[0:00] Judges chapter 7 is where we will be. Judges chapter 7. Judges 7 is our text this evening and we will read the entire chapter because we're into the portion where I think it just really is very fitting for us to read the text in its entirety as we just continue to make our way through scripture or in Judges chapter 7. Let's pray. Lord we thank you so much just for allowing us to gather together. We thank you for times of fellowship. We thank you for times of sharing a meal together, being encouraged. Lord we rejoice in those seasons. Lord we rejoice in the opportunity to open up the pages of your word. We now come to the portion where we look at scripture and we ask Lord that you would speak to us. Lord that the word of God will be opened up to us with clarity, with understanding. Lord that we would see the truth that it contains and that truth would have a radical impact upon our lives. That it would draw us closer to you.
[1:11] Lord I pray for all that's going on in the back. I pray for the work that's going on with the children. I pray for the Iwana's program for each of the teachers. Lord I pray for the activities even those. I pray for the children in their scripture memory verses. Lord I pray God you continue to impress your word upon their hearts and minds. Lord just in all things be glorified and honored and we ask it all in Jesus name. Amen. Judges chapter 7. We're in that very familiar account of the story of Gideon. Actually we're in the one big section of it this evening. We've been leading up to that throughout the sixth chapter where God calls Gideon a very specific call that he would empower Gideon, use Gideon to deliver his people Israel from the Midianites.
[2:02] We will begin to see that deliverance in the seventh chapter because what we have is really just the first stages of the battle. We know it carries on into the eighth chapter. But Gideon is a not necessarily a central figure in the book of Judges but one in which more verses within the book itself is dedicated to. There are more verses dedicated to the story of Gideon than any other judge. There are more verses given for his calling, his account, and how God uses him, empowers him. And I think that's reassuring because Gideon seems to be the one with the most doubts.
[2:42] He is the one who questions the most and needs the most kind of nudging, if you will, to be used. Over and over again God validates it even beginning the very first encounter when he accepts the offering from the rock. The angel of the Lord is there and he touches the stone and the offering is consumed with fire. And again God has shown faithful over and over and over again. We have that very familiar story of the putting out of the fleece, literally, not once but twice, at the end of the sixth chapter which precedes really his going into battle. We've seen how God encouraged him through people. There are people gathered around him, namely 32,000 people. In light of the historical events of what is taking place, in the sixth chapter it tells us that every year the Midianites would come in along with the Malachites and all the people from the east and the people would go, the people of Israel would go hide in the strongholds in the hills. The reality that some 32,000 people would respond to the sounding of the alarm by Gideon is encouraging. But just because we have a multitude of people around us doesn't necessarily always mean we're ready to go. And we see this. We are met with this very familiar story here in the seventh chapter as he is going into that battle or he is at least preparing to be there. So the word of God says in Judges chapter 7,
[4:13] Then Jerubbabel, that is Gideon, and all the people who were with him rose early and camped beside the spring of Herod. Then the camp of Midian was on the north side of them by the hill of Morah and the valley. The Lord said to Gideon, The people who are with you are too many for me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, My own power has delivered me. Now therefore come, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead. So 22,000 people returned, but 10,000 remained. Then 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. Therefore it shall be that he of whom I say to you, This one shall go with you, he shall go with you. But every one of whom I say to you, This one shall not go with you, he shall not go. So he brought the people down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, You shall separate everyone who lapsed the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, as well as everyone who kneels to drink. Now the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were 300 men, but all the rest of the people kneeled to drink water. The Lord said to Gideon, I will deliver you with the 300 men who lapped, and will give the Midianites into your hands. So let all the other people go, each man to his home. So the 300 men took the people's provisions and their trumpets into their hands, and Gideon sent all the other men of
[5:38] Israel, each to his tent, but retained the 300 men, and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. Now in the same night it came about that the Lord said to him, Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hands. But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah, your servant, down to the camp, and you will hear what they say. And afterward your hand will be strengthened, that you may go down against the camp. So he went with Purah, his servant, down to the outpost of the army that was in the camp. Now the Midianites, and the Malachites, and all the sons of the east, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts, and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore.
[6:18] When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. He said, Behold, I had a dream. A loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and he came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down, so the tent lay flat. His friend replied, This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given Midian and all the camp into his hands. When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed and worshipped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, Arise, for the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hands. He divided the 300 men into three companies, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them with torches inside the pitchers. And he said to them, Look at me and do likewise, and behold, when I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do.
[7:04] When I and all who are with me blow the trumpets, and you also blow the trumpets all around the camp, and say, For the Lord and for Gideon. 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 posted the watch, and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands. And when the 300 companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hand and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, A sword for the Lord and for Gideon. And each stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran, crying out as they fled. When they blew 300 trumpets, the Lord set the sword of one against another, even throughout the whole army. And the army fled as far as Beth Shaddai toward Zerah, as far as the edge of Abel-Mahola by Tabith. The men of Israel were summoned from Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian. Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, Come down against Midian and take the waters before them as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan. So all the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they took the waters as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan. They captured the two leaders of Midian,
[8:12] Oreb and Zeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeb at the winepress of Zeb, while they pursued Midian, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeb to Gideon from across the Jordan.
[8:24] One Bible commentator said, This account starts with Gideon in the winepress threshing wheat hiding from the Midianites, and ends with a beheading of one of the leaders of the Midianites in a winepress.
[8:35] From winepress to winepress, and what a story it tells. We have here that very well-known account of Gideon's battle against the Midianites. This is just the beginning of it. As we go into the eighth chapter, we'll see that it continues, and there is a full deliverance, and as long as Gideon is alive, the people live out in that freedom and that deliverance, but we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. As we look at this battle, I want you to see the faith to fight the battle. The faith to fight the battle. Gideon had a very clear calling on his life, and we've looked at that. God had confirmed that calling. He had matured that calling. He had established that calling. He had really just reaffirmed it over and over and over again to Gideon, but a calling is nothing until we do something about it. Just because we have been called to something, it doesn't really accomplish anything until we actually do that which we have been called to do. A calling is just that. It is an affirmation that God has appointed us for a purpose, and it is not until we are fulfilling that purpose can we say we are living out our calling, which by the way, I believe should be the goal and the ambition of every follower of Christ, to live out their calling. Because we have affirmed for us in Scripture that God has called each and every one of us to a particular calling. And not only has he called us each to a particular calling, it is unique to us, and it is specifically given towards us, and we are empowered for that calling. And it doesn't necessarily have to be glorious as long as it is godly, right? If that is, God has called us to it, then that is the work we will accomplish through his empowerment. So it wasn't until Gideon actually decided to go to the battle that his calling really mean anything. He could have torn down all the altars of Baal and
[10:39] Asherah poles, and he could have made this great march to the land of Israel, but that would not have been his calling. His calling was, go in this strength of yours and deliver my people Israel from the hand of Midian. Very clear. He could have done any number of good things, but until he went and delivered the people Israel from the hand of Midian, he was not living out his calling. And we find later on that once his calling was finished and he became idle, problems happened even in his own family, which is what we see just rampant throughout Scripture. It shouldn't surprise us so much that we find it in the book of Judges because there is this downward spiral. But it still takes a great measure of faith to actually fight that battle because simply being called to it and even being confirmed in it really wasn't enough until he had faith to actually fight it. Because one thing we find is when God calls his people to a battle, quite often he puts them in a place where they can't win. He puts them in a place where they are sure to lose without him. And he puts them in a place of impossibilities. He puts them in a place of unlikely outcomes. And we see this particularly in the story of Gideon found in Judges 7.
[12:14] So when it comes to the faith to actually fight the battle, there are a number of things we need to consider. The first one is the concern of God. The concern of God. So Gideon knows this is what God has called him to do. He's put the fleece out and God has more than graciously twice confirmed it to him over and over again. That yes, he has to go. He has sounded the shofar or the alarm. He has gathered a group of people and he is on his way to do what God has called him to do. We shouldn't jump to assumptions, but we see this again throughout scripture. We need to pay attention to these things. It has always amazed me how when people are on their way to do what God has called them to do, how God interrupts them on their way. In particular, when Moses is on his way to deliver the people of Israel from the land of Egypt, God meets him and intends to kill him. Remember that account? He meets him on the way and tries to kill him. An angel of the
[13:14] Lord meets him until his wife circumcises their sons and throws the foreskins at the feet of the angel of the Lord. Wow, but God had called him. And then we have Balaam who is being called to bless. God told him to go bless, right? And he is on his way and yet an angel of the Lord meets him on the way and tells him once his donkey talks to him a little bit that he would have killed him if the donkey had not stopped.
[13:40] Right? Over and over and over again, we see God meeting people on the way and the account of Gideon is kind of the same way. Gideon says, okay, God wants me to do it. He puts the fleece out and he moves ahead and he's got this army, not, you know, not as sizable as the Midianite armies, but it's sizable for the land of Israel at that time. In particular, historically, I mean, it just doesn't make sense that 32,000 people would be willing to go out there. So he's on his way and God meets him on his way and says, stop. Because we need to understand this. The concern of God is not just the completion of the task. And that's something that astounds us. Even in church doings and church businesses, we need to make sure we pay attention to this. The concern of God is not necessarily just that it gets done. That's a hard lesson for me to learn. Whenever I was very young in the workforce,
[14:43] I ended up working in warehousing for a while. And Carrie and I hadn't been married young. I was still had the young back, weak mind type of thing. Right? So I'm finding myself in a leadership position.
[14:54] One of the reviews they gave me as a leader that I was a pretty good leader. The problem was I wasn't a good delegator. That I was too willing to do all the work so that I would make sure it would get done.
[15:06] And that's still a problem I have. I wasn't really good at empowering. They called it delegating. I like the word empowering. Delegating to other people things that they should be doing. I would just do it instead. And in church world, we have to be careful with that because we think the concern is that, well, God has called us to do this. So as long as we do it, we're good. That's not the concern of God.
[15:32] Because Gideon is going to do it and God stops him. And Gideon says, I cannot deliver Israel with this many people. And by cannot does not mean it is a physical impossibility. It means that he will not do it because it's contrary to his desire. I will not deliver you with this many people.
[15:55] So Gideon does a biblical thing because it says in the book of Deuteronomy that Moses, and God commands him to do this, that Moses commands the people when they go out to battle to make this declaration. Is anyone just married? You can go home. Is anyone bought a new house and you can go home?
[16:07] Is anyone scared? Then you can go home. And there's no guilt. There's no shame in any of this. There's none of this. I think it was John Wesley. I get my Wesley's confused. It was either John Wesley or Charles Wesley, but I'm pretty sure it was John Wesley because Charles Wesley did the music.
[16:28] John Wesley did the preaching. And John Wesley said, give me 100 men on fire for Christ and I can turn the world upside down more than I could with a thousand that are kind of lukewarm. And that's the biblical principle. If you're scared, if you're not really, if this is not, if you're not really affirmed to the reality, then go home because again, God's not concerned about numbers.
[16:51] And so Gideon does this and a full 22,000 people go home. I mean, can you imagine that? All of a sudden you say, anybody's scared? Well, yeah. I mean, now that you say it, I am kind of scared. And 22,000 people leave and at least behind 10,000 people. Gideon's like, well, that was rough, right? We just lost a pretty good, over two thirds of our army has left us now. And here we're sitting here. And then God says, this is still too many.
[17:15] This is still too many. And why does he say it? God says, I cannot do it because Israel would boast and say by our own strength, we have accomplished this. See, God's concern was to get his people to a place of desperation where they would completely understand that any deliverance was not of themselves, that it would not be by their own might, by their own effort or by their own abilities, but rather it had to be by the Lord, their God. The concern of God was not that the thing would be completed. The concern of God was that his people would know that it was he who done it. See, he was using the tasks to manifest himself to his people, not just to set them free. He wasn't as concerned that his people would be free from Midian. His concern was that his people would know that he was great and he was awesome and he was worthy of their praise. That makes a difference, by the way, because how we view our deliverance from the enemy directly reflects our view of the Lord God Almighty. When we believe salvation is a result of anything that we have done or a work we have accomplished or an effort or our goodness or any of this with the check marks we put over here, then all of a sudden our salvation becomes more focused on who we are rather than who he is. But when we read the Old Testament and we see the legal standard and we have to declare like Paul, there is none righteous, no, not one. And we open up the book of Psalms and it says that no man can pay his own ransom, let alone the ransom for his friend's soul. And when we read these realities and we have to say, well, so it's impossible for anybody because Jesus is impossible for man, but yet it is possible for God. All of a sudden, the concern is not that God just saved us. The concern is now he gets the glory for it.
[19:24] God's main concern was not that Gideon would go do it. God's main concern was that Gideon would be so positioned in his will that what Gideon did would be attributed to the work of God, not the work of Gideon. Now that sounds good in theory. Now let's bring it to practicalities. God's concern for War Trace Baptist Church is not that War Trace Baptist Church just do what it's supposed to do, but rather that War Trace Church, War Trace Baptist Church would so position itself in line with God that anything we accomplish would not be explicable by man's abilities or terms, but rather by the Lord our God alone. And this is where we get to the biblical conviction part of it.
[20:17] Because if there is nothing that we can point to that we're saying is being accomplished through us, that simply would not be accomplished if God wasn't doing it, then there's nothing we're doing by faith.
[20:34] If all we point to is say, well, we're doing this and this and this, and then we could go back to our budget and we could show you how it worked, then the stark reality is, we're not fighting battles by faith.
[20:51] We're fighting battles by strength. And the concern of God is not that things would get done. The concern of God is that whatever is being accomplished, He gets all the glory for it.
[21:09] He alone. Which means He stretches us to the place where He says, this isn't enough, this isn't enough. Until He finally gets Gideon down to 300 men. You say, well, and there's a lot of people, even in my, I have Charles Ryrie's study Bible.
[21:24] Charles Ryrie was a pastor of Moody Bible Church for a while, and I just liked that study Bible. I actually got it, was introduced to it at Moody's Founders Week conference when I went there many years ago.
[21:35] But there's always, why did God choose those who lapped like a dog and brought the water up? A lot of Bible commentators, well, these were the people that were watchful. Reality is, Scripture doesn't tell us why God chose them.
[21:47] We just know this is how God chose them, right? Scripture doesn't say that these people were better for drinking this way than that way. I think that God did it because that was the fewest number of people. That's my personal opinion.
[22:00] I think that God said, well, I'm going to give you the fewest amount of people to do the most insurmountable tasks so that in the end, you can't say it's you because, by the way, the only weapons you have are jars, torches, and trumpets.
[22:13] That's all they had. They only had two hands. They had a jar, a torch, and a trumpet. No swords, no axes, no ox goads, no jawbones of a donkey, as we'll see later on.
[22:27] A trumpet, a torch, and a jar. That's it. And a concern of God is not so much that it gets done, but that He gets the glory.
[22:41] For why? Always keep this in the back of your mind, your pastor's favorite Bible verse, Deuteronomy 4.24. For the Lord our God is a jealous God.
[22:54] He is a consuming fire. We need to be absolutely convinced that God is 100% jealous of His own glory.
[23:04] And that's not a bad thing, by the way. For His own glory, that He gets the glory from His people's activity. That He alone would be praised.
[23:18] We see the concern of God. Secondly, we see the confidence of man. Now, Gideon is not a man that we would ever lift up and say, here's a confident man.
[23:29] I want everybody, I want all the men to be like Gideon. That's not what we would say. Right? We see the confidence of man as he actually prepares to go fight this battle. Gideon probably had to be back down in one of those lows.
[23:42] It didn't matter how much the fleece was dry or how much the fleece was wet. When you got down to 300 men, nothing else really mattered. But the very night that God took everybody down and left Him 300 men, it says, on that very night, God said to him, go down into the camp for I have delivered them.
[23:55] Do you notice the past tense there, right? Go down into the camp for I have delivered. God is speaking about things that are present as if they had already happened in the past. He's done this once before. He did it to Joshua.
[24:06] He told Joshua to go because he had already delivered the inhabitants of the land. So now He's telling Gideon, He says, go down into the camp for I have delivered them into your hands. Things that are future tense for us are past tense in His sight, right?
[24:19] What lays ahead of us is already before Him. And that's one of the wonderful things we see. So the first thing we see, confidence is gained from the very Word of God. God declares to Him something that has already taken place in the economy of God.
[24:33] God declares to Him something that He is still to face, but God has already settled. The enemy before Him is already a defeated foe. We understand that.
[24:44] God had already known it and He is speaking it to existence and He is encouraging him through the Word and He is giving him the Word of God. And then God graciously again looks at him and says, but if you are afraid, if you are afraid, take your servant with you and go down into the camp of Midian.
[25:02] Now, had to take a little bit of courage at least to take Purah, his servant, and go to the outskirts of the camp, right? Because this is people whose camels were like the sand on the seashore. So how many people you got that are going to ride on that amount of camels?
[25:13] And they are all gathered around and they go to the edge and they are listening and God makes this declaration. He says, go down to the camp and listen to what you hear. And as soon as he gets down there, by the way, there are no coincidences, right?
[25:25] As soon as he gets down there, a man is relating his dream to another man. Happens to be at the very place that Gideon walks up to. I mean, in a camp that large, he could have walked up at any location, but yet at that very location, there happen to be two men at least hearing distance away from them who are discussing a dream that one of them happened to have and he starts at the very beginning.
[25:44] And he says, I had this dream about a barley loaf. That should pay attention to you because most people didn't eat barley loaves. That was poor people's food. Most people ate wheat bread. Gideon was a poor man. Remember that?
[25:55] The only people that would eat barley loaves were the poor people. They're just the low people. They're people who had nothing, you know, like all the nation of Israel. And he gives this dream and he starts talking about rolling into the camp and the other guy offers an interpretation.
[26:07] Now, I don't know about you, but if someone tells me they have a dream about a barley loaf running into the camp and crushing a tent, I don't get the interpretation this man gets. Right? I don't jump to the conclusion and go, that has to be Gideon.
[26:19] Gideon's coming in and God has given Gideon the son of this man and all the people here. He's going to defeat every one of us. And you got that from a barley loaf rolling over a tent. No, he got that because that's the word God wanted to give him.
[26:33] Because one other biblical principle we find is God has a way of confirming his word to his people through the most unlikely of sources. God has a way of confirming.
[26:47] And it's when his people are sensitive enough to hear. Now, I did not say God has a way of revealing a new word to his people through the most unlikely of sources.
[27:00] I had a man tell me one time that, now don't judge me for this, okay, he walked up to me one time and started talking about when he was hovering above the table at the altar and I said, wow, that's amazing, man.
[27:16] I think he might have been in the spirit but I don't think it was in the Holy Spirit, okay, I mean, I think there were some things that were going on there and he had this new word for me and I stopped him and I didn't want to hear it because the reality is I don't need a new word from God.
[27:34] We have the full word of God. Genesis, the Revelation, the Bible tells us in the book of Hebrews, in these last days he has spoken to us through his son, Jesus Christ. Jesus himself said that when the Holy Spirit comes, he will remind you of my words.
[27:50] So anything the Spirit does, read it again in the book of Acts, any ministry of the Holy Spirit, anytime someone is filled with the Spirit and they speak in tongues, you get that? Remember when we went to the book of Acts, that was a couple years ago, anytime someone is filled with the Spirit and they speak in tongues, they are always proclaiming Christ and they are revealing Christ to people who have unheard it or never heard it or unknown, it is unknown, unheard, not even a right word there, it is unknown to them.
[28:18] It is a revelation of the gospel. They are bringing to light the things of Christ. Right? God does not speak a new word to us through the most unlikely of sources.
[28:30] Satan may speak a new word to us through the most unlikely of sources, but that is where we test the Spirit. God confirms his word already spoken to us through the most unlikely of sources.
[28:44] Gideon had already heard the very word of God. God said, I have given the camp into your hands. Now, go down and I will confirm it to the most unlikely.
[28:54] It is when you open up the pages of God's word and God's word speaks to you and all of a sudden you're going through your day and someone speaks to you and you're like, wait a minute, I think I've heard that before and then you go along and you open it, wait a minute, I've seen this before and I told you guys the very first time I was ever called a preacher was while putting a roof on a house and I never would have thought that God would have ever called me a preacher but at that time it so happened to be that very week I was wrestling with this call and I knew that God was calling me and nobody else knew that besides Carrie, I mean nobody, especially not this guy.
[29:27] I was like, huh, I paid attention, right? The most unlikely source and this gives confidence because when God says, Henry Blackaby said when God speaks to you in one way you need to step up and pay attention.
[29:38] When God starts speaking to you in multiple ways you need to do something. Right? And all of a sudden you hear it and God is confirming his word to Gideon and it says and then Gideon falls down and worships.
[29:57] He had him a worship session right there on the outskirts of the camp of Midian. That's pretty cool. Because I think it's as Warren Wiersbe said before we ever have the confidence to stand before men we must fall before God.
[30:14] God confirmed his word so he bowed down and worshipped. Friend, listen to me. If God is speaking to you and he confirms it, your very first response ought to be to worship him.
[30:25] Think about this just for a moment. Who are we that God would talk to us? Does that ever astound you? Does it ever amaze you?
[30:38] when you open up the Bible that the God of all creation is speaking to you? Do you ever cry out with the psalmist, who am I oh Lord that you would take notice of me?
[30:53] Do you ever look to the heavens? I love looking at the stars. I love this time of year. When you look to the heavens and you're like wow, all of that. He just said let it be.
[31:05] And it was and he calls the stars forth by name and I can't even remember the constellations names, right? I get the big dipper and the little dipper, I get those but I can't remember all of them but he calls every star by name and he puts it there.
[31:20] It tells us in scripture he calls them by name and tells them where they should be. If they move, he knows they move. The ones that have burned out, he knew their name before they burned out, right? He knows all of this stuff and yet he speaks to me.
[31:34] Wow. Bow down and worship. And it's after the word of God has spoke to us and our hearts have bowed down and worshiped, all of a sudden we become confident like Gideon and when Gideon went back to the camp and he stood up and said hey guys let's go.
[31:52] Follow me. You do what I do. How did Paul have the confidence to say be imitators of me? Read the rest of the verse.
[32:05] Be imitators as me as I imitate Christ. Right? Confidence. Confidence. The confidence of man takes faith to fight that battle.
[32:17] The third thing we see is a conquered enemy. The conquered enemy. God has demonstrated his concern.
[32:28] He wants all the glory. God has built in confidence. So they go. Gideon divides the count right? Gideon divides the three groups of a hundred and they travel and Gideon goes down and says you do what I do.
[32:40] He says for the Lord and for Gideon. I always put the Lord first. For the Lord and for Gideon. Why do he say that? Because the people had a dream about Gideon. He says when I blow the trumpet you blow the trumpet. When I smash my jar you smash your jar.
[32:51] When I throw the lantern up you throw the lantern up. Now we know the psychological effect this could have. All of a sudden you hear trumpets blowing and lanterns up so you have a trumpet in this hand and a lantern in this hand and you look like a whole lot more people.
[33:01] This is about 10 p.m. because that was that time of watch as soon as the watch was poured. Sure God's got perfect timing. But did you notice what the text says? The text says in verse 21 they do all this.
[33:16] They shouted a sword for the Lord and for Gideon. Text 21 verse 21 says each stood in his place. around the camp. Each stood in his place around the camp.
[33:32] How did they fight? They stood there. They stood there. They didn't even march like they did around Nineveh. They stood there. This should bring to mind something to you that is recorded in the New Testament.
[33:49] Another very familiar scripture to us. Ephesians 6 the armor of God. Right? The armor of God. Everybody remembers all the pieces. Every piece is the armor of God. Do you also remember what it says before and even after?
[34:03] And after having done everything to stand. To stand. After having done everything to stand.
[34:15] God. Because it takes faith to get you to the place where you can stand. You've done all that you should have done. You've done all that God has commanded you to do.
[34:28] The battle is not yours to win. The victory is not Gideon's to claim. Gideon is to be there and stand. And see that the battle is the Lord's.
[34:40] And he sets them against one another. They begin to kill one another and there's confusion breaks out and everybody flees. Sure Gideon sounds alarmed. More people come from Ephraim and they go get Oreb and Zeb.
[34:52] Right? We understand that. But the battle. The battle. It's not Gideon's. He stood there. It takes more faith to stand in the presence of an enemy than to do anything else.
[35:08] Because at that point you're surrendered. I'm going to blow my trumpet and hold my torch and I'm going to stand here and trust that God's going to win. Sure we are to prepare ourselves with the armor of God and we're to put on all these pieces with care and we're to have everything there.
[35:29] Then we're to stand. To stand. That goes totally against human instinct. Right? I've told you.
[35:40] I'm Peter. I want to take my sword of the Lord and cut somebody's ear off. That's kind of what I want to do. Right? I don't need a shield. I'm not planning on hiding. I just want to go forward and you know do whatever.
[35:54] But stand and trust. God says we're going to win. And this is the faith to fight the battle. And Gideon comes to this point.
[36:07] God has brought him here. He's fulfilled his calling by simply being there, being faithful and standing. And God fights for him and delivers the nation of Israel.
[36:22] And the glory, I mean, can you imagine? They come back from the battle. None of them are blood stained. None of them are even sweating. Right?
[36:33] They haven't done anything. It's like that great battle will be a part in the book of Revelations where it says that he's on the white horse before us and he's got the sword of the Lord coming out of his mouth and going to the battle of Armageddon and I told you when we go there one of the things that amazes me is we're wearing the white robes of the saints.
[36:51] You don't normally wear white to a bloodbath. That's because we're not fighting. We're not fighting. We're following. He slays them with the sword of the Lord coming out of his mouth.
[37:06] Here we see Gideon took his stand and what God has called his people to do today is to take their stand. In Judges chapter 7 faith the fight the battle. Thank you brother. Thank you.
[38:02] Thank you.
[38:32] Thank you.
[39:02] Thank you.
[39:32] Thank you.
[40:02] Thank you.
[40:32] Thank you.
[41:02] Thank you.