Sermon Tone Analysis

Leader Guide ESV, Unit 9, Session 3

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Edited by Rev. Lex DeLong, M.A., June 2022.

Summary and Goal

God had used Deborah, Barak, and Jael to give the Israelites victory over the Canaanites and peace and rest in the land for forty years.

But once more, the Israelites would do what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

This time God would hand His people over to the Midianites, who would oppress them for seven years to such a degree that they would resort to hiding in caves.

In this session, we will see God’s patient lovingkindness once more as He responded to the desperate cries of His people.

He would provide Gideon, another unlikely judge, to rescue His people and turn them back to Him.

Through Gideon, we will see that God uses our weaknesses to shine the light of His glory.

Session Outline

++1.

Strength comes from the God who is present (Judg.

6:11-16).

++2.

Assurance comes from the God who is patient (Judg.

6:36-40).

++3.

Victory comes from the God who is powerful (Judg.

7:2-7).

Session in a Sentence

God loves and works through the weak so that His glory can be clearly seen by all the world.

Christ Connection

God used an unexpected leader in Gideon and a small army of three hundred to rescue Israel from their enemies so that everyone would know that the victory belonged to Him alone.

Even in today’s Christian life, salvation came through a single Savior sent by our Heavenly Father, which also shows the world that salvation belongs to God alone.

Missional Application

In the same way he did through Gideon, God can still do amazing things through small numbers.

DDG (p.

103)

Ask the following question.

What are some times when a lot of power is not a good thing?

(when elected or dictatorial leaders of a country take advantage of their people without recourse; when one is not capable of handling the power safely and respectfully that they have been given; with a tool that over torques a bolt or strips a screw)

When it comes to following God, our own power and strength is often not a good thing since it can get in His way or distract us from what really does matter—God and His strength.

There is a thread running throughout the Bible that shows us God is not impressed by the things that often impress us.

God often uses men and women who don’t impress us to wow us.

We don’t cheer for them just because they are nobodies; we cheer for them because of the greatness of their God.

And that gives us hope.

In these passages, God’s patient lovingkindness will be seen once more as He responded to the desperate cries of His people.

He provided Gideon, another unlikely judge, to rescue His people and turn them back to Him.

Through Gideon, it can be seen that...

God uses our weaknesses to shine the light of His glory.

Point 1: Strength comes from the God who is present (Judg.

6:11-16).

In Judges 6, the Israelites had once again committed evil acts against God, so He raised up another people—the Midianites—to discipline His own.

After seven years of oppression that forced the Israelites to hide in the mountains, in caves, and in strongholds, God’s people cried out in desperate need of deliverance.

Read Judges 6:11-16 (DDG p. 104).

11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.

12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?

And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’

But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel?

Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

DDG (p.

104)

When the angel of the Lord first came to Gideon, he was not acting like a warrior but was hiding from the Midianites, and God told Gideon to go in strength and liberate Israel from her oppressors.

Far from being valiant, Gideon considered himself weak, and that was exactly how God saw him: weak and afraid.

Yet God looked past who Gideon was to see what He would do through him.

Gideon was a weak “jar of clay,” the perfect vessel for the task God was giving him, the perfect container to reveal the extraordinary power of God (2 Cor.

4:7).

One ordinarily threshed wheat in the open.

The wheat would be beaten and then tossed in the air so the wind could help separate the grain from the chaff.

But Gideon was not threshing wheat in the open; he was in a winepress, out of sight, hiding from the Midianites and hoping they would not come and destroy his harvest.

Not very valiant.

Ask the following question.

What are some ways God shines through our weaknesses?

(we are tempted to sin, but in this God provides strength to resist and flee so that our victory over temptation brings praise to Him; we succumb to sin, but when we turn once again to Jesus, God’s grace for our forgiveness shines forth and we can get up and walk; we are weak to obey and succeed in our calling, but God’s strength is more than sufficient for us)

DDG (p.

104) God’s presence and power alone help us to fulfill our mission.

The angel said the Lord was with Gideon, but Gideon had felt abandoned by God.

The Midianites’ oppression had left the Israelites wondering what had happened to the God who had given their ancestors victories in Egypt and beyond.

God had brought the fury of the Midianites upon His people, but God was still listening to His people even though they did not listen and obey (Judg.

6:1-10).

He would raise up Gideon to deliver them.

Gideon was a nobody, but God’s presence with him would change everything.

In the same way, Jesus encouraged His disciples for their mission with these same words: “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt.

28:20).

That is the nature of God; He is always with His people, at all times and in every place.

God has demonstrated throughout history, His desire to dwell with His people.

God is with us, especially now, through Jesus Christ.

· God’s second statement about His presence with Gideon came as an answer to a question: “Who am I; how can I deliver Israel?” (v.

15).

We cannot discount how reasonable that question was.

Gideon was right: He was no one.

He could not deliver Israel.

Without God, Gideon would never triumph, but God’s presence changes everything.

God would give Gideon the victory.

His power would bring the Midianites to their knees.

Commentary: God spoke the phrase “I will be with you” to His people many times throughout the Old Testament.

He said it to Isaac (Gen.

26:3),

Jacob (Gen.

31:3),

and Joshua (Deut.

31:23; Josh.

1:5; 3:7).

He said it to His people through Isaiah (Isa.

43:2)

and Jeremiah (Jer.

30:11).

And this phrase was used to encourage others who followed God, such as when Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you” (Gen.

48:21).

Scripture promises that God is with His people, yet it is easy to feel afraid and weak.

We want to believe God will be our strength, yet we waver.

God’s words—“I will be with you”—meant Gideon was ready for the task at hand because God was ready.

But even this assurance was not enough to make Gideon brave.

Point 1 restated: Strength comes from the God who is present.

Point 2: Assurance comes from the God who is patient (Judg.

6:36-40).

Say: Judges 6:34 says that “the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon.”

Clothed with the Holy Spirit, Gideon rallied people behind him to fight off their oppressors, the Midianites.

The stage seemed set for Gideon to step forward and rescue God’s people through His divine power.

But that is not what we see happen next.

Read: Judges 6:36-40 (DDG p. 105).

36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37 behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor.

If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.”

38 And it was so.

When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water.

39 Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more.