All right, 2 Samuel chapter 22.
I've entitled the message this morning, All the King's Men.
Now the book of 1 Samuel is all about God giving Israel a king.
Christ the king, King Christ is the subject of this book.
And Christ is seen in the picture of King David throughout this
book. Now Samuel was the last of the judges. He was a prophet
and he was a judge. And during the time the judges
ruled in Israel, God was Israel's king. He was their ruler. But
the children of Israel wanted a king. They wanted an earthly
king, just like all the other nations around them. Samuel warned
them, now if you get a king, he's going to take from you.
He's going to take your sons and your daughters. He's going
to tax you. He's going to use you to make him rich. He warned
them, but the people wanted a king anyway. Now God had promised
many years ago and he promised through Moses that he would one
day send Israel a king. But the people were not content
to wait on the Lord. They wanted a king and they wanted
him now. But David, God's king, he wasn't
even born yet or maybe he was just a baby at this time and
they wanted a king. They wouldn't wait. So God gave
the people Saul, and Saul was exactly what Samuel said he'd
be. He took from the people, he abused his power, made himself
rich from them off their backs. And you know, that's how the
flesh operates, isn't it? You know, this wanting what you
want and wanting it now, does that sound like anybody you know?
Sounds like me. You know, Janet says, when we
pray for patience, Lord, give me patience and give it to me
now. You know, this is the way we are. And I tell you the way
the flesh operates, We've got to do it our way first. And when
our way fails and fails miserably, only then will we look to the
Lord. Only then will we ask God for his way. And that's Saul. He's man's way. He just like
Adam. Adam wanted to be his own God.
He wanted to do it his way. And that's what the people wanted
too. They didn't want God on the throne. They wanted their
king on the throne. They wanted Saul. And you know the story,
Saul failed miserably and the people were so sorry, just ugh. Well, only then would God send
them his king, sent them King David. And David is a preeminent
type of Christ our King. Lord Jesus Christ is the son
of God. But often throughout scripture,
he's called the son of David because from the fleshly side,
he's descended from David. 16 times in Scripture, the Lord
Jesus is called the Son of David. You remember when blind Bartimaeus
was calling for mercy? He called out to the Son of David.
Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy upon me. Now look at Matthew
chapter 22. Hold your place there in 1 Samuel. We'll come back to that in just
one second. But anyone who knew anything about Scripture knew
this, that the Messiah would be the Son of David. Matthew
22, verse 41. Now, when the Pharisees were
gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, what think ye of
Christ, whose son is he? They say unto him, the son of
David. They knew that. He saith unto them, how then
doth David in spirit call him Lord? Saying, the Lord said unto
my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies
thy footstool. If David then call him Lord,
how is he his son? And no man was able to answer
him a word. Neither dared any man from that day forth ask him
any more questions. You see, they couldn't understand
how Christ could be both the son of God and son of David.
And we can't either unless God reveals Christ to us. Christ
the King must be revealed to us or we'll never see him, we'll
never know him, we'll never bow before him. Now Christ is king. That's the subject of this book.
Christ is king. And when we say Christ is king,
this is what we mean. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
sovereign. He's sovereign over everything. There is nothing that he is not
in absolute control of. Now I make that point because
so many people in religion think that Christ being king means
he's sovereign over what I want him to be sovereign over. You
know, he's sovereign in giving me a job, but he's not sovereign
over me losing it. You know, he's sovereign in giving
me money or giving me health. He's not sovereign in taking
it away. Oh yes he is. He's the king. He's sovereign
over all. And you and I, have to bow to
him. We bow to his sovereign will
and we come before him and beg him for mercy because he's in
control of all. Him being in control of supplying
our earthly needs is one thing. He's in control of whether our
soul is saved or damned. He's in control. It's up to him. Now we better bow before him
and beg for mercy. In 1 Samuel chapter 22, David
has already been anointed king. Samuel came to Jesse's house
and anointed David king of Israel. But in 1 Samuel 22, David's not
on the throne. David's hiding in a cave. He's
sitting on a rock in a cave. He's not sitting on the throne
of Israel. David's not wearing the king's purple robes and fancy
crown, he's wearing some sort of shepherd's cloak, sitting
on a rock in a cave wondering, what's God's will in this? And
when you look at David, sitting there in that cave, he doesn't
look much like a king, does he? But he is, he's God's king. And
that's a picture of Christ. When the Lord Jesus walked this
earth, you know he looked like a homeless man? And you know
why he looked like a homeless man? Because he was, he was a
homeless man. He had no place to lay his head.
He didn't look like a king. After three years of his earthly
ministry, other men took him and did with him what they would. They beat him, they tortured
him, they mocked him and made fun of him. And finally they
killed him and put his dead body in a tomb. The Lord Jesus did
not look much like a king. as he hung on Calvary's tree,
suffering under the wrath of God and suffering the hatred
of men. But I'm telling you, he was and
is king. He's Lord of all. Look over at
Hebrews chapter two. The father had already declared
Christ to be king, but we didn't see it completely yet, did we?
Not yet we didn't see it completely. In Hebrews two and verse seven, Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels. Henry said, for a little while,
he was made lower than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory
and honor and did set him over the works of thy hands. The father
has declared him to be king. Thou has put all things in subjection
under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection
under him, he left nothing that's not put under him. He's sovereign
over all. But now we see not yet all things
put under him. We don't see it yet, do we? But
we will one day because he's king. The Lord Jesus Christ is
king. And David sitting in that cave,
he's a picture of Christ the king. But he also gives us a
picture of the experience, the life experience of every believer.
Now David's king. God has taken his spirit from
Saul. David's been anointed king. David's king of Israel, but Saul's
on the throne, isn't he? And in the experience of every
believer, there is a time Christ is king. But sin's on the throne
in our heart. In our heart, sin's on the throne.
And if we belong to Christ, He's not going to let that situation
last forever. He's coming to take the throne
of our heart, to put that flesh and sin off the throne, and He's
going to take the throne. Now Christ is King. He's got
a people, and He will reign in their hearts. He's got a people.
He's got a court. Every king has a court. Well,
who are they? I want to know who are the people
that are in the court of Christ the King. Now, 1 Samuel 22, our
text gives us a good description of those people who come to Christ. Christ's people, his court, first
of all, they come to Christ right now. Verse one, David therefore
departed thence and escaped to the cave of Dolem. and his brethren
and all his father's house heard it, and they went down thither
to him." Now, like I said, David's king. He sure don't look like
it. But some people saw it. Some people knew it and they
came to David in that cave anyway. They didn't come to David because
he had the nicest house. They didn't come to David because
he had the nicest clothes or could give those things to him.
They didn't come to David because he's humanly popular because
humanly he not popular. You know, he doesn't have a nice
house. He's living in a cave. He doesn't have nice clothes.
He's got, you know, whatever was on his back when he escaped
to the cave. But if those people are going to come to Christ or
come to David, they're going to come down. It says here, They
went down thither to him. They've got to go down. They've got to be humbled. But
they came to David. And they came to David because
God gave them eyes to see something most people didn't see. They
saw David was king. They came to David and they followed
David because God gave them a heart that loved David. Despite his
circumstances, they loved him. They saw him as their captain
and they wanted to be with him. Now that's coming to Christ.
That's what it is. Men in this world do not put
much stock in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now they put some stock
in the Jesus that they've made up, but not the Lord Jesus of
this book, they don't. He's just not popular. And if
as a church, if we would like to build a big following, I'll
tell you how we do it. All we got to do is quit preaching
Christ. All we got to do is quit preaching this unpopular truth
of who He is and we'll get a big following. Christ and His sovereignty
and His saving power is not popular. There are costs with following
Christ, but those that come to Him don't care. because they
love Him. God's given them a heart that
loves Christ. God's given them faith that believes
Christ. He's given them eyes to see something
that most of the world does not see, that anybody in the flesh
can't see, that Christ is King. And they come to Him because
they love Him. They believe Him. They come to Him because they
believe the Word of God. They have God-given faith. These
people that came to David came to Him because they believe the
Word of God. They believe God. Samuel said, I anointed him king
because God told me to. They believed God and came to
David as their king. And if we're going to come to
Christ, that's how we have to come to him. We've got to come
to him now. Now in this day where the Lord
Jesus Christ is not popular. This is the day we've got to
come to him. We've got to humble ourselves and come to him because
we love him, because we need him, not because we're trying
to win a popularity contest. We've got to come to the Christ
that this world and our flesh hates. That's who we've got to
come to and we've got to come to him now. Now there's coming
a day the whole world, all of creation is going to see Christ
high and lifted up. The whole world is gonna see
him on his throne in glory. They're gonna see him as who
he is, and Paul told us in the book of Philippians, in that
day, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess he
Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Don't wait till you see
him then to come to him, because then it'll be too late. Then
the day of grace will be over. If we're gonna come to Christ,
we come to him now. Here's a quote from Pilgrim's
Progress. Secondly, Christ's people, the people in
his court. They're the family of God. Verse
one tells us that his brethren in all his father's house, when
they heard it, they went down to him. Look at John chapter
six. David's brethren, those who are
related to him in his father's house, they came to David. Well, that's who comes to Christ.
Christ's brethren, those that the Father chose and gave to
Christ in the covenant of grace, they always come to Christ, always. John 6, verse 37, see if this
isn't what he says. All that the Father giveth me,
all those the Father elected, shall come to me. And him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. And I'll tell you why
these elect come to Christ. because the Father draws them
to Christ. He reveals Christ to their heart,
and they can't help but come. Look at verse 44 there, John
6. No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me
draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. It's written
in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man,
therefore, that hath heard and has learned of the Father does
what? Cometh unto me. The elect are drawn to Christ. The Father reveals Christ to
him. That's what our Lord said, my
sheep hear my voice. Those sheep are God's elect.
My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. They come to Christ. Now in verse two of our text,
1 Samuel 22, Christ's people. Those people, Samuel, whoever
wrote this, maybe it was David, gave us gives us here three words
that describes everyone who comes to Christ. The first word, every
one of Christ's people, everyone who's in his court, they're people
who are in distress. Verse two, and everyone that
was in distress, and everyone that was in debt, and everyone
that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him, and he became
a captain over them, and there were with him about 400 men.
Now this word distress, everyone who is in distress came to David. The word means anguish. Everyone
who comes to Christ comes to Christ because they're in anguish
over their sin. Now that's something that only
the Holy Spirit can do. You know, if your family or friends
try to convict you, you try to to you think about, oh, the things
I've done wrong, and try to work up some sorrow for what you've
done. You might feel guilty for a little
while, but it won't last. You'll talk yourself out of it.
But when the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin, your soul will be
in anguish, and it won't go away. There's nothing you can do about
it because your soul's in anguish because you've sinned against
God. And the only choice you have
is to come to Christ. He's the only one who can relieve
that anguish of your soul. And the word distress, it also
means confinement. You're in anguish because you're
in confinement. You can't move. You're in a straight
place. Well, everyone who comes to Christ
is in the prison house of sin. They're confined in the prison
house of sin. And Christ says he come to set
the prisoner free. That's the only way we'll ever
go free, is if Christ sets us free. And I'll tell you this,
the moment, the very moment He sets you free, you'll come to
Him. Once you're free, you come to
Him. Then this word distress, it also
means disability. It means anguish and confinement,
and it means disability. Everyone who comes to Christ
has no ability to do anything for God. You can't please him,
you can't obey him, you can't do anything. You imagine here's
David in this cave and you're thinking, well, God made me king,
maybe he'll send me an army. Maybe, you know, somehow I'm
going to be on the throne and here come all these people to
David who can't do one thing for him. What an army. That's
who comes to Christ. We can't. We're disabled. We
can't quit sinning. We can't stop sinning. We don't
have that ability. We can't be righteous. We can't
do anything that God requires of us because we're disabled. We don't have any ability. We're
like that impotent man by the pool at Bethesda. We see the
water troubled. The angel comes and troubled
the water off. We could just get to it. We'd be healed. But
we can't get to the water. We're disabled. We don't have
the ability to get there. Somebody tells us we'll take
the first step and God will meet you the rest of the way. Well,
that's not good news to me. I'm disabled. I don't have the
ability to take the first step. We're disabled. We can't come
to Christ. Yet we do. And the moment you
realize you can't come to Christ, that's when you will. Everyone
who comes to Christ lacks the ability to come to Christ, but
they do anyway. If you have any ability left
in yourself, you'll never come to Christ. You'll never look
to him. But when you realize you can't come to him, that's
when you will. And no point trying to explain
that or understand it, that's just so, just believe it. Like
Henry said, that's not hard, that's just so. Everyone who's
in distress, will come to Christ to be set free from the anguish
of our sin because Christ paid the sin debt of His people with
the blood of His sacrifice. We come to Christ to be set free
from the condemnation of sin, from the ruling power of sin
so that we can serve Christ. We come to Christ because we're
disabled, we're dead. We come to Him to be given life.
We come to Him, we're disabled, we can't do anything to please
God, so we come to Him for faith that looks to Christ and believes
Christ that does please God. Everyone who's in distress will
come to Christ. They're in His court. The next
word is debt. Everyone who's in Christ, who's
in His court, is in debt. Now our sin has left us with
a debt. We cannot pay. We don't have
the ability to pay it. It's an infinite debt because
it's sin against an infinite God. Every single moment we live,
we add to our sin debt. Every breath we draw adds to
our sin debt against God because all we can do is sin. And we
owe a debt to God. We owe a debt to God's law. We
owe a debt of obedience to God's law. Well, I can't be obedient. I can't do that. Then I owe a
debt I can't pay, don't I? And we owe a debt to God's justice. We owe a debt to God's justice. Justice demands death for sin.
My life isn't worth anything. My death won't contribute to
paying that debt, so I'm gonna have to spend eternity in hell.
Is there anybody who can pay the debt for me? I can't pay
it. Well, you know, everyone who sees their sin debt, everyone
who knows they're a sinner will come to Christ because they know
only he can pay their debt. His blood will pay their debt
and cancel it. The Lord Jesus Christ came as
a man to be the representative of his people. And as a man,
as a representative of his people, he paid the debt to the law.
He paid the debt we can't pay. He obeyed it perfectly in every
jot and every tittle. And as a man, the Lord Jesus
Christ paid the debt of His people. He died as the sinner's substitute. Now we're talking about a death
that can do something. The death of Christ can pay the
sin debt of His people because His life has infinite worth. because he did obey God, he did
please God. His blood is perfect, so his
blood has infinite worth to pay the infinite sin debt of his
people. Christ paid the debt God's justice
demanded, he died. So his people live. Christ was
made sin for his people and he put their sin away. Now brothers
and sisters, the debt's paid. The debt is paid. If you're a
sinner, quit trying to make a down payment, quit trying to contribute
something. You don't have anything to contribute.
Just come to Christ empty-handed. The debt's been paid. You don't
owe God a thing. If Christ died for you, Jesus
paid it all. All the debt I owe. Oh, sin left
a crimson stain. Sin left a stain I couldn't get
rid of, but his blood washed it white as snow. Now, if you're
in debt, you'll come to Christ. Then the next word is discontented.
All Christ's people, everyone who's in the King's court are
discontented. That word discontented, it means
bitter. Everyone who's in Christ's court,
they've tasted the bitterness of their sin. They've tasted
the bitterness of repentance. Now, when we repent of our sin,
we turn to Christ. is a turning to Christ. Repentance
is not just being sorry that I did it. Repentance is turning
to Christ. I turn to Him, not just because
I'm sorry for my sin, I turn to Him because I need Him. I need Him to turn this bitterness
into sweetness. Has sin left you bitter? I'm talking about your sin. Has
your sin left you bitter? Then come to Christ. King David
says he satisfied your mouth with good things. He satisfied
the longing soul and fill up the hungry soul with goodness. If you're in bitterness, you
come to Christ. And this word discontented, it
also means under a heavy burden. We come to Christ because the
burden of our sin is too much for us to carry. Somebody is
going to have to lift it away or it's going to crush us. The
weight of our sin would crush us eternally. But Christ, the
mighty Savior, He took the sin of God's elect, and He lifted
it off of them, and He put it on Himself. And as a scapegoat
of old, our substitute bore it away. So you'll never see that
burden again. Christ is the mighty Savior. That's why we come to Him. Look
over here in Matthew chapter 11. We come to Him. We think,
well, if I come to Him, would He take my burden? You know,
would He do for me? We come to Him because He said
come to Him. You know, your right to come
to Christ is His commandment to come. Isn't that right? Matthew
11, verse 28. Our Lord says, come unto me,
all ye that labor, and are heavy laden. All you who are discontented,
you come to me. I'll give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart,
and you'll find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and
my burden is light." Well, in short, everyone who came to David
came to David because they needed him, didn't they? They needed
him. They were in distress. They were in debt. They were
discontented. They needed Him to do for them what they couldn't
do for themselves. That's why people come to Christ.
We come to Christ because we need Him. And you know, that's
not just a one-time thing. I come to Him every day. I need
Him every day because He's our only hope. Now, Scripture says
all those that came to David were about 400. Well, that's
not much, is it? Compared to the rest of Israel,
that's not very many. But you know what? Everyone who was supposed
to come to David did. They all did. That's God's elect. Everyone who God chose comes
to Christ. Now, they're just a remnant at
any given time here on earth. They're just a small remnant
compared to everyone who doesn't believe Christ. But I tell you
what, every one of them come. And Jonathan, not one's missing.
Not one. All these people, they came to
David. and they made up his court. David became captain over them.
David ruled over them. His word was law. He gave commandment
and they did it. They didn't question him, he's
king. They went out and do what he told them to do in his service.
And sometime later, David finally took the throne. Who do you imagine
ruled with David when he took the throne? These 400, they ruled with David. Well, that's Christ. He's the
captain over his people. He's the captain of our salvation.
And he rules over his people. He gives us commandments. He
sends us out doing his service where he says, go, we go. When
he says do, we do. And one day, and I know now,
we don't see all things put under him, but one day we will. And
when Christ takes the throne for all of creation to see, Who
do you imagine is gonna rule with him? Well, it's his people. It's all those that drew close
to him. Now, when we see not yet all things put under him,
those people are gonna rule with him. Everyone who came to Christ
in their distress, to have their distress eased by his person.
Everyone who came to Christ to have their debt paid in his blood.
Everyone who came to Christ to have their burden taken away
from them at Calvary. That's who is in the court of
King Christ. Well, in themselves, they're
not much to look at. I mean, they're a pretty motley
crew. They're just the rabble of society. But I want to tell
you what, that's who grace calls. And those people, despite who
they are in themselves by nature, they come to Christ. And one
day, they'll rule with him. Look over 2 Timothy 2. Let's
see if that's not so. Those who suffer with Christ
now, those who come to Him in the cave, a dome, one day they'll
rule with Christ. 2 Timothy 2, verse 10. The apostle says, therefore,
I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain
the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. And
it's a faithful saying, for if we be dead with Him, we shall
also live with Him. If we suffer, we shall also reign
with Him. If we deny Him, He will also
deny us. If we suffer with Him, if we
come to Him now in the cave of Dullam, we'll reign with Him.
But please don't misunderstand me. We come to Christ, not because
someday we'll reign with Him. Don't come to Christ trying to
get something from Him, no. We come to Christ because we
need Him. Oh, we need him, we need him.
We're just like these who came to David. We come to Christ,
not because we hope someday to live in a big fancy mansion and
reign with him and have a throne. I'll confess with you, I don't
know what all this means about reigning with him. My suspicion
is we're gonna stand back and worship him and watch him reign.
I don't think we're, no, we're not gonna throne or ruling over
anything or deciding anything. Christ is king. We come to Him
because of the distress of our soul, because of our sin debt,
because of the discontented state of our nature. We come to Him
to be relieved, to have done for us what we cannot do for
ourselves. We come to Him if for no other
reason than to bow at His feet because that's the rightful place.
His rightful place is on the throne. My rightful place is
in the dust that His feet worship in. That's why we come to Him. All right, I hope the Lord will
bless that too.