Judges 6:1-8:35 "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly"

1:18What is not as well known is that the story of his leadership can be summarized by the good, the bad, And the ugly. To set the context for our sermon today, allow me to provide you with a summary of Judges 6, 7, and 8. The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian for seven years. Whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites would attack them and devour the produce of the land, leaving them no sheep, oxen, donkeys, or sustenance in Israel. Children, do you remember a bug's life?

2:21Every year, good, I wanted to make sure that one was up. Every year, the grasshoppers came to the ants, right? And the ants had gathered food and they were going to eat over the winter. But the grasshoppers, led by General Hopper, came in to require a tribute of the ants. They took all of the ants' food and they left them half dead, starving, and scrambling to find food for the winter. That's what's exactly happening here. Midian.

3:02Every single year, Midian came in to take all of the crops and as many animals as they could find and left Israel scrambling to survive. When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord sent them a prophet who told them, You have not obeyed my word. And next, he then sent an angel of the Lord to Gideon. And he said to Gideon, The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor. Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian.

3:47The angel directs Gideon to take two of his father's bulls, pull down the altar built of Baal, built by his father, cut down the Asherah pole, and build an altar to God using those materials. Kind of being afraid of his family and the men in town, Gideon does this when? In the middle of the night, because he's scared. And when the town finds that the altar had been destroyed, the pole had been cut down, and they had been destroyed by Gideon, they demand that Gideon's father offer him up so that they can kill him. But Joash. Says, will you contend for Baal?

4:34If he is a God, let him contend for himself. And the people left Gideon alone. Soon thereafter, the Midianites and the Amalekites come across the Jordan to attack once again. And the Spirit of the Lord empowers Gideon to sound the trumpet, to have many tribes follow him. But demonstrating his weak faith for a second time, he requests two additional signs from God to confirm that God intended to save Israel by using Gideon. Gideon tests God with the two infamous tests of the fleece, the signs of the fleece.

5:20God complies, and 32,000 men assemble to give battle to at least 135,000 Midianites and Amalekites. To ensure that God is given credit for the victory, God whittles down the attacking force from 32,000 to 10,000, finally to 300 through two tests. Gideon's weak faith demonstrates itself again. He's fearful that he's supposed to do this, so God sends Gideon and his servant down to the camp in the middle of the city. Of the night, where he hears one soldier tell another soldier of a dream. And the dream is now interpreted by Gideon to mean that God will give the Midianites into Gideon's hand.

6:13So, finally, being reassured, Gideon divides the men into three companies. At the beginning of the middle watch, 2,3 a.m. in the morning, they blow trumpets, smash jars, light torches, and yell out, A sword for the Lord and for Gideon. The confused Midianite camp begin killing one another, and in the confusion, the army flees the battlefield. During the clean-up operation, the men of Sokoth and the men of Penuel refused to provide sustenance to Gideon's men that were pursuing the Midianites because they're still fearful of Midian.

6:54The final battles see the remaining 15,000 of the enemy destroyed and the two kings of Midian captured. And as Gideon returns with his captives, he punishes Sokoth and Penuel. He kills the kings of Midian. And as we read this morning, Gideon's story concludes with Gideon refusing to become the king of Israel, but he lives like a king. And upon his death, the people immediately turn from the Lord. And whore after the Baals. There is so much that we can glean from Gideon's life. But this morning I want to focus on one theme and one theme only: a faithful legacy.

7:49How can we as believers fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith? To assist you in building a faithful legacy, I want to look at various lessons from Gideon's life, broken into the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good. Gideon like so many Christians, start well. First, we learn that Gideon is realistic about his abilities. Look at chapter 6, verse 15. And Gideon said, Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am least in my father's house.

8:46Second, we learn that Gideon worships when he sees God working. If you were to look in verse 24 of chapter 6, when he knew that the angels were able to be able to do the Angel that had been sent to him to pull down, to tell him to pull down the Baal altar and to cut down the Asherapole. When he knew that this was an angel of the Lord, only then did he build an altar there to the Lord and call it the Lord is peace.

9:22When he hears the interpretation of the dream by the Midianite soldiers, how does he respond? He immediately, chapter 7, verse 15, worships. Third, we learn that Gideon obeys God. Despite his fears, he destroys the altar of Baal, he cuts down the Asherapole, and offers sacrifices to God on the new altar. Despite his fears, he sounds the trumpet to call various tribes to fight against the Midianites. Despite his fear, notice the common theme here, he orders the 300 to assault the Midianites and the Amalekites.

10:17So, what practical application can we learn from the good Gideon? It is this. God Loves to use the small and the weak to get big things done. He loves to take impossible odds and overcome them so that he gets the glory and that we learn to trust him. The Apostle Paul learned this principle in 2 Corinthians 12, 7 through 10. That to keep him from being conceited, he was given a thorn in the flesh. Three times Paul said, I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. For the Lord said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect. How?

11:24It is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses that the power of Christ may rest in me. He goes on, for when I am weak, then I am strong. Listen to this. Weak believers, dependent upon Jesus, are God's ordained instruments for building up his kingdom. Brothers and sisters, has the Lord in some turn of providence brought you low? Maybe part of his design is simply to make you depend on him, that he may do mighty things for you, in you, and through you, that he might get all the glory.

12:27Maybe he's teaching you to say with Paul, when I am weak, then I am strong. His grace is sufficient for me. Others in this gathering room might be saying, what do I have to offer? I'm too old. I'm too young. I'm too small. I'm inadequate. My gifts are too slight. What possibly use, what possible use am I in the kingdom? As David Strain states in his sermon on this text, brothers and sisters, the kingdom of God is not built by the mighty, but by the weak whom God uses mightily.

13:27Brothers and sisters, that is the good Gideon. Now, let us look at the bad Gideon. While Gideon does several things correctly, even his good deeds are characterized repetitively by weak faith. Multiple times, Gideon asks for confirmation of that which he already knows he's supposed to do. Or he asks confirmation of something that God has already promised that he will do through him. First, when the angel of the Lord told Gideon to take down the Baal statue, Gideon needed a sign. He needed confirmation that the angel really was from God. It was only after the angel burns up everything on the altar, the food and everything, that Gideon was convinced that God was speaking. Do you really want me to gather an army, Lord, to fight the Midianites? Yes, I want you to do that. Then he goes through the signs of the fleece twice because he just doesn't believe that he's supposed to do this.

14:39Third, do you really want me to attack the 300? He's been whittled down from 32,000 to 10,000 to 300. And despite all that God had done all the way up through then, he's still immobilized by fear. And at the Lord's initiative, Gideon and A young boy goes down to the Midianite warriors where they hear the sentries talking about a dream in which a barley loaf flattens a tent. The barley loaf is interpreted to be Israel in its poverty.

15:14And only after he understands this does Gideon believe and worship that the opposing army was already defeated. What practical application can we learn from the bad Gideon? The story of the fleece is often improperly used to teach a method for finding God's will. Some might say, I'm going to put a fleece out before the Lord to see if he wants me to take this new job. And depending on the result of that test, they believe that they have their answer concerning God's will for them. But I want to remind you: this is a complete, utter misreading of how Gideon interacts with the Lord.

16:10Twice before, if you go back into chapter 6 and verse 36 and vertices in verse 37, during the middle of his test of the fleece, Gideon says, As you have said, Gideon did not lack in. Information about the will of God. He lacked confidence to trust the word of God. Brothers and sisters, Gideon's demand for two different tests suggests the inadequacy of this whole process. Gideon thinks maybe, just maybe, the fact that the fleece was wet and the ground was dry was an accident. So what does he do?

17:01He flips it. Every time you ask God to prove something by means of a fleece, I will tell you the results are sometimes difficult to interpret. Suppose you ask the Lord to give you a job offer at a specified time and wage as confirmation you should take the job. If the offer comes two days late and just short of the amount that you have, does that mean that God doesn't want you to take the job? A Christian organization may feel that it should raise a specified amount of money as confirmation to start a new project. What is the message from God if the group only raises 95% to start the new project? Brothers and sisters, fleeces, litmus tests, are difficult to interpret.

18:00I just want you to know that Gideon's use of a fleece demonstrate his real struggle was one of faith, not information. And I would strongly encourage you to quit using fleeces like the bad Gideon did to know the will of God. I would challenge you to put forth wise parameters to make your decisions concerning the will of God. We see a good version of Gideon. In chapter 6, Gideon is a humble man. He's an underdog. He obeys God, destroys the statue of Baal. In chapter 7, he's courageous, 300 against 100,000 plus. And as a military leader, in chapter 7 and 8, he's successful.

19:00We kind of try and overlook the bad version of Gideon when he repeatedly displays weak faith. Or we try to give him a pass. And why do we do that? Because we sometimes have weak faith ourselves. So we want to kind of give him a break here on the bad Gideon. We really, really, really want to love the story of Gideon, but we have no idea what to do with the ugly train wreck. At the end of his life.

19:33Like Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, Britney Spears, we know people. People we love, people we respect, people we're close to, people like us, people in our communities, people in our neighborhoods, people in our families, maybe even ourselves. We know stories of lives that unravel. So, what makes a life unravel? Judges 8 provides three examples of how a life can unravel. The first way a life can unravel is Judges 8:1 through 17. We see Gideon passing through Sokoth and Penuel. Gideon had been successful on the battlefield in that night raid. He's become a national savior. And as he chases after the remaining Midianites, Gideon asks the people of Sukkoth and Penuel to feed his army, and they refuse.

20:40Yes, they don't trust that Gideon and his men will defeat the remaining Midianites. Yes, they refuse because they fear that the Midianites may then retaliate against them. Yes, they're responding out of self-preservation. So, what does Gideon do? He essentially says, I'm coming back for you. And sure enough, after he finishes off the Midianites, he returns to Sokoth and tortures the men. He returns to Penuel and he kills all the men in the city. Gideon is vengeful.

21:24You can almost hear him saying, Do you know who I am now? One way that a life unravels is thinking too highly of oneself. A second way a life unravels is seen in verses 18 through 21. Gideon has captured the kings of Midian and learns from the king that they had killed Gideon's own brothers. Most of us, when he was pursuing the Midianites and the Amalekites after the evening battle, that he was motivated to go after these kings as the leader of God's people to complete the work that God wanted him to work complete. Yet we learn in verses 18 through 21, as one commentator said, Gideon's ruthless and remarkable pursuit had been motivated maybe less by a desire to complete the deliverance of God's people than by a drive for Personal vengeance.

22:33When Gideon's son refuses to kill the Midianites because he wanted to embarrass them, Gideon kills the men, the kings himself, who had killed his own brothers. Brothers and sisters, a second way a life unravels is a desire to seek revenge on those who have wronged you. And a third way a life unravels is seen in verses 22 forward. The men of Israel ask Gideon to be king over them. It appears rightly that Gideon rejects this offer. In verse 23, I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.

23:21Yet, he hypocritically lived like a king. First, the two Midianite kings told Gideon that the men they killed on Mount Tabor were men who behaved like royalty. This is because Gideon's brothers acted like the brothers of a king. Second, Gideon collects a tax when he accepts the gift from all of his soldiers from the plunder in verses 24 through 27. This is kingly business. Third, Gideon establishes a new object of worship in his own hometown, which is something that a king would do.

24:16And fourth, for all intents and purposes, Gideon had a harem. The average Israelite did not have many wives and 70 sons, along with a concubine. Even David did not rival Gideon in this regard. And fifth, Gideon chose a very interesting name for one of his sons, Abimelech, which means my father is king. A third way a life unravels is when one lives the life of a hypocrite. And this will become very evident in a couple of minutes. Gideon reminds us how easy it is to stumble and to fall, and how few truly finish well.

25:15So I will ask this question: how can we in this gathering room finish well? And I want to close with three suggestions. First, to finish well. One must be saved. Every man, woman, and child is a sinner, in bondage to sin, and unable to save themselves. In His great mercy, God sent the perfect deliverer, Jesus Christ, to save those who were helpless and hopeless. Jesus bore the penalty we deserve, suffering in a sinner's place on the cross of Calvary. And then, by God's power, he rose from the dead, offering salvation to all who will acknowledge their sin and helplessness and trust in him and him alone.

26:13In this gathering room, have you acknowledged your bondage to sin and your helpless state? Have you cried out to Jesus for the salvation that he alone can provide? If you do, you can finish well. Second, to finish well, we need to practice finishing well in the small things of life. Children, the first couple of examples apply to you as much as they do to the adults. Chores. Do you fail to complete the chores given to you?

26:57Do you fail to complete? Complete them well. Do you do them poorly? Question in the small things of life: do you finish well? School. Do you put forth only minimal effort? Do you drop a class because you failed to complete assignments or study for an exam? Are you tempted to coast at the end of a semester? Are you practicing finishing well? A job you are leaving. Do you only give two weeks' notice? Do you make sure that your duties are transferred successfully from what you're doing to your successor?

27:55Do you honor your employer as you depart, or do you make bad statements about them? Do you finish well? Moving away. Do you notify your friends of why and when you are leaving? Do you make your new address and contact information available to all those who ask? Do you thank your friends for all that they have done? Done for you, do you finish well? Leaving a church, do you tell your pastors why you are leaving? Do you finish all of the commitments that you had made to that church?

28:53Or do you just disappear? In leaving a church, do you finish well? Finishing well in the small things in life is good practice for finishing well at the end of your life. Because, third, we need to finish well at the end of our life. 2 Timothy 4, starting in verse 6. As Paul faces his imminent execution, he writes the following to Timothy: For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appeal.

30:02Paul's words are not those of a discouraged, beaten-down man. His calm assurance is more startling when you consider his circumstances. Paul's cell was a dark, damp dungeon, reached only by a rope or a ladder through a hole in the floor above. He had no windows, no lights, no toilet, no furniture, and no running water. And outside the prison, the circumstances were not that much more encouraging. Many Christians seem to be turning away from the faith and following false teachers. And yet, the man is clearly at rest as he writes this letter to Timothy, confident in the way that he had spent his entire life. Paul is able to look back on his ministry and confidently say that he had done well.

31:03He's not implying that there had not been mistakes or there had been times of discouragement, but through all the problems and trials, he was able to make three statements in verse 7. I have fought the good fight. Paul is using an athletic metaphor, most likely of a wrestling match. It conveys that the Christian. Life is not a church picnic, but rather a struggle against the forces of evil. It is not just any fight, but it is what? The good fight. The fight of the gospel of Jesus Christ for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

31:55Can you likewise say that you are currently involved in that struggle for the cause of Christ? Let me answer that question, and I'll help you answer that question. You may attend church every week. You may profess to know that Christ is your Savior. But if your purpose in life is to be as comfortable and as affluent as you can be, to amass possessions in this world, then you are not seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

32:37You're not involved in the struggle for the cause of Christ. If, on the other hand, you live for the purpose of building up the body of Christ by extending his kingdom through your labors, your time, and your money, in accordance with the gifts and opportunities. That God has given you, then you are involved in that struggle. To finish well, you need to fight the good fight. Number two, I have finished the race. Paul is referring to a long race.

33:20Full transparency, I have never run a marathon. But I know there must be no such thing as an easy marathon. And I have a son who decides to run 50Ks. And I just go, that's just insanity. What we need to do in finishing the race is to get out of our heads that the Christian life is all glory and effortless bliss. There is joy, but there are many trials that require endurance. So make up your mind to hang in with the Lord through the tough times so you can look back at the end and say with Paul, I have finished the race.

34:04And then, third, Paul concludes by saying, I have kept the faith. Brothers and sisters, we need to sink down deep roots in sound doctrine. We need to grow in our knowledge of the scriptures. We need to grow in regular Bible study. We need to know what we believe so that we are not tossed. Around by all of the winds of false doctrine. Our theme this morning was a faithful legacy. To finish well, we as believers must fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith. May the story of the good, the bad, and the ugly Gideon, combined with Paul's bold statement at the end of his life, be used by the Spirit to instruct us. Let us pray.

35:22Lord, we adore you for your incredible faithfulness, for your consistency, and for your willingness to fulfill every promise that you've ever made. We confess that we regularly have weak faith. We regularly use gimmicks rather than wisdom to. Determine what you would want us to do in this world. We regularly focus on this world and its stuff, rather, on the next world and the treasures there. We regularly fail to fulfill our responsibilities. We regularly put forth something less than our best effort.

36:28And we regularly fail to know the scriptures well and how they apply to our lives. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your son, whose death on the cross and perfect life will pay the penalty for our sins if we just profess faith in his work. And we thank you for Christ's example and Paul's example of finishing well. I pray for everyone in this room that we may do likewise, that we may forego wealth and comfort in this world to build treasure in the next.

37:24May we sacrifice willingly in this world to see that the God of God. Gospel goes forth to a dark and needy world. And we pray that we will be good and strive to finish well. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.