Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): What was the key to David's success? Pastor Jeff provides the answers as we get today's edition of Sound Doctrine underway.

Jeff Johnson: This was the key to his victory. David loved God. David meditated in the law, sought the Lord, and the results of that was that David had charisma. David was a guy that people wanted to hang around because he hung around the Lord. And people said, "Can I rub against you? Maybe some will rub off on me."

He wore his heart on his sleeve. He was honest, he was open. People were attracted to him. He represented God rightly. That's awesome. He was a good ambassador, a good witness of the Lord.

Guest (Male): A small boy defined a friend as someone who knows all about you and likes you just the same. Well, today on Sound Doctrine, Pastor Jeff Johnson will show us what God considers a true friend to be. Pastor Jeff is about to continue his verse-by-verse study in the book of 1 Samuel, and we'll consider the value of Godly friends.

If asked to name one of the all-time great friendships in the Bible, what names come to mind? I venture to say many of us would say Jonathan and David, and you'd be correct. But let's take a closer look at these friends in 1 Samuel 18.

Jeff Johnson: We're entering into a new chapter in 1 Samuel, chapter 18. This morning, as we read and look at this chapter, I want you to keep this in your mind and ask yourself this question: are you a David or are you a Saul? David is king at this time, but there are three reasons that I think that there's a delay from removing Saul.

Number one is because judgment is coming. Years were due, and so judgment is coming to the children of Israel for God to get their attention. Number two, training and preparation was needed for David to go into the position that God was bringing him into. God wanted him to hang around the palace for a while. God wanted him to learn a little bit about how it works and what goes on up there.

And number three, I think God wanted to really expose before everyone Saul's sin and his hatred. He was a man full of hatred and bitterness, and he wanted everyone to see that there is a reason why he's changing kings, why they need a new man in that position. And I believe God also wanted the children of Israel to see very plainly David's righteousness and David's love. He wanted everybody to see it, so it would take time to do that.

So we see God's plan now being presented to set down Satan's man, Saul, and put up his own choice, David. And the same way in our lives, God is seeking to put down the flesh, put down our own reigning of our own lives, and put up his son Jesus Christ, to let him rule and reign in our hearts. The kingdom of God is not meat or drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. God wants to show that to us. Sometimes it takes time.

So David comes forth and he bruises the enemy's head. He becomes Israel's hero. He is a beautiful type of Christ. He takes the sword, he chops off the head of the enemy. The enemy flees in defeat. David is now to be received as king, and so Jesus wants to be king of our lives. He wants us to receive him as king. This morning, I'm going to give you an opportunity to do that. To let the Lord be king of your life, to get out of the Saul syndrome and to get into the David blessings. It's very simple. God doesn't make it hard. Any child can understand and receive and enter into the blessings of the Lord.

David is now a national hero. He will never go back into private life again. He is taken now as a public figure. From here on out, we'll see David as a public figure. In fact, he's even going to be taken from his father's home and put out there for everyone to see. He's given supposedly riches and the king's daughter, and his father would no longer have to pay taxes for killing Goliath. That's the promises. We'll see about that as we move along here.

But we see Saul now, his downfall, which almost starts as a little leak in a dike. You know how a little leak will start squirting out in a dike? If you continue to let it squirt out, it somehow gets in there in such a way as the water begins to really get more and more pushing at it and the weak point gives way. This is what we're seeing with Saul's life. It is giving way like a dam gushing out. In this chapter, he's lost it, and we're going to see it plain as day.

It doesn't take long for true colors to fly. You know whose side you're really on. You might say you're a Christian, but it doesn't take long. Girls, learn this lesson. When a guy comes up and wants to date you and says he's a Christian, check him out. It doesn't take long for the true colors to fly. Give it time. Don't rush into anything.

Verse one of chapter 18 says, "And it came to pass when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, the soul of Jonathan was now knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would let him go no more home to his father's house. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him and he gave it to David, and his garments, even his sword, and to his bow and to his girdle." Now that's not a girdle like you girls think, but it's a sash. He gave him his sash.

Now here we have Jonathan, Saul's son, who was also a commander. He was over thousands. He had great victories. He was also a war hero. But when he saw little David go down against that giant and saw how he handled himself, saw what he said when he said, "I come to you in the name of the Lord," and saw him run at that giant, Jonathan is just going, "I want to get to know this guy. I love that guy. I want to meet him. David, come here, I want to hang out with you. You're the type of guy I want to spend some time with. You're a powerful little guy and I love what you said down there and I love how you handled yourself. In fact, can I really hang around with you? Can I be your friend?"

And all of a sudden their hearts were knit together. They became best friends. I was talking to the men up in the men's advance this year about how special it is for men to gather together. And I thought of the old Jewish custom of the synagogues and how all the men would be in the main auditorium and the women would be up high or in another area being taught by the women. They would not be able to be in the main section and the men always got ministered to. They were always hanging around with each other, always speaking to each other. There's something about that that I think is good.

And I pray that God will just continue to bless our men's ministry here more than ever. Men need other men to hang around with. They need to have these Jonathan type of relationships where they can get close together, pray for each other, encourage one another. This is good. Jesus said, "By this you will know that they're my disciples because they have love to one another." So love one another. This special love was set up with Jonathan and David. This is not in a homosexual way.

In fact, I can't believe what people say sometimes. I never did see the corrupt movie "The Last Temptation of Christ." It showed Jesus having relations with the girls that were hanging around with him. That's blasphemy. And yet they go ahead and portray this. This is the same thing with those that would say that Jonathan and David had a homosexual relationship. It's blasphemy. The Hebrew language doesn't even support this idea, and yet they say it. It's just another effort by people to continue to justify their sin and their unscriptural acts, whereas God condemns that whole thing in Romans chapter one and makes it very clear.

David never committed these perverted allocations. He simply had a close friendship and kinship with Jonathan. Their hearts were knit together. As Colossians says, our hearts are being knit together with the Lord. It's so important to be bound together with him. And this is a beautiful type of Jesus Christ and how our relationship should be with him.

Notice Jonathan, being a type of us, David being a type of Christ. Jonathan comes and he takes off who he is, his robe, and he gives it to the Lord. He takes off those things that pertain to him, what kind of man he was. He was second to be in charge, second to be king. He was Saul's son, and yet he put all of that down just said, "I want to get to know David. In fact, I'm going to take who I am off. I'm going to even take my sword. Here, David, take my sword. Take my might, because my might and my power is nothing compared to what I just saw with you, David."

And it isn't. We need to submit our lives to Jesus Christ, to see that he can be the strength of our life as we devote our lives to him, as we totally sell out and become empty before him. He fills us with his love and his strength. So Jonathan was doing that with David, stripping himself of self and saying, "Now I want to put on you, David. I just want to become like you." And so must we have a heart to become like our God, our Savior Jesus Christ. I think that's a beautiful type here. His love is all that we need. This relationship that we have, he's my Lord and my God, my champion. I want to be linked with you.

Now someone has said that if you want to find out who your real friends are, make a mistake. I believe that we need a Jonathan companionship in all of our lives as both of these guys were knitted together. They were there and no matter what went on in their relationship, and we're going to see it as we follow their relationship, no matter if what was said about either one of them or what was done by either one of them, they knew that they were both knit together and they would stay with each other through thick and thin. I like that.

Someone has said that if you need a friend, be friendly. I got this poem that said, "I went to the fellowship to find a friend and I found none. I went to the fellowship to be a friend and I found them everywhere." Be a friend, reach out. A lot of people today just sit there and they go, "I'm going to wait and see if anybody says hi to me. I knew it! No one's friendly around here." But what about you? Reach out. You want a friend, be friendly. You'll find them everywhere.

And you'll just find that you've got brothers and sisters here that are precious. And we have smaller gatherings where you can get together and know names and problems and trials and know what they're going through and pray with them and get those Jonathan and David type of relationships built up. But we've got to reach out.

Notice verse five. "And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him." Very obedient. And notice he behaved himself wisely, and "Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants." Actually, when it says that David behaved himself wisely, it's mentioned a number of other times in this chapter.

Because this was the key to his victory. David loved God. David meditated in the law, sought the Lord, and the result of that was that David had charisma. David was a guy that people wanted to hang around because he hung around the Lord. And people said, "I just want to can I rub against you? Maybe some will rub off on me." He wore his heart on his sleeve. He was honest, he was open. People were attracted to him. He represented God rightly. He was a good ambassador, a good witness of the Lord.

I was looking at the early church and there was a scripture that stuck out to me in Acts chapter two. It says in Acts 2:47 that the early church were praising God. They were having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. They were good witnesses. People said those Christians are something else, and they had favor with them. They said they're good people to be around. They might not want to be one, but they're good people and I like to be around them. They have fun.

And it was a witness that was going on there. May we be as David in this last day church. May we be good representatives. May we be as the early church filled with the spirit, really reaching out to people. Instead of talking about us about how we're corrupt, people should say, "You know, those are some righteous people over there. They love God. They've devoted their lives to the Lord."

I love it when Paul was talking about how he wanted to be a witness for the Lord. He spoke to the Corinthians about over in 2 Corinthians chapter four and verse five. He said, "Listen, we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us."

Paul said, "I don't want people to taste me. I don't want people to leave once I speak and say, 'Oh, wasn't Paul anointed today? Did you hear that story that he talked about? Wasn't that awesome? Paul was great.'" He didn't want to hear that. He wanted the excellency of God to be seen in his life, that that treasure would be tasted by those that came. That when they leave, they would say, "You know what? Jesus loves me and I love him. That was awesome. I just had an encounter with the living God."

My prayer is that you will go out of here with that same experience. That you won't taste Jeff Johnson, but that you'll taste Jesus Christ in me, the hope of glory. That you'll have an experience with him. That you will leave here more in love with him, more dedicated to him than ever before. To God be the glory for the great things he is doing.

Notice verse six. "And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of the cities of Israel singing and dancing and to meet King Saul with tambourines, with joy and instruments of music." Everybody was dancing all over the place. And the women answered one another as they played, saying, "Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands."

Now if you remember back in chapter 13, Jonathan had that great victory over the garrison of the Philistines. Saul went ahead and tooted his own horn. He blew his own horn and said, "Look what I've done," and he took the credit for what Jonathan did. He said, "I killed the thousands," and the word got out through all of Israel that Saul had killed his thousands. This was a song, and this is the typical thing you do after a battle. All the women get together, meet them at the gates, and they go through the city and they sing songs. It was a time of rejoicing.

But something different happened to this song. Actually, they added a second verse, and this kind of bums Saul out. "Saul killed his thousands, but David his ten thousands." So David was getting all the praise, all the recognition and adoration. And Saul just sat there and went, hmm, couldn't believe it. Listen, isn't this a fact of life? Think about this. That there will always be another raised up and others will be used more than you all the time. That's always how it is.

But you've got to be secure in your relationship with the Lord, or something is going to happen that will hurt you in a real bad way. And that is envy and jealousy will creep into your life and begin to eat at your heart and begin to pull you down. It'll creep in and it'll begin to pull you down as you're going to see it pull down Saul in a moment. Be careful. Get your relationship right with the Lord so you are secure with your God. And then it doesn't matter what God does over here or who he raises up and how he's blessed. In fact, you'll just rejoice with them. You'll be right with them. Rejoice in those that are honored and weep with those that are weeping. But we need to start feeling as God feels. You can't do that unless you're walking close with him.

Notice verse eight. "And Saul was very angry when he heard this song, and the saying displeased him. And he said, 'They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they've ascribed one thousand. What can he have more but the kingdom?'" Interesting that Saul would say that. See, Saul was very insecure. Why was he insecure? He was fighting with God. When you fight with God and you're not yielded to the Lord, you're going to be insecure. And the results of that insecurity is going to be anger and envy and jealousy. And like a cancer, it will come into your life to pull you down like it's doing with Saul.

Saul knew another would replace him because he remembered how Samuel said, "Your kingdom is taken from you, Saul, and God is raising up another to take your place." So what was Saul always doing? He was looking around saying, "I wonder who that guy is. I'm just going to be checking it out, find out." And all of a sudden David comes into his mind. "David?" I can't believe it. From that point on, look at verse nine. It says that "Saul eyed David from that day forward," saying, "Hmm, I wonder if this is the one."

Verse 10. "And it came to pass on the morrow that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied in the midst of the house, and David played with his hand as at other times. And there was a javelin in Saul's hand." Now we've dealt with the whole thing of the evil spirit from the Lord. We looked at that last week, where that's not talking about an evil spirit that God sent. It's that God took his hand of protection off of Saul because Saul rejected him. So God just pulled off of him. Remember David said, "Take not your Holy Spirit from me." But God did that with Saul and he moved back. You want what you want, then go ahead and keep what you got, and I'm pulling away.

God will not always strive with you. Listen, he is striving with you this morning because he loves you. And the conviction that you feel this morning is the Holy Spirit dealing in your life. It's God striving with you. It's God seeking to pull you to himself. But he will not always strive. There comes a scary time where God will take his hand off an individual. He took his hand off of Saul, and because his protection was gone, like Job, then the evil spirit moved in and dealt with Saul, caused him to go crazy. And this is what was going on here. Why? Because Saul rebelled against the Lord.

Now, what was going on with Saul was not only fighting with God, but his own flesh was consuming him. You see the anger was beginning to build up in his life. The jealousy and the hatred. You can only hold it down for so long, and then it's going to start coming out in quirky little ways. Something bugging you, you can go ahead and hide it from others for just so long and then you start doing weird stuff. And they go, "There's something wrong with you, man. What's wrong?" "I don't want to talk about it," and then you go off. It'll come out. It comes to the surface and it vents itself.

Well, we see that here with Saul. Notice he was prophesying, it says. This is not in the Hebrew the same word as it says when they prophesy and they brought forth the word of God. It's a different Hebrew word which really speaks of actually he was babbling. He began to rant and rave. When the evil spirit came upon him, he began to lose it again. And of course the servants of Saul said, "David, David, come on in here. He's going off again." So David just grabbed his instrument and went in there and did what? He sat down, started doing praise music and started to calm him. Because this is what worked before, right? Praise music. And started just playing it and it calmed him and the evil spirit would leave him.

But this time it's different. He's playing away, he's playing away, and Saul's sitting there with his javelin playing with it. Out of his mind. And I'll tell you something about this: when I thought of this, I thought, you know what? God's presence will calm and will do a work, but to a point. And then it begins to irritate. You know what I mean? Some of you are unequally yoked here this morning. You have one of you is a believer and one's not in the home, and that's a real struggle.

And I know you have times where your mate who doesn't know the Lord just freaks out and just says, "What are you doing? You going to church again?" And they just go off. And they might get upset at times, and it's because it's the presence of the Lord. And they begin to just lash out at it and they just begin to get angry and bitter. But that's all right. Be encouraged. You say why? Well, there's an old Arab proverb that if you take a rock and throw in a bunch of dogs, that the one that yelps is the one that got hit.

Guest (Male): Something to consider as we end today's edition of Sound Doctrine. Our teacher is Pastor Jeff Johnson, and today we've been studying 1 Samuel 18. We pray you've been blessed by what you've heard today. 1 Samuel is filled with practical insights for Christian living.

And if you'd like to hear this study again, go to sounddoctrineradio.org or listen through the Sound Doctrine podcast app. You can also hear Sound Doctrine on oneplace.com and wherever you enjoy podcasts. That includes Apple Podcasts and Spotify. If you'd like to get behind what we're doing and donate to this radio outreach, you can do so at sounddoctrineradio.org by clicking the give tab. And thank you very much for your support. It's greatly appreciated and will be put to good use helping others build their lives on the sound doctrine found in God's word.

We hope you'll join us for our next study in 1 Samuel. It's going to be a good one. That's right here on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff, a presentation of Calvary Chapel Downey. Have a blessed day in the Lord.