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The world only recognizes its own brand of faith.

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And it doesn't even call it faith, just calls it being reasonable.

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The world cannot recognize what faith in God looks like.

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It looks like foolishness to the world.

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The world has faith.

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And like any faith, the world has a faith that leads to action.

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But the calculus is all completely different.

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The object of the faith is numbers and statistics and past experience, but it's no less a
decision of faith than Jonathan's decision was one of faith.

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The following message was recorded at King's Tree Church.

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May the Spirit use it to help you see, savor, and sing the beauty of God in the crucified
and risen Jesus Christ.

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And the rest of us can turn to First Samuel chapter fourteen.

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That's where we'll be this morning.

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First Samuel chapter 14.

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We're gonna go through the entire chapter this morning because it's all one story.

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And it is an excellent example of uh just good Hebrew storytelling here.

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And um, and I mentioned story specifically, because if you remember the beginning of this
series, we talked about how yes, these are historical accounts.

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All this stuff really did happen in space and in time.

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But the Holy Spirit-inspired author is writing these down as a story, he's including
certain events.

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certain conversations in order to teach us, the audience, something.

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There's a purpose to the story here.

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And today we're going to find that the story is contrasting Saul and his son Jonathan,
specifically the faith of Saul and his son Jonathan.

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Let me pray here, but before we go any further, and then we'll get into it.

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Heavenly Father, I am so thankful for your mercy.

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I'm so thankful for the faith that you allow us to have and you give to us and you
strengthen in us through a very variety of circumstances.

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Um, of course, various trials being one of the main things that that tests and strengthens
uh our faith through steadfastness and it's working out.

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Um, I thank you for what we're going to look at this morning.

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Father, bless me and anoint the words that I speak.

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May they be true.

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And accord with your word, accord with reality, and uh may they not only be true but also
effective in the hearts of those who hear uh to to produce the work that ought to come

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from faith.

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We pray it in Jesus' name, amen.

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So, like I said, this chapter this morning is gonna contrast the face of Saul and the face
of Jonathan.

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Now, I I almost said the facelessness of Saul and the face of Jonathan, but that wouldn't
quite be correct, because there's really no such thing as facelessness.

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There's right face, that's faith in God, and there's wrong face, that's faith in anything
other than God, but ultimately.

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As human beings, we have to exercise faith.

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We cannot know the outcomes of any of our actions with absolute certainty.

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And therefore, faith is needed for our human condition.

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God's designed it that way purposefully.

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And we'll talk a bit more about that as we get into the story this morning.

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So contrasting Saul's faith and Jonathan's faith.

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Now, before we jump in,

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Let's get a little reminder of where we were last time because we were left at a bit of a
cliffhanger.

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The battle lines were being drawn up.

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And at Giba, we had Saul and his army, now whittled down to only 600 men.

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And to make matters worse, they didn't have any real weapons with them.

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They had sharpened farming implements.

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On the other hand, two miles here over, we had the Philistines at Mishmash.

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And they had.

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as many troops as the sands of the sea.

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And they also had 6,000 horses and 3,000 chariots, and they were well equipped.

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So the odds were very poorly set against the Israelites.

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And this battle was brewing and about to happen, and we are thinking this is not looking
good for Israel.

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That's the context before chapter 14.

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So let me jump right into 141 through 15.

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And I'll be skipping a few verses here and there

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just to make the story more coherent and so we can get through it all this morning.

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Verse 1.

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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.

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But he did not tell his father.

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Saul was staying in the outskirts of Giba in the pomegranate cave at Migrom.

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Verse 6.

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Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor,

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Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised.

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It may be that the Lord will work for us.

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For nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.

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And his armor bearer said to him, Do all that is in your heart.

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Do as you wish.

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Behold, I am with you, heart and soul.

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Verse 11.

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So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines.

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And the Philistines said, Look, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden
themselves.

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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.

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And Jonathan said to his armor bearer, Come up after me, for the Lord has given them into
the hand of Israel.

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Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, and his armor bearer after him, and they
fell before Jonathan, and his armor bearer killed them after him.

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And that first strike, which Jonathan and his armor bearer made, killed about twenty men,
within, as it were,

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Half a furrow's length in an acre of land.

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And there was a panic in the camp, in the field, and among the people, the garrisons, and
even the raiders trembled, the earthquaked, and it became a very great panic.

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So how does our story start off?

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Well, really similarly to chapter thirteen.

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It starts off with Jonathan taking the initiative.

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He sees an opening, he goes and attacks the Philistines, and in doing so, he starts his

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Chain reaction, which is going to end in their victory.

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But we already start off with a stark contrast between Saul and Jonathan, don't we?

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Jonathan has one man with him, and he's roving the front lines of the battle looking for
an opportunity to attack.

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All the while, where is Saul?

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He has the 600 men, all 600 men, and he's back hiding in a cave.

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Brought all the troops to him to hide in the cave.

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Once again,

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Saul has neglected his duty before the Lord.

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And once again, it's clear he's placing his face in numbers in the troops that are around
him.

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And so the Lord uses Jonathan.

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Now, what I want you to see here is that Jonathan's success is not due to his military
prowess or his strategy.

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In fact, assaulting a high-up place by crawling up on your hands and feet is not a great
strategy, but rather his victory comes to him because he has rightly

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Placed faith.

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Look at his statement he makes before going into attack.

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Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised.

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It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by
many or by few.

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Now, what you're going to notice about this is that Jonathan is demonstrating the same
faith that we're going to see David demonstrate later on in the book of Samuel, before

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David goes to fight Goliath.

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What does he say when he goes to fight Goliath?

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David says, Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the
living God?

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One thing to notice here is that when they call their enemies uncircumcised, that's not
just like an insult against their enemies.

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There's a lot more to it than that.

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This is actually a statement of faith in God to protect and to prosper his chosen people.

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You see, Jonathan is not getting his confidence in this battle from nowhere.

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Rather, this comes from his knowledge of God's character, his knowledge of God's saving
purposes.

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And this is based off of promises that God himself has made.

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This is not a blind faith that Jonathan exercises here.

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It's a faith based in God's words.

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Jonathan is thinking back about Abraham and the promises God gave to Abraham.

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When God set apart a people holy to himself and established that through the mark of
circumcision.

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This was a physical sign that Israel was a people set apart, special to God.

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And along with that distinguishing mark came promises.

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That's where Jonathan's mind is going.

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Genesis 17, 7.

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Let me read to you what it sounded like when this happened.

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This is now flashback God talking to Abraham.

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I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you, throughout
their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you, and to be your offspring

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and to your offspring after you.

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And I will give you and your offspring after you the land of your sojourning.

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That's what Jonathan's banking on, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession,
and I will be their God.

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Verse 10.

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This is the covenant which you shall keep.

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Between you and your offspring after you, every male among you shall be circumcised.

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So shall my covenant be in your flesh, an everlasting covenant.

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See, God's covenant promise to bless Israel is marked in their flesh through the sign of
circumcision.

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And that's what Jonathan's talking about.

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That's where his mind is going.

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That's where his faith is going.

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He looks to the Philistines and says: These are not God's promised people.

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What are they doing here in this land?

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God's promised us this land.

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They don't bear in their bodies the mark of being God's chosen people.

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God has actually chosen to destroy them.

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And so, with full faith, Jonathan says, with full faith in what God promised to Abraham,
I'm going to go into this battle despite my few numbers.

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Notice his faith then.

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It's not in a religion.

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It's not in a system.

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It's not in the world's means of salvation.

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Rather, it's in

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Personal faith in God Himself because of what God has said.

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You even get that sense when you look at Jonathan.

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He uses the term Yahweh.

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He uses God's personal name here several times, and we really don't see Saul talking like
that so much.

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Now let's zoom in a little bit deeper on the faith he displays and look at some elements
that are present here because again, they contrast with Saul's later on.

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Firstly, I want you to notice the confidence.

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And the lack of anxiety and the decisiveness we see in Jonathan.

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He sees the situation, he takes in, and immediately he comes to this conclusion.

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There's no second guessing himself here.

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How does he do that?

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Where does that confidence come from?

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Well, it's it's the logical outworking of his faith.

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So Jonathan says, I know God's real.

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I believe what God has said.

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God has promised Abraham and his offspring this land.

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God has even appointed my father to defeat the surrounding Philistine armies.

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I know that.

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And so Jonathan absolutely knows that God wants these Philistines defeated.

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He has that faith firmly planted.

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Well, from there, then he just makes a logical decision based off of that.

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God wants to bless Israel, destroy the Philistines.

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Why not use me to do that?

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Why not use my armor bearer and I?

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We're available, we're willing, let's go for it.

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He doesn't use the calculus of the world and take his numbers into account.

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Rather, he's just thinking on the promises of God.

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That's where his confidence comes in, because he knows God and he knows what he says.

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The faith can be very strong when your knowledge of God is strong.

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You know what to base your actions off of.

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Now, in the eyes of the world, this faith looks like foolishness, like an impossible
gamble, maybe like blind faith.

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But it's not blind faith, rather, it's the world that is blind to faith in God.

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You see, the world only recognizes its own brand of faith.

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And it doesn't even call it faith, it just calls it being reasonable.

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The world cannot recognize what faith in God looks like.

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It looks like foolishness to the world.

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And I kind of mentioned this at the beginning of the sermon.

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The world has faith.

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And like any faith, the world has a faith that leads to action.

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But the calculus is all completely different.

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Oftentimes the faith of the world is based on numbers, probability, statistics, past
experiences, things like this.

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If I have, say, 10,000 troops and I'm going against an army of a thousand troops, I think,
yeah, I'm gonna go do that fight.

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I'll probably win that fight.

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Not 100%.

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We could all get sick and die, or the ground could open up and we could fall in.

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But by all worldly accounts, 10,000 versus 1,000.

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That seems reasonable.

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That is a decision made upon faith.

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The object of the faith is numbers and statistics and past experience, but it's no less a
decision of faith than Jonathan's decision was one of faith.

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Since we do not know the future for certain, since we cannot control outcomes, we can only
contribute to their outworking, but we cannot control outcomes.

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Because of these things, ultimately, as humans, we have to hope in an outcome and then act
in faith.

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Can't cause something to happen.

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That's faith.

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When when we walk, when I walk, sometimes I'll trip, right?

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That proves that I'm not making the walking happen, but rather I'm having faith that
walking will happen when I try to walk.

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But I can't guarantee that it happens.

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I need faith to even to walk, trusting that my movements will result in walking.

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Every action we take requires some type of faith.

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God's designed the world that way.

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And you know, even doubt in God.

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We can see it like that, but you can also just see it as faith in something other than
God, right?

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There's no just kind of vacuum where faith is non-present.

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Well, this contrast is especially clear between Jonathan and Saul, this rightly placed
faith and wrongly placed faith, especially when we consider Saul's actions from chapter

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13.

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Remember why Saul disobeyed God in chapter 13?

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Wasn't faithlessness, it was rather the world's.

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Faith.

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It was faith in the numbers.

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Remember, Saul saw that his troops were scared and they're actually leaving him.

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His numbers were going down.

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In his mind, that meant his chances of winning the fight were also going down.

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He was looking to the world means of faith.

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He wasn't thinking to himself, No, God's anointed me king of Israel.

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God's told me I'm going to defeat the Philistines.

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Rather, he thought, My people are leaving, I've got to do something quick.

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And so what did Saul do in chapter 13?

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He acted from faith.

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Faith in the world rather than God, and gave an unlawful sacrifice in order to hold on to
the men that he still had.

218
00:15:53,829 --> 00:16:02,471
Jeremiah 17, 5 reads, Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the Lord.

219
00:16:02,471 --> 00:16:09,153
Blessed is the man whose trust is in man, or blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.

220
00:16:09,153 --> 00:16:12,994
So Jonathan and Saul both acted in faith.

221
00:16:13,234 --> 00:16:14,434
Jonathan's

222
00:16:14,434 --> 00:16:17,856
Faith was right, and so led to right action.

223
00:16:17,857 --> 00:16:25,442
And Saul's faith was wrong, so leading to wrong action, even though it made sense to
preserve his troops from an earthly perspective.

224
00:16:25,442 --> 00:16:35,890
Now, the last thing I want to point out about Jonathan's faith before we move on is how it
affected those around him, namely his armor bearer.

225
00:16:36,731 --> 00:16:41,206
As Jonathan acted in faith, his armor bearer was lifted up.

226
00:16:41,206 --> 00:16:46,368
Into this shared faith and able to participate in this great victory before the Lord.

227
00:16:46,609 --> 00:16:50,030
Look what his armor bearer said: Do all that is in your heart.

228
00:16:50,091 --> 00:16:51,451
Do as you wish.

229
00:16:51,451 --> 00:16:54,392
Behold, I am with you, heart and soul.

230
00:16:54,553 --> 00:17:05,838
Jonathan's faith strengthened and uplifted and benefited his armor bearer, and his armor
bearer was blessed along with this faith, brought into this great victory.

231
00:17:06,839 --> 00:17:10,954
So Jonathan's faith sends confident based.

232
00:17:10,954 --> 00:17:18,099
not on the world's reckoning, but rather based in God's character, and it blessed those
around him.

233
00:17:18,559 --> 00:17:21,461
Let's move on now to Saul's side of the story.

234
00:17:21,461 --> 00:17:26,704
Chapter 16, Saul starts to notice that the Philistines are in trouble.

235
00:17:27,566 --> 00:17:34,971
And the watchmen of Saul and Giba of Benjamin looked, and behold the multitude was
dispersing here and there.

236
00:17:34,971 --> 00:17:40,274
Then Saul said to the people who were with him, Count and see who has gone out from us.

237
00:17:40,628 --> 00:17:47,483
And when they had counted, behold, Jonathan, his armor bearer, uh and his armor bearer
were not there.

238
00:17:47,483 --> 00:17:51,606
So Saul said to Ahijah, Bring the Ark of God here.

239
00:17:51,606 --> 00:17:55,328
For the Ark of God went at that time with the people of Israel.

240
00:17:55,428 --> 00:18:02,633
Now while Saul was talking to his priest, the tumult in the camp of the Philistines
increased more and more.

241
00:18:02,633 --> 00:18:05,615
So Saul said to the priest, Withdraw your hand.

242
00:18:05,615 --> 00:18:09,844
Then Saul and all the people who were with him rallied and

243
00:18:09,844 --> 00:18:11,536
And went into the battle.

244
00:18:11,536 --> 00:18:17,651
And behold, every Philistine's sword was against his fellow, and there was very great
confusion.

245
00:18:17,651 --> 00:18:20,282
Let's just pause here.

246
00:18:20,603 --> 00:18:24,466
How is this different from what we saw Jonathan doing?

247
00:18:24,847 --> 00:18:26,607
Well, where is Saul's faith?

248
00:18:27,229 --> 00:18:29,981
Now you might be tempted at first to say, well, it's in God.

249
00:18:29,981 --> 00:18:32,172
He, after all, he called for the ark.

250
00:18:32,473 --> 00:18:36,756
But I don't think that's what we see here in Saul, or really ever.

251
00:18:36,756 --> 00:18:39,208
He doesn't seem to trust in God.

252
00:18:39,328 --> 00:18:41,739
Saul trusts in outcomes.

253
00:18:41,959 --> 00:18:45,180
He trusts in religious ritual.

254
00:18:45,380 --> 00:18:50,661
He actually just seems to trust in whatever seems to suit his purposes best at the time.

255
00:18:50,861 --> 00:18:52,542
Sometimes it's God.

256
00:18:52,542 --> 00:18:55,003
Sometimes it's truth, uh, troops.

257
00:18:55,443 --> 00:19:00,724
But his faith is never settled in the person of God.

258
00:19:00,724 --> 00:19:01,805
Look what he does here.

259
00:19:01,805 --> 00:19:06,328
He calls for the ark, presumably so that God can help him in battle, but then

260
00:19:06,328 --> 00:19:07,759
Look how fickle his faith is.

261
00:19:07,759 --> 00:19:15,114
While he is talking to the priest, in the middle of asking the priest for the ark, he
looks up and sees the Philistine campus in confusion.

262
00:19:15,114 --> 00:19:17,326
And he thinks, wait, now's the time to strike.

263
00:19:17,326 --> 00:19:18,246
So he changes his mind.

264
00:19:18,246 --> 00:19:19,827
No, no, no, withdraw your hand.

265
00:19:19,827 --> 00:19:20,428
Leave the ark.

266
00:19:20,428 --> 00:19:21,828
Let's just go for it.

267
00:19:22,069 --> 00:19:23,738
And they charge in to press the attack.

268
00:19:23,738 --> 00:19:26,972
You see how fickle that faith is there?

269
00:19:26,972 --> 00:19:30,134
One moment he thinks religion can help.

270
00:19:30,134 --> 00:19:32,076
So that's where he leans, the ark.

271
00:19:32,076 --> 00:19:35,448
But then in the very same sentence, the circumstance changes.

272
00:19:35,448 --> 00:19:37,139
He doesn't need that advantage anymore.

273
00:19:37,139 --> 00:19:40,202
So he says, Yeah, let's just go do it ourselves.

274
00:19:40,202 --> 00:19:45,705
With this changed circumstance comes a changed object of faith.

275
00:19:45,926 --> 00:19:47,647
That's worldly faith for you.

276
00:19:47,647 --> 00:19:48,827
It's fickle.

277
00:19:49,168 --> 00:19:50,989
It changes with the circumstance.

278
00:19:51,070 --> 00:19:57,073
Maybe one moment it looks like praying and tithing and going to church is gonna help out.

279
00:19:57,134 --> 00:20:03,188
And then the next place we're back to worldly power and mammon and things of this nature.

280
00:20:03,598 --> 00:20:06,220
It reminds me of James 1, 6.

281
00:20:06,220 --> 00:20:12,844
For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

282
00:20:12,844 --> 00:20:17,547
He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

283
00:20:17,567 --> 00:20:21,090
Isn't that just a perfect description of Saul for you right there?

284
00:20:21,090 --> 00:20:27,734
He has none of this solid, non-anxious confidence we see in Jonathan, but rather for him,
it's bring the ark.

285
00:20:27,734 --> 00:20:29,185
No, no, no, no, no, take it back.

286
00:20:29,185 --> 00:20:29,726
Let's just go.

287
00:20:29,726 --> 00:20:31,807
There's more to come.

288
00:20:31,807 --> 00:20:33,410
We're gonna see this plenty in this story.

289
00:20:33,410 --> 00:20:34,810
Verse twenty four.

290
00:20:35,191 --> 00:20:49,169
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

291
00:20:49,169 --> 00:20:50,159
enemies.

292
00:20:50,239 --> 00:20:52,581
So none of the people had tasted food.

293
00:20:52,581 --> 00:20:57,263
Now when all the people came to the forest, behold there was honey on the ground.

294
00:20:57,623 --> 00:21:02,850
And when the people entered the forest, behold the honey was dropping.

295
00:21:02,850 --> 00:21:06,792
But no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.

296
00:21:06,792 --> 00:21:11,377
But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath.

297
00:21:11,377 --> 00:21:20,184
So he put out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb,
and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes became bright.

298
00:21:20,204 --> 00:21:29,191
Then one of the people said, Your father strictly charged and the people with an oath,
saying, Cursed be the man who eats food this day.

299
00:21:29,672 --> 00:21:31,233
And the people were faint.

300
00:21:31,233 --> 00:21:32,564
Then Jonathan said,

301
00:21:32,588 --> 00:21:34,680
My father has troubled the land.

302
00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:38,162
See how my eyes have become bright because I tasted a little of this honey?

303
00:21:38,203 --> 00:21:44,648
How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies that
they found?

304
00:21:44,709 --> 00:21:48,812
For now the defeat among the Philistines has not been great.

305
00:21:49,853 --> 00:21:53,066
So what we see happen here is Saul's forces rally.

306
00:21:53,066 --> 00:21:57,340
He because of this momentum in battle, he gains back some of the people he's lost.

307
00:21:57,340 --> 00:21:58,521
He likes that.

308
00:21:58,521 --> 00:22:00,286
And now he wants to press the attack.

309
00:22:00,286 --> 00:22:01,456
On the Philistines, right?

310
00:22:01,456 --> 00:22:02,807
They're on their heels.

311
00:22:03,327 --> 00:22:04,987
But what's he notice going on?

312
00:22:04,987 --> 00:22:08,078
He notices, the people are kind of getting a little tired.

313
00:22:08,078 --> 00:22:09,819
They're kind of flagging here.

314
00:22:09,819 --> 00:22:10,859
We can't let that happen.

315
00:22:10,859 --> 00:22:11,559
We've got to go.

316
00:22:11,559 --> 00:22:12,319
This is our chance.

317
00:22:12,319 --> 00:22:13,609
We got to move.

318
00:22:13,770 --> 00:22:26,643
So when Saul sees that everyone's feeling a little bit uh sluggish because they're getting
tired, he says, No, no, no one can eat anything until this evening when we've been

319
00:22:26,643 --> 00:22:29,814
avenged, when when I've been avenged on my

320
00:22:29,814 --> 00:22:30,354
Enemies.

321
00:22:30,354 --> 00:22:33,796
He forces them to take this vow.

322
00:22:34,757 --> 00:22:36,198
Again, what do we have here?

323
00:22:36,198 --> 00:22:44,624
An anxious and hasty decision made not from a confidence in God, but rather from a a f the
frantic need of the moment.

324
00:22:44,624 --> 00:22:46,685
That was the foundation for his decision.

325
00:22:47,286 --> 00:22:50,118
Saul's faith, again, it's determined by the circumstance.

326
00:22:50,118 --> 00:22:53,410
The armies rallied, the time is now, let's push.

327
00:22:53,410 --> 00:22:55,132
We can't stop and take a rest.

328
00:22:55,132 --> 00:22:59,214
And so, with the authority of the anointed one of Israel and the king,

329
00:22:59,234 --> 00:23:03,116
Which they are obligated to do this now, he says they cannot eat.

330
00:23:03,537 --> 00:23:09,682
Want you to notice here this earthly calculus, this reliance on numbers and circumstance.

331
00:23:09,682 --> 00:23:13,084
He's not considering what would God want for the troops.

332
00:23:13,084 --> 00:23:16,827
If Jesus was in charge of this battle, he'd have let them rest and eat.

333
00:23:16,947 --> 00:23:19,069
But he's not considering that.

334
00:23:19,069 --> 00:23:20,940
He's not thinking about God's promises to Abraham.

335
00:23:20,940 --> 00:23:24,313
He's not comfortably resting in God's person.

336
00:23:24,313 --> 00:23:26,714
He's acting like God doesn't even exist.

337
00:23:26,732 --> 00:23:29,804
And that everything depends on him to bring about this victory.

338
00:23:30,305 --> 00:23:36,769
No rest before the Lord, no godly faith, just this kind of anxious, panic decisions.

339
00:23:37,690 --> 00:23:41,193
And how does this misplaced faith affect those around him?

340
00:23:41,193 --> 00:23:44,475
Are they lifted up and strengthened like Jonathan's armor bearer?

341
00:23:44,616 --> 00:23:49,379
No, they're mistreated, they're hard-pressed, they're starving, they're fearful.

342
00:23:49,479 --> 00:23:53,442
Such is the effect of false faith on those around us.

343
00:23:54,136 --> 00:24:05,070
And that's where I just kind of want to bring this in a little closer to home and consider
the faith in our own lives and what it's communicating about us.

344
00:24:05,070 --> 00:24:13,694
So for for fathers, parents, husbands and wives, and young people and old people, ask
yourself and think about your actions.

345
00:24:13,694 --> 00:24:15,134
Where's your faith?

346
00:24:15,675 --> 00:24:19,496
What do your actions teach about your faith?

347
00:24:19,496 --> 00:24:22,938
Where do your children see you placing your faith?

348
00:24:22,938 --> 00:24:24,058
Is it in

349
00:24:24,322 --> 00:24:26,223
Worldly things.

350
00:24:26,223 --> 00:24:33,488
Are you acting anxious and fretful and calculating, constantly fearing outcomes?

351
00:24:33,488 --> 00:24:41,934
Like Saul with a fickle faith, is that your faith is varied as as a situation is, maybe
God some days, and then maybe the world the next.

352
00:24:41,934 --> 00:24:44,315
I've done that many times.

353
00:24:44,316 --> 00:24:46,762
You go to God for comfort, pray.

354
00:24:46,762 --> 00:24:48,808
Uh doesn't really feel better.

355
00:24:48,808 --> 00:24:52,721
And so next thing you know, you're seeking reassurance from the world.

356
00:24:52,981 --> 00:24:54,242
And like Saul,

357
00:24:54,242 --> 00:25:01,806
You know, for me, the comfort often comes from numbers or the amount of resources you have
or probable outcomes.

358
00:25:02,186 --> 00:25:12,573
I'm so quick to be comforted by the world's resources, but why not by my Father in heaven
who knows my needs and promises to provide for them?

359
00:25:13,454 --> 00:25:21,238
Why does sometimes checking the numbers in my bank account make me feel more secure than
the promise from God that says?

360
00:25:21,516 --> 00:25:27,247
Be content with what you have, for I have said to you I will never leave you or forsake
you.

361
00:25:27,408 --> 00:25:33,409
Or why does searching to alleviate my concern about some health concern for my children on
the internet?

362
00:25:33,409 --> 00:25:35,050
Internet searches there.

363
00:25:35,190 --> 00:25:45,272
Why would that help to comfort me more than the promise from God that says all things that
happen to me and to those who love God are going to work out for good?

364
00:25:46,093 --> 00:25:50,616
Do I trust my salary, my home insurance, or my

365
00:25:50,616 --> 00:25:54,826
Health insurance, more than I trust my Father who's in heaven?

366
00:25:54,826 --> 00:25:56,850
I fear that sometimes I do.

367
00:25:56,850 --> 00:25:58,110
That's wrong.

368
00:25:58,971 --> 00:26:07,946
What we need to do is have a faith like Jonathan in the character of God and in his
promises, not like Saul and the circumstance.

369
00:26:07,946 --> 00:26:16,220
And then we just got to ask ourselves: whatever we're mirroring, whatever faith we're
acting out of, how does it affect those around us?

370
00:26:16,500 --> 00:26:19,722
Are we bringing our family and friends up?

371
00:26:19,722 --> 00:26:30,612
Into the confidence and strength and joy and peaceful decision making of faith, modeling
that for them and gathering them up into that?

372
00:26:30,612 --> 00:26:39,519
Or are we harming them, making fickle decisions based off of anxiety and modeling that for
our children and families?

373
00:26:39,820 --> 00:26:41,622
Again, maybe you've seen this in your own life.

374
00:26:41,622 --> 00:26:42,702
I have.

375
00:26:43,023 --> 00:26:44,724
Lose my temper at someone in the family.

376
00:26:44,724 --> 00:26:45,055
Why?

377
00:26:45,055 --> 00:26:46,536
It's actually because I'm.

378
00:26:46,536 --> 00:26:47,777
anxious about tomorrow.

379
00:26:47,777 --> 00:26:50,986
I'm thinking with worldly faith, not with faith in God.

380
00:26:50,986 --> 00:26:55,312
And the result is, well then that's not good for my family.

381
00:26:55,332 --> 00:26:58,714
Or maybe I have a bad attitude someday.

382
00:26:58,814 --> 00:27:00,346
Well, why is that?

383
00:27:00,346 --> 00:27:04,348
It's because I'm not trusting in God to be doing what he should be doing, right?

384
00:27:04,348 --> 00:27:05,399
That's discontentment.

385
00:27:05,399 --> 00:27:08,961
Discontentment is saying, God, you're not doing what you should be doing.

386
00:27:08,961 --> 00:27:10,412
And how does it affect those around me?

387
00:27:10,412 --> 00:27:12,444
Well it brings them down.

388
00:27:12,444 --> 00:27:14,685
They're not caught up in joyful faith.

389
00:27:14,685 --> 00:27:16,296
They're brought down.

390
00:27:16,984 --> 00:27:21,876
Faith affects not only ourselves, but also those around us.

391
00:27:21,876 --> 00:27:25,758
Faith in God, like Jonathan, blesses those around us.

392
00:27:25,758 --> 00:27:30,479
Faith in anything else, like Saul, hurts those around us.

393
00:27:30,620 --> 00:27:35,702
And we haven't even seen the full extent of the hurt that Saul is going to bring.

394
00:27:35,702 --> 00:27:38,382
Let's continue in thirty-one through thirty five.

395
00:27:39,543 --> 00:27:40,743
Thirty-one.

396
00:27:40,744 --> 00:27:46,934
They struck down the Philistines that day from Mishmash to Ihalom.

397
00:27:47,372 --> 00:27:50,203
And the people were very faint.

398
00:27:50,563 --> 00:28:00,347
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.

399
00:28:00,728 --> 00:28:05,690
Then they told Saul, Behold, the people are sinning against the Lord by eating with the
blood.

400
00:28:06,070 --> 00:28:08,791
And he said, You have dealt treacherously.

401
00:28:08,791 --> 00:28:11,032
Roll a great stone to me here.

402
00:28:11,052 --> 00:28:15,436
And Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people, and say to them,

403
00:28:15,436 --> 00:28:23,172
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.

404
00:28:23,233 --> 00:28:32,421
For every one of the people brought his ox, or so every one of the people brought his ox
with him that night, and they slaughtered them there.

405
00:28:32,421 --> 00:28:34,863
And Saul built an altar to the Lord.

406
00:28:34,984 --> 00:28:38,386
It was the first altar that he built to the Lord.

407
00:28:39,007 --> 00:28:41,329
What a responsibility that leaders have.

408
00:28:41,329 --> 00:28:42,316
Look at this.

409
00:28:42,316 --> 00:28:48,489
The king of Israel, because of his poor decision and his rash vow, he leads Israel into
sin.

410
00:28:48,489 --> 00:28:53,931
This would not have been the case had he acted more wisely, but now they are sinning
against the Lord.

411
00:28:53,931 --> 00:28:56,932
His rash oath leads to the people starving.

412
00:28:56,932 --> 00:28:58,603
They're starving when they're done fighting.

413
00:28:58,603 --> 00:29:06,076
They pounce on the plunder like wild animals, and they're eating this meat in an impure
way without draining the blood from it.

414
00:29:06,457 --> 00:29:10,158
God had spoken very clearly on that to Israel.

415
00:29:10,346 --> 00:29:11,197
In Leviticus.

416
00:29:11,197 --> 00:29:17,210
And the laws he gave to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, they were not to eat
meat with the blood still in it.

417
00:29:17,210 --> 00:29:18,111
That was impure.

418
00:29:18,111 --> 00:29:21,983
Rather, they need to drain the blood out thoroughly before they'd eat the meat.

419
00:29:21,983 --> 00:29:24,524
And you'd do this by killing the animal on a stone.

420
00:29:24,524 --> 00:29:28,757
That way the blood runs out over the stone, down onto the ground, and it's clean to eat.

421
00:29:28,757 --> 00:29:30,177
They weren't doing that.

422
00:29:30,518 --> 00:29:37,832
Slaughtering the animals on the ground and the pool of their own blood, eating it there,
that was an impure way to eat.

423
00:29:38,594 --> 00:29:42,466
Now, if we look at Saul's response here again, and this might seem like faithfulness to
God.

424
00:29:42,466 --> 00:29:45,817
He gets a stone so the blood can be properly drained.

425
00:29:46,837 --> 00:29:56,661
But I wonder, does Saul really care about the fact that they're sinning against God, or is
he just concerned with the consequences of God's anger?

426
00:29:56,874 --> 00:29:59,212
I think we can say it's the latter.

427
00:29:59,212 --> 00:30:08,014
I think he was just concerned with the consequences of God's anger, one, because of his
track record, but two, because of this little detail.

428
00:30:08,014 --> 00:30:10,936
That the author puts in at the end of 35.

429
00:30:11,194 --> 00:30:15,299
I think this is just another religious act, simply to get what he wanted.

430
00:30:15,299 --> 00:30:16,559
35.

431
00:30:16,980 --> 00:30:19,022
And Saul built an altar to the Lord.

432
00:30:19,022 --> 00:30:22,344
It was the first altar that he built to the Lord.

433
00:30:22,344 --> 00:30:25,274
Just interesting, the author put that in there.

434
00:30:25,274 --> 00:30:30,629
Uh, he never apparently Saul never bothered to make an altar to God before now.

435
00:30:30,629 --> 00:30:36,673
But now, when the chips are down, he's so close to victory, he can't have God's anger
screwing this up.

436
00:30:36,673 --> 00:30:37,344
What's he do?

437
00:30:37,344 --> 00:30:37,666
He

438
00:30:37,666 --> 00:30:39,647
He goes by the book.

439
00:30:39,747 --> 00:30:42,668
It's similar to him calling for the ark, right?

440
00:30:42,668 --> 00:30:47,230
Religious piety now seems to be what is necessary for success.

441
00:30:47,490 --> 00:30:52,352
And so Saul turns back to what appears to be religious pantomime.

442
00:30:53,373 --> 00:30:59,155
Well, the people get their rest, they get their food, but now Saul's ready to get back
into the fight.

443
00:30:59,455 --> 00:31:00,766
Because it wasn't actually completed.

444
00:31:00,766 --> 00:31:02,116
There's still some Philistines left.

445
00:31:02,116 --> 00:31:06,914
So 36, Saul says, Let us go down after the Philistines.

446
00:31:06,914 --> 00:31:09,975
By night and plunder them until morning light.

447
00:31:09,975 --> 00:31:12,616
Let us not leave a man of them.

448
00:31:12,616 --> 00:31:14,836
And they said, Do whatever seems good to you.

449
00:31:14,836 --> 00:31:18,107
But the priest said, Let us draw near to God here.

450
00:31:18,107 --> 00:31:21,618
Okay, just notice this again.

451
00:31:21,638 --> 00:31:25,159
Saul's willing to drop the religious stuff now and rush back into battle.

452
00:31:25,159 --> 00:31:26,390
God's anger is out of the way.

453
00:31:26,390 --> 00:31:27,040
Good.

454
00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:28,440
Let's press the attack again.

455
00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:31,031
Does he even think about consulting the Lord here?

456
00:31:31,031 --> 00:31:32,421
No, he doesn't.

457
00:31:32,421 --> 00:31:34,766
The priest has to say, Whoa, whoa, Saul.

458
00:31:34,766 --> 00:31:37,697
Maybe we should, you know, ask God before we just jump back into fighting.

459
00:31:37,697 --> 00:31:41,089
Of course, Saul says, yes, yes, of course we should.

460
00:31:41,089 --> 00:31:41,449
Right?

461
00:31:41,449 --> 00:31:43,150
Look how he's so back and forth.

462
00:31:43,150 --> 00:31:43,700
Bring the ark.

463
00:31:43,700 --> 00:31:44,810
We need God's blessing.

464
00:31:44,810 --> 00:31:45,811
Never mind, leave the ark.

465
00:31:45,811 --> 00:31:47,191
Let's just go for it.

466
00:31:47,211 --> 00:31:49,112
And then, the people are getting tired.

467
00:31:49,112 --> 00:31:52,033
Let's let's make an oath to make them keep fighting.

468
00:31:52,363 --> 00:31:53,584
no, my oath is making them sin.

469
00:31:53,584 --> 00:31:57,095
Okay, we'll bring a stone here and sacrifice the animals.

470
00:31:57,136 --> 00:31:59,036
And then let's get back into the battle.

471
00:31:59,036 --> 00:31:59,916
What?

472
00:32:00,137 --> 00:32:03,180
We should ask the Lord for help for okay, let's ask the Lord first.

473
00:32:03,180 --> 00:32:07,751
He's it's like he's got no place to set his foot, back and forth, no solid faith.

474
00:32:07,751 --> 00:32:10,472
Like he said in James, he's tossed back and forth.

475
00:32:11,593 --> 00:32:12,333
What happens then?

476
00:32:12,333 --> 00:32:13,133
37.

477
00:32:13,133 --> 00:32:17,714
And Saul inquired of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines?

478
00:32:17,714 --> 00:32:20,275
Will you give them into the hand of Israel?

479
00:32:20,495 --> 00:32:22,696
But he did not answer him that day.

480
00:32:22,696 --> 00:32:30,528
And Saul said, Come here, all of you leaders of the people, and know and see how this sin
has arisen today.

481
00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:37,333
For as the Lord lives who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan, my son, he shall surely
die.

482
00:32:37,514 --> 00:32:47,219
What happens here is when Jonathan asks God about the, or rather, when Saul asks God about
the battle, he doesn't get any response back from God.

483
00:32:47,219 --> 00:32:50,941
And so Saul's immediate thought was, Oh, someone's broken the oath.

484
00:32:50,941 --> 00:32:54,262
That's why God's not responding to our prayers.

485
00:32:54,303 --> 00:32:58,885
And so he gathers all Israel together and says, We're going to figure out who broke this
oath and we're going to kill them.

486
00:32:58,885 --> 00:33:00,696
Even if it's me and my son Jonathan.

487
00:33:00,696 --> 00:33:04,767
Doesn't matter, the person who broke this oath is going to die before the Lord.

488
00:33:04,767 --> 00:33:12,929
And so they cast lots, and surprisingly, at least to Saul, the lot falls on Jonathan.

489
00:33:12,929 --> 00:33:15,770
He sees that Jonathan is the one who's broken the oath.

490
00:33:15,890 --> 00:33:16,831
What happens now?

491
00:33:16,831 --> 00:33:17,401
43.

492
00:33:17,401 --> 00:33:21,592
Then Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what you have done.

493
00:33:21,592 --> 00:33:27,593
And Jonathan told him, I tasted a little honey with the tip of the staff that was in my
hand.

494
00:33:27,874 --> 00:33:28,390
Here I am.

495
00:33:28,390 --> 00:33:29,684
I will die.

496
00:33:30,326 --> 00:33:36,371
And Saul said, God do so to me more, God do so to me and more also.

497
00:33:36,371 --> 00:33:38,812
You shall surely die, Jonathan.

498
00:33:39,213 --> 00:33:46,179
Then the people said to Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in
Israel?

499
00:33:46,179 --> 00:33:47,379
Far from it.

500
00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:56,587
As the Lord lives, there shall not be one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has
worked with God this day.

501
00:33:56,808 --> 00:34:00,098
So the people ransomed Jonathan so that he did not die and

502
00:34:00,098 --> 00:34:05,260
Then Saul went up from pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own
place.

503
00:34:06,381 --> 00:34:15,665
Now we see the full effect of this rash vow, of this panicked decision Saul had made on
his own family.

504
00:34:15,665 --> 00:34:24,308
Now, as as readers of scriptures, the audience were reminded of Judges chapter 11 with
Jepta's tragic vow.

505
00:34:24,528 --> 00:34:29,310
Jephthah was also using religious means, but

506
00:34:29,386 --> 00:34:31,247
Utilizing worldly calculus.

507
00:34:31,247 --> 00:34:37,128
He thought, if I make a big sacrifice to God, then God's gonna give me a big, a big win in
this battle.

508
00:34:37,128 --> 00:34:38,358
And so what Jephthah do?

509
00:34:38,358 --> 00:34:42,900
He said to God, Whatever comes from my home after this battle, I'll sacrifice to you.

510
00:34:42,900 --> 00:34:45,290
It's the exact same thing.

511
00:34:45,290 --> 00:34:52,052
Worldly calculus, utilizing religious means as a as a means to an end.

512
00:34:52,512 --> 00:34:58,914
With Jephthah, his daughter came out from the house and he completed his vow there, his
rash vow.

513
00:34:58,914 --> 00:35:01,335
Hurt his child.

514
00:35:01,435 --> 00:35:04,676
We're seeing the story repeating right here with Saul.

515
00:35:04,676 --> 00:35:10,218
His rash religious vow made with worldly calculus is now going to hurt his child.

516
00:35:11,079 --> 00:35:18,082
And yet, here is a shiny example once again of Jonathan's faith, his settled confidence in
God.

517
00:35:18,082 --> 00:35:23,244
When he's condemned, he makes no excuses, says, Here I am, I will die.

518
00:35:24,024 --> 00:35:28,706
Remember what Saul did in chapter 13 when he was called out?

519
00:35:28,706 --> 00:35:32,509
By Samuel for making the unlawful sacrifice.

520
00:35:32,509 --> 00:35:34,911
He said, the people were leaving.

521
00:35:34,911 --> 00:35:37,373
And and Samuel, you were late.

522
00:35:37,373 --> 00:35:39,955
And the Philistines were rather were rallying.

523
00:35:39,955 --> 00:35:43,298
And uh I had to force myself to do this.

524
00:35:43,338 --> 00:35:45,600
He was making every excuse in the book.

525
00:35:46,241 --> 00:35:49,964
I'm sure Jonathan could have made plenty of good excuses.

526
00:35:49,964 --> 00:35:51,146
I hadn't heard out the vow.

527
00:35:51,146 --> 00:35:53,927
I was trying to get energy to go defeat your enemies.

528
00:35:54,348 --> 00:35:56,269
That's not what we see Jonathan do.

529
00:35:56,629 --> 00:35:57,670
He says.

530
00:35:58,008 --> 00:36:01,080
If I broke a vow taken before the Lord, then here I am.

531
00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:02,220
I will die.

532
00:36:02,961 --> 00:36:07,763
You couldn't have a greater difference between Jonathan and Saul here.

533
00:36:07,763 --> 00:36:13,106
Jonathan, faithful, settled, non-anxious, decisive.

534
00:36:13,106 --> 00:36:14,627
He knows God.

535
00:36:14,627 --> 00:36:16,268
He loves God.

536
00:36:16,268 --> 00:36:18,389
He's content with what God brings.

537
00:36:18,469 --> 00:36:27,274
Saul, fickle, flustered, anxious, unsure, going back on his decisions almost constantly.

538
00:36:27,530 --> 00:36:30,892
Not quite sure even how to really interact with God.

539
00:36:31,153 --> 00:36:34,335
And what ends up happening here?

540
00:36:34,917 --> 00:36:43,624
Well, actually, some of those things end up being good, not for him, but for Jonathan,
because once again he goes back on his decision.

541
00:36:43,764 --> 00:36:46,567
Doesn't follow through and kill Jonathan.

542
00:36:46,567 --> 00:36:46,977
Why?

543
00:36:46,977 --> 00:36:48,789
Because the people oppose him.

544
00:36:48,789 --> 00:36:50,280
They say, You're not going to kill Jonathan.

545
00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:52,932
Jonathan's the one who just is responsible for this victory.

546
00:36:52,932 --> 00:36:54,996
And so, in very characteristic

547
00:36:54,996 --> 00:37:03,449
Saul-like fashion, because there's some pressure put on him from the crowd, he goes back
on his decision, and Jonathan goes free.

548
00:37:03,990 --> 00:37:09,892
Unfortunately, some of the Philistines also go free at the end of this.

549
00:37:10,573 --> 00:37:11,833
Then the battle's over.

550
00:37:11,833 --> 00:37:13,754
That's how the battle ends.

551
00:37:13,754 --> 00:37:15,425
It's won by Jonathan's faith.

552
00:37:15,425 --> 00:37:20,186
It's almost lost and spoiled because of Saul's worldly faith.

553
00:37:20,186 --> 00:37:23,498
And in fact, ironically, if you go back and read.

554
00:37:23,544 --> 00:37:31,710
Verse 30, ironically, we see that this vow Saul had the Israelites take is the reason why
the Philistines weren't fully defeated.

555
00:37:31,710 --> 00:37:37,284
It could have been an even greater victory had he been a little more faithful to God.

556
00:37:38,485 --> 00:37:39,927
But the chapter's not over.

557
00:37:39,927 --> 00:37:41,368
This is a surprise.

558
00:37:41,368 --> 00:37:42,708
What's it say here?

559
00:37:42,989 --> 00:37:47,151
At the end of the chapter, we see this between 47 and 52.

560
00:37:47,412 --> 00:37:50,274
When Saul had taken the kingship over Israel,

561
00:37:50,488 --> 00:38:02,241
He fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, against the Amor Ammonites,
against Edom, against the kings of Zoba, and against the Philistines.

562
00:38:02,241 --> 00:38:10,963
Wherever he turned he routed them, and he did valiantly, and struck the Amalekites, and
delivered Israel out of the hand of those who plundered them.

563
00:38:11,024 --> 00:38:13,884
Then it mentions some of his family, and fifty two.

564
00:38:19,660 --> 00:38:23,591
A valiant man, he attached him to himself.

565
00:38:24,211 --> 00:38:26,592
It seems a little out of place here, doesn't it?

566
00:38:26,632 --> 00:38:32,954
This looks like the summaries that kings will get when they at the end of their life, when
they die and their reign is over.

567
00:38:33,054 --> 00:38:35,074
That's actually exactly what this is.

568
00:38:35,074 --> 00:38:43,136
This is the formula the author would use when a king's reign is over, summing up his past
victories.

569
00:38:43,337 --> 00:38:46,958
And indeed, as we look at this, we see God has done just what he promised he would do.

570
00:38:46,958 --> 00:38:48,450
God does

571
00:38:48,450 --> 00:38:55,854
Deliver Israel from their surrounding enemies through Saul, even though he's a king like
the nations, God's faithful to do what he said he would do.

572
00:38:56,314 --> 00:39:01,937
That's good, but we're still wondering why is this happening now?

573
00:39:02,358 --> 00:39:06,140
Saul's reign doesn't end until chapter 31.

574
00:39:06,140 --> 00:39:10,101
So why do we have the summary of his end of his reign right now?

575
00:39:10,462 --> 00:39:18,390
This is done symbolically by the author, symbolizing that for all intents and purposes,
Saul's reign is.

576
00:39:18,518 --> 00:39:19,678
Now over.

577
00:39:19,838 --> 00:39:27,921
His kingship is literally ripped away from him and given to David in the next chapter, in
chapter 15.

578
00:39:27,921 --> 00:39:35,863
What we've just read, 14, this is our last story with Saul acting as official king over
Israel with God's blessing.

579
00:39:35,883 --> 00:39:46,586
And so the inspired author decides that here is the proper place to formally recognize the
end of Saul's reign and sum up his accomplishments.

580
00:39:47,288 --> 00:39:54,122
As far as the author is concerned, Saul's time as king is over and it's being passed on to
David.

581
00:39:54,303 --> 00:39:58,265
And that's going to lead us directly into chapter 15.

582
00:39:59,306 --> 00:40:07,992
But then as we close here, I just want to give some special thought this morning to the
challenges this text presents to us.

583
00:40:08,032 --> 00:40:12,698
And we just need to consider what type of faith are we exercising from day to day?

584
00:40:12,698 --> 00:40:15,497
Is it like Jonathan or is it like Saul?

585
00:40:15,497 --> 00:40:17,110
Are we confident

586
00:40:17,110 --> 00:40:20,771
And secure in God's character and his promises.

587
00:40:20,771 --> 00:40:25,532
And does that lead us to non-anxious decisions done in faith?

588
00:40:25,532 --> 00:40:26,793
In all we do, right?

589
00:40:26,793 --> 00:40:33,935
Working, receiving bad news, navigating higher costs of living, things that can frustrate
us easily, making daily decisions.

590
00:40:33,935 --> 00:40:35,695
Where's our faith in all this?

591
00:40:36,215 --> 00:40:46,898
Do we, like Saul, exercise a worldly faith, navigating just like the world does around us,
considering only what brings gain or ease?

592
00:40:46,924 --> 00:40:50,276
Relying fully on numbers and statistics?

593
00:40:50,877 --> 00:41:01,066
Like Saul, do we go to God when it seems advantageous to us and then the next moment go to
worldly means for salvation when the circumstance changes?

594
00:41:01,867 --> 00:41:03,589
Where do we get our comfort?

595
00:41:03,589 --> 00:41:06,210
Where do we go before we make decisions?

596
00:41:07,272 --> 00:41:09,573
Do we exercise godly faith?

597
00:41:10,114 --> 00:41:14,854
Looking to the promises of Scripture, looking to Jesus act.

598
00:41:15,030 --> 00:41:22,214
Of self-sacrificial love on the cross, and then saying, if God does this for me, then what
can be against me?

599
00:41:23,096 --> 00:41:24,597
What could cause me to fear?

600
00:41:24,597 --> 00:41:30,421
What can actually separate me from the influence of Christ's love if he's already done
that for me?

601
00:41:30,421 --> 00:41:36,164
Do we look there and then act out of that security and confidence?

602
00:41:36,685 --> 00:41:40,627
We should be looking to the Lord's salvation as we act.

603
00:41:41,048 --> 00:41:43,139
Or again, do we have a worldly faith?

604
00:41:43,139 --> 00:41:44,824
How can I keep this?

605
00:41:44,824 --> 00:41:45,834
How can I protect that?

606
00:41:45,834 --> 00:41:47,095
How can I guard against this?

607
00:41:47,095 --> 00:41:47,765
Maybe I'll do this.

608
00:41:47,765 --> 00:41:50,596
No, because that might cause this, and then this would happen.

609
00:41:50,596 --> 00:41:57,119
Back and forth like Saul, acting as if God isn't even a part of the equation.

610
00:41:58,099 --> 00:42:08,723
King's tree, let us be people who act from a secure confidence in Jesus Christ based upon
his words and his actions.

611
00:42:08,764 --> 00:42:13,365
If we've seen him to be trustworthy, let's trust in him.

612
00:42:13,426 --> 00:42:14,744
He's merciful.

613
00:42:14,744 --> 00:42:15,814
He's kind.

614
00:42:15,814 --> 00:42:17,615
He's never done anything wrong.

615
00:42:17,635 --> 00:42:21,034
One that I like to think about is he's never done anything incorrectly.

616
00:42:21,034 --> 00:42:23,357
I sometimes I think, I'm doing it right.

617
00:42:23,758 --> 00:42:25,058
God's never done anything.

618
00:42:25,058 --> 00:42:27,679
Jesus has never done anything incorrectly.

619
00:42:28,420 --> 00:42:32,781
for that to be the bedrock of the decisions we make day to day.

620
00:42:32,781 --> 00:42:36,323
And what a blessing that'll be to those around you, to your family.

621
00:42:36,323 --> 00:42:38,124
How do you bless your wife?

622
00:42:38,124 --> 00:42:40,284
How do you bless your husband?

623
00:42:40,545 --> 00:42:42,085
How do you bless your children?

624
00:42:42,085 --> 00:42:44,510
Act out of a confidence.

625
00:42:44,510 --> 00:42:49,100
in the Lord Jesus and his goodness in every area of your life.

626
00:42:49,123 --> 00:42:53,974
Let's pray now that God would grant us the grace for that to be the case.

627
00:42:55,800 --> 00:43:00,372
Lord, thank you that first of all, whether we trust you or not, you're worthy of it.

628
00:43:00,732 --> 00:43:09,156
And sometimes it's just nice to know that when we are faithless or placing our faith in
the wrong things, you are faithful all the time.

629
00:43:09,256 --> 00:43:13,398
And we can go off the deep end and ruin our lives if we want.

630
00:43:13,398 --> 00:43:15,749
But you remain constant and faithful.

631
00:43:15,749 --> 00:43:16,759
You never change.

632
00:43:16,759 --> 00:43:18,139
We thank you for that.

633
00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:23,962
But we pray, God, for the right sort of faith that is placed in you.

634
00:43:24,172 --> 00:43:25,463
And not the circumstance.

635
00:43:25,463 --> 00:43:38,253
And we pray we'd be like Jonathan, ignoring the calculus the world might bring, and rather
acting off of promises that you have given us and the character we've seen to be true in

636
00:43:38,253 --> 00:43:38,814
you.

637
00:43:38,814 --> 00:43:41,006
Jesus Christ is trustworthy.

638
00:43:41,006 --> 00:43:45,219
He's a trustworthy person who is God of all.

639
00:43:45,219 --> 00:43:48,742
And so please, Lord, let us trust him.

640
00:43:49,303 --> 00:43:51,984
Let us trust Jesus in all that we do.

641
00:43:52,385 --> 00:43:53,804
And we know that.

642
00:43:53,804 --> 00:43:56,755
You will work that in us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

643
00:43:56,755 --> 00:44:00,096
And so we pray that you would bless us in that way.

644
00:44:00,417 --> 00:44:04,118
Thank you for who you are, and again we pray for this grace in Jesus' name.

645
00:44:04,118 --> 00:44:05,118
Amen.

646
00:44:05,419 --> 00:44:10,661
Thank you for listening to this message from Kingstree Church in Sabina, Ohio.

647
00:44:10,661 --> 00:44:23,186
To see more of the beauty of God and the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, come worship
with us on Sundays at 10 AM or visit our website at Kingstreechurch.org.