Now, our lesson begins in verse
3 of 1 Samuel 22. And David went thence to Mizpah
of Moab, and he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and
my mother, I pray thee, come forth and be with you, till I
know what God will do for me. And he brought them before the
king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the while that David
was in the hold. Now, David provides a place of
safety for his parents. be on the run with David, hiding
in caves and forests and the places that he's going to be.
So he provides for them a secure place for them to live in Moab,
outside of the reach of Saul. And on first blush, that seems
pretty wise, you know, given the physical limitations of their
age. But safety is not found in Moab, and the thrust of our
lesson this morning His safety is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Safety is found with David, who
is a picture of Christ. Moab represents the flesh's solution
to a problem. And you remember after Sodom
and Gomorrah were destroyed, Lot and his daughters were hiding
in a cave. His wife had been turned to a
pillar of salt and Lost daughters, all they could see was destruction. They thought the whole world
had been destroyed, and the only people living was the three of
them hiding in that cave, and they thought, well, the world
needs to be repopulated. So their solution to the problem
was to get their father drunk. They went in and lied with him,
and they bore children from that incestuous relationship. And
Lot named the firstborn Moab. The Moabites descended from him,
from this incestuous relationship, and they were idolaters from
the beginning. Ruth was from Moab, and she was an idolater
until she came to Israel with Naomi. And there is no safety
in Moab. You know, we never read of David's
parents again. Never. Jewish legend is David
put them there for safety, and the king of Moab killed his parents.
That's what the Jewish legend is. There's another story that
says that David's parents forsook him while they lived there in
that land of idolatry. And that's what David is referring
to in Psalm 27, when he said, when my father and mother forsake
me, then the Lord will take me up. That's what they say. Now,
those are legends. I don't know what the real story
is. It's not recorded in scripture. But this I do know. Brother Henry
told me one time, let's stick with what we know. This is what
I know. Safety is found in Christ. It's not in Moab. It's not any
place else the flesh thinks is a wise place to hide. Safety
is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I don't care how good something
looks, how wise it may seem, how wonderful it might look. If it requires you leaving the
Lord Jesus Christ for it, it's not wise. It's unwise. It'll
lead to disaster every time. Safety is found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And David made a mistake. his
parents in Moab. Well, I'm thankful Dave is just
a picture of Christ. Christ our Savior never makes
a mistake. All the family of God dwells
eternally secure in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's what
the whole rest of the lesson is meant to show us. Now in verse
5, the prophet Gad said unto David, If I am not in the hole,
depart, and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed,
and came into the forest of Herod. Now David never should have left
Judah in the first place, and now he's coming back to where
he should have been all along. Now verse 6, When Saul heard
that David was discovered, and the men that were with him. Now
Saul bowed in Gibeah under a tree, and Raymond, having a spear in
his hand, and all his servants were standing about him. Then
Saul said to his servants that stood about him, Here now, you
Benjamites, will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields
and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands and captains
of hundreds? 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. And there is none of you
that is sorry for me, or showeth unto me that my son hath stirred
up my servant against me, to lie in wait." Is that this day?
Now Saul, he sounds a whole lot like a TV preacher, doesn't he?
And you know why he sounds that way? Because that's what he is.
He's a false prophet. He's a false professor. And every
false professor, every false prophet is motivated by material
rewards and emotion. Paul promises material rewards
to anyone that will help him. He says, you know, David can't
make you captains of hundreds and thousands, but what he's
saying is, I can. He's promising them material
rewards. And that's exactly what false
religion promises to people who get active in their worst religion. They promise them wealth and
health and happiness. If all you've got to do is just
follow these men, and really they don't care to show up all
the time, just send me your offering. They're promising material rewards
for your helping them. And secondly, they're motivated
by emotion. That's what Saul does here in
verse 8. He uses emotion to get people to help him. Don't you
feel sorry for me? Look at this, my son is against
me, and here my servant is lying in wait. David's not lying in
wait to kill Saul, but this is what Saul's saying, trying to
get people to feel sorry for him. And that's exactly what
false religion does. They try to get you to feel sorry
for poor, little, frustrated, helpless Jesus. Won't you let
him save you? You're breaking his heart by
not letting him save you. Or they approach it this way.
Don't you feel sorry for me? You know, look at me. I'm out
here sacrificing and doing the work of the Lord. Now I need
some money. They appeal to emotions. And
I want to make this very clear. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
to be pitied. He's to be feared, he's to be
worshipped, he's to be glorified, but he's not to be pitied. The
people who are to be pitied are the people who are outside of
Christ, who will not come to him and hide in him for safety
and have salvation in him. Those are the people to be pitied.
And Saul, he only wants people who can help him. Which is what false religion
says. Well, if God helps those, help themselves. Where does that leave the people
who are in distress? Who are in debt? Who are discontented? Those people we read about last
week. Those people who are helpless. Well, it leaves them on the outside
looking in, doesn't it? Aren't you glad? False religion
is false. It's not true. What they're saying
is not true. That's not the God of the Bible. But people fall
for it. Which is what we see here in
verse 9 in our text. Then said Doeg to Edomite, which was said
over the servants of Saul, and he said, I saw the son of Jesse
coming to Nob, to Ahimelech, the son of Ahithob. And he inquired
of the Lord for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the
sword of Goliath the Philistine." Now, you remember, Doeg was there
watching that day when David came to the tabernacle, and Ahimelech
gave him bread and the sword. And Doeg was supposed to be there
studying for the priesthood. That's what he was supposed to
be doing. But what did he do? He betrayed David, he betrayed
God's priest, and he persecuted the Lord. Well, why did he do
that? Because he never belonged to David in the first place.
Remember we read over there what scripture had described Doeg?
He belonged to Saul. That's why he did that, because
he belonged to Saul. And Doeg is a type of Judas,
who was supposed to be a disciple of the Lord. He was there all
those years, learning of the Lord, from the Lord. But what
did he do? He betrayed the Lord Jesus to
those who would kill him. Well, why did he do that? He
was the son of perdition from the beginning. He never did belong
to Christ. Well, verse 11, let's read on. Then the king sent to
call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitab, in all his father's
house. and the priests that were in
Nob, and they came all of them to the king. And Saul said, Hear
now, thou son of a high cub. And he answered, Hear my, my
lord. And Saul said unto him, Why have
ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that
thou hast given him bread and a sword, and hast inquired of
God for him, that he should rise against me to lie in waitings
at this day? Then Ahimelech answered the king,
and said, And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David,
which is the king's son-in-law, and thou is it thy bidding, and
is honorable in thine house? Did I then begin to inquire of
God for him? Be it far from me. Let not the
king impute anything unto his servant, nor to all the house
of my father. For thy servant knew nothing
of all this, less or more. And the king said, Thou shalt
surely die, I him elect, thou and all thy father's house. And
the king 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 the servants of the king
were not put forth their hand, to fall upon the priest of the
Lord. And the king said unto Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon
the priest. And Doeg to Edomite, And he fell
upon the priests, and slew that day fourscore and five, eighty-five
priests, persons that did wear linen even. And Nob, the sitting
of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men
and women, children and sucklings, babies, and oxen and asses and
sheep, with the edge of the sword. Now this is an awful, horrible
slaughter of these priests, men, women, babies who are still nursing. Even the animals of that town
are all slaughtered in this bloody slaughter by Doeg, the Edomite. Now, Edomites were descendants
of Esau who rejected the birthright. Well, no wonder. That explains
a lot, doesn't it, Dan? He's an Edomite. Look who he
came from, Esau, who rejected the birthright. John and I were talking about
this before the service. People do wicked, horrible, sinful things
all the time. And you know, we shouldn't be
surprised. Look who they descended from. Adam. And they're just like their father
Adam. No wonder they do them. That explains a lot, doesn't
it? As Saul and Doeg did what their wicked hearts desired to
do, which in fact we see all the time in Scripture, in so
doing, what did they do? They accomplished the eternal
purpose and will of God, to give us here a picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ and the salvation that we have in Him. And one of the sons of Himelech,
the son of Ahithob, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. And Abiathar showed David that
Saul had slain the Lord's priests. And David said unto Abiathar,
I kneweth that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he
would surely tell Saul, I have occasioned the death of all the
persons of thy father's house. Abide thou with me, and fear
not. For he that seeketh my life,
seeketh thy life. But with me thou shalt be in
safeguard." Now, you imagine how terrified the by-car is when
he gets to David. He was just what all the writers
think, how he escaped. Abiathar, they say, was left
behind in the tabernacle to do the priest's work there in the
tabernacle, because remember, that work never stopped for anybody. So he was the only one who stayed
behind to do the work there of the priest, so his father and
all the rest of his family could go see Saul. And news arrived
to the tabernacle, to Abiathar, how his whole family had been
slaughtered. And before long, here comes Doeg and his henchmen.
And I'm sure Bifar saw his friends, his family, his people there
of that town just brutally killed by these evil men. And he runs
for his life. I mean, you talk about post-traumatic
stress syndrome. This guy had, I mean, the bloodiest
scene that he saw. And he flees to David. Because
he has nowhere else to go. David's the only person he can
run to. And he arrives at David as a
brain plucked out of the fire. How did he escape all that death
and destruction? It's like God reached in and
plucked him out, didn't he? Because he did. That's exactly
what happened. Now, let me ask you. Can you
see yourself there? Can you see yourself as a by-car
running from death and destruction? Well, if you ever see that the
sentence of death is upon your head because of your sin, not
somebody else's sin, not Adam's sin, your sin, if you see that
that sentence of death is on your head, I'll tell you what
you'll do. You will flee to Christ. I try to impress upon people,
you come to Christ. But don't just go to Christ nonchalantly. Don't just say, well, you know,
I'll go, you know, when the time's convenient, or I'll go tomorrow,
or I'll just stroll on over there. No. You flee to Christ. You make haste and flee to Christ. You have nowhere else to go except
Christ. You flee for your life, because
life is only found in Christ. So you flee to Him. You make
haste to go to Him. And when you arrive at Christ,
you'll arrive at him as a brand plucked out of the fire. How
do you find yourself in Christ? It's on Him that we're in Christ
Jesus. That's what Paul said in 1 Corinthians.
It's on Him. Of God are you in Christ Jesus.
God has made known His wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. You arrived at Christ because God in His infinite
mercy reached in and plucked you as it rained out of the fire
and put you in His Son. That's how you arrived at Christ.
Look over at Hebrews chapter 6. I'll show you something every
believer knows. Everyone who believes the Lord
Jesus Christ knows this. We know He's all my salvation,
and we know there's safety to be found in Christ. So we flee
to Him. In Hebrews 6 verse 16, for men
barely swear by the greater, and an oath or confirmation is
to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability and unchangeableness
of his counsel, he confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable
things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have
strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hope upon the
hope that is set before us. Those who have fled for refuge
to Christ have strong consolation. They're confident, I'm safe in
Him. He's all my salvation, and I'm
secure in Him. In a biophar, I mean this man's
got to be scared out of his wits, shaken like a leaf. And David
calms his fears. David tells him, This is not
surprising. I knew this would happen. And
I'm sure David said it with regret in his voice. I knew this would
happen. Remember David, when he went
to Himalaya, he lied to get bread at his door. He didn't have enough
confidence in the Lord, enough confidence in the Lord's praise
to come to truth, so he lied to him. He told him, I'm on Saul's
business, remember, and my haste required me to leave my armor
behind. I knew this would happen. He
says that about every event in human history. Because every
event in history happens by his divine decree. And Christ calms
our fears by telling us, Bob, it's right on schedule. This
is according to my divine will and purpose. I knew this would
happen. It's all right. It's according
to my decree. And David comforts Abiathar,
he tells him, I knew this would happen. And then he comforts
Abiathar with this wonderful picture of Christ. David, here,
is actually a picture of the two Adams. He tells Abiathar,
I have occasioned the death of thy father's house. I have occasioned
the death of every man, woman, child, and animal in that city
of Nob. I have occasioned it. He's a
picture of the first Adam, isn't he? When Adam sinned, he brought
death on all men, on every man, woman, and child that would ever
descend from his loins, he brought death upon them because of his
sin. But he brought death on creation
too, didn't he? Look at Romans chapter 8. He
brought death on animals, on plants, on everything, all because
of Adam's sin. In Romans 8 verse 20. For the creature, and that word
is creation, for the creation was made subject to vanity, not
willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in
hope. Because the creation itself also should be delivered from
the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children
of God. For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only
they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit."
Even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption. Namely, the redemption of our
body. Creation is waiting for the exact
same thing that the believer is waiting for. The return of
Christ. To put away this sin and this
death that's all around us. And everything that dies in this
world, dies because of Adam's sin. His sin was death on the
whole creation. You imagine Adam, as he's there,
and he watches God kill that animal to cover his knee's nakedness,
and he could think to himself, I occasioned that death, the
death of that animal. The first death recorded in scripture. I'm sure it's the first one that
ever happened. He said, I occasioned that death. Adam saw the dead
body of his own son Abel, and he'd think to himself, I brought this sin, this death,
into this world. Adam's out in the field one day
working, earning his bread by the sweat of his brow, and he
looks over, and there's some deer over there. He says, go
in there, pretty. And all of a sudden out of the
woods comes a lion and pounces on one, kills it, eats it. The
lion and the deer used to be friends. Now the lion's the predator,
and the deer's afraid of the lion. Adam thinks to himself,
I occasioned that death." Over the course of his lifetime, Adam
saw miscarriages. He saw babies die at birth. He
saw babies die very shortly after birth. And he thought to himself,
I occasioned that death. I've occasioned the death of
all thy father's house. And that's why death falls upon
every member of a by-fars family, is a picture of God's justice
that falls on all mankind. because of Adam's sin. David
represents the first Adam. Thankfully, our story doesn't
end there. David goes on to tell Abiathar,
Abide thou with me. With me thou shalt be in safeguard. David is a picture of the second
Adam. This word, safeguard, means preserved. It's just like I thought
of the perseverance of the saints. The saints persevere. Why? Because
we're preserved by the power of God. Look over in Exodus 13. In Exodus 16, the same word that's
translated safeguard in our text here is translated kept. I better get an Exodus, not Leviticus. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take
a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up
before the Lord, to be kept for your generations. As the Lord
commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the testimony, to
be kept." Now, that word kept there is translated safeguard.
Over here we're Davis talking to Obiathar. Where was that manna
kept? in the ark, which was a picture
of Christ. That's where we're kept, in Christ. That's where we're kept safe
and preserved, is in Christ. Now, this word safeguard is also
translated charge. Many times it's translated charge
in the Old Testament, and almost always it's translated charge
in this meaning, that the Levites had the charge of the tabernacle. The Levites are charged with
the tabernacle, over and over again, how they were charged
with the tabernacle. It was Levi's responsibility
to do all the work associated with it in the tabernacle, and
that's a picture of Christ, our High Priest. He's been charged
to keep his people, and he did it, didn't he? When he prayed
his great high priestly prayer before he went to the cross to
redeem us. Father, those that thou gavest me, I have kept. In him were kept in safeguard. Spurgeon used this example. He
said, imagine that your father gave you something. Maybe he
willed it to you and you inherited it. It's something that belonged
to your father, something he used, something that was precious
to him, and he gave it to you. Reckon it's got a little bit
of sentimental value to you? I think it does. Do you treasure it because
your father gave it to you? You wouldn't sell it for something
as trite as money, would you? Because your father gave it to
you. Well, the elect were given to the son by his father. And you can rest assured, he
treasures those people. He's redeemed those people, and
he will forever protect those people that were given to him
by his father. They're precious to him. And
we see that in our Lord's earthly ministry. Weren't the disciples
always kept safe when they were with Christ? Always. They were
safe from storms. Storms, they sure was going to
sink that boat to the bottom of the sea. But they were safe
when the Lord was with them. He said, Peace be still. They
were safe from hunger. He fed them. They were safe from
that bloodthirsty mob that came after our Lord. He said, It's
me, see. Let these go free. What happened
to them? They went free. Safe in Christ. With me, you'll be in safe parts.
Now I'll give you four things here. How we're believers are
safe. We are safe in Christ because
our Lord is sovereign over all things. There is nothing that
happens in this world, nothing happens anywhere, without the
express will and permission of our Savior. Nothing. And this
sovereign is not a dictator who makes many mistakes, who rules
for his own benefit and really should be removed from power.
That's the way men rule when they're sovereign. Our sovereign
does everything. I mean everything without exception
that he does. Everything is right. He's sovereign. We're safe both in his sovereignty,
his goodness, and his wisdom. We're safe in Christ because
he's sovereign. Secondly, believers are safe
in Christ because of his omnipotence. He has all power in heaven, earth,
the seas, and all deep places. David said one time, we have
a strong city. Salvation will God appoint for
walls and bulwarks. Now, if you could have walls
and bulwarks that were built of thick stone, in this day,
you're safe from a lot of invaders and so forth. Well, our walls
and bulwarks are not made of stone. Our walls and bulwarks
is the salvation that we have in Christ. Our walls and bulwarks
are made of the omnipotence of God. Not only is there no power
greater than our God, there's no power equal to our God. None
can stake His hand or say unto Him, what doest thou? We are
safe in His omnipotence. Thirdly, we're safe in Christ
because of who He is. He's faithful. I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee. He's faithful. He will never
turn his back on us, even on purpose or because he's distracted,
he will never turn his back on his people and leave us exposed
to danger. We're safe in him because of
who he is. He's faithful. And fourth, we're
safe in Christ because of the almighty hand of our Savior. John Gill says the meaning of
this phrase when David says, with me thou shalt be in safeguard.
He says, David means that he will be as careful to protect
the by-far as he will his own body. Now, I was studying this
week and I was finished studying and Janet came in to study. I
said, I got a good example, an illustration for the class on
Sunday. She said, what is it? And I acted like I was going
to punch her in the stomach. And she moved her hand in front
of her, and she glared at me, and she said, what are you doing? Have you lost your mind? Now,
you all see these sweet blue eyes. I'm telling you, that would
scare you. What are you doing? Have you lost your mind? I said,
well, now wait a minute. This is my illustration. Believers
are the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that almighty hand
moves with power to protect his people, to protect his body.
And he says to them, they would harm his people, what are you
doing? Have you lost your mind? That
almighty hand keeps his people safe. They shall never perish,
neither shall any man. pluck them out of my hand, we're
safe in the almighty hand of our Savior. And listen, we are
safe in Christ. We're not safe in our right doctrine.
We're not safe in the strength of our faith. We're not safe
because of our conduct out in the world. Now, we ought to have
right doctrine. We ought to have strong faith
because of who our Savior is. It ought to be strong faith.
We ought to have right conduct. We ought to be following the
example, be as our Father is which is in heaven. But we're
not safe in those things. We're safe in Christ. Just like Noah was safe in the
ark. Outside of that ark was total
destruction. Outside of that ark was death.
Nothing but death. In the ark was life. And in the
Lord Jesus Christ is eternal life. Now I want you to find
Psalm 91. I'm going to read a few verses
here in closing. This is a good example of the
safety in Christ that we've been looking at here. In Psalm 91, he that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, He is my fortress,
my God, in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee
from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
He will cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou
trust. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt
not be afraid for the terror by night, nor the arrow that
flyeth by day, nor the pestilence that walketh in darkness. nor
for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall
follow thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall
not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou
behold and see the reward of the wicked, because thou hast
made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most high, thy habitation. With me thou shalt be in safeguard."
And in verse 4, David says, he shall cover thee with his feathers,
under his wings shalt thou trust. What he's talking about here
is a barnyard. And the mother hen's got her
chicks all around that barnyard. And she sees danger. They don't.
She does. And she calls them. And they
come under her wings. And she pushes them under her
wings, under her body. And there they are, under her
wings. Now those chicks, when they're under their mother, They're
safe from the wind. The wind blows, they don't feel
it. They're safe from the rain. There they are under her body,
under her feathers. They don't get wet. They're safe
from the heat of the sun. They're safe from that hawk that's
flying above that's a predator for them. Their mother sees it.
There's danger around. They have no sense of it. Why?
They're abiding under their mother's wings. Under their mother, they're
kept warm, they're comforted, they've got her presence, everything's
fine. The wind's blowing, the hawk's
flying, everything's fine for those chicks. And that's what
the believer has in Christ. I read this week about those
chicks. Mother calls them under her wings,
and she pushes them under, and there she sits with those chicks
under her. Now, there's danger around, or she wouldn't have
called those chicks to her, would she? There's danger around, and
you know what those chicks are doing under her? They're playing
with each other. They're just perking each other
and playing with each other and nudging each other, and they're
playing with each other. Completely oblivious to any danger. Why
aren't they scared out of their mind? because with me thou shalt
be in safeguard." Come to Christ. All right. Lord bless you.