LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH
SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 2 JULY 2023 am
JUDGES 7 VERSES 9 – 21
When God’s angel first
came to Gideon, he was full of fear. He
had doubts, unbelief and questions. The
angel addressed him as a man of valour.
Gideon questioned the angel – if that is so why has all this happened to
us? It is wonderful how God cannot work
with the too many. Not much is great in
the hands of God. God reduced the people
from 32,000 to 300. In Gideon’s life God
used 300 men to destroy the Midianite and the army of the east. We see in this story …
The wonder of God’s plan – God wants to use us for his glory. When under pressure you can do strange things. Elijah was able to stand before the King of Israel and tell him there would be no rain for 3½ years yet when Jezebel’s words came to him, he ran away. It is the easiest thing in the world to run away from our problems rather than face up to them. Moses saw the Egyptian fighting an Israel slave one day and killed him but when he heard that Pharaoh wanted to put him to death he ran to the desert. 300 men seemed a hopeless number for Gideon when he saw the enemy in the valley below him – they were as grasshoppers. Sometimes we will go through such a valley in our own lives. The situation we face today needs reliance on the Lord. We might think God is not listening, but God has already won both the battle and the victory. Gideon only had to play out his role. God was going to show Gideon through the dream of the enemy, his plans. Just as he is already in the midst of the difficulty we face; God will use us today. The enemy had a dream of a barley loaf running down the hill and hitting the tent, squashing it as a result. The dream meant more to his friend than to him. He realised the dream meant they would be defeated. Gideon came down to spy on the enemy and he came to the right tent at the right moment to hear of this dream and then of his friend explaining what the dream meant. Remember Jacob – he was told by God in a dream to go forward with the Lord. God also came to Laban, his father-in-law and warned him “take heed you do not speak to Jacob either bad or good.” Then on another occasion when Jacob was returning to his home and his brother, he wrestled all night with God. The following day Jacob saw Esau coming with 400 men, but they were not coming to fight, rather they had come as friends. They were ready to meet and welcome him home, back into his family. God has your situation on his mind. We see something hopeless and helpless, but God is there already to sort things out for us. The barley loaf was something despised, only fit for feeding to animals yet this thing that was despised was the very thing God used in a dream to defeat the Midianites.
Notice the weakness God uses. They were to have a trumpet in their left hand and pitchers with lamps in the other hand. God used a barley loaf to take away the fear of the Israelites. What have we to offer God today? The only right thing. God only uses us at our weakest. Paul after having a great vision was left with a thorn in the flesh – lest he should be exalted above measure. When God didn’t deal with it the way Paul thought he should, he learned to rejoice in it. In 2 Kings 7 Israel is being besieged. All hope is gone. There were 4 lepers sitting at the gates of the city. They were despised and not allowed into the city. They had no food. They discussed amongst themselves the situation and decided to go to the Syrian army. They discovered that the Syrian army had fled the camp because of fear. They had thought every hope was gone but they were able to go into every tent and found plenty of food. Then they realised that whilst they had all this food there were people in the city with nothing. They went back and told everyone the wonderful news. The element God used. God still uses the weak things, the despised things of this world. Remember Nehemiah as he rebuilt the city walls. Many were criticising him. 1 Corinthians 1 “God hath chosen the foolish things to confound the wise so that no flesh may glory in his presence.” You may do a work for God, but he will not allow you to glory in it.
The weaponry God used. Gideon divides the men into 3 companies and gives them each a trumpet and a pitcher with a lamb in each pitcher. It is not our ability, or our intellect that God uses. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” (2 Corinthians 10 verse 4) Most of all these men were looking to one another and Gideon. With all his fear at the beginning now he is relying on God. That made all the difference. Proverbs 6 verse 16 tells us that there are 7 things God hates. Our work, witness and walk should be in harmony and unity. We need to be careful we don’t sow discord or allow pride into our lives. You and I are to let our light shine – Matthew 5. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 7 “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.” The men blew on their trumpets, then broke the pitchers. It made the light blaze all over the hillside. It must have fooled the enemy into thinking they were facing a large army coming against them. As a result, they fled. The trumpet represents the testimony of God’s word and telling others. The light represents the light of the gospel showing sin and the grace that is available. “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify God.” Revelation 12 verse 11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
The winning that God gave. God promised the victory to a world that might have seen foolish. Imagine the enemy thinking that a terrible host was coming against them. The glory was the Lord’s, and he made the difference. Today the preaching of God is to some foolishness but for us who are saved it is the power of God unto salvation.
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