May God be pleased to bless us
together this evening. As we turn to his word, let us
turn to the book of the Judges, chapter seven, and we'll read
verse seven. The book of the Judges, chapter
seven, and reading verse seven. 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." God ordained that Gideon's army
should be reduced to less than 1% of what it originally set
out to be. That, of course, is an amazing
reduction. And as we think, well, what was
the reason that the army had to be reduced to such a small
amount? We've read together in the earlier
verses in this chapter the reason for it. God spoke to Gideon and
he said, 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, Mine own hand hath saved me." This sets
before us a very important principle, really, in all of our lives.
We may not be in a position that we have to fight a vast army,
but there may be those situations where we might be Tempted to
claim merit ourselves and the Lord points out here to Israel
the very clear situation that if they were to gain the victory
with that army then they would probably claim the merit themselves
on their skill and everything else and so we must always realize
that God is a jealous God We tend to forget that And we tend
to bring God into the same condition and situation that we are. But
God is a jealous God. Jealous of his glory. Jealous
for his name. And we should always remember
that as we walk on this earth. To realize that we have these
historical accounts recorded in the Word of God for our instruction. They are interesting and they
are wonderful, but there is of course a great depth of instruction
to us. We perhaps think of those words
which says, there is a deep that coucheth beneath. That means
underneath the surface, underneath that which is perhaps just apparent
to the natural mind, there are those things which speak to us
with regard to our innermost being. speak to us with regard
to the need to be concerned that in our lives we are conscious
that we do not detract from the honour and glory of God by claiming
any merit ourselves. And so here we have in this account
really just that simple reason why the great army was reduced
to just 300 men and that without any swords either. They just
were to do that which Gideon directed them, that which the
Lord had directed Gideon, just with those flames and that pot
really, and then to brighten that pot and the flames show
forth and to call out very simply the sword of the Lord and of
Gideon. And naturally speaking we would
think, well that was a very weak and very foolish thing to do.
But of course it was in accordance with God's divine purpose that
through that simple scene and that simple working, there would
be that wonderful and great deliverance. And so they break the pitchers
and they blew the trumpets, which they had in their other hand,
and they cried the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. Just those 300 men. And what happened? The host fled
to Beth Shittah in Zerarath and to the border of Abel Meholah
and to Tabath. They fled. They no doubt perhaps
thought there was a great army. They didn't realize there was
only a few, only a few who were fighting against them. But nonetheless,
there was that great victory. The millions were put to flight,
and God brought about the victory. And we might think, well, that's
wonderful, and so it is. And what application does it
have to my life? Because obviously as we're walking
on this earth now, we want to know the Word of God has an application
to our lives. Well of course it does. And it
has the application to prove to us that God is in control. And that God produces the help
and God produces the victories in our little life. And how very
humbling it is sometimes when we observe God is fighting for
us. The Lord shall fight for you,
and ye shall hold your peace." Now just think about that. You
see, we don't have to do anything sometimes. In the days of Jehoshaphat,
they didn't have to do anything in a physical way, but you may
remember what they did. They actually began to praise
the Lord before they entered into any battle. And the Lord
then brought about the great victory. They were given on that
occasion wonderful faith to believe that the prayers put up to Almighty
God would be heard. And really that is the test for
us today. We have these accounts to encourage
us, but we still need to be given that gift of faith as we come
in prayer to our God to believe that he will do great things
for us. And so we have this very simple
statement where the Lord says he will save you and deliver
the Midianites into thine hand just by that very, very small
number. And so the victory was obtained
and God's name was honoured and glorified. Well, as we ponder
the word of God to remember and think of the truths it contains
and the encouraging words it contains. We can think of a similar
word in Zechariah. Zechariah is a very lovely short
prophecy. In the fourth chapter we read
in the sixth verse, Then he answered and spoke unto me, saying, This
is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might,
nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. You
see, there is the secret. And in Zerubbabel's day, you
see, they needed the help and they needed the support from
Almighty God. And therefore, this is the word
which is spoken, and we read on, Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt
become a plain. The Lord has said, will make
the mountains to flow down at his presence. There may be mountains
in your life and my life and they're there, vast mountains. How are we to overcome them? How are we able to pass over
them? They just seem too large, too
great for us. Well here we have encouraging
words from the prophecy of Zachariah and it's not by Might nor by
power but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. It is the
work of the Spirit of God who can overcome the mountains. They can disappear and they can
become a plain. They can flow down. Flow down. It's a good expression, isn't
it? The mountains can flow down.
You and I can't make a mountain flow down, can we? and you and
I can't make a mountain in our own lives, whatever that might
be, flow down. But the Lord can. And they can
disappear and become a plane. And that, in a moment, you see
this deliverance here was almost instantaneous. The Midianites,
they heard the cry and they ran away. They didn't really look
very carefully, they ran away. And what a blessing it is to
know that our God makes the devil disappear. Go away and leave
us for a little time in peace. And that mountain which we were
looking at and pondering over and perhaps quaking because of
and were worried what it might bring, what the result might
be, the Lord came and it was moved out of the way The Lord
gave us that faith to believe that those things which we could
not do the Lord could do and the Lord did. Luke speaks about
those things being which were impossible. God did. And how true it is for us today
to realize the word of God is same today. He says in the 18th
chapter the things which are Impossible with men are possible
with God. Well, and that was in results
to a discourse. And when Jesus saw that he was
very sorrowful, he said, how hardly shall they that have riches
enter into the kingdom of God. For it is easier for a camel
to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God. And they that heard it said,
who then can be saved? And this might be a mountain,
you see, which is before us. The great enemy questioning us
and pointing to us and saying, well, there's no hope for you. You are just without the pale. You've just sinned against lighter
knowledge. You, in fact, have continued
to sin, and there's absolutely no hope for you. And we may,
of course, conclude, well, it's true. I'm an impossible case. I'm an impossible situation. Well, that's when the gospel
becomes very real and becomes very precious. And that's when
we appreciate a statement like this. When they heard that, he
said, who then can be saved? The Lord said, the things which
are impossible with men are possible with God. And of course, it is
naturally impossible to save ourselves, to deliver ourselves. It is an impossibility. But bless
God, those things are possible with God. You see, it didn't
involve, it doesn't involve a great army. What does it involve? It involves the gift of faith
to believe the Lord Jesus Christ has and does great things. If we have faith as a grain of
mustard seed, we can say to that mountain, be thou removed into
the sea and it shall be done. A grain of mustard seed is exceedingly
small. If you've seen mustard seed,
it's very, very small. And to think that God gives, Sufficient
faith. Just like that. We might think
it's small, but my friends, if it's of God, it's true faith
and it's real faith. Now, Gideon, you see, he had
faith to believe that what God had said would come to pass. He never doubted it. We don't
read at all that when this had occurred that he said, well,
I don't think so. I'm really concerned about it. We have no
evidence of that at all, and yet God was so kind to Gideon
that he allowed him to go down into the camp to hear what the
enemy were saying and how encouraging that was. Remember, when Gideon
was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow.
And said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and like a cake of barny bread,
tumbled into the host of Midian, and came into a tent and smote
it. Then it fell and overturned it, and the tent lay along. And
his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else, say the
sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel. For into his
hand hath God delivered Midian and all the host. Well, how encouraging
for Gideon. It may be sometimes A similar
situation occurs in our life. We need encouragement. Perhaps
we're not necessarily doubting what the Lord has said, but yet
we need encouragement. Encouragement to believe. Encouragement
to press on. It is sometimes then that the
Lord is gracious and provides a word for us of encouragement. And perhaps it might be something
like this. These words here in Luke's Gospel. to understand
those things which are impossible with men are possible with God. We might have had faith to believe
it. We said, yes, I do believe it,
and yet there may perhaps be that little doubt in our mind.
And then if the Lord comes alongside us and encourages us to press
on. And in this account, you know,
the Apostle Peter He speaks very good words. He says, Lo, we have
left all and followed thee. And the Lord said, There is no
man that has left house or parents or brethren or wife or children
for the kingdom of God's sake who shall not receive manifold
more in this present time and in the worlds to come, life everlasting. So again, it may be that those
mountains which are before us, as they flow down, And we see
the favour of God directing us in the right path, the true path. It might be a different path
to that which we had anticipated and yet to know that it is the
right way and it leads to this blessing of life everlasting. And so Gideon then was given
that faith to believe and how important it is for us today
to also be given that living faith to believe in our lives. This is perhaps we might think,
and it is of course an extreme situation and account which we
have, but there will be cases in our lives when we shall need
the Lord to appear. The Israelites needed God to
appear. The Midianites had kept on attacking
them. And as you know that when the
Lord came to Gideon, he was hiding, threshing the wheat, so that
he wouldn't be seen. He was afraid of being seen and
yet the Lord graciously came to him and spoke to him and it
was through him that he was allowed to lead or come and defeat the
Midianites. Just going back for a moment
to Gideon in his life, the situation appeared very, very difficult
for him. So what did he seek? He sought an evidence from God. An evidence from God. that it
was true that he was to deliver Israel. And the Lord granted
it in an amazing way. And Gideon said, Behold, I will
put a fleece of wool in the floor. And if the dew be on the fleece
only, and if it be dry upon all the earth, beside then shall
I know that thou shalt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. He was seeking a sign. He was
seeking a word of encouragement, as it were. And it may be that
in our lives, sometimes we might need and pray for a word from
the Lord to encourage us in a certain thing, so that we may be confirmed
that it is the Lord's will. And so here was Gideon seeking
for that confirmation. And it was so. He arose early
in the morning and thrust the fleece together and wringed the
Jew out of fleece a bowl full of water. And we might think,
well Gideon, you've got your answer now, away you go. But
Gideon still sought another encouragement. And he said, Lord, let not thine
anger be hot against me, and I will 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 it
be due. And God did so that night, for it was dry upon the fleece
only, and there was dew on all the ground." What an encouragement,
was it not, for Gideon in that great situation which was before
him. He had the encouragement to know
that God had heard his prayer, and God had answered his prayer,
and God had confirmed him in that which he had been commanded
to do. And so now, you see, he was able
to go in the strength of the Lord God. Go in the strength
of the Lord God. And we might say to make mention
of his righteousness, even of his only. He was really looking
to the Lord. He wasn't looking anywhere else,
looking to the Lord. And the Lord came and granted
him this wonderful blessing and deliverance. And so in our pathway
today, as we need the Lord to speak to us and encourage us
It's right, you see, to seek sometimes for a confirmation
of that word. It is easy to mistake our way,
especially if there's a way which we want and we find a suitable
word in the Bible and apply it to that situation and we think,
now I've got the answer. Well, it may, of course, have
not been God's work It may have been our work. We may have picked
a word which suited our situation, rather than the word of God coming
to us from God. And if that is the situation,
and it may be, because sometimes we do assume that certain situations
will come to pass, because we may have had a word, well, it
may not be from God. A test you can make as to whether
it is from God or not is very simply this. If God gives you
an answer to that request, who will be the person to get the
glory? Would it be totally the Lord? Or would you claim some merit
for your prayer and for that which you said and done? Again,
coming back to our opening remarks, God is a jealous God. And therefore, if that situation
does exist, then to seek unto the Lord that he will confirm
his word as not being your word, but being his word. And then
you can go in the strength of that word, knowing it doesn't
come from yourself, from your own carnal mind. Our mind is
carnal and it's very easy for us to want something and to assume
that the Lord has given us a word so that it will come to pass.
Well, we are to try the spirits, whether they are of God. We are
to examine ourselves because sometimes we may go on and be
disappointed. I remember in my life I thought
something would come to pass. And a number of years, it never
came to pass. And I realized that it was the
flesh that wanted it to come to pass in that way. It wasn't
God's purpose. And it wouldn't have been for
God's honor and glory. I would have claimed the glory. I would
have gone about saying, well, I prayed for this, and I sought
the Lord here, and that's what happened. And you and I would
have claimed the glory. It's very important. that we
recognise the Lord is to claim all the honour and all the glory.
And you may say, well of course I prayed for that. But you have
to come and confess that the Lord gave you the spirit of prayer. And again there's a vast difference
between just praying words and God indicting a spirit of prayer. Because when God indicts a spirit
of prayer, first of all we have to acknowledge it's him that's
done it. Because you and I cannot produce that effect. We might try and pray. It's right
to pray, it's good to pray. I'm not saying anything against
that at all, I'm sure you realise. But we want to come to that place
where God gives us that true spirit of prayer, an inditing
prayer, and it's as though we know that we've gained access. We know we've come to that throne
of grace, and Lord has given us that access. As though we've
come to the mercy seat. and our prayers have been received
for Jesus' sake. And then you see, you can then
believe the Lord will go with you and the Lord will answer.
May not be immediately, but it will be in his time and way.
Well, the Lord was gracious to get in on this account. And he
heard his prayers, he sent him those very positive answers,
and then he was wonderfully with him to bring about this deliverance. And again, just pondering this
for a moment, see Gideon had been brought right down and I
said less than one percent of the army. Now he was blessed
therefore with these encouraging signs to know that what God would
do now would be right and it was therefore with that confidence
God having heard and answered his prayers that he was able
to go this way without any questioning because he knew that God was
with him. What a blessing that is in our
lives today, when we have the evidence in our hearts that God
is with us. Although it might seem to be
an impossible situation, an impossible development, and yet to know
that the Lord has promised, the Lord has said he will be with
us and help us and deliver us. So we're thankful that we have
such an account as this in the book of Judges. Well, we might
look upon Gideon. He wasn't a great man, was he?
He said he's a poor man. He was a poor man. You see, that's
the other side of things as well. When the Lord shows us that we're
not a great person, he shows us that we're a poor man, a poor
woman, perhaps a poor child. And we just need the Lord to
come and to be gracious to us and to help us and to direct
us. Now, we might think of a poor
man. I wonder who we really think
of. Well, the book of Ecclesiastes
gives us a clue with regards to this situation. And in the
ninth chapter, Solomon tells us, he says, there was a little
city, and a few men within it. And there came a great king against
it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it. Now
there was found in it a poor, wise man. And he, by his wisdom,
delivered the city yet no man remembered that same poor man. It gives us really a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, he was a poor, wise man. We read in the Corinthians, although
he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor. you through his
poverty might be rich. A poor wise man, the Lord Jesus
Christ willing to come right down, right down to our position,
right down to our situation, right down to our case. Yes,
he became poor. If the Lord had come into this
world as a great rich king, he wouldn't have come down. He wouldn't
have been found alongside the likes of you and me. But you
see, the blessing is that the Lord was made poor. Gideon, you see, the person who
the Lord chose in his own eyes was a poor man. And God chooses
the poor. You read in Corinthians, God
chooses the poor Yes, not the great skillful people. Sometimes
he does, we read, not many wise, not many mighty, there are some,
but generally the Lord chooses the poor. And therefore we should
be thankful tonight that we have a word here to encourage us in
our life. There was found in it, in this
city, a poor wise man, and by his wisdom delivered the city. yet no man remembered that same
poor man. The Lord Jesus Christ, what wisdom
he had, didn't he? What glorious wisdom, which he
displayed and spoke of to those that he met with on this earth,
and that wisdom which has been left on record for us today in
the word of God. The word of God, the words of
Jesus, how encouraging they should be for us. And to realize, yes,
the Lord Jesus condescended to come right down to our level. What a friend we have in Jesus.
A friend who understands our condition and our situation. We can't be too poor in our own
estimation. The Lord understands us. And
it's good when we are poor in our own estimation. we're not
proud, we're not full of our own abilities, full of our own
skills, full of our own ideas, to come and to be in that position
like the hymn writer says, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to
thy cross I cling. Yes, the cross of the Saviour,
the poor wise man, there is all our hope for time and for eternity. And so the Lord Jesus then is
so suitable for poor unworthy sinners, those who have no wisdom
themselves, those are dependent upon that wisdom from Almighty
God, those who seek his help, and those who are dependent upon
his strength. Gideon was like that. He was
brought to dependence upon his God. He was dependent upon his
God, didn't claim anything himself, and yet God graciously encouraged
him, and then graciously helped him, and then gloriously brought
forth a wonderful victory. And so we might think of that
perhaps in our own lives. The Lord brings us to that confession,
confession before him that we are really nothing, nothing in
ourselves. Now, nature doesn't come there. Nature always vaunts itself,
always considers itself to be someone. The grace of God, the
glorious grace of God, deals with His people to bring them
down to a low place where they are poor in their own eyes. And
then you see they're suitable candidates for the blessing of
the Lord, where nothing in themselves I see that Christ is all and
in all. Now that is the grace of God. And that's not something that
you and I can produce. You see, the Lord came sovereignly
to Gideon. He was nothing more than an ordinary
person. And God came to him. And God
called him for this great work, to deliver Israel from the Midianites. And it may be that God sometimes
calls us for a great work. But in order to do that, he brings
us down first to realise our dependence upon God, dependence
upon him, and that we might know something of his character, may
know something of his blessing, and realise the words that we
read here to be so appropriate in our case. Now there was found
in it a poor wise man. Lord Jesus was found, have you
and I found the Saviour? Poor wise man, so suitable to
our condition, who indeed we're able to come to. Yes, we don't
have to be in any particular form, we can come to the Lord
exactly as we are, wherever we are, whatever condition it may
be. Maybe in the middle of the a
busy workplace, in a busy classroom, perhaps walking alone, perhaps
in the middle of a shopping centre. The Lord can come, and the Lord
can speak, and the Lord can encourage, and the Lord can direct, and
the Lord can bless, so that we know then that it was God. It wasn't as though we drummed
up some religious feelings. We may have been in our thoughts
in a very different situation. may have come, come to us in
his sovereign will and purpose, and as it were, drawn aside to
us in our poor state, spoken to us and encouraged us and strengthened
us. And what have we done? Well,
we've rejoiced, we've bowed down, we've been amazed that the Lord
should have ever come to us, should ever have spoken to us,
should ever have spoken perhaps such a suitable word. You see,
the Lord knows exactly what we need. And we don't know that. Sometimes we think we do. Sometimes
we plan our lives and we say, well, I must have a word for
this and I must have a word for that. And sometimes the Lord
does not grant it. The Lord knows what we need and
when we need it. And the Lord will not leave our
souls destitute if we've been brought to this place where we
found, in this city, A poor, wise man. And we've been delivered
by his wisdom. Not our wisdom. Again, it's his
wisdom. You see, it's not a great thing.
It's not a vast army. We've been brought down to a
low place. And you see, Gideon couldn't
depend on the skill of the army he had. 300 people. They wouldn't
have done anything at all against that great might of the Midianites. How he needed God. exactly the
same in our lives. We need God. We have no might,
naturally, against the enemy of our souls. The devil, we see,
goes about in two guises, either as an angel of light or a roaring
lion, and he tries to catch us out, and he tries to make us
afraid, and tries to pretend to us that there's no hope for
us, that we shall be defeated, that we will not overcome, Well,
we can point, can we not, to the Word of God. Do not forget,
when we come, when we face the devil, to tell him the Word of
God. To point to the Word of God,
speak the Word of God. The devil cannot answer the Word
of God. And he will be put to flight
because of the truth of the Word of God. We shall not stand in
our own strength, but in that condition we shall stand in the
strength of Almighty God. And here was Gideon standing
in the strength of Almighty God. It wasn't his strength, it was
God's strength, and God brought a wonderful deliverance from
what appeared to be an impossible situation. Yes, they'd been besieged,
they were under attack. the Lord appeared. It may be
so in our life, in our spiritual life. We might be besieged sometimes
with the army. Do you know what that army is?
I'll tell you. Unbelief. You may be besieged
with the army of unbelief. You will need the Lord to appear
and to put to flight the unbelief and to encourage you in the truth
God's Word and to encourage you to believe those words. It may be again sometimes the
Lord has given us a word and the devil said well I didn't
give you it. The devil said I gave you that, not God. And I've told
you before the situation with regard to old John Warburton.
When he was in great distress and fearful of his spiritual
life and condition. And the Lord came to him and
wonderfully blessed him and blessed him so much that he went into
the adjoining field and danced up and down praising God for
the blessing that he had. And then the devil came alongside
and said, oh, I did that. I did that. And John Warburton
then in his quaint way said, well, devil, if you did it, do
it again. And of course, the devil was
unable to bring about that same blessing. So don't be surprised
sometimes if those favours and blessings that the Lord has given
us, may perhaps the devil come and tempt us and say, well that
wasn't from God, it was from me. Well you can tell him to
go and do it again, and you know he won't be able to. And that
will be an evidence that it is God's work, and that's what you
can rely upon. You can rely upon God's work.
Gideon here was relying upon his God who'd promised, who'd
answered his prayers in those wonderful ways of that fleece. And how good it is then, in our
day and age, when we're faced with difficult situations, to
come and to remember God's deliverance. Now, there are many deliverances
in the Word of God. This is one very typical one.
And you can search out, and there are a number of occasions when
the Lord delivered Israel in remarkable ways, wonderful ways. Now, our God is the same today. It's the same God that we worship
today that was Gideon's God. Yes, and you may remember, of
course, in the 11th chapter of the Hebrews, where the apostle
makes reference in those closing verses to Gideon. who was blessed
with that living faith. And we do walk by faith and not
by sight. It's not something that we can
see visibly. No, we walk by faith and not
by sight. And he comes down to the end
of this chapter and he says, And what shall I more say? For
the time would fail me to tell you of Gideon, and of Barak,
and of Samson, and of Jephthah, and David also, and Samuel, and
of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought
righteousness, obtained promises. You see, we've got this position
here where it's pointed out subdued kingdoms, yes, that's what Gideon
did, but then also wrought righteousness, obtained promises. We need faith
to obtain promises. But bless God if he gives us
faith to obtain promises. stop the mouth of lions, quench
the violence of fire, escape the edge of the sword, out of
weakness we're made strong." Again, that's a blessed statement,
isn't it? Out of weakness. We do feel very weak sometimes,
but the Spirit of God can make us strong. And then we can go
in the strength of the Lord. Wax valiant in fight, turn to
flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised
to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting
deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Now the path that you and I led
in is to bring us to that position so that we, by God's grace, obtain
a better resurrection. And others had mockings, had
trial of cruel mockings. and scourgings, moreover bonds
and imprisonments, they were stoned, they were sawn asunder,
were tempted, were slain with a sword, they wandered about
in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. Yes, we might be also destitute,
we might be afflicted, we are probably tormented. Of whom the
world was not worthy, they wandered in deserts and in mountains and
in dens and caves of the earth, and these all having obtained
a good report through faith, received not the promise, God
having provided some better thing for us, that they without us
should not be made perfect. Well, there will be that day
when the Church of God will be joined together in glory around
the throne of God to sing his praise for his deliverances,
for the words that he's spoken, the encouragement the Church
has had, and for the truth to realise that they are possessors
of that union communion with this poor wise man, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Our life on this earth is to
bring us into communion with Christ. Yes, because if you and
I are blessed with communion with Christ here, this earth
we shall in glory have communion with Christ forever. If we have
no communion with Christ on this earth, we shall have no communion
with Christ eternally. And therefore how important it
is that we are amongst those who are a true follower, who
seek the Lord and desire that we might indeed be overcomers
through him. They overcame through the blood
of the Lamb. That's how Gideon wrought this
wonderful blessing. He overcame, not through his
own ability, through the blood of the Lamb. What a glorious
truth it is to think that you and I, in this day and age in
which we live, by the grace of our God, we overcome through
the blood of the Lamb. We are more than conquerors through
him that loved us. and the Lordson and the 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 own place. Amen.