Would you turn to 1 Samuel chapter
13. 1 Samuel 13. I'd like to read beginning
in verse 15 down through the end of the chapter. And Samuel arose, and gat him
up from Gilgal unto Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the
people that were present with him, about six hundred men. Look back at verse five. And
the Philistines gathered themselves together with Israel, to fight
with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen,
and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude.
and they came up and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethhaven. So that was the army of the Philistines
and then we had a grand total of 600 with Saul. Such the army became under his
leadership. 600 people. This is the king
that they had chosen. Now let's go on reading verse
16. Saul and his 600 men. And Saul
and Jonathan his son and the people that were present with
him, Abodah and Gibeah, Benjamin, But the Philistines are camped
in Mekmash. And the spoilers came out of
the camp of the Philistines in three companies. Now that word
spoilers, that means the destroyers, the Mars, the perishers. They
would come and invade in different places in Israel. And the spoilers
came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies. One company
turned unto the way that leadeth to Oprah, and to the land of
Sheol. Another company turned to the way of Beth Oren. Another
company turned to the way of the border that looketh to the
valley of Zebulun, toward the wilderness. Now there was no
smith found throughout all the land of Israel. For the Philistines
said, lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears. But all the
Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen every man his share,
and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock. Yet they had
a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the
forks, and for the axes to sharpen the goads. These are all instruments
for farming and agriculture. They didn't have any weapons.
So it came to pass in the day of battle that there was neither
sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that
were with Saul and Jonathan. But with Saul and with Jonathan,
his son was there found. They had swords. They were the
only ones. And the garrison of Philistines went out to the passage
of Michmash." Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's blessed name. And Lord, we ask that he might
be glorified in our midst and that we might be enabled to see
something of his glory. Lord, we ask that you would do
for us that which we cannot do for ourselves. Lord, we wait on thee. We ask
that you would forgive us of our sins for Christ's sake. And
Lord, we ask that you would give us grace to walk and talk and
think in a way that honors your gospel. Lord, give us grace to love you
more. Give us grace truly to love one another more. And Lord,
teach us what it means to take the lowest seat and to esteem
the other as better than ourselves. We pray for your blessing upon
this assembly. We pray for your blessing on
the singing, the public reading of your word, the preaching of
your gospel. And Lord, we pray for your blessing
on all your people wherever they meet together. In Christ's name
we pray. Amen. The Philistines. were the sworn
enemies of Israel throughout the Old Testament, weren't they?
I don't know if you're supposed to say Philistines or Philistines.
I'm just going to say Philistines. I've heard it pronounced both
ways. But if you look at the etymology of the word Philistine,
it means to roll in the dust, or it means to wallow in the
flesh. That's the meaning of the Philistines,
and they were the sworn enemies of Israel. Now, there were times
in Israel's history where the Philistines ruled over the Israelites,
and there were also times in the Israelites' history when
the Israelites ruled over the Philistines. But turn with me
to a passage in Judges chapter 3. Judges chapter 3, verse 1. Now these are the nations which
the Lord left to prove Israel by them. The Lord allowed these
nations to remain, to prove and to test Israel by them, even
as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan,
only that the generations of the children of Israel might
know to teach them war, at least such as before knew nothing thereof.
They were left by the Lord to teach them something about warring. the battle between the flesh
and the spirit is what this represents. Namely, the five lords of the
Philistines. They were the main problems.
The five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the
Sidians and the Hivites that dwelt in Mount Lebanon from Mount
Baal-Hiram and to the entering in of Hamath, verse 4, and they
were to prove Israel by them. to know whether they would hearken
unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their
fathers by the hand of Moses." So we see that these were all
left to test Israel. God left them there, and that
reminds us of how much control the Lord has. He controls everything. Everything that happens in our
lives, He is in absolute control of. I love that, don't you? Everything
the Lord sends our way is to test us, to prove us. the trying
of your faith. It's a good thing. It's a precious
thing. Thank the Lord for everything
He sends our way. Now, let's go back to our text in 1 Samuel
13, verse 15. And Samuel arose and gat him
up from Gilgal. And everybody that I read said
he arose in anger. He was mad at Saul over what
Saul had done previously in this chapter. And Saul numbered the
people that were present with him about 600 men. And Saul and
Jonathan, his son, and the people that were present with him, abode
in Gibeah Benjamin. But the Philistines encamped
in Michmash. And remember, this was a group
of, what was it, 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, people as the
sand of the seashore. That's just how big this group
was. And yet Saul had 600 men. Now you can imagine how afraid
they were. Most of the Israelites had gone and hid themselves in
caves and dens. Look in verse six. When the men
of Israel saw that they were in a strait, for the people were
distressed, then the people did hide themselves in caves and
thickets and in rocks and in high places and in pits. They
were just hiding, scared to death of the Philistines. Verse 17. came out of the camp of the Philistines
in three companies. corrupters, or people who cause
ruin, or cause decay, or batter, or destroy, or mar, or perish.
That's what the word means. But what it is, they had three
different groups that would go out throughout Israel and spoil
and steal because they had to provide for this great army at
this time that was encamped at Michmash. So they'd send out
these three different spoilers to go to different places to
rob the Israelites. Verse 17, and the spoilers came
out of the camp of the Philistines and three companies. One company
turned and tells where they went. Now here's what the Philistines
did to the Israels. Look down at verse 19. Now, there was no
smith found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines
said, lest the Hebrews make themselves swords and spears." Now, I think
it's interesting that Saul, as king, if you look back in, I
think it's chapter 10, they won a great battle against the Philistines.
And why didn't they reestablish the smiths so they could have
some weaponry? But they didn't. Saul proved
what a poor leader he was at this time. And look where they
were left, just with 600 men. Verse 20, but all the Israelites went
down to the Philistines to sharpen every man his, he talks about
their farming implements. Now, you reckon they charged
them a lot of money to do this? You know they did. I mean, they
kept them broke, they kept them completely dependent upon them.
So it came to pass in the day of battle that there was neither
sword nor spear found in the hand of the people that were,
we saw in Jonathan, But when Solomon with Jonathan, his son,
there was found. They were the only ones who had
swords. And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the passage
of Mekmash. Now, what got my attention in
looking at this passage of Scripture is the three bands of spoilers. Because when I think of what
the Philistines typify, the enemies of God's people, they are throughout
the Scriptures. And there were three bands of
spoilers. Now, what came to my mind is
our three enemies. You know what they are? The world,
the flesh, and the devil. Those are the three sworn enemies
of God's people, of me, of you. The world, the flesh, and the
devil. Now, as I said, spoiler means
to corrupt, to cause ruin, to decay, to batter, to destroy,
to mar, to perish. And these are the three spoilers
of God's people. And we're attacked by these three
things constantly in our experience as believers. And I really believe
that the world, the flesh, and the devil, they correspond with
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life. These things all go together. The world, the flesh, and the
devil, well, obviously, The flesh represents the lust of the flesh. The world represents the lust
of the eyes being concerned with what the world thinks. The pride
of life is the devil, our enemy. Remember that scripture when
it talks about not a novice less being lifted up with pride, he
fall into the condemnation of the devil. The world, this is
what our Lord battled in the time of his temptation when he
was tempted, the first with the lust of the flesh. If you're
really the son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Prove it. There's the lust of the flesh.
Provide for your flesh. Prove it. And if you're really
the son of God, now remember, Satan heard God say, this is
my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. But he replied, If you
really are, prove it. Jump off the pinnacle because
the scripture says that he'll bear you up unless you dash your
foot against the stone. Prove it to us that you really
are the Son of God. We need evidence. We need proof.
And then the pride of life where the devil said, all this power
will I give you. I have power over all these countries.
It's given to me. Your father gave it to me. I'm
in control of this. He's called the God of this world and the
prince of this world. He said, you worship me and I
will give all this to you. So we see the correspondence. It's in the garden. When Satan tempted Eve at first,
when she saw that it was a food desired, good to taste. There's the lust of the flesh.
And pleasant to the eyes, the lust of the eyes. And a fruit
to be desired, to make one wise. There's the pride of life. You
see, all these things connected. And are these three spoilers
necessarily referring to these three things? Well, that's what
I thought of. That's what I thought of, and so that's what I want
us to consider. These three spoilers. The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life. The world, the flesh, and
the devil. Now, the world. The world. And I spoke some a little bit
about this Wednesday night. There's a lot of good things
about this world. It's a beautiful creation. I
was watching the ball game last night. I won't talk about that.
But one of the commercials for the University of Kentucky, it
showed these people driving around central Kentucky. And it was
a pro-UK thing. I thought, central Kentucky,
to me, is the most beautiful place in the world. I love it
here, don't you? I just love the rolling hills. The Lord made
this. And it's beautiful. And there's
many beautiful things about the world. I mean, men were created
in the image of God. We're so thankful for family.
We're thankful for our husbands, our wives, our children. There
are many blessings involved in being in this world. But so,
when we're talking about the world, we're talking about that
world that is hostile toward God, the way every natural man
is. I think of what our Lord said
in John chapter 7, verse 7. He said to some people, the world
can't take you. You know, if you were of the
world, the world would love its own, he said to his disciples.
But he said to these people who were non-believers, the world
can't hate you. Me it hateth, because I testify of it that
the deeds thereof are evil. We're talking about the world
that's hostile toward God. Satan is called the God of this
world and the prince of this world. Turn with me for a moment
to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 12. Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, and this is talking about every believer.
We have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit
which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God. Now there's the spirit of God.
The spirit of the world knows nothing about this language.
You know, the language of grace is a foreign language to this
world. They can't understand, they can't
grasp, they can't appreciate this thing of what is freely
given. And that's, oh, that's one of
the glorious words of the gospel, his free grace. That means there's nothing I
have to do to earn it. It's given to me freely. He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Romans 3.24, being
justified freely by His grace. Aren't you thankful for salvation
free? Every aspect of God's salvation, God's grace, God's mercy, God's
favor is free. And that's a language that the
world cannot understand. They think they have to pay something.
Oh, I'm so thankful for the spirit of grace. Turn to Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2, verse 8. Beware, lest any man spoil you. Is that a familiar word? Through philosophy and vain deceit,
after the tradition of men, after the rudiment or elements of the
world, and not after Christ. Verse 20 of the same chapter.
Wherefore, if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments, the
elements, the fundamentals, the way of thinking of the world,
Why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances,
man-made rules, touch not, taste not, handle not? That's man's
religion, which all are to perish with the using after the doctrines
and commandments of men, which things have indeed a show of
wisdom and will worship, and humility, or voluntary humility
in neglecting the body, but not in any honor to the satisfying
of the flesh. That's worldly religion is all
it is. The world, it's something that we're faced with. Now, is there anybody that would say
there's not an attraction to the world that you have? There is, as long as we still
have this flesh. But what a thing to have to battle
against, the world. And then there's the flesh. The
second enemy, the second spoiler, the flesh. And the flesh is my
fallen human nature. The appetites of a fallen man,
a sinful man. That's the flesh that every believer
still has to deal with. And how the flesh attacks. And the example that I thought
of that most clearly demonstrates what the flesh is and what is
meant by the flesh is, what was the first thing that's said about
Adam and Eve after their eyes were opened to no good and evil?
It says, they both knew that they were naked. Now they were
naked before the fall. They were butt naked and it was
not an issue. It didn't cause any problems
whatsoever. Now, you can imagine what this
place would be if people were like that. It would be because
of a fallen, evil nature. And this is what this is referring
to when we talk about the flesh is the sinful appetites of the
flesh. Somebody says, well, you know,
a desire for sex is natural. Well, Yeah, to a fallen human
nature, this perverted, the perversions of sexual sin and so on come
from a wicked, evil nature. And so you're born with this,
and that's not just talking about anything, all the corrupt appetites
of the flesh. And I think that this flesh,
you see, the first thing, they knew they were naked. It wasn't
an issue before, but now it's a big issue. And what's the second
thing they did? They tried to provide their own
covering for their nakedness. They came up with a religion
that would cover themselves, and they covered themselves with
fig leaves. That's the flesh and the lust
of the flesh. You know, this is what made Paul
cry out, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good
thing. Now, if you're a believer, You
still have the flesh. You have a new nature. You have
a holy nature. You have a nature that was given
you in the new birth, but you still have this thing called
the flesh and how the flesh attacks us. What a spoiler it is. You know, the Lord actually said
to his disciples when he came and he found him asleep, he said,
the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak, impotent,
powerless. And that's one of the spoilers
that continually attack us. And then the devil. The devil
means, his name means, the accuser, the slanderer. There's one devil,
Satan, and many demons, and he is the malignant enemy of God
and his And he's actively working in tempting to evil. And he always
comes as an angel of light. Remember that in the scriptures.
He always comes as an angel of light and a minister of righteousness. He's not a red devil with a pointed
tail and a pitchfork. He always works through religion.
He's always tempting us to think we're better than we really are.
Things are really not so bad. That's his work, intending us
to look somewhere other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He's a
crafty devil. He knows what he's doing. Turn
with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. I wrote a bulletin article about
this last week. I was thinking about it so much. Verse 9. For to this end also did I write,
that I might know the proof of you, whether you be obedient
to all things. To whom you forgive anything, I forgive also. For
if I forgive anything, to whom I forgive it, for your sakes
forgive I it, in the person of Christ, lest Satan should get
an advantage of us. For we are not ignorant of his
devices." Now I think that's so interesting. Just the lack
of a forgiving spirit gives Satan the foothold to work powerfully
in our lives. May the Lord make us not to be
ignorant of his devices. We have these three spoilers. The world, the flesh, and the
devil. Now go back to our text. Remember,
the Lord has left these with us to teach us something about
war. That's what he said. He said
they won't know anything about war unless these enemies are
left. And we have this war going on
in Galatians 5.17. The flesh lusts against the Spirit.
The spirit lusts against the flesh, and these two are contrary. They're at odds, one with another,
so that you cannot do the things that you would. Oh, wretched
man that I am, Paul said, who shall deliver me from this body
of death? And it's fighting the world,
the flesh, and the devil. Now, back to our text in 1 Samuel
13. Now, what does the Lord, how does the Lord use this to
prove us? Now, verse 19. Now there was no smith found
throughout all the land of Israel for the Philistines said lest
the Hebrews make them swords or spears. But all the Israelites
went down to the Philistines to sharpen every man his share,
his colter, his axe, his mannock. Had to go to the enemy to get
these things sharpened. Yet they had a file for the mannocks
and the colters and for the forks and the axes and to sharpen the
goads. So it came to pass in the day of battle that there
was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people
that were with Saul and Jonathan. These 600 fellows that were with
him, none of them had a weapon. All they had were pitchforks,
shovels, spades. They had nothing to assist them
in this battle. And the garrison of Philistines
went out to the passage of Michmash. Now what did these three spoilers
of the Philistines bring to Israel? What good did they do Israel?
Well, here's the first good they did, Israel. They taught them
effectually that they were powerless before their enemies. They didn't have any weapons
to fight. They were powerless before their
enemies. And these three deadly enemies
that you and I have to fight in and of ourselves, we're powerless
before them. If you found that to be true
about yourself, in and of yourself, you're powerless before these
enemies. But you remember how God said,
I've left them to see whether they'll hearken to my commandments,
whether they'll obey what I said to do. Well, I tell you what,
when the Lord gives me the grace to see these great enemies that
I'm called upon to fight, you know what it makes me do? It
makes me call on His name. Lord, I am nothing before these. Give me grace. Give me grace. I'm made to see that Christ only
is everything in my salvation. Not my ability to fight these
enemies, but Christ's ability, His victory. over. That's my
victory, not my ability to fight these enemies. And it makes me
realize what David realized. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 17.
Remember, they didn't have any weapons. Verse 41, And the Philistine
came on, and drew near unto David. And the man that bare the shield
went before him. Verse 42, And when the Philistine looked about,
and saw David, he disdained him. For he was but a youth, and ruddy,
and of a fair countenance. And the Philistine said unto
David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And
the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine
said to David, Come to me, and I'll give thy flesh unto the
fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field. Then said
David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword and
with a spear, and with a shield. But I come to thee in the name
of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom
thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver
thee into my hand, and I will smite thee, and take thy head
from thee, and I'll give the carcasses of the host, of the
Philistines this day, and to the fowls of the air, and to
the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that
there's a God in Israel, and all this assemblage shall know
that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear, for the battle
is the Lord's, and he'll give you into our hands. How do I
fight this battle? The Lord fights it for me. Who needs a sword? Who needs
a spear when you have the Lord? fighting this battle for you. As a matter of fact, you look
at, why did they want Saul in the first place? Remember that
the last battle they won, thunder came down from heaven and all
the Philistines started fighting one another. The Lord fought
their battles for them. Why would they have wanted a
king to go out and lead them like everybody else? Because
the Lord fought their battles for them. Now, concerning this,
these three spoilers, the world, the flesh, the devil. Do we just
say, well, give in. We have no power before
them. No. We have the Lord fighting
our battles for us. And we have this promise. Sin
shall not have dominion over you because you've got to a sword
and a shield? No, because you're not under
law, but under grace. Isn't that precious? Don't ever
forget that. You're not under law, you're
under grace. Now next week we're going to
look into this 14th chapter, but I'm so excited about trying
to deal with this. I want you to look at verse 6.
Now Jonathan started this great enterprise against the Philistines
with no encouragement but this. Look in verse six. And Jonathan
said to the young man that bears 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's no restraint to the Lord to save by many or
by few. Isn't that glorious? That's what we'll consider next
week. Are you gonna...