If you're putting together a team that's going to face a significant challenge, it's only natural to want a wise and fearless leader and the strongest and most talented teammates. On Truth for Life weekend, Alastair Begg takes us to the story of Gideon to point out that the seemingly obvious choices aren't always God's choices. Today we'll find out why. Can I invite you to turn to Judges? And uh our focus this morning is Uh to be In Judges chapter 7.
If the preoccupation in Judges chapter six is with the fleece, Then the preoccupation of most people in Judges chapter 7 is about the way the people drank the water. And if we are guilty of ignoring the context in chapter six and squeezing the fleece, then many of us have also preached somewhat dreadful sermons on why it was that people lapped rather than knelt down to drink. And um I don't want to fall foul of that this morning, and I don't want any of you who were preparing a message on Judges 7 to go back and change it for Sunday, especially if it was about the way that people were drinking the water. But uh it's really possible for us, as we said yesterday, that in coming to passages of Scripture with which we are familiar, our very familiarity with the text prevents us from doing justice to the text. And one of the things that I'm trying to teach myself the longer I go in pastoral ministry and with the privilege of week by week preaching.
Is the necessity of coming to the text. with a spirit of agnosticism. That is, not with a spirit of unbelief, But with the spirit of I don't know what this means. When we always come to the text believing we know what it means, We tend then not to look at it with the eyes of faith, nor to look at it with the eyes of expectancy, but simply to look for the usual familiar themes which many of us have known from our infancy. And as a result, what we do is reiterate again the same kind of emphasis that we've heard before.
Now where those emphases are right, then of course it is good for them to be repeated. But where they have perhaps missed something or have overemphasized something, then we do a disservice to ourselves and to our listeners unless we come to the text with a genuine desire for God to teach us by his Spirit so that we learning may then become teachers. And so can Can I encourage you, as I seek to encourage myself, to open our gaze to Judges chapter 7 with a spirit of expectancy rather than with the spirit which says, Oh, I know Judges 7, I've known it for a very long time. Of all that the story of Gideon teaches, as we said yesterday, it certainly is a vivid illustration to us of the fact in 2 Corinthians 4 that God says of us that our treasure, the treasure of the gospel and of his grace, has been put in old clay jars so that the transcendent power might be seen to belong to God and not to us. The story of Gideon is a reminder to us that the people that God chooses to use are some of the most unlikely people at the most unlikely times, ordinary people chosen for extraordinary tasks.
And the story contained in Judges seven is certainly illustrative of the Biblical principle, where God speaking says, Your thoughts are not my thoughts, and neither are your ways my ways. And in the unfolding of the text, we encounter something of the reality of the sovereign purpose of God in the unfolding of His dealings with His people. And at the same time, the absolute necessity of the submission of those who would serve him to his revealed purpose.
Now the events in chapter 7 Had been prepared for in the life of Gideon in the context that we noted yesterday. And particularly in the conversation which had ensued between the angel, the manifestation of God Himself, and Gideon. For example, in the encounter in verse fifteen, where Gideon says to him, How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family. A reminder to us that Gideon was not the most obvious choice.
But he was great. God's choice. And it is not important that we are the most obvious choice. that we were voted the individual most likely to succeed. That we were regarded by a jury of our peers as the one with the most potential for influence or the greatest significance.
And some of us are tempted to believe those comments.
Some of us arrive at a conference like this surrounded by notebooks and smiling faces and hopes and dreams and schemes, and we say to ourselves, you know, I am not the most obvious choice for this. That's not the issue, brother. It is whether you're God's choice. And if you're God's choice, Then hell can't stand against you.
Now, as a leader of the people, given this immense challenge, Gideon, presumably, in light of the challenge that was before him, was reviewing his organization in light of what they were called to do. Verse 12 of chapter 7 describes the extent of the host against them. The Midianites, the Amalekites, and all the other Eastern peoples had settled in the valley thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore. He has been encountered in the phrase, God is with you, you mighty warrior.
We've had the dialogue that ensues from that. And now, as he recognizes the military challenge that is before him, he sets out to review his troops and to consider whether he is able to secure victory with the group that is gathered before him. He has, we're told, some thirty-two thousand people. And in verse 2 and following, here of chapter 7, God gives to him direction. The Lord said to Gideon, You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands.
And then he explains: In order that Israel may not boast against me, become self-reliant, boast that our own strength has saved her. In other words, God says, the victory that I grant is my victory. I am in no way dependent upon your numbers. God is well aware of the pride that exists in the hearts of men and women, whereby we would seek to take glory to ourselves and deny the glory to God. And so God is concerned to remove the majority of the troops in order to make it unmistakably clear that the power belongs to God and not to men.
God wasn't concerned to avoid defeat, but He was concerned to ensure that they knew the source of their victory. And he recognized that if they proceeded on the basis in which they found themselves, then the great temptation for them would be to become self reliant and to say, well, it really makes sense and we did a wonderful job. We should notice in passing that God does not give the honor of service. to those who will not give to God the honour of success.
Now, it may appear that we're very successful, but God has a payday coming. And on that day when we stand before him, it will become apparent whether what we were building with. Had to do with gold and silver and precious stones, or whether it was actually wood, hay, and stubble. And he is the one with the register, and he is the one who will call us to an account. Therefore, it is strangely possible for us to be apparently influential and successful, and yet on that day of reckoning to discover that all of our proud boasts and all of our affirmations and all of our numbers and all of our significance and apparent success amounted to just trash.
From the economy of heaven. Very vulnerable place in which to find ourselves. That's why more gain is made in our lives through disappointment, through failure, through difficulty and through tears than is made through success and through laughter. And that in seeking to shun trials. We miss blessings.
And in seeking to gather around us the rudiments that would regard us as aptly ready to face the challenges. We miss the ability to be useful. in the challenge. As He determines, that is God to radically prune the numbers, showing that when He employs men and women people in His service, He's not indebted to us for our service, but we are indebted to Him for ever giving us the opportunity to serve Him. We got ourselves in a bad position when we have that little party for ourselves on our own, the self-pity party, the sort of Elijah under the broom tree deal going.
I am the only one left, I am the only one who cares about anything, I am the most significant thing around here, and everyone else is a bag of whatever it is. God says, no, I'll tell you what's the amazing thing. The amazing thing is not that you're serving me, the amazing thing is that I would use a clown like you in my service. After all, who do you think you are? Are you strong?
No. Are you mighty? No. Are you really bright? No.
So, why would I use you? It's a mystery. That's right.
Now you're starting to think.
So much of contemporary evangelicalism begins with man. And the Bible always begins with God and his glory, and then man and his need, and man and his significance.
Now, the reduction which is before us takes place in two stages. First of all, we're told in verse 3 that he is to announce to the people: anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.
Now, this should be no surprise if you know your Bible in Deuteronomy. And chapter 20. The people of God were given directions as to going out to war. You may remember that. The officers were to say to the people in the army, for example, has anybody around here built a new house and not dedicated it?
If you put your hand up, you've got to go home. In case you died in battle and someone else dedicated your house for you. And also, the officers asked the group, Has anyone got engaged recently? Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? A few guys put up their hands, he said, Okay, go home because you might die in the battle and someone else will marry her, and you don't want that to happen, do you?
The guy says, You bet your life I don't. I'm out of here. And they were gone. And then the officer shall add, this is Deuteronomy 20, verse 8. Then the officers shall add, this is an interesting one.
We can kind of understand that you've got to close on your house, therefore you better go back and do it, or you got to go and finish things off with this girl that you've been hoping to marry. But then it says, is any man afraid or faint-hearted? Let him go home.
So that his brothers will not become disheartened too. There's tremendous wisdom in that, isn't there? You know, you get in your elders' meetings or your deacons' meetings, you ought to go through this. I mean, I think we should do this stuff. Anybody you got something to deal with with your house?
Why don't you just go home? You're preoccupied, and your girlfriend go home. And is anybody chicken? Yeah, why don't you go home as well?
Now we're starting to resonate.
Okay, fine. You just come from some of those meetings. Oh, I don't think so. Oh, we've never done it that way before. Oh, I heard of somebody over there and they tried it, and it was a disaster, and it just saps the jolly life out of you.
Twelve men went to spy in Canaan, ten came back, had the same experience, went the same place, saw the same fruit, saw the same giants, and ten of them were fainthearted and said, It can be done. Two guys, Joshua and Caleb, stood up and said, Let's do it. You gotta get rid of the 10 and move forward with the 2. It's not because the 2 are special, it's just because the 2 are trusting. They may be the most unlikely two.
The ten may be the guys with wisdom. They may be the guys with acumen. They may be the guys with business background. They may be the guys with strategic planning experience. And the only two you're left with is some old guy who's been around for 110 years and some novice who isn't even wet behind his ears.
And the two of them are saying, I think we can definitely do it. And so you've immediately got a choice. Do I go with the 10 and shut the thing down, or do I go with the two? Go with the two every time. Send the other ten home.
Send them home. You say, if I send them home, they may send me home. Fine, we'll all go home. And then we'll get up in the morning and we'll figure out what we're going to do from there. But we're not going to have the fearful shut the thing down.
It's amazing. You read the minute books of church leaderships, and Mr. Rodney Fortigue Smythe wanted to minute his disapproval and his extreme concern over the outlandish gesture, yellow, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Goodbye, Fortigue Smythe. Thank you.
Why were they to go home? They were to go home because they would have a detrimental effect on the battle. Get these guys out of here. We don't meet people in the back going, I don't think we can do this.
Now, that's interesting to me. I think you've picked up on the fact that I think it's interesting, and that's why here. That's why here, this isn't outlandish. This is in accord with the principles that have previously been laid down.
So, Gideon, here, we're going to reduce the numbers. Can you imagine, of course, how that goes? He's looking at the 32,000 saying, I wonder if I've got enough here in light of all these camels. We can't even count the camels, let alone the people. We can't count the humps, let alone the number of people that have been riding on the back of these things.
And the Lord says, This is what we're going to do. Ask the folks, say to them, you know, if anybody's fearful or trembling with fear, they can turn back and leave Mount Gilead.
Now, the matter-of-fact response here in verse 3b in this sentence. I mean, it's incredible.
So twenty-two thousand men left. Can you imagine him, first of all?
Well, I'm not sure 32,000 is enough. The Lord says, let's just give anybody that wants to leave the chance to leave.
So we've got the guy who's told, you're the mighty man. You know, you are God's man. We're going to tear this place apart.
Okay, I'm not sure we've got enough. God says, Don't worry about enough. Let's try and pare it down. Just ask anybody who wants to go home to go home.
So he stands up, and I don't know how he was feeling. We'll find out in heaven. But he says, You know, the word of the Lord is if any of you are afraid of the prospect, Then you should just leave. And he stands and he watches. and two-thirds of the army splits.
You might have expected a few of the guys that didn't like him to leave, but this is a mass exodus. I don't want to spiritualize this or anything, but I was talking to a young man yesterday and he said, You know, I've been there 12 months and I've blown out half the congregation. I said, Well, you may have to blow out the other half before you can even get started. It's not unusual in Scotland to have to preach your church empty before you can preach it full. Because you'll never preach a fool with these people in there.
So they either get on or they get out, but you don't want them halfway. It's either cheery or welcome, but it's not, we don't know. We want absolute clarity. You stay and stay, you go and get as far away from here as possible. We don't want you all standing around on the outside going, I don't think you should have waited.
Just take off, get your stuff, and leave. And so he's got ten thousand left. That's a dramatic reduction.
Now we're down to ten thousand. And then the LORD said to Gideon, Yeah. Can you imagine what he's like? Whoa, what's coming now? He couldn't have imagined it.
There's still too many.
Now, remember, this is not some kind of anti-church growth sermon. Although I do want it to go on record that I am well capable of such a sermon. If the first stage of the reduction is related to the morale of the army, which it clearly appears to be, Then what of the second stage of the reduction? What is this about? When we get it down by another 9,700.
Now it sees at this point that we get into difficulties. And it's at this point that we start to get You know. clever with our conjecture. And we get into the lappers versus the kneelers. And this is where we impress the people with all the thing about kneeling down and lapping and what the guy was looking while he was lapping or kneeling while he was not looking and all this kind of stuff.
And frankly, we don't have a clue what we're talking about. We haven't got the foggiest idea in the world what we're on about because it doesn't say. You see, and most of the sermons that you hear preached on this have to do with somehow or another that this was a test, looking for only the alert. And all the dreamy and the careless were to go.
So we would just keep the alert ones. And the alert ones were not those who were kneeling down, we tell the people, because if you were kneeling down, you couldn't be looking. How we know that is because there's a number of ways you can kneel down, but usually that's it. But if you were lapping with the like this, then you could be looking, and so that's it. Whoa, come on.
One of the ways, have you ever thought about the fact that they might have been lapping? They might have been lying completely horizontal, right? With her faces hanging over the edge. into the into the pond. They're just Can I Doing this with it up into their face.
In other words, these guys are clueless. I mean, if you're looking for 300 you don't want. Here they are. They're surrounded by more enemies than you can imagine.
Someone says, You want to get a drink of water? They're like ducks, man. They bury their heads right in the thing. But the way we preach the passage, we can't have that because these have got to be the ones who are looking. Because God wouldn't want ones that aren't looking, would He?
Yes, he might. Because if he wanted to make it absolutely clear. That the reason for the victory was because of him. Then the most unlikely 300 would join with the most unlikely individual In order that God may be glorified. In order that the people around might say, How in the world could this ever take place?
Three hundred jokers with a funny wee guy at the front. And they're chasing us halfway across The universe! What's going on here? It's God's.
Now, I just want to say this to you in passing. When we find ourselves asking why the lapping, why lapping was the sign of a better soldier, we're on the wrong track. I think we're missing the whole point. And since, you know. You know, Grandfather George, he always told us about the lappers.
See what I mean? We're not agnostic enough in coming to the passage. We just assume that, so we preach it.
Now, you're sensible men, and you have every right to disagree with me. But think this out: surely the object was to reduce. Gideon's Army to a force not of a particular kind. But a force of a particular number. The issue was not the kind of people that were left, the issue was the number of people that were left.
It wasn't that Gideon was trying to put together a small commando unit, 300 of the best and the brightest. God is not in need of 300 crack troops. You see, he's not in need of the special and the strong and the lappers rather than the kneelers and the alert rather than the unalert. Goodness gracious, just look at your congregation. Look at your choir.
If you ever doubt that God has a sense of humor, just look at the choir. Look at these people.
Now, people that are in the choir, they always send me letters. All I'm saying is the average choir is a sort of microcosm of the congregation. You look at those people, you've got a sort of small cross-section of the bigger group, and you say, Are we really going to turn the world upside down with this? And the answer is it's highly unlikely. And God says, I like it when it's that way.
You're listening to Truth for Life Weekend? That is Alistair Begg with a message. She's titled Gideon. God's choice. Today's message is a part of a series called More Jars of Clay.
In this study, Alastair examines key figures from the Bible like Gideon, Daniel, Elijah, and others. In these stories, we discover how God often uses unlikely people at unlikely times to accomplish his purposes. It serves as a valuable reminder that all of us are significant in God's plans. You'll find all of the sermons in this series on our website at truthforlife.org. And if you'd like to listen to all 16 messages in the Jars of Clay and more Jars of Clay series, you can purchase a USB on our website for just $5.
The USB makes it easy to listen on the go. You can just plug it into your phone or your computer, the USB port in your car, and then hit play. To purchase the Jars of Clay series on USB, visit our online store at truthforlife.org/slash store. When you're on our website, be sure to check out the book we're currently recommending. It's titled Making Good Return: Biblical Wisdom on Honoring Aging Parents.
This is a heartfelt book that acknowledges how difficult caring for our aging parents can be. It offers practical and biblical encouragement to help you approach caregiving with grace, compassion, and faith. You can find out more about the book Making Good Return on our website at truthforlife.org. I'm Bob Lepine. Thanks for taking time out of your weekend to study the Bible with us.
Did you realize God's math is not our math? In His economy, one plus God is a majority. We'll find out more next weekend. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
