A Few Good Men
November 15, 2009 – AM
By Pastor Jim May
In times of crisis what we need are a few good men. We need someone who will stand in the face of the enemy. We need soldiers in the Lord’s Army who will stand up and be counted, and not hide from the enemy in fear with a false hope that, somehow, we will be victorious, but making no preparation fro the battle. Most of the church of today isn’t ready for a fight with the devil. They are focused on themselves and the comforts of this life. They are following a leader who has lost his way. The blind are leading the blind into the jaws of the enemy. The day of battle against the forces of Hell are upon us. The church sleeps, or bickers among its members, while Satan rises like a flood against us. What God is looking for is few good men and women of faith who will hear His voice and rise in faith. Are you among the few who are ready, watching and dressed for battle?
The date was December 7, 1941; a day that President Franklin D. Roosevelt called, “A day that will live in infamy.” Those among us who were alive on that day will never forget those early morning broadcasts over the radio, and the headlines of the newspapers that read, “Pearl Harbor Attacked”. The United States could no longer stick its head in the sand and try to ignore that the world was at war. There was an enemy out there who would not rest until every democratic nation on earth was conquered.
While many of our leaders were asleep, instead of being on guard; and Americans felt secure in their own homes, far from the battles that raged in Europe and Asia, and others went about their normal Sunday morning routines as though there were no threats, the enemy drew his plans against us; determined his greatest point of attack; and caught us asleep at the wheel.
It has been said that if we do not learn the lessons of the past, then we are destined to repeat them. And so it was in September of 2001, that we find Americans once again feeling secure from the problems that plagued the rest of the world. No one had ever invaded our land, crossed our borders and threatened our freedom. There were threats from without, but they seemed so far away. The Cold War was over, and we reveled in the idea that peace had been achieved at last. The daily threat of nuclear war was at and end and we became more complacent with each passing day.
Then, on the 11th day of September, the enemy caught us asleep at the wheel again. This time the attack didn’t come from outside our borders, but from an enemy that had been allowed to infiltrate our land and attack from within. Suddenly, and without warning, there was no safe place in America. From that day to this, no one has felt entirely secure from an act of terrorism. The day has come when we fear our own neighbors; mistrust rules the land; and Americans are searching for someone; anyone who can promise us security once again. But most of us are still ignorant of the powers of hell that are arrayed against us. The church, by-in-large, still sticks its head in the sand and tries to ignore the fact that Satan never gives up. We are too busy concerning ourselves with the comforts of this life to worry about where the enemy of our souls will attack next.
Get ready folks, it’s coming again, but this time it won’t be an attack from a foreign land that threatens to destroy our nation. It won’t even be an attack from a foreign nation that has infiltrated our land. Either of those attacks could come easily, but those aren’t our greatest dangers. Our greatest danger is ourselves. America has lost its soul if you will. The very heart of who we are, a nation founded under God, whose ideals were truth, justice and equality, with brotherhood from sea to shining sea; with a common morality that bound us together – all of which are disappearing fast. The moral fiber is broken; the goodness is nearly gone and we on the brink of destroying ourselves. We are but one short step away from anarchy and the loss of our freedoms. I am convinced that the majority of the people in this country would sell out every freedom and be controlled by the government as long as the government promises to give them what they want without having to work for it.
We have forgotten that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Somewhere, sometime and in some way, there will be a price to pay.
While all of this is true, I really to focus on the fact that Christians are asleep at the wheel as well. The church has forgotten, or at least ignores the fact that we have an enemy who never sleeps. While there is always a remnant who are prepared, the majority of the church world has become a paper tiger. We make a whole lot of noise but not much really happening. Satan has us lulled into a state of lethargy and the church is more concerned with creature comforts than in saving souls.
God is looking for a few good men and women who will wake up and prepare for the battle. We are not going marching into Heaven as a defeated church. We are not going to march into Heaven rubbing the spiritual sleep from our eyes. We are going to march in as a victor over the devil. It’s those few good men and women who are making the difference today. It is the prayers of the faithful few that is holding back the powers of hell. It’s those few, who are armed with the Word of God and clothing in the Righteousness of Christ, that are lifting up the blood stained banner of the cross – those are the ones who are making the difference. The few good men that are willing to stand and fight in this spiritual warfare are the only thing that stands between Heaven and Hell and holds back the onslaught of the enemy. While the majority of the church still sleeps in false security, those few are beating back the floodtide of Satan as he makes his final push to destroy the souls of men.
Let me show the kind of warriors that God is looking for. Let’s go to the Book of 1 Samuel, chapter 13 to begin.
1 Samuel 13:19-20, "Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears: But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock."
What a picture of the church is this! Israel found itself in a position where they could not manufacture the weapons that they needed to defend themselves against their enemies. Verse 17 tells us that the “spoilers” (Raiding parties); three divisions of the Philistine army, had come into Saul’s kingdom and destroyed his ability to wage war. They had taken away, or killed every blacksmith in the land. What did the blacksmith’s do? They were the ones who were skilled in making weapons or war. Without the smiths, no swords could be made; spears and axes were unavailable and King Saul soon found out that he had an army without weapons.
I’ve heard of people joking about bringing a knife to a gun fight, but this was even worse. Saul’s army had no spears, shields, spears or axes. At best they may have found a few bows and arrows, but what good is that when facing a well armed army with armor? How would you like to face a tank with a bow and arrow? Who do you think will win?
How is this a picture of the church? What the weapons of our warfare?
Our weapons are prayer, fasting, commitment to the Lord, faithfulness to God, faith in God, and most of all, the Word of God. The enemy of God’s people has attacked us with his spoilers on three fronts. He has brought us false preachers and false teachers that have destroyed our faith in God and our prayer life. What good is faith and prayer if we have faith in the wrong thing or pray according to the desires of the flesh instead of the will of God? When we have faith in self, faith in our own man-centered church programs or just have faith in faith – what good is that for defeating our enemy? When we pray for what we want; claiming things that bring comfort to the flesh and ignoring the things of the Spirit – what good are our prayers? When we are no longer faithful to God’s House, and we no longer care to come together as often as we possibly can to hear the Word of the Lord, how can the Word continue to be an effective weapon in our hands?
Secondly, Satan has attacked us in our standards of righteousness and holiness, rendering us ineffective because of sin in the church. How can the church stand and preach against sin, when the church is guilty of the same sin? How can we preach to our kids to practice abstinence when most of the church leadership is guilty of immorality and unfaithfulness? How can we teach our kids not to steal, drink, smoke, gamble and life a holy life, when three fourths of the church membership are all doing the same thing?
Proverbs 14:34, "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people." Just because we claim to be a Christian doesn’t make us one, and sin in our lives will destroy our effectiveness as a warrior in God’s army.
Thirdly, Satan attacks the church by destroying the only offensive weapon that we have, which is the Word of God. When the Bible no longer says what the Bible should say, then it is no longer a two-edges sword and nothing more than a very dull and ineffective blade. Don’t we know that Satan knows the Word of God as much, if not better than we do? He knows what it says and what it doesn’t say.
I’ve learned that not ever Bible is the same. Some dilute the Word of God. Some change the Word, saying something that comes from the mind of a man, but isn’t even what God wants it to say. Some take away the ability of your mind to read between the lines and hear what the Spirit is saying to each individual heart. Some have become nothing more than a novel, having the appearance of the Word of God, but lacking in any power to change the heart of a man or convict him of sin, or give him the tools to defeat the attacks of the devil.
When Satan tempted Jesus, he twisted the Word of God, but Jesus rightly interpreted the Word that Satan used. How many people today would even notice the difference? When your weapons have been destroyed, what chance do you have against an enemy like Satan who is armed to the teeth with the power to destroy?
1 Samuel 13:22, "So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found."
Can you see what’s happening to the church in this verse? Just as Saul’s little band of 600 soldiers were unarmed and about to face a powerful, well-armed enemy, so is the church. While the devil is flooding the church, and spewing evil into the hearts of men, in preparation for the final showdown, the church is standing by powerless to stop him. The church doesn’t know how to pray anymore, at least the right kind of prayer! The church has no teachers (blacksmiths of the Word) because Satan has flooded the church with teachers and preachers who don’t even know the Word themselves, and are only concerned with the praises of men! The Word of God isn’t being taught, and if it is, the message isn’t what God wants put forth; it’s what will tickle the ears of the hearer!
The church is playing soldier without weapons, hiding behind a false veil of security, hoping that somehow we will win, while the devil seems to be winning every battle and has most of the church hiding from reality and deceived in a lie.
Out of 600 men in Saul’s army, only two men were armed and ready to fight – Jonathan and his armor bearer. Jonathan and the armor bearer had a sword and a spear. Four real weapons against hundreds, or perhaps thousands of well armed Philistines. This was going to be a very one-sided fight from all appearances.
But thank God, the victory of the church isn’t dependent upon how many are faithful and ready. The victory is dependent upon the power of God and His plans, not ours. All God is looking for is a few good men; a few good women – just a few.
Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
Just two or three, standing with the Lord, armed in their Christian armor, with the Word of God in their hand and in their hearts, who can rightly divide the Word of Truth and stand in the gap for God’s people, is all that God needs to win the war. In fact, He doesn’t even need us. He does it all by Himself. But God wants to include us. He wants His church to share in the victory over our enemies. God does the real fighting. He just brings us along and helps us feel like we’ve contributed in some small way.
When I go into a fight against the powers of hell it’s like this, “Go ahead Jesus, hit the devil with the big guns of Heaven. I’m behind you all the way.” And when the battle is over its like this, “Wow Jesus, that was some fight. Look at how I destroyed the plans of the enemy.” “I” didn’t do anything. All “I” did was stand, watch, pray and quote the Word. The Lord fought the battle. His Word destroyed the power of the enemy, and He deserves all the glory. “I” didn’t do anything.
1 Samuel 14:4, "And between the passages, by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines’ garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh."
I guess we can say that Jonathan and his armor bearer were “between a rock and a hard place”. There was just a narrow passage to cross in order to get to the enemy’s camp. The way of the Lord is always straight and narrow and few will ever find it. On one side there was a rock named Bozes (slippery mud) and on the other was Seneh (brambles and stickers).
Isn’t that like your walk with the Lord, especially in times when you are facing a battle with the devil? One wrong move in either direction and you are in trouble. There’s a slippery slope into sin if you try to turn and run from the fight. That’s called lack of faith and trust in God, and disobedience to His command to go out and defeat the devil. On the other side are the stickers – goading of the devil in one ear saying that you’re not able to win; you are too weak; you aren’t good enough; and in the other ear is the prick of the Holy Spirit bringing conviction for lack of faith and spurring you to turn around, go forward and face the enemy if faith.
Notice that on both sides of the path the rock was sharp. If you know the Word of God and you are walking the right path, it is narrow, and it will stand out in sharp contrast to the wrong way. There is no gray area in serving the Lord. It’s either right or wrong; black or white. Most of the church world lives in the gray area because they don’t truly know the Word of God. Everything is based on circumstances and situations. What seems right today, under these circumstances, won’t seem so right later when things change. That’s because we have lost our foundation of absolutes. It’s only when we are founded on the Word of God and we can rightly divide, or fully understand, what the Word says that we can know the Truth that will make us free from doubt and fear and the sharp rocks of indecision and sin.
1 Samuel 14:6, "And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few."
Here is Jonathan, the son of the most evil king that ever ruled in Israel, and yet he is truly a man after God and a man of faith. He trusted in the Lord’s covenant and he relied on the presence of God in his life. He didn’t know what God would do, or how God would it, but He wasn’t going to sit around in hiding like the rest of Saul’s army. God can use an army or He can use a few good men. Most of the time, it’s just one or two that become the true warriors. The majority would rather stay uninvolved. God will take that few and bring forth a great victory.
I really like verse 7. 1 Samuel 14:7, "And his armourbearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart." One of the most wonderful things in this walk with the Lord is the knowledge that someone else is walking it with you. You aren’t alone. God is always with you, that’s true, but isn’t it good to know that your spouse, or a brother or sister in the Lord, are in that battle with you? We all need an armor bearer. I need an armor bearer. We need someone to stand with us against the forces of the devil. We can do so much more when we work together.
Leviticus 26:8, "And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword." The more armor bearers that join the fight, the more effective we can be against the devil and his works of evil. If the whole church, around this nation, and around this world, could get together in one mind and one accord, how much more could we accomplish for God? Instead, some are hiding. Others are sleeping. Others are ignoring that there is even a battle going on. Only a few are standing watch and getting prepared for the coming of the Lord.
As we sit here right now, how many of us are letting our minds wander? How many are truly listening to what this message is trying to say? How many are thinking about that turkey waiting in the oven? How many are thinking of other things? All it takes is a few of us to have a good service – 5 can chase a hundred devils out of here. Oh but what kind of services could we have if all of us were thinking together and standing together – 100, all in the same Spirit, could send 10,000 devils running for their lives and we could see a real revival break forth.
1 Samuel 14:8, "Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over unto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto them."
Here’s a real move of faith. Let’s get out of hiding, walk the narrow path that God has laid before us, avoid the sharp rocks and pitfalls, and then go show ourselves to be a real Child of God. There are a lot of “Closet Christians” out there. They are Christians on Sunday and heathens on Monday. They are angels on Wednesday night and demons on Thursday morning. Then there are those who pray at home, and promise God to serve Him all the days of their lives, but when it comes time to witness, they clam up tight. “I don’t want to offend people by talking about the Lord.” Why not? They don’t care about whether they offend you or not by cursing God in your presence! You can’t beat back the forces of hell without offending someone!
When you are on the battlefield, facing the enemy, it’s a fight for survival. You cant be worried about offending someone. “Pardon me, Mr. Taliban; I don’t want to offend you, but can I shoot you in the head? I’m so sorry to have to hurt you. Praise Allah, but pass the ammunition.”
Most Christians are too afraid of the devil to stand up and fight and draw attention to themselves. They would rather blend in, be a “Camouflaged Christian” that looks like the world, acts like the world, smells like the world and talks like the world. You can’t see their Christianity at all. They don’t want to stand up for Jesus, they’d rather sit down with the devil.
In the next few verses we can see Jonathan’s battle plan. It’s simple enough. We’ll stand up and let the enemy know we are here. If he says, “Wait where you are. We are coming after you”, then we will stand and wait for them to come if they will. Jonathan knows that the Philistines would probably not come after them fearing that it would be an ambush. But he wasn’t going to run. He was going to stand still.
If you will stand in faith, trusting in the Lord, you will find that you will have far less trouble with the devil in your life. He knows that you have the presence and power of God in your life and that if he attacks you, he’s heading for trouble. As long as you are standing in the Lord and standing upon His Word, the devil can’t beat you and he knows it. Learn to stand with God all the time.
Jonathan says, “If they invite us to the camp, then we’ll go down to meet them, because that will be God’s sign that the battle is ours.” What a man of faith! Two against a hundred. Jonathan knew that it wasn’t just he and the armor bearer going down. He remembered that God had promised that they could do much more with God in their midst. He didn’t blink and eye.
1 Samuel 14:11, "And both of them discovered themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves."
Don’t kid yourself; the devil knows when you are ready to stand up for Christ. He’s smarter than Santa Claus. He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been good or bad. And he keeps a close watch on you for his own sake! When you stand up for Jesus, all hell takes note. When you wake up in the morning all of hell should tremble because of the presence of God in your life. When you walk among men, they should see the glory of God in your life and your light should shine bright.
1 Samuel 14:12, "And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armourbearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will shew you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armourbearer, Come up after me: for the LORD hath delivered them into the hand of Israel."
They weren’t inviting Jonathan down for coffee and biscuits. “The thing” that they wanted to show him was the point of their spear and the edge of their sword. Satan will taunt you and tease you. He’ll act all powerful and invite you for a fight. But he’s blind to the ways of the Lord. He thinks that it’s you against him – a very one sided fight in his favor. But what he doesn’t see is the Third Man in your army. Jesus is there with you and He will destroy the enemy with the Word of His Mouth.
1 Samuel 14:13, "And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armourbearer after him: and they fell before Jonathan; and his armourbearer slew after him."
There’s the key to winning the battle against the devil. You have to do it on your hands and knees. Put your hands to work doing the Lord’s work, and get on your knees in prayer, seeking the will of God and trusting Him for the victory.
Jonathan and the armor bearer didn’t come running down the hill head on into the Philistines. They got on their hands and knees and circled around him, then attacked from where he least expected. If we listen to the voice of the Lord in the midst of the battle, He always has a plan that will trap the devil. Don’t just go running headlong into the fight. Seek the face of God first.
1 Samuel 14:14, "And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armourbearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were an half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow."
I guess you could say that Jonathan and the armor bearer “plowed through the enemy” and killed every one of them in an area about ½ acre in size. The Philistines were in such confusion that they thought a hundred men had attacked them. There is no limit to what God will help you accomplish if you fight the devil God’s way.
1 Samuel 14:15, "And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people: the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was a very great trembling."
Two good men, stood with the Lord, and look what happened. The earth shakes from the power of God that accompanied them into battle. The Philistines are whipped, running for all their might, confused and even fighting one another. The spoilers had been spoiled by the power of God. The whole nation of Israel, and the land of the Philistines trembled at the awesome power of God that day.
In Israel there was a trembling of reverence for Almighty God, and a trembling at His power to fulfill his covenant with those who will stand with Him. In the land of their enemy there was a whole lot of shaking going on. Satan trembled at the wrecking of his plans to destroy God’s people, hell trembled at the defeat brought upon them by just a few good men, and the earth itself trembled at the power of the God of Creation.
I believe that we need to see a lot more trembling in the church. We need to tremble at the Miracle Working power of God in our midst. We need to tremble at the awesome presence of God in our worship. We need to tremble at the majesty and glory of God as he moves through us and in us. And then we need to stand up for Jesus and make the world around us tremble at the Word of the Lord.
Are you one of the few good men, or few good women that God can count on? Will you stand up for Jesus today? Will you be a part of the victorious church, The Spotless Bride of Christ”, or will you be a Camouflaged Christian? Let’s stand up for Jesus and chase back the powers of hell.
