Now here in 1 Samuel 21, from
here to the end of this book, David is an outcast. He's treated
as a criminal, even though he's been anointed king. And from
here to the rest of the book, we'll see David as a type of
Christ who was treated as an outcast and a criminal, even
though he's king of kings and Lord of lords. In the first place,
David ran when he became an outcast. was a place that he could expect
to find help in time of trouble. Mike mentioned in his prayer,
when we find ourselves in a time of trouble, we flee to Christ.
Well, this is exactly what David did. He fled to the temple, the
tabernacle, which was a picture of Christ. In verse 1, then came
David to Nahum, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was
afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou
alone, and no man with thee? knew he was an outcast, he wouldn't
have very many more opportunities to go to the tabernacle and worship.
So he probably wanted to come to the tabernacle one more time
before he would go out into hiding and so forth. And I'm sure he
wanted to inquire of the Lord. What should I do now? Where should
I go? How should I proceed? And the
priest was afraid when he saw David arrive alone. Now this
is the King's son-in-law. You don't expect to see this
man traveling alone. You expect to see him in a group,
and when he saw him alone, he figured something's probably
wrong. He probably knew how David had fallen out of favor with
Saul. You know, all this time Saul tried to kill him and throw
javelin at him and so forth. News like that travels fast,
and people have always loved to gossip. They didn't need Facebook
or email to get this news out here to Hillemelech. That news
always travels fast. And that's a picture of Christ.
David came to the tabernacle alone. And that's a picture of
Christ who came to this earth to redeem his people alone. Now, there are people that are
with David, but he had them, we'll see this in a minute, in
a safe place, hiding. He came to the tabernacle to
get provisions and provide for them alone. Now verse 2, David
said unto him elect a priest, the king hath commanded me a
business, and said unto me, let no man know anything of the business
whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee, and I
have appointed my servants to such and such a place." Now poor old David, he just,
there's nothing you can call this but a bold-faced lie. He
just, the only truth that's in that statement is that these
men that are with him, he's appointed those few men to hide in a secret
place. And David is protecting those
men by not naming them and not telling where they're hidden.
But for the rest of his statement, there is no excuse for this lie. And scripture offers no excuse
for it. David comes to the tabernacle and tells the high priest a lie. Now, this is David, the champion
of Israel, the man who has gone out and fearlessly fought so
many times. Today, he's afraid. And he thinks
the only way for him to find safety and get provisions for
himself and his men is by telling lies. Now, if you look back at
chapter 17, I'll show you what's happened. Why was it at other
times David was so fearless? and today is full of fear in
thou." Chapter 17, verse 45, this is when David comes armed
with his staff and his sling to meet Goliath. Then said David
to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword and with a
spear and with a shield, but I come to thee in the name of
the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou
hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver
thee into my hand And I will smite thee and take thine head
from thee." Why was David so fearless? Because I'm coming
to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts. I'm not going to win
this battle on my own. The Lord's going to deliver you
into my hand. So he could be fearless, couldn't
he? Because he'd come in the name of the Lord of hosts. And
then just a few days later, David, who had been so bold because
he was trusting in the Lord, now he's acting like a coward. And undoubtedly, it's because
he's forgotten the Lord's with him. He's a coward because David's
depending on his own strength, not on the arm of the Lord. And
that'll make any man a coward. Now, I don't mean to be harshly
critical of David, because this is what I ask myself. I ask you
the same question. Have you ever been there? Now, have you ever been there?
One day you're so confident and the next day so full of fear
and doubt. Well, if we're honest with ourselves, to our shame,
we can say, identify with David. I understand. And this story
is not given to us as an example to follow. This story is not
given to us as an excuse for our sin. You know, the Lord's
going to work this together and it's going to turn out all right.
But now that's not an excuse for our sin. This story is given
as a comfort to God's people. When we fall into the same trap
that David fell into, there's comfort here for God's people.
This story is written for our instruction. Now, there's never
an excuse for David acting like this or doubting and fearing,
but when we do the same thing, God's Word gives us some assurance
and some comfort. We need to always remember that
the best of men are nothing but clay vessels. They're just a
clay pot. They're just made out of pottery.
Christ is all of our salvation. We didn't earn our salvation
through our goodness, and we don't keep our salvation by our
obedience and by our holy life. We're both saved and kept by
the power of God. by the power and grace of Almighty
God. Still yet, now, there's no excuse
for David lying like this. And David's going to be troubled
by this. Later on, he's going to reveal that his actions caused
the priest and his family to be killed. Look over at chapter
22, in verse 22. And David said unto Abiathar,
I knew it 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." Now you know how much
that bothered David. And if you'll turn over to Psalm
119, I don't know how many years later David wrote Psalm 119,
but in verse 28, he's remembering this very incident there in 1
Samuel 21 that we read about. He said, my soul melted for heaviness. Strengthen thou me, according
unto thy word, remove from me the way of lying and grant me
the law, thy law graciously. This bothered David his whole
life. And if David had told the truth, a Himalaya, I'm sure still
would have helped him. If David had told the truth,
the limelight would have been better able to inquire of the
Lord for David as to what he should do, which way he should
go. If David had told him left the truth, he would have been
prepared to defend himself against Saul here in just a little bit.
And a lot of people were hurt by this lie, even though God
worked it together for his good and for his purpose. A lot of
people were hurt by it, and there's just not an excuse for it. Now,
verse three here in chapter 21, let's read on. David says, now,
therefore, what is under thine hand? Give me five loaves of
bread in my hand, or what there is present." Now, David comes
to the high priest and he's giving that high priest a command. He's
not asking the high priest for bread, is he? David's giving
a command as a type of Christ. Give me this bread, what's in
your hand. Now, David just got done in his last breath, telling
a whopper. And the very next breath he takes,
he's a type of Christ. who is the king who issues commandments
to men, not requests. Now, I love the Old Testament
pictures of Christ. I mean, I thoroughly love them. I love to read them and study
them and think about them. But now we need to remember this.
Men are only a two-dimensional picture of Christ. And normally
their picture is full of holes. Now, they give us a picture,
a type, a shadow of Christ, but they're just a picture. All of
our attention and our love and our devotion is to Christ, not
these pictures. Don't put these men in a place
they don't belong. It's not fair to them. It won't
be a blessing or help to you. Now, verse 4, the priest answered
David and said, there's no common bread under mine hand, but there
is hallowed bread, if the young men have kept themselves at least
from women. Now, the priest said there's
no common bread. The only bread that's here is hallowed bread.
It's holy bread. It's the showbread that's in
there in the tabernacle, sitting on the table of showbread that
we studied about in our lessons on the tabernacle. And this is
the day that the priest is appointed to go change those twelve loaves
out. And they switch those loaves out. And when he switched those
loaves out, the loaves that he took from off the table of showbread,
the priest and his family ate. Now, the law clearly stated that
the only people who could eat that bread was the priest and
his family. But Elimelech tells David, if
the men that are with him are at least ceremonially clean,
now we know they're not clean, they're not priests, but he says
if they're at least ceremonially clean, they can eat that show
bread, even though it's holy bread. And here's the picture. Only holy people can come into
the presence of God. Not pretend like holiness, holy. Only holy people can come into
the presence of God. How then can you and me, sinful
men and women like you and me, come into the presence of God?
How is that possible? Only if we are made holy in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what's pictured in
David's answer here in verse 5. David answered the priest
and said unto him of a truth. Women have been kept from us
about these three days since I came out. And the vessels of
the young men, their garments, they're holy. And the bread is
in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in
the vessel." Now, David says these men are holy. They've been
with me. Their bodies are not defiled.
They've not been with women. Their garments are not defiled.
They haven't touched any unclean thing or animal or anything.
And this is the picture. Look over in Ephesians chapter
5. We know this. No one holy. no guilty person
can enter into the kingdom of heaven. In Ephesians 5 verse
5, For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person,
nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ and of God. No guilty person, no unclean
person, can come into the kingdom of God. But Christ tells his
Father, Let my people into your presence. They're holy. They've been with me. I've made
them holy. Not only have they been with
me, they're in me and I'm in them. They're holy. I have made
them holy. Their bodies are pure because
they've been washed in the blood and the water that flowed from
my side. Just like our Lord told Peter, you've been washed. You're
clean everywhere. The body is clean. Their garments
are pure because their garment is my garment, the imputed righteousness
of Christ, and they've been washed. In Revelation chapter 7, here's
this garment that we wear that John wrote about. In Revelation
7, verse 13, And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes?
and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou
knowest. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." That's
how our garments are pure and white and holy, because it's
the righteousness of Christ. They've been washed in the blood.
Now, the law allows believers, the gospel, the law of Christ
allows believers to eat. hallowed bread, holy bread, because
you've been made kings and priests unto our God. And a believer
can come feast on Christ at any time. The priest and his family
can only eat that hallowed bread one day a week. A believer, a
child of God, can come at all times and feast on the Lord Jesus
Christ, to eat his flesh and drink his blood because you're
a priest. Not only are you clean, you're a priest. And what David
says about this bread is so interesting. This is a blessing. David said
in a manner. This bread is common because
it's been taken from off that table of showbread. Now, you
know full well, you've been here many years, you know that Christ
is that bread, the bread of life that's pictured on that bread
on the table of showbread. Now, Christ is not common or
unclean. He's holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners. He knew no sin. He did no sin. Neither was any guile found in
His mouth. He is God. He has the essence, the holiness. He is God Almighty. But He became
a man. He became a common, ordinary
man. Bone of our bone, flesh of our
flesh, a body just like you and me. with one exception, yet without
sin. And that showbread was unleavened
bread to picture the sinless perfection of Christ, the bread
of life. Now, our Lord Jesus was never common, but he became
a real man, a real man, in order to be our substitutionary sacrifice. He became a real man so he'd
be hallowed bread for sinful women and men like you and me.
Now come eat. It's hallowed bread for God's
people. So verse 6, the priest gave him hallowed bread for there
was no bread there but the show bread which was taken from before
the Lord to put hot bread in that day when it was taken away.
Now the exact reason why the high priest gave David the show
bread isn't nearly as important as the lesson that we have to
learn here from the high priest giving him this bread. This is
a lesson, if you look over Mark chapter 2, this is a lesson that
our Lord taught his disciples, and it's an important lesson
for us to understand. Mark chapter 2, verse 23. And it came to pass that he went
through the cornfields on the Sabbath day, and his disciples
began as they went to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees
said unto him, Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that
which is not lawful? And he said unto them, Have ye
never read what David did when he had need and was in hunger,
he and they that were with him? How he went into the house of
God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the
showbread, which is not lawful to eat, but for the priests.
And he gave also to them that were with him. And he said unto
them, The Sabbath was made for man. and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is
Lord also of the Sabbath." Now, this is the lesson our Lord is
teaching us. Showing mercy is better than following the ceremony
of the law. The law was never given as a
way for us to earn salvation. The law was always given to point
us to Christ, where we find our righteousness and where we find
mercy. So following mercy, having mercy
is better than following the ceremony of the law. Having Christ
is better than following the ceremony, the form of the law.
And the first example our Lord uses is the story we just read,
how the high priest gave those men to show bread to keep them
from starving. And our Lord says it's better
that he showed mercy and gave them bread to keep them from
starving than strictly following the ceremony of the law. Mercy
is better. The second example he uses is
the Sabbath day. Now the Sabbath day was given
to Israel as a blessing. It wasn't given to them as a
duty. It wasn't given to them to be drudgery to them, to take
away all their fun. It was given to them as a blessing.
Our bodies need rest. Go as hard as you want to. You
think you're just going to do all these things, you know, and
eventually your body just gives out. It's got to have rest. And it's a blessing when you
give it. Tara said yesterday, Sunoco must be a great place
to work because Wayne spends so much time there. Wayne, when you get out of that
place, rest is a blessing. The Sabbath day was given to
people as a blessing to give their bodies rest. And it was
given to them to point them to Christ where we find our spiritual
rest. You know the reason we need rest?
It's sin. The reason Wayne has spent so
much time over there in Sunoco is because of man's sin. God
told Adam, because of your sin, for the rest of your days, you're
going to earn your bread by the sweat of your brow. It's going
to be hard work that's going to cause your body to need rest.
God gave Israel the law. I mean, I don't care how hard
a person worked at keeping that law. What they're going to find
out is my soul craves and needs rest because sin prevents me
from keeping that law. The Sabbath day pointed us to
Christ, who is our Sabbath. You can rest in him. Just rest. The work's finished. Rest. That's given to us as a blessing. And this is what our Lord is
teaching. Showing mercy is better than following the ceremony of
the Sabbath. Now, look back a few pages at
Mark chapter 12, and he teaches this lesson as well. Showing
mercy is better than following the ceremony of the Sabbath.
The ceremony of any of the law. In Matthew 12, verse 10. There was a man which had his
hand withered, and they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to
heal on the sabbath day? That they might accuse him. My
goodness. And he said unto them, What man
shall there be among you that shall have one sheep, and if
it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on
it and lift it out? Now that would just be merciful
to that animal, wouldn't it? Well, of course you'd do that.
How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore, it is
lawful to do well on the Sabbath day. It is lawful to show mercy.
Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched
it forth, and it was restored whole like as the other. Now
it's just merciful, wasn't it? The Lord of the Sabbath showed
mercy on the Sabbath. Teaching us, I believe this lesson,
never use the law as a reason not to show mercy. Don't ever
use the gospel of Christ, who is so merciful to you, as a reason
not to show mercy to someone else. Be merciful. And his name was Doeg, an Edomite,
the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul. And we'll talk
about this man Doeg later on in another lesson. He's going
to come up again. And Doeg is a picture of Judas, who betrayed
the Lord. Doeg is eventually going to betray
David, just like Judas betrayed our Lord. Doeg betrayed David
because he didn't belong to David. He belonged to Saul. just like
Judas didn't belong to Christ. He's the son of perdition. Now,
verse 8, David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine
hand spear or sword? For I have neither brought my
sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required
haste. Now, David's got the bread and
he just keeps on, you know, telling this lie. And verse 9, the priest
said, the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest
in the valley of Elah. Behold, it is here, wrapped in
a cloth behind the Ethan. If thou wilt take that, take
it. For there is no other save that here." And David said, there
is none like that. Give it me. Now, years ago, I
had just started teaching some Sunday school classes. I don't
even know if I'd gone. Well, I had. I'd gone to Pikeville,
actually. preaching. Tom Harding preached
a message from this verse. There's none like that. Give
it me. And it was such a blessing. I
just love that message. And I went and told him what
a blessing that was. And he said, now you take that
outline, use it sometime. And I thought, right, like I'm
going to take an outline of Tom Harding and use it sometime.
Well, I'm going to. I'm going to give it to you.
There is none like that. give it me." First, that sword
of Goliath represents the Word of God. Scripture calls God's
Word the sword of the Spirit. There is no other book like the
Word of God. What you are holding in your
lap is God-breathed. Think of that. This is God's
Word to men. It's Not only is it without error,
to say God's Word is without error is to not really accurately
represent God's Word. God's Word is truth. What you're
holding in your lap is truth. This Word kills and makes life. The same Word kills and gives
life. It's a sharp, two-edged sword.
And this sword is the children's bread. Think of this sword. is the children's bread, and
we keep our weapons away from children. This sword is the children's
bread. This is God's Word. The priest
told David, I don't have anything else, but this sword is all I've
got. This is all I've got. This is
all I've got to give you is God's Word. There is none like that. Give it me. Second, Brother Tom
said, There is none like our Savior, the Incarnate Word. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the Living Word. There is no other Savior. There is none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. There is no
other Savior. There is no other righteousness
other than the righteousness of Christ. His very name is Jehovah
Tzidken, who is the Lord our righteousness. There is no other
high priest. who can offer a sacrifice for
your sin. There's no other intercessor for you with the Father. Christ
is the only intercessor. And there is no one else who
would love you enough to be made sin for you and to suffer the
hell that you deserve. No one else would be willing
to do that for you. Christ loved the ungodly. He loved us while we were yet
sinners and died for our sins. He died to purchase the salvation
of His people and He arose from the grave to apply it. There's
no other Savior like that. Not only, you know, the high
priest said, or David said, this is a good sword. Not only is
Christ a good Savior, He's the only Savior. Give Him me. Preach Christ to me. That's what
I need, is to know him. Preach Christ to me. Give it
me. And third, Brother Tom said this sword represents the gospel
of Christ because our gospel is a gospel concerning God's
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This gospel that we preach is
the only gospel that saves, the only one. These other so-called
gospels, what they do is they offer salvation to men, if you'll
just do something to ratify it. Our gospel does not offer anything. God's gospel declares the salvation
of his people. There's no other gospel. In Galatians
chapter 1, verse 6, Paul says, I marvel that you
are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace
of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another. Now, there's
not another gospel. There's not different gospels.
There's one gospel, which is not another. But there be some
that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But now,
this is how serious this is now. But though we, or an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached, Let him be accursed. Let God damn him, Paul says,
if me or an angel or anyone else preached any other gospel to
you other than the gospel of Christ, because there is no other
gospel. There's none like it. Give it
me. Give it me. Now, you know, it
seems like a Himalayan here is saying there's a sword here. But it's not mine to give you.
You can take it if you want it. Nobody's more qualified, David,
to take that sword of Goliath than you are. You killed me.
You can take it if you want it. Now, as much as in me is, I preach
Christ. That is my heart's desire, is
to preach Christ to you. to point you to the Lord Jesus
Christ, not doctrine, not our historical beliefs, not anything
or anyone other than the Lord Jesus Christ. It is my prayer
that God save somebody. I pray that Lord save your people. I'd love to see Him save His
people in my community. It's my prayer that God would
grant them repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It
is my prayer that through the preaching of Christ, God's people
would be edified and comforted and strengthened. But Christ is not mine to give
you. Faith is the gift of God. And you are commanded in God's
Word to come to Christ. Now you lay hold on Christ. Are
you a sinner? Really? Are you a sinner? that you have the right to lay
hold on Christ by faith. Just like that woman with the
issue of blood, it was her disease that gave her the right to crawl
up in the dust behind our Lord that touched the hem of His garment.
She was made whole. And you will too, if you'll lay
hold on Christ. This Word of God, Christ our
Savior, in his gospel, it's all we have. Give it me. Give it me. All right. The Lord
bless you.