(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Now in 1 Samuel chapter 20 we picked up where Saul had been pursuing David, if you remember, and he pursued him at the Nigh Off, and he sent messengers to arrest David. And if you remember, they came to that preaching service where the prophets were preaching, and Samuel was presiding over them. And when the messengers came, the Spirit of the Lord came upon them also, they began to preach, they began to prophesy. And then even Saul, when Saul showed up, he began to preach and to prophesy. And if you remember that Saul became so emotional, he was so upset when the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, that he actually, if you remember, stripped off his clothes and lay on the earth all night, naked because of just utter despair. And this is something that happened a lot in the Bible when people would be mourning or really upset. They would rend their garments and put earth on them and lay on the ground and so forth. And that's what we saw Saul doing in the end of chapter 19. But of course, in chapter 20, Saul is again trying to kill David. He wants David dead. He keeps going back and forth. He wants to kill David because he knows that David's going to be the next king of Israel. He knows that David is his competition, and that the Lord has already chosen him, and already said that he's a man that's better than Saul. Saul wants his son Jonathan to sit on the throne, so he wants to do everything he can to stop David and kill David, even though David has not done anything wrong whatsoever. And so he keeps having these emotional changes of heart where he briefly gets right with God, he's crying and he's upset, but then he goes right back to it because he didn't really make a real change in his life, he just had an emotional feeling when he heard certain preaching or when the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. Now in chapter 20 it says in verse 1, And David fled from Nihon in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? What is my iniquity? And what is my sin before thy father that he seeketh my life? And he said unto him, God forbid. So Jonathan doesn't believe him at first. Because if you remember the last time Saul was going to kill David, Jonathan was the one who talked to Saul and talked some sense into him and made things right. So Jonathan just makes everything fine. He doesn't realize that he's trying to kill David again. He says, God forbid, thou shalt not die. Behold, my father will do nothing, either great or small, but that he will show it me, and why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so. He's saying, if he were going to kill you, he would have told me that. He tells me everything. And David sware moreover and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes. And he said, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death. He tells him, Look, your dad knows that we're good friends. He knows last time you talked him down from this. He doesn't want to make you upset, so he's just not telling you. And I like what he says at the end there. He says, Thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death. But the funny thing is, really that can be said of any human being on this earth. That there's really just one step away from death, or one breath from death. I remember Daniel said to King Nebuchadnezzar, God in whose hand thy breath is. And he's explained to Nebuchadnezzar that even his own breath was in God's hand. And even the ability to breathe your next breath is something that God is allowing you to do. And that he can take away from you at any moment. The Bible says, I am the Lord. I kill and I make alive. God is the one who basically keeps us alive and decides when it's our time to die. And many people think that they're going to live a long time. And they think that they might live another 20 years, 30 years, 40 years. Sort of like the man in the book of Luke who laid up all this wealth for himself. And he had to build bigger barns so that he could retire and just take his ease and eat, drink, and be married. And then God said to him, thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee. And what shall become of all of thy goods? And so we don't know when we're going to die. We have no idea. And that's why we need to live our lives in a way that is redeeming the time. Because we don't know if we're going to live to be 70 years old. You might live to be 30, you might live to be 40, 50. You don't know. There's really only one step between us and death at any time. And so the Bible says in verse 4, Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee. And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, tomorrow is the new moon. And I should not fail to sit with the king and be. But let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day, if thy father had all missed me. Then say David, earnestly ask leave of me, that he might run to Bethlehem his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family. And so let me just explain, because we just read through the whole thing already. But basically here's what he says to him. He says, look, I'm going to go hide for three days, because there's one step between me and death. I need to get out of here right now. But he said, I want you to talk to your dad. And he said, here's how we're going to do it, just so that we don't arouse any suspicions or anything like that. I'm just going to go hide out for three days. And he said, it's the new moon. And so this is an important meal, when everyone will be at the king's table. So if I'm not there, it's going to stand out that I'm not there. And so he said, if your father asks you about it, and basically you explain it to him, and he says it is well, no big deal. Basically, if Saul's not upset that you're gone, then we'll know everything's fine, everything's back to normal. But if he answers you roughly, if he's upset about it, then you'll know that evil's determined against me. Why would he be so mad that he's gone? And so they make this deal, and then they arrange a little bit of a code that they're going to do. Basically, they go out to a field where Jonathan practices his archery. And the Bible talks a lot about the fact that Jonathan loved to shoot bow and arrow, and that that was his weapon of choice. And so he tells them, OK, I'm going to be hiding over in the bushes over here. And you're going to fire your arrows. And if you say to the boy that's helping you, that's going and fetching the arrows for you, the arrow is not the arrow beyond thee, then that means that Saul answered me roughly, and that you need to get out of here. And if I say the arrows are on your side, right beside you, then that means everything's OK. So he explains this whole thing to them. And jump down, if you would, to verse number 14. The Bible reads, And thou shalt not only while yet I live show me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not, but also thou shalt not cut off by kindness from my house forever. This is Jonathan speaking. No, not when the Lord hath cut off from the enemies of David everyone from the face of the earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the Lord even require it at the hand of David's enemies. So they've made these various covenants. They're best friends, they love each other, and they have this friendship, and they've sworn an oath to each other of loyalty over and over again. And this is yet again, but it's interesting what Jonathan says here, where he says in verse 15, But also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house forever. No, not when the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David everyone from the face of the earth. This is actually a little bit prophetic and a foreshadowing of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ is the son of David. Sometimes he's just referred to as David because he's the son of David in different prophetic passages in the Bible. This right here is obviously, he's talking to David the person, but this is also symbolic or prophetic of Jesus Christ's kingdom, because God told David that he would establish his house forever. Now he said, I'll not take my mercies away from your house like I took the house of the kingdom from Saul before you. Because remember, God told Saul that if he would have done right in the sight of the Lord, his house and his kingdom would have been established forever, but he didn't, and so David was given the kingdom, a man that was better than him, and God promised David that his kingdom would endure forever as the stars of heaven, and that his kingdom would always exist. Now, a lot of people misunderstand this. They think it's basically the physical nation of Israel, like for example the country that's in the Middle East right now. Well, that doesn't make any sense, because the bottom line is that that kingly line of the house of David physically is not sitting on any throne today, and hasn't been sitting on that throne for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. If you remember, David's sons ruled over the house of Judah and the house of Benjamin for centuries, all down through the list, Solomon, Rebo, Abia, Asa, Josaphat, you know, you go down the whole list, and then they went off into captivity and so forth. But Jesus Christ, the seed of David, is the one who fulfills that prophecy, because that kingdom does not exist right now, there's nobody sitting on that throne, but when Jesus Christ returns, he is going to set up an earthly kingdom, and the Bible says that he will sit upon the throne of his father David, and that he will rule and reign on this earth for a thousand years, and then beyond that, in Revelation 22, the Bible says that we shall reign forever and ever in the new heaven and the new earth, even beyond the millennia. So Jesus Christ's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. He is the son of David that fulfills that prophecy. A lot of people, unfortunately today, are stuck in the past. They don't understand the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Bible makes it clear in the book of Hebrews, chapter number 8, that the children of Israel did not continue in the covenant that he had made with them, and he said, because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord, and he made a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah. And by the way, the terms new covenant and New Testament are used interchangeably in the book of Hebrews, and I don't want to explain the whole synopsis of the book of Hebrews tonight, but if you read especially chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10, you'll see this very clearly laid out, the fact that the old covenant waxeth old and vanishes away, the Bible says in chapter 8, verse 13. And now there is a new covenant, okay? And the new covenant has a new priesthood, which is Jesus Christ as the chief priest. We are the priesthood of the believers. We don't have the Levitical priesthood anymore. Instead of the tabernacle with the sacrifices that are offered on a daily basis, Jesus Christ is the sacrifice slain once for all. And instead of the nation of Israel, the Jews, being God's chosen people that were a light to the Gentiles, now the Bible says there is neither Jew nor Gentile. He says that we, who were aliens in the past, if you read Ephesians chapter 2, aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, we were foreigners and strangers. He says now we're made nigh by the blood of Christ. We are fellow citizens, the Bible says, of the commonwealth of Israel in Ephesians chapter 2. And so it's great. Turn there if you would, just because I like to read that chapter. It's a great chapter. Ephesians chapter number 2 of the New Testament. Ephesians chapter number 2. And so a lot of people will take scriptures that have to do with the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. And by the way, there are a lot of scriptures on the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. Now in Revelation 20, it's just a couple of verses. You know, he just briefly touches it. In Revelation 20, he talks about the fact that the devil was cast into the bottomless pit, and he shut up and sealed for a thousand years, and that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years should be fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed to little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus for the word of God, which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath pardoned the first resurrection. On such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed to Adam's prison. So it's just a couple of verses, right? Explaining the whole millennium right there. But there are a lot of Old Testament passages that talk about the millennial reign of Christ. In the book of Isaiah, in the book of Ezekiel, most notably. But all throughout the minor prophets, Zechariah, among others, spent a lot of time talking about the millennial reign of Christ, when Jesus Christ would rule and reign for a thousand years. So you can't just take Revelation 20 by itself. You want to look at all the passages that have to do with the millennial. Now, it's interesting because the next words after the part I just quoted you from Revelation 20, where he says, and when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of this prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations, which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is at the sand or the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, encompassed the camp that the saints about, and the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. So the Bible tells that when that thousand year millennial reign is over, when that time is expired and Satan is loosed out of the bottomless pit, he'll go out and deceive the nations. We don't know how long that's going to take. We don't know what period of time that's going to be. I don't think it's just going to be a one day thing. But he's going to deceive the nations and they're going to be gathered together over time, after the millennium, after the thousand year reign. They're going to surround Jerusalem, the beloved city. That's where Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning from, from the throne of his father David. And the Bible says he'll gather the other nations and then he just throws out these three words, Gog and Magog. Okay. Why would he just throw that out? Because he said all nations are going to be gathered. Did he not? So why does he just mention two? Stop and think about it. Pay attention to the sermon tonight. Think about this. Why is he just mentioning two? He says he'll gather together the nations. He's talking about the nations of the whole world. And he says Gog and Magog. To gather them in the battle. And the reason why is because there's one place in the Old Testament that mentions Gog and Magog in regard to this, and it's in Ezekiel 38 and 39. So obviously God is mentioning those two because he's pointing to us in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Remember? Gog and Magog. Hey, that's what this is about. It's not that hard to understand. It's pretty simple. It's pretty clear. When the only place that Gog and Magog are mentioned is two places, Ezekiel 38 and 39, and then he brings it up in Revelation. But if I had a nickel for every preacher in every sermon I've heard tell you, Gog and Magog, that's when all the nations are going to come against Israel, like they're talking about in the next few years. They're talking about during the Tribulation or before the Tribulation. And they're talking about how all the nations and Magog is Russia and Gog is Germany or whatever they say, and they're all going to surround Iran and Russia and they're all going to surround Israel and God's going to protect Israel. And they go to Ezekiel 38 and 39. And they go through it verse by verse about how God is going to protect the nation of Israel. But wait a minute. God told us that's after the Millennium. And so a lot of people take clear Millennium passages, passages about Jesus ruling and reigning. I mean, look, let me explain some to you. When those nations are surrounding the beloved city in Jerusalem, they're not surrounding a bunch of star-of-rent fan carrying Judaism following Christ rejecters. No, they're surrounding God's people. They're surrounding Jesus himself. Jesus will have ruled and reigned from that throne for a thousand years. And he says, And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is at the sand or the sea. And they went up on the bread of the earth and compassed the camp of the saints about. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. See, it's the camp of the saints. Jerusalem, during the Millennium, will be the capital city of Jesus Christ's kingdom. And the saints will be ruling and reigning with him. And that will be the headquarters of the saints. Not a bunch of Christ-rejecting so-called Jews that are there today. They are not God's people. They reject the Lord Jesus Christ. And according to John 3, His wrath is abiding on them. The Bible says, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. They're not under God's blessing. They're under his wrath. And by the way, that was spoken to the Jews in John chapter 3 by John the Baptist, who said, Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father. For I say unto you, That God is able in these stones to raise up to him not Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees. Every tree that bringeth not before a good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. God, it did not change his opinion about that. He is still laying the axe to the root of the tree today, and anyone who does not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be damned, and before they're damned, God's wrath is abiding on them right now. Because they're not saved. They're in enmity with God. They're in enmity with the Lord Jesus Christ. They're in enmity with the believers. And that's why the Bible very clearly says that, you know, they're beloved, the Jews are beloved for the Father's sakes, but they're enemies for the gospel's sake because they fight against the gospel. They fight against the truth. Every rabbi is an antichrist because the Bible says who is a liar but he that denyeth that Jesus is the Christ, he's antichrist that denyeth the Father and the Son. And that goes for whether it's a Muslim cleric or whether it's a Jewish rabbi or whether it's whatever other false religion. It doesn't matter any religion that does not believe that Jesus is the Christ and that believes that there's some other Messiah coming, some other Christ, and they preach another Christ than what's been preached to us from the New Testament, let him be accursed. Amen. Okay? Not blessed. And so a lot of people, and I don't want to spend the whole sermon on that, but a lot of people, they get mixed up on this kingdom thing, you know, of like, oh, the kingdom of Israel, that's the Jewish state today. Well, you know what? That's the kingdom of the antichrist. There is going to be an antichrist. I believe in Bible prophecy. I believe the Bible. And he's going to show up, and he will say he's the Messiah. And they're going to embrace him as such. And he will set up a kingdom in Jerusalem too, the counterfeit kingdom. He will set up that counterfeit kingdom. Then the true Lord Jesus Christ will come afterward on a white horse and cast him into the lake of fire and set up the true kingdom. But the counterfeit kingdom comes first. And the mystery of iniquity does already work. I mean, it's already happening. Even though we're not yet there, and it might not be for decades further, or we don't know what it's going to be, we know that the mystery of iniquity is already working. We already see our world going to a one-world government. We already see things going toward a one-world religion. We already see things where the Christians and the Jews are uniting. That didn't used to be that way. It used to be that the Christians were at enmity with the Jews. Now they're all uniting. It used to be that Catholics and Christians were at enmity. And you go to the Christian bookstore, there wasn't any Catholic paraphernalia. Now you go to the Christian bookstore, you're seeing rosary beads, apocryphal books, and you're seeing the lines and barriers broken down. You know, Mormonism used to be considered a cult by pretty much every Christian or so-called evangelical or whatever you want to call it. Today, somebody says that Mormonism's a cult and everybody flips out today. Well, guess what? It is a cult. It was started by a guy who was married to children because he was a pervert, and it's the same as Islam, another man who got crazy visions from angels and married a bunch of children and did a bunch of weird stuff. Joseph Smith and Mohammed were pretty much, you know, two peas in a pod. I mean, you know, basically, I consider Mormonism a white man's Islam. That's pretty much what it is. I mean, it's the same religion. See, the devil just keeps repackaging the same things over and over again. You know, he's got Islam, and then he just repackages it for the white people in the 1800s, and it's called Mormonism. It's pretty popular around here in Mesa, but it's a false religion. It is a cult. Following the man, Joseph Smith, who is a cult leader, and, you know, that's just... It couldn't be any simpler than that. So I got off and had a tangent there, but back on 1 Samuel 20. One day, all the enemies of David will be cut off from the face of the earth, but that's basically a prophetic about the Lord Jesus Christ. He will one day have a kingdom where all of his enemies are cut off, and there will be peace and prosperity for 1,000 years, where he rules as a righteous ruler from Jerusalem in the throne of his father David, the Lord Jesus Christ. But, you know, let's not jump the gun. We're not there yet, okay? There's a lot of things that have to happen first. So I know you want to go over there in the Holy Land and pretend like you're living in the glory days of the millennium, but you need to just wait a little bit longer, okay? Wait till you've gone up in the rapture and everything like that, okay? So if that hasn't happened yet, then you're not in the millennium, okay? So anyway, I don't want to spend the whole sermon on that. But he says in 1 Samuel 20, verse 16, So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the Lord even require it at the hand of David's enemies. And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul. And this is a great picture of friendship in the Bible, Jonathan and David and their loyalty to each other through thick and thin. I'll talk about that a little bit more in a moment. But jump down to verse 24, if you would. The Bible reads in verse 24, So David hid himself in the field, and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat meat. And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall, and Jonathan rose and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty. Nevertheless, Saul spake not anything that day, for he thought, something had been fallen, he's not clean, surely he's not clean. So the day rolls around, they sit out in the meal, David's gone, and Saul doesn't want to say anything at first, because remember, he's trying to shelter Jonathan. He doesn't want Jonathan to know about his intentions. So he plays it cool. I mean, he wants to say something, but he kind of just holds his tongue and says, Well, maybe he's unclean. And, you know, he doesn't want to come to this religious gathering because he's unclean. And so if you remember the Old Testament, if they touched the carcass of a beast, that had died, they're unclean. All manner of different things. I'm not going to go through the whole litany of things that would cause a person to be unclean, but he just figures something must have happened to him. Something must have been fallen to him. Because usually they would make sure to be clean for something like this, for the new moon and for other holidays. They want it to be clean, but sometimes something just befalls you, and you don't really have any control over it. You know, the Bible talks about maybe a beast suddenly dies next to you or something, and, you know, there you are, you touched it, or you accidentally touched something dirty. You get sick, or someone else around you gets sick, and you're unclean, and it's an accident. That's why God provided, for example, with the Passover. They could celebrate it a month later if they were unclean at the time. So he tries to just tell himself, Well, everything's fine. I'm going to keep my mouth shut because David's just unclean or something like that. Verse 27, it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month, that David's place was empty, and Saul said unto Jonathan his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meet, neither yesterday nor today? And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem, and he said, Let me go, I pray thee, for our family hath a sacrifice in the city. And my brother, he hath commanded me to be there, and now if I have found favor in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not to the king's table. And by the way, I'm sorry I had you turn to Ephesians 2. We never read it, but read it on your own time. It's a really good chapter. I love that chapter, and I wish I had read it, but I just did a totally different point in the sermon now. It's too late to go back, so we're just going to need to press forward here, okay? I already spent a lot of time on that. But please read Ephesians 2 and read the part about the commonwealth of Israel and the strangers and the fellowship. Memorize it. Learn it. Know it. It's a great chapter. But anyway, Jonathan gives him this excuse this made-up excuse. Oh, yeah, he had to go to the feast because it's the new moon. Everybody would have a special event on that day. He said, oh, yeah, you know, David's brother commanded him to be at home on this particular new moon, and so he asked me if it was okay if he went home, and I said yes. Jonathan's a powerful guy. He's the second in command. He can let David go home and take a day off. Look at Saul's response. Remember, they want to see what Saul's response is. They're trying to test him out if he's got bad intentions. Look at his response. Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou has chosen the son of Jesse, that's David, of course, to thine own confusion and under the confusion of thy mother's nakedness? Now, this is probably the most harsh, extreme answer he could have expected from him. I mean, what in the... Why is he so mad? He said, period. I mean, all he said was, oh, David just went home for a few days. You son of a perverse rebellious woman. Now, I don't know anything about Saul's wife. The Bible pretty much just tells us her name and just... It doesn't really go into detail about how their marriage was and how things were going, but this doesn't give a very good picture. You know, this would be like if my son came up to me, and said, oh, Dad, you know, I did this and that. You son of that perverse rebellious wife, you know? And then he starts talking about the confusion of thy mother's nakedness. I mean, what is his problem? I don't know if he had problems with his wife, or if he's just so mad. Sometimes people are just mad. They just flip out and say stuff. This is crazy stuff. He's taken out his anger on Jonathan. He's taken it out on his wife for some reason. And there's no indication that she was a perverse rebellious woman. Or that there was any kind of confusion about her nakedness or anything like that. But he is just railing all this stuff at Jonathan. And he says in verse 31, For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established. So he's basically saying, look, don't you get it? I'm doing this for you, son. Your kingdom is at stake here. You're the one that needs to sit on this throne, not David. And as long as David's around, you're never going to sit on that throne. Jonathan doesn't even want to sit on that throne. Jonathan already acknowledged earlier in the chapter, he said, look, I already know you're going to be king. Just don't kill me. And don't kill my descendants. And even after I'm dead, don't kill my descendants or don't kill me after that. Because I know that you're going to be the king. Jonathan's not even trying to be king. Jonathan is okay with God's choice here. And Jonathan, you know, this is admirable of him. That sometimes it's not God's will for you to be in charge. And Jonathan realized, hey, I'm not going to be king. I'm not going to be the boss. My dad has messed that up. He's okay with that. He just wanted to serve David. He just wanted David to show him kindness and he would do the same likewise. And you say, why is he afraid David's going to kill him? Because a lot of times when somebody becomes king who's not part of that royal family, they've got to kill that whole royal family. It's like when the Bolsheviks took over Russia in 1917. You know, they killed the czar and they killed the czar's whole family. Everybody, even children. They killed them all because they don't want anybody to have a claim to that throne. And that's happened throughout history, even in modern day. Even in the 20th century you can see that and many other examples in recent time. And so we see that Jonathan doesn't care about this, but Saul just wants him on that throne. Saul's resisting God's will here. And he says, thou shall not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now, send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die. Go get him, Jonathan, so I can kill him. And Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to them, wherefore shall he be slain? What have he done? And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him. So now it's not enough to just throw these railing curses at him and his mom. Now he's throwing a javelin at his own son. And look, it says he threw a javelin at him to smite him. So he's not just throwing it at him just to scare him or just to startle him or just to mess with him. I mean, the Bible makes it clear. He's trying to hit him with the javelin. So he's crazy. I mean, if you think about it, he's saying, I want you to be on the throne. I want you to reign. And then the next thing, he's trying to kill him. So do you see how when people become angry and enraged, sometimes they just have no rational thought? I mean, this doesn't make any sense. He's just going crazy, literally. And just like the Bible talked about, where the evil spirit from the Lord's troubling him. He's prophesying. He's throwing a javelin at David. He's doing all this crazy stuff. He's just losing his mind. And this is a really good example of how a great man, a godly man, a spiritual man, can go down the wrong path and just go down a downward spiral and just get worse and worse and worse. And that's what we've been seeing with Saul over and over again. And so he throws the javelin at him. Whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David. That pretty much told him, OK, I get it. I'm not going to be able to talk him out of this. He's throwing a javelin at me. I think I'm done trying to persuade him. Verse 34, so Jonathan arose from the table in fear saying to him, so now Jonathan's mad. He told him, you know, you're mama, and he threw a javelin at him. And he says to him, he says, he arose in a fierce anger and did eat no meat for the second day of the month. For he was grieved for David because his father had done him shame. And it came to pass in the morning that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David and a little lad with him. And he said unto his lad, run, find out now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. And when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad and said, is not the arrow beyond me? And Jonathan cried after the lad. Make speed, haste, stay not. So he's saying to the lad, is not the arrow beyond me? Hurry up and get it. Hurry up, make haste, go. But the code is to David. He's telling David, get out of here, hurry up, go, leave. He makes it sound like he's saying it to the boy, but he's really saying it to David because David's in the bush just listening. But the lad doesn't have a clue. He thinks he's just telling him to hurry up because he's being impatient. And so he tells him to hurry up and it says in verse 39 that the lad knew not anything, only Jonathan and David knew the matter. And Jonathan gave his artillery, that's his bow and arrows, unto his lad and said unto him, go carry them to the city. And as soon as the lad was gone, David rose out of the place toward the south and fell on his face to the ground and bowed himself three times. And they kissed one another and wept one with another until David exceeded. So even though he told David, just get out of here, David still is risking it just to say goodbye to his friend one more time. So he comes out of the bushes. He hugs him, kisses him. They're crying. And the Bible says until David exceeded. I mean, this is to the point where basically there's crying, there's weeping, and then there's just bawling or just out of control sobbing. And the Bible's just making it clear how upset David is here. And why are they upset? Because they were good friends. And really, they're not going to be friends anymore. I mean, they're going to be friends in their heart, obviously. They're never going to betray one another's loyalty. But they can't be together anymore. Because from here on out, David's on the run. David's with his own band of men. This is kind of a party of ways here. They don't know for how long it's going to be or if they're ever going to see each other again. They're going to have to pretty much go their separate ways. So this is like a final goodbye. Because David's to the point where he knows Saul is determined to kill him. He's not going to come back anymore. He's not going to work for Saul anymore. He needs to just go on his own. And that's what we're going to see from here on out. He's on his own. So this is a party of the ways here. And there's a sadness. If you had a really close friend, and then you're separated from that friend, you're going to be really sad. You're going to be upset. And there's going to be tears and so forth. See, this is a great example of friendship in the Bible that was a strong friendship, not just a superficial, shallow friendship. Like today, we use the word friend very loosely today. This is my friend, but then as soon as something goes wrong or maybe we move away or maybe there's some kind of adversity that comes along, they're not our friend anymore. And the Bible talks a lot about friends that are fair-weather friends. Let me read you a couple of verses here on friendship. The Bible says in Proverbs 18, 24, it says, A man that hath friends must show himself friendly, and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. So the Bible says that a friend can be closer to you than your own brother at many times. And he says pretty much the same thing over in Proverbs 27, verse 10, when he said, Thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not. Neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity, for better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off. He's saying sometimes your brother's not there for you because maybe he lives far away. But, you know, sometimes there's a friend that can stick to you even closer than a brother. And in reality, those of us who are saved are brothers. The Bible calls us over and over again the brethren in the New Testament, the brethren, the brethren. And you can see that Paul had a lot of close ties with a lot of fellow believers that were his brethren. And if you remember, when he parted from them at those from Ephesus, and remember, they wept because he said that they would see his face no more. And the elders of the church wept and said their goodbyes with Paul because they were going to miss him because they weren't going to see him anymore. And so we are brothers and sisters in Christ, those of us who are saved. And so we have friendship, or we ought to have friendship one with another and be loyal to one another and not turn our backs on one another. Like the Bible says, for example, Whoso hath this world's good, and seeeth his brother hath need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? The Bible says, Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Jesus said, Great in love hath no man than this, and that a man lay down his life for his friends. The Bible teaches a friendship that goes a little bit deeper than somebody clicking on a Facebook, this is my friend. And I'll be honest with you, I've had some people, I've got thousands of some people on there, they're not my friends. I have very few people that I would consider my friend. Because the word friend should mean something. And the word friend in the Bible is about somebody that you're willing to help when they're in need or lay down your life for, or be loyal to, and stand with in the time of adversity. And there are many fair-weather friends that'll let you down, and when you go through hard times, and when you go through times of adversity, that's when you find out who your real friends are. Because the fair-weather friends will fade away. And you've got to, if you do have a good friend that'll stand with you, man, don't forsake your friend. Don't forsake your father's friend. Because that person can help you in the day of your adversity, and we need to take that seriously. Friendship, but not only that, also, Jesus Christ is our friend. Jesus said, you're my friends, if you do whatsoever I've commanded you. He said, I call you no more servants, I call you friends. And of course, Abraham was the friend of God, and Jesus said that we're his friends. And we need to be loyal to our friend Jesus, because he'll always be loyal to us. Obviously, he's totally without sin, he's totally righteous. He will always be loyal unto us. We know he'll never, he said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. But wait a minute, are we loyal to him? Are we ashamed of him? He said, whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, in this wicked and adulterous generation, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in his glory. You see, it's a shameful thing if we would be ashamed of our friends. For example, let's say we were out in public somewhere, and you were with some coworkers or friends, and I said, hey, Brother Garrett, how you doing? And Brother Garrett just pretended not to know me. You know, because he doesn't want to be seen with you. And so, or he just kind of blew me off, or just, oh, let's get out of here. Or maybe he's in the store with some people that he knows, and I'm in the store too, and he sees me across the store, and all of a sudden he just wants to get out of that store. Because he doesn't want, you know, he doesn't want people to see or, you know, to be known. You know, or let's say I went into his workplace and he went and hid in the back or something, you know, because he doesn't want to talk to people. You know, I mean, I'm being silly, but wouldn't that be horrible? Don't you think that would hurt my feelings? Or vice versa? You know, if I were out somewhere and he said, hey, Pastor Hanson, I was just kind of like, who are you, you know? We shouldn't be ashamed of our friends, right? I mean, if it's our friend and we love them, we should be proud to stand with them and loyal to them. And look, there have been a lot of people who've said a lot of bad things about Pastor Anderson, right? And there have been a lot of people who didn't like me and who hated my guts, you know, and that could cause a lot of people to say, well, I don't want anything to do with him because then they're going to be mad at me or they're not going to like me. Well, you know what? You're not my friend then, apparently. You know, if that's how shallow your friendship is. And, you know, there are other people. Pastors will, you know... For example, Kent Hovind, you know, he was like a really popular evangelist, preaching and everything, and then he gets put in jail and then everybody, all of his friends, some of his... Not all of his friends, of course, but some of his friends, like, they don't want anything to do with him because he went into prison, like, oh, man, you know? And it's not like he did something bad, like committing adultery or something, you know? It's not like he committed some wicked sin. You know, he basically just, you know, kept his money that the IRS wanted to take from him or whatever, you know? And again, look, I pay all my taxes and I, you know, I cross the T and dot the I, but you know what? I'm not going to sit there and side with our wicked federal government against a brother in Christ, you know? Just because the government has this, you know, was extorting all this money from all of us. Hey, you know what? My philosophy is this, and I get my philosophy from the Bible, okay, where Jesus Christ asked Peter the question when they came to get the taxes from Peter and they asked Peter, does your master pay tribute? Does Jesus pay tax? And he said yes. So then he went into the house and Jesus stopped him because Jesus knew all things. He knew the conversation before it happened. So Jesus stopped him. This is in the book of Matthew, I believe it's chapter 18, and he stopped him and said, Simon, I have something to ask you. He said, you know, of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? Of their own children or of strangers? And he said, of strangers. Jesus said, then are the children free? Nevertheless, that we not offend them, he said go, you know, and he tells them to go fishing and then the first fish he finds, he's going to open the mouth and he's going to pull out a coin and that coin will be for him and for Jesus. It will be enough to pay both of their taxes. Oh, for those days. Okay, here's a coin. This is for me and my friend here, okay? Get out of here. See you next year, okay? So that's where I get my philosophy on how I handle, you know, our abusive government, is that, you know, I'll pay them their money and they can take it to hell with them. Okay? You know, I mean, I'm going to pay the money lest we offend them and they can take it to hell with them. You know, I'm not going to sit there and make my life about being a tax protester and a political activist. I'm all for political activism. I'm all for standing up for our rights as Americans and I've stood up for my rights as an American. I've done my share in that area. But that's not the main focus of my life. My main focus is to preach the gospel, to win souls to Christ, to preach the Bible, okay? So I'm going to just pay the taxes and say, you know what, I shouldn't have to pay this and I'm going to say that just like Jesus said. I shouldn't have to pay. Why should I have to pay this money to them? But he said, you know what, I'm just going to give it to them though. Who cares? You know, lest we offend them. And of course, easy for Jesus because he's pulling out of a fish's mouth. But anyway, you know, he basically said, hey, just give it to them. So what? You know, they can take, and you know what? You say, why do you have such a bad attitude about paying taxes? Well, because I just know where the money goes. You know, it goes toward a bunch of stuff I don't believe in. It goes toward a bunch of filth and wickedness. It goes to teach a bunch of filth in the schools that I don't even agree with. Brainwashing children, stuff I don't believe in and then I have to pay for it. I pay for the brainwashing to take place. Everything that's anti-Christ and atheistic and godless and wicked, we have to pay for with our taxes. We pay for abortion. We pay for perverts to go to the doctor because they're filled with disease from all their sodomy. They get all filled with disease from it. We have to pay for it. Look, I don't like paying money for this garbage, okay? And I can understand why somebody doesn't pay their taxes. I get it. I mean, I'm not going to look at somebody like him and just condemn him and say, oh man, you know, how dare you, you know? Look, am I doing it the same way he's doing it? No. Am I going down the path that he's going down? No. I'm paying it. But you know what? God bless him. He's a brother in Christ, okay? That doesn't mean that you should just sit there and just side with the baby-killing, abortion, sodomy-promoting government against your brother in Christ because he got tired of being extorted from all the money that they say that he owes him or whatever. And again, I'm not condoning not paying or I'm not saying I'm not going to pay or something, but you know what? Hey, that money is not their money, period. End of story. They are extorting it at the barrel of a gun from people that live thousands of miles away and they're thousands of miles away in a distant city, Washington, D.C., extorting money from us at the barrel of a gun. That money does not belong to them. It's not like we owe it to them or it belongs to them. Yeah, they've made a law that we have to give it to them, but they can make a law next that says, give me everything in your house or give me your children. So the bottom line is we don't owe them anything. I don't owe them money. I don't pay my taxes. Do I pay taxes? Yes. But the only reason I pay taxes, are you listening to me? It's because if I don't, they're going to come to my house with machine guns like they came to Ken Ova's house with machine guns. That's why I pay the taxes. And if I didn't think they were going to come to the house with machine guns, I wouldn't be paying it. I'm just telling them to pay the house. If somebody 3,000-some miles away says, you know, send me money so I can pay for all this filth and sin and bombing people that are on the other side of the world to protect the Jewish state, you know what I'd say? No. But you know what? They're going to come to my house with a machine gun. I'd rather spend my life just preaching the gospel and saying, you know what, they can take it to hell with it. And look, a lot of people will get mad at you no matter which side you take on this. You know, if you pay the taxes, there will be people who get mad at you for paying your taxes and saying like, oh, you are just this, you know, lifting their boots. I mean, come on. I've been around people like this, right? And they'll be like, oh, man, you're paying taxes? What are you, just this total government slave? It's like, get real, man. You know, it's the law, okay? And then other people will get mad at Ken Hovind and like, oh, man, we've got to stay away from this. And really a lot of it is probably just fear. They don't want to get audited or something like, oh, you like Ken Hovind? Audit, red flag. I'm not even saying, I'm not saying I'm a big Ken Hovind fan. I'm just saying, I'm going to stand with my brother in Christ. I'm going to stand with him. I'm not going to stand with the IRS, okay? I'm not going to stand with the federal government, no thanks. But you'll get people mad at you on both sides. So let me say this. To the people who are mad at me for paying taxes and for, you know, following the laws in that area, to those people, I say this. Show me one verse in the Bible that tells me I'm sinning by paying it. You know what I mean? Because people get mad. I already paid that. You're wrong to pay that. Well, Jesus paid it, okay? And so I don't see how you can get angry at me and call me a commie and a socialist because I paid it. Only because I don't want him to come to my house with a machine gun. Let me be clear, okay? And they will come to your house with a machine gun, by the way, if you don't pay it. Now, if you make, like, no money, if you make a really small wage and don't pay it, they're not going to mess with you. But if you make enough money to support a family of eight and you don't pay your taxes, well, they'll come to your house with a machine gun. But... or an automatic shotgun or whatever. Whatever they're using. A grenade launcher, okay? A tank, whatever. So to the people who are mad at me for paying the taxes, I say to them, show me in the Bible where it says not to pay my taxes, number two, okay? And to the people that are mad at the people who are not paying their taxes and refusing to, just, you know, again, I say this. The Bible's clear that we don't owe the money, but Jesus says it's smarter to just pay it to not offend them. That's why I go that route. Okay. But remember that our country was founded by people, you know, and people... And again, this has nothing to do with the Bible. I'm not citing this as biblical authority, but our country was founded by people who destroyed a bunch of government property when they threw a bunch of tea into the Boston Harbor because they were refusing to pay taxes on it. I mean, and that's somehow glorified in our country, but then the same people will say, oh, man, what are you doing, you know? What are you doing saying that we shouldn't pay taxes? It's like, well, you obviously don't even know what our whole country is founded on, not paying taxes. I mean, this country was founded on not paying taxes. This is the not paying taxes states of America. You know, and people don't get that. But the bottom line... And again, that's a total sidetrack from the sermon. The bottom line is this. I'm not going to be a fair-weather friend to people when things go wrong in their life. And maybe even they make a mistake. Maybe even they do something wrong. Right? And I'm not talking about doing something wicked like committing adultery or committing murder or doing some awful thing. You know, some of those people just make mistakes. And it's not some horrible, wicked sin, but they just do something wrong. Maybe it is their fault. Maybe they did mess up. But should we just throw our friend under the bus because they're not popular, because people don't like them, or because people are talking bad about... No. We ought to be like David and Jonathan here and have true, real friendship and stick closer to our friends than as a brother should stick. Because they are our brother if we're safe. And obviously we should only be friends with those that are safe, by the way. That's another sermon. And we ought to stick as close as a brother to those people and not just turn our back on them. Because maybe... And look, maybe somebody gets down... Maybe your friend, your brother in Christ that you love, maybe they get down and out financially. Okay, maybe it was their own fault. Maybe you could look at it and say, oh, you messed up your finances. That's your fault. Okay, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to help you out. You idiot, run your finances right. Get out of my sight. That doesn't mean I'm not going to help you out. I'm not going to say that. You know, people make mistakes. Hey, let me reach into my pocket. Let me help you out. Here, let me give you a little money. Here, you know, here's some place to stay. Here's some food, whatever. God wants us to be loyal to our friends even if they make a mistake, okay, and not be like the story of the Good Samaritan where, you know, somebody's laying in the ditch, beaten and bloody and half-naked, and everybody walks on the other side of the street and says, well, I'm staying away from that guy. You know, who was his neighbor? The one who went and helped him out, the one who loved him, the one who cared about him. And so don't be a friend like the world is a friend where it's just a shallow thing where, well, as long as you can do something for me, you're my friend. Don't be ashamed to be friends with people just because something goes wrong in their life or maybe even they make a mistake and mess up. You know, you should stay with your friend. And look, here, I mean, Jonathan's getting in trouble with his dad. He's getting a jab bone thrown at him. But he still loves his friend, still loyal to his friend. And by the way, staying loyal to your friend Jesus Christ, sometimes that'll even turn your own family members against you. Jesus said, think not that I'm come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace but the vision. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. And he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, Jesus said. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And I think that that's also symbolized in this passage where Jonathan is true to his friend David which represents Jesus Christ and because of his loyalty unto Jesus or unto David in this case, his own father turns on him. You know, you might have parents turn on you or children turn on you or brothers and sisters or friends or co-workers turn on you but be loyal to your friend. Be loyal to Jesus Christ. Stay true to him and don't let anybody divide you from him and don't let others divide you from you and your other friends on this earth that are your brothers and sisters in Christ that you love as you love your own soul as David loved Jonathan and Jonathan loved David. Let's pray and have a word with her. Father, please just help us to learn from this story and help us to follow the example of David and Jonathan by being a true friend to our friends by sticking with them, standing with them even in their time of adversity even when they go through trials and tribulations and troubles help us to be true to them and faithful to them not to just turn our back on them and throw them under the bus when it's not convenient for us to be their friend. And thank you for your friendship, dear Jesus that we know that you'll never forsake us. We know that you'll never leave us and that you'll always be there for us. Help us to do you the same courtesy and to never be ashamed of you or of your words and to stand with you even when it causes a rift between our family or friends and God forbid that would happen but please help us to stay faithful to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.