Now, if you'd open your Bibles to Judges 6 tonight, verse 33 says, then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east assembled themselves, and they crossed over and camped in the valley of Jezreel. So the spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, and the Abizrites were called together to follow him. He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they also were called together to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet them. Then Gideon said to God, if you will deliver Israel through me as you have spoken, behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there's dew on the fleece only and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that you will deliver Israel through me as you've spoken. And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. Then gideon said to god do not let your anger burn against me that I may speak once more Please let me make a test once more with the fleece Let it now be dry only on the fleece and let there be dew on all the ground god did so that night For it was dry only on the fleece and dew was on all the ground May we pray father? We thank you for your precious word in your people tonight We pray that you would use this text to minister to our minds and hearts this evening in a very practical way, and we will thank you for that. In Jesus' name, amen. Now, a lot of the data from this first illustration I'm going to give you tonight comes from a book by Gary Inrig called Hearts of Iron, Feet of Clay. He wrote a book on judges back in 1979. I've also done further research on the illustration I'm about to tell you tonight as we begin the message from a book entitled John Wesley by Reed Bett. And there are a couple of little issues that need to be changed. This final woman that shows up in the story I'll tell you was named Molly, not Mary. When John Wesley was 32 years old as a bachelor, he was pastoring a church in Savannah, Georgia, and a young lady caught his eye. She was pretty, she was intelligent, he fell in love. The problem was he was a member of a weird religious club called the Holy Club. Now the club wasn't all bad, but it did have some really strange ideas. And one of the tenets of their Holy Club was that they would remain single. So John Wesley decided that he would put out a fleece to see if it was God's will for him to marry this girl. So he had his friend write on three pieces of paper, marry, don't marry this year, and do not think of marriage anymore. They put all three pieces of paper in a container and they drew out one. With the idea that Wesley would determine the will of God by what he drew out, and he drew out number three. So John Wesley thought, this must be God's will, I'm never supposed to marry, and with a broken heart he got on a ship and he sailed back to England. Not long after he got back to England, he came to faith in Christ, he met another woman. This was a widow woman whose name was Grace Murray and he fell in love with her. This time he decided he would determine God's will by a little different means and then he put out a fleece. He used seven criteria to judge whether or not this was the gal that God had for him. Housekeeper, nurse, companion, friend, fellow worker in the gospel, her gifts, the fruit of her labor. Wesley believed that she was the one because she met all seven of the criteria that he had put down. And finally, to determine the final will of God, he went to his brother Charles who didn't like Grace. Nobody knows why. I can't find out why he didn't like her. But that was fleece. Whatever Charles would say would be the will of God. So Wesley didn't get the sign he was looking for. He called it off, again broken hearted. Finally, at age 47, he supposedly fell in love again with a wealthy widow whose name was Molly Vizelli. We're not sure what the fleece he used this time that he concluded, though, that it was his will or God's will for him to marry her. So he married her in 1751. He couldn't have been more wrong. Molly was a bitterly jealous woman. And when he was gone preaching, she made up evil things in her mind. When he would come home, she would quiz him and quarrel with him. And actually, she became violent. And finally, she ended up leaving him. A few years later, he died. John Wesley never figured out the will of God for his life on marriage because he's putting out fleeces and fleeces never work. That's the point you're gonna see when we go through this text tonight. God wants his people believing his word and relying on his spirit for victory, not relying on fleeces. Now probably sometime or another, most of us here have either heard about the idea of putting out a fleece or perhaps we've even done it. I know I have. I'm convinced that the reason we've done this is because of our ignorance and that we're about as dull as Gideon. Asking God for a fleece is never a sign of faith. Asking God for a fleece is always a sign of a lack of faith. We're told by God that we're to ask him for wisdom. We're not to ask him for a bunch of fleece signs. Now last time we were together, we saw God gave Gideon a remarkable victory. He obeyed the word of God. He tore down that altar of Baal. That's setting the stage for the greatest victory of his life. And we would like to analyze tonight's text by breaking it down into three parts. First of all, the context of Gideon asking God for these fleece of wool miracles. Here's your context, verse 33. Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east assembled themselves and they crossed over and camped in the valley of Jezreel. So the spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon and he blew the trumpet and the Abizites were called together to follow him. Now as we come to verse 33, we notice that the Midianites and the Amalekites, they're forming their coalition for their annual pillaging raid. Gideon had won a big victory at home, but there's a much bigger challenge on the horizon. All of the Midianites and the Amalekites and those Arabs who are the sons of the East, they had assembled themselves together in the Valley of Jezreel. As we said, they come in there annually for their looting of the land of Israel. And Gideon was seeing all of this begin to form. That's the context for him putting out this fleece. Now there are five key realities that Gideon could have looked at. And he could have said, we're going to have victory here. Five key realities that he apparently overlooks. First of all, God personally visited Gideon. You'll remember earlier in the chapter, Gideon had a personal encounter with the angel of the Lord. He knew that that angel of the Lord was none other than God. He worshipped him as God. And that angel of the Lord had told Gideon that he was the Lord, he was with him, and he was a valiant warrior. So he had had a personal visitation from God. Secondly, God had told Gideon, I'm going to give you victory. He said, go, take care of these Midianites. I'm your strength. You will win. You're going to defeat them. So he gave him his orders. You go and do exactly what I tell you to do. Thirdly, God had shown Gideon that when he obeys God, he does get victory. Gideon obeyed the Lord and he saw something remarkable happen in his own hometown. Even his dad got on the bandwagon of Gideon. Once Gideon obeyed God and tore down those alders and started worshiping God, things started to turn around. He saw the hand of God work. Fourthly, God sent the Spirit of the Lord on Gideon, verses 34 to 35. Now there are big distinctions between the way the Holy Spirit worked in Old Testament times and the way He works in New Testament times. In Old Testament times, only a few had God's Spirit on them. In New Testament times, every believer has God's Spirit in them. In Old Testament times, the purpose of God's spirit was to anoint somebody for special service. And in New Testament times, God's spirit anoints every believer for service. So this was a very special anointing that was on Gideon. In Old Testament times, the spirit of God came on a person temporarily. In New Testament times, that spirit is in you forever. And in Old Testament times, the result of God's spirit being on a person was usually some type of physical assignment. In New Testament times, it's a spiritual assignment. So here was Gideon. He can look. I've had a visit from God. God has told me, go take care of the Midianites. He's shown Gideon that when you obey me, I give you victory. And now he has the power of God's Spirit on him. And that if that's not enough. Fifthly, He caused people to follow Gideon as their leader when he blew a trumpet. My goodness, look at verse 34. The text says, So the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, and the Abrizites were called together to follow him. Just think about that. Man, what a change Gideon had seen in his own life. All he does is step out and blow a trumpet, like back in Joshua's day, and Israelites start coming to him to follow him. Just imagine, we walk outside in the parking lot, blow a trumpet, and cars start pulling in. Now you would think that Gideon would say, Man, there's been a lot happened here in a couple of days. Just a couple days ago, I was trying to hide some food in a wine press. And now, look at the turnaround here. Look what God has done. I've got great numbers of people looking to me to be their leader. God sure is in this. He didn't need a fleece. All he needed to do is look at what God was doing. In fact, if you carefully notice verse 34, people started to be stirred up by God in his own hometown, the Ebersites. When God's spirit came upon Gideon, those local people, those local people that at one time had said, let's kill him. They want to join him. Those local people said, man, we got to get behind this guy. This guy has the power of God on his life. And not only that, but according to verse 35, word spread that there's a true leader of God, that God has raised up. And then you read, volunteers from Asher, verse 35. He sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came to meet with him, Asher, Remember that group back in the days of Deborah. That was the tribe that basically said, we're just going to stay here and take care of our business on the shipping shores rather than get involved in some type of skirmish militarily. Let's just stay there working on our docks. They were oblivious to the warfare of God. But now, now that God's hand is on Gideon, Asher is right there. Zebulun and Naphtali. They were faithful in war during the days of Deborah. That's all they needed. Someone to rise up to say, I'll lead you in the ways of God. And they would follow him. But this was really a big step of faith for Asher. What this tells us, by the way, before we move on, is that God gives his people plenty of time, plenty of time to make some adjustments in life and get it right. You have to admire Asher, at least that tribe this time wasn't going to make the same mistake. They were going to get behind this warfare and they were going to do business with God. Gideon was called by God to go to war, they wanted to be part of it. So just think about tonight, all that Gideon had seen, these amazing things that God had done. What extra evidence could you possibly need? You would think Gideon would have said, look at all this. Look at what's happened to me. I was just trying to take a stick and beat out a little grain, and now I've got all of Israel looking to me to lead them for the glory of God. And that sets the stage for the actual request of Gideon for these fleece miracles. The fleece miracles are found in verses 36 to 40, and this is what gives us the famous fleece. The idea of putting out a fleece or laying out a fleece is familiar to most people who go to church, but most people who go to church have no idea what this is actually all about. Now, some have said this was really a praiseworthy thing for Gideon to do. He's setting forth here a pattern that we all ought to follow. We all ought to lay out fleeces, but you're going to see that isn't the truth. In fact, in a couple of weeks from tonight, you're going to see God's going to kind of bring him back to this fleece episode, just like he tests God two times, God's going to test him two times. Secondly, this fleece, some say this was actual sin. Gideon is rejecting the word of God. God told him, go fight the Midians, and Gideon's saying, no, I'm not doing it until I see some sign, some additional sign. So he's actually sinning against God's word and will. And some see this as an evidence of a lack of faith in God, and he doubts his word of God, and that's exactly what I see this to be. If we put this in the context of Judges 6, what we conclude is because Gideon lacked faith in God's word, he wanted to see some fleece sign miracle. Now I'll tell you, Gideon doesn't look more faithful here, he looks more faithless. One writer who's written a good commentary on the book of Judges, whose name is Clinton McCann, said, in view of the fact of the things God had already done, he's beginning to look a little ridiculous. The truth is, because Gideon did not fully believe God's word, he takes a literal fleece of wool and he asked God to perform two nature miracles with it. And there are three observations I want to make before we take a look at the request. First of all, and this is so important for us to understand tonight, Gideon knew exactly what God's will was when he does this. See, this is not a request to try to figure out the will of God. This is extremely important for you and I to see. Most people who put out fleeces say they're putting out fleeces because they're trying to determine God's will. That's not what this is about at all. Contrary to popular opinion, Gideon knew exactly what God's will was. You go wipe out the Midianites. God couldn't have been more clearer than that. He gave him direct orders. In fact, you'll notice in verses 36 to 37, then Gideon said to God, if you will deliver Israel through me as you have spoken, behold, I will put out a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, it is dry in all the ground that I will know that you will deliver Israel through me as you have spoken. He says, I know you've spoken your word to me. You told me exactly what I'm supposed to do. So this is not about him trying to figure out what God's will is. Not only did Gideon know the will, He's flat out saying God's will has told me exactly what I'm supposed to do. So this is not about him discovering or determining God's will as Dan Duncan of Believer's Chapel said. This fleece business is not about Gideon seeking guidance. He's trying to get some type of confirmation. He knew exactly what God had told him to do before he ever put out a fleece. I mean, if God actually came to you and did the things he did for Gideon and spoke to you and said, now this is what I want you to do, you go do this, would you put out a fleece? That's what Gideon does. Secondly, Gideon's fleece is a sign that Gideon doubts God and doesn't believe the word of God. I mean, he says, you've spoken to me what I'm supposed to do. So when he asked God for a sign, it's not evidence of solid faith, it's evidence that he lacks faith. He's basically saying, I know what you've said by your word, I know what you've already done, showing me what I'm supposed to do, but I really don't believe that. I really don't trust that, so I'm going to put out a fleece. Putting out fleeces does not show God we trust him implicitly. It does not show God we trust Him at all. In fact, it shows Him we don't trust Him. Dr. Warren Wiersbe said, I have met all kinds of people who got in serious trouble by putting out fleeces. Now, there were two fleece miracles that Gideon requests of God. And I want you to notice, by the way, that he changes now the noun that Gideon is using for God from Adonai and Jehovah to God Elohim. He now changes it to God, capital G, small case O-D, which is Elohim. That's the plural name of the Trinitarian name for God. It's the one that's often used in Genesis 1. And I think the reason why he's using that particular proper noun is because he's going to ask God here for a real sovereign creator type of miracle. Now, the third observation that I want to make is Gideon's fleece is a sign that asks God to perform a miracle in nature. Don't overlook that. He's asking God to perform a miracle in nature. Let's say that you decide to ask God for the phone to ring at a certain time so you can discover His will. You don't know for sure if God let the phone ring or Satan had the phone ring when the phone rings. You don't know because there's a powerful force of evil that's at work in this world. Let's say you're trying to determine if you should move so you put out a fleece to God saying that you should sell your home by a certain date. Here's your problem. What if it's God's will for you to move and Satan tries to stop you by not selling the house? Or what if it's God's will that you not move and Satan tries to mess this all up by selling your house? When you start depending on those kinds of things in this world to try to figure out God's will, it's risky business. And it could lead you to doing just the opposite of what God wanted you to do. Gary Enrig told a story from his own life. He said there was a time when a church called him and he said, I had plenty of evidence that it was God's will for me to go to that church. He said, it was confirmed to me by God, it was confirmed to me by the church and by the elders of the church that that's where I was supposed to go. So he said, I decided that I would put out a fleece to God, and my fleece was, God, if you sell my house by a certain date, then I know it's your will to live. Well, God didn't sell the house. And Gary said, I knew it was God's will for me to go to that other church, and yet God hadn't responded to my fleece deal. So he said, by faith, I stepped out and we moved. And he said, God did not sell that house until the first Sunday I preached in that new church. He said that fleece sign didn't work. But he said, the moment I got into that new ministry, God confirmed by many ways that that's what his will was. He wanted me to move. He wanted me to be there. Ladies and gentlemen, these kinds of fleeces are dangerous. But the fleece sign that Gideon requests He's taking this right out of Satan's world. He says, I'm going to ask God, Elohim, for a nature miracle. It would be like you asking God, you pour rain on the left side of our house, but don't you have one drop hit the right side of our house. You pour rain on my car, but don't you have one drop hit the ground? Or you pour rain all over the ground, but don't let it hit the car. That's the miracle he's asking for. Which brings us to the actual fleece miracle signs. Fleece sign miracle number one, the miracle of the water only on the fleece of wool. Verse 37, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor, If there's dew on the fleece only, it is dry on the ground. I will know that you will deliver Israel through me as you have spoken. And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. Now wool, sheepskin wool, is something that keeps you warm all night. In fact, I read that people in Afghanistan still use this. But you hunters in Michigan know wool is a great absorbent of water. you can get wool wet and still stay warm. Wool absorbs water. Survival mountaineering courses teach you wear wool because it will pull the moisture away from your body and you'll still stay warm. And I want to be very clear as we look at this, Gideon is asking God for an amazing miracle here. He's asking God, I want you to change the normal nature of how things work because you're the creator. What I'm asking you to do is put dew only on the fleece and not on the ground. I love something Gary Phillips said on this point. Gideon is not asking God for a coincidence. If I sell my car by 5 o'clock on Friday, I'll know God wants me to move to Seattle. He said Gideon is asking God for a miracle. If my car develops organs of speech and utters the word Seattle, I'll know God wants me to move there. But as he goes on to say, if you really want to be guided by a fleece, then you go get a sheep's fleece and ask God literally to reverse turf wetness and dryness as Gideon did, and then you repent. And according to verse eight, Gideon got up early in the morning and God performed the miracle. The miracle was so amazing that the ground was completely dry. The fleece of wool was so wet that he could actually squeeze out a full bowl of water. But notice that isn't good enough for Gideon. the text says then Gideon verse 39 said do not let your anger burn against me that I may speak once more please let me make a test once more with the fleece that wasn't good enough Even though God had done all of these great things and had performed this miracle, it wasn't enough evidence to convince Gideon to believe the word of God. So he again asked God for another sign. He probably thought, well, you know, wool tends to draw in moisture. Maybe this is just a coincidence. I mean, the wool could actually have all of the moisture around the area brought into it, and it could actually sap it up. So maybe we should run another test. So it's the miracle only on the ground, not on the fleece. It's very clear from verse 39 that Gideon knew he's in dangerous ground here. He risked angering God. In fact, I can tell you a time in New Testament theology where somebody did anger God who asked for a sign. Zacharias was working in the temple, and you can read this story in Luke chapter 1, and an angel appears to him. and tells him that your wife is going to give birth to the forerunner of Jesus Christ. He's going to be called John. An angel shows up in the temple and tells him that. And Zechariah says, well now, can you give me a sign? And this angel says, who do you think is talking to you? And then he says, all right, you want a sign? I'll give you a sign. You won't be able to open your mouth and speak one word until that child is born. That was kind of a negative thing when you get God angry. And Gideon knew he's on shaky ground here. God isn't pleased with people who don't believe his word. God starts to get angry when his people become fleece seekers and they don't believe his word. So Gideon said, I want you to make the ground wet and not the fleece of wool, which is exactly what God does. And actually that's a greater miracle because wool absorbs water, wool pulls water in. So this was pretty impressive. Apparently what God decided to do with this troubled Gideon was to accommodate his lack of faith. God is very gracious here in what he's doing. He puts up with a lot of faulty things with his people. Gideon is not looking here like a valiant warrior. He looks like a doubting Thomas. And I want you to think for a moment about what a fleece says. If you go to God and put on a fleece, here's what you're saying to God. You must do what I tell you to do before I'm willing to do what you tell me to do. If you don't do this, God, by a certain time, or if you don't do this, I'm not doing your will. Now asking God for these signed miracles shows us that Gideon lacks faith. Do you understand this point? Signed miracles prove people lack faith. We live in a religious world of frauds that advertise you can come to their miracle crusades. They advertise that they're a place that demonstrates strong faith. It's anything but that. It's a show. It's a sham. Those types of things show that people don't have faith. They show that people don't believe the word of God. What these crusades say is we don't believe the word of God and we're looking for some tangible miraculous sign. Which brings us to the third part, the practical application for the New Testament believer. Now I would acknowledge there is nothing more important than for a New Testament believer to know and follow the will of God. God made every one of us. God gave you your skills. God gave you your abilities. God saved you. There is nothing more important than knowing what God wants for our life. However, I am convinced that putting out fleeces is not the way to determine the will of God or to discover it. Putting out fleeces does not say we believe God. It basically says we doubt God and we won't do His will if He doesn't do something for us first. Let me suggest 10 biblically-based discovery principles for New Testament Grace Age doctrine to help us determine God's will. Discovery principle number one, the activity of prayer. Prayer. Prayer determines the will of God. You have a right, if you want the wisdom of God, to go to God and ask for wisdom. That is stressed over and over and over again. It is our responsibility when we're struggling with decisions to go to the Lord and pray about it. I've known of believers who made major decisions in life without having spiritually minded people pray for them. It's not only important that we pray about it ourselves, but you get others praying about it with you. Secondly, the specific guidance from God's word. If it's God's will, it will be in harmony with the written word. It won't be against the word of God. In fact, I think most of the time God's will can be discerned by knowing the word of God. The more we know, the more we're able to discern it. Obedience to the written word of God and obedience to the known will often leads to the discovery of the unknown will. In God's word, there are all kinds of principles. There are all kinds of commands. There are general principles, and if we follow them, the more we know of them, the better position we are to determine the will of God. Thirdly, the specific guidance of knowing you're in fellowship with God. This is one of the great criteria of determining the will of God. If we're living our lives in accordance with the Word, and we know there's no sin blocking my relationship with God, I'm in good fellowship with the Lord, we're in a good position to determine the will of God. You can't determine the will of God living in sin. Fourthly, the specific guidance of a non-grieved, non-quenched Holy Spirit. If it's God's will, it won't quench the Spirit. If it's God's will, it won't grieve the spirit. If you know there are things that are quenching the spirit, if you know there are things that are grieving the spirit, then how in the world are you gonna figure out the will of God? Fifthly, the specific guidance of having a deep inner peace that rules your heart about the decision. Paul says in Colossians, let the peace of Christ rule your hearts. Now, you have to be careful with this having peace business, because a conscience can become so hardened that they could have peace about something that isn't God's will. Jonah, for example, was completely at peace, sound asleep, on a boat, in a ship, in the Mediterranean, when he was running away from the will of God, totally at peace. And Jesus, who is always completely in the will of God, in Gethsemane, is so struggling with having to go to the cross and being abandoned by God and taking upon him our sin that he's sweating, as it were, great drops of blood. So you can't just determine God's will by peace. But if the other biblical principles are in place, it is a legitimate guide that the peace of Christ will rule our heart. The sixth principle is the specific guidance that comes through the counsel of other godly people who are wise in the word. Proverbs talks about that. Where there is no guidance, the people fall. But there is victory in an abundance of counselors. That proverb is critical. Because if you really want to know God's will, consult others that love the Lord. Consult others that love the word of God. Because they can say maybe this is the will of God for you. They can perhaps point you or see something that you're not seeing. There's a good likelihood your decision will be victorious if you have an abundance of counselors who are godly people involved in the decision. Seventh, the specific guidance of what God has already done that you've seen in the past. There isn't one of us here tonight who can look into the future and determine what's going to happen tomorrow. But we can look back at the past and see what God has already done in previous times. That's what Gideon should have done. He should have said, now just wait a minute. I start in a wine press, I end up leading this whole nation Israel. He could have based his decision on what he'd already seen God do. Eighth, the specific guidance of doors that God has sovereignly open. There's no question that God does open and shut doors. And one way that you determine the will of God is you walk through the doors. And if you walk through the doors and they're shut, it wasn't the will of God. If you walk through the doors and they're open for you, then you can say, pretty much, God is continuing to open this door and I'm going to continue to move forward in this direction. And ninthly, the specific guidance of what your heart desires. You know, in the book of Psalms, there are several passages that teach us, you delight yourself in the Lord, He'll give you the desires of your heart. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him. Again, You have to be careful here. There's nothing wrong with honestly analyzing yourself before the Lord and seeing if your heart is right with God. And if it is, there's nothing wrong with saying, do I really desire this opportunity? Is this something that really does appeal to me? There's not a thing wrong with that. The specific activity of implicitly trusting in God. We are told that we are to trust in the Lord with all of our heart. Anything that we will ever do for God is going to be done by faith. In fact, without faith, it is impossible to please God. So if it's God's will, there's going to be a moment in time where we're going to have to step out by faith and get the job done. If it's the will of God, that's what it takes. Now you apply those ten biblical principles to your life. And that will help you determine the will of God far greater than putting out any fleece. May we pray. If you're here tonight and you've never placed your faith in Jesus Christ, you will never know what God's will was for your life. You'll miss it. God's the one who ordained your life. God's the one who's given you your skills, your mind, your abilities, your talents. But if you don't turn your life over to Him through Christ, you'll miss your whole life, what you were even here for. So you can settle that tonight, right here in this service. You can begin a relationship with God that will be exciting. You pray something like this, God, I know I'm a sinner. I admit that, that's the truth. And I place all of my faith in Jesus Christ to be my savior. And I want your will for my life. Our father, we thank you so much for your precious word. It is relevant to every aspect of our life. Forgive us for times when we have been just as confused as Gideon. I've been there. I'm sure many here tonight have been there. And I pray that you would develop in us a faith that is solid, a faith that always knows what your will is and always does it. We thank you so much for the privilege we have of being in the church of God. And we thank you for the fellowship that we're about to enjoy in the center tonight. We pray your blessing on that time and on that refreshment. In Jesus' name, amen.