Please stand for the reading of Holy Scripture. Our New Testament lesson comes from Romans 13, verses 11 to 14. For it is written, or rather, pardon. and do this knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand, therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. This is the word of the Lord. We'll turn now to our Old Testament lesson and sermon text from 1 Samuel 14. And this will be a longer selection, so I will ask you to be seated for our Old Testament lesson. We're gonna read verses one to 23 of 1 Samuel 14. Pay careful heed to the reading of God's word. Now it happened one day that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to the young man who bore his armor, come, let us go over to the Philistines' garrison that is on the other side. But he did not tell his father. And Saul was sitting in the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree, which is in Migron. The people who were with him were about 600 men. Ahijah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord's priest in Shiloh, was wearing an ephod. But the people did not know that Jonathan had gone. Between the passes, by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines' garrison, there was a sharp rock on one side, and a sharp rock on the other side, and the name of the one was Bozes, and the name of the other, Sina. The front of one faced northward, opposite Michmash, and the other southward, opposite Gibeah. Then Jonathan said to his young man who bore his armor, come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few. So his armor bearer said to him, do all that is in your heart. Go then, here I am with you according to your heart. Then Jonathan said, very well, let us cross over to these men and we will show ourselves to them. If they say to us, wait until we come to you, we will stand still in our place and not go up to them. But if they say thus, come up to us, then we will go up, for the Lord has delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us. So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden. And the men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armor bearer and said, come up to us, and we will show you something. Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, come up after me, for the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel. And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armor-bearer after him, and they fell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armor-bearer killed them. That first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor-bearer made, was about 20 men within about half an acre of land. There was trembling in the camp, in the fields, and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled, and the earth quaked so that it was a very great trembling. Now the watchman of Saul and Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and there was the multitude melting away. And they went here and there. Then Saul said to the people who were with him, now call the roll and see who has gone from us. And when they had called the roll, surprisingly, Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there. And Saul said to Ahijah, bring the ark of God here. For at that time, the ark of God was with the children of Israel. Now it happened while Saul talked to the priest that the noise which was in the camp of the Philistines continued to increase. So Saul said to the priest, withdraw your hand. And Saul and all the people who were with him assembled, and they went to the battle. And indeed, every man's sword was against his neighbor, and there was a very great confusion. Moreover, the Hebrews, who were with the Philistines before that time, who went up with them into the camp from the surrounding country, they also joined the Israelites, who were with Saul and Jonathan. Likewise, all the men of Israel, who had hidden in the mountains of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, they also followed hard after them in the battle. So the Lord saved Israel that day, and the battle shifted to Beth-Avon. May the Lord bless the reading and proclamation of his word to us. For Christ's sake, amen. You probably know what it's like to see a pair of mismatched opponents. Just imagine Muggsy Bogues at 5'3", playing one-on-one against Manute Bull at 7'7". Or maybe, if you're a younger generation, Steph Curry going up against Jokic. Huge height differential. Totally different kinds of players. Serious mismatch. This is also true of military encounters historically. Sometimes we find this to be the case where one side in a battle is simply outgunned, like Ethiopia in 1895 when it was attacked by the Italian army. Although the Ethiopians had some rifles, many of them fought with swords and spears against modern arms. Similarly, the Zulu warriors fought with traditional tribal weapons against the British during the Anglo-Zulu War. Sometimes one side in this mismatch is outgunned. At other times, they're outnumbered. Think of the 300 Spartans against the Persians, Custer's last stand at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, or Sergeant York during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. We could multiply examples in life of mismatched opponents. We find a similar situation in our text. The Israelites are at Gibeah in the south. The Philistines are in Mikmash in the north, which is a place that Israel had actually possessed just as recently as chapter 13, verse 2. And from Mikmash, where the Philistines have taken ground, they're sending forth three groups of raiders in three different directions. And the reality is that the Israelites are mismatched at Michmash. They're outnumbered. Originally Saul had 3,000 men at his disposal. That's been reduced to 600. But the text really emphasizes the fact that they are, so to speak, outgunned. According to chapter 13, verses 19 to 23, there was no blacksmith in the land. The Philistines had a monopoly on arms manufacturing and military technology. Neither sword nor spear was found in the hand of any of the people of Israel except for Saul and his son, Jonathan. In effect, Israel had brought a knife to a gun fight. These were farmers with farming equipment, trying to use them as weapons against a much superior force. Now just to put this a little bit more into our context, we know what it's like to be discouraged by small numbers and few resources. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church has only about 300 congregations, 33,000 members. And that might sound like a lot for some of you, but think about that in comparison to 300 million Americans. In the ecclesiastical landscape, we're just a little dot, a small group of people, as Charlie Dennison called it, a pilgrim people, a small group traveling toward Zion. Well, what should you do, congregation, when you are either outgunned or outmanned or both? What should you do when, humanly speaking, there's really nothing you can do? Now, when this happens, some people are gonna desert their post and run for the hills. Other people are gonna betray their friends. Others are gonna do nothing at all. But I tell you on the basis of this passage that there is a better, more excellent way. It is a path laid out for us by Jonathan in verse six of our text. Mismatched, at-mcmash, outgunned, outnumbered, here's what he says to his armor-bearer, come. Let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few. This morning, we're going to consider this text. under three headings that alliterate, so hopefully that helps remember them, cowardice, courage, and conquest. Cowardice, courage, and conquest. In other words, we're gonna look at some negative responses to a difficult situation, we're gonna see a godly response from Jonathan, and then finally the aftermath, the triumphal aftermath of this event. First, cowardice. When you're outgunned, when you're outmanned, when there's nothing to be done, what do you do? And in this passage, if we look carefully, we see a series of cowardly responses, negative options to the situation. First, we see that when that happens, you can desert your post or betray your friends. If you read verse 21, it's clear that there were a large number of Israelites who had defected to the other side, or perhaps were taken captive because they deserted their post. Some of them had joined the opposition. Second, you can go into hiding. You can simply hide. For instance, in chapter three, verse six, we read, when the men of Israel saw that they were in danger, for the people were distressed, then the people hid in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in holes, and in pits. You can brace yourself for the zombie apocalypse by going to Costco and buying a lifetime supply of bottled water, and just get in your bunker and try to last out whatever's gonna happen. You can hide. You can trust in religious externals. This might be harder to pick up on, but throughout this passage, there's an emphasis on King Saul conducting at least outwardly religious things. He builds an altar. Later on, in verse 35 of chapter 14, he inquires of the Lord and He also has the ark present on the battlefield. Although these things are not wrong in themselves, for a godless, ungodly man, they look like superstitious talismans that he is leaning upon like a crutch. Matthew Henry said it this way, it is common for those who have lost the substance of religion to be most fond of the shadows of it. And do we not see that, for instance, in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches? We see a lack of the substance of true religion with people obsessed with the shadows of it, the trappings, the vestments, the bauble of liturgy. And yet, no actual godly gospel religion. Saul had a form of godliness. He brought the ark, he consulted the Lord, he built altars with no power thereof. He trusted in religious externals. Fourth and final option, and again, it's not a good option. These are negative ones. You can do nothing. You can choose inaction. Look at verse two. And Saul was sitting in the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree. It's the perfect picture of passivity. That's what Saul's response is. Outgunned, outmanned, humanly speaking, nothing to do, so that's exactly what he does. Nothing at all. You're probably familiar with the famous quote by Edmund Burke, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. That's what Saul does beneath the pomegranate tree. The congregation, we are not immune to the analysis of this text. I want to speak for a moment to fathers and heads of households and speak to you to the possibility that you are abdicating in your home. that you're sitting perhaps on your recliner and watching sports on television while your whole household burns around you, while the teenagers backtalk their mother, you're simply zoned out. Consider the ways in which perhaps you should be convicted by this picture of passivity in verse two. Or perhaps the mothers in our congregation who are posting to Instagram and updating your blog while your baby is crying and your other children are running havoc through the home. Are we abdicating our God-given responsibilities and doing nothing? In the church, we have the phenomenon of the regime evangelical who sees the problems in the intrusion of godless ideologies and yet does nothing. Who, if anything, punches right and leans left. There are those in the reformed church who take the good doctrine of the spirituality of the church or the two kingdoms and use them and abuse them to fall silent on abortion, sexual ethics, and woke-ism. All of these various responses are expressions of cowardice. Cowardice. the congregation, thanks be to God, there is a better, more excellent way. There is a path laid out for us, instead of cowardice, the path of courage. And while Saul is resting, sitting, reclining under the pomegranate tree, there is one man who knows what time it is. There is one man who, like the sons of Issachar, knows the signs of the times, and he has taken bold action in the face of risk. Now it happened one day that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to the young man who bore his armor, come, let us go over to the Philistines' garrison that is on the other side. But he did not tell his father. Now, if you read that verse in verse three, it becomes clear he didn't tell anybody. He didn't tell Saul that people are not aware of this, and you might wonder why. Why did he take this bold action and not disclose it to anyone? Well, on the one hand, I think it's one of those things where secrecy means greater security in a very important mission. The fewer people who know about it, the better in terms of keeping this covert. It's also possible that he knew He would be forbidden or restrained if Saul found out. And this is an unusual circumstance. Aaron Renz told us that we're living in negative world America where Christianity is under increasingly hostile pressure from the powers that be. And although not the same, Jonathan is living in an unusual time where the king is not godly. The Lord's anointed is increasingly wicked and rebellious and cowardly. And he knows that in some cases, under these circumstances, the best course for him is not to go to his father to ask permission to leave the encampment, but simply to do the right thing. Under these unique circumstances, his silence, I do not believe, was disobedient. He broke no command, but it was prudent. Sometimes the next generation must rise to the challenge while the older generation sits on its laurels beneath a pomegranate tree. Unlike Saul and his 600, Jonathan knew what time it was. He knew the coffee was burning. He knew that the moment was urgent. He knew it was the 11th hour, a time to show initiative and to take responsibility, to take courageous action in the face of risk, which is precisely what he did. Now you might object as you look at this plan for two men, to go on hands and knees up a steep ascent to take on an entire Philistine garrison by themselves, you might say, understandably, this is reckless and ill-advised. This is a bad idea. But congregation, if you read this passage closely, Jonathan's action, however bold and courageous, was also well-planned and intentional. For example, he chose a strategic yet feasible target, the Philistine garrison at Michmash. This was strategic because it meant regaining lost ground at a point of Philistine strength. He also knew, perhaps based on the geography, that this would be a feasible target, somewhere within his own reach and orbits. It was a decisive point between Bozes and Senna to approach the enemy. He also used smart tactics. Rather than going as a lone wolf, he tag-teamed with his armor-bearer, a kind of one-two punch, whereas Ecclesiastes reminds us that one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him, and a three-fold cord is not quickly broken. He doesn't go by himself. He takes another with him, which is a wise decision. History and literature are full of dynamic duos. For example, John Stockton and Carl Malone running the pick and roll in the 90s. Holmes and Watson solving crimes in London. Frodo and Samwise on their trip to Mordor. Well, likewise in the scriptures. Joshua and Caleb, Elijah and Elisha, James and John, the sons of thunder, and yes, Jonathan and his armor bearer. A tag team, dynamic duo, a one-two punch against the forces of darkness. I want to encourage you, especially for those of you who are Waking up to how bad things are in America right now, I want to warn you, don't go AWOL and don't go rogue. I've seen this happen, where someone just loses it, they snap, and they go off on their own. Don't do that. Instead, find a platoon of like-minded Christians with which you can share the fight. Brothers in arms who will hold you accountable and who will also encourage you. At the very least, find a partner in piety. Form a tag team. That's why Jesus sent out his disciples two by two. It's a good tactic. In the home, the husband and wife should not be in different camps on other sides. They need to have a united front at times, so to speak, against their children when the children are rising up. Be a good team. This is a good tactic, but it's more than that. This is more than just a good tactic. Rather than attacking haphazardly, Jonathan respected what has been called the 10 principles of war. Objective, offensive, concentration, mobility, security, surprise, cooperation, communication, economy of force, and pursuits. This is not a reckless endeavor. It is well-planned and intentional. First, he had a clear objective, take back the lost garrison. Second, he went on the offensive by forcing the enemy to make a decision. Third, he concentrated his efforts at a single point, between the passes, with sharp rocks on either side. climbing up on hands and knees. He wasn't distracted to the right hand or to the left. He was concentrated at one point. Fourth, he gained superior mobility by taking only one other person. Rather than using traditional frontal assault, he did a kind of guerrilla warfare. Two versus 20, turning their small numbers into an advantage rather than a liability. Fifth, He maintained security, as we saw before, by not telling anybody, and by doing a little bit of reconnaissance, surveying the enemy opposition. Sixth, he surprised his opponents by suddenly appearing on their doorstep. Seventh, he cooperated with his armor bearer. In the heat of battle, there was cooperation. In verse 13, Jonathan led, the armor bearer followed, and as he came after him, his armor bearer killed them. They worked together. He communicated with his armor bearer. Here's the plan. If they do this, we do that. If they do that, we do this. They communicated. Ninth, he used economy of force. He knew they didn't need 600 men. All they needed was two, so that's all he went with. And then 10th, having made the attack, he followed up with relentless pursuit, carving out about a half acre of land and taking down 20 men. And if you keep reading, eventually joining up with Saul and the rest of the 600 and achieving a great victory. He went with momentum on the pursuits. Well, congregation, there's lots of things we can learn from this passage. In your spiritual, cultural, and yes, even political warfare, you should do the same. Locate a decisive point that is both strategic and feasible. For example, plant a church in a city with a strong core group. Have a clear objective. For instance, in our culture war, one of our objectives might be the complete abolition of abortion in America. Then, go on the offensive. If you're in the courts of the church, bring a biblical overture before the other side can bring an unbiblical one on the same issue. Get out in front of it. Take the offensive. Concentrate your efforts on either one issue. or through one medium, but concentrate. Cooperate with your brothers in arms. Don't fight each other. That's what the Philistines end up doing. They fight against each other. A house divided against itself cannot stand. Know who your friends are, know who your enemies are, and remember, your friends are people you need to cooperate with, you need to communicate with, with economy of force, and when you have the enemy on the run, don't back down. When you've got the momentum, whether it's culture war, spiritual war, political war, exploit it. Pursue. Consolidate your forces and rout the enemy. Don't be content simply to hold ground. You want to take more ground. Leftist unbelievers are really good at this. Leftist unbelievers are fantastic at this. They do the long, slow march through our institutions. Anytime they gain a victory, they think, what's next? How can we expand our area of influence? Well, congregation, using the principles of warfare, we can do the same. This is great, what's next? We've overturned Roe v. Wade. Now, how can we abolish abortion in North Carolina? I've resisted lust for a week, how can I put this sin to death? Anytime God gives you victory, you should want more, not simply to take ground, but to take more ground with pursuits. Although bold as brass and tough as nails, Jonathan's action was well-planned strategically and tactically. But we can't simply stop there. There's a lot more going on than simply a well-honed military mind. No, Jonathan's action was an act of faith in the triune God, the God of the covenant. And that's clear when you read what Jonathan said to his armor bearer. If you look carefully, he wasn't trusting in the arm of the flesh, he was resting in the power of the Holy Spirit. It's not by might, nor by power, but in the power of the Holy Ghost, saith the Lord. Look at verse six. Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few. As a side note, this is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. I love 1 Samuel 14 verse six. Here we find a command. Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. And why are we supposed to fight these people? Well, there's a covenant. The Philistines, being uncircumcised, are outside of God's covenant people. And why should we fight them? Well, there's a contingency. It may be. It may be that the Lord will work for us. But why do you think that's the case? Well, there's a cause. For nothing restrains Jehovah from saving by many or by few. God is clearly able. He's possibly willing. It's not inconsistent with his character. Let's go for it. And I just love Jonathan's posture in this verse. I love his posture. He's neither cowardly like Saul nor presumptuous like so many reckless culture warriors today. Now here we find the sharp distinction between tempting God, which would be bad, and trusting God. The difference between presuming upon his favor and trusting in his promise, of unbelieving arrogance and a humble confidence, of hollow bravado and solid bravery. Jonathan reflects the latter. like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as they faced the fiery furnace who said, we believe God is able to save us. We believe he's willing to save us. But if not, if he chooses not to deliver us, even then, let it be known to you, O king, we're not going to bow down and worship your gods. They didn't presume on God's favor. They knew it might not be his will to save them from this at this point. And yet, they said, but if not, we're still not gonna do it. Well, even so, Jonathan says, it may be. I don't know whether God is gonna grant us this particular deliverance, but if we die, we're gonna get resurrected the last day. Our souls are gonna go to paradise. And so, what do we have to lose? We've got nothing to lose but our lives. We have everything to gain for the kingdom of Christ. It may be. Nothing can restrain the Lord. Let's go for it. As Matthew Henry says, an active faith will venture far in God's cause upon an it may be. I love that line from Henry. An act of faith will venture far upon the simple it may be. I don't know, but it's possible. God is the God of the possible. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. Let us go forth with courage and valiant faith. This was an act of faith. As G.K. Chesterton says, the one perfectly divine thing, the one glimpse of paradise given on earth is to fight a losing battle and not lose it. upon, and it may be, to go forward, conquering and to conquer. This was an act of faith, and that's reinforced by Jonathan's simple trust in divine providence. He took action, but he also waited upon the Lord. Again, he did not presume upon God's favor. In addition to the command, the covenant, the contingency, the cause, there was also a condition, a test, a sign. Look at verse eight. Then Jonathan said, very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them. We'll expose ourselves to the enemy. If they say to us, wait until we come to you, we will stand still in our place and not go up to them. But if they say thus, come up to us, then we will go up, for the Lord has delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us. Not tempting God, but trusting in God's providence. Jonathan is looking for providential signal amidst the noise of battle. He trusted God and he followed the protocol. Some of you, and again, everyone is different temperamentally. What can happen with applications is people walk home with all the wrong applications. The people who need to be assured leave defeated, and those who need to be confronted leave unmoved about their own sin. But some of you, some of you only make a move if success is guaranteed. You are careful and you are cautious to a fault. Some of you, that's not your problem. You have the opposite problem. But for some of you, and I'm speaking to you, you only make a move if success is rock bottom, absolutely guaranteed. And that is a recipe for failure. You can be cautious and careful to a fault. We need to, in a right sense, learn to take courageous action in the face of risk, not against the evidence God's given to us, but it points beyond the evidence that's in front of you. The greatest reward is never devoid of risk. Otherwise, it would not be worth pursuing. Consider here the courage of Jonathan and his armor-bearer in contrast to the cowardice of Saul and his other soldiers. This is where sometimes in a family, the mother, understandably, is more risk-averse, and she wants to make sure that her children are not even remotely, possibly in harm's way. And that can be dangerous when you have young men who need to learn to take some risks and fall on their face and dust it off, and there's no blood, there's no foul, and keep going. And that's where husband and wife have to work together, yes, to be properly protective, but not to the point where it's actually unsafe and dangerous. You want to raise children who know the right time to take courageous action in the face of risk. And I wanna lean into that a little bit because that's the message of this passage. That in faith, you can go beyond the evidence with courage by God's grace. Now as I lay this before you, you might wonder what happens when you live this way? When you take courageous action in the face of risk beyond the evidence? What happens when you entrust yourself and your fortunes completely into the hands of Almighty God? There's a final word in this passage, not simply cowardice or courage, but conquest. And we'll end on that note, a note of conquest. First of all, we have the sign of victory in verse 11 where, again, they expose themselves to the Philistine garrison and the Philistine soldiers say, look, the Hebrews are coming out of their holes where they have been hidden. It's a mocking, taunting tone. And the men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armor bearer and said, come up to us and we will show you something. They're mocking them. Come on up, we're gonna show you something. Look, you've probably been hiding in a hole somewhere. And congregation, prepare yourself, you're gonna get mocked by the opposition. In a once Christian nation that produced John Calvin, there is high-handed blasphemy at the Olympic Games. And that is a mockery to us, but most of all, it's a mockery to our Savior. And it's wicked, and it's vile, and it should be suppressed. Congregation, we're gonna be mocked. We're gonna be attacked. We're gonna be slandered. We're gonna be libeled. We are going to be taunted. And our posture is not to cozy up to the opposition. Our posture is not to get defensive and cagey about it. Our posture is a righteous anger, a righteous lament, and a smile on the face of boldness saying, let them mock, we'll show them might. We will conquer by grace through faith. And that's exactly what they do. Jonathan does not see in the mockery a sign of defeat. He sees in the mockery a sign of victory. This is a sign that the enemy hates you, hates your Christ, and they're the ones who are defensive. They're the ones who are cagey, and we're the ones who are going to take this as an opportunity to claim the victory for King Jesus, and that's exactly what they did. They climbed up on hands and knees, Jonathan leading, the armor-bearer following, Jonathan went forward, would make an attack, the armor-bearer would clean up the mess like a sweeper in a soccer game, and together, as a one-two punch, a dynamic duo, a tag team, they took out a plot of ground, about a half an acre, two against 20, the size of an area plowed by a yoke of oxen in a day. And the victory here is like a domino effect. It's like a positive domino effect. It starts with one man who goes down, and then two, and then three, and then 20. It starts with just a square inch, and then it's half an acre, but it doesn't stop there. It's like a ripple effect. It keeps going, and that's what happens when somebody makes a point of Victory at the opponent. It keeps going. There's a reversal of fortunes. Earlier, in chapter 13, God's people were trembling. They were back and forth. They were on the ropes. Well now, God's earthquake comes and the enemy is trembling. And they're the ones melting away. They're the ones shaking in their boots. They're the ones whose knees are knocking back and forth against each other. Not only that, but there's a reversal of loyalties. The enemy that's been united against Israel, all of a sudden, they turn on each other, and they're fighting one another, and they're attacking each other. This happens sometimes. When we take a stand for Christ, there's a way in which, like Saul, with the Sadducees and the Pharisees, we can pit the opposition against one another and have Muslims and seculars fight each other. The enemy fights themselves. More than that, there's a reversal of loyalties in the camp of Israel. Notice. Something remarkable happens when Saul, rather when Jonathan and his armor bearer make this attack. All of a sudden, all the people who had, whether by betrayal or by capture, all those people who had joined the Philistines, they turn and join the Israelites. They come back to the fold. All the people who were hiding in the caverns and the caves, all of a sudden they pop out their heads and they jump back up, and they join back with Israel. And all of a sudden, all those people who were sitting underneath the pomegranate tree with Saul, they rise, they get their army, they get their arms, and they go into the battle. If you look at verse 21, it says, And this should be an encouragement to us. When you take bold action in the face of risk by faith, there is a way in which that shames the deserter, It encourages the one who's hiding, and it rouses the inactive. It only takes one or two, maybe three, willing to stand up for the truth, like Jonathan and his armor bearer, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, like Daniel and Babylon, and it has a kind of contagious effect. Courage is contagious. If you're there and you're the only one doing the right thing or inclined to do it, Realize that you might be the one person who puts the fire into someone else. I'm gonna speak for a moment to the covenant youth here, the young people, the teenagers, who know what it's like to face remarkably toxic peer pressure. Maybe you're at a party that went the wrong direction. And you had no idea that the atmosphere was gonna look like this. And you're in a position where the courageous thing is to say something, to do something, and no one else is doing it. And you think, well, maybe the other person who I look up to, maybe they'll do something. But they don't do it, because they're looking at you. In that moment, it might just take one, two, three young people who are godly to say the hard thing, to do the right thing, to walk out of that place, to tell people, what in the world are we doing? We need to leave this place. And maybe if you get up and leave, another will leave, and another. Maybe a whole bunch of people who are traitors, deserters, scared, hiding, or simply inactive will be roused to do the right thing. Courage is contagious. And yet, I can't stop there. We can't stop with the courage of Jonathan, because that's not how the passage ends. Verse 23 says, and so the Lord saved Israel that day. Yes, nothing, it may be that the Lord will work for us, and later we read, the crowd says of Jonathan, that this one has accomplished great deliverance, that he has worked with God this day as a covenantal partner in the battle, and that's true, but Jonathan knew. that ultimately his courage, his faith, and yes, the battle itself did not belong to him, it belonged to God. Not to us, not to us, not to us be the glory, but to God. Salvation belongs to the Lord. The battle belongs to the Lord. The Lord saved Israel that day. Not Jonathan, not Saul, not the armor bearer. This was an act of God, all of God, all of grace. Jonathan, this wasn't about him. He fought not for himself, or his glory or his fame, he wasn't trying to make a splash. He was fighting in faithfulness for the good of his people and for the glory of his God. Although mismatched at mcmash, Jonathan and his armor bearer won the day by the grace of God to the glory of God. And yet congregation, we can't even stop there. We have to keep going. I want to leave you with this thought. that this skirmish in 1 Samuel 14, which I hope is now more familiar to you. We know about David and Goliath. We know about Gideon against the Midianites. Well, make this passage familiar to you. Let it fire your imagination with sanctified courage. But this skirmish, however glorious, prefigured a greater conflict to come, when a greater than Jonathan would come, when the savior of the world ascended The steep slope of Mount Calvary, as if on hands and knees, climbing up to the gates of hell. Jesus did not commit himself to them, because he knew all men. In fact, he often shrouded even his identity in secrecy. He carried neither sword nor spear, for his only weapon that he needed was the cross. Unlike Jonathan, he had no armor bearer on that day, For his disciples either betrayed him or deserted him, they hid from him or they did nothing. As Isaiah says, I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me. Even God turned his face away from our Savior according to his humanity, for it pleased Jehovah to crush him. That Jesus might say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Not just two or three, but only one on that great day of atonement. And yet in that hour of darkness, that truly 11th hour, metaphorically, Jesus clung to a truth that was first voiced by Jonathan. Nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few. We could say in this case on the day of atonement 2,000 years ago, nothing can restrain the Lord from saving by one. One on behalf of the few. One in the place of the many. One in the stead of his people. Jesus exposed himself to the powers of darkness and they said, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. Come up to us and we will show you something. congregation, he was lifted up. He was lifted up upon the cross, and the devil did his worst. But in that mockery and in that taunting, Jesus did not see a sign of defeat. Rather, he noticed and marked the signpost of victory. For on the cross, not after the cross, but on the cross, he cried, It is finished. And in that moment, not 20 Philistines, but every demon was vanquished. Not half an acre of land in the Middle East, but the whole world was claimed by the blood of Christ for the glory of Christ. So God saved the world that day. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but should have everlasting life. Not on the basis of what Jonathan did, though certainly an imitation of what Jonathan did, but on the basis of what Christ has done. Look unto Jesus and follow in his military train, saying, I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. I would rather carry the armor of God's champion than sit idly beneath the pomegranate tree. Let this be your prayer to Christ this morning. Do all that is in your heart. Go then, here I am with you according to your hearts. And Lord Jesus is with us all the way to the end, to the end of the world, amen. Let us pray.