Chapter 8 |The Book of Judges: From Destruction to Deliverance

Well again, welcome.

I appreciate you being here this morning.

And if I had to pick my my favorite season would be winter.

I wish we had one,

but it is my favorite.

Hey, in our series, through the book of judges,

we're in judges chapter eight today.

and we are looking at a

at a man named Gideon.

He's been a the main character for the past two weeks.

And judges six and judges seven.

And the totality of his story wraps up

really today in judges chapter eight.

So if you have a Bible and brought one with you and encourage you to go to judges

chapter eight to believe the seventh book of the Bible,

Genesis, Exodus of Alex, numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, judges.

In my Bible, chapter eight comes right after chapter seven.

I think it's the same in yours.

and so if you can

navigate there, it's also on our app.

If you download that and, and follow along, it's a great resource to have.

Let me just recap chapter seven.

God's people are in the Promised Land.

They've been given the Promised Land by faith.

Everything we see in the physical world in the Old Testament

has spiritual lessons and correlations for us

in our, lives, in our time.

And so the promise of God,

the Promised Land, there,

in essence eternal home, was given to them by faith acquired by faith.

Similarly, salvation in our eternal

life is gained not by our activity, but by faith,

but for them to enjoy the benefits

of the promise of God that is contingent upon their faithfulness.

Though it's gained by faith, it's enjoyed by faithfulness.

Similarly, with us,

salvation is granted by faith,

but the promise of God and living with God in relationship,

the enjoyment of that is contingent upon our faithfulness.

So salvation, the Bible says,

is by faith alone.

But the promises of God is contingent upon our faithfulness.

And so the people, God's people,

though they're in the Promised Land, are not enjoying the Promised Land

as they were intended because they haven't been faithful

to deal with the enemies of God that are still there.

Similarly,

if we're to enjoy a relationship with God that we've been given by faith,

we have to deal seriously with the enemies that are still in our lives.

I sin, you follow me so far, okay, so

in Genesis six and seven

the people have been under oppression by this group called them

this clan called the Midianite six people group called the Midianites.

And they were oppressing and harassing God's people.

It got so bad that they finally rise up

and say, God, you have to help or sorry for our sin.

You have to help us.

And so God sends this man Gideon.

Gideon,

has all kinds of

reasons why he should not be the one,

to work on God's behalf.

And for every excuse Gideon gives God,

God says your excuses are of no consequence to me.

I've chosen you.

I've called you. You just need to respond.

And so God takes Gideon through this, this strange

boot camp of sorts to get his military guys ready.

The forces of the Midianites total

135,000 men ready to fight

Gideon's forces.

He starts with 32,000.

God gets rid of 22,000.

Gideon's left with 10,000.

And God gets rid of all but 300.

And so get.

He's got 300 guys going up against 32,000.

And in an incredible work of God and God alone,

God routes 120,000 of them.

So there's still 15,000 Midianite soldiers left

that Gideon has got to do away with.

So as the people of God can be set free and enjoy

God's faithfulness and promises once again.

So we see in this guy Gideon, he's humble,

he's faithful,

he's a leader, but he is a man of great duplicity.

It's like there's two Gideon's,

there's two characters resonant within this one man.

And we're going to see the conflict that is within him.

And I think it'll be the same conflict

we see in us, the same duplicity.

What I love about, about judges.

And in this case, Gideon is not the story of Gideon

in these pages, but the story of God in these pages.

And so let's jump into this.

Let's see the story of God as God reveals himself

through this man of duplicity named Gideon.

That's what the Bible says in chapter eight, verse one.

Now the Ephrem might ask Gideon,

so this is after the the big battle.

120,000 Midianite soldiers have been killed.

The every a the Ephraim.

I was one of the 12 tribes

and they were kind of up in the northernmost area

of the Promised Land, and they were the largest of the northern tribes.

They were the greatest ones, the most military guys. The.

And so they say to Gideon, who's Gideon

was part of the smallest tribe as far as the fighting men were concerned.

So the biggest tribe with all the fighting men talked to get in the leader of this

300 men army who's part of the smallest tribe.

Why did you treat us like this?

Why didn't you call us when you went to fight Midian?

And they criticized Gideon sharply.

These are Fremont's.

You know, people just like this.

They're arrogant, they're immature,

and they are very ready to criticize what everybody else does.

Yeah, but we see this over and over in, in, in these Ephraim,

which they're going to do the same thing to another judge and judges.

Judges 12 · chapter mention

Chapter 12 named Jephthah.

They're going to do the exact same thing, same complaint.

They didn't want to fight.

They just wanted the spoils of another person's fight.

This is their problem.

They don't want to go to war this month.

The benefits of someone else's victory.

Does that make sense?

They don't want to do the work

they just want someone to give them resources from someone else's work.

Yeah,

it's the offer.

Might.

And the Bible says that they criticized Gideon sharply.

That Hebrew word criticize means they complained about him and to him.

They chided him.

They argued with him. They debated him.

They were critics.

Let me give you some advice about critics.

A critic is one who thinks

they know the way but can't drive the car.

You understand?

you know what these people are like.

They always got.

Some say

they're not in charge of doing anything,

but they will sure criticize those who are.

And so here's the rule of thumb with critics

don't accept criticism from one you would not go to for advice.

You got it.

As Joey from friends would say, it's a closed opinion.

It's a moot point.

That is doesn't matter.

And so this is their complaint against Gideon.

And now watch Gideon.

He's such a masterful leader sometimes.

Watch how he responds.

And this is great on his part, but get to answer them.

What have I accomplished compared to you?

Authored Gleanings of Ephraim's Grapes

better than the full grape harvest of abbeys or.

God gave.

Or of the Midianite leaders into your hands.

What was I able to do compared to you?

And this their resentment against him subsided?

You see what he's doing?

He's not explaining his decision.

He's not trying to reason with them.

He's just saying, oh, no, you guys,

you're so good.

What am I compared to you?

The the leftovers from your table

are better than our whole harvest.

You. You took care of their princes.

They were all. Yeah, we put them on the run.

But you took care of their princes.

You guys are awesome,

right?

Listen,

he's a very diplomatic leader.

He understands what will be written in Proverbs 15 one.

A gentle answer turns away wrath.

A harsh word stirs up anger.

So they're upset. They're criticizing him.

And he doesn't offer defense. He doesn't say, well, you know what?

This is why.

And but he says, oh, no, you guys are you're too important

to do this menial stuff that we did.

Sometimes

immature, arrogant people

just need to be puffed up a little bit,

right?

And once they feel good about themselves,

they quit complaining.

This would be a good lesson for many of us to learn,

right?

But we want to tell the truth.

We also want to explain why we did not.

Sometimes.

Sometimes some people are so frail,

right?

So tender.

And you know that you're dealing

with a frail, tender person

when after 1 or 2 compliments, they're gonna have problems in more.

That was the after.

Might.

And so watch, watch how this goes down.

There's still 15,000 Midianites that are, that are fleeing the Gideon's.

Tell us to resume Gideon and his 300 men exhausted

yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Jordan and crossed it.

He said to the men of.

Suck off that little community.

Give my troops some bread.

They are worn out, and I am still pursuing Zeba and Zalman, the kings of Midian.

He said, look, we're fight, we're still going.

And from where they started the battle,

to where they were at, suck off is 20 miles.

So they've been chasing these kings for 20 miles.

300 guys just running

and huffing for 20 miles, and they're exhausted and they're tired

and they're hungry and they're worn out, but they are keeping up the pursuit.

Listen, we got to understand that sometimes,

even though you're exhausted, you gotta keep up the pursuit.

This is true in life.

It's certainly true in faith.

It's true in your marriage.

It's true with your children, in your family.

You will get exhausted.

But you don't stop.

And I want you to understand the context of what they were.

They were tired in the work, but they weren't tired of the work.

And it's an important distinction to make.

We will get tired in the work.

We'll get tired again. The work of faith.

We'll get tired in the work of God.

We'll get tired in the work in the kingdom.

We'll get tired in the work of our marriage.

We'll get tired in the work of raising children.

We'll get tired in the work.

But we ought not let our hearts grow tired of the work

to understand the difference.

It's okay to be tired in.

If you're doing the work you're going to get tired in.

That's okay.

Just don't confuse being tired in with tired up,

because the moment you let your heart get tired of, you'll stop.

Whether it's your faith,

your obedience, your commitment,

your marriage, your family,

don't allow yourself to get tired.

And some of you right now have confused yourself.

You think you're tired of,

but you're really just tired in.

And you're supposed to be tired in.

It's work.

But the moment

you let yourself slip into an hour, I'm tired of

right.

You understand?

It's okay to get tired in

Jesus.

In John chapter four,

it tells the account when Jesus was traveling with his disciples

and they stopped at this little well in the heat of the day,

and they were tired.

The Bible says literally in John chapter four, they were tired in the journey,

and they're exhausted.

And the disciples say, Jesus, you stay here.

We're going to go into the town and buy some food,

and some refreshments will come back so we can be refreshed.

And while they're gone, Jesus being tired in the journey,

this woman comes up to him to draw water at the heat of the day.

And Jesus gets into this conversation with her about living water

and who he is and the Kingdom of God and a new life through him.

And she leaves completely reborn.

And when the disciples come back, he is refreshed and renewed,

no longer tired. Why?

Because the work of the kingdom.

Though there are moments and seasons when we're tired in, when we stay in it,

refreshment comes, but most people confuse.

I am so tired right now in my walk.

I'm so tired right now.

In my it's is so it's.

And I'm I just you don't stop.

You hear me?

You're going to get tired in.

Just understand that's a part of life.

It's a part of faith.

It's a part.

Don't allow yourself to get tired of.

Being mindful

of the biblical instruction to rest called a Sabbath.

Be mindful of the biblical instruction of pace.

Be mindful of the biblical instruction of boundaries,

and be mindful of the biblical example of Christ himself.

That even when you're tired in the work, you stay in it.

Because times the Bible says of refreshing will come,

you follow me.

So they're tired in it, but they're not tired of it.

You should always

be tired in it.

But never

allow yourself to tire of it.

So they come to this.

This group of people in soccer often say, hey, give.

Give my men some bread and some refreshments.

We're tired, but the officials just talk.

I said, do you already have the hands of Zeba and Zalman in your possession?

Why should we give bread to your troops?

Here's what they're saying.

Have you already to feed them?

Because if you haven't defeated them and they end up defeating

you, they're going to come back on us.

Do you see what he's saying?

Like, we don't want to commit to this until we got a guarantee

it's going to work out.

They're cowards.

But this is the way a lot of us approach.

Certainly obedience.

God, if you'll guarantee me that what you say is going to come true,

then I will.

There are some things that you say.

You know what?

This is the right thing and this is the verb.

And I'm going to say yes to it on the front end, trusting

that the back end is going to be all right.

They're cowards,

and cowards abound.

Don't be one of them.

Then Gideon replied, just for that.

Now listen, this is a this is a man of duplicity.

Such great diplomacy

with the one issue, but not what she says.

Just for that, when the Lord's given Z bends our money into my hand,

I will tear your flesh with desert thorns and briers.

Where is the gentle answer?

See, he also knew what the second half of Proverbs 51 will say.

But a harsh word stirs up anger.

From there he went to Peniel and made the same request of the people in that area.

But they. And as the minister God had.

So he said to the many people, when I return in triumph, I'm

to tear down this tower, and all of you are going to die.

When I do.

Do you see the shift in Gideon?

Do you see this?

I don't see anywhere in this.

In this scenario where he stopped

and talked to God about anything.

He's responding from his own human emotion.

I get it,

he's tired, I get it, he's exhausted, I get it, he's frustrated and angry.

I get it.

But at no point in all that emotion does he stop and say, Lord, I am tired.

I'm exhausted, I am angry, I am frustrated,

and all I want to do is leave all these people.

But I want to make sure that I'm in step with you.

What's my next play?

He doesn't do that, right?

He just for me.

He responds in his own emotion.

How many times

have we been in those situations where we're tired and we're exhausted

and we're frustrated and angry and want to burn the whole thing down

right?

Do you see what a conflicted man he is?

Sometimes he is on the money,

and other times he's just responding in his own flesh.

Let me tell you this.

Emotional, exhausted responses

never amount to anything good.

And some of us have had to reap the consequences

of exhausted emotional responses

to those we love the most.

And so I'm not going to read to you verses ten through 17.

I'll just tell you what happened.

So Gideon moves on with his three and they pursue these two

kings, Zeba and Zalman, and they capture him.

They actually capture him,

and they capture a young man from the community of Suck Off that Gideon

first asked for resources and bread so his troops can be refreshed.

He captures one of those young men and he asks this young man of God.

He says, give me the names and the numbers of all the leaders in that city.

Give me their handles, give me their contact info.

I need to get in touch with them.

I want to have a conversation with them.

And so the guy gives them all the information about the leaders

or suck off.

And Gideon, with these two kings in tow,

gathers all the men of suck off and of Peniel.

And he says, look, I told you I was going to get these guys, and I got them,

and I told you what I was going to do, and so now I'm going to do it.

And the Bible says he

tore the flesh

of the leaders of suck off with thorns of the desert,

and he tore down the Tower of Peniel and killed thousands of people.

And he tore down that tower.

He did what he said it was going to do.

Was it the right call?

I don't know, man.

That seems pretty brutal, right?

Do you see the conflict that's in him?

Do you see how sometimes he is so in tune with God and his heart and his ear,

and sometimes he's just so human.

Do you see that in yourself?

For there are times

when we're just getting it right,

and there are times when we are so

destroyed

by our own vile humanity.

Yeah.

And so he goes to these two kings,

he said as he bends down.

Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor?

See, these guys had rolled into where his family and his and his is.

His relatives lived, and they slaughtered a bunch of people

and get he says, where are they?

And they answered, as you are, so were they, every one of them.

Well, look at the words resembled the son of a king.

Now and get in. Ask them, where are the men?

What he's literally saying is, what kind of men were those that you killed?

That's what he's asking. What kind of men were they?

And their response was, they're like, they resembled the son of a king.

Now, like I said,

everything we see in the physical world here, there's a spiritual correlation.

So pay attention.

Spiritually, I want to draw some connections.

What kind of men were they?

They looked like the king.

They bore the image of a king.

The question spiritually, you and I have got to ask is this

what image do I bear?

We have to ask, what image do you bear?

Who do you look like?

Do you bear right now before the world, the image of the culture?

Or do you bear right now the image of the king?

Who do you look like?

These men looked like the image.

The son of a king.

Do we look like

sons and daughters of the king?

Or do we look like

the product of our culture?

Jesus addressed

this very issue in Matthew 22, in a discussion about taxes of

of all things the religious leader said, tell us then, what do you think?

Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?

Jesus, aware of their malice, said, why put me to the test, you hypocrites?

Show me the coin for the tax.

And they brought him a denarius.

And Jesus said to them, whose likeness and inscription is this?

They said, Caesar's.

Then Jesus said to them, therefore render to Caesar

the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.

When they heard it,

they marveled, and they left him and went away.

Listen, Jesus was saying, look, you bear an image,

and if you bear the image of the world, you belong to the world.

But if you bear the image of God, you are God's.

Whose image are you? Carrion?

He's saying.

Whose image do you bear?

See, because Jesus knew what God had already recorded in

Genesis one, so God created man in his own image in the image of God,

he created him male and female.

He created them male and female.

The image bearers of God.

We have to consider

whose image do we bear?

Do we look most like the image

of our creator, the King of Kings, the Lord of lords?

Or do we look most like the image of the culture?

And let me just press into this for a minute.

God created man in his own image.

In the image of God, he created him, male and female.

He made them listen.

Every created

human is one of two genders.

And this may fly in the face of the current culture,

because the current culture is messed up.

But every created

human is one of two genders, the only created being

that is non-binary are spirits,

angels and demons.

And the only spirit that would purport a way

other than God's way is not the Spirit of God.

You have to understand.

And if it's not the Spirit of God,

it's demonic and its nature.

Because the Bible is true that we don't wrestle against flesh

and blood, but against rulers, authorities of powers of this dark world.

Whose goal is to drive humanity

away from the image of its creator.

I mean, give back to judges eight.

And Gideon says to them,

they were my brothers, the sons of my mother.

As the Lord lives.

If you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.

So he said that you are his firstborn son, right?

And kill them.

But the young man

did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still young.

Let me tell you what's going on.

It was disgraceful for a military

man to be killed by someone who was not also a military man.

So for a military man to be killed by a woman

or as a youth was an absolute humiliation.

So do you see what Gideon's doing?

He wants his young son, who is not a military man, to kill these kings. Why?

Because in his heart, all he wants to do.

He does just want to destroy.

He wants to humiliate them.

Do you see the duplicity in him?

Like he doesn't just want justice.

He wants.

He wants to humiliate them before he kills them

and his sons like dad.

I can't

like there was either something about his character or about his.

He just wasn't ready to take a life.

I'm. Who can blame him?

And he can't go through with it.

And so they say in response,

and Zeb and Zalman had said, rise your self, Gideon, and fall upon us.

For as the man is, so is his strength.

And Gideon arose and killed himself,

and he took the crescent ornaments that were on the next of their canvas.

Let me tell you what's going on when they say, as the man so is his strength.

What they're saying is like father, like son, your son is a coward, and so are you.

That's what they're saying.

They're saying your son could kill us because he's a coward.

So he has no backbone, and he's just like his daddy.

So what is Gideon? Do?

They share business, right?

And then he says he took the ornaments,

the crescent ornaments that are around the camel's necks

that literally

is the image of Islam.

The crescent.

And this is where

the Islamic people in Islam

in part originates.

And Islam has always been at war with God

to this day.

And he was right.

Said Gideon, will rule over us, you, your son, your grandson,

because you saved us from the hand of Midian.

And Gideon told them, I will not rule over you,

nor will my son rule over the Lord to rule over you.

I mean, getting his all over the map.

The first

issue great diplomacy, great godliness.

The second one. I'm gonna tear your flesh up.

I'm gonna tear down this thing.

I'm going to humiliate you before I quit.

And that was like, oh, it's not like God is the one you should be following.

Not me. Can you see the dichotomy in it?

Can you see the duplicity in this, in this character?

Can you see it?

Here's the question I have to ask myself.

Do I see it in me?

Do you see the same duplicity in you?

For sometimes you're like, God, yeah, I get it.

I'm yours.

I'm doing it right.

And other times.

We just live in our own

broken humanity, and we go back and forth and back and forth.

It reminds me of what James says.

A double minded man is unstable, and all he does,

you never know what you're going to get

right?

It's so like us.

He's why says I want to be your king.

My son's not going to be a king.

My grandson is going to be your king.

He said, there's no there's no monarchy.

There's no there's no lineage of, of leaders here.

Here's here's what I know and here's what we have to understand.

It's only the truly great

that can choose to be humble.

Everything else that is insecure

and false will self-promote.

And that's the danger

of a social media society.

Only the truly great will choose to be humble.

Everything else that is insecure and false will self-promote,

because they have to convince themselves and everybody else that they're real.

And that, my friends, is that part of the danger of this social media society?

It's all about self-promotion.

Pay attention.

Those who promote themselves the most

are the most insecure,

faulty, and false

mean.

Isn't that what advertisement is convincing the public

that the product is valuable?

I mean, the interesting thing in this passage is

at least the people have all agreed this is our candidate.

They want handed a candidate and said, I guess this is who we got this.

So watch Gideon.

I don't want to be your king.

The Lord only should be your king.

I do have one request, though.

This guy

that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder.

It was the custom of the Israelites to wear gold earrings.

The answer would be glad to give them to you.

So they spread out a garment, and each of them

threw a ring from the plunder onto it.

The weight of the gold rings he asked for came to 7000 shekels,

not counting the ornaments, the pendants, and the purple,

garments worn by the kings of Mideon, or the chains that were on their camels.

Next, Gideon made the gold into an effort

which he placed in Ofra, his town.

All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping their,

and it became a snare to get in his family.

Let me show you what's going on here is I want to be your king.

God, long as you're king. However,

I do want to live like a king.

I don't want to be your king.

But I do want to live like one.

So give me the gold.

All of it.

When it says 7000 shekels.

If you were to equate that to gold ounce and the price of gold.

He's asking for more than $2 million.

I don't want to be the king.

But boy, I sure do want to live like one.

Such a conflicted man.

He seems to have forgotten that if you want to live

like a king God, obey what God says about living like a king.

And there were three things in Deuteronomy 17 that God forbid a king to do.

One was to amass horses so the king shall not amass horses,

because that's like having a proliferation of their military.

And they would trust in their own strength rather than in God.

So don't get a lot of horses.

The second thing was,

if you're going to be a king and live like king, don't amass a lot of wives.

Because honestly, you got a lot of wives.

You gonna have a lot of mother in law.

One is enough. I want to save you that pain.

So just be smart about this.

And the third thing is, don't amass a lot of money.

Gideon, we don't have any

indication of the amass a lot of horses, but you get down to verse 30

and you realize he amassed a lot of ladies.

And here he wants a lot of money.

Do you see the conflict in his own soul?

I want to be gods,

but I want to live like the world.

I want to do it right.

But I also want my own way.

And he took that gold

and he made an effort out of it, like the breastplate of the priest.

And they ended up worshiping.

This created gold in the image.

See what often happens

when God chooses a man or a woman

and gives them a ministry?

If you're not careful and humble, that becomes a monument to the man,

and sooner or later that

monument turns into a mausoleum.

And it's just all about death.

Getting gets it right.

Sometimes you just drop the ball just like us.

Thus, median was subdued before the Israelites

and did not raise its head again during his lifetime.

The land had peace for 40 years.

Gerald Bell that's the nickname for Gideon.

And as you go through the next chapter in judges, whenever refers

to get in refers to him as Jeru Bell.

Because what they're doing there, they're telling us

that the spiritual sensitivity of the nation is sliding.

They don't even call him by.

They call him by the name of the foreign God.

The son of Josh went back home to live.

He had 70 sons of his own, for he had many wives.

His concubine, no wife, but his concubine who lived in them

also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelech.

He Gideon was one of these God.

Was he a godly man?

Sometimes

was he a great godly leader?

Sometimes

did he walk in the ways of God?

You know where we're going.

This right sometimes.

But he was also a man of great complexity and duplicity

because we would say it like this.

He was a man who had a woman in every port,

everywhere he traveled.

He got a lady waiting for him,

70 wives.

And he named his son Abimelech.

You know why that's important?

Abimelech means the son of a king.

Gideon.

How are you going to say you don't want to be a king?

Yeah. You want to live like one?

Are you going to name your son the son of one?

Do you see the conflict in his own heart?

So conflicted.

And you would think someone who is this conflicted

God would finally say, you know what?

It was a great run we had, but I'm

washing my hands, right?

Right.

But that's not who my God is for this Gideon.

This man of duplicity makes it into the Hall of Fame of faith.

Hebrews 11, talking about the great people of faith.

And what more shall I say?

The writer says, I don't have time to tell you about whom?

Gideon and Barak

and Samson and Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets.

There's so many great people of God that God used.

I wish I could tell you about him.

And so he makes this film a hall of fame, a faith

with as messed up as he is.

I love the story of getting not because it's a story.

Get him.

Because it's the story of my God.

And the Bible says Gideon, son of Josh,

died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash.

And oh, for the of the abyss right?

He died.

And the good old why he was so messed up.

But the Bible reminds us, if we're faithless, God remains.

What? Faithful?

And so, my great duplicitous friend,

when we dropped the ball.

God has already leveled the condemnation against Jesus

so he doesn't have to throw us out.

When we are faced less, he remains faithful.

Because if I am an image bearer of the King of Kings,

he cannot deny himself.

There may be consequences I deal with,

and I pray God's mercy and grace over them.

But even when I, and even when you are faithless,

God remains faithful

for a man like Gideon, to make it into the Hall of Fame of faith

ought to give you and I great courage and expectation and joy and assurance.

But no sooner had Gideon died, then the Israelites again

prostituted themselves to the bills they set up

as their God, and did not remember the Lord their God.

That was our first problem.

They didn't remember that he had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies

on every side.

They also.

The second problem is that they failed to show any loyalty to the family of Jethro.

Bill. That is Gideon.

In spite of all the good things that he had done for them.

They made two grave errors.

The moment Gideon died, they went back to the cycle

of disobedience, defeat, despair, and crying out for deliverance.

Right back to it.

The moment Gideon was in the ground,

right back to disobedience, defeat, despair, deliverance.

So many times in our lives, God does something fantastic

and we celebrate it for a moment, only to get right back into disobedience,

at least our defeat and our despair.

And we cry out to God for help.

And he is merciful because he cannot deny himself.

And even when we are faithless, he remains faithful.

And so he delivers.

And we enjoy that deliverance for a little bit.

And then we get very back into disobedience, defeat and despair.

This is the cycle.

But they made

two grave errors, two great sins.

Please understand this that it's easier to gain victory than to maintain victory.

It's easier to enter into the victory of salvation.

It's hard to maintain a righteous life.

Confession of sin.

Victory and salvation is much easier than maintaining a life of righteousness.

And so they slip back into it.

And these two great sins that they commit, one

they don't remember to tell their kids and their grandkids about God

didn't mind.

Four nine only be careful and watch yourselves now closely,

so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen.

And, nor let them slip from your heart as long as you live.

Teach them to your children, and if you got grandkids, teach them to them, too.

That was their first great sin.

Parents, pay attention.

Teach the things of God

that you know and that you've seen to your children.

Don't forget them and don't let your kids forget them.

And if you got grandkids, it is your still ongoing goal

and responsibility to teach to your grandchildren

the things of God,

what he has done and what you know.

There's no time limit on this.

If you're a parent and you got kids until you don't, you teach them.

If you got grandkids until you don't, you teach them.

That was their first sin.

Their second thing is that they didn't honor Gideon nor his family.

And Paul will tell Timothy, this is a great verse.

The elders who direct the affairs

of the church well are worthy of double honor.

Especially. There's a great verse,

especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.

This is a fantastic passage.

For the Scripture says, don't muzzle the ox

while it's treading out the grain, and the worker deserves his wages.

When he said, when Paul tells Timothy

that that these people are worthy of double

honor, he's just talked to them about two issues of honor, respect and finances.

He says that they deserve it,

and that's what they didn't do for Gideon.

So they slip right back into that cycle

of disobedience and defeat and despair.

But God is faithful. He'll raise up more.

We'll read about those in the weeks to come.

Let me wrap up with this

and this next chapter.

You're going to read about Abimelech, that son.

And what we'll see

is he is a broken son of a conflicted man.

Daddy's.

Pay attention.

Conflicted men

raise broken kids.

Men, we've got to get this right.

Guys, it's not about being perfect.

It's not about not making mistakes.

Gideon was imperfectly obedient.

And most of us live in perfectly obedient strife

and perfectly obedient lives.

And guys like us still make it

into the Hall of Fame of faith.

But we're going to read about this son

who washed his daddy, a conflicted man,

and he was a broken son.

Let that be a warning.

Let me wrap this here. Parents,

moms and dads.

It's easier

to build a boy into a godly man than to repair a broken one.

Same thing with daughters.

It's a lot of work.

It's difficult. It's exhausting.

It's trying.

You're fighting against a very strong current,

but it is easier, as difficult as that is to build a boy

or a daughter into a godly man or a woman, than it is to repair a broken one.

Please understand me at that.

You will get tired.

And don't you ever get tired of.

You understand?

And if you're a young woman, pay attention.

It's easier to grow as a godly youth than to repair your brokenness

in adulthood.

There are scores of adults

in this room who would attest to that very fact.

As difficult as it might be for young people to stand on the truths

of God's Word in spite of a culture that is pushing them the other way,

to stand on truth, in spite of a culture that continue, lies

where lies become norm.

It is easier to grow as a godly

young person than it will be to repair your brokenness in adulthood.

Please, you gotta get this.

You gotta get it.

And the key to all of this is the Bible

and is community.

These huddles.

And personal obedience

that starts with repentance.

In our duplicity,

repent,

God, I realize the duplicity of my own nature.

I realize that there are things in my life that are not according to your word.

And I get it. I agree you're right.

I'm broken and I repent.

I'll do what I can do to walk the other way.

Let's pray.

Father, I thank you for your word,

and I thank you that you've given us so much insight

into you and your heart through people like Gideon.

In him we see us,

and I thank you that you are the same God to us as you were to him.

Even in duplicity and brokenness,

you remain faithful.

I thank you

that as we bury your image through your son.

That you remain faithful.

Father, there are some of us in this place

who have known for far too long,

who are realizing again

with pointed precision,

the duplicity of our own hearts,

the conflict we feel,

though we say we are yours.

Oftentimes we bear the image of a culture

that is not yours.

So for

those of us who will choose to admit that and agree

with you about our own duplicity, we ask your forgiveness.

We repent.

Guys, this is your turn right now.

If that's your realization and that's your desire,

I encourage you in the name of Jesus just to simply

say God, I agree.

I am double minded, often.

And there's a lot of my life that looks

just like the culture I'm living in,

and I repent.

I choose to turn the other way.

Tell him, say God in my repentance.

Give me all that your grace will allow.

Father, I thank you

for who you are.

I thank you for what you do, and I thank you that you have called

imperfect, duplicitous, conflicted people like me

and like us

into your kingdom,

into relationship with you.

And dare we dream into the pages

of the Hall of Fame, of Faith

because we've said yes.

We pray this things Jesus in your name.

Amen.

I said, I love you

and going through Bible is good for us.

Yeah,

the Bible tells us of itself that it is sharper than any two edged sword

and is profitable for correction and discipline and rebuking,

so that the man and woman of God will be able to live according to the call

that we receive. It's good for us.

And so today, I want you to think

this week, and I want you to go through and read for yourselves again.

Judges six, seven and eight, the totality

of of of Gideon's life, and kind of let God put it all together for you

as we get ready.

Keep going through judges.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

All right, listen.