Did you know that all the stories
in the Old Testament are somehow related to Jesus Christ? Scriptures say, to Him, that
is, Christ, give all the prophets witness. Christ Himself said,
they, speaking of the scriptures, they are they which testify of
Me. The Old Testament says someone
is coming. The Gospels say He's here. The epistles and the revelations
say he's coming again. The Old Testament, all the stories,
all the people, places, and things represent the Lord Jesus Christ. There are too many to name, but
I can give you a few. In Genesis, he's the woman seed.
In Exodus, he's the Passover lamb. In Numbers, he's the brazen
serpent. In Deuteronomy, he's the city
of refuge. In Joshua, He's Rahab's scarlet
lion. In Ruth, he's the kinsman redeemer. In Psalms, he's the great shepherd,
the Lord my shepherd. In Proverbs, he's wisdom. And
on and on it goes. The Old Testament is a picture,
a type, a symbol, shadows of Christ and Him crucified. Why
is that? Why is the Bible all about Jesus
Christ? Because God said, This is eternal
life, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom Thou hast sent." God sent the Son of God into
this world to save His people from their sins. That's why Christ
came. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 22.
In the Old Testament is a story of David in 1 Samuel 22. David, whom the Lord God called his son after his name,
the son of David. David is God's king here. David
is chosen of God, ordained of God. Everyone will eventually
see that David is God's king. Christ is the king of king. King being sovereign, ruler,
judge, controller, provider of all things. David at this time
is despised and hated by the king named Saul, an evil man,
whom God set up. God set him up as king. But he
represents Satan, the God of this world. He's not God. Satan is not capital G-O-D. But he's a little ruler, a little
God, as it were, allowed to do some things. He's not free. He doesn't do as he will. Only
God does as he will. Satan can only do what God allows
him to do according to God's eternal purpose and for God's
people, their eventual good. David here in this story is hated
and despised by that man, that evil ruler Saul, as Christ was
and is hated and despised by the God of this world and most
people. Most of the people of Israel
did not follow David at this time, just a few chosen men.
And God has a few chosen people, an elect. Oh, there are many,
but relative to the general population, there are few. These are people
who are loved by God, ordained by God, predestined by God to
be His children. Though unworthy, though sinful,
though by nature no different than the rest of the people of
the world, yet God chose them. God set His love upon them, and
God has given them to the Lord Jesus Christ. And they will come
to Him. Like these men in this story came to David, calling
on David to be their Lord, their King, their Savior, to save them,
to relieve them, to help them. Here in 1 Samuel chapter 22,
it says in verse 1 and 2, I read, David departed and came to the
cave Adilam, and when his brethren in all his father's house heard
it, they went down thither to him. And everyone that was in
distress Everyone that was in debt, everyone that was discontented
gathered themselves unto David, and he became a captain over
them. And there were with him about
400 men. 400 men out of millions in Israel
came to David. He was in a cave, a cleft of
a rock. Have you ever sung that song
in church, Rock of Ages Cleft for Me? That rock cleft for God's
people is the Lord Jesus Christ, smitten, wounded, afflicted.
His riven side from which flowed the blood that maketh atonement
for His people's sin." Well, all these people in this story
who heard of David, they went down to him and gathered to him
in the cleft of the rock. He became a captain over them.
What a picture of Christ and His people. Let's see if this
was you. Let's see if you are like these
men who came to David, who come to Christ. Verse 1 says, "...they
were his brethren and his father's house." They were his brethren,
his father's house. They were family. They heard
he was there and they went down and they came to him. Now here's
what the Lord Jesus Christ said about his people. He said in
verse 37 of John 6, "...all that the Father giveth me." shall
come to me." That means God chose them and God gave them to Christ. God chose them before the foundation
of the world, wrote their names in the Lamb's Book of Life, gave
them to Jesus Christ, who's called the covenant head, the head of
His people. They were given to Christ in
that covenant for Christ to come and save them. They will all
come to Him in due time, given by the Father, drawn by the Holy
Spirit of God. I read on in John 6, 37, All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. He said in verse 38, This
is the Father's will, which hath sent me, that of all which he
hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. And he said in his prayer in
John 17, All that thou hast given me I have kept. And then in verse
44, Christ says, no man can come to me, except the Father which
hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets,
they shall be all taught of God. That's Isaiah 54, which says,
all thy children shall be taught of the Lord. And Christ said,
every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father
cometh unto me. And he says, I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish. They are mine,
given to me, elect, chosen by God, given to me before the world
began. I came to save them." And He
did just that. And in time, through the preaching
of the gospel, they will come to Christ, the cleft of the rock,
for their salvation. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that? You know, all peoples don't believe
that. All people are not God's children. All people are not
God's people. And they do not believe in God's
sovereign election of a people. If you don't, if you hate this,
you must not be one of the Lord's, and you haven't come to the true
Christ. Well, all of David's brethren, all of David's house,
father's house, they heard, as do all the father's children,
all given to Christ, they hear. Faith cometh by hearing. They
hear the truth. They hear the gospel. They hear
God's Word, such as you're hearing now. They hear who God is. They hear who Christ is. And
they come to Christ. Faith cometh by hearing. And
it says in verse 1, all his father's house went down thither to him. They went down. In Isaiah chapter
2, the Lord says, the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and
the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down. It says, enter
into the rock for fear of the Lord, for the glory of his majesty. If you ever find out who God
really is, who Christ really is, you'll fall down before Him.
Moses did. Job did. Daniel fell down. Ezekiel fell down. John fell
at His feet as a dead man. Simon Peter fell at His feet.
Mary Magdalene fell at His feet. And everyone who fears the Lord
falls down before Him at His feet at the foot of the cross
and asks Him for mercy. Yes, the way up is down. The
way to God is to fall down on your face. at the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I'm talking about repentance
toward God and faith, looking to Jesus Christ alone. Well,
they all came to Him. To Him, mind you. They were looking
for Him, for David. They were calling on Him, David.
They needed Him, David, to help them, save them, rule over them,
fight for them. Most people merely go to church
today. Most people come to church. Most
people are looking for this, looking for that, looking for
a mate, looking for help out of their troubles. But God the
Holy Spirit convicts the sinner of his sin and shows them their
need of Christ and they come to Him." They come to Him. They need Him. They call on Him
to save them from their sin. Here's a description of them.
Three things. It says, "...they came to Him
and they were in distress, they were in debt, and they were discontented,
and they gathered themselves unto Him." They were in distress. Over what? Everything. The bondage
they were under by that evil king. Their own sins. Distress
within. Distress without. Distress with
the world. They were in debt. You know that
leading cause of heart failure today is stress. Stress. It's a leading cause of heart
failure. Scripture says, in the last days men's hearts shall
fail them. Surely that's no play on words.
Men are in distress because God said there's no peace to the
wicked. The wicked being not just openly wicked or profane,
but the wicked in religion, most who think they don't sin, who
think they are holy and righteous, who take credit for their salvation,
who think it's their will, their choice, their works, their morality,
when Scripture says it's only the blood of Jesus Christ, only
the righteousness of Jesus Christ that makes us holy. Salvation
by the sovereign mercy, grace, and choice, will, and power of
God. For anyone to add to or take
away from God's salvation, Christ's work, is to be wicked before
God. Well, these men, all these people were distressed. They
were distressed. Oh my, men are distressed today,
though in religion, though they may not know it, they are distressed.
They're not finding any happiness, any peace, any real joy. But
those who are distressed over sin, what I am, Paul said, O
wretched man that I am. Those who are distressed over
the world, the evil in it, the injustice of it, the violence
of it, the corruption of it, the nation, corrupt leaders,
a corrupt system, distressed over the trials, the troubles,
the tribulations in home, family, jobs, schools, even in the church
so-called, the strife, the division. Christ said, Come unto Me. These
men came to Him. They were in debt. Much distress
today is over debt. It's debt-related. Deep in debt.
But we all are in debt to the law of God. God's Word says,
Thou shalt not. And we're guilty on all points.
God's Word says, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, thy neighbor
as thyself. We're all guilty of that. We're
in debt. We spend years indebted to God, owing God thanks, owing
God's glory, owing God love. But we don't give it. Oh, we're
deep in debt. And it says discontented. They
were discontented. They were in bondage to an evil
ruler. They were wanted out. They were in a nation, a world
of people that didn't know God, didn't seek God, didn't care.
A dog-eat-dog world. Well, they wanted out. Some of
you in religion today, and it's all about raising money, and
it's all about building buildings, and programs, entertainment,
and fun and games. When you've got serious problems,
you're a real sinner with real problems and can't deal with
them. Someone to help you. Someone to tell you the truth.
You need to hear Christ and Him crucified. Well, they came to
David, and it says, he became captain over them. He became
captain over them. And I'll tell you what he did.
I know what he did. First thing, he delivered them
all from their debt. Completely absolved them of all
their debts as Christ. All who come to Christ are completely
forgiven of all their sin, their debt. He paid the law. paid the
debt, the sin payment, thus delivering them from distress and discontent,
they find contentment in the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to Christ. Come to Christ, all who are in
distress and debt and discontented. He's the captain of sinners.
Oh, may you hear this word. Amen.