The Downward Spiral

blessed that i think god gave me just enough voice to get through three songs tonight could you guys uh sing some praise to our lord this morning this evening heavenly father i just thank you for giving each and every one of us a voice a voice that you created to praise you these words tonight would just be our prayer from our heart to you even if there's no words coming out of our mouth god that this would just be a time that we can do and give you the praise and the worship that you deserve in your name jesus is the only thing that can satisfy us am i right sometimes we trick ourselves into thinking otherwise i'd like to sit for the next two songs you can

i'm gonna stand gives up never fail thank you so much that no matter what we're going through how big or small in our day and that the things that feel so big are so small to you and god i just pray that you would continue to you Help us just to know that you loved us first and that we can always rely on you. The word that you've given us, Lord, for encouragement, for promises that you keep for us. God, I just pray that as Ryan brings your word that your spirit would be with us, that you would fill Ryan just to proclaim your words with confidence and boldness. And I just pray this in your name. Amen.

Hello. If you would open up in your Bible to the book of 1 Samuel chapter 13, 1 Samuel chapter 13. The children of Israel had asked for a king. They had been ruled by the judges and had Samuel as a prophet, but they decided that they wanted to be like the nations around them. So they asked for a king. And so God gave them a king. And the king that he gave them was Saul.

And everything about Saul. Saul looked great so far. He came from the right kind of family. He looked like a king and honestly started off really well. He was incredibly humble in the way that he presented himself and seemed to have all of the giftings that a king was supposed to have, even was able to lead in battle and had great leadership skills. And so far, Saul had proved himself to be a good king.

But tonight, as we come to chapter 13, we'll see a downward spiral for Saul. It starts off not great in chapter 13 with an impatient sacrifice. It says in chapter 13, verse 1, Saul was 30 years old when he began to reign. And he reigned 42 years over Israel. Now Saul chose for himself 3,000 men of Israel, of which 2,000 were with Saul in Mishmash and in the hill country of Bethel,

while 1,000 were with Jonathan at Gilead. That's Gibeah of Benjamin. But he sent away the rest of the people, each to his tent. And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Gibeah. And the Philistines heard of it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear. And all heard the news that Saul had smitten the garrison of the Philistines,

also that Israel had become odious to the Philistines. And the people were then summoned. To Saul at Gilgal. So some scenes are set for us here. Saul's been established now in his kingdom. He's established now in his reign. That's really what took place in the last couple of chapters. And we find the time frame for which Saul began to rule. And now we see that the nation of Israel has an established army.

An established army of 3,000 men. Up to this point in time, it was more of a militia. When things were needed, the men were called up and they went to battle. But now there's an established army. And this established army, an established army of 3,000 men was divided two different ways. Saul maintained 2,000 of them. And we are introduced to one of Saul's sons, whose name is Jonathan.

And Jonathan was in charge of 1,000 of them. Now, Jonathan, we're going to find out even more in the next chapter. He's just a fascinating character as far as the Old Testament is concerned. And honestly, kind of heartbreaking that we never really get to see him become everything that he could have been because of his father. And his father's sins. But Jonathan was a man of great faith.

Jonathan was a man of great military intelligence. He was a great leader. And that's exactly what we find. Matter of fact, in verse 3, it says, Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines, and the Philistines heard of it. In other words, Jonathan was starting to lead his men into battle. These 1,000 soldiers that he had, he was leading them into battle. And God was giving him great success.

But I want you to take note of one more thing. Not only are we introduced to Jonathan, but we're introduced to one of Saul's first concerning traits. Did you notice what it said? It says, Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines, and the Philistines heard of it. And then, middle of verse 3, Saul blew the trumpet throughout the land, saying, And all heard the news that Saul had smitten the garrison,

of the Philistines. Now, right there, we have one of our first problems that Saul is going to have. Saul really liked the attention of the people. Now, when this started happening for Saul, we're not sure. Perhaps this victory that he won in the previous chapter, perhaps as people were starting to say, Wow, what an amazing military leader Saul has been in order to lead us into battle.

But at this point in time, Jonathan was the one that was leading the men into battle. But Saul is the one who's taking the credit. Jonathan was the one who was leading men into battle. Saul was the one blowing the trumpet. And you should always beware when you are willing to take the credit for what someone else has done. Because that means that you are someone who does not care about the work of the Lord.

You only care about the credit for the work. And that's exactly what we see in Saul. We start to see that this man that started off so humble has allowed pride to begin to rise up in him. Now, it's a small thing. And it's really a small thing. It's really not even noted that much in Scripture. But enough of a note is made that we take note that there's a concerning trait in Saul that needed to be addressed.

So, all Israel heard the news that Saul had smitten the garrison of the Philistines. And notice what happens. And that Israel had become odious to the Philistines. The people were then summoned to Saul at Gilgal. This victory of the children of Israel is now causing concern for the Philistines. And the Philistines are not going to be able to win. They're not going to sit by and watch.

And so, even more of an army is called up. But notice how many people that the Philistines gather. It says, Now, the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen and people like the sand, which is on the seashore in abundance. And they came up and they camped at Mishmash east of Beth-Avon. And when the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait,

for the people were hard. The people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in cliffs, in cellars, and in pits. Also, some of the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. But as for Saul, he was still in Gilgal. And all the people followed him, trembling. Now, it should be noted that this army that the Philistines gather is an unheard of size of army.

Like 30,000 chariots. Historians question the accuracy. Because it's such a ferocious army that they would have gathered. Remember, a chariot was the highest in military technology at this point in time. And the Philistines were those who had a great deal of military technology because they were a seafaring people. They traded a lot with those who were further along in the Iron Age than maybe some others.

And so, this army that they gathered, well, it's recorded for us that they were more than the number of the sand on the sea, which may be mild hyperbole. But still, the extent... The extent is there. This is a massive army that has been formed. And as this army is formed, notice the response of the children of Israel. It says that they were in a strait. In other words, they were a little stressed out about what's going to happen.

And because of it, first of all, the people began to hide. And some people even began to flee. Now, I want to point something out. The children of Israel wanted a king just like all of the other nations around them. And what did they want a king to help them to do? To fight against the armies of the Philistines. A king that would lead them into battle. And yet, they've got the king that they wanted,

and they still find themselves fearful of the army of the Philistines. They wanted a king to lead them into battle, but when they had what they wanted, they still didn't find themselves better off. They were no better off for God giving them what they thought that they wanted. And I think that there's a really good reminder. When we think that we need anything besides...

Besides God, and then He gives it to us, we realize it still is not enough. Because God is ultimately the one that we need. And the more that we have the things that we think we need that aren't God, the more that we still find ourselves going, I still don't have enough. Because they had the king they wanted. They had the leader that they wanted, and they still find themselves going,

we're scared of the battle that's in front of us. Because ultimately, the battle does not belong to leaders. Ultimately, battles do not belong to us. Ultimately, battles do not belong to chariots. Ultimately, battles don't belong to horsemen. The battle belongs to the Lord. And so I do have a question for you. What do you think you found in the world that still is not enough?

You say, but I've got this fill-in-the-blank-here thing that you thought was going to bring you peace, or was going to bring you satisfaction, or was going to bring you happiness, or was going to bring you joy, or whatever it is. And you've got the thing you wanted now, or the person you wanted now, or the position. Or the position that you wanted now, and you still find yourself going, but it still is not enough. Because until God is enough, nothing else ever will be.

Because ultimately, the battle belongs to the Lord. Right? And so they find themselves hiding and fleeing and running away and all these kinds of things. And so it's time to go into battle. Notice what it says in verse 8. Now he, meaning Saul, waited seven days according to the appointed time, set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal. And the people were scattering from him.

So Saul said, Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. And as soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Samuel went out to meet him and to greet him. And Samuel said, What? What have you done? Now, isn't it kind of interesting? So there Saul is. Now, let's not be too hard on Saul for just a moment, shall we?

So Saul's waiting. And he was told to wait seven days for Samuel to show up to offer sacrifice before they went to battle. Only every day that he has to wait for Samuel, the same thing happens. Every day, more of his army disappears. He went from an army of 3,000, and it's going to get down to an army of about 600. And every day, a little bit more of his army disappears.

And he sees a few more people leave. You can imagine every morning he wakes up and some more of the fellows just say, King Saul, I'm sorry. I just, I can't stick around for this. I don't think, I don't think this is going to go our direction. I mean, our spiritual leader can't show up. You can't seem to keep an army. I don't think I'm going to stick around either.

And every day that he has to wait is a little bit more pressure. It's easy for us, sitting, sitting where we are right now to say, Saul is so dumb for having done that, for having made the sacrifice when it was not his job. He should have waited. But I have a question for you. How easy is it to wait when every day the pressure builds a little bit more? Every day it gets a little bit harder.

Every day you find yourself going, oh gosh, is it going to be today? And so he had to learn to wait. And so all the people are scattering. He waits till the seventh day. You can imagine he gets up that morning. He goes, well, today's day seven. More of my men have left, right? Saul's journal. More of the men have left. It's day seven. Samuel's still not here.

I may have to take matters into my own hands, right? And it gets to be about noon and everybody's going, he's not coming. He's like, he'll call, right? And it gets to be about three in the afternoon. And he's like, okay, you're right. He's not coming. Bring me the sacrifice. Now, what was wrong with Saul making this sacrifice? Well, God made it very clear that whoever the king was,

was not also to be the spiritual leader. There was to be, for lack of better terms, a separation of church and state, right? There was to be this separation because if the political leader was also the spiritual leader, then he could begin to use that power in an unlawful sort of way. There was always supposed to be a division of powers when it came to that.

And so the king was not to make the sacrifice, not to mention the fact that the commandment of the Lord through Samuel was, wait seven days until I come to make the sacrifice. But he wouldn't wait. And you can imagine all of the justifying thoughts that went through his head, which are all of the justifying thoughts that go through your head when God tells you to wait and you decide you can't wait any longer and you justify everything in the world for why it's okay for you to do what God told you to wait on, right? And he gave himself all of those justifying thoughts, and finally, I don't know, let's say it's three in the afternoon.

And he goes, we have to do something. And he makes the sacrifice. He says, bring me the sacrifice. And he makes the sacrifice. And you can imagine he goes through all the rituals. He's probably seen it before. He goes through all of the rituals. He does it exactly the way he'd seen Samuel do it before. And in his mind, he'd done it 100% correct. And as soon as he is done,

undoubtedly the smoke's still smoldering off of the sacrifice on the altar. Samuel comes rolling up. He rolls up to, to see Saul. And the first thing he says is, what have you done? Now, I'm going to speak a word that I think just keeps coming up in everything that I teach right now. We have got to learn to wait. As a society, as a culture, as a church, we've got to learn to wait.

Because there is things that God teaches us in the waiting time that he can't teach us in any other time. Right? The biggest lesson that God taught me and is in the process of teaching me, but really spoke to me when I first took over as the pastor here at the church, is I went, okay, I've got to make sure I'm doing everything correctly. And the biggest word that God spoke to me is, you have time.

Take your time. And so I've learned to just sit back. And if I feel like God's telling me to do something, make sure he's in it. Make sure that all the things are in place. Make sure all the people are in place because the worst thing that you can do is rush into things. Because when you rush into things, well, it causes all kinds of problems because we try to get ahead of God.

We try to start playing God in the process, right? Then that's exactly what Saul does. He gets ahead of God and tries to play God in the process. And so Samuel rolls up and looks at him and says, what have you done? What are you doing? And notice how Saul responds. Well, because I saw the people were scattering from me and you didn't come within the appointed days.

By the way, this is still day seven. You didn't come within the appointed days and the Philistines were assembling at Mishmash. Therefore, I said, now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal. And I have not asked the favor of the Lord. So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering. Wow. The amount of sludge that just flowed from Saul. You needed waiters to wade through, right?

Notice how many people he blames. First of all, he blames the people. Well, all of them. The people were scattering, right? Now, I want you to think about something. He would have probably heard all the stories of the judges. And if you remember, there was one particular judge. His name was Gideon. How far down did Gideon's army get to? 300 men against very similar odds, right?

So he should have known that God was still able to handle that, right? And so, first of all, he blames the people. Well, everybody was scattering from me. And then he blamed Samuel. He says, you didn't show up when you said you were going to. Well, you didn't show up when I thought you were going to. But it's your fault. You didn't show up when you were supposed to.

And then he puts the spiritual spin on it. Or no, next he blames the Philistines. And then the Philistines were gathering. And I thought, well, we can't go to battle unless I've sought the Lord. That's the last one. He uses the spiritual excuse, right? Have you ever noticed how good we are at justifying the flesh with spiritual things? Oh, you have to understand.

I just wanted to be obedient to the Lord, right? One of my favorite things when I was in Bible college is when, a couple would start dating, and they would just sort of not be all that into each other. And one of them would always blame the Lord for it. They're like, Jesus told me we're not supposed to be together anymore. It's like, no, you just don't want to be with him anymore.

It's okay. Just break up. It's fine. But don't blame Jesus, right? And that's what we like to do. We like to blame Jesus. Well, Jesus told me. No, he didn't. You just don't want to do it. That's fine. Just be honest, right? He uses the spiritual card. He says, I didn't want to go to battle without offering the burnt offering. And then I just love the last thing he says.

So I forced myself. Saul, you've got to do it, right? Push myself into it. And just, I wouldn't know what Samuel's face looked like this whole time, right? I mean, I think he had to. I would have mocked him the whole time, but that's just me. Samuel said to Saul, you've acted foolishly, verse 13. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you.

For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not. Endure. The Lord has sought out for himself a man after his own heart. And the Lord has appointed him as ruler over his people. Because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. Now, most of us think that this happened in chapter 15. That's what we usually think of.

Like that's when the kingdom was torn from Saul. This all started in chapter 13. Chapter 13 is when the kingdom started to be removed from him. Because he would not be obedient. To the Lord. You see, here's the thing. A heart that's rebellious against the Lord always starts in really small ways. It always starts in just not doing what you're supposed to do.

And sometimes it's really small. We would probably look at this and go, all he did was offer a sacrifice. All he did was slay an animal, right? He, I can understand all the people were leaving. He thought battle was about to start. He was just trying to do the right thing. But the problem was, he had no heart of obedience. He did not have a heart after the things of God.

And so, Samuel tells him, the Lord has sought a man after his own heart. Now, David Guzik in his commentary spoke about this. And he gave four things that God was looking for to be a man after the Lord's own heart. And I thought that these were pretty interesting things. Number one, a man after the... After God's own heart honors the Lord and his will. Honors the Lord and his will.

And honors God in everything. Even, listen, when it's not popular. Even when it's not easy. He still honors the Lord and says, the Lord is the one who takes first place in everything. God's will above my will. Even if it tests every aspect of my faith. Number two, a man after God's own heart. In thrones. God as king. In thrones, God as king. Listen, one of the things you learn early on in leadership is that if you're going to lead,

you have to be someone who is led. You have to be someone who is led. And the one you have to be led by is the Lord. God has to be on the throne of your life if we are to be men and women after God's own heart. Otherwise, it's really hard to be someone who's after God's own heart. Listen, if I'm always on the... If I'm always on the throne, then I'm a person after my own heart.

Because God's will is not first, and he is not my king. Number three, he says, a man who is after God's own heart has a soft and repentant heart. A soft and repentant heart. You know what Saul never said one time in all of this? You're right. I was wrong. I should not have done that. I think had his heart been that, God absolutely would have given him a second chance.

But you see, he didn't have a soft and repentant heart. He had a heart that tried to justify his sin. And we have to beware of that as believers in Jesus Christ, that we not be those who try to justify our sin and, listen, blame everyone else for what we've done. Well, it was the Philistines' fault. Well, it was the people's fault. It was your fault because you weren't here when you said,

you were going to. And it's easy for us to blame everyone else, but a man after God's own heart has a soft and repentant heart that says, you're right. I was wrong. And then number four, a man after God's own heart loves others. And in parentheses, I added, is a shepherd. Because ultimately, that's what it takes to be someone who's a man after God's own heart,

someone who is constantly loving and leading others. To always want to do what God wants you to do. To always want to do what God wants you to do. Do what is best for the people that are around us and to live that sacrificial sort of life. Because after all, if we're a man after God's own heart, we're going to follow his example. And his example is loving leadership, to be a shepherd.

Amen. And so he says, I've sought out a man after God's, God has sought out a man after his own heart. And he goes on from there. It says in Samuel Rose, verse 15, And went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people who were present with him, about 600 men. Now Saul and his son Jonathan and the people who were present with him were staying in Gibeah of Benjamin

while the Philistines camped at Mishmash. And the raiders came from the camp of the Philistines in three companies. One company turned toward Ophrah to the land of Shuol. Another company turned toward Beth Horon. And another company turned toward the border which overlooks the valley of Zeboiim. Towards the wilderness. Interestingly, we don't hear anything about the battle other than there are raiders that continue to come against the children of Israel.

And then the last portion of verse 19, or of chapter 13, gives us a little bit of insight into how things were in the nation of Israel at this point in time. It says, Now no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel. For the Philistines said, otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears. So all the people went down to the Philistines. Each to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his hoe.

The charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes. So it came about on the day of the battle that neither sword nor spear was found in the hands of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan. But they were found with Saul and his son Jonathan. And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Mishmash.

Now. Interestingly, because the Philistines were the oppressors at this point in time, and you can do with this whatever you want to, they made sure that the people had no weapons to defend themselves. Know that that makes the second amendment godly. But anyway, once you think about that, the oppressors came along and said, you can't have any weapons to defend yourselves.

As a matter of fact, we're not even going to let you have those that can sharpen your tools, lest you gain your own weaponry. And it's kind of fascinating when you really think about the victories that God was able to bring for the nation of Israel. Knowing that basically they were fighting with like clubs and and flint knives and things along those lines. So none of them had swords and spears except for Jonathan and Saul.

And so that was sort of the state of things in Israel at that point in time. And now as we come to chapter 14, I've entitled chapter 14, a foolish order. Now, the day came that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to the young man who was carrying his armor. Come. Let us cross over to the Philistines garrison that is on the other side. But he did not tell his father.

And Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree, which is in Megron. And the people who were with him were about 600 men. And Ahijah, the son of Ahita, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest of the Lord at Shiloh, was wearing an ephod. And the people did not know that Jonathan had gone. And between the passes.

By which Jonathan sought to cross over to the Philistines garrison. There was a sharp crag on one side and a sharp crag on the other side. The name of one was Boaz. And the name of the other was Sine. Now, the story we're about to read. I have entitled the faith of Jonathan. Because it's fascinating to see that even though Jonathan's father was maybe not as good as he could be.

It was kind of on a downward spiral. Jonathan had great faith in the Lord. Now, I want you to take note of two things. First thing. I want you to take note of is Jonathan's movement. Jonathan is there with his armor bearer. And he gets up and he goes to see if there's a way to cross over and attack the Philistines. He goes on maybe a reconnaissance mission, if you will.

And so, Jonathan is on the move. But I want you to take note of where Saul is. Did you take note of the second verse? Where Saul is? He is sitting under the pomegranate tree. Now, one should allow themselves to draw quite the contrast between Jonathan, a man of faith, and Saul, a man who likes to take credit. Because people. People of faith, listen, are always on the move.

They are always looking for what God has for them next. They are always wanting to see what the next step of faith is going to be. Because the only way that you know if the next step of faith is what God is calling to you, calling you to do, is if you are always looking to take steps of faith. And so, Jonathan takes a step of faith and he goes out and he starts to look for a way, this reconnaissance mission, to try to attack the Philistines.

And did you notice that God gave him an interesting spot to go to? He comes. Between the passes over the Philistines garrison. Because between them there was a sharp crag on one side and a sharp crag on the other side. Verse 5 gives us a little bit more insight. It says, So, if you will, there's two giant rocks sticking up and they create a narrow pass that's difficult for very many people to go through.

God has shown Jonathan a perfect spot. For a smaller army to go against a larger army. Because in a narrow pass, your army can be smaller. Only so many people can fit through that pass. And so, if you are a smaller army attacking a larger army, this gives you a strategic position. It isn't amazing when we take those steps of faith, God shows us the strategic position he wants us to be in.

And that's what he does with Jonathan. And what happens next is what's amazing. It says, Jonathan said to the young man who was... He's carrying his armor. Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. I love the disrespect. Perhaps the Lord will work for us. For the Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few. And so, his armor bearer said to him,

Do all that is within your heart. Turn yourself and here I am with you according to your desire. And Jonathan said, Behold, we will cross over to the men and we will reveal ourselves to them. If they say to us, Wait until we come to you, then we will stand in our place. But if they say, Come up to us, then we will go. For the Lord has given them into our hands and this shall be the sign to us.

Man, that's a man right there, right? Like, that's a man of faith. Because Jonathan says, Hey, I have an idea. God does not need a large army to defeat people. And isn't that great? Is that not faith right there? God can defeat... And I underlined it in my Bible, middle of verse 6. Perhaps the Lord will work for us. For the Lord is not restrained to save by many or to save by few.

And this is just a beautiful move on the part of Jonathan. And it has nothing to do with his pride. It has nothing to do with his glory. It really doesn't even have anything to do with his military prowess. His faith is totally in God. And he's like, There's a whole bunch of uncircumcised Philistines up there. And I want to defeat them. Let's see if God wants to do something.

Because he doesn't need a really big army to do it. He could do it with just us. Now, I think that there's some lessons in there for us to learn about faith. I think the first lesson that we learn about faith is that faith is willing to step out. Step out and do something maybe a little bit unheard of. You know why most of us don't do things for God? Because we go,

Oh, no. That would take a really hard step. No one's ever heard of doing that before. Well, maybe you should be the one that does it. Maybe God wants you to take a step of faith. The second thing that we learned about... About faith is that faith is 100% in God. It has nothing to do with me. It has nothing to do with you. Because our faith needs to be in the one who ultimately wins the battles.

There's quite the contrast between Jonathan and Saul here. Am I right? Saul was scared because his army had dwindled down to 600. Jonathan is excited because it's just he and his armor bearer. It's just he and his buddy. Just he and the guy that carries the sword with him. Right? He's like, Hey, maybe God wants to do something really big here. Let's just see what he wants to do.

But the third lesson, it's a really interesting lesson about faith. Faith needs a buddy. Right? Faith needs a buddy. He needed his armor bearer to say, Yeah, let's do it. Now listen, I don't know what God wants to do in your life. I don't know what God wants to do with this church. I don't know what God wants to do in my life. But I am saying, Maybe we should think about taking some steps of faith.

Maybe what God wants to do with you is he wants to see you defeat the army of the Philistines. Whatever that is. Whatever that is in your life. But he wants you to take a little step of faith. He wants you to step out and say, God doesn't need a big army to do this. He doesn't need the smartest guy in the world to do this. He doesn't need the smartest girl in the world to do this.

He doesn't need the biggest, strongest person to do this. He doesn't need the wisest person to do this. He doesn't need what the world thinks is the right person to do this. He might just need me to do this. He just needs someone who is willing to do this. And I'm here to tell you right now, I'm watching it happen over and over again. again, that God's starting little pockets of revival all over the place. And the way that

he's doing it is with people who are willing to step out in faith and do something maybe a little different, maybe a little unheard of, but to step out and say, hey, maybe God wants to use me. Hey, maybe God wants to use me to do this. And so I'm going to take a step of faith because God doesn't need to be the smartest person in the world because God can deliver through the smartest people in the world, or he can deliver through me, right? And maybe God wants to use me. And

that's what Jonathan does. And he has this armor bearer, which by the way, the armor bearer only carries the armor, right? He's not like the warrior here. He's just like handing, it's like the caddy for the armor, right? He's just like, yeah. And so the armor bearer is in a lot of danger here right now. And the armor bearer is like, let's do it, right? And it's just beautiful.

And so they come up with this plan. Listen, we'll holler up at them. And if they say, wait. Do we come down to you? We'll know God's like, that's a terrible idea. Don't do it. But if they're like, come get you some, then we know it's time to go. And so let's see how it plays out. Verse 11, when both of them revealed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines, the Philistines

said, behold, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden themselves. So the men of the garrison hailed Jonathan and his armor bearer and said, come up to us and we will tell you something. Again, rednecks speak is come up here and get you some. Right? And so Jonathan said to his armor bearer, come on for the Lord has given them into the hands

of Israel. Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet and his armor bearer behind him. And they fell before Jonathan and his armor bearer that put some to death after him. And then the slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor bearer had made was about 20 men within about half a furrow in an acre of land. Jonathan, his armor bearer start a little something that now can't be stopped

because they started a victory that it's going to take the rest of the army of Israel to continue to do all because one guy said, Hey, maybe God wants to do something here. Maybe God wants to do something powerful with us because he doesn't need a whole bunch of people to do it. He can do it with just two willing souls. And so they start off by taking out about 20 of the enemy.

It says in verse 15, and there was trembling in the camp and in the field, and among all the people, even the garrison and the Raiders trembled, listen, and the earth quaked so that it became a great trembling. Look at what God does when people move in faith, when people move in faith, not only does God start to give them victory, but God starts to work in supernatural sort of ways, ways that they could have never imagined. It's almost like God does exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think. When we start to take steps in faith, we start to take steps in faith. When we start to take steps in faith, we start to take

steps in faith. And that's exactly what Jonathan and his armor bearer able to do. They step out and God steps in because now God has caused two guys to make all of the Raiders of the, of the Philistines start to tremble. And then an earthquake happens, right? And they're all, and they're all like, right, this is not good. And so while all of that's going on, verse 16, Saul's watchman

in Gibeah of Benjamin, looked and behold, the multitude melted away and they went here and there. And Saul said to the people who were with him, number now and see who's gone from us. And when they'd numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there. And Saul said to a hijab, bring the ark of God here for the ark of God was at that time with the sons of Israel. And while Saul talked to the priest,

the commotion in the camps of the camp of the Philistines continued and increased. So Saul said to the priest, withdraw your hand. Then Saul and all the people who were with him rallied and came to the battle and behold, every man's sword was against his fellow. And there was very great confusion in the Hebrews who were with the Philistines previously, who went up with them all around and the camp, even they also turned to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.

When all the men of Israel who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim, heard that the Philistines had fled, even they also pursued them closely in the battle. So the Lord delivered Israel that day and the battle spread beyond Beth-Avon. I want you to take note of what took place here. So first of all, they take note of the fact that the multitudes melting away, like the, the, the guys who were kind of watching out there, first of all, seeing some men start to fall, but they're also noticing that everybody in the camp of the Philistines is trembling and they're all starting to kind of disperse almost like, almost like they're being caused to flee.

Almost like they're, they're retreating. And Saul's going, what, why are they retreating? What's going on here? Who's, who's not here? I love that he had to figure out who wasn't there, right? He, he didn't just say they're retreating. Let's go get them. He was like, let's see who started this thing. And so he starts trying to figure it out and he realizes what's going on.

He's like, yeah, don't worry about it. Let's go. And so all of the army, the 600 men of the, of the Israelites start to go after and defeat the Philistines. And then did you know, notice what else happened? All of the ones who had defected to the Philistines, they started to rise up and attack the Philistines that they had defected to. Essentially they were prisoners of war and they said, you know what? There's a victory going on.

I'm going to be a part of it. And then all the ones who were hiding in all of the rocks and all of the crags who were going, I think there's a victory coming, right? They start joining the battle. You know why? Because faith is contagious, right? Fear is contagious. We know that because when people start to fear and start to run, we see the contagion start to happen. But listen, so is faith. When people start moving in faith,

other people take note and they say, Hey, look what's going on. Look what they're doing. That's kind of contagious. Maybe God wants to use us too. Maybe, maybe God could use us in the same way that he just used Jonathan and his armor bearer. And pretty soon faith has gotten so contagious that the entire world is going to be in danger. And so he's like, well, I'm going to go

the entire Israelite army, even the defectors in the hiders had all joined the battle. Brothers and sisters, you don't know what God wants to do with you. You don't know how God wants to use you. Well, I'm just a, no, don't say you're just, I tell this story all the time. But when, when I was in Bible college, there was a retreat going on because there was always retreats going on while we were there. And, um, this one happened

to be a men's retreat. So a little bit quieter, no offense. Um, and there was a, a, a guy, a guy teaching there. His name was Romaine, Pastor Romaine. Now, if you don't know who Pastor Romaine is, he was sort of Chuck's right-hand guy. He was an old drill sergeant kind of a guy and just kind of just a hard-nosed fellow. First time I'd ever met Romaine. And a

group of us students were standing there and he said, are you guys here with the retreat also? And I said, no, sir, we're just Bible college students. And he looked at me and he said, you listen here. And we all went, he said, don't ever say you're just anything. You're a child of God. You're not just a Bible college student. And that's really stuck with me my entire life. I

don't refer to myself as just because I'm a child of God, right? And, and many of us say, you're going, I'm just fill in the blank of what you think you are as, as insufficient or incomplete because you're not just anything. You're a child of God. And as a child of God, you've been empowered by the Holy Spirit. And maybe God wants to use just who you are to do something powerful

within your family, within your work. Here at the church, in the community, who knows what God wants to do. But I do know that if you take a step of faith, it's going to be contagious to other people because it always is. And so all of this awesome stuff is going on. Verse 23, the Lord delivered Israel that day and the battle spread beyond Beth Avon and everything's going awesome until verse 24. Now the men of

Israel were hard pressed on that day for Saul had put the people under oath saying, cursed to be the man of God, the man of God, the man of God, the man of God, the man of God, who eats food before evening. And until take note, I have avenged myself of my enemies. So none of the people tasted food. Everything was going awesome until Saul stuck his foot in his mouth and made it all about him. Remember he did this when Jonathan won all those battles earlier

and he went around Israel and blew the trumpet. And he said, look at everything that Saul has done. And now he's saying, look at everything that Saul has done. And now he's saying, look at everything that Saul has done. He's made it all about him again. God has brought a great victory. God has done awesome things. And he says, no one can eat anything until I have been avenged of my enemies. No, these are God's

enemies, not yours. Stop making it about you. Stop putting yourself in the center and put God back in the center. But he's made it about him and he caused a foolish order to be given because now as these men are pursuing, and by the way, they don't have guns. They have clubs, right? They don't have their own even iron weapons and they're pursuing on foot going up and down. We've already noticed that it's a very rocky region. They're doing all of

this work and they can't sustain themselves with any kind of food because Saul made it about himself. And he gives this foolish order and it tells us that the people were hard pressed because of the oath that Saul had put them under. Verse 25, and all the people of the land entered the forest and there was honey on the ground. Let me put that in 21st century speak. Okay. There was a Krispy Kreme donut there. And when the people entered

the forest, behold, there was a flow of Krispy Kreme donuts, but no man put forth his hand to grab the goodness for the people feared the oath. But Jonathan had not heard when his father had put the people under oath. Therefore he put out the end of his staff and he picked up a glazed goodness. That was in his hand and he dipped it in the honeycomb and he put it in his mouth and his eyes brightened. You know why I put the Krispy Kreme in there? Because when I eat donuts, my eyes

brighten too. You know, my philosophy in life is with a donut in each hand, anything is possible. And so, uh, then one of the people looked at him and said, your father strictly put the people verse 28 under oath saying, cursed is the man who eats food today. And the people were weary. And Jonathan said, that was dumb. Not really. He said, my father has troubled

the land. See how my eyes have brightened because I tasted a little of this honey. How much more if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies, which they found for now, the slaughter among the Philistines has not been great. And they struck among the Philistines from that day from mishmash to I Halon and the people were very weary. And may I say, when we start making it about us, it always hurts the people

around us because we've taken their eyes off of God. Therefore we've taken their eyes off of the prize. So it says in verse 32, the people rushed greedily upon the spoil and they took sheep and oxen and calves and slew them on the ground. And the people ate them with the blood. And then they told Saul saying, behold, the people are sinning against the Lord, uh, by eating with the blood. And he said,

you have acted treacherously roll a great stone to me today. And Saul said, disperse yourselves among the people and say, each one of you bring me his ox or sheep and slaughter it here and eat and do not sin by eating with the blood. So all the people that night brought each one is oxen with him and slaughtered it there. Saul built an altar to the Lord. It was the first

altar that he built to the Lord. And Saul said, let us go after the Philistines by night and take spoil among them until morning. And let us not leave a man of them. And they said, do whatever seems good to you. So the priest said, let us draw near to God. And he said, let us draw near to God. And so Saul inquired of God, shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into

the hands of Israel? But he didn't answer him. And so Saul said, draw near here, all you chiefs of the people and investigate and see how this sin has happened today. For as the Lord lives, who delivers Israel, though it is in Jonathan, my son, he shall surely die. But not one of all the people answered him. He wanted to go down and continue the battle, and the priest said, maybe we should inquire of the Lord first. So they inquire of the Lord,

and God's not speaking to them. And Saul goes, why? Let's investigate. Not knowing what had happened. And he said, even if it's Jonathan, he will be put to death. It's amazing what happens when we make it all about us. And so in verse 40, it says, excuse me, verse 39, for as the Lord lives, oh no, verse 40, then he said to all Israel, you shall be on one side. And I and Jonathan,

my son, will be on the other side. And the people said to Saul, do what seems good. Therefore, Saul said to the Lord, God of Israel, give a perfect lot. And Jonathan and Saul were taken. The people escaped. Saul said, cast lots between me and my son, Jonathan. And Jonathan was taken. And Saul said to Jonathan, tell me what you've done. Jonathan said, I indeed tasted

a little honey with the end of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am. I must die. And Saul said, may God do this to me and more also, for you shall. Surely die, Jonathan. Oh my gosh. It's a good thing the people step in. But the people said to Saul, must Jonathan die? Who has brought us this great deliverance in Israel? Far from it. As the Lord lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked with God today.

So the people rescued Jonathan and he did not die. And Saul went up from pursuing the Philistines and the Philistines went. To their own place. It's interesting how Saul ends this little story, is it not? Jonathan is the one ultimately that's chosen because he is ultimately the one who has, if you will, committed the sin. And Jonathan willingly says that I must die. And Saul says,

yeah, you need to. And all the people are like, whoa. He fought with God today. And it doesn't mean with meaning against God means with alongside of. He fought alongside God today. He's not going to lose his life. Saul, you may have made it about you up to this point in time. It's not about you anymore because Jonathan is the one that led us into battle. Jonathan is the one

who stood with the Lord and nothing's going to happen to Jonathan. So ultimately Saul's foolish order caused issues within the nation of Israel, but it almost cost Jonathan his life, but revealed once again, the heart of Saul. Now, now the last portion of, uh, chapter 14 tells us about the constant warfare that takes place. It says now when Saul had taken the kingdom, uh, over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side against Moab, the sons of Ammon, Edom, the sons of Zobah, the Philistines, wherever he turned, he inflicted punishment. He acted valiantly and defeated the Amalekites and delivered Israel from the hands

of those who plundered. The sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, Malachi, and Zobah. And the sons of Malachi, Shua, the names of his daughters were these. The name of the first one was Mirab. The name of the younger, Michal. And the name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahaneaz. And the name of the captain of his army was Abner, the son of Ner, which is just an amazing first

name. Saul's uncle, Kish was the father of Saul and Ner, the father of Abner was, I can't help it. That just makes me laugh every time I read it. The son of Abiel and the war against the Philistines was severe all the days of Saul. And the war against the Philistines was severe all the days of Saul. When Saul saw any mighty man or any valiant man, he attached him to his staff.

So the beginning of the end started in chapters 13 and 14. When we get to chapter 15, we will see the end really take place for Saul and God ultimately choose that man after his own heart. So we'll pick up again in two weeks in the book of first Samuel. So would you bow with me? Father, we come to you and we thank you, Lord, that you are so good to us. And Lord, I pray that

each and every one of our hearts tonight, Lord, I pray that we would examine ourselves, examine ourselves to make sure that pride has not taken over much like it did in the life of Saul, but Lord, that we would have a soft and repentant heart. And Lord, also, would you make us people of faith, people who see what you're calling us to do, be willing to take those even sometimes very small steps of faith, because I know that you want to move. I know that your desire is to see us. Continue until the day that you take us home to be with you. And so, Father, draw us near to you,

we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.