Let's go ahead and read the fifteen
verses of this chapter. Remember that David, he is still
fleeing from King Saul. Remember the meeting last week
between Jonathan and David, how the message was in the eras,
how the eras were beyond David, which meant that David could
never come back to be with his wife, could never come back with
Jonathan, and could never come back to the palace. This is how
God had determined to bring him to the throne. And this is how
God works in the life of all his people. There are many ways
that you can look at these verses. But I see him as a picture of
God's people that he chose, like David, above all of his brethren.
He singled him out. And how that he will use everything
that transpires in David's life to make him, to break him, and
to humble him. And when he reveals, as we see
in this chapter, it bothers me every time I read it. It's just
amazing just to read. Is this the same David? that
went down and fought Goliath. This is the same man who had
all this faith and said, is there not a cause? When everybody else
was afraid, he went down and he conquered Goliath. And now
we see him here in this chapter. He couldn't find no relief with
Jonathan, with Samuel, with his wife, nowhere else. And now he's
still running. He's still fleeing. Can you imagine
what's going through his mind? It's like you can't find rest
anywhere. Have you ever been there just
looking for some rest? Just give me some place I can
have some peace. Just hunted. It's like the scripture
that Jeff read. Everywhere our Lord went, they
hated Him. You know, you would have thought they would have
rejoiced when He had healed somebody. No, they was making fault because
somebody didn't wash their hands. And that's religion. And Saul's
just a picture of organized religion. That's exactly what it's a picture
of. They seem like they flourish. They seem like they reign. But
I can tell you one little secret. They hate God's king. They hate
God's anointed. They hate his gospel and anything
to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. He's despised. That's just a
fact. And it's never changed. And our
Lord said, if they've hated me, they'll hate you. If they've
hated me, they'll hate you, and they will. Don't take it personal. They hate you. You know why they
hate you? Christ in you, the hope of glory. Your presence
makes them uncomfortable. David's presence made Saul uncomfortable,
and he was jealous of him. Every time he got around him,
it gnawed his conscience. So the only way he could deal
with it was just, okay, so I'll annihilate him. I'll kill him.
I'll just destroy him, and that's what's going on. But God uses
every bit of that to mold and to make all his people. His mercy is new every morning,
and great is his faithfulness. You know what God told David?
David, you're king, and you're going to sit upon the throne
of Israel, and we're going to find out eventually he will.
But I think there's about 10 years. He lives in exile. He's hated. He's despised. But let me tell you this. It
may look today like the Lord Jesus Christ to the world's eyes.
He's not king, but he's still king. He may be despised and
rejected by the souls of this world in the religion of this
day. He's still king. And God even used everything
that's going on today to make his people and to bring his elect
all to him. And if you remember that, and
this morning I just want to remind you of that fact, our David reigns. He rules. Ain't you glad? Verse
1, verse Samuel 21. Then David came to nod to a Himalayan,
the priest, and Himalayan was afraid. At the meeting of David,
he said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?
And David said unto Himalayan, 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. Now, therefore, in what in Now
therefore, what is under thy hand, give me. Five loaves of
bread in my hand are what there is present.' And the priest answered
David and said, There is 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 in a manner common, yea, though
it were sanctified this day in the vessel. So the priest gave
him 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 in the temple, That day detained before the
Lord in his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the
herdsmen that belongeth to Saul. And David said to Ahimelech,
And is there not here under thine hand a spear or sword? For I
have neither brought my sword nor my weapon 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." There's no other
sword or spear here. And David said, there is none
like that. Give it to me. And David arose
and fled that day. Don't you see this? Why does
he flee? For fear of Saul. And he went
to Achash, the king of Gath. And the servants of Gakash said
unto him, Is not this David, the king of the land? Did not
they sing one to another of him, and dances, saying, Saul hath
slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? And David
laid up these words in his heart, and was so afraid, and they cashed
the king of Gath. And what's this? And he changed
his behavior before them, and found himself mad in their hands. And he scrabbled on the door
of the gate, and let his spittle run down upon his beard like
a madman. Then said Achishun to his servants,
Lo, ye see this 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? Is this the same David? So David
runs to the temple, he runs to the tabernacle, to Achash the
priest. Author Pink said, listen, there
are times when God's tender love for his people seems to be contradicted
by the sore testings which he has sent upon them, times when
his providence appears to clash with his promises. This is in. In those times like this, faith
is tested. And so often, our faith, when
it's tested, it fails. He's afraid of King Saul, and
he flees for his life. You know, we read about the great
man Elijah. stood on Mount Carmel against
450 prophets. He stood alone. And when he comes
off the mount, one wicked king, one wicked queen named Jezebel,
she says, Elijah, I'm going to do the same thing to you as you
did to my prophets. You know what he did? He got
afraid, and he began to run. Fear is a horrible thing. Fear
brings torment. Fear comes from unbelief. You
say, can this man be the same David who had such courage, now
has such unbelief? Does that not describe us? Describes
us? I see myself here in David. We're
afraid. True faith, listen, true faith,
it will be tested. It will be tested. And the only
one that can maintain faith is the one that gave faith. You
can't maintain it. You say, boy, I wished I believed
like I should, and I wished I believed like I wanted to, but I just
can't. It just seems like I can't maintain
it. And you can't. Only God can. The one chosen to be king and
rule over all Israel is now a fugitive. He's a hunted and a hated man. Even when he comes here to the
tabernacle, the priest is afraid. Why? Everybody knows what Saul
will do, and we're going to find out. Everybody knows what Saul
will do if he finds out that anybody helps him. You know what
eventually happens in chapter 22? We read there, and I pointed
out that Doeg the Edomite was there, who was the servant of
Saul. You know what Doeg did? He went, and I guess he wanted
to get brownie points with King Saul, and he told King Saul,
he said, guess what, Saul? David came to the priest, and
the priest gave him food, and he gave him a sword, and he inquired
of God for him, and you know what Saul did? Saul sent for
that priest and killed 85 priests. He killed their families, their
children, and everybody in that city. That's what they did. Saul's servants, Saul said, slay
these men. And they were afraid to do it.
And Doeg said, I'll do it. That's wickedness. Wickedness. That's what's going on here.
And he was afraid. It is one thing to believe that
I am without strength. It's quite another to experience
it. Arthur Pink said, the truth of
God has to be burned into us in the fiery furnace of affliction. We say we really believe, just
wait a while. You let God put you in the furnace.
You let God put you in a situation like this right here. It seems
like you're surrounded by the enemy. It seems like there's
no way out. That's the way it looks. And
David comes to the priest, and he begs for help. It is out of
desperation that David goes to the tabernacle. He is hungry,
and he is desperate. And out of his desperation, he
is driven to the tabernacle to seek help from God's priest. He has nowhere else to run. God
knows what to use to drive us to Himself, and He will. He will. You have nowhere else to turn
and you have nowhere else to run. But I see in myself so often,
we come to, when we come, you know what we do? We try to hide
while we come. The priest said, David, why are
you alone? Why are you alone? And David just flat out lies. There's no way of explaining
it. Would anybody else like to explain it any other way? He
said, I'm here on the king's business. He said, King Saul
sent me. And he said, I'm on a secret
mission. He said, not to tell anybody
why I'm here. Just flat out keep lying. We're nothing but pretenders.
We lie. Don't we? So this is why we come. No, we ain't. Let's be honest,
we come because we're desperate. We're afraid. We're in need. That's why we come. Why didn't
he just come out and tell the priest, said, you know, someone's
trying to kill me. Can you not help me out just
a little bit here? Can you offer me some shelter,
some safety? Can you not give me something
to eat? Oh, no, we've got to cover it up. We've got to pretend
every one of us by nature are nothing more than hypocrites.
That's right. We honor him with our mouth,
but our heart is far from him. Isn't that right? Like he said,
you know, we've got the beam in our own eye, but we want to
pull the motor out of somebody else's eye. This describes us. This is a
man after God's own heart. Isn't it? The king of Israel. We are ashamed of what and who
we are, but we still come, come hungry, seeking bread. We must
have Christ, the showbread, the bread of his presence, the bread
that is continually set before the Lord. He said, do you have
any bread here? And he said, the only bread that's
here is that showbread, the hallowed bread. Go back and read and find
out in Leviticus about the showbread. You know the tabernacle? You
have, when you first came through, there was the brazen altar, and
there was the altar of incense, I mean, the laver, but only in
the holy place, in the holy place, not the holies of holies, where
the Ark of the Covenant was at, but in the holy place. On the
left-hand side, you had the golden lampstand, Christ is the light
of the world. You had the altar of incense,
which is a picture of Christ's intercession for his elect. And
over here on this table, a table about three feet long, 18 inches
wide, were 12 loaves of bread that were always there continually,
showing that Christ is satisfied, our God is satisfied with Christ,
who's the bread of life. And it was there continually
from Sabbath to Sabbath. Every Sabbath they put new bread
out, fresh, unstale bread. But the next Sabbath, you know
what they did? They put new bread. But what did they do with the
one they took off? The priests could eat it. It was theirs. They feasted upon Christ. You
remember what our Lord said? He made reference to it. When
he was talking, you remember when they were walking through
the field that day and his disciples were reaching over, getting an
ear of corn? And the Pharisee said, look what your disciples
are doing. They're picking corn on the Sabbath day. And he said,
have you never read what David did when he had need and was
a hungered? He and they that were with him.
So this lets us know that David wasn't there just alone that
day. Those men maybe hid somewhere, but they was other men. 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 priest. It's only for the priest. And
gave it to them that were with him. Have you not read this story?
He said, do you not understand that? He said, David doesn't
have any right to this food. Oh, yes, he does. God has made
us kings and priests unto God. We are identified with our high
priest. We have the right. He said, is
there not any bread here? He said, there's no common bread,
but there's that show bread. And David actually asked for
five loaves. Why were they 12 loaves? One
from every tribe of Israel. Representing the elect of Almighty
God, they're there continually. And he said, would you give me
five of those loaves? And the priest gave them to him.
Can you imagine, David, when he goes back to those men? They're
probably hungry, dirty, and he pulls out that bread. And when
they start partaking of that bread, you know who they're partaking
of? They're partaking of Christ. Do you see how God drives you
to his tabernacle? And when he brings you in, you
say, I'm not worthy to partake of this bread. I'm not worthy. That's right, you're not. But
in my high priest I am. He hath made us kings and priests
unto God. And now what do we do? We feast
on Christ, the bread. He is our nourishment. The scriptures here do not try
to conceal what David did, or they don't even try to justify
it. God help us to learn from these lessons. The Lord Jesus Christ, the bread
of life, is for us. He is the very bread of God.
He is the food of heaven. That is to say, our all-glorious
Christ, the person and his work, it is he upon whom Christ feasts,
Christ delights, and Christ finds all his satisfaction. He is ever
before the Lord. Do you see that? And David comes
in and he said, would you give me some bread? And he gave it
to him. So he gave him the bread. And
then in verse 8, and David said unto him, look, and is there
not here under the hand of spear or sword? He comes asking for
bread and he asked for a weapon. And I can just see David. He thinks, well, the priest is
going to ask me, said, well, where is your sword? You mean
to tell me you come away from Saul and you didn't have a sword.
And when you're wondering, you have to ask the question, why
didn't Johnson give him his sword? He has nothing. You know why
the priest, any other time there wouldn't have been a sword there?
We don't fight with carnal weapons. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but they're mighty through God to the pulling down
of the strongholds. They didn't need one. But here in that tabernacle,
that sword that he had took from Goliath and cut his own head
off, David had brought, I believe David brought it, it doesn't
say, I'm just presuming that David brought that sword to the
tabernacle and he laid it up as a memorial. to God, because
this is what God had done for him. He's saying, God gave me
the victory. And he said, is there a sword
here? And the priest said, only a Goliath sword. And David said,
there's nothing like that. You give it to me. And can you
imagine what David thought when he grabbed hold of that sword?
Don't you know he had to remember what God had done for him? How
God had delivered him? And let me tell you this, God
will use things to just remind you of who he is and what he's
done. What does it say on the front
of this table? This do, in remembrance of me. You know why David was in the
state he was in, depressed and discouraged? He'd forgot. He'd
forgotten. How soon we forget. How soon
we forget. This was reserved as a monument
of the goodness of God to Israel, and the salvation of them wrought
by the hands of David, who slew Goliath with his own sword, and
he brought it with him. Someone said two things may be
observed concerning this sword. God graciously gave this sword
to David. Then David graciously gave it
back to God, dedicating it to God. He knew that he hadn't done
it in his own strength. How can someone like this take
a job like that and just cut his head off? With God, all things
are possible. All things. All things. And the priest said,
verse 9, the sword of the Goliath, the Philistine, whom thou slewest
in the valley of Elah. Behold, it is here wrapped in
the cloth behind thee, for if thou wilt take it, take that.
for there is none other save that here and David said there
is none like that give it to me now verse 10 through 15 he
leaves the priest he leaves with the showbread and he leaves with
the sword of Goliath and those men we don't know how many are
with him if you want to read over in chapter 2 the very next
chapter it talks about 400 men are with him We don't know the
space between chapter 21 and 22, but we don't know how many
men were with David or following at this time. It said, David
arose and fled for fear of Saul and went to Achash king of Gath. Now, doesn't that sound strange?
Who was from Gath? Goliath was from Gath. And why
does he flee to this place? Does that not make you want to
ask that question? Could it be that the priest told
him? We find out from Doag in chapter 22 that the priest did
inquire of God for David. David said, what am I to do?
And I don't know that God didn't instruct him to go here, because
we're going to find out in chapters on down the road when he actually
fought for Achash in Philistines. You said, how in the world? Why
would he run to God's enemies for protection? Sometimes God's enemies treat
God's people better than God's people who claim to be God's
people. You know what it says about Jeremiah? The king of Judah
threw Jeremiah into prison. And you know who set him free?
The king of Babylon. Paul couldn't go to Jerusalem.
They wanted to kill him. You know where he went? He'd
go to the Gentiles, to Ephesus and Corinth and those places.
You know what they did? They received him. Someone said
that Achish probably couldn't stand Goliath and he was probably
glad that David had killed him. I don't know. I'm just throwing
things out. You try to figure it out. I don't
know all the answers. But it's just strange. This is
the very enemies of God. These are the ones that David
has killed and destroyed. And now he runs to the very place. He said he arose and fled that
day for fear of Saul and went to Achish, king of Gath. And the servants of Achash said
unto him, He is trying to hide, and they
know exactly who he is. Is this not David, the king of
the land? What land? Is this talking about
the land of the Philistines or the land of Judah? What did Goliath
say? Goliath said, you come down and
you fight me, and if I defeat you, then you'll be our servant. But if you defeat me, we'll be
your servants. Who defeated who? So now who's
king? He's not only king over Judah,
he's king over all. Our Lord is king over all the
land." They said, is this not David, the king of the land?
Did not they sing one to another of hymn and dances, saying, Slaw
has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands? You remember
that song? These people know who he is. You know what this
reminds me of as I read this? This reminds me of Peter. You
know what Peter tried to do? Didn't he try to hide himself?
Where did he try to hide? By the enemy fire. He tried to
get warm. And while he's standing there,
some little maid walks up and says, I know who you are. You're one of his disciples.
And he says, no, hold on now. You got me confused with somebody
else. That's what David's trying to
do here. He's trying to hide. And he can't be hidden. Didn't
you read that? He said he couldn't be hid. They
found him. He couldn't be hid. Saul had slain his thousands
and David his ten thousand. And David laid up these words
in his heart and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. He's
scared to death. Flat, scared to death. Do you
not see this? When he went to the tabernacle,
who was there? And David, we find out in chapter
22 that David knew. He said, I knew that day. That's
why he fled. He knew as soon as he left, Doag
was going to run as hard as he could and go tell Saul where
David was at. And God used that to make David
flee. And now he runs to the Philistines and God is exposing
him even there. Where is he to go? Where is he
to go? Everywhere he goes. And he changed
his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad in their
hands, and scrabbled on the door of the gate, and let his spittle
fall down upon his beard. Is this David? Is this David? Then said Achish
unto his servant, Lo, you see, this man is mad. Wherefore then
have you brought him to me? Have I need a madman, that you
have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? So
shall this fellow come unto my house?" As me and Sandy was talking
about this chapter, you know the question she asked? What
in the world was David thinking? I'm going to show you. This last
part, verses 10 through 15, After this happens, David penned two
of the Psalms. For scripture to mean something
to you, find out who wrote it. Find out what was going on when
he wrote it. And find out who he was writing to. And when you,
I'm going to read those Psalms. We're going to be in first, let
me see, there's two of them. Psalms 56. Now, keep this in mind when David's
going through. All this is going through his
mind. Psalms 56. And you notice, if you've got
a Bible that has some notes, it says, to the chief musician,
and everybody knows who the chief musician is. That's none other
but Christ. He's the chief musician upon
– and I'm not even going to try to pronounce that word. a Mictam
of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath." Now, the word
Mictam of David, this is one of what is called, referred to
as the Golden Psalms. And that word that I'm not going
to try to pronounce, what that actually means is, it signifies
the silent dove afar off. And that's David, that's what
he's pictured here. He's like a dove. with no place
to rest. Do you remember when Noah turned
the dove out of the ark? And she went out and she flew.
And you know why? Why did she come back to the
ark? He sent the raven out and the raven never came back. That
raven didn't care to eat and to feast upon all those bloated
bodies that were floating on top of that water. But that dove
could not find rest for the sole of her foot and she returned
back to the ark. And he reached out and brought
her in. That is him, the silent dove, afar off. It's like David. He has nowhere
to find rest for his soul. Let me read. He said, Be merciful
unto me, O God. Now, listen. Now, you picture
this as you think about this. This is not only just King David. This also speaks of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Be merciful unto me, O God, for
man would swallow me up. He fighting daily oppresses me. Mine enemies would daily swallow
me up, for they be many that fight against me, O Thou Most
High. What time I am afraid, what time
I am afraid, I will trust in Thee. What time I'm afraid? You ever been afraid? It's fearful. Fearful. What time I'm afraid?
I'll still trust Him. In God I will praise His Word.
In God I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can
do unto me. He doesn't say anything about
what He just did in chapter 21. He just brags and exalts and
praises His God. Every day they rest my words. We read they came to Christ and
they wanted to catch him in something he said, always trying to twist
his words. Every day they rest my words.
All their thoughts are against me for evil, every one of their
thoughts. They gather themselves together.
They hide themselves. They mark my steps when they
wait for my soul. Shall they escape my iniquity?
In thine anger cast down the people, O God, thou tellest my
wonderings, putt thou my tears into thy bottle." Does God have
a bottle that He puts tears in? He said right here He did. Why
would He do that? Remembering them. Are they not
in thy book? Do you think God was aware of
what was going on in David's life? You think God's aware of
what goes on in your life? Can you just imagine what's going
on in David's mind? His heart, his heart is breaking. He says, thou tellest my wanderings,
thou putt my tears into thy, it's his bottle. Are they not
in thy book? When I cry unto thee, then shall
mine enemies turn back. This I know. For God is for me. If God be for me, who can be
against me?" It seems like everything's against David, doesn't it? He
said, this I know. For God is for me, Danny. If
you're his, God is for you, not against you. Read that there
about Jacob. He done thought Joseph was dead.
And his sons had went down to get corn, and now they come back,
and Simeon's not with them, because Joseph kept him. And when he
said, you better bring Benjamin down, or you won't get any more
corn. And they come back, and they
tell their daddy. They said, Daddy, that man down in Egypt
said, unless we come back with Benjamin, we ain't getting no
more corn. He said, Joseph's gone. Simeon, I don't know what's
happening to Simeon. He's not here. And you want to
take Benjamin? He said, all this is against
me. But little did he realize God was using all that to bring
them to see Joseph. Do you see the picture? This
I know, for God is for me. In God will I praise his word.
In God will I praise his word. In God have I put my trust. And
I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. And we just read
where he said he was afraid of Saul. But God taught him by experience,
you don't have to be afraid of anything. Did you hear me? God taught him
by experience that he doesn't have to be afraid of anything
or anyone. Nothing. You know when you really believe
something? You know when you really believe something is when
you've experienced it. Did David know what it was like
to be alone? Did the Lord Jesus Christ know
what it was like to be alone and to be hated and everybody
around him trying to twist his words? Yes. Verse 12, thy vows are upon me,
not my vows are upon me, thy vows are upon me, O God. I will
render praise unto thee. Why will we praise him? for thou
hast delivered my soul from death, will not thou deliver my feet
from falling? The only way you are kept from
falling is for God to uphold you, the only way. That I may walk before God in
the light of the living, Now turn back just a few pages to
Psalm 34. We'll wrap it up. If you'll read the heading of
this psalm, it says, A psalm of David, when he changed his
behavior before Himalaya, who drove him away, and he departed. I tell you, as I read this psalm,
it really, it blessed my heart. Listen, I will bless the Lord
at all times, at all times, 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. Oh, magnify the Lord with me.
Let us exalt His name together." I sought the Lord, and He heard
me, and He delivered me from all my fears. The only reason
you seek Him is because He sought you. But I can guarantee you
this, if God ever intends for you to come to Him, you'll seek
Him. You'll seek Him with all your heart. He says, I sought
the Lord. I sought Him, He heard me, and He delivered me from
all my fears. I heard Henry say one time on
a message, he said a lady came in and she was kindly concerned
about her soul and her condition, and she said, I've done all this,
and I've tried, and I've tried, and I've tried, She said, ìI
just donít have any peace.î And Henry just looked at her and
said, ìWell, have you ever asked God just to save you?î She said,
ìNo.î Well, he said, ìWhy donít you?î I sought the Lord, and
He heard me, and He delivered me. This is not a one-time thing. Listen to me. Salvation began
before the world was made. When God wrote His elect's name
down in the Lamb's Book of Life for the world to make, that was
salvation. But Christ had to die for them. The Holy Spirit
must call them and regenerate them. But it's not just something
that happened in the past. I need His salvation today. I
need to be delivered today. I must seek Him every day. Why? I'm still a sinner. I sought
Him, and He heard me. Have you ever felt like He didn't
hear you? I sought the Lord and He heard
me. And He delivered me. You said, He's still running.
He said, God delivered me. God delivered me. From all my fears. He delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him, and were
lightened. This means their spirits were
uplifted, and their faces were not ashamed. And I look back
at that. You remember when Jonathan, in
the first part of Saul, when he became king, and Jonathan's
going out fighting these battles, and Saul said, nobody's not to
eat anything till I tell them they can eat. Jonathan didn't
hear his daddy. Jonathan's walking by, and he
happens to see some honeycombs. And he reaches down and he gets
him some honeycomb. You know what happened? All his
face is enlightened. He's encouraged. And somebody
said, did you not hear what Saul said? You can't be doing that.
He said, did you not see what it done? It enlightened my face. My face was not ashamed. Not
ashamed. You ever been ashamed? You ever
seen somebody blush? Just ashamed. He said they looked
upon him. Now watch that. Do you see that?
They looked unto him and were lightened. My advice to you this
morning, you look to him. I hope you read that article
in the Bulletin by Greg Lundquist, talking about the serpent being
lifted upon a pole. He said the only reason he can
imagine why nobody would look to the pole, the serpent on the
pole, because they were looking to the serpents on the ground.
And they were looking to their own selves. They looked into
him. You know, when we get discouraged,
look in the mirror. They looked into him. If you're looking in here, what
in the world do you expect to find? What do you expect to find? There's
nothing there. They looked unto him and were
lightened, and their faces were not ashamed. And look in verse
6, this poor man cried. This poor man cried, and the
Lord heard him and saved him out of all his trouble. That's
us, the poor and needy. Poor. We mean poor. That's spiritually
bankrupt. It's not poor in purse or poor
in pocket. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of God. This poor man cried. Why
did he cry? He's desperate. And you know
when you'll cry? You know when you really pray?
You know when you really cry? It's when you're desperate. You know why anybody, anybody
in the scriptures ever come to Christ? Because they were needy. And David said, this poor man
cried. And the Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his
troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him and delivereth them. Do you not
see that? It doesn't say the angels of God. It says the angel. And I believe I know who that's
talking about. That's talking about Him. We look to Him. He's the angel of the Lord. He
encamps round about them that fear Him. And they walk, and
He delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good. You say, well, boy, that cake
looks good. Why don't you taste it? Have
you ever tasted Christ? Oh, taste and see that he's good,
that he's good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. Oh, fear the Lord. That means the reverence him.
Oh, I wished I could fear God. You know, that's how they used
to describe believers. They said, he's a God-fearing
man. Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no wont
to them that fear him. What did David say in Psalms
23? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. There is no
wont to them that fear him. The young lion do lack and suffer
hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good
thing. Come, you children, hearken unto
me, and 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 prayers, but
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."
He delivers them. He brings them out. The children
of Israel were in bondage in Egypt for 430 years. Four hundred and thirty years,
but you know what God said? I have heard their cry. And you know what he did? He
raised up Moses, who was the deliverer, who went down and
delivered them out of all their trouble. The Lord is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart, and save as such as be of a contrite spirit. You cannot make yourself humble.
If you think you've made yourself humble, you're the proudest person
in here. That's right. By the time you think you're
humble, you get proud of being humble. But when God breaks you
and God humbles you, and you're like David standing there scratching
on the door, acting like a madman. That'll break you. Don't you think that it broke
Peter when he said, Peter, before the cock crows three times, you're
going to deny me thrice. Or before the cock crows twice,
you're going to deny me three times. The cock crows and he
doesn't bother him. But when the cock crows the second
time, our Lord just turned and looked at Peter. And it said,
he went out and wept bitterly. Broke him. The Lord is nigh unto
them that are of a broken heart. And save us such as be of a contrite
spirit. God has never saved anybody that
didn't break. Never. And you know what God
does in our life? He keeps on breaking us. That's it. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." How could
David say this? He experienced it. 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. We know who that's speaking of.
Not a bone of his body shall be 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." Now, do you understand 1 Samuel
21? What was going on in his mind? What was he thinking? This
is what he's thinking. God delivered him. He that thinks
he stands, take heed lest he fall. If you're his, he will
deliver you. You may say, where in the world
is he at in his own time? He will hear you. He will hear
you. His eyes are over the righteous,
and his ears are open unto their crimes. He hears.