Amen.
Judges chapter number seven.
I'm continuing of course from this morning to talk about this great biblical character
Gideon and in chapter six we saw a lot about him personally, the background of God calling
him to this work and we saw that he is very humble almost to a fault and you know God
was trying to encourage him and bolster him and calling him a valiant mighty man and telling
him to go in this thy might, right?
And so we saw the importance of not only God's plan and God's power and the Holy Spirit of
God but also the human instrument that God uses has significance.
We as Christians have significance.
We matter in God's plan and we're gonna see that more in chapter seven here where we really
get the meat of the story about Gideon.
It says in verse number one, then Jerubel, who is Gideon, because remember he received
that nickname in chapter six, and all the people that were with him rose up early and
pitched beside the well of Herod so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side
of them by the hill of Mori in the valley and the Lord said unto Gideon, the people
that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands lest
Israel vaunt themselves against me saying my known hand has saved me.
Now this is a little bit ironic since the Bible told us at the beginning of Judges chapter
six that the Midianites were there in such a multitude that they were just innumerable
and that they were just like grasshoppers for multitude, just this incredible amount
of people and so the Israelites have too many troops, they have 32,000 against just this
innumerable multitude, but God looks at that and says no you have too many people following
you, I'm afraid that perhaps the Israelites will think well we just had 32,000 troops
and they were just really good troops and we had the better generals and the better
strategy and so you know that's why we won because it was through our own strength.
But look carefully at what he says there in verse number two, he says the people that
are with thee are too many for me to give to the Midianites into their hands lest Israel
vaunt themselves against me saying my own hand has saved me.
Now keep your finger there and go to Romans chapter number 10, Romans chapter number 10
because remember when we're reading the Bible and this is especially true of the Old Testament,
obviously we're reading about events that actually took place and there's a primary
application right on the surface of the thing that happened itself, but also these things
are symbolic or an allegory for other spiritual truths that are applicable in the New Testament.
Now look what the Bible says in Romans 10 and let's compare it to what we just read
in Judges chapter 7, the Bible reads in Romans 10 chapter 10 verse 1, brethren my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved for I bear them record
that they have a zeal of God but not according to none for they being ignorant of God's righteousness
and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God.
So the Bible is telling us very clearly that Israel's problem, why Israel is not saved
is that they are ignorant of God's righteousness and so they're going about to establish their
own righteousness and this is the case for the vast majority of people that are not
saved they're trying to establish their own righteousness instead of just accepting Jesus
as their righteousness right the finished work of Christ on the cross that is our righteousness
right the Bible says he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him.
So we receive Christ's righteousness other people today even who claim to be Christian
even who claim the name of Christ are going about to establish their own righteousness.
You say well you know the problem with the Jews is that they don't believe in Jesus.
Well of course that's the problem but their problem is also the fact that they are going
about to establish their own righteousness okay as opposed to submitting themselves to
the righteousness of God.
Now submitting themselves to the righteousness of God would of course involve believing on
Jesus because Jesus is the source of our righteousness as Christians but if someone claims the name
of Christ but is still going about to establish their own righteousness and instead of establishing
their own righteousness in the face of just God or the Lord or God the Father you know
they're doing in the face of Jesus they're still not submitting themselves to the righteousness
of God.
So you can say I believe in Jesus but if you're still going about to establish your own righteousness
you've missed it okay.
And that's the problem with these so called Messianic Jews I've been a pastor for sixteen
and a half years I've been soul winning now consistently for the last twenty four years
and I have never met in my entire life a Messianic Jew who is actually saved never not even one
time zero zilch nada none negatory nothing okay I'm telling you they're not now maybe
there's one out there because I can't really prove a negative right in order to really
say for sure that they don't exist I would have to speak to every single Messianic Jew
and that would be impossible but statistically speaking I would say we're in an extremely
unlikely scenario that they're out there because I've taken a pretty large random sample over
the last sixteen and a half years of ministry being in all different countries and and being
amongst all kinds of people and soul winning and missions and talking to people and hearing
about and I they're always always teaching a workspace salvation and this is why they
love being a Messianic Jew because that's part of their righteousness they're establishing
for themselves it's the pride and the arrogance see and the ego of glorying in being a Jew
when that's nothing to glorify going about to establish their own righteousness see the
person who actually believes that salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ understands that
there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek they're not glorying in their flesh
you know the Bible says we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh okay we don't want to glory in our
flesh and and we that are actually saved we know that salvation is totally through Christ
not through any kind of works or ritual or whatever so we're supposed to get all excited
to see all of these Jews saying that Jesus their Messiah while continuing to practice
Judaism and to teach a workspace salvation well you can slap a Jesus sticker on Judaism
and it's still Judaism it's still going about to establish your own righteousness it is
still a workspace salvation it is still not by grace through faith it is still not the
righteousness of God you have to believe that Jesus is your righteousness and that we are
not saved by works whatsoever and and make no mistake about it if somebody says you can
lose your salvation they're teaching work salvation take that to the bank because if
you can lose your salvation here's what they're saying well Jesus ever did what it takes to
kind of start the process but I have to maintain he made the down payment I have to keep making
that monthly payment on my salvation that's not a gift okay salvation is a gift and by
the way let me explain something to you about people who actually leave a false religion
they don't like that religion at all like of all the people in this room who do you
think hates Hinduism the most this guy right here okay and if brother Sharad was here that'd
be the other guy isn't interesting the guys who ate Hinduism most of the guys who came
out of Hinduism cuz they actually left Hinduism that's why okay people that came out of Islam
they're not gonna be like well you know I mean Islam is you know hey we've actually
won people to Christ that were Muslims that were Hindus that were Jews and guess what
the Jews that I've won to Christ you know what they said to me they said hey keep preaching
hard against Judaism that's what I was told by a brother that I dunked right out there
outside that window who came out of Judaism he said man that hard preaching is what got
me saved keep preaching hard against Judaism and you know those have come out of Islam
you know we met another a family that had come out of Islam and God saved and you know
what they changed all their names they're like we don't want to have Muslim names so
we've given our entire family Christian names okay that's what happens when people actually
left the false religion and actually became a Christian and they're not fake crypto Jews
infiltrating Christianity they actually say hey we want nothing to do with that false
religion we're so happy to have left that false religion and have embraced the Lord
Jesus Christ as our Savior I'm sure ex-Mormons are just feel that the Mormon Church is so
wonderful and they want to still wear the underwear like well you know I mean we're
not Mormon anymore but I just can't find underwear that fits this well it's just you know folks
I guarantee you that the ex-Mormons who have received Christ as Savior would never touch
that underwear with a 10-foot they'd rather go without underwear than to wear that stuff
okay because they actually left Mormonism that's why.
So when we read this in Judges chapter 7 and we see that you know the the the children
of Israel you know God's worried that they're gonna vaunt them and say my own hand saved
me what do we see in the New Testament with the Pharisees what do we see with the Sadducees
what do we see with Israel in the New Testament is our own hand has saved us going about to
establish their own righteousness and the Apostle Paul does not hate Jews and I don't
hate Jews the Apostle Paul says my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that
they might be saved he loves them and wants them saved I love them and I want them saved
but you know they need to be told the truth and the Judaizers of this world you know what
the Bible says in Titus chapter 1 that specifically they of the circumcision who subvert people
with Jewish fables need to be rebuked sharply that's what the Bible says and so please silence
your cell phones and remove all yarmulkes before the service all right let's go back
to Judges chapter 7 Judges chapter number 7 and we see that God does not want Israel
to vaunt themselves against the Lord saying my own hand is saved God wants to get the
credit for doing the saving so when it comes to our salvation God gets all the glory that's
why the Bible says for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it
is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast and what does boast mean
it means vaunting yourself that's what boasting literally is vaunting yourself okay and so
he says I don't want Israel to vaunt themselves against me saying mine own hand has saved
me verse 3 now therefore go to proclaim in the years of the people saying whosoever is
fearful and afraid let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead and the return of
the people 20 and 2000 and there remained 10,000 now notice they started with 32,000
and he tells them whosoever is fearful and afraid let him return and depart early from
Mount Gilead now when I first learned this story as a child I had not read the Bible
cover to cover so I was unaware of the fact that this is actually a standard practice
that was supposed to be carried out according to the law of God every time they go to battle
they're supposed to send away everyone who's afraid God actually tells them that in the
Mosaic law send away those that are afraid and so specifically he tells them to do it
in this case but really it was supposed to be a standard practice anyway and so they
you know 22,000 are afraid because they're severely outnumbered you got 10,000 left verse
4 the Lord said unto Gideon the people are yet too many bring them down under the water
and I will try them for thee there and it shall be that of whom I say unto thee this
shall go with thee the same shall go with thee and of whomsoever I say unto thee this
shall not go with thee the same shall not go so he said all right we're going to test
these 10,000 guys and I'm going to tell you which ones to take and which ones not to take
you know okay now you know Gideon's probably thinking at this point like okay I mean it's
probably good that we got rid of those 22,000 bozos anyway these guys are scared we don't
need them out there making everybody else scared because fear could be infectious and
in the Mosaic law that's God's justification for sending home those that are scared at
every battle so that they don't make the the hearts of their brethren to faint as well
so we we don't want to be a coward because it could make other people scared and it could
make other people quit or or not stand up boldly for the things of God and so he's probably
thinking okay you know I guess we could do without those 22,000 guys they were scared
anyway now we got the 10,000 tough guys the roughnecks the guys who are going to be courageous
in battle we got the 10,000 best guys and God says you know it's too many still I'm
going to test them and so he's probably thinking okay maybe we're just going to kind of whittle
this down to this really elite force here and get the you know I don't know what what's
going to be the test is it going to be speed strength endurance courage you know what's
it going to be you know we want to make sure we have the best possible troops right?
So he brought down the people verse 5 under the water and the Lord said unto Gideon everyone
that lapeth of the water with his tongue as a dog lapeth him shalt thus set by himself
likewise everyone that bowed down upon his knees to drink this doesn't really seem like
a test of who's the best warrior style of drinking water it's kind of just an arbitrary
meaningless thing in a sense you know you could say well you know the ones that are
more alert and you know they got their head up and you know possibly there's something
to that but probably not the bottom line is and I'm sure there's symbolism going on because
there are lots of allegories going on here but you know on its face just on the surface
this seems pretty arbitrary doesn't it? Just oh this guy gets on his knees to drink whereas
this guy laps like a dog verse 6 the number of them that lapped putting their hand to
their mouth were 300 men but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees
to drink water. Now this doesn't seem like it was a very effective test because we're
only going to get rid of 300 guys I mean we still got 90 if 10,000 was 200 isn't 9,700
too many and basically God tells no no we're keeping the 300 and getting rid of the 9,700
so this is just absurd to take 300 troops into battle against this innumerable multitude
even 10,000 was severely outnumbered even 32,000 would have been severely outnumbered
so God does this test where the vast majority of people are bowing down upon their knees
to drink the water and it's only a small minority that are lapping up the water with their tongue
as a dog lapeth the water I guess because they're human and not dogs and so only 300
of them are doing it that way and so he says in verse 7 by the 300 men that lapped while
I save you and deliver the Midianites into thine hand and let all the other people go
every man into his place so the people took their vittles in their hand and their trumpets
and he sent all the rest of Israel every man into his tent and retained those 300 men and
the host of Midian was beneath them in the valley so this is just kind of ridiculous
at this point I mean it was probably a challenge in the first place to even get these 32,000
guys to show up think about it it's they've been hiding in caves they've been hiding in
dens all of a sudden Gideon bursts on the scene throws down the altar of Baal says worshiping
the Lord now sounds a trumpet rallies the people hey he did such a great job of getting
everybody to show up and then God's like alright now basically send everyone home virtually
because it would have been a lot easier to just round up 300 guys but he rounded up 32,000
which is no mean feat and then he's told send them home now this could probably seem a little
frustrating like but I you know I put all this effort into getting these guys out here
now they're all going home now I just have this ridiculous tiny group of people to go
against an innumerable multitude verse 9 and it came to pass the same night that the Lord
said unto him arise get thee down into the host for I've delivered it into thine hand
I like how God's just like it's done man they're done we got this it's over we've already won
I've already delivered them into your hand it's a done deal but if thou fear to go down
go thou with Fura thy servant down to the host and thou shalt hear what they say and
afterwards shall thine hands be strengthened to go down into the host then when he down
with Fura his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host now remember
he said if you fear take Fura he's like let's go Fura and here's why because I don't think
that Gideon is a coward because the Bible says a mighty man of valor but it's so ridiculous
at this point it's so crazy that how could anyone not be afraid to take 300 guys into
this innumerable multitude of an army that's why he's afraid because even someone who has
nerves of steel there's gonna be a point where it gets just to where even they're afraid
right so some people are scared at the drop of a hat right other people it takes a lot
to scare them but you know everybody has got that line where eventually you're gonna
reach their limit of what they're willing to believe or do or step out and I mean it's
just kind of crazy at this point right 300 people is ridiculous and so I don't think
we should think of Gideon as being any kind of a scaredy cat because he's being asked
to do something that's really just beyond the pale as far as just being just totally
crazy and ridiculous and so he takes Fura his servant and I think one of the lessons
here is that God likes to kind of push us to our limits a little bit he knows what we're
capable of and you know the Bible says that we will not be tempted above what we're able
but what he did not say is that I'm not gonna tempt you like ninety nine point nine percent
of what you're able because that's sometimes what he does sometimes he'll take us right
up to the edge of what we can handle right up to the brink of what we can handle and
so yes he won't tempt us above what we're able but he will sometimes max out what we're
able to handle and so God's taking a mighty man of valor and asking him to do something
very radical here and so he goes down with Fura his servant and it says in verse number
twelve the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in
the valley like grasshoppers for multitude and their camels were without number as the
sand by the seaside for multitude and when Gideon was come behold there was a man that
told a dream unto his fellow and said behold I dreamed a dream and lo a cake of barley
bread tumbled into the host of Midian and came into a tent and smote it that it fell
and overturned it that the tent lay along and his fellow answered and said well this
is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash a man of Israel for into his
hand that God delivered Midian and all the host this is not a normal natural conversation
obviously God has supernaturally inspired this conversation because some guy has this
dream is oh well of course I mean this is Gideon and of course he's going to defeat
the Midianites why would anyone interpret the dream that way doesn't make any sense
but this is through divine inspiration that this guy is speaking those words and it just
goes to show how God can sometimes divinely inspire even someone who is you know very
likely to be a heathen since he's a Midianite he's on the other team chances are he's it
but remember God even divinely inspired the dumb ass in the book of Numbers to speak to
Balaam and the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet and
so God can speak through sometimes strange means or use men like Caiaphas in the New
Testament who was clearly unsaved to speak his word or King Cyrus who may or may not
have been saved this guy who may or may not have been saved but we know the donkey wasn't
saved okay I think we can you know be confident about that and so the point is that this is
the divinely inspired conversation that is only to give Gideon confidence because for
Gideon to go eavesdrop kind of what's the word on the street among the enemy and then
he hears this bizarre conversation where one guy is telling his buddy we're done man Gideon's
gonna just defeat the Midianites now if you think about the dream itself a cake of barley
think about the size of a cake of barley you know I mean I would assume this is something
small a little loaf a little cake a little something or other some kind of a you know
that you pick up at the bakery in the morning or something right who knows but you wouldn't
expect this thing to roll down a hill and just completely collapse a tent because you'd
expect maybe like a giant boulder to roll through and it just runs over the tent just
takes the tent with it but in the story here a cake of barley tumbled into the host and
came into a tent and smote it that it fell and overturned it that the tent lay along
meaning it just completely flattened the tent this is not ordinary ordinarily a little you
know if I was like playing a prank on some kind of a camping trip or something and I'm
up on a hill and a bunch of guys are down in the valley it's like hey you know watch
this and I've got a baguette or something you know or even even the biggest loaf of
bread the Panera would serve and just kind of it's not just going to completely collapse
a tent to the ground it just doesn't happen and so I think that's why God used this strange
dream of the cake of barley right that that rolls in and destroys the tent because it's
not something that you would expect to have the power to do that just like Gideon doesn't
really have the power to defeat the Midianites but yet he does and yet this piece of bread
actually did wipe out the tent in the dream and so it's a perfect metaphor for what Gideon
is actually going to do in real life he's going to win this unwinnable battle and so
it says this is none other none else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash a man
of Israel for into his hand had God delivered Midian and all those now do we agree that
this is a divinely inspired statement there's no way that this guy is just guessing at that
or coming up with that out of his own heart that's crazy this is divinely inspired there's
no other explanation whether whether guys saved unsaved not the point it's divinely
inspired period because no one would say this of their own heart of their own accord in
this situation therefore in the divinely inspired statement it says it's the sword of Gideon
the sword of Gideon God's gonna deliver the host into his hand now later in verse 18 Gideon
gives instructions he says when I blow with the trumpet I and all that are with me then
blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and say the sword of the Lord
and of Gideon now where did he get that idea to say that obviously he got it from the dream
okay because the bible said that you know um he he heard this dream and he got excited
about it it says in verse 15 it was so when Gideon heard the telling of the dream the
interpretation thereof that he worshipped and returned into the host of Israel and said
arise for the Lord had delivered into your hand the host of Midian now I want to show
you just how humble he is because notice how he's always de-emphasizing himself both in
chapter six and in chapter seven because we talked about it this morning but in chapter
seven the the divinely inspired battle cry is the sword of Gideon he changes it to the
sword of the Lord and of Gideon he wants to give God the glory but he doesn't want to
mess with the formula too much because you know this is this is the thing the sword of
Gideon so the sword of the Lord of Gideon and then what did the dream say God delivered
into his hand singular one person it's delivered into Gideon's hand he comes back and says
the Lord had delivered into your hand the host of Midian so you see how he's being humble
he's de-emphasizing self but God is recognizing the importance of the human instrument that
he's using God is actually using Gideon and making no bones about the fact that Gideon
is significant even though Gideon may not see himself as significant maybe he wants
to not be in the limelight or not get the glory which is great that he has that meekness
and humility but God is emphasizing his significance at every turn and that's not coincidental
that we saw that all throughout chapter six and now we're seeing it again in chapter seven
and the reason I make a big deal about this is because I strongly believe that we as Christians
are important to God's plan as I was preaching this morning and you'll get people who get
hyper spiritual and they want to just say well we don't want to have any emphasis on
man we don't want man to get any of the glory and and the problem with going overboard on
a good doctrine because it is a good doctrine give God all the glory right de-emphasize
man emphasize God amen but but even a good doctrine can be taken overboard yes we want
God to get the glory yes he in all things should have the preeminence we can do nothing
without him but just because he is way more important just because he is way more significant
just because he is so far above us it doesn't mean that we're nothing because we're not
nothing we are something we are someone we have significance we are an intrinsic part
of God's plan and you know without Christ without Christ we can do nothing but you know
what without us he can do nothing and you know a lot of people are like I can't believe
you said that but you know if you actually read the Bible you would understand that that's
true what about when what about when Jesus Christ showed up in the town and he you know
he didn't do any mighty miracles there because it's their unbelief you know God is relying
on Christians to do his work in 2022 because think about it how is the soul winning going
to happen if if if the human beings just don't show up is he going to do it himself without
a human instrument no he's not the Bible tells us that history has shown that no it's
not like oh nobody's witnessing to the Indians here let's send Jesus to the Indians like
the Book of Mormon says right that didn't happen that's made up story right this this
Book of Mormon mentality that says oh well God will just do it himself if nobody's over
there to preach the gospel to the Indians no we have to go preach the gospel the Indians
okay God's not just going to say oh nobody's soul winning in Phoenix well all right Jesus
I know it's not the second coming yet but let's send you down again to do some soul
winning it's not going to happen my friend God has committed unto us the ministry of
reconciliation which means he's entrusted us with that he's relying on us to get the
job done okay and again I am not de-emphasizing the power of the Holy Spirit because without
Christ we can do nothing he gets all the glory when we earn crowns one day we'll be casting
them at Jesus feet and saying you get all the glory we're going to be like Gideon saying
no no it's all you it's not me it's you but he's going to be saying you did great well
done thou good and faithful servant you know the Bible says that Jesus Christ will you
know gird and gird himself and serve us you know he he actually girded himself and and
washed the disciples feet okay and the Lord and master will one day actually bless us
and wait on us and feed us and give us to drink isn't that amazing because we are nothing
without Christ but with Christ we are kings and princes God and because he is so meek
and lowly of heart he's even willing to wash his own disciples feet he said look he said
I'm your Lord master you call me your Lord master but but you know what I'm among you
as one that serveth Jesus literally ministered to his disciples he literally served his disciples
Jesus said the son of man came not to minister or sorry the son of man came not to be ministered
unto but to minister Jesus said I came not to be served I came to serve Jesus Christ
served his disciples isn't that incredible it's a humbling thought I mean it's it's it's
like a scary thought you can see why Peter basically said like you're not gonna wash
my feet get away from me you know I can't even imagine being at the marriage supper
of the Lamb and having Jesus bring me a plate of food that'd be a humbling experience like
Jesus you're serving food what in the world you know we should be doing all the serving
but but you know the point is though that God does love us and consider us important
we're not just pawns or puppets or animals unto him we're his children and so we will
serve our children you know as far as giving them food giving them drink obviously in general
we are Christ's servants but you know what he's not above rewarding us and and and doing
something for us too and ministering to us and that's really a great thought and so what
we see is that the Lord Jesus Christ was humble and meek and lowly and actually serving
his disciples because his disciples mattered to him he loved them and he's actually the
same way toward us because we're his disciples and he loves us and cares about us and takes
care of us and meets our needs and is it's constantly ministering to us and and doing
things for us and and will even when we get to heaven at the marriage supper of the Lamb
even though he's really the guest of honor and so I just want to always emphasize that
because I don't like this doctrine that de-emphasizes humans to the point where they just don't
even matter and then you get this false doctrine that says oh people can be saved without anyone
even preaching them the gospel they just get saved on their own just between them and God
but hold on a second the Bible says that how can they call on him and who they not believe
how should they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without
a preacher you know the Ethiopian eunuch was a sincere man and he's reading the Bible and
he could not understand it and he's looking for the truth and he was sincere that's why
God sent him Philip and Philip said understandest thou what thou readest and he said how can
I accept some man should guide me and you know what I don't think that these people
out there in Phoenix Arizona are just so much smarter than the Ethiopian eunuch that
they're just going to figure it out on their own with the Bible no they need some man to
guide them and that's the only way they're going to get saved is through some and then
that's why the Bible says who is Paul who is Apollos nobody they're nothing they're
many that's not what it says it says who is a Paul who is Apollos but ministers by whom
he believed even as the Lord gave to every man so if God gave to every man ministers
by whom they believed then where's this doctrine coming from of just people just got saved
on their own with no human instrument no every one of us has some minister by whom we believed
now when we say minister we're not talking about a pastor necessarily minister simply
means servant and so that could be man woman boy or girl who was serving God who was ministering
the gospel unto us you know when I got saved my mom won me to Christ so she was the minister
by whom I believed and so this doctrine that de-emphasizes humans so much to where oh we
don't you know soul winning takes place without humans and we don't matter and we're all expendable
and we can all be replaced it's not true and once we realize our significance and our importance
as ambassadors for Christ and our responsibility that God is relying on us to do his work and
to do his will then hopefully that will get us out there doing it hopefully that would
motivate us and say hey I need to take life seriously I matter I'm part of the plan I'm
part of the program right I mean think about if someone was putting on a play and you haven't
been issued any part you're just kind of in the chorus or something you're just kind of
like I think I'll just stay home but if you've been given a role in the play that only you
know the lines for you're gonna show up you better show up right you know if you don't
show up at the baseball game you know and you're supposed to be on first base how's
the game gonna go forward you know it's like you could use all the illustrations you want
of situations where you have a team and different people have a different role or a different
function and that's how the Christian life is the body of Christ has all these different
members and they have different roles and functions and if you're not in your place
then the body suffers that's what the Bible says okay and so we want to make sure that
we don't de-emphasize man to the point of ridiculousness but understand that it's the
sword of Gideon and you know what there's nothing wrong with following a human leader
in the work of God okay whether that's your parents whether that's some other ministry
leader or pastor or whoever Christian role models in your life following someone else
is biblical and this attitude that says well I won't follow any man I'll only follow God
that's a bogus attitude because great men and women in the Bible were following man
the Apostle Paul said be followers of us follow me even as I follow Christ not like I don't
follow anybody okay no you should be following people that have gone on before you leadership
role models authority figures in their life you should be following those people why because
it's the sword of Gideon that's why it's a sword of Gideon so why don't you get behind
Gideon and follow Gideon and say like well you know I don't want to follow Gideon because
you know for me it's just a sword of the Lord it's not a sword of Gideon you know I
don't follow man but that's what people would be saying today in 2022 and so let me get
to the end of the story here was so when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and the interpretation
thereof that he worshipped and returned unto the host of Israel and said arise for the
Lord had delivered into your hand the host of Midian and he divided the 300 men into
three companies and he put a trumpet in every man's hand with empty pitchers and lamps within
the pitchers and he said unto them look on me and do likewise and by the way that's good
leadership right there right look on me and do likewise you know he's actually modeling
the way that he wants the followers to go and he says look on me and do likewise and
behold when I come to the outside of the camp it shall be that as I do so shall ye
do when I blow with the trumpet I and all that are with me then blow ye the trumpets
also on every side of all the camp and say the sword of the Lord of Gideon so Gideon
and the hundred men that were with him came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning
of the middle watch and they had but newly set the watch and they blew the trumpets and
break the pitchers that were in their hands and the three companies blew the trumpets
and break the pitchers and held the lamps in their left hands and the trumpets in their
right hands to blow with all and they cried the sword of the Lord of Gideon now he split
the 300 guys into three different groups of a hundred he's got a hundred with him two
other groups they go to three different locations and all at once they blow the trumpet they
smash the pitcher making lights just appear out of nowhere so just all of a sudden 300
lights light up trumpet screaming and the Midianites are deceived into thinking that
they're surrounded by a much greater force and the three companies blew the trumpets
and so forth verse number 21 they stood every man in his place round about the camp and
all the hosts ran and cried and fled and the 300 blew the trumpets and the Lord set every
man's sword against his fellow even throughout all the hosts and the host fled to Beth Shittah
in Zarehath and to the border of Abel Mahola unto Tabath so here's the interesting thing
about this miracle because make no mistake about it it is a miracle because the Bible
says the Lord is the one who set every man's sword against his fellow look at that in the
first half of verse 22 so is this just a really good strategy no this is the Lord's doing
like a lot of times when God does miracles in the Bible he doesn't always make them super
duper obvious to an outsider he kind of likes to leave room for people to maybe say like
maybe there's another explanation for this now obviously a lot of the miracles in the
Bible are pretty dramatic but a lot of the miracles in the Bible are a little more subtle
where maybe people could say like well this was just a really good strategy they caught
them off guard they scared them they're in three places lights trumpets whatever but
we know and believe that it was the Lord who set them at odds against one another the Lord
is the one who caused the strategy to work now also not only is there the human strategy
that works through the Lord's doing through his miraculous intercession and changing the
hearts of these men so that they freaked out and started just you know killing each other
because they got confused there's also obviously a symbolic message here you know where you've
got the trumpet which could represent of course the preaching of God's word you've got the
picture you've got which is basically the earthen vessel right that's what the picture
is it's a clay pot as it were and then within that you've got the lamp and so the Bible
talks about how we have this treasure 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7 I believe we have this treasure
in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us so the
gospel is the treasure that we have in earthen vessels right so we are made of clay as the
Bible says so we're not necessarily valuable in and of ourselves gold silver precious stones
you know we're this clay pot and we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us so that it's not about us the gospel is not about
me the gospel is about Jesus when I go out soul winning I don't tell people you know
about myself I tell people about Jesus and you say well you know the apostle Paul he
talked you know that's no the apostle Paul said we preach not ourselves but Jesus Christ
Lord Paul said we preach not ourselves we preach Jesus and so the earthen vessel doesn't
matter in fact in order for the light to shine the earthen vessel just needs to get out of
the way okay and so this is a symbol of the fact that we have to die to self in order
to let our light really shine we don't want to hide our light under a bushel and if we're
too caught up in ourselves and too absorbed in ourselves then we aren't letting the light
shine right and so we need to get out of the way let the light shine and get our ego out
of the way I should say because we're not obviously totally getting out of the way because
we matter as I said earlier but we want to get our ego out of the way get pride out of
the way self-aggrandizement and let the excellency of the power be of God and not of us let him
be the one who has all the magnificence and excellence and we're just a humble servant
for Christ's sake and so there's that symbolism with the picture and breaking it and the light
shines and the trumpet sounds the preaching of God's Word wins the victory and so forth
so they all end up attacking each other but how long is this necessarily really gonna
last you know are 300 guys really gonna be able to defeat this entire army on their own
so what happens is in verse 22 that the Lord said every man sword against his fellow and
then it says the host fled to Beth Shittah in Zarehath and to the border of Abel Mahola
and Tabith and the men of Israel gathered themselves out of Naphtali and out of Asher
and out of Manasseh and pursued after the Midianites so the 300 only start things and
then the multitude is discomforted confused attacking each other and then they end up
retreating and fleeing and then once they're on the run a bunch of people from these other
tribes of Israel so now it's more than 300 people a bunch of the Israelites start to
chase after them because once they're already routed once they're already defeated now everybody
wants in on this battle now that now that we're winning and so these Naphtalites Asherites
Manasseh pursue after them verse 24 Gideon sent messengers throughout all Ephraim all
Mount Ephraim saying come down against the Midianites so now he's bringing back more
people now that the battle is won he wants more people to come and finish it come down
against the Midianites and take before them the waters unto Beth Bara and Jordan then
all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together and took the waters unto Beth Bara
and Jordan and they took two princes of the Midianites Oreb and Zeb and they slew Oreb
upon the rock Oreb that's why it's called the rock Oreb obviously and Zeb they salute
the winepress of Zeb so he's telling the contemporary reader you know that winepress of Zeb this
is why it's called Zeb because we killed a guy named Zeb there as he fled from the Midianites
so he's basically explaining the origin of these names of places that readers of judges
back then would have known about and said oh yeah okay that's why that place is called
Oreb or Zeb and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeb to Gideon on the other side of Jordan
so that's the of course famous story of Gideon with the 300 men and going against this innumerable
multitude having the faith to believe God's word that he heard from an unlikely source
you know from that Midianite telling his buddy what the dream meant but he's inspired by
God's word he is having faith in what the angel of the Lord had told him back in chapter
6 he's humble he's meek but he allows the Lord to lift him up and bolster him and explain
to him his significance and say look it's you man the sword of Gideon the Lord's gonna
deliver it into your hand what is he saying there obviously it's not so that Gideon can
take the credit or get the glory here's what he's explaining to him he's explaining to
him it needs to be you buddy that's what he's explaining to him it's not well you know
it's it's it's all glory goes to get you know God gets all the glory Gideon gives the glory
to God that's why God picks a guy like Gideon because Gideon is not a selfish arrogant prideful
guy but why does God keep emphasizing it's Gideon sort of Gideon into his hand in chapter
6 and 7 he's trying to emphasize to Gideon someone else is not going to do this you need
to do it and this is the same message that we need to get in 2022 don't just sit there
and think somebody else is going to do it because that'd be easy for any of us to just
sit back and let the world go to hell and say you know what somebody else is going to
do it somebody else will do it right I don't need to pastor faith forward Baptist Church
somebody else will do it I don't need to start a church somebody else I don't need
to go on a mission trip somebody else I don't need to knock doors somebody else will do
it but what God's trying to emphasize here is that he wants Gideon to do it he wants
Gideon to do it it's got to be Gideon and he doesn't want Gideon to wiggle out of this
and say oh send someone else like Moses also the same way said oh you know would you just
send someone else and so we need to understand that just as God had a plan for Gideon's
life God has a plan for our life too and so we need to be in our place we need to show
up and allow God to use us and not be just AWOL when the Lord's army is going to battle
because guess what if we're AWOL then it's not going to get done the way it would have
gotten done if we would have shown up you know if 20 people show up to go soul winning
it's going to be a different outcome than if 10 people show up you know if there's one
soul winning church in town there's going to be a different outcome than if there are
several soul winning churches in town and so we need to make sure that we understand
our significance in God's plan even while we give him all the glory we realize that
God is counting on us he's committed this to us he's entrusted us with this ministry
and trusted he's trusting us to get it done right he's he's relying on us to get it done
he could just send the angels out to do soul winning but he never does he could come down
and do it himself he did that once he's not doing it again he did that 2,000 years ago
he doesn't do that anymore he lived his human life on this earth his earthly existence right
33 years or so he did it you know that was the one time that he came in that fashion
when he comes back it's going to be different you know when he comes back he's going to
every eye is going to see him and he's going to come back to rule and reign with a rod
of iron but you know this world had one lifetime of Jesus on this earth living out his normal
natural life before dying on the cross and being buried and rising again and you know
we've got one life too and hopefully our life is going to last more than 33 and a half years
even you know most of us will you know maybe live twice that long but you know some of
us might live less than 33 not me because I've already done it but I'm saying other
people maybe would live less than that okay but here's the thing whatever we've got whatever
life we've got you know let's use it to do something for God let's use it to get people
saved let's not let God down who has committed unto us this ministry let's bow your heads
and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word Lord and thank you
for this great passage of scripture and this great story Lord and help us to apply it to
our lives help us to be like Gideon where we're meek and humble and also help us to
realize that we're important and significant and that we need to do our job and in Jesus
name we pray amen.