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Gideon's Demise

April 19, 2015 Speaker: Paul Ortlinghaus Series: Judges: Fallen & Messy People; Faithful and Merciful God

Topic: Book Passage: Judges 8:1–8:35

As we see the demise of Gideon, the weak mighty warrior, we see afresh our need to recall the gospel and to fix our eyes on Jesus.

Remembering the Gospel

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. - 1 Timothy 1:15

Fixing our eyes on Jesus

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. - Hebrews 12:1-2

As Tim Keller notes:

How wonderful to look at the One each judge is a shadow of and see how He used his position. Unlike Gideon, He had every right to demand service as a King. Unlike Gideon, He is the tabernacle, God’s ultimate dwelling-place on earth. Yet Jesus resisted the temptation to rule in power over the nations (Luke 4:5–8), because He “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). He has ransomed us from our self-honoring reactions to success, and our self-hating responses to failure. He used his position as the Son of God to give us freedom from needing respect or being crushed by lack of it. Unlike the ephod, here is the One to whom we rightly should come in worship. 

More in Judges: Fallen & Messy People; Faithful and Merciful God

June 7, 2015

We Need a Savior-King

May 31, 2015

The Consequences of Doing Religion My Way

May 24, 2015

Samson: God is faithful in spite of our faithlessness