 Amen. Thank you, brothers for praying. Good to see everybody back. Welcome. I'm glad you're here this evening for our evening service. Hope you had a wonderful afternoon of fellowship. We had a great time of fellowship, being able to fellowship with Hannah's family from Wyoming, and although separated by many miles, one faith, one baptism, one Lord, it's a joy. It's a fellowship with God's people, wherever they may come from, and we're grateful for that this afternoon and hope you had a good afternoon of fellowship as well. It's good to see you back for our evening service. I want to keep encouraging you to come. I'm grateful that you're here, and we want to keep placing ourselves under the preaching of God's word. Right? God works through His word to grow us up in the faith, to mature us in the faith, and that's you can benefit from videos, you can benefit from a podcast, but there's nothing like being with God's people, praying with God's people, submitting themselves to the word of God with God's people in the corporate worship of God's people. God works through that in a special way to mature His people and grow His people, and we are grateful for it. So it's good to have you back. We are back in the book of Judges this evening. So Judges chapter 6 is our text, and we're again examining the call of Gideon, and this is part 2 in this brief section of text that runs from verse 11 through verse 24. So turn with me there in your Bibles to Judges chapter 6 verses 11 through 24, and let's consider again tonight in part 2 the call of Gideon. The Judges chapter 6 beginning in verse 11. Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terribent tree, which was in Ophra, which belonged to Joash the Abiyah's 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. So Gideon said to him, verse 13, oh my Lord, if the Lord is with us, and why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his miracles, which our Father told us about saying, did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord has forsaken us, delivered us into the hand 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 in verse 15, 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 prepared a young goat and 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 the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat, 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 and so Gideon said, Alas, O 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. And so Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, the Lord is peace. To this day it is still in OFRA of the Abiyah's rites. This is the word of God, amen. Amen, let's pray together. Father in heaven, Lord, we are grateful for your word. Grateful for the blessing of sitting under your word and learning at your feet. So grateful, Lord, for the lessons here that you've taught us. In the book of Judges, and in particular now as we consider the Midianite menace and the call of Gideon, we're very grateful for these lessons. We're grateful, Lord, that you give these examples to us for our admonition. They are examples to us. And we want to learn from the examples that you've given us. So help us, Lord, to understand. Help us to learn these lessons and apply them to our hearts and minds. And help us, Lord, to live for you according to them. And we're grateful, Lord, for this lesson of Gideon and what it is teaching us about genuine faith and what it means to trust in you. So Lord, be with us now as we consider this text. Be with us as we think through these things. Help us to understand, Lord, and then help us to worship, to praise you and to obey you as we should for your glory, God. We pray these things. Amen. Well, again, the title of our sermon this evening is The Call of Gideon. This is part 2, Judges chapter 6, verses 11 through 24. What we want to do tonight in Judges chapter 6, verses 11 through 24, part 2 here of this little series in Judges 6 is essentially put ourselves in the sandals of Gideon. We want to put ourselves in Gideon's shoes as he has this encounter with the angel of the Lord in Judges chapter 6. And this is in preparation for Gideon being called to deliver God's people out of the hand of their enemies, the Midianites. Now, when we last left Gideon in Judges chapter 6, Gideon was threshing wheat in the wine press, hiding out from the Midianite menace in verse 11. And that's when, in verse 11, a mysterious figure appears to him, unknown to Gideon at the time, but known to us from the text, we know him to be the angel of the Lord. This is a Christophany, as we discussed last Lord's Day, a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. All things said, when Gideonite meets the angel of the Lord, he would probably prefer a do-over on this entire conversation. All things said, the conversation didn't go that well in the beginning. Gideon definitely got off on the wrong foot. Now, it appears as though, if we read sort of in the white spaces, if you will, between the lines of the text, Gideon had a bit of a tone to his response to the angel of the Lord as he enters into this conversation. Gideon seems a bit embittered about his circumstances, a bit embittered about where the children of Israel find themselves at this point in history. There's definitely a tone to Gideon's response in these opening verses. Now, he certainly isn't seeing his circumstances the way that he should. He's certainly not seeing the circumstances now for the children of Israel the way that he should. The Lord had sent a prophet to his people. He didn't immediately send a deliverer. He sends them a prophet. He sends them his word. That prophet would have been all over Israel preaching this message from chapter 6, verse 8. Thus says the Lord God of Israel. I brought you up from Egypt. I 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. The Lord did that in his grace and in his mercy to his covenant people. He brought them out of the iron furnace of Egypt. And also he said, I said to you in verse 10, I am the Lord your God. In other words, we've entered into covenant together. I am the Lord your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites. In other words, don't bow down to those gods. Don't worship those pagan, worthless, mute, deaf, dumb gods. I am the Lord your God. But, verse 10, you have not obeyed my voice. That's the condition now that the children of Israel find themselves in. A disobedient people now under judgment. Now the message of the prophet was clear. The message clearly ties their current circumstances to the judgment of God on their disobedience. It's the very same message that the Lord delivered to them at Bochim, right? The place of weeping from Judges chapter 2. It's the very same message the Lord delivered to them at the giving of the law back in Leviticus chapter 26, back in Deuteronomy chapter 28. And now it's the very same message that He gave them when He established His covenant with them. And yet, despite that message, despite its repetition, it's been repeated over and over again now to Gideon, we find Gideon in a bit of an emotional outburst here in verse 13 saying, if the Lord is with us, then why then has all this happened to us? Gideon, have you not put two and two together yet? This is exactly what the Lord said would happen to you if you fall into sin and you worship those pagan, worthless idols. Where are all His miracles, which our fathers told us about? The Lord has forsaken us and the Lord has delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. The last part is true. It was the Lord who delivered them into the hands of the Midianites. But the Lord hasn't forsaken them. What's the purpose behind God's judgment? What's the intention? When God delivers them into the hands of the Midianites, what does the Lord want to see? He wants to see their repentance. He wants to see them turn back to Him. And the Lord does this for their good. Now, Gideon says all this, right? He's making these statements. He's a bit embittered. He's a bit perplexed it would seem in the current condition. But all the while, all the while Gideon's family is back in OFRA, worshiping Baal. There's a Baal altar set up in town and an Asherapole set up next to it. Like we so often shamefully do, don't we? If we acknowledge, we think for a moment about our own circumstances as we so often shamefully do ourselves, Gideon here, to connect the dots. He doesn't see God's sovereign hand over all these circumstances. He's refusing to acknowledge His sin, right? He's refusing to acknowledge the sin of the covenant people of God now in this period of the judges. He's refusing to acknowledge God's righteous justice in their circumstances. He's a bit like a child, isn't he? In how he responds to His circumstances. Have you ever gone to discipline your children and they've done something wrong and when you go to discipline them or you confront them in their sin, the little heathen, they get mad at you. You ever noticed that? Don't eat the cookies. Don't eat the cookies. Don't eat them. And you turn your back for a moment, you turn your back around and there's cookie all over their face and you say, what are you doing eating the cookies? And they get mad at you because you've caught them in their sin. Gideon's having a similar kind of a reaction here. He's angry. God has forsaken us. He's not shown up for us like he showed up for our fathers. Why has all this come upon us? Why has all this happened to us? And yet Gideon's got family back home worshiping Baal, right? The children of Israel are worshiping idols. Gideon's not connecting the dots here and he's having a bit of an emotional outburst. Now, like a mom or a dad would be with that child, very patient, very compassionate, the Lord explains that Gideon will be the one that he will use to deliver his people Israel from out of the hands, from out from under the hand of the Midianites. He reassures Gideon in verse 16, listen and the Lord said to him surely I will be with you and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man. Surely I will be with you. The Lord graciously repeats His promise. The Lord is with you verse 12. And surely I will be with you verse 16. You're going to save Israel from the Midianites verse 14. You shall defeat the Midianites as one man, verse 16. The Lord is calling Gideon into service. He graciously comes to Gideon even in his present condition which is not so good. And what does in this situation Gideon, what does Gideon have to do? What does Gideon have to do? Gideon has to respond in faith. Gideon is expected to respond in faith. Gideon is expected to walk by faith and not by sight. The difficulty here is that Gideon up to this point has been walking almost entirely by sight and not by faith. He's got his eyes down in his circumstances. He's looking at the way that things are on the ground so to speak and he's not considering that a sovereign God rules over the affairs of men and rules in particular over his circumstances even now. He's not trusting the Lord. Because his sight is glued to his circumstances his sight is obstructed. Gideon believes that he sees things as they are. Does Gideon see things as they are? He's blinded. His sight is obstructed. He hasn't connected the dots. The lack of faith, the lack of perspective is blinding him to the truth and that in large part because he's focused on his circumstances and he's not focused on the Lord. He's walking by sight. This is the way I see things. He's not walking by faith. Because of that now he's lost all true perspective and the younger judge rightly the way that things truly are and he says to himself, woe is me, doesn't he? How did I get here? How did we wind up this way? He's incapable of seeing things as they really are. He's incapable of seeing himself acknowledging his own sin. He doesn't see his own sinfulness against God. He's incapable of seeing God and God's perspective on things. The foolish mind of the faithless is darkened and without understanding. When we don't consider our circumstances from the perspective of God's Word or from the perspective of biblical faith then our understanding becomes darkened. We become fools who profess to be wise. We must turn back to the Lord. We must turn back to his Word and walk by faith. If you ever find yourself in difficult circumstances in the same way, what do we do? We go to God's Word. We think about the Lord's intention the Lord's purposes for this trial that we find ourselves in and we think about Scripture we think about what the Lord would have us think about we look to his Word we look to him, we turn from sin God says I want you to be holy I want you to pray and the Lord promises I will never leave you nor forsake you. We just have to remember to think rightly. Oftentimes we need our minds and our hearts readjusted and often when we have a heart and mind readjustment it comes through pain the difficulty of our circumstances we often grow most in the soil of our sin or in the soil of our mistakes or in our circumstances. Now, Gideon here has every reason in the world to take the Lord at his Word and to go out in faith, doesn't he? Every reason to believe the Lord the Lord had delivered them so many times before he knew about all the miracles that his fathers told him about, didn't he? He knew about those miracles he knew that God had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians but Gideon needs remediation here he needs a remedial course in faith that we can do and you could read this text and maybe think to yourself I'm a little frustrated with Gideon or I'm a little aggravated, annoyed with Gideon right now at this point how he's not seeing things or how he responded to that circumstance but listen, that's you you respond that way and I respond that way too often too many times we'd rather not admit this is us here we need reminding often that we can't save nor is his ear heavy that it cannot hear but your iniquities have separated you from your God your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear we need to turn back to the Lord and the Lord will hear this is what our sin does our sin clouds our judgment it blinds us to the truth and we end up not being able to see straight we can't see things clearly as they are it still doesn't clearly understand at this point who he's speaking with he may think that he does but nevertheless Gideon decides to put him to the test right is this you Lord who is speaking with me so he says in verse 17 look at verse 17 with me 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 to you without my offering and set it before you and he said can you imagine the Lord says I'll wait until you come back and the Lord waits on Gideon so this nagging weak faith that Gideon is sort of exhibiting here is going to follow Gideon around for a while he's going to end up putting God to the test again later in this chapter but here Gideon in testing the Lord has two primary concerns one he wants to confirm that he has God's favor do I really have your favor do I really have your favor two he wants to confirm that God is going to be with him in the work is it really you Lord who are saying this to me is it really you who are with me then he says to the Lord you wait here until I go and get things ready I'm going to put you to the test I'm going to develop and plan this test I'm going to go and put this test together you wait here until I get the test ready Gideon has lost his mind Gideon doesn't realize who he's speaking with if Gideon when Gideon realizes who he's speaking with we'll see a biblical response to that realization, okay here Gideon doesn't get it and he's acting a bit like a spoiled entitled child isn't he what we see on the part of the Lord here is great patience great patience the Lord says I'll wait until you come back but it's also isn't it compassion it's grace it's pity the depths to which we fall in our lack of faith and how patient and compassionate and good the Lord is toward us and if Gideon had the faith of a mustard seed there would be a wake of dead Midianites in his path already the Lord is great in patience in passion and grace and goodness and loving kindness toward us but here this is going to take some time so the angel of the Lord sits and waits look at verse 19 so Gideon went in there and prepared a young goat just think about what it takes to prepare a young goat to eat a meal it's going to take a long time you take a young goat and have to skin that goat and clean that goat and gut that goat and prepare that goat it's going to take a while Gideon went in and he prepared this young goat an unleavened bread from an ephah of flour an ephah I want to say if I'm correct it's about 22 liters this is no small amount of flour this is a huge amount of flour this is going to be a lot of bread that's being made here the meat verse 19 he put in a basket he put the broth in a pot and he brought them out to him Gideon said that he was going to bring his offering this is an offering to the Lord that's what Gideon intends for it to be so it's not just any goat it's a young goat particularly chosen it's not just a little bit of bread it's a huge amount of bread and remember the circumstances the Midianites have left them destitute they have very little left the Midianites have come in and have stolen everything this was quite an undertaking for Gideon he's already beginning to exhibit some faith here this would have been a costly endeavor so Gideon means business this is a costly sacrifice so Gideon brings the offering look at verse 20 the angel of God then said to him take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock and pour out the broth so Gideon did so put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread and fire rose out of the rock consumed the meat and the unleavened bread and the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight when the offering that Gideon brings is consumed by fire that indicates that the offering is accepted the offering is accepted by the angel of the Lord but he has found favor in the Lord's sight that consuming of the offering has proven it to Gideon otherwise the fire would have consumed Gideon and not the offering you see Gideon has found favor in the sight of the Lord the Lord had clearly said that it was so the Lord is with you and now the Lord clearly shows that it is so that the Lord is with him in the sense in which this test is good and somewhat understandable Proverbs 14 verse 15 the simple believes every word but the prudent considers well his steps 1 John 4 verse 1 beloved do not believe every spirit but test the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets have gone out into the world if many Charismatics would simply apply that one principle it would mean the virtual end of Charismania the things they attribute to the Spirit of God that are no way attributable to the Spirit of God that would all end study your Bible apply the word of God the Lord Jesus Christ the word the Logos the word first came through the prophets and then through the Lord himself so many professing Christians today refuse to heed his word they would say I feel led I feel led I've been praying and I feel what is that we can't make decisions like that I feel like God is telling me and then what do you do you put God to the test the sign that you want me to take that job is that they offer that job to me and I feel led to take the it hasn't crossed your mind that maybe God is testing you with a job offer that you shouldn't take but I feel led right or if you want me to take that job offer Lord it will be for exactly the right amount of money that I need and you don't consider God's word listen we don't need a sign we don't need a sign Peter says you have the prophetic word confirmed which what you do well to heed you do well to heed it it may be very likely that God is testing you by putting you in those circumstances that's not the case for Gideon here he's being told to take the job this isn't an offer this is the draft Gideon is being told this is what's going to happen but the Lord is very gracious the Lord is very patient with Gideon's weak faith he allows the test to go forward the Lord validates his word with a sign and then he consumes Gideon's offering with fire upon the rock not unlike if you remember the test that Elijah presented with the pagan bale worshippers Mount Carmel right the deranged prophets of bale fire devours the sacrifice in this case fire from beneath from the rock devours the sacrifice and the test is proven the Lord is building here Gideon's faith Lord's building Gideon's faith preparing Gideon for service Gideon's going to need to build up faith in order to do what the Lord is asking him to do look with me now at verse 22 now Gideon when he consumed the sacrifice Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord and so Gideon said alas O Lord God for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face then the Lord said to him peace be with you let's talk about that a little bit last week when the fire consumes the offering on the rock it's as if Gideon's site is restored as if Gideon his eyes are opened and suddenly Gideon realizes who it is it's an encounter with God almighty and the truth of almighty God comes flooding in upon his soul and Gideon comes to an acknowledgement not only of who he is the one whom I've been speaking with but who Gideon is as well once he is like Isaiah in the temple of the Lord in Isaiah chapter 6 smoke filling that place the posts of the doors shaking at the voice of the Lord and Isaiah cries out woe is me my eyes have seen the Lord of hosts now what was it Isaiah chapter 6 that caused Isaiah's fear it was a sight of the holiness of God in light of a crushing reality or a crushing realization of his own sin those two truths and Isaiah is undone I'm a man of unclean lips I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips alas oh Lord God it's undone the experience here in verse 22-23 is the same for Gideon it's the same for Gideon fire comes out of the rock not only consumes the sacrifice but lights as it is the fires within Gideon's own dead heart it's an encounter with the Holy One of Israel Yahweh unlike anything that Gideon was prepared for what does Gideon do he cries out in fear alas oh Lord God the angel of the Lord face to face the people of Israel if you remember that account cried out to Moses in the wilderness God had led them out of Egypt he leads them to Sinai where he's going to give them his law he's going to enter into covenant with them there they're out there with Moses in the wilderness and they cry out to Moses after seeing lightning on the mountain thundering and flashes the face of God pounding in their ears and the people cry out you speak with us and we'll hear but let not God speak with us lest we die lest we die the prevailing cavalier attitude of many regarding the worship of God the irreverence that often associates the thoughts, speech and worship of people who profess to be Christians that cavalier attitude does not do their understanding but is due their ignorance you see a familiarity that breeds irreverence is not due to their understanding but due their ignorance it's not due their familiarity with them it's due to their lack of knowledge of Him know Him it's not due to their own holiness of life but it's due to their sin and rebellion against Him that they don't see things are right when Gideon thought that he knew Gideon acted a certain way didn't he he responded a certain way there's a certain tone in the way that he's interacting with the angel of the Lord he makes the angel of the Lord sit there and wait he interacts with him at that level being a little perturbed frankly at the fact that God hasn't shown up for them what has he done for me lately right? in this conversation with the angel of the Lord when God shows up Gideon receives his sight so to speak he sees things more rightly he gains a new perspective and what happens Gideon becomes crushed and gains a new perspective Gideon becomes crushed and God becomes holy and glorified, right? Magnificent God is seen in majesty God is seen in holiness and I am crushed like a worm why? because of my own sin and what is Gideon's response? I'm going to die alas oh Lord God I've seen the angel of the Lord face to face the reverence for God a lack of holiness a lack of awe a lack of wonder and who he is and what he's done is a fruit of blindness is a fruit of ignorance it's a fruit of arrogance it's the fruit of unbelief it's the fruit of not knowing his word it's the fruit of not knowing him and we get such irreverent worship as a result such irreverent familiarity such irreverent Christian quote-unquote Christian lives love and devotion and holiness of life a sober mind, self control are the fruits of our knowledge of him applied by the spirit of God you have an encounter with Almighty God who he is and what he's done we encounter him on the pages of his word we learn of him we understand of him to be illuminated and lightened with what the word of God reveals about him and as we have knowledge of the holy one shed abroad in our hearts we respond with conviction over sin respond with self deprecating humility, seeing ourselves as we are and seeing himself more as he is what does that produce what does that knowledge of him produce it produces love devotion why doesn't it produce fear slavish fear fleeing from him fear why does it produce fear that wants to cling to him that shows love for him that is devoted to him because he is our savior our deliverer he is forgiving, he is loving, he is kind we have the gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ is why a proper understanding is forged in a consideration of our own wretchedness and his righteousness an understanding of our own depravity and his own purity the Lord has said of the wicked that there is no fear of God before their eyes in Gideon's prior interaction with the angel of the Lord there's no fear before his eyes when he responds in the way that he does when fire consumes that sacrifice on the rock Gideon is struck with fear fear of the Lord fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom what does Gideon begin to get Gideon begins to get wisdom what is it that would keep someone with that understanding from crying out in response to the wilderness listen, you talk to us but we don't want to hear from God anymore I don't want to hear from God what would keep us from that response what would keep them from hiding themselves as Revelation says hiding themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains saying fall on us hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the land that's not God's people who are saying that that's the wicked who are saying that that's the wicked who are saying fall on us hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand who is able to stand what's the difference in those two responses the difference is faith in the Savior faith in the Savior God is a deliverer God is a Savior he has sent his only begotten Son the Lord Jesus Christ into the world to seek and to save that which is lost we are sinners amen we need His mercy we need His grace the fact that He gave His only Son to save sinners we should cling to Him in faith amen throw your arms around the cross He has come to save sinners faith in God's only provision for our sin faith in who He is and what He has done listen to Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19 therefore brethren having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which He consecrated for us through the veil that is His flesh having a high priest over the house of God let us then draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water if you will flee to Him He is forgiving you'll find forgiveness with Him if you'll flee to Him you'll find cleansing with Him if you flee to Him you'll find love and compassion and grace and mercy and kindness and steadfast covenant loving kindness toward His people right it won't be striving after the law that will cause us to draw near it won't be the preaching of the law that causes us to draw near it won't be the giving of the law that causes us to draw near why? because from the law comes the knowledge of sin the knowledge of sin crashing in upon our hearts in upon our minds should send us to the Savior cause us to flee to Christ the preaching of the law should drive us to despair of any merit of our own cause us to despair for our own sin and cause us to see our need for the gospel we cannot be holy in the flesh of our own efforts we need Jesus Christ Amen no amount of law keeping will bring peace with God we need peace with God and that only comes through the shed blood of His only begotten Son the Lord Jesus Christ seek peace with Him through the gospel of His only begotten Son how does the Lord respond here in Judges chapter 6 does He rebuke Gideon does He chastise Him for His weak faith Gideon, your faith is despicable get out of my sight is that what the Lord does does He press the law upon His conscience condemn Him for His disobedience no Gideon sits under the judgment of God under the Midianites it would not have been unjust it wouldn't be unjust the Lord doesn't do that how does the Lord respond with grace and mercy and compassion by preaching to Him peace look at verse 23 then the Lord said to Him peace be with you do not fear you shall not die and how gracious how kind how merciful how patient peace be with you Gideon do not fear we shall not die in the very midst of our weakness in the very midst of our failure in the midst of what is often our ignorance even our arrogance God often doesn't He comes to us with grace and mercy and love and compassion and pity and peace even now in the preaching of His Word we get that don't we we deserve it we deserve it we deserve it God is gracious make no mistake the furnace of God's wrath burns against the wicked and against the ungodly but there is grace and peace to be found in His forgiveness through Jesus Christ our Lord flee to Him for peace and mercy verse 24 so Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and He called it the Lord's peace to this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiyah's rites brothers and sisters we need to build the same altar with the brick and mortar of our redeemed lives in our own hearts for the Lord right have a triumphant memorial set up there called the Lord is peace and we need to live our lives in light of that memorial to Him right trophies of His grace the Lord is peace all praise, honor and glory to the one who has granted such peace through His Son Amen let's pray Father in heaven Lord we are so grateful for your loving kindness toward us in Christ thank you for this picture of your patience and your compassion and your pity even this beautiful offer of peace to Gideon here in Judges chapter 6 that warms our heart and we see in you Lord such mercy and grace and loving kindness that far be it from us Lord to flee from you in slavish fear but to cling to you for your salvation the salvation that you freely offer in your Son and having freely offered Him up for us all how much more will you also freely give us all things we love you Lord we're grateful to you for your compassion on us your pity towards us we need your mercy your desperate need of grace and we're grateful to you Lord that we have it in Jesus Christ your word promises it to us it assures us of it we have your word and we trust in you put all our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone I pray Lord if there's anyone here who's not turned from their sin to do that show them the foolishness of their way the stubbornness of their own heart the rebellion they've displayed against you and break their heart over their own sin and turn them to the Savior for those of us here Lord who turned from our sin to trust in Christ build us up in our faith as you are doing for Gideon here Lord help us renew our love and devotion for you according to your word through the example here that you've given of Gideon and how we see ourselves and in his position often and how desperate we are for love and grace and mercy and forgiveness and patience and kindness and pity and peace and help us Lord we love you we're grateful to you Lord and thank you for this time together in the study of your word apply these things to our heart and mind for your everlasting praise and worship we pray in Jesus name Amen