If you will, turn back in your
Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 1. You can follow me in your pastor's
commentary as well. We are looking at a part of a
critical transition from the rule of King Saul to the rule
of King David. Justice Antonin Scalia, if you
guys have ever heard of him, he was one of the Supreme Court
justices of our land, a conservative who fought for conservative principles
among a board of other justices, was just put to rest yesterday.
I don't know if you saw the funeral. It was aired on television, a
full display of Catholic regalia. It was a magnificent, Visual
if you will his son Paul a priest in the Catholic Church actually
did the eulogy and homily of his father and Much of what we
were talking about this morning in Sunday school can actually
be detected in his message and even the formation and the expression
of the Eucharist and the mass that was partaken of by everyone
present and would help one to understand the subtleties of
the Catholic system. Nevertheless, on that occasion
were present the body of Antonin Scalia and the beer or the coffin. His family was present. Friends
and dignitaries were present. Politicians were present. The
who's and who, the who's who of everyone was there with the
exception of the president for his own reasons. It was a spectacular
manifestation of pomp and religious ceremonialism. And yet we have
something of the same thing going on here in our text, really. Two dignitaries are being honored
by another dignitary. That happens to be the king is
honoring the previous king in what we might call a funeral
service of sorts. Only there is no body here, no
beer, no casket, nor any of the pomp and circumstances that we
saw yesterday. Just words. Just words. Words from one king about two
other kings. This is David again, ladies and
gentlemen, at his best. This is David at his best and
there are lessons for us to learn as well about his character and
David's clear view of the preeminence of the kingdom of God which regulates
his words in what we call both a eulogy and an elegy to be explained
here. David is at this time speaking
publicly and politically and ultimately earnestly and sincerely
about his loss when he could have taken this occasion to be
personal because he has seen his relentless unending hostile
enemy put to an end. And he could take this occasion
to really make this about himself, but he doesn't and we shouldn't
when God strikes people down and takes them away. Because
funeral services really are about God and not men. How we miss it. How we miss it
when we make it about persons. not ultimately God death is an
act of God a sovereign act of God where the whole human race
now is arrested for a moment and awakened from the silly notion
that they're in control of life for a moment God shows himself
sovereign boom you're gone and then he lets us continue to play
you know self-ordained puppets pretending that we're in control
of our life until he takes us out and on this occasion David
is going to speak in such a way that you and I will learn some
things about how to honor God when people die, even your enemies,
even your enemies. And often I am asked by young
men, mostly young men, when opportunities are given for them to preach
at the funeral service. You know, we don't even use the
word funeral today. People are so scared of the ominous nature
of death that they avoid the term. It's generally celebrations
and memorial services like everybody's saying. Right? And the word funeral or dirge
is no longer used because we're trying to take the sting out
of death ourselves. But will you mark that David
doesn't do that. However, what he also does not
do, he does not take the subjects of this time of bereavement and
bring them to the final judgment. He doesn't say anything about
judgment day. He doesn't say anything about
their eternal destiny. He doesn't imply, he doesn't
infer, he doesn't grant the people any kind of notion as to whether
or not they should be contemplating whether this man went to hell
or not. Because that's quite beside the point. when you really
actually are dealing with a funeral service. What really is at hand
is the need for the living to know that they will die too. And that on that occasion, God
is letting you live one more day to get it right with him. But more, David is gonna teach
you and me something about the dignity of redemption in the
context of the royal family and the monarchial rule of which
many of us are learning a whole lot about, and how to act in
the church of God upon the demise of leadership. As I have stated,
David is very earnest here. He's not being diplomatic. He's
not being coy. He's not being manipulative. He's not being political. David
is serious. David is lamenting for Saul and
certainly for Jonathan. It's a lament, ladies and gentlemen,
verse 17. And David lamented with this
lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan, his son. Lamenting
is a word that speaks to the heart. And it speaks about the
condition of the heart, the state of the heart at that moment.
And the heart now is being candid about how it feels. David is
lamenting with a lamentation. Is that what it says? Right.
But really, David is actually singing sorrowfully and woefully
and chanting a lamentation. The two words are different words
in the Hebrew. And one means that he has set
a form by which he is now communicating his lamentation. I used the word
earlier, elegic. Just like we use the term eulogy,
the word elegy means to actually sing the eulogy. It means to
put it in a poetic or an elegant form and sing it. Sing your lamentation. David is singing. We're not surprised. He's the sweet what? Psalmist. And the Holy Ghost is allowing
David to actually honor these men for what they were in terms
of the model of kingship. And the words that will now come
forth will be redemptive lessons for you and me as to how we are
to view the kingdom of God. The three points that we're going
to develop then, and they will fall out first and foremost under
the first point, the testimony of God. and his enemies avenged. And will you mark the title of
our message as we get ready to do this? The life of David, bless
and what? Curse not. There's no condemnation
here. There's no future condemnation.
There's none of that here. Not that there aren't times in
the context of a funeral service that we should be very clear
about consequences, particularly if persons that are laying in
the casket have lived dubious lives or infamous lives or lives
that are worthy of warning you and me about living the wrong
way. There is room in the service
to be truthful, but only that and no more. So ask not to make
it personal. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? People need to be brought to bear to truth in a funeral
service lest we perpetuate the same old lies that go on outside
of the service where we're making people all right with God when
they're not. People are often made to feel safer with God at
a funeral service than they should. Funeral services for people who
are on the slippery slope for hell should be daunting. fearful and scary. You who do not know Christ ought
to be fearful of going to a funeral service because God is going
to talk to you directly and let you know you got a card and it's
got a date on it and you gonna meet me here too. But David is actually taking
the occasion on this scenario of to teach Israel how to honor
the fallen state of the king because he, God, has raised up
another king to continue it going. Under our first point, then,
the testimony of God's enemy avenged, the author in 2 Samuel
does not forbid to help us understand a very unique thing that has
transpired subsequent to chapter 31 1st Samuel where we recorded
last week the actual demise of both Jonathan and Saul when they
were killed by the Philistines remember that the whole family
the whole army slaughtered the men on the other side of Jordan
departing and Saul in a very very again demised sort of state
is now falling on his own sword and killing himself, if you will,
committing suicide, if you will. Jonathan is slain in battle.
His sons are slain in battle. The Israelites are slain in battle.
But what we don't have in chapter 31 is what we have in 2 Samuel
chapter 1. This individual who is called
an Amalekite who has traversed through the war scenario and
done something that is worth marking. If it's not worth marking,
the author wouldn't have put it here as part of the precipitation
of David's lamentation. And that is this, this enemy,
and I call it God's enemy, has taken occasion to dishonor God
in the context of God's fallen servant. Now, King Saul, as we
have already learned, was an ungodly man. We've already learned
that King Saul was not really God's chosen servant. He was
the people's servant. King Saul did, however, occupy
the office of king. And because he occupied the office,
he was to be honored for the office. But God soon showed us
that King Saul deserved what he got in his death, in his doom.
Because King Saul had a pecan in his life, and this is the
fundamental overarching principle that you as kings and queens,
princes and princesses, must get. That we have three enemies
that we are constantly fighting. And that is the world, the devil,
and the what? Constantly at war with them. Constantly at war. And for you
and I to fight a good warfare, we must be taught by the word
of God how to negotiate this world, both as kings and as servants. And what we discover is that
Saul could never win against the flesh. That was because Saul
had given in to the flesh. We learned that he was himself
fleshly. He was no different than the
Philistines. Goliath was Saul on what? And
so ultimately, the Philistines slew Saul. And we learned last
week, if you live after the flesh, you will what? I don't care how
much you call yourself Christian. If your life is bent on doing
what you want to do, you will die. And it's quite interesting
that the Philistines that Saul had to constantly fight when
he was living is the same group who actually brought him to his
demise. And then here comes this other fella, are you ready? An
Amalekite. Now who is the Amalekite? He
was the nation that God had told Saul to destroy the first time
around. In chapter 15. When Agag was
allowed to live. And Samuel said, you have just
openly defied the words of the living God in that you have allowed
his enemies to live. And it clearly indicated at that
time that Saul was not walking in the spirit nor submitted himself
to the crown rights of God, that he had a peccar for the flesh.
He jumped on the spoils rather than annihilating everyone in
the land of the Amalekites. And once again, here comes an
Amalekite coming through the land after the Philistines have
already routed Saul, put him to doom, the Amalekite finishes
him off. And it goes to show you once
again, don't play games with God. Don't play games. This enemy
has routed, come up. How does he come up on Saul other
than the fact that the Lord has allowed it? Saul is laying there
with his sword protruding through his body. He is not dead. He
wants to kill himself. But I am reminded of what the
book of Revelation says, men will seek death and shall not
find it. In a time when they are fighting
against God, they want to try to have the power to even take
their own life. Do you know you can't take your
life until God wants you to take your life? There are some of
us here who have tried to commit suicide and we realize God wouldn't
let it happen. Hallelujah. Saul tried to kill
himself and couldn't do it. God allowed him to fail at that
until God's other enemy came along to teach us an omen about
whether you're going to be real about being on the Lord's side
or on the camp of the enemy. And quite interestingly, to show
you the juxtaposition between David and Saul, what did David
just finish doing in chapter 30? Destroying the Amalekites. David is God's servant. And when
this Amalekite in his utter insanity thinks that he's gonna come to
David with the tokens of the crown and the evidence of Saul's
existence and flatter David with those images and corrupt David's
heart as if David is gonna seize on those things to the dishonor
of God's rule, this Amalekite finds himself facing the judgment
of God. And David is doing now to him
what old man Samuel did to Agag. Because as we learn in Exodus
chapter 15, Exodus 18 verse 16, the Lord will have war with Amalek
forever. The Lord will have war with Amalek
forever. Here's the point before we go
on. All the days of your life, Until you breathe your last breath,
you're going to have to fight the works of the flesh. Until
you breathe your last breath, you're going to have to go out
fighting the works of the flesh. The flesh is never going to submit
to the spirit, and the spirit is never going to submit to the
flesh. Isn't that what Galatians says? That's the lesson here
that you must get. And then we move on. So under
the testimony of God's enemy avenged, your own words will
continue. Isn't that what David said to the young man? David
lays out the words to that young man when he says in verse 16,
And David said unto him, Your blood be upon your head, for
your mouth have testified against thee, saying, I have slain the
Lord's anointed. It reminds me of Judas Iscariot
and those who have put Christ to death. Can you imagine thinking
that you actually will be able to go about and gloat and tell
people that your wisdom and power have put to death, God's anointed,
woe unto the man who betrayed Christ. And then again, we understand
according to Matthew's gospel, chapter 12, 37, this is exactly
what Jesus says. Out of your mouth, you will be
justified, and out of your mouth, you will be what? Condemned. And as we have in Subpoint B,
the flesh on both sides abuses Saul, horrible, horrible, a horrible
lesson for us to learn that we must wage war against it. And
finally, sub point C, the anointed king what? Right. This is an
amazing principle and it's necessary. The anointed king avenged. You
know what Psalm 105 verse 15 says, right? Touch not mine anointed
and do my prophets what? Touch not mine anointed, do my
prophets no harm. And for all of us who are in the kingdom,
we need to understand that as not only a decree, but a prophetic
decree. A prophetic decree that cannot
be violated. And what I mean by that is, God's
anointed are often touched in certain ways. God's anointed
are often harmed in certain ways. But God's anointed will never
ultimately be touched or harmed in the sense of which they will
be condemned eternally in the struggle and warfare that they
engage in with the flesh. Touch not mine anointed? We're
often touched, are we not? But there's a sense in which
we are never touched. Do you know what that is? In
the soul of every believer is the seal of the Holy Ghost. which
keeps us from being touched by the devil, so that we do not
depart from God. Are you hearing what I'm saying? In the soul of the believer is
an anointing called the Holy Spirit, which keeps every believer
from falling away from Christ, no matter how the throes of hell
come at us. They may knock us down, but we
get back up. They may hit us in the head,
and for a moment we see stars, But God will clear our head up
and we'll rise up again to fight the battles of the Lord. They
may cause us to fear and dread with their taunts and arguments,
but God knows how to blow the billows of the Holy Ghost into
the heart of faith and cause us to stand on our feet and say,
the Lord is my rock. He is my salvation. Whom shall
I fear? God is able to do that with his
saints. And I remember I remember what John says in 1 John chapter
5 around verse 17. And we know that those who believe
on Christ has eternal life. And we know those who are born
of God, they keep themselves and that wicked one does not
touch them. That wicked one does not touch
them. Verse 18, we know that whosoever is born of God does
not continue sinning. Whoa. But he that is begotten of God
keepeth himself, and that wicked one does not get to claim him.
He does not get to own him. He does not get to rule him.
He does not get to touch him in the sense of making him his
slave. And just to close out on this thought before we get
into our point, if you need a case study, I'll give you my friend
Joe, whom the devil came and requested
to rip Job apart. And God says you can do everything
you want to but leave his life alone. That's exactly what God says
for you and me who believe Christ. He gave us eternal life and that
eternal life will never be taken. But we might go through hell
down here. And on some occasions because of the most severe cases
of rebellion against God on the part of his elect, you know what
God will do? Give your flesh over to Satan that your soul
might be saved in the day of visitation. Are you hearing me?
But that's a different touching. It's the touching of the flesh
as we learned last week. The Gileadites had to burn up
the body of Saul to take the bones of Saul and Jonathan and
bring them back into the camp because of them being defiled
by the flesh. And here in our account, we are seeing why David
is seizing upon this Amalekite. And I can tell you why as we
move on. Because in the kingdom of God, nowhere in the kingdom,
here are for eternity. Are you ready? Will it ever be
said that any flesh will glory in God's sight? Nowhere in the
kingdom, both now for eternity, will an Amalekite or a Philistine
be able to rise up and say, I'm glorying in the flesh. God will
demolish everything that will seek to steal his glory. This
Amalekite would have stolen God's glory. And God won't have that. And thus David takes him out. It is an admonition to the believer
to walk in the Spirit, isn't it? It's an admonition to the
believer to understand that God will do extreme things to get
you to himself. It's an admonition to let the
believer know that you're not going to... I'm talking about
God's elect. You're not, listen, you're not going to agree with
the devil to the point where the enemy gets the glory in the
flesh over God. He'll kill you and your enemy
and bring you to glory and say, I told you, no flesh will glory
in my sight. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? Let's move on then to our second point. The sevenfold
lamentation. Now, as I get ready to develop
this, this won't take long. I do want to make sure that what
I just stated actually settles on your head. Because I know
how we are as religious people. We don't believe the hard sayings
of God. We don't believe that. And I heard it this morning by
my elder. I remember my elder saying it this morning. He was
talking about how we actually, we take grace and we make it
a license to do whatever we want to do. And we just don't believe
God will act in a way that will show us otherwise. But child
of God, having pastored now for several decades and seeing how
the Lord works among his people, I must tell you, the chasing
of the Lord is of such nature on certain cases that if I didn't
understand the word of God, I think the person was lost. Are you
hearing me? When in fact, I know what God
has done is kept his promise. When you and I fail to live for
the glory of God, your flesh will not glory. He will see to
it that he brings us down until we submit to his will. Because
when he paid for you with the precious blood of his son, he
owned you as his captive slave. You don't get to do whatever
you want. The sevenfold lamentation of
our brother David is gonna be something I'll try to work through
rather expeditiously, so we won't be here too long. But I do want
us to learn some lessons from the heart of David around how
to view and honor the work of God in the kingdom. even though
we have to do some bifurcation here, making a distinction between
persons and actions on this level. The sevenfold lamentation goes
like this. Subpoint one, dedication of the
archery to Jonathan, which is described for us in verse 18. Here's what it says. And he also
bade them to teach the children of Judah the use of the what?
Behold it is written in the book of Joshua now in most of your
Bibles. You will mark that verse 18 is Bracketed with parentheses. This is what we call a parenthetical
statement It's inserted here because David wanted to the author
wanted us to know that David did more than sing a song With
regards to Jonathan He wanted us to know that he knew something
about the gift that God had given Jonathan and one of the gifts
that God had given Jonathan was the gift of archery and Jonathan
was an excellent bowman. Jonathan knew how to shoot the
arrow. David knew how to sling stones.
Jonathan knew how to shoot arrows. And Jonathan was famous for this
skill set and David wanted to honor him. That's what you do.
You discover and you mark out people's gifts and when they're
gone you honor their gift. Is that true? And so what David
is doing here is honoring the gift of Jonathan and he used
it actually as a strategic component in war with Israel from that
point on. Because Israel was not used to
shooting bowls. They had spears and hacksaws
and hammers and picks and rakes because they were agriculturalists.
Now David is going to create a legitimate army and in his
army, his men will learn how to shoot the bow. But I call
this under our first point or observation, the dedication of
the archery, the bow of communion. Is that in yours as a parentheses?
The bow of communion. What do I mean by that? Do you
remember the time when David and Jonathan were talking in
chapter 20 about how Jonathan would stand in the gap for David?
We'll get back there a little later. And Jonathan would mediate
for David in the presence of the king. Jonathan would find
out whether or not the king really was out to kill David. And because
they had to speak in code, very much like the mysteries of the
gospel that God's people are called to speak in, speaking
in parables, speaking in symbols, speaking in metaphors, speaking
in language that the enemy would not be able to get, speaking
in apocalyptic language like the book of Revelation, coded
speech Babylon and Jerusalem and Balaam and Jezebel. In the
New Testament, why? Coded language. The elect would
get it because they study their Bible. We would know that Jezebel
in Revelation chapter 2 is not the resurrection of that old
witch that we gonna be dealing with a couple weeks now, but
her spirit is present in the church, usurping authority according
to God's rule and dominating the church through her hyper-feminine
apostate ways. You guys got that. And so God
uses that language in order for those who are not students of
the Scripture to miss it. The secret of the Lord, the mysteries
of the Lord, the gospel of the Lord is with them that fear Him
and He will reveal His covenant to them. So David is honoring
the communion that existed between him and Jonathan by which David
escapes the hand of Saul. And Jonathan is taken into David's
situation and has to suffer. This is the doctrine of substitution.
You guys remember that? Jonathan sits there and takes
the same javelin throw at him that David did, in order that
David might escape the wrath of Saul. Substitution. Greater love hath no man than
this, than that he lay down his life for his friend. Subpoint
B, the mighty are fallen. You hear this phrase, this term,
this nomenclature frequently when powerful men die. It's a
phrase that's used in war all the time. And in our context,
David uses it three times for emphasis. Notice what it says
here in verse 19. The beauty of Israel is slain
upon the high places. How are the mighty, what? Verse 25 again then, how are
the mighty fallen in the midst of battle? Jonathan thou was
slain in thy high places and again verse 27 here it is how
are The mighty fallen and the weapons of war Paris there you
go That's your now bracket for the whole of David's lamentation
the mighty have fallen And in a country on a national level,
when your rulers die a tragic death, particularly as a consequence
and at the hand of their national enemies, everyone cries, don't
they? How the mighty are fallen. And so this is a statement of
dedication on David's part towards Saul and Jonathan. Subpoint C,
denying the triumph of the enemy. I love this. David is contained
enough in the lamentation that he's yielding for to also make
sure he continues to fight against the enemies of God. Verse 20. Tell it not in Gath. Do not publish
it in the streets of Ashkelon. What is he saying? Do not give
God's enemy the right to rejoice over the suffering and demise
of the people of God. This is an interesting insight
that I could take some time to develop, but this is about character
and this is about perspective. Will you hear me, child of God?
Listen carefully. When you're part of God's kingdom, make sure
you know whose side you're on. And when you have clearly identified
the people of God as the people of God, you love the people of
God. You dignify the people of God.
You don't throw the people of God under the bus. You don't
make the church bad because you bad. No, you had a bad day, not
the church. Because each one of us are members
of his body. Bone of his bone, flesh of his
flesh. Will you hear me? Bone of his
bone, flesh of his flesh. And the dignified believer views
the body of Christ from the standpoint of Christ, not himself. I remember
Dr. Pronunciation, years ago, oh,
oh, Dutch theologian, pastor. Y'all couldn't stand Dr. Prunk
if he preached. He didn't have an ounce of humor
in him. He was as austere as Dutch brothers come. Hard to
understand too when you got this Dutch-English mix. But one of
the things Dr. Prunk would say to me, Jesse,
I was an elder at that time, Jesse, the church is not something
that you believe. It's something you believe in.
The church is not something you believe. It's something you believe
in. You have to see the church through
God's eyes. Because if you don't see it through
God's eyes, you ain't going to see no church. You're going to see
a bunch of raggedy people whose lives is a mess that you ain't
going to have nothing to do with. But see, I hurried up and made
that proposition all about me too. Because if I look at myself
without looking to Christ, I'm just like the church. Jacked
up! And if I'm gonna throw you under
the bus, I gotta throw myself under the bus. And just like
I have to believe in Christ, whom I do not see, I have to
believe in the lovely family of God, whom I can only see by
faith. Are you guys hearing me? And
this is why he says to us, love one another. This is why he says
to us, love one another. And if I love one, if I love
you as I love Christ, am I going to rejoice at your demise? Am
I going to be rejoicing when your enemy is able to rejoice
over you because you fall? Should I not say, let it not
be so in Gath? Let no gospel go forth in the
camp of my brother or sister's enemies. Why should I allow the
ungodly to rejoice at your demise or your faults or your falls
when you are a member of the body of Christ? Somebody will
get that in a moment. Why should I sit with the wicked
and rejoice with the wicked over the righteous? Why should I let
those who don't know God have no lot in the inheritance of
God rejoice over the demise of God's elect? Let it not be so. Why should the ungodly out there
who constantly look for ways to fault the church be a team
I wanna be on. Am I making some sense? Are you
guys hearing what I'm saying? Some of you, this is gonna take
you to your next level of appreciation for the grace of God and for
placing you into the body. And then you're gonna learn how
to nurture the body as the body nurtures you instead of being
like a ravening wolf willing to cut off your own leg just
to survive. This is what David is saying.
Don't let the enemy rejoice at the fall of the people of God.
Give them no grounds for gospel. This is absolutely interesting.
Are you guys with me so far? Let me run through some Proverbs.
Proverbs chapter 24, 17. I quoted this before. I want
you to get it. Proverbs 24, 17. You do not rejoice when your
enemy falls. You do not rejoice when your enemy falls. Do you
guys see that? Do not rejoice when your enemy
falls. Now, this is a warning against the ungodly towards the
godly. This is a warning to those that
pretend or who are overtly hostile to God's people. Here's what
God is saying to the ungodly. The godly are your enemies. We
are the enemy of the ungodly in so much as we tell them the
truth. And they count us as enemies,
right? Meanwhile, we have a hard time telling them the truth because
we don't like being enemies with the ungodly, but we are. And
they do rejoice when you fall. That's how you know they're your
enemies. That was good. That's free. I'm going to help you with it. I'm
going to help you with it. You know a person is your enemy when
they rejoice when you fall. Did you get that? Did you get
it? They may be smiling, smiling, but smiling faces show know what? Uh-huh, this old school right
there, old school right there. Now, now watch this now. So you
only know your enemy when you stumble and fall and they rejoice
against you. But God says, let not your enemy
fall and let not your heart be glad when they stumble. So you
and I have to work on our hearts, don't we? Because you know what?
You might rejoice when your enemy falls, but the problem is, verse
18, here it is. Bless the Lord, what? And he
do what? And he turn away his wrath from
him. Let me show you how this works redemptively. The enemy
always rejoices when we fall. But what they fail to understand
is that a just man falls seven times, yet shall he stand. What they fail to understand
is that the caveat, the key that we have by which we are always
overcomers is the resurrection. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
They don't understand the resurrection. They don't believe that there's
a day wherein we're gonna rise up again even though they rejoice
now. Revelation chapter 11. I want you to see this. Very
important. This is just a gospel principle that you must get.
Revelation chapter 11 verses 7 through 13 describe the two
witnesses and we've described them and explained them in time
past as being a representation of the church of the living God.
Are we not all called to bear witness to God? Are we not His
witnesses? And in the world, shall we not
also have what? Tribulation? Will not the beast
rise up from season to season and persecute the church? And
torment the church? And kill the witness of the church?
Has that not happened over history? But where the enemy has succeeded
politically and socially and even militarily to seek to kill
the saints, doesn't God raise up another witness? So then listen
to the language. And when they shall have finished
their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless
pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them. And
what? Verse eight. And their bodies shall lie in
the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom
and Egypt, where our Lord was crucified. The theater of war
is often the church. Verse nine. they have the people
in kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three
days and a half and they shall not suffer their dead bodies
to be put in graves so hostile and hateful towards us they will
not dignify us and bury us they want the world to see our demise
so that everyone else rejoices with them verse 10 and they that
dwell upon the earth shall what ah they're violating proverb
24 They shall rejoice over them and make merry and shall send
gifts. There it is, a pseudo gospel to one another because
these two prophets tormented them. That's what the gospel
does when it's preached faithfully to this world. When we tell this
world God doesn't change, God doesn't lie, doesn't fail. When
we tell this world his word is forever settled in heaven, that
not one jot and tittle of God's law will ever be altered or perverted
or twisted and changed. Even though our world is constantly
changing, God will not change, His word will not change, and
His people's obedience to that word will not change. They will
hate you for that. You guys got that? Everything
is changing in this world but God's commandments. And by that
they are tormented. This is why everywhere in the
world they want to get rid of the Word of God. See, the Word
of God is the problem. Not church folk. They can live
with us because they can twist us into knots, put duct tape
over our mouth, keep us shut. But they can't change that book.
So the goal is to first get the book out of your hand so that
you have no authority when you speak to the world. And then
get rid of your Bible so that you have no Christianity to be
convicted by. That essentially puts us to death.
Is that true? Are you dead? as a professing
church when you throw the Bible away? Are you dead as a professing
Christian when you no longer walk according to the precepts
of Scripture? You're dead. You're dead. And because these
two prophets tormented them day and night that dwelt upon the
earth. Verse 11. And after three and a half days,
the Spirit of life from God entered into them. Is that good? They
thought they had killed the witness. They was barbecuing and drinking
and getting a party all. And God said, boo, and raised
them right back up. Can God do that for his people?
Can he raise them from the dead? Will God sometimes make it look
like you're done with, over with, wiped out, through, and then
raise you back up all to the consternation of your enemies?
Oh man, I thought she was gone. I thought she lost her job. I
thought she lost that house. I thought she went insane. I
thought she went crazy. I thought she stopped going to
church. Here she go again talking about how good the Lord has been
to her. She got a better glow on her
now than she did before they took her out. It's a greater
glow now. The saints, listen, when you
get a taste of the power of the resurrection, you will fear nothing,
let alone coughing arguments and assailments on the part of
your enemies. Bring it on. The greater the weight of tribulation,
the greater the glory. That's what we believe, is that
right? That's what we believe. They stood upon their feet and
great fear fell upon them which saw them. you deserve that fear
verse 12 and they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto
them come up hither and they ascended up into heaven in a
cloud and their enemies beheld their exaltation this is what
the believer is promised on the last day that's good is that
good Let's go back to our text because I'm burning time here.
I don't want y'all to turn into pumpkins. Point number D. The valiant war of a father-son
collaboration. Look at what David says in verse
21. You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither
let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offering, for there
the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away. The shield of Saul,
as though it had not been anointed with oil, from the blood of the
slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not
back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. What is David doing
here? David here is describing the
unity between Saul and his son Jonathan in the campaigns of
war that they fought, and then finally their demise on the mountains
of Gilboa. And what David is doing is prophesying
to the mountain to respect the death of God's servants. That's
powerful. He's saying don't let it rain.
No dew, no rain. You respect that God's servants
have fallen on your land. That's holy ground. I love it. What are we dealing with? Perhaps
hyperbole. Perhaps exaggerated speech on
David's part. Perhaps David is speaking from
the depths of his soul in his love for God and his love for
the kingship. in his recognition of the authority
of Israel over all the land and is saying to the land, land,
God's people own you. You bow down when God's people
are slain. Can you see that? I can see that.
Of course, the rain is going to come down as God would have
it. Of course, the dew is going to rise as God would have it.
But as God caused the sun to darken on the day when his king
of kings was slain, So David is speaking prophetically to
Gilboa. Are you hearing me? Because the
king that's slain is going to always point to the ultimate
king that is slain. But what I want you to see here
is the valiant war of a father and son collaboration. What the
text is teaching us clearly is the unity of Jonathan and David.
Look at verse 23. Saul and Jonathan were lovely
and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were
not what? They were swifter than eagles and they were stronger
than lions. I love this. This here is the, again, this
is the eulogy of David in words, but it is elegiac in song. This
is the expression of David in very eloquent terms about the
unity of Jonathan and Saul. Pleasant, unified, swift, and
strong. These are all attributes that
correspond to the relationship between God the Father and God
the Son. everything that the Father did
the Son did. In everything that the Son did
the Father did. John 5 17 Jesus says my Father
is working and I am working with my Father. The unity of the Son
and the Father. Jesus answered and said my Father
works in the two and I what? Work. Do you see the unity? John
chapter 10 verse 30, I and the Father are what? One in nature,
one in unity, one in work. Distinct in persons, but one
in their work. So that when we read in Ezekiel
chapter 1, around verse 17 and following, don't go there. Ezekiel
says, I saw a wheel and another wheel in the middle of the wheel.
And the Spirit of the living God with the wheels so that wherever
the Spirit of God went, the wheels went. And wherever the wheels
went, the Spirit of God went. If the Spirit of God rose up,
the wheels rose up. If the wheels went down, the
Spirit of God went down. And it talks about the unity
of Him who is called the glory of God. This is the unity of
the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit in all of the work that
they do. Don't have time to unpack it.
Glorious. It wore Ezekiel out. That movie,
chapter 1, wore Ezekiel out. It wore him out because he was
looking at colors and flashes and images and shapes he had
never seen before. He had to close out his story
by saying, this is the glory of God. Wonderful, wonderful,
wonderful. You and I never, ever have to
contemplate that the father had a will different than the son.
They had individual wills, but their wills were always unified. Jesus never did anything that
his father did not first show him or tell him. Am I making
some sense? And this is where Jonathan and
Saul are depicting the office of the anointed king in his unity
with his father. And so David is picking up on
that. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Our next sub point, the wealth,
the wealth of the weeping women to be what? Oh, look, look at
verse 24 for a second. We're almost done. Ye daughters
of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in what? With other
delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel. I
like this. This gets very practical, but there is a spiritual lesson
here. These sisters are walking around living large. You see
the gold, don't you? You see the apparel, right? You
see the splendid, ornate dress that's assumed in this text,
right? It's all a consequence of the triumph and plunderings
of war. The victories and successes of
Jonathan and Saul brings home the booty and plunder of their
enemies so that the people of Israel are dressed in the wonderful
attire of success. You and I wear the beautiful
garments of Christ's righteousness. We possess the riches and wealth
of Jesus Christ and his plundering hell to deliver us. And all of
the treasures of darkness are ours because of the victory of
Christ on the cross. Am I making some sense? You and
I are gilded in gold and silver and precious stones and white
raiment and the splendor of a crown on our head because we are the
bride of Christ and we bear his glory right now. right now. You are a dignitary
in the kingdom of God if you've been born again. And you are
beautiful in God's sight. The king's daughter is all glorious
within. She's draped in the gold of Ophir. Psalm 45. Beautiful, splendid,
magnificent in God's eyes. Why do we look that way? Because
of the labors and efforts of God the Father and God the Son
to plunder our enemies and make us sons and daughters in the
kingdom of God. Y'all get that? That's a moment for rejoicing,
by the way. Because you were a hell-bound sinner. You were
a pauper. You were broke. You were in debt.
You didn't have a dime. In fact, you was naked and hell-bound.
And God in His love saw you out in the open field. Ezekiel chapter
16. Naked in all your sin, lying
there where you have been rejected by this world, the devil, and
your first parents. And in His love, He suppled you.
He washed you up. He purged you of your iniquities.
And in that day, he made a covenant with you and he called you his. And then he decked you out in
beautiful array and put a big old diamond in the middle of
your forehead so that everybody in the world can know that you
are his bride. This is my sister. This is my
woman. Leave your hands off. That's
what God did for us in the redemption of our souls. And so here, these
women are to weep for the king and his demise. I love this.
The antithesis is clear. Remember when Jesus was headed
to Calvary and he saw Jerusalem and the women weeping for Jesus?
You know what he told them? Don't weep for me. I know I'm
coming back from the dead. You weep for yourselves. Did
you guys get that? Don't weep for me. I'll be back.
And those who trust me, you'll be back with me. So that wasn't
a time for weeping in that sense. Our final sub point seven. The
love of David and Jonathan is the covenant love of Christ and
the church. See, in this death that took
place in chapter 30, this is where we'll be ending here. We'll
deal with our last point. When we see the demise of Jonathan,
we remark, not Jonathan, but Saul, we remarked last week that
Saul died selfishly, didn't he? He died for no one. No one was
redeemed by Saul's death. Saul's death was the infamous
selfish act of an attempted suicide that ultimately led to his demise
both by the Philistines and the Amalekites. He died alone. He went to his own place like
Judas Iscariot. But his son Jonathan dies as
a substitute for sinners. See, this is why you gotta hold
on to the narrative. Are we dealing with narrative
theology? And I've taught you, you cannot understand your text
in front of you without understanding the larger context. David was
always, Jonathan was always in a mediatorial role. Jonathan
was always standing in the gap for David. Jonathan had made
a covenant long ago with David. And you know what he told David?
He told David, you gonna be king. You know what that means? I have
to die. Because he was next in line for the throne. And his
daddy told him, you gotta die, you silly boy. If you think David
is gonna take the throne, you've got to die for David to do it,
because David was not born in the family. And Jonathan said,
I'm willing to die. That's how much I love him. And
I told you, he was a type of Christ in reverse. that he died
for David and David had to die for him as Christ had to die
for us. And as David and Jonathan made
a covenant way back then, so God the Father and God the Son
made a covenant way back when. And when Christ died, his death
delivered you and me, we are the Mephibosheps that will come
up in the next couple of chapters. All because he loved us enough
to lay his life down for us. Are you guys hearing me? Jonathan
is lovely. This is why David is saying in
his elegy, you are more lovely to me than a woman's love. And
listen, there is no contradiction. There is no contrast here. This is simply demonstrating
the elevated nature of a covenant love that really can only be
executed by God. We who are real men. Coach had
it coming out of my mouth. Just pat him on the back. Just
help him. Help him, sister. He already knew my... He snatched
him out because he knew what I'm about to say, just in case
you don't get it. We love our women just like that. You can clap. We love our women. You can clap. Yeah, we do. We love our women. And on this
side of glory, there's no love like the love of a woman. the
love of our mothers, the love of our grandmothers, the love
of our sisters, the love of our aunts and those who know how
to be real women. We love that. Real men love that. We need that. We want that. The
love of our wives. We cherish that. You understand? We are willing to die for that.
That is the model of Christ and the church. Did you get that?
We love that love. But no one can love you like
one of my sisters said. No one can do me like Jesus.
I'm going to just let that roll right there. No one can do me
like Jesus. That's why when we get on each
other's nerves, We know how to set you aside for a minute and
get our groove on with the one that really loves us. Did you
get that? Let me get my groove on with
the one who loved me enough to keep me in covenant. Before I
had a being, he loved me. When I came into the world, he
loved me. While I was living in sin, he kept me. And then he called me by his
grace. And even to this hour, the one who loved me and gave
himself for me is now keeping me because he wants me to see
him one day face to face. And I want to see him, too. I
want to see the king in all of his beauty. I want to see him
in all of his splendor, in all of his magnificent regalia as
my lovely Lord and Savior. Don't you want to see him? How
can you not love a God who prepared for you in covenant love a place
to be with him? And right now I'm just thinking
John 14 15 and 17, but I ain't even got time to talk about it
Father I will that those you have given me know the love that
I have for you and you for me That they might have it in them
so that we might enjoy the oneness that we have together there's
a oneness of love between the father and the son and the people
of God which was seen in David and Jonathan and A oneness of
love. A oneness of love that provided
salvation for the seed. Mephibosheth is loved. He's loved. Our final point. Jonathan made
his grave with the rich and the wicked in his death because Jonathan
loved David and died for him. Jonathan made a covenant with
David for his seed, Mephibosheth. And the lesson for you and me
is clear. We are only saved because of a covenant between God the
Father and His Son. Ephesians 1 3 blessed be the
Lord God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who have blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus 2nd Timothy chapter 1 9 God who has saved us and called us
with a holy calling not according to our works but according to
his own purpose and grace which we had with him in Christ before
the world began did y'all get that before the world began I
had a purpose and grace in God in Christ before the world began
before the world began I had a grace and purpose in Christ
And Christ secured that for me by making his grave with the
rich and the wicked in his death. So that down the line, 2,000
years later, the Holy Ghost hunted me down, tapped me on my shoulders,
and handed me my papers and said, you are a child of the living
God. You don't have to run no more. You don't have to run anymore. Just read the contract. Read
the will of your father. God has provided a place for
you with him in Christ for all eternity. This is how much he
has loved us. And we rejoice in that love,
do we not? All right, somebody say amen. Amen. All right, we're
going to have the offering at this time.