If you will turn back in your
Bibles to 1st Samuel chapter 20. 1st Samuel chapter 20. We are in the 20th chapter of
1st Samuel and we are contemplating a mode of ministry that our Lord
is uniquely qualified for and I might say exclusively committed
to and that is the role of mediator. There is one Mediator between
God and man and that is the man whom. And this concept of the
Mediator is what we were talking about last week as I called your
attention in chapter 19 to three Mediators. The first Mediator
was the wife of David. Her name was Michael and we called
her a diabolical Mediator. a diabolical mediator. Now, we
won't see Michael for another six or seven chapters, eight
chapters or so, but when we catch up with Sue Ellen, we will engage
in another episode of Dallas. And we will learn some things
about the diabolical mediator, because she doesn't fit the character,
although she took on the office. We then also talked about the
divine mediator in Samuel, who stood as a refuge for David,
wherein David ran and hid from the wrath of Saul. And we saw
marvelously how that the Spirit of God showed up in his power
to rebuke Saul and his men three times for their having violated
Psalm 105 verse 15 parts A and B. Touch not mine anointed and
do my prophets no harm. Is that not what we saw? And
we saw a marvelous manifestation of Saul's unqualified state in
the office of king, which is a messianic office in itself,
and the role of prophet. And we saw how that God allowed
Saul to be among the prophets, though he was not a saved man,
he was not regenerate, he was not born again, so he was once
again engaging in the hypocrisy of appearing to be one thing
when in fact he was another. And we saw how that the Spirit
of God threw Saul on the ground and made him to wallow naked
in a very unseemly fashion in chapter 19 to show us that Saul
was actually operating out of an antichrist spirit against
the man whom God Had anointed and called to the office of king
and that is david and those models are motifs of the struggles on
a spiritual level In the kingdoms of this world against the kingdom
of god. We deal with the tension and
struggle of christ being persecuted Christ being assaulted, the gospel
being challenged and assaulted by every system in this world. Saul represents the flesh. He
represents the first Adam. He represents the carnal earthly
man who will not give up his crown rights easily. And if he
could, he would kill Jesus. We saw how that Saul represented
the nation of Israel typically because in the same fashion as
Saul is persecuting David with the desire to kill him, so the
leaders of Israel persecuted Jesus even to death, did they
not? And so this is how we understand
the centrality of the gospel in the Old Testament as it points
to the New. David is the protological Jesus. Jesus is the eschatological David. The promises are fulfilled in
Christ. And just to give you just a bit
more of an understanding of that omen, that warning, that sign
of Saul being thrown down by the Spirit of God, do you remember
in 2nd Kings chapter 1, when the Syrians came to take Elijah
the prophet, and as they sought to take him, he plainly said
to them, if I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven
and consume them. And three times fire consumed
the 50 servants that came after him. You guys remember that.
Again, these are what we call patterns of redemptive truth
in the scripture to teach us the mind of God. And finally,
in John's Gospel, Chapter 18, where our Lord has been betrayed
by Judas Iscariot, who is another Saul type, occupying the office,
but not being qualified to it, and thus being energized by an
anti-Christ spirit, Judas betrays Jesus and gets the high priest
and his soldiers, and they go after Jesus in the Garden of
Gethsemane. And you remember in John's Gospel,
Chapter 18, as they approach Jesus, He said unto them, who
are you seeking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And immediately the power of
God manifested itself by knocking them all down. What it was doing
was affirming that Christ came in the volume of the book. That
David was a type of Christ as king. And Elijah was a type of
Christ as Messiah. But behold, Messiah is here now.
And he knocks them down to let them know You can't do nothing
to me if I didn't want you to. But because he was not David,
nor Elijah, nor Joseph, nor Daniel, nor the others who were typical
of him, he had to give himself up. Our master willingly and
voluntarily gave himself to them that they might do unto him as
they willed. We were working through this
concept of the mediator last week and we saw the beauty of
it. And today I want you to understand that third mediator of whom we
spoke about in our text. That man is Jonathan. Jonathan
was what we called what? The devoted mediator. We have
the diabolical mediator in Michael, we have the divine mediator in
Samuel, and we have the devoted mediator in Jonathan. Now I use those adjectives advisedly
because I read along further in the text and I work through
the larger text and determine how to frame my points in light
of the larger text. Why am I calling Jonathan the
devoted mediator? Well, because if you recall when
Jonathan met David at the battle against Goliath, immediately
Jonathan fell in love with David. And in chapter 18 verses 1 through
4, some very symbolic and yet rich things took place in Jonathan's
gesture towards David. Remember that? It said that Jonathan
loved David and then Jonathan gave to David all of his armor
and Jonathan yielded to David as if David was the one who should
have the right to the throne. And we looked at all that language
and we were amazed at how David received from Jonathan that accolade. even though it would cost Jonathan,
as you see now in chapter 20, his relationship with his own
family. Fundamentally, Jonathan has proven and will prove himself
to be a devoted mediator to David. Now, what did we learn last week
about what it means to be a mediator? It means to stand in the gap,
to intercede on the behalf of one person because of the enmity
and wrath of another against him. When you and I are operating
in the office of mediator, we are standing in the gap between
two hostile parties. When you are mediating, you are
assuming a position of having favor with both parties. When
you are mediating, you are assuming that you have favor with both
parties or else you are not a qualified mediator because how can you
reconcile two parties with which you only have favor with one?
And this is why we call Jesus the God-man. Because he has favor
both with man and with God. He assumed our nature and it
shows that he loves us and we love him. But he was also very
God of very God and he loved his father and his father loved
him. Which makes him the qualified mediator to stand between God
and man and reconcile us to God. Is that true? Reconcile us to
God so qualified mediators have the favor of both parties and
they stand in the gap Representing both parties now what we're looking
at in chapter 20 today is really a larger development of that
short terse statement of chapter 18 1 through 4 where we didn't
understand how the author says and Jonathan made a covenant
with David that day for he loved David and But what you will hear
from chapters 18 through chapter 25 is three times Jonathan and
David make covenants. Well, in our text today, we are
going to see what the text is intended to do with that covenant
we read about in chapter 18. It's going to expand and explain
to us how that David, sorry, Jonathan is a devoted mediator. See, when you stand in the gap
for someone, you are taking on their issues. When you mediate
for someone, you are assuming responsibility for that individual. When you actually stand in the
gap in a biblical model of mediation, you are now entering into their
what? Suffering. So the doctrine of
mediation is going to teach us how that you and I as believers
enter into the sufferings of Christ and entering into those
sufferings we come to know him more fully and then we can represent
him more clearly in this world. Am I making some sense? You're
going to see the model of Jonathan being a mediator for David as
David is also a mediator for Jonathan and how that David is
going to represent Jonathan and Jonathan is going to represent
David and that's how it is for every believer. Everything that
Jesus is we are in him. and everything that we are, he
was for us. Am I a hell-bound sinner by nature?
Then Jesus Christ bore my sin and he found himself experiencing
all of the wrath of God in my behalf. Am I a child of the Most
High God, rooted and grounded in Christ, seated at His right
hand? Then it's because I've been placed
in Jesus Christ and made to be the Son of God right along with
Jesus because all that Jesus is for me. Am I making some sense? And I want to unpack that today
in our text to show you the beauty of the privilege of the priesthood
of the people of God. Why last week when I closed,
I asked you the question. Is there anywhere in your life
where you occupy the role of mediator? Do you stand in the
gap for somebody? Is there somebody you love enough
to go to the Most High God in prayer continually that God might
deliver them? That's the privilege of the saints
of God. Do you spend your life consumed
with your own goals and agendas and purposes so as to have no
one to stand in the gap for? If you do, you are a friend to
no one. Because the role of mediator
is the role of friends. Greater love hath no man than
this, than that he lay down his life for his friend. The whole
of chapter 20 Is Jonathan proving that he is a devoted mediator
to David? Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? Point number one then under the paradigm, point number
one in our outline as we work through this marvelous account,
the man under the king's wrath. The man under the king's wrath. Who is that man? That man is
David. in 1st Samuel chapter 20 verses
1 through 8 we won't read all of it but if you read it what
you would discover is that David has now fled from Saul's house
because remember Saul tried to take him out twice and David
his mama didn't raise no fool didn't we say that David took
off and finally he caught up with the one mediator of The
one last mediator that he hopes to be able to reconcile this
issue with his enemy, the king. He's talking to Jonathan, his
dear beloved friend. In verses 1 through 8, ladies
and gentlemen, give us David's passionate plea with Jonathan. It's a passionate plea. We're
not going to read it, but David says effectively to Jonathan,
Jonathan, you don't get it? Your daddy is trying to kill
me, man. Who am I? I'm a flea. I'm nothing in the
kingdom and here your father is seeking to kill me now ladies
and gentlemen Here's what I want you to get out of this first
eight verses What it feels like Spiritually when your eyes are
opened to the reality that you are under the wrath of God David
here pictures the awakened sinner Who has discovered that the king
is? has a sentence of death laid
on him and that there's nowhere he can go but to a mediator to
resolve this matter. Ah, this is very important because
you see today in our preaching, no one's under the wrath of God.
In our preaching, God doesn't even have wrath. In our preaching,
the first thing we say to people is, God loves you. And the assumption,
therefore, is you are in favor with God, when in reality the
gospel comes to you faithfully to let you know you are a sinner,
you are under the wrath of God, and while as yet you have not
bowed the knee to Jesus Christ, God's wrath hangs over your head. So the model that comes out of
chapter 20, first and foremost, is the doctrine of man's guilt
and condemnation before God and the fact that a holy, righteous
God who is the King of kings and Lord of lords is in pursuit
to send you to hell. Are you guys following that motif?
It's very clear. Listen to what it says in Proverbs
16, 14. You can go there. This is the way that David's
son Solomon describes the power and authority of the King. Proverbs
16, 14. Here it is. The wrath of a king
is as what? Messengers of death. Do you see
that? The wrath of a king is as messengers
of death. That is his words, his desire
to punish the object of his wrath and indignation. Everything he
says is against you. And this is the state of the
unbeliever. This is the state of the unregenerate
man or woman. Ladies and gentlemen, do you
hear me? When the Bible says all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God, it means that God's hostility hangs over
the head of sinners and the only thing they can expect for God
to do is exact justice against them. It's remarkable, isn't
it? That God would let you and me live in his world while we
stick our fist in his face, deny his word, breathe his air, eat
his food, live in the bodies he gave us and not honor him
as sovereign Lord. It's amazing that he would do
that, right? We call that his temporal mercy. But the reality
is, is that sinners are dying every day by the hundreds of
thousands. And those who die outside of
Christ are quickly descending into hell to await the final
judgment. It is incumbent upon us as a
priesthood, if we love sinners, to mediate on the behalf of God
first and tell the sinner, God is against you until you bow
the knee to Jesus. And then on the behalf of sinners,
to cry out to God to have mercy on those we care and love about.
so as to wake them to their need of Christ. See, in reality, what's
happening to David as a type of the guilty, hell-bound sinner,
as a type of God's elect, God has awakened David to his mortality,
to his sinfulness. Do you remember the day God began
to do that with you? You thought you were all that,
a piece of bread, and everything else. And when the Word of God
came in power, it showed you that you were a rebel against
a holy God. And your soul began to be clearly
aware that you were in trouble with God. Can I get a witness?
And you began this urgent, urgent, anxious pursuit to get away from
God. Because you didn't know how to
resolve your own problem. That's the first work of the
Holy Ghost, John 16, eight. And when he, the spirit of truth
has come, he will convince the world of sin, which we are quickly
getting rid of as a definition in our churches. And as part
of the proposition that we share with people, see, we don't like
to offend people, but can I share something with you? If you don't
mediate like Jonathan is mediating toward the king for David, you
don't love centers. You don't love sinners if you
know sinners are headed to hell and you don't stand before the
king And stand up the sinner and say to the king have mercy
on him You talk about how much you love jesus, but if we are
not spending time in prayer for our lost loved ones Asking for
the spirit of god to work Mind you i'm going to tell you again
you who call yourself by christ's name are the only ones that have
right to the throne No one else has right to the throne but the
believer Do you think Jonathan is going to casually sit at dinner
with his dad tonight? Knowing what David has pleaded
with him about in verses 1 through 8 and not do something about
it Listen Jonathan truly loved David By the way, as we are working
through point number one, the wrath, the man under the wrath
of the king. I want you to understand again,
verses one through eight, give us what I call the passionate
plea of David to Jonathan. Go back there. The passionate
plea David to Jonathan and by the time that David finishes
talking to Jonathan here's what we read over in verse 9 of chapter
20 this is where Jonathan speaks up and Jonathan said far be it
from thee for I know certainly that evil was determined by my
father to come upon thee and Then would I not tell it to thee?
Here's what Jonathan is saying. As David is pleading with Jonathan
to understand what's going on, Jonathan lets David know, listen,
if I knew, if I knew, wouldn't I tell you? Watch this now. I
want you to get this. And this is so important. When
someone is passionate about something that they are convinced is true,
and they are bringing that news to you, The issue becomes then
whether or not you are really listening to them. Stay with
me, I'm going to show you how you build the role of the mediator.
Because if an issue comes where an individual is saying, you
know what, this is my problem, this is my struggle, this is
my challenge, these are the issues that I'm dealing with, and I'm
coming to you because I trust that you are my friend. Well,
if that person is your friend, won't they listen to you? And
with what kind of hearing will they listen to you? They will
hear you first believing what you said. Believing what you
said. Secondly, you know what they're
going to do? They're going to actually enter into the emotional content
of your words. Watch this, because the only
way you can be a mediator in the biblical sense is to have
compassion on the petitioner. Are you hearing me? Watch this.
The passion of David led to the compassion of Jonathan. Do you
know what compassion is? It's sympathy for the sufferer. Passion is nothing but the word
pathos and it means to suffer. Sympathical means to enter into
the suffering. When we become sympathetic to
someone, we join them in their what? Suffering. Is Jonathan
joining David in his suffering? He did it first by listening.
How does faith come? And hearing by what? So as David
is making it clear to Jonathan, I am a man under wrath and you
can help me. If Jonathan is going to execute
his office as mediator in a devoted way, he must first feel David's
pain. Is that true? And in this sense,
Jonathan is a great type of Jesus Christ because Hebrews chapter
four around verse 15 tells us We have an high priest who has
been touched with the filling of our infirmity. And because
of that, he is able to help those who come to him. Are you guys
hearing me? We have a master who's been through
what we've been through. We're going to get into that
a little bit because the doctrine being established today is the
doctrine of union between the believer and Christ. Between
Christ and the believer. See, David's name means what
in the Hebrew? Beloved. It's Christ God's beloved. And Jonathan, bless God, do you
know what Jonathan's name means in the Hebrew? Gift of God. Hallelujah. He's the gift of
the Lord. Now, who is the gift of the Lord
to us? Christ. But we are also, as true
believers, the gift of God the Father to the Son. Do you see
the relationship? David being typically a representative
of the father of Jesus Christ Jonathan a Typical picture of
the believer but in this role is being switched To show us
how we often are called to do the very things that Jesus was
called to do step in the gap Are you guys seeing that stand
in the gap? This is why we are the body of
Christ. I And thus, we enter into the priestly role of mediating
for sinners as Christ did. But until you and I enter into
Christ's sufferings, we won't know how to mediate. Did anybody
raise your hand if you got what I just said? Good. I can go on
preaching now, because I can't worry about those of you who
didn't get it. Under point number one, the man under the king's
wrath, there are simply two observations I want to make, and I want to
move to my second point quickly. The king's wrath is God's wrath
against rebel what? Humanity I've already affirmed
that secondly Christ The real sinners real what? Whoo, that's
good See so now when you read the Old Testament and you read
about how the Saints suffered and how they struggled and you
see what David is going through Quickly launched to first Peter
chapter 1 verse 10 because David is a prophet suffering as a type
of Christ Do you see that? And this is what the prophets
of old declare, both the sufferings and the glory that should follow.
When you read your Bible, all that's taking place, pull it
up, 1 Peter 1, verse 10, all that's going on in the Old Testament
is really a lot of suffering. Let me talk about this as I lay
the foundation. When you read your Bible, honestly,
there ain't a whole lot of good stuff going on. If you read your
Bible honestly stay with me for a moment because I see people
who twist and distort scripture Will tell you that there's this
kind of Pollyanna world that if you tap into it properly You
can have all the joy on all the blessings and all the goodness
and all the favor of the Lord and all that stuff As if life
is not largely filled with trouble When you read your Bible is largely
filled with trouble Can I tell you why? Because the true gospel
is a sinner's gospel. It's designed to meet sinners
in their trouble. And to show sinners how to call
on God in the midst of their trouble. And what you see David
going through is trouble. Because we're getting ready to
watch David run way out into the wilderness, way out into
the mountains, way out into the caves. Saul is getting ready
to hunt David down. And David's going to be a fugitive
from the kingdom for several months, if not a few years. Are
you hearing me? And David is going to feel the
weight of what it means to be under the wrath of the king until
God delivers him. And that's largely our experience
of which salvation the prophets have inquired, searching diligently,
Who prophesied of the grace that should come to you verse 11?
It should be there in first peter chapter 1 verse 11 Here searching
what or what manner of time the spirit of christ which was where?
And them stop right there Was david a prophet? Was abraham
a prophet was joseph a prophet was abel a prophet? Absolutely. Why because their lives patterned
christ. That's why they were written
down And what you see in the life of David is prophetically
the sufferings of Christ. Are you guys hearing me? Prophetically
the sufferings of Christ. Now watch this. Here's another
theological truth I want you to get. There could never be
one experience of suffering for Christ had he not been a substitute. You got that? There would have
never been a suffering for the God-man had the God-man not first
became the God-man. Because God in his ontological
nature cannot suffer. He is immutable, unchangeable,
holy, implacable. Do you understand? I said it
means that God is beyond any of his creation having any kind
of impact on him unless God voluntarily enters into the mess of our world.
And that's who Jesus is. The moment that man assumed a
human nature, we're going to worship him on December 27th. Worship God. Worship Christ,
the newborn king. Why? Because he assumes a human
nature. The moment you assume humanity, you are assuming a
position of suffering. And the only reason you can see
suffering in the scriptures in the life of him who points to
Jesus is because Jesus is a substitute for sinners. This is why I want
us to go to 2 Corinthians 5 21 now. I'm laying down theological
framework. So when I quickly run through
the text today, you already understand the gospel paradigm. That's what
your Bible is about teaching you about Jesus. And in teaching
you about Jesus is teaching you about you. I'm so glad he assumed
a human nature for me. Do you know that I have never
once experienced the totality of the weight of one of the sins
out of the billions and billions of sins that I have ever committed?
I'm going to say it one more time just so some folks might
just begin to enter into this glorious gospel. I have never
ever once experienced the full weight of one sin out of the
infinitude of sins I've committed against God. Do you know why? Because Christ was my substitute
before the world began so that the vast majority of the weight
of my sin was laid on him. So that my yoke, both in my unregenerate
state and in my safe state, was a light yoke because Christ has
borne my sin for me. The little suffering that I go
through is not the wrath of God because my Savior bore it. It's
enough trouble to teach me how to cry, I'm a father. But I can
never ever say that God has dealt with me according to my sins
because my heavenly father loved me enough to make sure when I
came into this world, he had someone that could succor me
until he brought me to his saving glory, which he did by the power
of the gospel. And I'm making some sense. Our
troubles never ever amount to one sin being dealt with. Christ
has dealt with our sins. so he made him to be sin for
us that's back that's back flip news right there who knew no
sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him and
there's a lot to be said in that point number one done the man
under the king's wrath the king's wrath is against all rebel sinners,
but Christ is a real sinner substitute for those of us who come to trust
him. Secondly, let's move on now.
Second point, the mutual heart of the elect towards Christ and
what? Christ towards the elect. So
for those of you who are going to prosper and benefit from my
teaching, please take these main points seriously when you read
them, because I'm extracting them from the text. The mutual
heart. What does that mean? Two hearts.
The heart of God's elect towards Christ and Christ's heart towards
his elect. That means there is a union between
the two of a heart nature. And I'm drawing that from Jonathan
and David. Are you with me? I'm drawing that from Jonathan
and David. Now, Jonathan has the heart of David. Watch this.
And David has the heart of Jonathan. We've already learned that, that
the love of Jonathan towards David and David towards Jonathan
surpasses the common love of heterosexuals. Isn't that what
we learned? Without even an iota of homoerotic intimation. This is what we call the covenant
love of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost on all
of God's people. And reciprocally, we love him
back. Don't we love him back? Don't we love him back? And we're
getting ready to learn a little bit more about this union doctrine
because that's what our text is teaching. Our text is teaching
that Jonathan is willing to go through hell for David. David
has passionately convinced Jonathan that he feels the wrath and Jonathan
has sworn has sworn that he will stand Before his father for David
and we get ready to see how that unpacks in terms of his concept
But what I want you to grasp in point number two has everything
to do with where you and I stand with Jesus There's a lot of people
say they love Jesus But listen to what point number two underscores
in verse four. Here's what is stated in verse
four. As Jonathan is hearing the appeal of David, Jonathan
said unto David, whatsoever your soul desires, I will even do
it for you. You see that that response is
elicited by Jonathan having heard David very seriously crying out
for a need. And Jonathan responds back to
David, whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. I wish I could get this home
to you. See, what's going on in our town is a massive, massive
testimony of love between two people. Are you hearing me, ladies
and gentlemen? Now watch this now, watch this
now. Jonathan just made a statement that unless God is with him,
he gonna fail. Now watch this, saints. Whenever
any human being says to you, whatever your name is, watch
this. I'll do whatever you want me to do. Tell them to say, just
erase that because you're not Jesus. I understand what you're
saying, but if I actually took your words verbatim, you would
let me down. Are you hearing me? Because there's
no human being on planet Earth that can actually do everything
you need done for your problem to get solved. This is why Jonathan
is a great type of Jesus Christ here. The mediator of desperately
hell-bound sinners chosen in Christ. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? Because he's going to do what is necessary
to make sure David is never taken by the king's wrath. And so under
point number two, two things I want you to grasp. The confirmation
of hearing based upon union of the soul. Faith comes by hearing.
Hearing by the word of God. Colossians chapter 2, verse 1
and 2. I want you to see this in relationship to this thought
I'm having you meditate on. And if I were to give a point
of reputation to what it means to be in relationship with someone.
Going to Colossians 2, 1. I'm going to read Colossians
2, 1 and 2. If I were to give a point of reputation, here's
what I would say. You call yourself a Christian.
We call ourselves Christians. But if you are your job is to
grow up into Christ in all things And take your calling seriously
Your job is to make sure you avoid playing church because
if we play church All we will give people is words And we will
never ever be able to act out of what we say we are called
to do so long as we are merely playing church You therefore
know that you need Jesus in your life 24 hours a day to give you
the grace to do anything spiritual. Is that right? You need Christ
to give you the grace to be able to actually love your mama like
you're supposed to love her. Love your father like you're
supposed to love him. Love your wife like you're supposed to
love her. Love your husband and your children like you're supposed
to. You need the Spirit of Christ. Otherwise, you will simply live
a selfish life. That's all you will do. See,
the Holy Ghost is shutting us up to two men in our text. Two
men who quite honestly are so close to the King that they become
one. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Two men. So the lens is narrowed down to Jonathan and David, the
beloved and the gift of God, and they both got the same issue.
A crazy man trying to take them out. But see, when you are mediating
and you become sympathetic to people's needs, don't you stay
up at night? Don't you call on the Father?
Don't you try to find a way to help them get out of their problem? Don't you, if you could, having
the power or resources or supply, wouldn't you give all that you
have? to deliver them from that plight. At that point, you're
taking on the mediatorial role of Christ. I want my brothers
and sisters at Grace to get that. Because listen, that's the blessing
that you have being a child of God. You get to call heaven down
on your behalf and care and concern for lost people that you can't
do anything about but pray for them. Are you hearing what I'm
saying? Because see, Jonathan standing
before King Saul It's a picture of prayer. It's a picture of
prayer. Do you hear me? Coram Deo, entering
into the presence of God, pleading before God for a healthy, a hell-bound
sinner that you care and love about. How long has it been since
you stood before God pleading for the soul of someone that
you know is under the wrath? Let me show you an insight here.
Colossians chapter two verse one. This is Paul talking to
the church at Colossae. But if you listen carefully the
spirit of Christ is going to rise up out of this text to teach
us how important it is for us to understand his suffering in
order for us to understand the mystery of the gospel. I would,
this is what Paul said to the Church of Colossians, remember
they were struggling with Gnosticism and Legalism and he was trying
to tell them that Christ is sufficient, that Christ is the completion
of God, he is the perfection of God and that as long as you
are in Christ you have everything necessary for life in godliness,
you don't need to go to some world system, some paganism,
some cults in order to have a higher level of walk with God. Here's
what Paul says, for I would that you knew what great conflict
I have for what? Ooh, you see? Now when you anchor
this first line to the redemptive model of Christ in the church,
it makes sense, doesn't it? Does not Christ want you to understand
his atonement, his cross work, justification, propitiation? Doesn't he want you and I to
have access into his sufferings in order that we might be a partaker
of his glory? Don't you want to know more about
Him who loved you and died for you? Do you want to have a superficial
understanding of the cross and yet say you love Jesus? May I
say to you that as Christ died for you, He may very well call
you to die for Him. And if you're going to die for
Him in a way of faith, it's going to be by a revelation of His
suffering. A revelation of His suffering.
a revelation of his conflict for you, for you. I would that you knew what great
conflict, what great agony. Agonizomai is our Greek term.
And it's the same word that our Lord used, or at least the author
Luke uses in the Gospel of Luke when Christ was in the garden
agonizing. Remember that? Agonizing. And
God calls you and me into a deeper knowledge of the atoning work
of Christ so that we can share in his sufferings. Are you hearing
me? So that we can share in his sufferings.
And mark what Paul says. For I would that you knew what
great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea and
as many as have not what? Seen my face in the what? Is
that a paradigm of where we are? We love him but we never saw
him. We heard about his work for us on Calvary 2,000 years
ago, and it has its impact by the Holy Ghost, but I haven't
seen Jesus yet. And one of the remedies for a
carnal life is being brought back to the cross. One of the
remedies for a carnal Christian life is being brought back to
the cross, and the cross being opened up to you so that you
can see God's love for you, to clean you up and get you back
on track. Am I making some sense? So then mark then what it says
in verse 2. Here's what he says in verse
2 His desire being that you would know his conflict that he has
for you Here's what verse 2 says in Colossians with regards to
the impact of it There we go That your heart might be what? See that little word that is
what we call a purpose clause. He wants you to enter into his
suffering So that your heart may be comforted See, when I
know God loved me enough to bear my wrath in my place and suffer
the hell that he did for me, that comforts me. That helps
me bear the little temporal troubles I go through in my life. When
I know God loved me enough to solve my hell problem, my sin
problem, my damnation problem, it gives me great comfort. How
about you? See, this is what we're talking
about. And then it goes on, not only that their hearts might
be comforted, being what? Knit together. Let me ask you
a question. Is Jonathan and David's heart
being knit together in this account right now? You better know that
it is. You better know that it is. And this is a larger picture
of the believer. If you meet believers who will
travel the world for Christ, it's because they have entered
into the depths of his suffering. And they have drank from the
well of grace. And they have felt the power of Christ's love.
And it has moved their faith to say, I'll go wherever you
want me to go. I'll do whatever you want me
to do for your glory. That's the only reason a selfish
sinner will go thousands of miles to preach the gospel to people
they don't know. Are you hearing me? That's the only reason a selfish
sinner would get out of the comfort zone of their own life. is that
the power of the cross impacted them so much that they're saying
to Jesus, Jesus, whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. Whatever
you want me to do, I'll do it. This is what we call missionary
work. See, this may be remarkable to you, but this is Christianity
101. When Christ rose again from the
dead, he told his disciples, he said, come here, fellas. Here's
what I want you to do. You 11 men who haven't been outside
of Canaan. Here's what I want you to do.
I want you to go into all the world with the gospel. Did you
hear what I just stated? Do you understand how much bravery
it takes to leave the comfort zone of your own ethnic group,
your own little people group, and go share the gospel with
strangers, yea, enemies, yea, haters of your own soul and the
soul of your master? And then he tells you, hey, by
the way, when you go, they gonna hate you. Are you hearing me? And listen, ladies and gentlemen,
this is where we are today, right now in our culture. God is so,
I love the providence of God. Lazy Christians here in the Western
Hemisphere, you and I, we're lazy, because we're not doing
the business like God has called us to. You're lazy. And you know what God has done?
He brought the crazy folks to us. Did he bring the crazy folks
to us? See, we're like the church at
Jerusalem. Listen to me carefully. Listen to me carefully. We talk
about going, but we don't go. Are you hearing me? Now watch
this. This is an aside. I should keep
going. But you're sitting on the bus, and you look to the
left, and there's an A-Ram. The same person you was watching
on the news that you pretended to pray for. You don't have to
pray now. All you have to do is say hello.
And if they speak English, guess what? The door is open. I'll
leave it right there. That their hearts might be comforted
being knit together in what? Unto all riches of the full assurance
of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of
the Father and of Christ. And what Paul is teaching us
is that he discovered that the more he suffered for Jesus, the
deeper and clearer the revelations of his love and his grace were
to him. And this is what we're learning
in our text. Let's move forward. Let's move forward. Under point
number two, then there are simply two things I want to state. The
confirmation of hearing based upon union of the soul. And then secondly, the sufferings
of David are the sufferings of whom? The sufferings of David
are the sufferings of Jonathan. I think I've already persuaded
you of that. You can read in your own time Philippians chapter
3 verse 10 and 11, Isaiah 63, 9 and then Colossians 1, 24.
But the sufferings of David are the sufferings of Jonathan as
we shall now see because Jonathan is going to respond to all that
David has said. we see this now beginning at
verse 9 and Jonathan said far be it from thee for I if I know
certainty that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee
then would I not tell thee then said David to Jonathan who shall
tell me or what if your father answers roughly and Jonathan
said to David come let us go out into the field and They went
out and both of them into the field and Jonathan said to David
Oh Lord God of Israel now ladies and gentlemen what Jonathan is
doing is praying now while he talks to David He says when I
have sounded my father about tomorrow sounded means when I
checked him out About tomorrow at this time the third and the
third day and behold if there be good towards you or towards
David I then will send unto you David and show it to you In other
words, David is saying, I know we're supposed to all show up
at the king's table. And I love you, brother, but
I've already told you the king will kill me. It didn't happen
twice. I'm not showing up. What Jonathan says is, OK, I'll
show up and I'll talk to my daddy and I'll find out if everything
is all right. This is called mediation. Do you hear me? This
is called mediation. Now, what Jonathan does here
is prescribes a plan to let David know. This is where he tells
David, you stay out in the field. I'm going to have my little servant
boy chase down some arrows. That's a whole nother gospel
paradigm. I don't have time to really work it through. I can
simply say this. The obedience of faith on the
part of the child of God is doing work that God is accomplishing
that's far above their head. That little servant boy is obeying
Jonathan and hunting down the arrows. The arrows represents
God's sovereignty. It represents God's providence,
God's decree. We are obeying God while he's
working out an eternal redemption that's far larger than us to
comprehend. Am I making some sense? All of the servants are
obedient to God, but it's going to advance the cause of David
and Jonathan in the field because David and Jonathan have to have
a plan by which Jonathan finds out what his daddy thinks. And
this is so remarkable about what's taking place here in our text.
So point number three says the covenant work the devoted mediator
and again that point starts that point starts at verse 9 but I
want us to look at verses now 18 and following in fact 13 through
15 under point number 3 the covenant work of the devoted mediator
is where Jonathan now closes out talking to David about what
he's going to do and here's what he says I'm going to start at
verse 20 and 22, but if I say unto you, unto the
young man who's chasing down the arrow, behold, the arrows
are beyond thee, go thy way, for the Lord has sent thee away,
then David knows, don't you come back. Verse 23, and as touching
the matter which you and I have spoken of, behold, the Lord be
what? Between thee and me, what? Forever. Verse 24 describes David
separating from Jonathan. Ladies and gentlemen, permanently,
with the exception of one other occasion in chapter 23, while
Saul is hunting David down like a flea, Jonathan quickly runs
out, hugs David, and says to David, don't worry, the kingdom
is yours. And you never see Jonathan again.
Now what's about to take place here is quite interesting. I
want you to get this under the covenant work of the devoted
mediator. Jonathan is going to suffer his own cross. He's going
to go through a sacrifice of a sort for David. But here's
what we call in point number C, because I'm going to skip
points A and B, under point number C, a procurement of blessing
of election affirmed. Now that's a strange statement,
but watch this. A procurement of blessing of election affirmed
by David in verse 13 through 15. Here's what it says. This
is what David said Jonathan says the Lord do so more to me Yeah,
here it is the Lord do so and much more to Jonathan But if
it pleased my father to do the evil then I will show it you
and I will send you away that you may go In peace and the Lord
be with thee as he has been with my what? Okay. So now verse 13
is Jonathan letting David know this if you're right David I'm
gonna send you away, but I want you to know this the Lord's gonna
be with you and The same way he was with my wife. Now watch
this. You know what that means? David,
you're going to be king. Because it was God that made
Saul king. See, Jonathan already saw David
as king. But David and Jonathan has to
go through this fiasco because watch this now. To get to the
throne, you got to suffer. To wear the crown, you got to
first wear the cross. And the work of getting to the
throne is a mediatorial work. You don't get there on your own.
So Jonathan is demonstrating for you and me, not only faith
working by love in terms of his own personal relationship with
David, but prophetically, Jonathan is able to succor and comfort
David to let David know, you're going to be on the throne. All
right, for a moment, just for a moment. Watch this now. Watch
this. David's human. Isn't he human? You've been hunted
down by the king and thousands of soldiers. Won't you doubt? Stay with me for a moment now,
because I know we get religious. Stay with me for a moment. Won't
you doubt when everything in the temporal physical world is
against you? And isn't God good when he takes the one man who's
willing to identify with you, are you ready? And make him his
son. Hallelujah. That's the gospel
right there. That's the gospel right there.
See, Jonathan is the son. And the son is saying to David,
it's going to be all right. You can't get better authority
than that. This is why I told you earlier
the way God was moving by bringing David into the house wasn't a
coup or some overthrow or some treasonous work. It was sovereign
providence that put David there. And the friendship of David and
Jonathan is to David's assurance that he's certainly going to
be king. But before he is king, he's got to go through hell.
You hear what I'm saying? So Jonathan lets him know this.
And then the next thing that Jonathan says, I love this. This
gets into the insight of the mediatorial work. For me, this
gets into the insight of it. Since Jonathan tells him these
things, here's what Jonathan says now over in verse 14. And
you, and you shall not only while I yet live, show me kindness
of the Lord that I die not. Look at David, look at Jonathan.
You know what Jonathan said? Now, I don't know if I'm going
to be alive when you become king. But if I am, this covenant that
I'm making with you right now, I want the mercy of a king. Because
the way it works by law is when the king takes over, all of his
enemies must be killed. And Jonathan, who is a type of
God's elect, also knows by right he should die. You and I know
by right, we should die. But we're asking the Lord to
have mercy on us. Are we not? Lord, when you come
into your kingdom, like the thief on the cross, what? Have mercy
on me. Is that good? Well, I told you
this years ago. You didn't get this. I told you
years ago, the most selfish thing you can do is be saved. That'll come in a minute. If there's one legitimate of
narcissism that we consider virtuous is save your wretched soul. But then will you mark this?
I'm getting ready to show you another glorious truth. See,
Jonathan is not completely consumed by his own issues, because the
next thing he does is he asks for the life of his family. See, this is mediation in the
Christocentric sense, and this is why my point was a procurement
of the blessing of election affirmed. Verse 15, are you there? But
also, there it is, you shall not cut off your kindness from
my house. Ooh, that's good. Now David,
when you take the throne, save me, save me, but then save my
house too. See, your faith is defective
when it's all about you. Your faith is defective. See,
you better hit the dust. You better start praying. This
idea of when you call on God, all you asking for is your own
blessings, you done missed the point totally. You done totally
missed the point. Now, I'm gonna show you something
about God here. As I'm gonna show you in the new year when
we talk about rewards, I'm gonna show you something about the
character of God. And see, if you don't study your Bible, you
won't learn how to pray right. I'm gonna show you something.
Jonathan knew something about the true and the living God,
didn't he? Can I tell you what he knew? He knew that God naturally,
by nature, loves to save households. Not only an individual, but his
children and his children's children. Until a thousand generations.
That's God's nature. That's the covenant revelation
of God, is it not? and showing mercy unto thousands
of them that love me and keep my commandments. This promise
is unto you and unto your children and unto your children's children
and unto all that are far off as many as call upon the name
of the Lord. Now watch this. This is the nature of God. So
when you and I are not praying according to our knowledge of
the nature of God, we are showing ourselves deficient in our mediatorial
role. Am I making some sense? Saints,
am I making some sense? Listen, this is not only exclusive
to Jonathan. Can I tell you about a sister
who was a harlot? And she heard about these Jews
these Israelites coming from Egypt and they look she looked
out in her telescope and she saw about a hundred miles out
a Band of Jews a million and a half or two coming straight
her way She ran and told everyone in the city now I heard through
the newspaper the Gazette of God had showed up in Egypt and
destroyed Egypt and brought his people out and it looks like
they hit it directly our way Now I just want to let y'all
know y'all can act like God ain't showing up if you want to but
when he get here I got a plan Now watch this next one. I love
this one about the scriptures because the scriptures are so
honest about you and me. I So they sent out a reconnaissance
team to go into Jericho because Jericho is the strategic city
that must be leveled because it's a fence city. It's a wall
city. It's the city that's fighting against everything that's godly.
So that one has to come down first. The spies go into the
city and they stop in at a 7-Eleven. No, they don't. They stop in
at a Harless joint. These believers now, stay with
me for a second, Coach, how do you end up at the whole house?
How do you end up there? I mean, just stay with me for
a second. I know y'all not real believers. I know you're not.
I know you're not. But somebody help me understand
how your reconnaissance mission is at the strip joint. Help me
now. Help me with that. Can I show
you how? Because the God that made heaven
and earth before the world began chose a little harlot woman to
be the Savior's grandmother. And he must hunt her down by
his preachers through the gospel. And they come in where she is.
They're not waiting for her to come where they are. This is
evangelism. This is raw, unadulterated, gospel,
grown-up evangelism. This is what we talk about when
we talk about sharing the gospel, going where sinners are and looking
for God's elect. And that sister, the moment she
heard those brothers, she said, look here, look here, I got a
plan. You can go this way, and I'll tell him you went that way.
And when you go this way and you escape, because I know the
Lord's going to give you the land, I want you to save me and my
house. Did you get that? I want you
to save me and my house. And do you know what those brothers
said? Be it according to your word. Everything you said will
come to pass, because you recognize that the Lord was sovereign.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? Are you hearing what I'm saying?
See, your job is to learn who God is and then respond according
to it. He doesn't reveal himself to
you in his attributes and characteristics for you to have a narrow prayer
that really is built on your own personal agenda. We want
God to say to the uttermost all that come to him. And we want
him to start with our family. The reason he saved you and didn't
save his family is to teach you how to pray. The reason he saved
you and didn't save your spouse yet, your daughter yet, your
son yet, is to teach you how to pray. Am I making some sense? To teach
you how to pray. Davis Jonathan said save me and
my house. Are you ready for ever? Did you
see that not temporarily? I don't want a 10-year contract
a 30-year contract. I want to be saved forever I
want you to save mine forever Save them all forever. It shows
you that he knew something about covenant. Didn't he? This is
good It's time for me to get into my other points. I wanted
to wrap it up by now point number four This is the work. We're
getting ready to get into are you guys ready for this? A mediatorial
response towards David slash who? What? I talked to you about
this last week. The difference between affirmation
and confirmation is that when you affirm a thing, you just
simply agree with it. But when you confirm a thing, you bring
it to pass. What you're about to see now is Jonathan entering
into the sufferings of David. OK, are you ready? Here it is,
and this is what it means to be a mediator. Sub-point number
one, a public identification with David on the part of Jonathan. I thought this was so crazy.
Are you ready? Watch this. So after they had agreed upon this
covenant term, what we discover in verse 25, when David goes
and hides in the field, verse 25 says, and the king sat upon
his seat. Who is that? Saul. As at other times, even
upon his seat, by the what? See, now what the author wants
you to know is King Saul is still crazy. I'm gonna leave you with
that. He's still crazy. He hasn't come
into his right mind. He's still crazy. He's still
mad. He's still got his javelin on
his side. That's what I want you to get. Okay, now watch this. Now see, I told you only covenant
readers of scripture get these little emblems. Only covenant
readers of scripture will get these emblems. And it goes on
to say, nevertheless, Verse 26. Oh, no verse 25 as as other times
he said by the wall and Jonathan did what a rose and what Abner
sat by Saul's side and David's place was what are you ready? Jonathan said it ain't gonna
happen to me like that. I Love it Jonathan has been persuaded
that what David said is true he comes to the table and sits
by his daddy and And something nudges him on the shoulder and
say, brother, you better get up and go put yourself in a position
where you don't get killed. Let me show you another truth,
though. What Jonathan just did by getting up and leaving his
father was choosing David over his father. Did you get that? This is how deep love goes. If
you're going to be my disciple, you must be willing to hate your
mother. and your father and your sister and your brother for my
sake." Watch this. He got up publicly and moved. No one had the right to sit by
the king, but the king's son. And yet who occupied the seat
next to the king was his uncle Abner. Now, when we get down
the road, we're gonna talk about crazy Abner too. I told you,
this is Dallas. And we're gonna talk about crazy
Abner, he crazy too. And this makes all the sense
in the world. That crazy Adena would sit by crazy Saul, because
Jonathan has come to his right mind, being redeemed by God's
grace. He says, I'm going to go sit
way over here. And David's seat is open. Is
that what the text says? And David's seat is open. Now
we have the strategic battle lines drawn for the dialogue
that's about to take place. Y'all getting ready to hear some
crazy stuff. Can I tell it to you? I'm we're gonna stop we're
gonna stop but if this ain't Dallas, I don't know what this
is This is this is wild This is wild Verse 26 nevertheless
Saul spake not a thing that day for he thought something had
befallen David. He's unclean and Surely he's not clean and
it came to pass on the morrow which was the second day of the
month that David's place was empty and Saul said unto Jonathan
his son where forth cometh not David to me Neither yesterday
nor today Is that what it says? No, it says where for cometh
not Jesse's boy You see what the Spirit of God has done. He
has exposed the public enmity of of Saul against David. The
fury of hatred against David is so great that Saul can't even
name him beloved. No man can call Jesus Lord except
by the Holy Ghost. I'm talking really, I'm not talking
with your words. The hostility that's so deep
in Saul right now has him calling him Jesse's boy. See, you don't
know. Saul is already 5150 and the
lid getting ready to come off. Are you hearing me? And for the
next three chapters, Saul doesn't call David by his name, even
when he's hunting him down. Kill that son of Jesse. Now,
ladies and gentlemen, the term son of Jesse is a curse word.
It's a derogatory term. It's like saying Jesus of Nazareth. What good thing can come out
of Nazareth? It's like calling him a child
of fornication. It's the derogatory term that
implies you reject his position. You reject his authority. You
reject his right. You reject his person. You reject
him so much you don't even call him by the name Jesus. Are you
guys hearing? This is the antipathy going on
here. So let's work it on through now. Here it goes, here it goes.
Here it goes. Now Jonathan can't help himself,
but he at least positioned himself because he got to respond. It's
been two days. Jonathan answers and says, David
earnestly asked to leave to go to Bethlehem. And he said, let
me go, I pray thee, for our family hath a sacrifice in the city.
First and foremost, for those of you who are moralists, it
was true. And my brother, he hath commanded me to be there.
That is, David asked Jonathan to be there. Now, if I have found
favor in your eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my
brother. And therefore, he cometh not unto the king's table. Verse
29 is the plan that Jonathan and David actually prescribed. Watch this now. David is in the
field, but they are having an event at his father's home. David
can go there. Please understand that. David
can go home. That was something that was common.
If you go back to first Samuel 16, you'll see that Then it goes
on to say then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan and
said unto him you son of a perverse rebellious woman Do you see that
fool? Do you see you see what just
saw just did? So let me help you with another
redemptive truth as we wind this down. Are you ready? So now,
you know, you know this I Children of God, listen to me. You know
when there's enmity between you and somebody else, even though you try to shroud
your conversation with them in words that are, you know, innocuous
and unharmful, they pierce through those words and see the enmity
and they still rage against you. As the proverb puts it, when
the righteous contend with the wicked, and really it's when
the wicked contend with the righteous, whether they laugh or whether
they rage. For them, it's no peace at all.
Are you hearing me? Because Saul knows that Jonathan
is on David's side. For Saul, he knows that this
is a ruse. It may be true that there's a
feast in Bethlehem, but the reality that David is not here is a cahoots
between David and Jonathan. And is not Saul about to point
it out? But now, listen, when you're the daddy of somebody,
You the daddy, I'm gonna show you how crazy this is. Let me
read this next verse though. Show you how insane it is when
you get emotionally bent out of shape. Watch this. He says,
you child of a rebellious and perverse woman, do not I know
that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own confusion
and unto the confusion of your mother's nakedness? I'm like,
man, what are you talking about? So now watch what he does. This
is an allusion to Christ, because Christ was called a child of
fornication, too, a bastard child, too. And this is what Saul is
calling Jonathan, a bastard. This is what I meant by Jonathan
being in the stead of David as a type of Christ. Are you hearing
me? Watch this. Now, if you call
this woman a harlot. The heck, you suck. What does
that make you? A whoremonger. But you're so
dumb, you don't realize you're condemning yourself. This is
the irrationality of anger. But it's Freudian by nature.
Because we learned last week that Saul was a bastard prophet,
didn't we? That he didn't have a father.
And you see the venom coming up out of him against his son?
Do you see the venom? Watch this, ladies and gentlemen.
This is a good time for parents to check in. Jonathan is done with his daddy
right here. He's done. You guys got that? Done with his daddy. Because
his daddy has now nailed him to the wall with David publicly. This is an irreparable breach. But it's the sufferings of David
experienced in Jonathan, the devoted mediator. Let me just
work through my points. I'm way overdue. I'm just going
to read my points through. Public identification with David, point
B, a participation in his sufferings experience. That's verse 27 through
29. We just noted that. Jonathan
did exactly as was commanded of him by David, didn't he? Did
he not? Now watch this. Not only that,
read verse 32. He said exactly what David said.
Look at verse 32. Watch this. And Jonathan answered
Saul, his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? What hath he done? He just echoed
what David said to him. This is what we mean by union
and oneness of heart knitted together. When two become one,
don't they start talking like each other? And the rulers had
noted that the disciples had been with Jesus for they were
unlearned men and ignorant. But the spirit of God had taught
them how to talk like Christ. And when you walk with Christ
and you learn of him, you learn to echo his character. Am I telling
the truth? So Saul truly is persecuting Jesus in David and Jonathan. Is that not true? Watch how this
last line, last two lines go. He said exactly what David said.
Point D, dying with and for David, the what? Crowning act of love. Look at the way the chapter closes. Jonathan, having said what he
said in verse 32, verse 33 says, and Saul cast a javelin at him
to do what? Do you see it? Whereby Jonathan
knew that it was determined of his father to slay David. See
the deal was sealed, wasn't it? And Jonathan rose up from the
table in what? Fierce anger and did eat no meat
the second day of the month for he was grieved for David because
his father had done him shame. Verse 35 through verse 42 is
Jonathan doing exactly what he told David he would do. Heartbroken. Grieve over his crazy daddy.
Very clear on the sufferings of his friend. Greater love hath
no man than this, than that he lay down his life for his friend.
Very clear that this matter is not gonna close out well. Jonathan
knows that his father's end is not good. So he goes out into
the field and he shoots the arrow way far down the line. He says to his servant, which
is a message to David. Get on out of here. It's just
like you see it. See this the work of mediation.
Now close like this as we prepare to partake of the Lord's table.
When you and I eat the bread and we drink the cup we're saying
to the whole world that we're one with Christ. That's what
you're saying that you understand his sufferings that you agree
with the sufferings and that you have entered into a suffrage.
Is that true? Because the cup and the bread is communion. And
so what you and I want to do as we partake of the table is
to actually enter into the reality of that communion in the same
way that Jonathan did with David by trusting Christ and believing
the gospel and standing in our calling as he has called us to
love guilty hell bound sinners who are under the wrath of God
Because you who are about to partake of the table used to
be under God's wrath. But because of a mediator like
Samuel, I mean like David and like Jonathan, you and I are
free now to enjoy the blessings of redemption. Are we not? I'm
going to leave it right there. Amen.