All right, open your Bibles with
me. Open your Bibles to 1 Samuel,
the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 22. 1 Samuel, chapter 22. Let's read the first two verses,
1 Samuel, chapter 22. David therefore departed thence,
and escaped to the cave Adilam. And when his brethren in all
his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. And everyone that was in distress, and everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented gathered themselves unto him,
and he became a captain over them. They were with him about
four hundred men. Now, as I was saying a while
ago concerning the Old Testament, these stories are stories of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The story of David is the story
of Jesus Christ. God even calls his son the son
of David. The story of Jesus Christ is
the story of scripture. These old stories are not just
Jewish history, but rather they're his story, the story of Jesus
Christ. All of God's word, God's word,
the Bible, if you will, is not a book for information. It's a book of salvation. Okay? God's Word, God's Word,
the Bible, written to man, from start to finish, tells us who
God is. That's why it's written. That's
the purpose of God's Word, to tell us who God is. God's Word
is written to tell us what we are. Not what we think we are. Not what men think they are. But what God says we are. God's
Word is written to tell us how this God may be known by man. How we can be with God. How we can be accepted by God. How we can live with God. Eternal
life. Because after this life, we go
somewhere, don't we? But this book says the soul goes
back to the God who made it. And we'll either live with Him
eternally, or we won't. And this book tells us how. Or rather, who. It tells us who alone must save
us. Jesus Christ. Alright? So, the
Old Testament stories, they're true, but yet They're true stories. They really happen. They're real
individuals. Real stories. But they tell us
the truth. True stories, but yet they tell
us the truth. Christ said, I am the truth. They are they which testify of
him. All right, David here, in this story. David is the shepherd
soon to be king. David is the shepherd king. Remember,
he started out as a young boy, as a shepherd, and God chose
him to be his king. Now, there's a story behind this
story, all right? A story before the story, leading
up to this, what we just read. And, like I said, this is all
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the chief shepherd, who
is the king of kings. Alright, the people. Here's the
story behind the story. Here's what leads up to this
1 Samuel 22. People are in a mess. Children
of Israel. People. God's people. They're
in a mess, and it's their own fault. Can't blame anything or
anyone. Can't blame circumstances. They
only had themselves to blame. Their own rebellion and obstinance
against God. They've rejected God's prophet. God spoke. God has never left
himself without a witness. Hebrews 1 says, God from the
beginning has spoken by the prophets. God has always had a witness
in every generation. A true, I mean, a man who actually
spoke for God. And God gave witness of who he
was and what man is and who Christ is. Samuel was the prophet of the
dead, all right? Samuel was the prophet in this
generation. But the people wouldn't listen
to him. Samuel was just a plain man, just a plain, ordinary man. God's man, but a plain, ordinary
man. There's nothing charismatic about
him, nothing pompous or show about him, but he was a true
man. And the people rejected him.
They wanted a king like the rest of the world had. They wanted
somebody, a great, you know, mighty figure, charismatic, athletic-looking
fellow, you know, that they could be proud of, not this little
prophet fellow. And so God said, OK, and he sent
them Saul, remember? King Saul. All right? They got
the king. They were wanting the king. Now
God had been speaking to them and leading them through that
prophet, and leading them right. But they rejected the prophet.
Said, we want to be like the rest of the world. We want a
king. So God sent Saul. Now Saul ruled them. He was. He was taller than anybody else.
More beautiful than anybody else. Just looked like a modern day
professional wrestler, I guess. Or better than that, I hope. A lot better than that. Anyway,
this big, athletic, good-looking fellow, powerful, strong, he
could whip anybody that came along. He was a good speaker
and a ruler, and the people just taxed him. That's our man. But he ruled them with an iron
hand. He ruled them to make a name
for himself. He wasn't interested in God's
will. He wasn't interested in the people's good. He was interested
in himself, making a name for himself. He didn't care what
God's word said, he just interpreted it any way he wanted to. He had
Samuel around because everybody's religious, you know. He had him
a preacher, Samuel, but he wasn't listening to Samuel. But the
people just, oh, they loved Saul. But he ruled them under an iron
hand. They rejected the true preacher,
the true prophet, in favor of this fellow. And now they were
in a mess. I mean, things were in a mess.
And they blindly followed this fellow, and man, he bat-led them
into the ditch. Well, all of this is a picture.
Now, everything is a picture, has a spiritual application.
All right? What I just said to you, this
story, has a spiritual application. Are you still with me? Man is in a mess. Mankind's in a mess. Look around
you. You don't have to look that far.
Look within you. We're born a mess. Scripture
says so. Ephesians 2, we're born dead
in trespasses and sin. Mankind is in a mess. Contrary
to what modern preachers are saying, contrary to what modern
philosophers are saying, contrary to all modern opinion, man is
born rotten to the core. This is what God's Word says,
which man has rejected, thumbs down, across the board, has rejected
what God's Word says about man. And man says, we're going to
pull ourselves out of this mess. We started in the muck and the
mire, and now we're evolving into something great. No, the
fact is, we started as something great, and we have devolved into
a monkey. Man is now crawling around on
all fours in the muck and the mire of this world. That's just
the fact. Those who have been pulled out
understand what I'm saying. Man's in a mess. Man's born rotten. That's what this word says. He's
born corrupt. He's brought forth from the womb
speaking lies. You don't have to teach your
children to lie. They come by it naturally. You'll spend the
rest of your days trying to teach them to tell the truth. You don't
have to teach them to steal. You spend the rest of your days
trying to teach them not to steal. Why? Because man is born rotten. No good. Contrary to what preachers
are saying. We've inherited, this is what
this book says, we've inherited this sinful nature from Adam,
the first man. We all came from the loins of,
the lineage of, the blood of Adam, the first man. Old Jewish
fable? No, it's truth. That's what this
book says. Either believe it or reject it. All right, we inherited this
rotten nature from Adam. And yet, Paul said in the Romans,
although we inherited this sin from Adam, we can't blame it
on Adam because we do what we want to do. We're born doing
what we want to do, and we live the rest of our days doing what
we want to do. In other words, our troubles
are our own making. Now, from the beginning, man
has rejected God's Word, from the beginning. Man has rejected
God's word. The first man, Adam, the first
woman, Eve, rejected God's word in favor of something better.
The tempter said, you don't like what God said? Here, I'll give
you something else. They said, that's better. So
man from the beginning has rejected God's word, the truth, and blindly
and willingly follows a lie. Scripture calls, now, In this
modern generation, they think of Satan as some figment of religious
imagination, some fairy tale. But this book speaks of him over
and over again. The Lord Jesus Christ speaks
of him very often. He's a real person. He's called
the Prince of the Power of the Air, the Ruler of the Spirit
of Darkness. And men and women, the scripture
says, willingly follow him, the God of this world. He's God.
Well, but God now. But God. Here's salvation in
two words. But God. Who's in rich in mercy. God who is rich in mercy chose,
chose, yes, elected some of these rotten human beings. Not all
of them. He doesn't need one of them.
This is what this book says. God chose some of these individuals,
though he didn't need them. They need him. They need mercy. They need salvation. They need
to know who God is. They need a Savior. God chose
some of them. And what he does, this is the
beginning of God's work in a human being. is to make them like these
people, to bring them to the point where they are in distress. You see, some of these Israelites,
though at first they were following Saul, blindly following him,
thought they had it good and so forth, they finally came to
the point where they realized he's a hard taskmaster. He's
exacting heavy things upon us, requirements of us we can't make. And they got him deep in debt
to solve. And they were in distress over
their situation. And they were totally, completely
discontented with everything, with life itself. And God chose in his goodness.
to bring some of these people to that point. We're going to
read about in a minute. He brought them to that place
where they were in distress and discontented. And he's had a man for them. He had
someone that he was preparing. God had a king for them. God
had a Savior. God had a Redeemer for them.
He was waiting in the wing. He was just a young boy at this
time. His name was David. He was always God's king. Always
was. Saul never was God's chosen king. David was. If they had just waited,
David would, he was coming. And so that's mankind. That's
a picture of mankind. We got ourselves in this mess.
We got ourselves in this mess. Not these people. They got themselves
in this mess. There's only one person who's
going to get them out of it. David. And there's only one person
who's going to get us out of it. Son of David. All right, now look at it. Now,
that's the story behind the story. 1 Samuel 22. All right, that's
the story leading up to this. David is nearly 30 years old.
And that's by design. The Lord Jesus Christ began his
public ministry. It's not that he wasn't doing
anything up to thirty years old, but as
a matter of fact, he didn't even begin thirty years prior. He
had no beginning. He was always King of Kings and
Lord of Lords from the beginning. But nevertheless, our Lord grew
as a boy and as a young man. He is about thirty years old,
representing the Lord Jesus Christ, who came publicly and made himself
known as a thirty-year-old man. David is about thirty years old.
He is in exile right now. David is despised and rejected. Does this sound familiar? David
is hated. Though there was no cause for
them to hate him, they hated him. The very people that needed
him turned their thumbs down on him. But he's waiting, David is waiting,
in the wings, if you will, in God's good providence. God had
ordained him and God had chosen him to be the king of Israel,
and he's waiting to ascend his throne and reign over Israel and lead
his people back to Jerusalem. Now, here he is. He's in a cave. Here's this man. He's in a cave. In other words, David is in the
cleft of the rock. That's what a cave is, is it
not? A cleft of a rock. David is God's king. He's God's
king. There's man's king down there.
He looks real good. Man looks on the outward countenance.
That's man's king, but God rejected him. Now, this is God's king. He's the people's only Savior,
the people's only hope, only Redeemer. Someone may say, he
doesn't look like a king. Do you remember when David, when
Samuel went down looking for the king down to Bethlehem, where
sons of Jesse were? Remember that story back in Chapter
16? It says that many applicants,
many promising young men came before the Prophet Samuel, beginning
with the oldest, tallest, most handsome. Boy, they all looked
good. And Samuel, each one of them
said, surely this is the one. Got to be him. How many was it,
seven of them? Passed by him and the Lord said,
I've rejected all of them, none of them. And that's a picture
of every man, every leader, every figure that's ever lived on the
top side of God's earth. And not God's man, and not God's
Christ, and not the Savior, no matter how good they may look.
It's also a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who was
not anything beautiful to look at. You see these ridiculous
depictions of Jesus Christ on these so-called Sunday School pamphlets and material and all
that, some blue-eyed Caucasian who's real handsome? Not only
is that idolatry, when God said don't make any graven image of
anything in heaven or on earth, not only is that not the Lord
Jesus Christ, but it's idolatry to do that. There's no physical description
given of the Lord Jesus Christ in all the Scripture. None. It doesn't say he had long hair.
I challenge anybody anywhere to find where it says he did.
Scripture says it's a shame for a man to have long hair. He didn't
have long hair. He wasn't a beautiful, blue-eyed Caucasian fellow that
everybody just gravitates to. He was a small, thin, brown-skinned
Jew. And the scripture says there's
no beauty about him that we should desire him. No comeliness. There's
one description of the Lord Jesus Christ in scripture, and it's
found in Revelation 1. And it's of his glorified body.
It says his face shines as the sun in all its strength. His
feet as fine brass and so forth. And all these other depictions
are just figments of men's imagination. Well, David didn't look like
a king. This young boy, Ruddy, it said, red-faced, just been
out keeping sheep. He doesn't look like much. Surely
the first one is it. No, he's not. Don't look on the
outward countenance. Don't look on the flesh. Don't
look at what men are looking at. Don't think what men are
thinking. Don't believe what men are believing. God said,
I've provided me a king. And then Samuel said, well, is
this it? Is this all the boys? And his dad, David's dad, Jesse
said, no, but there's a young one out there. He's the youngest
one. The youngest? I remember God saying somewhere,
the elder shall serve the younger. The last shall be first. But
Jesse said, I've got a young boy out there, but he's nothing.
He's just keeping sheep. That's all he's ever done is
keep sheep. As a matter of fact, he's a good shepherd. But he's
not your game, surely he's not. Samuel said, we're not going
to sit down until you bring him in. And they brought him in, and
God said, that's him. get up, arise in the presence
of your king, anointing, this is he, this is my king. He doesn't look like a king,
but he's my king. Not who man thinks is king, not
what man thinks of him. Doesn't look like a king, all
right, here he is down in a cave. Well, this cave doesn't look
like a palace. They came seeking Christ. Many people came seeking Christ. Where did they find Him? In a
garden, on the side of a hill. Scripture says the Son of Man
hath not where to lay His head. They see Him sitting on the side
of a mountain, sitting on a rock. It's just the king and the Pharisees
and the scribes and the lawyers turned their noses down at Him
and said, He doesn't look like a king to me. Well, this doesn't look like
a king's palace, it's a cave. No, his kingdom's not of this
world. That's what Christ said, that my kingdom's not of this
world. That does away with all this
foolish notion that Jesus Christ is going to go back to Israel
and Jerusalem and sit on a literal throne. No, he said my kingdom's
not of this world. He's right now seated on a throne.
Why would he want to sit on that two-bit piece of wood over in
Jerusalem? Scripture says he sits on the
circle of the earth. Why would he lower himself again? He's not. Well, he doesn't look
like a king, and that rock doesn't look like a throne. Oh, it is. It is. It's a throne. Well, if he's a king, if he's a king, where are his
subjects? You see, at this time, David's
alone. All right? He's in this cave. It says, David
departed thence, escaped to the cave of Adullam. He's pretty
much alone here. If he's a king, where are all
his followers? Where are his subjects? Where
are his servants? Well, here they come. Here they
come. Look at them. Verse 1, 1 Samuel
22. It says, He was in this cave,
and when his brethren And all his father's house heard
it. They went to David. They went
down, feathered to him. His brethren, his father's house.
You mean all he's got following him is family? Yeah. That's right. That's exactly right. God's children. The world doesn't
follow Jesus Christ. The world's not preaching Jesus
Christ. The world's not believing Jesus Christ. God's people aren't. God's children aren't there.
And listen to this, Isaiah 54, 13 says, All thy children, listen,
this is, I quote it, All thy children, God's children, shall
be taught of the Lord. That is, they'll hear the gospel.
They'll hear who Christ is. who God is, who Christ is, what
man is, the truth, the gospel. All thy children, not the world,
but all of God's children will be taught of the Lord. And every
one that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me, Christ said.
They come to Christ, not to the church, not to this denomination,
not to the baptismal pool, not to the altar, they come to a
person. And then it goes on to say in
grace, you'll be the peace of thy children. So this is a family
affair. David's followers are family.
Brethren, the Father's children. That's fitting, isn't it? That's
what Christ said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to
thee. Every man that hath heard and
learned of the Father cometh unto him." And it says, look
at it, they went down. How did they approach, where
did they have to go to approach David? Down. Went down. Visited him. We come down, we bow, we humble
ourselves, we're under the mighty hand of God. Jesus Christ is
not some equal that we come and accept. He's a king sitting on
a throne who's done the accepting of the rejecting. See, man's
got it all backwards. They've got man on the throne
and Jesus Christ standing outside the door asking man to do something
for him. That's not the Jesus Christ of
Scripture. Jesus Christ of Scripture is seated on a throne right now,
and all the world must beg him for acceptance. come down to him. They went down
to him, to Christ. Where'd they come? Let's go down
and see the First Baptist Church of the cave at Addalum. I hear
they've got a beautiful choir there at the Addalum Baptist
Church. Well, I hear they've got a singer down there at a
flat. Man, he's got some consoles on here. They've got a 25-piece
band down there at the First Baptist Church at Addalum. Let's
go hear the You ought to hear them. Why did they go? Who were they looking for? There were no curtains on the
wall at the first, at the Cave of Adulam. There were no parts
surrounded at the Cave of Adulam. It was not a beautiful place
to look at. They didn't come to look at the place. They didn't
come to look at anybody or anything else, to hear of anybody or anything
else. They came to David. They were in distress. They were
in debt. They were in despair. They were
people in trouble, and they needed somebody to get them out of it.
They weren't playing religion. They were coming to a man, a
person, to help them get them out of the mess they were in. They couldn't care less if it
was a shack or a palace. They weren't coming to see the
place. They were coming to see a person. What could be plainer? One time
our Lord was preaching, and a bunch of fellows came up to Him, and
He turned to them and said, Who are you looking for? They said, Lord, we're looking
for You. He said, Well, then follow Me.
And He turned to some of those Pharisees and all that and said,
I know what you're trying to get your belly full. You're trying
to get out of Me what you can get out of Me. You're following
Me because you like miracles and signs and wonders. And you've
got your belly full. And it says he did not commit
himself to that. Held him at iron flame. But those
that came to Christ, thirsting for knowledge of God, in trouble,
he said, come unto me. Come unto me. Well, look at David's followers.
See, they went to him. They went down and they went
to him. And look at the description of this I call this message the king
and his sorry crew, or the captain and his sorry crew. My pastor
one time preached the message, the king and his motley crew.
Talking about those disciples. I mean, they were a bunch of
rogues. And wherever you find the Lord Jesus Christ, you wouldn't
find the uppity up, the high and the muckity muck, or uppity
up, who's who in modern day. You'd find not the famous, but
the infamous. You wouldn't find the city's
best woman, you'd find the city's worst woman. You wouldn't find
the community's leading man, you'd find the man everybody
turns thumbs down on. Publicans and sinners. Our Lord's
followers are a bunch that nobody else would have. I don't know about you, but that's
where I'm going. That's where I want to go, but
I've said so many times, I'd love to put a sign on this church
building, no good people allowed here. Centered only. We take all rejects. Been divorced five times? I remember our Lord receiving
just such a warning. Come here. The problem is there
are very few Every one, every one of them.
All that the Father giveth me, Christ said, shall come to me.
Every one that was in distress. Every one that was in debt. Every
single one that was discontented gathered themselves where? To David. They came to David. These are David's followers.
This is David, the captain's sorry crew. This is the king's
motley men. And look at it. Look at them
again now. Everyone that was in distress, in debt, discontented. What a sorry bunch of miserable
men and women. If David had somebody with him,
if David was a modern preacher, and he had one of his so-called
soul winners out there, one of his Sunday school teachers or
whatever. David, this is what happened. Here come these sorry
bunch of no good and the fellow that run out and say, oh, we
need you. Church can't be church without you. Oh, we're so glad
to see you. Oh, we're glad you're here. Thank
you for letting David be your king. What does David need with
this bunch? Huh? What does David need with... Let me ask you. Do you need somebody
that's in debt? Do you need? Can somebody that's
head over heels in debt add something to you? Brother Steve, do you want somebody
to come live with you that owes a million dollars and you're
going to pay off? Do you need him? Do you need him? What about
somebody that's discontented, all that murmuring and complaining?
Do you need somebody like that? Oh, glad to have you. So glad
you came. Who needs who? Who needs who? These people need
David. He doesn't need them. That's
why they came to David. They need him. They were in distress. Now, listen
very carefully. They can't do anything for David.
They can't do anything for David. They're in debt. They can't do
anything for David. But, buddy, he's going to do
it all for them. And so it is with those who come
to Christ. They don't come to what they
can do for God. They don't come because God needs
them. They come because they desperately
need. Christ. They need a Savior. They need
mercy. They're in debt. They're in distress. They're
discontent. Now, listen very carefully. Everything has a spiritual
meaning, all right? This distress, this debt and
discontent, this distress, we don't come...
See, the whole world is in distress. People, the whole world is in
distress. Everybody's in distress. This world is a stressful place.
Everybody's in distress. If you live long enough, you'll
be stressed out. You get married, you'll have
troubles. You have children, you'll have troubles. You have
a job, you'll have trouble. Trouble. Job said, man is born
of woman is a few days and full of trouble. Nothing but trouble. Distress. So it's not talking
about everyone that's in distress. It's because of the stress of
life, and debt. Everybody's in debt, aren't they? Well, if you come to Jesus, he'll
heal your bank account. No, that's not what this is talking
about. That's not what this is talking
about. Everyone that's discontented, well, I'm just so tired of life,
I'm going to kill myself. That's not what this is talking
about. Plenty of people commit suicide that never came to Christ. What's all this talking about? Well, this distress and this
debt and this discontentment has something to do with sin.
It has something to do with our nature. Salvation is a sin thing. It's a sin problem. That's our
whole problem, is sin. Not sins. Sins are the result
of sin. Sin is a nature that we have,
that we're born with. that causes us to commit sins. Sin, this sin nature. And those,
it says, that come to Christ are in distress over their sin,
their sinful self. Listen to David. David said,
My sin is ever before me. Job said, In my flesh grows no good thing. Paul said that. In my flesh grows
no good thing. Job said, I hate myself. Everything about me, I hate myself. It's a sin. It's a problem with
yourself. That's our whole problem. This
is our whole problem. It's not circumstances, or things
aren't going as that woman you gave me, or that man you gave
me, or this job. That's not it. It's this man
within, this sinful person that resides within. It's the stress over what I am.
I am, things have happened to me because I've done it to me.
It's of my own doing. See, all of these people realized
that. They were in distress because we rejected Samuel. Every one of them realized. We
rejected God's Word, which was good, which was right, which
was true, which led us right. And we wanted sorrow instead.
But look what it's got us. We're just distressed over what
we are. David, will you take us? They
were in debt. Saul demanded things of them.
Saul demanded work out of them, money out of them, taxes out
of them. Just kept demanding, demanding. Saul never gave. Saul
demanded, demanded. What's that a picture of? The world? Sin? Keeps demanding. Makes demands of us. Keeping
up with the Joneses, you know. And in debt to the law of God.
The law of God makes demands of us. Makes demands of us. And
when God reveals the truth to a person, he makes them realize
that, I can't love God with all my heart. I can't even know God.
I can't even worship God. I can't even pray or write. I
can't even look at the Word of God. I don't feel my need of
Christ. And I'm in debt, a debt of gratitude. I've lived all my life without
thanks to God, without any thought of God. I'm in over hills in
debt. And discontent, discontented with self, this world, with religion
especially. Nearly every person in here,
member of this church, has at one time or another been involved
in religion, and it didn't do you one bit of good, did it? Religion never helped anybody. Being a member, being joined
up with this, not being involved in this and that, religion won't
do it. Only a person, I mean a real
person, will do it. Jesus Christ saw the religion
a human being needs. Religion. Well, I'll try this,
I'll try that. Like that woman with the issue
of blood, you know, for all those years she tried this and tried
that, and we're looking for a church. There are plenty of them. And
if you're looking for Jesus Christ, if you're looking for real answers
for real sinners with real problems in a real world, we've got a
real Savior, not a pinhead Jesus, not a poor pitiful Savior standing
outside the hearse, not a God who wants to be God who's running
for election. But I mean a God on the throne who orders all
things out of the counsel of his own will, and none can stay
his hand. What's men need with this God that they're talking
about today? Huh? God wants to. God can't. I don't need him then.
If I'm just as strong as him, I don't need that God. If God
can't do anything without me, I don't need God. I can get by
just fine by myself, thank you. Jesus died for you. But, but
what? What good did it do him to die
for me? Well, you may go to hell if you don't keep it. I don't
need that. You can have it. But now, these
men came to David. Just think about it now. They
had nothing. They knew nothing. They were
in debt over their heads. They were in trouble, they were
distressed, they were discontented. They said, we are worthless human
beings. Can you, will you take us, anything
you can do for us? David said, are you sure? I don't mean to treat God's word
like that, but what I'm saying, that's what this world's doing
with this book. That's what the world's bringing
God Almighty down to the place of a man. They've got God being man and
man being the place of God, doing with God what He pleases. Who
needs a God like that? God loves you, but you might
suffer. Who needs a God like that? I'm not going to worship a God
like that. I'm not going to go to church. A man will only worship somebody
who's all-powerful. A man will only come to a Christ
who is his only hope. A man will only repent when he
needs mercy, M-E-R-C-Y, not cash mercy, not healing mercy. That's what the salvation of
this book is all about. Not getting you a new car, a
new job. Well, we've got a singles ministry here. Somebody asked me that one time
at the bank. A teller at the bank asked me, what do you do
for your singles? I said, the same as the doubles. We've got
one thing to offer here. We've got one thing we do here.
We preach Christ. Paul said that. We preach Christ. Everybody in discontent, in debt,
in distress, come to him. Come single. They're not looking
for a wife. Most of them already had them,
and they got trouble for it. Why would you want another one?
Ask Sullivan. Sullivan said, I don't want another
one. Honestly now, that's what Paul
said. I'm not making fun. Paul said that. He said, he was
married to want trouble in the flesh. Well, that'd be the end of my
trouble. That's what Mindy said. If she wanted to marry me, she
always was going to be into her trouble. Boy, she married trouble,
didn't she? Did I handle that all right? I've been nothing but trouble
for her. She didn't need me, for she needed Christ. She needs
Christ right now. When I'm dead and gone, she'll
still need Christ. Well, it says, They gathered
themselves to David. That's what the church is, a
gathering of people to Christ, a bunch of sinners, a mutt and
a crook. Can you do anything for us? Will
you take us? Look at what this says. It doesn't
say, David, well, here, I'll pass out these ballots, and everybody
vote for me, and whoever will let me be, whoever vote for me,
if I get the most votes, if you'll make me captain. It doesn't say
that, does it? Like it's Jesus that's running
for Look at verse two, he says, and he became a captain over
them. Sounds like he just said, all
right, boys, girls, I am your captain. Is that what it sounds like to
you, Steve? Sounds to me like David just said, if David was
just sitting there listening to them, looking What a sorry
creep. Is this it? David, we know you're God's king. We know you're coming to the
throne. We know you are. God said so. We know you are.
He's revealed to us that you're his king. And we'd have nothing
to offer you. Absolutely nothing to offer you.
We'd have no lands, no talents, no nothing. You don't need us,
King David. You're worth 10,000 of us, King
David. But would you take us, David? Yes, I will. But I'm the captain, and we ain't got no co-captains
either. I am the captain. You understand? You call me Lord and Master,
Christ said, you say, well, for so I am. And you didn't make me Lord,
did you? They didn't make him captain. And not one single human
being in this book that ever made Jesus Lord. That's blasphemy. He was born Lord. And he declares
himself to be Lord. This is salvation. When he declares
himself to a human being and says, I am your Lord. He doesn't
ask him. He just says, I am your Lord. I am that I am. And they say,
true Lord. Yes, you are. Yes, you are. You remember Saul of Tarsus,
who became the apostle Paul? He went out hunting Jesus. And the Lord Jesus Christ found
him and made him hit the dust, come off his high horse of religion
and hit the dust and said, Now, that Jesus you're looking I'm
him. And what did Saul say? How did
Saul address him? Lord. Lord. Well, David became a captain
over them. What's a captain? Ever had a
captain? Ever been in the army? Had a
captain? This is an old naval term, is
what they said. This is a naval term. Captain in the navy, he's commander
of the ship. He's in charge of the ship. He's
the overseer of the vessel. I went sailing one time. Right before I turned 21 years
old, I was put on a 41-foot sailing vessel with six other guys. And we were to take a ship from
Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Hilton Head, South Carolina, 850 miles.
850 miles, and we traveled, we were
150 miles out to sea. Now, there was a captain. Oh, am I thankful. The man on
the boat hired a captain, a knowledgeable man, a seaworthy man, an experienced
man. He looked like a captain. All
sea captains look like captains. Sea captains, you know that?
They all do. He had a corncob pipe, a little
hat. No, but he did look like a captain. He knew the waters
like the back of his hand. We started out. We started out
in that boat, and we were kind of motoring out of the harbor,
you know, in this boat. Oh, this is nice. Oh, I'm glad I came
sailing. What a nice day for a sail. And in the distance, the sky
was as black as that piano. I'm serious. We were heading
straight into skies that looked like that piano. Black. And I
turned to Kevin, I said, we're going to turn around, aren't
we? He said, well, no. That's the way we got to go.
Well, OK, you know, we're motoring along. He threw up that first
sail, the main sail, and that boat went. We got out of the harbor, out
of the bay, and the wave started. I mean, six, seven foot waves
started crashing over that boat. I was hugging the mast. I was
hugging the mast. My buddy that went with me was
hugging the toilet. Honestly. If you'd asked me,
would you like me catching this boat? I'd want to be on the boat. Captain, you know where you're
going? You know what you're doing? We gonna go in that? Yep. You
done this before? Many times. We made it. Here I am. And I,
you know, after that, my 21st birthday, my 21st birthday, I
was at Norfolk, Virginia. Cruised into Chesapeake Bay there,
you know. I got off the boat and I was like Pope John Paul.
I was kissing the ground back then. Landlubber is what you
call that. Landlubber. That's me. Here's the point. There's a captain. The whole boat was in charge
of that captain. I started out pretty good. You know, I was
walking around thinking I learned some things and sailing and all
that. He let me at the wheel there a little bit. I didn't
know where I was going, what I was doing, where we were going,
how we were going to get there. I had no idea. There's a captain
on that ship. Thank God. And I made it. Why? Because of me. captain got there. So he became
captain over there. In Hebrews chapter 2, it says,
it became him. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 10,
it says, it became him, by whom are all things and for whom are
all things, in bringing many sons to glory. It was becoming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's just like him to do this.
It became him in bringing many sons to glory. God made him captain of their
salvation. God made him captain, the Lord
Jesus Christ, captain of our salvation. And if we make it, if we make it, why are we going to make it?
No thanks to us. We're a bunch of distressed,
discontented, and in debt, and no good motley crew. The only
reason we're going to make it is if we have an almighty captain. And if you want a blessing, if
you go back later on and read, that's not the end of this story. You can read for your own reading,
2 Samuel 23. Start reading over there. And
these bunch of sorry fellows, you know, that came at the first,
they didn't say sorry. They themselves became good men. But you know where
they all ended up after it was all over? Years later. David
had been reigning a long time. There's the end of the story.
David had been reigning a long time. And all these rogues, all
these no-goods had been following him. And David made something
out of these fellas. David's mighty men had caught
him. He made something out of these fellas. You know where
they all ended up? In a cave called Hadlam. That's
where they all ended up after it's over. In a cave with David
called Hadlam. That's where they went. Right
back where they started. All right, let's sing in the
Green Hymnal, number 16. Hymn number 16. Maybe you can
sing this song for the first time. The Lord is King. And I like, Nancy Parks and I
love the last verse which says, Arise ye saints, salute thy king. What do you do to a captain?
He's not your equal. You don't call him Jim or Billy
Bob. You call him captain. You salute him. You bow to him.
Arise ye saints, salute your king. Okay. Now, Lord is King Lift
up, lift up my voice Sing His praise, sing His praise All heaven
and earth before Him now rejoice Sing His praise, sing His praise
From world to world our joy shall ring, for He alone is God and
King. From sky to sky His banners fling,
sing His praise, sing His praise." Third verse. ♪ The Lord is King,
and bowed to Him He knows. God is great...