Judg 7:2, And the Lord said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, lest Israel become boastful, saying, 'My own power has delivered me.' 
	When last we were in our consideration of this passage, we spent our time in the Old Testament, looking at numerous examples of how the Lord showed Himself mighty. Those awesome works of God eliminates the propensity for mankind to take the credit for anything that is accomplished. Over and over again, God would use the weak and the limited in number to bring forth His salvation. 
	This is especially seen with Gideon and the miraculous victory over the Midianites. There was no way that man could say that anyone other than the Lord had been the reason for the outcome. It is always to the glory and the praise and the honor and the majesty of God.
Today, we want to consider a focal reason that this lesson has to be established in our hearts. The examples in the Old Testament always point ahead to the grand truth of the power of God that is evidenced in His plan of salvation. It has to be truly known in the heart of mankind, that there is no way that we could ever save ourselves. As much as we may try and as much as we attempt to take God out of the equation, it is an abject impossibility! Mankind can never, and never ever will be able to save himself from the righteous and true judgment against the nature of sin with which we are born. 
Even in these days of so-called enlightened thinking, with all the promotion of self and the expressed need for self-esteem and self-realization, the only true fact that is in evidence is that we are in need of a Savior. What must take place for our redemption unto Our Creator is completely outside the framework of our minds and our actions and our intentions and our so limited and frail human abilities. We need to recognize and believe in the free gift of God as He has made the way for our complete and perfect salvation from all the sin and death and defilement that infests us from birth.
Jesus, the Only Begotten Son of God, sent from the heart of the Father, is Our Redeemer, Our True, Our Faithful, Our Selfless, and Our Beloved Christ! He, Alone can save us through the undeserved death that He suffered in our stead! It is His glorious and Omnipotent resurrection which causes us to have that completely new nature by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 
The Apostle Paul, in Rom 3:21-28, highlights what the purpose of the Law was in the Old Testament. It was the means of the Holiness of God showing exactly why we could never do anything through our own self efforts. No one can live the perfect and holy life that is required to be able to stand before God and not be utterly consumed! The only One Who could was God Himself! The Only Begotten Son came to earth to live the perfection and obedient service which would usher in this newness of spiritual life forevermore. 
 Rom 3:21-28, But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. 
    	It was utterly impossible for any man, born under the stain of sin, indwelled by the old nature which was at enmity with God to save Himself. That was seen by all the failure of mankind from Adam and Eve onward. Sin needed to be dealt with in a manner outside the scope and sequence of human ability! Our eternal salvation is only in place because of the Great Love and Mercy set in Jesus Christ. 
He was born of a woman, but without the sinful nature. As a result, the only means of salvation was birthed as a babe in Bethlehem, of the tribe of Judah, of the house of David. He is the Only Begotten of the Father. 
The reality that He came through the Nation of Israel, however, brought with it several issues for those early Gentile Christians. They needed to deal with the self-centeredness that saw themselves somehow elevated over the Jews by whom Jesus was delivered into the hands of the Roman authorities to suffer such a vial and undeserved crucifixion. There was this sense that the Jews were no longer to be considered as blessed, but rather to be persecuted and downtrodden for their treatment of the Son of God. 
That residue of the old nature which puffed up oneself over the status of another, needed to be addressed by the Lord through the Apostle Paul, as we can read together in Rom 11:17-36. There is no place, within the Church for anyone to think less of another, no matter what the reason. We need to see the truth that when we boast of ourselves in any manner whatsoever, we are off base and not in concert with the heart of God that is to be our indwelling heart for the sake of all humanity. 
The Apostle herein outlines how the Hand of the Lord was working all along, no matter what mankind was trying to do. It is all the work of God and to His glory so that no man can ever boast of anything of his own meager and ineffectual efforts.
Rom 11:17-36, But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more shall these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob." "And this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins." From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, in order that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience that He might show mercy to all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
	In even more clarity of the plan and the purposes of God, we have the Lord directly addressing one of the grand citadels of humanity, the pinnacle of man as seen in human wisdom, human intelligent and human self-elevation. What man considers the paramount achievement of human endeavor actually scoffs at the means of God to provide His free gift of salvation. The cross of Christ is ridiculed and maligned and desecrated by the intelligencia of this realm. 
Yet, the Apostle Paul, in 1 Cor 1:18-31 directly deals with how the Lord shows, through the Cross, the folly of human wisdom in comparison to the way of the Lord. Again, we come back to the truth that everything is so set in place by God to reveal how much He loves us to open His arms to us in The Only Begotten Son. Jesus bore our sin and our shame. The greatest wisdom and intellect of this age could never accomplish what Christ, the Son of God, did by His own undeserved and tortuous death and then followed by His glorious resurrection from the grave.
	1 Cor 1:18-31, For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside." Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, that, just as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord." 
	Again, in Eph 2:8-18, the Lord makes known, through the writing of the Apostle Paul, just how manifestly evident it is that man can not save Himself. There is a corrupt concept within some church communities that we can somehow earn our salvation through the doing of good works. They teach that if we do enough positive activities in our lives, there is no way that God will sentence us to hell for all of eternity. 
This idea of balancing out the bad by doing better deeds on the scales of the human determination of right and wrong is such a false and misleading idea. It is promoted for the sake of making us think that we should do good things because it will somehow impress the Holiness of the Lord God. This is a blatant and vile lie!
Sin is sin! If we have sinned, we have transgressed the Holiness and the Righteousness of God and we deserve nothing but eternal damnation!
However, in the great love of God, through the manifest grace and mercy of His eternal essence, He made the way for anyone of us to be saved. In Christ Jesus, we are freely blessed with God’s gift of salvation from that utter and eternal damnation, if we will but call upon His Glorious and Wondrous Name. 
Eph 2:8-18, For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Therefore remember, that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands — remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 
    	Our final passage of this morning is found in James 4:1-10. Here we are presented with the accurate picture of who we are in the residue of our sinfulness and how we vainly try to do things that will give us the best of both worlds. We try to have our eternal fire insurance for the hereafter as well as the tawdry and alluring baubles and trinkets that we think will bring pleasure in this current age. We strive to fulfill the lusts of our sinful bodies while maintaining the assurance of our spiritual standing with God. That will never be!
	James 4:1-10, What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
	As we close this earnest consideration with respect to how we are to view the work of God that He has accomplished, let it ever be with those hearts which desire to be true to the Lord. For all that He undertook to make our salvation free and eternal, we are to present the truth of the resurrected and glorified Christ in the lives that we live before Him! This is all through His own power of the Holy Spirit indwelling us! As well, it is always in line with His Holy Word! 
Let us never think that we can make it on our own! That is the lie of humanity which will never ever stand the fiery test of eternity! The only everlasting life, infused with all immeasurable joy, is found in the working power of God for the sake of our being unto His glory Alone! So be it!  
And the Lord said to Gideon, "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, lest Israel become boastful, saying, 'My own power has delivered me.' Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Ps 136:1. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Amen.