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Well again, howdy, and happy Father's Day. It's good to be here this morning. Beth told me that I couldn't preach this morning without making a dad joke. So here it is. Let's get it out of the way at the beginning. What makes a joke a dad joke? When it becomes apparent.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. Now that you are all judging me, you can turn to the book of Judges, chapter 6. Chapter 6, well, we'll begin in verse 11. Like Pat mentioned, we'll be studying the story of Gideon, actually, over the next few Sundays. And it's a remarkable story, remarkable for a lot of reasons.

But before we get to Gideon's story, I'm going to do what every dad does best and tell a story about my kids. A lot of you know my kids. I've got two of them. I've got a girl, Ellie, and a boy, Charlie. And if you know them, you know that they are very, very different.

Ellie is very sweet and thoughtful, but she's very shy. She doesn't like talking to people. Charlie, on the other hand, well, let's just say he's not shy. He is, if you haven't heard of him, I'm sure you've Heard him. He's constantly yelling in the back. He runs around.

He just, the world is his oyster. And something that happened actually just last week that's a good illustration of my two kids is we were at Sue Haswell Park on the playground. And I was trying to coach Ellie out of her comfort zone to talk to this kid around her age so she could play with her and talk to her.

And as I'm coaching Ellie, I look over and Charlie is 10 feet off the ground on top of this spider web thing and two mom strangers are around him. Oh, poor baby, poor baby. And I think, how are my kids so different? And it got me thinking about confidence.

It got me thinking about where does confidence come from? Is it genetic? Is it personality? For my kids, is it something that they see and learn, or maybe it's programmed into them through their DNA? Are there some people destined to struggle with insecurity because that's just who they are?

Or maybe there's something more environmental about it. After all, everyone is insecure sometime, right? I'm curious if y'all think I'm more like Ellie or more like Charlie. And I know I'm up here, I'm speaking in front of people, but it may surprise you to learn. That I'm often more like Ellie.

I often find myself gripped by insecurity. Even just a few minutes ago, I had butterflies in my stomach. So, that may be you this morning. Or maybe you're outwardly confident, but there's still an inner voice inside of you telling you that you're not good enough, unsure of where to go next.

And this is why I like the story of Gideon, because when I was taught the story of Gideon as a kid in Sunday school, I was taught of the battle of the 300, right? You know, Gideon with a small group of men against this massive army, and all he's got is a torch and a trumpet, and he's just charging enemy lines.

It's like, man, what a hero. What an awesome, confident guy. But when I read the book of Judges for myself, I was really shocked to learn that Gideon struggled with insecurity, struggled with it. He's not the hero type I can relate. He's complex, he's nuanced, he's sinful. I can relate to that too.

Do you know that there are more verses about Gideon than any other judge in the book of Judges? So apparently, the author really wanted for us to get to know this guy. But it's more than just a story about Gideon. It's a story about God. It's a story about God's patience and his providence using an insecure, scared little boy to defeat a massive army and to do something incredible.

So, let's dig in, shall we? Judges chapter 6, starting in verse 11. The angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abazarite, and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites.

The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior. I want to stop there, real quick. This is our introduction to Gideon. But let's get our biblical bearings before we talk about Gideon. If you skip back a few verses and you read chapter 6, verse 1, you'll find there a phrase, and I'll read it out for you.

It says, Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hands of Midian for seven years. That's the context, what's going on here. But this phrase, the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, that right there, that is the theme of the book of Judges.

And if you don't believe, Believe me, just I put together this slide. This phrase occurs six times in the book of Judges in the first 13 chapters. Sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And this is what a lot of scholars call the cycle of apostasy or cycle of idolatry.

You can see what happens here. Israel, oops, Israel sins. They sin against God. They abandon God. And God sends an oppressor. In this case, it's the Midianites. And then Israel, through the oppression and their suffering, they cry out to God. They return to God in repentance. And what does God do?

He hears them. And he sends a deliverer. And then that deliverance brings peace for a period of time. But what happens again? Well, Israel gets complacent. They sin again. And this cycle happens again and again and again, all through the book of Judges. And it's easy to blame the Israelites here.

It's easy to think, ah, those silly Israelites. I would never. But think about it. Have you ever been stuck in a cycle of sin? Maybe an addiction? Have you ever felt its grip on your life, the hopelessness that it brings? I just can't get out of it. Have you ever felt like You know that God is merciful, but you feel like that mercy is just running out.

It's been too many times. This is why I love studying the book of Judges, is because God never gives up. Six times. God never gives up on Israel, despite all the horrible things that Israel does. Which brings us back to Gideon. The angel of the Lord approaches Gideon, and Gideon is doing something very strange.

Here in verse 11, it says, he's beating out wheat in the wine press. Now, I've never beat out wheat before, but doing a little bit of research, here's what I found. Now, folks in that culture and in a more agrarian society would use wheat to make bread. It's how they made their living, it's how they ate.

And in order to get the good stuff out of the wheat, you know, the chaff would have to float away, and then the grain, the stuff you could actually eat, falls to the bottom. And so a threshing floor where this would happen would often be an elevated space.

So you could throw the wheat up into the air like you see that guy doing, and all the chaff would float away, and the wheat would fall down. Now, a wine press is not a great place for threshing wheat. A wine press was often in these pits, these holes in the ground.

And that's so that the wine could sink down. You wouldn't lose any wine. So, picture this. Gideon is threshing wheat. He's trying to make food. But he's doing it in a hole in the ground. Why is he doing it in a hole in the ground? Well, because of the Midianites.

The Midianites. Now, the Midianites, they were bad news. The Midianites used this method of warfare. It was more like raiding. They wouldn't come and conquer a place and stay there. They would come, they would steal all the food, and then they would go back. And they would come again, they would steal all the food and go back, which made harvest time a particularly vulnerable time for the Israelites.

And here is where we find Gideon at harvest time in a hole in the ground hiding from the Midianites. Kind of pathetic, right? And yet, of all the men and women in Israel that the Lord could have gone to, the angel of the Lord chooses to sit under Gideon's oak tree.

I have a couple questions. One, who is the angel of the Lord? And we honestly could spend a lot of time there. It's a fascinating study, but we're not going there today. Let me just suffice it to say that I think there is convincing biblical evidence to say the angel of the Lord is Yahweh himself, God in the flesh, if you were.

The more interesting question for me is, why Gideon? I mean, of all the guys in Israel, why Gideon? And why does the Lord call him, O valiant warrior? Is God being sarcastic? Like he looks over the wine press and he goes, ha ha, you warrior. No, I think that would, I don't think that's what God would do.

But it is true that Gideon is not exactly most likely to succeed in his yearbook. He wasn't born into a rich family. He wasn't born into high society. When we're introduced to Gideon, we're introduced to a scared little boy trying not to get his lunch stolen by the school bully.

That's what we see. But what does God see? One commentator wrote, One of the great truths of Scripture is that when God looks at us, he does not see us for what we are, but for what we can become as he works in our lives. I'll read that again.

When God looks at us, he does not see us for what we are, but for what we can become as he works in our lives. Think about it. God called Abram, and he said, you are the father of many nations. Well, that was before he was a father.

And God called Peter. He said, he called him a rock. And yet, that was before Peter denied him, before he became a pillar of the church. What does God see when he looks at you? There's a lot of passages we could turn to, but I just picked one out of the bunch.

Romans 8, 37 says, This is Paul writing to Christians, know in these things we are more than what? Conquerors. Conquerors. Through him who loved us. But John, I don't feel like a conqueror. I'm not a conqueror. I've never conquered anything in my life. Maybe you've got pressures at work, pressures at home.

Maybe instead of wheat, you're threshing laundry. You just have laundry flying everywhere. And I get it. Most of my waking hours, I don't feel like a conqueror. But such is our identity as an adopted son and daughter of God. That's what Paul says. But we wouldn't be alone in feeling this way.

And Gideon didn't feel like a conqueror either. Let's read his response. In verse 13, Gideon says to the angel of the Lord, Oh, my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Can you relate to that? And where are all his miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, Did not the Lord bring us from Egypt?

But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hands of Midian. And the Lord looked at him and said, Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you? We'll stop there. First, Gideon has no idea who he's talking to.

Depending on your translation, you might see the word Lord twice, back to back, in verse 13. That can be a little bit confusing. The first one is the Hebrew word Adonai, which is a title of formal address. It's like us saying Lord and lady. It could refer to anybody.

The second one is the actual name of God, Yahweh. Gideon, in using the first title, indicates that he thinks that this is just some dude stopping by for a friendly chat, and he's just being polite. If he knew that he was addressing Yahweh, I would like to think that he would have considered what he's about to say a little more carefully.

And we read what he says, and we see that Gideon's upset. He's upset. Why is he upset? Well, because the Midianites are upon him. And this is important. Gideon's circumstances, they're real. Gideon's suffering, it's real. He's in a bad situation, and he's frustrated. And frankly, I think I would be frustrated too.

Now, is it okay to be angry at God? Well, personally, I think God can handle our anger. But then, Gideon. Moves past anger. He makes an error. He goes from being angry to accusing God. And what does he say? At the end of verse 13, he says, But now the Lord has abandoned us.

Judge Gideon has spoken. God is the guilty party. And again, it'd be really easy for us to, from this point in history, look at Gideon and condemn him. But I want you to hear in his plea a false premise that I hear from Christians all the time. Here's his argument.

Read verse 13. I'm paraphrasing here. But he's saying, if the Lord is with us, then this suffering wouldn't be happening to us. Therefore, the Lord has abandoned us. That's his argument. If the Lord is with us, this wouldn't be happening to us. Therefore, the Lord has abandoned us.

Does that sound familiar to anyone? When I was a chaplain in the hospital, I would meet Christians, people who have been Christians their whole life, and they would get a diagnosis or suffer an accident, or maybe it's their loved one that's in the hospital bed next to them.

And the question I got more than any other question: where's God? Where's God? Why is this happening? If God were with me, this wouldn't be happening. Therefore, God has abandoned me. Have you ever felt that way? I have. Crisis has a way of making us examine our theology, I think, in a really good way.

But what's wrong with this premise? Let's analyze this briefly. I think the false premise is that Gideon assumes, and we often assume, that suffering is incompatible with God's presence. And that's not true. All you have to do is look at the cross and know that that's not true.

Suffering is not incompatible with God's presence. God allows suffering. He suffered. And the sooner we understand that, the sooner we get a more complete picture of who God is. Sometimes God allows suffering so that we can be more like Jesus. When Jesus said, if they persecuted me, they'll persecute my servants.

Sometimes God allows suffering to keep us from boasting in our flesh, like Paul, the thorn in his side. Sometimes God allows suffering because he has a plan that we can't possibly comprehend or imagine. I'll have to do is point to Job. And sometimes God allows suffering because we have sinned.

And God uses the just punishment. Of sin to draw us into repentance and reconciliation. And that's what's happening here. That's what's happening with Israel and with Gideon. Gideon's logic fails to recognize that his suffering is not a result of God abandoning them, it's a result of them abandoning God.

Don't forget, this is the fourth time that Israel has turned away from God. I would be done after one. But the remarkable thing is that God has not abandoned his people. Every single time when Israel cries out in repentance and turns from their wicked ways, the Lord sends a Savior.

Every single time. And I think this is why the angel the Lord responds to Gideon the way that he does. Read verse 14. The Lord looked at him and said, Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you? Go, I have sent you.

And Gideon appeals to Egypt as part of his argument. Why is this happening? Why doesn't God send mighty works like he did against the Egyptians? And God's answer is: no, I'm sending you. You are the mighty work. Stop wallowing in your wine. Press, waiting on a miracle, go out there and go save your people.

It's you. Pretty humbling, right? Well, I would say that's pretty terrifying. Me? What is Gideon's strength compared to the strength of Midian? And if the Lord stopped there, that would be the scariest thing I can imagine. But the key phrase comes next: Have I not sent you? Oh, I love that.

Have I not sent you? Gideon's circumstances are real. Gideon's enemies are real. They are a huge army. Gideon is just one man. And who is Gideon to contend with so many? Well, frankly, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who Gideon is. It matters who sent him. God Almighty, before whom nations tremble.

Talk about a confidence boost. The angel of the Lord said, Gideon, I choose you, O valiant warrior, not because you feel like one, not because you've acted like one, but because I have sent you. But Gideon is still not convinced. He's got a couple more questions for the angel of Yahweh.

Judges chapter 6, 15 through 16, picking back up with our text. Gideon said to him, O Lord, how shall I Deliver Israel. Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I'm the youngest in my father's house. But the Lord said to him, Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.

So here Gideon uses the title Adonai again in verse 15, which indicates that he still doesn't know that he's talking to God, which is ironic, because what does he say to God? He says, You don't really know who you're talking to. I'm a nobody. I'm the least in my family.

I'm the least in my tribe. And by the way, this isn't Gideon just saying, ah, shucks, you know, ah, little old me. No, this isn't false humility. This is true. I'm inclined to think that Gideon really is the least in his family. And by the way, Manasseh, the tribe that he's in, was the least tribe in the nation of Israel.

How do we know that? Genesis 48. They're all getting their blessings, and Jacob tries to bless Manasseh and his brother. They're grandsons, by the way. They're not even sons. And he gives Manasseh the lesser blessing. So Gideon doesn't have a whole lot of family history to prop him up here.

But what's Gideon's point? When you really get down to it, what is Gideon saying? Well, he's suggesting that God has chosen the wrong person. No, no, no, no, no. You don't want me. You want that guy over there. You know, maybe a guy from Judah. Gideon's opinion of himself is so utterly low that he's convinced himself that God can't possibly use him.

Have you ever thought that? Unqualified, unfit, not talented enough? Maybe you catch yourself wishing that God created you a little bit more like someone else. You know, Moses said something very similar when God called him. It seems that God has a pattern for choosing people that are unqualified.

Just saying. What I appreciate about the Lord's response, which you can read in verse 16, is that it's not how we would respond. You know, if I were responding, I might say, oh, no, Gideon, you're not that bad. I mean, come on. He can't be that bad. But he also doesn't give Gideon a pep talk.

He doesn't say, you know, you got this, Gideon. Just don't stop believing. Reach for the stars. You know, you can do it. What's the Lord's response? I will be with you. That's it. Simple. God's response takes the focus off of Gideon and all of his insecurities, and he says, I will be with you.

Gideon says, how on earth can I deliver Israel? And God says, you can't, but I will be with you. What a wonderful promise. God doesn't just send us into hard places. He is going with us. So who cares how qualified you are? Who cares how talented you are?

If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31. If you are a Christian, did you know that you have the Spirit of the living God living inside you? Pretty cool, right? So why are we so afraid? Why are we so afraid? Gideon is still not convinced.

Remember, he doesn't know that he's talking to the angel of the Lord, but he's starting to put it together. So Gideon's next tactic is to do something bold. He's going to ask for proof. You can read with me in verse 17. Gideon said to him, If now I have found favor in your sight, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me.

Okay, there's something we need to address here. Is it wrong for Gideon to ask for a sign? Now, here I don't think so. And here's why. Anybody could come and claim to deliver a message from God, but how would you know? How would you know that it was really from God?

Well, in the Old Testament, it was expected that a sign would accompany the message. A sign that somebody Something only God can do to prove that this was a legitimate messenger. That's what happened with the prophets. This is why Moses, when he's before the burning bush, he asked God for a sign, and God gives him three signs to perform so that people will know that he's speaking for the Lord.

I think this is also why Jesus says in John 10:38: If you don't believe my words, then believe the works. Believe what I do, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me. So we'll talk more about asking for a sign next week, but right or wrong, this is Gideon's tactic: ask for a sign.

And wouldn't you know, the Lord complies. He says, All right, here's your sign. He makes it crystal clear to Gideon who he is. And I'm just going to paraphrase the next few verses. Gideon's going to prepare some food. He's going to bring it out, set it on a rock.

The angel of the Lord takes his staff, touches the rock, and then fire consumes the food in an instant, and the angel vanishes. Now Gideon knows who he's talking to. He's caught Gideon's attention. You know that feeling when you're talking about someone and then you turn around and they're standing behind you the whole time?

Maybe that's just me. Well, imagine that feeling and then imagine that that person can call down fire. That's what Gideon has just stumbled into. He's probably regretting some of the things he said. And you see his response, it's fear. It's fear. I don't blame him. I would be afraid too.

Gideon has just accused God of abandoning his people. Gideon probably feels smaller than he's ever felt before. And he's expecting a fatal blow. But, but, what does the Lord say? The Lord, rich in mercy, speaks to him in that moment of smallness, and he says, Peace be with you.

I love this Hebrew word for peace. Most of y'all know it. It's the word shalom. Shalom is not just about getting along, it's not just about tolerating differences. The shalom carries with it the idea of rest, the idea of stability, the idea of order. Things as they should be.

Do you know how the Webster Dictionary defines insecurity? Lack of stability. Insecurity is the opposite of shalom. When the Lord arrived at Gideon's house, Gideon was in a state of utter insecurity, thrashing wheat in a wine press. But after chatting with Gideon for a while and showing himself to Gideon, the Lord leaves Gideon's house with the final word: peace.

Peace to you. This is incredible. And what does Gideon do? He receives it. He recognizes it. And he builds himself an altar to remind him every time he sees that altar that the Lord is peace. Shalom comes from the Lord. Confidence comes from the Lord. Now that doesn't mean that Gideon never feels insecure ever again.

If you read on in Judges chapter 6, you'll read that that same night, the very same night, God tells Gideon to go and destroy some idols. And Gideon, he goes and he destroys the idols, but he does it by night because he's terrified to do it during the day.

And then when everyone wakes up and they see the idols destroyed, they all go looking for Gideon. Ah, where's Gideon? And he's hiding. He's nowhere to be found. He's not the confident guy that we read about later. Confidence is a work in progress. It takes time. But now Gideon has the tools to work on it.

I have sent you. I am with you. And I have shown you who I am and what I can do. Notice what all three of these have in common. They all come from God. I have sent you. I am with you. I have shown you what I can do.

Each of these takes the focus off of Gideon, you know, his feelings, his circumstances, his suffering, and it puts the attention on God. And that's the story of Gideon. In a nutshell, Gideon is not a mighty hero who accomplishes great things. Gideon is a scared little boy through whom God works to bring about peace in Israel.

But first, Gideon had to learn that confidence doesn't come from himself. It doesn't come from his circumstances, which, by the way, both of those were terrible. His confidence comes from the Lord. And so does ours. Do you struggle with insecurity? It's a real question. A lot of us do.

Do you feel like the scared little boy or girl at the bottom of a wine press? Maybe you're entering a new season of life. Speaking of Father's Day, maybe you're a new parent. And I remember this feeling. You go to the hospital, your baby's born, and then you have to go home with it.

Like, what? I have to take care of this thing? What am I doing? Well, just remember: God has sent you, God is with you. God has shown you who he is and what he can do. Well, maybe you're a seasoned parent and your kids are pushing you away, your relationship with them is falling apart, and you think, why should I bother?

Why should I bother being a godly parent when they won't even listen to me? Remember, God has sent you. God is with you. God has shown you who He is and what He can do. Maybe you're a kid or a young adult and all this father stuff, you've never experienced this before.

But you have friends who are not Christians, who don't know the gospel, and God is calling you to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them, and you are afraid. You're afraid. Just remember, God has sent you. God is with you. God has shown you who He is and what He can do.

Don't wait for confidence to just magically well up inside of you. Look to Christ. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. Confidence comes through him. You might say, okay, John, I get it. I get what you're saying. That's all good and well for Gideon, but I haven't been visited by the angel of the Lord.

What if I'm one of the other Israelites that was just hiding in his wisdom? Press, and the Lord didn't stop at my house. Well, that's a good question. Do these promises apply to you? Well, turn with me to Matthew 28:19. Familiar passage. Jesus is speaking, and he's speaking to his disciples.

This is after the resurrection. And he says, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I have sent you. Read on. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

I am with you. And what's the sign that Jesus has shown you? Well, Jesus says in Matthew 12, 34 that a sign would be given, the sign of Jonah, who, as he was in the belly of the fish for three days, so the Son of Man would be in the heart of the earth, and then what?

Then he would rise again. Friends, the empty tomb is your sign. It's your sign. The resurrection of Jesus is the single most verifiable event in human history. And if you have heard the gospel, then you have been. Called by Christ to be a mighty work for his glory.

And you don't need to fear. Why? You can say with me, God has sent you. God is with you. God has shown you who he is and what he can do. Let these promises sink into your bones. And if you still struggle with confidence, know that you're in good company.

We'll pick up Gideon's story next week, but we'll see that his flaws are on full display. But God still uses him. God still uses him. The feeling of confidence may take time to sink in. But in the meantime, let me leave you with just one piece of practical advice.

And it's this. Gideon, you may remember, he builds an altar to the Lord, and he calls it the Lord is peace. And it's a memorial altar so that every time anyone in Israel sees that altar, they remember the Lord is peace. So my question for you is, what do you have around your house to remind you that the Lord is your peace?

That your confidence comes from the Lord. That deliverance comes from the Lord? I wanted to show you something that we have in our family. This is a little figurine, and in of itself, it's Not much. You can buy it on Amazon. But this was given to our family during a time of, I think it's safe to use the word oppression.

After Ellie was born, Beth went through a period of severe postpartum depression. And it was hard. It was difficult. And someone gave us this to remind us that the Lord is our peace. And the Lord delivered us from that season of life. And so now we keep this in our house, on our shelf, in our family room, where everyone can see it, and where we see it.

So that every time we look at it, it reminds us of the faithfulness of God. And when our kids are older, we look forward to telling them about this season of life so that we can say, the Lord delivered us. Your reminders will probably look different for your family.

Maybe you have a verse, take to your mirror. We'll see it often. Maybe it's a tradition that you do every year so that you can stop and reflect and think about what God has done for your family. Or maybe it's a daily journal where you write God's providence down and you pick it up and you read it.

It may be different, but my point is this. Stop looking for confidence in places where it can't be found. Confidence comes from Christ. He has sent you. He is with you. And he has shown you who he is and what he can do. Let's pray. Lord, thankful. Thankful that you are a good father.

That you give good gifts. Lord, that you never abandon your children. And that is what we are. We are your children. So I pray this Father's Day, Lord, you would impress this on our hearts. Lord, that you are with us. You have sent us. That would give us boldness.

Lord, thankful for these men and women here today. Lord, I pray that your Spirit works through them to do mighty works in your name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.