We left off last time in verse
9. You'll remember that David had
gotten bread and a sword from Ahimelech the priest. Now verse
10, look what he does next. And David arose and fled that
day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. Now
David, he came down to fight the giant Goliath in the name
of the Lord of hosts, completely unafraid. Now he is scared to
death of Saul. Saul who physically is not half
the man Goliath was. Saul has just got David scared
to death. So what does David do? Now when
David first became an outcast, he ran to the tabernacle. Now
he runs to hide in Gath. Gath is a city in the land of
the Philistines which was the hometown of Goliath. That's where
David went to hide. Maybe he figured the enemy of
his enemy is his friend. I don't know. But his decision
is based on fear. And Solomon, maybe he learned
this from his father. I don't know. But Solomon said,
the fear of man bringeth a snare. And because David was afraid
of Saul, he ran straight into a snare. Now, we need to remember
this. When we fear anything more than
we fear the Lord, we will be afraid of everything. If we fear
anything more than we fear the Lord, we will be afraid of everything. And fear makes us do strange
things. And that's what happened to David.
Fear made him do a strange thing. It's Psalm 118. This is the lesson that David
learned from this, and we'd be wise to learn from David. In Psalm 118, verse 9, David
said it's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence
in princes. It's better to trust in the Lord
than to put confidence even in the king, the prince of a city,
a nation of giants. It's better to fear the Lord.
So David, out of fear, goes to hide in the land of the Philistines. But David can't hide down there
in the land of the Philistines. He's going to stand out. In verse
11, the servants of Achish said unto him, unto the king, Is not
this David, the king of the land? Do they not sing one to another
of him in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, and
David his ten thousands? Now the servants, what they're
thinking is, this is a good thing that David's come here. They
see this as a positive thing. David is an outcast from Israel,
and now he's come to them. What they think is David will
join them. And they're telling the king, we can use a warrior
like this. This is a positive thing. You
remember David had executed some brilliant battle plans and defeated
the Philistines. So now the Philistines think,
well, if you can't beat them, join them. David's come here.
We're going to join up with him and use him to fight against
our common enemy Saul. Well, David, though, remember
is full of fears. And when he hears them speak,
he doesn't hear them talk about, ooh, how this is a positive thing.
He hears everything filtered through his fear. And all he
sees is more things to fear. Look at verse 12. And David laid
out these words in his heart and was sore afraid of Achish
the king of Gath. David was afraid of Saul, so
he ran to Achish. Well, now he's afraid of Achish
too. Just like I said, when we don't fear the Lord, will be
afraid of everything else, and that fear will cause us to make
bad decisions. Look at the bad decision this
fear led David to in verse 13. And he changed his behavior before
them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled
at the doors of the gate, and let his fiddle fall down upon
his beard. Now David's solution to the problem,
the fix that he saw himself in, the snare he was in, was to act
like a madman. That's like he just plumbed,
lost his mind. That's the flesh's way out of
the problem. And whenever a believer trusts
in the arm of the flesh, rather than trusting in the Lord, we're
going to make a fool of ourselves. Every time. When we trust in
the flesh, rather than trusting in the Lord, we make a fool out
of ourselves. Not trusting in the Lord is madness. Now David's feigning madness,
but really, he is, he's a madman. not trusting in the Lord is madness. So verse 14, then said Aphish
unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad. Wherefore then
have ye brought him to me? Have I need a madman, that ye
have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? So
this fellow come into my house? Aphish says, Boys, I don't need
a madman. He needs a warrior. He needs
a general. He needs the man that is David's
reputation. He doesn't need this madman.
He doesn't need another court jester. He's got plenty of them.
So they kicked David out of their city. Achish is not going to
fool with him. They're not going to have this madman in his house. Now, in doing all this, David
has brought reproach on the Lord. He's given the heathen a reason
to blaspheme the name of the Lord. The citizens of Gath knew
better than anybody else. David came to fight Goliath in
the name of the Lord. Well, where's his Lord now? Where's
his trust in the Lord now? He just gave them reason to blaspheme
the Lord. And we know why David did this. Nobody needs to ask, why did
David do this? We know full well why David did
this. David is a man after God's own heart. But he still got the
heart and nature of Adam. And we know why he did this.
Every one of us knows why he did this. The question really,
to me, is this. Why did the Lord allow this to
happen? I know why David did that. But
why did the Lord allow this to happen? Well, this is why I believe
he did this. To comfort other madmen. That's why he did it. Look over
Matthew 26. David is not the only believer
to have ever done this. In Matthew 26, verse 69, this is when the mob
had led our Lord to be put on this mock trial. In verse 69,
Now Peter sat without in the palace, and a damsel came unto
him, saying, Thou also was with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied
before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when
he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said
unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of
Nazareth. And again he denied with an oath,
I do not know the man. And after a while came unto him
they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art
one of them, for thy speech betrayeth thee. But what did Peter do?
He changed his behavior before them exactly like David did.
Then he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the
man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the words
of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt
deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly. Peter, to get out of the situation
that he thought he was in because of fear, changed his behavior. And he regretted it the rest
of his life. But now David and Peter are not alone. Now they
are far from being alone. How many times have we changed
our behavior before men? Out of fear. You know, people
start talking about things at work or whatever, and we just
keep quiet rather than defend the gospel and defend the name
of our Savior. We change our behavior to appear
like we fit in with the world because we don't want to be different
than everybody else. And it's madness. It's the same madness
that got a hold of David and Peter. Even believers fall into
madness because man at his best state is altogether vanity. We still have that heart and
nature of our father Adam. And the Lord allowed this situation
to happen so that when we fall into the same madness, we'll
see there's hope for a madman. That's what I titled the lesson,
Hope for Madmen. When David left Gath, he went
to a cave. In verse 1 of chapter 22, you
see David departed thence and escaped to the cave of Dullin. And when David was in that cave,
he wrote Psalm 56 and Psalm 34. And if this situation had happened
in Gath, we would not have those two blessed Psalms that are such
a comfort for believers. And if you look over at Psalm
34, I want to spend the rest of our time looking here at what
David wrote in Psalm 34. What did he learn from this experience? And let him kind of instruct
us here. What did he learn from this experience? He says in verse
1 of Psalm 34, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise
shall continually be in my mouth. First thing David learned is
he's going to bless the Lord and he's going to trust the Lord
at all times. That's his intention, especially in the times of trouble.
David said, no, I'm going to bless the Lord. I'm going to
learn to trust the Lord. My circumstances are going to
change. David's going to be in the cave. He's going to be in
the forest. He's going to be on the throne. But no matter
what the circumstance is, our Lord never changes. David is
determined that no longer will his mouth be full of the ramblings
of a madman. My mouth is going to continually
be filled with thy praise. That's what I'm going to be speaking
of. That's what my mouth is going
to be full of. And that's a mouthful, isn't it? That's a mouthful.
Well, verse two, he says, my soul shall make her boast in
the Lord, the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. Now, part
of the definition of this Hebrew word boast is to act madly. or to act like a madman. That's
what that word boast means. Instead of acting like a fleshly
madman who lost his mind, David says, I'm going to boast in the
Lord so much that natural men will think I'm a madman. They'll
think I've become a madman for Christ because his praise will
continually be in my mouth. I'm a madman for Christ, boasting
of him. Now, we don't like to hear people
brag on themselves, do we? I mean, this gets old really
quick. And the flesh doesn't like to hear anyone brag on the
Lord, boast on the Lord. But the humble in spirit do.
The humble do. Those who have been humbled because
of their sin, because of their failings, and because of their
inability, they love to hear somebody brag on the Lord Jesus
Christ. They love to hear how the blood
of Christ cleanses us from all sin. They love to hear how it's
Christ, His righteousness that makes us accepted with the Father.
They love to hear how I'm totally, completely depraved and useless,
but in the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm complete. They love to hear
people brag on Christ. And David has been humbled. Now
this experience humbled David. The Lord taught him something,
and that's humility. Now he can encourage other madmen
by pointing them to Christ, who's forgiven all of our transgressions.
That's what he says in verse 3, O magnify the Lord with me,
join with me, and magnify the Lord. Let us exalt his name together.
He says in verse 4, I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and
delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him and were
lightened, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried,
and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles."
See, David has learned not to trust in the arm of the flesh
for deliverance from his fears and trouble. You know, David
acted like a madman and the king kicked him out, you know. But
that's not what delivered David from that snare. David put himself
on that snare. It was the Lord who delivered
him. In spite of David's sin, in spite
of his doubting and fears, the Lord delivered him. In spite
of David. All David did was bring reproach
on the name of the Lord, but God forgave him for Christ's
sake and delivered him. So now David's gone through this
and he says now, use me for an example. I sought the Lord and
he heard me. I sought the Lord and he delivered
me. Now you do the same. Are you a poor man? Are you a
poor woman? Poor in spirit? Then follow David's
example. Cry to the Lord for mercy. Come
to Christ for salvation. Depend on the Lord. Do what David
did here or what he learned. Depend on the Lord in every situation. Depend on the Lord to meet every
need. All of our spiritual needs. And
our physical needs as well just depend on the Lord. Now this
is so. Everyone who's cried to the Lord
for mercy has received mercy and forgiveness of sins. David
said, there can't not be a worse sinner than me. I cried to the
Lord. He heard me. He delivered me.
You do the same. That's what he's teaching. Now
David's learned this and he's teaching us this because this
is what he's learned. He says in verse 7, the angel
of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth
them. Now the hour may look dark, and
we may be terrified like David was. He was sore afraid. He was
terrified. But no believer is ever left
alone. Ever. No believer is ever left
without defense. You don't have to figure out
How to get out of the mess you're in. You don't have to act like
a madman to escape trouble. The angel of the Lord is camped
all around you. All around you, on every side.
You're completely defended. Well, who is this angel of the
Lord? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He is encamped all about you.
His Spirit is encamped in you. You are never alone. If you believe
in Christ, he will deliver you, he will protect you, he will
always be with his people. So be confident, trust in him. David goes on in verse 8, he
says, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is
the man that trusteth in him. Now, this is what David's learned.
The blessed man is the man that trusts in the Lord, not in the
strength of the flesh. And he's telling us, now trust
in the Lord so you'll enjoy this same blessing. It's a blessing
if God gives you faith to trust the Lord Jesus Christ. And David
encourages us here. Taste the grace of God. Don't
just sit there waiting for lightning to strike. I remember Henry saying
that when I was a kid. What does he mean? Don't sit
there waiting for lightning to strike. Right where you sit,
you call upon the name of the Lord. Right where you sit, you
reach out and taste the grace of God for yourself. Nothing
tastes sweeter to a humble sinner than the grace of God. I had
the opportunity Friday morning to sit in on Tara's Bible school
class. She was going through the tabernacle
and pictures of this are going to start showing up on Facebook.
I dressed up as the, we found a costume to rent of the high
priest, and I dressed up in it and modeled it for her class.
And so she taught each of those pieces of the garment of the
high priest. And she was teaching about the bells on the bottom
of the high priest's garment. You remember in our study, at
the bottom of the high priest's garment, was alternating a bell
and a pomegranate. Bell and a pomegranate. So when
the high priest moved, the people could hear the bells ringing
and know that God was accepting his sacrifice on their behalf.
And she asked the children, has anyone ever seen a pomegranate?
And I was shocked. Four or five of them raised their
hand. They knew what a pomegranate was. And one of them made this
comment. She said, when you cut that pomegranate
in half, she said, it doesn't look very good. But it is really
good. Now that's just a softball lobbed
right down the middle of the plate if I've ever seen one.
So after class, I went up to her and I said, do you remember
that statement you made? She said, yes. I said, when you
cut that pomegranate in half, there's that red fluid in there,
isn't there? And as I was speaking, her eyes got big as saucers and
she said, it's the blood. And I said, yes, it is. Nine
years old, maybe. It's the blood. I said, that's
exactly right. It's the blood. I said, I'm going
to tell you something. And you remember, you might not understand
it now, but you remember this when you're a grown up woman.
You said, when you look at that pomegranate, it doesn't look
very good, but it is good. I said, that's what people think
about the gospel we preach. Our gospel that we preach is
full of blood. It's the blood, it's the blood,
it's the blood. And people think, oh, that blood,
that doesn't sound very good. It's bloody. Yeah. I said, but
to a sinner, it's the sweetest thing we'll ever taste. Oh, taste
and see that the Lord is good. Call upon him for mercy. Taste
and see. David said, don't take my word
for it. You taste and see. Well, verse 9, he goes on, he
says, Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want
of them that fear him. The young lions do lack and suffer
hunger, but they that seek the Lord should not want any good.
Now, David says, don't make the same mistake that I made. Don't
fear men, fear the Lord. Look over at Psalm 56. This is
the other Psalm that David wrote there in that cave. Don't fear
men. If you fear the Lord, you won't
have to fear men. In Psalm 56, verse 3, David says, What time I'm afraid,
I will trust in thee. I've learned that. What time
I'm afraid, I will trust in thee. In God, I will praise his word.
In God, I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can
do unto me. Well, if you're putting your
trust in the Lord, you don't have to fear what the flesh will
do to you. And no one, David says, who fears God will suffer
the want of any good. At the end of verse 10 there,
that word thing is in Italian. If you just cross that out, that's
not what David's saying. What he says is all those that
seek the Lord shall not want any good. For no good. And the good there is all the
spiritual gifts that we find in Christ who alone is good.
That's what he told that rich young ruler. Why do you call
me good? There's none good. Say one. That's
God. He alone is good. And in Him
we find everything good. Wisdom. Righteousness. Sanctification. Redemption. In
Christ is the only place we find sacrifice for our sins. the atonement
that puts our sin away. In Christ, you'll not want for
anything good, because in Christ, you're complete. Complete in
Him. Now, everyone outside of Christ,
they're going to suffer. They're going to suffer one.
Even the strongest, the kings of the earth, they'll be like
the kings of the jungle. Now, these lions, they are such
impressive animals. Fears are strong and fast. Kings of the jungle. Even lions
suffer want. They can't find any food or drink.
They suffer want. Just like the kings of the earth.
Even the best of men are going to suffer want outside of Christ.
And David has learned this lesson. And now he's teaching this to
others. Look what he says in verse 11. He says, Come ye children,
hearken unto me. I will teach you the fear of
the Lord. This is the first lesson that
we've got to learn. The fear of the Lord. Reverence
and worship of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. And David learned that the man
who trusts in the Lord is blessed. But the man who does not put
his trust in the Lord is a miserable man. David was humbled and learned
something about misery, their gap, when he did not put his
trust in the Lord. A man who doesn't put his trust
in the Lord is a miserable man. So trust in the Lord. He goes
on speaking to children here in verse 12. He says, What man
is he that desireth life and loveth many days that he may
see good? Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking
guile. Depart from evil and do good.
Seek peace and pursue it. Now these are good words to live
by. In this world, these are good words to live by. Be an
honest person. Avoid evil. Avoid doing evil. Avoid being around it. Avoid
evil. Seek peace. Seek peaceable things. But the spiritual application
of this is where you find life. Be an honest person. Be honest
with yourself. But you're a sinner. There's
no point hiding it. There's no point pretending. Be honest with
yourself that you're a sinful man and woman. And seek peace. Seek peace with God and seek
it where it may be found. In the Lord Jesus Christ. Seek
Christ. Pursue Him. Just like I said
a minute ago, don't sit there waiting for lightning to strike.
Pursue Him. Seek Christ. Seek ye first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things will be
added unto you. Seek Christ. When you find him,
you'll find eternal life. Verse 15, he goes on, he says,
The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are
open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against
them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from
the earth. The righteous cry, and the Lord hear it, and delivereth
them out of all their troubles. Now trust in the Lord at all
times, in every circumstance, trust in the Lord. Not only has
the Lord not forgotten you, you know, sometimes we find ourselves
in a dark situation. We think, well, has the Lord
forgotten me? Not only has the Lord not forgotten you, he has
never taken his eye off of anyone who trusts in him. Never. His
ear is always open to their cry. He's not sleeping. His ear's
open to the cry of his children. So what should we do then? Cry? Cry to the Lord for salvation.
Cry to the Lord for forgiveness of sins. You know, we get so
discouraged when we fail. Cry to the Lord. He'll deliver. Cry to the Lord for deliverance
from every trouble. particularly all of our spiritual
needs, and even earthly ones, in every trouble, cry to the
Lord. He's the only one who's able
to deliver you. Now, He may not grant deliverance
to our body. He may not. Ask any of the martyrs. He may not see fit in His wisdom
to grant deliverance from pain and suffering of this body, but
I promise you this, He will deliver you. He'll give you grace. He'll
give you peace. And ultimately, not only will
you have His presence here on earth, you'll have His presence
in glory face to face. He'll deliver you. They'll never
touch you again. He'll deliver His people. So
no matter what the circumstance, don't fear the wicked because
the Lord's against them. If God be against them, who can
be for them? No one. They're going to be cut
off so completely, they're going to be forgotten. But not you. Not those who believe in Christ.
He's always known your name. He'll never forget you. Now David's
drawn a dividing line here, hasn't he? There's the wicked and there's
the righteous. There's the wicked. They're going
to be cut off and the remembrance of them is going to be cut off.
And then there's the people of God. They're righteous. Well,
how can you tell the difference? I'd like to know the difference.
How can I tell which side of that dividing line I'm on? Well,
you can't tell from outward appearance, can you? Because sometimes you're
going to look at a child of God and you're going to see a madman,
aren't you? You have to look on the heart. Look at verse 18. The Lord is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
The only person who can break that heart of stone that we're
born with is God Almighty. It takes the power of God to
break our heart, and it takes the power of God to give us a
new heart. We've got to be given a new heart,
and it's God that gives it. Now, I know we hate being humbled.
We hate being embarrassed. We hate being humbled. But the
Lord saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. That contrite spirit,
that humble attitude is of the Lord. He saved us such as be
of a contrite spirit. Now, every believer is going
to need this lesson. I hope we've been paying attention
because every child of God is going to need it. Look at verse
19. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Many are
the afflictions of the righteous. We're going to go through many
trials, many afflictions, many dark valleys and many deep waters. Scares us to death to look at
those things out in the future, or maybe even right around us
right now. But we don't have to worry that I don't have the
strength to do that. You know, I've seen trials other
people go through. I don't have the strength to
go through that. Well, you will when you need it. You will when
you need it, because that strength is not of you. It's strength
that the Lord gives. The Lord will deliver you. You're
not called upon to deliver yourself. The Lord will deliver you. He'll
deliver you out of them all. So trust him, David says. At
verse 20, he says, he keepeth all his bones. Not one of them
is broken. No real harm will ever come to
any child of God. None. Your body will suffer. No question about it. But you,
the real you, you're not that body that you're sitting there
in. That's just a body that houses you temporarily. The real you
is inside there. And the real you can never be
lost, can never be touched by man or Satan, either one. You're
safe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And when this body is finally
put in the ground, then you, We're not laying you in the ground.
When your body's laid in the ground, you will finally be free
to go be with him. You would never be touched, can
never be harmed. Just like none of the bones of
our Lord's body while he was here on earth was ever broken
at Calvary. No bone of the mystical body
of Christ will ever be broken either. You're part of the body
of Christ. You who believe God. No bone
of his will ever be broken. So verse 21, he says, evil shall
slay the wicked and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. Don't be afraid of the wicked
that hate you. They are going to perish because of their sin. Their own wickedness is going
to slay them. That's what's going to damn them is their own wickedness.
Now, listen, let's never be found guilty of making fun of the Armenian
or whoever they are out there. Because you and I are just as
guilty as them. By nature we are just as guilty as they are.
The only difference between those who believe God and those who
do not is God's mercy and His grace. We're just as guilty as
those who perish. By nature we are. So what's our
comfort? Where's our confidence? It's
in the redemption that's found in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
where David ends up in verse 22. The Lord redeemeth the soul
of his servants, and none of them that trust in him shall
be desolate." None of them that trust in him shall be guilty.
Now, we're guilty in ourselves. We're sinners by birth, sinners
by choice, and sinners by practice. But no believer will ever be
found guilty at the bar of God's justice. We'll never perish in
desolation because we've been redeemed. by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Christ took our guilt, took the
guilt of his people in his body on the tree and he paid the debt
in full. He put away every one of those
sins under his blood, the blood of his sacrifice. Christ, our
substitute, suffered our desolation. He was the only one who ever
was left alone. God turned his back on him. He
suffered our desolation. and gave us his righteousness.
He gave us his life and made us complete in him. So what's
the sum of everything David's learned here? Don't fear men. And don't despair when you act
like a madman. Be humbled by it. Be ashamed
about it. Be like David. Be determined
not to do it again. But don't despair. Fear the Lord. Trust in him. And all be well
with your soul.