Pathway to Victory

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Hi, this is Robert Jeffress and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program.

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On today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

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Perhaps you've heard that expression "putting out the fleece." When we use that term, we mean setting up a test or asking for a sign for God's will.

By the way, that idea of Gideon's of putting out the fleece was not a sign of Gideon's faith. It was a sign of his lack of faith.

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Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. When we're struggling to make a crucial decision, finding God's specific will can be tough. It's why many of us are tempted to ask God, could you give me some sort of a sign?

Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Jeffress explores whether God uses special circumstances and supernatural signs to guide us. But first, let's take a minute to hear some important ministry updates.

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Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Did you know that Pathway to Victory is the publisher of its own magazine? Our Pathway magazine is designed with your busy life in mind. It's printed in a convenient size that travels easily whether you're commuting, waiting at appointments, or relaxing at home. Inside, you'll find enriching articles that provide practical guidance on living the Christian life, plus daily devotionals to keep your mind focused on what matters most in a world full of distractions. Pathway magazine helps center your thoughts on eternal truths. I'd like to send you the first three editions as a gift. Just visit ptv.org to request Pathway Magazine.

Okay, let's turn our attention to our September teaching series. It's called How to Make Wise Decisions in the Biggest Choices We Make. Sometimes we wish God would step down from heaven, place his arm around our shoulder, and tell us in plain English what He wants us to do. But that's not the way it works. Rest assured, God never intended to frustrate his children by trying to figure out his mysterious will.

I've written a book for you called How to Make Wise Decisions, and in my book, I explain the three most important elements to discovering God's will. I'd be pleased to send you a copy when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. I'm going to say more about my book later in the program, but right now let's give our attention to our next topic in the series. Today I'm presenting a message called Putting Out the Fleece Without Getting Fleeced.

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You have your Bibles. I want you to get ready as we look and see what the Bible says about using signs and circumstances to determine God's will. Let me quickly give you four examples in the Bible where God used a sign to confirm his will.

First of all, turn to Genesis chapter 24. This is the story of Eleazar and Rebekah. And look at what he prayed in Genesis 24:12. And Eleazar said, "O Lord, the God of my Father Abraham, please grant me success today." Verse 13: "Behold, I am standing by the spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Now may it be that the girl to whom I say, 'Please let down your jar so that I might drink,' and who answers, 'Drink, and I will water your camels also,' may she be the one whom Thou hast appointed for Thy servant Isaac." Now he asked for a sign. Whichever person says, "Have a drink and I'll also water your camels," she's the one. How did God answer? Look at verse 15. "And it came about before Eleazar had finished praying that behold, Rebekah came out with a jar on her shoulder." Verse 17: "Then Eleazar ran to meet her and said, 'Please let me drink a little water from your jar.' And she said, 'Drink, my lord.' And she quickly lowered her jar to her hand and gave him a drink. And now, when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, 'I will draw also for your camels until they had finished drinking.'" Eleazar asked God for a sign, and God gave a sign.

Here's another example in the Old Testament. Turn over to Judges, chapter six. Perhaps you've heard that expression that I used in the title of the sermon, "putting out the fleece." When we use that term, we mean setting up a test or asking for a sign for God's will. That phrase actually comes from this passage in Judges 6, verse 39. "Then Gideon said to God, 'Do not let your anger burn against me, that I may speak once more. Please let me make a test once more with the fleece. Let it now be dry on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground around it.' And God did so that night, for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on the ground." Once again, God confirmed his will through a supernatural sign.

Well, some people would say, "Well, that's just the Old Testament. God doesn't do those things in New Testament times." Or really? Turn over to Acts 1 for a moment. Verse 24 of Acts 1: "And the apostles prayed. And they said, 'Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two Thou hast chosen.'" They had come down to two candidates. They needed to know which one is your will, where they finished praying, asking for guidance. But notice what they did next. Verse 26: "And they drew lots for them. And the lot fell to Matthias, and he was numbered with the 11 apostles."

Now turn over to Acts 16. Remember this story. Paul and the other apostles were on the second missionary journey, and they were trying to go into Ephesus and into Bithynia. They kept having closed door after closed door. So they were in Troas, trying to discover what they were going to do. Now look at verse 9 of Acts 16: "And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A certain man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him and saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' And when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the Gospel to them."

Here are four instances in both the Old and the New Testaments where God used supernatural signs and circumstances to give his direction to his people. The question is not, can God speak through supernatural revelation. The question is, does he do that today? And is it the most reliable way for knowing the will of God?

And so today, in the few moments we have, I want us to search the Scriptures, and we're going to discover six biblical principles about signs and determining the will of God for your life.

Principle number one is seeking supernatural signs is generally condemned in Scripture. Why? For two reasons: seeking after a sign, first of all, is a lack of faith, and second, and more importantly, because it is an attempt to force God to operate according to our timetable and our terms.

Principle number two: this is so important. Supernatural signs in the Bible were truly supernatural. So many times we say we want God's will, but we already have a pretty good idea of what we want to do anyway. And so what we do is we'll ask for a sign that we know has a good probability of coming true anyway as a confirmation that we can do what we want to do. Haddon Robinson tells a story about a girl. She said, "Dr. Robinson, I'm really praying about whether or not God wants me to go skiing over spring break. And so I'm going to put out the fleece." He said, "Well, now, exactly what fleece are you going to put out to determine God's will?" And she said, "Well, if my father sends me some money in the mail, I'll know it's God's will for me to go skiing over spring break." He said, "Well, if you really want to follow the principle of getting in the fleece, why not ask God for a truly supernatural sign? Why don't you say, 'God, if you want me to go skiing, have the President of the United States write me a letter and enclose a check that will cover my ski trip?'" Now, that would be a supernatural sign. You see, that's the kind of signs the Bible talks about—truly supernatural signs.

Number three: after Pentecost, supernatural signs were given to people who weren't looking for them. After Acts chapter two, supernatural signs were generally given to people who weren't even looking for them. Think, for example, about the story of Saul on the road to Damascus. Here was Saul going to Damascus in order to persecute Christians. Was he going there, saying, "Oh, Lord, show me your will, show me your will?" Not at all. He wasn't asking for any divine revelation. But in Acts chapter nine, verse three, look what happened: "And it came about that as Paul journeyed, he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' And Saul said, 'Who art thou, Lord?' And he said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise and enter the city, and it will be told to you what you must do.'"

Think about the story of the conversion of Cornelius, the Roman centurion in Acts 10. Here was Cornelius. He was a man who loved God, but he didn't know Jesus Christ. And by the way, that's a great illustration of the fact that loving God and wanting to know God is not enough to be saved. Now, Cornelius wanted to know God. And so God said, "Cornelius," he appeared to him in a vision and said, "Send for the apostle Peter, and he'll tell you the way you can know me through my son, Jesus Christ." Cornelius was not asking God for a sign or any supernatural revelation, but God spoke anyway. And then here was Peter. At the same time, Peter wasn't asking God for any revelation, but God appeared to him and said, "Three men are going to come to you from Cornelius. You go with them and show him the way of salvation."

Or think about the story, thirdly, of Paul. In the Macedonian vision, that man from Macedonia appeared, but Paul didn't ask for a sign. He didn't say, "Lord, give me a sign to show me what to do." But God spoke anyway. The principle I'm saying is God, at least after Acts chapter 2, gave signs to those who were not looking for them.

Number four, and this is a double star one: signs were given as a confirmation, not a contradiction of God's will. In the Bible, signs were given as a confirmation, not a contradiction to God's will. One day a lady called me on the phone in my last church and she said, "Pastor, my husband Tony has announced that he wants to leave our family. He wants to marry somebody else. And it's not only going to devastate me, but it's going to devastate our eight-year-old daughter. Would you please sit down with him and see if you can talk him out of his decision?" I just love those kinds of assignments. But anyway, I agreed to. I called Tony, and gratefully he said he would meet with me. So we sat down. I said, "Tony, tell me what's going on in your life." And he gave me the same thing I've heard a thousand times. Every time I hear it, I want to throw up. And he said basically, "Oh, Pastor, you know, I thought I was in love with so and so. And we've had a loveless marriage for 10 years, and I'm not fulfilled. And I just know God wouldn't want me to be unhappy the rest of my life. And so in an attempt to find happiness, I'm going to leave her. And even though this may not be God's perfect will, it's his permissive will." Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He went. So I let him, you know, spew out all that stuff.

And so when he had finished, I said, "Tony, let me ask you a question. Have you ever asked yourself, what does God think about my decision?" Now, it's usually at this point in the conversation that the other person bows his head in shame and says, "Oh, gee, Pastor, I've never thought of that before. You're right. I'm so ashamed. I won't do this. I'll stay married." That happens a lot of times. But it didn't happen this time. Instead, when I asked him, "Tony, have you ever thought what God thinks about your decision?" He said, "You know, I've been given a lot of thought to that recently. In fact, the other day, I was driving around town praying for God to give me direction about what to do about my marriage. And I was approaching an intersection, and there was a stoplight there. And I said, 'God, if you want me to continue going through with this divorce, let the light stay green. But if you turn it red, then I'll know I'm supposed to stop and return to my family.' And guess what, Pastor? It stayed green. And I know I'm in God's will."

Folks, God is not schizophrenic, okay? God's not going to say one thing in his word and then tell you to do something differently. God is the same. He never contradicts his Word. Don't ask God for a sign that would lead you to do something that would be in opposition to his will. For example, if you pray, "Lord, if you want me to end this extramarital or premarital affair, just have that person break up with me. I don't have the strength. Just have them break up with me, and I know that's your will." Or don't pray, "Now, Lord, if you want me to start tithing, have my boss come in this week and give me a raise, okay?" You don't need to pray because God has already given his instructions about those areas in his word.

Go back to the story of Gideon for a moment. You know, God was very gracious in having given Gideon a sign two times. But he really didn't need to do that because God had already told Gideon what he needed to do. In Judges 6:14, God had already said, "Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?" God had already commanded Gideon, and frankly, after Gideon had prayed for that sign, even if the fleece had stayed dry or wet, even if nothing would have happened, Gideon should have marched forward because he was in the center of God's will. In the Bible, supernatural signs were given as a confirmation, not a contradiction of God's will.

Number five: in the New Testament, signs dealt with the proclamation of the gospel, not personal decisions. In the New Testament, when God gave a sign, it had to do with the proclamation of the gospel, not personal decisions. Have you heard this phrase before? "Open doors and closed doors." God opened this door in this area of my life, but he closed this door. Did you know in the New Testament that phrase "open doors and closed doors" only refers to the spreading of the gospel? With evangelism, that's the only time it's ever used. It's never used in reference to personal decisions. When you think about it, all of these supernatural signs in the New Testament had to do with God's priorities, not man's priorities. When God appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, it was about the spreading of the gospel to the Gentiles. When God revealed himself to Cornelius and to Peter, again, he was saying, "Gentiles are no longer unclean; they can receive the gospel." God's supernatural visit to Paul about Macedonia had to do with his priority of spreading the gospel to Europe. What I'm saying is this: in the New Testament, signs that God gave never had to do with personal decisions like whom to marry or where to live or what job to take. They had to do with the proclamation of the gospel.

Number six: common sense usually trumps supernatural signs when seeking God's will. Common sense usually trumps supernatural signs when sensing to know God's will. Proverbs 4, verse 5 says, "Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding." You know, we've got this idea about knowing God's will, that God's will must be the hardest or the most ludicrous or the most outlandish choice we must possibly could make. That only if it doesn't make sense, could it be God's will. Now, it is true that sometimes God asks you to do something that doesn't make sense. Think about Abraham. Here is Abraham comfortable in Ur of the Chaldees. And God speaks to Abraham and says, "Abraham, I want you to uproot yourself and your family, and I want you to go to a place that even Nat Quest can't find." It didn't make sense, but he did it anyway because God had clearly spoken. And then later on, God said to Abraham, "Abraham, I want you to take that son of yours, the son you love, the son of promise, the son you've been waiting for for decades, Isaac, and I want you to place him on an altar and sacrifice him." It made no sense whatsoever. But Abraham obeyed. And the reason Abraham obeyed was because when God spoke to Abraham, Abraham didn't say, "Well, I feel impressed. I need to do this. I feel this leading in my life," and all of this. God had clearly spoken to Abraham in supernatural revelation. And by the way, if God ever speaks to you that way, as long as his message doesn't contradict his word, when God speaks to you, you better obey. Whether it makes sense or it doesn't make sense.

But absent any special revelation from God, what I'm saying is asking God for a natural sign is sometimes better than asking God for a supernatural sign. Let me explain what I mean. Let's say you've had an offer to go to a new job in another city, and the thought of this new job excites you, and you talk to your family about it, and they seem agreeable to the idea. And it seems like maybe God's in this thing. The only problem is your new employer is offering you $10,000 less than what you feel like you need to support your family. And so you go to him and you explain the situation and you say, "You know, if I come, I'm going to need $10,000 more." And he says, "Well, let me think about it, and I'll get back to you in a couple of days." Now, you could very legitimately pray, "Lord, if you want our family to move, have him say yes. If you don't want us to move, let him say no." That's not an outlandish sign to ask for. That is what one writer calls wisdom in the disguise of a sign. Because, after all, if he comes back to you and says no, do you really want to go to work for somebody who at the outset is not that excited about your coming that he wouldn't meet your current salary? Would you really want to start out not having the needs of your family met? That's not so much a supernatural sign as it is a natural sign. It's a way of acquiring wisdom.

By the way, I think that's what you had going on with Eleazar and Rebekah. When Eleazar said, "Lord, whatever woman offers to give me water and offers to water my camels as well, she's the one," that wasn't as outlandish as it seems. That was really a natural sign, not a supernatural sign. Why is that? Well, think about it. A woman who would offer to do such a thing, first of all, would be a gracious woman filled with hospitality, the kind of woman that would make a good wife for Isaac. That was a natural thing. "Lord, whoever is gracious enough to do this thing, she's the one who ought to be the wife." And not only that, to be able to water all of those camels required a great deal of physical stamina. Eleazar had 10 camels. Do you know how much water it takes to water a dry camel? A dry camel drinks 20 gallons of water. So do the math: 10 camels, 20 gallons apiece—200 gallons of water. Water she had to carry from wherever it was to water those camels. You had to be one strong woman to be able to do that—the kind of woman that would have the strength to get on the back of a camel or a donkey and travel 500 miles all the way back to Canaan. See, Eleazar knew what he was asking for when he said, "Lord, whatever woman offers to give us water and offers to water the camels, she must be the one."

Common sense usually trumps supernatural signs when seeking to know the will of God. Does God ever speak through supernatural revelation? He has in the past. He might in your life as well. But there are two better ways to discern the will of God in your life—two ways that we're going to look at over the next two weeks. But if there's one thought I want to leave you with today, it's this: God does have a plan for your life. And it's a plan for which he will give you just the guidance you need. Nevertheless, he will tell you exactly what you need to do each step of the way. And by the way, God's plan for your life is a good plan, as God said in Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you, saith the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for calamity, a plan that will give you

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Maybe you've been wrestling over the direction of your life, feeling unsatisfied with the status quo and wanting to do something great, great for God. My prayer is that today's presentation helps you clearly understand what it means to put out a fleece.

To help you learn more, I'll remind you that I've written a book called *How to Make Wise Decisions*. The chapter on today's subject goes into far more detail about the road signs God may provide as you navigate your journey together. In this book, we'll explore the three most important elements to discovering God's will: first, understanding God's voice; second, hearing God's voice; and third, obeying God's voice.

If you or someone you love is asking important questions that Scripture doesn't seem to directly answer—questions about your career, your marriage, or your finances—my book walks you through the biblical prescription for hearing God's small, still voice. A copy is sent with my thanks when you give a generous gift to support the Ministry of Pathway to Victory.

Behind the scenes at Pathway to Victory, we've been asking God to bring 50 new Pathway Partners into our family of supporters. A Pathway Partner is someone who understands the critical importance of shining the light of God's Word in our dark world. As a Pathway Partner, your monthly generous gift empowers Pathway to Victory to serve as a beacon of truth.

As a Pathway Partner, you're a diplomat, an ambassador of sorts, taking the good news into your city, your state, and the entire country. As God directs you to take this simple yet profound step, we urge you to follow these simple instructions.

Thanks so much. Here's David to tell you more.

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To become a Pathway Partner, just give us a call at 866-999-2965 or follow the easy steps online at ptv.org. When you give your first Pathway Partner gift or a generous one-time gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, we'll say thanks by sending you the book *How to Make Wise Decisions*. In this practical guide, Dr. Jeffress explains how to tell the difference between God's voice and your own personal desires.

Now, when your gift is $75 or more, you'll also receive, in addition to the book, the complete *How to Make Wise Decisions* CD and DVD teaching set. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. You're also welcome to make your request by mail. Write to P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. That's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins. Does God ever speak to us through other people? Can we trust anyone who claims to know what God wants for us? Join us next time when Dr. Jeffress looks at the three groups of people we should consult for important life decisions. That's Thursday, right here on Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Experience the breathtaking majesty of America's last frontier on the 2026 Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska.

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