that were made. One by the people of Israel and one by Gideon. And we looked at the first one, the request made by the people of Israel to Gideon. And he seemed to have done the right thing. Let's look there. Chapter 8. Begin reading there in verse number 22. Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou and thy son, and thy son's son also, for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian. And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. The Lord shall rule over you. And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. For they had golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites. And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, besides ornaments and collars and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian. and beside the chains that were about their camels' necks. And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah. And all Israel went thither a-whoring after it, which thing became a snare unto Gideon and to his house." Let's go to the Lord in prayer this morning. Heavenly Father, God, we thank you once again for the Word of God, your words to us. God, I pray that as we look at them this morning, that we would choose to allow your spirit to speak to our hearts. Help us to focus on not just the truth, the knowledge of this passage, but also the application of it. God, please change us this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Now, last week we had considered that request the Israelites made to Gideon. Gideon, be our king! Not just you, but your son and your son's sons. In fact, set up a legacy, a dynasty here, and rule over us. And Gideon made the right choice, didn't he? He said, I will not rule over you. And we learned last week how to deal with temptation. Be adamant. It was pretty adamant in his answer, wasn't it? Wasn't he? I will not rule over you. Be adamant. Deny self and honor God. The steps to take to deal with temptation when it comes at you. Just say, what? No. Alright? Be adamant about it though. Just say, That was good. Charlie is not going to falter at all this week. That was a good no. Amen. Be adamant. Get that way about sin. Don't try to compromise with it and cuddle up to it and justify it or tolerate just a little bit of it. Just say no, right? Deny self. We have to do that, don't we? That's the thing about temptation. It always is tempting to us. And so it appeals to our self. And so we have to deny self and always honor God. But... That's what Gideon did, but then it seems something snaps in his head with his request that he came back with. And folks, there is a warning here for us to be careful when we experience a victory in our spiritual lives. Have you ever experienced a victory in your spiritual life? Only a few of us have. Okay. I'm praying for the rest of you. I know you have. You just don't want to boast about it, right? I get that. But something that happens many times when we experience a victory, that's when we are weak. We're not careful anymore. We're not watching because we just grew spiritually. Yeah, we're stronger. And we drop our guard and Satan comes in from the back and we do something stupid. Now, I know we've all done something stupid before, haven't we? It's not just me, right? And we do these things. When we beat a temptation, that's when sometimes another one is coming right after that. Satan is ready to come with another one just like that. Look with me at verse 24, specifically at the request that Gideon made. He had just made a good choice, and then here he comes. Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you that ye would give me every man the earrings of his prey. For they had golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites. The enemy, 135,000 of them. God killed 125,000 of them. They didn't even have to lift a finger. They killed themselves, okay? And they all wore earrings. And they collected the loot, if you will, from their prey, from the dead soldiers. And Gideon asked for just the gold earrings. Now, with this request, he wanted to make an ephod. We saw that word there in the text. It's in a religious article. We'll say more about that here in a minute. But right there, Gideon goes from victorious to defeat. And here's how the people responded. And here's where I think we can all take notice and maybe learn some things. Unlike Gideon, the people didn't refuse the request that was made. They willingly gave him whatever he asked for. The weight of what they gave to him was between 50 and 60 pounds of gold. That's a lot of gold, folks. What's the problem? I mean, it was a worthy cause, right? It was a religious cause. It doesn't even say that Gideon told them what he wanted it for. But let's say he did tell some. It's a good cause. He's making some religious thing out of it. They had already, look, these folks had already demonstrated with their request for Gideon to be king, that their heart wasn't right. So when presented with an opportunity to give, they didn't have the necessary discretion to say no to Gideon. When our heart's not right, we can't expect to make decisions with God's wisdom. And they demonstrate that for us here. Gideon's cause was not valid. But they gave anyway. You know, folks do that today. And I'm not saying you do, but we know people do that today. They don't use discretion in their giving. For example, the PTL club took in millions while there were missionaries struggling to just get thousands. Schuller and his Crystal Cathedral, what was the Crystal Cathedral, raised a fortune from people all across the country while true churches struggled just to make ends meet. And you know what's sad about that? is people from struggling churches send their money to these organizations that don't line up with God's Word. And they have no discretion. Because God's Word plainly exposes their error. But they do it anyway. It's a good cause. And the reason that this takes place today is the same as with Gideon. There is little spiritual depth with many people today. They didn't even have the spiritual discernment to ask Gideon, why do you want all the gold earrings? They didn't even ask why. Someone who is popular and well-liked said, hey, give. Okay. And they just start giving. Okay. You know what? I do that kind of sarcastically, but I think that's the mentality of some people when they give to religious causes. Someone popular, well-liked is asking, okay, here you go, how much do you want? I'll just take it from God's institution, the local church, and give it to you. And that happens all of the time, folks. Listen to this. They were, and you'll see the parallels today, these people were too taken up with the man, the smile, the books, the interviews, the website, They just determined they like him, and they sent it in. And we know that goes on today. Millions and millions taken from the local church, which is what God established, and sent to ministries that are either a church teaching doctrinal error, clearly, Or they are not even a church, they're just a religious group doing a good thing. Now, why did Gideon want this anyway? Well, he wanted to make an ephod. An ephod, what is that? An ephod was a garment that was worn by the high priest. Only by the high priest as God had set up in the Old Testament Okay, we're gonna see some more parallels here with what Gideon was doing and today. All right So if you are already uncomfortable with what I've said earlier, you may want to leave now, okay? because there are more parallels to be drawn here. Gideon wanted to make an ephod, something that only the high priest could wear, and by the way, that was established by God, that was his system for how to do church in the Old Testament. We might say it that way. It represented the ephod, worn by the high priest, represented special intermediacy with God. This was before Christ died on the cross. They had high priests who interacted. They were a mediator between man and God. And only the high priest had that position where he would wear that ephod. It represented The ephod represented a high spiritual privilege, a high spiritual position, a high spiritual esteem went with that religious item right there. Now, I want you to notice this, okay? Gideon Okay, who was well liked then began setting up and establishing his own way of doing things God already had we could call that today the local church But he's going to do things his way a better way Separate from the local church or what God had already established in the Old Testament. He's well liked in fact He's even doing things that resemble What the church is doing? He's making an ephod just like them, except God said, no. Well, we're gonna do it anyway. And that's what ministries today, some are doing. They look, they have some good things. They have some good looking attributes to them. And because of that, people with no discretion, little spiritual depth, ignore the doctrinal errors and even defend The ministries. Oh, we must be so careful about that, folks. Gideon wanted to make an ephod and place it near his home. We read that in verse 27. Do you remember why did Israel want a king? We covered that last week. I mean, we know why they chose Gideon for the job of king, but why did they want a king in the first place? And we looked. The answer was found in 1 Samuel 8, verses 19 and 20. They said, we will have a king. that we may be like all the nations. We just want to be like everyone else. If we had a king, if we had a palace, if we had a capital city, why, it would attract people to us. Churches get that mentality today. Let's be like the world so we will attract people to us. Nowhere in Scripture do you find an admonition to the church to attract people to them. Nowhere. In fact, what Christ said is you in the church get out to them with the gospel and Then they'll want to be here and we wouldn't have to compromise Biblical principles to attract them folks because then they have Jesus in their heart We have Jesus here that we worship they then want to be here. Well, they we attract them with Jesus Can you think of anything better? Really? They wanted to be like the world, so they said, we're going to have a king. That was an unholy desire for them. Why? Because, it tells us in 1 Samuel 8, 7, that they rejected God. That was their problem. They were rejecting God by wanting a king. Now, there was, true, more glory, more pomp, more prestige with a king, probably bigger buildings, more press coverage, More notoriety, bigger mailing lists. The king was someone that they could rally around. Folks, never rally around me. Rally around God, because that's what God wants. And folks, can I say this too? There are churches that we would say are within our circle. Big ministries. in days gone by where the people have rallied around the man that stood behind this pulpit. Where are those ministries now when the man's gone? Rally around God. Gideon wanted to make this ephod. Now, why is a good question. It doesn't say exactly why. We can glean some estimations though from what it says in scripture. It would appear that Gideon had a desire to function as a very special spiritual leader in his land. Now, this is something folks, the flesh does covet that. And not just in people that stand behind pulpits or in front of Sunday school classes. The flesh, your flesh, my flesh, all flesh, covets being seen as a spiritual leader. It desires, our flesh desires to be in an esteemed position of spiritual authority. Now you say, pastor, I never want to be a pastor. That's good, ma'am. I appreciate you saying that. Guys, I appreciate you saying that too, okay? I never want to be a pastor. I'm not talking about being a pastor. That is not the only position of spiritual superiority that we can desire to have. The desire to be viewed as better than others. That's the spiritual authority that I'm talking about. And our flesh desires that. It's the same desire, the desire to be viewed as better than others. That's the same desire that drives materialism, by the way. The desire to be seen as better than others. That's why you have people, maybe you, okay, that are driving in a vehicle with a loan that you can't afford so that you can impress people at a stoplight that you don't even know. And they don't even care what you drive, folks, okay? This desire for spiritual superiority, it desires the respect that comes from being better than others. Israel, folks, Israel already had a high priest. What was Gideon doing? From the line of the Levites, as God established, he was located in Shiloh. It wasn't perfect. But Gideon decided he would correct that situation. He's going to fix it. Because he could do it better. This is what God designed, this is what God established. People are in charge, so no, it's not going to be done perfectly. But Gideon said, yeah, I think I'm going to do that better. He could reason, in fact, that because Well, you know, he did get visited by an angel, after all. The high priest probably couldn't say that. He had a vision. He had had an experience of some sort. And he had been given special revelations, and he had been given by God special signs. instructed to make an altar to God. He was told to offer sacrifices on that altar, and that was okay, because God told him to do those things. So, I think I'm spiritually superior, and I'm now going to fix this. Folks, he ignored the fact that although God had asked him to do those things, God hadn't forsaken the Levitical priesthood yet. God hadn't forsaken his system of worship that he established for the Old Testament believers. But the prestige that tempted him caused him to ignore and usurp a divinely inspired office. I want you to focus or just dwell on that word there, that phrase, a divinely inspired office. He usurped it by making his own ephod. He aspired to a spiritual position that was not his. Satan aspired to do the same thing, didn't he? Do you remember back in Isaiah, we read about that? He coveted a spiritual position that wasn't his to have. He wanted God's position. Adam and Eve, they aspired to a position to be like God. That's what Satan tempted them with. Eat this fruit, you will be like God. An appeal that was made to them by Satan, by the way, they had the same temptation You could be more than what you are spiritually. And it appealed to their flesh. And folks, that still happens today. Because Satan hasn't changed. People enter the ministry, sad to say, because of a fleshly pride that covets the position that covets the recognition from the office of pastor. Let me use a phrase I used earlier, a divinely inspired position. God created that office. And people fleshly desire that position. Or some other spiritual position, leadership position in the church. Or some will just decide that, now hear this, Like Gideon, it's not quite right. It is following what God says to do, but it's not quite right. I could do things better. After all, I'm a gifted teacher. I study the Bible. They leave the God-ordained, God-created institution, this is what Gideon did, and just have church in their homes. Leaving the authority of a pastor, a shepherd, that's what God designed, that's what God created. There are those who get upset because they weren't chosen for a position in the church. I think that reveals their heart, don't you? Something wrong there. There are women who are ordained into the ministry. That's not what God prescribed. I'm not gonna try to defend that. That's what God said. Take it up with Him, but don't go against it. That isn't God's plan, folks. It is, here's what we're doing, any time we alter it, we are subverting God's ordained method. And since the time of Gideon, there have been many that follow him in his footsteps of spiritual pride. We're just gonna do it better. Everything we do has a result, doesn't it? There's always an effect with any decision we make. There are consequences. Gideon's decision brought ruin to the land. Look with me at verse 27. And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah. And all Israel went thither, a whoring after it. Which thing became a snare into Gideon and to his house. Now, anytime the Bible uses the word a whoring, it's not a good thing, folks. Okay? That is a negative thing. Spiritual adultery was being committed. They left God's plan. And they began going after what was popular. What was being led by someone they liked. ignoring God's plan, ignoring God's word, ignoring the doctrinal errors, and they just went after it. Adultery, spiritual adultery, idolatry, putting something before God. And it brought ruin to Gideon. It ruined him, folks. Verse 27, it says it was a snare to him. It was the cause of his ruin. With the ephod, Gideon got to play the part he wanted. But as we'll see later, it ruined him. Folks, when a person leads others astray spiritually, it will ruin them. God will not stand for leading his children away. There's a warning to us here. In Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 15 it says, Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. Now, we recognize different parts of that verse. The root of bitterness, springing up, defiling many people. Do you recall what I just read at the beginning? Looking diligently, so this doesn't happen. Bitterness, murmuring, affects others, folks, doesn't it? Let me ask you this, you can just say amen to this, okay? If you have a spouse, all right, or young people here, if you have a parent, okay, we'll make them the bad person here, because I know young people would never murmur or complain, right? Okay? And you are there, in your home, minding your own business. You're meditating on God's Word now. You've been fasting for 37 days, just pouring over Scripture. You are on this elevated spiritual plane at the end of the day, and your spouse walks in, or your young person walks in. Nothing's good. They even have the talent to take something good and find something wrong with it. They never have anything good to say. And five minutes with them, Where's your mood? Right? Has that ever happened to you? Say amen. How? Are they that powerful? Are you that weak? No. God's word tells us bitterness, murmuring affects others. What does God say we should do about it? Be diligent. Get rid of it. Get it out. Sell your young person. Okay No, I'm not saying that Because the young people would never do that young people Trade your parents in get new ones. Okay, don't trade your spouse in and get a new one. That wasn't good Went the wrong direction with that one. All right Looking diligently folks. Here's what that means. We need to pay close attention here all of us We need to pay close attention to this matter Why? Because there is a propensity in each of us to evil. It's our default. We never have to fight and struggle to do wrong things, do we? It's so easy to do the wrong thing, because that's our natural default. None of us are immune from this right here. And look what it did to Gideon. It brought ruin to him, but it also says there that it brought ruin to his house, his family. Folks, listen, if you are one that are prone, your propensity is to murmur and complain Look what it did to Gideon. Chapter 9 and verse 5 of Judges. And he went unto his father's house. This is after Gideon died. This is one of his sons. Went unto his father's house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren, the sons of Jeroboam, that's Gideon, being three score and ten persons upon one stone. Notwithstanding yet, Jotham, the youngest son of Jeroboam, was left, for he hid himself. One of his sons, after Gideon's death, went and killed all of his brothers. except one who managed to be hiding, so that he could be king. It ruined people. The root of bitterness. Well, I'm just going to be sour myself and complain about everything. You are ruining people around you. You are sucking joy out of their hearts when you spend time with them. Now, I guess my mama was wise, because she said, if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all, right? Please practice that. Don't suck joy out of my heart, okay? Because I'm your pastor, I have to talk and listen to you. I can't be rude to you. Oh, wait a minute. If you tempt me to sin, I can be, can't I? And so can you. If someone's tempting you to sin, get thee behind me, Satan. Just quote scripture. And that ruin to Gideon's family came shortly after he died. One of his sons rolled up, rose up, and killed all of his brothers. All of that came from a corrupted religion. I'm not smart enough to do this church thing my way, folks. I'll tell you that right now, and some of you can say amen. All right, I know. I know there are some people who think they are smart enough to do the church thing. They think they are smart enough to do it their way. At home, in their car, out in the woods, whatever. When there are good churches in the area. Who do you think could do a better job, folks? Me or God? Thanks for your vote of confidence. That was the right answer, though. We have to be careful as a church. The responsibility falls on me, ultimately. But we as a church have to be careful to keep our religion pure. The best way to do that is do it God's way. If anything, can we just recommit ourselves this morning? Our church is going to just do what the Bible says. Not my opinion, not your opinion, not the latest movement's opinion, just what does God's word say? It may not make us the most popular place at times, that's fine. Some fundamental churches claim to be sound theologically, but then they take a weak stand on certain moral issues so that they'll be liked. This weak stand, or no stand at all, only encourages and sanctions the breakup of homes. We can't stand for that here, folks. And that's exactly what happened with Gideon. He compromised and it brought ruin to his home. But not just his home, it also brought ruin to the whole nation. Gideon may have delivered them from the oppression of the Midianites, that great battle we looked at. But he did nothing to help deliver them from the root of their problem. Remember we looked at that the very beginning. The Midianites were not their problem. Their problem was they had turned their back on God. And Gideon just gave them another alternative to turn their back on God. He did nothing to help them. When he died, Do you know what the Bible says the Israelites did? Because they were all following Him. The nation of Israel went a-whoring after His religious setup. And when He died, do you know what happened? The Bible says they all returned back to Baal. Which got them into problems in the first place. What a tragedy, folks. The one who had delivered Himself, His family, and an entire nation from oppression, He then paved the way for future oppression. Parents, we need to be alert here, be watchful, because it is so easy to just compromise and let a little thing slide and a little thing slide here. I mean, Gideon didn't set up a statue to Baal. He was still worshiping God. He wasn't doing things God's way, though. And he could have reasoned in his mind, ah, well, you know, we go to church. We do our church thing. And he paved the way for the next generation. They just turned their back on God. You could go online today to Amazon or a Christian book website and just Google some search words like, kids leaving the church. Generation X leaving the church or whatever. And you're gonna find titles like, where have they gone, jumping ship. They're writing books about it today, about entire generations of Christian young people that are leaving the church. And everyone's pontificating as to how that could be happening. May I suggest we could do better in not paving the way for a future generation to return back to Baal? What a tragedy. He demonstrated this great spiritual faith and yet he failed in the end because of spiritual pride. Folks, if we have that, we have to get rid of that. That's a warning to us all. Our future generation is relying on us to keep the paved road where it belongs, where God set it up, and how God set it up. The little things do matter. They really do. Let's bow our heads, please. Heavenly Father, God, I pray that as we close here this morning, that your spirit would not cease working in our hearts. God as parents, as heads of households, the men that are here, perhaps ladies that are heads of their households when it's just them. Lord, help us, help us to be committed, committed to doing things your way. your way when it comes to the authority structure of our homes, your way when it comes to worshiping you and how we live our lives during the week. The little things do matter, God. And I pray that you would help us to not just learn about what Gideon did, but that we would just apply it and that we would change. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand, please. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed.