Trials/Friendship

Good morning. Before we begin our sermon, I want to state something that I hope is obvious, but I don't take for granted. When we gather for worship, we're looking to hear God's Word and so we can respond to it. Call to worship, we hear God's Word first and we hope to sing the truths of God's Word. I pray that I'm proclaiming God's Word. The pastoral prayer is a place where we're hoping to lead the church to think about difficult things according to God's word. And actually, I'm really thankful for Brian's very instructive prayer that really, I think, applied lots of biblical wisdom to very difficult, confusing things. So thank you, brother. This morning, we're thinking about trials, difficulties. What kind of questions do you typically ask when suffering, when in a trial. Why is this happening? If you're a Christian, if you're a believer of God, what is God doing? Where is He in this? Maybe there's an infection. What have I done wrong? The more personal and painful the trial, the more confusing. The less understanding is available. This morning we're looking at 1 Samuel 18 all the way to 20. Audrey just read verse 18 where you could already see there's a lot of confusing, difficult things happening. We really get a bird's-eye view of David's trial and where God is in it. We see a model of faith. We see how faith goes beyond understanding. But as we begin, I kinda wanna just break down as to how to think about this pretty complicated, long story. We're gonna deal with it in three episodes, three chapters, 18, 19, 20. There's four characters. Jonathan, David, and Saul. That's where the tension goes around. Jonathan loves David. We're going to see his covenant faithfulness. We're going to see his love. We're going to see that soul knit that's a good friend. And we're going to see how that continues to just ratchet up. We see his faithfulness proven over and over again. Jonathan and David, there's friendship. Saul and David, there's friction, strife, enmity. Saul hates David. Jonathan, his son, loves David. That's going to come to an awkward head. That's the tension of the story. We also have David's been anointed king by Samuel, but not officially king. Saul is still practicing the king. Jonathan is the king's son. Another important character in our story is God. That's our fourth main character. Saul, Jonathan, Saul's son, David, the king who will be, and there's God. And we see God very active in that he's sending a harmful spirit to Saul to bring about his will. We see one of the most important declarations in all scripture. The Lord was with him. We see the Lord being with David to give him success, to help him. If we're to think of the different actions here, God blesses David with a friend. Jonathan is a great blessing from God for David. God stirs up Saul to bring about his will, even though it's very confusing and difficult. And God gives David great success. As we look at this story, we're going to look at three different episodes. They all have a lot of similarities. They usually begin with Jonathan and a commitment to David. then Saul and his raging against David, and then a conclusion that kind of shows the problems and difficulties. We see here a trial, a difficulty in how God cares for his people. Episode one, I've called this War and Love. War and Love. If you heard, as Audrey read, this story is packed with emotion. Jonathan loves David. Saul is angry with David. He's afraid of David. Michael loves David. Then Saul hates David. There's a lot of emotion in this story. It's a very powerful story that can appeal to us in the way we feel oftentimes. The focus of verses one through five are really setting up the importance of the relationship. This story is a lot about Jonathan. And as soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, verse one, the soul of Jonathan was knit, tied to, bound up with the soul of David. Notice it doesn't ever say how David feels about Jonathan. It's about Jonathan's singular, clear, focused, commitment, love towards David. The day Saul took him in, Ever since then, Jonathan loved him. And notice verse 3. He made a covenant with him because he loved him as his own soul. We see here one of the great commandments of God being fulfilled in Jonathan. Love your neighbor as yourself. The love here is a strong commitment. It doesn't deny feelings, but it's not limited to feelings. Very important to think about love. Verse 4, I believe, shows symbolically what this love covenant commitment is. Jonathan takes his robe, strips himself of his robe, and gave it to David, as well as his armor, his sword, his bow, and his belt. Now, that stands out as unique, I think, because I think Saul's handing over the kingdom to David. These are emblems that would be his by royal birth and right, being Saul's son. And here, already symbolically at the very beginning, Jonathan is recognizing David as God's anointed, and recognizing he must give himself over, must deny himself to recognize David in his position. Verse five, David went out with great success. Wherever Saul would send him, he was a man of war. And this was good in the sight of all God's people. All right, so this is a wonderful story so far of sacrifice and love and success. Now we have the tension introduced. When David was coming back, he would return. Saul would come out in the streets and he would hear the women singing Saul his 1,000s and David his 10,000s. Now, let's just appreciate, no one would like to hear that kind of song, sung about us, right? No one wants to hear how somebody's better than us. Much less if you're the king and your rival, they're literally writing songs about how he's 10 times better than you. All right, that strikes at the heart of anybody who wants to be successful in any way. All right, so at one level we can just appreciate Saul should be disappointed here and try to align himself with God, but Saul does what we probably would do. Verse eight, he was very angry because the saying displeased him. He said, they've ascribed to David 10,000 and me ascribed 1,000. What more can he have but the kingdom? going to sing a little bit. Saul is not really a prophet, but sometimes he says things that are more true than he realizes. And that one is one of them. How can he have more than the kingdom? And Saul eyed David. Have you ever had somebody like this in your life? You just feel like they're constantly watching you to catch you stumble. You know, they're just waiting for you to mess up, to put a snare on you. To say, I got you. I told you so. Now Saul is eyeing David. He's watching him carefully. Now that's all just what is happening from a human perspective. Now it makes sense. There's Jonathan and David. There's Saul and David. David is successful. Saul's jealous. Jonathan loves him. And we see now God actually really being emphatically involved in this story. Verse 10. The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul. Now we looked at the harmful spirit a while back when the soul, the spirit departed from Saul and the spirit of God was on David and then a harmful spirit comes upon Saul. It seems like the better translation is probably evil. It's most likely this is actually a fallen angel, a demon. And as we read earlier, James 1 has to be affirmed All good gifts come from God. And I would go so far as to say only good gifts come from God. What does it mean that he's sending a harmful evil spirit? God is not Himself doing evil, but He's simply showing how sovereign He is in over all evil, over all the spirits. And what's going to happen is the Spirit is just going to make what's inside of Saul come out even more robustly. He does not make Saul sin. He simply exasperates what already is in Saul. He raved. That word is actually from the word prophet. He's speaking in crazy ways, in terrifying ways. Remember a while back, whenever that harmful spirit, evil spirit first came on Saul, David would play the lyre, the guitar, and it would comfort him. And now, even while David is playing for him, Saul hurls spears. The one who has come to his aid to comfort him, he wants to kill. Something that we're going to see throughout this story is a warning of anger and bitterness. It's earthly wisdom. How when we let it go unchecked, how it is completely unreasonable. It's completely counterproductive, what we do in anger. He's irrational in every way. He's trying to kill the very one who can comfort him because of the anger. Verse 12, Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him, but had departed from Saul. Now that's an interesting statement because that means Saul is at least aware enough to know he once had the Spirit of God upon him, which brought him wisdom and power and strength and success. Now he looks at David and he sees that he has that power. He's been rejected. David has been affirmed. When you see the phrases, the Lord was with him, or the Lord is for them, that's a summary of the whole covenant of God. The reality of the Bible is that we're actually against God. In our sin, we fight against God. And in His grace, He comes alongside and says, I'm going to be with you. I'm going to be for you. The most terrifying thing that could ever happen for you is if you remain in your sin and God is against you because there's nothing that can help you. But if God's with you, you're successful. You're strong. You're strong. His grace is sufficient for whatever sin you're battling. His grace is sufficient for whatever circumstance you're concerned about. His grace is sufficient. If the Lord is with you, just go back to Romans 8 and read today how all those promises are for the one God is with. So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of thousands. David has success because the Lord was with him. And Saul, Saul, Saul, Saul, the great success, was in awe. And all Israel loved David. You see that complication again. The nation of Israel, Saul's kingdom, where he's a king, they love David. So Saul then sets a snare with his daughters. This is getting too Weird. Getting confusing a little bit. He's going to use his daughter Merib to be a snare for him. And he literally says, look at verse 17, let not my hand be against David, because I can't kill him. I've tried twice. Let's let the hand of the Philistines be against him. Let me send him out into war. Let me send him out and he will not be able to overcome the Philistines, but God continues to give him success and more success. In the midst of this, he gives Mary up to another man. And then we see verse 20, Michael, one of Saul's daughters, she loves David. And so Saul sends some matchmaking friends. We all love matchmaking friends. To convince David, this should be the one. And it's interesting, the back and forth here, I'll read it again, but David says, I'm of no reputation. I think what he's looking at is saying, the dowry, to pay for a king's daughter? I can't afford that. A dowry was a way that a young man and his family would honor the parents of the daughter for raising a godly, respectable woman. It's funny, one of my favorite conversations I've had a number of times when visiting our friends in Zambia is about dowries. I remember the first time I went, we were in a car, there were five of us, one of the young men just came back from getting engaged and we were talking about different customs and he talked about the dowry and I looked back and I was like, y'all still do that? And he looked at me like, how do you not do that? In my mind, that seems like an archaic way of buying something, like a purchase. But in their culture, they just couldn't imagine not honoring the parents. The fifth commandment was at the center. Now, I could be saying this selfishly as a man, and I have three daughters. I think we need to be careful of customs and throwing them off with understanding how they may actually help promote and teach good, godly, biblical principles. I'm not promoting dowries, just simply saying that's something we throw off things like that and think they're okay, but there could be some goodness to it. David can't afford the dowry, so then Saul says, well, all I want is 104 skins of the Philistines, which means you've got to go to battle. Again, he's trying to get him killed, but David does it. He's married, and we see there the end conclusion, verse 28, when Saul saw and knew the Lord was with David, and Michael loved him, He was even more afraid. So Saul was David's enemy continually. Saul has set his heart against God. And it's very important here. David is God's anointed. David is God's anointed. If we go all the way back, why is Saul king to begin with? Because the nation of Israel said, God, we don't like your work as king. We want a king like the nations. We want a king who's powerful and tall, like the kings of the nations. And so they chose Saul. The interesting thing there is Psalm 2 tells us that the kings of the nations rage against God's anointed. Saul is fulfilling his his heart, his commitment. He is a king like the nations, and he's functioning like a king of the nations. He is raging against God's anointed David. Let's turn to chapter 19. Truth and lies. Truth and lies. Second episode. First was about war and love. We see there there's a lot of love in that chapter with Jonathan and Michael, but we see there's a lot of war because Saul is angry at David and wants to send him out to die at war. Now we see truth and lies. And Saul spoke to Jonathan, his son, and to all his servants that they should kill David. So we see this father-son, and we see that other tension ratcheting up a little bit. Jonathan loves David, Saul hates David, and now Saul is actually plotting the murder of David with his own son and his servants. And notice, Jonathan's commitment has to be made clear. But Jonathan saw son delighted in David. And Jonathan told David, my father seeks to kill you, therefore be on guard. That's treason. unless you have a higher authority by which you're obeying. Saul's own son is committing national treason, but he is really committed to the anointed one of God's true kingdom. Verse 4, John spoke well of David to Saul, his father, and said to him, Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you. For he took his life in his hands when he struck down the Philistines, and the Lord worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause? That's bold. That's some covenant love and action. He's coming to his friend's defense. He's coming and even confronting his own father, the king. And I believe he's honoring his father. I believe he is giving over to Caesar what's Caesar's. But he's also making sure he has reverence for God, and giving to God what is most deserving to him. Why would you kill someone who's innocent? It's a reasonable question. He's challenging Saul's assumption. He's challenging Saul's action. In verse 6 we see some promise. Saul listened. Saul listened. And then he swore. He seems to have a change of heart from verse 1 to verse 6 and 7. We praise, verse 6, we praise God for this. In this reasonable moment, when hearing a reasonable declaration and challenge from his own son, he swears, as the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death. That seems like we should put a praise God, close our Bibles, amen. Story goes on, we can't do that. But what we see Saul here, in a moment of being reasonable, say what is actually true. Right? That's going to be, that's going to matter in a moment. He says it's actually true, even though he will not keep his own word. And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan poured to him all these things, and Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before. And then there was war again, and David went out and fought with the Philistines, and struck them with a great blow, so they were fled before him. Verse 9. Verse 6 left us feeling kind of warm and fuzzy. Oh, that's good. That's how the story should end. Verse 9, then the harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he had a spear in his hand. And when David came back and played the lyre, Saul sought to pin him to the wall with a spear again. But he eluded Saul so that he struck the spear into the wall and David fled and escaped the night. God is keeping this enmity. God is playing out his own story. This is important because it doesn't make any sense. I think we see the really irrationality of Saul's anger and bitterness coming out, but we also see God's hand perfectly providing the way this story should play out. Because God's the one who takes him into that harmful spirit again. David flees. Saul sent messengers to David, messengers, hit men, as we'll see, to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michael, David's wife, told him, if you don't escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you'll be killed. So Michael let David down to the window and he fled away and escaped. Michael took an image and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goat's hair as its head and covered it with clothes. And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, he's sick. And Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, bring him up to me in the bed that I may kill him. And when the messengers came in, behold, the image was in the bed and the pillow of goat's hair at his head. Saul said to Michael, why have you deceived me thus? And my enemy go, so that he has escaped. And Michael answered Saul, he said to me, let me go. Why should I kill you? A little self-preservation there with Michael. We realize it sounds very like Rahab, right? Remember Rahab in Jericho when the Jewish spies, Israelite spies, go men, she hides them, lets them down through a window, and then protects them with a lie. The only real confusing thing here with Michael is why is the king's daughter David's wife? Why does she have an image in the house? It's confusing. Verse 18, now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived at Naoth, and it was told Saul, behold David is at Naoth and Ramah. Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God, to be very clear, the harmful spirit, the evil spirit, is the one that kept bringing Saul into the raving rage against David. This is the Spirit of God. The, what we know as the third person of the Trinity. The, the, the other helper, comforter. The one that came upon Saul to give him power as a king. The one that was taken away from Saul. The one that came upon David so he would be king. The prophets prophesying, Samuel standing his head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers. That's the hit men. The Spirit of God comes upon the hit men of Saul and they prophesied. When it was told Saul, they sent another messenger. And they went to, they also prophesied. And then he sent a third time and they prophesied. Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well, that is in Sichu. And he asked, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, they are in Naoth and Ramah. And he went there in Naoth and Ramah, and the Spirit of God came upon him also. And he went. And as he went, he prophesied until he came to Naoth and Ramah. And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel, and lay naked all day and all night. Thus it is said, is Saul also among the prophets. The reason I live with this truth and lies, it's, there's a lot of true things being declared, but Saul's also lying. And here we, I believe what God is doing is exposing Saul for who he is. He's a man in rage. The Spirit of God comes and actually thwarts the Hitman's attempts three times. The Spirit of God comes and actually thwarts Saul's own attempts. And then he has them prophesied. Now, I would love to know what they actually were saying, but that, that last statement, he stripped his clothes off. And then it was said, is Saul also among the prophets? That's not the first time we've seen that. In 1 Samuel 10, 13, when, when the Spirit of the Lord originally comes down to Saul and he starts prophesying, they ask this question. Is Saul among the prophets? believe here it's a mockery. God has him telling the truth. God in his control has him revealing who he really is. But the answer is no. Because he's a liar. And prophets don't lie. Let's step back from chapter 19, if you agree with that interpretation or not. This is difficult. You've got Jonathan and Saul at odds already, because of a swearing, a promise, and a, and a lie, and a breaking it. You've, you've got the harmful spirit stirring up Saul. You've got the Spirit of God. This is difficult, and that's why it was so important. God moves in a mysterious way that one of those phrases, God is his own interpreter. If you're David, You're running around wondering what in the world is happening. Why is the king against me? I've been brought to bless him with my playing and he wants to kill me. He now has chased me all the way out with Samuel and the Spirit of God has now come upon him. It would be difficult to make sense. Let's be honest. Some of the most painful trials are the ones that are really personal. When people we love seem to have abandoned or betrayed or disappointed. It never tells us how David feels about Jonathan. It never tells us how David feels about Saul, other than that he honors him enough to not take his life when he could. But if you're David, you're left in this confusion. And I think that's intentional. It doesn't have to make sense to be faithful. You have to be able to trust God. We see God's hand in this trial. The harmful spirit sinned by him. His Holy Spirit comes. God is in complete control. He can be trusted, even if we don't understand. So look to chapter 20. It's a longer story. It brings a lot of these things to a head. We see the, the conflict of the three characters and their different relationships really, really bring up to an emphatic ending. David flees. He says to Jonathan, what have I done? What is my guilt? What is my sin? That's helpful questions. You need friends who will speak truth if there's something he's done. Jonathan speaks that truth. Far from it. There's nothing guilt for you. My father has done this thing that's very displeasing. And we're not sure what Jonathan knows or doesn't know, but the story goes on. I'm not going to read it. You can read it later. But Jonathan says, you're not in trouble. My father swore to me. David says, no. I know what I've seen. He's prophesied. I'm afraid for my life. He tried to throw a spear at me. OK, we've got to put together a plan. How do we know if Saul wants to kill David? David leaves, and the plan is that David is supposed to be at dinner, because he's one of his inner circle, Saul's inner circle. And David is going to say, I'm going to skip dinner, and you're going to tell him I'm in Bethlehem. I went back home. And if he gets angry, then we know that I'm in danger. Fast forward, they have this dinner. It comes out after twice. Saul says, where is David? And then we see this very emphatic declaration. We get in verse 26. He had sought to not say anything that day. His seat was empty. For he thought something had happened to him. He is not clean. Surely he is not clean. From the second day, the day after the new moon, David's place was empty yet still. Saul said to Jonathan, his son, why has not the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today? Jonathan answered, Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem. He said, let me go for our clan holds a sacrifice in the city. My brother has commanded me to be there. So now if I found favor in your eyes, let me get away and see my brothers. For this reason, he has not come to the king's table. Verse 30. Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan. My enemy's friends will be my enemies. And he said to him, you son of a perverse, rebellious woman, do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, to the shame of your mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse lives in the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Therefore send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die." There's a lot of disruption there. Right? So Saul, after hearing wisdom from Jonathan, swore David's life would not be taken from him. But now he's so angry at Jonathan. He's helping David. He starts insulting his mom? I think that's a way of saying, you're no son of mine. It's your mother's fault. Do you not know that if you choose him, it's to your shame? Because if he's alive, you can't be king. Go back to 18.2, I think Jonathan's okay with that. Therefore sin and bring him to me that he shall surely die." Jonathan and his love and his commitment are tested. Jonathan answers, verse 32, why should he be put to death? What has he done? Same question he asked before to convince his father to swear to save David. Same reasonable question. If you're going to be this angry at somebody and want to kill them, you have to say what he's done. But Saul hurled his spear at Saul, his own son. So Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death, and Jonathan rose from the table in the fierce anger and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David because his father had disgraced him. And then he goes out and he warns David, A few reflections I want to have as we end this story. The first reflection is see the danger of sin. Saul is a warning. We need to be careful not to stand over Saul and just say, what a ridiculous man. No, Saul is embodying what happens if we are left to our own sin. Anger is dangerous. Because I think what you actually see is, is, is root sins of Saul and his selfishness and his need to manipulate and not trust God. You see them coming to fruition and that when he doesn't have control he kills. You see bitterness taking root. The irrationality of the anger Okay, there might be some moments where you can get them to say something right, but if you ever talk to somebody who's truly bitter and angry, it controls in a way that there's nothing reasonable. It causes you to always assume the worst. It causes you to interpret motives in a way that you think you see the heart. If you're here and a Christian or not, Be afraid of letting anger reside in your heart and not putting it off because it will make you bitter. It erodes away at peace and reason. A passage that we can think about for this is James 3. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, there's Saul in your hearts. Do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice." That's what we're avoiding. This is what we put on. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason? Saul is not here? Full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. We heard earlier from James 1. When in trial, pray for wisdom. This is a ... you need to pray for these attributes in the midst of a trial, so that you don't feel the pressures of the world bringing in and letting anger burst out. Here's what happens in a trial. You get squeezed. And what happens when you squeeze something? What's inside comes out. And it's terrifying. Here we see the danger of sin that resides in our hearts. Christian, be sure that when in the midst of a trial, you're praying for wisdom, trusting the God of all wisdom to give you these kinds of attributes, to bring about this kind of fruit. If you're not a Christian, It's terrifying that this sin resides within. It's terrifying when it comes out of our mouths and hurts those we love. And the hard part of sin that we all have to come to terms with is that it's uncontrollable on our own. It's more powerful than us. I trust you've experienced that. You need help. You need to look to the God who said, I created you good, you've sinned, and I've sent my Son to die so that you can be born again. You can get a new heart. You can be forgiven for those sins. You can start fighting against that sin by the power of grace. Where sin abounds, grace abounds. you have to turn to him and ask for the help. If you have questions about that, please don't leave without talking to somebody around you. If we go back to the story, we'll begin in verse 41. And as soon as the boy had gone, there was a boy who gave David the message. David rose from beside the stone heap and fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. And they kissed one another and wept with one another. David weeping the most. That's David and Jonathan. And Jonathan said to David, go in peace because we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying the Lord shall be between me and you and between my offspring and your offspring forever. And he rose and departed and Jonathan went into the city. Second reflection is I'm really amazed by Jonathan in this story, really Jonathan in the scriptures in general. Jonathan stands out. If we go all the way back to the beginning of Samuel, Eli was a priest who seemed to want to honor God, and his sons were worthless. Samuel was a prophet who was a great man of God who brought the Word of God to all of Israel, and his sons were worthless. David is a man after God's own heart, and his sons, we will see, are not so good. Jonathan's son is the only character I can think of in scripture, apart from Jesus himself, who has this much press and no clear flaw or failure. We saw him earlier. fight against a garrison by himself with his own armor-bearer, bringing victory because he trusted the Lord. We see him here committing covenant faithfulness to David the anointed. I want to challenge us here to think about Jonathan as a model of discipleship. And let me explain why. The story takes him from loving David to having to speak truth to his father in a way that he is committing a clear covenant relationship with God and his anointed. David is in the bloodline of Saul. He's the next man up. He is forsaking his right so that he can be with God's anointed. I believe that's what Jesus calls denying yourself. He is willing to suffer the pain of a broken relationship with his father and even having his father trying to kill him. I believe that's what Jesus calls carrying your cross. He then commits himself to David in a covenant that says we will be with one another, we will be for one another for the glory of God. I believe that's what Jesus calls following me. It's actually a pretty amazing picture. His own father is like the nations trying to kill the king, and he heard the invitation, kissed the king. Literally. He knits his heart to God's anointed. And it's not just an emotional response. It's not just an emotional promise. He is committed. You see how costly it is to him. You see how he's willing to say the hard things for David to his father. I believe he clearly gives to Caesars what Caesars have. I believe he's trying to clearly honor his father, but his commitment to God and that God's anointed is a model. I think you see a little bit of John the Baptist here. He's willing to decrease so that God's anointed can increase. When Saul says, you don't want him around because he's gonna keep you from being king, Jonathan says, good, let it be so. A call to Christian discipleship is a call that sometimes, in order to knit your heart to Christ, you have to unknit your heart to other things. By definition, you have to. Your priorities change. Your loves change. Your dedication changes. And let's just be clear. Saul is not living in some gross sin. He could just claim his birthright. And that wouldn't necessarily be sinful, except for the fact that that's not God's will. He's not giving up something that's so clearly sin. He's just giving up something that would keep him from being tied to the anointed. The call. I believe this morning is, knit your heart to Christ. Love him as Christ has loved you. Love what Christ loves. Hate what Christ hates. Observe all that he's commanded you. Discipleship is a costly commitment. It's not something we do haphazardly or casually. The question, how knit are you to Christ? What does your heart stir up towards most quickly? And what way do you see your commitments conforming to Christ and His desires? As we were saying earlier, our third hymn, He is the true friend. He is the one who is worthy of all praise. He is the one who is able to give us all the blessings. He is the one who loves us most. Why is it so much easier for our hearts to love anything but Him? Knit your heart to Christ. Our third reflection from the story is God is faithful in trials. This is a testimony about a trial They're not outside of God's sovereignty. It even comes about because God is engaged in bringing about the difficulty, but He's good to those who love Him. He's good to those He has anointed. It's very important we keep the categories that James 1 taught us. When you're tempted to sin, it's never from God. It's from within. When you receive a good gift, it is from outside. Trouble is from within. Help comes from outside. God, He tests us in trials to refine us. Another great classic hymn I encourage you to meditate upon if you are in a trial. I asked the Lord that I might grow. I wrestled with adding it, but it's already a long service with three chapters. But it's a prayer a young man asked me, that I might grow. And he's surprised because trials and difficulties come. And God said, if you want to grow, I've got to reveal your selfish rebellion. If you want to grow, you have to become less about yourself and more dependent upon my grace to see where sin abounds, grace abounds. This is a testimony of a trial. It's a gritty trial. I think that's helpful for us. What David and Jonathan are going through is a hard personal trial. David honors the king. Jonathan obviously loves the king. It's his own dad. The more personal the trial, the less it makes sense. The more personal the trial, the less it makes sense. There's many here who have a trial with a child. There's some that have difficulty in a trial with a father, a mother, siblings, friends, some health, some work. The hardest trials you'll never make sense of, or you may not ever make sense of. That doesn't mean you can't look to God, seek His grace, and seek to walk by faith. It's amazing how this ends. The only thing that makes more sense at the end is how much Saul hates David, and now Jonathan, without any explanation. It's an unresolved problem. But they continue to walk by faith. Again, another motif of this book is God sees what really is, and we need to be careful of appearances. Be confident in what is rather than what appears. Jesus said, I am with you to the end of the age. You may not always feel like that. But if you're a believer, that's what is real. Jesus promised all things work together for the good. It doesn't always feel like that. But it always is like that. Trust the God who makes promises. The fourth and final reflection is, I think we're gonna see a beautiful picture of friendship. We'll see it continued in David's own funeral eulogy in 2 Samuel 1, but we're gonna see friendship here. And that's something our culture just lacks. Everyone would like to have a good friend, but no one wants to be a good friend. Because it's hard. It takes commitment. Something I found that was startling, and I disagree with it first, but I am convinced of it, is only people of virtue and good character can be friends. Because as C.S. Lewis describes, friends are two people who are walking together towards the right, same, good goal. You have to be a person of character and virtue to find other people and say, you too? You want to be a person of character and good virtue? Let's walk together. Afraid of someone who knows you? Who challenges you? Who you can ask hard questions to? Who will speak the truth to you? Like Jonathan does when David is in this bits of despair. What sin have I done? Why is this happening? This isn't your guilt. You're not sinless. It'll come, David. But this trial is not on you. If I could find a good friend, there's three characteristics. Someone who assumes the best about you, knows the worst, and yet still expects the best. Assumes the best, knows the worst, and still expects the best. Are you this kind of person as someone else? Or you live in this kind of person where if somebody else is looking for a friend, they're able to come alongside and say, you too. We long to be independent. Christian maturity doesn't make you more independent. Christian maturity makes you more dependable. We need friends like Jonathan and like David. Jesus says, I give you a new commandment. Love others as I have loved you. It's a very high new calling for Christians. It runs right up against my own personal desire, and that is to love others in the way that I think they love me. I think if we're all honest, we're probably self-defensive and self-protective with our love. There's a desire to think, how committed are they to me? And therefore, how committed am I going to be to them? And that's denying the most basic command, love your neighbor as yourself. How much more of the command to love other believers, love others who have been purchased with the blood of Christ, as Christ has loved you. We will not be the lovers of the brothers and sisters of Christ unless we are so overwhelmed first with Christ's love for us. Lewis describes friends of those who share truth. They hear the call of discipleship and they say, you too. How does that for us to be a church of you too's? Committing to grow together in Christ with lots of you too moments. I need to confess this sin. You too. I want to go in this way in Christ. You too. Let's go together. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank You, Lord, for Your kindness that You do not leave us alone in trials. We can see testimonies of how Your hand is always present in trials, where we do not understand. Help us to walk by faith, trusting in Your promises, trusting in Christ and His presence. Lord, if someone here today is burdened, Give them the grace to seek help. Someone here today is convicted. Help them, Lord, to find someone to confess and rejoice in grace together with. Lord, if someone here today is lonely and looking for a friend, I pray that there'll be a wonderful you too moment. Help us, Lord, as we gather tonight at our members meeting. to find solidarity in the purposes by which you lead us so that we might be a light as we work together in love. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.