Sermon Transcript

Well, hey y’all! Last time I saw you guys, you were buried in confetti and balloons. . .celebrating the fact that Jesus is no longer buried in the grave! And He’s still alive, and I hope you came back again to celebrate. We do this every week, right?

After I walked out of the Century Center, meeting with you there on Easter Day—Easter, it was not long after that that I stepped onto a plane and I flew to Israel. I had this incredible opportunity to spend some time touring the Holy Land, where so many of the things that we read about in our Bibles took place. So, I had the opportunity to be there along with twenty-three other pastors. There was a generous donor that just made it way possible to send these pastors. I got to be a part of that.

There were seven of us Harvest senior pastors that got to be a part of that, just an incredible time. And it was intense! It was not a vacation. It was six o’clock in the morning and six o’clock at night, and it was this intense mixture of studying theology and history and archeology and prophecy mixed in with a little U.S. foreign policy, because of all the stuff that goes on over there.

And it was a life changing experience! Just to give you some top-level things that happened over there, just some take-aways. I want you to know, I will never read my Bible the same again, and I want you to know that we are all going next year! Okay? Start saving your money. We’re going in the fall of 2018! You’ll hear more details, but there’s a trip, and we’re going. And I just don’t even think you can properly understand the Bible in a high-definition. I’ve just got such a different view of the Bible than I had. Not a wrong view, but just a high-definition view. I feel like I’ve been watching standard TV all my life, and all of a sudden now I’ve got high-def, and I can see it better now.

One of the things that happened over there is…I don’t have brothers; I’m an only child. Yet, because of this trip I got to experience all of that with my brothers, Harvest senior pastors. Nobody gets senior pastors—do you understand, nobody gets us, except other Harvest senior pastors. So just an incredible time with all of that. A fresh desire to understand God’s Word.

There were times that we would go to places and our guide would show us, you know, “This is what happened…and you remember that Bible story back in the book of Judges?” And I was like, “Nah, I don’t really remember that one.” And I didn’t grow up hearing Bible stories. I didn’t grow up going to Sunday School and Vacation Bible School and all of that. I’ve kind of had to learn it as I’m teaching it to you in a lot of places, so I came back with just a desire to dive into this Book and dig deeper than I’ve ever dug before.

New confidence in God’s promises, in God’s prophecies. If you know anything about the nation of Israel, the fact that there is even a people on the planet that is called Israel is a miracle–that God is still fulfilling His promises that He made centuries ago to people like Abraham.

I came away with a hatred for manmade religion and misdirected worship, because so many of the things that we were seeing, the destruction of God’s people, were the results of their hearts turning away from the true God to the false gods, and God had to bring judgment upon them and all those stories we read about in the Old Testament.

I came away with a burden for the salvation of Israel—that they would know that Jesus is the Messiah that they’re waiting for, and He longs to save. I came away with a longing for the soon return of Jesus Christ, stood on the Mount of Olives where Zechariah tells us that He will come back and stand right there, so that as I was standing right there, I’m like, “Lord, anytime is great! I’m here! I can be the welcoming party.” So, I guess we’re having to wait a little longer for that.

I got to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. Do you know what Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane? “Lord, let this cup pass, but if it’s not Your will, then not My will be done, but Yours be done.” I prayed that prayer. Very emotional time for me. Just in a fresh new way, saying, “Lord, this life belongs to You. Whatever You want, wherever you want me to go. I am surrendered.” Again, just an emotional time for me.

And then, getting to go to Golgotha, the Place of the Skull and seeing the place where Jesus died on the cross in my place as a substitute for my sin. Just again, a recommitment: “Lord, I will take up my cross, I will deny myself, I will follow You the rest of my days.” And then, just a few hundred yards from that we saw the empty tomb, and I am here to report to you—I checked—it is empty! He is not here, He is risen! So, we have reason to celebrate. Jesus is alive!

And one of the things that God did was very special and I want to share it with you today. Our tour guide over there—he’s a believer, he’s a former pastor, he’s led a-hundred-and-eighty-seven trips to Israel—and one of the places he always takes the groups to is the Spring of Gideon. And he said–he announced to our group of twenty-three pastors (the first time I heard it was when they heard it), “Trent’s going to be sharing the devotional at the Spring of Gideon tomorrow.” I’m like, “O-o-o-kay. . .” And again, I’m like, “Okay, I know. I vaguely remember Gideon, but what’s that story again?” And believe it or not, I didn’t even take my Bible! Loser Harvest pastor, right? I meant to–I didn’t throw it in my bag at the last minute. I forgot. So, I had to borrow a Bible to even do the devotional. I’m like, “Loser, you know.” Here I am in Israel, like, “What’s that story again?”

Anyway, I didn’t have any time to prepare. I just had time to kind of read the story, and then I just shared with these guys what God did through this man called Gideon. And God knew that I needed to hear that story. And, so I stood there, and it was just a God moment—just about fifteen minutes (I know you don’t think I can preach for fifteen minutes, but I can) and God just moved, and God moved in the hearts of those men; God moved in my heart.

And the story of Gideon, it turns out, is very much a part of my story. So, if you will open your Bible to the book of Judges. We’re going to take a week off from Ephesians, just cause my heart is so full of this story, I want to share it with you.

The story of Gideon is a story of a pendulum that swings between a man who finds himself at the beginning of the story very inadequate, but—unfortunately—finds himself at the end of the story being very self-sufficient. The whole thing starts out here in Judges. Let me give you some context. If you were here a few years ago, we studied verse-by-verse through the book of Joshua, and just to remember the context here. . .the book of Judges follows the book of Joshua. You remember Joshua led the people into the promised land. God told them to drive out all of the Canaanites and their foreign gods and their foreign worship, and they actually didn’t quite get that done. . .they were disobedient, and so as a result there was a spiritual decline that took place in Israel once they got into the Promised Land.

Gideon was the sixth judge—not a king, not a priest, but just kind of a temporary place-holder ruler/leader in this group of people known as Israel. And Israel. . .Gideon was this sixth judge. And the story opens up with the nation of Israel surrounded by a foreign enemy—the Midianites. The Midianites were fierce ruthless people that worshipped the gods of Baal and the gods of Asherah. They were terrorizing God’s people and they were plundering the possessions that they had. They were taking their food, they were taking their possessions, and it was a very hopeless time. . .it was a very fearful time. People were hiding and fearing for their lives.

And in the midst of that, in Judges chapter 6, we read in verse 6, “And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord.” Isn’t it interesting that the Lord sometimes has to bring us to a very low place before we’ve got sense enough to cry out to the Lord? God’s people so often, when things are going well, when there’s money in the bank, when the health is good–those are the times that we tend to forget God, isn’t it?

And so, if you’re facing a situation where you feel like you’re surrounded—like there is darkness all around you, you’re outnumbered, “I don’t know how I’m going to make my way out of this alive!”—would you please realize that God preserved this little story for you? Because it’s in those moments that we find ourselves without any other resource; when we are completely out of resources, it’s at that point that we cry out for help. And if you’re there today, you should do the same thing that the Israelites do here in verse 6.

So, they do cry out before the Lord, and down in verse 10, the Lord speaks. He says, “‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But [the reason you’re in the situation you’re in, He tells them, is because] you have not obeyed my voice.” The reason they were surrounded is because they didn’t drive these people out in the first place, they’d been disobedient, and now they’re suffering the consequences of their disobedience.

So, then in verse 11, here’s how the Lord is going to save Israel. Now, before I read verse 11, I want to say this up front—because there is a tragic mistake that, so often, preachers make, Sunday School teachers make, small group leaders make – when you read stories in the Old Testament. Our temptation is to read this story as if Gideon is the hero. Turn to your neighbor and say, “Gideon is not the hero in this story!” God is going to use Gideon in spite of himself!

And so God is going to work through Gideon. Here in verse 11 we read the story: “Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.” Underline the word “hide” in verse 11. Do you get the picture of what’s going on here?

Now, a winepress was not a place where you were to beat out wheat—not a place where you prepare wheat—it’s a place where you prepare wine. But the reason that he’s in the winepress is because that was an enclosed dwelling place. He was hiding in the winepress doing work that normally would be done outdoors in front of everybody. But he was so afraid of the Midianites, he’s inside doing work that normally you would do outside. He is scared to death! He’s hiding like a little girl!

If Gideon had applied for the job of mighty warrior, he would not have anything on his resume that would have impressed the employer. He would have been rejected. He’s completely terrified in the face of opposition. But, then in verse 12, it says, “The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.’” What? You can imagine Gideon saying, “You talkin’ to me? Here I am cowering in a corner, afraid of what’s going out there – and You call me a mighty man of valor?”

The title of the message is this: The Making of a Mighty Man. God chooses to use someone who has a complete sense of inadequacy to move him into a place where God can use him. Look at how he responds in verse 13: “And Gideon said to him, “Please, [sir], if the Lord is with us…” Now, stop right there! Did the Lord say He was with them or not? He said, “I am with you,” and he looks at Him and, “Like, really?”

Underline the word “if.” You’re going to see that several times. That’s Gideon’s favorite word. “If You are with me, “why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” True or not true? Not true! Gideon is believing lies; he is so terrified by the opposition, he is so terrified by the surrounding circumstances, he believes the Lord is nowhere to be found—that they’re a God-forsaken people. And he’s got enough boldness to ask this angel, “If God is so powerful and so strong and so good, then why are we being so oppressed?”

Have you ever been there? Mad at God, feeling forsaken by God. “If God loved me, why am I losing the battle? If God is here, why am I suffering? Why do I have cancer? Why is my marriage so hard? Why do I have a prodigal child? Why did I lose my job?” Have you ever been there? Maybe you’re there today, and you are arguing with God about what God says is true of you.

Here’s the first thing we’re going to learn: If you want to be used by God, if you want to be a mighty man, you have to embrace your inadequacy, and you have to believe you are who God says you are. You see, God comes to Gideon and He calls him to embrace his inadequacy, but, “Don’t stay there!” Before you can become a mighty man of God, you have to move from your inadequacy.

In verse 14, “…the Lord turned to him…” Now, what would you have expected that to say? Gideon is arguing with God. “The Lord is not with us! If You’re so good, why are we so surrounded?” I would expect to read, “And the Lord turned away from Gideon.” That’s not what is says, is it? The Lord is so faithful! He uses a man who is completely a spiritual doughnut-hole to get His work done! Why does He do that? Because he knows that any victory that’s gonna come through Gideon is going to obviously be supernatural!

And who’s going to get the credit? God’s going to get the credit alone. So, the Lord says in verse 14, “The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, ‘Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.’” Did you ever feel that way? You’re the least qualified for what God’s called you to do? You’re not the prettiest, you’re not the strongest, you’re not the most intelligent, you don’t have a whole lot of experience fighting battles. And yet the Lord, unmistakenly, has called you.

I’ve got to tell you—just a moment of honesty here…can Pastor get honest? Do you understand that every moment – I get up and I have this little conversation with God. I’m still the pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, and I’m shocked that the Lord didn’t hand that to somebody else. Especially on Sundays when I get up and I come, and you’re looking at me and you’re expecting some great spiritual truth to be delivered, and you’re kind of ticked, “I just don’t know if it was as good as it was last week,” and you’re like, “Yeah, I just didn’t get anything out of that this morning.” And yeah, it is an overwhelming sense of inadequacy to be called of God to do something that you feel completely unqualified.

I’ve shared part of this in the past, but when I got saved, I met the Lord when I was fifteen. I didn’t grow up in church, didn’t grow up reading Bible stories, and I’ve just kind of had to learn on the job. Nobody in my family ever went to college. I went to college but I just got whatever degree I could get some scholarships in. So I got a technology degree; I have a degree, 1989 technology degree. I have a degree in 1980s technology. So if you have a Tandy computer available that needs some COBOL programming done, I’m your guy! You know? So, that’s my qualifications.

And then after that, I actually did go to seminary, but when I went it was the first time I moved away from home. And I grew up in Oklahoma, for cryin’ out loud! (I mean, that’s a disqualifier right there!), then I went to Memphis to go to seminary, and I enrolled in MDiv program, which is really the degree you’re supposed to have if you’re going to be a pastor. And yet, they told me, because I didn’t go to Bible college and I didn’t learn what’s called “baby Greek,” that I would have to take a year of noncredit Greek before you could enroll in the Greek that you actually get credit for. And seminary was going to take four years instead of three.

I’m like, “Four years!” I’m twenty-one years old at this point. Four years! That sounded like I would be ancient by the time I would get out. And I was like, “The whole world’s going to hell, and I can’t just be spending time in a library reading books and learning languages! I got to get out there!” And so, I found out that my seminary also offered a degree – it was called a Master’s in Religion and Education. And I compared the two programs. This program was only two years—this program would have been four years, and I thought, “Hey! That’s a bargain!”  And I compared the programs.

The only thing that the Master’s of Religion didn’t include—that this one did—were languages (Hebrew and Greek) and Homiletics. So, in other words, you didn’t have to learn Greek, Hebrew or how to preach. I said, “Sign me up!” Okay? And so I went to school. So, now, every Thursday and Friday—and I’m sitting in my office, and I’m like, “What does this word mean?” You know? And I’m like…and I’ve never had a class on preaching…and I’m just like, “Lord, find somebody else! I’m sure I’m breaking all the rules here!” And I don’t know where the Lord finds you, but He’s probably looking for someone that He can trust not to steal His glory. He’s looking for spiritual doughnut holes that He can fill with His Spirit so that He gets the glory when the victory comes!

And so He finds Gideon in a place of inadequacy. Verse 16: “And the Lord said to him [again!], ‘. . .I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.’” So embrace your inadequacy and believe you are who God says you are. Make yourself useful!

Let’s find out how he reacts in verse 17: “And he [Gideon] said to him [What’s that word? “If”], “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign [Gideon loves signs!] that it’s you who speak [to] me.” Interesting. Jesus said it’s a wicked and perverse generation that looks for a sign. Because God just simply wants you to believe that what He said is true. Think about it – as if an angel showing up is not sufficient enough to tell you what you need to do! “Okay, I know there’s an angel standing in front of me. But if the angel could just perform a sign…it would help me get over my sense of inadequacy.” So, this is what He does; God’s actually very gracious to him.

Let me summarize the rest of the chapter: What he did was, Gideon went and he prepared a meal, and he served it to this angel. And the angel made fire come up out of the rock and consume the meal! Woooo! And this is what we read down in verse 23, “…The Lord said to him, ‘Peace be to you.’” What he’s basically saying is, “You’re lucky the fire didn’t consume you, dude!” “Peace be to you [We’re friends!]. Do not fear; you shall not die.” Listen. What would you do this week for the Lord if you knew you could not be killed? What would you risk? Where would you go, if you knew you were completely indestructible, doing what God told you to do? That’s the promise that God gave Gideon.

And, by the way, I don’t know if I have that promise or you have that promise. You may actually die doing the service of the Lord. You may actually die, obeying God. But let me…You’ve heard the phrase, “Anything that doesn’t kill you…” what? “Makes you stronger.” You’ve heard that phrase? Well, here’s the promise for Christians: “Anything that does kill you makes you perfect!” Think about it! Do something great for the Lord, risk something for the Lord, you step into the battle and—bam!—you’re killed! But you are immediately in Heaven. That’s an upgrade! So, what is preventing you from obeying the Lord in the assignment? God gives Gideon the promise, “Whatever you try, you’re not going to die.”

Verse 25: “That night the Lord said to him, ‘Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and [cut it down]—cut down the Asherah that is beside it…” Now, that is a power-packed verse! Let me tell you what’s going on.

First of all, Gideon’s father (his name was Joash)—not a great spiritual leader for the family. He had led his family to worship the gods of Baal and Asherah, and he erected these altars before them. God tells Gideon, “Take your father’s bull and sacrifice the bull.” Then He says, “Take the second bull that’s seven years old.” I had Paul File, who’s a farmer – came up to me at the end of the service – he’s like, “Do you know the significance of the seven-year-old bull? That was the breeding bull!” He wanted to kill him so there wouldn’t be any more sacrifices. Now, how excited do you think the father’s going to be that the son is actually decapitating his “gods” with little “g’s” – and the men of the city that are making money off of this?

And so, it’s probably a threatening, risky thing to obey God, but because he’s already had these two signs, look at verse 27: “So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him.” Awesome! We’ve got Gideon moving! We’re moving! Gideon is moving away from his inadequacy. “Okay, okay, I’m going to risk it. God says I’m not going to die, so I’m going to move”—and he’s moving toward a place of God-dependency. He’s moving toward a place of God-dependency. But, it’s hilarious! Watch this at the end of verse 27: “So Gideon took [the] men of his servants and did as the Lord…told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.” He’s not quite at the place of God-dependency yet! He almost does it kind of in a private way, to kind of sneak around, so he doesn’t get in trouble. Because, after all, “God might not come through and they might kill me, even though God said they wouldn’t.” He’s not quite there.

Verse 28: “When the men of the town [a]rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built.” Verse 31: “[And] Joash [who is that? Gideon’s dad] said to all who stood against him [so the men come out and they say, “We want Gideon! Gideon’s going to die because he tore down our gods!”

And Joash steps between the men and Gideon. And Joash, the dad, says], ‘Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.” Do you get it? Any god that can’t save himself is probably a god that can’t save you! So, if you’re little god with a little “g” can’t pick himself off the ground and put himself back up, why in the world do you want to serve him? Do you understand what happened? Because Gideon, the son, obeyed God, it had a spiritual impact on his dad. And now his dad is starting to experience some of the courage that he should have had all along.

If you’re here as a young person, please understand. God may be wanting to do something in you to impact people that are over you. And let me ask the dads in this auditorium something. Are you keeping spiritual pace with your children? Are your children running after God faster than you are? God wants you to catch up! As a matter of fact, God wants you to take the lead!

If you’re a young person in here – again, part of my story is I was the first one in my family that the Lord called into salvation. I responded to the Lord. My mom and my dad, they weren’t Christians, and I don’t – I just started doing what I thought a Christian ought to do: showing up at church and praying and witnessing to my friends, and pretty soon, my parents are kind of scratching the head, like, “What happened to you?” And they started coming to church to figure out what happened to me. And what happened to me eventually started happening to them, and they both gave their lives to Christ, and the Lord saved our entire family! And God is using some of Gideon’s progress to make an impact even on his dad.

Verse 34: “But the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet [he’s not sneakin’ around at night anymore!], and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him…” The spiritual doughnut hole has now become the spiritual leader of the entire nation. And wherever there is a spiritual leader who fully depends on God, you will find – people will come out of the mountains to follow Him! And so this is the high point of the whole story. The Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon. Can I ask you, is the Spirit of the Lord clothing you because of your unconditional surrender and obedience to the Lord? And God is going to bring great victories through you to your family—to the people around you—because you are doing what God called you to do.

Verse 35: “And he sent messengers throughout all [of] Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.” And people started showing up, because they believed that God was now moving through this leader named Gideon—that at the opening of this chapter had a complete sense of inadequacy that God could use him at all.

And so, we begin verse 36: “Then Gideon said to God [What’s that word? “If.” Now wait a minute! Doggone it! He’s taken a step backwards!] ‘If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said…” So he’s doubting God, it’s a lack of faith. 37, “behold, I am laying [out] a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.’  And it was so. When he rose early [the] next morning and squeezed [out] the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill [the] bowl…”

Now, this was not a sign of faith! This was a sign of lack of faith. In Gideon. And so, wherever he was God-dependent, he takes a step back, like, “I just…Lord, I just need a sign!” An angel shows up! The angel brings fire out of a rock! The angel consumes the meal! And he says he needs a sign. “Lord, I’m just going to lay some fleece out, and just make that wet, make the ground dry. And if that’s it, then I’ll know—then I’ll know—that You’re going to win the battle through me.” So, God’s gracious to him and God does exactly what he prays.

            And then we get to verse 39: “Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me. Please let me test just once more the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and all the ground let [it. . .]” “God, okay so now, if You could just kind of reverse that. Because I’m just not quite sure You’re going to come through!” And God’s gracious to him. He wakes up the next morning and the fleece is dry and the ground’s wet.

And we finally get to chapter 7, “Then Jerubbaal…” God changed his name. Jerubbaal means “one who contends with Baal.” He changes his name: “…(that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.”

            And I stood there at this spring, this incredible oasis in the middle of this desert! There’s this huge water pool and this spring that’s just flowing out of the mountain and you look across, and sure enough, there’s a valley over there to the north—and the mountain is there—and you can just kind of see the Gideon. You can see the Midianite army surrounding Gideon, and that’s what told us here in chapter 7, verse 2: “The Lord said to Gideon, ‘The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand…” Now, what would you expect that to say? You would expect it to say, “The people with you are too few for Me to give the Midianites into your hand. Your army’s not big enough! You need to get more men!” That’s not what God said.

He said, “Your numbers are too large!” God wants a smaller army. Why? He tells us: “…lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’” You see, there was a danger. God knew that Gideon was in danger of moving to a place of self-sufficiency—thinking that he won the battle because he was a great warrior! And God said, “I want you to be right back here at this place where you realize it’s not something you did, but it’s something I did.”

And so, He gives him a strategy to reduce the army, verse 3: “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.’” Sure enough—he said “Anybody afraid?”—twenty-two-thousand said, “I’m afraid! See ya!” And they left! They left him with an army of ten-thousand.

Verse 4: “And the Lord said to Gideon, ‘The people are still too many. Take them down to the water [down to that spring], and I will test them for you there, and anyone…whom I say to you, “This one shall go with you,” shall go with you, and anyone…whom I say to you, “This one shall not go with you,” shall not go.’” 5 “[And] so he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, ‘Every one who laps the water with his tongue…” So he gets down in the water and he laps it like a dog (slurp, slurp, slurp). You’ve seen your dog—or your children…“Anyone that does it like that—disqualified!—he can’t be in the army.”

And so, in verse 6: “…the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths [pulling it up from the water to their mouth, like a man], [were] 300…but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. 7 And the Lord said to Gideon, ‘With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let. . .the others go every man to his home.’” So, who’s going to save Israel? The Lord! He said, “I will save!” Not Gideon, not the three-hundred. God’s the hero of this story!

And so, look down here at verse 15: “As soon as Gideon heard the telling…” He gets him right back to the place of God’s dependency; it says “As soon as Gideon heard the telling “…of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.” 

            So, there’s another sign here, that we won’t take time for. But he goes down, there’s a guy that has a dream about a barley loaf that rolls down a hill, runs into the tent of the Midianites, it knocks the tent down, and the interpretation of the dream is, that’s Gideon who’s going to annihilate this army. And Gideon says, “Thank you for telling me that dream. I needed another sign! Now I know that God’s gonna get the battle done!” So he forms the army.

Verse 16: “And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into [their] hands…” You would expect it to say “swords”—trumpets! “…and empty jars…” Really? You’re like, “Couldn’t you fill them full of like gunpowder or something like that?” No, they’re empty! “…with torches…” Then, down in verse 20: “Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. [And] they held in their…hands the torches [this was at night], and in their right hands the trumpet… [blew].”

            So here’s what happened: They start racing toward the Midianites (they’re in three companies). A hundred men go this way, a hundred men go that away, a hundred men are here. They break the jars in the middle of the night, they shout, “The sword of the Lord and for Gideon!”—which is in the next verse, in verse 21: “Every man stood in his…” Actually, verse 20, at the end of verse 20: “They cried out, ‘[The] sword [of] the Lord and…Gideon!’ And every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran.” They saw the enemy running from them! Thousands and thousands of men. Because they must have thought that every torch was a brigade of men coming! So they fled for their lives. They saw before their eyes.

Then God did the miracle in verse 22: “When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his comrade…” The Lord caused these Midianites to start fighting with each other, and they started slicing each other up! Gideon and his three-hundred men didn’t even have to raise a weapon! God brought the salvation alone! “And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.” Now, do you see the white space in-between verse 22 and verse 23? That’s where the story should have ended. It should have ended right here: God is the One Who brought the victory; God—and God alone—is the one Who gets the glory.”

But look at what happens in the next verse, verse 23: “And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali…” Wait! Gideon? Why are you adding to the numbers of your army? Didn’t God reduce the size of your army down to three-hundred, so you wouldn’t take credit for it? He calls more men “…from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian. 24 Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, ‘Come down against the Midianites and capture the waters against them, as far as…” all those names that I can’t pronounce. So he adds to his numbers! Mistake! You know why? Because Gideon’s heart had begun to become self-sufficient—and he went further than God directed him to go. It is dangerous to do less than what God commands; it is dangerous to do more than what God commands. He starts adding to his numbers.

Why do you think God wanted to reduce numbers? Let me tell you something I’ve learned. Again, confession time, confession time! Numbers have a way of inflating the ego of a leader. “Did you hear how many people we had in church on Easter?” Harvest Bible Chapel had 2,072 people show up for our Easter service! We had an army of 300 volunteers! (That’s a cool number!) There were twenty-seven people that made decisions to follow Christ on that day. There were thirty people that recommitted their lives to Christ!

I was telling my pastor friends how amazing our Easter services were, and as I was telling them, it wasn’t as if I was boasting—I was just reporting on what God had done, and just trying to give glory to Him. But I just sensed something in my heart: “Beware, beware, beware, beware!” And so, at the end of that story I told my buddies—Jeremiah Canfield and Scott Hollingshead. I pulled them aside and I said, “Guys, if you ever sense an ounce of arrogance in my heart, I give you permission to punch me in the face!” I’m serious.

And God used this story of Gideon to get my attention. And sometimes God has to reduce the numbers to deal with the heart of the leader that begins to think he’s self-sufficient to get it done without God. God might have to bring 300 people next Easter to get us back to the place where we realize, “God, we can’t do this alone! We can’t do this without You! This is totally yours; it’s all You! I’m in hiding, I’m not a warrior—I’m a doughnut hole—it’s Yours and Yours alone.”

Can I ask you? How’s your finances right now? Do you have more money in the bank than you’ve ever had before? Beware. Beware! How’s the health report? Are your numbers looking good? Beware! Beware of self-sufficiency! When everything’s going great, that’s about the time you better realize, you can never take credit for what God alone can do through you! Beware!

Unfortunately, it’s get worse. It goes down through verse 8. They continue to pursue this Midianite army—through the desert—across the Jordan. They actually begin to become ruthless with some of their own people. Gideon actually begins to strike some of his own people. You can just see, he’s ruthless. The people are exhausted, the story tells us, but he won’t let up. He continues to go further and further—now—away from the Lord. The Lord’s voice is noticeably absent all through chapter 8. There’s not an instruction from God; there’s not an angel that appears. There’s not a sign to keep going, there’s not a confirmation of faith. The Lord is absent. And Gideon continues to pursue.

Until we get down to verse 22. All the armies of the Midianites have been defeated, and then we read: “Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson[s]. . ., for you have saved us. . .” Who saved them? The people diverted their attention away from God and began to give Gideon credit for something God and God alone did. And they wanted to set him up as king! Be careful when the applause of men is so strong, and they want to give you more power—and put you on a pedestal—and they want you to lead them further than God wants you to go.

Now, Gideon said the right thing in verse 23: “Gideon said to them, ‘I will not rule over you…my son[s] will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.’” Good, good, good, good, good! But whatever he got right in verse 23, he screwed up in verse 24: “And Gideon said to them, ‘Let me make a request of you: every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil.’ (For they had [gotten] golden earrings, because [of the] Ishmaelites.)” The story goes on. He took an offering. People brought their gold; they were so willing to. He wanted a trophy! He wanted a trophy to put in his trophy case – a golden trophy!

Verse 27 says, “Gideon made an ephod…” (‘Course, you all know what that is, so I don’t have to explain that.) An ephod was actually a special garment to be worn only by the high priest and only in worship. Gideon was not a high priest, but he wanted some cool clothes like the high priest! Almost as if to say, “You don’t need that high priest. I’ll be your high priest!”

And so, he makes this ephod, and notice what the Scripture says: “[He] put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it…” Strong word? It’s because they were committing spiritual adultery. They whored after it, they lusted after it, “and it became a snare to Gideon and…his [whole] family.”

            Gideon had a son (he actually had seventy sons). Guess what he named one of them? His name was Abimelech. It’s found down there in verse 31. He named his son Abimelech. The name Abimelech means this, “My dad is king!” Now, if you’re a dad and you’re searching through the baby name book, looking for a name (James, are listening back there?)…Like, “I wonder what I’m going to name my kid. I got it! I’ll name my kid “my dad is king!” That would tend to indicate there’s a little bit of an arrogant heart in dad, right? That’s what he named his son! Gideon was not a priest, but he acted like he was! He wasn’t a king, but he named his kid, “My dad’s king!”

And so, this whole story starts out with a man who’s hiding because he feels so inadequate. God gets him to a place of dependence; He delivers the nation through this man, but the whole thing ends up in this tragic mistake where he is actually taking credit for something only God could do. How about you? Have you found yourself inadequate? Have you been in hiding? Have you made a thousand excuses why God should use somebody else?

Listen, God wants to use you in that place of inadequacy—to fill you up and bring you to a place of God-dependency. Have you declared your dependency on God? Some of you today have yet even to trust Christ, and you’ve said, “I can’t live this life! I’m not good enough to be a Christian.” Listen, that’s the kind of person God makes into a Christian, is when you’re humble enough to admit: “I don’t have what it takes to have a relationship with God.”

Listen! This whole story is a reflection of the ministry of Jesus Christ. Jesus humbled Himself. He became a man; He died on a cross—the most unlikely candidate to win the war. The reality is this, Gideon’s battle was against the Midianites. Our battle is against sin. Sin wants to kill us. We need us somebody to save us from sin. Jesus did that through His death, His burial, His resurrection on the cross. But it’s only in declaring your dependence upon what Jesus can do—not on what you can do—that God can save you. But, if you think you’re self-sufficient (you could be religious enough, moral enough, good enough—family is great enough, that you don’t need God)—it’s going to be a snare to you!

Where does God find you this morning? You may be able to hide from the Midianites. You can’t hide from God! He’s calling some of you. He’s calling you to step into a place of leadership, some of you. He may be calling some of you into ministry, and to be a pastor, and you’ve made a thousand excuses why He’s got the wrong guy. Declare your God-dependency! And say, “God, I trust You!  I don’t need a sign, I don’t need a fleece. You’ve promised, and I’m going to take the risk. I’m going to trust You!” And believe God that you’re going to see the enemies run as He performs miracles through your life!

Would you bow your heads with me? And would you just declare your dependency upon the Lord right now? In humility admit you’re not strong enough, you’re not spiritual enough, you don’t have enough experience. But…you’re available. Tell the Lord, “Lord, whatever You want to do, wherever You want me to go, I know You’re strong enough. Fill me, clothe me with your Spirit. I’m trusting, I’m depending on You.”

If you’ve never been saved, why don’t you drop your religious clothing and lingo and all those manmade attempts to impress God? God’s looking for somebody that won’t steal His glory. Have you become self-sufficient? Things are going really well? You’ve stopped crying out to God for help. Why don’t you tell Him? Say, “Lord, I want to return to that place of humility. I’m trusting You.” For many of you, you may feel surrounded, outnumbered. You don’t know how you’re getting out of this alive! You need God to come through. He is with you. He’s made promises. He knows what He’s doing. Trust Him!