And it came to pass when he 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 him that day and
would let him go no more home to his father's house. Then Jonathan
and David made a covenant because he 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." In 1 Samuel. In these four verses here, I
want you to notice just a couple things before I get into my message,
but I want to talk about David and Jonathan. their relationship
they had a unique relationship and had to be something that
God caused to happen but you know this verse of scripture
here where it says in verse 1 and it came to pass when he 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 Now that one scripture is like apples of gold. It just
says so much. It's apples of gold and pitchers
of silver. It was a unique thing. It was an incredible thing. And
if all we see is the love between David and Jonathan and don't
see the love of Christ and that David, our type of our Savior,
And this love, we've missed the whole point of it. But it says
here, you know, 1 John 4, 7, it says, Beloved, love one another. For love is of God. And these
two men loved one another. Had a unique love. It was something
that God did. It wasn't unnatural. Something God did. But you notice,
first of all, it came to pass when he had made an end to speaking
unto Saul. David was speaking David was
talking and Jonathan listened He waited till David got through
speaking He was one of those fellows that listened and saw
and observed what was going on And then when David had made
an end of speaking Under his father under Saul Jonathan's
dad father Jonathan's a prince. He's an heir to the throne and
But he also knows that David is going to have the throne in
his place. And he wasn't upset about it. Wasn't jealous about
it. Wasn't jealous at all about it.
And he stood there and watched David stand up against that giant. Stand up against the whole army
of the Philistines. Left the shepherd. Left the sheepfold. Left the sheep with some keepers.
left his father's house and went down there that day not knowing
what he was going to get into and stood and faced the nine
nine and a half foot man and slew him slew him he was a incredible
man and Jonathan was older than David in fact quite a bit older
than David but Jonathan himself was a valiant warrior you remember
how that Jonathan in his armor-bearer went with him and
they slew a whole garrison of the Philistines just him and
his armor-bearer so he was a fearless man like David was and he believed
God like David did and then remember when they were out in a battle
and they said now don't let no man eat anything today until
the battle is over well Jonathan didn't know that and he took
some honey and Saul found out about that and Saul was going
to slay his own son and the men stood up and said no you're not
going to do that you're not going to do that you're a trouble in
Israel but I want us to say a few things about this love This love
between Jonathan and David and hopefully by God's grace apply
it to the Lord Jesus Christ. His love for us and our love
for Him. That says the soul of Jonathan
was knit with the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as his
own soul. Now his love was real. He loved
him as he did his own soul. Now I tell you what, it takes
something for a man to love another person as they would their own
soul. Our Lord Himself said, love your
neighbor as yourself. But here Jonathan says that Jonathan
loved him as much as he did his own soul. And here's the thing
about it, because of this love, And I love the Lord Jesus Christ.
You're talking about love. Loving us as his own soul. Loving
us as himself. And loving us and David, Jonathan,
took all of David's interest. Everything that David had everything
that David was interested in and everything that day was going
to accomplish Jonathan Had his all of his interest and everything
in David Because he said he loved him as his own soul and our Lord
Jesus Christ When God saves us Christ came into this world with
our interest With what was You know, he came and loved us as
his own soul. I He come in down here and then
not only does He take an interest in us and save us by His grace,
but now we take an interest in everything Christ is. And everything
that Christ did. Is that not right? Are we not
involved who Christ is? If the church is up, we're up.
If the cause of Christ is down, we're down. If the things get
bad among the saints of God, then it troubles us. Because
you know why? We have an interest in Christ,
Christ has an interest in us, and we're one with Him. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ,
when He stood before Lazarus' tomb, He said, My soul is troubled. And then when He went off to
pray in Gethsemane, He said, My soul is exceeding sorrow. Why was it? Because it was so
identified with us that He's going to become us in the sight
of His Father. Oh my! You know what? This no
shall a selfish love. And oh my! You know what Paul
said? He said, for me to live is Christ. And Jonathan said, when David
lives, I live. I have such an interest in David.
My soul loves him as my own. I love him as I do my own soul.
That's the interest Christ had in us, and now we have that interest
in him. And his love, look over here
in 2 Samuel 1.26. Here's something that I have
a hard time grasping. I really do. 1 Samuel 1.26. Jonathan
has been slain. Jonathan is died. And David is troubled. He's very bothered
about it. Talked about the mighty are falling
in battle. Oh, Jonathan, thou slain in high
places. But look what he says. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan. Very blessed
hast thou been unto me. Thy love to me was wonderful,
surpassing the love of women. That's a hard one for me to get
my, but I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell you what, I
hope I get this right. This love was so, it was a supernatural
love. And I tell you, the believer's
love to Christ and his love to us is more than just natural
love. It's natural love. Natural love,
the only thing that would come close when he says they're surpassing
the love of a woman, and God's got to even do this. You know,
Mother's Day is coming up, and mothers, before they have their
first baby, they thought that they could love something until
they have their first baby. And then you talk about finding
out what love is. Oh my, you just, and not only
that, but you think you love them as much as you possibly
can the first day. And then they get a month old,
and you say, how can I love them anymore? Then they get 10 years
old, and how can I love them anymore? And that love, it gets
bigger and bigger and bigger. And it don't stop when they get
grown. It don't stop when they start
having kids. And then you get your first grandbaby. And that's what he's talking
about here. But let's talk about the love
of Christ. You know, it's not natural for
us to love God. And it's a new supernatural thing
for Him to be able to love us. And our Lord's love surpasses
all the love that's in this world. It surpasses all of them. I tell
you, our Lord's love surpassed It's a past everything about
his father. It's a past His love for his father the first thing
Christ did he come into this world to do Do his father's will
this is this is the will of him that sent me. This is his will
I come to do his will and then beloved he he said his love for
his father. He said father I've loved you
and you love me and I and Let me show you what? Look in John
15 with me for a minute. You know, Brad read this Sunday
night and it stuck with me and I've seen it, looked at it again
this afternoon. Our Lord's love, so if you think
we love the Father, our Lord loved His Father and His Father
loved Him. He was called the Son of His
love. Oh, His love surpassed, you know, Granted that he had
greater love than no man than this that he laid down his life
for his friends But look what he said here in verse 9 And Brad
read this he said I want to read it again. Now watch this as the
father hath loved me So have I loved you? As the father hath loved me I
Jonathan and David their love that there's nothing like the
love of Christ for us and the father's love for us and Worthington,
you know as the Lord said is the father loved me Love you just the same way And
I'll tell you his love his love is so precious and so glorious
That he loved his word He loved the father's word Now what do
I mean by that? Our Lord Jesus Christ said, the
words that I speak, they're not mine. Now when I get up here,
you know, and we get to talking to one another, it's our words.
But when our Lord was talking, He said, the words that I speak,
they come from my Father. I'm speaking what my Father said.
I'm telling you what God said. I'm telling you what my Father
said. These words that I speak, they're not something that I
come up with. They're not coming off the top of my head. This
is not something that I dreamed of. Christ did not come and start
a new religion. Christ did not start a new religion.
They had religion all over the place and they still got it all
over the place. But Christ come to save sinners. And I tell you what, it's more
than a religion, it's a person. It's not something we put on
and we put off, we can do without or do and not do without. It's
something that we have to have. And our Lord Jesus Christ gave
us His Word and He said, Father, sanctify them through Thy Word,
and Thy Word is truth. I gave them Your Word, and listen
to this, and they kept it. And oh my! And you know our Lord's
love for His Father. He had one, you know, He came
here to give the glory to everything. He said everything I've done
here is to glorify my Father. Glorify my Father. He said my
hours now come. Father glorify thou me with thine
own self with the glory which I had with you before. God spoke
back. God spoke back and everybody
heard it. He said, I have glorified it
and I will glorify it. And I tell you, our Lord said,
I come not to seek my own honor, but the honor of him that sent
me. And when a man seeks his own honor, he'll brag about himself
and brag about his ministry and brag about his accomplishments. But our Lord Jesus Christ, he
humbled himself, made himself of no reputation. He done just
the opposite of the way the average preacher does. Does just the
opposite of the way the last person in this world does. Whenever
you think that this is the way to do it, do it just the opposite.
You do it the way the Lord would do. And I tell you he loved his
father's will. And you know what his father's
will was? I will that every one which seeth the Son and believeth
on him hath everlasting life. And you know what I'm going to
do for him? I'm going to raise him up in the last day. Oh, His will. My need is to do
the will of Him that sent me. Oh, my. And then, beloved, oh,
what love, what love cost Him. God commendeth His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And you know something that David
did? I mean, that Jonathan knew right here? He knew. He knew that David, David was
different than any man he'd ever been around his whole life. He
knew that, he knew that. I'll tell you something else
about his love. Not only was his love surpassing, and our
Lord's love surpasses all loves, all loves. And their love was
inseparable. Look what it says down in verse
three here. then Jonathan and David made a covenant because
he loved him as his own soul oh my they made a covenant when
you enter into a covenant you can't break it and oh my God entered into a covenant with
us what a blessed covenant it was and you know wherever there's
a a union like these two men had. And like we have with the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why marriage, you
know, when people have the right affections, how they culminate
that love and where they're inseparable, they get married. And they become
one and they have a bond and a tie that only death can separate. But now here's the difference.
In our Lord Jesus Christ, His affection, and our affection
for Him, that's because of this covenant, we're inseparable.
You know, death will separate us from one another. But death
will never separate us from Christ. It will just take us into the
presence of Christ. And I tell you, their love was
inseparable. And I tell you what, what constrains
us? The love of Christ constrains
us. And our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, David, look over here
at chapter 20. David, I believe, honestly thought,
seen that he was type a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ himself
look what David says about him over here or Jonathan says about
David In verse 12 And Jonathan said unto David
O Lord God of Israel He's talking to David now He's not praying
here Jonathan said unto David Oh Lord
God of Israel If I sounded out my father on
the third day if there's a good toward David this sin not done
to thee and I'm sure to thee And on listen going down here
now in verse 14. Look what it says I believe he
knew that the Lord Jesus Christ was to be that David was a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ Look what he said here in verse 14
And thou shalt not only, while I yet live, show me the kindness
of the Lord, that I die not. You know, I know you got the
throne. And when you get the throne, it's the natural thing
to kill all the heirs of the kingdom before you. That's the
natural thing to do. Don't let nobody rise up. But
that's not what he says. Show me kindness that I die not.
But also, listen to this. Thou shalt not cut off thy kindness
from my house forever. You reckon Christ has ever cut
off his, cut off our house? No, no. You know, Christ, we're
going to be cut off from Christ? No. Not when the Lord's enemy,
not when the Lord has cut off the enemies of David from everyone
from the face of the earth. Now, there's only one person
that can destroy all the enemies of the Lord from the whole face
of the earth, and that's Christ. So Jonathan made a covenant with
the house of David saying let the Lord even required at the
hand of David's enemies. God's covenant. It's called an
everlasting covenant. It's called a covenant of grace
and a covenant and here's what I want you to get this. You and
I did not enter into covenant with God. We didn't enter into
covenant with God. I've not made a covenant with
God. I've not made a covenant with God. I've not made Him any
promises. I know me too well to know better
than that. But God and His Son, they entered
into covenant. They entered into covenant before
the world ever began. It's called the everlasting covenant.
It's called the blood covenant. It's called the eternal covenant.
And you can go through there and find this testament. It's
called the new testament, the new covenant. And this covenant,
Christ said this is the new testament in my blood, the new covenant
in my blood which is shed for many. But God the Son and God
the Holy Ghost and God the Father entered into a covenant. And
let me tell you how that covenant run. The Father said I'll give
you a people to the Son and the Holy Spirit will go and
bring all them people to you but here's the thing that you'll
have to do you'll have to go down there and become a surety
for them in this covenant and shed your blood for them in this
covenant and die for them in this covenant and when you go
and take upon yourself their responsibility and stand good
for them in my presence and the Holy Spirit brings them to me
and brings them to you I guarantee you that I'll never let one of
them be lost I'll not let one of them and for everyone I give
to you I'll see that they will never ever depart from you and
they will love you and you love them and that's the covenant
and so we're saved by what God's covenant is not our covenant
If Christ gave, God gave Christ to people, that's why He called
Him my servant, my relect, my righteous servant. Why did He
call Him servant? Because He come down here to
serve Him, to do His will. What is His will? All that the
Father giveth me. What are they going to do? They're
going to come to me. I, the Father gave me, is
greater than all. and I'm telling you what God
if Christ and the Father and the Holy Spirit lost one that
was given to Christ in the eternal covenant of grace God would have
to go out of business wouldn't he? Do you know how many people that
was in that covenant? I'm going to tell you what the
Bible says It's a multitude that no man can number. 10,000 times 10,000 is thousands. And we're included in that. When
we get up there, we'll just be one of thousands of thousands
of thousands. Ain't you glad? Aren't you glad? I said, hey, I should use correct
grammar. Aren't you glad? that our salvation
doesn't depend on us, it depends on the covenant between the Father
and the Son. The old timers used to call it,
they struck hands, struck hands in the eternal covenant of grace.
And when our Lord Jesus, when He got ready to leave this world
and He gave them bread and wine, He says, you do this every time
you do this, you do this in remembrance of me. Oh, I want to remember
him. Then look what his love honored
David. Look what happened here in verse
four. His love honored David. I love this right here. This
I've seen this for years and Jonathan stripped himself of
the robe that was upon him. Why would he do that? In the
sight of David, his robe was as like Bartimaeus. It was a
beggar's robe. It wasn't worth having. When
he got in the presence of David, this robe here, I can't stand
in the presence of David with this robe on. I can't stand in
the presence of Christ with this robe on. He said, and he took his robe
off. And he gave it to David, here,
take this old sorry garment, take this old sorry clothes that
I've got on, take them, and watch this, and they took all of his
garments off, and I'll tell you what, that's the way we'll come,
when God brings us to Christ, He brings us stripped down. I mean stripped down. I mean we ain't got, we see ourselves
as like Adam and Eve did. When they went and hid behind
the bush and God came down to speak to them, the Lord came
down to speak to them. Where art thou Adam? I'm over here.
Why? Because I was naked and I hid
myself. Who told you you was naked? I
tell you what, beloved, nobody had to tell him he was naked.
When he died, when he fell into sin in the sight of God, he knew
he was naked. He knew he had no clothes to
stand in God's presence. Everything is open and naked
before Him with whom we have to do. And watch what happens
now. And listen, he's owning Christ
as King. He's owning David as King. He's owning David as the heir
to the throne. He's owning David. He's committing
his life, soul, and everything about him. His being a prince
and an heir, he turned it all over to David. Look what he says
now. Even to his sword, he gave up his sword. Give up that sword now. I tell
you what, you can't win this war with God. He gave up his
sword. Then he said, here, take my bow. When I go, I'm not at war anymore.
Oh, no, no. Take my bow. And they took girdle. That girdle means strength. So
David gave up. Jonathan gave up his strength.
Gave up his sword. Gave up his bow. Gave up his
clothes. To stand in the presence of David.
Why? He saw in David, and like we
see in Christ, every single thing we need. We cannot, we're like
Bartimaeus, Oh Jesus thou son of David have mercy on me. He's a beggar. Oh my. And I tell you what, he's
treating him like he's a king. He's treating him like a king
ought to be treated. He loved him, he saw in him the
cheapest of ten thousand. The fairest of all. And I tell
you what, our Lord Jesus Christ, and here's what, here's the other
side of that. That our Lord Jesus Christ came
down here and so identified with us. that He took human flesh
upon Him. He took the nature of a man and
He came down here and He took all our sin and our dirt and
our filth and all the things that's awful and corrupt and
sinful. He took it! And died! in our room instead
and then he turns around and gives us this glorious robe and
we surrender everything we got to the Lord Jesus Christ. We
cannot not surrender. Is there anything, let me ask
you, is there anything, do you ever think this, Lord is there
anything that I'm holding back from you? Is there any part of
me that you don't have? Do you have my mind? Do you have
my heart? Do you have my soul? Do you have
my will? Do you have my affections? Do you have everything there
is about me? Do you have it? Am I holding
back anything from myself that would cause me to miss you? Do you ever think that? Do you
ever feel like that? And that's what Jonathan did.
He said, I'm going to give him everything. He's the king. He's the rightful king. And I'm
giving up everything. I'm going to follow Him. I don't
want Him to follow me. I'm going to follow Him. Oh my, that God gets all the
glory that way. And let me tell you something
else about this love. Jonathan's love for David was well deserved. He deserved all the love that
Jonathan gave him. He well deserved it. He's all,
you know, it's like our Lord Jesus Christ. He only deserves
our love. Huh? Oh my. There was lots of attractions
in David. It says there in verse 5 that
David went out whether he saw sin in him and behaved himself
wisely. Oh my. Our Lord Jesus Christ
says no man spake like this man. And old Jonathan sought this
as the fairest and cheapest among 10,000. His love was well-deserved,
and the love of our Lord Jesus Christ well-deserved. Doc's got a hymn in the back
of his Bible. You know, Lord, if I've not loved
thee before, let me love today. And there
are so many things that about I'd have to read the whole thing
to you, but it amounts to Lord Do I love thee or do I not am
I yours or am I not? And you go on through this thing.
I'll tell you what We cannot love Christ enough But bless his holy name one of
these days we will One of these days one of these days I Well,
it won't be a day, it'll be a new morning. It'll be in the morning. It won't be a day, it'll be in
the morning. And then we'll love him. You
know how we'll love him? We won't have this to deal with. But oh, we'll see. And oh, listen,
whom my soul has longed to see, we'll see. And our Lord Jesus Christ, when
He is on this earth, whoever, who believed more wisely than
our Lord Jesus Christ? Oh listen, the devil couldn't
find a fault in Him, man couldn't find a fault in Him, Pilate couldn't
find a fault in Him. And having loved His own, He
loved them to the end. And David loved him. David loved him. Jonathan's soul
was knit with the soul of David. These two souls were knit together
in their desires and in their motives. And this is something more than
just a faith or a mere belief in outward conformity. It meant
that they were united in spirit. And you know we God made us one
and we're united together in Christ as one. I want to close
by showing you one thing here if I can. If I can. Look over here at Colossians.
Colossians. Talk about unity and being knit
together. This is something that, you know,
Christ became bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. But look
at Colossians chapter 2 with me. I want you to see this. He said, Oh Lord, I want them
to be one as you and me and Father I and them. I want us to be one. A deep union between Christ as
this union between David and Jonathan. There's a greater,
greater union between Christ. And that's what a marriage is
about. It's about a union between a man and a woman. And it just
shows us, Paul said, I'll show you a mystery. This is just talking
about the union that we have with Christ. Oh my look what it says here
in verse 2 Colossians 2 He's praying for these people that
their hearts Might be comforted listen to this being knit together
in love Knit together put together bound
together unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding,
to the acknowledgement, for all of us to come to this place,
to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father
and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge. God said, I want all of y'all
going in the same direction. I want all of you to learn the
same thing. And we can only do that, only
do that in Christ. Ain't that right? Yeah. You know, the love of Christ is just, you
know, if we couldn't, some men, you know, there's people that
have took that between David and Jonathan, made something
out of it that wasn't supposed to be. But I see David as our
Lord Jesus Christ and us as Jonathan. Christ do it all for us. All
for us. All for us. Our Father, oh blessed,
blessed Father, in the precious name of Christ our Lord, thank
you for your great love wherewith you loved us, even when we were
dead in trespasses and sins. When we were without God, without
Christ, without hope, Lord, you came, brought us to yourself,
made peace through the blood of your cross. Oh, how we bless
you for it. Lord, bless these dear people
as they go home. Bless Brother Darrell, strengthen
him, encourage him, Pam, Brad, Dorotha, Bill, All these dear,
dear people of God. Be merciful, be gracious, be
kind. And Lord, let us experience your
love in a greater way. And give us a greater, greater,
greater, greater love for you. Oh, give us a love for you. Lord,
you loved us to the point of dying. And Lord, our death will
be gained. Our death will be gained. because
we're going to be with you. God, thank you for your grace.
Thank you for your word. In Christ's name, amen. Amen.