If you'd open your bibles tonight to the sixth chapter of the book of judges judges chapter six as we continue on In this journey through this Book that god is inspired in the word. We're going to read the text as we work our way through it tonight We're going to look tonight at the first 24 verses of the sixth chapter And before we begin our journey, let's bow and look to the lord in prayer our father. We thank you for the inspired scriptures what hope it gives any of us in life to realize that as God, you're interested in us and you can use us regardless of past history, regardless of the environment from which we came. We are grateful that you are a God who chooses to use weak vessels to make glorious statements for thyself. We pray that you would use this text tonight to minister to us in a very practical way and personal way, and we will thank you for that in Jesus' name, amen. Gary Phillips made an interesting observation years ago about the apostles that God used to turn the world upside down. He said Peter was known for his emotional instability. James and John were sons of thunder, apparently in trouble with the juvenile division of the Galilean police force. Thomas didn't believe much of anything. Philip was somewhat of a dull, imperceptive guy, not the brightest crayon in the box. James the Less, we don't know a whole lot about. Simon the Zealot was some kind of former gang member. Matthew was a pro-Roman Jewish tax collector. He said the only one of the 12 who actually seemed to have CEO business background would have been Judas. If the personnel department were looking at resumes to determine who would make the best disciple of Jesus Christ, probably all but Judas would have been eliminated. More than likely, Judas would have been the one most would have selected. But God does not make his selection based on what men were at the time that he made the selection. He bases his selection on what they will become when he gets done with them. One of the most encouraging things to see in the scripture is that God is a God who takes weak, insignificant, broken down people and he transforms them by his amazing power. In other words, God knew all about us when he chose us. He knew about our weaknesses. He knew about our failures. He knew about our frustrations, our discouragements, our doubts. He knew about our fears and our inadequacies. God does not say to us, I can't use you because you're such a mess. What he says to us is I can do great things with you and for you when you choose to follow me. God initiates the relationship with us and his goal is to transform us into becoming the wonderful person that he wants us to become. Gary Inrig in his commentary said, one of the great truths of scripture is that when God looks at us, he doesn't see us for what we are. He sees us for what we can become as he works in our lives. And one of the great inspired illustrations, one of the great inspired stories of that reality is the story of Gideon. When you look at these first 24 verses of the sixth chapter, there is a theme that leaps from its page. When God's people cry out to God for help, God will raise up someone and some of the most unlikely people to lead and help his people. Now you may be here tonight and you may think I come from such a lousy background. I come from such a dysfunctional family that God couldn't use me for anything. You're about to meet Gideon. His family background is bizarre. In the 25th verse of this very 6th chapter, you'll discover that his father was a Baal worshipper who actually put up monuments to worship a false god. So he comes from an idolatrous home. When you look in this chapter down at verse 30, you will discover that there was the chance that his father would actually kill his own son for tearing down the idol. That's a bizarre background to come from, when you come from a family with that background. But that's the background that Gideon came from, and Gideon is God's choice. Now when we look at this text tonight, there are six parts to it I want to show you. First of all, God sovereignly makes his people miserable because of their sin. Notice verse 1. Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord gave them into the hands of Midian seven years. The power of Midian prevailed against Israel because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. For it was when Israel had sown that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the sons of the east and go against them. So they would camp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza and leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox or donkey. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in like locusts for a number. Both they and their camels were innumerable and they came into the land to devastate it. So Israel was brought very low because of Midian and the sons of Israel cried to the Lord." Now these verses tell the truth about Israel, but they don't flatter Israel. God had given Israel deliverance under Deborah and Barak. The land was undisturbed for 40 years. That's how the fifth chapter ends. This land was undisturbed for 40 years. However, during those 40 years, Israel hadn't become a whole lot more spiritual. They apparently started taking those blessings for granted. And instead of using their freedom and their peace to worship God, to love God, to live life in a God-honoring way, to use those blessings of God to draw close to the Lord, once again they did evil in the sight of the Lord. This is the fourth time in the book of Judges where we learn they've done evil again. We don't want to miss this point, ladies and gentlemen, because this is a critical point of this book. God's people have a heart that's bent on doing evil. God's people have a heart that can do evil, even when they've seen God do a lot of good things. If we don't stay on top of ourselves in our spirituality, if we don't stay close to the Lord, if we don't stay committed to the Word of God, we can end up drifting off into evil even if we've enjoyed the blessings of God for over 40 years. And I don't want you to overlook the fact that the evil is done in the sight of the Lord. It says they did evil in the sight of the Lord. Any evil that His people commit is on full display before the eyes of the Almighty God. Any evil that God's people commit would be on full display before Him. What was Israel doing? Evil. What was God doing? He was making their evil lives miserable. It's risky business to be a child of God and say, I'm not going to do anything about sin. It's dangerous business because God can and will make his own people become miserable, afraid, and stagnant. God can cause his world or our world to cave in. I heard one minister say, my world fell apart, and I knew why. God's hand was against me because I was doing wrong. And because Israel's people were doing evil, what God did is He raised up a group of desert marauders led by Midian to oppress Israel economically. And according to verse 1, they were oppressed for seven straight years. Those Midianites, who were descendants of Abraham through Keturah, his second wife, lived in southern Palestine. They formed a coalition with the Amalekites, who were descendants of Esau, and they were a nomadic tribe, and also the sons of the east that were the desert Arabs. And together, they formed an alliance, and they made things economically miserable for Israel. The Midianites were so intimidating that the sons of Israel, according to verse 2, hid out in mountain areas and caves and defendable hills. Whatever supplies they had, they tried to hide. The Midianites, though, had a great new weapon. Verse 5 mentions the weapon. They had a camel. They had the camel. Now, the camels not only looked scary when coming in an attack, but they made the Midianites very mobile. You and I live in a time in which our military can take a jet, fly from the United States almost anywhere in the world, carry out a mission, and fly home. What we need to understand back in this culture is these camels were the jets that got those people there in days. Those camels could go anywhere. They can travel for three to four days with a heavy load on its back. They can go at least 30 miles a day carrying a heavy load. They can travel 300 miles without food or water. The camels typically known in the Middle East, in the Arabian desert, are the single-humped Camels that's what the arabs are known to have that you can run as high as seven feet high they weigh about 1,500 pounds if you look at them they have their nostrils slit they have long eyelashes which is able to Stand up against the sandstorms that are out there in the arabia desert In fact it's interesting that i read that the american army one time started an experiment to use camels In our fight against the indians but the project was shelved when the civil war broke up brought out or broke out Now, the Midianites were not interested in occupying the land permanently. What they would do is they would come into Israel's land every year at harvest time. They'd invade the land. They would set up their gypsy-type camps all over the land. They would eat up the food. They would drink up all the wine. They would take all the animals, and then they'd leave until next year, and they'd do it again. It's kind of what some of our people do in the wintertime here. They leave, and they go down south, and they raid those grocery stores in those areas like a bunch of locusts. And then come springtime, they leave and come back home until next year and they do it all over again. They're like these retired Midianite marauders. Why don't you snowbirds leave those people alone down there and stay up here with us? Every single year, the Midianites would saddle up their camels and they would come to the promised land like a bunch of locusts. And according to verse 5, there were an innumerable company. I don't know what those numbers are. They're big numbers. I can tell you this. If you flip over to chapter 8 and verse 10, we get one account of just one skirmish that we'll see later in the book. In chapter 8 and verse 10, you're looking at 135,000 military. In chapter 8 and verse 10, we read in this one battle, now Ziba and Zalmuna were in Karkor, and their armies with them, about 15,000 men, all who were left of the entire army of the sons of the east for the fallen were 120,000 swordmen. So if you had 15,000 of the 120,000, you're looking at 130,000, 35,000 men that were just in their military. The Midianites were mobile because they are on these camels. They can cross a desert. They can cross the Jordan. They can move into the area. They can take food and grain and vegetables and fruit and livestock. They can come in there and they can take it and be gone just as fast as they came. And verse 6 says that Israel was brought low. And you would be. My goodness, when you're an agricultural people, and most people who are living in Israel at this time were agricultural people, nothing could be more depressing than that. I mean, you go out there and you plant the crop, and you are expecting to get some harvest, and then every time it gets to be harvest time, they come and take it away. It would be like you expecting, I work for a paycheck, and then every time you get your paycheck, somebody comes and just takes it away. And I believe one of the ways that God gets his people to turn back to him is by economic disaster. I also believe that this is exactly a prediction of what God's going to do in the tribulation with Israel. Because what he's going to do under the auspices of the Antichrist is he's going to let Israel get real low on food. If they refuse to take the mark of the beast, they're not going to be able to buy or sell. And that's the time when they will be praying to God, turning to God, and actually saying, give us this day our daily bread. God will get this nation into a situation where they will be so economically poor that she will have to turn to him. And when she does turn to him, deliverance will come. Which brings us to the second part, God's people cry out to God for help. Verse six, so Israel was brought very low because of Midian and the sons of Israel cried to the Lord. Now it came about when the sons of Israel cried to the Lord on account of Midian. Times of personal crisis are wonderful times to cry out to God. Times of personal disaster are appropriate times to turn to the Lord. And this verb cry out found in verse six and seven means they were imploring him for help because they were sad, they were sorrowful. Finally, in total desperation, Israel cries out to God. But I want you to notice carefully what verse seven says. They cried out to the Lord on account of Midian. They're crying to the Lord because of Midian, not because of their sin. Now crying to God is a good thing to do. Crying to God if you're God's people is a wonderful thing to do, but it's not the same as repenting of sin. It is true that one of the best things that any of God's people could do when they're desperate would be cry out to the Lord. When some intimidating enemy is hounding you, when some threat is in your world, it's very right to cry out to God. But if you want total victory, don't forget to analyze this whole process and analyze yourself. Because perhaps the reason for the trouble is because I'm not dealing with something in my life God at times will permit his people to hit bottom and when when he does he's trying to get his people to turn to him Turn to him and deal with the issue Which brings us to the third part god sends his prophet to communicate his word to his people notice verse 8 That the lord sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, it was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of slavery. I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land. And I said to you, I am the Lord your God. You shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live, but you have not obeyed me. Now, as soon as this nation cried out to God, it's interesting to me, is God sent him a person who can open up his word. I find that interesting, and it's more than just interesting. Because if we're going to be in a right relationship with the Lord, and we're going to slug it out in the war that we are living in in this world, we need someone that can open up the Word of God. If we want victory, that's what we need. We need the Scriptures, we need somebody that can unlock the Scriptures, and that's what God does. He sends them a prophet. He doesn't respond with immediate deliverance here. He sends a prophet. He sends a prophet. We don't even know the prophet's name. We're not sure who he is. What we know is he was God's prophet. And what we do know is when God's prophet came on the scene, he specifically opened up the scriptures and he exposed their sin. He did not come first to comfort them. He came to confront them. And there are six fascinating messages that he gives from the Lord. First of all, he says, God brought Israel out of Egypt and out of slavery. You know what the prophet assumes there? The prophet assumes you guys know something about the book of Exodus. By alluding to this fact, God is the one who brought Israel out of Egypt and out of slavery, saying, your present existence is like slavery all over again. Secondly, he said, God delivered Israel from the hands of the Egyptians. It didn't matter how intimidating they were. It didn't matter how powerful they were. That's nothing for God. He delivered Israel from them. Thirdly, he said, God delivered Israel from the hands of all their oppressors. He assumes they know the book of Joshua. He assumes they understand those stories from the book of Joshua. He knew that they had come into that land and he had delivered them from all the enemies. In fact, number four, he says, God dispossessed Israel's oppressors from the land. He routed your oppressors right out of the land. Number five, God gave Israel the land. He said, I set the boundaries. for the land you're supposed to have. I am God. I'm the one that routed out your oppressors and your enemies. I'm the one who set the boundaries of the land. I told Israel that they did not need to fear any enemy or their false gods. And then he says, but here's message number seven, you have not obeyed God. This prophet is calling things straight. He's not sugarcoating this message. Basically what he says is God has all power, all right? He's proven that to you time and time again. He has all power to deliver Israel from anything and anyone, but you've not obeyed God. You would think that God's people would say, you know, that's right. God has all power to deliver us. He's done it before. Man, there are stories where God just miraculously delivered us, and I wonder why He's not doing it now. You'd think somebody in Israeli leadership would be saying that right now. You'd certainly think the religious leaders of Israel would say that. You know, we read here where God's supposed to give us this land, and we're supposed to have this land. It's supposed to blossom like a rose. It's supposed to flourish, and no enemies are supposed to be in this land. I wonder what's gone wrong. And you would think some of God's own people would say that. Sometimes God's own people find themselves in miserable situations and they never bother to say, I wonder what's gone wrong here. And the answer in this case is you're not obeying me. If you would obey me, you'd see my power. We don't even know what the response was by Israel to this prophet's confrontation. There's no record here that you have national repentance taking place at all. In fact, there's nothing in this message of this prophet that even promises God will deliver them. He says God can. He's shown you that he can do that time and time again, but you haven't obeyed him. What we're going to see God do in amazing grace, amazing grace, is deliver his people simply because they cried to him for help. You may find yourself in life in a mess and you may be in that mess because you know you made choices that got you in that mess. You could be sitting here tonight and say, I am in a disaster because I disobeyed God, I disobeyed his word. I have blatantly chosen to do just the opposite of what I know I should have done and I find myself dominated by things and in a situation that I shouldn't even be in. Listen, You're ripe for the grace of God. If in that context, if in that moment you face up to that and you cry out to the Lord and you ask for His help, you're very likely to see God do some amazing things for you and with you. Which brings us to the fourth part. God sovereignly and personally chooses Gideon to help his people. Verse 11. Then the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abizite. As his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites, the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, the Lord is with you, O valiant warrior. Now God sovereignly and graciously decided he's going to deliver his people and he's going to select here the most unlikely candidate that you would ever see or think. The selection process begins with the appearance of the Lord, the angel of the Lord, who is none other than Jesus Christ in a pre-incarnate state. It becomes pretty obvious that the one speaking in this context is God, so you just have to ask yourself which member of the Godhead is actually here speaking, and it turns out to be Jesus Christ. He shows up in human form. He sat down under an oak tree in Ophrah. Now, Ophrah was a city of Manasseh, west of Jordan, about 16 miles north of Jericho, Oprah was a woman in the family line of a visor. Now you talk about contemporary relevance, in chapters 4 to 5 we meet a guy named Barack, in chapter 6 we meet a woman named Oprah. I mean that gets pretty relevant to the day in which we live. According to verse 11, it was year number eight, and it was harvest time, and a young man, Gideon, was trying to figure out what he could do to secretly preserve some of the crop from those Midianite raids. If you would have had tried to come up with a job description of a deliverer that you're looking for, the resume he would have turned in wouldn't have met the qualifications. Gideon would have been your last choice. In fact, you would never even interview him. What's interesting about this is actually Gideon, in the next weeks we're going to see a lot about him, takes up about a hundred verses in the book of Judges. Samson takes up 96 verses, so this unlikely, unusual guy ends up becoming a key theme of this whole book of Judges. Now when we first meet Gideon in verse 11, the text says he's threshing wheat in a wine press with a stick. Now you need to understand something about this culture to have this really come to life. Wine presses typically were located at the bottom of a hill area because grapes were grown on the side of a hill and when you would pick those bunches of grapes, those weighty grapes off those vines, you didn't want to have to lug them up a hill to a wine press, so you just let gravity do the work and you hauled them down a hill and you put them in the wine press. Most of the time, the threshing of wheat would not be done in a wine press down at the base of a hill. You have no air flow there. It's hot. It's dingy. It's out of the way. Typically, it was done on a huge wooden threshing floor that was up on top of a hill. And the reason why you wanted it up on top of a hill is because you would take the oxen, they would pull a sledge out of the open, and that way the wind could blow away the chaff. And naturally, if you have it on top of a hill, it's windier when you get up high than when you're down low. but because Gideon didn't want anybody to see him. He's down there in a little wine press with a hammer and trying to just beat out a little wheat. He's trying to hide what he's doing to just get a little food that wouldn't be stolen. Not too many Midianites would think of looking for grain in a wine press because wine presses didn't hold that much. The work would have been dirty and dusty and there's no fresh air there. There's nothing really to separate the wheat from the chaff and so it isn't even going to be good stuff. According to verse 12, the angel of the Lord came to Gideon and he says two things. The Lord is with you, valiant warrior. Now, look at this through the eyes of Gideon. He probably said, okay, I'm here in this wine press, I'm hiding. I'm not up there on the top of a hill trying to get this wheat. There's nothing about his look that would say he's a valiant warrior. He's not organizing some clandestine resistance movement. He's not out training with weapons. He's afraid. In fact, in verse 15, he's going to mention some of his own inadequacies and insecurities. He looks like a scared, defeated, discouraged man who's just trying to survive and hide some food in a wine press. He probably said, yeah, right. I'm a man of valor. Well, if I were a man of valor, I wouldn't be hiding down here at the base of the hill. I'd be up there on top of a hill threshing wheat. But God said two things to him. The Lord is with you and you are a valiant warrior. I want you to just think about that because there's nothing at this point that looks like either one are true. There's nothing that looks like the Lord is with Israel, with Gideon, and there's nothing that looks like Gideon is a valiant warrior. But here is the critical lesson. This is the principle that you want to see about God and his work. God does not look at what we presently are when he decides to grant us his grace. God looks at what we eventually will become by his grace. Do you realize the implications of this? God can do powerful things with you. God can do powerful things with this church, not because of what it looks like right now, or because of what it was when God first imparted to us His grace, but because He sovereignly knows what He has the capability to do in the days to come. And this is not just something for Old Testament theology. The Apostle Paul had exactly this perspective of New Testament believers and a New Testament church. He wrote to the Thessalonians in chapter 5, verses 23 to 24. I won't take the time to turn you there tonight, but you can look it up. He says God is able to sanctify you entirely, not because of who you are or what you are, but because He's able to do it Himself. He can take you to the highest level because of His sovereign power. Look, when most people look at us, what they see is our flaws. When most people look at us, they see our failures, not God. He sees his transforming power and possibilities. And that's why he says to Gideon, you're a valiant warrior. I see what I'm going to do with you. Which brings us to the fifth part. Gideon responds to God verbally, verse 13. Then Gideon said to him, O my Lord, If the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles, which our fathers told us about, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian. The Lord looked at him and said, go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you? He said to him, O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh. I'm the youngest in my father's house. But the Lord said to him, surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man. Now Gideon does not verbally respond in a heroic way. He's struggling with the same thing that many of God's people struggle with today, and that is he bases his faith and he bases his theology on his circumstances. He basically says, if the Lord's with us, how come things are so bad? If our life circumstances are so lousy, how is it possible God's with us? What in the world am I doing in this wine press trying to stamp out a little grain by stealth if Almighty God is with us. He had absolutely no grasp of why God had done what he had done. He had absolutely no grasp of what God was even doing. What's interesting to me is Gideon lives in an idolatrous home that you're going to see, Lord willing, next Sunday night. And when the Lord says, I'm with you, oh, valiant warrior, Gideon responds and said, well, then how come you've allowed all these things to happen to us? Why aren't you performing those miracles that we've heard about? Why have you abandoned us? Gideon's theology is this. If good things are happening to us, God's with us. But if bad things are happening to us, God's abandoned us. When you base your doctrine on how you feel, when you base your doctrine on not on what god reveals you can become very fuzzy and confused in your theology we know for example from the old testament in the new testament god does not ever abandon his people if for no other reason than because his name is at stake he said i will not abandon my people because my name's on the line god reveals i'll discipline my people i'll humble my people i'll get them to turn back to me but i'll never abandon them what i find interesting is how God responds to Gideon's diatribe in verse 14 and it starts off by saying the Lord looked at him. I think that's interesting. First, Gideon is shooting off his mouth saying God has abandoned us and this angel of the Lord is probably sitting there. Who do you think is sitting here talking to you? If we've abandoned you, what am I doing here? He's probably thinking to himself, I can't believe what just came out of your mouth. Secondly, he's looking at what? Gideon would become he's not looking at what Gideon was standing there and immediately I want you to notice what he says you go wipe out the Midianites and deliver Israel because your strength lies in the fact I have sent you And in verse 15 Gideon responds by reminding God I I can't do that job I'm from Israel. I'm from the smallest tribe. I'm the youngest in my father's house. Gideon felt inadequate for this job. He thought this job's too big for me. I'm too small for this job. I can't do it. But Gideon was the man God chose. And there's something refreshing about this to see from Gideon. You know what's really wrong with most people? They're just too big for God to use. I don't think you ever can be too weak for God to use. You can pretend you're too strong. It's certainly better to think less of ourself than more highly of ourself. I think it's important that we see that Gideon's an honest guy, because I think it's important that we see ourselves honestly. We do not ever want to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. We ought to know what our limitations are. We ought to admit our limitations. There's real honesty here. I think that's one of the reasons God chose Gideon. God does not ever do much with delusional, arrogant liars who live in some fantasy world in their spirituality. We need to be humble, honest, people of truth before the Lord. I think all of us have known of people who pretend the idea or want you to think that they're some type of scholar when in fact they're anything but that. It's just delusional thinking. But we need to realize, ladies and gentlemen, that all the great people that God has ever used to accomplish great things felt inadequate. There's something wrong with believers who are proud There's something real wrong with believers who are proud thinking they can do it on their own. The fact of the matter is the ability we have to do anything for God isn't our ability, it's his ability. In fact, according to verse 16, the Lord said to him, surely I will be with you and you shall defeat Midian as one man. God says the reason you're going to be able to do this job is because I am with you. There is a critical lesson for all of us to see from this. And that is, when God calls us to a task, we want to look to Him, not look to ourselves for the victory. Don't make the mistake of focusing on you. You focus on Him. He's the one with the power to carry it out. Which brings us to the sixth part. Gideon responds doubtingly and worshipfully. Verse 17 says, So Gideon said to him, If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Please do not depart from here until I come back to you and bring out my offering and lay it before you. And he said, I will remain until you return. Then Gideon went in and prepared a young goat. and unleavened bread from an ephaph of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and brought them out under the oak and presented them. The angel of God said to him, ìTake the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock and pour out the broth.î And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, Alas, O Lord God, for now I've seen the angel of the Lord face to face. The Lord said to him, Peace to you. Do not fear. You shall not die. Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it The Lord is Peace. To this day, it is still in ofrah of the Abruzzites. There are two requests Gideon makes of this angel of the Lord. Request number one, show me a sign. Now I believe this is going to be a real weakness with Gideon. A couple Sunday nights from now, Lord willing, we're going to talk about this sign business. Gideon's a weak man. He can't accept the Word of God. He always wants to see some sign. That's not evidence of a strong faith. It's evidence of lack of faith. Gideon has just been talking to God who says, this is what you're going to do. And Gideon is a mental mess. So he says, if I found favor or grace in your sight, now think about that. You're talking to the angel of the Lord. If I found favor in your sight, if that weren't true, you wouldn't be sitting here talking to the angel of the Lord. You've already experienced the grace of God. Now, we'll admit, if some stranger in human form showed up while you're at work and told you he was the angel of the Lord and he would be with you and go take care of the Midianites, it would be a little unnerving and you might be a little suspect. However, as you're about to see, Gideon certainly does believe this is God speaking to him, so he knows I'm not talking to your average guy sitting here under this tree. So first, he says to him, if I found favor in your sight, and secondly, he says, would you show me a sign? And actually, he's about to see three signs here. His second request is, stay and accept my worship. That's what he asked him in verses 18 and 19. Gideon says, I want to honor you. I want to worship you. So will you stay here so I can prepare an offering? Now, the size of the offering described in verse 19 is pretty impressive. It's doubly impressive when you think about the fact there's a real shortage of food. You'll notice carefully the text says, he took bread from an ephaph of flour. That's a lot of flour. I have read different accounts of that. You're talking anywhere from over half a bushel to one bushel of flour here. This is a great sacrifice. Gideon knows he's in the presence of God. He wanted to give God his best offering that he possibly could. And according to verse 20, the angel of the Lord told Gideon, go ahead and get your offering, and I want you to lay it on a rock and pour broth on it. And that's where the signs start. Sign number one, the angel of the Lord touched it with his staff and fire burned it up. Verse 21 says the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread and the fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Sign number two, the angel of the Lord immediately disappears. Notice verse 21, then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. And when that happens, The names that Gideon uses in verse 22 clearly communicate, I have been in the presence of God. Lord, capital L-O-R-D, capital L, small case O-R-D, Adonai. Lord, capital L, capital O-R-D, Jehovah. God, capital G, capital O-D, is Jehovah. I have been in the presence of Yitva Shalom. I have been in the presence of Adonai, the God, the Lord, the Jehovah of all. And he said, I'm dead. Because he knew what Moses had said in Exodus 33, 20, which said, no man can see God and live. And he's thinking, I have just been talking here to God. I am dead. And the angel of the Lord audibly speaks to Gideon. Verse 23 says, The Lord said to him, Peace to you, do not fear, you shall not die. There's no hint that this Lord was even around invisibly, and there's no hint that Gideon even said that out loud. Apparently, in his mind, he's thinking, I've just seen God. I'm dead. But of course, we know God says, I search minds and hearts. I know what people are thinking. I know what's going on in the reserves of their hearts and souls. And he knew exactly what Gideon was thinking. I'm dead. And a voice comes out of heaven and says, you're safe. See, God knows what we're thinking about right now. He knows if we're focused on Him. He knows if we're focused on His Word. He knows if we want to do His will. He knows if we're really going after that so we can experience His blessings. And according to verse 24, then Gideon built an altar to the Lord and named it, The Lord is Peace. To this day, it is still an ofrah of the Abizites. In verse 24, Gideon builds an altar to worship God. He names it, Yehoshalom, Jehovah Peace. And that really was what God wanted with Israel and with any person all along, a peaceful relationship. The problem is you can't have a peaceful relationship when people are doing evil in your sight. In fact, if you're going to have a peaceful relationship and view the fact that we've done evil in the sight of the Lord, it has to go through the sacrifice. It's the sacrifice that makes it possible for us to have a shalom relationship with God. What Gideon says to every one of us is you can be encouraged that when we have a hard time accepting ourselves and we think we can't amount to much because our background is so lousy, if we will go via a sacrifice and obey the word of God, we can be greatly used by the Lord. See, our theology is not dictated by our circumstances. Our theology is not dictated by our feelings. If things are good, our God is still sovereign. If things are bad, our God is still sovereign. This God, according to the word of God, at times will permit things to come into our world because he wants to conform us to Jesus Christ. That's how all things work together for good to those who love the Lord. All things work together for good to those who love the Lord because he is using those things to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. He wants us to become what he wants us to be. So that moment that He touched your life, in all of its confusion, in all of its despair, when you were searching and you were doubting, that moment that He touched you, He saw what you could become. And as you focus on His word, and as you focus on His will, you'll become everything He wants you to be. And perhaps you're here tonight and your life is a disaster. You're afraid. You're worn down. You're weak. You're uncertain of the future. Well, here's a great lesson to see from this book of Judges. You turn to the Lord. You go to God. You do business with Him. You keep focused on His word. Pursue His will. And you'll see God do wonderful things in future days. May we pray. If you've never trusted Jesus Christ as Savior, listen, no matter what your background is here tonight, you can have peace with God. Peace with God. Think about that. Through Jesus Christ, it goes through that sacrifice. So right now in this moment, you pray something like this, God, I know I'm a sinner. I thank you that Christ died for me on that cross. And right now I place all of my faith in Him to save me from my sins. Our Father, there are times in our lives where we weave tangled webs by our own decisions and our own choices, just like they did in this book of Judges. We are grateful for amazing grace. Sometimes the people were in trouble for seven years. Sometimes it was longer. But whenever they would turn to thee, you were right there, 70 times, seven times to grant your grace, pick them up again and use them for your glory. I pray that you would do that with us as individuals and as a church. I pray that you would just continue to develop us so that when it's all over, You'll look at what was accomplished through us and this ministry and say, you became everything I wanted you to become. Help us to follow your word, understand your word to that objective in Jesus name, amen.