Well, Israel, the nation Israel,
Old Testament Israel, was symbolical of God's elect people. It was
a particular people. But it was only a picture of
God's true people, for we know that, as Paul tells us, they
are not all Israel, which are of Israel. They're not all the
true Israel of God. That happened to have been born
Israelites, not at all, not by any means. In many times, it
was only a tiny minority that were the true people of God.
When you think about Israel, why else should so much of the
word of God be taken up with this insignificant nation? They
were a very small nation. As the nations of the world go,
they weren't one of the world's great empires. In terms of world
politics, they hardly played any part at all, in truth. They
were just this tiny little nation, relatively speaking, and yet
they form so much of what is the Word of God. Why is that?
It's to teach us, it's to show us that God is a God of sovereign
choice. God is a God of particular redemption. God particularly saves the people
of his choice. This is who he is, this is why
he is. All those that deny this truth because they don't find
it convenient, they don't find it appealing to those that they
preach to, they just fly in the face of what scripture is saying.
It's there. You know, search, dig for it.
No, you don't. Look, it's obvious. Israel is
the theme of the Old Testament. Israel, the chosen people of
God. This is what he does. This is how he saves his people.
He's a God of sovereign grace. But you remember that this people
had wanted to be like all the other nations, and they'd asked
for a king. And in doing so, God told Samuel, they've rejected
me. They had rejected God. And it
culminated, as we saw last week, with Saul's deadly foolishness. when he not only sacrificed without
a true priest, an ordained priest, which God said was essential
because he pictured our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ,
he corrupted the image that that Old Testament sacrifice portrayed
of true salvation. It was only an image, but he
didn't even keep the right image. He corrupted that true image. He did what was a do-it-yourself
salvation. And you know so many people try
to do that. They take bits out of this book that they don't
like and they twist it and they bend it and they make it a do-it-yourself
stuff. Well, God will be alright with
that. I won't go the whole hog with all of this stuff. We'll
go so far but then we'll make it up as we go along. No. It's
deadly foolishness. That's what we saw last week
with Saul. Deadly foolishness. And Samuel told him, verse 14
of chapter 13, now thy kingdom shall not continue. Saul, your
kingdom's not going to continue. The Lord hath sought him a man
after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be
captain over his people. Who's he talking about? Who's
he talking about? David? Yes, David, the shepherd
boy, was to be king of Israel. David, the lowly shepherd boy,
Or is he really talking about great David's greatest son? Who's
great David's greatest son? The Lord Jesus Christ. The sure
mercies of David are the mercies of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
city of David is Bethlehem. Where was Jesus born? In Bethlehem
of Judea. He's talking about the one who
is the king of his people. They said to him, are you the
king of the Jews? He said, you have said, you have
said it, so it is. Yes, he's the king of his people,
king of kings and Lord of lords. And when he comes in his glory,
at the end of time, we'll see him in all that glory on his
white horse, as it's pictured in the book of Revelation, as
we saw, he is our king. But in rejecting Saul from being
king of the symbolical people of God, in rejecting Saul, God
must still save the people of his choice. If he has decreed
it, he will do it. He must still save the people
of his choice. Now, the battles of the people,
of the symbolical people of God, are in these chapters all portrayed
as being against the Philistines. They're near neighbors, and they
were constantly intermingled, and they were in a very sorry
state at this time. Lots of the Israelites had gone
over to the philistines and we're living amongst them and working
amongst them you know you could say in a way it's a little bit
like the society in which we live today where there are people
from all over the world well these races were just all mingled
together in the borders of the philistines and they lived with
them and they traded with them and they worked for them and
so on and so forth because we see when we get halfway through
chapter 14 and the battles going the way of Israel that all those
who are really Israelites turn on the Philistines and it turns
the seed of a victory into an absolute rout. Anyway in chapter
14 verses 1 to 23 we see the account of Jonathan. Now Jonathan
was the son of King Saul. Jonathan was clearly a grown
man, and a strong grown man, and a capable fighter, and a
man of great integrity as we see through the rest of the scriptures.
He's a man of great integrity. He's a man of faith. He knows
and he understands the things of the gospel that are to do
with Israel. And we see Jonathan and his armor bearer in this
dreadful situation where practically speaking the king that the people
had asked for, Saul, he's hiding away under a pomegranate tree
at Migron with just 600 people. He's in no fit state to take
on the Philistines and Jonathan and his armor bearer. How many
does that make, Timothy? How many people? Jonathan and
his armor bearer. How many is that? Two! Not many, is it? Two! One and one makes two. You're
dead right, Luca. They said, let's go and see if
the Lord will use us today. Let's go and see if the Lord
will use us today. Just the two of them. Just the
two of them. You see, when they did what they
set out to do, look in verse 23. So the Lord saved Israel
that day. The Lord saved Israel that day,
and it was started by just two of them. So many thousands others,
it was started by two of them. Look in verse 6 of chapter 14. This is where we find our text.
Jonathan, Saul's son, said to the young man that bear his armor,
come and let us go over unto the garrison of, well it was
the Philistines, wasn't it? But he calls them these uncircumcised. You see, circumcision was the
symbolical mark of the covenant that God made with Abraham. And
that all of the Jews, it was the mark that they were separated
from the flesh for the service and purpose of God. And Jonathan,
a man of faith, sees these Philistines as those who reject the way God
has said you would come to him. Let's go over to the garrison
of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will
work for us. I don't think he's doubting at
all. I don't think he's saying, oh, there's a slim chance. I
think he's saying, this day God's going to work for us. Because
look at it. God is determined to save his
people. And what's afflicting his people
are these uncircumcised. These Philistines who reject
the truth and the salvation of God. And look what he says. Why
are just you going? Why is it just Jonathan and his
armour bearer? Jonathan says, for there is no
restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. There's no
restraint to the Lord. If he's going to save, he'll
save whether it's using many or whether it's using few. Save. What do we mean by save? What do we mean? Let me stop
here for a moment. Let's take some time here. Let's
be absolutely clear. I know you know it. Will you
be bored of hearing it? Will you be bored of hearing
it? I think not. If you know it, you will not
be bored of hearing it. It's your delight. It's your
comfort. It's your assurance. Let me tell
you what the Word of God teaches us. The Word of God teaches us
that in eternity, in eternity, outside of this space-time in
which we live, God decreed creation. I'll even go so far as to say
God decreed the fall, though God is in no way the author of
sin, but God decreed the fall. God decreed judgment on sin because
of his holy nature, but in pure grace He chose a particular people,
a multitude that no man can number from all sinful humanity that
would exist in space-time. He chose those people to be saved
from the just consequences of their sin. Now your flesh might
scream out, that's illogical, that's unfair, that doesn't seem
right, and you know, my flesh might even agree with you. But
do you know what I look to? what Abraham said about God.
When God was going down to punish Sodom and Gomorrah for their
sin, and Abraham was arguing with God, not arguing, but presenting
his case, if there are fifty just, will you still? If there
are down to ten, if there's just a, will you? No, God will take
his people out of there first. But Abraham says this, shall
not the judge of all the earth do right? Whatever you think
about the doctrines of grace, of the sovereignty of God, of
particular redemption, of the fact that there is clearly, if
there's a doctrine of election, there's a doctrine of reprobation.
Whatever you think, this should be your conclusion. As a matter
of faith, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Turn
with me, if you can, or just listen, if you can't, to Romans
chapter 9. Let me read you some verses.
Verse 18. Romans chapter 9, verse 18. is
arguing with his, not arguing with his hearers, but he's presenting
the case to his hearers about election. He says in verse 18,
therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom
he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say unto me, why then
does he find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
You know, that's what the logic of the flesh says, doesn't it?
Nay, but O man, Who art thou that replyest against God? God
is God. You may not understand him, but
he is God. Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Think of a
potter and a lump of clay. You know the potter makes pots
and cups and saucers. Has not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel, and to honour,
a beautiful vase? Has he not power to make a beautiful
and another unto dishonor, an old clay plant pot that I'll
shut away by the dozen each year because the frost gets in them
and breaks them. Has he not power to do that? Yes, of course he
has. What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his
power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of
wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might make known
the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had
aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called, not of
the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, the Israel of God,
the true Israel of God. Will you reply against God? Sin
must be condemned under the strict justice and nature of God. The
justice of God is not something arbitrarily that he thought up. The justice of God is a reflection
of his inherent character. Sin must be condemned. He said
to Adam and Eve in the garden, in the day that you eat thereof
you shall surely die. And what do we read after that
as you look through Genesis? You read of all the patriarchs
and you read, and he died. And he died. And he died. And
he died. And so it goes on. You shall
surely die. The soul that sins, it shall
die, says Ezekiel. But how does God save his elect? For sure, his elect, all of us,
are sinners. All of us. Elect. Children of
wrath, even as others. Isn't their sin too great for
God to save? Is there any restraint to God's
ability to save? Is God's ability to save restrained
by the sin of His elect? Isaiah says this, Isaiah 118,
Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. God saves by removing
the blood-red stain of sin from his people. That's how he does
it. How does he do it? In the person of his son. He
became man to stand as substitute. He came the just for the unjust. The unjust, the people of his
choice. The unjust to bring us to God. He who knew no sin was
made sin. the sin of his people that his
people might be made the righteousness of God in him for he in his flesh
in his own self he bear our sins in his own body on the tree and
Peter goes on to say in that text 1 Peter 2 24 by whose stripes
you were healed by the punishment that he bore your punishment
was paid it echoes Isaiah 53 where we hear about the sheep
before the shearers is done divine justice is satisfied. The nature of God, as a holy
God, is not offended. He is just and justifier. Propitiation is made in Christ's
blood." Oh, there's that long word again. Somebody said to
me, I wonder if you could explain it to the children. Propitiation.
That's a big doctrinal word, isn't it? Well, let me try and
explain it to you. You boys, listen. Listen now.
Now, you know when Mummy or Daddy gets very annoyed with you because
you've done something wrong? You've been there, haven't you?
I can see Timmy smiling. And, you know, Mummy's... We'll
say Mummy because she's not here this morning and he's sat next
to her. So we'll say, Mummy's really, really mad with you two,
okay? And you, oh gosh, Mummy's absolutely furious with me. And
I know she's got cause to be because I've done something wrong.
Do you know what you want in that situation? You want mummy
not to be angry with you anymore. You want her to be your friend
again. You want that anger to be turned away. That's that word.
Propitiation. God is angry with the wicked
every day. Oh how I want that anger to be turned away. Oh how
I need propitiation, that propitiation, do you know where it's made?
In the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the people for whom
he stood as surety. We read in 1 John chapter 1 verse
7, the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all
sin, his people. He has redeemed us, the Lord
Jesus Christ has redeemed us, purchased us, from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us, for cursed is everyone
that hangs on a tree. He bore the penalty of our sins,
that we might be saved from our sins. Romans 8. Verse 1, there
is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
No condemnation under divine justice. What does this say to
you? You know that it's appointed to man to die once and then the
judgment. You know that we're all, we must
all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, says 2nd Corinthians
chapter 5 and verse 10. How are you going to stand there?
In fear and trembling because of your sins? In fear and trembling
because of what you might have done and not done since you've
claimed to be a Christian? No. In Christ, you stand there
confident. Full confidence, the full assurance
of faith. You come before that judgment
seat knowing that God has judged already. Because when he looks
at you, as Peter said in his prayer, he looks at his Son.
And he sees you in his Son. And there's no iniquity found
in Jacob. Not at all. Though in the flesh we're sinners,
yet we're cleansed from that sin. And what do we receive?
Rather than a frown, rather than wrath, we receive a smile from
God. We receive acceptance from God. We receive, we hear those words,
come ye blessed of my Father. enter into that inheritance that
has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
We have peace with God. How many times in the epistles
does Paul talk about peace with God? By this one man, Jesus,
what does his name mean? saves his people from their sins.
By this one man Jesus, God has saved his people from their sins,
in him alone, for neither is there salvation in any other,
for there is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved. And where he has saved, it is
to the uttermost. not clinging on by your fingernails
about to be lost, to the uttermost. He's able also to save them to
the uttermost that come unto God by him. But here's the question. How will we get them to come
to God by Christ? For nobody is saved who does
not call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what it
says? Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved." I tell you, not one of the elect
of God is saved except that person call on the name of the Lord.
You must. You must call on the name of
the Lord. You must. They all who are saved by Christ
must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. They must believe the
gospel of his grace. The only evidence that we have
that any of us are among the people whom Christ redeemed is
that we believe the gospel as Paul says to the Thessalonians.
I've quoted it to you many times. Beloved, you're blessed of God
for God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. How
do I know? through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. You believe the Gospel. Fleshly
logic may scream against us, but when God irresistibly calls,
we believe. I don't care who you are. When
God irresistibly calls by His Spirit, you will trust and you
will follow the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the gospel. But again
I come back to the question, what resources does God use to
effectually call his elect to belief of the truth? They must
believe. What resources does he use to call his elect to belief
of the truth? They've got to call on him. How
can they call unless somebody preaches to them? What forces
is he going to need to accomplish his purpose of grace? So let's
think about the means. Look at verse six again. There
is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. God is not restricted in how
much salvation he can accomplish. He's not. God is not restricted. He doesn't depend on the numbers
of forces or the resources that we have or the buildings that
we use or the places that we go. No, God is not restricted
in how much salvation he can accomplish. He will accomplish
all that he is intended to. But he uses means. He uses, what
are the means he uses? He uses preachers. How do I know
that? Oh, doesn't he use other ways?
You know, can't he just bring it to some people, you know,
out of the blue? No. 1 Corinthians 1, 21, it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe what they hear when a preacher comes
to them. I tell you this is always the way God works. He sends a
preacher. Your path will cross the path
of a preacher who declares to you the accomplished salvation
of God. But how many preachers does he
need to accomplish his purposes? What does he need to accomplish
his purposes? God must save everyone of his
elect. There seem to be nothing like
enough in these days, do there? In the days in which we live,
there seem to be nothing like enough true preachers of the
gospel. There's loads of religion, but
the true gospel is in such a sorry state, or is it? The true church
appears to be all but lying dead in the streets. You know I'm
alluding to Revelation 11, the prophets lying dead in the streets.
How will the Israel of God be reached with the gospel and believe
unto salvation? We've got to do something about
this, haven't we? Don't we need to use the tactics of the world?
You know, let's look at the way businesses are successful and
use their marketing means and see if that will get people to
come back. You know, a smart marketing person
can get people to spend money they never ever intended to spend.
Very, very easy. Dead easy. Well, let's try some
gimmicks. Let's try some, let's put our
stall out and let's do some things that will attract them. I'll
tell you what. Do you know this thing of particular
redemption? It's a real blocker to some people. It really is. You know this idea in the world
that there is no God because evolution caused everything.
We need to remove some blockers. Let's focus our attention on
convincing people that life didn't start by evolution. Let's focus
our attention on that. alone. Let's take that particular
redemption. We'll tell people Jesus died
for their sins, but let's not talk about particular redemption.
Let's not talk about God accomplishing redemption in Christ for exactly
the particular people of his choice, because it puts people
off. It offends people. No. God's ability to save Israel
is not restrained by the number of preachers or by the weaponry
at their disposal. Sometimes he uses many, sometimes
he uses few. Isaiah 59 verse 1. The Lord's
hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither his ear
heavy that it cannot hear. God is not limited in his ability
to save his people from their sins. God will save his 7,000
who have not bowed the knee to Baal, whether there be one Elijah
or a great company of preachers, will he? He used one Gideon and
a handful of chosen men. He said, you've got too many,
you've got too many. And he put them to a test and
he said, no, there's still too many, send all these away. And he ended
up with just a handful of men, chosen men, and one Gideon and
that little band accomplished salvation for Israel. It took
one Samson, one Samson, to destroy the temple of Dagon in the Philistines. It took one David, one little
shepherd boy, who said when all the army of Israel was quaking
with fear because there was Goliath of Gath, that great nine foot
tall thereabouts we think, this huge great armed giant who would
kill any Israelite soldier that went near, And David, by faith,
a man after God's own heart, said, I'm not afraid of him,
because God will go with me. Put this armor on. I'm sorry,
I can't use this armor. What did he take? One little
sling, the sling, the way of making a stone, and five little
bullet-sized stones. And you know one of them, he
slung it because he was accurate with it, but God made it hit
that giant just right through a hole in his armour and stunned
him and David cut his head off. No, no restraint, no restraint,
no restraint to save Israel. Just little David and his five
stones and his sling, that's all it took. Only a boy called
David. So look at the confidence of
faith and I'll wrap this up. Look at Jonathan's faith in verse
6. Jonathan said to the young man
that bear his armor, come and let us go over unto 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 few. The people of God are in a strait. They're in a dire condition. They're in a constrained condition.
They're under the cosh of the Philistines. They're in fear
and trembling. Their leader, the one that they
wanted above all else to be like the rest of the nations, has
turned out to be pathetic. He disobeys God. His kingdom
is going to be taken from him. He's a mess. He's an irrational,
unreasonable man. Going on in future chapters,
he does the most bizarre, unreasonable, unjust things. And he's got a
son called Jonathan who has faith, who has true faith in the living
God, who understands something of the purpose of God to save
Israel by many or by few. He knew that God was omnipotent. What does omnipotent mean? Can
do absolutely everything. Omnipotent, all powerful. There's nothing he cannot do.
Irrespective of the arm of flesh, he doesn't need the arm of flesh
to accomplish his purposes. Here's another example. Hezekiah,
this is generations later on in the book of God. Hezekiah
in Jerusalem is facing the might of the Assyrian army. Am I talking
fiction? Am I talking myth and legend?
No. Go down to the British Museum.
It's only about 20 miles from us where we are at the moment.
Go down to the British Museum and look round and you will see
artifacts all around of the Assyrian Empire. Incredible. Absolutely
amazing. Sennacherib was real. Hezekiah
was real. Jerusalem was about to be overthrown
like everybody else that had stood in the way of Sennacherib,
of the Assyrians. Hezekiah prays this, 2nd Chronicles
32 verse 8, with him, with Sennacherib, with the Assyrians is an arm
of flesh but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight
our battles and the people rested themselves, trusted upon the
words of Hezekiah king of Judah and you know something? Israel
was saved without a blow being exchanged because in that night
the angel of the Lord came and there was a great slaughter and
Sennacherib went away in fear and when he got back home he
was worshipping in his idol temple and I think it was his sons or
was it his brother, I don't know, one of them they killed him there,
Sennacherib was killed and the Israelites didn't have to raise
a sword against him. A similar one, a similar one,
Asa versus the Ethiopians, it's in 2nd Chronicles chapter 14
and verse 9. Let me read this to you. And
there came out against them, this is against the Israelites,
Zerah the Ethiopian, with an host of a thousand thousand and
three hundred chariots, and came unto Marashah. Then Asa went
out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley
of Zephathah and Marashah. And Asa cried unto the Lord his
God. Hear that? Asa cried unto the
LORD his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help,
whether with many or with them that have no power. nothing to
you. It's an easy thing, it's an easy
thing, O God, for you to help, whether you use many or whether
you use them that have got no power. Help us, O Lord our God,
for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. And yes, we'll sing that hymn
at the end. We rest on thee, our shield and
our defender. O Lord, thou art our God, let
not man prevail against thee. So the Lord smote the Ethiopians."
You see, God is not restricted, whether it be by many or by few. Jeremiah 17 verse 5, Thus saith
the Lord, be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his
arm, whose heart departeth from the Lord. Let us not imitate
those who think they do the Lord's work by trusting in the arm of
flesh and the methods and the gimmicks of worldly salesmen.
Let's not do that. Let's not do that. Are you a
believer? Are you burdened to see the Israel of God saved?
Yes, you should be. We want to see the Israel of
God saved. We want to see thy kingdom come. Where lies our confidence? Where
is it? Is it in the arm of flesh? Hardly. I think what we did this year,
now by no means is this any blowing trumpet, I'm just using it as
an example, there's just a few of us and with a little bit of
help we had that conference where the Gospel of Grace was preached,
clearly. And that's what we hope to do
next year, we're thinking about next year, at the end of May
next year, down at Wimbledon in Merton, South London. that
there will say to people the word of God is going to be preached
the true gospel of God's grace is going to be proclaimed there
and you know we've got preachers coming who will in these dark
days of the church looking like it's lying dead in the street
they will preach the gospel of grace and what about that which
will be arrayed against it you might not see it arrayed against
it but be sure it is the forces of the world the forces of satan
The forces of religion, now I can tell you from first-hand experience,
the forces of evangelical religion, so-called, are arrayed against
the proclamation of the gospel we seek to preach. And they're
arrayed against us. What are we seeking to do? What
are we seeking to do? The arm of flesh? No. just simply
facilitate the preaching of the gospel of effectual salvation
accomplished, because that's what Christ has done. And we're
looking to God to give the increase. Jonathan was inspired of God
to embark upon a work for the saving of Israel. Let's ask ourselves,
are you, am I, individually, as a fellowship, all who listen
as believers, where you are with us, are we open to receive and
welcome an inspiration from the Lord to embark on some work. That work might involve, probably
will, self-denial and difficulty, but are we prepared to do it
because we desire the glory of God, and the glory of God is
in the salvation of his people. Well, if that's so, and I trust
it is, and I pray that it is, then let us pray that God will
give wisdom and discernment to follow the signs of providence.
He puts signs of providence before us. You know, we genuinely believe
he's put signs of providence before us to say, you know, you
ought to get together with the people down at Merton and that
you ought to use their facilities and you ought to gather there
in the capital of this country and you ought to declare this
message there in the capital of this country These are signs
of providence. We're following what we think
is the right leading, and we're trusting God to bless it. As
Asa, we rest on him, we rest on him alone, not on the arm
of flesh, not on the gimmicks of the world, knowing the blessed
thoughts he has towards us. Do you know that? God has blessed
thoughts towards us. He says through Jeremiah 29 verse
11, I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the
Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected
end. We go not forth alone against
the foe. What are we looking for? What's
the expected end? A harvest of souls rescued from the kingdom
of Satan. A harvest of souls chosen in
Christ before the foundation of the world. A harvest of souls
who must call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. A harvest
of souls who will indeed. Let's sing that closing hymn
now. We rest on thee, our shield and our defender.