Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Spiritual Warfare Pt.3

Let's turn to Ephesians. We want to pick up where we left off this morning on how we prepare ourselves for our own personal warfare, as well as this warfare that we're talking about here as it pertains to the ministry here in our outreach. Because as God opens these doors, there's going to be great hindrances that are going to come to us. The enemy's not going to sit back and allow these doors to be accessed without any resistance. It's going to be a battle, but the one thing that we do know is that if God's for us, nobody can be against us, amen? It's exciting, and we just need to be always prayerful and understand what our role is.

In Ephesians this morning, as we were talking about putting on the whole armor of God, verse 10 of the sixth chapter, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand..." You don't put the armor on, you won't stand. Now, what is it that we're to stand against? "...the wiles [or the cunning devices, or let's say it another way--the propaganda or the lies] of the devil."

"You're never going to make it, man, if you stand in faith. You're going to have to do it the way everybody else does it--in the arm of the flesh. If you stand on that promise, you're going to die, man. You need to do it the way everybody else does. You better take those pills or go see that surgeon. You'll never make it. You're going to have to do it the way the world does. If you don't use all of this leverage, you'll never be able to pull it off." You see, the cunning devices of the devil, the deceits of the devil, are the propaganda of the world's system. We've talked about what the world's system consists of and its wisdom. Let's simplify it this way: the world's wisdom is every philosophy, method, and application of knowledge that doesn't originate from the Word of God, because it originated from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

So there are many things that we would call "good"--things technologically that have been beneficial. We've talked about the amoral; we've talked about many of these different things. But, beloved, remember where they came from. They came from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now God is the source of all of this knowledge and all of this wisdom. It's been the perversion of it, because it was appropriated in disobedience, and it was appropriated to make me independent from God. The knowledge isn't bad; it's the independence. It's the acquisition and the application. Nothing wrong with the knowledge; God's the source of all of it. We begin to see, then, that's why we as Christians can use certain natural laws--laws of finance, even medical science--and it's not sin. It has to be used, how? Under the direction, the trust, the reliance, and the knowledge of God. And so it's very important that as we're walking in the Spirit, we understand these things.

You see, you can get carried away in some of this and begin to think that in the system, then, as Kingdom citizens, we don't in any way affiliate with the world. Well, we're under laws that are in this fallen system. How many of you realize that you, as a Christian, are still subject to the law of gravity? And as we get older, we see that! I don't know how this (face) got down there; it used to be up here! I think it's just that I'm just so gaunt and trim, my girlish figure is kicking in. If I could fill out a little bit, it wouldn't hang so much--nothing that twenty or thirty pounds wouldn't fix! But it's hanging! Gravity--I'm subject to that. I'm subject to the law of aging.

We're living in a world, and even though we're not of it, we're in it. And so there are certain laws of finance that affect us now because we're no longer a bartering society. So we, as Christians, then, work within this system. That's not sin in and of itself, but it's when you begin to trust in that system and you seem to think that it's the only way that you can now succeed, and you refuse to believe that our God is able to keep our shoes from wearing out, praise God, our garments being sustained for forty years. I want you to understand something tonight, beloved. Our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He doesn't change, and He is able. Can you say "Amen" to that?

So if we get our eyes off the supernatural and the spiritual, we're automatically going to begin to look to and try to mature in and perfect the natural laws, when we need to begin to strengthen ourselves and be perfecting the spiritual laws of faith and walking in the Spirit and a trust, an absolute reliance, on our loving Heavenly Father. And so that's what this study is all about as we go and we talk about spiritual warfare--pulling down all of that seduction of trusting in the natural as opposed to walking in the supernatural.

So he says, "Put on the whole armour of God..." Now what is it that causes you and I to come over from trusting in the supernatural (walking in the Spirit) and causes us to revert back to the natural? Why is it that some people are more comfortable over in that arena? Very simple: you're familiar there; it's familiar to you. It tells me that you spend more time there. You see, we're never comfortable in the unfamiliar.

I thank God, I thank God that I can say I'm very uncomfortable in the natural. I'm very uncomfortable there. I'm easily intimidated in the natural world. I don't know how to do things the way they do. I'm not talking about the sin in my members and the tendency to sin. I'm just talking about the way they conduct themselves. I used to be pretty good at that, but I've been out of it for a long time. I'm getting more and more comfortable with having things out of my natural control and walking in a total reliance and dependence upon the promises of God and the care of my Heavenly Father. No longer having to look to wheel and deal and manipulate circumstances but to be able to truly trust and say, "Not my will, but Your will be done."

Now why is it that we have trouble walking in that? One of the main culprits, beloved, is fear. Or another way of saying it is a lack of faith or trust (reliance) in Father. So what are we going to have to do? We're going to have to now walk contrary to those fears.

Turn to the book of Judges for just a second, and let's look at our good buddy, Gideon. I want to talk a little bit about walking in the Spirit and resisting and warring against principalities and powers, and how we're going to prepare ourselves for that battle. We're talking about putting on the whole armor of God that we might be able to stand in the evil day. We're talking about not looking to the right hand or to the left, but in all of our ways acknowledging God and truly trusting that He's going to direct our paths. So as we look at Judges, chapter 6, we begin to learn some of these principles very clearly in the life of Gideon.

We have the promises that God has given us. The psalmist spoke in faith these words, and I know that they bless your heart just like mine in Psalm 44:5 (you don't have to turn over there). "Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us." Do you believe that--that it's through the Lord's name that we are victorious, that the Scripture makes it very clear that God is aware of the battles that are raging around us on a daily basis for the thoughts? That's where the battles are won and lost: here in our thoughts in our mind, in the decision-making process of which kingdom am I going to operate in?

Which set of laws am I going to trust? Am I going to trust the law of finance or the law of God that says, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom"? Am I going to trust the laws of science, or am I going to believe that the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up? I've got a decision to make here. Which law am I going to draw upon? Where am I comfortable? Which way do I move first when I'm in conflict at these junctures? Have I been oppressed so long that I can't even see the spiritual path anymore? Is the burden that I'm under now and the hand of God that's been weighty upon us such as it was on Israel at this time because of their sin?

God allowed them to come under the dominion of the Midianites, and they find themselves now oppressed. They're just getting used to living a secular lifestyle. They'd just gotten used to being whipped on by the world and everything that it had to offer. They were just used to being poor; they were used to being sick; they were used to being in fear. Gideon's going to make a comment, as we look through this narrative in just a moment. He's going to say, You know, I've heard all the testimonies of the God who delivered our ancestors out of Egypt, but where is He?

Oh, beloved, let's learn the lesson the easy way and not have to find ourselves in that situation. Because, you see, the thing that put Israel into this judgment was the decisions they made in their affluence. In the time of ease, they turned away from their God, and God allowed them to come into the judgment, the oppression, of the Midianites, the serving of their gods, to finally cause them to cry out the same way that their ancestors had done in Egypt. When is that cycle going to be broken? If you trace it back for the thousands of years, generation after generation has had to learn the hard way. But Jesus proved you didn't have to. Jesus proved that a life of obedience and the emptying of ourselves by choice and the humbling of ourselves would make us candidates for God's exaltation. Let's not, in our own abundance and in our own victories, think that somehow we've obtained these things by our own strength but continue to erect memorials of thanksgiving to God, knowing that He's the One that brought us out to bring us in.

So when we talk about putting the whole armor of God on and being able to stand against the wiles of the devil, the solicitation of the world's wisdom and system, the one thing that's going to happen is this: he's always going to tell you that God's not going to deliver you this time. "Sure, there's historical evidence. I know what the Bible says. I know historically. I know you've experienced it in your own life. But this time, He's not going to do it." How many of you have ever heard that voice? Anybody ever heard that voice?

"I'm not asking you to deny the Word. Of course, the Word works!" the devil says. "But just this one time, cast Yourself off the pinnacle so that the angels, who have been given charge over you, will raise you up so that You can have a place of preeminence and recognition that You deserve. Because God's not going to be able to facilitate this promise without a public relations man. We're going to have guys down there to take the photographs as You're doing the swan dive off the pinnacle. And we'll get some pictures, and we'll put it on CNN and TBN and CBN and TNN and NN and all the N's will get it (the networks), and You'll be the man! You're never going to do it without promotion, so You're going to have to throw Yourself off." And God's given promises: "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

What was the devil trying to get Jesus to do? He was trying to get Him to trust in what? Through using Scripture, to trust in the spectacular--that which would affect men's observations and perception of You--rather than this obscure riding into Jerusalem on an ass. "Come in on a white charger! Don't come in on a donkey! Dear Lord! Don't You know how to sell Yourself?"

Which law are you going to trust? The wiles of the devil. Which law are you going to trust? "It's not going to happen this time. There won't be healing this time. There won't be deliverance this time. There's not going to be the peace this time. This time you're going to lose your mind; you're going to be a raving maniac. You're going to have a breakdown." All the sowing of the seed of fear into the hearts of men. But we've not received the spirit of fear, amen? But of love and of power and of a disciplined mind. Listen to what the apostle is saying there. We don't have fear because we have a disciplined mind. We believe the things that God has said and not the wiles of the devil. The moment you begin to entertain these seductive statements of the devil, it's going to begin to bring fear into your heart. Fear is just faith that God's a liar.

And so it's very important that we begin to understand what's happening in our mind as these thoughts are coming. These are the fiery darts that Satan's hurling at us. "You'd better watch out for yourself. God's sure not going to take care of you." And so we find ourselves having to deal with the oppression of the enemy.

As you look at chapter 6 of Judges, it starts off and says, "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years." So here they are under the oppression of the Midianites. As you read this, the Midianites and those that were around them would come down upon them and oppress them and raid their dwellings. The Scripture makes it very clear. It says they would come down upon them as grasshoppers. They would take all of their crops, and they would take their flocks. They were living in total poverty. In fact, the Scripture says, as you read through this narrative, they were living in caves that they had dug. They were trying to hide out and just survive. Verse 5 says they came up with their cattle and their tents and they came as grasshoppers. Their camels (not their cigarettes!) were without number. And they entered into the land and destroyed it, and Israel was greatly impoverished. And then look at what the scenario is; it happens so often, doesn't it? "And...the children of Israel cried unto the Lord..."

Oh, beloved, why don't we cry out now instead of having to come to this place in our lives? Why don't we cry out on a daily basis for more of Him and the ability to trust Him in this time of affluence and the time of strength and the time of prosperity? I'm talking about emotional and physical and all of the other ways that many of us find ourselves blessed today. Oh, we have isolated trials in our midst, but most of us here this evening are very prosperous--spirit, soul, and body. Let's put on the armor now and strengthen ourselves now and be aware of this seductive spirit, the spirit of Antichrist that's already in the world, the Scripture tells us--the secret power of lawlessness that's continually building its strength against the true church of Jesus Christ, as the minds of religious leaders and accepted spiritual organizations are being seduced away from the integrity of the Word of God and its infallibility and the lordship of Jesus Christ. As this seduction takes place, do you think that we're going to be unaffected?

So the Lord, in the midst of this, the Scripture says, does what He always does. Look at verse 8. He sent a prophet. God always has His messengers. He sent a prophet, and the Word of the Lord came and said, "Thus saith the Lord 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 drave them out from before you, and gave you their land; And I said unto you, I am the Lord your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice."

What was the commandment? What was the commandment? Fear not. Don't be afraid of their gods. Now remember, what their gods are saying to you is, "You'll never make it in that environment, under that set of laws. You're not going to make it. Look at how God has prospered us; look at the victories that we've won." And they flaunt before us their affluence and their knowledge. They boast in their genetic engineering. They declare that they are on the verge of discovering eternal life--not only how to sustain it indefinitely, but to induce life, to create. They make their boasts, and they're not unwarranted because they're working from the fruit of the knowledge of the tree of good and evil.

Some of the things they say are ahead really fascinate me. I'd love to be around, if the Lord tarries, for some of the new methods of propulsion, the new methods of communication. Those kinds of things fascinate me. It fascinates me to see what might be ahead technologically for all different types of domestic enhancement. Those things are fascinating. The natural mind is intrigued and sometimes seduced. But where we come to conflict is when they begin to hold up their gods of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, the fruit of that tree that is in opposition to the innocence and the dependence on God, and say, "These are our gods, and if you don't worship at this altar, you can't make it. You'll never succeed. Your God's not able."

It's being heralded on every turn of our lives. Christians have begun to fear these gods; they've begun to reverence them; and they've begun to gravitate toward them. Many professed Christians today are much more comfortable in the pursuit of those gods--science, business, all of the unique methods that are being touted to bring peace and harmony to our spirit and mind as the New Age continues to manifest itself.

But I say unto you "fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice"--you've gotten caught up with them. And in the midst of the prophet standing and declaring the need to move back into a fear of God and the simplistic reliance upon God for every area of our lives, an angel appears to Gideon, and a very interesting thing takes place. Sitting under an oak at Ophrah (verse 11), "...Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites." They would raid the different homesteads and take all that they had prepared, leaving these in starvation. The angel appears to him and says, "The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour."

Now we've talked about Gideon before. Here's a man that's moving in fear. He's trying to hide this little bit of grain--not a huge abundance. This isn't a man of prosperity; this is a guy that's trying to get by hand-to-mouth, just trying to exist. Someone who's fearful, hiding out from the Midianites. Not only fearful of the Midianites, but fearful of those of his own father's household, we're going to see--just fearful. And God comes and says, Hail, thou mighty man of valor.

Gideon's response to this is kind of interesting, and see if it doesn't hit home with some of us. We've talked about it before, that I'm sure he looked around to see who had walked up, because we all know the fear in our own hearts, don't we? Others may think that you're fearless, but you know, don't you? Here's a man that was under the oppression that everybody else was under. Here's a man that wasn't extraordinary but an ordinary man like you and me. But we're going to find out in just a moment that he was somebody that was available to God. Are you tonight? Are you a candidate for being an agent that uses what God has blessed you with to bring glory to Him and to help deliver a people from bondage--the bondage of the world, the wiles of the devil?

Hail, thou mighty man of valor! And he asked the question, "Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then has all of this befallen us?" Does that sound like a familiar question? Have you ever heard anybody ask that before? "Where are all the miracles which our fathers told us of?" Beloved, you can begin to see this cycle that I'm talking about when the next generation has never experienced the miracles. In this very ministry, we talk of all of the miracles, but they're passed. Where are your miracles? Where are the miracles of this generation? I'm not just talking to the youth that are here tonight. I'm talking to our young adults. I'm talking to some of you who were here when the miracles were manifesting. What's happened to the miracles? Well, we know that they can't be induced by our own intentions and our own methods. They're supernatural; they're divinely ordained. But there is an environment that they operate in. There's an atmosphere that gives place to God moving.

Now the one thing that's interesting is this: you never experience miracles when the needs are being met naturally. Study the Scriptures, and you'll never see somebody that's in prominence, affluence, and God sends them manna. I mean, bless God, they're sitting down to eat, and they've got everything that their heart desires--whatever it is you desire. To some of you, a king's feast is cornbread and beans. Others would rather have a New York steak, porterhouse, filet mignon, baked potato loaded (twice!). Others prefer to go to Chez a lá Chez and look at the designs on your plate and eat that one fleck of food and go tell people how great it was! Whatever lights your fire. But in the time of all of the affluence, God doesn't send manna. God does not part the waters when you have your own boat!

How do we then reconcile our affluence and our need to rely on God? Do we have to come to the place of oppression before God comes on the scene and manifests Himself? Listen, and here's what I want you to see. You can either experience the visitation of God because of being oppressed and Him delivering you, or you can experience the visitation of God through worship and praise and obedience, and He'll visit you in the sanctuary of holiness. I would much rather have the miracle of the presence of God in worship and praise and a heart of purity and pursuit than in needing Him in desperation to deliver me. We're going to see that here as we go through this chapter this evening.

"Where are You, God? Here we are oppressed." Well, they were in the same cycle that their fathers had been in in Egypt. They're there under this oppression because of the same reason: they were in sin. They were no longer relying on God. They were not worshiping God. They were seduced by the world around them and began to pursue their source of affluence, and because of it, they were brought under bondage of those that they were trying to emulate. And so he asked the question. Verse 13 says, "Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites." Why? Because of sin; because they no longer relied upon the ability of God but were seeking the world's methods because of the wiles of the devil.

"And the Lord looked upon him, and said, [Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. That's the history of a nation. I want to talk to you as an individual.] Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites." Go in this thy might. What is the might of this man Gideon? We don't see anything natural. He's not a Saul that's head and shoulders above his contemporaries. There doesn't seem to be anything special about him. Where is the authority coming from? "Behold, I give unto you power...over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you" (Luke 10:19). Where does it come from? Listen. "Have not I sent thee?" It comes from the commandment of God, the declaration of the Word of God.

What is God saying to you at this moment? What's He telling you to do right now? As we talk about the different things that have seduced us and have weakened us and have drawn us away from the simplistic walk of faith and trust in God, are any of them being made aware to you right now as I'm speaking? Is God speaking to you? Are there things where you're going, "Wow, man. I've given place to this in my life, and I'm not trusting God over here like I used to, and it seems like maybe this is something that's the world's methods that I've looked to. Father, how can I be free from these?" By this one statement: "Have not I sent thee?" The fact that He's revealed it to you, the fact that He's speaking to you right now and telling you what's necessary to find yourself delivered from these things.

You'll see the deliverance when you go on. Jesus makes it very clear, doesn't He? If it's offending you, what do you do? You cut it off. If you've got idols erected, what do you do? You pull them down; you destroy them. You destroy it; you cut off all relationship and reliance upon whatever it is you're idolizing. "For this is your victory. Have not I given you revelation knowledge? Have not I revealed your heart? Have not I told you what to do at this moment? Here's your strength: obedience." Here's your strength: obedience. God has spoken. The moment--you're going to see it here in the scenario--the moment I obey, I'm empowered.

You're not empowered before. You're empowered as you obey. You don't get the big goose bumps and the spiritual adrenaline surge (boom!) and all of a sudden your muscles begin to bulge and all of these things and then you're ready. It doesn't happen until you obey. The waters do not divide until the priest's feet step in. You do not experience the suspending of gravity until you step out of the boat, and the waters then sustain you--whatever molecular changes were made at that juncture. I don't know how God caused Peter to walk on the water. I don't know if He changed the molecules to where they landed on each other, and he was sustained whereas there should have been a falling through. I don't really care. All I know is this: when He says, "Come," we come, and you walk on the water. "I don't know, man. Look at the wind! Look at the waves!" No, look at Jesus. Some of you right now are going, "Man! But if I do that and God doesn't come through, look what it's going to cost me!" What's it going to cost you not to obey? You see, God won't have that. So He'll allow you to come under the Midianites' rule. If you don't obey Him now, you can obey Him later. But there's no credit. It's not a wimpy kingdom: "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

Now watch. "Go in this thy might...have not I sent thee?" Verse 16, "...Surely I will be with thee..." See, there's the promise. "I will never leave you nor forsake you," the Lord told us. Do you believe that tonight? We could take a show of hands, but we won't do it. Do you believe that? "Yeah, Amen!" Do we act like it? Do we live like the fact that He's with us, confirming the Word that we speak with signs following? Do we live like He's with us to where there is no fear? Do you walk in fear? How many of you walk in fear? "Oh, man! I'm afraid the stock market is going to crash! I'm afraid that something's going to happen--the stock market's going to crash; I'm going to get sick; one of the children is going to be hurt. Oh, dear Lord. I stay up late and wring my hands and worry about this and that." That's not the spirit that we've received.

I'm not talking about foolish behavior; but I'm talking about a people that are not to be governed by fear. Anxiousness, worry is just a constant, trickling stream of fear. "Be careful [anxious] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Do you want to know why you're anxious, fearful? Because you're not praying. If you're praying and giving thanks, you're not anxious. Do you want to know why you're anxious? Because you're not thankful. You're worried that things are going to get bad. You ought to be thankful that they're as good as they are. No amen's to that? We have so much to be thankful for, and we're afraid that something might reduce itself around us?

Don't raise your hands. Is anybody here afraid of the dark? How many of you realize the dark won't hurt you? The dark can't hurt you. Oh, there are things that are in there that can do you some hurts, but the dark can't hurt you. Do you ever remember as a little child, you knew somebody was under the bed? How did they get in there? Satan's trying to cause you to believe that lie. Finally you look, and he's not under there, man! The voice says, "He's in the closet!" When are you going to trust God and go to sleep? How many doors are you going to open? It all comes to a place of not trusting.

I've shared with you before one of the only visitations that I've had in the years as a brand new believer. I'd lain down in the bed, and all of a sudden an oppression came upon me. The room went totally black. An oppression came down on me; I couldn't even breathe. Fear began to just flood into my being--these demonic powers, whatever they were, this satanic presence. And I thought immediately, "This isn't good." Brand new Christian, I prayed one of the most profound and effective prayers in all of the Scriptures that Peter prayed: Lord, help! I looked, and at the foot of my bed were these beings that were illuminated. I turned and looked, and at each corner of the head of my bead were these living beings, radiating glory and light in this room that was absolutely as dark as the Luray Caverns. And "I laid me down and slept...for the Lord sustained me." I was a new Christian. I've had a few attacks like that since, over the years, and the angels didn't manifest. But I knew they were there, and I laid me down, and I slept, for the Lord sustained me. For "thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter of mine head." You see, we've got to come to this place of trust and reliance. It begins to deliver us from this force called fear.

Now, as Gideon receives this mandate to go and that God will be with him, he said, "If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me." Now, when you talk about the signs of Gideon, what's the first thing that comes to everybody's mind? The fleece. But that's not the first sign, is it? Talking about Gideon--show me a sign. Okay, what's the sign? The dude wants a fleece, man! But that's not the first sign. Look at the sign. "...shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again." And Gideon went and made ready the offering. He brought it down, and the angel said set it upon the stone. He put his staff upon the stone, and the fire came out of the stone and consumed the offering, verse 21 tells us. And the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. Show me a sign: accept my worship.

Oh, beloved, what we need to know this evening if we're going to walk in victory, if we're going to walk and be victorious in this warfare, is that the battles are won in worship and in thanksgiving and in an awareness of the presence of God. "Show me the sign of my acceptance by accepting my offerings and my worship. Help me to understand that this voice that I'm hearing that You will be with me is really the voice of God. If I know it's God, I'll do it." Now we all say that. It's proven by our obedience.

I'm convinced of one thing to this point in my life--that in the great decisions, the encounters of magnitude, that when I've heard the voice of God, I've always obeyed it. Oh, I'd like to say I always obey the voice of God, but I've heard God's voice and still went ahead and sinned and did my own thing. I don't know about you, but God talks to me before I sin and makes me aware of it, and I do it anyway. You can't eat that twelfth éclair and God say, "Oh, eleven was sufficient." God will speak to you. But in those areas, when you come to these crossroads, you come to the fork in the road, and the voice of God speaks to you, "Go in this the power of My might. Have not I sent you? Don't be afraid; I'll be with you."

Let me show you the obedience. As you read on in the story, Gideon, after having encountered the visitation of God, the worship having been received, he asks for the sign of the fleece at another juncture. But at this particular time, something interesting happens (and we'll have to close with this for this evening). He becomes fearful that he's going to die, and the Lord says, "...thou shalt not die" (verse 23). And so Gideon builds an altar, and he calls it what? Verse 24, "Jehovah-shalom". What is the environment, beloved, that protects us from the wiles of the devil? Peace. "My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you." You've not received the spirit of fear; but you have a mind that has embraced the power of God. You've experienced the love of God. You're in this environment of peace, of rest, of dependence. Now you can see clearly the two decisions that are at hand: Which god am I going to serve? Which god am I going to trust?

As he worships, the presence of God begins to bring peace, and he calls this place Jehovah-shalom. And the Lord gives him a commandment. He says here's what I want you to do. I want you to "Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old..." How long were they in captivity? Seven years. I want you to see this thing's ending. The oppression is over. The strength of the bullock has ended, and the trust in God to deliver is at hand. "Take...the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath [erected], and cut down the grove that is by it. And build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down." And Gideon took ten of his men, but he did it by night, verse 27 says, because he what? Feared.

"Wait a minute. I thought if we were in faith, we didn't fear. I thought we haven't received the spirit of fear. I thought we were going in the power of this His might." Listen, beloved. There's going to be anxiousness at times in our lives--anxiety. How do you know when you're free from fear? When you do it anyway. Have you ever been afraid of heights? You're afraid of heights, and here's this ladder (Jacob's ladder), and you say, "I ain't going to heaven. I ain't climbing that thing, man!" I know people that are afraid of heights, and they go up the ladder anyway. Are you afraid of heights? "Don't like it, but it doesn't hold me in bondage. It doesn't control my life. So therefore I'm not afraid. I'm not governed by it. Don't like it, but I'm going to do it anyway."

The bondage of fear is when you're not able to do what you know to do. Can't go in the room until somebody else comes home. Can't stay at your home alone. There's people can't even stay in the house alone; they're afraid. There's people that can't drive automobiles; they're afraid. You're riding with somebody else--that's scary! Dear God, give me the steering wheel! You're afraid to drive, and you've got faith to sit over there with that bozo at the wheel? What's that all about? If you analyze all fear, it's stupid (as a rule). I'm talking about unmerited. I'm not talking about you standing there and here comes this lion (roar!) and he's coming at you and you're going, "Kitty, kitty, kitty." It's time for the adrenaline to kick in and to beat feet, man! There's healthy fear, and there's bondage.

He feared, verse 27 says, but he obeyed. He couldn't do it by day, so he did it at night; but he did it. That's one thing I love about God. He doesn't give up on us because we're not perfectly effective in our first go around. God gives a lot of room for us to grow in our obedience to His will. But you've got to be obeying and moving.

When the men of the city arose early the next morning (verse 28) and they beheld the altar of Baal, that it was cast down, and the grove was cut down, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar (another god was being introduced into their midst) they know that this is going to cause turmoil and greater oppression. "Who hath done this thing?" They inquired, and they asked around, and they found out it was Gideon. "Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal..." Who had erected these altars? Dad.

Joash basically responds and says, What's the deal, guys? It was my altar, my groves. This is something that I had erected. I'd rejected Jehovah and was worshiping Baal just as you, but my son has encountered Jehovah-shalom. In the midst of all of this fear that's held us in bondage for seven years and we've bowed our knee to these false gods and we've worshiped the gods of the Midianites hoping that they would spare us, we've only been more oppressed, and finally God has come into our midst. Let me tell you something. What kind of a god is it if you have to try to defend him and plead for Baal (verse 31)? Will you save him? I thought our gods were supposed to save us. Are you going to save him? "...if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar. Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he has thrown down his altar."

So now he's Jerubbaal, the one who's been marked by Baal: The devil's going to get you! Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites (verse 33) were gathered against him. "But the spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet..." You see, the trumpets were real big in the children of Israel's lives: the sounding, the heralding of the voice and the will of God--the trumpets that we hear blasting as the voice of God upon Sinai; the trumpets that were given to mount up and to march into battle; the trumpets that moved the children to follow the cloud. Directives were given by trumpets; it represents the voice of God. The trumpet is blasted, and God is speaking in their midst again. And Gideon said (verse 36) if I'm to be Your voice, if I'm to be the deliverer and Israel saved at my hand, I'd like to put a fleece out before You.

God doesn't mind genuine questions being asked. God knows that many times He's calling us into uncharted waters. We're natural men; our minds are so far inferior to His revealed will and His eternal purposes. We don't know why God is doing what He does. There's times that we need Him to comfort us. There's times He'll answer your fleece, and there's times that He won't respond. There's times that He expects you to move in absolute reliance. You can't fleece God on everything. You need to learn to trust. In our infancy, many times, He'll give us these visitations, as I was able to experience as a young believer. But when we become men, you don't have to see Him to know He's there. You only need to go in this: "Have not I sent thee?"

Father, make it real to us. Help us to hear Your Word and to determine whether we've been sent. Help us to understand the environment that we're in at this moment and the fact that You've directed us here by Your Spirit. For we do believe that the steps of a good man are ordered by You. I find myself at this juncture in my life, and I conclude that You've put me here. And now, what are You saying to me at this moment? What would You have me to do? Father, we're not under the heel of the Midianites. We're under the danger of affluence, having entered into the promise, and seduced to forget You. Lord, don't make me so poor that I steal or so rich that I forget You. Be sufficient. Don't let us say, "By my own power and might, I've obtained these things," for we drink from wells we didn't dig and live in houses we didn't build. You've given us this land of victory. Help us to erect memorials of thanksgiving that we don't go into bondage, that we don't forget You and worship the gods that we tore down to access this place that we dwell.

Oh, beloved, that's one of the ironies, if you'll study. They would go in and God would give them victory and then they would worship the gods that God had defeated. Are you going to worship science? Are you going to trust in your alarm system, the doctors, the banks, the sociologists, the psychologists, the New-Ager promoting visualization? What are you going to trust in? God brought us out of those things to bring us into this victory of peace and faith. It's the wiles of the devil. Open our eyes, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand before Him tonight. As Gary plays for us, and we understand that we're not going to be able to just sit here. We're going to have to go out. We're going to have to go out and pull down some altars. The things that have tried to seduce you--you're going to have to go out and contend with those. You may have to do it at night, but you're going to have to do it. Go in this thy might. Have not I sent thee? Gideon said, Our fathers were delivered from Egypt; why do we find ourselves in this bondage? God didn't give him a history lesson. He'd already known of the miracles. "You're here because of your own personal sin. You're here because of your own unbelief, your own fear, your own trust in the arm of the flesh. Now go in this. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to rise up tomorrow, and I want you to tear down those gods in worship to Me, and I will sustain you, thou mighty man of valor."

The world's saying you can't do it. The world's saying, "No, look; we've obtained all this through these gods." Like Dagon, they're going to fall on their face. The world will try to prop them up. The world will fight for their god, but our God fights for us.

Just worship Him for His goodness. Just worship Him tonight, and let the presence of the Lord come and consume the sacrifice of praise! Worship Him tonight in His beauty, and declare His majesty! Let the gods of this world be contemptible in your sight. Oh, Jesus. Lord, You're so good to us. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Thank You for it, Father.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Has not He sent you?"

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