Now, would you open your Bibles
with me this evening to 1st Samuel, chapter 20. 1st Samuel, chapter 20. Now, I've entitled this message,
I've taken the title from the very last verse of this chapter,
chapter 42, or verse 42, and I've entitled it, The Lord Between
Us. the Lord between us." Look at
verse 42. It says, "...Jonathan," that's
King Saul's son, as you know, "...said to David, Go in peace,
forasmuch 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 for ever. And he arose and departed, and
Jonathan went into the city." The Lord between us. Now, the
life of David, as we have studied him as a type of Christ, the
life of David is also a picture and an example of the grace of
God to his people. God's saving grace, God's preserving
grace, God's protecting grace, and God's unifying grace that
is given to his people in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so as we look at this passage, that is the theme, beginning
here at verse 18. I want to just lead you up to
that verse 42 by just making some comments. But what we see
here in the latter part of this, as you know, King Saul was jealous
and envious of David. He hated David. It was clear
now to Jonathan that his father was going to seek David's life,
and he could not change his mind. We'll see that. He could not
change his father's mind. Jonathan had made a covenant
with David, a covenant of love. It's a picture of the covenant
that Christ makes with his people. And we enter into it by the power
of God's grace as he brings us to faith in Christ and the repentance
of our dead works and idolatry. As the Holy Spirit sheds abroad
in our hearts that love of God, which is shown in the fact that
he came and died for our sins when we were yet enemies, that
kind of love that has no bearing on the qualification of its object. No bearing at all. For if it
did, there would be no love. And John expressed it in 1 John
chapter 4 and verse 10, a verse that we love and quote quite
often. For herein is love, not that we love God, but that he
loved us and gave his Son to be the propitiation, the satisfaction
to his justice for our sins. God proved His love. Our Savior
proved His love. In John 13, verse 1, it says,
He loved His own until the end. That means until the finishing
of the work. He set His face like a flint to fulfill all righteousness
on behalf of His people. And why? Because He loved His
Father and He loved His people. And it's that love of Christ
for his people, that covenant love, that unconditional love
towards sinners like us who don't deserve love at all, it's that
kind of love that he sheds abroad in our hearts, and that kind
of love is what brings us together in fellowship and keeps us together. We see that exemplified here
in David and Jonathan. For in these verses, Jonathan
is showing a plan that he has to warn and to help and to protect
David. He knew that his father had been
removed from the throne of Israel by God. He hadn't actually been
physically removed yet, but the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul,
and that mantle had fallen on David, God's chosen anointed
king. And Jonathan, who was next in
line according to the line of Saul, he obeyed God. He humbly, by the power of God's
grace, submitted to God's will and took off his mantle and his
girdle and his sword and gave it to David. And when he made
that covenant, by that he said, David, I know you're set and
chosen by God to be king. And I submit to that. And I'll
tell you, that's a work of grace right there. That's what happens
to us when God brings us to bow to the claims of King Jesus.
When he brings us to submit to his righteousness and lead the
God of our imagination. who accepts us based on our works,
that false God, that false Christ. So Jonathan concocts this plan.
Look at verse 18. Jonathan said to David, tomorrow
is the new moon, and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will
be empty. That is Saul's table. Saul is
going to notice you are gone. And when thou hast stayed three
days, verse 19 of chapter 20. When you've been gone three days,
then shalt thou go down quickly, and come to the place where thou
didst hide thyself when the business was in hand, and shalt remain
by the stone," ezel, or the rock, ezel. And I love that language
because I can't help but see there an illustration of a believer,
a sinner saved by grace. who clings to the rock, Christ
Jesus. You might notice in your concordance
that name of that rock called Ezel. It means that showeth the
way. It's the rock that shows the
way. So it was something having to
do with directions on the right way or the wrong way to go. And
certainly we know our rock is Christ Jesus. We stand on the
rock. the foundation, the tried stone,
the tested stone, the sure foundation, the chief cornerstone, and he
is our rock. We're hidden in the cleft of
the rock. He's our protection. And we cling
to the rock like David here, and he not only shows us the
way, but he is the way. That's what he meant. I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. So here in David we see a picture
of a pitiful sinner in need of mercy, in need of grace, in need
of someone to show me the way. I don't know the way by myself.
I have no idea what the way is until God steps in and by His
grace shows me Christ who is the way. And there David is. And then after this, and David
was helpless here. And you notice all the way through,
David himself is helpless. Here's the one who stood against
Goliath and defeated Goliath. But it wasn't David, it was God.
And he said that. He said the Lord God of Israel
defeated Goliath. David himself is helpless here.
And so all he could do, all he could do was sit down by the
rock and wait to see which way the arrows would fly, because
Jonathan was going to shoot arrows into the air, and where they
landed, that was going to give David a tip as to whether or
not Saul was coming after him. He said, I'm going to warn you.
So all he could do was just sit down by the rock and wait. And
that's all we can do in this wilderness, and when persecution
and opposition comes against us, just sit by the rock, cling
to the rock, and let the arrows fly. He'll show us the way. In the next verses, Saul asks
Jonathan about some things here concerning, or they deal with
some matters of ceremonial cleanliness. But what happens here, down in
verse 27, you can read all these verses for yourself. In verse
27, look there, it says, It came to pass on the morrow, which
was the second day of the month, that David's place was empty.
And Saul said unto Jonathan his son, wherefore cometh not the
son of Jesse to meet or to eat a meal? And neither yesterday
nor today. And Jonathan answered Saul. He
said, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem, the
house of bread. As you know, Bethlehem, that's
where our Savior in his humanity was born. That's the house of
bread. He is the bread of life. And that's where David was going
to go, and that's where we go to feast and to feed on the bread
of life through the word of God. And he said, Let me go, I pray
thee, for our family hath a sacrifice in the city, and my brother he
hath commanded me to be there. And now if I found favor in thine
eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore
he cometh not unto the king's table. Well, look at verse 30.
It says, Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan. Not
only David, but now Jonathan, his own son. And he said unto
him, Thou son of the perverse, rebellious woman." Now, that
sounds like in the original there that he's insulting Jonathan's
mother, but it really was an insult to Jonathan. This shows
you how far the depraved mind can go and will go on its own,
left unchecked. You notice how Saul, he started
out in rebellion as king, in disobedience. The Lord took the
kingdom away from him, and he wouldn't accept it. There's,
again, rebellion and disobedience. And then he went after God's
anointed king in rebellion and obedience, and here it kept getting
worse and worse and worse. You see, that's the plight of
man without God, without grace, without Christ. He's just going
to get worse and worse and worse. And don't think, now listen to
me, don't think just because a fellow gets religion that he's
getting better. Because a lot of people get religion, and they
don't get better. Because if it's religion without
God, religion without truth, religion without grace, or religion
without Christ, what did the Lord say to the Pharisees when
they went and encompassed sea and land to make converts to
their religion, to convert these immoral, perverted Gentiles from
their immoral, perverted ways? He said, you only make them two-fold
more the child of hell than you are. So religion won't make a
man better in the sight of God. Now, it may make him easier to
get along with here on earth, but he won't get any better in
the sight of God. So we see this in Saul. His anger, verse 30,
was kindled against Jonathan, and he said of him, Thou son
of the perverse, rebellious woman, 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?" In other words, you're not even,
Saul is accusing Jonathan of not even acting naturally as
a son. That's what he's saying there.
That's not even natural for you to choose David against your
own father. And what you're doing is you're
bringing shame on me, you're bringing shame on your mother,
all the whole house. And so Jonathan, as he had already
been, he was convinced that he couldn't change his daddy's mind.
Look at verse 31. It says, For as long as the son
of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established,
nor thy kingdom. He's saying, Jonathan, don't
you realize as long as David lives, you will not be established
on the throne of Israel? Well, Jonathan already said that.
He already accepted that. He could have said, Daddy, it's
not my throne. It's God's throne. He puts his man on the throne.
You see, this is God's choice. But you know everything is. Everything
in the covenant is God's choice, not man's choice. I know people
elevate man's choice today. Man's choice is God to them. But it's God's choice. God's
sovereign. He said, it's not of him that willeth, nor of him
that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy and compassion.
He'll have mercy upon whom he will. He'll have compassion upon
whom he will. You see, this is an awesome thought
to us, isn't it? Somebody said, how in the world
could God choose a sinner like me? Christ said, for so, Father,
it seemed good in my sight. But if he did, if he did, how
ought we to respond to such a truth? Huh? Sit down and fold our arms
and say, well, whatever will be, will be. Brother May and
you say, well, it ain't whatever won't be, won't be. Or whatever
will be, won't be. Something like that, I don't
know. But the thing about it is, the thing about it is, when
we see that truth, it ought to just cause us to just fall on
our face in awe and worship and trust and obedience out of love
to God. But here's the point, you see.
Saul is trying to make Jonathan jealous of David. You won't be
established. And Saul recognizes that while
David lives, his line will not be established. Look at verse
32. And Jonathan answered Saul his
father, and said unto him, Wherefore, why shall he be slain? What hath
he done? Why are you going to kill him?
And Saul cast a javelin, a spear, at Jonathan to smite him, whereby
Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David.
Somebody said, well, Jonathan was pretty naive and he got the
message before, you know, I mean, Saul had cast a javelin twice
at David. No, it's not it. Jonathan sincerely
thought that he could change that his mind, but now he knows
he can't. He can't do it. Saul has lost all self-control
and the driving force of his life is self and the flesh. And that's a great picture of
a man without God. That's the sinner by nature.
That's our ruination in Adam right there. We're alienated
from God, enemies in our minds by wicked works, and we cannot
change it. That's right. That's one thing
the natural man cannot do. He cannot change himself towards
God. He can't do it. He can't save
himself. He can't birth himself again.
Christ said you must be born again because that which is flesh,
the only thing it can produce is what? Flesh. That which is
flesh cannot produce spirit. That which is flesh can only
produce flesh. That which is spirit can only
produce spirit. It can't be the other way around. And so man
cannot save himself. And the thing that God told him
to destroy was now growing bigger and bigger, and it will finally
destroy him. Sin. Man cannot do it. It's not of blood. The Scripture
says in John 1 and verse 13, it's not of the will of man,
nor the will of men, but it's of God that shall with mercy. Well, in these next verses, we
see where David ran, and Jonathan did warn him, and Jonathan met
him here. Look at verse 41. Now, Jonathan
believes this is the last time he's going to see David. He probably
sees him one or two more times. But he thinks in his mind, in
his heart, that this is going to be the last time he's going
to see David, the man, his companion, his brother. And he says in verse
41, he says, and as soon as the lad was gone, this is what he
did. He shot these heirs beyond David, and he had a lad that
went out to gather them, and that was supposed to warn David
that Saul was coming. And as soon as the lad was gone,
David arose out of a place toward the south and fell on his face
to the ground and bowed himself three times. And that's to Jonathan. Now, he wasn't worshiping Jonathan
here. He's showing his love and his devotion to Jonathan. his
thankfulness to his brother, to his companion. And you know,
David realized that being the chosen king of Israel, that he
was to serve the people. You see, he wasn't made king
for the people to serve him. He was to serve the people. And
I think about our Lord in His service. You know, the Gospel
of Mark really emphasizes the fact that Christ came Not to
be served, but to serve. Now, we serve Christ because
He is God. He's God and man in one person.
And we worship Him. But when He came to this earth,
God in human flesh, He told them, He said, I didn't come to be
served. I came to serve. Now, that's
humility. Philippians 2 speaks of that. He humbled Himself and
took upon Himself the form of a servant. Who was He serving? He was serving His Father. He
was serving His people. How was He serving them? The
glory of the Father and the salvation of His people by His obedience
unto death. As I said, He loved His own unto
the end. And it says they kissed each
other. That was a common greeting between long, lifelong, devoted
friends at that time. The Bible tells us to kiss the
Son in Psalm 2, lest He be angry and you perish from the way when
His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in him." To kiss the son means to embrace him
and to love him, to believe in him, to serve him, and to worship
him. That's what it means. And then
in verse 42, it says, David bowed himself three times and they
kissed one another and wept one with another until David acceded.
David was just overwhelmed with grief because he knew that he
was about to depart from his brother here. And then verse
42, it says, And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace for as
much as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord. He's
talking about their covenant, the covenant that they made,
the covenant of love between friends, between companions,
between brothers, this covenant that was a gracious covenant.
And he said it was in the name of the Lord. In other words,
it wasn't to elevate either one of them. But it was for the glory
of the Lord, the glory of God our Savior. And that's what fellowship
is all about now. I know we talk, and I do this
too now, I'm not just getting on you for this, but I do this
too. I say, well, we're going in the back, we're going to have
food and fellowship. You know, we've got fellowship before we
get back there. You know that, don't you? Fellowship really
is not something you have as far as an event. It's something
you possess as a grace of God. Am I right? In Christ. And it's,
listen, now true fellowship is nothing that we put together.
In other words, if I put us all together, it's not real fellowship.
If you put it together, it's not real fellowship. God puts
it together. I'll show you that. God's the
one who creates the bond between us. And so it's in the name of
the Lord. It's not to elevate this man
or that man or this preacher or that preacher. When it does
that, it's going to break apart. Either when the man gets mad
and leaves, or when he dies or something, it's going to break
apart. Guaranteed. Isn't that right? But when Christ
is the Lord between us, it'll stay forever. It'll stay forever. But it's in the name of the Lord.
It's for the glory of the Lord. It's by His grace. In other words,
our fellowship, when He says it's in the name of the Lord,
here's what it means. It means our fellowship, our togetherness,
is that which identifies and distinguishes the God of all
grace. And if our fellowship doesn't
identify and distinguish him as who he is, as the one we worship,
it's no good. We might as well just have a
little club and call it 13th Street Club or something. I don't
know. But see, it's Christ who is the Lord between us, and it's
in the name of the Lord. So he says, the Lord be between
me and thee. That's an unbreakable fellowship.
That's an unbreakable unity. And between my seed and thy seed
forever. Remember, Jonathan had already
made provision by getting David to swear an oath for his house.
And remember I told you last time, that's where Mephibosheth
in 2 Samuel chapter 9 gets the blessings of it. And that's a
great picture of the covenant between the Father and the Son
before the foundation of the world. And we fallen sons of
Adam, whom God chose before the foundation of the world, we get
the benefits of it. We get to sit and feast at the
King's table all the days of our life, like Mephibosheth. And what's great about that is
just the same thing was great about Mephibosheth. He was lame
on his feet. That's just another one saying,
here I am feasting at the king's table and I'm a fallen sinner
who can't even walk. Now that's right. I can't even
walk spiritually, but by the grace and power of God. And so
he says, between my seed and thy seed, and he arose and departed
and Jonathan went into the city. Now, what this is talking about
is the unbreakable fellowship and union that exists between
the people of God. And Christ will be the bond between
me and you. Christ will be the bond between
you and your brothers and sisters in Christ. And that is forever. We're His children forever. And
here's what I want you to see. Now, as long as the Lord is between
us, there's going to be unity, there's going to be peace, there's
going to be love, there's going to be harmony. Now, that doesn't
mean we won't have any differences. It doesn't mean we won't get
angry sometimes. It doesn't mean that we won't act like we ought
not act sometimes. Most of the time, maybe. But
it means we're going to be together. Now, I'm not necessarily talking
about everybody sitting in the same building. I've got a fellowship
with my dear brother Alan Eisen. It's an unbreakable fellowship.
And he meets with the brethren in Willard, Kentucky. And I thank
God for him all the time. And I thank God for his help.
And I love him in the Lord. And I think about Brother Bob
and all of them. You know, this is an unbreakable fellowship,
you see. And they don't meet in the same building. But we're
not going to part company because Christ is the bond between us.
Now, you may have a different view on some things than I do.
I'm not talking about the gospel. I've told you a lot of times,
and you read it now, you check me out on this, I don't mind
you doing that. Somebody said, I've told you
this before, but somebody said when they left the church, they
said it's not what he's saying, it's what he's not saying. I
wish one of them would tell me what I'm not saying, because
I'd like to know. Because if I am missing something that is
vital, Then it ought to be pretty clear. But you see, the gospel
is simple. It's not complicated. It will
not confuse you. Now, the natural man cannot receive
the things of the Spirit of God. Neither can he know. They're
spiritually discerned. And it takes a powerful operation
of the grace of God for a sinner to come to faith. A sinner who
believes is a miracle of God's sovereign grace, isn't he? But
you know the Scriptures there. You know, you go through and
you read passages of Scripture. You may not understand them all
readily. You say, well, what's he saying there? You may come
out, and I've had several of you come to me as I've preached
on things here in the Old Testament and some in the New. You say,
you know, I've read that verse quite a while, but I never really
understood what it meant. Well, now, does that mean you
didn't know the Gospel before then? No. I didn't understand
it either until I studied it and the Lord gave me light on
it. And then believers can disagree over certain issues. And I'll
tell you how that works out. One of them's wrong, either one
of them's wrong, and one of them's right, or they're both wrong.
Now that's how that works out, in and out. In and out. But you
know, people get lashed on to things, and they read something,
they say, well this is the way I'd say it, and this is the way
I'd define it, and then pretty soon they go around talking about
it. Now they've got their ego invested in it. You can't stand
against them unless you stand against them. And boom, there
they go. And I want to tell you something.
That's pitiful. And it's sad and it's hurtful.
It'll take families apart. Some of you have experienced
it. There's nothing good about that said in this book here.
Nothing good. And let me tell you something
else now. I know sometimes we like to water this down because
we've got a friend here and there. The Bible doesn't. Those who
bring about the division, I'll tell you what the scripture says.
And that's, read it, Proverbs 6. It says, God hates those who
sow discord among brethren. Now, that's what God says. So
don't get mad at me for saying that. That's what God says. And
I'm not talking about unity at all costs. Turn to Romans chapter
16. We don't believe in unity at all costs. Now, the world
does. The world says, well, why don't all these denominations
get together? Well, I'll tell you why they
don't get together, because they're not brought together by the Lord.
The Lord is not between us. You see, when somebody challenges
the gospel, how God saves sinners, When somebody denies the gospel
of God's grace and how God can be just and justify the ungodly,
when somebody challenges who Christ is, the person of Christ,
who He is, God and man in one person, the Lord of glory, God
in human flesh who saves us from our sins. When somebody challenges
or denies or confuses his work on the cross of Calvary to save
his people from their sins, then we've got to draw the line. Now
that's worth dividing over because I want to tell you something,
you never were together there. Isn't that right? But look here in
Romans 16, look at verse 17. Now he says, Now I beseech you,
brethren, mark them which cause division. and offenses, contrary
to the doctrine which you have learned." Now, that doctrine
is the teaching of Christ, and he's talking about that which
identifies and distinguishes the Christ of Scripture, the
God of the Bible. And when he says, mark them,
you know what that means literally? It means name them. And he says,
and avoid them. Don't be around them. That's
what he's saying. He says, for they are such that serve not
our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly. What that means is
their own appetite. That doesn't mean they're trying
to get something to eat. That means they have an appetite and
it's not for the glory of God. They have an appetite to get
a father. They have an appetite for recognition. They formed
a club, and you can't get in it. Especially if you associate
with me. Or if I associate with you. You can't get in this club.
We've got our club. And nobody's going to get in
it. See, unless you walk our walk and talk our talk. That's
an appetite. That's the belly. And he says,
and by good words and fair speeches. Now, you're not going to find
them up behind pulpits cussing. Or talking about how they deny
God. But by good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts
of thee." Now look who they deceive. The simple. Now, I like simplicity,
but that's not what that's talking about. That's talking about the
simpleton. That's talking about the person who has no discernment
and no maturity to discern good and evil. That's talking about
the person who's easily led astray. because they have neglected the
Word of God. That's what he's talking about.
So when that comes about, there's to be division. Now, just right
across the page there in 1 Corinthians 1. Now, Jonathan told David,
he said, the Lord be between you and me. That's a bond. You see, we can say with the
psalmist that I read there that I am a companion with all who
fear the Lord. I'm telling you, if you rejoice
in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, if your hope is Christ
and Him crucified, I'm telling you, you're my brother and you're
my sister. And that's not going to be broken.
That's right, isn't it? I'm a companion of all them that
fear God, that worship Him, serve Him, trust Him. In truth now,
not a lie, but in truth. But as long as the Lord is between
us, Then there's going to be fellowship. There's going to
be unity, peace. But now listen to it. When men
are between us, not the Lord, but when men are between us,
then there's division. Then there's wars. Then there's
envy. Then there's exclusion. Look
at 1 Corinthians 1. He says in verse 10, I beseech
you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you
all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions, schisms
among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind
and in the same judgment. Be one in Christ." Now, I don't
think Paul was an ignoramus. I don't think he fooled himself
to the point that he could think that he could get everybody in
this body of believers to agree on everything. What's he talking
about? Now let's go on. Verse 11. For
it has been declared unto me and you, my brethren, by them
which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among
you. Now here's what I say. This I say, that every one of
you say, now what are the contentions over? Now look at it. Don't leave
the context. It's not talking about just people
disagreeing or something. He says, some of you say, I am
of Paul. I'll follow Paul. Some of you
say, I'm of Apollos. Well, I like Apollos better.
Some of you say, I'm of Cephas. That's Peter's Greek name. I'm
going to follow Peter. And then you've got those real
high-muckety-mucks who say, well, I don't follow him. I just follow
Christ. But they divide with brethren. Now look at his answer, verse
13. Here it is. Here's the answer. Number one,
realize it. Is Christ divided? Now, you say,
well, what does he mean by that? Well, what are we? We who are
brought into the kingdom, we who are sinners saved by grace,
all of us equally saved, equally justified, equally washed in
the blood of Christ, equally clothed in His righteousness.
Now think about it. We are the body of Christ. Now
is He divided? No. Well, neither should we be. Now again, he's not talking about
ecumenical stuff here, you know, the forget your differences and
come together. Listen, if a group of people
do not preach the gospel of God's sovereign grace, we have not
been brought together with them. They're not in the body of Christ.
False gospel. That's what he was saying in
Romans 16. That's what he says in Galatians. When those self-righteous
religious men came in and tried to introduce their self-righteous
system of works as part of the gospel message, Paul said, let
them be anathema. Stay away from them, he said. Don't do that. But when it comes to believers,
who have been brought into the kingdom of grace. Christ is not
divided. And then he says this, now you
fellas who say you follow Paul, let me ask you, was Paul crucified
for you? Is Paul the one who died for
your sins? Is Paul the one who redeemed you? Is Paul the one
who established your righteousness before God? And you who follow
Peter, did Peter die for your sins? Did Peter redeem you? Did
Peter establish your right? No. Christ did. Now, are we together
on that? Is the Lord between you and me?
Then he asks this, he goes on, he says, or were you baptized
in the name of Paul? When you confessed your sins
in believers' baptism, who were you confessing? Was it Bill Parker? Was it Henry Mahan? Was it Paul
the Apostle? Or was it the Lord Jesus Christ?
That when he died, I died. When he was buried, I was buried.
When he arose again the third day, I arose again the third
day. When you baptize somebody, Alan, you baptize in your name?
You sure don't, do you? They're not baptized in the name
of Alan, not baptized in anybody's name but Christ, and Christ isn't
divided. Paul went on, he told them, he
said, I thank God I didn't baptize any of you. But they brought him into the
equation. Here's the point. Jonathan said, the Lord be between
you and me. What if he had allowed Saul to
get into the mix? Well, he's my daddy. Saul was
Jonathan's daddy. I've seen people follow their
daddies out. I've seen daddies follow their children out. Huh? If daddy or son or daughter
gets into the mix here, what's going to happen? Division. That's
right. Jonathan the Lord between us. And as long as the Lord is between
us, nobody can take us apart, not even Saul the king. Now,
why is that? Well, first of all, it's a bond
of grace. It's a bond of mercy. You know,
we're all in the same boat, aren't we? We all have the same problem,
sin, self, self-righteousness. We're all children of Adam by
nature. We fell in Adam. We all need
grace. We all need mercy. There's no
difference between all of us and that publican who beat on
his breast and said, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. Is
that you? That's me. We're together. You say, well, I don't like you.
Well, maybe I don't like you either. I don't know. I like
all of you. I do. I like every one of you.
And I'm not lying. But I'll tell you what, we all
need grace. We all need mercy. We all need Christ. That's our
need. That's our common need. For by
grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. Wasn't
of myself, wasn't of yourself. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we, not me, not you, but
we are his workmanship. This is the body of Christ. created
in Christ Jesus, that means that we didn't create ourselves, we
didn't work ourselves, it was created in Christ Jesus unto
good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them, that we together should walk in them. The Lord be between
you and me. Paul wrote over there in 1 Corinthians
4 about spiritual gifts. Verse 7, 1 Corinthians 4, he
said, He said, for who maketh thee to differ from another?
Now, if I've got a gift that you don't have, or you have a
gift that I don't have, who made the difference there? Now, who
did that? Well, somebody appointed you.
The board got together and they voted on you. Or some fellow
who's a pastor came by and said, you, you, and you. No, sir. If we have a true spiritual gift
now, who made us to differ? God did. It was his grace in
Christ. And he says, And what hast thou
that thou didst not receive? In other words, whatever you
got, whether it's salvation itself all the way down to the least
spiritual gift, you know how you got it? You received it.
You didn't earn it. You didn't deserve it. It was
given to you by God's grace. That's me too. And he says, Now
if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hast
not received it? Why are you walking around as
if you deserve to have it? You take a preacher, and preachers
are worse for it now. I'm telling you, I know them.
They are. I mean, the egos and all that,
you know. You take a preacher who tries to get a following
for himself. What he's doing, he's glorying
in his gifts as if he didn't receive them. That's exactly
what that is. Because you see, the glory is
to go to God. And Christ isn't divided. That's
right. Don't water it down. That's it.
This is for God's glory. Why are you walking around as
if you deserved it? Or as if you earned it? I mean,
did God give you that gift so that you could separate the body
of Christ? Absolutely not. That's not the
way it is. You see, the Lord is between
us. And He's the bond that holds
us. He's the bond. So if our common attitude, now
listen, if our common attitude is like Jonathan's and like David's,
in that we don't deserve it, we don't earn it, we'll stay together. But if our common attitude is
that we earned it or deserved it, nothing but have all things
For ourselves, when we begin to think that way, then that's
division already in the mind and in the heart. Turn to Romans
6. This is a bond of redemption. A bond of redemption. And I want
you to notice something here, too. In verse 4. Or verse 3,
rather. Romans 6. He says, Know you not
that so many of us were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized
into death? Now who was baptized into Jesus
Christ and baptized in his death? That's his church, that's his
God's elect, that's his people, his sheep. And he says, therefore
we are baptized with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ
was raised up from the death by the glory of the Father, even
so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been
planted, how? Not separately. You see, Christ
is the representative. He's the head. We're the body.
We were planted together. We were redeemed by the blood
of Christ all together. And he says in the likeness of
his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. We'll be raised together. Together. Together. And somebody might
say, well, I don't want to be with them. You've got no choice
in the matter. That's not up to you. God already
made that choice before the foundation of the world, the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world, the salvation that was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Given who? Given
us. He didn't point out one individual
and say, that fellow's really going to have a ministry, and
I'll give it to him and the rest later. He gave it to his people. one in Christ. And let me tell
you something, the Lord knows your name and wears your name
on his breast and on his shoulders just as much as he does mine,
who stands up here every Sunday and Wednesday and preaches and
on TV. I have no greater hold on God than you do, for my hold
on God is Christ. I have no greater honor in the
kingdom of heaven than you do, for my honor is Christ. I have
no greater worthiness, no claim upon any better or greater reward
than you do, for my reward is Christ. God doesn't look, and
he's not going to look down in the annals of the road to heaven
and say, wow, here comes Bill Parker. Man, I just can't wait
to see him. Let me tell you something. I'm just part of you, and you're
part of me. The Lord's between us. And when
I stand before God, He's not going to, He's not, listen, my
name's not even going to come into the mix. It's Christ! It's
worthy as the Lamb that was slain. He's not going to say, look how
many tapes that fella sent out. No, it's Christ. That's the whole
issue, together with Him. It's a bond of redemption, you
see. It's a bond of truth in the Lord. It's a bond of faith.
It's a bond of love. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. And
in Christ Jesus, circumcision avails nothing, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creation. The new creation there in Galatians
6.15 is the church, the body of Christ. And he said, he that
walks according to this rule, the rule, the gospel. God forbid
that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ." He said,
peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God. We're
members of the nation of spiritual Israel, spiritual Jews. Not just me, but you too, who
know the Lord. Equally now, equally. And just
because I preach up here and Pastor 13th Street Baptist Church
gives me no more. than what you have in Christ.
We're all blessed equally with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. We're all complete in Him. There
in 1 John 1 that Brother Joe read, it speaks of our fellowship. It's a fellowship with the Father
and with the Son. It's a fellowship in life. That
is truth. And we walk in truth. It's a
fellowship of forgiveness. The blood of Jesus Christ forgives
us, cleanses us from all sin and unrighteousness. It's a fellowship
of Christ being our advocate. For when we sin, and we all do,
continually, every day, we have an advocate. It's not just me
that has an advocate, it's you too. We all have an advocate
with the Father. The Lord is always between us,
just like He was between Jonathan and David. And that'll never
change. It's a bond of glory. Turn to
2 Peter 1. And I'll hurry here because I'm
going to quit. But look at 2 Peter 1. I want to show you this one.
It's a bond of glory whereby we enter into the glory of God
by Christ. Now look at 2 Peter 1. Now, let
me tell you this. I'll give you an example of this.
I want to bring it right down home here. Now, the verse that
I'm going to read to you to talk about how our fellowship is a
fellowship of glory, is a verse that a lot of people disagree
over what it means. I have my view of it, they have
their view. And it's true, I'm right and
they're wrong. I am. But I want to show you something
here now. I want to show you what it means. Now, he's talking
about salvation that comes by grace through the Lord Jesus
Christ. In verse 1, Simon Peter, a servant
and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like
precious faith, that's like precious faith, my faith, your faith is
like precious faith because it's the gift of God as the same object,
the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen again. And he says, With us through
the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ, grace
and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of
God and Jesus Christ, Jesus our Lord, the Lord between us, according
as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain
unto life and God, that all of us have all things. through the
knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue, whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these," now what are the these
there? That's a pronoun, that's an antecedent. These are the precious promises. Now, by these precious
promises, you might be partakers of the divine nature, having chased the corruption that is in the world
through love. What is it to be a partaker of the divine nature? Now, some people say that is
the infusion of a new, created, divine nature by the Holy Spirit
and the new birth. That is not what this is all
about. First of all, anything divine
cannot be created. If it's divine by nature, it
has no beginning and no end. God is uncreated. God is infinite. You can't create something divine.
Now, we have divine life from God imparted to us by the Spirit. We have that. But when he talks
about the divine nature, that word partaketh, you see that, partaketh? It's the same
exact Greek word that John used in 1 John 1 that is translated fellow. What he's saying is, by these
promises in the Gospel, by the power of the Spirit, we are brought
into fellowship to share, that's another way of translating it,
in the divine name. That means this, by these promises,
we who are sinners, saved by grace, are brought into fellowship
with the Father, with the Son, and with the Holy Spirit. You see
that? Through Christ. For in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, I'm a sharer of that glory. How?
By coming to Christ and seeing His glory. And entering into
that glory. So it's a bond of glory. And
it's a bond of motive and purpose and goal.