Please God to bless us together this morning as we consider his word. Let us turn to the Book of the Judges chapter 6 and we'll read verse 11. The Book of the Judges chapter 6 and reading verse 11. And there came an angel of the Lord and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite and his son Gideon, threshed wheat by the wine press to hide it from the Midianites. There is a lot of instruction in the book of the judges and it is of course the account of those who did judge Israel for a considerable period of time after that Joshua died. And it was some years after Joshua died that this account of Gideon came to pass. And we see in this chapter that we read how that Israel sadly once again did evil in the sight of the Lord. And it is indeed sad reading to again and again realise how Israel, so blessed by the Lord, and yet so very easily and so readily turned against God and did evil. And it is a tremendous lesson for us to consider that we do not fall in the same way that they did. And when they fell, very often then the Lord came and judged them in one way or another. And in this occasion, the Midianites came and oppressed them. They came and did much evil towards them and encamped against them and destroyed their crops and their cattle. And so it was a very distressing time and the effect was that Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites. Now then, what happened then? As what happened in very many occasions in the history of Israel. And what happened was this. Then they cried unto the Lord. What a blessing it is that the Lord was still willing to hear their prayer. The Lord heard their crying. They didn't deserve it, did they? They turned their back upon God, they followed their own way, and they had now come into a time of need. And so often it is with the Church of God still today, and we're thankful to have a God who still deals with his people graciously. No matter the situation which may develop as we turn our back upon God and we pursue evil ways, And it may not be what we might establish as a very outwardly evil and wrong way. The devil is very subtle at producing those things in our lives which just bring us into opposition to the things of God, separate us from the true faith of God, from the true liveliness of soul. And the effect is to bring us into a situation where we become impoverished, because we shall become impoverished if we walk contrary to the Lord. He said, if you walk contrary to me, I will walk contrary to you. Sometimes we seem to think that we are excused in a situation like that. It doesn't apply to us and we can carry on as we desire to do, but the Lord has set before us a standard. The standard is a high standard. It is God's standard. And we should not desire to walk contrary to that. And so the Lord causes Israel then, in the midst of this situation, to cry unto the Lord. And what happened? It came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, because of the Midianites, that the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel. We're not told who this prophet was. But the Lord sent this prophet to the children of Israel, and this prophet then reminded them of their history. He reminded them of what had occurred. He reminded them of their deliverances. What a good thing, isn't it? When perhaps we've fallen, we've gone backward instead of going forward, and we've cried to God And then, as it were, the Lord sent a prophet and has just brought back to our mind his favours, his blessings. And he tells them, this prophet says, thus saith the Lord God. He was God's mouthpiece. I brought you up from Egypt and brought you forth out of the house of bondage. I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians. and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and dragged them out from before you, and gave you their land. And I said unto you, I am the Lord your God. Fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell, but ye have not obeyed my voice." So having set before them the truth, what had occurred? This prophet then said, but ye have not obeyed my voice. That's why the situation developed. That's why they entered into this position. Because they had not obeyed the voice of the Lord. Now that's a very simple and yet very striking statement. We need to always look into our own hearts to see whether you and I are obeying the voice of the Lord. Remember, the devil is a very active foe and his concern is that we do not obey the voice of the Lord. Go back to Genesis, go back to the Garden of Eden, go back to Adam and Eve. What did they do? They did not obey the voice of the Lord. And what occurred? They fell and sin came upon all mankind because they did not obey the voice of the Lord. Obeying the voice of the Lord is not optional. It doesn't depend upon what you and I think. The Lord is to be obeyed. His voice is to be obeyed. His words are to be obeyed. Well, the Lord is gracious. He was very gracious to Israel on so many occasions. He was very gracious to them on this occasion. My friends, he's been very gracious to us, has he not? On many occasions. Can we not? I hope we can. This morning, come back, come and give thanks for the Lord's graciousness and his goodness and his favour. And so what occurred now? An amazing thing occurred. And there came an angel of the Lord. and sat under an oak, which was in Ofra, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite. And we may say, well, who is that angel of the Lord? Well, I think it's quite clear. We read down verse 14, and the Lord looked upon him. It would seem clear it was the Son of God in human form here, appearing to Gideon. And therefore we have this statement, and there came an angel of the Lord and sat under an oak which was in offer that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite. Joash of course was the father of Gideon and he owned this land and here was the son Gideon. Now this angel came there and what was Gideon doing? Well he was threshing wheat by the wine press to hide it from the Midianites. Gideon was doing this threshing. The angel of the Lord was there under this oak. It appears that Gideon was occupied with this work and didn't notice initially anyway this angel of the Lord there under this oak. He was engaged in this threshing of the wheat by the wine press. Now then, remember the situation here. Greatly oppressed they were by the Midianites. There would have been a threshing floor. A threshing floor would normally have been done by an oxen treading out the corn. But here we have a different situation. Here we have Gideon involved in his threshing himself. not in the threshing floor, but by the wine press, so that he was not noticed, so that there weren't any oxen trampling around and lowing and drawing attention to what they were doing. Here was this man of God, Gideon, threshing out this wheat by the wine press. How much it was, whether it was little or not, we are not told, but nonetheless, here he was doing this particular job. And we should think that here was Gideon, he was obviously a man of some substance, as we read further on, he took ten men of his servants to go and throw down the idols of Baal, so he wasn't a poor man, and he could have easily got his men to do this threshing, but no, he took it upon himself to do. And we should therefore See the example here that we should always be willing to do what might appear to be a menial task. We should always be willing to serve the Lord in whatever way the Lord directs us to. We should never think anything is below us. We should always be willing to do that which God may put before us. And so here we have Gideon then, prepared to do this task here. threshing out the wheat by the winepress. Now, this angel, he didn't appear to Joash's father. He came and he appeared to Gideon. We see God's purpose, we see God's sovereignty, and we see God's come to a man who feared the Lord. It would appear that Joash, at one stage, possibly still here, was a worshipper of Baal. because there were the idols which were cut down. But God in his mercy came to Gideon as he was threshing wheat by the winepress. So the Lord comes to his people in various ways. The Lord is gracious. He came to Gideon here when he was threshing wheat. And the Lord comes to his people today in various positions and locations. The Lord comes and the Lord speaks and the Lord directs. What a blessing, isn't it, that the Lord is not limited to wherever he comes and speaks and meets with his people. The Lord knows where his people are. And he goes to them, and he meets with them, and he speaks to them, and he directs them. And so the Lord came on this occasion to Gideon. Here he was then, threshing wheat by the winepress. So we should not think in our lives, well, I'm sure the Lord won't come to me in this place. I'm sure the Lord won't come to me when I'm doing this. The Lord knows where we are. The Lord knows what we're doing. The Lord knows how to come and speak to us in a way which will be direct and will have a good and gracious effect upon us. Now this angel of the Lord came then to Gideon and he said an amazing statement. He said, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. The Lord is with thee. That surely is a great blessing. Surely it's the greatest blessing that we can really want, isn't it? To know that the Lord is with us. The Lord is with thee. I wonder if we are able to recognise and to know that the Lord is with us. The Lord is with us today. We need the Lord to be with us every day, not just on Sundays, not just perhaps on special days. We need the Lord to be with us on every day. So here we have this wonderful statement. The Lord appeared. He came to him and he said, the Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. It would appear from that that Gideon was a man of some consequence, a man of valour. It would seem he was one who fought battles and won battles. He came and spoke in this way, thou mighty man of valour. And Gideon's response was very good and very gracious and he says, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this before us? And where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of? Again, we may come into that path. We may ask that question. Oh my Lord, if the Lord's with us, why? Has this come upon us? Why? Have we been called to walk this path? What was the response of Gideon? Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this before us? We may ask those questions sometimes. We may wonder why situations develop. Why has this come upon me? Well, we only have to look in the Word of God to see many occasions, don't we? when God appeared wonderfully. You think of Joseph. Joseph, a man of God. Joseph doing the will of God. And yet Joseph sold to the Midianites and sold into Egypt. You see what occurred in his life. He did that which was right and yet he was imprisoned for a number of years. And it was a number of years before he was delivered from that situation. And what are we told? While he was in that prison, the Word of God tried him. That means it was tested. What was that Word? The promises, those dreams, the favour of God toward him. He had. God had spoken to him. God had given him those clear dreams. And now, he was tucked away in a prison in Egypt. How were these things to be brought about? There seemed no possibility. And yet, you see, God had a purpose, a divine purpose. And at the appointed time, not a day before, not a day after, Joseph was brought out of prison, never to return again. And then the Lord's promises were worked out in a very singular and amazing way. And we know, of course, even in the case of Abraham, he was told to leave and to leave the Ur of the Chaldeas. He travelled a long way, he had much opposition, but the Lord was with him. And in that time of great temptation in his life, He was told to go and offer up his only son. And it was a particular son. It was a son of promise. The Lord had promised him. And now he was told to go and offer up his only son. Was this really the way of the Lord? Was this really in accordance with God's will and purpose? Yes, Abraham, it was. It was to test and to try his faith. The Lord brings us often into situations to test and to try our faith, whether it is of God or not. Gideon was really in this position. We perhaps can view him threshing out this wheat and thinking, why have these things come upon us? The Lord seems to have forsaken us and the Lord has left us totally. where the Lord hadn't left them, although they deserve to have been left, and if you and I are honest in our hearts, we can never claim that we don't deserve to have been left, do we? We can never say, well, I'm a wonderful Christian. I'm sure if we're taught by the Lord, we can never lay claim to that. Perhaps we wish we could, but we have to recognise that we do fall, we do sin, and even that which is perhaps not seen, that which is inside, in our heart, we have to bow down and fall down before God and confess our sins. And we recognise the Lord's goodness and favour toward us in not dealing with us as our sins have deserved. And so the Lord came here and spoke to Gideon and so Gideon comes and asks this question, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this before us? It's a question that sometimes we may perhaps ask. And where be all these miracles which our fathers told us of, 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. Well, that's what it appeared. And very often it appeared in the life of Israel, the Lord had forsaken them, but he had not forsaken them. They deserved to be forsaken, but he hadn't forsaken them. He had a purpose of love toward them. Amazing, isn't it? To think that the Lord has a purpose of love toward us today, unworthy as we are. And the Lord looked upon him as the Lord looked upon us. That's a great blessing, isn't it? Here he was, you know, doing this menial task, beating out, threshing his wheat. And yet, here was the Lord coming to him, and here he was speaking to him, and looking upon him. The Lord looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent thee? Here was a wonderful promise by God to Gideon. He was to go in this thy might. Now let us be clear, that wasn't any strength he had in himself. It really was in the same way that the Apostle Paul said, I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. There was his secret. It was the strength of the Lord. And he went in his might, going this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel. from the hands of the Midianites, have not I sent thee." Now, we see the truth of Gideon's position, how he judged himself, how he judged himself. This is very important. We see partly how he judged himself by doing this task of threshing out the wheat. But we see here, he says, Wherewith shall I save Israel? He was a mighty man of valour, but he didn't esteem himself very great. He says, Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. The least in his father's house. He didn't esteem himself highly at all, did he? We see again and again that the Lord uses people who are brought to that position where they do not esteem themselves very highly. Exactly the same with the Apostle Paul, wasn't it? The Apostle Paul esteemed himself less than the least of all saints. He doesn't use people who esteem themselves as great. And do you know why? because they claim the glory themselves. See, when we're nothing, when we're very small, when we're insignificant, then it is that the Lord uses us. Take the case of Moses. Moses, you see, when he was 40 years old, and he thought all the people would understand that he was the one to deliver Israel. They didn't understand it. Poor old Moses had to go another 40 years in the back side of the desert, to bring himself down to a very low place. And then when God said to Moses, you're the person, then he made every excuse why he wasn't equipped and why he wasn't the right person. And it is all these cases are so that God will have the honour and glory. It is so that we become little people in our own eyes. little people. And my friends, the Church of God doesn't have problems when all the people are thinking themselves as little people. It's when those who think they're important people, that's when the problems arise in the Church of God. So, we have this truth, these words, and they're good to read, aren't they? To realise what he was able to say. Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." Well, I wonder this morning how we view ourselves. Whether we view ourselves as somebody important, somebody that needs to be taken notice of, or whether we view ourselves as very small, very insignificant, less than the least of all saints, and in the least in our Father's house. Now what will bring us to that position? The grace of God. You won't come there yourself, because by nature we are proud, by nature we think highly of ourselves, but bless God for the grace of God, the unmerited favour of God, which comes and deals with His people, in love to their souls, so that they are made like the Saviour. We have, don't we, the great and glorious example of the Saviour Himself. He came right down, didn't He, to that very low position, born in that manger in Bethlehem, insignificant life for those 30 years. My friends, you and I, if we are a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, we need to be like Gideon. We need to come down to this low place. We need to come and acknowledge that we are nothing really, but the Lord is our God. You see how important it is that we have that view. The angel, the Lord said then, the Lord said to him, surely I will be with thee. And thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. To know that the Lord is with us. I am the Lord. We don't have to worry about people, do we? We don't have to worry what people think of us. We don't have to worry if people think that they are more important than we are. This is what the Lord says. Surely I will be with thee. If God before us, as the Apostle said, who then can be against us? How necessary it is that we realise the Lord is with us. Surely, surely you see. There wasn't any doubt about it. Surely, I will be with thee. And thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man." Now this was a tremendous statement which was given to Gideon, not only in encouragement to him, the Midianites were very many. It wasn't just a little group of people coming to fight with Israel, it was a great army. They were there, there was reason. for him to be afraid. And yet we have this statement which we see here. And thou shalt smite the Midianite, says one man. Oh, here was a wonderful word. Now, sometimes, you see, we need a word from the Lord. There comes times in our lives when we need God to speak. There comes times in our lives when we are brought to a place like Gideon was here really, oppressed. All Israel, they were oppressed. And there seemed to be no way of deliverance. They've been told about how evil they've been and how wrong they've been. How they turned and have not obeyed the voice of God. The situation was critical. But now, the Lord had come, and the Lord was to appoint this man Gideon to bring about a wonderful deliverance, a wonderful favour. And Gideon was told by the Lord himself, And now the Lord came himself and spoke directly to Gideon to encourage him in this way. And Gideon said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talk'st with me. Gideon wanted a sign. He wanted an encouragement. He wanted to know that this was true. Maybe so in our lives there come those situations which seem impossible to us. Here was God coming and saying to Gideon, you will destroy the Midianites. Gideon saying, oh, show me a sign that I'll talk this with me. He wanted to know that it was the Lord. He wanted to know that it was God. How important that is in our lives, to know that it is the Lord who is speaking to us. It is the Lord who is directing us. We don't want to be deceived, do we? Well, I hope we don't anyway. We don't want to just assume things, do we? We want to know that it is the Lord, who is indeed speaking to us. Well, we have this wonderful picture then, recorded here of Gideon providing his food and bringing it to the angel of the Lord. And what the angel of the Lord told Gideon to do, and then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the eleven cakes, and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the eleven cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight, and when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, O alas, O Lord God, for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face. The Lord said to him, Peace be unto thee, fear not, thou shalt not die. Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord and called it Jehovah Shalom unto this day. It is yet an offer of the Abiezrites. Here God heard his prayer. He got it answered. And here then, before the deliverance came, he now was blessed with faith to believe. He therefore built an altar unto the Lord." He hadn't had a deliverance, it hadn't happened, but he had faith to believe that it would happen. And therefore he came and he built an altar unto the Lord. It would be a good thing, wouldn't it, in our lives. You see, he still needed faith. And as we read on in this account, in Gideon's life, we read a little bit about it, about putting the fleece out and being wet once and then dry the other time. And then further on, as we know, that perhaps he needed greater encouragement and he went down into the camp of the Midianites with his servant and heard one of the, or two of the people speaking together, how that Gideon would indeed be the conqueror. The Lord was very gracious to him. The Lord encouraged him. My friends, the Lord is still the same today. The Lord still gives encouragement today. God still gives direction today. We shouldn't think we worship a God who has changed. We worship the same God today. A God who knows about us. He knows perhaps our faith is very small. He knows that we need our faith to be strengthened. The Lord knows how to do that. The Lord did it to Gideon here in this very wonderful way. My friends, may we come then to our God, praying that He will come and confirm to us His way, His direction. So may we come and thank the Lord for His mercy. Well, it is good to come and to build an altar unto the Lord and to acknowledge that it is the Lord God speaking to us. Now, you know, it won't always be easy because almost immediately Gideon's faith was tested in this way. First of all, he wasn't going to go and destroy the Midianites. He was going to go and destroy Baal, the idol, the evil idol. He was told to go and destroy Baal. Now, that wasn't easy, because that affected his family, that affected his friends. He had to go and destroy them. It was a very demanding situation. How was he to do this? Well, we're told he took these ten men and did it by night. He did it. He did it. You know, Nicodemus, he came to the Lord by night, but he did it. Sometimes we may perhaps be fearful. Nonetheless, whatever the situation, day time or night time, even faith to do the will of the Lord. And so Gideon directed in this way and he came by night and he cast down, destroyed this idol of Baal, this image of Baal. Well, the Lord was with him in it. He knew, he must have known the opposition that was likely to occur to it and yet we see The Lord overruled it. His own father stood by him and supported him in the act. The Lord was with Gideon. My friends, the Lord is with us. Let us remember the truth of those words. I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. What does it mean? We are to look to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to remember His finished work. We are to remember His death upon Calvary's cross. We are to remember His great and glorious sacrifice for sin. We are to remember the cost of our salvation, the shedding of His most precious blood. We are to have the Lord lifted up in our estimation that He is the one that we desire to honour and glorify He is the one that we desire to serve. He is our Master. He is our Lord and our God. And He is our blessed and glorious Saviour. Oh, let us then remember this morning, this example we have of Gideon. Remember, here he was, as he started, as it appeared here, just in this very modest way, threshing wheat behind the winepress. fearful of the enemy, and yet doing that which was good and proper. And the Lord came and met with him. The Lord came and spoke to him. The Lord came and gave him strength and faith and encouraged him to do the will of his God. My friends, we have that same God today. And let's therefore go in the strength of the Lord God making mention of His righteousness, even of His only. Amen.