Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.
Gideon put out a fleece to be sure of God's will. If we desire God's guidance, should we also put out our own fleeces? Finding the will of God is a lifelong endeavor for every believer running the race of life. Today, when and if it's appropriate to put God to the test to discover his will.
From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, have you ever put out a fleece to determine the will of God at a crucial moment? As today's message puts it, have you ever tried to read God's mind?
Well Dave, you have asked a very interesting question. There have been times when I've tried to discern God's will and I said, God, if this happens, then I'm going to do this and if this happens, I'm going to do that. But, Gideon's fleece is very debatable.
It is much discussed and I'm not sure that it is always appropriate to put out a fleece, especially if it's our fleece, so to speak. This much I know and I want everyone to listen carefully. If we obey what God has revealed regarding his will, there are about six passages in the New Testament that say this is the will of God.
If we obey what God has revealed, well the good news is I believe that he directs us in what is unrevealed. That's a principle that I've lectured on and I think it's been a blessing and a help to many. But also, it's important for me to share with you some very good news. August is the month in which the matching gift challenge is being offered to all our listeners. What that means in practical terms is simply this, that any gift that you give will be doubled.
At the end of this program, I'm going to be giving you some contact info. Meanwhile, ask the Lord what he might have you do as we continue this ministry that goes around the world. You don't have to be a Christian for very long before you realize that there's an expression that is often thrown around and used. It's entitled, knowing or finding the will of God. The idea that exists in our minds often is that God has this blueprint in heaven for you and he's leaving it up to you to try to figure out what on earth you're supposed to be doing and what a puzzle it is.
And so there are many people who use what is known as a fleece. Today I'm speaking to you about the will of God and my intention is first of all to demystify the concept and also to have everyone leave here today knowing exactly what the will of God is. So if you came here today and wondered whether or not you should move to Seattle, if you're struggling on whether or not you should marry this guy, if you're having problems making a decision because of a transfer of jobs or because you don't know where to live in Chicago, you have come to the right place. This is it, we're going to solve it all to set you free and go do the will of God. Now instead of this being a sermon, which of course it is, I want you to visualize however that actually you have come into my study and you've told me what your problem is in terms of finding the will of God and I am now giving you some instruction. So this is kind of between us. You may be in the balcony, you may be seated far away, you may be listening and other means and the radio or whatever, but pretend that we're just together on this. In fact, I'm looking into your eyes, you're having coffee, I'm having tea and we're just enjoying ourselves and we're talking about the will of God. The only difference is you can't talk back to me.
You do that, we've got some ushers who are ready to help you to the door. Where does this idea of the fleece come from anyway? Well, it's found of course in the book of Judges chapter six. We have to understand this in context. Gideon was told by God exactly what God's will was. God came to him and said, go in this your might and he said, I'm not strong. My family is small and God said, I want you to know that I'm going to be with you.
We covered this in the last message. Gideon, however, being a man of doubt, you've met guys like this, haven't you? You young ladies never being able to be sure about anything said to the angel.
He said, can I have a sign? Angel said, okay. Gideon makes a meal, brings it back and the meal becomes a sacrifice and it burns to nothing and the angel disappears. And then Gideon says, now I know that I have been in the presence of God. Later on, he does exactly what God tells him. He tears down the idol in his father's backyard, but this Gideon with all of his doubts, with all of his double mindedness, he says, I'm still not sure whether this is God.
Now look at, that's what the text says. I'm in judges chapter six and I'm picking it up right there in verse 36. Gideon said to God, if you will save Israel by my hand, as you have promised, what's that all about? If you will save Israel as you promised, he knew exactly what the will of God is, but don't you know he needs confirmation. So he says, okay God, I have to know for sure. You've already given me two signs.
I need a third. He says, look, I'm going to take this fleece, this sheepskin, and I'm going to put it on a threshing floor. If in the morning it is wet and the ground around that is dry, then I'll know that you've spoken. So that's what he does. If there is due only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, he says, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.
And that is what happened. Gideon Rose early the next day, he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew, a bowl full of water. And at last Gideon says, well, at last I know God's will. Now for sure it is really, really clear. What could be clearer than this sign? That what he says? No.
He begins to say, Hey, wait a moment. You know, this sheep skin could have picked up a lot of moisture during the night. Maybe it was high humidity. So you see the ground is dry to be sure, but, but then the fleece, I got a bowl of water, but you know, it could have picked up the humidity in the air. I'm not sure whether or not this is of God. So verse 39 says that Gideon said to God, do not be angry with me.
Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time, make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew. And that night God did so only the fleece was dry and all the ground was covered with dew. And apparently after that Gideon knew that he had heard from God at last. What is a fleece?
And by the way, this message is going to go beyond this text to a message in general, including the new Testament on the will of God, because so many Christians I believe are confused at this point. But what is a fleece? A fleece, I have made up this definition.
It's an arbitrary sign that we make up expecting God to comply. If you say, if we have the money, we'll go on vacation this summer. That's not a fleece. That's just wisdom. But if you say now, I don't know whether or not we should go on vacation.
So God, if it rains in Chicago a week from this coming Thursday, then I'll know that you've spoken. That's a fleece. If you say to yourself, you know, if this guy really treats me as a godly man for one year and I see that he is a heart for God, I'll marry him.
That's not a fleece. That's just wisdom. But if you say, you know, if when he comes in this morning into the classroom, if our eyes lock and he smiles, then I know it's God's will that I marry him. Or if he calls before 10 o'clock as one girl told me. Because then you see, we're setting up an arbitrary way by which we are going to discern God's will.
I want you to know today that I have real problems with fleeces. You say, well, it worked for Gideon. Yes, it did. In the Old Testament, it was different where man was talking to God directly, you see, and Gideon could have this interaction that that was that was different. God sometimes did those things.
But after the New Covenant begins in the New Testament, the New Testament is totally silent about fleeces. And that is very, very significant. You do have that one instance where they cast lots to see who should take the place of Judas. Here they have two qualified candidates. Really, it would not have mattered which way the lot went.
Either one of them would have been qualified and they cast lots. In the Old Testament, they sometimes did that. I believe that that was also a hangover from the Old Covenant. And you don't find that in the rest of the New Testament. Paul never cast lots. He never told us to cast lots. And yet he had a lot to say about the will of God.
Let me give you some problems I have with fleeces. First of all, we're dictating to God as to what he's supposed to do. We're saying, God, I want you to suspend the laws of nature. I want you be the one to stoop down to the way in which I'm reasoning because I've set up these circumstances.
I am choosing an arbitrary sign and I expect you to come through for me. What if God wanted to show you in a different way? What if he had a third alternative that you haven't even thought of? Are you giving him the freedom to lead you and he does lead us? Are you giving him the freedom to lead you in some other way in his way rather than in your special way?
That's the thing. You see, we then are dictating to God. Next, most of the time, fleeces do not bring about faith. They only increase doubt. Look at Gideon. You see, here's a situation in which he begins to think, well, you know, the devil may have done this. How do we know for sure that it's of God?
I need a second fleece, maybe also a third fleece because we begin to wonder whether or not it might not have a naturalistic explanation. Here's a woman who we shall call Margaret. Margaret is in church and she hears a missionary talk about the great needs that exist on the Marshall Islands. She's touched. And then she goes to work. She works in a law firm and she notices that one of the co-workers in the lounge for the employees left a brochure on, tourist brochure on the Marshall Islands.
Well, that's strange. I wonder what God is trying to say. Then a couple of days later a co-worker comes and says to her, you know that that young man, that good looking young man, he's being transferred to Los Angeles.
She said, really, what is his name? Marshall. What in the world is God trying to say?
Well, it must be a God thing. Well, but on the other hand, Marshall isn't a believer. The devil could have moved him to LA.
I mean, if you're moved to LA, well, nevermind. I won't go there. I won't go there. The coworker who left the brochure isn't a Christian. Maybe the devil wants to trip me up so that I end up being a missionary in someplace where I'm not supposed to be. Fleeces beget doubt. They do not increase faith. Let me give you another reason. And this is so important. It bypasses wisdom.
Let me tell you a true story. Why am I so revved up about this message? Because there are so many Christians who are going around finding the will of God, trying to find it. And they're doing foolish things to discern it.
And they're bypassing all of God's appointed means of guidance. True story. Young man read the story of Gideon and dated a girl for five years.
They got along well. She was a fine Christian, but he's one of these guys, young women who can never make up his mind. He wants certainty.
My dear friend, if you want certainty, don't even think about getting married, but he wants to be absolutely sure. So he said, God, I'm going to, I'm going to do what Gideon did. I'm going to put a cloth outside.
I'm going to call it a fleece. And if it is wet in the morning, it means that God intended me to marry this young woman. I don't think he had the faith to pray if the rest of the ground is dry. As long as he said it was wet, however, it got wet. Well, he woke up in the morning and discovered that it had rained during the night. Maybe the reason he put that fleece out there is because he had listened to the forecast. He had rained. It rained during the night. He was so excited. Obviously the fleece was going to be wet.
He rushes outside. He discovers that the night before a car had parked over that fleece. True story. It was as dry as a bone.
He broke his engagement with this lovely young woman and sank into such despair and depression that I don't know exactly where he ended. Can I tell you in the strongest language, I always want to be clear. You know that I like to be clear that that is absolutely foolish. Can I use the word stupid?
Other words come to mind, but I think you get the picture. Bypassing all of the God appointed means for guidance. Let me give you some misconceptions about the will of God. What are some of the misconceptions? First of all, that usually the will of God is just a matter of decision making.
Whom you should marry, where you should go, what school you should attend. And all those questions are important, but it's the wrong place to begin when you talk about the will of God, as we shall see in just a moment. So that's a misconception. The other misconception is that it applies to certain people. Pastors should seek the will of God.
They should know it. Missionaries should seek the will of God, but the average person who works for General Motors or who has a quote secular vocation, it does not matter. My dear friend, God wants to guide you just as much as he wants to guide any one of us.
It is true that there is a special call to the ministry. I believe that, but in terms of guidance, God wants to give it to all of his children. But I think that the greatest thing about the will of God that is so misunderstood, that it is so mysterious, so mysterious. It is a mystery wrapped in an enigma.
That's what most people think it is. Now if I were counseling you, you know, if we were in the office, this would be a place where I might actually take off my glasses and look you in the eye and ask you a question. Are you telling me that the God who wants you to do his will would withhold it from you and try to mystify you through strange, unbelievable ways? Are you telling me that?
Are you telling me that the God of the universe who loves us more than we could possibly understand wants to play this game hide or seek? A student says I know which school I'm going to go to. I'm going to send in three applications. The school in which I'm accepted, that's the one I'm going to accept. That'll be God's will.
He's accepted by all three of them. Do you imagine that God is in heaven with his arms folded like this saying, I just dare you to choose the right one. I dare you to choose the right one. You really think that that's the way God is?
Why do we spend so much time? I'm going to be candid here today. If you're going to spend the rest of your life finding the will of God, at least find one verse of scripture that tells us we should do that. Find one that says find the will of God. The reason I'm a little bit revved up is because there's so many Christians who spend so much time looking for the will of God because they're just casting about looking for God's will as if it's something so possibly mysterious that there's no reasonable way that you could ever possibly know it. And then they think that that's the way God is treating them. The Bible has a lot to say about the will of God.
Nowhere does it tell us to find it. Do you know what pagans spend their time doing? In all pagans religion, it is primarily focused on finding the will of God. That's why people go to fortune tellers, palm readers.
They look, what? They're trying to discern the divine mind. They're trying to divine God's intention.
That's why people go to astrologers, not you folks, but I mean, there are people who do that. You look at the history of occultism and you find that there are innumerable ways, too many for me to mention today and it's certainly I don't know them all, all trying to divine the future, trying to read this inscrutable thing called the will of God or gods, depending on what people believe, ends in such foolishness. Bypassing all of God's means for guidance. You say, well, how do we find the will of God? I'm using the expression, even though the Bible doesn't tell you, you have to find it. The will of God is revealed. The Bible says in Ephesians 5 17, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of God is. If we're supposed to walk in God's will, clearly we should know what it is and we don't have to try to look at clouds or try to find out, you know, all of these intricacies, read all these providential puzzles, though providence is clearly involved.
What I'd like to do is to give you five principles that all have to line up. Now, I know that the notes that you have don't include those. You have to understand much of this message was made up yesterday evening. So see, before that time, I didn't know God's will yet for what I was going to preach. Number one is the scripture, the scripture. You say, yeah, I knew he was going to say that. I've heard it all before the scripture. Sure. You know, the Bible tells us to live this way, but how does that help me to know whether or not I should move to Los Angeles or Seattle or wherever?
See, it doesn't help me at all to know where I'm supposed to move to here in Chicago. Hold it. This is a counseling session.
You're going too fast. What does the Bible say the will of God is? Look at passages like this and I can only refer you to them.
Romans chapter 12, for example. You give yourself a living sacrifice, holy pleasing to God, et cetera. I'm skipping verses here. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing and perfect will.
You say, well, see, there it is. We're supposed to be able to determine God's will. We're supposed to be able to divine the divine mind. No, look at the little word for there in verse three. For by the grace given to me, I say to you, he's talking about what the good, acceptable and perfect will of God is. If you want to know what it is, you say, oh, pastor, I want to find God's will.
You take the text there in Romans chapter 12 and you read it from verse three on. I think there's something like twenty two commands in those verses that tells you exactly what God's will is. And my friend, as I like to emphasize, once we obey what God has revealed, he guides us in those matters that are unrevealed.
It's amazing God has so many resources. He can close doors. He can open them. May I give you a word of caution? If God closes a door, don't try to pry it open.
But if he opens a door, walk through it. I'm holding in my hands a letter from someone who listens to us in the Middle East, an Arabic speaker. And the reason that we can read these is because the ministry of Running to Win is all throughout the Middle East in Arabic. It says, I've never truly understood the Bible and what it means to follow Jesus. When I heard the message of the gospel, I accepted Christ as savior. Thank you for your ministry. And to all who are listening, thank you for your ministry and your investment. Here at Running to Win, we rejoice because the month of August is the month in which we have a matching gift challenge.
What that means is any gift that you contribute will be doubled. This would be a great opportunity for those of you who have never contributed before. I hope that you have a pen or pencil handy because I'm going to be giving you this contact info. Go to RTWOffer.com. RTWOffer is, of course, all one word. RTWOffer.com. Or if you prefer, pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337.
That's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Pastor Erwin Lutzer with Part 1 of Trying to Read God's Mind. The fifth of 12 messages on the topic we've been down this road before, taken from the book of Judges.
Next time, more words of caution on putting out fleeces. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
