Judges chapter 8. I told you early on as we studied the book of Judges together that there were some of the judges that we know much more about than others. Gideon is one of those that we know much, much more about than several of the other judges. And as we studied him, he had a very slow start. But it's almost like a locomotive. He was slow getting going. But now that he's moving, he's gonna be hard to stop. And as we read together this evening, we're going to really see a different side of Gideon than what we've seen before. We saw him last week really taking that role of leadership. But tonight we'll see that field and developed even more than what we have before. Judges chapter number eight, verse one, and this is in the middle of the battle against the Midianites and the Amalekites after they have stood along, excuse me, the mountainside and God divinely intervened by causing them to fall upon one another, the enemy to fall upon one another and kill one another. you'll see Gideon sends out to the Ephraimites for help, but notice how they respond in chapter 8 verse 1 says, And the men of Ephraim said unto him, to Gideon, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou called us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply. And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaming of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezar? God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. And what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him when he had said that. And Gideon came to Jordan. Now they've been fighting on the western side of Jordan, and now they're gonna cross over the Jordan River, pursuing the enemy to the east of Jordan. Verse four, and Gideon came to Jordan and passed over. He and the 300 men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them. And he said unto the men of Succoth, give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me, for they be faint. And I am pursuing after Ziba and Zalmunna, kings of Midian. And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Ziba and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thine army? And Gideon said, Therefore, when the Lord hath delivered Ziba and Zalmunna into mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briars. And he went up thence to Penuel, and spake unto them likewise. And the men of Penuel answered him, as the men of Succoth had answered him. And he spake also unto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower. Now Ziba and Zalmunna were in Korkor, and their host with them, about 15,000 men, all that were left of all the host of the children of the east, for there fell 120,000 men that drew sword. And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Noba and Jogbeha, and smote the host, for the host was secure. And when Ziba and Zamuna fled, he pursued after them and took the two kings of Midian, Ziba and Zamuna, and disconfited all the host. And Gideon, the son of Joash, returned from battle before the sun was up, and called a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him, and he described unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, even threescore and seventeen men. And he came unto the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Ziba and Zalmunna, with whom ye did upbraid me, saying, Are the hands of Ziba and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thy men that are weary? And he took the elders of the city and thorns of the wilderness and briars, and with them he taught. Don't you like that language? He taught the men of Succoth. He taught them a lesson. My daddy taught me many a lessons. Something similar to that. I don't think he ever used briars though, and I'm thankful for that. Verse 17, and he beat down the tower of Penuel and slew the men of the city. Then said he unto Zeba and Zalmunna, what manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, as thou art, so were they. Each one resembled the children of a king. And he said, they were my brethren, even the sons of my mother. As the Lord liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you. And he said unto Jether, his firstborn, up and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword, for he feared, because he was yet a youth. Then Ziba and Zamuna said, Rise thou and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose and slew Ziba and Zamuna, and took away the ornaments that were on their camel's necks. And we're going to stop right there for tonight. A lot of times a title comes easy tonight, not so much. If I'm going to title this evening's message, I will call it Gideon a Changed Man. Gideon a Changed Man. I want to remind you that God had called Gideon to serve as a judge in Israel. He made every excuse he thought he could. He fought against it, tried to get out of it when The Angel, which is almost certainly the pre-incarnate Christ. refused to allow Gideon to weasel out of that, Gideon then asked for different signs. You'll remember the fleece, two separate nights he asked for that, asked for some kind of a spiritual sign by the consuming of a sacrifice. And the Lord graciously and patiently granted these signs unto Gideon. And so Gideon then is called upon to lead the Israelites in battle against this huge Midianite Amalekite allied army. And strangely enough, in order to lead in battle They are instructed, and Gideon takes his 32,000 men. Remember this from last week? God says you've got too many, so he sends 20,000 of them home, and then the Lord says you've still got too many of them, and they go from 32,000 men down to 300 men, Gideon and his 300 men. And strangely enough, the battle plan is to surround the Amalekites and the Midianites standing up on the mountainside, trumpet in hand with a clay vessel, a clay pitcher in hand, and to shout the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. And when they did that, they broke those Vessels those clay pots and inside of them. There was a light burning and God sent mass confusion among the army They were spread out in the valley. You remember we read they were like grasshoppers There were that many of them spread out in the valley as a matter of fact We read right here in our text that there was a hundred and twenty thousand men that drew the sword that were killed They fell on one another, Midianite against the Malachite and perhaps even Midianite against Midianite. That mass confusion by the shouting, the blowing of the trumpets, God I think sending strong delusion among them. They fall on one another and the vast, vast majority of them are killed, 120,000 of them are killed. And a number of them, though, begin to flee and begin to escape. And so Gideon calls for backup. You see that in the close of chapter number 7. He gathers together people from Naphtali, Asher, Manasseh. They pursue after the Midianites. And Gideon reaches out to Ephraim, the tribe of Ephraim. And he says to Ephraim, because They were leaving, the Midianites were leaving and they were running through the land of the Ephraimites, the tribe of Ephraim. And so Gideon reaches out to the elders of the Ephraimites and says to them, help us in the battle by securing the fords, the shallow crossings of the Jordan River, secure them so that when they try to flee, when the armies try to flee, we can shut them down. And they do this, but they do it with some complaint. And chapter 8 opens with a dispute, a quarrel between Gideon and the Ephraimites. The men of Ephraim in verse 1 say, and I'm going to summarize some of this, essentially they say to him, why did you wait till now to call us to help? And friends, There are some things that are easy to discern and holy rid of. There are things that are more difficult, but I really tell you what I think that this is all about is the Ephraimites are all bent out of shape, not because Gideon didn't call them to begin with, but because of their own prideful nature. Once things started looking good, When the vast majority of the Midianite army has been destroyed, now Ephraim wants to show up on the scene and say, Gideon, why didn't you call us earlier? We'd have been happy to come over here and help you. Well, they wasn't volunteering before then. They didn't show up busting down Gideon's door saying, we're here to help. What can we do? Rather, they wait till things are looking good to show up and help. And then when they do show up, they want to get all up in Gideon's face and say to him, you should have called us earlier. We would have been here. And I'll be honest with you, I think it's just pride on their part. I think probably some of it leads all the way back to the time of Joshua leading them. And Joshua from the tribe of Ephraim, they think they're really something. But you ever have somebody show up when the work's done and then say, well, you should have called me. I'd have been over here to help you. And then want to criticize what you've done? That's what they did. I have said, I don't know where I picked this up. Many of you may have heard it. Some people are like a blister. They show up when the work's done. That's what aetherium is, in my opinion, in this text. They wait till the bulk of the work is done, then they want to get in the face of Gideon and say to him, why didn't you call us earlier? He said unto them, now, look at the close of verse number one. And they did chide with him sharply. They gave him a hard time. They quarreled and sarcastically, I believe, said to him, you should have called us. And now how does he respond? I know how you want to respond if you're Gideon. And to begin with, in this chapter, he shows great patience, I think, great restraint. Show some diplomacy, if you will. He doesn't hang on to that through the whole chapter, but to begin with, he does. And so he responds in a gracious way. He responds by essentially downplaying what he has done and lifting up what they had done. If you remember at the close of the last chapter we looked at last week, the Ephraimites had captured two generals, rulers, two leaders of the Midianite army, had captured and killed them. And so Gideon replies in verse number two saying, what have I done compared to what you've done? Now listen, it takes some grace to respond to people like that. If I'm right about the context, and they show up after the bulk of the work is done, now begin to criticize, and they attack you, they chide with you sharply, your first instinct is to lash back out at them, right? But Gideon, and I think this is why I say Gideon's a changed man, a different man, Gideon graciously shows some restraint by saying to them, look, I hadn't really done anything. You've done a lot. And that takes a measure of Holy Spirit given restraint. I cautious to use this illustration. I don't want to. I want anybody to ever think I bad mouth church members, but We had a couple at the church that I used to pastor, and they just weren't very faithful. That's just the extent of it. They just weren't very faithful in attendance. One of our members became sick. I called them. They didn't answer. I texted them. They did not respond. They were absent Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday, Wednesday. And upon returning the third week, they find out this person, this other church member had been hospitalized, and they came to me and said, we're upset that you've left us out of everything. Why didn't you include us in what was going on? And do you know what I wanted to say to them? And I'm not gonna necessarily say I was right, but I had a Gideon moment. I said, I'm sorry. I'll try to do better next time. I don't know if I'm right or wrong, but that's what I did at that time. But now I hadn't always done that. I ain't trying to sit up here and brag like I'm something super. All I can say is God can give you grace to deal with people like that. He diplomatically says, listen, I'm nothing. You're right. God's using you. God delivered, in verse 3, God delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, these Oreb and Zeeb. What have I done in comparison to you? And when He said this, their anger was abated toward Him. He pacified their anger. And it may seem like things are going to get better for Gideon, but they're really not. Now you need to understand this, because this is the big picture of the chapter, is that these are his people. These are the Israelites. his own people that he is fighting to free from the bondage of this pagan Midianite army who's been ravaging the land for years. He's the one fighting for them, trying to leave. He didn't even want anything to do with this to begin with. Amen? You understand? He didn't want this job, but God called him to it. And now he's got these people in his face who are bad-mouthing him and giving him a hard time. He graciously entreats them. And now he's going to move on, and you may think, It's going to get better for Gideon, but he's going to run into more trouble. It is important to me that we understand that Gideon knew who the real enemy was. It's important that we understand that Gideon kept his focus on who the real enemy was, and it wasn't his brothers and sisters in, I say this in our New Testament language, it wasn't his brothers and sisters in Christ. It wasn't his fellow Israelites. He didn't have time for their silly battle of words and pride. He had a real war to fight. You understand what I mean? There was an army trying to escape, and he didn't have time to deal with their little petty quarrel. He had more important things to do. And I think sometimes you and I need to be reminded, when somebody comes in on the backside and has something silly to say, something maybe even prideful to say, it'd be better for us just to remember who the real enemy is and that we got real battles to fight. We don't have time for these silly quarrels. There's a very popular TV show that was on for several years. I watched it, I liked it, loved the show, hated the politics, loved the show. But let me set this because I think it fits so well right here. In this story, it surrounds the White House, President, and this kind of thing. The Chief of Staff wants to hire what they call a body man for the President. And this is just a guy whose job it is to get the President up in the mornings, to make sure he has his things that he needs, to be his right-hand man. He's not dictating policies, not doing any of those things. He's just there to be a body, a help to the President. And the chief of staff is talking to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs in this show. And he says, look, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs is a black man. And he says to him, look, I want to hire this kid to be a body man for the president. But he's a black kid. And he said, I'm concerned how it may look. He's opening the door for the president. He's waiting on the president. He said, I'm concerned about the aesthetics of it. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said, look, he said, it's an honor to serve the president. I'm the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. I serve the president. He said to the chief of staff, he said, listen, man, he said, I've got real wars to fight. I don't have time for the cosmetic ones. I think that's how Gideon felt right here. He had real wars to fight. He didn't have time for the silly or the cosmetic with the Ephraimites battling with their own pride. We need to be that. We need to be reminded that we don't have time for the silly stuff when there are real battles to be fought. But I want to emphasize this in verse 4. And Gideon came to Jordan, remember he's pursuing the 15,000 men that are fleeing after dealing with this little mess here with Ephraim. He's in pursuit of these men who are fleeing, the Midianites who have remained, the army that is withdrawing, who is retreating. And his men, his 300 men, are tired. This to me is a verse that's overlooked Yet it could be applicable in so many ways. Look at what it says in verse 4. And Gideon came to Jordan and passed over he and the three hundred men that were with him. Notice these words. Faint, yet pursuing them. Those simple little words at the close of that verse tell us a lot about how we should conduct ourselves as God's children. They're tired. Gideon and his 300 men. They're worn out. This battle began that night. Remember, late at night is when they busted those lights. That's when they shouted. The battle began that night. This is almost certainly into the next day, daylight now, as he's battled with the Ephraimites, dealt with them. And even though they're wore out, God's Word said, yet they were still pursuing. These simple words should be a constant reminder to us of the New Testament exhortation that we do not grow weary in well-doing. For in due season, we shall reap if we faint not. You ever get tired? Worn out? Discouraged? The preacher does. I do. Wondering? Are we getting anything accomplished or done? We learned from Gideon that even when you get tired like that, you got to keep pursuing. You got to keep fighting. You got to keep chasing the real enemy. Don't get sidetracked. with silly stuff, keep your mind on what's important. He here, and I don't want to make, I know I've said this, I don't want to make too much of this, but I want you to see the transformation in Gideon. From a man who was standing there, minding his own business, not wanting anything to do with this, now he's at the point of exhaustion and his 300 men, yet he's not going to give up doing what God called him to do. That's the power of the transformation, the transformative power of the gospel of grace. It can take you from not wanting anything to do with this to now, even though I'm tired, I'm going to keep on trying to serve God. faint, yet pursuing. And what happens? He crosses the Jordan River and he comes to the men, and I got to go here, I know. He gets to the men of Succoth, this little village, this town of Succoth, or Succoth. And when he gets there, understand this is his people, tribe of Dan, I believe, who were on the other side of Jordan. Remember those different tribes? Gad, I'm sorry, not Dan. Gad on the other side of the Jordan, those who had land on the other side of the Jordan. This is his people. He goes to his own people, the Israelites, in the village of Succoth and the village of Penuel, and says to them, we're tired. We've been chasing these guys. This battle began last night. We've been chasing them all day. We're worn out. We're weary. We need some refreshment. We need some food, water. We need some supplies. How do they respond? The short end of it is they say, no. They refuse. to stand with Gideon. Really what they reply to him is, and it is fear that is speaking. You hear me? That's what it is, fear that is speaking. They reply by saying to him, look, we know you're chasing those guys, those two kings. Their names are hard. They're chasing after Ziba and Zamuna. I know you're chasing these two kings, but they've got 15,000 men with them. You've got 300. And if we help you and you don't win the battle, they're going to come back and kill us. So they refused to help Gideon and his 300. Now, you might think that when you go to your own people for whom you're fighting for, can you see it coming? Your own family. that you're fighting for, you might think that when you go to them and ask for help that they're going to be willing to help, but they ain't always willing to help. Now this is a sad truth, but it is a reality that we all have to face that Gideon's not only being opposed by foe, he's also being opposed by friend and family. Ephraim's done got up in his face and Give him a hard time to say it nicely. Now he goes to these other two villages seeking for their assistance, and they shut the door in his face. You and I may think we can always count on people, but listen, people will let you down. I'll let you down. Other family members and friends, they'll let you down. There's only one that'll never let you down, and that's God. There's only one you can always count on, and that's him. Gideon, listen, just think, and I know I'm asking you to stretch your minds, but Gideon Dunn got into a mess in his own neighborhood. You remember when he tore down the altar of Baal and the Asherah Pole and the whole community there was ready to stomp him? Now he goes out and leads an army and he's got Ephraim in his face, and now he goes across the river pursuing after the enemy, and now his own people won't even give him a loaf of bread to eat. It is a sad truth, but it is the truth. Friends and family will not always stand with you. These people of Succoth and Pinuel, if you'll allow, they lick their fingers, stick it in the air, and see which way the wind's blowing, and that's how they're gonna go. Like a lot of politicians, and I'll just say that and move on. And see just which way the wind's blowing, and that's the way they'll go. That's how they are. We're not gonna stand with you. This may not work out too well. And if you don't have victory over these guys, it ain't gonna work too well for us. But let me remind you of this. What did Gideon do now? He kept on pursuing the real enemy. Now this chapter presents us with some difficulties because of Gideon's behavior. I'm not going to justify it and I'm not going to condemn it. I'm just going to tell you this is what happened. I think we can all understand why he conducted himself in the way he did. But listen to what he says to them. Verse number seven, he tells the people of Succoth, when I get ahold of them two guys, them two kings, and I destroy their army, I'm coming back through here. He's going to be heading home and say, when I come back through here, I'm going to take a, listen young people, a switch to you. I know you young people don't know what that is, but That's exactly what he says, except for he says, I'm going to take briars and thorns, in verse number seven, and I'm going to whip you good with it. Can I throw something in right here? When you say you're going to do something, you ought to do it. Well, guess what happens? Gideon keeps his word. We'll get there in just a minute. In verse 8, he tells the men of Penuel, they have this huge tower. What I read tells us it's a tower set up for defense. The people of the city could flee to it in case of an attack. It was set up where they could defend themselves, fight off, ward off the enemy, invasion, that kind of thing. Gideon says, then, when I get back, I'm tearing that tower down. I asked for your help. I asked you to, as an Israelite, to stand with the Israelites, and you refused to do it. And when I come back through town, after I get through whipping the enemy, I'm going to come back through here and I'm going to whip you. Now, I'm not going to justify it, but that's what he says, and that is what he will do. Verse 10, he leaves them. Now, whether or not they receive nourishment from anybody, we don't know. We know that he leaves them. And he begins now in verse 10 to pursue the enemy. I want to stop. Just let me just stop right here for just a minute. Would it have benefited Gideon's weary warriors for him to scold them because of the unfaithfulness of others? Would it have benefited Gideon and his men, if Gideon would have got all bent out of shape and barked at his men because the other Israelites wouldn't do what was right, are you with me? It doesn't do me any good to scold you weary warriors because of the unfaithfulness of others. I know sometimes y'all want me to say this, do this, preach that, but I'm not going to scold you because of the unfaithfulness of us. Let me say it and move on. It's not going to benefit you to scold, to skin the sheep because of what others are unwilling to do. Verse 10, He, here, giving His weary 300 men, go after Zeba and Zalmuna and their 15,000 because Notice at the close of verse 10, 120,000 men are already dead. Now this is huge victory, right? 120,000 men are already dead. He's chasing after 15,000. And then this gives us directions in verse number 11 where he went. He went up, by the way, and then the dwelt in tents on the east of Noba and Jogbeha, and he smote the host. The host was secure. What I really think is he ends up having to stop the hot pursuit to deal with Ephraim, stops in Succoth, asks for their help, stops in Penuel, asks for their help. During the meantime, the 15,000 and these two kings, they've got a little bit of distance between Gideon and them, and they sort of get settled in somewhere, thinking they're safe. And Gideon now, and what I read after, tells me that he has traveled some 50 miles from where the battle began now to where the people are in parkour, as verse 10 calls it. He's traveled by foot some 50 miles in pursuit of them over a night and a day and a part of a night again. No wonder they're tired, right? And he attacks the host, that 15,000, With his 300 and he destroys the remains of the Midianite army. A number of commentators that I read, I love to read these books that help me understand the narrative. A number of these commentators that I read after said that Gideon was out of the will of God by crossing Jordan and pursuing these men. said that he never had any divine instruction, and we're not told that he's given any divine instruction, to chase after these two kings and those 15,000 men. My issue with that is that if God is not pleased with what he is doing, you wouldn't think that 300 men could kill 15,000, right? So it seems to me probably God is blessing Gideon. They use the fact that those two villages refused to help Gideon as evidence that he's out of the will of God, but I don't believe he is. I believe he's trying to eradicate the enemy so that they don't multiply and come back and do this again. So he captures these two rulers, Gideon and his host of 300. Verse 11 and the close of verse 12 say he discomfited, destroyed all the hosts, captures Zeba Zalmunna, captures these two leaders, destroys the army, and now he's turning around and heading back towards his homeland, back towards the other side of Jordan, back towards the west side of Jordan. Verse 13 says, ìThen Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun was up.î See how long theyíve been going? Started at night, all day, that night, and now before the sunís up, heís headed back towards the other side of Jordan, back to where his homeland was. And when he arrives at the village of Succoth, they capture a young man and they ask him, ìWho are the leaders of this village?î He tells him, and probably this man writes down their names, some 77 men, and following through on what he said he would do, in verse 15, he, that is Gideon and his army, tell these leaders, you mocked me, you did chide or upbraid me, in verse 15, You didn't think we could win this battle, but look, right there, these two kings, I'm holding them hostage. We asked for your help, you refused to help. And so in verse 16, he took the elders of the city and thorns of the wilderness, and with briars, he taught them, the men of Succoth. I don't know what else to do to say from that, that he taught them a lesson. What else does he mean from that? When God's people are doing God's work and they need help and you have the ability to help them, you ought to help them. I'm not suggesting by any means, and I really think as we get to the end of this, I'm not suggesting by any means that we have the right to take a briar or thorn switch to people who don't help us when they ought to. I don't think we do. By any means, you understand that? I'm just telling you that's what Gideon did. I think we may get a lesson from it. That if it is within your ability to help your fellow saints, and now what we learn in 1 John, if you see somebody who's in need and you have the ability to help them and you don't, how can you say the love of God dwells in you? If you see somebody who's in need, and in particularly those who are of the household of faith, and you see somebody who's in need and you have the ability to help them, but you don't help them because you don't know which way the tides may go, you don't know whether or not things are going to go the way you want to, God is not pleased with that. Now I'm not going to, I said this, I'm not going to condone or justify what Gideon does, but I'm not going to condemn it either because he was in a life and death battle. He had been running for miles upon miles, fighting in their behalf for their deliverance, and he only asked for some supplies, some needed refreshment, and they refused to give it. But not only that, he goes in verse number 17, he beats down the tower of Penuel and slew some of the men of the city. Again, not going to condemn it, not going to justify it, this is just what happened. I don't want to make light of it, but I think Gideon had just reached a point, after battling all of these things, that he was just not going to tolerate disloyalty. The bigger picture is if you look at Christ, and we'll get to that right before we close. I don't know that he returns all the way home, but I think as we approach verse number 18, He probably has returned to his own village by this time. He has with him those two kings of the Midianite army. He says unto them in verse 18, Ziba and Zamuna, what manner of men were they whom you slew at Tabor? Now, this has been our first introduction to this. There's something that went on that we're not told about. What we must do is we must infer that in that battle or in a previous time period, Some of Gideon's family had been captured by these two men. And after they were captured, they were treated harshly. In fact, they were put to death. And so Gideon asked them, what did these men look like that you captured, that you caught? from Mount Tabor or that you slew at Mount Tabor. They reply in verse 19 by saying, I'm sorry, close verse 18 by saying, each one resembled you. They look like you. Whether they were trying to flatter him or saying to him they were dressed like you, they resembled one of your family or whatever, we don't know for sure. But in verse 19, he declares, Gideon says, these that you killed were my brethren. the sons of my mother. And he says to them, as the Lord lives, if you would have kept them alive, I would keep you alive. But because you mercilessly killed them, I'm going to kill you. And he says to his son, probably very young, 13, 14 year old boy, he says to his son Jether, Get up. And one of the reasons why we think that he's back at his homeland now, because he has his firstborn son there with him, who would not have been on the battlefield with him. He says it to his firstborn son, Jether, get up and kill him. But as a young boy, he's afraid. He's timid. He's shy, whatever that it is. He doesn't want to. Nathan, Aaron, you, I don't know, even at your age, how comfortable you'd be with something like that. Different culture, different time, you understand. Killing a man is killing a man. And the young boy doesn't want to do it. And so he refuses to do it. And so actually, the two kings say to Gideon, they say, we would rather be killed by a mighty man of valor than killed by a frightened child. So Gideon, you fall on us and kill us. Oh, I don't know what difference it makes. I mean, dead is dead, right? It's just amazing how people think, well, after I'm dead and gone, I want everybody to know that I was killed by Gideon instead of killed by some little teenage boy. Well, what difference does it make? You just as dead either way. But that's just how silly people think. And so Gideon does that. He kills him in verse number 21 and takes away the ornaments that were on their camel's necks. In this life, and we're circling the landing strip, in this life, people are going to disappoint you. Friends, family, people that you should be able to count on, they're going to disappoint you. But you've got to keep on pursuit. You can't let up because others won't do what they're supposed to do. I'm preaching to me as much as I'm preaching. You can't stop fighting. You can't walk away. You can't give up just because of others. Maybe they're critical. Maybe they're in your face in an unjust way. You can't turn away from God just because others won't do what they're supposed to do. You've got to keep on fighting the good fight of faith. Keep on pursuing, even when you're faint. Even when you're weary. Remember who the real enemy is. And then those who will not help, assist, or do what they're supposed to, don't do like Gideon, just turn them over to God. Just turn them over to God. Praying, as I was preparing, I cried out and said, Lord, just help me see Christ in this text. Where is He? And God, in his great mercy, said, my son was faint, but he kept pursuing. He was weary on the way to Calvary, but he kept on, even though his friends and his family forsook him. Even though they didn't do what they should have done, and stand with him and help him, still he kept on fighting the real enemy. And he also made some promises, didn't he? That if you do not obey my gospel, and you do not hear my warnings, when I come back, you will face my wrath. Isn't that a glorious picture of Christ? We see Gideon taking and tearing down a wall. We see him killing. We see him beating men with thorns. None of that compares to what Christ will do to His enemies when He comes back. We have a loving, gracious, merciful Savior, but He is coming back as a conquering King, and you don't want to be on the wrong side when He comes back. Abandoned by his friends, opposed by his foes. He even had Judas betray him. Weary, worn out, and faint, yet he kept going. And one day he's going to come back and judge his enemies and all those who would not stand with him. There's a glorious picture of Christ in this. As we study this Old Testament page, we need to see him again and again. Gideon's a changed man. You see how he's changed? If you're faithful to read your word and read your Bibles, you're going to find out things don't end well. Sometimes I think as I preach through these Old Testament books and like on Wednesday night and Nehemiah and stuff as we've done, I thought, man, these people must get depressed. Listen to me. But it is what it is. I mean, I can't make it up. Read on in this chapter and see what happens to Gideon. We'll look at it, Lord willing, next week. God bless you, love you. Trust that you have a good week. This week, people gonna disappoint you. People may wrongly criticize you. They may show up when the work's done and then say, why didn't you do it this way? Just remember who the real enemy is and go on and serve God.