1 Samuel 14 Jonathan's Step of Faith
Notes
Transcript
Today we are in our 8th sermon in our series called a Prophet and 2 Kings.
Big question for today is...
Do you trust in your resources or do you trust in God?
(I have been lately starting with questions…
speak Christinese but not believe in our hearts and minds…)
This morning we are going to look at a situation that looked like there was very little hope.
It was a situation,
where things were going the wrong direction.
(momentum = wrong direction)
But in the middle of things going sideways...
There stood 2 young men… (only takes 1 or 2)
Before we look at these 2 young men,
I want to layout the circumstances that Israel as a nation are in.
The Philistines have just suffered a lose.
And in the process of suffering this lose,
the Philistines regroup and assemble a tremendous army to attack Israel.
Because of this,
the army of Israel begins to tremble in fear,
which results in many of them deserting King Saul’s army.
The army has gone from 3,000 to 600 in a very short span.
And as we saw last week that is why King Saul offers a unlawful sacrifice to God,
which Saul was not to do,
but did it anyways...
And the consequence of Saul’s rebellion was his kingdom would be striped from him and his family and given to a man who is after God’s own heart.
In a moment of fear and panic Saul publicly disobeys God.
Samuel said to Saul…
1 Samuel 13:13–14 (ESV)
13 “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
With all this happening,
we see the momentum is moving rapidly away form Israel to the side of the Philistines.
It does not look good for Israel at all.
Which Israel seems to have these moments of hope,
but it seems that this hope is usually stripped away quickly. (Can you relate?)
And when these patterns seem to take place,
it is all to easy to become comfortable with being oppressed. (comfortable living without hope)
[Set the bar so low that what we think are victories are still losses]
We get a picture of the oppressive nature the Philistines have place on Israel in…
1 Samuel 13:19–22 (ESV)
19 Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears.” 20 But every one of the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, or his sickle, 21 and the charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares and for the mattocks, and a third of a shekel for sharpening the axes and for setting the goads. 22 So on the day of the battle there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan, but Saul and Jonathan his son had them.
Throughout history it has been seen, that the key for one group of people to control another group of people is to take away their weaponry....
(Hard to defend yourself with no weapons)
Because the Philistines have control over Israel,
they have disarmed them from the ability to create weapons.
(which has been a great way to oppress Israel)
So in the context of our story think about it this way…
Israel with no weapons has just awaken an army with weapons and they are coming with vengeance…
(guys with guns vs guys with knives)
It is in this station that our 2 men I want to focus on come unto the scene.
1 Samuel 14:1 (ESV)
1 One day Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who carried his armor, “Come, let us go over to the Philistine garrison on the other side.” But he did not tell his father.
1 Samuel 14:6–7 (ESV)
6 Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.” 7 And his armor-bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you heart and soul.”
It is easy when the moment of life is going in the wrong direction,
to become complacent and stagnate.
When hope seems to be fleeing from your circumstance,
it is easy to have thoughts of calling it quiets. (How many know that?)
How easily it would have been for Jonathan to flee with the rest of the deserters and go into hiding. (that is what everyone else was doing?)
How easily it would have been for Jonathan to say it is not worth it anymore.
(this fight… this struggle)
I want you to also remember that…
Saul has just made the detrimental mistake that did not only cost himself the kingdom,
but would also cost his son Jonathan from becoming Israel’s future King.
Jonathan could have easily decided to quite and went away from the battle believing all was lost.
But that is not what Jonathan did…
Godly character is not determined by how things are going,
but rather a resolve to do what is right no matter what the situation is...
Jonathan see’s and feels everything falling away from Israel’s favor.
Yet, Jonathan say’s to his armor bearer,
let’s go disrupt the enemies plans shall we?
(playing with house money)
[We are going to die eventually if we don’t stop the Philistines)
Jonathan, “Perhaps the LORD will help us, for nothing can hinder the LORD. He can win a battle whether he has many warriors or only a few!”
It should be noted that…
Saul has just dishonored the Lord as he acted out in fear-inspired disobedience,
whereas Jonathan brings honor to the Lord by walking in fearless faith.
And the Armor Bearer’s reaction is important piece to the story.
Here the Armor Bearer demonstrates that he is much more than just an Armor Bearer to Jonathan.
This Armor Bearer proves to be a faithful and loyal friend to Jonathan....
He says…
“Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you heart and soul.”
(There is a time and place for everything…)
[honoring the point... example of dogs]
Trust that has been built between Jonathan and Armor Bearer
1 Samuel 14:8–15 (ESV)
8 Then Jonathan said, “Behold, we will cross over to the men, and we will show ourselves to them. 9 If they say to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up to them. 10 But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up, for the Lord has given them into our hand. And this shall be the sign to us.” 11 So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, “Look, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden themselves.” 12 And the men of the garrison hailed Jonathan and his armor-bearer and said, “Come up to us, and we will show you a thing.” And Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Come up after me, for the Lord has given them into the hand of Israel.” 13 Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, and his armor-bearer after him. And they fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer killed them after him. 14 And that first strike, which Jonathan and his armor-bearer made, killed about twenty men within as it were half a furrow’s length in an acre of land. 15 And there was a panic in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and even the raiders trembled, the earth quaked, and it became a very great panic.
God demonstrates His activity in the midst of our faith....
Step of faith…
faith spelled RISK… (finical.. healing.. breakthrough…)
What is your step of faith?
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Elaborate...
It was faith that drove Jonathan and his Armor Bearer’s to fight against the Philistines.
Because God demonstrates His activity in the midst of our faith....
As Jonathan and his Armor Bearer are putting faith to action,
God brings an earthquake to bring terror and confusion on the Philistines....
V16-23 Great confusion… Philistines begin to kill each other..
1 Samuel 14:23a (ESV)
23 So the Lord saved Israel that day.
And I would love to finish this morning on that note…
But unfortunately this story does not end there.….
Because Saul’s heart has grown cold to the things of God,
he makes a rash and foolish oath.
Saul said…
V24 “Let a curse fall on anyone who eats before evening—before I have full revenge on my enemies.”
Because of this oath the army of Israel is exhausted,
and not able to refresh and strengthen themselves with food.
The sad thing is there was honey all over the forest that they were in.
I believe the Lord had provided means of refreshing the army,
but Saul decided again to do what is best in his own eyes.
And Jonathan was unaware of this foolish oath his father and put on the army.
So he began to eat from what the Lord had provided for him.
Saul, Jonathan’s father finds out,
and is about to execute his own son Jonathan,
but the people step in to save Jonathan. Explain
And the story ends abruptly…
46 Then Saul called back the army from chasing the Philistines, and the Philistines returned home.
I want to close with this thought...
(Recap momentum in story) [shifting]
Jonathan and Armor Bearer make trouble to the Kingdom of Darkness (Spirit Filled)
or
like Saul try to take control for the situation. (Religious)
