Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Go back now with me to 1 Samuel,
go to 1 Samuel chapter 22. The psalm which Brother Ron read,
David wrote it while he was in this cave. We'll go back to that
also. You know, a message from God's
Word A message from the Lord is always, always from His Word. Thus saith the Lord. If not,
then it's not a message from the Lord. And I heard another man preaching. He just said something in that
message, a word, a word from the Lord of Scripture. And it
blessed me so, and it made me think of this passage that we're
going to look at this morning. And such a blessing. I hope it
will be a blessing to you. This is the story of David. David is in exile. David is afraid and running from
his enemies. And he runs to this cave called
Adullam, depending on how you want to say it. But he runs to
this cave. Now, David is God's man. David
is a man after God's own heart. David is the man that God raised
up. He's a prophet. David is a preacher.
David is a king. David is a ruler of his people. And while he was in this cave,
400 men came to him, and he became their captain. Let's read it.
They but departed, therefore departed thence from Gath, Philistines,
and escaped to the cave Adlam. And when his brethren, all his
fathers had heard, 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
four hundred men. Now this, like the story of Abraham
last Sunday, is a story of a man, a true story. And we miss a blessing if we
don't see the man here and what God did
for him and through him and to him. And we miss a blessing if
this story is not applied to us as well. But David, and we'll
devote the greater part of this message, David represents the
son of David. This story is about, like every
other story, is the story of Christ, the son of David. Now David, as I said, is a man. He's a prophet, he's a preacher,
he's a captain, he's a ruler, but he's a sinner. He's a sinner. All men are sinners, aren't they?
Sons of Adam. He's a sinful man, but God loves
him. We ought to love him too, shouldn't we? God chose him. God called him. God sent him. God led him. If he's a God, God
leads him. God kept him by his power. Kept him. Even when he fell,
God picked him up again. This is God's man. He's a sinner
saved by God's grace, saved by God's sovereign electing grace.
You remember when God chose him? He said, I have chosen one from
among the people. God said that. Psalm 89. God
chose him by sovereign electing mercy and grace. He feared the
Lord. David feared the Lord. Yes, he did. David loved the
Lord. Yes, he did. How do you know?
He called on the Lord. He talked about the Lord. He
walked with the Lord. He talked to the Lord. He communed
with the Lord. He lived with the Lord. He knew
the Lord. No doubt about it. He's a man
with God's heart. He loves God. He loves His Word. He said, I love it more than
gold. I love it more than honey. I love it more than life itself.
That's what he said. Faith in the man. What about
you? This is what God puts in the
heart of every one of His people, people after His own heart. He
sheds abroad this love in their heart. And He gives you a man. He gives
all His people a man, like David, to lead. Sinner? Yeah. No one knew of his sinfulness
more than David. No one knew of his weakness more
than David. David knew more about his own
weakness than anybody did. But God sent him in, the alien. He's an enigma. He's an enigma. All of God's people are. All of God's people are an enigma.
They're sinful, yet they're holy. They're godly. They can often act worldly, but
no, they're godly. God says so. They're fearful. David is afraid right now. Most of the time, he's bold as
a lion in there. Remember when he started as a
young man? He said, nobody stands. I will. This is not a cause. Remember that? Then he's running. Fearful yet courageous. Weak. Weak, but strong in the Lord
and the power of His might. Oh, my. He's escaped, it says,
to the cave abdomen. David himself is afraid. He's
running scared. He's running from his enemy. And he escaped. Who made him
to escape? Psalm 57. Go over there now.
Go back there. Psalm 57. He escaped. He was
in the midst of his enemies who knew who he was. He was found
out, because you cannot be one of God's and the world not know
it. You know that? It's just so. Even Lot, with
all of his mockery, even though his sons-in-law said, you seem
as one mock, the people of Sodom said, you're not one of us. Didn't
they? And his enemies knew that David
wasn't one of them. And David was afraid, so he went
running. He escaped. Who caused him to
escape? The Lord did. And here in Psalm
57, David wrote this. And he's running from his enemy.
Saul is his arch-enemy. And we have an arch-enemy, people.
We really do. Satan is a roaring lion, seeketh
whom he may devour. And he's our arch enemy. Our
enemies are many, and they come from him mostly. Psalm 57, David says, when he
came to this cave, he said, Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful
unto me. You know, that's God's people.
That's about all they can say most of the time, isn't it? And
when you find yourself praying, what do you pray? Most of the
time we don't know what to pray or how to pray, and about all
we can say from the depth of our heart is, Oh, Lord, please
be merciful to me. Why? Everything. My enemies without,
my enemy within. Lord, please be merciful. Hold
me up. Save me by thy mercy. My soul
trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings
will I make my refuge. Anybody listen to the message
on the radio? Wasn't it a good one? If that's
his last, it may be. What a good one. Oh, how the
world needed to hear that, that there's a false refuge that most
people have, a refuge of lies. There's only one true refuge.
Where's that? Him. Oh, you're my refuge until these
calamities be overpassed. When is that? When will these
calamities be over? When will all these troubles,
when will our enemies stop bothering us? Huh? The enemy without and
the enemy within. Our archenemy. When? When? When
they lay this body on the ground. That's it. Not until then. And
the older you get, and I hate to tell you young believers this,
but the older you get, the worse it gets. Not the time you think, and I'm
done with that. No. I will cry unto God, Most High,
unto God that performeth all things for me. Well, He shall. He shall send from heaven and
save me from the reproach of Him that would swallow me up. Stop now. Did you hear that?
Stop now, think about that. If you're like David, running
scared and have an enemy that you cannot get rid of, he shall
sin from heaven. What? Who? Selah. God shall see in what? His mercy
and His truth. Didn't David write? Have you
ever read, have you not read, mercy and truth are met together?
Righteousness and peace kiss each other. Do you know what
that's talking about? Do you? If I were to ask you, could you
tell me right now? Somebody tell me, one word. Christ, all men
and Him, mercy and truth, righteousness and peace have kissed each other
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, my soul's among lions. Verse 6, they prepared a net
for me. My soul is bowed down. They digged a pit for me. Well,
I heard another voice, verse that says, deliver him from going
down in the pit. I found a ransom. I found a hiding
place. I found a refuge. Go back to
our text now. So David wrote that. David is
found in a cave. He's running. He's in a cave.
He's in the cleft of a rock. because of his adversary. He's
in the cleft of the rock. It hasn't been written yet, but
he's singing Rock of Ages. Yes, he is. What rock is that? How many people know what the
Rock of Ages is, or rather who? Moses knew. Moses said this on
our behalf. He said, Lord, wherein is it
that we shall know that we've found grace in Thy sight? How
are we separated from thy people, from all the people that are
on the face of the earth? Lord, show me thy glory. Moses said, I've seen your glory
in the firmament. The heavens declare your glory.
The firmament showeth thine and any other speaketh. Lord, show
me your glory, your essential glory, your ultimate glory, your
greatest glory. Show me thyself. God said, okay. Get out of here. Oh my. God said, I will make all my
goodness pass before you. And I will proclaim the name
of the Lord. And I will be gracious on whom
I will be gracious. And I will show mercy on whom
I will show mercy. He said, You can't see my face
and live. No man shall see me and live.
But the Lord said, Behold, there's a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall come to pass when
my glory passeth by, and I'll put thee in the cleft of the
rock. and cover thee. Rock of Abel, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Jesus Christ is that Rock of
Abel. Jesus Christ is the goodness
of God. Jesus Christ is the grace of
God. Jesus Christ is the mercy of
God. Jesus Christ is the refuge that
God sent for His people. Jesus Christ is the captain of
God's people. That's where David was found.
That's where I want to be found. Is that where you're found? Oh,
Paul said, may I be found in Him. In the cleft of the rock. David, go back to the text. You
see, that rock is Christ and Him crucified. That rock was
cleft when this cave was hollowed out and David was put in it. And all his men, every one of
God's men and every one of David's brethren, all of them were in
the same place in the rock. That's where God puts all his
people. His brethren went to David. Verse 1, it says, When
his brethren and all his fathers hath heard, they went down thither
to him. He's a man. David's just a man.
He's a sinful man. At times, a fearful man. Just like them, wasn't he? He
was just like them. But God made him the man. and sent him up over them to
lead them, to teach them, to guide them. And that was God's
man. And all that the Father gave him came to him. And they
followed him, knowing what he was. But they know who he was. They knew that God sent this
man. And they recognized him. The Father recognized him and
told them, this is God's man. You need to go where he is. And
they did, all his brethren. And it says in verse 2, he became
a captain over them. He became a captain. Do you think
David wanted to be their captain? Do you now? Do you not think
David is saying, I'm running myself. And you want to follow
me? I'm scared myself, and I'm supposed
to lead you." But he did. He did, didn't he? Did he lead them astray? No, sir. And he stayed faithful
to them until the day he died. Some of them left him, some of
his closest allies and friends. His bosom buddy, Joab, turned
on him. David said it hurt him worse
than anything that his enemies had ever done. But David stayed
faithful. He did. God had given him a heart
for God's glory, for God's truth, for God's people, and given him
a charge. What's the charge of a shepherd?
Remember? One thing, basically. Feed my sheep. David, conscious of his own sinfulness,
weakness, He took the oversight, and he remained faithful. He
did, and most of them did too. Thanks be unto the Lord. He said in Psalm 119, that whole
psalm, he said, David, fear thee, but be glad when they see thee. They'll come running to me, and
I them. They need each other. But David was in that cave, and
they were there with him. And God added many to him after
that. But now, let's talk about who this is really about. This is about the Son of David.
This is about whom David represents, a much greater man than David.
This represents the God-man, Christ Jesus. If you've never
heard this message, you sit up and listen now. This represents
the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every single man in Scripture,
every prominent man in Scripture, from Abel to Zerubbabel, represents
the Lord Jesus Christ. For Christ is all and in all.
Christ said, to me, give all the prophets witness. Christ
said, they are they which testify of me. Every prominent man, and
even women. Esther. You want to hear that
sometime, Jennifer? She represents Christ, doesn't
she? Abigail represents Christ. But every single prominent person
you see, he must have the preeminence, because he's the second Adam. He's the prophet like Moses,
only greater. He is the seed of Abraham. He's
the son of David. He's a greater than Solomon. I'm talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. David represents the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord, Savior,
Prophet, Priest, King, Captain, Captain. And here's where the
similarities stop. He's never afraid. He's never
running scared. He's got an enemy, all right,
but he faced him head on. First thing, in his weakest state,
40 days and 40 nights without food. No fleshly strength, Brother
John. And our captain, who must win
the battle, faced Satan head-on, toe-to-toe, all of his assault,
every assault that you and I will be assaulted with, that roaring
lion. And bless God, he won. He won the victory. This is our
substitute. This is our covenant head. This
is our captain. Captain, my captain, this ship
called in Christ Jesus, it won't go down. It won't. He's the captain. This army,
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Why? Because Jesus
Christ is Lord over and captain of our salvation. Nothing to
be afraid of. He's our captain. Christ crucified. And it says in verse 1, "...all
the Father's house heard of Him, and they went down to Him." All
the Father's house heard of Him, Jesus Christ. Christ said, "...all
that the Father giveth Me shall come to pass." He said, "...they
shall be all taught of God in every man." Every man. Every man or woman or young person
that hears of the Father cometh unto me, Christ said. And then
what? He becomes their captain. Every man comes to Him. And all
hear. Have they not all heard? Paul
said, yea, barely. The sound's gone to the end of
the earth. But all haven't heard. They have ears to hear and don't
hear. God's people all hear the gospel. After you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, he says, you were
sealed. After you trusted in him, after
God caused you to hear the gospel of God's glory, of Christ's glory,
of Christ your smitten rock, Christ and Him crucified, you
come to Him by the power of God's Spirit. You come to Him. You
believe Him. You rest in Him. You come to Him, just as you
are, and He becomes your salvation. And he never relinquishes that.
He becomes your captain, your leader, your Lord and your Savior,
and he'll never relinquish that. He said, I give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish. Wander, yes. Perish, no. It says they heard and they came
to him. David, what did they do? They went down. You see that? They went down to Him. To come
to Christ, you've got to come down. You've got to come down. Like Saul of Tarsus, he had to
come down off his religious high horse, didn't he? He had to come
down into the dust as a beggar in need of God's mercy and grace
to save him lest he die and perish at the hands of an angry God.
He had to come down, didn't he? So does everyone that comes to
Christ. We all come down front, you know,
and all our pomp and pride and everybody else is so proud. I
heard the other day somebody in religion was baptized and
everybody in that place was wearing a t-shirt commemorating this
is a young person, a real young person, congratulating him on
being baptized. Congratulating him on being baptized. Can you imagine that? When we come to Christ, we come
down, down, down, down. The story of Naaman. I don't
have time, but the story of Naaman, who everybody thought was a great
man. He was covered up with all his
medals and all his uniform and all that. And he came on his
high horse to the place where the little old prophet fell out. He heard that maybe he could
do something for him. And that prophet sent a servant. The prophet
said, I'm not going to see this man. He sent his servant out
there, and the servant said one thing to that great mighty man
who was a leper. He was a leper. Nobody could
see him. He was a leper. He's dying. And that little servant
said to that great man, the prophet said, go down. Go down to that muddy, that red
river, Jordan, and you dip seven times until you think you're
going to drown. First thing you've got to do
is strip. Strip naked. Take all that stuff off and go
down and get in that muddy water until you feel no better than
a tadpole. An old great man. And he stormed off. And a little
maiden. A faithful Jewish woman said
to him, you better do what he says. There's no other way. He did. He got off that horse, stripped
in front of everybody. Till everybody there said, look,
he's a leper. He's not great after all. He's
a leper. The old man said, yes, I want
to be clean. So he plunged into that Red Fountain,
the whole bloody muddy River Jordan seven times. And you know
what he said? He came up clean. He says his
flesh was fresher than a baby. Clean. And it says in verse 2, they
all went down to him. And everyone, here's who went
to him. Everyone. They all were in the
same predicament. They all had the same problems.
Everyone that was in distress. And everyone that was in debt.
And everyone that was discontented. They gathered themselves unto
him, unto David, and he became a captain over them. About 400
men. Every single one of them felt the same way. They were
in distress. And every one of God's people,
God brings them to a point of distress. Stress. Stress. You know what
stress is, don't you? You know the leading cause of
heart failure? Stress. Not your diet. Stress. I don't think it's coincidental
at all that God said in the Revelation in the last days, men's hearts
shall fail them for fear. There's something weighing down
on everybody. There's something pressing down
on everybody. Heavy weight that people can't
get rid of. And they're trying to get rid
of it. They're under stress, under this pressure, under this
constant pressure. I feel it at times, don't you?
A heavy weight. Sometimes you don't know where
it's coming from. You're just weighed down. Anybody? Everybody. Every one of God's
people. But the world doesn't know what
it is, and they try to seek to get rid of it many ways. And
there's pressure, and it can't get rid of it. What is it? What
is it that weighs us down? What is it that has us under
this heavy sense of doom? sin and guilt. And God says there's
no peace to the wicked. What are we going to do? Run to the cave. Run to the
cleft of the rock. Peter said, cast all your care
upon Him. He careth for you. The weight
of your sins, the weight of your guilt, all of it now has passed. Brethren, you don't know what
you're going to do tomorrow. You don't know what you're going
to do tomorrow. You don't know. You and I are capable of anything Say, I've done some bad things.
And bless God, He's shown mercy and grace upon me. And I believe
He's cleansed me from that. And that's what David thought
when he was about 45. 50, David said that. And what
happened to me? You just don't know. What are
you going to do? What are you going to do? Then you
get under this heavy oppression. Well, I'll take this. I'll take
that. I'll do this. I'll do that. I'll find this
there. I'll find that. That's all. One remedy. One. One. Christ, name crucified. He said, come unto me, all ye
that labor and are what? Heavy laden. I've got an enemy that's after
me. And He will not leave me alone. And you know where He
is? Right here. Christ said, I know it. I know
it. Come again. People, you've got to come every
day. It's not a one-time thing. Everyone in distress. You see,
the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. The debts we owe. Look at verse
1. It says, verse 2, everyone that
was in debt. Oh, my. The debts we owe. God's law. God says, this do,
this do, this do, this do, this do. Doesn't He say, don't do
this, don't do that. Would you name me something that
we've done? Name me something that God said,
do, that you've done it with a pure motive. Name one thing,
a pure thought. Right now, since you've been
here today, have you worshipped God completely? From the heart,
have you? Are you listening to this message
from God's Word with a childlike heart? Oh, our sin. Oh, my sin. My sin. God's sending this glorious message
of His glory and our deliverance, and yet what are we doing? We're
thinking about everything under the sun. What's wrong with us? God said, this do, this do. God's
justice said, okay, you must pay then. You're guilty, you're
guilty. God's justice said, the soul
that sinneth must surely die. God's goodness, oh, the goodness
of God. Oh, the mercy of God. Oh, the
grace of God. What a debt of gratitude we owe. And some people get their feelings
hurt when they have a perceived slight by someone who didn't
speak to them or whatever. They feel indignant and they
get offended because someone didn't speak to them. What about
God? Huh? Go days and weeks. He was rich in mercy. Slew his son to cover that, out
of ingratitude. He never lived a day, John, he
never lived an hour without thinking about God. He never was selfish. He always thought of others.
He did it all, why? For the glory of God. And he
did it for me. Jesus paid it all. All the debt
I owe to the glory of God, gratitude to God, the service to God, service
to others. He paid it all. Sin left the
crimson stain. You know what? He washed it once
now. Debt. Believer, brethren, let me tell
you something. I've got good news for you. God
is satisfied. Now, God is satisfied. You don't owe one dime to God. It is justice. You're not in
arrears to God. It's paid in full. Do you understand
that? Discontent. And those that were
discontent, discontented. Discontent. The whole world is
discontent. Everyone's looking for happiness.
Everyone's looking for fulfillment. Everyone's looking for happiness
in this and that and the other. Vanity of vanity. That's what
the preacher said and every true preacher says and keeps reminding
people. Vanity of vanities and nothing
in this world that will satisfy. No one and no thing will satisfy
you in this world. It's vanity. It's perishing. You can't find happiness in something
that dies. I can't do it. But there is a place to find
happiness in a person. Blessed is the man who knows
Him. Blessed is the man, David said,
whom the Lord will not impute iniquity. Blessed is the man
whose strength is in the Lord. Blessed is the man who walks
in the law of the Lord. Meditation is on Him. Blessed
is the man who knows the Lord. Blessed, blessed, blessed, happy.
People are looking for contentment. People are looking for happiness.
You know, this is, I think, the first thing the Lord does to
someone when He begins to deal with them is makes them discontent.
Discontent in the world. Not finding what they need and
brings them to... If they're one of His, He'll
bring them where the gospel is. And where they'll finally find
all their contentment, all their happiness, all their fullness.
See, God has put in him all the fullness. All fullness. See,
you're never happy, you're never content unless you're full, are
you? You're hungry. We've got two granddaughters.
They're never full. They're never content. You get
enough? No, I can get enough. I can have
a little ice cream sandwich. Hungry, thirsty. Blessed are
they that hunger and thirst, when God puts this discontent,
this hunger and thirst, after righteousness, after to know
God, to know salvation, to know the truth. It says they'll be
filled. They'll be full. Christ said,
he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood will never hunger again. He that hath this water of life,
Christ, in him will never thirst again. Does that mean you don't
desire Christ? No, that means you don't really
need, and hunger, and thirst, anything else. You hear that? That means you find all your
fulfillment in Him, and you don't look for it elsewhere. And you're
not disappointed. You see it for what it is. And
you see Him for what He is. All the fullness of God. All
the blessings of God. One thing needful and one thing
fulfilling and one thing that will solve your discontent and
make you happy. It's personal. Married to Him. Marriage won't do it. Houses
won't do it. Money won't do it. Drugs won't
do it. Jesus Christ. That came to Him. I believe the Lord makes someone
discontent. You've heard the story of my
father-in-law that he was in religion, and he went to his
preacher one day. He went to his preacher, so-called.
And he said to that man, after hearing him preach for years,
he finally said to that man, he said, I don't know what I'm
not hearing, but I'm not hearing something. That's what he said. And he said, and this is what
he said, didn't he? He said, I've got to hear some
hell-spiring damnation or something. And bless God, God led him to
where a man was sent of God, no less than David, no less than
David, a man sent of God to preach the truth of Christ. And he sat
down and lo and behold, lo and behold, contentment. I see it, he said,
I see it. See what? Eddie, him. And he didn't go anywhere. Eddie,
till the day he died, right there he sat, content. Captain, sure a motley crew old
David has, isn't he? Well, that's the name of this
thing. The captain and his sorry crew. What a motley crew, you
know. What does David need with these people? David's got his
own problem. What does he need with them?
Nothing. But they need him. They need
him. And he became their captain. Now do it. Every single person
that came to him. What's he need with people full
of debts? What's he need with discontented people? What's he
need with people that are bitter and all of that? He doesn't need
anything. They need him. And it blessed
God that he became their captain. I'll do it. I know what he did.
I know the first thing he did. I know the first thing he did.
They're in distress. I know what he said. I know what
he said. David stood up and said, you
all that are fearful, you all that are worried, all of you
that are All of you that are afraid of the enemy, that have
come to me, God sent you to me. Peace. Rest. Fear not. I am your captain and
God has sent me from this day forward. We're going to reign. God said so. Next thing He said,
I don't care what you owe. I don't care how much you owe.
The one deepest in debt, David said. Nobody owes a thing right
now. Did you hear that? Nobody owes
a dime right now. Everybody here. It's all free
now. From here on out, you're not
going to pay one dime. I'm going to pay it all. I'm
going to provide it all. You just follow that. And the
last thing he said, are you bitter? Are you discontent? Are you unhappy? You have come to the right person.
This God has sent me. And there's happiness. There's
blessedness. The end of this journey is all
good. We're all going to be seated
on the throne together. Eat this way. You see, we've
got to go through some tough times. We've got to go through
some struggles and some wars and deprivations and some trials
and some heaviness. You've come to me, Christ says,
and I'm your captain. And you need not worry about
a thing. Ever. Ever. Ever. Did you hear that? Did you hear that? I hope I heard. To homecoming. All right. Let's
sing in closing. Jesus paid it all. 125. 125. Stand loose. All right. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength
indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and
pray. Find in me thine all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. A better way to sing that would
be All The Debts I Owe. Let's sing it that way on the
chorus. All The Debts I Owe, number two. For now indeed I
find thy power and thine alone Can change the leper's spots
and melt the heart of stone Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owe
Sin had left the crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. For nothing good have I Whereby
thy grace to claim I'll wash my garments white In the blood
of Calvary's Lamb Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe Sin had
left the prison sane, he walked as quiet as snow. And when before
the throne I stand in Him complete, Jesus died, my soul did save,
in my lips thou shalt repeat, Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin that left the crimson stain,
he washed it white as snow. That's as good as it ever gets. That's it.