CONFIDENCE III
THE KEY TO COURAGE
1 Samuel 14:1-23
Now it happened one day that Jonathan the son
of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the
Philistines’ garrison that is on the
other side.” But he did not tell his father. 2 And Saul was
sitting in the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron. The people who were with him were about six hundred men. 3 Ahijah the son of
Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest in Shiloh, was wearing an
ephod. But the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.4 Between
the passes, by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines’ garrison, there was a sharp rock on one side and a
sharp rock on the other side. And the name of one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. 5 The
front of one faced northward opposite Michmash, and the other southward
opposite Gibeah. 6 Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore
his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may
be that the Lord will work for us.
For nothing restrains the Lord
from saving by many or by few.” 7 So his armorbearer said to
him, “Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with you, according to
your heart.” 8 Then Jonathan said, “Very well, let us cross
over to these men, and we will show
ourselves to them. 9 If they say thus to us, ‘Wait until we
come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them. 10 But
if they say thus, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up. For the Lord has delivered them into our hand,
and this will be a sign to us.” 11 So
both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the
Philistines said, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they
have hidden.” 12 Then the men of the garrison called to
Jonathan and his armorbearer, and said, “Come up to us, and we will show you
something.” Jonathan said to his armorbearer, “Come up after me, for the Lord has delivered them into the hand of
Israel.” 13 And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with
his armorbearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan. And as he came after
him, his armorbearer killed them. 14 That first slaughter which
Jonathan and his armorbearer made was about twenty men within about half an
acre of land. 15 And there was trembling in the camp, in the
field, and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled;
and the earth quaked, so that it was a very great trembling. 16 Now
the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and there was the multitude, melting away; and they went here and
there. 17 Then Saul said to the people who were with him, “Now call the roll and see who has gone from us.”
And when they had called the roll, surprisingly, Jonathan and his armorbearer were not there. 18 And Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring the ark
of God here” (for at that time the ark of God was with the children of Israel).
19 Now it happened, while Saul talked to the priest, that the
noise which was in the camp of the
Philistines continued to increase; so Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your
hand.” 20 Then Saul and all the people who were with him assembled, and they went to the battle; and indeed
every man’s sword was against his neighbor, and
there was very great confusion. 21 Moreover the Hebrews who were with the Philistines before
that time, who went up with them into the camp from the surrounding country,
they also joined the Israelites who were
with Saul and Jonathan. 22 Likewise all the men of Israel who
had hidden in the mountains of Ephraim, when
they heard that the Philistines fled, they also followed hard after them in the
battle. 23 So the Lord
saved Israel that day, and the battle shifted to Beth Aven.
I. THE BENEFIT OF CONFIDENCE
1. God
looks for Confident people to use
a.
John loved
Jesus more than all the other disciples, (John 13:23, 19:25-27, 20:2, 21:20).
b.
Andrew—had more enthusiasm and was a
great soul winner.
c.
Luke—was possibly the smartest.
d.
Thomas—was the biggest doubter.
e.
Peter was confident
·
Walked on water (Matt. 14:28–31)
·
The first disciple to declare that
Jesus was the Christ (Matt. 16:16)
·
Even after being rebuked by Jesus, he
did not take offense but continued on with him (Matt. 16:23)
·
Willing to Fight for Jesus (John 18:10)
·
Stayed with Jesus the longer (Matt. 26:56, 58)
·
Bounced back from Failure (John 21:15)
·
He was the first disciple to enter
into the Tomb of Jesus (John 20:5, 6)
·
Preached the first Gospel message after Pentecost (Acts 2:14–24)
·
Brought the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10)
·
Died for the Lord (Fox’s Book of Martyrs)
2. The
Enemy seeks to attack our confidence
·
Satan
attacked Eve concerning Confidence
Gen 3:1-8
Now the serpent was more cunning than any
beast of the field which the Lord
God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not
eat of every tree of the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the
serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but
of the fruit of the tree which is in
the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you
touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 Then the serpent said to the
woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the
day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing
good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree
desirable to make one wise, she took
of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then
the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves
together and made themselves coverings.8 And they heard the
sound of the Lord God walking in
the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from
the presence of the Lord God among
the trees of the garden.
·
The first attack against Jesus was
against His Confidence
Luke 4:3-9,13
.“And the devil said to Him, ‘If You are
the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.’ But Jesus answered
Him, saying, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
Word of God.”’ Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all
the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, ‘All
this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to
me, and will give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before
me, all will be Yours.’ And Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Get behind Me,
Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only
you shall serve.”’ Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of
the temple, and said to Him, ‘If You are the
Son of God, throw Yourself down from here
3. Confidence
is necessary to maximize our purpose
Heb 10:35-39
35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence,
which has great reward. 36 For you have need of
endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the
promise: 37 “For yet
a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. 38 Now the
just shall live by faith; But if anyone
draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him. 39 But we are
not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving
of the soul.
4. We must
develop a 3-fold cord of confidence
a.
Confidence
in God
b.
Self
Confidence
c.
Confidence
in People
If you don’t put your confidence in
God, you may become arrogant and cocky. If you don’t develop confidence in
yourself, you will live a defeated lifestyle. If you lose your confidence in
other people, you will limit your potential and always be uncertain of other
people’s motives and their ability to perform.
II. HOW TO DEVELOP CONFIDENCE IN GOD
1. Focus on Attributes of God
Psalm 27:1-3
The Lord
is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength
of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh,
They stumbled and fell. 3 Though
an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: Though war should rise against me, in
this will I be confident.
a.
God is Eternal
b.
God is All Knowing
c.
God is Loving and Forgiving
d.
God is Personal and Relational
e.
God is ALL Powerful
2.
Stay
under the Blood of Jesus
1 John 3:20-22
20 For
if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved,
if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And
whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do
those things that are pleasing in His sight.
Hebrews 4:14-16
14 Seeing
then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, let us hold fast our
confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot
sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are,
yet without sin. 16 Let
us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need.
3.
Keep
your motives pure
Psalm 27:4-6
4 One
thing have I desired of the Lord,
that will I seek after; That I may dwel in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold
the beauty of the Lord, and to
inquire in his temple. 5 For
in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: In the secret of his
tabernacle shall he hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock. 6 And
now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: Therefore
will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing
praises unto the Lord.
4.
Consider
Your Personal History with God
Phil 1:6
6 being
confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will
complete it until the day of Jesus
Christ
·
List all He has done for you before
you were born again
·
List what he did for you since you
have been save`
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