Now, in our Hebrew study in chapter
11, verse 32, we saw where the apostle wrote and taught concerning
faith. And there are many of the Old
Testament fathers mentioned in that chapter. And the reason
for that is not that the scripture brags on the flesh. We know better
than that. make heroes of men. The Word
of God does not. It reveals our sinfulness. When
we've done everything that we're supposed to do, Scripture says
we're unprofitable servants. It's not bragging on men. The
reason these men are cataloged here is because when you're teaching
faith, the only way you can see faith is to look at somebody
that's got it. That's the only way you can see
it. That's how faith is taught. That's how love In 1 Corinthians
13, as we talked about before, you want to know what love is?
Find out what it does and doesn't do when somebody has it, when
God sheds it abroad in the heart. Look at the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the lover of sinners' souls, and you'll see what love
is. And the Lord Jesus is our premier,
preeminent example of faith. Did you know the Lord Jesus Christ?
had unshakable, perfect faith in the Father on our behalf,
as our representative. He had faith. My faith's not
meritorious, but His is. And so He's the perfect example
in all things, but also we see how God takes a wretch like David
and Gideon, these men that are nothing, that are nobodies from
nowhere, and gives them the gift of His faith And when he does
that, it's worth looking at. It's worth seeing God's grace
in somebody. And we don't exalt the person,
we exalt His grace. We exalt the one who gave the
gift of faith. And so that's why these men are
cataloged there in Hebrews 11. And David's one of them. Paul
said there in verse 32 of Hebrews 11, time would fail to tell you
of David. And so we look a little bit at
David, we'll see a few things in the life of David in this
study. It's important that we see in
these men the Lord Jesus Christ. If you look anywhere in God's
Word and don't see Christ, you haven't understood it rightly. You haven't seen what God is
teaching, what He's saying in His Word, because it is a revelation
of Jesus Christ from cover to cover. And in David, when we
see these characteristics in David, this man, it takes our
thoughts beyond David. We understand when God teaches
us in human terms, but these human things are purposed by
God to teach us heavenly things, to teach us what true faith is
as God's gift to sinners. It's unshakable. If God gives
you faith, it never fails. Love. His love never fails. The
gift that he gives. Job lost everything else, but
he never lost his faith in God. Because the gifts and calling
of God are without repentance. He doesn't take them back. And
what he gives is perfect. Our expression of it is not perfect
because it's mixed with our sin. The old man. The flesh. But his
gifts are perfect. David the shepherd boy. We find
him out in the fields when he's first mentioned in the word of
God, keeping sheep. And he's called in one day from
the fields. And Samuel, God's prophet, is
in Jesse's house, in David's father's house. And I'm sure
David knew who Samuel was. He was the prophet of God at
that time. And all of Israel knew who he
was. And Samuel received a word from
God while he was there, before he was there, and then when he
got there, God said, anoint him, because that's him. And Samuel anointed David king,
king of Israel, the little shepherd boy from out in the field, that
when he came to Jesse's house and said, God's going to anoint
a king among your sons, bring me your son, they didn't even
call David in. That's how God does things. He
chooses the weak and the foolish and the despised and the things
that are not to bring to naught the things that are. Our Lord
Jesus Christ was despised and rejected of men. Isaiah said
there was no beauty about him that we should desire him. He
wasn't a naturally attractive person. People tend to flock
around people that have natural charisma and things that the
flesh is attracted to. Christ didn't have that. That's
not what he came to do, was attract the flesh. And David was passed over. But
God sent his prophet to anoint him the king. Can you put yourself
in David's shoes that day? And then sometime later, king
Saul, whom the Lord had rejected as king, in preference of David. You see, we're pretenders to
the throne by nature, aren't we? We want to sit on the throne,
and we want to tell God what to do, much less everybody else.
But we're just pretenders. God has rejected us. And he has
set up his king on his holy hill, and that's King David here, pictured
here. The Lord had rejected Saul, and Saul was troubled. It says
the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and he was troubled
in his mind. You know what keeps me sane and
at peace and at rest? The grace of God, that's what.
And Saul was troubled. And he said to his servants,
go find me somebody that can play a musical instrument and
soothe my heart. And one of his servants said,
1 Samuel 16, 18, then answered one of his servants and said,
behold, I've seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite. the Bethlehemite. David was born
in Bethlehem like the King that he pictures. In Matthew 2 verses
1 through 6 we see that the Lord Jesus Christ, David's son, David's
Lord, was born in Bethlehem. He said, I've seen a son of Jesse,
the Bethlehemite that is cunning and playing. He could play the
harp and a mighty valiant man and a man of war and prudent
in matters and a comely person. And the Lord is with him. When
he was out in the field, keeping sheep, nobody was saying, look
what a valiant, mighty man David is. Do you know there's nothing to
any of us? And if you perceive any good
in anybody, any true good, if you look up to anybody in the
right way in the Lord, do you know the Lord gives that? The
Lord was with David. That's the key to all the rest
of it. That's why he was perceived as a mighty man, a valiant man.
There's nothing to David. It's the Lord with him that makes
David what he is. He's a comely person. They weren't
saying that before. They didn't even bother calling
him in to see if maybe he was the one the Lord had chosen as
king. They thought, no way, it's David. But now they see him differently. Is that how it is with the Lord
and you? You see him differently now because
your eyes are opened. So David is summoned into the
very palace of the king to play. Bethlehem never has been much
of a place to be from. Did you know that? The prophet
said, you're the least among the cities of Judea. And so this servant tells Samuel
about David and Saul tells Saul about David and David says, bring
him here. And so David comes into the very palace of the king
and Saul is pleased with David's playing David eventually goes
back to the fields to watch his father's sheep until the day
that Goliath comes and issues the challenge that we read about
in chapter 17. And then Jesse just happens to
send David down to the battlefield. He says, take some bread and
some cheese and some corn down to your brothers. And we know
the rest of that scene. What a life David had from just
a boy. The Lord blessed him and used
him and strengthened him and set him up as a type of his son.
And Saul, of course, after seeing what David does with Goliath,
he's impressed. And he asks him whose son he
is in chapter 1758. Well, wait a minute, didn't Saul
know who David was? Well, probably several years
had passed since Saul had called and had David play for him. And Saul had been troubled at
that time. Saul was going through some things
and so he'd forgotten who David was. David wasn't anything to
him. He was just somebody to play the harp for him at that
time. But now Saul takes David in chapter
17 after the story of Goliath there, Saul takes David as one
of his permanent servants. He said he didn't let him go
back to his father's house anymore after that. And then as we read
last time, Jonathan, Saul's son, loves David as his own soul.
And they become the best of friends and they make a covenant with
one another. And as we look at David's life, that'll come back
into play. Now look at 1 Samuel 18, look
at chapter 18 and verse five. And David went out whithersoever
Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely. And Saul set him over
the men of war. And he was accepted in the sight
of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants.
And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from
the slaughter of the Philistines, that the women came out of all
cities of Israel, singing and dancing to meet King Saul, with
tabrets and with joy and with instruments of music. And the
women answered one another as they played. and said, Saul has
slain his thousands and David his 10,000. And Saul was very
wroth and the saying displeased him. And he said, they have ascribed
unto David 10,000. And to me, they have ascribed
but thousands. And what can he have more but
the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day forward. In the
latter part of chapter 18, after this, passage, and in chapters
19 and 20, King Saul tries to kill David several times and
sends David on missions, military missions that are designed to
result in David's death because of his great jealousy of David. And so here in our text that
we read in chapter 22, it says that, therefore, David escaped. And we know what that's saying
now, don't we? Because Saul is after him, trying to kill him.
He escaped to the cave So, again, consider this man in our text,
anointed by God as king of his people, and yet a lowly keeper
of sheep. Though David is anointed by God
in the very beginning of this story, it's a long, hard road
until David can be exalted. Our Lord was king before he ever
came down here. When he came down here, he was
the king, but he wasn't treated that way, was he? He wasn't recognized
as God's king. And so here's God's king living
in a cave, an outcast, and they sought to kill him. Those in
authority sought to kill him. He went from being on top of
the world, having the ladies singing about him, And the Lord
blessing every step, every move he made to this cave. And this is a dim shadow of how
far down our Lord came. When he came to this sin-cursed
earth to stand, to live, to die in my place. He went from the throne of heaven
now the joys of heaven where all the angels were singing his
glory from the bosom of the Father to this sin-cursed, vile place
where you and I live. And that's why it's sin-cursed
and vile, because we live here. Places aren't evil. Societies
aren't evil. People are evil. And on the cross, the Lord of
glory, the Son of God, the desire of nations was brought to the
place where he said, I am a worm and no man. We see David here, anointed king
and yet despised and rejected and hounded like a common criminal
and sleeping in a cave. And it causes our mind to go
beyond David and to think of the one who descended so far
from so high to so low to save me. He did it to save me. He did it to come down here where
I am and redeem my wretched soul. What was Saul's main problem
with David? We saw that in chapter 18 there, verse eight. Let me
read it to you again. Saul was very wroth, and the
saying displeased him. And he said, they have ascribed
unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but
thousands. And what can he have more but,
ah, here's the issue between God and men, the kingdom. Who's gonna be on the throne? Satan whispered into Adam's ear,
you shall be his gods. You don't need God. You'll be
God. You'll decide what's good and
evil. You don't need anybody telling you what to do. And that's
what got Adam's attention and ours. As soon as we were able to understand
anything, we understood that we wanted to be God and have
everything go our way. And that's the issue, by nature,
spiritually speaking. That's our issue with God's anointed
King, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Luke
19, 12, let me read you this one. The Lord Jesus Christ is
teaching the group of people. He tells this parable. He said,
therefore, a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive
for himself a kingdom and to return. And he called his 10
servants and delivered them 10 pounds and said unto them, occupy
till I come. But his citizens hated him and sent a message after him
saying, we will not have this man to reign over us. That's our problem. We will not
bow to God's king. He sent his son down here to
this earth to receive for himself a kingdom. And we let him know
right away what we thought about that. From his birth, we've hounded
him to the death. We will not have this man to
reign over us. We're doing just fine on the
throne ourselves and don't need any help. Our Lord Jesus Christ
was arrested by his enemies when his time had come. And he was
interrogated, questioned, and he answered them not when they
wanted him to. But he did have a few things to say during that
time. And one of them is found in Matthew
26, 64. He said to these wretched, vile enemies, hereafter, you shall
see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power. Do you
realize what he's saying? Here he is despised and rejected.
They had beaten him, they had spit on him, and they were questioning
him and grilling him and falsely accusing him and about to crucify
him. And he said, next time you see me, you're gonna see me on
the throne and coming in clouds of heaven.
You're gonna see me coming down here to put you where you belong. And it says, then did they spit
in his face. That's who men hate, King Jesus,
the sovereign Christ. Nobody has a problem with the
Lord Jesus Christ going around healing people. Nobody has any trouble with him
blessing them and giving them a new job and, you know, oh,
the Lord is good. I got a, I got a good, I got
a raise today. Would the Lord be good if you
lost your job? There's nothing wrong with thanking
God for blessings, but understand this, God is good and right and
holy and sovereign, no matter what happens to you or me. He said, you're going to see
me sitting on the throne. And it says, then, then, then,
when he told them who he was, the Lord of glory, then did they
spit in his face and buffeted him. As he began to bear the
incomparable weight of my sin upon his heart. You think about
that as a man. Upon his human heart, he bore
the weight. of my sin and his very soul,
his human soul, was made an offering for my sin. And as he began to bear my sins
in his own body, they pressed a crown of thorns upon his head
and put a mock scepter in his hand and bowed mockingly at his
feet and said, Hail, King of the Jews. And left him to scorn. And when I say they, I mean we. But bless his holy name. Look
at our text again in 1 Samuel 22. The reason that David was
despised and rejected was why? Because God had anointed him
king. That's why our Lord Jesus was despised. We will not have
this man to reign over us. He can save people, but he can't
save who he wants to save and pass others by. Who does he think
he is? He was despised and rejected
as the king, but look at why he was followed by these distressed,
discontented debtors. In 1 Samuel 22, two, and everyone
that was in distress and everyone that was in debt and everyone
that was discontented gathered themselves unto him and he became My captain. If you're going to be saved,
you're going to have to own the Lord Jesus Christ and bow to
him in the very character in which you've rejected him all
your life. The very character in which he was crucified in
this world. We put a sign up over his head, telling the whole
world why we were killing him. Who it is. It's God's King in
particular that we're murdering. Not sweet Jesus in the manger.
It's the King that we despise. He became a captain over them. Once that issue is settled between
you and God, and you find out who God is, then things are gonna
get a whole lot better for you and me. And there were with him about
400 men. What is this word, Captain, in our text? Isaiah 9, 6, For
unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given, and the
government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall
be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Captain. of peace. Same word. Same word. When He becomes that for you,
you're saved. You're saved. People talk about
being saved and then making Jesus your Lord. If you have not bowed
to King Jesus, you know nothing of the salvation of God. This wicked world, and we by
nature, because we are this wicked world, But we don't have a problem
with sweet, humble, benevolent Jesus. Little J. Jesus. We have
a problem with King Jesus. Read Psalm 2 at your leisure.
We all rise up in rebellion against God's authority and God says,
yet have I set my King upon my holy hill. We crucified God's
King, but you know You that know him, honestly,
answer me a question tonight. What about now? How do you feel
about him now? If somebody asked you to describe
the Lord Jesus Christ to them, how would you do it? Do you know
how David did it? They asked him about his God.
They said, we have gods of wood and stone. And we call upon them,
and we can see them, and we can manipulate them. Where's your
God, David? He said, My God's in the heavens. He hath done
whatsoever he hath pleased. That's my Lord Jesus Christ,
whom God the Father hath set as His King on His holy hill.
And he sitteth, the Lord Jesus sitteth upon the circle of the
earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. And he doeth
his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what
are you doing? Nobody can stop him or even question
his authority. That's my Lord, Jesus Christ. Thomas said, my Lord and my God. Like us, one day he said, I will
not believe. And then the Lord came in mercy
and said, peace be unto you. And Thomas changed his tune. And you know what he changed
it to? My Lord and my God. That's what he changed it to.
How about you? Do you remember how that thief, that dying thief
on the cross addressed him? Remember me. When thou comest
into thy what? Thy kingdom. Blind Bartimaeus, Lord, that
I may receive my sight. Who is it that comes to Christ
that he might become a captain over them? Well, the text says
the distressed came to King David. Those that were distressed. Let
me ask you another question. Have you ever been in trouble
over your sin? I didn't ask you if you believed
in the doctrine of original sin. I imagine you probably do. Have
you ever been in trouble? Because you're a sinner. I'm
talking about trouble. We was out fishing one day on
the bay, and there was a little storm brewing in the distance. And we're sitting there, we're
catching fish, and we're looking at it going, you know, that's going
to be pretty tough there. We might want to keep an eye
on that. I believe there's a storm coming. And then it begins to get closer,
and it begins to rain, and the waves begin to toss the boat. And we still are not real concerned. We said, well, I guess we better
go in. We came out here to fish. I guess
we're not going to get to fish today. And then we turned the
key, and nothing happened. And then we looked at each other
and said, we're in trouble. We're in trouble now. Have you
ever been in trouble before God because of your sin? Or you just
say, yeah, I know that we're sinners. I believe, you know,
that there's a problem. Or, you know, well, I guess I
better do some things, you know, to please God. Have you ever
come to the place where you realize there's nothing you can do? and
you're hanging upon the mercy of a holy God. Have you ever
been to that place? That's what I'm asking. Those
that were in distress, you know why they came to King David?
Not king in the eyes of others, but God's king. You know why
they came? Because they had nowhere else
to go. And that's why you came to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why I came. They were in distress. I'm not talking now about trying
Jesus. You know, you see it on the signs
of these religious organizations. Isn't it time to try Jesus? No,
it's not. If you want them to try Jesus,
you need to find out who the Lord Jesus Christ is and what
you are by nature. Have you ever been where Peter
was when he cried, Lord, save me. I'm going down. Isaiah said, I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. And
I live in the middle of a bunch of people that have unclean lips
and God's holy. The angels are crying, holy,
holy, holy. And here I am unclean before
him. I'm cut off. When Peter preached the gospel
of those folks in the book of Acts and said, you killed the
prince of life. God sent his son down here and
you murdered him. They said, what are we going
to do? They were in trouble then. How do you make up for that?
How do you turn over a new leaf and make up for killing God? That woman with the issue of
blood. I'm sure there was a time when she said, boy, I better
keep an eye on that. I got a little trouble. And then
it began to get worse. She said, well, I've got a good
doctor, though. Got a good insurance plan. Should be no problem. But then it just kept on. There
was no relief. And it got worse and worse. her
insurance ran out and then she started spending her own money
and she ran out of money and she wasn't any better but only
worse and then she came to the place where she
said if I can just touch the hem of his garment I'll be made
whole I just have one hope. But that's
all I need. That's all I need. He became a captain over them. And then the discontented. Not naturally speaking, we're
not talking about just people that aren't happy. If you're
not happy, Apart from the grace of God, you're going to seek
happiness in this world. You're going to look for this
world's treasures and attractions and entertainment. But if the
bed you've made for yourself, spiritually speaking, ever becomes
too short for you to stretch yourself out on, if the covers
that have been fine all along throughout your life ever become too short, too small
to comfort you, there's one resting place. There's one place of refuge. And then those that were in debt,
have you ever seen yourself as a colossal debtor to God? Did you know that we still see
ourselves as debtors? Don't we? But not to the law. Not to the law anymore. Do you
know that as I stand here before you tonight, I owe absolutely
nothing to God's law? Absolutely nothing. My Lord Jesus
paid. He paid the price for my sins. And now we sing, oh, what a grace,
how great a debtor. Daily I'm constrained to be. We come to the Lord owing a colossal
debt. And like those in Luke 7, how
much does it say they had to pay? Nothing. It's not just that we
owe more than we can pay. We owe God everything and have
nothing to pay. That's where we are. That's when
you start saying, I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble because we know
the consequences of having nothing to pay. And we look to the Lord
Jesus Christ. We come to him to be a captain
over us, the captain of our salvation. And it's only the captain that
can help you. It's only if he's the king, only
if he's the sovereign, that he can help you. If he's trying
to get you to work this thing out, you've got no hope. Your only hope is the sovereign
Christ that saves whom he will. And he's the one we preach. These
ragamuffins didn't come to help David out. They came because
they needed a captain. And they loved and trusted David. They remembered David, you see,
back in his glory. They had seen him in his glory.
And they loved him and trusted him. He was despised and rejected
by others, but he was their hope. They cast in their lot with him.
They pledged their allegiance to him. And they weren't ashamed
of it. And notice, these two words in
the text. He became a captain over them. He was the captain of Israel
already. Did you know that? Undeniably, even those who would
not own him as such could not reasonably deny that he was their
captain. You think about it. When the
Philistines stood and challenged him, there was nobody that could
do anything about it. One man won the victory for them. He was their captain long before
this. And he is the captain. He was
anointed by God as their king, wasn't he? Whether they thought
so or not. But then one day, these distressed
and discontented debtors, he became a captain over them. You
see what I'm saying? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
captain of salvation, whether you own him as such or not. There's
no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be.
There's no other foundation that is laid than that which is laid,
that God laid. The Lord Jesus Christ being the
chief cornerstone, Paul said, there's no other refuge. He's
always been the captain, but then one day he became my captain. Can you get in on that? Can you
testify that? The captain became my captain. He became a captain over them.
He became a captain one day over me. And there's a difference. There's a difference. And notice
these words in the text, and I'll be through. In 1 Samuel
22, it says, and everyone that was in distress and in debt and discontent, every
one of them came to Him. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And He didn't send anybody away.
There was no litmus test, was there? He didn't say, well, let's
see how you can handle a sword. We'll see if you can be one of
the 400. Him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. Is the Lord Jesus Christ your
captain? I don't read a lot of poems in my messages because
I think sometimes it's done just to be sentimental, you know. But that's not the purpose of
this. I want you to hear this. I think I may have read these
before. But listen to, this is the natural man and his sentiments
on the subject. Listen to the humanism. Listen
to the inconquerable human spirit, you know, expressed. What a joke
in this poem. It's called Invictus by William
Ernest Henley. And he wrote this. Out of the
night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I
thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul. In the
fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance,
my head is bloody but unbowed. That's the problem, isn't it? That's the problem. Beyond this
place of wrath and tears looms but the horror of the shade,
and yet the menace of the years finds and shall find me unafraid,
you liar. The wicked flee when no man pursueth,
scared to death of their own shadow. But this is the boast
It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments
the scroll. I am the master of my fate. I
am the captain of my soul. Do you know I saw that poem in
a church bulletin one time? And just with no explanation. They were putting it in there
because they liked it. I'm not lying to you. I'm telling you
the truth. I saw that in a church bulletin. I knew the man that
put it in there. Just as it stood, right there. That was supposed
to be spiritually enlightening in some way. I am the captain
of my fate. I am the master of myself. Are
you kidding me? Now listen to this poem that
was written sometime after that one, by a dear lady named Dorothea
Day. Out of the night that dazzles
me, bright as the sun from pole to pole, I thank the God I know
to be, for Christ the conqueror of my soul. Since His the sway
of circumstance, I would not wince nor cry aloud. Under that
rule which men call chance, my head with joy is humbly bowed. Beyond this place of sin and
tears, that life with Him and His the aid, despite the menace
of the years, keeps and shall keep me unafraid. I have no fear,
though straight the gate. He cleared from punishment the
scroll. Christ is the master of my fate. Christ is the captain of my soul.
That's not bad, is it? Not too bad. My captain. Those that were distressed and
in debt and discontented, made their way to God's anointed king
and he became a captain over them. Let's bow in prayer.