1. "In modern life it seems that all contracts come with escape clauses. Even the need to structure so many relationships by contracts is a sign that loyalty and trust and a person's word count for little. You can't count on each other, so you have to sign a piece of paper saying exactly what you're promising and what's going to happen to you if you break your word."

2. "What happens in a society where everyone looks out for number one? How much is the anxiety we feel these days a function of the disheartening suspicion that in a real jam, there might not be anyone we can count on?"

3. "David and Jonathan's relationship is not a mere case study in friendship, though there are rich themes on that line. It's a case study in being caught between kingdoms, caught in the overlap of the ages, smashed between two tectonic plates, the kingdom that now is and God's coming kingdom."

4. "Why does the coming of Christ create a crisis of loyalty? It's because Jesus demands your ultimate loyalty. He will endure no rivals, he will tolerate no opposition, he claims the throne of the universe, and he demands the throne of your heart."

5. "The heart of sin is rejecting God's supremacy. The heart of sin is declaring a greater loyalty to self than to God. The heart of sin is showing a greater loyalty to what you want and what other people want than to what God wants."

6. "In order to be loyal to God's promises, Jonathan gave up his own kingdom, and that's what you have to do too. In order to lash your life to God's promises for the future, you can't be king anymore. You can't trust in God's promises and be king of your own life at the same time. The throne only has room for one."

7. "The appeal of self-devotion is ultimately self-deceiving and self-destructive. Saul's sin destroyed his own heart and mind. It destroyed his relationship to his son. It isolated him in a sad, sick little jail cell of suspicion and paranoia."

8. "The only way to gain what you really need for yourself is to give up living for yourself. The only way to really live for yourself is to die to yourself."

9. "True love for God's people is commitment demonstrated in devotion. True love for God's people is love that gives, love that costs, love that sacrifices, love that bears burdens, love that moves in closer when the going gets tough."

10. "You can faithfully endure persecution and hardship for the sake of God's name when you know that he never suffers a crisis of loyalty. You can endure having your name stomped on, being slandered and misrepresented. You can endure losing money and status because of moral lines you refuse to cross."

Observation Questions

1. In 1 Samuel 20:1-3, what three questions does David ask Jonathan about his situation with Saul, and how does David describe the danger he is in?

2. According to 1 Samuel 20:12-13, what does Jonathan promise to do regarding Saul's intentions, and what blessing does Jonathan pronounce over David's future?

3. In 1 Samuel 20:14-15, what specific request does Jonathan make of David, and what future event does Jonathan anticipate when he says "when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth"?

4. What is the communication plan that David and Jonathan devise in 1 Samuel 20:18-23, and what do the positions of the arrows signify?

5. How does Saul respond to Jonathan in 1 Samuel 20:30-33 when Jonathan defends David's absence, and what does Saul do that reveals his true intentions?

6. In 1 Samuel 20:41-42, how do David and Jonathan part from one another, and what covenant do they invoke as they separate?

Interpretation Questions

1. Jonathan acknowledges in verse 13 that God's presence will be with David "as he has been with my father" (past tense). What does this reveal about Jonathan's understanding of God's purposes, and why is this significant given that Jonathan is the heir to Saul's throne?

2. The sermon emphasizes that Jonathan's relationship with David is "a case study in being caught between kingdoms." How does Jonathan's situation parallel what Jesus describes in Matthew 10:34-38 about the crisis of loyalty He creates?

3. Why does Saul's appeal to Jonathan's self-interest in verse 31 ("neither you nor your kingdom shall be established") fail to persuade Jonathan? What does this reveal about the difference between Saul's and Jonathan's fundamental loyalties?

4. The Hebrew word "hesed" (steadfast love/covenant faithfulness) appears multiple times in verses 14-15. How does Jonathan's appeal to David for "hesed" reflect his trust in both God's character and David's character?

5. How does Jonathan's experience of being treated like David (having a spear thrown at him in verse 33, leaving the feast in verse 34) illustrate the biblical principle that those who are loyal to God's anointed will share in his sufferings?

Application Questions

1. The sermon warns that our culture constantly catechizes us in "self-devotion" through media and entertainment. What specific voices or influences in your life encourage you to prioritize loyalty to yourself over loyalty to God and others, and how can you guard against this catechesis?

2. Jonathan moved toward David in his distress rather than away from him. When you learn of a church member's suffering or difficulty, what typically keeps you from moving toward that person in compassionate care, and what practical step could you take this week to become more like Jonathan?

3. The sermon states that "you cannot trust God's promises and be king of your own life at the same time." In what specific area of your life are you currently struggling to surrender the throne to Christ, and what would it look like to yield that area to His kingship?

4. Jonathan and David's friendship was marked by covenant commitment, honest communication, and willingness to bear cost for one another. How do your closest friendships reflect these qualities, and what is one way you could invest more deeply in a friendship this week?

5. David was able to endure persecution because he knew God would never suffer "a crisis of loyalty." What current hardship, opposition, or uncertainty in your life requires you to trust in God's unwavering faithfulness, and how does knowing His loyalty is certain change how you face that situation?

Additional Bible Reading

1. 2 Samuel 9:1-13 — This passage shows David fulfilling his covenant promise to Jonathan by showing "hesed" to Jonathan's son Mephibosheth, demonstrating the lasting fruit of their loyalty.

2. Matthew 10:34-42 — Jesus teaches that following Him creates a crisis of loyalty that may divide families, directly paralleling Jonathan's experience of choosing God's king over his father.

3. Psalm 57:1-11 — David wrote this psalm while fleeing from Saul, expressing his trust in God's steadfast love and faithfulness during persecution.

4. Hebrews 11:32-40 — This passage describes those who endured suffering by faith, trusting in God's promises even when they did not receive what was promised in their lifetime.

5. Luke 14:25-33 — Jesus explains the cost of discipleship, requiring that loyalty to Him surpass all other relationships, echoing Jonathan's costly choice to follow God's anointed king.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Crisis of Loyalty in Modern Life

II. Jesus Creates a Crisis of Loyalty (Matthew 10:34-38)

III. Walking Through 1 Samuel 20: The Rise of the New King Creates a Crisis of Loyalty

IV. No Matter How Impossible It Looks, God Will Fulfill His Promises

V. No Matter the Appeal, Self-Devotion Is Self-Destructive

VI. No Matter the Cost, True Faith Proves Loyal to God's Promises, God's King, and God's People

VII. No Matter How Sorely They Are Persecuted, God Will Never Abandon His People

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Detailed Sermon Outline

Sam Houston once said of someone who crossed him, he had all the qualities of a dog except loyalty.

Who are you loyal to? Who is loyal to you? In the modern West, it often seems like all loyalties are uncertain. They're all subject to change, liable to be sold to a higher bidder, or to evaporate at the first sign of hardship. You give six years of your life to an employer and they fire you with no notice for no good reason.

In modern life it seems that all contracts come with escape clauses. Even the need to structure so many relationships by contracts is a sign that loyalty and trust and a person's word count for little. You can't count on each other, so you have to sign a piece of paper saying exactly what you're promising and what's going to happen to you if you break your word. Today, many people view even marriage that most total and permanent of commitments as temporary, reversible. They think that loyalty in marriage should last only as long as the feeling of being in love does.

No more lovey feeling, no more commitment.

Kids in the congregation, have you ever noticed that almost all Disney movies have the same plot?

The main character has some dream, some vision of the good life for themselves. As an individual. And they can only achieve that dream if they disobey their dad or defy their society or somehow escape from what everyone else says they should do. In all those movies, Disney is catechizing you. Disney is teaching you to be loyal first and foremost to yourself.

And Disney is teaching you that very often the only way to be loyal to yourself is to defy every voice of authority or tradition. Especially it seems that you need to defy the voice of the people who brought you into this world and who provide for your every need.

What happens in a society where everyone looks out for number one?

In his book on loyalty, the journalist Eric Felton asks, How much is the anxiety we feel these days a function of the disheartening suspicion that in a real jam, there might not be anyone we can count on? In a real jam, who can you count on? And who can count on you?

And what happens when that real jam is a conflict of loyalties? Your friend wants one thing and your family demands another. Your boss requires one thing and your wife requests another. Or your government commands something that your conscience questions. How do you resolve a clash of loyalties?

Some people still view Christianity as a kind of respectable club that shores up your social standing, though that view is quickly receding. But some people still think becoming a Christian boosts your civic virtue. It inserts you into a comfortable set of rules and rewards. It puts you into right standing, perhaps with family or a respectable local community. But that's not at all what Jesus said about himself.

In fact, Jesus said that he came to earth to create a crisis of loyalty. Listen to what he teaches about himself in Matthew 10:34-38.

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Every time Jesus comes into someone's life, he creates a crisis.

Of loyalty. This morning we continue our series in 1 Samuel with chapter 20. It's on page 243 of the Pew Bibles or at least starts there. If you were here last week, you'll remember that Saul, the current king of Israel, envies David, the man whom God has chosen to replace him. And because Saul envies David, he continually tries to harm him and even kill him.

Chapter 20 continues the story of how David and others respond to Saul's efforts to kill David. Chapter 20 is really one long narrative. It's all a single fabric. So instead of taking it piece by piece like I usually do and applying each section as we go, this sermon is going to have two halves. First, I'll simply walk through a basic explanation of the whole passage.

Then I'll double back and draw out four points of application. First, a walk through the passage, then four points of application from the passage. So if you're waiting for an outline, you're going to have to wait a little while.

To give you a heading for walking through the text, here's a one sentence summary of the whole thing: the rise of the new king creates a crisis of loyalty. The rise of the new king creates a crisis of loyalty. That's the whole passage in a nutshell. Look first at verses 1 to 4.

Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, 'What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin before your father that he seeks my life? ' and he said to him, 'Far from it! you!

shall not die! Behold, my father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me. And why should my father hide this from me? It is not so. But David vowed again, saying, 'Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he thinks, 'Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. '

But truly, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death. Then Jonathan said to David, Whatever you say, I will do for you. At the end of chapter 19, where we left David and Saul last week, David is at Naioth in Ramah taking refuge with Samuel the prophet and Saul is trying to kill him. He's even come in person to try to do that. But the Holy Spirit neutralized the threat.

The Holy Spirit turned Saul into a prophet and he's lying there on the floor prophesying. So it appears that David used this opportunity to escape and he goes and seeks out help from his friend, Jonathan. So David asks Jonathan if he can explain what's going on. David knows that Saul is trying to kill him but he doesn't know why.

But then Jonathan denies it. Jonathan asserts that Saul would surely tell him if he meant to kill David. Back in chapter 19, verse six, we saw that Saul swore an oath before Jonathan that he wouldn't put David to death. And it seems that perhaps Jonathan doesn't know about Saul's more recent attempts to kill David. So he's still got too rosy a view of his own father.

He doesn't seem fully clued in to what's going on. But David is more savvy, so he tries to convince Jonathan that Saul is keeping his murderous plans from him because Saul knows how close Jonathan and David are. What's David trying to do here in appealing to Jonathan, going to him for help? I think he probably has three motivations. The first is that as we hear, he's trying to figure out if he has done anything wrong to Saul because if he's done something wrong, maybe he can make it right.

Second, he's trying to get Jonathan to realize what's going on. Jonathan made a covenant with David back in chapter 18, which means that Jonathan is not only David's friend, but he's his ally. He's pledged his loyalty to David. So as David's relationship with Saul deteriorates, he wants to make sure that his ally inside the court is fully informed. Maybe Jonathan can be some kind of lifeline to him in the future.

Third, I think David may be anticipating that he's gonna have to flee for good. He sees the writing on the wall and he knows that if he flees, that's gonna make waves in royal circles. Wasn't David this rising star in Saul's court? Didn't everybody love him? Isn't he the king's son-in-law?

Why is he suddenly split? What's going on there? Is there something fishy, something suspicious? Is he mounting a coup? So I think what David's doing is he's giving Saul one more opportunity to show his true colors, in part so that it will be plain for all to see that if David ups and leaves, it's only because he absolutely had to.

Look at verses 5 to 11 now. For what David proposes, in order to inform Jonathan and remove all doubt about Saul's true colors. David said to Jonathan, Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit at table with the king. But let me go, that I may hide myself in the field till the third day at evening. If your father misses me at all, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me to run to Bethlehem his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the clan.

If he says, 'Good,' it will be well with your servant; but if he is angry, then know that harm is determined by him. Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. But if there is guilt in me, kill me yourself; for why should you bring me to your father? And Jonathan said, Far be it from you. If I knew that it was determined by my father that harm should come to you, would I not tell you?

Then David said to Jonathan, who will tell me if your father answers you roughly? And Jonathan said to David, Come, let us go out into the field. So they both went out into the field.

Jonathan is asking David to sound out Saul's stance toward him one last time. Now the new moon was a monthly celebration when Israelites would gather together, offer sacrifices to the Lord, and feast on the meat of the sacrifices. So the king's celebration with his court would naturally include his extended family and his senior officials. And really David qualified on both grounds as the king's son-in-law and a military commander. So Saul would notice if David wasn't there.

Now, it seems that David's story about having to go to Bethlehem is a ruse. It's a lie. And here it's important to remember that in Scripture there's a difference between reporting and recommending. There's a difference between recording and endorsing. Those of you who are journalists know this distinction very well.

So David's character is generally upright and he's commended for it. But that doesn't mean Scripture implies that everything he ever does is right. Besides Jesus, no human character in Scripture is perfect. So the basic point of the plan here is to see how Saul responds to David's absence. Is he understanding and indulgent or does he fly into a rage?

Here's one last test for Saul before David goes into a longer term Exile, just one problem. If Saul flies off the handle, who's gonna tell David about it? If Saul suspects that his son, Jonathan, is in league with David, he may well have servants who spy on all of Jonathan's motions. So David and Jonathan go out into a field to talk over a solution to the problem of communication. But before they get to the practical stuff, they have an intense conversation about God's faithfulness, their friendship, and both of their futures.

In some ways, this is the thermal core of the passage. Look at verses 12 and 13.

And Jonathan said to David, 'The Lord, the God of Israel, be witness: when I have sounded out my father, about this time tomorrow or the third day, behold, if he is well disposed toward David, shall I not then send and disclose it to you?

But should it please my Father to do you harm, the Lord do so to Jonathan and more also, if I do not disclose it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. In these verses, Jonathan solemnly promises to convey Saul's response to David. Whatever that response is. But then look again at the end of verse 13: May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father.

Note the implicit future tense of the wish and the past tense of how God was with Saul. Jonathan is recognizing that God has passed the kingship from Saul to David. Jonathan is recognizing David's claim to the throne and he's praying a blessing on David's future kingship. The whole rest of their conversation takes place in the light shed backward from that future. It's as if the present completely vanishes in light of Jonathan's certainty that God will make David king.

Jonathan views his own present exclusively through the lens of God's promised future for David.

David and Jonathan's relationship is not a mere case study in friendship, though there are rich themes on that line. Instead of being a mere case study in friendship, It's a case study in being caught between kingdoms, caught in the overlap of the ages, smashed between two tectonic plates, the kingdom that now is and God's coming kingdom.

So in verses 14 and 15, Jonathan asks David to show mercy to him and his descendants. Here David is begging for mercy from Jonathan to help him survive the of Jonathan's father. But Jonathan knows that soon the tables will turn and he'll be the one to need mercy. Look at verses 14 and 15. If I'm 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. Note how these two verses are structured around the steadfast love of two figures, God and David. That phrase steadfast love translates hesed, one of the most important words in Scripture. And it's tough to capture it in a single word or phrase, so you might see it translated as mercy or loving kindness or as here, steadfast love.

Its basic sense is loyalty, faithfulness to covenant promise. So it's good to translate it as steadfast love or you could even say covenant faithfulness. It's about God's loyalty to God's people because of God's promises. That's what Jonathan is banking on in knowing what God's about to do for David. But then he also appeals to David to say, David, when God shows you covenant faithfulness, You better show me covenant faithfulness.

He's appealing to David about how David needs to act in light of how he knows God is going to act. Now, in the ancient Near East and in many societies today, when a new ruler comes to power, the name of the game is purge. Like, get rid of all remaining rivals, get rid of all remaining members of the opposing dynasty or party or whatever it may be. So Jonathan is asking David to promise that he won't consolidate his power by eliminating Jonathan and his descendants. Then we read in verses 16 and 17, 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 soul.

So here David and Jonathan renew the covenant they made back in chapter 18. Jonathan will do whatever it takes to help David and David will remember Jonathan when he comes in his kingdom. If you want to see the specific form that David's covenant faithfulness takes, you can go read 2 Samuel chapter nine this afternoon and see David's astonishing kindness to Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth. Now, after that heavy theological interlude, the narrative finally picks up this issue of communication. How are they going to get around it?

In verses 18 to 23.

Then Jonathan said to him, Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed because your seat will be empty. On the third day, go down quickly to the place where you hid yourself when the matter was in hand. And remain beside the stone heap. And I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I shot at a mark. And behold, I will send the boy saying, 'Go find the arrows.

If I say to the boy, 'Look, the arrows are on this side of you, take them. Then you are to come. For as the Lord lives, it is safe for you and there is no danger. But if I say to the youth, Look, the arrows are beyond you, then go, for the Lord has sent you away. And as for the matter of which you and I have spoken, behold, the Lord is between you and me forever.

The point here is simple. The arrows are a code. They allow David and Jonathan to communicate while preserving secrecy and deniability. If Jonathan shoots short and he calls the boy toward him, then David is safe and he can come in from the cold. But if Jonathan shoots long and he tells the boy to go farther away, David has to flee for his life.

So now, Jonathan and David's plan gets set in motion. Look at verses 24 to 26.

So David hid himself in the field. And when the new moon came, the king sat down to eat food. The king sat on his seat, as at other times on the seat by the wall. Jonathan sat opposite, and Abner sat by Saul's side, but David's place was empty. Yet Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, Something has happened to him.

He is not clean. Surely he is not clean. In ancient Israel, lots of everyday activities could leave someone in a state of ceremonial impurity which usually lasted for a day. It doesn't mean anybody's done anything morally wrong, it's just a kind of state of cleanliness in order to offer a sacrifice or approach the temple or participate in some type of formal worship. So Saul assumes that's what's happened to David and because that only lasts a day, surely he'll be in court for the next days.

Festival meal. We pick up in verses 27 to 29, but on the second day, the day after the new moon, David's place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan, his son, 'Why has not the son of Jesse come to the meal? Either yesterday or today?' Jonathan answered Saul, 'David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem. He said, 'Let me go, for our clan holds a sacrifice in the city.

And my brother has commanded me to be there. So now if I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away and see my brothers. For this reason he has not come to the king's table.

Now Saul grows suspicious and Jonathan tells David's story, only he embellishes it a little. He adds that David's brother commanded him to come to Bethlehem and he adds the appeal, let me get away. The Hebrew word is literally let me escape. Maybe a little bit of a gaffe on Jonathan's part. In any case, he delivers David's message.

He sets up this test for Saul. How is Saul gonna respond? Look first at verse 30. Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan and he said to him, you, son of a perverse, rebellious woman, do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame? And to the shame of your mother's nakedness?

Saul's so angry that he insults his son using coarse language. The point of the insult is not to imply any sexual impropriety on Jonathan's part. It's just a graphic way of saying, as the NIV puts it, that Jonathan is a shame to the mother who bore him. He's bringing shame on his family. Now, how is he doing that?

It's because Jonathan chose friend over family. He chose new king over current king. In this clash of loyalties, he could only choose one. And Saul doesn't like Jonathan's choice. Remember, David has done nothing against Saul, but Saul has resolved to treat David as his enemy.

And because Saul makes David his enemy, he forces everyone else around him to choose. Are you for me and against David? Or for David and against me? He leaves them no middle ground. Saul's envious anger forces this costly choice on Jonathan.

And then Saul tries to appeal to Jonathan's self-interest in verse 31.

For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Therefore, send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.

As the son of the king, Jonathan is the presumptive heir. And we don't know how Saul knows, but by this point he clearly seems to know that David is the anointed successor. David is going to take his Saul's place. So the supremely self-interested Saul is trying to appeal to Jonathan's self-interest. Don't you want to be king?

Don't you see that as long as he's alive, that means you're never going to be king? But Jonathan is not navigating by self-interest. He's seeking first not his own kingdom, but God's kingdom. Look at verses 32 to 34.

Then Jonathan answered Saul his father, 'Why should he be put to death? What has he done?' But Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him. So Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death. And Jonathan rose from the table in fierce anger and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had disgraced him. Here Jonathan takes up David's question from verse one, what has David done?

And by standing with David, and for David he comes to be treated like David. We saw last week how Saul twice hurled his spear at David, now he hurls his spear at Jonathan. It's almost as if in Saul's eyes Jonathan and David have melded into one.

So now Jonathan is finally convinced of what David knew all along. Saul is determined to kill David. He's not going to stop at anything. So now, not only is David's spot empty, but Jonathan empties his too. He leaves Saul's feast to go join David outside the camp and bear the reproach that David endured.

Then in verses 35 to 42, Jonathan and David meet again. But they meet only in order to part. Verses 35 to 42. In the morning, Jonathan went out into the fields to the appointment with David and with him a little boy. And he said to his boy, Run and find the arrows that I shoot.

As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. And when the boy came to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the boy and said, Is not the arrow beyond you? And Jonathan called after the boy, Hurry, be quick, do not stay. So Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows and came to his master. But the boy knew nothing.

Only Jonathan and David knew the matter. And Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy and said to him, Go and carry them to the city. And as soon as the boy had gone, David rose from beside the stone heap and fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times, and they kissed one another, and wept with one another, David weeping the most. Then Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, because we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, 'The Lord shall be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring forever. And he rose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.

The plan has been carried out. Jonathan now knows what David already knew. Saul has shown his true colors to everyone, and now David can do nothing but flee for his life. But that's not all that happened.

The rise of the new king creates a crisis of loyalty. And Jonathan passed the test posed by this crisis of loyalty. He chose God's anointed king over his own father, and he chose wisely. Does the shape of the story sound familiar. Here again, those words of Jesus from Matthew 10 that I read earlier: Do not think that I've come to bring peace to the earth.

I have not come to bring peace but a sword. For I've come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. God's anointing of David did not bring peace but a sword. God's choice of David set a man against his father. God's election of David forced Jonathan to choose. Who would Jonathan love more, God's chosen king or his own father?

And Jonathan took up his cross and followed David.

Why does the coming of Christ create a crisis of loyalty? It's because Jesus demands your ultimate loyalty. He will endure no rivals, he will tolerate no opposition, he claims the throne of the universe, and he demands the throne of your heart. To be a Christian is to submit to Christ's supremacy. And the heart of sin is rejecting God's supremacy.

The heart of sin is declaring a greater loyalty to self than to God. The heart of sin is showing a greater loyalty to what you want and what other people want than to what God wants. And this is what all of us have done. God is all of our creator and Lord and he both deserves and demands your ultimate loyalty. But all of us have refused to give that loyalty to God and we've given it to ourselves instead.

Because God is good and righteous and holy, He will punish all who persist in this self-loyalty with eternal, conscious torment in hell. And because God is also gracious and merciful, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, he sent his own son into the world to come and pay the penalty for our disloyalty to him. On the cross, Jesus paid the full price for the wrong loyalty of all of his own subjects. He paid the full penalty for the sins of all those who had ever turned from sin and trust in him. And he triumphed over the grave, showing that death couldn't hold him.

He rose and ascended into heaven and now sits at God's right hand in heaven, reigning over all things and commanding all people everywhere to take up their cross and follow him and trust in him for salvation. If you've never turned from sin and trusted in Jesus, be done with self-loyalty today.

Rely on Him to save you and declare ultimate loyalty to Him.

Now we'll zoom out. Having taken in the whole passage, we'll kind of reflect on the passage as a whole and draw out four points of application. For you note takers, here at long last is the outline.

Point one, no matter how impossible it looks, God will fulfill His promises. No matter how impossible it looks, God will fulfill His promises. This point rumbles through the whole passage, but it sounds out most loudly in verse 15. Look back at verse 15.

This is Jonathan appealing to David, 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. Do you notice what Jonathan doesn't say? He doesn't say if. If the Lord. Cuts off the enemies of David from the face of the earth.

He says, When? When the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth. How can Jonathan say, When? Things look bleak for David. He's on the run and the king is trying to kill him.

How can Jonathan be so confident? Because he knows God made a promise to David, and he knows God will fulfill it. It looks like David is an enemy of the state. It looks like his days are numbered. But that's only what the eyes of unbelieving reason see.

What do the eyes of faith see?

They see the nations raging, the peoples plotting in vain, the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. But what does the Lord say? As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. And though unbelieving reason can't see it, that is what God is doing through this very process in this very moment. What could keep God from fulfilling his promise?

He would have to be either unwilling or unable. We sometimes prove unwilling to fulfill a promise when we decide that it costs us too much. But God is perfectly faithful. There's no flaw in his character that would cause him to default. Because God is infinitely happy in himself, there's no way that some new shiny object of affection would come along and make him forsake his former promise.

God doesn't lie. What he promises is certain. What about being unable? We sometimes promise things that are beyond our ability to deliver, but nothing is beyond God's ability to deliver. Nothing is too hard for God.

Nothing in creation can frustrate his purposes since he works all things according to the counsel of his will. Nothing in creation can blow up in God's face because he continually holds all creation in being. All creation depends on him and he depends on all creation. On nothing. Nothing can keep God from fulfilling his promises.

If you trust in Christ, then the Bible's word to you is not if but when. It's not if but when you'll be perfectly freed from sin. It's not if but when sorrow and suffering will be done forever. It's not if but when you'll have a new body and dwell in a new creation. It's not if but when you'll see God face to face and be made perfect as he is.

1 Corinthians 15:54, When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. Colossians 3:4, When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Not if, but when.

Point number two: no matter the appeal, self devotion is self destructive. No matter the appeal, self devotion is self destructive. We get a vivid and sad illustration of this, especially in Saul's treatment of Jonathan in verses 30 to 34.

In verse 30, Saul's anger is kindled against Jonathan and he insults him. In verse 31, Saul declares his resolve to put David to death. And in verse 33, Saul tries to harm his own son with his spear. Why? Because Saul is supremely loyal to himself.

He's supremely loyal to his own kingdom. To his own doomed dynasty. Saul loves himself more than he loves David, more than he loves his son Jonathan, certainly more than he loves God. Saul suffered no crisis of loyalty because he was loyal only to himself. But Saul's self devotion inflicted a crisis of loyalty on everyone around him.

In the fifth century writing in North Africa, the pastor Augustine of Hippo defined the fundamental difference between people as whether they love God supremely or self supremely. He's just summarizing one of the most basic truths in all of Scripture. Everything flows downhill from whether loyalty to God trumps loyalty to self or loyalty to self trumps loyalty to God. To God. Augustine described these two types of people and their communities as two cities.

He wrote, Accordingly, two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men, but the greatest glory of the other is God, the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own glory, the other says to its God, you, are my glory.

And the lifter of my head. Saul loved himself even to the contempt of God and God's king. Jonathan loved God and God's king even to the contempt of himself and his own kingdom. In Jonathan's case, the apple fell extremely far from the tree.

Saul is self-devoted at everyone else's expense. Jonathan is supremely devoted to God and his king and he bears all the cost himself. The appeal of self-devotion is ultimately self-deceiving and self-destructive. Saul's sin destroyed his own heart and mind. It destroyed his relationship to his son.

It isolated him in a sad, sick little jail cell of suspicion and paranoia.

Our culture preaches a false gospel of self liberation through self devotion.

Now, there are some harms that self devotion can protect against. There are some authorities that deserve to be refused or thrown off. But self devotion should never come first and it is never enough. If you're not a believer in Jesus, have you ever hurt someone else?

By putting yourself first. Have you ever hurt yourself by putting yourself first? The only way to gain what you really need for yourself is to give up living for yourself. The only way to really live for yourself is to die to yourself. Kids in the congregation and teens too, remember that our culture is constantly catechizing you in self devotion.

From the plots of Disney movies to pop stars singing about how I can love me better than you can, our culture is a conveyor belt of self devotion. So here's my warning for you. If you are under the age of 18, If you embrace that training and self devotion, you are likely to grow up to be like Saul. Here's a warning of the future for you. And don't let the kind of extreme dimensions, you know, well, I would never go up and try to kill my own kid, that's not the point.

The point is the roots of these sins. Bear this kind of bitter fruit. Everyone who's supremely self devoted bears a kind of sad family resemblance to Saul, more than you'd ever want to admit. But this is where self devotion leads. This is what self devotion grows up into and blossoms into.

Self devotion is not freedom.

But slavery. Point number three, no matter the cost, true faith proves loyal to God's promises, God's king, and God's people. Point three, no matter the cost, true faith proves loyal to God's promises, God's king and God's people.

Excuse me, we'll take each of those in turn. What does it mean to be loyal to God's promises? It means to wait for them patiently, even when it looks like they'll never happen. It means enduring loss and hardship now in order to gain then. Just scan back over verses 12 to 17.

Think about what Jonathan was giving up and being so loyal to David. Jonathan could have resisted God's purposes and promises. Jonathan could have said, no thanks, God. I'd rather be king. So all join Saul's effort to have done with him.

Instead, Jonathan joyfully accepted the loss of his own kingdom because he knew that he himself had a better kingdom and an abiding one. In order to be loyal to God's promises, Jonathan gave up his own kingdom, and that's what you have to do too. In order to lash your life to God's promises for the future, you can't be king anymore. You can't trust in God's promises and be king of your own life. At the same time.

The throne only has room for one.

What does it mean to be loyal to God's king? It means to trust in Christ, to submit to Christ, and to submit all other loyalties to Christ. In Luke 14:26, Jesus says, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, He cannot be my disciple. No one in the entire Old Testament embodies this truth as thoroughly as Jonathan. It's almost as if Jesus had him in mind when he was saying this.

Jonathan gave up his own kingdom and endured the hatred of his own father to serve God and God's king. By making this promise to David, God drove a wedge into his people's history.

And that wedge divided Saul from Jonathan. By appointing Jesus as king of the universe, God has driven a wedge into all of humanity. And it separates those who submit to Jesus from those who don't. On some level, in some way, even here in this overlap of the ages, it is inevitable that there will be division between those who bow the knee to Jesus and those who don't.

Looking at verse 33, But Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him. And then Jonathan rose from the table in verse 34, not grieved for the way Saul had treated him, but grieved for the way Saul had treated David. Again, it's as if Jonathan and David have merged into one. Jonathan is enduring the sufferings of the Lord's Messiah, the Lord's anointed. As Jesus says in John 15:20-21, Remember the word that I said to you, A servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they have not known him who sent me.

To be a Christian is to be spiritually united to Jesus and publicly identified with Jesus. To be a Christian is therefore, to have a share in Christ's own sufferings. To be loyal to God's king is to be willing to suffer with him and for him. Now, what does it mean to prove loyal to God's people? It means to do what Jonathan did in all the ways he served David and fulfilled his promises to him.

Jonathan made a covenant with David and Jonathan fulfilled his covenant with David. And because Jonathan made and kept that covenant, he proved to be a refuge to David and his descendants distress. Jonathan wept with David's weeping. Jonathan bore David's burdens and sorrows. Jonathan exercised an affectionate care and watchfulness over David.

True love for God's people is commitment demonstrated in devotion. True love for God's people is love that gives, love that costs, love that sacrifices, love that bears burdens, love that moves in closer when the going gets tough. If you've been regularly attending church here but have been holding off on joining, why?

If you're a professing Christian, but aren't a member of any local church, how do you fulfill this kind of costly devotion to God's people? What does Jonathan do for David in his distress? He talks with him, plans with him, pledges himself to him, follows through on his plans, risks his own safety for him, and then affectionately returns to him. One of the riches of this passage is its compelling portrait of Jonathan. Jonathan is a rich portrait of someone who is faithful to both God and his people.

Members of CHBC, when you learn of a church member's suffering, what keeps you from moving toward that person in compassionate care? What tempts you to neglect or ignore or shrink back from that person. For some of us, suffering is like a magnetic charge that repels us. It pushes us away. It's too hard, I'm too busy, I don't have emotional energy for that.

I've got my own needs. What can you do to flip the magnetic charge in your heart so that instead of being pushed away by suffering. You're drawn near to help. What can you do to become the kind of person who instinctively moves in when you see someone suffering? I should say something here about friendship.

As I mentioned, this passage isn't primarily a case study in friendship, but it is a beautiful portrait of a rich friendship. So here are just a couple of brief points on friendship. One important point is this: Faithfully fulfilling the church covenant does not mean that you will be every member's best friend or that every member will be your best friend. There are natural and legitimate differences of closeness, intimacy, and affection between Christians.

So it's natural and normal to have different levels of friendship. But there is a special blessing in friendships that have this extra depth of affection, openness, intimacy, and grit. Proverbs 18:24 says, A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Or Proverbs 27:9, Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel. How can you be this kind of friend?

How can you gain this kind of friend? Start early. You can't make new old friends.

It's worth the effort to invest deeply in a deep friendship. It takes work to make and to maintain a deep friendship. Put in regular deposits so that there's something there when you need to draw on it.

Be the kind of friend you want. And no matter how full or empty your roster of friends, remember that there is one friend who will never leave you nor forsake you.

Point four, no matter how sorely they are persecuted, God will never abandon his people. No matter how sorely they are persecuted, God will never abandon his people.

Throughout this passage, in addition to seeing God's faithfulness to his global purposes, we also see God's tender care and provision for David, largely through the means of Jonathan. God is concerned not just to establish David's kingdom, but to protect him, to provide for him, to be with him in his trials. Remember how desperate David's situation was. Again, back in verse 1, then David fled from Naioth to Ramah, Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, what have I done? What is my guilt?

And what is my sin before your father that he seeks my life? And then in verse 3, But truly, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death. David is weak and helpless. He's vulnerable. He's exposed to harm.

He's on the run. He has no military force backing him. He has no option of a political alliance with some other power that he can use against Saul. He has virtually no resources.

But he's got God. He knew that God would never leave him nor forsake him. As David would come to confess just a little later on when he fled from Saul and hid in a cave and then wrote Psalm 57. Here's what he says in Psalm 57:1-3. Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge.

In the shadow of your wings I will take refuge till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry to you, O Lord; hear me!

I cry out to God most high, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. He will send from heaven and save me. He will put to shame him who tramples on me. God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness. God never suffers a crisis of loyalty.

David knew that.

And that's what you need to know in order to persevere through trials, especially opposition and persecution. You can faithfully endure persecution and hardship for the sake of God's name when you know that he never suffers a crisis of loyalty. You can endure having your name stomped on, being slandered and misrepresented. You can endure losing money and status because of moral lines you refuse to cross.

Patiently wait for God to fulfill His promises. Commit yourself to His care. Remember that He's with you as He was with David. Trust that His reward is coming. Not if, but when.

Who are you loyal to? And who is loyal to you? Who could possibly be more loyal to you than the God who created you and sustains you and gives you every good and perfect gift? Who could possibly be more loyal to you than the God who sent his own son to pay for your sins and purchase you for himself?

Who could possibly be more loyal to you than the God who is your shield? And defender, the God who makes you strong in his strength and safe in his keeping. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we pray that we would entrust ourselves to you, take refuge in you, call out to you in all of our needs, and trust that you will send out your steadfast love and your faithfulness. And Father, we pray that because of that confidence, we would in turn show steadfast love to you and all your people. In Jesus' name, Amen.