Look with me this morning, if
you will, at 1 Samuel chapter 22, the book of 1 Samuel chapter
22. This is an Old Testament story
which is a type, or that is something that is typical of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord himself said concerning
the Old Testament scriptures that they are they which testify
of me, he said. He said Moses wrote of me. One time he was walking along
with two of his disciples. on the road to Emmaus and the
scripture says that he began in the books of Moses and all
the prophets and the Psalms and expounded unto them the things
concerning himself. The Old Testament is stories
which prefigure or typify or prophesy of the Lord Jesus Christ. prominent men in Scripture. All
of those men represent the Lord Jesus Christ in some way. Men
like Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, King David. King David perhaps is used more
in Scripture than any other man because of his being typical
of the Lord Jesus Christ. King David, The writer of so
many Psalms, of which so much is recorded in Scripture, is
the lineage or the heritage from which the Lord Jesus Christ came
Himself. God calls His Son, the Son of
David, because there is so much concerning David which is a picture
or a prefigure of the Lord Jesus Christ. David, as you may know
the story of David, was God's chosen king. Over in 1 Samuel
16 is the story of the prophet Samuel who was told by God to
go to Jesse, the house of Jesse in Bethlehem, and anoint him
whom God said, I have chosen as my king. God had a king already
in his mind and his purpose before there ever was a king. And David
was not elected by the people, but rather God Almighty purposed
that he be the king of Israel long before he was so. David,
in fact, was despised and rejected by the people at first. His own
brethren, his kinsmen, rejected him. The people did because they were
followers of Saul. But he was God's chosen king,
nonetheless. And what a picture that is of
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is from the beginning God's King
of kings. God's chosen king. And though
the world rejected the Lord Jesus Christ when He came, It doesn't
matter because God in Psalm 2 says, I have set my king upon my holy
hill of Zion. And he laughs at the rejection
of mankind of his son who is the king. And so David is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. His whole life. In chapter 22
of 1 Samuel, it says that David, verse 1, departed and escaped
to the cave Adullam. And when his brethren at all
his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him."
David was on the run at this time early in his life, was on
the run from King Saul who was pursuing him, who wanted him
dead. King Saul, a usurper to the throne,
was pursuing David and trying to do away with David because
David, he heard. was God's chosen king. What a
picture this is of Satan and his assault upon the Son of God,
the King of kings, himself. Anyway, David was on the run,
pursued by Saul. And the first place we find him
is in a lowly place, this cave of Adullam, a lowly place. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He
came the first time, was made, the Scripture says, a little
lower than the angels in Psalm 8, and the Hebrews quotes that. But he was meek and lowly when
he came the first time, born of a woman, made under the law
for the redeeming of his people, that he might suffer as a man,
as a sin offering for his people. He was lowly. Also, this represents
how Christ is that cleft in the rock in which believers must
be hidden in order to see and know God. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the smitten rock spoken of in the scripture, which Moses
struck and out of which came the water of life for the children
of Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
cleft of the rock in which God hid Moses as he passed by in
order that Moses might see something of God, whom no man can see.
And Christ is that cleft in the rock, rock of ages, cleft for
me. Let me hide myself in thee, the
song says. And Christ is that cleft of the
rock. So David, being in a cave, is
representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. Meek and lowly when He
came the first time. He's not meek and lowly anymore,
people. He's the King of kings. Lord
of lords set on His throne. But when He first came, He was
meek and lowly as a man in order to suffer as a man. When He comes
back the next time, as the judge of all the earth. And in verse
1, it says that when his brethren and all his father's house heard,
they went down thither to him. And look who came to David. His brethren, it says, when his
brethren and all his father's house heard, that is, They heard
that David was in this cave. They heard where David was and
they came to him, his brethren and his father's house. Now remember,
this is a type of a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. In John
chapter 6, the Lord said in verse 36, All that the Father giveth
me shall come to me. All the Father, all the Father's
house, all God the Father's children who are chosen by Him, adopted
by Him. All the brethren, they hear. They all hear of the Lord Jesus
Christ through the gospel message, and they come to Him. John 6.45,
the Lord said, "...they shall all be taught of God, and every
man that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me."
So the chosen ones, God's chosen ones, the brethren, God's people,
they hear of the King of Kings, the Son of David, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Savior of His people, and they come to Him by faith. And it says, when they heard
where He was, they went down thither to Him. Now, this is
no mere play on words, but this is truly how all of God's people
come to Him at first. They do not come in pride. They
do not come in presumption. They do not come in their own
strength. But it says, they went down unto
Him. We must be humbled before we
are exalted. We must bow to the Lord Jesus
Christ before we will be lifted up. We must be broken. The heart
must be broken before restored. We must be convicted before comforted. You know, only the really helpless
needed a king such as David. Only sinners need a sovereign
Savior. Not the wise, mighty, and noble.
They're not called. They don't need a sovereign Savior. They don't need a perfect righteousness
which Christ alone provides. He said, I didn't come to call
the righteous, but sinners to repent of. No, the self-righteous
don't need the righteousness of Christ, but sinners do. And
they come to Him. The Holy Spirit convicts them,
John 16 says, verses 8 through 11. He convicts them of sin,
righteousness, and judgment. And so they come to Christ. And
they come down when they come to Him. They bow at His feet.
Verse 2 says, And every one, every single one of these that
came to David, it says, it said, every one that was in distress,
And everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented,
gathered themselves unto him, unto David, and he became a captain
over them. And there were with him about
four hundred men." He says, every one of them that was in distress,
in debt, and discontented, came to David. Every one whom God
Almighty chooses. the scripture said, and causes
to approach unto him. They come to him, and every one
of them feel these very things, in distress, in debt, and discontented. It brings us down. Every one
of God's people who come to Christ by faith, who come to Christ
as poor, needy sinners, they feel these very things. They
experience these very things which these David followers felt. distress, debt, and discontented. In distress. What is the distress
that people feel when they come to Christ? Believer. They're
in distress and fearful and worried over their own sin against God. That's it. That's the issue between
God and man is His sin. Our sins have separated us. from
our God. And that's what God Almighty
deals with us concerning when he brings us to the Lord Jesus
Christ, our sin. And I'm not just talking about
stealing a watermelon or smoking cigarettes or drinking a little
beer. That's not the sin. The sin is living a life without
giving God a thought. The sin is unbelief. The sin
is not being thankful. Romans 1 is a description of
the natural man. who lives his life without giving
God a thought, without being thankful as he should. God Almighty,
because man is not thankful, gives him over to a reprobate
mind, the Scripture says, a mind void of judgment, of good sense,
and he makes up all sorts of thoughts about God. But man is
not thankful, does not like to retain God in his knowledge unless
God Almighty in sovereign mercy and grace comes to that man and
convicts him of the sin of unbelief, of living a life without thinking
of God, without being interested in God or thankful. And he becomes
in distress over himself, over his unbelief, over his sin, and
yes, his sins. His sins. Sins are the result
of what we are. Does sin distress you? Your own
sin? All those in distress came to
David. All those in debt, it says, came
to him. You know, we live a life and
we are indebted to God's law, which we've broken. We've become
deeply indebted to God's holy law, and we must pay the penalty,
which is debt. We can't pay it. We have nothing
to pay. We're in debt. We incur great debts to God's graciousness. He is our benefactor. And He gives, freely gives, and
we have nothing to return that gift, that graciousness to us
with but thanksgiving. But we don't even bring that.
And we're in debt to His law. We're in debt to His goodness.
And the last thing it says, when they heard of David, all those
that were discontented, they were discontented. They were
unhappy. They were not content with themselves, not content
with the world. They were not content to continue
serving Saul. And when the Holy Spirit truly
works on a human being, He brings them to this point where they
are discontented with themselves, discontented with this world,
discontented with religion, and they come to Christ. They come
not to the church. They come not to a denomination.
They come not to a creed, but they come to Christ Himself.
And it says, He became captain over them. The captain of their
salvation. The one who goes out in the forefront
and faces the enemy. And the leader. God's salvation
is Christ Himself. And it was about 400 men. Not
many, that is, in light of how many followed Saul. But nevertheless,
they were God's chosen. The brethren. The Father's house. They came to David. How about
you? Have you come to Him? as in distress, in debt, and
discontented, I pray that it might be so. Amen.