all right so i'm going to give a quick recap for those of you that aren't familiar and really it's been i think it's been about three weeks or more uh since we've been in this study here in one sample chapter 20 which is where we're at one sandwich chapter 20 says study of the life of david uh is what we've been doing sometimes it's more the life of saul sometimes it's more maybe the life of jonathan but it's that story about david and how god was bringing david from a shepherd boy to his position as king uh so where we're at in the story saul has sought to kill david again uh at his house david fled to niath uh and where samuel was to try to get away from saul uh saul sent his soldiers to try to take david at nyaya three times he sends them every time they get there uh to that uh that holy place that spiritual retreat uh place they prophesy and they begin to worship god and um so saul decides i'm gonna go myself and he gets down there and he gets there and he prophesies as well now david leaves niath and he came to jonathan and jonathan as as david speaks with jonathan jonathan doesn't believe his dad's going to kill david the last time we saw jonathan talking with his dad about uh about his dad's plans against david he's persuading him and saying you shouldn't do this to david david's a righteous man god's used david incredibly you're wrong to do this the conviction settles in saul says okay i'm not going to kill him and that's the last thing that jonathan heard so when david comes to jonathan jonathan doesn't accept right away that oh saul wants to kill uh his dad wants to kill david even though that's been the case in the past and so let's just pick it up by reading the scripture here verse one uh david fled from niath and rhema came and said before jonathan what have i done what's my iniquity what is my sin before thy father that he seeketh my life and he said unto him god forbid thou shalt not die behold my father will do nothing either great or small but that he will show at me why should my father hide this thing from me it's not so and uh obviously he would hide it from him because jonathan's gonna stand against him in that jonathan's a close friend of david so there's some obvious reasons and so verse three david swear moreover and said thy father certainly knoweth that i found grace in thine eyes and he saith let not jonathan know this lest he be grieved but truly as the lord liveth and as thy soul liveth there's but a step between me and death then said jonathan unto david whatsoever thy soul desireth i will even do it for thee and so uh that's a great statement of trust by jonathan saying okay david what's the plan okay what do you want to do whatever that is i'm gonna i'm gonna facilitate that i'm gonna help with that and so david here suggests a test to reveal saul's heart and so verse five david said unto jonathan behold tomorrow is the new moon and i should not fail to sit with the king at meat okay i'm expected to be there at this feast but let me go that i may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even if thy father at all miss 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 if he say thus it's well thy servants of peace but if he be very wroth then be sure that evil is determined by him so he has this test and there's these aspects of it and if this happens then this if this happens then this and so matthew henry uh a commentator on this scripture says perhaps david proposed this more for jonathan's conviction than his own for he himself was well satisfied the method of trial he proposed was very natural and would certainly discover how saul stood affected to him the two next days saul was to dine publicly upon occasion of the solemnities of the new moon when extraordinary sacrifices were offered and feast made upon the sacrifice and so there's these these holy days that are coming up and david's going to be expected to be there and saul even though he's an ungodly man at this point he's going to give lip service to god he's going to act as if he's a spiritual man he's going to participate in these things with the people and if david's not there saul and saul gets upset it's going to be proof that there's evil determined upon david but if he says it's well then david's wrong and he's not seeking to kill him now could david could david actually show uh you know with eyesight could could he look into saul's heart and know what's there no could he show to jonathan what's in saul's heart just by opening up saul's heart and somehow showing him the answer is no the bible says that we can't do that we don't have that ability to do that look into someone's heart one same of 16 7 says but the lord said unto samuel look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature because i have refused him for the lord seeth not as man seeth for a man look at than the outward appearance but the lord look at on the heart you know the thing is today i can't see your heart you can't see my heart but god can't right god is god is perfect in sight and into the interior workings of man there's not a thought or a word or a deed or anything that god doesn't know now we can't see that we can't see that but what david is going to show is that it's possible it is possible to look into somebody's heart in a sense by a test in other words you could you could do something or something could be you know there's a test that you could put to that and say okay i can't see their heart but based on what i do see there's things that i can know about their heart okay you can you can look good and not be good we can't we can be deceived by that but let me put it this way you can't look evil and be good in other words if there's evil that's there you know there's a problem in the heart does that make sense now you could look good and you might not be good and you could deceive people that way but you can't deceive people by being evil uh they're gonna know there's evil there and that's the case here with saul he's proposing a test that's gonna reveal the evil that's there in his heart now i wanna take that idea and i wanna apply it to some um statements that we would make uh and test them and see uh see what the truth is about those statements because saul could say to jonathan i'm not going to kill david which is what he had said but in fact he was going to do that so uh it what he would do would not confirm what he said so i want to give us some statements that we might make and see if what we do actually confirms what we say so for instance uh somebody could say i'm born again i'm born again well does your life confirm that you know somebody has a profession of faith in jesus christ and that's you know we baptize people based on a profession you know they they they give the confession like philip did or the ethiopian eunuch did to fill up and said i believe that jesus christ is the son of god and based on the profession of faith and lord jesus christ we will baptize them why because we have no ability to see their heart so somebody could just have a profession and not truly be saved so how do we test that well 2 timothy 2 19 says nevertheless the foundation of god standeth sure having this seal the lord knoweth them that are his god knows them and let everyone that nameth the name of christ depart from iniquity okay so somebody somebody has a profession that they're saved they say i'm a right christian as a man that i can think about says but does their life back up what they say i mean that's a pretty simple test to look at and say you say that you are but is there support for that something that would verify that this man that i'm thinking of uh i've given him some help a little bit he lives in my area the first time i collected him i mean he was just profane just every other word or more than that just you just couldn't talk without swearing and i'm giving him a lift and he was walking by with a heavy bag i said i'm going that way would you like to ride with me and sure enough and so he was shocked that i did that by the way uh and i've gotten to know him since then and um but i mean just a lot of profanity and i i i said to him about uh about church and about god and about being a christian he said i'm a right christian and i'm like really i mean he thinks a christian is somebody that believes in god somebody that says they're a christian but the fact is the defilement that's coming out of his his lips shows that there's no reality to that statement i mean you could say that until you're blue in the face but saying you're christian doesn't make you a christian uh and reforming your life doesn't make you a christian either by the way he doesn't he does his best not to swear when he's around me now i'd give him a ride the other day and he did pretty well a couple times he slipped but but changing your life that doesn't make you a christian either but if you're truly saved and accepted jesus christ as your savior then there's going to be things that are obvious like oh yeah i mean uh this person is real and genuine okay so you say i'm born again does your life back that up you say i'm walking with god does your life confirm that okay i i somebody and i think uh if somebody goes to church and as a church person and a born-again person i think that that there ought to be in the heart of every person like that to be able to say i'm walking with god if you're not you're walking in sin right so we don't we don't want to say that we don't say i'm in disobedience to god but so i say i'm walking with god but does my life really verify that 1 john 2 6 says he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk uh even as he walked okay so if i am abiding with christ and that means walking with him can two walk together except to be agreed no then i ought to walk as he walked and so if i just think about the life of christ how did he walk well he walked in a way that got up early in the morning and got on his knees in prayer and sought the face of his father he knew what it was to intercede he'd say to his disciples you know what could you not watch with me one hour watch and pray the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak if you want to abide in me spend that time in prayer he was somebody that knew the word of god now the bible doesn't speak specifically about that i can recall the lord jesus christ himself reading the scriptures other than publicly but we know no doubt that there was much time that was spent in that though his knowledge was perfect and that he had that time in the word of god we know that he was constantly uh in evangelism and aware of divine appointments that were taking place about him and that that his burden was the gospel his burden uh was to fulfill the father's will perfectly that he would get up every day uh desiring to obey god now we're not gonna be absolutely perfect like the son of god was perfect in the sense that we're not gonna sin but if i'm abiding in him or walking with him then i'm gonna have personal devotions i'm going to be in the word of god i'm going to be faithful to the house of god i'm going to be giving my best to god now again we want to say that we want to say i'm walking with god but does my life confirm that i'm walking with god a third statement somebody could say i love god i love god uh and again i think i don't want to say that i want to say i love god i know i should love god god's been good god's done all these things ought to be able to say i love god but love for god is not just i have this feeling towards god uh loving god is actually that i am rightly related to god biblically that's what love is the bible says john 14 verse 15. if you love me keep my commandments one john 5 3 for this is the love of god that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous all right it's not a burden and let me just ask you is it a chore to obey god is it a burden is it a heaviness you know something like oh you know it's just so tough well i got to do this i got to obey god you know when my wife and i were dating i gotta you know just think back to those days and maybe you know somebody that's uh like that you know and in a relationship like that whatever that person wants they can have in a sense that's logical and that's right you know what i mean i if she need me to carry a bag my wife i you know now uh as my girlfriend i would carry her bang you know if she needed a door open i would open the door if she needed me to crawl up a hill on on glass on my knees no you know whatever they needed uh you know you do why because you love that person and so if i say i love god and if i truly love god then i'm then i'm walking with god i'm obeying god i'm doing the things that god says to do it's not your chore to do those things uh and to be godly and an ungodly world you know our world is very wicked very far away from god our life ought to be uh incredible contrast to the ungodliness that's in the world and we ought to have that affection that we prayed about this morning where uh that we desire to see in our church and that is a hunger and thirst after righteousness because i love god i love god so i want to please god uh you know think about lot's wife and um and lot himself they're coming out of an ungodly world that god's gonna judge and that judgment is taking place uh in that story and the bible says about the angels that were there when the morning arose the angels hasted lot saying arise take thy wife and thy two daughters which are here lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city and while he lingered and just think about that statement i mean god says the judgment is coming the angels are there come on get out of the city the judgment's going to come and the bible says that lot lingered so there's this affection for what's there the men laid hold upon his hand upon the hand of his wife and upon the hand of his two daughters the lord being merciful unto him and they brought him forth and set him without the city and it came to pass when they had brought them forth abroad that he said escape for thy life look not behind thee okay looking back was either sorrow at what god was doing or like that's so sad that god is destroying that uh wicked city or it's longing for that which god would destroy right so looking back is not just uh observing what's taking place it's looking back with affection it's looking back thinking god that's so wrong that you're destroying that or or or that i want that okay or does i desire that and so look not behind thee neither stay thou in all the plane escape to the mountain lest thou be consumed and lot said unto them oh no not so my lord behold now thy servant hath found grace in thy sight that was magnified thy mercy which thou has showed unto me in saving my life and i cannot escape to the mount unless some evil take me and i die behold now this city is near to flee unto you it's a little one oh let me escape feather is it not a little one and my soul shall live he said unto him see i have accepted thee concerning this thing also that i will not overthrow the city for the which thou spoken haste thee escape therefore i cannot do anything until thou come thou become thither therefore the name of the city was called zoar the sun was risen upon the earth when lot entered into zoar then the lord reigned upon sodom and upon gamora a brimstone and fire from the lord out of heaven and he overthrew those cities and all the plane all the inhabitants of the cities and that which grew up on the ground but his wife looked back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt and so lot's why if we don't know her name she's looking back with affection of some sort it's either ah man that's a shame that god's destroying that or pity for that which god is destroying she's looking back with desire upon it you know how's your heart towards god see i say i love god but is there affection in my heart for the world is there uh you can't no man can serve two masters you can't love god and love the world i mean it's kind of one or the other uh you know is it do you count all things but lost for jesus i mean is it in your heart to say i don't need that i don't want that i despise that i love that which is of god i love to please god with my life does our life back up that claim and confirm that statement i love god somebody could say i preach god's truth but again does your life confirm that there's a lot of churches today uh that would make that statement you know that we stand for god we're preaching for god well does their life confirm that or as a believer does my life uh confirm that statement and so matthew chapter 7 verse 15 it says beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they're ravening wolves okay so they if you looked at them you think they look like a sheep you know this person looks like they're part of the fold but they're not uh it's they're covering up the fact that they're wolf uh you shall know them by their fruits do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit but a cup corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire wherefore by the fruits you shall know them jesus said that he said look you can identify these false prophets based upon what you see that's in their life that's inconsistent with the word of god or the truth they're teaching that's inconsistent uh with godliness matthew 12 33 this is a separate text jesus says either make the good tree good and his fruit good or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt for the tree is known by his fruit so a doctrine that breeds sin is not of god it's a false it's a false doctrine somebody say i'm preaching god i'm preaching truth i'm preaching christ but if that doctrine breeds sin the fact is no it's not it's a false teacher and so we got a lot of this has taken place in our day and this is a very sad thing and you may realize this already i don't know if i've said this to the church i've um i'm trying to think who just uh don dillman let me know about this it was in another man's uh information and i just became aware of this the christian institute on the 24th of june 2022 so just going back a week they wrote this the baptist union of great britain is to reconsider its commitment to one man one woman in marriage for its ministers under pressure from lgbt activists in a letter to members of the baptist churches the union's core leadership team said it was reflecting on a request to allow ministers to marry someone of the same sex individual individual churches may choose to host same-sex weddings but in rules for members of the baptist ministry same-sex marriage has deemed gross mixed conduct it it's a very uh sad day isn't it where satan can come in and have audience you know let's have satan come in today and he's gonna teach our sunday school class uh and he's gonna he's gonna approach us about uh ungodliness in the church and teach us that doctrine what a wicked day what a wicked day any time a church looks at ungodliness and says uh you know i think it's time that we bring ungodliness into the church let's have women preachers the bible forbids that but hey you know satan's for that so let's go ahead and let's bring that into the church uh you know that's the wicked devil's music you know and the devil loves that stuff but let's bring that into the church because a lot of people that we could kind of get to come into the church if we have ungodly wicked music in our church that's going to that's going to be great and so we let the devil come in and begin to instruct our church we've got to stop and look at it and say you know if it breeds wickedness if it's ungodliness then by their fruits you shall know them and i test that doctrine i test that false teaching i test that by the word of god so i can say that i preach god's truth but does what i do back up what i'm saying and so uh one last one i just want to consider with us this morning you say i'm a good man you say i'm a good man does your life confirm that and so uh matthew 12 34 says oh generation of vipers how can he being evil speak good things for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh the good man of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things an evil man ah the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things but i say unto you that every idol word that men shall speak they shall give a count thereof in the day of judgment for by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned okay somebody speaks out of the good treasure of their heart the bad treasure their heart what comes out of their mouth reveals the reality and this is a great test and i think either in sunday morning or tonight we're gonna look at this again but what i say reveals what's in my heart and so if i'm saying it i can say i'm a good man but if what i'm saying is not good then that reflects on the fact that i'm not what i profess to be and so we can't see the heart but there are things that reveal the heart so warning to me be careful just because somebody says they're a christian or says that they're right with god i've got to be careful about that before i have a great relationship there if what they do contradicts what they say and the same with our personal walk with god we may profess something we we may say it because we know we ought to say it we want to say it but if our life doesn't back it up then it reveals that that's not truly the case i'm going to come back to that at the end but let's move on and so david and jonathan make a covenant with one another uh david wanted justice and he's willing to let his friend examine the case so he really desires that justice would take place he's not ashamed of where he's at so he says jonathan look at this verse 8 he says therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant for thou has brought thy servant into a covenant of the lord with thee notwithstanding if there be in me iniquity slay me thyself for why should this thou bring me to thy father okay so david again he's seeking justice and he's there's a boldness about somebody that's right with god we've talked about the verse uh many times proverbs 28 1 the wicked flee would no man pursue it but the righteous are bold as a lion there's uh there's a great confidence that david has even to go before jonathan say john then examine it and and look at it i'm not afraid of what you'll find there but if you find anything bad there kill me yourself don't take me uh to your dad um the apostle paul took a similar position as far as uh desiring justice acts 25 verse 11 says if if i be an offender or have committed anything worthy of death i refuse not to die but if there be none of those things where if these accuse me no man may be delivered me unto them i appeal unto caesar and so both david and paul say if if i'm guilty i'm guilty and that's fine take care of it i'm i'm willing to suffer the punishment but if not then judge that and discern that you know david was right and he was treated meanly paul was right and he was treated meanly the bible says in 1 peter 2 19 it says for this is thank worthy if a man for conscience toward god endure grief suffering wrongfully for what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults you shall take it patiently but if when you do well and suffer for it you take it patiently this is acceptable with god in other words you're doing what's you're doing what's right you're standing for what's right you're standing up for god and all of a sudden things start to go backwards and there's people standing in judgment upon you and saying uh things that are incorrect about you if you take that patiently the bible says that's a great thing uh and so for even here unto where he called because christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatened not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously so even so that's the way christ was treated christ was doing what's right and he suffered as an evil doer it's a it's a great thing when we as his followers stand for what's right we suffer in the same way we take it patiently that's great that's what david was doing he's in a tough spot but he's setting his heart before his his righteous friend to judge uh and to look at it and then uh jonathan protested that he would never let wrong judgment fall upon his friend david and so uh he says in verse 9 jonathan said far be it from me i'm not going to take thy life or let anything bad happen to you for if i knew certainly that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee then would not i tell it thee david if my dad surely desires to kill you wouldn't i tell you of that and why is he saying that because surely david understands that jonathan has a great affection for him the motive behind that statement is love it's it's that john david don't you understand i care deeply about you therefore if there was evil determined by my father upon you i would surely tell it of you all right so why because if you love someone you protect them from danger if you love someone you let them know if there's uh wrath against them in this case from uh jonathan's father you know i want to ask us as we come kind of towards the conclusion here does jonathan love david more than you love your friend family member or other person jonathan's love is like this if i knew that there's something bad that's going to happen to you i'm going to let you know about that well we understand today that there's wrath that is coming from our father against the ungodly the bible says about john the baptist he was a preacher and his message was to flee from the wrath to come he said to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him o generation of vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come one thessalonians 1 10 says to wait for the son from heaven whom he raised from the dead even jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come we understand today and that's why i could stand at an unsaved man's door look at jamie uh and jamie knows i care about him jamie knows that i love him i said i don't get a bonus for this i don't get any accolades for this i'm i'm saying this to you because you need christ and without christ will perish and your family will perish and we know that but do we love people enough to speak to them about that and say about that john harper that might be a familiar name to you he was the uh preacher that was there on the titanic and uh when the titanic sank and the story about his his experience there he's there on it he's with his six-year-old daughter he's traveling to preach at moody church in chicago the ship is sinking he makes sure that his daughter's safe in one of the boats then he began what would be the last evangelist his last evangelistic work as the free freezing waters began to fill the ship he shouted let the women children and unsaved into the boat even took off his life jacket and gave it to another man don't worry about me i'm not going down but up he said to the 1500 passengers who jumped into the icy waters he was swimming from one passenger to another and pleading with them to accept christ steve crane called the last he's called the last convert of john harper only six only six of the 1500 people in the water were later rescued steve crane was one of the six he also identified himself as harper's last convert this man had climbed on a piece of debris and harper who was struggling in the water near him shouted are you saved steve replied no harper shouted the words believe in the lord jesus and you shall be saved waves drifted them away but a few minutes later the current brought the two together again harper shouted are you saved he asked steve to believe in jesus then he slipped under the waves for the last time steve was touched then and there he gave his life to jesus all right if i knew certainly that evil was determined upon thee would not i tell thee i wonder how do we respond to that today see it's almost like a disconnect like we don't really think our neighbor is going to go to hell we don't really think our unsaved family member is going to go to hell we don't really think that that person that stranger that we're we're engaging with that that if they died they'll spend eternity in the lake of fire but we know it from the word of god we ought to ask ourselves that that question if i if i knew that wrath was determined upon thee would not i tell thee now let me go back to what we're looking at and that is that our life speaks loudly and so if i want to live to warn others my life needs to confirm the fact that i'm born again i not i don't just profess faith in christ i ought to live in such a way that an ungodly unsaved person could look at my life and say your life is distinctly different from my life i have a life that confirms that i love god that i i don't go to church because i have to go to church i go to church because i want to go to church that means i'm there because i want to be there to worship god i want to read my bible i want to seek god a life that confirms i'm walking with god a life that confirms that i'm a good man a life that confirms that i'm not a false preacher i don't have a doctrine that leads to sin and surely you know unbelievers ought to look at this this falseness and judge it by its fruits and go that can't be of god because that's wicked but god help us to be that person that cares enough to say you know what i know wrath is determined against you i'm gonna let you know about it because i love you because that's what you do if you love somebody you warn them about the wrath to come may the spirit of god bless the word of god to our hearts let's pray and committed to to god father thank you for the word of god this morning the father just in the quietness of our heart i know it's sunday school but i just pray maybe the spirit of god spoke to our hearts about something we profess that we love god but do we love god we profess that we're born again but is there an abundance of iniquity in our lives that that contradicts our claim father we profess you know i'm a good man well it does what you say back that up i just pray that the spirit of god would help us to examine by our life what we profess and in others lives as well then father it's so important that we live right as a as a good christian ought to live because this world needs christ and father i pray that we'd be reminded of that phrase when we neglect to witness to somebody would i not tell thee if i knew that wrath was determined against thee father we would if we loved them and so i pray god help us to be loving for those that need christ and be faithful to share the gospel it's in christ's name we pray amen