If you'd like to take your Bibles, you may turn with me to the Old Testament, Judges chapter 6. I want you to be considering what the Scriptures teach concerning one of the heroes of the faith, namely Gideon. Christianity is a religion of hope, built solidly upon the scriptures of hope. Now, hope, dear ones, is not merely wishing something to be true, or wishing for the best. But hope in the biblical sense of the word is a confident, certain expectation of something to come, because God has revealed it. or promised it. Our hope is firmly anchored, dear ones, in Christ. For even death, which seizes and imprisons every other man, could not grip Christ and hold Him in the tomb. The tomb, dear ones, today is empty. There is no body. There is no corpse in that tomb. Jesus Christ is raised from the dead. He's alive. He's seated at the right hand of God the Father. Let every Lord's Day is a renewal of our hope that Christ is coming again. Let us therefore live each day in hope knowing that Christ will bring to pass all that He has promised us because He is alive. Take away Our confident and optimistic hope in the Lord, we will act like ineffectual losers rather than confident overcomers. We will sound more like victims than like victors. Words like impossible or hopeless are not a part of God's vocabulary except to deny that anything will be impossible with God. The angel Gabriel told Mary, Luke 137, for with God nothing shall be impossible. Do you feel like today you're in an impossible situation in which you cannot see the light of day, where darkness and gloom surround you on every side? Do you have fears and worries that have paralyzed you in various ways so that you're afraid to move in any direction? Dear ones, there is real hope in Jesus Christ today for nothing Underline the word nothing. Nothing shall be impossible with God. Our text this Lord's Day is an extended one. We'll be looking at passages, various passages from Judges chapters 6 and 7, as we consider together the hope that's found through the life of Gideon. The main points from our text are these. First of all, The seemingly hopeless situation that confronted Israel. Judges 6 verses 1-10. Secondly, an unlikely hero. Judges 6 verses 11-24. Thirdly, the remedy to that seemingly hopeless situation. Judges 6. Verses 25-32. And fourthly, the means of God's salvation. Judges chapter 7, focusing our attention on verse 16. First of all, then, the seemingly hopeless situation that confronted Israel. Look with me, we're going to be doing a lot of scripture reading today for our text from these sections of Judges 6 and 7, but I pray it will be very profitable to you, as God's Word is the sword of His Spirit. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. And because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made them the Dins, which are in the mountains and caves and strongholds. And so it was when Israel had sown that the Midianites came up and the Amalekites and the children of the East, even they came up against them and they encamped against them and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude. For both they and their camels were without number, and they entered into the land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. And it came to pass when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites, that the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt and brought you forth out of the house of bondage. And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all that oppressed you and draved them out from before you. and gave you their land. And I said unto you, I am the Lord your God. Fear not the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell, but ye have not obeyed my voice." The homeland of Israel had been invaded by the armies of the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the Children of the East. probably Arabs. For seven long bitter years, these innumerable hordes of people, like a plague of locusts, had raped and pillaged their land, their homes, and their livestock. Israel-like moles had burrowed into the caves and into the dens to find refuge, to escape the wrath of these fierce invaders. Israel's situation was very desperate at this time. God's Word says in verse 6 that Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites. Very significant. They recognized that they were greatly impoverished. You see, there was hope begins here. You must first realize how greatly impoverished you are before you will look to someone else in hope. Before you look to the Lord Jesus Christ in hope, exercising faith and trust in Him, you must see your own impoverishment, your own need. Have you come to realize your own impoverished spiritual condition due to the sin and misery in your life? There is no hope apart from acknowledging hopelessness in yourself. Israel had fallen into sin and found themselves in this seemingly hopeless situation due to their own rebellion against the Lord, as we see in Judges 6.1. However, dear ones, there is hope. As long as you do what Israel did in Judges 6.6. where it says, and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. They cried out that sense of urgency, need, and desperation to the Lord to come to their rescue, to help them, because they recognized their own hopelessness to rescue themselves. Like helpless children, they humbled themselves. realizing their own inability and crying into the Lord for his help. Have you turned from finding your hope in yourself, or finding your hope in others, to turning and finding your hope in the Lord today? This brings us to our second point. Having seen this seemingly hopeless situation, let us consider a very unlikely hero. Look with me, Judges chapter six, verses eleven through twenty four. And there came an angel of the Lord and sat under an oak, which was in Oprah. That pertained to Joe Ash, the by is right. And his son, Gideon, threshed wheat by the wine press to hide it from the media nights. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. And Gideon said unto him, O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? And where be all his miracles, which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. The Lord looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might. And thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent thee?" And he said unto him, O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. And Gideon went in and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah, a flower. The flesh he put in a basket, And he put the broth in a pot and brought it out unto him under the oak and presented it. And the angel of God said unto him, take the flesh and the unleavened cakes and lay them upon this rock and pour out the broth. And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes and there rose up fire out of the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God, for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face. And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee, fear not, thou shall not die. Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord and called it Jehovah Shalom. And to this day, it is yet an ophrah. of the Abbai, as writes. Here's where we meet Israel's deliverer, Gideon. Everything about Gideon's human strength, or should I say lack of strength and courage, is presented to us in these verses. First of all, Gideon was not, as we see, a man of courage. We note that the angel of the Lord, which is a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ appears into Gideon while he was secretly threshing his wheat, not in open, but in the privacy of his own wine press. In fact, Gideon probably received the shock of his life when the Lord calls him a mighty man of valor in verse 12. Lest you think that Gideon was chosen to deliver Israel because he was already this man of valor, let me remind you that Gideon was probably not much different from you or myself. He was weak, frail. He was a struggling believer. We see when the Lord appeared unto him, he was not leading some mighty crusade as the deliverer of Israel against the Midianites, but as we said, he was hiding in fear. Threshing his wheat, because of the Midianites. You see, secondly, when God told Midian, you are the man through whom I will deliver Israel, Gideon wasn't jumping up and down for joy. Look what he says. He makes excuses, in effect, why he isn't the man. He says in verse 15, and he said unto him, O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. He's looking to all human resources as the means by which Israel is going to be delivered. He says, I don't have much. I'm from the least tribe in Manasseh, and I'm the youngest in my family. What do I have? And even know Gideon's lack of faith, as we look at verse 27. Judges 6, verse 27. When God tells Gideon that he is to go and to destroy the image of Baal, which is within his own city, he can't even do it during the daytime, even though God has commanded him to do so, and that God will be with him, that he need not fear. God will support him. He does it at night. Undercover darkness. Here's not a man who's beaming with with courage and faith. In verses 36 to 40, we see again another evidence of his lack of faith. God has promised him God has given him miracle and a sign that he will be with him. And he still says, Lord, I'm still not quite sure. And he gives him this test of the fleece of the Tells the Lord, Lord, if the fleece is dry, but the ground around it is wet, I'll know that you've spoken to me. Then Lord does so, that's not good enough. Lord, if the fleece is wet, but the ground around it is dry, then I'll know that you've spoken to me. You see, here's not a man that we would look to as having great courage and faith at this point in his life. Here is a man who is weak, who's struggling. with the calling of God upon his life. You know, I can identify with Gideon's weakness in faith. I can identify with Gideon's lack of courage. I can identify with his fear of what was an apparently hopeless situation. An innumerable enemy to overcome. Powerful enemy. I don't condone Gideon's sin. I don't condone his weakness. I don't condone his fears. They're a terrible sin, nor do I condone mine own. But dear ones, the Lord has shown you how human Gideon was, so as to encourage you that if Gideon could become a valiant warrior and hero of the faith by God's grace, And he could triumph over seemingly impossible situation that confronted him, so can you. For there is hope. There is hope in the Lord our God, the one who was raised from the dead, who is seated at the right hand of God the Father. Brings us to our third point. Having seen the seemingly hopeless situation, Having noted the unlikely hero, let us now thirdly consider the remedy to that seemingly hopeless situation. Look with me at Judges 6, verses 25-32. And it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal. that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it, and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove, which thou shalt cut down. Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had said unto him, and so it was, because he feared his father's household. and the men of the city that he could not do it by day, that he 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. That was by it. And the second Bullock was offered unto the altar upon the altar that was built, and they said one to another who had done this thing. And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon, the son of Joash, hath done this thing. Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die, because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it. And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? Will ye save him? He that will plead for him, let him be put to death, whilst it is yet morning. If he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar. Therefore on that day he called him Jerob Baal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar. Beloved, God's victory in Gideon's seemingly hopeless situation does not appear within a vacuum. For the Lord brings Gideon to exercise faith in the living God as the means by which he will deliver Israel. God does not work apart from faith that is exercised in him. God stirs up faith, even if it is a weak faith, and Gideon has to do it by night rather than by day because he fears what might happen to him. God stirs up faith within Gideon to do what he has commanded him to do, and that is to destroy the image of Baal. Although Gideon was weak in faith, he was not dead in faith. He may have been a bruised reed or a smoking flax with only a mustard seed-sized face, but he did embrace the Lord as his Savior and as his God. Now how did Gideon reveal his faith in the Lord? He revealed his faith by obeying the Lord and doing what God commanded in destroying that image of Baal. God commanded Gideon to destroy the image of the altar of Baal, which belonged to his father. An altar of Baal among God's people, you may ask? What is that doing there? Absolutely. It was there. For you see, Israel had turned from serving in purity the Lord their God. And it introduced not only practices which God had not authorized in His Word, for they had even introduced images and altars to false gods, they had departed very noticeably from the Lord, the God. And I would submit to you, dear ones, that here's the root cause to so many of our own sins. Idolatry. We may not erect an image, we may not establish an actual altar of stone or wood, but it is idolatry within our hearts that leads us astray from our God. It is the source, dear ones, of our sin and of our misery, just like that of Israel of old. In the New Testament, we see exactly how we are to understand even the sin of idolatry when we read from Colossians chapter 3 these words. Verse 5, mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. That which we covet, that which we inordinately desire, inordinate affections, lead to idolatry. That which we establish as first love in our life, before the Lord Jesus Christ has become an idol in our own hearts and lives. Dear ones, if we would know the power of God in our lives, we too must turn from all things in our lives that have become an idol. We must renew Christ as the first love of our life. For me to live as Christ, remember? My very purpose and reason for living is to be Jesus Christ. And you see, we don't do that merely when we're converted. and then think that it's unnecessary to renew Christ as the first love of our life any time subsequent to that, but we must daily, we must every single day renew Christ as the first love of our life, lest we fall into idolatry in establishing other first loves that hold a greater affection in our life than Jesus Christ. You see, even that which is good, even that which God has blessed us with can become an idol in our lives. Our appearance, the way we look, can become an idol. Our intelligence can become an idol. Our resourcefulness, our gifts, whatever God has granted to us, our abilities, our car, our home, our job, our husband, our wife, our children, our parents, can hold that first place in our lives, if we do not daily renew Christ as the first love of our life. Dear ones, this removal of idols in our lives is not cutting off that idol. Even as Gideon was at this particular point cutting down this idol, it speaks of us of the need in our lives to do this on a regular basis. Gideon was not at this point, I would submit to you, a giant in the faith. Nevertheless, by his step of faith in God's word, God commanded him to cut down the idol, the altar, to tear it down, to destroy it. By this step of faith, he became one of the heroes of the faith that are listed for us in Hebrews 11.32. His faith was evidenced, and never forget this, his faith was evidenced by his obedience, his desire to obey the Lord. Not perfectly, because he did so still out of fear, by night, not during the day. And none of our obedience is going to be perfect, but God takes the intention for the act. God takes our desire to be faithful in all things for the actual performance of the deed. And that is purified and mediated through the work of Jesus Christ and presented as an acceptable offering to the Lord. Not due to our merit, but to Christ's merit. So beloved, we must begin by destroying the idols in our own lives before we can successfully be used of God to destroy the idols in the lives of others. Where have you placed your faith in overcoming that seemingly impossible situation in your own life today? Whether it's a sin, whether it's just an obstacle of some kind, an affliction, A trial. Where have you placed your faith? And whom is your hope in overcoming that situation? With God, nothing will be impossible. And if not in this life, in the life to come. The fourth and final point, the means of God's salvation. I would have you turn with me to Judges chapter 7. Look with me verses 15 through 18. And it was so when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and the interpretation thereof that he worshipped and returned to the host of Israel and said, Arise! For the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian, and he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand with empty pitchers and lamps within the pitchers. And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that as I do, so shall ye do. When I blow with the trumpet, I and all that are with me then blow ye the trumpets also in every side of all the camp and say the sword of the Lord and of Gideon." What means did God use to bring about salvation? What were the means that the Lord used? There are three, basically. Three means that the Lord used, and I think they are extremely applicable to us. Every day of our lives. First of all, God brought His salvation through few men. Not through a host, a mighty host. Not through innumerable amounts of people, but through few men. Three hundred, the Word of God tells us. In Judges 7, verses 1-8, you can look there at your leisure. The Bible tells us that there are actually 135,000 Midianites, Amalekites, and the Children of the East in Judges 8-10. That was the number of the enemy. God tells Gideon, muster an army. Bring them together. Gideon could only bring together 32,000. 32,000 soldiers, according to Judges 7.3, which is a ratio of four to one, the enemy to the Israelites. But then God told Gideon, you've got too many men. I don't want you to even have the possibility of boasting in yourselves as if you brought about this victory and this deliverance. And so I want you to get rid of more men. I've got too many. I know the nature of man. He will try to take credit for this. God knows us all too well. We need to know ourselves as well, how prone we are to take credit for ourselves, that glory which belongs to God alone. So go and tell all of those who are fearful they can go home. 22,000 of 32,000 go home, leaving 10,000 now. against the 135,000 of Midianites. That's a ratio of 13 to 1. The Lord looks at the 10,000 and says, you've still got too many. 13 to 1 odds, but you've still got too many. The Lord tells Gideon how he will separate those that he wants to use from those that he is designed not to use, by the way in which they drink at the water side. After the test is completed, the Lord has eliminated 9,700 of the 10,000, so that there are only 300 left now. The odds are now 440 to 1. The ratio is 440 to 1. An impossible situation, you ask? impossible odds, not with our God with whom nothing is impossible. Dear ones, the Lord is always delighted to show himself mighty with a faithful few in bringing forth the salvation and bringing deliverance and showing his mighty works upon the earth, he's always delighted in a faithful few. You remember the account of Elisha, who was revealing to the king of Israel what the king of Syria was doing at every time. The king of Syria was just so upset, he kept saying, how does the king of Israel know every one of our movements? And it became clear to the king of Syria that it was by means of the prophet Elisha. God was revealing these things and Elisha would share them with the king of Israel. And so he sent his entire army and surrounded this little city of Dofan where Elisha was. And when in the morning his servant arose, he went out in great amazement. and was overcome with fear as he saw completely surrounding that small city, the mighty army of Syria. They didn't have any soldiers to protect or defend themselves. He goes running into Elisha and says, My Master, look at the armies that are surrounded. We're overcome. We're defeated. How can we rescue and save ourselves in light of these number of armies. And Elisha prays that his eyes might be open to see that those who fight for them, the two of them, are more numerous than those who surrounded the city. His eyes are open to see surrounding and engulfing that mighty army of Syria, the army of the Lord of Hosts, angels and chariots, flaming swords, that they couldn't behold. You see, dear ones, we need to have our eyes opened to behold the glory of God to overcome all of our enemies, whether within or without, for with God nothing is impossible. Let us therefore not be discouraged by the smallness of our congregation, by the fewness of our presbytery, for who has despised the day of small things, declares the Lord our God. So God brought his salvation through a few men. That was the first means. Secondly, note how the Lord brought his salvation by means of a weak man, which we've already seen, but I just simply want to emphasize that again. In chapter 7, verses 9-14, Gideon still wasn't ready to go forth and to fight the Midianites, even after all that God had shown him. God says, if you're still afraid, go to the camp of the Midianites and there you'll hear something that will relieve your fears. that will overcome your fears. And as he goes to the outskirts of the camp of the Midianites, he hears two men within the camp talking. One had a dream and talks about within the camp that they were overcome by a loaf of bread that came down rolling from the mountainside and destroyed the camp. That was some loaf of bread. But that's again simply to depict how God uses remarkable means to accomplish His purposes, His victories. The fact that we don't see more of it, I would submit to you, is due to our littleness of faith. It's not the fact even that our faith is small, that our faith is really not in Jesus Christ. Because even, as we've said many times, even if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, if that faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus says we can remove mountains. And so we actually have to ask, not so much how big is your faith, but where is your faith? In whom is your faith? Because if it is in God, even a loaf of bread can destroy our enemies. So the Lord does give to Gideon added assurance that he will overcome Midian, because this man who heard the dream says, the interpretation of that dream is that Gideon will overcome the Midianites. So God even causes non-believers to have a dream from himself, and even gives the interpretation of that dream to an unbeliever. And at that point in time, God brings about his salvation through few men, he brings about his salvation through a weak man, and thirdly, consider how the Lord works out his purposes and brings forth his salvation by the most unusual weapons. We read of these already in verses 15 through 18. Not only were the odds against Gideon and Israel by sheer numbers, but what about those weapons that God gave them to use in overcoming their enemies? A trumpet, a pitcher, and a torch. Not exactly the kinds of weapons that you would use to defend your own household against an intruder. But dear ones, by the punishment of the numbers, by the weakness of a man, and by the unusual weapons used, the Lord is unmistakably demonstrating that it is not by power nor by might, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. God removes all of the pride of man. God removes all the boasting of man, that He alone might be glorified in bringing forth victory in our lives. Does this not teach us how much God despises our pride, our conceit, our glorying and boasting in ourselves, which we all do, which we are so inclined to do, which we are so prone to do? And we do so when He has provided everything that we have. Whether it's our looks, whether it's our smarts, whether it's our gifts, abilities, graces, whether it's our possessions, whether it's our loved ones, everything we have is a gift from God. And yet we take glory and we boast and we take credit for it. God despises pride in our lives, dear ones. We need to humble ourselves and empty ourselves of that pride on a daily basis as well. that the Lord uses in order to accomplish and to show the vanity of pride, uses a trumpet, a pitcher, and a torch to overcome the enemy. As we continue to read the account, we see at the appointed time, with the torch inside the pitcher, they dashed They dash the pitcher, they break the pitcher, the clay pot. The light shines forth and they blow on their trumpet and exclaim, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. And God brings victory. The 135,000 of the Midianites, Amalekites, and Children of the East are destroyed. by the power of God. I wanted to say, before I explain in a little bit more detail what these represent, that victory may not always come in the way and in the time that we would like for it to come, but I assure you on the basis of God's Word and the authority of God Himself that victory will come. You can be absolutely assured, victory will come. Therefore, be not discouraged, be not dismayed. Look to the God of your salvation. He will bring victory in His time, whether in this life here upon the earth, but certainly in glory. that will be victory. How can you be sure? Let me tell you how you can be absolutely sure. I'm reminded of another seemingly impossible situation which faced our Lord Jesus Christ, the greater Gideon, of whom Gideon is a type. For when Jesus went to the cross and died a cruel and shameful death upon that Roman cross, even his own disciples wept and grieved at his untimely death, believing that all that they had hoped for in Christ as a political messiah had come to an end because Jesus was now in the tomb. They faced a seemingly hopeless situation. They had a dead deliverer, not a living messiah in their estimation. But in power and victory over death, Jesus Christ was gloriously raised from the grave in order to demonstrate that he had overcome Satan, sin, death, the miseries of this life once and for all. That all of our enemies, whether enemies within or enemies without, have been overcome in principle by the Lord Jesus Christ and will be overcome whether in this life or in the life to come. all of our enemies will be overcome. The Lord's resurrection clearly demonstrates that Jesus, like Gideon, has destroyed all his enemies. You can be sure of that because of the empty tomb. There's no body in that tomb. All the other religions of the world, the prophets, their gods, They died, their bodies are in their tombs. They've corrupted, they've perished, and turned to ashes and dirt. But Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. Our faith, our hope is firmly based upon the resurrection of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. When we talk with anybody from another religion, when we share our faith with anyone else, We know, when we get back to the very basics and the fundamentals of our faith, we know that we know that what we believe is true because that tomb is empty. And the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the skeptics of that age could not produce a body because Jesus Christ is alive and risen and sits at the right hand of God the Father. There is your hope in overcoming that which is impossible in your life. We are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ who loved us. You see there once again there is no place for defeatism in our theology or in our life because of the empty grave of Jesus Christ. I want you to know in closing that there are yet many knights in the land all about us who have erected their false gods How can a few, 300, overcome such odds in seeking to bring about reformation when there are so few of us, when we're so weak, and when we don't have the earthly resources? How can it happen? By taking a clay pot, by taking a torch, by taking a trumpet. The clay pot in 2 Corinthians 4, verses 6-7, and the torch, the light, is made clear to us what they speak of. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We're the clay pot, first and primarily the ministers of the gospel, who proclaim the glorious gospel, which is the light of salvation to all men. It shines in the light, it shines in the life and in the speech. It comes forth in the speech of the minister of the Lord Jesus Christ who preaches the gospel of salvation. Preaches the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ as being our only hope of eternal salvation. But it also shines in the life of everyone who knows, who trusts in Jesus Christ. You are the clay pot. I am the clay pot, but you know, in order for people to see the light, we've got to be broken. We've got to be broken. We can't expect to be untarnished, perfect in every way. We've got to be humble and broken. We've got to pour contempt upon all of our pride. We must see ourselves as unfit vessels for the Lord, but nevertheless, God has chosen to use unfit vessels with all of our weaknesses, with all of our blemishes, not taking pride in the way we look, but taking and glorying and boasting in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ that is within us, that shines forth. Will you be broken? Because God says, the light is within you, and you are broken, that light will shine in the darkness of other people's lives and bring forth the light of the glory of Christ. You may say, I'm not a good speaker. I'm not wise. I don't know how to communicate these things. But if you are broken before men, God will cause the light of the gospel to shine forth through your words and your deeds to bring forth glory unto himself. and bring men to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and take the trumpet. 1 Thessalonians 1.8, we are told that the gospel has sounded forth from the mouths and through the lives of the Thessalonians. We are to sound forth, we are to trumpet forth the good news of Jesus Christ. Dear ones, it is not simply our lives, but it is our words as well. And if we feel inadequate, if we feel like Gideon, that we're not courageous, that we can't go, as it were, by day, because of our lack of faith, we have to go by night. Go. Even if you say, I'm weak, I feel like I can't do this, to share my faith with others. God calls us to trumpet forth. the good news of Jesus Christ to those with whom we come in contact. But you know, dear ones, it won't happen unless we begin praying, God, use me. God, give me an opportunity today with someone that I might be a witness and a testimony to of thy saving grace. If you're not even praying to be used, dear ones, why should we expect God to use us? But we don't even have the faith to believe by way of prayer that God would give us those that we can share our faith with, share the gospel of Christ with, to fill this building, so that we must go into another building. Then He won't be doing so. He'll say, be it according to your faith, or your lack of faith. That's where it begins. praying, God, lead me to someone that I can talk to about thee. Give me someone I can be a testimony and a witness to. Yes, he has given us few numbers, weak men, and unusual weapons. He's not given us swords, missiles, or tanks to bring about reformation in this world. Our weapons are not carnal. They're spiritual. They take down the stronghold of skeptics and unbelievers, destroying every imagination upon which they have built their lives and their faith. But this is the way Reformation comes, and it begins in our lives. Let us be broken, and Reformation will come to our nation, and to all the nations of this world, because Jesus Christ lives and reigns. Please stand with me in prayer. Our Father in Heaven, look upon us who are of little faith. We who are ashamed because, Lord, we have not prayed incessantly that we would be used to bring others to Jesus Christ. We have forgotten, O Lord, one of the important missions in this life, and that is to be light to the world. Father, we pray that Thou would break us of our pride, break us, O Lord, of our arrogance, trusting in ourselves, trusting in our resources. Cause us, O Lord, to see that it is not Our beauty is not our winsomeness, is not our personality, is not our intelligence, is not our gifts or graces, it is Thy power, it is Thy Spirit, it is Thy Word that brings and draws men into Jesus Christ. O Lord, we do desire to use every benefit as a means to draw others to Christ. We don't desire to be stumbling blocks in any way, but nevertheless we realize it is Thee that does this work, and causes therefore not to boast in ourselves or our resources, but to boast in the fact that we are clay pots broken, that we have the light of the gospel that has been bestowed upon us within us. and that we have been given the glorious privilege of trumpeting forth the Good News of Christ. That Reformation, that the idolatry within our land, the blasphemy, that the immorality, and that the murder and theft, that the Sabbath breaking and covenant breaking might all be destroyed and removed. Lord, we look forward to that day Let even this 300 be used to accomplish great and mighty things for thee, our Father. For we pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. You are welcome to make copies and give them to those in need. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available. free and for sale in audio, video and printed formats. It is likely that the sermon or book that you just listened to is also available on cassette or video or as a printed book or booklet. Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail order catalog, Thank you. by phone at 780-450-3730 by fax at 780-468-1096 or by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton, that's E-D-M-O-N-T-O-N Alberta, abbreviated capital A, capital B, Canada, T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since He condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle is adopted by the papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying his word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.