Well, we’ve finally come to Judges 7 where we get to take a look at the great deliverance of the Lord for Israel over the Midianites, the Amalekites and the people of the east.
OK, so today, we’re just going to go over a brief recap of the battle with the horde which had gathered in Israel in order to take anything they want.
(Read over the account from Judges 7:1 - 8:3 and be familiar enough to recount from memory)
Gideon takes his army to within five miles of the Midianite camp
Judges 7:2-3a
(2) The Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’
(3) Now therefore come, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.’”
How many went home? How many stayed?
What does the Lord know about Israel?
So, they’re down to 10,000
God says, “Still too many. Let Me weed them out for you.”
Takes them to the water and separate them as I tell you.
How many left?
So, that night the Lord says to Gideon
Judges 7:9b
“Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hands …
But, the Lord knows Gideon
(Gideon is the father of all who live in Missouri, the “Show Me” state.)
Perhaps the Lord sees Gideon getting his fleece out for another go at certifying whether the Lord is telling him the truth or not.
So, God preemptively says in Judges 7:10-11
(10) But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp, (11) and you will hear what they say; and afterward your hands will be strengthened that you may go down against the camp.
The dream of the barley loaf
Gideon hears the dream and the interpretation.
He worships the Lord right then and there.
He returns to camp and tells them Judges 7:15b
“Arise, for the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hands.”
He calls a huddle and lays out the plan.
He tells them what to call out when they attack
Judges 7:18b
“For the Lord and for Gideon.”
Describe the battle.
Midian starts to flee.
Gideon calls out the men from Naphtali, Asher and Manasseh to join in the battle.
He sends messengers to the tribe of Ephraim to cut off the Midian retreat route
The men of Ephraim capture and kill two of the princes of Midian
The men of Ephraim are angry with Gideon because he did not call them to the battle to start with
Gideon calms them down by boosting their egos
Now, there’s more to come but let’s backtrack a little.
Judges 7:2
The Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’”
Judges 7:9b
“Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hands …”
Judges 7:18b
“For the Lord and for Gideon.”
The Lord has coaxed and prodded Gideon throughout this entire process.
All of the glory belongs to the Lord. All of it!
Songs we sang this morning:
“I will boast in the Lord my God. I will boast in the One Who’s worthy”
“Glory to His name”
“Glorify Thy name in all the earth”
“Glory to the Name of the Lord”
“For God has highly exalted Your name, He has enthroned You on high, Jesus the name above all names!”
Why does God deserve all of the glory? The existence of everything began with and continues because of God.
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
John 1:1-3
(1) In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was with God in the beginning. (3) Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.
That is a non-negotiable. Either you believe it or not.
We, like Gideon, have a way of obscuring God’s glory.
We all know what an eclipse of the sun is.
Let’s let this picture of the sun represent the Glory of God
Genesis 3:15 (HCSB)
I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike His heel.”
This is the first prophecy in the Bible of Jesus coming to conquer the evil one.
All Glory to God! Or is it?
Not in one church. In one church the glory is given indirectly to Jesus but directly to Mary.
That church teaches that Mary crushes the head of the serpent and the glory of God is obscured.
But … all glory belongs to God!
Another very different church basically puts you at the center of glory.
There is a church famous church. One morning in their church the wife said this. (I have blacked out the video so that you can concentrate on what she says and not on who she is.)
Play video (Victoria Osteen - "I just want to encourage every one of us to realize when we obey God, we're not doing it for God - I mean, that's one way to look at it - we're doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we're happy. That's the thing that gives Him the greatest joy. So, I want you to know this morning: Just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy. When you come to church, when you worship Him, you're not doing it for God really. You're doing it for yourself, because that's what makes God happy. Amen?")
That just takes your breath away doesn’t it?
So, based on that we’ve got
The glory of God is eclipsed by ... His desire to make YOU happy above all
Now, listen, those are two extremes but how do we obscure the glory of God in our lives?
Did Mary really crush the serpent, the devil? Can the victory over sin be accomplished by anyone but Christ? Does our victory over sin come through Mary or Jesus?
1 Corinthians 15:24 (NLT) says,
But thanks be to God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And does God call us to be happy. Is our happiness His goal for us?
John 15:18-19
(18) If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. (19) If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
Does that sound like the Lord’s recipe for your happiness?
1 Peter 4:12-14
(12) Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
(13) But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. (14) If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
Look at this highlighted part of verse 13
1 Peter 4:13b
... so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed.
OK. That’s the perspective we’re looking for! When will we be overjoyed?
Now, that’s not the only time we will have joy in our lives:
Psalm 28:7
The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and He helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise Him.
We have grown into such a self-glorifying culture that we cannot seem to grasp that glorifying someone else is also a benefit to us!
Let me give you an example:
You all know what it’s like to be out on a day when the temperature is moderate. A day when it is warm and pleasant in the sun but when a cloud obscures the sun or you go into the shade of a tree it becomes chilly.
The shade comes when we shout, “For the Lord and for Gideon” and that "Gideon" can be anything else beside the Lord.
The Lord might be in there somewhere but our addition of anything else obscures the sun.
“Was God glorified in our time of corporate worship today?”
"When we believe that we should be satisfied rather than God glorified in our worship, then we put God below ourselves as though He had been made for us rather than that we had been made for Him." -Stephen Charnock
Has God and His glory been the pinnacle of your desires and actions this past week?
Time of reflection
Prayer of commitment
First verse of To God Be The Glory - a Cappella
