Working Against God • 1 Samuel 14 pt. 2

Notes

God can use anyone. There is no limit to what God can do with a man or a woman who is after God’s own heart, who is like-minded with God, who is spiritually minded. God is sure of His abilities, so is that person. God works through Jonathan to shake up the Philistines, make them tremble, confuse them, make them run away in panic. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think.

When a person is not after God’s own heart, he is not like-minded with God, and he works against God. Saul greatly diminishes all that Jonathan sets in motion, to where he is ready to put his own son Jonathan to death.

A natural man without the Holy Spirit naturally works against God.

I’m reading in 1 Samuel 14 verse two to recap on our subject (to verse 4).

1. Saul is safe but he is making no progress, vv. 2-4.

A. We want to remember that Saul is safe with that narrow pass between him and the Philistines. They way outnumber his group of six hundred men, they are like sand on the seashore in number, there are 3000 chariots. But they can’t get through that pass very easily. So Saul is safe and defensible.

B. But safe isn’t productive, either. Saul can’t go forward and he can’t go backward. He’s stuck.

C. What happened after that is Jonathan thought, “What would happen if we showed ourselves to the Philistines? What would God want to do? He can do anything with us. He ends up attacking the Philistine guard, killing 20 men in the first 15-20 meters, and God strikes fear into all their hearts and adds an earthquake. The Hebrews working with the Philistines decide to change sides and be with Israel again. Those Israelites who ran away to hide run back to Saul. He’s got more men. The Philistines are on the run.

2. This is where Saul begins to work against God, because his first concern is not to serve God but to save face.

A. The first thing he does is put everyone under a solemn oath: cursed is the man who eats anything before I am avenged on my enemies.

B. That’s dramatic, like Saul is so intent on getting back on those doggone Philistines that’s the uppermost thing in his mind.

C. That would be great, but he wasn’t really thinking about getting vengeance on his enemies. He was stuck waiting for the Philistines to make a move. It was a stalemate.

D. Jonathan struck the first blow, not Saul. But Saul is the top guy in Israel. The top guy needs to look like the top guy. He doesn’t want to be outdone by his son. So he gets up dramatically and says, this is more

important to me than my food, you’re all in this with me, let’s get ‘em, and the one who eats before sundown is cursed!

E. Wow, does he really mean that? Wow, he does. Wow, is he tough. And that’s a way to save face. The natural man can’t be second. He has to be first. Saul was thinking, I am the king. I have to look good.

F. That also causes a problem. You’re not doing this for the love of God, or the love of your nation. Oh no, we’re all under a threat. You produce, or you’re cursed.

3. Saul works against his own son Jonathan, vv. 27-31.

A. That pressure to not eat doesn’t help anyone fight. It actually works against fighting. They push the Philistines back around 20 miles (v. 31, from Michmash to Aijalon). Can you imagine having to do that without breakfast, all day long? You get low on blood sugar, you need a pick-me-up. If you can’t get a pick-me-up you hold back and try to save your resources so you survive the day. Your big goal is not to defeat the Philistines for Israel. Your big goal is for you, yourself to survive the day till you can eat.

B. Boy, when you reach the forest and see that honey just available, you go crazy. You’re not happy with Saul either.

C. Jonathan eats a little honey, and he’s refreshed.

D. And only then does he find out Saul put everyone under oath. And he’s not impressed with his father, either. We could have done a lot more if we could eat. The slaughter among the Philistines has not been great. He has blown a great opportunity.

3. Saul works against the people, vv. 32-35.

A. Evening falls, it’s the end of the day, boom, we’re not working a second longer. There is no desire to keep following up on the enemy. Everybody starts killing the livestock they took from the Philistines and eating it with the blood. They are supposed to drain the blood and never eat it.

B. They are breaking the law of God. You never eat blood because in the blood is the life. God gave it to Israel for one reason: to make atonement for you upon the altar. That blood keeps you in relationship with God. It’s not to be eaten like any common thing. It is sacred to God. And it’s supposed to be sacred to the people. They are supposed to be after God’s own heart, like-minded with God.

C. These people are so desperate that they don’t think about God, they don’t care about God. All they can think about is: I gotta eat! So they devour the meat with the blood. I hope they cooked it first. Maybe they are way beyond that.

D. Now, Saul says, you are acting treacherously. And he builds an altar to the Lord so they can bleed the animals properly.

1. What are you guys doing, sinning like that? Well, it’s his fault, because of his putting them under oath. He forced them to think about themselves, he made them into lawbreakers.

2. This is Saul’s first altar to the Lord, notice? It wasn’t for a spiritual reason, it was purely functional. They needed a place to bleed the livestock they slaughtered. We don’t read of Saul building any more altars. Just the one, because he needed it to eat dinner, not because he sought the Lord.

5. Saul works against the one who brought great delieverance, vv. 38-46.

A. Saul says let’s go get the Philistines tonight and wipe them out.

B. The people are not too enthusiastic. They are grumpy. Whatever.

C. The priest says, let’s draw near to God. If God says go get ‘em, then the people have to go get them, like it or not.

D. But then God doesn’t answer and Saul says we need to investigate this sin. And again, another dramatic oath: Even if it’s my son Jonathan, he will surely die. And nobody talks, because they know it’s Jonathan!

E. Jonathan is taken! What did you do? Ate a little honey, and now I must die. And Saul agrees with him! God kill me if I let you live!

F. This is when the people have had enough and say, absolutely no way. He has accomplished this great deliverance in Israel. And they also swear, as the Lord lives, not one hair on his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day.

G. To Saul this is pretty straightforward: you sin, you die. You blew it. You’re history.

H. But God thinks a different way. He says, “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD, “though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. Isaiah 1:18 God devises ways to save people, not destroy them. He delights in unchanging covenant love. He made all our sins fall on His only begotten Son as our substitute and let them kill Him instead of us. For once the people are thinking like God, they say we have to ransom him. Not kill him! They stop Saul from killing his own son.

6. This battle is inconclusive, and Saul’s wars never resolve, vv. 47-52.

A. Both Israel and the Philistines go home. No one is the loser, but no one is the winner, either. It could have been Israel’s decisive victory for another generation, but because Saul worked against God, it

was only for this time, until next time, because there was a next time, and a next time after that.

B. Saul is valiant, he fights against his enemies on every side. But because he is depending upon his own strength and wisdom his victories are pretty good and that’s all. The enemy keeps coming back.

C. We have a list of Saul’s family, and then in the last verse you see that the war against the Philistines was severe all the days of Saul. And his response is to look out for good guys. When he sees a good guy, he scoops him up. He needs good guys. He doesn’t think of asking God for help. It doesn’t even cross his mind: hey, I got Samuel here, he never fails, everything he says comes true; I’ll ask him what to do. Nope. He just thinks, I need to find good guys so I can keep fighting. That’s what I need.

7. So what?

A. Jesus said Luke 11:23 He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.

1. I hope you see the reasoning there. If you are not with Jesus, you are not a neutral moral agent. You are actively working against Jesus, working against the Father.

2. The reason is because you don’t think like God, you think in the opposite direction. You do what you think is right, and you honestly and sincerely do things that conflict with God.

3. 1 Corinthians 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. A natural man is only mentally alive. He is spiritually dead. You have no knowledge of God, you don’t think of asking God for help. You would just as soon ask Tinkerbell for help because she doesn’t exist, either. That would make no sense. But it’s not because there is no God, it’s because you are dead in your sins and transgressions.

B. This shows the absolute need to receive Jesus into your life and be born again of the Holy Spirit. You need a new heart and a new mind, and Jesus gives you a new heart and a new mind.

C. But even then, your great need is to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. The Holy Spirit uses the Scriptures to change the way you think. Without the Word and the Spirit you will still act like a spiritually dead person, relying on yourself and your abilities. Your battles are inconclusive. They never end. There’s always a next time.

D. Our solution is spiritual, not natural.

1. I’m not going to beat anyone and say, you’re not reading enough, you’re not meditating enough. That’s like Saul coercing his people into fighting by making them swear to not eat till evening. That causes greater suffering.

2. The answer is to say, “Here I am. I am crucified with Jesus, I am raised with Jesus. Please give me life in Jesus’ name.” And if the Bible is not a part of your life, you can pray, “Heavenly Father, here I am. I can’t be spiritual in myself. I am poor in spirit. I don’t have the ability to follow Jesus. How I need You. Please make me a person after Your own heart. Renew my mind. Help me to seek You and find You. Please do Your work in me, by the power of Your Holy Spirit.

3. That’s a prayer that God is going to answer. God works in you, and you begin to work with God.

4. And you can pray, “Heavenly Father, please be in my battles. Please win my battles, in Jesus’ name.” Because Jesus wins every battle He fights. He doesn’t lose. So you bring Jesus into your life and into your battles. There’s no limit to what He can do.

Let’s pray.