By Faith Gideon

Posted on by

Opening:

I love football.

When players are inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, they make a bronze bust of them. Do you know how long those are supposed to last?

Someone guess: how long?

I tried to get one for the weekend to show, but they would not allow me.

The answer: 40,000 years. If someone is a really good quarterback, such as Otto Graham or Ben Roethlisberger, and they are in the Hall of Fame, they make a bronze bust that is supposed to last 40,000 years.

So, can I put my faith in a bronze bust? What do you think? Someone, answer yes or no?

Why?

We are going to look at Gideon, and I want to show you that God worked through him. The Lord was with Gideon. This is why he is listed in Hebrews 11:32.

Listen to the theme:

The Lord was with Gideon, and the Lord IS with us.

Gideon was weak, but the Lord is strong.

Let’s read:

Hebrews 11:32 (ESV)

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets…

Judges 6:11–12 (ESV)

Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

Now let’s talk about this. My point is that the Lord was with Gideon and the Lord is with us.

  1. First, let me summarize what God did through Gideon (adapted and edited from John MacArthur).[1], [2]
    1. God calls Gideon. In the next few sections, Gideon tests the Lord (verse 24), which is not recommended. Gideon has weak faith and admits it. 
    2. In Judges 6:25-34, Gideon destroys an altar to Baal.
    3. In Judges 6:36-40, Gideon tests the Lord once again.
    4. Then we come to Judges 7:
    5. There was a threat from the Midianite army, which numbered 135,000 men:
    6. He (Gideon) starts out with 32,000.
    7. God cuts down Gideon’s men from 32,000 to 300.
    8. How large was the Midianite army? They had 135,000 men. So, we have 300 versus 135,000.
    9. How can 300 men defeat 135,000 men?
    10. God gives him strange instructions in Judges 7.
    11. He tells him to get pitchers, pitchers used to pour water, and trumpets and torches; usually, these trumpets, which are shofars, would be used only by the commander, but in this case everyone had one.
    12. Gideon is to go find the Midianite army. In history, no one has fought a battle with torches, pitchers, and trumpets.
    13. Gideon must have had faith.
    14. As MacArthur describes:
    15. They split into three groups. Gideon took his hundred and a couple of other hundreds, they got in the circles of the hills where the Midianites were and they lit their torches. And at the appropriate time of the announcement, they smashed the pitchers which made noise and revealed the torches and the trumpets began to blow and the Midianites went into panic, probably assuming that for every torch there was an entire division of troops when it was just one guy with a pitcher and a torch and a trumpet. The Midianites panicked. The Midianites rolled out of their bunks, or off their pads on the ground, and massacred each other. In an absolute slaughter, thinking they were fighting these massive hordes of Jewish troops who had descended upon them.
    16. It would be pretty hard to believe God in that setting unless you had a supernatural faith in a supernatural God.[3]
    17. That is chapter seven. If you read Judges 8, Gideon begins to rely on himself and ends up a mess. In fact, if you read Judges 9, Gideon is remembered as a terrible father. 
    18. But in this case, Gideon trusts the Lord.
    19. Look at the verse again: Judges 6:12 (ESV) And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
    20. Mighty man of valor! In Judges 7, Gideon wins the battle with 300 men, and they do not have to lift a sword. It is the Lord who fights the battle. 
    21. This entire account, from Judges 7, shows that it is not about us. God was showing that our trust must be in Him.
  2. We are not alone; the Lord is with us as well.
    1. Turn to Matthew 1:23 (ESV) “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
    2. Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)
    3. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
    4. Now, turn to Romans 8:9–11 (ESV)
    5. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
    6. The Lord is with us today through the Holy Spirit.
    7. The Lord is with us today through the church.
    8. The Lord is with us today through His Word, the Bible.
    9. Trust Him.
    10. Reed Lessing tells the story of a Native American ritual for training young braves:
    11. “On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, he was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. Until then he had never been away from the security of his family and tribe. But on this night he was blindfolded and taken miles away. When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of thick woods. By himself. All night long. Terrifying! How out of his element the young brave must have felt. How very un-BRAVE, in fact.
    12. Every time a twig snapped, he probably visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. Every time an animal howled, he imagined a wolf leaping out of the darkness. Every time the wind blew, he wondered what more sinister sound it masked. No doubt it was a terrifying night for many. 
    13. After what must have seemed like an eternity, the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of the path. Then, to his utter astonishment, he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It was the boy’s father. He had been there all night long. It is a lesson in bravery … in independence. But it is an important lesson in DEPENDENCE as well. Tribe and family matter. You aren’t alone, even when you are most lonely.”
    14. Sometimes we cannot see God or feel that He is with us, but He is.
  3. Let’s apply this: Where is our trust?
    1. Is our trust in our bank account? Notice that God did not have Gideon raise funds to win the battle.
    2. Is our trust in a large group of friends? Notice that the army went from 32,000 to 300, and God won the battle.
    3. Is our trust in our house? Is our trust in our possessions?
    4. These things don’t work; our trust must be in God.
    5. God is with us.

Close:

I have a refrigerator box up here, and I want to see if you can see me if I get into it.

[get in the box]

Sometimes we get into these boxes in life. Sometimes we do things that put us in the boxes, and sometimes things just happen. 

Sometimes we mess up, and we are “boxed in.” Sometimes unfortunate circumstances happen to us.

Sometimes we start watching pornography, and we can’t break the addiction.

Other times, we fall into addictive spending habits, and our budget becomes a mess, which harms relationships as well. 

Maybe we didn’t choose the situation we are in. Maybe we are a caregiver and are absolutely overwhelmed. We cannot care for ourselves because we are always caring for someone else.

Maybe we are trying to recover from a job loss or from the death of a loved one.

We are boxed in and cannot get out of the box.

We try pushing, but it doesn’t work. Maybe the bronze bust of a Hall of Fame recipient can help us. I don’t think so. Maybe money will get me out of the situation, but not all of them. We try praying harder… I am a firm believer in prayer, but I think God has another solution. 

[At that point, a few of our church members come up and cut me out of the box]

God is present in His church.

God may want you to accept help from a pastor, a counselor, a Christian friend.

God was present with Gideon. God is present in you and in us.

Trust God.

Pray

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

  1. MacArthur, John. Gideon and Samson: Stories of Weakness and Strength. June 10, 2012; accessed September 21, 2026. https://www.gty.org/sermons/80-390/Gideon-and-Samson-Stories-of-Weakness-and-Strength ↑

  2. MacArthur, John. A Conquering, Courageous Faith, Part 2. February 14, 2010; accessed, September 21, 2026. http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/90-389/a-conquering-courageous-faith-part-2 ↑

  3. MacArthur, John. A Conquering, Courageous Faith, Part 2. February 14, 2010; accessed, September 21, 2026. http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/90-389/a-conquering-courageous-faith-part-2 ↑

Leave a Reply