The Battle Belongs To The Lord

Please take your Bibles this morning and turn to Judges 7 as we complete the story. This is a portion of the story of Gideon. Last week we saw the calling of this doubtful, skeptical man. And now we see what God does with him. Judges chapter 7 you follow as I read. Then Jeroboam, that is Gideon, and all the people who were with him, rose early and encamped beside the spring of Herod.

And the camp of Midian was north of them by the hill of Morah in the valley. The Lord said to Gideon, The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, My own hand has saved me. Now, therefore, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whoever is fearful and trembling, Let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.

Then 22,000 of the people returned and 10,000 remained. And the Lord said to Gideon, The people are still too many. Take them down to the water and I will test them for you there. And anyone of whom I say to you, this one shall go with you, shall go with you. And anyone of whom I say to you, this one shall not go with you, shall not go. So he brought the people down to the water.

And the Lord said to Gideon, Everyone who lapsed the water with his tongue as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, everyone who kneels down to drink. And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men. But all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. The Lord said to Gideon, With the 300 men who lapped, I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home.

So the people took provisions in their hands and their trumpets, And he sent all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, but retained 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. That same night the Lord said to him, Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given 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. Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp And the Midianites and the Malachites and all the people of the east lay along the valley like locusts in abundance and their camels were without number as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance. When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade, and he said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came in the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat.

And his comrade answered, This is no other than the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel. God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp. As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshipped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand. and he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them in empty jars with torches inside the jars and he said to them, look at me and do likewise.

When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout for the Lord and for Gideon. So Gideon and the 100 men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginnings of the middle watch when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands.

Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, A sword for the Lord and for Gideon. Every man stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran. They cried out and fled. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army.

And the army fled as far as Beth Shittah towards Zerarah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah by Tabath. And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian. Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites and capture the waters against them, as far as Beth Barah and also the Jordan.

So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they captured the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan. And they captured the two princes of Midian Oreb and Ze They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Ze they killed at the winepress of Ze Then they pursued Midian and they brought the heads of Oreb and Ze to Gideon across the Jordan Let's pray. Father, once more we ask that you would guide our thinking.

These seem like strange stories to us. They're familiar, but they're still strange. So we pray that you would teach us what you would have us to know from them. Help us, we pray, to that end. In Jesus' name, amen. Today we're in a battle.

It seems like whenever you pick up the paper, it seems like we're losing. It seems like the things that we called right are now called wrong. The things we clearly identified wrong is now called right. And it just seems to be that the enemies of Christ are winning over and over. Did I say pick up the paper? I should have said when you get on the internet and read and see all these things.

So what can we as God's people do to win a few victories, we ask ourselves. As we face the battles we have to fight, we ask the question, how shall we wage war? Well, I want to look this morning at this most famous battle in the Old Testament, One of the most famous, the Gideon's campaign against the Midianites, the Trump torch and jar campaign against this incredible army.

Now, some might ask, what does this ancient battle have to do with us? Does this mean we use weapons to fight? Are you trying to suggest that we start getting armed and go to war? Well, no, I'm not suggesting that. And I don't think that's what this chapter is about. But let me set the stage for understanding a chapter like this from the Old Testament.

We have to remember this narrative comes from the early history of God's people. The Bible describes the history of God's people like that of a child. In the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul says, when the children of Israel received the law, it was like children. It was like children with a guardian. and they have that guardian until they reached full maturity in which Christ then was revealed to them they needed that guardian to bring them along and to teach them so that they would be ready when the savior appeared and so you got to look at the story of the people of God as the story of like a child growing to adulthood when we look at this chapter we in the what would I call it the childhood stage of the people of God We living in the adult stage right now because we stand after all this history.

We know more than Gideon. We know more than David. We know more than the prophet Malachi. Why? Because God's revelation has continued to build through all the centuries so that at this point they're children at this point we are adults do you do you see that so this is the childhood stage if you will and God reveals himself too and deals with his people at a childhood level that is his promises are tangible right in the old testament he said what obey me believe me and you'll have crops right that's like saying to your children, obey me and do what I say, or you get a spanking, right?

When you get older, you don't deal with them in the same way. Here in the adult stage, God doesn't say to us, I promise you wealth and prosperity. That's not what he says anymore. He promises us things like joy, right? Things that make more sense to us. And so we're at this stage of development.

That's one way of reading the Old Testament. Now you may have a little child at home. Okay. And okay. So I think of my, my, I think of my grandson, Deanie, Dean, right? Dean is a mama's boy.

Okay. Which, which isn't an insult by the way. Okay. The three worst mama boys that ever lived were my three sons, but nevertheless. Dini is a mama's boy, right? She can't walk out of the room and he starts crying.

He just starts having a fit, right? What's going to comfort him at this stage? Lydia, mom walking in the door. Then he'll be okay. When he gets a little bit older, right, and he's starting to feel scared and mom's not there, she can call him on the phone. He hears her voice.

He'll be okay. let's go down further on down the line so he gets a letter or an email from his mom and that'll be okay you see at different stages of growth God deals with us differently so here in this story we're in the stage of God's people's childhood we are in the adulthood stage God's going to deal with us differently And he did then. So how do we find the parallels then? How does this chapter connect with us?

Well, one thing we have to see is that man has not changed. He still operates the same way. And by the way, it shows us God who is unchangeable in his person. It also shows us that God still operates basically the same today in many ways. Finally, and most importantly, this chapter clearly reveals that just like then, so today, the battle belongs to the Lord.

That's what this chapter is about. The battle belongs to the Lord. How are we going to fight the battles that we have before us? Well, here's the first. Understand that God defines the terms of warfare. God defines the terms of warfare.

He doesn't leave that to us. In the first eight verses, you see God telling Gideon how to get his force together. He has sent, as we saw in the last chapter, he's already gathered an army. He sent messengers to the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, all those tribes in the north. He sent messages to them saying, provide some troops for us.

And he ends up with a force of 32,000 men. 32,000 men. But then God says to Gideon, that's too many. Now, if I was Gideon, I'd be saying, what? Wait a minute, too many? When we have an enemy, as it's been described in chapter 6 and chapter 7, as like the locusts that swarm over the land, as having enough soldiers like sand on a beach, 32,000 men compared to that force is too much?

I don't get it. Well, anyway, at that point, he loses two-thirds of his fighting force. All right? Why? Remember what he says in verse 2. What did God say?

He said, The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, My own hand has saved me. What does God want to do? Just like we've seen last week and the week before with David, God glorifies himself. His majesty and his glory must be seen And this is the way he going to show his majesty and his glory And by the way can I make a connection here Whatever is good for God glory is good for you Right Because look at this.

If Gideon wins, God's glorified, but what else? The people are delivered, aren't they? The revelation of God's majesty is always best for us. But at that point, having lost two-thirds of his fighting force, God says, you still have too many. And he gives him this test about whoever's going to get the water and lap it from his hand or is going to drop down on the bank and just suck in the water, right?

And so there's only 300 men who lap the water. I don't know why God chose that as a test, but that's what he did. And so he says, all the people who drop down on the bank to suck in the water, they go home. He's left with 300 men. You want do the math, you know what that means? He's got less, less than 1% of the first force he had.

You got it? He has lost over 99%. I did the math last night. It's not even 1% they're left. From 32,000 to 300 is less than 1%. He's lost 99% of his fighting force. let that sink in I don't know what I'd be if I was the general I'd be saying this does not look like a good strategy this does not look good at all what would you be thinking I'd be thinking okay is this enough people to have is this enough for a good surrender ceremony is that what we're doing here right well too often we want to set the terms of warfare and we set the terms of warfare too often like the world does right we set the terms of warfare we think we need power to accomplish victories for the sake of Jesus oftentimes we are we are misled into thinking that political power is the way to advance the cause of Christ if only we could turn this senator if only we could elect the right man to the White House.

If only we could take over the party apparatus. If we identify with this particular political party, then, then the cause of Christ will win. Sometimes Christians have even resorted to just plain old brute force right Now, hear me out, real quickly. Does that mean we don't get involved in any of those things? No. I think of our representative in Congress, Jim Jordan.

You may not agree with him in everything that he says and does. He is a brother in Christ. I know that. right is it wrong for him to be involved no the issue is where do you put your hope where do you put your hope all right or we adopt the words the world's um persuasive techniques right what do we need to do to win christ's enemies we need um as a friend of mine put it Butts, bucks, and buildings.

The more, the bigger, the better. Right? If we only have bigger programs, we'll win people to Christ. If only we have more money. If we just had more money, we'd be able to win more for Christ. Or if we tone down our message.

Just say, you know, don't talk so much about the wrath of God. Just go easy on that. Alright? Or, we say, if you really want to grow, the pastor should untuck his shirt, wear skinny jeans and chucks, and sit on a bar stool. And man, the church will really grow then, and for extra measure, shave his head and have a goatee. That would be so cool.

And man, the people will flock to church then. They might hear to see this guy in skinny jeans. I don't know. Just put that image out of your head. All right? The point is, we even adopt the world's ideas of how to persuade people.

Right? Now look, listen. If someone were to come up here with a shaved head and a goatee and his untucked shirt and skinny jeans and chucks, I wouldn't have a problem with that. Even if he brought a barstool to sit on. Okay? That doesn't bother me.

If you want to preach that way, go ahead. That's not my style. But if that's your style, fine. I not against it The point is where do you put your hope Where do you put your hope Right We don define the terms of the warfare God does And what does he say How does he define the terms of warfare Boy, he did it in Gideon's case, didn't he? Reduce, reduce, reduce.

Make it look impossible. He does the same thing today. Levi read for us from 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Let's look at it again. What's the way that God works? How is it that God works?

2 Corinthians chapter 10. Look at verse 3. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. We don't use the same weapons of power and persuasion. for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but the weapons that we use have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete.

He says we have a means of destroying lofty arguments. It isn't the weapons of the world. it's the gospel. It's the gospel that tears down objections. It's the gospel that changes people's mind so that they embrace, not because they're forced to, they embrace Jesus because they want to, because they see that he is the answer. That's the way, that's the method we use.

You know what that tells me? That tells me we need to spend a whole lot less time worrying over the news and trying to get power and we need to spend less time figuring out how to persuade people and spend more time knowing the gospel and the scriptures you say but but i'm not a good arguer then just give them the bible say read this by the way can i say this when you're afraid of witnessing the very least thing you can do is hand them a gospel of john and say, read it. You can do that much.

And remember, the word of God is powerful. It converts people. You don't convert people by your exceptionally good sound arguments. Why? Why? Because, look, 1 Corinthians chapter 1.

Why is it that our arguments aren't the key to winning people? Why is it that power and persuasion that the world offers is not the key to winning the day? Here's why. Chapter 1 verse 18. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. You see, it's the gospel that's the power of God, not your intellect, not your cleverness.

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly, through the foolishness of what we preach to save those who believe.

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Listen, listen, we have to get this straight.

It is not how clever, how intelligent we are, because the message we proclaim sounds stupid. The word foolish there is the Greek word moron, from which we get what? Moron. Moronic. It's a moronic message. It's a message that only morons would preach.

That's how the world sees it. But that's the very power of God. Okay? That's the very power of God. And so, let's remember that God sets the term of our warfare. He does.

You know what the best way of eliminating racial prejudice is? The best way of doing it? The gospel. Because in Christ there are no races. And the church of Jesus should stand to the world and say, who says race means anything? You say it doesn't mean anything, and you're trying to force people into a mold.

Look at us. Look at us. By the way, do you notice why God tells us to use this moronic message look what he says in verse 29 so that no one will be able to boast he he takes something that stupid to the world transforms people lives so that God gets the credit And in chapter 2, verse 5, so we have a sure resting place for our faith. It's not in my argument.

It's in the Gospel. By the way, God even redefines what winning and what victory is. You ever think of that? You know what we think? I was talking to someone some time ago who was really upset in the way our nation was going. Very upset.

And he said to me something like this. We're going to end up as a socialist country. We just are. Right? Boy, you know what that means. That means Jesus is going to be coming soon.

Now, do you hear that? you've got people in eastern europe who lived under socialism for an entire generation they don't count but if it happens in america then we know that jesus is coming you know what we do we equate what happens in our country with god's kingdom that's not the case and even if we win even if we lose that battle and we become a socialist country where we're all consigned to poverty, the kingdom of God will continue to grow. And look at what victory is. Look over at Revelation 12.

I remember when I was preaching through Revelation, this passage truly, truly stuck out to me. All right, let's pick it up. Revelation 12 verse 9, and the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come.

For the accuser of our brother has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God. There's a victory right there. Satan's been thrown down. But notice. and they, believers, have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Now let that sink in. Do you know what he's saying?

The winners are the one who dies Wait a minute That looks like loser to me That looks like loser to me The world looks at that and say these people they not getting anywhere They have no power They have no persuasive abilities. And they confess Christ until we kill them. What a bunch of losers. They're not winning. Look at, we're winning. Do you see what God does?

He redefines winning here. You know what winning is? Dying and never abandoning Jesus. That's winning. That's victory. We may not win the culture wars, right?

But we are still the winners. Because at the very end of the day, one more passage, 2 Thessalonians, which we'll be getting into in a couple more weeks. be preaching on this. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 He's talking about the fact that they're being persecuted and they're dying. He says, This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering, since indeed God considered it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

What's he saying? Well, let's go on. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. When he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you is believed. Where is our victory ultimately going to be? When Jesus is revealed in glory and it says he's glorified amongst us.

So there's Jesus standing there in all his mighty glory and there we will be standing with him. And we may look like losers now but in the end we are going to be the ones who stand with the Lord Jesus Christ in shining robes And the world will be looking at us and they going to be saying I guess they were right The victory is ours So God determines our warfare. He even redefines victory for us so that we don't lose heart and we understand that we do have the victory.

He's defined our warfare, our weapons. What is it? It's the gospel. It's the word of God. it's faithfulness it will be glory he defines the terms of warfare and it's essentially the same as back in Gideon's day we won't boast God will win the battle belongs to the Lord fight it the way he says now not only that but God equips you by his promises verses 9 through 15 as you look at that verses 9 through 15.

He sends him down to the camp with his shield carrier, shield bearer, Pura. And he hears these guys talking about this dream. You know, before the battle begins, God once more assures this man of victory. Now recall what we've seen. Gideon is a doubter. Gideon is a skeptic.

And that God stooped to his weakness. We saw that last week. He said, okay, if you want the fleece test, I'll do it. He stoops to his weakness. And this time God meets Gideon where he is again and says, take your shield bearer with you and on a reconnaissance patrol, on a reconnaissance patrol, gather some intelligence. I know you're afraid.

So they go out. They're hiding in the bushes. They're at one of the outposts. The guard has changed. They're listening to the guys. One guy has this vision about this barley loaf, which is small, Barley loaves were small.

Barley is the poor man's grain. And that stands for Israel. The tent stands for the nomadic Midianites. And this little barley loaf comes rolling into camp and destroys the tent. And the other guy recognizes the symbolism, and he properly interprets the dream. Right?

Gideon praises God over that. He's wonderful. He says, this is amazing. He goes back to his troops. So what do we see? God has reassured him once more and he is encouraged.

All right. Now, look, God doesn't operate by dreams anymore. But he does encourage us with his promises. He does encourage us with his promises. Look over at Isaiah 51. Isaiah 51.

Look at verses 7 and 8. Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings, for the moth will eat them up like a garment and the worm will eat them like wool but my righteousness will be forever and my salvation to all generations he's talking about the Assyrians here the most powerful barbaric people at the time and he's saying don't be afraid of them don't be afraid of them which is amazing Judah at this time was not a very significant military power and Assyria was the big kid on the block the only kid on the block and it was a fierce nation a barbaric nation and God's saying don't be afraid of them again listen what he says verse 12 I I am he who comforts you who are you that you are afraid of man who dies of the son of man who is made like grass and have forgotten the Lord your maker who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor when he sets himself to destroy?

And where is the wrath of the oppressor? Do you hear what he's saying? He's saying, look, man is but a blade of grass. You are concentrating so much on that blade of grass that you forgot that I'm the one who spread out the earth and stretched out the heavens. What in the world are you afraid of? Okay.

So he tells us, this is what I am. You can count on me. This is the God I am. Oh, let's look at one more. Hebrews 10 Hebrews 10 This is written to people who suffer injustice who are under the thumb of their oppressors and here's what God says to them. Verse 32.

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, and you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partnered with those so treated, For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. He says, they took your property away, and you handled it well. Joyfully, in fact.

Why? Because you knew you had something better coming. You had a better possession coming. And he goes on to say, therefore do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of god you may receive what is promised they knew the promises of god they could say if you take my property that's fine i get the whole world in the end right the meek will inherit the earth when jesus comes again who possesses this new earth I'm looking at it I'm looking at the property owners right now right I'm telling you the promises of God we can do our duty in the battles that God has given us we need to know the promises J.C.

Ryle who was a great man of God at the late 1800's in England wrote this some of you have read his book Thoughts for Young Men here's what he says in that book if men believed the promises more they would never be afraid of duties. If men believe the promises more they would never be afraid of duties We need to live in the promises of God That how God equips us for this kind of battle There are promises that we have and we need to be assured by the promises of God Here the last thing that we find in Gideon's story. Be confident because the battle belongs to the Lord.

The battle belongs to the Lord. And so we read all the way to the end of the chapter what God does. Gideon goes back to his battalion. He splits them up into three companies of 100 men each. But his strategy is really bizarre. It doesn't depend on weapons.

I mean, not only do you only have 1% of your fighting force, but they're going to battle without any weapons! Man! That just blows my mind. What do they have? They have a ram's horn trumpet. They're not carrying these long silver things.

They're the ram's horns, the shofar they call them. And they've got torches and over them clay pots. I don't know how that works. I'm not sure how that works. And what they do is they break the pots. And so the Midians are going to see lights all of a sudden blazing on the hillside.

They're going to hear a battle cry, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. And they're going to hear some people starting to blow some trumpets. Now we can talk all we want about the fact that it scared them to death they thought they had a huge military force coming down on them then maybe that was true but you notice what happens they turn on one another and start hacking and hewing each other okay and they destroy themselves they destroy themselves why verse 22 when they blew the 300 trumpets the lord said every man sword against his comrade and against all the army and whoever was left fled to these directions Gideon sends out word the tribes capture the fords across the rivers the only way they can get across the river and wipe out even more all right it is God who fought the battle and the battle still belongs to the Lord Listen God has not changed.

God uses tactics and weapons that will always manifest His majesty. He has not changed in that regard. And when you're tempted to put your hope in the world's definition of power, and the world's definition of persuasion, whenever you're tempted to go that route, you need to remember God does not use those kinds of weapons. He doesn't use those weapons.

And God still wants to show himself mighty among us. But the way he does it will cause us to bow in awe and wonder and give him all the credit. The battle belongs to the Lord. we're equipped with the gospel, we're energized by the promises. We need to remember that. When you march out into the world to fight the battles the Lord has for you, you remember that.

Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the clarity of it. Thank you for how you show yourself mighty amongst us. the only way we can ever ever ever say that anything good has happened is to look to you and to say the Lord has done it help us to remember that I pray help us to abandon the weapons of this world and to embrace the weapons that you have given us empower us by your promises so that we do not lose heart.

Help us to see how to fight properly in what is true victory. God help us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.