Problems Associated With Revival

I want you to turn with me again to Judges chapter 8 this morning. Judges chapter 8. We're continuing, maybe concluding this morning because if I don't conclude I'll do one more message. But I hope if God enables me, if I was more gifted I'd be able to do all that I desire to do, but I'm not. So sometimes I try, I attempt, but I do know what God wants to say to us here this morning. Part four of our series, A Vessel of Revival. And part four, this is what I called it, Problems Associated with Revivals. Reading from Judges chapter 8, and I only want to read a few verses, but we're going to deal with this entire chapter. It's a hard chapter, a complicated chapter, an unusual chapter, so give me some grace, okay? But I'm going to show you something very vital from this. If you want a salvation message, come Wednesday night. I'm going to preach on the blood, on forgiveness, on redemption, on how you have your life changed. But please bear with me, I'm dealing with a vessel that God is preparing, He has chosen, He is going to use in revival. But here this morning I want to deal with problems associated with revivals. You may think, surely there can't be any problems in a mighty nation changing, our city nation changing, outpouring. Surely there's no problems, it's all good. I want to tell you there's real problems in the midst of a real revival. Judges chapter 8 verse 1, And the men of Ephraim said unto him, that is Gideon, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou callest us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide him sharply. And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Ebeazer? God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeab. And what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated towards him when he said that. And Gideon came to Jordan and passed over he and 300 men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them. Let's pray together. Father, we, Lord God, we're not playing games with your word or idolizing revival or playing games with it. We are aware that we are in a unique prophetic hour in this generation that is unparalleled. As we study the Bible, we see that everything is changing politically and socially, that it's changing morally and militarily, that it's changing medically. And Lord God, we believe that there is unbelievable spiritual powers being released on our world. And Lord God, we know that the church is the apple of your eye. She is the bride of Christ. She is the redeemed one that you shed your precious blood for. And Lord God, we know that right in the midst of these massive world changes that we are watching, even as we see Russia and Turkey and Iran meeting together, as we see the Western powers uniting and arming, we are very aware that you have a plan, Lord God, to revive your church and to reach one last harvest of souls. You're a merciful God and a gracious God. You're a sovereign God. You're a mighty God. And Lord God, though it seems, oh God, there is a dearth and a famine and an apostasy in the church, we are asking for a genuine heaven-sent revival. We're praying for an earthquake, Lord God, of a revival. We're asking for the former and the latter rain in the last month, as you prophesied. We're asking, oh God, for floods on the dry ground. Lord God, we're asking for the word of the Lord. We're asking, oh God, that one last time that you'd enable your body, oh God, you'd empower us, oh God, that we might glorify your name, not touching the glory, oh God. Lord God, that you'd use and choose the despised, oh God, the best things of this world to confound that which is. And we love you. We exalt you. We magnify you in this dark hour. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. My message, we've dealt with three messages already in this, and I want to come to this now. Having dealt with Gideon, how God prepared Gideon, and we looked at Gideon as a type of a church or a vessel or a people that are being prepared for revival. Then we looked at how God chose out 300 soldiers to be a part of that vessel. And believe me, I want God to choose, we don't want volunteers. There are many volunteers, but God chooses a people out of that. But here this morning, I want to deal with problems associated with revival. Most preachers and teachers deal with revival. Most Christians think about revival. We are glad if we can have a revival. We don't want to know about the problems or the issues or the crises of revival. When we are just trying to get one family member saved, we are glad at the thought, send revival. I'm not even going to think about the problems. But here this morning, I don't want to just deal with preparing for revival. I want to deal with the problems that come when revival comes. In this generation, we have almost 8 billion people in our world. Never has the world's population been so large. Never in one generation has there been so many potentially going to go to hell in a short time or be saved and go to heaven in a short time. Never in any other generation in world history is the consequence of a genuine revival so great or the absence of spiritual revival so great. There's an old preacher, an unusual man called Richard Owen Roberts who studied and wrote a lot on revival. This is a chapter in his book called Revival. This is what he wrote as one of the chapters. What are the dangers of revival? And in that one chapter, I'm not going to cover them. In that one chapter, he listed 16 dangers. There's a man who understood revival. 16 dangers of revival. He mentioned some things like the danger of giving glory to the human instrument instead of God or trying to reproduce another or second or further revival by human strength or focusing on the unusual manifestations of revival or neglecting solid preaching and teaching in the midst of revival or neglecting prayer because in revival there is so much busy activity or exulting novices who are new Christians in the ministry when they shouldn't be there or criticism, pride, jealousy, a lack of discernment. And so he goes through these 16 dangers that are there present in revival. Well, I'm not going to deal with them. You can look that up for yourself, but I've got five things here in Judges chapter 8. Remember chapter 6 and chapter 7, we have dealt with this preparation, choosing for revival, then the actual revival. But in Judges chapter 8, we have something very strange. It's still Gideon. We're not looking at Gideon as a man or just as history. We're looking at Gideon as a type of a vessel or a preacher or a church or a movement that's going to see revival in the earth again. And I believe I've got five points here. I'm not sure if I'll manage 0.5, but I'll certainly give you four of them if I can. And for each one of them, I've got a tea to help you remember it. I believe we've got five teas in Judges chapter 8, and they are warnings of dangers of a vessel that's being used to change a nation, being used remarkably a small vessel that was prepared and chosen. And yet five dangers in the midst of revival. You may say, Brother Keith, why? Why when we're not seeing revival in Limerick? Are you talking about the dangers that come in the midst of revival? I just want to see it happen. I don't want to think about the dangers. You know what? If you don't learn the dangers now, it's too late when revival comes. Do you hear me? Do you realize most of what I preach to you, I learned at 17 or at 21 years old, and I'm just a little bit older than that now. But I want to tell you all the truths that are vital, that are in my life, ready for what God's going to do in this hour. It was years of God spoken to me when I was a boy of 13, a preacher, faithfully preached and spoke truths that have molded and impacted my life. So there's an important, don't think what I'm going to preach this morning could save a revival in the future from disaster because someone is sitting here or someone will watch on that camera on YouTube later, and that person may be in some other country. It's going to be a vessel of revival and they've got to hear what I'm going to say now, or it's going to be disaster in the future. And so I've got five points here. Number one, and this is in revival, the problems that you get. Number one, troublesome friends. Look at verse one with me in this chapter. And the men of Ephraim said unto him, why has thou served us thus that thou callest us not when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply. Now I want you to see that Gideon called on four of the tribes, but he didn't call the Ephraimites. He called four of the tribes to go out to fight against the Midianites. He called them together. It was only after the victory, after he smote the Midianites, after he scattered the enemy, after many had been already killed, that he then called upon Ephraim to stop them escaping and called them to come and help them. In fact, it was just in the previous chapter, in chapter seven, verse 24, and Gideon sent messengers throughout all Mount Ephraim saying, come down against the Midianites and take before them the waters unto Bethara and Jordan. And so he called them down and he said, guys, the enemy is escaping. The princes are escaping. Go down to Jordan and you block the escape routes and you stop them there. He called upon the Ephraimites after the major battle and the Ephraimites went to Jordan and captured two of the princes of the entire Midianites. It was a remarkable work. He called upon them when the enemy would have escaped and theirs was the task of mopping up after the initial warfare or fight. Now who are Ephraim? Ephraim, amongst the 12 tribes, were like elder, mature brothers with a history. They were one of the largest tribes and most important. In fact, within their region, their ground, their land, their inheritance, they had the tabernacle at Shiloh and again at Bethel. They had a remarkable history of being very prominent in Israel. And here God uses Gideon and a band of 300 and the Midianites, one of the greatest, largest tribes, they start saying, why didn't you involve us? I'm talking about right in the midst of revival. Why didn't you let us be a part of this at the beginning? So in the midst of revival, right in the midst of revival, after a great victory and many souls are impacted, the Midianites actually begin to rise up and go, hold on a second. So we came and helped you now. But you know what? Why did you not call us at the beginning? Now these Ephraimites did have a problem. Back in the book of Joshua in chapter 17, they came to Joshua who was a part of their tribe. He was one of the Ephraimites. And do you know what they said? They said the ground that you've given us isn't enough. We need more ground. Now Joshua was one of them. He knew how to speak to them. He says, brilliant, you need more land. You want me to give you a bigger inheritance. You want to enlarge your border. Brilliant. Well, look down into that valley. It's filled with enemies, Philistines, and chariots. Go beat them and you can have more land. There's no problem. That's how you have to deal with troublesome friends. You need an awful lot of wisdom to know how to deal with the Ephraimites. The Ephraimites represent people, churches, movements who won't be God's vessel to bring revival, but they're going to be caught up in the revival. Do you realize when the next revival comes, it won't be the denominations that bring it, but they'll come marching saying, we'll help. We'll preach. We'll evangelize. And there can be a lot of problems in that hour when they despise the 300 and Gideon and who God has prepared. We actually read in Psalm 78, reference Ephraim being armed and carrying bows. They turn back in the day of battle. Ephraim may be bigger. They may have a history. They've got a reputation. They've got more land, but I assure you it doesn't mean they can fight the enemy in the midst of revival in the way that God wants. God wants a Gideon's army, not just numbers. When we come to the book of Judges, we see with Ephraim in Judges chapter 3, they helped Ehud to deliver the nation. When you come to Judges chapter 5, they helped Barak. And then in chapter 12, we see them dealing with Jethu as well. And so we have Ephraim represent a part of the body of Christ, a part of God's people, but they are not the vessel that was prepared or chosen to bring this. They're actually the late comers, genuine believers, real men and women of God. But there is a problem here. Look at their attitude. They said, Gideon, why did you not call us? And I'm sure you don't know any Christians, and I've never met any Christians like this. You see, Ephraim felt snubbed. They felt bypassed. This is like those Christians who think they're important, they're mature, they have experience. They are the ones with the word of God. They should be chosen to preach. There was a preacher and evangelist came in and sat here for three months, and he got so angry, I left to go on holiday for two weeks, and I left a Christian three years saved to preach in the pulpit. That 30-year-old, that 30-year in ministry evangelist got so angry, he kind of tore the church apart. You expect me to listen to, it was actually brother Soph, this young Christian only saved three years, and you think I'm going to sit here and listen? That was the height of offense for that man. He wasn't here when I got back, I can tell you, but he certainly wrote an awful lot of emails to me. You see, he was bypassed. He was not acknowledged. I'm talking about Ephraim here. They missed out on the initial glory and praise, and also getting all the rewards of battle. There's an issue of pride here, and maybe jealousy here, and certainly touchiness. Gideon, I mean, you're talking about one of the biggest tribes. You're talking about masses of men, and here's Gideon and 300 who won one of the greatest victories in history. They've just defeated the enemy. Now they're saying, will you help us? Will you come and defeat the enemies? Will you be there at the Jordan River? And they're very touchy. You've got to be very careful at that point what you do, because these are brothers, but you know what the problem is? It's a sanctification issue. I don't doubt their salvation. I don't doubt their sincerity. I don't doubt the gospel they preach, but you know what? It's an issue of their heart. Notice that they don't talk. They don't give any thanks for what Gideon has done. They don't praise him or acknowledge that God delivered the enemy into his hands. They don't do that. You know what they're saying? What about me? What about me? You know, if you ever meet a Christian in the church, and they're going, what about me? You didn't mention my name, and you didn't shake my hand this morning, and you're not acknowledging me. You know what? You have a sanctification issue. You may be born again and love Jesus with your heart, but do you know that attitude of heart? God has to deal with that, but you know, if we know you're washed in the blood, we give you a lot of grace and time for God to work on you with that. It says here at the end of verse one that Ephraim chided with Gideon sharply. The word chide means to grapple, to wrangle, to debate, to strive, to start a controversy, to begin to accuse in a legal manner. In other words, you're bringing charges. You did not do this. Now, when you're dealing with a big tribe, and they begin to accuse you, you're going to have to walk very delicately. How was Gideon going to respond? I'm talking about a vessel used in revival. This is the first problem of revival that we see in Judges chapter eight. It's not all just souls being saved. As soon as revival comes, there's going to be people arise up in mass in the church who are going to begin to enter into a controversy. They didn't win the victory. They weren't chosen of God. They weren't prepared for this, but they are masses of them, and if you're not careful, you're going to start a controversy that's going to distract you from revival. Do you hear me? You say, I'm dealing with this because I believe revival is coming. I believe a massive revival is coming. You know, all week long, I watch every single day in the news. There's Russia and Turkey and Iran every single night, and you know what means different things to different people? To me, do you know what it means? Praise God, revival is coming because everyone who preaches on Ezekiel's war, I can take you to Ezekiel chapter 38, and it speaks 1,600 years ago that there's going to be an invasion by Russia, by Turkey, and Iran joining together with other nations, and they're going to invade Israel. We are getting very close to that time. It is about to happen. You're watching it every night on the news. You know, those three countries never come into unity in all of world history until four years ago or five years ago. That began to warn me something's coming. You know, those that talk and preach and teach about Ezekiel's war, do you know what they never talk about? Never. Is that right at the end of Ezekiel's war, when Russia falls on the mountains of Israel, God's going to pour out his Holy Spirit in Jerusalem again. A revival is coming. No one ever teaches on this. They're not dealing with it. But I want to tell you, I'm dealing with the problems that you're going to have in revival because I know it's coming. You know, Gideon says, I know God's going to deliver the enemy into my hands. I know some things are, what, you and your 300? And you think you're going to do it? Yes. Yes, I absolutely do. And so you have Ephraim in the midst of revival. They're beginning to grapple and get into doctrinal controversy and personal issues. Gideon, you've got to be very careful. You need the wisdom of God to get this revival through here. Notice what Gideon does and how he responds. Gideon acknowledges God's victory through them. Do you know, he actually gives a parable here. Look at verse two. And he said unto them, what have I done now in comparison to you? He compared himself to Ephraim. Most of us, we compare with other churches and preachers and Christians to show that we're better. I hold the truth. I am holy. I do this. We have order in our church. We're not compromised. Gideon didn't do that. He is comparing and said, what am I to you, Ephraimites? What are you kidding? Listen to what he says here. What have I done in comparison? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezar? Do you know what he's saying? He says, that little bit that you Ephraimites have done in capturing the two princes and mopping up that little bit is far greater than what Gideon and his 300 men have done. And he says, this was the Lord. The Lord used you, Ephraim. The Lord delivered the princes into your hands. God is with you. You've done something far greater than what we could have done. Do you see the wisdom of this man who's being accused? He's riding revival. What are you going to get caught up in fights with people who weren't prepared for revival, but they love the Lord Jesus? Or are you going to use wisdom? Notice as well, he placed importance upon their deeds and what they accomplished. He compares himself not to exalt himself, but to exalt them. He actually lessens himself and minimizes his accomplishments. This was the wisdom of God to say, we need to work together. Why do you think he didn't rebuke them? Well, look what they've already done. When he called them to go down to the Jordan river to stop the enemy, they didn't get in a debate then. They actually went with their army and defeated the Ephraimites. So what he knows is they're fighting the same battle against the same enemies. They're on the same side. It's only after the battle, the Ephraimites go, hold on a second. And you know what? Gideon here isn't willing to get into these disputes. This is the first danger of revival. Troublesome friends. You better know who your friends are. It's okay to say they're not sanctified. There's pride issue. There's jealousy. But you know what? You need all the wisdom of God to steer through this. You know why? We're out for souls. We're out to see the church impacted. We're out to see the glory of Jesus Christ in this hour. That's what we want. I believe this first point is embodied in Proverbs chapter 15, verse one. Listen carefully. A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. You realize Gideon was a man who could control his tongue. He could have said, God used me. God prepared me. I'm God's vessel. Look what I've done. I'll fight you. He didn't do that. A soft answer turneth away wrath. Do you know how when he gives this answer to them, you know how the Ephraimites actually respond? It says, and their anger was abated towards him when he said that. Do you know a bit later, they get angry and threatened. This same tribe threatened to burn down the house of a man that was raised up to fight and to lead. You need to be careful what you do in this hour. Unity is more important than personal pride. And you know, I believe in separation for compromise from apostasy, from false teachers. I will separate from that, but not from real genuine believers of other churches. I'm not getting into the squabbles over water baptism, the baptism in the Holy Ghost, over how you order your church. I'm not going there. I believe strongly what I believe and I preach it without apology, but I'm not disputing with you. I'm after a revival, a heaven sent revival. You know when revival comes, you argue about all the little issues. I just want to see heaven come down. I want to see souls saved on mass. I want to see the church in holiness again. The second thing here. So first of all, troublesome friends. Second of all, tiresome pursuit, a tiresome pursuit. Look at verse 4. And Gideon came to Jordan and passed over he and 300 men that were with him, faint yet pursuing. Do you know it shows here the 300, God's vessel, were pursuing the enemy. This is the second great danger of revival. Tiresome pursuit when you're doing the will of God. When you're serving God, when you want to destroy the enemies of God, when you want to see God blessed, you can get very, very tired of that. There's a real danger when you get tired. You know, when I get tired, I can get touchy. Candice points it out to me. I go, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. So it's okay. I understand that. You know, when you get tired and weary and drawn, I'm not sleeping at nights most of the time. Through the trials we're going through, I can become touchy, irritable. It's non-excusable, but it's human. It's natural. When you get tired, don't poke someone when they haven't slept all night. You hear me? You don't want to do that. So there's a danger in revival. When God really moves, when a great victory comes, when you're fighting the enemy, when you're pursuing the will of God, when you desire to serve God with all of your heart, you can get very, very tired. The word faint here, it says they were faint yet pursuing. Some people, when they get tired, they stop pursuing. Well, I've done my bit. Let others do. Don't do that. That's the danger of revival. Well, I'm very tired, so I'm not going to the prayer meeting. I'm very tired, so I'm not going to evangelize. You know, once I was on a plane coming into Heathrow, and I was so tired. There was a lady beside me from America. I hadn't spoken to her once about the Lord, and she's a female. We had two seats together. I didn't know her. I didn't like to engage. I was always very careful in what I've done, but as we began to prepare to come into the airport, I felt so convicted. I sat with this lady this whole journey, never once talked to her about the Lord. So I said, Lord, help me, and I turned her. We're belted in, and I said, do you know the Lord Jesus? I started to evangelize her. Her whole heart opened up and said, I never heard this before. Tell me more, and in a period of 10 minutes, I evangelized her. You need to be careful when you're tired. Once when I arrived into Swansea and was late and picked up by this Muslim, I was so tired I could hardly lift my head. I just wanted to get to where I was going. That Muslim began to evangelize me with his gospel. You see, when you're tired, there's many, many dangers. The word faint here means to be exhausted, physically tired, in need of food. You know that they had traveled a distance of 40 miles. They had attacked the enemy at night. They had fought all through to the next day. They had now traveled a distance of 40 miles, and when I look this up, you probably at a decent march can cover 40 miles in about 10 hours, depending on your health, depending on what you're having to do. So they have come all this distance. They weren't prepared for a long fight, but they're pursuing the enemy. They're in the will of God, and do you know what happens at that point? They're faint, but they're pursuing the enemy. The word pursue here means to chase after, be on the heels of, to be against the enemy, and remember, why did Gideon pursue so hard? I mean, he's tired. He's exhausted. They haven't ate since before the battle. They feel like they're going to faint. Why not leave it to someone else? They're only 300. They have done much damage to the enemy. Why not just stop now? Well, the enemy isn't destroyed. They want to pursue the enemy. Do you remember what God had said to Gideon in chapter 7 verse 9? I have delivered the Midianites into your hand. So here they are. They cross the river Jordan. They are exhausted and about to collapse. They are weak from all the fighting, but they're pursuing the enemy saying, we don't want the enemy to get away. You know why? If that enemy gets away, it's going to come back again. I believe in the church. We haven't destroyed enemies in the way we should. We just touch on it and then leave it alone. We need to destroy enemies in the church. We shouldn't tolerate sin in the church. We ought to be on the case of it, but that doesn't happen in our day, and then those enemies come back and destroy the church. You have a little victory, then you lose the fight. This is one of the great dangers in revival. You get tired. You get faint. You get exhausted. Remember the 1904 revival. Evan Roberts, a young man in his 20s, I sent you the video to watch. In a meeting of 17 young people, revival comes. In the next six months, 100,000 people in Wales are born again. In that first year, 10% of the entire nation profess salvation through Jesus Christ. In one year, an entire nation. Do you know Evan Roberts, for the next year and a half, he was traveling, ministering, preaching, exhorting in prayer meetings early in the morning, late at night. He hardly had a decent night's sleep. He didn't eat properly, didn't rest properly. He didn't take any breaks. One and a half years into the Welsh revival, he went to meetings in the north of Wales and he would walk in. He's tired. He's exhausted. He hasn't obeyed God's word. You know, you could say, but I'm in a revival. I'm filled with the spirit. I'm doing God's work. You better take a break. If you don't come aside to rest, you will come apart at the seams. You need to take a break. You say, my work's too important. My family's too important. Everything I'm doing's too important. No, it's not. You're going to get yourself in real trouble. You know what Evan Roberts started doing? He went to those meetings in the north of Wales after a year and a half, hundreds of thousands getting impacted. And he walks into the meeting. He is tired. And he walks in and says, I don't feel the spirit here. And he walks out again. He walks into another meeting and he stands up and he said, there's someone grieving the Holy Spirit here. Those that write about the Welsh revival believe he was so tired. He began to think he was being led of the spirit when he wasn't. He's tired. He's exhausted. It's at a time where he should have shut down and got rest. Do you know what happened? He'd come into association with a lady called Jessie Penn Lewis, who said, come stay at my home. She was a mature teacher of the word of God about death to self. As he stayed at her home, he was frazzled. His nerves were on edge. He couldn't bear to see family. In fact, didn't for decades until his dad's funeral. You're talking about a vessel that got worn out in the midst of revival. You need to be very careful. You better go to your bed at night when revival comes. Oh, we don't go to bed at night in revival. You better not break God's natural laws. Evan Roberts ended up at Jessie Penn Lewis and she convinced them that demons had invaded the Welsh revival. And she wrote a joint book with them called War on the Saints. It's a very good book. I like it, but there's a lot of dangers with it. She started to teach the demonization of Christians, real born again believers, and said demons were all through the Welsh revival. And she began to plant her thoughts in Evan Roberts' mind. You know what? He was a vessel that had got very, very tired. Stephen Jeffries, the great healing evangelist who got saved in the Welsh revival. He served God for 20 years, seeing blind eyes open instantly. He preached the wrath of God, hardly mentioned healing. And in the meetings, people would grip the back of the seats and tremble under the fear of God. They said he was like an Old Testament prophet. And yet miracles would happen all over the meetings. For 20 years, everywhere he preached, hundreds of souls were getting saved. Mighty miracles happen. There was an Anglican minister in England who was in the line. And there's a little girl, I've got his record of this. And he looked, he was a stranger to these strange things. And this little girl, she had no eyes in the sockets. And she's there and he's looking at her with his collar on and saying, I wonder why she's going to the meeting. I wonder why she's going for prayer. And when he got in the meeting, he was called up to sit on the pulpit with the other preachers. They saw him with his collar, said, come sit up here. And he was sitting there when that little girl got prayed for. And he said, I didn't close my eyes. And he said, two brand new eyes come into those eye sockets. He couldn't believe it. He didn't believe that. He had never seen anyone healed. And yet he testified to the reality of that. For 20 years, Stephen Jeffreys labored, preached, ministered in this fashion. Then suddenly in 1935, at the age of 59, he was totally and completely set aside for the next eight years until he died. His body was crippled up with arthritis. He couldn't move. His weight dropped on. He couldn't go and preach again. You know what? For 20 years, he never took breaks. He was a very disorganized man. He kept double booking himself. He never took breaks. He served, poured himself out completely. You can't keep doing that. Since I'm talking about, you'll say, why are you laboring this? Because I know revival is coming. I know a move of God is coming and we've got to be absolutely ready for it. And so we see this tiresome pursuit of Gideon and his 300 men. They are pursuing the enemy. Verse 10, when they come to the valley where there's 15,000 men left, remember they're tired. Do you know what happened on the way? They stopped with other Israeli tribes that feed us. And they said, no, I'll come to that in a second. That's my third point. He said, no. Can you imagine asking brothers and sisters in Christ? We've just seen revival. We've just seen victories. Will you help us? Will you feed our soldiers? We're going into the second phases. We're about to, in 20 miles time, we're going to face another 15,000 of the Midianites. Would you give us a meal? He wasn't asking for money. Wasn't asking them to go into the fight. Wasn't asking to stay in their homes. Just give us a meal. My 300 soldiers, two times he asked. You know what they said? No, absolutely not. He says, I'll remember you. And then he pursued. They're tired. They're hungry. They're exhausted. They're fainting, but they're pursuing the enemy. There's some people in the church go to the opposite extreme and say, you should never be tired. You shouldn't labor until the point you're tired and exhausted. It means you're not in the spirit. Actually, that's wrong as well. That's the opposite extreme. I can prove to you biblically that that is false because concerning the church at Ephesus and Revelation chapter two, Christ commends the church because you have labored and not grown weary. Do you know the word labored there means to labor to the point of exhaustion. Some people in the church say you should never serve God until you're tired. Rubbish. I can give you lots of scriptures where Christ commends and God commends. Well done. You've labored until you could hardly stand. So let's get a balance. You need to be very wise. But at the same time, just because you're hungry and brothers are betraying you and it's not all going your way. Well, I'm not. I'm just going to throw my toys out of my pram. I'm not playing anymore. Lord, I served you and look at this, pursue the enemy. And so they went on and with the sword discomfited the enemy. They killed two kings and they routed this entire enemy. It's remarkable. Point three here. Remember the tease. Number three, traitorous brothers. Before I come out of the house and don't tell Candice who told you this, but she says, suck it to suck it. If you've read the chapter, you know what I mean. But if you don't, that's utter confusion. She said, suck it to suck it. So here we go. Point three, traitorous brothers. After they crossed the Jordan and they were pursuing, they hadn't met the enemy yet. Look at verse five. And he, that is Gideon, said unto the men of Succoth, it was a town on the other side of Jordan. They weren't this side of Jordan. They were that side of Jordan. I get worried about churches and preachers and Christians who are camping on the wrong side of Jordan. Do you know Moses and Joshua warned the two and a half tribes that were that side of Jordan, the east side of Jordan. He said, no, you're going to have great dangers because you're on the wrong side of Jordan. You're going to have a tendency to disunity because you haven't crossed the Jordan. Do you know what? I think there's a lot in the church. You're in danger of being a traitorous brother, a betrayer, lacking love because you haven't crossed the Jordan. You know what the Jordan represents in the Bible? The cross, crucifixion, death to the old man. And so we have that here's Gideon and his 300 crossover into the territory of those that are on the other side of the cross or Jordan. They don't believe in a full work of the cross and listen to what he says to them when he comes to Succoth. He says, I pray you, I pray you. He didn't demand it. He could have demanded it. They've got swords. They've had a great victory. He didn't demand it. He said, I pray you, will you give us loaves of bread unto the people that follow me for they are faint and I am pursuing after Zabba and Zalmumin, the kings of Midian. Will you just feed me? My third point here is in revival, the danger of treacherous brothers. Don't get distracted from God's work. When God's moving mightily, when you're in the will of God, if a Christian betrays you, if they lie on you, oh, it happens all the time, believe me. If you can be stopped by that, you'll be stopped in your tracks, absolutely guaranteed. But here's Gideon said, I pray you, will you give me a simple meal? They respond to him. They don't even mention God. They're not people of prayer. They're not people of the cross. They're not holiness people. They don't even mention God. You know a lot in the church, they make plans and decisions. They'll tell you there's not going to be a revival. Why do you think that? Well, sure, look around you. You know nothing of the character of God or the promises of God or the prophecies of scripture if you say there's going to be no revival. You know the Bible speaks in 1 Peter chapter 4 and 9, use hospitality. In other words, open up your home, look after one another without grudging. There's nothing worse than a Christian who feels they have to love you, they ought to give you a meal, they ought to spend time with you, and they do it begrudgingly. Here, take the meal. I don't really want the meal. Not with that attitude. I'd rather starve than have someone with the wrong attitude. You see, we're commanded to be hospitable, to love, to guard. Can you imagine in revival there's going to be churches and Christians and preachers who will not care about those that are in the fight? I have discovered it all through my Christian life. You're in the heat of battle, you're fighting the devil, you're winning victories, and you've got Christians in the church betraying you, lying about you, undermining you, causing division. I don't like that sort of person in the church. Neither did Gideon. Do you know he goes to feed us? They said no. He said, after all, are the palms of the kings of Midianite in your hand? Can you show us evidence you've defeated them? Of course he said no. He said, well, you expect us to feed you when you haven't defeated the enemy? You know what they're doing? They're playing a very serious, dangerous game. Some commentators think they were scared. I don't think they were scared. They certainly had no faith. They had no love, no care, no compassion, no obedience, no unity, no praise for a victory for God. Now some people will not see that you're fighting the enemy and defeating the enemy and winning souls and trying to do the will of God and encouraging the church. They'll try to destroy you. If you've never encountered this, you better watch your back. Not just on here. If it ever happened here, I'll protect you and that person will get rebuked, believe me. But I'm talking in the wider body of Christ. I have actually seen it. Jesus says in Matthew 24 and 10 about this hour, when all nations begin to hate the church, God's people, when there's a change in the climate of the nations. Notice what happens when we begin to get hated as the church by all nations. That's a certain point in time. Then shall many in the church be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another. You know false brethren? Paul talks about them. False brethren in the church who talk about Christ and being born again and washed in the blood, but they would betray you and leave you to starve when you're fighting the enemy. There's something terribly spiritually wrong with them. There's something very basic. Do you know what Gideon says to them? He says, I'm going to go defeat the Midianites. I know God's going to do this. And he says, after I defeat them, I'm coming back to your time. I'm going to suck it to sucketh. I should give that as a title to message sometime. Listen to what he says. I will tear your flesh. You say, what's happened to Gideon here? He's still a man of God. All the commentators are very hard on Gideon here. I disagree with them. I believe they're wrong. Listen to what I believe is happening here. He says, I will tear your flesh. This word tear is the word used for a threshing instrument. Remember where Gideon started in the threshing floor. This word tear is used of a threshing instrument. Remember he's now used the threshing instrument and a hammer and an axe and a trumpet and a sword. Now he is going to tear their flesh. Normally this would be done on a betrayal, on a brother betraying you. You'd use iron bars, spikes to ply up their skin. He's not doing it. He's not trying to kill them. Listen to what he says. I will tear up your flesh with thorns and briars, not with iron spikes that would kill you. Do you know what this is? This is discipline. This is consequence. This is church discipline. Do you know in revival, when brothers betray brothers, there's got to be church discipline. You see, we think when revival comes, everyone loves each other. Everyone is in unity. Everything is beautiful and we just all work together. No, that's not true. You know, when revival comes, there's got to be church discipline. You're to separate from people who walk disorderly, who are called born again Christians. If they preach wrong and act wrong and live wrong, you're not even to have a cup of tea with them. I didn't say sinners. I'll sit down with a homosexual. I'll sit down with a murderer. I'll sit down with a heroin addict or a drug seller from these streets. I'll have them at my home, my dinner table. This isn't talking about sinners. This is talking about people who say, I'm your brother. I'm born again. You've got to be very careful. In this revival, there are, you've got to be careful of traitors, traitorous brothers. They will betray you. They will hurt you. They will leave you standing against the enemy. Gideon says, I'm going to come back again with the instrument of church discipline. This is serious things. It's not enough to defeat the enemy out there in the world. We've got to defeat the enemy in the church as well. You see in revival, church discipline will have a revival. It will get implemented. It's not as important as chasing the enemy, but it's very, very important that we do implement church discipline again. And so that's what Gideon done. It was serious. It was public. It was right. It was a reproof for correction. So he moves on from Succoth to Peniel, five miles further down the road. He says the same thing. Will you feed us? Peniel says the exact same. No, we can't. And again, he says, when I come again in peace, I'm going to break down your tower. Do you know Peniel was the place Jacob wrestled with God all night because he's going to face his brother, his brother, blood brother in the morning. And there's a controversy between Jacob and Esau, two brothers born in the same home, but they're different. One is of the flesh. One is of the spirit. And so Jacob wrestles all night with God because he says, my brother, I tricked him out of the inheritance. He's going to kill me when I meet him tomorrow. And I'm scared. I'm really worried about tomorrow. Do you know what Jacob done? He wrestled in prayer with the angel of the Lord all night long until the Lord touched him and changed him. Then he went to face his brother the next day. Do you know Peniel's a place where brothers ought to pray through and touch God to get an answer from God, but not here at Peniel. They've got a large tower. You know what this tower was? It was a watchtower. It's where you sit and you look at the enemy. From there, you fight against the enemy or all of your people take refuge in the tower of Peniel against the enemy. It's a statement of war and watchfulness against the enemy. Hold on a second. A few days ago, 135,000 Midianites came in through here on their way to Gideon's region to attack every village, every time and destroy the people of God. Peniel, what did you actually do? So we see that this tower is a symbol, a mere symbol. We are watching out for the enemy. You're a coward. You're a coward. Since we need brothers and sisters, they'll fight. Oh, but I might get hurt. People won't like me. Paul said, they were ashamed of my chain. They all left me. One after another, they all left. All the churches of Asia left me. Why? They're ashamed of my chains. They're persecuting us now. Do you know what? All Asia didn't leave the church. They left Paul. We're good churches, but you're not faithful churches. There's a spirit of betrayal in the church. Read William Carey. You'll find that Christians opposed him. He goes to India to evangelize. Who were the problems? Traitorous brothers undermining him. Read Hudson Taylor. If any of you know J. N. Darby, one of the great thinkers that come out of Ireland, a brilliant expositor, a man of great reputation and gifting, he preached in Limerick. But do you know what? He had problems. He excommunicated George Muller. Now, most of you don't know who Darby is. We all know who George Muller is. Darby turned about 1,500 churches against George Muller in that generation. He sowed poison and he done it under the guise of Christian doctrine. I have had to walk through this for years. I could tell you stories of pouring money into a building in this city that Christians owned. And one day I go to the door and try the lock and the lock's been changed. They took our money and locked us out. That's the church functioning in this city. And you know what? When they get up to speak, they all weep and cry and lift their hands. You know what? They are traitorous brothers. I was in a fight. I can tell you of a key pastor in Belfast and a key pastor in Cork sitting together years ago when I was fighting and seeing victories and stirring hearts. They sat together and said, we won't rest until Malcolmson and School of Christ is out of Ireland. And one of them travelled the south, turning everyone that could against us. I go, I love these people. I've helped their churches. I've helped their people. I've done everything for them, never asked for anything. That's the third danger in revival. Do you know Gideon didn't get distracted with them? He said, I'm pursuing the enemy, but I'm coming back with church discipline. I'm going to pull this tower down that's hypocrisy. You're not against the enemy. You're not watching our backs. You're not in prayer. I'm going to thresh your flesh, not to kill them, but to deal with those leaders. You know, when he comes back through, he finds a young man of Succoth and he says, I want you to write down a list of the elder's names. And it says here, the young man wrote down 77 names. So he had a list and he said, these 77 leaders are responsible. You know, the church of our generation, the leaders are responsible. Two years through COVID, they don't know the will of God. They're not preaching the truth of God. They're not dealing with Bible prophecy. They don't understand what's happening in the nations. Don't tell me it's the sheep's fault. I'm getting hundreds, if not thousands of emails from sheep and churches all across Britain. And they're saying our pastor won't deal with prophecy. He won't talk into the issue. It won't even mention this. It breaks my heart. The leaders are dumb dogs. Do you know what? There's going to be a consequence for that. When revival comes and it is coming, there is going to be a revival. The fourth point, where am I here? I don't want to keep you all night. Number four, temptations and victory. Traitus brothers, then temptations and victory. This is now the great danger for Gideon. The others have been things to deal with. Now we come to temptations and victory. Look at Judges 8 verse 22. Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, this is after it's all over. There's great dangers here. All of Israel come to Gideon when the enemy's defeated, when there's total victory, when revival has swept the land. They say unto Gideon, rule over us, both thou and thy son and thy son's son, for thou has delivered us from the hand of the Midian. And Gideon said unto him, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you, for the Lord shall rule over you. Again, all the commentaries will say Gideon was very noble here. He said, I'm not going to rule over you. God is your king. God is your king. Let him rule over you. Do you know there's a parable given in Judges chapter nine, a parable, a prophecy, a story about what happened. And it's when Abimelech, the counterfeit son of Gideon rises up to be king in the nation. He kills 69 of Gideon's children. I'm coming there in a second. But only one of them escapes called Jotham. And so Abimelech is crowning himself, making himself king in Israel. He's claiming the right. Gideon didn't. Gideon refused him. No way. He wouldn't take up a place of leadership. But a little bit later, his illegitimate son by a concubine rises up, kills 69 of his children, makes himself king. Then Jotham, the son who escaped, stands up on a rock and gives this parable. It was a parable or a story about three trees, a fig tree, sorry, an olive tree, a fig tree and a bramble tree. And it says the trees of the field come to the olive tree, said be king over us, said no. Then they go to the fig tree and say be king over us, said no. Then they go to the third tree, the bramble tree and said be king over us, said I certainly will. Do you know a olive tree is useful in Israel? Very useful. It's the best you can get. All that oil, anointing oil comes from it. The fig tree is useful. A bramble tree isn't useful. You burn it. It's good for nothing but burning. Do you know this illegitimate son is the bramble tree in the parable? So who's the vine tree? Who did all the trees go to and say be king over us? I believe Gideon was one of them. I don't have time to go into all this. Many years ago in Edinburgh, Scotland, there was a Bible teacher who came from Singapore. You know the story. And I decided I'd been put into ministry. God spoke to me about being over a local church in Scotland. The head pastor said you're the man. God spoke to us. And then I lost my nerve and said God help me. I can't preach. I don't know how to lead. I'm the youngest guy in the church. They're all older believers. I don't know how to do this. I just cry every time I preach. I can't do this. So I'm going to tell that pastor on Monday. I'm going to see him Monday. I'm not called to this. Thank God I went to that meeting Sunday night preaching from Judges 9 on the three trees. And you know what that preacher, you can either say this is a wrong or right interpretation. But he said they came to Gideon and said be king over us. And he said no. So the consequences was his illegitimate son was the bramble tree, rose up and was in a position of leadership. You know there's people in the body of Christ because they were called to be leaders and preachers and they refused. And those that took their place have harmed the body of Christ. Do you know that Sunday night as I sat in that meeting, I sat there and I've got all my proud plans ready to resign. Twenty-two years old, ready to resign. I've hardly started. And sitting in that seat, this is what God said to me. He said if you pull yourself out of that position and someone comes in there like this bramble tree and abuses them, I'm going to hold you personally responsible. See I thought I wasn't gifted or able. I was weak. I was fearful. Therefore I thought I shouldn't. I was so scared that night. I went I won't be having that conversation in the morning. I can tell you. See there's temptations in victory. So here's Gideon. He does not take it and it sounds so, so right until you read the next two chapters, until you read the rest of his life. He sounds so right, so spiritual, so humble, so biblical. And he says, I'm not taking that leadership position. That's only for God. It doesn't sound so biblical. But yet what does Gideon do after that? In verse 24, and Gideon said unto the people of Israel, I desire a request of you. He says, let every man bring earrings from each of his prey. And so they brought all the golden earrings from the Ishmaelites. And they also brought all the garments and all manners of treasure until 1,700 shekels of gold being brought in ornaments and collars and purple raiment from all the kings of the Midianites. And they bring it to Gideon. Listen to what Gideon does with it. Verse 27, And Gideon made an effort thereof, and put it in the city, even in Uphra, his own city. And all Israel went thither, a hurrying after it, which thing became a snare unto Gideon and to his house. Look at the danger of a real revival. You've just defeated 135,000 Midianites with 300 men. This is remarkable. This is a sovereign move of God in the nation. Here you are. And now you won't take up a proper leadership position, but you're going to benefit. You're going to marry many wives. You're going to have many children. You're going to be prosperous. You've got the fame, the reputation, but you're not going to carry the responsibility of leadership. Do you know when you don't carry the burden of responsibility, be a man in your home. Do you know a man who lets his wife lead? The problem is you. Your home's not in order because of you. You don't believe scripture. Oh, she's wise than me. Candace is wiser than me. Do you know a wise woman will make the man think he's wiser than her. That's how you do this. Do you know what Gideon does here? He takes all this treasure and makes an ephod. What was an ephod? It was the priestly garment that was worn by Aaron. It was priestly ministry. It was an apron and it had a breastplate with the 12 stones representing the entire nation of Israel. It also had a pouch attached to it with two stones, the Urim and the Thummim. And that was in there, and this was a way of guidance from God. Maybe it had yes and no on it. Remember David, he called for the ephod. Bring the ephod, we need God's direction. Samuel the prophet wore an ephod. This was in the house of God. Joshua used this. Let's go to the ephod to find how to separate the land out between the tribes. Do you remember how Gideon was marked by divine guidance? Remember the signs he asked from God. I need real signs. I'm going to sacrifice, but I need real signs. Fire came out of the rock. Do you remember how the fleece, how he used the fleece and God gave divine signs. Remember when he went down to the enemy camp and he overheard the dream. At that time, he heard the dream them sharing, saying Gideon's going to win the victory. All of this was divine, real guidance. You know what this ephod represents? Guidance, sovereign, divine guidance. You know what Gideon done? Give me all the gold, give me all the treasures. And he made a golden ephod, not to be worn, but to be looked at, to be admired, to mesmerize the people. You know, he says, I'm not going to be your leader, but I'm going to make you a device here. You go to it and yes, no, all of you are going to know God's will all the time. And you just get prophecies. I believe a golden ephod has been released on the church of the past 40 years. Everywhere you go, I've got a prophecy for you. You're going to have a son. You're, this is going to happen. You're going to be healed. And the person dies. It's all through the church. They march around walls that never fall. They prophesy things that never happen. They say, God gave me a dream and God gave me a vision. You've had too much pizza last night. That's what you had. Most of those in the church of this hour, they have more dreams, visions, and prophecy than Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel all rolled up together. They perpetually say from morning to night, every day, we know God's will. Then you're better than Paul and Peter and James and John. That's what you're saying. I don't believe it. I believe in how God guided with the fleece and with the fire out of the rock and with that dream in the enemy camp. Oh, I believe in guidance. I believe in supernatural direction. But you know what? This man of God after revival, he actually created this thinking he's helping the people. I want you to be led of God. They don't have your heart. You're now creating a doctrine of divine guidance. Oh, what dangers when you begin to emphasize this. How dangerous. And it said all Israel, not some Israel, not four tribes, all Israel went to whoring after that ephod. It means they played the harlot, committed adultery or idolatry. This ephod replaced God. Do you know guidance and prophecy could replace God? Do you realize that? Lord, give me a dream. Have you read your Bible this morning? There's all across the church. I have had dreams where God has warned me of things and revealed things. I know what I'm speaking about. Here in this city a few years ago, I was reading Joshua and I got to the part about the Gibeonites and we had been three, remember that building we got locked out of? We're only three days out of that and I'm so relieved we get our own building in this city and we're going to have a wonderful school free from all of these traitors. You know when I used to be running the school upstairs, they would come in and attack Candace as she made meals. They would threaten, say, you need to pay for a black bin bag. Put a hundred thousand into the place. You stole the money and you're worried about 10 pence for the black bin bag. There's a lot of stupidness in the house of God. I'm against it. I hate it. It's going to be a consequence for it. I want to show you. But here you have all Israel run after this ephod. It replaced God. It got in the way of God. It obscured God. It distracted from God. It could be a doctrine on the sovereignty of God. Oh, I believe God is sovereign. You better also preach the responsibility of man. You better. Oh, our practice is to help the suicidal or those on the street or the down and out. You better preach the gospel. You see, you could take a truth or a verse from the Bible, overemphasize it, put it central and say, we serve Christ. It could be a building or a ministry or a doctrine. And it says that all of Israel went a hurrying after it. It become idolatrous. And also it became a snare to Gideon. It was a noose, a trap. Do you know what a snare is? Do you know what you do with a snare when you want to catch an animal? You put something in the middle of the snare. You put a, I could catch my dog easily because I know what it likes. You just put the right thing in there, she'll get caught in that snare. You know, a lot of Christians, the devil knows if I just put the right thing there with the church, they'll come off that and they're going to get snared. There's a meeting with prophecy. They're shaking in these meetings like they haven't ever before. They've got a twitch. I wonder where you pick that twitch up from. Can't find it in the Bible. We shake differently than they did in 94. We roll that way instead of that way. That's where the churches come from or come to. Do you know what a snare is? And this ephod become a snare. It seemed inviting. In other words, a snare at the beginning, it's seductive. You're drawn in. You go, this is a good idea. Not God's guidance. Let's make an ephod that all the people of Israel can be led by God like I was and he really was. I had a real revival, real guidance. Let's give it to everyone in Israel. They can't handle it. You can't give a golden ephod to them any more than a golden calf. And you know what? It becomes idolatrous and it become, although initially it seemed like a good idea to Gideon, once he got inside of this in his own home city in Uphra and all Israel are coming to the golden ephod and he suddenly looks and goes, it's replaced God. Nothing's really happening. They all prophesy. They all predict. They all say, God told me I'm going to meet a big blonde next week. Do you know how damaging on the church this is? But they had peace 40 years. They haven't left the God of Israel. They're going to do that in 0.5 and I'm not going there. They're going to depart. But yet it's in the midst of this ephod, God's guidance, God's direction, like Gideon, it's a whole movement. We believe in Christ. We believe in the blood. We believe in the Bible. We believe in the supernatural. You've just replaced God. For the next 40 years, they have peace because of the victory and they're caught up in this, but it's going somewhere. I'm going to go further with this. One more message in a couple of weeks time. We've got a water baptism next week, I think, depending on the weather. Saints of God, I've just dealt with four key points from Judges chapter eight about the dangers associated with a real revival. I'm dealing with these because I believe a mighty revival is coming. We're seeing Ezekiel's war on the horizon. We're seeing the mark of the beast on the horizon. I can't believe what's happening in our world. It's all happening. All of it is getting put in place. The whole stage is being set. I believe this all my days and I've never said, this is it. Never in my entire life until two years ago. And I said, this is the beginning. Do you know what hour it is? Do you know what time it is? And yet, where's revival in the church? So many people say there's no more revival. We're laodicea. There won't be another revival. It's all apostasy. That's only half the scriptures. Because there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Eight billion people and they're going to go to hell unless we have a revival. If we have one revival, we will see more souls reach for Christ in six months than in any revival in all of church history. Do you realize that? Never has so much depended upon so few to accomplish so much as we right now in this hour. And either we're going to be like Gideon pressing at home, or we're going to be like Ephraim who are late comers, or we're going to be like Succoth who are just betrayers. I ask you right now, what is God saying to you concerning the future? Will you pray with me? Let's pray together. Father, we love you. We bless you. We do acknowledge that this is a momentous hour that we're living in. We've never been here as the church of God before, where we see all of the signs of the times, all of the prophecies of scripture being fulfilled in such a blatant, open, visible, notable way, not just one, not just a few, but all of them prophecies that are 1,600 years old. Lord God are being displayed on our screens, warning us of what hour it is. Lord God, not just a war with Russia, not just of nuclear attacks, but for us, the real bride, the Gideon instrument, the 300 that are being made ready across this world. We know that it's getting very close to a remarkable prophesied outpouring of the Holy Spirit that you've written about in Zechariah chapter 13, in great detail and carefulness, that's going to begin in Jerusalem and sweep across the world. Lord God, I pray, will you prepare that people in every nation, in this hour, in this generation, we don't care about their numbers. We don't care if they're scared and if they're weak, but oh God, we pray that you would choose the vessel, prepare a people in every nation who again are going to preach the word of God and take up the sword of the Lord, who are going to stand with us, thus saith the Lord, who are going to have the power of God to heal sickness and to cast our demons upon them. We are asking for one last merciful ingathering. Oh God, we see the clouds of judgment gathering. We see that those four horses are being prepared to be released. We know that somewhere in this world, there's a man being prepared to take up ultimate political leadership and oh God, we beseech you as the church of God, one last time, give us a revival. Give mercy to this generation. Before wrath, will you pour out your mercy and Lord God, save our families, move in our towns and our cities and our lands, oh God, and Lord God, have mercy one last time in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.