Unforgiveness, that's what awaits. The guilty. One other thing. Do we have any youth that can stand up to this generation in their face and tell them to go jump in the lake when it comes to immorality? Do we have any youth with any backbone anymore?
that can say as for me in my house even at my young age i don't believe that But this is what I do believe. Do we have any older Christians? Do we have parents that can stand up to their children or to anybody else and say, no, that's not what God said? Or do we have a bunch of people that just have to find a way to make everybody hold hands and sing their way to hell? Hmm.
This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1 Samuel. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. 1 Samuel chapter 20 is the text Pastor Rick will be teaching from on this edition of Cross Reference Radio.
And here's Paul's recipe for dealing with people who Cause a rift. In the church, or amongst friends. He says, Now I urge you, brethren, Romans 16:17, note those who cause divisions and offenses. contrary to the doctrine. Which you learned?
and avoid them. with sound wisdom.
Some don't learn to. They think that they can well, you know, they just need a You just need a little talking to. It's like fifty people have talked to them and fifty people have been divided by them. Fools go in where angels fear to tread. Verse 17: Now Jonathan again caused David to vow, because he loved him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
Their friendship. Menaced by one influencer that Saul, again. But this friendship is preserved by God because God is central to their friendship. Very simple. You want to have a good friendship?
Let God truly be centered to it. Deeper friendships are made in Christ, and they're very hard to preserve over the years. For he loved him, verse 17 still, as he loved his own soul. David knew he was loved. too bad that Saul had no such love to give to anybody else.
It's a shame that here's a man that People adored. He was head and shoulders above everyone. He had all these chances, and he didn't love anybody. He didn't love Samuel. And that's usually a pastor again, fiddler on the roof.
You like the scene where they're talking about you've got the butcher and this person and our beloved rabbi because to them, their faith is central to their Existence. And that's the right way to go about it. Unfortunately, it was Judaism and tradition and not Scripture.
So instead of saying tradition, it should have been Scripture. That's what the cry should have been.
So here He is loved. Saul hoarded love. Any love coming into Saul, he kept it, and it festered in there. This is the dead sea, no love coming out of him. Just love me.
Give me attention, give me what I want. And Jonathan never allowed the hatred of his father and the delusions of his father to creep into his own heart. quite honourable again. Of Jonathan, because a lot of people would succumb to that. You hate David, I hate David.
You're my dad, I'm siding with you. I don't care if you're wrong before God. Your family. I belong to another family whose inheritance Is from the throne of God. and the allegiance first is to the Lord.
And that should not upset people. I don't know why people get upset by that. They feel like, well, you're going to come and. Burn down their house now, your enemy, because you love God? The world treats us that way.
The world is infuriated that we dare love God more than love them. And that's a tough cookie for them, but they're going to have to eat it. Verse 18. Then Jonathan said to David, Tomorrow is the new moon. and you will be missed because your seat will be empty.
And when, verse 19, you have stayed Three days. Go down quickly and come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed and remain by the stone of Ezel. The day of the new moon, we've covered that. Restricting him to 72 hours, when they say three days, not 72 hours, but they're going from sunup to sundown. It simplified everything.
They didn't have a wall calendar or a watch for time. The sun up, the sun down, that pretty much set the rhythm for how they did business. And where he says, the place where you hid on the day of the deed, a bit obscure. I wish Jonathan, well, David telling the story. I like to think it's David because Jonathan did not live to tell the story.
David did. Is he referring to the time when he first fled Saul or the assassins? I don't know. None of the commentators, I mean, I checked like 20 or 30 of them. They're all either silent on it or not really the answer that I'm comfortable with.
Anyway, and it's not a big thing.
So I've spent three minutes. Discussing about an obscure verse that has nothing really to do with anything. Oh, my doctrine's going to fall apart. I don't know where David hid and why. Does that look goofy saying that?
No, you know what? You're looking goofy when you stepped up there. Don't worry about it. It was a nice change. The place where you hid on the day of the deed, moving down to verse 20.
Then I will shoot three arrows on the side as though I shot at a target. Interesting, one arrow for each of them? David Saul and Jonathan. I don't think that's what he meant, but you know, you see that when you study too hard. Verse 21: And there I will send a lad, saying, Go find the arrows.
If I expressly say to the lad, Look, the arrows are on this side of you, get them and come. Then, As the Lord lives, there is safety for you and no harm.
So the prearranged signal: I'm going to take a lad out, I'm going to fire three arrows. If I tell the lad, go get the arrows and bring them back, David, it's all good. And David is going, it ain't going to happen. Verse 22, but If I say to the young man, Look, the arrows are beyond you. Go your way, for Yahweh has sent you away.
Words that David does not want to hear, but he's going to hear them. And he knows it. David knows this is a nightmare. Remember, we, I don't know, chapter 18, the nightmare begins. and is ongoing.
Verse twenty-three And as for the matter which you and I have spoken of, indeed Yahweh be between you and me.
So he's not letting it go, the oath. Yahweh is central to everything these two men are doing. And so they're keeping it right up in front. And so David telling the story is the one emphasizing this. You know, we had this agreement before God.
And both of us were committed to making sure we held up our end of the covenant. And they did. Verse twenty four, Then David hid in the field, and when the new moon had come, the king sat down to eat the feast.
Now We don't learn about these things so we can use them for evil's sake. Let's make a covenant to do evil. It's a covenant to be obedient to God. That is important.
So David, verse 24, hid in the field, not immediately. He goes to Bethlehem, and at some point he comes back to the field. It'd be kind of difficult for him to hang out there. in Gibia extended period of time without being detected. Anyway, here's Israel's future king hiding like this in the field, waiting, nauseous, all the things that come with what does my future hold for me?
Where am I going to go? And he's probably, where am I going to go? If I go home, this all kill my family. These you know, this is sickening. His entire future hinges upon where that arrow is going to remain.
Either in Jonathan's custody because the lad got it. Or in the field somewhere. Verse 25.
Now the king sat on his seat. As at other times, on a seat by the wall. And Jonathan arose and Abner sat by Saul's side, but David's place was empty. This, of course, information gets out, but there he is. Sitting Saul's back to the wall, how typical.
Yeah, who's gonna sneak up on you, Sol? You're not that important! What policies are you making for anybody to protest? The only policy Saul had is, let's kill David. Good morning, Saul.
Let's kill David. Golly, can this story be in my Bible? Is this true? Every word of it, and there are people who have to suffer this in life.
So, anyway, verse 26, nevertheless. Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought something has happened to him. He is unclean, surely he is unclean. Boy, do they capture the moment. The monster knows the prey is not in the trap.
And you can hear him, he's unclean, he's unclean. You're unclean. You're planning to kill somebody at a Yahweh festival. You're the unclean one, you nut. Ceremonially unclean, that's what he's saying.
David's unclean, of course. You know, he's. That's why he's not here.
so dark with evil that reason is wasted on this man. Can I see his own dark heart? He doesn't want to. Fight those thoughts of feeling sorry for him any more than you do for Judas Iscariot. Because these are his choices.
It's not like Saul bumped his head one day and was never the same. He was a mean boy after that. You know, the They took his appendix out and they put marbles in there. As from an old movie with Burl Ives, but Anyway. Verse twenty seven.
And it happened the next day. the second day of the month, That David's place was empty, and that And Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why has The son of Jesse not come to eat either yesterday or today.
Now he can't, he can't restrain himself. You just can't say, where's David? He can't even say his name.
Now he's the son of Jesse. Is so much hatred in this man. Verse 28.
So Jonathan answered, David earnestly asked permission. of me to go to Bethlehem. Again, There's no way to escape this evil. No matter what, you can say, David died. Saul would say, Go dig him up, because I got to kill him.
That's messed up he is.
Now, if you're listening to me say this, you might say, Oh, come on.
Well, read the story yourself. I mean, start at chapter... 18 and read all the way to the end of 1 Samuel for yourself because we still not even warmed up yet. Verse twenty-nine. and he said, Please let me go.
for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away to see my brothers, therefore He has not come to the king's table.
So that's Jonathan saying, This is what David told me, and that's why he's not here. It's only seven miles from Bethlehem to Gibeah. And failure to side with Saul was viewed as questioning his throne. You do not disagree with this man. You do not even behave as though you didn't like something he said.
You know, if Saul wrote you a note and he spelled a word wrong, you don't tell him. Because he's that uptight. He's so insecure. Violently so, and that's what we get with verse 30. Then Saul's anger was aroused against Jonathan.
Why? Because he's depriving him of the chance to murder. 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. Into the shame of your mother's nakedness.
What are you talking about, you foul-mouthed? What are you talking about? Why you gotta mess with mom? Why am I the son of a perverse woman? What did she do to you?
Angry. Because he can't kill someone in cold blood. Viciously disowning Jonathan is illegitimate. True or not, you don't say this kind of stuff. But see, this is how he dominated.
This is how he retains power, through fear. Through insults, by putting everybody on defense, by belittling those around him. This is who this man was, and there are people like this today. And if you don't think there are, Something's wrong with you. Because they're out there.
In fact, we've got big buildings to hold many of them. with these bars on them. And aren't you glad? They just need a kind of a A scooper, like a paddy wagon, to go around collecting more of them because they're out there. Anyway.
But fortunately they don't seem to huddle in one place till they get to the House of Numbers. That would be the huskow. The jail. All right. Again, why does he slander Jonathan's mother?
What did she do to deserve this? You know, many a child has had good parents, and some children have had bad parents, but Why do you have to Air the laundry, even if it were true, which is not. And verse 31. Could you imagine if this was true? Saul would have killed her three times.
Verse 31, for as long as the Son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom.
Now, therefore, send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die. Didn't miss a step, did he? Didn't say, well, you know what? You got a good point. You know, yeah, he's with his family.
I'm with my family. Family, you know. Family's good. Doesn't do any of that. Just bring him to me so I can kill him, please.
I know he's your friend, but listen, the throne is more important than what God says. Thou shalt not kill only if you don't feel like it. How many people come to church to hear the word of God, want to insist that they're Christians, and then step out and violate what they just heard God say to them, and then defend themselves? Listen, you can have people come to counseling and you can bust them straight out. Say, here's all the proof, you're the problem.
And they turn on you even more. Go slander you and go talk about you.
Sometimes they repent, sometimes they do, but sometimes. They've made up their mind they're going to be who they're going to be, and there's no scripture and anybody else that's going to stop them from being who they're going to be. And then one day they die and stand in front of God. who they chose to be. There's a very serious consequence of this thing.
It's not a game.
Well I mean, it would be kind of mean, I guess, to put a sign up and hell told you it wasn't a game. It'd be too late, you know. But read Psalm 2. The Lord says, I will mock them. For this kind of behavior.
Verse 32: And Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, Why should he be killed? What has he done? Big mistake, Jonathan. You don't disagree with Saul. And again, He is irretrievable.
And we're not told these things so that we can feel sorry for him. We're told these things to be warned about such. characters as this. If you have a sheltered life, you may not come across somebody like this, but if you're out there, You may. Verse 33: Then Saul cast a spear at him to kill him.
By which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David.
Now you're getting it, Jonathan. It had to come to this, instead of just believing David. You had to wait till the spear came your way. And You know, Jesus made no excuses for people. who were determined to be wicked, Matthew 25, verse 30, Cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness.
There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It is a fact of life that As horrible as it is. If someone chooses to be evil and harm people, they will be harmed.
So, anyway, nothing more to say about verse 33 than what we haven't been saying all night. Verse 34.
So, Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger. And ate no food the second day. of the month, for he was grieved for his father, because his father had treated him shamefully. The logistics of this are a little tricky, but either way, he dodged the spear. Saul ruined the dinner.
And now he has lost his appetite. and is awake. Verse 35, he's awakened to David's circumstances. Verse 35, and so it was in the morning that Jonathan went out into the field. at the time appointed with David, And a little lad was with him.
Now, the story gets really interesting as far as accepting the realities. You would say the hand that life has dealt you if you were an unbeliever. Verse 36: Then he said to his lad, Now run, find the arrows which I shoot. As the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.
Well, that's good. I mean, I want to take the kid out. But in my mind, I always pictured this cute little boy, you know, running out there with his. little sandals on and oblivious totally oblivious to the cycle on the throne. To David hiding in the shrubs, to Jonathan's heart breaking.
He's totally oblivious, he's innocent. This life is good. I'm out with Jonathan. I'm gonna get to retrieve his arrows for him. What an honor.
Verse 37, when the lad had come to the place where the arrow was, which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried out to the lad and said, Is not the arrow beyond you? And so David, the righteous fugitive, now that's what he is now. He hears this and his heart sinks. It's the dreaded signal of the agreement from verse twenty two. There's nothing you can do, lad.
The arrow is beyond you. There's nothing you can do, David. This is beyond you. It's beyond me. There's nothing anybody on earth can do for you now, David.
That is what this means. Where are you going to go, David? I don't know. I'll always be your friend. I'll always be here.
But I can't get you out of this. Jonathan's choice of words stuck with David. and that's why they record it and they stick with us, is not the arrow beyond you. Initially, he uses plural, the arrows, in verse 22, but here... The arrow, David.
This is personal. And it's painful. It's a painful reality that David has to face. And there are situations in which we do Most for God. When we Do nothing more.
Because there's nothing more that he could do. Except flea. And then there are other situations where it would be almost criminal to do nothing. And that's what discernment and walking with the Lord is all about. Verse 38, and Jonathan cried out.
Let me pause there. Verse 37, I'm skipping over it, but that could be a long. message with much application. Is not the arrow beyond you? Verse thirty eight And Jonathan cried out after the lad, Make haste, hurry, do not delay.
So Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows and came back to his master. The arrows that he gathered were the ones that were Jonathan's equipment in verse 39, and the lad did not know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew the matter, and Jonathan gave His weapons to his lad, and said to him, Go carry them back to the city. David is I'm sure a part of him may have wanted to be that little boy. Just innocent and carefree.
There's a story. From the Civil War. of a Confederate soldier on the line about to start marching forward. into battle. And he sees this little rabbit running, and he says, Run, little rabbit, come on.
Because if I was a little rabbit, I'd be running too. He wishes he was anywhere else but on that line. Because in those days you just, you know, go ahead and see if you can survive this. It was just horrible. Anyway, David is not innocent and carefree as that little boy is.
Verse forty one As soon as the lad had gone, David arose from a place toward the south, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times, and they kissed one another and they wept together, but David more so. You see we mentioned that David Knew he was loved by Jonathan, but David wept more so. It was an emotional collapse for him. He's just breaking down now. It's official.
All of his fears are confirmed. And now is the moment he has to move out. And it would have been very moving to watch this take place. These two. heroes and dear friends torn apart by a ghoul, And It's not what David envisioned when he slew the giant.
Certainly, anybody that reads perverse homosexuality into this is perverse. This is chaste, this is honest, this is an ancient Eastern custom. To kiss each other on the cheek like this, honest love, goodwill. Friendship. for greetings, farewells, and blessings.
When I did my son's wedding, I kissed him on his cheek. And if anybody had said anything perverse, I would have done something other to their cheek. Anyway. Because they're out there. They're recruiting.
There used to be a time of live and let live, not now.
Now they're recruiting people. They're telling them how to do it. How to cause trouble with it, how to stand up and be perverted. Fine, you want to do it? Go right ahead.
But the day of judgment will come. It will come. And Sodom and Gomorrah stands as a monument of God. I don't like this. It's one thing to struggle with the problem.
It's another thing to celebrate it. And if there's a person that struggles with it, I mean, the church is there to help work to get out of that. God's forgiveness. But if you want to get uppity and all up in God's face, nothing but condemnation. And that would be the same way for somebody who, you know.
Ate the last cookie. No, damn it. Try to lighten it up a little bit. Maybe I should not do that. I should just leave it as it is.
Be not. Deceived. God is not mocked. That which you sow, you will reap. And if you sow impenitence, Unforgiveness, that's what awaits.
The guilty. One other thing. Do we have any youth that can stand up to this generation in their face and tell them to go jump in the lake when it comes to immorality? Do we have any youth with any backbone anymore? That can say, as for me in my house, even at my young age, I don't believe that.
But this is what I do believe. Do we have any older Christians? Do we have parents that can stand up to their children or to anybody else and say, no, that's not what God said? Or do we have a bunch of people that just have to find a way to make everybody hold hands and sing their way to hell? You know, people have died.
For the name of the Lord. and his word. Why should we be any different? I mean, just all right. Jonathan said to David, go in peace.
Since we have both sworn in the name of Yahweh, saying, May Yahweh be between you and me. and between your descendants and my descendants forever.
So he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city. Two men of backbone, and I hope we get pastors in pulpits with backbones. I hope if they come for me, they get a dose of the gospel in their face. Do with me whatever you want to do. But who wants a pastor that just wants to appease the world and their sin?
Who wants a Christian brother or sister that just wants to appease?
Okay, I feel a sermon coming on. I don't know. Just my goodness. What happened to America? Satan.
That's what happened.
Well, under the pressure, David flees to the world. Twice he's going to do this. He's going to run to the Philistines above all people. It's going to not go well for him. Where was the God of his Psalms?
Close with this, persecuted but not forsaken. Let's pray. Our Father. One day we'll be home with you. And there will be no more sin, no more struggle, No more criticisms.
No more resistance to your holiness. We will awaken your likeness, Lord Jesus, and what a beautiful time that will be. But for now, The task of preaching the gospel, the good news. There are still people to be saved, and may you find us. Very much involved in just that.
May you get us home safely, we ask you in Jesus' name. Amen. Uh Thanks for joining us for today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Rick is in the book of 1 Samuel.
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