Address—A.C. Hayhoe
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When you turn with me, please to the 6th chapter of Judges, Chapter 6.
And I thought we might consider together this afternoon a few of the significant events in the early management life of a man named Gideon.
Judges chapter 6, verse one.
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.
Verse 6.
And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites.
And the children of Israel.
Cried unto the Lord.
Now you remember long ago.
When God had gathered his beloved people into the land that he had promised them, and Solomon built that most magnificent, beautiful, costly temple, and he stood there before that temple facing the great host of Israel, and he prayed to the Lord. A remarkable and very instructive prayer.
He thanked God for the privilege of having built that temple. He looked up to heaven and said, Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain me. How much less this house.
I have builders. But then, as he continued in his prayer, wise man that he was, he foresaw.
Adversity that might befall God's beloved people. Now that was wisdom on Solomon's Park. Well, you might say, but if they were God's people, if God loved them, if it was within his power to shelter them from every enemy and from every adversity, why did Solomon pray like that?
Because Solomon realized that God could not go on with God could not condone.
Carelessness in their way, and that if they turned in heart and ways from following the Lord, it would be.
Right and proper for the Lord in faithfulness, in love and discipline, to bring upon the people so very dear to Him certain adversity. And Solomon lists them. Do you remember something of that list if there be in the land blasting mildew Caterpillar, and he goes over quite a list of things, some small, some great.
And says if any of these things be fallen, he goes all the way from caterpillars.
Right up to the armies of the enemy that might come and invade the land and distress them, or even carry them away into captivity.
Solomon foresaw the possibility of these things coming upon God's people. And what remedy did Solomon foresee for such difficulties? Well, he says, if any man in Israel, or if all Israel, knowing every man that plagued his own heart.
Would just lift up his hands and pray toward his house. Put God in heaven here and grant them repentance and deliver them from these adversities. Now beloved, I'm just going to try to make application of this. God loves you. You know he does. He has demonstrated that love in a way that could not be more full and wondrous. He's given the Lord Jesus.
To take your place and mine. To shed his precious blood, that you and I might be redeemed at such an infinite cost. Does God love you in deed?
He does. Why then does God allow in your life or mine?
Problems, adversity, difficulties well able to shelter you from them. If you were a father and you loved your children, would you not shelter them from illness, from accident, from adversity? Yes, you would. But I'm a father and I have actually taken my children and laid the rod of discipline upon them because I don't love them. No, because I do love them and because I see in that that which needs to be.
Severely corrected, and my memory takes me back to my own boyhood when the hand of my father brought down upon me again and again. Discipline, but I know I also sorely needed. I thank God, but I live to thank Him for the very discipline that caused me to rebel. I thank God for that. I thank my father to his face.
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For His faithfulness and discipline toward me.
A son whom he loved, but a wayward son. Not when I read a verse like this.
The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. The Lord saw this and He delivered them into the hands of Midian. 7 years. That's a long time. Let us then remember this it in our own personal life, family life, assembly life. Beloved, when difficulties arise, let's not try to find a way out from under the difficulty. Let's not find some way to drive it away, but rather to realize that it was allowed.
In faithfulness.
By him who loves you with an eternal love. What happened when the Midianites came? The enemies of Israel invaded the land. They impoverished the Israelites impoverished them so that it was exceedingly difficult for the Israelites even to have enough food to sustain themselves. When the Philistines troubled Israel, they usually do the sword and put them to death, but the Midianites impoverished them.
Have you felt, have I felt the danger of this being impoverished? Have you and I felt that the food for our souls which we are entitled to enjoy from the pages of this precious book?
Is not ministered to us, perhaps as we would wish it might be. Have the Midianites so invaded. Our timetable, shall we say?
That we don't take the time to feed upon the precious nourishment of the word of God. I feel that it's pretty evident in Islam that somehow or other our timetables have become so complicated, so crowded, that we just don't have the time, it seems the read and to meditate upon the precious word of God. We can still find the time to eat 3 meals a day and if we miss one, we feel a difference if.
Who were in trouble. So I suggest that we might well be on guard, beloved young people, particularly against anything that would rob us of the precious and wondrous privilege of reading and meditating upon God's food, this precious book. Let's go down then to verse 11, and we'll find ourselves introduced to Gideon.
And there came an Angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak, which was in Oprah.
That pertained on the Joash. The Abbey is right. And his son Gideon. Fresh wheat by the wine press to hide it from the Midianites. Haha, here's something very good for us. Here was one man. In spite of the invasion of the enemy, in spite of the fact that the enemy would impoverish Israel. Gideon.
Found the hiding place where he might threshold this grain.
To meet the needs of His body. Where did he find his hiding place? By the wine press. I believe the wine press might well speak to us perhaps of two things, the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, and also the joy that is the rightful portion of the believer, The Winepress.
Here close to the winepress.
Gideon found a hiding place where he might thresh out.
That which could be used for strengthening himself in a difficult day. Oh dear young believer, as you and I see around us, that's sad departure from the truth, that failure to recognize the wondrous provision of the Word of God. May your soul and mine find and avail ourselves of this God-given hiding place. What a hiding place.
Thy hand by the winepress, enjoying the sweetness and the joy of him who went to Calvary there to pass through all that agony for you and me. What a shelter, what a hiding place, and what a joy our souls can share as we keep close to that precious hallowed spot.
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There, Gideon, Threshed wheat. I'm going to recommend that you and I do the same.
He thrashed this week. You've seen this done. Perhaps nowadays everything is mechanized, but it's a diligent labor to thresh what had been harvested takes a great deal of time and energy, But I believe as we read the Word of God, we usually find that we don't understand it very well.
Am I the only one that has to make that confession chapter after chapter and we don't really know what it means?
But I believe to thresh that which we have gleaned from the Word of God, to meditate upon it with a desire to walk in the light of it, to be sustained by the nourishment of it. God can take those passages and cause them to become meaningful to us. Now I will say this, I accepted the Lord Jesus as my Savior when I was but a youth.
And I've read this book over and over again.
And there are so many things in it that I don't understand, and I don't suppose I ever will really understand them until I reach home. But I will say this, that as the need arises, I find that chapters, scriptures, stories that I have read perhaps long ago, come to my memory with a very significant application, a very special meaning for the occasion. I'm going to encourage you, dear young people.
All my heart that you diligently and carefully read the Word of God, whether you understand it or not read it. It can be stored there in your memory and brought back to the nourishment and guidance of your soul and of your footsteps and Gideon, who gather this week rested by the wine press.
I again encourage you to keep close to the Lord Jesus in the enjoyment back which He suffered for you in the enjoyment of the love and.
Joy, that is your rightful portion in him, there to thresh out that which you may have gleaned from the word of God. Now let's see what took place there. Verse 12. The Angel of the Lord appeared on the him and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. Oh, what a surprise this must have been to Gideon.
Here they were oppressed by the Midianites. Here he was hiding, just think of this, hiding so that the Midianites couldn't see where he was threshing out this grain that he might nourish himself. And an Angel appears and says, the Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. No wonder he's astonished by this. And notice his response in verse 13. Gideon said, I may have, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us.
Why then is all this befallen off? I'm sure you know this right away.
But the Angel said, the Lord is with thee, singular Gideon, the Lord is with thee. Gideon said, if the Lord be with us immediately.
Gideon doesn't take this as something that is going to be for his own personal good and perhaps deliverance, but he associates himself with God's people, Israel. And I want to encourage you, dear young people, to do the same. It's such a wonderful thing personally.
Individually to know the Lord Jesus as your own personal savior. A wonderful thing to be able to take the word of God for the need of your own soul personally, individually and feed upon it and find joy from his message. But the moment Gideon, isolated as he was by that wine press, here's the message from the Angel. The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of power.
He might have gotten quite popped up about this. Oh, I guess I'm.
Head and shoulders above the rest of the Israelites, he immediately associates himself with all the rest of his beloved oppressed people. Dear young people, let me encourage you in this tool. You know the Lord is your Savior. You are entitled to the joy and the gladness that you can minister to your own heart. And remember this too, You're a living stone in the Church of God. You're a member of the body of Christ.
You're part of a family that includes each and every one of the redeemed.
And it's a very, very precious thing to me, as I enjoy the wonder of His love to me, to realize that I am not alone in this. But I look around upon the Lords people, and I say we're brothers and sisters in Christ for time and for eternity. And that which concerns that which, shall I say, even distresses the people of God.
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Should be something that would really be of concern to me.
Is it not rather sadly true that as long as my personal and perhaps my family circumstances are pleasing and acceptable to me, I can go along with a smile on my face, regardless of the sorrows and distresses and griefs of others? That with Gideon it was not so?
He felt the burden and the distress of God's people, and he associated himself with them. Beloved young brothers and sisters, it's not only a grand thing to know that here and there in this great city of Vancouver, there are those who are your brothers and sisters in Christ, living stones together with you in the church which is His body.
But that there is presented to us in the word of God a wonderful God-given way.
Of giving expression to this truth. I don't just lookout and realize, well, there are many other believers in Vancouver. But this very day, in this very room, this morning, we were given the privilege of expressing the wonder of that truth, the glad joy of that oneness.
I have used this illustration before and I know you will bear with me.
I would like to ask the married men here, where is your marriage certificate?
I see some strange bewildered smiles on the looks of these married men. I have to admit, I don't know. Do you? I doubt if many of the married men here could tell you where that marriage certificate is. Your wife could probably tell you. But I don't know where ours is. And I know this, that if it were produced, your wife said here it is.
Oh yes, I remember. And you read it off and you see the signatures and the date and you say, Oh well, but it's only a piece of paper. It's only a theory. It really doesn't mean anything. It doesn't.
Just a document with some names signed to it. Not so when you look at that, there's a glad feeling comes over you. You thank God for that which it represents. It's a piece of paper, yes, with words and signatures, yes. But it represents a bond of love and relationship that has been very clear and real and precious to you. And I thank God I say the same. Now, I will say that it saddens me.
To find that God's precious word has presented a oneness, a unity spoken of in the Word of God as the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the Church of God. Are these words just simply picturing to us some strange theory?
That need not have any present application to us all, beloved. There is a reality to that oneness. There is a reality to it. My wife wears a ring that publicly identifies her as a married lady, but if you wanted to know to whom she's married, ask her her name.
You think she'd hang her head with embarrassment and say, well, you know, that's very difficult to answer and hesitate. No, I believe she would promptly identify herself by the name that was given to her 35 years ago. And if someone says to me in this Christian land, I see you're a Christian, what do you belong to? Now I know very well what they expect to hear, but the only answer I can give them is I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Gathered to his precious name. Let me try to make this very significant and pointed. If you and I were to travel together to Japan and we asked 50 people over there, what are you, you know what would happen? With real pride they would say I am a Buddhist. 1 after the other they would tell you this. No hesitation, no embarrassment, no stammering. I am a Buddhist.
Come along with me to India and ask 50 people there what are you?
Again, one after the other, with real fraud, I am a Hindu. No embarrassment, no hesitation. Come along a little farther to Iran if you wish. And you say again, and what are you? And now with greater pride still, and I mean this, they would say, I am a Mohammedan. And you can see the pride on their face when they say it fifty in a row. And they tell you I am a Muhammad. So you come over here to Canada and.
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Where are you? Shall I go any farther, or shall I leave it to your imagination to know what the answer would be? Here is a land where Bibles are found on every hand, in a land where we know about the Savior, whose precious name God delights to honor about every name. And we hear the name Buddhist, Hindu, Muhammad. If you come over here and you ask those who bear.
The wonder of being forgiven by the precious Name, precious blood of Christ. And what are you? And the answers cause you to hang your heads. They love it. It is a joy to be able to say with gladness of heart.
I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, and I've gathered to His precious name. Here, beloved, is a way in which the Scripture has presented to us. We will not go into it this afternoon.
Privilege of giving expression to the unity, the oneness that was so dear to the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ that He gave Himself that it might be a reality.
Just let me give you one final illustration. We'll move on. In our story. I was visiting in the office of one of the ministers in the town where I live, back in Ontario. Very, very dear child of God he was.
When we met on the street, we always greeted one another. Brother, how are you? And his greeting and his handshake was just a delight to me. He really loved the Lord. And one day when I was chatting with him about the things of the Lord in his office adjoining his church.
He said to me, the brother Hank, Oh this. He hardly knew how to express it. This little church you belong to down there on George St. What is it anyway?
And I said further, Ward, you and I belong to the same church. I belong to the same church you do. He looked so astonished, and then I saw a look come over his face. Oh, I know what you mean. I said, Brother Ward, what do I mean? He said, well, you mean that church that is spoken of in Scripture? Christ also loved the church, that church that cuts across the boundaries of all denominations.
And I said Brother Ward is there.
Any other now I ask you that question is there any other I'm a living stone in that truth so are you so was brother ward but he wanted he wanted a name that would be much more readily accepted in Christmas than the despised and unwanted name of the Lord Jesus Christ so when I hear Gideon say if the Lord be with us I delight?
What I take to be a young man who eagerly, gladly identifies himself with these the people of God.
Now let's go on a little farther, please, and we'll find that although Gideon hesitated and didn't feel that he was worthy of this honor that was being presented to him, and he said, how can this be in the poorest of my father's house? But the answer in every case is go in this time I have not. I sent thee. And verse 16, surely.
I will be with thee.
Oh, isn't this all we need, you and I who know the Lord Jesus as our Savior, and we realize the darkness that is around us, the danger, the enemy on every hand. Can we not hear the Lord say to us, I will be with thee, I will be with thee, Beloved young brother, beloved young sister, don't ever set foot outside the door of your home without getting into the presence of the Lord and claiming the wonder.
His presence and.
If it is your thought.
Go somewhere where you couldn't take the presence of the Lord with you and you'd better withdraw your foot. You'd better not go.
I remember one time when I was a young fellow.
I had a mind of my own.
And I had a plan for the evening that didn't sit well with my conscience.
And I tried to carry out just what I'm telling you. I wanted to go, but I felt so uncomfortable. I felt, could I take the Lord with me, with the Lord approve of this? You know, I had up in my bedroom, not a daily calendar where you pull off the pages, but it was a little box with a glass window in the front. Someone had given me this. And in that box, behind that glass window, there was a scroll. And you just turned the scroll.
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And each time you gave it a turn, a fresh verse appeared behind that window.
I thought before I go out, I'm going up to that little box, I'm going to turn that scroll and see what the next verse is and I hope it will say go your way or something like this.
So I went up to the little glass box and I turned the scroll and they're in big black letters where the word stop, turn back. I've come to the end of the scroll and I was supposed to turn it the other way. It wasn't diverse out of the Bible, but it was certainly a voice from the Lord. Stop, turn back. You know, dear young people, don't think for one moment that I stand here because I have wisely and faithfully taken the right steps.
I've made the mistakes, I've made the blunders and he's been faithful.
He's restored my soul and he loves to do it for you. But don't you take those steps of self will that would lead you away?
From the company and approval of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So let's go down to verse 19 and we see that Gideon, having heard of this wondrous promise, says when I would like to bring out a present to this Angel who had brought this news to him. I think there's a lesson for us to learn in this. It may seem a little bit unusual, but let's read it. Gideon went in verse 19 and made ready a kid an unleavened cakes of an leaf of flour. The flesh he put in a basket and he put the broth in a.
And brought it out unto him unto the oak, and presented it. And the Angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.
I think there's a lesson for us here. Gideon knew the law of the Lord and he knew enough to prepare flesh and unleavened cakes. He were to read of the instructions. You'd realize that both these things were scripturally acceptable to Jehovah. They spoke of the person of Christ yet to come. And so get in prepares this flesh. He prepares these unleavened cakes.
Flash, there was this delicious broth. Too bad to waste that nice bra. I'm going to add this broth to my offering. I'm sure it will just make the offering that much more pleasant, that much more acceptable. And so he brings three things out to the Angel flesh. Unleavened cakes and a pot of broth.
And the Angel looks at those three things, and what does he say? Take the flesh and the unleavened case, both of which speak of Christ, and lay them upon this wrong, and pour out the broth.
Pour out the broth, Gideon, you should have known that. You know very well that in none of the instructions given of Jehovah there was any mention of offering broth. Gideon had every good intention. I'm sure he expected to add to the value of that which he presented by bringing along something of his own thought and adding it. The Angel said pour it out. It was not acceptable.
It wasn't to be presented.
I don't very much of Gideon ever tried to offer broth again, but I will say this, that you and I see this all around us. Do we know? I will say, beloved brothers and sisters, that it did gladden my heart to be able to sit here in this meeting room this morning and see on that table a loaf and a cup and a sea sitting around that table.
Believers gathered around the person under the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What was added? Nothing, I trust, beloved, nothing but that which was according to the Word of God. If man's imagination, though with every good intention, would seek to add something to this, it's not acceptable to him. And we see a great deal of it around us, don't we? The imagination in the hand of man, perhaps the good intention has added to that until.
It scarcely recognizable. Oh, when I see the flesh and the unleavened case laid upon that rock. What a simple picture it was.
And when I see upon the table the loaf of the cup, and believers gathered there to remember the Lord, it gladdens my heart.
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Permit me to digress a bit.
But my wife and I not long ago.
Journey back into the mountains of Mexico, to the little village of Oakland, a long way back into the interior. And there, in that little village, way back in the mountains, we sat down on Lords Day morning. I suppose there were.
Perhaps a little less than 300.
And.
In the middle of the company that sat down was a table. An exceedingly primitive table, I will admit to the natural eye. And on that table there was a loaf.
And a cup sitting around that table, a company of deer, Miss Tech Indians who not long before have been in the absolute pitiful darkness of paganism. Why were they thus gathered in that remote village of way back there in the mountains?
This book, this book, Bill Evan, let's just be very, very plain about it.
They began to read this book. They discovered in it their guilt before God, God's wonderful love.
The value of the precious blood of Christ to cleanse away the stains of guilt of those stains were many.
And they discovered what it was to look up and realize my guilt is gone and cleansed by the precious blood of Christ. I now know the Lord Jesus as my Savior. And in one little Hut after another this joy was realized. But I'll tell you what they did not do. They did not do what sadly enough is done in Christendom around us. They did not close their Bibles at that point and say, now I know the Lord is my Savior, how shall I serve him? How shall I?
How do other people do it? What name do they take? How do they go about worshipping the Lord? No, this book has shown them what meant so much to their hearts. And they knew that this same book could guide them into that which would direct to acceptable service and worship. And they read on and read on and discovered the joy and privilege of being gathered around the person under the precious name of the Lord Jesus. And I can assure you as.
There that it was difficult to restrain the tears that stirred within me as I saw those deer brothers and sisters.
Gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it was gleaned from the pages of this precious book. As I looked at those emblems, as I witnessed the remembrance of the Lord, I can truly say there was no broth added to it. It was just this simplicity of the presentation of Christ in all His worthiness and beauty.
On that happy Lord's Day morning in Boca Clan Mexico. And it was a joy here this morning too, in Vancouver, BC.
Now let's go on a bit, please, and we'll go down to verse 25.
And it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father's young bullet, even the second Bullock.
Of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father had.
And cut down the Grove that is fired, and build an all front of the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock in the ordered place. And take the second bullet, and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Grove, which thou shalt cut down. I suggest this must have taken great courage on the part of Gideon. This was certainly not an easy thing for him to do. This would really bring forth anger from those who had chosen to turn their backs on the gall of Israel.
And instead the worship failed. But notice the Lord said this to him. It wasn't just an idea of Gideon. Now what was he to do? He was to take his father's bullet. Now I don't know of any other place in Scripture where a specific bullet is identified to you.
Even a second Bullock of seven years? Isn't that rather unusual? Why would a specific bullet be selected here? Why would Gideon be told take the second bullet of seven years? A 7 year old bullet? Second bullet?
I would like to suggest that it would speak to us.
Because deliverance is about to be brought to Israel from their enemies. That that deliverance could never, never be brought about apart from the offering of a sacrifice which spoke of none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no deliverance that can be found from the first man, Adam. The 2nd man, the Lord from heaven, is the only one through whom deliverance can come. The Word of God speaks.
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And specifically about this, the 1St man Adam would like, by some idea or some scheme of his own, to bring about his own deliverance from the burdens and griefs and sorrows that are all around him. That it can't be and it never will be. No deliverance can be found in the first man Adam. Deliverance must and deliverance will come and has already, by the grace of God, come to me from him who.
Scripture as the second man, the Lord from heaven, 7 years which would speak of that which is absolutely perfect in the sight of God. And so here this sacrifice which speaks of none other than our Lord Jesus Christ, the 2nd man, the Lord from heaven, the one who alone was perfect in the eye of God, is offered up upon this altar. And this must be, and this is.
The beginning and the basis.
From which deliverance flows. Oh, just let me pause here and ask each and everyone, do you know the deliverance that comes through the Lord Jesus Christ, God's beloved Son, that perfect sacrifice, who was nailed to the cross and there bowed his head and received our sin and the judgment those sins deserve?
There's deliverance for you, which you cannot bring about by your own efforts.
Nor can you turn to any other source and find deliverance only through Him whose precious blood was shed, whose life was offered up, who bore our sins in His own body on a tree. I thank God that deliverance and the peace that comes as the result of it is mine, not because of anything that I have done, but because this sacrifice, God's beloved Son, was offered up.
For me.
Now we're going to go down very quickly because our time is slipping away.
Suppose we go down to verse 36. I'm going to recommend that you take these two chapters, six and seven, and read them thoroughly at home, and I know you'll glean a great deal more for your soul. Gideon still feels pretty uneasy about this responsibility that has been entrusted to him, and he wants to receive a sign from the Lord that will confirm the fact that he really is the one chosen to be.
Deliver to Israel from the Midianites.
Verse 37 Well verse 36 and Gideon said unto God, if thou will save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. God was pretty patient to listen to words like that, don't you think so If as thou hast said, when God says something, I better not turn back and say, if you're going to keep your promise. Oh, how becoming it is for us to take golf at his word, to trust him and.
Means what he says. It hurts me so much when I hear people say I'm trying to believe. I wish I could believe. I've heard this again and again after a gospel meeting. Someone will say I wish I could believe.
That sounds so strange to me. I wish I could believe. Suppose you told me that you were born in Vancouver, BC and I said I wish I could believe you.
Suppose you said that you lived for a while in Kelowna. If you wish, and I say, I hope you're telling the truth, you wouldn't carry on much of a conversation with me. You'd say I'm not going to bother talking to him if he can't believe me in a couple of simple facts like that. Now I read the word of God, and I'd better not look up and say if he'll keep his promises, if he'll do what he says. I wish I could believe we see it here in plain English.
And we realize.
We realize that it's much more honoring to look up and say God has said it, I believe it. And yet God in his very wonderful patience bears with his dusty as he did here with Gideon. So in verse 37, Gideon said, behold, I will put a piece of wool in the floor, and if it will be on the fleece only, and it be dry, and all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou will save Israel by mine hand.
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As thou hast said.
And it was so, for he rose up early on the Morrow and thrust the fleece together and ring the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. Now at last he satisfied. No, he's not. No, you know that just might have been a natural phenomenon. I'm going to test the Lord again, this time in reverse. So verse 39 Gideon said unto God, Let thought not thine anger be hot against him, and I will speak. But this once, let me prove I.
This once with the fleece, let it now be dry only. Upon the fleece and upon all the ground. Let there be you. And God did so that night, for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. Take heart, dear young believer, take heart. There's a patient God up there that knows the trembling that is in your heart and mind, and that is so gracious, so long-suffering, so faithful.
Take heart, dear young believer, He'll never, never turn his ear from you if you look up filled with trembling and fear, when we know very well we shouldn't be. But he looks down and he knows all about the trembling and the fear and the uncertainty, but he does love to have us turn to Him. Furthermore, I believe we see in this double picture of the fleece yet another happy illustration of the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For there, first of all, is that fleece?
Full of that precious, refreshing dew, and all around is that barren, dry land. But that fleece is run together, and what do we see next? All the ground around is covered with beauty. The fleece has been run out, and the ground all around is refreshed by the dew that God delights to send down.
When I see the Lord Jesus come down from the glory, that one in whom was all the refreshment that the heart of God had for poor, sad, troubled men, and I see.
The emptiness that's all around. And I see the refreshment that is found in the Lord Jesus, that all that suffering he had to go through in order that you and I might experience that refreshment. How we thank God for it. Have you tasted the sweetness, the refreshment that comes from him who went to Calvary and suffered there? I feel very, very badly really. And I feel guilty too, when I think of so many around us who know nothing of this wondrous refreshment. My.
And I were traveling together in a train in England some time ago. Trains, they're not the same as they are here. They're compartments in those trains in which about six people are seated. And we were sitting opposite one another, and the train stopped and a young fellow got in. I don't want to say anything I shouldn't, but.
He was dressed in such a way as would make anybody take a second look. Just what do you call it, way out or something like that? He had to keep shaking his head to see where he was going. You know what I mean by that? And he sat down beside my wife, and she looked at him and looked at me. And I thought, poor fellow, he's just thrown convention to the wind. He's probably trying to live according to the dictates of his.
What shall we do? What responsibility do we have here? So we mutually decide without words that we would just talk about the Lord Jesus. And we began to talk to one another about the Lord Jesus. And I can see still a look on his face. He leaned forward, his eyes widened, and he said, pardon me, pardon me. Can I ask you some questions? I think you have a very thing I'm looking for.
I think that when I read this.
Dry, open. So he said, I went to their ministers. I'm going to tell you his words. He said it was just a job to him. He had no answer. He said, right now I'm studying Buddhism in the hope that I can find it there, but I haven't found it. And I said, young man, let me tell you that it is indeed to be found in a person. Not in a creed, not in a philosophy, but in a person.
Who loved you and died, that you might be redeemed as we unfolded the truth of God's precious Word.
Wonder of the person of God's beloved Son, this very fleece that was ringed out in order that this young man might receive refreshment. Oh, the look on his face, we can see it yet. He was just drinking in the very refreshment that can be found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord. This is true in Vancouver. It's true where I live. And you and I who have partaken of this wondrous refreshment, What a challenge, what a privilege to show and to tell.
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The wonder of the joy and the delight that we have found in Him who went to Calvary, there to be wrung out in order that there might be a sweet refreshment to those who otherwise would be in such barrenness and searching an empty. Now it's after seven, and we'll go over this rather quickly.
Verse 2.
We better begin at first one. There's Jared Bale, who is Gideon. All the people that were with him rose up early and pitched beside the well of Harrod, so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them by the hill of Mora in the valley. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with the earth too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel bump themselves against me, saying, Mine on hand has saved me. Now therefore go to proclaim any ears of the people saying.
Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early for Mom Gillian.
And the return of the people. 20 and 2000 And they remained. 10,000 And the Lord said, And again, the people are yet too many, Bring them down under the water, and I will try them for thee there. And it shall be that of whom I send to thee. This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee. And of whomsoever I sail to thee, this shall not go. With thee the same shall not go. Let's stop here for a moment.
Gideon apparently starts out with 32,000 men. It sounds like quite a host.
When you read of the mighty innumerable hosts of Midian, you realize that 32,000 men was not a very great arm. But God knew the natural tendency of this heart of mine and that part of yours to in some way take credit to ourselves for that which is entirely due to Him and to Him alone.
He knows how to bounce down.
To make us realize that anything that is wrong. Beloved young people, let me.
Let me point this out safely. Anything that is wrong is wrought by him through you, by him through you, and that you and I have nothing to glory in, nothing to boast of, but the thankful privilege of being used by Him from whom all power must come.
Gideon saw 22,000 people turn and go home.
And he's left with 10,000. Well, that's not very many, is it? 10,000 people. And yet the Lord knew the danger of Gideon's heart that he would boast if a victory was won with Gideon his captain, and 10,000 to follow him. So how does he make this final distinction?
Verse four Bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there.
Now I'm going to make a point of it. Bring them now to the water.
I believe it will speak to us of this precious book, the Word of God. The waters are the word of God that we read about so often. There's going to be a test there and it's going to involve the water of the Word of God. And the Lord says to Gideon, bring them down to the water. There is something that puts self in its rightful, proper place when we read the Word of God.
Dear brother, dear sisters, you will and by who know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior.
Are we looking for great things? Are we looking for that which will give us the name and the reputation? Let us hear these words, bring them down to the water, to bow down completely before the light and wisdom and authority of a precious word of God. So 10,000 Israelites.
Are brought down to the water and they're subjected to a very unusual to pick the water up in their hands in this matter for those whom the Lord chose 300 of them, those who got right down on their knees and put their mouth right down to the water. 9700 of them, these two companies.
We're set apart, and when Gideon saw this happening, he didn't know which company was going to be his.
300 over here, 9700 over there with all them brave men, not afraid of the battle. I I'd rather expect that Gideon saw this happening. He thought, I hope that's the company. The Lord is going to say that I can go out with 9700. I know he won't tell me to go and.
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Associate myself with this 300, but when it was the separation had taken place, the Lord said, Idiot, there's your company. 300 men started out with 32,000 and now we've got 300.
300 men. But he had the promise of the Lord with him. And again I say to your young believers, seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not, seek them not do I do. I don't belong here. I want to be part of something big and important that people can point to and say, see that fine building, See those hundreds of people coming out.
Oh brilliant. When I see this little company, they have been brought down, down to the water and their test has taken place.
And God has set apart 300 and he says to Gideon, there's your company. I don't pretend to know exactly why this remarkable test was given to them. I believe we might say this, that a man who drinks his water this way.
Would necessarily be a man with clean hands, and that's something to think about. A man who had the file hand wouldn't pick up his water in his way to drink it.
Nor would a man who was aware of the presence of the enemy and the danger that that presence indicated. That man would be always on the alert. He wouldn't be off guard long enough even to put his face down to the water, that he might relax and refresh himself there. It indicated those who were alert and aware of the presence of the enemy. They were men who were conscious of the danger that surrounded them and although they felt the need.
Word, and the refreshment that comes from it. They were not to be found off guard, not for a moment.
Furthermore, it might even indicate a lay hold of the truth.
Of the word of God that they would refresh themselves in this manner be that of dismay. God set apart this company. Gideon is associated with them. And in the last moments that remain, I'm going to ask you please to go down to verse 16 of this same 7th chapter.
And he divided the 300 men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hands, with empty pictures and lamps.
And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, that sounds.
To the outside of the camp.
It shall be as I do, so shall he do. When I blow in the trumpet, I know men are with me. Then blow ye the trumpets also on every side. All the cabins say so. Newly set the watch, and they blew with blew the trumpets and break the pictures that were in their hands.
Entry companies will affect. They can break the pictures and held the lamps in their left hand and the Trump's in their right hands to blow us all. They cry the sword of the Lord and the Gideon. And they stood every man in his place round about the cabin. There he's again. And all the hosts ran and cried and fled. We must take the time to finish the chapter, but I want to leave this final picture with you. They love it, brothers and sisters, and in particularly beloved young people.
This is a very significant lesson. Here is an enemy that threatens to overrun and have done with Israel completely and God chooses up 300 men who have been subject to the test of going down to the water and there's a test for you. There's a test for me, the authority, the claims, the direction, the wisdom of the word of God. Am I willing to bow through it?
It may cause me to be found in a very small company.
It may cause me to see over Yonder many who are fellow Israelites with me, very dear to me, brave and balancing they are. But if I am going to bow to the text of the Word of God, I may find myself in a very small company, getting his man dead. But where do we find them? We find them standing.
Outside the calf, three times we find it repeated in the glorious triumph at the end of this story.
Three times we find mention that these men who had stood the test of going down to the water, and there associated with pity and their leader, they are found, every man in his place standing outside that camp. Now let's picture this. Here is a great post, a mighty innumerable enemy through 300 men.
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The trumpet in one hand and earthen vessel in the other, and a little light put in that earthen vessel and they're just standing there. There they are outside the camp, but all of them seem to be looking in the same direction.
They're watching Gideon to receive their directions from him. He go up to one of the men tapping on the shoulder and say, look here, what are you doing? Well, I'm, I'm standing here. Well, why are you standing here? You want to do anything good, Get down in the camp and start what you were supposed to be doing. No, this is where I belong, outside the camp. Well, what is it you're looking at? I'm watching videos. Our direction comes from him.
When Gideon moves, he'll tell us what to do.
And there they stood, every man in his place round about the camp.
Let's think about this earth and vessel, shall we for a moment.
And a light within the vessel. Now we read in Corinthians, by the pen of the apostle Paul, we have this treasure in earthen vessels.
But the Excellency of the glory may be of God and not us, this earthen vessel, I believe.
Means yourself. You and I are earthen vessels, and within that earthen vessel God has placed a light that He wants to shine for him. And in the darkness that is all around us, well now if you put a light inside an earthen vessel, the only place from which that light could even be seen.
Would be from directly above. The one who put it there could look down and see it, but it wouldn't shine out around. Not at all. What has to happen? That earthen vessel has to be broken down in order that the light might shine out. But on the road to Damascus, God placed a glowing light inside an unusual earthen vessel known as Fall of Tartus.
A fine vessel it was too, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, a man of great reputation, and he valued that reputation.
Others looked up to him. Now is that light going to shine out? Not unless the earthen vessel is broken down. And as you read Paul's references to himself, I think you see that earthen vessel disappearing. One born out of due time. The chief of sinners. Less than the least of all things. Not need to be called an apostle. Who is this? This is the apostle, always.
He wasn't just speaking in terms of mock humility. This was real. This was the earthen vessel broken down.
That the light might shine out. Dear young people, dear brothers and sisters, I believe that this is what God would be like to do with every one of us. And may I say this, that if we do not voluntarily, if we do not voluntarily break down that earthen vessel because we lost the light of our blessed Lord to shine out, He knows how to break it down for us.
Sometimes he uses our brothers and our sisters who in faithfulness to help the breaking down of that vessel. It's not a very pleasant process. We like to have a reputation of our own. What does it do to you when somebody says, Oh my, that you're a faithful brother? I don't know how we get along with us.
Whether do you want somebody shakes her head and says, oh, what a wonderful gospel message. Does that have to break down the earth and vessel? But I'm afraid it just helps to build up the earth and vessel. But in order that the light might shine out, let us be willing to be nothing but the light that he has put there may shine for him. There's a prophet of testimony. There's a light to shine for our Lord Jesus, but they love it. Let us remember. And may we just take one last look at verse 21.
Thank God, as you and I see in it our place, a wonderful privilege and responsibility to every man in his place outside the camp. A strange position, a strange attitude for the natural mantle of the farm. But all what unspeakable privilege to realize about the grace of God when you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, that life was put within.
He wants it to shine out, and in the process of the shining out of that light, there must be the breaking down, the doing away with.
Anything, anything, anything that would give you or me any recognition, any honor, any reputation. Who was it that made himself of no reputation? Who was it? The Lord Jesus? Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Do I want a reputation of the creature?
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And it only raised the question and allow God to search my heart as to the answers. You want a reputation as a violent track distributor.
Faithful brother in the assembly, any reputation that you or I seek after will only hinder the shining out of the Word of God. May I, with all my heart, encourage you to use that that God has entrusted to you, if He has entrusted to you.
A responsibility in the preaching of the gospel, preaching with all your heart according to the ability that God has given you. If He has put before you the privilege of being a faithful brother in an assembly, fulfill that responsibility to the glory of God. He's given you the courage and the opportunity to distribute tracks or whatever.
Do it to the glory of God, don't hold back from it and remember this. But if the light is going to shine, it must shine out from a broken vessel. And God knows how to break down the vessel. If we're not willing to break it down of our own accord and remember to build out of all, Let us remember that this story ends.
And this victory glowed with a wonder because of those just 300 of them who stood, every man in his place.
Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to stand in the place that God has appointed you in this precious book? You know where that is. It's outside the camp with your eye upon the Lord Jesus Christ, waiting for the sound of the trumpet. From the sound of the trumpet comes. Then there will be victory.