Gideon, A Winner Who Lost | Judges 6-8

Illustration: Andre Verissimo was all set to cinch the first place at the Autodromo International Ayrton Senna, Superbike Brazil race in the city of Goiana, Brasil. He turned around and saw that his two closest competitors way behind him. After a glance over his shoulder at the final bend, he took his hands off the throttle to celebrate his victory.

Unfortunately, he did it too soon.

Mr Verissimo failed to spot his opponents Osvaldo Filho and Marcelo Skaf covering the distance between them. As he celebrated, they zoomed ahead in the final seconds of the Superbike Brazil race. Mr Verissimo was filmed trying to regain lost ground by sitting down again and accelerating – but in vain. He ended up finishing third, thanks to his error.

“I tried to accelerate, but (the bike) was in third gear – really slow,” he explained, according to Sky News he said, “The motorcycle was dead and they passed me by.”

Christ has won us the victory. Our life is a life of victory. Great Success Often Brings Great Temptation. In our victorious march of our Christian life we need to be cautious.

A Winner Who Lost | Gideon | Judges 6-8

Today we are going to look at the life of Gideon, the 6^th judge.

Judges 6:1 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.

When it says the nation of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, it is talking about covenant unfaithfulness. What it means is that the people of Israel began to worship the god of the Canaanites.

The evil is found in Judges 2:11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals.

Judges 2:13 They aroused the Lord’s anger, because they forsook him and served the Baal’s and the Ashtoreths.

Baal is the male God, Ashtoreth is the female God. So the Canaanites had the altar to the Baal and a pole to the Ashtoreth which signified this male-female union and the productivity that comes from it.

The Jews actually did not fully abandon worship to Jehovah, rather they began to add worship to Baal to their worship of God. This is called syncretism, merging religions.

The children of Israel had worshipped Baal. God allowed the Midianites to raid over them.

This is what happens when we compromise the word of God.

Application: Now we are under a different covenant with God, a covenant Jesus inaugurated in the last supper. Israel during the time of Gideon are under the Mosaic covenant and the terms of the covenant are, “Obey the law and I will bless you in the land and none of your enemies will be able to stand up against you.” Obviously, they have begun to be unfaithful in that covenant and God had punished them.

According to 1 Corinthians 10:11 the OT is an example to us. This book of Judges is an example to all of us as to what happens when we compromise God’s word and be disobedient. Eventually we are going to find ourselves in bondage. God gave them into the hands of the Midianites for 7 years.

This is a repeated cycle in Judges.

Sin      Punishment   Repentance    Deliverance    Peace

In the following verses, the writer gives us a kind of the extent of their misery.

Judges 6:2-3 ²Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. ³Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country.

The Israelites were surrounded by the Midianites and Amalekites.

We too are surrounded: Ephesians 6:12  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

We are in the midst of a battle. We are also surrounded by God. God is on our side. The children of Israel in Judges 6 finds themselves surrounded in a conflict.

History of Midian: Midian was a son of Abraham. Sarah died and Abraham remarried a woman called Keturah, the 4^th son of Abraham with Keturah is Midian. Midianites are the offspring of Abraham. Moses’ father-in-law Jethro was a priest of Midian. They have become against Isreal now.

History of Amalekites: Grandson of Easu.

Judges 6:4-6 ⁴They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. ⁵They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. ⁶Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

What they would do is that they would wait for Israel to plant their crops, no problem. Then Israel would harvest the crops, no problem. Then the Israelites would take the harvest to the top of the hill, flatten the top and allow animals to tread on the wheat. The wind would come and they would take a winnowing fork and lift the wheat and the chaff blew away which could be seen like a big cloud of chaff from the valley. The Midianites would wait for this time, raid the Israelites like a locust swarm and take all of the harvested wheat away. So the Midianites steal their animals, they steal their crop.

Application: This is a desperate time. Can you imagine if we are just bringing home our groceries and salary and the enemy comes and just takes it all away?

So they cried out to the Lord and God sent a prophet.

Judges 6:7-10 ⁷When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, ⁸he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ⁹I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. ¹⁰I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”

God tells them that their biggest problem is not Midian or the misery they are currently in, but their biggest problems is the cause of their misery which is disobedience.

“Lord the Midianites are raiding us. Lord we want you to help us.”

God said, “Listen, you need to understand how you got here in the first place. Why are you miserable?“ “Because of the Midianites.” “No, don’t point your finger at the Midianites. They are not the problem. Your disobedience is the problem. That is why you are in the situation that you are in.”

Just like the Israelites, we too can have the same short-sightedness as to our lives and what is going in in our lives. See if our problem is related to our disobedience. See if there is a connection between our problem and our disobedience. The Israelites saying we have a problem, it is the Midinettes.

The Prophet said the problem is Israel violating the covenant.

God raises a deliverer.

Judges 6:11-12 ¹¹The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. ¹²When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

1. God Confronts Our Feelings, Our Personal Inadequacy.

Gideon is threshing wheat in a winepress. Winepress usually is in a cave below and there is no wind there to thresh wheat. Gideon is hiding and threshing the wheat. Gideon is afraid and the angel of the Lord said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” This may seem quite sarcastic, but this is how God looks at us. Gideon, “You may be afraid, but in hands you are going to become a mighty warrior.”

Don’t underestimate what God can do through you.

One of the biggest lies we tell ourselves is that God only uses special people. If you are a born-again believer, you are God’s child (John 1:12), His friend (John 15:15), and His masterpiece (Eph. 2:10). You have been justified (Rom. 5:1), freed forever from condemnation from God (Rom. 8:1). You are adopted into His family (Eph. 1:5) and your citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). You belong to God (1 Cor. 6:20), never to be separated from His love (Rom. 8:35)! And you have everything from Him you need for life and godliness!

God has a great plan for you even when you are going through defeat. He sees the big picture about your life and calls you a warrior. Don’t underestimate what God can do through you.

After being called a mighty warrior, Gideon questions God:

After being called a mighty warrior, Gideon questions God: Judges 6:13 “But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? (Where are all the signs and wonders, where are all the promises) Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.” Gideon’s conclusion was that the Lord has abandoned them. I don’t know if you are sitting here feeling abandoned by God. God loves you.

Verse 14 records something that must have reaffirmed Gideon. Judges 6:14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” “But God,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

Gideon Doubted His Call.

Judges 6:16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

2. God Confirms His Plans With His Presence & Peace.

Do you know what makes Gideon a mighty warrior? It is the presence of the Lord.

Do you know what makes you and I something other than what you and I are? It is the presence of the Lord in our lives. It is not us, it is God in us, it is God through us, God guiding us, empowering us. In the NT, we are given the Holy Spirit to indwell us, empower us. The Holy Spirit enables us, empowers us.

Judges 16:17-18 ¹⁷Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. ¹⁸Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.” And the Lord said, “I will wait until you return.”

Judges 16:19-24 ¹⁹Gideon went inside, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.

²⁰The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so. ²¹Then the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of the staff that was in his hand. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. ²²When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!” ²³ But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.” ²⁴ So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

The Lord is with us.

Peace of God is with us.

Do not be afraid.

We are surrounded by a formidable enemy, but in reality we are surrounded by God. Gideon is given an undeniable commission, told the remarkable results in advance, and promised the unrivalled partnership of the Lord Himself.

Gideon is lonely, defeated and in loss. In the natural he does not have anything to be victorious. He is the weakest link in his clan, the youngest in his family. He doesn’t have any authority to call out the cavalry from his own tribe, let alone from others. God is telling, you don’t need anything. You just need my presence for victory in your life.

Illustration: It was said among Napoleon’s soldiers, “When Napoleon takes our hands and looks at us, we feel like conquerors.” There’s something that changes in us when we listen to His voice and look “full in His wonderful face.” Suddenly, His priorities become the most important thing on earth. God confirms his plans with his presence.

3. God Challenges Us To A Full Commitment

Gideon Overcomes Family Obstacles

Judges 16:25-27 ²⁵That same night the Lord said to him, “Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal (That means that his father was a pagan worshipper, syncretism) and cut down the Asherah pole^[ beside it. ²⁶Then build a proper kind of^[ altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.” ²⁷So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

This tells us that Gideon is kind of timid individual. He was thrashing wheat in the winepress. God is working on him in stages.

Why was God asking Gideon to tear down his father’s altar? What did God call Gideon to do? Deliver the Israelites. If you are going to lead publicly, you better lead personally. You start with you own household, you begin with your family.

4. God Empowers Us For Service With His Holy Spirit.

Judges 9:33-34 ³³Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. ³⁴Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him.

He also called Asher, Zebulun, and Nephtali.

Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon.

5. God Exercises Incredible Patience With Us.

Judges 6:36-40 ³⁶Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— ³⁷look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” ³⁸And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water. ³⁹Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” ⁴⁰That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

Gideon is not seeking the will of God, but he is asking God for a confirmation.

If the phone rings before 1 pm, this is from the Lord. What if the phone comes at 1:10. We are not to be like this.

But watch this: Even after his encounter with Almighty God, even though he had been obedient to cleanse his home and the Lord protecting him, and even though God appointed him, Gideon still struggled with doubts. He was fearful. He knows that God has promised to save Israel through him, but he’s looking in the mirror and the reflection he sees doesn’t look encouraging.

Gideon is convinced, fearless and is now ready to fight but God has other plans. Gideon prepared an army of 32000 soldiers.

6. God Sometimes Removes Our Resources So We Will Trust Him Fully.

Judges 7:1-3 ¹Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. ²The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men (32000). I cannot deliver Midian (135000) into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ ³Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.

Difficulty must be measured by the capacity of the agent doing the work.

Fear is contagious, faith is contagious.  Deuteronomy 20:5-8: Planted vineyard and not drunk, built a house but not dedicated, newly married, and fearful need not go for battle.

God Builds Gideon Up And He Weakens His Soldiers.

Judges 7:4-8 ⁴But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

⁵ So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” ⁶Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

⁷The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.” ⁸So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others. Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.

Midianites had 135000, Israel 32000, 4:1

Midianites 135000, Israel 22000

Reduced to 300:135000, 400:1

7. God Comforts Our Fears And Strengthens Our Faith.

Judges 7:9-11 ⁹During that night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. ¹⁰If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah ¹¹and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.”

Judges 7:13-16 ¹³Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.”

¹⁴His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.”

¹⁵When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped.  (When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation he worshipped God. Be a worshipper before you are a warrior. Public victories are a result of private devotion.) He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.” ¹⁶Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.

God comforts our fears and strengthens our faith.

Dale Ralf Davis who wrote a book on Judges said, “God is not harsh when we tremble. He does not ridicule us for our fears. He never mocks us because we are fragile.”

8. God Makes Us Victorious.

Judges 8:19-25 ¹⁹Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. ²⁰The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” ²¹While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.

²²When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. ²³Israelites from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh were called out, and they pursued the Midianites. ²⁴Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth Barah.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out and they seized the waters of the Jordan as far as Beth Barah. ²⁵They also captured two of the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was by the Jordan.

He was a weak leader, small army, foolish weapons, the enemy was defeated.

We have the remarkable victory of Gideon and his 300 men.

God stacks the odds against us.

Elijah was against 450 prophets of Baal.

Sometimes you do not need more people.

Judges 8:28 Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon’s lifetime, the land enjoyed peace forty years.

9. Great Success Often Bring Great Temptation

The Sad Ending of Gideon: The Winner Champion Who Lost

The Danger of Success

Judges 8:1-3 Jealousy of Ephraim.

Principle: Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Judges 8:4-9 Real lack of unity and nationalism. What happened to the soft answer?

• Gideon became Rude and Proud.

8:16 Here Gideon goes from a timid man to a tiger killing his opponents. But the problem is his children are watching him. One son Abimelek is watching this.

Survey on Gideon Judges 8

Judges 8:22-26 ²²The Israelites said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son and your grandson—because you have saved us from the hand of Midian.” ²³But Gideon told them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.” (that is a beautiful text but he did not live up to it.) ²⁴And he said, “I do have one request, that each of you give me an earring from your share of the plunder.” (It was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold earrings.) He did not want to be king, but he wanted the tax a king collects.

Judges 8:27 Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.

• Gideon Lead Israel Into Idolatry.

Instead of sending the ephod into the tabernacle, he sent it to Ophrah, his hometown. There it became a snare, it became an idol. The very man who delivered them from idolatry led them back into it.

Judges 8:30 He had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives.

In addition to the wives he had a concubine. Judges 8:31 His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son, whom he named Abimelek. (Abimelek means “my father is king”).

• So Apparently Gideon Died Lusting After The Kingship.

Judges 8:32 Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Gideon lived too long. Dr. H. A. Ironside, Bible teacher prayed, “God, keep me from becoming a foolish old man.”

Will you finish well?

All the kings of the northern Kingdom ended in disaster.

Some kings of the Judah, the Southern kingdom, were righteous, but many started well but did not end well.

Paul started late but ended well.

1 Corinthians 1:8 He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord, a little fox can spoil the wine, a little folly can shame the reputation, and a little treasure can become a snare for even the greatest of leaders.

Life Principles From Gideon

1. Our Growth Is In Stages. Both individual, as family and as a church. Growth is not a straight line up, it is a staircase. There is always a challenge, one thing is for sure, there is growth after a challenge.

Steady work Challenge steady work Challenge.

2. If God Calls, He Will Provide.

3. Man Is A Mixture Of Good And Bad. God knows what we are like. We make mistakes. God does not ask for perfection but perseverance. God is perfect and we are perfected in Christ. Persevere in spite of imperfections.

4. It Is How You Finish That Matters.

After Gideon’s day the Jewish people continued the cycle of disobedience and rescue for 100’s of years until their final disobedience which was the rejection of Christ, which was punished by the destruction of Jerusalem by the hands of the Roman army. God did not rescue them this time, even when they called on him to do so.

Many of our lives are like this, a continual cycle of promises or resolutions to do good and to reform our ways. When things get better we go right back to our old ways.

God will always rescue if you call on his name.

God will always rescue you if you call on him in Jesus’ name. Even today, if you need forgiveness, if you need restoration, if you need prayer, if you need encouragement, if you need recognition, then we call upon the Lord in prayer and he will come to rescue you from what you need rescuing form this day.

Do don’t wait until it is too late. One day it will be too late. Don’t be the victor who looses. Come now, while we have the opportunity to call on the Lord for recue, let’s do that.

We have that opportunity right at this moment as the team leads us to a song of encouragement. If you need to respond in someway, then we ask you to come forward now.