A Transformed Warrior

INTRODUCTION

Thank you for allowing me to attend the SBC this past week…working on a time in the next week or two for a Q&A because there have been a lot of questions.

Take your copy of God’s Word and find Judges chapter 7. We are in week six of our series through the book of Judges and we are in week three of the story of Gideon. The author of Judges actually writes more about Gideon and his story than any other judge or person in the book.

I think this is important because it’s not so much that we’re seeing the battle between Gideon, Israel, and the Midianites take this long to develop…it’s that it’s taking this long for Gideon’s faith to develop. This is a man who—over and over again—we have seen struggle with fear and doubt. All the while, from the very beginning of God’s call on on his life, God has assured him that the victory over Midian belongs to the Lord and that it is guaranteed.

We saw him fearful of the Midianites and hiding in a winepress. We saw him fearful of his family and neighbors when God commanded him to tear down the Baal and the Asherah. We saw him fearful and doubtful when he put out the fleece twice for a sign from God.

Lesson from Gideon—God isn’t requiring fearlessness. He is requiring obedience.

The main point of the text we’re going to read this morning—The battle against Midian had already been won but the battle for Gideon's faith was still raging.

So, let’s start in verse 9…

9 That same night (same night as the Lord whittling down the army from 32,000 to 300) the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. (It’s already done! The victory is guaranteed! I HAVE GIVEN…) 10 But if you are afraid to go down…

Gideon is still weak in faith. He is still fearful even though—again—God has already secured victory. And, God calls him on it. Gideon, I know you’re afraid. I’ve told you what the outcome is but you’re having a difficult time taking me at my word.

Illustration: Watching the Carolina Hurricanes even though I knew they won.

Hone in on the truth—“you’ve already won.”

I don’t know what battle you’re fighting or how long you’ve been fighting it. We have the assurance of victory.

We just sang about this! I know how the story ends.

I think, though, that in Gideon’s story—his journey of faith—we see our own.

…go down to the camp with Purah your servant. 11 And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.”

1) God is overwhelmingly patient with Gideon's weak faith.

APPLICATION

Look…God doesn’t get frustrated, throw a towel down, and say, “You know what? I’m finding someone else. I’ll just use someone who will stop making excuses…who will just get up and believe what I say and do what I’ve commanded.”

Aren’t you grateful for a God who is patient towards us?

Psalm 103:14 “For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.”

We’ve been guaranteed the victory and we still struggle!

Listen to me…God isn’t done with you He is looking to shape and to change you. Whatever battle of faith you’re walking through right now…no matter how weak your faith is, God isn’t casting you to the side. The battle is already won. It’s YOU that needs some growth.

Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp.

12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance.

Now, remember…Gideon’s only got 300 men. “Outnumbered” is an understatement. I mean…I don’t know that I would even say the odds are stacked against Gideon. Innumerable soldiers vs. 300 guys. That’s not underdog…that’s dead dog.

13 When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.”

Notice—what destroys the tent? Not a boulder. Not an army of chariots. Not a hurricane// A cake of barley bread. Think about the bread you get at Outback. Basically, a dinner roll.

14 And his comrade answered, “This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.”

2) Gideon sees the sovereign hand of God.

I want you to see how the author of Judges writes this for us—in vs. 12, Gideon sees with eyes the innumerable enemy army and it doesn’t look good. That’s all he can see in front of him—the circumstance//the opposition.

But, here in vs 13, God gives him a glimpse into what HE was doing behind the scenes and it opened his spiritual eyes.

God was giving dreams to the enemy! Something only HE could do and something He allowed Gideon to witness. Here’s the point—if there is going to be a victory at all, it will have to be God-given. I mean…why on earth would an army this large be afraid of a “roll of barley bread”?

God is working in the unseen…

Me in Romania in 2007

God, open my eyes to see where you’re working.

God is working in places you don’t even know about! Are you going to keep trusting Him?

Keep reading…vs. 15…

15 As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped.

3) Gideon worships the sovereign God.

He doesn’t spring into action. He doesn’t take up arms and charge into the enemy camp. He worships. Literally, the word means, “bow down/lay prostrate before the Lord.”

Fear has turned to worship. Are you going to worry or are you going to worship? He started as a doubter and now he is a worshiper. Now, he sees that God can do all things.

Earlier, his spiritual eyes are opened…now his eyes are lifted upward.

See how Gideon’s faith is being transformed. A weak faith needs to worship. A weak faith needs its eyes reset.

Satan does not want you to worship. He wants you weak. He wants you doubting.

Spurgeon—Our life is found in “looking unto Jesus” (Heb. 12:2), not in looking to our own faith. By faith all things become possible to us, yet the power is not in the faith but in the God in whom faith relies

And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.” 16 And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars, with torches inside the jars. 17 And he said to them, “Look at me, and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. 18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’”

4) Gideon is changed by encountering the sovereign God and seeing His power at work.

Look at the difference in this man! We’ve just seen Gideon’s fear turn to worship. Now, we see his fear turn to boldness.

So many times, we’re more focused on seeing our circumstances change when God’s aim is to glorify Himself and change us.

We aren’t promised that our circumstances are going to change next week or next month or even next year.

19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. 20 Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. 22 When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. 23 And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian.

24 Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and capture the waters against them, as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan. 25 And they captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. Then they pursued Midian, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.

How this story ends…

Notice what their weapons were—a trumpet, a jar, a torch, and a voice.

“A sword for the Lord and for Gideon”—there aren’t any swords in their hands! In fact, the only swords are in the hands of the Midianites and they will turn on each other.

At the end of Gideon’s story, the author has removed any and all possibility that Gideon is responsible for this!

MPS: Through the victorious work of Christ, we can walk by faith and not fear.

Through the victorious work of Christ, sin and death are defeated…in fact, at the cross, God once-and-for-all defeats death by death.

Because of the victorious work of Christ, all of the principalities of darkness and Satan, himself, are eternally defeated.

Because of the victorious work of Christ, you and I have hope in the resurrection and new creation.

Whatever battle you’re in right now…we know how the story ends. We win.

How is God wanting to change you?

Worship—your eyes on your circumstances/the bigness of your enemy or on the bigness of your God?