[0:00] 1 Samuel 13. I forgot to send Angela the PowerPoint. So I have it all done.
[0:11] ! Had it done a few days ago. But I forgot to send it to Angela, apparently. So, we don't have a PowerPoint this morning, but I'll try to make sure I give you the highlights that you need. 1 Samuel, chapter 13.
[0:27] And look with me, beginning at verse 1. Verse 1 says, Let's stop there for a minute.
[1:44] If you want a title to put up, No Name in Battle. No Name in Battle. We've been doing the no name things. We've been talking about the fact that God has used all kinds of people whose names we do not know.
[2:01] That's the whole... 1 Samuel 13, 1 through 5, to start with. Now, you didn't hear anything about anybody with no name there.
[2:13] You will, before we're done. Come a little later. I'm going to set some groundwork first and stuff that we're going to have here. You ever stop and think, why does God have so many battles in the Old Testament?
[2:28] Let's have a word of prayer. We'll talk about that. Dear Heavenly Father, just thank you for your great love to us. Lord, thank you that we can gather together and we can have a time of meeting together.
[2:40] Lord, I thank you that each one here comes so faithfully. Lord, I just pray that you would bless them for their effort. Bless them for their being here. Bless them for the word of God that they take away with them.
[2:53] Lord, I just pray that you would help them to use the things they hear today. Use the things that you teach them through your spirit. And Lord, that they would take that out and that they would help other people.
[3:04] Come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. Lord, I pray that you would just bless our time here as we have discussion, as we talk. Lord, I pray that you would just give us a great half hour here of studying your word.
[3:19] Lord, and then as we go into the morning service, I pray that you would just bless there as well. Lord, thank you for all that you're doing for us. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. So, God uses a lot of battles in the Old Testament.
[3:33] He gives us all kinds of things. He gives us vivid pictures of what's taking place and the things that are happening. And he does that because when we get to the New Testament, he talks about another battle.
[3:48] We have a battle that we are facing. We have a spiritual enemy that we cannot see. But he is constantly at battle with us and he's powerful and he's effective and God's going to give us background on how to battle the devil and the things that he does.
[4:07] Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12, a verse you know probably well, says, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
[4:24] He says you are constantly at battle. As a Christian, you go out, you are constantly at battle with Satan and his forces.
[4:35] We don't go up and get, you know, we don't carry swords around with us and things like they used to back then. We don't do all of that. But we are constantly at battle because Satan is always trying to get us off the track.
[4:46] He's always trying to get us going in the wrong direction. He's always trying to defeat us. He's trying to destroy us. Remember in 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 8, 1 Peter 5, 8, it says this, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walking about seeking whom he may devour.
[5:06] So we're constantly battling against principalities and powers. We're constantly battling against the devil. He's out there like a roaring lion. He's trying to destroy us. And there's so many ways that he can use and so many things that he does use, so many different ways he comes after us.
[5:23] And the battle begins the moment you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior. When you trust Jesus Christ, the devil is coming after you.
[5:34] He's going to put a big old target on you, and he's after you. You know, every time you do something in obedience to Christ, every time you faithfully share your faith with other people, every time you yield to God and say, God, I'm going to serve you, I'm going to do what you want me to do, I'm going to be obedient, the devil's putting a target on you.
[5:56] He says, I'm going after that one. That one can't have this attitude. He can't have this testimony. He can't have, I'm going after them. You know, but we have to remember the Savior is always with us, and he's giving us life.
[6:14] He's helping us to defeat that enemy. He's watching over us. You know, we used a verse a few weeks ago, John 10.10. It says this, The thief cometh not before to steal and to kill and to destroy.
[6:31] I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. He says the devil's after you. He wants to destroy you. But Jesus says, I'm come that you might have life and you might have it more abundantly.
[6:47] You know, we need to see that our battles that we face, the things that Satan tries to do to us are never greater than God's omnipotence.
[7:00] Omnipotence. All-powerful. God is all-powerful. And Satan, no matter what he tries to do and no matter how he tries to come after us, he is no match for God.
[7:11] And he will come after us in all sorts of ways. But because of God being in our life, because of the power that God has, there is nothing that we're going to face that is unwinnable.
[7:24] We come through Jesus. We come through his power. Satan doesn't have a chance unless we allow him to. We need to walk with the Savior all the time.
[7:36] 1 John 4.4. 1 John 4.4 says this. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
[7:49] Greater is he that is in you. If you've asked Jesus Christ into your life, Jesus Christ has come in. He's taken up residence there. We were talking about this in a Bible study I was at the other night. And all of a sudden I just lost it.
[8:05] Jesus comes in. Oh, he takes up residence. We were talking about the word, the fact that Jesus dwells in us.
[8:16] He dwells in us. He takes up residence in us. He's at, let me ask you this. Is Jesus at home in your life?
[8:29] You think about Jesus and who he is. He's the Savior of the world. He is God. He is the one who has defeated sin, doesn't want sin in his presence. And we ask him to come into our life.
[8:42] We ask him to save us. Is he at home in our life? Does he feel comfortable in our life? Are we living our life according to what he wants? He says, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
[8:56] So, as we look at this passage in 1 Samuel 13, I want us to look first of all, number one on your thing, I would normally have up there, but number one if you're doing the outline, the obstacle.
[9:11] The obstacle. Satan is always trying to put obstacles in our path. He's always trying to put things there who's going to trip us up, things that are going to cause us to stumble.
[9:21] And often in our spiritual battles, you know, the resistance seems very strong to following God and doing what he wants to. And sometimes our resources seem weak.
[9:33] And that's the case here in 1 Samuel 13. First of all, this Philistine army, they were overwhelmingly large and powerful.
[9:45] They were huge. And letter A, under the obstacle, we have a powerful adversary. And in this case, Saul had a powerful adversary.
[9:56] Did you read along with me there what Saul has? 3,000 men. 2,000 with him, 1,000 with Jonathan, his son. What did the Philistines have?
[10:07] 30,000 chariots. 6,000 men on horses. 36,000 versus 3,000.
[10:21] And then he adds, and a multitude as the sands on the seashore. Israel was outnumbered 20 to 1, probably.
[10:34] It means every Israelite had to kill 20 Philistines in order to win this battle. Humanly speaking, that's not possible. And here's Israel. They're under the leadership of Saul.
[10:46] And actually, turn back to Saul, to chapter 9 with me for a second. 1 Samuel chapter 9. I'm going to read you a couple things because I'm going to add a little side note here.
[10:58] 1 Samuel chapter 9, beginning at verse 1. Now there was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zerah, the son of Bacaroth, the son of Aphinia, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power.
[11:20] Okay, so Kish, mighty man of power. And he had a son whose name was Saul, a choice young man and a goodly, means he was handsome.
[11:32] And there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he. From his shoulders and upward, he was higher than any of the people. Saul was taller than anybody else in the kingdom from his shoulders up.
[11:48] So in other words, Saul could stand in the midst of all the people there and just kind of look over top of them, see what was going on. He wouldn't know things that were taking place. He could see it all. Saul was a huge man who had a lot of things going for him.
[12:04] Here's the side note. For those of you, all of you who stay for Sunday morning service, here's the side note. You don't have to turn there, but let me show you something from Esther.
[12:17] We're talking about Esther and the Sunday morning services. Let me show you something. Esther chapter 2 and verse 5, if you want to write it down. Esther 2 and verse 5, it says this. Now in Shushan, the palace, there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jer, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite.
[12:41] Did you catch that? The son of Kish. Mordecai was nephew once or twice removed.
[12:55] He was part of the royal family. He was part of Saul's family. So when we start talking about Mordecai and Esther, remember that.
[13:05] He's part of the royal family. Anyway, Saul, he's taller than everybody else. He's bigger than everybody else. He's got the leadership now. He's been anointed by Samuel.
[13:17] He's the king. And he's trained to fight these battles. He's been practicing. He's been getting ready. And under his leadership, he's got these 3,000 men. That's not a very big army.
[13:29] But probably he's been training them himself. He's been showing them, you know, how to battle, how to take care of themselves. They seem like they're a pretty good group.
[13:43] But even a pretty good group of 3,000 up against 36,000 plus, not really good odds. You know, when we look at that side of the problem there, he had some issues.
[14:02] And verse 5 there is said, Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude.
[14:19] They are outnumbered vastly. The odds are stacked against them. There's no human way that they're going to defeat this enemy. A lot of times we're going to find ourselves in the minority in this world.
[14:37] Christians are not going to be in the majority. We're going to be in the minority always. How do we stand up?
[14:49] Even the events of this week. I'll tell you some more about that in the morning service. But the events of this week. You know, it's just like, how do we stand up when we're a minority like that?
[15:01] Although Dr. Bob Sr. used to say, you and God make a majority. Think about that. You and God make a majority.
[15:12] If you've got the all-powerful creator, the omnipotent one, the all-powerful one on your side, you're standing pretty good odds when people come against you, when Satan comes against you.
[15:25] But we are always going to be in the minority. Matthew chapter 7, verse 13 and 14, it says this. Enter ye in at the straight gate.
[15:36] For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. And many there be which go in thereat. Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life.
[15:50] And few there be that find it. And we know that. Watching around our world and listening to people and giving out the gospel and being a testimony to people.
[16:02] There are so many who reject. So many who say, no, I don't want anything to do with that. I don't want to hear about that. Again, the events of this week. You had a young man who, bold in his witness, bold in his giving out the gospel, along with other things.
[16:21] And what happened? Somebody didn't want to hear it. Somebody didn't want to listen to it. They were offended by it. So when we go to battle, remember, we're going with God himself.
[16:38] He is on our side. He is watching out for us. Even when we see things happen like happened, he is still on our side. He is still with us. And we'll talk about that more here and in the morning service.
[16:52] The other thing about the fact that they were outnumbered and everything, they had a pathetic army. That's letter B, if you're keeping an outline. Letter B, they had a pathetic army.
[17:07] You say, well, he had 3,000 who were trained, 3,000 who knew how to do this, that, and the other. Yes. But let me show you some things about this army he had. They were 3,000 he handpicked.
[17:18] But let's take a little bit of a look at this army. They were a little dysfunctional. What do I mean by that? Well, first of all, they were fearful. They were fearful.
[17:29] Look at verse 6. We read through 5. Look at verse 6. When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, for the people were distressed, then the people did hide themselves in caves and in thickets and in rocks and in high places and in pits.
[17:47] And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
[17:59] Saul's got an army, 3,000. But they're not the bravest bunch. They took off. They're hiding in places. They're trying to avoid going to battle with these guys because they're looking out and seeing this huge army.
[18:14] And so they're looking to hide. And it says even some of them went back over Jordan to Gad and Gilead. They're facing this huge army.
[18:25] There's no way we're going to win. Let's go hide over here. Let's go over and visit with these guys. They even went amongst the Philistines themselves, some of them. Go do this over here. The devil loves it when we're afraid.
[18:39] And I'm not saying it's not, you know, a guy going to battle. Yeah, I'd be afraid too. But how do you go, how do you handle that fear? What do you do with that fear?
[18:52] They ran. They hid. God uses fear. I mean, the devil uses fear sometimes to keep us from saying things to friends and family and others.
[19:05] You know, we're intimidated to go forward. We know. How many of you have seen things, you know, maybe family members or friends have put up on Facebook and you're going, I don't agree with that at all.
[19:19] Why would they say that? But you know what? I'm not going to say anything because it'll just cause a big problem. And I understand that.
[19:32] I think there's sometimes we do need to stand. There's sometimes we do need to say, you know what? It's not worth it at the moment. We've got to pick our battles, as they say. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
[19:42] It's bad and sad. I see people quoting new versions of the Bible that don't even come close to the meaning of what was being said in the New James Version.
[19:56] Yeah. And it's like, can't you see that it's wrong? Yeah. Jared and I were both talking the other night after we had been to a study. And a guy read a passage.
[20:07] And you know the part that says that we are exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think. God is going to do exceedingly abundantly. Well, the guy read the thing and it says, God is going to do above all that we ask or think.
[20:23] No, he's not just going to do above. He's going to do exceedingly abundantly. And I think those words are important. Those words make a difference. God is going to do so much that we're just going to be flabbergasted at what he can do.
[20:39] So, yes, you're right. Sometimes the changes are not good. God, the devil wants us to fear. He wants us to be afraid. Whenever you're afraid, I want you to remember something.
[20:55] You all know this verse. But whenever you're afraid, bring this verse to mind. 2 Timothy 1.7. 2 Timothy 1.7 says, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
[21:12] God has not given us the spirit of fear. When you're afraid, when you're looking at things from the situation of, I don't know if I, remember, God's not the one giving that to you.
[21:25] The devil is. Because he's trying to defeat you. He's trying to conquer you. So, David, some of them were fearful. Some of them in this army were flabby.
[21:39] Flabby. Let me show you what I mean. Look at chapter 14 there, 1 Samuel, verse 2.
[21:51] 2 Samuel 14, verse 2. And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree, which is in Megron.
[22:01] And the people that were with him were about 600 men. Okay, so here's this army with all these chariots, with all these guys on horses, the men more than the sands of the sea.
[22:15] And where is Saul? Hanging out under a pomegranate tree. He's not getting his army ready. He's just kind of there. And he's kind of just sitting back and taking it easy.
[22:28] And he's got 600 of his soldiers with him. He's only got 3,000. And 600 of them are with him by the pomegranate tree. See, when it comes to the battle we face, not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, and all that, God didn't call us to just, for those of you who are older, you may have heard this little saying before.
[22:51] But he didn't call us to church to hear the word of God, to sit and soak and sour. We take it in. We hear it.
[23:03] Oh, that sounds good. But we don't do anything with it. We just sit there. And we start to go bad. Instead, God has called us to stand, to strive, and to serve.
[23:18] Stand up. Strive. Serve God with everything you've got. So don't sit, soak, and sour. Stand, strive, and serve. Ecclesiastes 9.10.
[23:31] Ecclesiastes 9.10 says this. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest.
[23:44] Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. When God has called you, when God has given you, you know, direction, when God has given you things in his word, he says, take it and go with it.
[23:57] Get into the battle. Stand up against Satan and what Satan is trying to do to you. He says, get in the midst of the battle and let people know that you want to count.
[24:07] So they're fearful. They're flabby. They're fickle. They're fickle. Look at verse 21 of chapter 14. Chapter 14, verse 21 says this.
[24:20] 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.
[24:36] Let me give you some background. Saul and his army is going to go to battle. And God's going to bless them. And God's going to give them victories.
[24:50] And so, remember we talked about the people who went to Gad and Gilead? They went across the Jordan. And we'll go hang out with these guys over here because things are going to get a little dicey over here.
[25:01] So we'll go over there. Now this shift has changed and it's in favor of Israel. God has been blessing in favor of Israel. Now these people say, you know what we need to do?
[25:12] We need to go back over here. You ever meet people like that? Depending on which side's winning. Depending on which side's doing the best. That's the side I'm on.
[25:26] Unless you're a good Red Sox fan. Then you've been through the bad and the bad and the bad and the bad. You're old enough to remember the old Red Sox fans. Next year.
[25:39] Next year. That was our battle cry. Next year. But these people are going back and forth and back and forth. They had defected.
[25:49] Now they're coming back. You know, the problem is God's people cannot waffle back and forth between two masters. They can't keep going back and forth and just, you know, choose the Lord.
[26:03] Who is on the Lord's side? Remember singing that? It's also in the scriptures. Who's on the Lord's side? Who's going to stand for him? Who's going to stand up? See, whether we're winning or losing, we need to be about the Lord's work.
[26:17] Sometimes it appears that we might be losing, but we never are. First Corinthians 15. 15. Another famous verse.
[26:29] He says, He says, He says, Stand up.
[26:45] Stand up. Stand fast. Stand with the Lord. Keep following him no matter what happens. Because you know what? Your labor is not in vain in the Lord. It may not look good at the moment.
[26:56] It may not look like we're winning. But trust God. You're going to hear that a lot this morning. We get in the morning service. Trust God and what he is doing and how he is handling things.
[27:08] So these people, fearful, flabby, fickle. What a horrible condition to be in if you're a soldier. Nah, soldiers.
[27:20] They've got their orders. They've got their direction. They are ready to go and do the work that needs to be done. God has called us to be soldiers. God has called us to keep our focus and move forward with him.
[27:34] We simply follow him everywhere he goes. Next week, we'll get into the no name part of this.
[27:47] There's a man in here in this story. We don't know his name. But he's going to contribute to the victory that takes place. So we'll talk about that next week.
[27:59] Let's pray. Father, thank you. Father, thank you.