Judges 6:1 – In Times Like These – Bible study

Judges 6:1 In Times Like These I do believe the days that we are living in are unique, but not because we are the first nation of people to turn against God. We arent. Neither do I think they are unique because we are going alone. We are not. The whole world is going with us. I think the days that we are living in are unique because of where they are taking usto the return of Jesus Christ. However, we should remember that there have been times like this before. So what does God do in times like these? Does God resign Himself to the fact that nothing can be done? Does God write off generations like these as hopeless and bound for hell? Does God grant that sin can become greater than His grace? Let me answer those questions one at a time. No. NO. NO! In times like this, God looks for a person. I use the world person on purpose. Most of the time, God uses a man; but the Bible documents that God uses women too. Most of the time, God uses adults; but the Bible documents that God uses youths today. So in times like these, God is looking for someone, someone like Gideon. Before we get started, I will tell you that I will not get finished. I have more thoughts than I even brought with me today. I hope to return to this text, perhaps next week, to finish; but I will share with you two major thoughts this morning. I. A Nation Gone Under Former President Ronald Regan once said, "If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under." A. Israel was a nation that had forgotten their power, purpose, and Protector were God, and they had gone under. 1, In the first verses, God outlines the path Israel took to go under. 2. I suspect Israels path in their downward journey would be similar to the path any nation would follow making this journey; but if they did not step on all of these bases, they would probably step on most of them. B. The conditions: 1. They were sinful. Judges 6:1 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. a. Sin is what separates mankind from God. b. Interestingly, the depth and quantity of Israels sins were NOT the FIRST indicators that separation exists. c. A single sin, deemed minor by the human race, causes the same rift between God and man as the worst sin in mankinds arsenal. d. However, the depth of our sins and number of sins do indicate how long we have been separated from God and how much we have missed Him. e. By looking at the sins most nations commit today, I would guess that we have been separated from God for a long, long time; and that we have not missed Him at all. 2. They were conquered. Judges 6:2 And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel a. It is interesting that God uses one sinful nation to judge another. b. Midian was no more righteous than Israel.; however, at this moment in time, they were more blessed than Israel. c. This is one of the most baffling characteristics about God, that He will seemingly bless one wicked nation over another. (1) God also blessed the Philistines, the Amorites, the Moabites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans over His own people on numerous occasions. (2) I suppose there is an unwritten law of nature somewhere that says if someone is going to be on the bottom, someone is going to have to be on top. (3) I think that means that while being on top is not always an indication of Gods approval, being on bottom is could be indication of the lack of Gods approval. 3. They were hiding. Judges 6:2 and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds. 4. They were hungry. Judges 6:3 And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them; 4 And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. 5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents 5. They were outnumbered. Judges 6:5 and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number 6. They were oppressed. Judges 6:5 and they entered into the land to destroy it. 6 And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites a. When Gods people are left hiding, fearful, hungry, and oppressed, you can mark it down that sins in the camp! b. By the way, Gods people need to understand that it can happen again. c. Let sin come innot just into a nation, but into the Christians campand we may all be living in the dens and the caves again. (1) In \#2\, some think that the fact that man from his earliest days lived in caves is a sign of evolution. (2) They are wrong. (3) It is proof of mans sin, Gods judgment, and devolution! (4) Mankind had to flee to the caves because they sinned, got booted out of the Garden, and with their diminished intellect it took a while to figure out to build houses. 7. They were sorry. Judges 6:6 and the children of Israel cried unto the LORD. a. This was their repentance. b. Sometimes it seemed like Israel was only sorry for the problems they had gotten themselves into. c. I say that because it also seemed that every other generation turned to false gods, leaving the next generation to deal with it. II. One Among Them Judges 6:11 And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. 13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. 14 And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? 15 And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my fathers house. 16 And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. A. The mans name was Gideon. 1. Gideon was going to be a great hero for God. a. He will lead Israel in a great deliverancean impossible, supernatural deliverance. b. His name will be mentioned in Hebrews 11, the great Roll of Faith chapter. 2. However, Gideon was not a hero here. 3. Rather here, we see what kind of people God looks for. B. What kind of people does God look for. 1. God calls for common people. a. \#15\ He was a poor man. b. He considered himself to be the least of those like him. (Either Gideon was a humble man, or he was one of the poorest of the poor.) c. \#11\ He was threshing wheat and hiding it just like everyone else. (His belly got hungry and his knees knocked together just like everyone elses.) d. Yet the most common condition that Gideon had with others is the fact he MAY have been lost when God called him! (1) I do not want to mar Gideons testimony because I cant prove it, but there is A possibility. (2) I say that because of God had Gideon to do. Judges 6:25 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy fathers young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it: 26 And build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down. 27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his fathers household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night. e. Notice there was a problem and there was an urgency. (1) Notice the urgency first. (a) \#Judges 6:25\ "the same night" – The urgency was that something needed to be done right then. (b) God spoke to Gideon the SAME night that He appeared to Gideon while he was threshing the wheat. (c) God was not messing around. (d) If Gideon was to be used of God, the time was right then; and some business needed to be done right away. (e) If we are going to be used of God, I believe the time is right now, and some business needs to be done right away. (2) The problem was sin. (a) Gideons father (and perhaps Gideon as well) had been worshipping false gods. (b) Listen, everyone has a past and it is always sinful. (c) Before God could use this man, three things needed to happen: i. Gideon needed to PUBLICALLY renounce any affiliation he may have had with false gods. ii. Gideon needed to PUBLICALLY declare his allegiance to Jehovah. iii. Gideon needed to offer a sin sacrifice. (d) So God had Gideon take one of his fathers bulls, tear down his fathers false altar, and use the wood from it to make an offering to the Lord. i. Wait a minute! ii. Offer his fathers bull? Tear down his fathers altar? Build a fire with his fathers wood? iii. What good would it do Gideon to offer someone elses sacrifice? (e) There are three implications in this action: i. Most likely, Gideon lived at home. ii. Most likely Gideon was the heir to his fathers wealth. iii. AND most likely, Gideon had at least been complacent with his fathers idol worship and maybe even complicit in it. f. This would make Gideon very much LIKE all the other people of his day. (1) By the way, Gideon would not be the first lost person God called straight into His service. (a) In the Old Testament, God called one of the most evil men of all times into His kingdom and into His service, Nebuchadnezzar. (b) In the New Testament, God did the same thing with a man called Saulbetter known to us as the Apostle Paul. (2) God calls people with a bad past and even a bad present because He is not calling us for what we are. (a) God calls us for what He can make of us. (b) Gods grace makes amazing servants out of exceedingly bad sinners. 2. God calls cleansed people. a. While God may have called Gideon as a common sinner, God did not leave him that way. b. That same night God told Gideon to renounce his past, to atone for his sins, and to make a change. c. Understand, no one can move forward with God until first atonement is made for our sin. (1) In that day, atonement was made by offering a living sacrifice for a sinner. (2) Today, it is done by offering the sinner as a living sacrifice. (a) It is NOT enough to quit sinning your worst sins. (b) It is NOT enough to start going to church. (c) It is NOT enough to give lip service to God. (3) Every person must repent of his sin and place his trust in Jesus Christ to be saved. (4) God uses cleansed people, and Im afraid we need a new harvest of them because it doesnt look like the last batch took. (5) Those who are Christians in name only are not Christians at all. (a) Someone says, "All that preaching about selling out, being changed, becoming a new creator in Christ turns people off." (b) I suspect that was the same response Jesus got when He spoke about picking up your cross and following Him. (c) He probably got it again when He said no man putting his hand on the plow and looking back was fit for the Kingdom of God. (d) And James probably felt a little of it when he said a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. (e) But everyone needs to understand that Christianity is not a doorway event. (f) With Christianity, you are either all the way in or you are all the way out. There is more to say, but I am out of time. Let me close by saying you and I have been chosen for this time and for this hour. God is the omnipotent and omniscient God. He has all power and knows all things. That means you are where God wants you to be and when God wants you to be there. You were placed here for now and equipped with what you need to influence this place for Jesus. The question is, "Will you?" To do so, you must be saved. There are more things you must be, but this is the first. Are you saved?