We turn to our Old Testaments this evening, to the book of Judges. The book of Judges. We pick up the narrative in Judges chapter 7 tonight. And we'll be delving into a few verses into Judges chapter 8 as we get into the sermon as well. Next Lord's Day we'll deal with the snare of Gideon, the death of Gideon, and the son of Gideon, if the Lord tarries. So it's Judges chapter 7. Tonight we'll be reading that entire chapter of this narrative. Then Jerubbabel, that is Gideon, and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harad. The camp of Midian was north of them by the hill of Morah in the valley. The Lord said to Gideon, the people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into your hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, my own hand has saved me. Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people saying, whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead. Then 22,000 of the people returned and 10,000 remained. The Lord said to Gideon, the people are still too many. Take them down to the water and I will test them for you there. And anyone of whom I say to you, this one shall go with you, shall go with you. And anyone to whom I say to you, this one shall not go with you, shall not go. So he brought the people down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, everyone who lapsed the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, everyone who kneels down to drink. And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men. But all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, with the 300 men who leapt, I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand. And let all the others go, every man to his home. So the people took provisions in their hands and their trumpets, and he sent all the rest of Israel, every man, to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. That same night, the Lord said to him, Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah, your servant, and you shall hear what they say. And afterwards, your hand shall be strengthened to go down against the camp. Then he went down with Purah, his servant, to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp. the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the east lay along the valley like locusts in abundance and their camels were without number as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance when Gideon came behold a man was telling a dream to a comrade and he said behold I dreamed a dream and behold 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, so that the tent lay flat. And his comrade answered, this is no 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. As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand. And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and emptied jars with torches inside the jars. And he said to them, look at me and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout for the Lord and for Gideon. So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch. When they just set the watch, They blew the trumpets, smashed the jars that were in their hands. Then the three companies blew their trumpets and broke their jars. They held in their left hands the torches and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried, a sword for the Lord and for Gideon. Every man stood in his place around the camp and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army. The army fled as far as Beshitta, towards Zererah, as far as the border of Ebel Mohallah by Taba. And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali, and from Asher, and from all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian. Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, come down against the Midianites, and capture the waters against them, as far as Bethbara, and also the Jordan. So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters as far as Bethbara, and also the Jordan. And they captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeb. They killed Oreb at the rack of Oreb, and Zeb they killed at the winepress of Zeb. Then they pursued Midian, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeb to Gideon across the Jordan." Thus far, the reading of God's word. Let's bow in prayer. Dear Lord in heaven, we thank you for this word of the Lord that we have heard read. Lord, how often it is that we trust in our own strength or the strength of our hands. Father, we know that you are the one who gives all strength and power. Lord, we pray that Pastor Bob clearly gives us his word, Lord, that we might understand the story of Gideon even more. Father, to your honor and glory, we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. As we consider this narrative account that God has given to us by divine inspiration, a true story, not a fable, not just a folk tale, not just some story that is made up and then embellished and embellished and embellished even more. Sometimes humanity is prone to do. This is the word of the Lord. This is the true, breathed out word of the Lord. And as we consider it, we'll consider it under two main points tonight. First of all, a remnant army, and secondly, the great victory. So first of all, the remnant army. They have, by my calculations, not the greatest at math, but I think I can add 32,000 to 10,000, and I get or 22,000 to 10,000, see I can't do it, and get 32,000. That's the entire force that Gideon has. And the Lord says, that's too many. They might say, well, maybe the perspective is maybe these Midianites, these Amalekites, these people of the East that are spread out like sand upon a seashore, maybe that's a little embellishment and maybe they only got 20,000 out there. No, we learn in chapter eight that the actual army is somewhere in the area of 135,000. that the Midianites, the Amalekites and the people of the East have assembled along with all of their animals and their camels that has been mentioned or will be mentioned as well. So 32,000 to start with. You might say, well, maybe they don't know. No, they know. They've had spies peering over. They see the Midianites in camp. They understand the overwhelming point at which they are at. We're at about a five to one ratio. Even as we begin the passage, five of these Midianites, Amalekites, and people of the East to every Israelite soldier, and the Lord says, You're too many. There's too many of you. We need to trim this down. First thing, verse two, the Lord said to Gideon, the people with you are too many. I want you to trim it down, what's the reason? Well, exactly as Brother Nick prayed a few moments ago. Why, end of verse two, lest Israel boast over me, saying, my own hand has saved me. The Lord wants to set this up in such a way that there is absolutely no doubt who is the victor of this battle. Oh, he's gonna use the Israelites, but he's going to use such a sparingly few of them compared to that 135,000 that are just over the hill that there will be no doubt who won the victory. There's gonna be no doubt who it is that brought about this great victory. There are too many. because of our human tendency to boast. We did it. We accomplished it. Look what we have done. If one thinks back over the course of your lifetime, and you think back to the conflicts that we as Americans have been involved in in that course of your lifetime, How many times have you heard, we won? Look what we did. Look what we accomplished. Look how great we are. Look what we have achieved. Look at the enemies we have defeated. We hear it over and over and over again. It's campaign season. We hear it over and over and over again. Man stating that they have done the unachievable. They've accomplished, they've done it. It's our human tendency. But it becomes even more that human tendency when it involves the issue of salvation. We want some stake in this. We want some sort of claim in our salvation. We don't care if it's 20%. We want that 20%. We want to be able to say, we saved ourselves. We did it. Perhaps you've heard the illustration that is sometimes used that in terms of salvation that is used not amongst us as reformed, but it's used as the illustration that God writes a check and all we have to do, he hands it to us and all we have to do is sign our name. Let me ask you a question. How valuable is that check to you without your name on it? It means nothing. But once you put your name on it, now it's valuable to you. So when that illustration is used, who triumphs? Who's the most important? It becomes the signer who puts in their own name. But many people use that as an illustration. That's what salvation is. You just have to sign your name to the check God has given to you in Jesus Christ. No, my friends, we don't sign a check. We are saved by grace and by grace alone. We don't lift one single finger in terms of our salvation. It is all of God. We have a story, a narrative, a historical account here in the book of Judges with one sentence, one line from the Lord. Because I know what the temptation is. You're going to claim the victory is yours. I've saved myself. I've wrought my own salvation. I did it. And I did it my way. To quote an old song. So we have to have a remnant army. 32,000. against the 135, 150,000, far too likely. If you triumph, even with my help, you're gonna say, we did it, and you're gonna forget all about me. So what is the means that God uses to trim down this army? Well, one approach is just very direct. I'm sitting in an army with 32,000 men, The scouts have told me that over the hill is our enemy. And they have about 135,000. You afraid? Go home. I don't know where you might fall in that. I think I know where I might've fallen in that. It's a free pass, right? Just go home. Just go home. If this circumstance, if this battle makes you afraid, go home. 22,000 leave. It's not 22,000 stay, it's 22,000 leave. Two thirds of the army has left. Two thirds of that force is now gone. We have 10,000 soldiers left against 135,000. From a five to one, we've gone to 13 to one. And God said, still too big, still too big. Well, what am I supposed to do? Take them down to the brook. And we'll sort them out from the lappers to the kneelers. And they sorted out. And we have a whole account of how it was done. And I know I've probably preached on this as well, and we could go into, you know, why are the lepers more important than the kneelers or the kneelers than the, what's going on? It's like, oh, God wants a really strong fighting force. No, if anything, it's the opposite. If anything, all that conjecture we do about who it is that is being picked, It has to be the opposite because God says, I don't want you to think you got any credit. I'm picking us that we're the least likely of the people. And what are we left with? We're left with 300 men who lapped like dogs. What does that mean? It means these were the guys who weren't the most alert. They're not the brightest bulbs in the army here, right? Because they're putting their heads down in the water, paying no attention to the army, paying no attention to what's going on, paying no attention to the situation around them. They are oblivious to it. They're lapping dogs. The kneelers were at least a little suspect. What's going on? God picked the least likely. of the soldiers for this task. And what are we left with? 300. 300. 300 out of an army of 32,000. 300. And over the hill is a force of 135,000. And here comes our gracious God. Gideon, at this point, is probably not about to ask for another sign, okay? We've done the fleece thing, we've done the, hey, stick around, and we've done the whoosh with the sacrifice and so on. But God knows, Gideon, just as he knows you and I. Gideon, if you're afraid, You look at these 300 and you know, you know, you're the general, you know what the army is like over there. If there is a bit of fear in your heart, then I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Go down to their camp. Just sneak down to the camp. Gideon didn't ask for this. He's growing. He's learning. His faith is deepening as we go through this narrative. He and his servant Purah go down and what do they hear? They hear of a guy who's had a dream. One wonders what food he ate but what did you dream of? I see a barley loaf and it's rolling down the hill and it smashes the tent and it seems like the idea is we're all under the same tent. The great big canopy thing. And the barley loaf, the little loaf of bread, okay? I mean, just think about it. Think of a loaf of bread in your store. And this is what the guy is dreaming. He's seeing that little loaf roll down the hill into this valley of Jezreel and just flatten the tent. The fellow who's with him hears the guy's dream and says, I know what's going on here, that's Gideon. That's Gideon. And we're in trouble. We are in trouble. And what's Gideon's reaction? I actually never noticed that until I studied it this time. He worshipped. Now, I don't think that was a loud, oh, hallelujah. No, he's in the enemy camp. But can you see him there in the darkness? Oh, Lord, thank you. Thank you, thank you. Yahweh, for that which you're doing. Thank you for this message. Thank you for this grace. Thank you for this word of truth that you have given. A word of encouragement, a word of hope, a word of comfort. Pura, let's go. We got work to do before this battle engages. The God of grace comes to ye fearful saints and says, fresh courage take. The clouds, you so much dread. are filled with mercy. God speaks to us through his truth to encourage us, to strengthen us as we face times of fear. And he does so not in judgment over the weakness of our faith. He does so as a gift of grace. Get in. If you're a little fearful, go down to the camp. and listen to the revealed truth to a couple of Midianite soldiers. These guys should not have even known who Gideon was, much less the Lord. They should have had no concept. We get it. We get it. We get the connection. We understand why it's a loaf of barley bread. Because what was Gideon doing when we first met him? He's grinding out grain in a wine press. Ha, the Gideon. Yeah, that guy. God is so gracious. God is so good in that which he provides for us as his saints. And I didn't know Ella was going to pick how firm a foundation, but how perfectly that fits, right? He says to us, he says to you, I will not forsake you. I'm not going to abandon you. You only got 300 Gideon, but I'm here. I'm here. So there we are, a remnant army, armed to the teeth. They all got a big tank that they have. Some of them are in jet planes with great bombs associated. And yeah, with 300 of those guys, we can do this task. No. Interesting armor that these men have. interesting weapons of war, a musical instrument and a torch. And the torch is underneath a pitcher. And the reason it's that way is that it's still getting oxygen. I tried this again last night, put a glass over a candle and yep, within moments out it goes. Because I know some of you kids are thinking, how did that torch stay on? because it's in a picture, so it's open. So there's continued oxygen going on. So that torch stays lit the whole time. They don't have 99 cent lighters to use at this particular time. Israel does play a role, don't they? Verses 16 through 21 is Gideon setting his army up. They have a responsibility. They have a role. One, they are to be light. I don't know if you've ever thought about this before, but that's what they are, right? Remember the song, this little light of mine, don't hide it under a bushel. Well, that's exactly what these men are gonna do. They're gonna take the bushel off their light and they're gonna let their light shine. God says, I'll use that. I'll make use of that in my way, in my plan. You're not gonna defeat anybody by your torch, but I can. And the second thing they have in their hand is a trumpet. And at Gideon's signal, they are all supposed to take the pitchers off or smash the pitcher against the stone so that the torch now shines and they're to blow their trumpet. They are to speak. Remember trumpets? Remember what they signify? They call out the warning. They are the trumpet call of God. It is the way that God uses to talk about speak the word of truth. Interesting, light and sound. That's what your job is. We read of no armor, we read of no weapons, so to speak, just these two things. God said, that's all use. But then I want you to look at verse 22, okay? Because you see, it really has nothing to do with the light and the trumpet, at least not the victory. It's a means that God uses. But it is not the victory. Verse 22 tells you the victory. When they blew the trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army. The Lord. See, it's not Israel did something. Right now, all we got is a bunch of light and a bunch of sound, but God causes, God uses that light, God uses that sound to confound, to confuse the hearts of that army of 135,000 men. They are confused by what is going on. So much so that each man, at the sound of what's happening, grabs their weapon, and because it's in the middle of the night and they don't see what's going on, and they aren't prepared, they hear stirring, they see movement, and they immediately attack, even though it's the guy in the next tent. And there's a bunch of gibberish going on. There's a bunch of people yelling and screaming. Well, of course, we have nations that are not aligned with one another naturally. We have three groups of people that have formed an alliance, but in and of themselves are each other's enemies. They most likely don't even understand each other's language. Somebody's off yelling, somebody else is going to kill him. Because they don't know. They're confused. Why are they confused? Because they think they're under attack. They think that that which is surrounding them now in this display of light and sound is some sort of an alliance that Gideon has come up with. Gideon must have aligned himself with some other nation. He must have made a pact perhaps with Egypt, maybe in some way with the Syrians. He has negotiated something and now that force that has gathered together is greater than us. And because of that, panic sets in. and they begin killing and slaughtering one another. Gideon never thought of this one. The unique ways of the Lord. Oh, he does move in mysterious ways. Does he not? Think of, even as we have gone through the book of Judges so far, the mysterious ways of the Lord, a left-handed judge. A rainstorm that swamps and muds down and sticks in the mud iron chariots that they were so afraid of. A man hanging on a cross with nails through his hands and feet, a crown of thorns on his head, with a sign, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Oh, God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. Oh, how God moves in mysterious ways his victories to win. Here we see it again, the work of the Lord. Clearly told us in the passage, it's the Lord's work. Just as in our own salvation, it is the Lord's work. Just as it is in the work that we have as believers in Jesus Christ, it is the Lord's work. Shine your light, blow your trumpet. the Lord's work. He will do what needs to be done. What happens next? Well, I would describe it as a continued pursuit. As we read from that point on, the army has been thrown in confusion, there has been mass slaughter there in the valley of Jezreel, just by the work of the Lord. I'm just going to make this one reference. I cannot do it without it. Remember what I told you about the Valley of Jezreel, what this place is actually called in Hebrew? This is Armageddon. This is supposedly the place where all the armies of the earth are gonna gather and there's gonna be this big war and all this bloodshed against the forces of evil, against the forces of good. Folks, what happens every time they go to the Valley of Jezreel? God simply acts. God just shows up and there is victory. What happened in the book of Revelation when the rider on the white horse shows up? Victory. This isn't some long, engaged battle. Struggle between good and evil. Who's gonna win? How many of us are gonna die in a great battle? Christ comes, that's it. God shows up, that's it. All it took to defeat 135,000 Midianites, Amalekites, and people of the East was God to show up. And when God shows up, As the little saying goes, you are in the majority. You are in the majority. There could be no stronger alliance that one could make than an alliance with the Lord, his God. And you know what? God comes and he says, I want to make a covenant with you. The mercy and grace to be offered a covenant in the blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But you say, Pastor Bob, we can't do that, right? No. It's only because he moves our heart to seek him. There's so many lessons in this Old Testament narrative So many beautiful truths. But here comes the next one, the continued pursuit. Remember all those men they sent home? Gideon now says, okay, come on back, come on back. All the men of Naphtali, all the men of Asher, all the men of Manasseh, that was his army to start with. They went home because they were afraid or because they knelt down and laughed water. But you see now the call goes out, come on, come on. God's won the victory, join in. The victory is already ours. Join in, come on. Let's go on the pursuit. Let's go after these that are left. Hey, Ephraim, we didn't even call you at the beginning. Come on in, join in. You have a stake in this battle too. And so they pursue. And for the next chapter, the end of chapter seven, and into chapter eight, that's what we read of, the pursuit. The pursuit after this army. And we read. We read of this larger force and then we read that these two princes, these two great leaders of the Midianites, these two men who represent a human authority that is opposed to the rule and reign of the Lord Almighty, these two men who have been part of oppressing the Israelites, so much so that they've been hiding in caves. These two men are caught and killed each upon a rock. They are beheaded and their heads are brought to Gideon as proof of their death. Even as David beheaded the great Goliath. And as we read throughout scripture of how often this happens, the continued pursuit. When we get to chapter 8 verse 10, that's when we read that there's two guys left. The two guys are two kings. They're called Ziba and Zalmuna. They're in a place called Kartor with their army of about 15,000. That's what they have left at the time. All who were left of the army of the people of the East, for there had fallen 120,000 men who drew the sword. They got 15,000 left, but guess what? Israel isn't done, nor is God. They pursue this army, destroy it, and destroy the two kings. We have another sermon coming on Gideon, so I'll leave part of this, but I just bring you to verse 28. What is the end of all of this? All of this pursuing, all of this victory that the Lord had won. So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel. And they raised their heads no more, interesting because what we read is they cut off their heads. They raised their head no more, no more pride, no more arrogance, no more rule, no more oppression over the people of God. And the land had rest 40 years in the days of Gideon. It's limited, isn't it? Forty years, not a long time, really. But you see, once again, this is just a shadow, right? And perhaps Gideon is but a very dim shadow pointing us to the great judge, pointing us to the great king, pointing us to the great deliverer of whom we never read. And He reigns for so many years and there was peace for only those years. What we read about the true King is that He shall reign forever and ever. And as George Frederick Handel put it, and ever and ever, and ever, and ever, and just in case you forgot, it's forever, and ever, and ever, and ever, and ever, because oh, we are so forgetful as the people of God even. See, if you looked at it and said, well, where are we in this story? We're the pursuers. We're just the cleanup crew. We're just the cleanup crew right now. The victory's been won. Thanks be to God. And now He invites us. He calls us. He moves within us. Come on. Join the mighty army. Is there a war to be fought? In a sense. There's a spiritual battle to be fought, not a physical battle to be fought. There's a spiritual battle against the forces of evil. But the victory's already been given. The victory is already Christ. And so we sing. We sing joyfully. We sing enthusiastically. Onward, Christian soldiers, following our Christ. Amen and amen. Let's turn to that hymn.