Morning, everybody. Good to see
you all again. I'd like to turn over to 1 Samuel,
chapter 14. 1 Samuel, chapter 14. I'd like
to consider the story in the first 23 verses of this chapter
this morning. But before we get to it, we start
reading, and I want to give you the back story, know how we got
to this point. So when you get to 1 Samuel chapter
14, you can skip back a page to chapter 13. I'll show you
something there. What we read in chapter 13 is
that Jonathan, the son of Saul, he took on a Philistine garrison.
It was a Philistine outpost. He took about a thousand men
with him and they go over there and they lay siege to this outpost
and they win. And there is great rejoicing
in Israel. This is a big win for them. They blow the trumpet
and everybody hears. But that victory and that rejoicing, it's
short-lived because this awakens the Philistine sleeping giant,
no pun intended. The Philistines come out with
this large, overwhelming force, this large army, and they invade.
They take on the Israelites. Look down at verse 5 of 1 Samuel
chapter 13. This is the size of this army.
And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight
with Israel. This is the size, 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen
and people, foot soldiers, as the sand which is on the seashore
in multitude. Infantrymen, just as many as
the sands of the sea when you go out to the beach. This is
a huge, overwhelming army, and they sweep through and they spoil
the land. They take over. And this greatly distresses the
children of Israel. They can't fight. They don't have a force
capable of taking on this great army, and they respond in different
ways. Different people do different things. Some people, they just
flee. They desert. I said, we're leaving
here. They go to another land. And some of them, they find some
false refuges. They go to caves, they go to pits, they go to thickets,
anywhere they think they can hide. These are places that won't
protect them, but they're going to places where they think they
can hide. And the worst of which was those who defected. They
said, we can't win this battle. This is a greater army. I'm turncoat. I'm going to the other side.
I'm going to align myself with the Philistines. And during this
occupation, this great occupation of the Philistines over Israel,
this is very grievous. The rules were very stringent.
They actually disarmed the children of Israel. I said, nobody, nobody
in this land can have a sword or a spear save Saul and Jonathan.
They can keep theirs. Everybody else, no weapons. And
if you wanted to sharpen your agriculture tools, your axe,
your Maddox, your pitchfork, any of those things, you had
to go to the Philistines just to sharpen it. That's how terrible
this was, how stringent these rules were, this occupation they
were under. So here we have the children of Israel. They are
occupied. They are outnumbered. They are
unarmed. They are trembling and they're
fearful and a champion arises. Somebody decides he's going to
do something about this. It's all son, Jonathan. Now pick
over to chapter 14 and pick up there in verse one. 1 Samuel 14, 1, now came to pass
upon day that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said unto the young
man that bare his armor, come and let us go over to the Philistines
garrison that is on the other side. But he told not his father. Now Jonathan purposes to do this.
He goes to his armor bearer, this young man who carried his
weapons for him. And he says, here's what we're going to do.
You and me, we're going over to the Philistine garrison. That
is the exact same army we just read about. 30,000 chariots,
6,000 horsemen, foot soldiers as far as the eye can see is
the sands of the sea. They're out there. Jonathan said, you
and me. We're going to go over there and we're going to take
on that entire army. That was his purpose. And what's
very interesting here, he says, he told not his father. He didn't
tell Saul. Saul probably would have tried to stop him. And what
we're going to find out here in a minute, he didn't tell anybody
else either. Him and this armor bearer, they slipped out of this
camp with Jonathan's purpose to take on this vast army all
by themselves. And they're not going to tell
a soul about it. Nobody's going to know. And what's Saul doing? Look at
verse two. And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah
under a pomegranate tree, which is a migrant. And the people
that were with him were about 600 men. And Ahiah, the son of
Eotub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli,
the Lord's priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people
knew not that Jonathan was gone. Now here Saul is, he is perplexed,
he is wrought with indecision. He's got about 600 men, that's
all he can muster, and he is plopped down under this pomegranate
tree. Notice how docile he is. You would think at least at this
point he'd be seeking the Lord's face. He'd go to the prophet,
he'd go to the priest, Go to the Lord. Ask him what we should
do. Ask him for a deliverer. Any of these things. Seek some
leadership. Seek some guidance. He doesn't do any of those things.
He's just sitting under this tree. He seems to be very resigned to
the idea that him and his entire country are going to be destroyed.
And he is a good type of all of Israel at this point. That's
what everybody is doing. They are just waiting to be wiped
out. Absolutely and utterly hopeless.
Once again, though, so very interesting. A champion has gone out for them.
and they don't know anything about it. He didn't tell any
of them. Now, look at verse four. And between the passages by which
Jonathan sought to go over under the Philistines' garrison, there
was a sharp rock on the one side and a sharp rock on the other
side. And the name of the one was Bosus,
and the name of the other, Sina. The forefront of the one was
situate northward over against Michmash, and the other southward
over against Gibeah. Now, the Philistines had built
an outpost to hold this great army, and they built it in a
strategically advantageous position on top of a plateau. So plateau,
it's a rise in the earth. It's got a flat top. And you
have cliffs surrounding it. And so militarily, this is a
good position for them. They sit on top of this plateau
and this fortress. They can see around them. So
if the enemy tries to attack, they see him coming a mile away.
It looks like there's a passageway that leads up to there, but it's
going to be a narrow passageway. So if an enemy tries to attack,
it's going to limit the amount of men they can put on their
front flank there. So very disadvantage for the enemy. And it's surrounded
by these cliffs, two of which are actually named, Bozes and
Sina. And these would have been known
as insurmountable cliffs. Humanly, it would have been impossible
to climb these cliffs and mount an attack. This is the last place
the Philistines would have looked for an attack. If you tried to
climb an army up a cliff, they'd be exhausted by the time they
got up there. Philistines would see them coming, they'd just
drop stuff off them, knock them off the side of the rock face.
Interestingly enough, that is exactly the way Jonathan has
proposed to go up. He is going to take that way
that seems humanly impossible, these insurmountable cliffs.
Now, look at what Jonathan has to say in verse 6. And Jonathan
said to the young man that bared his armor, come and let us go
over under the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that
the Lord will work for us, for there is no restraint to the
Lord to save by many or by few." Oh, what confidence Jonathan
had in the Lord. He said, it may be, not presumptuous
in any way, it may be that the Lord will work for us. There
is no restraint. There is no limit to his ability
to save. Arbert, he works through means,
but they're just means. He can work up an army of angels,
a million of them, go attack, delete those Philistines. He
can take you and me. It's all by the power of God,
no matter what. We'll defeat him. He can take a grasshopper,
send that grasshopper out there. Whatever he uses, that's just
the means. This is one who creates his own means. There is no limit
to his ability to save. This is how much confidence Jonathan
had in the Lord. Now look at this armor bearer,
see what he has to say, verse seven. And his armor bearer said
unto him, do all that is in thine heart. Turn thee, behold, I am
with thee according to thy heart. I love this armor bearer. How
much confidence he had in Jonathan. He said, Jonathan, wherever your
will is, wherever your will is, I want it to be done. And you
know what? Whatever you say, I'm going to follow you wherever
you go. And you know what? Think about
what this man was being commanded to do. Jonathan said, me and
you, we're going to go take on this large army with all these
chariots and all these horsemen. This man didn't bat an eye. He
didn't ask one question. I mean, if it happened to me
and you, we said, well, what's the size? What do we have here? Didn't
bat an eye. Whatever's in your heart, I'm
with you. I'll follow you wherever you go. Don't you love this man?
Let's see what happens here. Look at verse 11. Now I'm sorry, look back at verse
eight, my bad. Then said Jonathan, behold, we
will pass over unto these men, and we will discover ourselves
unto them. This is the plan. If they say thus unto us, Terry,
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 this, listen
to these words, come up unto us, then we will go up. for the Lord hath delivered them
into our hand, and this shall be a sign unto us. Now, Jonathan
goes to the arbor bearer, and he says, before he says, it may
be that the Lord will work for us, but here's the sign. Here's
the sign that the Lord has granted us the victory today. We're gonna
go up, and we're gonna reveal ourselves to this garrison. We're
not gonna hide. There's no trickery here. We're
gonna show them we're there, and we're gonna listen for some
key words. And this garrison says to us, Terry, wait. We'll know the Lord's on it.
We'll know that he has not granted the victory that day. But, Honorable
Mayor, if we hear these words, come up. Come. Don't wait. Come. We'll know that the Lord
has granted us the victory that day. That's how we'll know. See what happens. Verse 11. And both of them discovered themselves
in the garrison of the Flistings. And the Philistines said, behold,
the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid
themselves. So they're mocking them. And the men of the garrison
answered Jonathan and his armor-bearer and said, listen to this, come
up to us and we will show you a thing. Now what they're saying
is, come up here and we'll teach you a lesson. We'll show you
what's up. They have no idea what's about to happen. But they
hear these words, the words they were waiting to hear, come up.
And Jonathan said on his armor-bearer, come up after me. For the Lord
hath delivered them in the hand of Israel." Jonathan says, I'm
going up. I'm going up. I'm going to find
a way up these two great cliffs. I'm going to go up first. He's
going to go up before the armor bearer. And armor bearer, here's
what you can do. You're going to follow the exact
same way I came up these cliffs. Everywhere I put my hand and
get a handhold, you're going to put your hand in that same
place. Everywhere I put my foot and I get a foothold, that's
where you're going to put your foot. I'm going to go up before
you, and you're going to follow right after me. Look at verse
13. And Jonathan climbed up upon
his hands and upon his feet, and his armor bearer after him.
And they fell before Jonathan, speaking of the Philistines.
and his armor bearer slew after him. And that first slaughter,
which Jonathan and his armor bearer made, was about 20 men
within, as it were, a half acre of land, which is Yokohama, my
plow. So Jonathan climbs these two
straight cliffs, and the armor bearer comes up right behind
him, the exact same way Jonathan came. And when Jonathan gets
to the top, he immediately takes on these 20 foot soldiers. Jonathan
went first. And they all fell before Jonathan. Jonathan comes up the cliff and
just starts hacking, mowing these guys down. One falls. And here's
what the armor bearer did. He followed right behind Jonathan
and he hid behind him. That's exactly what he did. And
it says the armor bearer slew after him. Jonathan would strike
one warrior, he would fall down, the armor bearer would just go
behind him and stick these guys while they were on the ground. Here's
what you need to consider here with this armor bearer. Everything
Jonathan did, The armor-bearer did, but Jonathan was the doer
of all of it. Now, go to verse 15. And there was trembling in the
host, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison
and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked. So it was
a very great trembling. And the watchman of Saul and
Gibeah of Benjamin looked, And behold, the multitude melted
away, and they went on beating down one another." Now Saul and
his camp are in a position, they can see this Philistine garrison.
And the Lord sends this great earthquake. The whole ground
shook, there was a great noise. And they watch and they look
out, and they look at the Philistine garrison, and lo and behold,
all these Philistines had turned on one another, and now they're
hacking each other to bits. The Lord has sent the spirit
of chaos and the spirit of confusion, the spirit of mania, and they
all turn on each other. And these sentinels, they see
these men hacking each other to pieces, and they're melting
away as the snow just falling in droves. And I was thinking
about this. This is a Psalm 2, 4. It says,
he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have
them in derision. That's what derision looks like
right there. These Philistines, they had plenty of dealings with
the God of Israel. They've been at war with Israel
for a very long time, and they knew something about who he was.
They even reckoned that he was more powerful than their made-up
god, Dagon. But they never worshipped. They
never bowed to need. They always fought. And this
is what derision looks like. Here the Lord is mocking these
men as he's turned them on one another, and they're hacking
each other to bits. Verse 17. Then said Saul unto the people
that were with him, number now, and see who's gone from us. And
when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armor bearer
were not there. The sentinels go to Saul. They
say, look at this. Come take a look at this. And Saul sees
the army melting away, and they're hacking each other to bits. And
Saul reasonably suspects something. He says, somebody from our camp
has done this. Somebody started this whole thing.
Who's not here? He says, number the people. Lo
and behold, who's missing? Jonathan and the arm-bearer.
At that point Saul knew it was Jonathan who would champion them.
I find this very interesting. He didn't know until the battle
was already won. Now, look at verse 18. And Saul said unto Ahaiah the
priest, bring hither the ark of God, for the ark of God was
at that time with the children of Israel. And it came to pass
while Saul talked unto the priest that the noise that was in the
host of the Philistines went on and increased. And Saul said
unto the priest, withdraw thine hand. You ever seen something
exciting and you got a little panicked and you got a little
anxious and you felt an overwhelming need to do something? My wife's
going into labor. I think I should boil some water
and get the bag and all these other things. That's what Saul
experienced here. There's a great slaughter going
on. Look what the Lord's doing. It's right over there on that
hill. We need to do something. We need to see if we can help
out. Maybe we can encourage things in our direction. We need to
do something about this. Go get the ark, get the priest
over here, put on the ephod, do all these things. And all
of a sudden, the Lord sends this spirit of wisdom to Saul. Stop. Withdraw thine hand. And that's exactly what Saul
said. Everybody stop. I was wrong. We're not going
to get involved in this thing at all. This is the Lord's victory.
This is the Lord's slaughter. The Lord is fighting our battle
for us. We're going to sit down and we're going to simply watch
as the Lord destroys all our enemies for us. Withdraw thine
hand. Now look at verse 20. And Saul and all the people that
were with him assembled themselves, and they came to the battle.
And behold, every man's sword was against his fellow, and there
was a very great discomfiture. Saul goes down there with the
600, and they just wash as the Lord defeats their enemies. Moreover,
the Hebrews that were with the Philistines before that time,
which went up with them in the camp from the country round about,
even they also turned to be with the Israelites that were with
Saul and Jonathan." All those turncoats, everybody who had
defected and said, we're going to align ourselves with the Philistines.
You know what happened after this? They were all reunited
with Israel. Next verse, likewise, all the
men of Israel, which had hid themselves in Mount Ephraim,
When they heard that the Philistines fled, even they also followed
hard after them into the battle. Everybody who hid in those false
refuges, those pits, those thickets, they all came out. And through
this great victory, all of Israel is reunited once again. And we'll
look at the conclusion of the matter. Verse 23. So the Lord
saved Israel that day and the battle passed over to Bethlehem. Now, Where's the gospel in all
this? This is a beautiful illustration
of Christ and his church. Who is the champion in this story?
Who is the one who did all things, who went out for all of Israel? It was Jonathan. Jonathan is
very powerful. type of rule of Jesus Christ
in this story. In Israel, the elect of God, they're represented
in really three types. The whole nation of Israel, Saul,
and especially this armor bearer that trusted Jonathan so much. And the whole thing can be summed
up in Romans chapter 11. So I want you to turn over there. Verse 36 is where I really want
you to see something. We'll read a few more. Pick up
in verse 33, chapter 11. Oh, the death of the riches,
both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are
his judgments and his ways past finding out. His ways are not
our ways. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord, Or who hath been his counselor? Who gives advice to
God? Nobody. He's omniscient. He knows
all things. Or who hath first given to him,
and it shall be recompensed unto him again? Who gives to the Lord?
No one. He's the storehouse of all things.
By him all things consist. Now listen to verse 36. You'll
notice the word him is used three times in this verse. Insert the
word Christ every time you see that word him. For of him. and through him and to him are
all things. How far can we take that statement,
all things? You can't take that statement
too far. All things are of Christ and
they are through Christ and they are to Christ. This is especially
speaking of the things of salvation. Salvation is of Christ. It is through Christ and it is
to Christ. Now, what do I mean by that?
Of Christ, that word of, you know what it speaks of? It speaks
of a point of origin. It's where something begins.
Salvation began in Christ. It began with his everlasting
love for his people before the world ever began. This is what
Jeremiah 31, 3 says, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
have I drawn thee. All things with God are eternal
and everlasting. He has always loved his people. That's why he saved them. It
originated with the love Christ had for his people. It originated
with his surety ship for his people. When the father went
to the son and said, I'm giving you these people to save these
people. And when Christ agreed to be the surety for those people,
I'm going to do everything. Just as Jonathan said, these
people can't protect themselves. They can't take on this great
army. They need a champion. Christ said, I will be the champion
of my people. And as soon as he did, salvation
originated right there when he agreed to be the surety. and
originated in his everlasting, his eternal redemption for his
people. Now, this is a name that the
Lord is referred to in Revelations 13 verse eight. He's referred
to as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. All the gospel is tied up in
that name, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Our human minds are small and
we do not discern the concept of eternity very well. Eternity
is without time. With God, there is no time. Everything
is always in the present with him. Everything is always new.
Everything is always fresh. Everything is always now. And
because the triune God had always purposed to save the elect before
the world's wherever began, this is an eternal choice. This is
an eternal purpose, an eternal decision. that Christ would go
and he would live for these people and he would die for these people
and be the substitute, be their salvation. And he would agree
to that. Therefore, because that was purposed in the eternities,
it always has been with God. What's the implication of that?
That means that everybody who the father had purpose to save,
Christ would go to that cross for always have been eternally
secure in Christ because he is the lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. He is the point of origin for
salvation. Salvation originated in Christ. And we have a beautiful illustration
of that in our story. Where does our story begin? Does
it begin with the children of Israel coming to Jonathan saying,
be our champion. Go out, go out for us, defeat
this garrison for us. It certainly does not. Does it
begin with Saul going to Jonathan saying, go be our champion, go
fight these people, do something about this. It certainly does
not. Our text tells us that Jonathan didn't tell anybody about this.
Nobody knew that Jonathan was the champion and a champion for
them and defeated all their enemies until the battle was already
won. Salvation originated in Christ. Where does our story begin? It
begins with Jonathan and Jonathan's purpose. Jonathan saw the destruction
of his entire house. He saw the oppression of his
people. He saw they were outnumbered. They were outgunned. They didn't
have any weapons. They couldn't defend themselves. There's nothing
they could do. And he purposed to go out for them. Why? Because
he loved his countrymen. He loved his people. Now, salvation is of Christ and its
origin. And salvation is through Christ. That word through, what
does that mean? It speaks of means. Christ is
the means of salvation. We have a wonderful illustration
of that in our text. Now, for Jonathan to secure the
victory, For Israel, to fight this garrison and put them all
down, he first had to scale these two major cliffs, Bozes and Sinon. These two cliffs were known as
humanly impassable. There was no possible way could
get up these cliffs, but Jonathan found a way. Now, Bozes, what
does that mean? It means glistering white, shining
white, radiant white. Where do we read about something
being glistering white, shining white? It was on the Mount of
Transfiguration. Peter, James, and John go up
with the Lord and he prays and says his clothing, his garments
appeared glistering white, shining white. Why? Because his character
was showing through. His deity was bursting through
his humanity, the very character of God. What's the character
of God? Pure, holy. Righteous, the very character
of God was shining out from him. This is not only God's character,
pure, sinless, righteous, holy. This is God's demand, the very
demand of God. For a man to be saved, he must
meet that standard. He must be sinless. He must be
pure. He must be glistening white,
completely and utterly righteous, and the Lord will not accept
anything but perfect righteousness. This is the first obstacle to
salvation, the demand of God, perfect Righteousness. And here's
the second cliff, Sina. You know what that means? Thorny. Do you remember where we first
read of thorns in the scripture? It's Genesis chapter three. Lord
said, the ground is now cursed Adam because of what you've done
because of your fault. That curse that Adelaide upon
all of humanity when he sinned against God, what does that curse
ensure? So that every man that was born
after that was born with a fallen, sinful, wicked, evil nature that
could do no other. Born dead in trespasses and sins. And these are the two obstacles
to salvation. First, bozus, the demand of God,
perfect and utter righteousness and the state of man completely
and utterly and totally depraved and unable to meet the demand. Those are the two great obstacles,
humanly insurmountable, impossible with men. But Jonathan found
a way. He found a passageway up these
cliffs, just as Christ found a way. What was the way? That these two great obstacles
could be overcome. The justice of God and the sinfulness
of his people. What was the way? The way was
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Second Corinthians 521 sums it
up about as best as you can. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. The father took the sins of all
the elect and he put them in Christ. And Christ bore all the
punishment of those sins. The wrath of God came down upon
him for those sins and he bled and he died and he put all the
sins of the elect away. Just as Jonathan climbed up this
great mountain, this humanly insurpassable mountain, and he
slew all the garrison on top there. Christ climbed that mountain
on the cross being made the sins of his people. He suffered under
the wrath of God and he put them away. And in doing that, we get
his righteousness. The very righteousness of God
is ours. And this is not an accounting.
This is not just a spreadsheet where resources are moved over. Well, righteousness is now here
and sin is there. No, this is real. And that can
only be understood in light of union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's illustrated in that armor bearer. Everything Jonathan
did, that armor bearer did. Jonathan said, we're going up
these cliffs. I'm going to go up first, I'm going before you,
and you're going to come up right after me the exact same way I
came. Everywhere Jonathan put his hand, the armor-bearer put
his hand. Everywhere where Jonathan put
his foot, the armor-bearer put his foot. They got to the top
of the mountain, Jonathan slew the garrison. They all fell before
him. The armor-bearer slew the garrison. Came right after him,
sticking those guys on the ground. Everything Jonathan did, the
armor-bearer did. That's union with Christ. Justification
is not an accounting matter. It's real. We have always shared
an eternal union with the Lord Jesus Christ. So much so when
he kept God's holy law, we kept God's holy law too. When he went
to the cross and he was punished and he died, that's when we died.
And when we were punished by God, when he was raised from
the dead, we were raised again in the dead, raised from the
dead in him. And we sit with him right now
at the right hand of the father. How that's possible, I don't
know. I simply just believe it. But it's all through union with
him. Now, salvation is of Christ in its origin. It's through Christ. He is the means. And salvation
is to Christ. He is the end state. Now, I found
something interesting when I was reading this. What's the armor
bearer's name? He's not named in this story.
He's just referred to as the armor bearer. Why? because his
name is not important. There is only one name that gets
any glory in this story. That honor bearer just followed
Jonathan wherever he went. There's only one name that gets
any glory in this story whatsoever, and it is the name of Jonathan. Jonathan is the doer of all things
in this story. He is the champion of this story.
When he comes down, everybody's going to be shouting one name,
Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan. The armor bearer is going to
reap all the benefits of Jonathan's victory, but his name just isn't
important because it's not going to get any glory. What's this
whole thing of salvation about? this great purpose of God to
redeem a particular people before the world ever began. What's
this all about? This is about Christ receiving his great glory. That he can stand in the halls
of heaven and say, this is how powerful I am, this is how great I am,
this is how loving I am, this is me. I was able to save even
them. Only one person gets any glory
in God's salvation, and it's the one who did all the work,
Christ. Now, Switch gears here real quick. Another picture in this story,
it's a beautiful picture of faith. Look back in your text and look
at verse six. This is Jonathan speaking. And
Jonathan said to the young man that bear his armor, come and
let us go over under the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may
be that the Lord will work for us. For there is no restraint
to the Lord to save by many or by few. Now, first thing about
true saving faith. True saving faith is not presumptuous. Jonathan wasn't presumptuous,
was he? He said, it may be that the Lord
will work for us. Jonathan knew exactly who he
was dealing with. He was dealing with a sovereign. He was telling
his armor bearer, this is the Lord. He is sovereign. He is
in control of all things. He cannot be manipulated in any
way. If there's anything we can hang
our hat on, it's this, that his will is always going to be done. And we'll see what he's going
to do with us. We'll find out. He's going to give us a sign
whether he's going to deliver or not. We know this, his will is always
going to be done. He did not presume on God. And
that same sovereign that Jonathan was dealing with that day is
the same sovereign that you and I deal with. That is the sovereign
God, and here's our stance before him, what we have done with every
breath, with every thought, with every motive, we have sinned
against him. The very blood of his son is
on our hands. That means we have sinned away
all rights. That means whatever he does with me and you, whether
he chooses to save, whether he chooses to damn, it's right,
and it's just, and it's fair, whatever it is that he does.
You know who knew that very well? It was that leper in Matthew
chapter 8. He came to the Lord. Remember what he said? Leper,
covered. Leprosy, head to toe. He said,
Lord, knew exactly who he was dealing with. He was dealing
with the Lord. He was dealing with the sovereign,
the one who was the decision maker, the one who housed all
power. That one he was standing before was going to make a decision
while he was there. Lord, he knew who he was coming to. If
thou wilt, thou canst make me If you're willing, you don't
owe me anything, I can't twist your arm, you're the Lord, you're
gonna do your will. If you're willing, I know this,
I know this, you can make me clean. You have the power, you
have the ability to do it if you're willing. Now, man's religion,
it centers around man's will. Your will, your will, the gospel,
the truth, it revolves around God's will. And this is what
he said to Moses, Exodus 33, 19. Moses said, show me your
glory. The Lord said, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. He's the Lord, he's the sovereign.
The second thing, true saving faith rests only in what Christ
has done. This is what Jonathan said. He
said, it may be that the Lord will work for us. It only looks
to what Christ has done his work for us. This is the hope of every
believer. What he's done for me. My hope is that he kept the
law for me and me and him. My hope is he went to the cross
for me and put away my sins. My hope is that he makes intercession
for me this very moment. True saving faith rests in what
Christ has done. And what happened with Saul?
What did Saul do? He got anxious and he wanted
to help out. Let's see if we can manipulate
things. Let's see if we can push things in the direction we want it to
go. And the Lord sent that spirit of wisdom. He says, withdraw
your hand. And we do that. In true saving
faith, we don't look to ourselves for everything, for anything.
We withdraw our hand from this thing of salvation. This is the
Lord's work. I'm looking to one place. I'm
looking to Christ and what he has done and nowhere else. Thirdly,
true saving faith has confidence in Christ's ability. Jonathan
said, for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or
by few. He has absolutely no restraint.
He has an attribute that you and I don't know anything about.
It's omnipotent. That means he has all power. And I thought about so many scriptures.
Remember, Genesis 18, the Lord goes to Abraham and Sarah. They're
both old. Sarah's past the time of menopause. Abraham's an old man. He said,
Lord says, I'm going to give you a child. And Sarah laughs.
And the Lord goes to Abraham, he said, why did Sarah laugh?
Is there anything too hard for the Lord? No, absolutely nothing. And Isaac is a result of that. There's nothing too hard for
the Lord. There is not a sin too great.
There is not a sinner too wretched for him to be able to save. Why?
Because in his salvation, It is in no way dependent on the
object. He doesn't look to the sinner
for anything. It is completely dependent on the ability of the
Lord Jesus Christ alone to save that man. Now, can he fail? Can Christ fail? Can he purpose to save a man
and that man not be saved? According to Isaiah 42, 4, no,
it is impossible for him to fail. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
till he have set judgment in the earth and the aisles shall
wait for him. He cannot fail. It's impossible. Paul had confidence in his ability.
Paul said, I know whom I have believed. My confidence, my trust,
it rests in a person. The Lord Jesus Christ, I know
whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is what? Able. Able to do what, Paul? To keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. What have you committed? Everything.
Lock, stock, and barrel, I withdraw my hand from this. My hands are
off. I've got no plan B's. I've got
no safety nets. I'm looking to him and his work
alone, and I am persuaded of this. I've looked at it from
every angle. I've been persuaded by God that he is able to save
me all by himself with absolutely no help from me. You believe
that? Believe he's able to save you all by himself with absolutely
no help from you. You believe that? That's called
faith. I'll give you a Todd Neibertism.
He's been saying this as long as I can remember. Faith has
absolutely nothing to do with what you think about yourself.
It has everything to do with what you think about Christ.
Am I elect? I can't look through those golden
pages of the Lamb's Book of Life and see my name written there.
Not a question we need to ask. Is he able to save you? Is the answer yes? Absolutely
is. Last thing I find here about
true saving faith, it is obedient. Look down at verse 7, this armor
bearer. And his armor bearer said unto him, do all that is
in thine heart. Turn thee, behold, I am with
thee according to thy heart. Jonathan said, here's what we're
going to do. Me and you, we're going to go take on this great
garrison of the Philistines. And the armor bearer does not
bat an eye. Immediately he says, you do your
will. Jonathan, I'm following you where? you go. Faith is instantly obedient. When the Lord calls a man, he
gives him this heart of faith, he believes, he comes to Christ,
he obeys the command. What is the command? What is
it you are commanded to do right now? What was the sign where
Jonathan knew that the Lord was in it, that he would grant the
victory? He said, Arbor Bear, if we get up there and we hear
Terry, wait, we know he's not in it. But if we hear these words,
come up, we'll know the Lord's in it and he's granted the victory.
That is the call of the gospel. This is your command to come
to the Lord Jesus Christ. You're familiar with the scripture.
I'll read it to you. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and
without price. Now, this is the resume of a
man who is commanded to come. Do I fit this resume? What's
on the resume? What's the prerequisites? There's
only two things on the resume. You got to be thirsty and you
got to be broke. That's it. What's thirsty? It is a need. This is Matthew
5, 6. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Do you have that need? Do you
need to be made righteous? Be the maid to where you can
actually stand on that mountain, the mountain of God's justice
and his judgment, and stand next to the ivory tower, and the law
will look at you over and say, he's always done that which is
good, and he's never done that which is bad. Do you need to
be made that way? You can't reach it on your own.
You can't even take the first step. Do you need to be made
righteous? Is that a need? That's the first
part of the resume. Here's the second part of the
resume. You've got to be broke. You gotta have absolutely nothing
to buy with. I've got absolutely nothing.
If you require something from me in this thing of salvation,
I won't be able to come up with it. I'm a complete and utter
charity case, bankrupt sinner, can't bring anything to the table.
I've got absolutely nothing. I have to be carried the entire
way. Now, do you meet that resume?
Needy. Need to be made righteous. And
broke. Got nothing to pay with. If that's
the case, this is for you right now. You are commanded to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust Him. Is He able? Trust
Him. That's your command to do right
now. I'm going to leave you there.