If you'd open your Bibles, please, to the sixth chapter of the book of Judges, Judges chapter six. Judges chapter six, verse 25. Here's what we read. Now, on the same night, the Lord said to him, take your father's bull and a second bull, seven years old, and pull down the alder of Baal, which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it, and build an alder to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner. and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of Asherah which you shall cut down. Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had spoken to him. And because he was too afraid of his father's household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night. When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah, which was beside it, was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar, which had been built. They said to one another, Who did this thing? And when they searched about and inquired, they said, Gideon, the son of Joash, did this thing. Then the men of the city said to Joash, Bring out your son, that he may die, for he's torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed he's cut down the Asherah which was beside it. But Joash said to all who stood against him, Will you contend for Baal, or will you deliver him? Whoever will plead for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar. Therefore on that day he named him jeruba ball that is to say let bail contend against him because he had torn down his altar May we pray father. We thank you for your word It is inspired. It's inspiring. And I pray that your Holy Spirit would use this text tonight to minister to our minds and hearts. And we will thank you for that. In the name of the Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen. Several years ago, we went on vacation, ended up in San Antonio, Texas. And while we were there, we went and visited the famous small mission church known as the Alamo. Now Texas had declared itself to be an independent state from Mexico and Mexico sent an army of 3,000 men led by General Santa Anna to change their minds. In that small mission church was a handful of men, one of whom was Davy Crockett. And they were faced with a major decision. We can surrender, or we can run, or we can fight. And they literally drew a line on the floor in the dirt, and all who wanted to fight were asked to step across the line. And all but one did, and all who did died. The courage that was displayed by those men caused all of Texas, and ultimately the United States, to use the battle cry, Remember the Alamo. It was their courage that moved others to have courage. When we come to this part of the story of Gideon's life, we come to a moment when Gideon must make a decisive decision for God. This really is his alibi. God has told Gideon that he is to go and deliver Israel from an innumerable company of Midianites who were dominating and looting the land of Israel. A line is drawn for Gideon. If he steps over the line, he can't go back and he'll accomplish big things. This is a big time moment in Gideon's life and he makes the right decision to obey the Lord. If he purposes that he's gonna do what God wants him to do, there will be no turning back and there will be some powerful things that will happen down the road. If he has the courage to trust God and follow God and obey God's word, he will become a valiant warrior and he will inspire the nation to do the same. He will accomplish great things for the glory of God, but in the process, he could lose his life. Now, before God would use him for the biggest challenge of his life, which we will see a couple of weeks from tonight, Lord willing, he would test him and develop him at a lesser scale. God typically does not start off at the highest level. He usually starts his people off at lower levels. It's kind of like in baseball, it starts out in the minor leagues before you go to the major leagues. Reminds me of a funny story. Years ago, there was a delusional, troubled guy in our church in Grand Rapids. One day he showed up at our house with a baseball bat and glove and said he was going to play Major League Baseball. Now I'm looking at him trying not to laugh. And I said, well, do you think that if you're going to play Major League Baseball you ought to join a team? You ought to play somewhere? And he was just kind of delusional. You don't just walk out on a Major League Baseball field and start playing Major League Baseball. You start at lower levels. There are some who are delusional like that when it comes to the things of God. They want to do big things for God. They want to start in the major leagues. And God says, now first of all, I'm going to train you in the minor leagues. So what God does here is he uses a lesser scale of warfare to start the process of training for getting it. And what we see when we go through these verses is that when God's people are willing to trust Him, when God's people are willing to go to war for Him by carefully following the Word of God, they'll see God give victory. But God will give the biggest victory developing His people by smaller victories. Now let us remember the context. God came to Gideon and said, you're a valiant warrior. And when that happened, Gideon did not see himself as looking like a valiant warrior. He didn't look like that. He came from a crazy family background that you'll see tonight. He was from the smallest tribe in Israel, and he's the youngest in his father's house. He's scared. He's intimidated. He's weak. He has doubts. But Gideon was to be God's man to deliver Israel from the Midianites. God intended to use Gideon for a major national deliverance. And the way that he would get him on path to become that valiant warrior was he would give him a lesser assignment so that he could see God work, he would learn a lesson, you can trust me. David didn't start out by fighting Goliath. He didn't just start out big and trusting God to fight Goliath. He was trusting God on backsides of hills, killing a bear and lion in private. It was Jesus who said if God's people would be faithful in little things, he would reward them with a great amount. That principle is the principle God follows. If you're faithful in the lesser, he'll give you responsibilities in the greater. Now you and I need to understand that point. Because God could have some big things in store for us down the road. He may want to use us in the future in ways we never dreamed. Perhaps in ways we can't even imagine. But before he does, he's going to develop us in a series of lesser assignments and responsibilities. If he can't trust us with little assignments, he won't trust us with big assignments. And so what God does is He first calls us to small tasks before He gives us the large ones. If we prove to be faithful in the small tasks He gives us, He entrusts us with greater responsibilities. This is a work of God, this is not a political maneuvering of men, and that's what you see from the life of Gideon. Now in this text which lies before us tonight, there are three main parts to the narrative that I want to show you. First of all, God gives Gideon his first personal practical assignment. Verse 25 says, now on the same night, the Lord said to him, take your father's bull and a second bull, seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal, which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it, and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with wood of the Asherah, which you shall cut down. Now the first assignment that God gives to Gideon is a very personal one. It's a very private one. It's not public. It's not a national assignment. He gives it to him on the same night that he built that altar and worshiped the Lord. God doesn't waste a whole lot of time here. He said, it's time to get going. I've got to train this guy. If he's going to become a valiant warrior, I need to put him to work. Gideon's faithfulness starts by him deciding that I'm going to obey God in this private assignment when nobody else is around. He worshiped God in private, so now God said, I'm going to take you to another level. Frankly, the kind of spirituality that God's looking for when he wants to use a servant in a great way is he's looking for private spirituality. He's looking for spirituality that's real when it's alone. If God cannot trust us to obey him in private, He's not going to use this for much to do big things in public. Before God will give us a big public job to do, He's going to develop us in a much smaller private world. God entrusts us with ministry, and before He entrusts us with big ministry, He's going to develop us on a smaller scale. And it starts with a private life. It starts at home. It starts with what's going on in our own individual lives. If He can't find us faithful in our own home in private, He's not going to entrust us with big ministries outside in public. Now this city from which Gideon is from is a city named Ophrah, and it was a mess. It was totally given over to Baal worship. According to verse 25, Gideon's own father, Joash, had apparently built an altar to Baal on his own property. Also standing on his property was an Asheroth pole, an Asheroth idol, which was a wooden pillar, probably set in a grove of trees, which was dedicated to the Canaanite fertility goddess. This is God's people with this in their land. Not only was this used by Gideon's family, but apparently it became somewhat of a village shrine. It became somewhat of a place where all the people of Ophrah would go worship. And just having this altar there, just having this Asherah pole there, is a violation of God's word. God specifically, in the law of Moses, in Exodus and Deuteronomy said, when you get into that land, you tear those Asherah idols down. But this shows you how spiritually pathetic God's own people have become. This is Israel. In their land, you have the father of Gideon. He has this idol on his property. This was the place where they were worshiping a false god. They're doing just the opposite of what God had told them to do. It's pure grace that God would even consider delivering these people. But don't kid yourself. God's people can end up doing some really depraved things. Sometimes you'll hear somebody say, how could a Christian do that? Easy. Just drift away from God. Drift away from the Word of God. Mr. Miles used to say, a Christian not in fellowship with God is capable of anything. And who of us here tonight haven't visited with some Christians who've done some terrible things as Christians, and it's mind-boggling when you look at it. You say, how is that even possible? Well, it's possible just like it was here with Israel. Gideon's father must have been somewhat of a man of influence in the city of Ophrah. He must have owned some property. He must have had some wealth because Gideon is going to grab ten servants to help him tear this idol down. So the background of Gideon is that he's coming from an idolatrous home and an idolatrous environment. This is not dedicated to God. This is not dedicated to the Word of God. So God says, here's your first assignment, Gideon. Your first assignment before I take you out there in a big time way against the Midianites is I want you to pull down that altar that stands there on the ground of your own family. In other words, if you're going to be greatly used by me, I'm asking you to start right in your own home. And you start right with your own family. And this is not a national deliverance from the Midianites, but it was a job that needed to be done. Because if Gideon is going to be used by the Lord to deliver Israel, he needs to set himself apart as one who will not put up with false idolatrous worship. He needs to get it out of the land if God's going to bless the land. He needed to demonstrate that he was sold out to the Lord, starting with those close to him. Ladies and gentlemen, God cannot and will not ever bless His people if they choose to willfully live in disobedience and sin. He can't do it. He won't do it. God cannot and will not use His people when they refuse to do what's right. And according to verse 25, God wanted him, you take a bull, which belongs to your dad, Now you take that prized seven-year-old bull that he owns. You go use those bulls to pull down that massive bale alder and that Asherah pole. And apparently it was quite large because it took all of that plus ten guys to do it. There have been some remnants of the idolatrous shrines that have been discovered in the Middle East and they are quite large. And they usually are comprised of some heavy rocks and stones. In fact, one archaeological discovery found an altar that was four and a half feet high. It was 26 feet wide. The Asherah was the name of a large wooden pole that was dedicated to the goddess of fertility. So this place was a place of idolatry. It's a place of immorality. And God said, tear it down. We're starting here. And he says, when you've done that, you take the wood from that idol of that Asherah pole, and you set it on fire, and you burn that bull. You sacrifice both bulls, and one of them is that seven-year-old bull. And that's interesting because the Midianites had been dominating Israel for seven years, and Gideon would offer this seven-year-old bull to God. It would mean that God had just put an end to the seven-year domination of the Midianites, and he was willing by grace to forgive her and deliver her. What we see here is that no matter what the sin is with God's people, it's idolatry, it could be immorality, it requires blood atonement. There is no forgiveness of sin before God without the shedding of blood. But the principle that I want us to glean from this tonight is that before God is going to do anything great for his people, idols must be gone. Before God is going to do anything for his people, big idols must be eliminated. And you're thinking, all right, this is just an Old Testament issue. No, it isn't. This is a Grace Age issue. The Apostle John in the Grace Age said, guard yourselves from idols. Idols can take on various forms. The common denominator of all of them is they take priority over the Lord. The common denominator of any idol is it takes precedence over the Word of God. Really, something becomes an idol because of the way we think about it. We allow something to mentally dominate our minds and hearts above the Lord. Idolatry puts its focus on self and something else, not God. Idols can creep into the church. Idols can creep into the lives if they'll move you away from the Word of God, move you away from the Lord. Anything not true to the Word that comes into the church is an idol. Prosperity theology is an idol. Self-esteem theology is an idol. Possibility thinking theology is an idol. Wealth can become an idol. Sports can become an idol. Work, family, friends, a relationship, all can become an idol. The moment that anything or anyone pulls us away from our focus on the Lord, it's idolatrous. And that is why John said, be on guard. Guard yourselves from idols if you want to see God do great things with you. And what we learn about what he's asking Gideon to do here is God's not gonna share his work with former idols. He wants them gone. God is not looking for us to rededicate our idol to him. He wants it eliminated. Before God will give totally victory to his people, they must go to work on getting idols out of their lives. And it starts in our own sinful background. We take a look at what's in our lives. It starts at home. We look at ourselves. That's where Gideon is starting, right where he lives. And God says, take a look at that idol and get rid of it. Now, last week was the week in which 35 years ago that God saved me here in Kalamazoo. And a critical point of my life, I believe, was the decision I made years ago not to take a job. I wanted to go to school. So I was working at a paper mill and I would drive to Grand Rapids. I'd get the Grand Rapids Press and Mary would ride along with me. I'd go to place after place after place and fill out resumes and fill out job opening opportunities till my hands were tired of writing. Then I read one day an opportunity to write commercials for W.O.O.D. I thought, well, I can do that. I did that for years. In my background, that's a good job. I could go to school, get a theological education. So I went over to apply for this job at W.O.O.D. At that time, it was the radio and the TV. So when I went in there, they said, have you ever written commercials? I said, sure. They said, well, would you be willing to write one? I said, sure. Bring me the cold copy. I said, do you want a 30 second commercial or 60? they said right it's a 60, I said okay. So I sat at the typewriter for a few minutes and I banged this thing out and we drove home, I hadn't heard anything, they said we'll be in touch and when I got home I received a call from Wood and they said you come up tomorrow, you've got a job. I'm going praise God, this will be perfect. I can go to school and I can work this job and I can write these commercials. Well when I got back up there the next day, the program director for the radio station said We don't want you writing commercials, we want you on the air. We know what happened in Kalamazoo. We know what your reputation was. So we're offering you a time slot to go on the air. And I sat there at a crossroads. I needed a job, but I'd just come out of that world. I didn't want that world anymore. That wasn't my world. That's not where I was headed. So I had to say, you know what, I thank you for this opportunity, but I'm going to have to say no. It was a turning point in my life because not long after that, I received a opportunity to work in shipping department for a theological publisher and it's true was for a little more than minimum wage but that turned out to be a fabulous job I got to meet some of the great men of God I got to talk with men who were writing these books and quiz them about theology I was able to read the books and learn much I received a whole nother education working for their all because it started at this point do you want this idle or do you not want this idle it became critical in my life and that's where Gideon's at Now, there are some practical lessons to learn from this. First of all, our faithfulness will really be proved at home in private, not out in public. Look, here's where God's going to test every one of us, in your private world. It's one thing to be here at church in public. It's another thing what's going on in our world in private. That's where Gideon starts the process. Secondly, the first place where we begin to be victorious is in our own backyard. There may be some things that we have to get rid of, things the family views as sacred. But I'm telling you, that's where it starts. That's where powerful things starts. And God will give or not give great victory until idols are gone. God will not share his glory with another. He will not, he cannot grant victory to one with a divided heart. And if we want God to do great things with us, we cannot compromise when it comes to idolatrous sin. Which brings us to the second part, Gideon obeys and carries out the assignment. Notice verse 27, then Gideon took 10 men of his servants and did as the Lord had spoken to him. And because he was too afraid of his father's household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night. Now this is not an easy assignment. It's an intimidating assignment. You've got to stand against your own dad. That's a hard thing to do. But if you're gonna be greatly used by God, you have to stand up for God and his word, even if it means you stand against your own home and your own family. Oftentimes, the most difficult place to stand for Jesus Christ is in the context of your own home and own family. It's a lot easier just to overlook things and say, that's wrong, that's sin. It's a lot easier just to let it go than to confront it. In many ways, it's easier to take a stand for the Lord when people don't know us. Sometimes that's easier than when people do know us. But spiritual victory starts with us in our own home. And Gideon came from a totally dysfunctional family. This family was so dysfunctional that it was actually prepared to kill, kill a family member that did anything negative to a Baal altar. His own Israeli family was so alienated from God that he was afraid if I take a stand for the Lord with my own father and my own family, they might kill me. Now there's a family to be in. You do not have to come from a good, solid Christian home to be greatly used by the Lord. You can be here tonight, you may have a family background that's bizarre. You could end up a champion warrior for God. That's what happens to Gideon. And according to verse 27, Gideon chose 10 men from his servants. He tore down his father's idols at night. The text says he was afraid, so he did it at night. He was very afraid, but he still obeyed God. I like something Gary Enrig said, faith is not demonstrated by fearlessness, but by obedience. There may be times when taking a stand for God will leave us somewhat afraid. We don't know how things are going to turn out. He didn't. All he knows is, I'm going to obey the word of God. But when we stand for the word of God, you never stand alone. Gideon obeyed God when he was afraid. Sometimes we feel the weakest and we feel afraid. We're the strongest because we're depending totally and solely on the Lord. Obeying God does not mean you don't have anxieties. Obeying the Lord doesn't mean there aren't moments where you are fearful of what may happen. God may stretch our faith to the point where we're forced to obey even when we are afraid. And those who do obey, even when they're afraid and intimidated, They're on the path of great victory. And by the way, there's never any great victory in partial obedience. There's never any big joy in partial obedience. Doing a job for God partially is not getting the job done. So if you're going to obey God, you can expect to see God do some great things. which brings us to the third part, Gideon experienced immediate results of obeying God, verses 28 to 34. There are two main results. First of all, those who were not right with God wanted to kill them. Look at verse 28. When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah was beside it, was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar, which had been built. And they said to one another, who did this thing? And when they searched about and inquired, they said, Gideon, the son of Joash, did this. Then the men of the city said to Joash, bring out your son, that he may die. For he's torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed, he's cut down the Asherah, which was beside it." Initial obedience to the Lord is not immediately praised by a whole lot of people. When someone starts standing for God, oftentimes they stand pretty much alone. When someone stands for God and His word, it won't be long until he'll become the target of something. It didn't take long for the people to learn that this was Gideon who did it. Probably one of those 10 servants opened their mouths. Dr. Chuck Swindoll said he has a policy of anyone who's close to him. He said, I want godly, tight-lipped, loyal people. If they can't keep their mouth shut, they need to be gone. In fact, I read something interesting about his board. If anyone leaks data that's confidential, they're immediately dismissed. Obviously, someone leaked the fact that Gideon's the guy who tore down the idols. They're investigating this. Who did this? Who tore our idols down? Who had the audacity to do that? And Gideon's name was told. When you obey God, things can become intimidating. And I want you to observe from verse 28 that the men, the text says, they got up early in the morning to worship their false idol. Don't overlook that. Don't miss this point. People who are dedicated to false religion are dedicated people. People that are dedicated to religion that is not true will get up very early to be involved in their false religious worship. People who are dedicated to false religion can at times almost put God's own people to shame. These false worshipers would never neglect their morning devotions. They'd get up early just to have their devotions to a false idol. They wouldn't miss their false worship services. We have some that don't even care whether they go to church or not. Not the false worshipers of Baal. And when they got to their place of worship, they found their idol had been torn down. And when you come to verse 30, you see how depraved these people had become. They were so far removed from God, they're ready to kill the one who's right with God. In fact, they go to Joash and they tell him, bring out your son. Bring out your son Gideon so we can kill him. Gary Enrig says, Judges 630 is the most graphic verse in the entire book of Judges to show the total apostasy that had taken place in Israel. They are totally depraved. They're ready to kill one who's right with God. Years ago, I had an opportunity to witness to a Jewish doctor here in Kalamazoo. We were discussing Israel and her land and difficulty that she had. And the man said to me, I cannot figure out how we even continue to exist. And I looked at him and I said, well, there's a simple answer to that. The answer is God. The God of the Bible is the Israel's God. Your God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the reason you exist is because you have a God that will see to it that you always continue to exist. Now here was one of God's own Jewish people, highly educated, very skilled, who's so far removed from proper theology, he doesn't even know why he exists. But things for Israel were even worse than that during the days of judges. God had done some wonderful things for Israel in delivering her from some major enemies, but she wandered away from God. These Jewish people are ready to kill Gideon because he's standing up for the true God. And here's the irony of this. The irony of this, and write this down, Deuteronomy 13, 6 to 11. I don't have time to take you there tonight, but Deuteronomy 13, 6 to 11. Here's the irony of this. The ones who should have been killed according to the law of God and the word of God are the ones who are worshiping the idol. They were the ones God said, stone them. If anybody there is in there worshiping a false God, trying to get you to worship a false God, you kill them. Here, these people are trying to kill the one who's right with God. Sometimes if you take a proper stand for God and His Word in your world, on your job, in your school, in your neighborhood, in your family, you'll be standing alone. You'll be intimidated. People perhaps will even threaten you, but you stand there anyway. And by the way, don't attempt to do anything for the Lord if you're not dealing honestly before God. Things end up good for Gideon because he was honest in his relationship with the Lord. He put away the idols. which brings us to the second result joe ashley pants and comes to gideon's defense now watch what happens in verse thirty one but joe ash said to all who stood against him will you contend for bail or will you deliver him whoever will plead for him shall be put to death by morning if he's a god let him contend for himself because someone has torn down his alter therefore on that day he named him to rule the ball that is to say let bail contend against him because he has torn down his alter just imagine Somebody showing up to your home and saying send out your your son so we can kill him in worship And that's what they were doing That's exactly by the way, what's gonna happen during the tribulation you get a picture here Jesus predicted that during the tribulation when the Antichrist is trying to destroy Israel many Jews will turn against each other and they'll deliver one another up to be killed and Probably at this point in time Joe Ash came under terrible conviction because deep down in his heart this man knew my son's right My son has stood for the Word of God My son has stood for the true God He's coming face to face with his own sin and his own sin is that of idolatry and he knew that he had been involved in this and I think this is the point where he repents and Joash reasoned, look, if Baal is truly a God, he can take care of himself. We don't need to kill him. In fact, he puts out an edict. If anybody touches this boy of mine before morning and doesn't let Baal handle it himself, well, let's put that person to death. If Baal is the God he's supposed to be, then he should be able to defend himself. If he can't defend himself, he's not worthy of our worship. And either his father or his father in harmony with the people gave Gideon a new name, Jeroboam, which means you're a Baal fighter, you're a Baal contender, a Baal conqueror. It's possible that this name was intended to be derogatory. They're tagging Gideon with this name, which would actually mean he's a valiant warrior. I'm totally convinced that when you're standing for the word of God, there will be some people who will make fun of you. You stand up for grace, you stand up for the word of God, you stand against religion, people will say derogatory things. Dr. Warren Wiersbe said that when D.L. Moody first went to Chicago, and he started forming those Sunday school classes, they used to call him Crazy Moody. But when you end up being mocked because you're standing for what's right, When people are talking about you because you're standing for the Word of God, your name is great in heaven. Gideon is mockingly called Jerubbabel, but it meant his name was great in heaven. I told you a story this morning about John Knox. I want to tell you another one tonight. the Scottish reformer of the 1500s. John Knox, as I told you, was a man who went and studied with Calvin. He preached the word of God. He stood against Catholicism. He was arrested. He became a prisoner. He actually was assigned to be a galley slave on a French slave ship. One day, a lieutenant of the guards brought a wooden image of the Mother Mary on board and demanded that all of the slaves kiss the image. And John Knox refused. He grabbed the image and he threw it overboard. And he said, let's see her save herself. If this image is a God, she's light enough, let her learn to swim. And as they watched that wooden idol do nothing, as they realized that no divine judgment was leveled against John Knox, Many at that moment started to look to him as a leader because they realized the thing they were entrusting, they trusted was absolutely nothing. What's so ironic is that Gideon had been so afraid of his father that he tore those false alters down at night, but his father actually would become his biggest defender. You just never know. You just never know what God's gonna do when you stand up for what's right. You never know what might happen down the road. When you take a stand for the Lord, when you stand for the Word of God, sometimes those things we fear the most, sometimes those people who are giving us the most problems can become our biggest support when you stand for God. And perhaps you're here tonight And you know there's something in your life that if you would get rid of it, you know God would take you to another level. You know it. And I'm not the Holy Spirit, so I don't have to do this work. I have to work in my world. You have to work in your world. It starts at home. You do your own introspection. You allow the Spirit of God to search your mind and heart. Ask God to bring to your mind anything that's wicked that you need out of there. You get out of there. You get rid of it. And you'll see God do some great things with you just like he did with Gideon. May we pray. If you're here tonight and you've never believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, The reason why God established this nation, one reason why, was to bring His Son into this world through this Israeli line so that He could offer sinners a means of spending eternity with Him. And if you've never believed on Him, right now in this moment, you pray something like this, God, I know I'm a sinner, and right now I place all of my faith in Christ to be my Savior. Our Father, we thank you for your sovereignty. We realize, Lord, that you have a plan in all of our lives. You have a plan to use us in various contexts of life. We have various gifts and abilities and skills and jobs and neighborhoods and likes and dislikes. And in that world in which we live, you are a God who's interested that we reflect your glory. I pray that we would do that. I pray we would be a church that would be used to the maximum because we are a place that stands for the word of God and for the Lord Jesus Christ. For whatever you've accomplished here today that is of value, that's your work, that's certainly not ours, and we want to thank you for it tonight. In Jesus' name, amen.