In this inspiring episode of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack Hibbs unpacks the complexities of friendships and rivalries in the biblical story of David, Jonathan, and Saul. As we explore 1 Samuel 18, learn about the importance of having God-centered relationships and how such bonds can withstand the test of adversity. Listen as Pastor Jack discusses the divine gift of friendship and what it truly means to have a godly heart like David.
Have that commonality of pursuit. That’s God first. Anybody in here tonight that’s in a relationship without God first, you’re not going to have a good relationship. If you keep your eyes on Jesus, you’re going to melt together. And those differences, you can celebrate them.
SPEAKER 01 :
This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s Word, the Bible. What if 2026 wasn’t about doing more, but about knowing God more? This January, we’re featuring one of the most powerful and timeless books on Christian faith, Knowing God, written by J.I. Packer. Now, this classic has helped millions of believers move from knowing about God to actually knowing God personally. With deep biblical insight and heart-centered focus, Packer invites you to explore God’s character, his love, and what it really means to walk with him. It’s not a quick read, it’s a life-changing one. Start your year with truth that will reshape your mind, strengthen your heart, and deepen your faith.
SPEAKER 02 :
Friend, this is a great book to get, and take time to read it. Maybe read a page or two a day. Contemplate it, think about it. But friends, get a copy for yourself, Knowing God by J.I. Packer. I promise you, it affected my life, it’d do the same for you.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s Knowing God by J.I. Packer. Get your copy for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called First Samuel and a message titled Friends and Foes in the Faith Part Two. Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of its prophets. So here as we continue in Chapter 18, we’ll consider how a godly heart will have its enemies. You see, there is a deep bond between Jonathan and David, but King Saul is increasingly jealous of David, which results in both political and relational tension. Someone might appear to be an ally in the faith, but can become an adversary through insecurity and control. So today, Pastor Jack teaches that David had both enemies and friends. It was a matter of the soul that Jonathan and David had a deep fellowship with one another and made a covenant founded on their love for God. Now, with his message called Friends and Foes in the Faith, Part Two, here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
SPEAKER 02 :
You should grab your Bibles tonight and turn, if you would, to 1 Samuel 18, and we will complete our study this evening, 1 Samuel 18. And we’re looking at this message entitled in this chapter, Friends and Foes in the Faith. And David had them. He had them both. He had friends and he had foes. And you’ve got friends and you have foes. You say, Pastor Jake, I don’t have any foes. Boy, you must have a lot. For if you be that naive, the enemy is brewing against you. If we don’t have foes in the flesh, we certainly have them in the spirit if we name the name of God. Paul tells us that we do not war, we do not wage a war against carnal or earthly powers, but demonic powers, principalities and powers in darkness, rulers in a spirit world. And so we learn from David’s life that he has enemies and he has friends. And that will be true in your life. And as we look and as we consider what’s being taught before us, we as God’s people want to be asking ourselves some serious questions. Have we nurtured friendships in our lives? Real ones, as we will see in the life of Jonathan and David. Listen, a relationship so intense that songs, movies, poems have been written about these two men. They’ll speak that their love for one another was stronger than that for a woman. It doesn’t mean that they were gay. A lot of people have said, well, David and Jonathan must have been gay. That’s satanic thinking. What it means is their devotion, their loyalty, and their ability to communicate with one another was the work of the Holy Spirit. We call it today in New Testament Greek koinonia. It’s the deep fellowship that God establishes. Where you have a friend, could be a spouse, should be a spouse. But in our context of study, let’s say as a woman, you have a friend who’s a woman and she already knows what you’re thinking. She already knows what you’re feeling. She knows exactly how to pray for you. Maybe you’re a man and you have a friend that’s a man and you’re that close. He knows what you’re thinking. He knows how to pray. It’s rare. Listen, it’s rare. It doesn’t come in vast numbers, that kind of friendship. It doesn’t need to because it is so precious and so powerful that you only need one friend like that. And it’s quite an amazing relationship that God is establishing. Unfortunately, like I had to start this morning, I had to take out the trash. And in the life of Jonathan and David, God’s got to take out the trash. And sadly, tragically, the trash in the story is a lunatic by the name of Saul. a tormented man. We saw in our study last time at 1 Samuel chapter 18 that in the first point, verses 1 through 4, that it’s a matter of the soul. If we’re going to have friends that will be of value, where there’s loyalty and friendship and unity, number one, and I urged so many young people and single people to write this down last time, it’s a matter of the soul. Young people tonight, don’t divorce yourself from a Deep relationship with someone regarding the soul, meaning the mind or the very depth of who you are. Friendships need to be deep and tragedy, joy, venturing out causes that unity to happen, that kind of experience to be had. It’s a matter of the soul. And we looked at that because number one, we saw that there would be a commonality of pursuits, right? Now listen to this carefully. It says in verse one, now when he, David, had finished speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit, glued together, bonded, super glued to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. When Jonathan heard David speak, he noticed that there was a commonality of pursuit flowing out of David’s heart and life. This happens when someone relates to another or you hear someone share. And when somebody’s talking, it’s almost as though they’re words. Now listen, you better listen to this carefully because I’m going to get into some personal stuff here. And if you don’t listen good, then you’re going to say I said something weird, which I might say anyway. But be on your toes. That’s a warning. where someone is speaking and you are hearing them speak, and you may be a third party to what’s transpiring, but when they articulate something, it could be a feeling or an emotion or the word of God or some exploit that God had brought them through, you begin to say in your own heart, I know what they’re talking about. They’re saying it better than I could. Man, I wanna get to know that person. Well, I want to draw closer to them. And the whole scenario is pure. I want to have that person in my life. You wake up to the sense that they can make a radical difference in your life. That is not being selfish. It’s being wise. It’s picking someone that challenges you and someone that you see and admire in the faith. Didn’t Paul say, follow me as I follow Christ? What a wonderful phrase. chronology that is. That if Paul was following Jesus, then the churches that he was ministering to ought to follow Paul because in reality, they were really following Jesus. And Paul would have been the first one to say, don’t look at me, look at Christ. And so when you see somebody like that, there’s a commonality of pursuits while at the same time, there is a wonderful, wonderful relationship of that person’s individuality. Anybody dating in here tonight? Anybody thinking about dating or engaged or whatever? Listen carefully. There must be a commonality of pursuit, meaning God first, but celebrate your differences. Well, he likes this. I don’t know if our marriage will work in the future. It’s those things that are often so different about you that make a great marriage. You want to marry somebody just like you, you won’t get along with them. We say, wait a minute, I married somebody completely opposite than me and we don’t get along. You know what? You’re missing the common pursuit that would bind your differences together and make it a useful tool to the glory of God. And that is the Lord being your eyes attention. When you have God first in your life, then all of your differences can be celebrated in your relationship, be it a friend or be it a marriage. It’s the way it is. A husband and a wife, they’ll wake up on their day off. What do you want to do today? Nothing. Oh, I was thinking about doing something. Now, you might say, oh, boy, that sounds like us. There’s going to be a fight over that one. Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, why? There could be an awesome, an awesome work of God in the midst of that. Quite frankly, listen, I have found, as you have found out, that marriage has been designed by God to equip us for ministry. Really? I thought it was to make me absolutely happy, and this person’s going to wait on me hand and foot for the rest of my life. Not. But when there’s a difference, it’s a time to talk about it. It’s a time maybe, okay, to yield. Can you imagine? Hey, guys, a time to yield. What? I’m a man. We can’t yield. We’ve got to yield. Maybe she wants to go to Santa Barbara. Maybe he wants to go to San Diego on that day off. Yield. You mean me as a man cave in to the fact that we’re going to go to Santa Barbara because that’s what she wants to do? Yes, because next time you get to go to San Diego when the issue comes up. Negotiate. Have that commonality of pursuit. That’s God first. Anybody in here tonight that’s in a relationship without God first, you’re not going to have a good relationship. If you keep your eyes on Jesus, you’re going to melt together. And those differences, you can celebrate them. I love to see couples that God has brought together. One sometimes is very outgoing. The other one’s kind of quiet. One is this way. The other one is that way. And it’s very funny because you see people who go, I don’t know if they should get married. They’re so opposite. God brings those people together and they’re so much stronger when the Lord is their pursuit. Besides, it’s those differences that often cause us to admire that person. Remember that. Remember that you’ve been married 30 years, whoever you are, and 20 years and 10 years. On Monday, my wife and I were with a couple. I think they’ve been married five years, I think. Five years. And I enjoyed watching them. I just enjoyed watching them. We had an amazing Monday. As you know, it was about, what, 200 to 300 degrees here on Monday? And… We went to San Diego, and the fact that I love that city and I was born there has nothing to do with me winning out and going down there. That’s not the part of what I’m talking about. We went sailing, and this couple loves the Lord, and my goodness, they come here and they serve at this church. Every week they serve here, and they live in Valencia. Do you know where Valencia is? Magic Mountain. And they’re here every week ministering. We’re dependent upon their ministry. So Monday we’re down and we’re sailing. Actually, you know what? Lisa and I were watching. They were sailing. And they’re going along and they’ve got this fantastic sailboat and we’re out in San Diego off the coast there. And we’re just talking and fellowshipping and the wind was blowing and just the perfect day. And then he just goes, prepare to come about. And she starts grabbing the ropes, and he turns that helm, and she’s snapping the rope, and she pulls it in. And away we go. There we go. We’re just right off. There we go. And we’re going and going and going, and he just says, prepare to come about. And she snaps that rope, and I thought, man, now that’s a great woman right there. No.
SPEAKER 01 :
No.
SPEAKER 02 :
It was beautiful to see these people work in unity. It was great. Beautiful thing.
SPEAKER 01 :
You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And for now, let’s get back to our teaching. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.
SPEAKER 02 :
Jonathan and David had a relationship where the commonality of pursuit was God. My friend, everything else settles into place if the Lord is your pursuit. And now that I spent the whole time recapping, verse 3, we learn that there’s glad commitment in such an affair, such a relationship, such an enduring thing. We learned in verse 4 that there’s a willing sacrifice. Glad commitment? Absolutely. And then willing sacrifice? You bet. Then we learned our second point, verses five to 16. It’s an issue of the heart. A real relationship is an issue of the heart. It says in verses five through seven, look with me there, where it says that, so David went out to wherever Saul sent him and he behaved himself wisely. David had a godly heart and a godly heart is a very attractive thing when someone is dedicated to God. That’s a very attractive thing. Even the world has seen the attractiveness of a committed believer, though they may not understand it. The world sees integrity and forthrightness and uprightness. David and Saul, completely opposite people. David and Jonathan, God was knitting their hearts together. And what a wonderful thing here, it says, David behaved himself wisely. It means that he kept himself under control in thought and in deed. In 2 Corinthians 10, verse 4, there the Bible says, The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God, for the pulling down of strongholds. Strongholds come against us, people. Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. That’s the stuff that goes on in our mind. Bringing every thought into the captivity and the obedience of Christ. Wow. Having an attractive personality. Heart means that someone is in love with God and that preeminent situation is intact. And Jonathan saw that in the life of David. And no doubt we’ll see as our study advances that David will see it in Jonathan’s life. And then we saw that a godly heart like this regarding issues and matters of the heart will have its very enemies. And the very enemy is Saul himself. In verses 8 to 13 it says, Then Saul was very angry. Remember why? that the saying of the women, remember, and all that was going on? And the saying displeased Saul, and he said, they have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom? And so we saw that there’s a gross insecurity in the life of Saul. The kingdom’s being torn from him. Technically, the kingdom had already been torn from him. David was the man coming up, and Saul was the man going down. And yet all of that ill that had come upon Saul was because Saul had taken his eyes off of God. It was tragic. A very terrible and tragic thing. It says here in verse 10, And it happened on the next day that the distressing spirit from God, a demonic spirit. Did you know the Lord rules over even demonic spirits? God allowed a demonic spirit to come upon Saul, and Saul prophesied. And some of your Bibles say prophesied. Some of your more living translation types, not necessarily a study Bible, but some of them might say like he babbled. That’s a good word in the Hebrew. It means that he rambled on. He’s speaking, and he’s assuming a position and a place, but he’s like babbling on. He’s crazy, right? So he’s babbling on. He’s in a rage inside his house. So David played music with his hand. Remember, we talked about the harp. He’s playing music as at other times, but there was a spear in Saul’s hand. Two men absolutely diametrically opposed for one reason and one reason only. One man’s got his eyes on God and one man’s got his eyes on a man. And whenever you put your eyes on somebody else, you’re going to go down. You’re going to sink. You’re going to be fretting. You’re going to be panicking. If you’re trying to compare yourself with somebody else, you’re going to lose. It’s a foolish thing. Put your eyes on God. Follow him. God has engineered into the life of every believer an accomplishment in this life. And if you keep your eye, and we sang the song tonight, keeping my eye on that high prize, that high call, focus on God in your company, in your family, in your pursuit, keep your eye on God, you will meet and make that goal that God has ordained. If you are wanting to look spiritual and trying to compare yourself or compete with people around you, you’re gonna lose. You know the greatest athletes in the world will tell you this? Whenever they’re sprinting or swimming or driving or whatever these great champions do, you know what they’ll tell you? They say, we never look back. Did you know that? It doesn’t matter what sport it is. They always say, I never look back. It’s when you look back is when you lose the race. Isn’t it amazing that sprinters, and those of you who have sprint, sprint? Those of you who are sprinters, If you’ve ever been in a sprint or if you’ve been in a long distance run, there is some sort of bizarre handicap that your trainer will tell you that if you somehow look back, it breaks your stride and you’re going to lose. Or at least they’re going to catch up to you. And so you keep Christ fixed in your life, moving forward in him. May God develop that kind of heart in us. But listen, it comes through difficulties. It comes through hard times. It comes when people are throwing spears at us. Pastor, I don’t know if I have any friends. How come? This man, he at work, he attacked me. You know what? Look at the Lord in it. What’s Jesus speaking to you about it? The world hates us. Don’t look to the world to be your friend. The world will only love you if you’re producing. The moment you’re not producing, there goes your retirement and golden parachute, and there goes your watch and your gold pen and all the things they promise. The world, they love us for what they can get out of us. But listen up. Jesus loves us because he gave his life for us. God gives. The world taketh away. But God gives. And so Saul is in this rage. So verse 11 says… As Saul cast the spear, for he said, I will pin David to the wall. But David escaped out of his presence twice. Now Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him. But he had departed from Saul. And I just want to touch on this before we move on. And that is the attitude. Your attitude is so important. You know what? If David would have been in the flesh, I mean, let’s just pause and consider something. If David would have been in the flesh… David had every bit of reason and logic and his case history proves that if he would have pulled that spear out of the wall and turned around and pointed it at Saul, don’t you think that Saul would have freaked? Because standing in his presence was a giant killer. David could have… pulled that spear out of the wall and said, you know what? You goofy king. You know what? I’ve had it with you. You are one whacked out man. You’re insecure for no reason. You’ve been fighting against God. He loves you. Your son upsets you. Everybody upsets you. You got your eyes on yourself. You drive me crazy. And David could have picked up that spear and he could have put it right through Saul’s head. David leaves twice. Man, that’s something. Men, isn’t that something? Can you imagine someone taking a swing at you? And I tell you, that’s when your Christianity is on the line. That’s when the world’s going to find out if you’re spirit-filled or not. Can you walk away David, in my opinion, is fulfilling the act and the walk of a New Testament believer right here. He turns the other cheek. He walks away. He doesn’t even throw the harp at Saul. Could you imagine? Saul’s got a broken harp around his neck. It could have happened, but it didn’t. David was in the spirit.
SPEAKER 01 :
pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio, and his message called Friends and Foes in the Faith, Part Two. Thanks for being with us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called First Samuel. It’s a series that highlights the prophet Samuel, who was called by God during one of Israel’s darkest times to bring the people back to a heart of true worship. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio. What if 2026 wasn’t about doing more, but about knowing God more? This January, we’re featuring one of the most powerful and timeless books on Christian faith, Knowing God, written by J.I. Packer. Now, this classic has helped millions of believers move from knowing about God to actually knowing God personally. With deep biblical insight and heart-centered focus, Packer invites you to explore God’s character, his love, and what it really means to walk with him. It’s not a quick read. It’s a life-changing one. Start your year with truth that will reshape your mind, strengthen your heart, and deepen your faith.
SPEAKER 02 :
Friend, this is a great book to get and take time to read it. Maybe read a page or two a day. Contemplate it. Think about it. But friends, get a copy for yourself, Knowing God by J.I. Packer. I promise you it affected my life. It’ll do the same for you.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s Knowing God by J.I. Packer. Get your copy for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We’ll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.
