First Samuel chapter 20. We'll
be picking up in verse 17. Now in this passage, David devises
a means to secretly communicate with David, to speak to David
without others knowing. And what he's going to speak
to him about is whether or not it's safe for him to come back
to his father's courts. come back there in peace, without
fear of harm coming upon him, or he's going to let him know
if he needs to flee, to get away, to not come back at all, because
his very life is in danger, and that his father definitely intends
to kill him. Now, the way he will let David
know this is by shooting three arrows. And he tells them, you're
going to go out to this stone easel, and I'm going to shoot
three arrows beside it. And I'm going to send out a lad
for those arrows to fetch them. And if I tell them they're on
this side of you, then come on out. It's OK. It's safe for you
to come back in peace. But if I tell them that the arrows
are beyond you, are not the arrows beyond you, then know that the
Lord has sent you away. You've got to get out of here.
My dad definitely intends to take your life. And so we read
this in verse 20. Let's pick up there. And I will
shoot three arrows on the side thereof, of the stone of easel. And that stone, that means stone
of departure. and as though I had shot at a
mark. And behold, I will send a lad
saying, go, find out the arrows. If I expressly say unto the lad,
behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them. Then
come thou, for there is peace to thee, and no hurt, as the
Lord liveth. In other words, I give you my
word, and I'll tell you the truth. And if I say thus unto the young
man, behold, the arrows are beyond thee. Go thy way, for the Lord
hath sent thee away. So Jonathan was going to discover
his father's true intentions. And he was going to do this at
the feast of the new moon. This was time now for the new
moon. And they would have this feast
together. And David would be expected to be there as all of
the king's servants were expected to be there. They were expected
to be in his court. Only David would not be there.
He would be conspicuously absent the first day and the next day.
And that would, and Jonathan would speak for David because
he knew surely Saul, my father's going to ask about you and I'll
let him know. And if he's fine with it, then
we know all as well. But if he's angry, then we know
he was hoping you'd be there to do you harm. And so David's
absence was fine for one day, but the second day, David, or
Saul asked Jonathan about it. Jonathan had to to give the excuse
for David, and Saul knew that he was lying to cover for David's
absence. And then Saul said some very
shameful things to Jonathan, some very hurtful things. It's language that we're not
necessarily familiar with, but these were some harsh words,
very harsh words that that were pretty cruel to say to his own
son. And though it hurt David badly,
Jonathan, or though it hurt Jonathan badly, Jonathan remained faithful
to David. And he bore the reproach of David. And the next day, he went out
as agreed and gave him that terrible news. So what I want to do tonight
with this passage here is that I want to preach the gospel using
the language of the gospel that we may glean from this passage. So this passage, you might look
at it and think, well, what's really in here? This just seems
like a story about some troubles that David had with Saul that
kicked off Saul's persecution of him, but there's There's the
gospel to be gleaned from this as we see in all the scriptures. And so let me say this, the kingdom
of Saul, as you know, was one that was founded upon the flesh. When you see Saul here in the
scriptures, Saul is a man of flesh and his kingdom is that
of the flesh. It was the flesh of the people
that desired Saul, that saw Saul and said, yes, this is indeed
the king that we were looking for. This man is tall and his
shoulders are broad. Surely this is the king that
we've been looking for. And so the Lord, when they desired
a king, the Lord said to Samuel, because Samuel was the judge
at the time, the Lord said, Samuel, they've not rejected you, they've
rejected me. And so the Lord tells us in another
place in the scriptures, so I gave Israel a king in mine anger. And that's what he's saying,
is I gave them a king after the flesh. a king that would show
them that what they did was wicked and wrong. And so David is a
child of God and he's being persecuted and tried by Saul. He's being persecuted and tried
and chased after by the flesh, is the picture there. Whether
it's his own flesh or the fleshly kingdom of this world, David's
being pursued and we brethren experience that same thing. We
are persecuted and tried and chased by this flesh. Whether
it's our own lusts and passions of this flesh or it's of this
world. And so David here is learning
of Saul's true hatred of him, that Saul seeks to kill him,
that Saul seeks his harm and his demise. And David is about
to know definitively what the Lord would have him to know. This is what the Lord would have
his child to know concerning the kingdom of flesh. So let's
pick up here in verse 35. And it came to pass in the morning
that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with
David and a little lad with him. So this is after Jonathan knew
his father's intention. And he said unto his lad, run.
Find out now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran,
he shot an arrow beyond him. And when the lad was come to
the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried
after the lad and said, is not the arrow beyond thee? And so
what does this word mean for us? What does this word teach
us in our day? Well, today is the appointed
day. This is the day when the Lord
gathers us here in Nixon, Missouri. to hear the word, to hear his
word on the matter regarding this kingdom of flesh. Am I to be at peace in it? Is
all well for me here? Or is it not? Is my life in danger
if I go back to this world and partake of this world according
to the works of the flesh? And on this appointed day, I
am, as it were, a little lad sent out by my Lord to convey,
as it were, a message to the Lord's people simply by chasing
after the arrow that the Lord shoots. According to the arrow
that the Lord sends out and shoots, I'm just simply to chase after
that arrow. And the message today is the
arrow is beyond thee. The arrow is beyond thee. This
is what David heard Jonathan say to the lad. Is not the arrow
beyond thee? Or the arrow, is what he said,
the arrow is beyond thee. And indeed it is. And what Jonathan
was telling David there is Saul intends your hurt. Saul intends
your destruction. Saul intends to kill you. And so if David remained in Saul's
courts, if he went back there, and that's a picture of this
kingdom of flesh, the dominion of this flesh, the works of this
flesh, the ways of this flesh, the course of this world, as
we see in Ephesians 2, as people walk under the prince of the
power of the air and the way of this world. This is a picture
of this world. And what the Lord is saying is,
David if you go back to that kingdom, and you seek peace in
that kingdom, you will surely die. And that's what the Lord
is teaching us through his word, that this world is not our inheritance. This world is not going to give
you the peace and the comfort that we'd like for it to have,
that we seek to have in this flesh. We want to be in comfort
and in peace according to this flesh. We don't want to be on
the run. all the time, but the Lord is
making sure that we know not to love this world, not to set
our hearts on this world. When you think about that kingdom
under Saul, that's where David's wife was, that's where David's
friends were, his best friend even Jonathan. That's where the
temple was. I mean, all the comforts, his
bed, his sheets, his pillows, his food, all those things were
there in abundance in this kingdom. But the Lord is saying, if you
go back there, you'll be destroyed. you'll be destroyed. And so we
need to hear that same truth because our fallen sinful nature
is we're not able by the works of this flesh to reconcile us
to God. And that's where I'm going with
this is that we in the strength of our flesh with the wisdom
of our flesh and the kingdom of this flesh are unable to reconcile
ourselves unto the true and living God. And man tries to come to
God in the works of the flesh. He takes hold of the law of Moses
to try and work a righteousness for himself. He takes hold of
religion, various religions, different ones, and tries them
out to see if he can't make himself righteous and find acceptance
with God, coming in a path of the flesh, in a way of the flesh. And if we, by our works, were
to appear in the court of Almighty God, we would die in our sins,
according to the works of this flesh. And so the Lord is in
grace and in mercy, divides us from this kingdom, from the kingdom
of this world, this fallen kingdom, so that we don't think, well,
I'm just doing the best I can. I'm just trying, and the Lord
will accept it. And I've heard that, even in
what seemed like some strict churches. This is the law. You do the best you can, and
God will receive it. He'll honor it. No, God won't
honor the best that you and I can give. He honors and receives
Christ. That's how we come, in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Listen to what Isaiah said in
chapter 1, Isaiah chapter 1, verse 12 through 14. The Lord says, when ye come to
appear before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my
courts? Bring no more vain oblations.
Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons and Sabbaths,
the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with it. It is iniquity,
even the solemn meeting. Listen to this. Your new moons
and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. They are a trouble
unto me. I'm weary to bear them. And so that's what they were
doing there at Saul's court those days. They were having a feast
in the new moon. And yet Saul, that's supposed
to be a time of rejoicing and thankfulness in the Lord for
the Lord's abundance and provision. And the whole time, murder was
in Saul's heart. He wanted to kill David at the
new moon, at that new moon. And so that's what the Lord's
saying here is that in the flesh, we're just vain hypocrites. We're
vain hypocrites and we need a true righteousness, the righteousness
of God. Otherwise, we're just like Saul.
We're just like Saul. And so by nature, the Lord is
declaring to us through his gospel word and through these scriptures,
And he sends his pastors, his lads out, to convey the message
that the Lord sends to teach us that we're not going to save
ourselves, that we are sinners, that we cannot save ourselves,
that we're a work of righteousness for ourselves in this world,
going the way and the course of this world. Listen to Galatians
3, 21 through 22. Paul said, is the law then against
the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had
been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness
should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded,
all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe. And so our Lord faithfully reveals
to us in his word what sin is, the horrors of sin, the punishment
that sin deserves, that we by nature in Adam are sinners, so
that we don't think that we can return to that kingdom of flesh
and just work a little harder, and strive a little harder, and
spend a little more in religion in this flesh, or the ways of
this flesh, and the works of this flesh, and that we're going
to come out alive. Because like David, if he went
back there, he would have been put to death. And that's what
the Lord teaches us. That's why we gather to hear
his word, because Through the word, the hearing of the word,
God creates faith. He gives faith in his people,
forms faith in us that we would hear that word and delight in
his word and thank him for his word and gather to hear his word,
to hear his word preached. So the Lord, by saying to us,
the arrow is behind thee. The arrow's beyond thee, David. He's saying, we need a savior. We cannot save ourselves. We
need a savior. And the father himself has provided
the salvation for his people in his darling son. And so if
there's anyone hesitating in their works and wondering, can
I do it? Can I marry the two? The Lord says, no. No, the arrow
is beyond thee. Flee from it. Flee from the flesh. Flee from it. So 1 Samuel 20,
verse 38 now. Jonathan cried after the lad,
make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan's lad gathered up
the arrows and came to his master, but the lad knew not anything. Only Jonathan and David knew
the matter. And Jonathan gave his artillery unto the lad and
said unto him, go, carry them to the city." And the picture
there is just showing what I am here, just preaching the word.
I'm just a man. The power's not in me. I don't
know anything more than this lad knew. I preach this. I know
you, brethren. I love you, brethren. You're
my brethren. You're my friends. You're my
family, but I preach it because I don't know what arrow the Lord's
shooting and how he's teaching you and communicating to you.
I'm just running out after the arrow that my Lord has sent off. And though I don't know anything,
he's talking to his David. He's speaking to your heart as
you have need of hearing and understanding. And so I'm just
going and picking up the arrows. And then I get the artillery
and I go on home. And I trust that the Lord lays
it to the hearts of his people to speak to you, to comfort you,
and to teach you each week as you and I have need of hearing,
because I'm instructed myself as well. So the power is of the
Lord. And so to some sinner of his
choosing, he says, don't approach unto me in your work. Stop looking
to what you are doing or not doing. Trust my son. Look to the sun, the arrows beyond
thee. Flee from the kingdom of flesh.
Flee to the arms of Christ. Trust him. Believe him. He is
your salvation. And that the flesh of Saul, which
is in the court of man, don't go there. That'll destroy you.
That'll destroy you. And you know, when we... When
we struggle, when our eyes are taken off of Christ and we look
at the flesh, it's destructive. It destroys us. It brings us
down. It terrifies us. Because it's
the flesh. And we can't save ourselves.
And the Lord will allow us to sink to that at times, but that's
not salvation. Even our tears aren't our salvation. We can't cry enough. Esau cried
and it wasn't enough for him. The Lord has given us the hope
of the sinner. The hope of the saint. It's one
and the same. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
our salvation. He's our savior. So David, we
also see, served Saul well. He did. He did his best in it.
He was very faithful in it. And yet Saul hated him and wanted
to kill him. So don't think that you're ever,
ever going to do enough in the flesh. It'll never be enough. And so the Lord allowed this
to develop. He allowed Saul to mistrust David,
to envy David, to persecute David, to seek David's life because
the Lord purposed good for David. And it's a comfort to us to know
this is why the Lord stirs up the things in our lives that
get stirred up, because it reminds us again of our flesh, of our
frailty, of our weakness in ourselves, in our inability, and our need
of Him, and to hear with open ear, Lord, Declare to me the
gospel. Teach me the gospel. Help me
to hear it, Lord. And he gives us that hunger and
thirst through that persecution in the same way that he taught
David through the wilderness journeys that he went through
and being pursued by the flesh in a manner that was not good,
in a manner that sought his destruction. But God always provided. God
always provided for him. And so it is with us, brethren,
that through these experiences, this is how we learn the gospel. This is how the Lord makes the
gospel precious to you and makes his word living to you. So it's
not just dead to you. He stirs that up, saws in the
flesh, whether they're from without or from within, to drive us from
the comforts and the embrace of this world, and to seek our
all, our salvation and our comfort in the arms of Christ, in Him. Now, let's see this gospel language
at the close of the chapter, verse 41. And as soon as the
lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south.
What a picture there of Christ. When you're laying on your bed
and you're laying in the quiet of night, the lad is gone, you
don't hear my voice anymore, but the Lord raises up David
out of that south, out of that valley, that low spot where we
are, and he rises up. And he comes and ministers to
us. But let's get back to the text here. And he fell on his
face to the ground and bowed himself three times. And they
kissed one another and wept one with another until David acceded. Now, this friendship here is
very precious. It's a very precious friendship
that these two men have because if you really think about it,
of who Jonathan is and who David is, these are two people that
man will look at and say, these two should not be friends. These two have no business being
this close to one another, that they should be such good friends
and embrace one another and kiss one another in the true bond
of friendship. Saul is a picture of the flesh,
as I said, he's a picture of the flesh. And Saul did what
to Jonathan? He mocked Jonathan for his embrace
of David. He ridiculed and berated Jonathan
for his embrace of David. Look back up at verse 30. Then Saul's anger was kindled
against Jonathan, when he gave his excuse for where David was.
It was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, thou son
of the perverse, rebellious woman. He's calling his mother a whore,
is what he's saying there. Do not I know that thou hast
chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion
of thy mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse
liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor
thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch
him unto me, for he shall surely die. And that, brethren, really
is what the Pharisees did. They recognized that the Romans
are going to come in and take away what we have. Here, our
rule, our place of authority, our position of glory here among
the people and ruling the people of Israel. And that's going to
be taken away. Our kingdom will not be established
so long as that man is alive on the ground. Take him and let's
put him to death. That's exactly what they wanted
to do to Christ. They sought to take Christ's
life and they did it by wicked hands. They did it. And of course,
our Lord accomplished our redemption. In that very death when they
hung our Lord on the cross, that's when he accomplished our redemption
and put away our sin and destroyed the enemies of God and his Christ
and his word and his people. He destroyed our enemies. And
so Saul here is saying, Jonathan, you are an illegitimate son.
When people look at you and see what you do in favoring that
man over me, they're going to say, how is that man your son? How is that boy your son when
he's favoring him instead of you? And that's the same love
that the Lord gives to us for Christ. And he gives us that
love for Christ that we take sides against ourselves and stand
with him and seek his kingdom and his glory, his honor, his
praise. We're not looking for our kingdom.
Our kingdom is his kingdom. We want him to receive all the
glory, praise and honor because he gives us his spirit. and he
shows us he's the one, he's the righteous one. Without him I
cannot be saved. I don't have anything to stand
before God. I don't have anything in this
world if I don't have him. And that's what he gives to us
there. And then he's calling his son, he's saying, And think
about it. When Saul was first made king,
there was people there that were not happy, and they grumbled
against Saul. There were some people there,
some sons of Belial, they said. And what did Jonathan do? The
next thing we read is that Jonathan goes out, and he gets a great
victory. over the Philistines so that
Saul's kingdom was established. The people were happy. They overthrew
the Philistines. And the people said, bring those
people that complained about Saul, bring them here, and we'll
put them to death. And Saul said, no, we're not going to do that.
But the picture here is that Jonathan, of all people, was
most instrumental in establishing Saul's kingdom. He's the one
who helped get it going there. And now he's calling his son
a traitor. He's saying, you are the son
of a perverse, rebellious woman. You're a rebel. You're a traitor.
That's what he's calling him there. You're a traitor to me
and to my kingdom. And then he called him a fool,
saying, thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion.
And Jonathan says something back, and he throws a javelin at him
to kill him. He almost lost his life for David's
sake. And mind you, this all happened
publicly in front of the whole court. Everybody was there at
the new moon and Saul is shouting at his son. Could you imagine
being there and this is going on? Like, you're like, oh, this
is not good. I wish I wasn't here right now
seeing this. And that's what's going on. So
you can imagine how hurt Jonathan is and what he took for his friend. David and it didn't turn him.
He got attacked by the world. He got attacked by the flesh
for his love for David and it didn't turn him. He remained
faithful by the grace of God. He loved David more. And so that's
a picture of the ignorance and the hatred and the enmity and
the anger and the vileness of this sinful flesh, our sinful
nature. This is what we are by nature,
what we see here in Saul. And this is what the grace of
God delivers us from and saves us from that court. and that
kingdom, and takes us out of that kingdom, and says, you have
no part. That's not your kingdom. I've
established you in the body of Christ, in my son's kingdom. Go to him. Flee to him. So that's
what the Lord is showing us here. Because this flesh looks upon
Christ and ridicules and mocks it and says, how can that man
of weakness accomplish salvation and redemption and resurrection
of the people of God. I just don't believe it. I don't
see it. That's with the flesh. sees about
the things of God. It can't see. And so seeing this
embrace of Jonathan and David is how this flesh looks at Christ
and wonders, how can God be just to save sinners? What do you
mean it's not by your works? What do you mean it's not by
the things that you do that God receives you and God is righteous
to forgive you? How is this possible? Well, the
flesh doesn't get it, and yet it's true. Turn over to Psalm
85. Psalm 85, and put a marker there,
because we'll come back in a couple minutes to another verse there.
Psalm 85, and look at verse 10 with me. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. But this is a picture of Christ. You see, it's the Lord Jesus
Christ that reconciles this flesh which should be enmity, which
by nature is enmity against God. Christ reconciles that in perfect
harmonious peace. And God is just to forgive us,
just to receive us, to bring us into his courts, into his
family. You know, here's a man, and David,
he's a guilt, as far as his father's concerned, as far as Jonathan's
father's concerned, Saul, he's a guilty man, and he is a man
condemned to die, and yet Jonathan comes and embraces him there,
in the light, in truth, tells him the whole truth of what He
heard from the Father what Saul intended to do, and in that we
see God's mercy and kindness and graciousness to embrace us
in truth, without shame. Christ said, I call you friends
now. You're my brethren, you're friends. And that's what he says. And
God is perfectly righteous and just to be at peace with us.
He didn't do anything backhanded. He didn't do anything like, well,
I'll just pretend I didn't see that or I'll sweep that under
the rug for you because I like you. No, everything God did is
perfect and just. He hath made his son to be sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. And Paul tells us in Romans 3
to say at this time his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. God is just to justify
us. And so the world, as Saul would
have looked at Jonathan and David embracing and saying, that is
absurd. So it is that God, this world
would say, that's absurd that God would embrace a sinner who's
done nothing to earn their righteousness, nothing to merit their righteousness.
Oh, yes, we did in Christ, in Christ. And it's all just. It's
all legal. It's all perfect. It's all excellent. There's nothing wrong with it.
God receives sinners. And you that believe him are
the very righteousness of God in him. by his grace and mercy
and power to the glory praise and honor of his name now back
in verse 42 remember hold your place in Psalm 85 we're coming
back in a minute Verse 42, and Jonathan said to David, go in
peace. For as much as we have sworn
both of us in the name of the Lord saying, the Lord be between
me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed forever. And he
arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city. And so that's
what our Savior says to us. He's completed the redemption.
And he now sends us in peace with God. We're not at peace
with the world, but we're at peace with God. And we have an
eternal inheritance with our God and Savior. And our Lord,
he arose and he departed and ascended back to the Father to
establish for us the covenant of grace. And it's established
right now in him. And we walk in the light of God,
without fear or shame or doubt or worry, by His grace, in the
truth, in the face of Jesus Christ. Psalm 85, 11, truth shall spring
out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
That's what our Lord did. He sprang out of the earth, he
rose again, and now he looks down from heaven in perfect righteousness. All is just and right with our
Lord. So brethren, though we're persecuted by this flesh and
we're troubled by it repeatedly, just as we'll see for a lot of
chapters, David is hunted and persecuted and chased and and
tried by Saul, a picture of this flesh, yet our God speaks peace
to our hearts because he's the one who's sent us out. Remember
the Lord, Jonathan said, the Lord hath sent thee away. God has driven you from the world
for your good, for your protection, because this isn't our inheritance. This isn't our place, our love. He's our love, our all. And Psalm
85, 8 says, I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for
he will speak peace unto his people and to his saints, but
let them not turn again to folly. In other words, don't go back
to Saul's courts, the courts of this flesh, and trying to
come to God in the works of the flesh. It's death. It's death. God has separated you from it.
Don't turn back there. It would be folly. it would be
folly. So trust Him and I pray the Lord
bless that word to your hearts as you go home and think on Him
and delight in His word for teaching you and sending the arrows out
toward you to teach you His word. I pray He bless that word to
the comfort of your heart's breath.