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“The Confirmation Of The Call” • 7.13.14
• Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- We look last week at the call of God in
Gideon's life. He's a farmer, living near Bethlehem, living in a time when
Israel's sin had brought fierce oppression from Midian and her associates.
- We first meet him in a winepress threshing
wheat, convinced that his country's fate is sealed and that there is no hope of
deliverance. That's when God comes to meet him!
- God met him at his lowest point, when
everything was bigger than him, called him to begin fighting the battle at
home, which raised both opponents and supporters. God was moving!
- Today, we see the story that defined Gideon's
time and the confirmation of God's work. I want us to be wrapped up in the
story and then, at the end, we'll recap with four statements.
Text
• Judges 6:33-35 : "Then all the Midianites and
Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over
and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites
gathered behind him. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also
gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali;
and they came up to meet them." : Like clockwork the villians of the story set up their camp on
Israel's border.
- The valley of Jezreel, also
known the valley of Megiddo, is a very spacious and greatly coveted area in
Israel for it's trade route to and from the East.
- Hundreds of thousands could
comfortably camp there and this coalition was as numerous as a locust swarm, Judges 8:10ff revealing that there were
135,000 men!
- What is God's answer? Notice the
words of verse 34: "But the
Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon!" Literally, the Spirit of God
"clothed" Gideon!
- Whatever the armies of the world
can do, a person filled with the enabling, empowering, work of the Holy Spirit
can do better! God's presence will accompany God's work!
- As New Testament believers, we
have the daily privliege and command from God to be filled with the Holy Spirit
and to live in His power. To miss that is to miss everything in Christian practice!
- Gideon went from cowering alone
in a winepress to standing up as the commander in front of an army!
- He blew the trumpet and look who
gathered behind him? The Abiezrites, his formerly Baal worshipping family stood
proudly behind him, ready to follow the Lord's banner!
- Gideon's call awakened his
family, as well as the people of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, who
were most directly threatened by this invasion. They were ready for Gideon's
lead.
• Judges 6:36-39 : "So Gideon said to God, 'If You will
save Israel by my hand as You have said—look, I shall put a fleece of wool
on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on
all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You
have said.' And
it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece
together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. Then Gideon said to God, 'Do not be
angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once
more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the
ground let there be dew.' And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but
there was dew on all the ground." : Gideon has gone out in the power of the Spirit at the sight of
the enemy and gathered an army.
- They have come with all their
enthusiasm and hatred of God's enemies. But then the reality of the situation
kicks in and Gideon is in
the middle of it.
- "But, He's clothed with the
power of the Holy Spirit?" What a comfort! He's just like us, needing to
freshly rely upon the Lord in every moment! "But we've got this!" No,
we don't!
- Gideon proposed his famous
fleece test in which he asks the Lord to allow dew to fall onto the lamb's
fleece, but allow the ground surrounding it to be dry.
- On the following evening, he
asked that the opposite occur, this time putting the same fleece on a threshing
floor. Both times, the Lord accomodated his request.
- You can see Gideon's eyes widen
as the first morning's fleece wrung out a tremendous bowl of water, as if the
Lord funneled all of the night's moisture into that fleece!
- You can see Gideon thinking,
"Well, that kind of thing can happen." You wonder if he spent the
whole day talking himself out of the miracle!
- When the fleece was bone dry the
next morning, nothing could be said! God wants to do this! Please note that by
this time, GIdeon has asked for three signs from God!
- The Angel of the Lord consumed his
offering in front of his eyes and now, he has directed the night's moisture to
exact coordinates.
- By now, GIdeon finally has to
have some reasonable confidence to exercise the faith that he been asked to
exert. The point is that God took special care to personally confirm His call.
- On a quick side note, please
don't walk away believing that "fleecing" God is the appropriate
action to take. Historical narrative merely reveals what happened. It's not
endorsing this action.
- Granted, the Lord did condescend
to confirm Gideon's faith. He will gently meet us as well!
- But he was not indwelt by the
Holy Spirit as we are, neither did he have the full Canon of scripture. We have
a much better framework from which to make our decisions.
• Judges 7:1-3 : "Then
Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and
encamped beside the well of Harod, so that the camp of the Midianites was on
the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley. And the Lord said to Gideon, 'The people who
are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest
Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Now therefore, proclaim in the
hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and
depart at once from Mount Gilead.’ And twenty-two thousand of the people
returned, and ten thousand remained." : Gideon's army are hidden away behind a hill and are just
settling in, taking in the challenge in the night air.
- They stayed by a spring of water
that was much more impressive then than it is today. But the Hebrew word
"Harrod" is very close in the Hebrew to the word "trembling"
which is ironic.
- Gideon is beginning to
strategize and consider how best to go about the attack when God pulls him
aside and let's him know that they have a problem: They have too many people!
- The issue is that they will win
the battle, but lose the lesson! They will think that their own numbers saved
them! They are outnumbered nearly 5 to 1. How could they possibly believe
that!?
- Believe me, it happens all the
time! A good part of why things take so long to grow is this very
consideration. God wants all the glory and He wants the explanation of ministry
to be Him alone.
- This enlightens us to the fact
that God will purify the purpose of His call in our lives. It's not primarily
related to the issues at hand or your ability to obey. He wants to be
glorified!
- In this first test, they simply
follow the prescription found in Deuteronomy
20, which contained some important
pre-battle provisions.
- For example, if a man had built
a home, planted a vineyard that he had not eaten from or been betrothed to a
wife, that man was excused by the Priests.
- Then the officers were to go
through the ranks and make this proclamation: "If anyone is fearful let him go and return to his house, lest the heart
of his brethren faint like his heart." (v.8)
- It's likely that the other things were spoken as well, but
the majority responded to that final escape plan! They were too fearful,
literally, trembling with fear, to be faithful!
-
Gideon watched as 22,000 people walked away. It would have been 22,001 if God
had not kept Gideon there! "Not you kid!" Well, God wasn't finished.
•
Judges 7:4-8a :
"But the Lord said to Gideon, 'The people are
still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you
there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with
you,’ the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, ‘This one shall
not go with you,’ the same shall not go.' So he brought the people down to
the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, 'Everyone who laps
from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself;
likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.' And the number of those who lapped,
putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of
the people got down on their knees to drink water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, 'By the three
hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your
hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place.' So the people took provisions and
their trumpets in their hands. And he sent away all the rest of Israel, every
man to his tent, and retained those three hundred men."
: Can you imagine Gideon's response when he heard that they people were still
too many!? A man of faith would have said, "I know, right!?"
-
"Too many!? We started with not enough!" The difference between how
we view a scenario and how God views it is often completely different and God's
view is always correct!
-
Even with 10,000 men, Israel would have been tempted to take the credit!
-
God tests Gideon's soldiers by the very mundane and routine action of getting a
drink. Some went and lapped like a dog, some knelt and brought the water to
their lips.
-
There are myriads of fanciful interpretations that have been given regarding
God's choice. God chose the ones who lapped like dogs, who put their faces down
into the water.
-
Some have believed that the 7,000 men who lapped were legitimate special forces
and that the ones lapping were doing so out of fatigue, having been out of
shape!
-
There are no ways to interpret this, except to say that God saw something in
these men's hearts and selected them. The key is when He did this!
-
He did this while they were doing something that they could not have been
pretentious about! It's not likely that they thought that the Lord was
concerned or even looking as they went for water!
-
God has often chosen His best recruits in places that were the least noteworthy
and the most mundane! Moses and
David were with their sheep. Elisha was working a field.
-
Jesus Himself came out of a carpenter's shop in Nazareth and the disciples he
chose were actively working in the fishing industry in Galilee!
-
God still looks for people who will be His in the mundane, boring day-to day
activities!
-
However, one still wonders if Gideon asked for a recount! "Still only
300!? Try again!" 7,000 men went home and Gideon had his 300!
• Judges 7:8b-11a : "Now the camp of Midian was below
him in the valley. It
happened on the same night that the Lord said to him, 'Arise, go down against the camp, for I have
delivered 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 afterward your hands
shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.'" : On the night of the same day that
He wittled the army down, God sent Gideon on a mission!
- I love the way that God leads
Gideon and meets Him here. He invites Gideon to go down to the Midianite camp
and to see that He had already delivered it into Gideon's hand.
- He even gives him a further
grace allowing Purah, likely his armor bearer, to go down to the camp with him.
What is the purpose of their mission? To hear what they are saying.
- When God calls you to do
something, your side is not the only side that He is working on! You are likely
afraid to do what God has told you. Your faith is far stretched.
- Most find that when they do
obey, they are surprised at God's grace in preparing the other side. The person
you have been afraid of witnessing to has had a few shakeups and is looking!
- The spouse you believe will
reject your thinking has been reading the word and listening to K-Wave and has
been thinking the same thing you have been afraid to share!
- God tells Gideon, "When you
hear them, your hands will be strengthened!" One of the ways that you can
interpret this word is to consider the hands firm and secure.
- His hands had been a bit shaky
before this, but information will secure them!
• Judges 7:11b-14 : "Then he went down with Purah his
servant to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp. Now the Midianites and Amalekites,
all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts;
and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.
And when
Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, 'I
have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp
of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and
the tent collapsed.' 'Then
his companion answered and said, 'This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon
the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and
the whole camp.'" :
Gideon and Purah went down. The enemy was sitting armed and secure on the
perimeter.
- They were all resting for the
night and Gideon notes their great numbers were. It's impossible not to! They
covered the ground like locusts! Their presence was innumerable!
- The scope of this battle just
overwhelmed him, but remember, he was not there to see!
- How would this story have ended
if he simply settled for what he could see!
- Too often, people in the
Christian faith do the same thing. They settle for what can be seen! They look
for results. They look for change. They look for something to hold onto.
- Thankfully, Gideon waited around
to hear this dream of the loaf of bread that brought down the whole camp of
Midian! When the companion attributed the meaning to Gideon, he was stronger!
• Judges 7:15-23 : "And so it was, when Gideon heard
the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. He returned
to the camp of Israel, and said, 'Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian
into your hand.' Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and
he put a trumpet into every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside
the pitchers. And
he said to them, 'Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the
edge of the camp you shall do as I do: When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you
also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, ‘The sword of
the Lord and of Gideon!’' So Gideon and the hundred men who
were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle
watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke
the pitchers that were in their hands. Then
the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers—they held the
torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for
blowing—and they cried, 'The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!' And every
man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried
out and fled. When the three hundred blew the
trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his companion throughout the
whole camp; and the army fled to Beth Acacia, toward Zererah, as far as the
border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath. And the
men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and pursued
the Midianites." :
The dream could not have come at the suggestion of men. This was a dream that
God had given the Midianites. How would they have know his name?
- Gideon worshipped the Lord when
he realized that God was working on the other side to inspire fear in the heart
of his enemies!
- He could have chosen any plan,
but he chose one that worked on those fears. When the 300 came near to the
camp, their lights and sounds confused the enemy.
- In these times, a person with a
horn was generally followed by a large contingent of soldiers. They had every
right to believe that there was an enormous army behind each of those 300 men!
- Their fear and the lack of
vision must have made for a terrifying moment! As the noise level rose, the
insanity moved into their camp where they literally fought themselves!
- God had set their swords against
each other and it spread throughout the came, causing those who lived to flee
in the other direction!
Conclusion
- I said that
we'd wrap up with four statements concerning the confirmation of God's call.
Let me offer those to you now.
- First, God
confirms His call by calling others to follow. Gideon was not alone. Others
resonated with where God was calling Him and they were the ones God used
ultimately.
- Second, God
confirms His call personally to each person who has decided to follow. Gideon
used a fleece and God answered. He wants us to have peace!
- Thankfully,
we have His Spirit, His Word and the counsel of other believers!
- Third, God
confirms His call and purifies it's purpose. Expect Him to whittle resources,
to move people on and to lay out some impossible odds.
- The big hint
is always that it's not about you! He wants you to worship Him, to know
personally the depth of His power alone as He works in your life!
- Finally, God
confirms His call when He gives His victory! How many times has the situation
worked out while we stood there holding a torch and a broken pot?
- Gideon's
experience is our experience because Gideon's God is our God!
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