[0:00] A very warm welcome to our service this morning and a special welcome to those who are visiting with us.
[0:12] It is good to see all the children back for Sunday School. It really gives us a great pleasure to see you here and we're thankful that you're able to come and we hope that this new session of the Sunday School will be an enjoyable time for you, a time of learning.
[0:33] We're going to begin our service singing from Psalm 63. Psalm 63, at the beginning, four stanzas.
[0:47] Lord thee, my God, I rarely seek. My soul doth thirst for thee. My flesh longs in a dry parched land wherein no waters be.
[0:59] That I thy power may behold and brightness of thy face, as I have seen thee heretofore within thy holy place. Since better is thy love than life, my lips thee praise shall give.
[1:15] I, in thy name, will lift my hands and bless thee while I live. Even as with marrow and with fat my soul shall filled be, then shall my mouth with joyful lips sing praises unto thee.
[1:34] We can sing these four stanzas from the beginning of Psalm 63. Lord thee, my God, I rarely seek. Lord thee, my God, I rarely seek. Lord thee, my God, I rarely seek.
[1:57] Only thou, I or may, I harbor thee. And shall you immod color send thee.
[2:09] And shallstử me as well as the beast of Defense comeju's name. Where there no water is That I thy power may behold And brightness of thy head As I have seen thee here to hope Where there thy holiness Since matter is thy love
[3:12] And the night my blessed peace of the air I hear thy name with my hands And bless thee, fire thy air If not with my own mind will fire My soul shall hear thee Then shall my mind With joy for us
[4:12] Ten graces unto thee Let us join together in prayer Ever blessed God as we come in your name We look to your own face and favour to be set before us That we may appreciate being in your presence And as we gather in your presence That we may be conscious That we are near to God And that God is near to us We know that we can understand your word That teaches us that Wherever we are God God is to be found You are ever present
[5:12] You are a God You are a God who inhabits eternity And occupies the sin of time You are a great God And our inability to understand The greatness that is yours Is really something that marks out our fallenness Help us to appreciate with your own help Some aspects of your being That it may captivate our hearts And draw us ever closer to you We give thanks for the opportunity To meet in your name And the name of Christ That is above every name Is the warrant by which we are met We are encouraged to come Because he has opened to us A new and a living way
[6:13] And that through the gospel And we pray That that gospel that speaks to us Of the death that secured life For many That our eyes would be open To see and marvel at what we see We pray your blessing upon Those who meet with us Under the sound of your word today And we give thanks for those Who have come to Sunday school For the first time We give thanks for those Who continue to attend For their parents Who bring them And encourage them to come We would ask your blessing upon them In their homes And in their families And that they would know The blessing of God That makes rich
[7:15] And adds no sorrow We pray that you would remember The extended family That is the congregation Of believers here Those who earnestly And continually pray For the children Of the community Not just those Who are Able to come To Sunday school But those who Reside within the community Who may as yet Have not Seen fit to come But we We bring them to you Nonetheless And we Are thankful For the opportunity To bear them On the shoulders Of prayer And to seek blessing For every home And household Within The wide community That we represent We pray for the blessing Of the gospel That would Enhance our experience
[8:15] Of living in this world For the world That we live in Is so full of Of terrible things That we dare Hardly think of them So many evils That are Brought to our attention So much wickedness That lies In the heart of man And we hear Of it from time to time Sometimes individuals Sometimes Corporate evils Carried out By nations Against nations Those who are despots Sitting upon Thrones of power That they Abuse And Use to their advantage Thinking that What they do They will answer To no one for But the Reality is
[9:16] That your word Reminds us That Whoever we are The day will come When we will answer To the God Who is sovereign Who sits on the Throne Of the universe So bless us Together today And bless your word To us Remembering All who Meet us We do Whatever Size of Congregation Whether they Have been Villages Such as this In towns In cities We pray for them And ask that Your blessing Would accompany The proclamation Of what is truth We would ask That Christ Jesus Is lifted up So that every eye Would gravitate Towards him And that They would see In him All that their soul Graves We remember The needs Of the congregation Those who are Unwell amongst us We pray for them
[10:16] We pray for those Who are Confined to their Homes Those who have Been cared for In hospital Or by The medical Profession In whatever Capacity Their needs Are being met By them Remember the Homes for the Elderly Remember those Who reside In the hospice All whose Duty it is To care For the sick We give thanks For them And ask that You would bless Them Bless all the Professions That have a Duty of care For the Communities That they serve Whether they be In the police Force The fire Service The fire service The ambulance Service So many Who represent The needs Of the community And do their Atmos To alleviate Suffering We give thanks For them We pray for the Carers That work In our Communities Going from
[11:17] Home to Home And we Are mindful Of the many Things that We take for Granted Remember those Who are Grieving And sorrowful Today We are So often Confronted By the Voice of Death And we Do pray For those Who are Assailed By it Pray for The nations Of the Earth Our own King And his Family The parliaments That serve Him And the Populists We pray For wisdom To be Imparted To them So we Would collectively Repent of Sin And turn To God Remember Before you All the War torn Nations Of the Earth Those Assailed By Natural Calamities Be they Fire Or flood Or whatever It is Famine All the Things that We hear Of and see Brought to Our attention Suffering
[12:17] Abounds But we Give thanks That there Is a Physician That is Able to Heal Our hearts Enable us To look To him Today Continue to Watch over As we Would ask Forgiving Sin In Jesus Name Amen Well boys And girls I am Really Pleased To see You all Here today Those of You Who have Come to Sunday School We are Thankful For For you Being here And we Hope that Your time In Sunday School Would be A good One That you Would learn Much There are Great teachers In the Sunday School Really Excellent Teachers In the Sunday School But they're Not the Best The best Teachers I'm sure You don't
[13:18] Believe that But please Do The best Teacher That we Can ever Come across Is a teacher That we find In the Bible And that Teacher Is the Lord Jesus Christ And Sometimes He amazes Us With the Way that He teaches Us lessons That we would Not otherwise Be able to To learn And today I think We're going to Be looking at A lesson From the Gospel of Matthew And In that Lesson You are Going to See Jesus Healing A Young Girl Who was Unwell And That's the Main story The power That Jesus Has to Heal Is there Often For To Attention But very
[14:18] Often Jesus Performs Miracles And at The same Time He Brings Other Lessons Into The Act of Healing He wants Us to Understand That not Only does He have Power To make People Better But that He wants Us to Understand That when He is He is Working That he Is able To make A person Whole Not just In body Or in Mind But also In spirit And If you Look at The passage Where this Story is Told Jesus Has been Speaking To people And these People Are teachers Themselves Supposed to be Teachers They are Supposed to Be teaching Others About God But they are Not very Good at
[15:19] Doing it Because the Lessons that They teach Are very Lopsided And they Are very Much Misunderstanding And misapplying What God Gave them To tell Others And Jesus When he Heals This young Girl Is teaching Them Something About How wrong They are In how They approach Things And when He is Healing The girl He is Not only Teaching Others About his Power to Heal He is Teaching Them About The need That it Is to Persevere In prayer So that When a Person comes To God And prays To God Sometimes It may Appear that God is Not a Hearing God Or a Prayer Answering God But that
[16:20] He has Overlooked Or forgotten Or that He has Better Things To do And it's A very Strange Story That we Are told Here When this Woman Comes To Jesus He We are Told who She is We are Told where She's From We are Told that Her Background Is not Really The Background Of God's People He said She She's Not a Jew She's A Sinophonician Woman She's A woman Of Canaan Her Background Historically Is a Background Where God Has Turned His Back On That People Because They Turned Their Back Upon Him And Jesus Speaks To her And When When he Speaks He wants Her to Understand The Mercy Of God The Goodness Of God So When she Comes to Him Seeking His Mercy The First Thing
[17:20] He Does Is Ignore Her He Pretends He's Not Hearing Her He Doesn't Answer Her And Then She Asks Again And This Time He Tells Her That The Food That He Has Come To Give To Others The Bread That He Is Going To Give To The People God Has Given To Him Are For God's People Not For Her Likes Because She Belongs To A People Who Turn Their Back On God And Yet She Doesn't Listen She Says I Need You To Hear Me I Need You To Answer Me And She Persists And Jesus Says To Her That She Has Never Never Seen Faith Like That In Israel So He's Teaching Us A Lesson About The Need For
[18:20] Cashverance When We Come To God He's Teaching Us A Lesson About The Wide Nature Of God's Mercy God's Mercy Is Never Restricted You Know We Sometimes Make A Very Foolish Mistake In Thinking That God Can Only Save Son And If They're Good Or If They're Not As Bad As Others Then Salvation Will Become Their God Will Be Good To Them And Not To Those Who Are Really Bad But That's Not The Way God Is God's Mercy Is A Wide Thing It's A Great Thing And It's For Anyone And Everyone Who Would Come To Him Jesus Wants Us To Understand That And I Hope You You Will Remember It When You Think Of These Little Parts Of The Story That We Have Here That Are Important To Our Understanding
[19:21] Of It Well We're Going To Sing Now As We're Going To Sound This Psalm 142 Psalm 142 We're Going To Sing The Whole Of This Psalm For Those Of You Who Are Going To Stay In We're Looking Today At David As He Is In Hiding In What's Called Adullam's Cave And If You'll Notice If You Have Psalm Books That Have This Psalm With A Title Attached It Said That This Psalm Was Composed By David When He Was In Hiding In The Cave I With My Voice Cried To The Lord With It Made My Request Poured Out To Him My Plain
[20:21] To Him My Trouble I Expressed When In Me Was All Well My Spirit And Well Thou Used My Way Where I Did Walk As Near For Me They Proudly Did Lay We're Going To Sing The Whole Psalm I With My Voice Cry To The Lord I With My Voice Cry To The Lord With It Made My Request For God To Him God my spirit, then when love used my way, when I did walk, I said for me, they privately bid, I looked on my right hand and you, but now to know me where, all refuge in it,
[22:25] I can't live no man, if all my soul did hear, I cried to thee, I said, I want my refuge, Lord, I am the Lord alone, and in the land of those that live, them are my portion, because I am brought here, O, I tell them to my cry, me from my mercy, sure the second that I'm going, I tell them to my soul, My heart, my heart,
[23:47] Where are thy? From prison bring my soul, my life.
[24:03] Thy year may glorify. Thy God shall come by me when thou with me, then thou be your free.
[24:33] I'm going to hear God's word as we have it in the Old Testament scriptures from the first book of Samuel. And we're going to read from chapter 21.
[24:52] Reading into chapter 22. We'll just read from verse 10 of chapter 21. Reading into chapter 22.
[25:05] And down to verse 5. And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.
[25:23] And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing one to another of them in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?
[25:42] And David laid up these words in his heart, and was so afraid of Achish the king of Gath. And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard.
[26:02] Then said, Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad, wherefore then have ye brought him to me? Have I need of madmen, that ye have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence?
[26:20] Shall this fellow come into my house? David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adulam. And when his brethren all his father's househerded, they went down thither to him.
[26:37] And everyone that was in distress, and everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him.
[26:50] And he became a captain over them. And there were with him about four hundred men. And David went thence to Mishpah of Moab.
[27:01] And he said to 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.
[27:14] 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.
[27:33] Then David departed, and came into the forest of Harith. And so on, with the Lord, at his blessing to the reading of his word.
[27:45] I'm going to sing now from Psalm 57. Psalm 57. And this again, this is a psalm associated with David's escape from Saul, possibly written when he was within the cave, or at least a fugitive from Saul.
[28:15] We'll sing, which is one to five. Be merciful to me, O God, thy mercy unto me do thou extend, because my soul doth put our trust in thee.
[28:27] Yea, in the shadow of thy wings my refuge I will place, until these sad calamities do wholly overpass. My cry I will cause to ascend unto the Lord most high, to God who doth all things for me, perform most perfectly.
[28:49] From heaven he shall send down, and me from his reproach defend. that would devour me, God his truth, and mercy forth shall send.
[29:00] My soul among fierce lions' eyes, I firebrands live among, men's sons whose teeth are spears and darts, a sharp sword is their tongue.
[29:12] Be thou exalted very high above the heavens, O God, let thou thy glory be advanced o'er all the death abroad. Let us sing these verses.
[29:24] Be merciful to me, O God, thy mercy unto me. Be merciful to me, O God, thy mercy unto me.
[29:49] Do not listen, because my soul doth burn thy birth of the day.
[30:09] In the shadow of thy wings, my heaven to die.
[30:27] And give thou my regret, unto thy roof. He shall doth death, and your kind of drip, who hold me on your cres Danae.
[30:42] ki my rBI on 1 k or mü i r plug On his glory And for both Heir and He From heaven He shall send out On me From His reproach Be then
[31:43] God would Devour me All his death And mercy For us In my soul All near I'd all day I'd fly And around Till you are Men's love to see the sealer's come yard, A charm's o'er is ever done.
[32:41] Be thou a song of very high, Under the heavens of God.
[33:00] Let thou thy glory be advanced, For all ye evermore.
[33:23] I'd like us now to turn to the passage of the scripture that we were reading together, the first book of Samuel, and we can read again at the beginning of chapter 22.
[33:37] David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave at Ulam. And when his brethren and all his fathers' house held it, they went down thither to him.
[33:53] 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.
[34:09] And there were with him about four hundred men. When we read of the history of David, there are obviously times in his experience where he is experiencing great blessing.
[34:37] God's favour is apparent, and God's goodness seems to be very much apportioned to him.
[34:51] Then there are other occasions when it does not appear that that is the case. Sometimes it would seem that if this is the favour of God, then we would want no part of it.
[35:13] And then in his life we see somebody who has greater powers of spirituality.
[35:27] He's somebody who knows God, somebody who appreciates God, somebody who wants to serve God. And he does so. But then in his life he also demonstrates many failings and many flaws of character which are difficult to explain.
[35:49] And very much that is the case. For us, I don't know if you're like me, but many of us like to see the kind of people that we're dealing with that we know what we have.
[36:04] We exactly understand the kind of person they are. We don't want them to have too many sides to them. We want to be able to know where they're coming from and where they're going to.
[36:20] But we're not like that. Sometimes we display characteristics that are completely out of keeping with what we're normally like, if there is anything that you could call normal.
[36:37] But looking at this account that we have here, I want us to think about this situation that confronts us in the life of David at the present.
[36:50] But then I want us to think of it as it represents to us the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, even though it's not spoken of here.
[37:02] And I'll explain to you what I mean by that as we go on. If we go back to the setting that we have here, we know that earlier on, David has already been anointed as king of Israel.
[37:22] And if you go back to chapter 16, the choice of God of David as king has already been made.
[37:34] And verse 13, there, the prophet Samuel is directed to anoint David king.
[37:46] Even though Saul was at that moment still king. And the reason for that is that Saul has gone away from God.
[38:03] And he's disobeyed God. So in verse 13, we read, Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the midst of his brethren. And the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forth, from that day forward.
[38:22] So effectively, at that moment, David is king. But he is still to be recognized as king in the manner in which he is going to be.
[38:41] And Saul, the king, is somebody who has a very hot and cold relationship with David.
[38:51] at one level, he has, he wants, he experiences David's graces.
[39:03] He soothes the troubled heart of Saul when Saul is suffering some melancholy, whether it's a spiritual thing or not.
[39:15] David just plays on the harp and he soothes his brow for him and he derives good from what David does. David fights on the battlefield against the giant, Goliath, and defeats the giant.
[39:31] All that is to the advantage of Saul, but Saul is a jealous person and he despises David and he wishes David dead. and the story, without going into the detail of it, we see that David is forced to flee from Saul.
[39:53] So he's a fugitive from Saul and he has to go into the desert and that's where we find him here. And again, you know, there's this difficulty with the character of David.
[40:11] You know, he's somebody that God has anointed, that God has favoured, and yet at the end of chapter 21 there, he faints madness to avoid the outcome of the attention of the king of Gath.
[40:30] And rather than depend upon God, rather than trust in God and what you would expect, a man of God to do. He does something that he immediately regrets.
[40:46] In chapter 22 we find him hiding in a cave and he is there joined by 400 men, about 400, just a, the number is not relevant really, it's just a small number of people who are in a similar predicament.
[41:13] And we read just as out, a by the way, information concerning his parents, that he makes provision for them, and he finds them sheltered in Moab.
[41:27] Something that has historical relevance, I suppose, was because if you remember, one of David's forebidders was a Moabite as Ruth, and it may be that's why that he went there with his parents to gain shelter for them.
[41:47] But I want us to look at the verses before us in a particular way. Now some of you at least will know of what is called the typology of scripture.
[42:02] And the typology of scripture is something that we come across where there are images from the Old Testament that are used to project into the future and present to us a very clear picture of what God means us to understand about salvation.
[42:35] And there are many different Bible types. And the way typology works is that we have certain occasions or certain images that are used typically to represent something to us that is a spiritual truth that is distinct from the original image.
[43:10] if you can think of a shadow. The shadow is not the substance. It is something that is projected from the substance of what lies behind it.
[43:26] You can stand with the sun at your back with your shadow going on to the wall. no, the shadow is not you, but without you the shadow wouldn't be there.
[43:42] It is a pretty rough understanding of what we have. But what we need to understand is as far as this story is concerned, while it can be and possibly should be used with a typical lesson brought to our attention, that does not mean that what we have before us is not real, because the story that we have here is the story of a real person, David.
[44:18] He is being pursued by a real enemy, Saul. His armies are real. Historically, all of this took place. The fact that David had to hide in a cave is a genuine experience that was in David's life.
[44:36] And yet, although the historical accuracy of that is without question, it is still, in God's hand, able to stimulate in your mind and in my mind, a truth that is projected onto the wall, of the world.
[45:04] That reminds you of something that can be considered true, very true about something else. Now, the Old Testament is full of this, but because of the nature of typology, the nature of this use of the Old Testament, it is something that can be and has been abused, and often people say, well, it's not relevant, it's not something that we can do, but reading this story in chapter 22, of David there being the person to whom these people go, those who are fugitives themselves, those who are on the run themselves, those who are in debt, and so on, they go to David because of their circumstances, and the very statement itself reminds me of how the person of the Lord
[46:12] Jesus Christ, Christ is someone that invites people in need to go to him. Now, as I said, there's various forms of typology.
[46:30] To help you understand this, every king of Israel is a type. Every king of Israel is a type.
[46:42] He is pointing, the king points you to one king, and that king is king Jesus. He is the only true king of Israel.
[46:55] Every king in some way points you to that king because of the role that they occupy, the office that they have.
[47:07] Now, every king in Israel was not a true king. They had their flaws, they had their failings. In the same way, you could say, David, as a man after God's heart, was a king.
[47:23] Typical of the true king, but obviously not everything that you could say about David was true about Jesus, because the imperfections of one does not mean that these imperfections go into the way the king of kings is supposed to be understood.
[47:46] Again, think of Moses. Moses, you all know who Moses was. He was a leader of Israel. He was typically a mediator.
[48:00] In real life, he was someone who stood between God and his people. He spoke to God on behalf of the people.
[48:12] He fulfilled that role in a way that commended the mediatorial work that he did.
[48:23] But as a mediator, he had flaws, he had feelings. But it still pointed you to one who was a mediator, who was an intermediator, who was someone that God gave to the world to be between him and the world that was lying in sin.
[48:46] He is a prophet. He is someone who stands out like that. And Jesus is the only true prophet.
[48:58] One other, Aaron, Moses' brother. He was the great, he was the high priest. He was somebody who ministered before God in offering sacrifices on behalf of the people for their sin.
[49:18] Now, we know that Aaron was appointed by God. That was his official role. And yet, he had failings, he had flaws.
[49:29] He was responsible for creating the golden calf. His office was given by God, but it pointed you to one who is the Lord Jesus Christ, who as the great high priest of his people, offered a perfect sacrifice, and dealt with the sins of the people in a way that no ordinary priest or high priest could.
[49:56] So, this is the way type works. And sometimes people dismiss it because of the flawed nature of the one that's used to project the image into the future or in a certain direction.
[50:18] Jesus himself uses that, if you know what I mean. Jesus is happy to use this because he talks, for example, again, of his own death, his being put in the grave and resurrection.
[50:36] And what does he do? He points us back to the Old Testament and the passion of Jonah. And he says about Jonah, just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale or whatever for 40 days and 40 nights, so Jesus will be, so I will be in the ground three days and three nights.
[50:59] he uses the typology of the Old Testament, the image that we have in the Old Testament. He says this represents to you and God is willing to use these pictorial images because of our unwillingness or inability to understand the simple statement of fact that the Scripture presents to us.
[51:25] He enhances our understanding uses, using these images. And it is perfectly valid for us to do that.
[51:37] You know, when you think of the prophecies of the Old Testament, sometimes the prophecies are explained to you. Sometimes the prophet, whoever the prophet is, be it Moses, be it Isaiah, be it any one of the prophets, they make a prophecy and sometimes you come to find these prophecies fulfilled.
[52:00] And when they are fulfilled, the prophecies at that point are explained to you. Say this, this is by virtue of what God said through his servant, the prophet Isaiah.
[52:14] This is the fulfillment of it. Now that happens. That happens occasionally, but not always. prophecy, so we can't always expect prophecy to be explained to us or to be pointed out to us as this is prophecy fulfilled.
[52:36] Jesus said at times, this has been done in order that the prophecy would be fulfilled, but not always. That explanation does not always accompany the fulfillment of prophecy, prophecy, nor does the fulfillment of type.
[52:57] It doesn't come with a section saying this is to help you understand. But with, now I have to put in a disclaimer, I suppose, there are Christian authors who say that type should not be something that we embrace easily, because of the abuses that have occurred because of misapplication or endeavouring to make something appear typical that is not.
[53:36] Now, I suppose what happens then is you run the risk of throwing the baby out with the bath water, as they say. You dismiss all type and say it's not valid, it's not relevant, it's not there, I don't think you can do that.
[53:52] And for this passage to be considered typically, I can cite, for example, A.W. Pink, one of the authors, and he says, yes, this is definitely a typical, something that speaks to us very pointedly about the Christ of the Gospels.
[54:12] And then you have others who say, no, this is not meant to be considered typically, it is simply considered historically and leave it at that.
[54:24] It has other lessons, but not to be considered as a type. Now, what I'm saying to you is you read this passage and it opens to your mind and to your heart certain truths about the Lord Jesus Christ that are stimulated by the pictorial element that is there.
[54:50] I would suggest to you that you are reminded of Christ by David in this incident. And let me suggest to you some ways where you can see that.
[55:07] We know that David as we said has already been anointed and that officially in the eyes of God he occupies the throne of Israel and yet recognition of that occupation of the throne is not his.
[55:31] Christ was never of the throne of Israel as the second person of the Trinity he is the king he is the almighty king he is never without the crown on his head and yet when he came into the world he occupied the realms of this world without the recognition that the crown merited he was as you find in the prophecies of Isaiah speaking about the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ he was despised and rejected of men there are many passages that tell you how he is to be how he was seen as he was in the world a man of sorrows acquainted with grief somebody who was familiar with and who encountered oppression and affliction wherever he went now you're not meant to understand this and say well typically he does not conform in every in every facet of his being to what this projects to but as said you're not meant to see every part of it if you look at a shadow the shadow is not the same as the substance you look at the shadow and the shadow is what's projected and the image is an imperfect image and because the distinctions cannot be contained within the image that's projected and what was foreshadowed by
[57:37] David here was fulfilled in perfection in the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ and we're not meant to see him as somebody who was pursued in the same way David was physically physically a fugitive physically in the desert physically fleeing for his life and yet at the same time Jesus lived his life as he described it himself he lived his life as somebody who had no ownership of anything in this world remember these words that he had the foxes have horns and the birds of the air have nests but the son of man has no place where to lay his head a picture chosen by Jesus describing himself the lord of glory the sovereign head who has right to all things and yet when he was in the world this was how he was and in one sense
[58:42] David describes to us through his own predicament the place that Jesus had in the eyes of many in the world David was in the cave Adullam I always thought the cave itself was called Adullam but no Adullam was a city which was about 12 miles away from Kath roughly 16 miles away from Jerusalem and the cave was identified by the city that was in closest proximity to it but the name Adullam means something it means that it was a place of peace and a place of where a person could rest the place of resting is the most accurate description of where
[59:47] David was in hiding Adullam was a place of rest and again all you have to do is think about the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who despite his own predicament proved himself to be a person to whom those in the world who wear him like that woman we were telling the children about today the Syrophoenician woman the woman whose child was plagued by demons she went to Jesus because she could not find comfort anywhere else she could not find rest from her predicament anywhere else she sought him out because he was the place he was the person he was the one she thought that she could go to and here what we're told is this that those who went to to to seek
[60:54] David that picture everyone that was in distress everyone that was in debt and everyone that was discontented I think Dale Ralph Davis one of the commentators I don't think he favours the typical aspect very much but what he says is this a mortly kaleidoscope of social riffraffs malcontents folks in debt and in distress what a very kind picture a mortly kaleidoscope of social riffraffs malcontents folks in distress and debt are these the kind of people that seek Jesus out is that how you would describe them is that a good picture to suggest that that's the people who need to come to Jesus surely it's unfair but I think although the description might be severe what marks them all out is this that they were in need that they could not meet the need that they had elsewhere they were on the run and I have discovered for myself and in the lives of others that most people are on the run from something
[62:36] I don't mean that in the sense that they're being pursued by police or pursued by debt collectors or whatever but they're on the run from what they have discovered themselves to be and for which they have no answer God has persuaded them of the fact that they have a need and that need can only be met in one way and when realization comes and sometimes it comes in the twinkling of an eye sometimes it is something that comes like the dawn it comes gradually it comes and when it comes it's all the light is there before you know it and these people because of their need I think I want to emphasize that because of their need they came to David not because of so much of what
[63:49] David was because you think about it it wasn't really much of a a swap if you like who was David he was a fugitive where was David he was in hiding in a cave there was a death sentence on his head he was alone it wasn't much of an attractive proposition and yet it seemed that what he was was better than their lot so they came to him and it may well be that sometimes that is all it requires for a person to understand that well what we have and what we are is nothing and something is better than nothing and
[64:54] Jesus sometimes is presented in the scripture in a way that makes us realise that what he is is better than our nothing and it may be that at that moment we don't see the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lord or the King or vested in beauty or all the trappings that belong to the deity that he is but we see somebody as the gospel holds a mouth to us as someone that we can't go to and as I was looking at this I was thinking to myself I don't really hold out much hope for a faith that depends on popularity for it to come to light let me quote to you E.W.
[65:51] Pink he says true love is unaffected by the outward circumstances of its object where the heart is genuinely hurt what they seek is someone to address the needs of their heart they want somebody to bring about a change in fortunes and nothing that happens because of what is created within that person by God himself nothing will distract that person from seeking the one and only person through whom that is possible look at the number that are in the cave with David we're told 400 plus not many really when you think about it very few and one question that you can ask does that mean that everybody else doesn't have the need that they have does that mean that however many thousands there are in
[67:08] Israel at the time that of all that number only 400 have a need no that's not the case nor is it the case that that the world in which we live in that recognizes Christ not that they are in the right and the rules that are pursuers of Christ or followers of Christ that they are in the wrong never is Jesus always spoke of his followers as being a little flock the number was never going to be vast and I think that's the way it will be so if you're looking for a Christ that is popular you're deluding yourself because it's not his popularity that will matter at the last but his power to save and his willingness to save and it's not you if we all we're all guilty of this in a society that is so much taken up with keeping up with the
[68:33] Joneses and watching what others are doing we wait to see whether the world will go after Christ and there was a time in his life where popularity appeared to be something that was true of him the whole world was going after him but for what reason the reason was not the right one and when the test came these wrong reasons were exposed and those who followed him for the wrong reasons they melted away like snow off the dike papers and he rose
[70:05] That not one person who ever came to him. Genuinely. Earnestly. And put their trust in him. Found that trust betrayed.
[70:17] Found their discovery of him. Anything other than the discovery that Solomon of old made. With regard. Or that was made by the Queen of Sheba concerning Solomon.
[70:34] The half of it was not told me. The more you discover of the glories of Christ as Lord and Saviour. The more you discover that there is more to discover.
[70:48] This type. Think about it. Reflect on it. And it just hopefully might encourage you.
[71:00] To go to this Christ. And to put your trust in him. It doesn't matter. Whether you're a discontented soul. It doesn't matter.
[71:13] Whether you're debt ridden. We all are. Ask the question. What brings you discontent. What leaves you sorrowful.
[71:24] What leaves you feeling the way you do. I would suggest that if you're discovering something of your own lack. There's no better place to go.
[71:37] Than to the fullness that is in Christ. Let us pray. Oh Lord our God. Forgive us. For lacklustre explanation.
[71:49] Of the awesome wonder. Of the cross. In Christ Jesus. The glories of this Christ. Who would have all men. Men to go to him.
[72:02] To seek refuge in him. To find rest in him. May your eyes be drawn to him. Cleanse from sin. In his name. Amen. We're going to conclude ourselves.
[72:16] We're singing the last four verses of the psalm. That we were singing. Psalm 57. Psalm 57. And the last four verses of the psalm.
[72:28] 6 to 11. My souls bow down. For they and it have laid. My steps to sneer. Into the pit which they have dipped.
[72:40] For me they fall in awe. My heart is fixed. My heart is fixed. O God I sing and praise. My glory wake. Wake sultry.
[72:50] My heart myself. Thy early race. I praise thee among the people Lord. Among nations sing will I. For great to heaven thy mercy is.
[73:01] Thy truth is to the sky. O Lord exalted be thy name. Above the heavens to stand. Do thou thy glory far advance.
[73:11] Above both sea and land. These verses. Psalm 57. My souls bow down. For they and it have laid. My steps to see it.
[73:25] My souls bow down. For they and it. I'll lift my steps to thee.
[73:43] And to look at which they have made. For me live for now.
[73:59] My heart is fixed. My heart is fixed. My heart is fixed.
[74:12] O God I sing and praise. My heart is fixed.
[74:22] My glory with grace. My glory with grace. Only heart. My self-highly grace.
[74:39] I praise thee among the people Lord.
[74:49] My mission sing will I. For great to heaven thy mercy is.
[75:07] Thy truth is to the sky. To the chi- Christ okay.
[75:23] Thank you.
[75:53] Amen.