Turn with me now to 1 Samuel
chapter 18. 1 Samuel 18. Our study tonight is an absolutely
amazing one. It's just amazing. I hope that
you become beside yourself like I was when I studied this, and
if you'll give me Give the word, I should say, your undivided
attention just for a little while. You're going to see some amazing
things in a study tonight. And the types and the symbols
and the similarities of David's life with those of our Christ,
with that of Christ, is just, there's no other word but amazing.
It's just, it's just a marvel. It's just amazing. That's all
you can say about it. And after reading and studying
and seeing these things, you just want to shout, He's real. Christ is living. He is real. And at the time, I believe tonight,
right at the moment anyway, you'll believe without one shadow of
a doubt. You'll have complete, total assurance
of who Christ is and that this faith is real. At least at the
time, right now, until you get out there in the world again
and these things depart from you. But you'll see, I believe,
we'll see in the course of this study that we can stake, He is
real and we can stake our eternal life on Him and devote our temporal
lives here to study in Him and be blessed by Him. I want you
and I to be one of his disciples. I want us to be followers of
him, students of his. I want us to be his friends. I call you friends to some people. And that's the title of tonight's
message. David, the son of David. The son of David, number six,
part number six, David's best friend, David's best Let's read
the first four verses here, 1 Samuel 18. And it came to pass, when
David had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was
knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his
own soul. And Saul took David that day
and would let him go no more home to his father's house. Then
Jonathan and David made a covenant because he, that is, Jonathan
or David, both of them loved each other, loved him as his
own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself
of the robe that was upon him and gave it to David and his
garments. even to his sword and to his
bow and to his girdle. Look back at verse one again
with me. It says, when David had made an end of speaking,
now you remember the context of this passage, how that David
had returned from the slaughter of the Philistines. After his
victory, after he'd made an end of the Philistines, the end of
Israel's enemies, after his victory over the giant Goliath, after
his return from the slaughter and his triumph, his mighty triumph
over Israel's enemies, after displaying his courage and his
great power, after making himself known When Saul asked him who
he was, he said, I'm Jesse's son, I'm the Bethlehemite. After making himself known, Jonathan,
upon hearing his voice, it says, after he finished speaking, that
the soul of Jonathan was knit, was knit with the soul of David. Jonathan, upon hearing and seeing
David in all his glory, was irresistibly drawn to this man. He was irresistibly
drawn and captivated with David from that day forward. He heard
his beautiful voice and saw his power even so. All those who
have seen the son of David in all of his power, in all of his
who have heard his voice, who have heard who he is, that is,
he's the son of David, he's the Christ, he's the long-awaited
Messiah, he is the Bethlehemite, the one, the Messiah who was
to be born in Bethlehem, and heard his powerful voice, that
call, they're irresistibly drawn to the son of David. Their hearts
are knit to the son of David, the son of God, and his to them,
his heart Isn't it to them in turn verse two and Saul took
David that day and would let him go no more home to his father's
house. In other words, David stayed
in Saul's house a while. And that's when Jonathan really
got to know David. And come become acquainted with
him and love him when David stayed a little while in his house.
Christ tabernacled among us in a house, in a body just like
us. The son of God lived with men
as the son of man, the son of David. And it's then, it's during
Christ's stay upon this earth that we really got to know who
God was and fall in love with him. And then during David's
stay here with Saul and Jonathan, Jonathan lived there at home.
During David's stay, there was a covenant struck between these
two men, between David and Jonathan. They became steadfast friends. They became as brothers, yea,
as blood brothers, David and Jonathan. I don't know if they
did what we used to do when we were kids, you know, blood brother.
At any rate, they made a vow to one another to stick together
till death do them part, to stick together. Now look at the covenant.
Verse three, Jonathan and David made a covenant because he, That
is, Jonathan loved David as his own soul, and you could read
that vice versa, too. David loved Jonathan as his own
soul. They made a covenant. They both
took vows of love for one another. David, later on in 2 Samuel 1,
I believe it's verse 26, Upon hearing of Jonathan's death,
do you remember what he said in mourning Jonathan's death? He said, Oh, Jonathan, Jonathan.
He said, I loved you so much. He said, My love for thee was
was was more than the love of women. More than the love of
women, it was wonderful passing the love of women. David's love
for for Jonathan, they took vows of love for one another. They
confessed or professed their love to one another as brothers
and Christ. Most certainly took a vow of
love for us and. We vow our love to him to Christ
and his people, they take vows of love for one another. Christ
made his vows of love before the foundation of the world.
That's when he made those espousals or that is he was espoused, betrothed
by the Father to take this bride to himself of harlotry, like
Gomer. And Christ made those vows before
the foundation of the world to love us, to care for us, to provide
for us, to save us, to keep us forever. And in time, by the
Spirit's irresistible power, we are wooed to Christ. We're wooed and drawn to Him
so that we make avowals. of our love to Christ. Yes, we
do. You say we make a vow to him?
You better believe we do. Yes, we do. We profess our love
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, don't we? Before all men. And
we confess him in believer's baptism, and the remainder of
our lives had better be, they will be, confessions of faith
and love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, sir. We make vows of our
love to Christ. But we can only do it through
Christ through the spirit. We can only keep these vows through
his divine power. Look at verse four. This is great. And Jonathan, upon making this
vow of love to David. Jonathan stripped himself. Of
the robe that was upon him. Stripped himself of his robe.
And he gave it to David. And his garments. and his sword
and his bow and his girdle. Everything he was wearing, he
took it all and gave it to David. Here, these are tokens of my
love and my confidence in you, David, my friend. This robe. Now, a robe is a symbol of our
beauty. We wear clothing to adorn ourselves,
don't we? The robe was a symbol of his
beauty. His garments. Those are the coverings. Those are those which we cover
ourselves with. His sword is a symbol of strength,
protection. The bow is a weapon of war, warfare. The girdle is that which secures
us. It's our security. It's our defense. And even so, the one who comes
to Christ by faith will be stripped by God the Holy Spirit. stripped
of that robe, that robe of your beauty, your beauty will melt
into uncomfortableness. Who was it that said that? I
asked Terry about that. Somebody, when they saw the Lord,
said, my beauty melted into corruption. And we take off this robe, we
unadorn, we're nothing. We take off this robe of our
own beauty and say we're nothing before Him. And these garments,
our righteousness, We don't have any. Our righteousness are filthy
rags. We take them off and say, Lord,
here you take this. Give me a new one. That sword,
our strength, he becomes our strength. We no longer depend
upon our own strength, the strength of the flesh. That bow, weapon
of war, that rebellion that's within us all is stripped from
us and we bow before our King. That girdle, That is, our false
refuge and sense of carnal security, we take it off. And in all these
things, it says they were given to David. Jonathan gave them
to David. And all of our sins and our iniquities
were laid on him, were laid on Christ. Lord, take all of this
rubbish and give me your beautiful garments of righteousness. All
right, I want you to look at some of David's friends and his
enemies with me. friends and enemies of David
now. David. David caused a division
wherever he went. There was a division concerning
David wherever he went. Does that sound familiar? He
was loved by some. He was hated by others. Even
people in the same household. One would love him, one would
hate him. But David, you see, though, was all he was worthy
to be loved. Look at verse five with me. David
was altogether lovely. He obeyed, he behaved himself
wisely, whithersoever Saul sent him. He behaved himself wisely,
and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in
the sight of all the people and in the sight of Saul's servants.
David was obedient to his calling. He would behave himself wisely.
And for this, for his lovely character, it seemed that all
the people followed him and accepted him at first, didn't it? Seemed
like all the people said, and all the people accepted him. But read verse six through nine
with me. And it came to pass as they came
when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine,
the giant, that the women came out of all cities of Israel.
singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tabrets with joy and
with instruments of music. And the women answered one another
as they played. They answered one another, Saul
has slain his thousand, and David his ten thousand. And Saul was
wroth, and the saying displeased him, was evil in his eye. He
said, David scribed unto David ten thousand. And to me they
were scribed, but thousands, what can he have more than the
kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that
day forward." They loved David, his character
and all, his obedience and his beautiful character and all.
But when David was glorified, when David was raised up on high,
when David was honored above all people, when David was set
up as the ruler, Saul, and those faithful to Saul were angry.
They didn't like that, did they? Saul would have a temporary deliverer,
wouldn't he? Saul would have a helper, wouldn't
he? But not a lord, not somebody
to usurp his authority, not somebody, not a man to reign over him,
would he, Terry? Oh, he'd have a deliverer, a
helper. Yeah, go fight my battles for me, but don't reign over
me. I won't have that. And that's the same way it is
with Christ. Look over John 12 with me. Now, we're going to
be, I want you to mark the book of John here, chapter 12 and
13. Mark it well. We're going to
be referring back and forth from 1 Samuel to John, the Gospel
of John. So keep your place there. It's
a marvelous, marvelous correlation. here in the things of Christ
and with David. Now, many people followed Christ,
didn't they? Wherever he went, there was a
division concerning him. But many people followed Christ,
and many seemed to believe him, didn't they? Many seemed to draw
near unto him and believe him, but it was just with their lips,
as now. It's the same way now. Many people profess the name
of Jesus and Christ. They draw near with their lips.
Well, look at John 12, beginning with verse 17 with me. The people,
therefore, that was with him when he called Lazarus out of
his grave and raised him from the dead, they saw this marvelous
miracle of Christ. And the same people that had
their bellies full and so forth, they bear record. And for this
cause, the people met him. They followed him. After they'd
heard he'd done such a miracle, and the Pharisees therefore said
among themselves, verse 19, Perceive ye how you prevail nothing. Behold,
the world is gone after this man. Everybody believes in this
man. Everybody looked over at verse
42, verse 42. And even among the chief rulers,
many believed on him. Did they? But because of the Pharisees,
they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the
synagogue. They loved the praise of men more than the praise of
God. Now, back to 1 Samuel 18. So
many people followed David, didn't they? Many people seemed to accept
him. But all didn't love him. All
weren't faithful to him. Go back to the text in verse
12. Look at it. And Saul, though, I, David, from
that day forward." And Saul, verse 12, was afraid of David.
Why? Because the Lord was with him
and was departed from Saul. The Lord was with David, not
with Saul. And Christ is the only man approved
of God. He's the only man who truly had
the Spirit of God without measure, the Son of God. Lord over all
of the verse fifteen again, and wherefore, when Saul saw that
David behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him. He was
afraid of him. He was afraid, Saul was afraid
that David was someday going to usurp his power. He knew.
He saw. He knew. He heard all about David.
He heard that Samuel had anointed David. He heard about that. And he knew that eventually David
was going to take his place. He was afraid of him, he envied
him, he feared him, and eventually he knew because David was such
a man of high moral fiber and character and beauty and the
people would fall for him, he knew David was going to expose
his evil. Does that sound familiar? Christ
said to the Pharisees, he said, if I had not come and spoken
to them, they wouldn't have any sin. But now they've got no cloak
for their sin, and they were afraid of Christ. Why? Because
holiness, God walked the earth, and now they had no facade, no
covering, no religious covering to veil themselves, didn't they?
Christ could look right into their hearts and say, I see you,
you snake, you viper, whoa, under you scribes, Woe unto the scribe,
and he pointed to them, to the people and said, you beware of
these dogs, these snakes. And they were afraid of him.
He could read their thoughts. And Saul was afraid of David
as well. Look at verse 16. But all Israel
and Judah, they loved David. That's the common people. The
average man, the average working class man, the average sinner
on the street, they loved David. They loved everything about him.
They loved David because he went out and came in before them as
he was presented to them. They loved David. And the Scripture
says the common people heard Christ gladly. It said he was
a friend of publicans and sinners. Right? And the Pharisees and
the scribes and all disdained him just for that reason. Well,
he was a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified
of the children. Now look at this. This is amazing. Even Saul's daughter fell for
David. Look at verse 21 with me. Saul's
daughter was supposed to be a snare to David. Saul sent his daughter,
Michael, to marry David, and he wanted her to be a snare.
Saul said, I'll give him her if she's going to be a snare
to him. And she was later on. She was a problem to him. But
you know what? Look at verse 28. And Saul knew
that the Lord was with David, and even Michael, Saul's daughter,
loved him. He won her over. He must have
been a marvelous man, must have been a beautiful man. And the
servants of the religious rulers in Christ's day, you remember?
When the religious rulers sent the servants down to apprehend
Christ? Go get him, boys, bring him back to us. What happened?
They fell for him, too. They came back and said, we couldn't
take him. No man spoke like this man. He
didn't speak as you guys. He spoke as someone with authority.
Oh, he was something. Y'all ought to come hear him,
too. They fell for him, too. Well, look at verse 29 here,
chapter 18. And Saul was yet the more afraid of David. And
Saul became David's enemy continually. Then the princes of the Philistines
went forth, and it came to pass after they went forth that David
behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so
that his name was much set by. David became precious. His name
was much set by. That means his name was highly
acclaimed. His name was heard throughout the land. David was
had in much esteem and fame throughout the land, much to the gall of
King Saul. David became known throughout
the land, well known, and many people followed him. Saul didn't
like it. And many people would have followed
him. Now listen, here's the key. Many people, it appeared there
that all the people were with David at the time, but later
on it turned out to be much different. If David had come right then
into power, if David had come into pomp and splendor, riding
on a white horse, and all the people took him and disposed
Saul and set him on the throne, everybody would have loved David
and all would have been well. David had to go hide in a cave.
David stayed meek, remained meek and lowly. And because of that,
he was despised and rejected. Many people saw him and believed
he was no different than anybody else. He was just a man. His
comeliness, there was no beauty in him after a while, but they
desired him. Hiding in a cave. Remember Nabal? Remember the
story of the fool named Nabal? That was his name, Nabal. David
was running and hiding, apparently. And he came and wanted some food
from Nabal. And Nabal said, I ain't going to give no food to an old
rebel like that. You remember that story? Even
old fool didn't see any beauty in David at the time. But some
did. All in all, they saw the beauty.
Look over at 1 Samuel. I loved it. 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel
22, this is one of my favorite passages in all the Bible. I'm
sorry, 1 Samuel 22. 1 Samuel 22, one of my favorite
passages of Scripture. 1 Samuel 22, David, when he was
running and hiding, he departed and escaped to the cave of Adam,
verse 1. When his brethren and all his
father's house heard it, When his real brethren, when his father's
house, when his people heard David was down in the cave, they
went down to him. I don't care where he is, you're
going to be our leader. And everyone that was in distress,
that everybody that was under bondage to this ruthless King
Saul, everybody who'd had enough of his rule and his reign, and
everyone that was in debt, everybody that was indebted to him and
couldn't pay their debts. And everybody that was discontented,
that is, bitter of soul because of this ruthless king, they gathered
themselves unto David. And David became a captain over
them. They were just a little motley crew of four hundred men
compared to the thousand. Well, some really loved Christ,
too, didn't they? Some really, by His grace and
by His Holy Spirit, some, such as the women, a few little fishermen,
resorted to Him. But the greater part of people
rejected Him and turned their thumbs down on Him. We'll look
at 1 Samuel 19, back there. 1 Samuel 19. Let's look at the
confession of some and the rejection of others. 1 Samuel 19, look
at verse 1. It says that Saul spake to Jonathan
his son. Now Saul hated David, and he
spoke to Jonathan his son and to all of his servants. Everybody
that would hear him, he spoke to them concerning this David.
They should kill him. This guy's nothing but a troublemaker.
This David, and if you get sight of him, don't listen to him.
Kill him. Do away with him. Saul spoke
evil of David. Back in chapter 18, verse 22,
he pretended to love him. Look, glance across the page,
it says, David, Saul commanded his servants saying, commune
with David secretly and say, behold, the king hath delight
in thee. Are you looking at it with me?
The king hath delight in thee. He pretended to love David, didn't
he? But he hated him. And in our
day, many claim to love Jesus, don't they? Many claim to love
Jesus when their hearts are far from loving his absolute lordship
and authority over them, right? And they reveal it in their contempt
and hatred for the gospel of God's sovereign grace. And they
would kill all such preaching if it were possible, wouldn't
they? They'd put this place out of business so fast it'd make
your head spin if they could, wouldn't it? They say they love
Jesus, but not this sovereign Lord you're speaking of, not
this election, not this electing, predestinating sovereign king
you're talking about. Now, we'll believe anything but
that. We love Jesus, yes, but not this sovereign Lord you're
talking about, right? Sure, under the pretense of loving
him. But they despise him and they speak evil of him. They
speak evil of the gospel every day, don't they, on every hand.
And they tell everybody, don't you listen to this. They tell
their people. Don't you listen to that guy?
Years ago, 30, 40 years ago, a man came into town in Asheville,
Kentucky, and he on his job, he asked one of the fellow workers,
he said, I'm looking for a place to go to church. Where were you
think I ought to go? And the fellow said, go anywhere but
13th Street Baptist. Listen to any sort of heresy,
but don't go down there. You know where he went? He went
there and stayed for thirty-five years. Don't listen to this gospel. Go down to the Catholic, go to
the Methodist, it doesn't matter what you believe, but just don't
listen to that sovereign grace stuff down there. Don't listen
to that. Everybody they speak to. But,
verse two, Jonathan saw Sodom. He loved David, right in his
own house. Saul's son delighted much in
David, it's said, in spite of his father's hatred, in spite
of the fact that David would set them at variance with one
another. David was going to come between
them. It didn't matter. He loved David. He loved him. and delighted in David and communed
with him daily at the risk of his father's wrath. And in spite
of your family's hatred of the Christ you love, you love him,
don't you? You're not going to part with
him. It doesn't matter if they want to go, go. But you're not
going to part with Christ, are you? Christ promised that anyway,
didn't he? He said your own enemies are
going to be those of those of your own household are going
to be your enemies. He said, I've not come to bring peace,
but a sword of man's enemy should be those of his own household.
I've come to set a man at variance with his son. Didn't he? He promised that. And we, in
spite of this variance with those of our, even of our own blood
family, we delight in Christ. We're in love with Christ. We're
in love with him. But you have to, you have to
ask, you have to say this right here, ask the question, 1 Corinthians
4, 7, Saul and Jonathan, who made them different? And who
makes you to differ, Terry, if your brother or whoever doesn't,
or sister, or whoever doesn't love the Christ you love, who
makes you to differ? I mean, two of the same household. You
love Christ, maybe somebody else in your family doesn't. Even so, Father, it seemed good
in thy sight, didn't it? OK, Jonathan, now listen to what
Jonathan had to say about David. Saul spoke evil of him. Jonathan,
verse 4, spake good of David unto Saul, even to Saul, right
smack dab in front of his daddy. Oh, daddy! He said unto him,
let not the king sin against his servant, against David. He's
not sinning against thee. His works have been good to thee,
very good. He did put his life in his hand
and slew the Philistines, and you can tell the people the gospel
all you want to, can't you? Not the sovereign Christ, His
goodness, His effectual atonement and all that, but they're not
going to hear it. He says, The Lord wrought a great salvation
for all Israel through David. You look in that verse 5. Come
on, look with me. You saw it. You can read about it. And you
rejoiced at the time. Why then? Well, you sinned against
innocent blood to slay David without a cause. You remember
Terry reading that? And look at verse six. And this
is amazing. And Saul heard the voice of Jonathan. He hearkened unto Jonathan, and
Saul swore, well, as the Lord liveth, I won't kill him. OK,
I agree. I agree with you. It seems plausible
what you're saying, Mr. Jonathan, and perhaps I shouldn't
at this time. At least in his head, he agreed
with what Jonathan was saying about David. He saw there were
undeniable truths concerning David. Right? Undeniable truth. Saul seemed to agree with Jonathan
about David. He couldn't deny David's character.
He couldn't deny his words. And even so, Many seem to agree with us on
some of these undeniable truths. When you read the scriptures,
they say, yeah, I believe that. Don't they? When you talk about
the undeniable truths of God's sovereignty and so forth, Christ's
effectual atonement, Christ as our only hope of acceptance with
the Father, they agree with you. I believe that. Do they? Huh? No. Look at verse 9, verse 8. There's war again. And David
went out and fought with the Philistines and slew them with
a great slaughter, and they fled from him. He was still doing
great work, but the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul.
You see, Saul had an evil spirit from the very beginning, and
it never left him. The spirit of the Lord departed
from Saul, but the evil spirit never left him. Saul was of his
father, the devil, from the beginning. And the works and the faith,
the belief of his father, he would do. He would do. Even though
in doctrine, in his head, he agreed with what Jonathan had
to say about David, in his heart, he was far from loving and bowing
to this man. You see the perfect picture of
that? You never let, look at John 8 with me. Look over John
chapter 8. You keep your place in John? Look at chapter 8 verse
43. Look at it. John 8, 43. Christ
said, why do you not understand my speech? It's even because
you cannot. hear my word. You're of your
father, the devil, and the lust of your... Now, he was talking
to these religious leaders. And the lust of your father, you
will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and a bowed-knot
in the truth because there's no truth in it. When he speaks
a lie, he speaks of his own. He's a liar, the father of...
And I'll tell you the truth, but you don't believe me. Henrich,
sword... We're preaching the truth, aren't
we, buddy? You're trying to tell people the truth down there at
the station, wherever they come. Why don't they believe it? Which of them convinces us of
sin? Who's going to convince us of
trying to get the glory? They can't do it. They cannot
say, we're trying to make a name for ourselves here, trying to
get all the money we can get, trying to lift up and exalt man.
The only thing we're guilty of is exalting God too much. What a thing to be guilty of.
If I say the truth, why don't you believe me? Remember when
Milton preached on that? If it's of God, why don't you
believe it? He that's of God hears God's
word. This is a summary. You, therefore,
hear them not. You're not of God. And they said,
you got a devil, man. That's the doctrine of devils. Now, look at this. Look back
at 1 Samuel 19. This is, Stan, this is We all
are puzzled by this. You ever hear preachers on TV? I've heard Jimmy Swagger preach
for Romans 3 on God being just and justifying ungodliness. I've
heard preachers, I've heard false prophets now preach the gospel. This puzzles all of us. We hear
these fellows every now and then stumble onto the gospel. We hear
them and we think, what in the world? That's a good message.
We were listening to James Kennedy one day on that. Every now and then, they'll preach
the truth, won't they? And you think, what in the world is going
on here? Balaam did it, didn't he? Balaam was a devil, but he
spoke the truth. He spoke of God's sovereignty,
of Israel being God's people, and how that you couldn't fight
against it, effectual. Yea, they had Balaam, but he
wasn't God's prophet. He was a false prophet. Well,
look at here. This really sheds some light
on this thing, or at least this is a verse that, or a few verses
that indicate this. Look at verse 20 of chapter 19,
1 Samuel 19, verse 20. Saul sent messengers to take
David. Now, this reminds me of the wrath
a man's going to praise him in. I mean, a man's going to get
up and do everything he can to undermine the gospel of God's
sovereign grace. He's going to get up, but every
now and then, maybe. God's sovereign power, his Spirit's
going to make him speak in a tongue that he doesn't understand. I'm
talking about the gospel tongue, not a Bible. Truth's going to
come out of his mouth, and he didn't mean it. Saul sent messengers
to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets
prophesying, Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit
of God came upon the messengers, and they prophesied. But look, And when it was told,
Saul, he sent some more, and they prophesied. And look down
at verse 22, and then Saul went down there. I'll take care of
it myself. And it says in verse 24, he was
stripped and prophesied. He got to preaching the truth. That kind of explains, you don't
know why God, because the wrath of man will praise him. God may
have some sheep out there listening to that monster up in the pulpit,
and he wants them to hear the gospel one time. And he'll have
that babbling false prophet, that Balaam, that Saul, prophesy,
speak the truth. Does that make sense to you?
Sure it does. Sure it does. Because in works
they deny him. All right. OK, now let's look
at the covenant over in Chapter 20. Here's the covenant reaffirmed. You remember Saul and David made
a covenant. Now, I'll hurry. I'm almost through. This is beautiful. Oh, this is
beautiful. And so amazing. David and Jonathan made a covenant
together. You remember, we just read about
it. And right here, they're going to reconfirm that covenant together. And David, now, David begins
to tell Jonathan about the plot against his life. Jonathan was younger than David,
and Jonathan just couldn't believe it. His daddy, you see, was holding
back from Jonathan. His daddy was kind of smiling
to his face and out after David to his back, you know. And Jonathan
was incredulous upon hearing this from David. David said, no, they're going
to kill me. Your daddy's out to kill me. And Jonathan couldn't
believe it. He was unbelieving. Now look
at verse 1 and 2 with him. David fled from Nath and Ramah
and came and said before Jonathan, what have I done? What is my
iniquity? What is my sin before thy father? He's seeking my life.
He's wanting to kill me. And Jonathan said, God forbid.
No, no, no. Can't do that. He won't do that,
God forbid. Thou shalt not die. See it there? Thou shalt not die. And David
said in verse three, he said, Your father certainly knows I
found grace in your eyes. And he said, Let not Jonathan
know this, lest he be grieved. But truly, as the Lord liveth,
as thy soul liveth. That's just a step between me
and death. I'm about to go die. Turn over to John 13 with me.
John 13. This reminds me when Christ told
his disciples of his coming death. Remember? He said, I'm going
to Jerusalem, and they're going to take me, and they're going
to put me on a cross and kill me, crucify me, and after three
days I'm going to... No, Lord, no, no, no, it can't
be. Isn't that what Peter said? Peter
took him aside and rebuked him. He said, Be far from me, Lord.
No, this won't happen. Can't be. Look at John 13, verse 31. Yes,
it is. When he was gone out, when Judas
went out, Christ said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and
God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God
shall also glorify him in himself and straightway glorify him.
Little children, yet a little while I'm with you. You shall
seek me, and as I said unto the Jews, where I go you can't come.
So now I say unto you." Look at verse 36. And Simon Peter
said, Lord, where are you going? Where do you go? Where do thou
goest thou? And Christ said, You can't go. You can't follow
me. You'll follow me after where Peter said, Lord, why can't I
follow thee now? I'll lay down my life for you. Look back at 1 Samuel 20. I'll
lay down my life for you. Look at verse 4, 1 Samuel 20. Johnson said, Whatever you sow,
I'll do it for you. Oh, no, David. You'll not die. Whatever it takes, I'll lay down
my life for you. I hope you see this like I saw
it. Do you see the beautiful correlation here? It's like It's
like Christ was referring to this passage when he was taking,
all this was taking place. That the full, the scriptures
might be fulfilled. The son of David. Oh boy. Well, look at verse 11 anyway. And Jonathan said unto David,
well let's go out in the field. Let's go out in the field. They
both went out into the field. Out into the field. Jonathan was, Vicki Jonathan
was troubled by now. He was troubled. He loved David.
And he was, he was, he was confused. He was troubled. His own father
was out after him, the people. And he wanted some assurance,
some reassurance from David that everything's going to be all
right, that he'd see him again. He wanted to see him again. He
wanted him to die. And look at what he said in verse
twelve. Jonathan said, Oh, Lord, God of Israel. It sounds like he's even calling
David Lord. Oh, Lord, God of Israel. Jonathan knew who David was.
He knew David was God's anointed king, the ruler over Israel,
the chosen servant of the Most High God. Verse 13. And he said,
Lord, the Lord do so and much more to Jonathan. But if it please
my father to do the evil, I'll show it to you and send thee
away that you may go in peace and the Lord be with you. If
you go, go in peace and the Lord be with you as he's been with
my father. If you go away. Go in peace and the Lord be with
you, but just this one thing I got to ask of you. One thing
have I desired of you, David. Verse 14. Show me a little kindness
of the Lord. Before you go, look back at John 14. John 14. Before you go, show me the kindness
of the Lord. Verse 3, Christ said, I'm going,
and I'm going to prepare a place for you, and I'll come again
and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be
also, and whither I go you know, and the way you know. Thomas
said, Lord, where are you going? We don't know. Thomas and the
fellows were troubled. How can we know? Christ said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. Well, Philip said,
verse 8, one thing before you go, show us the Father. Phil, I am the Father. I am the Father. And again, again,
Christ told them of His love for them and His eternal care
and His covenant with them. He said, I'll never leave you.
Look down at verse 18. I'll not leave you. Comfortless,
I'll come to you. I'm coming back. Yet a little
while, the world seeth me no more. You see me, because I live,
you shall live also. At that day you shall know that
I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. I'll never
leave you, nor forsake you." Turn back to the text again,
1 Samuel 20. So Christ said, the Son of David
said the same things that David said, in reassuring and reconfirming,
reaffirming that covenant of love. with his disciples, with
his best friends. Well, 1 Samuel 20, verse 18. Well, then Jonathan said to David,
well, tomorrow is the new moon, and you're going to be missed.
Your seat's going to be empty. You'll be missed. Look at verse
19. But when you stayed three days, beat me at the stone. That's what it says here. Go
down quickly, come to the place where you hid yourself, when
your business is in hand, come to the stone and meet me there. When you've stayed three days,
and look at what it says here, down in verse forty-one. You
remember the story how that Jonathan said he was going to tell David,
tell his servants, I'll shoot the arrow past you. If all is
going wrong and you're going to have to run away, I'll shoot
in front of you. But if I shoot there, you remember
the story, don't you? Well, at any rate, there was
a stone there. And John said, meet me down there at that stone.
And three days passed while David hid himself. And he came back
to the stone. Verse 41, as soon as the lad
was gone, David arose. David got up. Revealed himself. Rolled away the stone. David arose and Jonathan wept.
Look at it. They kissed one another and wept
with one another until David acceded. That word means David
lifted himself up, composed himself and said, it's all right. He
composed John, but it's OK. John Chapter 20, coincidentally,
same chapter either. John 20, 1 Samuel 20. John 20, when Christ arose from
the grave. Look at it, John 20 with me.
Verse 11, John 20. 11, Mary stood without weeping. She wept at the sepulcher. And she saw two angels in white
sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where
the body of Christ lay. And they said unto her, Why are
you weeping? She said, They've taken away
my Lord, and I know not where they've laid him. And when she
had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing. And Jesus said unto her, verse
fifteen, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom do you seek? Jesus said unto her, verse sixteen,
It's me. Master. Master. And Jonathan said back in the
text again, verse 42. Jonathan said to David, go in
peace then. I know you've got somewhere to
go. I know you're going to come into
your kingdom. 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. Go in peace, David, but tell
me about that covenant one more time. Let's talk about it one
more time. And they did. And Christ, what
did he say to the disciples when he appeared back to them? Peace.
Peace. Peace. And it says, here is our
covenant. When he appeared to those disciples
in that upper room, he showed them sweet tokens of that covenant,
didn't he? I'm going, he said, I'm going
back to the Father. It's all right. I'm going to prepare a
place for you. Now, you look here. We've got
a covenant now. We made a vow together. I made
a vow with the Father. As a matter of fact, I laid down
my life to ensure that it's carried through. I got these marks of
the covenant in my palm. Someday, we're going to be back
together again. And when you see these, you will
rejoice. These marks of the covenant.
Marks of the covenant engraved on the palms of Christ's hands.
And do you know, you've got to see this. First Samuel 20 again. Chapter 21. you know where David went after
he left Jonathan? Huh? Anybody know? Look at chapter
twenty-one, verse one. David came to nob, to a limeleck,
a himeleck, a priest. Do you know the word nob? Do
you know what was at nob? Tabernacle. The tabernacle. David went to worship God and
offer sacrifices at the tabernacle. That's when he took the showbread
out of the very holy place and ate it. Remember the story here
in chapter 20? David came in, and look at verse
1. It says, the priest was afraid
that David's coming, fearful. He said, You're alone. No one
is with you. What are you doing here? Well, three days Christ was hidden
in the belly of the earth in the grave and sorely missed by
his brethren. But after three days he appeared
at that stone, rolled away the stone, he arose. He arose victorious
over sin, death, and hell because God said he would to suffer his
Holy One, the Son of David, to suffer corruption. And then he
came back to earth to see his disciples. And then he ascended
back to the Father where he had Did you read it back there in
chapter 20 where it said, the business at hand? Did you read
that, Henry? Anybody catch that? Where Jonathan
said to David, I know you got business to do. And Christ, he had more business
to finish. He did his business here on the
earth, and he had to go back to the Father to finish the business.
What's that? He went back to the holy place, to where the
tabernacle was. into the very Holy of Holies
with God to offer up that one sacrifice for sin forever, his
own precious blood. And after he had, the Scripture
says, Hebrews 9, 12, obtained eternal redemption for us. And
when he had, well, you're alone, though. He's alone. What are
you doing up here alone? Because when he had by himself purged
our sin, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
mission accomplished. business finished, God's people
saved. What more can I say? Ah, boy. And you remember the
story of Old Mephibosheth, all because of that covenant with
Jonathan. You know, it all ties together. Is this book something
or else, or what? Is Christ real? Surely no man
could have written this, could they? Nobody could have made
this up like that. Right now, you believe with all
your heart, don't you? Jesus is Christ. He's living.
He's seated at the right hand of the Father. And you believe
Him with all your heart, don't you? Tomorrow morning, you might not.
So we'll come back, as Terry prayed, for a new glimpse, another
glimpse next Sunday. But right now, when you see these
things, you can't help but say, it's true. It's true. Truly,
this was the Son of God, the Son of David. And He's real. He's my only hope. I'm a Jonathan. I'll take my place with Jonathan.
Won't you even know my daddy? Even know my mama? Even know
my brother and sister? Hate him? I'm delighted with
him. Delighted with him. Delighted. Okay, stand, and I'll dismiss
this in prayer. Great God, how we marvel at the wisdom in Your Word. What a marvelous display of Your
sovereign power and glory in writing a book wherein is eternal
glory. Such a perfect, clear picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ in old, obscure passages that are hidden
from the natural man. Lord God, who are we? What is
our house? What is this little house, this
little church house, that you should show such kindness, such
dead dog sinners as we are, and reveal this glorious gospel with
all the marvelous truths in it? My soul, we ought to be steeped
in dead religion like everybody else, but we get a little taste
of heaven in this small building. God Almighty, how we thank you.
Don't let us take it for granted. Let everything that hath breath
praise the Lord for His marvelous works. Oh, that men would praise
the Lord for His goodness, for His marvelous works to the children
of men, especially to us. In Christ's name, we've met together
for His honor and glory, and we ask these things. We pray
these things. Amen. You're dismissed. I'm going to back off a few more.
I'm going to jump and pass chocolate milk to him.