In this sermon, the speaker discusses the story of Jonathan and the Israelites facing a massive army of Philistines. The Israelites were greatly outnumbered and lacked weapons, leading to a seemingly hopeless situation. However, God was testing Jonathan's faith and reliance on Him in the midst of this crisis. Despite the odds, Jonathan chose to trust in God rather than rely on his own wisdom and strength. The sermon emphasizes the importance of approaching challenges with faith and dependence on God, rather than relying on our own abilities.

This message is one of the Times Square Church Pulpit Series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771, or calling 903-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends. My message this morning, a time to do nothing but trust. A time to do nothing but trust. Hallelujah. Open your Bible to 1 Samuel, anywhere in 1 Samuel, and just leave it there. 1 Samuel, I'm going to chapter 14 just because it's in the middle somewhere, because I don't quite know where I'm going to refer you to before this is all over. A time to do nothing but trust. My God, you have been teaching us to lean on you. You have been teaching us, Lord, that if we wait upon you, that we will honor your word, your covenant word, that you will not lie, you cannot lie, that you will keep us, you will sanctify us, you will give us your righteousness, you will answer prayer, you will do those things that you promised by covenant. But now, Lord Jesus, we pray for the word this morning, that you will quicken it to our ears, that we may hear it, that it may change our lives. Lord, this word this morning has done something in me, and I want it to do the same in all who hear it this morning. Lord, I don't have to beg you to anoint me, you have done that, but I ask you to take your word that is anointed and push it, anoint it, and drive it, if you must, into our hearts so that it becomes reality, so that we just don't sing these songs about trust as we did, trust and obey, and then not do it. Help us, Lord, to practice what we sing and what we preach. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Israel begged for a king, as you know, and Saul was chosen. The scripture says that Samuel poured a flask of oil on his head, and the Bible said he kissed him and said, Has not the Lord anointed you to rule over his inheritance? There's no greater compliment that God can pay to a man as he did to Saul. The Bible said God is with you, you are a chosen vessel. The Bible said also that God changed his heart. He changed his heart completely to equip him and enable him to do the job that he was anointed for. The Spirit of God came upon him mightily so that he prophesied. Saul was not a boaster, he was not a proud man. In fact, the Bible tells us clearly that there was a time he was very little in his own eyes. Remember when he was sent to find his father's lost donkeys, and he returns after visiting with Samuel. Samuel has anointed him to be king. He's got this incredible news that's hidden in his heart. He's not going around saying, Hey, do you know that I've been anointed? In fact, his uncle comes to him and says, His uncle knew that Samuel never met with anybody without a purpose. This great man of God, the words of the Bible said never fell to the ground, so there was never a time that he spoke to a man without meaning and purpose. And his uncle said, Tell me, what did Samuel say to you? You've got to tell me. And the scripture says, But he did not tell him the matter of the kingdom which Samuel had mentioned. How many of you could have held the secret? I would have blabbed it all over the town. I'd had somebody with a trumpet ahead of me or something. Well, maybe not, but I mean, I'm trying to excuse you for not saying amen to that. But you see, he's not a braggart, he's not a boaster. Samuel calls the nation together to Mishpah. First of all, to chasten them for turning away from God, their king, to a human king. But at the same time, God, in his mercy, anoints this man, and he's to introduce him now to Mishpah as king of Israel, anointed by Samuel. And so, by lot, Saul's clan, his family, is drawn out of the crowd. And then Saul, by lot, is chosen, and they call his name, and he can't be found. And the Bible said he was hiding among the baggage. The whole nation's gathered together. They've got carts, they're staying there for a week of celebration, probably, and they've got all of their belongings and their tents, a huge pile, and he's hiding in there somewhere. They send a delegation, they get him, and boy, when he comes out before that massive crowd, it must have been some shout because Saul was head and shoulders and better looking than any man in Israel, the Bible says. And really, Samuel said, didn't he something? Well, the words are like this. Surely there's no one like him among all the people. There's no one like this man. Head and shoulders above every soldier, above every man in Israel, and he's, the Bible says, one of the most handsome men. Here's a man that's talented. He has been equipped by the Holy Ghost, humble, and called by God, and very valiant, strong personality. Who wouldn't want him as king? The Bible says that the Spirit of God came upon Saul mightily when he heard that Jabez Gilead was under attack by Ammonites. The Spirit of God came upon him, and he's thinking, who is this devil that thinks he can conquer God's people? And he conscripts an army of 330,000, and they win a marvelous victory. A marvelous victory. In fact, at this time, God was so, he was so full of God, the Scripture says that Saul and all the people, all the men of Israel, rejoiced greatly, giving praises to God. The Scripture says that this man, now when Saul had taken the kingdom over Israel, he fought against his enemies on every side, against Moab, against the sons of Ammon, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. And wherever he turned, he inflicted punishment upon them. And he acted valiantly. He defeated the Amalekites, delivered Israel from the hands of those who plundered them. Amazingly used of God. Yet this same man, mighty in the Spirit, died in rebellion against Almighty God, and the last consultation he had, the last conversation, before he went into eternity, was with a witch. Became a madman. A man to whom God refused to speak. And one of the saddest commentaries in the Bible is a man of God who says in his dying time, God didn't talk to me anymore. Not by prophets, not by his word, not by voice. God has cut me off. What a sad ending to this man. This man goes in a downward spiral into insanity and madness. And I look at this man and I see what happens to him. And I say, where is the pivotal point? Where is the point at which this man began to disintegrate? Is there any singular moment that you can point to in his life that he has changed from this humble, anointed, called man of God, a praying man, a believing man at that time, at least outwardly? It looked good. There were great promises. In fact, God had intended fully, the Scripture says, to cause his kingdom to continue. God had plans for this man. There is a pivotal point. It's the same pivotal point that all of us reach who turn away from faith and go our own way into flesh and try by our wit and wisdom to accomplish what God said can be accomplished only by trusting Him. And it comes in the 13th chapter of 1 Samuel. 13th chapter of Samuel, we find the pivotal point and from that point on you see this downward spiral. And I want to take you through this downward spiral. I want to show you the consequences of not fully trusting God. Let's not talk about the sins, we totem pole sins, you know, like we put adultery and fornication and homosexuality up here and on, on, on down. And somewhere down there on the bottom of the pile are some of these things called unbelief and envy and jealousy and all these things. That is wrong. That's an inverted process and we'll show it to you here in the course of this message. The 15th chapter begins with the count of gathering war clouds over Israel. Don't try to find it, just look this way, just leave it open in your lap. War clouds are gathering. The Philistines have gathered together a huge army and when Israel looked from the hillsides into those great valleys and saw that gathering army they said it was like the sands of the seashore for number. The Bible says there were 30,000 chariots and thousands of horsemen, a great cavalry. And they had the latest weapons and the chariots were rumbling and the swords were glistening in the sun and Israel looked at their puny weapons. They had no weapons, there were only two swords in the land and one was in the hand of Jonathan, one was in the hands of Saul, his father. Only two spears or swords in the land because the Philistines had refused to allow them to have any weapons and all they had were farm tools, probably hoes and shovels and picks and homemade clubs, that's all they had. And the scripture says that panic set in to Israel. They began to flee, they began to hide in the caves, the Bible said. They hid in pits and they hid in mountainsides and others fled the nation, they went over the borders to other countries so they could avoid being conscripted. Where were those 330,000 men that saw the great victory over the Ammonites? Where are these who said we wanted a king and here's the king and they're all forsaking him and even his 3,000 bodyguards, well trained, are now down to 600. And they're all fleeing and the Bible said those who followed Saul followed him trembling. There was panic. Now before this battle was to take place, before Israel could move, in fact this was the consultation I believe that Samuel had when he first met and went on a rooftop with Samuel. He said I'm going to anoint you. But he said I want you to know that God wants it known to the whole world, to all the Philistines, to the Ammonites, to everybody, that the victory does not come by strategy, it doesn't come by plans of man, but by sacrificing to Almighty God through prayer and confidence in God, no other way. And to prove that we're going to sacrifice before we go into battle, you will always meet me at Gilgal and when you go there you wait seven days. Now the Bible doesn't tell us anything about the meaning of the seven days. There's no great thing to it. It probably took him seven days to get from one end where he's having a feast as to get there. We hear him talk of three and four days traveled at one time and he's an older man now. He was thinking give me time, I will be there, but it will not be longer than seven days. Don't sacrifice, don't move, don't act, don't go to war, do nothing. Do nothing at all. But trust my word. Just trust. And I tell you, this is some sight as we see people fleeing. If you were in Saul's position and you're sitting there and everybody is scattering from you, everybody is fleeing. You've got this massive army going closer and you hear the rumbling of these chariots. And he's looking around and he has nothing to fight with and there are no weapons. And you say God ought to cut this man some slack. There's nothing there. This is hopeless. In any measurement this is an absolutely hopeless thing. How is this man going to come against this huge massive army when people are fleeing him? Nobody has confidence in God anymore. There's nothing there. And he's waiting six days and he waits until the seventh. And folks, I want you to know that this man was being tested by God. He's being tested because God knows that this is one crisis of many that are going to follow, many battles that are going to come. And how is he going to approach it? Is he going to approach it on his wit and wisdom? Is he going to approach it in the flesh, strategizing, manipulating, scheming? Or is he going to say, I'm going to do nothing until I hear from God? I'm going to do nothing but trust the Lord and what He commands me to do, every command, everything He tells me to do, by His word I will obey it live or die. And what God wanted out of this man was to look at his seeing as hopeless as it was and say, God, you anointed me, you called me, you told me to do nothing, but trust the word, the commandment of God. And God has given this man six days. Listen, God knew every step Samuel was taking. It's the seventh day. Now it's the night is coming. It's probably darkness now. Seven days are almost over. But I want you to know that God would never deceive this man. He told him to wait seven days. God would not deceive him in the process. So I tell you, on the authority of God's word, Samuel was there before midnight. He was there on time. It wasn't his time. And God allowed conditions to spin out of control. He's testing this man. So you're going to have to have faith, you're going to have to believe my word, because you are going to be in a lifetime of crisis like this. Are you going to take matters in your own hand? Are you going to act in your own strength? Or will you trust me? Because I'm looking for a man after my heart. A man after God's heart is a trusting man before the sons of men. Samuel was on God's navigational system. He knew every step. He knew the moment he would arrive. The Lord could have done anything. He could have sent a wagon and some fast horses. He could have put him on a fast horse. He could have brought them there the first, second, or third day. He could have brought them. But no, he's waiting. See, God's allowing this thing to spin out of control. And I'll tell you, some of you know exactly what I'm talking about. You're in a crisis right now. And you've been waiting and you've been praying and saying, where is he? Where is he? Where is God? Where's the answer? And you're being tested. Oh, you're being tested because now everything is spinning out of control. And by every measurement, it's hopeless. Your financial situation is a marriage problem. You get a telephone call from a son or a daughter. And your daughter tells you she's divorcing your son-in-law. Is it a call that somebody in your family has terminal cancer? And things are spinning out of control and it looks hopeless to you? Well, folks, that's what we face. Life is one crisis after another. Whenever a problem comes, either a family, children, grandchildren. I've told my wife, I said, honey, that's probably 190. I mean 1,900. 1,991 is right behind it. He's taking us through all of them. He's going to take us through this one. Hallelujah. This man is being tested. You see, surely God could not expect this man to just do nothing. That's what God said. Samuel said, you don't do anything. Until I get there. And until the enemy sees us. Worshiping the Lord. Sacrificing to his name. Until we seek the face of God for his direction. No other movement. Doing nothing. Oh, brother. Sister, that is the hardest thing in the world. Not to pick up the phone. Not to try to make things happen. I waited God long enough. So Saul has the stones erected. Now, I really don't believe he sacrificed himself because Ahijah, the priest, was there. No doubt did the sacrificing. The sin is not that he took on the role of a priest. That was not his calling. And I don't see that at all. God is after faith. He's trying to get this man to trust him. To be obedient to the word of God. But somewhere that day, I don't know whether it's the second, third, fourth, fifth, or did it wait until the seventh day? But somewhere along the line, God saw the decision this man made. This man decided to go it alone. He decided to do it his way. He was no longer going to wait on God. In fact, when Samuel did appear, he said, it's because you didn't show up on time. And what he's really saying, God didn't show up on time. Now, the amazing thing is you watch this. Listen to the explanation of Saul. Now, here's a spirit-led, anointed man. He said, Samuel, I had to do something. In essence, I had to do something. Everybody was leaving me. I had Jonathan, we're the only ones who would be left. What was I to do? Surely, I'm not expected to just sit here and do nothing while they come. They could come and kill me. And at first glance, God seems to be awfully harsh in his reaction to this. It seems like such a natural thing to do. Man's in trouble, he should do something about it. Have you ever heard anybody tell you, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? No, it's, what are you going to do about it? Samuel said, you have acted foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord, your God, which he commanded you. For now he would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for himself a man after his own heart. And the Lord has appointed him as ruler over his people. Because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. Now, folks, keep in mind that Saul had just, in chapter 12, had just been warned about the kind of decision he'd make. If you will not listen to the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the command of the Lord, the command of the Lord will be against you as it was against your fathers. Now, what does this have to do with you and me today? Because you and I face the same challenge, because we have the same word given to us, the same commandment of the Lord. That we are to fully trust God. And do nothing on our own without his direction, without seeking him, without waiting upon the Lord. We are not to panic, we are not to fear. We are to trust him, not only to the point of death, but to death. As Job said, though he slay me. Yeah, uh-huh. We'll trust God up to a point, we give him a deadline, and then it's all gone. Boy, God gets more deadlines than anybody in the universe. I don't give deadlines anymore, I used to. But I got so messed up. God never did pay much attention to my deadlines. You see, we've been commanded to trust the Lord and walk this walk of absolute confidence in the Lord, even though you see things spinning apart, spinning out of control, even though it looks absolutely hopeless, it gets worse by the day, and you're sitting there in panic and fear. Folks, God saw that huge Philistine army coming. He knew the thoughts of every one of those Philistine soldiers. He numbered every hair on their head. He knew every movement. He was in their inner counsel. He knew God at any moment could send an angel and kill them all. He did it once, remember, at 185,000 by one angel. Maybe if he sent two, he'd kill a million. One angel could have done it. God has his ways that are so beyond our ways. You see, God sees your problem, and he knows what you're up against. And some of you wonder, does God really know, is God really caring? Because I don't see any evidence of him moving, and there is no human way I can conceive how this thing can be solved. I don't know how I ever paid this debt. I don't know how this thing can ever work out. I've got family problems. I've got marriage problems. I've got career problems and job problems. And folks, we get all stressed out, and then we come to church to offer our wonderful sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God. Mm-hmm. Scripture hears what God has commanded us, without faith it's impossible to please him. Impossible. And they that come to him must believe that he is, and he's a rewarder of them that seek him diligently. Trust in him at all times, O ye people. Pour your heart out before him. He is your refuge. You who fear the Lord, trust in him. He's your help and your shield. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him. He will make your path straight. No, folks, God doesn't cut any slack for those who claim to be his children, who have been commanded to trust him at all times. God doesn't cut slack. Oh, yes, but he's patient. You say, well, Pastor Dave, there are times that I've been in a crisis and fear has come upon me. Yes, we've all been there. There are questions. He said, bring forth your strong reasons. All the patriarchs had those moments where they wanted to die. They said, God, take my life. I can't handle this anymore. Every man of God, every woman of God in the scripture, then and now, even in the New Testament times, we've all gone through that. There are times I would have loved the Lord to just take me home. I just, I want to do my job. Get out of here. And as he, even Christ, our blessed Savior said, Father, why have you forsaken me? He had those moments, not of doubt, but of questions, and the Lord's patient. He waits. He waited seven days for Saul to settle those questions. God waits for a while for you to settle and get back into the word of God and get found and remember everything he's told you. Remember his commandments. Remember his word. To obey his word, to obey this is to believe what he said. Without faith, you can't please him. He is your refuge. If you will trust him, he's your refuge and strength. Come what may, let the consequences be what they are. Don't look at the situation. Don't worry about the consequences because every man and woman who fully trusts God to the end of every crisis will be honored. There is honor to the glory of God and peace and joy as you've never experienced in any other thing. I've got to hurry on. Let me show you the dire consequences of not trusting God to the end of your crisis. Saul goes downhill from this time on because God sees what is in his heart. God knows that he's made his choice, that nothing is ever going to change him now because he's set his course and primarily because it appeared that he was successful in doing it on his own. All he has is this warning and he didn't even believe that that his kingdom was taken from him and they were rejoicing and he's still giving praises to God. But from that moment on, Saul becomes a legalist. Number one, he becomes a legalist of the worst kind. After he sinned, this sin of unbelief, he waits in confusion. Nothing's happened. While he's waiting in confusion, not knowing what to do and God's not speaking to him, his son Jonathan, with his armor bearer, climbs a steep cliff and takes on a whole garrison of the Philistines and there's such confusion, panic breaks out in the Philistine camp and there's a roar that shakes the earth, the Bible says, and Saul doesn't even know what's going on. He sees, he looks out over this great valley and there was such confusion, they were fighting among themselves and killing one another and Saul blows a trumpet and gathers as many as he can and they join the battle and there's a great victory accomplished that day. The Philistines are slain left and right and all day long, Israel, they come out of the caves now, they come from everywhere and suddenly the Philistines are on the run and all day they fight with a sword in their hands and they're weary and they're tired and Saul saw their weariness and he made a vow, he said, cursed be the man who eats anything or touches any food until this battle's over. Cursed it is, in other words, he's a dead man and so nobody ate, they kept on, some of them were fainting and Jonathan didn't hear his father's curse and so he's in the woods and he's slaying Philistines and in a moment of respite, he sees a beehive and he sees honey dripping and he puts his weapon into it and starts eating the honey and he's refreshed and then about evening time, the people couldn't take it anymore and they rush into the spoil and they are slaying animals with the blood and just roasting and then eating it without honoring the Jewish law that you don't eat meat with the blood. It's drained of its blood first, they were breaking the law Saul sees it and he goes into a rage he said, you have acted treacherously now roll me a great stone quickly you have sinned against the Lord by eating with blood you people have broken the law it's a man living in total rebellion sinning the greatest sin that you can sin in the eyes of almighty God but he's now going to be a holiness preacher of the worst kind he turns to legalism folks, that is the first downward spiraling step toward the occult toward spiritual insanity when you do not trust the covenant promises of God to give you your righteousness and holiness when you turn away from that you said no, I've got to add something to that you're on your way down just like Saul was and what will happen to you and listen very closely even though you have sinned against God because when you don't believe his promises that he will subdue your sins if you will trust him if you will call on his name the Holy Ghost will instill his fear into your heart he said, I will cause you to walk in my ways and you believe the Holy Ghost to do what God promised him to do if you refuse all of these covenant promises of God and you say no I've got to do it I've got to dress a certain way I've got to add something I've got to prove to God that I am holy and you refuse the righteousness of Christ and you go out to establish your own righteousness and this is what he's doing now he's establishing his own righteousness and when you do that you become God's cop not God's cop but in your mind, God's cop and now I believe the priests were applauding Saul at this time they're sitting this is the law you don't eat with blood isn't that amazing that same night Saul decides to keep them up all night he said we're going to finish this we're going to go all night long and we're going to finish this battle we're going to wipe them all out and the people are tired, they're weary some of them are asleep, they can't even move and the priest said at least we've got to ask God and the priest I don't know if it was a human thumb I don't know how they tried to approach God but the Lord wouldn't answer and because he didn't answer Saul said as the Lord lives somebody has sinned God's not talking it was his sin but you see he doesn't see that he said somebody has sinned and so help me even if it's my son I'll kill him oh he's got zeal for God doesn't he what a righteous man now before the whole crowd we have sinned against God we have sinned against the word and now God has shut us out there's a reason we've got to appease God now and so he casts a lot and a lot falls upon him and his son and he said well I know it's not me it's got to be you and if God hadn't intervened a zeal outward zeal to appear before the people that he kept the law that he was a holy righteous man you become a legalist of the worst kind unbelief is the root cause of all legalism it's the root cause of all now you see Saul striving to look holy striving to put on a crusade folks there are godly crusaders but some of them scare me to death like you know we've got a million women going to be marching in Washington soon against or for gun control I'm not going to get involved in the politics of that but I heard a commentator on the radio said how many of those women going to go out there and parade and take a stand and crusade against guns and yet they say nothing about their kids watching all of this murder on television and everything else that incites the use of guns it's legalism you know what God's been hounding me about in a loving way saying David if you're going to stand in front of the congregation and expose sins of others you better make sure you're trusting me in your life about how you get your own just a loving reminder from the heavenly father and secondly when you become a legalist first of all when there's unbelief when you don't obey God's word and doing what he told you to simply wait and trust him and believe him in your crisis you become a legalist you'll see other sins and weaknesses and you'll expose them you will focus on everybody's sin but your own and you will have the promise of all spiritual discernment a seared conscience and total oblivion to sin sin loses exuding sinfulness in your eyes Saul is told to go against Amalek utterly destroy all that is of Amalek put to death everything everyone that breathes spare nothing kill all the sheep the cattle the oxen donkeys everything let nothing remain Saul saves the king as a trophy king Agag and the people saved and spared all the best cattle and when it says the best of everything the best of clothes the best of furniture folks what a sight that must have been when Samuel arrived on the scene what a sight that must have been listen to this man he goes right after the victory he goes to Carmel and he builds a monument to the victory and to himself a monument we have achieved a great victory we have obeyed God we have wiped out the Amalekites and the king is standing right by him smiling when Samuel arrives and there are herds as far as you can see sheep and donkeys and cattle it is like a gigantic flea market folks you've got to see this it's not written there but the circumstances what you see here are people bartering what they have gotten from the spoil and they're trading sheep for donkeys and donkeys for camels and examining the teeth of the horses and seeing if they're good and thousands of sheep are bleeding I mean a roar there's the smell the stench of sacrifices that are not of God when Samuel comes on the scene Samuel is absolutely aghast at what he sees he couldn't take it all in he's thinking how can this man of God be so blind Samuel says Saul what have you done listen to what he said I have carried out the command of the Lord God be praised and the whole time he can hardly hear Saul because of the sheep God said kill all the sheep he said I have absolutely done everything I've been told and Saul's standing there I don't believe this man look at the crowd look at all the sheep look at the clothes look at the garments look at the way they've gone mad he says I have fulfilled everything and there is King Agag the Bible said he was at peace because he thought it was all over he's going to be spared and he's standing there smiling you know he did it he killed all my people why did you not Saul Samuel said why did you not obey the voice of the Lord why did you do this evil in the sight of the Lord and he comes back again but I did obey the voice of the Lord I accomplished the mission I was sent to do it's the beginning of witchcraft according to the scripture because the scripture goes on Samuel looks him right in the eye and he said Saul you've rebelled and rebellion is as the sin of stubbornness and is an iniquity and idolatry you know what he's saying refuse to trust God is equal to witchcraft in God's eyes it's rebellion it's witchcraft same thing folks that's where the occult the seed of the occult is planted in the hearts of many many people Christians who end up putting more faith in Dr. Joy Brown or the lady doctors on radio all the time oh they'll sit there and they'll get their direction from these people they don't trust God that's the occult who are these Christians that can indulge in any kind of sin now in adultery, fornication, homosexuality and everything else and then come and say well I've saved the best for the Lord and I want all this to sacrifice to your God the Bible says this is the way of an adulterous woman she eats and wipes her mouth and says I've done no wrong she doesn't ponder the path of life her ways are unstable and she doesn't know it her ways are unstable she says I haven't done it she has just committed adultery she is blatantly in sin and she wipes her mouth and says everything's okay and she doesn't know this man now is blind and folks when you give yourself over to doing things your way to manipulate and scheme and plan because you feel somehow God has not acted on time you will lose your discernment this is the first thing that goes discernment where you can't discern between what is right and wrong because you're moving in a realm of unbelief where God can't work it's an arena that God will have nothing to do with and you're all alone and then the seared conscience and a total oblivion to sin he now becomes cavalier about sin everything it doesn't bother anymore his sin has rebelled before almighty God and he's saying I haven't done anything wrong thirdly when there's a loss of discernment and the conscience has been shackled there's no defense left against the spirit of jealousy and envy and I've seen this all my lifetime I've seen it in preachers I've seen it in Christian workers I've seen it in marriages all over I've seen people who've not believed that God could heal their marriage would not trust God folks it only takes one who really really believes now it's that doesn't mean that there won't be divorce because God is a stubborn people and that's the lesson in this whole story here the Bible said he was a stubborn man stubbornly set in his ways and a stubborn man will not receive the grace of God he'll not receive the mercy that's offered to him but you see now the spirit of the Lord scripture said left Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him now God did not send an evil spirit because he doesn't do that what he did he allowed the inevitable to happen God knew that inevitably when a person loses spiritual discernment and they've turned to legalism and they have unbelief in their heart it's inevitably going to lead in this attack there's no defense left and what he's meaning God allowed his defenses to go down and this evil spirit and that terrorizing spirit is a spirit of jealousy and envy jealousy and envy David is brought in on the scene now because Saul is having demonic attacks and he's having demonic spasms and he's ranting and raving all through his home all through his residence his servants are frightened and they call David in and with his harp and with his psalms he sings peace to this man he appoints him as his bodyguard takes him with us to battle and one day they're coming from a battle and Saul's the head of the army and David's behind in the army and here came the women from Jerusalem and they're singing Saul has killed his thousands but David has killed his ten thousands Saul was in a rage and Saul looked on David from that time on with suspicion with envy he looked on him now with envy Bible said Saul was afraid of David for the Lord was not with him but had departed from the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul Saul dreaded him grew insanely jealous of him folks jealousy turns Christians into hideous creatures hideous creatures there's nothing more tragic than a jealous husband or wife for example you know there there are men who can't even shake hands with other women because their wife is shooting daggers at him and God help if he gives a God bless you to her gets in the car I saw it I saw it you've had your eyes on her all along haven't you and I know she has her eyes on you she wouldn't be coming up trying to shake it every service she comes to you and shakes hands I know what's in your heart because you see when you lose your discernment and you can't trust God you can't trust anybody and you will put on others what is in your own heart oh by the way sir there are men in this congregation women come into this house and actually scared to sit down where there's an empty seat and that's maybe why well I better not mention why some of you are sitting on the end because my wife is sitting on the end but God help that dear wife if some nice looking guy sits beside her the whole service he can't praise God he's watching whether he makes some kind of move or just touch her and he stands and he's looking at her the whole time he's I have seen these insanely jealous people it's hideous horrifying what happens the jealous person perceives himself or herself to always be the victim everybody's against them someone's always talking about them and they say people are jealous of me I'm being persecuted everywhere I go I am being persecuted I have taken more junk from people than anybody you know you ever hear the language of this this raging jealousy in the heart let me show you one of the most pitiful scriptures in all the Bible I consider this scene to be absolutely pitiful Saul is pursuing David he's wanting to kill him and he takes a break and he's brooding under a tamarisk tree and his soldiers are surrounding him and his servants are there ministering to him they're risking their lives for him and this poor man now this self pity poor me I am persecuted and this man is full of jealousy and envy and listen to what he says he looks at all of his servants and soldiers who are risking their lives they're up guarding him in fact they're all around him guarding their king and Saul says and all of you have conspired against me so that there's not one of you who disclosed to me when my son made a covenant with the son of Jesse there's none of you who's sorry for me nobody all of you you're all conspirators you're all traitors that's what jealousy will do envy when you can't glorify God when somebody your age or younger is blessed by God beyond anything you've ever known in your life and that jealousy sets in folks where does that come from somewhere along the line you made a decision to walk in the flesh you didn't make a decision to go to prayer with everything that would attack you from hell you didn't say you didn't make up your mind if I get a some kind of jealousy coming on me if the enemy tries to put that spirit on me I'm going to run to the cross I'm going to run to Jesus I'm going to wait on the Lord for deliverance by covenant you allowed that thing to go on boy how sad it is to come home from Macedonia or Kosovo or come home from some mission field where people are dying and there's hunger and people have no heat and few clothes and little food and you see these scenes and you see the world seen and you see the greatness of God's plan and you come home to some Christian all wrapped up in a petty little jealousy battle and you go to lunch with them and all they talk about you're so full of the needs of the world you're so full of the eyes of God as he sees the lost world and you've got this grand world scheme of love and seeking God and they're saying do you know what so and so said about me the other day do you know what I've been through can you understand what I'm going through do you know what my husband did to me do you know what he said I am being persecuted in my own home I've got Christians at Times Square Church talking about me and you're sitting there and they've got this little world because jealousy shrinks your whole world leaves you nothing but focused this man is focused on nothing more he should have been focused on the enemies of God the Philistines and others he has to be yanked away by a bad report to get away from his puny little battle with David your world is nothing I was where did you get that jealous spirit you can say I hate it check the time that you were in a crisis go back to that time when God was testing you and what decision did you make did you have that something in your heart that said God you failed me did you did you set out to solve your problem on your own that's where it starts what a tragic end now told you go to first Samuel and I wouldn't have sent you there without a purpose 28th chapter I'm going to close 28 starting with verse 3 first Samuel 28 now Samuel was dead are you with me Samuel was dead and all Israel lamented him and buried him in Ramah even in his own city and Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits and wizards out of the land the Philistines gathered against themselves together and came and pitched in Shunam and Saul gathered all Israel together and they pitched in Gilboa and when Saul saw the host of the Philistines he was afraid and his heart greatly trembled when Saul inquired of the Lord the Lord answered him not neither by dreams nor by Europe nor by prophets then said Saul unto his servants seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit in other words a witch that I may go to her and inquire of her and his servants said to him there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit in Dor and Saul disguised himself and put on another raiment and you know the story how he said conjure up Samuel verse 15 how sad Samuel said to Saul why has thou disquieted me to bring me up and Saul answered I am sore distressed for the Philistines make war against me and God is departed from me and answers me no more neither by prophets nor by dreams therefore I have called thee that thou mayest make known to me what I should do then said Samuel wherefore then does thou ask of me seeing the Lord is departed from thee and has become thine enemy the Lord has rent the kingdom from you what a sad ending the last consultation with the witch now folks listen to me please we live in a New Testament age Saul had mercy available to him if he had not had such a stubborn heart if he had not set his heart to do things his own way God could have delivered him but I want you to know that something happened between that story and where you and I live today is called the cross where Jesus took all of our rebellion he took all of our sins and at any point at any point you could be at any point in this downward spiral you could have this legalistic spirit if you turn to the Lord he has made provision that you can be set free hallelujah there is no witchcraft there is nothing like it's like a dagger in your spirit and soul the Lord invites you to come don't take another step don't go towards spiritual insanity don't go to this place where finally you can sit in church and hear any gospel and not be moved excuse any kind of sin and be a cavalier about everything and have no sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin and that's where many Christians are and they're headed and it ends up you folks many of those who are in the occult right now were those who turned away from their confidence in God many of them many of the witches and the covens that are led by witches were those who one time were in Pentecostal churches or Baptist churches they knew the gospel and they turned away from it disobeyed the word of the Lord and that's where they ended but thank God there is no power on earth or in hell that can stop God from reaching a heart that's not stubborn but willing to say I've sinned before God Lord come and deliver me there's deliverance immediately for those who step out and receive his word will you stand please please don't move Lord heavenly father we come to the most important moment in this service now when we deal with the conviction of the Holy Spirit my father I thank you I thank you that you have come to me through this word you convicted me by this word and you've you have told me clearly every crisis from now on trust me in it and through it don't go your own way trust me do nothing do nothing but pray and trust don't move until I tell you to till the word comes till the Lord has been consulted and his will is being performed hallelujah Lord forgive us for running off our own way for getting in panic and fear and stressed out when we have a God who's able God who knows all things and God who cares for us hallelujah folks he loves you today and he brought this message to you not to chase in you but to remind you to show you a better way if if anything I said this message was meant for you and you have to repent of unbelief or if you have the slightest that slightest thought that God has not acted on your behalf that he's not come on the scene on time and it's left you with just a little bit of doubt your doubt your unbelief is the father the root cause of all the other sins you deal with your unbelief you lay down your unbelief you say God give me the faith of Christ I want to make that kind of commitment if you're living in sin come if you don't know Jesus come and the Holy Spirit's dealing with don't come until the Spirit of God's dealing with but if he is dealing with you feel that polar tug of the Holy Spirit up in the balcony go the stairs neither side and come down those that are in the annex will you move forward not in front of the screen but between the screen so you don't block the vision if you will please someone will be there in just a moment to give you further direction I want to pray with you I can't do anything until the Holy Ghost accomplishes this conviction in your heart did God speak to you if he spoke to you obey the Holy Spirit now because he's wanting to heal you he's wanting to move into your crisis now and bring you to that place of absolute utter faith and confidence in him you know what I read this story I wondered if Saul any time in his life a troubled life he was living and God had departed from him I wonder if there was ever a time he'd said if I had only waited a little longer if I had just trusted a little longer I wouldn't be in this mess I could have had the kingdom now it's all gone you say does it does it hinge on something that singular one item just one time of unbelief now you see God said he tests us because faith true faith to trust him is more important to him than the purest of gold he said I want it to be right to the end before all mankind I want your faith to be appraised and unhonored glory to my name that's why I test you and some of you going through the test of your life right now in a recent test that Gwen and I had a family test we both agreed we are not going to doubt God we are going to trust him through this we went to prayer and said Lord we trust you we were ready to let anything happen we will come to place where your will be done we know there could be tragedy we know there could be almost anything the consequences in your hands and folks within 48 hours God moved God solved God worked it all out and you know what that does to us our hearts were overjoyed there was something that God put in our hearts it was almost like the Lord saying I am so glad that I am so pleased I bless you what a joy knowing that you have trusted God through it you come out the other end your faith stronger this is the conclusion of the message