Today on real life radio. There will not be peace in the Middle East until Jesus sits on the throne in Jerusalem. You understand that? There will be no peace in your life until Jesus sits on the throne of your heart. Your flesh is going to kick you all over this state.
And wherever else you may go. until Jesus is enthroned in your heart. This is real life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I'm David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's Word, the Bible.
Hey everybody, we got our first time ever actually devotional. We have a 40-day devotional called Watching Waiting. 40 days of walking you through biblical passages that excite you and prepare you for the soon coming of Jesus Christ. Watching Waiting is a 40-day devotional that's all tied to biblical prophecy. Watching Waiting.
It is our featured resource for this month and it's available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com/slash real radio. Jackhibbs.com/slash real radio. On today's edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack continues now with his series called First Samuel. and a message titled Faith.
Jonathan vs. Saul. Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of its prophets.
So here in chapter 14, we'll discover how real faith behaves in a crisis. You see, Saul has a son named Jonathan. And when they faced their enemy, the Philistines, unlike Saul, Jonathan didn't wait for perfect assurance. He moves forward, willing to risk failure as faith compels him to act.
So today Pastor Jack teaches us that faith is not just belief, but action in spite of uncertainty. Faith can push you to do what seems irrational to others, but it's that very boldness that can change the outcome.
Now with his message called Faith, Jonathan vs. Saul, here's Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs. Verse thirty seven.
So Saul asked counsel of God. Shall I go down after the flesh, Philistines? Will you deliver them? Into our hands, but God did not answer him that day. That Is frightening and terrible.
And Saul said, verse 38: Come over here, all you chiefs of the people, and know and see what this sin was today. Listen to this. As the Lord lives who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, He shall surely die, but not a man among all the people answered him. In other words, he's saying, Remember this oath I made? Even if it's Broken by my son.
I don't care who broke it. Even if it's my son. He dies. Boy. Is he going to find out something here in a moment?
Then he said to all Israel, You be on one side, and my son Jonathan, and I will be on the other side. And all the people said to Saul, do what seems good to you. Or we would say, whatever. Therefore, Saul said to the Lord God of Israel, Give a perfect lot. They're going to.
Um as it were Oh. Cast a lot and see if God would speak through the rolling of the dice, so to speak.
So Saul and Jonathan were taken, but the people escaped. And Saul said, Cast lots between my son Jonathan and me.
So Jonathan was taken. Then Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me, What have you done? And so Jonathan says, I ate some honey. I didn't know about this. This decree that you that you gave.
And Saul says, And answers to him, you shall surely die. This guy's out of control. From here on out, Saul, it's as though he snapped. It's as is He's crazy. The vow is more important than the life of his son?
But listen. Why does this happen? The kingdom was being stripped away, not by God himself, for God had promised already through Samuel, Saul, if you follow the Lord, you're going to be blessed. Yeah. In fact, God had said, I'll establish the throne through you.
That's a very significant word because it is God saying to Saul, If you obey. The Messiah will come from you. He didn't obey. And the kingdom is being whittled away by who? Samuel?
No. Jonathan? No. God? No.
Saul is whittling away the kingdom from himself. by being disobedient to God. No worship, no act of faith. panic, flesh in control, making rash vows. This man is pure.
purely emotionally led. And he's so now. Gone on this and watch. This is what manifests itself in its tragic When a man gets this far from God. A horrible, horrible human fleshly attribute begins to arise.
And it's vicious, it's murderous. And you know what it is? It's insecurity. Saul is becoming insecure. And he has good reason to be.
And when a person is like Saul here, everybody is an enemy. Whatever that person is saying, it's a wrong thing to do. Whoever's got this idea or that, oh, that's a bad thing. Everything is abrasive, everything is threatening, and this is a perfect, and you'll see in the life of Saul, Saul will become very, very Territorial in his rule, in his reign. He will have everyone suspect.
Thus, you know the story where we'll get to Samuel. Where what does he do with King David? He throws spears at him. He attacks him. And then the moment he attacks him and tries to kill him, then there's a change in his emotions.
And he's trying to comfort David and tell him, he said, I love you so much. David turns around and Saul throws a spear at him again. He's going to go crazy. How does that happen? The flesh Being in control.
It's terrible. It'll torment a man. And it'll torment all those around that man. Crazy decisions. I don't care.
What I've said, I've said.
So insecure that that person could never say, well, you know what? I made a mistake. That was his... I shouldn't have said that. It's a big woman, a big man who can say, listen, I made a mistake on that one.
That was the wrong call. Let's back up and redo it. It's an insecure, arrogant. And prideful person who says, you know what, what I've said, I have said, it's like they're the voice of God. Remember the uh Yulebrenner and King and I?
So let it be written, so let it be done. What I've said is what I've said. If it comes out, well, it must be written in stone. Out of control. The flesh.
In verses 47 down to the end of the chapter, it speaks about the warfares that take place, and all these men's names are mentioned, which we don't need to go through because we'll never remember their names anyway. And there's a There's fierce war. The Bible says With Saul's enemies, all the days of his life, all the days of his reign. There was warring, the flesh, the Philistines warring against the children of promise. of the Spirit.
It is believed that if Jonathan Or Even Saul, for that matter, would have just trusted God. If Saul would have trusted. As Jonathan did, God was willing to wipe out the enemy completely. When Joshua crossed over with the children of Israel, didn't God say to them, Go and attack these nations? I'm going to give them into your hands.
And if Israel would have obeyed to the Exact word of the Lord, they would have had a tremendous Victory Now, God knows all things, and God knows exactly, even to this moment of time in Israel, all the things that are taking place. God knew this before the world was created. Don't get me wrong. He knows everything, and he knew it before it was ever created. We can only speculate.
What would have happened if Joshua? and the descendants of Joshua would have carried out God's plan from the beginning. You know what? the writings that we have here in Samuel would have been altogether different. The flesh wouldn't have been left in the land.
God says true worshipers of God have been circumcised in their hearts. What does that mean? The world has been taken out of our hearts. And we've been given a new heart. And so we're sensitive and tender and open to the will of God and to the command of God.
If that hasn't taken place, we are uncircumcised of heart, callous of hearts. And as it were a type. a Philistine of heart. And you think about today, and all the stuff that's going on in the news, all the stuff that's going on in Israel. It's the children of promise.
I don't care what you and I think about their policies. It doesn't matter what we think about Israel's actions. Did you know that? It's what God thinks about Israel.
Okay, if you agree or disagree, it doesn't matter. The fact is, they are the children of promise. God's not done with the nation of Israel. They're still his chosen people. He's not done with them.
He's going to use them again. You've got The children of promise. in a land that God said is theirs. But the flesh was there first. Called the Philistines, which is the root word Philistia, where we get the modern-day word Phil.
Or Palestinians Truly, the root. Back to Philistia. The land of the Philistines, we say today. Palestinians. And they're saying, hey, We were here before 1948.
That's right, they were. The flesh is always born first. The flesh is always there first. Wasn't your flesh here first? My flesh showed up first.
That's why Jesus said I had to be born again. I had to become a child of the promises of God. But you got to be born first. in the flesh to be born again. You're listening to real life with Pastor Jack Hibbs.
You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. And for now, let's get back to our teaching. Once again, here's Pastor Jack. And then this war In this Fighting in the Middle East.
It will, as we mentioned last week, never be settled. It will never be settled. It cannot be settled. Because one group of people Are of the promise of God. The other group of people are saying we were here first.
And in a way, both are right. But the Spirit will and must yield. Or excuse me, the flesh must yield to the spirit eventually. There will not be peace in the Middle East until Jesus sits on the throne in Jerusalem. You understand that?
There will be no peace in your life until Jesus sits on the throne of your heart. Your flesh is going to kick you all over this state. And wherever else you may go. Until Jesus is enthroned in your heart.
So Jack, how does that happen? I mean, you talk about it as though it's real. It is real. And here's the amazing thing: once that happens, once Christ is enthroned in your heart. By the way, It happens just as quick as Jonathan saying to his armor bearer: hey, let's go up.
Come on. Happens that fast. You can say, Jesus, be enthroned in my heart. I repent of my old life. I want to give you my life.
Now live through me, Lord. Have me. Experience that born-again relationship with you. Jesus is enthroned in your heart. And He begins to Attack the flesh.
That which is First. Has to die. It has to be crucified. As we're talking on Sunday, it's got to be put on the cross. Until we put things that God doesn't want us to have on the cross, we're going to have big troubles.
See, we're going to have troubles in this world no matter what. But I tell you for those As we learn to walk in the Spirit rather than in the flesh, We'll have much less to contend with because God will be in control. He'll steer us out of trouble, and the troubles that do come to you. Their father filtered. God sends them our way.
to strengthen us. What trial has entered in your life this week? What experience have you had to go through since last Wednesday night? Question. Are you walking in the Spirit?
Yes, I am. Jack, I'm walking in the Spirit. I love the Lord. I want to follow Him. Then the things that befell you this week.
were placed Before you By the act of God's will. No matter what they may be. We got A call, I believe it was Thursday night. And um There's a the state of California is concerned about a Like a 1300 square foot, you know, 1300 square foot piece of dirt on the property.
Well, wait a minute, why weren't you guys concerned about this two years ago?
Well, listen, you guys know the timing. Check it out. We're getting bulldozers ready to push that ground in a big way. Wait a minute, what's the well, it's just a little piece of thing.
Well, then the city says, wait, we can't stamp this until the state's off our back.
Well, wait a minute. You gotta stamp it. We got people ready to roll.
Well, unless we find this piece of paper that's got this number on it, we can't do anything. What's it look like? What's it look like? Well, it looks like this.
So I hang up from the The attorney And We s they start tearing the offices apart. looking for this thing. And The ph phone's just ringing constantly. Did you find it yet? No, I didn't find it yet.
Okay. And then the phone ring again. Yeah, this is so-and-so from the county. Where do we need to have that thing?
Okay, we're looking, we're looking.
Okay, do you remember this guy's name? You met with him about, you know, two years ago, and he came in and No, I don't remember his name.
Well, look through the daytimers, look through the plum pilots, look through everything you got. And it's like a major, I mean, this place has been nuts this week here. It's been like. A detective story. And it just as soon as that You see this is not normal.
It's not normal. This is, like Solomon said, this is one of those little foxes that begin to spoil the grapes, the vineyards. It's not like some bear's attacking. This is a little goofy thing. And it's got, you know, people on the edge and People changing their trips.
We got people that are working on the project back. He said, I got to come home now. I got to cut my trip short. We got to get back. We've got to look at this thing.
Okay. And I called Robin. I said, listen, get the prayer chain going now. Get the staff together. Bruce, pray with everybody.
This is not normal. And as soon as You get away from that vacuum that. whirlpool of flesh. That so subtly comes into our lives. You know how subtle it is?
And you can hear this. Sucking sound.
So wait wait wait wait wait wait wait we gotta pray. Man. It's like, okay. That's right, he knows. This is a faith thing.
And um God's going to pull it through. He's going to do it. How do you know? I don't know. I just know that he's promised to complete that which he has begun.
The flesh though will constantly try. to challenge your faith. Saul's hiding underneath a tree with six hundred men around him. Jonathan with faith launches out with an armor bearer. Saul's making lunatic demands and curses upon anyone who eats.
What's Jonathan doing? Dipping his staff into the honey, and eating of the fruit of the victory. The flesh is panickin' and sweaty. And God says in Ezekiel, my priests, my people shall not sweat. Whenever you and I start to sweat, It's not God.
Never. Peace, Jesus says, I leave with you. Not as the world give. But I give you my peace. a peace that passes all understanding.
God's going to do it. He's so faithful, you know? Always faithful. Thus We can carry out great exploits for Him because He's faithful. And so, because He's faithful, We worship him.
Amen? Father, we thank you for your word and for your truth. And Lord, we would pray. In fact, we pray. That you would baptize us with the mantle.
of a Jonathan. Lord, I believe, we believe, that it's your will. that we would walk out of this place to night. Willing, excited. And looking for Opportunity to say, you know, the Lord could deliver.
This unbeliever into Our hands, be it with a harvest crusade, or if I walk up to him and share the gospel. What's the deal? The Lord is here. We could look to a country, we could look to a nation. And the truth is, the Lord could deliver that country into our hands if it's just one or two of us are.
Thousands of us Lord, as I think about that, I think of men like. Hudson Taylor Who had such a heart for China?
Well, so many of his friends thought he was nuts. And yet he broke that barrier. That Even this day in China, there's a great work of your spirit taking place. Father, we think of the pilgrims who launched across. the Atlantic, to come and find a a new land to worship God freely.
to worship you. You start, and that seems as though you start everything with just a few people. We think of the church that's in the earth. Started it. Just a few people.
In fact, you started out with 12, you wound up with 11. And uh things seemed to kind of go negative there for a minute. But you have a plan. And Lord, we thank you. That you are a God.
who completes that which he begins. And so, Lord, in our lives, we rededicate our lives to you tonight. We thank you. In Jesus' name and all God's people say. Amen.
Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hughes. Here on Real Life Radio. And his message called Faith. Jonathan vs. Saul.
We're glad you took the time to be with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called First Samuel. It's a series that highlights the prophet Samuel, who was called by God during one of Israel's darkest ages, to bring the people back to a heart of true worship. and will continue. on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
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