Amen. Let's turn to the reading of God's Holy Word this morning. Our text, 1 Samuel chapter 14. That's page 300. in most of the Bibles in the chairs it's a little bit before that and a few of the others. 1st Samuel chapter 14 as we continue to work through 1st Samuel for those who are with us for those joining in with us Saul is getting into his reign, two years into his reign, and he is facing this massive Philistine army. He sins in failing to be patient and waiting for the Lord's word through the prophet Samuel in 1 Samuel 13. So he leaves Gilgal where he was supposed to be and And now we'll find him here in chapter 14 in a cave on the outskirts of Gibeah. 1 Samuel chapter 14, we'll read and consider verses one through 23 this morning. One day, Jonathan, the son of Saul said to the young man who carried his armor, come, let us go over to the Philistine garrison on the other side. But he did not tell his father. Saul was staying in the outskirts of Gibeah in the pomegranate cave at Migron. The people who were with him were about 600 men, including Ahijah, the son of Hitub, Ichabod's brother, son of Phinehas, son of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people did not know that Jonathan had gone. Within the passes by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistine garrison, there was a rocky crag on the other side and a rocky crag on one side and on the other side. The name of the one was Bozes and the name of the other Senna. The one crag rose on the north in front of Michmash and the other on the south in front of Geba. Jonathan said to the young man who carried 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 can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few. And his armor bearer said to him, do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you, heart and soul. Then Jonathan said, Behold, we will cross over to the man, and we will show ourselves to them. If they say to us, wait until we come to you, then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up to them. But if they say, come up to us, then we will go up, for the Lord has given them into our hand, and this shall be the sign to us. So both of them show themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, look, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden themselves. And the men of the garrison hailed Jonathan and his armor bearer and said, Come up to us and we will show you a thing. And Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, come up after me, for the Lord has given them into the hand of Israel. And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet and his armor-bearer after him. And they fell before Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed them after him. And that first strike which Jonathan and his armor-bearer made killed about 20 men within, as it were, half a furrow's length in an acre of land. And there was a panic in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and even the raiders trembled. The earth quaked, and it became a very great panic. And the watchmen of Saul and Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and behold, the multitude was dispersing here and there. Then Saul said to the people who were with him, count and see who has gone from us. And when they had counted, behold, Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there. So Saul said to Ahijah, bring the ark of God here. For the ark of God went at that time with the people of Israel. Now while Saul was talking to the priest, the tumult in the camp of the Philistines increased more and more. So Saul said to the priest, withdraw your hand. Then Saul and all the people who were with him rallied and went into the battle. And behold, every Philistine sword was against his fellow, and there was very great confusion. Now the Hebrews who had been with the Philistines before that time and who had gone up with them into the camp, even they also turned to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. Likewise, when all the men of Israel who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were fleeing, they too followed hard after them in battle. So the Lord saved Israel that day, and the battle passed beyond Beth-Avon. So far the reading, the grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, not every chapter in the Bible needs to be read exactly as often as every other chapter. So it is not wrong that in 1 Samuel 17, The account of David and Goliath is more well-known than most other accounts and many other chapters in the Bible. However, there is an awesome chapter, just a couple of pages before 1 Samuel 17, which may too often be overlooked under the shadow of the giant Goliath falling. by the sling of young David. For while 1 Samuel 17 makes it clear that David only operates as a servant of God, and David's words himself will make that clear in 1 Samuel 17, we might say that the testimony here in 1 Samuel 14 is even more clear. And while David faced great odds by standing up, against the giant Goliath, the odds here are much worse, much harder to overcome, even much more difficult. And so here we are in a chapter which is probably overlooked under the shadow of a giant, but a chapter which plainly and powerfully teaches us the truth of who God is and how God can deliver and how God can use his servants to bring deliverance. And so this is our theme this morning, serve God even when outnumbered with confidence in his might and his plan. And so we'll first look at expecting from the Lord or that could be waiting from the Lord. And then our second point will be advancing in the Lord. And then third thinking upon the Lord. First this expecting from the Lord. Jonathan is part of the few who are left in his father's army. Chapter 13 tells us that many of them have been fleeing across the river and into the caves. Here they sit on the cliff in Geba on the outskirts of the region of Gibeah. And Saul himself is in one of the caves. With them is a priest, one of the descendants of Eli. For those who have been with us now for the months that we've been working through 1 Samuel, you may remember that the house of Eli is doomed by prophetic announcement. to fall. So now after chapter 13 is the house of Saul in that way verse three is ominous that Saul and the descendants of Eli are sitting together. But just because the son, just because Saul will have judgment upon his house, just because the son of Saul will not be allowed to rule, the dynasty of Saul will end. That does not mean that the son of Saul cannot be faithful. Just because the father has sinned and will fail to show repentance from here on out, does not mean that a son of an unfaithful man couldn't be used. Indeed, Jonathan, the son of unfaithful Saul, shows great faith here and throughout the rest of his life. even disregarding his father as he does so. What does it say at the end of verse one? He did not tell his father. Now, isn't the fifth commandment, which we read almost every Sunday, honor your father and your mother. And so what is going on here? Is Jonathan breaking the fifth commandment? Well, we know that the fifth commandment is stated in that way briefly, but it includes all structures of authority. And so it means not only honor your father and mother, but also honor your king. And you say, well, that doesn't help. Saul is not only Jonathan's father, Saul is also Jonathan's king. So that only makes this worse, right? What are we getting at here? Well, there is an authority above the king, we know. And finally, we must obey God rather than man when an unfaithful man would be pointing us away from God's plan and will. And so there is no breaking of the fifth commandment here. This is a case of honoring God rather than man. And so verse six, we see that. What is the heart of Jonathan here? It's a heart of honoring God. Let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised why why say uncircumcised it's a way of emphasizing the fact. that they are going up against the enemies of God, those who would not align themselves with God. Notice, we'll see that that includes Israelite soldiers who are circumcised, but by aligning themselves with the Philistines, they have essentially marked themselves as uncircumcised. Let us go up against these uncircumcised. And then this, it may be, that the Lord will work for us. For nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few. This is a case of honoring God rather than man. Jonathan is expecting from the Lord, not arrogantly Jonathan speaks with an understanding that God is able and often pleased to work when human odds look most difficult. He's not presuming upon what God could do. He knows what God is capable of. He's not presumptuous. He's not arrogant. Notice this. It may be that the Lord will work for us. Jonathan has no doubt of the power of God. But Jonathan does not pretend to know exactly what God will do or should do. It may be. God has often been pleased to defeat the uncircumcised, even by miraculous means, God could give us the victory in the face of the most difficult of odds. I know what God did through Samson. I know what God did through Shamgar. I know what God did through Gideon. I know what God did in defeating Jericho, in defeating the chariots of Pharaoh. I know what God can do. But I'm not going to pretend. to say that I know exactly what God will do. We might at this point compare Jonathan to young missionaries who have gone out for the service of God facing great danger, being ready to do the work of God, not knowing for sure what God would do. Jim Elliott was ready. for the work of God, he didn't know that it would cost him his life before he could really begin that work. Even as the work would be picked up by his wife and others and be used to great effect after his death. David Brainerd did not know that his effort to bring the gospel to the Native Americans in the middle colonies before the American Revolution, that it would weaken his body through disease and cause his death before his 30th birthday, before he could be married. Similarly, Jonathan here did not know what these cliffs would bring him. But he went forward saying, it may be that the Lord will be pleased to work. With my death or with preservation of my life, I don't know exactly what God will do, but I know what God is capable of. He might use me. He might use me as a spark. So it will be a perilous task, even just to face the enemy. The Israelites, they're camped on the top of one cliff, then there's a ravine and the Philistines are on top of another cliff. The one cliff is called Senna, that means thorny. The other cliff is bozaz, which means muddy. So they need to climb down the thorny one and up the muddy one. Any rock climber knows that a muddy, slippery rock, that's what you avoid, if at all possible. You don't want to climb on something that's wet and slippery. And since the time of the fall, all of mankind has been trying to avoid thorns. But this is what the strenuous climb is going to require, down the thorny way, up the muddy way. Brothers and sisters, let's stop here and ask this question. Are you willing to cross possible dangers to face the mocking world? Not every cliff is made of rocks. Perhaps there's a neighbor across the street who would be willing to hear a word of the gospel, but the street feels like a deep ravine and the two curbs feel like massive rock cliffs that can't be climbed. Perhaps a friend should hear the truth of God's word, but the thought of offending a friend is a towering, muddy, rocky cliff that we would never dare to climb. People of God, both foreign missions and home missions require bravery. God wants servants who are willing to offend their friends, just as God wants servants who are willing to walk the four corners of the earth and climb the cliffs for the sake of serving Him. And God will still do great work, though He no longer calls us to do it with swords of steel, He now calls it to be done with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. God still calls us to do great work. Let's come now to our second point, advancing in the Lord. At this point in history, Jonathan knows that God is pleased to use the swords of steel. He's pleased to use the weapons of war. Part of the Lord's host is the army of the nation of Israel. And Jonathan then knows that a military strike may be exactly how God might be pleased to work. Now we go forth with the Bible. then you could go forth with the word. It was absolutely appropriate to preach to those who are not Israelites. In fact, throughout the Old Testament, quite a few non-Israelites are part of the fold, many. But it was also appropriate to go forth with the sword. And so facing the uncircumcised, that's how Jonathan's going to advance on this day. He is not going to be completely rash though, he is going to make sure he has at least a sliver of a chance. So notice what he does. He climbs down the cliff that's protecting the Israelite army and the picture we have is that he's standing here at the bottom of the ravine shouting up to the Philistines trying to get their attention and he's basically told his armor-bearer if they let us climb up there then we'll begin our work. If God will allow us to get to the top of the cliffs, that is the sliver of a chance that we need. God might use us to spark a victory. Now, why is that important? The text doesn't say this exactly, but every implication of the text is that this is a battle going on in broad daylight. So what if they just start climbing up the cliff and the Philistine sentries are there? Well, they can throw the rocks down and they could be hurled to their death before they even reach the top of the cliff. And so, Jonathan is saying, all right, this is what we're gonna do. Armor-bearer, my faithful friend, if we're allowed to climb to the top of the cliff, we're gonna see if God will use us to spark. If we can't even get that sliver of a chance, then we'll remain here. Now, Jonathan is perhaps counting on the arrogance of the Philistines. that they'll allow two Israelites to climb up and he's not disappointed. It's the Hebrews out of their holes. Sure. Come on up, you two. We'll teach you a lesson when you get here. We'll show you a thing. This is the small opening that Jonathan wanted. Let us go up, he says to his faithful friend. Now the claim was made in the introduction that the odds here are even much greater than those of David against Goliath. Being outnumbered in combat is extremely difficult. And it's one thing to be like 500 against 1000. Then you could maybe maneuver and use things a little bit to your advantage. It's another thing to be two against one. They can get on either side of you. What can you do? You can be surrounded. It is worse to be outnumbered than to face a giant one-on-one. It is worse. It is more difficult. Jonathan and his armor-bearer when they get up there are outnumbered at least 20 to 2. These are incredible odds. Those are the Philistine centuries who they're just letting them climb up. And they're thinking, we got at least 20 people there too. What are they doing? We're just going to wipe them out. We're not even going to tell our buddies behind us that anybody's coming. Why bother? Two Philistines, or these two Hebrews. We got this covered. Well, yeah, they have a huge advantage. Jonathan and his armor-bearer, if they defeat that 2 against 20, what have they done? There are still tens of thousands that remain. This is much, much worse than the odds that David faces against Goliath. If they do defeat these Philistine sentries, The battle has only just begun if God gives them that victory. There's still thousands and thousands and thousands of well-armed Philistines after that. It is 2 against 20 with thousands more remaining. But Jonathan knows that God might use them for a spark. We never know how God might use a few to spark a mighty work. Jonathan never intended to gain the victory alone. He's fighting in the name of the Lord. And so when they make that first strike, And defeat 20 with 2. And more than 20 because some begin running. Confusion begins. Now, we can try to give a logical explanation for what's going on here. Maybe the quaking in verse 15 might be an earthquake. The text seems to be implying it's the earth quaking because of panic. We might think of the time when Gideon defeated many Midianites, but that was in darkness. Confusion in darkness is understandable. This is daylight. We might say that since the centuries are running from the cliffs in panic, that that throws the rest of the Philistines into panic, like, whoa, what's going on? How many are climbing up the cliff? But really, really, we can't give a logical explanation. This is a miraculous work of God. In broad daylight, in the face of two soldiers, he throws the thousands of Philistines into panic, one against another, taking up their swords against one another. Another reason why we know that this is miraculous is because they're not all thrown into confusion. Look with me. verse 21, now the Philistines who had been, now the Hebrews who had been with the Philistines before that time and had gone up with them into the camp, even they also turned to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. In other words, only the Philistines are being thrown into a panic and attacking each other. This is miraculous. God is causing a mighty army to fight itself. He used Jonathan and his armor-bearer as a spark, but we cannot explain this logically. It is a miraculous victory, just as God has won many miraculous victories before and after. How is it that a few missionaries can be used to spark great revival across an entire nation. It is the work of God. It is the work of God. How can the dozens of missionaries going into inland China begin a massive revival and faith in the name of Jesus Christ? It is the work of God. How can William Carey and only a few armor-bearers with him bring a gospel message which is received by many in India, it is the miraculous work of God. When any heart is made new, it is the miraculous work of God. And the military victory here, when God was sending out his armies, is another miraculous victory. Now, Let me ask you a question. Let's not forget the armor-bearer. Jonathan is not one, he is two. The armor-bearer is unnamed. Now, people of God We are to be willing to serve God in every place, in every way, in any role that God chooses to have us serve Him. Will we be the leading Jonathans or the essentially unnamed armor bearers? We do not know. Will we be the Jonathans who later become basically the armor bearer? Jonathan is willing to give up his leadership, to give up his claim to the throne, to become a friend, a armor bearer essentially for David years down the road. Whatever place, whatever way, whatever role, Let us serve God and serve him bravely and say with the armor bearer, my heart and soul are with you. Now, it is beautiful to see the spark which God uses here, but let's not get too caught up in the deliverance of the nation of Israel by two persons at this time. Let's consider the greatest salvation is not of two, but of one. That takes us to our third point, thinking upon the Lord. We don't know who the author of 1 Samuel is. We do know that the author keeps our focus on God. Much of 1 and 2 Samuel, it's narrated history. The narrator doesn't too often step in and give direct comments, but here, beautifully in verse 23 the narrator steps in by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and says so the Lord saved Israel that day. Now the Lord used a spark and again God can use whatever spark he wants. God was pleased to use the spark of Martin Luther and his armor bearers to cause the Great Reformation. God was pleased to use the spark of a few missionaries to again bring great revivals among many, but it is always the work of God. We can plant, we can water, but as the Apostle Paul, who was himself perhaps the greatest missionary this world has ever seen, said, it is God who gives the increase. And it is God himself who provided the greatest work of salvation against the greatest of odds. We can speak about the odds here being much worse than the odds of David against Goliath, and that is true. But what are the odds of one who can bear the weight of all the sins of all the believers through all eternity upon himself? What are the odds that someone could do that? There's only one. There's only one who can bear your sin and my sin and the sin of all believers who have ever lived who trusted him. There's only one who could even bear his own sin because he had no sin. And that is Jesus Christ who died on the cross. The greatest salvation is the salvation of one for many. And Jonathan goes forth here against great odds, but with his armor bearer, and with more than that, the knowledge that the Lord may be pleased to work with him. What did Jesus Christ face on the cross? He said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus went forward to drink the cup of God's wrath against sin, truly alone. It was in accordance with God's plan. But it was the greatest salvation against the greatest odds. It could only be done by one who was without sin, by one who was truly man and yet truly God. It could only be won by Jesus Christ. The salvation of 1 Samuel 14, the salvation of 1 Samuel 17, nothing compares to the salvation there. These are only faint shadows of what God does, even as it was the Lord himself working through his servants here. Now, since Jesus Christ has won salvation, God is pleased to use men and women as the spark for revival and for faithful service through many years. as the spark to bring others to Jesus Christ. Since God is pleased to show mercy, the traitorous Israelites, who we already looked at in verse 21, are not thrown into a panic like the rest of the Philistine army. Instead, they will join in the rout of the uncircumcised. is often pleased to bring back his wandering sons. God will use even one who's unfaithful to carry out his greater purposes. And so Saul, who only wants to consult God when it's convenient for him, will eventually join in the fray, bringing the 600 with him. What about those who were shaking in their boots and running and hiding in caves by themselves. Verse 22 tells us that they were the last to join the mutineers in hiding, but they too will join in God's victory. The scared, the slow, the traitors, all of them will be used on this day to rout God's uncircumcised enemy. People of God, We are all the wandering, scared, slow, traitorous sheep that God is pleased to use for his service and even to save from sins. Now let's think again as we come to our conclusion about the ripple effect that a faithful servant of God can have. Jonathan and his armor-bearer were the spark, but then Saul and the army is raised up. The traitors are preserved from the confusion. The mutineers join in. They're all brought in. They're all now going to work together to win the victory, the Lord himself guiding it all. Now let's think again about David Brainerd. This was the young missionary before the American Revolution. He died before the age of 30. What were the ripple effects of his service? Just as God used Jonathan and his armor bearer for great ripple effects in his kingdom, preserving Israel on this day. Well, what were the ripple effects of that young brave man? His diary would be published by Jonathan Edwards. That diary would have a huge impact on William Carey, who would then lead the charge of the gospel into India in the 1700s. It would also have a huge impact upon Jonathan Edwards himself. He would also pick up the banner of working in missions and spent six years of his ministry service laboring among the Indians of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. That Native American community maintained faithfulness to God even when it relocated to Shawano County in Wisconsin in the 1830s. And in the 1930s, the congregation of Old Stockbridge, Wisconsin would become one of the first OPC congregations. They still worship Jesus Christ today, less than two hours north of us. Many unnamed armor bearers along the way being used by God to maintain faithfulness to his cause. There's a little OPC news clip that gives a brief overview of the history of this congregation. The photo is from the 1930s. It's unnamed. The ladies in the photo, we don't know their names anymore. Maybe somebody in Shawano County could have remembered a couple of them. It's the Ladies Prayer Circle from the 1930s. They're unnamed armor bearers who are part of the chain of faithful service to God through centuries. It is the Lord alone who works salvation. It is Jesus Christ alone. who stands as the one for the many. But God is pleased to use his servants, his Jonathans and his many unnamed armor bearers to strike a spark and to carry forward the flame of salvation in Jesus Christ. of life in Jesus Christ and faithful service to him even from one generation to the next. People of God, how will God use you? And what rock