Be turning with me to 1 Samuel,
chapter 22. I want to read our text, which is the first
two verses. 1 Samuel 22, verses 1 and 2. David therefore departed thence,
that is from Achish in Gath. the Philistines, and escaped
to the cave of Adullam. And when his brethren and all
his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. 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." So David comes now into a very low and difficult
time. Saul desired to kill David. He wanted David dead. And this
is now becoming very well known throughout the kingdom. The news
of this is beginning to spread throughout the kingdom that Saul,
King Saul, wants David dead. And this is going to be a time
of persecution. His persecution is really starting
to tick up now at this time. And before, when Saul was throwing
spears at him and seemed to want him dead, David could move about
the kingdom pretty freely at that time. And no one would think
anything of it. But now, if he were to show his
face, news of that would travel to Saul pretty quickly. And Saul,
you'll see, will come to where David is, that he might kill
him. And I was reminded of something that our Lord said at this time,
or that we're told about our Lord in his ministry at this
time. It says, after these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for
he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him. And so in the true fashion of
David being a type of our Lord, David now has come under persecution
where his life is in danger if he shows his face anywhere near
Saul. Now, when I read these two verses,
I thought, when I first read them, I thought, I might have
to spend a little time on these verses. So that's what we're
going to do tonight. This is our text, these first two verses. And I want to show you three
things that the church, you brethren that believe, are the church.
Three things that the Lord teaches the church from David's persecution
here. First, The persecution of God's
church is a very common thing. This is something that has been
going on since the very beginning. Cain slew Abel because God accepted
Abel's sacrifice and rejected Cain's. He persecuted Abel. He put him to death because God
loved Abel and didn't receive Cain. And so we see throughout
history that this persecution comes from those, very often,
those that are supposed to be God's people. And they're the
ones doing the persecuting of God's true people. Saul is a
Jew. David is a Jew. Saul had worshipped
God with Samuel, the prophet Samuel. Saul worshipped God with
him. And Saul knows that God is peculiarly
blessing David in a special way, so that Saul knows this man is
going to be king of the land. And so Saul was willing to oppose
God, to fight God and go against God to put David to death, to
try and shut that purpose of God down. Second, we see an eternal
spiritual truth in this that persecution produces much fruit. Much fruit in God's people is
wrought by persecution. That's the ground, the land where
a lot of fruit in God's people is born and grows up and becomes
fruitful. And these things show forth the
praises of God who has called us. Let this sink down in our
ears, brethren, that it was under intense persecution that our
Lord Jesus Christ willingly laid down His life on the cross, bearing
the sins of His people, to put our sins away forever. It was under that persecution
by people who call themselves the people of God when our Lord
went to the cross, laying down His life, and accomplished our
eternal redemption, accomplished our redemption under that persecution. And then third, we'll look at
who are the people of God that are wrought under this persecution. Now I'll tell you this, and we
read it, I don't know if you caught it, but these are a pretty
unsavory bunch of people, and it testifies to the grace of
our God to accomplish great things using weak, if not despised and
worthless things. We're called earthen vessels,
meaning that we are as fragile as a clay pot, easily broken,
can easily be discarded and replaced. And yet we have this treasure,
the treasure of Christ, the gospel of Christ, the hope of glory,
Christ in you, the hope of glory in these earthen vessels that
the glory may be of God and not of us. So let's look at these
three things. First, why is it that God's people
suffer persecution? Is that normal? If God is God,
And we're worshiping God. We believe the true and living
God. Why is it that we, who are the people of God, suffer persecution? Well, first of all, that says
a lot about the world that we live in. It says a lot about
how deadly, how destructive the fall of man is. It speaks a lot
to this world, this present world. It tells us just how severe,
how deadly, how all-encompassing Adam's fall was. Our Lord told
Adam, in the day that thou eatest thereof, speaking of the fruit
of the knowledge of the tree of good and evil, he said, thou
shalt surely die. And what we see today in the
world is the outworking of that death. Adam's rebellion, in his
rebellion, he died and all his seed in him died, became corrupt. His spiritual life was dead and
his body began to die and waste away, but spiritually, He fell from God and didn't know
God, and so all his seed comes forth in that same rebellious,
corrupt spirit. And that same rebellion, not
believing God, distrusting God, proud and arrogant and boastful,
and trusting our own selves long before we'll ever look to the
true and living God, were it not for his grace. And so by
nature, we're sinners, ruined in the fall. And all men by nature,
we're told, are walking according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience. And so they
who don't believe the gospel, who disobey the gospel, meaning
they don't believe the gospel, it's because they don't have
the faith, they don't have the Spirit of God in them who gives
them life. and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
and so if we're going to worship God in spirit and in truth it's
going to be by our Lord giving us his spirit and giving us a
new birth by the seed of Christ because what we are by nature
born of Adam's corrupt seed is dead in trespasses and sins and
doesn't know God and doesn't want to know God. Therefore to
you that suffer Persecution for your faith, don't be discouraged. The Lord has a purpose in it. He was, our Lord Jesus Christ
was persecuted and all his prophets throughout the ages were persecuted.
All his prophets were persecuted. John 15, our Lord says, remember
the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than
his Lord. If they have persecuted me, They
will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying,
they will keep yours also. But all these things will they
do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not Him that
sent me. And you can see that going all
the way back to Cain. He did not know the Father. And
so he slew one of God's children. He slew Abel. And that's true
all the way up through the ages. Those that persecute God's people,
it's because they don't know him. Now the Lord may save them.
He may deliver them from that death. He did that for Saul,
Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul. So he can and does save those
who persecute God's people, but it's God doing it. It's God doing
it. Stephen, a man made faithful
by the grace of God before he was martyred for Christ, he said
this of the Jews, he said, Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your
fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not
your fathers persecuted? And all of God's prophets have
been persecuted throughout the ages, from the beginning all
the way till now. And they have slain them which
showed before of the coming of the just one of whom ye have
been now the betrayers and murderers. And so the point is many have
been persecuted. It shouldn't be a surprise at
all that many are persecuted. It's been going on since the
beginning. In Hebrews 11, you can turn there, Hebrews 11, this
chapter is written to give us a memory, to put us in memory
of those who have gone before us in faith. And it's to show
us that their faith endured persecution. endured trials and some gave
their lives and some were delivered, but it's to encourage us. First,
I won't read it all, but in verse 13 we're given an account from
Abel all the way up to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Verse 13, These
all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having
seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced
them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on
the earth. Why would they be strangers and
pilgrims on the earth? Because they never got settled
here. This place is not their home.
It's not the home of the people of God. You know, in my garden,
I use some fence posts as stakes. And when I'm putting them into
the garden somewhere, I only put them down as far as I need
to go. Sometimes I can go further and really lock that thing in
there firmly so that nothing's going to move it. But I don't
go down as deep as I can go because I know that next season, I'm
probably gonna be rocking that thing back and forth and then
ripping that thing out and putting it in a new spot and The old
spot no one will remember it anymore and that's what we are
brethren We're just posts where the Lord picks us up and puts
us in his season in our season he just moves us around and so
don't get too fixed on this place because it's coming in it's going
like a vapor and It's here today and gone tomorrow. And so that's
what we see, that we're not here for very long. We're strangers
and pilgrims in the earth, brethren. And then down in verse 32, he
brings us up through all the rest of the Old Testament scriptures
here. Verse 32, and what shall I say more? For the time would
fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of Samson and of
Jephthah, of David also. and Samuel, and of the prophets,
who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained
promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence
of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were
made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies
of the aliens. And some accepted deliverance
and some didn't want it. Some were happy to lay down their
lives under the persecution. Verse 38. of whom the world was
not worthy. They wandered in deserts, and
in mountains, and in dens, and caves of the earth." And where
is David now? He's in the cave, Adullam. The cave, Adullam. So, no one
should be surprised when, no believer should be surprised
when you're persecuted for your faith, for your hope in Christ. and believing him and trusting
him. Paul said, all that will live
godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. They all will. So really, we should only be
surprised when we don't suffer persecution. But let me just
add this, that even if you don't have a person trying to kill
you, that doesn't mean you're not being persecuted. Now, persecution
can be exacted against you in subtle and quiet ways, through
whispers and backbiting and turning against you. You can be persecuted,
you can feel very cold and left out in various ways. This world
is able to persecute God's people for their faith and hope. The
point is don't be discouraged when you are persecuted. Nothing
is wrong. God's people have been persecuted
from the very beginning and we see that according to the scriptures
this is what the Lord's people endure in this place so that
we know we are strangers and pilgrims. In verse 33, Hebrews 11.33, it
said, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness,
obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. through faith. What is faith? Is that something
that we bear? Is that a product of this flesh?
No, faith is the fruit of the Spirit, not the works of the
flesh. It's the fruit of the Spirit. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. These are The blessings, these
are fruit that are born out of the redemption of the Lord Jesus
Christ for His people. Turn over to 1 Peter now. 1 Peter
chapter 1. I want to speak to you here of
what's born out of persecution. What is born out of persecution?
We're looking at faith here. 1 Peter chapter 1. We'll see
here that the Lord uses the stress and the pressure and the pursuit
from persecutions and trials and difficulties and various
temptations in order to help our fruit and to bring forth
more fruit. 1 Peter 1 verse 5 says of us
who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time wherein ye greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through
manifold temptations. And so we'll see as we go through
looking at David, he's going through manifold temptations
in this persecution, the trial that he's going through. He's
pushed and pressed in many ways throughout his whole life as
a believer, believe him. Verse seven, that the trial of
your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found. you that are
the Lord's, He's going to discover that faith. Not because He doesn't
know if it's there, not because He has any question. He knows
what He's done. He knows what He's done to redeem
you and accomplish. He's going to make it found so
that you know what He's done for you. Because it's an evidence
of our justification. Our faith reveals that God, that
the Son of God came and laid down His life for me, a sinner. you that believe Him. It is evidence
of our justification and what He has done, so that our faith
may be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ. And so our Lord is revealing
His precious fruit in His people through fiery trials. Fruit such
as love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, and temperance. And these trials bring forth
these fruits. These trials purify that work
which Christ has done in you, withering this flesh and bringing
forth more evidently the fruit of the Spirit which He's brought
in you, born in you. Turn over to 1 Peter 2 verse
9. He says, But ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people. God has called us to His grace
in Christ, which entails these persecutions and trials and afflictions. that ye should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light." So this is where fruit is produced, brethren. And I was thinking about this,
you know, there's regions in the world that we look to for
certain fruits. And it's the conditions, the
climate conditions, the adverse conditions, the poor soil or
the rocky soil or the mountainous region where coffee's grown or
where certain grapes are grown for wine or olives for olive
oil. These things are precious to
us. We appreciate them. We look for
them. We like to consume them because
of the adversity of what they go through. certain rainfall
or whatever it is, but they get their distinct flavors and their
notes and their attributes from the adversity where other normal
fruits, more popular things and vegetables wouldn't grow. They
wouldn't grow there. They require those adverse conditions. And so it is in the adverse condition
of persecution that faith, hope, and love is more wonderfully seen in the
Lord's people as a result of the difficulties that we go through
and the pressures and the stress of that persecution because it
withers this flesh, it brings us low in ourselves, it puts
us on our knees crying out to God who cares for us. And it
makes us to prove that. And the Lord delights to show
us that he is God and faithful to his word. And that he's called
us out of darkness to himself, even in the midst of all these
difficulties and persecutions that are going on. And so, Faith,
hope, and love, these things are found unto praise and honor
and glory. And you show forth the praises
of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous
light. And so you think about the Psalms.
We've read one of them. That was one Psalm that David
wrote when he fled to the cave, it says. Most likely this particular
cave, although he was in a few of them from time to time. But
the Psalms were written by David. and largely it seems through
adversity. That's when he wrote the Psalms,
the Psalms that touch us most that we go to when we're struggling,
when we're weak, when we're troubled, when we're in great difficulties,
we go to these Psalms because they speak to us. They speak
of, they capture what our Lord endured for us and what he bore
for his people, and they capture the thoughts that we think, the
feelings that we feel. They put into words that which
we can't put into words, and it was because David was being
persecuted and hunted and going through various temptations and
trials throughout. I doubt that many of these Psalms,
if any, were written from his summer palace. with a nice warm
breeze blowing in and no humidity. No, these things are written
in darkness. These things are written when
it's cold and damp and difficult and you're uncomfortable and
you're struggling, you're afraid. You're terrified. I mean, when
he wrote Psalm 3, it was under the persecution of Absalom, his
son, and he laid his head down that night, not knowing if he'd
be waking up to someone thrusting their spear into his belly. And
he penned that. I wouldn't be surprised if the
first three verses of Psalm 3 were written the night before, and
he didn't write the next words until the morning after, when
he awoke. and saw he was still alive. God
had preserved him. God had caused Absalom to follow
the wrong counsel, the good counsel, which was against Absalom and
for David's good. And he ignored the counsel that
he should have followed if he really wanted to be the king.
But he lost his life instead. Absalom did. So these Psalms,
you see, are fruit of persecution. They're fruit of the trial. Even
Paul, when he wrote 2 Timothy and sent that epistle to Timothy,
which has many deep, wonderful, blessed truths in there, he said
there at the end, he thought to ask, the cloak that I left
in Troas with Carpus, when you come, can you remember to bring
it with you? Why? Because he's in prison in Rome,
and he's cold. And he's suffering, and his bones
are chilled, and he needs a Coke just to warm himself. He suffered
that persecution. He suffered for the hope of Christ. Most of his epistles were written
from prison when he was being persecuted and tried in that
manner. But he learned, I can do all
things through Christ which strengtheneth me. So I say this to point out
this fact that we, brethren, are all born of persecution. We're all born of persecution.
Our Lord said, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground
and die, it abideth alone. Right? If you keep your seeds
in a packet, you don't get nothing out of them. But as soon as you
put them in the ground, You bury them in the ground and they die.
That's when the plant comes up and the flower is born and the
seed comes out producing fruit 30, 60, 100 fold. And that's
what our Lord accomplished for us when he laid down his life
for us. He died in order to give us life. And so the church of God was
purchased by the blood of Christ under the persecution of wicked
men who wanted him dead and thought, if we can just put him to death,
we won't have to deal with him anymore. And what happened? We
were born out of that. The house of God is established
by the blood of Christ. The temple of God is raised up
in three days, just as our Lord said through his death. And so
he did that for us willingly, brethren, willingly. And so he
did that work which the father gave him to do to redeem all
his people and bless us as it is this day. We are born. We
are the fruit of persecution. And so is it any wonder that
the fruits we bear are most evidently seen through persecution and
difficulties and trials? Now, in our final point here,
who are the people of God wrought and gathered to Christ through
his persecution? How are they described in scripture? Who are these people? In the
previous point I noted that it was through persecution that
the family of God was born. And so looking here at the picture
we have in this passage, our text, let's look back at verse
one. David therefore departed from
the Philistines and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when
his brethren and all his father's house heard it, They all heard
it. They went down thither to him."
So here, in this, we know what's going on here, right? David is
the anointed king of Israel. Samuel has already anointed him
many years prior. He is the anointed king of Israel,
and he's been appointed by God to succeed Saul. But God purposed
that David, you're going to endure trial. You're going to endure
persecution before you assume this throne here. And this persecution
is now underway. And so news of this begins to
spread throughout the kingdom. Saul wants David dead. Saul wants
David dead? Yeah, Saul wants David dead.
If you get him, I'm sure there's going to be a reward. If you
get David and you kill him and bring him his head to Saul, you'll
be rewarded. And so this news is spreading. And the people know, they're
talking, well, but David, you know, Saul slew his thousands.
But David, his 10,000s, David is the king of the land. But
the present king of that land doesn't like that news. He wants
him dead. He wants that thing snuffed out
and put to rest. And so he wants to destroy David. He wants to destroy David because
he's jealous about it. And so this news spread to David's
family. And of course, their lives are
in danger because they're of the family of David, right? The
king, how many times have tyrants and kings throughout history
put to death people's families just to get to the person that
they were really after, right? That happens a lot. And so they
heard this news and it caused them to be gathered unto David. Well, brethren, That is a picture
of the gospel that we hear. We hear the good news. We hear
of what the true King of Israel has done, the Lord Jesus Christ. We hear of how he conquered the
enemy, how he has slain his 10,000. We hear the wonderful works of
Christ through the preaching of the gospel. You've heard it
and by faith received it and believe that word. so that you
are the born family of God, of Christ, and you are gathered
to him. Now there's an enemy in the land
who hates it, wants you dead, wants Christ dead, wants this
to end, but he's powerless to stop you. But in that time, through
that word going out, that gospel word, we are drawn and gathered
to Christ. our husband, our brother, our
friend, our all, we gather to him, brethren. So in that sense,
we go down thither to him, and we are baptized into his death,
and we are raised again in his life, by his life. Now again,
we have another description here in verse two, 1 Samuel 22, 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
four hundred men." Now these are a sinful, rough bunch being
described here. These are not the cream of the
crop, if you will. These are people that Why would
anybody want these fellas coming and gathering themselves to them? You know, this is, when good
folk hear this, they look at that and say, that doesn't look
like a very good bunch of people. These are people in debt, they
got creditors, and they're escaping that. These are people that aren't
happy, they're miserable, they're bitter, they're angry, they're
upset about this thing or that thing, and they're not happy
people. You can imagine David had to
have a lot of grace to allow them to come into his camp and
he to be their captain over them. You can imagine that. I hope
you can. I mean, that's who he's letting into camp. And he's becoming
their captain. And you have to ask, because
there's a lot of people in the world that ask, what kind of
a savior do you believe in? That sinners go to him? That
sinners are gathered to him? that he would receive sinners
who have nothing to boast in, who have no works. Nothing to
back up that show what good people they are and how deserving they
are and how they've merited their salvation. What kind of savior
is that? Who would do that? The Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's exactly what they
said about him. The Pharisees said, when they saw that at that
time drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to
hear him. It was the Pharisees and the
scribes who said, this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. They were disgusted by that.
You know David was eating with these fellows. He was their captain. They came into his camp. People
that were unsavory characters, people that you wouldn't want
to associate with. worst of the worst were there
in David's camp and he became a captain over them and so brethren
our Lord Jesus Christ we're told in scripture in Hebrews 2 10
he is the captain of our salvation And he was perfected by his sufferings. His sufferings. We are those
who are in distress. In distress of what? Because
of our sin and our iniquities. Because of our trespasses and
our transgressions. Because of our breaking of the
law. And we have accusers and people
coming after us. Enemies accusing us. Our own
minds accusing us. Our own flesh working against
the hope that we have in Christ. And we're in distress because
of these things. God has made it so. Put us in
distress. We are in debt. We can't meet
the demands of the law. We have creditors coming after
us and we don't have anything to pay the debt. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. We don't have a perfect
righteousness to stand before the throne of God knowing that
we're going to be accepted of Him. What we know is we've got
a day of judgment coming. If I come to God in my own works
and what I've done and what I've said and what I've thought, I've
got judgment coming. I've got a great debt. And he's
coming, the creditor's coming, and we're going to be locked
up and the key thrown away because we're never going to pay off
the debt. These are discontented. Which means they're bitter. Bitter
of soul. Because we're weighed down with
a load of guilt and shame that we're never going to dig ourselves
out from under. And so there's no joy. We don't understand how is it
that so many religionists can find such joy and peace so easily.
I command. They can just, oh, all's good
now. I said a little prayer, went
to services, opened my Bible, and all's good now. And they
seem fine, but the Lord's people, are often troubled. Troubled. As long as we're looking at this
flesh, we are troubled. It's only when we see Christ and look
to Him and are settled by His grace and Him that we have peace
and joy in knowing, Lord, thank you for your grace. And so this
is what our Lord said to those who are in trouble, who are troubled. He said, come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You know who comes to a Savior
like that? Those that are weary, those that
are weighed down, those that are in debt, those that are discontented
and troubled and don't have the strength to go on in their own
works anymore. That's who rejoices in that word,
the weary. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me for I am meek lowly in heart and ye shall find rest
unto your souls. You know there was a lot of people
that knew David from Saul's court before all this happened and
now just like we read in Psalm 142 I look to my right and there
was no one there I had no companion nobody came with me just my family
they came to me and this raggedy bunch of people came to me That's
all who came to David, for whom he was a captain over. And so
there was a lot of people that knew him, but now they didn't
want to be found with him. They might lose their life. They
didn't want to lose what they had in this life. They weren't
willing to let those things go. And what does the Lord say? You
that will save your life, you'll lose it. But you that will lose
your life for my sake, You'll find it. You'll find life everlasting. You'll have more than you could
ever want in Christ. In Christ. Our Lord spoke something
of this in the parable of the wedding feast of his son when
the true king said, you go out and find people. You bring them
in. And they had to go out into the
highways and byways. And who did they bring in? It
says they brought in the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the
blind. That's who came to the king's
son, to his wedding feast. The poor, the blind, the lame,
the halt, that's who came. And so this is our Lord. This
is who our Lord gathers to himself, needy sinners that are made thankful
to the Lord for his grace. They don't look at their works
and say, I don't need that. You might need that. I don't
need that. I got enough. I'm good with my righteousness.
I'm ready. No. The needy sinner says, no, I
don't have enough. I need your grace, Lord. And we're thankful that Christ
is a willing captain to be captain over us, the captain of our salvation. And he suffered and died at the
cruel hands of persecutors. who put him to death, and through
that death he accomplished our redemption and gave us life and
forgiveness, who redeemed us and made us his family, his people,
by his grace, that he might secure the poor and the maimed and the
halt and the blind, and were told the foolish and the weak
and the despised hath God chosen and the things that are not.
That's what we are, that believe Christ. We are the things that
are not. And so these are those that our
Lord purchased for himself with his own precious blood. Can you
imagine that? You that know yourselves to be
sinners, Christ, he gave his precious blood to save a sinner
like you and me that believe him, that hope in him. That's
who Christ died for. And so I think we got the better
deal. I think we're the ones making out on that, and we're
made thankful. So, three things that we learned
about persecution, or through persecution, is first, the persecution
of God's church, it's a common thing. It's a common thing since
the beginning of the age. It's been going on. Second, we
see an eternal and spiritual truth in it is that this persecution
produces the fruit that God bears in his people. It brings forth
that precious fruit. And third, we see the people
of God who are wrought under this persecution. They are needy
sinners. They're you that confess. I have
nothing to boast in. I'm blind. I'm poor. I'm naked. I need the clothing of Christ.
I have no righteousness. I'm hungering for his righteousness. I need your grace, Lord. That's
who are those that are called to him. And so this shows us
just how mighty the grace of God is to save sinners. Just how gracious He is in saving
His people for Himself. And Paul called it, that the
excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. So I pray the Lord bless that
word to you, brethren.