Judges 7 Bible Study (Gideon's Three Hundred Men/Gideon Defeats Midian) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Judges chapter seven. In our bibles tonight, Judges chapter seven. From time to time in our bible study on Fridays, depending on the chapter, sometimes there's such a flow to the text that there's almost one main point and several points from that main point that you draw from, and it almost creates this format or this template for us to, draw this central truth from. And that is, to a certain degree, true of this chapter. There is a wonderful, truth that wants to be driven into our hearts, and there are principles around that truth that we will benefit from.

And if there's one main truth that this chapter offers us, is God's requirement for recruitment. What God looks for in a person and a people before he can utilize them for great things for his kingdom. And that's where we are with this chapter, and we're gonna see these points that we can apply to ourselves to say, okay, Lord, if this is what you were looking for then, then surely you're looking forward to some measure now. So we learn, here in Judges chapter seven verse one. Then Jerabel, that is Gideon, and all the people who were with him rose early and in camp beside the Spring Of Herod.

And the camp of Midian was north of them by the Hill Of Moreh in the valley. Now let's just stop there. What's happening in this bible study? Gideon, after he had been called by God and assured by God that he was the leader for this army to deliver them from the Midianites, he sent out different messengers to different tribes to say, hey, listen. We're about to go to war.

Are you in? And he asked God for a sign, and God gives him a sign, and he gives him another sign. He's saying, it's it's it's true, Gideon. You're actually gonna have victory. And so, he musters up some strength and he gathers these people from these different tribes and now they are parked at a certain location, not too far from the Midianites.

And they're about to go to war. And Gideon recruited these men, but Gideon is about to find out that God has a different recruitment process. Gideon was the one that fetched these men from these certain tribes, but he's about to discover that the Lord looks for different things within a man before he launches them out. And perhaps at this point in verse one, Gideon is there with his thousands of men, and he's waiting for the word from the Lord to know exactly where to go from here in order to do what? Well, he promised them one chapter ago that you will take out Midian as what?

Does anyone remember? As one man. As one man, that sea of people that you see before you, a 130 something thousand, you will take them out as though it was one person standing before you. And so perhaps Gideon is thinking to himself, okay. How is God gonna do this?

Are we gonna see a mountain open up and and fall on these people? Are we gonna see rocks come down from heaven? Are we gonna see, what are we gonna see? I've read these stories. I know our history.

Surely, God is gonna do something astounding. And the next thing that Gideon's about to hear is perhaps not what he anticipated, and it's found in verse two. The Lord said to Gideon, the people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me saying my own hand has saved me. And Gideon, I'm sure thinking to himself, I'm not sure if I heard that right. Lord, I'm I'm trying to do the math here.

You said that we're gonna take over the Midianites as one man. Now, I'm looking over and I see the people right before me. I can see them at a distance, and I look at ours and we are already outnumbered. In my mind, Lord, it would seem that if we're gonna take out somebody as one man, we would overpower them. We would have more than them.

And now what I'm hearing from you is actually we need less. Lord, I don't mean to insult you, but it seems like we need more. But he heard right. And he heard it loud and clear. There's too many of you.

There is too many of you right here, right now for this miracle to take place. And so I'm gonna ask you to do something that's gonna require some faith, and that is to eliminate some people. God wasn't concerned about the number. We're gonna come to that in a moment. God was concerned that through this victory, he was so aware of the potential in their hearts that when they would see this come to pass, they would actually believe that it was them, even with less people.

They thought to themselves, perhaps this is this is our doing. And God foresaw that potential temptation, and he wants to nip it right at the bud. He doesn't want to even allow that to even be a thought in their minds. And so what he's about to do is ask them to strip away as much as possible for that temptation not to be a reality. You know what that shows us?

The will of God, and to even advance the will of God, and still be proud. You can be right where God calls you to be you could have done many things, sacrificed so much, and yet at one point in your life, begin to think to yourself that maybe it's about me. And that is the greatest temptation for anybody that wants to serve God, pride. That is the greatest temptation for anybody that's praying big things for God to do in and through them, pride. And that is a temptation that God sees in this people potentially rising up in their hearts, and so he's gonna do something very important.

This is what he's about to do, and this is the lesson that we learned from the Holy Spirit. God longs for you and I to advance his purposes in his will. But listen, God longs to do it in such a way that he will receive maximum glory. So the means by which God will advance you to advance him will be in a humble manner where you will not be able to take glory. And this is important because again, we can misapply this text and think what?

Oh, God doesn't like big numbers. God doesn't like big churches. God doesn't like big ministries. God doesn't like many. He likes and he's more comfortable with few.

Now, here here's a simple question. In light of last week's bible study, why is that not the case? Does anybody know why? Why is it not a number thing? Think.

What did we learn last week? Or rather two weeks ago with Deborah and Barak, when they were going to war and they did go to war and then they had a song to sing? What was in that song that highlighted something about involvement in God's purposes? Go to chapter five and go to verse 16. Remember this part?

This is in the song. Why did you sit still among the sheep folds to hear the whistling for the flocks? Among the clans of Reuben, there were great searchings of heart. Then goes on to say this, Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. And Dan, why did he stay with the ships?

Asher sat still at the coast of the sea staying by his landings. So what does that mean? That means that the people went to go with Baraq, at least a few of them, to see deliverance, but God was wondering why more weren't involved in that mission. So God is actually condemning the lack of participation. God is actually rebuking some of the tribes who would not give themselves to the will of God.

So when you see that, and then you come to this, we have to understand that this is not a thing about numbers. God is not looking at the army and saying, no, I just I I I'm not comfortable with this. It's a matter of the heart. It's the heart posture that God is concerned about. And so, here's point number one.

If you and I wanna know what it is that God wants from us in order to be used by Him, you and I must be fully aware of our own weakness. That's the first thing. That's what he's trying to teach them. This is what he's trying to do. I want to make you aware of how weak you really are, of how small you really are, of how you know down deep inside that apart from my grace, nothing is possible in your life.

Now, that can be done in two ways. God can do it in your heart in such a real way that no matter what the resources you have, the gifting, the abilities, the knowledge, you are still aware of that. You are still aware of that. And at other times, God knows you enough that he actually has to strip you of certain things, real things, even physical things, for you to be convinced of that truth. And if you think that one is more spiritual than the other, not necessarily Paul himself received a thorn in the flesh.

For what reason? So that he would not be conceded. The greatest man arguably apart from Jesus Christ, that's not an argument, but for humanity, needed an actual thorn. Some debate what that is, but it was a real thing that made him suffer, so that he would walk humbly because of the revelations he received. And God did this in his wisdom, so that this man can walk with the continual revelation that he is weak.

And anything that comes through him, any accomplishment, any advancement, any church planting, was because of the strength of Christ in him. So you can know that in your heart. Say, Lord, please, whatever it takes, let me never think that I was something, or that I attracted you because of this or because of that, and that's why you've recruited me. Lord, let me continue to believe that in a moment, you can replace me. In a moment, you can raise somebody else.

In a moment, Lord, you can dismiss me and put me on the shelf. Lord, let me believe that always. And in this case, he actually needed to strip them, so that they would believe that more and more. Let me prove that this is not just a one time thing. This is a principle throughout the bible.

Remember Saul, the king? King Saul, in the beginning of his life, had a bright bright future. He proved humility. He proved an eagerness to serve God. And then something happened.

There was a series of things, but there is one main thing that occurred in his life that Samuel the prophet highlights. And the ESV puts it in one day, but one way, but every other translation puts it in another. But it's saying the same thing if you read it carefully. Listen. Never forget this verse.

Now, I'm speaking to those who want to be used by God. Never forget this verse. First Samuel 15 verse 17. First Samuel 15 verse 17. This is when Saul was called to kill all the Amalekites.

He did not. Samuel approaches him, rebukes him, and then says the following words to him. And Samuel said to Saul, though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. Now, you have the King James fault?

Can you read it in the King James loud and clear so we can hear how the King James and the New King James puts it? And Samuel said, when thou wast little in thy own sight, wilst thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? Did you catch it? If not, here's the New King James version. When you were little in your own eyes, were you not the head of the tribes of Israel?

To the ESV is saying the same thing, but the King James and the New King James say it more specifically. You know what he's saying? To Saul, because of his disobedience, he says, at one point, you were little in your own eyes. At one point, you saw yourself as small. You saw yourself as weak.

You saw yourself as insignificant, and irrelevant, and unworthy to be a king. When you saw yourself little in your own eyes, that's when God made you king over Israel. That's when he was recruited. That's when he was called up. And because of his pride, because of his position, because of his love for the praise of man, he no longer saw himself as little in his own eyes.

And that's what led to his demise. Listen carefully. The moment you begin to see yourself as something or someone, you are headed towards a downfall and you're headed towards God stripping you as he strips Saul of his anointing. That's where it begins. When you evaluate yourself and esteem yourself as greater than what you actually are, and here's the danger, you can see yourself little, and down the road, not.

See, we look at Saul and think he was he was a bad case from the beginning. Not so. Samuel even testifies that there was one point in your life where you saw yourself as little. Pride is so subtle. It's so subtle.

It's scary. And it requires you and I to remain in the light of his presence. See, the problem with Saul is that he was not a man who practiced what David practiced. He was not a man who who loved the presence of God. Prove it.

How? When David was king, what did he say? When David was king, he told the soldiers, let us go and receive the ark and bring it to Jerusalem for we did not do so in the days of who? Saul. Under Saul's reign, he had no concern of the ark of the covenant.

He had no concern about it having a home where he called it to be. No concern. He was consumed with himself. But once David came on the scene and once he became king, he says, let's go fetch the presence of God. You wanna be safe from pride, remain in the light of his presence.

Walk in the light. Confess your pride. Take the praise of man. At the end of the day, lay them at the feet of Jesus and say, Lord, this belongs to you. Because if you do not make that a practice, you will over time fail to see yourself as you once did.

Little. Little. I love Saul of the new testament. Saul in the new testament was, as you know, Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was a man that was beyond the students of his day.

He had the greatest teacher and he was the best student. But I love that in acts 13, there's a mention for the first time of his new name that he gave himself, which is what? Paul. He went from Saul to Paul. Paul, do you know what your name means?

Little. Little. So Saul had a choice, and there are different reasons why he changed his name, but nonetheless, he had a name, and it was Paul, and he chose to go from Saul to Paul. I wanna decrease, so that Christ could increase. And he wanted that so real in his life that he allowed it to be true in his own name.

So whenever anybody would call him, they would call him little. Whenever he would sign his name somewhere, he would remind himself, I'm little. Whenever he would be introduced in his synagogue to preach, okay everybody, little is coming up to speak now. But the principle is true. That what Paul did to his name is what you and I have to do in our hearts, is to continually see yourself as nothing before him.

That is the basis for God to use anybody. If that can't be true, then you will not see what God has for your life. Necessary ingredient for longevity in ministry, lest we become like Saul, the king, and disqualify ourselves. So this is what they're experiencing, a stripping. And how is God gonna do it?

Let's look at verse three of Judges chapter seven. The Lord is still speaking and he says, now, therefore, proclaim in the ears of the people saying, whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead. So the first thing to do, the first screening was to ask who is afraid. Now, I want you to notice the urgency. Whoever was really afraid, they were to hurry, like, go home.

You need to leave this scene as soon as possible. Pack your bags. Don't hang out with your friends. Don't make this too emotional. Pack your bags and go.

Now, this screening should not be foreign to the Israelites and neither should it be foreign to us, because what God is asking Gideon to do is what he asked Moses to institute in the law of Moses for all generations to come. Now if you've been with us through Deuteronomy, you would know this truth, and it's found in Deuteronomy chapter 20. These were the instructions that God gave the nation, and how they would engage in warfare. And when you go to Deuteronomy chapter 20, what do you see in verse two, down to verse four? He's speaking to the nation for generations to come how they were to do warfare.

And he says this, and when you draw near to the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people. And shall say to them, hear, oh Israel. Today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies. Let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them.

For the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you the victory. Now let's just stop there. That was protocol. Whenever they would line up to go to war, the priest would show up and say, this is God's promise toward you. He will go before you.

He will give you victory. His presence is sure. You have nothing to fear. It doesn't matter what you see, realize that the invisible God is for you and with you and will go and fight this battle. So they were assured of the word of God, and the promises found therein, in the context of warfare.

Now, even after this was declared over the armies of Israel, there were still the potential of some to be fearful. There is some who might be tempted to actually still be afraid. So then, what happens? After this little sermonette, you go down to verse eight and what is to be said, or asked rather. And the officer shall speak further to the people and say, is there any man who is fearful and faint hearted?

Let him go back to his house. For what reason? Lest he make the heart of his fellows melt like his own. So you know what God is doing here? What was actually written in the word.

It's not some spontaneous revelation. This was protocol. Here's point number two if you wanna be used by God. You can't be afraid. You cannot be afraid.

Now, the emotion of fear will come. Temptation to be anxious will come. But notice the context. This was after they were assured that God was with them. This was after that they've been given the promises of God from a man who represented God as a priest to say, it's gonna be fine.

You're gonna know victory. And from that place, if you're still afraid, go. In other words, if you're not convinced of God's word, it's gonna be very hard for you to be used by God. We're gonna get to how Gideon was still afraid even after this because there's two types of fears here, and one is acceptable and one is not. And this was, listen, this was a test to see how fearful they were, because he gave them, he gave them the choice to leave if they wanted to leave.

There is a fear that makes you flee and then there's a fear that makes you flee to Christ. And in this case, this fear was so crippling, it was so real that it made them abandon the will of God. And so when he comes here and judges, he says, I'm giving you the choice, even after you've been told that this is going to be dealt with by my spirit and my hand, even after you've been preached that and you're still not convinced, then I I have to say that you have to now abandon this mission. Because you might affect others, because fear is contagious. If we've learned that, if there's a sermon for that, a sermon illustration, COVID nineteen.

Right? Talk about contagious. Never mind the world. I'm talking about the church. Should we be wise?

Should we take precautions? Should we be careful? Should we do certain things? Absolutely. But this fear is amazing.

It's It's amazing what it's robbing from the people of God. It's amazing how it's crippling them. And it's contagious. And so, God here is operating in wisdom. Now listen.

This isn't some mystical thing. If you're afraid, leave, because he wants to trim the number just for the sake of number. Again, let's not misapply this text and think that God just really wants a small number. We can believe that to a certain extent, but God is operating under strategy more than you and I think. Why?

Because back in Deuteronomy, we learn it can be contagious. So imagine the scene with me for a moment. We learn in verse three that 22,000, out of the 32,000 go home. Now think about this. Imagine being on that battlefield, and as you're going to war, you have 22,000 of these men run the other direction, and you're the remaining 10,000.

How are you gonna feel in that moment when you see 22,000 people run the other direction? Well, here's how God's thinking. Perhaps, all of them will flee at that moment, because they see that a majority have jumped ship. And so in order to in order to protect him from that possibility, he cancels it out from the beginning. God is actually using great wisdom here, and he's preparing them in advance, and he wants a certain quality of people to be in service to him.

So let me say it this way, if you want to be used by God, listen very carefully, you cannot fear the devil because he will fight against you. You can't fear the world because they will hate you. You can't fear the enemies of the gospel because they will threaten you. You can't even fear the opinions of other Christians because they might abandon you. But you must fear God, because he will be with you.

And if you're in his will, he will protect you. And if you have God, one with him is majority. Never forget that. But fearful people cannot move forward too far, especially if you wanna stand for truth, especially if you want to stand for this truth. If you're afraid, there's not much that God can work with.

And that's not the only case here. After 22,000 leave, you can imagine how Gideon felt, just seeing all those men packing their bags and leaving, thinking themselves, what did I get myself into? Lord, what is happening? This seems pretty logical. We don't want fear to be contagious.

God is protecting them more than anything else. Because if you have 32,000 with 22 that are fearful, you're gonna infect the 32,000. So so this one makes a little bit sense. Perhaps Gideon knew the word of God at this point. Says, okay.

Yeah. We were supposed to do that anyway. Okay. Now it's the next screening that has a little bit more difficulty with interpretation. Gideon looks around, perhaps, calculating his mind.

Okay. We can divide this man to go here, like, 10,000 is still pretty good. And verse four comes up. And the Lord said to Gideon, the people are still too many. The people are still too many.

Take them down to the water and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, this one shall go with you, shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, this one shall not go with you, shall not go. There was another test. Gideon wasn't aware of it at the moment, and let me tell you who was really not aware of it even throughout these men. You know, I read this and I thought to myself, meditating on a thought of another on this portion, that it's amazing how God was gonna test these people and they were completely unaware of it. They were completely unaware of this test, but it was ordained by God to be a test.

Not for the sake of tricking them, not so that they can trip, not so that he can just surprise them for the sake of just being malicious and mean, but there is a lesson there. Don't despise the mundane, and don't despise little tasks. It might seem insignificant to you, but in that very moment, it could be a test of character. It could be a test of your devotion to God. It could be a test of where you actually stand in your love for him, and your willingness to serve him.

So Gideon hears this word from the Lord, he says, okay. So he comes to these 10,000 men, he says, men, water break. And they're thirsty, and they say, okay. And God says, now, Gideon, remember, when I say these ones you're supposed to separate, and these ones you're supposed to separate, obey me now and trust me. So then we learn here in verse five, so he brought the people down to the water and the Lord said to Gideon, everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, you shall set by himself.

Likewise, everyone who kneels down to drink. That was the category of separation. There were gonna be those who drink water with their tongue, and those who would kneel down and drink with their face in the water. So if we can illustrate this, there were gonna be some who are gonna what? Look at verse six, it says that, they put their hands to their mouths.

So some would perhaps have to kneel, but they would take the water, cupping it in their hands, and they would bring it to their mouths and maybe not literally lapping it like a dog, but they would drink it in a matter where their face is up. In comparison to the rest, who would kneel down and they're not bringing the water to their mouth, but they're bringing their face in the water. That's what is being differentiated here. Those two different postures. And there's debate on what this really means, and and some just say it's a simple act of trust for God to say, just take the ones that I asked you to take and just ignore the rest and tell them to go home.

Or perhaps, there is something more to this, and I believe that there is something more to this, in light of this context. Look at verse eight and realize something. The end of verse eight says, the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. Why is that important? Does that mean that they're far or that they're close?

They're close. They're just down the hill from them. So they're elevated and the enemy is down the hill. Now, if the enemy is that close, what does that require of these soldiers? Villages.

Right? To be alert. To be on guard. To remain on their toes because at any time, the enemy can come. And in this very moment, what you have is two postures that demonstrate two different perspectives on warfare.

You have some, who though they are refreshing themselves and benefiting from this water, they are still in the mode of warfare. And you have others, who have for a moment let their guard down and made themselves more vulnerable, that if the enemy were to come to attack, it would take that much longer for them to defend themselves and counter attack. And sure enough, when God says, I want you to separate those who bring the water to their mouths. That's who he wanted to be left for him to be launched out into that battle, and it was only 300. It was only 300.

Why? Because they were more alert. They were more vigilant. Their eyes were up. They, in this setting, did not let their guard down and failed to realize that there was a mission at hand.

And what's so significant about this is that the problem was not the water. The problem was how they drank the water. The problem was not the substance. The problem is how they engage with the substance. Now listen, this is important because this water here is a good thing.

If I were to ask you if drinking water was bad, it'd be very strange for you to say, I think, yeah, I think in some context it is. But if you look at this from a military standpoint, and you were to take this picture, and as a general of an army, you're looking and you're studying this case, you would say, no, no, there's nothing wrong with that, but how they are engaging with this resource is more harmful than it is beneficial, at least in this setting. I want you to think about this for a moment. Any pleasure in life, anything that refreshes you, rejuvenates you, comforts you, that is not sin, but ultimately distracts you from the ultimate goal in your life for the heavenly calling that God has called you to, is to be re examined on your part to see how you are to engage with it in a different way. You want to be used by God, right?

I wonder if the proportion here of 300 to 9,700 speaks of the lack of willingness to take this in. Let me say it one more time. Any pleasure in life that is not sin, but that would rejuvenate you, that would refresh you, that would comfort you, but at one point begins to distract you from the ultimate goal that you have as a Christian in this life. It is on your part to re examine how you engage with that very thing. Because in this case, the water wasn't bad, but it's how they buried their face in the water to the point where their head was no longer in the place of being mission minded.

And this is what a lot of professing believers do. They find a job, but they bury their heads in it. Is there anything wrong with the job? Just like there's nothing wrong with water. There are others who have friendships, and they're glorious friendships.

They bring so much comfort and joy to your life, but they bury their face in those friendships. Is there anything wrong with friendships? No. Just like there's nothing wrong with water. And there are others who long to have experiences of life and travel, and do this, and have this, and do that.

And there's nothing wrong with those things because they're not sinful themselves, but they bury their face in it to the point where they've abandoned their mission in that process. So this is what you and I have to do if we really wanna be used by God, is be able to appropriately identify things that are not sinful, but good, and then with balance with balance, apply those things and engage with those things in our lives. Lest you make yourself useless, because you are so immersed with even a good thing, with even a good thing. This is where a lot of Christians will never know what God's called them to do because they're so busy slurping other things in life. And so how are we to engage with these different activities, and relationships, and responsibilities?

Just like how they drink that water. You're enjoying it. You're being refreshed by it. You're being blessed by it. But you're still aware of your true calling in life.

Take Christian Americans today, and I can tell you this, a majority of them have their face in the water. Being set up as a sitting duck to be taken out by the enemy. And all it was was their own distraction that led them to that fall. And then there are others, and I hope it's not just a few. May God bring a revival That know how to appropriately realize that as much as I am being blessed by this, I don't let it take over and distract me from what I know that God's called me to do.

If you do that, you will be safe for God's calling your life. If you fail to do so, then you might miss out on what God wants you to do in this life. See the thing is, people don't have self control. People don't have self control. And so even a good thing can rob them of better things.

And so you have Christians that are gluttons, that have no control of their eating, no control of indulging. You have Christians that are in lack of discipline with their finances, and their spending, and all these things, and they're so consumed. They're so consumed with the flesh. They're so consumed with this and that and attaining and growing and that, and then they fail to realize, I'm here to to advance a heavenly call. Instead of those things, listen, helping them and propelling them to move forward, it ultimately hijacks them.

It ultimately hijacks them. And so if you were to ask me, brother, do you enjoy this? Do you enjoy that? So absolutely, I do. I praise God.

So so how do you how do you do that? How do you remain spiritual, but you do this and you and you go out there and you meet with so and so, and you and you have that adventure, and you go out there for a couple weeks. How do you do that? Well, I realize that the devil doesn't take a vacation. And I realize that no matter where I go, no matter what I enjoy, I thank God through it.

I praise him for it. I keep him in mind throughout it. And if you think that's a lesser way of experiencing relationships, and activities, and endeavors, then you're fooling yourself. If you wanna know those things with greater color in life, invite God into it. It's a wonderful thing, when you realize that he's the author of all those good things to begin with.

But unfortunately, too many people have their head buried in the water. They're too distracted. They're too caught up with different things, and they don't see the value. They don't see the value of what God's called them to. So what happens?

Verse six. And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths was 300 men. 300 men? From 32,000 people? Yes, that was the case.

And then, Gideon thinking that, okay, Lord, is there anything else that you have to say? Because we're down to 300 now. And instead of saying that's it, this is the time, go, God is operating in such compassion in verse nine. That same night, the Lord said to him, arise go down against the camp for I have given it into your hand. That same night after a long night of elimination, subtraction, downsizing, That same night, God speaks to his general, and he says, Gideon, perhaps knowing what he's feeling in this moment, after seeing within such a short amount of time, 32,000 being now 300, Wanting to strengthen him, wanting to comfort him, wanting to reassure him on his own part, is now issuing a plan for him to receive greater encouragement for what he's about to take on.

Which shows that Gideon was weak. At this moment, Gideon was weak. That's why God is speaking to him, because he wants to strengthen him, which goes back to that point that we made earlier. If fear is something that eliminates or at least makes less possible God's plan for our lives, then why isn't Gideon sent home? Why isn't Gideon packing his bags?

And why isn't God finding a different judge? Because it goes back to that point that was made. Gideon did have those emotions, but Gideon still planted his feet. That fear didn't drive Gideon to abandon when he had a chance to abandon. What it did was it anchored him to seek God.

Don't we remember when he was afraid that he asked God for a sign? Whenever whenever Gideon had those fears and that anxiety, it brought him to the Lord, to commune with the Lord and to ask from the Lord. Listen, if you have those fears to stand for Christ, to live for Christ, to move forward in Christ, God is not disappointed with you to such a point where he now forsakes you and abandoned you and raises somebody else. No. That's an invitation.

It's a blessing in disguise, if I can even say that. It just depends what you do with it. And in this case, Gideon draws near to the Lord, and the Lord draws near to him because he knows that Gideon's heart is really there to serve him. And he's not he's not worried about his own life, and his own comforts, and his own future. He's willing to lay it all down.

That's why he's at this point already. And so what does God do? God gives Gideon two packages. Two means to comfort him. The first one is found in verse 10.

Look at how God encourages us in different ways. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah, your servant. He says, I want you to go down to the camp, because once you go down to the camp, you're gonna hear something that's really gonna bless you. But, if you're afraid to go down, Gideon, take your assistant with you. Take your assistant with you.

One of the ways that God blesses us, clothes us with encouragement and strength is through another. It's through another brother. It's through another sister. Gideon's source of encouragement was right there with him, and God simply provided and highlighted the presence of this assistant, so that he would be more encouraged to serve God, which tells us something about the importance of the body, but it tells us something about the wisdom of even Jesus Christ. When he sent out those 72, did he say go by yourselves?

What did he say? Two. Find a partner and go. And one of the reasons for that is to know encouragement throughout the journey. On the mission, you would know that you are not alone, and that you have a different voice.

You have one who will perhaps not be as fearful as you in the moment, and will pick you up when you fall down. You wanna know if that's true? You know this if you've ever evangelized. You know this if you've ever gone out with a friend. How much more bold are you when you're with somebody else?

How much more willing are you to witness to the waiter when you're with a brother in Christ on the table? Right? And when you're by yourself, you're like, right? I can testify that I'm so much more bold, so much more confident, even willing to mess up when I'm with somebody. Whether intentionally going out to evangelize or unintentionally, we're just going out.

The room. And that's true, because there's something there. There's, there's a comfort that's there when the presence of a brother or sister. And Jesus knew that. And He knew that even for Gideon.

So He says, Gideon, go with somebody. Go with him. He'll alleviate some fear from you, some anxiety. But But then he does something unusual, and that's in verse 11. And you shall hear what they say and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.

So again, Gideon is gonna go down and he's gonna hear something. He's going to hear something in the enemy's camp. So we understand if we were to give somebody advice of how they can receive encouragement, we say, go to God's word brother. Amen. That's true.

Have a brother in your life to speak in your life. Amen. That's true. Read books of men of God who have highlighted certain truths from the scriptures or testimonies to stir your faith. Amen.

That's true. But there are different ways that are not usual that God can even use to encourage us. And that's the case here. If you're gonna find encouragement, it's not gonna be in the enemy's camp, but actually it is. And that's where he's gonna go to find that encouragement.

God is supernatural in the way that he can bless us as we serve him, and give us hope and faith to continue on. I I was reading this today, and this testimony came to mind of how this is true. There was a time while I was in Toronto, Canada, that I was on my way to meet a friend for lunch, down the street at a subway. I remember it so vividly, it was night time, it was a Friday night. And so, what happens on a college campus, I was living down the street from the campus, parties.

People are coming to the residence, they're there to to meet in the rooms and everything else. So a lot of students are outside, even drinking, smoking outside. So I have to pass by there to get to to the subway to meet my friend for lunch. And I remember as I'm walking by, one individual was walking in the opposite direction, so I stopped him, just to talk to him about the Lord. And so I'm witnessing to him, we're talking, going back and forth and my friends text me, hey, where you at?

I'm waiting for you, just give me a second. Going back and forth and I end up saying, hey listen, I'm a student here too, and I just want to talk again. If you're willing to talk, just take my number. I always say this, I say, I'm not, I'm not gonna take your number, because I'm not gonna hunt you down and bother you. I'm gonna give you my number.

Girls don't do this by the way. Okay? Guys, you do this. I'm gonna give you my number. I'm I know that's funny, but I've I've heard nightmare stories personally, so don't ever do that.

I'm not joking. I'm gonna give you my number and if you really want to talk to me, you have my number. If you really want to know more, you have my number. He said, alright. He took my number, put it down on his phone.

I said, see see you later, see you later. I went and I sat down on the subway, met with my friend, and as I'm talking to him, just briefly, just sat down, my phone starts to ring. So I pick it up. It was an unknown number, I didn't know who it was, it was just random digits. And as I pick it up, I hear it in somebody's pocket, so I knew it was a pocket dial.

And would you know, it was the guy that just took my number and he didn't mean to call me. And he was clearly in the room where he was supposed to meet with his friends, and all I hear faintly, but I can hear it clearly was, this guy just came up to me down the street. And like, what did he say to you? Starts telling me about Jesus. And they're like, really?

And I'm I'm sitting there and I'm like, I'm about to get destroyed. Now I'm getting an insight that I've never got before. This guy's gonna mock me and make fun of me. And so I'm just waiting for it. I'm waiting for the mockery.

And he goes, yeah. He began to ask me about what I believed, and what I where would I know if I if I were to die today, if I if I go to heaven or hell. He goes, really? That's so strange. He goes, yeah.

And then they just start talking about it with no mockery, no scorn. It was a serious sober conversation. And it just came to the point where I said, okay, I think I heard enough. So I hung up the phone and I thought to myself, I don't know why that just happened, but God I'm so encouraged. Because you never know what happens behind the scenes.

You never know what you do when you plant a seed. You you don't know it doesn't matter the reaction, doesn't matter how much they mock you. It's as though in that moment, you just got an insight. I just felt as though it's like this is what's happening while you're moving on with your day. And I was so blessed and so encouraged to just keep going in that direction.

I'm not being ashamed of the gospel, of having conversations with people, showing them that I love them, but telling them the truth, giving my information if they want to contact me. And I was thrilled in that moment. And in this moment, Gideon's about to get a phone call that he didn't know that he needed to hear. And it seemed random, but it was gonna be very significant to him. So he was gonna hear something.

What was he gonna hear? The second part of verse 11. Then he went down with Purah, his servant, to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp. Verse 12, and the Midianites, the Amalekites, and all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts in abundance. That's the visual there.

As the sand that is on the seashore in abundance. Verse 13, when Gideon came, he's sneaking with poor. Behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade and he said, behold, I dreamed a dream and behold, the cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat. Now pause here. Read slowly and and understand how strange this dream is.

I want you to picture a loaf of bread. That's what's being described here. A loaf of bread tumbling down a mountain and it crashing into the Midianite camp and destroying it. That's the dream. And Gideon is listening with Purah and he's wondering, I don't know what this means.

And thank God, in that moment, he gets an interpretation from another soldier that received the dream, and what are we told here? Verse 14, and his comrade answered, this is no other than the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp. Now Gideon heard this and that was the interpretation, and he left with great strength. He left with great encouragement, but he also left with a lesson about himself and about who God is. I don't know about you, but a loaf of bread is not very intimidating.

Out of all the things that could have symbolized Gideon, the one thing that described him in that dream was bread. Bread. Can you think of anything more helpless, more irrelevant, more unthreatening? I'm not trying to be silly here, I'm being serious, than a loaf of bread. God made that happen for a reason.

And Gideon wasn't offended by that. Gideon's pride was not hurt by that. In fact, it caused him to to to actually worship God. Because the point is this, yes, Gideon, you are as helpless as that, but in the hands of God, an entire army can be subdued and destroyed. I want you to think about that.

Because look at Gideon's response in verse 15. As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. He worshiped. He couldn't help but look to God and praise him. You want a reason to worship?

Study how powerless and weak you are. Study how frail and how in a moment your breath can be taken away by the snap of a finger from the headquarters of heaven, and you become dust. Study how God can remove in a moment your mental capabilities. The very movement of your muscles, the very ability to speak, he can he can so arrest you in a moment, like Nebuchadnezzar, where you begin to eat grass, and your nails grow out like that of an ox, and you begin to, on your arms and legs, crawl around like a beast, unhinged. Study how sovereign God is, and how little you are.

And don't stop there. Go further. Once you realize how powerless you are, how helpless you are, how weak you are, go further than that, and realize what happens when you place your life in an all powerful God. Then you will have a reason to worship if you've lost any. Because that's exactly what's causing Gideon to worship.

Yes. I am as insignificant, as unthreatening as a loaf of bread, but I'm in your hand, and so anything is possible. And then you go to the new testament, you realize a little boy gave Jesus some bread. Limited resources and a miracle took place. And so whether it's the little resources, or you viewing yourself so little, if you're in the hand of Jesus, miracles can happen.

That's a reason to worship. And that's why Gideon worshiped. I see who I am, you've revealed it to me through this dream, but I see who you are and what you're able to do with me in your hand. That's the point. And that's what he's about to experience.

He is so excited, so amazed by the goodness of God, that he stands up with Puri, says, Puri, we gotta go and we gotta tell everybody about this. And he goes back to the camp, and as he goes back to the camp, he musters up those 300 people. He says, it's time to go to war. And he divides them evenly, and he does something even more strange. But I think Gideon has seen enough and heard enough to realize that nothing is too strange anymore.

But out of all the weapons, no sword, no spear, nothing of the sword, here's a trumpet for all of you, here's a jar, and oh yeah, take a torch, light it up, and put it under the jar. No questions asked from him or from the 300. They're divided in sections of 100 around the mountains and the hills, and Gideon says, watch what I do and repeat it. And so they blast those trumpets. They come down crashing those pots and those vessels of clay.

The light shines and they come down and look what happens in verse 22 as you scroll down. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army. It's amazing. They had jars and torches and trumpets, and they didn't need any sword because God would use the sword of the enemy and turn it against themselves. And so they're just killing each other now.

They're so confused. They're so discombobulated, they're so scared, they're so unaware of what's happening that they begin to turn on each other in the middle of the night thinking that perhaps this is the enemy, and they begin to flee the scene. And Gideon being realistic knows that, okay, this is, we're talking about thousands of people here, so let's call the other tribes. They called different tribes and they meet them at a certain place and all out war breaks out. And then we come to the last verse of this chapter.

And they captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the Rock Of Oreb and Zeb. They killed at the wine press Of Zeb. Then they pursued Midian and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeb to Gideon across the Jordan. When you read this, you're faced with a miracle.

But so impressive was this, so powerful was this, that it would leave a mark for the generations to come. This story would be an encouragement for this nation in future events, so much so, and I encourage you, this is our last verse for the study. In Isaiah chapter 10 verse 26, Look what it said here, when the nation of Israel, hundreds of years later was under the oppression of the Assyrians. And God assures them in verse 26, and the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip as when he struck Midian at the Rock Of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea and he will lift it as he did in Egypt.

So he's speaking to this generation and he's saying, do you remember what happened with the Midianites? They had trumpets, They had pots of clay. They had torches. But I took those things, and it was as though there was a giant whip from heaven. And I whipped Midian out of that place, and I'm gonna do the same thing with this oppressor right now.

What does that mean? It means what he says in verse 27. And in that day, his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because of the fat. In other translations, if not all the major ones, it says, the yoke will be broken because of the anointing. Because of the anointing.

What is God promising? What he promised to Gideon, no matter how overpowering the burden is, no matter how great the oppression is, God in a moment can make that burden flee. And in the case of the Assyrians, no matter how great they are clamped around your neck like an ox with a yoke on it, no matter how heavy it is, No matter what direction it's led you. No matter what it's made you do. I have the ability by the Spirit to break that yoke and set you free once and for all.

The Midianites, the Assyrians in this chapter are a picture of what sin can do in your life. Become a yoke to lead you and direct you in a painful way through life, to accomplish things that will destroy you and harm you and paralyze you until your dying breath. And what I'm telling you today through this bible study is that the miraculous power that was available to Gideon and the miraculous power that would be available to the Israelites here is available in Christ today. The yoke on your life can be broken because of the power of the Holy Spirit over your life. I'm telling you today, if there's sin that feels like a yoke, it seems like you can't shake it off.

It seems like it's something that you have to live with for the rest of your life. The only thing that can break it is something supernatural and beyond your ability. That's exactly what God is saying here. It's my intervention that can so be infused in you, and I believe that's what the ESV is saying. Just like if an ox becomes so fat that that thing can't hold it anymore, it has to break off.

God can so touch your life and so strengthen you and so infuse you with the Holy Spirit that all that stuff can be shattered in a moment. You have to believe that. You have to believe that. And so I don't know what yoke you have. God gave Gideon story.

God speaks through that story even to his people in Isaiah's day and it's surely for us in this moment. I have nothing to give to you as a man. Absolutely nothing. If you want a heads up on what the counseling is gonna look like, if there's gonna be any counseling, it's gonna end up looking like me pointing you to Jesus anyway. Because that's what the answer is found in all in the end.

Wanna be used by God? God can do more with 300 who have the characteristics that we described, more than 32 thousands who lack the foundation of these principles. Are you weak in your own eyes? Do you have a greater fear of God than that the devil, the world, compromising Christians, and all of them put together? And are you convinced in life that the resources you have, the joys that you have, the experiences that you long to have, have you so put them in check that they will never hijack your ultimate purpose or think that they have greater joy to offer you than you have in serving Jesus Christ?

If you have those things, miracles can happen. If a church has those things, if a church produces those things, never mind a stadium filled with people who have a lack in those areas. Take a group like this, just like the 300. And an unbelieving world will tremble at what God can do through them. Let's pray.

I encourage you tonight, just in this time as you have gone through a long week, perhaps, emotionally exhausting week as we've been seeing turmoil everywhere. To end this time, in this crucial time of history to say, Lord, if there's anything I can offer, I'm weak. I fear you more than anything. You're my greatest joy. I don't wanna be distracted by anything in this life.

Teach me to enjoy things without being consumed by them. Tell him that tonight, afresh. If your head is buried in water tonight, Ask God to show you how to drink from this life. Father, tonight, we thank you for your word. It's so rich.

It's so real. It's amazing, Lord, how this chapter can be so real to us in our day. God, we tell you afresh that we are little. That we're nobodies. We're nothing.

No matter what man says about us, no matter how much they bestow us with praise and honor, Help us, unlike Saul, to see ourselves as small always. Lord, if there's a fear that cripples us to the point where we can't even imagine being used by you in a way that would invoke persecution or hatred, Lord, you assured us that if they call the master of the house Beelzebub, it won't be any better for his servants. But Lord, we know that one with you is majority. And Lord, we want you on our side. And Lord, help us when those fearful moments come where we have to stand for truth even at the expense of those that love us but are not as serious about the word of God.

That we would choose to still move forward in you, and to give those fears to you. Lord, we think about the joys that you've given us in life and how your word even says that you've given us all things that we may enjoy them. But Lord, teach us to cup them in our hands and to bring them to our mouths instead of diving into them to the point where we lose sight of why we're actually here. Lord, thank you that we have people like Gideon Harpurah to be encouraged to make advancements into the enemy's camp. And thank you, Lord, that even throughout that, you use unusual means to encourage us.

And Lord, help us realize that we don't look for those means, they come to us. You've given us your word, you've given us each other, you've given us different resources that are accessible, but Lord, help us believe that when we're in your will, you can supernaturally speak to our hearts at the right time when we need it. You're an amazing God. Lord, we just wanna worship you tonight and tell you afresh that we wanna be used by you, no matter how that looks. We're not asking for a sword.

We're not asking for a spear. Even if you put in our hands a torch with a jar of clay and a trumpet, as unattractive, as unappealing that may be, Lord, if it's your will, we will find joy in it. Lord, we just sit in your presence tonight to worship you, to commune with you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Hey. The world's falling apart. Do you have anywhere to go? Enjoy the presence of God.