And if you would turn with me
this morning in your Bible, 1 Samuel chapter 22. 1 Samuel chapter
22. 1 Samuel chapter 22, verse one. David therefore departed thence
and escaped to the cave called Adullam. And when his brethren
and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to
him. Verse 2, 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 four hundred men. Just a few weeks before
the account that we just read, David had become an overnight
sensation, as they say, and his name had become a household word. After defeating and killing the
Philistine champion, the giant named Goliath, and his heroic
feat was welcomed with admonition and admiration. Wherever his
name was mentioned, it was with praise and adoration. The maidens
came out of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing and
saying, Saul has slain thousands and David his ten thousands. And that infuriated King Saul. It displeased him so. And in
his jealousy, Saul said, what can he have more but my kingdom? He has more glory than me, he's
more popular than me, and I suppose next he'll take over my throne.
Little did Saul know that God had already made David king.
The prophet Samuel had anointed David as the king of Israel.
But from this day forward, Saul kept a close eye on David. Saul's hatred and his jealousy
of David grew increasingly greater. And one day, Saul cast a javelin
at David, intending to nail him to the wall. On more than one
occasion, David avoided Saul's attempt of murder. And in 1 Samuel
18, verse 12, we are informed that Saul was afraid of David.
Why? Because the Lord was with him
and David departed from his presence. Now, I suppose the first question
that would be good to ask is why is David now in this cave? Verse one of our text in 1 Samuel
22 tells us It says that he escaped there. He's on the run for his
life. King Saul is out to kill him. Matter of fact, you may not have
to turn the page, but look back. at 1 Samuel chapter 21, we have
a little history here. We see in verse 1 that David
first goes to Ahimelech, the priest, and then in verse 2,
he just flat out lies. He tells Ahimelech that he's
on an errand for King Saul. He wasn't on an errand for King
Saul. He was running for his life from King Saul. He tells
the priest that his men are holed up somewhere, and he tells the
priest that they left in such a hurry that they forgot to bring
provisions. He tells the priest that his
men are held up, that he has no food with him, and that they're
hungry. But he doesn't have any men with
him. He's on the run by himself. Then David asked the priest if
there are any weapons there. He could use a spear or a sword
because the king's business, again, was so urgent that he
left in such a hurry that he forgot his weapon. Now, do you
think that the priest is buying this? I certainly wouldn't. Would
a man on a mission from the king leave without provisions, leave
unarmed? Of course not. And then in verse
seven, we see that on this particular day, you know, last week we talked
about that word particular and that word certain. On this particular
day, there was a certain man, a servant of Saul by the name
of Doeg. He's an Edomite, we're told.
He was the chief of Saul's herdmen, and when David found out that
Doeg was there, he quickly departed. Now, the question here, again,
is did David seek the Lord? In this time of trouble, did
he seek the Lord? No, we're told in verse 10, and
David arose and he fled that day for fear of Saul, and he
went to Achish, the king of Gath. Akish is the Philistine king
of Gath. You know, Goliath was Goliath
of Gath. David is running here to his
enemy. Instead of seeking his God, he
runs to the world for help. Have you ever done that? I'm
certain at one time or another, we all have. We've all looked
to the world for help. We must remember that even though
David himself is here in our text, a beautiful type and picture
of Christ, he's but a man, but a sinner, just like you and me,
capable of doing foolish and sinful things. We're so prone
to sin, sin's what we are. And then verse 11, the servants
of Achish, king of Gath said, is this not David, the king of
Israel? Now, undoubtedly, they had even
heard that David had been anointed king by Samuel, though Saul was
still on his throne. And they said, is this not the
one who killed our champion? Sure looks like him. Is this
not the one that they sung about as they danced in the streets
saying that David had slain 10,000? But now, according to verse 12,
David became sore afraid of Achish, the king of Gath, and look at
what he does next. Verse 13, he changed his behavior. Have you ever changed your behavior
around unbelievers? I have. I'm not proud of it. I'm ashamed of it, but I have.
I have. David changed his behavior. He
began acting like a madman. He begins to mark on the doors
of the gate with his hand. He lets spit fall down upon his
beard. And in verse 14, King Achish
said, lo, this man is mad. Why have you brought him to me?
But that's not all the King of Gath said. In verse 15, he said,
have I need of a madman that ye have brought this fella to
play the madman in my presence? Shall this fella come into my
house? Now that word fella there, as
you can see, is italicized. It means, as you know, that it
was added. Now what the King of Gath is
saying is that you brought me this blankety blank. You brought
me this nothing, this zero, this madman. Get him out of here. Just get him out of my presence.
What has happened to David who goes from the heights of glory
to being considered a homeless, mad, and crazy man? Could this
be the Lord's anointed? Could the Lord's servant have
condescended so low? Yes, yes. God the Son left his
throne of glory, became a man, made himself of no reputation,
took on the form of a servant, humbled himself unto death, even
the death of the cross. And who is it that comes to David
now while he's held up in this cave? Our text again, everyone
who is distressed, everyone who is in debt, everyone who is discontent. David therefore, verse one again
of chapter 22, David therefore departed thence and escaped to
the cave of when his brethren and all his father's house heard
it, they went down and did their toing. Was this an intervention
by David's family? I don't know. Did they come because
they were worried for him? Probably so. Did they come because
they felt sorry for him? More than likely. His family
was not the only ones who came, but everyone, notice the words
here, everyone that was in distress, everyone that was in debt, everyone
that was discontented, they gathered themselves unto him, unto David,
and he became a captain. That word means master, ruler,
a general. and there were with him about
400 men." Now remember, David is king by the decree of God.
David is not in a palace, he's in a cave. David's not sitting
upon a kingly throne, he's sitting upon a rock, but he's God's king. God says, I've set my king upon
my holy hill of Zion. God don't set his king on an
earthly throne. That's what messed up the thinking
of all the Jews when the Lord Jesus Christ came. They thought
he was gonna set up an earthly kingdom and give freedom back
to the Jews who were in bondage to the Romans. But God sets his
king on holy hill. And what a picture David is here
of Christ. Is God's king sitting on an earthly
throne? No, God says, behold, thy king
cometh unto thee meek and sitting upon an ass. That's how the Lord
Jesus came into Jerusalem. upon a borrowed donkey." What
humiliation. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He
sit upon the throne of glory. His kingdom is not an earthly
kingdom. His kingdom is a spiritual, heavenly kingdom. Saul still
reigned, but David is king. In the eyes of men, Saul was
king, but in the eyes of God, David is king. Thou hast put
all things in subjection under his feet, for in that he put
all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put
under him, but now we see not yet all things put under him."
David's king, but we don't see him here as king, but you know
what? Some did, a few did. Not all bow to Christ now as
their Lord and King, but one day soon they will. The Lord
said, as I live, every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall confess
to God. One day, every single person
that has ever lived throughout all time, everyone who hated
God, everyone who didn't believe what God said, all those who
did not trust the Son whom God sent, All of them who hated Him
without a cause. All of them who refused to trust
in His blood, refused to believe that Christ was made unto His
chosen people, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
All of them, every single one of them, knees gonna bow and
tongue is gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. But then, for them, it will be
too late. God's people confess Christ now,
not later. There were some in Israel that
saw David as king. Not many, at this point, only
400 men. And there are some today, not
many, that see Christ as their king. Not many, but few there
be that find him and trust him. That's what God says. Who are
these who are drawn to David? Well, we have a very explicit
threefold description of them. They are those who are in distress,
They are those who are in debt. They are those who are discontented,
in distress. That word distress means disabled. Well, that's an appropriate definition
of us. Disabled. This is anguish that
comes from being disabled. It gives reference to a narrow
place. The word means confinement, being
confined by disability. You know, we use that old expression,
so-and-so's in bad shape, between a rock and a hard place. You've
heard that expression. That's what our spiritual disability
does to us. We're confined by our sin. We're between a rock and a hard
place. You know, blindness is a disability. It's the inability
to see. A disability is an inability. Blindness is an inability to
see. By nature, you and I are blind. Being deaf is a disability. It's the inability to hear. By
nature, you and I are deaf. Lord, open my eyes that I may
see. Lord, open my ears that I may
hear. Disability is a lack of ability. And as long as you think you
have ability, you'll never come to Christ. Those who will never
come to Christ are those that believe that they can. We'll
put off till tomorrow. We'll hear you on that matter
again later, will you? Will you? Those who come to Christ
are those who say they can't. We are disabled. We can't walk. We can't come. We talked about
that a lot last time. We don't have the ability. We're
dead in trespasses and sin. We cannot keep God's law. We
cannot not sin. We cannot do a perfect work of
righteousness, and that's what God required. We can't provide
what God requires. By nature, we cannot receive,
we cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness
unto us. We cannot know them because they
are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2.14. Those who
are disabled and see themselves so, one day find that they were
enabled. There was a time I didn't believe.
And I can't, for the life of me, tell you the day, the hour,
like many can, when the Lord saved me. In one sense of the
word, I've always been saved in the eyes of God, saved before
the foundation of the world. And I'm now saved and I'm being
saved. One day, I believed God gave
me life. God gave me sight. God gave me
ears to hear. God gave me understanding. Secondly,
these who came to David were in debt. In debt means owing
to someone. Not hard to understand if you're
in debt, you owe someone something. You and I owe a debt that we
could not pay. We're unable to pay our debt
of sin. Why? Because it has to be perfect
to be accepted and we can't do anything perfect. So we can't
pay our debt of sin. We're dead and can do nothing
to pay it. We have no righteousness. We
have no equity. That's what the word righteousness
means, equity. You go down to the bank, you
say, I'd like to borrow $20,000. And they say, well, what equity
do you have? Don't have any. You see, if you
can do something that obligates God to save you, then you make
God the debtor. That's exactly what religion
has done. They've made God the debtor.
How so? You might ask. Well, they say
God loves everybody. Nobody loves God back. Jesus
died for everyone. Nobody will trust him. Won't
you give your heart to Jesus? Won't you let him have his way
in your life? You know what that is? That's
obligating God. That's making God out to be a
debtor to you. That's right. You think about
it. That's making God a debtor. Anyone who believes in human
ability makes God indebted to them. All my sin debt is my fault. Did you know that? Your sin is
your fault. It's not Adam's. It's not the
serpent's. It wasn't my parents. And it's
certainly not God. That's who Adam and Eve ultimately
blamed it on. The woman you gave me, the serpent
you gave. God, it's really your fault.
It's your fault. Why do you yet find fault? Nay, but old man, who are you
and I that replies against God? Shall the thing formed, created,
say to him, God, shall he say, why hast thou made me thus? Are
we gonna question God? Our sin's our fault. Our inability's
our fault. We have no one to blame for our
disability. Nobody but ourselves. I had a
friend one time, and he was still a very young man at the time,
in his early 20s, and he went out on the river one day, and
they were drinking and having what they thought was a good
time, and he dived off the side of the boat and hit a sandbar,
broke his neck, and was paralyzed the rest of his life. I heard
him on numerous occasions say, we shouldn't have been drinking.
I shouldn't have dived in head first. Of all places for us to
put the boat to where there was a sandbar, but I never heard
him once say that it was his fault. We have no one to blame
for the debt of sin that we owe but ourselves. If I go to hell,
it's my fault. And if I'm saved, it's by God's
mercy and grace and love. We're in debt. We owed a debt
we could not pay. Christ paid a debt He did not
owe. That, my friends, is the gospel.
Then thirdly, those who came to David were discontented. That word means embittered. It
means dissatisfied. It means malcontent. They were
dissatisfied. These that came to David, they
were dissatisfied with the king that man had chose. God had told
them, I'm your king. And they said, yeah, but we want
to be like all these other nations. We want to have our own king.
God said, I'm your king. And they said, yeah, but we kind
of like to have a figurehead. You know, we kind of like to
have somebody we can say, hey, this is our king. And God gave
them Saul. One of the worst things that
ever happened to Israel. They were dissatisfied with the
king that man chose. They were disgruntled with the
world's choice of the king. They wanted to serve God's chosen
king. They found satisfaction in the
true king. If God was satisfied with the
king he chose, they too would be satisfied with the king that
God chose. And they came unto David in a
cave. When you consider these three
characteristics, you can't help but to see that they pretty well
describe the majority of everyone in the world today. Man, everyone's
stressed out, ain't they? Everyone's in debt up to their
ears. Everyone is dissatisfied with this and dissatisfied with
that. But they don't see it, not in
a spiritual sense. Folks say, well, it's just the
way of the world. Yeah, I suppose it is. But you're not of this world
if you're one of his. Only those who see these things
in a spiritual sense will come to the king, come to the king. Have you ever come to the King?
If you haven't, will you come? You can't come unless God makes
you able. You won't unless God makes you
willing. Are you distressed? Are you in
debt? Are you discontent? If you are,
may God enable you to come to Christ. Those who knew that they
were distressed and disabled, every one of them desired to
come to the Lord Jesus. Are you distressed and disabled?
Do you see that concerning yourself? Those that are well have no need
of a physician, but those that are sick most certainly do. He's
the great physician. He has the cure for everyone
that comes to Him. He gives us life. He enables
us. He gives us the ability to believe. He gives us strength. He makes
us wise unto salvation. The disabled find themselves
enabled by no work or doing of their own. When we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans
5, 6. Those who know that they're in
debt, all who God makes to see they're dead of sin, they'll
come to the Lord Jesus. The wages of sin is death, and
Christ paid the believers' debt in full. What we owe is death,
but Christ died the just for the unjust, that He might bring
us to God, that He might give us life more abundantly. Are
you unjust? Are you in debt up to your ears?
Then hear the good news. Yes, the wages of sin is death,
but, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
King. Are you distressed and dead and
discontent? Here's the good news. That's
who Christ came into the world to save. That's the kind of people
that Christ died for. That's who came to David and
that's who'll come to Christ. Let me tell you something else
about these men who came to David in this cave. They loved him.
Boy, they loved their king. They would have done anything
for him. Absolutely anything. They followed him all the days
of their lives and his. You know, in 1 Chronicles 11,
the Philistines were in camp around David, threatening him.
And in this time of stress, David was just sitting there pondering.
He said, man, I'd sure like to have a glass of that cool water
from the well near the gate of Bethlehem, my hometown. And three
of his mighty men, they took it to heart and they, at risk
of their own lives, they broke through the Philistine army's
lines and got water from that well and brought it back to their
king. Isn't that something? They loved
him. They'd do anything for him. And
David realized the foolish risk that they took and he refused
to drink the water. He poured out the water in an
effort to discourage any of them from ever risking their lives
again for him personally. He loved them too. The people
of God love their king. and they love one another. They'd
do anything for Him, and they'd do anything for one another.
Jesus Christ is the King of His people. Jesus Christ is the King
of all kings. After all, Christ did, does,
and will always do everything for those that come unto Him.
He has our best interest at heart. He works all things together
for the good of them that love the Lord, who are being called
according to His purpose. Well, doesn't He work things
together for the good of everyone? No, it's not what it says. Those
that love Him, those who are being called according to God's
purpose. Are you distressed? Are you in
debt? Are you discontent? Come to Christ,
come to Him. Don't delay. Come without moving
a muscle. Come just as you are. Let me
show you one more thing about your king. Again, there's no
perfect type of Christ, but David certainly is a good one. After
all, Christ is the son of David and he is also David's Lord.
Son of David and David's Lord. David was the apple of God's
eye. David was a man after God's own
heart. David's name means beloved. Do you know how I know that?
That's my name. I'm so thankful I'm beloved of
God. Saul is searching for David. Remember, he's out to kill him.
Saul is upset. Look at verse eight in chapter
22. Here, Saul tells his men, he said, all of you have conspired
against me. Even my own son, Jonathan, he
takes the side of David. I'm so misunderstood. I'm so
mistreated. Poor, poor, pitiful Saul. Verse
nine, then answered Doeg, you remember him? Doeg, the Edomite. Then answered Doeg the Edomite,
which was set over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the
son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub,
and he inquired of the Lord for him, and he gave him vittles,
he gave him food to eat, and he even gave him the sword of
Goliath the Philistine. Then the king sent to call Ahimelech
the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the
priests that were in Nob, and they came out, all of them to
the king. There was 85 of them. They all came out to meet Saul.
And Saul said, here now, the son of Ahitub, and he answered,
here I am, my Lord. And Saul said unto him, why have
you conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that
thou has given him bread and a sword and has inquired of God
for him that he should rise against me to lie in wait as at this
day? And then Ahimelech answered to
the king and said, and who is so faithful among all thy servants
is David. David hadn't done anything, did
you, Saul? Who has been so faithful as he among your servants? Which
is the king's son-in-law. Why, he's even married to one
of your daughters. And he goeth at thy bidding, and he's honorable
in the house. Did I then begin to inquire of
God for him, be it far from me? Let not the king impute anything
unto his servant, nor to all the house of my father, for thy
servant knew nothing of all this, less or more. And the king said,
thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou and all thy father's house. And the king stood unto the footman
that stood about him and said, turn and slay the priest of the
Lord, because their hand also was with David. And because they
knew when he fled and did not show it to me. But the servants
of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priest
of the Lord. and the king said to Doeg turn
thou and fall upon the priest and Doeg the Edomite turned and
he fell upon the priest and he slew on that day four score and
five all 85 of the priests but that's not all he did in verse
19 we see that Doeg that day killed both men women children
Infants, infants still nursing at their mother's breast. And
he killed all their oxen and he killed all their asses and
sheep with the edge of his sword. That's what the world will do
to you if they think that you conspire against them and their
king. Our Lord said, they hated me. They'll hate you. Service
not greater than his master. The Lord said, there'll come
a day when men will kill you and claim that they've done God
a favor. Now look at verse 20. And one
of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar,
escaped and fled after David. And Abiathar showed David that
Saul had slain the Lord's priest. And David said unto Abiathar,
I knew it that day when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he
would surely tell Saul, and I have occasioned the death of all the
persons of thy father's house. David said, it's all my fault. It's all my fault. I did this. Again, I remind you, David was
a sinner just like you and me. You know, thank the Lord that
God saves us for Christ's sake. Thank the Lord that He saves
us in spite of ourselves. Now look at verse 23. This is,
oh, such a good illustration of the gospel of Christ. Look
at what David says to and does for this young man, the only
survivor, this man named Abiathar. Verse 23, David said, abide thou
with me. Fear not, for he that seeketh
my life seeketh thy life, but with me thou shalt be in safeguard. David told this young man, abide
with me and fear not. Oh, I'm telling you this morning,
abide with Christ and don't fear. David said, he's not seeking
your life, he's seeking mine. And he's got to get through me
to get to you. Child of God, your enemy's got
to get through your God to get to you. Our enemy's got to go
through our king in order to get to us. So there's no reason
for us to fear, is there? Our King is God. He's unbeatable. He cannot be defeated. He's sovereign. He's omnipotent. He's almighty. None can stay His hand. He's
taken the responsibility of our sin. That's what David said.
David said, this is all my fault. This is all my fault. When the
Lord Jesus Christ took our sin upon Himself, He really became
guilty. Now, a lot of folks like to argue
if He was made a sinner. Well, He was made to be sin.
I know that. And He was made to be sin that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And that's the
only way we can be saved, is to have our sin put away and
have His perfect righteousness. Every child of God that abides
in Christ can rest in safety without fear. Why? Because our
King is God. I hear men today talking about
taking authority over the devil and rebuking the devil and fighting
the devil. Why? Why? Your King already has. The only way Satan can get to
you is to get through your mighty God and King, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and it's impossible. Those who made it to and in the
city of refuge, they were safe and secure. All they were concerned
is they traveled to that city, but once they got in, they weren't.
If you're in Christ, you're safe and secure. Christ our King is
our city of refuge. He's our strength. He's our shield. He's our fortress. He's our rock. He's our deliverer. All who labor
and are heavy laden, all who are distressed and in anguish,
all who are indebted to sin, all who are discontented, dissatisfied
with yourselves even, now have peace. Your debt's paid in full
and you're made content. Come to Christ, abide in Him,
and you shall forever be in safeguard. You know what that word safeguard
means. It means to be in protective
custody. If anyone tries to lay a charge
of sin to you, if anyone tries to condemn you for your sin,
tell them that you're in protective custody. In Christ, you are in
protective custody. In Christ, you've been made a
new creature. In Christ, you've been given
a new identity. In Christ, you've been given
a new life, one that is perfected forever and without sin. And
it's all because of what Christ, your King, did for God in your
place. And the work's finished. It's
finished. Nothing to do. It's been done.
Christ has already obtained eternal redemption for us as we saw in
the study of Hebrews this morning. Oh, may God be pleased to make
this blessed gospel effectual to your hearts. Only He can. Only He can. Only He can reveal
the truth of this book to you. He's never turned down anyone
that's asked Him. Ask Him. Lord, reveal this book to me.
Reveal Your Son to me. Give me life, Lord. Be my King. I'm in distress. I'm in debt.
I'm discontent. Pay my debt. He will. He will. Never turned anyone
down yet. What a God. What a Savior. What
a Gospel. May God be pleased to add His
blessings to the preaching of His Word.