 Alright, look at 1 Samuel chapter 13 and look at verse number 1. This is the first mention of Jonathan in the Bible and we're going to 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, 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 1 Samuel chapter 13 and 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 1 is just saying, Saul reigned a year 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 2 takes place. Saul chose him 3,000 men of Israel, whereof 2,000 were with Saul in McMash and in Mount Bethel, and 1,000 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 2. 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 bearer. 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 2. Jonathan was a warrior, he was courageous, he was brave, and he was leading men in his father's army in verse number 2. Now I'm going to read for you 1 Samuel chapter 1 or 13 verse number 1 in the new, in the NIV, all right? Just to point out that in 1 Samuel chapter 13 verse number 1 and verse number 2, it is very easy to understand what is happening. Now let's read the NIV, all right? In verse number 1 of 1 Samuel chapter 13 in the NIV, and I hope you don't have an NIV with you tonight or this morning, but I'll just read it for you. So 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, 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. Acts chapter 13 and 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 and verse number 21 in the NIV, it still says 40 years. So the NIV literally, 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, right? Here's the thing, the 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 give Saul an 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 that 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 1 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 reigned for two years over Israel, then it goes into verse two. In the Dewey Reims 1899 American edition it says this, Saul was a child of one year when he began to reign. And he reigned two years over Israel. So it's wrong on both cases. But it literally says like a baby was anointed king when he was one years old. I mean, just all that to say this, all these modern Bible versions, they just have all these just incredibly stupid mistakes in them, all right? They can't be trusted at all, all right? Remember 2 Samuel chapter five in verse number four. So now we know you're going to keep your place in 1 Samuel chapter 18. You can lose your place in 1 Samuel chapter 13. But we know that Saul reigned one year and after two years he created this army and he went to war against the Philistines. Let's get back to reality here. Look at 2 Samuel chapter five. Let's get back into this sermon about Jonathan and his relationship with King David. Look at 2 Samuel chapter five in verse number four. 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 reigned 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 this is always pretty easy to remember that the first two kings reigned 40 years in Israel. So David was not born when Saul became king. We know this. 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 going to look at it this morning. Jonathan was many years older than David. Jonathan was at least 20 years older than David, alright? 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, I kind of picture the relationship between David and Jonathan as kind of a mentor-mentee type relationship since Jonathan was this older warrior and David was this up-and-coming warrior and leader in the kingdom. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 18 and verse number one. Let's look at the beginning of this friendship between Jonathan and David. So 1 Samuel chapter 18, where are we at? This is right after David killed Goliath. 1 Samuel chapter 17 is when David, this young man, 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. This is one of the reasons we don't have Sunday school here because we're not going to play down these stories in the Bible. We're not going to 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, 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 1 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 as his own soul. Look at that verse in a little more detail in a few minutes. And Saul took him that day and 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 and his garments even to his sword and to his bow and to his girdle. Again, Jonathan is a mighty man of war himself. And he right away just has affinity and just makes this friendship, this covenant with David. Look at verse number five. Now this is interesting because as Jonathan is 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 with us whoever 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 for a second. I mean, think about the story of this young warrior that goes and defeats this giant, defeats this giant that was blaspheming God and threatening the entire army and 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 too. Saul was out, you know, winning battles and he was no slouch himself. With tablets, with joy and 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. Uh-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 have ascribed but thousands. And what can he have more but the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day forward. So here we see, you know, just 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 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 five, verse number 26, so just read it for you. It says, let us not be desirous of vain glory. So Saul shouldn't even want glory, provoking one another and being 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. It's 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 a 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 you 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. 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. The Bible says in Proverbs 27, 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, those are the bad things. 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 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 1 Samuel chapter 2, there's a saying, look the part. In 1 Samuel chapter 19 and chapter number 20, we're going to look at that in just a few minutes. He risks 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 struggle with work. These are the type of people that change jobs. Like, you know, we change stocks. 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. It's to have long-term life, long 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 are 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 of 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, he says, Thou art my firstborn, my might in the beginning of my strength, the 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? He's saying 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 1 Samuel chapter 18. Look at verse number 1. 1 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 2. True friends will feel your pain. Look at verse number 1 of 1 Samuel chapter 18. Verse number 1 it says, in verse number 1, it repeats this in verse number 3. It says, 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 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 too. 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. What kind of friend am I? Does my heart hurt when 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 4. Look at verse number 4. 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, Saul, rebukes him for this in a couple of chapters. Look at verse number 4. That Jonathan didn't take friendship advice from his dad. Look at verse number 4. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe. He was a prince. 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 gives to David, turned to chapter 19. Just one chapter over. He advocated for his friend. He sacrificed his reputation with his own father for his friend. In verse number one, 1 Samuel chapter 19. The Bible says, And 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 theeward very good. So not only is he warning David showing that loyalty that we already talk about, he's advocating to his father. 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 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 disrejoice. 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's sacrificing for David. Look at verse 20. It doesn't last long. Saul goes back to wanting to kill David once again. But look at verse 27 of 1 Samuel 20. Now he goes and he advocates for David to his father. His father gets right and then his father 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 unto 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 hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion and unto the confusion of thy mother's nakedness. He's basically insulting Jonathan's mother. He's like you're the son of a, you know what? It's basically what he's saying to Jonathan. And he's rebuking Jonathan because Jonathan is protecting David. 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 infestion 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's 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 proof 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 1st Samuel chapter 31. 1st Samuel chapter 31. 1st Samuel chapter 31. We see the death of Saul and his sons unfortunately. Jonathan dies early in 1st Samuel chapter 31. The Bible says in verse number 1 of 1st 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 Gilbola. And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons and the Philistines slew Jonathan and Abinadab and Melchishua, Saul's sons. So here Saul's sons suffer for the judgment that was coming upon Saul. That's kind of a sad ending to Jonathan's life because 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 in pleasant places. Yea, 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. 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 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 and constantly just feeling the pain of one friend. Those types of relationships, those types of friendships, they exist. But they usually don't exist for long if they're one-sided. You say, well, wasn't this a one-sided friendship? Because it was just Jonathan that we saw was doing all these great things as a friend. Well, turn to 2 Samuel chapter 9. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 9 and we'll see that this was not a one-sided friendship. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 9 and look at verse number 1. 2 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 of 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 1 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 Zeba and when they had called him unto David art thou Zeba and he said, thy servant is he. And the king said, is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God unto him? And Zeba 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 disabled. He's lame on his feet. He doesn't say why and says the king said unto him, and Zeba said unto the king, behold, he is in the house of Maker, the son of Emil in load bar. King David sent and fetched him out of the house of Maker, the son of Emil from load bar. 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 unto him, fear not, for I will surely show thee 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 continually. He says you're going to inherit everything that even Saul owned is going to 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 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 sticketh 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 it's saying a man that hath friends is 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 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 get 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 that you can think about or 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 he's in trouble to the point where he could die. A true friend says all die for you. All 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 too nerdy in my thought process or thinking about the jobs that I've done in the past and things like that, but 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 horrible accident that happened at this nuclear power plant in I think it was Belarus, actually not Russia. But it was in this ex-Russian republic of Belarus and this horrible incident happened. This reactor exploded. There was 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 through this water to shut these valves to stop this from happening. And 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 was the Soviet Union at the time. The Soviet Union was like, we'll take care of your families and all this. 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 waited through the water. 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, the reason stories like the one I just told you are so extraordinary is because stories like that are rare. Stories where men will just stand up and just face certain death so other people can live. Albert Vanderbilt. There was the Lusitania, the ship. It was hit by a Russian U-boat in 1915. And this incredibly rich billionaire was on the ship. 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. Look, those three people at Chernobyl, 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, turn to John chapter 3. Ultimately, do you love your friends? This is really the question, because that's how the Bible defines Jonathan, his actions towards David. It's 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 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 biggest example of this is Jesus Christ. Look at John chapter 3 and verse 16. People know this verse. For God so loved the world, because he wrote the Bible that says, I love you, I love you all. That's what people think love is today. People think love, you know, this is a problem people will have in their marriage. Whereas 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 stomach. This is what young people need to understand. Love is action. Doing something. That's what Jonathan shows us. Ultimately, I thank God that that's what Jesus Christ showed us. That God didn't say, 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, love. 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's what that meant. How did he do love us? He gave us his son. That whosoever what? Believe it 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. No, he showed his love toward us. He commended his love toward us while we were yet sinners. So the question is, do you love God? That's why in John chapter 14 of 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 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 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 example 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.