So a wonderful story, isn't it? It's one of my favorites, and I can remember learning this one
so early in my life in Sunday school, and perhaps you can remember it as well. Maybe some of you,
this is the first time you've ever really come across this narrative before in the Bible, and
it's just fascinating. It's one of those stories that's fascinating to learn about. It's so
interesting to picture and to ponder in our minds, but it's so very important for us to understand
the theological truths that are here, and that's what we want to try to do this morning.
Remember the Gideon cycle, it begins in chapter 6, where we're told that the people of Israel did
what was evil in the sight of the Lord. That phrase in the book of Judges always has to do with
bell worship and the things that would come along with that, of course. And the Lord gave them into
the hand of Midian seven years. Now this is one of the shortest periods of oppression that we read
about in the book of Judges, but at the same time it might be the most difficult and devastating season
of oppression that Israel actually faced. Because of Israel's idolatry, God strengthened and allowed
this coalition of semi-nomadic tribes that was led by Midian. It included the Amalekites and the people
of the east as well. This giant coalition of nomadic tribes. God strengthens them, and God allows them for
seven years in a row annually to come into the land of Israel, specifically to the valley of Jezreel,
and they left utter devastation in its wake. The people of Israel would not stay in their homes.
They had to leave their homes. They would run, and they made caves in the mountains that they would
basically hide out in until this coalition left and went back east. And they're often described in
the story as locusts, not just as a description of their immeasurable number, but particularly because
of the devastation they left behind. They came in exactly like locusts that would fly in in a season
of harvest and devour everything of substance that's there. And that's exactly what the Midianites
were doing. They were taking all of the food from Israel. They were taking all of the livestock
from Israel. And this was probably the hardest seven years that we read about in the book of Judges.
Now, in most cases, it takes Israel sometimes decades of oppression before they actually cry out to God.
20, 30 years, maybe 40 in some cases. The suffering under Midian was such that it only takes them seven years.
Seven years, the shortest time frame we read about. It's so hard. They know that they will not survive
unless God steps in and does something on there. Perhaps. So they cry out to the Lord and God,
his faith wasn't he. He's gracious to raise up and empower this man, Gideon, who becomes his chosen
deliverer. And it's in verse one of chapter seven that we learn and begin to understand what this whole
conflict is really about. Look at verse one again. Then Jerobel, that is Gideon, and all the people who
were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Herod. And the camp of Midian was north
of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley. So you don't necessarily have to read chapter six to know
what's happening here. There is an enemy. They are camped near the Mount Moreh. They're in the valley
of Jezreel. There's a lot of them. And then there's Gideon, and he's got his men, and they're just above,
and they're looking down. We can see there is a fight that is about to take place. That's what the author
is setting us up for. But he uses a term here that helps us understand really what it's about.
He starts with a different name for Gideon. That is the name Jerobel. And it's very unusual for the
author to do this. Typically, even in the rest of chapter seven, he's going to call him Gideon. That's
his common name. But at the beginning, he doesn't do that. Why? Why does he call him Jerobel?
Well, if you remember, the name means, if you look back at chapter six, I think somewhere around
verse, let's see, verse 32. It means, let Baal contend against him. That's what the name means.
It's a nickname. It was given to him by the people of his own town because in obedience to the Lord,
Gideon overnight one night took some servants, and he destroyed and beat down the altar that was set up
to Baal and the Asherah that was beside it. He destroyed their pagan worship, or at least the shrine
of their pagan worship. And he pounded it down, he broke it down, and then he built an altar to Yahweh
in its place, and he sacrificed a bull in its place. Well, the people of the town, they're so
incensed by this, they want to kill him. Remember, Gideon's dad steps up for him on his behalf. He
basically saves his life. And what the people do is they assign this nickname for Gideon,
Jerobel. Let Baal contend against him. It was something of a curse against him. Essentially,
the people were saying, okay, we're going to trust that Baal, the God we really want, the God we really
want to serve, that he's going to destroy you for what you've just done to his altar. And so they're
going to watch. They're going to watch and let Baal contend against Gideon. Now, interestingly,
the author uses Jerobel instead of Gideon to start the narrative. And the purpose of that is to remind us
what this whole scene is actually about. In the end, this chapter is not about Israel's conflict
with Midian. It's about God's conflict against Baal worship among his people. That's what this is
really about. Even the battle itself is not so much about God fighting against Midian as much as that it
is about God fighting for Israel. He's wooing them. He's proving himself again to them. And once again,
he's proving his faithfulness to his faithless chosen so that he might bring them back to love
and obedience and worship of him. Okay. That's what this is really about. It's not about Midian.
It's about Baal. It's about the Lord God winning his people back to himself. That's what this is.
Well, the focus of our text is on the actual battle between Midian's massive army and Gideon's
meager 300. But the message of the text is actually quite simple. The message is this.
The battle belongs to the Lord. The battle is the Lord's. Therefore, all the glory is the Lord's as
well. All the glory. He is sovereign over every detail that unfolds in this chapter. And that is
something that should motivate our worship. It should strengthen our hearts and it should lead to us
giving him glory. There's three things that God does in this battle. The first thing that he does
is he reduces the army. He reduces the army. Surprisingly, this is the first thing that he does in preparing
Gideon for the battle is he reduces the army to almost nothing, which is ironic, isn't it? Because
if you look back at chapter six again, particularly verses 34 and 35, it says that the spirit of God
clothed Gideon for the purpose of gathering these men. Do you remember that? After that whole episode with
the altar of Baal, it says that God clothed Gideon with his spirit so that Gideon would have this
divinely empowered mission to gather men for the battle. And now we find God is actually taking all
these men away. So something formerly meant to give Gideon confidence is now removed by the Lord
intentionally. And God used two different methods to actually do this. The first one was he sent the
fearful home. Look at verse three. Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people saying, whoever
is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gideon. 22,000 of the people
return. Only 10,000 remain. Deuteronomy chapter 20, it provides certain provisions for some men who did
not have to go to battle. And in most cases, the provisions had to do with the circumstances of their
life. For example, if a young man had betrothed a woman to be his wife, but had not yet married her,
he was exempted from calls to battle. And the purpose of that was so that he could establish his marriage
and his family and continue his family's name rather than go to war, die, and let somebody else do it.
Right? Okay, so, and there are several different provisions that God made for the people. One provision
actually brought tremendous shame. The others were excusable. One brought tremendous shame. And it was that
anyone who was fearful of the battle could not remain and fight. They had to go home. Now, it's not that
some people just aren't afraid to fight. That's not what we're talking. We're talking about those who are
melting in fear, who are trembling in fear. And the reason for that provision was because fear spreads
like gangrene. If you got one person who's just scared to death of what's happening, that's going to
cause a lot of other people to start to be a little afraid themselves. And it can be devastating to an army.
So God makes this provision. If people are just completely afraid, don't let them go to the battle.
Now, whether or not God is doing that in this instance, I don't know. I don't think so. It could just be that
God wants Gideon to see exactly how much fear is out there among his own men. In any case, fear is a major
theme of this story. Fear and its effects on our faith. And throughout the Gideon narrative, we see it over and over
again. And it's going to come into play in a major way with the Midianites in just a moment. And in the
end of this, 22,000 of the 32,000 left. How devastating that is. You got 32,000 men, two-thirds of them
leave like that. Well, God wasn't finished dwindling the army. There was still more to reduce it now. Look
at verse four. The Lord said to Gideon, the people are still too many. Take them down to the water and
I will test them for you there. Anyone of whom I say to you, this one shall go with you, shall go with
you. Anyone of whom I say, this one shall not go with you, shall not go. So he brought the people to
the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps,
you shall set him by himself. Now this next phrase, this is a clarifying statement on the first one.
This is not a second condition. This is a clarification of the first condition. Okay. So,
and then he says, likewise, everyone who kneels down to drink. Well, you can't get down and drink water
like a dog without kneeling down. So that's essentially what's happening in this verse. And God's
saying, anyone who kneels down and puts their face down like that, just set them to the side,
mark them. And then he goes on to say in verse six, and the number of those who lapped putting
their hands to their mouth, as opposed to actually putting their face down to the water, was only 300
men. All the rest knelt down. And the Lord said to Gideon, verse seven, with the 300 men who lapped,
I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand. Let all the others go home.
And this second test is interesting. It's interesting because it seems so arbitrary.
It just seems so random. Gideon's told to have them drink some water and just mark the ones who
drink in a particular way. And whoever drank with that method was sent home. And that leaves just 300
men to fight this battle against what Gideon sees as an innumerable amount of people.
Now, through the years, people have tried to suggest that there was a method to God's madness in this,
and that the method was he was preserving those who were truly courageous and those who demonstrated
alertness to the task. In other words, what they would say is that what God is doing here is he is
limiting the army to the best of the best, so that only the best of the best fighters are the ones who
are going to go against this army. That actually works against the text here. That's not what's
happening here. This is all about the numbers is what this is. God sends 22,000 home because he knows
22,000 of them are afraid. He does this test at the water because he knows what's going to be left
over. It's just very few men. It has nothing to do with their courage. It has nothing to do with
their alertness. It has everything to do with the numbers. God was reducing the army to nearly nothing.
And this was just the way that he chose to do it. Now, the 32,000 that Gideon began with,
that's still a weak army compared to the Midianite coalition. But now it's just 300
plus Gideon. And the question is, why? Why does God actually do this? Why does he whittle it down to
300 people? And the answer is in verse two. The Lord said to Gideon, the people with you are too
many for me to give the Midianites into their hand. Now that seems backward, doesn't it? We would expect
God to say, you don't have enough to do this. We better get some more men. That's not what he says.
He says, no, you got too many men for this. You can't be delivered with this many men. We're going to have to
take some of them out. And here's his reason. Lest Israel boast over me, saying my own hand has saved me.
So knowing Israel's proclivity for ignoring God's presence and power, God strips away
everything that Gideon and his army could possibly trust in except God himself. That's what's happening here.
Even with 32,000 men, Israel was operating from a position of weakness, but God knew their pride.
Their pride was such that if they were to defeat the Midianites, even with just 32,000 men, they would
take glory for themselves. But God wants them to see clearly that this battle, it belongs to him,
that he is the one who will bring salvation to his people. But Israel would have been quick
to take the glory that belongs to God alone. So God needs to expose the depths of their weakness here
so that they might understand the truth of his gracious work on their behalf and thereby glorify him.
Dale Ralph Davis has a helpful statement about this. He says that the weakness of Israel in this moment
is not a superficial weakness. It is their real condition, he says. And he goes on,
so in Christian experience, it is important to define what weakness is not. Weakness does not mean
that you are a glob of spiritual jello that flops at God's feet. It does not mean that you whine a lot,
even though you may whine a lot. It does not mean that you look pale, even though many of us look a
little pale today. It does not mean that you have the flu. You may not feel weak at all, he says.
It has little to do with how you feel. You do not feel weak. You are weak. It's your genuine condition.
That is, you are stripped of all human resources and forced to lean upon God alone.
That is the true nature of our weakness. That we are stripped of all human resources to accomplish
anything of eternal value, of our salvific value in our lives. And we must lean on God alone.
Because like Israel, we are so often prone to ignore God's sovereign work in our lives.
And we ought not be surprised when we get to various circumstances where it seems like
God has stripped us of everything we feel like we need
so that we can trust in nothing else but Him.
But even if God doesn't do that,
even if He doesn't strip us the way that He strips the army in this moment,
He wants us to see that the battle is His.
He wants us to trust Him, not our own devices.
He wants us to glorify Him
rather than lift up our own egos.
Now whether it's in relation to your salvation,
or circumstances related to your spiritual growth,
or maybe just your progress in life,
you must reckon at some point with the reality of your own insufficiency.
Because it's only when you reckon with your own insufficiency
that you'll be able to grasp God's power and love at work in your life.
God wants you to understand the work that He's doing in you.
And often it takes Him reducing our resources to nothing
before we learn to truly trust Him.
And that's what He's doing with Gideon,
and He's doing it with the army itself.
That's the first thing God does.
He does the opposite of what we would do.
He reduces His army.
Number two, God strengthens His servant.
He strengthens His servant.
This is my favorite part.
I want you to take a moment and just imagine
how absolutely deflating this must have been for Gideon.
If you've been with us through the study,
you know Gideon's already prone to fear.
He is in constant need of reassurance from God.
Even after God clothes him with the power of His Spirit
so that he might gather these 32,000 men together,
he still goes back to God after that.
And he has this whole sign test that he has to do.
He lays out his fleece for God on two different occasions.
That's not because he's faithful.
That's because he's fearful.
He needs constant reassurance.
That's who he was.
Now, this chapter opens with Gideon and his men
getting up early and positioning themselves for this battle.
This is probably Gideon's most confident moment
in the whole story, at least before his sin at the end.
This is Gideon's most confident moment.
That is the morning before God reduces the army.
He's done the test.
He's seen the fleece.
He's gathered the men.
And now he's starting to feel some confidence about,
okay, maybe God is actually going to do this thing.
And what's the first thing that God does?
He takes away all the confidence.
He takes away everything that Gideon was trusting in.
In that moment, everything that he thought
was going to work for him.
How deflating.
How miserable Gideon must have been.
But this situation, it allows us to see something
truly wonderful about the Lord.
And that is his personal care for his servant.
Now, that's you.
That's just not spiritual leaders.
That is anyone who belongs to the Lord in Christ Jesus,
of course, as we look from a New Testament perspective.
We've been doing this all throughout the Gideon study.
We've tried to keep one eye on the big picture
of God's salvation of Israel, of his people as a whole.
And by application, we've tried to keep one eye
on God's gospel work globally in the global church, okay?
But we're trying to keep our other eye
on God's unique work in the individual person
that is Gideon in this story.
And what this does for us at this moment
is it helps us to remember
that God not only is doing this big work
that we may or may not feel like we're a part of,
but he is doing a unique and particular work
in you, in me.
He knows us.
He knows our weaknesses.
He knows the intricacies of what's in our mind
and in our hearts that no one else may know.
And he's doing a particular work in us.
And we see that come forward here
in this scenario with Gideon.
It's God who takes the initiative
to strengthen Gideon here.
And it's one of my favorite parts.
Look at verse nine.
That same night, that is the night
that he reduces the army.
God wastes no time here.
He says to Gideon, arise, go down against the camp,
for I have given it into your hand.
Now stop there for a second.
What's God saying?
He's saying it's time.
It's time to go fight the battle.
It's done.
Victory is secure.
But now notice what he says.
But if you're afraid to go down,
that is afraid to go and fight the battle
at this very moment,
I want you to go down to the camp.
Take Porah, your servant, with you.
And you shall hear what they say.
And afterward, your hands shall be strengthened
to go down against the camp.
And here's what I love about this.
Going down to the camp with Porah is optional.
This is not a command from God.
It's conditional.
Gideon, if you're too afraid
to go fight this battle at this moment,
just go down on your own.
Take Porah with you.
You don't have to go by yourself.
There's loneliness in Gideon's position right now.
Take Porah with you.
And I'm going to do something
that will build your confidence
if you're afraid.
And what I love about it
is there's no response from Gideon.
All we read in the next part of the verse is,
then he went down with Porah.
There's no question he's afraid.
I love it.
He goes down and he finds a place
to hide at the outpost of the armed men.
Isn't this wonderful?
Not only does God declare
that he's already given the Midianites
into Gideon's hand,
he's done that a number of times
through the story already,
but he very tenderly,
very patiently allows
for Gideon's anxieties to be soothed.
Now, those of you who are parents
know what it's like
to have to soothe an anxiety
that may or may not be rational.
You can tell your kids 100 times,
this is safe or this is good
and I've taken care of it
or whatever it is.
You can jump.
I promise I'll catch you.
And they're still going to be
plagued with anxieties, right?
Now, if you're like me,
you eventually grow a little impatient.
You say, would you just jump already?
Or whatever the thing is.
Notice the tenderness that God has here.
He has fought this fear
with Gideon the whole time,
but he never loses his patience.
He never loses his tenderness.
Knowing his fear,
God gives Gideon another sign
that Gideon didn't even ask for.
And Gideon's quick to take advantage of it.
And the sign comes with a promise,
the promise in verse 11.
What Gideon is privileged to hear
will give him the strength
that he needs to move forward full of faith.
Now, it's worth noting at this point
that there is a massive difference
between having no faith
and having a weak faith.
In fact, it's not just a massive difference.
It's an eternal difference.
No faith would have led Gideon
to go home with the other
20 or 32,700 men, right?
If he didn't have any faith,
he would have said,
this is ridiculous.
There's no way this will ever work.
I'm done with it.
But he doesn't do that.
That's not his position at all.
Despite his fear,
he stays and he trusts the Lord
with each step.
Now, it takes every step,
but he trusts the Lord with every step.
Now, we often think that faith
is the absence of fear,
but that's not true.
Faith is not the absence of fear.
Faith is better understood
as perseverance in the midst of fear.
And that's what we see in Gideon.
His faith may have been weak.
Still, it's not the strength of our faith,
but the object of our faith
that saves us.
He may have trembled
as he walked down the hill
to the outside of the camp,
but he still went.
We think about this sometimes
in relation to God's work of salvation
and justification by faith.
It might have been Mark Dever
that I heard one time
give an illustration
about the way faith works
and the life of a believer.
It's like two people
who are getting on an airplane.
One of them is completely comfortable.
They have no problems.
They have no anxiety whatsoever.
They get on the plane.
They know that they're going to get
where they need to go.
The second person
is the complete opposite, right?
The second person gets on the plane.
They're just an absolute wreck.
They're scared for their life.
They're not sure
if they can trust the pilot.
They're not sure
if they can trust the mechanics
to actually put this thing together.
They're not sure
if the side of the plane
is going to blow off
like it did with the one airline
this week, right?
They don't know
if this is going to be a convertible
or if it's going to be
just like a normal aircraft.
They don't know.
And they're scared to death.
Now, both of them get on the plane.
Right?
One's faith is stronger than the other,
but they both get on the plane.
And they both get to their destination.
One may get there
with a little more joy
and comfort than the other,
but they both get there.
And the point is,
it's not the strength of their faith
that gets them where it is
that they need to go.
It's the object of their faith.
And in this case,
it's not whether or not
Gideon was really full of faith.
It's the fact that he had enough faith
to trust God every step.
And anyway,
a lot of times in your life,
as a believer,
you're going to feel that.
Where you're not exactly sure
what to think about
five or six steps
down the road in your life.
But all you know
is I can trust God enough
to take the next step.
Well, that's good.
Keep taking those steps.
Keep moving forward.
Perhaps you're at one
of those moments spiritually
where God has stripped you
of everything you can possibly
trust except Him.
You're struggling to live
with a confident faith.
And you need to let this
be an encouragement to you
that God intends to strengthen you
in the way that He strengthened Gideon.
Weak or not,
you just need to take
the next step forward
in obedience to God.
You need to persevere
through the fear
that threatens to freeze you
and turn you around.
And I know
the testimony of the Scripture
is that God will meet you there.
I want you to look
at the next part.
Verse 13.
What is it that happens
with Gideon once he gets
down the hill?
When Gideon came,
behold, a man was telling
a dream to his comrade
and said,
Behold, I dreamed a dream
and behold,
a cake of barley bread
tumbled into the camp
of Midian,
came to the tent
and struck it
so that it fell
and turned it upside down
so that the tent lay flat.
And his comrade answered,
This is no other than
the sword of Gideon,
the son of Joash,
a man of Israel.
God has given
into his hand
Midian and all the camp.
And as soon as Gideon
heard the telling
of the dream
and its interpretation,
he worshipped.
And he returned
to the camp of Israel
and said,
Arise,
for the Lord
has given the host
of Midian
into your hand.
Well, let's just walk
through this
for just a moment.
Gideon is hiding
outside the Midianite camp.
And he overhears
a watchman
in the middle
of the night
describe a bizarre dream
that involved
a giant loaf of bread
tumbling down the hill.
It hit a tent.
The tent flipped over
and went flat.
That's a weird dream.
So weird
that I don't know
that I would share it.
But this guy shares it.
He shares it
with his buddy
and then his buddy
interprets the dream.
There's nothing
facetious about this
at all.
There's nothing sarcastic
about this interpretation.
This is,
God is working
through these men.
This is a legitimate
interpretation
from the perspective
of this watchman.
And he says,
this has to have
something to do
with Gideon
who we heard
is up there
on the hill
with these men.
God's going to deliver
us into his hand.
Now Gideon hears
all of this.
That's what's interesting
about it,
isn't it?
This was the sign
that God had promised.
And it did exactly
what God said
it would do.
It strengthened Gideon
for the battle.
But what exactly
is it about the dream
that makes the difference
for Gideon?
What is it?
It caused him
to realize
that God
had brought upon
the Midianites
this heightened
state of anxiety.
anxiety.
It's reminiscent
of the Canaanites
back in Joshua,
in the book of Joshua.
They heard
of what God
had done
for the Israelites
and it says
that their hearts
melted with fear.
And God
has gone
before Gideon
and he has caused
that same experience
to come on
the Midianites
so that their hearts
are melting
with fear.
From their perspective
that may not even
be rational.
but nonetheless
they are operating
at a heightened
level of anxiety.
What Barry Webb
says,
what Gideon
finds out
is that things
are not as they seem
because the Midianites
too are frightened.
In fact,
they seem to believe
the very thing
that Gideon himself
has been finding
it so hard to believe.
That God
has given
the whole Midianite
camp
into his hands.
And this
does something
amazing in Gideon.
The effects
are dramatic.
Having this
renewed confidence
in the Word of God.
Gideon's instinct,
look at verse 15,
is to first
worship
and then
declare
his confidence
in the Lord
to others.
Now remember,
God's strengthening
his servant here.
His servant
is fearful.
And what does God do?
He gives him
revelation.
He opens up
his plan
for Gideon's
understanding.
He does it
in a unique way.
And what's Gideon's
first instinct?
He worships the Lord
in that moment
and then he runs
back to the camp
where his 300 men are
and look at the confidence
that he has.
Verse 15,
arise,
the Lord
has given
the host of Midian
into your hand.
The victory
has already been
won.
Let's go
get it.
We don't see
Gideon like that
anywhere else
in this whole story
except here.
Why?
Because of what
God's doing.
Now with this
in mind,
perhaps
a good test
for knowing
the nature
of your faith
is to consider
the nature
of your personal
worship
and your public
confidence
in the Lord
God.
think about that
for just a moment.
You say,
what is my faith
really like?
Because sometimes
it's hard to figure
that out,
isn't it?
But what's your
worship like?
What's your
declared confidence
in the Lord like?
Do you truly
worship from the heart
Sunday by Sunday?
Are you eager
in the gathering
of God's people
to sing to one another,
our sins,
they are many,
but His mercy
is more?
If you don't sing
that with confidence,
then you probably
don't have a very
strong faith.
What about your
personal worship?
Do you have any
private worship
to the Lord?
Time in His Word?
Time in prayer?
Maybe time in song?
Time where you are
fellowshipping,
communing with your God
because you believe
Him,
because you're
confident in Him.
What's your
worship like?
Do you ever
find yourself
declaring confidence
in God
to other people?
Do you ever
urge them
to trust
and obey the Lord
because you found
Him yourself
to be faithful
and worthy
of their
worship?
I think that's
a helpful text
because the
natural result
here
of God
strengthening
Gideon
through His Word
is worship
and public
praise.
Now,
God doesn't
reveal all of
His plan
to us all
the time.
We know
that.
And we
can't always
expect
God to do
for us
what He did
for Gideon
in this passage
as far as
just kind of
laying it out
there,
right?
He doesn't
always do
that.
But He
has made
some things
very clear
through the
revelation
of His Word,
particularly
His plan
of salvation.
If you
have eyes
to see
and ears
to hear
the gospel
of Jesus,
your faith
in Him
will radically
transform
your worship
and your
evangelism.
I'm not
talking about
those of us
who know
what the gospel
is and that
we can tell
you what it
is or we
are familiar
enough with
the theology
of it that
we can explain
it to you.
That's not
what I'm
talking about.
I'm talking
about those
of you who
have ears
to hear.
You have
come to know
Christ
personally
through the
gospel.
When that
happens,
your faith
in God
is strengthened
in a way
that only
God can
strengthen it.
And when
your faith
is strengthened
in the way
that only
God can
strengthen it,
it radically
transforms
your worship.
Your Sunday
worship is
different.
Your desire
for private
worship
day by day
is different.
Your declaration
of confidence
in God
is different.
Your evangelism
is different.
Why?
Because in
the revelation
of God
through His
word,
you have
come to
know His
Son in
the gospel.
And God
has done
this work
in you.
And we
see this
in seed
form with
Gideon
right here.
But God
hasn't only
revealed His
plan of
salvation.
He's made
that abundantly
clear to
us.
But there's
a lot of
other things
in the
scriptures
that God
has made
abundantly
clear.
Things about
who He
is.
Things about
how He
desires for
us to
live and
glorify Him.
And this
kind of
revelation,
we're not
talking about
subjective
revelation that
I just wake
up one morning
and I think,
well, God
has told me
this.
You can't
trust that.
We're talking
about the
written Word
of God,
our confidence
in the
scriptures.
And what
does it
tell us?
The
revelation of
the Word
of God.
It will
strengthen
your faith
to persevere
even when
faithfulness
will cost
you everything.
Now let's
put that
in some
shoe leather
to that for
just a moment.
When you
have a
confidence in
the Word
of God
and a
confidence in
the faithfulness
of God,
you will
stand for
His truth
culturally
even when
the culture
is vehemently
against you.
Whether that
be in the
hot topic
issues of
our day
with the
LGBTQ plus
movement,
the sexual
revolution,
whether that
be through
issues of
abortion,
whether it
be through
issues of
ethical and
moral considerations
and other
ways of our
life,
you will
stand
faithful
if you
are confident
in the
faithfulness
of God
and His
Word.
Even if it
costs you
everything,
and at some
point,
it's going to
cost us a
lot.
At some
point,
it's going to
cost us a
lot.
If faith
comes through
hearing the
Word of
Christ,
that's what
Romans 10
17 plainly
says.
Faith comes
by hearing,
hearing through
the Word of
Christ.
That is the
Bible,
that's the
Scriptures.
then it is
through the
Scriptures that
God intends to
strengthen you
and produce in
you the proper
worship and
zeal for His
glory.
You say,
you know,
I feel a lot
like Gideon.
I've heard the
call of God to
salvation.
I've got that.
But when it
comes to the
details of my
life and my
spiritual walk,
I struggle.
I struggle with
confidence in the
Lord and I
struggle with
confidence in what
the Bible says and
I struggle in all
of these ways.
And let me just
tell you, if we
follow this
progression the way
that the Scripture
lies it out, the
solution for you is
just to go back to
the Word.
It is in the
revelation of God
that the Spirit of
God does His work
in us.
That strengthens our
faith in a way that
we don't understand
all the time.
That's the thing
about this.
This is a divine
work of God in
us.
And He has a way
that He does it.
He does it by His
Spirit through His
Word.
But it's still His
work.
So what we need
to do is get back
to the Word and
let the Spirit do
the work through
the Word and
prayer that He has
determined to do.
And through that
commitment I think
we'll find that
God strengthening us
in the way that He
strengthened Gideon.
Third thing God
does.
First thing He does
He reduces the
army.
Then He strengthens
His servant.
Third thing, and
this is a simple
thing, He displays
His victory.
He displays His
victory.
So Gideon's got a
renewed faith now.
He returns to the
camp.
But he comes back
with a completely
unconventional plan of
attack.
He divides the men
into three companies.
He gave each man a
trumpet, a jar, and a
torch.
Hardly the things you
would expect for a
battle of this nature.
That's what He gives
them.
And then He just
tells them, whatever I
do, you do.
Okay?
Just trust me.
Look at verse 19.
So Gideon and the
hundred men who were
with him came to the
outskirts of the camp
at the beginning of the
middle watch when they
had just set the watch
and they blew the
trumpets, smashed the
jars that were in their
hands.
That's Gideon and the
men with him.
Then the three companies
blew the trumpets
together and they broke
the jars.
They held in their
left hands the torches
and in their right hands
the trumpets to blow.
And they cried out,
A sword for the Lord
and for Gideon.
Then every man stood
in his place around
the camp and all the
army ran.
They cried out and
fled and when they
blew the three hundred
trumpets the Lord set
every man's sword
against his comrade
and against all the
army and the army
fled.
This is amazing.
Amazing.
Ironically, the men
yell, a sword for the
Lord and for Gideon.
While none of them are
said to have actually
had a sword.
We don't even know if
they had weaponry at
this point.
The only weapons that
are mentioned in the
text were in the hands
of the Midianites.
Not only are they in a
heightened state of
anxiety, it's the
middle of the night and
they're all asleep.
Now you know what
that's like.
This morning, Ashlyn
had told me last night
I want to ride with you
to go to the school
tomorrow morning.
I said, okay, I'll
come wake you up.
So this morning,
whatever time it was,
I went into the
girl's room and Ashlyn
was still asleep and
she was sleeping soundly.
And I just nudged her a
little bit and I said,
Ashlyn, it's time to
get up.
And the expression that
I got in that moment
was, what?
What?
Now she reacts that way
because she's in a deep
sleep and she's just
been awakened and when
you're awakened in a deep
sleep by somebody else
intentionally, you don't
exactly know where you
are or what you're doing
and it's a little
frightening in that
moment.
Now take that and apply
it to someone who's just
definitely afraid of
everything in their life
at that moment.
They're afraid that at
any moment, Gideon and
this army is going to
come down and they're
going to kill us all.
And now all of a sudden,
all that they hear are
trumpets blowing and men
screaming and they look
out and they just see
they're encircled by
torches and they're just
trying to figure out
what's going on.
It's dark and what do
they do?
It tells us.
Look at verse 22.
When they blew the 300
trumpets, the Lord set
every man's sword against
his comrade and against
the army and the army
fled.
God had gone before
Gideon to create in the
enemy a sense of fear
and confusion that led
to their self-destruction.
They killed each other.
Gideon and his men, they
didn't have to do
anything.
You know what they got
to do?
They got to stand on the
outskirts of the camp and
watch God do God's work.
That's what they got to do.
And why did they get to do
that?
Because they were just
faithful enough.
They were just faithful
enough to take the next
step and go down the hill
and do the thing that
Gideon said to do.
And because of their
faithfulness, what they got
to see on display was not
their power.
They got to see God's
power.
Now, do you see how little
this had to do with Gideon
and his 300 men?
This is God all the way
through.
God calls the man.
God gathers the army.
God reduces the army and he
does it his way.
Then he strengthens his man.
He gives him a plan.
He goes before him in the
plan and he does the work
just so that his man can see
it happen.
That's amazing.
They were definitely
instruments in the hand of
God.
That is undoubted.
And the Lord was gracious to
use them in his work.
That's for sure.
But their simple faithfulness
allowed them to stand on the
outside and just watch God
work.
They were participants in God's
work so that they might see
that it is indeed God's work
and give him glory.
Now, I think this is an important
takeaway for Christians here.
God doesn't need us.
We're thinking, we may be
thinking about salvation and the
gospel and we can make those
applications too.
But primarily we're thinking as
Christians, the work that God
has called us to do in
evangelism and raising our kids,
perhaps in just everyday
faithfulness, we know that God
doesn't need us to do his work.
But he is pleased to use us in
his work.
And he does use us.
And in the process of that work,
it's easy to be gripped by fear
and anxiety.
That will be a common occurrence
in our lives until the day that
we die.
But when we're faithful to trust
and obey the Lord, we are blessed
to witness him do the work that
only he can do.
Because in the end, the battle is
the Lord's.
And so is the glory.
We can apply this in a lot of
different ways.
Think about it as a parent.
How fearful of a prospect is it
to be responsible for other human
beings?
Not only physically.
In fact, that might be the easier
part.
How daunting of a task is it, Andy,
to wake up every day knowing that
your responsibility is to raise
these kids in the discipline and
the admonition of the Lord.
Which means that you're going to
yourself have to be disciplined
in the truth of God and the
admonition of the Lord.
And then you're going to have to be
strong enough in that discipline
to actually communicate it to
others in a way that's helpful
and it's consistent and it's
faithful and truthful.
And those of us with kids know that
we can get to the end of that and
we can say this is an impossible
task.
And we can be gripped by fear in
that.
Is anything ever going to happen
with my kid?
What's the Lord going to do here?
Can he do anything here?
And really what the Lord's calling
us to is faithfulness.
Because you can't do the work that
only he can do.
And he's calling you to be
faithful and if you will be
faithful.
Not perfect.
Faithful.
Typically he's going to let you
watch him work.
That work may not always happen in
the way that you envision.
It may be a work that he's doing
in you.
Maybe even more than what he's
doing in the people that you care
for.
But you will be able to see him
work when you're faithful.
That's just one category.
We can think about this in our
evangelism, can't we?
You've got people in your life,
John, that you're trying to win
to the Lord and some of the
things that you're doing with
media.
You can get to the end of that.
I can testify to this personally
as a pastor who's pastored for
four years preaching the gospel
the best.
I know how to do it.
Sunday by Sunday seems very
little conversion as a result of
that.
I think that I don't know what to
do.
Like this is an impossible task.
It feels like those in your
talk sometimes with just our
evangelism.
But we're not called to provide
fruit.
We're called to be faithful.
And when we're faithful, God will
let us see his work accomplished
before us.
Because at the end of the day, the
battle is his and so is the glory.
And maybe the failures and the
weaknesses you feel now as a
Christian and in the things that
God has called you to be as a
Christian, maybe those failures are
there because God's having to strip
the pride away from your life so
that you will actually give him
some glory.
We could say there are a lot of
other ways.
We'll leave it there.
I said in the beginning that this
event was not about God's fight
against Midian.
It was his fight against bell
worship among his people.
And the Midianite coalition was
God's instrument of judgment against
Israel's idolatry.
That's what's interesting about
this, right?
God has to provide salvation for
his people, but what is he saving
them from?
He's saving them from himself.
And in his initiative, he raises up
a deliverer and empowers them to do
it.
Now, it's not very hard to draw the
gospel implications there, right?
We talk about salvation.
What is it that God is saving us
from?
He's saving us from himself, from his
justice and his wrath.
And then he takes the initiative by
sending his son to die on a cross, to
live the life that we were meant to
live and die the death that we deserve
to die in order that he might provide
salvation for us.
It's amazing.
He proved his steadfast love by raising
up a deliverer for his people in
Judges chapter 7.
And then he demanded that they repent of
their idolatry and turn back to him.
And if they were to do that, they would
receive the blessing of his covenant.
Well, it all ultimately points us to Jesus.
God has displayed his steadfast love for
us in the person and work of Christ.
And he demands that we repent of our
idolatry and that we turn to him through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And anyone who does that will receive the
blessings of his covenant.
Forgiveness, eternal life, reconciliation
with your creator.
And why wouldn't you want that?
The Savior's already been provided.
God says, believe and turn and the
blessings will be yours.
This story helps us understand that.
If not for any other reason, by just
pointing us forward to it.
Let's pray.
As I pray here and as your heads are bowed
where you are.
Acknowledge that at this point in our
service, Sunday by Sunday, I don't do a
great job of calling us to respond.
But a response to the word of God is
necessary anytime we come to it.
We don't respond to God if he has spoken.
We respond to God because he has spoken
in his word.
And whether it be through confession of sin or the
consecration of your life in a renewed sense of faith and
commitment of serving the Lord faithfully or maybe it's praise or
whatever it may be.
Faithfulness in this moment for each one of us is to properly
respond to God's word.
So as I pray, I want to encourage you not to waste the moment that
there in your seat respond to the Lord and to his word, to his
gospel, to his truth.
Let's pray together.