The Story of Gideon Pt 2

evening, would you all stand with me? I want to welcome you to Calvary Chapel this evening. And those of you who are viewing online, would you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity to come this evening to worship in song, Lord, to study your word and to just draw close to you, Lord. We just ask that you would, by your Holy Spirit, come and move among us. As we

know you're here, give us sensitive hearts and ears to hear what you have, Lord. Give you praise, Lord. Father, as we sing these songs, Lord, may these words really speak to us, Lord, as we realize who we're singing to, Lord. As we sing this song that's been around a while, but it's straight from 2 Chronicles, I believe, 16, verses 23 and 24 and 10. We just, by faith,

want to praise you tonight. Oh, we're not going to work it up. We're just going to, by faith, just glory to you, Lord Jesus. We love you. As we get in your word, as Pastor Ryan teaches, Lord, Lord, we love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. anointing by the power of your Holy Spirit. Give us listening ears, Lord,

hearts to perceive, Lord. Just give us a sensitive heart to your Holy Spirit leading and guiding us tonight, Lord. May we learn the principles you'd have us learn in walking this Christian walk as we learn more about Gideon and how you use that man, that weak man, Lord, that was fearful, you know. We just thank you, Lord, that your word just lays it all out just as it is.

If they were fearful, you let it be known. And you just, in your providence, you took them through. You took the weak, those who were seemingly not even able to do anything sometimes, and you did your work because as they yielded their heart, they learned that in their weakness, and we can also learn that in our weakness, you're made strong. Amen. Hallelujah, Lord Jesus.

We praise you. Oh, thank you for loving we weak vessels that we are. We sinners, Lord, that, man, we just soon be fools as to be good by your Holy Spirit. You give us wisdom. And, Lord, that meekness comes out where we've got power under control. We don't just go wild in what we want to do and think we need to do, but as you guide us, you strengthen us, and it's always best for us.

In Jesus' name. Amen. God bless y'all. ...Bibles to the book of Judges chapter 7.

Judges chapter 7. Last week, we got started into the story of Gideon, and we covered the first chapter of really a three-chapter study on Gideon, and tonight, we'll finish that up with the second half of the story of Gideon. So, God had called a guy by the name of Gideon during a time when Israel was once again living in apostasy, and they had given themselves over to idols. As it says, they'd done evil in the sight of the Lord, and they worshipped the Baals and the Ashtoreths.

And so, God had given them into the hands of the Midianites, and the Midianites would come right when harvest time was coming, and they would raid the land. So, everybody was hiding. It says that they were greatly oppressed by the Midianites. And so, God calls this young man as he is threshing wheat in a winepress, which we said is the exact wrong place, to be threshing wheat.

He was there because he was hiding. And the first thing that God tells him when he sees him is, Gideon, you valiant warrior, you will deliver the children of Israel from the hand of Midian. He said, that's a terrible idea. I'm absolutely the wrong guy to do this. And God says, no, you're the exact right guy to do this. And so, through a series of signs and things,

God shows him that that is what he's supposed to do. And so, we closed chapter six with him sounding the trumpet. Lots of people were gathering themselves to Gideon. So, the first thing that we're going to do tonight is, we are going to see God choose an army for Gideon. As a matter of fact, this first section we look at, we'll call Gideon's 300. It says in chapter seven, verse one,

then Jerob Baal, that is Gideon, and all the people who were with him rose early, and they camped beside the spring of Harad. The camp of Midian was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley. The Lord said to Gideon, the people who are with you are too many for me to give Midian into their hands. For Israel would become boastful, saying, my own power has delivered me.

Now, therefore, come, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, whoever is afraid and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead. So, 22,000 people returned, and 10,000 remained. The Lord said to Gideon, the people are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Therefore, it shall be that he of whom I say to you,

this one shall go with you, he shall go with you. But everyone of whom I say to you, this one shall not go with you, he shall not go with you. So he brought the people down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, you shall separate everyone who lapsed the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, as well as everyone who kneels to drink. Now, the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was 300 men.

All the rest kneeled to drink water. The Lord said to Gideon, I will deliver you with 300 men who lapped, and will give the Midianites into your hands, so let all the other people go, each man to his own home. So, Gideon, Gideon has blown the trumpet and gathered an army. An army, which quick math has told me, of about 32,000 men. Now, the invading army, the army of the Midianites,

was somewhere at least in the neighborhood of 135,000. We know that based upon some numbers that will come at the end of chapter 7. But there was at least 135,000, if not more of them. Now, I don't know very much about the military. I've never been in the military. But I do know that, 135,000 is a whole lot more than 32,000. See what I did there? As a matter of fact,

it's about 103,000 more. So, see what, right? I should have been a mathematician. That's a whole big difference in people. Now, if you've got an army of 32,000 going against an army that's about four times your size, you think to yourself, hey, this is bad numbers. God can really deliver and do something powerful here. But God said something very interesting to Gideon.

He says, I cannot deliver you with the size of the army that you have right now. And the reason why he said he couldn't deliver them was not because God was not able, but because he said, if I deliver Midian into your hand with 32,000 people, I know the heart of the people of Israel. They will say to themselves, look what we have done. Isn't it amazing that they could be that weak, that they could be that destitute, that they could be, that small of an army.

And God knew that the moment that he allowed them to have victory, even with a number that small, they would still think to themselves, look at what we did. Isn't it great that God knows human nature like that? Isn't it sad that God knows human nature like that? Isn't it scary that God knows human nature like that? What's amazing is that Gideon didn't know that about himself

and Gideon didn't know that about his army. You can imagine Gideon at this point in time, right? He already thought he was the youngest. He was the wrong guy. He was the wrong guy to deliver the people. He was kind of scared. After all, even after God had confirmed to him through a sign and then gave him his first mission, he still needed to put two fleeces out before the Lord

to decide, yes, I will lead this army into battle. And now God tells him, your army is too big to go into battle. And Gideon's going, no, it's not. And God says, yes, it is. Because I know, I know you and I know the people. And I know that if there's any chance for the nation, the nation of Israel to take the credit, they will take the credit. And you know what's really true of us?

If we have any opportunity to take the credit, we will take the credit, which is why God usually does not use us until we have completely come to the end of ourselves, until we have completely come to the end of thinking that there's anything good in me that can be used by God. And once I say, Lord, I don't know how you could ever use me. God says, ah, now we're ready. Now you're ready to be used because you are the one who can use me.

And you know that it will be me doing the work and not you. So he whittles them down to 10,000 men. I love the way he does it. He calls these men, 32,000 of them respond to the call, right? Blows the trumpet. That's me blowing a trumpet, by the way. And he blows the trumpet. All these guys, we'll go to battle. And he goes, he's like, if you're scared, go home.

Pretty soon everybody's like, I mean, it just seemed like a bad idea. That's a really big army. And after all, they've got camels, right? And I don't know, if this is a good idea or not. What do you think, bud? I think that's a terrible idea. Let's go home. I'm scared. Are you scared? I'm scared. Let's go. Right? So 22,000 guys are like, I'm kind of scared.

And so they go home. I just love that. That's the way God weeds them out. And how much honesty it took on the part of those 22,000 men to just gone, right? So he's up with 10,000. Now, again, if I'm Gideon, I'm leading this army. I'm like, oh my gosh, it's like 13 times more now of the people. So surely this is going to be the right size of army. So God looks at Gideon.

He goes, army's still too big. You still got too many guys. What? I'm at the end. Like this is the smallest company of people possible. How could this not be the right size? And God says, you're not there yet. So he gives him one more test. He says, go down and just tell them all to get a drink. And I'll tell you which ones I want. So all the ones that get down and kneel down and put their face in the water to drink the water.

Those aren't the guys I want. I want the ones that kneel down just enough. And grab a little bit of water and lap it out of their hands. Those are the guys. Those are the guys that I want. Why were those the guys that God wanted? You know, it's fascinating. All of the different opinions on why those were the guys that God wanted. You know why those were the guys that God wanted?

Neither do I, but those are the guys that God wanted. Maybe it's because they were alert. That's what a lot of people had to say. Maybe it was because they were ready for battle. Whatever it was, God says, those are the 300 that I want. Three, 100 against 135,000. I'm pretty sure that's like 450 to one. Those were the odds that he had of winning this battle.

I don't know if you ever follow any of that statistician type stuff. I don't like it, but it's kind of interesting to see. When I've been watching the playoffs this year, there's like, there's a 95% chance they're going to go with this kind of a play. And there's a 75% chance it's going to work. Yep. That's what they're going to do. Son of a gun. If they're 95,

they're not usually right. It's pretty amazing, right? That's what, that's what statistics do for you. But you know what? God doesn't care about statistics. And quite frankly, neither do I, because God said 451, 450 to one. That's the odds I'm talking about. You know why? Because at a 450 to one odds, I know that there's only one person that's going to get the credit for it.

And that's me. Isn't it kind of interesting that there's a story of another group of 300 in history, the, the, the 300 Greek warriors, the, the 300, the 300 Spartans. And do you remember what happened when they went to battle? They lost. Why? Because it had nothing to do with their military prowess. God was at work. And the same here. It has nothing to do with their military prowess.

God will be at work, right? And so he takes these 300 guys and decides he's going to go to battle with him. Now I want to draw a quick spiritual conclusion to this. There's two different scriptures. I don't want you to turn there, but I want you to write them down. The first one is Psalm chapter 20, verse seven, just in the margin of your Bible, wherever you want to write that down.

Psalm 20, verse seven. This is what it says. Some trust in chariots and some trust in horses. I would put a parentheses in there myself. Some touched the camels, but we will remember the name of the Lord, our God, some trust in chariots, some trust in horses. As for us, we're going to trust in the Lord. Let's put that in a 21st century, sort of, category, shall we?

Some trust in their 401ks. Some trust in their bank accounts. We will trust in the Lord. Some people trust in their government. Some people trust in Trump. We will trust in the Lord. You named the thing. I don't care what it is. Whatever men think that they could put their trust in. Don't. We should put our trust in the Lord. And if your hope is somewhere else,

I promise you what's going to happen to your hope is it going to come crashing down. Because the only thing that will, the only thing that will stand forever is God. The only thing that will stand forever is the Lord. And the only place that we can truly put our trust is in the Lord. So he says, some trust in chariots, some trust in horses. We will remember the name of the Lord,

our God. Second verse I want you to write is this. Zechariah chapter four, verse six. Perhaps you know where I'm going with this already. Zechariah chapter four, verse six. It says not by might nor by power, but by power. But by my spirit says the Lord of hosts. Isn't that great? Isn't that a great truth that it doesn't matter what we face or how difficult it is because it's not by my might and it's not by my power,

but it's by his spirit. It's through the power of the Holy Spirit that God brings victory into our lives. It's through the power of the Holy Spirit that he brings about his work in our lives. Some of you have undertaken to read through. Scripture this year and I want you to know something. It's wonderful that you're reading the Bible and you should absolutely study it.

Know what it says, but we have to understand something. It's not by your study and it's not by your intellect, but it's through the power of the Holy Spirit that you will truly glean from the word of God this year. God's word is truth, but what makes it active and living is the Holy Spirit making it active and living in our lives. And Gideon is, not to face the most difficult challenge he could possibly face with the absolute smallest army that he could possibly face it with.

And God says, now we're talking. Now I have the right number to deliver the nation of Israel with because it will be me doing the work and not you. And when everyone is said and done, there will be no man who will glory in it. Everybody will look and go that had to be God. And so picking up in verse eight, it says, so the men, so the 300 men took the people's provisions and their trumpets into their hands and Gideon sent all the other men of Israel each to his tent,

but retained the 300. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley. Now, the same night it came about that the Lord said to him, arise and go down against the camp for I've given it into your hands. But if you are afraid to go down, go with Pura, your servant down to the camp. And you will hear, what they said afterward, your hands will be strengthened so that you may go down against the camp.

So he went with Pura, his servant down to the outpost of the army that was in the camp. Now, why do you suppose God told him that? Because he just gave him an army of 300 people whose only qualifications was that they kneeled on their knee and they scooped up water with their hand. That's it. It wasn't like, oh, these guys passed the physical fitness test. It wasn't like these guys can all handle a sword.

It was, they weren't afraid and they drank water the right way. It sounds like the army I want to build, right? He says, now go, go defeat the Midianites. But I love it because God knows where he goes. But if you're scared, here's what I want you to do. I want you to go down with your servant and I want you to listen in on some conversations. And then I love when it says,

and so he immediately went down. You know why? Because he was scared, right? I love that God gives him this opportunity because God knew him. And he knew what he needed. And so he gave him everything that he needed. Now check out what happens next. This is the most amazing story. I love this part. It says, now the Midianites, the Amalekites, verse 12, and all the sons of the East were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts,

which is why I say at least 135,000. And their camels were without number as numerous as the sand on the seashore. That's a bunch of camels. When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. He said, behold, behold, he had a dream. I won't do it. A loaf of barley. I might later, a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian and it came to the tent and it struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat.

And his friend replied, this is nothing less than the sort of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given Midian and all the camp into his hand. When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down in worship. He returned, the camp of Israel and said, arise for the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hands. What?

He's like, listen, you're going to want to go down there and just, just listen to a conversation, you know? So he sneaks down there, gets real low. He listens in on a conversation. The guy, you're not gonna believe the dream I had last night, right? He had a dream. You're not gonna believe the dream I had last night. Dude, this barley loaf comes rolling down the hill and just destroys a tent.

Now we need to understand something about barley. Barley was the, the common man's food. It was usually what was used for the, for the livestock at that point in time. Anybody that ate a loaf of barley bread meant that they were the poorest person on the face of the earth, right? So barley was known as somewhat common. In other words, there was nothing great about this loaf that he sees running down,

rolling down this hill. Amazingly enough, how did Gideon view himself as about the lowest that you could possibly be? A barley loaf comes rolling down the hill and then, and wipes out the tent. Now that dream alone, whatever it is, what it is. But then his friend interprets it for him. He says, you know what that means? The barley loaf is none other than Gideon,

a man of Israel, the son of Joash. He is going to come down and he's going to defeat the army. He goes, whoa, I don't know about y'all, but that's kind of an interesting thought that he went down there and Gideon's name was specifically brought up. Anybody else think that's a little strange? Anybody else think that's a little odd? How do you think Gideon's name was known?

What had Gideon done? Maybe a couple of nights before this. Gideon had gone and he had pulled down the altar that was his father's. And everyone said, who pulled down the altar? And they said it was Gideon. And so how was his name known amongst the people? Well, because he'd done the first thing that God told him to do. You cannot underestimate, follow, following the order that God has for you.

Because the next right step prepares you for the step after that. Too many times we want to go to the step after that. And God says, nope, do the next right step because the next right step will prepare you for what I have after that. Now, some people might find themselves going, do we really think that some guy had a dream and that his friend interpreted it and said that was none other than Gideon at the exact time that Gideon just had a dream?

Gideon just happened to be listening in. Yeah, I have no problem believing that. Do you have a problem believing that I have no problem believing that you know why? Because I believe Genesis chapter one verse one. I believe that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Therefore, all of creation is subject to a sovereign God. Therefore, if he wants to make someone have a dream about a barley loaf,

have somebody else interpret the dream about the barley loaf at the exact right time that Gideon happens to crawl up next to these guys and listen to them talk about a dream about a barley loaf. Not a barley loaf that's interpreted as Gideon being the barley loaf. I have no problem believing that because I believe in a big God. I hear people sometimes say, well, I just don't believe that God could do that.

I'm like, well, then you don't really believe in God. And they're like, you're right. I don't. I'm like, well, that's your problem because I believe in a God that according to Genesis chapter one, one spoke the entire world into existence. And if I can believe that there's nothing else in God's word, I have a hard time believing. It's like when people say, well,

I can't believe in Jonah. I do not believe that Jonah was ever, followed by a great fish and then split up on the, on the, on the beach because I just, I can't believe that that would have happened. There's no fish that big. You know what? Because I believe Genesis chapter one, verse one. I absolutely believe that if God wanted to, he could create a fish just that big,

a fish that has a sign on this says, I'm Jonah's fish, right? I have no problem believing that just like I have no problem believing this. And isn't it amazing how when God calls us to do something, he will give us exactly what we need. In order to move into what he has called us to do. Perhaps God is calling you to do something and you're going, I don't know if I'm supposed to do that.

I'm here to tell you right now, you are, you're supposed to do what God's telling you to do because he's going to give you all the victory that you need. And I have watched God do it over and over and over again, that God gives you exactly what you need to move you into the next right step. And that's what he does for Gideon. So Gideon comes back. Dude was geeked up at this point in time,

right? I love it. Verse 15 into verse 15. He says, he returned to the camp of Israel. He says, arise for the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hands, right? That's some excitement on his part. Now he's not like, maybe we should wait and put out another fleece because I don't know if this is really supposed to happen. He's like, nope, get up boys. It's time to go to battle.

So Gideon is going to take us 300 men to battle. Notice what it says. Verse 17, excuse me, verse 16. And he defied to the three, 300 men into three companies. And he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them with torches inside the pitchers. Anyone notice anything missing there? I don't see a sword. Do you guys see a sword? I don't see a sword.

Now maybe they were all wearing swords at this point in time, but certainly not part of the required uniform anyway. So he says, look at me and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. And when I, and all who are with me, blow the trumpet, then you also blow the trumpet all around the camp and say for the Lord and for Gideon.

So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch when they had just posted the watch and they blew the trumpets and they smashed the pitchers that were in their hands. And when the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers and held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands as for blowing and cried, a sword for the Lord and for Gideon, each stood in his place around the camp and all the army ran crying out as they fled. Now it's an interesting strategy that's used. He divides them into three groups of 100 men and he says, each of you are going to have a torch with an empty pitcher over top of it.

And then you're going to have a trumpet. Now, when I break my pitcher and reveal my torch and blow my trumpet, you all do the exact same thing. Why did he give them all a torch? Well, because when battles were taking place at this point in time, if there was nighttime warfare, then a commander of a company would carry the torch to light the way. And the company would have anywhere from 500 to a thousand men.

So now 300 men looks like 300,000 men. See, see what he did here. He used the art of deception. Isn't that great? He used, he used trick war, guerrilla warfare on these guys. And so they break the trumpet and they all cry out for the Lord and forget it. And they blow the trumpet and everybody's like, ah, right. The army flees before them. And what have they done up to this point in time?

Nothing but break an earthen vessel. We cannot run by this without making a really interesting point. We are told in second Corinthians, I don't remember if I had to put this up here or not. We were told in second Corinthians chapter four, verse seven, that you and I have a treasure in this, this earthen vessel. I want you to know something interesting about these earthen vessels that we hold this treasure in.

Of course, the treasure that we have is none other than the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, right? We were told we are the light of the world. Anyone who lights a lamp, puts it on a hillside for everyone to see what is the best way for our light to shine. When the earthen vessel is broken, it's kind of what we talked about Sunday morning. Usually the best way for our light to shine to the people around us,

to the people around us, to the people around us, is when we are broken. Because those trials become our greatest opportunity to share the light of Jesus Christ. So as they broke those earthen vessels, the light was revealed and the enemy fled. Isn't that a great picture that's given to us right there in the book of Judges? And so that's what they do. So the enemy flees and notice what happens.

Verse 22, when they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set the sword of one against another, even throughout the whole valley, or excuse me, even throughout the whole army. And the army fled as before at Beth Shittah, toward Zerah, as far as the edge of Abel, Mahola by Tabath. The men of Israel were summoned from Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian. And Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim saying, come down, come down against Midian and take the waters before them as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan.

So all the men of Ephraim were summoned and they took the waters as far as Beth Barah and the Jordan, and they captured the two leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeab, and they killed Oreb by the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeab by the winepress of Zeab. While they pursued Midian, they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeab to Gideon from across the Jordan. Do you notice the first thing that happened? The Lord called, cause all of their swords to turn on each other.

What does that mean? It means they got confused and attacked each other. We are told in scripture that there is no weapon that is formed against you that shall prosper. And that's exactly what we're seeing play out in the story of Gideon right here is the weapons that were formed against the nation of Israel are not being allowed to prosper because they have now turned on each other.

And so they are able to drive them back and begin the process of defeating him. And now they're gathering other men of Israel, in particular, the men of Ephraim who had not joined the battle up to this point in time. And the men of Ephraim take the take the land up to the waters near the Jordan, and they defeat two of the princes of the of the Midianites, this Oreb and Zeab. Now, as we move into chapter eight, we're going to see some wisdom on the part of Gideon.

Notice what it says. Chapter eight, verse one. Then the men of Ephraim said to him, what is this thing you've done to us? Not, calling us when you went to fight against Midian and they contended with him vigorously. But he said, what have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezar? God has given the leaders of Midian,

Oreb and Zeab into your hands. And what was I able to do in comparison with you? Then their anger toward him subsided. When he said that is an interesting scene that takes place because Ephraim comes to Gideon. And they're like, why don't you call us once you shoot us a text when you're about to go to battle. Now Gideon blew the trumpet and a whole bunch of people came.

Do you think Ephraim had the opportunity to come when everybody else did? Absolutely. But they didn't. You know why? Because victory wasn't guaranteed yet. It's amazing how many people don't want in on the battle until the battle is won. And then they complain that they weren't invited. Isn't that funny how people are like that? They're like, we want the spoils of the war,

but we don't want the battle. We want a battle that goes with it. But once the battle is won, we're going to complain about the fact that we weren't the people involved. Listen, if you're one of those people, just stop. Okay. Don't, don't be the complainer. Don't be the whiner. Just enjoy the fact that the victory has been won and join in with the celebration.

Right? And so Ephraim comes in and Gideon handles himself so well. He's a, he's a man of pretty high moral character because he could have easily been like, where were you when I called? But he wasn't. What did he say? He goes, Oh, you, you guys have done so much more than I ever could have thought of. He, he says, the gleanings that we have are nothing compared to what you've done.

You guys defeated the two leaders of Midian or Eb and Zeeb. And they're like, yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah, we did. Didn't we? Yeah, we did some pretty good work here. Didn't we? We're told in scripture that a soft answer turns away wrath and Gideon used wisdom by giving a soft answer here. Sometimes the best thing you can do, when somebody, when somebody complains against you is simply return kindness,

give an apology, make the kind statement and then move on with life. And it's amazing how when you respond in kindness, when you respond in gentleness, it absolutely diffuses the situation because it's really hard to be angry with someone who's being kind to you. And that's exactly what, what Gideon does. And so he goes on and says, then Gideon and the 300 men who were with him, verse four came to the Jordan and crossed over weary yet pursuing.

And he said to the men of Sukkoth, please give loaves of bread to the people who are following me for they are weary. And I am pursuing Ziba and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian. The leaders of Sukkoth said, are the heads are the hands of Ziba and Zalmunna already in your hands? Why should we give you bread? Gideon said, all right, when the Lord has given them into my hands,

then I will thrash your bodies with the thorns of the wilderness and with briars. We went from a gentle answer to hat throwing down some judgment, right? But what are you going to say? These guys are hungry. I can't imagine what it would be like being in battle that long, not having anything to eat and going, man, my guys just need something to keep them going.

And they're like, look, we don't see the victory yet. We're not giving you any bread yet. We don't care what you're doing. We don't want to be associated with you until we know that there's no danger. For us, you see, they were only concerned about themselves. And he says, fine, then I'll deal with you when I get back. So he goes on from there. Verse eight.

And he says, he went from there to Penuel and spoke similarly to them. And the men of Penuel answered him just as the man of Sukkoth had answered. So he spoke also to the men of Penuel. When I returned safely, I will tear down this tower. Now Ziba and Zalmunna were in car core and their armies with them. About 15,000 men, all who were left of the entire army of the sons of the east for the fallen were 120,000 swordsmen,

which by the way, this is where we get the idea of 135,000 men. Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in tents on the east of Noba. Wait, I can't run by that without making a statement. 300 guys, because they're still just 300 of them now, have killed how many of the enemy? 120,000. That's pretty good odds. That's pretty good numbers for what just got taken care of there.

Okay, going on. Verse 11, Gideon went up by the way of those who lived in the tents on the east of Noba and whatever that word is, and attacked the camp when the camp was unsuspecting. When Ziba and Zalmunna fled, he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Ziba and Zalmunna, and routed the whole army. Then Gideon, the son of Joash, returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres.

He came back, captured a youth from Sukkoth, and questioned him. Then the youth wrote down for him the princes of Sukkoth and its elders, 77 men. And he came to the men and said, Behold, Ziba and Zalmunna. Concerning whom you taunted me, saying, Are the hands of Ziba and Zalmunna already in your hand? Why should we give you bread, even though your men are weary?

He took the elders of the city and the thorns of the wilderness and the briars, and he disciplined the men of Sukkoth, both with him. I don't exactly know what that means. I don't know if he took cactus and just beat the tar out of them with him, or exactly how he did that, but he basically followed through on what he said. And it says in verse 17, he tore down the tower of Penuel, and he killed the men of the city.

Then he said to Ziba and Zalmunna, What kind of men were they whom you killed at Tabor? And they said, They were like you, each one resembling the son of a king. He said, They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the Lord lives, if only you had let them live, I would not kill you. So he said to Jether, his firstborn, Rise and kill them. But the youth did not draw his sword,

for he was afraid, because he was still a youth. Then Ziba and Zalmunna said, Rise up yourself and fall on us, for as the man is, so is his strength. So Gideon arose and killed them. He took their crescent, which were on their camels' necks. Now, Gideon finishes the battle. He tracks down the men he was finding. He deals with those who were against him of the nation of Israel,

disciplines them for that. He looks at those two guys. He says, Tell me about the men of Tabor that you killed. I want to point out two things about how they respond to him. Number one is that they tell him, They were just like you, sons of kings. Number two is that they tell him, They were just like you, sons of kings. Number three is that they tell him, I want you to remember something about Gideon.

Has there been anything about Gideon up to this point in time that has made them seem kingly? No, if anything, he seemed really timid and sort of sheltered, reserved, not really a kingly, bold sort of a guy. But by the power of the Holy Spirit, he who was at one point in time fearful has now become brave beyond words to where these men looked at him and said, They look just like you, like the son of a king. Because that is what the power of the Holy Spirit is able to do in the life of the believer.

He makes us who we never could have imagined ourselves to be. The second thing that I'll point out to you is this, and that's the fact that they admitted to being the ones who had killed his own brothers. And he said, Because of what you've done, I am now going to mete out justice to you. And that's exactly what he does. And so he takes them, and he takes their ornaments that were on,

and they're camels' necks. Interesting that they were crescents, ornaments, crescent meaning like the moon. Kind of an interesting thought there. It says in verse 22, we now kind of come to the conclusion of the story of Gideon. It says, The men of Israel said to Gideon, Rule over us, both you and your son, also your son's son. For you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.

But Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule, rule over you. The Lord shall rule over you. Now Gideon's faced with a choice right now because they come to him and they say, Hey, why don't you rule over us? And did you notice the language that they used? And your son and your son's son. What did they just tell Gideon that they wanted him to become?

They wanted his household to become a dynasty within the nation of Israel. They wanted him to be, if you will, their king. Isn't it interesting that this is what Israel has always wanted. They just want a king. They want someone who can rule over them. Someone who can, who can be that figurehead for them that they're looking for. And this is a real temptation for Gideon

because what they just told this man, this human, this guy who was at one point in time, very fearful, but now has become like the son of a king and just had victory over all of his enemies. They've told him, now you become our king. And your family will be a dynasty in the nation of Israel. Now we need to understand something. Victory can sometimes be a dangerous place for us to be

because oftentimes with victory comes a temptation for pride. And that's the temptation that Gideon is faced with right now because God had not instituted him to be a king. God just wanted him to deliver the people. But the character that Gideon shows right now, I think is really, is really amazing that this man is willing to say, I don't want to be your king.

I'm not going to be your ruler because all of his humanistic pride would have wanted to kick in at this point in time and say, call me King Gideon, right? Bow down now. That's what his pride would have wanted to do. And we must guard ourselves against the pride that comes with victory. When we see victory start to take place in our life, when we see God start to use us

in the lives of other people, when we see God start to use us in powerful ways, we must always step back and ask God to protect us from the pride that would go along with it. Because one thing that our flesh absolutely loves is the praise of people. We love the praise of people that goes along with God using us, which is why victory can be one of the most dangerous places for us to be. But Gideon responds in the best way possible.

He says, I'm not going to be your leader. The Lord is going to be your leader. You know how you can always know when it's the work of God? People ask this question. How can you tell the difference between the work of God and the work of the flesh? How can you tell if the movement is a movement of God or a movement of man? I will tell you, there's always one way that you can know

whether or not it is a movement of God or whether or not it is a movement of man. And that's who is being glorified and who is being pointed to. You see, we know that this was a movement of God because who did Gideon point to? He said, you will follow the Lord. He will be your leader. And every movement of God always brings glory to God. Why did God choose for there to only be 300 people?

So that they wouldn't glory in themselves, but that they would glory in God. And now Gideon is faced with that. The same temptation himself. You be our leader. You be our leader. You be our king. We'll make a dynasty out of your household. And he says, no, this isn't about me. It's about the Lord. And he's going to be the one who really leads you because he will be the one place of stability

that the nation will always be able to turn to. What an amazing answer from a man of great character like Gideon. Unfortunately, even as Gideon, as great of a man as he was, he still had his areas of failure, which is the next thing that I'll point out to you. It says in verse 24, yet Gideon said to them, I would request of you that each of you give me an earring from his spoil for they had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.

And they said, we will surely give them. So they spread out a garment and every one of them threw an earring there from his spoil. And the weight of the gold earrings he had requested was 1700 shekels of gold because of the crescent ornaments and pendants and the purple robes, which were on the kings of Midian. Besides the neck bands that were on their camels too.

And Gideon made it into an ephod and placed it in his city, Ophrah. And all Israel played the harlot with it there so that it became a snare to Gideon and his household. There was one downfall that Gideon had. He said, give me your earrings. There was nothing wrong with that part. He deserved to be able to be paid for what he did. But he took some of those earrings

and he made a golden ephod. Essentially, he made a golden robe like what the priests would have worn at that point in time. And that golden robe he put on display in Ophrah, his hometown. Only the problem was people turned that golden display into an idol that they worshiped. That's what it means when it says that the nation of Israel played the harlot with the golden ephod

and it became his snare. Friends, I want to point something out to you. Even men of great character are just men. There's a quote that I've heard and I don't know where it originated it, where it originated. I've heard it from several different people and everybody attributes it to somebody else. So I'll just say I heard a great quote. We are men at best, but at our best,

we are men. And when it comes right down to it, I don't care who the leader is. I don't care how great the leader is. I don't care how great the pastor is. I don't care how great the prophet is. I don't care how great the worship leader is. I don't care how great the evangelist is. At the heart of each one of us, we are just humans. We are humans that are flawed.

Does God use flawed people to do powerful things? Absolutely. And do sometimes those, the men and women that God uses, are they men and women of great character? Absolutely. But they are still people. They are people who will let you down. They are people who will make mistakes. They are people who have areas of sin that they still deal with in their lives.

Because we may be men at our best, but at our best, we're men. And there's only one deliverer because that's what the word judge means. There's only one deliverer that doesn't have any flaws. And that deliverer is none other than Jesus Christ himself. He is the deliverer that we can look to for everything. He may use us to do great things within the kingdom,

but we can never be the focal point. It always has to be him. And so, in conclusion, it says, so Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel and they did not lift up their heads anymore. And the land was undisturbed for, 40 years in the days of Gideon. Then Jeroboam, the son of Joash, went and lived in his own house and he had 70 sons who were his direct descendants.

Man, we've got nothing here at Calvary. I thought we had a lot of kids here. For he had many wives and his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son and named him Abimelech. Now you're going to want to pay attention to that name, Abimelech, because he's going to come up in the next chapter. And Gideon, the son of Joash, died at a ripe old age. He was buried in the tomb of his father,

and he was buried in the tomb of his father. He was buried in the tomb of his father, Joash, and Ophrah of the Abiezrites. It came about as soon as Gideon was dead that the sons of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals and made Baal-Beareth their God. Thus the sons of Israel did not remember the Lord their God who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side, nor did they show kindness to the house of Jerob Baal in accord with all the good that he had done to Israel.

One last thing that I would point out to you, it's 40 years, 40 years of Gideon being alive. Everything was great. Long as he was alive, as long as he was leading the nation, as long as he was continuing to point them to God the way that he was supposed to, as a nation they walked with the Lord. But when he died, what did they do? I want to point out verse 34

because I think that this is a key verse in us understanding really all of Judges. The sons of Israel did not, did not remember the Lord their God. You know what's amazing about us as human beings is that our memories are so short. Is that our memories are so short. They're so short when it comes to the faithfulness of God. They're so short when it comes to the work

that God has done in our lives. They're so short when it comes to the deliverance that God brings into our lives and how quickly we forget God. That's why I don't, I don't care how many times you've read the Bible. I don't care how many times you've been over passages of Scripture. God will use it in a fresh way in your life. I was reminded again of a story,

a story I've told several times before, but I'm listening again through this class with David Hawking and he's talking about interpretation of the Bible and one of the things that he's talking about in the interpretation of the Bible is that there is, there is no substitute for just spending time in the word because it is spiritual. It is spiritually activated in our lives because it is living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword. And he of course told that great story about J. Vernon McGee that I've told lots of times before.

You know, J. Vernon McGee had cancer late in his life and that's actually ultimately what took him home to be with Jesus. And he said the last time that J. Vernon McGee ever taught in public, he said he taught in my church. And he said we had to practically carry him up on the stage because his body was so riddled with cancer he didn't have the strength to do it.

He didn't have the strength to do it. He didn't have the strength to do it. He didn't have the strength to do it. He didn't have the strength to do it. He didn't have the strength to do it. He didn't have the strength to walk up there. When he walked up there, he said, I don't know how many times I've taught Psalm 2, but God just showed me something I've never seen before.

Because you can never be reminded enough of who God is and what he's done and what he wants to do in our lives. My friends, be careful of forgetting the Lord. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Father, we come to you. And Lord, I thank you for these examples again that you give to us in the Old Testament. Lord, I thank you for men of character like Gideon.

I thank you for warnings of the weaknesses of our flesh. And Lord, I thank you that no matter how many times we walk away, Lord, we are just one prayer away from being delivered by you. And so, fathers, continue to do your work in our hearts and in our lives. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. May we always be reminded.

May we always remind ourselves of your faithfulness as we spend time in your word, allowing your Holy Spirit to minister to us in the way that only you can. Father, be with us as we go out from here. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.