Unholy Innerwear: Judges 8:24-27

you that now about, let's see, I'll do my math

right, about 1600 years ago or so, something

like that, over 1600 years ago, that the emperor

of Rome became a Christian. His grandmother was

a Christian, believed in the Lord Jesus Christ,

and there was upheaval in Rome, and at a particular

moment, he was about to go into a huge battle,

and he thought that he saw in the sky a promise

from God. that if he would submit himself, his

army, if they would become Christians to Christ,

that God would give them victory. And so he committed

his life to Christ, and then he entreated his

entire army to do the same, and they all professed

that they would do the same. And so the priest

that he summoned stood by the river. and he dipped

a huge branch with many leaves on it in the river,

and an army marched past him, and he baptized

them all. I baptize you in the name of the Lord

Jesus Christ. And they went on to win the battle,

and Constantine became the emperor of Rome and

lived his life as a professing Christian. Now,

there were lots of issues. We won't get into

the issues, but the bottom line is he was professing

to be a Christian, and he made Christianity the

state religion of Rome. Later on in life, he

moved his capital from Rome to a city that he

basically built called Constantinople. That's

where it came from. That city named after that

emperor became Constantinople. And it became

the seat of Roman government and also the seat

of Christianity. But very rapidly... The Roman

government retained its seat in Rome, and so

there was a break in power between the two, and

Constantine became known, Constantinople became

known as the Christian city that it was built

to be. In the city, they built church buildings

because it was supposed to be a Christian city.

But also they wanted people to come who were

not Christians because you got to win people

to Christ, right? It's kind of like America.

America was built pretty much to be a Christian

country, but certainly we accepted, and the truth,

the freedom of religion because we want other

people so that they can leave that religion and

become Christians. If you only have Christians

or the only people allowed in your country, for

example, then who are you going to win to Christ?

So that would be worthless. So Constantinople...

Also, they said, well, we not only have to build

church buildings, we also have to build temples

to the gods. So this Christian government, Christian

city -state, built temples to false gods so that

people would come and worship the temple so that

they would have somebody to win to Christ. So

you go down Temple Row, and the church buildings

were basically on one side, and the other side

was a temple to Athena, a temple to Zeus, a temple

to Apollo, a temple to various gods that people

were Artemis and people that were worshipped

all over the world. And the idea was Christians

that were moving to Constantinople were supposed

to witness to these people, were supposed to

win them to Christ. But a problem developed.

The problem was that what were considered basically

ancient religions, the Greek religions that had

been around for thousands of years, had very

developed structure. And so as soon as the people

came into the temple to worship, guess what they

did? Well, for one, they formed choirs. So the

choirs would sing and they sang beautifully because

choirs do that. I mean, the nice thing about

choirs, you don't have to be a great voice and

you get in the choir and once you get to like

30 people, everybody's voice, human voices blend

beautifully at that level and choirs can do it.

Not everybody had a horrible voice. It probably

would be a pretty bad choir. choir but you only

have to have the mediocre voice to make a great

choir and so you go down the temple row and here

is the temples on the left these choirs sing

and they sound like beautiful and over here the

christians and they were singing no instruments

or whatever but they would be singing worship

but they didn't have a choir they weren't training

as a choir they just were people who came who

worked in the city doing whatever and they came

to be the church in that place and so the sound

on the temple side was great and the sound on

the christian side was okay pretty good So if

you're walking down the street deciding when

you're going to go to worship, you go where the

sound is great. So guess what the Christian church

did? They created choirs. They said, well, they've

got choirs. We're going to have to have choirs.

And so from that moment on, choirs became a thing.

Now, choirs of angels in the Bible, right? A

choir was in the temple. So nothing really wrong

with a choir. But it didn't exist in the church

until they were competing with the temples that

were across the street that had great choirs.

Also, in the Christian churches, they did not

put in chairs or pews because that was not normal.

You come together and worship. If you needed

to, you just sat on the floor. Christianity basically

started as a Middle Eastern country. Oh, get

that. It's not cranked down. So they would just

sit on the floor or stand. If they were tired,

they'd sit on the floor. Otherwise, they'd just

stand. And so the temples, being an ancient religion,

they had pews or seats, which we would later

call pews. If you're going down and you need

to sit down during worship, you're like, well,

we'll just go in the temple, right? You don't

know Jesus. So what difference does it make to

you? You're going to worship some God hoping

for something better. So you go to the temple

of Zeus where you can sit down and listen to

the choir sing. So the Christian church said,

well, they've all got pews. And I asked my cousin

why he went to the temple of Apollo last week

instead of the temple or instead of coming to

the Christian church. And he said, because he

wanted to sit down. So guess what the Christian

church did? They put in pews, right? So then

there was the ancient religions always had daises.

The front of the room was raised so you could

see very good what was happening on. So the Christian

church put in daises. So then the ancient religions

always had a speaking platform or a pulpit that

would raise the speaker above everybody else

so everybody could see him good, meet his eyes,

listen to him, whatever like that. So the Christian

churches put in pulpits. You see where this is

going? The chair that you're sitting on, the

room in fact that you're in probably, The pulpit,

even the contemporary worship, which is our version

of choir, right? It sounds really good when we

sing along with people with guitar and drums

and like that, right? None of that is ordained

by God. None of that. God says, worship with

your voice, worship with your body, worship with

any instrument you can get your hands on, if

you can make any kind of a joyful noise with

the instrument, right? And we combine that all

into a fairly nice production. God has really

blessed us. Our worship is awesome. Don't get

me wrong. I'm not saying anything negative. This

pulpit, not really necessary, right? So we could

all come in this room with no chairs and no instruments

other than what we just bring with us on any

given Sunday, right? Anybody that comes, Alicia

probably typically would bring a guitar because

she can play the guitar. Tim would haul a piano

in on his back. No, probably not. We'll just

leave it there. But the point is, we could come

together each Sunday and worship, but it would

not be the production that's going on in the

megachurches. quote -unquote mega churches all

over the U .S. right now. In fact, what we have

is probably not as good a production as they

have. And somebody probably got up this morning

and went to one of those churches because their

production is awesome. And if the gospel is truly

shared, they might get saved. They might give

their life to the Lord if the gospel is truly

shared. But you know, the gospel is not really

shared convictingly, straightly. in false worship.

So if you come to the Christian church and you

start to think, you know, look, I'm a sinner.

I lie and I cheat and I steal and I have to put

my finger on the scale to make it weigh a little

bit more. So I make that extra three or four

gold pieces every month. That's how I'm really

getting ahead in the world, right? Or I collect

a little too much taxes. But the Roman law says

I'm allowed to do that, but I'm collecting too

much taxes because that's how my family is going

to be wealthy for generations. And that's how

my dad did it. My grandfather did. They always

collected too much taxes. So I'm going to do

that too. And when I go to the Christian church,

I start to feel bad. about those kinds of things

so after a while the Christian Church dumbed

down its message to be more like what was going

on across the street and then more people came

to church and it's still going on that way today

the truth is that the Bible the Word of God the

blood of Jesus Christ the truth of the Bible

The truth of the gospel is all that's needed

for a person to begin their journey as a Christian.

Now, after that, there are things that you should

do. We talked about why you should be in church

earlier. Just one aspect of that, which is that's

where spiritual gifts are meant to be used. And

so if you're an encourager and you aren't in

the church encouraging people in the church because

it says that gift is given to encourage the church

and specifically your gift is encouragement and

you don't use it in the church, you're not going

to get that attaboy. You're not going to get

that strength. The power to do what it is is

in the gospel first and then in acting out. what

God has given us to do. And every time we dumb

it down or add things to it and start to think

that they are a part of what God has ordained

for us to do. We are losing God. That's what's

happening. And now we're going to look at a story

in the Bible, a very clear example of how that

exactly happened. Now, you might be thinking,

how could we be in the book of Judges? We just

read the story. If you didn't read ahead, we

just read the story of Gideon last week and how

they came and tried to make Gideon king. And

the sermon was properly king. You can listen

to it on the podcast if you didn't get a chance

to hear it yet. The sermon was properly king

because only God is properly king. And that's

what Gideon said. Gideon was like, no, you're

not going to make me or my sons king. For God

to rule over you. And that was great, wasn't

it? Like I was like, wow, go Gideon. But listen

to what happens next. It's hard to be excited

about this passage of scripture, but I hope you're

listening to the Lord as we go to Judges chapter

eight. Amen. Praise the Lord. This is his word.

So we'll back up to 22. We already read this

last week. The Israelites said to Gideon, rule

over us, so you as well as your sons and your

grandsons, for you delivered us from the power

of Midian. But Gideon said to them, I will not

rule over you. And my son will not rule over

you. The Lord will rule over you. Then he said

to them, and this is where it starts to go wrong

so quickly, like the very next verse. He probably

didn't even take a breath. Or if he did, it was

one breath, right? And he went straight to saying

this. He says, let me make a request of you.

Everyone give me an earring from your plunder.

Now the enemy had gold earrings because they

were Ishmaelites. So the Ishmaelites had a tendency

to wear gold earrings and mark them. And then

what kind of, how big or what their earring was

like gave them status, right? So they had a certain

kind of earring. Then they were like a lieutenant

or a leader or had many children or that kind

of thing, right? And so they wore earrings and

their earrings, of course, were worth a lot of

money. Now, so first of all, I want you to, this

is a very reasonable request. All of the that

were involved in this whole process just got

rich. They will literally not even notice that

earring. It's probably not remotely close to

10 % of what they just made. It's probably like

maybe a tenth of a percent, right? So it's extremely

reasonable request. It's really more in the act

of it, right? So it's really more in the, would

you go get that earring and bring it over here

and put it in my cloak? Not, can I have an earring?

I'm guessing some of them gave more, right? They're

like, what? man, it's Gideon. And they probably

walk in and they're like, here's that earring

you asked for and here's a bucket of stuff, right?

And so the pile just grew, right? But we don't

know that for sure, but I'm guessing that was

probably true. So this was a very reasonable

request. It wasn't going to hit them at all.

They would never notice it. I submit to you on

a side note, tithing is like that for those of

us who struggle with tithing. Once you begin

to do it, God adds to the pot and it's not a

problem. And people are like, well, I don't know.

But if you're committed and you can go to Malachi

3 another time and read it or whatever the Lord

says, it's like that. He takes care of it once

it gets started. And this was no difficult request

for them. This wasn't even the tithe. This was

just an earring. Then it was a symbol. in that

this is a symbol of the victory that God gave

them through Gideon. Not a symbol of Gideon's

victory, right? Although, yeah, Gideon was obedient.

Gideon's got all the fame for it now, at least

in the moment. And they're recognizing how good

he was and like that. But that they would make

that act shows that in reality, everything could

have been required from them. All that they collected

could have been asked for them because they didn't

do it. God did it, right? So 100 % of the wealth

that they have just received could have been

asked. It could have been under... the ban. That's

an actual thing. You go back and look in the

Old Testament, early judges and previously, the

ban was no matter what you take in trappings,

it all has to be dedicated to God. You don't

get to keep any of it. That was the ban. But

it wasn't under the ban, just a little earring,

right? So it's a reminder that God can ask you

for whatever he wants to ask you for. As much

as you might not like it, he can ask you for

whatever he wants you to ask you for. And your

answer is yes. That's it. So whatever he wants

to ask for, your answer is always yes. But this

is just a little earring, just a symbolic gesture,

okay? Except it's going wrong. because this was

not intended. Verse 25 says, or 20, that's a

very small number, 25, yes. They said, we agree

to give them. So they spread out a mantle, which

is basically like a cloak garment, right? And

everyone threw an earring from his plunder on

it. The weight of the gold earrings he requested

was about 43 pounds of gold. Now an earring doesn't

weigh a lot, but a gold earring weighs more than

a regular earring, right? So it's probably a

lot of earrings per pound. And they gave him

43 pounds worth of ear. That's a lot. Then in

addition, the crescent ornaments and ear pendants,

the purple garments of the kings of Midian, and

the chains on the necks of their camels. And

so see, they're heaping on. given more than they

have to give. Verse 27, Gideon made an ephod.

So an ephod is a garment. It's innerwear, really.

It's not an outer garment. It's meant to be worn

over your robes, under your breastplate, okay?

And so it's kind of like a padding kind of thing,

but it can also be more decorative when the breastplate

is lighter and less decorative. And we'll look

at examples of ephods in a second. So he made,

out of all that mess, and probably didn't use

all of it, right? He took probably key parts

and he had a craftsman and so on. And he made

an ephod. He made an ephod from all this and

he put it in Ophrah, his hometown. So that's

where Gideon's family traditionally came from.

He's going back there. He's going to live there,

live out the rest of his life, right? And he'll...

be used as a judge. He'll be recognized as an

authority. His family will be given prestige

for what has happened, all that kind of thing,

even though when he started out, he was no big

deal, right? And they put the ephod in Ophrah.

Then all Israel prostituted themselves with it

there and became a snare to Gideon and his household.

In other words, the ephod, the innerwear that

he made out of that stuff, they began to recognize

it as an authority. So in a monarchy, in a kingdom

that is a monarchy, the crown itself has authority.

Should it? Probably not. But that's why when

they say the king, well, the king ordered it.

They don't say the king ordered it. They say

the crown ordered it, right? The king has the

crown. Whoever wears the crown is king. And nobody

who is not king wears the crown. Well, it becomes

like that with the ephod, right? But more than

that, people began to think that when they sinned

or did wrong, it was the ephod that punished

them. People began to think that they had to

recognize the ephod as an authority, as if it

was the mark of rule of their nation. Right after

Gideon said, God alone will rule over you. Now,

I submit to you that Gideon knew people's propensity

to do that. I ask you, why on earth would he

then make this ephod and the laws allow this

problem to happen? He knew their propensity because

they wanted to make him king and he refused.

So he knew they were willing to do that, have

false gods lead them. But I mean, he probably

thought, but it's a garment. It's an inanimate

object. It's not a crown or nothing. And also

God had ordered that they would have created

an ephod previously and they've lost the ephod

that God had ordered that they should have created.

And so this is kind of like a replacement. So

a replacement for what God ordered them to originally

make. Okay, well that doesn't sound so bad. And

it's just an ephod. I mean, come on. But in Gideon's

day, all Israel begins to prostitute themselves.

That means they worshipped it instead of God

because of the ephod. And it says, then it became

a snare to Gideon and his household. Notice that

the results of the whole thing are actually pretty

good. And this is what will get you most of the

time. This is what traps you stuck with the thing

that you don't actually want. Because verse 28

says, So Gideon continues to serve and the land

is peaceful during that 40 years. While Israelites

prostituting themselves. with the ephod and using

it as their leader. And it was spreading, becoming

more like that and less like God is in charge.

So the battle is over. Gideon has refused to

become king and refused that his descendants

would become king. He essentially said, No, God

will rule over us. Then almost as an afterthought,

he asked for the trappings. The people would

be unified in this small act of devotion. It's

really no big deal. And then the unification

of the people, the craftsmen would make this

ephod, which would remember, remind the people,

in Gideon's mind, would remind the people that

God is in charge. And when they unified, God

did great things through them and cast off the

yoke that was placed upon them by the Midianites,

Ishmaelites, and all the northern tribes, right?

So it all sounds good, but then he makes this

and it becomes an artifact of worship similar

to the one that God originally commanded, but

they missed the symbolism of the original ephod.

They missed the number one thing that everybody

should have got about the original ephod. So

let's take a look at ephods in scripture. So

if you've got your Bible, we're going to flip

for a second to 2 Samuel 6 .14. 2 Samuel. So

you're going to go to the right. Okay, this is

the first example and not a terrible example

of an ephod that we're going to look at today.

But we're going to need, we're going to blend

all three examples together to get an understanding

of what was going on here. So it says, beginning

in 12, it was reported to King David, the Lord

has blessed Obed -Edom's family and all that

belongs to him because of the ark of God. So

David went and had the ark of God brought up

from Obed -Edom's house to the city of David

with rejoicing. When those carrying the ark of

the Lord advanced six steps, he sacrificed an

ox and fattened calf. Verse 14, David was dancing

with all his night. I'm sorry, with all his might

before the Lord wearing a linen ephod. So there's

an ephod that David constructed. Now the funny

thing about a linen ephod, first of all, it's

nothing like the ephod that God commanded to

be constructed for worship. Secondly, it is a

humble garment. A linen ephod is more like...

old -fashioned innerwear or an underwear piece,

basically, right? So he's wearing a linen. It's

a very soft, thin, cheap garment, basically,

compared to the fact, who is David? David's the

king. So what he normally wears in public and

stuff like that is rich and beautiful and authoritative.

So David standing before the Lord in a linen

ephod is recognizing that it is not his authority,

right? He's sacrificing those bulls and rams

as the ark is moving toward where they're going

to put it. back up near Jerusalem. I think it's

going to Shiloh, actually. But anyway, the point

is, where they were going to put it, and he's

sacrificing, recognizing constantly, why do we

need to sacrifice again? We need to sacrifice

for sins. We are sinful people. And though I

am a man I desire to be, after God's own heart,

I'm going to wear a linen ephod. I'm going to

humbly come to the Lord and recognize not my

authority, not by my authority is this accomplished,

but by God's. That's not a bad ephod. It's not

the one that God ordained for the temple, but

it's not a bad ephod. I submit to you that in

that story, the ephod that God ordained for the

temple appears. Where does it appear? Well, let's

look at the ephod that God ordained for the temple.

Exodus 28. Going to the left. It's back in the

day. Moses is still alive. God is giving commands

about worship, about the holy temple, and so

on. Here in Exodus 28, we'll be in verse 9. So

Exodus 28, beginning in verse 9. This is the

actual command to build the ephod for the temple.

Exodus 28, verse 9. Take two onyx stones and

Exodus 28:9

engrave them with the names of Israel's sons,

six of their names on the first stone and the

remaining six names on the second stone in the

order of the birthright. Engrave the two stones

with the names of Israel's sons as a gem cutter

engraves a seal. Mount them. surrounded with

gold filigree settings fastened both on the shoulder

pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the

israelites so actually beginning verse 8 says

it gives what material it would be made of it's

a very fine ephod and so on and then beginning

in verse 9 two onyx stones first of all the ability

to engrave six names on each one of those onyx

stones that's pretty incredible right so this

is a fine crafted garment fine crafted ephod

is a big deal worth a ton and gets stolen later

right And then the 12 tribes of Israel are divided

between the two stones. And then the high priest

will wear this ephod when he goes before God.

Are you seeing the symbolism now? The people

of God need a high priest to go before God to

make intercession for them. Are you seeing this

now? The high priest carries the people before

God so that God... We'll love them. God will

care for them. God will be their God. God will

lead them because they are unworthy of that kind

of attention. The high priest must carry the

tribes of Israel, which represents the entire

kingdom of God eventually, right? Once Christianity

comes and we are essentially joining Israel in

becoming Christianity, those that do. The high

priest will carry Christianity, will carry the

kingdom, will carry the church, will carry the

Israelites, will carry the faith, the people

of faith before God. Because they can't do it

for themselves. So now who is that a picture

of? It's a picture of Jesus. That we need a high

priest who will carry us before God. That's what

the ephod was a picture of. So now go back for

a minute to David's linen ephod. no stones on

his shoulder, not meant to represent the ephod

that was taking place in the temple or that God

had ordered previously. David was not trying

to replace the temple ephod. He was wearing one

to humbly say, I cannot, I can't save myself,

let alone save my people. I can't bring my people

before God, right? But I humbly come to the Lord

recognizing that that's true. So if I said to

you that in the story that we read of David dancing

before the Lord in an ephod, that the ephod was

present, where was the high priest? ephod present

in that story. Anybody get it? At the sacrifice

every six feet. Every six feet all the way from

the house of Obed -Edom to where the temple,

where the... the holy Ark of the Covenant would

come to rest and they sacrificed every six feet.

You understand? We need a sacrifice to pay for

our sins every time we sin. And we have no sacrifice.

There's no bull that can be sacrificed. That

doesn't work. All of that was to picture the

coming of Jesus Christ would be the sacrifice,

the perfect lamb to sacrifice once for always.

So the ephod that was ordained for the high priest

to wear was representative of Jesus Christ. Now

the ephod that's created by Gideon and stored

in... Bofra doesn't have onyx on the shoulders.

It's a fine garment made of gold and purple and

all that. It's a great looking garment. But it

is essentially, in comparison, unholy underwear

because it does not represent... Christ. And

if you come to God through the worship of some

other thing, some other method, you will not

be accepted by God because God sent his own son

for that purpose. And so they begin to worship

the ephod. And for 40 years while they're doing

that, they are receiving the benefits of having

followed Gideon who followed God into battle

and ordaining God as their king. And all the

while... in synergistic fashion, adding the ephod

as another god, essentially. We won't go there

and read it because it's a long story, but elsewhere

in the book of Judges, which we'll eventually

get to in probably some months out, in chapter

17 and 18, there is another ephod created. And

a man takes a priest into his own household,

builds the necessary accoutrements so they can

have worship just like they have in the temple.

It's all false worship, right? It's not the worship

of the temple. And an ephod is created there.

And then later, that ephod and all the articles

of that and the priest are stolen from him. him

by somebody who wants to do worship, wants to

capture the God of Israel and do worship on their

own. If somebody takes our chairs, if somebody

takes our pulpit, if somebody takes our Bibles.

Caution, we had better be ready to worship the

God of the universe through Jesus Christ, his

son, without all the trappings that we have added

to Christianity. So no, no, no, no, no, no. The

Bible is not a trapping that mankind added to

Christianity. It is the holy inspired word of

God. And I don't disagree with you at all that

that's true. But I will tell you that this Bible.

cost about $3, and it sat up here largely unused.

And it's gotten some use, but very rarely. The

Bibles that are on the shelf in my office, I

collect like different versions, and we have

some Bibles at our house that go back to like

the mid -1800s, right? And those Bibles are unused.

They're collector's items. But maybe in the first

or second generation they were used. But I ask

you, how many Bible verses are you actually using

to make your decisions on a daily basis? Is this

just a trapping of our Christianity? or have

we embraced the truth that God has given us through

his word and begun to live by it? If it's just

a trapping, it will do you no good. You can worship

it all day long. You can memorize more of this

than anybody else. In fact... This is hurtful

to say. I'm going to tell you that in hell for

an eternity will be more beings, if you include

the demons and evil spirits, who know this whole

book from cover to cover than there will be in

heaven for an eternity. Because they are working

through this tool just the same as God is trying

to work through his word. The power is in the

gospel. Jesus Christ is the living word. Embrace

Jesus or recognize yourself as an enemy of the

Lord. When God -prescribed worship is replaced

with human innovation of any kind, even quote

-unquote religious objects become stumbling blocks.

So now they would come to the church buildings

of the Christians because they could sit there

and listen to the choirs and see better on the

dais and the pastor had a pulpit and didn't preach

a gospel that was convicting or caused them to

recognize they had sinned and needed a savior,

okay, and also never come to Christ through that

anyway. The high priest's ephod carried Deep

theological meaning. The two onyx stones on each

of the shoulders. Each stone bore the names of

the tribes. And I submit to you symbolically

my name and your name. We don't know for sure

that they wore the ephod of Gideon that he stored

in Ophrah. But we hear that it became a snare

to them from then on. Worse, they played the

harlot with it. It became an object of faith,

like a god. Some people living today are saying,

God alone is in charge of my life. But what they

actually mean is, I say the Lord alone is in

charge. to my life. I ordain the Lord is Lord

of my life. But I submit to you that if you can

ordain that the Lord is the Lord of your life,

you can tomorrow ordain that the Lord is no longer

the Lord of your life. The fact is, God is God.

And Jesus is his son and was in the flesh for

34 or 5 or whatever years it actually was. I

don't have the actual calendar dates, but the

calculation should be 34 or 35 years on the earth.

God has a right to be in charge of everything

and is in charge of everything whether you like

it or not. So coming to Christianity, coming

to faith in Christ is not about a person saying,

I recognize Jesus Christ as my Lord. It's about

a person having Jesus Christ as Lord. You confess

with your mouth. Notice it does not say you make

promises, you make a covenant, you declare. It

says you confess, meaning I recognize, I realize,

I accept this truth that Jesus Christ is Lord

and that God raised him from the dead. If you

will do that, you accept it, you confess it,

you recognize it, you ascend to the knowledge,

if you will, but you don't make it so. You can't

make it so. You will not get out of bed tomorrow

and say, I'm going to make Jesus Lord of my life

today. Those words are all messed up. Jesus is

Lord of the life of every non -Christian. They

just don't know it. And as Lord of their lives,

they are denying him daily, failing to follow

him daily, abusing daily. Some say Lord alone,

but what they actually mean is I say he is Lord

and I make him Lord of my life. And then in that

realization, somewhere down the road, they ordain

another idol to share the place. So four things

to see here. These go by fairly fast. So if you're

a note taker, write them down quickly. The first

one is they had a declaration. They said God

is properly king. At least Gideon did. God is

properly king. And since Gideon was ruling over

them for the next 40 years, they heard it over

and over and over again. God is king. Now, I

don't know when in the 40 years that Ephod, if

it ever did, became a problem for Gideon specifically,

but I know that his sons, it becomes a problem.

We know eventually that one of his sons that

was sort of from an illegitimate marriage actually

tries to become king. We're going to see that

in the book yet, okay? The point is the declaration

made, God is properly king, but then there is

the collection. The collection is symbolic. The

collection is an act of unification. The collection

is maybe an act of declaration, declaring the

worth of God, the worth of Gideon in God, and

so on. The collection takes place. Then there

is the crafting. So what I'm asking you, what

have you collected? What have you added to your

life at this point in time? Then there is the

crafting. And they turn that thing into something

pretty special. And they even try to turn it

into something that looks like something else

that God ordained, right? So what are you taking

that's in your life that's a good thing that

maybe God gave it to you in the first place and

then you're adding it with something else or

you're crafting it into something that now is

becoming like a control of your life. We talked

quite a bit this morning about why we're in church

when other churches are closed. worshiping God

and giving God first place. But be careful because

being in church can become that God, that thing.

If you add that and put that before Christ, then...

The next generation, your kids will think they're

okay because they're in church every Sunday but

never accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

You don't want that. So what have you collected

and how are you crafting it to become something

it was never meant to be? Caution. I would submit

it's probably the process has begun in just about

everybody's life. You're still living, so you're

still collecting things. You're a creator. God

made you a creator, so you're still creating

things. You're still changing things, affecting

things with your every choice, with your every

speaking. If you're ever showing up, you're still

doing that. So I would submit this process. going

on in everyone's life. But then finally, there's

the trap. They wind up in the trap. Did you know

that if you are stranded in the woods, that you

can make a snare and catch small game for yourself,

basically, if you just have a pocket knife? And

someone will argue that you probably could do

it even without that. And that's probably true.

You can make about a thousand different kinds

of snares that will catch small game. You probably

like to have the pocket knife to clean it. But

if you know how to make about three different

kinds of snares in an animal populated wood,

you can keep from starving to death. Well, that's

significant. You don't need bait. By the way,

everybody thinks you need bait. That's one of

the things you need. That's not actually true.

And you don't have to harvest bait from the woods

and put it in the trap. That's not actually true.

Because animals do this thing where they basically

follow the same courses to water and to feed

all the time. So there's deer trails in the woods.

We have a trail that leads from the creek back

behind our house. It leads up toward our garbage

can. It's almost gone now because we got the

cool garbage cans with the lids and they can't

get in there very easily anymore. So that trail

is almost gone now. But we had it for about 10

years because the animals at the backwoods would

walk the same. 12 inch wide path all the way.

Some of you have seen the trail and he was there

for many years, right? To go to our garbage cans,

coons and possum and groundhogs, right? And so

all you got to do is put that snare there and

they'll walk right into it. I submit to you that

this is what God is saying us. Be aware that

there is the easy crafting of a snare and you

can be trapped by good things of this life that

are added unto you and then changed by you into

things that even mock or mimic that which God.

has added into your life for benefit. There is

no skill other than that which you were created

with, just being a human being that is necessary

for creating a trap. So how do we avoid creating

these traps for ourselves? Well, number one,

you need to know the surface nature of the symbol

in question, okay? So God gives you family. Family

is meant to represent family of God. So dad should

be a Christian, mom should be a Christian, and

all kids in the household should be Christians.

They all should be trying to follow the Lord.

It's meant to. Marriage between a man and a woman

meant to represent the marriage between Christ

and the church. This is what these things were

ordained for. It goes back to the fall. We have

a sinful nature, right? We have the ability to

create. We can create in our sinful nature or

we can create in our regenerated nature. We'll

do either one of those things based on what we

know and are willing to decide. In this case,

the ephod was similar to the symbol. So let's

talk briefly about what's good in life. So you

probably like a good steak. Most people do. Or

maybe a nice broiled chicken breast, right? These

are good things in life. Properly seasoned, properly

cooked, that's a good thing. You go to a restaurant.

What size steak do they give you? Well, usually

10, 12, 13 ounces, about 30 bucks, right? You

get a good one. How much steak should a person

eat in one sitting? Well, a serving of steak

is about four ounces. It's about the size of

a cigarette pack, if you remember what those

look like, or a credit card, a little bigger

than a credit card. Most people know that shape.

So when you sit down and eat that 12 -ounce steak,

you're eating three times the serving of meat

that a human being should eat to be healthy.

Understand? But boy, it tastes good. The fifth

ounce tastes just as good as a fourth ounce.

The 11th ounce tastes just as good as a fourth

ounce. See how this works? Is steak a good thing?

Sure it is. Is eating... 12 ounces of steak in

one sitting a good thing? No. Because here's

what happens. That 12 ounces will be in your

colon three to four days later. That's how that

works. Takes about 36 to 40 hours to digest four

ounces properly and pass it. And if you go three

times that, it's going to take you about three,

four days. While that's happening, your body

is not able to process all the other good foods

that it needs for the good nutrients that it

needs to do everything you need, like your brain,

your nervous system, your muscles, regenerate

everything, proper oxygen passing, proper hydration.

All of that starts to fail all because you had

to have a 14 -ounce steak. So you need to know

the surface nature of the symbol of things. A

steak is a good thing. Misusing it is not. How

about worship? So worship is meant to honor the

God of the universe. During worship, you should

be able to, if you're a Christian, you should

be able to focus on God and forget. Listen to

me, Michael. Listen to this. This is important.

You should be able to forget whoever you walked

into the room with. And I'm saying, Dominic.

you should be able to worship God and forget

that you walked into the room with Haley and

vice versa. In fact, if you're a man and you're

in this room, as a husband and a follower of

the Lord, you should release your wife to worship

God that way and not... have any call on them

or any distraction, anything on them while they

are doing that. In fact, not only you should

release them to do that, you should be in full

support of them doing that, which means you yourself

have to focus on God that way in order to set

the example. Now I can give you a hundred more

of those if you want. You memorize verses of

the Bible, right? So memorize them. Great. That's

a spiritual discipline. Don't stop there. Every

verse of the Bible has one or more applications.

Put them into work in your life. Do the things

you read, right? Don't be somebody that looks

in a mirror and forgets what he looks like. Be

not only a hearer, but a doer of the word. And

James says that a person recognizes these things

are not just symbolic, but they have a nature.

And they have a purpose. And if you come in here,

for example, if you come to church every Sunday,

think, well, I can't wait to see my girlfriend,

my boyfriend. I can't wait to see Pastor Dan.

I'm sure none of you do that, right? Okay. Some

people are doing that because they want to say

things to me and like that. I get that. All right.

That's cool. Or I want to go see RJ. All right.

I got to be there because I got to play the guitar,

right? If that's your motivation, you are doing

exactly what they did. And I'm here to say to

you, you already built the snare. You've already

built it. And you're going to wind up trapped

in it away from the God of the universe if you're

not careful. Then you're going to go home and

you're going to be like, why don't my finances

line up? After you have been falsely following

God day after day after day. Why doesn't my wife

say the things I like her to say? Why doesn't

my kids do what I ask them to do? Why doesn't

my job give me more money, more raises? Why don't

people donate more? You're just going to have

all these questions about why things aren't lining

up. And God's going to be like, you know, if

you would just worship me like I showed you,

if you just come to me through Jesus Christ like

I showed you, like I told you, you'd get it.

And then trappings, wealth, blessings, loyalty,

effectiveness, the list goes on. These are things

that we want. Everybody wants a nice new car

that doesn't break down when they drive it. You

know how many times I've bought a brand new car

in my life? I'm going on 56 years old. I'll be

56 years old next month. We've all won, ever.

In retrospect, probably a mistake, right? Christians,

and I know this is, you know, you find your own

way in the Lord and make your own decision, but

probably never need a new car. You probably don't

need it. You need transportation, right? As soon

as you drive a car off the lot, it loses a bunch

of its value. So buy the one that already lost

the value. Two weeks, if you can find it. If

you really need to buy something that's super

reliable, buy the one that already lost the value

for less than that, and it'll still have the

same value it had, but for you, because it's

the value of getting places. There are trappings.

Well, blessings of this life. You want people

to say the right things to you. You want people

to do this. the things you want them to do so

you're gonna follow whatever it takes to get

that right and like Gideon wind up with a snare

not just for you but for your whole family Taking

steps, making plans, decisions, manufacturing,

shaping things, and not eradicating it once error

is detected is all it takes. And pretty soon,

you fail to fear God enough to let him do what

only God can do. Because you think, well, it's

okay. The bills are paid, right? We're managing

to pay our bills right now, so everything's okay.

We're fine. We got really everything we need.

So then you don't have to depend on God to pay

your bills. But you do depend on God, not just

for paying your bills, but for literally everything.

So then the tithe becomes no... great commitment

at all, right? We worship the God of the universe,

but, you know, we can do that at home. We don't

really have to go to church. It's not that big

of a deal because we can worship God anywhere,

right? I know who God is. I met God through his

son, Jesus Christ. I am saved, so I don't really

have to do that. And pretty soon, you no longer

have the fear that is necessary to realize you

cannot come before God yourself. You are dependent

upon Jesus to do that for you. And he opens the

throne room of God to you. And he is gracious

to do so. And God is merciful and kind and patient

and forgiving. And I get all this. Slow to anger.

All those things are true. But you need, at some

point in time, to have a genuine connection with

the God of the universe. Or otherwise, when the

time comes, and he's going to say, do you got

an invitation? You got an invitation? Come on,

come on. If you got an invitation. And you're

going to be like, well, I really don't have an

invitation. I never needed one before. I never

needed one before. I went to church all the time.

I studied the Bible. I did things. I did good

works. I never needed an invitation before. And

now you're saying I have to have. an invitation

to come to heaven for an eternity? And that's

actually true. And the invitation is in Jesus

Christ. Don't fail to fear God enough to let

God do what only God can do. And we're supposed

to do that even while growing to do what we can

do in God. And we can do amazing things. So real

quick, the protections are know the surface nature

of a symbolic thing, whatever it is. You know

why sports are so awesome? Because they teach

us a lot of things about God. And anytime that

stops or your investment is more than what you

can learn, about god from it you should stop

you shouldn't be involved games same way teaches

a lot about fellowship teaches a lot fantasy

i write fantasy books on top of doing Everything

I do with the church, right? And fantasy teaches

us about God. There are people yearning in the

world. They don't know what they're yearning

for. And so they read fantasy and that's their

escape. But if they would just realize that what

they're trying to escape is not really escapable

except through Jesus Christ, then they come to

God and they really escape this world. You see,

if you're here today and you're a follower of

the Lord Jesus Christ, you've already escaped

this world. This is not your home. You've already

escaped. So whatever you suffer, whatever your

experience, it's only temporal now. Eventually,

it will all be taken care of in the Lord. Know

the surface nature of a thing. symbolic, etc.

Realize there are trappings, wealth, and blessings.

Loyalty, effectiveness could be one of those.

Take steps, make plans, decisions, manufacture,

shape it, and do not eradicate it once the error

is detected and you will be trapped. Fail to

fear God enough to let him to do what only God

can do, which is basically almost everything.

And that brings us then to our conclusion, but

just making sure you got it. Gideon, who said

God alone is properly king, in the very next

breath, began to craft the trap that would trap

not only him, but his entire family. And you

or I could do the same. In fact, probably are

doing the same and need to be aware of it. That

brings us then to a verse. You will recognize

it probably, but the second half of it, I don't

think you will recognize. It's in Exodus 20.

So those of you who are turning along in your

Bibles, go to Exodus 20. And someone in the room

is saying, oh, Exodus 20, that sounds very familiar.

Jason, what's in Exodus 20? Tribute question.

Haley, what's in Exodus 20? Seems familiar, though,

doesn't it? Can't place. What is in there? Dominic,

you know what's in Exodus 20? Elisha? Ten Commandments.

That's right. We got it. As a team, we're a team,

okay? So it's the Ten Commandments in Exodus

20, but... Here's what I want you to do. I want

you to stop, at least for this moment, thinking

of it as the Ten Commandments. Don't do that.

I brought it to mind so we could nix it. Listen

to verse four, chapter 20, book of Exodus, verse

four. Do not make an idol for yourself, whether

in the shape of anything in the heavens above

or on the earth below or in the waters under

the earth. So I submit to you, it has been super

common over the history of mankind to make statues

of people to worship. It's really common, right?

But also, animals, a little dove you carry in

your pocket, you know, things like that. Super

common. But anything means anything, which means

also it means evods. It also means it makes anything

that you would use as a symbol of worship, anything

that you would use that would trap you, anything

like that. That's what we're talking about. Do

not make an idol for yourself, whether in the

shape of anything in the heavens above or on

the earth below or in the waters under the earth.

You must not bow down to them. Or worship them.

Okay, I get this. So the bow down part, do you

think anybody was bowing down to the ephod? I

think based on what we're reading, there probably

were. But I can't see myself bowing down to a

shirt. I just can't do it. Or a statue. Even

if I thought it was a statue of God, I don't

see that. Or a chair. I'm not going to bow down

to a chair. That's just freaky. I don't know

who those people are, but I'd like to talk to

them. But now worship them. Now this is different.

Because to worship something is to declare the

value of it. Man, I love my grandkids. They frustrate

me some, but they are awesome. I like everybody

in this room. Everybody here, I love you all.

I hope I do anyway. I try to. Yeah, they're awesome.

We have a great worship team. I love our worship

team, man. They are awesome. I'm so grateful

for this building. God gave us this building.

The $2 million building cost us $42 plus the

renovation cost, most of which was paid by Mississippi,

not even us. Man, what if we didn't have the

building? What if we didn't have the chairs?

Ooh, that hurts a little bit. I like my job.

To be honest with you, I have the best job in

the world. It's a pastor and a director of a

life station. I have the best job in the world.

I'm not paid like a doctor would be paid or super

paid or anything. I had a great job. I love my

job. What if I didn't have my job? I like my

van, but my van's got 281 ,000 miles on it. 281

,000 miles on it. I can't even fathom 281 ,000.

I drove it, and I can't believe it, right? So

what about when I don't have my van? I really

like my van. You know, I hated the van when I

got it. We got it for Sherry, and she drove it

for work all the time, and then it got to be

like 175 ,000 miles, and we're like, ooh, it

might be unreliable. So we had to get her a different

vehicle, right? And so then she drove her car.

Now her car is over 200 ,000 miles. So we're

going to need another car at some point. But

man, I don't want to get another car. I like

my van. To worship something is to declare the

worth of it. Are we in danger? of that? What

do you like? How good is it to you? Are you willing

to say, okay, starting today, I'll not have nice

clothes, a car, a house, my kids, my money, my

job. Are you willing to say that there is literally

nothing that you would declare the worth of?

That's what we're asked, right? Now, it's not

that we can't value things. In fact, we're supposed

to create good things. We're creating the image

of God, so we should be creating good things.

But what he means is only God. Your allegiance,

your valuing things, that's all got to be pointed

to one place. And I submit to you that the symbolic

nature, remember we're supposed to recognize

the symbolic nature of things, the symbolic nature

of every good thing that you're receiving is

what? It is God loves you. Every good thing.

The symbolic nature of that good thing. You enjoy

sports? Okay, what is the symbolic nature of

sports? That's a good thing. It's a good gift

from God. And God loves you. And he lets you

participate. He lets you do things. And so God

should be first. Oh, but God is properly king.

But you know, I really like, insert whatever

your thing is. And soon, it's a snare to you

and your entire family. Just like it was to Gideon.

And you might last out your life. You might make

it. You might make it for your whole life. You

might enforce that your household is faithful

to God. the whole time you were alive while building

the trap day after day after day and making it

so much better that your kids and your grandkids

are guaranteed to be trapped in it and not follow

the Lord. Just think about how many times the

things that we value have interfered with our

faithful obedience. When's the last time you

went from wake up to bed and had lots of important

things to do, busy, busy, busy, never opened

your Bible, maybe never prayed the whole day.

The Bible says pray without ceasing and you went

the whole day. day, we're like, oh man, today

was so busy. Oh, I'm so thankful that God took

care of me today. And that was the first time

you thought about him all day long. Caution.

The danger is we may be building things that

we declare the value of. And as we are declaring

the value of, listen, I say this to you, like

if I worshiped Jesus as God and also Zeus, let's

say that was the case. And I only preach Jesus

in here, but out there I worship Jesus, Zeus.

And when somebody come over to my house and I'm

trying to lead them to Jesus, I'm trying. I mean,

I'm not talking about the Lord and sharing the

gospel. I'm trying to lead them to Jesus, but

they're just not having it. So I go, well, you

know what? What about Zeus? He's good too. I

mean, he's not as good as Jesus. Jesus is the

most important God, but he's good too. Let me

tell you about Zeus. And they're like, wow, that's

kind of cool. Zeus is cool. Yeah, not so much

commitment there. I don't really hurt on my sin.

They're like, okay, I'll follow Zeus with you,

right? And then I got two churches, the church

of God and the church of Zeus, and both are growing.

right? But for different reasons. Over here,

because people are convicted of their sins, coming

to Jesus and he's saving their souls. Over here,

because they like the idea of Zeus, he's a lot

less commitment, a lot less danger. Does that

sound like it makes sense? But what if it's not

Zeus? What if it's sports, money, cars, houses,

relationships, kids, grandkids, jobs? What if

it's one of those things? And when you get together

with somebody, you're talking and they've got

a problem, do you talk about Jesus? Or do you

talk about... diligence, hard work, fixing the

problems, good advice. Don't dwell on that. Go

scream in your pillow. It helps me. Take this

medicine. Take this for your stomach. It makes

me feel better when I take it for my stomach.

Is it all the other solutions or is it always

Jesus first all the time? I think we're doing

it. I think we need to be aware. You must not

bow down to them. What is them? Anything that

you would craft. Anything that you would find

under the sun, even under the sea. We must not

bow down to them or worship them. For I, the

Lord your God, am a jealous God. And you've been

jealous sometime in your life. A little bit envious.

Even if it was a kid and you're like, well, he

got the big piece of pizza. You've been jealous.

But you better believe God's jealousness is perfect.

I am a jealous God. Punishing the children for

the father's sin to the third and fourth generations

of those who hate me. Do you understand that

when you bow down to or declare the worth of

something other than God, God sees that as, hold

on, he sees that as an expression. of your hatred

for him. Not my words, his words. God sees an

expression of your hatred for him when you declare

the value of something or someone else under

the sun. Woo, that's tough. I don't hate God,

I love God. I don't wanna say how good other

things are. I wanna just worship the God of the

universe through Jesus, his son. I am so grateful

that I have a high priest that goes in there

and makes me able to enter the throne room and

to come to heaven eternally. I am so grateful.

But God is, it says, but showing faithful love,

God shows faithful love. to a thousand generations

of those who love me and keep my commandments.

That's what we're called to. That's what we're

called to. Now notice that little piece in there

where it talks about it falling down to the additional

generations. We're not going to go there and

read it. In Ezekiel 18, God explains very clearly

what had happened in Israel as they started thinking,

well, your dad sinned, so you're worthy of death,

right? They had a little phrase that they were

saying about eating the sour grapes and the children

grind their teeth, basically. And it meant if

your dad sinned and we know your dad sinned,

then you and your children are also worthy of

death. And that's not true, right? Because God

will offer salvation to those who... turn to

him and are found righteous. And we get our righteousness

through Jesus. And they didn't know that, but

if they would say to God, I'll be your follower

and however you want to do it, I'll do it, right?

I'll let you save me however you want, then they

would be saved that way, right? So in Ezekiel,

he explains it very clearly. He says, if a man

is walking in sin and will turn to me and become

a righteous man, will I not forgive him? Of course

I will. And if a man is walking in righteousness

and would turn from me and become an unrighteous

man, a wicked man, will I not hold him accountable?

Of course I will. And so you will, it is appointed

once for everyone to die and then the judgment.

But when that time comes, you better believe

we need to be judged on some standard other than

whether we did right or not. Because we've all

done wrong. We all have sinned and fall short

of the glory of God. And the wages of that sin

is death. But the gift of God is eternal life

through Jesus Christ, our son, his son, sorry,

Jesus Christ, his son. The more like God you

become. David was a man after God's own heart.

The more you will not consider your equality

with God, and you were created to be in the image

of God, to represent God. You are a creator.

You speak things into existence. You make things

with your hands. You craft things into what they

are. The more you become like God, the more you

will not consider equality with God a thing to

be grasped. That's what Jesus did, Philippians

2. He did not consider equality with God a thing

to be grasped, though he surely had it. He didn't

do it. He didn't keep it for himself. But you

will submit yourself. Making is unbridled. You

can make lots of things. It is unbridled power

that is submitted to you, given as a gift by

the God of the universe. Now, I'm asking you,

in Christ, to make your life a life that sees

God alone as King, Jesus alone as Lord. It recognizes

that that's true, even on the days where I don't

feel like it's true. Even if I'm struggling today

and I'm mentally off, I still know the truth

is the truth. You may not... like it, but God.

Feels like you hate him when you value other

things up even remotely near him. You call something

else good. Even Jesus, the man came to Jesus

and said, oh, good teacher. And Jesus says, why

do you call me good? Only my father in heaven

is good. He wouldn't even let that man declare

his goodness. And we know he was good without

correcting him and say, look, you shouldn't go

around. Basically, he was saying, don't go around

calling anyone or anything, no matter how good

it is, good without first recognizing that only

God is good. asking you today. Think about your

life and the traps that you've been building

for yourself. I want you to run through the woods

of your life and kick every snare. Break it to

shards. You're going to run some of the same

paths. You still got to go to work. You still

got to deal with your family members. Break every

snare. Don't collect the parts. Don't build them

into traps and don't get stuck. And whenever

you think there's one that's close to getting

you stuck, eradicate it. Become ruthless and

say, I will not.