1 Samuel chapter 22. If you're familiar with that,
if that rings a bell, I'd please you that we're looking at this. One of our ladies asked me what
we were going to look at tonight, and I told her 1 Samuel 22, and
she just lit up. She said, I'd love that. I do
too. The first two verses, 1 Samuel
22. David therefore departed thence
and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brethren in 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 David. And he became a captain over
them. And they were with him about 400 men. Captain and his
sorry crew. That's what this is all about.
Mandy and I were discussing at dinner last night how the Lord
has to make people discontented in order to bring them to hear
the truth. Most people have some kind of refuge. Most people have
some kind of religion. Most people are very content
where they are, even if it's a false refuge, false religion. And the Lord has to make us discontented. Or someone out in the world,
someone in the gutter, the Lord has to make them like the prodigal,
has to bring them to themselves and discontent them and realize
their debt and be in distress. Four hundred men came to David
and he became captain over them. Now this is a true story. David
is a real man. But there is a hidden story,
as you know. The real story here is of the son of David, the captain
of our salvation. All right, let's look at the
captain. This begins with all capital letters, D-A-V-I-D. David. All capital letters. And I was just struck as I went
back through 1 Samuel, and his name just jumps out at you on
nearly every verse. David. David. David. This whole
book, 1 Samuel. It's called the first book of
Kings. That's what 1 Samuel really is, the first book of Kings.
But David is the first King, God's King. It's all about David. The whole book is mostly about
David, God's chosen King of Israel. But more importantly, and most
especially, this whole book is about the King of Kings, the
son of David, who the Lord calls Himself. David, as you know,
was rejected by most, but he was declared king by God, wasn't
he? God. He said, I have chosen me
a man, a son from the sons of Jesse, a man after my own heart. And when Peter preached that
day at Pentecost, he said, ye men of Israel, he said, let all
the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same
Jesus whom you have crucified. both Lord and Christ. He's God's
King, though rejected by men. Now, David didn't look like a
king at this point. He's in a cave. He doesn't look
like a king. But very soon, all will see him
as he really is. Very soon, they will see that
David is the king, and they'll see him on his throne. And though
most reject him now, only a few chosen ones came to him, but
all Israel will come to him. All Israel will receive Him,
and all His enemies will be defeated by Him, and every knee will bow,
and every tongue confess. And so it is with our Lord Jesus. We see Jesus, Hebrews says, made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, but
now He is crowned with glory and honor. And every eye shall
see Him, and every knee will bow. All Israel will be saved.
That's the captain. He's the captain. He's the king
of kings and Lord of lords. David. Look at where he is. He's in a cave. The captain's
in a cave. Verse 1. He escapes to the cave
Agilum. What is a cave? It's a cleft. That's what it is. Go back to Exodus again with
me. I know you were blessed by reading
that. I was. But Exodus 33. I wonder how Many
people have read this, Exodus 33. How few have probably read
it, and even fewer understand what they read. How blessed you
are, we are, if we understand what we read there in Exodus
33. You know, I prepared a message Sunday for Cottageville with the possibility
of someone being there that I had hoped would be there. And it
was a message that was very, very relevant or applicable to
him. And I hoped that he would be
there and hoped that the Lord would use it for his sake. But
he wasn't. But I was there. And tonight, And I both thought that there
would be a visitor here, someone that she's been talking to. And
I prepared this message. I thought of him, this person,
about this passage of Scripture. Well, he's not here. That happens invariably, doesn't
it? Who's it for? Whoever's in distress and debt
and discontented. How few have read this, even
fewer understand what they read, but all the brethren do, all
the fathers' house, all that are taught of God do. Look at
Exodus 33, verse 13. It says, in verse 13, Moses said,
I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now
thy way that I may know thee. You know God's way, don't you?
You know how we know Him, don't you? No man knoweth the Father,
but the Son. And the Son, He declares Him. And Christ is the way, the truth,
and the life. In verse 16, Moses said, If I
have found grace, and these people have found grace, and I sigh,
is not this how we know we are separated or sanctified? All
of your people upon the face of the earth? Your people are
set apart by the truth, aren't they? Didn't our Lord say that?
Sanctify them through thy Word. Thy Word is true. And that's
how we're set apart. Verse 19. Moses from verse 18,
he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And the Lord said,
I will. I'll make all my goodness pass
before you. You know where all the goodness of God is, don't
you? It's in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I'll proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee. Who is the Lord? The Lord Jesus
Christ is His name. And He said, I'll be gracious.
I will be gracious. Sovereign grace. To whom I will
be gracious. I will show mercy. God is mercy. But it's sovereign mercy. We
don't have a quarrel with that, do we? We're just thankful that
He's gracious. We're just thankful that He shows
mercy. And we're mighty thankful He
chose us. We wouldn't have chosen Him.
That's for sure. And the Lord said to Moses, you
cannot see my face. No man shall see me and live.
And the Lord said, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon
a rock. On Christ the solid rock I stand.
It shall come to pass. While my glory passes by, here
is where we see the glory of God when He puts us in the cleft
of the rock. Rock of ages. Cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side which flow, be of sin the double cure, save
from wrath and make me pure. Rock of aging, cleft for me. And the Lord said, I will take
away my hand, you will see my back part, but my face shall
not be seen. But we have seen the face of
God, who caused the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined
in our heart. to give the light, the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
have seen His glory, haven't we? Few have. But all of God's
people have. All of God's people. They shall
all be taught of God. And every man that hath heard
and learned of the Father cometh to me. I go back to our text
here. David is in a cave. The captain
is in a cave. And look at his sorry crew who
came to him. In verse 1, when his brethren
and all his father's house heard, they went down thither to him. Who came to him? His brethren
and all his father's house. I can't see a thing through these
glasses. You're a blur. You look better. Look at John chapter 5 with me.
John chapter 5. All his brethren and all his
father's house came to him. Everybody did. There were many
people in Israel weren't there? Many in Israel. But just these
few came to David and these were his brethren and these were all
his father's house in John chapter 5. Do you remember when David
came to where Goliath was and his brethren were there? Do you
remember that? Did they receive him? When David came, God had
made him king. And David came to where they
were fighting Goliath, where they were cowed from Goliath.
And his brethren, beginning with the oldest, began to mock Him,
didn't they? They rejected Him. They despised
Him, didn't they? He came to His own, and His own
received Him not. And that's what the Scripture
says of our Lord Jesus. And neither did we. None of us
received Him at first, like Joseph's brethren, like the sorry sons
of Jacob. They all rejected Him. They all
turned thumbs down on Him. They all despised and rejected
Him. And so have we. So did we. And
look at John 5 verse 40. Our Lord said, You will not come
to me that you might have life. You will not come to me that
you might have life. But it does say in John chapter
1, as many as received him, to them gave he the right, the power
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
Why did they receive him? Some did receive him. Why did
these men come? Why do we come? Why do we receive
the Lord finally? Because we are born, not of blood,
not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of
God. Not of Him that willeth, but
of Him that runneth. It is of God that showeth mercy. And we will not come until God
does something for us. And in John 6, go over there,
John chapter 6, the next page, verse 44, our Lord said in verse
44, no man can come to Me. except the Father which hath
sent me." Draw him. And if he does, I will raise
him up at the last day. No man can. Who will come? Who
will come? All that the Father giveth me,
he said in verse 37, shall come to me. And him that cometh to
me, I will in no wise cast out. David's brethren came to him
like Joseph. And I can't wait to get to that.
in the book of Genesis. But they came to him. The very
ones that rejected David in the beginning came to him now. They're
needy. They're poor and needy now. They
need David now. He doesn't need them. But they
need him. Will he receive them? He most
certainly did. Why? Because he's a merciful
man. Our Lord is more merciful than
him. Infinitely merciful. And will receive all that come
to him. All that the Father giveth me, Christ said, shall come to
me. And they all came. You notice
that? All of David's brethren. All
the father's house. Go back there. They all came
to him. That's what our Lord said. Every
man. Every man that hath heard. Look at verse 1. Here's when
they came. Verse 1. All his father's house
heard where David was. They heard, didn't they? And
they went down to him. When they heard, And the Scriptures
say, Every man hath heard and learned of him cometh unto him.
Christ said, My sheep hear my voice. They all hear. All that the Father gives me.
Hear my voice. And you know these Scriptures
in Ephesians 1, it says God has chosen us in Christ before the
world that we should be. His adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself, to the praise of the glory of His grace wherein
He had made us accepted in the Beloved, that we should be to
the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom you
trusted after you heard the Word of truth, the Gospel. That's
why I always quote that verse, Oh, how we thank God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you by our gospel. You heard. You heard the gospel. People hear it, but they don't
hear it. Have you ears to hear it? They don't hear it. But God,
the hearing ear and the seeing eye of the Lord hath made them
both. And He gave you His people. That's why you should believe
that you're a son of God, that you have ears to hear. if you've
heard his gospel. These men heard that David was
down in this cave. I want you to think about this.
I've learned something new every time. I don't know how many times
we've looked at this together. At least ten or twelve times.
And I didn't go back and look at my notes because I was afraid
I preached it last year. I thought it doesn't matter. But I learned something here.
How did David's brethren know where he was and everybody else
didn't? Huh? David was a hunted man. He was a wanted man. His enemies
wanted him. Saul wanted him. Find him. Four hundred men knew
where he was and nobody else did. Huh? God hid him. What's the scripture
say? He had hidden his name. and the
wise and prudent, and reveal them unto his people. Oh, even
so, Father, it seemed good in thy sight. We speak, Paul said,
the wisdom of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom. God hath
revealed these things unto us, he said in 1 Corinthians 2. But
the natural man receiveth not the things of God. They are foolishness
to him. Neither can he know them. their spiritual desire. And nobody
knows who Christ is unless God reveals Him. And nobody knows
where Christ is. They pass by out there by the
thousands, don't they? They pass by by the thousands.
They look at this little brick building down in a hole and they
think that's just another church. No, it's not. Christ is here. Yes, He is. on the promise of God's Word,
where two or three are gathered in my name, that's where I am.
And if you are, you'll see His face. You'll know it. If you're
in debt, you're in distress, and you're discontented, you'll
have that relieved. That's who this is for. That's
why they came. That's why they came. God revealed
to them where David was. And God also revealed something
else to them. their need. But look at how they approached
David, verse 1. It says they went down. They went down thither. You say
that's just talking about geographically. No, it's not, either. God's Word
is perfected. You've got to come down when
you approach the King. The pride and the irreverence
in modern religion today says within my heart there's no fear
of God before their eyes. The way they carry on, the way
they so-called approach God tells me that they don't know God.
Isaiah says this. What a passage this is. Enter
into the rock and hide thee in the dust for fear of the Lord
and for the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of man shall
be humble, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and
the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the
Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty, and
everyone that is lifted up shall be brought low." So he says,
go into the cleft of the rock. Come down. That's how you approach
the King. You come down. Humble yourselves
under the mighty hand of God. And he will exalt you in due
time. These sorry brethren that rejected David before, they come
humbly now. They come down humbly before
him. And David is going to exalt them
to his right hands. They're going to reign with him.
And so will everyone that comes this way to the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, look at this sorry
bunch. What a sorry crew they were. It came to their captain. Verse 2. that was in distress,
everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented. What a sorry bunch of worthless
fellows, huh? What can they do for David? Nothing. They don't have anything that
David needs. What does David need with them?
Nothing. They have nothing. They are nothing. David doesn't
need them. But they need David. They need
David. They're nothing. They have nothing.
Scripture says, if any man thinketh he's something when he's nothing,
and we know nothing of ourselves, Scripture says, you see your
calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty are called. You see your calling, but God
hath chosen The foolish things of the world to confound the
wise, God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty base. Things of the world, things which
are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things that are not."
A bunch of nothings to bring to naught, things that are, that
no flesh should glory in his presence. Let me read the other
verse. But of him are you in Christ Jesus. who of God, though
you are nothing, Christ is made unto you wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. That is, according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." A bunch of nobodies
who came to somebody, the King of kings, David. And that is
our Lord. We come to Him as nothing, and
Christ becomes our all. Our God says, without Him, you
can do nothing. And He says to everyone who is
a nothing, all which He hath given Me, I should lose nothing. My, my. Everyone in distress. Look at that. Everyone that was
in distress over sin. Everyone that's in distress over
sin. Your own. Everyone that feels
like David, he said, my loins are filled with a loathsome disease,
will come to cry. Everyone who feels like David
when he said, have mercy on me, O God, according to the multitude
of thy tender mercy, blot out my transgression, wash me throughly
from my iniquity. Everyone that says with the Apostle
Paul, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this
body of death? Everyone that's in distress over
their sin. comes to cry. That's who will
come. And everyone that's in distress over the sin in this
world, this present evil world, who's vexed like a lot inside
them. All these men came to David that
were in distress. And all of God's people, He makes
them in distress, poor and needy, and in debt. Look at verse 2.
They're in debt. Every one of these brethren of
David had borrowed until they could borrow no more and then
had no money to repay. And what do we have that we have
not received? And we owe a great debt of gratitude to God, haven't
we? And don't we? And we have nothing
to repay. We have sinned and come short
of the glory of God, don't we? We have a sin debt that we cannot
repay. And we are, as the old writers
used to say, bankrupt sinners. who will come to Christ. In my
hands no price I bring." In death. Everyone that's in death. And
everyone that's discontented. Everyone that's discontented.
There's no pleasure or contentment in the things of this world.
And God must make it so with us. We, like Moses, found pleasure
in the things of Egypt for a season. But in due time, God must make
every one of His people, like Moses, choose rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God in the pleasures of sin for
a season. To reject the riches of Egypt
and count them nothing for the treasures of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God must make a person discontented
with the things of this world, discontented with religion. Many of you were in religion,
legal religion. He has to make you discontented
with that. Many of you were in various forms
of religion. Mindy and I were talking about
several of them. How that you came to hear the Gospel because
the Lord made you discontented where you were. Several of you.
Most of you. Discontented where you were. You've got to make somebody discontented
with the lies they're hearing and want to hear the truth. Like
my father-in-law. You've heard that story where
he said to his false preacher, he said, I don't know what I'm
not hearing, but I'm not hearing something. That's of the Lord. The Lord has to make a person
discontented where they are and seek the truth. Seek the truth
and come and hear it. are contented with lies that
God has to make us discontented. And it says in verse 2, they
gathered themselves unto Him. Gathered themselves to David.
They were gathered to David. It was David they needed. They
were all with one accord. They all had one need. They all
needed David to do something for them. That's why they came. They all had one need. That they
needed their marriages straightened out. They didn't need new jobs. They didn't ask for money. It
was a person they were seeking. And that's what the Lord does. He causes His people to seek
Christ. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, Christ said. Him that cometh to me. I want
to know why it's cast out. If it's Christ you need, it's
Christ you get. And nobody will take it from
you. Can't do it. They gathered themselves unto
Him. And you know what? These men all had to leave somewhere
to come to David, didn't they? Every last one of them had to
leave somebody and somewhere. They had houses. 400 men. They had family, didn't they?
They were bankrupt. They owed a lot of money. But
they had to leave it all. They were in Israel, amongst
all that Judaism. Saul was, you know, they were
priests, but they were false priests. They were all false. Saul had the true ones killed.
The very chapter right before this, at Nob, 85 priests he had
killed. There were no true preachers,
no priests. They left all of that to go to
David. And the scripture says we must
go forth unto Christ without the camp, without the camp, bearing
his reproach. When their families heard that
these men left And they maybe heard that they
were going down to wherever David was. They were going to David,
this outcast, this nobody, this would-be king, they thought.
They thought nothing of him. They thought, these men are fools.
They were fools for David's sake. And that's what the religion
of this world thinks. What do you see in that? What
do you all do there? Nobody goes there. Yeah, that's
right, nobody. A bunch of nobodies go there.
But there's somebody that meets with us, and that's who we go.
That's who we're gathered to. We go forth unto him, bearing
his reproach, without the camp, outside the majority of religion. And look at verse 2. It says,
And he became captain over them. It doesn't say he asked them
if they would accept him as their personal captain. Does it say
that? Won't you, man? I want to be
your captain. You'll let me?" Oh, no. He wasn't voted on either,
was he? Did he become captain when they
decided? Oh, no. It says he became captain. He assumed the responsibility of the command.
He became captain. You know what captain means?
One in charge. Back then, a captain was as high
as you could get. There were no generals. There
was a captain. A captain was as high as you could get. Captain,
my captain. David was a captain. Captain
one in charge, one who rules, one who commands. He became captain
over them and over everyone else eventually. God had made this
same cry, Lord, and cry. A captain is one who goes before
his crew, always. Not like these fellows now who
hide in bunkers in the back while the men charge up the hill. No, the captain back then, and
the Lord, Oh, I love that passage where it says, And Jesus went
before them. It says, He set His face like
a flint toward Jerusalem and went before them. He was always
out in front of them. And it says they were sore afraid. Not him. He's their captain. If you want a captain that's
not afraid, don't you? That will relieve your fear.
One who goes before. A captain is one who faces all
the foes. our adversary. Christ faced the
law. Christ faced all our foes and
he defeated them. Tell them, comfort my people,
you tell them the warfare is accomplished. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the one that did it. Did it all. He won the battle.
A captain is the one who charts the course, like the captain
of a ship. He knows the waters. He charts the course. He guides
the ship. Always. Captain. That story of
our Lord being asleep in the ship, well, it may have appeared
that way, but He was still guiding that ship, wasn't He? And Hebrews
2 says this. Let me just read it to you. You
don't have to turn. Hebrews 2 says this. It says,
It became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through suffering. are both he that sanctifyeth
God, and they who are sanctified are all of one." God brought
all these men to David and made them one under David their king. He that sanctifyeth, they who
are sanctified are all of one, for which cause? He's not ashamed
to call them brothers. I love that. He's not ashamed
to call them brothers. And from that day forward, they're
not ashamed either. And he says this, I will declare
my name unto my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing
praise unto thee. And again, I'll put my trust
in him. And again, behold, I and the children which thou hast
given me. And I'm going to keep reading. For as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same. That through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
the bomb, the captain of our salvation. And you know, I'm
sure the first thing that David did for them says they were in
debt or in distress, doesn't it? They were in distress. Stress. You know, we experience a lot
of stress, don't we? That's pressure and fears that
crowd us and make us feel afraid. at our wits end, the first thing
I'm sure that David did was allay their fear. I'm sure he said
to them, fellas, peace. It's okay now. Be not afraid. God's with us. God is with us. Promise me that I'm His King. And if you've come to Me, and
I've got to reign on that throne. I've got to. God can't lie. So you just be not afraid. And that's what our Lord does
when we come to Him. First thing, peace. Be still. You've come to the right person.
You've come to Me. And I am your peace. Fear not. I am with thee. Oh, be not dismayed. And the next thing he did, they
were in debt. They were all in debt. And I'm
quite sure of this, that the next thing that David did was
say, I hereby declare from this day forward, all debts are canceled. Nobody owes a dime. Reckon? Oh, yeah. All you do is owe me
your allegiance. Your allegiance. debts are canceled. And so it is with our Lord Jesus
Christ. He paid it all, all the debt
I owe. And it says they were discontented.
Up to this point, they were just so discontented with everything
and everyone, especially themselves. But when they came to David,
now they're satisfied. But they don't have anything.
They don't need anything. They left everything. But they've
got it all now. And they're going to get it back.
David is going to recover all. And they're going to reign with
him. And they have not seen yet the things that God is going
to do through David. And so it is with us. We're going
to restore everything that we lost in our father Adam. And
all who come to Christ, all who truly come to the Lord Jesus
Christ, discontented before, satisfied in Him. God is satisfied
and we are too. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And look how many.
It says there were about 400 men. There were millions of people
in Israel at this time. 400 men. Not many, is it? No. Many are called. They all
heard the story that David is the king. They all heard it. Had they not all heard? Yeah,
barely. But only a few came. That's the way it is. God's Word
is so perfect. Many are called, few are chosen,
but all that are chosen will come to Christ. And from that
day forward and from the day we come to Christ, we may be
troubled, but we're not in despair. We may be perplexed. Why is this
happening? But we're not in despair. We
may be persecuted. but not forsaken. We have a captain
who may be cast down, but not destroyed, because Christ is
the captain over us. I want to read you, in closing,
a wonderful... Look at it with me, in Gatsby's
hymn. We won't sing this, but you look at it with me. Gatsby's
hymn number 147. I started to have us sing this
together, but you can read it with me. And Gatsby's having a look at
it. We'll read this in closing. You have it? 147. John Berridge wrote this. All
in debt or in distress, discontented more or less, all who have what
protection have come away to David's cave. All who find their
sinful debt deep and deeper growing yet, all who have been Satan's
tool much his madman or his fool. All who discontented are full
of guilt and full of fear. Every soul who would not die
come to Christ, come to Christ. Jesus, all your debts will pay
and chase your legal fears away. Every foe he will subdue, world
and flesh and devil, to haste and seek the Savior's face. Rise
and bless him for his grace to his rejected church repair, He
will walk and feed you there. You're in distress, in debt,
and disconcited, come to Christ. Stand with me. Our Lord, once again we thank
You, thank You, thank You for Your Word. It gives us comfort,
great comfort as it shows us Christ our Captain, our Salvation. Our peace, our rest. Lord, may
we come to Him. To whom? Coming. Keep coming. Keep coming. Keep coming. Keep
ourselves in the love of God. Keep ourselves under the Gospel.
Keep ourselves under the sound of peace and the words of comfort. It's in Christ's name we are
met here tonight. Amen.