Judges chapter 6. I want to look
this morning at a couple of verses in chapter 6 and then go over
and look at several verses in chapter 7. The Lord's people are a people
that are saved entirely by the grace of God. entirely by the
power of God, entirely by the wisdom of God. And this power
and this wisdom is manifest and brought about and really is the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God. He came forth to
do for sinners what we could not do for ourselves. And He
came forth to glorify, to magnify the triune God of glory. He is
the Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, come forth in
human flesh. And whenever He calls His child,
when the Spirit of God quickens and makes us alive, He makes
us to be empty vessels. broken vessels that he fills
himself so that all our power, all our wisdom becomes Christ. Our food is the gospel of Christ
wherein we were called and saved. And all our power, all our ammunition,
all our weapon is the gospel. It's what we go forth with. I
want us to see something about this in the book of Judges. Every
time throughout the book of Judges that the children of Israel would
feel as though they didn't need the word of the Lord, the Lord
would turn them over and they would
cry out to the Lord. And the Lord would save them
by sending them forth judges, saviors, preachers, prophets. And that's what had just happened
here. The Lord is about to call Gideon to deliver them. And in
Judges 6, 8 it says, The Lord sent a prophet unto the children
of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel. Now that's how this work of grace
is brought about. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel. Now, verse 11 says, and there
came an angel of the Lord and sat under an oak which was in
Ophrah that pertained unto Joash the Abizarite, and his son Gideon
threshed wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.
Now here's the first thing we see, is God uses weak and foolish
things. And by that, the scripture means
sinners. It uses base things, just foolish
things. Now look at verse 12. The angel
of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is
with thee, thou mighty man of valor. Now listen to Gideon's
reply. He doesn't answer If the Lord
be with me, now listen to how he answers. He counts himself
a sinner right along with all the other children of Israel.
Verse 13, And Gideon said unto him, O my Lord, if the Lord be
with us, why then is all this befalling us? Where be all his
miracles which our fathers told us of saying, did not the Lord
bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken
us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. The
Lord had spoken through this messenger and he said, the Lord's
with thee. But Gideon said, if the Lord be with us. He counted
himself right there amongst them, right there as a sinner in need
of the mercy of God, right with the rest of his brethren. And
then the Lord speaks to him again, verse 14. And the Lord looked
upon him and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save
Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Now he says, go in this thy might,
and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have
not I sent thee? And listen to Gideon's response.
And he said unto him, O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family's poor in Manasseh,
and I'm the least in my father's house. You see how Gideon saw
himself? Gideon saw himself as a sinner
right there in desperate need with his brethren. He saw himself
as poor. He saw himself as the least in
his father's house. Gideon's a man who has no confidence
in self. His trust is not in his flesh.
His trust is not in his wisdom. His trust is not in his works.
His trust is not in his righteousness. He asks He asked this messenger
of the Lord, where's the promise of God? The word of God's what
I'm looking for. The promise of God. His power
to save. That's what he said he was looking
for. That's a gift of God. We don't have this in us by nature,
but that's the gift of God. To be not a mighty eye. but a powerless us." That's what
Gideon was. You remember Moses? Moses said
unto the Lord, I'm slow of speech. I'm not eloquent. He said, neither
since you've spoken to me. And the Lord said, who made man's
mouth? Who made the deaf? And who made the blind? And who
made the seeing? Have not I the Lord? Now he said,
therefore, go. I'll teach you what to say. I'll
put my words in your mouth. Look at 1 Samuel, just to your
right there. 1 Samuel chapter 16. Jesse's
sons, they were all older and taller
and not too pretty, and they looked real experienced. But listen to this description
of David. He's just the opposite. 1 Samuel
16, 12. And he sent and brought David in. Now he was ruddy and
of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look to. Well, now
that's something in our day that we think, well, now that would
be the kind of man that could really be useful in the kingdom
of God. Well, turn over one page to 1
Samuel 17, 42 and listen to how Goliath regarded David, that
big mighty giant, that big mighty warrior. 1 Samuel 17, 42. When the Philistine looked about
and saw David, he disdained him for he was a youth and ruddy
and of a fair countenance. You see there, he disdained him. Jeremiah, he said, Lord, I'm
a child. He said, I can't speak. And the
Lord said, don't say to me I'm a child. The Lord said, He said,
thou shalt go to all that I send thee, and whatsoever I command
thee, thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces,
For I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. And then
the Lord put forth his hand, and he touched his mouth, and
he said, I'll put my words in your mouth. And he said, now
you go forth, and you speak what I tell you to speak. And this
is what the Lord said he was going to do with him, with a
word. He said, I'm going to, I'm going
to, set thee over nations, and over kingdoms, to root out, and
to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, and to build,
and to plant." All that with somebody that said, I can't even
speak lower. All that with a word. That word's
the gospel. That word is the gospel of Christ
and Him crucified. It's the message of how God saves
sinners entirely of Himself, by Himself, through Himself,
without the aid or the additions or anything that a man thinks
will work to attract and to save folks. Now, the strength of the
servant. It's not us, it's the Lord who
calls him. Watch this now, back in Judges
6, 14. Look at what the Lord had said to Gideon. The Lord
looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from
the hand of the Midianites. And this is the might God was
talking about. Have not I sent thee? I've sent thee." Gideon's
might and his valor. He said, thou mighty man of valor.
That's a description of every believer. That's a description
of you and I who've been called by God's grace, who are witnesses
to God and to his Christ. Mighty men of valor, full of
wisdom, But here's what it is. It's twofold. Gideon didn't see
anything in himself. And he didn't see himself having
any ability or any wisdom that he needed to go forth and do
what God was calling him to go forth and do. That was the first
way he was a mighty man of valor. He didn't have any strength in
himself. When we think we're strong, we are absolutely weak. When we think we're wise, we're
totally ignorant. And when we're totally weak,
and that means just without strength, that's when we're strong. And
when we have no wisdom, that's when we've got wisdom, because
it's of God. And that was the second thing
that made him a mighty man of valor. The Lord said, I've sent
you. I'm doing this. I've chosen you. I've called you. I'm sending
you. And verse 16, And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will
be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. There were millions of Midianites. We're talking about millions
of enemies. Do you know how many enemies
the child of God has in this earth? untold. We don't have a clue
how many enemies we have in this world. We don't have a clue with
the constant enemy we face every hour in this earth. It scares
us to death if we knew what we're wrestling against. Truly. But this, the Lord says, I'll
be with thee and thou shalt smite them as one man. Like one man Now that's the first
thing we see. God uses absolutely weak things,
base things. Now here's the second thing.
God does this conquering through the gospel. He does this conquering
through his word. Now look at Judges 7. Judges
7. Then Jeroboam, who is Gideon,
that's who we're talking about, 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,
Now these people who were with him, this army that's with him,
this is, we're gonna see here, this is a type of the believers
united together, fighting under the immediate direction of Christ
Jesus, the captain of our warfare. Gideon's a picture of Christ,
and these that he's using are a picture of his people. Now
watch this, verse two. 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 vault themselves
against me, boast themselves against me, saying, My own hand
has saved me. Now, Israel here represents the
children of God. Israel is the seed of God. His true Israel, His spiritual
Israel, they're the people He's chosen. They're out of every
nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue under heaven. Jew and Gentile,
bond or free, male or female, rich or poor. God has chosen
a people for Himself and He's put them in Christ Jesus, His
Son. But God's going to save his Israel,
He's going to save them through Christ Jesus, through His blood,
through His righteousness, and He's going to make sure, He's
going to see to it, He's going to make certain that every child
of God, every child of Israel, every son of Jacob that He saves,
He's going to make sure we know God did it all. God did all the
saving, lest we boast ourselves and say, I did this with my own
hand. In the Lord, the scripture says,
shall all the seed of Israel, all the children of Israel, all
the sons of God be justified. And in the Lord shall they glory.
You ought to boast in Him. He said through Jeremiah, the
Lord liveth in truth, in judgment, in righteousness." And he said,
and that's what my people are going to say. And they're going
to bless themselves in Him. They're going to make themselves
happy nowhere else but in Him, in the Lord of truth, of judgment,
of righteousness, the true and living God. And he says, and
they're going to glory in Him. Now the Lord whittles this army
down and He does, He uses three Well, it uses two kinds of trial,
and then there's a third trial here in this too we can see,
but let's look at this. The first trial was through a
proclamation. And the greater part, 22,000,
went away at the word which the Lord told Gideon to speak. Verse
3. Now therefore, go to proclaim
in the ears of the people. That's what That's what this
is. We're proclaiming in the ears
of the people. This is the gospel. We're proclaiming
in the ears of the people. And he says, say, whosoever is
fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead. And their return of the people,
22,000 that went away. Through this, through the proclamation,
through this Word that the Lord said declare, 22,000 went away. I was thinking of the Lord Jesus
Christ in John chapter 6. Go over there with me. John chapter 6. He was preaching. This is the gospel preaching
the gospel. This is Christ who is the Word
preaching the Word. This is Christ, the truth, preaching
the truth. And he said in that he was preaching
to them and he was telling them that he's the bread, he's the
manna, he's the life. And they had been following him
outwardly. And he said to them, He said
that in verse 63, it's the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profits
nothing. He said, the words that I speak
unto you, their spirit and their life. But He said to them, there's
some of you that believe not. For He knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not and who should betray Him. And
He said, therefore I said unto you, no man can come unto Me
except it were given to him of the Father. And they heard these
things. And it says, from that time,
many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him."
You know how this came about? Just the Word, preaching the
Word through the proclamation of the Gospel. But watch this,
"...then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words you have
the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. You see, the
proclamation is life unto life to some and death unto death
unto others. The majority went back at the
proclamation of this word. Now look at this second trial.
The second trial, the Lord said, I will try them. Now in this
we're going to see Something very interesting. Watch this,
Judges 7, 4. And the Lord said unto Gideon,
the people are yet too many. He only had 10,000 left with
him. Up against millions. And the
Lord said, the people are yet too many. Bring them down unto
the water and, now listen to this, 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 with
thee. So he brought down the people
unto the water, and the Lord said unto Gideon, everyone that
lappeth of the water with his tongue as a dog lappeth, him
shalt thou set by himself. Likewise, everyone that boweth
down upon his knees to drink." Now, I've looked at these two
things for years and tried to figure
out, okay, what's the significance in the way these two groups drank
from this water. What's the significance that
made one be able, forgetting to take them with him, and the
other group for him not to take them with him? And I've read
every commentary I can find on it, and every one of them says
something different about the character of these men, and about
the, something about them, by the way they drank, and by the
way they came up to this water and did these things. And everybody's at odds about
it. Nobody can seem to come up with and figure out, by looking
at how these men drank this water, who it was, why it was, and them
and the way they drank that God chose who He did. Nobody can
figure it out. And sometimes the answer is right
in front of us, isn't it? That's the point. That's the
very point. The Lord said, Gideon, I'm going
to tell you. The Lord said, set this over
here and this over here. The Lord said. And the point
is, you and I can't tell who the Lord's chosen by looking
at them. We can't tell who the Lord's
chosen by how they're drinking. We can't tell who the Lord's
chosen by looking at the at these men. We just can't. And the Lord's
teaching us that He's the one who puts a difference between
Egypt and Israel. He's the one who chooses whom
He will and passes by whom He will. He's the one who says to
His people, who maketh thee to differ? What do you have that
you didn't receive? If you received it, wherein,
what room do you have to boast of anything as if you did anything
to receive it? Well, let's see this. Here's
the third trial I see in this. It's the trial of faith. Gideon,
the Lord didn't tell Gideon which group he was going to choose. He didn't tell him that. And
can you picture if you're sitting there, Gideon, and you're seeing
these people, and they're drank two different ways, and the Lord
said, I put this group over here and this group over here, and
you've put them there, and there's 10,000 over here that drank this
way, and there's 300 over here that drank this way. Which one are you hoping that
God's going to pick? Verse 6, And the number of them
that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred
men. But all the rest of the people
bowed down upon their knees to drink water. And the Lord said
unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that dipped will I save you,
and deliver the Midianites into thine hand. Let all the other
people go, every man unto his place. Send them home. Now here is the amazing thing,
look at this. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Though we hope against hope,
though all looks like there's no way we can go up against me
and there's no way we could, there's no way our sin could
be conquered, but God says it is. We look at ourselves and
think, there's no way God's going to receive me and say, I've satisfied
the law. But in Christ, he says I have.
We look at ourselves and we say, there's no way God's going to
receive this worm. And he says, in my beloved, I've
perfected you forever. We look at all the enemies around
about us and we think, there's no way. We hope against hope. were fully persuaded that what
God's promised, He's able also to perform. And look at what
this verse 8 says. So the people took, I can't pronounce
that, in their hand, and their trumpets, and He sent all the
rest of Israel, every man unto His tent, and retained those
300 men. And the host of Midian was beneath
them in the valley. Gideon And those men said, we're
going into battle. The Lord sent us, we believe
him. We're going in. All right, now all of this that
we're looking at is teaching us, brethren, that God's child,
his servants, his witnesses, those he calls, those he uses
to spread his gospel, we have no strength in ourselves. God
chooses foolish and base things, but through this gospel, through
the gospel of Christ alone, by whom he, through which he made
Christ the power and wisdom of God unto us. The same way we
receive this mercy through the word, we go forth with no other
weapon but the gospel, and by this one way God's chosen, Christ
the Lord Through faith, by grace, through preaching of His gospel,
God draws His people, He saves His people, and He conquers all
our enemies. And we don't get any glory, God gets all the glory. Now let's see this victory by
the gospel of Christ. I want to read this to you, verse
16. And He divided the three hundred
men into three companies, three divisions of them. And He put
a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers and lamps
or lights within the pitchers. So you got the pitcher, you got
the pitcher of these pitchers, you have these pitchers and you
have lamps in these pitchers. And you got, they got trumpets
in their hands. Now when these lights are in
these pitchers, you can't see the light. It's hidden in there. They're going up to where these
soldiers are and they're not marching up there with with fire
burning they're going up there right up to where the Lord has
told them to go and so here they are and now and he said unto
them verse 16 look on me this is what Christ said look on me
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 you do When
I blow with a trumpet, I, and all that are with me, then blow
you the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say,
the sword of the Lord and of Gideon." So here you got these
three camps on each side, and they got the trumpets, and they
got these pictures, and they got these lamps and these pictures,
hidden in these pictures. And he said, when you hear me
blow the trumpet, He said, you do the same. So Gideon, verse
19, and the hundred men that were with him came into the outside
of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, and they
had but newly set the watch. These guards are watching down
there in the camp of the enemy. And they blew the trumpets, and
they broke those pitchers that were in their hands. And when
they broke those pitchers, now the light's shining. And you
can picture this, you got a hundred men, but now you got all this
light shining. And there's trumpets blowing.
And there's shouting going on. And all these shadows, you can
picture the shadows all over the, shining from those lamps
and from those, that that's lights making. 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 them. And they were all crying, the sword of the Lord
and of Gideon. That's what I'm crying this morning. The sword of the Lord in Gideon. The sword of the Lord God in
his Gideon, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the sword. And they stood
every man in his place round about the camp, and all the hosts
ran and cried and fled. All these enemies did. And the
three hundred blew the trumpets, and the Lord set every man's
sword against his fellow, even threw out all the hosts. These
men turned their swords on themselves. They were so in such chaos and
disarray down there in the enemy's camp. And the hosts fled to Beth
Shittah and Zerath and to the border of Abilamon. to all those
different places. Now, how was that victory won? Look over at 2 Corinthians 4.
2 Corinthians 4. This victory was won through
a light. That light is Christ who we preach. Christ, the one who has perfected
forever his people by his one offering. It was done through
a trumpet and a shout. The gospel preached. Preaching
won't save anybody, and not just any preaching will save anybody.
It's got to be the trumpet being blown. It's got to be the gospel
being preached, the truth of how God saves sinners. And a
broken vessel, that's a sinner God uses. The
light won't ever be seen till the vessel's broken. Before that light shined forth,
the vessel in which that light was had to be broken. Had to
be broken. That's what the message of this
whole thing's been about. Lest the children of Israel glory
themselves and say, I did it. Lest we brag on ourselves and
say, well, we did it. We did it. First Corinthians
4, 7. Second Corinthians 4, 7. We have
this treasure in earthen vessels, just pitchers, just broken pots,
that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. Paul said, I preach to you this
gospel. not persuasively, not in wisdom
of word, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God. The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness. The cross, Christ, the means,
the way, the preaching, everything about it is foolishness. But
to us who are saved, It's the wisdom of God, the power of God,
Christ, the word, the gospel, the power and wisdom of God.
And God's chosen these base things and no flesh or glory in his
presence. Amen.