Well, I invite you to turn tonight in your Bibles to the book of 1 Samuel. We're working through this particular book, and tonight we come to this very fascinating section here with Saul's rash vow. And that is found on page 300, actually 301, we'll begin at verse 24, 301 in the Bibles that are in front of you, 1 Samuel 14, beginning at verse 24, and we will read through verse 46. this is the word of the lord 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 the evening and i am avenged on my enemies so none of the people had tasted food now when all the people came to the forest behold there was honey on the ground and when the people entered the forest behold, the honey was dropping, but no one put his hand to his mouth for the people feared the oath. But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath. So he put out the tip of his staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth and his eyes became bright. Then one of the people said, your father strictly charged the people with an oath saying, Cursed be the man who eats food this day. And the people were faint. Then Jonathan said, My father has troubled the land. See how my eyes have become bright because I tasted a little of this honey. How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies that they found. For now the defeat among the Philistines has not been great. They struck down the Philistines that day from Michmash to Ajalon and the people were very faint. 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 then they told Saul behold the people are sinning against the Lord by eating with the blood and he said you've dealt treacherously roll a great stone to me here and Saul said disperse yourselves among the people and say to them let every man bring his ox or a sheep and slaughter them here and eat and do not sin against the Lord by eating with the blood so every one of the people brought his ox and with him that night and they slaughtered them there and Saul built an altar to the Lord it was the first altar that he built to the Lord then Saul said let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until the morning light let us not leave a man of them and they said do whatever seems good to you but the priest said let us draw near to God here and Saul inquired of God shall I go down after the Philistines will you give them into the hand of israel but he answered but he did not answer him that day and saul said come here all you leaders of the people and know and see how this sin has arisen today for as the lord lives who saves israel though it be in jonathan my son he shall surely die but there was not a man among all the people who answered him then he said to all israel you shall be on one side and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side and the people said to Saul do what seems good to you therefore Saul said oh Lord God of Israel why have you not answered your servant this day if this guilt is in me or in Jonathan my son oh Lord God of Israel give Urim but if this guilt is in your people of Israel give Thunam Thuman and Jonathan and Saul were taken But the people escaped. Then Saul said, cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan. And Jonathan was taken. Then Saul said to Jonathan, tell me what you've done. And Jonathan told him, I taste a little honey with the tip of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am, I will die. And Saul said, God do so to me and more also. You shall surely die, Jonathan. Then the people said to Saul, Shall Jonathan die who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it. As the Lord lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day. So the people ransomed Jonathan so that he did not die. Then Saul went up from pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place. There is the reading of God's Word. Well, we continue tonight to look at a character reference of Israel's choice of a king, and it's not a good one. It's really a remarkable section to look at and study their choice of a king and what a giant, massive failure this whole thing really is. But I want you to keep this thought in front of you tonight, that when Jesus had come, that he looked out at the multitudes and he opened his arms and remember his great statement. He said, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest for your souls. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Do you know what that means? Have you thought about it in the course of your lives, what that means for you? Do you know what it looks like in your lives? I mean, that's not something he just said thousands of years ago that has no application for you. What did Jesus mean and how is that true for you this day? That his yoke is easy and his burden is light if you're a believer in Christ. What does that look like? Well, what if Jesus had said, I have a yoke for you that you can't bear? It would be an awful moment in the Gospels. Sadly and ironically, you get a glimpse of what it would be, a yoke that you can't bear tonight from the King. And Saul begins to lay down his yoke. You know that has all of the overtones of how they restrain animals and what they did. I want you to think about this here. How unbearable what is presented here before you tonight. And I want you to see what it did to Israel. And exactly what the Lord said would happen is happening in front of you tonight. That he said, if you choose a king that is not the Lord, here's what's going to happen. This king is going to take from you. This is not going to go well from you. He's going to oppress you. And that's exactly what we see here tonight. It should lead us to the great recognition that, I think of that song, Rejoice, the Lord is king. That's where all this should lead us tonight. To rejoice that the Lord is your king. Well, let's look at this. We see this tonight in Saul's heavy yoke. his glaring hypocrisy, and Jonathan's need for ransom. You remember last time the contrast that was made between the leadership of Saul and then his son Jonathan, who I said is just a remarkable character, a remarkable son. Jonathan, in the previous section, with one armor bearer, went out and with the Lord's blessing had defeated the Philistines and the Lord thundered the earth and the Philistines scattered and there was a great slaughter through Jonathan. Saul, of course, in contrast, had been tucked away in his cave. Saul was no leader. Saul was a wimp. Saul had 600 warriors with him, hiding off in a cave. He is scared. He is unprincipled. He is pragmatic. He is unpredictable. He is compromised. He is spiritually dead. And this is the leader in Israel. This is the leader in Israel. Well, Saul hears of this great defeat of his son, Jonathan, and he rushes now into battle. He grabs his men and heads into the battle to go in for the victory, to claim the victory that is happening. And you'll notice here, not even patient to listen to the priest, we read there in verse 23, a statement that really inspires everything that now happens. The Lord had saved Israel that day. Keep that in front of you. That's where we pick up tonight. Now this unbearable yoke. We enter the text with this statement that the men of Israel had been hard-pressed that day. Notice that, hard-pressed. In fact, this is twice said, verse 28, they were absolutely faint, not just over Jonathan. We have one weak group of warriors. Saul, in the midst of this, comes out and makes a rash oath and then pronounces a curse. Cursed is everyone who eats food. Notice that there. He says, Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies. So no one tasted food, it says. Interesting and completely rash and foolish. And the question is, of course, is why would Saul do this? What is he doing? Well, Saul knew the whole time that it was his responsibility to defeat the Philistines. He is a king, but his son is doing the victory. His son is out there with the Lord, the people recognize, as they're together. Notice the Lord has used Jonathan to bring this great victory. Saul has come in, and he's desperately trying to claim the victory and take hold of this whole thing. and he has one great purpose in all of it it is to gain the favor of the lord back remember what happened last time remember what us all did when when he was going to go out on the philistines and samuel had not come saul remember performed the sacrifice and wrecked everything samuel said because you've done that your kingdom will not stand completely disregarded everything the Lord had said. Here he is making an oath like this. It is absolutely foolish. It is the worst kind of leadership. It's harsh. And what it's essentially doing is wrecking the victory. Jonathan says that. You've taken away the joy of this victory. What are you doing? The Lord had given Israel a great victory over their enemies. And this was a moment when the Lord would do this for Israel. A real moment of great satisfaction and celebration. This was a moment of resting. This was a time to stop and to celebrate what the Lord had done. This was a great victory. But Saul uses it, and in pious pretense, did you notice that? Comes out and says, don't let anyone rest until they're dead. We're going to get them. No one can eat until we get them. So he makes this ridiculous vow that if anyone eats, they die. Well, what is this? What he's done here is in force and in cruelty demanded a fast. I want you to know that. He has laid the yoke of a fast on Israel using devotion to God to do it when it was never commanded or something that God had never laid on Israel as a burden. And it's just as foolish as the oath this morning. Isn't it ironic? We're looking at two oaths that were taken. They're the same things. We will not eat until we kill Paul. This is the same kind of thing to manipulate God. That's exactly what's going on. So, this foolish oath has happened. I'm thinking as I was writing the verse and my wife said to me tonight, you know, that verse that just comes out from the Scriptures, do not utter anything hastily before God, for He is in heaven and you are on earth. Let your words be few. Here we are. As this very thing is happening, this is just remarkable providence all the armies entering into a forest and you wouldn't believe it there is honey all over the ground you know piles of it and it's dripping from the trees because of the hives that the honey is just flowing down into this forest they're walking through and everyone is smelling and seeing and this sweet wonderful honey and listen this is war fatigue anyone who's ever been in war knows war fatigue is a fatigue like nothing else some of our those who serve in law enforcement know this is this is war fatigue they are famished they are beat they have nothing and Saul has laid this unbearable fast on them when they should be celebrating and enjoying. And in God's providence, here's a good gift for the army. Honey everywhere. So, he is so out of relationship with the Lord. He is so unreconciled to the Lord. He is desperately trying to rectify the whole thing with a foolish oath. Well, lo and behold, his son didn't hear this oath. jonathan jonathan's again remarkable i love this guy he takes his staff and he sees the honey and he brings it way up to the tree and he brings it down and he grabs it in his mouth and he starts eating and the text says his whole countenance changed he became bright his energy was restored to him the lord had given him a gift and he strengthened by it and as the moment he eats the honey somebody comes up and says your dad made an oath if you eat that you die jonathan responds and what does jonathan say my father has troubled the land isn't it better that we eat the spoil and enjoy the spoil this this he's made this defeat a little thing he's taken away we can we can barely pursue them we have no energy we have no strength we can't even enjoy the lord's work of delivering us today i love this moment to think about it's a great moment i'm already thinking back to jesus come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and i'll give you rest my yoke is easy and my burden is light you know when jesus came he's the king he went out to fight the battle for you this is what the temptations in the wilderness were this is what he came to do and the whole way he's beating the enemy the whole way he is the one fighting the battle he's the one conquering to conquer and as he's going through one day he looks at his disciples and remember what he said all the multitudes are walking with me and i'm concerned for them because they're weary they're hungry feed them feed them look at the compassion the word that is used there in John 6. The compassion that welled up in Him for the people. Feed them. Care for them. I'm concerned. They've been walking. They've been going through it. And they have nothing to eat. It was Jesus who was constantly saying things to His flock to help them and encourage them in the midst of all of the hardships of life. I don't want you to fear, little flock. It's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. That's why I'm here. in John 8 the Pharisees had come to beat the man whom Jesus healed remember John 9 and given him sight and remember how Jesus would then give the whole discourse on the good shepherd who cares for the sheep who loves the sheep who saves the sheep who provides for the sheep he helped the lame the blind the sick the empty the destitute the weak the helpless he was never outlaying yokes on people he was never out burdening people to make them unbearable in when he crushed with the law it had one major goal you know what that was to drop people down so that they would come to him and find rest. That's why he talked hard at times. The greatest frustration for me is the history of abusive leadership and abusive pastors always comes in this pious pretense. A nice guy strutting around on the stage who has all his little secrets for you and all of His ways so that you can secure the favor of God. Think of what we just went through this past week. How many did I hear pastors imposing Lent on God's people? Imposing giving up things. Imposing fasts. All to be done in outward show so that everyone will see when if it were legitimate, Jesus told us very plainly, Go into your closet, shut the door, and don't let anyone know. Pastors are constantly laying yokes on the congregations who are never doing enough. Never doing enough. Never doing enough. All to find some kind of grip on God. And what it all displays is the pastors and the leaders easily are out of a reconciled relationship with God themselves trying to manipulate it. Ministry should always lead us to eat the honey. It should be sweet to your mouth. If it leaves you faint, then the Gospel's not being given. So, here we have this terrible scene of this king trying to be reconciled with God, trying to justify himself, ends up laying yokes and burdens on the people. It's saying, it's not good to rest. Press on, press forward, go fast. Don't enjoy. I want you to think of the Lord to you this way. From now on, when He gives you good gifts to enjoy in this life, which He does all the time, that He doesn't need you to pay Him back. He doesn't need you to pay Him back with new rules and new ideas and new things and new laws. The Lord wants you simply to enjoy His work. He's your Lord. He's your King. He's taken the yoke off you that we put on. A famished Israel under this king. How do you not see it? It gets worse. The hypocrisy now is highlighted in a way that's just remarkable. The soldiers were so famished, we read, they pounced on the spoil. They took sheep and oxen and calves and slaughtered them on the ground. The problem was, they were so hungry, they had to eat now. They had no more strength. They couldn't go forward without eating. So they eat, but they break a law. They eat it with blood. So the report comes to Saul. Behold, the people are sinning against the Lord by eating with blood. Here it is. Ready for this. What? What are these people doing? This is treachery. Roll the stone to me right now. We're going to solve this. You go tell them, you bring you there they need to bring their cattle right up to me and you tell them to stop eating right this minute you tell them to stop that and and of course Saul is going to cook the meat and Saul is going to pull out an altar and notice here it's the first altar of course he's ever built ironically and you stop by saying are you kidding when did this guy begin to care about the commandments of the lord he he had already performed a sat an illegitimate sacrifice he had already broken the greatest commandments of the lord and lost the whole kingdom because of it and now he rants at them and he levels them for just the fact that his irrational oath has put them into starvation mode they had to eat to live and now he acts like the righteous one who is going to stop the people from sinning. He's going to correct this mess. And he makes another rash decision. He says, we're going to battle right now. We're going to go plunder them until morning. And the moving part here, the sad part is, look at the people. Do what seems right to you. Do you notice that twice? Do what seems right to you. Do what seems right to you. Here comes the voice of reason. A priest. You know, we better draw near to God before we just head on out into battle. We need to find out if this is what He wants us to do. So Saul does this. Saul inquires of the Lord in a pious prayer to the Lord. Should I go to battle or should I not go to battle? and the Lord answers him not a word. The king has already been rejected by the Lord. And this rejection has come in this moment now again of an ostentatious display and show of religion and religios piety. Commitment to the Lord with an outer display of show and leadership and great plans to do this and to do that and none of it's real. It's all false. Oh, but it looks good. He doesn't know the Lord. This is exactly what Jesus was talking about that many, many on that day will say, Lord, Lord, did we not do this? Did we not prophesy? Were we not great leaders in Your name? Did we not drive out demons and perform this and do that? And I will say, I did not know You. Depart from Me, You workers of lawlessness. One of the things the Lord hates the most, and this is so good because I know we have a younger generation that hates this. And we, as older, I'm speaking to me and older, we have to be careful we never come across this way and are sincere in what we're doing. He hates false displays of righteousness and great displays of coming and going through the motions and doing all of this and having our prayers and doing everything that's outwardly in conformity with this kind of spirit. Hypocrisy. That has a form of godliness but denies its power. Saul, when he gets no answer, he gets angry. And in verse 39, it says, For as the Lord lives who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. Then he said to Israel, you stand on one side, Jonathan and I will stand on the other side. And Saul makes again another great ostentatious display of piety and calls for the Urim and the Thummim to determine who is guilty and why the Lord is not answering him. Really? Remember in these days the will of God was sometimes determined this way? And as this happens, what was made very clear is the guilt was with Saul and Jonathan. But remember, the Lord's not really speaking here. The Lord's not really answering here. Whatever they did, spin the stones, I don't know. You'll notice here that the lots were then taken and it falls to Jonathan. What did you do, Jonathan? What did you do, my son? I took honey. And I ate because I was hungry. I'll die. I'm hungry and I was going to eat. And if I need to die for it, then so be it. Sad, huh? Who's the guilty one? The reason God wasn't talking, the reason God wasn't answering, is because of this king. Their king was a disaster. Saul didn't even know the Lord. And that's the question. Does God give His law to you tonight to lay heavy yokes on you? Is His intention in His Lordship to you to say, don't do that, don't do that, don't do that, with unreasonable expectations wasn't it 1 John that said? And John said, listen, his commandments were never intended to be burdensome. Never. When David was hungry one day, he would go in and what would he do? He would eat the showbread. No violation in God's eyes. Because the man had a need. Jesus and his disciples one day were walking on the Sabbath and they started picking grains. And the Pharisees saw it. You're breaking our rules. They had made up a whole bunch of rules of what you could do on the Sabbath and what you couldn't do. And remember what Jesus said. Jesus rebuked them. they didn't understand what the Sabbath was about at all. The Sabbath was given to provide an opportunity for people to enjoy the Lord. Not to beat them down this way. They've missed it. They've missed it. And you see, here's what I want to say tonight. The Lord desired for Israel to eat and be filled and happy. The Lord desired for them to enjoy His salvation. The Lord desired for Jonathan to be filled and happy with the honey. And the king took it all away. He robbed the Lord's glory. See it? He robbed the Lord's good gifts to Israel. He wasn't breaking God's law. He was breaking the ridiculous oath of a bad king by eating honey. And I think this gets down tonight to how we view the Lord. I think the end captures this, don't you? Jonathan, yes, a needy sinner, says, here I am, I'll die. Jonathan says, I tasted a honey with the tip of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am, I'll die. And Saul said, God, do so to me and more also. You shall surely die, Jonathan. It's like, Jephthah's terrible vow. And the people said to Saul, Shall Jonathan die, whose work this great salvation in Israel? Far from it. As the Lord lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day. So the people ransomed Jonathan. They bought him back so that he did not die. Then Saul went up from pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their place. The people saved Jonathan from the tyranny of the king. essentially this is what the lord had to do for israel this is why saul needed to fall and another king would come david who would foreshadow the greatest king to come jesus this whole story is remarkable because embedded in in the heart of this story is a little statement that we all love isn't it you catch it not one hair shall fall from his head to the ground huh that sound familiar to you it's what jesus said in luke 21 when he's talked about people who would harm us when he talked about kings who would persecute us when he talked about bad leaders who would hurt us on my account they'll deliver you to synagogues and prisons they'll bring you before kings and governors this will be your opportunity to serve as a witness we heard that this morning so make up your mind not to worry beforehand about how to defend yourselves or i'll give you the speech and wisdom so that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict you'll be betrayed at times by parents and brothers relatives and friends some of you will be put to death you'll be hated by everyone because of my name yet not even a hair of your head will perish you know i said this morning what's the worst thing that could happen to you could die for your faith and every last one of your hairs is going to be resurrected how about that for some of you that's really exciting i've numbered them all you are so heidelberg one you are so completely in his hand you are so completely in this king's care that not one hair can fall from your head without the will of your heavenly Father. Believe that? That's how good your king is to you. That's how good the Lord is to you. So they ransomed Jonathan that day and he did not die. I want to close with just a couple applications and then I'll say amen. First is this. Saul instructs us about a kind of religion that God hates. Saul warns us about a kind of approach to him that he hates. Merely going through the motions. Merely playing the role. Merely coming to church for others. Merely appearing righteous and not believing any of it. Saul never dropped the knee in repentance. Have you? He never believed and came to the Lord understanding what the kingly office was designed to say. The beauty here is when we sin, God does promise, and Jonathan shows it, and sense the people become a kind of type to ransom Him, of Jesus. When we sin, God promises if we come to Him with sincerity in our confession, believing the Gospel promises, asking Him to forgive us, He promises you, this king will forgive all your sins and he will never hold them against you ever, ever, ever, ever. Outward shows of false pretenses will land people in hell. God, as one pastor said, can't be bought off with petty good works, religious formalism, or cash payments in the offering plate. Second, the kind of leaders that are most God-glorifying are those who show the compassions of Christ. In other words, I take this seriously. He desires that you be free. He desires that you enjoy Him. He desires that you know His forgiveness and His help. And in the battle that you are called to fight, and tomorrow as you get up and you go out and you fight the battle, this is not to be a wearisome, brow-beating, irrational push on you to somehow think that by doing these things, you'll gain God's favor. He's already won the victory for you. You walk victoriously with your king. And he wants you to enjoy that walk. Do you? I always say that. The Westminster's wonderful when it says that God, the reason you're created is to glorify God. The reason you're here tonight and that you're going to go out into another week is to glorify God and to enjoy Him. Enjoy Him. Enjoy Him. We're not doing that. I pray this helps you tonight to understand the love of your Lord. It's a gracious reign. It's a gracious kingship. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden. I promise you, I will give you rest, he says. My yoke is easy and my burden is light and you will find rest for your souls. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for such a wonderful testimony tonight of your unfailing love and your kindness to us that we don't deserve. We see the abuse of leaders in this and realize how easy we all can fall into it. Thank You for being our Lord and our King. Thank You for being a gracious Savior and Shepherd to us. Thank You for giving Your best and Your Son. Thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts. Thank You, Lord, for completing the work and giving us to share in the victory with great joy that Jesus has won for us through His death as we talked about tonight. Encourage all Your people as they go out this week of Your favor. And may this lead us then to be a thankful people, never to be careless, but to be sincere in our worship, not being outward shows of ostentatious display of falsehood, but sincere worship from the heart for all that you've done for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.