 Good evening. It's good to see you back on Sunday evening for our evening worship service Tonight we're back in judges chapter 6 and I know that we understand this here We value our worship together, but Lord works through the means of our corporate worship together In a way that he doesn't work through other means It's a unique means and the Lord works through that means as we gather together as the people of God in place Under his word and submission to his word and there are blessings that are poured out in the corporate worship of God's people That are in no other way poured out the same When we join the word of God with the assembled saints of God with fellowship with prayer with a study of his word The Lord is present in that and blesses his people through that means and those are blessings You can't get from a video, right? Excuse me those are blessings you can't get from a podcast and so we value our worship together. It's in Good to be here with you. It's good that we're here together to hear the word of God preached With that a turn with me in judge to judges chapter 6 tonight We're back in judges chapter 6 verses 11 through 24 and the call of Gideon the call of Gideon As you're turning there I'll read our text and then we'll pray and look at this text together this evening judges chapter 6 11 through 24 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terribent tree, which was an ophra which belonged to joe ash the abeas, right? While his son Gideon Threshed wheat in the wine press in order to hide it from the Midianites and the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him The Lord is with you you mighty man of valor and Gideon said to him Oh my Lord if the Lord is with us and why has then has all this happened to us Where are all his miracles which our fathers told us about saying did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites Then the Lord turned to him and said Go in this might of yours and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you? So he said to him. Oh my Lord. How can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house And the Lord said to him surely I will be with you and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man Then he said to him if now I have found favor in your sight then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me Do not depart from here. I pray until I come back to you and bring my offering and set it before you And he said I will wait until you come back So Gideon went in and he prepared a young goat and unleavened unleavened bread from an efo flower The meat he put in a basket and he put the broth in a pot and he brought them out to him under the terribent tree and presented them The angel of God said to him Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock and pour out the broth and he did so Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of his staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread and Fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread and the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight Now Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord So Gideon said alas oh Lord God for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face Then the Lord said to him peace be with you do not fear you shall not die So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it the Lord is peace To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiyah's rights. Let's pray together Father in heaven where we thank you for this text. Thank you for this study Thank you for your word to us through the book of judges here and now particularly the call of Gideon We are in amazement of you Lord our Saving delivering patient long-suffering kind compassionate gracious God you have Conquered all our enemies through Jesus Christ our Lord and we are now more than conquerors through him We thank you Lord for the the grace that you've shown us in the gospel Thank you for the outpouring of your spirit who goes with us We thank you Lord for the strength and wisdom that you supply to those that you employ in your service And I pray Lord we would be faithful to you in that Help us to take faith and follow you fervently Lord. Help us to trust in you And to obey you and to rely on you and depend on you as we face the difficulties in our lives And where may you receive all the glory help us Lord now as we take lessons from this text to do just that We praise you and we worship you in this and Jesus name. Amen The title of our sermon the call of Gideon judges chapter 6 verses 11 through 24 our account of the call of Gideon began last week with a dark and Tragic refrain that we've become all too familiar with in the book of judges beginning in chapter 6 verse 1 Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord And as the hammer of God's word now continues to drive that point through our thick skulls We are confronted with an appalling truth from the word of God in judges chapter 6 and in other chapters of judges And that is this it called by God to worship him and to stay away from the foolish idols of this world Fallen man is doggedly determined in his flesh to do anything, but worship him That is the pull the tug of the heart of fallen man It's the pull of the heart of fallen man in his natural state We are as Calvin said factories for idols and man simply does not want to worship God We found out from verses 1 through 10. We looked at the Midianite menace these Midianites that God had delivered his people over to and we realized that the Midianite menace is not the Midianites themselves But the Midianite menace is the idols of that pagan people who have ensnared the hearts of God's people to follow after Idolatry, that's the Midianite menace It's the the wickedness the fallen is of our own flesh that is the Midianite menace here to the people of Israel And as Christians, we are ourselves, aren't we? We're pulled and tugged In our flesh to run after the idols of this world leisure pleasure wealth whatever it is whatever idol You're wrecked for yourselves our fallen flesh our fallen hearts are Susceptible given over easily swayed by easily ensnared by idols idolatry So then What is the state of man as a result of all this as a result of his fallen heart well professing to be wise man? Consistently and persistently plays the fool Changing the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man He'll fashion a God for himself out of gold or silver Rocks sticks stones birds four-footed animals creeping things idols of the heart lusts of the flesh Right and the man's favorite idol is of course man himself The man will do all that while despising the riches of his goodness and Forbearance and long suffering not knowing that his goodness forbearance long suffering is all to lead us to repentance Then we do that to our destruction. We do that as fools right until the Lord intervenes with grace and mercy So in his righteous wrath then in keeping with his covenant with the people of Israel God then gives the Israelites over into the hands of their enemies the Midianites Just as he said he would in Leviticus chapter 26 Deuteronomy chapter 28 and others When they cry out to the Lord for deliverance He doesn't immediately this time raise up a judge to deliver them. He sends a prophet instead His prosecuting attorney is prosecuting envoy Charged with bringing a word of accusation against his people But charged with bringing his word to them. God sends them not a deliverer God sends them his word now through that prophet in chapter 6 verse 8 the Lord begins by Reminding them of his goodness his grace his covenant loving kindness toward them and he says this Thus says the Lord God of Israel I Brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you and drove them out before you And gave you their land right this is Covenant language They would be his people and he would be their God He gives evidence of this by rescuing them out of bondage by bringing them out of the fiery furnace of Egypt He delivers them that goodness that grace that mercy of God ultimately despised by Israel We see them now once again in idolatry doing evil in the side of the Lord Under the iron fist now of the Midianites. What's the ongoing lesson then from this? What's the ongoing lesson? apart from the gracious and sovereign work of God in the heart of man the Hearts of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil apart from the grace and Sovereign work of God in the heart of man. We are set to do evil That is as equally true of you and I as it was for them It takes a sovereign work of the grace of God in our hearts to fundamentally Change who we are it takes a sovereign work of the grace of God in our hearts to Transform our desires to change our thinking to renew our minds, right? Or there but by the grace of God go I that weren't for the grace of God. I would be a Midianite you would be and I would be a Canaanite takes the grace of God so The Israelites find themselves in idolatry The Israelites find themselves under the hand of their enemies of the Midianites under the judgment of God and The Israelites then grown in misery under their judgment. They cry out for rescue God answers back with a reminder God calls to them for their repentance and says in verse 10. You have not obeyed my voice Now very often in scripture you think about that statement Very often in scripture that particular pronouncement of God and Renouncement on the part of God's prophet is often followed by a terrifying therefore and a declaration of Coming judgment you have not obeyed my voice and so I'm gonna send the Chaldeans To judge you you've not obeyed my voice. I'm gonna give you over into the hand of the Babylonians, right? Let me give you some examples of that After chastising the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah for their sin against him The Lord says to the prophet Isaiah in chapter 5 verse 24 listen Therefore he chastises them for their sin. You've not obeyed my voice Therefore as the fire devours the stubble and the flame consumes the chaff So their root will be as rotteness and their blossom will ascend like the dust Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and despise the word of the Holy One of Israel The word pronounces judgment doesn't he? You've not obeyed my voice Therefore a declaration of judgment. Let me give you another example in addressing this wicked world For its sin in Isaiah chapter 13. The Lord says therefore Therefore I will shake the heavens And the earth will move out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger That's a judgment still left to come That one's coming Now we might well expect in Judges chapter 6. We might well expect to hear a there for After the words of the prophet in verses 1 through 10 We might expect to hear a there for in Judges chapter 6 verse 11 But after the prophet speaks we hear no there for There's no pronouncement of judgment and woe. What do we find instead in verse 11? What do we find there? We find God's patience again God's mercy God's grace again God's forbearance God's long-suffering God Preparing once again in his providence according to his work according to his loving-kindness Once again preparing to raise a savior for his people. This is the grace of Almighty God, right? Gracious grace upon grace Patience upon patience goodness upon goodness look at verse 11 Now the angel of the Lord Came and sat under the terribent tree which was an ophra which belonged to Joash the Abiyah's right While his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites So no proclamation of woe right? No, therefore God looks upon them with compassion It's another evidence to them should be another evidence to them of his grace and his mercy God is gracious. He is rich in grace abounding in mercy Patient with us not willing that anyone should die right not willing that someone someone should die in their sin It's not as if God takes sinners and he props them up like Pharaoh for the purpose of shooting them down So that he can be glorified in their condemnation. That's not the God of the Bible Who is the God of the Bible that's continuously presented to us? Who is he? He's a God who is rich in mercy and abounding in grace Who's compassionate and patient long suffering not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance That's the God of the Bible But there are so many times and thinking about our own sin and thinking about the ways that we continue to rebel against them That we should put our head in our hands and weep with gratitude that God has not dealt with us according to our sins He's not dealt with us according to our iniquities, right? God is rich in mercy But God also says That his spirit will not strive with man forever There will come a point when God says No, must The time for mercy is done The time for grace is over now Judgment will flow right his spirit will not strive with man forever if you remember that statement The Lord made that statement before the flood came He told Noah My spirit will not strive with man forever 120 years will be his days on the earth and then the flood came right then the flood came This is a time for mercy This is a time when God's judgment is being withheld This is a time when God's gospel the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is being preached This is a time for grace a time for mercy a time for compassion patience and goodness and kindness Don't reject the goodness and forbearance of God. Don't despise it, but let it lead you to repentance If you're listening to this That is a grace of God If you're listening to this that is the mercy of our God and God has sent us a savior. Has he not Jesus Christ the Lord And believers the Lord has given us of his spirit sent his spirit It's amazing. It's amazing Thinking about that right the Lord sent The Lord Jesus Christ to us The Lord Jesus Christ came to the earth as a man lived a perfect sinless life He goes to the cross as a perfect sinless sacrifice to save sinners in other words God himself God the son visited us Right visited us and went to the cross to die for us to die for his people And here we are in judges chapter 6 and who do we find? sitting under the tariff tree in the city of ophra But the angel of the Lord Interesting, isn't it? God himself visiting his people Verse 11 refers to him as the angel of the Lord, but notice not an angel But the angel Who is this being spoken of here in judges chapter 6 verse 11? This is the one To whom all the judges point This is God visiting his people The only one who will fully and forever deliver their people his people from their bondage Here he is raising up a temporary deliverer Talking to gideon right in order to point God's people ultimately to himself He's the ultimate fulfillment of all the gideons Right. This is called a christophany A pre-incarnate visitation of God the son here giving direction raising up a deliverer for God's people Now there are a few indications in the immediate context that this is so you'd ask the question Well, how do we know that this is so? There are a few indications in the immediate context that help us answer that question in verse 14 the Lord Yahweh listen now. He turns to him and he speaks That's verse 14. It's the Lord Yahweh You'll notice in your bibles capital l capital o capital r capital d. That's Yahweh. That is God Right the Lord Yahweh Continues to speak to Gideon in verse 16 And he says surely I will be with you and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man in verse 17 Gideon now wants a sign That it's the Lord who speaks with him He's beginning to get the picture initially Gideon doesn't get it. He doesn't know who he's talking with Then it starts to dawn on him who this may be and Gideon wants a sign that it's really the Lord who speaks to him That it's really Yahweh who speaks with him. So Gideon prepares what amounts to an offering Which the Lord accepts by fire right fire comes out of the rock burns up the offering And the angel of the Lord departs out of his sight But look at verse 22 Now Gideon when this happened When the Lord accepted his offering through fire Gideon perceived verse 22 that he was the angel of the Lord And so Gideon said alas. Oh Lord God that wasn't a an alas of Wonder and amazement as much as it was an alas. I'm going to die Alas. Oh Lord God Right I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face Then the Lord said to him peace be with you. Do not fear. It was an alas of fear. You see you shall not die Now why would Gideon think that he was going to die? Well for the same reason that Jacob thought he might die in Genesis chapter 32 For the same reason Gideon believed that he had seen God face to face The angel of the Lord he associated with God in chapter 13 judges chapter 13 In verse 21 Samson's parents See the angel of the Lord in a similar circumstance He did a wondrous thing while manoa and his wife Looked on he he burnt up a sacrifice in the same way And then the angel of the Lord ascended in the fire into heaven and disappeared out of their sight And then he says this in chapter 13 verse 21 When the angel of the Lord appeared no more to manoa and his wife Then manoa knew That he was the angel of the Lord similar to Gideon's experience right and manoa said to his wife We shall surely die. Why because we have seen God We've seen God That experience wasn't lost on manoa right. He understood what was going on. He understood who this messenger was Now this messenger the angel of the Lord Was foretold explained By moses turned back with me to exodus chapter 23 exodus chapter 23 And dropped down there to verse 20 moses had explained The coming of this angel of the Lord In exodus chapter 23 beginning in verse 20 Behold moses said I send an angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place, which I have prepared This is the Lord speaking verse 21 Beware of him And obey his voice Do not provoke him For he will not pardon your transgressions For my name is in him. It's an interesting statement. Isn't it isn't it? This angel the angel of the Lord Will not pardon your transgressions If you do not obey his voice or you provoke him why because God says my name Is in him. What does that mean? Meaning it means that God reveals himself In this envoy this angel this messenger God's character. God's very nature Revealed in the angel of the Lord later in exodus chapter 33. He's called God's presence My presence will go before you In Hebrews chapter 1 Hebrews describes him as the express image of his person That's the Lord Jesus Christ the express image of his person The revelation of the character and nature of God his name is in him look at verse 22 But if you indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak in other words when he speaks God speaks Do you catch that if you indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak Then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries For my angel will go before you and bring you to the into the amorites the hittites The parasites and the cananites and the high vites and the jebusites and I will cut them off You shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them nor do according to their works But you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars that figure The figure that we see in judges chapter 6 verse 11 and in judges chapter 13 verse 21 Is none other than this angel. It's a divine figure the pre-incarnate son of God Many other places we could go many of their Texts we could study to show this point. We don't have time to do that tonight, but This is the pre-incarnate son of God the Lord Jesus Christ incidentally Why is it that those who see the angel of the Lord believe that they will die? Because the bible has said that god No one could see god's face and live No one could see god face to face and live Why is that it's because god is holy and you are not god is holy. I am not We are not holy. We deserve to die because of our sin It would be the very holiness the very glory of god You could say that would consume us in our sin if we saw god face to face There has to be this Mediation There must be a mediator between god and man. That is the man christ jesus praise god We deserve to die because of our sin yet the lord condescends To visit us in the person of his only begotten son He stoops you see that's grace. That's grace Back in verse 11 Back in verse 11 Now the angel of the lord came And he sat under the terribent tree which was in ophra Now that's an important tree in the town, but simply a place of meeting right? It's not a Necessarily a sacred spot. It's not unlike the palm of debra in judges chapter 4 It was an easy landmark in ophra in the town. It's a place where people would meet Okay, sat under the terribent tree which was in ophra And this particular tree was one which belonged to joe ash Via bea's right While his son giddy and threshed weed in the wine press in order to hide it from the midianites And the angel of the lord appeared to him and he said to him Lord is with you. You mighty man of valor Now think about verse 12 with me. Okay, he calls him a mighty man of valor a gibor ha hyal Gibor ha hyal a hero champion warrior man of strength That's what he calls giddyan A hero champion warrior man of strong manly strength But it would seem That giddyan is anything but A man of valor if we look at the text Keep in mind the big picture Keep in mind the big picture The israelites are suffering under the judgment that is due their sin Apart from the lord's intervention. They are in a hopeless And helpless condition No hope apart from god They're entirely utterly powerless to save themselves They can't even see past their own miserable Circumstances to see god's hand in all of this. They can't connect the dots So god graciously sends a prophet to remind them of his goodness to remind them of his word to them And now god condescends to visit them in their sin in their rebellion and misery and in their weakness And god intends to do this to show himself strong and mighty to save not to show ultimate Gideon mighty and strong but to show himself Strong and mighty to save and then the angel of the lord comes to giddyan Not exactly a picture of robust manliness Or mightiness or at this point a hero champion warrior man of strength God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. That's what god does Now the angel of the lord calls him a mighty man of valor in verse 12 Not because he's currently acting like one But because that's what he will be In the power of the spirit of god when the spirit of god comes upon him in verses and events that follow, right? This is what giddyan will be in the power of god. He will be a Gibor ha ha ha him right. He'll be a mighty man of valor But now consider with me what giddyan is doing in verse 11 And then what he says in verse 13 giddyan's not there yet Right in verse 11 giddyan the son of joash Was found threshing wheat in the wine press not on the threshing floor But he's threshing wheat in the wine press In order to hide it from the Midianites now He's doing this to preserve the life his own life and the life of his family if you remember from verses 1 through 10 The Midianites would sweep in across the country from east to west. They would camp in their tents They would bring camels like locusts and they would steal food They would ruin the crops that the Israelites had sown. They would take their cattle, right? And they would essentially they were starving the Israelites out. So here is giddyan Threshing not on the threshing floor where it was obvious where you could be seen But he's in the wine press Concealed and hidden threshing wheat in the wine press to hide some food from the Midianites So he could preserve his life preserve the lives of his family And this is the man who's going to save israel out of the hand of the Midianites he's going to deliver them and destroy the Midianites as one man and yet here he is hiding in the wine press threshing wheat, right? Not exactly the picture of a warrior champion yet But secondly consider what giddyan says then in verse 13 And this has a tone to it if you read verse 13 giddyan immediately responds he doesn't Give any Ascent to the flattery at all Just passes over that entirely and says this in verse 13 if the lord is with us Why then has all this happened to us? and By the way, where are all his miracles which our fathers told us about? Now giddyan's thoughts on the matter then bring him to the conclusion of verse 13 No giddyan thinks the lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites Now giddyan doesn't realize yet who he's talking to not put two and two together yet And this is not exactly A polite response to the kind hello of verse 12. There's definitely a tone here The lord is with you. You mighty man of valor. That's what the angel lord says to him Getting an essentially response the lord is with me. Are you kidding me? Do you see where I am? Do you see what I'm doing? I'm hiding out in a wine press Threshing wheat If the lord is with us then why in the world has all this happened to us He may have shown up for our fathers, but he certainly hasn't shown up for us You see what giddyan's saying? He has forsaken us. He's abandoned us. He's given us over to the hand of our enemy But don't forget Don't forget as giddyan is saying this remember His family is back in offra With an altar to bail and an asherapole set up in their backyard right Family's back at home worshiping idols and giddyan is not putting two and two together Right. God's not for us God has not shown up for us like he did for our fathers. God's forsaken us abandoned us If lord is with us and why is all this happened to us? What's going on? Why is this happened and they're worshiping bail? They're worshiping asherah. It's amazing, isn't it? How ignorant we can be We have all these difficulties. Why have all these difficulties come upon me? You could ask that of yourself. Can't you in some of your circumstances? We can find ourselves asking that question Why have these circumstances befallen me? Why do I find myself in this difficulty? Why am I facing this adversity? Why are things so hard? Right, why can't I just catch a break every now and then? Why are these coming upon us? Because We are full of pride We are full of remaining corruption We are full of the Midianite menace Our hearts have been corrupted and polluted by sin And we need sanctification, don't we? Our minds have been darkened by sin and we need our minds to be renewed We need our hearts to be changed. We need to be matured. We need to be conformed Into the image of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ We need a work of God in our heart and God has ordained In His wisdom, it is so that oftentimes that growth of maturity comes through pain and adversity Comes through difficulty Why have these difficulties come upon me? Because the Lord has sovereignly decreed in His goodness to you That this is right and good for you to mature in the faith One evidence is that we often blame God for our trials It's an evidence that we need correction We need help, we need maturity, we need sanctification Rather than humbling ourselves and trusting Him, turning from our sin We might say, we might throw our hands up with Gideon. The Lord isn't for me Right? The Lord hasn't shown up for me like He's shown up for my brothers The Lord hasn't shown up for me like He's shown up for others He hasn't shown up for our church like He's shown up for other churches Right? We can find ourselves guilty of saying those kinds of faithless Unbelieving things in our own hearts and minds if we're not careful You can play woe as me, play the victim. He's not shown up for me like He's shown up for others Right? And I'm struggling with this The Lord isn't for me. The Lord has abandoned me to my enemies. No, He hasn't No, He hasn't. The Lord is faithful, faithful to His Word. The Lord hasn't abandoned you or forsaken you You think to yourself, what might do I have? What might do I have? What strength do I have? So the Lord turns then, the angel of the Lord turns to Gideon in verse 14 The Lord turned to him and said, go in this might of yours You say, what might do I have? The Lord turns to you and says, go in this might of yours. What might is that? I need strength. I need help. I'm weak The Lord turned to him and said, go in this might of yours. You shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites Have I not sent you? That's the issue That's the issue If anyone else had sent Gideon, it would have certainly been a fool's errand If Gideon had run of his own Apart from the Lord, it would have been a fool's errand But those employed by God Are those supplied by God If God sends you, then you have God's provision Sent ones are supplied ones. Do you see? He'll have the strength that he needs. He simply needs to believe God for it Lord turns to him and says verse 14 go in this might of yours The believer says yes, Lord and follows in faith And what does the Lord do? The Lord comes through with strength Lord comes through with what you need. The Lord is faithful to his word Have I not sent you? We won't accomplish anything apart from him But I can accomplish all things through him who strengthens me Get to use that verse in an inappropriate context I can accomplish all things through him who strengthens me Not by might more by power, but by my spirit says the Lord of hosts Gideon doesn't get this yet. How's he going to be a man of valor? He's going to be a man of valor because the spirit of God is going to fill him The spirit of God is going to empower him. The spirit of God is going to strengthen him The spirit of God is going to supply him But Gideon doesn't get it yet verse 15 so he says to him Oh my lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in manasseh. I am the least in my father's house What are those apparent limitations to God? Right. There's nothing Moses says I can't talk good and God says to him. Who is it that made your mouth? Right. He says the same thing essentially to Gideon The Lord said to him verse 16 Surely I will be with you and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man It's amazing, isn't it? The difficulties that we face Are never So difficult as we imagine them to be If you're in the Lord, you're following the Lord by faith The difficulties that we face Are never so difficult as we imagine them to be We see the trouble, don't we? We often see the trouble is greater than it is Seems impossible to us. We don't understand how this is going to work out or what's going to happen Don't understand Thank you, brother We fail to see our help often as near as it is And we push out the thoughts of comfort and consolation We push them out with our anguish and with our anxiety Think with me for a moment about that. We serve the Lord God who is faithful to his word who is sovereign over all things Working all things for our good. He promises that in his word And yet we see our circumstances. We see our adversity and often we say to ourselves This is too great to bear. This is too difficult Creates anxiety and worry Your difficulties Are never So difficult as we often imagine them to be And our help is not far off. Our help is near. Our help is from the Lord. He is our rock. He is our refuge But what do we do? we anguish We worry We're filled with anxiety and our anguish and anxiety pushes out from us the comfort and consolation that is ours in christ Because we don't think to ourselves. No the Lord is good. The Lord is faithful. The Lord is sovereign He is true to his word. This is working out for my good And we we don't avail ourselves of that blessed comfort that blessed comfort consolation because we're too busy worrying too busy wallowing in our anguish We need to remind ourselves the Lord is with us the Lord is with us and we shall surely conquer our enemies as one man Those that went before us suffered and the Lord was with them That's why the Lord tells stories like that in scripture Tells of the egyptians And how the Lord brought them up brought them out of egypt with a mighty hand He tells us that to remind us that as the Lord was with them so he will be with us He never abandoned them. He never forsook them Surely they thought so when the when the egyptians oppressed them right when they were Made to make bricks without straw. They must have thought themselves now the Lord is going to kill us by the hand of these egyptians Lord has forsaken us When the egyptians were giving decrees to kill male children How would you like to have to take your newborn son? Wrap him up put him in a basket and float him down the river We have to worry that the midwife is going to take his life as soon as he's born No God says I am the Lord your God and I am with you and I will not forsake you Jesus told his disciples let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God believe also in me Let not your heart be troubled We often give such great testimony of faith In our times of comfort and ease when things are going well Our faith is strong. We give such a great testimony of strong working powerful faith Ready to charge armies charge hell with a squirt gun And in the time of trial We see how truly weak and poorly armed we are in our own flesh How truly unprepared we are for the battles that we face We weep we doubt our even our physical strength Sometimes feels as the psalmist says right dried up in the fever drought of summer We need him We need the Lord. We can't do it in our own strength We are no mighty man of valor or mighty woman of valor apart from him But in him we can be and will be by faith. You'll see to it that we are supplied David understood this David said this in psalm 32 verse 6 listen For this cause Everyone who is godly shall pray to you in a time when you may be found Surely in a flood of great waters. They shall not come near him You are my hiding place. You shall preserve me from trouble. You shall surround me with songs of deliverance I will instruct you And teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with my eye the Lord says Do not be like a horse Or like the mule which has no understanding which must be harnessed with bit and bridal else. They will not come near you Many sorrows shall be to the wicked But he who trusts in the Lord mercy shall surround him Be glad in the Lord and rejoice you righteous shout for joy all you upright and heart It's interesting. Don't be like the horse or the mule What is it like when you are acting like a horse or a mule? Well Your brother has to come alongside you Open his bible and Press truth into your ear That you might hear truth from the word of god to get you to turn out of your foolish way You're acting like a horse or a mule Somebody has to come alongside you and correct you you have to be Harnessed with bit and bridal because you're taking off in some foolish course And your brother your sister has to come alongside you and point you in the right direction The word of god has to rebuke you right god himself through your circumstances has to chasing you To bring you to understanding You're acting like the horse or you're acting like a mule which have no understanding Trust in the lord god says i'll instruct you teach you in the way you should go I will guide you with my eye Be glad in the lord rejoice you righteous We face physical Temporal and often difficult circumstances don't we that's true And the lord is sovereign over all of those every difficult circumstance you face the lord is sovereign over that difficulty over that adversity But we would have to acknowledge wouldn't we that our primary battle is not a physical one Not a temporal one, but a spiritual one. It's oftentimes at them the most difficult physical earthly or temporal difficulty in the grand scheme of things is is not That difficult it's the spiritual battle That is where the war is won or lost right even when you face horrendously difficult physical or temporal circumstances It's the inward battle in the heart and the mind that determines whether the war is won or lost it's the inward you can think of the absolute most dire Circumstances that a human being can face and if that human being faces that dire horrendous Circumstances by faith trusting in the lord Then the lord will get them through that circumstance right paul says in 2nd Corinthians chapter one. We despaired even of life It was a burden that we couldn't bear But god took us through that to teach us that we must trust in the one who raises the dead We must trust him the spiritual battle The war is won or lost In our heart in our mind against spiritual enemies Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12 paul says we don't wrestle against flesh and blood But against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this age Against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places therefore Take up the whole armor of god that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand And wherever you go wherever you go in that fight whatever enemy you face Whatever midnight stands in your path We go where our faithful high priest has gone before us Right, we go where he's already been And he's already won the victory Hebrews chapter 4 verse 14 listen seeing then that we have a great high priest Who's passed through the heavens jesus the son of god. Let us hold fast our confession For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses But was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin Let us therefore what's our response to that truth? Right that jesus christ has gone before us in that way. What's our response? Let us therefore come Boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need amazing Gifts and blessings won by the lord jesus christ at the cross for us We don't face enemies quite like the midianites We face enemies just like the midianites all over the place, right? The lord does not abandon us the lord does not forsake us He will certainly Show up for you just like he showed up for the for his people in the bible That's why these stories are here to encourage your faith be strong. You mighty man of valor You give bore ha ha ha him be strong you mighty woman of valor Don't doubt right don't doubt the lord will supply those whom he sends In verse 16 the lord said to him surely i will be with you and you shall defeat the midianites as one man By his spirit we shall amen Amen, let's pray Father in heaven where we thank you for these blessed promises Thank you for these blessed examples. Thank you for these blessed truths from your word Help us lord to solidly soundly unwaveringly put our faith in the lord jesus christ And go forth the battle and the strength which you supply And we are more than conquerors through him who loved us and gave himself for us. We Love you lord. We thank you for these blessed promises and pray by your spirit. You would strengthen us for the battles ahead Strengthen us lord with the enemies that we face Help us lord to follow you faithfully follow you fervently not to compromise but to obey your word to trust you And to persevere to the end until you take us home There's anyone here who isn't saved i pray that you would lord Show them the midianite menace within their own heart They might turn from sin and trust you and go forth in the power that your spirit supplies We love you lord. We thank you for all these things in the name of jesus christ. We pray amen