I'm going to read the first eight verses in Judges 7. And if you get time this afternoon to read the rest of the chapter, it's just amazing. The sovereign grace of our Lord showing mercy upon a people who, they're like us, sinners. Up and down, up and down. Sometimes follow, sometimes just walk in our own ways. But the Lord is going to show special kindness to His people whom He foreknew.

Israel is a type of the church, a type of the elect, a type of the remnant. And He is going to deliver them out of the hands of the Midianites.

In verse 1, who is Gideon. said, 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 Moray in the valley. And the Lord said unto Gideon, the people that are with you or with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, mine own hand has saved me. Now therefore, go to proclaim in the ears of the people saying, whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead. And there returned of the people 20 and 2,000 and there remained 10,000.

So the Israelites have 32,000 people. That's who they have to fight. Now they're down to 10,000. And the Lord said to Gideon, the people are yet too many bring them down to 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 whomsoever I say unto thee, this shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.

So Gideon brought down the people unto the water, and the Lord said unto Gideon, everyone that laps of the water with his tongue like a dog, and that means they bend over completely, and you know how dogs drink water, lapith him shalt thou set by himself. Likewise, everyone that bows down upon his knees to drink. Now this would be, if you're a military man, this is what you would do. You would bend down and you'd keep an eye and you'd go like this. You wouldn't put your head down and do it like a dog.

Okay, the number of them that lapped putting their hand to their mouth were 300. But all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. And the Lord said unto Gideon, by the 300 men, that lapped, will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand, and let all the other people go, every man unto his place.

So the people took vittles in their hand and their trumpets, and he sent them, all the rest of Israel, every man unto his tent, and retained those 300 men and the host of the Midian, was beneath him in the valley.

Now, how many are they gonna face? Well, if you jump down to verse 12, the Midianites and the Amalekites, they're combining their forces, and all the children of the east lay along the valley like grasshoppers, okay? Like grasshoppers. for the multitude, and their camels were without number as the sand by the seaside for the multitude.

" So if you would turn, and you don't need to turn, but if you look after the service at Judges chapter 8, in part of the way, it basically tells there's over 100,000. So you got 300 versus 100,000. Okay, and this is not part of the message, but if you continue reading, Gideon is the Concerned he's a he's a nervous. And so the Lord tells him to go into the camp of the Midianites In verse 9 and forward and he says if you're afraid take take this guy and he names this guy Fura p-h-u-r-a-h take your servant with you. So they go down to the camp they go down into the camp of the Midianites and the Lord says listen to what's being said and And I'm going to give you strength after you hear what's said.

Well, what he heard, and he hears what one of the soldiers of the other army has a dream. And he's nervous about it, and he tells his fellow men what that dream was. And that dream is in verse 13, there's a cake of barley. which barley in those times was broken up, smashed. They did eat it occasionally, but it was mainly for animal feed. It's nothing. It's very humble. bread, tumbled into the host of the Midian and came to a tent and smote it and it fell and overturned it that day that the tent lay along.

" Well, they're listening to this dream and this other fellow soldier says, well, it's nothing else to save the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel, for into his hands hath God delivered us, Midian and all the host. So when Gideon hears this, now the beautiful thing is God is sovereign. What do we mean by God is sovereign? That means he does what he wants to in the heavens and in the army of the earth and nobody can say, what are you doing? He's God on the throne, not like the gods that are preached in most churches. You gotta help them, you gotta decide for them, you gotta do this. No, no, that's not the God of the Bible.

Our God is so sovereign that he can put a dream in a guy's mind who's an enemy and then have two men go into the camp and hear what is said and the interpretation thereof. And what does the believer do? The believer knows God is on the throne. Nothing, this government, these Russian, China, they can't do anything but what the Lord allows. Even our government can't do anything but what the Lord allows.

What does the believer do when he knows that God is sovereign? Verse 13, and it was so when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, he got courage. And the interpretation thereof, that he worshiped God. That's what we do. That's what we're here to do. We're not here to play games. We're not here to, you know, whatever. We're not here to, we're here to talk about Christ, God's sovereign, glorious redemption. And this is what this story is. This is a story of redemption.

Look at verse seven that I read, and the Lord said unto Gideon, by the 300 men that lapped, will I, Not yourselves, I will save you. Salvation, Jonah said, when he was spit out by the whale, he said, salvation is of the Lord. Now that little word of shows origin. Salvation is of the Lord. It's not by your decision. It's not by your shaking somebody's hand. It's none of that stuff that goes on today. Salvation is of the Lord. And this is what he's doing. He's taking these 32,000 men, which even going up against 100,000 is something, but he whittles it down and whittles it down and whittles it down. 32,000 ends up being 300. Why? That's the question of the whole situation. Why? Well, we don't have to guess. Why did the Lord do this? Look at verse two. And the Lord said unto Gideon, the people that are with thee are too many. for to give the Mennonites into their hands. Why? Lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, mine own hand has saved me.

And that's what's going on in churches all over the place. Doesn't make any difference what denomination. You've got to decide for Jesus. You've got to You know, Mother's Day comes, preaches a teary message about how you need to do something for your mom and decide for Jesus and that. And then next day or whatever, everything goes back the same. We, this is our problem, lest Israel vaunt, that's glory, themselves against me, God, saying, my own hand has saved me. And that's what salvation is in this country. And it has been. You read Spurgeon. You read Augustus' top lady. You read the early fathers. And in the scriptures, he says, it's not by the works of my hands, but by his grace. But we've got it relegated to steps. The Romans wrote a grace, this step, that step, and you're saved. No, no. About 300 men that leapt, I, God, I will save you.

So there's at least three issues. Man, the scripture says in Isaiah 55, our ways are not his ways. See, we think God is like us. We think he's, and that some of these phrases just drive me up a wall, the old man upstairs or my high or whatever. There's too much of a familiarity with God. There's no reverence. He's holy. And of all the attributes of God, if you look at a concordance, holy, holiness, that's used more often to describe God than his love and any of the other attributes that he does have. Man, his ways, our ways, and I'm including myself because I'm sinful, he came to save the ungodly. Our ways are not his ways, Isaiah 55. And in Proverbs 14 says there's a way that seems right unto men, but the end are the ways of death. So what seems right to you? I don't know. We do things and we don't even open the book. This is God's declaration of how he saves sinners and how we are to act and how we conduct ourselves. It's not hidden. It's right here. It's right here. I remember growing up in the Methodist church, we never opened the Bible. Not once we never had a Bible in church. And the preacher would get sent messages from the Missouri Synod and was told what to preach.

Secondly, man, by birth, from Adam, sin, we're born in sin, by nature and practice, we are glory hounds. That's what we are. We're glory hounds. Why does he do this? Lest Israel, which is a picture of the church, vaunt themselves against me, God speaking, saying, mine own hand saved me. Anytime we can get credit for doing anything spiritual, we will take it. We love to have the preeminence. What does the scripture say? Christ must have the preeminence. Man loves the chief seats. He loves making supreme decisions.

Thirdly, and God will not share his glory with another, Isaiah 42, eight. He will not share his glory with another, in particular, our salvation. We have nothing to do, we have nothing to do with our salvation, but our sin. That's what we do. By our works, or our deeds, or our will, and as this, if we think we can save ourselves, this text is for us, saying, against me. God says, when you say you can save yourself, that's against me, because it denies everything that Christ has done.

But I want us to see this morning in more detail why God reduced this army. First of all, because man, by nature, really has no grounds to glory in anything. We don't. We don't. We're born, as I said last week, we're born in the hole. We're born in sin. Man, all peoples, the scripture says in Psalms 39, verse 5, at our best state, the best we can do, is altogether vanity. That word vanity is useless. And I'm not saying neighbor to neighbor or what we create or what we, inventions. Man is, you know, he is brilliant and this country is wonderful and it's great and wouldn't want to live anywhere else. But spiritually, we're talking spiritual things, man in his best state is useless.

When Adam fell, he fell completely. His will, his mind, His attitude, his emotions, he fell completely. Boys, women, men and women, boys and girls were ruined. We're spiritually ruined. We fell completely. And Adam and the garden were vile, corrupt. And John 6 says we will not come to Christ that we may have life. We will not. And in another place he says we cannot. We cannot. And in Ephesians chapter two, he says, we're dead in trespasses and sins. And I don't want to get graphic, but what can a dead person do even physically, but spiritually is what he's talking about. We're dead in trespasses and sins. If we can't do anything, we can't walk to God. We can't breathe for God. We can't live for him. We can't decide for him. The will's been affected. It takes an act of pure, supreme, majestic, conquering grace for one sinner. That's why when one sinner repents, it says in the scriptures, the angels rejoice. Why? Because they see the impossible made possible only through the blood of Christ. Life everlasting. And it's all through the Son. It's all through the Son.

I've said many, many times when you invest and when you're banking and finances and stock market, diversify, diversify. Not God. He has all of his eggs in one basket, Christ. You find Christ and you find life.

Secondly, the reason why for this reduction, part of the delusion of man's depravity or inability is that he thinks he can do something to secure his own redemption. Our chief attribute is pride and God will have none of it. What's he say? He gives grace to the lowly. He resists the proud.

Thirdly, God is reduction of these numbers so he will stop every mouth and that every knee will bow to the Lord Jesus Christ, Romans chapter three. This is not splitting hairs. This is life and death. This is a matter of God getting the honor, do his name, in the salvation of all his people, all his people.

The mere religionist says, mine own hand, saying, mine own hand has saved me. That's what the mere religious person says. The believer says, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to that cross or to Christ I cling. The child of grace says, I deserve damnation and hell, but he showed me mercy freely.

That's why election, it doesn't bother the believer because if it wasn't for God choosing some and not others, which is all over the Bible, we realize election is hope for the believer. Because the most severe, well, the thief on the cross. There's two thieves, right? There's Christ and there's one thief. One he took and one he let go. He didn't save everybody, never came to save everybody, doesn't love everybody. He saves his people, says Matthew 121, I will save my people, whoever they are, they're sinners, as bad or worse than the others, from their sins. That's what he does.

So the child of grace says, I deserve damnation and hell, but he showed me mercy. Why? Because the election of grace. The election of grace says, out of Psalms 110 verse 3, he made me willing in the day of his power. We have a will, it's just bound. It's not free, it's bound. But yes, we choose Christ, but the New Testament says you have not chosen me, I've chosen you.

So, again, why? Because if we say we chose, it's something that we did or how we were raised or, you know, the middle son or whatever, we think, you know, they fought, gloried themselves against me saying my hand has saved me. That's what we'll take. As old Henry used to say, Henry Mahan, you know, we will dethrone, we try to dethrone God. And this is what he's saying here. If you say you saved yourself, you're dethroning me. and he's not gonna have it, he's not gonna have it.

Let me read you what Martin Luther, whatever this is, he's another sinner, but I highly respect him, I would call him a believer, a brother if he walked in here, I'd fellowship with him, got no issues there. If any man ascribes anything of salvation, even the very least thing, to the free will of man, he knows nothing of grace and has not learned Jesus Christ aright. So this is the man, it's not the scripture, but he's quoting from the scriptures.

Fourthly, this reduction of troops once again teaches us that this great deliverance of men, salvation of sinners, I will save you, this deliverance is a small insignificant thing. To most people, what we're doing right here, Sunday after Sunday, whether I'm here or Bruce fills in or Matt or Nathan, we preach Christ. Christ is the summation of the scriptures. In his own word, he was talking to the religious of the day who didn't understand the gospel at all. He said, search the scriptures. What they had of them, scrolls, For in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. So Christ is everywhere in this book. This is not a book of morality. Don't people use it that way. It's not a teaching that husbands to love your wives and wives to submit. It does say that, but it all points to Christ who married us. We are his children. you could anywhere, any teaching in the scripture, it finds its center, its foundation in Christ. And God would, that's what God would have it this way.

So this reduction of truth of the troops of Israel, it teaches us that God will use a small insignificant thing. And that's preaching the gospel. Look at Romans chapter 10, faith comes by hearing, hearing the word of God. How can they hear without a preacher? How can a preacher, a preacher unless he's sent, unless he's sent. But we want big things. We want visible things. We want, what are those things called? We want the cathedral. We want the pinnacle and the cross on the top of the, to be seen. We want to be noticed by people. We want to be seen of men. What was one of the main issues that Christ had with the religious Pharisees? They did what they did to be seen of men. They did what they did to be seen of men.

Don't preach Christ only, they say, or always. We want to do more. We want to build our towers of Babel. We want huge churches that serve coffee and donuts and hamburgers with large TVs announcing all sorts of programs, counseling, marriage tips. What they're saying is Christ is not enough. Now, I've got no issues. With Pentecost 3000, boy, I'd like to see that in this town. We desire to see sinners saved, for sure. But we will not compromise God's grace. We will not compromise His holiness. We will not compromise the grace and mercy that is only found in Christ. Again, because he says, If you do that, you know, you have so many people, you're gonna take the glory for themselves against Him. Mine own hand has saved me. This book says in the scriptures, in the Corinthians, Christ is all and in all. I mean, one old preacher said, when you look at a passage of scripture, you know, be honest with the scripture. The scripture interprets scripture. Find Christ. Find them as quick as you can and preach them.

Well, what about, you know, what about all these things, these issues that these kids are going through? It's in the scriptures. You tell me what the situation is and I'll find it in the scripture and then I'll walk, we would need to walk it back to show Christ. Husbands, love your wife as Christ loved the church. Children, obey your parents. Did Christ obey his father in all things? He always did. He always did. But when we take this book and then write hundreds of books on how to's and this and that, we've pared off the edges of the gospel. We've made it so everybody can, we make it easy. Easy believism, that's been around since I was in high school. I think Charles Finney was the one that invented the walk in the aisle, didn't know the gospel from a hole in the ground. But it's popular. You know, old Scott Richardson said, believe Christ, don't move a muscle. Well, how do you know? We implore those who do not know the gospel, our children and our friends, believe the Lord Jesus Christ. If you truly seek him, he's never turned anybody away. Follow believers in baptism. The only person that didn't do that was the thief on the cross, because he died on the cross. But one man said years ago, there's only one That's basically a deathbed confession, only one like that, so we would not lose hope, but only one, so we would not presume upon God's grace. So I'm going to wait, now don't wait. Today, if you will harden your heart, believe on Christ.

So, that's what's going on today. Turn with me to Luke chapter 16. If they will not hear the truth, they will not be much good in heaven. Look at this. This always amazes me. Luke chapter 16. You remember the text? The rich man of Lazarus? The rich man went to hell. Yes, there is a place called hell, and it's there for a reason. And then Lazarus went to heaven. And the rich man, Lazarus, was begging bread and begging, and the rich man had, he fared sumptuously. He's in hell, and he's trying, look at what he says. He's talking to Abraham. But Abraham answered him, verse 25, in Luke 16, remember that thou in this life, thy time, received thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted and you're tormented. And besides all this between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed so that they which would pass from thence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from hence. Then the man, the rich man in hell said, I pray thee therefore, father, that you would send unto him my father's, send him to my father's house. So he wants to interrupt Lazarus's pure heavenly worship to go take care of his family on heaven. Selfish again, proud, selfish man.

Verse 28, for I have five brethren, which, you know, we love our family. that he may testify to them, lest they also come into this place of torment. And Abraham said unto him, to the man in hell, look at this, they have Moses and the prophets, they have the written word of God. Let them hear, faith cometh by hearing the word of God, that's how. Read the Bible all you want, and that's a good thing. You've got to hear the gospel. The truth, not a lie. He doesn't say, buy a lie. Okay, keep reading.

And the man said, Nay, Father Abraham, he's smarter than Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. Oh boy, would the evangelist today have a field heyday with this? We've got somebody that, you know, passed away, he's going to come and preach to you. He's going to tell you about this and that. Keep reading.

And Abraham said unto him, if they will not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded. The one rose from the dead. How important is the gospel is preaching the gospel. That's why we take this seriously. Because you can have all the circus shows, you can have all the puppet shows, you can have all these things you want. If it's not centered and it's not centered on the word of God, It's damning. It's foolish. This, to me, is very, very clear. If they will not hear, and this is, at the time, was what they had written. They didn't have New Testament. It wasn't fully canonized. It wasn't fulfilled yet. They will not hear the truth. We're in heaven. He is the way, the life, and the truth, and that's all we see. That's all we have. So if you don't, you're having trouble worshiping here, you're going to have trouble worshipping in heaven.

And in another place, turn back to our text, in another place, in Zechariah chapter 4, he says, don't despise the day of small things. This preaching to this group, this small little, he says, fear not little flock. Right? In the New Testament? It's okay. If God is honored and God is glorified through the declaration of Christ and him crucified, which he says in 1 Corinthians 2, 2, Paul says, I'm determined not to know anything among you, say Christ and him crucified.

I want our children to succeed. I want them to grow up and be mature adults. I want them to have fine jobs. I want them to be successful. But that pales compared to do you know what thinking of Christ. That's my desire. It's not that I don't love you and care for you. I do. But what kind of a minister, preacher, would I be to see all this worldly success? And the scriptures is clear about that. Guy said, I'm successful. I'm going to tear my barns down and build more. And then the Lord says, nope, tonight your soul is required. We don't know if we have tomorrow.

There are many wonderful teachings in this book, but this whole book testifies of God's, the God-man's redemptive saving work on Calvary's tree that I will save. By these 300 men that lapped like a dog, I will save you. I will save you. Now, he uses means. He used Gideon. He uses, that would be, Gideon could be a picture of the preacher, could be the church. He uses these things. If you know the gospel, it doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman, if you're a believer, you have the truth, you go out and you tell folks. And if you don't feel like you can do that, like Nathan, say, hey, I come here, come here, here. Pure man that told me all things I ever did, and he's speaking of Christ. So I tell you once again, if you find Christ, you will find life, because he's the one that bled, suffered, and died to put away sins by the sacrifice of himself, not plus him plus your decision, not him plus, no, he by himself, says Hebrews. Put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Matthew 13, you don't have to turn there. But what did that one person do when he found that pearl of great price, which is Christ, which is the gospel? What did he do? He sold everything. He sold everything. Yes, we have to live. We have to render under Caesar Caesar, have to pay taxes. We have to do a lot of things to be responsible adults. But that one thing is most needful. Let us say not, let's say not, mine own hands have saved me, but rather in closing, you can turn if you want, 2 Timothy 1.9, let us say this, let us duplicate what our brother Timothy said. Second Timothy chapter one, we'll start in verse seven, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, that's the gospel, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Say this instead. God, who has saved us and called us with the holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world ever was." That's predestination. That's foreordination. These people are scared of these words. They're words in the scripture, and they're words that bring much comfort.

He doesn't save you and then just set you free. He does set us free. But He saves us and He takes care of us every step of the way. Now it may, you know, we get cancer, we get sick, like everybody in the world, but we know one thing, God's given it to us and we'll give Him all the praise and glory. All things work together for good. I don't understand that and don't understand that and we won't understand it until we're with Him in glory. But everything does work together for good to his people, because God's on the throne. He's sovereign. He's majestic.

When we sing that song, majestic sweeten it sits upon the Savior's brow. So let us not say, mine own hands have saved me, but rather he did by his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus. We weren't even there, weren't even there. If we have the ability to save ourselves, why did Christ suffer and bleed and die a wretched death? If you're still working for salvation, stop. It is already finished. He said, it is finished. It's done. The great transaction's done.

And that gives sinners like us, me, great hope. Because we like to think we're smart, but we're not really. We're not really that smart. And spiritually, we're blind. It has to be revealed to us. Oh, to God be the glory. Not our own hands, but to him.

Bruce, would you close us?