The Hornet’s Nest – Part 2 (Part C)

Gideon, the son of Joash, has done this thing.

See, there's no way to hide it. May God always help us to be a step ahead of the lost and the pagans. May we just outwit them and beat them to the punch. May by the time we make our move, they don't know what hit them with the truth and love, and I'm not talking about destroying them physically, but to help us stay a step ahead of the enemy.

Is that a bad thing to want? Lord, help me stay a step ahead of them. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Judges. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick with his message called the Hornet's Nest in Judges chapter 6.

When he had to, he had to face him head-on, of course, in the Philippines, for example, he had to just fight it out. My point for bringing up MacArthur is to just show you how much reading I did on my vacation. No. No, that's not true at all.

I like people who aren't liked by other people when the people that I like that aren't liked are really good. Got it? Got it. So Gideon says, let's hit them where they ain't. Why would I do this in broad daylight?

It's just dumb. And he accomplishes the mission. God did not say, Gideon, I need you to do this at daytime when they can all see you. He doesn't say, just say, I just need you to take down that altar and burn up the junk.

Build me an altar there. What a lesson if Christians would just say, it's okay to think. It doesn't block God out.

It invites him in. I know, but we get emotional. And we all have. Everybody makes an emotional mistake.

Sometimes. We just have to check it. Verse 28. And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal torn down, and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down. And the second bowl was being offered on the altar which had been built. Verse 29. So they said to one another, who has done this thing? And when they reviewed the footage, no, and when they had inquired and asked, they said, Gideon, Gideon, the son of Joash has done this thing.

There's no way to hide it. May God always help us to be a step ahead of the lost and the pagans. May we just outwit them and beat them to the punch. May by the time we make our move, they don't know what hit them, with the truth and love. I'm not talking about destroying them physically, but to help us stay a step ahead of the enemy.

Is that a bad thing to want? Lord, help me stay a step ahead of them. There it is. Verse 30. And the men of the city said to Joash, bring out your son that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it, and his fingernails are dirty. We don't like them. Once they don't like you, they start picking anything out they can find. Well, Gideon's loyalty to his God got him into trouble, but Gideon's God would get him through the trouble.

So again, you know, Gideon, your name came up last night, and now we're going to kill you. Well, pagans take their religion very seriously. That's another lesson in this. I knew when I was born again, I felt that everybody was going to love what I had to preach. I didn't factor in that they loved what they believed in.

In most cases, they loved what they wanted, because religion is essentially an extension of the self at some point. It becomes your identity of who we are. That's why Christ says, I want you to be like me. Imitate me, Paul said, as I imitate Christ, the likeness of Jesus Christ, our identity.

It becomes us. So they had felt, they felt obligated to defend their God. This still happens to this day, and of course, we believe that if you have to force your God on someone, or if you have to defend his honor through violence, then he's not God.

He can't defend himself. I'm not talking about upholding civil laws that may have come from your God, such as it was in Israel. I'm talking about the honor of the name. Israel's intolerance was to be strong, and to the point they would not honor any other gods.

Of course, they did. Not all of them, but many of them, and that's what we're dealing with right now. So according to these men, Gideon had to be executed for dishonoring, and probably cost him a good penny, too. You know, how much would we put into that?

You know the price of lumber. So verse 31, but Joash said to all who stood against him, would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by mourning. If he is God, let him plead for himself, because his altar has been torn down.

What is going on with Joash? His name means Yahweh is strong. Is he saying this to protect his beloved son Gideon? Possibly. Is that the only reason why?

I don't think so. I think that for him to have a speech like this ready, his conviction, he probably really believed in Baal, and now he sees Baal has been chopped up by his son, who does not worship Baal, but worships the God of their fathers. And it probably is incentive, if they didn't want to kill Gideon, we never, maybe never, he would not have been pushed to the point of coming to this realization, which is very true, and the men of the village, they signed off on it. You know, you got a good point there, Joash. Why didn't you say that before we wanted to kill him?

Now we look like a mob, and image is everything. Christians have to learn early on that we're not his lawyers. We're not trying to get God out of trouble. We're not prosecutors. We're witnesses. We tell what we saw, and when that is based on love, our love for Christ, there is power in evangelism.

It's contagious. So just be careful with that, that we're not trying to force people into our views, or win the argument. I mean, I don't, if I'm in a, when I say argument, I don't mean a heated discussion.

I mean the exchange of ideas. I want to win them all. I'd be pretty dumb if I, I just want to win half of them. I want to win everything I do. That's why I don't do some things.

It gets me in the flesh. I had a pastor friend. He's still a friend. If you played sports with him, and you won, he was instantly in the flesh. He wouldn't talk to you. He just shuts you right off.

You go, good game. You wouldn't, you'd look the other way, right? It's like, wait a minute. You're the pastor. You can't act like that.

It says right here, right here, first Corinthians. He'd cool off, and he'd come back. He'd be his buddy, buddy himself again. But you'd remember that forever.

And I never forgave him. I won't. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. It's just comical.

It was worth seeing him drive. I'm not kidding. See, I'm not telling you who it is.

That would make me a gossiper. But the lessons, the lessons. He's a great guy, great man of God, I think. I mean, he loves the Lord. He led a lot of people to Christ. But he had, that was his fight in the flesh.

I don't know what that has to do with anything, except I got that shot in. Anyway, may we, well, I can say that there have been times that I've gotten the flesh, and I would think about him, and say, well, you know, yeah, I know God loves him, and I know God loves me too. Verse 32, therefore on that day he called him Jerubabau, saying, let Baal plead against him because he has torn down his altar. So his dad, who gets Gideon out of the problem, God of course doing it all, he makes a big deal out of this. He makes a, you know, the nomenclature of Gideon has changed. It has become a rebuke.

It's now a nickname. Jerubabau. If Baal is God, prove it. If Baal is God, prove it.

That's his name. Every time someone would say Jerubabau, they would say, if you're God Baal, then go ahead, prove it. And Gideon was proud to wear this nickname. Every mention of Gideon would mock Baal from this day forward, wherever there were those privy to this information. I think it's just, you know, I think when I worked steel, there were a lot of the old-timers had nicknames, and the newer generation just never got into it.

I thought it was a travesty. I mean, there was Crazy Joe and Billy Wooden Shoes. I mean, these guys, they just, there were a lot more, and they just had, these old guys had these names. You have to pay attention.

You have to earn that. Nowadays, everybody's just named whatever they're named, and I mean, nothing mean. None of it was mean. There was not anyone named, you know, Crazy Joe took pride in his name.

He was crazy. Verse 33. Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the east, gathered together, and they crossed over and encamped in the valley of Jezreel. Now we're back to the problem. Well, the other problem, I mean, the one problem was the idolatry.

That was the spiritual problem that brought on these physical problems. We want God to bless us, and well, we better be, you know, doing our part as best we can. But here comes the Midianites and their allies, I guess, for less, for lack of a better name, over 135,000 armed men, and if they're bringing their families with them, which they likely were to glean and to do the work, because you have to, you know, still got to haul water. They're just, you have logistical things you've got to do, and they came like a human tsunami, and they put their camps all over the place as if as if they owned the place. At night, if you were Jewish, you'd look out and you'd see all these campfires. They weren't your people. You couldn't just walk over to there, hey, how you guys doing?

Mind if I, you know, just chit-chat with you? Verse 34. But the spirit of Yahweh came upon Gideon, and he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him.

That's kind of funny, you know. You just don't open the Bible and put your hand on a verse and just, ah, that's it. Gideon, the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he blew the trumpet.

If I were a trumpet player, I would be, I would have that engraved on my trumpet probably, but with my name. Anyway, it's a critical moment, and God is now expanding Gideon's call, because he was faithful. We know the verse, Luke chapter 19 verse 17, and Jesus in his parable says that the master said to the servant, and he said to him, well done good and faithful servant, because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over 10 cities. It's a mistake to elevate people too quickly. Paul talks about that.

Don't just go making about pastors, because you think this guy's zealous and into it, and you think he's got the aptitude. Don't do that with deacons as servants. Don't do that with servants. Let them first be proven.

A lot of people get pretty indignant about that. I'm here to serve. Well, why don't you just sit for a while? Let's find out, you know. Let's get to know each other. What's wrong with that?

What's the hurry? Anyway, the spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon when these hordes are in the land. It's just all, it just got to him in a righteous way. When I came to this verse this morning, just going over it, I said, that's what I want still to this day. This is what I live for. There's nothing more I want for myself. I mean, I want salvation for others.

I want that more than anything. But for me, rather than a diamond ring on every finger of my hand, I'd like the spirit of the Lord to be upon me. I mean, I think of David, you know, after his egregious sin, he writes, creating me a clean heart, oh God. Take not your Holy Spirit from me. I got, you know, teary-eyed thinking, this is what I want. What Christian would look at this and say, there's other things I have on my list.

I think of a nice floral arrangement. I want the spirit of Yahweh upon me. I want to put my name on that verse. I mean, think of the words of Spurgeon, how true it is.

You cannot always flame, but you can always burn in your heart. Remember the disciples on the road from Emmaus, did not our hearts burn within us? When Christ was walking and he was giving the greatest Bible study ever known to man, that no one pushed the report button.

Oh, we want that sermon beginning at Moses through the prophets, and nobody recorded a word. The best they could do was, wow, that's what we've got. I think it's cute.

Anyway, I don't think life is cute. I just think some of the lessons and the way it comes across from the pages is ironic. The spirit of the Lord came and he blew the trumpet. That's the rally to arms. He did something.

It's proactive. There's a powerful point here. The Abiezrites were his people, you know, the ones with the pagan altar that he pulled down. They rallied, and it says they gathered behind him. Instead of following Baal, they're now following a man who follows Yahweh. You see, these are the little verses that are supposed to register with us.

They're supposed to make us hunger and thirst. I want that. I want to be. I want to have this kind of influence on others, and I don't want it self-manufactured. I don't want to try to be this way. I want to try to do all that I can do so that God can use me this way.

And there's a difference. When we pray, if you become preachy in your prayers, if you recognize it, just shut up right away. If you find that you're scolding people or trying to direct them in your prayers, if you forget that you're standing before the throne of God or kneeling or sitting, whatever posture you're in, you could be falling. Whatever position you're in, you're talking to God and not preaching to people when you pray. Now, if you're preaching to people, you're preaching to people. But you cannot or should not lose sight of this.

You can't force people or manipulate them into gathering behind you or a thought or an idea or just your presence. And it happens in so many ways. I think that sometimes you know there are those people in life you meet, you just love them. And when they go to heaven, you miss them.

And you say, there won't be another one like that in my lifetime, not unless God does something miraculous. That's a person who, through agape, gathered people behind them, not to lead them in their lives, but just gathered them. A beautiful saying. Maybe you're making too much of this.

I don't think I'm making enough of it. The Holy Spirit is detailed. When He lays out something, it's detailed. He has baked into it every single scenario and meaning that can be extracted for human beings to the glory of their God.

And it's up to us to get it out. Well, the Spirit of the Lord came upon the Old Testament saints. It came upon people on behalf of people, the people of God, for the preservation of the people, for Messiah to come and the promises to be fulfilled all the way through the millennial kingdom, millennial age. In the New Testament, the Spirit comes upon us to reach the lost and to strengthen the saved, not to draw attention to oneself unduly. And so He blows the shofar, verse 35, and He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh who also gathered behind Him.

And He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came to meet them. I mean, the Spirit of the Lord is on this guy, and they know it. This is the thing. When God is moving, you don't have to do that much.

Blow the horn. It just happens. Every revival has been something humans have stumbled into. It's not like, okay, plan one. Okay, we'll put Bibles in every, you know, just plan.

It's a work of God. Just be ready when it happens. But here in verse 35, when He invites them, somebody didn't get an invitation. This is a problem. Ephraim is not invited. Ephraim is going to protest when we get to chapter 8. They're going to be livid because they missed the spoil, the spoils of war. I don't think their hearts were right.

Gideon deals with it properly, tactfully, successfully. But isn't that how it is? You know, you start, you get into a pattern of catering to people's social expectations, and the next thing you know, you're in trouble. You didn't invite me. You didn't invite my uncle or whatever. And oftentimes, they're not very forgiving either.

And if you do it twice, that's personal. 40 years ago, Zebulun and Naphtali distinguished themselves on the battlefield under Barak there at the Kishon, the battlefield of Kishon. Judges 5, 17, Asher continued at the seashore and stayed in his inlets. That was a rebuke from Deborah. This time, Asher says, no, we're going to war. And they go. They show up.

They rally. At Gideon's call, 32,000 show up. And his own clan following close behind him as he follows Yahweh. Verse 36, so Gideon said to God, if you will save Israel by my hand as you have said, verse 37, look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand as you have said.

A lot of people pick on Gideon for this. Oh, he's so faithless. I'd like to just take them and put them in his spot. You're going to war. You think God is with you? You better, you think about that.

Ordering people to their deaths if you're a commander. So understandably, he pauses. He's got the calling from God, but he's got fear too. And he's not going to ignore it. He's not going to pretend, I'm not afraid.

I'm okay. He's going to deal with this. He goes to God. This drives him to the Lord. Such fear is the fear that God uses when it drives us to him. God is able to say, okay, there's enough with me, now let's get rolling.

And so he's going to do in his own way. And so he asks for signs, and they were granted to him without rebuke from Yahweh, and that means no rebuke from people, I think. Nobody should rebuke Gideon for this. Gideon is saying to himself, who am I to lead the army of all these people coming out?

That's probably what did. He saw everybody responding. He said, uh-oh, I can't command these guys. Look at some of them.

That's a warrior over there. Who's, who am I to lead them? I think every pastor should have that view, and if he has a faithful flock as I do, he should have that view. I mean, I see what the people do. I am humbled by it.

I want to go do something else, let a better man come in my spot. Everybody stands up, okay, okay. All right, that's, anyway. So, before stepping out into faith, he looks up in faith. He steps up to the Lord, and he asks God to give him an answer through miracles. It's not New Testament method, except the part about seeking the Lord.

We don't, we don't encourage at all putting fleeces out, and we don't encourage casting lots. That has been phased out in our New Testament. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. We're led by the Spirit. Spirit led, Scripture fed. Verse 37, look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor, and if there is dew on the fleece only, and of course we know the story.

This is not a fairy tale. Gideon actually existed. Gideon actually did this, and God actually responded to him.

This was walking by miracles, not by sight. The Jews request a sign, Jesus said. No sign shall be given to them except the sign of Jonah. He said, this is the big one, but he said that in the presence of signs already committed. He had done so many signs, there was no way you could miss it.

No way. You would have to look at the signs that Jesus said, and this blows away anything about Jonah that we know. So much so that John writes this in John 21, and there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen. John says Jesus did so many signs, wonders, and miracles, we just lost count.

We just stopped. The whole thing about Solomon losing count about how much bronze was used in the temple, there's nothing on how many signs Jesus did, and people just touching him being healed. Again, my favorite thought is he healed the hypochondriacs. I always thought that's much more funnier than what people seem to get.

Anyway. Verse 38, and it was so when he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece and a bowl full of water. Then Gideon, verse 39, said to God, do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more. Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece. Let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.

What a lesson. God teaches us through Gideon that he's patient. He's patient with us in our difficulty.

Gideon knows he's supposed to trust. He knows God has called him. When the spirit of the Lord filled his heart, he knew that was God, and yet now he's having second thoughts. And instead of telling men about, oh, I've got second thoughts, he goes to God and he says, Lord, I'm just not sure. I'm afraid. Psalm 103, verse 14, for he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust, and we should too.

I love this. How many times have we found ourselves in situations in life when we're terrified, and the what-ifs begin to gnaw on us? What if this? What if that?

What if this? And then we get it together like Gideon. Verse 40, and God did so that night.

It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground. All right, Gideon, God's giving you your requests. It's showtime. Thanks for tuning in to Cross-Reference Radio for this study in the book of Judges. Cross-Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia. If you'd like more information about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. You'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick available there, and we encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. By doing so, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross-Reference Radio. You can search for Cross-Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app, or just follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. That's all the time we have for today. Join us next time to continue learning more from the book of Judges, right here on Cross-Reference Radio.