Pastor Dave Martin ~ Cross Creek Community Church ~ August 15, 2010

“Little Stories: Big Lessons”

Gideon – Judges 6-8

• Over the next few weeks we’re going to look at little stories that teach Big Lessons…
• God’s Truth that we can apply to our lives every day…
• Little stories from both Old and New Testaments… real people, real events, dramatically changed lives!
• The first “little story” is found in Judges 6 (page 174 in your seat bible)

• The time between Joshua and King Saul & David…
• Turbulent times for Israel… 1000BC… who had “no king…”
• A time of “every man doing what was right in their own eyes…”
• Israel’s cycle of wickedness, enslavement, repentance, deliverance…
• Israel once again enjoying peace & prosperity, a spiritual carelessness…

1. I.       Great Sin Brings Great Judgment – Bondage

Judges 6:1-5 ¹ Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. ² Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. ³ Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. ⁴ They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. ⁵ They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it.

• We see Divine chastening for Israel’s idolatry and evil ways…
• Israel worshipped the gods of the Amorites 6:10… consisting predominately of Baal & Asherah 6:25…
• Even though they were God’s people… delivered from Egypt in miraculous ways… they turned their backs…
• God used the Midianites as his judgment against the Israelites for their spiritual adultery…
• They were nomadic people who were from the Gulf of Aqabah (the Red Sea crossing region)… & friends
• Seems to be a seasonal invasion for food & supplies… came with camels “swarms of locust” (100 mi/day)
• Impossible to count their numbers and their camels… they literally ravaged the land (and people)
• Sin whether large or small… brings God disfavor… Righteousness exalts a nation, sin is a reproach…
• If you do not see God’s judgment upon America, you are blind… He may not bring the Midianites but God does bring a runaway Big Gov’t, lack of wise leaders, giveaway & spend policies… health care crisis, illegal alien problems, radical Islamic terrorist, a general moral collapse, natural calamities…
• God’s judgment upon a nation brings lose of Freedom in bondage by an oppressive enemy…

II. Great Judgment Brings Great Brokenness - Repentance

Judges 6:6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

• The people drifted from God and for seven years they experienced a relentless – no way out judgment
• Daw-lal, “Impoverished” the Israelites – they were weak, poor, dried up, feeble… empty (broken)
• No where else to turn… God sent a prophet 6:7-10 who warned them to turn back to the Lord… repent
• Repentance… to change your thinking & direction you’re going – back to Truth, God, Righteousness

III. Great Brokenness Brings Great Intervention – God raised up Gideon

Judges 6:11-16 ¹¹ The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. ¹² When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." ¹³ "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian." ¹⁴ The Lord turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" ¹⁵ "But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." ¹⁶ The Lord answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."

• God sees the broken repentant heart of His people… prompting God to intervene… raising up Gideon
• “Angel of the Lord” – a theophany… an OT appearance of Christ… God Himself Divinely calling His man!
• Gideon was a farmer (secretly threshing wheat)… God saw not a farmer but a “mighty warrior”… a mighty man of valor… not me, I’m only a farmer – get someone else to do the fighting… I’m from the weakest clan, I’m the least in my family… Get this…
• “Go in the strength you have…” Be YOU, not someone else… go in my strength, I’m sending YOU, I’ll be with YOU… I will use YOU to defeat the emeny and free My people… He needed confirmation/sign
• Oh God please confirm what you’re saying… “fire from the rock” 6:21 and Fleece dry & dew 7:36-40

• Ø God tests Gideon’s faith and obedience

Judges 6:25-27 ²⁵ That same night the Lord said to him, "Take the second bull from your father's herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. ²⁶ Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering." ²⁷ So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

• Gideon proved faithful with a little… leading to much more to come… same for us today
• God calls us today to be faithful in the little, or he’ll never give you more… I want to… [do big things]

• Ø The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon… he mustered an army together…

Judges 6:34-35 ³⁴ Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. ³⁵ He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.

• We see a spirit-filled leader, an anointed reluctant farmer beginning to bloom into a mighty warrior!
• God raising up His man Gideon to make a difference in his world ALL for God’s Glory!
• Great Brokenness Brings Great Intervention

IV. Great Intervention Brings Great Victory - Supernatural

• Enemy – Overwhelming force of 135,000 men (vs8:10), Powerful, Fierce & feared…

Judges 7:12 The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.

• The enemy is strong… camped sprawling across the landscape in the valley of Jezreel 6:33

• Gideon’s army shrinks from 32,000 to 10,000 to 300 men…

Judges 7:2 The Lord said to Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her…

• 32,000 strong… those afraid go home and 10,000 stayed 7:1-3… God says still too many!
• 10,000 strong … those who lap water with hands can stay… 300 men 7:5-6
• 300 men strong/weak?... BUT God is fighting on their side!
• God gives more Confirmation to Gideon 7:9-15… He “worshipped God” and said, “get up”…

• God’s Battle Plan…

Judges 7:16 Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.

Judges 7:20-22 ²⁰ The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!" ²¹ While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled. ²² When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords…

• The battle began beginning of the middle watch (10pm-2am)… 10pm – get the picture
• 135,000 enemy soldiers camped & sleeping… blackness of the night…
• Moving into position at the edge of the camp, divided into three companies of 100 men each surrounding the enemy… waiting for Gideon’s signal… Intense, fear, questions…
• Then it happen… trumpets blew, pitchers broke, torches seen, shouts of victory rang out
• Notice carefully, “each man held his position”… don’t go into their camp (might get hurt)
• Suddenness, blackness, noise of battle, they fought each other… The slaughter was great.

Gideon’s men – Faith, Shout, Stand = Confidence

Midianites – Fear, Cries, Panic = Confusion

Judges 8:28 Thus Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon's lifetime, the land enjoyed peace forty years.

• God called an unlikely person to be used mightily for Him… God wants to use you today!
• You may be facing an enemy that is relentless… an addictive behavior, bitterness, fear…???
• You have been defeated far too long… come out of the darkness into God’s glorious light!

It’s Time to…

• Hear from God! He still speaks today…
• Clean my House! Tear down the idols, confess your sin…
• Obey His Word! Begin obeying in what God is telling you to do…
• Gain the Victory! As Gideon, God will be in your corner fighting for you…

1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Little Stories: Big Lessons”

Let’s Pray