 So hear the word of the Lord, Judges chapter 6 beginning in verse 25. Now it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, said to Gideon, take your father's young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has and cut down the wooden image that is beside it and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice and get the wood of this image which you shall cut down. So Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him because he feared his father's household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night. And when the men of the city arose early in the morning there was the altar of Baal torn down and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down and the second bull was being offered on the altar which had been built. They said to one another, who has done this thing? When they had inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing. Then the men of the city said to Joash, bring out your son that he may die because he has torn down the altar of Baal and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it. But Joash said to all who stood against him, would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? And who would plead for Baal, plead for him? He put to death by morning. If he is a God, let him plead for himself because his altar has been torn down. Therefore, on that day, he called him Jeru Baal saying, let Baal plead against him because he has torn down his altar. This is the word of God, amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for the blessing of being together on the Lord's day and hear Lord tonight. The blessing of being together in an evening service where we can gather together to praise you, to sing hymns together, to pray together and now to listen to your word preached together. It is a tremendous blessing to be in Christ by faith, Lord. And then to be given such a blessed opportunity of being together with the church and sitting under your word preached. It's just a joy and we're grateful to you for it. Thank you for blessing us in this way. I thank you for this time together tonight to study this text. And to spur us on to be faithful, singularly devoted to the Lord our God. Tearing down the idols in our heart and building up the new man, which is being renewed day by day in our sanctification. Help us by your spirit, Lord, to do that. Help us to be faithful to you in these things. We love you in Jesus' name, amen. Well, the title of our sermon tonight is Bear No Rivals. We're in Judges chapter 6 verses 25 through 32. The historical account of Gideon in Judges chapter 6 began with a sobering reminder about the reason for the severe circumstances that have befallen the nation of Israel, the circumstances that they now find themselves in. That begins in Judges chapter 6 verse 1 where the Bible says that the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. And so the Lord then delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, just as he said he would, and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Now the evil that precipitated this just judgment of God is the evil of idolatry. And I was thinking about this. Psalm 106 gives the record here of Israel's entrapment, their continuous or persistent difficulty with idolatry. Listen to Psalm 106 beginning in verse 34. The psalmist said, they did not destroy the peoples concerning whom the Lord had commanded them, but they mingled with the Gentiles and learned their works. They didn't drive out the Canaanites who were in the land, but they left them in the land and they mingled with them and they learned their works. Verse 36 says they served their idols which became a snare to them. We see that here in Judges chapter 6. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons and shed innocent blood. The blood of their sons and daughters whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan and the land was polluted with blood. Thus they were defiled by their own works and played the harlot by their own deeds. Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against his people so that he abhorred his own inheritance. And he gave them into the hand of the Gentiles and those who hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them and they were brought into subjection under their hand. Many times he delivered them, but they rebelled in their counsel and they were brought low for their iniquity. That's where we are now in Judges chapter 6. Many times in his patience, God has delivered Israel and they rebelled in their counsel and they're brought low in their iniquity. Now we see the Lord giving them over to the hand of Midian for seven years. Now after seven years of the judgment of God, after seven years of severe oppression, the people begin to cry out to God. Cry out to the Lord for help. And so the Lord then sends them a prophet, his prosecuting attorney you could say, to remind them of his word to them in Judges chapter 6 verse 8, where the prophet preaches, thus says the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage. 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. Also I said to you, I am the Lord your God. Do not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell, but you have not obeyed my voice. It's a tragic description of where they are. So we find Israel now in a devastating and a destitute condition. In verse 6, they were impoverished or they had become small. Literally, the Midianites are starving them out. And the nation is dwindling. They're being starved out by the Midianite menace that would sweep across the land, ruining their crops, stealing their livestock, but Psalm 106 again in verse 4, now with a testimony of God's patience and God's mercy. In verse 44, the psalmist says, Nevertheless, he regarded their affliction when he heard their cry, and for their sake he remembered his covenant and relented according to the multitude of his mercies. It reminds us, doesn't it, that as high as are the heavens above the earth, so great is his mercy toward those who fear him. God is merciful. God is gracious. Here he is again, merciful and gracious to the nation of Israel. So it is mercy. God then raises up Gideon now in Judges chapter 6 to deliver his people out of the hand of the Midianites. Gideon is visited by the angel of the Lord, the pre-incarnate Christ, and at the time, Gideon's faith is virtually non-existent. Gideon responds to the angel of the Lord. It reminds all this happened to us. God hasn't shown up for us like he did for our fathers. He's forsaken us. He's left us. Abandoned us. Abandoned his covenant with us, and he has sold us into the hand of Midian. It was then that moment of faithlessness, you could say, that Gideon has a Copernican revolution, a perspective-changing, life-altering, pride-unraveling encounter with the one true God of Israel. Gideon's undone. Right? He's undone. He lays his offering upon the rock. Fire comes from beneath and consumes the offering, and at once Gideon sees the holiness and majesty of God, the exceeding sinfulness of his own sin, fears for his life, and what does the Lord do? The Lord speaks peace to him. Peace, Gideon. Don't be afraid. It sounds like conversion, doesn't it? It sounds a bit like conversion. We see our sinfulness, we see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the Lord speaks peace to us through the gospel. We turn to Jesus Christ in faith. What does Gideon do? Gideon builds and alter there to the Lord, and he names it, the Lord is peace. It's beautiful, isn't it? The Lord is peace. Now, while the Lord is speaking peace to Gideon at the wine address, there is the general stench of a putrefying sore coming out of OFRA. The Puritan Richard Rogers refers to it as an open wound. There's no true healing in a wound, right? Unless the disease is dug out. Unless it's cleaned out. Unless the corruption is cleansed. Unless the pollution is cleansed out of the wound. Remember, you were a kid. When I was a kid, I don't know how many times innumerable, and innumerable number of times, they come in with a skin knee, a skinned elbow, blood coming out of your nose, blood coming out of your head. And what would your mom do? Where's the iodine? I can't remember what the other stuff was called. You pour it in the wound, it fizzles. She'd say, that's how you know it's working. It's cleaning out the wound, getting rid of all the dirt and grime that's in there, so that the wound can heal. You slap a band-aid on it, because it feels better with a band-aid, and in a couple days the thing is back to normal. There is no true healing of a wound unless it's cleaned out, right? Unless the corruption is cleansed out. The disease is dug out. The gangrenous limb must be cut off, right? The cancerous tumor must be excised. And now, in this reality, it's in this circumstance that Gideon finds himself, and now Gideon's profound faith is about to get its very first test. Look at verse 25. Now, it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, take your father's young or prized bull, the second bull of seven years old and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has and cut down the wooden image that is beside it. Gideon, cut out the cancer. Cut off the gangrenous limb. We've got to cleanse this wound so that healing can come. Right? There was one bull in verse 25. We're not talking about two different bulls. We're talking about one bull. This bull, by the way, was a bull seven years old. Interesting, the bull has made it through the Midianite oppression. The seven years under Midian, and this bull is still hanging around. So you could tell why this was a prized bull. Actually, the word second there in verse 25, a traditional translation of this is that that word second is from a different root that means prized. It means highly valued or exalted. This is actually one bull, a bull of seven years, that was a prized bull or a highly valued or exalted bull. And notice with me, regarding this, it was wasted in verse 25. It was on that same night Gideon offers the offering. Fire consumes it. He has this encounter with God and on that same night Gideon is charged with going and tearing down this altar and cutting down the wooden image beside it. That same night. Now, the Lord essentially said to Gideon, the time has come for judgment and where does judgment begin? Judgment begins at the house of God. Judgment begins at home. Judgment begins with you. The time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. Go tear down that idolatrous altar that your father set up in Ophra. In other words, you're my singularly devoted servant now. My single-hearted servant. You're no longer a double-minded man, toss, two and pro. You're going to be my single-hearted servant. I call for a single-hearted devotion. There's going to be no halting here or faltering between two opinions between Baal and between the one true and living God of Israel. God brooks no rivals. He will suffer no rivals. You shall have no other gods before me, the Lord says. Baal must go. Baal must go. Cut down that cancerous tumor. Go and tear down that altar. These are those bridges. You see, this was an illustration, isn't it? Of what is often expected of the new Christian. When someone newly comes to Christ, what communion does light have with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? It's time to cut off that which offends. It's time to cut off that which ensnares, that which enslave. You've got to tear down idolatrous altars that you've built up in your heart. Tear down the idolatrous altars that you've built up in your life, built up at your house, wherever they are. Tear those things down. Old worldly structures need to be torn down. How do you spend your time? Who do you spend your time with? The old man must be put off is what he's saying to Gideon here. The old man must be put off. Why? Because a new man has to be put on. You put off the old man? Because why? We've got to put on the new man. Paul would say purge out the old leaven because you are a new lump. Gideon you could say is a new lump. He's got to purge out the old leaven. Israel is about to be delivered. Purge out that old leaven so that you can become in him a new lump. So in verse 25 Gideon is to tear down verse 26 Gideon then is to build up look at verse 26 the Lord says to him and then build and alter to the Lord your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement take the second bull or the prized bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down. In other words it's not simply enough it's not enough to simply tear down the idolatrous altar it's not enough to tear down it's not enough simply to stop you could say it's not enough we must build and alter to the Lord our God in the place of that which was torn down you see there's an illustration in this isn't there a good example for us think with me how unimaginable it would it be for Gideon to have built in verse 26 without first tearing down in 25 it would be crazy to imagine that right Gideon is going to go build and alter to the Lord while his family is back at home bowing down to an altar for Baal an asherapole in the backyard how foolish and empty would it have been for him to tear down in verse 25 without then building up to the Lord in verse 26 this thing would have been lacking we've got to tear down and then build up it's not enough to tear down the idolatrous altar we have to build and alter to the Lord in its place Ephesians chapter 4 verse 18 lost people having their understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart who being past feeling themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness but listen to verse 20 but you, you've not so learned Christ if indeed you've heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus verse 22 that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of your mind the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness this is practical isn't it you tear down and you build up this is what we are to do this is the life of the Christian Peter says it this way in 1 Peter 2 verse 1 Peter says laying aside all malice laying aside deceit laying aside hypocrisy, envy and all evil speaking anymore babes what are we to do we are to desire the pure milk of the word that we may grow thereby if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious we are to lay those things aside we are to desire the pure milk of the word that we may grow the new man right we may grow thereby what do we do then we lay aside or we tear down sinful time wasting we tear down sinful time wasting and redeem the time in godly pursuits whatever is sinful time wasting you've got to think about your own life your own circumstances and determine what that is what is it that is sinful dissipation to you tear down sinful time wasting and redeem the time it's not enough to tear down tear down sinful time wasting and redeem the time in godly pursuits lay aside your complaining it's not enough to lay aside the complaining what must we do we must put on contentment put on gratitude put on joy lay aside anger lay aside and put on patience put on compassion put on understanding put on love lay aside the lusts of the flesh put them off tear that idle down and put on hunger and thirst for righteousness we're to tear down and we're to build up we're to put off the old man the law has the same concept in mind doesn't it the law of god itself has the same concept in mind in scripture we find attached to prohibitions are commandments of duty attached to prohibitions we find commandments of duty in other words the first table of the law doesn't merely enjoin us to have no other gods before him make no carved images take his name in vain or remember the Sabbath but the first table of the law also commands us to love the Lord our God with all our heart all our soul all our mind all our strength all the time it's not enough just to simply take off we must put on you shall not murder compels us to preserve life you shall not steal compels us to work hard with our hands and to give sacrificially this is the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount this is the life of the Christian put off and put on tear down and build up the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed us from bondage to our sin we have died to that old life in him and what we are raised to walk in newness of life those old idolatrous altars erected in your heart to bail must be torn down and build and alter the Lord your God on top of this rock the Lord says but that requires obedience requires obedience to God's Word sometimes it requires courage but always always requires obedience always obedience Matthew chapter 7 in verse 24 the Lord says this therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them what's that? that's obedience right? whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon the rock and the rain descended the floods came the winds blew and beat on that house and it did not fall for it was founded on the rock but everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them that's called disobedience everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand the rain descended the floods came the winds blew and beat on that house and it fell and great was its fall so what then is expected of Gideon? what's expected of Gideon? obedience obedience is expected of Gideon he is to tear down that idolatrous altar and he is to build an altar to God on the rock you could say for Gideon that it's faith filled obedience right? raw obedience is not what it's expected he's expected to trust the Lord and do what the Lord says trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus and obey faith filled obedience is what is expected of Gideon how is it that we accomplish this feat putting off the old man putting on the new man how are you going to tear down those idolatrous altars in your life and build to the Lord our God faith filled obedience trust and obey trust and obey well how does Gideon then respond to this in verse 27 it came to pass the same night Gideon himself didn't wait Gideon didn't waste any time either the lesson in that is don't delay don't delay don't wait be obedient faith filled obedience trust the Lord and obey him tear down the altar build a new one verse 27 so Gideon took 10 men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him amen Gideon that's right that's the right response but verse 27 because he feared his father's household and the men of the city too much to do it by day he did it by night but some verse 27 might fault Gideon for being fearful here or for lacking courage they might fault him but Gideon had the faith of the curse to obey God didn't he had the faith to obey the Lord Dale Ralph Davis explained obedience is essential heroism is optional obedience is essential let's not fault Gideon Gideon obeyed the Lord courage or heroism sometimes we need the little courage don't we heroism here is optional he did it by night but he did it amen thank you Gideon now Gideon's concerns are well founded and his father's household and the men of the city found out what Gideon had done when the men of the city arose early in the morning there was that wicked idolatrous altar of Baal torn down and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down and the second or the highly valued bull was being offered on the altar which had been built so they said to one another who's done this thing and when they had inquired and asked Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing then the men of the city said to Joash bring out your son that he may die because he has torn down the altar of Baal and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it one said concerning this section of text that the worst weeds have the deepest roots here the men of the city these aren't Canaanites living in Oprah or the covenant people of God these are Jews and they are irate that their altar to Baal has been torn down worst weeds weed of idolatry has the deepest roots but not unlike the Roman Catholic church who has killed many protecting her idols not unlike Islam who can only seem to press forward through violence by protecting its idols here the men of the city Israelite men, covenant people of God rush in to kill the one who would dare to strike at their cherished wooden pole their idol right? they're the real criminals in all this and they're looking for some guy who is the criminal they're looking for a criminal they're the real criminals and without asking or wondering why this has been done they're simply out to hang the guy that did it and the gun that he may die so blinded by their sin blinded by their sin they can't put two and two together they're not connecting dots here and the death that is warranted for any idolater in the law the death that the idolater deserves is now the sentence that is passed on the idol destroyer they're going to sentence Gideon now to death for destroying this altar their false idol that Gideon was living at home and look by the way fathers are responsible for their households who do the men of the city go to? they don't go to Gideon they go to Joash, Gideon's father what do they say to Joash? bring out your son that he may die dads, you're responsible for your households the men of the city go to Joash bring out your son that he may die because he is torn down the altar of veil and he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it how did Joash his father respond? verse 31 Joash said to all who stood against him and Joash proposes two questions he's not concerned about his prize bull but he's not concerned now about the altar that's been torn down Joash is concerned about his son and almost at once Joash sees what's going on and he's allied with his son Gideon in his righteous cause the first question that he asks is this would you plead or would you stand up in defense of veil? would you plead for veil? are you his defense now? as if veil needs someone to defend him the second question is this would you save him God, little G needed his people to deliver him? are you going to plead for veil? are you going to save him? or can veil, if he's a God can veil plead for himself? there's a note of sarcasm in Joash's voice Joash's questions and you can hear in Joash's questions where his thoughts already are on the subject Joash is already allied with his son Gideon let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning in other words you're coming to the one who is contended against veil saying put him to death if you're going to presume to plead for veil then let you be put to death by morning let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning if he is a God let him plead for himself because his altar has been torn down in other words Joash shames them he shames them if he's a God let him plead for himself the altar has been torn down if he wants to defend himself if he wants to assert himself against the one who did this let veil do it you don't have to do it for him now interestingly or incidentally who raised up this defense in the city for Gideon at the end of the day it wasn't Joash but God did it God did it for Gideon in Joash's heart quickly through Gideon's father the former idolater the one in Oprah who was worshipping that idolatrous altar just like the other men of the city that idolater sees the light it's not unlike a Damascus road experience you could say Joash at once a former blasphemer, persecutor an insolent man now sees more clearly and there's no waiting here on Joash's part either he's not like wait a minute guys let's take our time let's deliberate a little bit about this he immediately comes to Gideon's aid there's no waiting here on Joash's part either Joash just stands up in defense of Gideon obeying the Lord obeying the Lord's cause he does not delay to come to the right side of the matter and take a stand for righteousness verse 32 proves that point therefore one that day he called him Jerobal saying let Baal plead against him because he has torn down his altar now Jerobal that name means literally let Baal contend against him Jerobal let Baal contend against him this was a memorial to his son he named him this as a memorial to Gideon and meant to cause Baal shame in the process now think with me for a moment Gideon now called Jerobal as long as Jerobal walked this earth he was a walking testimony against Baal someone would say there's Jerobal in other words this guy is still walking around Baal has done nothing to lay a finger on him and as long as Gideon walked around as Jerobal it shamed that foolish stupid deaf dumb mute fallen idolatrous Baal that pagan idol he was a walking testimony of shame the shame of Baal later it was interesting with the Israelites that there were several names in the Bible that had Baal as a last portion Jerobal was one example the Israelites would later replace the name Baal with another suffix you could say Bosheth and if you keep reading in Scripture later Gideon would be called Jerobosheth the word Bosheth means shame so they replaced the name of Baal with the Hebrew word for shame to heap shame and contempt upon the idol Baal as a later Gideon would be called Jerobosheth we can learn a lesson from that too can't we? we need to heap shame upon our idols heap contempt upon our idols heap contempt upon our own idolatrous hearts right? heap shame upon them if you have some idol alter at your house you need to do not delay do not delay and tear that thing down if you have some idolatrous alter that is waiting there for you on your computer go home and tear that thing down don't wait obey the Lord trust and obey if you have some idol altar built up in your heart do what it takes obey the Lord trust him tear that down and then build up and alter to the Lord our God on the rock who is the Lord Jesus Christ and worship him there do you see? tear down and build up God has called us to a single hearted devotion a single hearted devotion and he's called us to that single hearted devotion by faith in his son we have our hearts as Calvin says are a factory for idols a factory for idols we're so prone to leave the Lord our God the one that we love we're so prone to run off after the idols of this world we need faith in the Lord Jesus Christ trust and obey trust and obey there's no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey single hearted devotion he is the one the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who has conquered our enemies so we can go forward victorious and triumphant in him tearing down building up amen let's pray Father in heaven we are grateful to you Lord that you by your spirit give us the strength and when we need it the courage to tear down and to build up thank you Lord that by your spirit through the means of your word we put off the old man with his deceitful lusts and we put on the new man in righteousness by Jesus Christ our Lord we are renewed in our mind and we can by your spirit through your word be sanctified and be more and more and more progressively separated from the presence of sin in our lives we thank you Lord for the strength that your spirit supplies to help us do that very thing Lord please convict us to cherish sinful idols in our lives sinful idols in our heart that we understand that we are a factory for idols and we are so prone as the Israelites were in this day so prone to idolatry so prone to lay hold of idolatrous lusts or lay hold to idolatrous pleasures or leisure in this world idolatrous worldliness or idolatrous complacency or help us to tear down the altars that we have erected to these worthless false idols in our lives in our hearts and help us Lord to build up and alter there to you and to worship you and to praise you through faith filled obedience as we live for the Lord Jesus Christ who has redeemed us from such wicked and foolish things help us Lord to live for you earnestly, fervently, devotedly single hearted devotion Lord to be by your spirit and we thank you Lord that you have promised to help us in this very thing. We look to you expectantly for this help and aid by your spirit God please be with us as we live for you may it be to your praise and glory we pray In Jesus' name, amen