1 Sam. 22
David in the cave Adullam is a striking type of Christ in His present rejection. Christ has been here and has been refused. He came in perfect love and grace, testing men as to where they stood toward God. But they hated and crucified Him. Adullam, in Hebrew, means "the justice of the people." The multitude in David's day were following Saul, the people's choice. David, the man after God's heart, was forced to become a wanderer and an outcast. Such was "the justice of the people." Saul reigned in a palace, while David suffered in a cave. It is a well-known saying, that "the voice of the people is the voice of God." Facts do not bear this out. What was the voice of the people eighteen hundred years ago? It was "Crucify Him! crucify Him!" Jews and Gentiles mingled their voices as they clamored for His death. "For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together" (Acts 4:27). Was that the voice of God? No, it was the voice of Satan, venting his heart's hatred through his willing subjects against the Son of God. John writes, "The whole world lieth in wickedness" (1 John 5:19). That same world still continues in that state. It is still joined hand-in-hand against the One God sent to be its Savior. What is commonly called "the Christian world," is only such in name. Even the Church has become corrupted by mingling with the world. One only needs to read the Scriptures to see that "Christendom" has little left in it of true Christianity save the name. The people of Israel who persecuted and killed the prophets sent them, afterward they built fine sepulchers to their honor. So the world has cast out Christ, and now would pay Him a sort of honor by calling itself by His name.
David is not alone in the cave of Adullam. He has companions. "David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him" (vs. 1). His following was partially made up of his kindred "after the flesh." "His brethren and all his father's house" are like the Jewish believers of the early Christian Church. They were Christ's kindred after the flesh, as the Apostle says, "Of whom as concerning the flesh, Christ came" (Romans 9:5). They were the true "Israel of God." They were the first to come to Christ and hang their hopes and everything on the rejected One. David's kindred are the first referred to. But there were others—refugees from Saul's dominions. "And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men" (vs. 2). They represent the Gentiles who are being saved today.
Let us look a little at their character. Three things especially mark them, notice: They were "in distress," "in debt," and "discontented." They seemed a sorry lot, but they picture just the kind of people Christ receives and welcomes. "This man receiveth sinners” (Luke 15:2).
"Every one that was in distress" came to David, and he received them, and relieved them, too. So for the last eighteen centuries, distressed souls have been coming to Christ. And, blessed be His Name, He has received every one of them. Not one has ever been turned away. His word to such is this: "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). And He relieves them, too. "Come unto Me," He says, "all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He can righteously invite them to come, and He loves to have them enjoy the rest He gives. He has died for their sins. He was made sin for them at the cross and has put away their guilt forever.
Have you ever been "in distress," my friend? I do not mean in trouble merely. All have trouble of some sort. Since the fall of Adam, the natural heritage of the human race is trouble. "Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward" (Job 5:7). But I mean distress of soul. Everywhere I go I meet with people in distress. Some are distressed about their health. Others are in distress about their wealth. Some are distressed about this, and some about that; but few, alas, are distressed about their souls. The mass of men are sleeping in their sins. They will never awake till they find themselves in the dreadful realization of eternal woe. They will then be distressed too late. The rich man of the sixteenth of Luke got distressed too late. He dressed "in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day." He lived and died (like thousands all around us) in forgetfulness of God, "and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments." At last his eyes were opened, but it was too late.
You may think I am trying to excite and frighten you. No, my friends, I speak the words of truth and soberness. And your wisdom is to hear and heed. Several years ago I discovered a farmhouse on fire in eastern Michigan. The family were all away at the time, so I cried at the top of my voice, "Fire! fire!" The neighbors heard me half a mile or more away, and came rushing to the fire. No one told me I had called too long or loudly. No one accused me of trying to excite people and making unnecessary noise. Yet it was only a farmhouse.
There is little or nothing to awaken sinners in the popular preaching of today. Sentimentalism and sensationalism is the order instead of repentance and the awful judgment drawing near. Men were pricked in their hearts at the preaching of Peter, and they gnashed on Stephen with their teeth. Felix trembled as Paul "reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come." Those who succeed in amusing or entertaining their audiences, today are applauded. "They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them" (1 John 4:5). Paul and Barnabas "so spake" at Iconium that "a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed" (Acts 14:1). It does not say they applauded, but believed.
Those "in debt" came to David. They had often tried to pay their debts, no doubt, and always failed. They could not extricate themselves, so in despair they fled to David in the cave.
It is only those who care that come to Jesus. All have plenty of debts, no doubt, but only those who feel the burden of them flee to Him—the only One who can release them. The psalmist was no worse than others, and he confessed that his iniquities were "more than the hairs of mine head” (Psalm 69:4) in number. Those competent to speak say that a healthy head contains about one hundred thousand hairs. But if one sin would shut us out of heaven forever, what can we do with such an awful load of debt? Where are we to flee? Who can release us from the awful burden? "Therefore my heart faileth me" (Psalm 40:12), adds the psalmist at the end of his confession.
Thank God, there is forgiveness and justification through the atoning work of Christ. "Be it known unto you, therefore ... that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things" (Acts 13:38-39). It is Christ who "was wounded for our trans- gressions" (Isaiah 53:5)—who thus paid our mighty dues and is able to release us. We cannot help ourselves. A lifetime of prayer and good works could never expiate one sin. "Without shedding of blood is no remission" (Heb. 9:22). Thank God the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin. All has been done. We trust the Savior, and our sins are pardoned. "To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins" (Acts 10:43). All was atoned for on the cross. "Grace reigns through righteousness" (Rom. 5:21). The Lord Jesus Christ, by His sufferings and death, made infinite satisfaction to God for His people's sins. "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). And now because of that accomplished work of redemption, God can be "just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Rom. 3:26).
“Christ knew how guilty man had been;
He knew that God must punish sin;
So out of pity Jesus said,
'I'll bear the punishment instead.'”
Then "every one that was discontented gathered themselves unto David." And this world is filled with discontented people. Go where you will, you will find dissatisfaction. The rich and the poor are alike dissatisfied. The young sigh with unsatisfied ambition, and the old complain of disappointed hopes. Princes and paupers, millionaires and mendicants, philosophers and fools, the whole world echoes and re-echoes with sounds of discontent. Some seem happy and contented with their lot.
These, if unconverted, live in a sort of "fools' paradise." And sooner or later their sorrows come.
The poor imagine if they were only wealthy they would be content. But riches only change their discontent. Some years ago a very wealthy man committed suicide. He seemed to have everything the human heart could wish for, and he left a note in which he said: "I take my life because I am tired of living to eat and drink and sleep." He was an envied man, no doubt, but a stranger to contentment. Scripture says, "The heart knoweth his own bitterness" (Prov. 14:10). I met a wealthy merchant once in South Bend, Indiana, who said, "If I could be sure the Bible was true and that there was salvation for me, I would gladly dump all my goods into the St. Jo River." His riches failed to bring him satisfaction. There is no real contentment out of Christ. I read of a Christian Quaker once who often spoke to his neighbors about their souls. But they all thought they were well enough off away from God and imagined they were quite contented. One day this Quaker had the following sign set up in a fine ten-acre lot along the road: "I will give this field to anyone who is really contented." Soon one of his most prosperous neighbors came along. "Hello! what's this?" he said, as he stopped and read the sign. "I'll claim that field," he continued. "If there is a contented man in all the country, I'm that man. I have one of the finest farms in all the county. It has been paid for years ago, and I have a fine nest-egg in the bank. My children are all in excellent circumstances and doing well. I enjoy the best of health. I am surely a contented man." So he went to the Quaker's door and demanded the field. "Ah, friend," said the Quaker, "if thee is contented, what does thee want of my field?" The man saw his mistake and acknowledged that, after all, he was not really contented. He had to relinquish all claim to the field.
Only I do not even say all Christians know what real contentment is. They can truthfully say—
"Jesus, Thou art enough
The mind and heart to fill.”
Solomon says, "All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full" (Eccl. 1:7). The sea is the human heart. If you could direct into those discontented hearts every river of earthly pleasure, they would still remain unfilled and unsatisfied. Men hunt for satisfaction where it can never be found. An iceberg yields no heat, salt no sweetness, and wine cannot be pressed from turnips. Man's heart was made for God, and only God in Christ can fill and satisfy it. Riches, fame, pleasure—all fail to bring contentment to the heart.
Even religion cannot satisfy the heart. The gloomiest people in the world are religious people. (I do not mean converted people.) They do not know Christ as their Savior, so they lack the very soul of what the Apostle James calls "true religion." They eat the bitter orange-peel, but have never tasted of the rich, delicious fruit within. No wonder, then, that people in their minds associate gloom and sadness with religion. Christ brings joy to every heart that is opened to receive Him. Open to Him, discontented soul, and let Him satisfy your aching heart. He longs to satisfy you with Himself. He knows your bitterness of soul. Come to Him, then, as the discontented came to David. Come now, and ever after sing:
“I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary and worn and sad;
I found in Him a resting-place,
And He has made me glad.”
In Christ, for distress you will find comfort, for debt you will get clearance, and for the discontented there is contentment. The comfort is by the word of Christ. He says to every distressed sinner that comes to Him, as He did to the poor distressed woman, "Be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace" (Luke 8:48). The clearance is by the work of Christ ... "Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification" (Rom. 4:25). And the contentment is in the worth of Christ. All His redeemed can contentedly say of Him, "He is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend" (Song of Sol. 5:16).
So much for the character of those who came to David's standard in the cave. They were anything but the cream of the kingdom. And Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, says: "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are: That no flesh should glory in His presence" (1 Cor. 1:26-29). Such is the character of those the Father designs to draw to Christ. Few, if any, of the wise, the mighty, or the noble, were with David. Saul monopolized the great ones of the country. All such preferred Jerusalem to the cave of Adullam. The lodestone will not draw the precious metals; it has little or no attraction over gold or silver. But the common metals are attracted by it, such as iron and steel. Comparatively few of the great ones of earth ever cared for Christ. "The common people heard Him gladly." And high ecclesiastics asked significantly, "Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed on Him?”
David's companions, surrounding him in the cave of Adullam, are like the companions given to Christ in this present time of His rejection. He says: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24). He Himself was the corn of wheat that died. He would not abide alone. And the blessed result of His death is much fruit—all the company of the redeemed. Isaiah says, "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied" (Isaiah 53:11). This company is called to share His rejection now and will reign with Him in the Kingdom and glory by and by, just as David's companions shared his rejection and were not forgotten when he sat on Israel's throne.
David is the leader of this little band. "He became a captain over them" (1 Samuel 22:2). Christ is Lord to every Christian. He is "the captain of their salvation" (Hebrews 2:10). They know no other lord; no other captain may command them. May we be true to our great captain. May grace be given us to conduct ourselves as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. We belong to Him, and though we may be the weakest among His own and have little influence, we can stand beneath His banner and say in the face of a hostile world, "My Beloved is mine and I am His" (Song of Solomon 2:16). Napoleon's soldiers were once marching through the streets of Paris when their general's cause hung in the balance. A working woman named Jeanette seized a broom as they were passing, and, putting it to her shoulder, she fell in line with the troops. The bystanders laughed and asked her if she expected to fight with a broom. "No," said Jeanette, "but I can show which side I'm on." She was loyal and gave evidence of her loyalty. Oh, let us be loyal at all times and in all circumstances—not offensively, as if we thought ourselves above our fellows, but as from hearts which cannot be untrue to such a Lord as ours.
In verses 3 to 5 of this chapter, David leaves the cave Adullam and comes to the "forest of Hareth." From verse 6 and on down, we have an account of Saul's cruel slaughter of Jehovah's priests. One named Abiathar escapes and flees to David. David says to him, in verse 23, "Abide thou with me, fear not: for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life: but with me thou shalt be in safeguard.”
Three things may be said of this Abiathar. He was safe, secure, and separated. Let us view him as a picture of the sinner who has fled to Christ for refuge.
The first thing is salvation. In danger of his life, Abiathar fled to David. There he found salvation from the sword of Saul. And sinner, you must flee to Christ. Your sins expose you to the eternal wrath of God. Being holy, God must punish sin. Some day He will lift the sword of justice. Then alas for you, if you are still away from Christ. Oh, flee to Him now! No one and nothing else can save you. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
“None but Jesus can do helpless sinners good.”
We never read in the Gospels of needy sinners coming to the mother of our Lord or Peter. They came right to Christ Himself, and none were ever turned away! "Come unto Me," He said. "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). Peter never invited sinners to himself or to Mary, but always to Christ and only to Christ, for in Him alone is there salvation. Peter could not die an atoning death for sinners, nor could the mother of our Lord. Christ only could do and has done that, and Christ only can save the sinner.
Abiathar fled to David, and you must flee to David's Lord.
Next, Abiathar was secure with David. David therefore says to him: "Fear not: for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life: but with me thou shalt be in safeguard" (1 Samuel 22:23). So Christ says of all that believe on Him: "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one" (John 10:28-30). He calls His own redeemed ones sheep, and He likens Himself to a shepherd. And surely the responsibility of the security of a flock of sheep rests wholly with their shepherd. If a sheep is lost, the shepherd is blamed.
Suppose a sheep-rancher entrusts one hundred sheep to a shepherd. This shepherd takes them forth to the green pastures and by the still waters. At noon he eats his dinner beneath the shade of a tree and after dinner goes to sleep. While he is asleep, a sheep strays off and a hungry wolf devours it. The shepherd discovers it only when it’s too late. At evening time, he returns with the sheep, and the owner counts the flock. "Shepherd," he says, "what's this? There is a sheep missing." "Oh, don't blame me," the shepherd says. "The sheep strayed away and a wolf killed it. It had no business to leave the flock and wander off. It was its own fault. I am not to blame." "Indeed you are," the owner says. "You are responsible for every sheep committed to your care, and I shall retain the price of the sheep from your wages."
You see it is the shepherd, not the sheep, that is responsible. And Christ, the believers' shepherd, speaks of His sheep as having been given Him of His Father. "My Father which gave them Me." "All that the Father giveth Me." They have been entrusted to His care, and none shall ever perish.
O sheep of Christ, rejoice! Your faithful Shepherd's word is pledged that you shall never perish, and that without an "if" or "but." Opposers of this precious truth may add, "if they continue." Scripture warns against such: "Add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar" (Prov. 30:6). There are warnings and conditions, but not in this connection. Without the slightest qualification Christ has said, "And they shall never perish" (John 10:28). I place my Savior's words above John Wesley's or the words of any other man, or all the men of all the world combined.
In the fifteenth chapter of Luke's Gospel, the shepherd has the once-lost sheep upon his shoulders. It is his "shoulders," plural, not one shoulder only. Christ is that shepherd, and the Christian is the sheep. The future government of the world is going to rest upon "His shoulder." "His shoulders" are beneath the helpless sheep (Isa. 9:6; Luke 15:5). The shoulder is the symbol of strength. "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth"(Matthew 28:18). Christ says. "His shoulder" is like His power "in earth;" "His shoulders" is His two-fold power, "in heaven and in earth." And all that mighty power secures the feeblest child of God against the powers of earth and darkness. Hallelujah!
Of course, there must be "holding on." But the Shepherd must be the One who does the "holding on." I have often talked with those characters they call backsliders. You know they are the very people who talk the most about "holding on." And you will generally find them as ignorant as heathen about the grace of God. Salvation with them is a certain amount of happy feeling. And unable to hold on to that, they have lost their sham salvation.
Hear the persuasion of Paul. It is a blessed persuasion. Oh, that I could assemble the whole army of opposers of this precious truth and read it in their ears!
It is in the eighth of Romans. He says: "I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (vss. 38-39). Paul knows that no sheep of Christ's can ever fall away and perish.
“But," someone asks, "what about St. Peter's teaching on the dog and sow?" Well, let us look at what he says. "For if after they [not we, notice] have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire" (2 Pet. 2:20-22). He does not say these persons were converted, notice. They had the knowledge of the Savior, but the Savior Himself and salvation they never possessed. I may know a certain train will take me to New York, yet never step aboard.
They escaped the "pollutions of the world," but not the world itself. Christ gave Himself for the sins of true believers that He might deliver them "from this present evil world" (Gal. 1:4). A man may escape the pollutions of the world by reformation. New birth alone avails to turn us from the world itself. Conversion turns us into sheep. The nature of a sheep is clean. That of a sow is unclean. A farmer told me once that sheep will rarely venture into a swamp; they love the pasture that is high and dry. But a sow delights in mud and filth. You may wash its skin, but its nature will remained unchanged. So you may reform and religionize the sinner by an external application of the word of God. But if he is not "born again," he will return, in nearly every instance, to his former habits, like the sow to its "wallowing in the mire." His last state is worse than the first, because sham converts often plunge into open infidelity in the end, and sink lower in the mire of the world's corruption than they ever were before.
Christ says of His sheep, "They follow Me" (Job 10:27). This, is characteristic of them. Some, like Peter, follow "afar off," and they come to grief. See how Peter sinned. But he did not cease to be a sheep of Christ. He proved he was a true sheep by his sorrow and repentance. The Lord had said, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not" (Luke 22:31-32). He remained a believer, despite his grievous sin. His faith remained, through his Savior's intercession, and he was restored in soul. He was like a poor sheep that stumbles in a ditch and scrambles out. A sow, no matter how well washed before, would remain in the ditch quite satisfied, like many, alas, of the “unconverted converts” of the present day. David's words to Abiathar are the spirit of Christ's words to all who flee to Him for refuge. "Fear not; for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life: but with me thou shalt be in safeguard" (1 Samuel 22:23). That is security. Can you say, "The Lord is my Shepherd"? Then He says to you, "Fear not.”
For nine years Security Square has been my happy home. The Apostle says, "But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30). Think of it. Christ being made to us of God "wisdom," "righteousness," "sanctification," "redemption" gives us four mighty walls! What a place of security!
“Safe in Christ! safe in Christ!
He's their glory ever;
None can pluck them from His hand
They shall perish never.”
Lastly, we have separation. And this security which bound Abiathar to David equally parted him from Saul. So in the measure in which Christians realize their security in Christ, their hearts are bound to Him and separated from the world. Abiathar could have nothing in common now with Saul. Saul was David's enemy; Abiathar was his friend. To have had fellowship now with the one who sought the life of David would be treason and disloyalty to God's anointed, though yet rejected king. Remember, Christian, that the world has put our Lord to death. The language of the world, in fact, if not in words is, "We will not have this man to reign over us." Can you mix lightly with it then and be true to Christ?
I remember a young Christian woman asking a servant of Christ if he thought there was any harm in believers going to parties and mixing with the unconverted in their amusements. He said, "I will answer your question by asking you one. Suppose you are engaged to a noble, upright man. He is everything to you and is in every way worthy of your love and confidence. One night he is murdered in cold blood by a cruel assassin. Though for the time being he escapes justice, you know well he is the murderer, and the awful secret lies locked within you. Time goes on, and one day this very assassin drives up to your door in a fine carriage. Having gained entrance, to your horror and indignation he coolly invites you to attend a ball with him that evening. Now, in such a case, what would you do?" "What would I do?" she responded. "I would bid him be gone and never again make such advances towards me." "Very well,” said the servant of Christ. "That assassin is the world. Its hands are stained red with the blood of the Bridegroom of the Church. How then can you ask if there is any harm in going along with its pleasures?" It was enough. Her eyes were opened. She had answered her own question.
Understand me. I do not mean that we must not be kind and friendly, even to the "unjust" and the "evil." What I mean is, we must not fellowship with them or be under any kind of yoke with them. We should love men—all men—but not the world. We should seek the good of all, but keep aloof from everything that savors of the world. We may work, eat, and live with the unconverted, but it is quite another thing to join with them in their pleasures and amusements. Christ constantly mixed with publicans and sinners, not to "enjoy Himself," as people say, but to tell them of God's love and reach their consciences. And we will find no harm among the unconverted with that end in view or to fulfill whatever may be our appointed task in the duties of life. If Christians mix with the unconverted to seek enjoyment, they will surely contract defilement. And they never do the unbeliever any good. In my pocket is a gold coin and a piece of lead. They have been together in each other's company. Now see them. The gold is tarnished! In the language of Scripture, "How is the fine gold become dim?" There is lead upon it that has dimmed its luster. But the lead has not changed by being in contact with the gold. The golden coin alone has been affected, and that for only evil.
Reviewing, then, this little journey into Scripture, we see that our salvation is by Christ, our security is in Christ, and our separation is with Christ.
In closing, let me read a verse in Acts. It is the 36th verse of chapter 5. They are the words of Gamaliel in the council. He says: "For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about 400 joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to naught." Contrast Theudas's end with David's. Theudas was slain; David lived to reign, though he did once say in his heart when faith was low, "I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul" (1 Samuel 27:1). Theudas's followers “were scattered, and brought to naught" (Acts 5:36). David's men were honored for their faithfulness.
Our Leader is "alive for evermore" (Rev. 1:18). He is become "the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him" (Heb. 5:9). And “they shall reign with Him” (Rev. 20:6). Amen.