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Alright look at 1st Samuel chapter 13 and look at verse number 1 This is the first mention of Jonathan in the Bible and we're gonna get some really important lessons for us in our lives and our relationships From the man Jonathan, but let's first look at where Jonathan is first mentioned in your King James Bible I'm going to take a few minutes to give you one example of why we're King James only here. I don't Point out I've never done. There's no way I could do a sermon on all the different mistakes In all the modern Bible versions, it would be a sermon series that went on for several weeks So I try to point out things From modern Bible versions as we preach through them But look at 1st Samuel chapter 13 in verse number 1 in your King James Bible The Bible says Saul reigned one year and when he had reigned two years over Israel So the Bible here in verse number one is just saying Saul reigned a year with you know Without incidents or without anything to note and then it says when he had reigned two years So two years after he took over the kingdom verse number two takes place Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel where of two thousand were with Saul in McMash and in Mount Bethel and a Thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent So right here we see the mention the first mention of Jonathan in the Bible in verse number two But it's interesting to note, you know This is the story of where Jonathan goes and he goes up against the Philistines by himself with his armor bear We're not going to get into that detail of that story now But it's interesting to point out that Jonathan was leading men in verse number two. Jonathan was a warrior He was he was courageous He was brave and he was leading men in his father's army in verse number two now I'm gonna read for you first Samuel chapter 1 or 13 verse number one in the new in the NIV. All right Just to point out that in first Samuel chapter 13 verse number one verse number two It is very easy to understand what is happening now Let's read the NIV All right in verse number one of first Samuel chapter 13 in the NIV and I hope you don't have an NIV with you tonight This morning, but I'll just read it for you It says Saul was 30 years old when he became king and he reigned over Israel 42 years So first of all, the NIV says Saul I mean, I mean, it's not even close to what the King James says All right, so it says Saul was 30 years old and somehow he had a son that was leading warriors When he was through so I guess he had kids when he was like 10 or something, right? I mean if you just do the math on this it just contradicts itself all over the place in Acts chapter 13 in verse number 21 you can turn there if you want But it basically that's where it tells us that Saul reigned 40 years And here's the funny thing if you look up Acts chapter 13 in verse number 21 in the NIV It still says 40 years. So the NIV literally they're not they weren't smart enough to even you know Make the NIV match itself. All right, so there's contradictions all over These modern Bible versions in the NEB It says Saul was 50 years old in verse number one in the NASB the new American Standard Bible it says he was 40 years old All right. Here's the thing that King James Bible does not say how old Saul was when he began to take over Israel It just doesn't say okay, but all these other Bibles they they give Saul a Age when he took over the kingdom which makes all these contradictions All over the place. All right in the English in the ESV. Everybody loves the ESV in the ESV. Here's what it says so first of all What I've showed you so far is they're picking the age of Saul and many times it's 30 years old It makes no sense as far as the age of Saul and I'll tell you how this applies to Jonathan in just a couple minutes But in the English Standard Version it gets even better. You're like, this is pretty good No, it gets better. All right in verse number one of 1st Samuel chapter 13 in the ESV, which is considered by Protestants to be we're not Protestants by the way It is considered by Protestants today to be like the Bible of choice the ESV All right, it says here's what it says in the ESV Saul lived for one year and then became king The kids are all like yes, I Can be in charge when I'm one year old and when he had rained for two years over Israel Then it goes into verse two in the Dewey Rheims 1899 American edition It says this Saul was a child of one year when he began to reign and he rained two years over Israel So it's wrong on both cases, but it literally says like a baby Like was was anointed king, you know when he was one years old I mean just all that to say this all these modern Bible versions like they just have all these just incredibly stupid mistakes in Them. All right, they can't be trusted at all. All right, turn to 2nd Samuel chapter 5 Inverse number 4. So now we know you're gonna keep your place in 1st Samuel chapter 18 You can lose your place in 1st Samuel chapter 13 But we know that Saul rained one year and after two years he created this army He went to war against the Philistines. Let's get back to reality here. Look at 2nd Samuel chapter 5 Let's get back into this this sermon about Jonathan and his relationship with King David Look at 2nd Samuel chapter 5 in verse number 4 I just want to point out something interesting to you before we even start talking about Jonathan and David the Bible says this it says David was 30 years old when he began to reign So the King James Bible doesn't tell us how old Saul was when he began to reign But it tells us how old David was when he began to reign So the King James Bible also tells us that Saul rained 40 years So what do we know about the beginning of Saul's reign David was not born yet at the beginning of Saul's reign So David was 30 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 40 years So that's always pretty easy to remember that the first two kings, you know reigned 40 years in Israel So David was not born when Saul became king We know this right and Jonathan was commanding men at pretty close to the beginning of his father's Reign, so what does this tell us this tells us this kind of gives you some context to the sermon as we're gonna look at It this morning Jonathan was many years older than David Jonathan was at least 20 years older than David All right. Now, let's look at the friendship between these two men. Why is that relevant? I don't know because I just like to see you know, it's I kind of picture the relationship between David and Jonathan is kind of a mentor mentee type Relationship since Jonathan was this older warrior and David was this up-and-coming You know warrior and leader in the kingdom look at first Samuel chapter 18 and Verse number one. Let's look at the beginning of this friendship between Jonathan and David. So first Samuel chapter 18 Where are we at? This is right after David killed Goliath First Samuel chapter 17 is when David this young man, you know less than you know 17 18 years old whatever he was he went and he stood up and said I will fight the Philistine He goes and he fights and he kills Goliath He cuts off his head and he brings his head to King Saul That's one of the reasons we don't have Sunday school here because we're not gonna play down these stories in the Bible We're not gonna take these stories in the Bible and turn them into a bunch of cartoons No, David was actually a mighty man of war when he was 16 17 years old. He was no weakling You know these Sunday school lessons They'll have this little you know, precious moments character with a little slingshot hanging out of his pocket You know, there's no Davey what David was a mighty man of war He went and he killed Goliath who was nine feet tall. He cut off his head and he brought him to the king That's what happened Now right after this is when Jonathan becomes friends With David and can't you understand why they would become friends? Jonathan was already this mighty warrior himself He had a lot of respect for this kid Right away. He's like this He has respect for him and he's somebody he wants to take under his wing Look at verse number one of 1st Samuel chapter 18 the friendship begins and it came to pass when he made an end of speaking unto Saul that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David and Jonathan loved him at his as his own soul we'll look at that verse in a little more detail in a few minutes and Saul took him that day and would have let him go no more to his father's house and Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul and Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him and gave it to David in his garments even to his sword and to his bow and to his girl again Jonathan is a mighty man of war himself and You know, he right away just has affinity it just makes this friendship this covenant with David look at verse number five now this is interesting because as Jonathan is you know befriending David and they become these great friends This is exactly the time when the trouble between Saul and David Begins look at verse number five and David went out whithersoever Saul sent him and behaved himself Wisely and Saul set him over the men of war and he was accepted in the sight of all the people also in the sight of Saul's servants and It came to pass as they came when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistines Just think about this this just think about this for a second. I mean think about the story of this young Warrior that goes and just defeats this giant defeats this giant that was blaspheming God and threatening the entire army Literally had every single warrior in the army shaking in his boots. Imagine the stories back home About David and this is exactly what's happening The women came out of the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul and look Saul was a mighty warrior at this point to Saul was out you know winning battles and and he was no slouch himself with tablets with joy with instruments of music and the women answered one another as they played and said Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. Oh we got a problem here and Saul was very wroth and The saying displeased him and he said they have ascribed unto David ten thousands and to me they've ascribed But thousands and what can he have more but the kingdom and Saul I David from that day forward So here we see, you know, just that the insecurity of King Saul I mean this just shows how insecure he was, you know how and he was just eaten up with envy Towards David remember the difference in the Bible, you know the King James Bible, you know defines the word envy and jealousy Look today envy and jealousy. Everyone just uses those two words interchangeably, but that is not true Jealousy is good. Envy is bad Envy is something where I am upset at at the vehicle that brother max has Because it's not mine. So I'm coveting something that somebody else has and I'm envious about it. That's wrong. That's a sin That's wicked Galatians chapter 5 verse number 26. So I'll just read it for you. It says let us not be desirous of vainglory So Saul shouldn't even wanted glory provoking one another envying one another Jealousy is a good thing Jealousy is actually one of God's names in the Bible Jealousy is something where you are just protective over something that is yours God is jealous over you because you belong to him You know a husband is okay to be jealous over his wife because she is his a wife can be jealous over her husband because he Is hers is very simple. All right, but today we're wrecking the English language in so many different levels today It's ridiculous, but that's a sermon in itself. All right, so this morning This morning all that is is matter of introduction this morning I want to look at the life of Jonathan and I want to give you three characteristics of a good friend This morning looking at the life of Jonathan as we go through these characteristics using Jonathan as an example I want you to think about two things I want you to think about your friends as I go through these characteristics and then I want to think about you as a friend Because you hopefully have friends, but you are also a friend so compare these characteristics Mainly to yourself and ask yourself. What kind of friend am I the first characteristic is this? the first characteristic is this a true friend a good friend will be a loyal friend and Jonathan was definitely loyal to David Saul was hunting David from this day forward But Jonathan would not give up on David no matter what it cost him no matter what it cost him whether it cost him the kingdom see many people in their lives struggle with loyalty and It is a bad thing to struggle with loyalty in your life Loyalty being loyal to something we're not talking about being loyal to a friend or something that is bad or sinful You know the Bible says in Proverbs 27, you know faithful are the wounds of a friend meaning if you have a friend That's getting into sin and all these things You're not to follow that friend into sin You're actually supposed to rebuke that friend faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy You know those are the bad things right that it's the people that come up and flatter you and say everything that you're doing is Great. Those are not your friends So we're not talking about following being loyal to your friends You know no matter what kind of sin or what kind of garbage they get into in their life But that's not the case with Jonathan and David he gave him his armor. He's like hey, you're a warrior You're a hero. You need to look the part in first Samuel chapter 19 and verse and chapter number 20, we're gonna look at that in just a few minutes He he risked his own life and he's loyal to David at his own peril. He does not give up on David Struggling with loyalty in your life will mean that you do not have long-term friends It will mean that you find people that struggle with loyalty in their life and you will see it Friendships are one of them Their church life is another you will find people that just can't be loyal to a Church or a pastor or whoever and they will just struggle in their church life They'll have they'll struggle with work. These are the type of people that change jobs like, you know, we change stocks You know, they can't they just can't be loyal to any situation in their life Friendships are a good gauge. Do you have long-term friends? You know, that's one of the benefits. We're going to talk about that tonight, but that's one of the benefits of church Life is to have long-term lifelong friends And that's one of the benefits that being in a good church that preaches the Bible will give you we'll talk about that in detail Tonight but look long-term good friendships turn to Genesis chapter 49 in verse number 3 These are people people that struggle with this or people that have a friend of the month You know, they change friends. They're just constantly having different friends. They have a church of the month They have a job of the month all that shows Instability look at Genesis chapter 49 look at verse number 3 When Jacob is blessing his sons, he actually kind of gives a rebuke to Reuben here And he says in verse number 3 says Reuben thou art my firstborn my might in the beginning of my strength the echo Excellency of my dignity and the excellency of power sounds pretty good, but then look what he says Unstable as water thou shalt not excel excel in what you say he's unstable. He's not able to be loyal to anything He's not able to stick with anything. He will not excel at what he won't excel at anything You won't excel at your job. You won't excel at church life. You won't excel with friendships You just won't excel in your life. That was not Jonathan Jonathan was loyal to David no matter what kind of situation David was in Jonathan was loyal to David until the day he died Turn back to first Samuel chapter 18 look at verse number 1 First Samuel chapter 18 in verse number 1 So the first point is this a good friend will be a loyal friend a good friend will be a loyal friend a good friend will not be a fair-weather friend a Good friend will not be someone that is your friend As long as you have money is your friend as long as things are going well for you And you're fun to hang out with or whatever No A good friend will be a loyal friend when you're going through good times and bad times which brings me to point number two true friends will feel your pain look at verse number 1 of first Samuel chapter 18 verse number 1 It says in verse number 1 it repeats this in verse number 3 doesn't it came to pass when they made an end of speaking unto Saul that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David in verse number 3 it says he loved him as his own soul. What does this mean? What does this mean? Here's what it means true friends will feel your pain as if it is their pain That's what this means so ask yourself this question Do you suffer? when your friends suffer That's a good question That's a good question that we should all ask About our friendships that we have in our lives or are you the kind of person are you the kind of friend? That's just kind of like you don't suffer when your friends suffer. You're kind of like glad that's not me That's a good question to ask yourself about your friendships to test you on What kind of friend you are see your life will go through tough times Your Family will go through tough times your Children will go through difficult times in your life And when those things happen to you your family your children your life your life your situation You Will feel pain because it's yours You will feel that pain so the question is when you have a friend that is going through the same things Does that cause you pain if it does it means that your soul is knit to their soul? That your heart is knit to their heart Good friends are rare Friends like this are rare But a good friend's heart and soul will be knit to yours on the flip side of this look on the flip side of this Here's it. Here's a here's a test for your friends Here's a test now you can think about on people that are your friends are your friends happy for you when your times are good These friends are rare to are your friends when something good happens to you When something in your life You know you get a promotion or something just happens to you. That is really good are your friends happy for you if They're not you need to take note of that because if they're not happy for you in the good times They're certainly not going to feel your pain in the bad times. It's just another sign It's an outward sign for you to check your friends Just like you can check your own type of what kind of friend my Does my heart hurt when some one of my friends is in trouble is going through something difficult? Does that? Does that matter to me? So it's a good check right here on the kind of friend you are and the kind of friends you have Go to verse number four look at verse number four see Jonathan was truly happy for David's successes How do I know I mean he was truly happy that he gave him his own garments He gave him his own armor. He gave him all these things Jonathan was the prince Even his father so Rebukes him for this in a couple of chapters look at verse number four and thank God that Jonathan didn't take friendship advice from his Dad look at verse number four and Jonathan stripped himself of the robe He was a prince so he was the heir to the throne He was the firstborn son of the first king of Israel think about this he takes his robe and gives it to David and His garments even to his sword his bow and his girdle What does that make David look like now now David looks like the heir to the throne? Even his father was like what are you doing? Are you crazy? But he's not thinking about himself He's truly happy for David, and he's like this man's a mighty warrior. He needs to look like one All he was doing was being happy and thinking about his friend and not himself So a true friend a true friend will feel your pain if You're a good friend. You will feel the pain of your friends. You know truly be happy for them as well. Here's number three True friends will sacrifice for you Jonathan Was a great example of a true friend in verse number four he sacrifices all his own garments Which you know his own prestige. He just gets to David turn to chapter 19 Just one chapter over He advocated for his friend He sacrificed his reputation with his own father for his friend look at verse number one For Samuel chapter 19 the Bible says that Saul spake to Jonathan his son and to all his servants that they should kill David But Jonathan's son delighted much in David and Jonathan told David saying Saul my father seek it to kill thee so here's that loyalty Now therefore I pray thee take heed to thyself until the morning and abide in a secret place and hide thyself And I will go stand beside my father in the field where thou art And I will commune with my father of thee and what I see as she'll tell thee and Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father and said unto him let not the king sin against his servant against David because he had not sinned against thee and Because his works have been to thee word very good So not only is he warning David showing that loyalty that we already talked about he's advocating to his father He's not being he's not being coy or secretive to his dad. He's not being a traitor He's like hey you need to stop doing this you're sinning He's being faithful and wounding his father with the words that he's giving his father He's trying to get his father to get right for he did put his life in his hand and slew the Philistine He reminds him and the Lord wrought a great salvation for all Israel thou sawest it and dis rejoice Wherefore then will thou sin against innocent blood to slay David without a cause and Saul look at this Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan and Saul swear as the Lord liveth. He shall not be slain Look he intervened and he advocated for his friend. He he sees sacrificing for David Look at verse number or chapter 20 It doesn't last long Saul goes back to you know wanting to kill David once again But look at verse number 27 of 1st Samuel chapter 20 now He goes and he advocates for David to his father his father gets right and then his father like goes insane again and Just starts to try to kill David again And then Jonathan advocates for David up to the point of risking his own life look at verse 27 and it came to pass on the moral 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 have the sacrifice in the city and my brother He hath commanded me to be there and now I have found favor in thine eyes. Let me get away I pray thee and seek my brethren therefore he cometh not under the king's table and Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan and he said unto him thou son of the perverse rebellious woman Do not I know that thou has chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion and unto the confusion of? Thy mother's nakedness he basically He's basically Insulting Jonathan's mother He's like you're the son of a you know you know what? He's saying to Jonathan, and he's rebuking Jonathan because Jonathan is protecting David and then he and then Saul brings up What many of us might have thought when he gave away his sword and he gave away his robe And he gave away his cloak to David He says for as long as the son of Jesse liveth on the ground thou shalt not be established nor thy kingdom Wherefore now send and fesh him unto me for he shall surely die He's saying you're not going to be king as long as he's alive Why would you not want him dead is what Saul is saying and Jonathan answered? Saul his father and said unto him wherefore shall he be slain what hath he done? It didn't matter to Jonathan what he could possibly get from David's death. He was loyal, and he was just Sacrificing again and again for David and look he was sacrificing even his own kingdom at this point of course We know that God chose David already to be king, but the point is is from a secular point of view Jonathan is literally giving up his Kingdom to David look at verse number 33 and Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him now He's trying to kill his own son, so Jonathan has risked his life for his friend Whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David so Jonathan here's another you know Proof of that of that friendship of his how Jonathan's heart hurt when David hurt look at verse number 34 So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and did eat no meat the second day of the month for he was grieved for David because his father had done him shame. He's hurting for his friend David is running. He's hiding. He's suffering. He's in pain, and so is Jonathan. Why because he's a good friend. That's why Turn to first Samuel chapter 31 first Samuel chapter 31 First Samuel chapter 31 we see the death of Saul and His sons unfortunately Jonathan dies early in first Samuel chapter 31 The Bible says in verse number 1 of first Samuel chapter 31 that this great friend to David dies with his father now the Philistines fought against Israel and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell down slain in Mount Gilboa and the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons and the Philistines slew Jonathan and Abinadab and Melchizedek Saul's sons, so here's Saul's sons suffer for the the judgment that was coming upon Saul that's kind of a sad ending to Jonathan's life as we see that he was an honorable friend. He was a good friend to David He was loyal to David he sacrificed for David, but just a side point here children will suffer or benefit from the decisions of their parents That's why David says in Psalm chapter 16 in verse number 6 He says the lines have fallen to me and on the lines have fallen in pleasant places yay I have a goodly heritage David is Proclaiming in Psalm 16 verse number 6 the opposite of what Saul gave to Jonathan David is proclaiming the goodly heritage that he got from Jesse his father in Psalm chapter 16 in verse number 6 I you know It's just a it's just a sad fact of life Is that children will benefit from our lives? or they will suffer from the decisions that we make in our lives and that becomes the end of Jonathan now you can say It seems like a one-sided friendship between David and and Jonathan It seems like a one-sided friendship should friendships be one-sided No They should not one-sided friendships where one friend is just constantly sacrificing constantly being loyal Constantly looking out for you know and constantly just feeling the pain of one friend those types of relationships those types of friendships those types of friendships they exist, but they usually don't exist for long if They're one-sided you say well. How wasn't this a one-sided? Friendship because it was just Jonathan that we saw was doing all these great things as a friend We'll turn to 2nd Samuel chapter 9 turn to 2nd Samuel chapter 9, and we'll see that this was not a one-sided friendship Turn to 2nd Samuel chapter 9 and look at verse number 1 2nd Samuel chapter 9 verse number 1 after David becomes king now David is Ruling the kingdom look at verse number 1 David said is there yet any that is left the house of Saul? That I may show him kindness why? for Jonathan's sake look at verse number 2 So David is looking for anybody that is related to Saul Look David can't do anything after 1st Samuel chapter 31. He can't do anything for Jonathan David finally gets out of his hole he gets out of his cave He's ruling the kingdom at this point, and he says now I can do something for my friend It just happens that his friend is dead So he says hey is anyone left of his entire family that I may show kindness why for my friend's sake? Look at verse number 2 and there was of the house of Saul a Servant whose name was Ziba and when they had called him unto David the king said unto him art thou Ziba And he said thy servant is he and the king said is there not yet any of the house of Saul? Then I may show the kindness of God unto him and Ziba said unto the king Jonathan hath yet a son which is lame on his feet so here. He tells him that your friend Has a boy He has a son who's you know he's he's disabled he's lame on his feet It doesn't say why and says the king said on him Where is he and Ziba said unto the king behold he is in the house of Makar the son of Emil in Lodbar? King David sent and fetched him out of the house of Makar the son of Emil from Lodbar Now in Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul was come unto David He fell on his face and did reverence and David said Mephibosheth And he answered behold thy servant and look at this and David said and I fear not for I will surely show the kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake and Will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father and thou shall eat bread at my table continuing He says you're gonna inherit everything that that even Saul owned is gonna be yours He says I will take care of you and make sure that you are taken care of for the rest of your life So It was not a one-sided friendship David found a way to be a friend back to Jonathan even after He was dead So this morning you should look at your friendships If you have friendships in your life, and you say you know these friendships I got a lot of friends, and you know it doesn't cost me anything I've got a lot of friends that just means that people do things for me That just means that I got a lot of people that helped me out and do things and whenever I need somebody to help Me with something on my house. I've always got people there look. That's not friendship. That's brotherly love that someone is showing you Friendships true friendships will cost you and That's the important point that you need to take away This morning, or if they don't cost you you you are not a friend You may have people that are friendly to you, but if it doesn't cost you anything you are not a friend You aren't a friend back look at Proverbs chapter 18 Look at Proverbs chapter 18 look at verse number 24 Proverbs chapter 18 look at verse number 24 The Bible says in Proverbs 18 24. It says a man that hath friends if this is you It says what must show himself friendly, and there's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother So to be a friend you must show yourself friendly And you must stick it close meaning you have to actually do things To be a friend the Bible here in Proverbs chapter 18 in verse number 24 is saying if you want to actually be a friend And not just have friends look at saying a man that hath friends. It's like you should do this Back to your friends you should do things you should take action towards your friends look at John chapter 15 See there's a spectrum here. We like spectrums. There's a spectrum of friendships There's a spectrum of what kind of friend you are there's a spectrum of glad it's not me That's that's the wrong side of the spectrum, and then there's this spectrum in John chapter 15 Look at John chapter 15 verse number 13, so we got the glad it's not me Friend somebody's going through a terrible time a friend of yours is going through a terrible time And the only thing you can think about the only thing that you feel is glad that's not happening to me That's the spectrum. We want to stay away from here's where God wants you look at verse number 13 It says greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends Here's what a true friend says a friend is in trouble And and he's in trouble to the point where he could die a true friend says I'll die for you I'll die instead of you. You're like that's crazy. That's extreme Look there's all kinds of stories about this throughout history, I don't know if I'm like a Too too nerdy in my thought process or or thinking about like you know the the jobs that I've done in the past and things Like that, but I think about when I think about This idea of just a man laying down his life, so other people could live I think about Chernobyl you remember that I? Think about this this horrible accident that happened at this nuclear power plant in I think it was Belarus actually not Russia but it was in in this ex-russian republic of Belarus and This horrible incident happened this reactor exploded. There's radiation everywhere one of the units. Just literally exploded and There was a problem where this pool of water was filling up It was filling up with this radioactive water And it was going to flow into this other area that was going to cause the other three units to explode in the same way That the first one exploded and somebody had to go and go through this water To shut these valves to stop this from happening and three three people three men They volunteered to do this. It was certain death But they volunteered they stood up and they volunteered and I think it wasn't so it was a Soviet Union at the time The Soviet Union is like we'll take care of your families, but I mean even though the Soviet Union communist Russia I get it these three men were incredibly brave people who just stood up and said we will give our lives So other people can live And what did they do? They waded through the water They they after much trouble and much time in the water. They shut the valves. They stopped the disaster and they died But they saved many many people in doing so Look few people the reason stories like the one I just told you are so are so extraordinary It's because stories like that are rare Stories where men will just stand up and just face certain deaths so other people can live Albert Vanderbilt There was the the Lusitania the the ship. It was it was hit by a Russian u-boat in 1915 and this incredibly rich Billionaire Was on the ship he could have you could have hit it He gave his life jacket To other people and he gave his spot in the lifeboats and just helped load people in the lifeboats and never found his body But I mean that is the opposite spectrum of Glad it's not happening to me is Literally laying down your life For your friends what those three people at Chernobyl those they were being friends true friends as the Bible defines it Vanderbilt was a true friend to those people on that boat So the question is how good of a friend are you? That's the question this morning ultimately Ultimately turned to John chapter 3 ultimately. Do you love your friends is really the question because that's how the Bible defines Jonathan his his his actions towards David is like he loved him as his own soul and Then the Bible defines what true actual love is by the actions that Jonathan took throughout his life including dying early For you know his friend David So if you love your friends you will be loyal to them you will feel pain and joy with them And you will sacrifice For them I mean ultimately the the biggest example of this is Jesus Christ We'll get John chapter 3 and verse 16. I'm sure you all know this verse For God so loved the world because he he wrote the Bible it says I love you love you all That's what people think love is today people think love you know this is a problem where people will have in their marriage Where's they go? I love my wife. I love my wife, but you do nothing to show her because love is not words Love is not you having some butterfly feeling in your in your stomach This is what young people need to understand love is action Love is doing something. That's what Jonathan shows us ultimately. I thank God that that's what Jesus Christ showed us The guidance hey hey love you all have fun in hell Love you all hope you can be perfect Because we'd all be in hell Love and then you got the other sick satanic side of it that says love is lust today Oh No, that's abomination Love is action Love is action And I thank God that he knows what love actually means for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son That that that's what that meant. You know how did how did you love us? He gave us his son? That whosoever what believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life So the question is this morning is it a one-sided relationship between you and God Do you love the God that loved you? Because he saved you without your works he saved you without any action coming from you He saved you God showed his love. He commended his love toward us while we were yet sinners He didn't say hey clean it up clean it up become perfect, and then I'll save you know He showed his love toward us he commended his love toward us while we were yet sinners so question is do you love God? That's why in John chapter 14 in verse 15. He says if he loved me So there's no question about whether or not God loved you The question is do you love God? Do you show action towards God he already saved you? You're saved No matter what you do, but if you love me keep my commandments. He's like hey if you love me now Do what I tell you Follow the Bible So you see Jonathan he's an example of a great friend We should be a great friends to those around us We should have two-way friendships where your friends do things for you And you do things back to them that's showing that love that we're talking about here But hopefully but ultimately look at this folks the the type of friend that you are Will really be reflected in the type of Christian that you are Because your friendships towards people on this earth your brothers and sisters in Christ is really just an echo of the ultimate love that you have for the Lord And many people there's many saved Christians out there that will do nothing for God in their life God loved them just like he loved the Christian. That's actually showing love back towards God so look our Idea of friendship as it comes from us will define our relationship with the Lord who saved us Don't make it one-sided Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer