will be saved is the word that comes to the Philippian jailer. And above all the truths that we could go through from God's word, that is the one to which we must return. But there is a need in the life of faith in Jesus Christ to watch Carefully, it's interesting that years ago when a Philippine man came and said we've got a bunch of growing Christian leaders all over South Asia and we want them to memorize commands of Jesus and he came to the ministry scripture memory which I served and and said, what did Jesus command the most? And I said, well, he commanded us to believe. He commanded us to follow. He commanded us to pray. He commanded us to love. But I'll get back to you on that. And so I did an exhaustive study of all that Jesus commanded. And the one that surprised me the most was that Jesus very often commanded us to watch. Do you know anybody named Greg? Well, the Greek word Grego, from which we get Gregory, Gregory means watchful and Jesus uses that verb a lot in particular I'll just give you a few of many many instances. He says in Matthew 24 42 Watch therefore for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming Matthew 25 13 watch therefore For you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. Matthew 26, 41. Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And Mark 13, 37. And what I say to you, I say to all, watch. I bring you greetings from Grace Bible Church in Dayton, Tennessee, and I wish I could take you all on the plane back to Tennessee because our folks at Grace Bible Church would love this church. They would love to meet you. They would rejoice in your good order, in your zeal, in your worship, in your service. And we have been treated like royalty here. I can't say enough how much we appreciate all those who made this conference possible. This worship team that's taken us to the throne of grace again and again, these meals and Mariah and all of her helpers, Pastor Rich and Jenny, not least, picking us up, waiting on us. We're so thankful. And it was a great privilege to serve Hannibal Evangelical Free Church for 12 years and to see three of Amy and Jesse's children be born. and our own three children to be born there in Hannibal. We will always call that place home. I remember when I was a young seminary graduate preaching there and it was one of my first sermons and I knew I had not done well and it probably irritated many people as I probably will this morning. And I got done, and Pastor Rich's son-in-law, Jesse, who is a plain-spoken Missouri farmer, it kind of makes me think of Harry Truman a little bit, except much taller. Jesse walked up to me this morning, and he saw my notes, and he kind of looked at me with a questioning look, and I said, yeah, I had 16 pages of single-spaced notes. And then he said, how many cups of coffee did you have this morning? And I said, I don't know, three or four, five, maybe six. And he's looked at me and just smiled faintly and said, next Sunday, one cup of coffee. Well, I had that. I heeded that advice. Today, I've had probably about one and a half. But this passage of scripture came to me in my devotions as Pastor Rich was Asking me about what I would preach and it's actually judges Most of seven and most of eight that we want to go over now There is this theme in this passage of ingratitude And there's a sin that is a kind of a stealth sin in that when Romans 1 is bringing all of the human race under judgment, it says, neither did they give thanks, nor were thankful. After all that big list of sin, he says, they were not thankful. And a lack of gratitude is one of those canaries in the coal mine. that if you have a lack of gratitude towards other believers and towards the Lord, you are in danger. There is a need to watch out for that sin. We have some Korean War veterans in our church in Dayton, Tennessee. They're in their 90s. They served on minesweepers and in the Navy and various places. And I love hearing them. And I recently read the classic work on the Korean War by David Halberstam called The Coldest Winter. And you probably know this, but Korea is, you know, Rock Springs gets pretty cold, but Korea is worse. My grandparents immigrated to Sky Lake, Manitoba, where it was 40 below in the winter. And Korea had those nights where it was 30 below. And the United States, in a seesaw war, had actually been somewhat overwhelmed by the intrusion of 300,000 Chinese troops who crossed the Yalu River, totally surprising Allied reconnaissance. They were wearing these reversible uniforms that they could wear black and brown by day and white By night where they could blend into the snow or blend into the terrain they surrounded the u.s. First Marine Division and the first Marine Division had to retreat from the chosen reservoir they literally Parachuted a bridge down in pieces so the engineers could build it so the first Marine Division could escape but pretty soon Douglas MacArthur's forces were were bottled up in the bottom of the Korean Peninsula and And President Truman fired Douglas MacArthur. That takes a lot of chutzpah, as the Jews say, to fire somebody as popular as Douglas MacArthur, but he did it. And he brought in a general named Tommy Ridgway. And Tommy Ridgway went into the command post. Douglas MacArthur had been officiating from afar in Japan. Tommy Ridgway went to the Korean headquarters, and he looked at the map, which showed the positions of the Chinese and North Korean forces. And he said to the executive next to him, the adjutant, he said, how old is this information? When did we get the information that this is where the Chinese were? And the man said, I don't know, one or two weeks ago. And Tommy Ridgway was angry. And he took all those pins off the map. And he said, I want patrols every night. And if we haven't had contact with the enemy in 24 hours, we don't know where they are. And you know what? It's not fun to go out on a patrol with people shooting at you when it's 20 or 30 degrees below zero. But that's what victory required. There is a vigilance in the Christian life that takes tenacity, and it is the vigilance of being watchful. We all love freedom, but freedom's not free. We all love freedom, but freedom is not easy. Freedom is not passive. Freedom in the Christian life is a matter of standing firm in the liberty with which Christ has made us free. Now I made a I hope I didn't make a mistake in and giving too many illustrations But somebody once said to a preacher, you know, it's nice to drive the point home to drive that nail home But today you split the board I But there's a poem by the Puritan poet John Milton about the life of Samson that not many people read nowadays, but it came to my mind. The Holy Spirit brought it to my mind as I was preparing for this sermon, and I was flabbergasted. stunned to see that John Milton quotes our passage this morning in this poem on Samson. And so I've just put a few of the lines up here. And this is Samson talking. Samson is talking about how the people have turned on him. And he says, what more often nations grown corrupt and by their vices brought to servitude. That means they stopped watching. They got lazy. Than to love bondage more than liberty. Why do we love bondage? Because it's easy. Because chains and bondage come easily. Love bondage more than liberty. Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty. And to despise or envy or suspect whom God of His special favor raised as their deliverer. If he ought, that means anything, if he begins anything, how frequent to desert him and heap, what's the next word? in gratitude on worthiest deeds. Now, Samson's saying, they don't appreciate what I've done for them. And he's basically warning us that bondage comes easily, liberty is strenuous, and one of the telltale things you need to watch is your attitude of gratitude towards those who are fighting for you, your leaders. Now, how many of you are under any kind of authority? Raise your hand. Any kind of authority, are you under authority? Okay, yeah, should be all of us. We have parents, we have bosses, we have pastors, we have elders, we have governors, we have local officials. You know one of the main attitudes you need to have towards your authorities, whoever they may be, is gratitude. William Shakespeare in the play King Lear, King Lear makes some pretty bad decisions. A lot of the suffering he had coming. But when his own daughter turns on him, he says, how sharper than a serpent's tooth is ingratitude. A thankless child, sharper than a serpent's tooth. And I'll just say that it is a burden when God's people don't show gratitude towards those who are fighting with them and for them Now here's this next passage of the next passage. I'll save turn your Bibles back to judges chapter 8 where mr Shaw left off and I'm gonna take it right there from there and read 24 more verses because this is where the ingratitude shows up and Gideon our hero of the story Doesn't do so well Now, he had some stumbling blocks put in his way, but he does not do so well in this second chapter of his story. Verse five. Then he, Gideon, that is, said to the men of Succoth, please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I'm pursuing Ziba and Zalmunna, kings of Midian. And the leaders of Succoth said, Are the hands of Ziba and Zalmunna now in your hand that we should give bread to your army? So Gideon said, for this cause, when the Lord has delivered Ziba and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briars. Then he went up from there to Penuel and spoke to them in the same way. And the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Sukkoth had answered. So he also spoke to the men of Penuel saying, when I come back in peace, I will tear down this tower. Now Ziba and Zalmuna were at Karkor and their armies were with them, about 15,000, all who were left of all the army of the people of the east. For 120,000 men who drew the sword had fallen. Then Gideon went up by the road of those who dwell in tents on the east of Noba and Jog... Yes, Job Baha, and he attacked the army while the camp felt secure. When Ziba and Zamuna fled, he pursued them, and he took the two kings of Midian, Ziba and Zamuna, and routed the whole army. Then Gideon, the son of Joash, returned from battle from the ascent of Haras, and he caught a young man of the men of Succoth and interrogated him, and he wrote down for him the leaders of Succoth and its elders, 77 men. And he came to the men of Succoth and said, here are Ziba and Zalmunna, about whom you ridiculed me, saying, are the hands of Ziba and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your weary men? And he took the elders of the city and thorns of the wilderness and briars. And with them, he taught the men of Succoth. And he tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city. He said to Zeba and Zalmunna, what kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor? So they answered, as you are. So they were. Each one resembled the son of a king. Then he said, they were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if you would let them live, I would not kill you. He said to Jether, his firstborn, rise, kill them. But the youth would not draw his sword, for he was afraid because he was still a youth. So Zeba and Zalmunna said, rise yourself and kill us. For as a man, so is his strength. So Gideon arose and killed Ziba and Zamuna and took the crescent ornaments that were on their camels' necks. Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, rule over us, both you and your son and your grandson also, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian. But Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you. The Lord shall rule over you. Then Gideon said to them, I would like to make a request of you that each of you would give me the earrings from his plunder for they had golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites so they answered we will gladly give them and they spread out a garment and each man threw into the earrings from his plunder and Now the weight of the gold earrings that he requested was 1,700 shekels of gold besides the crescent ornaments, pendants, and purple robes which were on the kings of Midian and beside the chains that were around their camels' necks. Then Gideon made it into an ephod and set it up in his city, Opera, and all Israel played the harlot there. It became a snare to Gideon and to his house. Thus Midian was subdued before the children of Israel so that they lifted their heads no more and the country was quiet for 40 years in the days of Gideon. So as John Milton talked about how ingratitude was hurtful to Samson, here's his next stanza that the chorus sings. Thy words to my remembrance bring, and here's Judges chapter eight. How Sukkoth and the fort of Penuel, their great deliverer, condemned the matchless Gideon in pursuit of Midian and her vanquished kings. And how ingrateful Ephraim had dealt with Jephthah, who by argument, not worse than his shield and spear, defended Israel from the Ammonite. had not as prowess quelled their pride in that sore battle when so many died. This morning, we want to learn from what Gideon does well. then we want to learn from what his people and he did poorly because Gideon starts out so great but ends so badly now unless you get too hard on him he is in Hebrews chapter 11 in the hall of faith and aren't you glad that God uses crooked sticks to draw straight lines aren't you glad that he he is able to take a weak vessel like me or like you, maybe, and do wonderful things when you trust him. And that's how Gideon's story begins. Gideon's story is one of those Old Testament passages that we are to learn from. You might say, come on, Judges 7 and 8? I mean, this is 2025. You're going to tell us a 3,500-year-old story about how to live the Christian life? Oh, yeah, because whatever was written before it was written For our what? Our learning that we through the patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. These things happened as examples that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Gideon had a sticky finger problem at the end of his life. Gideon gets fascinated with one of my professors called the Midianite Baubles. He likes their stuff. And pretty soon he's like Gehazi at the gates of Jericho. He likes the garments. He likes the gold. And it's sticking to his fingers. He's getting enamored with it. He's lusting after those worldly things. And all these things happen to them as examples. Translation. Learn from these men and women. Learn from the things in which they blessed and succeeded and triumphed. Learn from the things in which they stumbled. They're written for our admonition. You might say, wow, Judges chapter eight, probably written by Samuel. Yes, written for you right here in Rock Springs and written for me. So what do we get out of this story? Well, we get something that rebukes us. All scripture is God breathed. Given by inspiration of God, it's profitable for rebuke that the man of God may be complete So you're gonna get a little bit more equipment today from this story Lord willing So here is the cycle of the book of Judges that happens over and over again. It starts with apostasy. God's people walk away. Does that still happen? Oh yeah, it happens. What happens when they walk away? Well, they get brought into bondage. And you know what? That is as easy as falling off a log. You do not have to work hard. to walk away from your close walk with Christ, and even in small ways, and all of a sudden your Christian liberty is missing. You turn to supplication when you say, Lord, I'm in a big mess! Save me! Rescue me! And you know what God does? He rescues. In the book of Judges, we see this cycle over and over and over again, and they don't seem to learn. Things are getting worse and worse and worse. I'll tell you, it makes for hard reading. You know, we live in a culture kind of obsessed with violence, and they were not much different. Violence and bloodshed and falling in love with idols. So in this book of Judges, we finally get to the birth of, or I should say, we get to the tribe of Judah, which sets us up for the birth of this little baby named Obed, who is the grandfather King David and the whole theme of judges is there was no king but at the end of judges We're focused on the tribe of Judah and it's going towards the book of Ruth where this little baby boy put in his grandmother's arms is a wonderful promise of what God's going to do and Just a couple years ago, archaeologists working in Israel found this. It is a nine centimeter shard of pottery that dates back to 1250 BC. They know from the strata in which it was found that it goes back to the time of Gideon. And that says in Old Hebrew, Jeroboam, which was Gideon's other name. Now, why would Gideon's drinking jug, that's what this was from, be broken? Could this be the jug that Gideon had and he wrote his name on it? You know how you put your name in sharpie on a solo cup so other people won't drink out of it? Was this Gideon doing the same thing with his jug that he broke on that battlefield? Well, when Douglas Grisham went into C.S. Lewis' house and he saw a wardrobe and he said, is that the wardrobe from the Chronicles of Narnia? And C.S. Lewis said, it might be. Maybe this is Gideon's jug that they found, but it's got his name on it. It's from the right place, the right year, and the right name is on it. And what a wonderful thing when we can look back over the centuries and think, wow, this is actual history that happened. So Gideon has a whole bunch of things go right for him. Don't you love how he doesn't hide his doubts and his fears in chapter 6? Lord, if it's really you, he says, why are we in bondage? Why have you let the Midianites rule over us? Where are all those victories you gave our fathers? And then he has honest questions about the same subject. But when God reveals himself, he worships. And then in chapter 7, when he hears the dream of the Midianite warriors, he worships again. And he's seeking the Lord with honest obedience. He, kind of in a roundabout way, gets rid of the idol of Baal in his hometown. and they give him the name Jeroboam, which means Baal will plead. When they wanted to kill him, wanted to lynch him afterwards, his father said, well, Baal's a god, let Baal plead for himself. And so they call Gideon, Baal pleads, Jeroboam. And so he's doing the right thing. He's getting rid of the very thing, the sin that has brought Israel into bondage, this spiritual adultery that they were committing with the god named Baal, which means master. Another set of good things that Gideon does. One of the most striking Old Testament descriptions of the Holy Spirit is in Judges 6, 34, where it says the Holy Spirit wore Gideon. The Holy Spirit came upon him, but it literally says it wore Gideon. And you may recall that in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit seems to come on people and endow them for power and give them the ability to speak or to act or to conquer. but then he comes and goes. There's something different when Jesus dies on the cross and is resurrected in where the Holy Spirit comes and seals the believer and comes to stay. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. I think I left that out in the recitation, but I got to it today. The Holy Spirit comes on Gideon and unlike any other person in the Old Testament, wears him. He is the Holy Spirit's instrument. God's plan is proven in the exercise with the fleece. Lord, let this be dry and the ground wet. Let this be wet and the ground dry. And he lets his army shrink for God's glory so that it will be clear who's really giving the victory. And the Midianites and the Amalekites are routed, as we heard in the passage Mr. Shaw read. There's great victory, but watch. Watch what comes next. Gideon had this army shrunk down. Gideon had this army where they had their torches inside their jugs. And they break the jugs. And they stand. And the Midianite Amalekite army turns on each other. And they start killing each other. And they run. And Gideon and his 300 men chase them. Notice that when they cross the Jordan River, how many men does Gideon still have? 300. The casualty rate has been zero. Who won the victory? God did. Who's getting the credit? Gideon is. And you notice, this is a telltale sign that his own heart is in grave danger. You notice when they give him the credit for the victory, he does not answer back. No, no, no, no, no. That was God. But their hearts are starting to turn in the wrong way and his heart may be even more dangerously is turning. Now, Let's see if I can advance this here. Got to go forward. Do you want us to advance it manually? Okay, thank you. So there is this pursuit that after this defeat right here in the Valley of Jezreel, up below Mount Tabor, where Gideon chases the Midianites for about 40 miles. He's chasing them, and they cross the Jordan, and he has this confrontation with the men of Ephraim at the Jordan River, and he basically has to negotiate peace with them because civil war is about to break out. Then he comes to Sukkoth, or the Hebrews would say Sukkot, and Penuel, and the response of the people is kind of like the response that we sometimes have towards other people. It's like, what does your problem have to do with me? You know I'm not really sure you're the guy I want to help they they are kind of hedging their bets About who's gonna win this war and so at Sakoth at Sakote and Penuel he is denied assistance He's exhausted, but he still pursues the Midianites all the way down here to Jog Baha and that is where Ziba and Zalmunna are captured in that area and and ultimately killed. But as we watch Gideon go through this interview with the men of Sokoto and Peñuel, there's some things that he teaches us to watch out for. Mark, if you'll go ahead and advance to that next slide. Gideon's tainted victory begins with a weary pursuit. And look with me there again at Judges 8 verses 1 through 9. So he comes to the fords of the Jordan River, and the men of Ephraim are basically saying, we're angry at you, Gideon, because you didn't call us to the battle. There's the faint rumblings of civil war coming. And Gideon plays the diplomat here. He basically strokes their ego by saying, whoa, you Ephraimites, you killed Oreb and Zeb, those Midianite generals whose names mean raven and wolf. That's what the Midianites did. They were ravaging Israel. And these two generals named Raven and Wolf, he strokes their ego and says, you killed them. What's my town, Abiezar, compared with what you guys have done? They are deflated their anger at him as deflated and Gideon probably wipes his brow Gideon crosses the Jordan all 300 men with him verse 4 Exhausted but still in pursuit and he comes to the Sukkot town the men of Sukkot and says please give loaves of bread to those who follow me years ago my brother-in-law Charlie and I were Hiking at Fall Creek Falls State Park in Tennessee in the middle of the state of Tennessee It's the biggest waterfall east of the Mississippi And we were doing about a 12 mile hike and we came to our campsite and we knew that the campsites were equipped with Water pumps and we'd only carried a minimal amount of water because we knew that all the campsites had water pumps what we did not know is that in the wintertime they turn the water pumps off in Fall Creek Falls State Park and And so, 12-mile hike, no water at the end of the trail. That was pretty disturbing and then the next day we had to hike back to the trailhead and we stopped at spot after spot, no water. Exhausted, but still having to stay on the trail is what Gideon and his men are experiencing. There's no food for them from Sukkot. He comes to the town of Penuel just down the road and the same response. And you realize that these Jewish people, these Israelite people are saying, we're not sure we're going to help you or not, because after all, we don't know if you're going to win. We don't know if we might not be in trouble for helping you. And so we're going to hold back on helping you." And that's what they're saying when they're saying, are the hands of Zebun Amunah now in your hand? And so his pursuit is weary without help. Gideon's victory wreaks vengeance on friend and foe, but more on friend. Did you notice something about his dealing with the men of Penuel and Succoth? He is vengeful. Not only that, but he's willing to torture his own countrymen. Where did he learn that? Well, from the nations around. For one thing, you remember who the original revenge artist was in the Bible? It was Cain's great grandson, Lamech, who said, I've killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me. If Cain will be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech 77-fold. Do you notice how they capture a young man from Sukkoth? And Gideon's vengeance is painstakingly precise. He says, write down the names of all the elders. And the young man is able to come up with 77 leaders. And Gideon, in detail, is vengeful. Notice that when he captures Ziba and Zalmunna, he's willing to spare them. Do we ever sometimes act very courteously towards people who hate the name of Christ? But when there's a minister or a pastor or someone who's taught us in Sunday school, we're not as kind or respectful or courteous or polite to that person. Well, Gideon is willing to spare these guys until he finds out that they've killed some of his family. Now, they butter him up, too, when they say, oh, Gideon, the men we killed look like you. They look like kings. They look like the sons of a king. Well, Gideon's vengeance is overboard. It is an overreaction. And then in the third paragraph, his victory actually leads them back to the bondage that they had escaped. And you see it happening to Gideon by degrees. First of all, he's enamored with their gold, and he's collecting Midianite loot and spoil. Then he is making an idol. Then he is multiplying wives. Deuteronomy 17, 17 said, when there is a king in Israel, he shouldn't multiply wives. He shouldn't multiply gold. He shouldn't multiply horses. Gideon names his son Abimelech, which for a guy who says, oh, no, I won't be king. Let the Lord rule. What does Abimelech mean? My father is king. So Gideon is, in words, saying, oh, you know, I'm going to toe the line here. But in his heart, he has already turned to the wrong side. Let's take a few minutes and apply what this teaches us. Watch out. When you're winning and you're weary, watch out. Don't grow weary while doing good. For in due season, we will reap if we don't lose heart. But watch out. First of all, watch out for broken unity. When you are tired, you can get kind of fussy with your brothers and sisters. That's putting it mildly in Gideon's case. But you know, Gideon does fairly well with the Ephraimites. And that unity is starting to fray. Those relationships are fraying. But he's got offended brothers there. And he does his best to keep them on the same side. This is going to happen again with the Judge Jephthah, by the way. The Ephraimites seem to have an attitude problem when they don't get the glory for a battle. He has to watch those relationships. He deals with offended brothers. Now, you know what the Proverbs say about a brother offended? A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city. The beginning of strife is like the releasing of water. Therefore, stop contention before a quarrel starts. It is honorable for a man to stop striving because any fool can start a quarrel. But when you as a church, you as a body of believers are fighting the battles of God, guard, watch out for any break in your unity. What's that drumbeat of the book of Acts? They were all in one accord. They were all in one accord. Psalm 133 says, Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious oil on the head running down the beard, the beard of Aaron. For there, the Lord commanded the blessing life forevermore. Ephesians chapter four and verse three says, strive to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Watch the quality of your relationships with each other. Now, don't raise your hand, but do you ever find yourself resenting a Christian brother or sister or avoiding or saying, oh, there she goes again. Oh, there he goes again. Guard your spirit. Guard your unity. The beginning of strife is like the releasing of water. Stop contention before a quarrel starts. If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault between you and him alone. And if he hears you, you've gained your brother. but Israel is pulling apart tribe by tribe. Gideon's from Manasseh, the brother tribe of Ephraim, and they're starting to fight with each other. Then these cities are gonna say, oh, we're not sure. They're false or fearful brothers. When Paul mentions all the trials that he goes through, he says in 2 Corinthians 11, 27, there's the danger of false brethren. You see, some of the men of Sukkot and Penuel were really on the other side. They really were saying, you know what, actually, we're going to throw in our lot with the Midianites and the Malachites, because they seem to be pretty powerful around here. They've been ruling Israel for a while. And Gideon's like, oh, I come to my own people, and my own people won't help me. So guard, watch out for broken unity when you're serving well. Guard your unity as a church in Gideon's life. It led to, you know, their sin made him stumble. Their sin of not helping him made even so great a champion that he makes it into the hall of faith. Stumble. Their ingratitude, their unwillingness to give bread made him stumble. Guard your unity. Watch out for broken unity. Secondly, another application we would make is Go ahead and advance that if you would there, please. Is the overreaction, the vengeance. And you notice how in 1 Corinthians 13 it says, love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy, is not provoked, does not seek its own. And one of the translations says, does not keep a record of wrongs. Now, I was told this at a marriage conference my very first year of marriage, that when you're a newlywed, you want to get into the habit of not keeping an aha list. You know what an aha list is? It's when your spouse makes a mistake and you say, aha! Now I have this thing I can hold over you, this thing I can bring to your attention at a choice moment. Love doesn't do that. Gideon did. Gideon said, you know what? When I come back, I'm not just going to chastise you or bring some people up on charges of treason. I'm going to put thorns on your body. Can you imagine the vengeance and the anger it took for him to grab those 77 men, many of them older, and rake thorns over their bodies? And he wrote down all 77 names so that he can do it in detail. Some of us keep a list of the people who've wronged us and how they've wronged us. And this passage teaches us that we shouldn't do that. We shouldn't keep a record of other wrongs. Take personal offense and taking personal revenge on people. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. But even so great a man as Gideon is turned into this condition where he is viciously taking revenge against those who've wronged him. Thirdly, as you watch out for broken unity, as you watch out for overreaction, Thirdly, watch out in your relationships. And this is a verse that I think just doesn't stop speaking to me. You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him. Don't let the sin of others lead you to sin. That's what happened in Gideon's case. I believe the men of Succoth and Peñuel were guilty of treason. But Gideon is guilty of something eventually worse than the idolatry that he leads his people into. You shall not hate your brother. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor. Watch out for that frayed unity. Watch out for that overreaction in your own spirit. And lastly, watch out for the return of old sins. Now, if you are no longer temptable in the Christian life, I'd like to meet you right after the service and warn you that you are greatly deceived. You know if Gideon after standing up to 150,000 Midianites with 300 men can fall then so can I and So can you their telltale warning signs? Gideon is beginning to think that maybe I am all that maybe I am actually King material, and he starts getting fascinated with Midianite worldly stuff. Now, I know, I sit in the same spot that you sit in, and sometimes I look at people who don't follow Christ and I think, maybe they have it better. Maybe, look at the way their lives are going. Look at how free of trouble some of my non-Christian friends are. Look at their stuff. and we begin to get fascinated with it. Gideon has this fake humility where he's saying, oh, I won't be king, but everything he's doing is giving the opposite message. Everything he's doing, from not correcting them about who won the battle, to naming his son Abimelech, to saying, give me all the earrings, to looking at all the gold and silver and the precious clothing. And there's something going on in his heart that his words don't tell us. A love of the world has crept in. And the very God that they had escaped from, Baal, becomes the object of their worship again by the end of the passage. Look then again at that sad ending. Chapter 8 verse 27 Gideon takes that gold sounds like Aaron here He takes that gold and he makes it into an ephod and sets it up in his city and all Israel played the harlot with their it became a snare and to Gideon and his house. God warned them, if you don't get rid of these peoples and their gods, their gods will become a snare to you. And here it is happening again. So we have to watch. Watch out for those frayed relationships, that broken unity. Watch out for overreacting to those who have done us wrong and doing them more wrong and letting their sin lead us into sin. And watch out for the return of old sins. This happened in Gideon's life, his family, and this idol comes back into Israel. Now, when I played basketball in high school, I had coaches who were rather mean. After an exhausting practice, they would take one of the poorer free throw shooters on the team, and they would put him on the free throw line and say, all right, it's a one and one. If you make one free throw, you get a second. And boys, if he makes both free throws, practice is over. If he misses either one, we're going to run wind sprints and touch every line and start at the out-of-bounds here and going to touch every line. Oh, and then to make it more fun, go find somebody your size, take him piggyback, and run a wind sprint with somebody piggyback. Why were they doing that? Why were they teaching us that when you're exhausted, you still have to be able to hit a free throw? Because that's what real games are like. And you know what real life is like? When you are exhausted, when you have exhausted your store of endurance, when your strength is gone, ere the day is half done, as the old hymn says. When we have exhausted our hoarded resources, our Father's full giving is only begun. But when you are exhausted, when you are weary in well-doing, watch your spirit. Guard yourself against broken unity. Guard yourself against overreacting. Anybody here overreact when you're tired? Maybe it's just me. Guard yourself against going off, going nuclear on somebody who just stepped on your toe. and guard yourself against old sins that want to sneak back in your life. Pastor Rich reminded us at the conference that we look at heaven and we see the church triumphant, but right now we are the church militant. You've got to send out those patrols, even though it's 30 degrees below zero. You've got to run those wind sprints and stay sharp. I remember years ago, we found our professor at Dallas Seminary, Howard Hendricks, out in the quad working on his memory verses in his 80s. And somebody said, Dr. Hendricks, are you still memorizing scripture? And he kind of frowned and said, I have to do this stuff too. I've got to keep running the wind sprints. I've got to stay on target. I have to watch out. What does 1st Peter chapter 5 say? Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, what? walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren who are in the world. But the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, will perfect establish strengthen and settle you Jesus says this in Luke 12 blessed are those servants whom the master when he comes will find watching Surely I say to you he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat and will come and serve them Let's pray together Father this is a hard passage kind of a strange behavior from Gideon and in some ways awful behavior. But Father, we are taught to watch our spirit. You say in your Word that we should watch out lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright and we are to watch out for the root of bitterness that springs up and by it many are defiled. Lord, I all too easily would do the same things. Help me to watch. Help each one of us to even when we have grown weary in winning, that we would watch and receive this reward that our Lord Jesus promises. Thank you that to him who overcomes you grant to sit down with you on your throne as you overcame and sat down on your father's throne. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.