That's a good hymn. And one before
that, excellent too. Worshipful and comforting. 1 Samuel 22. 1 Samuel chapter 22. This last
verse of this chapter really blessed my heart when I first
read it and again. rereading it. For those of you
who were not here Sunday for the Bible study, this is when
we looked at this, and we did not finish the last four verses
of this chapter, and I'm glad we did not. I'm glad for your
sake we did not. This is the story of David being
pursued by Saul. and how that all those who helped
and defended David were killed by Saul. It's a tragic, terrible
story, really, and a horrific story of great slaughter of men,
women, and children. And it might cause many people to wonder why. while this happened. It all started
with the high priest named Ahimelech, who was the priest at that time,
and he helped David. You remember our story of David
going into the tabernacle Himalek giving him the showbread and
the sword belonging to Goliath. I remember that and I love that
story. Another picture of Christ. And
Saul found out about it. He had a spy there named Doeg.
Look at verse 14. And Himalek was ordered before
Saul to answer for himself and he defends David. Verse 14, a
Himelech answered the king, Saul, and said, Who is so faithful
among all thy servants as David, which is the king's son-in-law,
and goeth at thy bidding, or that is, does thy will, does
thy bidding, is faithful and is honorable in thy house? He
spoke in defense of David, and David's honor is what he defended. And yet Saul had him killed for
helping David and 84 other priests, 85 priests altogether, counting
Ahimelech. Verse 18, the king said to Doeg,
this evil servant of his, turn thou and fall upon the priest.
And Doeg, the Edomite, turned and he fell upon the priest and
slew in that day fourscore or eighty and five persons that
did wear a linen ephod. It didn't stop there. He went
on to destroy the whole city, everyone in it. Verse 19, Nob,
the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword,
both men and women, children and suckling, that is babies,
babies in arms, infants, and oxen and asses and sheep with
the edge of the sword. He slew everything and everyone
in this town. But one of the priests, a son,
the only one that did escape, a Himelech son, Abiathar, verses
20 and 21, he escaped, it says, one of the sons, and fled after
David. That is, he ran to David. His
life was in danger, and so he ran to the only one that he knew
could help him. And he ran to David. And verse
22, And Abithar showed David that Saul had slain the Lord's
priest. Now that seems kind of bland there, but you know good
and well that Abithar, his dad, had been brutally slain. And all of his friends, probably
his mother, brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, neighbors,
everybody, brutally, brutally slain. When he went and told
David, you know he was weeping, he was scared for his own life,
and he was greatly, greatly, greatly troubled. And when it
says he told David, showed David, it goes much deeper than that.
He cried unto David, told him all that had happened. Not that
David needed to know. David knew. He knew what was
going to happen. In verse 22, David said unto
Bithar, I knew it. I knew it. I knew it that day
when Doeg the Edomite was there. I knew that he would surely tell
Saul, and I have, David said, I am responsible. I have occasioned
the death of all the persons of thy father's house. I am the
reason. that all these people died. And then he utters these wonderful
words. To Abiathar, this fearful and grieving young man, the only
one, escape. He says, Abide thou with me. Fear not. He that seeketh my
life, seeketh thy life. But with me, thou shalt be in
second guard." Now, that is a true story. It's an actual story. It actually
happened. Horrible, horrible scene, wasn't
it? Bloodshed, trauma. Great, great. Terrible, terrible time. Fear and anguish, pain, suffering,
sorrow, all of that. It's an actual story, a true
story. But you saw the story within the story, didn't you,
as we read that? What a wonderful story this is
of the Lord Jesus Christ who is called the Son of David. And
of that salvation for all who flee to Him. all whose lives
are in danger from the adversary, and who flee to him to hide them. And he utters those blessed words. These are not the words of David
only, but these are the words of Christ himself to all of his
people. You abide with me. Fear not. And those that seek
my life, seek your life. But with me, thou shalt be in
safe guard." Now, like Saul, we have a common adversary. And I know it sounds like a fable. And the world, as it goes on,
increasingly disbelieves that there is such one as Satan. But
that's how subtle he is. And our Lord, again, let me remind
you, of all these things that we believe, they're all based
upon the Lord Jesus Christ, because He's the one who spoke more of
Satan than anybody else. He spoke often of Satan, didn't
He? He dealt with Satan. He actually
confronted and was confronted by Satan himself, the person. This prince of the power of the
air, who he called the God, the small g, of this world. Spiritual
wickedness in high places. Unseen, an unseen foe, but a
real one nonetheless. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
one who spoke of him and spoke often of him. And for men to
make light of Satan, and what proves they're in his service,
but for them to make light of it is to call Jesus Christ a
liar. And for that matter, for men
and women to take lightly anything this book says is to call Jesus
Christ a liar. You see, everything we believe,
all our faith is in this person who walked here 2,000 years ago. That he was indeed God manifest
in the flesh. And everything he said was true. And everything that he said would
come to pass will come to pass. Has or will come to pass. Now Satan is a real adversary. Though we cannot see him, that
doesn't mean he's not real. As a matter of fact, Scripture
says the things that are seen are temporary, like a soap bubble.
The things that are seen are not lasting, are not really real. But the things that are not seen
are eternal and lasting, true and real. Satan seeks to destroy
Christ and his people. In the beginning, in the garden,
is where he began his work, upon the first man and his wife, whom
God created. And he's been operating on humanity
ever since. But he especially assaults God's
people. He's after Christ. He knows who
Christ is. He knows. And he, to a degree,
he knows who are, who belong to Christ. And so he is, Christ
said, as a roaring lion, a seeking whom he may devour. That's what
Christ said of Satan. Walking about, seeking whom he
may devour. Now go with me to Hebrews 11,
Hebrews chapter 11. And he has his ministers, like
Saul had this man named Doeg that did his bidding, that did
his evil work, didn't it? Satan has his demons and devils
and so forth. Scripture is very clear about
it. Our Lord, the miracle he performed more than any other
was casting out demons. And you've often heard me say
that if a person is not indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, they've
got an unclean spirit dwelling there. They're captives. If they're
not held captive by Christ, they're held captive by Satan. And he has his ministers, like
this man named Doeg, men and women, that's who they are. They're
not gargoyles and they're not little, you know, demons with
tails and all that that you'd run from then. But they're men
and women. They're wolves dressed in sheep
clothing. Like this Doeg, he was right in the middle of these
fellas. at that one time, wasn't he? And nobody suspected him,
like Jude. Well, there are men and women today who do Satan's
bidding, who hate the truth, and who hate the true Christ,
and they hate those who believe him and those who declare him. And years ago, years ago, the
followers of the true Christ were actually killed for the
truth, for Christ's sake. They were actually killed. They
were actually slaughtered with a wholesale slaughter. by the
millions. I wish that our generation had
not lost, I wish we had not lost the reality of that. We live
in such safety and such ease, and the reason being is that
so many, their lives were sacrificed.
Look at Hebrews 11. This is factual. Hebrews 11,
verse 35 says, women received their dead raised to life again.
Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might
obtain a better resurrection. That is, they were faced with
cruel torture and they didn't recant, they didn't renounce,
they took it. The cause of Christ. Truth. Verse
36, others had trial of cruel mockings and scourges. bonds,
imprisoned, stoned. Many, many people were killed
like this. They were sawed asunder, actually
cut in half, attempted, slain with a sword, wandered about
in sheepskin, destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world
was not worthy. This is reality. This is real.
This really happened years ago. All historians are alike in their
agreement that the soil and the dust in the Roman Colosseum is
made up of the bones of early martyrs who were cast before
the lions and so forth as sport to the unbelieving, godless,
evil world. People like you and me. They'd
actually watch them be eaten alive by lions or tortured, and
people got entertainment out of that. Hard to imagine. Hard to imagine. That was true,
wasn't it? True. And back in our text, this
was a true and terrible thing that took place. Slaughter of
men, women, and children. And it was all because of one
man. David. And that's fitting, isn't it?
That's what I'm trying to say. All these we talked about who
were slain, were slain for the cause of Christ. One man. For
Christ's sake. Old David said this, I like this. He said, I knew it. I knew it
that day that dough egg there was there. I knew it. Why didn't
he do something about it? You think he could have? Sure
he could. He said, I have occasioned the
death of all the persons. He said this to the young man.
He said this to that young man who all his friends and family
and his home and everything were brutally destroyed and murdered. And he said to him, he said,
it's all because of me. Now, we asked Sunday this question,
why? Why do things like this happen? What does God have to do with
all of this? You know, the world does not
believe the God that we do. The world does not believe that
God has anything to do with anything that they call evil, even death. If you do not know these verses,
you need to. You've heard me quote them for
you. I want you to know them, all right? Deuteronomy 32. Go
over there with me. Deuteronomy 32. If you do not
yet know these verses, you need to know them. You need to memorize
them. You need to mark them so you
can turn to them. Know where they're at. Not only
for your own comfort, but as a witness to others. Deuteronomy
32. If we want to ask the question,
if God is sovereign, then why do things like this happen? If
God is love, and He is. And I wish more people in the
world would ask questions like this, don't you? If God is love,
why does evil happen? And what about Jesus Christ,
who they say is all love? Catholicism has this little slogan
they use with him. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild.
Pray for us, thy child. Something like that. Gentle Jesus,
meek and mild. If that's the way he is, and
that's the only way he is, then why do things like this happen? Can you answer that? Now, several things we need to
keep in mind. I said Sunday, number one, the
first thing we need to keep in mind is that God doesn't have to answer this. He doesn't have to answer it.
Scripture says in Job chapter 33 verse 13, he says, God giveth
not account of his matters to any man. It doesn't have to. When your children were real
young and you told them something, and even now, perhaps, you tell
them something, do you have to give them a reason why? I heard my father say many times,
if I was so brash and bold and so foolish as to say why, He
would say to me, because, and that would make him get real stern with me. You ever
do that, Sam? He'd say, because I said so. And many times he never did tell
me why. I know now that I'm older, now
that I'm a father, now I know. Even as I was known, you see. You heard that, didn't you, Nancy?
And so shall we someday. But the first thing is, God giveth
no account of his matter. And here's another thing. Here's
the thing we need to keep in mind. Look at Deuteronomy 32.
I need to turn there myself. Deuteronomy 32, verse 39. You need to know these verses. He says, God says, See now that
I, even I am he. There is no God with me. No small
geodick. No small g.o.d. That means there's
nobody reigning or ruling over anything. You understand that? There's not one person in control
of one atom in this universe. There's not one human being in
control of anything, anything to do with his own destiny or
anything. Nobody anywhere, no devils, no angels, no anybody. No small g.o.d. with me. I, see
now, I am he. Who? God. Here's the first thing we need
to understand is that God is God. Second thing we need to
know, God is God and giveth not account of his matters to anybody.
He doesn't have to, that's what makes him God. And look at this,
now verse 39, look at this, committed to memory, he says, I kill and I make alive. Yeah, but Doeg, he went down,
no, God says, I kill. Who killed? Doeg? Yeah, he did
exactly what he wanted to do. But he did what God determined
to be done. Or he couldn't have done it. Did you read that one? That's
God's work. If this is not so, throw this book away. And we're
all a bunch of fools for being here. Let's run to the hills.
Let's run and hide. If there is no God, capital G,
capital O, capital D. One who reigns and rules over
all things, good and evil, all working according to his infinite
wisdom and power, and nothing out from under his power or out
from under his control. If there is no God, we'd better
run to the hills, people. We'd better get us some guns
and stockpile some food and run to the hill. But if God is, Then we run to
Him. You see, we don't run to the
hills. We run to Him behind us. Look
at Isaiah. Isaiah, I wound and I heal, God
says. Neither is any can deliver out
of my hand. Isaiah chapter 45. Some of you know these verses,
but I bet you can't quote them, but you don't know where they
are after all these years. I bet you can't. You need to. Isaiah 45, absolutely need to. This is an answer to this God-hating
world that doesn't know anything about the unknown God. We need
to know. We need to be ready to give a
reason for the hope that lies within us. Look at verses 5-7,
Isaiah 45, this is God speaking again, Lord, capital L, capital O, capital
R, capital D, Lord of lords. They're little lords, you know,
that God set up over this and that and the other, but he's
the one controlling them. Lord of lords. God of gods, small
g. There is no God beside me, none. He says, I girded thee, I clothed
you, did everything for you, though thou hast not known me.
I know you know everything about God said in Psalm 139, I know
you're down-sitting, you're upright. There's not a word in your mouth,
I don't know it all together. I know all your thoughts so far.
I've known you before you were created, before you were in your
mother's belly. I knew you. I'm God. That's what makes me
God. And I determined everything concerning you and concerning
everything and everyone. Read on. They might know. From
the rising of the sun, that is, from the east and from the west,
there is none beside me. I am the Lord, there is none
else. I form the light, that is, understanding, open things
up, understanding, and create darkness, hide these things so
that people cannot figure a thing out. I make peace and create
evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. If you've never seen this verse,
it will change your theology. Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16. It might not change your heart,
but it will change your theology if you honestly take a look at
it. If human beings would just honestly look at God's Word.
Proverbs 16, and this is why I say that you either believe
this or throw it away, because it's so plain. So clear. God's
Word. He said this in Proverbs 8. He
said, there's nothing forward or perverse in what I say. Nothing.
All my words are plain to him that understand it. But these evil, twisted people,
that's what they do with God's Word. They twist it. They hear
it. They read it. Problem is not, this is what
it says. I actually heard a so-called preacher on radio the other day
say this very thing. He said, now here's what, it's
not so much what God has said. This is what he said, verbatim.
He said, it's not so much what God has said, but we need to
know what God meant by that. What that fellow meant was, we
decide what we think God meant. I mean, he says it, but I don't
think he meant that. But look at there, Proverbs 16,
verse 4, and it's hard to get this, take this any other way
than the way he said it. Verse 4, ìThe Lord hath made
all for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.î And I was going to have you turn
to Amos 3, but Iíll turn and read it for you.
If you turn, fine. But chapter 3, verse 6, he says
this, Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not
done it." So, these people, all these people
were brutally slaughtered by an evil man, but he did what
God determined before to be done. Or it couldn't have happened.
But that's the God of the Bible. I like what Thomas Watson said.
I've quoted this to you many times. I'm going to quote it
again. It's one of the finest man-made sayings that I've ever
heard concerning the sovereignty of God in things concerning sin. Thomas Watson said this, now
listen carefully, listen carefully. He said, God hath a hand in the
action where the sin is, but no hand in the sin of the action. I'll try to explain it. God has
a hand in the action where the sin is, but he has no hand in
the sin of the action. In other words, wicked, fallen,
sinful men do what they want to do, what their evil wills
will them to do, what They take pleasure in doing, but they only
do what God Almighty determined to be done. But God didn't have
to make them do it. Just leave them alone. Kind of like a dog. You know,
here's meat over here. If you don't restrain it, all
you've got to do is let it go. Right? It will do what its nature makes
it do. If you're the owner of that dog,
it will do what you allow it to do according to your purpose. The greatest example of all, let me give you the greatest
example of all. Somebody may say, I don't believe that. Well,
here it is. This is an infallible proof of that. Calvary. That's what Peter preached at
Pentecost that day. He said, you with wicked hands
have taken and crucified the Lord of glory. They offered,
Pilate offered men, offered them Jesus. You know, what will you
do with Jesus? What are you going to do with this? And they all
with one accord, every one of them, there wasn't one dissenting
voice, every one of them with one accord said, kill him. And
with wicked hands, they brutally, tortured and slaughtered, the
most inhumane killing, one of the most in the history of the
human race. Isaiah 52 talks about him and
says his visage was marred more than any man. And that's what
it said, and I believe it, that Christ was more disfigured at
the hands of men than any human being ever before or since. I
believe that. That's what it said, more than
any man. He didn't even look like a human being after they
got through with him. That's the reason all these depictions
of Christ hanging on a cross are abomination. They don't even
honor Him and His suffering. They don't even hardly show any
blood. That's pretty typical. It's a bloodless religion today.
But they did what they determined to do, I mean they did what they
wanted to do, they did what their evil hearts wanted to do, but
they did, Peter said, here's what Peter said, they did what
God determined before to be done. God said the Lamb, my Lamb must
be sacrificed. for the remission of my people's
sin. There's 3,000 people involved in killing my son and every one
of them are going to be redeemed by the very blood that they shed. And the worst example of sin
ever and malice and wickedness and butchery and murder ever in the
history of mankind turned out to be the greatest scene of mercy
and goodness and grace and, yes, glory. Glory. Now, God's ways are just not
our ways, are they? That's just not the way we'd have done it. Greatest example of all. Here's
another thing we need to consider. Go to Colossians 1 with me. Colossians
chapter 1. In light of this story, Colossians
1. We need to consider that all
things have something to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything,
everything has something to do with Christ. In some way or another,
it points to Christ for the exaltation, the glory, the furtherance of
the kingdom of Christ. Something. Has something to do
with it. It's all connected to Christ. Like David said, I have occasioned
the death of all these people. It's all because of me. And everything
that has ever happened since the beginning of time, it's all
because of Christ. Somewhat. Our brother read in Colossians
3.11, that verse we love so well. Christ is all and in all. Look
here at Colossians 1. This is wonderful. The verse
is 16. through 19, by him, Christ, were
all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones or dimensions, principalities,
power, all things were created by him and for him, for him,
for his glory, for the purpose of his exaltation. And he is,
read on, he is before all things, above all things, by him all
things consist. Lord, God has put him over all
things. He is the head of the church,
the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have preeminence. For
it pleased the Father that in Christ should all fullness dwell. All the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge, all fullness, all the fullness of God's purpose,
will, all the fullness of time and eternity, all events, all
circumstances, everything has something to do with Christ.
And we don't see it, but that's the way it is. So this was prophetic,
wasn't it? What David said. It's all because
of me. Now go back to our text, 1 Samuel
22. I like what David said. I knew it. I knew it. David,
though he was sad. David, though he was upset. You
know he was. He was a merciful man, a kind
man, a feeling, a caring man, a loving man. But he said, I
knew it. And I believe he said this in
a way to calm Abiathar's fears. Don't you? I knew it. I knew
it. Did you ever say something to
your dad when you were a young child? You were all torn up about
it and you told him some bad news or something that was going
on. You know, Dad, do you know this? Yeah, I knew that. And his way of putting that,
Barbara, you know, he was calm and said it in a matter-of-fact
way. A way to calm, ease your fear. Yeah, I knew that. It had
a way of putting you at ease, didn't it? Did you know what
happened? Yeah. Yeah, I knew it. I knew
it would happen. And then he uttered these wonderful
words, and this is what I want to spend about five minutes,
all right? Are you with me? Anybody still
with me? It's not me. I'm just reading God's Word.
I'm just telling you what God said, okay? It's up to Him anyway. I can't keep anybody's mind occupied. But he uttered these wonderful
words. He said, abide with me. You stay with me. He that seeks my life, seek your
life. Abide with me. Now, what does it mean to abide with
somebody? What does it mean? You know what
it means. You abide with somebody, don't you? You abide with your
wife, your husband, your children. It means to live with them. It
means to dwell with them. It means to stay there, doesn't
it? If you abide with somebody, you're not just visiting, you're
staying there. You're there to stay, aren't you? You've come
to stay. Abide with me. David says to
this young man, you abide. You're going to live right here
with me. You're going to stay right here. You're going to come
and go with me. Like those men in that cave,
you know, with him. They're still with him. They're
abiding with him. Four hundred of them. About five hundred now.
Five hundred and one. They're with him. Wherever David
goes, they go. David stays, they stay. David's
always leading. He's captain. Captain always
goes out ahead. Like Christ, whenever he went,
wherever they went, they didn't know where they were going. They
never knew where they were going. They didn't know where he was
going. He didn't always tell them. Sometimes he did. We must
go into this city. But whenever they did go anywhere,
he went out, Scripture says, before them. There were a few times when he
stayed behind. He did that on purpose. A few times he sent
them out like in a boat. And they went out and they were
on their own, they thought. And boy, did they think. And the
waves and things started happening. Then they started looking for
him. They lost sight of him. Was he not with them? Yeah, he wasn't. And here he
came walking on the water. Or he was in the boat asleep.
He's always with them. He never left them alone. He's
a good captain. A faithful one. But to live with somebody, to
dwell with them, is to abide with them. David said, with me.
David was God's promised sure king. David was the king of Israel. We say he's not an ant. Yes,
he is. Yes, he is. He doesn't look like
it. It doesn't matter, does it? It
doesn't matter, does it? He doesn't look like it. Look
at him. He's in a cave. It doesn't matter, he's out in
the open before a giant, before all the flesh. It doesn't matter,
he's God's king. If you're with him, you'll be all right. Now, he doesn't look like it.
Well, if you'll read the whole story, you'll see that he eventually
was made the greatest king the earth has ever known. Scripture
says there's never been one like him, except his son. Jesus Christ is God's King. That's what he's called, the
King of Israel, King of the Jews. That's what they said in mockery
to make light of him when they crucified him. They wrote over,
this is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, and they said
that in jest. They said that in derision of him. He was hung
on the cross, and as you look at him now, he doesn't look like
a king. He's manipulating, he's reigning and ruling, controlling
the very fellow who's driving the spikes in his hand. The fellow who was carving the
sign, he told him to carve it. He's reigning and ruling right
there. It doesn't look like what he
is. You read the rest of the story. Go ahead and read the
rest of the story. You'll see. Now if he was king
hanging on a cross, how much more is he now seated on the
throne, at the right hand of the majesty on high? Huh? This man named Bithar ran to
David in his weak state, didn't he? He ran to David in that uncrowned
state, didn't he? He didn't look like a king. He's
as good as king. He is king. God said so. And
we take God at His word. We've never seen Christ that
way. We've never seen Christ. God says He's right here. God
says, God who no man has seen or can see, God says He's right
here, right here at my right hand, reigning and ruling over
all. Seated right now. Seated. Expecting all things,
ordering all things, reigning and ruling over all. But I can't,
I can't see. He is. He is. Our Lord said to his disciples
over and over again, abide with me, except you abide in me. Abide,
John 15. He said, if a man abide not in
me, he's going to be cast forth as a branch and be burnt. He said, abide in me, and I in
you. He said to the Father in the prayer to the Father, he
says, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me
where I am. These are the men you gave me. He said that they all may be
one, thou, our Father, and me, I, and thee, they also may be
one, and us, we're one. Well, I can't see Him. Well,
take His Word for it. Take His Word for it. He is King
right now. And Christ said things like this
over and over again. Like David to Abiathar. David
said, those that seek my life, seek your life. He said, you
stay with me. You live with me. You stay right
here. They're after me too. But to get to you, they've got
to get to me, he said. That's what he's saying. In order
for them to get to you, they've got to get to me. And he said,
if you stay with me, you're going to be safe. Do you believe that? He was. You read the rest of
the story. Our Lord said things like this.
If the world hates you, you know it hated me before it hated you.
If they persecuted me, you know they'll persecute you. But fear
not. He said, be of good cheer. He
said, in the world you shall have tribulation. You're going
to have an adversary. Satan hath desired to sift you,
Peter. Simon Stanley. Satan hath desired you, just
no less than Simon Peter. He said, be a good chairman.
I pray for you. Be a good chairman. I have overcome
the world. Now if he said that before the
cross, if Christ said that, I have overcome the world. Before the
cross, he said that. How much more? Is that true now? It's not more true, but we should
believe him more, shouldn't we? Huh? With me shalt thou be in
safeguard. Would you turn with me to John
18? This is wonderful. I love this story, and I'm going
to close this out with it. John 18. You see, no one could
touch the disciples while they were with Christ. They couldn't
touch them. So many times they tried to take Christ. If you
read it for yourself, throughout any gospel, you'll see that it
says they sought to lay hands on him, but they could not. His
time was not yet. They kept saying that. A whole
lynch mob would come and take him, and one time they did lay
hold of him and took him to the brow of the hill to throw him
off a cliff, and he went right down. How could one man escape? He's not just a man. Not the man. He said, no man
taketh my life from me. And people, no man taketh your
life from you. Circumstances don't. Diseases
don't do it. And the unbelieving world blames
on everything but the one whom they should be fearing. John 18. I love this. Verses
7 through 9. When they came to take Christ
in the garden, remember? Judas leading this pack, just
like old Doe Egg, leading this pack. And remember, the Lord
said, I am, and they fell to the ground. Then verse 7, he
asked them again, Whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus of
Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you
that I am. If therefore you seek me, let
these go their way. Did they? They had no choice. This is the
king. This is the one manipulating
this whole scene. They can't lay a hand on the
disciples because Christ gave the order. Let them go their
way. Take me. Take me. And that was so then and now.
But you say, but all of them were killed. Who did it? God did it. It's the Lord. Like Eli said, when both his
sons were killed, it's the Lord. But it's the Philistines that
killed them. It's the Lord. Do you believe that? What peace could you have otherwise?
Huh? What explanation is there? What
other explanation is there? And I absolutely mock the so-called
God today who doesn't want things to happen, but they happen anyway.
Then why do you need him? You can't run to him to hide
him. He can't do anything about that thing. Bad things happen.
He doesn't want it. It happens. Why do you need him? But now if God, in his infinite
wisdom, who giveth not account of his matters to anybody, and
here's another thing we need to understand about God. Shall
not the judge of the earth do right? God is righteous in all
his way. Everything he does is right.
Because we don't agree with it doesn't mean it's not right.
Things are right because God does it. Now we don't understand. We're
not capable of understanding. My dog will never understand
much about me at all. Never. And neither will we on
this earth. What is it to abide with Christ?
Well, it's to be in Christ. How do you get in Christ? My
daughter asked that when she was just a young girl. Good question. I wish adults would ask that.
Never had an adult in my life ask me that. But she did. She
asked us that when she was just a little girl, five or six years
old. She keeps hearing about how we
need to be in Christ, in Christ. She asked the question, how does
one get in Christ? Do you know the answer to that
question? You put yourself in Christ? What's
the answer to that question? What's the scripture say? Of
God are you in Christ? Who of God has made all things
to us? If you're in Christ, there's
a baby in her belly. There's a baby in Jennifer's
belly. Who put it there? The Father. Is that baby okay? If she's okay, he's okay. He,
notice I said he, we're going to have a couple of boys now.
We need boys, you know that don't we? Boys. Anyway, as she is,
so is the baby. What she eats, she eats. Where
she goes, she goes. That's what it is to be in Christ.
As he is, so are we. God put his people in Christ
for safekeeping, for salvation. With me is thy safety, was thy
salvation. If you're in me, you're safe. To abide with Christ and in Christ
is to be in Christ. And to abide with Christ is to
live on Christ. Like that child, it's a good
illustration. That child lives off of the mother. Everything it gets, it gets from
the mother. That mother is that child's food. Christ said, except you eat my
flesh and drink my blood, you have no part in it. Didn't it?
Abide, except you abide in me. You're cut off as the branches
get everything from the vine. Well, what does that mean, to
live on Christ? Well, I'll give you an illustration.
Peter said this. One time, that's when Christ said about eating
his flesh and blood, that there were disciples, there were people
that claimed to believe him, disciples, and it says, these
are hard sayings. We don't understand what you're
saying. We don't like what you're saying. And from that time, many of his
disciples, it says, walked no more with him. They quit abiding
with him. They quit walking with him. And they left him. They
left him. Meaning, they had all they could
take of him. They didn't need him anymore,
right? They didn't need him anymore. They'd do just fine without him.
They're no longer going to abide with him, walk with him. They
can do without him. They don't need him. They never
did need him. But Peter said this. When the
Lord said, offered him a choice, so to speak, and the rest of
the disciples Peter summed up what it means to abide with Christ.
To live with Christ. To live on Christ. Now listen. Peter said, when Christ said,
will you also go away? And Peter said, to whom shall
we go? To whom? Those people went away
to something, didn't they? They left Christ for something.
For somebody, didn't they? Whenever somebody leaves Christ,
they leave it for somebody. They may love father, mother,
sister, brother, husband, wife, son, daughter, grandchildren,
houses, jobs, whatever, more than me, they'll leave Christ. Count on it, eventually. You
can count on it. And most of the time, you don't
really know until it's all over, until you see that they are really
abiding with Christ. As John said, they went out from
us. If they'd been out of us, they
no doubt would have stayed with us. Somebody come here and seemed
to be interested and seemed to love the gospel, love Christ,
and love the Christ people, and then they leave and they take
their children with them. They have children. What they're saying
is, I don't need Christ anymore. I don't need God anymore. They're
telling their children, you don't need God either. What about you? What do you say?
Do you say with Peter, Thou hast words of life. You're my life. Christ our life. Not part of our life. You're
life. I feed on you. Like that baby. I feed on you. I starve without you. I'm scared
without you. I fall without you. You're my
life. You're my hope, my help, my strength,
my wisdom, my protection, my food, my drink, my joy, my peace,
my safety, my everything. That's what it means to abide
with Christ, to live on Christ. There are people that live together,
the husband and wife, but they're not abiding together, dwelling
together. Now, don't dwell on that. But
the point is, those with Christ are actually feeding on him.
living off of Him. You can't live without Him. When
you live, when you dwell, to dwell with Christ means to stay
with Him. You're not going anywhere. I
told a brother today, I said, it's a great comfort to me that
in spite of all the mistakes I make with people, that I cannot,
I cannot drive off one of God's sheep. I can't do it. That's a great comfort to me.
Because they abide in Christ and they abide with Christ in
spite of everything. They dwell with, stay with, and
to dwell means to live with, to live on, live on, live with. When you dwell with somebody,
really dwell with somebody is to live with them to love, to
walk, to talk with, eat with, fellowship with. John said this,
truly our fellowship, truly our fellowship is with the Father
and with His Son. We abide with Him. And to laugh
with, our Lord talked about this, a person who doesn't mourn, a
person who doesn't dance. He's not alive. He's just a saver of life to
life and death to death. So David uttered those wonderful
words and they were a prophecy. This is what Christ says to all
His people. He said, you abide with me. You stay right here. You come.
You coming to me? You coming to stay? You coming for my help? You're
coming for my protection. You're coming for my provisions.
You remember all those fellows in debt and distress and discontent? They didn't have anything. They
left everything to get to David. You're coming to me to provide
all things for you. Christ said, you're coming to
me. You're coming to me. That's what it means to come
to Christ. You're coming to me for everything. All your help,
hope, salvation, eternity, the care of your family and everything.
Is that it? You're coming to me? Casting all your care on
me? You're going to live off of me,
depend on me, trust me implicitly? Yes, Lord. Then you'll be in safeguard.
You'll be in safeguard. You're safe. You're safe. Don't
go anywhere. Do you know what Bifar did? He left David. And Solomon is That's awful, isn't it? So you
don't know, do you? He looked like it. Damn, he looked
like it. David told him, don't you leave. And he went after
Absalom. He started following that crook,
Absalom, against Solomon. And Solomon cut his head off. You stay with Christ. You stay
right here now. Wherever Christ is, you better
stay. You better stay there. And if you do, you'll know that
you were in it. If you feed on it and you live off of it, it's
a good sign. Okay, stand with me. Our Lord, thank You for Your
sure word, sure mercies of David, Son of David, now that You're
our salvation. We thank You, Lord. Make us faithful. Cause us to abide with Thee.
Truly, as we sang the hymn, it is fast as falling even tide. The darkness deepens. Lord, this
is truly the eleventh hour, and we see it now as one has flown
into Thy presence, and surely more will come bearing that right
soon. It may be us. So, Lord, we want
to dwell with You forever. This is the one thing that we
desire, and that is what we seek after, to dwell in the house
of the Lord forever and behold thy beauty and worship in thy
temple. It is in Christ's name we are
met here tonight. Amen.