TRUSTING GOD--JUDGES 6-7--8/1/21

"How can God possibly turn this nation around?" Well, believe it or not, all He needs are a few good soldiers.

It would amaze you what a few "spiritual marines" following our Commander in Chief, the Lord God, can do. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism said:

-Give me a hundred men who fear nothing but God, and hate nothing but sin, and I will turn this world upside down for Jesus Christ”.

"Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its mold." Renew your own mind and do that which is good and perfect. In other words, you may have to live in a crowd, but you do not have to live like it. As Christians, we must be willing to surrender our lives to the Lordship of our God and trust Him. In the book of Judges, we are able to see the importance of Trusting God and not man.

God is Our Defender

---Judges 6--It seems that the majority of the people in that culture worshiped a strange god named Baal. Baal was the pagan fertility god, so the people had erected a huge altar to him. Well, an angel of the Lord God came to Gideon and told him that he was to take his father's strongest bull, one that was seven years old, and hitch it up to the altar of Baal and pull it down. And while he was at it, he might as well cut down the sacred pole the people worshiped, and burn it. So, Gideon took ten men and one night they sneaked out and hitched up the bull and pulled down the altar to Baal, and burned the sacred pole. You can just imagine the furor that took place the next morning. Everyone in town woke up and knew what had happened. It didn't take them long to find out that Gideon had done it. The whole town came marching down to Gideon's house with blood in their eyes. 6:30--Gideon's father, Joash, went to the front door. The crowd yelled, "Bring out your son that he may die. He has pulled down the altar of Baal and burned the sacred trees next to it." Vs31-32- Joash stood before the crowd and said, "Wait a minute, let me get this straight. You are having to defend your god against one little man. Your god is so weak he needs you to protect him from one little man? Let Baal take care of himself. If he is so great, let him plead for himself because one little minority person has pulled down his altar." While other gods needs a defender, our Father is our defender.

GOD IS OUR PROVIDER

VS34ff

Jehovah-Jireh—Gen 22—God provided a ram for Abraham.

Gideon took that One Giant Leap, put his trust in God and became the Judge God had called him to be. Gideon was an ordinary person who discovered an extraordinary faith. When God told Gideon about God's plan to deliver Israel completely from the Midianites, Gideon balked big time. And the famous throwing out of the fleece scene took place. Gideon needed proof that God was really calling him to do such a big task. First Gideon says, OK, I want the fleece wet with dew and the ground around it dry.

Done. But that wasn't enough. Just to make sure, Gideon reversed it. This time Lord, I want the fleece dry and the ground wet with dew. God did as Gideon asked. And the reason God didn't just zap him and choose somebody else is the same reason God chose Abraham and Moses and Peter and Paul and you and me.

God always chooses the least likely person for God's purposes, so that God, and God alone will be glorified.

God is Our Captain

—Judges 7 Adonai—Lord or Master; Overseer.

Gideon called the troops together to take on the Midianites. Listen to how the Bible describes how many there were. "The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the east lay along the valley as thick as locusts; and their camels were without number, countless as the sand on the seashore." It wasn't a little army.

This is a story of Gideon versus the Midianites. The Midianites were mortal enemies of the Nation of Israel. They are a picture of the world, the flesh, and the devil that the church faces today. God taught Gideon some wonderful lessons on warfare and how to have victory against the enemy that could enable us, as a church, to be victorious in our spiritual warfare against the enemies we face, and could even help us turn this nation back to God. As we study these lessons, I want to warn you that some of them might surprise you.

You will learn that as far as God is concerned, it is not the biggest arm, its the best army that matters.

THE BATTLE IS NOT FOR SCAREDY-CATS

Vs1-3-Gideon had an army of 32,000 men. They were going out to face an army of Midianites and Amalekites that had a combined force of 135,000 men. In other words, they were outnumbered four to one. Now Gideon didn't think he had enough men, but God thought he had too many. Notice why."And the Lord said to Gideon, 'The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me,' saying, 'My own hand has saved me.'" (v.2)

There is a great lesson that we need to learn about our great God recited in Isaiah 42:8, "I am the Lord, that is my name; and my glory I will not give to another." God had commanded Gideon to go out and to fight the Midianites.

He was going to make sure that Gideon got the victory, but God wanted to make sure that He got the glory.

Every time that God does something for us, with us, or through us, He wants us to say, "This was the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes." (Ps. 118:23) You see, if Gideon had gone out and defeated the Midianites with that 32,000 man army, they would have been tempted to have thought that they did it.

Now God gives Gideon some strange instructions. "Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.' And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained." (v.3) Gideon did something that I am sure no general before, and no general ever since, has done. He said, "If anyone is a bit fearful, or afraid to face the enemy, or you have a headache, or you are just not in the mood to fight, you are free to go home." Well, by the time Gideon picked himself up off the ground and the dust had cleared, two-thirds of his army had deserted. Most soldiers just did not want to fight. You see, God had laid down a rule of warfare. He had instructed the nation on how to build an army to go to war to begin with. Over in Deuteronomy chapter 20, the Lord had said there were certain men that, for one reason or another, would not be fit for battle. Among that group were the fearful. I want you to listen to why God did not want any cowards in his army. "Then the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, 'What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.'" (Deut. 20:8) **You see, fear is contagious. Did you know that the biggest danger of the person who is always negative, always critical, always cynical, always pessimistic, is not the person himself, but the people he might influence. ** A soul-winning, evangelistic, faith-walking, devil-fighting, strong preaching, spirit growing church, is not for the fainthearted. The fearful are good at fleeing, but they are no good for fighting.

Well, Gideon didn't need soldiers focusing on their foes, focusing on their fears, focusing on their faults, focusing on their failures. Friend, God can use the feeble, God can use the frail, God can use the flimsy, but He cannot use the fearful. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." (II Tim. 1:7) The devil is the sinister minister of fear. Three hundred sixty-five times in the Bible, one for every day of the year, in one form or another, we are told, "Fear not." If you want an army that will fight to win, you must excuse the coward.

ThE BATTLE IS NOT FOR THE UNCARING

—Vs4ff Now things could have been worse. Gideon had lost 22,000 men, but he still had 10,000 left. He could have lost all but a few hundred. I can imagine one of his aides came up to him and said, "General, cheer up, things could be worse." Well, Gideon cheered up, and sure enough things got worse. You see, God was not finished yet. The odds now were fourteen to one. But the Lord said, "Gideon, your army is still too big. We've got to get it smaller. I want a lean, mean, fightin' machine." So God pairs the army down even more. "And the Lord said to Gideon, 'The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' the same shall not go."Vs4 "So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, 'Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.' And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, 'By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place.'" (vv. 5-7) God gives a test. He has all of these men who have been marching all day long and in the hot sun, come to the water. One group gets on its knees, buries their face in the water, oblivious to everything else going on around them. They forgot that they were soldiers in training. They forgot that a war was going on. All they cared about was water. God said to Gideon, "You can exclude them, we don't need them." Now why? You might think, "what a little thing." One group put their face in the water, and one group drank from their hands. It seems like such a little thing. You see, these were the UNCARING. While their heads were buried in that water, they could have been attacked and killed by the enemy. There are two dangers in any war. --The first danger is to overestimate the enemy. That's what the cowardly did, and that's why they fled. --Second danger is to underestimate your enemy. That's what the careless did. You can get into big trouble when you underestimate your enemy There is another curse that the church is under today. I call it the curse of UNCARING Christianity. You see, there are people in God's army today who are not SCAREDY-CATS. They love God. They are not ashamed of Jesus. They are willing to fight. They are not afraid of the enemy. But they are careless. They are UNCARING in their friends, idols, in the movies that they watch, the material they read, listening, living, places they go. A careless soldier can cost you the battle.

The Battle is for the Committed

A third group of this army, three hundred in fact, knelt down by the water, scooped the water up with their hands, and drank, all the while keeping their eyes peeled, watching out for the enemy. We are told in v.5 that they lapped from the water "as a dog laps." Now I'm sure that didn't make Gideon feel too much better, for his army was down now to less than one percent of what he started with (.009375 percent to be exact).

Now the odds were four hundred fifty to one, exactly the same odds that Elijah faced on Mount Carmal when he stood against the 450 prophets of Baal.

You see, God loves a fair fight. You say, "What is fair about four hundred fifty to one." Listen, you can have many without having much. I think there is a tremendous lesson we can learn here that will encourage us, who so often are in the minority, in a world that is sinking deeper into a cesspool of sin and iniquity and immorality. The lesson is this: The Master's minority is more important than the immoral majority. You see, what God needs is not quantity. What He needs is quality. Because God plus one is a majority. What I am trying to get you to understand is just you and God can make a tremendous difference in this world. You don't believe one man can make a difference: Jonathan Edwards was one man who made a difference. Born in 1703, he was perhaps the most brilliant mind and the finest theologian that America ever produced. He and his wife had eleven children and of his known descendants: More than 300 became pastors, missionaries, or theological professors; 120 were professors at various universities; 110 became attorneys; Sixty were prominent authors; Thirty were judges; Fourteen served as presidents of universities and colleges; Three served in the U.S. Congress; One became Vice President of the United States.

Gideon takes this band of three hundred men, they go to battle, and they win the victory. But notice how it was done. Vs 16-21--And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled." (vv. 16-21) Now notice carefully they did not throw a spear, did not hew an arrow, did not hurl a rock, did not wield a sword. What did they do? At the command of God they blew the trumpets, broke the pitchers, and bared the torches.

They got the victory and God got the glory.

Now why did God do it this way? I think to remind them and to remind us, "No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength." (Ps. 33:16-17)

Do you know where victory comes from? Do you know where deliverance comes from? "The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but deliverance is of the Lord." (Prov. 21:31)

Are you willing to TRUST GOD today??