Here in the book of Judges, we're
going to be looking at chapter six tonight, but I want to pick
up a few verses of scripture that share with us the problem
that Israel had continuously. And this continues on until the
Lord delivers people out of that position, out of that condition.
Here in the book of Judges chapter 10 and verse six, we read these
words, Judges chapter 10 and verse six, And the children of
Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served
Balaam and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of
Sidon. Things are not improving. We
have them worshiping Baal, and now at this point in chapter
10, when we get there, they're worshiping Balaam and Ashtroth,
the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, and
the gods of the children of Ammon, the gods of the Philistines,
and God forsook the Lord and served not him. And one more
time, chapter 13 and verse one, we have these words recorded.
Judges chapter 13 and verse one, and it says, and the children
of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord
delivered them into the hand of the Philistines 40 years.
So this is just a constant problem that we have with the children
of Israel. Now we might say, I can understand
it if it was the Egyptians, or I can understand it better if
it was the Hittites, or the Moabites, that since they don't have God
leading them like we see him leading And yet we look at the
overthrow of all things. He's taking care of them just
like everybody else. But he spent special attention
with Israel, and here we have this problem with Israel. It says, the children of Israel
did evil again in the sight of the Lord. And this is a problem.
A Bible study that I had earlier, it's just, it's so different
than it used to be. We're not doctors. We don't go
up to someone and say, I wonder what their problem is. I'm not
talking about physical problem. I'm talking about spiritual problem.
We already have the inside track. They're dead. That's the problem. And every word we have to say
to them falls on dead ears and dead eyes and dead senses, dead
in trespasses and sin. So we don't have to go home and
figure out, well, I wonder what I'm going to bring to them that
might help them. We bring the gospel, that's all
we have, that's all God has, that's all God's gonna use, and
that is what God uses. So we know the problem way ahead
of time. They're dead in trespasses and
sin, and we can't do a thing about that, only God can. And
we look here, I read some commentaries and they said, well, all of these
Israelites were saved people. I don't believe that for a second.
I find that these people were probably never had any inclination
towards God. There were a few. Now we know
that there is a remnant according to the election of grace. We're
going to find Gideons and Baraks. We're going to find people there
that God raised up that identified themselves with the Lord, he
with them. But generally speaking, we're
going to have a whole mass of people that don't know the first
thing about God. They have his word. They have
the legal statements of his word, but they could pay no attention. We're going to see it. Their
love for God wanes in time. Oh, he's been so good to us to
take care of the problem that we're under. He's got rid of
the enemy. We're going to worship him. And
before you know it, it wanes. It just doesn't stick. There's
nothing to hang on to. And before you know it, they're
back where they were. This kind of repetitious work reminds me
of a maniac of Gadara. You know, just go over with me
to the book of Mark, if you would, the book of Mark. This whole
repetition, as it's brought out here in the book of Judges, just
reminds me of a person like the maniac of Gadara. God came in,
he, you know, he didn't bind them, but he put, he gave them,
Grace, well, he turned them over to the plowman, he turned them
over to the Midianites, he turned them over to the Moabites, he
turned them over, and after a while they'd cry into him, God, God,
we won't do that again. And then before you know it,
he delivers them and they're doing it again. Well, here in
the book of Mark chapter five, we read about a guy that just
represents us, them, to the T. There is no help for this man
in this world. There is nobody that can help
him, even though they would like to help him, they can't. In the book of Mark chapter five,
verse one, it says, and they came over onto the other side
of the sea into the country of the Gadarenes. Now this is the
only hope this guy has. This messenger coming. He's going,
well, I shouldn't say, he's not going out of his way. He had
it on purpose. He's going here on purpose. Just like we're going
to find out he's going to come down to Gideon on purpose. And
he's going to reveal himself to Gideon on purpose. And Gideon
is going to have a change of heart on purpose. and he's going
to be written in the book of Hebrews as a man of faith. And
we may look at him and say, oh my goodness, that's taking it
just a little far, isn't it? Well, God and his business transcends
anything that we can come up with. So he came over and verse
two, and when he was come out of the ship, Jesus was come out
of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs, a man
with an unclean spirit. Now that's a description of you
and I to the T. We have an unclean spirit. We have our, we carry death with
us. We just carry death with us.
Who had his dwelling among the tombs and no man could bind him,
no knot would change because that he had been off and bound.
So there were people that made every effort they could to help
this guy from doing damage to himself and damage to other people.
But it wasn't, They couldn't. And we find out the law never
was able to bind Israel. I mean, God would declare it
and demand it. He commanded them. You know,
it is not 10 suggestions. It is 10 Commandments, and He
commanded them to keep the 10 Commandments, but they could
not keep it. They didn't have a heart to,
they didn't have a mind to, they had no interest in it whatsoever.
And we just see this going up, God delivers them, they're up
on a high, they're euphoric, and before you know it, things
wear thin and they go down. Going again, and it just tells
me again, what we find over in the New Testament, The long suffering
of the Lord. My goodness. The long suffering
of the Lord is demonstrated time and time again here in the book
of Judges. And it's just here too. This man has, they've made
every effort to bind him, to control him, to bring him back
and get him to act civil again. And. There might be 10 people
in all of Israel. He says, quit worshiping those
stupid idols. They are no help. In fact, there's
the problem that gets us into it all the time. Okay, okay,
I won't do it anymore. And then we find at night they're
doing it. So, and then it says there, because they had been
often bound with fetters and changed, verse four, had been
plucked asunder by him, the fetters broken in pieces, neither could
any man tame him. Nobody, no legal, no priest,
no Levite, nobody could tame Israel. Their heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And the priests that they had
and the kings that they had, the time of the kings, they were
in the same boat. Their prophets were in the same
boat, by and large. And then, but when he saw Jesus
afar off, he ran and worshiped him. Now we're going to find
out that the Lord does something for this man that no man could
do. And the Lord is going to do something for some of Israel
that no person could do, could not change them or get them away
from their dumb idols. But the Lord is able to do that.
And then, you know, some notable thoughts about this man is when
the disciples came back, he's doing something he's never done
before. sitting, clothed, and the last
part, in his right mind. Now, what is our right mind?
To love God. That should be, it is our right
mind, to love God. And so we find that. Now, for
a few in Israel, that's gonna happen. But by and large, they're
gonna be worshiping these dumb idols all the way. Nothing could
change this wretched man and his condition, but the Lord. And nothing is going to change
Israel, but the Lord. He is going to be the first act
of all things. The terrible condition of Israel
now after 40 years of rest. We say, we say they should know
better. We didn't. We should learn something from
them. We couldn't. Same condition. We just are unable
to learn. Now we can quit drinking and
we can quit smoking and we can quit carousing, but that is not
regeneration. Reformation does not mean regeneration. We often reform ourselves and
we quit doing stuff and we quit doing that and we get religious
and we do this and that, but that is not the new birth. And
as we look at this in verse 2, going back to the book of Judges
chapter 6 verse 2, we find how much damage these ruffians did
to Israel. And still it made no effect on
them. Here in the book of Judges chapter
six, verse two, it says, and the hand of Midian prevailed
against Israel. And because the Midianites, the
children of Israel made them dens, which are in mountains
and caves and strongholds. They hid themselves. in dens
and caves and places. Now, that just goes right back
to Genesis chapter three when we find that Adam hid himself
from the Lord. Do you think that they took their
little gods in those little caves with them? I'm convinced they
took those little gods in there. They may have the big ones out
here, but they took the miniatures in there. They had their They
had their religious rights wherever they went, but they had no relationship
with God on this. And then it says here. in verse
three, and so it was when Israel had sown that the Midianites
came up and the Amalekites and the children of East, even they
came up against them and they encamped against them and destroyed
the increase of the earth till thou come unto Gaza and left
no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox or ass. There was
no grain and there was no animals. They completely denuded the ground
of all sustenance. And then it says there in verse
five, for they came up with their cattle in their tents and they
came up as grasshoppers for multitude. For both they and their camels
were without number, and they entered into the land to destroy
it." So we have a terrible situation here as grasshoppers. I mean,
there's so, so many. You know, we may think that we
can deal with one or two and reform ourselves if one or two,
but you know what? The rest of us just like grasshoppers
by numbers. Sin is just so much in us. It's our nature to sin. Our sin
is like grasshoppers. We swat and kill one, we got
another one to deal with. You know, it's amazing thing
to me that every time the doctors and the scientists and the people
that have the great ability, God-given ability to find cures
for diseases like polio or measles or mumps. Before you know it,
we got another disease that comes along and we have another 20
years to wait before they have some vaccination for them. It's
an unending statement about the ruin by the fall. We get everything
just, oh, just almost figured out and we got another one. And
you know, it's been going on that way since the beginning
of time. They find those bones in the
pyramids. They have the same problems we do with bone decay
and tooth decay and everything else. So there's no end to it. And it's just like grasshoppers
for a multitude. And then we got the little sins
and we got the big ones. That's the camels coming along and eating
everything else. I mean, there's nothing left. There is nothing
left. Israel is in a terrible situation. And it's because God said, I'm
gonna give you these nations to rule over you because you
will not worship me." And God could say, and I know you wouldn't
anyway. Is he unjust? Paul said, led
by the Holy Spirit, absolutely not. Is he unjust for doing this? Absolutely not. Is he unjust
for loving Jacob and hating Esau? Absolutely not. And if you have
that kind of thought, then there's a problem that needs to be taken
to the Lord. Absolutely. He is in control
and he is not unjust and he is not mean. He is gracious. All right. As we look at this,
there's nothing safe there. greatly impoverished. There's that word right here, Israel, in verse 6, Israel was
greatly impoverished. That's an interesting word. That
means bankrupt. That means destitute, poverty
stricken, exhausted. There's no good quality about
being impoverished. Now, we have every good gift
and every perfect gift in Christ. We have all the spiritual blessings,
but in our natural state, we are impoverished. There is nothing
about us that is good towards God. I was reminded last Wednesday
by a dear lady, a passage of scripture in Psalm 14. I took
that to a young man today. God looked down from heaven to
see if there were any that did seek after him. I said, I found
that verse you've been looking for about God looking down from
heaven. And, and he was, he was hoping
it would say he saw people doing good and then he could choose
them. No, that's not what it says. It's absolutely opposite
of that. So we have this whole situation. They are impoverished. It's a terrible plight that's
going on here. They were impoverished. They
were destitute. They were poverty stricken. They
were bankrupt. They're exhausted, deprived of
essential existence. You know, the fall left us impoverished,
impoverished of life. Nothing is left but a dying body
of flesh. That's all we have. And from
the very birth, we are a dying body of flesh, unless the Lord
intervene with us. Verse seven, and it came to pass
when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the
Midianites, the Lord did something so gracious, as it tells us here
in verse seven, or verse eight. What a gracious statement is
made here in verse 8, where it tells us that the Lord sent a
prophet. Those Israelites didn't know
how blessed they were. I don't have a record that he
sent Moabites a prophet, or the Hittites, or the Egyptians a
prophet. He sent Israel a prophet. Now, the condition that Israel
was in is just like the condition that we are in by nature. I would
like us to go over here before we get too far on this prophet
and look at Ephesians chapter two, if you would. Ephesians
chapter two, it just shares with us the problem Sorry about that, but my electronic
Bible is arguing with me. So, we're going to go to Ephesians
chapter 2, in the old hardcover. Ephesians chapter 2, and there
in verse 11, 12, and 13. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 11,
12, and 13. And this truly is a statement about impoverishment. how impoverished we were by nature,
how impoverished we are by nature. And in Ephesians 2, verse 11,
it says, wherefore, remember ye being in time past in the
flesh, who were called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision,
the flesh made by hands, that at that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenant of promise, having no hope. without God in
the world. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off, or may nigh by the blood of Christ.
So by nature, we are impoverished. There is not any impoverishment
with us. We are impoverished. And so as
we go back here to the book of Judges, we find that the Midianites
were instruments in the hand of God, and in all that they
did, their wrath praised God. They brought all of this against
Israel, stole all of their food, took all of their animals and
yet their wrath against Israel praised God. He is an absolute
monarch and he's ruling and reigning. Someone told me in a message
to know God is to love him and to love his word. If we want to argue with God,
we don't know him. We just don't. Now, we may not
know all about him. There's a lot about God you and
I will never know in this life. But the part that he has revealed
unto us, we get to say, thank you, Lord. And I'm not gonna
argue about it. All right, going back to the
book of Judges now, Judges chapter six. Judges chapter six, verse eight. There is a method
to God's grace. Judges chapter six, verse eight. It says, and the Lord sent a
prophet. Now, an interesting thing about
this prophet is he's not even named. And there's a reason for
that. The prophet wasn't the important
thing. The message is important. We're just a prophet, a preacher,
a declarer of the gospel is just, as one preacher said, hoes and
hoses. We're just instruments in the
hand. No name is necessary. The word was, the Lord sent a
prophet unto the children of Israel. how gracious it is that
God would send a prophet to the children of Israel, specifically. He raised this prophet up. He
taught this prophet. He gave him the new birth. He
gave him all that God's people will ever have. And God moved
on him to go to an impoverished place here and declare these
words to his national people, to Israel. God raised up a prophet,
which said unto them, thus saith the Lord God of Israel. Now that
prophet didn't come and scold him. He didn't come and say,
you got to do better. You know, we really want you to start following
the 10 commandments and go to church. He said, this is what
God said. This is the message from God.
I'm not gonna spare anything that God said, but I'll keep
my mouth shut on what I think about it. He said, thus saith
the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt. Now this is
one of those other passages of scripture, like over there in
the book of Ezekiel, the I wills of God. Here it says, I brought
you up. You didn't bring yourselves out
of Egypt. I brought you out of Egypt. I am brought you forth
out of the house of bondage. This is what God has done. I
brought you up out of Egypt. I brought you out of the house
of bondage. And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians. You didn't deliver yourself.
You didn't bring yourself out. You didn't take care of the problem.
I did that. And you know, as we think about
it, we have to give God all the credit for everything. Yes, you
did deliver me. You brought me out. You brought
me out of a terrible place. And you delivered me from the
hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all the oppressed
you. I brought you and drove them out from before you. I drove
out the enemy that was in front of you. I brought you out and
drove them out and gave you their land. Now there's a five point
message right there. The things that God did for Israel
is the things that God does for spiritual Israel. I brought you
out. I delivered you. I gave you and
I drove the rest out. You didn't have anybody to contend
with. I took care of them. You know,
I've said this before, as far as I know, the only place that
there was any soldiers, and the number is listed, is at Ai, and
the rest of the time, they went to battle, and everybody came
home. What a statement about God winning the battles for them.
And then he goes on to tell us here, and I said unto you, I
am the Lord your God, fear not the gods of the Amorites, in
whose land you dwell, but ye have not obeyed my voice." What a statement. How gracious
God was to send them a prophet, a no-name prophet. The reason
that he had no name is he's not the important part. It's that
message that he had, that he delivered. It is the message
that is important. It is the word that is power. The Lord sent a prophet to the
children of Israel, which said unto them, thus saith the Lord. This is what God gave to me.
You know, it reminds me of the apostle Paul said, I delivered
unto you. That's what's also was given unto me. He gave it to me and I'm giving
it to you and that's all we can do. I brought you out of Egypt
and brought you forth out of the house of bondage. I delivered
you, I drove you. The message of a finished work
is what he told them. An accomplished salvation is
what he told them. Of deliverance of divine revelation. I am the Lord your God. And now you have worshiped idols."
Well, really he's saying, as Joseph summed it, or Joseph,
as Jonah summed it up. I really enjoyed that translation
Sunday. That was Jonah chapter two. I mean, it just made it so clear.
But he said, salvation is of the Lord. And so the salvation
is of the Lord. I am the Lord, your God. You
must not worship the gods of the Amorites. Now, he sent a
prophet, and you turn with me over to the book of Romans, if
you would. Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. In Romans
chapter 10, there's quite a statement made about God's act and how
he provides. how he has his word delivered. He does not audibly speak from
heaven anymore. He's done that in the past. They
didn't have the written word at the time. He doesn't do what
he once did. We have his word. This is it.
This is the will of God in our hands. Lord, help me to understand
your will. But in Romans chapter 10, he
gives an outline of how he does his business, how he brings the
gospel to his people. It is not by chance, it is on
purpose that he does this. In the book of Romans chapter
10, beginning with verse 13, it says, for whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Hallelujah, but
don't stop there. Let's go on and read the rest
of this, the rest of the story. It says there in Romans chapter
10 verse 14, how then shall they call on him whom they have not
believed? Well, let's not just stop there,
let's go on. And how shall they believe on
him whom they have not heard? It is one of the worst forms
of child abuse to catch a little kid at a fair and say, you don't
want to go to hell, do you? No, no, I don't wanna go to hell.
Well, then ask Jesus into your heart, and you'll be saved. That
is garbage. And here, God never did that. He said, I'm gonna bring the
gospel to my people, and they will know whom they believe. Goes on to tell us here, and
how shall they call on him whom they have not believed? How shall
they believe on him whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher? We got a prophet coming. That's
for all those years. God didn't see fit to send him
a prophet, but he did now at the appointed time. And you know,
when God brought the gospel to us, it was at the appointed time. It was not day late. It was not
a day early. It was at the appointed time.
And then it tells us there, and how shall they hear? without
a preacher. You know, the ultimate preacher
is God, is Christ, Jesus, the Lord. But he has commissioned
people, the opportunities come up. He has commissioned people
to say a word. Say a word about God, about salvation
that's in Christ Jesus. That's the message. And God will
honor that message. Now, the people may not like
it, but God will honor that. Faithful use of his word. So going back to the book of
Judges. There in Chapter 6. Now we're
going to have the next judge appointed. God's going to call
him the next judge. His name is Gideon. Judges Chapter
6 and it says there in verse. Verse 11. And there came an angel
of the Lord. And in verse 12, and the angel
of the Lord, and in verse 14, and the Lord looked. So you wanna
know who the angel of the Lord is? It's the Lord, the messenger
of God. The messenger of Jehovah is Jehovah. That's the messenger. And he's
appeared. It says there in verse 11, and
there came an angel of the Lord and sat under an oak, which was
in Orpha, that pertaineth unto Joash the Abbasite, the son of
Gideon, and his son Gideon thrashed wheat by the winepress to hide
from the Midianites." So he has a little bit of grain and he's
found a place to hide so he can make a little loaf of bread.
He's thrashing it out there in secret because the Midianites
have destroyed the land, taken all of the grain, all the animals.
It is down to the ground. My mother said the cattlemen
hated sheep because the sheep went down to the roots of the
grass. And that's what they did. They went to the roots of the
grass. That's what happened here. There's nothing left. And it
says there in verse 12, and the angel of the Lord appeared unto
him. What a statement. The angel of
the Lord appeared unto Gideon. How blessed is that? That is
as blessed as the prophet coming. the angel of the Lord appeared.
Now there is the messenger and he delivered the message and
the result of the message to certain people is he's going
to appear unto his people. And he appeared unto him and
said unto him, the Lord is with thee. Now an interesting phrase
is the last phrase because of where he is and what he's doing
at the time. He says, the Lord is with thee,
thou mighty man of Valor. You know, when I first read that,
I said, I don't see that. It's hard to see that. You know,
when we look at them, it's almost as impossible for us when we
read, and they shall be called the sons of God. They shall be called the children
of God. Same kind of phrase. You're a
man of valor and you don't realize it. You're a child of God. I'm
revealing that to you. I'm revealing to you that you're
a man of valor. I am the Lord. I am going to,
I have appeared unto you and I'm going to call you. And the
angel of the Lord appeared unto him in verse 12, and the Lord
is with thee. No greater blessing can be had
than to have the Lord with us in this kind of situation. So
we see the problem, Israel sinned. The result of that, there's nothing
left in Israel. And the description of what is
going on is just, We're just impoverished by nature. We have nothing that's decent,
no good food. We're impoverished. And God,
by his grace, sends a prophet with the word of the Lord. He
presents the word of the Lord. And by his grace, the Savior
comes and reveals himself unto some and says, the Lord is with
you. Now, if the Lord is with us,
there is no danger whatsoever. If the Lord be our Lord, there
is no danger. And then it tells us there, the
mighty man of valor. And that's why we find him listed
over in the book of Hebrews chapter 11, as one of those great men
or women of faith. You know, they were great only
in the eyes of God, they were small in their own estimation. And so we're gonna follow this
out at another time. Continue to look here, but we're
gonna stop at this point tonight. And in verse 13, and Gideon said
unto him, oh 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? Say, did not the Lord bring us
up from Egypt? But now the Lord has forsaken
us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites, and
the Lord's going to take time to deal with that, and then going
to make a mighty man of valor out of Gideon. He's going to
be a deliverer. He's going to be a picture of
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we'll stop there for tonight,
and we'll pick this study up at the next appointed time. And
as Mike often says, be free. Thank you for joining us tonight.