All right, let's go back to 1
Samuel 22, a portion of scripture that Brother Bill read. The title
of the message this evening is Christ Our Safeguard. And I took that title from verse
23. I want to major there. Let's
read verse 23 to open the message where David told Abiathar. He
said, Abide thou with me. 1 Samuel 22-23, abide thou with
me, fear not, for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life, but
with me thou shalt be in safeguard. With me thou shalt be in safeguard. And of course that is a great,
great picture of the believer's safety in the Lord Jesus Christ. We've been singing about it,
read scripture about it. We're safe in Christ. There's
a hymn titled, Safe in the Arms of Jesus. And I looked for it
and I couldn't find it in our hymnal. But that's the theme
of this message. Safe in the arms of Christ. And so before we get there though,
let's turn back here in chapter 22 and show what leads up to
this. Because there's some important observations that I want you
to see in this chapter. We left off back up in verse
8. 1 Samuel 22. And Saul had just finished bribing
his men, his army, to fight against David for him. And that's what
happened. Saul had to bribe them. And you remember last time I
showed you how that is a good illustration of false religion.
It's not grace, it's greed. It's not serving the Lord out
of love and gratitude and grace because He's given us so much.
in His mercy that we didn't deserve and couldn't earn. And that's
the way it is with grace, you see. It's God's free undeserved
favor. And God's people serve Him because
they have received so abundantly out of His mercy and grace, not
because of what they can get out of God. And that's the difference. False religion always dangles
the carrot out in front of people, or they always use the whip of
the law. It's either legal punishment
or it's mercenary promise of earned reward. And that's the
only way you can get people to do things. You see, that's the
natural man's motivation. That's what brings forth fruit
unto death. Well, Saul had just got through.
He said, I'll give you these things. I'll make you captains.
I'll give you lands. And then we see the digression
of Saul, verse 8. If you didn't think he could
go any lower, this is the direction of sin. It's downward. It's never a prospering thing. But look at verse 8. He says,
that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none
that showeth me that my son hath made a league with the son of
Jesse. That's referring to Jonathan's covenant with David. And there's
none of you that is sorry for me. Can you hear that? Oh, woe
is me. Nobody feels sorry for me. Well,
let's all feel sorry for you. I know people like that. I just want people to feel sorry.
Well, see, that's the kind of digression that sin takes. And Saul, he's paranoid. I think I told you one time,
I used to wear a t-shirt that said, just because you're paranoid
doesn't mean they're not out to get you. But with Saul, you know, he was
definitely paranoid and not everybody was not out to get him. Even
David was not out to get Saul. Saul brought about his own demise
because of his disobedience. We're going to see a prime example
of that coming up here in a few verses. But he said, nobody's
sorry for me or showeth unto me that my son has stirred up
my servant against me to lie in wait as at this day. And so
Saul is, he's just lapsed into such a sad state of mind, so
full of himself. And that's what happens. You
know, when people become so full of themselves and their problems
and, and their own things, you know, that's why the Bible says,
you know, the cure for this, it's obviously the grace of God. But the cure for this is found
in, I think it's the book of Philippians chapter 2, where
he said, think on the things of others. Don't be so consumed
with yourself all the time. What you have to have, what you
want, even what you need. But think on the things of others.
And that's the gracious cure for this kind of pitiful, pitiful
state of mind. And here, he's the king of the
land. He's the king of the land. And so then in verse 9, he turns,
or the one who speaks up is one of Saul's true disciples. His
name is Doeg. It says, then answered Doeg the
Edomite. He wasn't even a true Israelite.
You remember the Edomites were descendants, I believe, of Esau.
And they were infamously in opposition to God's people, to God's truth.
You see a prime example of that in the Herods. They were Edomites.
They weren't true purebred Israelites. And so they weren't of the tribe
of Judah, obviously. And that's what the king was
to be. But then answered Doeg the Edomite, which was set over
the servants of Saul. This man had a high position
in Saul's court. Set over the servants of Saul.
And he said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech,
the son of Ahithub. David went to the tabernacle
at Nob, and he met the priest, Ahimelech. Remember, Doeg was
there. And he wasn't sent there as a
spy, but he was spying on David. And he goes back, and he's conniving
here to stir up trouble from Saul against David. And it says
in verse 10, Doeg speaking, he said he inquired of the Lord
for him and gave him victuals or food. gave him the sword of
Goliath, the Philistine. What a reminder that must have
been in Saul's paranoid mind. The thing about you had to bring
that up again. I can just hear that. All right. All right. He was successful
there. But you you don't have to keep bringing that up. And
so it says, mercifully, and then the king sent to call Ahimelech
the priest, the son of Ahitab in all his father's houses, all
the priests. He said the priests that were
in Nop And they came all of them to the king. Saul said, Here
now thou son of Ahitub. And he answered, Here I am, Lord.
Ahitub came upon command of the king, or Ahimelech, the son of
Ahitub. And it says in verse 13, And
Saul said unto him, Why have you conspired against me? Now
there's the me again, you say. He can't get his mind off himself.
And again, that's a problem now. That's what causes If that happens to us, it's what
causes us to latch into such sad states of mind where we're
not able to hear the Word of God. We're not able to worship
with the people of God. You see, it's like a plague of
mind. That's part of the depravity
of man, isn't it? That's natural man. And he says,
why have you conspired against me? See, Saul's thinking there's
a conspiracy here. And he says, Thou and the son
of Jesse, you and David, and thou hast given him bread and
a sword and has inquired of God for him. In other words, you
interceded for David, but not for me. You're praying for David's
success, but not for mine. And he says that he should rise
against me to lie in wait as at this day. And then Ahimelech
answered the king and said, and Ahimelech defends David now.
And he's right to do so. He's like the advocate here. And he is the high priest, you
see. He was a mediator. He was the advocate of Israel
in the sense of redemption, picturing Christ, the high priest, the
tabernacle, and all those glorious, beautiful pictures of redemption,
of atonement made by Christ. And so he steps in and he speaks
for David. And of course, the state of mind
that Saul was in, that's about the worst thing he could do,
but he's speaking the truth. And he says, who is so faithful
among all thy servants as David? Now you know he was right. How
many times? We're going to see that as 1
Samuel progresses to the end where David actually becomes
king. How many times, how many opportunities did David have
to bring about Saul's demise and he wouldn't do it? He wouldn't
do it because he knew it was God's business to remove the
king off his throne and to put him on, not his own. And so he
says, which is the king's son-in-law? Goeth at thy bidding, and is
honorable in thine house. And then verse 15, Did I then
begin to inquire of God for him, be it far from me? Let not the
king charge, impute, or charge anything. What Himilak is saying
there, he said, I didn't pray for David against you, or for
you against David. He said, that's not my business.
I'm sure, like all of us, he prays the Lord's will be done.
And the Lord's will was certainly already revealed through Samuel
that Saul was to be removed from the throne, David was to be put
on the throne. But Himelech is just simply saying,
my business is not political. I'm the high priest of Israel.
I intercede for the people. So he says, let not the king
in Peter charge anything unto his servant, nor to all the house
of my father, for thy servant knew nothing of all this, less
or more. And then the king said, verse 16, Thou shalt surely die. What a statement. What a statement. He said, Thou shalt surely die,
Ahimelech, thou and all thy father's house. Now Saul issues a command
there. Look at verse 17. He says, And
the king said unto the footman, that's his guard. That's Doeg
was put over his guard, his servant. He said, unto the footman that
stood about him, turn, and slay the priest of the Lord, because
their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he
fled, and did not show it to me." But listen to this now,
this is interesting. But the servants of the king
would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priest of the
Lord. Now one thing you don't want to let pass you by on this
is this, in that culture, In that day, the king's word was
law. In any other country, if they
had been in Egypt, and Pharaoh had said, now you go kill this
person, or you kill all of his house, and they didn't do it,
do you know what would have happened to them? They would have been
killed. Because the king, in that culture, in other countries
now, When he issued forth a decree, it was law, it was his divine
right, the king was looked upon as if he were God. You remember
when Nebuchadnezzar issued forth the decree that nobody was to
bow down to anybody but him, and he couldn't take it back?
Because you see, that's God issuing forth the law. But you see, here's
the thing. So you say, well now, why didn't
these fellas do what Saul said? In Israel, it was different.
In Israel, things were not the way that the surrounding worldly
kingdoms were. In Israel, the king's word was
not law. God's word was law. And that was a big difference
back then. That was like a shining light
in a pool of darkness. You see, in Israel, the king
was never to be looked upon or considered to be God or a god,
or even to be worshipped. In fact, the king was to be the
leader in telling people, I'm not God. He was to be the leader
to show people that we're to walk according to the word of
our God. But Saul had totally disobeyed
God. And what we see here is this.
Now, we see Saul's total disregard for the priesthood. Do you know
in Israel, the priesthood was above the king? And also you see the office of
prophet. How many times did you see God's
prophets come and admonish the king? That would have never happened
in Egypt. It would never have happened in another country.
Somebody coming and admonishing the king, saying, you're wrong,
you're wrong. But the prophets of God did.
You know why? Because God's word was above the king's word. The
king's word was to be subservient to God's word. Now, Saul, in
doing this, he showed his total lack of regard, his total unbelief,
his total disrespect for the things of God. represented in
the priesthood. He thought nothing about the
priesthood. And he also thought nothing about the prophecy. He
didn't, like I told you, when Saul's upbringing, he and his
father didn't even know who Samuel was. Samuel was the prophet and
had a school of the prophets. But you see, what this is teaching
us is this. Even Saul's footmen knew better. They'd been taught better. Even
those who were well below the king here knew better than to
touch not that priesthood. That priesthood was Israel's
very existence. Did you know that? You know the
book of Hebrews chapter 9 tells us concerning the transition
from the old covenant, the mosaic economy, the law of Moses that
Israel was under for 1500 years. The transition from the old covenant
to the new covenant was based upon one thing, a change in the
priesthood. That was the time of Reformation.
When Christ, the Messiah, who is our great High Priest, came
and finished his work of redemption on the cross, it all changed. He said it is finished. The veil
in the temple was written to from top to bottom. And it all
changed because the priesthood changed. And remember how he
keeps saying in Hebrews 7, 8, and 9 as they go along, it said,
those priests were men. They changed every year. They
died and another one took their place. But our high priest is
a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He'll never change. He's an eternal high priest.
Well, this priesthood here that Saul was so angry about this priest Himalaya
and all the other priests they were representatives they were
the high priest was a picture of Christ and Salvation by God's
grace. Here's the atonement right here
Here's the one who went into the holiest of all once a year
with the blood for an atonement for the nation Israel Did Saul
even think about that? Was he fearing God? No, he was
just so full of himself, and he said, you go kill that priest
and all the other priests. He had no regard for God. He
had no regard for truth. He had no regard for atonement.
He had no regard for the gospel. He had no regard for Christ.
That's what it shows about Saul. He didn't care. All it was to
him, me, me, me. You've come against me. You have
conspired against me. Where am I going to be? Who is
going to build a memorial to me? But the whole economy of
the nation Israel was put in place for that reason to point
sinners to Christ and salvation by his blood shown in the atonement
that the high priest made every year by the blood of animals.
Saul did not care. He did not care about the word
of God. He did not care about the truth of God. He did not
care about the priesthood and what it represented. And I'll
tell you what, that's the problem with people today. They're so
worried about me and us and I and me and mine, and they don't care
whether Christ is preached. What will it do for me? If I
go to this church, what will it do for me? How will it make
me feel? It's not whether or not the truth
is preached. It's not whether or not Christ is lifted up and
honored and glorified on the throne as the high priest who
gave himself for our sins, who established righteousness for
us, and who sits upon the throne because he redeemed his people
from their sins. He is King of kings and Lord
of lords, but he's the embodiment of the Word of God. He is our
substitute. He is our sacrifice. He is the
Lord our righteousness. And that's what people do when
they reject him, When they don't feed upon Christ, when they don't
worship Him, they're doing just exactly what King Saul is doing
here. But his footmen knew better,
and I don't know what all they knew. It doesn't tell us. It
doesn't tell us their names. It doesn't tell us what they were
thinking. But I'll tell you what, when he made that command to
go over and kill them fellas, these footmen, these servants,
they knew that that was wrong. They knew the king was issuing
a command that was against God's revealed will by way of command,
and so we see they had some fear of God here rather than fear
of the king. I'm sure they probably knew what
Saul was capable of given his state of mind. Who would issue
such a command in their right mind? Well, that shows you the
natural man is spiritually insane. He doesn't receive the things
of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them. They're spiritually
discerned. Saul had no value for these things. But he had
a disciple. Look at verse 18. And when you
can't get his servants to do it, it says, the king said to
Doeg, he turned to Doeg. Doeg was one man with Saul. Two
men. And he says, turn thou. and fall
upon the priest. And Doeg the Edomite turned,
and he fell upon the priest, and slew on that day fourscore
and five persons that did wear a linen ephod." That ephod was
the ephod of judgment. But you see, eighty-five priests
were slain. But not only the priests, look at verse 19, "...and
Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the
sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen and asses
and sheep with the edge of the sword." I mean, it was a bloody,
bloodbath. Why? Why? Because nobody's feeling
sorry for me. Isn't that sad? Isn't that pitiful? Isn't it
pitiful what we're capable of if it weren't for the grace of
God? Isn't it pitiful the kind of carnage that even we can leave
when we become so full of ourselves when nobody's feeling sorry for
little old me? People split churches. They take
their families away just because nobody is honoring me. Nobody's
feeling sorry. You see, that's the same kind
of thing. Somebody says that Saul was full of himself, but
he was emptied of the glory of God. And that's what happens.
You see, Christ does not dwell where a person is full of self.
Where Christ dwells by His Spirit and by His Word, that person
has been emptied of self. It doesn't mean we're not sinners.
It doesn't mean we don't have a struggle. But it means we know
this, that we're nothing and He's everything. We're nothing
and He's everything. Look at verse 20. One of the
sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahithah, named Abiathar, he escaped. This one man escaped. And he
fled after David. And Abiathar showed David that
Saul had slain the Lord's priest. Now look at David's words in
verse 22. Now, again, we know that all things are still working
together for good to them that love God who are called according
to His purpose. You say, even this slaughter?
I mean exactly that. I'm going to tell you something.
You look at things like that and we stand off in horror. And we even say, I mean, I know
what I'm capable of, were it not for the grace of God, you
know what you're capable of. But we still say, how can men
do stuff like that? And that's a natural reaction.
How can we do that? But we know we're capable of
it. And it is a horrible, horrible thing. Like I said, a bloodbath
here. And it says here even children
were killed, sucklings, children and sucklings. And that's an
amazing thing. Somebody says, how could God
let that happen? That's the question of questions
that cause a lot of people to run to an idol. Well, that's
not God. Well, I'm going to tell you something.
God's in control of all things. But if God did not sovereignly
bring good out of such evil, even the worst of evils as we
see it, we'd be, of all people, most miserable. There'd be no
hope for any of us if he didn't. But look at what David says here.
Verse 22, David said unto Abiathar, I knew it that day when Doeg
the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I knew
it, David said. And then he takes responsibility
for this. He says, I have occasioned the
death of all the persons of thy father's house. It's my fault,
David said. Now, David, he knew the sovereignty
of God. He knew the God who works all
things after the purpose and counsel of his own will. Read
the Psalms that David wrote. You can't read them and not know
that he knew it and believed it. But he still at the same
time recognized his own part in this great horror. When he
went, and you remember he lied to Abiathar the priest. He kind
of sneaked around. He ended up with Goliath's sword.
And he saw Doeg there and he said, it's my fault. You see,
the sovereignty of God does not excuse our sin. And one thing
we always need to understand is that we don't have the power
or the wisdom to overrule evil for good. God does, but we don't.
It's like that verse that says there must needs be heresies
among you. Why? Because by them God proves
his people. There must needs be offenses,
but woe unto him by whom they come. Lord, I know that you overrule
evil for good, but please, please keep us from the evil one. And
when we sin, we're to sorrow over that sin. Well, look at
verse 23. Now, we see all this carnage.
We see Saul on the warpath, almost let loose like a wild man. But
here's what David tells Abithar. He says, Abide thou with me. Abide thou with me. That's the
first thing he tells him. That's the best advice he could
have given him. You know what the word abide means? It means
to continue. It means to stay. Stay. Because with David, he says,
with David, with me, he says, you're safe. Abide thou with
me. And that's a lesson for us. concerning
our eternal well-being and safety. And the lesson is this, that
there is only eternal well-being and safety in abiding in Christ
who is our safeguard. In Him, in Him there is safety. Our union with Him is our life
and our safety. Turn over to 1 John chapter 2
with me. 1 John chapter 2. And this is the lesson. This
is the type and the picture that's coming out of this. Just as Abiathar
was safe only when he was with David, we're safe only when we're
with Christ and when he's with us. Look at 1 John 2. Look at verse 27. He says here, talking about the
anointing, Talking about the work of the Spirit, he says,
But the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you. That's the continual presence
and abiding of the Holy Spirit with us. And he says, And you
need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth
you of all things, and is truth and is no lie, and even as it
hath taught you, you shall abide in him. So it is by the power
of the Holy Spirit that we abide in Christ, and he says, and now,
little children, abide in him, abide in Christ, that when he
shall appear we may have confidence, you see, there is safety and
confidence and assurance, and be not ashamed before him at
his coming. Over in chapter 3, a passage
that seems to be somewhat controversial. He shows us that those who abide
in Christ shall never fall. He says in verse 9, look across
the page at verse 3, verse John 3 and verse 9. He said, whosoever
is born of God does not commit sin. Now we know for two reasons,
the reality and the context that he's not talking about when you're
born again, you are sinlessly perfect in yourself. The only
sinless perfection that we can claim is what we have in Christ. We're perfect in Christ. We're
righteous in Christ. We're holy in Christ. We're unblameable,
holy, harmless, unblameable, unreprovable in Christ. You see,
not in myself and not in yourselves. This body is dead because of
what? Because of sin. But the Spirit
is life because of righteousness. And don't listen to these people
who talk about being sinlessly perfect in themselves in this
life. We will one day, when we're glorified,
be sinlessly perfect ourselves. But our perfection is in Christ.
So what's he saying? Whosoever is born of God does
not commit sin. He's talking about something
specific here. And you've got to go back to
chapter 2, verse 18 or verse 19 to understand it. He's talking
about those who went out from us. Look at verse 19 of chapter
2. They went out from us. They left
the gospel. They claimed they believed in
Christ, but then they left it. They looked like to us that they
were believers for a while, but then they totally turned against
it and rejected it. Rejected the truth. Rejected
the gospel. Rejecting Christ. They went out
from us. But look what it says. But they
were not of us. They weren't of us. In other
words, they weren't really, truly, spiritually, eternally safe. They just had a profession of
salvation. And that's all they had. So they
were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have what? continued, abided with us. But they went out that they might
be made manifest that they were not all of us. You see, there
are false professions of Christ. False professions of faith. And
those false professions will be exposed at some time. Sometimes
it's in this life, sometimes it's at judgment. Matthew chapter
7, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? done many wonderful
works. Those who abide give evidence
that they're truly saved. He says in verse 20 of chapter
2, that you have an unction from the Holy One and you know all
things, you see. He says, not you. And now go
back over to chapter 3, verse 9. Whosoever is born of God does
not commit sin. I believe what he's talking about
is they won't fall away. They won't apostatize. They'll
never leave Christ. And he says, for his seed remaineth
in him. Now the word seed there is not
the word like in the parable of the sower and the seed, planting
a seed like plants, like trees and crops. The word seed here
is the word for offspring, like a child. And what he's saying
here, for his seed, his offspring, his children, Remaineth in Him,
in Christ. They abide in Christ. If you're
truly His child, you know what you're going to do? And you know
what the greatest evidence of that is? You're going to continue
in Christ. You're going to abide in Him.
You'll never be lost again. You'll be safe with Him. You
abide in Him. And He cannot sin. He cannot
fall away. He cannot go out from us because
He's born of God. You see, we don't abide in Him
by our own power even, He says here. He says he cannot sin because
why? Because he's born of God. See,
it's not because he's so good or he's sinlessly perfect. He's
born of God. He abides with Christ. To abide
with Christ is to abide in him as our life. I think about that
time when the Apostle Paul was going to Rome as a prisoner and
he was on a ship and the storm came and all the All the centurions
and all the sailors, they were going to jump ship. Remember
what Paul told them in the book of Acts, chapter 27, verse 31?
He said this, he said, except these abide in the ship, you
cannot be saved. That's a good illustration of
how God saves sinners. Except you abide in Christ, under
his blood, clothed in his righteousness, under his wing, In his word,
in his grace, living with a continual awareness and thankfulness of
salvation by his grace, continuing in his word. That's what he said. Look over at 2 John, verse 9. 2 John. Again, here he's speaking of
those who claim to be disciples of Christ, but who aren't. And
he says in verse 9 of 2 John, he says, whosoever transgresseth. Now the word transgressing there
literally means stepping over the line. They go too far. And he says, whosoever steps
over the line, the line that God has drawn, and abideth not
in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. Abiding in the teaching
of Christ, the teaching of his person, the teaching of his work,
All that God reveals of Him, and it says, he that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. It's abiding in His Word. Don't get away from His Word.
Don't let anybody, including me, take you away from His Word. And if anybody tells you to do
something, to choose something, to not choose something, to go
somewhere, to not go somewhere, unless they have sound scriptural
backing from God's Word, do not listen to them. You abide in
Him, and you'll be safe. But look back at 1 Samuel 22. Look at verse 23 again. He says,
Abide thou with me. And the next thing he tells Abithar
is fear not. Now when he says fear not, what's
he talking about? He's talking about don't fear men. Don't fear
Saul. Don't fear Satan. Who are we
to fear? We're to fear God. What does
that mean? That means we're to respect God.
It means we're to worship God. It means we're to trust God.
It means we're to listen to God. His Word is law. Not Saul's. Not even David's. God's Word. Not the preacher's. If he's not
preaching God's Word, it's not law. It's not divine right. Fear God. Trust Him. It means
love Him. Psalm 19.9 says, The fear of
the Lord is clean. That's what we need, something
that's clean. He said, enduring forever. As long as you fear
the Lord, you're abiding in Christ. If you don't abide in Christ,
if you don't run to Christ and rest in Him, you're not fearing
God. Let me show you that in Hebrews
chapter 4. Fearing God. You see, when you
think about the word fear, you don't think about someone who's
safe and who's calm, who's resting. You know, if somebody makes you
afraid, it stirs up distress, doesn't it? It stirs up emotions.
It stirs up all the stress that we go through. But in the fear
of the Lord, there's a calmness. There's a peace. There's a safety. Let me show you that. Verse 1
of Hebrews 4. He says, Let us therefore fear, lest a promise
be left us of entering into his rest. Any of you should seem
to come short of it. Now, what he's saying there is
those who fear God, who know themselves, who know what we
really deserve and what we really earn, which is death and hell,
what are they going to do? They're going to rest. Where?
In Christ. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy
laden, and I'll give you rest. Run to Christ. You want to know
if you fear God, truly fear Him? Well, have you run to Christ?
Are you resting in Him? You find nothing, no hope, no
safety, no peace, no assurance, no calm, no solace, but in Christ
and Him crucified and risen again. And he says, For unto us the
gospel was the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the
word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith
in them that heard it. For we which have believed do
enter into rest. And he goes on down, you read
the whole chapter, he goes on down and shows that that rest
is our Sabbath. Not a day, but a person, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who finished the work and sat down at the
right hand of the Father, which is in heaven. Resting in him. Fear not. Proverbs 14, 26 says, In the
fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and his children shall have a
place of refuge. The fear of the Lord is to find
refuge in Christ. Just like Abiathar here. He found refuge with David. Isaiah
chapter 2 and verse 10. Listen to this. Enter into the
rock and hide thee in the dust for fear of the Lord and for
the glory of his majesty. Who is that rock? That rock is
Christ. The Bible says the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It's the beginning of wisdom.
It's to hate evil. It's to prolong days. It's a
fountain of life. It's riches, honor, and life.
And you know why? Because the fear of the Lord
always drives a sinner to Christ. Look at the next line in verse
23. David told Abiathar, he said, For he that seeketh my life seeketh
thy life. And that's the way it is. The
enemies of Christ are always the enemies of his people. He
said that in John 15. We won't turn there. John 15
and verse 18. Marvel not if the world hates you. I believe I
referred to it this morning. Marvel not if the world hates you. For
it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love you. Love his own. But you're not of the world. So the world hated you. He told
them in John chapter 16, he said they'll throw you out of their
synagogues thinking they're doing God's business. He said, but
they're doing it because they neither know the Father nor the
Son. You see, David knew. He said, when you identify with
me, the one that seeks my life seeks your life. The world is
always opposed to Christ and his church. But the last line,
but with me, thou shalt be in safeguard. Only with Christ.
Abiathar's only hope was to get to David and stay right with
him. Now, later on, you're going to find something real strange.
Abiathar didn't do that. He wasn't really convinced. That's
a picture of a sinner who's not truly convinced of Christ, who
has that profession, but he's not really convinced. If you
can ever leave Christ, I can tell you one thing, you've never
really been convinced of your sin. If you can ever leave Christ,
you have never been really convinced of his righteousness, that you
have none and he is all. If you could ever leave Christ,
you've never truly been convinced. that you need salvation by God's
grace. If you can ever leave Christ, you've never been born
again by the Spirit. That's right. But he says, only
with David there was safety. Well, only with Christ there's
safety for us. With Christ we shall be in safeguard,
safe in Him. The Bible says in Proverbs 18.10,
the name of the Lord is a strong tower. And it says here, the
righteous runneth into it and is safe. That is a sinner saved
by grace. Proverbs 29, 25, The fear of
man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord
shall be saved. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, seated at the right hand of the
Father, ever living to make intercession for us. Let me show you one more
verse and then I will quit. Look at Philippians chapter 3.
Philippians chapter 3, somebody, his brother James told me, he
said, you were really, I think you said emotional, wasn't you
James, this morning? I think that's what he said.
And I got to thinking about that, and I thought, you know, I just
have within me a fire, I guess is the best way to describe it.
And the reason I describe it like that, so what Jeremiah called
it, you know, when he frustrated with the way people were treating
him. That's not my problem. That's Jeremiah's. But he did. He got so frustrated because
there were so many people that were turning away from the message
of truth that he said, I'm quitting. I'm just quitting. I'm turning
my resignation. And I think it's in chapter 29.
You can look that up, Jeremiah. But he said, he said, but the
word of the Lord burned within me like a fire and I could not
I couldn't quit. And I just have a burning fire
within me, and I think about this on our television program,
I think about when I preach to you Sunday and Wednesday, to
make it simple and to tell people of the grace of God, that salvation
is by grace. That's the issue. I mean, I know
guys want to get off on all these other things, you know, about
things that, you know, they keep adding to the gospel, you know.
Well, you've got to know this. You've got to say it this way. I just want to tell people about
the grace of God. This is not, it's grace, it's
not works. And that's the issue. That's
a simple issue. And I know people cloud it up. But you see, and
I keep saying it, and I wonder to myself, I wonder if people
get tired of hearing that. I know the people of God don't.
But look at Philippians 3.1. This is what Paul was saying. He said, finally, my brethren,
verse 1, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you,
to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe." What
did Paul keep writing to them? Christ and Him crucified and
resurrected. Christ seated on the throne.
Christ making intercession for us. Our sin and the glory of
Christ, the power of His blood, the glory of His righteousness.
That's what Paul kept writing over and over and over again.
And he said, it's certainly no burden to me to do that. And
he said, for you it's safe. You want safety? You want to
be saved? That's what salvation is. It's
to be safe. It's not just going around saying,
I'm saved, or I got it. It's to be safe from all harm,
safe from the wrath of God, safe from sin and Satan and the world,
and safe from myself. You see, that was Saul's problem.
He wasn't safe from himself. He was consumed with himself. But we want to be saved from
ourselves and safe from ourselves. There's only one way. Run to
Christ. Look to Him. Rest in Him. And I'm going to keep saying
it by the grace of God. And I know it's not burdensome
to me to do it. And I know it's safe for you.
But I hope that you love it and I hope that you feed upon it.