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Guest (Male): God wants to bless his servants with success, but he also wants to ensure they can handle it. Is it safe for God to bless you with more? Will it hurt you or others?

This is Study the Word with Thom Keller. Thanks for joining us. Thom pastors Calvary Chapel Lebanon and is currently teaching from the book of Judges. We're looking at the life and times of Gideon, warts and all. It's a familiar story, but there's a part of the story that's not so familiar. After the great victory God gave Gideon over the Midianites, he is now in danger of mishandling success. We join Pastor Thom as he picks things up in Judges chapter 8 and verse 22.

Pastor Thom Keller: Then the Israelites said to Gideon, "Be our ruler. You and your son and your grandson will be our rulers, for you have rescued us from Midian." Okay, get the picture. They're coming back from the battle, and he's victorious. Nobody thought this could happen.

The fact that it was 300 against 135,000, they would have known that God was with him, that God had a hand in this. How else could you explain this? There's no other way. So he kind of has God's mark on him, and they say to Gideon, "Be our ruler, be our king," really in essence is what they're saying.

But Gideon replied, verse 23, "I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The Lord will rule over you. However, I have one request. Each of you can give me an earring out of the treasures you collected from your fallen enemies." The enemies being Ishmaelites. Ishmaelites all wore gold earrings.

Gladly, they replied. They spread out a cloak and each one threw in a gold earring he had gathered. The weight of the gold earrings was 43 pounds. That's about $300,000 worth by today's standards. Not including the crescents and pendants, the royal clothing of the kings, or the chains around the necks from their camels.

I always found that interesting, just a little aside, that they would take the royal clothing. Because you picture Israelites walking around from well to well, house to house, and every once in a while you see this guy dressed like an Arab in royal clothing. Why would you take clothing if you didn't plan to wear it? Where did they wear it? At the costume party? We're going to have an Arab costume party once a year and wear your Arab robes? They wore it.

So it's just funny looking at the landscape. I picture all these people in kind of dingy tan sackcloth-kind of garments, and once in a while, you see this guy in this fluorescent purple outfit with a big hat and the turban and the whole thing. "Oh, he got that with Gideon. I remember when we took that." Also, the fact that they had all these earrings, they had to stop and take the earrings out of all these guys. That's interesting, isn't it? Maybe if they really did kill each other as they went, all they did was run after and pull earrings out and stuff off the camels' necks on the way to Camelot.

Anyway, they do this. Verse 27, Gideon made a sacred ephod. This was his downfall. Gideon made a sacred ephod from the gold and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family.

Now, what's really neat here and I think this is the focus of this chapter where they say, "Be our king, be our ruler," and he says, "I will not rule over you, nor will my son. The Lord will rule over you." My guess in thinking about this, and you test this in your own mind, my guess is that this may be the very reason why God chose Gideon to fight this battle.

If you think about it, were there any specific strengths? Do you picture any specific strengths to these 300 men? Do you think they were particularly strong or that they won the battle because of these 300 men? Anybody think that? No, they weren't the key. Do you think that Gideon was the key to battle? No.

But what would have been key to God would have been how was Gideon going to handle this when the whole thing was over? Gideon is not key. His personality, who he is, his strengths, what he brought to the table as far as a warrior did not matter because the battle wasn't his, it was the Lord's. The 300 men that he chose, it had nothing to do with who they were. The battle was the Lord's.

So if that's not why God chose Gideon, what would have been a consideration as to why Gideon was the one he chose? As I thought about this, I thought the same is true for us. The consideration would have been, Gideon, how are you going to handle this when it's all over? You're not the key to the battle, but I'm going to have a big problem if you don't handle this right on the other side of your or my great victory, depending upon which way you see it.

Because Gideon, if you win this battle and you think it was your victory, I'm going to have a problem with you, and I'm going to have a problem with Israel. But if you on the other side of this battle remain humble and remember it was my victory, I think that's why he chose Gideon, not for the battle, but for how he would be after the victory.

This is why your character is so key to you ever being chosen, called by God to do anything great, because he's not looking to your strength, your abilities, your talents, because you're not the key. That's immaterial. I often think about that with football teams or sports. I'm never going to be a star for the NBA. I wasn't born to be a star for the NBA. I'm never going to be a star for the NFL. There are limitations on what you're going to do based on your birth and how God built you, your size, and all that stuff. In most of life, that's true.

But in being used of God, there are no limitations. None. There's not one thing that keeps a person from being used of God to accomplish great things except how God knows you will handle it on the other side of the victory. That's why the character is so important. How will that person handle the success and the praise that comes on the other side of the victory that wasn't theirs?

Let me give you an example. Let's say that you have ten children and you know that there will be a time when one of them is going to need to take on a certain role to protect the other nine, and that's going to lead to success and praise and fame and great wealth. In fact, this is the story of Joseph, isn't it? God was going to take Joseph into Egypt, make him great to protect and to provide for his family. That was the whole purpose for him going there.

And yet what did God do? Joseph was like a cocky brat. He really was. His brothers hated him. He was his father's favorite and he flaunted it. God sent him to Potiphar's household, and God broke him there. And when he comes out of prison and he takes over as number two in Egypt, he is a different man.

God had to shape character in him, not to make him a great victor. God was going to do that. God's concern was, Joseph, what is your character going to be like on the other side when you have that fame, when you have that power, when you have those riches, when you have that station in life? And I believe that is what determined God's call on him.

It's true of Joseph, it's true of Moses. Moses, the humblest man on the face of the earth. God calls him and says, "Not me, I'm not the guy. You got the wrong guy, God. I have a speech impediment." God called him because he knew what he'd be like on the other side. He called Saul. Remember when they went to get Saul to be king? He was hiding in among the suitcases. He's hiding. They had to go find him to call him. He was too afraid of the position, afraid of people to be called. But Saul turned, Saul changed.

David, the same thing. David was a cocky little brat. He really was. So Saul chased him and broke him in the wilderness until when he came back out of the wilderness, he was a broken man, a different man, a man that could handle the success that was going to follow him, which did.

You know, I think too many times we think about the key to our being used of God is our preparation to make us an able tool and vessel that he can use. And I have this sneaking suspicion that a much bigger consideration to God is if he uses you, what will you be like on the other side of that victory? And that's what stops it.

I think probably that's why God called Gideon, because he knew they were going to say, "Be our king," and he wanted a man that said, "Absolutely not. I am not a king. God is your king." That's the only thing Gideon did that really depended on his character. It's the only thing. But it was critical that he take that position.

He made a big error. And I remember my mom always saying that the Bible paints the people in the Bible warts and all. And she always would use the example of when kings would commission a portrait to be painted of them, they'd say, "Let out that wart and take out that scar," and by the time it was done, it was one of those glamour shots, those glossed over things. And the Bible doesn't do that. You see people warts and all. They're painted warts and all.

And the same with Gideon. And the downfall: he says, "Bring in these earrings." All the Ishmaelites wore gold earrings and they had collected these. Now this ephod that he made was, they think, would have probably resembled what the high priest wore in the Old Testament. If you remember, the high priest wore an ephod, which was this chest kind of a thing with straps that went over his shoulders, and in it were twelve precious stones. That was the high priest's ephod.

And it was somehow connected to the Urim and the Thummim, which they don't know exactly what they were, but they were stones that were consulted to determine a yes or no, left or right, up or down, stop or go. It was to determine God's will. And so they believe that Gideon made something to kind of get at that same idea, a way of discerning what God wanted them to do. But it was idolatrous.

The word here "NASA" means to bear or to lift up, which may mean it was a free-standing image that it may have almost resembled an idol of some sort, but in some way, they probably used it to discern the will of God. And it says at the end of verse 27, "It became a trap for Gideon and his family."

Verse 28: That is the story of how Israel subdued Midian, which never recovered. Throughout the rest of Gideon's lifetime, about 40 years, the land was at peace. Then Gideon, son of Joash, returned home. He had 70 sons, for he had many wives. He also had a concubine in Shechem. And this is where the next chapter's going, this concubine and this son.

He also had a concubine in Shechem, and a concubine was a wife without legal rights of a wife. That's really what a concubine was, who bore him a son named Abimelech. Gideon died when he was very old and he was buried in the grave of his father Joash at Ophrah in the land of the clan of Abiezer.

As soon as Gideon was dead, and this is what Dan had mentioned as he taught some of the earlier chapters, when a judge would die, the people go back to where they were before. And then another judge would be raised up. As soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping the images of Baal, making Baal-Berith their god. They forgot the Lord their God who had rescued them from all their enemies surrounding them, nor did they show any loyalty to the family of Jerub-Baal, that is Gideon, despite all the good he had done for Israel.

So now Gideon's dead, the people have returned to Baal worship, and there's this son by a concubine named Abimelech. And as far as we know, Gideon had these 70 other sons, but only one by this concubine. All the rest were of his full wives.

So in chapter 9, it says one day Gideon's son Abimelech went to Shechem to visit his mother's brothers. He said to them and the rest of his mother's family, "Ask the people of Shechem whether they want to be ruled by all 70 of Gideon's sons or by one man. And remember, I'm your own flesh and blood."

Now, what's interesting here is that when a concubine had a son, the son actually was considered the son of the concubine's family. So the fact that he was living in Shechem and he's very close to his mother's family is because that is how a concubine's child was considered. The child of a concubine was considered, for practical purposes, the child of the family of the mother, not a child of the family of the father. If she would have been a full wife, that would have been different, but she wasn't. It's also interesting, Abimelech means "son of a king." That's what the name Abimelech means, son of a king.

So Abimelech goes to Shechem and he says, "Look, you guys want to be ruled by 70 of Gideon's sons or you want to be ruled by me, one of your own family?" because he was, as the way they viewed it. So Abimelech's uncles spoke to all the people of Shechem on his behalf. And after listening to their proposal, they decided in favor of Abimelech because he was a relative.

They gave him 70 silver coins from the temple of Baal-Berith, which he used to hire some soldiers who agreed to follow him. He took the soldiers to his father's home at Ophrah, and there on one stone, this is back where Gideon lived, there on one stone, they killed all 70 of his half-brothers.

But the youngest brother, Jotham, escaped and hid. Then the people of Shechem and Beth-Millo called a meeting under the oak beside the pillar at Shechem and made Abimelech their king. First time that word is used among the Jews. This was not permitted. The Israelites did not have a king. It was a theocracy, they were to be ruled by God. This is the first time they pull out this king name and assign it to somebody. Huge mistake. And this half-brother goes and kills all of his half-brothers on one rock in the very town where his father Gideon lived.

We're going to kind of summarize the rest of this, really summarize. Jotham, this younger brother, hears about this, and he climbs on top of Mount Gerizim, which is the mountain where Moses the people went and they pronounced the blessings. Mount Ebal was the curses, Mount Gerizim were the blessings. And Jotham stands at the top of this mountain, and he tells this story.

He says in verse 8, "There was a tree. The trees decided to elect a king. They said to the olive tree, 'Be our king.' But the olive tree said, 'Why should I quit producing olives? I have a value. I don't want to be king. I've got a job.'" Verse 10, they say to the fig tree, "You be our king." But the fig tree says, "Should I quit producing sweet fruit just because I'm I don't want to be a king. I've got a job." Then they said to the grapevine, "You be our king." But the grapevine replied, "Should I quit producing wine?" He says, "I got a job. I'm doing something important. I don't want to be your king." And then they said to the thornbush, "You come and be our king." And the thornbush replied, "If you truly want me to be your king, come and take shelter in my shade. If not, let fire come out from me and devour the cedars of Lebanon."

And then Jotham goes on and says, "Look, what you've done is very wrong." He's shouting this at a distance from Mount Gerizim. He's shouting this at a distance, he says, "What you did was very wrong to Gideon and his family. And if what you've done is wrong, may fire from God come down and destroy you."

Now, the chapter goes on, and in verse 30 on, you get up to verse 46, there's a lot of infighting and struggles and battles going on. But in verse 46, something interesting happens. Finally, they rebel against Abimelech, and he's going to die in this scene. He's done. Verse 46, let's pick up at 50.

It says, then Abimelech attacked the city of Thebez. This was after he attacked Shechem and killed the people of Shechem. Then Abimelech attacked the city of Thebez and captured it. But there was a strong tower inside the city and the entire population fled into it. They barricaded themselves in and climbed up to the roof of the tower.

Abimelech followed them to attack the tower. But as he prepared to set fire to the entrance, all these people are in this tower, this high tower, a woman on the roof threw down a millstone that landed on Abimelech's head and crushed his skull. He said to his young armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and kill me. Don't let it be said that a woman killed Abimelech." So the young man stabbed him with his sword and he died.

When Abimelech's men saw that he was dead, they disbanded and returned to their homes. Thus God punished Abimelech for the evil he had done against his father by murdering his 70 brothers. He also punished the men of Shechem for all of their evil. So the curse of Jotham, Jotham's son Gideon, came true.

Now, it's very interesting here, but 530 years before this, Diana, Jacob's daughter, was raped by Shechem in Shechem. And Levi and Simeon went into the town and killed all of the men. Remember that story? That was 530 years before this. The people of the area were destroyed because of the actions of one man when he raped Diana. The people of that area 530 years were destroyed because of the actions of one man against one woman. Now 530 years later, in the same area, the people were saved because of the action of one woman against one man.

It's interesting how things come full cycle. And I thought about this, just in closing about generational sin. You know, the Bible says that the sins of the parents are visited onto the children even unto the third and fourth generations. It says that in Exodus 20, Exodus 34, Numbers 14, and Deuteronomy 5. Each time, it says even unto the third and fourth generation. That means back to your great-grandfather, back to your great-grandmother.

Sins are visited on you. I remember when we studied this, what does it mean to have sins visited on you? What it means is the imagery is that someone's at your door knocking. And you go open the door, you can do what you want with that person, but they're visiting you. You have been visited. There's a knock on the door, and listen, if you've been around long enough, you probably have some awareness of some of the stuff that has come to you from your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents. Those can be good things, they can be some not-good things.

But those sins are visited onto you. What do you do with this? How do you deal with it? Well, the first thing is is to recognize that even is a possibility and pray and ask God to reveal those things to you. What are those things that could be present in my life that could be things that I struggle with that were in my father, my mother, my grandparents? What could those things be? Where do I see trends?

If we lived to be 900 years old like they did before the flood, we wouldn't have to ask these questions. Man, would we see it. 18 generations all at the Thanksgiving table, everybody saying the same kind of thing, the same weaknesses. It would be so obvious.

The second thing then is to confess it as sin. In Daniel, Daniel prays in Daniel chapter 9. Read it. He prays a beautiful prayer of confession for him and the people that came before him, asking God to forgive. And so when you take this to God in prayer, a prayer something like this is maybe a good prayer to pray. God, I ask you to forgive the generations that have come before me for this sin that is in our family. And I ask you to release me from this ongoing legacy.

And would you please allow the cross of Christ to stand as a wall between those things that my family has done before me up until this time, and my life and the generations that come after. May the cross of Christ separate these family ties to this particular sin. And may I be a new generation free of the effects of this generational sin.

You think can it just be broken by a simple prayer? Every one of God's remedies is simple. The difficulty is believing that it could be that simple. But every one of his remedies really is simple.

Guest (Male): Pastor Thom Keller on the simple remedies that are ours because of the cross of Christ. We need only ask for them by prayer in Jesus's name. We've been in the book of Judges today on Study the Word. To hear this message again, simply go to ccleb.com and look under resources. That's ccleb.com. If you'd rather have a CD copy, call 717-507-7862. That's 717-507-7862.

And for those that give to the ministry this month, we'll say thanks by sending you Pastor Thom's entire study of Daniel. There are 22 messages in this helpful series, and we've put them onto a flash drive. Get the entire study of Daniel for a gift of any about by calling 717-507-7862. Or write Study the Word, 740 Willow Street, Lebanon, Pennsylvania, 17046.

If you live close by or will be visiting the area soon, drop on by. For service times and more information about Calvary Chapel Lebanon, turn to ccleb.com and download our free Android app. Search Calvary Chapel Lebanon in the Google Play Store. We'll get back into Judges next time on Study the Word with Pastor Thom Keller. And may God richly bless you as you study the Word.