Deliverance Will Come

Introduction

Good morning and welcome back!

This morning we are going to be talking about the subject of deliverance and suffering.

And we are going to be looking at a passage found in 1 Samuel 11, verses 1-11.

And e find ourselves in the midst of a trying time for one of the tribes of Israelites in the new land.

Remember that this is a time, when Samuel the last judge had been in power for a while.

However, the people had been begging and pleading for a king, so God granted their wishes.

They wanted to be "like the world" so God had allowed it as well as all of the consequences that would follow.

However, even though God was not pleased with their actions, God's hand was not completely removed from them.

At this point, Samuel had anointed Saul as the "people's king."

However, Saul had not been "confirmed" or accepted by the people as of yet.

He hadn’t ascended to the throne.

The people had somewhat rejected Saul, because he was a Benjamite farmer and didn't fit the "profile" they were looking for.

Saul wasn't flashy enough, or extravagant enough.

So, Saul, after being anointed by Samuel, had went back to farming when this incident at Jabesh-Gilead came up.

And this was a very difficult situation for the Israelites.

They already were dealing with the Philistines that continuously harassed them from the southwest.

Now, the Ammonites were threatening them from the East and Nahash, the Ammonite king thought that they were going to be an easy target.

Jabesh-Gilead also had a history of its own.

It is located about (25) miles south of the Sea of Galilee.

Several generations before, there had been a civil war between the tribes of Benjamin and the other tribes, that is recorded in Judges 19-21.

The result was the all but 600 of the Benjamite men were killed, with no wives or children even remaining.

In order to prevent the extinction of the tribe, the leaders proposed that the virgin women of any town that refused to send troops to fight against Benjamin be seized and given to the survivors as wives.

And Jabesh-Gilead had failed to send troops, so 400 virgins were captured and sent to the Benjamites as wives.

And since Saul was a Benjamite, it is entirely likely that his ancestors were actually from Jabesh-Gilead, and his extended family was in harms way.

So he some skin in the game.

And we pick up this morning right in the middle of the siege of Jabesh-Gilead by the Ammonites.

So, 1 Samuel 11, starting in verse 1 . . .

Scripture Focus

1 Samuel 11:1–11 NIV84

Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will be subject to you.” But Nahash the Ammonite replied, “I will make a treaty with you only on the condition that I gouge out the right eye of every one of you and so bring disgrace on all Israel.” The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days so we can send messengers throughout Israel; if no one comes to rescue us, we will surrender to you.” When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and reported these terms to the people, they all wept aloud. Just then Saul was returning from the fields, behind his oxen, and he asked, “What is wrong with the people? Why are they weeping?” Then they repeated to him what the men of Jabesh had said. When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he burned with anger. He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent the pieces by messengers throughout Israel, proclaiming, “This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel.” Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people, and they turned out as one man. When Saul mustered them at Bezek, the men of Israel numbered three hundred thousand and the men of Judah thirty thousand. They told the messengers who had come, “Say to the men of Jabesh Gilead, ‘By the time the sun is hot tomorrow, you will be delivered.’ ” When the messengers went and reported this to the men of Jabesh, they were elated. They said to the Ammonites, “Tomorrow we will surrender to you, and you can do to us whatever seems good to you.” The next day Saul separated his men into three divisions; during the last watch of the night they broke into the camp of the Ammonites and slaughtered them until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.

Pride Before Destruction

So, at this point, Nahash had came up and laid seige to Jabesh and was threatening to destroy them.

Sensing the evident defeat, Jabesh sent word to Nahash, wanting to make a treaty and surrender.

Usually this would involve paying taxes or tribute to the seizing nation.

Nahash wouldn't have anything of it though.

He wasn't after money, but rather power and land.

Centuries before the Ammonites land that Jabesh sat on had been taken by Israel and they wanted it back.

Nahash's response was that the only condition he would accept for surrender would be that the right eye of all the Israelite's be gouged out.

Now, why would he want the right eye of every Israelite?

Other than being extremely cruel and gross, it had a practical purpose also.

Gouging out their right eye would make them useless as soldiers, but they could still work as slaves.

Soldiers would hold their shield covering all but their right eye, so they couldn’t hold a shield very well now.

Also, they would be useless as archers or swordsmen because their depth perception would be off.

They would be an embarrassment to Israel in war.

So, Jabesh looking at this bleak situation asks Nahash to give them seven days to see if any of the other tribes would come to their aid.

Arrogantly and confidently Nahash agrees to give them their seven days, thinking that no one would come to help them and oppose the mighty Ammonite army.

So, he was very prideful and what do we know about pride?

Proverbs 16:18 NIV84

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

Other than the lesson getting ready to be taught to Nahash, this account also has some meaning for us today as well.

Nahash actually means "bright, shiny serpent."

And Jabesh Gilead means "hill of witnessing."

And what we have going on the church world today is that Satan, the serpent is encamping or laying seige to the Christians and the churches.

And instead of calling out to others for help, out of fear of Satan we are making a treaty with Satan.

And when you say that people are confused and don’t see how that’s possible.

So, what does that treaty look like?

One word— Compromise.

Preaching everything but the Gospel of Christ.

Saying things like, "we won't preach or teach that Devil, if you don't take our people, or our money."

So, instead of loving people and telling them the truth, we have gotten to the place where we are telling them what they want to hear.

Which is exactly what Paul warns us about in his letters to Timothy . . .

1 Timothy 4:1–2 NIV84

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

And . . .

2 Timothy 4:3–4 NIV84

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

And this post-modern mess that some people are calling a church has entered into this treaty with Satan and he has plucked out their right eye, blinding them to the truth of what is actually going on in our world.

2 Corinthians 4:3–5 NIV84

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.

They have become useless soldiers and have brought reproach to the Witness of Christ because they have no witness.

The church and individual Christians are in shambles, because instead of uniting to fight the enemy, he has infiltrated the camp and many have signed a pact with the devil.

When the “Son” is Hot, Help Will Come

He has divided the church instead of the church coming together and being unified in it’s fight against Satan.

But it doesn’t end there.

That’s not the end of the story.

The Israelites didn’t give up and go down in defeat, and neither should we.

Look at what happens next . . .

1 Samuel 11:5–9 NIV84

Just then Saul was returning from the fields, behind his oxen, and he asked, “What is wrong with the people? Why are they weeping?” Then they repeated to him what the men of Jabesh had said. When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he burned with anger. He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent the pieces by messengers throughout Israel, proclaiming, “This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel.” Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people, and they turned out as one man. When Saul mustered them at Bezek, the men of Israel numbered three hundred thousand and the men of Judah thirty thousand. They told the messengers who had come, “Say to the men of Jabesh Gilead, ‘By the time the sun is hot tomorrow, you will be delivered.’ ” When the messengers went and reported this to the men of Jabesh, they were elated.

So, Saul is out working in the field and comes home to find the towns-people upset and crying.

He inquires as to what is going on and when he is told, the Bible says . . .

1 Samuel 11:6 NIV84

When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he burned with anger.

So, the Spirit of God came over Saul and he became angry at what was going on.

He was angry because his people were being threatened and laid siege to.

He was also angry at the response of the people.

Instead of banding together to go out and fight the enemy, the adopted the "defeated attitude."

Nahash had already won and the battle hadn't even started yet.

This is also true for many modern churchgoers too.

There is no fight left.

They have a defeated attitude.

They give up before the fight even starts.

They have let the devil run all over them, while they cower in fear.

Which is the exact opposite of what God has told us . . .

2 Timothy 1:6–7 NIV84

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

And . . .

Matthew 19:26 NIV84

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

And many more verses where God tells us that nothing is impossible for Him and that we should have no fear of anything.

So, what should we do about it?

How about a little bit of active resistance to the devil.

James 4:6–7 NIV84

But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

How about we get a little angry at what Satan is doing to the people around you (your friends, family, church).

Then do something about it!

Use the weapons that God has given us to fight!

See, the difference between Saul and the rest of the Israelites was that Saul was under the power and the influence of the Holy Spirit of God and he was not afraid to fight!

He then does something radical, a little crazy even.

Saul takes his own team of oxen that he had just brought in from the field.

Slaughters them and cuts them into pieces and sends the pieces to all the tribes of Israel with a message.

The message is, if you do not join me (Saul) and Samuel in this fight, this is what is going to happen to your oxen!

The Bible says that then the fear of the LORD fell on the people and they came out in force.

But notice that it was not the fear of Saul or the fear of Samuel, but the fear of the Lord.

They knew that Saul was under the influence and instruction of God on this one and if they resisted, the consequences would be devastating.

And it is estimated that the force that showed up to help Saul consisted of 30,000 men from the tribes that formed the southern nation of Judah and 300,000 from the others that formed Israel, for a total of 330,000 fighting men.

So, Saul then sent message back to the people of Jabesh . . .

1 Samuel 11:9 NIV84

They told the messengers who had come, “Say to the men of Jabesh Gilead, ‘By the time the sun is hot tomorrow, you will be delivered.’ ” When the messengers went and reported this to the men of Jabesh, they were elated.

God’s Deliverance Through Faithfulness

Don’t be afraid because God is coming.

Deliverance is coming.

Salvation is coming.

God has got this.

And here is what happens . . .

1 Samuel 11:10–11 NIV84

They said to the Ammonites, “Tomorrow we will surrender to you, and you can do to us whatever seems good to you.” The next day Saul separated his men into three divisions; during the last watch of the night they broke into the camp of the Ammonites and slaughtered them until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.

So, given this news, the men of Jabesh send word to Nahash, with a little trickery.

They don't send word that tomorrow we will be out to fight.

Rather they send word that the next day they will come out to surrender and he can do whatever he wanted.

“We give up.”

And Saul marched his army all night and we he arrived at Jabesh, he divided the men into (3) companies, so he could attack from all angles.

The Bible says that somewhere between 6-9AM, he attacked, surprising the Ammonites.

He completely devastates them and what’s left of them go running home.

And the chapter concludes with Saul being officially recognized as the King through this military battle and a great celebration by the people, marking one of the few righteous acts of Saul as king.

Altar/Challenge

So, what about us?

What do we need deliverance from?

Who do we need deliverance from?

Are we living in victor or defeat?

Are we fighting satan or trying to make a treaty with him?

Only you know.

Let’s pray . . .