Gooding, David: 7 - Leading God's Nation

We have one more session today, gentlemen, on the Book of Judges. Then our final session will be devoted to a number of, uh, uh, questions and points that, uh, Matt Wright has, uh, uh, brought to us. They will be relevant, some of them, to the Book of Judges and Joshua in particular, but in more generally in the Old Testament. Questions, moral questions raised by the narrative and the laws of the Old Testament. So that will be our final session. Uh, uh, we'll give ourselves to thinking about those questions and, uh, hear, uh, from you all what, uh, you think about them, because they're questions that all of us meet from time to time, and particularly in our modern world. But now for this session, uh, let's begin to think about the third captivity. Uh, it is, uh, recorded in chapter six of the book of Judges onwards. And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel, and because of the Midian, and because of Midian, the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds. And so it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east. They came up against them, and they encamped against them and destroyed the increase of the earth till they were come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor ass. For they came up with their cattle and their tents, they came in as locusts for multitude. Both they and their camels were without number, and they came into the land to destroy it. And Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. So this now, the fourth, uh, of the captivities. And our job is, first of all, to reconnoiter the enemy and to decide what he was in his own day and what he might represent for us as we think about it. The Midianites, you see their tactics, they came up on their camels with the help of Amalekites, the children of the east. They came up when the Israel had sown, uh, their fields, they removed all sustenance. They took the crops, of course, they took the animals, and, uh, virtually starved Israel out. And Israel, to defend themselves, many of them made them the caves and dens in the hills to escape with their lives. Uh, that didn't really solve the problem, of course, because, ha, there was no food left even when the enemy were gone. How then did you survive? The Midianites. They came up in great numbers. We notice the, uh, description. It helps first to see that the Midianites were Ishmaelites. Let's look at chapter eight and verse twenty four. Uh, to those that came victorious from the battle, Gib- uh, uh, Gideon said, eight verse twenty four, I would desire a request of you that you would give me every man the earrings of his spoil. For they had golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites. Notice that identification. You'll find the same thing when the brothers sold Joseph. They are called Midianites in one place and Ishmaelites in the other. Midianites were Ishmaelites. So let us go back to Ishmael himself, son of Abram, of course, through Hagar. This is Genesis chapter sixteen, And it's the angel of the Lord. And he's talking to Hagar. Now, Hagar, when she realized that she was pregnant, was, uh, somewhat persecuted by Sarah and ran off. And the angel of the Lord came to her and pointed out to her that she was in no condition to run off like this, she better go back. So the angel sent her back into Abram's home. The angel, uh, promised her, uh, God's blessing on the child. Verse eleven: and the angel of the Lord said unto her, behold, thou art with child, and thou shalt bear his a son, and thou shalt call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard thy affliction. Ishmael seems to be a form of the verb, uh, shama, which means to hear. God has heard, or God will hear, because the Lord has heard thy affliction. And he shall be as a wild ass among men. His hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him, and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. I don't know if you've ever met any man like this. Hope not. But there are such. Ishmael was to be a wild ass of a man, and a c- a cause of constant strife. His hand against every man, and every man's hand against him. From that I take my launching point, so to speak, in diagnosing the trouble. Son of Abram though he was, and ethnically related to the Israelites. You see the wild ass behavior. Not content to own the question of ownership, respecting other people's property or their rights. Just waits until the harvest is ready, comes across in vast numbers with the Amalekites and devours it all, takes it, scorched earth policy, takes animals and everything else, and departs. Medium. Medium. From that, I take my cue and suggest that the enemy is strife, strife amongst those that are ethnically related. And the withering effects that it causes. I ask myself... to check upon that. If we say that, uh, Midian is the wild ass, his hand constantly against everybody and everybody's hand against him. Strife, in other words, amongst ethnically related people. Is that an enemy still? Of big enough size as to be, uh, I mean, worth thinking about. Ever known an assembly? Of course, you expect to find it in the world anyway, but ever known an assembly? When they're at each other's throats? Ever known anybody that wherever they go, they cause trouble and strife? If ever you've experienced it, you will know that one of the effects is precisely this. Barrenness in the church. So that the church, instead of being a place where people may come and enjoy their inheritance, and all the fruits and blessings of our inheritance in Christ, find it a withering and barren experience when there is strife and party strife. And people fighting against each other. If you have never experienced it, pray God you never will. Those who have experienced it will know how all too real the situation is. As we noticed, this captivity likewise denied a first principle. God had brought them up, promised them a land flowing with milk and honey, and here they were in that land, starving. It is, of course, a serious contradiction of the blessedness of the gospel, isn't it? When strife breaks out in a Christian church. It is not a small matter. It is a denial of one of the basic first principles. Principles. I'm not talking about questions of false doctrine, for instance, that have to be dealt with. I'm talking about strife. It's not a question of fighting for the fundamentals of the faith, but those endless other things, like locust for multitude, that believers will sometimes fall out about and ruin the atmosphere of assembly because of them. What was the cause of the trouble? Well, in Midian's day, it is spelled out for them. Chapter six, once more. Verse eight, nine. The Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, and he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage, and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drayed them out from before you and gave you their land. And I said unto you, I am the Lord your God. You shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But you have not hearkened unto my voice. The logic of God's appeal is e- uh, is obvious. He had done everything for their redemption, yes? Brought them up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. He had set them free. Remember all the grand, wonderful story of the Passover lamb redeemed by the blood of the lamb from the wrath of God. Redeemed by the power of God at the Red Sea. And Pharaoh and his host were destroyed. God had brought them into this glorious land. Had not God the right to say now what his conditions of behavior, his rules for their behavior were, they wouldn't listen to God. That is a strange perversity, isn't it? To jump, uh, somewhat wildly. But when I listen to that argument, I sense the wisdom of Christ in the institution of the Lord's Supper. That regularly takes us back to the beginnings of our salvation, and what the ground is. Redeemed, forgiven through the blood of the Lamb, yes, and by the power of God, and thus we remember it. And we must remember it, gentlemen. Because the implication of it is, as our Lord often put, when it comes to practical things, you are to forgive, as your heavenly Father has forgiven you. How shall I rise up from remembering what the Lord has done for my salvation, how he died for me, that he might forgive me, and turn round and refuse to forgive. My brother that says... owns and repents and asks my forgiveness. You see, these things are basic, aren't they? People will say sometimes that we as Christians are not under that rule, and therefore they don't say the Lord's Prayer. They say that is for the Jews. We Christians, you see, we get forgiveness outright, full stop, unconditional. And then we ought to go on and forgive others. But wait a minute, gentlemen. Forgiveness has its various levels, doesn't it? There is the judicial level before God as judge, and he forgives, and there is no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus. But forgiveness also operates at the level of life in the family of God and in the kingdom of God. And day to day, we need forgiveness. And if we don't repent, we are told that God will sometimes chastise us. One Corinthians eleven. Till we come to a better state of mind. If at that level I want to ask God's forgiveness, then God will demand I'm prepared to forgive my brother when he offends against me. And if I don't, and I won't, well, God will refuse to forgive me and will put me through the chastisement that I deserve. This is forgiveness at the practical level of daily living together in the family and in the church of Of God. God. Hence our Lord's wisdom, I repeat, in calling us regularly to remember how we have been forgiven, redeemed, and the implication of our behavior, implication of that for our behavior with one another. You remember the church in the New Testament that was much given to strife? Well, this is the church at Corinth. Strife everywhere. Denominational or incipient denominationalism. I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, and so forth. Strife, some of them were suing their fellow believers before the pagan courts, One Corinthians six. At the Lord's Supper, discrimination so that the rich ate their bountiful food, mm-hmm, and the poor believers were ashamed and made to feel ashamed because they couldn't bring along the same dainties of food and so forth. Class distinction at the Lord's Supper. And you remember Paul reminding them in no uncertain terms of the Lord's discipline. You build in that kind of strife and thus injure the temple of the Lord. God will destroy you. Do remember at the Lord's Supper, if you do it unrepentantly, then the Lord will judge us. But when we chastise, we judge of the Lord. That doesn't affect our eternal security, Paul says. Rather the reverse, we chastise now so that we shall not eventually be condemned with the world. But strife of its very many different kinds, as you see from one Corinthians, remains an all too common enemy among the people of God. And has the withering results. It brings a spiritual famine. We notice, as I said before, Israel's common reaction. Multitudes coming up on their camels and everything. They just deserted their fields and ran off and got hid themselves in the caves. They're not going to let the enemy crush them. But of course, that was a certain defeatism, wasn't it? Because it still left them without any food. So let's watch Gideon's fundamental strategy. Let's look at chapter six, verse eleven. And the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite. And his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. First thing that is said about him was he was maintaining the food supply for his family. Wise old boy, well, he wasn't so old, but wise old boy the man was, who saw the real issue at stake. He wasn't first going out to smite the Midianites, you wicked lot. He saw that the s- uh, strategy demanded this, that the food supply must be preserved, whatever the cost. Wise tactic, that was. He was, um, um, beating up wheat in the wine press to hide it, because the Midianites would not expect to see anybody beating up wheat in a wine press, of course. He managed to get some food, and he was beating it out in the wine press to hide it from the Midianites and to maintain the food supply. The first big major thing, the land flowing with milk and honey, you must maintain the people's food supply, which all this Midianite stuff ha- was destroying. And you see the importance of it, that tactic, when eventually, after much discussion and preparation, uh, Gideon was allowed to go down to begin the battle and took a, a, a, a friend or two with him to reconnoiter the thing at night. And they drew near to the camp, and they heard a, a, a Midianite Tommy talking to his fellow soldier and, and admitting that he had a dream, you see. And there came this cake of barley rolling into the camp. That's a curious dream. And it hit one tent and knocked it over, and that knocked it over, and all the tents knocked each other over, and the whole thing collapsed. And a fellow soldier said, well, I know what that means. Well, what does it mean then? What is this barley? He said, that's Gideon, old barley cake Gideon. He had maintained the food supply. In spite of all that Midian could do. My dear good brethren, if ever you should have the misfortune to be in an assembly that is troubled by strife, so that people feel, well, they used to come to the assembly to get comfort in life's sorrows and troubles and to be built up in their faith, but to come to the assembly is to find yourself enmeshed in all sorts of arguments and withering attacks and everything else under the sun. So the assembly, so far from being a comfort, is a distress. Withers the food supply. If you ever were in that situation, gentlemen, remember Gideon and make it your first tactical, strategic effort. Not to decide who's right and who's wrong, and win the battle and the argument, but to maintain the food supply. Let me say something wicked in your ears, gentlemen, that will sound totally unspiritual. It is moderately easy to exhort the Lord's people. And many preachers so do. Because they feel, you know, we mustn't be just theorists, we have to be practical, so they exhort the Lord's people. Very good in its way. And as some old grandmother, uh, used to say in my youth, when we had coal fires, when you get a coal fire and it's burning a little, but it's not doing too well, you poke it and you let the oxygen in, of course. Not that grandmother knew anything about oxygen, but you poked it, you see, and that let the oxygen in, it didn't find up. But you kept on poking it and poking it and poking it, you'd eventually put the thing out. Instead of putting on a few more coal or some wood or something and getting the fire going. We need to be exhorted, and I above all need to be exhorted because my weakness has become a theorist, so I do need to be exhausted- exhorted. But gentlemen, try the harder thing. That is, feed God's people. Feed them. Build them up in their faith. Break the bread of life small for them. And if they can take it, exercise their minds as well into the intellectual wonders of God's word. Feed them! That's number one in the tactics. And I tell you what. It wasn't merely that by maintaining the food supply, he was able to strengthen his, his, his brethren, and the old barley cake, so to speak, defeated the Midianites. He had enough food left that when the angel of the Lord came, he could entertain him as well. Yes. And so, as you see from the, um, uh, story, uh, do you see? He said to the angel of the Lord, verse seventeen, this is of chapter six. If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that it is thou that talkest with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee and bring forth my present and lay it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. And Gideon went in and made ready a kid and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal. The flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak and presented it. And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes and lay them upon this rock and pour out the broth. And he did so. And the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and there went up fire out of the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. And Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, and Gideon said, alas, O Lord God, for as much as I've seen the angel of the Lord face to face. The Lord said unto him, peace be unto thee, fear not, thou shalt not die. Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord and called it Jehovah Shalom. Unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezerites. Enough food and enough provisions, in spite of the old Midianites, that he could entertain the angel of the Lord, that is God. We don't often hear the phrase, not in the circles I move in, about our duty to entertain the Lord. I don't know if you're habit, in the habit of using that phrase, entertaining the Lord. We're supposed to, aren't we? Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man open the door, I will come in, and I will dine with him, and he will dine with me. What would you talk about if, if the Lord came to your place one day, knocked on the door, and you saw it was the Lord, like an angel, and you sat him down? Well, of course, you'd give him the best sausages you had, of course. Or perhaps not sausages, beef maybe. Uh, you'll say. Then what would you talk about? Nice day today, Lord. Yes, I've observed that. I make the weather, you know. Oh, oh, so you do. Yeah, yeah. Well, I was going to say it wasn't such a good weather. Well, I better not say that then. Uh, yes. Been Been on on ho- hot, ho- hot. what, you said did he, was he on holiday this year? No, well, of course, perhaps he doesn't go on, I don't know. What would you talk about to the Lord? How would you entertain him? We do need it, gentlemen. To entertain the Lord, what can we give him but what he's first given us? It's something, isn't it, to discuss with the Lord. What he has said in his word. And to talk with him about it. And about himself as re- revealed in the word. Mm. So it was that Gideon had enough food left by to be able to entertain the Lord, and the Lord graciously received it. Hence he touched it, and the fire came out, accepted. And he called the name of the place Jehovah Shalom. Anybody volunteer the meaning of the Hebrew word shalom? Peace, yes. Anything more? Pardon? Can't hear what you said. Plenty, yes. Peace and plenty. Shalom means wholeness. And so it is peace in the sense of the absence of war. But it's peace in another sense. Peace, prosperity, health, wholeness. In that sense of wealth. Shalom. A sense of God as the God of peace and plenty and wealth. Yes. And if ever we're going to con- con- convey it in our life and conversation and in our ministry of the word or the gospel, oh God, help us first of all ourselves to grasp and know God as the God of wealth. Listen to Paul writing from his dungeon to the Ephesians. It talks about not only the, uh, m- uh, the glory of God's grace, but the riches of God's grace. Want to visit him in his prison, say, let's have a go and have a word with Paul, poor chap. Now he's in his prison there, and it's a little bit smelly perhaps, but never mind. And you expect him to be all dejected? No, no, he's dancing around the floor. Do you know what the tremendous grace given to me? You just imagine it, he says. Given to me! That I should preach among the genders the unsearchable riches of Christ, says he. Well, that would get you hopping, wouldn't it? Suppose somebody gave you the secret of the cure of cancer and said, I'll give it to you to go and tell the world. God, what a thing you'd do. You would know what a colossal burden, oh. You would say, what a fantastic thing that is. I can go and tell the world the wonder of this that will cure them of their cancers. As Paul, the tremendous riches of God. Oh God, give us the help that somehow we can first enjoy it and then convey it, not endlessly in poking them with exhortations, so you meet me, you better start exhorting, but conveying the wealth of God, Shalom, the God of Shalom, as distinct from the famine and the desolation caused by the Midianites. And God was developing the man's own spirit, so that he should have the strength, the spiritual strength to go out and cope with the situation. Then notice what becomes apparent in this initial phase of the strategy. Gideon reasoning, I nearly said arguing, with God. You see, when the in- angel first accosted him, verse twelve, the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said unto him, the Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. And Gideon, doubtlessly very respectful, of course. But he couldn't say, well, that's a nice, that's lovely. He said, but my Lord, says he, don't quite get that. Because if the Lord be with us. Notice this change. The angel said, the Lord is with thee, actually. He replied, if the Lord be with us. Why then is all this befallen us? And where be all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath cast us off and delivered us into the hand, uh, o- o- of Midian. Knowing God well enough to be able to say in all reverence, Lord, but I don't understand this bit. You say this. But how does that work, Lord? I find it a very useful technique in Bible study, you know. Not to pretend I know or pretend I understand it. I'm moderately decent at English. I can understand most English, particularly if the words are simple. But I find myself saying more than once, constantly, I see what it says, Lord, but I don't begin to see. What for? So what, Lord? I, I don't understand it. And the Lord doesn't mind you talking like that, you know. If it's done in all reverence. And one is prepared to be taught. How can you say you're with, with me, and yet the people are in this situation? And what's the good of all the wildest things we've been told by our forefathers who did in the past, and the eighteen— well, he didn't mention the eighteen fifty nine revival, not, um, not Gideon, because it hadn't happened yet, but the earlier revivals, whenever they were. And what's the good of talking about that in view of our present situation, Lord. The angel of the Lord smiled at that, you know. Very good stuff. He said, you see, Lord looked upon him and said, go in this thy might and save Israel from the hand of the Midian night, Midian. Have I not sent thee? He said unto him, O Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? What's the good of talking like that? How on earth can I save Israel? Realist in the presence of God, learning to talk with God, almost to argue with God. My brothers, that's better than arguing with your brethren. Being prepared to intercede and to plead and to argue with God and to be a realist in the presence of God in the view of his promises. And thus showing our dependence upon God, our desire to make his gracious words of promise work out in the realities of our experience. And the Lord said unto him, surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. And he said unto him, if now have I found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that that it is thou that talkest with me. And hence the f- offering and its acceptance, and the sense of Jehovah as the God of shalom. The manifestation of the name of God, in the sense that it made it real to Gideon. And we should remember, shouldn't we, the promise of our blessed Lord. Listen to him in his final prayer to the Father. I have made known your name to the men thou hast given me out of this world, and I will make it known that the love wherewith thou lovest me may be in them, and I in them. Oh, what a ministry of our risen Lord, to make known the name of God to us, not merely as a label on God, but making known the name of God that is the character of God. Here's an example. As Gideon is led into the significance of the name of God, Jehovah, Shalom. And the manifestation of the name of God becomes a reality to him. And a strength, therefore, for the battle that lay ahead. You say, well, now we begin the battle, don't we? No, no, not yet. This particular enemy and this particular trouble will take quite a lot of preparation in the deliverer. For there is the question of how the Israelites had got into their bad state. They had gone off from God and made themselves gods out of all the other nations. Gods. God has said to them, verse ten: I am the Lord your God, you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, that is, you not worship them, in whose land you dwell. But you have not hearkened unto my voice. The result of that was the idolatry has come right to his doorstep. Verse twenty five. Came to pass the n- the same night that the Lord said unto him, take thy father's bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father has, uh, has, and cut down the Asherah that is by it, and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of the stronghold in the orderly manner, and take the second bullock and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which thou shalt cut down. And Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had spoken unto him. And it came to pass because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, that so that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night. Yeah, good old Gideon. And of course, in the morning, the men came round, and all there was great trouble. You cast down the altar, you see. Um, verse twenty eight, and when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built. And they said one to another, who has done this thing? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon, the son of Joash, has done this thing. Then the men of the city said unto Joash, bring out thy son that he may die because he hath broken down the altar of Baal and because he hath cut down the Asherah that was by it. And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will you plead for Baal, or will you save him? He that will plead for him, let him be put to death while it is yet morning. And if he be a god, let him plead for himself because one has broken down his altar. Therefore, on that day he called him Jerub Baal, saying, Let Baal plead against him because he had broken down his altar. You'll notice that God was directing Ba- uh, uh, Gideon at the moment and told him now his positive duty. He must go and build an altar to the Lord. Yeah. Israel had got us gone astray by building altars to all sorts kinds of God. The first thing that that Gideon did was not to go around to campaign, destroy all your altars. The first thing he did was positive. The Lord had told him he must do this, to build an altar, so he built an altar. You know, it demanded knocking down the altar of Baal. Well, that couldn't be helped, you see. You'd got to build an altar anyway, so to obey the Lord, so he, he, uh, he knocked down the old altar because it got in the way, and, and positively built an altar unto the Lord, you see. Uh, he was like me, he was a bit of a coward. He was afraid to do it by day because of all the strife that that would engender. You see. Wasn't politically correct thing to do. So because he was afraid to do it by day, did it anyway. He did it by night when they weren't looking, and then stood by what he'd done the next morning. Yeah. A good thing. There are those, and I make the confession to you if you won't repeat it to anybody else outside these four walls, but sometimes I'm accused of being a, a schismatic. That's a bad thing to be, if you know what schismatics are, you'll see. And that dividing God's people, you'll see. Meeting as I do with a few believers and so on. And my response is, well, schismatic or no, uh, uh, uh, you see, my motive is this, um, the Lord says I must keep the Lord's Supper. Well, that's what I, I do, you see. It's positive. I have to obey that anyway. If you say I shouldn't, well, that's a very funny thing. The Lord says I should, and I'm not thereby criticizing you. You must do what you feel before God, but I must do this. It's in the word, look. Positive. Positive. Not negative, going around denouncing all other folks, but positively obeying the Lord. That's, uh, Gideon's tactic, under the direction of God, of course. And then, as his father did, standing up and demanding of the Baalites, would they really stand up and demand that Baal be worshipped? I think back, gentlemen, I hope it isn't schismatic. I think back to dear old Bunyan, you know, of near Bedford. Pilgrim, progress man, I mean, Bunyan. And he was in prison. Why? Because he s- he preached without permission of the magistrate and the bishop. So they let him out if he would agree to get the permission of the magistrate and the bishop. No, says he. Well, the Lord's command is here, to say, I must do it. Marvelous man. Who dared to stand for positive obedience to the word of God. And though he got put in jail for it. And many such were executed, of course. Standing for the positive obedience to the word of God. That in the end gave us much freedom, didn't it? And our present freedoms. Positive then, in our obeying the word of God. That is not schismatic. And then, of course, before they ever got round to the battle, there was Gideon's seeking of the Lord's guidance. In chapter seven, one to twenty five. Midianites gathered. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, and Nebezer was gathered together after him. Sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, they also were gathered together after him, and he sent messengers to Asher and unto Zebulun and unto Naphtali, and they came up to meet him. And Gideon said unto God, if thou wilt save Israel by my hand as thou hast spoken, behold, I put a th- a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there be dew on the fleece only, and it be dry upon the ground, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast spoken. And it was so, for he rose up early on the morning and pressed the fleece together and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. And Gideon said unto God, let not thine anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once. Let me prove thee, I pray, but this once with the fleece. Let it now be dry upon the fleece only, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night, for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. Famous incident, and many folks have quoted it, as they, uh, uh, have been seeking guidance of the Lord. Shall I go forth in full-time missionary work or not? Shall I do this or that? And they have, as the phrase has come to be amongst evangelicals, they put out the fleece to ask the Lord for guidance, yes. I'm sure the Lord does guide in his people, sometimes by general guidance, sometimes by particular guidance. I do remember, however, I confess it before you, uh-huh, at a time in my life that was critical, I put out a fleece one way, you know, and the Lord appeared not to take notice of it that way. So I put the fleece out the opposite way around, like Gideon did. Do you know what? He took no notice of that either, as far as I could see. You will say that was the result of your unspirituality. Well, doubtless that you've got it right. You see. God has different ways of guiding us, doesn't he? I do not say that with any frivolity. When Paul was launched out on his first missionary journey, they were gathered with the elders, the prophets, and the teachers i- in Antioch, and the Holy Spirit spake very clearly and particularly, separate unto me Paul and Barnabas for the work I have chosen, which they did. And then they commended them not to the work, please. They commended them to the grace of God for the work to which the Holy Spirit had called them. Particular guidance. When it was the second missionary journey, they didn't get any particular guidance. They got guidance from their general duties. Said Paul to Barnabas, Barnaby, old boy, uh, shouldn't we now begin to think about all the converts that we made on our first journey? Those young believers, they will need strengthening and guidance and help. So what about going to visit them and thus helping them? And Barnabas said, yes, a really good idea. And off they went, do you see? Uh, what would you think of a mother, and she has a child, little baby, of ten weeks old? Do you suppose she has to, to kneel down before the Lord in the morning and say, Lord, is it your will I feed this child? Well, hardly. Guide me as to whether I should feed this child or not. The very fact he's given her a child carries the duty, the general duty of getting on with the job. So Paul went out, and he tried to preach in this place, and the Spirit of Jesus didn't allow him. Which shows this, not that Paul was disregarding the Spirit of God and going on in some carnal fashion, but he knew he had a general duty to preach wherever he went, and he tried to go here, and the Holy Spirit said no. So he tried to go somewhere else. That shows he didn't have particular guidance to go there or go there. And once more, the Holy Spirit didn't allow him, the Spirit of Jesus didn't allow him. So on he traveled and got eventually to Troas. And there one night he had a vision of the night, men of Macedonia saying, come out, come across and help us. He talked it over with his brethren at breakfast time, and they concluded it was God's guidance to come across into Europe. You watch the chain of guidance all the way along the line. No particular guidance to start with, but his general duty to shepherd the people of God. And then the particular guidance coming where he was going here in his general duty, but the Holy Spirit says, no, not that, not this time, and not that time there, and thus shepherding him around till he got to Troas. And then giving him the vision that launched Paul's work in Europe. A mixture then of particular guidance and general guidance. I don't have to get down on my knees and say, Lord, is it your will that today I honor my father and my mother? Of course not, stupid. General duty. And the general duty is to feed the people of God and to go and preach the gospel. That's our general duty. There are times when we need particular guidance. It's helpful, in my understanding and experience, not to confuse the two. Watch an eastern shepherd at his work. He got his flock to where the grass is, sits down, and the sheep go here, and there's a nice bit of grass there, so the sheep goes over there, nice bit of grass here, he goes over there. Does it matter which blade of grass the old sheep takes? Not at all, really. It's all grass. And so long as the sheep is within the parameters that the shepherd intends, it doesn't do anything. It's not that he's forgotten to watch the sheep. Got his eye on every one of them. If a sheep should happen to go somewhere that would lead it astray or where he doesn't want to go, picks up a great clod of earth or stone, and they're accurate are those shepherds. They make it go whizzing past the sheep's ear just so it doesn't touch the sheep's ear. Yeah. And the sheep doesn't go there, yes. That's particular guidance, gentlemen. The other was general guidance. God leads us to our choice and our, I nearly said common sense. But when we need special guidance, he will give the particular guidance. Gideon was already acting. He'd called the armies together. The Lord had said, I'll be with you. And so he called the armies in the strength of that. He is, he's going in the guidance of the Lord, I will be with you to deliver the Midianites into your hand. He's acting in faith. But now before the battle, with all these troops to commit to the battle, he gives God a sign. Now, as I make my comments on it, you may well feel that I'm being exceedingly fanciful. Well, never mind. Old men do get fanciful on time. There's a question of whether, forgive the term, he could control the dew through his prayers. That he would ask the Lord to give a sign and let the dew come here and not there in answer to his word. And then to confirm it, in answer to his prayer, and then to confirm it the other way round. Could Gideon, forgive the term, the verb, control the dew? The land was parched. Harvest. What you did need, according to the promises of God to Israel, was the refreshment of the dew, the rains in their time, the God of creation being merciful. Israel were promised it. Could Gideon control it in the sense that would God give the dew in answer to his prayer? And the psalmist talking in one of the late psalms says, how good and pleasant a thing it is for brothers to dwell together in unity. It is like the dew. Or if we're ever in a situation of strife and so forth, and the thing eventually has to be faced, it should be on our hearts, shouldn't it? Whether God would listen to our prayers and by our ministry, control the dew. Can I be sure that what I do will bring the blessing, the refreshing blessing of God on the situation? Or will my efforts just make the strife worse than it was before. And then, of course, there was the, uh, next lesson. He'd called all the different tribes together, and they'd come. They said that was wise, because the Midianites, they came up as locusts for number, it couldn't be counted. And if you're going to stand against them, what will you need? You say you'll need an army as big as theirs or bigger, won't you? We've got all these Midianites, there are thousands. What hope would you have if you don't have an army as big, if not bigger in numbers than they have? So you might reason. After all, Barak had taken ten thousand men up to meet the Canaanites. But here? God God ta- told him to send most of the army home. Because when it comes to strife, that particular danger, the victory is not won by numbers, you know. An argument is not won by numbers, is it? Is our, uh, our arguments are won by logic. You don't decide the question by numbers. Not when it comes to logic. If the one man is, is logic is right, even against ten thousand, he's right. Doesn't become more right if ten thousand agree with him. Yeah? So God thinned out the whatnot. And by the famous, uh, uh, trial, as he brought them down to the ri- the river, the water, and they drank, and some, uh, got down on all fours like dogs and licked it and took their eyes off the enemy. The others put down their hand like this and kept one eye on the enemy and and took a cup of water as they needed. Send the others home, says God. Left with three hundred. But then you see the tactics. They came down to the camp at night. They stationed themselves around the camp. That'd be very thin then. There's a line of, of attack, wouldn't there? But they had pitchers and torches. At the precise moment when midnight, dark black, Gideon cried, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. They were to smash the old pitchers and take out the torches and hold the torches in front. Well, gentlemen, you know the effect that that causes. If you're motoring down an old black, uh, a road as black as night and a car comes, uh, uh, uh, up towards you and it's got a heads lights on, you can't see whether the thing is an ordinary old tin pot Ford or whether it is a Bentley even, you see. Ha, can't see, can you? Because of the light is behind the light. And they stood around this camp, you see, there are only about three hundred of them, they're very thin, but they cried us out to wake up the old Midianites, the sword of the Lord it was and of Gideon, smashed the old pitchers and took the torches and held them up. The Midianites couldn't see how many there were behind them or not. Numbers were irrelevant. In fact, they got so confused that they started killing each other. Do you remember Paul's tactics with the Corinthians? They were a marvelous lot, the Corinthians. Very reliable church, you know, the Corinthians. If there's a, a right way of doing something in the wrong way, you could rely on them to do the wrong way. Very reliable they were. Full of strife and their bitter criticisms of Paul. Wow, how did he have patience with them? They said some terrible things about him. Yeah. In bodily presence, they said, he's very strong when he writes letters, but in bodily presence he's very weak, you know, horrible, mean looking chap. And as for his speech, it's contemptible. He isn't taught in all the good rhetoric of the Greek schools, you know. And as for his motives, he says he doesn't accept any money for his maintenance from us, uh, do see, he's too superior. But when he's away, he sends Titus. Hmm. And makes out his king of money for the, what was that, the saints of Jerusalem, whoever they might be or something. He doesn't take the money himself, he sends Titus, and who is Titus? It is not one of his henchmen, you see. Well, you know what happens to the money, don't you? And all this, when they are the very salvation to him. With all his persecution and his beatings, you see, and his body, we're daily delivered to death for Christ's sake, meaning he's daily in danger of his life. Never mind, he says. Do you see, we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of power might be of God and not of us. So let the lo- uh, uh, the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, you see, has shined in our hearts to give the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. There is Paul, the Gideon of his day, dealing with the church bung full of strife, and pointing to the tactics that he himself adopted. Not by the wisdom of man, but by the God who sh- commanded light to shine out of darkness, shined in our heart, that his very light may become evident through us to the opposing forces. Mm-hmm. And then, of course, finally. Having won the victory in that battle, that decisive battle at night, He call- calls all Israel to join with him to the enjoyment of the victory and its consequences. I wish I could say that that was the end of the matter. Unfortunately, it wasn't so. You'll see there, come to Gideon, how he fought the Midianites. He took a stand against the idolatry of his people, and he fought the enemy and won the battle. From that high point, he began to go downhill. Eventually fought against his Is- his brother Israelites and sowed the seeds of further idolatry. But that's another story. So let's not spoil the enjoyment of all that stands to his credit. Mighty man of valor, as the angel of the Lord called him. Wise in his tactics. A man of faith and communion with God. That he went downhill la- later is a sorry thing, but then that's happened sometimes, that men become great heroes of the faith to a whole generation, and then Satan takes advantage of it, and they go downhill and are the eventual cause of sorrow amongst the people of God. But we leave it there. Thank you for your attention, gentlemen. Now I have a secret that Tony Blair has allowed me to communicate to you. Subject of the course, to the fact of being able to get it through Parliament against all potential rebels, you'll see. And that is that on Saturday the eleventh of February, by some astonishing oversight, no, uh, body has been, uh, uh, appointed to lead the seminars on that day. And I have been informed this morning that if I'm not called away to Ukraine, as might might well happen, then I can be allowed to come on that occasion. I have to remind you of your rights. You have the right of protest to the authorities. But, uh, within that, uh, God willing then, on Saturday, uh, the eleventh of February, if God so will, uh, and I'm free to come, then we could perhaps cover a bit more of the book of Judges and bring it somewhere near to the end of the consideration of the other deliverers. Peace be with you.