Morning, brethren. It's good
to be here. Brethren in Missouri are thankful
to send Michelle and I here to minister the grace according
to that grace, which our God has ministered unto us and the
Lord Jesus Christ. So thank you for inviting us. And I'm honored to be here. Turn with me to First Samuel
chapter 14. 1 Samuel chapter 14. This chapter
gives us a good introduction to Jonathan, the son of Saul. However, in the first 23 verses
in Jonathan, we are given a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the salvation which he has accomplished for his people, that which he
does for us who have no ability, no strength to save ourselves.
And he's called the son of Saul, but he's nothing like Saul. Saul is a man of flesh. Jonathan
is a man of faith. And I'm thankful that Saul is
in the scriptures simply because it shows me what I stand in need
of. of the Lord Jesus Christ, Saul
being a man of flesh, Saul being a disobedient man, Saul being
a religious man, but having no heart for the things of God. He practiced his religion in
an outward form according to the flesh, but he had no heart
for the Lord. And it shows us what we need.
We need Christ to save us. We need a new heart. We need
the salvation, the atonement, the deliverance, the redemption
of the Lord Jesus Christ, else we will all die in our sins and
stand before God in our own works, our own filthy rag righteousness,
which cannot save. So 1 Samuel 14, let's begin. And we're just going to go through
these verses and comment. showing Christ and what he's
accomplished for us in this chapter here, the first 23 verses. Now
it came to pass upon a 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. You see, Jonathan didn't consult
with flesh and blood, If he did, his daddy would have told him,
no, you ain't doing that. You're not going to go there
and face these Philistines. But he's a type of Christ. He's a picture of Christ. He
must needs do this work. In fact, we see that this was
all stirred up. by Saul. It's attributed to Saul,
but actually we're told in the last chapter, in chapter 13,
in verse 3, that it was Jonathan that smote the garrison of the
Philistines. And the Philistines in Scripture,
when you read of the Philistines, it's a picture of sin, sin in
our members. It's a picture of sin in this
flesh and the enmity of this flesh against the true and living
God. But it's attributed by Israel to Saul. Saul. And so we see in that that this
was ordained of God. The Lord Jesus Christ brought
this in order to bring salvation upon his people, to give salvation
to his people. And so he troubled the land.
He brought trouble into the land by these Philistines. And Saul,
being a picture of the flesh, he went after the Philistines.
He tried to put down the Philistines according to the flesh, and all
it did was stir up the enmity. And it brought in a great multitude
more of the Philistines. They brought in 30,000 chariots,
6,000 horses, and foot soldiers without number. And so there's
trouble in the land here. And so Jonathan says, let's go
over there and we'll face these Philistines. And verse 2 says,
Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate
tree. which is in Migrin, and the people
that were with him were about 600 men. Saul was not looking
to face these Philistines. Saul was troubled. Saul was worried. Saul was about as far away in
the camp of the Israelites that he could be from the Philistines
without forsaking his own army. He was standing among a tree.
It's reminiscent of what our father Adam did when he sinned
against God and heard the voice of God in the garden. What did
he do? He hid among the trees. hidden
among the trees to be out of the sight of the Lord. And he
had about 600 men, which is an appropriate number, six being
the number of man. He's insufficient to face all
these Philistines. He's less than perfect. He's
incomplete. He cannot face these Philistines. However, we read in verse three,
and Ahiah, the son of Ahithah, 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. And
so we see that the problem with Israel isn't that religion was
lacking. There was plenty of religion
in the land. They were, as far as they understood, worshiping
the true and living God under the law of Moses. So that wasn't
the problem. There was no lack of religion. But the people knew not that
Jonathan was gone. And what that is saying to us
about our Lord is that when he came, We didn't know the mystery
of God. We didn't understand the things
of God. We didn't understand what Christ was doing and what
he was accomplishing when he came in the flesh. It was a mystery
to us. We don't know how to worship
God in spirit and in truth by nature. We need God to give us
his spirit, the blessings of Christ because of what he accomplished
for us. Otherwise, we don't know the
true and living God. We're ignorant and in darkness
to the things of God. We'd be just like Saul, left
to ourselves, maybe being religious, even very religious, and yet
having no understanding of the true and living God. And so the people didn't know,
and we didn't know what Christ was accomplishing until the Lord
revealed them in our hearts. Now, verse four and five says,
and between the passages by which Jonathan sought to go over unto
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 Bozes, and the name of the other, Senei. The forefront of
the one was situated northward over against Mikmash. In other
words, the first one, Bozes, was situated to the north near
Mikmash, which is where the camp of the Philistines was. And the
other, southward over against Gibeon, that is to the south,
Sinai, was closer to the camp of Israel. What you picture here, what you
can see here, is here's Jonathan, alone with his armor bearer,
and he's standing between these two sharp rocks. These difficult
positions on either side. And what the Lord is saying here,
the picture here, is that if Jonathan, first of all, if Jonathan
were to go back, if he were to change his mind and withdraw,
and go back to the camp of Israel, What he's going back towards
is that rock called Sinai, and that rock means thorny. And the
picture for us is that if Christ, if he refused the cup of the
Father, if he did not go forward and face the enemy and redeem
his people with his own blood, if he did not go forward and
die for his people, then he would leave his people without salvation. The people of Israel wouldn't
have been delivered this day by Jonathan if he went back.
And the picture there is if Christ didn't go forward to that cross,
we would remain under that thorny way, the curse of the law, unable
to deliver ourselves. Like Adam, we're born, well,
in Adam, we're born of corruptible seed, of defiled seed. We're not righteous in ourselves.
We're under the curse of the law. And we can't work ourselves
out of that. The Lord told Adam, when you
work the ground, Adam, the dust from which you came, it's cursed. It'll bring forth cursed things. It'll bring forth thorny thistles
and bramble bushes. And you're not going to get grapes
and figs from thorns and thistles and bramble bushes. You're going
to produce cursed works, works of the flesh that cannot save.
And so if he withdrew, we'd remain under that thorny way, without
salvation, without redemption, having no fellowship with the
true and living God, being reconciled to him by our Lord. But before
him stood that stone, Bozes, and it too is a sharp rock. That
stone, Bozes, means shining, shining or glistening white. And it beckoned to our Lord,
calling him. When he came, he set his face
like a flint to go to Jerusalem. He came willing to lay down his
life for the people whom the Father gave to him before the
foundation of the world. That word, bozes, means glistening
white. And our Savior went there to
obtain redemption for his people, to make us white, the glistening
white redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because we're not
righteous in ourselves. We don't make a righteousness
for ourselves. Christ is our righteousness. He purchased us
and made us his own people. And so he went forward. to the
praise, glory, and honor of his name. He went forward to that
Bozes to establish us in the perfect righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And Jonathan, verse six, said
to the young man that bear his armor, come and let us go over
into 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. Amen. Amen, because our Lord
has done that very thing in saving us even by one. the Lord Jesus
Christ. He saved us. And we see there
what's shaping up here is the eternal counsel of God between
the Lord, the Father, And the armor-bearer is a picture of
the Holy Spirit, and Jonathan, a picture of Christ. And they
covenanted together, in eternity, to save a people chosen by the
Father, given to the Son for His bride, for His inheritance,
and the Holy Spirit agreeing that He'll go and do the work
to apply the salvation accomplished for us by Christ. And so we're
saved by that one, even Christ. Turn with me. Hold your place
here in 1 Samuel 14, but go to Romans chapter five. And when you get there, be sure
to keep your finger around this area, because we'll be coming
back to a number of scriptures. In Romans 5.19, we see this truth,
how that we are saved by one, the Lord Jesus Christ. For as
by one man's sin, sorry, for as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Boses. glistening white, in the
righteous robe of the Lord Jesus Christ given to you, put upon
you by His grace and mercy, not because we deserve it. We're
like Saul's, fleshly people, carnal people by nature, dead
in trespasses and sins, under the prince of the power of the
air, until the Lord delivers us. As Ephesians says, but God. But God in grace saved us and
delivered us. It says in verse 7 now in our
text, 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. This is the work of the Spirit. You see, man's going to do what
man wants to do. If man has set his heart on sinning,
he's going to sin. If he's set his heart on corruption,
he's going to do wicked things, wicked works, evil works of the
flesh. This is why we need a new heart. This is why we must be born again,
made new creatures, because this heart of flesh in Adam is corrupt. It's defiled. It's a fountain
of sin and pollution, wicked works, even in religious things. What we do, thinking that this
is our righteousness, those are wicked works that cannot save. We need a new heart, and this
is the work of the Holy Spirit, which is given to us through
the blessings and benefits and grace of God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. He gives his spirit to his people
so that the spirit turns our heart, gives us a new heart,
and makes us willing to follow Christ withersoever he goeth. We follow him because he gives
us a new heart. Turn over to 2 Corinthians 3. 2 Corinthians 3, Paul here is teaching
us that the law is not given for our salvation. The law is
given to show us our sin. And he calls it administration
of condemnation. He calls it administration of
death. Those who would approach God through the law will die
in their sins. They will meet an angry God.
He won't approve of their works under the law, trying to save
themselves, because it's despising his son. It's despising his salvation,
whom he sent. But in 2 Corinthians 3, 15, it
says, but even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil
is upon their heart, left to ourselves, thinking that our
righteousnesses are by the law of Moses, That's dead works. That's looking to the Lord with
a veiled heart that cannot see, that's in darkness and blind
to the things of God and knows not God. Verse 16, nevertheless,
when it shall turn to the Lord, when what shall turn to the Lord?
The heart. When it shall turn to the Lord,
the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that spirit. And what he's saying is it's
the spirit of God that turns the heart, that gives us a new
heart, that believes the things of God because he removes the
veil. He removes that blindness and darkness that we're in by
nature. And he makes us new creatures
in the Lord Jesus Christ by his blood redemption. It's the gift
of Christ. It's the gift of God given to
us in Christ to forgive us of our sins and to give us life
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ for what he's done, not for what
you and I do, but for what Christ has done and accomplished for
us. And so he turns us, and when we're turned, we follow Christ. We follow Christ. He manifests
the fruit of the spirit in his people. they follow the Lord. Then said Jonathan, Behold, we
will pass over unto these men, and we will discover ourselves
unto them. So that concludes that covenant
of grace. This is what Holy God, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost determined to do in eternity past for his
people. Christ said, we'll pass over.
Let's go over. And Christ did that very thing. Coming in the flesh, he passed
over. And what did he do? When he came, he discovered himself
to the people. When he was baptized by John
the Baptist, the Father testified and the Holy Ghost testified
that this is the Son of God. The Father saying, this is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Come to the Father in
Jesus Christ. He is well pleased with the Son. Don't come in your own works.
Don't come with Jesus plus your own works. Come with nothing
but the Lord Jesus Christ. Lean wholly upon him, sinner. He is the Savior whom the Father
hath sent to save his people from their sins and to give life
to his people, to bless his people, to comfort your hearts, to give
you peace with the true and living God. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. He discovered himself to us in
his word. He spoke that which the Father
spoke to him. He said, I heard the Father speak,
I'm speaking to you. And he did the works which the
Father sent him to do. And in doing those things, he
manifested, he discovered himself that this is the Lamb of God. This is the promised seed that
should come. Hear Him, look to Him. This is
the one whom the Father hath sent. Now here's a truth, verse
9. If they say thus unto us, Tarry
until we come to you, then we will stand still in our place,
and will not go up unto them. In other words, if God waits
upon you and me to come to Him, forget it. There's no salvation. If there's anything that the
Father puts on us, if there's anything that we're required
to do for our salvation, even one little piece, just move an
inch to the Lord, it's not going to happen. Because if anything
depends on me, I'm not going to be saved. If anything depends
on you, you're not going to be saved. It's entirely resting
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And here he says at verse 10,
but if they say thus, come up to us. If God works in their
heart, if God gives them a new heart and they say, help me,
Lord. Remember me, Lord. Jesus, thou
son of David, help me, save me, deliver me. If he works that
by his grace and spirit in the heart, he'll save us. He's a
merciful savior, and he gives that to his people. He works
that. He shows us our need. He shows
us we're nothing but souls in the flesh. We're religious, but
we're fleshly. We're carnal. We're disobedient. We don't hear. We imagine we're
obeying the Lord. Saul was all messed up. That's
how we are by nature. That's how I am. I need the grace
of God, and that's what he's shown us in Saul. But if they
say thus, come unto us, then we will go up, for the Lord hath
delivered them into our hand, and this shall be a sign unto
us. That faith that we have is not
of the flesh. Faith is not of the flesh. It's
the fruit of the spirit. We don't get ourselves saved.
We don't do something. It's the Lord who gives faith,
who bears that gift of faith in his people and reveals. When
we call out to the Lord, save me, Lord, I'm the sinner. Have
mercy on me. He's revealing, he's manifesting
that he chose you and put you in Christ. And now he's manifesting
his salvation in you. That's where faith comes from,
from the Spirit. It's his gracious work in us. And this shall be
a sign unto us. What's the sign? The Lord Jesus
Christ. Look over him in Isaiah, Isaiah
chapter seven. Isaiah 7, and then in verse 14. Therefore, the Lord himself shall
give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel, which means
God with us. Look over at the next page, chapter
9, Isaiah 9, verse 6 and 7. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his
shoulder. All the success of the kingdom
of God, the building of the temple, the building of the house of
God, all rests squarely on the shoulders of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not you, not me, it's all on
him. and he's able to bear it. He
bore it for his people in love and in mercy to give us salvation
who have no hope in our own righteousness, in our own works. He did this
in mercy and in grace for his people. And his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government
and peace there shall be no end. And upon the throne of David.
and upon his kingdom to order it, and to establish it with
judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever, the
zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. And then we read
in Matthew 121 where it says, And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. And that's what's being accomplished
here. Salvation is being wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what the Lord's teaching us in the mystery of his grace now
revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. Verse 11, in 1 Samuel
14, verse 11. And both of them discovered themselves
unto the garrison of the Philistines. All right, it's the work of our
Lord who atoned for our sins and the Holy Spirit has given
to deliver us from that darkness, to give us life, to give us a
new birth in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Philistines
said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where
they had hid themselves. And the men of the garrison answered
Jonathan and his armor bearer and said, Come up to us and we'll
show you a thing. You see, when Christ came, he
came in weakness. It's called dishumiliation. When
he came in the flesh, he laid aside his glory and he came in
the likeness of sinful man, yet without sin. And he leaned wholly
upon the Father. He trusted the Father and trusted
that the Father would raise him from the dead. When he laid down
his life as the sin bearer of his people, He leaned upon the
Father and He came in weakness. And when He went, when He went
to, went willingly to the cross, The enemies, his enemies, our
enemies, thought, we've got him. We've got the heir. We're going
to put him to death, and we'll seize the inheritance for ourselves.
We'll take it for ourselves. This is it. We've got him. He's
weak. He cannot deliver himself. And
yet, in that very weakness, the weakness of God is greater than
the strength of man. Because that and His weakness
there on the cross went to our eyes and our understanding. That's
it. He's lost. And yet in that very thing, He
delivered His people. He snatched us from the jaws
of death and gave us life in Himself. And He did all that
in His weakness. And just to the praise and glory
of His name, look over at Colossians chapter 2. Colossians 2 verse 13 And you,
being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
hath he quickened, hath he made alive together with him, having
forgiven you all trespasses? blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. He's saying
he delivered us from the law. We're not under the law anymore.
We're not under the dominion of the law. We're under the dominion
of Christ. Christ our husband, Christ our
head, Christ our savior, Christ our God, Christ our king, Christ
our all. We're in him. And having spoiled
principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing
over them in it. What that means is he made a
public spectacle of his enemies. He defeated them. They thought
they had him, and he defeated them, destroying them all, delivering
us from our enemies in his own perfect righteousness, in his
own glorious work of redemption. Our Lord did this for us. Now
in the middle of verse 12 in our text, And Jonathan said unto
his armor-bearer, Come up after me, for the Lord hath delivered
them into the hand of Israel. We see Christ, our mighty champion. You know, in John chapter 18,
this was after our Lord had spoken to his disciples, those gracious
words. He washed their feet in chapter 13 and spoke those at
the gospel to his disciples in chapters 14, 15, 16, and then
his high priestly prayer in 17, and then chapter 18, we're told
that he crossed over the brook Kidron, which was a filthy black
brook, dirty brook. Psalmist refers to it of him
drinking from that brook. When he crossed over that brook,
it was done. He was going to face the enemy. No turning back. He was going
to meet our foe and deliver us from our sin. And he took upon him our sin
as the sin bearer, as the Lamb of God, to put that away. And
it says that Judas knew that place well because he would often
go there with his disciples when they were in Jerusalem. And so
he shows up, Judas, with a band of soldiers from the chief priests
and the Pharisees. And verse four of that chapter
says, and Jesus went forth and met them. Jesus went forth. We
see in Christ our Champion, our Mighty Savior, our Mighty God,
our Hero, who stood up for us and went and faced the foe and
delivered His people. He negotiated our release. He
went willingly and set us free, and He was left holding our sin,
our curse. He made a curse for us that we
would be delivered from that curse, delivered from the law,
delivered from the hand of justice. He paid the debt that we owed
to God, and he fulfilled all righteousness that we need to
stand faultless before the throne of God. Christ did that. Our
mighty Savior, our mighty God, our wonderful, loving Husband,
he went forth and met the foe and set us free. Verse 13, And Jonathan climbed
up upon his hands and upon his feet, That tells us, and the
armor bearer after him, and they fell before Jonathan, and his
armor bearer slew after him. That picture there of Jonathan
climbing up on his hands and his feet, it was hard work. Christ, when Christ came, he
is the servant of God. He came as a servant of God.
He said, I came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, to serve. and to lay down my life for my
people. He climbed up on his hands and
his knees, hard, difficult work, impossible for us to do. And
he got up there and he faced the enemy. And he bore the wrath
of God, the just wrath of God, which was against us for our
sin. He bore that for His people after
all that serving and laboring and no sleep and just constantly
serving and being on day after day after day after day. And
He went as the servant of God. And when He got there on that
cross and laid down His life, He accomplished our redemption.
He delivered us from death. And that work of grace is now
given to us. It goes forth, growing and increasing
and rolling on and on. And that kingdom of our Savior
is expanding and growing as he's delivering his people. Bring
this knowledge of the salvation and the grace of God wrought
in the heart by his grace and power, we are slain. to that
body of sin. We have no more part in that
body of sin. We're delivered from it and given life in the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit taking the things of Christ and
showing them unto you, making them effectual in your heart,
making you to hear, this is the Savior. This is the Savior I
need. Lord, remember me. Lord, don't
pass me by. Lord, don't leave me behind in
this wicked filth. of what I am, save me. Lord,
take my hand and bring me out of this kingdom of darkness into
your kingdom of light. And he does that. In verse 14,
in that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor bearer
made was about 20 men within, as it were, and half acre of
land, which a yoke of oxen might plow. There he is, right? Isn't
that what Mark is? A picture of the servant of God,
the ox. The Lord Jesus Christ, he plowed
that field. He did exactly what was necessary
in that little plot of land there in Golgotha, in Jerusalem. There
he accomplished our redemption. And then from there, it just
grows and increases and continues to bear fruit. As our Lord said,
except a corn of wheat fall to the ground and die, it remaineth
alone. But if it die, and if it's buried
in the ground, then that seed grows, and it brings forth fruit,
much fruit. And that's exactly what Christ
has done from that day 2,000 years ago. It's just bearing
fruit, upon fruit, upon fruit, upon fruit, upon fruit, to the
glory, praise, and honor of his name. You're here because of
the grace and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's gathered his
sheep in to hear this good news, to tell you what you have need
of hearing, that He is the Savior, He's the Great Physician, He's
the Healer, He's the One who has put away our sins and obtained
eternal redemption for us, all in grace, given freely. not for
anything you've done, labored, spent, or sacrificed for. Christ
did it all. And He reveals that grace in
the hearts of His people who rejoice, rejoice that He has
done it all, and are thankful, thankful because the Lord has
shown you you're a needy sinner. And needy sinners love Christ,
and they love His gospel. It is good news to the needy
sinner. And so he's gracious. 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. When Christ came, the earth quaked. The earth quaked, with a mighty
quaking showing that God had done this. God has done this
work. So it was a very great trembling. And the watchmen of Saul and
Gibeah, of Benjamin, looked, and behold, the multitude melted
away, and they went on beating down one another." That's a picture
of the preachers and the pastors that your God gives to you, the
watchmen. And what do we do? All we do is look. Behold! Look what Christ has accomplished
for his people. Look what he's accomplished for
sinners. Look to him. He's beating down
the Philistines. He's the conqueror of the Philistines
in your heart. We don't beat the Philistines.
Not by the flesh, not by the works of the flesh, not by the
law. Christ defeats the Philistines and his grace and glory spreads. And he, by the grace of God,
through the preaching of the Gospel, takes off those grave
clothes that were on Lazarus. He said, take off those grave
clothes. How's that done? Through the preaching of the
Gospel. Patiently just preaching the Gospel. Week after week,
time after time. And the Lord just strips us down
of all those vain, dead, carnal, worthless things that we bring,
all that baggage of free will, dead religion, that cannot save,
and he strips us of it. and he comforts us and he teaches
us. No, don't look there. Yes, you
have sinned. Yes, you did wrong. Look to Christ
whom I've sent. Believe him. That's why I sent
him. That's why I provided him because
you can't save yourselves. You can't cleanse your hands.
The Lord requires truth in the inward parts, David said. We
don't reach there. We can cut things away in the
outward of the flesh through religion, through the law, but
we can't reach the heart. Only God, the Holy Spirit, touches
the heart. Only He can circumcise the heart.
He's the only one that can deliver us and make us new creatures
in the Lord Jesus Christ to the praise, honor, and glory of His
name. So that's what the watchmen are
sent to do. We just look. We're just looking in the scriptures.
We're not coming up with anything. We're just declaring what we
see the Lord has accomplished by his own death, by his own
resurrection, by his own life, by his own rule, his own power,
to the glory and praise of him. Then, now here, in these next
few verses, this is the controversy of the gospel, how to some it's
a savor of life unto life, to some it's a savor of death unto
death, and it's a picture that there are yet vain professors
and tares in the church, but there's lots of wheat. Lots of
wheat, who are called by the grace of God. Verse 17, then
said Saul unto the people that were with him, Number now, and
see who is gone from us. And when they had numbered, behold,
Jonathan and his armor-bearer were not there. Woe unto us if
Christ and His Holy Spirit are not here. We need His presence
every day, every hour, every moment. We need His grace. And Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring
hither the ark of God. Let's get the religion in here.
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. Stop what you're doing. Hold
up. You hear that? The kingdom of God. violently advances, and the violent
taketh it by force. 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. There must also be heresies among
you, sects among you, to show those that are approved. There
will be differences, there will be fights, but the Lord will
reveal them that are his. He'll reveal those in whom his
grace and power is working wonderfully. Moreover, the Hebrews that were
with the Philistines before that time, which went up with them
into the camp from the country round about, even they also turned
to be with the Israelites that were with Saul and Jonathan.
The Lord started drawing in his people, bringing in the harvest,
those white unto harvest. He's calling them in under the
preaching of the gospel according to the salvation of Christ. Likewise,
also 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 in the battle. When do we turn? When the Lord
has made us to hear Christ, to hear what He's accomplished.
When He removes that ear of flesh and He gives that ear of faith
to hear the voice of the Son of God, to hear Him by the grace
of God. And He gives us faith to hear
and to believe this is the Son of God. He has accomplished my
redemption. He's done the work. To the praise
and honor of His name, And when they heard, they followed after
them in the battle. Turn over with me to Hebrews
2. Hebrews 2, and let's look at
verse 14 and 15. And this is a good summary of
all that we just read there. Hebrews 2.14, for as much then
as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. Before we heard All we heard
was religious things. And we joined ourselves to a
religious organization or some sect thinking that this was my
salvation. And we labored under that. And
we spent under that. And we strove under those shackles
and that bondage. And we were afraid in dead letter
religion. Afraid in free will religion
because it was so confusing. And it wasn't clear. It didn't
just simply declare Christ. They kept putting our eyes on
our flesh, what we needed to do. And every time we saw sin
in our members, because it's yet present there, we were made
afraid again. And it was like playing chutes
and ladders. You'd get up so high, and then
you'd sin, and then you'd slide on down the chute. And you were
back to the beginning again, afraid to die, wondering, have
I done enough? Have I done enough to please
God? Have I done enough to satisfy Him? Have I done enough to atone
for my sins? And we knew of Jesus. He was
a component, but we didn't believe Him. We didn't rest in Him. But
Christ came to destroy that work of the devil, to deliver us from
sin. Not that you won't see sin in these members, but that you'll
see Christ, who overcame the sin in this flesh, that by His
righteousness we stand complete in Him. This body will be redeemed
when Christ comes. Then the sin will be entirely
gone from the land. But until then, we see sin in
these members. Not that we use our hope in Christ
for a cloak of unrighteousness, but this isn't dictating our
inheritance and where we spend our eternal habitations. Christ
determines that. We're delivered from that body
of sin in Christ by his death and atonement, so that we don't
look at those works. We don't look at religion as
a means to improve our standing with the true and living God.
We look to Christ, because he is our standing. We're as fit
now to stand before God as we will be ten years from now, as
we were in the beginning when we first heard. Christ is our
salvation, so don't labor in that body of sin. You've been
delivered from that body of sin and been put in the body of Christ.
That's what it means. You that are in the body of Christ,
you that believe Him, You stand in his inheritance. He's your
head, not Adam, not Moses. That's the body of sin. You're
in the body of Christ through faith revealed in your hearts. God's saying, look to my son.
I've put away your sin. Though you might see its effects
in your members, though you might feel its pull and be grieved
by it, but don't look to that. Keep looking to Christ. He is
the Savior. And that's what he means there
at that last verse. So the Lord saved Israel that
day, and the battle passed over unto Beth-haven. And you're familiar
with that word Bethel, right? That means the house of God.
Well, Beth-haven means the house of vanity. And what it's saying
there is the battle's still going on here seemingly, but it's all
vain. The works are already finished
in Christ. The battle's won. When Jonathan went up there,
he started something that could not be stopped, and the Philistines
were defeated. So it is when Christ went to
the cross, he defeated our enemies. The battle was won. And what
you see going on here is just sin and fighting going on in
the house of vanity. Pot sherds will strive with the
pot sherds of the earth, but God is God. Sovereign, ruling
on his throne, and you're his, you that believe Christ. You're
his. Rest in him, trust him, believe
him, give him thanks, glory, and honor, because he's the wonderful
savior. Amen.