Our text tonight is from 1 Samuel chapter 14. I will be reading verses 1 through 15 and invite your reverent attention. This is the word of the living and the true God. Now the day came that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to the young man who is carrying his armor, come and let us cross over to the Philistines garrison that is on the other side. But he did not tell his father. Saul was staying in the outskirts of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree which is in Migron. And the people who were with him were about six hundred men, and Ahijah the son of Ahithah, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest of the Lord at Shiloh, was wearing an ephod. And the people did not know that Jonathan had gone. Between the passes by which Jonathan sought to cross over to the Philistines' garrison, there was a sharp crag on the one side, and a sharp crag on the other side, and the name of the one was Bozes, and the name of the other was Senna. The one crag rose on the north, opposite Michmash, and the other on the south, opposite Geba. Then Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, Come, and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. Perhaps the Lord will work for us, for the Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few.' And his armor-bearer said to him, Do all that is in your heart, turn yourself, and here I am with you according to your desire.' Then Jonathan said, Behold, we will cross over to the men and reveal ourselves to them. If they say to us, Wait until we come up to you, then we will stand in our place and not go to them. But if they say, Come up to us, then we will go up, for the Lord has given them into our hands, and this shall be the sign to us. When both of them revealed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines, the Philistines said, Behold, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden themselves. So the men of the garrison hailed Jonathan and his armor-bearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will tell you something. And Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, Come up after me, for the Lord has given them into the hands of Israel. Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet with his armor-bearer behind him. and they fell before Jonathan and his armor-bearer put some to death after him. That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor-bearer made was about twenty men within about half a furrow in an acre of land. And there was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. Even the garrison and the raiders trembled, and the so that it became a great trembling. Let's pray and ask God's blessing. Father in heaven, we thank you for this event from so long ago. We thank you that your spirit has preserved it for us so that we might know and understand your will for our lives. Lord, we pray that you would now bless your word to the hearts of all who hear that we might be full of faith and serve you. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. One of the sweetest promises in Scripture is found in 1 John 5 verse 4. That verse reads, For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Certainly we cling tightly to this truth, especially when it seems like we are being overcome by the world. The powers of darkness seemingly grow stronger while the people of God appear weaker than ever. Wicked men have seized the institutions of the culture, politics, government, education, the media, the arts, the court system. Everywhere we look, it seems like Satan's kingdom is prevailing, and that the kingdom of Christ is in retreat. Yet, coming back to that promise, we find that it is the church that overcomes the world, not vice versa. Our faith will prevail over unbelief, doubt, and skepticism. God has said it is so, and it cannot be otherwise. Even when it appears we will lose, God will make sure that He wins. The Lord can and will and must prevail. Our passage tonight is a great example of this very principle. The Lord shows His ability to bring about a great victory over His enemies, the enemies of His kingdom, even the Philistines. He brings this about in such a way as to cause our hearts to rejoice. So as we consider our passage tonight, I want to first look at a study in contrasts. Then we're going to examine Jonathan's faith and we'll finish with Yahweh's victory. Although they were related as father and son, Jonathan and Saul could not have been more different. From the previous chapters, we've seen Saul to be weak, indecisive, and basically disobedient. Jonathan has appeared to be the very opposite, strong, decisive, and obedient to God's call. The contrasts are numerous, and they are almost impossible to ignore. We see more contrasts here in our passage this evening. The first contrast from our text has to do with their setting. Saul is staying in the outskirts of Gibeah, under the pomegranate tree which is in Migron. He is in camp, staying in relative comfort and ease. This, despite the fact that the Philistine armies are massing for an attack. Saul seems relatively unconcerned, basically unengaged, and certainly unprepared. He is passive. Jonathan, on the other hand, is out in the field. He is not comfortable in the camp, simply biding his time. He is surveying the situation, and he seems restless for some military action. He knows the Philistine garrison is nearby, and he's ready and willing to engage that garrison by an attack. Jonathan sees the Philistines as the enemy, and he is eager to confront them. Related to this, Saul is surrounded by 600 men, brave warriors. These are fighting men. These are not the type that would hide in a hole in the ground or run across the Jordan River in order to escape the enemy. These are some of the best of the best. These are Israelite men of valor. For his part, Jonathan has one man, his armor-bearer, a young man who was a servant. This is not a fellow warrior but an assistant who carries Jonathan's gear. Likely, this young man had never been in battle, and certainly not as a fighting man. All of the advantage would therefore seem to lie with Saul and his six hundred warriors, and none of it with Jonathan and his armor-bearer. Another person on the scene in Gibeah was a priest named Ahijah. Ahijah was the son of Ahitab, the nephew of Ichabod. He was the grandson of Eli, the priest of the Lord at Shiloh. Ahijah was wearing the epod, so he was functioning as the Lord's representative. Now, normally, this would seem to be impressive to us. And yet, as we recall the situation with Eli and his downfall, we remember that his whole line was discredited due to the unfaithfulness of Eli and his sons. This was a discredited line of priests who make the perfect companions for Saul who is the discredited king of Israel. Here is a failure keeping company with a loser. Both of these men are under God's wrath for their disobedience and their unfaithfulness. Now part of the reason that this is called to our attention is to underline the fact that Samuel is nowhere to be seen. He is not at Saul's side encouraging and helping the king in his service as king. Rather Samuel has abandoned Saul and so Saul is left to resort to this discredited line of the old priest, Eli. But when it comes to Jonathan, he has nothing to do with the priestly line of Eli. He departs from the camp. He doesn't lean upon his father's companions and advisors. Now, the last contrast that we see here is the most basic. Saul does nothing, while Jonathan shows ingenuity, initiative, and activity. Saul is passive, while Jonathan is very active. Jonathan does what Saul doesn't do. And so Jonathan is out there causing things to happen. Saul is sitting under the pomegranate tree, twiddling his thumbs. What is most impressive about young Jonathan, however, is his faith. This is where the most crucial difference lies between these two men. His father seemingly has no faith. Saul does not show signs of trust in the Lord. Jonathan, on the other hand, is brimming with trust and confidence in Jehovah. He knows the Lord, and he trusts the Lord, and he is serving the Lord. Jonathan's faith motivates him to make a suggestion to his armor-bearer. Come, he says, and let us cross over to the Philistines' garrison that is on the other side. Now, if this were all that we had, we wouldn't dare to label it faith. We might think that Jonathan was just ambitious, or overconfidence, that he was brash and determined for action. But in light of his later statements, we see this statement as an outgrowth and expression of his faith. Now what is implicit in verse 1 comes out into the open in verse 6. When Jonathan said to the young man, come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. Perhaps the Lord will work for us for the Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few. These are words of faith. This is the man who trusts in the Lord. There's a number of things to notice in his statement here. First, Jonathan saw these Philistines as uncircumcised. That is not just an insult that he is throwing at them. Rather, this recognizes that they are outside the covenant of grace, and that they have no right or claim to inclusion in the covenant community. The Philistines are not God's people, but they are actually God's enemies, those whom God has excluded from the promises and the blessings of salvation. They are without God and they are without hope in the world. Faith always sees the world in these very clear terms. God's people versus God's enemies. Either you're a member of the covenant community or you are excluded from the covenant community. Either you are an heir of the promises and the blessings or you are left out. You are put outside of those promises and blessings. There's no middle ground. There's no both and. You can't have one foot on one side of the fence, one foot on the other side of the fence. Either you're part of God's people or you are among God's enemies. The second thing to notice in Jonathan's statement is his assertion that perhaps the Lord will work for us. He isn't stating for certain that God will necessarily work on their behalf. He may, but he may not. God is free. and he is not bound to do what his people request. Faith submits to God's wisdom, and it respects God's freedom to do as he pleases. You know, this is true of the three Hebrew men in Daniel chapter 3. They were not bowing down and worshiping as prescribed by Nebuchadnezzar the king, and so they were hauled before the king and made to give an answer for their unwillingness to worship. And King Nebuchadnezzar threatened them. He had the furnace heated hotter than normal, and he was going to burn them alive. He told them so. And what was their response? They basically said, we are not going to bow down to the image that you have set up. Now you may throw us in the fire and we know that our God is able to rescue us from you. But even if he does not, we are still not going to bow down and worship your image. And so they knew God can save us. He very well may save us, or he may not. Whether He saves us or not, we are going to do what's right. We will not bow down and engage in this false worship. And so, here Jonathan is saying exactly the same thing. God may act, He may work, He may deliver, or He may not. We don't know. But we are going to trust Him. We are going to look to Him with faith. And this is really what faith is. It's not a desire or an attempt to control God for our own purposes. Faith trusts God to do what's right and best. Faith knows the power of God and knows that He is free, that He may do as He pleases. And yet Jonathan has a real sense of expectation. That's why he suggests that they cross over to the garrison of the uncircumcised Philistines. Perhaps, almost as if he is acting on a hunch, that God might and probably will act on our behalf. Perhaps He will. We hope He will. We trust that He will. And so we're going to move out in the expectation of what He could possibly do for us. Jonathan's third statement is most definite. The Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few. And how very correct Jonathan is here. When Gideon was preparing his army against the Midianites, the Lord whittled down his army from 32,000 to 10,000, and then from 10,000 down to 300 men. And that was to prove this very point. The Lord can save by many or by few. In fact, the Lord loves to prove how He can save through very small numbers so that the credit and the glory goes to Him and Him alone. When He saves with just two men, as opposed to 600 men, It's impossible to give glory to the two. Faith revels in those situations where God does what seems impossible, and He saves by a very small number, so that He receives all the credit, all the honor, and all the glory. The last indication of Jonathan's faith comes in his desire for a sign from the Lord. Though this may seem like a lack of faith, I think it's really a sign of faith. He is trusting God to use the snarky comments of the Philistines in order to confirm the Lord's blessing upon their errand. Jonathan tells his armor-bearer that if the Philistines tell them to wait until they come down to Jonathan, then they would stand their ground and just see what happens. But if they invite them to come up to us, then we will know that the Lord has given them into our hands. And as it happened, when Jonathan and his young servant revealed themselves to the Philistines, the Philistines give the watchword, come up to us and we will tell you something. Now I don't think that they were going to inform them of some basic information. Oh, there's a stream over there. If you need some water, you can go get some over there. No, this isn't come up and we'll tell you information that you lack. It's come up and we'll teach you a lesson, a lesson that you Hebrews need to learn that we Philistines are in control and you are not. These Philistines are looking down with scorn and derision upon Jonathan and his armor bearer. It's almost as if they are mocking them. Oh, come on up here and we'll teach you a thing or two. Well, as Jonathan sees it, this is the sign. The sign was given. The Lord had announced the victory. And so Jonathan and his young assistant scale the crags in order to attack their enemies. So while Saul is not a man of faith, but seems unmoved and basically unmotivated by trust in God, Jonathan is rich in faith. He has faith that overcomes the world, just as 1 John 5 verse 4 speaks of. And in this, Jonathan gives us an excellent example of what a life of faith looks like. We trust in God, despite the apparent strength of the enemies of God and His people. We know that God can save by many or by few, but we also realize that He especially delights to reveal His power in ways that will only bring credit, honor, and glory to himself. And so he comes into the impossible situation, the overwhelming situation, and he delivers his people in surprising ways. And faith knows that. Faith believes that. Faith trusts in that. And faith will act upon that. Thus, the victory that we see in our chapter tonight is not really Jonathan's victory, though he was the human agent through which it came. This is really Yahweh's victory, for he gave it to his two human servants. The fact is established by Jonathan's faithful statement. Note that he says, for the Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few. Who is it that does the action? Who is it that saves? It is the Lord who does the saving. It is the Lord who works the victory. This is also shown in how the victory is actually accomplished. This location was not exactly great for Jonathan's military purposes. There were two sharp crags, one on one side, one on the other. The name of the one crag was Bozes, which means something like shiny or slippery. The other crag was named Sene, which means thorny. So on one side you have a shiny or slippery slope, very hard to scale. On the other side is thorny, covered with vegetation that would make an ascent almost impossible. And this is probably why the Philistines were caught by complete surprise. Even though they had seen Jonathan and his armor-bearer, they couldn't possibly imagine that these two would climb up either Bozes or Senna and attack them from that direction. And yet that's precisely what these two young adventurers did. They scaled these impossible crags and showed up out of nowhere in order to attack the Philistines. The outcome of the attack is stunning. The text simply says, they fell before Jonathan and his armor bearer put some to death after him. There's no long extended report. The battle was back and forth. The Philistines seemed to be getting the better and then things shifted. No, there's none of that. It's just Philistines dying. dead bodies of Philistines littering the ground, Jonathan smiting them, and his armor-bearer coming along and cleaning up and killing the ones that had been struck down. And so these two men, Jonathan and his armor-bearer, very quickly killed twenty men within a very small area of land. Now when two men slaughter 20 men in short order, this is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is not about the superhuman strength of Jonathan or the great military prowess of his armor bearer. These are just two young, small men who are used by the Lord to bring a great victory against the Philistines. Now if that were not enough, there was terror and trembling. Verse 15 of our text reads, And there was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. Even the garrison and the raiders trembled, and the earth quaked, so that it became a great trembling. Everything is shaking in terror. for the Lord has caused terror to fall upon the Philistines. It seems that he sent an earthquake, a mighty earthquake, and as the earth was shaking, he also was causing these people in the camp, in the field, among all the people, even in the garrison and the raiders They were all trembling and quaking with fear inside, even as the earth was quaking around them outside. You see, God is terrifying his enemies. He's not only defeating them, he is demoralizing them. He is showing them that he is God. And as God, the entire cosmos is at his command. And no man can stand against him, for he is mighty, and he can bring victory however he is pleased to do. And so we see, the Lord brought about a great victory that day through the faith of these two men, Jonathan and his armor-bearer. This is what overcomes the world. It is the Lord in whom we believe. And as we trust in him, and as we act in faith upon his word, he is pleased to bring great victories for his own glory, honor, and praise. You know, we live in a day where it seems that evil has gained the upper hand in so many respects in our country. We look around and we see it in every sphere that we examine, wickedness, has prevailed. And we as Christians can be tempted by hopelessness and even despair. We can think, you know, maybe it's better for us to just go hide in a hole in the ground and hope that this will eventually go away. But that's not what God wants us to do. Like Jonathan and his armor bear, we must have a rock solid trust in the Lord who is able to win the victory. And as we trust in him, we need to remember that he is free and able to do as he pleases. He might deliver us. He might not. He can save, but he won't necessarily save. We don't know. We can't control Him. He is not our servant. We are His servants. And as we put our trust in the Lord, we should remember, as Jonathan said, the Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few. He will save, however He is pleased to do it. And He will do so in a way that will bring honor and glory and credit to Himself. and will cause us as his people to marvel at the greatness of our God. What do you think Jonathan was thinking that day as he surveyed the dead bodies of the Philistine garrison? Did he thump his chest and say, wow, that was a great day that I just had. I did great things. No, he praised the Lord for delivering the Philistines into his hand. He knew that it was the Lord's victory And so we too must trust that the Lord will bring about his victory and he may use us. And if he does use us, it is so that we will praise him. Meanwhile, this is also a terror to the enemies of God and his people. They sometimes think that they get away with things and that they have gained the upper hand and that they have nothing to fear or worry about. how very wrong they are because God can bring the entire creation against them to terrify them and to overthrow them the wicked should have no confidence in their own strength but that's exactly what they do they trust in their own power and they think that they are so mighty so great that they are undefeatable and yet God scoffs at them and laughs at them. And then he uses a couple of his servants to overthrow them in such a way that the wicked are scorned and mocked and the righteous are rewarded and God's name is glorified. And so let me just encourage you and call upon you to exercise this kind of faith, the kind of faith that Jonathan has. Go back and examine again this chapter and see Jonathan's faith burning so brightly. And you too, have that faith. You too, put your trust in God. You too, wait upon Him to bring His deliverance for the praise and honor of His name. Let's close in prayer. Lord, we thank You that You are a mighty God, that You do all things well. and that you are the one who protects, delivers, and defend your people. Lord, we know that you are not restrained to only act through great numbers and mighty armies, that you can use even two men who are willing and full of faith, and that you can use them for a great victory that will astound your enemies. Lord, we pray that you would rise up in our day, that you would bring victory against your enemies. They think that they are invincible. Show them, Lord, that they are mere men. And may we, O Lord, be trusting in you as we look to you for the victory. And we pray it, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.