Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. A true believer is one then who knows about God's love and not just theoretically but has experienced the love of God as we receive Christ. And then can love others. And their focus, as you will surmise by the title David and Jonathan, is not so much on our love for God, that is foundational, but rather our love for others. Welcome to The Verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe.
David was a mighty warrior who went on to become Israel's greatest king. But along the way, he forged an unlikely friendship with a man named Jonathan. And today we're exploring what this powerful and lasting friendship can teach us about our own relationships.
So, continuing our new series on the life of David, here's Pastor John Monroe with the start of today's lesson. We continue to learn from the life of a remarkable man who is known as a man after God's own heart. Isn't that an amazing title? and one which all of us would desire, As we're finding out, David is certainly not a perfect man. But he is a man who trusts God.
Who steps out in faith and in the purposes of God is one of the ancestors of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is described as the Son of David. We're going to see today that David has a heart of love. We see this in his deep friendship with Jonathan. which is an excellent example of brotherly love. All of us want to have good friends and also to be a good friend.
So, let's learn from the friendship of David and Jonathan.
Well, the overall title of this series is David: A Man After God's Own Heart. And we're going to think of one of the qualities. of a person after God's own heart. We can think of many qualities that would characterize a person who is after God's own heart, but this one. is absolutely essential.
If this one is missing You are not, I am not, a person after God's own heart. And that is the quality of love. David Hyde. A great heart of love. Supremely he loved the Lord.
For example, Psalm 18, verse 1, David says, I love you, O Lord. My strength. My strength. He says in Psalm 116, verse 1, I love the Lord because he's heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Do you love the Lord?
I had a friend of mine who's English actually, lived out in Seattle. And He's now with the Lord. But we would call from time to time. And this very interesting man worked for Boeing. An engineer, when any plane went down in the middle of nowhere, he would get the call at night to try and work out what had gone wrong.
And so we lived in very different worlds. He's very technical, I'm very non-technical, as my wife will attest to. But we became good friends. And one of the things that intrigued me when he talked about a fellow believer, he would say, John, they love the Lord. You know, we talk about people being saved, we talk about people being disciples, we talk about people being converted.
But I thought that is a very good description of the true believer.
Someone who loves The Lord. If I ask you, do you love the Lord? Probably we Are a little more hesitant in answering than if I asked you, Are you saved? Are you part of the family of God? We who are saved would very quickly say, Yes, praise God, I am a believer, but.
Do you love? The Lord. The essence of God is love. 1 John 4, verse 8: Anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is. Love.
Jesus said as he was summarizing the commandments in Mark chapter 12, And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. and your neighbour as your se as yourself. Paul says that God shows his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. This is the very foundation of the Christian life, isn't it? Uh we have been studying Romans.
And I love Romans 5, verse 5, where Paul says that God's love has been poured out. Isn't that beautiful? God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's been given to us.
So here is God, His infinite love, and in His grace. That love is poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who is given. Yeah. And when we come to Christ, we receive this love, don't we? And then are able through the Spirit to display that love.
to others. And if we don't have this love, we are not authentic followers of Jesus. John says and John and 1 John 4. We love because he first loved Us. A true believer is one then who knows about God's love.
And not just theoretically, but has experienced the love of God as we receive Christ. and then can love others. And our focus, as you will surmise by the title, David and Jonathan, is not so much on our love for God, that is foundational, but rather our love for others. Jesus says, By this all men. All people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for me.
Mm-hmm. Another. Paul says in a great chapter in 1 Corinthians 13: you can do many things. You can have faith, you can give your body to be burned, you can have all of your goods, but if you don't have love, you are. What?
Zero. Absolutely. Nothing. The Apostle John writes, 1 John 4, verse 20: If anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his. Brother. To love your brothers and sisters in Christ. You say you love the Lord. But do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ?
This is not a sentimental love, but a love. Which is conveyed not just in words, obviously, but a love which is deep, which is lasting, and which is demonstrated in our actions and attitudes towards others. And as I thought of this, David, a man after God's own heart, I thought, wouldn't it be wonderful if church was a church after God's own heart? And what would that kind of church look like?
Well, here is an absolutely essential, isn't it? We would be a church. Yes, where we love God, where God loves us, but that love is reflected to everyone who comes, believer or unbeliever. Whether we like them or not, whether we find their personality irritating or not, we will love them. That would be a church, wouldn't it?
After God's own heart. And we have in the scripture Uh this example Of a love relationship between two men, David and Jonathan. It's a great example. Inspiring example. of brotherly love.
Two men love the Lord. And loved each other.
So let's learn from them. We think of the covenant between David and Jonathan. Turn with me in your Bibles then to 1 Samuel chapter 18. 1 Samuel 1 Chapter I want to read, first of all, the first five verses with you. First Samuel.
Eighteen. Last time We thought of chapter 17, the great story of David and Goliath. And here it is. Chapter 18. Verse 1.
As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, This is after the killing of Goliath. The soul of Jonathan was knit To the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David. Because he loved him as his own soul.
Notice that is repeated. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword, and his bow, and his belt. And David went out. And he was successful wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul sent him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all of the people, and also in the sight of Saul's.
Servants.
Now, Saul at this time is the king of Israel, Israel's first king. And he should have been the one leading the Israelites into battle. That's what the king did. That's why the nation wanted the king in the first place, so that they would have a great leader, a warrior king, who would be ahead of them as they go into battle, particularly at this time against the Philistines. Saul should have been the one fighting Goliath, but he failed to do so.
And we also might have expected one of Saul's sons, the king's son, a man like Jonathan himself, who was a warrior. A formidable warrior, as we've read. But it was David. The shepherd. who challenged Agliath.
And who in the power of the Spirit of God killed Goliath and so gave God a great victory. And one could have imagined then that Jonathan The king's son Could have been resentful against David. After all, some of David's own brothers were resentful of him. And one could have understood perhaps some jealousy. Of Jonathan against David, but the reverse.
is the case. Here is Jonathan, one of the sons of Saul. Saul not a good king, but he was the Lord's anointed. And as his son So uh Jonathan Might well have expected that he would have been king after his father's death. That's how it worked.
And the lesser man then could have bitterly resented David, this young intruder, this shepherd from Bethlehem, who's now been anointed by Samuel. who's now the great hero. As he's killed Goliath. But notice we read here in verse 1: the soul of Jonathan was knit. To the soul of David, and David and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
Verse 3: Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as his own soul. And we see this man is very unselfish. We see how loving. He is to David, who is younger than him. He strips himself of his robe, his armor, his sword.
I mean those of you who are collectors of guns You would find it difficult to give your gun up, wouldn't you? Imagine giving your sword up. That's what Jonathan does. His sword, his bow, and he belts, and he gives them to David. A surprising example of self-sacrificial love, a gappy love, forgiving the interests of ourselves.
To advance someone else. He is, in fact, renouncing his claim to be the crown prince. David, not Jonathan, is going to be the successor. to the throne. That's loving someone, isn't it?
Paul in the New Testament writes, Philippians 2, verse 3, do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. That's what Jonathan is doing. He doesn't see David as a rival. He has no resentment against David. But in humility.
He counts David. as more significant. Then himself he realizes this is the man that God's hand Is on, and they enter into this amazing covenant of love, of trust. of loyalty which went to the very depth of their soul. How wonderful to have a friend like that.
Have you a friend like that? You know, in our sex-saturated society, some people have tried to say that this relationship between David and Jonathan was kind of an erotic homosexual relationship. No, it wasn't far from it. Their love was founded on their love for the Lord and the kingdom of God and the advancement. of God's Kingdom.
And Jonathan recognized as he looked at David that David was the Lord's choice. There is no bitterness, there is no envy. This is pure love which flows from a pure love. Which comes from God and is reflected then to others. Jonathan recognizes that David is the deliverer of Israel.
He's the one who God used to give the victory over the Philistines. And he, therefore, wisely wants to identify with David in all of his exploits. He knew. that the Lord was with David. Yeah.
And As we read chapter 18, I'm going to read some other verses here with you. It was not only Jonathan who loved. David. 1 Samuel 18 again. Notice end of verse 1 and verse 3 that Jonathan loved David as his own soul.
That's emphasized. Verse 16. But all Israel and Judah loved. David. Verse 20, now Saul's daughter Michael loved David.
Verse 28, but when Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David and that Michael. Saul's daughter loved him, Saul was even more afraid of David. This is a man. Who's loved? By many.
And the Lord is giving David great success. Verse 5. David went out and was successful wherever Saul Send him. There's Fourteen. And David had success in all of his undertakings for the Lord.
was with him. Verse 15, and when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe. of him. Verse thirty. Then the princes of the Philistines came out to battle, and as often as they came out, David had more success than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed.
And the text says several times that the Lord. was with David. Do you feel that the Lord is with you? This comes from a pure heart, doesn't it? A heart that loves God, a heart that is responsive to God.
And to know God's call on your life, and to know that the Lord. is with you. And so David and Jonathan enter into this Uh covenant. But the covenant has to be renewed. You remember when David continues to be persecuted by Saul, he found great comfort in Jonathan.
If you go over to chapter 12. Yeah. And out in the field, Jonathan is going to renew the covenant with David to let him know all that was in Saul's heart, whether it was good or bad. What a tremendous encourager. Jonathan was to David.
And the covenant was to continue to the next generation. First Samuel twenty, verse fourteen. If I am still alive, show me the steadfast love of the Lord that I may not die. And do not cut off your steadfast love from my house forever, when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth. And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, May the Lord.
Take vengeance on David's enemies. And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own.
So The renewal of the covenant that this was going to continue, as indeed it was, if you know the story, is going to continue to the next. generation. If you've got friends, you know that friendship has to be. renewed, is to be kept vital. We can have great friends, but if the friendship isn't cultivated, these friendships can wither and even die.
I was traveling to church this week and I realized it was quite some time since I spoken to one of my friends. And uh so I I uh I called him. And he's a friend I've known for many, many years. And we spoke, and I said to him, I said, How are you getting on? And he said, John, I'm in the desert.
in the desert. Follower of Christ. in the desert. And we spoke. He's an individual over the years who's encouraged me, and now it was my turn to encourage him in.
The Lord. And uh that's wonderful to have these kinds of friendships, aren't they? Uh perhaps you have uh had a friendship in the past and You haven't spoken to the friend for some time. I know that new friends can be more exciting, but Proverbs tells us: don't forget your old friends. Cultivate a relationship with them.
Give them a call. Send them a text. Send them an email. And keep the friendship fresh. This is what David and Jonathan.
does. And Jonathan was there, of course, when David was in difficulties. It's often said that the test of a true and loving friendship is seen in the difficulties of life. Proverbs 17, verse 17: A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for Adversity. When we're on the crest of the wave, Everyone wants to be our friend.
Proverbs 19, verse 6: Everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts.
So, if you're giving a lot of gifts, you've got a lot of friends. But that's not really friendship, is it? That's buying them. But when we're alone, when we're in a crisis, when we're in some difficulties, it's then. sadly that so often our quote friends desired us.
That happened to our Lord, didn't it? He was deserted, he was abandoned. by his closest. But not Jonathan. Jonathan was a loyal and true friend to David.
And to David's great need, can you imagine? Having the king. Conspiring to kill you with all of his forces.
Okay. And when David is in great need, Jonathan, This man who loves David as his own soul brings comfort. and renewal as well as practical advice. and council. Jonathan knew that David needed A friend.
And Was such a friend of David that he defended David even when he was criticized and slandered by his own father.
So Proverbs 18 verse 24, there's a friend who sticks closer. than a brother. We're aware that human friendships can rise and fall. But God's love is from everlasting to everlasting. But human love.
And here's my challenge to you. I don't know where you are in your friendships, but human love. has to be expressed. How would someone know that you love them unless you tell them? It's got to be displayed.
It's got to be renewed. How many friends do you have? People sometimes say to me, How many friends do you have? And I always stop because if you're talking friends like Jonathan, not many of them. They don't come easy, do they?
But Wonderful to have that kind of friend, but Am I that kind of friend? To others? Am I a Jonathan to others? Are you a Jonathan to others? A friend?
Who's there in need? That bee, no honey brings, that hums but never stings. That friend is not so true, who smiles whatever you do. My friend, if a friend you would be in a friendship that's true, a friend of some value to me as I would be to you, then pray that my feet may attend to the path that he trod. For how shall I pray for my friend if I please not my God?
I hope you have people in your life. When you spend time with them, you feel refreshed. My friend I hope he's not still in the desert, but when I called him We have that kind of friendship that we can encourage one another. And when we end the conversation, we're both uplifted. There are people that you interact with, when you leave them, sometimes you feel you need a shower, don't you?
They're so negative. They're so critical. But there's others. who refresh us. who encourage us uh who pray for us Who really are good friends.
Jonathan is like that.
Now think of the contrast with Saul. The text says that Jonathan loved David as his own soul. What about Saul? How did Saul look on David? Saul Is consumed with bitterness, envy.
jealousy and even Hatred. This is the verdict with Pastor John Monroe and a message titled David and Jonathan. We'll continue with part two tomorrow. But John has more to share in just a moment, so keep listening.
Well, over these next few weeks, we'll be continuing our in-depth study on the life of David. And as a special addition to this series, we're offering a helpful resource. It's a custom made listening guide specifically designed to complement each of these daily lessons, with details on key points, questions for review, and practical ideas for daily application. This printable workbook is a great resource for your own personal study. Or for hosting a group discussion with family or friends.
So get your free copy of this unique resource today by visiting us online at theverdict.org. and download your free copy of the Life of David Listening Guide. Here at the Verdict, we're committed to sharing the truth of God's Word and the good news of Jesus Christ every day. And you can be a part of this gospel work by supporting our ministry with a financial gift of any amount. We've made it quick and easy to give a one-time donation by visiting our website at theverdict.org.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe with more on today's lesson.
Well, what's your verdict? David and Jonathan formed this deep bond of friendship and it grew in difficult circumstances. What about the friends in your life? My challenge to you is to be a good friend as well as having good friends. And at the very center of our friendships should be the Lord Jesus Christ who pours His love into our hearts so that we can love others with the love of God.
We'll conclude this study of David and Jonathan next time. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
