Like-Minded Men with God • 1 Samuel 14 pt. 1
Notes
Samuel the prophet has told Saul (in 13:14), “Your kingdom will not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
When a man is not a man after God’s own heart it won’t work. We’ll see what a mess it makes next week. This week we get to see what happens when a man does work with God, when he is a man after God’s own heart. He is like minded with God, he thinks and feels and chooses like God. He is also like minded with those who are like minded with God. There’s a unity of heart and purpose.
God can do anything with people who are like-minded with Him.
We’re reading in 1 Samuel 14 (till verse 10).
1. Jonathan depends on the word of God, vv. 1-10.
A. Jonathan has this idea: let’s go over to the garrison of the Philistines and see if God will do something there to work for us. Just you and me, two guys, what do you think?
B. His reason is in verse 6: the Lord is not restrained to save by many or few. God’s ability is not limited by the fact that it’s you and me.
C. This is not wild-eyed and crazy. This is absolutely reasonable if you know the word of God and that Israel has a covenant with God.
1. The direct statement of this is in Leviticus 26:7-9 You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you. For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you.
2. When God is for you then it doesn’t matter how many people you have. This is proven over and over again with men who trusted God.
3. In Genesis 14 you have the example of Abraham and 316 servants attacking four kings of Mesopotamia and taking from them captured people and spoil.
4. Moses and Aaron tell Pharoah, thus says the Lord: let My people go. Two guys, and God crushed an entire nation.
5. Joshua conquered 31 kings in Canaan.
6. Gideon and 300 men attacked Midian, men more numerous than locust and defeated them.
7. Samson all by himself against the Philistines.
8. So we have the promise of God and the proof of it in history. It is reasonable that God could use two guys and do something because He made a covenant with Israel and He is faithful to His covenant. The Philistines don’t have a covenant with God—they are uncircumcised. They only have the power of man. But we are in covenant with God and we have God’s power with us.
D. You notice that Jonathan doesn’t tell his father what he’s going to do.
1. Saul is staying put where he is. He’s in a defensible position because of those two crags Bozez and Seneh. He’s only got 600 men, in his mind that’s enough to defend with but not to attack with. He’s got Ahijah the high priest there with him, and he has the means to inquire of God but Saul isn’t inquiring of God what do You want? He’s staying safe. But that’s not productive, either.
2. If Jonathan asked permission of Saul, hey, I think me and my buddy are going to see if God does something for us, Saul would say, are you crazy? That’s not going to work! I won’t let you throw your life away, and that’s an order.
3. So if he doesn’t tell Saul, then he’s not disobeying him. We’re not going to discuss this with Dad.
E. Jonathan does tell his armorbearer because he thinks like Jonathan. They are like-minded about God. They both know and believe God’s covenant. They believe that God is and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. You don’t need numbers, but you do need men after God’s own heart, who know what God has promised and what God can do.
F. So Jonathan knows God can do something but he doesn’t know exactly what. So he needs to know if God is in this. He comes up with a way to test it out.
1. We show ourselves, if they say you wait there we’ll come to you, then we wait. That’s what they would normally do. There’s nothing out of the ordinary there. You do not break security and invite hostile combatants into your camp. Keep them out.
2. So if the Philistines do something the opposite of what they should do, and it’s stupid of them to do it, then we know the Lord is going to give them into our hands and we should attack them.
2. So imagine how these two like-minded men feel when the Philistines see them, vv. 11-14.
A. They say, hey look—the bunny rabbits are coming out of their holes. You guys come up here and we’ll show you something. Teach you a lesson. They are grossly underestimating these men because as far as they see, it’s only two men. They’re harmless. What could go wrong?
B. That is the sign, the stupid thing that no sentry should ever do. Come up into camp.
C. Jonathan and his armorbearer climb up and they’re excited to go into battle because they know beforehand we are going to win! God is with us, we can’t fail!
D. Notice this is not about themselves—this is about God’s people, God’s victory. They are not taking credit for this victory.
3. The victory goes far beyond two men, vv. 13-23.
A. Jonathan and his armorbearer work really well together. Remember, Jonathan has one of the only two swords in the nation. Saul has the other one. So Jonathan is whacking away and wounding guys left and right. His armorbearer, I would think, picks up a Philistine sword, says, “You’re not going to need this anymore,” and finishes the job. 20 guys killed in the first 15-20 meters.
B. Then there’s a trembling, there’s fear in the camp, in the field, and among all the people, even the garrison and the raiders. The fear intensifies with an earthquake. There is total chaos in the Philistine camp.
C. To the point that even Saul gets motivated. He’s really careful and cautious. He does a complete roll call to see who’s missing, then wants to inquire of God. But even Saul can see this is too good. We need to jump into this! Let’s roll!
D. The Philistines are so confused and panicked they are hacking one another. They are easy pickings for Israel, who are not freaked out. Being calm is a great advantage.
E. The Hebrews with the Philistines decide they’re done working for the Philistines. They turn and rejoin Israel. Saul has many more men now.
F. Even the Israelites who hid in caves come out and join Saul. I want to be a part of this. They are encouraged.
G. This is a divine victory on the order of what Samuel did a generation ago. This victory could have driven the Philistines out of Israel except for one thing. Saul got in the way. We’ll look at that next week.
4. So what?
A. How did Jonathan get to that point where he thought, let’s two of us change the course of the whole nation and liberate people and turn them around and win a great victory?
B. The answer is, he never thought that. He didn’t really know what the Lord was going to do. God didn’t show the whole plan to him. That might have been too much. Jonathan might have said, “How in the world am I going to do that?” Turn the whole nation around? Me?
C. What Jonathan, and his armorbearer, did do was seek the Lord. You don’t start thinking these huge thoughts about God. They are developed over a lifetime of seeking God.
1. He took time to worship the Lord. You focus on who God is.
2. You give God thanks. You make yourself aware of God’s goodness, you live in God’s goodness.
3. You learn history. Those things written in scripture are for our learning God. How God worked in the past is a promise for how He will work in the future. You learn the covenant that you have with God, what He will do, what you will do. We have a covenant, the new covenant. It’s better than the old covenant because we get a new heart, a new mind, the Holy Spirit to dwell in us forever, leading and guiding us and teaching us.
4. You pray. Jonathan worshipped, he gave God thanks, he read the scriptures. This morning he got the impression, hey, let’s make a little bit of trouble for the Philistines. The Holy Spirit helps us pray in our weakness.
5. When you seek God you also fellowship with like- minded people. Church is absolutely valuable for your soul. Only there will you find like-minded people who are seeking God, who want to think and feel and choose like God. Only in church will you find the encouragement: yeah! Go for it! I’m with you! Let’s do this! Where else are you going to find like-minded people? You ignore the wonderfulness of fellowship at your own danger.
D. Then when you seek God and He gives an impression, then you check it out. Following God is reasonable because He is who He is. When God is leading and guiding, anything can happen. It will be bigger than you could think, because it’s God. He doesn’t want to scare us off by showing the whole plan, but you can trust Him because you already know that He is faithful and He won’t let you down.
E. It’s really the most wonderful thing to be a person after God’s own heart, like-minded with God and with others. If you are not seeking the Lord you are seriously missing out on life. Are you seeking the Lord?
Let’s pray.