Thank you, John. Jerry, thank
you. While I draw this fleeting breath, we just don't know, do we? I
mean, we really don't know. It might be. This fleeting breath. It might be. All the more reason, necessity,
preaching this message, huh? 1 Samuel 22. Go over there.
1 Samuel chapter 22. 1 Samuel 22. Let's read verses 1 and 2. David therefore departed thence
and escaped to the cave of Delim. And when his brethren at 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. I love this verse in Romans 15
that says, Whatsoever things were written aforetime. He's talking about the Old Testament.
Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning. He's talking to believers here.
Written for our learning that we, through patience, That is,
waiting on the Lord, waiting to see what the Lord is going
to do, waiting on His promise. That we, through patience, everything
was written for our learning, that we, through patience, trial
of our faith, work in patience and patience of spirit. That
we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, there is no
other source of comfort. There is no source of comfort,
not in man. only in God's Word and God Himself
that we might have hope. We're saved by hope and sorrow,
but not as those who have no hope. Where is our hope? Well, in Hebrews it says, to
those who have fled for refuge to Him and lay hold of the hope
that is laid before them. The story here is of David in
a cave, and the actual story is of a man like us who is afraid. He has a strong adversary. Saul
is chasing him. He is fearful for his life. He
really is. David, yes, he is a man. He is just a man. All
men. afraid at times. David said,
What times I am afraid, I will trust in thee. And he said, In
the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these
calamities be passed. There is no other place of refuge
but under the shadow of his wings in our God. Our God is our refuge. Our Lord Jesus Christ is our
refuge. was literally afraid. David was
fleeing. David was alone in this cave
at first. He was alone, yet was he? We're never alone. God's people
are never alone. Some people God will leave to
themselves, does, but God's people, he said, I will never leave thee
or forsake thee. Though we may feel alone, All
alone. We read that in Psalm 57, didn't
we? I need to go on. That's another message. But he
was alone. He felt he was alone, but he
was not alone. The Lord sent. How did the Lord build him up? How did the Lord
give him comfort? How did the Lord strengthen him? How did the Lord comfort him?
He sent 400 men. He was alone, and then all of
a sudden, 400 men were sent to him in that cave. All of them. And every one of
them, just like David, were afraid, were in distress, and dead, discontented. But God sent them to David for
his help, for his comfort, for his defense, and they were all
in that cleft of the rock together. I'd like to have been in that
cave, wouldn't you, for a little while? Well, I am. We are. We are. That's the actual
story, the literal story. But this wasn't written with
that particularly in mind. Our Lord said, they are they
which testify of me. Whatever is written. is written
to testify of the Lord Jesus Christ. David, a great deal of
scripture is written in the life of David, isn't it? David makes
up a great portion of the Old Testament, doesn't it? Well,
the reason being is because David is a type, a symbol, a picture. of the Son of David, the Lord
Jesus Christ. In fact, he is referred to as
that, the Christ is referred to as that, the Son of David,
more than any other. Because David is such a clear
type of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, if someone has not heard
this before, I envy you. And I ask the Lord right now
to let me hear it again as a little child, like it's the first time. Because I'm still in distress.
I'm still in debt. And I'm still discontented. I
need to flee to hell. David is a man in a cave. David,
though, is a king. In verse 1 it says David, doesn't
it? It starts with all capital letters, David. Who was David?
David was God's appointed, God's anointed king. God said, I have
sought me a man after mine own heart that I have made king. Israel chose a man named Saul
to be their king, didn't they? And he was a cruel tyrant. But
God, He said, I have my king waiting in the wings. He's yet
to be enthroned. He's yet to be crowned. But he
is king. He is king. Israel had a king
waiting. Because God loved Israel, He
made David their king. But for a while, David didn't
appear to be king, did he? As a youth, remember that when
Samuel came to anoint The king, God said, go to the house of
Jesse, and I've chosen of his family a king. Well, Jesse brought
his oldest son, tall, dark, and handsome, and so on and so forth,
and seven of his sons before Samuel. And God said, he's none
of this. None of this. And Samuel said to Jesse, are
these all your sons? And Jesse said, well, no. He's
out there. He's just a lad. He's just a
youth. His name's David. Well, where is he? He's out there
keeping the sheep. Keeping the sheep. But he's just
a lad. You don't want him. We'll not sit down, Samuel said,
until you bring him here. And as soon as he walked in,
God said, Arise. This is him. For God looketh
seeth, not as man seeth. When that man named Jesus walked
this planet, nobody saw a king in him. There was no beauty in
him that we should desire in him. He had no form nor countenance.
He wasn't taller than anyone else. He didn't look any different
than anyone else. He didn't dress any different
than anyone else. Everyone looked at him, looked down at him and
said, you're just a carpenter's son. That's what his enemies
said. That's what the people said. You're just a carpenter's
son. But God reveals him to his people. Arise, this is him. The King of kings and Lord of
lords. And in Hebrews 2, he said, we
have yet to see him. We see Jesus made a little lower
than the angels for the suffering of death. But we've yet to see
all things under his feet. And Ty right now, he's hidden
from the view of man. He was hidden then, he's hidden
now. They don't see him right now. If you could open up the
windows of heaven, you'd see sitting on the circle of the
earth, his enemies as his footstool,
you'd see Jesus Christ enthroned, reigning and ruling, manipulating
everything that writhes or rickles. God. But men don't see it. No, he's
just a man in a cave. But everybody that knew who he
was heard of him. They went running to him, didn't
they? They went running to him. David wasn't voted on as king. David wasn't voted on as king.
God didn't ask people, will you accept him as king? He said,
I've set him on my hill. And I'll be gracious to you by
showing you He's King. These 400 men, Brother Stephen,
were blessed, greatly blessed of God, to see that that's not
just a man in a cage. That's my King. He's my salvation. He's going to sit on the throne
someday. And if I'm going to be seated in His kingdom, I'm
going to have to be in Him, bound in Him, submissive to Him, subject
to Him. Christ was despised and rejected. Everyone, though, that was given
to him came to him. In a cave. Turn to Isaiah 32. David. Oh, the Word of God is
so perfect, isn't it? So complete. David's in a cave. Well, why is he in a cave? A
cleft of the rock. What is David doing in the cleft
of the rock? Huh? The king? Because that's
our king. That describes our kingdom. Didn't
our Lord say, didn't God say to Moses, wasn't it the Lord
Himself who said to Moses, I have a place by me, and I'm going
to put you, it's the cleft of the rock. I'm going to hide you
in the cleft of the rock. When I pass by, you're going
to see my goodness. I'm going to make my goodness
pass before you, my name. Psalm, Isaiah 32, look at this,
verses 1 and 2. Behold, a king shall reign in
righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall
be as a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest,
as rivers of water in a dry plain, as the shadow of a great rock
in a weary land. Christ is the cleft of the rock. Christ is the sinner's hiding
place. Christ is the guilty man's city
of refuge. Christ is all. He is all. All right, let's go back there
and look at David's followers, these men that came to David
in this cave. Look at verse 1. It says, David
escaped to the cave of Adullam. And look who came to him. Who
came to David? Verse 1, it said, "...when his
brethren and all his father's house heard,
they went down thither to him." Who came to David? Who needed
to go to David? All his brethren. All his father's
house came to David. What did our Lord Himself say?
In John 6, all that the Father giveth me, what, shall come to
me. And these sorry fellows, though
they were, none of them were cast out. All that the Father
giveth me, Christ said, shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. And no man can come, our
Lord said, except it be given him from above, the Father. So all his brethren, all his
father's house, I quoted this earlier, that our Lord said this
in John 6.45. He said, They shall all be taught
of God. All thy children shall be taught
of the Lord. All of God's children will be
taught of God and will come to Christ, will come to Him. They
will learn of the Father. You need to get to your city
of refuge. You need to get to that cleft
in the rock. You need to get to Christ as fast as you can
before the overflowing scourge of my wrath comes. It will not
come now you if you are found in the cleft of the rock. Run,
run, looking up to Jesus, the refuge. Run, run, get to Him. All the brethren, they all came.
Why did they come? Why did these men come to David?
Verse 1, it says, when his brethren heard it. What did they hear? Every one of them had heard all
about David. It was no secret in Israel. But
these men believed it. They heard of his character. There was none like David in
the land. God raised him up just a lad. When I say he was just
a lad, he was. He was only 16, 17, 18 years
old. You know any 16-year-olds? Ah, boy. 17, 18. David, when
he was just a lad, he was full of virtue, character. That was when he came down to
his brethren who said, what do you think you are doing? And
they despised him and rejected him. But he came with a noble
cause, didn't he? His brethren's good. The glory
of God was at stake. The salvation of God's people.
The Word of God. The glory of God. His brethren's
safety was at stake. And David as a scrapping, just
a little lad, came down and said, is there not a cause? I bet this took many back, you
know. But the lad, my, what a boy. That's not a boy, is it? He's
a man. Couldn't help but think of our
Lord as a 12-year-old. Twelve, you know he's a twelve
year old? How much wisdom do twelve year olds have, huh? Oh
my, twelve is when it all starts bad. I mean, it starts getting
bad from then on. I know from experience. Right
before thirteen, you know. Oh my. That's a twelve year old
boy. Where was he found? Not in the
back alleys in the street, found in the temple. and answering questions. And
they were just amazed by his wisdom, his character. They heard
of David, his character, and so do God's people. They're amazed
by him. They're smitten with this one,
his character, his honor, his conquest. They heard about the
story of David smiting that bear and that lion who got one little
lamb, keeping the sheep. You know, David, how good a shepherd
was David? He never lost one sheep. Saul couldn't find his assets.
David didn't lose one sheep. In fact, when a bear and a lion,
you don't believe that? Very few people do. I do. Why
do I believe that? Because he represents Jesus Christ,
who said, if all that thou hast given me, I've lost nothing.
If Jesus Christ lost one person for whom he died, his glory is
at stake, he said. He's not the Savior after all.
He tried and failed. This is more of a doctrine. His
glory is at stake. My salvation is at stake. When
David went out after that one little lamb who was in the clutches
of a bear and a lion, a man can't fight a bear. He did. He did! And who won? Like Samson of old, you'll find
a carcass of a lion somewhere. And our Lord, oh my, did He not
defeat that roaring lion by Himself? Did He not? Stronger than He?
Yes, He did. They heard of His conquest. They heard of His and feeding
Goliath, huh? All of Israel was. I got to go
on. They heard of it. They heard.
They heard that Samuel went down there and anointed him king.
This is the king. They heard that he's going to
sit on that throne. Doesn't look like it, does it?
And he's going to. God said so. They heard that.
This is God's king. Doesn't look like a king. They
heard it. He is. So they went down there
to him. How do you approach a king? When we come to worship God,
how are we to worship God? Is there a right way to worship
God? To approach God? Psalm 36, David said this, he
said, The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart,
there is no fear of God before their eyes. In other words, the
way men approach God or pretend to draw near with their lips
when their hearts are far from them. Their fear toward me, God
said, is taught by the precept of men. In other words, no fear. Is there a right way to approach
a holy God? Absolutely. How? Fear and trembling. It's old-fashioned. You won't
hear it much anymore. You'll hear it where the truth
is great. Every time. Is there a right way to approach
God? Thou art coming to a king. A sovereign. Not a would-be king. Not a figurehead king. A king
of kings. The king whose, the king's heart,
heart is in his hands. Like the rivers of water to turn
it whithersoever he will. Thou art coming to a king. That's
how we approach God. Can't make too much of this today. This is a missing note today,
isn't it? Sure is. When they heard, it says, they
went down. They went down. He that abaseth
himself. You see the pride of man. The
haughtiness of man. The arrogance of man. It says
within my heart, there is no fear of God before their eyes.
He said, in the last days, men should be haughty, high-minded,
no fear, no fear. Well, these men, they came down.
They came down. If we come to Christ, we don't
want to come down, aren't we? Come down off our high horse.
You know, you've got to start on the dung heap before He'll
raise you to sit you among princes. You've got to start low. We've
got to realize what we are, really. We don't have to come down. We
just have to realize where we are. These are the ones that
he sits among his princes. These are the ones that God sits
at his table. The low, the meek and the low. The nobodies and the nothings.
You see your calling brethren, don't you? Not many wise men
at the place, not many mighty, not many noble have called, but
God hath chosen the foolish. God hath chosen the weak things.
God hath chosen the nothings and the nobodies. What's He need
with a fisherman out there? Nothing. But that fisherman needs
Him. This is who He comes to. The
low, the poor, the needy, the helpless, the weak, the sinful,
the bowed, the wretched, the blind, the halt, the lame. Like
old Mephibosheth. If somebody doesn't fetch me
and bring me. And when Mephibosheth was brought
in before the presence of the king, the greatest king on earth,
how do you reckon he acted? Huh? Like he had a right to be
there? Or he was just so beholden and
so grateful and so thankful that the king in his sovereign electing
mercy chose to bring him and sent somebody to fetch him? Come down. Come down. That's what he said. That's what
the Prophet Elijah said to old Naaman, didn't he? Get down off
your high horse and get in the old muddy Jordan. You're a nobody
to nothing. You've got all this suit of armor
on, all these medals and all that, but you're a leper. Now
get in that muddy Jordan. Down as low as you can. And I'll
raise you that clean as a whistle. They came down. The Word of God
is perfect. It's pure in it. That's what
it said. They came down. I know geographically
they went down where they were to this place, but I told you,
this is not just a physical, a literal story. This is a greater
story than that. All who come to Christ must first
come down. We're talking about conviction
of sin. Where did they go? Where did they go? Were they looking for a place?
No, they came to a person. To Him. Him. They heard about
Him. They needed Him. So they went to Him. People looking
for a church, you can find one. There's one on every corner of
that so-called organization. You can find whatever you're
looking for. If you're looking for good music, there's good music out there.
There's better music at the Grand Ole Opry than these places. Go,
if that's what entertainment, you know, clubhouse, wives, better,
cheaper, but that's what you're looking for. Go. If anybody needs
Him, anybody interested in the Lord, our righteousness, anybody
that needs a Savior from sin, anybody that needs a hiding place, it's Him. Anybody looking for
Him? Verse 2 says, Everyone, all that
the Father sent, all His brethren, not one of them was missing.
Every one of them. Every one of them. When Jesus
Christ presents all of the people of God, the elect of God someday,
you know what He says? The Scripture says, He said,
Behold, I am the children that thou hast given me. Are they
all here? Every one of them. Every one
of them. It's not going to be like they
say, oh, poor so-and-so, he didn't make it. He was weaker than the
red. Weaker than the red? If only the strong survive, I'm
a goner. I'm a goner. Oh, no, he leaves
the 99 after the one weak lamb. Yes, he does. That's why David
is such a type of him. Our Lord won't let one perish,
especially the weak. Especially the weak. He gets
great glory that way, you see. Well, they all did. Everyone
that was, it says, in distress, everyone in bed, everyone discontent,
gathered themselves to Him, unto Him. Everyone in distress, distress. These men were in distress. They
had been under this King Saul for a while now. At first, they
were willing servants to Saul. At first, they wanted Saul. Are
you with me? I know some of you have heard
this before, but half hadn't been told yet. And all men and
women by nature are captives. That's just what the Scripture
says. Captives to Satan. It's just no fantasy. Look at
them. Look out there. Would a person
in their right mind do the things that they do to themselves? Come
on now. I was. I thought, looking back
at pictures of myself, I thought I looked good. What men saw in
me, I don't know. But, you know, I thought I was
free. Oh yeah, back in the 60's. We're
free, man. 70's leaving. Yeah, man, I'm free. Free my
foot in captivity, bound by sin, by Satan, by the world. Isn't
that right? Young people. I'm doing my own thing. No, you're
not. You're doing exactly what every other young person is doing.
Exactly. You won't do a thing otherwise. You don't want to
be thought to be uncool, do you? Free. Only when the Lord Jesus Christ
leads captivity. Only when they're stronger than
they. And that means us and our adversary. Captivity. My, my. Everyone. They were under
this king, Saul, and they were willingly under him for a while.
For a while. And Mac, bless God, God made
them and put them in distress. They realized after a while,
this man's a cruel tyrant. He's a taker. He's a taker. And
they began to be in distress. They began to be vexed. They
begin to be in trouble. They begin to be hemmed in. That's
what the word means. That's what tribulation means,
to be hemmed in, under stress. That's just another word for
conviction of sin. Oh, that God would bring good,
old-fashioned conviction of sin. Where is it? Where is Mr. Wet Eyes? Oh my, would God bring old-fashioned
conviction of sin, distress over our sin? Captivity. Unbelief. These men heard of David. They said every one of them that
were in distress, in distress, they came to David. In distress,
they came to David. I remember talking about conviction
of sin. The Lord does to every single
person that He saves. It's the first thing He does.
There's nobody that's saved who is not first plumbed, lost. Dead. Yeah, dead. Nobody. Nobody. Nobody is saved unless
they're brokenhearted over sin. Nobody. That's the first thing
He does. I remember a story of a a man
coming in talking to a preacher, and he was under conviction.
He was just so of his own sinfulness. And he kept telling the preacher,
he said, I'm so bad. And the preacher would say, good. He said, but you don't understand.
He said, I just have such horrible thoughts. I can't seem to get
rid of these thoughts. And the preacher said, good.
He said, I'm just plagued with the evils of my heart, my sin. I can't seem to do what I want
to do. The things I would do, I don't do. And he said, good. Something's happening, he said.
This is the first thing the Holy Spirit does when He convinces
the world. He'll convince them of sin. Our Lord said, because they don't
believe on me. Don't believe me. And when they came to David
distressed, they came to David. They didn't stay distressed.
Look back down at verse 23 of this same chapter. He said to
one fellow here, to Abiathar, son of a man that was killed
for David, look at verse 23. David said, You abide thou with
me, fear not. But he that seeketh my life,
seeketh thy life, but with me. You've come to the right place.
Okay? They were in distress when they
came to David. They found in him a captain.
I mean a warrior. Salvation. And all who come to
Christ, everyone, he says to them, everyone that fears, to
whoever fears, whoever fears the Lord, the first thing he
says is, fear not. Fear not. Fear me. He had nothing
to fear. No one to fear. It says, all
that were in debt, verse 2, all that were in debt came to him,
came to David. Everyone, these fellas, every
one of them, like us, had got in debt because of their own
greed, because of their own covetousness. That's right. That's right. And
they were heavily in debt. Heavily in debt, and I don't
believe they had any hope of getting out and no way of paying
it off. Anybody been there? Anybody there now? In debt. In debt. Anybody in here not
in debt? Well, these men had no hope of
getting out of debt, and they came to David. They came to David. And I know
what David did, first thing. Wipe the debt out. He said, now,
right now, beginning right now, nobody in here owes one thing.
All debt. And you know, I thought about
this, Stan. They left all their stuff. They had to leave all
their stuff that they were indebted for. Didn't. When they came to
a cave, what did they have with them? Nothing. They were poor. Now, they had nothing. But they
were debt free. That's a good way to be, isn't
it? Would you rather be in a cave with a king and poor and debt-free
or full of debt under a cruel tyrant? Huh? Everyone that comes
to Christ, the Son of David, Christ the Son of David. You
see, all of God's people, when He deals with us, He makes us
realize we're in debt. We're in debt to the law of God.
That's right. The law says, do. We haven't
done it. The law says, keep me. We haven't kept him. We've positively
broken every point. Every point. We're indebted to
do the whole law itself. This is God's earth. This is
God's earth. We're trespassers. We're squatters. We've taken. We've taken from
God. Taken. What does God require
of man? What does God require of man
but to give thanks and to just give him the glory and the honor? Is that difficult? Is that unreasonable? To just
come just every now and then to give God thanks? Why do we
come here? Why should we come here? Because God demands it,
because it's law? No. No, no, no. Because it's
our reasonable service to give Him thanks for what do we have
that we have not received? Everything we have. The breath
we're breathing right now, the clothes we're wearing, the pews
you're sitting on are made out of trees that He grew. The food
we eat, the clothes we wear, the water we drink, the life
we live, the breath we breathe, it's all given from that. And
our reasonable service is just giving thanks. I read somewhere
where an average child costs a set of parents a half a million
dollars to raise them. $500,000 to raise a child. Will those children ever pay
it back? What if they had to take out
a parental loan like you do a student loan? Would it ever be paid back? You can't, but you're in debt. What are you indebted to do?
Give them thanks. Be submissive and obedient. That's
it. Parents, you require the exact... Out of them, Stephen, you say
to Lauren every morning, no, pay me what you owe me. All those
meals, your mama, does she say that to you, Lauren? Pay me what
you owe me. I've fed you long enough. It's time you paid up.
You couldn't do it. How many meals? How many sicknesses,
how many things have they done for us, huh? They always feel
guilty now when I do something for them. They apologize every time
I cut their grass or do something. I could work a hundred years
and not repay you. What about our God? We're in
debt. What do we owe Him? Thank you. What do we owe Him? Glory, honor,
praise, singing the hymns. Is that tough to do? Why would
that be tough? Except for pride and sin and
rebellion. Why? Thank you, Lord. Thank you, thank
you, thank you, thank you. God has to bring some to that
point. Conviction that I'm in debt to
my God. I'm in debt to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He laid down His life for me.
I'm in debt." And I come to him and I say, Lord, I can't pay
it back. I can't do anything. I can't
give you anything. God said, if I was hungry, I
wouldn't ask you. You don't need our money. God
doesn't need money. He doesn't need us. What does David need with these
men? Huh? What does David need with 400
men in debt? Huh? That's not the point. They need
Him. That's why they're coming. We're
in debt. What'd David do? From here on out, I assume all
your debts. If anybody's going to hold you
accountable for anything, let it come to me. That's exactly
what the Lord Jesus Christ came down to do. The law says, you
owe me. Christ said, you speak to me.
Christ came out as my head and came out and said, speak to me.
Well, they haven't kept it. I have. I've kept it. They've
come far short. I haven't. I've magnified it. I've made it honorable. I've
gone over and above. He says, but the law says die.
He said, I did. The soul that sinned in Him,
He just sold an offering for sin. A debt I can't pay. Bonnie, bless God. Jesus Christ
paid it all. All the debt I owe. Sin left
a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. There's
nothing on the record of God's people. They don't owe one cent. Half a million dollars, our debt's
deeper than that. To whom much is given, much is
required. To whom much is for him, much
is required. How deep in debt are you? Anybody? How deep in debt were you? Are you? Right now. All who came
to debt. David. And it says they were
discontented. And I'll close with this. It says they were
discontented. Every one of them. They were discontented. They
were once contented to be under Saul. They were once contented
to be with the crowd. You know, most people were following
Saul. There was just a remnant in this cave. That's exactly
what the Scripture says. Even now there's a remnant, according
to the election of Christ, of true worshippers who come to
Christ, who need Christ, don't need anything else but Him. They
come to Him. It's a remnant, according to
the masses. And most of Israel was following
Saul and glad of it. They weren't discontent. They
were happy. And most people are happy in religion today. Most
people are happy in the world. You ask them, would you, you
know, listen to this gospel message. I'm fine. I have a refuge of
life. I made a profession. I did this. I have, you know, I was baptized.
That won't account for nothing. And the first thing that God
Almighty does when He deals with somebody, not only convicts of
sin, vexes them, shows them their debt to God, but makes them discontented,
not only in the world, but in the religion that they're in.
Half the people in here were in organized religion, be it
Southern Baptist, be it Methodist, be it Catholic or whatever it
was. It didn't meet your needs, did it? It won't meet the needs
of sinners. It will entertain people, but
it won't meet the needs of sinners. There's one thing that will meet
the needs of sinners. I know I'm hollering, but I'm
trying to get it through. And hollering or even a soft
voice won't do it. Only the power of God will do it well. Convince
a person. You can't convince a dyed-in-the-wool
Methodist like you, Brother Henry, that all your works and your
church going, your baptism and all that won't account for nothing.
God's got to make him a sinner, doesn't He? God's got to show
him his absolute need of a substitute, a bloody sacrifice on Calvary's
tree. Jesus cried that everything he
ever did all his life won't account for nothing. Forgive me, but
this is the message that this world needs to hear. God put
his Son on the cross. Why? Because that's what God
does to sin. That's what God says about sin.
And it's not, I'll accept him like a brand of detergent. It's more serious than that. Why did God kill His Son? Because
that's what we deserve. Now, if God did that, did it
account for anything? Would God put His Son on the
tree and kill Him and shed His blood if it didn't work? No. A thousand times no. And
He did it for His people. I don't care. I'm going to holler
this, okay? This is His glory. And men take
away from His glory. They've got Jesus dying for everybody,
and everybody's not saved. Then His blood's in vain. They
have God loving everybody, and it doesn't account for nothing.
They go to hell anyway. Who needs that? Tell me about
a sovereign God. who sent his Son down here to
put away my sin. Tell me, one more time, okay? Tell me that the blood of Jesus
Christ God's Son cleansed me from all sin. Tell me that. That's
who I'm looking to. Did it or did it not put away
my sin? Christ said, finished. Done. The transaction is done. Completing
Him. Put away. The handwriting of
ordinances. I didn't get to that a while
ago. I've got to it now. The handwriting of ordinances.
That's against me. The law is against me. My whole
record is black. I have not a felony against this
nation. High treason against God, against
me. Jesus Christ came and nailed
it to His cross. He said, He's guilty. Take me
instead. This is not some pitiful little,
you know, you accept Him and come on down front and we'll
all clap you on the back. Oh, man. This generation, this
religious generation is in for a rude awakening. And God, the first thing He does
is make people discontent. That's the first thing He does.
There's nothing to it there. My pastor was a young Armenian
preacher, winning souls for Jesus. He didn't even know the Lord
Jesus, did you? Didn't even know Him. My mother was too. Pastor
of the largest Southern Baptist church in eastern Kentucky. A
thousand members. A thousand members. And the first
thing he began to do, he sent a preacher named Ralph Barnard
into town. And the first thing he did was
taught him the truth. Romans 8. And then began to make him discontent
with religion. With religion. I remember him
telling me that, you know, they'd have these revivals and these
soul-winning things and people would come and there'd be 150
come down front for Jesus and all that for the next Lord's
Day. Where were they? I remember him saying that. Where
are they? They weren't there. Well, they got baptized. They're
okay. No, they're not either. And he saw that. He saw through
that. He said, where are these people that were under such conviction
of sin? Where are they now? They're not there. He said, there's
nothing to this, is it? Nothing in that. Discontented. I told you the
story about my father-in-law. I'll tell it again. You know,
he was in religion like that. Finally, the Lord began to make
him discontented, didn't He? And he went to his so-called
preacher and he told him, verbatim, he said, I don't know what I'm
not hearing, but I'm not hearing something. In other words, you're
not telling me anything that's meeting my need. He was starting to get on the
conviction of sin, he said. You're not telling me. He makes
us discontented. with ourselves, discontented
with the world, discontented, bitter? All who do come to Christ. He
brings them to Christ. And what does he do? He becomes
captain over them. Captain over them. Now, there's some men that were
in the service before. Brother Henry was actually saw
combat, Korea. He's a veteran. Thank you, Brother
Henry, for your sacrifice. Thank you. Thank the Lord you're
here with us. But thank you. He's down in the
foxhole being shot at and all that. Did you have a captain?
Were you thankful for a captain? Were you thankful that there's
somebody running this thing? That somebody knows what they're
doing? A buck private doesn't know what he's doing, does it?
They say, get in that foxhole. And you get out of there. And
you don't know where you're coming or going, do you? You just take
orders. And you hope you've got somebody
in charge that knows what he's doing. You hope that somebody
is stronger than you, smarter than you, braver than you. You hope that you're under the
rule of someone who can get you out of danger. Someone, and the
old captains years ago used to, not the generals mind you, but
the captains would get on their horse, buddy, and they led the
charge right into the face, into the teeth of the enemy. That's
the captain. And the Lord Jesus Christ became, David became captain. And that is the captain of our
salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ. One time
they came to him in the garden, remember? And it's all the way,
all their lives, it says Jesus went before them. Wherever they
went, he was in front. Don't you like that, Stephen?
Everywhere they went, he was in front. One time they were
out on a ship and they thought, where is he? He's there. He's
watching. But anyway, they came to get
him in the garden. And they'll go get all of them. It says Christ
went out before him, didn't he? He said, whom do you seek? Who
do you seek? Who are you looking for? And
our Lord faced our foe. Oh, my. The captain. Captain,
my captain. Captain of our salvation. Defeated.
Yes, he did. Defeated all. Don't you let anybody
tell you different. Okay? Don't let anybody spoil
you. You come to Christ. You're in
debt. You're in distress. As long as we live in this earth,
we're going to be in distress, in debt, discontented. You come to Christ. And after
they were in that cave, you know, they didn't have anything. They didn't have any debts. They
didn't have anybody but Him. and the others just like themselves. But they were all happy ones.
They were all content. And let me tell you this, when
David ascended the throne, and it was shortly thereafter. Yeah,
it did. Shortly thereafter, he was crowned.
It says all Israel was brought to him. But those 400 men, those
who are not ashamed, Those who were not ashamed that
came to Him, confessed Him, though the rest of them didn't. Those
who were not ashamed. Who do you reckon walked down
that coronation processional down the street toward the throne
of Israel that day? Who do you reckon walked down
that? Jesus Christ, I mean, David and 400 men right behind Him.
And so it is with all those who confess this Lord today with
Him. Who is it? Open up the doors.
Who's coming in? King of Glory. Who's that behind
me? That's His 400 men. Isn't it? Alright. John, what are we going
to sing? 268? I saw a dam and turned to number 268.