Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ, our Lord. Good
morning. I'd like to try to bring a message
this morning from Psalm 142, if you'd like to turn with me
there in your Bibles. I've titled this message, Escaped
to a Cave. Escaped to a Cave. And if you
notice in God's word, beginning in the beginning of Psalm 142,
the scripture says that David, this is a prayer of David when
he was in the cave. Now, we know that God's word
is all about the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Bible says the Lord himself said in the volume of the book, it
is written of me. And when our Lord rebuke those
Pharisees, he said to them, he said, you search the scriptures
because you think in them you have eternal life, but these
are they which testify of me. No character in all the Bible
represents and foreshadows the Lord Jesus Christ more than King
David did. David was the sweet psalmist
of Israel, he was the shepherd of the sheep, he was the the
king of Israel. And the Lord Jesus himself is
referred to as the son of David. And so when we read of these
Old Testament stories and types that David speaks of, he's speaking
of himself as a type of Christ. And that's certainly clear in
the Psalms. You know, the... The men who call themselves theologians
and religion today have decided that there's a few of the Psalms
that are messianic. And they don't know that all
the Psalms are messianic. All 150 Psalms are messianic. All of scripture for that matter
is messianic. Beginning in Genesis and all
the way down through Revelation, it's a revelation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so in Psalm 142, when David
is calling out to God from this cave, and it's a reference to
the cave of Adullam, and we're gonna turn to that passage in
1 Samuel chapter 22 in a few moments, but Adullam, Translated
means justice. And David was fleeing for his
life from King Saul. And he hid out in a cave called
a Dulem. And in 1 Samuel chapter 22, we'll
see that David's army, which is a picture of the church, fled
to that cave and came down to where David was. is a picture
of the burial place of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the work
of the Lord satisfying God's justice when he was crucified,
died, and buried according to the scriptures to fulfill the
law of God and to put away the sins of his people. And so in
Psalm 142, this is a prayer of David in the cave, but it's a
prayer of Christ from the tomb. And if we can see it that way
and understand it for what it is, then it will give those who
look to Christ for all their salvation great hope. Look what
David says in verse one of Psalm 142, I cried unto the Lord with
my voice, and with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before
him, I showed before him my trouble. And in the last verse of this
psalm, our Lord prays, David's praying prophetically,
but he's speaking of Christ when he says in verse seven, bring
my soul out of prison that I may praise thy name. The righteous
shall come pass me about for thou shalt deal bountifully with
me. Our God. was pleased and satisfied
with the work that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on Calvary's
cross. And so the Bible says he would
not allow his holy one to see corruption. The father raised
the Lord Jesus from the dead, being completely satisfied that
what he accomplished on the cross, through his death and through
his burial, satisfied divine justice. In Isaiah chapter 53,
the Lord saw the travail of his soul and was satisfied. Everything
that God required to fulfill divine justice was accomplished
by the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that's what this is a picture of, and that's what this is a
prayer of. When David prayed from the cave,
He escaped to a place where justice could be satisfied and where
God would be pleased. And so, there's four questions
I want to try to answer. If you'll turn with me now in
your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 22, this is the historical event
that Psalm 142 is in reference to. I want to try to answer four
questions. What exactly was David escaping
from? The second question is, who exactly
escaped with David to that cave? The third question is, what did
they do when they escaped to the cave of Dulem? And the fourth
question is, what did everyone who escaped to that cave have
in common with one another? The answer to the first question
is, what did they escape from? Well, David was escaping for
his life. And that's the escape that you
and I are in need of. There is the justice of God that
has to be satisfied. And unless we are found in the
Lord Jesus Christ, we have nothing but the wrath. and the judgment
of God to look forward to. Hebrews chapter two, verse three
says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? There's no other name given among
men whereby we must be saved. The Lord Jesus Christ went to
the grave, he went into a tomb, he died, he suffered the full
wrath of God's justice in order to deliver his people from the
wrath that is to come. And so, as David was escaping
the threats of Saul, so it is that you and I need a place where
we can escape from the wrath of God. When Lot was being brought from
Sodom in Genesis chapter 19, the scripture says that the angels
warned Lot, they said, escape for your life. Before the fire
of God's wrath could fall on that city, Lot had to be brought
out. And where did Lot go? He escaped into a cave. And so once again, we see a picture
of what David's doing here and what we do spiritually when we
flee to Christ and we find in him all our salvation. In 2 Peter 1, verse 4, The scripture
says, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises that by these we may be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust. And so the only way that you
and I are going to be able to escape the corruption that's
in this world is to be partakers of the divine
nature, to have Christ in us, who is our hope of glory. And
then in Isaiah chapter 45, verse 20, the Lord tells his people,
he says, assemble yourselves and come, and draw near together
that you may escape the nations. He says, for they have no knowledge
that set up wood for their graven images and pray unto a God that
cannot save. We're in need of escaping the
wrath of God. We're in need of escaping the
corruption of this world. We're in need of escaping the
lies that are being told in the world and the false gods that
are being worshiped in this world. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the way of escape. The scripture says, there hath
no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful. God is faithful,
who will not allow us to be tempted above that which we are able.
And a lot of people stop right there on that verse and they
say, well, God won't put more on you than you can bear. That's
not what that verse says. And that's not true. If God never
puts more on us than we can bear, then we'll never need him. No,
when God puts on you the weight of your sin, you're in need of
a place of escape. And that verse finishes like
this. that God is faithful who will not allow you to be suffered
above what you are able but will provide with the temptation the
way of escape. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
way of escape. There's no way to escape the
penalty of sin. There's no way to escape the
corruption of this world. There's no way to escape the
lies that are being told on God or the fire that will fall from
heaven. other than our David, the son
of David, who is in the cave of Adullam, who has satisfied
the justice of God. Now, you have your Bibles open
with me to 1 Samuel chapter 22. Let's look at the historical
event that brought about the prayer that David prayed and
the scriptures that he wrote in Psalm 142. Here in 1 Samuel
chapter 22, David therefore departed thence and escaped to the cave
of Dulem. He's fleeing from Saul. He's
fleeing for his life, looking for a place where justice can
be satisfied. And when his brethren and all
his father's house heard it, they went down hither to him."
So what was David escaping? He was escaping the judgment
that was to come. What is it you and I need to
escape? The wrath of God, the penalty of sin. Who is it that
escaped? Well, This verse tells us that
his brethren and those that were of his father's house followed
him into that cave. The only people that will follow
the Lord Jesus Christ are his brethren and those that are of
his father's household. The Lord said, you will not come
unto me because you're not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice,
and they follow me. He went on to say, other sheep
I have who are not of this fold, them I must bring. A lot of people think that God
is everyone's father. He's not. He's not. He's everyone's creator. but
he's only the father of those whom he chose as his children
in the covenant of grace before the foundation of the world.
Scripture's clear on that. In John chapter one, the scripture
says, the word became flesh and he dwelt among us. That's the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is God, he's made flesh, he
dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as the glory of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth. And it says that he came unto
his own, but his own received him not, but to as many as received
him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. So,
The Israelites, the Jews, they said, we have God as our father.
And the Lord said, God can raise up children out of these stones. He said, your father is the devil.
It's what he told them. He told them, he said, your father's
the devil. And you know, when the Lord raises up his people,
he raises them up from the stones. He takes those who have hearts
of stone and takes out their heart of stone and gives them
hearts of flesh. Lifeless, cold, unbelieving men
of the earth and he breathes life into them. When our Lord
raised from the dead, when he came out of that cave, Mary Magdalene
was the first woman at the open tomb and She met a gardener there
and she thought the gardener, she thought it was the gardener,
it was the Lord. And she asked the gardener where he had put
his body. And our Lord spoke to Mary and
just mentioned her name. He said, Mary, in John chapter
20. And she said, oh, rabboni, which
translated means master. And she fell at his feet and
she wanted to never have him leave her presence ever again.
And he said to Mary, he said, Mary, touch me not. He said,
I've not yet gone to my father, but you go back to my brethren
and you tell them that I am going to ascend unto my father and
unto their father and unto my God and unto their God. God is not everybody's father.
Those who are of the household of faith will come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. They're the only ones that'll
come. First John chapter three says,
behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us
that we should be called the children of God of all men. Oh, we're just amazed. Therefore the world knoweth us
not because it knew him not. The children of God are those
who the Lord chose to make his children and to be his children
in the covenant of grace before the foundation of the world.
And those are the only people that come to the cave. Those
are the only people that will come to Christ. Why won't others
come to him? Well, notice in our text in 1
Samuel chapter 22, they had to come down to where he was. Now that's why men won't come
to Christ. The scripture says in 2 Thessalonians 2 that men
by nature set themselves up on the throne of God. To come to
Christ means that you have to get off the throne of God. You're
no longer in control. It's no longer up to you and
to your will and to your works. And you have to be brought down
to hell. That's where the Lord Jesus, he suffered the wrath
of God and suffered the pains of death and hell. And that's where men will not
see themselves. They don't see themselves as
hell-deserving sinners. They really don't believe that
about themselves. But his brethren did. Those that
were of his father's household did. And they came all the way
down. You see, the truth is the way
up is down. And until God makes you to be
a sinner, you'll not see your need for Christ. Job justified
himself before God. And then after the Lord revealed
himself to Job, Job said, behold, oh, I see something I've never
seen before. I am vile. I'm a sinner. Isaiah said the same thing when
he saw the Lord high and lifted up. He recognized, he said, woe
is me, I'm undone, I'm a man of unclean lips, I live among
a people of unclean lips, mine eyes have seen the king, I'm
a dead man, I'm a sinner. Now here's the good news, Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and every sinner
believes themselves to be in need of grace more than anyone
else, and so they're able to say with the Apostle Paul, I
am the chief of sinners. What men are unwilling to do
is to see themselves as hell-deserving sinners. They will not come all
the way down to that cave. The prodigal son found himself
feeding swine and eating the husk that they do eat. And he
said, oh, in my father's house, if I could just find mercy in
the eyes of my father. And he came home. The father
did have mercy upon him. He lavished him. Why? Because
he was his son. He was his son all along. You see, God's lost sheep are
still his sheep. And he brings them to himself. and causes them to see that they
have no righteousness, they have no free will, they have no works,
they have no means by which they can save themselves. They are
completely dependent upon David, the son of David, the Lord Jesus
Christ, to be their savior. Now, notice with me in our text
what all these brethren had in common. It's very simple, look
in verse two. And every one of them was in
distress, and every one of them was in debt, and every one of
them was discontented. Now here's what all of God's
children have in common. They're in distress. Now that
word distress means that they had no place else to go. They
were between a rock and a hard place. I don't know if you remember
when Jonathan and his arm bearer went up to defeat the Philistines. The scripture says this path
that he was on had a sharp rock on the right and a sharp rock
on the left. He had no place to go but straight
ahead. And that's where God puts his
people. They cannot turn to the right and find help from a man.
They cannot turn to the left. They are in distress. That's why coming to the Lord
Jesus Christ is never a choice. It's not a decision. You're left
with no place else to go. When the Lord said to the disciples,
after the 5,000 left, the 5,000 left him, he said, you follow
me only so you can have your bellies full. He said, if you
want to be my disciple, you must be willing to take up your cross,
identify with the death of Christ. You must deny yourself, deny
that you have anything to do with your salvation, and you
must follow after me. And the 5,000 people left, and
the Lord looked at the disciples, and he said, will you leave me
also? And Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have
the words of eternal life, and we know and are sure that thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. You've shut us up
to you. We've got no place else to go.
We have no other option. And that's what it is to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. You've got no place else to go.
You're in distress. You're in a hard place. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the only way, the only name, the only place that you can find
hope for your salvation. The second thing the scripture
says that these men had in common was that they were in debt. Oh,
the debt that we owe God. Penalty for sin is death. And
we can't even pay that debt off with our own death. An eternity
in hell will not satisfy the debt that we owe to God. The shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ on Calvary's cross is the only payment that God's pleased
with. It's the only penalty that can
put away sin. It's the only covering, it's
the only thing that God's satisfied with. And these men knew that. They were in debt, they were
in distress, they were in debt. They had a debt that they could
not pay. First job I got when I got out
of the service many, many years ago was as a bill collector.
And it was an awful job. But what I had to do, and I did
it for a few years. And I can remember back then
we had to be careful not to harass people because even those who
were not paying their debt had rights. And we had to respect
those rights, and I guess that's a good thing when it comes to
a debt that a man owes to another man. But you know, the debt that
we owe God, we have no rights. We have no recourse. We can't
go to law to get relief. There's no exceptions, there's
no excuses for nobody. All men are in debt to God. And only those who come to Christ
in the cave of His death that satisfied the debt that we owe
to God, only those who are in distress, they have no place
else to go, will find relief from their debt. The Lord Jesus Christ, His last
words on Calvary's cross when He bowed His mighty head was,
it is finished. It is finished. As I understand,
those words in the original language were the same words that you
would have stamped on a bill when you paid off your bill. Much like today, they might stamp
on their paid-in-full. There's nothing more to be paid
on a debt that's got a stamp on it that says paid-in-full.
But that's exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ did. He came to
finish the work of redemption, and he said, it is finished. Everything that God requires
the Lord Jesus Christ provided. Nothing to add to it. Can't take
anything away from it. God's not satisfied with you
and me. He's not satisfied with any decision that we make or
work that we perform. He's satisfied with His Son.
And the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David, in the cave of
Doolam, the cave of justice, is the only one that can relieve
His brethren of their distress and of their debt. and satisfy
the justice of God. Now notice what else it says
here about these men that followed David into the cave. They were discontented. You know,
it's a sinful thing to not be content with our circumstances,
with God's providence and God's provisions. We're to be content
whatever state we're in. And when we murmur like the children
of Israel, we're only expressing our unbelief and our lack of
faith. But there's a holy discontentment.
The holy discontentment is that I can't find contentment with
God anywhere outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't be content
with my decisions. I can't be content with my works. I can't be content with the affirmations
that others give me to let me know how wonderful I am and what
a good Christian I am. No, I cannot, I'm discontent. I've tried all those things.
I'm like the woman with the issue of blood. I've spent all that
I have on physicians, and I'm worse off now than I was before. Oh, just to touch the hem of
his garment, then I'll be made whole. To be discontented is
to not find contentment anywhere other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
And notice at the end of this verse, he became their captain. Oh, to have Christ as our captain.