Trusting in the God of Gideon

Just how large is God to you? Just how big is God? Small children look up to their parents because they're so much larger, they're so much bigger, they're so much more powerful. Children learn to look to their parents and they learn to trust them, and that's the way it should be. Parents should be trustworthy, and children should be able to count on their parents to protect them, to provide for them, to do whatever is necessary to see that they're well.

Children who do not learn to trust their parents, because their parents weren't trustworthy, they certainly will suffer greatly. Children are often mistreated in this society, in this world, in this age that we live in. Many people carry scars from their childhood. They carry scars of doubt, scars of insecurity. They carry many different types of scars, fearful scars.

It's important that we as parents do our very best to prove ourselves trustworthy and give our children the best possible lives.

Now, our God, the Almighty God, the all-powerful and wonderful God whom we serve, we know He's completely trustworthy, don't we? Completely trustworthy. And yet, do we trust Him completely? That's a good question for us to contemplate today. Do we trust God completely?

God has proven His love and His concern for His people through His wonderful plan of salvation. He's revealed that to us. We are the called-out ones, the ones who have an opportunity to understand God's plan of salvation, to have the Bible opened up to us in ways that so many people don't have. We're very, very blessed to be called at this time by God and to understand the wonderful plan of salvation. John 3 16 really is a very, very powerful message for God so loved the world. He loved all people, all individuals. That's what He's talking about. He loved the world. He loved the people that He created. So much so that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in His Son should not perish, but should have everlasting life. And the Bible goes on to explain what that means. It does take more than just a belief. It takes a living faith, an obedient faith, in order to truly fulfill or to receive the promises that God is giving us. So we do need to learn to trust God in greater ways. John also delivered a powerful message regarding our Savior Jesus Christ when he said, greater love has no man than this, than to lay down his life for his friends. So Christ does call us friends. We are His friends.

He laid His life down for us. He loves us. The Father loves us. So we should trust both God the Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. We should trust them implicitly and completely. And yet, humanly, we're flesh. And that's not so easy to do, is it? It takes some thinking. It takes some thought. It takes some contemplation. It takes a lot of yielding to God, surrendering to God, to really learn to trust Him as we should. While beginning to prepare a series of sermons on the book of Revelation, remember I told you we were going to get into that? I haven't forgotten. We're going to do a series of sermons on the book of Revelation. I may wait until after the feast to start it. We'll see. But it reminded me of how completely we will all need to trust God in the future. If we're alive just prior to Christ's return, our faith will be tested. Whether or not we trust God is going to be tested in many, many ways. And even if not, our faith will still be tested, won't it? It's tested daily in small ways, sometimes larger ways. So now's the time to truly trust in God and have faith in Him. I gave a sermon last time about the faith of Abraham. So this sermon kind of goes along with what I talked about last time. We need to have the faith of Abraham. So how do we view God? How do you view God? You know, how you view Him will impact greatly how you serve Him. The more we trust God, the better we serve Him. The greater our faith, the better we serve. So do we serve God fervently? Do you serve God fervently? Do you serve Him with great faith? Do you walk by faith and not by sight? Do we worship God purely? Do we worship Him with great joy? Do we pray believing that God has heard us, that He's listening, that He's heard us, and that He will answer according to His will, which is best for us? It takes a lot of faith to really believe that in difficult times. Have you learned to praise God wholeheartedly with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might? Now, from a practical perspective, let me ask you this. How well would you do if you knew you had to fight against 450 trained soldiers? One person against 450.

I would imagine that's at least three times what we have in the building today. Three times as many people, and if you had to fight them, would you have the faith to do that? Would you believe that God would take care of you and protect you? If He told you He would, would you have the faith to believe that? Well, there was an instance in the Bible, and it had to do with drubbal.

Not drub-a-bell, but drub-a-all. I don't know how you pronounce it, but there's a person in the Bible called drub-a-all with b-a-a-l at the end. It's not zerub-a-bell, and it's not anyone else. So do you know who I'm talking about? The odds were 450 against one, and God sent them to battle. 450 against one. So who is this drub-a-ball or drub-a-ball?

You might know him in a different name. Does anyone know who I'm talking about?

Anybody? Gideon! Right, Gideon. Gideon was a man who lacked faith in God.

Believe it or not, he lacked faith. He really didn't trust God completely.

Gideon had great insecurities. He was fearful. He wanted and needed proof that God could be trusted. So let us consider the story of Gideon today. Let's talk about Gideon. Let us consider the God of Gideon. The title again of this sermon, I think it was in the bulletin, is trusting in the God of Gideon. See, you would have known who drub-a-l was by the title, trusting in the God of Gideon. Do you trust in the God of Gideon, or are you still looking for a sign?

Remember, Gideon needed a bunch of signs in order to trust God.

So let's go to the book of failure. Does anybody know what the book of failure is?

It's the book of Judges, because there were a lot of failures in the book of Judges. That's another name for it, or it's referred to as the book of failure. So let's go to Judges 6.

And we're going to consider this story in quite a bit of detail.

You see, Gideon did lack faith, and he did have great insecurity. We'll see that as we go through this story. He wanted proof that God was there for him and that God would do what he promised and that God would do what he promised to do.

Israel had done evil in God's sight. They were idolaters. No doubt they broke the Sabbath.

They broke all of God's commandments in various ways.

So God delivered them into the hand of the Midianites, their enemies.

They were continually oppressed by the Midianites.

They were in bondage for seven years before Gideon comes on the scene. So in chapter 6 of the book of Judges, it's going to underscore that lack of faith and trust in God was one of the biggest problems that the Israelites had to face throughout their history. Lack of faith is why they had to spend 40 years wandering in the wilderness before Joshua, a man of courage, led them into the Promised Land.

Let's begin in verse 1.

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, in the sight of the Eternal.

And the Eternal delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. So they were basically oppressed for seven years.

They were hiding out from the Midianites for seven years.

Verse 2, In the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel, and because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, the caves and the strongholds. And so it was when Israel had sown, that is, when they went out and sowed their crops, that the Midianites came up and the Amalekites and the children of the East, even they came up against them. They came up, all came up against Israel, and they encamped there and destroyed the increase of the earth. They didn't want the Israelites to prosper. They didn't want them to be able to harvest their grains. They would bring in their cattle, as it says in verse 5. They came up with their cattle and their tents. They came as grasshoppers for multitude, for both they and their camels were without number. So there were many, many camels. There were lots of people who came in. They entered into the land to destroy it. That was their purpose. They did not want God's people to prosper. Verse 6, And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried, they cried out unto the Eternal. And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the Eternal, because of the Midianites, that the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, and said unto them, Thus saith the Eternal God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt. I brought you forth out of the house of bondage. So God refers them back to what happened and how God miraculously intervened to bring them into the Promised Land, to bring them out of Egypt, to bring them out of bondage. They were once again in bondage to the Midianites. God was showing that I will bring you out just as surely as I brought you out of Egypt. I'm going to bring you out of this bondage. Verse 9, I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, out of the hand of all that oppressed you. And I drove them out from before you, and I gave you their land. I gave you the Promised Land. And I said unto you, I am the Eternal your God. Fear not the gods of the Amorites, the pagan gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell, but you have not obeyed my voice. The children of Israel, as I had read earlier in verse 1, they disobeyed God. They displeased God. God allowed them to go into captivity to the Midianites because of their sins. Certainly, that's a lesson that we should all learn, is that when we obey God and when we are pleasing to Him, there will be blessings that you can count on. There will be. On the other hand, when you disobey God, then there are curses. And the Bible is very clear on that subject. That hasn't changed. God's the same yesterday, today, and forever. God says, I changed not. Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Those things are still in effect. There are blessings for obedience, and there are curses for disobedience. Even then, God is quite merciful because we're all disobedient, and God still continues to bless us in many, many ways if we are repentant and if we look to Him for His guidance, for His direction, and for His deliverance. Now, notice verse 11.

And there came an angel of the Lord, the Eternal, and sat under an oak. Now, this is a messenger of the Eternal. Malak, I believe, is the Hebrew word. An angel of the Eternal, a messenger, and sat under an oak, which was in Oprah. You wonder how Oprah got her name? Now you know.

They sat under an oak, which was in Oprah, that pertained unto Joash the Abazurites, and his son Gideon, thressed wheat by the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. Now, normally, they didn't thresh wheat with a winepress. They did it on a threshing floor. 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 they had to hide from the Midianites to keep what little they had, that the Midianites had not already destroyed. And so they were using a winepress. In verse 12, the angel of the Eternal appeared unto him and said unto Gideon, The Eternal is with you, you mighty man of valor. The Eternal is with you. Now, I don't know how tongue-in-cheek this is, because Gideon is not mentioned anywhere as a man of valor. In fact, when we read this account, we may think he was not too much of a man of valor. Perhaps he was the most valorous of the bunch at the time, because God used him. I don't know. But anyway, I wonder how tongue-in-cheek this is. Oh, the Eternal is with you, you mighty man of valor. And Gideon said unto him, Oh, my Lord, if the Eternal be with us, why then is all this befallen us? Let's blame God! Let's blame God for a moment. You know, if you're really with us, God, then why are we experiencing these curses? Gideon should have known it was not God's problem. It was their problem. The problem is always with the people. It's never with God. This is the case.

Where be all his miracles, which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Eternal bring us up from Egypt? He's questioning God here. He's showing a great lack of faith and also a lack of understanding.

But now the Eternal has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of the Midianites. Well, that's true. God had forsaken them, but it was because of their disobedience. It wasn't because God wasn't able to protect them or to deliver them. And the Eternal looked upon him and said, Go in this, your might, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent you?

You know, that's a good question to ask ourselves personally as well. Has God sent you into the world to do anything? If you're truly a called-out one, if you're truly one of the firstfruits, then God has sent you as well.

God has sent you to do a job. We are to be about doing our Father's business. We are called to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to this world as a witness to all nations. And only then will the end come. So we all have a part to play in all of this. God has sent us to do our part, to be faithful in our part. And so we should pray that this commission be done.

We should pray for the leadership in the Church of God, that we will go forward in faith, and that we'll have access, we'll have open doors. We'll be able to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to this world. You have a part to play in that. Whatever that part is, you should discover that.

You should ask God to show you what your part is and make sure you're fulfilling your part in preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and setting an example in your own household, in your own family, in your church, wherever you go, at work.

Have I not sent you? God had certainly sent Gideon to deliver the children from the Midianites. Verse 15, and he said unto him, O my Lord, wherewithal shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor. It's poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. At least he did have some humility. Perhaps that's why God chose him. Not because he was such a great man of valor, but because he was a humble person. And he realized his weakness. Verse 16, and the Eternal said unto him, Surely I will be with you. Now, notice, now it says, and the Eternal said unto him. Before it was the messenger of the Eternal.

Now it's the Eternal. I think it's pretty obvious that this messenger of the Eternal was the one who became Christ. He was the one that primarily appeared to the children of Israel and worked with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with Daniel, with various prophets. He was the one. He's the messenger of the Eternal. He's God's, the Father's messenger. God sends him to do work. He's the Logos. He's the spokesman. He does that work. He's also the Eternal himself, for he is God.

And I think that's the truth of the matter here. And the Eternal said unto him, said unto Gideon, Surely I will be with you, and you shall smite the Midianites as one man. And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in your sight, then show me a sign that you talk with me. Okay, it wasn't enough that he was there talking to him, but he wanted a sign to go along with that. Depart not, hence, I pray thee, until I come unto you, and bring forth my present, and set it before you. And he said, I will tarry until you come again. So then Gideon goes, and he prepares some unleavened cakes. He goes, I prepare some flesh. Says he put in a basket, he put broth in a pot, brought it unto him under the oak. He presented it to the Eternal. And the angel of God, or the messenger of God, said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, pour out the broth, and he did so. Then the angel of the Eternal put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and he touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes. And there rose up fire out of the rock, and it consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Eternal departed out of his sight. He disappeared. I don't know if he puffed, disappeared, or if he just left. Doesn't say, but I know this.

If I was able to do what he did, hopefully you would have some trust that I had a certain power.

Now, I don't have this power. At least God hasn't shown me that I have this power.

Presently, maybe someday in the future, we'll see. But the point I'm making is that this should have been enough. That was a sign. God delivered the sign.

That probably should have been enough to convince Gideon that he was not dealing with just anyone here. He was dealing with the Almighty God. And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel or a messenger of the Eternal—that's what this word means, angel or messenger of the Eternal— Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God, for because I have seen a messenger of the Eternal face to face.

It also again showed that he was talking to the Eternal. No one has seen the Father at any time, but there were many who saw the One who became Christ. The Logos, the spokesman, John talks about that in the first chapter of John. And the Eternal said unto him, Peace be unto you, fear not, you shall not die.

You shall not die, even though you have seen God.

Then Gideon put an altar there unto the Eternal and called it Jehovah Shalom. Unto this day it is yet an opera of the Abazurites. And it came to pass the same night that the Eternal said unto him, Take your father's young bullock. So that was the very same night God had appeared to him.

He had worked a miracle. He disappeared. He came back that evening. And he tells him to take your father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the grove that is on it. And build an altar unto the Eternal your God. So evidently his father had built this altar to Baal. Gideon's own father had built it, had been instrumental in worshiping Baal himself. And many people of the household of Joash, his father, were Baal worshipers.

And perhaps at one time Gideon was a Baal worshiper. It doesn't really tell us that, but it's possible. But God was clearly working with Gideon now. Verse 26, And he built an altar unto the Eternal your God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which you shall cut down.

So Gideon took ten men. He listened to God. He took ten men of his servants, and did as the Eternal had said unto him. And so it was because he feared his father's household. He did not have complete faith. He did not trust God completely. He feared his father's household and the men of the city that he could not do it by day. Would you be able to do it by day? Or would you have to wait until nightfall?

That's what Gideon did. He waited until nightfall because he was afraid. He was afraid to go out in the light of day. We need to develop a faith that is not afraid to go out in the light of day. That's the kind of faith that you and I need to develop.

A living faith that believes in God and knows that God will deliver no matter what time of day or night. He feared, and so he went at night. Verse 28, And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down, and was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.

And they said one to another, Who has done this thing? This horrible thing? Who has torn down this altar to Baal? And when they inquired and asked, they said Gideon, the son of Joash, had done this thing. So even though he did it at night, he was found out anyway. He might as well have done it during the day. Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out your son, that he may die, because he has cast down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the grove, the trees that were surrounding it.

And Joash, his father, said unto all that stood against him, Will you plead for Baal? Now I thought this was interesting that his father, even though he may have built this altar himself, his father no doubt loved his son, and perhaps he was somewhat empathetic to what his son was trying to do. I would think his son probably told him some of this. We don't know.

The Scripture doesn't tell us what kind of dialogue was going on between father and son here. But Joash asked the people, Will you plead for Baal? Will you save him? He that will plead for him, let him be put to death, while it is yet mourning. So he was speaking out very boldly against the people of the city and people of his own household, no doubt. He said, If he be a god, let him plead for himself. If Baal is so powerful, if he's a god, then he can take care of my puting son. We don't have to do it. Just let Baal do it. If he's truly a god, let him take care of it. Because one hath cast down his altar. Therefore, on that day, he called him Jerubbal. Jerub-a-bal. Or, I don't know.

Saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar. And that's what the word means. Basically, pleading to Baal. That's what this word means. Gideon's name.

Father says, call him Jerubbal. Then all the Midianites and Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together and went over and pitched in the valley of Jezreel. So they were in the land of Israel. All these Midianites, the Amalekites, and children of the east. But the spirit of the Eternal came upon Gideon. God's spirit came upon Gideon. Now, I don't know if this means he didn't actually have God's spirit dwelling in him. And that the spirit just came upon him. Maybe he had the spirit of God from that point forward. Doesn't really tell us exactly. So we really don't know all the details. But we do know that the spirit of the Eternal came upon Gideon. And he blew a trumpet, and Abbe-Yezer was gathered after him. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered after him. And he sent messengers to Asher, to Zebulun, to Naphtali. So these were other tribes of the children of Israel. And they came up to meet them. So he was gathering a people together behind him. And Gideon said unto God, If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor. Okay, he wanted another sign. He wanted another sign that God would deliver, as he had promised to do. And if to do beyond the fleece only, okay, the fleece is wool from the sheep or the lamb. If do be on the fleece, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said. Because typically, if there's water all around, then the fleece is going to be filled with water as well. And it was so, for he rose up early on the morning, and thrust the fleece together, and ringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. Okay, so Gideon said unto God, Let not your anger be hot against me, and I will speak, but this once let me prove. I pray you, but this once with a fleece, let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. So the second time he went out, the fleece was dry, but all around it the ground was filled with dew. So that's when you would expect dew to be on the fleece as well. It was just the opposite of what it should have been both times. Clearly, these were signs, two more signs, that God was listening to Gideon, and that God was involved with Gideon, and that God would deliver Gideon as he had promised. And God did so that night, for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew all on the ground. Here in Texas, I noticed there's a lot of dew on the ground some days, some mornings. It's just dew everywhere on the ground, and if you put fleece down on that dewy ground, it would absorb the moisture. But God performed a miracle, and that didn't happen. And just the opposite, if there was a very dry day and low humidity or no humidity, you would not expect there to be a bunch of dew on the ground. But there was dew on the ground. So again, just the opposite each time.

So God is being very patient with Gideon, isn't he? He's being very patient. He's not saying, look, I gave you a sign already. That's enough. No more signs. Quit asking me for signs.

Now, God is very merciful. He's very patient, but that doesn't mean it isn't better to not have to ask for the signs.

Verse chapter 7 verse 1, Then Druball, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early and pitched beside the well of Herod, so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them by the hill of Mulre in the valley. And the eternal said unto Gideon, The people that are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands. There's too many because you're going to think that it was by your own strength that you delivered yourselves.

That's what God was concerned about, because that's what human nature is likely to do. Rather than give God credit, let's take the credit ourselves.

So God didn't want that to happen. He says, Lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. He didn't want them looking to themselves. He wanted them to know that He had intervened and that He had saved them. Therefore, go to proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead, and they returned to the people 22,000. And there remained 10,000. So 32,000 people had gotten behind Gideon, people of the children of Israel, 32,000. 22 of them said, Hey, I'm afraid. I'm not sticking around. If He gives me an out, I'm taking it. I'm gone. I'm going to leave the other 10,000 to fight this battle for me.

And the Eternal said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many. 10,000 is still too many. But you know how many there were of the enemy?

There were 135,000 of them. 135,000. So even if 32,000 had gone up against 135, who would you expect to win? Four times as many people. You would still expect them to win.

So He says there's still too many.

And verse 4, the people are too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will try them for you there. And it shall be that of whom I say unto you, this... I'm not going to read all this. You remember the story probably about laughing like a dog, or not laughing like a dog, going down and cupping the water and bringing it to the mouth? So He used this to further diminish the number that would fight against the Amalekites and the other enemy, the Midianites and so forth.

So it came down to just 300 people. 300 people were left to do battle. Everyone else, 9,700 people all left. God said, you may go. We don't need you. Take off. So 9,700 of them went, and now there's only 300. And that's where we come to the 450 to 1 ratio that I mentioned earlier. 450 to 1. That was the ratio. Three times as many people in here. And that's not women and children either. We're talking about 450 fighters. I believe that's what it was talking about when it was talking about the 135,000. There were fighting people. And now there's only 300. Verse 7, And the Eternal sent unto Gideon, by the 300 men that laughed, will I save you, and will deliver the Midianites into your hand, and let all the other people go, every man, unto his place.

So the people left, and they left just 300 people. Verse 9, And it came to pass the same night that the Eternal sent unto him, Arise, get you down unto the host, for I have delivered it into your hand.

But if you fear to go down, he's going to give him another out here. He said, if you still fear, if you still don't trust me, then you can take your servant, Fura, and go down to the host, go down to the people of the Midianites, and you shall hear what they say. So sneak down to their camp, and listen to what they say, and afterward shall your hands be strengthened to go down into the host. So he went down with Fura, his servant, unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude. There were a lot of them. 135,000, and their camels were without number as the sand by the seaside. Now, the Bible does exaggerate from time to time. It just does. This is one of those times it exaggerates a bit, but comparatively it was like the sand on the seashores. It was a lot of them, a lot more of them than there were Israelites that were to do battle. And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow and said, behold, I dreamed a dream. So he's listening to this guy tell this other guy about a dream that he had. And behold, I dreamed, and a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian.

And it came unto a tent and smote it that it fell. Now, normally a little barley loaf isn't going to knock a tent down, typically. I mean, you wouldn't think so unless these were gigantic loaves, which I don't think they were gigantic loaves. So this is a small, a normal-sized loaf of bread that comes down and knocks over the tent. It was poorly put together if it knocked over a tent, or God was involved. So the dream has a purpose. So this, it smote the tent, overturned it, and the tent lay along. And his fellow answered and said, this is nothing except the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel. So he recognized this dream or this vision that he had.

This loaf of bread symbolized Gideon. And Gideon was going to be powerful in God's hands.

And he would smote the Midianites. And God has delivered Midian and all the host.

And it was so when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and the interpretation thereof that he worshiped. Okay, so now he worships God. This is another sign that God's with him. And so his faith is becoming, it's becoming more active now. Now he's beginning to worship God. The more active our faith is, the better we'll worship God. The better we'll become doers of God's law and not just hearers only.

We are to be doers of the laws of God. We're to have faith. The more we trust God, the more we have faith in Him, the more obedient we will become. Because if you really believe in someone, if you have faith in them and you trust them, you're going to do what they ask you to do. You're going to do it, even from a human perspective. If you have a boss that's a great boss, that always follows through, that always does what he says he will do, then you're going to trust him.

You're going to have greater faith. If he's always consistent and he always follows through, well, God always follows through. God is always faithful. And we just need to be able to see beyond the flesh to the Spirit and see where God is working. God is working spiritually.

And He wants us to be able to see Him spiritually. He wants us to have faith in Him and believe in Him. God is Spirit. We must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. We should not walk by sight, but we should walk by faith, believing God, trusting in Him. But God was very merciful to Gideon. And another sign he gives him, this vision, this dream. So now Gideon worships God and returns to the host of Israel and says, arise for the eternal has delivered into your hand the host of Midian. A very positive statement. God has delivered you. No longer fear. No longer worry. I'm convinced now. Let's go. And he divided the 300 men into three companies. He put a trumpet in every man's hand with empty pitchers and lamps within the pitchers like torches. And he said unto them, look on me and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that as I do, so you shall do. When I blow with the trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow your trumpet also on every side of all the camp and say the sword of the eternal and of Gideon.

No doubt God had told him what to say. He told him what to do. The sword of the eternal first and of Gideon, God's instrument. So Gideon and the hundred men that were with him came into the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch and they had but newly set the watch and they blew the trumpets. They broke the pitchers that were in their hands and the three companies blew the trumpets. They broke the pitchers. They held the lamps in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands to blow and they cried the sword of the eternal and of Gideon.

And they stood every man in his place round about the camp and all the host ran and cried and fled and there was utter confusion. In the camp of the Midianites, the three hundred blew the trumpets. The Lord set every man's sword against his fellow. So they started killing each other. Even throughout all the host and the host fled to such and such a place, they all took off running and there was great chaos and great confusion except with the children of Israel. For God was with them and God is not the author of confusion except when he sends confusion upon others.

And that's exactly what happened. They killed each other. They ran off. And you can read the rest of the story.

I don't need to go into that, although I did want to go to, I think, one other verse in chapter 8, verse 22.

Then there was victory with Israel. Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule you over us, both you and your son and your son's son also, your grandchildren.

We have a leader. We've accepted Gideon. God is with him. Let's follow Gideon. For you have delivered us from the hand of the Midianites. And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you, the eternal shall rule over you. So Gideon gives God credit for the victory. Gideon realized it wasn't because of his might or his power, but it was because God backed him up, even though he lacked faith. Even though he had many insecurities, even though he had many fears, God backed him up. God was with him, and God delivered him. And, you know, he had enough character to realize that. He had enough character to say, look, don't look to me as your leader. Look to God. God is your ultimate leader.

Now, it's interesting that he did become their leader, and they had peace for 40 years because God gave them peace. And Gideon was their leader because Gideon knew that God was his leader.

And he looked to God, and God was with him. And God continued to deliver them from the Midianites and from all their enemies all the days of Gideon.

Human beings who trust in God and have faith in God and believe in God can also be trusted until they no longer have that faith, until they no longer show by their fruits that they are yielded to God. So we all have to make decisions on who we follow. We all have to have wisdom.

We have to be led by God's Spirit to know who and when to follow. And that is true today. We are all being tested from time to time on who we will follow. Will we follow a man who's yielded to God? Or will we follow a man that says, come and follow me? God's people have been tested in the past. We will be tested again on these issues because this is something that will divide us until Christ returns. Who will you follow? Will you follow God and his servants?

Or will you follow those who basically rise up against God and say, follow me? We'll all be tested in that way.

Now, let's go to Colossians chapter 2. And I may have read this the last sermon, but I want to go there again because it is very powerful. If we're going to have the faith that we need to have in the future so that we will stay faithful through no matter what happens, then this is a very powerful number of verses that we should consider and really indelibly put these thoughts and these ideas and these verses into our mind. Colossians chapter 2 verse 5.

For though I am absent in the flesh, this is what Paul says, yet am I with you in the spirit, join and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ? He had a lot of good things to say about the Colossians. Paul did. They had faith in Christ. As you have therefore received Christ, Jesus the Lord, so walk you in Him.

Let Christ be your guide. Let Christ live in you. Rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Always being thankful. That's so important when it comes to having faith in God. We're not going to have faith in God if we're not already thankful for what God has done for us. If we don't see God's hand in our lives and if we're not grateful and if we're not thankful, then we're not going to have the faith that we need to have. So we should all start with thankfulness, recognizing the little things that God does for us daily. God gives us life and He sustains our lives daily.

The air that we're all breathing now is because God made it so. He sustains our very breath, every breath that we take is sustained by the Eternal. Every breath as we're talking, as I'm talking, as you're listening, as we're breathing, we should give God credit and thank God for life continually and constantly. Verse 8, Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Christ came in the flesh, but He was God. And He set a perfect example and never sinned, as only God can do. And you are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power. Christ is the head under the Father, as the Father has ordained. Christ is the head of the church. He's the head of God's church, as the Father has ordained, in whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hand. So we're talking about a spiritual circumcision, not a circumcision of the flesh, but of a circumcision of the heart. And God looks on the heart and He sees whether or not you trust in Him, whether you have faith in Him, whether you believe in Him, or whether you're full of insecurity and whether or not you're full of a lack of faith.

God knows your heart. God knows your minds. So we are to be circumcised spiritually, as it says, putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism. We are crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, Christ lives in us.

Wherein also you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised Him from the dead. The Father raised Christ from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, the wages of sin is death, and that is what we all deserve.

We're all deserving of death. That's what we've earned, because we're sinners. We deserve death.

But the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord.

So you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all sins, all trespasses. God forgives us, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. Now, that's not the laws of God, because Paul says the laws of God are holy and just and good.

Paul himself says that, and that's Paul talking here. So what he's talking about is our debt of guilt, the sins that we've committed. That's what's against us. And that's what is forgiven through the sacrifice of Christ and accepting Him as our Savior and repenting of our sins.

So that's what's contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. Our sins have been nailed to the cross as we accept Christ as our Savior. We are crucified with Him.

And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing, triumphing, triumphing over them in it. So it is Christ who laid His life down for us. He is indeed our Savior. Faith in Christ is essential. Do you believe in Christ as your Savior? Do you believe He's coming back? Do you believe the Word of God, the Bible, what it says, is going to happen before Christ returns? Do you believe the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, of Daniel, of Hosea, of Joel, of Amos? Do you believe the prophecies of the book of Revelation? Do you have faith? Do you have trust? Do you believe?

Your faith will be tested, brethren. Your faith will be tested. It is tested daily.

It may be tested in ways that we can't even imagine right now.

Let's go to Daniel chapter 3, and this is coming into the story Daniel chapter 3. Let's go there. This is Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Remember that story? In the fiery furnace, and it was heated seven times hotter than normal, and yet God's servants were not burned up, but those who threw them in were burned up.

God delivered His servants, who believed in Him, who trusted in Him, who said, He will deliver us, but if not, very willing to yield to God's will, whatever it was, they believed God was going to deliver them. They truly believed that. They had faith. But if not, if God allows us to burn up, we will not worship you. Of course, they're going to be dead. So they're certainly not going to continue to worship Him at that point. They were not going to bow down before Nebuchadnezzar.

They were either going to be dead in Christ or in God, or they would be alive in God.

Daniel chapter 3, let's start in verse 25.

Well, Nebuchadnezzar in verse 24 was astonished when he saw... he looked into the furnace, he saw three beings, three men bound... or he said, Did we not cast three men into the fire? They answered and said, Yes, true, O king. He said, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. There was something about this fourth being different from the other three. And Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and he said, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, you servants of the Most High God, come forth, come hither, get out of there. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, come out of the midst of the fire. And the princes, the governors, the captains, the king counselors, being gathered together, saw these men upon whose body the fire had no power. Okay, they were tossed into a furnace that was seven times hotter than usual, and trust me, usual was enough. Usual was enough to burn people up.

Seven times hotter was that much more likely to burn them up. But the fire had no power. Not even a single hair on their head was singed, and they weren't bald either. Neither were their, they were young men. Neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. And Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel, his messenger, who happened to be the Eternal, the one that was with them, the one who became Christ, he was indeed the Son of God, and delivered his servant that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any God, except their own God. Isn't this basically the same story of Gideon? Many respects it is.

It's the same story. Would Gideon trust in God? Would he believe in God? Would Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego believe in God? Would they obey God? Would they trust God?

The idols of Baal were destroyed. People were worshiping Baal. They were worshiping foreign gods. They were idolaters. Just as this story about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they were pagan people that were idol worshipers.

And so Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, it says here, I make a decree that every people, nation, and language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, he shall be cut in pieces, their houses shall be made at dung hill, because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. There is no other God who can deliver. There's one true God. Put your faith and trust in the one true God who will always deliver in ways so much greater than anyone else ever could think of delivering. So the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Again, blessings for obedience, blessings for trusting God, blessings for faithfulness.

Just a couple more verses. Let's go to 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4.

This is the Apostle Paul again in the New Testament.

Again, Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever throughout the pages of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. This is 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 17, Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear, and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

Okay, what kind of a lion should we most be concerned about?

Is there not a roaring lion who's seeking whom he may devour?

Is this not primarily the lion that Paul's talking about?

Satan the devil is a roaring lion. He is seeking whom he may devour. He's doing the same thing today as he was back at the time of Paul, and at the time of Shadrach and Meshach, and at the time of Gideon. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work. God will deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory forever and ever. Paul had faith. Paul trusted in God. Paul was struck down on the road to Damascus. Paul's eyes were blinded physically, but spiritually he could now see.

Spiritually he could walk in faith, and he did walk in faith. And he said, follow me as I follow Christ. Again, we should follow others as they follow Christ, and only as they follow Christ. And then one last verse. Second Thessalonians, let's go there.

Second Thessalonians chapter 3.

Second Thessalonians chapter 3, verse 1. Second Thessalonians chapter 3 has been removed from my Bible.

Wait a minute. Second Thessalonians chapter 3. Is there such a thing?

I don't see a chapter 3. Is it chapter 2?

Oh, there it is. My wife had marked over this with a purple color, and I could not see it.

She marked this particular Bible with a bunch of coloring, and she marked over the three. I could not see it. All right. Chapter 3, verse 1. Finally, brethren, pray for us. This is what Paul is saying. Pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for all men have not faith. That's true. This world is full of people that don't have faith. They don't have faith in the true God. They don't have lasting faith. They don't have living faith. But the Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you from evil. God will keep you from evil. If you trust in Him, He will help you obey Him. Walk in faith, and God will allow you to obey Him. He will give you the strength. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you that you both do and will do the things which we command you. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. We should patiently wait for Christ's return, but we should know that it's coming soon. And we should look to His return with anticipation.

Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walks disorderly and not after the tradition which He received of us.

We should follow only those who follow Christ. We should stand up for what is right and good and follow the true believers. And when someone isn't behaving properly, then we should go to them as a brother. We should go to them in love and reason with them. Pray for them. Pray that God will help them see. We should follow Matthew 18 as God has ordained and as the Scripture clearly shows us we should do. I gave a couple sermons on going to your brother and the importance of that.

If you don't remember those, go back and review them. But today, brethren, let's again consider that repeatedly God sends a deliverer like Gideon, like Berwick, like Samson, like Jephthah.

During the period of the Judges, when they continually went astray, God would rescue them. God would deliver them. He even used a couple of women to deliver them. Deborah, JL. God uses men. God uses women. God is not a respecter of persons. Some have different roles, obviously.

And that's fine. That's the way it is. That's the way God ordained it.

But we should love each other and respect each other and look to each other that we might see God in us. During the times of the kings of Israel and Judah, there were times when God delivered His people in very dramatic fashion.

You might remember the time of Sennacherib, when God intervened and delivered Israel. There are a number of other examples in the Bible where faith was shown and God delivered. Currently, we may not see so many miraculous signs, miraculous things that are happening, but frankly, we don't need those signs because they're all recorded for us right here.

This is the biggest sign that God gives us. This is His truth.

They didn't have this back in the time of Gideon. No wonder Gideon lacked faith. He didn't know all that we know. He didn't understand all that we can understand.

We have a God Spirit dwelling in us, brethren, and we are to live by every word of God. So we should trust God. We should walk in faith. We do need to have faith in God, no matter what He allows to happen in our lives. That isn't always easy, is it? Because God allows some bad things to happen to good people, people who are striving to obey God, people who are repentant. God still allows bad things to happen to us, and that takes real faith to trust that God knows what He's doing, that God knows who we are, that God listens to us, and that God will deliver us according to His will. So, brethren, we need not look for signs of God's power, of God's might, of God's majesty, because we have all the signs we need from eyewitnesses who experienced these things and wrote them down for us. And God inspired these words. And God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So, brethren, place your faith and trust firmly in the God of Gideon.