[0:00] Turn with me once again to Judges chapter 7 and verse 18 where Gideon speaks to his 300 men, the remnant that were left after God sent all the rest of his men home.
[0:25] And with those 300 men, he faced the hordes of Midianites. Verse 18, page 249, Judges chapter 7 and verse 18.
[0:36] When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of the camp and shout for the Lord and for Gideon.
[0:47] The story of Gideon is one of the many places in the Bible where God does something spectacular.
[1:01] But he does so by using someone who is ordinary, someone who is weak, and at that time who was completely unknown.
[1:14] This was a completely impossible situation. And God took someone who was obscure, a non-entity, who wasn't even a fully grown man, a young man out of the least of the tribes, the least important of the tribes.
[1:32] And this was the man who God used as the leader of his people to go against successfully, to go against the enemy who were quite overwhelming. The Midianites had invaded Israel and were threatening their land and their future.
[1:47] As they did every single year, they were a scourge to the Israelites. And there were many, many thousands of, in fact, it tells us here that they were like locusts in abundance.
[2:00] To stand on a vantage point and to look over the hordes of Midian, it was quite a frightening, quite an awesome sight. And there were far more of them than Israel could ever hope to match.
[2:12] And Israel, every single year, they naturally felt demoralized and weakened by this continuous scourge and this continuous threat of the Midianites.
[2:23] And it was then that they did what they should have been doing all along as God's people. They eventually cried out to God to help them. And that was the moment when God heard their prayer and stepped in to rescue them from this powerful and crippling enemy.
[2:42] In chapter 7, chapter 6, rather, it tells us how God came to one ordinary young man, Gideon. And he was going about his ordinary business.
[2:54] And the angel went to him and he announced to him that God had chosen him to go against Midian and to lead the people of Israel in victory against them. But there were things that had to be sorted out, first of all.
[3:07] But Gideon had to sort himself out as far as his relationship with the Lord was concerned. Because things were not right with him and his father's house, his family and his village.
[3:19] And God had to challenge him, first of all, to get his own heart right. Only then was God prepared to make him the leader and to make him. And that applies to all of us. God is concerned about our hearts.
[3:31] And that first and foremost, before we can be of use to him, our hearts have to be right with him. And that means if you're not a Christian tonight, your heart has to be right with God.
[3:41] Before you can work for the Lord and before you can do anything for him and live in his kingdom, he has to make your heart right. And that had to happen with Gideon. But it was more than that.
[3:52] The people around him, their hearts weren't right either. And he had to set the scene by destroying the altar that his father had made to Baal. Baal was the false god of the Canaanites.
[4:03] And Gideon, after his experience in speaking to the angel, first thing he had to do was to break this altar down. Now, that was a risky business because his village, his father's house, they revered Baal.
[4:15] They worshipped Baal. For them, Baal was God. And so Gideon took his life in his hands in breaking down his altar. But it was when they were about to kill Gideon that his father stepped in and said, if Baal is really God, then he can contend for himself.
[4:30] He doesn't need us to put his enemies to death for him. If he is offended at what Gideon has done, then he can step in himself and put Gideon to death. After all, if he's God, he's able to do that.
[4:43] But if he's not God, then leave Gideon alone. And that was the reasoning process in which eventually, step by step, Gideon's family and his village all came back to the Lord.
[4:54] A step that began in reasoning. Who is God anyway? Why are we worshipping this false god? Why are we worshipping Baal? If he's not God, then we're wasting our time in worshipping.
[5:04] And good Gideon is the only one that's man enough to stand up and to say what's right. And that's the kind of person that the Lord is looking for. People who are prepared to stand up and to say what is right and what is true.
[5:18] And the sad thing is that it's so easy to fall in with a crowd and to do what most people are doing rather than to be in the minority. And this story is all about people who want to, it's a minority, having to face a majority.
[5:34] The minority were Gideon's 300 men. We'll see that in a few moments. The majority were the Midianites. The vast hordes of them. The thousands and thousands of them. And the easiest thing, all of us, finds it much easier to live with the majority.
[5:50] And to do what everybody else is doing. And to be afraid to do and to say what is right. Because that sets us apart. It makes us different from the crowd. But God wants his people to be different.
[6:03] And to stand for him. Even if that means persecution. And it means awkwardness. Gideon had to take a chance. He had to take the risk of even death itself.
[6:14] Many as a person has had to lay down their lives for the sake of standing up. For the people that even right now as we speak are doing just that. They're standing for the sake of the Lord.
[6:27] And they're having to face death every day, in fact, for the sake of God. But the story reveals, as we go along, it reveals something about, more and more, about Gideon's character.
[6:41] This wasn't a man who was naturally brave and naturally gifted or skilled in war. He wasn't a Goliath. He wasn't taller than anyone else. He wasn't stronger than anyone else.
[6:53] In fact, the sense of the passage seems to indicate that he's just a non-entity. And if God hadn't chosen him, nobody would ever have heard of him. But he was a young man.
[7:03] He wasn't experienced in any way. And yet this was the man who, but he was also a weak person. He was hesitant. He was nervous. And this is the reason why at the end of chapter 6, even after he heard the angel telling him in no uncertain terms that he was the one that had to lead Israel against the Midianites, he still hesitated.
[7:24] Because it was one thing to hear it some days ago when he met the angel. That was clear. But it's another thing altogether to continue to believe it days later, weeks later.
[7:36] And it's the same with being a Christian. Perhaps you can think back to the time when you became a Christian at first. And it appeared, the gospel appeared to be so clear to you and so powerful to you.
[7:51] And whatever means God used to bring you to know him was a very powerful means perhaps. And then that day there was absolutely no doubt in your mind whatsoever.
[8:03] Everything was clear, black and white. Everything was absolutely crystal in front of your face. But now, weeks later, years later, perhaps decades later, you're beginning to sense that you feel that things are perhaps not as clear as they once were.
[8:23] And you begin to hesitate. Just like Gideon did. He began to hesitate when it came to whether he really was. And the more he thought about the task that God was calling him to face, and that God was asking him to face these Midianites, thousands, hordes of them, with the weak Israel army, then the more he drew back, and the more.
[8:49] And that was, of course, the reason why he, at the end of this chapter 6, why he does this extraordinary thing and puts God to the test by saying to the Lord, Lord, if this really is your will, then I'm going to test you.
[9:04] And he did it twice. First of all, he took a fleece, a piece of a sheep's wool, and he said to the Lord, I'm going to put this on the ground.
[9:15] And if you really want me to lead the people against Midian, then I would like you to make the fleece wet and the dry ground, the ground to be dry round about in the morning.
[9:27] Now, of course, we all know that ground is not dry in the morning. Ground is wet with dew. And it is completely impossible for a fleece. A fleece is an absorbent item.
[9:38] If you put a fleece in water, it will absorb the water right away. And so it was quite impossible for the ground to be dry and the fleece to be wet. But yet, sure enough, when he woke up the next morning, there it was.
[9:51] The fleece was wet and the ground was dry. But even then he wasn't satisfied. Even then, he was plagued with doubts and fears in his own mind. As he thought, as the prospect of going to war against the Midianites weighed heavily on his mind.
[10:05] And the responsibility that God had placed on his shoulders, it weighed so heavily on his mind. But he had to learn that his strength lay in the Lord. Didn't lie in himself.
[10:16] Even then, perhaps, he was inclined, as we are all too wrongly, to put our trust in ourselves and to think that we have to face things by ourselves. We don't. If God is for us, who can be against us?
[10:29] The secret is, God is for us. He that is in you is greater than he that is in them. So he went to the Lord again and he said, this time I want the opposite. He said, this time may the ground be wet and the fleece be dry.
[10:45] Now, I don't know which one was more impossible. Both of them, I guess, were impossible. But sure enough, when he woke up the next morning, the ground was wet and the fleece was dry.
[10:56] And then he knew for sure, having tested the Lord, that God truly and really wanted him to lead the people against Midian. Now, there are two questions, of course, that apply to us.
[11:07] First of all, was he right in doing this? Was he right to test the Lord in such a way? After all, the angel had told him in no uncertain terms, go and fight with Midian.
[11:19] Now, sometime later, he's questioning the Lord. He's doubting what God had clearly said to him. Was this not a sign of a lack of faith? Well, it's easy for us to say that, isn't it?
[11:33] Maybe it was. Maybe it was a fault or a blemish or a flaw in Gideon's life. But who is there in the Bible that doesn't have blemishes? Who is there?
[11:44] And which one of us, if we were in the same position, would fearlessly and perfectly and steadfastly listen to the Lord?
[11:56] If I was asked by the Lord to lead an army against a horde of marauding Midianites, I would be absolutely terrified. And maybe my fear would be a pretext to say to the Lord, look, I actually don't want to do this.
[12:13] And I wouldn't want to do it. And I guess Israel, and I guess Gideon in his heart of hearts, he would have chosen, if you had given him the choice of running a mile, he would have. It was never an easy thing to do God's will.
[12:27] God commands us to do very often the difficult thing, the awkward thing, the thing that involves pain and struggling. And this is what it was in Gideon's life as well.
[12:39] So Gideon was possibly wrong in testing the Lord in this way. And yet God was gracious to him. And he answered. He was kind to Gideon. And his grace covered Gideon's weakness.
[12:51] His strength was made perfect in Gideon's weakness. There's nothing we do in this world that is sinless. Sin invades every aspect of our lives. Even something in which we come close to God and we pray to the Lord about, sin invades every aspect.
[13:09] But there's another question as well. And the question, of course, that I guess you're all asking and that I would have asked and probably still do ask is this. Is it right to determine God's will or to find out what the will of God is by this kind of methodology, by testing God?
[13:27] Somebody who says, well, I don't know whether God really wants me to do this or not. So I'm going to leave a bucket of water on the fence. And in the morning, if the wind has blown the bucket over, then I'll know that God wants me to do this.
[13:42] Or some such thing like that. Some such thing. Maybe you've done it. Something like that. I used to do it when I was a young Christian. When I was a young teenage Christian. And when we used to go to Scripture Union in school, we used to have discussions about whether Gideon was right.
[13:58] And we used to call it fleecing God. And some people used to say, nothing wrong with it. And some people would come in and they would give their testimony and they would say, well, here's what I did. And here's how I found out what God's will was.
[14:10] And here's how I said to the Lord once, if you do this, then I will do that. Because that's what it is, isn't it? It's asking the Lord. It's kind of almost, you almost feel it's kind of bargaining with God.
[14:24] And where does it end? Once you go down that road, which, how do you decide what to test God on and what not to test God on? Because there are hundreds of decisions we have to make from day to day, and week to week, and year to year.
[14:38] And we want to know that all of these decisions are God's will. There's nothing wrong with that. We want to know that we're in obedience to God. Don't we? We want to be God first. The easiest thing in the world would be to say to God, well, if you really want me to do this or that, then show me.
[14:54] By some tangible way, some sign, give me this sign. In fact, I'll tell you what sign to give me. And you tell, and by this sign, then, I remember having all these discussions when I was a younger Christian.
[15:07] And perhaps it was because Gideon was such a young man. He was immature, inexperienced, that he approached God in this way. And God allowed for that. He made allowance for his inexperience and his immaturity, just the same way as God allows for my inexperience and your inexperience and our ignorance and our lack of knowledge.
[15:26] But nonetheless, I don't think it's a wise thing to engage in this kind of testing at all with the Lord. And I do believe that it does show a lack of faith on our part if we do.
[15:44] It's a very tentative thing, isn't it? Because if what we test the Lord with doesn't work, do we really know that God is telling us something? No, no, we don't.
[15:55] All we know is that this whole methodology, this way of trying to find out what God is, God's will is, is our own invention. So I wouldn't advise you to go down that road at all.
[16:09] I would remind you, first of all, that those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Romans chapter 8 and verse 14. What that tells us is, that every Christian is indwelt by God's Spirit.
[16:24] That means if you're a Christian tonight, the Holy Spirit dwells within you. God, the Holy Spirit dwells within you. Some of you will remember that Professor McLeod had that on the Wednesday night of our communion last time.
[16:38] The Holy Spirit dwells within every one of his people. But Romans 8, 14 tells us more than that, tells us that he's there to lead us and guide us.
[16:50] And that means that our future and our decisions, are guided by the Lord. There is no if or no maybe about it.
[17:01] He is there to guide and to lead and to direct each one of his people. Now what that means is that our lives are not a series of random and meaningless events that take place.
[17:15] God stands behind every event in our lives and our decisions, and makes sense of them. And as they take place in the framework of his own plan.
[17:31] But what that plan is, is hugely difficult to find out. In fact, I would suggest to you that for the most part, we don't ever find out what God's ultimate plan and his will for our lives is.
[17:42] And I would suggest to you that largely, it's, or very often, it's a waste of time to try. You leave God's plan to himself. And you make sure that you're in the right place, you're in the right condition, before the Lord tonight.
[17:58] That's what Gideon was. Gideon had to sort out, first of all, the idolatry that was in his own life, because his life wasn't right with God. That's what God wants us.
[18:09] And when we, as we come close to the Lord, as we rediscover the preciousness of prayer and obedience, and as we delve into the Bible, and as we discover more and more of how relevant it is for each one of us, and as we feed upon the Bible, then we discover that God does do his will in our lives.
[18:32] And it's very important not to almost superstitiously try to find out God's will and God's answer. Now, I'm not suggesting that there aren't times, perhaps, when God does extraordinary things like this.
[18:45] Perhaps this is, this was an extraordinary event that took place, and we should allow for that. And perhaps there are extraordinary experiences that we might or might not have.
[18:56] I'm not saying that there aren't. But what I'm saying is that fleecing God is not something that we should, that we should do to try and determine his will.
[19:09] We have to trust God. We have to believe that as we live from day to day, that we are in his will and that we will be guided by his spirit.
[19:21] And that is, that should satisfy us. And that should make us content to rest in the Lord and to patiently wait for him.
[19:32] Well, whatever we think of Gideon's putting God to the test, God answered him and Gideon obeyed. And chapter seven, of course, tells us that general obedience to that command wasn't good enough.
[19:43] God wanted him to follow every step of the way, every detail of how this battle was going to be fought, had to be determined by the Lord. He guided him every step of the way, even when it appeared that God was giving the most absurd directions.
[20:03] At first, it appeared that Gideon's army was in good shape. Having found the confidence that he needed by the fleece, Gideon rose up, he called people to himself and it was successful.
[20:16] As a result of his call, 32,000 men all gathered around him. Now that was, that's some gathering. That's a formidable force. And it must have appeared to Gideon that God was answering his prayer and he was fulfilling his own purpose in him.
[20:32] He's making his mission successful. Imagine his horror when the next thing God told him was, you've got too many men. That's the last thing he expected to hear.
[20:46] He might have expected to hear, you've got too few men. The Midianites were like the locusts, like the sand on the seashore. That's what we read about them.
[20:57] It was impossible to count them. And what are 32,000 men, even that number, going to do against such a huge, massive army? And yet God said to him the very opposite of what he expected.
[21:09] You've got too, too, too, too many men. Get rid of most of them. It's rather like, when we think things are going well for us, and all of a sudden, something happens that's the very opposite to what we expect.
[21:27] We expect God to act in a certain way, and then when he turns around and pulls the rug from under us, we think that somehow or other, our whole world has turned upside down, and we wonder what God is doing.
[21:40] And Gideon must have wondered the same. How can I face a horde like this with less than 32,000 men?
[21:51] God said, you've got too many. Get rid of them. So the way he did this was he stood, and he gave a speech to them. Now, there was nothing unusual about that.
[22:03] Many of you have seen movies about battles, and where the leader of the army, first thing he does is he stands in front of his men, and he gives them courage by making a speech.
[22:14] That's quite the thing. Because it's as important to have that inner confidence, that bravery, that heroism, as it is to have the muscle, and the strength, and the skill.
[22:29] After all, there's no point in having an army full of skill, and experience, if they don't have the confidence. So normally, this is where the commanding officer comes in, and he gives a speech. And he rouses his men to fight.
[22:43] And I guess this is what they expect. The last time, the last thing that these men would have expected, was Gideon to stand up and say, anyone who's afraid, go home. And yet, that's what happened.
[22:55] And I guess it was a sad indictment, and a real sign, of the absence, of faith, on the part of Gideon's men, that so many of them went home.
[23:08] 22,000 men, went home, leaving only a third of what was left. And, as if that wasn't, precarious enough, God said to Gideon, there are still, too many men.
[23:28] And there was a reason for that. Of course, God made it clear to Gideon, that why he was doing, what he was doing. Because if they, if Gideon had gone in, with the 32,000 men, and he had destroyed Midian, then they would have all come back, rejoicing and exulting, in themselves.
[23:48] But God wanted to have the glory, in this battle. Because it was him, that had intervened, on their behalf. And nothing must take the glory, away from God. Well, they, that left then, Gideon to, whittle down the army, to an even more, even a, an even smaller, extent.
[24:08] So he did this, by taking them to the water, and testing them, there. And God said, any one of you, who I say to you, this one shall go with you, shall go with you. And every one, I say this one, shall not go with you, shall not go.
[24:20] So he brought the people down, to the water. Now here's what happens. The Lord said to Gideon, everyone who laps, the water with a tongue, and as a dog laps, you shall set, by himself.
[24:36] And likewise, everyone who kneels down, to drink. So this was the way, in which God was going, to whittle down the army, even, to even less, than it was. So all of these, all of these 10,000 men, or so, they went to the water, and they started drinking, and Gideon watched, the way in which they drank.
[24:53] And sure enough, there were two groups, some of them, straight into the water, their heads went, straight into the water, and they drank the water, straight from the stream. Other ones, knelt down to the water, and they took their hands, and they scooped up the water, and they drank it, from their hands, kneeling.
[25:13] And they were the ones, these two groups were put, they were separated, one was put on one side, and one was put on the other. And the vast majority of them, were those who, knelt, and put their heads, straight into the water, and drank.
[25:26] Vast majority of them. Only 300 of them, scooped the water, with their hands, and they lapped it, like a dog. They were the ones, who God was going to use, to win this battle.
[25:44] 300 men. Now, you might be surprised, that I am not going, to try and explain, why it was, that the lappers, were chosen by God, as opposed to the kneelers.
[26:01] I don't have an answer, for that. You know, some people say, well, the fact that, these 300 men, had the vigilance, to kneel, it meant, it meant, that they were more vigilant, in that they didn't put their heads, in the water, that meant, they were watching all the time, so they deserved to be chosen.
[26:20] Problem I have, with that theory, is that, it's not in the Bible. There's no evidence, for it in the Bible. All that we're told here, is, that this was God's way, of choosing, who he wanted to go, with Gideon, into the battle.
[26:35] And I don't think, we need to go further than that, that's just simply, what we read. 300 men. 300 men. What are these, among so many?
[26:50] And yet, that's often, the question, that determines, the power of God. The question that, that the disciple, asked Jesus, when he was surrounded, by 5,000 people, on the shores, of the Lake of Galilee, every one of them, was really hungry.
[27:08] And yet, all they had, was five loaves, and two fishes. That would have been, the question, that the Israelites, would have asked Moses, as they stood in front, of the Red Sea, with the army of Egypt, coming behind them, ready to consume them, and kill them, put them to death.
[27:24] And yet, that is exactly, the kind of situation, in which God's glory, is manifest. His strength, is made perfect, in our weakness.
[27:36] Please remember that. Let that be your motto. Let that be, the statement, that determines, your life. His strength, is made perfect, in my weakness.
[27:51] When God wants, to do something, he doesn't choose, the strong, and the powerful, and the noble. He chooses, the weak vessels, in this life. The ones who don't, have the strength. So that he gets, the glory, at the end of the day.
[28:04] And it hasn't changed. It hasn't changed. The gospel is the same. How many times, do we believe, that with the best methods, and with the best, the best framework, and with the best strategy, that this, is the way, the gospel, is going to gain ground?
[28:21] It doesn't. The gospel, gains ground, where God uses, the obscure things, in this world. The tiny things, the nonentities, the people, who aren't famous, the people, who aren't well known.
[28:39] These are the people, who God uses, in spectacular ways, to share his word. The you, and the me, of this world. God. And that's why, we have to be like, Gideon, willing, to stand for the Lord, and to go for the Lord, and to, to obey him.
[28:59] Gideon, even then, was, he needed God's encouragement. And that's why, we read that God, God knew that. And he said, go against the camp, for I have given it, into your hand.
[29:10] But if you are afraid, to go down, go down the camp, with Purah, your servant. So off he went, by himself, and his servant. They sneaked into the camp, of the Midianites. Nobody knew they were there.
[29:21] They were going between the tents, listening, to what was going on. And there, is where they heard a conversation, between one soldier, and another, telling his dream. Behold, I dreamed a dream. And a cake of barley bread, tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and struck it, so that it fell, and turned upside down, so that the tent lay flat.
[29:39] That was what, Gideon needed to hear. And it's, it's so often, isn't it, the case, that when we are overwhelmed, by something we feel, that we can't face, that just that word, of encouragement, is all that we need, to keep us going, in the Lord.
[29:58] That's how God chose, to give him the strength, that he needed. Just that wee word, that wee tiny, wee statement, that wee dream, that the man had. That was God's way, of giving, Gideon, the strength, that he needed to face, a completely, impossible situation.
[30:16] And impossible it was. This must have been, the most peculiar, battle, that I've ever heard of. Must be the most, peculiar battle, whether one or two, strange battles, in the Bible.
[30:27] There was one, about the balsam trees, but anyway, we won't go into that. But this one, must have been so strange, 300 men, what are they going to do? You know, the most strange, that none of them, had a sword. Appears there anyway, that, that, that, this whole battle, was won, as God, threw the Midian army, into sheer, panic, and chaos.
[30:49] And it all happened, because of, because of the strategy, that Gideon adopted. There were two, go around the camp, 300 of them, they were divided into three.
[31:00] Each one of them, had a jar, in his hand. Each of Gideon's men, they had a jar, in their hand. Now that's not a glass jar. It's not the kind of jars, that we have, that you get with marmalade, and stuff.
[31:10] That's not what it means, that's not what it means at all. It means a clay jar, a large clay jar. And inside the jar, was a torch. And of course, that's not our kind of torches, that's a, that's a fire torch.
[31:23] And so, if the torch, was inside the jar, it couldn't be seen, the light couldn't be seen. And in the other hand, they were to carry a trumpet. And the idea was, that at the one time, in the middle of the night, when every one of the Midianites, were fast asleep, without a care in the world, they were, they all thought, they were safe, because they were part, of this vast army.
[31:49] And then all of a sudden, they hear this horrendous noise. And you know what happens, when you wake up, in the middle of the night. And when it's that time, maybe two, three o'clock in the morning, when you're at your soundest, if somebody wakes you up, you're horrified, you're terrified.
[32:07] And that's what happened here. He knew exactly what to do. And all of a sudden, from darkness, you imagine what's happening, that as all these jars, they're thrown to, he tells them, throw your jars to the ground.
[32:18] So what happens, the jars break, and all of a sudden, this light, bursts into being. What must that have been like? It must have been horrific, for the Midianites.
[32:30] 300 of them. And the light, all of a sudden, comes into being. And then they hear this, these trumpets sounding. Well, 300 trumpets, that's some noise. And then every one of them, in unison, saying, the sword of the Lord, and of Gideon, panic.
[32:47] And in the darkness, not able, not having the time, to light a torch, or light a candle, or anything, the men are thrown into confusion. The army are, trying to wipe their eyes, and going for their swords.
[33:01] And they see someone next to them, they don't know it's their buddy, they don't know it's somebody, in their own army, and they're starting to fight with them. Because that's such as the panic, and no doubt, God has taken away their confidence, at the same time.
[33:11] You see, it's one thing to be part of, a large army. It's another thing, to have the confidence. God can, have you ever thought of this? Especially those of you, who refuse to listen to God tonight.
[33:27] The reason that you are so confident, in yourself, is partly because of the confidence, of your nature, that God has given you. We need that confidence, to get up in the morning, and to do, to go into work.
[33:42] You need confidence, to do anything in this world. You know, God could take that for a moment. He could take it away from you. And that's what happened, in this moment in time.
[33:54] He threw them into confusion, and the Israelites, didn't have to do a thing. The Midianites did it for them. Started attacking one another, they started killing one another, and they went into, a blind panic.
[34:07] The rest, as they say, is history. You know, this reminds me, and with this I stop. I started off by saying tonight, you know, this is all about, this story is all about, majorities and minorities, and what God can do, first of all, with somebody who's obscure, and somebody who's a non-entity.
[34:29] It shows me also, what God can do, with a minority. 300 men, what's that? That's nothing. And yet the battle was won.
[34:41] It reminds me of the kind of world, we live in. Where there's a majority, who confidently will declare to you, that there is no God, and that we are completely foolish, and old fashioned, and that we have no idea, what we're talking about, we're living in the past, and you're only a Christian, because you grew up that way, and because you were taught that way, and because it was drummed into you, by your parents.
[35:05] You're a Christian, because you belong to a cult, and you need to be educated, and it's because you don't know anything, about science, as if science, has so disproved Christianity, it hasn't.
[35:18] It hasn't. And they'll tell you, that you're in a minority. The easiest thing in the world, would become part of the majority, who seem to be so, so much, it seems to be so fashionable, to live with those, who couldn't care less, about God.
[35:43] I wonder, in this chapter, which side you would have been on. In chapter six, the easiest thing in the world, would have been to be, on the Midianite side.
[35:55] That's where the power lay. Strength lay in numbers. You were doing what everybody else did, and it appeared, that you had the upper hand. And yet, in a moment of time, all it took, was for God, to say the word, and the whole thing, was turned upside down.
[36:17] And he tells us, that that will happen again. He tells us, don't feel safe, if you're doing, what everybody else does, you're believing, what everybody else believes, if you've just fallen in, with the masses.
[36:34] And if the last thing, you want to do tonight, is to have anything to do, with Christians. But God tells us, he promises us, that he's going to turn that around, one day.
[36:46] I believe, he's going to turn it around, through the gospel. I believe that, as the gospel is preached, that more and more people, will come to know the Lord.
[36:58] And that nations, and countries, and tribes, and cultures, will come one day, as they hear the gospel, not just twos and threes, but thousands, as the gospel is preached.
[37:13] Now you may or may not believe that, I do. But what the Bible makes, absolutely clear, is, that the day will come, when Jesus, will return to the world.
[37:25] And there, the majority, those, who so confidently refused him, will call on the rocks, to cover them. Please don't be amongst them.
[37:38] It may feel safe today. A day will come, when it won't. Let's pray. Amen. Our Father in heaven, bless your word to us.
[37:51] Again, we ask that you will, that you will impress upon us, the truth, of your gospel. We give thanks, for what Jesus came to do, when he, gave his life on the cross, so that we, so that sin in us, and the old, the person that we once were, would be defeated, just like the Midianites were, and so that our lives, could be transformed, and so that we could discover, the truth of God, as he personally, changes our lives.
[38:20] Lord, do this great thing, we pray, and show us yourself, in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[38:34] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.