Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to turn to First Samuel, chapter 13.
First Samuel chapter 13, beginning at the 17th verse. And the spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies. One company turned unto the way that leadeth to Oprah, unto the land of Shul, and another company turned the way to Beth Horan, and another company turned to the way of the border that looketh to the valley of Zebulum, toward the wilderness.
Now there was no Smith found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, lest the Hebrews make them swords or Spears. But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen every man his share, and his Calder, and his axe and his matter.
Yet they had a file for the Maddox, and for the colders, and for the forks and for the axes and to sharpen the golds.
So it came to pass in the day of battle that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan. But with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found, and the Garrison of the Philistines went over to the passage of Mikmash.
Now it came to pass upon a day that Jonathan the son of Saul, said unto the young man that bare his armor, Come and let us go over to the Philistines Garrison that is on the other side. But he told not his father. And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron, And the people that were with him were about 600 men.
And a higher sign of a heat tub. Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord's priest in Shiloh, wearing an Ethan. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone.
And between the passages by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines Garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side and a sharp rock on the other side. And the name of the one was Bose, and the name of the other Cena. The forefront of the one was situate northward over against Mikmash, and the other southward over against Gibeah.
And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armor, Come and let us go over unto the Garrison of these uncircumcised It may be that the Lord will work for us, for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few.
And his armor bearer said unto him, Do all that of his inline heart turn thee. Behold, I am with thee, according to thy heart.
Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over unto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto them. If they say thus unto us, Carry until we come to you, then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up unto them.
But if they say, thus come up unto us, then we will go up, for the Lord hath delivered them into our hand, and this shall be a sign unto us. And both of them discovered themselves under the Garrison of the Philistines, And the Philistines said, Behold the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves.
And the men of the Garrison answered Jonathan and his armor bearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armor bearer, Come up after me, for the Lord hath delivered them into the hand of Israel.
And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands, and upon his feet, and his armor bearer after him, and they fell before Jonathan, and his armour bearer slew after him. And that first slaughter which Jonathan and his armour bearer made was about 20 men within, as it were, an half acre of land which a yoke of oxen might plough.
And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people, the Garrison and the spoilers. They also trembled, and the earthquake. So it was a very great trembling. And the watchman of Saul in Gibby of Benjamin looked, and behold, A multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another.
Then said Saul unto the people that were with him, Number now, and see who is gone from us. And when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there.
And Saul said unto Ahia, Bring hit her the ark of God, for the ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel. And it came to pass, while Saul talked unto the priest, that the noise that was in the host of the Philistines went on and increased. And Saul said unto the priest, Withdraw thine hand.
And Saul and all the people that were with him assembled themselves, and they came to the battle, and behold, every man's sword was against his fellow, and it was a very great discomfiture. Moreover, the Hebrews that were with the Philistines before that time, which went up with them into the camp of the country round about.
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Even they also turned to be with the Israelites that were with Saul and Jonathan. Likewise all the men of Israel which had hid themselves in Mount Ephraim. When they heard that the Philistines fled, even they also followed hard after them in the battle. So the Lord saved Israel that day, and the battle passed over unto Beth Aven.
Well, this little portion that we have read here, we can see a lovely example of devotedness. We very often think of Jonathan as a person who was unfaithful. And it is true that later on in his life there was indeed unfaithfulness. He didn't go on and identify himself as he should with God's king, with David. But isn't it lovely to see that God takes account of every bit of devotedness, even if perhaps afterwards there might be failure and breakdown? God doesn't.
Forget anything that has been done for Him, for His glory, and for His people. Not even a cup of cold water or even a thought upon His name will be forgotten in that day. And this ought to be an encouragement to us too, to go on even in days of difficulty. And perhaps we do at times, like Jonathan, become discouraged, Find the path a little difficult. Isn't it good to know that the Lord would encourage us in devotedness to Him?
And this was not an easy time in the nation of Israel, as we can see here.
There had been a lot of trouble among them. It tells us here the spoilers went out in three companies, and I think all of us can see how the enemy is at work to spoil the work of God. We know when God works there's blessing, but the enemy doesn't like to see that, and he uses various means to spoil the work of God tells us here about these spoilers.
It says in the 17th verse the spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines. You know, the Philistines were the people who got into the land without crossing the Jordan. And I believe they bring before us in picture the enemy's power among the people of God, where the flesh is not in its rightful place. The crossing of the Jordan is a picture to us of the end of the flesh before God, that is.
It's our death with Christ.
But these Philistines were in the land, perhaps that the Palestinians of today and we find these people were a constant menace to God's people. And so it is even with ourselves. Every time the flesh acts, there's a hindrance, there's loss. We were reading in our chapter in Philippians 3. We are the circumcision that worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
We tend to have confidence in the flesh.
But it always and will always breakdown. And so we find here that the Philistines went out to work and it says they.
Sought to spoil the people of God in three companies. If you noticed in what we read, I think we can designate these three companies. One of the companies it tells us when the difficulties came and the Philistines came in upon the people of God and Saul failed in his leadership. Some of them it tells us in the sixth verse of the 13th chapter.
When the men of Israel saw that they were in a Strait, for the people were distressed.
And the people did hide themselves in caves and in thickets and in rocks and high places and pits. In other words, they said, we're just going to keep out of things. We're not going to get involved. You know, if we can take that attitude, brethren, when difficulties come among the people of God, we can sort of say, count me out, count me out and not get involved. We should be concerned with everything that concerns the glory of God and the blessing of his people.
We don't do that in our family life. When problems arise, our father and mother doesn't say, don't say, count me out. They feel a renewed responsibility. And we can't hide from problems. There's no use. It doesn't put an end to any problem to hide from it. And so we find one of the companies here and they were hiding from the difficulties. They were not ready as good soldiers of Jesus Christ to endure hardness.
And then there was a second company spoken of in the 7th.
Verse says, and some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead, and if you had identified them, you'll see they're spoken of in the 21St verse of the next chapter where we read. Moreover, the Hebrews that were with the Philistines before that time, which went up with them into the camp from the country round about even, they also turned to be with the Israelites that were with Saul and Jonathan.
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These ones.
Here they can go and hide, but they went and identified themselves with the Philistines. They said it's too difficult to work among the people of God. And so they went over and formed friends with those who were really the enemies of God's people. And we were noticing in the meetings, whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. And so sometimes we can get discouraged and say, well, I'm going to.
Just enjoy the worldly life and we turn aside. And that's where some of these went. This was the work of the spoilers. You know, first those who he had, they didn't get involved in something wrong, but they just shunned away from responsibility. And then here are these who went over to be with the Philistines. And then the third group will identify in the first part of the 14th chapter.
There were these men who were with Saul. I think it says 600 men.
About 600 men, yes, that sat down under a pomegranate tree. They just chose a path of ease and you know, it's quite possible for us even brethren has gathered to the Lord's name to get occupied with a path of ease, seek some, seek our rest in this world. We often sing, you know, we're not of the world which fadeth away. The Lord Jesus said they are not of the world even as I am not of the world, but.
Find that it's very easy for us, especially in days of prosperity, to seek worldly things. As someone has said, the flesh can seek an easy path as well as an evil path. That is, we can sit down under the pomegranate tree and know there's problems, know that the enemy is attacking, but we're just enjoying life. If I can put it in that way, we're going to have fun. We're going to have.
Possessions, well, here we're the third company.
And the Scripture says the spoilers from the camp of the Philistines went out and attacked Israel in three companies, and perhaps this identifies who they were. And perhaps we can look into our own hearts and know, are we running away from trouble or are we?
Leading the path of obedience and separation to go and mingle with the Philistines, mingle with those who are not walking in the truth, those who are really opposed to the truth of God as we have it in the Scripture. Or we can say, no, I wouldn't do that. But we seek a path of ease. And we see in the end of this chapter, the Spirit of God brings before us the cause for what had taken place. Notice in the end.
13th chapter. The 19th verse.
Now there was no Smith found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, lest the Hebrews make them swords or Spears.
Yes, these Philistines had a plan worked. They had a plan to make sure that the children of Israel didn't have swords and Spears. Now I think all of us are well acquainted with Ephesians 6, where it tells us to take the sword of the Spirit.
Which is the word of God. And you know, we need to have a sword in our hands.
Not a physical sword that's going to cut people and harm them physically. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. And rather than, I believe it's very easy for us in these days when the spoilers are at work, to neglect our Bibles, to not really know what the Word of God says. And I want to encourage everyone, perhaps especially those who are young, acquaint yourself with the Bible.
It's the Word of God. It's the only real direction that we have in these days to know the word of God. You say, but there's a lot of things when I read I don't understand, but remember this. The Lord Jesus said that the Spirit would be the remembrance. Remembrance, Sir, to bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. My father used to have a little expression. He said, if you don't read your Bible, remember this.
The Spirit of God won't work miracles to encourage laziness.
And if we don't read our Bibles, how can the Spirit of God bring things back to our minds? We've never read them. They've never been deposited, so to speak, in our minds. And so I'm thankful that in my home we were brought up to have the word of God before us. Many things I didn't understand, but as I learned to know a little bit more, the Spirit of God did his blessed work and some scripture I didn't understand.
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It all came to light sometime in a Bible reading.
They were reading something. Oh, I saw what that verse meant that I never had understood before. The spirit is the remembrancer. But the Philistines said, we'll sharpen your tools. We'll help you to be good farmers. We'll help you to get along, but don't take care of your swords and Spears. And, you know, there's all kinds of provision today to, shall I say, get along in this world to get things that are necessary to make progress.
Progress in the world, not speaking against education, it's necessary, providing it's used for the glory of God. But I mean, we must not, no matter how important this is in our particular calling in life, we should never neglect the Word of God, that precious book, the word of God that he's given to us. And so the day of battle came.
Maybe it didn't matter too much until that day of battle came. They thought, well, things.
Kind of peaceful and we don't expect the big conflict to take place. And so their tools were sharp, but their swords, it says when the day of battle came, the only persons who had a sword or a spear in their hand were Saul and Jonathan. Now that's interesting that Saul had it as well as Jonathan. You say, why does it tell us that Saul had it? Well, you can get a knowledge up here in.
Had but not use it. I've met some Christians and they have a very good knowledge of the Bible very good, but they're sitting under a pounder on a tree. They're not benefiting themselves nor are they helping the people of God. Paul had to say to Timothy neglect not the gift that is in me and he had to say say to our kippus take heed to the ministry that thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfill it if you have laid.
Hold of something of the truth of God. It's for your food and for your blessing. But we're also responsible to share with others that which the Lord has taught us. And so I think we see two things here. A man who was willing to use his sword for the good and blessing of the people of God, and a man who is willing to sit down under a pomegranate tree with a sword in his hand which he wasn't using.
And so this is what happened. The day of battle came.
And the only two people had a sword, who had a sword in their hands were Saul and Jonathan. Now, it would have been very easy for Jonathan to say it's no use, nobody cares today. I'm only one person. And what could I do? Well, God deals with us as individuals. And let me say this devotedness to the Lord is an individual thing. You can't.
Shall I say make somebody else devoted? I am responsible.
As the Scripture says, every man shall give account of himself to God. When the judgment seat of Christ takes place and our lives pass into review, God's not going to deal with us in groups. He's going to deal with us as individuals. Every man shall give account of himself to God. Good thing to remember, even now there was trouble in one assembly and one brother said to me, if that brother will say sorry, I'll say I'm sorry.
And I said, brother, you're only responsible for yourself. Leave that brother. If you're sorry, tell the brethren you're sorry. Well, happily he did. The Lord blessed them for it.
It's not easy sometimes when you feel somebody else had a big share in it. But remember, whether now or in the future, we're individuals before God. As to our responsibility, there is a collective testimony. And we can see from what follows that Jonathan was very interested in God's people collectively, but he had to act in devotedness as an individual. And this, I believe, is brought before us very strikingly.
The Philistines, then.
Had worked his plan. The spoilers had gone out to spoil the people.
They had sharpened the tools of the Children of Israel to the point where the children of Israel had neglected their swords and their Spears, and now they move in. The Philistines move in. Notice how it begins in the last verse of the.
13th chapter.
And the Garrison of the Philistines went out to the passage of Nick Mash. Oh, this was a crucial moment. The the Philistines now were going to move in. What could be done?
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Jonathan could have easily said it's no use. Look at this big crowd of Philistines, real army of them, and I'm just one person. But he cared. We find over and over again, David cared and David was used for the deliverance of the people of God. And at this point, Jonathan cared and God used him. You can tell a blessing of an individual who really has a heart for the Lord and for his people.
Well, this is brought out here, so it says in the first verse of the next chapter. Now it came to pass upon a day. I don't know just exactly what day it was. This is the first day of 1991. This is a rather significant day because a new year has started. There was just such an important day that came and Jonathan saw the problems. But it says.
That Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armor, come and let us go over to the Philistines Garrison that is on the other side. But he told not his father, that is. Now we see his soul stirred in spiritual energy to act for God, to think of the people of God, and to seek in his way to affect deliverance for them.
And so he had a companion.
As I say, he was an individual, he was responsible, but he had formed companionship with a young man, shall I say, who was like himself, who would share his desires and his exercises. It's good to have a good companion, one who cares. And may I say to those who are husbands and lives, it's good when we support one another in our desire to help the people of God.
A husband can hinder.
Wife, her wife can hinder a husband or both can work together and it's very lovely here to see too, now working together. Jonathan undoubtedly was the one who took the lead. But so it is the responsibility of, shall I say, public ministry is committed to the man. But the Scripture shows us how great an influence different sisters have had. Priscilla had a tremendous influence for good.
Upon Aquila and so we learn in different instances through the Bible how there were sisters who had an influence on brothers for their good. And it's very lovely to see this here that there was an armor bearer and it says he told not his father. Why did he not tell his father? Well, I wondered if he thought about what happened when God called Abraham.
God called Abraham and said goat from.
Country, and from my kindred, and from my father's house unto a land that I will show thee. So he told his father.
And I suppose having some kind of respect to his father, he let his father take the lead. And his father was a drag until his father had died. And the point, I believe, is that, you know, you can tell people who will say, oh, you can't do anything, it's no use, no youth even trying. And he knew that his father, who was sitting under the common ground of the tree with his 600 men, would say, Jonathan, it's no use, Don't you know?
One person can.
Do anything so he told not his father. And so you know, if there's somebody that hasn't a heart for the people of God, you can't share some of the things that you seek to do in devotedness for the Lord. You have to as we were mentioned to the young people last night, there's a verse in 119 Psalm. The 63rd verse says I am a companion of all them that fear thee and of them that keep thy precepts.
Who are your companions? Are they dragging you and telling you, oh, let's not go to meeting, Let's not go out and help in some gospel work? It's there's a lot of hardships. It's not worth the problem. Or have you got a companion who says, I'm with you, I will seek to be helped you, I'll support you if that's what you feel the Lord has laid upon your heart. So he told not his father.
And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron. He had 600 people with him. Certainly, I suppose we could say the majority were not with Jonathan. But majority, as someone has said, is not the point. The important point is the Lord. The world deals in majority. The world deals with numbers.
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But.
When you and I realize our nothingness and count upon the Lord, as someone has said, you can take a line of zeros and it doesn't matter how long the line is, if you put one in front of it, you have a large number, and the more zeros that follow that one, the larger the number is.
And so if you have 10 after it, then yourself and 10, it's only 10. And the more we realize our own nothingness, the more zeros we put after our own name, the better, because then we count upon the Lord. We say I can't do it, only the Lord can do it. And so let's put a long line of zeros. We're really nothing, but one person is everything. Christ is all and in all, or as Mr. Darby.
Translates that Christ is everything. He's the one, the one and only.
Saul had tells us here that even even Saul had the Lord's priest in Shiloh, he seemed to have things on his side outwardly.
Inwardly his heart, as we learn from other scriptures wasn't really you could be in the right place, brethren, thank God. There is a place, a ground of gathering that's according to the word of God. But being in that place is a wonderful privilege, but it won't keep you unless you have the Lord before you. So it was nice. The ark was important, the Lord's priest was important, but we could be in that place like Saul was and yet not be relying upon the Lord not having.
The Lord before us.
Well, there's something interesting too in the end of the third verse. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone. What does the word of God say this? Well, you know you're going to do something for the Lord. Don't publish it. Don't make a big talk about it.
That's really just trying to exalt yourself.
We find a great deal that that's the way men do. They're going to be some undertaking. They do a lot of broadcasting about what they're going to do about in the things of God. We need to learn that we have to hide ourselves. We have to recognize that the Lord must be everything. And so Jonathan didn't make a fuss. I I was out here when dear brother Annas went out in.
When brother Jimmy Smith, I should say, went out in.
My Lord's work, I was present at the very time that he went down to the Dominican Republic. And oh, Brother Annas was there. And I remember he was asked to give a little talk and he, he was giving some advice to Brother Jimmy Smith. And he said it was telling him not to make a lot of noise. And I remember his expression, he said delight, don't make no noise. And he told him just to go on, do the work quietly and not make a lot of noise about what he was going to do.
Brother Smith must have been impressed. I was very much in that occasion.
Well, that's what Jonathan was doing here.
Now what wasn't easy? Notice the fourth verse and between the passages by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines Garrison.
There was a sharp rock on the one side.
And a sharp rock on the other side. Well, this wasn't very easy, was it?
He said he was going to go. He didn't tell his father. He only had one person to kind of support him, his armor bearer. And he looked.
And there was a sharp rock on both sides. On one side the sharp rock was where King Saul was, the other was where the Philistine Garrison was.
This is quite interesting, isn't it? There was the Philistine opposition, but sometimes even God's people don't understand devotedness to the Lord. And we just have to be humble but never turn against the people of God. Love them because the Lord loves them. And Jonathan's desire was because he loved the people of God and he sought their deliverance. He wasn't going to do a lot of talking about what he was doing.
But there were those sharp, sharp rocks on either side. And so it tells you where they were in the fifth verse. One was against Micmash. That was where the Philistine Garrison was. 23rd verse of the 13th chapter tells you that. And the other was southward over against Gibeon. That's where Saul was. That's where he had his group of men under the pomegranate tree.
And now on the 6th verse, Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armor, Come and let us go over unto the Garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us.
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For there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few.
I think there's something very lovely in what he says here. He doesn't boast. I remember a remark that I read in Mr. Darby. He said pretensions about special spiritual guidance are never humble. Sometimes we say, oh, the Lord told me to do this, and we're kind of boastful about what we're doing, and we don't find this boastful spirit, do we? It may be that the Lord will work with us, no doubt.
That the Lord could use them, he said. The Lord isn't restrained. He doesn't need to have a big crowd. He he doesn't have to have many. He does. And he can do it with few. He may use us.
Nice to be humble, brethren. We're nothing. The Lord said that the greatest among those born of women was the man who said he was only a voice. And that's what the Lord values. And so we see here a lovely spirit with Jonathan. But now there's something interesting in the next verse.
And the armor bearer said unto him, Do all that is in my heart turn thee, Behold, I am with thee according to thy heart. It's a very interesting little thing that you see here. It's just stated very briefly, but I believe the implication is that.
He was pressing forward. He saw those rocks on both sides and he turned around. He said this is too much for me. I, I don't think I can do it. And he turned around and his armor bearer who was with him, he said, turn me, I'm with thee.
Or, you know, you don't know what a little word of encouragement might mean to some person who feels like turning back.
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pictures of silver, and God allows this in all our lives, brethren.
Peter could never boast that he walked upon the water because he began to sink. Jonathan could never boast and say, well, I was the hero in this because if it hadn't been his armor bearer, he would have turned back. God always sees to it that there's something, even the best things that we do that keeps us humble, that makes us realize that we're really nothing. And so the Lord let this little incident come where Jonathan's heart failed, but his armor bearer supported him. And I say.
Again, you may think, oh, I didn't do anything. The armor bearer's name is not even mentioned, but.
If I can put it this way was because of that armor bearer that Jonathan turned around and there was a great victory. Little things that seem unnoticed are recorded in God's book of remembrance and very beautiful here to see this point. And so Jonathan responds to this. I think it's nice what he said, what the armor bearer said to him. I'm with you according to thy heart.
He knew his heart was to go, but he was discouraged. He turned back just at this point.
Point and then in the eighth verse. Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will Passover unto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto them. Now there's decision, now there's purpose.
You're mentioning a little bit last night about Daniel when he was going to school in Babylon. It says he purposed in his heart he would not defile himself with the King's meat. It needs to be a purpose.
Barnabas exhorted the young believers in Antioch that with purpose of heart and want to say to everyone, to those who are young here, you'll never be able to go on in the Christian life unless you have a purpose. You've got to have a purpose and that purpose needs to be to have the Lord before you have him as the object, the All in all. And so it says there was a purpose here. He said we'll go over.
And then they made a little plan.
If the Philistines said come down to us, then he said that he said we'll we'll just stay where we are. But if they say notice what he says.
In the 10th verse. But if they say, Thus come up unto us, then we will go up, for the Lord hath delivered them into our hand, and this shall be a sign unto us.
Now it would have seemed a lot easier to have thought it was the Lord's mind that they would come down to them.
In other words, it would have been a lot easier just to stand still and let them come down.
Path of following Christ is never easy. It's never easy. We must, through much tribulation, enter into the Kingdom of God. Sometimes it's when the enemy is most boastful that the Lord comes in. If you eat Israel's history, it was always when the enemy was boastful. Goliath was defying the armies of the living God. He was very boastful, but that was the time of his greatest defeat. The enemy came up in the time of Sennacherib and he.
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Were very, very boastful, but that was the time when God granted the greatest victory. Don't be afraid when the enemy gets boastful, because we have one who's mightier than them all. One greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
So it says in the 11TH verse. And both of them discovered themselves under the Garrison of the Philistines, And the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves.
I want to call attention to that little expression, the Hebrews. Perhaps you've noticed that the Philistines always call God's people Hebrews, and the thought is that that was their name in nature, descendants of Eber. And so they just looked at them as another group of men, another group of people. It's the same today. These nations, these Arab nations look upon Israel, just another group of people.
But Israel?
What does Israel mean? You never find Jonathan calling them Hebrews. He called them Israel. Notice what he said.
Verse 12 yes.
In the end of the verse come up after me, for the Lord hath delivered them into the hand of Israel. He he didn't look upon them as to what they are in nature. You know when you look at what we are in nature, we're just a failing lot got all kinds of bad parts to our disposition and everything but the word Israel means a Prince with God. We need to see people like the Lord said.
As Balaam wanted to curse Israel, but God forced him to bless them.
And he said from the top of the rocks, do I behold them? He hath not beheld iniquity and Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel. He looked upon them as God sees them, as people. I think this is something for me, perhaps for you too. We tend to look at God's people as Hebrews sometimes. That's the Philistine way. But we need to look at them as God sees them. And that is nice, that Jonathan.
Looked upon them in that way.
And so the Hebrews, the Philistines called them Hebrews. Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves in the 12TH verse. And the men of the Garrison answered Jonathan and his armor, and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing.
To see that spirit of voice that they had, We'll show you a thing. But it was very opposite to what they had expected. We'll show you a thing. That was easy to say, but notice how they had to climb up now. The 13th verse. And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet.
And his armor bearer after him. And they fell before Jonathan. And his armour bearer slew after him. He climbed up on his hands and on his feet.
Have you got to go down first, brethren? He just got down. Can you imagine getting down on his hands and on his feet and climbing up those rocks? Looked quite impossible, didn't it? But as someone has said, the way to go up is to 1St go down. And so they went down, and here were these two men climbing up these sharp rocks. How impossible it all looked. But when they got up there.
The Lord had gone before. The Lord had gone before.
And when they got up there, why immediately God turned all.
Events around contrary totally from what the Philistines had expected.
And it says.
In the 13th verse, he climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armor bearer after him, and they fell before Jonathan, and his armor bearers slew after him. And that first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor bearer made was about 20 men.
Seemed like very insignificant. A very small start, wasn't it?
But very often the start of things is very important. The start, this is the start of another year. It's very important how we start things.
Very often it's said, even in the world, if things have a bad start, what can you expect? And so here we find a good start, and the Lord comes in and it tells us here the 15th verse. And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people, the Garrison and the spoilers, they also trembled. And the earthquake. So it was a very great trembling. Oh, how wonderfully we see the Lord working.
00:40:19
Now there was a a very great trembling God was working, and those who were going to bring Israel into subjection, those who were going to defeat them, they're all now afraid, and they turn one against another. The Lord is showing himself strong on behalf of those who had learned to trust in Him.
And so we see God coming in here, but now we find something quite interesting here about Saul says in the 16th verse.
And the watchman of Saul in Gibeon Benjamin looked, and behold, A multitude melted away, and they went on beating down.
One another.
Saul and his man look out now and they see something's happening over there and they didn't know who it was or why it was. They just saw that something was happening among those enemies of God's people and so.
That nobody knew that Saul and that Jonathan and his armor bearer were gone. They actually had the number. You know, we like to be missed. Sometimes. They weren't even missed. They weren't even missed.
They didn't. They were counted quite unimportant. We don't like that kind of feeling. We like to feel that people really miss us and that we're sort of important, you know? But here, the ones God was going to use were so insignificant, we might say, in the eyes of the people that none of them knew that they were even missing. But.
The Lord had gone before, but now there's something rather interesting here too, and that is that Saul wants to come into it and get the credit for himself.
Now this is something that we have to bear in serving the Lord sometimes. Perhaps you undertook to do something for the Lord, and perhaps the Lord was using you and somebody else jumped in to get all the credit and they tried to take away all the credit for themselves. Leave that with the Lord. The Lord always has the record straight. You never need to fear that He has it down the wrong way. You remember when Mary came with her box of ointment to anoint the feet of the Lord?
She got a lot of criticism, didn't he? Even the disciples and the others, they said this ointment might have been sold for 300 pence and given to the poor. What did Mary say? Nothing. Nothing. Why didn't she say something? You say you should defend yourself. Why didn't you say something? She knew that the Lord knew her heart, that the Lord knew why she had done it. And she didn't say a word, but the Lord did. The Lord spoke up. And the Lord.
Said, Let her alone, she hath wrought a good work on me.
And then he went on to say that wherever the gospel was preached in the whole world.
This that this woman had done would be told from a memorial lover. I don't suppose there's any other act that was ever spoken of in that way. A woman who completely hidden and unnoticed and criticized did something for the Lord, and the Lord said it's going to be published through the whole world. And there isn't a Christian who's read his Bible that hasn't heard the story about what Mary did. Never mind.
Whether you get credit or not, I say again, the Lord will always have the.
Record straight. It's worth it to do what we do for him. It's worth it 1000 times because what is really going to count in that day? It's going to be a lot of what we've done rather than it's going to go up in smoke a lot that's going to be burned up. For it tells us in that day of manifestation that if any man's work be burned, he shall suffer loss, yet he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire. But if any man's work abide, he shall receive or he.
A young man was going out to serve the Lord, and an older brother wasn't myself. An older brother said to him, I just want to give you those words. If any man's work abide, he said, remember, it's not what you do that seems to attract a lot of public attention. It's whether the work abides. The work abides and whatever has done for him will abide the gold and the silver and the precious stones, Those will abide the wood, hay and stubble.
You can have a big pile of wood, hands, stubble, looks like something big compared to a tiny unnoticed little piece of gold, but that little piece of gold is far more valuable than that great big pile. Another verse says the man strived for the masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully. Let's do what we do in obedience to the word of God and let the Lord make the appraisal. Even the beloved Apostle Paul said.
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With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. You have a margin that says or of man's day.
It's not important how things look in man's day. It's it's important, though, how they're going to look in the day of manifestation. Well, as I say, Saul comes in and he calls for the priest and he starts to try and put on a little act to try and show his interest. And then he realizes that this is kind of in vain and he goes out.
And if you read through, I didn't take time to read through the end of the chapter, but you'll see.
He was trying to get the credit for the whole thing himself. He was trying to get the credit and he actually the next chapter wanted to get Jonathan out of the way. He wanted to have the glory for himself. Oh, let's remember he that Gloria let him glory in the Lord. But brethren, we're starting a new year.
The Lord loves his people. The spoilers are at work and you and I can look individually to the Lord and say, Lord, is there something that I can do?
In my family, in the assembly, or perhaps in proclaiming the gospel to others who are in their sins is something that I can do. Let's be content to go on and have the Lord's approval and seek to do it. What we do for him in the end, the Lord will make manifest all that's of himself. And so it's lovely to see that Jonathan goes on. If you'd only continued in this path of devotedness, it would have been so.
But it's amazing to see that later on, dear Jonathan thought more of his father's approval than the approval of the Lord. And when the test came later on, and he could have identified himself with David, God's rejected man, he chose to go back to the court of Saul where things were a bit easier. And so we can't live on yesterday's victories. We need the Lord each day.
And.
We know about Gideon. Gideon won a tremendous victory for the people of God. And then he wanted to set up a remembrance for it. So he got them all to bring the ornaments of their prey. And he made an affidavit and he set it up in his own house. And it says it became a snare to him and to his house.
I say again what perhaps you've heard me say before, if you do something for the Lord.
Don't make anything out of it. Leave it.
Forget it because the Lord won't forget. God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. He tells us if we have.
Failed if we've done something that grieved him that we need to bear that in mind to keep us humble. But he says your sins and iniquities will I remember no more. But he says remember that he were Gentiles in times past. Remember the rock from whence we were hewn, the pit from whence were dug. Let's never forget how gracious and patient God's been with us. Sometimes we do.
As often as people who are very hard on others seem to forget.
That there was a time in their lives when they weren't walking close to the Lord. We should remember. It keeps us humble. Brethren, we failed. But the Lord says your sins and iniquities will I remember no more. But we're 10 to put it in reverse. We make a big thing out of something we did for the Lord and the Lord says forget it, forget it. I won't.
And he's going to take notice of everything done for him. A cup of cold water or a thought upon his name. And I just want to say this before I close too. Perhaps he could turn to it in Exodus 28. Little thought that I'd like to pass on.
Exodus 28.
And verse 36.
And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold engrave upon it, like the engravings of a signet holiness to the Lord. Thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre. Upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts. And it shall be always upon his forehead that they may be accepted.
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Before the Lord.
No, you'll never undertake to do anything for the Lord that you won't find that somehow self in some way seems to come in, seems to come in. But isn't it wonderful, brethren, that we have a high priest and he bears the iniquity of our holy things so that the little things we do would be accepted? None of us can look back on anything that we've done for the Lord and say there was nothing of self in that. There was nothing of self. There is.
Iniquity in all their holy things. I say this to encourage someone. You might say, I'm afraid to undertake something for the Lord, because, you know, self always seems to come in and I say the wrong thing or do it the wrong way or something. Oh, isn't that lovely to know that we have a high priest? He doesn't lower his standard. No, the priest didn't accept the crop and the feathers. He put them in the place of the ashes, but he didn't reject the rest.
He presented what was acceptable. Oh made us encourage.
US I don't think any Christian would say, well I under undertook that work for the Lord without anything of self in it. No brethren, there's iniquity in all our holy things, and I want to encourage you if you feel discouraged, you feel it's no use me trying, because when I try seem to get I bring in something that I shouldn't. Well remember the Lord values what is of himself.
And he delights in any desire. I don't say that we can't learn.
We can't grow, we can't learn more of his wealth, but may he encourage us.
As we face another year, if the Lord leaves us here a little longer to be more devoted to Him.
To care for His people, not to give up because we see the spoilers at work, but to know that if we're willing, if our hearts are willing, that He can use us in spite of all that we are. He's the God of all grace.