Now 1 Samuel 19 verse 1, And
Saul spake to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that
they should kill David. Now you remember in the past
few weeks, we've seen how Saul just tried to kill David himself.
He tried to put David in a position where the Philistines would kill
him. And now Saul's hatred of David has grown so strong that
he tells his son and his servants, just right out there in the open,
to kill David. Now God is in control. That's something that we around
here say a lot, but that's something that we need to say frequently
and to think about and understand what it means that God Almighty
is in control. And as if to drive the point
home to us, our Lord often uses the most unlikely means to accomplish
his purpose, to show us that God is in control. Our Lord,
in this chapter, does not use an enemy of Saul's to destroy
Saul's purpose to kill David. God uses Saul's own son to destroy
his purpose to kill David, to save David alive so that he would
become king in Israel. That's what we see in verse 2.
But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David. And Jonathan told
David, saying, Saul, my father seeketh to kill thee. Now therefore
I pray thee, Take heed of thyself until the morning, and abide
in a secret place, and hide thyself. And I will go out and stand beside
my Father in the field where thou art, and I will commune
with my Father of thee, and what I see, that I will tell thee."
Now, Jonathan is heir to the throne, and you'd think that
Jonathan, the heir, would be happy to get rid of a rival to
the throne, but he's not. He's not because he delighted
much in David. Jonathan loved David as his own
soul. That's what we read back there
in chapter 18. He loved David as his own soul
and their souls were knit together as one soul. They were close,
loving friends. And Jonathan gives us a good
lesson in friendship here. This is how a true friend acts. Solomon, Proverbs 17, said a
friend loveth at all times. Even when
your friend's got a death sentence on him, even when he's the enemy
of the throne, a friend loveth at all times, and a brother is
born for adversity. Well, I'd say this day, for David
qualifies as the day of adversity, that the king has given commandment
to put him to death, and could be Jonathan was born for this
very time, for this moment of adversity, to deliver his beloved
friend from death. Now you have to remember, Jonathan
and David had a covenant. They entered into a covenant
together and everything Jonathan does for David is because of
that covenant. His love for David, everything
that he does springs from that covenant. And because of his
love for David, because of that covenant that they had together,
Jonathan warns David, now you go hide in a safe place until
I see if I can talk my father out of his plan to kill you.
And then I'll tell you what you should do. Depending on which
way it goes, I'll tell you what you should do in order for you
to be safe. Jonathan's going to intercede for David. And he's
going to do it right out in the open field, near where David's
hiding, so David can see what's going on. So he can see with
his own eyes, Jonathan is interceding for him, and that he can have
confidence in what Jonathan tells him to do. So verse four, Jonathan
spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him,
Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because
he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been
to thee were very good. For he did put his life in his
hand, and slew the Philistine, and the Lord brought a great
salvation for all Israel. Thou saw'st it, and did rejoice.
Wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay
David without a cause? Now, Jonathan points out to Saul
that killing David would be a sin. Not only is David not sinned
against Saul, he hasn't sinned against anyone in Israel. Matter
of fact, just the opposite. David's faithfully served Saul,
and he's faithfully served Israel in every capacity that Saul has
given him to serve Israel. David risked his life to save
the whole nation. He was the only one with the
power to go out there and face Goliath. He risked his life to
save the whole nation. And when God gave him that great
victory, Saul was at the forefront of the celebration, celebrating
the fact that Israel had been delivered. And he'd been delivered
through David. That was the way the Lord gave
them the victory. And Jonathan says now, it would
be a sin to shed innocent blood. So verse 6, Saul hearkened unto
the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, as the Lord liveth, he
shall not be slain. And Jonathan called David, and
Jonathan showed him all those things. And Jonathan brought
David to Saul, and was in his presence as in time past. Now
Saul listened to the voice of reason, and David was restored
to the throne room of the king, just like nothing had ever happened,
just like it was before. Now we know that won't last.
Matter of fact, it's hardly going to last, you know, just a day
or two. This is a very short time. But
for a time, for the time being, there is restoration. And all
of that happened because of the covenant between David and Jonathan. All that happened because Jonathan,
because of that covenant, went to intercede for David. And that's
a picture of the intercession of Christ for his people. And
for the rest of the time we have this morning, that's what I want
us to look at. the intercession of Christ for his people. And
I want us to draw comfort and confidence from what we see of
Christ, our intercessor. Now, Jonathan and David had a
covenant. Jonathan went to plead for David because David was his
friend, because he loved David. David was a good man, he was
a good friend of Jonathan, and he had not sinned against Saul
or Jonathan. That's not our relationship with
God, is it? No one in this flesh is a friend of God. Scripture
tells us the carnal mind is enmity against God. We have sinned against
God and against His Son, and David didn't deserve to die.
We deserve to die because of our sin and our rebellion against
God. But God. That's where the story
would end if it wasn't for But God. There is a covenant that
exists in the Godhead, between God the Son and God the Father,
there is a covenant of grace. And because of that covenant,
Christ is the intercessor for his people. Now, who are his
people? You know, in his great high priestly
prayer, he said, I pray not for the world, but I pray for those
whom you've given me. Well, who are the people that
the Father gave the Son? Well, it's not good people. Not
at all. Look over at Isaiah 53. It's
not good people. It's not people who have been
good to God, like David had been good to Jonathan. It's wicked
people. It's sinful people. That's who
the people that Christ intercedes for. And I'll show you that in
Isaiah 53, verse 12. Therefore, I divide him a portion
with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered
with the transgressors. And he bare the sin of many,
and made intercession for who? The transgressors. That's who
Christ intercedes for, the transgressors. And that word, I looked this
up yesterday, the transgressors means rebels. Those who have
rebelled against. Those who have sinned against
and rebelled against. Rebels, not friends. Enemies. Rebels. Now that is true love. true compassion and true grace,
to think that right at this very moment, the Son of God, our Savior,
is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High and He is
making intercession at this very moment for transgressors, for
sinners, for those who have rebelled against God. Now that's grace. And someone might say, well,
you know, I'm too great of a sinner. He can't intercede for me. He
can't love me. He can't give himself to me because
I'm too great of a sinner. What did Peter say? If, and really
that should be translated when, any man sin, whenever it is,
whoever it is, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ,
the righteous, who is interceding for those who sin, for the transgressors
who rebel against God. And if you look over Hebrews
chapter 5, our intercessor does not just
intercede for the transgressors half-heartedly. This is serious business. In
Hebrews 5 verse 7, who in the days of his flesh, when he had
offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears
unto him that was able to save him from death, and hurt him,
and that he feared." He makes intercession for his people with
strong crying and tears. This is not half-heartedly. The
Son of God has put his whole self into interceding for his
people. Now, when we think of interceding
for someone, we think about asking for a favor, don't You know,
we have two friends, maybe they've had a falling out and we're going
to intercede for them. We go to one of the friends and
we ask them to overlook the faults of the other, to just ignore,
you know, what has happened that is wrong and forgive them by
overlooking their fault. We're asking them to do us a
favor. Well, that's not the way Christ intercedes for his people.
Really, that's not even the way that Jonathan interceded for
David. Jonathan, when he went to his father, He pled the law. He told his father it would be
morally wrong to kill David because David's innocent. David has served
you faithfully, that would be morally wrong. Jonathan pleaded
David's merits, that David didn't deserve to be killed. Well, Christ
intercedes for his people in a way that's completely the opposite
of that, yet very similar to that. Completely the opposite,
yet very similar, and I'll show you that. Christ, our intercessor,
never asks the Father for a favor when he intercedes. Never. He
pleads justice. He pleads justice because he
pleads his merits. He's not pleading our merits
because we have none to plead. Christ pleads his merit. Christ
pleads the merit of his blood to cleanse us from all sin. Because
that's who he's interceding for, remember, the transgressors.
He pleads the merit of his blood to put away our sin. Christ pleads
the merit of his righteousness to make us accepted because his
righteousness is imputed to his people. When Christ intercedes
for his people, he points to the fact that in him the law
satisfies The law can't demand death for those people, because
justice is satisfied because Christ has already died. He's
satisfied that requirement of the law, and the law cannot demand
that anyone in Christ die, because he's already died for us, in
our room, in our place, in our stead. See, Christ, our intercessor,
is not pleading our merits. He's pleading his merits. So
in that way, he's pleading exactly the opposite of Jonathan. He's
pleading, as did for David, he's pleading his merits. But now,
since the law and justice are satisfied in Christ, it would
be illegal, morally wrong, against the law of God for the Father
not to accept anyone in Christ. So Christ, just the same as Jonathan,
is pleading the law. He's pleading what's right. Even
though Christ is pleading for sinners, he's not asking for
a favor. He's pleading justice because
he died in our room, in our place, in our stead to satisfy God's
law against our sin. So he can plead justice. Christ
can plead with the Father, I died for those sins. Yes, they're
a sinner, but I died to pay for those sins. The intercession
of Christ always springs from His atonement. That's the thing
that gives us so much comfort is who it is that died. His intercession
always springs from His atonement. It pleads His sacrifice. So the
intercession of Christ will always be successful. Always. Whatever
it is that He asked of the Father, He receives because He's pleading
His blood. As long as there's power in the
blood of Christ his intercession will always be successful. He
will always receive whatever he asks as long as there's power
in his blood. As long as there's power in the
blood of Christ, the elect will always be accepted for Christ's
sake. And the songwriter wrote our
comfort. He wrote, Dear dying Lamb, thy
precious blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed
church of God be saved. to sin no more. There's power
in the blood and there always will be. That's why his intercession
will always be successful. And you remember Jonathan pled,
now he pled with his father, don't shed innocent blood. Christ
pleads with his father, accept them because I shed my innocent
blood to pay for their sins. See, his intercession always
springs from his atonement. I shed my innocent blood to pay
for their sins. Therefore, accept them for my
sake." Accept them in my blood. Deliver them from going down
to the pit, he said. Well, why should he deliver them
from going down to the pit? Because I found a ransom. And
the ransom price is the blood of God's Son. And the Father
will always, always accept the blood of His Son as payment for
the sins of His people. There is no greater plea with
the father than the merits of his son. You parents think about
your children. Is there any greater plea? Is
there anything that will reach your heart faster than someone
pleading your children? How much more the perfect father
with the perfect son. There is no greater plea with
the father than the merit of his son. And for that reason,
we know that the father always hears our intercessor because
our intercessor is his son. Look back at John chapter 11.
Our pastor just preached from this last week. We can take comfort
from knowing this, that the father always hears the son, our intercessor. In John 11 verse 41. Jesus said unto her, Said I not unto
thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory
of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the
dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father,
I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest
me always, but because of the people which stand by, I said
it. that they may believe that thou
hast sent me." He said this for our good. So we know the Father
always hears our intercessor. Always. The Father always hears
the Son because of his sacrifice. The sacrifice of Christ demands,
it absolutely demands that everyone for whom Christ died be saved. That their sins be forgiven and
that they be given eternal life. So Christ is not asking for a
favor. Matter of fact, he's declaring
his will when he intercedes for his people. If you look over
a few pages at John 17, I'll show you this. This is so clear.
Our intercessor is declaring his will when he intercedes for
his people. John 17 is our Lord's great high
priestly prayer where we get to see the Son interceding with
the Father on our behalf. And look what he says in verse
24. Father, I will, that they also whom thou hast given me
be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou
hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the
world. Now the only man who ever lived
that can pray this way is the God-man. It's the Son of God,
our intercessor. You and me had better never pray,
Father, I will. But our intercessor can, because
of his perfect life, his perfect obedience and his death that
satisfied every demand of the Father. And because of that sacrifice,
he can intercede for his people and say, Father, I will. And you can rest assured of this.
His will shall be done. I will." And he can pray that
way because of his sacrifice. And if you look back at Luke
23, I'll show you such a gracious, wonderful example of the will
of our intercessor being accomplished. In Luke 23, verse 33, and when they were come to the
place which is called Calvary, There they crucified him and
the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them. Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do." Now here's Christ. Can you imagine
the agony that he's been put in? They crucified Him. They mocked
Him. They beat Him to a bloody pulp. And He intercedes for some of
those people who are there crucifying Him, who are there mocking Him,
who are throwing His words back in His teeth. Now, I've heard
it said, I've read it this week, people say, now Christ will intercede
for those people. Surely won't He intercede for
us? And I understand what they're saying. But saying it that way
makes it sound like, well, you know, we're not as wicked as
those people who crucified our Lord. And that's not so. We are. We are just as wicked
as those Roman soldiers who drove those nails into his hands and
into his feet. We are just as wicked and just
as sinful, just as rebellious as those people who cried, crucify
him, give us Brabus. Now, we're just as wicked. That's
so. Our only hope of being accepted
by God is not that somehow we're less sinful than someone else.
Our only hope of eternal life is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our
hope is the same hope that those people had who crucified the
Lord of glory. Our hope is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's his life. It's his death. It's his resurrection. It's him
calling us by grace and his intercession for us. And if you look over
in Acts chapter 2, these two verses are connected. In Acts chapter 2, here Peter is preaching and he
tells this crowd, Therefore, let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom you have
crucified, both Lord and Christ." Now, I have no doubt in my mind
that people here that Peter's preaching to in this crowd, some
of them were in that very crowd that yelled, crucify him. They're
one and the same. They're the same people. Look
at verse 37. Now, when they heard this, those
who before were yelling crucify him, when they heard this, they
were pricked in their heart. and said unto Peter and to the
rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then
Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized, every one of
you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and
ye shall receive the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and
to your children, and to all that are far off, even as many
as the Lord our God shall call." And with many other words, he
testifies and exhorts, saying, Save yourself from this untoward
generation. Then they gladly received his
word and were baptized. And that same day were added
unto them about three thousand souls. Those souls believed because
God Almighty called them, because Christ the Son interceded for
them when he said, Father, forgive them. That's the intercession
of Christ our Lord. And that exact same experience
happens to every soul that Christ interceded for. Every soul for
whom he died receives this same gift. They gladly received the
word and were baptized. Now the father receives sinners. Christ is interceding for sinful
men and women, the transgressors. And he receives sinners because
he is satisfied with his son. Remember, we read over there
that Jonathan delighted much in David. Well, that word delighted
means pleased with or to take pleasure in. We read last week
in Proverbs 8 about Christ in eternity past, that his delights
were with the sons of men. And that's what compelled our
Savior to die for us because he delighted in his people. Well,
the father delights himself in his son. Remember, the word delight
means pleased with. What did Isaiah say? It pleased
the Lord to bruise Him. It satisfied God's law and justice
to bruise Him, to accept the sacrifice of Christ as payment
for our sin. The Father delights Himself in
the sacrifice of His Son. And that is the only way that
the Father can be delighted with, to be pleased with any sinner,
is because they are found in Christ, washed in His blood,
clothed in his righteousness, made just like his son. That's
the way the Father can be delighted in us. Now, eventually, Jonathan's
intercession for David wasn't effective anymore. His powers
of persuasion were gone. Saul's hatred has grew more and
more and more. And you know, there came a day,
Jonathan died. And he couldn't intercede for
David anymore, even if Saul would have listened to him. We'll look
over at Hebrews chapter 7. Our Lord died too. But instead
of making him unable to intercede for his people anymore, Christ's
death made his intercession effectual. Hebrews 7 verse 22, By so much
was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. And they truly were
many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason
of death. But this man, because he continued
with ever hath an unchangeable priesthood. He is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Now, there is no way
someone can say my sin is so great that Christ won't save
me. Because scripture tells us he
is able to save to the uttermost all, any, whoever it is that
comes unto him, that comes unto God by the Lord Jesus Christ,
because we're accepted in the Beloved. Now Jonathan, he made
intercession for David right out there in the open field,
didn't he? Where David could see. He could see intercession
was being made for him and he'd have some confidence in what
Jonathan was telling him. Look back at Romans chapter 8. Romans 8 verse 34. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Now where is our Lord making
intercession for us? At the right hand of God. Now
we can't physically see Christ there at the right hand of God,
can we? None of us have seen that. But we know that that is
where he is, at the right hand of God, at the place of acceptance.
So we know he's accepted. He's at the right hand of the
Father. So we know the Father will hear him. And he's at the
right hand of the Father. Right there in his ear. So there's
no delay when he's making intercession for us. And I know we haven't
seen him there physically, but we see him in the Word, don't
we? We read his intercession for us in John 17. And if God's
given you faith, you see Christ at the right hand of the Father,
interceding for you just as clearly as David watched Jonathan make
intercession with Saul. If he's given you eyes of faith,
you see him in the Word just as clearly as if you're looking
at me right now. We see him there making intercession
for us. Now quickly, let me give you
this. You know, there are people who say, well, I like practical
preaching. And I know what they mean by that. What they usually
mean by that is I want somebody to tell me how to live in this
world. And my answer is always the same. Nothing is more practical than
Christ. We preach Christ crucified. Nothing is more practical than
that. And as our topic this morning, nothing is more practical, applicable
to our daily lives than the intercession of Christ for the believer. And
I'll give you two examples of that. Prayer. Prayer can be difficult at times,
even though no believer can go through his day without it. Prayer
can be difficult at times. And I think when it's difficult,
it's because we're praying selfishly. That might not be your problem,
but that's mine. I don't have a single problem
in this world finding things to pray for. None whatsoever.
There are many things that I desire. I have no difficulty praying
for them. There are things I desire for my loved ones. Going through
so many trials and heartaches, I have no trouble praying for
you. Praying for deliverance, praying for healing. No trouble
whatsoever finding those things to pray for. But how to pray
is what's difficult. To find the way To pray in accordance
with God's will can be the thing that's difficult, and it's normally
difficult because it crosses minds. That's really the reason. Well, look over, if you're still
in Romans 8, verse 26. It is the intercession of the
Spirit of Christ that enables us to pray in accordance with
God's will. Look at Romans 8, verse 26. Likewise,
the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should
pray for as But the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered." Groanings. And every single time
I read this verse, I think about Cecil Roach, who told me one
day, when all you can do is groan, that's when you're really praying.
When all you can do is groan. And he quoted this verse, to
back up what he was saying. And I'll tell you why I think
he said that. Because when all you can do is
groan, there's no hypocrisy. There is no hypocrisy in a groan. Because a groan doesn't come
from the mind, it doesn't come from the mouth, it comes from
the heart. And the Spirit himself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. He helps
us, he intercedes for us so that our prayers are in accordance
with his will. And second example is practical application is trials. Everybody here knows about trials. And they just keep rolling one
right after the other, after the other, and we think, I cannot
take this. I can't take another moment of
this. I can't take another one. Look in Luke chapter 22, you're
right, we can't. No question about it. But in
Luke 22, verse 31, The Lord said unto Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you
as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, I
have interceded for thee, I have prayed for thee, that thy faith
fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren." Now this, I would imagine, Peter
would tell you, was the greatest trial of his life, when Satan
did have him. shifted him as wheat and made
him deny that he even knew the Lord three times. That had to
be the greatest trial of Peter's life. But you notice our Lord
didn't tell Peter, Peter, I prayed for you that you'd be spared
from this trial. He didn't say that. He didn't say, Peter, I
prayed for you that you won't stumble and be embarrassed. He
didn't pray that. He said, Peter, I prayed for
you that your faith fail No. Peter stumbled. He was embarrassed,
he stumbled, but his faith didn't fail him. What did he say when
he saw the Lord? It's the Lord! He jumped off
that boat and swam to Him. Even though he denied Him, even
though he was embarrassed, he jumped off that boat and swam
to the Lord. His faith didn't fail. And when
the trial was over, Peter grew up a little bit. He was converted
and he was able to strengthen his brethren. Just like the Lord
told him he prayed. So what's the sum of all this?
This is a very, very short study on the intercession of Christ.
There's thick books. I mean, I've got one thick book
written on the intercession of Christ. What's the sum of it? Rest in Christ. Beloved, rest in Christ. Every child of God has been brought
back into the presence of God just as before. Before what? Before we were separated from
God in Adam. We are separated from God in
Adam, but in Christ, we're joined to the Father in fellowship in
Christ. And unlike David's experience,
the believer's experience is permanent. It's eternal life. And that's so comforting to me.
I know your desire is the same as mine. I desire to live perfectly,
to live in perfect obedience to my Father, to please Him in
everything I do. But of course we can't. None
of us can. But here's the comfort. My acceptance
with the Father is not based on anything that I do or don't
do. My acceptance with the Father
has always been and will forever be the Lord Jesus Christ. my intercessor who is at the
Father's right hand, ever living, to make intercession for those
transgressors that he loved and gave himself for. My hope is not just the righteousness
of Christ. It's not bits and pieces and
parts of Christ. My hope, my confidence is Christ
Himself, that we are accepted in the beloved. Now rest in him. All right. Lord bless you.