Would you turn to 1 Samuel chapter
22. Let's begin reading in verse
six. First Samuel 22, beginning in
verse six, when Saul heard that David was discovered and the
men that were with him, now Saul abode in Gibeah under a tree
in Ramah, having his spear in his hand and all his servants
were standing about him. That's the same spear he used
to throw at David, the same spear he used to throw at Jonathan.
Evidently he always had a spear in his hand. That says something
about this man. Verse seven, then Saul said unto his servants
that stood about him, here now you Benjamites with the son of
Jesse, give every one of you fields and vineyards and make
you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds. He's
saying, look at all the things I've done for you. Can David
do that? That you all have conspired against me. And there's none
that showeth me that my son hath made a league with the son of
Jesse. And there's none of you that's sorry for me, or showeth
unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me to lie
in wait, as it is this day.' Then answered Doag the Edomite,
which was set over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the
son of Jesse coming to Nob to Emelech, the son of Ahothub.
And he inquired of the Lord for him, and gave him vittles, and
gave him the sword of Goliath, the Philistine. Then the king
sent to Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitab, and all his
father's house, the priests that were in Nob. And they came, all
of them, to the king. And Saul said, Hear now, thou
son of Ohitab. And he answered, Hear my, my
lord. And Saul said unto him, Why hast thou conspired against
me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread
and sword, and has inquired of God for him, that he should rise
up against me to lie in wait at this day? Then Mimelech answered
the king and said, Who is faithful among all thy servants is David?
And who is the king's son, that goeth at thy bidding, and is
honorable in thine house? Did I then begin to inquire of
God for him? Be it far from me, let not the
king impute anything into his servant, nor to all the house
of my father. For thy servant knew nothing of all this, less
or more. And the king said, thou shalt surely die, Amimelech,
thou and all thy father's house. And the king said unto the footman
that stood about him, turn and slay the priests of the Lord,
because their hand also is with David, and because they knew
when he fled and didn't show it to me. But the servants of
the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests
of the Lord. And the king said to Doeg, turn
thou and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned and
he fell upon the priests and slew on that day four score and
five persons that did wear a linen ephod. And Nob the city of the
priests smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women
and children and sucklings and oxen and asses and sheep with
the edge of the sword. He killed all these people. And
one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahithab, named Abathur,
escaped and fled after David. And Abiathar showed David that
Saul had slain the Lord's priest. And David said unto Abiathar,
I knew it the day when Doag the Edomite was there, that he would
surely tell Saul, I have occasioned the death of all the persons
of thy father's house. This is all my fault. And he's
referring to that lie he told. Abide thou with me, he says to
this priest, fear not for he that seeketh my life, seeketh
thy life, but with me, thou shalt be in safeguard. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence with thanksgiving that salvation
is in thy son. And Lord, our prayer is that
we might be found in him. And our prayer is that your gospel
might be preached in the power of your spirit and that you give
us hearing ears and receptive hearts. Lord, teach us what it
means to trust thy dear son only. And Lord, we confess our sins.
We pray for forgiveness and cleansing. Lord, our sins are ever before
us. And Lord, we ask that you would cleanse us. Make us men
and women after thine own heart. Lord, be with all your people
wherever they meet together. Now bless us for the Lord's sake,
in his name we pray, amen. Now, verse six, and when Saul heard
that David was discovered and that the men that were with him
now saw a boat in Gibeah under a tree in Ramah having a spear
in his hand and all his servants standing with him. Then Saul
said unto his servants that stood about him, Here now, you Benjamites,
will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards
and make all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? Now,
I think this is very interesting. He is using the appeal of what
you can get out of this. That's what man's religion always
does. If you follow God, you'll get
more. You'll have happier marriages.
You'll have better finances. You'll have better relationships. If you follow God, it'll be to
your advantage. You'll get more and it'll be
a good thing for you. You know, somebody once wrote
a book entitled Christian Hedonism. And in this book, he was saying,
if you're a Christian, you're going to enjoy life more. You're going to have a better
marriage. Everything's going to be better in following Christ. Now, that's the appeal of false
religion. Health, wealth, everything's
going to be better. Now, it could be that in following
Christ, you have the most difficult life anybody's ever had. Isn't that so? Is that a reason not to follow
him? No. No. This entire appeal that he
makes, you've got vineyards out of me. You've become captains
of fifties and hundreds and thousands. I mean, you've had it better.
That's the appeal of false religion. That's what Saul represents.
Verse eight, I think this is funny. You've all conspired against
me, his conspiracy theory. He's very upset. You've all conspired
against me, and there's none that showeth me that my son hath
made a league with the son of Jesse, and there's none of you
that's sorry for me, and showeth unto me that my son hath stirred
up my servant against me to lie in wait at this day. Now, all
this stuff is just not true. Jonathan had made a league with David,
that's true, but it wasn't to be against Saul. As a matter
of fact, you go on reading two different times, he could kill
Saul, and he doesn't do it. He has mercy on him. So everything
he was saying was not true. And he was trying to manipulate
everybody. Y'all don't feel sorry for me.
Guilt manipulation. Y'all be feeling sorry for me.
Nobody cares anything about me. He's actually acting like a big
baby at me. I mean, if you read the way he speaks, he speaks
like a big immature brat. And I guess that's what he was.
And anytime we act like this, nobody feels sorry for me. We're
being brats. Verse 9, Then answered Doeg the
Edomite, which was said over the servants of Saul, and said,
I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ebimelech, and the
son of Iuthab. Remember when he was detained
before the Lord, when David went to get the showbread. You can
read about it in the previous chapter. He was asking for showbread.
And Doeg was detained before the Lord. And Doeg was made to
witness all this. And he now rats on David. Now he's using this time to tell
what he saw. Verse 9, Then answered Doeg the
Edomite, which was said over the servants of Saul, and said,
I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Emelech, the son of
Hithub. And he inquired of the Lord for
him, and gave him vittles, and gave him the sword of Goliath,
the Philistine. He told what he saw. Then the king sent to
call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahiathab. And you know
the rest of the story. I've already read it. He told
the men to kill the priests of the Lord. And you know what I
think is very interesting is it was prophesied that this would
happen in the second chapter of 1 Samuel. The prophet said
to Eli, you're not going to have any descendants that are able
to fulfill the priest because of your disobedience. And it
was prophesied that this would took place. He said, they're
all going to be killed. And that's what happened. And Doeg kills
85 priests, and then he goes into Nob and kills everybody
there, the city of the priests. He kills them all. Now, what
a horrible thing to take place. And when I was thinking about
that, I was thinking about what took place this week, or last
week in South Carolina, where that fella came in and gunned
down nine people in that church. And this is worse as far as more
people and so on, but do you ever, when things like this happen,
these horrible things, do you ever think, how could God let
this happen? I mean, if God is in control,
how can he let something like this happen? How could he let
85 priests be murdered? How could he let all these children
even be put to death? And because this is a gruesome,
this is one of the most horrible things to read about in the Bible,
this thing that took place through Doeg. How could a good God let
something like that happen? Every one of us thought that.
Every one of us. Well, Whenever I think that way,
you know what I'm doing? I'm becoming God's judge. I'm
sitting in judgment on God and I'm saying, I wouldn't have done
that. What I'm saying is, is I'm better than God. That's exactly
what we say when we even think something like that. We're all
of a sudden becoming God's judge. Like that fellow in Romans 9.
Why does he yet find fault? I mean, who has resisted his
will? How can he do this? All of a sudden, we're God's
judge. And that's not a place me and you want to be. You see,
God is holy. And I might not understand what
he's doing, but he does. And if he allowed this to happen,
he had wise and holy purposes in it. As a matter of fact, he
told Eli that this was going to happen to all of his descendants
because of Eli's disobedience to say, well, what about these
people? Now, I know this. The glory of God is that he brings
good out of evil. And all I got to point to is
the cross. What is the most evil thing to ever take place? when
men brutally murdered the Son of God and nailed Him to a cross. Truly, they hated Him without
a cause. He's the one man who never did anything to wrong anyone. And yet, look what they did to
Him. Now, that's the most evil thing that has ever taken place
in the history of this planet. What's the best thing to ever
take place? The cross. Him being delivered
by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have
taken and with wicked hands, he said, have crucified and slain. Now this is the, if you really
believe you're a sinner, oh, how precious the doctrine of
the cross, the teaching of the cross is to you. This horrible
thing that took place when men were allowed to do what they
wanted to do, yet look at the good that the Lord God has brought
out of it. Thank God that he's in control. Now, when all these terrible
things happen, I don't understand them. He does. And when that terrible thing
took place in South Carolina, I don't understand it, but he
does. And shall not the judge of the
earth do right? Isn't it a blessing to simply
rest in who he is? and what he did and know that
he's in control of everything. And I love that song we sing,
this is my father's world. And let me never forget that
though the wrong seems off so strong, God is the ruler yet. This is my father's world. The
battle is not done. Jesus who died shall be satisfied
and earth and heaven be one. Now we can just rest in that. But this action of Doeg, my,
what wickedness. Now, we have a beautiful picture
of the gospel in these last few verses. Now, verse 20. And one of the sons of Ahimelech
the son of Ahuthab, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David.
Now he was the one priest who escaped. Eighty-five of them
were put to death, one priest escaped. Now Did he escape that
prophecy that was given in 1 Samuel 2 that all of these priests would
be put to death? No. Solomon ends up having him
put to death. If you go on down reading in
this guy, he was disloyal and Solomon had him put to death.
But at this time, he has escaped. Look what he says. And one of
the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahiathab, named Abiathar,
escaped and fled after David. And Abiathar showed David that
Saul had slain the Lord's priests. And David said unto Abiathar,
I knew it that day. when Doag the Edomite was there,
that he would surely tell Saul, I have occasioned the death of
all the persons of thy father's house. This is all my fault. Now, can you imagine the guilt
David felt at this time? I mean, it was through his lie.
He comes into Ahimelech and he lies to him, saying the king
sent him on this certain business. And through his lie, all the
priests of Nob lose their life. Every single one of them. And
he thought, can you imagine the guilt he felt? What if you were
responsible for the death of 85 people because of your lie,
because of your sin? Now, sin can have devastating
consequences, can't it? We see the devastating consequences
that took place here because of his lie, because of his sin.
85 priests were killed. Now, there's a lot of things
that are scary, and almost disturbing in the
Bible, yet are used as pictures and types of the gospel. Because
of David's sin, everybody died. Now what does that typify? Because
of Adam's sin, everybody died. By one man, sin entered into
the world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men,
in that all have sinned. Because of this one sin, death
passed upon all men. Now that's what scripture teaches
with regard to Adam's sin. When he fell, I fell and you
fell. When he died, And that's spiritual
death. You and I died in him and we're
born into this world with spiritually dead natures. It's called a sinful
nature. His spirit died. His soul didn't
die at that time and his body didn't die at that time, but
his spirit died. And he lost all ability of communion with
God because of his spiritually dead nature. Now, somebody I
always have to bring this out when I talk about this. Somebody
may think, well, how could it be fair for these men to be punished
because of somebody else's sin? Well, how can it be fair for
me to be punished for Adam's sin? Well, let's just forget
Adam's sin for just a moment. Just forget it. Have you stood
on your own? That's the big question. Let's say you weren't charged
with Adam's sin. How have you done on your own?
Well, you're still just as guilty and you're still just as sinful.
Let's just forget Adam for a moment. You sinned, I've sinned, we're
guilty. But here's the blessed thing
about this. If I can be condemned because of somebody else's sin,
bless God, I can be justified because somebody else's righteousness.
That's the gospel of representation, isn't it? Another thing I thought
about this when I was thinking of David being a type of Christ
here. You think of the guilt that David
felt. I tried to put myself in his
place. What if through my wicked sin, Something that I did, I
occasioned the death of all kinds of different people. I would
feel so horrible. You would feel a crushing sense of guilt. And
I thought about what the Lord must have felt on the cross.
He felt the crushing sense of guilt of all the sins of his
people. They actually became his, so he felt the guilt and
the shame of them. Now, do I understand that? Not
much. Not much, but I know that scripture says, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.
So we see in David's sin being the occasion of the death of
so many people, we see a gospel type. Now let's go on reading
this last verse. I love this verse. He says to
this man who is the only one who has escaped Doeg's murder,
He says, abide thou with me, fear not. For he that seeketh
my life, seeketh thy life, but with me, thou shalt be in safeguard. And we see the gospel so clearly
here. He says, abide with me, abide
with me. And how many times do we read
in the scripture, for instance, in John, now little children
abide in him. He said in John 15, abide in
me. This is our only place of safeguard
and safety, abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ. All of God's mercy,
all of God's grace, all of God's favor is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me for a moment. First
Corinthians chapter one. This is a familiar passage of
scripture, and I hope it's, it's more precious to us than it's
ever been. First Corinthians chapter one, verse 30. But of him, are you in Christ
Jesus? Now somebody says, well, how
do you get in Christ? Well, God's got to put you there. Of Him
are you in Christ Jesus? You can't just up and, well,
I'm gonna get in Christ. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus? Now, look what it says. Who of
God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Now, this is what I have if I'm
in Christ. I've got wisdom. I've got such
wisdom that the infinite God can have fellowship with me." Now, isn't that amazing? I've
got such that God would desire to have fellowship and communion
with me. In Christ, Christ is my wisdom. I mean, it says He's made unto
us wisdom. He is my wisdom. In Christ, I
have righteousness. I have such righteousness that
the righteous God can embrace me as righteous. In Christ, I
have sanctification. That's holiness. He is my holiness
before God. I have a holiness that God delights
in, in Christ Jesus. In Christ, I have redemption.
I have full and complete deliverance. Listen to this scripture. In
him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you
are, anybody know the next word? Complete. Complete. Now, do I feel complete? No. Do I ever feel complete? No. Am I complete? Absolutely yes. I lack nothing. I'm plumb full. You can't add
anything to me. That's how, that's how complete
we are in Christ. And he says, abide in him. Now,
now what's it mean to abide in Christ? This is such an important
concept that we have to have hammered on us all the time,
this thing of abiding in Christ. But here's what it means to abide
in Christ. It's exactly what Paul said when he said, oh, that
I may win Christ and be found in him. I don't want God to see my praying. I don't want God to see my preaching.
I don't want God to see how I treat you. I want God to see me in
Christ. And that's the only way I want
Him to see me. I don't want anything about me
to be judged by God. I want to simply be found in
Christ. So at all times, under all circumstances,
the only way I'm seen is in Him. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness
alone, faultless to stand before the throne. Now that's the way
I want to be found. Now, what does David say? Abide thou with me? And next
he says, fear not. Fear not. Don't be afraid. You're
safe with me. Now here's another scripture.
Paul said to the Romans in Romans 6 verse 11, to reckon yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin. Now, if God tells me to reckon
myself to be dead indeed to sin, even though I feel sin, I commit
sin. Yet God tells me to reckon myself
to be dead to sin? Yep, he does. I'm to believe
that sin has nothing to say to me. It's put away. Fear not.
Fear not. Trust who Christ is and what
He did. Fear not. Are you saying your sin's okay?
I'm not saying that for a second. I hate my sin, and I don't want
to sin. I want to be perfectly obedient, but I'm telling you
about in my experience, when I see myself, I sure don't want
anything about me to be judged by God. I simply want to be found
in Christ. Now, he says, fear not. Abide with me, fear not, he that
seeketh my life seeketh thy life, but with me thou shalt be in
safeguard. Now, I am to believe that in
Christ I am safe. I am preserved. I'm kept. It can't get any better than
it is. And I'm called upon to believe
this in the very teeth. of having some understanding
of who I am as a sinner. I'm called upon to trust the
Lord Jesus Christ and really believe that I'm in complete
safeguard with Him. Now unto Him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before his throne with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our
Savior, be honor, dominion, majesty, and power forever and ever. Now
that's the place of safety. He says to this man, he said,
you just abide with me. You stay with me and you'll be
in safeguard. You'll be in safety. Nothing
will happen to you. And that is our safety, that's
our standing in the Lord Jesus Christ. So once again, we're
given through these tragic events, we're given these beautiful types
of the gospel in the life of David. And we'll pick up in chapter
23 next week.