Let us turn to God's Word, the
portion of Scripture that we read in the book of Judges chapter
6. I want to direct your attention
with the Lord's help this morning to words that we find here at
verse 14. In Judges chapter 6 and verse
14 concerning Gideon We read, And the Lord looked
upon him and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save
Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent thee? In Judges 6, 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. Have not I sent
thee? And to say something with regards
to the source of Gideon's strength, the source of Gideon's strength. It was the Lord God who in this
chapter we see raises him up as that one who is to be a savior
and a deliverer of the children of Israel. And interestingly,
throughout this book of Judges we see that constant theme. We read of the sin of Israel
and we read of the salvation of the Lord. We read through
the book And now, time after time, they depart from the Lord,
they disobey His commandments, they indulge in the wicked practices
of the nations round about them. And then the Lord sends judgment,
and they are moved to cry unto the Lord. And as they cry, so
the Lord answers that prayer at the beginning of the Chapter
we read how the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the
Lord. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian
seven years. And how the Midianites and these
other nations, they come as grasshoppers for multitude. And the children
of Israel, we are told there at verse 6, cried unto the Lord. And when the children of Israel
cried unto the Lord, because of the Midianites the Lord first
sends a prophet and then he sends one to be a saviour and a deliverer. Well this is the constant theme
then that we see here in Judges sin and salvation and in a sense
can we not say that that really is the theme that runs right
through the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation the sins
of men and the salvation of the Lord. What does God say to him
here in the words of our text this morning? Thou shalt save
Israel from the hands of the Midianites. Have not I sent them? But as we come to consider the
words as I said I want to take up this theme of Gideon's strength
and the source of that strength and two points I want to divide
what I say into these two principal parts. First of all, to see how
this man is stripped of all creature strength, and then in the second
place we see him as one who is sent forth only in the name of
the Lord. First of all, observe two areas
in which we see him being stripped of all that creature strength.
there is in the record that we have subsequent to the portion
that we were reading but as the history has unfolded we see how
the army of Gideon is so greatly reduced. We finished our reading
there at verse 32 but in what follows We're told of verse 34,
how the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, he blew a trumpet,
and Abieza was gathered after him. And he sent messengers throughout
Rome and Assai, who also was gathered after him. And he sent
messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali, and
they came up to meet them. So he gathers together a great
multitude from these various tribes of Israel. In fact there were some 32,000
who were followers after him. But then in chapter 7 we see
how that number is so quickly reduced. There at the beginning
of chapter 7 Verse 2, 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 ward themselves against me, saying,
Mine own hand hath 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 their
return of the people 20,000 and 2,000 and they remind 10,000
32,000 then who were initially following are soon reduced and
there's just the 10,000 but then again God will reduce them further
as we see in the following verses here at the beginning of chapter
7 and eventually His army consists of just 300 men. Verse 7, 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. any confidence, any trust that
He might place in those who will be His followers, those who have
gathered unto Him. All that confidence must be taken
away. He must be one who is trusting
only in the Lord God Himself. It is God. It is God who is going
to deliver the Midianites. Though there be a multitude,
He will deliver them by Gideon's army of 300. The reduction then
of his army. He is brought to see that there's
no strength in the arm of man. All his strength must come only
from the Lord. But then further with regards
to any idea of creature strength, he's not to look to himself.
He's not to look to himself in the sense of any faith that he
has been favoured and blessed with. He is here revealed to
be one whose faith in many ways is but a weak faith. And he's
made to feel the weakness of that faith. Look at how in his
language with the Lord What he says is full of ifs. In verse
13, he says to the Lord, If the Lord be with us, why then is
all this before on us? And where be all his miracles
which our fathers told us of? If the Lord be with us, Again,
look at how he speaks, another if in verse 17, he said unto
him, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a
sign that thou talkest with me. And then even later in the chapter,
at verse 36, we read, and Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save
Israel by mine hand as thou hast said, behold I will put out a
fleece of wood in the floor and so on. He wants signs. His faith is not a strong faith. It's a faith that constantly
needs to be confirmed and strengthened. Here is one who is full of ifs. And our friends we surely can
learn something from this man. all beware of ifs and buts and
maybes the questionings of God how often we are brought into
such circumstances that we fail to understand the Lord and the
ways of the Lord and we come just like Gideon came full of
uncertainties beset by our doubts and our fears and yet We have
that encouragement that we can look to the Lord Jesus Christ
himself who was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without
sin. And remember what we read concerning
the temptations of the Lord Jesus Christ, that Satan comes to the
Lord with those ifs. There in the Gospel in Matthew
chapter 4 What does the devil say? On two occasions he says
to the Lord Jesus, if thou be the Son of God. Or the hymn writer
says, oh what an if was there. He's questioning the very deity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's questioning the truth of
the eternal Sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ. that He is very
God of very God begotten not made and of one substance with
the Father. Now Satan will come with his
ifs and even assault the Lord Jesus Christ. And then again
there in that account that we find in the fourth chapter of
Matthew's Gospel we see how there's another if that the devil attacks
the Lord Jesus with there in Matthew 4 at verse 8 again the
devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain and showeth him
all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them and said
unto All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and
worship me. All those ifs. Now that Satan
is so bold and he comes with his blasphemous ifs and assaults
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. All that impious if is us that
God incarnate through. No wonder if He cast at us and
make us feel it too. Says Joseph Hart in the hymn.
And how true it is, He comes to us, He assaults us. And of
course when He comes to the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus can say
the Prince of this world cometh and doth begin with. But we can't
say that. or the Lord Jesus. He was in
possession of a human nature that was without any original
sin. There was nothing that Satan
could take advantage of in that human nature of Christ. But there's
much that he takes advantage of when he comes to assault us.
And he does come, friends, and he will come time and again with
those ifs and buts and maybes. And how often with those who
are made afraid. all we're made to feel so much
our weakness and the weakness of our faith and God knows it
and God therefore has granted to us those precious portions
where we see the Lord exhorting and encouraging his people that
they are not to be afraid you know there are a multitude of
those fear nots to be found in the book of the prophets in Isaiah
And there in Isaiah 41 verse 10, Fear thou not, he says,
for I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen
thee, I will help thee, I will uphold thee with the right hand
of my righteousness. And again, At verse 13, I the
Lord thy God will hold thy right hand saying unto thee, fear not,
I will help thee, fear not thou worm Jacob and ye men of Israel,
I will help thee saith the Lord and thy Redeemer the Holy One
of Israel. We are not to look to ourselves,
we are not to trust in anything of ourselves. We are not to imagine
for a moment that it is our faith that he's the source of our strength.
No, the source of our strength is found in him who is the only
object of true faith. It's in the Lord God himself
as he said here, Fear thou not. I am thy God, I will strengthen
thee. And this is what this man Gideon
has to prove. All he has to learn is not to
trust in the arm of flesh, he's not to trust in that multitude
that have come and gathered together unto him. He's not to look to
anything in himself. He must look only to the Lord.
His faith, I say, is a weak faith and we see that in the record
that we have here in this chapter. He's not only one who is full
of ifs when he comes to speak with the Lord, but now we see
he is a man who requires signs. And here in this portion, what does he say there at verse
17? If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a
sign. that thou talkest with me. Depart
not, hence I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth
my present, and set it before them." And he said, I will tarry
until thou come again. He wants some tangible proof
that the Lord is the one who has come to him and the Lord
is that one who is speaking with him, this angel of the Lord.
This angel of the Lord, of course, is none other than the Lord God
Himself. It's an appearance of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Previous to the Incarnation,
it was in the fullness of the time that God sent forth His
Son made of a woman made under the law. But we see in the Old
Testament that there are these remarkable occurrences when Christ
appears to his servants in a human form and is referred to as the
angel of the Lord. It's clear, it's evident as we
read through the verses that the angel of the Lord is not
a created angel. Verse 12 it says the angel of
the Lord appeared unto him But then it says in verse 14, the
Lord looked upon him. Verse 16, the Lord said unto
him, This is no created angel. This is an appearance of the
Lord Jesus Christ and we see it when in accordance with the request
that Gideon has made that there might be this sign that the angel
will wait and that Gideon will come and minister to him. What do we read subsequently?
Well, he goes in, he makes ready a kid, he prepares an unleavened cake,
and he brings forth these things to make a sacrifice. and verse 21 we're told that
the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was
in his hand and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes and
there rose up fire out of the rock and consumed the flesh and
the unleavened cakes then the angel of the Lord departed out
of his sight. Oh Gideon surely recognizes that this is God and
he's going to do worship, he makes an offering and the Lord
accepts the offering but then When Gideon perceived that he
was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God, for because
I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face. And the Lord said
unto him, Peace be unto thee. Fear not, O the fear not. Fear not, Gideon, thou shalt
not die. This book of Judges, it is a
remarkable book because it's not the only occasion that we
read of the angel of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ himself,
as he were anticipating the great day of the incarnation coming
and appearing to a man. Did he not also appear to Manoah
and his wife, the parents of Samson, who again is one of those
raised up to be a judge? a Deliverer, a Saviour in Israel. And there in chapter 13 we read
of the experience of Manoah. Verse 19, now like Gideon, Manoah
took a kid with a meat offering and offered it upon a rock unto
the Lord. And the angel did wondrously.
And Manoah and his wife looked on For it came to pass, when
the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the
angel of the Lord descended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah
and his wife looked on him, and fell on their faces to the ground.
But the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and
to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was
an angel of the Lord. And Manoah said unto his wife,
We shall surely die, because we have seen God. And his wife
said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would
not have received the burnt offering and the meat offering at our
hands, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor
would, as at this time, have told us such things as these."
Oh, what fight we see in that woman, the wife of Manoah. She knew that the Lord God was
dealing graciously now with Israel, Samson would be raised up just
like Gideon to be a judge, a deliverer. But this man Gideon that we're
considering and how he's the weakness of his faith is revealed
to us. This isn't the only sign of course
that he requests here at verse 17. We're familiar with what
He requests at the end of the chapter with regards to the fleece
of wool that he will put down and he asks the Lord that the
Lord will give him another sign. If the Jew be on the fleece only
and it be dry upon all the earth beside then shall I know that
thou wilt save Israel by mine hand as thou hast said. And it
was so. For he rose up early on the morrow,
and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the
fleece. A bowl full of water, all the ground was dry, and the
fleece of wool full of the water, full of the dew. But that was
not enough. Oh, let not thine anger be hot
against me, he says. 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 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. Here is one, you
see, who desires that the Lord would grant him these signs. Oh, he wanted to have his faith
increased, strengthened, and the Lord granted him his request. Or we read of those in the Gospel
who plead with the Lord Jesus, Lord increase our faith. And isn't this so with Gideon?
His faith must be increased. Now, we have no detail concerning
this man when we read that great catalogue in Hebrews 11, the
record of so many of the saints of the Old Testament and the
faith of those saints. but when we come to the end of
the chapter the apostle says time would fail to tell of Gideon
and so many others but then he goes on there at the end of that
chapter to speak of those who out of weakness were made strong
and there in the context surely the reference is to this man,
this Gideon out of weakness, out of all his weakness, his
innate weakness he was made strong and from whence did that strength
proceed? it came from the Lord and we
see it here in the text that I announced the Lord looked upon
him and said go in this thy might and thou shalt save Israel from
the hand of the Midianites have not I sent me. Well here is the source of his
strength. This is where his strength lies. This is where he is made
a mighty man. He was sent by God. He was sent
by God. Go in this thy might. Have not
I sent thee? All the might and the strength that
is in Gideon came from God. Isaiah says, Thou hast wrought
all our works in us. And how true this is with this
man. Oh, when the angel of the Lord
appears to him there in verse 12, he says, The Lord is with
thee, thou mighty man of valor. Why is he a mighty man of valor?
Because the Lord is with him. and surely Gideon recognizes
that, look at how he continues here in verse 15 speaking with
the Lord he said unto him, O my Lord wherewith shall I save Israel? behold my family is poor in Manasseh
and I am the least of my father's house and the Lord said unto him, surely
I will be with thee And thou shalt smite the Midianites as
one man. It's nothing of Gideon. It is all of the Lord's. And how is it that the Lord communicates
this grace, this strength, this might, this power unto a man?
Now three things I want to mention with regards to the source of
his strength here. Firstly, it is God who spoke
to him. It is God who spoke to him. That's
what we're told here in the text. The Lord said, it is the word
of the Lord that comes to this man. Oh, and what a word that
is, when by the grace of God it is made an effectual word. The wise man tells us in the
book of Ecclesiastes where the word of a king is, there is power. And this is the word of a king. What does God say concerning
his words? In Isaiah 55, so shall my word
be that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto
me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I send it. It is God who makes
His word a prosperous word. And it's when God comes by His
Spirit in His word. Or we are told, are we not, that
all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Literally, it says all
Scripture is the breathing of God. Those holy men of God, Peter
says, referring to the prophets of the Old Testament, those holy
men of God, they spake as they were moved, as they were born
and carried along by the Spirit of God. This is God's Word that
we come together to sit under This is a word that we're privileged
to handle as we gather together in this fashion week by week. And surely, friends, we're to
recognize the authority of God's Word. Or we believe in the doctrine
of Scripture. We believe that this book is
God's book. It's inherent in its inspiration. Every part of it's inspired.
We say it's verbally inspired. It's not just the ideas that
these men are expressing in scripture as it were using their own words
to express those ideas that had been implanted by the Spirit.
That's not inspiration. No, we say they were inspired
to write the very words of God. Verbal inspiration. And so we
take account of every word. The Lord Jesus says that men
must give an account for every idle word. And there's no idle
words here. This is why we come to the Word,
to examine the Word, to look into the Word. But how we should
desire that we might know that gracious ministry of the Spirit. We must come in the Word, to
apply the Word, to make it a living Word in our souls. so that it
becomes meat and drink to us. This is what we desire, that
God himself would speak. You know how the Lord Jesus Christ
speaks of those who are his sheep? And that's Mark, I'm the sheep
of Christ, my sheep know my voice, he says. Or do we know the voice
of the Lord Jesus? Does he come by his Spirit in
his work? and make that word an effectual
word to us this is what the Lord is doing with this man Gideon
the Lord said go in this thy might and thou shalt save Israel
from the hand of the Midianites and how God you see when he comes
how he speaks faithful words all the certainty, the sureness
of that word the shalls and the wills Thou shalt save Israel,
he says. Why? Who is it that is speaking? It's Jehovah. It's Lord here
in capital letters. It's the Great I Am that I Am. The God of the Covenant. Who
is faithful and true to all His promises. The Lord says. Thou shalt save Israel from the
hand of the Midianites. This is his strength. We have
to appeal time and again only to the word of God. Oh, this is God's blessed book. This man, he was one who was
in himself weak. his arm is so depleted in himself
he feels the weakness even of his faith but that God whom he
is dealing with or that God rather who is having dealings with him
is the mighty God of Israel but God doesn't just speak God doesn't
just speak what does it say? the Lord looked upon him and
said go in this thy mind." Not just the voice of the Lord, it's
that look of the Lord. This is how the Lord speaks His
truth home to the heart. It's much more than a word. It's
the Lord coming and revealing Himself. It's the Lord making
Himself known in and by His words. It's not just the hearing now
of faith, it's also the sight of faith. It's seeing the Lord
with that eye of faith. The Lord looked upon him. And as I've said, this angel,
this angel of the Lord, it is clearly Jehovah Jesus. Oh, is this our desire when we
come together? Lord's day by Lord's day. To
say with the psalmist, there be many who say, who will show
us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light
of thy countenance upon us. All that will do us good, if
the Lord will only lift up the light of his countenance. If
the Lord will but just look upon us. Remember how the Lord looked
upon Peter. All Peter, bold, impulsive, impetuous
Peter, so determined he would never forsake the Lord. All others
might forsake him, never Peter. But then remember how he denied
the Lord, he was put in the sieve of Satan. Oh, says the Lord to
him, Peter, Satan hath desired to have you. But I have prayed
for thee, that thy faith fail not. You know that passage there
in Luke 22, and it's a wonderful passage. And it brings out the
beauty of our Authorized Version. because the Lord says to Peter
Satan hath desire to have you that's a plural pronoun Satan
hath desire to have all of you not just Peter but all of the
disciples but see how the Lord sees this man to be so vulnerable I have prayed for thee he says
to Peter the singular pronoun that thy faith fail not and when
thou us converted or restored. Strengthen thy brethren. Peter
was put in that sieve of Satan and how he fell through the sieve,
how he denied the Lord. And how does the Lord convert
him? How does the Lord strengthen him? How does the Lord restore
him? Well, there in Luke 22, 61 the
Lord turned, it says, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered
the word that the Lord had spoken, before the cock crowed, thou
shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Oh, it's that look, you see.
It's that look, that look of the Lord Jesus. I know there
we see Him in all the frailty of his sinless human nature,
but now of course he is the glorified Christ. And what does John say
in the Revelation? His eyes are as a flame of fire. Oh, those eyes so penetrating,
so piercing, those all-seeing, those all-searching eyes, when
the Lord looks upon us. Man looks on the outward appearance,
the Lord looks upon the heart. Even this morning, doesn't the
Lord Jesus look upon your hearts, upon my heart? But the Lord's
look, going in the Gospel, it is such a gracious look. The
hymn writer says, did Jesus once upon me shine, then Jesus is
forever mine. Or can you say, yes, the Lord
has looked upon me. Just as the Lord looks upon this
man, The Lord looked upon him and said, Girl, in this thy might
and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites, have
not I sent them? We sometimes at the close of
the service use that ironic blessing at the end of Numbers chapter
6, the Lord bless thee and keep thee, the Lord make his face
to shine upon us. the Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee and give thee peace there's an emphasis there surely
upon the look the Lord's countenance and of course that's clearly
a Trinitarian blessing three times the priests of Aram were
to say the Lord the Lord the Lord just as the The angels about
the throne of God in Isaiah chapter 6, they say, Holy, Holy, Holy
Lord God of hosts, all is thrice holy, Holy Father, Holy Son,
and Holy Spirit. And now we want the Lord in all
the fullness of His triune being to look upon us. Oh, the Lord bless thee and keep
thee. The Lord make His face to shine upon thee and be gracious
unto thee. the Lord lift up his countenance
upon them and give thee peace the Lord looked upon him this
is how the Lord communicates strength and he comes he speaks
he looks but then also we see later how the Lord actually anointed
this man in verse 34 the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon
and he blew a trumpet and Abieza was gathered after him. Oh, what a word is this! The anointing of the Spirit of
God. In fact, the margin says, the Spirit of the Lord closed
upon Gideon. There's a sense in which it wasn't
so much that the Spirit clothed Gideon, but the idea suggested
here, we're told, is that the Spirit clothed Himself with Gideon.
Remember what the Lord says to His disciples there at the opening
of the Acts of the Apostles, you shall receive power after
the Holy Ghost has come upon you. Well, we need that ministry of
the Holy Spirit and we need the Spirit to come upon us to clothe
us to clothe himself with us to be those who know what it
is to be in the Spirit that was John's experience there in Patmos
he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and what is that Spirit? well John tells us you have an
unction from the Holy One and you know all things He says the
same anointing abides with you and is truth
and is no lie. Oh God grant that we might know
more and more that ministry of the Spirit. It is not this day
in which we are living the blessed dispensation of the Holy Spirit.
He came. He came to usher in the day of
grace and he ushered it in there on the day of Pentecost. a gracious
outpouring of the Spirit of God and how we need that ministry
of the Spirit if there's going to be any profit in our souls
to know God the Holy Spirit to know Him as that One who is the
Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ who takes the things of Christ
and reveals them to us for it says quite clearly the Spirit
of the Lord came upon Gideon He was the Lord who looked upon
him. He was the Lord who spoke to him. Go, in this thy might,
and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have
not I sent thee? O the Lord be pleased to come
to minister to us and to send us forth even into this alien
world, this world that lies in the wicked one. all that is in
the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride
of life, all that is not of the Father, but is of the world.
O God, send us to be those who would be faithful witnesses of
the Lord Jesus Christ, even that one who here in the Old Testament
came and appeared of old to Gideon. O the Lord, come then and visit
us with His great salvation. Amen.