Good evening, everyone. We are back. Good evening. We are back in 1 Samuel chapter 14. I hope you've enjoyed 1 Samuel. I hope it hasn't been too much of a slog. They are long texts of Scripture. They're long portions of Scripture to read through. to think through, and tonight is definitely no different. So I appreciate any attention that you might give tonight. So we're gonna be in 1 Samuel 14, and what we're gonna do, like we do every month, is we're gonna read the entire text, 52 verses. So we're gonna read this together. I won't make you stand for it, but with a 10 of ears, let's listen to the word of God, starting at verse one, 1 Samuel 14. 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 Ahitab, Ichabod's brother, son of Phinehas, son of Eli, the priest of the Lord, and 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 one side and a rocky crag on the other side. The name of the one was Bozes, the name of the other Senna. The one crag rose in 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 men, 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 showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, Look, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they've 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. Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, Come up after me, for the Lord has given them into the hand of Israel. Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet and his armor-bearer after him. And they fell. 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 panic in the camp, and 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, Come and see who has gone out 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's sword was against his fellow, and there was a 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 the battle. So the Lord saved Israel that day, and the battle passed beyond Beth-Avon. And the men of Israel had been hard-pressed that day, so Saul had laid an oath on the people, saying, Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening, and I am avenged on my enemies. So none of the people had tasted food. Now when all the people came to the forest, behold, there was honey on the ground. And when the people entered the forest, behold, the honey was dripping, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath, so he put out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it into the honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes became bright. Then one of the people said, ìYour father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, ìCursed be the man who eats food this day.î And the people were faint. Then Jonathan said, ìMy father has troubled the land.î See how my eyes have become bright because I tasted a little of this honey. How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies that they found. For now the defeat among the Philistines has not been great.î They struck down the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon, and the people were very faint. And the people pounced on the spoil and took sheep and oxen and calves and slaughtered them on the ground, and the people ate them with the blood. Then they told Saul, Behold, the people are sinning against the Lord by eating with the blood. And he said, you have dealt treacherously. Roll a great stone to me here. And Saul said, disperse yourselves among the people and say to them, let every man bring his ox or his sheep and slaughter them here and eat and do not sin against the Lord by eating with the blood. So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night and they slaughtered him there. And Saul built an altar to the Lord. It was the first altar that he built to the Lord. Verse 36, then Saul said, let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until the morning light. Let us not leave a man among them. And they said, do whatever seems good to you. But the priest said, let us draw near to God here. And Saul inquired of God, shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel? But he did not answer him that day. And Saul said, come here, all you leaders of the people, and know and see how this sin has arisen today. For as the Lord lives who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. But there was not a man among all the people who answered him. Then he said to all Israel, you shall be on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side. And the people said to Saul, do what seems good to you. Therefore Saul said, O Lord God of Israel, why have you not answered your servant this day? If this guilt is in me or in Jonathan my son, O Lord God of Israel, give Urim. But if this guilt is in your people Israel, give Thummim. And Jonathan and Saul were taken, but the people escaped. Then Saul said, cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan. And Jonathan was taken. Then Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what you have done. And Jonathan told him, I tasted a little honey with the tip of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am. I will die. And Saul said, God do so to me and more also. You shall surely die, Jonathan. Then the people said to Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it! As the Lord lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day. So the people ransomed Jonathan, so that he did not die. And then Saul went up from pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place. And verse 47 to the end, when Saul had taken the kingship over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, against the Ammonites, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he routed them. And he did valiantly and struck the Amalekites and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who plundered them. Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan Ishvi and Malkishua, and the names of his daughters were these. The name of the firstborn was Merib, and the name of the younger, Michael. And the name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimaz. And the king of the commander of his army was Abner, the son of Ner, Saul's uncle. Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner, the father of Abner, was the son of Abiel. there was hard fighting against the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man or any valiant man, he attached him to himself." Such is the reading of God's Word. I thought to bring water up here. I think I'll be okay. Tonight, what we're going to do is look at what I'm titling, The Godless Path of Disobedience. Because 1 Samuel 14 is a very, very long chapter, and in our limited time tonight, which I've already taken up some eight and a half minutes reading the text itself, we can't look at everything it has to offer. But I think it does tell us a thought-provoking story. When it comes to the self-destructive folly of Saul, not many can surpass him. His foolish actions, His fall from national respect, this is all chronicled here. Because we know from last time that He launched Himself onto this slippery slope by seeking to disobey God's Word. And this slippery slope that He launches Himself out upon is ultimately going to destroy Him. We're going to see Him lose His crown. He loses his reputation, he'll lose his testimony, he'll lose his family, and ultimately, he'll lose his life by continuing on this godless path of rebellion and sin. And so, I'd like for us to consider this text with one main takeaway for us. There is a steady descent along the godless path of disobedience, whereby man resists the recognition of his own sin. I'll say that again. There's a steady descent along the godless path of disobedience, whereby man resists the recognition of his own sin. And this is the path that we witness in the reign of Saul. And tonight, there's pitfalls, there's warnings for all of us. And those are gonna be found in three main points that I'll give for us. The first is the sinful abdication of leadership. Now, my outline in preparing tonight, it overlaps a little bit with chapter 13, and I know Peter was there last time. I'm not re-preaching his text, but the events in 13 and 14 are consecutive together, and they happen in a very short amount of time back to back. Oh, thank you. The most rapid part of Saul's final descent begins in 13 and continues until the end of 14 before chapter 15, next time, the dramatic and permanent severing of the relationship of Saul with God and Samuel. We're going to see that. So if you remember last time, the first official act of Saul as the king, Peter talked about Saul selecting this standing army, two divisions under himself and his son Jonathan. And he selects about 3,000 men, it says, and the rest sent home. And Samuel, having delivered probably what he thought was his retirement speech in chapter 12, he leaves Saul to begin getting on with the kingship. which he does apparently without a whole lot of reference to the Lord. But this all was in spite of the fact that it was the people's own neglect of the Lord that brought them into this predicament in the first place. And with each of these main points, there's a couple of sub-points underneath them to think about. So when we think about his abdication of leadership, his sin, his sin led to his rejection as king. That's what we saw last time. Saul's situation was exacerbated by Jonathan who had gained a tactical victory over the Philistines in Geba. And now he's kind of raised the ire and the troops, the troop level, that threatened the people in the Israelite army. And so, we saw Saul waiting impatiently for seven days for Samuel to come, all while his troops are getting more and more terrified at the growing ranks of the Philistine army, the chariots, the horsemen, the troops, and assuming clearly that Samuel's not going to show up. He undertakes the sacrifice himself. And so Saul obviously thought he'd done nothing wrong. That's kind of the impression we get. He runs out to greet Samuel. He's arriving just as he's finishing here, but we see the ineptitude of this man in these circumstances, a complete lack of spiritual understanding. His religion was nothing less than a professional farce. is what we're, I think what we should see here. The Lord is not some Ouija board to be defined, a bank vault combination to open the safe. And you would think that the people had learned their lesson with the Ark of the Covenant, trotting it out into battle and it getting captured in chapter four. The Lord is not a talisman against wicked folly. God has rules and he sets them forth and we have to take note of them. The reaction of the prophet tells you everything that you need to know. And I have in my mind a pastor from Keyport, Mike Pence. During a VBS, this was one of the stories that he told, and he was dressed as Samuel, and he jumps out behind the curtain. He says, you fool! That's the picture here that we see. Samuel is thunderstruck. Saul is so full of his own importance, his response to Samuel about what he'd done was very assured. Well, I had to. I had to make an appeal to the Lord. You weren't here. So, you know, if that's the picture of Samuel in your mind, he's cooled down a little bit, and what does he tell him? He says, God set you aside now. God has sought a man after his own heart, a man who's going to lean hard on him, learn from him. He's going to see to the well-being of the people and the destruction of the horrible Philistines. You're done. So his sin led to his rejection as king. It also led to military abandonment because we read that Samuel goes home. And Saul counts his men again, it's not 3,000, it's not 2,000, it's 600 men. And so in the face of this tremendous threat from the Philistines, he's not only short of men, they don't have weapons. The Philistines have made it impossible for them to accumulate any kind of weaponry. It's near impossible to even get agricultural equipment, it's so expensive, the exchange rates. But we also see that his sin led to another hero rising to the occasion. That's what we find at the beginning of 14. Because we see in verse 2, he's hiding in this, Saul's hiding in this makeshift capital where he's forced to escape. You see the 600 men, you see the priest Ahijah, we read and discover he's the great grandson of Eli, we've heard his name before. I think the writer intends for this to be a portrait of spiritual sickness, is how Rich Phillips would put it. He's cornered by a vastly superior enemy force. He's holed up in this craggy little grove with his band of rejects. And consequently, Saul takes no military initiative. And in a spiritual place, Saul is kind of setting up his little kingly court among those around him where he's sitting under this notable tree, this pomegranate tree. his royal chaplain who's a proper descendant, you would appear, of the high priestly line. He's got the sacred ephod, the sacred apron that's got the urim and the thumim. At first glance, it appears pretty good. Okay, he's trying to take stock of where he's at. This is a negative picture. And there's a lot of reasons for that, but one should be pretty obvious, I think, if we're paying attention. We're told who Ahijah is. He's a descendant of the house of Eli, the rejected, cursed house of Eli. The nephew, he's the nephew of Ichabod is mentioned here, whose mother, when Ichabod was born, infamously declared, the glory has departed from Israel. When you read that kind of detail in the text, it's not randomly inserted. This is here to create a picture, and here the point is being made about Saul standing before the Lord. Saul's lost the dynamic, godly counsel of Samuel, and in its place is this second-tier counselor of the disgraced house of Eli, and he's got 600 men, and that's it, and they don't have swords. Saul has lost his way with the Lord, and he's abdicated any real grasp of leadership in the nation. And so here is where the second instance of Jonathan's bravery and heroism is found. And he's traversing this terrain of Micmash, which is between slippery and thorny and thorny and slippery. It's horrible terrain. And Robert Bergen writes here, whereas Saul, the commander, publicly dishonored the Lord through fear and inspired disobedience, Jonathan, the warrior, would bring honor to the Lord through his fearless faith. And behind Jonathan's daring actions was the simple conviction of his faith that we saw in verse 6. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few. We could spend the whole night just talking and thinking about that verse. Many a preacher have planted their flag in just that verse in preaching through this text. And we could easily do the same, but Jonathan's, the point tonight is that Jonathan's faith wasn't reliable, or wasn't relying on, I should say, favorable circumstances. He was simply looking to God and to His might. And that's a stunning contrast with his father Saul. Because I think we're left to assume that Jonathan's faith came not from his father's poor example to date, But think about God's past dealings with the people before the era of the kings. The entire record of the judges, which was recent history at this point. It showed that when it pleased the Lord to deliver the people, very well He would arrange for a few people or even a single bold person of faith to enact His plan of delivering His people. Remember, it was Ehud who went in alone into the stronghold of Eglin of Moab, and he slew him by himself. It was Shamgar who arose and killed 600 of the Philistines with a piece of agricultural equipment. And perhaps most famously, Gideon was used by God to deliver the people from the Mennonites. He only had 300 fellow Israelites. They had nothing but torches and clay pots. There are many things that we could look at here, but I think for our purposes, I have to draw your attention to what's missing, because we could spend the whole night just looking at the faith of Jonathan. But in this whole narrative, when you bring in the context before and after, this is still about Saul. What's missing here is that this is supposed to be Saul, not Jonathan. Saul's abdicated his position of leadership. He's supposed to be leading the people of Israel against the Philistines. So his position of leadership spiritually, militarily, he's given it up by his actions. It's Prince Jonathan. undoubtedly aware of how demoralized the army is right now, he sets forth to see if God can use him to change the situation. The Scottish preacher William Still, he would often say, prayer is the Christian's vital breath, the Christian's native air. Prayer is the motion of a hidden fire that trembles in the breast. Jonathan's commando raid that we read about here with his armor bearer. It was built upon a theological perspective, a prayerful dependence on God that was reinforced directly when God actually granted him the victory. And you see that in the narrative. It's almost like he puts out a fleece like Gideon did. If they call us up, that's a sign that God is with us. And they go up into this narrow place where only a few could come out at a time, and they slay them right there. The panic that ensues in verse 15, this is a panic that's sent by God. Not to dampen the mood, but we have to move along in our outline. The second stage, sadly, of Saul's decline on this godless path, secondly, is the spiritual sickness of manufactured piety. We see that starting in verse 16, moving to verse 37. See, Saul had already demonstrated hints. to being spiritually sick by compulsively offering a sacrifice in the absence of Samuel. But from here on out, he's playing this role of the super spiritual with all his might. A number of ways that we see that is that Saul's sickness led to reckless shows of religiosity. Just think for a minute. Saul knows he's been dismissed, right? You'd hope he'd recognize that. Samuel's left him. And yet he stubbornly continues on thoughtlessly, as it were, trying to win back God's favor. And so he's scrambling, I think, to figure out who's been stirring up the hornet's nest. And then he realizes, well, Jonathan's the one that's missing. He's the one that's actually putting his sword to the neck of the Philistines. I can only imagine the thoughts that are going on in his mind. Who gave him permission to engage them? He's already stirred them up against us enough. All the while, he's been busy with these religious rituals and setting things up just so, and how can we mount a comeback. The commotion is so great that it finally forces his hand. Even some of the deserters we read who had gone over to the Philistines, they are now returning to Israel at this moment. They're observing this mad rush as a result of Jonathan's maneuver, this daring maneuver and rout of the Philistines by the prayerful initiative of Jonathan, I might add. This is the almightiest route that you could imagine, a wonderful victory. But Saul, wanting to capitalize on the situation, and probably remembering the trouble he stirred up for himself before, he asks for the ark to be brought to him in verse 18. I mean, haven't they learned by now? The ark, bring the ark up to us. That's worked out for us before. But what is quickly becoming, I think, routine spiritual incompetence, Saul becomes impatient at the increasing commotion, the chaos that Jonathan's boldness has started. And so he interrupts the priest from beseeching God's aid. Gordon Keddy writes, Saul gives us the impression that he felt he was supposed to be religious and observe certain conventions at the appropriate times, but really had no deep convictions of his own. He used religion as opposed to living a personal faith in the Lord. And so, the effects of Saul's folly, the effects of his spiritual sickness, is the term we've used tonight, is seen in the transition that takes place right here. Because often, a lot of people when they preach through this, they'll stop at 23, and 1 through 23 is Jonathan's victory, and 24 to 52 is just Saul kind of ruining it after that point. For our purposes tonight, this transition, we see verse 23, it belongs to the bold faith-filled assault by Jonathan, because we read the Lord saved Israel that day, the battle passed on, it went on for almost another 20 miles. But then verse 24, this transition, verse 24, the sadness we see here is Saul's assumption that he's still a righteous leader. Saul's effort here in placing this burdensome oath on the people that are fighting, that are chasing the Philistines through the wilderness, it serves almost to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory that the Lord is giving in this moment. And by His folly, the Philistines were able to survive the annihilation they deserved. And so, in the aftermath of his rebuke by Samuel, Saul seems to be now devoting himself to this external religious observance. And there's this fervor, I think, that matched the reckless hardening of his heart, as one writer puts it. So, of course, Jonathan's where we expect him to be. He's leading the Israelites in pursuit of the enemy. At one point he and the soldiers come to this forest and the description, I mean we can't, even the text probably doesn't do it justice. The honeycombs are so thick and full. We've never seen anything like this I'm sure. The honey is like dripping over onto the ground. This is truly the land flowing with milk and honey. You can imagine these soldiers, they haven't eaten anything and they're traversing through this rough wilderness under Saul's oath and painfully fearing that oath. They're passing through and not eating, just looking at the honey and leaving it. But Jonathan hadn't heard about the oath himself, and so he goes and eats some. And I would note, this isn't an act of rebellion. Jonathan's zeal for battle wasn't lagging. In fact, the honey had made an immediate positive effect on his readiness. One writer says he got an infusion of sugar and calories, so his eyes were bright. You imagine the look on the face of the soldier that stops him. and tells Prince Jonathan, your father Saul, he forced this oath on us. I'm sure it was very unpleasant. And you see Jonathan's response was very candid, very honest in verse 29. My father has troubled the land. That is an important phrase. It's intentionally provocative. Because this is how the Bible describes someone who causes the Lord's people to stumble and lose God's blessing because of their unbelief and sin. A classic example of that is in Joshua, where Achan brought trouble. It's the same word. He brought trouble on the nation because of his sin of taking and hiding some of the loot, some of the plunder. I don't doubt that Jonathan knew his father's heart. He knew his father's motives, and he candidly is kind of forced to respond here to the situation that his father's sin and folly is hindering Israel. Even in this very moment, when God's blessing is on them in that day, they are chasing after the Philistines. But he's sadly lamenting what his father has caused here, this sickness. And so, we would also see that Saul's spiritual sickness, it led his people to break the law of God. That's in verse 31 to 35. One of the unintended evils, even if Saul had good motive behind this oath, want them to be focused on the battle, I don't want them to stop, we want to keep pressing on, one of the unintended evils of this oath was the sin of the soldiers that followed. when they violated Israel's food regulations. So in spite of their physical weakness, they're pursuing the Philistines. But we get to verse 31 and 32. I mean, we shouldn't be surprised at this point. The soldiers are so starved, they're throwing all their reservation to the wind, and they pounce on the spoil. They take sheep, and they take oxen indiscriminately, and calves, and they're slaughtering them on the ground. And the issue is that they ate the meat with the blood. In the law, blood was a symbol of life. They were not permitted to eat meat with blood still in it. And since the blood was the atoning part of the meat in sacrifices, they were not supposed to consume it essentially. And so they were to hang the meat. So we see a description of that in Leviticus. They were supposed to hang the meat, let the blood drip out until they could eat it. So it's not hard, though, to imagine why so famished they didn't observe that religious detail. But this is kind of on Saul. And once again, notice when news comes to Saul how keen, how quick he is to make an impression of outward religious observance. This was as he saw it. Here's the perfect opportunity to show myself as a spiritual leader that I believe myself to be. So, he responds with zeal. He calls his army treacherous, even though they had violated God's law out of sheer desperation because of his own oath. He immediately takes charge and every man, bring your own ox, bring your sheep, bring them here, slaughter them on the great stone. We're going to roll this in the middle of the camp. And he provides a proper meal for the army. and flush with success, he builds an altar to the Lord, presumably on the same stone where they'd sacrifice the animals. But the text in verse 35, I think very rightly, observes that it was the first altar that he built to the Lord. It's a perfect picture of his religious worship. Now, pause and consider this reality just for a second. For Saul, The glory of God was not an end in itself. And no time in Saul's rule had he initiated the worship of God, but rather when he had need here, the situation required it. They'd already slaughtered the meat. Well, then he builds the altar. Matthew Henry would write of this, Saul was turning aside from God and yet now began to build altars, being zealous as most are for the form of godliness at the very moment when he was denying the power of godliness. That is a powerful statement. And isn't that our tendency? Not having true religion, not having a heart directed to the Lord, but masking it in an especially zealous observance of something outward, something external, something that other people will see. And so, in all of this, Saul is not showing any shame towards God. He's not showing any grievance over his sin. He's not zealous for the glory of the Lord. He's not zealous for the honor of the Lord. He's feeling the heat. He's feeling that his interests as king are at jeopardy. It's very selfish. It's very petty. It's very pitiful. And so, the third step, this would be 36 to 46. The third step in this descent is found, starting in verse 36, where at this point, I think Saul feels like his legs are under him, and he proposes a new endeavor against the Philistines. And again, you've got to question the wisdom of this order, the fatigue, the raggedness of the army. You can't help notice, but this new plan is entirely opposite of the oath that they just placed themselves under. Don't plunder anything. They've given themselves to this oath of chasing them all across this countryside. Don't eat. Don't stop to eat. Don't stop for anything. You keep chasing them. Now it's the motivation. Let's go plunder their socks off. So Saul is the kind of man who, in a lot of ways, he wants to succeed as a leader. But he's judging each situation according to the wisdom he can find on his own. And he's a man who's serving no cause greater than his own success. He's got no deeply held convictions. I think it's a misery to think about this in the context of the church and the home. What a misery it is when even perhaps a good desire to perform well, to do something with excellence is motivated by self-interest. a selfish desire for success, without a higher calling for God's glory, no deep conviction to serve as a compass of sorts." And so you see the soldier's response to this idea that he hatches is a lack of conviction I think is pretty appropriate for his kind of leadership. Do whatever seems good to you, King Saul. It's not exactly what you're looking for, especially when you're trying to call them back into the heat of battle. Let's go get them. All right. We can't help but notice the contrast between the response of the soldiers to Saul and then think earlier in the chapter, the words of Jonathan's armor-bearer in the face of Jonathan's inspiring example of self-sacrificing conviction and valor for the sake of the Lord. Saul's pragmatism and his folly prevent him from ever hearing a response like his son heard in verse 7. Behold, I am with you, heart and soul." That's what the armor-bearer told Jonathan to this crazy plan. A question I would ask is, have you ever desired to hear that kind of response from your children, from the people you minister to in the church, maybe the people that you lead at work? Saul and Jonathan instruct us, I think, that true spiritual leadership is not about opportunism. It's not about outward religious show. It's rather that the people of God are led by true biblical convictions. And may that be said of us in our church. Because let me be clear, our obligation before God is not that we're what our culture would define as successful. At no point does God tell a Christian or a church or a pastor or anyone that we need to seize by any means necessary what the culture measures as successful. What do we look forward to hearing Jesus tell us? Well done, good and faithful servant. So how important is it for leaders of local churches especially, I think, to express a consistency with the passionate, principled faith that's grounded in the Word of God? If you're here at 5 o'clock, I think we heard a lot of that in the responses from our own elders. That's the measure of success. Whether you're growing a church, whether you're growing a ministry, that is the measure of success, principled faith that's grounded in God's Word. So, this third step in Saul's descent, the cowardice of projected blame is the reason why I name it that. First, Saul's cowardice led to this self-righteous witch hunt. So, earlier we heard Jonathan's frustration with his father. On this occasion, it's another close to the king who expresses reservation about the wisdom of the king's commands. This is in verse 36. It's the priest. We would assume it's a hija, we don't know for sure, but he says, let us draw near to God here. I tend to read that as a pretty polite way, a rather polite way, I guess, of suggesting that let's consult the Lord before we hastily enact this new plan to go run after the Philistines, which is contradictory in its method than to what we were doing before. And Saul seizes on this, I think maybe deriving some sort of new hope out of the perceived success that his outward shows of religion. given to this point, maybe the Lord's going to speak to me this time. That's kind of how deluded he is. And so, we can only imagine the frustration and the anger, verse 37, where Saul beseeches the Lord, he inquires of the Lord, and it says that the Lord did not answer him that day. Imagine the effect that that would have had on Saul's army. Standing by, they're ready to renew the assault, but they're witnessing the continued silence of the Lord both to the king and to Ahijah the priest. Samuel's not here anymore either. God's refusal to speak to either of them had the effect of subjecting Saul and all his outward show to ridicule. Now obviously Saul felt that it was necessary to do something and he's going to provide a rationale for what's happening next. That's an interesting portion that comes after because it mentions these two items called the Urim and the Thummim. We really don't know exactly what they are. They're objects that were mentioned earlier that essentially are in the high priest's...it's called an ephod, it's like an apron. But this is actually one of the more expressive passages in all the Old Testament, how they work. So obviously we don't know what they looked like. We don't really quite know what they were, but what we can gather is there's some sort of device that could give a yes-no answer, the way flipping a coin could derive an answer. But I think what this passage suggests is that there was a way for it to also show whether God was refusing to answer or not. There were at least three outcomes is what I'm saying. And so, in this case, the Lord showed He had no revelation for Saul. And so calling for lots again, verse 40, he establishes some new rules, calls all the leaders together and says, you all go on this side. My son Jonathan and I are on this side. That's kind of interesting. Again, I think the people are pretty unenthusiastic. Do what seems good to you. It's not exactly obvious why Saul did that, why he divided it that way. I think you could imagine a need for him to exonerate his guilt. that was gnawing on his mind, maybe Jonathan is going to somehow bolster his case. But the rules, if the Urim falls on this side, then he would fully embrace the role of Joshua, call out for someone to play the role of Achan, and receive your judgment for what you've done. And yet, like all his other plans it seems, Saul is frustrated by God. Because the lots are cast in verse 41, he and Jonathan are selected. Now Saul really has no choice but to move forward in this plan. And so they cast a lot between the two of them, and Jonathan's selected. And you see this grand standing display, and Saul asks Jonathan to reveal his crime. So secondly under here would be Saul's cowardice led to a wicked accusation of his own son. So you imagine Jonathan's quandary. He's committed no open sin against Saul or the Lord, and yet here he stands as a type of Achan to be called out. And yet in perfect candor, just like we saw earlier in the chapter when he entrusted himself to the Lord to attempt this bold Commando Raid, he entrusts himself to the Lord here. He's such an example. And he sets his case very honestly in verse 43. I did indeed taste a little honey. He didn't say, no, it wasn't me. I did indeed taste a little honey with the end of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am. I must die. Saul, at this point, a mere mockery of the kind of real spiritual leader that Joshua was when he did judge justly the sin of Achan. Saul lets loose another bombastic oath in verse 44. May God do the same to me and more also, for you shall certainly die, Jonathan. I don't care if you're the king of Israel or not. Man, you're making way too many oaths, first off. You're too quick with these kinds of oaths. And rest assured, he and others are going to pay for them, just as those under the authority of someone who's got this kind of cavalier, self-serving spirituality will as well. So no doubt, I think Jonathan's congratulating himself here. on how faithful he was to his perverse understanding of God's Word, not seeing what a selfishly repulsive mockery he's making of God's justice. Another writer, William Blakey, he writes, even Saul ought to have understood this. He ought to have just confessed that he was the one out of his own reckoning. But frankly and cordially, he should have taken the blame on himself and at once exonerated his noble son. Such an action, of course, required a character and a godliness that Saul did not possess. All through this chapter, we see the folly of King Saul, both frustrating the success of the nation, alienating him from his loyal followers, his actions alienate him from his own son, his confidence, his affection towards him. His orders have alienated the high priest. Remember, he kind of awkwardly suggested, maybe we should actually ask the Lord before we do anything. But now these foolish lots are alienating Him from the mass of the people, essentially, who simply will not allow, praise the Lord, this outrage of justice to take place. And I would just briefly note how often it is, sadly, in the history of God's people, When the leadership fails, that sometimes the pew has to speak, when the pulpit will not obey the word of the Lord. And so, lastly, under this cowardice display of Saul, we see his cowardice led to his own shameful repudiation. This is verse 45 and 46. After Saul uttered these oaths, the people felt it was time to take an oath for themselves. You see in verse 45, as the Lord lives, wasn't that Saul's favorite expression? Now they're claiming it for themselves. As the Lord lives, not even a hair of his head shall fall to the ground. Saul may be their king, and they had done their best in so many ways to obey his foolish commands, but there were limits to what he could demand of them. And they simply would not stand here for Jonathan's execution. must Jonathan die, he who has brought about this great victory in Israel?" And then in this obvious affront to Saul, Saul who had done nothing, they add, Jonathan, he has worked with God this day. He has worked with God this day. So the people, in verse 46, the people rescued Jonathan, or ransomed Jonathan, and he did not die. Saul's credibility is gone. It's shattered. And that is a remarkable achievement for a king who on that very day, God had granted a great, a notable victory over his enemies, but the effect of what Saul has done, is that the pursuit comes to a complete halt, in verse 46. Saul went up from pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place. And so it was, the Philistines would live to fight another day, and Saul would never again possess so great an opportunity from the Lord to do his job and defend his people. Wasn't that the title of Peter's sermon last time? Soldier, that's not your job. Saul would never have an opportunity like this again. And there are a lot of lessons, I think, that we could apply. This is where we're going to conclude our time tonight. This is kind of an unorthodox sermon, you could say. There are a lot of lessons we could apply, but I want you to listen to these words from an English Puritan. His name's Arthur Hildersham. He says, true religion, where it is received, will command the heart and the whole man. Let a man profess what he will. If his heart and life is not reformed, he is a hypocrite. And whatever worship he does to God is but a false worship." If there is one element of application, there are many things we could draw from this, and again, there's a lot of text here tonight. There's a lot to unwrap, a lot to kind of think through is happening in the story. If there's one thing to take from tonight, it would be that true religion doesn't resist the recognition of our own sin. You see, the recovery of God's favor requires those who have sinned to humble themselves before the Lord, seeking His grace. The absence of that kind of humble contrition before God is the most glaring omission from all the accounts we have of Saul's reign. The hardness of Saul's unbelieving heart was ultimately what kept him from the kind of repentance and the kind of faith that was required of him. And I would pray we would never think that God could be bought off with anything. Every sinner is called by God to confess his sin, to appeal to the blood of the Savior whom God has sent in the man Christ Jesus, because it is Jesus who rendered the verdict on this kind of failed religion that Saul showed. In Luke 18.14, Jesus said, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. But he who humbles himself will be exalted." And seeking always to be exalted, Saul's proud progress is always downward. In Romans 1 and 2 and 3, one of the reasons that Paul dwells on all the perverse ways that we demonstrate sinfulness is that we're so resistant to seeing it and to feeling it. We find ways to avoid the issue. We find ways to soften the indictments and escape the evidence of our own sin. And that's what we see so clearly in Saul. And there are endless ways, I think, to admit to a little bit of our sin, a little bit of it, take the sharp edge off without being broken, without being humbled by it. In this life, we never outgrow our need for ever new, frequent experiences for us to be broken before the Lord, to be humbled before the Lord, because we do sin. And Saul robbed God of the one main thing that the law demanded of him, his faith. The one thing that honors God, that glorifies God, more than anything else, he kept for himself. He had the appearance of knowing the law at one level. But he didn't know the law at the essential level. The law became a means of self-righteousness for him instead of that which describes the life of faith. And so, in Old Testament vernacular, Saul robbed God in the adultery of giving his heart and his faith to himself, to religious ritual, to moral striving, to the praise of men. So tonight, the gospel warning, the gospel invitation, so to speak, for you and for me is this, let us be watchful and careful fellow lovers of the Bible. We want to beware lest we rest in the Word, we boast in God, we know His will, we approve what is excellent, guide the blind, correct the foolish, teach the immature, but we don't teach ourselves. We aren't humble ourselves. The Word can't become a formal thing only. It can't be an external thing only. If it does not break us, if it doesn't humble us, if the Word doesn't lead us to a sweet childlike trust in God's free grace, then we're not yet taught by the Word. And we're not fit to teach or lead anyone else either. Woe to me, any preacher, any teacher that stands here, any lover of the book of life," just use that, anyone who…we have in the Word of God the embodiment of knowledge, we have the…we know the truth in our mind, so to speak, but we only know the letter of the law and not the Spirit. We only know the form of righteousness and not the righteousness that comes by faith. This is why Saul's descent is sad for us. So I pray that everyone in this room will be taught even now by the Spirit the difference between establishing our own kind of righteousness and receiving the righteousness and the sanctifying grace of God as a gift through faith in Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we are thankful tonight for any opportunity we have to open the Word. There are people in this world who do not have that opportunity. There are people in this world that have to memorize the Word because they can't even hold the Word in their possession. We are so blessed and thankful that it is wide open in front of us, in our laps, in front of our eyes to read. And tonight we have considered this story of Saul, and in contrast and in somewhat of a blessing from You, the direct contrast with Jonathan and his faith. There is much that we could have said or thought about tonight about Jonathan's faith, but I pray, Lord, that instead, as we've looked at this text, we would look at Saul as a warning, we would look at Saul as an example of what we are not to be. And oftentimes we bristle at those kinds of examples, but Lord, this is why so much ink has been spent on who Saul is, what he was about, and what he wasn't about. And so Lord, tonight, any of us who have hardened hearts, where we go through the motions, where we make a good show of religion, make a good show of faith, so to speak, but are hard inside or are so damaged inside that we have no hope in You and we keep up appearances. May it be that even tonight we speak to someone about that, that we share that burden with someone, that we share the need that we have of repentance before You, And, Lord, that those that may be tonight would receive and hear and have the opportunity to comfort in that, that they would fill them with hope that is based in the Word of God, that they would remind them of the promises that are found in Jesus Christ. And, Lord, that we would go here tonight as those who are lovers of the Word in name and deed in every aspect. that the Word of God that obeying you in full-hearted faith and not simply outward show, that that would be a desire that we crave, that we long for, that we are eager to demonstrate to you. And Lord, may you humble us as we need humbled. May you lift our countenance as it is needed. May you give us hope. We pray this in your name, amen.