Let's open our Bibles this evening
to 1 Samuel chapter 22. 1 Samuel chapter 22 and reading
the first five verses. David therefore departed thence
and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brethren and all
his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him.
And everyone that was in distress, 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 400 men. And David went thence to Mizpah
of Moab, and he 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 hold. 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 came
into the forest of We're going to look at these
five verses tonight, God willing, in three divisions, and I trust
that we will see Christ as we look at these few verses tonight. Our first point is David, like
Christ, became a captain. David, like Christ, became a
captain. We see that in verses one and
two. Now we saw last time when we
looked in chapter 21 that David, he became a fugitive. He became
a fugitive from King Saul. And he went to Gath of the Philistines. And we thought it was somewhat
strange that he would go to Gath. when Goliath, the giant that
he had slain, was from Gath. But that's where he went. But tonight we see that he leaves
there and he escaped to the cave of Dulem. Now this cave was located
not far from Bethlehem. It was in the land of the tribe
of Judah. One writer described this cave
as a number of underground vaults, some nearly square and all about
15 to 20 feet deep. And we get some idea of the size
of the cave by the numbers of people who came here to David,
400 men. It was here that he wrote Psalm
142. As we look at Psalm 142, we see in the title there that
he wrote this psalm from the cave. And I want to say this,
David may have expected help when he came to this cave, to
live in this cave or to find refuge in this cave because it
was in the land of Judah. It was located in his tribe.
He may have expected some help, but I point this out to us because
the psalm that he wrote while in this cave, Psalm 142, part
of it he said this, I looked on my right hand and beheld,
but there was no man that would know me. Refuge failed me. No man cared for my soul. I cried
unto thee, O Lord, I said, thou art my refuge and my portion
in the land of the living. It was also here, if you keep
your places here, but turn over a few pages to First Chronicles
chapter 11. It was also while he was here
in this cave that he desired a drink, he expressed his desire
for a drink from the water from the well outside the gate of
Bethlehem. Now here in 1 Chronicles chapter
11, he is listing all of his great men, his mighty men, men
who had fought and fought alongside of him through his reign as king. But he points out here in 1 Chronicles
11, beginning in verse 15, that it was here that he expressed
that desire for a drink, for a drink from the well of Bethlehem. Now three of the 30 captains
went down to the rock to David into the cave of Adullam, and
the host of the Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephaim. And
David was then in the hold, and the Philistines' garrison was
then at Bethlehem. And David longed and said, oh,
oh, that one would give me a drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem. That is, at the gate. And the
three break through the host of the Philistines and drew water
out of the well of Bethlehem. They went behind enemy lines. They went through enemy lines,
these three men that he's mentioning here. And they drew water out
of the well of Bethlehem and brought it to David. But David
would not drink of it, but poured it out to the Lord. put it out
as a sacrifice to the Lord and said in verse 19, my God forbid
it, me, that I should do this thing. Shall I drink the blood
of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? For with the
jeopardy of their lives they brought it, therefore he would
not drink it. These things did these three
mightiest, There's a whole list of mighty men that God raised
up for David, and they did many great exploits, as you read through
those verses there. God used them and enabled them
to slay many of the enemies of Israel. Now, I want us to turn
back, if you will, here to 1 Samuel 22. And I want us to look tonight
at the description of those who came to him. There's three things
which are said about them. These who came to him and over
them he became the captain, as it says. And we'll look at these
men and their descriptive words, these descriptive words rather,
of those who gather to the Lord Jesus Christ. As men and women,
boys and girls, come to Christ, look to Christ, are saved by
Christ. There's three things that are
said about these men that are generally true, some of them
absolutely true, of every man, every woman who comes to Christ. The first thing we see is they
were in distress. Distress. And can't that be said
of everyone who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ as his or her
savior? That we come to him because we
are in distress. I think of all that we read,
if you read through the gospel narratives, Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John, all of those who came to Christ, they were all in distress. They were all in distress over
someone or something. One man was in distress because
his son was possessed of a devil, and the devil would throw him
into the fire. He was in distress. Remember,
that's when our Lord went up on the Mount of Transfiguration,
taking Peter, James, and John and was transfigured before them.
And when they came down from the mountain, here's this man,
And he said he had brought his son to the disciples, but they
couldn't dispossess this boy of the devil. And he said, Lord,
if you could do anything, if you could do anything. He was
in distress. He was in distress. And we could
just name a few more here. Another man. Jarius, by name,
remember he was in distress when he came to the Lord. He said,
Lord, master, my daughter's at the point of death. Come, come. That other woman who came, she
was in distress over an issue of blood that she had had, I
believe it was for 12 years and spent all of her living on doctors
and was none the better. And in distress she came and
she said within herself, if I can but touch the hem of his garment,
I will be made whole. And when we think about these
people who came as they are given to us in the gospels, it shows
us at least these two things. It shows us that no one, no one
ever came to Christ who was not in distress. Now we're talking
about salvation here when man is convicted of his sin, of his
relationship or lack of relationship with the Lord, in distress. And all of these examples show,
number one, that people who come to Christ are in distress. In distress, conviction of sin. being made aware that we've sinned
against God, alienated from God, distress. But the second thing,
and this is so important, the second thing that all of these
show us is that no matter what the distress, what caused the
distress, the Lord never turned anyone away. He never turned
anyone away, did he? And he never came up against
a case that he could not meet the need. No matter what it was,
the Lord Jesus Christ was willing, and not only willing, but able
to meet every need. What an encouragement, right?
When we read through the scriptures for men to look to Christ, to
trust in Christ, to believe in him. A second thing we see about
these people, they were in debt. That's the second thing that
we're taught. First, they were in distress, and second, they
were in debt. You know, when you compare the
model prayer, our Lord told his disciples, they asked him to
teach them to pray, and he said, our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. When you compare the model prayer
in Matthew with the model prayer in Luke, you find out in Matthew,
It is, forgive us our debts, while in Luke, same parallel
scripture, forgive us our sins. That sin is looked at as a debt,
a debt, a debt that we owe to God. And not only a debt that
we owe to God, but a debt that we are not able to pay. We used to sing that chorus sometimes,
I owe the dead I could not pay. He paid the dead he did not owe.
As I was preparing these notes, I remember reading in Augustus
Toplady's works one time of him trying to compute the number
of sins. And he had a number of examples,
but I just chose this one to bring to us tonight. He was trying
to calculate, how many sins, how many sins have I committed
in these many years that the Lord has given me? How many sins
have you committed? And remember, there are sins
of ignorance. You say, how do you know that?
Because there was sacrifice. And the sacrifices that God gave
there in Leviticus, there were sacrifices for those who had
committed a sin through ignorance. They didn't even know they'd
sinned. Sins of ignorance, sins of thought. And I thought, I don't know if this ever happens
to you, but you pray, you get down on your knees, or maybe
you don't get down on your knees, but you're praying, and all of
a sudden you're thinking about something way off. What is that? Sins of ignorance, sins of thought,
sins of action. How many sins? A debt. These men were in debt. Well,
Augustus' top lady gave this one example of many. He said,
let us imagine that a person sins twice a day. Let us imagine
that a person sins twice a day or once every 12 hours. At the age of 10, he would have
committed 7,300 sins. At the age of 20, 14,000 sins.
That's just two a day. At the age of 30, 21,900 sins. At the age of 40, 29,200, that 30 was 21,900, at 40, 29,200.
At 50, 36,500. At 60, 43,800. At 70, 51,100. And at 80, 58,400. Now that was just one example
he gave of a person sinning twice a day. But what if you sin 10
times a day? What if you sin 20 times a day?
I would think this would be on the very low end, wouldn't, don't
you? Two times a day? Debt. Debt. Debt of sin. And I thought about
the Lord's parable when he was invited to the house of Simon
the Pharisee. And Simon, you know, saw that
lady, that woman come in and bathe our Lord's feet with her
tears and dry them with her hair. And he said, my, he's no prophet. He's no prophet. Why, if he were
a prophet, he would know what manner of woman that woman is. And he allows her to touch him. Our Lord said, Simon, I have
somewhat to say unto you. Say on, master. And then he gives
that parable, doesn't he, of two debtors. One owed 500 pence,
I believe it was, which was a tremendous amount. That was more than a
man's salary for a year, 500 pence. The other man in our Lord's
parable, he only owed 50 pence. Quite a difference, right? 10
times less than the other. But, our Lord said, when they
had nothing to pay. He frankly forgave them both. Freely, right? That's what the
word frankly means. Freely. He freely forgave them
both. Oh, what a blessing it is when
God brings a person down to know and feel in his heart, I have
nothing to pay. I have nothing to pay. If God
requires anything of me, for my sin debt to be put away, it's
not going to be put away. But the scripture said when they
had nothing to pay, both, he frankly forgave them all. What a mercy when a sinner is
convinced that he has nothing to pay. Nothing to pay. And you know, I find I need to
be convinced of that day after day, week after week. You know,
it's grace, it has to be all of grace. And then the third
thing that is said about these people, they were discontented.
So they were in distress, they were in debt, and they were discontented. And I say this tonight, there's
no real contentment of soul to any person who has not or is
not gathered to Christ. I believe it was Augustine, you
know, one of the men they call one of the fathers of the church,
one of the Latin fathers, who first said this. He said, God
has created man, and we know this is so. God has created man
with the ability, the capacity to know God. Every man has that
capacity to know God. We know that because the Lord
said, this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only
true God in Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Man has the capacity
to know God. And until a person comes to know
God, to rest in God, they'll never be content. Not in his
soul, not in her soul, never have contentment. The things
of this world that people seek after for contentment, they promise
a lot, don't they? They promise a lot until you
get a hold of them. Just like those, those bubbles
the kids play with, you know, they, and those bubbles go out
and, and they're, they're pretty and they're fun for the children,
but you just touch them and they're gone. And that's the way So much
is in this world that people seek after thinking it's going
to bring them contentment. If I can just get that. If I
can just get that. And you get that, and then it,
oh, well, if it's, I can just get this. But all to. Have contentment, right? Contentment
of soul. Knowing it's well. We sing that
hymn sometimes, it's well with my soul. It's well. Well, here's the second point
I wanted to mention. David, so first, those people
who were gathered to David there, in distress, in debt, discontent,
and David became their captain. We are brought to Christ, when
we look to Christ as our Lord and Savior, he is the captain
of our salvation. That's what the scripture says
in Hebrews chapter two, the captain of our salvation. And we come
to him, you know, a captain is, we think of a captain as someone
who has authority, don't we? An enlisted man, a person that
just signs up, you know, he doesn't have any authority. He's going
to be given orders. from somebody else, but a captain.
And when a person comes to Christ, we receive him, first of all,
as the captain of our Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's Lord
and Savior. Here's the second thing. David,
like Christ, provided for his parents. Look here in verses
three and four again, if you will, in 1 Samuel 22. And David
went thence to Mizpah of Moab, and he 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. David took his parents to Moab,
took care of them, provided for them in this way, taking them
to the king of Moab until, as he said there, he knew what God
would do for him. Now, look back just a few pages
to the last chapter of Ruth, a little letter of Ruth, or a
little book of Ruth, rather. When we think about David taking
them to Moab, If you look here in chapter four,
the last chapter, the last verses, it says, And Salmon begat Boaz,
and Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat
David. Who was the mother of Obed? Who
was the mother of Obed? Obed was David's grandfather
here, as you follow the line there. But who was the mother
of Obed? It was Ruth. Ruth, the Moabite,
Midas, the Moabites, it was Ruth. So David, that was David's great-grandmother,
Ruth was. Some of your great-grandmother.
I mean that, I never met my great-grandparents, They were already gone on when
I came along, but David, that was his great-grandmother, Ruth.
No wonder he takes, she was from Moab, so he takes his parents
there to Moab to protect them, to provide for them. Let my father
and mother be with thee. The Lord Jesus Christ, he had
no biological father. We know that. But he did have
a mother. He did have a mother. Turn with
me to John chapter 19. The third saying, there are seven
sayings of Christ from the cross. The third saying we read about
here in John chapter 19, and beginning with verse 25. Now there stood by the cross
of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas
and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his
mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved, he saith unto
his mother, woman, behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple,
behold thy mother, And from that hour, that disciple took her
unto his own home. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke as
the Lord that he is. Notice the exclamation point
mark. Behold, as he spoke to John,
behold thy mother. As we often say, along with the
command comes the power. We say that, don't we? There's
that man, one of the first miracles that is recorded, not the first,
but one of them, when our Lord went into the synagogue there
in Capernaum, I believe it was, and there was a man in that synagogue,
he had a withered hand. And the Lord said, stretch forth
thine hand. Along with the command came the
power, and he stretched forth his hand. Well, you say, man
came here, here, and thy soul shall live. But the point I'm making is the
Lord commanded John, behold thy mother. And from that hour, the
scripture says, from that hour, that disciple took her. unto
his own house. So we see David, like Christ,
provided for his parents. Now go back to the first Samuel
22, and one other thing that stood out to me here. David,
like Christ, was to show himself. There's a prophet here by the
name of Gad. Evidently, he was probably in
the school of the prophets, being under Samuel. And he advised
David, here in verse 5, David, abide not in the hold. Now that
word hold there evidently is fort. Some people think, well,
that's speaking about the cave. No, it's not speaking about the
cave because the cave was in Judah and this prophet advises
him, abide not in the hold. hold, depart, and get thee into
the land of Judah." That's where the cave was. The hold, most
likely, I believe, was still in Moab. And this prophet advised
David, you go now and show yourself. You're not guilty. You've never
done anything to offend Saul, to prove to be a traitor to Saul,
You don't need to be over in another country as though you
were some criminal. Go to the land of Judah. And not only would that show
that he was not guilty, but he would be in a place when Saul
was removed, which he would be soon. When Saul was removed,
then the leaders, the fathers of the tribe of Judah would come
and make David their king. He's there in their property,
their land. And I want you to turn to John
7. I see somewhat, maybe I'm stretching this, but I see a
somewhat likeness here with the unbelieving brothers of the Lord
Jesus Christ here in John chapter 7. Verse 1, after these things Jesus
walked in Galilee, for he would not walk in Jure, because the
Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles
was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto
him, depart hence and go into Judea. Now that's what the prophet
told David. Go into Judah, that thy disciples
also may see the works that thou doest. For there's no man that
doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known
openly. If thou do these things, show
thyself to the world, for neither did his brethren believe in him. We know, as we follow on through
this passage here in John 7, the Lord did go up to that feast,
didn't he? And it was there at the end of
the feast, that last day of the feast, when he stood and cried
with a loud voice. If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. And that's the message that the
Lord Jesus Christ speaks to every sinner. Every spiritual need that we
have, we find that need met in Christ. If any man thirst, come
unto me and drink. And drink abundantly. And drink
more. And drink more. And you'll never,
ever exhaust the fountain of grace that is in Jesus Christ
our Lord. Never. If you're like me, I want to
drink more every day, don't you? Every day I want to drink more.
I don't want a little old cup. No, sir. I want to drink fully
from Christ our Lord. Well, I pray the Lord would bless
these thoughts and words to us here this evening. Appreciate
it.