I want to thank the pianist. I love her and I'm so thankful
that she played for us today. Thank you for saying that. I wish Robin had been here to
hear that, her mess up. You messed up. She's laughing, look at that. Wonderful isn't it? I can't tell you how many times
I've wept over messages I've read. I thought, I'm messed up. My pastor one time stood up,
Mindy remembers this well because she couldn't quit laughing at
him. He started talking about, in Christ dwelleth all the fullness
of the bodhead godly. A little while later he stood up
and he tried it again. He said, in him dwelleth all
the fullness of the bodhead godly. And by this time, Mindy, Elizabeth
is about 21, she's snickering. I don't know if you remember
this. But all right, a few minutes later, he tried it again. He
said, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the bodhead God's
land. By this time, Mindy broke, she couldn't take it anymore,
broke open, laughing. He laughed. He said, well, I
tried. You try that. Anybody? Try this. I'm doing the best I can. But aren't you glad it doesn't
depend on the best we can? Our Lord said, make a joyful
noise. Most people read books or watch
movies to forget about their troubles. I confess. At times I read things and watch
things. Many and I have watched Hallmark
movies, the corniest ones. I mean, absolute cheesy. When
it starts, you know exactly what's going to happen. It's going to be good. It's going
to be good. And I'm going to cry. I mean,
it's so ridiculous. But it's so good. It ends so
good. I want to say something good. after coming out all this bad. The preacher, my job is to warn. It is to cry aloud and spare
not. And I hope I can quit apologizing
for that because the Lord told me to. Lift up the voice. Cry this, all flesh is grass. the goodness thereof, everything
about it, the beauty, the glory, the works, everything. It's going
to be gone. Behold your God. Say on Israel,
my people, tell them, behold your God. He tells me, preach the Word.
He tells me, reprove, rebuke. That Romans 16 was a rebuke to
me. All the letters to the churches
start with the preacher. He can't properly rebuke with
meekness unless he himself feels that rebuke and that conviction.
He can't preach the Word, approve, rebuke,
correct, exhort, and then Isaiah 40 says comfort. Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people. speaking comfortably. And the
margin of a King James says, and this is why I love it so
much, it says, speak to the heart. A brother and I were talking
about different preachers and some of them, they just preach
to the head. And it hurts my head. But some, like our brother David,
well, he's got a good name for a preacher. Speak to the heart. From the heart to the heart.
And they're men after God's own heart, and they're after mine
too. They speak to the heart. That's what I've got to hear.
And that's really the only way God speaks. He doesn't instruct
our head. Can one message do all these
things? Can one message warn? Can one
message lift up? and rebuke and reprove and correct
and exhort and comfort and admonish and all these things. Give hope
and peace and get dire warning. Can one message do that? Yeah. It's the Gospel. The Gospel. It's the good news
of Christ I redeem. What is the Gospel? It's this
in a word. Christ. Christ who like David
came. Why? We're down here in this
place of wars and rumors of wars and fightings and battles and
struggles within, without. We've got an adversary that none
of us, that we're all afraid of. And the end is death. And we don't want to be a servant
to this world, do we? We don't want to be a servant
to sin. We don't want to be in bondage to this world. We want
out like the children of Israel. And here's the good news. The
Old Testament says somebody's coming. For 40 days, those Israelites,
all of them, stood and faced this giant. They were scared
to death. They thought, it's over. We're gone. He's going
to take us all. Take our children. Take us all.
And we're gone. We're not going to get through
this. If they'd only known. If there could have been a herald
come and say, somebody's on his way. And then it came. See, it's the good news of Christ
our Redeemer. We have troubles, don't we? A
man that is born of woman is a few days full of troubles.
Why? Why trouble? Because of sin. We talk a lot about sin, don't
we? That's because the Bible does. It begins with that. It
begins with sin in the Garden of Eden. And it ends with what?
Christ putting it away. The whole book is about Christ
coming to put away sin, our great enemy. This is no Hallmark movie. This is the truth. And His name
is Jesus Christ. That's why He came. David, in
that one line, in that one phrase that David uttered for all Israel
to hear, that's what Christ did. That's what Christ said. That's
what this whole book says. Is there not a cause? Yes. And Christ said, for this cause
I came. Like David looked around, he
saw there was no man, none to help him. And he came. He came. Our Lord said, to His
disciples. In the world ye shall have tribulation. But what was their peace? What
was their comfort? How are they going to get through
these tribulations? In the Revelation it says, these are they who went
through much tribulation. All of them. And our Lord said,
this is how they will get through. He says, be of good cheer. I
have overcome. And who is he that overcometh?
But he that believeth. Those Israelites, Jonathan included. Jonathan was a mighty man, but
only in the Lord. He was a coward until David came.
Well, no, I take that back. I take that back. He fought many
battles. That's why no type is perfect.
He fought many battles before that. But as a picture of us
in all Israel, we're cowards until Christ comes. After Christ,
after David wrought that great victory, all Israel was encouraged
and given strength. Our Lord said you must, through
much tribulation, enter the Kingdom of Heaven because this is called
a present evil world and God's people are not of this world.
They're passing through it. Read the article by Brother Milton
Howard. That's good. They're not citizens of this
country. part of it, and you can expect
to be hated by it, and you can expect troubles in it, because
the Lord sends them to keep us from falling in love with this
world. Our Lord said, Love not the world,
nor the things of the world, he that loveth the world, not of God. So He said you must, you must
through much tribulation. Tribulation. The word tribulation
means pressure. Press down. That's what tribulation
means. Under pressure, under heavy temptations
and trials where the adversary is pressing them down with doubts,
with fear, with worries, with sorrow. Tribulations, things
that press down on us, weigh down on us with worry and fear
and sorrow. Our minds, our hearts, our souls
are full of trouble after trouble after trouble. All of us experience
similar troubles, some in this way more than others, but all
experience trouble, trouble, trouble. In this world you shall
have trouble. And our Lord came, a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. The Lord laid on him trouble. Why? He's going to bear it away
by himself. Stay with me. You need help from
troubles? Why does the Lord send these
troubles? Don't you know our sister, Roberta,
asking why she's been through so much, and Jeanette asking
why this happened? So does it happen, why? Why? Well, many reasons. Number one,
to keep us looking to Him. Keep us calling on Him. Mindful
of Him. If we didn't have any troubles
in us, we'd forget God. And that's exactly what Israel
of old did, didn't it? Through Moses, the Lord warned
them. He said, take heed that when you get in this house flowing
with milk and honey and are rich and increased with good and have
houses with ceilings, you're going to forget God. But God wouldn't let that happen,
would He? Psalm 107, that whole psalm is about that. So the Lord
sent trouble. Much of the trouble, they made
it themselves. They created their own trouble,
but some of it God sent. Why? It was good so that they'd
draw nigh unto God. So they wouldn't forget God.
So they'd call on God. So they'd remember, this is not
where I belong. The weakness. Make us long for
His Kingdom. The greatest trouble of all is
trouble with sin. Does this appeal to you? We're
going to go to a place wherein dwelleth righteousness. Does that appeal to you? Not
to people of the world. They love sin. They love the
wages of unrighteousness, don't they? The pleasures of sin for
a season, but not people like Moses. They esteem the treasures,
the riches of Christ, greater treasures than all the riches
of Egypt. And they say, God remove me from
this present evil world. This is an evil world. I'm not
in love with it. They, like Jonathan, are in love with Him. They want
to be with Him. And make us long for His kingdom. Kingdom without
sin, wherein dwelleth righteousness, to make us love the Lord who
came for this call." That's why. Make us love the Lord who came
for this call. Now, I wish, I wish, I wish,
I've never done it. No man has. I can rightly tell
you the condescension of Jesus Christ. How He left a place where
everybody loved Him. Everybody esteemed Him. Everybody
served Him. Everybody, everything was wonderful. Peace, joy, kindness, love, mercy,
goodness, gentleness, meekness, kindness, Jesus Christ, love,
everything, everywhere, no tears, no sorrow, no pain, no suffering,
no death. Would you leave that place? Would
you leave that place for some people that say, we don't want
you? Would you leave that place to rescue, to save, to redeem
a people that say, get out! Leave a place where nobody wanted
Him to leave to come to a place that nobody wanted Him to come. That's when you talk about love,
you talk about His love. That's when you talk about sacrifice,
you talk about His sacrifice. No man loved it like this. He
said, Behold, and seeth my sorrow is like any man's sorrow, wherein
the Lord hath afflicted me. Greater love hath no man than
this. That's why it's so blasphemous to compare God's love to a person,
to a human being. God's love is like a mother's
love. Oh, no it's not. If a mother has any love at all,
it might be something like His. Maybe. But not anything like
Him. Greater loveth no man there.
This is why we preach Christ. This is why we come here to magnify
and extol and honor and praise and glorify the Son of God for
coming down to this district. David was with his father. David, loved by his father. David, in the peace and the shelter
and with his sheep. Oh, his sheep loved him, didn't
they? Those sheep loved their shepherd. But he came to his brother, and
the oldest, who ought to know better, should have known him,
grew up, watched him grow up, watched him. That brother watched
David, didn't he, John? He saw what the father saw. He
saw what everyone saw. Harmless, undefiled, separate. A loving man, a kind man, a gentle
man, but he destroyed them. Get out of here. I know you,
you're full of pride and naughtiness of heart. No, Eliab, you are.
He's full of love, that's why he came. He's full of kindness,
that's why he came. And that oldest brother and Saul
of Tarsus who pretended to prophesy and pretended love and feigned
love to David represents a natural man. Represents every unregenerate
person. Religious man who says he loves
Jesus but wants his own glory. Doesn't want his glory. We'll
not have this man right here. That I just happen to believe.
I believe that God turned the hearts of David's brethren. They
were in the kingdom. I believe, like Joseph's brethren,
I think the Lord turned their hearts to see that how could
we have hated such a beautiful man as that? How could we have
despised and rejected our dear brother who came to do what he
did for us? And that's what God does for all of his rebel sons,
all his prodigal sons. And that's what I hope and pray
he'll do for everybody in here this morning. Because there's some in here
that wouldn't be here unless they were forced to be. And some
in here who would not be here except to say thanks. And I want you to see
His face. It says that, verse 1 in our
text, when David made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the
soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David when he heard
his voice. Are you with me? I know I say
that to a lot of people because I'm not fighting the air. I'm
not beating the air. I'm not just trying to get this
message over with. I want you to hear me. I want you to hear
the voice of the Son of God. It says, when Jonathan heard
his voice, his soul was knit. He fell in
love. He fell in love with David. And
he loved him as his own soul. You can't love more than that,
can you? When our Lord said for us to love, He said, love others
like you love yourself. Well, Jonathan did. He fell in
love with David. And this is a picture of every
single child of God that God puts this love of His in their
heart. When the Scripture says, God
shed abroad His love in the hearts of His people, that means first
and foremost, a love for God's Son. See, the Father loveth the
Son. And when God puts this love in
the hearts of the people, it's not like modern religion, you
know, just love, just love, just love, just love, love, love,
love, love, love, when they hate the truth. When they hate all
talk of salvation of the Lord, when they hate all talk of man's
depravity and worthlessness and sinfulness. That's what these
brothers were, Brother John, weren't they? Mack, weren't they?
These brothers of David, they weren't worth loving, were they?
But David! That's his name! That's his name! Lovely! And that's what he does. And they're not like him. But
they're going to be. Bless God. What did Jonathan hear? He heard
his voice. What did he hear? What's the
first thing he heard? Is there not a cause? Everybody! David stood up. Is there not
a cause? Is there nobody going to fight
this job? Let no man fear. Let no man's
heart fail them. I'm going. My servant will fight. Brethren, if we were hunkered
down in a foxhole and bullets flying over our head and our
children's lives on the line right now, this would be the
best news you ever heard. Listen to me. I ain't being dramatic
here. This is the truth. If you know
the souls of your children are at stake, if you know your soul
is at stake, if you know that the adversary, like a roaring
lion, seeketh whom he may devour, and he wants you and your children. Listen to me. Listen to the good
news. Somebody. Will somebody hear
it? God help us, somebody. Christ said, for this cause came
out in the world. I'm here, Brother Stephen, he
said, I'm here! To do what? Not make salvation possible. To finish the fight. To finish
the work. To put away sin. To obtain righteousness. To establish righteousness. To
bring in an everlasting King. I'm going to do it by myself. He did! He did! When they talk about, when this
book talks about the defeat of the Philistines, the defeat of
Goliath, it makes it sound like David did it all. David slew
his 10,000. He did! And when the Scripture
says that Christ is all, and that Christ by Himself purged
our sins, that's what He did. We didn't help Him. Do you understand me? Jonathan
had a boy laying on his feet. His name was Mephibosheth. His
life is in danger. And he can't do anything about
it. And David, he heard David, body. He heard David. That's
my Savior. That's my Captain. That's my
Redeemer. Yes, yes, go get him. And he did. And he watched it.
And when he came back, David came back with his garments dyed
with that adversary's blood. He trod the one winepress of
the wrath of God by himself, Scripture says, of Christ. And
when Jonathan heard his voice, and now he sees him with his
eye. Heartlessness! I love that man! Boy, what a man! A better man than me. I'm going
to follow that man. I'm going to serve that man.
I'm going to fight his battle. I'm going to serve. I love that
man. And brethren, that's exactly what God does to every elect
senator that he saves. This needs to be shouted. Especially
someone who has never heard it. I'm telling you, all of Israel,
When they heard David lift up his voice with strength, they
heard him lift up his voice with power. He wasn't talking like
a scribe. He's talking like one that had
authority. And he said, I'm letting no man's
heart fail him. I'm going to go. He didn't ask
Saul. He told him. Saul didn't ask him to fight.
He told him. I'm coming. I'm going to fight
this battle. Saul said, well, here, let me
help you. He said, I don't need that. I don't need any help. I am here in the name of the
Lord." And that's exactly what Jesus Christ did. This is no
fairy tale. This is true. This is the salvation
of my soul. And my soul has been nipped to
Him. And some of you, God praise God
for His sovereign, electing love and grace that made you soul
men. You can't make your soul love somebody, can you? That's
a silly sign over in one of these whorehouses over here on Main
Street that says, fall in love with Jesus. You can't fall in
love with somebody. You don't fall in love. Love
happens to you. Did you make yourself love that
man beside you? Did you? Say, I'm just going
to love him. You don't know. It happens. Love comes to you. Grace is not an offer. It's an
act. It's a power of God upon a soul that hates God to make
them love him. It's the power of God on a soul
that hated the truth, that hated all talk of them being a dog,
that humbles them, breaks them. It's an arrow, a sword in the
heart of every proud sinner that makes them say, I am nothing.
Jesus Christ is all. That this whole world is not
worth saving. That's what Jonathan thought.
My father, my brethren, none of them, there's none of us worth
it. Oh, that man's worthy. When he looked at David, he said,
that man's worthy. That's what we're saying. That's
what I'm trying to say. That's why we're here. Are you
with me? Are you with him? Here's a better
thing I should be saying. Are you with him? I'm just telling
you what he said. I'm just telling you what he
did. And it comes by hearing. We have
this treasure in earthen vessels. Feeble, frail pots, clay pots. That's the excellency of the
power. Excellency of what? Him. Not my excellent intellectual
theological knowledge. No, the excellency that is Jesus
Christ. That the excellency of the powers,
not by might, not by powers, not by my voice, not by my ability,
not by my outline, the powers in the gospel. That the power
might be of God and not of man. Excellence is the power of God. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. David, this young man, stripling
youngster, comes along. Not higher than everybody. Saul
was. Saul was a coward. By the way, Goliath was taller
than anybody, but he came down, didn't he? The Son of David was going to
bring down every high and low. There was no form or beauty or
comeliness in him that anybody would desire him wherein lay
his power. Right there. A man after God's own heart.
And he said, You come to me with spears and swords. I come to
you in a name that's above every name." And he said, this name
is going to bring you down. It was like a sharp two-edged
sword coming out of David's mouth. I'm here in the name of the God
of Israel whom you've defied. I'm here for the cause of my
God and you're coming down. No, he abandoned lots of babies
and died. Did he? Where did he get those stones?
A brook. Well, who put them there? God
did. He said, just choose a stone, David. Just choose any stone.
Any one of them will bring him down. Any word from God. That's
what I'm hoping for. I'm digging into this bag, and
I'm as a sling as it were, but God must hit the mark. And I'm
hoping and I'm praying that one of these words, one of these
words will sink, not right here, but
right there. Like it did to Jonathan. You
see, as David slew the giant with that sling, and as Christ
brought down the head of the dragon, the beast, Satan brought
down, crushed the power of sin, and Satan, and hell, and death,
and at his feet, like Saul, went forward, because every knee will
bow, every tongue will confess, perhaps the last one will be
Satan himself. You're Lord and you beat me.
And then he cast him in the lake of fire. Every tongue will confess,
every knee will bow, but it's salvation to do that now. It's
salvation not just to bow, but to love him, to love him, to
thank him for coming. And as David threw that stone
and hit the head of the giant, when David was speaking and when
David was throwing that stone, Jonathan was watching this from
afar. He's watching from afar, brother,
and he sees the might, the power, the glory, the honor, the strength,
the courage of David as he reached back one stone. And Saban, he
said, that's the man. That right there is my savior.
And the closer he got, the more he loved him. Then he heard his
voice. Now everybody else, he's still a stripper. He's still
a youngster. If he'd asked his brother, he'd say, it's just
David, just a youngster. If he'd asked Jonathan, he'd
say, he's a giant. He's a giant. He's huge. Jonathan may have been taller
than David, but he thought, he's bigger than me in every way. And most people have no interest
in Jesus Christ. Some sit in this room right now.
Oh God, help us. Send the stone, send the arrow
in the heart and make that person see thy honor, thy glory and
love you as their own soul. Read on, I've got to get to this.
Saul took him that day, verse 2, Saul took him, would let him
go no more home to his father's house. Evil man. Saul did not have the
Spirit of God, but an evil spirit plagued him, as do all natural
men, as do those who make a profession, as do reprobate men, reprobate
religious people. That's who Saul represents, the
Jews. And Saul took him because of what he could get out of him.
From here on, all Saul wanted out of David was what he could
get out of him. He wanted protection. He was
a coward. Saul was a coward. David protected him. People acknowledge
that later on. You'll read, if you read it,
it says, you're the one that went in and went out, thought
our madam, to David. He said, you're the one. Saul
was a coward and he hated him. Then Jonathan, verse 3, Jonathan
and David made a covenant. Are you with him? Are you still
with him? Because he loved him as his own soul. Because who
loved who? It doesn't make it clear here,
does it Amy? Who's he talking about? Well, I believe I know
who he's talking about. David loved Jonathan. Jonathan
loved David. And David loved Jonathan. You
see, David went home with Saul. That's where Jonathan lived.
big kingdom and families stayed there, princes, he was a prince,
Saul the king. David came home and abode with
him. And the longer David abode in that house, the more Jonathan
loved him. The more he saw his God, the more he saw his beauty.
You know where Jesus Christ abides? In his house, with his people. And isn't it so? The more we
come, the more we hear Him, the more we see Him, the more we
fall in love with Him. You come here and you're going
to hear about your Savior. You're going to hear about the Christ.
You're going to hear about the Redeemer. You're going to hear
about Him. And that's what makes you fall more in love with Him.
You go other places, you're going to hear about man. You're going
to hear stories about man, how the underdog can overtake the
giant. That's not what that story is
about. That doesn't give me courage. I'll tell you what does give
me courage. When you tell me, like Isaiah said to tell, tell
them the warfare is accomplished. You're going to have some battles,
you're going to have some skirmishes, but you're not fighting for your
soul. Christ did that. You're not fighting this battle.
Oh, he fought that and he won. Now, he said he made a covenant
with it. Covenant. Covenant with Jonathan
made a covenant, Jonathan and David made a covenant. Another
place says Jonathan made a covenant with David. Now this is why no
type can adequately tell the whole story because it's not
that we make a covenant with Christ at all, no sir. The covenant
spoken of in scriptures is one that God the Father and God the
Son made between themselves before anybody was around. It's called
the covenant he made before the foundations were. And it's a
covenant between the Father and with the Son, that the Father
gave Him a people to come down and save. And all that Christ
saved, all that God elected, and all that God gave to Christ,
those sheep, Christ came as the Good Shepherd and laid down His
life for them. The covenant head, the covenant Redeemer, the surety
of the everlasting covenant. All the promises of God are in
Him, yea and amen, not if, and, but, or maybe, not if you help
Him. No, no. Christ said, I am come. that
they might have life. I am come. I am going to do this.
Like David said, thy servant will fight and I will bring the
head down. And that's what Christ said he would do. And the Father
said in that covenant, every single one that I gave you, every
single one you died for, I will receive unto myself. I will in
no wise cast him out. And he does what he does. God
does what he does for Christ's sake. There's another story I
told you about, the lame son of Jonathan. Some of you know
his name, don't you? It's a mystery to most, but not
to you. His name is Mephibosheth. He
was a lame son by a fall. I'm not careful, I stay right
there like Ruth. But this is perhaps a better title, that
David as God the Father and Jonathan as Christ the Son. David later
on is sitting on the throne, and Jonathan died. And in this
covenant, Jonathan said, Would you show kindness to my house
for my sake? When I'm dead and gone, will
you show kindness to my house for my sake? Because I asked
you. And David said, Yes. Well, God the Father, for Christ
the Son, shows kindness and mercy for Christ's sake. When he brought
in and fetched that lame man into David's presence, David's
sitting there, able to kill or make a lie, accept or reject. It wasn't up to Mephibosheth
to accept David. It's completely up to David to
accept him. And what David said, he spoke to Mephibosheth. He
spoke his name. He said, Mephibosheth, God's got to speak to you personally.
And here's what you'll hear. I have decided, I have purposed
to show you kindness, to show you mercy for Jonathan's sake. I made a covenant with Jonathan.
You know, David killed every other son of Saul. But he said,
Jonathan, told me to show kindness, and I'm going to show you kindness.
And he did. And you know what? He didn't
just show mercy. He adopted him. He put him at
his table with all the sons that he loved. There sits Solomon.
And you know, Jonathan, Mephibosheth sits there, loved just as much
as Solomon. That's Jesus Christ. That's what
God does, you see. And for people to tell everybody
everywhere, God loves you, Jesus died for you. It's a lie. Because
God made a covenant. It's a covenant of sovereign
election. Sovereign redeeming grace. And it's ordered in all
things and sure. And their names are written in
the Lamb's Book of Life. And every single one that God
put, God in covenant made with pride. Every single one of them. will not only be saved, but their
hearts will be knit to Jesus Christ. They will love him as
their own soul. We're going to see in the next
story how Jonathan went against his blood. Christ said, I've come to set
a man at parents with his father. And Jonathan said, my father
doesn't love you, but I do. I love you more than I love him. And we love Him because He first
loved us, but we do love Him and accept Him. Our Lord said
it, and I was going to turn, but I don't have time. Matthew
10, He said, If any man loved father, mother, husband, wife,
son, or daughter more than Me, he cannot be. He cannot be My
disciple. Seeing what I did for him, he
cannot love them more. Seeing where I came from for
him, he cannot love them more than me. Seeing who I was, seeing
how I condescended, seeing who I came for, he cannot possibly
love anybody more than me. It can't be done. You see what
I'm saying? You see what he's saying? And here's the dire warning,
1 Corinthians 16.22 says, If any man love not the Lord Jesus
Christ, let him be accursed. Why couldn't you? Why wouldn't
you? How can you not? And this covenant of grace is
called the sure mercies of David. You know that? The covenant of
grace is called the sure mercies of David. Jonathan, in chapter
18, It says in verse 4, I've got to show you this. It says,
Jonathan stripped himself of the robe and gave it to David,
and his garments, his sword, his bow, his girdle. He's standing
there naked before him. I really hate to have to
bring this up, but man, there's some vile people in this world.
that try to make something impure of this story. And if it angers
His people like that, it angers God like nothing else. Try to
make this to be some kind of impure love between these two. Amen. But for the grace of God, it
would be us, though, But here's the picture. You see what this
is all about? You know what this is all about?
Every single sinner, when he sees Jesus cry, when he hears
His voice, sees His glory, sees what He is, a coward, no good,
we're unworthy, and hears His blessed voice, beholds His beauty,
His power, His glory, His salvation, and dwells with Him, and falls
in love with Him, he strips himself. Humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God, James Rose. I'm nothing. In my hands, no
price I bring. I'm nothing. I'm a nobody. A
robe is a thing of beauty, isn't it? We're going to be robed some
day. All of us are going to wear white
robes. You know where we got it? Him. Jonathan stripped himself,
sister. He stripped himself. Reckon David
covered him? He put on all his armor. Brother
John, you reckon David gave him some? had infinitely surpassed His
own. This beauty. That's our righteousness, isn't
it? Christ is not beautiful to you. His gospel is not beautiful
to you until you see your old religion is filthy rags. He stripped Himself of His garments.
He's covering. He's covering. Stripped Himself
of His covering. Might as well. He knows. He sees. Nothing covering us. Don't hide, confess. He that
hideth his sins shall not find mercy, but he that confesseth
and forsaketh them shall find mercy. Read on, it says, now
through his sword. His sword, that's his strength.
That's his defense. His bow, that's his weapons of
war. Brother Scott Richardson. Oh,
I loved that old man. Old coal miner with an 8th grade
education. There's not a theologian on earth that could stand the
wisdom of that man like Steve Lovell. Not one. I've read all the great writers.
You'll never read a more profound, yet simple and eloquent writer
than Scott Richardson. 8th grade coal miner. I've read Thomas Watson, John
Flagle, John Newton, I've read them all. Deal's Body of Divinity. Ain't none of them could stand
up to a man like Scott Richardson. None of them. And you know what he said in
simple terms? He said, here's salvation. Stack your guns, boys. That's what he said, Brother
Stephen. He said, stack your guns. Surrender. Might as well. He's going to get them anyway.
That's how you come to this Christ, or I've decided to let you. Decided
what? Can you imagine? David! Jonathan,
I've decided to accept you as my personal Savior. He saw him take down that giant,
and he feared, Saul feared him! Saul feared him! But bless God,
David. not only feared him and respected
him and esteemed him, loved him. You know what he said, Mac? I
want this man to reign over me. I want this man to reign. He
does anyway. You know what? He does anyway.
God had already made him king, hadn't he, John? God had already
made him king. He wasn't up for Jonathan to
accept him. But, bless God, God came to Jonathan in the hearing
of his voice and said, you will bow to this man, won't you? Do
you see his beauty? Do you see his glory? Oh, I do. His father didn't. Who made the
difference? Who made the difference? Did
your father love this Gospel, John Shusley? You do, don't you? Your heart's been knit to Jesus
Christ. Why? Sovereign elect in grace. If he hadn't chosen you, you'd
have paid him to. And he stripped himself of his
girdle. These women know what girdles are. But this is not
the same. It's similar. You know, it holds
everything together. Right? It holds everything together. It keeps everything from falling
apart. Honestly. You see, I got in a flesh just
now. But a girdle, in battle was the thing that undergirded
all that armor. It was in everything hung on
it. All the armor hung on it. It was the thing that you'd strap
tight like a belt around you, the stiff, strict thing. It protected the bowels, the
innermost part of that man as a girdle. You'd strap it on strong
like that. And you could hang your sword.
armor on. You could hang a spear. You could
hang your sling. Everything hung on it. Everything
depended upon it. Everything, it was a foundation
of all that armor and that strength. And whatever it is we're hoping
in, whatever it is we're trusting in, whatever it is we lean upon,
whoever it is, whatever it is, you've got to take it off. You've
got to cast it down because it won't hold you up. It's not your salvation. It's
not your strength. You can't hang your soul on your
profession. You can't hang your soul on your
baptism. You can't hang your soul on your church membership.
You can't hang your soul on your righteousness. You can't hang
your soul on anything you've ever done. But you can hang your
soul on this, the girdle of truth. Ephesians 6 talks about the girdle
of truth. David gave him a girdle, alright.
And our Lord Jesus Christ girds His people. It's the foundation
of our salvation. It's the foundation of truth.
And everything hangs on it. What is it? It's that sure token. It's that certain thing that
you can hang your soul on. The blood of Jesus Christ. God's Son. Cleanse them. When I see blood, the girdle
was hidden, wasn't it? The girdle was hidden. Take off
your girdle. Fall out before the Lord. Come
naked before the Lord. And you know what he'll do? He'll
gird you with strength. He'll gird you with garments.
Not filthy rags. Beauty of praise. He'll give
you a sword, alright, but it's not carnal weapons. It'll be
in your very mouth. And you know what? There's not
a foe out there we can't face. Jonathan's going to go to battle.
It doesn't say there weren't any more battles, Dan, does it? No, it says after David fought
that battle, it said they all went at it. But David won. Well, then why are they fighting?
Because the Lord said so. Do you understand that? We're
not fighting for our souls. Fight for His cause. Fight for
His cause. That's what we do. Okay. To God
be the glory. That saying in closing, what
is it? 272, solid rock. And those who
know it, know the verse. His oath, His covenant, His blood. Support. to girdle in that whelming
flood of trouble. When all around my soul gives
way, then what? He, then, is all my hope. All right, let's stand and sing. My hope is built upon nothing
left, than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
prank, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. Verse 3. His oath is tough as
the flood, Support me in the whelming flood. When all around
my soul gives way, He then is all I need.