Sin — W.F. Anderson

Gideon's Encounter with the Angel of the Lord

Book of Judges, chapter 6, verse 19. And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened capes of an ephah of flour. The flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the yoke, and presented it.

And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened capes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened capes.

And there rose a fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened capes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God, for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face.

And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee. Fear not, thou shalt not die. Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah Shalom. Unto this day it is yet an ophrah of the Abbaiah's right.

The Authority of God's Word

Upon whatever subject the word of God touches, it speaks with authority. The word of God does not make guesses, or present half-truths, or falsehoods. Upon whatever subject the word of God touches, it speaks with assurance.

And in this sense, the written word is very akin to the Incarnate Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. For it's written of him closing his message on the Sermon on the Mount, that the people were astonished because he taught them as one having authority.

They were used to going to the scribes who would say, Well, I think so, or it might be so, or it looks to me like it's this way. But the Lord Jesus Christ had no such statements to make when he taught that Sermon on the Mount, or when he taught on any occasion.

When he spoke, he spoke with authority. There was no think so, or hope so, or maybe. The Lord Jesus Christ said, Thus and thus it is, and thus it doth, and thus and thus it shall be. Heaven and earth shall pass away, he could say, but my words shall never pass away.

And whatever subject this book treats, it speaks with that same authority. Whether it be creation or salvation or whatever it be, it makes no difference. The Word of God comes straight out with what the truth is.

For instance, in regard to creation, you read the magnificent opening sentence of the whole Word of God, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In regard to man, the Word of God is just as crystal clear in the second chapter of that same book.

The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. I have no argument to make between the Word of God and science. It's not my field.

But wherever the Word of God touches on a scientific subject, though it is not a book of science, the Word of God speaks with authority and has stood through the ages. You can go into any second-hand bookstore and you'll find no market for a second-hand textbook on science.

They're outdated and worthless. What was taught as truth years ago has been completely outdated by modern discovery. But this book remains the same as it was written. By the hand of Moses, of the inspiration of the Spirit of God, the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

And this book speaks with authority. It speaks with authority about your life and mine. A man's life consists of not in the abundance of the things that he possesses. And yet so many men and women take years to find that out, when here in the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ has already told us about life.

Scripture's Authority Concerning Death and Salvation

This book speaks with the same authority about death. The wisest man that ever lived, Solomon by name, could stand at the side of a grave or a tomb and could bring all the learning that he had gained to bear from that subject.

He could use his brain and his mind far more wise than any other human being that lived. And he could assert all his mental powers upon this subject of death. And the only thing he could come to was that, I don't know what lies beyond that tomb.

And that's where men and women make their mistake in using the book of Ecclesiastes as the truth of God in regard to death. It was the writing of a man, who using all the knowledge he could gain from under the sun, applied that knowledge to the subject of death, and had to admit his knowledge stopped at the mouth of the tomb.

What happened after the person died was beyond his knowledge. And it's beyond the knowledge of every other human being. All the philosophies and religions of man say, we think this is what happened after death.

The Word of God comes out and tells you exactly what happens after death. It's appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment. There's no quibble or question in the Word of God. It speaks with authority.

It speaks of a hell to which Christ rejecters go. It speaks of a heaven where the saved will be in bliss for all eternity. And the Lord Jesus Christ himself was the one who spoke more on this subject than any other human being in the world.

Any other writer of Scripture, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke more about it than anyone else. This book, my friend, speaks with authority. And when it comes to the subject of salvation, it speaks just as surely and just as plainly.

The Word of God knows nothing about a hope so, maybe so salvation. The only thing the Word of God knows is a definite, real, and eternal salvation. There isn't any other kind in the Word of God. And that's what I want to take up tonight.

I want to take up with you tonight, my friend, that you sitting in that seat tonight, before you leave this building, you may know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you now possess eternal life. And I'm using a picture out of the Old Testament in order to illustrate the truth of the new.

For the gospel through our Lord Jesus Christ brought life and the immortality to light. And I want to take this instance of Gideon as just a picture of how you may have life and how you may know that you have it.

And it is possible to know, my friend. The Word of God is just as clear on this subject of salvation as it is on every other subject that it touches. And this book tells me you can have eternal life now and you can know that you have it.

Gideon and Israel Under Judgment

Take the history of this man Gideon to start with. He was a man of the nation of Israel. They were in distressed circumstances in the chapter in which we've read together. The people had been in bondage for years to a nation by the name of Midian.

They, together with the Amalekites and the children of the east, had completely despoiled the nation of Israel. Whenever Israel went out and sowed their grain in the spring, the Midianites and the Amalekites came down in the fall to reap the harvest.

Whenever they took care of their vines and had the vintage all ready, the Amalekites and the Midianites, the children of the east, descended on them like a host of grasshoppers and cleaned out all the fruit of their labor.

And so it was that the children of Israel were reduced to extreme circumstances. Their houses were rifled and razed to the ground. And to protect themselves, they were living in dens and caves in the sides of the mountains.

And here was a people to whom it had been promised a land flowing with milk and honey. God said, I'll cry out to all your enemies before you. I'll give you that land. And here they were completely despoiled of the fruits of that land, no milk and honey flowing for them.

Their long labors through the years and building up their harvest in their fields and their vineyards were all gone for nothing as they watched them devoured by those against whom they had no power to resist.

Their houses gone, hiding in caves in the mountains. What was wrong? Ah, this people had sinned against God and they were experiencing the keen edge of the judgment of God against them. God very often used the Gentile nations as a lash or a sword to bring judgment upon his people Israel when they sinned.

And the verse opens, this chapter opens with the verse that the children of Israel did evil against the Lord and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Midianites. What was the source of their trouble?

Sin. Sin. They had sinned against the Lord. And as they watched this go on month after month and year after year, they finally began to cry out unto God for deliverance and they got no deliverance. Instead, God sent them a messenger and said, I brought you out of Egypt.

I warned you about the gods and the Gentiles. I exhorted you not to go after them. I forbade you to set up idols and worship them and you disobeyed me. And that's the only message the people of Israel got.

And the result of all their sin was the judgment of God. Now, my friends, there's a very striking parallel with you and me. You and I are under the judgment of God because of sin. And let's not quibble about this tonight.

The Universal Sinfulness of Humanity

The word of God is just as clear on the subject of sin as it is on anything else. As we were looking this past week in the mornings, one of the purposes for which the law was given was that sin might appear sin.

You love to call your sin by everything else. You love to call it a failure or a mistake or an oversight. God's word doesn't quibble with such terms as that. God's word calls it sin. S-I-N. And what you do and what you fail to do are listed in the word of God as sin.

To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not. Oh, it's simply an oversight. The word of God said it's sin. And the word of God is just as clear as to the consequences of sin. The wages of sin is death.

And you and I are under the sentence of death because of our sin. And I repeat, this is the only book in all the universe of God that's willing to take your heart and show you exactly what you are and pronounce the sentence of God against you.

And when you come to the third chapter of Romans, you will read those very gripping words that we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may be brought unto the judgment of God.

And you sitting here tonight, my friends, oh, I cannot sit down with you about the gospel as long as you're going to tell me about your good works. Not until the judgment of God has shut your mouth are you ready for salvation.

And I trust you'll learn this truth tonight no matter how respectable you may be. You are nothing but a sinner on the road to a lost eternity. I was invited to address a very cultured group of dignified ladies in Florence this past week.

I didn't have much heart for it. I knew what kind of ladies they were. The upper crust of the city of Florence. And I really had nothing in common with them. I didn't know how to handle myself. But I said, well, there's only one thing I can give them.

I can't polish up the truth about sin. Sin is sin. You can't make it look pretty, so I might as well go ahead and shoot both barrels while I'm at it. And I did. I just opened up the word of God and presented the fact that no matter how cultured and refined and what good work they may be doing in the city of Florence, in spite of all their wealth and the welfare of the city of Florence in which they were so interested, they too would spend the eternity in the same hell as any drunkard or harlot, except for the new birth.

That sin was sin in their life just as much as it was in the life of an alcoholic. And so it is, my friend. The word of God knows no difference. There is no difference. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Too many of us are like the Pharisee who went up into the temple to pray, Oh God, I thank thee. I am not as other men are. But he prayed with himself. He wasn't praying with God. And my friend, it doesn't matter who you are tonight, from what kind of a home you may come, what kind of a life you may have lived, you are a sinner.

The word of God says without exception, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And much as you may hate to hear that story, it's exceedingly necessary that you admit that it's true. The first time I ever talked in vacation Bible school when I came home from the service, I shall never forget one of those little girls saying to me after about the third day, How come you're always talking about sin?

Talk about something nice. Talk about something nice. I said, My dear, it's essential that you realize you need a Savior, that you're a sinner. Oh, I thank God I've lived to see that girl grow up to be a young lady knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and taking her place with the people of God.

It's a grand thing. And I'm glad I didn't try to turn off from that subject of sin. She never got away from it until the day she came to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it is with you, my friend. It matters not who you are tonight.

There's no difference. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And that was Gideon. Gideon belonged to a nation of sinners who were under the judgment of God. And you and I by birth belong to a race of sinners under the judgment of God.

Wherefore, as by one man's sin entered into the world and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. For that all have sinned. And you and I are descended from sinful Adam, inherited that same sinful nature.

And you and I are constituted sinners thus. Oh, my friend, listen. You don't have to commit a sin to become a sinner. You commit sin because you are a sinner. If you weren't a sinner, you wouldn't commit sin.

You commit those sins because by nature you are a sinner. And both by nature and by practice, you and I are sinners. And so Gideon was a member of a nation under the judgment of God because of their sins.

Encountering the Holy God

Gideon felt that very much in his own life upon this present occasion. Alas, oh Lord God, what's your trouble, Gideon? Why are you wailing and bemoaning now? Why do you think you're going to die? Because that's the assurance that came to him, you're not going to die.

I have seen an angel of God face to face. And my friend, it's going to be a terrible day in your experience if you ever stand in the presence of the living God in your sin. I do trust tonight that God by His Spirit will so bring His Word to bear upon your heart that you will be brought face to face with the realization of a living, holy God.

And you'll be brought to face the matter of your sin in His presence tonight and not wait until eternity when you appear at the great white throne. And in that coming day at the great white throne judgment about which we heard one night this past week, the heavens and the earth will flee away from before the face of Him that sits upon that throne.

There'll be no place found for them, my friend. And if heaven and earth flee from God's presence and there's no place found for them, where are you going to flee in your sin? You, a sinner, must face a living and a holy God.

A God who cannot, for whom it is a moral impossibility to overlook sin. It is no more possible for God to overlook sin than it is for God to sin Himself. He cannot overlook sin and remain Himself holy.

And so it has always been in the experience of men as when they came into the presence of God and realized what they were in God's sight that they discovered their sin. And I take the case we've used so often and that of dear Job.

God didn't pick out a man and say, Satan, do you see that wretched man down there who's living in sin and iniquity? Let's bring him out, Satan. Have you seen him? God didn't put that kind of a man through the desk to show you what he is.

God took His righteous servant Job in order to expose his heart. It wasn't a man who lived in the sidiousness, who was outlying in the gutter of sin and immorality. It was a man moral and upright and religious in his day.

And God took that man through the process of those bitter experiences, revealed his own heart to him until Job had to cry out, woe is me. Woe is me, I repent in dust and ashes. And my friend, if a man whom God said was righteous in his generation had to repent of his sin, what about you?

And what was it that brought Job to that place of repentance? The revelation of the living God. After all their talk through all those chapters, God revealed Himself to Job and Job was reduced to dust and ashes and mourning.

And I only trust, my friend, tonight that somehow God through His Word will bring a sense of His own infinite holiness and presence to bear upon your heart and conscience that you will be made to repent of your sin just as Job did in his generation.

It was so with Isaiah in the fifth chapter six times over. Isaiah pronounces woes upon the sins of the nation of Israel and he lists them. All the sins of which they've been guilty. Woe unto you, woe unto you, woe unto you.

The seventh time he utters that word woes in chapter six. And then it's woe is me. I am undone. What happened to Isaiah? He saw the Lord high and lifted up. I'm beginning to feel that much of our prophetic version is exceedingly shallow.

I would to God tonight you would go out of here so troubled that you could not sleep. And I would be the last in the world to put a panacea that would be false upon your troubled breath. I would to God some of you would spend a few sleepless nights tossing and turning about your sin until your pillow was like a bed of coals.

I would to God that you would find no peace walking up and down the streets of Augusta all day long or in your office or wherever you might be that constant burning thought I must stand before the living God in my sin.

It's a serious thing to have to do with the living God my friend. There were those in the epistles of the Hebrews who fell away from all these things having rejected them. And where did they go? They fell into the hands of the living God.

And if you tonight knowing the truth of Scripture, knowing the truth of the gospel, turn from these things. There's only one place you can go and that's into the hands of the living God who will judge you for that turning away.

And I hope that burns into your conscience and heart tonight that you will never be able to get away from it. And here was dear Gideon down in fear because he had seen an angel of the Lord face to face.

So it was with even the beloved apostle John when on the isle of Patmos he had the revelation of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in chapter 1 and he saw the magnificence of the Son of God in judgment.

I fell at his feet this one day. Look you my friend it's no light thing to have to do with God. It may be a light thing for you to have to do with the God you concocted in your own mind. But with the living God of this book, the thrice holy God sitting upon a throne of righteousness, it's no light thing to have to do with that God and every last one of you must face him.

And my friend suppose you should be called into his presence tonight. Suppose you had to face him tonight. You must face God about the matter of your sin. And that was Gideon's sin. His fear came because he had seen an angel of the Lord face to face.

The Accepted Sacrifice for Sin

But Gideon had a sacrifice for sin. God had chosen this man to be deliverer of the people of Israel and the angel of God came to him. I have no doubt in my own mind a pre-incarnate manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The angel of God came to him. Gideon said I want to offer a sacrifice. Let me bring these things out to you. I want to make a present to you. And under the instruction of the angel he laid the meat, the flesh, and the meal upon a rock and then the angel touched that offering with the end of his staff and fire came out of the rock and consumed the sacrifice and the angel of God disappeared.

The same thing very nearly occurred in the case of the angel of God speaking to Manoah and his wife about the coming birth of Samson. When they offered their sacrifice, fire consumed that sacrifice and the angel of God went up in a flame and ascended back into heaven.

But he had a sacrifice. And it's because of that sacrifice that Gideon went free from the consequences of having to meet God face to face. His own heart was filled with fear. The only thing that kept him from dying was a sacrifice.

That's all. That's all my friend. And all of you tonight, some of us are bold enough by the word of God to say we are saved. We have eternal life. We will be in heaven. And there's not a one of us here tonight that says that that puts any difference between himself and you in regard to his own character.

I cannot say that because of any inherent goodness in me. I cannot say because of any worked out goodness in me. The only difference my friend between you and me, if you're on the way to almost eternity, is a sacrifice.

That's all. That's the only difference. The only difference between Cain and Abel was a sacrifice. There is no indication in the word of God as to the moral character of these boys before they offered that sacrifice.

None whatsoever. The only difference between the two, why was Cain rejected? Why was Abel accepted? The only reason is the sacrifice they offered. Cain brought a sacrifice of the fruits of his own hands and God rejected him.

Abel brought the first sling of the flock and offered a bloody sacrifice and God accepted him. And God even says to Cain, there's a sin offering at the door, Cain. You can be accepted if you bring the right offering.

And my friend, the only reason God has accepted me tonight and those here who know that they have eternal life is they have brought the right sacrifice. Or shall I say they accepted the sacrifice already offered.

The only reason Gideon was accepted by God was because of the sacrifice he offered. That's all. And it's upon a life I did not live. It's upon a death I did not die. By another's life, another's death, I stake my whole eternity.

It's the sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ offered from the cross for me and for you. And that's the only difference. I've accepted that sacrifice as my own. And if you haven't, the only difference between you and me before God is that sacrifice.

My acceptance tonight is the sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ offered on the cross. Accepted of God for me. By virtue of that sacrifice, he's forgiven my sins and accepted me to himself. But only because of that sacrifice.

Now if a sacrifice is going to be offered for sin, it must have the approval and meet the acceptance of God and thus it must fully bear the judgment of God against sin. What is the judgment of sin? Twofold.

In the verse we've already quoted, it's to point another man wants to die and after this the judgment. There's physical death. Ah, but there's something else. There's judgment. Physical death does not end it, my friend.

The judgment comes after physical death. The Lord Jesus Christ offered himself as sacrifice to God without spot. He died physically. So I say that's the first part of the sentence of God against sin. He died physically.

Loving hands took him down from the cross and laid him in Joseph's tomb. And there he was until that resurrection morning when his body, he and that glorified body came out from the tomb. He died alright.

But that's only half the story. After death the judgment. Of course in his own experience they were reversed. And you hear him cry out of the depths of darkness on that cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Ah, my friend, he was experiencing the judgment of God for sin. The Lord Jesus Christ was an accepted sacrifice. Gideon's sacrifice was accepted. Fire came out of the rock and consumed that sacrifice and that was always in the Old Testament.

God's indication that he accepted the sacrifice. When the priests instituted their service in the tabernacle and they laid out their first sacrifice upon the altar, fire came out from the Lord and consumed that sacrifice.

When Elijah had his contest with the prophets of Baal, God sent fire down out of heaven and consumed the sacrifice Elijah offered. God was accepting that sacrifice. So here was Gideon. So was Manoah and his wife.

Because God accepted that sacrifice. And because God accepted the sacrifice, they were accepted because of the sacrifice. That's the lovely language of Leviticus chapter 1. He shall offer that sacrifice for his acceptance.

Oh my friend, I have no acceptance before God tonight in myself. But there's one who's seated in glory at the right hand of the majesty on high tonight and he's my acceptance. He was my sacrifice upon the cross for my sins and for yours, my friend.

And tonight he's my acceptance. And the only difference between you and me is a sacrifice. That's all. Oh my friend, I beg you. What sacrifice are you bringing to God tonight? Is it the fruit of your own hand?

Your labors, your church membership, your work, your tithing, your Bible reading, your prayer? A thousand and one things! There's only one sacrifice that God has ever fully accepted. And that was the sacrifice his blessed son offered upon the cross when he gave himself for you and me.

And that's the only sacrifice that God will accept. Now how do you come to God tonight? He, the Lord Jesus, is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God. By him. By him. Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

Christ Alone Is the Way of Salvation

There's only one approach to God. That's by the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only one sacrifice that can put your sins away. And that's the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleansed us from all sin.

There's only one door opening to the presence of God. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life. And my friend, this book is as crystal clear on that subject as it is on any subject.

Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved. There isn't any salvation in any other. The Lord Jesus Christ is unequivocal in his use of terms in John 14.

And I have been in several funerals working with other men who use that verse and invariably they leave off the last part of it. And so I never fail to use the whole thing. The Lord Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

And they stopped there. That isn't all he said. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. I am the door. By me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved.

But it must be the Lord Jesus Christ who offered his sacrifice upon the cross. And my friend, that is salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. The right sacrifice. The blood sacrifice that Jesus Christ offered upon the cross for you.

That is the way to God. That is salvation. That is eternal life and that alone. You remember when Manoah and his wife offered that sacrifice to the angel of the Lord. That angel had appeared to his wife first, not to him.

The angel of the Lord appeared and told her about the coming birth of Samson. And she told her husband, an angel of the Lord came to me and told me thus and so. And the angel of the Lord appeared a second time out in a field to that woman.

And she ran back and got her husband. And they came and the husband conversed with the angel of the Lord. And then they offered a sacrifice. And the angel of the Lord who said his name was Wonderful. Wonderful.

Whose name is Wonderful? Thou shalt call his name Wonderful. The Lord Jesus Christ. And that angel of the Lord disappeared ascending in the flame of that sacrifice. And poor Manoah cried out, Oh, we shall die.

We shall die. We have seen God. I love the spunk and spiritual grasp of that woman. She said if it had pleased the Lord to kill us, he wouldn't have accepted our offering. That's it. That's it, my friend.

Oh, it's because God has accepted the offering of the Lord Jesus Christ on my behalf. But the sentence of death is removed from me. My sins are gone because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how did Gideon know beyond the shadow of a doubt that he would not die?

Knowing Eternal Life Through God's Promise

How did he know? Gideon may have said and moaned like Manoah, I'm going to die because I've seen God. How did he know he would not die? Did he say, well, you know, I've lived a pretty good life and I've been doing quite valiantly here amongst the people of Israel.

And I think because of that, God has accepted me and everything is going to turn out alright in the end. And I've been pretty religious, you know. I've been going up to Jerusalem quite regularly to attend the feasts.

And I've been doing just that and the other thing. And I think perhaps it might be that I'm not going to die after all. Was that it? Ah, no, my friend. I repeat the word of God knows nothing about that.

Now listen. Verse 23. And the Lord said unto him, peace be unto thee, thou shalt not die. How did Gideon know he would not die? He had the word of the Lord for it. The Lord said unto him, thou shalt not die.

How do I know tonight that I have eternal life? The Lord said unto me. Oh, and don't misunderstand me. It's not any religious experience, an illusionation or a dream. But this book I hold in my hand is the word of the living God.

And God has written in this book, in the language of the Lord Jesus. He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. For again the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into judgment.

But is passed out of death into life. That's the word of the Lord. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And thou shalt be saved. That's the word of the Lord. He that hath the Son hath life. That's the word of the Lord.

He that believeth on him is not condemned. That's the word of the Lord. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. That's the word of the Lord. Now there's but one question, my friend. Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ?

Now don't tell me intellectually, yes, you agree with everything that scripture says. I want to know if you have faced God with the matter of your sin. And you've realized that the Lord Jesus Christ offered a sacrifice for you.

Gave himself upon the cross and now lives in glory. Gave himself that your sins might forever be put away. And you, in your own heart, have received that Savior as your Lord and Savior. For as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become the children of God.

Even to them that believe on his name, which were born of God. Have you received him? Ah, my friend, it's a grand Savior. Oh, we may have seemed harsh tonight on this subject of sin, but it's a grand thing.