1 Samuel chapter 18. Let's go back and begin reading
actually in chapter 17, beginning in verse 54. David had just defeated Goliath
and not only Goliath, but the army of the Philistines. And
it said David took the head of the Philistine. and brought it
to Jerusalem. But he put his armor in his tent.
And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistines, he said
unto Abner, and Abner was his chief general in his army, Whose
son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth,
O king, I cannot tell. And the king said, Inquire thou
whose son this stripling is. And David returned from the slaughter
I notice that he returned from the slaughter. He didn't just
take on Goliath, he defeated the whole army. And Abner took
him, took David, and brought him before Saul with the head
of the Philistine in his hand. And Saul said unto him, Whose
son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the
son of thy servant Jesse, the Bethlehemite. And it came to
pass, verse 1, 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 he gave
it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his
bow, and to his girdle." David had just defeated the Philistines'
champion, and me and Jeff were talking just a few minutes ago. He was talking about how he was
thinking about the Philistines' army. You know, you think about
what the children of Israel thought when David had won the battle. David had defeated this awful
foe, the enemy of God's people. Can you imagine what the enemy
thought? They probably thought, we don't have anything to worry
about. Everything is going to go our way. They were trusting
in what they could see, their visible reasonings. You notice
that Goliath said, and the challenge was, now you send me a man to
fight against me, and if I defeat him, well, you'll be our servants.
But if I defeat him, or he defeats me, we'll be your servants. And
when David defeated Goliath, we don't see those people falling
on their face. They go running for their lives. And that's how
man in his natural state does. When God reveals his strengths,
and his power before the children of Israel were over here trembling.
And these people were not. These people had all the confidence
in the world. They could have said, we're rich
and increased with goods and we have neither nothing. What
do we need? Now it's reversed. Now it's reversed. And what's happened to their
champion? He's dead. And there's no doubt about it
that he's dead. That's why David took his head
off. They could have just said, well, he just knocked him out.
He'll come too. No, he's not coming too. In this
world today, look at religion. That's why it looks so impressive. That's why they build such big
buildings, and that's why they do all this, all this, and they
waste all this money. Because it seems impressive.
But it's empty. It's dead. Why? Christ has defeated
it. He's destroyed it. When you take
something's head off, you take away its power. You take away
its authority. We don't have to be afraid of
death anymore. All our lifetime we were. We feared death and
we ought to fear death. We don't have to fear it anymore
because Christ, through death, through death, through that means
of death, the very thing we were afraid of was the very thing
he took and destroyed the enemy with it. He took his own sword.
his own sword and cut his head off with it. He did it. God did it. His power did it. No question about it. Everybody
knew it. The children of Israel knew it,
the elect of God knew it, and the enemies of God knew it. What
did David say? That these people may know this
day that there is a God in Israel. This world mocks our God. They
defy our God, don't they? They say, well, look at us. They
say, well, where is your God? You meet in a little building
and have 15 or 20 people. Where is your God at? He's where
He's always been. And God can do whatever He wants
to, and He can use whatever means He wants to, but God has always
chosen to use the foolish things of this world And the things
that the world despise, that no flesh, glory, and his son,
that God gets all the glory. Not part of it, all of it. Not part of it, all of it. You
know what the gospel does? It exalts God, it exalts his
son, and all the glory is his. Saul gave David permission to
go fight Goliath. And now he returns to that same
king with the evidence of the victory. He had the head of Goliath
in his hand. This is evidence, no doubt about
it. He won the victory. He won the
victory. He won the battle. He got the
glory. And he did it for the glory of God and for the good
of God's people. We were terrified. And he won
the victory for all God's elect, pictured in the nation of Israel.
If they got what they deserved, they had all perished. But God
raised up to them a champion, a mighty deliverer, the one that
God chose, the one that God had selected, and the one that God
had set apart. He passed by all David's other
brothers. They wouldn't even call David to the, when Samuel
came, wouldn't even call him to the house. And God said, this
is my king. This is the one I've chose. This
is the one I've raised up. And this is the one I've set
apart. And God set him apart in God's time. He's watching
his father's sheep just over there while the battle's over
here going on, and Goliath is taunting and bragging and trying
to work fear in God's people. Where's David at? He's over here
where God's put him. Until God brings him out. And it seemed like things had
went on like they'd always went for four thousand years. God
had already picked out, God had already selected, God had already
ordained his son to be our champion. And in God's time, and in the
fullness of time, a virgin brought forth a son who is the king,
the rightful king of Israel. He comes through Joseph and Mary,
and both of them are of the lineage of David. rightful king when
God brought him forth. God did what? God set him forth. A man after God's own heart.
What does this mean? I believe it means that God gave
him a new heart. And the heart that God gave him,
the heart that made him willing to, a loving servant to do whatever
pleased the Father. A man after his own heart. His own heart. In the world's eyes, he was nothing
up to this point. His brothers despised him. His
daddy didn't even consider him. But things are different now.
And won't you think about this? It will never be the same for
David. It will never be the same. We see that Saul doesn't let
him go back home. He's not the little shepherd
boy anymore. And it will never be the same.
God is preparing him to sit on the throne. And we're going to
see, it's going to be several years. It might be 13 or 14 years. But everything that happens in
David's life is happening for a reason, to bring him to the
throne. You say, well, why does God still
leave Saul on the throne? Why didn't, as soon as David
defeated Goliath, why didn't they just say, well, let's just
impeach Saul and throw him off the throne, and let's set David
on the throne? No. God'll put him there when he
sees Fionn. And he will. And he does. He's not allowed to go back home
to his father. He'll never be the same. He never
went back to watch his father's sheep. As I thought about this,
I thought, David, it said he left the sheep with the keeper.
Somebody watched over the sheep that morning, and he got up because
his dad said, I want you, David, to go check on your brothers
down out here. I want you to go check, see how the battle's
going. And he left that day and never came back. Never went back to watching those
sheep. Never went back. Because now he's in Saul's army. And God's preparing him to lead
God's sheep. To lead his people. See how God
works, isn't it amazing? See how God works and God arranges
everything. He was not allowed to King Saul.
King Saul said, you won't go back home anymore. You'll be
right here in my palace. You'll be in my military, you'll
be in my army, and this is how God's preparing David physically. I know he's a picture of Christ,
but he was still a literal man. He was. He was. David is no longer hid. God brings
him out, and God sets him forth. Here he is. I don't know how
many recognized him. Maybe nobody. Samuel knew. God knew this is God's team. And look what he's just done.
Nobody else would do and nobody else could do. Instead of getting
nobody else could do it, nobody else would do it. He did it. And God will let everybody know
who he is. God will exalt him. He was jealous
for God's glory and God's honor and God's going to exalt him. What I want to see is that David
was brought before Saul. We're not informed, it doesn't
record here, what was spoken between Saul and David. I picture
David, and I always, as I read the scripture, this is just me,
I try to just picture the scene. I try to be like a fly on the
wall. I try to just, I see David standing there. And he's got
Goliath's head still in his hand. I picture he's got it by the
hair of the head. And he's probably covered in
blood. Can you picture it? Here he stands in his shepherd's
clothes. with the staff in his hand, and
he did it by himself. He tread the winepress alone. Nobody went down there with him.
He did it single-handedly. He stands there with his shepherd's
garment on. He stands alone, the great champion
of Israel, the one who had single-handedly defied the armies, this one man
that defied the armies of the living God, David shut his mouth. And Saul asked him a question.
In verse 58, whose son art thou? Whose son are you? Shouldn't Saul have knew who
he was? This is the man just a few chapters earlier had actually
been in Saul's palace when the evil spirit came upon Saul and
David played on his harp and the evil spirit departed from
him. Did he not know who he was? Whose son are you? Whose son are you? God can hide
these things from the wise and prudent and he can reveal it
unto babes. Can this really be the same person? Can the one standing before the
king be the one who played and brought temporary peace to his
conscience? It's the same one. The same one. And God's exalted
him. But something else I see, there's
somebody else standing over here watching. Somebody else listening. And his name is Jonathan. You
know who Jonathan is? Jonathan is Saul's firstborn.
Jonathan is heir to the throne. Jonathan would be the next king
after Saul dies. If Saul had got killed in battle,
Jonathan would have been king. And Jonathan standing there,
listening, looking, watching as David stands before his father,
the rejected king of Israel, and sees this young man, this
strappling, this standing there with this giant's head. Jonathan
saw what David did. Everybody saw what he did. And
as he stands there in that court that day, something happens to
that man. Something happens to Jonathan. Something's changed him. Jonathan
plays a big part in a lot of the history of David. You need
to understand this. To understand the story of Mephibosheth,
you need to understand David and Jonathan, their relationship. Do you remember who Jonathan
was back in chapter 13, verse 3? It said, And Jonathan smote
the garrison of the Philistines. That was in Gebeah. The Philistines
heard it, and Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying,
Let the Hebrews hear. And all Israel heard that Saul
had smitten the garrison of the Philistines. Saul didn't do it.
Jonathan did it. He did it. He was a valiant man. But listen, when Goliath was
taunting everybody, Jonathan didn't go either. But this is who Jonathan is. But what I want you to see is,
Jonathan was the son of a defeated, fearful, rejected king. There's so many ways, angles
that you can look at this, but that's what he was. And is that
not who we were? We were the son of a defeated,
rejected, fearful king. That's who our father was, Father
Adam. because of disobedience. And I'd say that day when Saul
disobeyed God, that Jonathan probably heard Samuel pronounce
this curse upon his dad. In that same chapter, 1 Samuel
13, verse 13, And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly. Thou hast not kept the commandment
of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee. For now would
the Lord have established thy kingdom. He would have established
thy kingdom upon Israel forever. That's saying that Jonathan would
have been the next king. But now thy kingdom shall not
continue. The Lord hath sought him a man
after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be
captain over his people. Because thou hast not kept that
which the Lord commanded thee, God took it from Saul and gave
it to David, and he also took it from Jonathan." Jonathan's
not the rightful heir. And we're not the rightful heir.
This is the problem that man has today. He thinks he's rightful
heir to the throne. That it's his by nature. No,
he's refused. And God's rejected him. And that,
my friends, what makes the devil and all his enemies, all our
enemies, mad. David's rightful king. God chose
him. But Samuel heard this. I mean,
Jonathan did. I believe that Jonathan knew
and recognized who this person was. Who could else this be,
Danny? He said, I heard him tell my
dad that God saw him a man after his own heart that's going to
be captain of his people. And I'm looking for him and I
don't see him anywhere else in the army. This young man has
to be him. This must be him. What has he done to his enemies?
He's defeated them all. What is the response of the people
who now stand in his presence? Now we come to verse one. Now, you picture Jonathan. He
sees this David. And it says, the soul of Jonathan
was knit with the heart of David. Why would Jonathan love David?
By nature, he would have thought he was his threat to the throne. By nature, he would have been
jealous of David. Boy, I wish I'd had the courage
to go do what he did. But it said he loved him. I used
to work in a knitting mill, worked in a knitting mill for years.
And you know what you do when you knit? You take two strands,
two individual strands, and you would knit them together, and
they become one. Jonathan's soul was knit with
the soul of David. They become one. And what does God do for a trembling
sinner when we behold our champion and our God? He knits your soul
with His, and you love Him as your own soul. Isn't it? What's the first and great commandment?
Love the Lord thy God with all your heart and your soul and
your mind and your neighbor as yourself. And you can't do that by nature.
This is not Jonathan's nature to love this man. But he knit
his soul with David. Oh, that's amazing. But that's
what God does. That's salvation. By nature,
we don't love God. By nature, we hate God. By nature,
we don't want God on the throne. We'd rather have our daddy sitting
on the throne, or we'd rather sit on the throne. Not the one
God chose. And Jonathan loves this man that
much. You know why we love him? Because
he first loved us. How do we know we loved him?
How does Jonathan know David loved him? David gave his life. When he went down in that valley,
it was life or death. And he came out victorious. You
know what that did? Oh, that won his heart. You know
what wins a sinner's heart? It's not beating people over
the head with the law. It's not trying to scare them
and say, well, God's going to get you. God's going to get you.
It's not trying to present hell in front of you so much you just
scared to death. When you see the grace of God, to you an unworthy
sinner, that wins the day. That's how God wins people's
hearts. And their soul are knit together. He loved him. Jonathan's eyes
are taking off his rejected father, and they are cast now upon the
chosen king of Israel. Jonathan is friends now with
David, and he knew he would be the next king. Verse 2, it said, as I've already
mentioned, that Saul wouldn't let David go home to his father's
house, and I'll just let you think about that verse. Our Lord
did say, in my father's house are many mansions, and if it
were not so, I would have told you so. I thought about this
this morning. You know, when he left the father's
house, he was always the son of God. He was the son of Jesse
before he left the father's house. But when he went back to the
father's house, it was not the same. Was it? It wasn't the same. He
comes back. as the one who has conquered
sin. He comes back, and you know what
he does? He came first time as the Lamb
of God, but he sits on the throne as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He sits now upon the throne. And we always behold him as the
Lamb of God. And now he stands like when he
told Thomas, he said, Reach hither thy hand and touch the places
in my hand. There's there. He went back differently,
still the same son, but the conquering son. Verse three. Then Jonathan and
David made a covenant. because he loved him as his own
soul. They made a covenant. But who
is the he that is spoken of in this verse? Then Jonathan and
David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul.
Is that talking about David or is that talking about Jonathan?
It's talking about both. Jonathan loved David as his own
soul. Oh, and this is the grace. David
loved Jonathan as his own soul. Don't ever forget this. God is a covenant God. Everything
God does is based on a covenant. Everything. And before the world
was ever made, We talk of the everlasting covenant. Remember,
David said, God hath made with me an everlasting covenant. Jesus'
blood is the blood of the everlasting covenant. Before the world was
made, God the Father gave God the Son of people. And they were
in covenant, covenant relationship. The Son of God is responsible
for all that the Father gave him. Why? Covenant relationship. And he loves those people as
he loves himself. Husbands, love your wives the
same way Jesus loved the church and gave himself for it. This covenant. This binding union
between these two. And you know what? God's people. And you were his people. Now,
you were born a rebel. You were born a child of wrath
just like everybody else. But you know why God chose you
favor? You know why God chose you mercy? Covenant mercies. Covenant relationship. God was
bound to send his spirit to draw you. Why? Covenant relationship.
He loved you. He doesn't love everybody. You
know that. But he loves somebody. And it's a love, to me, that's
indescribable. I can't describe it. Would you
like to describe it this morning? Would you like to describe the
love of God? He loved Jonathan. And he loved
him as his own soul. That's amazing. Now, that's love. Remember, he showed mercy We're
going to see later on, remember after Jonathan's dead and Saul's
dead, and David said, is there any left of the household of
Jonathan that may show him kindness? He said, yeah, there's a man
named Mephibosheth. You know why? You know why he
showed mercy to Mephibosheth? Because he made a covenant with
his daddy. And that's why God ever shows
you mercy. He loved him as his own soul,
and they made a covenant with each other, and this covenant
was based not upon what you did, what you could ever do or ever
promise to do. It wasn't, now, say, can I get
you to promise that you'll never sin anymore, that you'll always
be a good boy and you'll be a good girl? No, it ain't based on those
promises. It's based on love. I'm sure I'm going to do this for
you. and do everything for you, just because I love you." Ain't you glad it ain't conditioned?
He said, well, I'm going to love
you, Danny, until you mess up, but when you mess up, you can forget it,
son. None of that. And Jonathan stripped himself
of the robe that was upon him, and he gave it to David, and
his garment even to his sword, and his bow, and his mantle. He gave what he had to David,
and David put it on. When Saul tried to put marks
of honor on David, David put them off. David refused them,
because he would first earn them and wear them. But now he had
been given proof of the spirit of a prince and a soldier, and
he's not ashamed to wear the habits of a prince or a soldier
every time they see him. They'll see him with Jonathan's
clothes on, with Jonathan's rope on. And the garment meant that
they clothed him from head to foot, and he wears them. This
can picture Christ wearing our humanity. He looks just like
us. He's a man, he grew weary with
his journey, and he had to be, to be our representative. David
is seen in Jonathan's clothes. That all may take notice that
he's Jonathan's second self. Our Lord Jesus has thus shown
us his love, that he stripped himself to clothe us. He emptied
himself to enrich us. He laid it all aside. Here's what Spurgeon said, this
blessed my heart. As David accepted Jonathan's
presence, we accept our gracious Savior, all the priceless gifts
that thou dost bestow upon us. We see thee taking off his royal
robe and girding it around us. He did lay aside the bright array
that we might be clothed as princesses of the blood royal of heaven,
even to his sword, to his bow, and to his girdle. Did Jonathan
give to David, and our Lord Jesus has done the same for us, so
that we have the sword of the Spirit, that we might fight the
good fight of faith, we have his bow that we may shoot upward,
the pointed arrows of prayer, and that we also may be girdled
out with the girdle of truth. There is nothing, O Lord, which
thou hast that thou hast not given us, and with both our hands
do we accept. of that which is thine, and of
thyself also, for thou too art given to us, and in return we
give ourselves to thee. For it is all that I can do."
He laid it all aside. You can picture Christ giving
us everything, giving us his robe, his righteousness, but
when God wins your heart in what you do, you lay aside everything. You lay aside your sword, your
physical strength, and you lay it all at his feet. You say, he's king. He's king. You know why Jonathan
did that? He won his heart. When we preach the gospel, we
don't try to get people to do what they don't want to do. If God ever wins your heart,
and he will, if you're his, he'll win it. He'll make you willing
to do or give up anything, anything for him. Our Lord said, if you
love your father or your mother or your own wife or anything
more than me, he said, you can't be my disciple. And Johnston
says, David, here it is. And when he laid it down, you
know what he did? He gave up his rights to it. I have no right to sit on the
throne. I have no right to receive any honor. It's all yours. Isn't that what salvation is? That's what it is. And let me tell you this, the
same one that defeated Goliath, the same one that defeated Satan
in this world and sin in every enemy, doesn't have any problem
conquering your heart. Anything less than God conquering
your heart, that's not salvation. It's not. I don't care how many
professions people make. We're not going to stand up and
sing this morning, oh, how I love Jesus. We're never going to do
that in this place as long as I'm here. But I can tell you
this. He loved you. And his love has
been shed abroad in your heart. And you don't love him like you
should. You don't love him like you'd want to. You don't love
him like one day you will. But you do love him. You love him because he is your
life. Not a big part of your life.
Paul said, when Christ who is my life shall appear, it doesn't
matter. He's King. He's won the battle. He's conquered. You know what it is? You know
what salvation is, if you want to put it in a simple term? It's
when God Almighty is determined to conquer a sinner. And He conquers them! He subdues
them. He wins them to himself. And
we're going to see, Michael loves him, Saul's daughter. The people
in Israel love David. Even when we see he's in a cave
and everybody's rejecting him, they still came to him. Why?
They loved him. Loved him. And the more you hear
about him, The more you want to be around Him, the more He
wins your heart. And He puts you in love with
Him. Many waters can't quench love.
Can you describe love? You have somebody I know that
you love. Would you like to describe how you feel toward that person?
Can you put it into words? No, you can't. And I can't explain
to you what this means. But if He's ever in your heart,
you know exactly what I'm talking about. Isn't that right? You
know exactly. Isn't that amazing? Amazing love. Amazing. And we lay it all down and say,
Lord, I have no right to it. My time is not mine. My life
is not mine. Everything, you take my robe,
you take my garments, you take my sword, you take my girdle,
you take it all! You know why? It's His. It's His. Do you get the picture?
I hope you do. Amen.