So he says in verse 17, "And he said to him, 'If now I have found grace in thy sight,
then show me a sign that thou takest with me.'"
So this is the first of many times when Gideon doesn't have a lot of faith, he needs a lot
of confirmations, and he's not very sure of himself.
And I'm pretty sure that's why God greeted him that way in the first place.
He knew that about him.
He knows everybody.
He knows that he's insecure.
And so that's why he says, "Hey, old buddy, old pal, thou mighty man of valor."
He greets him as, "Mighty man of valor, go in this thy might," because he knows he's humble.
Now look, the key attribute to being used by God is being humble.
That is the number one most important attribute to be used by God.
You must be humble.
Why?
Because God can't put you in a position of authority if you're prideful, because putting
a prideful person in a position of leadership is like giving drugs to a drug addict.
You know what it's like?
It's like taking someone who struggles with gluttony and giving them a job at a bakery.
That's not the right place for them to work.
That's like somebody who's struggled as an alcoholic, let's give them a job as a bartender.
Now look, everybody struggles with sin.
There's not a person in this room who doesn't struggle with sin, unless they're just giving
into it all the time, but nobody just lives a good life with no struggle with sin.
Even the apostle Paul struggled hard with sin in Romans chapter 7.
Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
We all struggle with sin, but we don't all struggle with the same sins.
Some sins that people struggle with in this building, other people in this building don't
struggle with that sin at all.
Other people, it's a major struggle in their lives, and vice versa.
So the sins that you struggle with, I may not struggle with.
The sins I struggle with, you may not struggle with, but we all struggle with sin.
It's just not the same sin.
Some people struggle with a bunch of different sins.
Some people, it's just a handful of sins.
The Bible says some men's sins are open beforehand, going before the judgment.
Some men, they fall after.
Likewise, also the good works of some are manifest beforehand and they that are otherwise cannot
be hid.
So the Bible tells us, you know, some sins are more public than others.
You know, some sins you can just look at people and say, "This guy's an alcoholic."
Whereas other people's sins could be just as grievous or wicked, but they're not as
easy to spot publicly.
But don't be fooled into thinking that there's anybody without sin or that anybody doesn't
struggle with sin or have these battles in their life, because every single person has
temptations and struggles and sins.
But we need to know ourselves, and we need to know what our besetting sins are, what
are the things that are temptations for us, what are the things we struggle with, so that
we can be careful about those things, you know.
Now let me give you an example.
For me, alcohol is not a temptation for me.
It's something that I've just never been involved in, it's something that never enters my mind,
it's just not a thing for me.
I guarantee there are people in this room though where alcohol is something that for
the rest of their life, they are going to struggle with, they're going to have to be
careful.
You know, I've dealt with people and talked to people who, you know, I've, as a pastor,
tried to help them and give them advice and they just, they keep, you know, falling off
the wagon and they're struggling with alcohol.
You know, is that my struggle?
No.
Is that ever going to be my struggle?
You know, I'm 39 years old.
If I didn't start drinking by now, the chances of me starting to drink after I'm 39 years
old are pretty much zero.
Okay?
Now, does that mean that there aren't a whole bunch of other sins that I would indulge in?
Of course, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
But here's the thing.
One person has a struggle with alcohol, another doesn't.
One person could struggle with stealing, another doesn't.
But all of us have sins that we struggle with.
And here's the thing, you don't want to put the guy who struggles
with gluttony working in a bakery.
And you don't want the guy who's struggling with alcohol
working as a bartender.
Now I don't believe that anybody should be a bartender, period,
as a Christian.
Obviously that's not an acceptable job for a Christian.
But here's the thing.
I could probably be around alcohol more than someone else
without it messing with me because I have no desire,
no temptation there.
But other things I would say, hey, I can't work in that environment
or I can't be around that.
Obviously none of us should actually be working in a bar
or serving liquor or anything like that.
But the point is that somebody who struggles with a certain sin
may have to be more careful than another person who doesn't struggle
with that sin.
And I'm telling you, a prideful person, some people,
their sin is pride.
That's what they struggle with.
And there are these big ego people who just,
they just go around bragging about themselves,
every story they tell is a story that glorifies themselves,
and they're just full of themselves, haughty, arrogant, proud.
Well let me tell you something, putting that person behind the pulpit
or putting that person in any leadership position
is like putting the alcoholic at the bartender job
or the glutton at the bakery.
It's a poisonous combination.
You must, if you ever want to be a pastor,
you must be a humble person.
And if that's even a sin that you struggle with,
if that's one that you battle and struggle with,
pride or feelings of how great you are,
you know what, you're probably just not even cut out
for a pastoring period.
Because even if you're conquering that sin right now,
if you have that proclivity, there's a good chance
that when you get in the position of pastoring,
you know, it could get even worse, okay?
So there's that, but we have a bunch of, of course,
power-hungry, prideful egomaniacs, you know,
running our country in politics, because, you know,
politics is going to attract a lot of people like that.
But also clergy could attract people like that.
You know, a lot of people like that could gravitate
toward being a pastor because they just,
they want the fame, the accolades,
they want people to praise them and lift them up
and exalt them, but here's the thing,
God can't use you when you're proud.
And here's why God can't use you when you're proud,
because if God exalts you,
then you're going to start being all high and mighty.
You're not going to give him the glory.
You're going to abuse your power.
You're going to get even more puffed up
and you're going to destroy yourself.
And I'm not just talking about someone
who's actually in ministry as a pastor or a deacon
or some other position of being ordained in the local church.
Even as a layman, let's say God granted you
a whole bunch of success out soul winning
or God granted you a whole bunch of success
in discipling people and mentoring people
and just serving God in whatever capacity.
Or even being a musician and succeeding in music
and excelling in music.
If God grants you to succeed in those areas
and you're a prideful person, then it's again,
it's like giving drugs to a drug addict.
You're gonna get worse.
A guy like Gideon, God's looking at a guy like Gideon
and saying, okay, this guy's humble.
Maybe he's in a little too humble
'cause I can barely even get him to go out and do anything
because I have to keep pumping him up
and telling him how mighty he is
to even get him to do anything.
But here's the thing, it's better to be a little too humble
than a little too prideful.
And so Gideon's a little too humble
and God can work with that because here's the thing,
God's interest when we get to the next chapter, chapter seven,
God says, I don't want Israel to think
that they won this battle because of their power
and their might.
That's why when Gideon assembles an army of 32,000 people,
God's gonna tell him this is too many people.
Tell everybody who's scared to go home.
So he says, hey, whoever's fearful, go home.
22,000 people go home.
Then he's got 10,000 left.
Then he does this water drinking test
and we'll get to that next week.
And then he sends home everyone except 300 people.
He's like, all right, this is it.
This is perfect size.
It's like, what?
We're going up against this army
that's just without number.
32,000 troops is already a joke
compared to what they've got.
But God's like, nope, too many.
I don't want anybody to think
that this was through the power of man.
You know, we want this to be through the power of God.
So he goes with 300 guys, which is just...
I mean, think about it.
That's like a Sunday morning crowd at Faithful Word
against an innumerable army.
Think about that.
That's insane.
It'd be crazy.
It'd be like, what?
This is it?
It'd be nothingness compared to that innumerable multitude.
But God wants to get the glory.
Is he going to get the glory
from some prideful, arrogant pastor
who's just up there taking all the glory for himself?
You know, Pontifex Maximus up there,
you know, getting worshiped like the Pope?
No, he wants somebody who's humble
where the power's not going to go to their head,
where even if they do great things for God,
even if they get hundreds of people saved,
or even thousands of people saved,
and maybe pastor a church, or go to the mission field
and do great exploits on the mission field, or whatever,
or maybe they become extremely skilled on the piano
or other instruments, or they're a great singer,
or a great song leader.
You know, he doesn't want them to get puffed up.
He wants that person to still go home at night
and get on their knees before God
and confess their faults before God
and confess to God that they're unworthy
and ask for his grace to continue.
That's what he wants.
That's why he's using Gideon,
'cause Gideon, number one, believes in the power of God,
and number two, Gideon is humble about himself,
and he's not gonna let it go to his head when he wins.
And by the way, when this is all said and done,
you know what they say to Gideon?
"Rain over us, Gideon, be our king, rain over us."
And you know what he says?
"No, the Lord's gonna rain over you."
Now, if he was a prideful, power-hungry guy,
he'd just be like, "Great, sounds good."
But he didn't, he declined being king.