Let's begin reading in verse
3 and read down through verse 5. 1 Samuel chapter 22. And David went thence to Mishpah
of Moab, and said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my
mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know
what God will do for me. And he brought them before the
king of Moab and they dwelt with him all the while that David
was in the hole, that cave we read about last week. And the
prophet Gad said unto David, abide not in the hold, depart
and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed and
he came into the forest of Harath. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
with thanksgiving Lord, we are so thankful that
you're on the throne and that you're the absolute sovereign
of the universe. And all that happens happens
according to thy blessed, glorious, perfect will. And Lord, our desire
is that we might be found in Christ. Our desire is that we
might be enabled to believe on him. Our desire is that your
gospel would be preached in the power of your spirit. Oh Lord,
that we might be found in your son. We thank you for all your
attributes. We thank you for who you are.
We thank you that salvation is in Christ. We thank you that
salvation is by grace. And Lord, how we thank you for
the forgiveness of sins. Lord, give us the grace to rely completely
on my son. In his name we pray, amen. I love that statement that David
made in verse three when he said at the latter part of the verse,
I pray thee come forth and be with you till I know what God
will do for me. That's what he wanted. He wanted
to know what God would do for him. Now that's what I want to
know. I want to know, this is the understanding
I want to have. I want to know what God will
do for me. Now, David brings his family
into Moab. because he knew that Saul would
kill them as well as him. You see, if somebody was a challenger
to the throne, the whole family was to be killed. And David was
trying to protect his family right now, and he brought him
into Moab. Now, why did he bring him into Moab? Well, you remember
who Ruth is, don't you? Ruth is the great grandmother
of David, and she was a Moabitess. There were some family ties there,
and he knew that if he brought her into Moab, His parents into
Moab, they protect them because there were family ties. His mom,
I mean his dad actually was the grandson of Ruth. And he knew
that there would be some protection there. So he brings them into
Moab for protection. And he wants to wait and see
what God would do for him. Now I remember a statement Brother
Mahan made continually. And there's not a more important
statement I don't believe. He said, salvation is not what
you do for God. Salvation is what God does for
you. Now let me repeat that. Salvation is not what you do
for God. Salvation is what God does for
you. Now we see what David's whole
faith was about. It's about what God would do
for him. I couldn't help but think of
Mark chapter five, the Gadarene demonic. We'll get back to first
Samuel in a minute, but turn with me to Mark chapter five. This is one of my many favorite
passages of Scripture. I find so much in this I identify
with. Verse 1, And they came over unto
the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him
out of the tombs, the place of death, a man with an unclean
spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs And no man could
bind him, no, not with chains, because he had been often bound
with fetters and chains. And the chains had been plucked
asunder by him and the fetters broken in pieces, neither could
any man tame him. And that's what religion always
tries to do, tries to tame people, tries to change their behavior,
modify their behavior, chain them down, keep them different.
Verse five, and always night and day, he was in the mountains
and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones.
He was self-destructive in his behavior. But when he saw Jesus
afar off, he ran and worshiped him. And there's only one reason
why he worshiped him. He knew who he was. Now, the Lord hadn't done anything
for him yet, and he didn't know whether he would do anything
for him, but this man knew who the Lord Jesus was. And you know,
that's where all of worship comes from. It doesn't have anything
to do with you. It has to do with who he is. And if you and I ever find out
who he is, you know what we'll do? We'll worship. That's what this man did. He
worshiped. What he said in verse seven,
and he cried with a loud voice and said, what have I to do with
thee, Jesus, thou son of the most high God? What connection
is there between me and you? You're holy, I'm evil. You're
light, I'm darkness. You're glorious, I'm disgusting. That's what he was saying about
himself. What connection is there between me and you? And you know,
if you ever see who the Lord is, that's the way you'll feel
about yourself. And if I don't feel that way about myself, there's
only one reason. I haven't really seen who he is. If I see who
he is, this is me. Now let's go on reading. He says,
I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not. He couldn't think
of the Lord doing anything but tormenting him. For he had said
unto him, come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked
him, what's thy name? This is the Lord asking that
man, what's thy name? And he answered, saying, my name
is Legion, for we are many. I think it's interesting. When
the Lord asked this man his name, you can't tell if it's the man
speaking or the demons. You can't tell. Seems like it's
both. And that lets us know something
about the state of the natural man. Verse 10, and he besought
him much that he would not send him away out of the country.
Now there was there nigh into the mountains a great herd of
swine feeding, and all the devils besought him saying, send us
into the swine that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus
gave them leave. Now that is an awesome verse
of scripture. These demons could not make a
move without the permission of Jesus Christ the Lord. That gives
us some idea of how glorious He is. They couldn't make a move
unless He said, you can go into the swine. He's in absolute control. Verse 13, and the unclean spirits
went out and entered into the swine. And the herd ran violently
down a steep place into the sea. There were about 2,000. They
were choked in the sea. They were drowned. And they that
fed the swine fled and told it in the city and in the country.
And they went out to see what it was that was done. And they
came to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil,
this one they had tried to tame and chain down. They saw him
with the legion sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And that's
what happens when God saves somebody. They sit at the feet of Christ. They're clothed with the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. And they're in their right mind.
You see, a lost man's crazy. Salvation by works is crazy.
You're only in your right mind when you see that Christ is salvation. And that's what he saw. 16. And they that saw it told them
how it befell him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning
this wine. And they began to pray him to
depart out of their coasts." They didn't like this. Isn't
that amazing? Instead of saying, stay with us, do something for
us, they said, leave. This makes us uncomfortable.
We don't like this. Verse 18, and when he was coming
to the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed
him that he might be with him. You understand him praying that,
don't you? I want to be with you. These other fellas, they
said, leave. He granted them their request.
He says, let me be with you. He says, no, he's got a purpose.
Verse 19, albeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him,
go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord
hath done for thee and to that compassion on thee." Now, isn't
that the same thing David said? You go home and you show them
what great things the Lord hath done for you. Now, I've had this
question asked to me or posed to me on numerous occasions. What is the Lord doing in your
life? And you know, every time someone
asks me that, it irritates me. It really does. What is the Lord
doing in my life? And what they mean by that is,
is he doing in your life what he's doing in my life? How much
progress? What are the good things he's
doing in your life? And the fact of the matter is,
I don't really know what the Lord's doing in my life, but
I know what he's done. Big difference. The Lord didn't tell that fella,
go home and tell your friends what great things the Lord's
doing in your life right now. He said, go home and tell your
friends the great things the Lord has done for you. And I know this, everything he
is doing for me now, whatever's happening to me, he's doing it.
He's doing it. He's the Lord. I mean, nothing
happens without him, but everything he's doing for me is founded
in what he's already done for me. And so this is the hope of
every believer. This was David's faith. This
is the faith of every believer. What is the Lord? What has he
done for me? Now, I want to spend a few minutes
talking about that, and then I want to wind it up with what
the prophet Gad said to David. But what has the Lord done for
me? And I'm speaking as the spokesman of every believer when I say
this. I'm not talking about me exclusively. This is what he's
done for every believer. And this is our message, isn't
it? Preaching, we're telling people the great things the Lord
hath done for us. Well, what's he done? Well, first of all, and this
is, I find such comfort in this. Hebrews 7.22 says he's the surety
of a better covenant. He stood as my surety. Now, you
know what that means? That means before I was ever
born, He stood and took complete responsibility for my salvation. Isn't that a wonderful thing
to think about? Turn with me to Genesis 43. Now this is a
great thing that he has done. Genesis 43. Now this is where
we're given an illustration of what the Bible means by surety. First, look in verse 37 of chapter
42. Reuben says he will be responsible
for Benjamin. And Reuben spake unto his father,
saying, slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee, Benjamin,
and deliver him into thy hand, and I'll bring him to thee again.
I love the way Jacob said, my son shall not go down with thee.
You see, he knew Reuben. He knew there wasn't any safety
in sending his son with Reuben. But when Judah says he'll be
surety for Benjamin, look what is said in verse eight of chapter
43. And Judah said unto Israel, his father, send the lad with
me and we will arise and go that we may live and not die. Both
we and thou and also all our little ones, I will be surety
for him. And this is what the Lord Jesus
Christ said to his father about me before time began. Of my hand
shalt thou require him. If I bring him not unto thee
and set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever. Oh, the Lord is my surety. He took complete responsibility
for me being saved. And when He became my surety,
everything God requires and required of me, He looks to the surety
for. Now is that good news? I can't
think of anything more glorious than that. that he stood as my
surety and took responsibility for me. I think of what Paul
said of Onesius. If you count me a partner, receive
him as myself. That's what the Lord Jesus says
to his father. If you count me as a partner,
receive him as myself. If he hath wronged thee, or oweth
thee aught, put it on my account, I will repay it." That's what
Paul said about Onesiphorus to Philemon. He said, I'll take
full responsibility for him. Now, that's what he did for me.
And the father gave me to him before time began. Now, that's
very close, but it's election. God the Father gave me to Christ. And Christ said, I'll save him.
I'll save him. I'll take responsibility for
his salvation. All that the Father giveth me, they'll come to me.
Him that cometh to me, I'll in no wise cast out. And he, in
time, he became flesh for me. Now the Son of God, the creator
of the universe, took upon himself all the limitations of flesh
for me. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And in the flesh, he kept God's
holy law for me. You know, I love to think of
him being tempted by the devil, because how have you dealt with
temptation? Honestly, how have you fared
before temptation? You fought it off pretty good?
Well, I know somebody who did. The Lord Jesus Christ, when the
devil came, he had been fasting for 40 days in this weakened
position, and the devil came tempting him with the lust of
the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. If you
really are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Prove it. If you really are the son of
God, jump off the temple and show us. The scripture says,
he actually used the scripture to try to tempt the Lord, which
is amazing. He said, you know, the scripture says, he'll bury
you up unless you dash your foot against a stone. Prove it to
us, show us. And he tempted him with the pride
of life. All this is given to me, all
the kingdoms of the world, if you bow and worship to me, I'll
give it to you all. And he defeated the devil completely. And you know what? When he did,
I did. He kept the law and defeated
the devil and his temptations for me. He said to John the Baptist,
thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. When he kept
the law, he did it as an us. He did it for every believer.
Now that's what he did for me. He came in the flesh. He stood
as my surety. Because he's my surety, he came
in the flesh. He kept the law for me. He defeated
every temptation for me. And he died for me. All my sin, and I'm speaking,
like I said, as the spokesman for every believer at this time,
all my sin became his sin. The Father lifted my sin off
of me and placed it upon Him, and He died as the great sin-bearing
substitute. He was delivered for our offenses,
and He was raised again for our justification. He redeemed me. He redeemed me. That's what He
did in His death. He redeemed me. Now remember, I'm talking
about what He's done for me. He redeemed me. You know what that
means? It means Jesus paid it all. All
the debt I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Now that's what he did for me.
He redeemed me and he made payment for all my sins. He was raised
for me. Scripture says he was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. Now He
justified me. Not only did He redeem me, He
justified me. And that means that I stand before
God. He did this. I didn't do it. He did it. I
didn't do anything to get it. He just declared me to be this because
of what He did for me. He justified me so that I really stand before
God without sin. without sin, justified, without
guilt. I never did anything wrong. His
righteousness is my personal righteousness before God, and
I stand before Him justified, cleared, not guilty. He ascended for me. When He was going back to the
Father, He's called the Lord of hosts at that time because
He was going back with a host with Him. Every one of His people. He ascended for me. He's even
now interceding for me. And in time, in my experience,
He gave me spiritual life. John 5.21 says, As the Father
raises the dead and quickens them, even so the Son quickens
whom He will. He gave me spiritual life. Now,
what's that mean? I mean, when Adam died, in the
garden. You know he didn't die physically,
and he didn't die eternally, but he did die spiritually. His
spirit died. You see, a natural man only has
a body and a soul. He doesn't have a spirit. His
spirit died in the fall. He doesn't have spiritual life,
but Christ gives his people spiritual life. Now, what all is involved
in spiritual life? Well, it's something that comes
from God. As the Father raises the dead and quickens them and
gives them spiritual life, even so the Son quickens, gives spiritual
life to whom He will. Now when you're given spiritual
life, you have stuff in you that you never had before. You're
a new creature. Now the old man's still there
and it's just as bad as it ever was, but you've got a new man.
And it's seen in these Well, for one thing, when you have
spiritual life, for the first time in your life, you really
understand, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. It takes spiritual
life to see that. You can't recognize it unless
you have spiritual life. Now, before you had spiritual
life, you did bad things and you knew it, but you didn't know
that you're Nature was evil. You didn't know that about yourself
until you were given spiritual life. And then you're enabled
to believe. There was a time when you didn't
even know what it meant to believe and now you do. You believe on
Christ as your only hope before God. You really do. Why? You've
been given spiritual life. You've got something in you that
wasn't there before. You now love God. You now Esteem
others as better than yourself. You didn't used to feel that
way. Now you see yourself as the chief of sinners. You now
desire holiness. You desire conformity to His... This is all brought under the
umbrella of the forgiveness of sins. This is what He's done
for you. He's given you this spiritual life. He preserves
me and keeps me by His almighty hand. How come I don't fall away?
There's one reason. He doesn't let me. He holds me
in His almighty, invincible hand. And one of these days, He's interceding
for me right now, and one of these days, He's coming back
for me. Oh, I love to think and talk about the great things He's
done for me. And that's what David, the man
after God's own heart, that's where all his hope was. It's
in what God will do for me. You know, everything we believe,
everything we believe, is summarized by this statement. God saves
sinners. Our whole theology, as it were,
is found in that simple statement. Says everything, doesn't it?
God saves sinners. Now, everything he's going to
do for me is founded on what He's already done for me. And
that's why everything is working together for my good and for
His glory, because He is in absolute control. Now turn back to our
text in 1 Samuel 22. He said, I'm just going to wait.
I want my parents to stay with you till I know what God will
do for me. And that's all my hope is in
what God will do for me. Now look in verse four. And he
brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt, his
parents dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hole,
that cave of Adalim. You know, he wrote several Psalms
from that cave. And then the prophet Gad said
unto David, he finds out what God is going
to do for him. And the prophet Gad brought a
word from God and said unto David, abide not in the hold, the cave. Don't stay there anymore. Depart
and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed and
came to the forest of Hareth. Now God sent his prophet with
this message. He tells David what he should
do. He said, abide not in that hold, in that place of safety.
Now here's the point. This hold was the best way David
could come up for safety. I'm gonna hide in his cave. And the prophet said, don't hide
anywhere where there's fleshly security. You'd be completely
vulnerable. You get out of that cave and
you go back to Judah, the place you're from. That's where he's
from, Judah. And you rely completely on me. Don't look in that place of fleshly
security. You go back to Judah, the place
you're from. Now, Judah, what's the significance
of Judah? Well, you know what the significance
of Judah is. Where'd Christ come from? He came out of the line
of Judah, didn't he? Don't abide in that cave. Abide
in Christ. Now, how much do we hear in the
scriptures of this thing of abiding in Christ? What in the world
does that mean, to abide in Christ? It sounds mysterious. Well, first,
let me show you how this is a scriptural. Turn to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2, verse 28. And now, little children, abide,
remain, stay, stand fast, don't go anywhere else. Abide in Him
that when He shall appear, we may have confidence and not be
ashamed before Him that is coming. Look in verse five of chapter
three, and you know that He was manifested to take away our sins
and in Him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth
not. And did you hear that? Whosoever
abides in him sins not." That person who abides in him is going
to have confidence on the day of judgment, not be afraid. Now,
what's that mean to abide in him and remain in him? I've given
this illustration three or four years ago. It serves as a good
illustration. If the only place of God's blessing
was in this room, And all that you need, all that you could
possibly desire, all of God's favor, all of God's grace, all
of God's mercy is in this room. And outside of this room, you've
got none of God's favor, none of God's mercy, nothing but God's
wrath, nothing but God's judgment. But in this room, you find safety. Where are you going to stay?
You're going to stay right here in this room, aren't you? And
you know, it's not a boring place. It's got all the fullness of
the Godhead. It's not like if I thought I got to stay in this
particular room the rest of my life, I think, well, good grief,
how boring. I'd like to see something else.
But staying in Christ is not like that at all. It's not like
being in some boring room. It's a mighty big room. It's
a mighty big room and glorious. I simply want to stay in Christ
because I know that all of God's favor is in Christ. I don't want
to be found outside of Christ. I don't want God to ever look
at me as Todd. I want God to see me in his son,
like Paul said, oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him. When God comes looking for me,
I want to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Just like Noah
wanted to be found in the ark, Just like the children of Israel
wanted to be found in the house with the blood over the door
so that that's all God saw, I want to be found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, David's waiting to find
out what God will do for him, and what a blessing. God pulls
him out of fleshly security where all he had to trust was Christ. He brought him back to where
he's from. You know, if I'm in Christ, that's my origin, Judah. David was from the line of Judah. He brought him back where he's
from and stay right there. And that's what David did. And
next week we're going to consider how Saul came after him at that
time and what David's security was. Okay.