Sermon Title: Faint, Yet Pursuing
Sermon Text: Judges 8:4
Read Judges 8:1-4 v4--And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them. Have you ever paused to consider what Bible hero of the faith you most want to meet when you get to Heaven? I know the line will be around the block to shake hands with Moses; and to have a few moments with Paul, it will be like Target in that we’ll have to take a number; And to exchange greetings with the disciple John, the wait will be longer than the line to have your child’s picture taken with Santa Clause at Merle Hay Mall in December. I think one of the first people I wish to meet, would be that of Gideon. Here’s a man that when we first find him in scripture (Judges 6:11), he is in a valley threshing wheat, hiding out from the Midianites. Threshing wheat was something to be done out in the open, up on a hilltop even, so as to take advantage of the wind to blow the chaff away from the wheat kernels. But we see him down in the valley by the winepress, hiding from his enemies. He is scared, discouraged and defeated, and he has lost all confidence and vision for God’s calling on his life. And I’ll bet my bottom dollar that Gideon was just about to the point where he was ready to flat out quit.
Application: Can anybody relate? Is there someone here tonight who is defeated, discouraged? Someone who feels as though the heavens are heavy as iron to your prayers? Have you lost a measure of confidence that the Lord is still at work in your life? That’s where Gideon was at, and that’s the kind of thoughts he had running around in his doubtful head; but that is not how the Lord saw Gideon Judges 6:12--And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. You see, we look at ourselves in the mirror and see only our PRESENT mediocrity; But God looks down from Heaven upon us and sees our POTENTIAL in Him. And my message to the downhearted Christian tonight, is the LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour! Psalms 73:26--My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. Deuteronomy 20:3b-4--3 …..let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; 4 For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. Isaiah 41:10--Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. And I agree with DL Moody when he said, “if God be your partner, make your plans big!
Turn to 2 Chronicles. When the Assyrian King Sennecharib was about to invade Jerusalem, (Sennecharib being sort of a type of Satan, or at the very least, a type of how he works), and he was issuing threats, stirring up strife, and causing rampant fear in the hearts of the children of Judah, King Hezekiah pulled ‘em all together and said, 2 Chronicles 32:7-8--7 Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: 8 With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
There are some scared, defeated Christians, that need to be strong and courageous. There maybe some folks amongst us even, who are just about ready to quit on God, and need to be reminded that there be more with us than with <our enemies> him. There are some folks who have perhaps all but fainted, and you need to know that there still is with us the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. So don’t quit, keep fighting. Quote: In 1985, World Boxing Champion Larry Holmes said after a tough fought bout with Carl Williams: “That’s what being a champion is all about. You fight until there are no more bells.” For the Christian, we are to press, and fight, and endure, and persist, and carry on until we hear the trumpet, amen!
You say, preacher, why don’t give you me one good reason why I shouldn’t just quit, or faint, as our text says. I’ll do more than that, I’ll give you three, are you ready?
1) Don’t Faint, Keep Pursuing: Because Satan wants you to quit. (Gal 6:9)
Galatians 6:9--And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Satan knows that God has some great things in store for the persevering Christian, and so he tries with all his might, to get you and I to just quit, and consequently from ever doing anything great for God. He works to keep us perpetually discouraged, ready to throw our hands up in the air and quit. We know that we have an ADVOCATE, that is Jesus Christ, who is ever interceding for us; but do not be mistaken, we also have an ADVERSARY, that is Satan, who is ever working to cause us to stumble.
Jesus wants us to go on and grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. (2 Peter 3:18) But Satan wants us to stop growing, and to start sulking. But let us go on to perfection.
2) Don’t Faint, Keep Pursuing:Because the next generation is watching (Ro14:7)
Romans 14:7--For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. No one faints alone. Someone will always, always quit with you.
Mom/Dad: Your children at home, even your grown children away from the home are watching, DON’T FAINT. Don’t leave a legacy to your children and grandchildren of being a quitter. Don’t pass on to them the genes of a quitter.
College and Career age: You’ve got some high schoolers watching you that think you’ve got it all figured out; DON’T FAINT.
High Schoolers: There are more 7th and 8th graders than you can imagine that are watching you, and think you are so cool and can’t wait until they are your age so they can be cool just like you. If your sold out for the things of God, there’s the chance that they too will have a desire for the things of God. But if you quit on God, there’s a good chance that they will think it quite cool to quit on God as well. So DON’T FAINT.
Junior Highers: You may not believe me, but it’s true, there are a dozen or more kids in children’s church this evening, that are watching you; So DON’T you FAINT either.
3) Don’t Faint, Keep Pursuing: Because all of heaven is cheering you on (Heb 12:1) Hebrews 12:1-- Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
The writer of Hebrews reminds us that THERE IS an audience in the heavenlies, of saved family members and friends alike, whom we know and love, which have went on before us. And they are looking and cheering us on, as we run the Christian race, whether we are heading into the first turn, or the homestretch and rounding turn four. But not only are there saved people we know and love rooting for us, Jesus is there at the finishing line as well, ready and desirous to say to you, well done thou good and faithful servant:..enter thou into the joy of the Lord. (Matt 25:23) My Bible implores the wise Christian to lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: (Matt 6:20). Friends, I would remind you this evening that your heavenly treasures can only be laid up, in direct proportion, to the degree that your earthly treasures are laid down. Hebrews 11:6 says that God..is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. What kind of rewards? Glad you asked. The Bible makes mentioning of five types of crowns, or believer’s rewards.
1. The Incorruptible Crown 1 Cor 9:25--And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
2. The Crown of Righteousness 2 Timothy 4:8--Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. This crown of righteousness is a reward for faithfulness in testimony.
3. The Crown of Life James 1:12--Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. This crown of life is a reward for faithfulness in and through trials.
4. The Crown of Joy --1 Thessalonians 2:19a--For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? This crown of treasure is a reward for faithfulness to the task.
5. The Crown of Glory 1 Peter 5:4--And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Application: Sunday school teacher, Bus worker, AWANA worker, Nursery worker, Patch the Pirate helper, God called preachers; you may be off working in some ministry where no one ever takes notice, where no one ever tells you how much they appreciate you. Where so far as you can tell, your not making any kind of a difference, and you think no one notices. God notices it. God sees it. We sometimes quote 2 Chronicles 16:9--For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Or even, Proverbs 15:3--The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. And we talk about how the Lord sees all the secret sins that no one else may see, and that’s true, and we must be mindful of such. But faithful Christian laborer, know for certainty that His eyes also behold the good, and God sees your faithful steady hand to His work week in and week out, and will one day, maybe in this lifetime or maybe in the next, but HE WILL ONE DAY reward you for such. God pays for what He orders. This Crown of Glory is a reward for faithfulness in teaching and training.
So, we have the incorruptible crown, the crown of life, the crown of joy, the crown of righteousness, and the crown of glory. Beloved, I have looked for it throughout the pages of scripture, and I have to tell you tonight, that I see NO CROWN FOR THE QUITTER. Listen, Jesus has all ready won the victory, so your and my race is not about our winning; Jesus has already taken care of that. Your and my race is not about winning, but it is about finishing and finishing well. The object is not to see who gets to the finish line FIRST, but who will cross the finish line at all. Illustration: I used to live in Indianapolis and went several times to the Indianapolis 500. 33 cars would start out at the beginning, but over the course of the race, for various reasons, cars would drop out. Maybe there was a massive pile-up that took out a bunch of drivers, maybe it was wear and tear on the car, or a host of other reasons, but by the end of the race, you look up on the scoreboard, and beside a bunch of the driver’s names who started well were the initials DNF….Did Not Finish. Application: What a tragedy, if it were so, that a Christian would have his name written in the Lambs Book of Life, but as it were, sort of an asterisk beside it with the initials DNF. Don’t be a Christian DNF. Let it be said of you and I, that when our time on this earth ends, we can echo Paul’s words with a clear, peaceful conscience, 2 Timothy 4:7--I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
I know it’s hard. I am not at all saying it’s easy. The rosy way in which some preachers portray the Christian life to the lost is enough to make a military recruiter blush. The truth is, the Christian life is a hard, narrow, and demanding path. But it is a straight path, and it is the right path; and it is the one true path which leads to a joyous ETERNAL life, AND a victorious PRESENT life. Proverbs 24:10--If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. My plea with you tonight is simply this, don’t faint. Keep pursuing. Don’t faint, keep pursuing. I know that your mind is weary and wants to faint. I know some of you are exhausted and would like nothing more than to faint. I know the devil is whispering in the ear of many, why don’t you just go ahead and faint?! But this evening I would declare to you, it’s as though all the hosts of heaven are looking down tonight at the weary Christian who is about to quit; who is about to faint, and are crying out in unison DON’T FAINT! DON’T FAINT! KEEP PURSUING! KEEP PURSUING!
Declare with the prophet Micah 7:8--Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me. Proverbs 24:16a--For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: Falling down doesn’t make you a quitter; but staying down does. Illustration: Did you ever think about the symbol for JUSTICE is a balanced set of scales. What makes a man just is he is balanced. Each time he is knocked down, he gets back up, and he balances the scale.
Someone might say, I don’t even have the strength, or will, to get back up. How do I keep from fainting and quitting. Turn to: Hebrews 12:3-For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Consider Him. Consider Jesus. Why? Because there’s Victory there! Beloved, Victory in Jesus is more than just a catchy theme for this year’s revival. It’s more than #XXX in your Baptist Hymnal. There’s victory in Jesus available tonight not only for the sinner; but also for the saint. Corinthians 15:57—“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 8:37--Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Isaiah 40:29-31--29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Closing: Many of you are old enough to remember in 1994, the genocide which took place in Rwanda, killing at least 500,000 to as much as 1 million people. During the exodus from Rwanda there were pitiful scenes of refugees leaving their country. One headline read, “They stopped only to die.”, with the subtitle, They sat down on the side of the road and never got back up. They died where they sat. One picture showed a man urging his family on and to not to sit down. He was saying to them through tears, “Don’t sit down. You’ll never get up! Keep pressing on! Application: Oh, that every Christian would be like that spiritually. To not sit down and quit, but to keep pressing on. And when we come to the end of our days, may the Lord find you and I, in the same preoccupation we found Gideon in this evening; faint, yet pursuing.