Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): God can use anyone and anything to further his kingdom. Here's Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty. The base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, the things that are not to bring to naught the things that are.

Why? So that no flesh should glory in his presence. So God is doing this incredible work, drawing those misfits of society together for his glory.

Guest (Male): A while back a noted physician proclaimed, "Lying is an important part of social life, and children who are unable to do it are children who may have developmental problems." Imagine that. We're continuing our study of 1 Samuel today on Sound Doctrine and we'll be looking at the life of David.

Here was a man who was in God's training program to be the king that God intended for the nation of Israel. David was a man after God's own heart, but there was a time when he had a heart of deception. Here's Pastor Jeff Johnson in 1 Samuel 22.

Jeff Johnson: 1 Samuel chapter 22 as we continue to learn these incredible lessons that David and those in the Old Testament learned because they are written for our example, aren't they? 1 Samuel chapter 22. David has entered into his wilderness experience and why not? Moses had his. The children of Israel had theirs. Even Jesus had a wilderness experience. Paul was two years in Arabia. He had his time there in the desert, the Lord dealing with him, ministering to him, and the same way with David.

Why? Why are these wilderness dry times necessary? Why do we have to go through these scary times with our relationship with the Lord, with our just learning to live for him? We've got those great days where the Lord's right there, and then other days where I don't know where he is. Those times where we go through, why do we have to do that?

I found a scripture in Deuteronomy and I'll read it to you in Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 2. This is what he said to the children of Israel: "And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these 40 years in the wilderness." This is the reason. Number one, to humble you. Number two, to prove you. And number three, to know what was in your heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or not. Actually, he goes on to say that they would know what was in their own hearts, that they would see their great need for God because God knows what's in your heart, right?

But he wants you to see it, so he gets these wilderness experiences and he lets us go through them. Why? So he can prove us. Don't think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is about to try you or prove you. He's proving our faith. Are you going to hang in there in tough times? Are you going to continue to look to him? Are you going to run to him? Our faith is tested. So we know that now David is going through incredible tests in his life and his faith with his God.

He flees from Saul because his life is in danger and he goes running right to the enemy as we saw last week. He had a fear of being recognized and so he fakes and feigns insanity. It comes to his mind and says, "I'll just act like a crazy man." Then, of course, they kick him out of the city for that. So here we see David, not only rejected by his own people, but when he went into the sanctuary, he couldn't even find refuge. Then when he went to his enemy, they kicked him out of the city.

David is learning incredible lessons of trusting in God and getting his eyes upon the Lord no matter what happens. David now finds himself back in the territory of Judah as he's learning his lessons. In chapter 22 verse 1, we pick up the story. It says that David therefore departed thence and he escaped to the cave of Adullam. He left out of the enemy's city, and when his brethren and all of his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him.

Here David is in his first what I call cave experience. A neat experience of learning, and David is here going to learn an important lesson, and that is that the king's business doesn't require haste. If you remember last week, David in his lying to the priest said, "The reason I have no sword with me is because I'm in haste because I'm on the king's business." David is going to have actually 10 years to think about this and to find out that God is never in a hurry and that you should never be in a hurry. It's when we get in a hurry that mistakes are made and we really blow it.

So David is going to be slowed down. God has a way of slowing us down. Did you know that? He has a way of just slowing us down. Take it easy, man. Take a load off. Just sit here quietly. I got you right here for a reason. Ten years he would run from Saul. That's a long time, isn't it? Some of you though have been in situations for 10 years, and you know what I'm talking about. You know what David's going through as he's running from Saul. You've been dealing with something for 10 years.

It sometimes takes years and the Lord's teaching us important lessons during the time. It was during this time that Psalm 57, of course in the caves, the Psalms are written. But Psalm 57, which we read this morning, was written in this cave of Adullam. So let's go to that for a moment and let's see what David was saying here because I love going from David's experiences to the Psalm that he wrote during that time. It just gives it a little special meaning, a little more meaning than just the Psalm. You understand he was really going through it. He was running for his life. He was being hunted down like an animal by Saul in the desert. And here he writes now Psalm 57.

Look right at the start of Psalm 57. It says that this is written when he fled from Saul in a cave. So verse 1 says, "Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast." I'm going to hide out with the Lord. I'm going to hang out with the Lord. I'm going to keep my eyes upon him until all of this passes. It reminds me of the eagle that flies above the storm until it passes and then he comes back down. I just want to hide with the Lord.

Then notice verse 7, David said, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed." David just got his heart fixed upon the Lord, turned towards Jehovah. Hearts are fully blessed, finding as he promised perfect peace and rest in the midst of chaos. Put your eyes upon the Lord whose mind is stayed on thee. He says, "My heart is fixed." I fixed my heart on the Lord. I will not let it deviate. I'm going to continue to look to the Lord because there is my peace, there is my rest. David writing this Psalm during this time.

Now another one was written by David. Turn over to Psalm 142 during this very cave experience running for his life. Psalm 142 was written by David. Notice at the first part of Psalm 142 it says, "A prayer when David was in the cave." So this is his prayer while he was in the cave. Notice verse 4: "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." He was alone in his situation. "I cried unto thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living." Again, writing it down that in the Lord is all that I need. He's my portion.

I don't care what happens as long as I have the Lord. Even if I go through the valley of the shadow of death, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me for thou art with me, his presence to take me through this time. So David writes these Psalms during this period. This cave is actually located in the area of the Valley of Elah, and remember this is where David slew the giant Goliath. It's kind of located in between Gath, which was a main Philistine city, and Bethlehem, the city where David was raised.

And so his family hears about him hiding out in the cave of Adullam and his family comes rushing to be with him. Thank God for family, huh? Thank God for the family. Now some of you are saying, "I was just with them. I don't thank God for them." Wait a minute. I hear you, but sometimes it's not the physical bloodline family. Sometimes you just say thank God for God's family. Thank God for the family of God that God put me into and we are now blood related in Jesus Christ. We sit here together as a family to pray together, to stay together, to encourage one another, to come and worship together, to come and have God's presence fall upon us during these times of gathering.

And the congregation gathers together, the Lord meets us in this place. Thank God for God's family. You know in Acts chapter 4 they were threatened with their very lives, and as they were threatened with their lives it says that they went to their own company. What a comfort that must have been to be able to run from the threats of the world and run into your own company of your own family that believe like you believe and worship as you worship and to come together and to experience God's presence as we are today.

Psalm 27:10 says even if your mother and father forsake you, the Lord will pick you up. So thank God for the family. This is his blood family though. They came to him. And blood family sometimes is strong, isn't it? Some of you have a blessed blood family along with the spirit family that you have in the family of God, so we have two blessings. So here his physical family, his bloodline family come running to be with him. Why? Because they knew that Saul was losing it. Bethlehem was under siege, was going to be taken over by the enemy. And the family knew that if Saul was coming for David, he could come for them. So they ran to be with David in this cave in the wilderness.

Notice now verse 2: "And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto David; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men." Many others were also going through it during this time. These probably back then the society would look at them as society's misfits, the rejects, the ones that couldn't make it during the tough times. But there was tough times during that period. Economically, many were without jobs, many lost everything that they had.

And really I think if you were to ask David at the time, "David, what type of people would you have chosen to be your mighty army?" He wouldn't go around and say, "Okay, I'll take that loser and that loser and that loser." No. When you choose a team for baseball, guys, who do you choose? The big guys that can hit it, right? The guys that are ready to get out there and skirmish, right? I want that guy on my team. And who's left? Okay, thanks. It's the little guys and the guys that you don't think can play. That's how society always has been and always will be.

But that's not how God is, is it? He takes these poor motley-looking crew, I call it David's motley crew, and he gathers them together out in the wilderness. I think it's the same way with us today. As the world continues to reject our Lord, we see that Saul is a beautiful type of Satan. As Saul was going after David, so Satan goes after those who are in Christ. Remember what Peter said? 1 Peter 5:8, "Your adversary the devil's like a lion, he's roaming around seeking whom he may devour." He's out after you if you're serving the Lord.

So Saul was after David. In fact over in Psalm 57 in verse 4, David says, "My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword." He says, "I'm amongst these lions that are after my soul." As God called these 400 men together back then, I believe today God is calling a people together to serve him in these times. Those who were in distress. These are the ones that he calls to himself. Those who are turned off how things are being run. Those who have actually lost faith in whatever you call the system.

You're saying, "I look at it, I try to get involved with it, I try to help it out, I try to change things, but it just gets more and more in the muck and the mire. I can't stand the way things are going. I am in distress over the way things are taking place in our country. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired." And as the prodigal remember came to his senses as what he was doing, what drove him back home but distress? He was in distress on how he was living his life, on how he was wasting his life, as far as what he was doing. He said, "I just want to go home."

Four hundred of these gathered together and submitted themselves to David. These would suffer in the wilderness with David. They didn't care. They lost everything. They left their home, they left their job, some left their families. They just left and went to be with David. Because they would suffer with David though, they would also reign with David. Remember Moses kind of reminds me of Moses. He forsook the riches of Egypt and of Pharaoh and he got down with God's people. Knowing what was coming, he gave it all up to serve the Lord down in the mud pits with God's people.

In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, a move of the Holy Spirit came upon this nation. It happened here, just so happened happened in Southern California upon a group of hippies and then it spread throughout all the nation. This countercultural group that was out of it on drugs, long hair, barefoot out there in the streets, just barely making it, not wanting anything physical. All of a sudden many of these misfits of society are getting saved. They're coming to know the Lord. The Lord is doing a work in their hearts.

And isn't it interesting, any time that a revival took place all the way through the history of the church, that the revival is always out in the street amongst people that are just devastated out there? It doesn't happen in the church. Revival's out there, folks. Revival's out there in the marketplace where you're working, where you're touching hearts and lives. That's where it takes place. It doesn't happen in the church. It never did, it never will. Yes, we see people coming to the Lord here, but revival happens really outside there as we are his witnesses out there. Lives are touched and are compelled to come to the Lord.

So a similar situation happened in the early 70s where I see in 1 Corinthians notice what Paul says here. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 26: "For you see your calling, brothers, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty; The base things of the world, and the things which are despised, God has chosen, yea, the things that are not, to bring to nought the things that are: Why? So that no flesh should glory in his presence."

So God is doing this incredible work, drawing those misfits of society together for his glory, that he would get all of the glory what he was about to do in and through these individuals that he was gathering together. And so today, we are gathered around the son of David, Jesus Christ the Lord. Jesus said, "I came into this world to seek and to save that which was lost." To those who know they need a physician. To those who know that they're sick in their sin and it's killing them and they need a healing. Those are the ones Jesus says, "I came to save the lost." Those of you that know that you're lost in this world, that are distressed about what is going on around you and you're at the end of the rope. Jesus came to save you and to give you hope and abundant life.

And so these are gathered around, these that are disturbed at the world's condition. Those that are disturbed about what the god of this world is doing to those around us. Distraught at the nation, at the society that we're living in. David and his motley crew were the same way. In fact over in Psalm 34 David says this of the Lord: "I sought the Lord, and he heard me," this is Psalm 34 verse 4, "I sought him, he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. This poor man cried," verse 6, "and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all of his troubles."

Then in verse 17: "The righteous cry, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all of their troubles. The Lord is near to them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit." Is that what you're like? Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired about what's going on? Are you tired of just seeing the way things are going in this world? Do you want to go a better way, a different way? Do you have that heart that has now been broken? Are you open? Then the Lord is calling you to be one of his. You need to come.

Those that are not only distraught and troubled with what's going on, it says in distress, but he says those that are in debt, which is interesting. There was many back then that were in debt. They lost everything. And we know that physically, materially, you can get hung up on materialism in this world. You can get really deep in debt. You can become a slave to money. Money will run your life and you'll be its slave. And that's a sad place to be in when money is ruling and reigning in your life and ruining your life. And so those that were in debt.

If you look at it in a spiritual way though, blessed are those who are poor in spirit. Blessed are those that come to the conscious that I'm spiritually bankrupt. I don't know anything that's going on spiritually. Oh, sometimes I mention to people, "Well, I meditate, I do yoga. I'm studying Eastern religion." And we act big shots at times, "Well, I've got a crystal that I depend on." And there's a lot of people that get off in these weird things of these New Age stuff. But it's only for a time because it won't last because it's empty, man. It's void.

Only Jesus will last. He's the only one. He's the only truth, the only way, the only life. There is no other way to get to heaven but through him. No other way to have a relationship to God but through him. So I owe the Lord. He paid my debt on the cross. He paid for my sins and he saved my life because I should be dead. The way I was going was the end thereof is death and I was heading that way and he saved me. So I'm indebted to him forever, eternally indebted to him. Now I'm his douloi. The Bible says douloi means a bondslave. As I owe him my life, I'm in debt to him.

But notice he says those that were discontent. Another way to say discontent is bitterness of soul. They had bitterness in their soul. Those that were frustrated. Those that said there is no justice on this earth. Those that are looking at people that would take the truth and turn it into a lie. Those that would try to turn white and make it look black and everybody say, "Well, it looks black to me," and they're totally deceived. Those that buy up in a society of the senseless slaughter of the unborn. Those that are actually convincing themselves that it's okay. We are living in a sin-sick society that is killing itself. And people aren't waking up. They're blinded to it and many of them are caught up in it.

Many are dissatisfied and if you sense it in the workplace, it's everywhere. There's a restlessness that is sweeping our land. There are people that are truly looking for the truth today more than ever before. Yes, I know a lot of people turned off and they're hard, but there's still a lot of people that are seeking and want to know the truth. I'm personally longing for the Lord to come back and be king. I'm looking forward to the time where he'll rule and reign. And I know many of you are saying the same thing: "Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus." And as we're looking up.

But until then, he alone can take away the bitterness that lies within people's hearts. He alone can cause you to see as Joseph had his eyes opened. If anybody was to be bitter, it would be Joseph. Joseph was thrown in a pit by his brothers, left there to die. And then later instead of leaving him there, they sold him to a slave train to be carted off into Egypt to forever be a slave. If there was anybody that should be bitter at life and at how life treated him, it would be Joseph, right? I mean this guy was rejected by everybody. But we don't see that because God met Joseph and God helped his heart to be right.

Guest (Male): There are so many great examples of godly men and women in God's word who face great hardship and yet persevered and trusted God. And God came through every single time. This is Sound Doctrine, and you've been listening to a message shared by Pastor Jeff Johnson from 1 Samuel 22. We'll finish it up next time.

1 Samuel is filled with practical insights for Christian living. And if you'd like to hear this study again, go to sounddoctrineradio.org or listen through the Sound Doctrine podcast app. You can also hear Sound Doctrine on oneplace.com and wherever you enjoy podcasts. That includes Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

If you'd like to get behind what we're doing and donate to this radio outreach, you can do so at sounddoctrineradio.org by clicking the Give tab. And thank you very much for your support. It's greatly appreciated and will be put to good use helping others build their lives on the sound doctrine found in God's word.

We hope you'll join us for our next study in 1 Samuel. It's going to be a good one. That's right here on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff. A presentation of Calvary Chapel Downey. Have a blessed day in the Lord.