JUDGES Triumph in Weakness

cavalry commander in the American Civil Wars and the Indian Wars. Today he is remembered for the

disastrous military engagement known as the Battle of the Little Bighorn on the 25th of June 1876,

where he died along with 260 soldiers, all of them, the whole company was wiped out,

included Custer, his two brothers, a nephew, so a bunch of his family members were killed there as

well. This is a man who had quite humble origins. He was born into a poor and obscure family somewhere

in the Midwest. Throughout his life, Custer was known as someone to test the boundaries

and the rules consistently. In his four years as a West Point cadet, he amassed a record.

This day, it's a record to this day. It's a record of 726 demerit points.

The worst conduct recorded in the history of the academy. And during his rocky tenure at the academy,

Custer came close to expulsion on every single year he was there due to the excessive amounts of his

demerits. There were 34 cadets in his year at West Point and at graduation, he ranked number 34.

This is a man who had origins, both humble origins, both in life and in his career.

During the American Civil War, he was regarded by soldiers as a great leader, always willing to do

the toughest jobs. His reputation spread at the age of 23. He became the youngest major general in

American military history. And it was during his rise to fame as a leader that he fell in love with

publicity of himself, about himself. For those who knew him, those who served under him or with him,

particularly in his latter years, he became known for his vanity and his desire for personal glory.

Some historians even suggest that it's because of his pride and his vanity and his desire for personal

glory that 260 men died with him at the little bighorn. All too often, this is the case, is it not,

where success leads to pride, leads to boasting, it leads to conceit, it leads to downfall.

Boasting, encouraging others, and in fact, even our own hearts, to give us glory,

is opposed to, and even saps life out of true faith. Conceit, being hungry for honour and glory,

is the cousin of boasting. So there's three things I want us to see today in this text. I want to see,

first of all, the strength in weakness. I want to see, secondly, triumphant weakness. And thirdly,

how to finish with triumphant weakness. So firstly, strength in weakness. Judges 6, as we saw last week,

Gideon is chosen by God to save Israel from the Midianites, who have been oppressing them for seven

years. At the beginning of chapter 7, we now get battle time, and two armies are facing each other off.

Before he goes into battle, God wants to teach Gideon and the rest of his people,

who actually deserves glory for the salvation that they're about to receive.

And it starts with advice that Gideon gets in verse 2, and you won't find this advice in any

military manual. Now, this is the verse that interprets the rest of chapter 7 and into chapter 8.

God's people will either praise God for their victory, or they will praise, they will boast in

themselves. Gideon will either give the honour to his Lord, or he will seek it for himself.

Human nature is such that if there is the tiniest opportunity for us to boast in our own work,

we will. Notice that God says in verse 2, that any such boasting is against me.

As soon as we begin to believe that we deserve the credit for rescuing or for delivering ourselves,

what we do in that moment is we take glory from God for delivering us, a glory that he deserves

alone. And as soon as we rob glory from God, it's called idolatry.

And we set ourselves up as alternative saviors. And this has to be the greatest spiritual danger

there is, that we should believe that we can save ourselves or have saved ourselves in any way.

And Christianity is so clear on this. Salvation is by God's gracious action.

We don't earn it with our own actions at all. And so what God does here is he reduces the number of

soldiers because he knows that the men are too many. There's too many for Israel to see clearly

where the praise and the glory is going to go for the victory that's about to come.

And so God decreases their numbers in two ways. Firstly, Gideon says that anyone here

anyone here at all who's too scared to fight, you can go home. And that shaves his army by two thirds.

22,000 go home.

You know, imagine being the first person. That's me, guys. I'm out of here.

Imagine being the one, you know, walking home to your family, to your community, and they're thinking,

what, it's over already? Nah, it's not over yet. I was just too scared. So I've just come home.

And imagine being there when the rest who do fight the battle come home.

Like, you know, pin a yellow ribbon on them all.

These guys publicly admit that they have no heart for the battle.

But 10,000 who were either too scared to go home or too scared to stay.

The 10,000 stayed anyway.

And in verse 4, that's still too many.

And so the second group were sent home after, well, for obscure reasons.

The way that they drank water.

Now, the text does not say why God picked the drinking test.

It isn't about the quality of the fighting men.

The first test potentially was, if you're too scared, go home because you're useless to us anyway.

But the second test was not about the quality of the fighting men.

And they separate out 9,700 who knelt down and put their mouths to the water to drink.

The 300 who cut the water into their hands, these are the ones chosen for the battle.

And if you're one of the 300, you have to go, oh my goodness.

We start the day with 32,000 men.

And now we've got 300, a reduction of over 99% of our numbers.

And the reduction in numbers, as verse 2 says, is that they will not boast about the victory.

Gideon and the army with him should look back and say, oh, this is clear.

This victory is clearly God's, not mine.

My only part in this was to trust and obey.

The glory is God's.

The privilege is mine.

God has allowed me, allowed us to be part of what he's doing.

It's our privilege, but the glory is his.

And the rest of Israel, including the 31,700 who went home, should praise God.

We weren't even there.

God rescued us without us even doing anything.

Praise God.

We see this principle of salvation right through the book of Judges,

and we see it in the rest of the Bible.

God's power is most clearly displayed through weakness.

In 2 Corinthians 12, the apostle Paul has been privileged with a vision of heaven.

And yet he suffers from what he calls a thorn in the flesh,

a messenger of Satan that was sent to torment me.

And Paul pleads with God several times to take it away, but God doesn't do it.

And he doesn't do it.

And Paul says, this is the reason why he didn't do it.

In order to keep me from becoming conceited because of the vision of greatness and splendor that I saw.

In other words, God is keeping Paul from being hungry for his own honor,

hungry for his own glory, boasting about his own strength, his own experiences.

And so therefore he has this thorn.

And Paul learns here in 2 Corinthians what God wants Gideon to learn,

what he wants his 300 to learn, what he wants Israel to learn,

what he wants us to learn.

It's in 2 Corinthians 12 verse 9.

2 Corinthians 12:9

God's power is most clearly displayed in our weakness, our frailty.

And Paul went on to write this,

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly because of my weaknesses,

so that Christ's power may rest on me.

That is why for Christ's sake I delight in weaknesses,

in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

God does not work despite our weaknesses, but because of our weaknesses.

He says that his saving power does not work when we are strong or when we think we're strong,

but rather when we are weak and when we know that we are weak.

So let me just push that point a little bit further and tease out some principles.

This is so important because we exist in a culture which is hungry for power.

It's a success-driven culture that is hungry for power.

Firstly, this principle is the basis of salvation in the Christian faith.

We cannot be saved if we think that we are good and we are able.

God's saving power only works on us when we admit that we are not worthy.

We have got no goodness in ourselves.

It also explains how repentance works in the Christian life.

It is only as we repent and express sorrow over sin and failures before God

that his love and his grace become so much more precious to us,

so much more real for us.

If someone says to you, or says to me,

Hey Steve, I've paid a debt for you.

I don't know how overjoyed I should be in that moment

until I understand which debt it is and how big it is.

You see, jumping up at a cafe and paying for my coffee

and coming back and say I've just paid for everything,

well, that's fantastic.

That does not compare to the hugs from me

and the kisses you'll receive from me

if you've just paid out my entire mortgage.

There's a different level of gratitude at that point.

Always grateful for you to buy me a coffee,

but the bigger we understand our debt to be,

the greater the joy in its payment will be.

It is only as we see our weakness and our frailty

and our failure and our sin

that the strength of knowing God's grace and his love comes to us.

Jesus made the same point, Luke 7 verse 47,

Luke 7:47

where someone who thinks there is little in them that needs forgiving

will in fact love little.

And this is the principle on display here in Judges 7.

Gideon and Israel with him were going to be tempted

to put their confidence in their fighting men,

but God removes virtually all of them

so that they will trust in God in new ways.

As they prepare to fight the Midianite army

and look around at the 300,

just a few extra than what's sitting in this room,

they should feel weak.

They should feel extremely weak.

In the same way we should feel weak

when we look at the mission field that God has given us

and the many number of people that are yet to know Christ.

They will only go into battle if they know

that while they are weak,

so is the strongest army against their God.

So secondly, triumphant weakness.

It's at this point,

as Gideon is grappling with his weakness,

that God gives Gideon assurance of victory.

It's such wonderful thoughtfulness at this point

that the sovereign God here says to Gideon in verse 10,

if you are afraid to attack,

which I'd imagined you would be in this moment,

go down to the camp with your servant,

servant Pera,

and listen to what they are saying,

and afterwards you'll be encouraged to attack the camp.

So he heads down to the camp

and the first sight of this camp

must have been terrifying.

Verse 12,

the Midianites,

the Amalekites,

and all their mates from the eastern peoples

have settled in the valley

and thick as locusts,

their camels could no more be counted

than the sand on the seashore.

He's like,

well, that's good.

We've got 300.

And it's of no coincidence at all

that he sets up,

you know,

in the darkness beside the tent of a Midianite

who's just woken up from a nightmare.

A loaf of bread

has just rolled through the camp

and flattened the tents.

Nightmare stuff.

Like,

can you just imagine it?

No kid of mine

has ever run into my bedroom

crying with tears.

I've just been attacked

by a loaf of bread.

I mean,

this guy's

just so scared

of a loaf of bread

on a rampage

and he's woken his mate up

and his mate wakes up

and goes,

oh my goodness,

that must be Gideon.

Gideon.

The loaf of bread

must be Gideon.

What?

How did you make that connection?

Should be his next question.

the Midianites

would have been

no more concerned

of 32,000 men

than they would be

of a loaf of bread.

These are the 32,000 men

who they've oppressed

beautifully for seven years.

Why would they be scared of them?

unless God has put fear

in their hearts.

God's working on them as well.

It reveals something

very significant.

Underneath

underneath

the armor

of this vast army

are trembling hearts

fearful hearts

weak hearts

and Gideon

has heard

the assurance

of God

through the

oddest of channels

and now we see

Gideon

in his

finest moment.

This is him

in his finest moment

in all three chapters

of Judges.

He's on his knees

in worship.

This is

his

Gethsemane moment.

He's now

surrendered

to the will of God.

He goes back

to his men

with this message

in verse 15.

Get up.

The Lord

has given

the Midianite camp

into your hands.

Notice two things

about that statement.

Notice he doesn't say

my hand

God promised him

I'm going to give

the Midianite army

into your hand

and now he says

it's not my hand

it's your hands.

He wants

his men

these 300

to have

the same confidence

that he has

in this God.

And secondly

that confidence

is in the fact

that God

has given

them into his hands.

It's past tense.

The battle

has been won

even though

the fight

has yet to begin.

the plan

is executed.

The chosen

weapons

are

torches

in

jars

of clay

and horns.

That's it.

Jar of clay

throw a torch

in there

put a light

in the jar

of clay

and a horn

to make a racket.

they surrounded

the camp

and the 300

blew their horns

they smashed

their jars

of clay

the lamps

illuminated

and the

Midians

ran

out

crying out

in fear

and it says

in verse 22

that the Lord

caused

there to be

such a panic

in the darkness

that they

were killing

each other.

How many

men

did the 300

kill?

Not a single

one.

Not a single

one.

None of them

could return

home and say

hey did you

see me

you know

with my sword

and how

skilled I was

with it.

None of them

could go home

and cry about

what they've done

but only

what they had

watched God

do in that

moment

with this

vast army.

This is God's

battle

and he alone

claimed the

victory.

Gideon is

mentioned

in Hebrews

Hebrews 11:32–34

chapter 11

verses 32

to 34

as a man

of faith.

That's what he's

known for

as a man

of faith

and this

is the most

impressive

thing about

Gideon.

When Gideon

rises from

his knees

after hearing

the dream

that the

enemy

of his

enemy

hasn't

he hasn't

seen

God do

anything at

this point.

He hasn't

seen a

Midianite

die.

He has

however seen

the awesome

power of

God

and he

isn't afraid

anymore

in that

moment.

and he

is set

free

to attempt

the

impossible

relying

on the

promise

of God

alone.

As

Hebrews

11 says

of Gideon

weakness

was turned

to strength

who became

powerful in

battle

and routed

foreign

armies.

His

weakness

was turned

to strength

by faith

in the

sovereign

saving

God.

Now this

whole

passage in

Judges 7

has so

many arms

into the

New Testament

but it

does recall

to me

one

to mind

one passage

that's in

fact encouraging

Christians

to not

lose heart

when they

see their

weakness

to

Corinthians

4

for what

we preach

is not

ourselves

but Jesus

Christ

as Lord

and

ourselves

as your

servants

for Jesus

sake

for God

who said

let light

shine out of

darkness

made his

light shine

in our

hearts

to give

us the

light of

the knowledge

of God's

glory

displayed in

the face

of Christ

God's

but we

have this

treasure

in

jars

of clay

to show

that this

all

surpassing

power

is from

God

and not

of

ourselves

now I

don't know

whether

Paul had

Judges 7

in mind

when he

wrote

that

but

it

resonates

with it

these

verses

are about

the fight

that the

Christian

is involved

in

one that

we will

lose

heart

if we

rely upon

our own

power

and our

own

strength

and our

own

enabling

instead of

God's

enabling

and God

uses the

same

strategy

here

strength

in

weakness

we

are

according

to 2

Corinthians

the

breakable

jar

clays

with

something

precious

on the

inside

it's

the

light

that

shines

in

the

darkness

that

expels

the

darkness

it's

the

light

of

the

knowledge

of

God's

glory

displayed

in

the

face

of

Christ

the

magnificence

of

God's

glory

is

displayed

in

the

face

of

Christ

and

that

glory

is

displayed

in

all

its

brilliance

when

Jesus

is

on

the

cross

in

all

his

weakness

there's

nothing

impressive

about

the

Lord

Jesus

as

Isaiah

tells

us

he

came

into

this

world

in

obscurity

he

was

rejected

and

maligned

by

virtually

everyone

accused

of

wrongdoing

died

the

death

of

a

hardened

criminal

he

who

as

we

seen

often

around

Christmas

time

he

who

hung

the

starry

skies

surrendered

his

hands

to

cruel

nails

he

who

wore

the

crown

as

creator

and ruler

of all

allowed

a

crude

crown

of

thorns

to be

twisted

and

placed

on

his

head

mocked

with

the

words

you

who

saved

others

save

yourself

in

other

words

display

your

strength

and

save

yourself

and

the

great

irony

is

that

if

he

had

chosen

strength

over

weakness

in

that

moment

we

would

be

the

ones

who

would

be

crushed

placed

in a

tomb

but on

the

third

day

rose

triumphant

and he

now

has

the

name

as

Philippians

2

says

it

is

above

every

name

every

name

and

everyone

will

one

day

surrender

to

this

lamb

who

sits

on

the

throne

of

the

universe

as

2

corinthians

13

3

and 4

say

jesus

was

crucified

in

weakness

but he

lives

by the

power

of

god

now

strength

in

weakness

is the

gospel

the

son

of

god

who

laid

aside

all

of

his

glory

surrendered

himself

to

death

for

our

sakes

displays

the

magnificent

glory

of god

to

this

world

the

great

encouragement

of these

verses

in 2

corinthians

4

is that

this

god

uses

weakness

he

uses

weary

people

he

uses

ordinary

jars

of clay

to

display

to

this

world

the

light

of the

glory

of god

in the

face

of christ

our

weakness

is not

a

hindrance

weakness

is the

way of

the

gospel

and

2

corinthians

calls

christians

in the

midst

of

a

world

where

they're

seeing

the

gospel

rejected

do

not

lose

heart

do

not

lose

heart

in the

vision

in the

mission

let us

press

on in

the

task

of

proclaiming

christ

as

lord

out

of

hearts

of

love

and

lives

of

service

while

looking

to

god

to

push

out

darkness

with

the

light

of

the

glory

of

the

gospel

of

the

lord

jesus

in

the

hearts

of

so

many

losing

heart

is

where

we

forget

the

gospel

where

we

forget

that

we

are

weak

and

unimpressive

and

the

real

treasure

is

the

gospel

of

the

lord

jesus

christ

losing

heart

is

starting

to

think

more

of

ourselves

and

less

of

the

gospel

starting

to claim

victory

for

ourselves

starting

to be

impressed

with

ourselves

and

so

thirdly

finishing

in

triumphant

weakness

it's

calling

us

to

finish

our

course

in

triumphant

weakness

and

it's

tragic

to

see

how

gideon

finished

there

is

something

really

unusual

in

this

judges

cycle

with

gideon

in

the

previous

cycles

if you

remember

the

only

details

that are

given

after

the

battle

after

the

victory

is

the

length

of

peace

that

there

was

under

the

judge's

rule

and

then

the

judge

dies

and

then

we

see

it

all

happens

again

new

cycle

starts

not

this

time

what

we

see

this

time

is

that

the

people

start

to

back

slide

under

the

judge's

rule

not

after

it

this

is

while

the

judge

is

still

alive

and

we

start

to

see

some

deep

flaws

in

gideon's

rule

and

the

writer

here

dedicates

two

chapters

to

it

in

chapter

eight

we

see

gideon's

need

for

respect

and

honour

and

his

violent

bitter

rage

when

he

fails

to be

given

the

honour

that

he

thinks

he

deserves

success

against

the

midianites

was

the

worst

thing

for

gideon

there

is

a

terrible

spiritual

danger

receiving

any

blessing

success

can

easily

cause

us

to

forget

god's

good

grace

because

our

hearts

are

so

desperate

to

believe

that

we

can

save

ourselves

failure

causes

us

to

evaluate

our

hearts

and

our

priorities

success

just

affirms

what we

already

thought

was

true

of

ourselves

that

we

can

fulfill

and

we

can

control

ourselves

and

in

chapter

eight

gideon

has

forgotten

who

called

him

who

equipped

him

who

reassured

him

and won

the

battle

for

him

and

gideon's

ego

is

stroked

when

israel

asked

him

to

be

their

king

in

verse

22

rule

over

us

you

your

son

and

your

grandson

because

you

have

saved

us

from

the

hand

of

midian

and

the

very

next

verse

is

the

last

time

gideon

remembers

the

gracious

actions

of

god

on

his

behalf

it's

the

last

time

he

mentions

god

but

gideon

told

them

i

will

not

rule

over

you

nor

will

your

son

my

son

rule

over

you

the

lord

will

rule

over

you

now

ironically

and

tragically

he

almost

immediately

contradicts

himself

when

he

starts

acting

like

a

king

he

asks

for

financial

reward

for

delivering

them

in

verse

24

in

the

very

next

verse

and

he

becomes

a

very

rich

man

through

it

he

takes

the

riches

he

makes

an

ephod

like

the

ones

worn

by

the

high

priest

and

in

doing

so

what

he

does

is

he

creates

an

alternative

option

for

worship

for

Israel

he

creates

a new

option

for

worship

creates

a new

center

for

worship

Gideon

has

used

God

in

this

moment

to

consolidate

his

own

position

instead

of

using

his

position

to

be

served

and

to

be

used

of

God

in

order

that

he

might

serve

and

be

used

of

God

the

judge

is

meant

to

turn

people

from

false

worship

to

true

worship

and

here

Gideon

leads

them

in

a

totally

different

direction

he

even

calls

his

illegitimate

son

Abilamech

which

means

my

father

is

the

king

what

Gideon

has

rejected

out

of

his

mouth

he

harbors

in

his

heart

he

knew

a

true

he

knew

the

truth

intellectually

but

it

had

not

gripped

his

heart

he

had

a

mental

grasp

of

the

doctrine

of

God's

grace

and

his

rule

and

he

could

give

the

right

answer

at

the

right

time

but

his

heart

hadn't

been

broken

it

is

so

essential

that

we

keep

remembering

the

gospel

and

allowing

it

to

humble

our

hearts

that

the

normal

pattern

of

our

Christian

walk

is

one

of

constant

repentance

that

that

is

why

we

have

this

cultural

value

at

St.

Paul's

called

humble

authenticity

it

states

that

as a

church

here

at

St.

Paul's

we

seek

to

declare

war

on

the

daily

tendency

towards

self-sufficiency

and the

desire to

live

independently

of

God

the

promise

of

James

4

6

is

that

he

gives

grace

to

the

humble

we

are

convinced

that

no

effective

growth

in

ministry

or

mission

happens

without

the

cultivation

humility

in

the

heart

and

the

weakening

of

pride

in

the

life

we

therefore

seek

our

words

and

our

actions

to

be

what

we

believe

and

teach

from

God's

word

we

are

committed

to

being

vulnerable

with

our

imperfections

in

such

a

way

that

candor

is

encouraged

rather

than

concealment

how

wonderful

it

is

for

us

to

gather

week

after

week

in

corporate

worship

and

be

reminded

of

our

imperfections

and our

frailty

and

Jesus

purity

and

strength

that's

that's

one of

the

goals

of

corporate

worship

is

the

breaking

of

our

hearts

as

we

look

to

the

magnificence

and

strength

of

God

in

Christ

how

wonderful

it

is

to

look

again

today

to

the

one

to

the

one

each

of

the

judges

is

just

a

mere

shadow

of

Gideon

is

just

a

mere

shadow

of

let

us

not

forget

the

God

who

saves

us

how

wonderful

it

is

to

see

again

how

he

used

his

position

he

had

every

single

right

to

demand

service

as

the

king

of

kings

his

father

is

the

king

and

yet

in

Luke

Luke 4:5

4

verses

5

and

8

Jesus

resisted

the

temptation

to

rule

in

power

over

the

nations

because

he

came

not

to

be

served

but

to

serve

and

to

give

his

life

as

a

ransom

for

many

he

has

ransomed

us

from

our

self

honoring

reactions

to

success

and

our

self

hating

responses

to

failure

he

used

his

position

as

the

son

of

God

to

give

us

freedom

from

needing

respect

or

being

crushed

by

lack

of

it

we

must

keep

looking

keep

looking

to

the

author

and

the

perfecter

of

Gideon's

faith

and

our

faith

if we

are to

finish

with

triumphant

weakness

in

spiritual

matters

we

are all

weak

and

we

are all

inadequate

and

we

need

to

face

it

and

corporate

worship

helps

us

do

that

week

in

and

week

out