Music Music Music Music is We have been working
through the story of Gideon, and we'll get there
in a minute. So you know that Gideon was called
to fight really what was one of the greatest
battles of Israel of all time. He was called
to fight a huge, massive army. Does anybody remember
how many warriors, the Bible says, were in the
Gideonite army with the Gideonites and all the
Sotheby's? Yes, to reach the horizon. It doesn't
give a number, right? Camels and camel riders
and warriors to reach the horizon. As far as
the eye could see. And Gideon was called to fight
them and first called up men. There was 22 ,000
men. That sounds like a lot of men, but it was
probably nothing compared to enough to reach
the horizon. In fact, we know they can't side
of the valley, and so they did pretty good. And
then... got rid of his army down to just 300
to fight the most massive battle that Israel
had ever placed. When I was about 20 or so, I
went to the University of Toledo, and there I
saw some guys doing foam weapon fighting. There's
a group called the SCA, and I can't remember
what their acronym stands for, but it's a reenactment
society, and they reenact medieval battles. And
I saw there a guy using what's considered to
be a broadsword. It's like a hand and a half
sword. You can kind of put your hand on here,
but it doesn't feel real comfortable to put both
of them on. It's not really a two -handed sword.
And it was the first time I had ever seen anybody
fighting with a weapon like that. And the broadsword
technique, when you're on the advance, is you
strike to the right. And then if the other person
has a shield or a parry, right, then you straight
back to the left. So you're advancing forward,
left, right, left, right, and you keep going.
Now, because the middle of the sword state is
in front of you, you've kind of got a parry going
on at the same time, blocking this middle area.
But it's right, left, right, until their defense
fails, until they no longer have a shield or
whatever. But there is a parry as well. So to
parry with a big weapon like this, you don't
try to do this. Right? Because once you get it
down, you're going to get it back up. You're
pulling with your tricep and your back of your
forearm. And you're going to try to pull this
big heavy sword, which normally would be made
of steel and weigh over 20 pounds. Pull this
big heavy sword back up into place. You don't
really do that. So to parry with a weapon like
this, you go down with the palm. You go down
like that. You've got to cross guard, protect
your hand. Once it gets low enough, unless they're
literally swinging at your shoes, right? Then
once it gets low enough, your hand is protected
and the blade protects you. And if you come up,
then you can lift their blade up and strike.
That's called a repose, where you block and parry,
where you block, push their sword away, and then
strike. So parry and strike. There we go. The
repose is when you strike at one area, and then
you don't strike hard, but they parry that area,
and then you rapidly come around and strike on
the other side. So there are a lot of tactics
that one can use with a sword. So if I were Gideon
and... his 300 men, I'd be thinking about how
can I best use my sword? And I think we probably
widowed the army down to a pretty good small
number. They weren't being widowed down based
on their skill or what maneuvers they knew or
anything like that. They were widowed down based
on how they drank from the water. That's a little
weird. That doesn't necessarily mean that some
of them probably never fought before, right?
Maybe some of them didn't even own swords and
they got swords when somebody was leaving or
they didn't have a sword to go into battle with
at the time. That's probably kind of very scary.
The bottom line is you'd hope that those 300
men would be pretty ready to do a lot of different
things. Their sword, right? To face an army that
reaches to the horizon. So they go into battle
and Gideon equips them. And when he equips them,
he equips them with not just one tool, but three.
Three tools. The first was the ceramic pitcher.
Now this one's pretty small. We don't actually
know what size those were, but we know they probably
weren't huge because this is a mobile force,
right? So you go out to join the army, you don't
take your big old Kool -Aid pitcher, right? So
it's some kind of pitcher bigger than a flagon,
probably, because it was a flagon. It might have
been called something like that. And so they
gave them a pitcher. Now I don't see this for,
you know, I don't know what this is going to
do against somebody with a weapon, a shield.
Whenever you hit their shield, it's going to
break. It was made of the same kind of material
as this. So it's pretty fragile. It's going to
break pretty easily. So I'm not sure. I mean,
you could throw it at somebody. If I threw it
at Dennis, he'd probably freak out right now
before he did it or try to block it, period.
Or maybe just hit the face like this. Like, why
did he do that? Whatever. So I really just don't
see it much for parrying strike, riposte, that
back and forth smash thing, low parries. It's
not going to work. Not a very useful tool for
that. And then the second tool that he gave them
was a torch. This is a toy torch, as you can
see here. You push it and you can see how it
lights up and makes cool cricket sounds, right?
And then when they go to take it, as we read
about it in a moment, and they go to take the
bat, they put the torch in the pitcher, like
that. So they can hold it all three items in
one hand, or in hand at the same time. So they've
got the pitcher, and it might have been like
this probably, right? Because they're thinking,
that pitcher, it's not going to be really useful
for combat. So we're going to put the torch in
there, like that. And then we're going to put
our most important tool in the other hand. Right?
Nope, now we're not going to do one of those.
We're going to do this. Okay? So now this is
our battle formation. 300 men with torches and
pitchers and trumpets. Now this is a pretty fancy
trumpet, but even this fairly fancy trumpet,
which is probably more strong, right, than like
a troubadour's trumpet, which is like a long
straight tube with a bell on the end and a mouthpiece
that's very similar to this one. And so as they
get spread throughout, we'll see in the story,
as they get spread all throughout this massive
army that goes as far as, so some of these guys
are probably a quarter mile, maybe as much as
a mile. from each other. So this is like, this
is not if somebody walked in this room and there's
one person here and one over there, right in
the corner, prepared to make noise or do whatever
they're supposed to do, right? But rather, it'd
be like if one person's standing here in this
room, and then somebody's standing down on the
corner of Sheldon, and then the next person's
standing down on the corner of Starr and Sheldon,
right? That's what it's like. 300 guys spread
all throughout, and you could see each other
sort of. With the torches in the dark dark camps
pretty dark and burn torches when they were sleeping
very much, right? And so you can kind of see
each other but like If these guys come there's
500 guys around you with nobody to fight alongside.
No back -to -back No, nothing right and you have
what a picture a torch and a truck and then the
moment in time comes and Okay? And the trumpet
sounds and the battle essentially begins. Grab
your Bibles if you would. And go with me to Judges
chapter 7. Thank you for those of you who are
participating with me. If you missed the opportunity,
let's do it now. Judges chapter 7. All right,
very good. This is God's Word. It's not a very
long text, and truthfully, it's not a very long
sermon. I know people like not very long sermons,
but it has some of the most powerful points for
how to live as a Christian in a present age full
of the mess that we see all around us in it.
So I think it will be useful to us as a tool
going forward. So Judges 7, beginning in verse
16. Now, 15 we read last week, and it says, Then
it came about when Gideon heard the account of
the dream and its interpretation, that he bowed
in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel
and said, Arise, for the Lord has given the camp
of Midian into your hands. And now we begin in
16. And he divided the 300 men into three companies,
and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the
hands of all of them, with torches inside the
pitchers. There they are. Their hands are full.
It doesn't say anything about swords. Some of
them probably didn't even have swords. By the
way, does anybody know, if you've not read ahead
in the story, or even if you have, if you've
read this story before, can someone tell me how
many men these 300 men are about to kill? Without
reading. Don't read it right now if you don't
know. If you know, tell me. Anybody know? Want
to take a stab at it? Okay, somebody said 3 ,000.
Is that low or high, you think? Anybody else?
Come on, Bible scholars, what? Okay, so that's
our guess, tens of thousands. So the army stretches
as far as the horizon. We know they're not going
to wipe them out because you just can't get to
them already. They're going to run away, and
then they scare that, right? Thank you very much,
Arden. Okay, so the answer will surprise you.
Here we go. He divided the 300 men into three
companies. And he put trumpets and empty pitchers
into the hands of all of them with torches inside
the pitchers. And he said to them, look at me
and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the
outskirts of the camp, do as I do. When I and
all who are with me blow the trumpet, then you
also blow the trumpets all around the camp and
say, for the Lord and for Gideon, which is a
great battle cry. 19, so Gideon. And the hundred
men who were with him came to the outskirts of
the camp at the beginning of the middle watch.
And when they had just posted the watch and they
blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that
were in their hands. When the three companies
blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they
held the torches in their left hands and the
trumpets in their right hands for blowing and
cried, a sword for the Lord and for Gideon. And
each stood in his place around the camp and all
the army ran crying out as they fled. And when
they blew 300 trumpets, the Lord set the sword
of one against another, even throughout the whole
army. And the army fled as far as Beth Shittah
toward Zerah, as far as the edge of Abel Meholah
by Tabath. And then the men of Israel were summoned
from Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and
they pursued Midian. So I ask you now, how many
men did those 300 men of Gideon kill to win this
battle? None. Zero. Not 3 ,000, not tens of thousands.
How many men does it take to make the enemy make
a morale check? How many men does it take to
make the enemy run away when the enemy already
knows that his defeat is imminent? None. It takes
none. Those two places named at the end there,
Beth Shittah, the house of Acacia, and Ebel,
Meholah, the house of the dance, are just not
even famous places, but they began to run and
scatter. And it was by about that time that the
other Israelites who had been cast off from the
army or had gone home and thought, well, I really
wanted to be a part of that great victory or
whatever they thought, I don't know, started
to come out and they will systematically destroy
the army of the Midianites. And of course, Gideon
and his men will surely join in at that time.
So the first thing I wanted you to see in the
text today was the thing that caught me, frankly,
a little bit by surprise, even though I've read
this story I don't know how many times. And it
is that they killed none. Zero. They killed none
because the truth is their best effort was insufficient.
If they had killed one each, that's 300 men,
300 men died in their sleep or as they began
to wake up and were scared, caught off guard
when they killed 300 men, that's nothing. That
army is so huge, reaches as far as the right,
there's no way they're going to run under a loss
of 300 men. If they each killed 10, which would
take a couple minutes, at least a few, you've
got to catch them off guard, hack them up a little
bit, you know, kill guys who are running away,
that kind of thing. After 10 minutes, if they
had each killed 10, that'd be 3 ,000, and that's
nothing. And if they had hacked somehow, I can't
imagine how this would be. It would take like
a blind army. We see that elsewhere in Scripture.
But they have to be blind and surprised at the
same time. And they had each hacked a hundred
before any kind of a defense was mounted. That
would be 30 ,000. That would be 30 ,000 men that
they had killed. And that would not be enough
to rout the enemy. See, the fact is they killed
none not because they could kill none or not
because they should kill none. but because their
best effort was going to be insufficient. In
the 1960s, the Congress of the United States
of America posted on the wall in the Senate the
words, in God we trust. They did that because
that was a... strict alternative. It's true in
the United States of America. It is a country
founded on Christian values, even though as a
democracy it might be a little bit broken at
the moment because a lot of people are not coming
to it with Christian values. But the bottom line
is it was founded on Christian values. It is
a democracy founded on Christian values. Democracy
is not a Christian thing specifically, but it
is a way to recognize that people have inalienable
rights. People have rights as a human being.
People have the ability to do things, and they
have the ability to make up their mind, and they
should have a voice. In the 1960s, we were faced
with socialism in one corner and communism in
another, and the truth is our nation was at risk.
Not that we're not at risk today or haven't been
at risk at other times, but the Senate decided
that it was the proper thing to do at that time
to post on the wall a reminder of whom we have
placed our trust in. Who is it? And it is God.
And the truth is it is a statement that the Senate
cannot make laws to create justice or righteousness.
The government cannot give you your rights or
take your rights away. The rights are inalienable
to humans. Among that first, of course, is the
right to choose to follow God or not follow God.
And by the way, that is a right given to you
at creation by, guess who? God. God is the one
who gives you the right to follow him or not.
Now that's what's ironic about those who don't
believe in God. They choose not to believe in
God. They choose to be, for example, an atheist
and to despise God and usually with very limited
understanding of who God is, think that God cannot
possibly exist and they'll even go around hatefully
behaving toward those who do believe in God.
But the fact is their freedom to not believe
in God is a gift to them from God. Now what's
even sadder than that is that while they are
exercising that free gift that they have been
given to hate Christians, to despise God and
have nothing to do with God, that free gift that
they were given at their creation by God, while
they are exercising that free gift, many people
who claim to be Christians are failing to exercise
the free gift that God has given them. Who's
got it right? The atheist who doesn't believe
in God and hates God and hates Christians because
Christians are clearly brainwashed or ridiculous
in their logic? And he's exercising his free
right given to him by God to not choose God?
Or the supposed Christian who says, I believe
in the Lord, I follow the Lord, but then gets
out of bed every morning and forgets to read
his Bible, forgets to pray, forgets to enact
any spiritual discipline, doesn't serve, give,
or otherwise walk with Jesus. Who's got it right?
I submit to you, the son that says, I will not
serve and later serves is still a better son
than the son that says, I will serve and then
does not. There have been many atheists over
the years who have later given their life to
the Lord. Many people who think they had it all
figured out, all lodged out, and then encountered
God and actually came to a moment in time and
went, wow, I had this all wrong. God is real.
Creation is a must. It has to be that way. Nothing
was ever created from nothing unless something
did it. And something more powerful than anything
we've ever seen, it's got to be God. And they
conclude over time that man's best effort, there's
an old kind of joke that I learned when I was
a young preacher about men advanced so far, cloning
life and doing stuff with DNA and everything
that they think that they have truly reached
the pinnacle. And the man says to God, we've
finally reached the place where we do not need
you. We can do everything that you do. And God
says, well, propose a contest. And the man says,
fine, whatever you can do, we can do. It's no
problem. We'll get together, get our heads together.
We'll get it solved. And God says, so the conscience,
I say, we create a man, create men. And he's
like, that's no problem. We've been doing that
for decades. We can do that. No problem. And
God says, ah, but we'll create a man the way
I created a man. And the scientist thinking,
what does he mean by that? Exactly. He's not
read his Bible very well. And God says, we'll
create a man out of dust. And the scientist says,
it could be a challenge. Don't know what's in
dust that's of any real value, but I think we
can do it. And he reaches over to pick up some
dust off the ground, and God says, get your own
dust. God created everything. God is the one
who reigns in your life. I understand you want
to think that your best choice is whatever, and
the reality is that you can control the outcome
if you're super cautious, worried. all upset
about the way things are going to go, that it'll
go better for you. But that's just actually not
true. It's going to go how it's going to go.
You can put your effort in and you should, and
you should follow God faithfully. In fact, it's
the word in the Bible often uses diligently.
That means hard work toward a purpose. And you
should do that. But you should do it because
you love God, not because you're going to get
good things, right? You should do it because
you've realized that God is real and that he
is the one. Gideon doesn't go into battle with
a sword and hope that God will make him the destroyer
of 20 ,000 men. You know how long it would take
to kill 20 ,000 men with a sword? Holy cow! They'd
start that night, right after they walked up
to the edge of the camp, and they'd still be
hacking. Their muscles would break down. Their
joints would give out. Their swords would break.
They'd have to use other people's swords. all
the food, nutrition, and water in their bodies
would be consumed and used up, and they'd still
be hacking, trying to get enough guys down to
potentially have an impact on an army that size.
And that's if God made them completely impenetrable
in the time, and that is not how God wanted to
do it. Rather, he wanted to do it through this
simple statement, in God we trust. Marxism and
socialism and government systems like that begin
with the understanding that there is no God.
They have to. Because they then take away the
inalienable rights of human beings and say that
people don't have inherent rights. But that's
not true. They do. Beginning with the right to
follow God and have a relationship with God through
Jesus Christ, his son. Now, some think you can
do it another way. But there isn't another way
because God, the son, was also God. And so if
you choose to try to get to God by some other
means, the tenfold laws, restrictions, rules,
something like that, you'll be doing nothing
but saying, I don't want the one I actually want.
I want the thing I want, and I want the thing
I want to lead me to the one I want, but a certain
version of the one I want that is not at all
the person I actually want. It doesn't make any
sense. Will you get out of bed in the morning
and say, in God I trust? If you will, then you
will realize that it's not your place to kill
any. It's not your place to do the things that
God is doing. It is your place to join in doing
the things that God is doing, and to do them
the way he has showed us we must do them. Congress
was saying, no, we as a nation and a body of
lawmakers know better that God is real, that
man has inalienable rights, and we will recognize
that. They have said for all time, I'm not sure
that all the laws that they have made necessarily
say that, but that's what they said when they
put it on the wall. They killed none. They killed
none because their best effort would be insufficient
and God's effort will always be sufficient. The
second thing to see in here is the battle plan.
This one and one more and a conclusion. The battle
plan was surprise and disunity. Not good tactics
or training or anything like that, right? People
say, well, it was a great tactic to divide his
army into three. See the size of that army? See
the size of his army? It doesn't matter. You
divide your army into 300 parts of, if everyone
was a tank, it probably wouldn't be enough, right?
And so the bottom line is the tactic was surprise
and disunity. When the trumpet call comes, it
comes unexpectedly. It comes from a direction
at a time when they're not thinking it's going
to come, as happened here in this room. And it
was a little bit of a surprise, was it not, that
the trumpet came not from the bell of the trumpet
that I appeared to be about to blow, but from
somewhere behind you? Now, you're not in any
danger. There was no danger to that, but it was
nonetheless a little bit of a surprise. If you
amplify that about a thousand times, and then
the volume by 300 times, that's a little something
like what happened that night in the dark. While
they were laying in their tents in their underwear
next to their swords. And they jumped up and
they ran out of their tents. Most of them in
their underwear. And there came a guy charging
at them with a sword. And he was hacking out
of his way. Anybody that got in his way. And
so they stepped in and got in his way. And they
killed him. And then they went to hacking anybody
that got in their way. There was disunity amongst
them. They weren't brothers. They weren't family
members. They weren't godly. They weren't good.
They weren't kind. Right? The tactic was surprise
and disunity. It was capitalizing on the imminent
defeat. You remember that he went down, saw the
dream, the bread rolled, the tent fell, and they
were told that the upheaval of the Midian army
was already in process, that God and Gideon was
going to destroy. They already knew it. The ripples
were flowing throughout the camp, that their
imminent defeat was, well, imminent. Also, it
was about a survival of the fittest or a dog
-eat -dog instinct. Whoever the best swordsman,
whoever the strongest guy is, that's the guy
who would win in battle, and it's also the guy
who's going to make it out of camp right now
in the middle of this turmoil, right? I'm going
to, I don't know if anybody else is going to
get out of here, but I'm going to survive. I'm
going to get out of here. Hack, hack, hack, hack.
Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp. Pounding guys' faces
into the dirt. I'm going to be okay. Survival
of the fittest. Dog eat dog instinct. Notice
also it was about the courage of an enemy for
Gideon and his men to rise up and let them know
of their imminent defeat, show them their surprise
and disunity, show them their survival of the
fittest and their dog -eat -dog instinct. If
Gideon had not gone, if the trumpets were not
blown, if the torches were not lit, then it wouldn't
have happened. That's true. And that was an act
of faith responding to the God of heaven. Notice
that there was light in darkness. Had there ever
been two more? exactly opposite contrasting things
than light and darkness. I mean, hot and cold
are opposite, but how cold? How hot? Right? So
the temperature of space, we think, it's really
cold, right? And the sun is really hot. Those
are pretty much the extremes, but you and I have
never experienced those things. So when the furnace
is set at 52, we're like, oh, it's cold in here.
But is it cold? I mean, it won't freeze ice.
The bread won't stay good that much longer, right?
It's not like it's really cold. It's not like
it's in your fridge. Your eggs would go bad.
Is it really cold? 52 degrees, get a blanket,
get a jacket. Is it really cold? What's cold?
What's hot? But light and darkness, where there
is light, there is no darkness. Where there is
darkness, there is no light, right? Now there's
dim, where there's some light and some darkness.
But you would say, in truth, there is neither
light nor darkness there. Right? But if you bring
light to the dim, the dim goes away. So whatever
darkness was there surely is not there anymore.
Has there ever been two more exact opposites
than light and darkness? Maybe. Hate and love.
But hard to quantify. Hard to hold in your hand.
They had a torch in the dark while men in their
underwear lie next to their swords thinking,
I'm going to have a great victory tomorrow or
at least going to survive this. And then light
came up. Light came to the darkness. Well, that's
a little bit like what Jesus did, isn't it? It's
a little bit like what we're supposed to do.
Notice that there was noise in the silence. Oh
boy, silence is easy to come by. We do that ourselves
all the time. We're supposed to speak up. We're
supposed to say something. We say nothing because
we're afraid what someone will think or what
will happen. We make ourselves silent. Listen,
the last thing you were ever supposed to be was
silent. Yes, I understand you have two ears and
one mouth. Somebody else is speaking. Listen
twice as much as you speak. I get that. That's
so that you can be impacted and care and have
courtesy for the other person, that kind of thing.
But the bottom line is, you got a mouth so you
can speak things into existence and when necessary,
speak them out of existence. God spoke creation.
Even though his mouth is not like our mouth,
he's spirit, right? Jesus' mouth is very much
like our mouth, but God the Father's mouth is
not. He's spirit. And so even though his mouth
is not like our mouth, he spoke into existence
all creation. We're supposed to speak things.
And if you're shutting up on an active basis,
you're in disobedience to God. If you're holding
your tongue at times you're supposed to speak,
you're in some of the worst disobedience to God.
Because what was the very first thing that God
ever did, before ever he talked to Adam, before
ever he brought the dust together, before ever
he set the boundaries of the seas or made the
stars, was the very first thing that God did.
When he hovered above the deep, he had a thought,
a desire to make something greater than himself
in the long run, which would be himself in community
with... Living beings. And he spoke. The very
first thing we see God doing is he spoke. Now
he spoke things into existence and ultimately
he made us the crowning achievement of creation
that we too would be in his model. And I think
that means we should speak. But there was noise
in the silence while they were in their underwear
and their tents next to their swords. And they
thought, oh no, a noise. I wonder, is it like
this in the world today? Is there light in the
darkness? Is there a noise in the silence? Is
there courage in the face of an enemy? Well,
if there's going to be light in the darkness,
noise in the silence, and courage in the face
of an enemy, it's going to come from the church.
The church is going to represent Jesus Christ,
be the body of Christ, and we're going to take
the word of God to wherever it needs to go. We're
going to tell people what we have seen and heard.
We're going to bring light in the darkness. We're
going to courageously stand up against the enemy.
We're going to bring noise in the silence, but
not a worthless noise as some may think it, but
a noise that presents salvation. Is it the same
in the world today? The world is attacking anyone
that doesn't seem to be for them individually.
It doesn't matter whether you're a Christian
or not. By the way, when you get attacked for
being a Christian, you won't be the only person
who ever got attacked for believing something.
All over the world, there have been persecutions
against other faiths. It's not just Christianity.
Now, of course, Christianity has gotten the worst
of it, and Christianity is a bit exclusive in
that we know that we are the only way to get
to heaven through Jesus Christ, who is Lord and
Savior. It's the only way to get there. So it's
a little bit exclusive. Jesus himself said, I
believe it wholeheartedly that he is the way,
the truth, and life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by him. There's no other way. The funny thing
is, a lot of other faiths actually recognize
that. In the Quran, it says, if you want to know
how to have a relationship with God, talk to
the Christians. This is the reality. The world
is attacking anyone that doesn't seem to be for
them or agree with their mentality or their ideology
or whatever. And Christians will get the worst
of it if we are that courageous, standing up
against the enemy, light in the darkness, noise
in the silence, as we are supposed to be. Is
there an imminent defeat in the world today?
That's the question. There are a lot of people
who are not Christians who think that Christians
got it wrong, so they don't think that Christianity
is going to win in the end. But they are wrong.
But I wonder, Is it as many people as we actually
think it is that think that Christianity is wrong?
Or are there actually more people that think,
I just don't really want to do that. I don't
want to be holy or right. I don't want to give
up lying to people. I don't want to get up sleeping
around. I don't want to give up my parties, my
drugs, my alcohol, my rock and roll, staying
out late, spending my money on just whatever
I want. Running up my credit cards or whatever
it is that they're doing that they think that
maybe they shouldn't be doing. Whatever has offended
their conscience. Is it that they think that
if they become a Christian, they would have to
give up that thing? Some of the greatest scholars
that existed that oftentimes caused great damage
to mankind by talking against Christianity have
later, listen to me, C .S. Lewis was a devout
atheist. He believed it with absolute certainty
that there was no God. And he taught students
year after year after year that truth. He taught
friends and family members and anyone who would
listen that you were a fool for believing God.
That absolutely you would be wasting your time
and there is no purpose to be part of the church,
to believe in the Bible or anything, or even
that Jesus was anything. I don't know that he
said Jesus never existed, but I know that he
said Jesus never mattered. And then, And then
he encountered God. Now, do you think C .S. Lewis
went back and talked to every person he ever
talked to? Now, he made a pretty good effort.
He was on the radio during World War II talking
about Christian things. He put out a number of
very popular books still around now, including
a children's series that presented the kind of
doctrine in an artful way. He presented mere
Christianity, which explains the basic teachings
of Christianity, the screw tape letters. The
Great Divorce. These are books that sold tons
and tons and tons of copies. And so it's possible
that his former students, oh, I'm going to read
a book by C .S. Lewis. And they realize, oh,
you know, he taught me there is no God. But here
he is clearly explaining to me how there is a
God. And they may have wound up getting saved.
It's possible. But the fact is that C .S. Lewis
and others like him, so many, in fact, that there
are too many to name, Jode, Strobel, and the
list goes on. People that have finally taken
a look at Christianity, finally taken a look
at what God alleges to be true, and they have
retreated. They have given up their position
of atheism or agnosticism or false religion and
turned their lives over to the Lord. And so if
that is happening, great scholars all over the
world, one after another at different times,
are turning their lives over. Then anybody that
they influence that sees them realizes that defeat
is imminent. Eventually, atheism will go away.
You know that there will come a time where absolutely
no one, absolutely no one can cling to the false
hope that there is no God. No one. Because it
says every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.
So there will be people who bow and say, oh,
thank God there is a God. I am so grateful. I
accept Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior. I'm going
to heaven. I'm so glad I did that. And there
will be people that bow going, oh. God is real.
I can't believe it. I lived my whole life teaching
the opposite. I stood against everything that
I am being forced to do right now. And they're
going to go away gritting and grinding their
teeth and hating every minute of it, but they're
going to bow before God and recognize that he
is real, that he exists. There will come a moment
in time where nobody can deny it. I submit to
you that maybe based on that truth alone, defeat
is imminent. But also we see ordinary men. are
recognizable as having been with Jesus. We won't
go there and read it, but there's a story in
Acts 4, Peter and John. It's kind of part of
that where they heal the man at the beautiful
gate, and then they get arrested, they get beaten
for talking about Jesus, and they praise God
that they were allowed to get beaten for talking
about Jesus, which all of which is kind of foreign
to us, right? It's hard for us to think we'd
be praising God for being beaten. That's kind
of foreign, but it is kind of understandable
at the same time, according to the word. And
they looked at them and they thought, These are
ordinary men. They're untrained. They didn't
go to Bible college. They haven't been to seminary.
They're not students of Gamaliel. But wow! They
believe what they believe, and they can teach
it. They can tell us what the truth is. They
can talk about Jesus. They can talk about the
truth of God. Clearly, they have been students
of Jesus Christ. And I submit to you, that's
everywhere. Standing before you today is one.
I am one. Now, eventually, I did go to school.
I went to Bible college and seminary. But most
of those of us who've gone to Bible college and
seminary would say that God equipped us to do
what it was that God called us to do long before
we ever did that. I used to have a pastor friend
of mine who used to say, well, you've got to
go to Bible college if you're going to be a pastor.
I don't agree with that at all. That's not scriptural.
But at the same time, I just think it's valuable.
It's useful. And I was a pastor while I was in
Bible college, sort of. I was a youth pastor.
And then I was a pastor while I was in seminary.
So it's not like I quit doing the thing I was
called to. I maybe just kind of had my attention
divided as I was being filled up and growing
and still doing the things that God called me
to do. The bottom line is, number one, great
scholars once resisted, have accepted the truth,
and then ordinary men are recognizable as having
been with Jesus. It happens all the time. So
many ordinary men have gone before, then become
recognizable as being with Jesus, then died an
incredible death. Like, wow, how did they have
the presence of mind to be, while they were being
burnt at the stake, to pray for those who were
burning them alive, like Jesus did? Or stoned,
while they were being stoned, and their last
breaths were, Lord, forgive them, for they know
not what they do, like Stephen did. How? And
it's been like that for 2 ,000 years. And that's
a testimony that there is an imminent defeat
forthcoming. And then there have been those who
did not believe they were atheists, and they
die, and you see their quotes and statements
on their deathbed. Like they're like, oh no,
I was wrong. Oh, I now have to face God. Oh,
the eternity. Oh, I shall be away from God for
eternity. And statements like that. Intelligent,
powerful, influential men in their lifetime going
to die, and as they go to die, crying out things
like, oh no, I'm in trouble. Right? The defeat
is imminent. And then, for all are trying to
ignore it, There's no making that into nothingness.
All the people who have said, and I was 25 years
this, thinking, well, I don't really have to
do anything about God. I don't really have to
come to him, that kind of thing. But in order
for this to really play out, the same thing that
happened with Gideon to really play out, there
would also have to be a variety of these other
things. So number one, surprise and disunity.
When the world sees somebody do something for
God, are they surprised? Well, yes. They go,
wow, that's weird. That's something that I wouldn't
expect. Are they in disunity? Well, you see that,
right? They're attacking each other all the time,
us and each other, right? Imminent defeat. And
then the question is, is there survival of the
fittest or dog -eat -dog? Is there anybody in
the room that thinks that the world does not
have a survival of the fittest mentality? Do
we need to talk about that or do we just understand
that out there the richest man gets what he wants,
the strongest man? the best talker, the most
physical, the guy with the golden belt in the
MMA, those guys get what they want. So we understand
that the world has a survival of the fittest,
dog -eat -dog instinct. And sometimes it looks
like a rely on yourself, stand up for yourself,
do what makes you happy, beware watching powerful,
ready, strength as a deterrent, even with much
power comes much responsibility. That's a Marvel
line, by the way, for Spider -Man. Anyway, Marvel
reference. Incessant. Opinion is one of the surest
testimonies of imminent defeat. They are sure
that they will not be defeated while at the same
time knowing the whole while it's coming. And
we are sure that we will be victorious. And so
as long as we do not walk away from Christ, as
long as the church follows Christ, that is a
sign to them that they will face imminent defeat.
The fact is that this very same thing that was
happening in Gideon's battle is taking place
in the world today. And I submit to you that
God has the same battle plan. Our part then is
to trigger the surprise and disunity, to capitalize
on the imminent defeat, to recognize that that
survival of the fittest, that's not us, to show
courage in the face of the enemy, to be a light
in the darkness and a noise in the silence. It's
in the world today. Our task is the same. That
brings us to the third. Could we fall similarly?
Not like Gideon. But instead of being like Gideon,
and that's, I think, in this story who we should
emulate, we should be like Gideon and his men,
but could we be like the Midianites and the sons
of the east? Could we be surprised and in disunity?
RJ mentioned last week that there have been churches
who divided over the color of the carpet, and
that's a fact. Never hear, but that's a fact.
There have been churches who have divided over
all kinds of things. And once upon a time, there
was an organization called the Church of Christ,
and they believed largely the same things that
we believe today. They have basically Baptist
doctrine or pretty close to it. But they said,
we'll never divide over anything that is not
crucial to the gospel. Now, if you drive by a
Church of Christ, you'll see a little cup on
the sign. That means they drink one cup communion
because they divide it. Some of them said, we
all drink from the same cup. Some of them said,
we get these little plastic cups like we do,
right? And then they'll have another symbol there
that represents they use an organ in worship
because some people say the organ is of the devil
and the church is divided and they couldn't affiliate
with each other anymore because some people say
you can have an organ and other people say you
can't have an organ. So church is divided and
church is divided from each other. Would it be
possible for God's church to be scattered, surprised,
and disunified? Well, The command of Christ,
of course, is that we love one another, that
we first and foremost love one another. That
is the first thing we're supposed to do. And
if that's happening, then we shouldn't be able
to be caught off guard by any hardship that should
come along, surprised and disunified. The strength
of the enemy should be nothing to us because
we know that he who is in us is greater than
he that is in the world. But do we love one another?
The word says that we should be of one mind in
multiple places. In specific, we should be of
a mind like Jesus had, willing even to go unto
death, even death on a cross. We should be of
one mind. If we are all of a mind like Jesus,
then we will naturally be of one mind. But the
question is, are we of one mind? Or are we a
little bit addicted to our rebellion? Do we think
that our family at home in our house knows the
best way? Is your last name synonymous with...
Certain practices that you know are not practiced
elsewhere, and they're not specifically sin,
but you would readily say our practices are better
than somebody else's. It's very dangerous. We
are to be of one mind. Has the church come out
of the darkness and walked in the light? Where
light is no surprise and darkness cannot thrive?
Or does the church come together Sunday by Sunday,
Tuesday by Tuesday, Wednesday by Wednesday, sometimes
it's Friday, sometimes it's Monday. We come together,
and while we are together, we shine a little
light in each other's lives, and then we go back
out there in our houses, in our homes, in our
jobs, in our schools, and we walk in the darkness.
And then when light comes, it's a surprise. Sherry
and I were talking about this just yesterday.
We were kind of hashing what happened. She was
out of town for almost three days, and she went
to a conference in... during that time and really
get poured into and it was really good. It was
a God thing. God really did a cool thing. And
she says, a lot of people in the room were openly
admitting that they were Christian. Charlie,
is that your experience at BG? Are there a lot
of people in the room openly admitting that they're
Christian? Not much. Okay. So I ask you, so if
you were in a room with 10 other people and you're
in an environment where it's kind of taboo to
talk about Jesus, school, work, right? And you
don't say anything about Jesus. How do you know
how many of the nine other people are Christians?
What if nine of them are? What if nine of the
nine people in the room, and you're all doing
the same thing? You're all taboo, not talking
about Jesus, not bringing it up, because you
know it's offensive to some, because some people
really get upset about it, because you don't
want to cause a rift and stop the education,
whatever. Or what if it's five? What if five
out of nine people in the room are Christians?
Right? And four aren't. And what if the four
that aren't are atheists and they hate Christians
or they're some other kind of Christian hater,
right? Whatever that might look like. But five
people are sitting there in silence saying, oh,
wait a minute, let's go back to the beginning,
shall we? In God we trust. What was the first
act of God as he floated above the waters of
the nothingness and there was nothing was the
first act of God was the very first thing he
did that was discernible? that a human might
potentially have participated in, it was he spoke.
So all you have to do is become silent, and you
bring no noise. And if you bring no noise into
the darkness, and ideally you would bring a noise
that makes some sense. Don't just moan or belch
loudly or something, but say something that's
godly, right? If you bring that noise into the
silence, then you activate the possibility of
surprise and disunity. You capitalize on the
imminent defeat. You recognize that there is
a survival of the fittest in the world, and I'm
not going to play part in that game. You bring
light to the darkness and show courage in the
face of the enemy. Speak up. And when you speak
up, and this is happening, by the way, did you
know that you can go on Facebook right now and
you can see, I think it's upwards of dozens now,
of college football teams where three quarters
or sometimes the whole college football team,
without coach led, nobody sponsored, nobody's
telling them what to do, kneels on the field
to pray. Sometimes both teams kneel on the field
to pray together, to pray to God before the game
starts. And it was a player or a group of players
who started it off. They said, you know what?
I do believe in Jesus. I do believe in the Lord.
I'm tired of being silent. You better get tired
of being silent because you're not really following
God until you stop being silent. You can't be
silent about the things that must be said. That's
why in that same passage of Scripture in Acts
4, a little later, they said in verse 12, Will
you tell us, is it better to listen to you, as
you're telling us not to talk about Jesus anymore?
Is it better to listen to you? Or should we listen
to God? For we cannot but speak about the things
that we have seen and heard. You see? Could we
fall similarly? Well, yeah, the fact is we could.
Because I debate whether or not the church at
large, the church in the world, these... 2 ,000,
5 ,000 man churches that supposedly follow Jesus,
but it's really a giant theater building where
nobody knows anybody? Do they love one another?
Do we love one another? Well, we darn well had
better. Now, I may be a little partial, but I
think we do a pretty good job there. But could
we do better? Yes. The first command after loving
God with all your heart, mind, and soul is to
love one another. Should we be of one mind? We
should. We should agree. Somebody says, well,
I don't agree, but I'm not going to say anything
because I don't want to cause any trouble. It's
just not good enough. Be of one mind. Let us
be of one mind with Christ. If we're disagreeing
over something and that thing agrees one way
with Jesus and doesn't agree the other way with
Jesus, agrees with the mindset of Jesus one way
and doesn't the other, then the person who's
disagreeing is a sinner, very possibly bound
for hell. Because 1 Corinthians 2 says we have
the mind of Christ. You don't get to divide over
the things that the Bible says are factual. But
let's say it's not that, and it's the color of
the carpet. Then we shouldn't come in the room
and go, I want blue carpet, I want green carpet,
and we start to debate and argue. I don't think
it would be better. I have a friend of mine on
Facebook. His church in 1999 built a gymnasium.
It was a carpeted gymnasium, but it was a gymnasium.
They called it their Christian Sports and Education
Building. And they were going to invite kids
from the neighborhood, high school teams, whatever
to come and practice in their gymnasium. And
they went, they got it totally done. All they
had left to do was put up the basketball hoops.
They had them, purchased them, ready to put them
up. And somebody in a membership business meeting,
whatever they call it there, said, you know,
we don't think we should put them up. The balls
will scuff up the walls. The carpet will wear
out too fast. Plus, we put them up there. People
will always be using it, and we won't be able
to put up tables and have fellowship in there
and whatever. And they decided not to use the
gymnasium as a gymnasium, but to use it as a
cafeteria, a place for meetings, a place for
tables and meals, which isn't a bad thing per
se. But when they didn't put up the basketball
hoops, it started a downward slide. And I submit
to you, it was really in the heart because they
didn't love one another because they weren't
of one mind. And families with kids who looked
and said, well, we can't play in there. We're
not allowed to play in the gym. And teenagers
who wanted to make shots could not. And the sports
ministry went away. And now in 2025, they've
got about a dozen people coming. And the day
before yesterday, my friend hung up the basketball
hoops. 26 years later. Could we? Do we love one
another? Are we of one mind? Can we come out
of the darkness and walk in the light all day
long, every day, on your job, at your school,
in your home, on your social media, wherever
you are, during playing games, during playing
sports, everywhere you are, will you walk in
the light where light is no surprise and darkness
cannot thrive? I submit to you, if we will not,
we could fall similarly. And what would that
look like? We'll begin to attack one another.
We'll begin to badmouth one another. We'll begin
to disagree in disgruntled nature. And it'll
be the survival of the fittest who talks the
loudest, talks the best, brings the most money.
We'll get to decide in the next membership meeting
what happens with whatever. But if we don't do
that, I'm going to withdraw my tie. You say,
well, you would never do that. And I would never
do that. But you better believe it's been done
tens of thousands of times all over the country,
all over the world. Could we fall just as similar
as the Midian army and the soldiers from the
east? We could. If we do not love one another,
if we are not of one mind, if we do not come
out of the darkness and walk in the light, we
bring us to our conclusion. For those we come
upon in this life, I said in this story, ours
to emulate is Gideon. We meet and greet. There
is exactly no time left. This is the problem.
We are acting light because Jesus has not come
yet. that he's not going to come for a while,
you realize that it is possible, however likely
or unlikely that's in the Lord's hands, that
he could come before I finish this paragraph.
And if you're sitting here in these chairs right
now, you have exactly no time left. The truth
is, no one has any time at all. You ever said
that? I don't have any time to do that. I don't
have enough time to do that. You don't have any
time at all. You literally only have the second
that you are currently in, the breathing that
you're doing right now, the choice you're making
right now to be here, to listen, to study the
word, to go through this story. That's all you
have. You don't have later. You don't have lunch.
You don't have bedtime. You don't have bedtime
stories. You don't have tomorrow getting up.
You don't have the rooster crowing or the clock
going off. You don't have that. You will never
have that. You cannot have that. Who has that?
God has that. And in God we trust. And so everyone
that we run into is in the place where they have
exactly no time left. We had exactly no time
left. We have exactly no time left. And they
have exactly no time left. They ought to repent.
And we ought to hope that they should because
they were already defeated. Listen to the tense
of the verbs. They were already defeated. We've
been talking about an imminent defeat, but the
reality was that Gideons were already... Gideon's
men were already defeating the Midianites before
they ever entered the camp. Gideon was afraid.
God said, if you're afraid, take your servant,
go down, let's see what they say. God has sent
them a dream. The imminent defeat was already
in place. So much so was the defeat, so secure,
so definite was the defeat, that the weapons
that they took were a pitcher, a torch, and a
trumpet. It was already done. They ought to repent.
We ought to hope that they should repent for
they were already defeated. The Bible says it
is not sin now that sends a man to hell. I understand
the Bible says the wages of sin is death. Death
is internal separation from God. And if you don't
receive the free gift of salvation through Jesus
Christ, you're eternally separated from God and
you will go to hell. I understand that. But it
is not then that you sinned that sends you to
hell. People say that like, well, it was just
the smallest lie and I still go to hell. No,
it's not that. It is because they refused the
Son of God. Pardon me. It says, Jesus did not
come to condemn the world, but they are condemned
already by what they have done with the Son of
God. Not because they lied or stole or any of
that, but because they refused Jesus. They are
just as dead standing there in front of you as
they ever will be for an eternity. Your heart
beating, air in your lungs, your brain waves
do not make you alive. No more than a good running
car makes you alive. Or an airplane. In the hangar.
Fueled and ready to go. Pre -checks done. Doesn't
make you alive. Not even if you get in the plane.
It doesn't make you alive. You get in the car
and go. It doesn't make you alive. And your body
is like that. Your heart beating, your brain
waving does not make you alive. We were dead
in our trespasses and sins. Alive is fellowship
with Christ. Those who do not know God are dead
already. They have exactly no time. There is
an imminent defeat upon them. And so certain
is it that it is as if they have already been
defeated. We are not the workers of that defeat.
The closest we ever get to that is when Malachi
says that we will rush into the kingdom of God,
into heaven for eternity, and we'll go over the
dust that is the enemies of God and our enemies.
You'll trample them under feet on the way in.
That's the closest you ever get to that, but
you're not their enemy. For any man or woman
who refuses God's offer of salvation or who readily
warps that offer to be a thing that authorizes
their bad behavior, we ought to be cordial to
pity them. Pity them, for they're on the way
to hell. They are bound in chains, lost in darkness.
Pity is the proper emotion. It's what the world
would demand of us. But we offer something, have
something so much more. We offer an opportunity
to repent and a salvation already dearly purchased.
A forgiveness found in no other religion or relationship
and a new life born again out of the world into
a kingdom that will last for eternity to be called
a child of God. But don't kid yourself if you
don't participate, if you don't go and tell them,
if you don't go and entreat them, if you don't
go and share the gospel, their defeat is still
imminent. And perhaps so is yours. For how will
you feel when you arrive before the Lord and
answer for all the opportunities you had to deliver
the light into the darkness, to become the noise
and the silence, to stand courageously against
the enemy, to love one another, to be of one
mind? And God says, why did you not? And what
will you say? All the excuses we make now for
not doing the things that we're supposed to do
aren't going to hold up. Because he's God. And
he's going to say, but the instant, the moment
that you decided to do what I told you to do,
I had it all under control. The only thing stopping
you from seeing the blessings that I was sending
you was your unwillingness to receive them. In
Mark 11, 24, it says this. It says, therefore,
I say to you, all things for which you pray and
ask, listen to this very closely. Listen to the
tense of the verbs. that you have received them,
not that you will receive them, believe that
you have received them and they will be granted
to you. And in Matthew 16, 18, where he hands
the keys of the kingdoms, metaphorically speaking
to Peter, he says, and all things that you shall
loose on the earth will have what? Already been
loosed in heaven. And all things you shall bind
in the earth will have already been bound in
heaven. At best. We are conduits. We trust in
the Lord, and when we step out with the tools
that God has given us, it may look at me like,
well, I could never wield a sword, and you're
asking me to go somewhere dangerous. I don't
have a firearm or any martial arts skills whatsoever,
and you're asking me to go somewhere dangerous.
God is asking you to take the gospel and your
spiritual gifts and your love in your heart and
the word that can save souls and to go. And you
go. We will kill none. The truth is, when it
comes to saving people, we will win none. You
don't save souls. You're just here as an agent
of God to speak, pronounce the truth, ask for
a decision, and declare forgiveness. And for
those who will not accept it, they will not have
it, and their defeat is imminent. Oh, won't they
be surprised when the trump sounds and Jesus
shows up again. In disunity, they will claw,
struggle. And try to be set free and say, but
my sister, my brother, my uncle, he abused me.
He did this. He lied to me. She stole from me.
They betrayed me. That pastor didn't say. That
pastor did say. That church didn't do. That church
did do. I never had enough money. I never had
enough time. I've been sick. I've been hurting.
My body this. My body that. Malnutrition. And
on and on and on it goes. And God will say simply
this. The victory. The victory was always in
your hands. And for however long you had opportunity,
day in and day out, you refused it. And if we
continue to do so, we will fall similarly to
the army of the Midianites. And those who will
fall like that, fall into disunity, attacking
one another, and ultimately land in complete
defeat and annihilation, those like that, Well,
now they're enough that they would cover the
whole earth. But there are still amongst us some
who would emulate Gideon. And I pray that our
church will be that. And that we will take that
noise into the silence. We will take that light
into the darkness. That we will stand with that
courage against the enemy. That we will love
one another, be of one mind, and never fall into
disunity. And surprise. It starts with you saying,
Jesus Christ, be my Lord. That means you tell
me what to do and I'll do it. And my Savior,
that means I recognize that he died on the cross
for my sins and rose again on the third day.
And I can be saved. Sometimes I feel dumb. I
can be saved. Sometimes I feel too smart to buy
into something of faith. I have my reasons. You
can be saved. I put it off forever. You can be
saved. I have refused to let people know that
I'm really not saved because they started thinking
I was. I had a woman tell me once, everybody
just assumed I was saved and so I just went with
it. She told me that the day she was getting
saved. There is no time. Not there is no time
like the present. There just is no other time
than the present. You accept Jesus Christ as
your Lord and Savior in earnest and to begin
to live for him today. later, not very long at
all, we're going to see some baptisms and people
who are living testimony. They're saying, whatever
may come, whoever God is making me to be, I am
living for Jesus Christ now. And that can be
you. And then people say, we band together as
a church and love one another and become of one
mind and serve. We ache when we ache and we rejoice
when we rejoice because that's what God made
us. That's a little bit like Gideon. And a lot
not like the Midianites. Let me say this last
line, and some of you will recognize it. It's
from Star Trek. Resistance is futile. I ask the
praise team to come forward then and lead us
in a closing hymn. But if you're here today and
you're accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and
Savior, then you respond. You come to me and
say, this is me. I am accepting Jesus. I am becoming
a Christian today. I will follow him to the best
of my ability from now on. And you can come up
here and say that. Or if you're making some other
kind of decision. Whatever it might be. I know
I have to do this ministry. Or I know I need
to join this church. Or I know I need to be baptized.
Or I know I need to tell my friend about Jesus.
I know I need to stop being silent. Not to be
rude, but to be a noise in the silence with the
right information. You can walk in a room with
plenty of people, you don't know if anybody's
saying, like, is anybody here not pushing it?
Is anybody here that wants to talk about Jesus?
I'm willing. I'm not saying you have to, I'm
not pushing it on you, but if you want to, I'm
willing. That would be a starting spot, wouldn't
it? What are you afraid of? You're in the darkness
and you're afraid. You're more like a Midianite
or a Sodomite than you are a Christian. Turn
your life over to the Lord and stand for Him.
We'll sing this song together, but if you're
responding in some way, you come forward. Everybody
stand up. Break out your voices, but if you're
a responder coming forward, then you don't need
to sing. You can just come right now and tell
me what's on your heart today. Just as I am without
one thing, look at the blood pushing for me.
Okay.