Join me first of all in the book
of Judges chapter seven and verse two. Judges chapter seven and
verse two. I'd like to read that verse because
it has so much to do with what we're going to be studying tonight.
The Lord shared with Israel, with Gideon, the reason that
they must have their numbers cut. And he tells us in chapter
seven, verse two, and the Lord said unto Gideon, The people
that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites
into their hands. Lest Israel vaunt themselves
against me saying, my own hand has saved me. Now that's such
a statement that we need every day. Lord bless me, but don't
let me get arrogant about it. And here we have, that the Lord
said to Gideon. Now, he started out with 32,000
men. The first time that God asked
him to cause that number to be brought down, he says, anybody
that's fearful, God said, anybody that's fearful, have them go
home. Well, 22,000 men went home and left him 10,000. And then the Lord said, there's
still too many here. And so Gideon was told to take them down to
the brook. And there were 300 men out of 32,000 that God chose
to do the business. Now we're gonna certainly see
a demonstration of grace here. God's unmerited favor towards
Israel, towards Gideon, because he is not going to allow them
to vaunt themselves. Now it's going to be clear cut
as we look at this that the Lord is also speaking of how he saves
his people. He does not let them vaunt themselves
in their own salvation. We will never go back and say
what we did. We will always rejoice and boast
in what he has done for us. And that's, as we find this laid
out, as Gideon received this information, I'm sure he thought
to begin with that that may not be a good idea. But we do not
find him complaining one word about what was going on here.
Not one word. In fact, he just trusted the
Lord. And we go over there to the book of Hebrews, by faith,
Gideon. God gave him the faith to believe
what God's word said, God's very spoken word said to him. All
right, let's go over to the next chapter. The next chapter, chapter
eight of the book of Judges, and we find this is evident immediately. There is a problem immediately.
Some people don't think it's fair not to be included. They don't think it's fair that
they were not invited to come fight. They cannot rejoice that
they got to rest. They cannot rejoice that they
got to rest. They cannot rejoice that they
were not involved in losing anybody. They cannot find any good thing
to say to thee. They cannot rest in the fact
that the Lord gave them the victory. We have somebody that needs to
mute. Okay, as we look at this, it tells us in the book of Judges
chapter eight, verse one, and the men of Ephraim, now remember
Gideon and his 300 have been pursuing the Midianites for some
distance. They have been pursuing close
to them. They haven't engaged them yet.
They've had many, 100,000 plus, have been destroyed. They're
right on the battlefield. They turn their swords against
each other. And that's what the Lord did for Israel. He won the
victory for them. He caused them to take care of
themselves. Well, as we're traveling along,
we find that there are still 300 men with Gideon. He's lost nobody in that battle. And they had ram's horn in one
hand, they had a torch in the other hand, and with that, God
gave them the victory. Well, they're pursuing what's
left. And it tells us when they got
here in verse one, the men of Ephraim said unto him, why hast
thou served us thus? that thou callest us not when
thou wentest to fight with the Midianites. And they did chide
him sharply. Now, that word chide is to wrangle
or to hold a controversy. They were in great controversy
with Gideon and his men, and they did it sharply. There was
a force of violence, of vehemence that was in their voice. There
was no, well, we wish you had done that. There was, you should
have contacted us and allowed us to go into battle with you.
And the only reason they wanted that, so they could share in
the victory. so they could share in the battle. They did not understand
why the Lord caused only 300 to do that. Ephraim led into
Gideon. Here, we just read that. When
he came across the river, his anger and jealousy, though directed
toward Gideon, is really directed towards God. Gideon got to hear
it. It was right in his face. But the real anger that these
people were demonstrating was an anger towards God that he
would save people by grace and not by works. He would take care
of the battle and not let everybody get involved. Those men that
went into those 300, they didn't raise a sword. They did exactly
what they were instructed to do. They did what Gideon did. As we read that verse of scripture,
follow me. And he said, he took his ram's horn and blew that
and took that jar. And we mentioned last week, we
have this treasure in earthen vessels. The jar broke, they
had their flames, their fire, their torch, and it was just
mayhem then. There was such confusion in the
army of the Midianites, and many, many, 100,000 destroyed themselves. All right, as we follow this,
we find it was God who whittled down. It was Gideon, excuse me,
it was God It was God that whittled down
the troops. It was not Gideon, it was God
that whittled down the troops. So it tells us, and he went from
32,000 to 300, and God did so because he knew the heart of
man and that they would brag, they would boast in this, and
so deliverance was totally by grace and not by their effort. This, in the book of Exodus chapter
17, Exodus chapter 17, Exodus chapter 17, you join me
over there. This is a same word that's used
over here in the book of Exodus chapter 17 by the children of
Israel against Moses. Now, this kind of chiding and
this kind of anger and this kind of jealousy and this kind of
fear is based upon truly jealous hearts. And here it tells us
in Exodus chapter 17, And verse one, Exodus 17, verse one, and
all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the
wilderness of sin after their journeys, according to the commandment
of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim, and there was no water for the
people to drink. Now, the Lord has provided everything
up to this point. Moses knew and believed that
God could take care of it. Joshua and Caleb believed that
God could take care of it. Miriam and Aaron believed that
God could take care of it. And we have a whole host that's
written over the book of Hebrews that died in unbelief. They could
not go from one step to the other of the Lord's provision with
Israel and see he would take care of it. Now it is really
by revelation that we can see that God will take care of it,
that we trust God with the matter. So here in the book of Exodus
chapter 17 verse 2, wherefore the people did chide with Moses
and said, give us water that we may drink. And Moses said
unto them, why chide you with me? Wherefore do you tempt the
Lord, Jehovah. So their actions is really towards
the God that Moses is trusting. And so we find it over here in
the book of Judges, their actions were truly, truly towards the
God that was leading Gideon and those 300 men. They are jealous
of him. You know, as we find out, we
find that the Lord had to face this all the time. He faced the
jealousy of natural man. It's quite evident the men of
Ephraim that it's not fair for God not letting us to participate. And you know, when it comes to
salvation, when people, I've had people get so upset when
I share with them, you cannot participate in this. It is something
we receive, but we don't participate. And people that are hell bent
on participating can get really upset and they get mad and vaunt
themselves. And you know, the only way that
that can be settled is the Lord saves them. All right. In the book of John chapter 11,
would you turn there with me? John chapter 11, the Lord dealt
with this jealousy all the time. It is brought out here that the
religious leaders in the day of the Lord Jesus were jealous
of him. They were fearful of him. We
find that they had this fear about him. And in the book of
John chapter 11, John chapter 11, it shares this. John chapter
11, verse 45. And then many of the Jews, which
came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed
on him. But some of them went their ways
to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. Then
gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council and said,
what do we? For this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all
men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away
both our place and nation. If we let him thus alone, all
men will believe on him and the reason they don't want that to
happen is the Romans shall come and take away our place and our
position and our income and our jobs and our nation. So they are intent, jealous to
the core. And that truly is a terrible
sin that we can have is jealousy. It's just out of fear and disrespect. Well, the Romans, the Lord said
himself, I did not come to set up a kingdom, physical kingdom.
I was told one time that Jesus came down to set up a kingdom,
but he couldn't do it, so then he had to go to the cross. Well,
that's written in textbooks for certain Bible schools. But you
know what? There is an example in the scripture
where Jesus was going to be taken to be king, and he refused it. He never intended to be a political
messiah. He came to be the Messiah to
save his people from their sins, but there was no interest whatever
in him being a political Messiah. And so he brings that out. The Lord has mentioned that when
Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him
by force to make him king, he departed again into a mountain
alone. They were going to by force.
Now we know that they wanted to make him a food king. They
wanted him a provision king. That was their intent. But if
he had come down here with the purpose of setting up a physical
kingdom and being a political messiah, he had every opportunity
to do that. And he refused it. I did not
come to set up a political messiahship. I came to give my life a ransom
for many. It was in the covenant of grace
that the Lamb must give His life a ransom. So the Lord was gracious. He didn't bend according to that,
and He took off. You know, it's in Matthew chapter
27. Turn there with me if you would.
Matthew chapter 27. Matthew chapter 27 and verse
17. Matthew chapter 27, verse 17. Now, it's an interesting thing
that Pilate brings out in this passage of scripture about why
Jesus was brought to the council. It tells us here in the book
of John, excuse me, the book of Matthew, chapter 27, verse
17. Therefore, when they were gathered
together, Pilate said unto them, whom will ye that I release unto
you, Barabbas or Jesus, which is called Christ? And they knew
that for envy, he knew that for envy, they had delivered him. When he had sat down on the judgment
seat, his wife sent unto him saying, have thou nothing to
do with this just man, for I have suffered many things this day
in a dream because of him. But notice verse 18, for he knew
that for jealousy, they had delivered him. It was only out of jealousy,
out of fear, Jealousy about their position, jealousy that Christ
had more people with him than they had with them, and so it
was a jealous act. You know, in the Old Testament,
the same issue came up. Remember the 11 brothers dealing
with one brother, Joseph? It was, what's it say over there?
And the patriarchs moved with envy, with jealousy. They were
jealous of Joseph. Now, he was the man who had Dakota
Middy Colors. He had the privilege extended
to him by his father. But we also find out that they
moved with jealousy against him. Brother Ed, could you mute yourself? Thank you. The patriarchs moved with envy,
sold Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him. And then in the
book of Acts chapter 13, would you join me there? Acts chapter
13. We find here in verse 13, beginning
with verse 44. Acts 13, 44. And the next Sabbath day came
almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. Now
that's an interesting verse of scripture. Wouldn't that mean something? We'd have to have it in the parking
lot. But it says, but when the Jews
saw the multitudes, now we're having the same issue that those
Ephraimites are having with Gideon. They are jealous, they're afraid,
they're fearful of their position, and they're angry with God. Now,
they may not say that they are, but initially that's where their
anger is based on, is their anger with God that God did not put
them in there, that he didn't allow their works to mean something.
And when it came to the deliverance of the children of Israel by
the army of Midianites, those folks could just say, we just
saw it happen. We were there, didn't raise a
sword. You ought to have seen those
guys go after each other. They were crazy men. All the words
they could have used about that, but God caused that to happen.
And so they could just simply say, we observed it. We did not
participate in it. And now we have this whole group,
this tribe of Ephraim upset with Gideon for not asking them. And they're really upset with
God for not getting them involved. Works will never win the day. God will always defer to grace. Never will he defer to works.
So here we have the next Saturday, the whole city's come together.
But when the Jews saw the multitudes, They were filled with jealousy,
envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul,
contradicting and blaspheming. This happens today. You share
with someone who doesn't believe the gospel, and you point out
from the Bible what the truth is of the matter, and you know
the reaction is generally anger. And that anger is because of
jealousy, and it really, if you get down to it, it is a fearful
thing. to come to grips with the very
thought that you may not be saved by your works. That is a fearful
thing. Just to think that I may not
be saved. If that man is right, then I
probably am not. And what fearful, and if it isn't,
God, go ahead and save the person. They're gonna get angry and bitter
and harsh and don't like us. All right, goes on to say, the
Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, spake
against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting
and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas wax bold. They don't realize what they
did and what they did there against Paul and Barnabas. Because they're
going to say, you have judged yourselves unworthy of eternal
life. Paul and Barnabas waxed bold
and said, it was necessary that the word of God should first
have been spoken to you, Jews. But seeing you put it from you
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles and the Gentiles say, hallelujah. And in verse
48 of this chapter, it says, and when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord for as many
as were ordained to eternal life believed. Turning to the Gentiles was in
God's great grace and providence. So they went and preached, and
those who were ordained to eternal life believed. But that jealousy
that those Jews had when they saw the multitude of people that
were gathered together, it meant their income, it meant their
job, it meant everything when they saw that fall away. And
you know, when God saves us, I've had people say, you have
to count the cost. Well, when the Lord saves us,
it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who is opposed
to it, which member of our family, which member not of our family,
which job we're on. You know, we're going to look
there in the book of Acts and chapter two, Lord William, this
Sunday, and we find out being baptized was a serious event.
Now, today, it's just nonchalant. You baptize everybody, kids and
old people without anything. All they have to do is, yeah,
I do. Yeah, yeah. And they're baptized. But in
that damn time, you lost your job. You were kicked out of the
temple, out of the religion that you were raised in. Your family
would have nothing to do with you. If you could buy and sell
and trade, it was a miracle. So it was a serious thing to
be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost. And that Son was Jesus of Nazareth. We'll look at that later, okay.
In chapter 17 of the Book of Acts, we find this again, chapter
17 of the Book of Acts, and it just plays out just as the Ephraimites
did with Judean, jealous of him, jealous of what he is doing,
angry with him, bitter with him. He didn't allow us. You didn't
allow us to help. Really, God didn't allow us to
help. But here in the book of Acts chapter 17, verse 1, the
scriptures say, and when they had passed through Amphipolis
and Polynia, They came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the
Jews. And Paul, as his banner was, went in unto them and three
Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures. Now, more
than likely, those scriptures were in that synagogue. It was a common thing. When Jesus
was at Nazareth, they delivered unto him a scroll. The scriptures. And he found the place that he
wanted to read and he read it. And said, this day is this scripture
fulfilled in your hearing. All right, there's the scriptures.
They probably got their fingerprints all over it. And they may have
read some of it, but it doesn't mean a word to them. If you don't
know Christ, the word of God is just a blank book. All right,
Paul is the man who went into the synagogue and opening and
alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again
from the dead and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ.
And some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas
and the devout Greeks, a great multitude of the chief women,
not a few, but the Jews, which believed not. moved with jealousy, with envy,
took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered
a company, they took their church members with them. Lewd people of the baser sort.
and gathered a company and set all the city on uproar and assaulted
the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people."
So this, what did they do with Stephen? Same thing. It was jealousy
that drove them through this. He preached the gospel out of
their Bible. And they were so upset with him
that they took him out and stoned him to death after they chomped
on him with their teeth, gnashed on him with their teeth. So the
Jews, it is a fearful thing when someone approaches us and says,
have you ever thought you may be wrong? Have you ever thought that what
you're preaching is not right? Have you ever thought what you've
been talking about is wrong? in accordance with the scriptures.
Now, I'm not going to argue with you about it, but let's go read
the scriptures. And then to find out, maybe we are. Oh, my goodness. I don't like that guy. In fact,
I hate him. That's exactly what Brother Henry
did. Not, he didn't do it out of bitterness. He didn't do it
out of harshness. He just read the scriptures. And I was so
envious, upset, jealous about it. All right, as we follow this,
we go back in one other place. Turn with me to the book of Titus. Titus chapter three. And then it gets down where the
rubber meets the road and says, we have all been here. This is not an exception. This
is the rule. Everybody that's in the church
has been here. Every saved person could recognize
quickly That is me. As it says here, for we ourselves,
Titus chapter three, verse three, for we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. So we
were jealous, we were fearful. What's it gonna do? How's this
gonna affect me? I can't do that. Well, this is
where we are. Everyone that's ever been saved
by the grace of God can recognize themselves in that verse of scripture.
This is where I was, and God saved me out of that mess. Now,
it doesn't mean that we're never gonna get jealous again. It does
mean that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous, it does mean that we have help with it. Those who
believe not, they had no help with this. They went to their
grave feeling that same nonsense in their heart about God and
about God's word and about God's preaching and the gospel. They
went to their deathbed feeling that way. But God's people, they
have a jealous streak from time to time, but God is gracious
to deal with them. All right, going back to the
book of Judges, Judges chapter eight, it's a miracle. Gideon's
answer. You know, I thought about this
as well. How would I answer this? You know, there've been times
I just wish I could have caught those words. Not out here, but right here.
Caught them before they got out. Well, here in the book of Judges,
chapter eight, we have Gideon. Now Gideon is such a wonderful
picture of our savior. And Gideon's answer to this accusation,
Why didn't you come get us to help? Well, Gideon knows the
truth about the matter. He's the one that was instructed.
He's the one that had his army all cut down. He knows the reason
that we don't vault ourself up, that we glory in the Lord and
not in ourselves, not by works of righteousness, which we have
done, but according to his mercy, he saves us, not works, but grace. All right, Judges chapter eight,
verse two, here is Gideon's answer. Now, it was by the grace of God
that he could say this. He had witnessed the great miracle
of that victory. In fact, he's still on the pursuit. He still has 300 men with him.
They still have the ram's horns. I don't know whether they have
their lamps lit yet or not, but they still have the ram horn.
They're moving along. They're gonna catch up with these
guys and they're gonna dismantle them. Well, it tells us there,
and he said unto them, what have I done now in comparison to you? You've done much more than we
have. Is not the gleanings of the grapes
of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezar? God hath delivered
into your hand the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeb. So they
participated. They took care of a couple of
kings out of the Midianites. And he says, what have I done
greater than that? Immediately he poured oil on
troubled water. You know, it's so good as we
look into the scriptures that he really gives us some information,
an inside track, on our Savior, the Lord Jesus. How he dealt
with his disciples. Brother Mike's brought out several
times, peace be unto you. Those rascally rabbits, they
all ran from him. Peter denied him. Peace be unto
you. And that message still goes on. He doesn't get wrathful and angry.
He just says, peace be unto you. I'm gonna comfort you with my
peace. My peace I give you, my peace
will be with you. But we do find in the book of
the Proverbs chapter 15, Proverbs chapter 15. And this is how the
Lord dealt with his disciples. He still does this Proverbs chapter
15. We find that Gideon listened to that, was attacked by it,
found fault, jealousy was rampant. They were upset with God, but
they were upset with God's minister. They were upset with the mail
they were getting, and that meant they were upset with the postman
for delivering it. But here in the book of Proverbs chapter
15, Proverbs chapter 15 and verse one, we see in this the very
words of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is how
Gideon handled the situation. A soft answer turneth away wrath. But grievous words do up anger. Gideon, by the grace of God,
handled the situation with graciousness. He was gracious. He could have
flew into that guy and chewed him up and spit him out. What
are you talking about? God's grace won this battle for
us, and on and on we could go. But he said this, a soft answer
turneth away wrath. And in the verse, chapter 15
and verse 18, we find it here in the Proverbs, a wrath man
stirreth up strife, but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife. A soft answer turneth away wrath,
and that's what we find that Gideon was sharing with those
guys. They were all in the wrong. But he was not going to make
any headway by arguing with him. I took a painting class one time,
not to learn how to paint portraits, but I was working for a hardware
store and they sent me to painting school because we mixed a lot
of house paint, interior and exterior. Now I don't remember
much about that school except this. People come into the store
and they have the wrong color paint. They asked for this color,
you mix that color, and they came back and said, this is not
the color I wanted. They said, there's two rules.
An angry man cannot think, and a thinking man cannot be angry.
And that made a great impression on me. So if they came in the
store and this, well, what can we do to fix it? Well, I want
a little more green in it. Okay, we can do that. They were
looking for a fuss. We did the best we could to settle
it down immediately. A soft word turneth away wrath.
Gideon was so gracious with those rascals. Oh my goodness. You
know, in many respects, we have to do that every time we talk
to someone about Christ. because they're going to have
a problem. Most of them are going to have a problem, and it's how
we deal with that problem. All we have is the Scriptures.
It's just the Scriptures. We cannot go anywhere else. It's
not our feelings. It's not our thoughts. It's the
Scriptures that we have to depend upon. In the book of James, James
1, verse 19, James 1, verse 19, James, in writing this letter,
general letter to the church, says, wherefore, my beloved brethren,
let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man work is
not the righteousness of God. So be swift to hear, get your
ears out, listen to the gospel, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. Well, going back to the book
of Judges for just a short time, chapter 8 again, chapter 8 of
the book of Judges. Judges chapter 8. In verse 3, we have the completion
of What Gideon had to say, God hath delivered into your hands
the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeb, and what was I able to do
in comparison to you? Then their anger was abated toward
him when he had said that. Calm down. Settle the issue. I haven't done near as much as
you have. And then we find in verse four, and Gideon came to
Jordan, and passed over he and the 300 men. What a miracle. Hours later, after a huge conflict,
300 men. We find that this is such a statement
about God's protective care over his people. How he has protected
the sheep before they're born again, protects them after they're
born again, and for eternity. They entered into battle. How
long that took, I don't know. They're following this army away.
How long, how far are they away? And yet they still have 300.
And this is the Father's will, which has sent me, that of all
which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at that last day. John chapter six and verse 39.
that this is the Father's will. I will always have those I die
for. And in 1 Peter 1, it says, who
are kept? We are kept by the power of God
through faith and the salvation ready to be revealed at the last
day. So we have that wonderful promise throughout the scriptures
that 300 go into battle, 300 are going to survive the battle.
300 go through life, 300 will be presented spotless. 300, a remnant, according to
the election of grace, will go into battle, work in this world,
do whatever God calls on us to do. And when we pass through
the portals of death, 300 will be presented spotless before
the throne of grace, not one missing. So he had them all.
And we find that this is so prevalent to the scriptures. All that the
Father giveth me shall come unto me, and he that cometh unto me
I will in no wise cast out. The Lord has promised those great
blessings that there were still 300 pursuing. And then it tells
us in verse 5 of that chapter. All right, in the book of Judges,
going back to the book of Judges for just a moment. Judges chapter eight. I know
what that does now. Judges chapter eight, verse five. And he said unto, oh, verse four,
I want verse four. And Gideon came to Jordan and
passed over. He and the 300 men that were
with him fainted, Tired, weary, worn out, hungry, thirsty, yet
pursuing them. That word faint means a lot about,
well, he's going to ask for some bread, meat, food from two different
groups of people and they refuse him. but they are faint yet pursuing. What a statement we find out
here about the grace of God towards his people. It kind of reminds
me, I'm getting ahead of myself here. The pursuit we find in the scriptures,
the apostle Paul said he had been beaten and all sorts of
things that happened to him, but I'm not discouraged. I'm
not weary. And we'll look at that, Lord
willing, next time as we look into the book of Judges, chapter
8, the conclusion of this chapter.