1 Samuel 14

Well, good evening.

Thank you all for coming out on a cold night,

and on Oscar night, no less.

I just remembered.

I'm sorry you'll be missing the joyful tears of the winners

and the pained smiles of the losers

as they pretend to be happy for the winners

but really aren't inside.

Or the red carpet interviews.

In case you're wondering, I'm wearing Old Navy tonight.

At least I think. I'm not sure.

It's actually really fitting because our text tonight

has all the ingredients for a great Hollywood blockbuster.

Hopeless circumstances,

individual acts of great courage,

the loyalty of a faithful friend,

stirring action,

victory snatched from the jaws of defeat,

this is a thrilling story of combat.

1 Samuel 14.

If you haven't already, turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 14.

If you're using one of the pew Bibles that's provided for you,

that's on page 235.

If you're new to the Bible,

the big numbers on the page are the chapter numbers.

The little ones are the verse numbers.

We'll be looking at the first part of the chapter tonight,

1 Samuel 14, 1 through 23.

Listen as I read.

1 Samuel 14, 1 through 23.

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.

Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah

in the pomegranate cave at Megron.

The people who were with him were about 600 men,

including Ahijah, the son of Ahatab,

Ichabod's brother, son of Phinehas,

son of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh,

wearing an ephod.

And the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.

Within the passes by which Jonathan

sought to go over to the Philistine garrison,

there was a rocky crag on the one side

and a rocky crag on the other side.

The name of the one was Bozes,

and the name of the other was Senna.

The one crag grows on the north in front of Michmash,

and the other on the south in front of Gibeah.

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.

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.

Then Jonathan said,

Behold, we will cross over to the men,

and we will show ourselves to them.

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.

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 for us.

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.

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.

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.

And that first strike,

which Jonathan and his armor-bearer made,

killed about twenty men

within, as it were,

a half furrow's length

in an acre of land.

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.

And the watchmen of Saul and Gibeah of Benjamin

looked, and behold,

the multitude was dispersing here and there.

Then Saul said to the people who were with him,

Count and see who has gone from us.

And when they had counted,

behold,

Jonathan and his armor-bearer were not there.

So Saul said to Ahijah,

Bring the ark of God here,

for the ark of God went at that time

with the people of Israel.

Now while Saul was talking to the priests,

the tumult in the camp of the Philistines

increased more and more.

So Saul said to the priests,

Withdraw your hand.

Then Saul and all the people who were with him

rallied and went into the battle.

And behold,

every Philistine's sword was against his fellow,

and there was very great confusion.

Now the Hebrews,

who had been with the Philistines before that time,

and who had gone up with them into the camp,

even they also turned to be with the Israelites

who were with Saul and Jonathan.

Likewise,

when all the men of Israel

who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim

heard that the Philistines were fleeing,

they too followed hard after them in the battle.

So the Lord saved Israel that day,

and the battle passed beyond Beth-Avon.

Well, it's an exciting story.

If you've been following along in 1 Samuel,

back in 1 Samuel 13,

we've learned that the nation of Israel

is once again in very bad shape.

They have a new king, Saul,

but he's picked a fight with Philistine soldiers,

and Israel has been invaded.

And the Philistines have the Israelites outnumbered.

Look back at 13.5.

The Philistines invade with soldiers

as numerous as the sand on the seashore.

Saul begins with just a few thousand soldiers,

but by the time we get to 1 Samuel 14,

he only has 600 still with him.

People are fleeing.

They're abandoning him.

To make matters worse,

the Israelites are also outmatched technologically.

The Philistine army had chariots.

These are the tanks of the ancient world.

The Israelites don't even have swords and spears

because the Philistines

have not allowed them to have blacksmiths.

So the Israelites are going to war

against the sophisticated Philistines

with nothing but bows and arrows

and farm tools for weapons.

And so it's not surprising

that they're demoralized.

They're running away,

or they're hiding in the hills,

outnumbered, fighting with inferior weapons,

low morale.

This is the recipe for a military disaster.

And so this is what we come to

at the beginning of 1 Samuel 14,

a hopeless situation.

And then Jonathan, the king's son,

comes up with what seems like a crazy plan.

He and his armor bearer,

the young man who helps him carry his things,

decide that they're going to attack

the Philistines by themselves.

And only one of them has a sword.

Jonathan has a sword,

but his armor bearer doesn't.

Now Jonathan isn't entirely crazy.

He has the sense not to tell his father

about this plan.

He's operating under the opinion

that it's better to ask forgiveness

than permission.

No father would have allowed

any plan like this to go ahead,

but Jonathan does it.

Now we're going to delve a little bit deeper

into the story

and try to see what it tells us today,

but I want to first pause

and ask all of us a question.

If you think about it,

thousands of battles and wars

have been fought over the centuries.

Now many of them had much more significant

political consequences than this one.

They involved a lot more combatants.

This is just dozens or hundreds.

But the story of this battle

was written down in the Bible.

It's passed along to us

and we find ourselves

on a Sunday evening

in New Haven, Connecticut

talking about it.

Why?

Why this story?

Is this just an accident?

Some historical coincidence?

Well, I'll tell you why I think it is.

Because unlike many other battles and wars,

bigger ones that have been fought,

even around the same time,

the chief actors in this drama

are not people.

It's God who's really on display

in 1 Samuel 14.

He's the chief actor,

even though he never speaks a word

or draws a sword.

That's what this story is about.

Tonight we're going to be looking at

Jonathan's faith

and then in his action,

but we're not really interested

in Jonathan.

We want to know about God.

And once we learn

who God is from this text,

then we can learn

what we're supposed to do

in response to it.

So we'll start with Jonathan's faith,

we'll look at his action,

and then we'll try to see

what we're to do

in response to the God we encounter

in the pages of 1 Samuel.

Well, what is Jonathan's faith?

What does he believe?

We'll look back at what he says

in verse 6.

Jonathan said to his young armor bearer,

Come, let's go over to the outpost

of these uncircumcised fellows.

Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf.

Nothing can hinder the Lord

from saving by many or by few.

Now these Philistines were uncircumcised,

meaning they're not among God's people.

They're not partakers in God's covenant.

In fact, they're defying God

and they're oppressing His people.

This cannot be tolerated.

And Jonathan knew that nothing could stop the Lord

from saving His people.

Nothing could prevent him

from rescuing the ones he loved.

He knew that the power of God

was greater than any military force

that could be arrayed then or now.

And God doesn't need chariots or large armies.

He doesn't need many.

He can do it by few or none.

He doesn't even need swords.

When God decides to save, He saves.

And that's the confidence, the faith,

that propels Jonathan forward.

That's the conviction that gives him

this outstanding, extraordinary,

almost foolhardy courage.

Well, how did Jonathan know this?

It certainly wasn't obvious from the circumstances.

You couldn't read the signs of the times

and think that there was a great victory in the offing.

No, the opposite.

I think he knew his history.

He knew the history recorded in our Bible,

which is the record of God's saving work.

And it drives home this same message

again and again and again.

God is powerful to save.

I think Jonathan knew what God had done

in bringing the people of Israel out of Egypt.

A slave people,

enslaved in the nation,

in the superpower of its age.

Far more powerful than even the Philistines.

But God had saved them.

And even if they had managed to escape Egypt,

the road to the promised land

was long and dangerous,

but God preserved them.

Then they didn't have a plan

for fighting the Canaanites once they got there,

but God gave them victory.

These were not obstacles to God.

Jonathan realized that God can save by many or by few.

God didn't need thousands

or hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

He didn't really need much at all.

During the first part of the Civil War,

the commander of the Union Army

was a general named George McClellan.

Now, George McClellan was really popular

with his soldiers,

but he was tentative

and he was always afraid

to engage with the Confederate troops.

He never thought he had quite enough men.

And that's how he felt.

And so he was always sending messages

back to Washington, asking for more.

Finally, President Lincoln said,

if General McClellan does not want to use the army,

I would like to borrow it for a time.

And so he relieved General McClellan of his command

and found someone who would do the work

that he wanted done.

But I think McClellan's not special here.

I think every general probably has wanted more men,

more weapons.

In any battle, it's always better to be the many

rather than the few.

But the military history in the Bible,

and there's a lot of it,

doesn't really fit this mold, does it?

God never complains about the lack of soldiers.

On the contrary,

sometimes he seems to intentionally limit

the human resources at his disposal.

That's what we see here in 1 Samuel 14.

We see it maybe even more clearly

in Judges chapter 7.

Judges 7 · chapter mention

Then there, in Judges 7,

it's not the Philistines who are oppressing Israel.

It's another neighboring nation, the Midianites.

And so God raises up Gideon,

an unimportant man

from an unimportant family in Israel,

not someone who's an obvious choice to lead at all,

but God chooses him.

And then Gideon calls the warriors of Israel together.

And listen to what God tells Gideon in Judges 7.

It's on page 206 if you want to turn there,

but I'll just read it.

Verses 2 through 7.

The Lord said to Gideon,

You have too many men for me to deliver Midian

into their hands,

in order that Israel may not boast against me

that her own strength has saved her.

Announce now to the people,

anyone who trembles with fear

may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.

So 22,000 men left,

while 10,000 men remained.

But the Lord said to Gideon,

There are still too many men.

Take them down to the water,

and I will sift them for you there.

If I say,

This one shall go with you,

he shall go.

But if I say,

This one shall not go with you,

he shall not go.

So Gideon took the men down to the water.

Then the Lord told him,

Separate those who lap the water

with their tongues like a dog

from those who kneel down to drink.

300 men lapped with their hands to their mouths.

All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

The Lord said to Gideon,

With the 300 men that lapped,

I will save you

and give the Midianites into your hands.

Let all the other men go,

each to his own place.

So God is progressively whittling down

the number of soldiers available to Gideon.

Now why did the Lord give these specific instructions?

Was there something particularly spiritual

about the men who lapped at the water

rather than the ones

who knelt down on their knees to drink?

Some people have tried to explain

how that might be true.

Maybe something that would make them better soldiers

or better at following instructions.

But if there's something about lapping at water

that makes you a better soldier,

I don't know what it is.

In fact, I think the whole point

of what God's doing here is saying,

Look, I'm doing this in order

that Israel may not boast

that it's their own strength that saved them.

I'm choosing an arbitrary criteria

to separate these soldiers

just so you remember

that I won this victory

and it wasn't won by soldiers

or strength of arms.

That's how God does things.

And isn't that exactly what God is doing

in 1 Samuel 14 here

in the passage we're looking at this evening?

There's a great Philistine army

that stands arrayed against Israel

and God's going to win the victory

with two men and one sword.

God wants to be glorified and worshipped

as the true deliverer of his people.

In fact, every detail of Jonathan's assault

on the Philistine outpost

emphasizes this fact

that the victory belongs to God.

So Jonathan's attack begins

over the most impossible,

unpromising terrain imaginable.

Remember, we saw how it was described.

There's a deep ravine

with cliffs on either side

and in order to get to the Philistines,

Jonathan and his armor bearer

are going to have to climb down one

and then climb up the other

while the Philistines laugh at them

and probably throw rocks.

Well, maybe the Philistines

won't expect them.

Maybe they'll have the advantage of surprise

coming from that direction,

but we see that that doesn't happen either.

In fact, Jonathan said to his armor bearer,

climb up after me.

The Lord has given them

into the hand of Israel.

Actually, I'm sorry, before that,

in verse 8, Jonathan said,

come then, we will cross over

toward the men and let them see us.

So Jonathan reveals himself.

Here I am.

Let's the enemy know he's coming.

And then Jonathan responds

with great confidence.

The Lord has given them

into the hand of Israel.

So it's two against dozens

with inferior weaponry,

climbing up a cliff

with soldiers standing above you.

It's perfect.

It's the perfect setup for an attack.

Not from a worldly perspective,

but from God's.

This might seem like insane arrogance

or delusion until you remember

that it's God's presence in the battle

that makes the majority.

Well, the remainder of the passage

just gives us details of the victory.

They climb the cliff.

They kill a bunch of soldiers.

The rest run off in terror.

The news of the defeat spreads,

and pretty soon the Philistine army

is in a panic.

It's a panic sent by God.

By the time the Israelites

even arrive on the scene

to finish the job,

the Philistines are fighting one another.

They're doing the Israelites' jobs for them.

The victory is complete.

It's a catastrophic setback

for the Philistines.

God's great power to save

is demonstrated again

to a doubtful world.

So where are you right now?

Not in ancient Israel,

being oppressed by Philistines, I think.

Some of you, I think,

probably feel harassed and helpless,

anxious about the future.

Maybe your family life

isn't working out the way

that you'd always hoped it would,

or maybe you have medical

or financial setbacks facing you.

Maybe you have deep concern

or anxiety about your spiritual state,

where you stand before God.

How does God really feel about you?

Well, I don't have medical

or financial advice to give you.

If I did, you wouldn't want to take it.

What I have is what 1 Samuel 14 says.

Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving.

I don't know your circumstances.

I don't know why God has brought

the trials to you that He has brought.

I don't even know what God's deliverance

would look like when it came to you,

specifically.

But it may just be that He has put you

where you are so that when He saves you,

you won't boast in your own strength,

but you'll say,

the God of Jonathan,

the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

He did this,

and no other.

Your situation is not

outside of God's control.

Just before the start of the service,

I was talking to Nick,

and he asked if I wanted to do

any question and answers

after the services we sometimes do.

And I said,

I don't think we'll need to.

I think it's a pretty straightforward passage

with this really powerful

but clear message.

The one question that someone might ask

if they were to would be,

can something hinder the Lord?

Well, no.

It says in the text,

nothing can hinder the Lord.

And then Nick followed up.

He said,

well, what about me?

Can I hinder the Lord?

And he was joking.

But it's a good question.

Not Nick specifically.

I mean us.

When we think about

what we want God to do for us,

we think about what we want

our lives to look like.

The chief obstacle is

generally not outside of us.

It's within us.

Can I hinder the Lord?

It's a question we all ask ourselves

at some point,

or at least we should,

if we're serious about our life.

Well, the answer is no.

The testimony of Scripture

is not just that opposing armies

cannot overcome the Lord.

It's that even our own sin and rebellion

can't overcome the Lord.

So what should we do

while we wait on the Lord

to bring us deliverance?

Well, we trust him.

And do what Jonathan did.

Remember the ways

that God has saved in the past.

So remember Jonathan

and take heart.

Think about Gideon

and see God's power.

Most of all,

remember Jesus Christ.

It's not just that God

might deliver you

or even that he's promised

to deliver you

at some future date.

If you've trusted in Christ,

he already has delivered you.

And the momentary sufferings

of this life

are simply preparing us

for future glory.

Those of us

who have trusted in Christ

have already experienced

a future salvation

far more dramatic

and complete

than any victory

over Philistines.

Now if you're here

and you haven't trusted in Christ,

if you've never known

that kind of deliverance

or rescue,

you might be wondering

what Jesus has to do

with Jonathan.

Well, Christians believe

that all of the examples

of God's deliverance

and salvation

in the Old Testament

point forward

to the greatest salvation

available to us

in Christ

in the New Testament.

The salvation that is

now at work

in our lives.

These are like appetizers

that prepare us

to look forward

to the great feast to come.

And the salvation

that we have in Christ

is even more improbable

and mind-bending

than Jonathan's.

Jesus was confronted

by a world of people

in active rebellion

against his Father.

The challenge

wasn't a hostile military force,

but the fact that humanity

stood under God's

just judgment for sin.

The Apostle Paul wrote

in 1 Corinthians,

the sting of death is sin

and the power of sin

is the law.

God requires all of us

to obey him.

But at the same time,

we rebel.

And the law puts us

under a sentence of death.

Paul is saying

that death is like

a venomous spider

which uses our own sin

to bring us

to eternal death.

And so Jesus

dies on the cross

taking the punishment

for our sins

that God's law required.

And so Paul can say

the sting of death is sin

and the power of sin

is the law,

but thanks be to God.

He gives us the victory

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And what a victory it is.

Jonathan's victory

was accomplished

with one sword,

but Jesus' victory

was won without any.

Jonathan killed God's enemies.

Jesus died for them.

Jonathan's victory

won temporary deliverance

for the nation of Israel.

Jesus brought

eternal salvation

for anyone

who would believe.

Even you.

Even me.

Forgiveness of sin

and an eternal life

of fellowship with God,

they are ours

if we'll only turn away

from our sin

and trust in Christ.

God can save us.

Nothing can hinder

the Lord from saving.

Not even our own

sinful hearts.

So we see Jonathan's conviction.

Nothing can stop God

from saving.

We ourselves know

an even greater salvation,

the true salvation

that comes to us

through Christ.

Nothing can hinder

the Lord from saving.

Well, we've talked about

Jonathan's actions

as well as his faith.

But notice that

Jonathan must have realized

something else key.

That God uses people

to bring about salvation.

It isn't just that God

has to work through people,

it's just that he chooses to.

And we can march

through the Bible

and find all the examples

of times and places

where God uses

often ordinary people

to bring salvation

or deliverance

to his people.

Noah, Moses, Gideon,

Samson, Jonathan, David,

Paul, Peter.

When God brings salvation,

he normally does it

through human agents,

through people

like you and me.

This is why Paul

in the book of Corinthians

says,

We are God's ambassadors

as though God

were making his appeal

through us.

We implore you

on Christ's behalf

be reconciled to God.

We are Christ's ambassadors.

God is making his appeal

through us.

This is true today.

God chooses to bring

salvation to the world

by empowering

ordinary human beings

like you and me,

people who are ourselves

sinners,

and he brings

the gospel,

the good news

of Jesus Christ

through us.

How can they call

on the one

they have not believed in

and how can they believe

in the one

of whom they have not heard

and how can they hear

without someone

preaching to them,

Paul asks.

And the questions

are rhetorical

because the answer

is they can't.

Well, almost never.

There are some

very rare exceptions.

Almost 300 years ago,

the great preacher

George Whitefield

toured the United States

preaching to huge crowds,

tens of thousands

at times.

In fact, he visited

Connecticut

and preached in Hartford

and Weatherfield

and places not very far

from here.

But a lot of people

in both England

and in America

disliked Whitefield.

There was one man

named Mr. Thorpe

who was part of a group

called the Hellfire Club.

And the Hellfire Club

existed solely to mock

George Whitefield

and to disrupt

his sermons

whenever they could.

One day,

Mr. Thorpe

and his friends

were in a pub

and Mr. Thorpe

decided he would do

some impressions

of George Whitefield

and his friends

found them hilarious.

He did an excellent

imitation,

including facial expressions

and mannerisms

and even the very

scripture quotes

and words

that George Whitefield

had used.

But in the middle

of his mockery,

he listened to what

he was saying

and was converted

on the spot.

And he lived

a totally different

life after that.

I think he's the only

person I've ever heard of

who was converted

through his own preaching.

And he didn't even mean it.

That's not typical.

And even in that example,

it's because he'd heard

George Whitefield

that he even knew

what to say.

The fact is,

when God wants

to bring salvation,

whether it's from

a Philistine army

or forgiveness of sins,

he does it

through human beings.

Of course,

the great example

of this is

Jesus Christ himself.

Eternal sin of God,

yes,

but also a man.

Whenever we read

of God bringing

deliverance through a man,

we're meant to think

of Jesus.

So we read of Moses

who leads the people

out of Egypt

and we're reminded

in Deuteronomy 18

that there's another

prophet coming,

like Moses.

Or we think about Joshua

who leads the people

into the promised land

after Moses leads

them out of Egypt

and then we remember

that Joshua,

Yeshua,

Jesus,

that these are

the same name.

Or David,

Jesus is the son of David,

is he another warrior king?

Another Moses,

another Joshua,

another David?

Yes,

but greater than all of these,

he's the man

through whom we have salvation.

The one man

through whom we have,

the one man

who can mediate

between God and man.

One God,

one mediator

between God and man,

the man Jesus Christ

who gave himself

as a ransom

for all men.

says 1 Timothy.

God brought ultimate salvation

through Jesus Christ.

So we now know

that God saves

and we know

that he saves

through people.

Well,

what should we do?

Well,

we can't just take this

as an example

to follow.

We don't want a kind

of bad Sunday school

theology that says

Jonathan was brave

so you should be brave.

Jesus obeyed God

so you should obey God too.

Well,

you should.

The problem is

that we're not like Jesus.

The greatest salvation

is one that we cannot

work for ourselves

no matter how courageous

we are.

We have to keep

reminding ourselves

of the central truth

of this text

and of the whole Bible

that it's God

who saves.

At the same time,

this story reminds us

of both God's power

and his kindness

to his people.

And it's that power

and mercy

that allows us

to live boldly

and courageously

for him.

The God who saved

in the past

is the same

as the God

who saves today.

He does not change

even if human circumstances do.

He is powerful to save

and powerful to save

even miserable sinners.

And he's chosen

to use the weakest

of human instruments

to do it.

People like you and me.

So if you've trusted

in Christ,

you have the privilege

of participating

in this work.

So why not?

Why not prayerfully

trust the Lord

for your own salvation

and also for the salvation

of the people around you?

Nothing can hinder

the Lord from saving.

Let's pray.

O God,

when you decide to save,

nothing can stop you.

There is no one like you.

Lord,

we confess to our own weakness

in faith

and we ask that you

would strengthen us.

We pray that you would

give us a renewed joy

in our own salvation

if we've trusted in Christ.

Remind us

about what you have done

for us already.

And we pray that you would

bring salvation

to the lost world

through us.

And we pray these things

in the name

of our mediator,

the man Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Amen.