only in but mine. I'm going to bring them out into the open. I'll tell you this. God generally trains his men in private. Then he brings them out into the public. He watches them in secret. You know what a true man is? A man with a true character? A woman with a true character? What you are in the dark? That's what God sees. What you are in the dark? Does your life in the dark stand up to God's scrutiny? For God can see in the dark. God can see a black ant on a black rock on a black knife. He can't hide from him. God's eye was upon Gideon, and he said, this is a man. He brings him out into the public. You know, he did the same thing with Moses. Moses' life was hundred and twenty years long, forty years in Pharaoh's house. Forty years in the back side of the desert and forty years unlearning what he had been learning in the palace. And then forty years learning the ways of God leading the children of Israel. But here it is, Moses, back in the back side of the desert first. God's watching him. And he was preparing Moses. Moses, I want you to look after a few sheep. Because remember that my people are just like a bunch of sheep. They're just as foolish as a bunch of sheep. They're just as peculiar as a handle. And if you can handle a bunch of sheep, then you'll be able to handle my sheep. And you, after all, God's people are like a bunch of sheep. But I'm glad for one thing. They're not a bunch of goats. At least you can do something with some sheep. So God says now, Moses, I want you to learn how to handle sheep. You're going to have to be very tender. You're going to have to be very loving. When you see that little lamb, you're going to take it without your arms. Or maybe one of the sheep will get its legs broken. You're going to have to try and put splints on and do it tenderly. And sometimes you're going to have to defend those sheep motors. You're going to have to do all those things for my people. You're going to have to be loving. You're going to have to be careful. You're going to have to be trying to heal them sometimes. And you're going to have to defend them. Ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of weakness is the admonition instruction given to a leader among God's people. That word restore is the word reset in the original, which is a medical term, meaning resetting a bowl. And says the Apostle Paul, you who are spiritual, who would take the lead among my people, you reset that broken bowl. Restore such an one in the spirit All sneaky. Now, some people don't like to go to a doctor who had his training in the army. They say they're too rough. I don't think they're going to get anybody more tender-hearted and considered than the old family doctor. He used to have one doctor demo. Sometimes he would call down to see some members of the family. He'd like one of the family. Come in, sit on the bed, tell a little story or two. Tickle your toes. Get you laughing. And he says, open your mouth. Put a stick down. Yes, if it graces. Powerly ways of going about it. That's what Paul says. He which are spiritless. You reset that broken bone. Having this in mind that your leg may be the next leg broken. And how would you like someone to reset your broken limb? Well, you do the same to this. So says, God, I want Moses to go back in the backside of the desert and learn a few lessons, tending a few sheep, and then I'll bring him in to the public and he'll lead two million people. Approximately that minute. So here is Moses being trained, just like Gideon, the same thing with David. Don't think for this. For a moment when David took his sling and he chose that one smooth stone, Out of the dirt, he selected five because there were four other giants besides Goliath. But don't think that that was the first time that David ever selected a stone and put it into a sling and threw the stone out of the sling. David had been doing that for years. Why, he said, a lion and a bear came after the sheep, but he said, I was able to dispose of them. And you watch David. Way back there looking after his father's sheep. You can see him with a handful of stones, and he's practicing with that sling. I don't know how many birds or other animals he killed besides the lion and the bear, but he was good. God said, there's a man who's been practicing in sickness. I'll bring him into the public. And you know, when he put that stone into the sling and let it go, and big Goliath was approaching with his great big sword, you know what happened? The stone went into his temple. Nothing like that at every end of his head before. And down he went. Who directed that stone? You say, God did. Sure, God did. But David had been training too. Take the same case with the Apostle Paul. When the Apostle Paul was brought into the public, he had been brought up at the feet of Galilee. He was a brilliant student. He was a lawyer. He was a legal giant. The Apostle Paul was a master. God says he's the man I want that's going to write the biggest part of the New Testament. So God trains his men in secret and then he brings them into the public. That's what he did with Gideon. Now you notice what Gideon did. Gideon went right in and did exactly what he was told to do. He went through his father's idol, failed, and he broke it down, smashed it at the feet, and he cut down also the grove. where the father's idle walk. They offered a bullet, a bullet of seven years old. Now this is very significant. You know the Bible's wonder. How long had Midian or the children of Israel been subject to the Midianites? Seven years. Notice it in verse one. Here are the children of Israel in bondage to the Midianites for seven years. And here is a bullet. And at seven years old, it had been there all the time. They didn't have to be in that bondage for seven years. No, that's a sad thing, isn't it? Friends, you don't have to be in your sins another year. Say you're thirty years of age. I will take maybe a few years off for the years when you were unaccountable. You know you could have gotten saved. Eighteen years ago, Christ was available then, just as available as he is now. And here is Gideon, and as a bullet seven years old has been waiting there seven years for God's people to repent and to offer it up as an indication of their repentance. But no, they remain seven years in bondage for Midianites. And I know the bondage was so heavy they had wished they had gotten it Right the first year, the first month of that year. You know why? Those seven years were wasted years. Nothing forgot. Saved at the age of nineteen. I wish that had been saved sooner. I wasted a few years. What about you? I've seen a few old people get saved in my ministry, around eighty years of age. I've noticed some of them. They wept twice as it used to live. And I said, what are you weeping for? Well, I'm weeping for two things. I'm weeping for joy to know my sins are all forgiven, but I have everlasting life and I'm going to heaven. But I'm also weeping over the fact that I've wasted my life. I've nothing to show. Eighty years have gone. I live for the devil. Nothing to show. If I wish, for remember, friend, until the moment you trust Christ, your life is a total blank. The first thing you do to glorify God is when you are born again in your life, then begins. It begins to come. God doesn't bring a thing over from your pre-converted days. He doesn't salvage anything out of your unconverted days and bring it over to this side of your conversion and give you credit for it. Not of it. Your life begins when you cross Christ. That's why people need to be baptized a second time. If they weren't baptized, they weren't saved when they were baptized the first. The Bible says they believed and were baptized. And then I see the fact you find people baptized a second time. And if you got baptized and joined the church and you're not born again, you should have used a little soap. You just had a good bath. Didn't do you a bit of good. If you were born again, then you obey the Lord and Baptist. God doesn't give you credit for anything you did when you were in your sin. That's law. And so the bullet was there all the time of their depression. Oh, had the only offer that the first year, how different it would have been. My little experience, I've known men and women. get under conviction of sin in our meetings and fight it off. And they've let months pass and sometimes years pass. And God had the visit then. Preaching wasn't enough. They took circumstances. They took a little grave. Maybe a second grave. They took a serious illness. And finally their knees buckled. They accepted Christ. And they said, oh, that I've done this years ago. My little child likely would have still been alive. Those things might not have happened if only I trusted Christ years ago. I wouldn't listen to the gospel, so God used Turner measures to bring me to repentance. Why didn't I do this sooner? That's the case here. The bulk of seven years old was the exact length of time they were embodied for midnight. So he reestablishes Jehovah's altar as we find here. Mine, that's a good thing to do. Break down the altar of Baal and reestablish Jehovah's altar. Put God in his place because Baal was a rival of the living God. Baal means Lord, not the true Lord. But you know, you read in God's word, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us. And what could these other lords be? Lord Seth. Did you ever meet him? When you look in the mirror, there's Lord Seth. You ever put him before the true Lord? Why not? And you can name a number or other Lord. Lord popularity. Lord public opinion. Lord have a good time. Lord West. Other Lords beside thee have had dominion over us. That was true with Dale. He was a rival of the two gods, and he had to come down. No room for the two. No man can serve two masters. No friend. One of them's got to come down. I wonder if you're prepared tonight to strike the blow and break down Dale and then establish the altar of the true God. That's what this man did. He broke down his father's idol, his father's God, Babe. Then he erected Jehovah's altar, and he worshipped the living God. God wants you to get saved tonight and bring to an end that reign of self and establish an altar unto the Lord. A family altar is a good start. Reading the word of God in prayer, that's it. If you want to be happy, you'll do these things. Mother Lord, The side B have dominion over. You know you'll get the benefit of your Christianity if you'll dispose of these other lords, those who are trying to oppose the living God from having his place in your heart. I think it was Malmone, Mold, the conqueror of India many years ago. When he entered the shrine of the Vaman, he saw a huge idol, third idol. They gave them the stairs in one of their tents, and they gave them the stair that idol. But he wouldn't do it. He took his sword, and he broke that idol. He smashed it. You know, it was hollow, and inside were precious gems and jewels. And then this man, Malmore, smashed the idol. of Abraham, the content that you sell at his feet. Oh yes, the flesh calls for mercy. But friend, if you had only smite that Lord self, your will, your want, your way, and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and establish the altar of God's will and God's way, all the spiritual gems that would be yours. The precious gem to begin with, our forgiveness of sins, peace with God and everlasting life. The unsearchable riches of Christ would fall at their feet, but we've got to dispose of that for us. You must have the Lord Jesus Christ first. You then do as God said, establish his altar onto him, and you'll know the values, the true riches that are found in Jesus Christ. Go to the zoo with opposition here. Verses twenty-eight and twenty-nine. Mind those twenty of opposition. You'll find that no matter where you go. They didn't oppose the idol of Baal. But when Gideon established the altar of the true God, they opposed that. And you know they were religious too, were opposing Gideon and the altar of the true God. They didn't oppose Baal, the false God. You know, it's strange to me today that our so-called religionists, and they'll put up with a lot of false doctrine. Well, they have a right to believe where they want to believe. Worship God the way they want to believe. But you start preaching the old-fashioned gospel. You start preaching Christ, and you enter the line, and boy, they'll oppose you. They've no mistake about that. They don't want the truth. They'll put up to there. They'll almost condone it. But they'll fight the truth every time. You notice what happened here. George, the father of Gideon, was converted over the faithfulness of his son. Why, when the community found out that Dale had been thrown down, the idol had been destroyed, they said, Who did this? Who did this? He found out. I don't know how they found out, but they found us You know Gideon, the son of Joash, did this. And they went to Joash, the father of Gideon. They said, you know, your son threw down the old old Baal. Now he's got to die. And I like this. Joash says, has he got to die? He'll not die. Anybody that kills him will die. If Baal's a God, it'll go real through God. Why didn't Baal defend themselves? That's it. Katie was sent to a finishing school by her wealthy father, where she learned the dance, the art, science, and other things. One night she went to a gospel meeting where the word of God was free. At the end of the meeting, she accepted Christ at her stage and decided to dedicate her life to his work to permission her. Writing home, she told her father as to what she had done, and he became very angry, ordering her home immediately. He obeyed and when she arrived, he said, I did not send you to school to get religion. That is all right for poor folk and half-wits, but not for a child in your position of life. You will have to get this silly religious notion out of your head. If by tomorrow morning you have not decided to give up this foolish idea, you may pack up your suitcase and leave this house. He went to a room with a heavy heart. would mean the loss of love, culture, money, and safety. On her knees she parted us. The next morning she packed her asleep cake. Before leaving, she sat at the piano. She prayed and she sung. Jesus, I, my cross of cake, all to leave and follow thee. Just as it is this lie forsaken, thou from hence my all shall be. Perish every ponged ambition, all life's toss and hopes and knows. Yet how rich is my condition? God and heaven are still my own. She rose with tears in her eyes and turned toward the door. When her father stepped before her from where he had been listening to her play, and with deep emotion said, Wait, my daughter, I never knew that Christ would mean this much to you. Giving up your home, family, and everything else for him, daughter, do forgiveness. Sit down and tell me of this great love for the Savior. Here and then, she pointed her old father to Christ. April, the closure she'd given in. She'd have been an unpacking young Christian. She'd have had caved her robe. She'd have gone around with a guilty trunk. She took her stand. Christ meant more to her than any other. She had the thrill of leaving her own father to the Lord Jesus. Gideon had the same blessed spirit. His faithfulness led his own father joy to accept the true God. Let the earth align to do the same thing. You know, the enemy is aroused here in verse and thirty-five roused against Gideon. And it's that Jezreel where they come up. But you know what Jezreel means? Jezreel means God will sow. This time the Midianites are going to reap the wrath of God. God had been watching for seven years while the Midianites had oppressed his people. God was waiting for his people to come to repentance. and to offer that sacrifice. And he selected Gideon to lead in this. Finally, the Midianites and the Amalekites, they saw that Israel was returning to the true God, and they mustered themselves together, and they came to Jezreel. Here's where the battle's going to be joined. But here's where these Midianites and Amalekites are going to be defeated. And they reached harvestment of God's anger and lust. God disposed of them. Israel was delivered. Israel became free again. All because of a young man to the name of you. If you're not a Christian tonight, you may be made free too. All because of a man Christ Jesus who loved you and gave himself to you upon the cross. The wrath of God that your sins deserve fell upon him. If you want to be saved tonight, it will be true what Jesus did. That tells us. If you notice further in closing, verse twenty-four, here is Gideon. He's a worshiper. And in verse twenty-six, he's a worker. He's chewing down the trees of the grove where his father's idols stood. And now in verse thirty-four, he's a warrior. And I should be a worshiper and a worker and a warrior. God's people all should be there. And his spirit nature. He blew a trumpet. His influential position before they want to kill him, but now he's a leader. He desires unity and fellowship among God's people as we have in verse thirty-five. Then it's not a dependence upon God that we see in the week that we sit on next Sunday night. Here's this remarkable young man, Gideon. You know, God is still the God of Gideon. He hasn't changed. Gideon's God can be your God. He can be my God. God has laid down the plan whereby we may be delivered from our enemies. He might be set free. He might enjoy him and his fellowship, his company, and engage in his service. It is going to take some of the determination of Gideon. My God comes first. He comes before my father's. He comes before my father's religion. He comes before anything, comes before myself. God's going to be first. If there's any wonder, God gave him this great victory. But he asked you, young people, tonight, is Jesus Christ first?