Sermon Tone Analysis

Booker T. Washington describes meeting an ex-slave from Virginia in his book Up From Slavery : "I found that this man had made a contract with his master, two or three years previous to the Emancipation Proclamation, to the effect that the man was to be permitted to buy himself, by paying so much per year for his body; and while he was paying for himself, he was to be permitted to labor where and for whom he pleased.

"Finding that he could secure better wages in Ohio, he went there.

When freedom came, he was still in debt to his master some three hundred dollars.

Notwithstanding that the Emancipation Proclamation freed him from any obligation to his master, this man walked the greater portion of the distance back to where his old master lived in Virginia, and placed the last dollar, with interest, in his hands.

In talking to me about this, the man told me that he knew that he did not have to pay his debt, but that he had given his word to his master, and his word he had never broken.

He felt that he could not enjoy his freedom till he had fulfilled his promise."

Promise - a declaration that one will do or refrain from doing something specified or a legally binding declaration that gives the person to whom it is made a right to expect or to claim the performance or forbearance of a specified act.

Promises are that which cause things in society to be done decently and in order and the foundations on which we can surely build.

Promises and those kept are vital for the healthy functioning of a culture.

That is why broken promises are so devastating.

Chief Joseph writes, “It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and the broken promises.”

Is our land and society sick at heart because of the endless examples and instances of broken promises over the years?

Promises are made constantly consistently compulsively and it almost seems a surprise when it is actually kept these days.

Wives are left with the broken pieces of the promise till death do us part.

Dinner gets cold sitting and waiting on the table.

An empty seat on the bleachers where a father promised his son he’d be sitting at the game.

A friend who promised to be there for you will not return your phone call.

A co-worker sitting in the chair you were promised a year ago if you stayed with the company.

A politician who has been in office for 4 years and has yet to deliver.

Contracts are broken, agreements are forgotten, covenants are severed, pledges are disregarded, commitments are easily ignored…oh how can we rest and progress in a time where we cannot depend on people.

Even in the church, where we are commanded to have our yes be yes and our no be no, this happens way more than it should.

And now we all wonder why we cannot rest assured when we hear the wonderful promises of Christ week after week.

We maybe see and agree more with Jonathan Swift who said, “Promises like pie crusts are made to be broken.”

and Pierce Brown who said, “Liars make the best promises.”

We may struggle as Christians today because it is almost habitual these days to expect promises to be broken even ones the Lord has made.

Do we struggle resting in the promises of God which are yes and Amen… do we struggle believing it?

Well if we don’t why do we despair?

Why so despondent?

Why do we worry?

The reality is that God keeps his promises and has kept his promises… our struggle is not only misunderstanding the promises of God (this is why we need to go to bible studies) but believe that He will keep them.

This is what we will see in our passage today.

Last week we saw how Saul made it public and clear that he wanted David dead.

To protect David, we saw Jonathan’s argument, Saul missing David with the spear again, Mical helping him escape, and the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul and his men.

And now the saga continues with his friend and brother.

David of course is in trouble and he goes to Jonathan for help (key point here).

He told Jonathan that his father was trying to kill him.

Jonathan said no.

He tells me everything.

“Jonathan dude I promise to God.

Your dad knows about our friendship and does not want to hurt you.

But I cross my heart and hope to die promise that your dad wants to kill me.”

Ok David, “What can I do?” Tomorrow we celebrate the new moon festival a celebration of the beginning of the lunar month and I always eat with the king.

Tomorrow I am going to hide in the field till evening of the 3rd day.

If your father asks where I am, tell him I got permission to go to Bethlehem for a family sacrifice.

(lie?)

If he says ok, then all is well, but if he just loses it, then you will know that he wants to kill me.

Please do this for me… we have made a covenant together.

Kill me (death is the breaking of a covenant) if I have betrayed you, but please do not betray me as one who has promised to be my loyal friend.

Jonathan agreed.

David said how will I know what happened?

Hide by the stone pile where you hid before and I will shoot 3 arrows.

I will send a boy out to get it.

If I say they are on this side, then you will know that all is well.

But if I say that it is further out then you leave immediately.

So the next day came and as expected Saul wondered where David was, but the 2nd day came and still no David.

Saul asked.

Jonathan said he asked me if he could go to Bethlehem and I said ok. Saul yelled at Jonathan calling him a stupid son of a rebellious and perverse woman.

Do you think that I don’t know that you have chosen David over even yourself to your own shame?

Get him…I want to kill him.

Jonathan said why, what did he do?

Then Saul threw a spear at his own son to kill him, but obviously missed.

Now, Jonathan knew that his father was going to kill David.

Jonathan left angry.

Jonathan shot the arrows and yelled out that they are still ahead of you hurry hurry do not wait.

He told the boy to go back to town.

When the boy left, David bowed before Jonathan with his face to the ground with the both of them in tears then they embraced each other to say good-bye.

At last Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn loyalty to each other in the Lord’s name.

The Lord is the witness of a bond between us and our children forever.”

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

1.

David holds on to his covenant

2. Christ holds on to His

We can hold on to ours

3. We can hold on to ours

The first thing we will look at today is how David holds on in trust to the covenant bond between him and Jonathan.

Still hoping on and believing in promises, he asks the unthinkable.

The second thing we will see is how this parallels Christ Himself, as He hopes on and believes in the promises made to Him by the Father.

Finally, we will see how in Christ we can hope on and believe in the promises He made to us, like Jonathan made to David and like the Father made to Christ, we too have a covenant with the Lord.

Thesis: In the face of difficulty, in a world filled with all kinds of threats, violence, deception, broken promises and sorrow, our hope is in the covenant that the Lord has made with us knowing that no matter what happens we will always hope in our eternal bond of peace in Christ our friend that sticks closer than a brother.

I. David Held on to His Covenant

- David held on and believed in his agreement made with Jonathan.

A. If there is one thing in our world, especially with this current generation, is the unfortunate ignorance of what is a covenant.

Much of it is from the continued bad examples of how these bonds are treated.

Lies, Lies and more lies.

In the news, politics, work, school, friends..ect

B. We are living in a world full of broken promises.

Full of lies.

And because of this, there is no trust.

When there is no trust, there is no hope in anything other than yourself.

For you cannot put hope in soap on a rope and scapegoats.

And eventually, when you cannot trust in yourself.

Then you have no hope at all.

And when you have no hope… we cope with hope in dope.

But in the end…nope, all is lost for there is no hope.

We have no hope in promises even ones we make to ourselves… news years resolutions.

C. The study of Covenants is a difficult endeavor indeed, but it is easily understood.

Covenant—translated from the Hebrew berith and the Greek diathēke—at its most basic level, a covenant is an oath-bound relationship between two or more parties.

Or even more simply, an Agreement.

D. The sad thing for us in our day and age is that we may have lost how important this little thing call a promise is.

The Scriptures are governed by it.

The framework of actually understanding the scripture is in light of covenants.