make our conscience feel today, tomorrow, We still
need righteousness. And no matter how much we thresh
it out, we can't produce it. Sin cannot satisfy the soul,
and religion cannot quiet the conscience. But the more we sin,
the more we have an appetite for sin. No matter how zealous
or religious we may be, it still does not produce any righteousness. The Apostle Paul said in Romans
10, he told us about his brethren in the flesh, he said, I bear
them record they got a great zeal. I'll tell you what, I bear
record that the Jehovah's Witnesses have a great zeal. There's no
way I'd ride around in those white t-shirts on a bicycle running
around from door to door. They have a great zeal, but not
according to knowledge. Because they seek to provide
their own righteousness when Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. We by nature, like Gideon threshing
wheat in the middle of the night, not in the proper place, but
by the winepress, The wine press in Scripture is
a good picture of judgment. It's what God uses it for. In
Isaiah chapter 63, move over there just for a second. Turn
over there. Isaiah chapter 63. Verse 3, the Scripture here speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ, it says, I have trodden the wine
press alone, and of the people there was none with me. For I
will tread them in mine anger and trample them in my fury,
and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will
stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in
mine heart, And the year of my redeemed has come. Here we see a glorious picture
of the Son of God both as the Judge and the Redeemer. The Judge and the Redeemer. The
message, this same message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified
is to some a savor of life unto life. To you that believe, this
message of Him treading the winepress of the wrath of God alone is
a message of life. It's a message that encourages
you. It's a message that strengthens you. And you trust Him. You believe
on Him. And it's a savor of life. It's
a taste of life to come. It's wonderful. But to some,
it's a savor of death unto death. Friends, God is holy. And he
must punish sin. He must punish all sin. Do you know that there is not
one sin of one man in the history of this world that God has not
seen? That God will not punish with an eternal wrath? Not one. Because if he lets one
escape, he's not holy. He must punish sin and tread
them under His feet, and He will. How easily does a person tread
grapes in a wine press? That's what they do. Big old
hole in the earth. They put the grapes down. Somebody's stepping on
them. How hard is it to crush a grape?
That's how hard it is for God to destroy man. God to take vengeance
on a man. And friends, he says, I will
tread them in my anger. I will. I will take vengeance. Vengeance is in my heart. Vengeance
is mine, saith the Lord. Vengeance belongs unto Him. It's His alone to give. And He
will give it. Friends, all who are threshing
out their own righteousness, God will take vengeance. regardless
of who you are. God's justice is the same for
kings and paupers. His justice is equal for everyone. It's equally holy and righteous.
And if you don't have the holiness and righteousness of God, He
will crush you like a grape. He will cast you down into hell
faster than you can blink. Man is a fool to try to approach
unto a holy God with his own righteousness. But behold this,
this day of vengeance is also the day of the redeemed. Look
at that in verse 4. It says, For the day of vengeance is in
mine heart. And the year of my redeemed has
come. The same thing. The same event
is for those who are outside of Christ will be judged by their
own works. By their own sins. But we who
are in Christ, we have already been judged. Our sins have already
been trodden underfoot. by the Son of God, and He has
stained all His garments with our sin. Scripture says that He was made
sin for us. That He bare our sins in His
own body on the tree. Behold the glorious Lord Jesus
Christ who comes in His stained garments. I'm so glad. I'm so glad that He has come
to us like He came to Gideon. I can't imagine it not being
so that the Lord, when He came in His pre-incarnate state, it
was not in anticipation for Him to come in His carnal state. When He would come in the flesh.
Remember when He said to the disciples, He said, I've desired
with great desire to eat this Passover with you. The Lord Jesus Christ must come
because God is just and God is holy and all sin must be punished. How then shall we escape the
judgment of God unless we have a need of deliverance? Israel had a need and Christ
came down. God's elect have a need and guess
what? Christ came down. Christ came
down. Sinners, do we not have a great
need of deliverance? You bet. We need to be delivered. Therefore, the Lord Jesus must
have come down to deliver. This is the second point. He
must have come down to deliver. If there is a need of deliverance,
then one must come to deliver. He must be willing and He must
be mighty. He must be both of those. What
good is a deliverer if he's not willing to deliver? And what
good is a deliverer if he's willing and he's not able? You see, Christ
is both willing to deliver and able to deliver. Notice that the Lord Jesus Christ, He is the one that has come and
He has sat down. Go back to your text. Look, he
sat under that oak tree. This oak tree was in the middle
of a wicked man's field. Joash, the father of Gideon,
was an idol worshiper. Gideon was a person who was a
coward. He was a man who did not believe
the promises of God. And he wouldn't even confront
his father. But yet we see this. The Lord has already sat down.
Even before he came, he's already finished. You see, he doesn't even need
to, he pictures it even for us here. It's already done. He sat
down. To which of the other angels
said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee? Or to which of the angels said he, sit at my right hand
until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Behold the grace of
God to send Jesus Christ, even before He accomplished the work
of redemption, to picture us that it's already done. That's how sure it is. It was
sure when He came to Gideon. How much more sure now that He's
already accomplished it. He's already finished the work. Even before He ascended to the
throne of God as a man, this is to comfort us to know that
the work was finished from eternity. Hebrews chapter 4 says that the
works were finished. He said they must believe, but
yet the works were finished before the foundation of the world.
We read in Revelation 13 that Christ is a lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world. Wait a second. There was no sin
before the foundation of the world. How is it that a lamb
should be slain? Because God's vengeance is eternal. God's justice is eternal justice. And we must even have a Savior
before there was a sinner. Yet even though salvation of
the elect was secure, He still must have come down. He still
must have come. He must have finished the work.
He must have come to unto men to be a man. He must become one
of us that He might redeem us. He must actually suffer and He
must actually die for our sins and He must actually rise again
as a man ascending unto God and sitting on a throne in heaven
as a man. So that He might represent us.
He must have come. He must have come. Here He comes. The picture is
coming. But we don't have a picture anymore. He's already come. He's already come. And this testifies
to us. This testifies to us that our
salvation, we who believe on Christ, our salvation is already
finished. Finished. And number three, see the Word
of God to Gideon. And let's see that together in
verse 12. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said
unto him, the Lord is with thee. Thou mighty man of valor." You
see, this is the message of the gospel. This is the message that
I bring to you who are the elect of God. You
who are chosen of God, loved of God, called of God, who believe
on Christ alone. This is the message. I am with
thee, you mighty man of valor. That's His message to you. First of all, the Lord is with
thee. Even though we're born in sin,
born hating God, God was always with us. Always with us. That's very special because I
wasn't with Him. I didn't know Him. He knew me. And yes, He was with
everyone because in Him we live and move and have our being,
but He was with me in a very special way. He was long-suffering with me. And in providence moving everything,
so that I would come by faith to Christ. Moving everything. The whole world was spinning. Everybody was busy and moving
about as though it were chaotic. But God was working all things
so that I would come and hear the gospel and believe on Christ. That's how He was with us. Every
one of us who believe that's how He's guided every step of
our journey in this world. To come to that place. That's
how much He was with you. Because all things, all things are after the counsel
of His will. All things. What in your life
has happened by accident? Chance. Nothing. He does all things after the
counsel of His own will. And He was willing to be with
me. He was willing to be with me. How do I know that? The Lord
is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. The Lord is with thee.
The Lord Jesus Christ was always with Gideon, as he's always been
with us who believe on Christ. What a word to the oppressed
sinner, to everyone without strength to save yourself, to every sinner
threshing that wheat. Threshing His own righteousness.
What a message! The Lord has been with thee,
and He is with thee, and He shall forever be with thee. Believer in Christ, there was
never a time that God wasn't with you, that He didn't love
you. There was never a time, and there was nothing that ever
happened, that God had not done for our good. And that's still
true. You who believe, hear me. Hear
the Word of God. The Lord is with thee. The Lord
is with thee. When? Now. Well, I don't feel
the Lord is with me. Well, he's not saying you're
going to feel anything. This is not a question. He's
not saying the Lord will be with you if you just feel it. No! The Lord is with thee! It's a statement of fact. The
Lord is with thee. I'm so thankful for that. Because
I don't always feel the Lord's with me. But I know this, I can
go to His Word and read it. And there it is. The Lord is
with thee. When? Now? How long will He be
with you? Forever. Forever he'll be with
me. How do I know that? Well, look
at the second part. Thou mighty man of valor. Gideon was anything but a mighty
man of valor. Sneaking out in the middle of
the night, threshing wheat so he wouldn't be seen, hiding it
so the people wouldn't come and take it away. That's anything
but a mighty man. He was not standing up to these
forces against Israel. Not confronting them. He was
hiding. Even so it is with God's elect.
To look on us, you see nothing but a weak and frail, feeble
creature riddled with sin. David said, What is man that
thou art mindful of him? Why do you even think on us? And the Son of Man that thou
visitest Him. Now then, that's even deeper.
How in the world could you even come to visit us? How could you
think on us much less come and become one of us? Man is of a few days and full
of trouble. Who in the world could not testify
to that? Who's not without trouble? All flesh is grass, and the glory
of man is as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth away. Was there any hope? But the word
of the Lord endureth forever. All this flesh is fading so fast. Isn't it? Isn't it moving faster? Days just melting out of your
hands like sand. Just passing so fast. Who will remember you? When you die, how long will it
be before everyone forgets you even existed? My only hope is the Word of the
Lord endureth forever. And He says to me, I am with
thee, you mighty man of valor. Sinners, I hope that I'm preaching
to sinners. Believe on the Word of God, the
living Word, Jesus Christ. And you shall be saved. I believe now. I trust Christ now. I'm saved right now. And now
I'm saved. All who believe on Christ have
this confidence that even though we are weak and frail, and though
to look at us it appears that we are nothing, Like the Word
of God describes us. Yet by faith we believe it. I
don't see myself as a mighty man of valor, do you? But Christ said it. Isn't God the God that calls
things that are not yet as though they were? Praise God for His great comfort
to us to let us know how He sees us. And it's not how we see ourselves. God's people sees ourselves as
weak, frail, and we are constantly bowing, constantly coming and
pleading mercy, mercy, mercy! God says, be comforted. I'm with you. And you're mighty. Why are we mighty? Because He's
mighty. You know, I'm as mighty as He is. Isn't that something? I'm mighty in righteousness.
Because His righteousness is mine. I was mighty underneath the wrath
of God, because when He died, I died. And I was mighty to ascend
to the throne, because when He ascended, so did we. And when He comes again, He's
going to testify to all men how mighty we are. Because He's going
to testify how mighty He is. And He's going to bring us all
home to be with Him. He will finally deliver us completely. The last thing I want us to see
is the question of providence. Gideon says, well, if the Lord's
with me, then why has all this befallen me? Is that not the
question? Oh, the question. Of our hearts,
I don't see how God's with me. How could God be with me and
put me through this kind of trouble? How can He call me mighty when
I have done nothing but fail Him? At times, the providence of God
leads us through a dark place. And though we can't see Him,
we, by faith, must know His Word is true. And whatever it is we
feel is false. David said, How long, O Lord,
wilt thou hide thyself forever? How long shall the wicked triumph? Are you cast down? What's going to encourage you
in those dark times? What is it that's going to give
you strength? The same thing that gave Gideon the strength,
verse 14, and the Lord looked upon him. The Lord looked at Peter when
he denied him three times. The Lord looked at Peter and
he immediately wept bitterly. But when the Lord was touched
by that woman who had the issue of blood, He also looked at her. And what did she find? She found
mercy. He said, don't be afraid. Don't
be afraid. Thy faith has made thee whole. Have you ever seen the Lord look
at you, and then you turn away in bitterness
because you've sinned? But praise God a second look
he gave, which said, I freely all forgive. This blood is for
your ransom paid. I died that you might live." I know the Lord looks on his
people. The Lord sends his message to his people to encourage you
and strengthen you. If God be for us, who can be
against us? You mighty man of valor. I pray that God strengthen you
and look on you. Give you courage. He's with you. And no one and nothing will ever
hurt you. I pray that God would bless this
to us. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer.