All right, the book of Judges
chapter six. And we have had in this chapter
that the Lord has been dealing with his judge. Gideon. And it comes down to the point
where Gideon is going to be put into a leadership position. I really appreciate what the
Apostle Paul said about his ministry. He said, God was faithful, putting
me into the ministry. Paul did not go through some
formality. He didn't go through some legal
thing, but the Lord put him into the ministry. And we really find
that with regard to all the judges, that the Lord chose them and
put them in as judges. And Gideon is no exception. He
has been put in as a judge. And we find that he followed
the Lord in destroying that idolatrous altar to Baal. He offered the
appropriate sacrifice. It's almost time to go meet the
Midianites. And we're going to find out that
there's 135,000 Midianite soldiers that they are going to go meet.
And so here we have in these last verses of this chapter that
Gideon does something, and it reminds me of Abraham when he
is in a conversation with the Lord about the people in Sodom. If there are 50, will you spare
it? If there are, please forgive
me, Lord, if there are 40, and it keeps going down through there.
Well, here we find that Gideon brings up the subject in this
chapter six. It says here, and Gideon said
unto God, verse 36, if thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou
hast said, He's already been given this
information, and we can check here in this same chapter and
find out that the Lord has already told him, I'm going to deliver
Israel by you. So he's going over this, and
then it goes on to say, behold, I will put a fleece of wool in
the floor. And if the dew be on the fleece
only, and it be dry upon all the earth, Beside, then shall
I know that thou wilt save Israel with my hand, as thou hast said. And if it was so, for he rose
up early in the morning and thrust the fleece together and wringed
the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. And Gideon said
unto the Lord, let not thine anger be hot against me, and
I'll speak but this once. Let me prove I pray thee. But
this once, with the fleece, let it now be dry only upon the fleece,
and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night,
for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all
the ground. Now, whenever we think about
this, we find that Gideon is doing what so often we're interested
in, and that is inquiring the will of God. Now, I have found
myself not putting out fleeces after I was saved. I did before
I was saved, but I don't put out fleeces now. And one way
or the other, you can look at me one way or the other, I think
in many ways, we have an added bonus that Gideon did not have,
and that is the word of God. And we will find that the word
of God has the will of God. And God's will will never lead
us contrary to God's will, to his word. So, and you know, if
we follow ourselves around enough, we'll find that we are often
like other people. We want to know the will of God
for other people. You remember Peter? what will
you have this man to do? That's what he asked about John.
What will you have this man to do? And he's wanting to know
the Lord's will for John. And Jesus makes a comment, and
that comment became world famous, because he said, does it matter
if he's alive when I come again? And so the word went out that
John's never gonna die. He'll be around. Well, that's
not what the Lord meant. And then we find, turn with me
if you would to the book of Matthew. as we think about this, the book
of Matthew chapter eight, as we think about the will of God.
And here in the book of Matthew chapter eight, this is such an
interesting verse of scripture because this person that has
a great need does not demand that his need be taken care of.
He has a great need, but he does not present it to the Lord in
such a manner that you must do this, because he brings up this
subject. In Matthew chapter eight and
verse two, and behold, there came a leper
and worshiped him, saying, Lord, now notice this, if thou wilt. Now, I want the will of the Lord
done. That's what he's essentially saying. If thou wilt, thou canst
make me clean. And you know, it was the will
of the Lord, because he goes ahead and makes him clean. Now
this same phrase is used by Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration.
And he says, if thou wilt, do you want us to build three tabernacles
here? Well, that was not the will of God. And there was no
three tabernacles built there because God spoke to him, the
Father spoke to Peter and the other two from glory and said,
this is my beloved son, hear ye him. We're not gonna worship
Moses and we're not gonna worship Elijah, we're gonna worship him. But he did pose that, if thou
wilt. Now, he's probably speaking out
of turn, we don't know, but he certainly does bring it up for
us to understand that God has a will and he's going to carry
his will out. There is never a time that his will will not
be done. God's will will be done. And
Mike has read this passage a couple of times recently. I've read
it a couple of times recently, and we haven't wore it out. And
that's the words of Nebuchadnezzar. when he came out of that time
of being turned out to pasture, he was revealed so much about
God. Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone
that we ran into said, I like that verse of scripture. But
they don't, and we find out why. But it tells us there, he doeth
according to his will in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand. So his
will will be done. Now Gideon is much like us. He's seeking the will of the
Lord, but sometimes it is so plain in the scriptures what
the Lord's will is for us that we don't need to ask, but we
do anyway. And I find that oftentimes we
have our will already made up and we're just asking God to
okay it. sign off on it. And you know, so often we find
he doesn't do that. And we're thankful because it
would probably lead to a real problem. So we have, if thou
wilt, if thou wilt, and there we find what do you want this
man to do? Now there's a verse in the Bible
that is so often brought up by those who believe that Jesus
Christ went to the cross and died for everyone without exception. And they bring it up and quote
about half of that verse of scripture. And that verse of scripture is
found in 2 Peter 3 9. So would you join me over there
in 2 Peter 3 9? You know what this is, but we
want to look at that verse of scripture just momentarily as
we pass by. In 2 Peter 3 9, Now, it would do us well to read
this whole chapter, but that is an opportunity for you to
do some reading. It tells us here, the Lord is
not slack concerning his promise. Now, the part that is so often
quoted and taken out of context, that is the Lord is not willing
that any should perish. The Lord is not willing that
any should perish. Now we read a passage of scripture
in the book of, or quoted a passage of scripture in the book of Daniel
that said, he does his will in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. And we're going to read a few
more of those just to refresh your course on that subject.
And so this is brought up, he's not willing that any should perish.
Now, if he will something and can't do it, then he's not God.
If He wills that everybody, if that's true, and He wills that
He's long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, then
there's not going to be anybody that perishes or He's not God.
Well, this verse of Scripture straightens that up right at
the beginning. He's long-suffering to us. And that verse of scripture
has been, or that phrase, that thought has been so valuable
for me as I go through the book of Judges, because the Lord has
been really long-suffering with Israel, because there are a few
among all this host of Israel that belong to Him for eternity,
from eternity, He has loved them with an everlasting love. So
here it says, He's long-suffering, the Lord is not slack concerning
His promise. as some men count slackness,
but is long-suffering to usward." Now, we can find out who the
usward is by turning to chapter one, verse one. and find out
who this letter was written to. The Apostle Peter is not writing
to the general public. He's writing to saints. He's
writing to those elect in the Lord Jesus. And so this verse
of scripture, the whole gist of it is that the Lord is not
coming back until the last sheep is saved. And that's his will. He is longsuffering and not willing
that any should perish. So if he wraps this up early,
then we're going to have some left out and he's ought to do
that. But he's not, he did not go to the cross for everybody
or there wouldn't be one person. Now there'd be a lot of demons
and Satan and all that stuff because it was, hell was created
for the devil and his angels, but there would not be one person
in it. if he was willing that nobody perish, but he is not
willing that any of his chosen before the foundation of the
world should perish. So we follow this out in the
book of Ephesians chapter one and verse 11. What a glorious
verse of scripture, that whole first chapter. What a glorious
statement that he makes and lets us know much about his will here
in this passage of scripture. The book of Ephesians chapter
one, there in verse 11, the scriptures share this, in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the
purpose of him that worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will. Now, he works everything, and
this is really a problem for a lot of people, that they cannot
take a God that has absolute control over everything that
takes place in the world. I have had people come to me
with voices turned up just a little bit, says, God wouldn't do that. Well, the gods of the Pantheon
wouldn't do that, but the God of heaven does. The God Baal
wouldn't do that, but the God of heaven does. And we'll look
at that just a little bit more as we follow this through. According
to the purpose of him that worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. And we find, and we've read this
several times recently in the Psalms, Psalm 115, but our God
is in the heaven, he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. So we have a God that is going
to do exactly as he pleases and nothing is going to get in his
way. He's never had to cry, uncle. He's never had to get to the
point that all I have to give in. No, he's the victor and he
is victorious. And he's victorious over every
individual and every demon. He is victorious over all. And we follow this through, we
find that As we look at the scriptures
about the will of God, we find out that God had a will from
eternity past. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
came, book of Hebrews chapter 10, would you turn there with
me? The book of Hebrews chapter 10. We read this about the Lord's
ministry. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
seven. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
seven. You know, there was a couple
of times I looked very quickly and found out that the will of
the Lord Jesus Christ, while he was on this earth, offended
people. Do you remember that passage
where the disciple says, did you know the Pharisees are offended
at you? What were they offended at? His
will. Remember the thousands that left
the Lord Jesus Christ? What were they offended at? His
statement about grace and salvation. They were offended and left him. So people get very offended at
the will of God. And here we read in Hebrews chapter
10 and verse seven, it says, then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book it is written of me to do what? to do thy will,
O God. So when we read that the Lord
Jesus says, I lay down my life for the sheep, that is the will
of God. When we find the Lord Jesus as
a good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, that is the will
of God. He came to do the will of God. And from beginning to end of
his ministry, in fact, before his ministry began, before he
created heaven and earth, in the Council Halls of Eternity,
the will of God was directed to him to be carried out in time
on our behalf. And so it is, he came to do the
will of God. Everything that transpired, every
word he spoke, every step he took, every person he visited,
Every prayer he prayed, every statement he made to the Pharisees
and to his own was the will of God. When he stood in the face
of the Pharisees and said, there's two things you don't know. You
don't know the scriptures nor, what's the rest of that? The
power of God. You don't know the scriptures
nor the power of God. And he said that straightforward
in the face of a bunch of Pharisees. And over here, he would tell
his disciples, peace be unto you when you made these terrible
mistakes. That's the will of God. So he is carrying out, to
the nth degree, the will of God in every step he took. When he
went to the cross, it is exactly as God determined. He is doing
the will of God. buried in the tomb, the will
of God, raised the third day, will of God, and spending 40
more days on this earth after his resurrection, the will of
God. And then he ascended back to
the Father, and I am surprised. We've been going through the
book of Acts, and he's ascended back. How many times he told
his disciples, I must go back to the Father. My mission is
not finished in resurrection. My mission is finished in ascension. So it is the will of God that
he is presenting there. The Pharisees were offended at
him. Now, his disciples offended him
from time to time. But the Pharisees were offended
at him. They were offended at his word. They were offended at his message.
They were offended at his presence. But he was doing the will of
the Father. If I know God's will, that will
take care of the will for me. The will of God for us is to
know the will of God. foremost in the scriptures. How
valuable it is when we read here in the book of Hebrews and find
out that everything that happened to the Lord Jesus Christ while
he was in his personal ministry upon this earth was the will
of God. That is something for us to grasp and say, I know the
will of God and that's the will of God for me. Trust it. Believe
it. Hang on to it. Don't lose this. Hold fast to this. There are
several aspects about the will of God, and one of them is that
all the scripture that was ever written about our Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ, must be fulfilled. Not one verse was undone, left
out, wasn't put into the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. I like
what it says over there, Luke chapter four. Would you turn
with me to the Luke chapter four? In Luke chapter four, we read
these words that the Lord Jesus shares with us. He's quoting
an Old Testament passage of scripture about himself. And in Luke chapter
four and verse 21, as we think about the will of God, that's
what Gideon wanted to know. Now, I believe he already knew
it and he just got double confirmation. He knew that the Lord was going
to take care of him. You know, as we get into the
next chapter, it's very interesting. The Lord says, you got too many
men. took 22,000 men away from him
in one fell swoop, left him eventually with 300. And I don't find one
time that Gideon complained about it. He never said a word. By this, he'll do his job. All right, here in the book of
Luke chapter four, verse 21, he began to say unto them, this
day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. That passage of
scripture from the Old Testament was fulfilled just like everything
else was. What did he mean when he shared
with his disciples that he went to the Old Testament in the books
of Moses, in the law and the prophets and in the Psalms and
declared all the things concerning himself? He is saying those verses
have been fulfilled in me. That was the will of God. This
is what is promised. This is the fulfillment of that.
He has long suffering to us where he's going to fulfill everything
that he ever said would be fulfilled about himself. God and his word. The Bible is the foundation of
all truth. We can't find truth anywhere
else. It is the basis, the foundation of truth. And God has decreed
His will. When God says a thing, it will
be. And His decrees that He is sovereign
over all. We've read this in the past.
I'm just going to quote in Psalm 115. I just mentioned it before,
but our God is in the heavens. He has done whatsoever He will. His decrees will be carried out. There will be nothing left undone. And as we read there in Ephesians
1, verse 11, He does all things according to His will and purpose. Now, many say, I don't always
like what God does. It doesn't take very long reading
the scripture. You find out people didn't like
what God said. Adam didn't like it. He didn't like what he said.
And you know what God said? Stay away from that tree. He commands, and we notice how
good that lasts with people who want to break it, according to
God's will. There is an aspect of God that
allows for evil and even the wicked. And you know, when we get to
talking about this, it's above my pay grade. It's above my pay
grade. Mike, would you go get the plug
in for that other computer? This is about to die. There is an aspect of God that
allows for evil and even the wicked. Isaiah chapter 46. Isaiah chapter 46 verse 10. Isaiah chapter 46 and verse 10,
declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I
will do all my pleasure. In Isaiah 45, verse 6 and 7,
back up just one chapter there, Isaiah 45,
verse 6 and 7. that they may know from the rising
of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me.
I am the Lord and there is none else. I form the light and create
darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. I read that to a young man the
other day and his chin dropped. It's above my pay grade to explain
it, but I do believe it. The Bible teaches it, that God
is in charge of all things and he uses all of this according
to his will for his glory and for the blessing to the church.
I cannot explain how God can use sin or sinners, but He uses
it for His glory. He, declaring the end, my counsel
shall stand, and then we find out, He said, I create. I form the light, create darkness. I make peace and create evil.
I, the Lord, do all these things. God is in charge of everything
from beginning to end. It is His will that is being
played out in the world today. It's above my pay grade. I cannot
understand. I remember Pastor Mahan saying,
will God start a war to save some of his elect? And his answer
was, absolutely. Now, sometimes that may be the
only benefit to all the stuff that goes on. But he will. And there in verse seven, again,
I make peace and create evil. Now, most people cannot stand
the God who takes ownership of everything in the world. That's mine. That's mine. That's mine. I'm not asking you
to understand it, but it is mine. I have created it. how he could
take David in a situation with Bathsheba and turn it into good,
and God alone can do that. We can't, we can never turn it
into good, but God can. How could he take the fall and
turn it into a benefit? He took the fall and turned it
into a benefit by sending his only begotten son, laying down
his life of ransom for us, and it is going to be far better
in grace than it ever was in the Garden of Eden. They would
not have known grace and they could fall. God's people cannot
fall from the position that they're in. So, all right, people just
have a real trouble with God being in control and taking ownership
for everything in the world. Who brought the Midianites into
Israel? Who brought Nebuchadnezzar down
to Jerusalem? Who was in charge of taking all
the children of Israel into captivity? Who was it that brought the flood
on this world? We have to go back to one source
and one source alone, and we find out this was, is, and forever
shall be God's will. Now there's going to be 135,000
soldiers from the Midianites that are going to wish they had
never met 300, but they never met the 300. They
met the God of the 300. The Lord said himself, I'll take
care of it for you. All right, in the book of Exodus
chapter nine, we know this passage of scripture. I think Mike quoted
it on Sunday, but it's just one of those verses of scripture
that filled in so many gaps about the will of God. In the book
of Exodus, Exodus chapter nine, Exodus chapter nine and verse
14, I remember getting into a discussion with my mother one time about
God hardening Pharaoh's heart. And she brought up, well, he
hardened his heart first and then God took over. And that's
not what it says. God hardened his heart first.
And then it was normal. All right, but here it says,
for I will, Exodus chapter nine, verse 14, for I will at this
time send all my plagues upon thine heart. And upon thy servants
and upon thy people, that thou mayest know that there is none
like me in all the earth. Now, he did not do this to Israel. He did this to Egypt. And we
can say, look at the thousands of innocent people that were
affected by that. There is no innocence in sin. God will judge sin. I've had
people tell me, well, people go to hell because they reject
Jesus. No, no, they go to hell because they're sinners. And
sinners reject Jesus. And we rejected Jesus in Adam. We are just as guilty as everyone
else and we may spend most of our life rejecting Jesus. God
in his mercy came and in his will changed, made us willing
in the day of his power. So it goes on, for now I stretch
out my hand that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence
and thou shalt be cut off from the earth and in very deed for
this cause have I raised thee up. Can you imagine the ears
that Pharaoh had on his head when he began to hear this? And
you know what? He didn't believe a word of it. There wasn't one word he believed
of it. For this very purpose, I've raised
thee up to show in thee my power, that my name may be declared
throughout all the earth. As yet exalted thou thyself against
my people that thou will not let them go. So he's not gonna
believe a word of it. He's gonna go through a lot of
this. Many will say that they love God and find fault with
him because of his word. I love God, but I don't like
that passage of scripture. You cannot love God and not love
his word, every bit of it. We will admit we don't understand
it, but we cannot not like God's Word. His Word is His will, and
His Word will come to pass. It tells us in the book of Matthew,
part of that parable of the sower, this is an interesting passage
of scripture here, in the book of Matthew chapter 13, we find
here, that Matthew chapter 13 and there
in verse 21, Matthew 13, 21, it says, one of those, the seed
that pictured this, four different places that that seed could fall
on is represented, three of them are about the same. There is
no fruit, there is no growth, there is nothing. God was not
there. He didn't have, he was not willing
that they should be saved. He's only willing that those,
the seed falls on good ground. But notice this, verse 21 of
the 13th chapter of the book of Matthew, yet hath he no root
in himself, but dureth for a while, For when tribulation or persecution
arises because of the word, and by and by he is offended, I don't
like it. I don't want it. And he demonstrates
what his heart is about, and that is he doesn't want the will
of God. When someone makes a negative
statement about God doing his business, in reality, they're
saying, I would do a better job. I could do a better job. And
what a statement is made by a natural man that says he could do a better
job than God can. What, how atrocious that is. And yet we all at one time or
another said, I will not have this man rule over me. I'm thankful
for God's will that he's not willing that any of his people
should perish because we gave him enough excuse to send us
to a devil's hell. God doesn't know what he's doing.
I could do a better job. When clear scripture is disregarded. Oh, how unwise natural man is
when it comes to the will of God. I could do. And I don't
know how many times I've heard people say, my God would never
do that. And I have just got to the point,
your God would never do that. But my God would. That's in the
scripture. And I won't have to take the
scripture over your personal opinion. The LORD looked down
from heaven to see if there were any upon the face of this earth
that did seek after Him, and He found none, not one. So the
overriding need for us is that God gets involved in our life,
and this God that created evil, this God that God raised up Pharaoh
for one purpose, to dispose of him, to find out how he treated
and did this and that and that and that, and many people still
find fault with him. A man told me the other day about
the God of the Old Testament. Now we have Jesus in the New
Testament. God of the Old Testament hated
everybody. Jesus loves everybody. That's not a fair comparison
because they are doing exactly the same thing. God's statement is a command. We do find in the Scriptures,
and it's brought out in the book of Daniel, excuse me, Deuteronomy,
starts with the same letter. In the book of Deuteronomy, it's
found there that the secret things, turn with me to the book of Deuteronomy
chapter 29. Deuteronomy chapter 29. The will of God, it will
be carried out. Nothing can stop it or halt it.
And you know, in reality, the church says, I don't want it
stopped. I want it fulfilled. I want the will of God. When
I see the will of God, I know what the will of God for me is.
Agreeing with the will of God. That's the will of God for me.
Agree with the will of God. Here in the book of Deuteronomy,
chapter 29, verse 29, The secret things belong unto
the Lord, the Lord our God. But those things which are revealed
belong unto us. Let's rejoice in them. Let's
relish in them. The things that we have been
given, the revelation of Jesus Christ, belong to us and to our
children forever, that we may do all the words of this law
or of this book And that is to agree with God about his will.
Wherever we find it, agree with God about his will. The Lord is just telling us,
trust me. That's what he told Gideon. Trust
me. Trust me. I'm going to do my
will. It is will. God's will. Trust
me. Proverbs chapter three, verse
five. Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 5. Trust me. I'm not going to lead
you astray. Trust me. I'll carry you. Trust me. I'll save you. Trust me. Here it says, trust
in the Lord with all thine heart. Now how can we do that? It has
to be given to us. We have an attachment with Christ
that we never ever had before. We are privileged to trust him. And even when we don't, we find
out we're still trusting him because he's given us that quality.
Trust the Lord with all thy heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. Don't let your thoughts get involved
in this. Trust me. Trust me, Gideon. I am going to take care of them.
Joshua. I'm going to take care of the
city. You know, it just reminds me of a bunch of preachers going
around there, people who know the gospel marching around there.
And God honored their march by destroying the walls of Jericho,
just like he said. And we find no record of anybody
but the enemy, the Jerichoites, except for Rahab and her family
was delivered. The rest of them are utterly
destroyed without one Israelite losing his life. Trust in the
Lord with all thy heart. We read that passage over there
in Hebrews chapter 10, where it says that this is the will
of God. He came to redeem his people.
This is the will of God. And we find out so often he speaks
and says, this is the will of God. Trust me in the matter. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. Trust me in this matter. I will
do this. And we find all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. They shall be saved. Trust me.
Trust me. Don't go off and half cock. Trust me in this matter, I will
save them all. All that shall presented spotless. Man, I don't look very spotless,
but trust me, I will present you spotless. That is my will. I will save all my people and
I will present them spotless. It is my will that that happen.
So he's gonna do that. We're called on in Romans chapter
12 in verse two. Would you turn over there with
me? Romans chapter 12 and verse 2. I may have shared with a couple
of you or some of you or most of you, I don't know. But recently
I heard a man preach and he was telling me what I needed to do.
And I walked away and I said, don't tell me what I need to
do. Tell me about someone who's done it for me. Don't tell me
I'm not reading my Bible enough. I know that already. Don't tell
me I'm not praying enough. I know that already. Tell me
about someone who's taking care of the problem though. Tell me
about my savior. Tell me about Christ. Tell me
about success. Tell me about hope. Tell me about
peace. Tell me, tell me. That's the
will of God. That's what scripture says. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. Tell them the war's over with.
Tell them that there's no longer any conflict. Payment has been
made. Don't tell me what I'm not doing right. You don't think
I don't know already? Tell me about someone who's taking
care of it. This is not that kind of verse. In chapter 12 and verse 2, it
says, being not conformed to this world of what is that, don't
go along with their doctrine. Don't go along with their teaching
about God's will. Trust me. but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. How does that happen? God's got
to take care of that business. I can't transform my mind that
ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will
of God. What's he saying there? You demonstrate
what God does for sinners. You demonstrate what God does
for sinners. Be ye thankful for what God does
for sinners. God pulls us out of a horrible
pit and that's His will. Be thankful. Agree with Him. Trust Him. For this is the will
of God, it says, your sanctification and that you should abstain from
fornication. And you look that word up, you
know, so often we go off onto the sexual side, but we have
found out from Old Testament studies, as well as where we
are today in Acts, and we're going to find out more about
it when Paul's on Mars Hill or if they're on the Acropolis,
that word metaphorically means to worship idols. And that is
a natural thing, but God takes us from that worship of idols
to worship the true and the living God in everything. This is the will
of God. In everything give thanks for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. in everything. Trust the Lord. Trust Him. Trust Him. And then
in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 11. The Apostle Paul shares this,
but just remember, when we run into a passage of scripture in
any of the books that the Apostle Paul was led to write by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, this is God's word for us. It's just not Paul's
word for us. We may disagree with Paul, but
we can't disagree with God's word. All right. Not that I speak in respect of
one, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Be content. Trust Christ. Gideon is saying, please just
show me one more time what your will is. Well, we have an advantage. We got the Bible. We can go to
the Bible. We find out the will of God throughout
the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. And he always
has done his will. He will carry it out. And his
will for us is to trust his will with us. the will of God. Now next week, we're going to
look over there into the book of Judges chapter 7, and we're
going to find out that the Lord says there's too many. And the
reason that there's too many is if all of you go into battle,
you're going to say, we did this. We did this. Look what we did.
Look what we did. We beat them. And the Lord said,
I'll bring you down so that you'll all say, the Lord gave the victory. And that's exactly what he brings
out over in the book of First Corinthians chapter one. Not
many of this group or that group or that group. that everyone
must give glory to God and not ourselves. And that's essentially
what we're gonna find there, that Gideon was telling us there,
I don't want the glory, I want you to give it, but please show
me your will. So the will of God, it is a,
and he uses this term, a perfect will. But we'll stop there tonight.