Do you ever feel like the number of Christians in the world is dwindling? or maybe that you're not good enough or smart enough or strong enough to be used by God? Today on Truth for Life, we'll learn how God uses our inadequacy to demonstrate His sufficiency. We're continuing the Encore 2025 series of Listener Favorites, and today Alistair Begg opens the Bible to Judges chapter 7. I don't know how many of you will know the name Chuck Colson.
Some of you will. If you do, you know that he was known as Richard Nixon, the President of United States henchmen. He came to faith in Jesus Christ as a result of the work of a. friend and someone whom he admired. And he also was sentenced to jail.
Because of his participation, involvement in what became known as the Watergate Crisis. He went to jail. When he left jail, He said to the prisoners, You know, one day I will come back to you. And they said, we'll hold you to it. And in a wonderful little book called Loving God, It opens up with an Easter Sunday When Colson fulfilling his promise To return to the prisoners that he had left behind, he finds himself seated on the platform and about to address them.
And then this is what he writes. As I sat on the platform, Waiting my turn at the pulpit, My mind began to drift back in time. To scholarships and honours earned, Cases argued and won. Great decisions made. from lofty government officers.
My life had been the perfect success story. the great American dream fulfilled. But all at once I realized That it was not my success God had used to enable me to help those in this prison. or in hundreds of others just like it. My life of success was not what made this morning so glorious.
All my achievements meant nothing in God's economy. No, the real legacy of my life was my biggest failure. That I was an ex-convict. My greatest humiliation being sent to prison. was the beginning of God's greatest use of my life.
He chose the one experience In which I could not glory. Four. His glory.
Now, I begin in that way because the key to this study and the key to chapter 7 is actually in the second verse. Because the Lord there said to Gideon, The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their land. Why? Notice, lest Israel boast over me, saying, We did this, my own hand has done this.
Now it's not difficult to make application of that, is it? Because we are tempted either as individuals, certainly as churches, as congregations, perhaps I could even say today, institutions, To rely on numbers. Methods personality Past successes, supposed influence. And to say, on the basis of all of this, we have a great future before us. It is only in realizing our own inadequacy.
That we actually ever come to discover the sufficiency of God. If you think about it, the principle makes perfect sense, doesn't it? If dependence upon God is the objective, If trusting is the objective. Then weakness is an advantage. Because when you're weak, Then you say, May I lean on you?
Could you help me carry this? Otherwise you say, I need nobody to lean on. I can carry everything.
So the key Is there in verse two? The picture is dramatic, isn't it? Because the numbers of the Midianites, they're described like locusts in abundance. In other words, this is a pretty big group here, but I wouldn't ever say that you look like locusts in abundance. You actually look very good.
But if you multiply this by many thousand times from a vast distance, you would say they didn't even look like humanity. There were so many of them. And their camels were without number.
So the vastness of it is what makes the incident so striking. The opposition is vast, it is apparently powerful, and influential. And the LORD said to Gideon, He says you've got far too many people in your group.
Now he had thirty-two thousand. And perhaps he was wondering whether the 32,000 would be sufficient against the vast numbers represented in the Midianite force. Even the events of the previous chapter had not actually prepared Gideon for what he was hearing. Too many.
Now surely it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. You can't get so many people here, and we've only got 32,000. Again, you see the principle: God's purpose. Is that his people will trust him and depend upon him entirely?
And so Uh the word is given. You can let the people go. If anyone's fearful and trembling, let him return home. And then 22,000 people returned.
Now the reason that there were the exemption was given Deuteronomy Is so that if these people remained in a half-hearted perspective, the man thinking about his new bride or thinking about difficulties that have been left behind. If they were then half hearted, then it created the potential for discouragement amongst the rest of the army, and therefore, it's better that they go home and go about their business, that they stay than that they stay here and be a jolly nuisance to everybody that's involved. The morale of the Army is more important than the size of the army. That's the point at first.
Well And the Lord said to Gideon, with his 10,000 now, a nice manageable number, round figure. Ah, I've got ten thousand. And the Lord said to Gideon, The people are still. Too many.
Now I don't know, I can't I I can't imagine that Gideon said Terrific. You know, or Yes. I think he's knowing what we read in chapter 6, he said, wait a minute.
Now, here you'll hear a lot of sermons on the fleece. most of which are bogus. And you'll hear a lot of sermons on the lappers, which fit in the exact same category. All right. If you're in a church and the fellow starts to explain to you about whether they're lapping like a dog or lipping with their hands or shooting or whatever they're doing, go to the bathroom because it'll really be fairly worthless.
When you come to a passage like this, if you find yourself asking why lapping. was the sign of a better soldier. you can pretty well guarantee you're on the wrong tack. In relationship to the thrust and the emphasis of the passage. God's focus.
Wasn't to try and make sure that Gideon had the toughest, wisest. fighting force possible to go against this immense army.
Now His focus wasn't on a particular kind of person. but a particular number of them. He wanted to get it as small as he possibly could. A number so small and so patently inadequate That when victory came, They would know. This is the Lord's doing.
And it is marvelous. in our eyes. How gracious is God, how patient with his servant. Because he knows exactly what is right, what Gideon is like. And He says Verse 9.
Go down against the camp. For I've given it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down to the camp, That was very gracious of him, wasn't it? I mean the Lord knew he was scared to death. He wasn't exactly real strong at the end of chapter 6, and now with you know, his army is reduced to 300 people.
If you're afraid, I mean, he wouldn't have been able to speak properly. His voice would have gone up so high in its register. No, no. I'm not afraid, no, no. No, no, I'm cool.
Yeah. If you are afraid to go down to the camp, take your buddy with you. Take Pura with you. And so Of egos. I'm encouraged again by Gideon here because he doesn't immediately go into his bumper sticker mode.
You know, God said it, I believe it, that settles it. If you are afraid, yes, I am afraid. God knows his children. That's why it says we can cast all our cares upon him because he cares for us. That's why it says that we should bring our anxieties and leave them with him and so on.
Why is there so much in the Bible about that? Because the Lord knows us. He knows that we're frail. He remembers that we are dust. He is the everlasting God.
It's his steadfast love that never fails. And what God is saying to Gideon here is: Gideon, I've got you. And I want you to go down. And when you go down, you will hear What they say, isn't that interesting? You will hear what they say.
When you're studying the Bible, look for things like this. Because this is all about seeing at the moment, isn't it? You could see the camels so many. You could see the numbers were so many. You could see all the soldiers going away.
You could see the armies being reduced. Go down and you will hear what they're saying. And so he says, well Off we go. And you will hear. And afterwards, your hand will be strengthened to go down against the camp.
And so he went down. There you have it, verse 11, verse 12. And there they were, that's the description again of the vastness of the camp. And when Gideon came, behold! When you read Behold in the text, it's always like it's a like a big flashlight shining up saying boo Behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade.
You say, of all the places he could have ended up in the vastness of the camp, isn't it fascinating that he ended up right there? I mean, there were tons of people. How was it that he heard the right person saying the right stuff? No, God is providential. It wasn't that God moved him around like a pawn on a chessboard, pawn to King Four.
No, he just went down. He exercised his prerogative, his individual responsibility. In retrospect, He would have had occasion to say. You know, God ordered my steps. A man's heart devises his way, but the Lord directs his steps.
Go down, that's what God said.
So he went down. When he got down, this is what he heard. I was dreaming, says one soldier to the other. You see them. On on parade or on watch or whatever they're doing.
Guarding. You gotta talk about something.
Well I had a dream last night. Oh yeah. How was it?
Well, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned upside down. No, My response to that would have been. Did you have a cheese pizza before you went to bed? Yeah. Are you kidding me?
But no, again, the guy says, of all things Do you know what? I don't think this is anything other than the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.
So God uses. A dream And the interpretation of the dream Not by one of his people. Not by someone of Israel. Or by a Midianite. If you're like a pagan.
So, an overnight occurrence interpreted by a pagan. haired in the ears of Gideon, and his friend Purah, is the confirmation that Gideon needed in order to proceed. As per gods. purpose for him. And so, as you look at the text, it says, oh, I can't wait to post this on social media.
Oh, I can't wait to tweet this out. Oh, I can't wait to put this on Instagram. Oh, I can't wait the whole world to find out what's going on here. None of the above. Look at the text, what does it say?
And as soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshipped. He worshiped. He says, God. You are so big. You are so mighty.
You are sovereign over. over everything, even the dreams of the pagans. And he worshipped. What that meant, I don't know. In terms of It's actual expression.
We understand worship. Looking from ourselves to God. declaring all that he is. Acknowledging all that we are before Him and our need of Him. I imagine he would have said, Oh God, you know.
Especially after chapter six, I'm surprised that you would be so gracious to me.
So kind to me. That you care for me. God dies, you know. He does. Don't be too quick.
to tell your story. before you've gone to your bedroom and worshipped. Before you've got in your car. and driven away and parted. and spoken to me God about the wonder of His grace and of His goodness.
He worshipped. And after he worshipped, He'd return to the camp of Israel. And then he gives the directive. After he worshipped. fearful, fragile.
Unlikely leader. Pours out his heart before God. And when the people saw him and heard him, He would not be diffident. There's a very there's a very important balance in this, you see. That's the If you're going to lead people, The strength of leadership is found in the awareness of inadequacy before God.
Gideon knew what he was, God knew what he was, and when the people heard him, They were struck by the fact that he knew what he was doing.
Now he knew what he was doing. And his directives are clear. They're imperatives. Get up. Get up, he says.
Get up, all three hundred of you. Get up. Get organized. And do what I do. Again, and I say it to you purposefully, behind the scenes.
We Ponder how he approached God in his frailty. And now in his public persona, He leads with great clarity. And then you of course you have the plan. Here's the plan. Blow the trumpet, break the jar and shout.
That's what we're going to do. I'm splitting into three groups. I'll be with one of the groups, then there'll be two other groups, and our program is straightforward. And so that's that's how it goes.
Now let me let Let's go back to the idea that is sometimes taught that the 300 are the Marines. These are the people that you need, you see. This is how God's kingdom advances. Never mind the 22,000, never mind the 9,700. We're just looking for the high school cheerleaders.
We're just looking for the quarterbacks. We're just looking for the people who really know what they're doing. No, we're not. History says we're not. Does that mean that you can't be used by God if you're a quarterback?
No, I guess not. I've never been one. And I certainly am not going to be a cheerleader, but I do know this. What is striking to me in this is that the command involves no military. Skill At all.
You don't have to be a marine. to get a toot out of a trumpet. Or smash a jar. Or wave a torch. I mean, it's pathetic, isn't it?
That's the way the world looks on the church. A bunch of trumpet blowing Jar smashing torch bearers, useful little segment of humanity in the great mainstream of the world. They don't know. They don't know who our commander-in-chief is. They don't know who Jesus is.
It's not our job to take them on at their own game. Our the weapons of our warfare are powerful for the bringing down of strongholds. What are they? Prayer and the preaching of the word of God. Prayer and the preaching of the Word of God.
Do you believe in the preaching of the Bible? Do you believe that the Word of God does the work of God? Are you confident in that? Are you confident enough to trust Him in that and to do it? That's exactly what's happening here.
Unlikely methods for sure.
Well, that's scarred again, isn't it? God uses illness. Frustration. disappointment. Failure.
As the very instrument of his rule. Who would have thought that against all odds And I we stop here, don't we? I mean, we know the rest of it. They they smashed the things, they blew the things. The only swords that were doing anything were the swords of the Midianites slashing each other in mayhem as they tried to get out of the predicament, unaware of the fact that what they were running from was actually the Almighty God.
Mm. Strange, isn't it, that God would use such a scrappy force? Strange, isn't it, that when God became flesh, He would be one from whom Men hide their faces. That when God stepped down into time, the second person of the Trinity did not think equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself of no reputation and be found in the form of a servant in the likeness of man, he became obedient, even obedient to death, on the cross, and people would have looked at him and said, Oh dear, oh dear. There is n there was nothing look powerful.
about that bloody sight. On Calvary. Who would have thought that God would be using scrappy force? Who would have thought that God would act in this way? Who would have thought?
that God would reach the world. Through the likes of us.
So When I'm tempted to push myself up to the front, But I'm tempted to suggest that I know how everything needs to be done. I need to remind myself that God's strength is made perfect. in weakness. And this story, of course, is not about Gideon. Which says Gideon's in it, yeah.
But beware when you teach the Bible, it's like Gideon did a really good job and you should be like Gideon. No. That's not the point. Because Gideon died. And if you read on in Judges forty years after Gideon, It was all goofed up again.
And the book of Judges ends. with a singular statement. There was no king. And the people did whatever they felt like doing. They did whatever was right in their own eyes.
And then the people began to say, Well, if only we could get a king like the other nations have a king, then we would be great. And then you know the story that goes into 1 and 2 Samuel and the promise that is given to David that from your seed will come one whose kingdom will never ever end. And who is that person?
Well, it's the king who comes. How does he come? Triumphant, beating down the forces of politics. No, gentle and riding on a donkey. The only crown he wore was a crown of thorns.
What a strange way. to reach a world. What a strange way to defeat the enemy. How fantastic it is. That God includes us.
in that program. I mean, it's amazing to me. I am amazed. to be here to speak to you to day. I woke up this morning with a phrase from a hymn in my mind.
And it begins, Jesus, what a friend for sinners. The light that was in my mind when I woke up was: Jesus, what a strength and weakness. And I didn't know if I had invented that or if it was somewhere.
So thankful for Google. I went and found it. Goes like this. Jesus. What a strength.
in weakness. Let me hide myself. in him Tempted Tried and sometimes failing. He my strength, My victory Whence? And so I say to you.
As you face today and tomorrow, and all the tomorrows that God gives you. Be strong. In the Lord. and in the strength of his might. Yeah.
You're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth for Life. You may have heard the name Derek Prime. Derek was one of Alistair's good friends. He was actually a mentor of Alistair's after theology school, and he remained influential throughout Alistair's life. Derek wrote a book called A Good Old Age, an A to Z of Loving and Following the Lord Jesus in Later Years.
And it's the book we want to recommend to you to day. Gary wrote this book to encourage us to continue to grow in faith and serve Christ as we age. He reminds us that discipleship is a lifelong calling and privilege. And every stage of life presents opportunities to grow in holiness and share the gospel. You'll explore twenty six Christian priorities, each beginning with a different letter of the alphabet.
Each chapter is filled with practical advice supported by Scripture, and each chapter ends with a prayer. A good old age is yours when you donate to Truth for Life today at truthforlife. org slash donate or call us at eight eight eight five eight eight seven eight eight four. Tomorrow we'll feature another listener favorite message from the Old Testament, this time from the book of Esther, a thrilling story of political intrigue, suspense. and deliverance.
The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
