The Wonder Of A Barley Cake

Judges chapter 7 verses 2 through 15. Let's read these verses together. 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. And the Lord said unto Gideon, the people are yet too many.

Bring them down unto the water, and I'll try them for thee there. And it shall be that when I say unto thee, this shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee. And whosoever I say unto thee, these shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So he brought down the people unto the water, and the Lord said unto Gideon, every man that lappeth of the water with his tongue as a dog lappeth, his shalt thou set by himself.

Likewise, every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. 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. That is, they lapped like a dog.

And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you and deliver the Midianites into thine hands. and let all the other people go, every man unto his place. So the people took victuals in their hands and their trumpets, and they sent all the rest of Israel, every man, unto his tent.

And there remained there three hundred men, and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley. It came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him, Arise, and get thee down to the host for I have delivered it unto thine hand. But if thou fear to go, if you fear to go down, he said, go thou with Pura and thy servant down to the host, and thou shalt hear what they shall say. And afterward shalt thine hands be strengthened to go down to the host. So they went down with Pura his servant, And outside of the armed men that were in the host, in other words, they went past the guards into this host of men, this great army. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude. And their camels were without number as the sand of the seaside for multitude.

And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellows and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it, that it fell, and overturned it, and it lay alone. Fella answered and said, this is nothing else save the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, the man of Israel. For under his hand hath God delivered Midian and all his host. And it was so when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and the interpretation thereof that he worshipped and returned to the host of Israel and said, Arise, for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.

Now, the lesson this morning is about the wonder of the barley cake. Barley cake is a poor man's bread. I don't know if you've ever had barley, but barley is something that they used to feed to the livestock. It's not a very tasty It's a poor man's bread. Barley cakes are a picture of the gospel of Christ. That's what's being pictured here, the gospel of Christ. He's the poor man's bread.

God rained bread down from heaven upon Israel because they had no bread. They were poor. They were without anything. They were in a wilderness being upheld by God, preserved by God, and he caused his bread to rain down upon them the way he rains upon this world the gospel of Jesus Christ. This world could never, ever come to the knowledge of Christ apart from his gospel. They could never do it, but he makes it to rain down from heaven. It's the bread of God for poor sinners. And the spiritually rich and self-righteous and self-sufficient of the world have no taste for barley cakes. They don't want it. They don't need it. In fact, it's downright offensive to them.

I remember my mom called me to supper one time, and they insisted because they loved it, and they'd have liver and onions. I didn't like liver. And they'd sit it down, and I'd just go, oh, my heart would sink. I'd go, oh, no, here we go again. I don't like liver. And that's the way it is to the full soul. I was a poor little brat, and I wasn't about to eat liver.

But a hungry man will eat anything set before him if he's hungry. Israel represents chosen sinners. And they were less than the least of men. He said, I didn't choose you because you were many. I chose you because you were nothing. I didn't choose you because you're wise. I chose you because you're ignorant sinners.

And they were less than the least of men, but blessed of God, chosen of God to a divine inheritance. And yet multitudes lived, and by their own wisdom, means, and power would take something not given to them of God, and that was these Midianites. They were going to take what was never given them of God. God gave this land to Israel, not to the Midianites.

The barley cakes will not appear to any man as a tool of war. If I was sitting down, now they're up on the side of a mountain, up against the side of the mountain, and they're overlooking this valley. And the camels were without number, I can't imagine. And the people, like grasshoppers, they were mountain to mountain, and they're looking down over this valley, and they're contemplating how they're going to go to war against this great host down here. And I guarantee you, a barley cake never come into the question.

You see what I'm saying? And we, this world, they look around at the testimony of God, and here's every man that's fallen. He's totally depraved. He, by nature, children of wrath, even as others. Satan has dominated the world in religion. He just, the whole world wanders after the beast, all of these things. Well, how are we gonna overcome this?

Well, the gospel of Jesus Christ would never enter into a natural man's thinking. Never would. Now he'll talk about obedience to the law, he'll talk about this, he'll talk about that, he'll talk about your determination, your decision, your commitment, and on and on he goes. But he'll never, never talk about free grace in Christ being sufficient to overcome the odds. He just won't do it.

He'll go anywhere else. I want you to see in these verses two things this morning, two very needful, very inspiring, very wonderful things. First of all, I want you to see the gospel of Jesus Christ. He's the poor man's bread. Israel wouldn't be Israel but for the gospel. Is that right? Israel wouldn't be in Canaan battling the pagan but for the gospel. That's why they were there. They wouldn't have an inheritance to struggle for or any blessing to receive it but for the gospel.

The gospel is the reason for our being. It's the reason for everything that comes to pass. It's the reason for the preservation of this world. It's the reason for the governing of this world. He worketh all things, he said, after the counsel of his own will, and it's his will of redemption in Christ that I'm talking about.

That's the gospel. What Israel possessed that the rest of this pagan world despised is a knowledge of the true and living God. God was with Israel. That's what the Bible says. He was with them. He went with them. He was present with them. Now let me tell you something.

Natural Israel is a picture of spiritual Israel. And spiritual Israel are marked with an inward work of grace and given power to become sons of God. They're called by the gospel, led by the spirit, circumcised with a circumcision, not made with hands, by the circumcision of Christ. It's a spiritual circumcision, circumcision of the heart. And as Israel was marked with an outward circumcision, God's spiritual Israel was marked with an inward circumcision.

And they were risen through the faith of the operation of God, who makes them meet to be partakers within those who inherit the kingdom of God, the saints in light, enlightened saints. And they, like Isaac, are the children of the promise. Like Jacob, they are the elect of God. They're all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. And if they be Christ, then are they Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.

But though they're blessed above even the angels of God, blessed above the kings and monarchs of the earth, yet they stand No more in sight than a little flock. Isn't that what the Lord calls his people? Hear the word of God. He said, fear not little flock, for it's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. They're the little flock. They're called a remnant according to the election of grace. Few there be that enter in. Isn't that what he's saying? God's flock has always been manifested as a minority in this world, and he uses such names as remnant and little flock and few there be and so on.

What I want us to see in this text today is the power and wonder of God's gospel and the accompaniment of his sovereign providence as they go out into the world. The gospel is God's testimony of the salvation of his elect in Christ. There's no ifs, ands, and buts about it. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin.

And God had already told Gideon that he's given the Midianites into his hand, but he continues to search for some assurance of it. Not so much that he doubted God, but the same reason we do. We know what we are. And we know the potential of man. And we know how fickle he is, how man is blown about by every wind of doctrine. We know our weakness. That's why we seek assurance. And we know something about our limitations. And we know something, and Gideon's sitting here, and he's looking at these things, and also looking at what his eyes and ears are seeing and hearing.

It must have been deafening, the noise of that multitude down that valley. Now, think of the providence involved in causing a pagan soldier. Now, let's look at this first. Now, Gideon, he's already told Gideon, I'm going to deliver that whole host into your hands. And he's sitting here with 300 people. All the rest of them back in the tent. But he chose 300. He did that because all the glory is going to be his after they're delivered. That's why God did it. But now Gideon's up here. Now God accompanies what he said with his providence. And he said, God knew he was afraid. And he said, if you're afraid, he said, I want you to go down to the host. What do you mean go down to the host?

You know they got guards all around that place. I bet you they're 20 feet apart all the way around. There were guards everywhere. They knew Israel was up on the hill. But God takes him down and he goes with his, I guess he was a spy for Israel. I don't know. It doesn't really say what poover was, but he went with him. And they walked right between those guards. Guards didn't see him.

Walked right in the midst of the host. and came up to the tent of one that God calls to dream a dream. And of all the dreams, a barley loaf. And he sees this big barley loaf and it's coming down the hill tumbling and it makes a bounce and it goes way up and it comes right down on the king's tent. It wouldn't have affected them if it was just a common soldier's tent.

But when he listened, when this man listened to this dream being told, he said, oh, this is the sword of Gideon. I know what God's saying. He's going to smote us. That's exactly what's going to happen. This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon. He was absolutely convinced.

But think of the providence that made this man dream this dream and then tell it to his friend and then give his friend enough wisdom to tell him what it meant. And Gideon understood that. He stood there and listened as the providence of God unfolded and gave him witness. And boy, he was ready then. He worshiped God right there on the spot, went right back between the guards, right through the midst of the host, up on the mountain and said, let's go. Let's go. God has delivered. God has delivered.

But doesn't He make known to us all those dreams and visions, all those spiritual revelations that by the Spirit of Christ He calls those old prophets to say, those pictures that we look at so often in our study? He reveals the gospel to us, doesn't He? And then He accompanies us with His providence. He'll lead some poor soul in here to here and the Lord will do a work in his heart And boy, we were ready to go then, anyway.

Well, that's what's going on here. If gospel preaching was all together in our hands, what a mess we'd make out of it. All you need to do to understand this is just look at worldly religion. It's in their hands. And look what a mess they've made out of it.

But God's purpose to save Some, he said, by sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. He's going to do an inward work in their hearts. And they're going to understand exactly what's being told them. Well, how did this guy get there to tell them? God sent him. That's his providence. His providence always accompanies his promises.

Does it not? How can you hear without a preacher? How shall he preach except he be sent? We want to call this circumstantial and everything else. It's not. It's the providence of God. That's what it is. Now, what's that mean to me? Here's what it means.

Let this preacher never question the number sitting in the pews. or the circumstances that cause it. Let this preacher see every face before him as a people the Lord has arranged to hear him. And I hope the Lord lays it on your heart to hear the same way. Let this preacher go about his daily work with the confidence that God's means will always be blessed with his providence and his power.

Always. Lo, he said, I'm with you always. How long is that? Always. Even unto the end of the world. What does that mean? That means one day a man like myself is going to stand in the pulpit and he's going to blow on that gospel trumpet one last time. One last time. And God's elect are called for the last time. The last man enters into the pulpit.

The sky will be filled with the heavenly host The glory of God will be as far as the eye can see, and time will be no more. He'll fold this world up and lay it aside just like he did the grave clothes when he was raised from the dead. He wasn't in a hurry. He went over there, slowly took off his garments, folded them up, and laid them neatly on the little bench where he lay. And so he will with this world. What an encouraging word our Lord had for his doubting disciples. All powers given unto me in heaven and earth.

Now you go. You go. I'll take care of the arrangement. I'll guide my people to you and I'll guide you to them. Philip, you go out there in the wilderness. The wilderness? Yeah. What's wrong going down here? There's a whole city full of people down here. Spirit's working down here. The gospel's being preached. Let me go down there. No, you're going to go out here. Boy, it didn't look very inviting, did it? But there was the eunuch. God's providence accompanied his promise, didn't he, and his direction.

Let me show you something over here in Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10, and I'll wrap this up. In verse one of Luke chapter 10, he said, after these things, what things? After his instruction to them about following his command. One of them said, I have to bury the dead. He said, let the dead bury the dead. and so on.

You go preach the kingdom of God. Well, let me go home and bid farewell to everyone. No. A man puts his hand to the plow, there's no looking back. No looking back. He looks back, he's not fit for the kingdom of God. And this is the high calling of God in Christ, and we're not to take it lightly. After these things, the Lord appointed 70 more disciples, preachers, and he sent them out. Where did he send them? That's what I want you to see. He sent them out two by two before his face. Now listen, into every city and place whether he himself would go.

Not much point in sending me if he's not coming. My hope's not in. I do struggle. to prepare. And I take it very serious. And I try to prepare and so on. But my words be pitiful if he's not here, if he's not in it. If he don't take them and apply them to your heart, if I argue you into something, somebody else will argue out of it. This is about the Lord being here. And he sent them. And he said, he that heareth you, heareth me. And they do. God had already said to Gideon, surely I'll be with you. I'm going to go with you. You don't think I'm sending you by yourself. He entrusts his chosen vessel with the glory of his name, with this divine imputation that he alone can work. And our Lord sends his gospel and accompanies this gospel with his divine providence. That's the story of every saved sinner, isn't it? Raised in religion, wandering around his whole life by nature of children of wrath, even as others. and all the assurance that He gives us.

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