Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20061105.htm

THE PREINCARNATE MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST
Part XIV: Christ's Work With Gideon: Encouraging Regular Believers To Achieve His Great Calling
(Judges 6:11-24)
  1. Introduction
    1. Christ calls us Christians to disciple the nations of the whole world, cf. Matthew 28:19-20a.
    2. Of course, we have no power in ourselves to achieve such a spiritually herculean task; the evil and sheer size of the world overwhelms any power an individual believer himself can muster to achieve such a task.
    3. However, Christ noted that all power was given unto Him (Matthew 28:18), and that He would be with us as we attempted the task (Matthew 28:20b with Acts 1:8) to make us effective, and the Preincarnate Christ's encouragement of Gideon in the era of the Judges clearly illustrates this truth (as follows):
  2. Christ's Work With Gideon: Encouraging Regular Believers To Achieve His Great Calling.
    1. The Angel of the Lord appeared sitting under an oak tree in Ophrah watching Gideon thresh wheat in a winepress, Judges 6:11. From our studies in this series so far, we know this Angel is the Preincarnate Christ, "the Second Person of the Trinity," Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, 1978 ed., ftns. to Jud. 6:11 & Gen. 16:10.
    2. For Him to appear to Gideon sitting under an oak tree was for the Preincarnate Christ to come as a traveling sojourner (cf. Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 391), and the last time God had appeared close to such shade trees this way was when He visited Abraham near Mamre, Genesis 18:1 NIV.
    3. At that time, the Lord intended to signify His fellowship with Abraham in contrast to the lack of His fellowship with the men of Sodom (Genesis 19; Ibid.), so the Preincarnate Christ's appearance to Gideon was designed to signify ENCOURAGING FELLOWSHIP with Gideon!
    4. Gideon needed such encouragement, for, at the time, he he was discouraged and desperate, 6:11, 13, 15:
      1. It had been a long time since Israel had seen God's great miracles of deliverance of Israel from Egypt, a fact that Gideon noted when he spoke with the Preincarnate Christ, Judges 6:13a.
      2. Now, Gideon was just an "ordinary" man in Israel: his clan was (a) the weakest in (b) the lesser tribe of Manasseh, the less-blessed son of Joseph, and (c) Gideon was the youngest and hence least influential and respected son in his father's house, Judges 6:15 ESV with Genesis 48:13-14, 17-19.
      3. Due to Israel's sin (Judges 6:8-10), God had recently left the nation to be oppressed by the Midianites (Judges 6:1) who destroyed the nation's produce and took their livestock for themselves, Judges 6:3-6.
      4. When the Lord met him, Gideon was threshing his wheat in a winepress, a desperate move as only a "small amount could be threshed that way" to hide it from the Midianites, Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Jud. 6:11.
    5. Accordingly, the Preincarnate Lord Jesus Christ worked to ENCOURAGE a very discouraged Gideon, telling him to defeat the Midianite hosts since He would be WITH Gideon in the process, Jud. 6:12-24:
      1. Christ first addressed Gideon, saying, "The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor," Judges 6:12!
      2. Gideon replied that if God was with them, why had all the trouble they faced come upon Israel, 6:13.
      3. Not addressing Israel's sin that had led to this state, in grace, the Lord looked at Gideon and told him to go in his might and save Israel from the Midianite hordes since He [as God] had sent him, Jud. 6:14.
      4. When Gideon still objected due to his lowly view of himself and his heritage, Christ said He would surely be with Gideon so that he would smite the Midianites as one man, or a a great warrior, 6:15-16.
      5. Gideon wanted evidence that it was really the Lord Who was encouraging him so he could believe the encouragement, so he asked for a sign in connection with a sacrifice he would make, 6:17. Christ agreed to stay until Gideon had prepared the sacrifice (6:18), and then supernaturally lit it as proof that He was truly God Who had given him these and great and also true encouragements, Judges 6:19-21.
      6. Upon realizing He had spoken with God, Gideon reacted in fear of being judged for talking to God in person, so the Lord's word came, again encouraging him with "Peace," that he would not die, 6:22-23.
      7. Moved by this encouragement, Gideon built an altar there to God, calling it "the Lord (is) peace," 6:24.
      8. God then used Gideon to deliver Israel from the Midianites by God's great power, Judges 6:25-8:22.
Lesson: Christ greatly encouraged and enabled a lowly Gideon to defeat the Midianites by God's power.

Application: Though we are powerless ourselves, the Lord Jesus Christ Who encouraged and enabled a discouraged, distressed Gideon to defeat the Midianites promises to be able to accomplish His will for us in HIS power! May we thus TRUST in His goodness and power and OBEY His calling for blessing!