One of the most remarkable stories
in all the Bible is found in the Old Testament book of Judges. Turn to Judges chapter 6 with
me, right after the book of Joshua. Judges chapter 6. In chapter
6 and 7 here, we have the amazing story of Gideon. and his 300
men who defeated an army of 122,000 Midianite soldiers. 300 men. The faith of Gideon
is spoken of along with all the other faithful saints of God
mentioned in that 11th chapter of Hebrews. We often call it
the Hall of Faith, and it most certainly is that. First, let
me give you just a brief history of what's going on here. For
over 250 years had passed since Joshua had led the Israelites
into the land of promise. Things had been going well for
Israel for quite some time now. They were living the dream, as
we often say. Their bills were paid, they had
some real estate. Their business was good. Their
children were behaving. Everything was, as we say, coming
up roses. Then something happened, and
this happens time and time again, even to professing believers. God blesses them, and they get
comfortable, and they get complacent, and they forget God. Israel forgot
God. Israel became self-sufficient. They didn't need God anymore.
And as they had all those previous years before while in Egypt,
they began to worship idols again. And isn't it amazing and at the
same time alarming how easily men and women can forget the
very one who has blessed them? That's what happened to Adam
when you think about it. All was furnished for him in
Eden's paradise. He had the nicest home on the
planet. He had the prettiest wife on
earth. And Adam forgot God. He didn't
need or want God anymore. He loved his life and he loved
his wife more than he loved God. He loved the gift more than the
giver. And we're so guilty of that,
aren't we? He loved the idea of being his own God. And Adam
disobeyed God's one commandment and he died spiritually under
the bondage of sin. And through you and I and every
other man and woman on earth under that same bondage. You
see, sin is our enemy. The sooner we learn that, the
better. Sin's wages is death. Sin is out to destroy you. Sin
has stolen all from us. Paul said that we're sold under
sin. And in the story of Gideon here,
we have a beautiful picture of how God saves sinners. You're
in Judges chapter six, look at verse one with me. And the children of Israel did
evil in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord delivered them into
the hand of Midian," or the Midianites, for seven years. Now, I want
you to first notice here that Israel's enemy, like ours, came
by their sin against God. And the result, the Lord delivered
Israel into the hand of the Midianites. Now the Midianites were extremely
powerful, great in number, and they oppressed and they afflicted
the people of Israel greatly. Matter of fact, the name Midian
means contention and strife. What a picture they are of our
enemy called sin. Sin constantly brings us contention
and strife. Sin constantly afflicts and causes
us great pain. Now what's going on here is every
year around harvest time, when Israel was ready to harvest their
crops, these nomads of Midian, and that's what they were, they
would show up and invade Israel. They'd come in like locusts. and ravage Israel's crops and
leave nothing at all for Israel to live on. You can see that
in verse four. Matter of fact, I encourage you
to read this whole chapter in your leisure. They ravished Israel. They picked their corn. They
cut down their wheat. They stole all their grapes and
their olives off the vines. They left nothing for Israel
or their livestock to live on. And this went on for seven years. That's what sin does. It seeks
to kill you, to destroy you, to steal all from you. Look at
verse 6. And Israel was greatly impoverished
because of the Midianites. And the children of Israel cried
unto the Lord. Friends, sin has impoverished. Sin has left us starving. Sin has stripped us of all sustenance
of life eternal, and it's sin that will cause God's people
to cry unto Him. Now, I said God's people. Sin will cause God's people to
cry unto Him. A sinner will not cry unto God
until God shows them their great need. If you belong to God, your
sin is going to trouble you. That's just the way God does
it. God often uses troubled times to get our attention. Israel's trouble went on for
seven years. Sometimes the elect of God are
troubled longer than that. Now, why did Israel wait so long
to turn to the Lord? Why do we? Why do we? They so well picture
us here, we wait until every possible option is played out. We hold out thinking that we
can handle our trouble on our own. Amen or oh me, but you know
it's so. When God's children cry unto
God, He's never slow in His response to His people's cry. When the
troubled and afflicted come to Christ, came to Christ in the
New Testament and made their requests known unto Him, how
many times do we read in the scriptures and immediately, immediately,
Immediately, she was made whole. Immediately, he received his
sight. Immediately, his tongue was loosed and he spake. Immediately,
he took up his bed and walk. Immediately, the leprosy departed. Immediately, her issue of blood
stopped. And immediately, the man was
made whole. Immediately. It's no different
for Israel. Immediately, God heard them. Immediately, God moved on their
behalf. And reading this chapter, first
we see that God sends them an unnamed prophet to call them
back to total surrender and devotion to God. And I don't find it at
all strange that this prophet was unnamed because really the
prophet, the preacher, is of no significance in and of themselves. They're just means that God uses. And then we see that God's purpose
includes an unlikely man named Gideon. We are introduced to
him in verse 11, and he's threshing wheat in a wine press, which
is a big vat that normally contained grapes to be crushed, how they
made wine. And normally you would thresh
wheat out in the open air. As you throw it up, the wind
would blow the chaff away. But Gideon is hiding in a wine
press. I did a little research on wine
presses, especially in Old Testament times. They often dug a big hole
in the ground and found a good rock base. And then they'd stretch
a pole over the top of the hole and hang a rope and the men would
hold on to the ropes as they, or the women, as they stomped
on the grapes. So, get the picture here. Gideon is threshing wheat, more
than likely in a hole. You can't see him. He's hiding. He's hiding. He was trying to avoid any attention
of the Midianites. And in verse 12, we're told that
the angel of the Lord appeared unto Gideon and said unto him,
the Lord is with thee. And then he said, thou mighty
man of valor. You know, Gideon sure wasn't
acting like a mighty man of valor. He's acting like a coward. Gideon
is not acting like a mighty man of faith, as Hebrews 11 says
of him. He's acting like a man who doesn't
believe God at all. And guess what? At this time,
he didn't. He didn't. And the angel of the
Lord appears and says to Gideon, he said, the Lord is with thee.
And then he calls him a mighty man of valor. And what does Gideon
do? Well, he does the same thing that we do by nature. He begins
to question God. Look at verse 13. And Gideon
said unto him, oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then
is all this befallen on us? Why has all this happened? How
many times have you heard someone say, well, if God is so loving,
if God is so good and merciful, why are there starving children
in Africa? They'll make some kind of a crazy
statement like that. If God is so loving and if God
is so gracious and kind, why is the world in such a mess?
And that's what Gideon is saying here in verse 13. Read the rest
of the verse. And where be all his miracles? Where's all God's miracles which
our fathers told us about? Our forefathers told us how the
Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Where is
that God? But now the Lord has forsaken
us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. People
say things like, if God is so great, why do bad things happen
to good people? If I hear that again, I may throw
something. First of all, there are no good
people. People say there must not be
a God. And Gideon says if there is, He's forsaken us. If there
is, He's not helping us. And you know, I was thinking
about this. When people claim that God has forgotten them,
you can be pretty certain that they have forgotten God. When folks claim that God's not
faithful, it is always them. that are the faithless ones.
And that's what Paul told Timothy. He said, if we believe not, yet
he abided faithful, he cannot deny himself. Now God had left
Israel alone because they did evil in his sight. There's a
consequence to sin. We talk about that all the time.
Look at verse 14. And the Lord looked upon Gideon
and he said, go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from
the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent thee? God tells
Gideon that he, Gideon, will deliver Israel. The Lord is sending
Gideon to deliver Israel. And Gideon doesn't believe God.
Our problem is the same as Gideon's. We doubt the Word of God. Gideon
pictures men and women by nature. The things of the Spirit of God
are foolishness to the natural man. We talked about that last
week. Neither can he know them. We don't have the ability to
know these things apart from the mercy, grace, and revelation
of God in Christ. We think naturally instead of
supernaturally. We think we're fleshly minded
instead of spiritually minded. And in verse 15, he said unto
him, oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family
is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. And that is the claim of a real
sinner. My family's poor. My father Adam
is bankrupt. I'm poor, and I have great need.
I'm wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. And we are
in and of ourselves. That's the first thing God's
going to show a child of God when He saves him. But here's
the difference, and it's the difference that God made. In
verse 16, the Lord said unto Gideon, He said, Surely I will
be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites is one man. Now, I thought about that verse
and I hope you can see the picture here. The enemies of God's people
shall too be smitten. Sin, your enemy's gonna be smitten.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is with you. That's how I know that's
going to be the case. He is the one man, the one mediator
between God and man. He's the one who defeated our
enemies. He died the just for the unjust
to bring us to God. And Gideon is right. He's got
nothing to offer God. He has no ability. He has no
faith. He's dead in trespasses and sin. And he's an idolater just like
his father. But God says, surely I will be
with thee. That's the difference. God says,
I'm gonna do something for you. You can't do it for yourself.
You shall smite your enemy as one man. All the elect are amazed
at how God saves them. Christ for you will smite your
enemy as one man. Paul said, salvation, God's gift
by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ. He's that one man,
hath abounded unto many, Romans 5.15. Now something happened
to Gideon that day. God intervened in his life. God
said, surely I'll be with thee. And Gideon did become a mighty
man of valor. Gideon did become a mighty man
of faith, but it was because the Lord was with him. He tore,
if you read the chapter, he tore down his father's altar of Baal
and he assembled 32,000 men to go to war. So we fast forward
a little bit and we pick up our story in Judges chapter 7. And
Gideon has now assembled 32,000 men to go to war with the Midianites. As they say in the boxing game,
Gideon is now ready to rumble. Gideon is ready to throw down. But God has a different plan. In verse one, we see that Gideon
and all the people that were with him rose up early. They're
ready, they're anxious. And they pitched beside the well
of Herod. And we see that they had the
Midianites just north of them in the valley. And then in verse
two, the Lord said unto Gideon, the people that are with thee
are too many. They 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." Now, I want
you to stay with me here. There's a great lesson to be
learned. God tells Gideon, you've got too many people for me to
give the Midianites over to you. And I'm sure Gideon thought,
what do you mean we've got too many? Chapter 8 tells us that
the Midianite army numbered 135,000 men. So even with 32,000 men,
it's not great odds. But God says, you've got too
many. You've got too many. There's too many of you for me
to use. Having this many men to go with
you, you're going to wind up claiming that you were saved
by your own hand. You see that? You're going to
say that you saved yourself. And that's the claim of false
religion today. I exercised my will. I made my
decision. I gave my heart to Jesus. I have done. Haven't we done?
all about what we've done for God. Salvation is not a collaborative
effort between God and man. Salvation is of the Lord, period. Jonah 2.9, Christ said, I the
Lord have called thee in righteousness. We've all heard the expression,
the more the better, or we've heard The bigger the better. Often that may be true. You might
get gasoline for one place cheaper than another and you got more
for the same money so in that case more is better. One grocery
store may have groceries cheaper than another place so you get
more groceries for the same money and in that instance more is
better. If you're trying to push a car
out of a ditch and the more men you have to push, the better. We used to say, the more the
merrier. More in that case, certainly
better. But there are times when more may not be better. Making
more or having more money may not always be better. Oftentimes
in the scripture, more of the things of this world have proven
to be a curse. And in that sense, more is not
better. A modern day religion seems to
be inclined to think that more is necessary to do the work of
God. We need to give more. And that can mean money and time.
We need to give more. We need to do more. We need to
reach more. We need to build bigger. We need
to present ourselves better. We need a bigger presence. People
may say the more people who come to church, the better. But it's
not better if that church isn't preaching the gospel, is it? That would mean that more were
being deceived. More is not better if sinners
are being lied to and forever lost. I had a preacher tell me one
time that he was asking his church to give until it hurt. To give
until it hurts. And he wanted to increase their
mission budget to save more souls. Well, I'm telling you something,
if you're not telling sinners the truth about Christ, if you're
not telling sinners that He's the way and the truth and the
life and that no man can come to the Father but by Him, you
won't get more souls saved no matter how big your budget is.
In that case, more is less. Some statements that men and
women make ought to be rethought in the light of this text. Oftentimes in God's work, more
may be less and less may be more. But in verse two, the Lord says,
you have too many. God is going to teach His people.
Now listen, God is going to teach His people that it is not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
His mercy He saved us. God is going to make certain
that His elect know that it's not of Him that willeth, nor
of Him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Has the Lord
taught you that? Salvation is not what we do. It's not that we do more. Salvation
is what Christ has done for us. And God says you have too many. God says you're bringing too
much. Those that are well have no need of a physician. God is
going to cut and God is going to decrease. Matter of fact,
we must decrease. Isn't that what John the Baptist
said? We must decrease so that Christ might increase. That's
what the Bible teaches, friends, all the way from creation until
Christ's return. Man is nothing, Christ is everything. That's the teaching of the Scripture.
We see that so plainly. That's what Scriptures show us
all the way from the new birth to our resurrection in Christ.
Salvation's of the Lord. Christ is all and in all. What
does that mean? Well, that means Christ is all
I need. He's all and in all. He's all
that I need. He's all that God requires. It
means if any sinner is to be saved, they're going to have
to be saved by the will and the way and the work of Christ. Salvation
is Christ taking our sin upon Himself and giving us His perfect
righteousness. And that's what substitution
is. That's what salvation is. We owed a debt we couldn't pay,
and Christ paid a debt He didn't owe. First, God is going to eliminate
the doubters. Christ said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, whosoever shall receive the kingdom of God as
a little child shall in no wise enter therein. That's the way
we're going to have to come to God, as little children. My grandchildren back there,
age five and three, they'll believe anything and everything that
their mother and father tell them. You know why? They trust them. They love them. They believe
them. They know that mom and dad do
everything for them. They know that mom and dad are
always going to do them good. Mom and dad are always looking
out for their best interest. Isn't that how we all come to
God? God said, I'm not going to deliver
you from your enemies because with thee there are too many.
There's just too much of you still involved. You'll vaunt yourself. That word
means boast, but it means a whole lot more than that. The original
Hebrew word there means to beautify. It means to embellish. It means
to glorify. You're going to try to make yourself
beautiful. By nature, you're going to try
to make yourself beautiful. You're going to try to embellish
your involvement in the matter. Let me tell you what we've done
for God. Lord, haven't we? Haven't we? You're gonna try
to take the glory for your deliverance. You're gonna try to boast and
brag about what you did. And God said, you're too many. It's too much. Did you notice
also that this vaunting, this boasting is against the Lord?
God said, you're going to vaunt yourself against me. And the first of those cut from
Gideon's army are the ones who are fearful and afraid and doubt
the power of God. This is the Lord speaking and
he tells Gideon in verse three, he said, 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
22,000, and there remained 10,000. He sends the doubters home. And boy, a bunch of them left. Started with 32,000, and now
22,000 left. And there's 10,000 men left in
Gideon's army. And in verse 4, God says, that's
too many. That's too many. The people are yet too many,
is what he says. Bring them down to the water,
and he says, I'll try them. God's gonna try. Men can fool
men, but none can fool God. When God tests and tries men,
they'll be exposed for the good or the bad, but they'll be exposed.
And in verse five, so Gideon brought down the people into
the water, And the Lord said unto Gideon, everyone that lappeth
up 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, some of these men would
scoop water up with their hand and just kind of lick it, stick
their tongue to it like a dog laps. And these men were those
who were vigilant. They kept an eye out for the
enemy. The enemy's not far away. They're
just around the corner on the north, down in the valley. Peter said, be sober, be vigilant,
because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion walking about
seeking whom he may devour. In verse 6, it says, and the
number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, drinking
like a dog, were 300 men. 300 of the 10,000 drank water
that way. They were the ones who were aware
that they were in a war. They were the ones who were aware
that the enemy was close by. They are the ones who were aware
of their surroundings. They were vigilant and focused
men. That's the kind of men and women
God saved. He's made them that way. And again, verse 6, the
Lord says, but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their
knees to drink water. 9,700 of these men stuck their
heads face down, submersed in the water to drink, forgetting
about all the danger that surrounded them. They were just oblivious.
They just said, I'm thirsty, let me drink. And God said, send them to packing. Send them home. Send them home. What is this telling us? God
is going to demonstrate his strength in our weakness. In our weakness, he's made strong. And again in verse seven, the
Lord said unto Gideon, the 300 men that lapped water in their
hand like a dog, those he would us but let all the others go. Now listen, this is what God
is telling Gideon. This is what God is teaching
us in these verses. When you go to battle, you're
going to know that the victory is based solely on the grace
and the power of God. God's going to make you to know
that. There's no possibility of you looking back and taking
any credit whatsoever because of some contribution that you
made. No possibility. It's going to
be certain. You know that it is not by works
of righteousness that you've done. Now how is God going to
save His people? Well, look at verse 16. And he, Gideon, he divided the
300 men into three companies. And he put a trumpet in every
man's hand. That's 300 trumpets. With empty
pitchers, 300 empty clay vessels. and lamps, 300 torches within
the pitchers. And he said unto them, 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 ye
do. And when I blow with a trumpet,
I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on
every side of the camp, and say, the sword of the Lord and of
Gideon. And you know, I can't find anywhere
in these verses where any of these 300 men had a sword. They
had trumpets, they had empty clay pots, they had torches,
but they didn't have any swords. But the Lord did. The Lord did. And they were to say, the sword
of the Lord and of Gideon. This is Gideon's sword too. Verse
19, so Gideon 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 and they blew the trumpets
and break the pitchers that were in their hands. 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. And they cried, the sword of
the Lord and of Gideon. And they stood every man in his
place round about the camp. And all the host ran and cried
and fled. And the 300 blew the trumpets. And the Lord set every man's
sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host. And
the host fled." You see, God used the Midianites' own swords against each other. Isn't that
amazing? So how is God going to deliver
His people? With a trumpet? With an empty
pitcher? A broken clay vessel? And lamps
of light in their left hand? I was amazed at how Paul's experience
in teaching of grace The story of deliverance of sin and the
deliverance of Israel by Gideon runs so parallel. Blowing the
trumpet is the preaching of the gospel. Paul said, for we preach
not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servants
for Christ's sake. The breaking of the clay vessel
represents the breaking and emptying of self. Paul said, we have this treasure
in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. We have too many. We don't know
that it's God's doing. And thirdly, the lamps that shined
out of the broken vessels. represent the revelation of Christ
within the child of God. Paul said, for God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. And God's going to get all the
glory. And you're not going to be able to say, mine own hand
hath saved me. Not going to be able to. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. All we do is blow the trumpet.
We preach the gospel. Why? Because it pleased the Lord
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. All
we do is break the vessels. That happens at the same time
that we blow the trumpet. You see, only the empty, broken
vessel sees their need of Christ. All we do is let the light shine.
Did you notice that the lights were in their left hand? The right hand always signifies
the power of God. Christ is on the right hand of
God in all power and in all majesty. We have no power. We can only
carry it in our left hand. But that light that shined in
our hearts came from the right hand of Christ in power. That's
what makes it effectual, friends. That's what makes it effectual.
That light, being the knowledge, Paul said, of the glory of the
Lord, that light is seen where? In the face of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. May God add his blessings. To the preaching of his word.
Again, I hope you all have a great holiday. No service Wednesday
night. Lord willing, will see you next
Sunday. I'm gonna ask Danny.