Trusting in the God of Gideon

Well, brethren, just how large is God to you? How big is He? How powerful is He? How mighty is God? Small children look up to their parents because they're so much larger, so much bigger, so much more powerful. Children learn to look to their parents and to trust them. And that's the way it should be. Parents should be trustworthy, and children should be able to count on the parents to protect them and to provide for them. Children who do not learn to trust their parents, because their parents were not trustworthy, certainly suffer greatly. And we see a world filled with that kind of suffering, because parents haven't always been good parents. They haven't always set the kind of example for their children that they should. They have not always been trustworthy. They haven't taught them the ways of God. They haven't used the Bible as their instruction manual. And so the children have suffered. On top of that, there are some children who are badly mistreated and abused. And they carry scars of doubt, fear, and insecurity for many years, and in some cases throughout their entire lives. And it's tragic to see that, but it is something that is very prevalent in today's society and in this world. Our God, whom we serve, is completely trustworthy. We know that, don't we? Our parent, our God in heaven, our Father in heaven, is completely trustworthy. And yet, do we trust Him completely? Do we look to Him completely for our protection? Do we look to Him completely for deliverance? Do we look to Him completely for sustenance? Do we know that He will provide for us? Or do we have doubts? God has proven His love and concern for His people through His wonderful plan of salvation. Now, unfortunately, many people don't understand what God is doing on this earth, and they don't understand God's wonderful plan of salvation, and they truly don't know God. They don't know the loving God that we've been privileged to know. There will come a time when all people will know God. That's what it says in the book of Isaiah. That time is coming after Christ's return when all people will come to know God. But we're very privileged to know God today. We sang a song from John 3 16. It was a brand new song. I don't think many of us had ever ever sung it before. I'm not sure I had. Anyway, it delivers a very powerful message for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Now, that's a lot of love, because any of us who have children have a hard time comprehending how difficult that would be.

And in John 15 verse 13, it clearly says that greater love has no man than this than to lay His life down for His friends. And that's what our Savior Jesus Christ did. He laid His life down for each and every one of us. He laid His life down for His friends. So that's a wonderful, powerful message regarding the Son of God, our elder brother Jesus Christ, whom we can also count upon, who actually divested Himself of His divine nature and was born of the flesh. What an awesome act of unselfishness and love. And we talked somewhat about that on the last day of Unleavened Bread. So it's really a wonderful God-family that we have been privileged to know and to serve. And yet, have we learned to truly trust in God the Father and in Jesus Christ? I'm sure we would all agree that being human, we still have a ways to go in having complete trust and complete faith and confidence in God. I think going through the book of Revelation should have helped all of us realize how much we're going to need to learn to trust God and to count on Him in the days ahead. It's going to get difficult upon this earth before Christ's return, and if we are alive, it's going to challenge each and every one of us. And the closer we are to God and the better we know God and the more understanding we have in God's character and the more willing we are to trust God and place our faith in Him, certainly the better off we're going to be.

You know, how we view God has so much to do with how we serve God. Have you ever thought of that? How much the way we view God has a lot to do with how we serve God? Do we serve God fervently? Do we serve Him with great faith? If we see God as He truly is, then we will serve Him fervently, and we will serve Him with much greater faith. We must learn to trust God. Do we worship God purely and with great joy? If we see God clearly, then we will learn to worship Him more purely and with greater joy. Do you pray believing that God will surely answer your prayers according to your best interest because God loves you? And God will act according to what is best for you at any given moment if we place our faith and trust in Him. So do you believe that God will answer your prayers? And do we praise God wholeheartedly? Do we really praise Him wholeheartedly because we see Him, we love Him, and we know He's the greatest Father anyone could ever have. Let me ask you a question. If you had to take on 450 people all by yourself physically, and let's say they were all trained men that you were having to take on, fighting men, swords, spears, shields, how well do you think you would do against 450 men? Now that's what five times what we have in this room today.

That's a lot of people. At the Rose Bowl there's over 100,000 people in the Rose Bowl, and that whole stadium is filled with people. And what if there were 400 or what if there were 300 of you, let's say, and you had to take on that whole stadium? That would test your faith, wouldn't it? I mean, you would probably be a little bit scared just a little bit. Well, actually 450 to 1 is the ratio that Gideon's army came up against. There were 300 of them, and there were over 130,000 Amalekites and Amorites or Midianites. You know, these were fighting men from the east, 450 to 1. And of course they did it with trumpets and pitchers.

That's the God that Gideon came to know. So let us consider the story of Gideon today, and let us consider the God of Gideon. Do you trust in the God of Gideon, or are you still looking for a sign? Let's go to the book of failure. Let's turn to the book of failure. Does everyone know what the book of failure is? That's right, the book of Judges. That's another name for it, according to my Bible. I was reading about the book of Judges, and some have referred to it as the book of failure because it follows the book of Joshua. And Joshua was a time of victory. It was a time of going into the Promised Land, of conquering the Promised Land and moving in with God's direction and God's strength. And God said, be strong and be of good courage, and I will give you the land. I will give you this Promised Land. And so Joshua rose up with courage, and he led the people of Israel into the Promised Land. But unfortunately, after Joshua died, and sometimes it didn't take long, but the period of the Judges, which is referred to as the book of failure because there were so many failures of the children of Israel to trust God, the problem was they didn't place their faith and their trust in God. And we'll see that Gideon also was a man who lacked faith in God. Very similar to you and me, a man, human being. He lacked faith in God. He had to come to know God better. He didn't really trust God to any great degree in the beginning. I'm sure he grew to trust Him much more and much more strongly. In fact, he led Israel faithfully for many years after that. But Gideon had great insecurities. He wanted and needed proof that God could be trusted. So God has given you and I proof by recording this story, and it is a true story in our Bibles. We can believe these words. God inspired these words. The Bible is true, and we can count on the Bible. So do you trust in the God of Gideon, or are you still looking for a sign? Gideon wanted a sign, then he wanted another sign.

Let's go to the book of Judges, chapter 6. Now Israel had done evil in God's sight. They were idolaters. They were worshiping at the altar of Baal. They were worshiping a foreign God, not the God of Israel, not the God of the Promised Land, not the true God of heaven and earth, not their Creator God. They were worshiping a false God. They were idolaters. No doubt they broke the Sabbath and all of God's commandments in various ways. They were displeasing to God, and God had told them there would be cursings for disobedience. And so they were being cursed, and they were being oppressed. Now they were being oppressed by the media nights. God, it says in verse 1 of chapter 6, then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years. For seven long years, they were under the thumb of the media nights. The media nights oppressed them. It says that whenever Israel had sown things, the media nights would come up and take what they had sown. That's in verse 3. And it goes on in verse 4 and it explains about how they couldn't keep their sheep, their oxen, or their donkeys because the media nights would come and take them away. All their livestock. It says that the media nights were as numerous as locusts. In verse 5, both they and their camels were without number, and they would enter the land to destroy it. They were indeed oppressors. They enslaved the Israelites. Verse 6, so Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Eternal. There is a time to cry out to God. Actually, we should be crying out to God each and every day of our lives because only God can give us victory every single day of our lives. But it got so bad that Israel began to cry out to God. And it came to pass when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites that the Eternal sent a prophet to the children of Israel who said to them, I'm in verse 8, Thus does the Lord God of Israel. I brought you up from Egypt. I brought you out of the house of bondage. I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you. And I drove them out before you, and I gave you their land. I gave you the land I promised to Abraham because Abraham was faithful and Abraham trusted in me. So I honored Abraham and his faithfulness by giving this land to Abraham and to his descendants. Verse 10, Also I said to you, I am the Lord your God, do not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. And there were Amalekites, there were Midianites there as well. These were people of the east. They were a warring people God says, but you have not obeyed my voice. You see, that was the problem. They didn't obey God. They didn't trust God. They didn't believe in God. They didn't have faith in God.

So they didn't obey God. You're not going to obey someone you don't believe in. You're not going to obey someone you don't have faith in, and you're not going to obey someone you don't trust. So it starts with faith and trust. And that was the biggest problem that these Israelites were having. They were unbelievers in so many ways. They didn't believe in trusting God. Verse 11, Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the Terribins tree, which was in Oprah. You wonder how Oprah got her name? There it is. Which belonged to Joash, the Abisrite, while his son Gideon thressed wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. Now, do you normally thresh wheat in a winepress? That's not typically what happens. The reason he was doing that is because a winepress was a little pit in the stony ground. Normally, wheat would be threshed on a threshing floor out in the open, where the wind could help separate the chaff from the wheat. But Gideon was scared. He was afraid the Midianites would come along and take what little wheat he had. So he was using a winepress, and he was hiding from the Midianites. It says that in verse 11, in order to hide it from the Midianites, and the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, The Eternal is with you, you mighty man of valor. Now, you wonder how much tongue-in-cheek that was, because he didn't really seem like much of a mighty man of valor, not the way he behaved. And it doesn't mention him as anywhere else as a mighty man of valor. Perhaps he was more valorous than anyone else, and maybe that's why God picked him. But he still was greatly lacking in faith. Gideon said to him, O my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his miracles, which our fathers told us about, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. Now, there's no reference to God that he was repenting of all of the sins of the Israelites. He doesn't even make mention of it. In fact, he's blaming God for God not intervening and for God not taking care of things, even though this was a disobedient people, and God did exactly what he said he would do. God said he would bring curses upon them if they were not obedient and if they were not faithful and if they did not trust in him. Verse 14, Then the Eternal turned to him and said, Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you? That's the question. Have I not sent you? Has God not sent you? Has God not called you out? Has God not chosen you to be a vessel, a chosen vessel in his hands? Are you not one of the first fruits? Do you understand your calling? Has God not sent you to this world? Do you not have a commission to fulfill? Are you not to go to the world and preach the gospel to every creature? To go everywhere and preach the gospel of the kingdom of God? Are you driven with that commission? Do you think about it every day? Is it something you pray about? Thy kingdom come, thy will be done? Do you pray that God will provide laborers for the harvest? How faithful are you being as one of the first fruits, as one who's been sent by God?

Have I not sent you? So he said to him, Oh my Lord, how can I save Israel? Notice the lack of faith.

Well, he was also showing some humility, and that's probably the biggest reason why God chose him, because he was somewhat humble and God could use him. Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh. Now, what does the Bible say about God calling the weak and the foolish of the world? That they might confound the mighty. The same principle is true here, isn't it?

My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. Now, we actually have a belief that the United States is descended from the tribe of Manasseh. Is this not a message to all of us who live here in this United States? Perhaps a double message in some ways. And the Lord said to him, Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man. You shall defeat them as one man, because I will back you up. Because I will be with you, and I will be the source of strength and power that you will need in order to defeat the Midianites who have oppressed you now for seven long years.

Then he said to him, If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me. Now, this is an angel of the Lord that's speaking to him, a messenger of God, a messenger of the Eternal. That's not enough. I mean, I'm sure there were some differences. He should have realized that God had sent this being, that the Father had sent this being.

So he says, again, show me a sign that it is you. Notice that it is you. You is capitalized. He knows he's talking to the Eternal, the one who became Christ. That's who he's talking to, the messenger of the Eternal. He's talking to God himself, the one who became Christ later on. And most people don't understand that, but Christ was the God of the Old Testament. People don't understand that. It goes right over the top of their head. Even though in John 1, it clearly shows that, very clearly, the first chapter of John clearly shows that Christ was indeed the God of the Old Testament. And there are many other supporting scriptures that bear that out. But nevertheless, he didn't believe truly who he was talking to. He wanted some proof.

So the Eternal said to him, do not depart from here. I pray.

Now, this is what Gideon said back to him. He said, do not depart from me. I pray until I come to you and bring out my offering and set it before you. And he said, I will wait until you come back. So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, an unleavened bread. He did bring unleavened bread. He did this in haste. It had to be unleavened. And I think there's significance in that as well. We just kept the days of unleavened bread. We know that we are to become unleavened. And in fact, this one that he was making the sacrifice for this offering to was truly the unleavened bread that came down from heaven, according to the New Testament. Jesus the Christ. So he made unleavened bread and a lamb.

The meat he put in a basket and he put the broth in a pot. And he brought them out to him under the terebin tree and presented them to him. Now the angel, again, angel just means messenger of God. The angel of God said to him, take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock and pour out the broth. And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. And fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Now, wouldn't that not be enough of a sign right there? You know, would that not be enough of a sign? You know, if I could do that, and you all saw me do it, would you not become believers that I had some special power? Because I can't do that. I mean, I can't unless God gives me the power to do it. And so far he hasn't, as far as I know.

And the angel of the Lord, the messenger, departed out of his sight. So he had a sign already that this was indeed God himself. Now, Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord or the messenger of the Lord. So Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God, for I have seen the angel, the messenger of the Lord face to face. He saw the one who became Christ face to face. Now, we know no one has seen the Father, but some have seen the Son. I have seen him face to face. Then the eternal said to him, Peace be with you, do not fear, you shall not die.

Clearly, this was God. So Gideon built an altar there to the eternal. He built it to God and called it, The Eternal is Peace. To this day, it is still in Oprah of the Abbazrites. Now, it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, Take your father's young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal, that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it, and build an altar to the Lord, your God, on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull, that one that was seven years old, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image, which you shall cut down. So Gideon was supposed to act in faith and do this. So Gideon took ten men from among his servants, and did as the Lord had said to him, but because he feared his father's household. Remember, it was his father who had built this altar to Baal. His father was an idol worshipper. He had built this altar to Baal. And there were others of his father's household that would not be happy to see this altar destroyed, because they put their faith in the God of Baal. Little gee, God of Baal. And the men of the city, I'm sorry, but because he feared his father's household, and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it by night. He did it under cover. He didn't step out boldly and just do it. He could have just done it. Don't wait around. Just do it in faith. Don't wait for nightfall. Do it in the day. And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, there was the altar of Baal torn down, and the wooden image that was beside it was cut down. And the second bull was being offered on the altar, which had been built. So he did exactly what God had told him to do in that regard. So they said to one another, Who has done this thing? And when they had inquired and asked, they said, Gideon, the son of Joash, has done this thing. Then the men of the city said to Joash, Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the wooden image that was beside it. But Joash said to all who stood against him, again, this is his father, he said, Would you plead for Baal? Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who would plead for him be put to death by morning. So his father came out strongly on his side, on his son's side, even though he had been an idol worshiper. Maybe he was starting to see that Gideon was sent by God for a special purpose. I don't know. But for whatever reason, of course he loved his son, I'm sure. And he was backing him up, even though he was the one that had built the image in the first place. Verse 32, Therefore on that day he called him, that is, he called his son Jerubabel, which means, God let Baal plead. In other words, what he's saying was, if Baal is so powerful, let Baal take care of my son. We don't have to do it. Just let Baal do it. You know, if this God is so powerful, surely he can take care of my measly son. But he wasn't even powerful enough to take care of his measly son. Do you see that? The gods of this world, they're not powerful enough to take care of a human being if he's doing God's will. If he looks to God, and Gideon was beginning to look to God. So we can place our faith in God. We don't have to fear the gods of this earth.

So Jerubabel means, let Baal plead. Let Baal plead. Let Baal act.

So he called him Jerubabel, saying, let Baal plead against him, because he has torn down his altar. Then in verse 33, all the Amidianites and Amalekites and the people of the east gathered together and they crossed over and encamped in the valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. Then he blew the trumpet and the Abberzerites gathered behind him. A small group of people, they gathered behind him. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. So a troop was forming, still very small in comparison to what they were going to have to face. He also sent messengers to Asher, to Zebulun, and Naphtali, to other tribes of the children of Israel. And they came up to meet them. So Gideon said to God, if you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, I want another sign.

I want another sign. I'm sorry, but I want another sign. Look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. And if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said. Now, right now, we have a lot of dew on the ground. If you go out in the morning, you're going to be walking through a lot of moisture and dew. And if you put a wool fleece out there, I guarantee that it would be soaked with water. And it was so, when he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. Now, this was dry ground. They had dry ground. So, this was unlike what we have right now. Right now, it's very... But wait until July and August. You know, what are you going to have then? You're going to walk out there, and the grass is going to be burnt down, and there's going to be no moisture. So, that was the case then. And the other case, I'll mention in a moment. So, he squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. Now, you try that in August. I want you to go out this... I want you to go out this August here in Oklahoma, take your fleece, leave it out all night, and I want you to wring a whole bowl of water out of it. All right? Will you do that for me? Report back to me when you've done it. All right. Then to Gideon said to God, Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more. You know, this wasn't quite powerful enough for me. I want another sign. Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece. Let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew. Now, that's what you'd find out today. So, if you want to, go out tomorrow, go out early in the morning, put out your fleece tonight, go out early in the morning, and see if it's dry. And if it is, report back to me, because I've got something for you to do.

Verse 40, And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground. Another miracle had taken place. So, God was certainly showing him that God is all-powerful. God can do whatever he decides to do. And God was being extremely gracious to Gideon to follow through and to do this. And of course, he did it for you and me. These are examples in, I think, it's 1 or 2 Corinthians 10. It says, all these things are done for example for us. This is an example for you and me, that we might learn greater faith and trust in God and not require a sign. We shouldn't require a sign. All the signs have been given. Signs of plenty have been given for us. We don't need any more signs. We just need to walk in faith.

Well then, Jerubelbel, that is Gideon, and all the people who were with him, rose early and encamped beside the well of Harad, so that the camp of the Midianites was on the north side of them by the hill of Mo-re in the valley. And the Lord said to Gideon, the people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands. They're just too many. You know, there's too many of these Israelites here. Lest Israel claim glory for itself against me. Yes, God had something to prove. He was sick and tired of these unbelieving Israelites getting into trouble and then calling out for him, crying out to him, and then he intervenes, and then they don't give him credit for it.

He was sick and tired of that. So he said, we're going to dwindle the odds here. I don't want them saying, my own hand has saved me. 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 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained. So there were 32,000 people, and we'll read later that there were 130,000 Amalekites, Amorites, Midianites. So even then, the odds were four to one. The odds were still hugely against the Israelites. But God says, I want them to know for sure that it is me who has intervened to save them. So 10,000 remained. 22,000 were fearful.

They were fearful, and so they just did it. They took the way out. They took the easy way out, and they left. They were fearful. 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. 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...

excuse me, the same shall not go. So he brought the people down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, everyone who lapsed from the water with his tongue, if he gets down and he gets down in the water with his tongue like a dog, mind you, like a dog, if he gets down there like a dog, you shall set apart by himself. You shall set him apart by himself. Likewise, everyone who gets down on his knees to drink. Now, I dare say most of us would probably get down on our knees. You know, we would get down on our knees, and we'd cup our hands, and we'd bring the water up to us, and that's the way we would drink.

And that's what most of the people did here, but there were some who were acting like dogs. And I don't know if this is supposed to send a message or not. I mean, the Bible is not real, it's not real complimentary about dogs in the Bible. It just doesn't really say a lot of good things about dogs. So anyway, they were laughing down there like dogs, and the rest were getting on their knees, and they were being more civilized, I suppose.

And this is how God was separating the people. The Lord said to Gideon, By the three hundred men who laughed, I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place. So the people took provisions, the three hundred took provisions. Everyone else left. There were 10,000, almost, there were 9,900 and what? 9,700. And 9,700 who left and 300 remained. So the vast majority of them took off, and just 300 remained.

And the people took provisions and their trumpets in their hands. So now they have provisions, they have some food, and they have trumpets. And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, and retained those 300 men. Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. It happened on the same night that the Lord said to him, Arise and go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah, your servant.

Now surely he wouldn't be afraid now, would he? After all that God had done, after the various signs that God had given him, wouldn't he surely trust God and have faith in God? He wouldn't go down with his servant. Verse 11, And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp. I think God knew him pretty well. Then he went down with Purah, his servant. So he did go down because he was afraid, and he went with Purah.

And God was being very gracious, wasn't he? Being very merciful to Gideon, who lacked faith in him. But Gideon also had some qualities. He was humble, and God was able to work with him.

Verse 12, Now the Midianites and Amalekites and all the people of the east were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts. Their camels were without number as the sand by the seashore in multitude. This was a huge group of people in comparison. And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. So he went down to the camp with his servant, Purah, and he heard this man telling a dream. And the man said, I have had a dream. To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian. It came to a tent and struck it so that it fell. So that's a pretty puny tent. It falls down by just some little measly barley bread. The point clearly is this barley bread is Gideon. Gideon is coming down into the camp. The tent is collapsing. Then his companion answered and said, This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel. Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp. So this was another sign that this man would be talking about the deliverance of the children of Israel through Gideon. So again, this strengthened his faith. God was strengthening his faith time after time with a number of signs. And so it was when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation that he worshipped. See, it affected his worship. It affected the way he looked at God and the way he did things. If you will have faith in God, you will worship him with greater strength and greater power, with greater fervency, and your faith will grow. But first you have to see God for who he is. God is truly the God who delivers. And we need to place our faith completely in him.

So Gideon worshipped God and he returned to the camp of Israel and he said, Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand. Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies and he put a trumpet into every man's hand with empty pitchers and torches inside the pitchers. And he said to them, Look at me and I do likewise. Watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp, you do as I do. Now, no doubt God told him what to do, because I don't think he would have thought of this by himself. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp and say, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon. God probably told him to say that too. I don't know. So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him, because they were broken into three camps and there were a hundred men with Gideon, they came to the outpost of the camp and at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch, and they blew the trumpets and they broke the pitchers that were in their hands. So a great noise, a great commotion went up and the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers. They held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing and they cried, The sword of the eternal and of Gideon. And every man stood in his place all around the camp and the whole army ran and cried out and they fled. When the three hundred blew the trumpets and the Lord set, every man soared against his companion. You see, that's what made the difference. It wasn't the blowing of the trumpets. It wasn't the breaking of the pitchers. It was God set them against each other. God was fighting the battle for Gideon and for the Israelites. And God moved in the minds of those Amalekites and Amorites and Midianites and they turned against each other. You know, there's another example of that. I think it was Jehoshaphat, one of the kings of Israel, Judah, one of the kings of Judah, when the basic same thing happened, they all turned against each other and I think 186 or 1000 or more all died that night. They didn't because God was fighting the battle. There are many examples in the Bible. This is just one. This is the God of Gideon. But this is the God of the entire Bible and there are many, many examples like this one. And yet how close we have we looked at this example and how closely have we followed this example? Trusting in God.

Verse 23, "...and the men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali, Asher and Almanassa, and they pursued the Midianites." So they went after them at that point and God was with them and they killed leaders of the Midianites and they subdued the Midianites and God gave them total victory. Total victory. Gave them complete victory. What an example of the power of God to deliver His people and to be there for them. Gideon, of course, didn't see God for the God he truly is. Now, surely after all of these signs, He was beginning to see Him better. In fact, Gideon went on to lead the children of Israel, although Gideon, again, was very humble. In fact, notice this in verse 22 of chapter 8. "...Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, Rule over us both you and your son and your grandson also, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian." You, Gideon, are fantastic! You have delivered us from the hand of the Midianites! We want you to rule over us! But Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you. The Eternal shall rule over you. Gideon came to clearly see that his power was in the power of God. It was not any power that he had of himself. He did not deserve to lead. We talked about deserving, didn't we? Being worthy? He didn't deserve. He wasn't worthy. He wasn't worthy to lead. He was an instrument in God's hands. I'm really trying to get through to all of you that you're not worthy either. But God deems you worthy if you will trust in Him. If you'll put your faith in God, then you are worthy. If you don't, then you're certainly not worthy. But if you'll place your trust and your faith in God, who delivers, He will deliver you. Brethren, we need more faith. We need to worship God in faith. We need to become wholehearted. One of the reasons David has called a man after God's own heart is because he had faith in God. He believed in God. He trusted in God. He looked to God. He wasn't perfect. In fact, He was unworthy in many ways. And yet, God deemed Him worthy to lead Israel. And He will lead in the kingdom of God under Christ.

He was a man, as we are men and women here today. He was flesh and blood.

But with God our side, we can rise above the flesh. We can walk in the Spirit. In the day of Pentecost, pictures the giving of God's Spirit. Remember those days coming up to Pentecost? I challenge you to walk in the Spirit up until the days of Pentecost. I hope we're doing that. I hope we've given that some thought this week. We must not walk in the flesh. See, that's what Gideon was doing. When Gideon kept asking for sign after sign after sign, he was walking in the flesh. We don't need a sign! We already have signs. The signs are given to us. We don't need any more signs.

Let's walk in faith. Let's trust God. Let's step out in faith. Let's believe Him. And let's band together as God's people, here in this community, to show that we are people of faith and that we walk in faith. We walk in the Spirit. So, brethren, it's so important that we learn this lesson of Gideon. Gideon was just a puny human being. He was weak and he was frail like we are. He was insecure. He doubted. He required a sign. But, you know, I don't know if Gideon had God's Holy Spirit. I mean, the Holy Spirit came upon him, it says. It strengthened him at times. But we have God's Spirit dwelling in us. We have God's Spirit living in us. But we don't need a sign. We don't need any more signs. So, let's stop looking for signs. Let's walk in faith with the signs we already have. That's what God wants you to do. He wants you to have faith in Him. He's revealed Himself to you through His Son. Who died for you. Who sacrificed Himself for you.

Brethren, it's time to walk in faith. It's time to walk in the Spirit. Faith in Christ is essential if we are to be saved. Let's go to Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. The Apostle Paul was one who was struck down on the road to Damascus. And he was shown the power of God. He was blinded, and then he was made whole. He could see again with new perception, new perspective. Now he could walk in the Spirit. Before he'd been walking in the flesh. Now he could walk in the Spirit. And so Paul says to us in Colossians chapter 2, beginning in verse 5. Colossians 2 verse 5. For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit. Now he was writing to the church at Colossae. He was writing to inspire them and to encourage them. He wasn't there in physical flesh, but he was there in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. You are steadfast in Christ. As you therefore have received Jesus Christ, or Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. And beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. Put your faith in Christ, not in the idols of this world. The Israelites were looking to the idols of the land to deliver them. They were looking to bail to deliver them. It was foolish. There was no power in Baal. And this world is very deceptive. Christ has to come out of the world and be different and be separate. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power. In Him you are also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. He's talking about walking in the Spirit. You know, we are circumcised in the heart, in the Spirit. It doesn't matter if we are circumcised in the flesh. We must be circumcised in the Spirit and in the heart. And we are buried with Him in baptism. We go under that watery grave. We were crucified with Christ in that watery grave when we committed to God the Father and to Christ.

And we were also raised with Him. And Christ was raised during the days of 11 bread. He's at the right hand of God, and He's there for us.

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made a life together with Him, having forgiven you all trespassers, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against you. That's talking about your sins. It's not talking about the law of God being done away. It's talking about your sins being washed away because you are guilty because of your sins. You come under the blood of Christ because you had a part in crucifying Jesus Christ. You had a part in killing Christ.

But Christ allows us forgiveness through His sacrifice. We are forgiven through Christ's sacrifice, and our sins are washed away in that watery grave. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. He didn't nail the law to the cross. We were crucified. We were nailed to the cross, along with Christ. We died to Christ. Can't you see that, brethren? Now we must walk with Christ. We must live to serve Christ, to become living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God. We've been crucified with Him. We've accepted Christ as our Savior. We will suffer along with Christ, and that's okay. We should be up to that. As long as we have faith in God, God will see us through every trial. We must fear. We must have faith. Faith in Christ is essential if we are to be saved. If you are to be saved, you have to have faith in the Christ who delivered Gideon. He delivered Gideon. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Brethren, this is a powerful message. Gideon lacked faith. He really was a fearful man, but you know, he had faith in God. He trusted in God. He believed in God. So let us remember this example. Let us remember this story of Gideon. Let's no longer look for signs. We are under the new covenant.

Our sins are washed away in Christ. We're now capable of walking in the Spirit because Christ will live in us. Christ will do the works in us. So, brethren, remember the God of Gideon.