JUDGES 6 GOD WANTS YOU TO BE PART OF HIS WORK2021 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Judges 6 God Wants You To Be Part Of His Work

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2021. Amen. Well, as we look at Judges chapter 6 this evening, I've titled the message, God Wants You to Be Part of His Work. God wants you, and you can maybe picture him pointing his finger at you, God wants you to be part of his work.

work. Here in the book of Judges, we're continuing on the account that we just left out of Joshua. The children of Israel are in the promised land. They've conquered the major nations, the major enemies, but the individual tribes were now responsible for taking out the rest of the inhabitants that was within their boundaries. And of course, we saw already in Joshua and at the beginning of Judges that

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And so they would call out to the Lord, and the Lord would raise up a judge. That's why it's called the Book of Judges. Or you might say a deliverer, and the Lord would raise up a judge.

The deliverer would attack the enemy, would set them free, they would turn back to the Lord, and things would be good for a little bit while the judge was alive, and then typically after the judge died, then they would start the cycle over again and go back into disobedience. And so the book of Judges has some great instruction for us in that, some great lessons to learn from their patterns to keep ourselves from following that. But as we look at Judges chapter 6 tonight and consider the example of Gideon,

Here we are looking at a man who was not a judge from the get-go, but he was a farmer. He was a guy who was just trying to survive and take care of his family and just doing some work kind of in obscurity and hiding in the background. And God's going to bring him to...

be raised up to be the guy that leads the nation of Israel to victory against this multitude, this innumerable army. And so God here wants to raise up Gideon to deliver Israel from the Midianites. He tells them that directly in verse 14. It says, the Lord turned to him and said, go in this might of yours and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites, have I not said?

sent you. And so here's Gideon, an insignificant guy, but God says, you can be mighty in me. I want you to be part of my work. I'm going to be with you, and you're going to bring about this great victory. And here Gideon provides for us a really encouraging example of the things that God would say to us as well, that God wants us to be part of his work.

And God could do things in our lives just like he did in Gideon's life. And sometimes we really, you know, don't even consider different aspects of things that might be upon our heart, different needs that there might be in the world, different needs that there might be within the church. There might be oppression. There might be difficulty and affliction. There might be problems. And, you know, God could raise any of us up to address the issue in Afghanistan.

And we're like, oh, that's crazy talk. You know, that's just silly. But that's really what we're seeing happen here, that God can take any person who is willing to listen to the Lord and trust the Lord and send them out to accomplish great huge things in his plans and his purposes. And so we want to learn from the example of Gideon and to be part of the work of God in the way that he wants us to.

And so this is a little bit of a lengthy chapter, so we're not going to work through every verse tonight, but work through some of the main highlights here to get a glimpse of the life of Gideon here and God's work in him and how we can learn to be a part of the work of the Lord as well. So point number one tonight we'll look at is in verses 11 through 16. It's four points tonight. Here's the first one. God is with you and will be with you.

So understanding that God wants you to be part of his work, first we need to know that God is with us and will be with us. In verse 11 it says, Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree, which is in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor.

Gideon said to him, oh my lord, if the lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his miracles which our fathers have told us about saying, did not the lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. Here we find the scene kind of open. Gideon is hiding in a wine press and

threshing wheat. Now that's not typically where you would thresh wheat. A wine press would not be ideal for threshing wheat because there was no wind to carry away the chaff, but

He was doing it that way because he was afraid of the Midianites. And as we read in those earlier verses, it describes the process that if the children of Israel grew their crops in a way that they were visible, well, these surrounding nations, primarily the Midianites, would come in and just take everything that they had grown, just wipe out all of their crops, wipe out all that they had worked so hard for, and

And it might be interesting to really kind of try to picture that in your life. Like, can you imagine, you know, you've been working hard this week, and you're looking to get your paycheck at the end of the week, but then at the end of the week, you know, someone comes in and swoops it. And then next week, you work real hard every week, and, you know, it's like the bully at

At school, taking your lunch money every day, it's like that. And how frustrating would it be to think about growing crops, right? That's something that I was thinking about today. Like, that's not like a week's worth of work, right? This month's worth of work and effort and labor and toil and...

And then to have it all just ripped away, how devastating that would be, how discouraging that would be. And it kind of helps us picture and understand the condition of the nation of Israel and where their hearts were at and how much they were struggling in this situation. And sometimes in those kinds of contexts, we, like Gideon, are really unaware that God is with us. And so the Lord shows up to Gideon right here.

As he perhaps is a little bit distressed, a little bit depressed, really bummed out that he's trying to, you know, thresh wheat in a wine press, which is not the right place for it. It's a difficult thing to do. It makes the task much harder. The Lord shows up, watches him for a little bit, and then says, the Lord is with you. And at this point, you can see in Gideon's response in verse 13, he doesn't know that God is with him.

In a sense, he doesn't really believe that God is with him. He says, if God is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And he is associating the presence of God with the difficulty of his life. It's an easy thing to do. We often do that ourselves.

But the Lord shows up and reminds us tonight that even when we are in these most difficult situations, most depressing situations, most stressful situations, and being harassed and oppressed, that it doesn't mean that we are absent from the presence of the Lord, or that the Lord is absent from our life. Even when we can't sense the presence of the Lord, we

The Lord is with us. And here we find Gideon, he did not know that God was with him. And you can think about that in a couple ways. In that moment, the Lord was with him. But then also in that season, the Lord was with him. In that moment, we see in verse 12, it says, the angel of the Lord appeared to him. Now, the angel of the Lord is...

An interesting phrase, that specific phrase, the angel of the Lord, not an angel or a angel, not there was, you know, an angel, but the angel of the Lord is a very specific phrase that's used about 10 times in the scriptures. As you look at each one of them and follow them through, it is pretty clear that there's something special about this phrase.

combination of words, that this is not just, you know, like the angel Gabriel or Michael the archangel, but that this is really an appearance of the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament, coming in various forms to these people, but referred to as the angel of the Lord. And so you can look at the example of Hagar in Genesis chapter 16. You can think about Moses in Exodus 3 at the burning bush. It was the angel of the Lord that spoke to him from the burning bush.

You can look at Gideon here in Judges chapter 6, and so on and so forth. And so you can dig into those passages if you want to look them up later. But the point is, the angel of the Lord, probably an appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament, is right there with Gideon, and he says to Gideon, the Lord is with you. And

Meant that, you know, probably, hey Gideon, here I am, the Lord, right here. And Gideon took it more in the sense of in the season, you know, the Lord has abandoned us. And he's not conscious of, he's not aware that right in front of him, the Lord is with him. Right there with him, right there on the threshing floor, the Lord is with Gideon. Closer than he is really able to realize or recognize at this time.

The Lord is with Gideon. He shows up. He's right there with him. He knows exactly where he's at, what's going on, and what he can do with the life of Gideon if Gideon will trust him and walk with him in obedience. And so Gideon is unaware that God was with him in that moment.

But also you can see from his answer in verse 13 that he's unaware of the presence of God in that season. He's looking at all the difficulty, all the challenges, all the issues that the nation is facing, and he's coming to the conclusion, God has abandoned us. Or his word in verse 13 is, God has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. The author of Hebrews says,

tells us that the Lord disciplines those that he loves. And if anyone doesn't experience discipline, then we are not children of the Lord. This particular case for the nation of Israel is a direct issue of their disobedience. It's a direct connection too, and that's explained in the first part of Judges 6.

Now, there are sometimes affliction and difficulty happen in our life, and we feel like the Lord is not with us. That is not directly associated with some disobedience. But here in this case, it is clear they have disobeyed the Lord.

And what Gideon is thinking here is that the Lord has forsaken them. They've been disobedient. They've turned away. And God has just given up and walked away and left them into the hands of the Midianites. I give up on you guys. I've tried too hard. I've delivered you a few times already. You're back in sin. And so Gideon's mindset is, the Lord is not with us. In this season, in this issue, in this difficulty that we're in, God's not with us. Or...

If God is with us, then he says, why then has all this happened to us? It just doesn't make sense. Why has all this happened to us? Now, oftentimes when we ask why questions of things about God, we don't have answers to that. But again, this time we do. In verses 7 through 10, just before this, the Lord sent a prophet to say, guys,

This is happening in your life because you have not obeyed my voice. You've turned to other gods. You've been worshiping other gods. And so this is the result of that. And so Gideon's there thinking, why? And God says, I told you why already. Because you guys have abandoned me. That's where you're at. And I haven't abandoned you. You've forsaken me, the Lord is saying, but I haven't forsaken you.

And so God shows up to Gideon and speaks to Gideon the person, but by association or by kind of like a representative, he speaks to the nation of Israel and God says, the Lord is with you. Here the Lord says to the nation of Israel, even in times of rebellion, even in times of great sin and resistance and stubbornness to turn and repent and get right, God says, I'm with you.

And you can understand the idea of being with you, that it's more than just presence. Because in some ways, right, God is omnipresent, so he's everywhere at once, so he's always with you in that way, no matter where you're at and no matter what you're going through. But it's more than that. When God says, I'm with you, it's not just, I'm present everywhere, generically speaking, and you happen to be one of the places where I am, right? God is saying, I'm with you in the sense of, I'm on your side, right?

I'm working on your behalf. I want what's best for you. And so I'm with you in the midst of this situation. And I'm going to bring out from this good if you will allow me to. God here is bringing discipline upon his children, still working out opportunities for repentance because God is with them. And as we go through things in our lives, again, sometimes it's associated with our disobedience, sometimes it's not, but either way,

See, the thing is, many times because of our guilt, we, like Gideon, feel like, oh, God has just given up. He's forsaken because, you know, I've blown it again. I've messed up again. Here we are again in the same issue. And God would remind us this evening that he is with us. Well, God tells him in verse 14, go in this might of yours and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?

So he said to him, oh my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. God announces his plans. I'm with you, and I have plans for you. You are going to be part of my work. And Gideon says, look at me. I'm hiding in a winepress, and I'm part of the weakest family of the tribe of Manasseh. We're not prominent. We're not politicians. You know, we're not warriors. We're...

We're just the nobodies and nothings of this tribe. And then amongst my family, I'm the least. So we're the least family and I'm the least of the least family. Like I'm just Gideon.

Not Gideon the mighty, right? Like I don't walk into a room and everybody doesn't like just be quiet and hush, Gideon's here, listen up. I don't walk into a situation and everybody goes, whew, man, we were in trouble, but oh, thank goodness, Gideon showed up. Like, okay, we're saved. You know, Gideon's here, we're safe now. We can relax. He'll figure it out. We know Gideon, he's gonna figure it out. Like that's not how it was. It was like, who cares if Gideon shows up or not? Nobody cared about Gideon except the Lord. And the Lord said, I'm with you.

And I want to use you in my work to do great things. And he says, how? How is that possible? How could I'm the least of the least? And God tells him how it's possible in verse 16. The Lord said to him, surely I will be with you and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man. I am with you. I will be with you. Here's how you're going to be successful in the work that I call you to.

Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit. I'm going to be with you, the Lord says, and you will be victorious in the mission that I set before you, in the path that I call you to. And so we find Gideon here at the beginning, he did not know that God was with him. In that season of life, he felt forsaken, he felt abandoned, he felt God has just given them over and was never coming back. And right there in that moment, he felt there was no presence of God.

And yet right there, the Lord was with him right in that moment, right in front of his face. Listen, whenever we are feeling like Gideon, we can know God is with us. Even when we can't see him or feel him, even when we don't have the angel of the Lord right there in our face, God is with us. He's right there in the presence. He's right there for us and on our side and working on our behalf. Gideon didn't know how mighty he could be.

Because he didn't know the presence of the Lord. But you have the opportunity to know God is with you and will be with you. Well, moving on to verses 17 through 24, we get the second point to consider this evening. And that is that God wants you to know that he is with you. God wants you to know, not only is God with you, and not only does he promise to continue to be with you, but he wants you to know that he is with you. Check out verse 17 through 19. It says, Then he said to him,

If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who talk with me. Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to you and bring out my offering and set it before you. And he said, I will wait until you come back. So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah flower. The meat he put in a basket and he put the broth in a pot and he brought them out to him under the terebinth tree and presented them.

Here Gideon says, okay, if you're really you, and you're really with me, you're really with us, then I think I need a little bit of evidence. I need a bit of a sign here to know for sure that it is you who are talking with me. In a sense here, you can think that Gideon is saying, am I dreaming here? Is this really happening? Is this really taking place? Or is this a vision?

Are you just a spirit? Is this, you know, just kind of something that's happening in my imagination? Or is this something that is happening for real? And so he asked for a sign as a validation, as a verification that what he's experiencing is real life and not some, you know, weird fantasy or weird dream or vision that he's experiencing. And Gideon here is bold enough to ask for this sign.

He says in verse 18, could you wait around for a little bit? I just need to verify that you really are here, that this is really happening. And so the test that Gideon comes up with is I'm going to prepare a meal for you. It's a good test, right? It's kind of like the Santa Claus test. Are the cookies and milk gone in the morning, right? In a similar way, he says, look, okay, I'll prepare a meal. If the food is gone, then I'll know that

If I wake up later and that food is still in the fridge, I'll know, okay, that was a weird dream, man. That was strange. I thought that was for real for a minute. But no, no, I can see the food's here. But okay, oh no, the food's gone. That really happened. So later on, when my understanding, my intellect is really challenging the reality of the situation, I have this evidence that food that I had is now gone. I can know that I wasn't just dreaming.

It's interesting, right? Gideon doesn't tell the angel of the Lord, could you pinch me? I just need to test if I'm dreaming, right? Could you pinch me? You know, pinching is not a great test if you're trying to figure out if it's a dream or not. Like, you could just pinch yourself in the dream. It's not really that effective in proving for sure, right? But pulling food out of the fridge, preparing it, and then having it be gone is not a great test.

Well, that's a good test of the reality of the situation. In fact, it's the test that Jesus provided to his disciples in Luke chapter 24, when Jesus had resurrected from the dead and his disciples were really shocked and having a hard time believing that he had really risen from the dead. It says in verse 41 of Luke 24, they still did not believe for joy.

They were struggling to believe. They were so happy, but they were like, it's just so hard to believe. And so Jesus says, hey, do you have any food here? Let's break bread together. And so they gave him a piece of fish and some honeycomb. He took it. He ate it in their presence. And then he took off. And later when they're looking around, did that really happen? Yeah, look, there's one less fish on the plate, right? Like we can see. He wasn't just a spirit. He consumed food. He was here. It really happened.

And so Gideon here asked for this sign. He wants to make sure he's not crazy. He wants to make sure he's not just having some kind of weird vision or something. And so the Lord was willing to wait. He says, yeah, I'll wait till you come back. Why? Here's God running the universe. Why is he willing to like hang out there, sit out there in the wine press until Gideon goes and make some food and come back? Well, because God wanted Gideon to know I'm with you. He wanted Gideon to know.

These things were true. It was really happening. The Lord had appeared to him and was going to be with him. Well, the next couple of verses go on to describe the situation. Gideon goes and prepares a meal. He brings it out to the Lord and the Lord says, lay it on this rock, pour the broth on top of it. And it really becomes a bit of an offering. It's a burnt offering with a drink offering that's poured over it.

And then verse 21, the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand, touched the meat and the unleavened bread and fire rose out of the walk and consumed the meat. I think I said walk, huh? Fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread and the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. I was thinking about stir fry, I guess, and the fire came out of the walk. The Lord touched it with his staff and it goes up in flames.

It becomes a burnt offering. The food is consumed by the fire, in a sense, consumed by the Lord. And then Gideon realized in verse 22, then Gideon perceived that it was the angel of the Lord. And so he said, Alas, O Lord God, for I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. He recognizes it's the verification that happened. It was validated. I really am in the presence of the Lord. I really do know now that the Lord is with me.

I know that for sure. God is with me. I'm in his presence. And so the Lord stuck around for this, not because he was hungry, not because, you know, he wanted to taste Gideon's cooking, but because he wanted Gideon to know, yeah, I'll hang out. I'll spend some time here because I want you to know that I really am with you. And the result of that

As Gideon comes to this realization, as it settles in, this is really happening for real. God is with me. The result of that is peace. Check out verse 23 and 24. The Lord said to him, Peace be with you. Do not fear. You shall not die. So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord is Peace. To this day, it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. The Lord...

settles Gideon's heart as he realizes, I'm in God's presence. This is really happening. And then all of a sudden, whoa, this is really dangerous. I'm in God's presence. The king of kings and lord of lords, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the holy God, I'm in his presence. And God says, relax, peace. You're not going to die. Of course, we all deserve to be struck down immediately. But God says, I didn't show up here to judge you for all of your sin. I came and I showed up here to let you know I'm with you.

I came to bring you peace. And Gideon received it. So much so he named the altar, the Lord is peace. The Lord is peace. He had peace because he had this confirmation from the Lord that God was with him. In a similar way, I would encourage you tonight. God wants you to know that he's with you. And you know, like Gideon asked the Lord, it's okay to ask the Lord.

to show you, especially in the midst of these kinds of situations where there is desperation and difficulty and distress, that we can ask the Lord, can I confirm, Lord, that you're with me? And the Lord desires for you to know that he is with you. He wants you to know. He will never leave you nor forsake you, he promised. And he wants you to know that he's with you, even now in the midst of whatever you might go through.

Caused me to think about the Apostle Paul in Corinth. You might remember the account here in Acts chapter 18. In Corinth, the Lord appeared to Paul in a vision and said, And I always find this passage interesting because God doesn't say things that don't need to be said.

And so it's not laid out in detail here, but we can infer from this, Paul was afraid. And you might not think about the Apostle Paul being afraid, but there in the midst of Corinth, there was some fear. And Paul was wrestling through some of the things that were going on and what he should do in the midst of that situation, perhaps,

This is reading into the text, right? Not explicitly said here, but perhaps that Paul even asked the Lord, Lord, are you with me? Are you with me here? Do you want me here? Is this what you desire? I'm fearful. I'm not sure what to do with this situation. God says to Paul, Paul, answering your questions, responding to your prayers, don't be afraid for I am with you. I am with you, Paul.

I've got your back. I'm on your side. I'm working for you. Continue on the ministry that I've set before you here in Corinth. We can ask God to show us, to speak to us, to let us know that he is with us. And so as we think about the work that God wants to do

the plans that he has, we can understand that it starts with the presence of the Lord. God is with you and will be with you. He wants you to know that he is with you. He wants you to have the peace that comes from trusting and believing and recognizing the presence of the Lord. Now, as we move forward, we begin to get more into the work of

of God's work for you, the plans of God's work for you. And so it gives us point number three tonight as we move on to verses 25 through 32. God will train you for his work. God's going to prepare you and train you. So it begins with the presence of the Lord. It begins with knowing it's not by might, it's not by power, but it's by the Holy Spirit. It's the presence of God with you, God working in you, God working through you. There's a peace that comes from that. God has not abandoned you.

But also you can understand and really rest assured in that God is not just going to expect you to accomplish things that he has not prepared you for. And so he trains us. Here we see him training Gideon by giving him a simple first step.

Now, if you think about it, what God's asking Gideon to do is to go to war against an innumerable army. That's a huge, scary task, but that's not the first thing that God asks him to do.

It's going to be the next thing that God asks him to do. But before he gets there, he's going to give him a first opportunity to kind of try out his faith leagues, right? To try out his steps of faith and steps of obedience and see how God is faithful to be with him in the midst of it. God will train you for his work. Check out verse 25 and 26.

Now it came to pass the same night that the Lord said to him, take your father's young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it, and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down. The first instruction that God gives to Gideon

begins with his own home, with his own family. God's going to lead him to defeat the Midianite army. We'll see that in Judges chapter 7. But he doesn't start with that. He trains us. When he's including us in his work, when he's putting us to work, he prepares us. Now, that doesn't mean we always feel prepared when the next step comes, right? The next step is a big step. But God is preparing Gideon with this first step.

And the way that God trains, you need to know, it's mostly going to be on-the-job training. When I first started working for Paychex many years ago now, I didn't start working at Paychex. I got hired, and then I got flown over to New York, where the corporate office was, and I spent two weeks in training, school, education, classes all day, you know, every day for the week, and then I came back and then started the job.

That's not often how God works his training out. Sometimes he does that, right? He sent Paul away into the wilderness for a few years and then brought him back. But most of the time, our training is on-the-job training. God says, okay, take this simple first step. Do this thing. And it's as we go that God is providing for us the training and education that we need. And so you need to know it's mostly going to be on-the-job training. God's going to say, take a first step.

But also, don't be surprised if it starts in your own home. In verse 25, again, God tells him, tear down the altar of Baal that your father has and cut down the wooden image that is beside it. All right, first things first, Gideon. In your own home, within your own family, is this altar of idolatry.

And so first thing you need to do, Gideon, is take care of that. And here God is doing a multitude of things. He's getting Gideon to take a step of obedience, to trust God. We'll see that he needed to trust God because he was fearful. This very first step, like you could look at it and compare it to the next task of attacking the Midianites and go, well, that's such a simple thing. No big deal. But Gideon was fearful.

Verse 27, Gideon took 10 men from among his servants and did as the Lord had said to him, but because he feared his father's household and the men of the city too, too much to do it by day, he did it by night. It was a simple task, but it still caused Gideon great fear. And so he was obedient to God, but he scheduled it in a way that he wouldn't be so public, so visible, that it wouldn't be so obvious because Gideon

He wasn't ready for the confrontation with his father, with his father's house, with the men of the city who were worshiping at this idol. He wasn't ready for that kind of confrontation, but he wanted to be obedient. And so he went for it and he did it by night. Now, the people are upset. As this situation unfolds, we find Gideon's dad step up and defend him. And you could think, well, that's just, you know, a dad being a dad, but

considering this idol is his father's on his father's property, right? This was God at work in his father protecting Gideon. And so Gideon got to experience a step of obedience, although he was fearful, but his dad stood up and defended him and kept him safe from the men of the city who wanted to attack him as a result of this situation. And so it was good training for him.

that he could trust God, even when he's fearful, take a step of obedience, and know that God was going to protect him and preserve him in the midst of it. This was a good piece of training because it was a very difficult thing for him to do. You know how it is. It's family. Family situations are often the most difficult situations that we face. I remember Pastor Dylan sharing that with me one time.

I can kind of picture his voice in my head. I can't imitate it, so don't ask me to do that. But I remember him sharing that, you know, the most challenging things that people go through are almost always within their own family. Like, yes, you experience difficulty, you know, losing a job, or you lose a home, or you have to move, or there's, you know, some devastation, some earthquake, or something that happens, or, you know, difficult things happen in our life. But

Typically, the most challenging things that we go through in this life really relate to those that we are related to, those that we live with perhaps, or those that we are associated with in that way. And so here Gideon has to overcome this fear and address this situation. Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 3, when he's establishing leaders, he needs to make sure that these leaders are able to understand

really exercise godliness within their own home. And if a leader doesn't know how to be a man of God at home, Paul says, how will he take care of the church of God? That's the most difficult place to be a Christian, is at home. You might think that it's easier, but no, no, it's easy to show up to church and to put on a Christian smile and to be a fake Christian and then to go home and be a real sinner, right? It's much more difficult to

to be genuine in your love with the Lord, genuine in your walk with the Lord at home, with your own family, amongst your own relatives. It's there that God trains you for His work. Your relationship with Him

in your own home with your own family. And so here God is doing multiple things, giving Gideon a chance to take a step of obedience and to watch God protect him and preserve him. He's also addressing the sin issue and involving Gideon in the work of God and removing idolatry from the people, from his family. He's engaging him in the work of God.

And having him overcome some of the most difficult things that he will. Yes, facing the midnight army is going to be terrifying and difficult, but addressing this sin issue within your own family, Gideon, it's a good first step because it's going to be a difficult thing to do. So his on-the-job training here begins at home, dealing with this idol to Baal. Well, finally, verses 33 through 40 gives us point number four for tonight. God wants to...

God wants you to be part of his work. It begins with you recognizing and understanding that God is with you and will be with you, understanding that God wants you to know that he's with you, and so you can ask him to reveal himself, to show himself, and to show you that he's with you, to speak to your heart. It's going to involve some training, some steps that God calls you to take.

Perhaps beginning with some simple steps of obedience, but although they may be simple, might be terrifying and difficult and challenging and amongst some of the hardest things that you'll ever have to do. As we go on now into verses 33 through 40 though, here, point number four, God wants to give you confirmation. Here we find the classic, most like well-known thing about Gideon, and that is the test of the fleece. Let's check out verse 33 through 40. It says,

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, and 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 him. So Gideon said to God, If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, look.

Verse 2.

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 the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. Here the famous part of Gideon's life, the thing that he's known for, the test of the fleece. Now,

There's a lot of things that we could think about and discuss in regards to this. I'm not going to cover all of it, of course. A lot of people give Gideon a really hard time for this whole issue of the fleece. God has already appeared to him. The angel of the Lord was right there in his face. The angel of the Lord hung out for a few minutes while he prepared a meal. Then he touched it with his staff and it consumed in flames.

He saw the offering. He saw the angel of the Lord. He had the direct instruction of the Lord. So many people suggest and say that Gideon should not offer this fleece. Or they suggest that, well, you know, maybe it's okay for Gideon, but this is not anything that any of us should ever do. What I find interesting about that is, as you look at this passage, you look at the rest of the Scripture, you

we do not ever find God rebuking or correcting Gideon for this at any point. And so this is where I kind of make the point, God wants to give you confirmation. Now, there's a difference in seeking confirmation and testing the Lord. There's, you know, that doesn't give us license to demand whatever we want from the Lord, but there does need to be some room for us to be able to say, Lord,

There is this really challenging thing that you're calling me to. And there is really a big step of faith that's required here. And Lord, I believe you've spoken to me. I believe your presence is with me. And I have that experience and I have your instruction. But Lord, I need to know. I need to have a little bit of confirmation before I move forward, especially in areas this big.

Gideon is not asking for confirmation about what luxury car he should buy. Like, Lord, should I get the leather seats or just the fabric? He's not being trivial. He's not being flippant. His life is at stake. But not only that, his actions may cost the lives of many other people.

In going against the Midianite army, if the Lord's not really with him, if he's just a crazy guy who had a weird vision, and he just rushes out against the Midianites, so many people are going to suffer if this really is not of the Lord. There's a lot at stake here. And so Gideon appreciates the seriousness of the situation. He says, God, I really need to make sure that I'm not just...

rushing ahead, that I'm not doing something foolish, that you're really in this. I would encourage you to consider that asking God for confirmation is not the same as giving God an ultimatum. Now, God, if you don't, you know, make the sun stop in the sky for five extra minutes today, then I'm not going to. Like, an ultimatum is a different thing, and this wasn't that. This was, Lord, I believe you've spoken. I know you're with me.

But before I put these guys in danger, before I go down this dangerous path, before I take this step, Lord, would you show me again that this truly is what you want? And so he puts out the fleece. Fleece number one, verses 36 through 38. Let the dew be on the fleece and let the ground be dry. And God does it. He works out a supernatural miracle. Gideon's still a little bit like, hmm.

I don't know, maybe there's some physics that I'm just not aware of here. Maybe there's like some principle, you know, maybe this always happens. I've never put a fleece on the ground before, so maybe that always happens that when you put a fleece on the ground, the dew gets all attracted to the fleece and it doesn't go on the ground. Like maybe that's just a thing of nature that I didn't know anything about. So, okay, God.

Don't be angry with me. Now, listen to his humility. This is not, again, him demanding something from God or telling God, if you don't do this, then I'm not going to serve you, right? His heart is clear. Just one more time. Lord, would you be so patient with me? I know, I know. You're with me and you've spoken to me and you've shown me this. Lord, if you would be so gracious. One more test. Reverse it. Do on the ground. Let the fleece be dry. God said, okay. The fleece was dry.

and the ground had dew on it. I see this not necessarily as a pattern of like we should all have fleeces in our back pocket so that we can test everything, right? But the idea and the understanding that it's okay to ask God for confirmation as you're wrestling with things, as you're making big decisions, as you're seeking to serve the Lord and take steps of faith, and you're responding to things he's putting upon your heart. I would say that God wants you

to ask for confirmation. He wants to give you, He wants to show you His will and confirm His will to you that you can step forward in the things that He has called you to. So much so, check this out, God offers the next test. It's not in chapter 6. We'll see it in chapter 7 tomorrow.

God, as he goes out against the Midianite army, God says, okay, Gideon, look, are you still afraid? If you're still afraid, here's what I want you to do. Go down to the enemy camp, take your servant with you, and you're going to hear some people talking, and I'm going to show you one more time that I'm with you. Like, to me, this just shows God is not upset with Gideon for these tests.

He's seeking confirmation and God's not frustrated by that. He says, in fact, Gideon, you could have done a third fleece. Here, let me give you a third one just so that you know that you know that you know this is what I want you to do. He's willing to give Gideon another sign. Now, sometimes it is, again, thought of and believed to be like it's a lack of faith or it's unbelief or it's evil to ask for a sign. Well, in some cases, sure, it can be.

If you're saying and your heart is, show me a sign so that I can be amazed, well, God says no to that. That's not appropriate motivation. God's not going to submit to, you know, that kind of thing. If our heart is saying, show me a sign so that I can decide whether or not I want to obey, well, I would suggest God says no to that also. Like, this isn't a negotiation, but seeking confirmation is appropriate and it's okay.

I don't know, Jerry. Are you sure? Because it seems like it's evil. I think I even remember Jesus saying it's evil to ask for a sign. Matthew chapter 16. The Pharisees and Sadducees came to him asking that he would show them a sign from heaven. And he says to them in verse 4, a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. And no sign shall be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. And he left them and departed. Now understand what Jesus is saying here.

He's not saying anybody who asks for a sign is a wicked and adulterous generation. That's not what he's saying. He's saying this generation that I'm dealing with right here is a wicked and adulterous generation. And those kinds of generations do seek after a sign because they don't want to turn from their sin. And so they want to challenge God in a way that, you know, God's not going to come through. And so that they can be justified in saying, well, I can just continue living how I want to then.

Jesus is not saying it's wicked and adulterous to ask for a sign. And he's not saying only wicked people ask for signs. He's calling out those particular people that were challenging him for a sign. And he's essentially saying, you guys are wicked and adulterous. And that's why you're asking for a sign, because you don't want to believe and you're coming from that place of wickedness. And so if you're asking God for a sign for confirmation in that way, well, yeah, then you need to have your heart changed.

But if you're seeking the Lord's will, and you believe God's put things on your heart, but they're kind of big, they're kind of scary, they're kind of a big stretch, a step of faith, I would suggest to you, God wants to give you confirmation. And you can ask Him for that. Again, not demanding, not using this to try to arm wrestle God. I would suggest God use the fleece in Gideon's situation because God put the fleece on his heart. It's not like that is the ultimate test, right? Everybody use a fleece. It's just...

Lord, give me confirmation. Show me this is what you want. This is something that I practice in my life regularly. When I'm wrestling with things and I'm seeking the Lord, I usually start a list. I have a notebook in my notepad on my phone. It's called REMA, R-H-E-M-A.

And it is a Greek word that talks about the word. But if you're kind of familiar with some old school teachings, right, you have the word that is the word of God, which is like a broad sword. It's living and active, right? But then you have the word, which is like that little sword that was like piercing, like that one right thing, right? And so there's that word of the Lord, the Lord just pinpointing that one thing in your life. And so...

Whenever there's a situation in my life, like I recently went through with the job opportunity, I started a new note page. Lord, I think you might be opening this door. I think you might be saying something about this, and I don't think it's a good idea, and it seems like a crazy, scary thing, and I'm terrified about it, and there's a lot of people that I'd be responsible for now, and you just, I don't like this idea, but Lord, it seems like you're moving. Okay, so let me start a new thing. Okay, Lord, would you give me confirmation?

And so I pulled my fleece out of my back pocket. No, I didn't use a fleece. But I used my daily devotions. I used my times in seeking the Lord and listening for counsel, listening for insights that God would bring. And the Lord began to build that list and build that list. And okay, you convinced me. You confirmed it. This is part of your plan. And so God has a work there. I know it. I believe it. I don't know what it is. And it's still crazy and scary, but I have to move forward.

and attack the Midianites, right? In a similar way, God wants to use you. He wants you to be part of his work. Begins with you knowing that he's with you and that he will be with you. You can trust him and rest in that. He wants you to know that he's with you. And so you can ask him for that confirmation that he's with you and ask him to reveal himself, to show himself to you. He wants to reveal himself to you. As he does, he'll train you. He'll begin to show you, here's steps I want you to take. Here's moves I want you to make. Here's where I want you to go.

as he trains you for his work. And then as the next thing comes, and now it's the big thing, the Lord gives you instruction. God says, go ahead and ask for confirmation. It's okay. Let me confirm. Let me solidify that instruction in your heart that you can trust me and be obedient to what I have set before you. And that way you can go forward. And we'll see as we go on into chapter seven tomorrow, Gideon goes forward and is a part of a great victory because he was willing to trust God.

He had the confirmation. He had the presence of God. He was trained by the Lord. He had everything that he needed to be an amazing part of a big work of deliverance that God wanted to bring to the nation. God wants to do those kinds of things in us and through us as well. Lord, we pray that you would help us to be part of your work. Help us, Lord, to know, Lord, that you're with us, to sense your presence, to experience, Lord, and to invite you

to reveal Yourself to us. I pray, God, that You would train us, that You would build us up, and I pray, God, that You would give us confirmation. Those things that we're wrestling with and struggling with and we think, Lord, You're doing, but we don't know for sure, Lord, would You confirm, would You solidify those instructions in our hearts that we might trust You and go forward in the things that You're calling to, calling us to, Lord, that we might be victorious, successful, and effective in

and accomplishing your work for your glory. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.