Psalm 34, Psalm of David, it's
as follows, it's introduced as, Psalm of David, when he changed
his behaviour before Abimelech, or Achish, who drove him away
and he departed. I will bless the Lord at all
times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. My mouth shall make her boast
in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me and
let us exalt his name together. 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. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. O taste
and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. O fear the Lord, ye his saints,
for there is no want to them that fear him. Young lions do
lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing. Come, ye children, hearken unto
me. I will teach you the fear of
the Lord. 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. 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
heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord
is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart. and save if such
as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth
all his bones, not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the
wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The Lord redeemeth the soul of
his servants. and none of them that trust in
him shall be desolate. Verse four. I sought the Lord
and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. I sought the Lord and he heard
me and delivered me from all my fears. I sought the Lord David
writes, I sought the Lord. Have you ever truly sought the
Lord? One ain't sure we seek many things. We seek pleasure, we seek riches,
we seek those things that we want, or those people we want. But have you sought the Lord?
Who seeks the Lord? Who do you meet in this day and
age and generation who is seeking the Lord? Does anyone seek the
Lord? Does anyone in their natural
state seek the Lord? Well, according to Paul in Romans
chapter three, The answer's no. You may say, oh, I have sought
the Lord, or I'm seeking the Lord, but according to Paul in
Romans, he quotes, there is none that understandeth, there is
none that seeketh after God. There's none righteous, no, not
one. There's none that doeth good. There is none that understandeth. There's none that understands
the things of God. There's none that seeks God.
By nature, you're not born seeking God. You're born speaking lies. You're born fervoring your own
ends and your own glory because you're born in sin. Mankind wasn't
made in such a way. The first man, Adam, wasn't made,
wasn't created in sin. But when he fell, when he rebelled,
when he sought his own glory over the glory of God, when sin
entered man, sin passed upon all men and death by sin. And
every man, woman and child that has come upon the face of the
earth since seeks their own things, not the things of God and not
the things of Jesus Christ. There is none that seeketh after
God. You haven't, have you? Truly. And yet here, the psalmist David
says, I sought the Lord. Then why did he seek the Lord?
What brought David to seek the Lord when by nature he was born
a sinner like you and I? blind to the things of God, deaf
to the things of God, dead to the things of God. What brought
him to seek the Lord? God brought him. He didn't seek
him by nature. But God brought David to the
point where everything else was nothing to him. where everything
else had come crashing down, where everything else was worthless. God brought him into circumstances
where he needed help. And God brought him to know that
that help could come from one source and one source only. God
brought him to the end of himself and the end of his hope and his
trust in men. God brought him to seek the Lord. God broke him. He brought him
into distress. He brought him into debt. And he brought him into anguish. And then he sought the Lord. If you've ever been brought to
seek the Lord, you'll know something of David's pathway. By nature,
we don't. It begins with God. It begins with God seeking us
and working in us to draw us unto himself. I will bless the
Lord at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me and
let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord and he heard
me and delivered me from all my fears. Dave is full of praise. Because God brought him to a
desperate state and God brought him to seek and when he sought
the Lord heard him and answered him and the Lord delivered him
from all his fears. The Lord saved him. The Lord
was a saviour unto him. The Lord heard. I sought the
Lord and he heard me. You'll never seek until you're
given a need. You'll never seek until the Lord
first shows you what you are, where you are, where you're heading
and your great need to be delivered from your sin and from judgement. There's a wonderful psalm contrasting
God's deliverance of his chosen here, of David, of the righteous
from all their troubles, and the contrast with the plight
of the wicked. David and those like him may
have known great trial, great trouble, but their final end
was wonderful. Though they were brought through
great difficulties, though they were led through the fires and
deep waters, Ultimately the Lord saved them and delivered them
and blessed them. And though others around them,
the wicked, seemed to prosper and seemed to have it easy and
weren't in the same trials and the same difficulties that they
were, though others seemed to prosper around David, their ultimate
end was destruction. David 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
heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord
is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and save if such
as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth
all his bones, not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the
wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.
The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants. and none of them
that trust in him shall be desolate. So we see in this psalm the great
grace which God has bestowed upon David, the great deliverance
and the judgment of God against the wicked. And through David
here, we see the Lord Jesus, of whom David is but the figure,
of the states that Christ was brought into, and of how the
Lord delivered him. He keepeth all of his bones,
not one of them is broken. The Lord redeemeth the soul of
his servants, and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. I sought the Lord, and he heard
me, and delivered me from all my fears. When Christ hung upon
the cross, like David, he knew what trial was. He knew what
suffering was. He knew what death was. And Christ's
gaze, Christ's faith, Christ's cry was unto the Father. And though the Father in judgment
judged his own son, because Christ died in the place of his people,
because Christ bore the sins of his own people, and because
God in righteousness had to judge his own people. because he had
to judge those sins, because he could not turn a blind eye
to the sins that Christ bore, because God was just and must
judge the sinner, and because Christ on the cross hung as the
sinner in the place of his people. Though God judged him, though
God poured out the fires of his wrath upon him, though God took
the sword of justice and thrust it into his own son, Nevertheless,
Christ's faith wavered not. Nevertheless, Christ looked and
sought the Lord, and waited on his God, and cried unto his Father. and knew that in the end, despite
all, despite the judgment that was poured out upon him, despite
the suffering he endured, despite the fires he passed through,
despite the floods that went over his head, despite the wrath
of God which poured out, despite the death he endured, Christ's
faith looked up. and trusted and waited and knew
that God would deliver him. He knew that God would deliver
him out of all his troubles. He knew that he would rise again
victorious. He knew that his suffering for
his people would not be in vain. He knew that in dying in their
place, everyone for whom he died, would be saved. Such was his
love for them, such was his love for God, such was his faith in
God that he knew that as he sought the Lord he would hear him and
deliver him from all his fears. This poor man cried and the Lord
heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. Oh magnify
the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord and he heard
me and delivered me from all my fears. Well the heading of
the psalm gives us the context which caused David to write this
psalm. It gives us the background and
the circumstance in which he was brought which led to him
writing these wonderful words. The psalm of David when he changed
his behaviour before Abimelech, or Achish, who drove him away
and he departed. And we read of this encounter
as we read earlier in 1st Samuel and chapter 22. David comes to
a place called Nob and to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech was afraid
at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone,
and no man with thee? And David said unto Ahimelech
the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath 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. So David is sent by Saul, and
he comes alone. and he says unto him let now
therefore what is under thine hand give me five loaves of bread
in mine hand or what there is present and the priest answered
David and said there's no common bread under my hand but there
is hallowed bread, if the young men have kept themselves at least
from women.' And 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 are holy, and
the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it was sanctified
this day in the vessel. So the priest gave them hallowed
bread, for there was no bread there but the showbread. that
was taken from before the Lord, to put hot bread in the day when
it was taken away. Now a certain man of the servants
of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord, and his name
was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged
to Saul. And 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. And 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 ephod.
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. And David arose and fled that
day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said
unto him, is not this David the king of the land? Did they not
sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain
his thousands, and David his ten thousands? And David laid
up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish
the king of Gath. And he changed his behaviour
before him, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled
on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon
his beard. Then said Achish unto his servants,
Lo, ye see the man is mad, wherefore then have ye brought him to me?
Have I need of madmen, that ye have brought this fellow to play
the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my
house? David therefore departed thence,
and escaped to the cave Adulam. And when his brethren and all
his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him.
And everyone that was in distress, and everyone that was in debt,
and everyone that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him.
And he became a captain over them. And there were with him
about four hundred men. Now in this account, of David
coming first to the priest of Himalaya and taking from him
the hallowed bread to eat after three days and then taking the
sword of the Philistine, Goliath and then coming before this king
of Gath, Achish, Achish and behaving mad in his presence in order
to escape from him before finally escaping out of his hands and
coming to the cave adulum where others are gathered under him.
We see a wonderful picture of the Gospel and a wonderful picture
of how God used these circumstances that caused David to seek Him. It was God that delivered David
out of the hands of his enemies. He knew that Saul hated him. He knew that Saul was jealous
of him and sought his life. And he comes before another here
who knew who he was, who'd heard of him, who'd heard that this
is David, of whom the people had praised, because of the victories
which were given to David, because of David's great victory over
Goliath. Did they not sing one to another
of him in dances, saying Saul has slain his thousands and David
his ten thousands? This king of Gath knew who David
was. I need to put him to death. So David, acts mad in his presence,
that he might be seen as weak, as one not to be feared, as a
fool, as one to be cast out. In so doing, the Lord delivered
him from this king's presence, and he escaped unto the cave
Adullam. We read how he seeks bread after
three days. we read of a sword, we read of
the deliverance from his enemies, and we read in the end of him
being brought to a place of refuge, to the cave adylum, where others
like him, who were in distress, who were in debt, who were discontented,
afflicted, troubled, were gathered under him. In this picture, we
see Christ laying down his life for his people. We see Christ,
the bread of life, being offered up for his people. We see Christ
laying in the grave for three days, crucified, being put in
the grave, in the tomb, in a cave. We see Christ in the end being
lifted up as the showbread, as the bread of life who delivers
his people from all death and judgement and sin. We see Christ
having his people gathered unto him in his death, in the grave,
to be delivered and rising up with them victorious the other
side. We see the sword, the sword of
God's wrath, the sword of God's judgement, the sword of sin,
the sword of the enemy being brought upon Christ and his people. The priest gives unto David that
sword wrapped in a cloth, that sword of Goliath's. David says
there's none like it. Give it me. A mighty sword is
given unto he who is the picture of Christ. There's no sword like
this sword. There's no judgment like this
judgment. There's no blade like this blade. There's no death like this death. There's no suffering like this
suffering. There's no trouble. like this
trouble we see in David's madness how weak he was before his enemies
and how this king of Gath looked upon him and despised him as
the enemies of God looked upon the son of God in his weakness
and laughed and spat upon him and ridiculed him and mocked
him Though ye see the man is mad, wherefore then have ye brought
him to me? Have I need of madmen, that ye
have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall
this fellow come into my house? So the world looked upon Christ,
and looked upon the wisdom of God, and said its foolishness. And they looked upon he who is
the wisdom of God and said, he is foolishness. They despised
him because of his meekness. because they had him in their
hands. Because they were able to take
him and nail him to a cross and crucify him. They thought he
was weak. They thought he was powerless
in their hands. This one who had said, I am the
son of God. They laughed and said, is this
the son of God? Is this what the mighty power
of God is like? Is this the Almighty in our hands? This one we lift up and nail
to a cross and crucify and slay with our own hands. Is this God? They laughed at him like he was
a madman like David. And that's what you have done
with Jesus Christ and that's what you do with the Son of God. You take him and you look at
him and you despise him, you hear of him in the gospel, you
read of him in the scriptures, you hear of what others tell
you of him and you say, is that God? Is that the son of God? Is that as strong and mighty
as he is? You look at him in his weakness. You look at him upon the cross.
You look at him dying in the place of sinners and say, is
that God? Is that the gospel? You see his
blood. You see a dead man. And you say,
if that's the son of God, why did he die? Why could he not
call down a legion of angels to deliver him as those that
stood alongside jeered and mocked? You say the same thing in your
own heart. Why must the Son of God die? Why is he so weak? Why should
I worship such a God? And to you he's a madman and
you cast him out. You say take him away and off
he goes. And you think you're so wise,
and so cunning, and so clever, in having shut your eyes and
shut your ears to the truth of God, in having turned your back
upon the Son of God, in having trampled upon His blood, in having
cast out this foolish man, this madman, from your presence. Oh, you think you're wise, like
the king of Gath, But this man, like David, this son of God,
who you crucified with your attitude and your hatred and your mockery
and your scorn, when you pierced him with your sin, when you cast
him out, when he died, he did the greatest thing. that ever
happened in this world. He demonstrated the power of
God in a way that you by nature simply cannot comprehend. That
moment of weakness, that moment of madness in the world's eyes,
that moment of foolishness that this great man that could cure
people, that could heal the sick, that could make the blind to
see, that could walk on water, that caused Lazarus to come forth
from the tomb, this worker of wonders, could he not save himself? Yet that moment of sheer desperation,
that moment in your eyes of foolishness, that he had to lay down his life,
that he was not so strong that he could deliver himself. In
that moment, when he died, in the eyes of men of failure, in
your eyes, weak and foolish, In that moment he delivered a
countless multitude from their sins. In that moment he caused
millions of dead people to rise again and live. In that moment
he took sinners like you and I and made them to be righteous. In that moment he saved David
from his iniquity. In that moment he brought in
an everlasting salvation for a countless multitude. In that
moment he judged this world. In that moment the destiny of
every man, woman and child upon this earth was finalised, sealed
and cemented. God had already decided who will
be saved and who will be damned but that ratified it, that sealed
it. God took the judgment of his
people and laid it upon the son and he died. And God left the
sins of the wicked of a multitude of others who laughed and scoffed
and left it upon them. And because Christ didn't, suffer
in their place. They will suffer forevermore. Now you may, with the King of
Gath, look on upon Christ, upon the cross, and see David a madman,
and laugh, and say I'll have nothing to do with this. But
in the end, if that's how you go to your grave, you will meet
that madman the other side of death who will stand before you
and utter a sentence depart from me I never knew you ye worker
of iniquity that man you cast out as mad is the very wisdom
of God, the Son of God, the One who is the power of God, the
King of kings and the Lord of lords, the One before whom you
must stand and answer, the One who holds your life in His hands,
the most powerful in time and eternity. A madman or a saviour? He had given unto him by the
priests the sword of Goliath. There's none like it. There's
no sword like this sword. And that great sword he drove
into himself in judgment. His father slew the son. His father slew him with such
a sword. And in such a death he delivered
all his people from all their sins. Which is why David was
answered. I sought the Lord and he heard
me and delivered me from all my fears. Delivered me from all
my fears. David was hungry. The Lord fed
him. Your great hunger is not for
bread in this world, your great need of food like David is for
the bread of life from heaven. Your great need is for hallowed
bread, holy bread, after three days. Christ died, and on the
third day he rose again. The bread of heaven rose victorious
from the grave. You need to eat that bread. and drink the water, the water
of life, who Christ is. Yes, here's a picture of Christ's
death. He's going into the tomb, into the cave, and his people
being gathered unto him. Here is death and resurrection. Here is sojourn and rest with
the Lord. everyone that was in distress
and everyone that was in debt and everyone that was discontented
gathered themselves under him and he became a captain over
them and there were with him about 400 men here is rest here
is a people in pilgrimage passing through the waters Here at Cave
Adulam is the church. David departed therefore thence
and escaped to the Cave Adulam. And when his brethren and all
his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him.
And everyone that was in distress, and everyone that was in debt,
and everyone that was discontented, gathered themselves under him. David sought the Lord, and the
Lord heard him. David was being pursued by Saul. David came unto the king of Gath,
who could have put him to death. He cried out unto his God. His
God was with him. He played the madman before the
king and the Lord delivered him out of his hands. The world looked
upon him and laughed. And David was delivered into
this cave. And the people sought him. They came looking for him. People like him, people in trouble,
people in distress, in debt, in great affliction, sought him. Why did they seek David? Because David knew the Lord. Because David had been anointed
of the Lord. David was God's anointed. David was the one whom God would
have to be king. Yes, at that time Saul was king. But God's love was for David.
David was a picture of the Saviour. And the people came to know And
they came to know He who could save them. Despite all outward
appearances, despite what everyone else would tell them, they knew. Outwardly Saul was their king. Outwardly Saul should be the
one unto whom they should go. But they'd been taught of God. And they were taught another
way. And rather than go into the man
of might in the world's eyes, rather than follow in the wisdom
of this world, they went to the one who was mad, the fool, the
weak in the eyes of the world. And yet the one whom God loved,
the one who was anointed, God's true king. who had sought the
Lord and the Lord had delivered him. David was anointed. David was lifted up before the
people and drew others unto him and in drawing them to himself
he drew them unto God. He's but a picture of the God
that they sought, a picture of Christ, a picture of the Saviour,
a picture. He sought the Lord and the Lord
heard him. They sought the Lord, went to
David and came unto God through him. They came to Christ to come
to the Father. And they found David in the cave,
Adullam. They found him in the grave. They were united with him in
the grave. They were led by the gospel to
the cross. and from the cross to the grave,
to the tomb, and they were one with their Saviour in the tomb,
dying with Him, having their sins taken away, and then finally
coming forth with Him victorious. David was lifted up and drew
others unto him. as a figure of Christ, who in
John 12 said, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men unto me. Preach the gospel, lift up Christ
from the earth upon the cross, and he'll draw all men unto him.
And here God took David, the man he loved, and lifted him
up before the people, and those in need were drawn unto him. When were these people brought
to seek him? And what were they like? They
came when they were in distress, when they were in debt, and when
they were in discontent or bitter anguish, bitterness of soul,
Now the words translated here, distress, debt and discontent
in the original tongue have a sense which is far greater than the
English conveys. By distress, it is meant sheer
distress, utter distress, utter torment, absolutely in trouble. having been brought to a point
where you cannot survive, where you can't think what to do or
where to go. Everything is terrible, everything's
fallen apart. Everything's in ruin. It's acute
distress. And everyone that was in debt,
absolutely in debt, sheer poverty, The debt's gone over their heads.
They weren't just owing someone a few pounds that they could
pay them the next week, but they were so far in debt that there
was no escape. Every week that went by, they
were getting more and more in debt. The more they strove to
get themselves out of debt, the more they entered into debt.
That kind of debt. and everyone that was discontented
or had bitterness or soul so much trouble were they in that
there was bitterness within there was so much trouble so much despair they could see no escape It's
when they were brought into this state that they went unto David. This is the character of those
that were drawn unto him and this is the character of those
that are drawn unto Christ. I sought the Lord and he heard
me. Has he brought you into that
sort of place? Total distress about your sin,
your iniquity. Where you stand before a holy
God. Your absolute lack of righteousness. Has he shown you the debt that
your sins have brought in? Has he shown you that the more
that you work, the more you strive to live right, to live righteous,
the worse you get? It's a sinking feeling, it's
a drowning feeling. and has he brought you by consequence
into bitterness or so? Are you there? Have you been
there? Have you sought the Lord? If you have, you won't find him
with a king of Gath. You won't find him with Saul. You won't find the Lord in those
places and with those people that the world considers mighty.
You won't find him with the great companies. You won't find the
Lord in the great meetings or the great multitudes. You'll
find him in the cave of Adila. You'll find him cast out. You'll
find that the Lord is that one who everyone else casts out as
foolish. The true Christ, the true Savior,
is that one whose person and message and work is despised
by the world. Not just the world of sinners,
but the world of religion. They cast him out. They say,
we'll not have this man. We want another Jesus. We want
a Jesus that will prosper us in this world. But you'll find
that this Jesus, this savior, this David, is mad in the world's
eyes. And you won't find him in the
courts of the king of Gath. You'll find him in a cave. You'll find him dead. and buried,
you'll be drawn to the cross and drawn to the grave and drawn
to the tomb where the women came looking for Christ early in the
morning on the third day. You'll go with the women to the
tomb. You'll go in your distress and
your debt and your discontent. You'll go with your great need
and you'll cry out and you'll seek by faith and say, Lord,
help me. And you'll be to others as a
madman. You'll be just as foolish as
he was. You'll be to others like David. You'll seem mad to the world
around you. Yet you by faith inwardly will
be going to a place, a cave, where David is there as a captain
over his people and you'll go with others and you'll see them
entering. You'll see the other fools in
the world's eyes who've come to know him and you'll find and
recognise with them a common commentrate that they, like you,
have come to an end of themselves. They, like you, have been slain.
They, like you, are dead. They, like you, have nothing.
They, like you, once sought their own ends and sought their own
glory. They, like you, know that they
were once unwilling, ungrateful, uncaring. They, like you, are
sinners, dead in trespasses and sins. But they, with you, have
come to a Saviour, slain for sinners, who has become their
captain. And they, like you, have sought
the Lord, and He heard them, and delivered them from all their
fears. and they like you say unto you as you say unto them
I'll magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. This poor man cried and the Lord
heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. Have you been
brought to a cave, a tomb where the Lord lay? Are you, have you
been in distress, in debt, in bitterness or so? Have you found
he who is risen, the captain of his people? Has your faith
been answered? Can you say with David, with
a certainty, I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered
me from all my fears. I sought the Lord and He heard
me and delivered me from all my fears. Amen.