Turn to 1 Samuel 18. I probably
shouldn't have admitted that, but I did. 1 Samuel 18. Let's read these first four verses. 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 a sword and to his bow and to his girdle. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name and Lord, we ask in his name that you would
be pleased to meet with us. Speak in power to our hearts
from your word. We ask that thy son might be
exalted before our eyes and we might sit at his feet in awe
and wonder at his excellency and greatness. Lord, we ask that
you would forgive us of our sins and that you'd cleanse us. Oh
Lord, we're so utterly in need of thy son. Oh, that we might
be found in him. And Lord, accept our thanksgiving.
We're so thankful that you're on the throne. We're so thankful
that you're who you are. We love all your attributes.
We love you for who you are. And Lord, we ask that your gospel
would be preached in the power of your spirit and that you'd
give us hearing ears and receptive hearts and give us grace to be
servants one to another. Give us grace to love you more
and love one another more. Oh Lord, that we might worship
thy dear son. And truly what we're asking for
ourselves, we ask for all your people. In Christ's name we pray,
amen. Jonathan and David. Now this
is a very, very special passage of scripture about the friendship
of Jonathan and David. Now we learned from chapter 14
that Jonathan, the son of Saul, was a man of great faith. You
remember, he took on the entire Philistine army by himself. Turn
to 1 Samuel chapter 14. These are the words of Jonathan.
And Jonathan said to the young man that bear his armor, come
and let us go over into the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may
be that the Lord will work for us for there's no restraint to
the Lord to say by many or by few. We see this was a man of
great faith and his soul was knit to the soul of David when
he heard him speak. Now back to chapter 18. And it came to pass, when he'd
made an end of speaking, and to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan
was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his
own soul." Now, remember, he had witnessed, with his own eyes,
David take on the giant. And oh, how he loved him for
what he did. He witnessed this. Look how he addressed David in
1 Samuel 20, verse 12. 1 Samuel 20, verse 12, and Jonathan
said unto David, O Lord God of Israel, Now, he called David
that. I can't explain all that, but
that's what he called him. And perhaps he knew that David
was the type of the greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
addressed David like this. He had such a high view of David. Now, this wasn't idolatry. He
knew that David pictured the greater David. That's the only
explanation I have for that. But how highly he viewed David. Now, notice where it says, and
it came to pass when he'd made an end of speaking unto Saul.
He listened to what David had said to Saul. He heard all the
things that David said to Goliath. And when he'd made an end of
speaking, that's very significant. He heard the entire message and
the gospel is a whole message. And to leave any part out is
to not preach the gospel. It's a whole entire message.
And when he heard, The end of speaking, the scripture says,
his soul was knit to David. Now, I want to hear the whole
message, don't you? Proverbs 18, 13 says, he that
answereth a matter before he hears it, it's a folly and a
shame unto him. In hearing the gospel, we want
to hear the whole message. And that's exactly what he heard
from David when he'd made an end of speaking. That's when
his soul was knit to him. And you know, David felt the
same way about him. Turn to 2 Samuel 1. This is David speaking after
Jonathan had died. He said in verse 26 of 2 Samuel
1, I'm distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant
has thou been unto me, thy love to me. was wonderful, passing
the love of women." Now, what a statement regarding this love
they had one to another. And it's amazing that some people
have taken that and degraded it. You've probably heard that
before and made accusations against Jonathan and David. And people
will do anything they can to drag the truth through the mud.
But the thing of it is, the love of a Jonathan and David, their
souls knit together. He said this was greater than
the love between a man and a woman. What this pictures is the love
of the believer and Christ to one another. Their souls are
knit together. Now, I love Len. I hope I love the Lord more.
And I believe Lynn loves me. I hope she loves the Lord more.
And you feel that way about your spouse too. Isn't that amazing
how even with regard to your spouse, you'll be happy if they
love the Lord more than they love you. That'd make you happy.
That's what you want. And this is what David wanted.
And what a beautiful statement regarding their love. Their souls
were knit together. He loved David as his own soul,
which speaks of union with Christ, souls knit together, and I think
this is glorious. Jonathan was the rightful heir
to the throne, wasn't he? Saul was his daddy, but who did
he want to be on the throne? He wanted David to be on the
throne. He was more concerned about David's glory than anything
else. He wanted David to have all the
glory. Now that picture is really what
a believer feels about the Lord Jesus Christ. We really want
him. We desire for him to have all the glory and salvation.
And what is so amazing, you know, David's soul was meant to Jonathan
too. The Lord Jesus said, the glory thou gavest me, I've given
them. He gives His glory to us. We
give all the glory to Him, and He turns around and He gives
His glory, which is, what do you say about that? The Lord
saying, the glory thou gavest me, I've given them. I don't
even know what you're commenting about that. It's just so amazing.
But this soul knit together. Now, notice it says in Verse
1, 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 no more go to his father's house. Then
Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own
soul. Now, this covenant is brought
up They made it here, they renewed it in chapter 20, and you remember
the story of Mephibosheth, where David remembered that covenant.
Such a beautiful story. But look in chapter 20, this
covenant they made with one another. Verse 14. And thou shalt not only while
I live show me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not. This
is what Jonathan is saying to David. But also thou shalt not
cut off thy kindness from my house forever. No, not when the
Lord has cut off the enemies of David, every one of them from
the face of the earth. Jonathan knew the Lord's hand
was upon David. So Jonathan made a covenant with
the house of David, saying, Let the Lord even inquire it at the
hand of David's enemies. And Jonathan caused David to
swear again, because he loved him, for he loved him as he loved
his own soul." Now, this thing of a covenant, the covenant they
made together. Now, the first thing I think
of, my only hope is that the Lord made a covenant to save
me. I don't talk about me making a covenant with Him. That doesn't
have anything to do with it. My only hope is His covenant
that He made with me. Turn to 2 Samuel 23. David understood
the importance of this covenant. You're familiar with this passage
of Scripture. It's one of my favorite verses of Scripture.
Verse 5, David's on his dying bed and he says, although my
house be not so with God, yet. hath he made with me an
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure." Oh, I love that. He made a covenant
with me, eternally, everlasting, ordered in all things and absolutely
sure. And this, he says, is all my
salvation. and all my desire." Is this all
your salvation? His covenant that he made with
you for Christ's sake. David said, this is all my salvation.
It's all my desire. It's all I want. I don't want
anything else. Now, what a beautiful covenant.
And my Lord, make a covenant with me. I want to enter covenant
with you. I want this covenant, ordered in all things and sure.
And you remember the story of Mephibosheth, David said, is
there any yet of the house of Saul that I can show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake, because of this covenant that was made. Now let's turn back to our text
in first Samuel chapter 18, verse four. 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."
Now, two things about this robe Jonathan
took off and gave to David. When you come into Christ's presence,
when I come into Christ's presence, we come stripped. That's the
only way we come. as nothing but sinners. Like
Bartimaeus, he got rid of that old robe. He got rid of it. And you come into Christ's presence
stripped. And if I don't come that way,
I'm really not coming at all. You can't come into the presence
of holiness of absolute purity, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy
One of Israel, that just one. You can't come into his presence
and not be aware to some extent. And we're not aware of the full
extent. I realize that. None of us are. But you can't
come into his presence stripped, sinful. You get rid of that old
robe of righteousness and you see it for what it is. And here's
what's amazing. He gave it to David. You know, the Lord took our garments upon
Himself. He took our filthy robe and it
became His on the cross. He was made sin. And you think,
what a glorious thing. I mean, He gets rid of His robe,
He gives it to David. David puts it on. Our Lord took
our place. He took what was mine. And not
only did He give him His robe, He gave David his sword and his
bow, his means of protection, his way of saving himself, his
way of protecting himself. You know, we've got all kinds
of ways to protect ourselves and they're all useless, aren't
they? He gave it all to David and he
became completely dependent on the protection of David at that
time. All the stuff that he had to protect himself was taken
away. He didn't have anything. He gave him his sword. He gave
him his bow. He gave him his girdle. He gave
him his armor. He gave up everything that protected
him. Oh, don't we cry to our Lord,
cover my defenseless head with the shadow of thy wings. He became completely dependent
on the protection of David. Now, this is a beautiful story
about their love and friendship, isn't it? It's just beautiful.
But it speaks to so many other things. The first thing I think
of is the fact that Christ Jesus is the friend of all of his people. Every single one of them. He's
my friend. He's the friend of publicans
and sinners, scripture says. He receives them. God is said
to be the friend of his people. He spoke face to face with Moses
as a man speaketh with his friend. Isn't that amazing to think that
God could be my friend? I mean, my friend, a real friend.
He's my Lord. He's my savior. He's my, there's
so many things you can say about him, but my friend. My friend. Abraham was called the friend
of God. And the Lord said to his disciples,
you are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you. Which
means if you believe the gospel, you're my friends. And to think
of God being a friend with me? How? He's God. And there has
to be, to be friends, there has to be some kind of, I don't want
to use the word peer, Because obviously, I'm no peer to God,
and you're no peer to God, and we're no peer to Christ, obviously.
But there has to be something for, you can't, you know, they
say dog's man's best friend. Well, a dog is a friend, but
it can't be a real friend. You can't have communion with
a dog. You can't have fellowship with a dog. You can't really,
you can talk to a dog, but it can't talk back. You know, there's
a, but when someone is born of the spirit of God, they're given
a divine nature. Second Peter 1.4 says every believer
is a partaker of the divine nature. And I have a nature that God
can commune with and be my friend. glories of having him as my friend. Jesus Christ the Lord is my friend. He's my brother, he's my elder
brother, and he's my friend. And like David said, and like
David and Jonathan, we love him as our own soul. Don't you want
him to get all the glory? You really do. You want him to
get all the glory. You love him. You admire him. You stand in awe at his person,
and yet he's your friend. He's the one person that you
can Strip yourself before and be
what you really are. He's the one person and he loves
you anyway. He accepts you accepted in the
beloved. What a friend is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want
to close by thinking, you know, we were looking at the friendship
between Jonathan and David. I want to close by thinking a
little bit about what the Bible says about friendship and one
of the greatest blessings of life is to have friends. You
know, the best marriage is what? When the two married people are
our best friends. Now, with regard to our spouses,
our spouses ought to be our best friends. And the best marriages,
the spouses are literally best friends. And what a blessing
friendship is. If I have no friends, there's
a reason. The scripture says, he that would
have friends must show himself friendly. And if I don't have
any friends, it's because I'm not friendly. That's all there
is to it. If I would have friends, I would
show myself friendly. Now, what is a friend? Well,
a friend, first of all, and I'm going to have scriptures for
all these, particularly out of Proverbs. There's a lot of scriptures
in the Proverbs about friendship. A friend is someone you don't
have to be on your guard around. You don't have to guard your
words in fear that they'll be taken and distorted. A friend has your back. I love
this scripture. He that covereth a transgression
seeketh love, but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends. Now, if you're friends, you want
to cover something, don't you? You don't want your friends to
be exposed. You don't want your friends to be You want their
blemishes hidden, don't you? If you love some, love seeketh
to cover a matter. But a whisper separates very
friends. You don't want their blemishes
exposed, not your friend. And your friends don't want to
expose you. Proverbs 17, 17 says, a friend loveth at all times. I love that, don't you? A friend
loveth at all times. Does that mean a friend doesn't
get mad at each other? No, you know better than that. There
isn't anybody that doesn't get upset with each other from time to
time. But you never stop loving. Not a true friend. Love never
fails. It never is reduced to inactivity. It never quits. A friend loveth
at all times. It never stops loving. And the
scripture says our brother is born for adversity. In times
of adversity, you find out who your friends are, don't you?
in times of adversity. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
that brother born for adversity. What a glorious brother he is,
born for adversity. You know, I think of the times
when I felt adversity. What a blessing it is to have
the Lord drawing near to your soul. And you know, he's that
friend that sticketh closer than a brother. When you're in, there's
so many different kinds of adversities, but he's the friend that sticks
closer than a brother. Friends know each other, love
each other, and help each other. And here's the scripture, I thought,
as iron sharpens iron, so a man's countenance is sharpened by his
friend. A friend's are beneficial to
one another. They help one another. If you've
got a friend, they're going to bring you up. They're not going
to bring you down, they're going to bring you up. They're going
to be helpful to you. They're going to, as iron sharpens iron,
the benefit of a friend. So a man's friend sharpens his
counsel. Proverbs 27.6 says, faithful
are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are death. Now he talks about the wounds
of a friend and the kisses of an enemy, which is flattery.
Now, you can be around people who flatter you. Unfortunately,
we like that. I like being flattered. Flatter
me. Tell me stuff even if it's not true. Tell me good stuff.
I'll listen to it. Just like Scott Richardson once
said, I'm as vain as the next man. But flattery. Faithful are the wounds of a
friend. I want a friend who wounds me. who tells me the truth for my
good, who loves me, who will wound me. You know, it's a sad
time when we can't take wounds. Let the righteous smite me, David
said. It'll be a kindness to me. It'll
be an excellent oil to me. Let the righteous smite me. I
want my friends to... Now, be careful. Be careful. Somebody might say, well, I'm
going to get that person straightened out. Well, there's plenty to
straighten out, I realize, but be careful. But oh, I do want
the wounds of a friend, don't you? Faithful are the wounds
of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are death. A friend
loves you and will correct you for your good. And I love that
scripture, there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. That's the Lord Jesus. Oh, what
a friend he is that sticks closer than a brother. Now, when somebody's
your real friend, you won't accept people saying bad things about
them, will you? What about the Lord Jesus? This is where, when
we hear things contrary to his gospel, contrary to his character,
things that bring him down to human level, we won't accept
it. Because we love our friend. I
found a friend, oh, such a friend, the Lord Jesus Christ. And what
a friend he is. And I'm thankful my big brother,
my great friend, sticks up for me. Isn't that wonderful to have
him for you? Him as your great high priest,
him as your great intercessor, he's your friend. What a friend.
Every believer has the best friend. the Lord Jesus Christ. And we
love Him as we love our own soul. We really do. We would really
rather Him get glory than us. That's in our heart. Now an unbeliever
can't understand that. An unbeliever can't understand
this thing of desiring His glory. But a believer truly desires
His glory above all things. And what a friend He is. I think of That scripture where
Moses, the Lord speak face-to-face with Moses as a man speaks face-to-face
with his friend. That's who I want to be, don't
you? I want the Lord to speak to me
face-to-face through his son, through his son, through his
son, him as my friend, face-to-face as a man speaks with his friend.
Abraham was the friend of God. I want Todd to be the friend
of God. And you know, if somebody's your
friend, you want to please them, don't you? You want to please
them and you want them to be pleased with you. May the Lord
teach us, enable us by his grace to be truly his friend. You know, something I, something
I asked the Lord to do, and I think we all ought to ask the Lord
to do this. Lord, make me a man after thine own heart. I also
ask, make me pastor after thine own heart. I do ask that. But
I want to be a husband after thine own heart. I want to be
a father after thine own heart. And I want to be a friend after
God's own heart. Don't you? A true friend. What a blessing it is to have
you as my friends. I've got some true, true blue friends. I'm
thankful for it. And what a blessing to see this
friendship between David and Jonathan. They entered into covenant,
loved one another as they love their own souls. May that be
true of all of us who love the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Okay.