I'd like to read verse 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 a captain over
them, and there were with him about four hundred men." I've
entitled this message, Distressed, In Debt, and Discontent. I think that that would pretty
much summarize the lives of most adults in the United States of
America. Wouldn't you agree? Stressed
out, in debt up to their eyeballs, and dispontent, unsatisfied,
disillusioned with life. Distressed, in debt, and discontent. Look in verse 13 of the previous
chapter, and this is speaking of David. David
had hit rock bottom. This man whom God had used so
mightily. David, the anointed of God. David,
the man that God used single-handedly to slay Goliath. David, who was
the toast of Israel. I mean, the maids were singing
songs about him. Psalms killed thousands, but
David's killed 10,000. David had been the most popular,
powerful figure in all of Israel. And now he has hit rock bottom. Look what he does. Verse 12,
And David laid up these words in his heart, and was so afraid
of Achish the king of Gath, and he changed his behavior before
then, and feigned himself mad in their hands. and scrabbled
on the doors of the gate, and he let his spittle fall down
upon his beard." Now this is David. King David. He is so afraid of the King of
Gath that he acts like he's crazy. He actually let spit roll down
his beard. He scrabbles on the walls. They
think he's crazy. He's insane. He's lost his mind. How the mighty have fallen. Now, David had been slandered. He had been accused. He was terrified. He's afraid
of Saul. Look in verse 10 of 1 Samuel
21, And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and
went to Achish the king of Gath. He was scared to death of Saul.
Saul was after him. And the servants, verse 11, of
Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of Israel?
Did they not 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. He heard what they
were saying and he was so afraid of Achish the king of Gath. He
was more afraid of him than he was of King Saul. And what did
he do in verse 13? He hit the bottom. He changed
his behavior before them. Have you ever been so afraid
of somebody that you change your behavior before them? Sure you
have. He had hit the bottom He feigned
himself mad in their hands, and he scrabbled on the doors of
the gate, and let his spittle fall down his beard. Then said
Achish unto his servants, Lo, you see the man, he's mad, he's
crazy. Wherefore then have you brought
him to me? Have I need of a madman, that you brought this fellow?
And look at the way fellow is in italics. It's supplied there
by the translators, what he's saying. You brought this nothing
to me. You brought this zero to me. He's not even fit to be called
a man. Why are you bringing such a disgusting,
pathetic figure to me? Now you think of where David
had been, and now look where he is now. David has hit the
bottom. What contempt they feel for him. Have I need of a madman that
you've got this zero to play the madman in my presence? Shall
this zero come into my house? David therefore departed thence
and escaped to the cave Adullam. Now he had been living in palaces,
now he's hanging out in a cave. Can you imagine all the things
that must have been going through his mind? Where did things go
wrong? How have I fallen so low? And when his brethren and all
his father's house heard it, they went down vivid to him. His roses came to him, for that's
amazed how, how the mighty has fallen. to David. And they come to him, they hear
he's hiding out in this cave, and then we find this very interesting
verse, and this is where the title of this message came from,
and everyone, everyone, no exceptions to this rule, everyone that was
in distress. Now that word distress, we generally
think of distressed and stress and so on, but I looked the word
up in the Hebrew dictionary, and it means literally disabled in anguish because of a disability. Disabled people came to him.
People who had disabilities. Everyone who had a disability
came to David. They were attracted to him. And
everyone who was in debt. Every single one of them. They
were drawn to David in this case. And everyone who was discontented,
everyone who was disillusioned with life, everyone who was dissatisfied,
they all came to David, and David became a captain over them. They were with him about four
hundred men. Now we know that David is a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ himself is called the
son of David. And everything in David's life
is given as an illustration of some aspect of gospel truth. Now how clearly we see the Lord's
descent in the life of David. We see David going from the top
to the bottom and that cannot compare to the descent of the
Lord Jesus Christ. How he left the praise of angels. He left heaven. He left the very
presence of his father and he became an object of contempt. David has become an object of
contempt. He wasn't used to this. He was
used to being the top dog. I mean, he had people singing
his praises. He had all the names of Israel
singing about him. And now, all of a sudden, he's
not even fit to be called a man. Aki says, you can take this zero,
this nothing, and bring him to me. He's not even fit to be called
a man. Now you think of the descent
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you hold your finger there
in 1 Samuel and turn to Psalm 22. Psalm 22. Now this is known as
the psalm of the cross, and these are the words of the Lord Jesus
Christ. My God, verse 1, My God, why
hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? Now that's the cry of Christ
from the cross. He says, But I am a worm, and
no man, or reproach of men, and despise of the people, all they
that see me, like me, to scorn. They shoot out the lip, they
shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord, that he would deliver
him. Let him deliver him, saying, He delighted with him, but thou
art he that took me out of my I was cast upon thee from the
womb, and thou art my God from my mother's belly. Be not far
from me, for trouble is near. For those men to help, many bulls
have compassed me. Strong is the ovation of the
set round. They gazed upon me with their
mouths as a ravening and a waring lion. I'm pulled out like water.
All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It's melted
in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like
a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and those brought
me into the dust of death. For gods have compassed me, the
assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and
my feet. I can tell all my bones, they
look and stare upon me, they part my garments among them,
and cast loss upon my vesture." Now this is obviously the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. But did you notice what
he says in verse 6? This is the Lord speaking. This
is Jesus Christ speaking. And he says, I am a worm. Literally, I am, this is the
Son of God, the mighty Creator speaking. He says, I am a maggot. I'm not even fit to be called
a man. A reproach of men and despised
of the people. Now can you imagine the Lord
saying this? You've probably thought something
like this before. I've thought something like,
I'm not even fit to be, I'm so low. Every one of us have thought
something along those lines when things haven't been going well
or we've been caught in something or we're embarrassed or we're
humiliated or we're frustrated over ourselves. We've thought,
I'm not even, but not like him. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
said, I am a worm. He didn't say, I realize I'm
innocent, and all this is being charged to me, and I'm enduring
it. You can feel good about that.
But that's not what the Lord said. He said, I am a worm and
no man. Now, that gives us a reminder
of what took place on the cross. We don't much understand it.
But Christ was so truly, truly made sin. He went from the height
to calling himself a maggot. Not even fit to be a man. David is brought down, back to
our text in 1 Samuel, and David therefore departed
thence, after being treated with such contempt, he escaped to
the cave Adonai. David has reached the bottom
in a cave. You remember somebody else who
ended up in a cave? In a borrowed tomb? The Lord
Jesus Christ. And from this tomb, miraculously,
in this cave, there were some men who were irresistibly drawn
to him. Now I think it's neat, the number
is given, about 400. About 400. Maybe it was 396,
maybe it was 403, we don't know, about 400, but it was an exact
number. It was an exact number. There's
an exact number of people who are going to come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And it was a small number. 400. That's relatively insignificant. You
know the number of God's people on the earth at any given time
has always been a remnant. It's always been a small number.
It doesn't discourage me. that this is a small assembly. I mean, if the Lord makes it
one, one, hey, that's great. If the Lord makes it 1,000, hey,
that's great, whatever the Lord does. But the fact of the matter
is, God's people on the earth, God's elect on the earth at any
one time have always been a small number. 400. But look at how
these men are described. Everyone that was distressed,
Disabled. The anguish that comes from a
disability. How many times have you seen
somebody with a disability and you just thought what a life
that must be. Being confined to a wheelchair.
I think of Geraldine coming here and she's confined to a wheelchair.
She's got a great attitude about it but I think what if you're
blind and you couldn't see? What if you're deaf? You couldn't
hear a thing. Can you imagine what anguish
that would be? What frustration that would be?
There's an anguish that's involved in a disability. But everybody
that was disabled, everyone, no exceptions, everyone that
was disabled came to him. And everyone that was in debt,
they couldn't pay their debts. They had a reason for coming
to him. I guess they thought somehow he was going to get them
out of that mess. Everyone who was in debt. And everyone who
was discontent. Everyone who was disillusioned. Everyone who was unsatisfied
with life. All of these people came to David. Now, they came to him in the
cave, and what that lets me know is that when I come to the Lord
Jesus Christ, I never come to Him without some understanding
of his death, without some reliance on his death. I come because
of what his death has done. That's why I come. If all he
did was live and go back up into heaven, I wouldn't have a reason
to come to him, would I? I'd be scared to death. I'd be
afraid he'd just blot me out. But I come to Him because of
something in His death. These individuals, this motley
crew, and what a motley crew it must have been. A bunch of
disabled people, a bunch of debtors, and a bunch of malcontents and
discontents and people who were dissatisfied. They were the ones
who came to Him. And there was some kind of attraction
in that cave. There's some kind of attraction
to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the answer to all
these problems. First, the disabled came to the
Lord Jesus Christ. What is a disabled person? One
who lacks ability. Very simple. Someone who's disabled
cannot do what it is they have a disability to do. Somebody
that's paraplegic, he can't walk. Somebody that's crumb blind,
he can't see, he's got a disability. Somebody that's deaf, he can't
hear. He's got a disability. Disability
is a lack of ability, a lack of strength to do. Now, as long as you or I have
any spiritual ability, we will not come to Jesus Christ. Now you can just write that down.
I mean if you even have the power of free will, and maybe you haven't
come to Christ yet, but you can whenever you get ready to, you
can when you decide to, as long as you have any spiritual ability,
you will not come to the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't need
to. Now what is meant by spiritual
disability? In the Bible, spiritual disability
means at least these three things. Now you listen to me carefully.
First, if I'm spiritually disabled, if I know something about spiritual
inability first, that means I cannot, I lack the ability to obey God's
commandments. I lack the ability to obey God's
holy commandments. I cannot, now listen real carefully,
I cannot not see Him. I cannot not see Him. I wish I could, I really do,
but I cannot, I'm talking about right now, even when I'm talking
to you and I'm breathing, I cannot not see Him. Romans chapter 8,
the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it's not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are
in the flesh cannot please God. Spiritual inability. I cannot
keep the Ten Commandments. Can't do it. Spiritual inability
means I can't even receive or understand the things of the
Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse
14 says, The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolish to some to him, neither indeed
can he. He lacks the ability to know
them because they are spiritually disturbed. I can't even do that
which is easiest, receive. And the easiest thing in the
world is to receive something. You give it to me, I receive
it. You know I can do that. No, I can't. No, I can't. I can't even receive grace. It
takes grace to receive grace. Spiritual inability is seen in
this. I cannot, I lack the ability
to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. John chapter 6 verse 44, our
Lord said, no man can come to me. He lacks the ability to come
to me. No man can come to me except
the Father which is in me draw him. Now ironically, all who
cannot come to Christ do. And all who can Don't. That's always true. All who cannot
come to Christ. You know what that means? They
find out they're sinners. Everybody who has this state
of spiritual disability, they have some understanding of this.
I'm disabled. Those are the folks who come
to Christ. And everybody who can, not one of them does. Now you come to Christ like this. Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean. I can't make myself clean. I'm
totally in your hands. There's nothing I can do to make
myself clean. I'm going to remain filthy if you don't do something
for me. But if you will, You can make
me glean. That's the way somebody comes
to the Lord Jesus Christ. They come north, you can. Now, I understand that. He wasn't sure about the Lord's
willingness. He looked at himself, he thought, why would he do anything
for me? I understand him questioning the Lord's willingness, but he
didn't have any doubt about the Lord's ability. If you will,
you can. I love it when those two blind
men come to the Lord. And they somehow broke the way
into the house where he's at. In Matthew chapter 9, he says,
What work thou that I should do unto thee? And they said,
Lord, that we may receive our sight. We can't see. We cannot
see. We're blind. We may not receive
our sight. And he said, I love this question
to him. He said, Do you believe that
I am able? to do this. Do you? Do you believe that he is able to save you in your disability? 2nd Timothy 1.12 Paul said I
know whom I have And I'm persuaded, I'm convinced
that He is able to keep that which I've committed to Him against
that day. Now I have committed the salvation
of my soul to Him. Now I said this a few weeks ago,
if you believe in works in any way, it's a failure to commit.
You're holding something back. Only when you know you're completely
dependent upon Him the Savior, That's when you commit the salvation
of your soul to Him. Have you ever done that? You
know, if you've never done it before, why don't you do it right
now? I can't! Yeah, you can, if He gives you
the grace to. Commit the salvation of your
soul to Him. And everyone who is in debt,
back to our text. everyone that was in distress,
and everyone that was in debt. Now, all who believe in human
ability, all who believe in salvation by works in any form, make God
the better. Let me show you that from the
Scripture. They're not really the debtors. God is the debtor.
Turn to Romans chapter 4, and I can verify this from the Scripture.
Anybody who believes salvation is by works in any way, to any
degree. If you believe that there's something
that you can do that would obligate God to save you, I've done this,
therefore God must save me. If you believe that in any way,
that's making God the debtor. Now look at Romans chapter 4,
verse 4. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. In other words,
God is making payment to you. You've done whatever it takes
to make what he did work, and now he owes you salvation. If there's anything you can do
that will render God obligated to save you, you make God your
debtor. You're not the one in debt he
is, and that is what? Blasphemous. blasphemous to say
God is indebted to the creature, but for those in debt. Now remember this, this thing
of being in debt means you don't have any way to pay. You know
if you could pay yourself out of debt you wouldn't be in debt
anymore. But this person who's in debt, he has nothing to pay. He has no way to get himself
out of this debt. He's a debtor to God. God's not
a debtor to him. He's a debtor to God. He's responsible
for his debt. He got himself in the mess he's
in. Now it's true. Adam's sin was imputed to me
and I was condemned by what Adam did. But by still, it's still
true. All my sin is my fault. I can't blame anything on anybody
else. It's all my fault every bit of
it and I am in debt now everybody that was in debt came to him you see when he said it is finished my debts paid And when he went into that cave
and came out, there's my receipt. The debt is paid. You see, he redeemed us from
the curse of the law. David didn't stay in that cave
and Christ didn't stay in that tomb because his debt was paid. Everyone who's in debt, they
believe they're in debt, they believe that They can't pay their
debt. Everybody that really believes
that, they're going to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Every
single one of them. Sinners always come to Him. The
distressed, the disabled, and those in debt. And I like this
third thing that's in our text. Turn back to 1 Samuel. who was distressed, disabled. Everyone who was in debt, and
everyone who was discontent. Discontent. Disillusioned. Unsatisfied. They certainly were not satisfied
in a state of disability or debt. And they could find no contentment
in this world. They were disillusioned by that
which they once found so attractive. No longer the lust of the flesh. The lust of the eyes. pride of
life. It's all lost its glitter. I
need to be clean. That's what I need. I need to
be clean. All that this world has to offer,
I'm discontent with. I can't be satisfied with it.
You give me everything this world has to offer, it ain't going
to do me any good at all. It's really not. I'm not going
to be satisfied. I sure can't be satisfied with
man's religion. I'm discontent with salvation
by works. It leaves me with too many loose
ends. It leaves me wondering, when
have I done enough? What's enough? How much is required?
I can never be satisfied with any form of salvation by works. No satisfaction there. But believing on Christ, these
men actually found contentment and satisfaction. Now, I'm speaking to you, I hope,
honestly. I think I am. And I'm speaking
from my heart. I am content to be saved by Jesus
Christ. And I'm not looking for anything
else. I don't know how many times I've
had people say, there's got to be something more. You just haven't
seen yet then. I am content to be saved by Him
in a way where He gets all the glory and none goes to me. And I'm plumb satisfied with
that. I am satisfied. to be saved by
sheer free grace and not by works. I'm satisfied with that. I find
satisfaction in my conscience knowing God requires nothing
more of me because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I find
complete satisfaction in His blood. I'm not looking for anything
else. Are you satisfied to go into
heaven simply on the coattails of King Jesus? Where no glory
goes to you, it all comes because of Him, and you're satisfied
with that. I'm content. I'm satisfied with His will.
If His will is done, I'm satisfied no matter what happens to me.
I really am. Not my will, but thine be done."
Paul said, I've learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be what? Content, satisfied. He said, I know how to be abased,
and I know how to be abased. I know how to be. I know how to be a base because
when I'm a base it's easy to trust the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ as my only righteousness before God. It's
easy to trust Him as a sinner isn't it? It's easy. And I know
how to abound. When God gives me grace to abound
I know it's His grace. I know it's his grace. I'm just
so sure that it doesn't have anything to do with, it's his
mercy. I've learned in whatsoever state
I am, therewith to be content. Content, I love that song, content
with beholding his face. My all to his pleasure resigned. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind when blessed with a sense of
his love, a palace, a toy would appear. And prisons would palaces
prove if Jesus would dwell with me there. I'm satisfied. You see these
people who were disabled, came to Christ in his ability. These people who were in debt
came to Christ for the full discharge of their debt. I don't know anything
These people who were discontent and disillusioned found complete
contentment in the Lord Jesus Christ. And look what it says
about these people. Verse 2 of our text. And everyone that was in distress,
and everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented
gathered themselves unto him. And he became captain over them. The Lord's my captain. What a
rad, bad crew he's got. But he's my captain. And I love
every single one of his people, don't you? Don't you like being
in this group with him as your captain? He's the captain of
it. He's my captain. And what's it say next? And they were with, and there
were with Him. With Him. About 400 men. Insignificant number to the world,
but they were with Him. After David! Where else you want
to be? With the Lord Jesus Christ. At
all times, wherever He is, that's where I am. I'm with Him. Not you with me so much, but
me with Him. You know, when you come into
a place, you don't say, he's with me. I mean, if you say he's
with me, that means you say you're the, you're the top dog and he's
with me. But no, we don't come saying
he's with me. We come saying I'm with him. I'm with him. Father, I will. Only the Lord Jesus Christ
could speak like that. Can you imagine Satan in prayer,
Father I will that you do this. You can't say anything like that,
but he can. He's equal with the Father. Father
I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am
that they may behold my glory. Now he didn't say, I pray that
they will be with me where I am, but they be with me where I am
right now. Wherever he is, that's where
I am. Aren't you happy to be in this
ragtag bunch of people, David's men? Let's pray. you you you you you you you