Gideon is the archetype of the man of faith who doesn’t start out that way. In this message, we will see how God nurtures Gideon’s faith as this man encounters the true and living God in the conflict with the enemy. Gideon starts out doubting himself, but even more concerning, Gideon doubts God. This changes by the grace of God through this powerful story from the Old Testament. How does God bring forth the victory in the salvation of His people? Powerfully. Sovereignly. In the most unexpected ways!

The greatest blessings in our lives is to have the faithful and the hopeful along with us on the pilgrim pathway, isn't it? And that's how I see my brother Scott Brown. We are brothers together in the battle and it has been a privilege to be together with him. We're on the phone on a regular basis Me confessing my sins and he telling us the great things that God has done. So But but praise the Lord for the things that he's doing in our lives I'm so thankful for that Turn in your Bibles now to Judges chapter 6.

Judges chapter 6 and let's study the life of Gideon I have been so looking forward to this message. I cannot get over the Message concerning the life of Gideon and how it has so much application to us as well. By the way, there are notes for the little guys as well. We do that in our church services on Sunday morning. Some of you little ones may want to follow along with the notes that we've provided you this morning.

Judges chapter 6. And we're going to begin with the context in which Gideon appears on the scene. And this is, of course, in a period of time the judges of which God's people have turned away from him. Judges is an incredibly relevant book for our situation today. A nation in apostasy, a church in serious decline.

Indeed things are far worse than they've ever been. Of course we always say that, but I reminded my my wife recently that that really yes, things in the 1970s were about 10 times worse than they were in the 1920s. Well, today, things are 10 times worse than they were in the 1970s. So we are orders of magnitude worse off than we were, say, 100 years ago, especially in terms of social morality and the effect that the church has upon our nation. So judges is relevant to a church in serious decline.

So we receive these words this morning that have great application to us. But before we begin, let's ask the Holy Spirit for his presence this day. Father we pray for your Holy Spirit. We pray for a fish we know that you will never give us a serpent but you will give us a fish. We ask for the Holy Spirit to be with us open this up to us father bring a transforming work into the lives of each person here.

Father, we pray your Holy Spirit would revive us again today, enable us to understand your word that would come alive for each and every one of us in Jesus name, Amen. Judges chapter 6 verse 8 is the context in which the children of Israel are running away from the enemy the Midianites they are hiding in the caves and the dens in the mountains and they are running for their lives and God brings a prophet and he always does he brings prophets I believe the same thing applies today as well the prophets are constantly warning the people from the pulpits of this nation as well as in the capital of the nation there's opportunities to hear God's warnings all the time pastors are assigned to the prophetic task on a regular basis and the prophets have shown here's a nameless prophet who comes to Israel and Judges chapter 6 and verse 8 so let's read God's Word Judges 6 and verse 8 Thus says the Lord God of Israel. I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians out of the hand of all who oppressed you and and drove them out before you and gave you their land also I said to you I am the Lord your God do not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell but you have not obeyed my voice brothers and sisters this is the problem that affects us as well today.

We have too much fear the gods of the homosexuals, the gods of the states. I speak of the conservative denominations, the PCA, the Southern Baptist denomination, and others who even today seem to be quaking in their shoes in the presence of the gods, the materialism, the gods of the homosexuals, the gods of evolution, the gods of feminism, and so forth. But fundamentally, God is saying, I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, the greatest empire on earth, and yet still you do not remember my great salvation that I brought to you. Where is your confidence in my salvation? Where is your confidence in the God of heaven, the creator of heaven and earth, the one who has delivered you from the greatest enemies of the human soul Pharaoh and his armies being the representative of Satan death sin and these things that have so affected us and yet we forget these things he's bringing this to his people here in Judges chapter 6 where is the faith in the gospel message of Jesus Christ the Son of God the Creator on the cross who burst the bands of the grave and crushed the devil for us this is the problem we forget the great victory that Jesus brought to us where are the shouts of praises in the congregation of the Saints on Sundays as we hear the message of the gospel again and realize its great relevance for us and the great hope that it gives us for eternal glory where are the shouts of praises why are the people asleep why are they running why are they afraid of the gods of the heathen why are they quaking over the problem of disease and death and the kovat 19 thing and all of these other gods that seem to be worshiped by the heathen around us.

Why the fear of all these other things rather than the fear of God? This is the question that God is bringing to the children of Israel in Judges chapter six. Instead, these folks are fearful. They're focused on hiding out, flying under the radar, escaping the cities, unwilling to engage the antithesis, compromising with the latest Marxist or woke antithesis, afraid of offending the gay borg and all the rest. This is the spirit of fear that seems to be so prevalent in our churches today and even in our conservative churches where many are running from the battle.

They seem to be an escapistic mentality to just get out of the cities and not disciple the nations, but kind of shore up whatever meager things we have, but not to claim the kingdom rights of Jesus Christ over every square inch of this universe. It seems to me that there is too much fear. There isn't enough faith. The conservatives are affected as much as the liberals. The conservatives easily taken by the devil's devices.

I've heard of churches split over the most insignificant of devices and almost total lack of unity even among conservatives and and so few young men know what it is to overcome the devil to walk away from the faith with a little bit of dragon blood on their tennis shoes. This is where we need to be, brothers and sisters. We need to be conquerors. We need to be victors because of Jesus Christ's victory at the cross. But these things very much lacking in our day to day.

It's a faithless and a disobedient generation. God brought Egypt down in the zenith of its power, as I said, a world power unmatched by any others. And now here they are quaking in their boots before the city-state of the Amorites. It's instructive to me that the Philistines were still concerned. Four hundred years later, the witch doctors in Philistia concerned that the Israelites had escaped the power of Egypt and the God of Israel had crushed the Egyptian armies.

Philistia was still concerned about it, but not so. God's people, shame on them. A thousand shames on the people of God in a situation like this, and therefore God brings his judgment. God brings his chastisement upon the church. Hard times for the faithless church.

In times like these, God is subjecting his people to scorched earth policy at the hands of the Midianites. The church are God's people, the most degraded people now in the community, pitiable, impoverished, the mockery of the world. But now we come to verse 11, be encouraged. The church shall never perish. The church shall always revive.

We may go through a period of 25 years of languishment and impoverishment and a lack of any kind of real life in the body. And there's still the three elderly women in the back of the church praying day in and day out for the reviving of the local churches. But eventually God returns. And that's what we find in Judges chapter 6 and verse 11 and God intervenes here with one of the most extraordinary conversations to be found in Scripture so I want you to pay attention to verses 6 11 through 12 of Judges chapter 6 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was an offer which belonged to joe ash the asbir abbeys, right? While his son gideon threshed wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the medianites and the angel the Lord appeared to him and said to him, the Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor.

To which Gideon said, excuse me? Who are you talking to? I think you may have the wrong person. But God intervenes and says these words, "'The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor.'" What does this tell us about that God is choosing the most unqualified, the most ignominious, the most unlikely man for his job and that's what Gideon later says, I'm the least of the least in my tribe, my tribe is the least of the least in Israel and So God picks out the most unqualified, the most unsuspecting, the most ignominious of the men for his armies. And so who are we?

Who am I that God should choose me? This is Gideon's attitude. Gideon is not a mighty man of valor, but he was a mighty man of valor. So here we have this tension. He's a mighty man of valor as far as God's concerned, which is all that matters for this discussion.

God is determined. See this is the key that God is so determined. His determination is as important as the thing affected itself. Jesus was the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. What God has predetermined is so certain to have happened that we speak of it as if it has happened.

God has determined it, said it, predestined it. Children, Gideon is weak in his faith, but God's purpose, that's the second point there, God has purposed that Gideon will be a mighty man of war. If God has placed this calling upon the man this this purpose upon your life in my life it's done it's done as good as done as we say so so be content God has purposed your salvation. God has purposed the victory. God has determined that you are a mighty man of valor, that you are more than conquerors through Him who loved you.

That you are more than a conqueror, though it may be appear that you are a lamb to the slaughter, a little raggedy around the edges, bloody from head to toe in the battle against the world, the flesh and the devil. Still, he is determined more than conquerors. You are more than conqueror through him and loved. Move on the verse 13 conversation continues, Gideon said to him, Oh, my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us where are all his miracles which our fathers told us about saying did not the Lord bring us from Egypt but now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us in the hands of the Midianites the Lord turned to him and said, go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?

Now, Gideon lacked faith. Gideon didn't see that the God who delivered them from Egypt would deliver them out of the hands of the Midianites. He remembered but he didn't Continue to believe in the God who will continue to make sure that the thing He began He will complete. He lacked faith. No question about it.

That somehow the program of God has come into a grinding halt. But God's call on Gideon is most certain. He says, go in this might of Yours. Have I not sent You? Do you know who I am?

Do you know my name? I am God. I have called you to be my servant. Have I not sent you? Have I not sent you?

To disciple the nations? To conquer nations? For my name? Do you know who I am? Let me introduce myself to you.

See this is where it begins. This is so fundamental. This is God speaking. It is essential we know who this is that speaks to us. I'm God you know, me, I have sent you.

I'm the source of all authority and power over all heaven and earth, the absolute sovereign. This is what is underscored in Isaiah's call as well. In Isaiah 6, listen, when he is called, Isaiah gets a glimpse of the mighty God sitting on the throne. There He is high and lifted up. The Holy One of Israel.

The Lord of hosts. Meaning the Lord of armies. Infinitely far above all principalities and powers. Do you know who I am? Do you know what Jesus is?

All authority given to Him far above all principalities and powers. Assigning to us to disciple the nations. Go, he says, you know who I am. I am above all the enemies, far above all principalities and powers, and if I have sent you, I will equip you. I will be with you.

I will be sure that you will win. When God says I will do this thing, I have purposed to do this thing, he will do it. We find this throughout Isaiah as well. Be encouraged that this God is certain in his plans, his purposes, he is absolute in what he's going to do. He's absolute and infinite and his power to accomplish everything he has set out to do.

Isaiah 14, the Lord of hosts again, the Lord of hosts, the Lord of armies again, the Lord of armies has sworn saying, surely I as I have thought, so it shall come to pass as I have purposed so it shall stand do you know who I am do you know who I must send you do you know who I am it calls you You hear my voice. I speak to you. Do you know who I am? I am God, he says. This is Isaiah 46 as well.

Listen, I am God, there is no other. One more time, I am God. Let's get this straight. Who am I? I am God.

This is fundamental to everything. We begin here, brothers and sisters, every time. I am God. There is none like me declaring the end from the beginning of ancient times. Things that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure indeed I have spoken it.

I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also do it any questions No questions, of course, there are no questions So Gideon, you don't understand you mighty man of valor. You are my man. I am God and I'm sending you.

This is fundamental. This is where it all begins. And then we watch God's training program throughout the life of Gideon and children this is the third point God grows Gideon's faith God is growing Gideon's faith throughout this God is patient God takes Gideon by the hand He finds a man who's weak in his faith and he takes him by the hand, gently leads him and teaches him and guides him and increases his faith through the conditions that he sets about him. Gideon asks for signs right away in verse 17, show me a sign. They're very common in scripture.

This is common among weak Christians and those who are just starting out in the faith. They often want a sign. And God is patient, I believe he does miracles. I believe he does this in on mission fields. We read this throughout the history of missions.

People say God doesn't do miracles anymore. It doesn't work above beyond normal means. Of course he does. He does it all the time and he does it oftentimes for boosting faith and nurturing the tiny developing faith in certain countries around the world especially, but he doesn't do it in America very much. Why is that?

Because America is lapsing in Faith. This is the issue. America's faith is not there. We tend to be Sinaholics. Much like the Pharisees in Matthew 12, Jesus called them an evil and adulterous generation seeking after a sign.

So the question is whether or not the signs will grow faith or perpetuate doubts. That's the question. It's the effect the sign has that makes the difference. And so the Pharisees and others had turned into sinaholics. We call them sinaholics, give me another sign, give me another sign, you don't give me another sign, I won't believe in you, I kind of believe in you, but maybe I won't, and so therefore I need another sign, and give me another sign, and Without the sign, there's no propping up of a faith that is dying anyway.

And so this is the reason why Christ was hesitant to do signs and yet he did so many miracles, hundreds of miracles to a blind man that was blind from birth and instantaneously returned his sight to him. A man dead, rotting in the grave for four days, brought him out of the tomb, right there before everybody so that all those that were witnessing could testify of that and did. And yet they wouldn't believe, they still wouldn't believe. So how many more resurrections, how many more resurrections would it take? No, no the hearts are so dead, the paralysis is so set in, the ears are so stopped to the word, that even if Charles Spurgeon, George Whitfield, Paul Washer, and all the great evangelists that ever showed up, stood up, and brought the message, it wouldn't do anything.

It wouldn't result in any kind of a response of tears of contrition and repentance and turning to Christ in faith and receiving the message of the gospel. It wouldn't happen because the hearts are so hard. This is the response of so many in the times of Christ and us as well but watch what happens with Gideon. Gideon sets out this little sacrifice. God sends the flame of fire on the sacrifice and immediately Gideon responds in faith calls the place Jehovah's peace because God said peace be to you he believed that he was reconciled with God what an encouragement to his heart verse 24 of chapter 6 and Gideon responds then in repentance God calls Gideon to repentance Gideon took ten men of his servants did as the Lord has said to him so it was because he feared his father's household and the men of the city, they could not do it by day.

So he's still a little wavering in his faith there, reading from verses 27 to 28. Did it by night, and when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down and the grove was cut down, was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon that altar that was built. He was tearing down the idols that had been established in his father's household, and he does it with a vehemence, and this is essential for us. Now, He does it at night, but he rips down the idols. He pulls it out.

We need this faith, brothers and sisters, to engage in family and church reformation. We need to see that repentance, that zeal spoken of in 2 Corinthians 7. As we see these gods and these heathen idols creeping into our congregations or into our family life, whether it be pornography or academic pride or materialism or whatever it is or that anger, that spirit of anger, it needs to be done away with. And these idols need to become down, all idols underfoot be trot. The Lord is God, the Lord is God, that's the spirit.

It's the spirit of vehemence, zeal, and in repenting as a body, as a church, before we'll have any impact against the enemies around us, there has to be a repentance within the body of the church itself. And what's beautiful here is the father is actually, Gideon's father's impressed by this tearing down of the idolatry in his front yard, and he effectively comes to his son in the morning, he's a good riddance, defends his son at the city council, high five son, way to go bro! He was on it, he was appreciative of what his son did in his own front yard, he named his son Jerubabel, which means basically let Baal fight for himself. Hey Baal, come and get it you big goof. It's effectively the translation of that name.

That's how Gideon is referred to the rest of his life You know, he's a taunt to bail the rest of his life is if bail you're a loser Bill you're a loser Hey bill, you're a loser time for dinner It was a strange name, but his father got in the game, he agreed to repentance, I was being brought in by his own son, it was a generational repentance, so to speak, and it's a beautiful thing when when men and fathers and grandfathers had Humility to watch their sons excel isn't that what we want? So this just generational repentance I think is so essential in time like this where our nation is under the judgment of God. Where it might begin with the father's porn stash or might begin with the grandfather's anger habit or whatever it is, the idols of self and the idols of lust and pride are brought down to strip down, rip down and and the right eyes are torn out, and the right arms are ripped off because we have such vehement zeal for our God. And our love for our God motivates our thing ourselves to these things our grandparents were in sin for sending their children to public schools that didn't teach the fear of God in the science classes in the 1940s shame on our grandparents and we honor them for many good things, but to the extent that they were tolerating the Alice and Jerry books and the Dick and Jane books that wouldn't acknowledge God, wouldn't realize that life involved more than the public school and the public square involved the church and other things these were stripped out in the 1920s 1930s shame on our grandparents for sending our parents into the public schools in the 1930s 1940s and then the grandparents they say amen hallelujah brother let's take down those those idols that that lifted themselves up against the the preeminence of Jesus Christ in the public schools and enable the Supreme Court in United States 1963 and 1964 to take the fear of God and prayer out of the schools shame on the 1950s shame on the 1940s see there's there is a passionate zealous vehement repentance that is spreading across the generations and the grandparents are saying amen to it.

Praise God. I expected a few more amens at that point but all right just say ouch then just say ouch that's all right. Let's move on to chapter 7 This again is such a beautiful story of Gideon, a man weak in faith, kind of making it out there, trounce down the idols, sneaking in at night to burn up the porn stash and take down the idolatry of his fathers and his grandfather's generation. But now Gideon's preparing to address the big battle of his life. God's bringing this preparation to him.

And all of us will face these great battles. Every one of us will face an Apollyon in the valley of humiliation. We'll make it through the valley of the shadow of death. We will have our confrontation, Vanity Fair. You know, these things make up the Christian life, don't they?

Does anybody face their Apollyon? Yes, all of us will be facing the Apollyon of our lives, whether it be individual or corporate battle, either way. But this is God's intent, this is God's assignment, you mighty man of valor. He's building you up for this. He's building up your faith.

He's preparing the arena for the battle the battle is ordained by God himself you cannot run you cannot hide God will bring the battle to you. Remember a discussion I had with a Mennonite brother out in Mexico. He was way out in the boonies in Mexico. And these brothers and sisters, the Mennonites, had moved out into Mexico to try to escape some of these influences and all the rest, and this brother said the sin of incest had just swept through their colony, their community, and they couldn't escape it. I'm telling you, brothers and sisters, you can run, but you cannot hide.

The battle will come to you. Doesn't matter where you are. You could be in the middle of Detroit. You could be in some little community safe and sound in Mexico. The battle is going to come to you.

He is the Lord of hosts. Half the Psalms are battle psalms. Sing them. As a brother exhorted us earlier this week, sing the Psalms, all of them, not just Psalm 148, but sing Psalm 89, sing Psalm 66, 63, 60 and all the others. But life is battle.

God has ordained it. He is the Lord of hosts. He's committed Himself to fight against evil. That's why He calls Himself the Lord of battle. But he's also assigned us to this battle It's why pacifism is not the Christian life We were in some of the highest levels of spiritual warfare at one point in our church, one of the recent visitors new to the church.

She said, I thought this church was safe. You know, I'd moved out of the metro area thinking that Somehow this was going to be a safe place for me. I said, safe? Safe? You got to be kidding me.

He prepares the table before us in the presence of our enemies. Sure, we spread the banquet and we enjoy a meal in the presence of the battlefield that's fun but it's still a battlefield don't forget the battlefield we still engage the battle and the battle comes to us it's God's intent for that to happen. Remember when I was 19 years old, graduated from my home school, sitting in the living room in Santa Maria, California, getting ready to go Cal Poly up in San Luis Obispo, and we were having family worship, my father had suggested we sing, am I a soldier of the cross, a follower of the Lamb?' and I thought at that moment that's my hymn, that's my ballad, that's what I'm going with, from here on out must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas I think not sure I must fight if I would rain increase my courage Lord I'll bear the toil endure the pain supported by thy word hallelujah it's a battle we are lambs to the slaughter but more than conquerors it's it's great it's glorious saints and all that glorious war shall conquer though they die amen So Jesus went to war at the cross.

He got the victory orders that we go in. It's our turn. And he said he'll be with us to the end of the age. So let's move on. Chapter seven.

Verses one to three, let's read. How is God preparing Gideon for the battle of his life? Children, pay attention, this is where it gets exciting. Chapter seven, then Jerubabael, Baal you big stupid oaf, And all the people who were with him rose early in the camp beside the well of Harod So that the camp of the Midianites was on the north side of them by the hill of Mora and the valley the Lord said to Gideon the people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim the glory for itself against me saying my own hand it saved me. Now therefore proclaiming the hearing of the people saying whoever is fearful and afraid let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead and the 22, 000 of the people returned and 10, 000 remained against the 140, 000.

So three important insights from this verse, especially verse two. These three very important insights to understand our God. We're coming to know our God in this weekend, and these are great insights. The first is this, is that God is in the business of maximizing his glory for himself that's what he's doing he's maximizing his glory he's not going to share the glory with anybody else and the conditions of the war in your life and my life is arranged such that at the end of the day only God is going to get the glory, not the Midianites, not the enemy, not the devil, not you, not me, but God is going to walk away with the glory and that's the way he's going to set up the battle in your life. And if there's any other way you configured it in order that you might somehow capture some element of glory for gaining the victory in that battle, God will change those conditions such that he will in the end get the glory, all the glory for himself.

That's number one. Second insight is this, God wants to ensure that nobody, nobody ever, ever, ever says, my own right hand has saved me. And isn't that the lesson that God is driving home to Job when he said, if you can Understand everything that's going on in the universe. If you can create a galaxy, if you can create this amazing life that burgeons throughout the seas and throughout the forest and the mountains of this land, If you can do any of these things, then I will admit that your right hand can save yourself. Brothers and sisters, this is the most indispensable element of salvation or soteriology.

I asked this question of several guys who wanted to be pastors a while back because I think everybody should know this. Every child should know this. Every pastor, every father and mother, every Christian should know the indispensable element of soteriology. What is it? It's what Jonah got in the belly of that whale 3, 000 feet under that surface, that big fish.

What was it? Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. There's anything that we need to know. This is the core of the core.

Don't give me the five points of Calvinism. I asked you what biblical sociology is all about. The first thing you need to give me is this. God saves. Just give me the name of Jesus.

Yahweh saves. That's all you need to know. To begin with, that's kindergarten level. Let's start with kindergarten first. Are you convinced from the bottom of your hearts that nobody that is nobody and certainly not yourself is Able to save you but God alone.

This is this is a thing that only God can handle Your salvation impossible for you, but God can save you He's the only one who can salvation is from the beginning to the end of the Lord That's the message from Scripture She was basic message so many people forget it but it's an everyday message for every one of us brothers and sisters salvation is of the Lord a hundred amens to that all right thirdly here's the third takeaway third third message that God is is bringing to us God maximizes the faith elements God is out to maximize the faith elements. For Gideon, for you, and for me, if you're not living by enough faith, you're resting on your own abilities, your own body, your own bank account, whatever it is, God will maximize. God will do things to maximize the faith element in your life. He pushes us out of the boat, he shoves us off the high dive. He says you must Be living your life by faith.

You must walk by faith. You must get out of the boat. You must take the faith journey to pass that which does not require faith. That's what does require faith. And these decisions, these opportunities lay before us all the time.

God would have us on the walk of faith, getting out of the boat. And our children, as you know, are probably the biggest challenge in our lives in terms of increasing our faith, getting us to look to God, our marriages as well. It is a faith walk, it's a faith journey. He will get us out of the boat and then we're sitting there with our hands on the bow and he'll peel the fingers off one by one so we can't even be hanging on to the bow but we are walking on water and looking to Jesus the entire distance that's what he's pushing us to do it's we pressing for us that's what he insists upon he He peels our fingers off the bow. He picks up the winds and the waves.

We say, okay, I think I can handle a little bit of walking on water, a couple, two, three steps, and then he says, good, now we're gonna pick up the winds and the waves. And sometimes you go, oh no, not that, not that. He's absolutely, absolutely. And now you're gonna learn how to hike up waves and get down the other side and all. By faith, by faith.

This is what God wants. He loves faith, demands faith. He's pleased by faith. He's glorified by your faith. He wants your faith perfected like gold, and it's more precious than gold, and more impressive to Him than anything.

He wants faith. He'll put you through the trials in order to see that faith in your life he wants you to look up he wants to believe he wants you to trust in him through the most dangerous, the most hazardous conditions that could ever attend you on the journey from here to eternity. Hazards that would blow your mind. You would never, I'll just draw from another text, I has not seen nor you heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the trials that you will face in your life. I realize I'm putting a few verses together there, but I'm just telling you that God in His sovereignty will lay out a journey for you you would have never expected but it's for the growth of your faith brothers and sisters he loves faith he wants faith he demands he insists upon it and the scenario at this point does not meet God's expectations unless the faith element is maximized and so he cuts down to 32, 000 to 10, 000 now it's a ratio of what one to 20 and he said no not good enough he brings them down to the brook you remember the story children they all the soldiers are down at the brook and some of them are drinking with their hands and the others are just kind of lapping up like a dog and that whittles it down to the 300 God is increasing or nurturing Gideon's faith to meet these circumstances.

Now from what I understand, the special forces, the Green Beret, are not identified by this method of drinking water, okay? I've never seen that. I don't know much about the Green Beret, but my understanding is doesn't involve this kind of thing, it's more of a this kind of thing, you know, that's what determines whether you're going to be a Green Beret, a special forces, 300 going up against 140, 000, and that's because God is nurturing Gideon's faith. He's insisting on the increase of faith, but then he does one more thing, he sends them down to the enemy camp, verses 13 through 14. Sends them down to the camp and this man is telling his companion about a dream.

I had a dream last night about the common fight. Somebody yelled, attack, and there I stood with an arrow in my back. Excuse me, that's a song that comes from the 1960s. But that was effectively what he said. He had this premonition, this dream that God gave to him, and he said, I dreamed of a bun.

It was a bun. The companion said, like, a bun? Like a loaf of barley bread? Yeah, a bun. But it was like a really big bun and then this big bud started to roll and roll that are rolled and it rolled all over every one of us and we all died.

That's my translation of this passage and I think it's appropriate. It's not inspired but it's my best shot at it. And Gideon gets it at this point Gideon gets he gets it and we see in verse 15 so it was when Gideon heard the telling of the dream of the interpretation that he worshiped he returned to the camp Israel said arise for the Lord has delivered the camp of Indian into your hand. Gideon gets it at this point. It all comes together in his mind at this point.

He sees God. He comes to know God. He begins to understand how God works, and he gets it. It's the definitive moment in his life. He is struck with a vision of God, and he worships.

As Job, who realizes the hand of God, the purpose of God, the work of God in his life, in slaying all of his children, taking away all of his goods, and Job gets it. Job realizes this is God and God's hand has descended on my life. He falls on the floor and he worships God. He says the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Gideon worships God.

He's struck by the immediate reality of God, his presence, that God is there, that God is a purpose, that God is totally sovereign, and there's an infinite ease by which God will overcome the enemy. It's a no-brainer. It's a nothing-burger for God to bring about a victory like this. He sees God. He comes to understand God.

And He can see God laughing. He that sits in the heavens shall laugh. For a moment, he can see that God is laughing. The whole world is set against God. The whole world is set.

It's surrounding the camp of the saints in the worst case scenario. And I have no idea where the end of the world is, whether it's going to be in the next ten years or a thousand years from now. But if there's ever a point at which it's Gog and Magog and the entire world is surrounding the camp of the Saints it is at that moment my friends that we will hear God laughing and he he catches a glimpse of what God is doing here, that God is going to pull this off. God is going to win the battle. God is real.

And He's about to do something that will knock your socks off. And so Gideon gets into the game and he said okay this is what we're going to do and by the way again I I have done a little bit of research in terms of military strategy, but this one is rare. They don't do this very often in military war. You know, 300 against 140, 000 sort of odds. He divides the three inner men into three companies.

Children, it's verse 16 of chapter 7. He put a trumpet into every man's hand with empty pitchers and torches inside the pitcher said to them look at me and do likewise watch and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do when I blow the trumpet I and all who are with me that then you also blow the trumpets every side of the whole camp, say the sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. So Gideon gets it because he knows that God is going to get the victory today. God is gonna get the glory today. And this is how he's gonna do it.

He shames the enemy by overwhelming them with the weakest force, an army of pitchers and trumpets led by the wimp from Abazer. And so, brothers and sisters, to know God is what? To know God is to know the exceeding greatness of His power toward us, the power He exercised when He raised Christ from the dead, working in us, in time and space, in the battles that we confront. It is to know that His grace is sufficient in our weaknesses, to be amazed at his strength, perfected in our weakness, at the very most broken moment in our lives, where we feel so weak and so unable to do the things we're doing. I remember one time I was on the way to the Bahamas to try to rebuild the Grand Bahama Island.

I just sensed a need. I needed to go. I just needed to go to Grand Bahama. It was all by myself on this ferryboat. I couldn't get there by any other means because the airports had been wiped out, half the island was demolished, the churches had been demolished, and so I just got on this very boat all by myself and I was laying there And I thought what am I doing I was so exhausted and I prayed to God that he would give me strength.

And I said, God, you have made all the galaxies, and they burned for billions of years, or made to burn for billions of years. And it's like a trillion nuclear bombs going off every second on our sun. It's amazing. Your power is inexhaustible. It's infinite.

And I just need like an additional like 500 calories To keep me going that was my prayer. I just said just a little bit more You know don't I don't need like a galaxy worth. I don't need a Sun worth I just need a little teeny bit more energy and God gave me that and I just, you know, by God's grace we're able to do an amazing thing on the island and was able to get the pastors together and rebuild and it was a beautiful opportunity. One of my best experiences of my life as it turned out God opened the floodgates I got home I had checked for $40, 000 in the in the P.O. Box that came from somebody I didn't know at all from Maine I mean just incredible things happened to enable us to be able to get flats of drywall and roofing materials over so that the we can start rebuilding widow's homes across the Grand Island, Grand Bahama Island.

And so I'm just saying, brothers and sisters, we step out of the boat. We don't have what it takes. We know we don't have what it takes, but we step out of the boat and God will give us the strength. God will give us what we need. He always does.

So to know God is to know that his grace, his power, is perfected in us, in our weaknesses. To know God is to know how God will handle the worst-case scenarios and to be content with it, not to be anxious for the future. To know God is to know that God waits, and he expects us to wait in faith as well. To know God is to know that he will test our faith, and to just look up and smile and receive it. It's your father, he's exercising your faith today.

To know God, to know that God loves faith. God loves it when men are extended in faith, when his man is up against Pharaoh and his armies, and the children of Israel are all against him, and he's all by himself, and the armies of Pharaoh, the maddest man on earth, are descending upon him at the Red Sea, and God looks down at his man, and there he is, Moses, raising the rod and saying, what's this? God loves it! God loves that! That's what he receives, that he likes faith!

He wants us extended like that. He loves men who smash the pitchers and then wait for God to come and give the victory first faith then the victory but first faith to know God is to know how God works that faith is in the face of unbelievable odds. Faith smashes the pictures, then God comes and we get the victory. To know God is to know His goodness and His holiness and His justice, mercy, and wisdom all converging at the cross of Christ. So beautiful.

Where God's mercy and His love overwhelm His justice to bring about our salvation for us. To know God is to know that God always wins. That no matter how bad things appear to be going, God always wins. To know God is to know that God allows the wicked to fill up the measure of the wickedness before He smashes them. To know God is to know that abortion and sexual perversion only gets another 30 years, maybe.

It's almost over. You understand? I'm just saying this is the way God works. Fret not thyself because of evildoers. They shall soon perish from the way and you will look diligently for his place and it shall not be found.

Where were all those abortionists? Where is Margaret Sanger and all of her birth control pills and the abortifacients that ruled the world back in the 2020s? Where is it? Gone! To know God is to know his perfect justice.

To know God is to know that the worst day in all of the universe turns out to be the best day at the cross. All the powers of darkness unleashed upon Jesus Christ, but he gets the victory, he smashes the serpent's head and beats death into the ground to know God is to know this to know about how God does things to know about his nature to know about how it's going to turn out because you know God to know God is to know his salvation his salvation comes sovereignly salvation is of the Lord salvation is surprising That man there at the gate beautiful expected ten bucks maybe a hundred bucks if it's a good day but what did he get? He got his whole life restored to him right there. Gold, silver have I none but in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." Wow. To know God is to know His salvation is surprising.

Above and beyond anything we would ask or think that God is going to do awesome things. He rends the cosmos. He tears the heavens apart, upsets the whole order of the universe. Why? To save you.

That's to know God. It's a God-sized salvation. If God were going to save the world, what would it look like? I'm talking about God coming down to save the world. What would it look like above and beyond anything we could ask or think?

Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared. He is rending the heavens, bringing His Son into the womb of the Virgin Mary, entering into our universe, going up to the cross to slay the dragon for us. Hallelujah! To know God is to know how he does things. He does things big.

See, when God comes down to save us by his power, friends, it's got to be comparable to the creation of the galaxies. The power it takes to bring about our salvation to overcome death at the cross has got to be comparable to the the creation of a hundred billion galaxies like the creation of entire new universe in the regeneration of one person in the giving of one new life to one new person to which we will sing the praises of God forever and ever. I was telling my older brothers a week ago or so I was talking about one of the brothers in our church I said if God saves this man from this sins, I will praise the name of God for eternity. I will never forget it. What God has done in this man's life that I've worked with for the last four to five years of my life.

Praise God if he brings about that salvation because I know that's not my work and that's not gonna happen by anybody else. It's gonna happen by God reconstructing a universe. It's gonna be God reconciling all things to himself and his Son Jesus Christ. That's the way it's going to come about, praise God. To know God is to know how God does things, how he saves, how he works, not by power, not by might, but by my spirit.

He comes on a donkey's colt, he gets the victory at the cross, he gets the greatest victory at the lowest moment he stoops to conquer that's how he does it you know God is to know Romans 828 every trial every persecution every hard year that you go through in your life your church goes through is in God's hand he has ordained it for you And to know God is to know his hand and discipline on us, and it's okay. And I can say that myself having been through fiery trials ourselves in the last year or two, unlike anything we've seen in our lives. We have faced incredible heat in the fire, and yet by God's grace, we're rejoicing in our tribulations. It is an amazing thing to see such joy in our lives. It's a miracle of God that we're coming through it, but we know that God's hand is on us.

He's waking us up. He's bringing us to more sanctification. He's making more gold out of us, praise God. To know God is to know nothing's out of his control. The Hitler's, the Stalin's are not out of his control, They are all very much in his control.

Absolutely. All the time. Absolutely. No matter how out of control things appear at any moment in your life. Remember, God is preparing the proud, the persecuted, the false brothers, the divisive systematics, the apostates for their destruction.

He's bringing redemption into your life. He's sanctifying you and preparing you for heaven, that's what he's doing along the way, is to know that God is strong and as we know him we are strong and we do exploits No matter how bad things get, we will do exploits. He shakes the world once more so that that which cannot be shaken may remain. That's the church of Jesus Christ. God brings about the bubonic plague in Europe to kill a third of Europe.

At that point Wycliffe is saying it's all over. His first book he wrote in university was the end of the church, the end of the age. He thought it was the end of the world. It wasn't the end of the world. God was killing a third of Europe so He could grind up the soil and get it ready for the Reformation.

That's to know God. To know God is to know that He will save us in the worst straits. To know God like Abraham is to know that God will raise my son from the dead. And of course, of course, of course he would raise his own son from the dead. To know God is to know that when I raise the rod, God will come and he will part the Red Sea.

To know God is to know that he will come and he will save me. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, oh God, we're in awe of you. We want to know you more.

We love to know you. We are here to learn more of you and to do acts of exploits, to be stronger because of our knowledge of you, and to have a faith that continues to grow and to expand and to be able to step out of the boat and to engage in faith and to continually look to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Father, this is what we desire. We pray that you would continue to increase our faith, set our eyes on Jesus, convict any who do not know you that they need to know you today. They need to bow their knees to Jesus Christ, who indeed is the Savior.

He is the Savior of God. God, You have come. You have come to save us personally by Your Son Jesus. We accept Him. We embrace Him to stay.

And we would know You more. We would know your son Jesus Christ more that we would do exploits that we would live a life of faith the life that teases you father that we would love you more we would trust you more that we would know you more for who you really are and walk with you every day. In Jesus' name, Amen.