CALL TO CONFESSION

Proverbs 3:5-7

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Holy Father, we confess that we are a people who do not readily trust you. We are stubborn and rebellious, repeatedly disregarding your loving instructions to carry out our own plans. When we suffer, we experience spiritual amnesia, living like orphans and turning to physical comfort, approval, success, or counterfeit peace to quiet our hearts. We do not rest in you, and we consistently fail to trust you. Lord, help us in our helplessness.

Precious Jesus, what staggering, atoning love you have shown us. Where we failed, you flawlessly trusted the Father and obeyed His law, silently enduring false accusation and torturous punishment for sins you did not commit. We are eternally, deeply grateful for this inconceivable act of love. Because you took on our sin, we are washed clean; white as snow before the judgment seat of God.

Help us, Father, to trust you in the midst of this earthly life. When we grow weary fighting sin, help us to find our all in all in Jesus Christ. Awaken our hearts to trust you, and remind us daily that our freedom has been fully and finally bought by His precious blood. In His name we pray, Amen.

“Take a few moments to personally confess your sins to the Lord.”

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

“Hear these words of comfort and assurance.” 

Romans 8:1-4

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

• The safest place to be is where God’s king is. 
• And in our passage today, that’s not in the king’s palace at Gibeah, but in the Judean foothills in a cave called Adullam. 
• That’s where David, the fugitive king, escaped to after fleeing Gath. 
• David is the Lord’s chosen and anointed king. But he is being relentlessly hunted. 
• But in God’s plan, the cave of Adullam became the birthplace of a kingdom. 
• In that cave, the broken, destitute, and distressed found refuge in the fugitive king. 

• The chapter puts two kings side by side.
• One takes the ruined people in and offers them refuge. One king ruins his people and ruthlessly puts them to death. 
• One king rules by fear and no one is safe around him. The other says, “do not be afraid, you are safe with me.” 

• As we study this chapter, you will see how it all points to our King. 
• King Jesus gathers the broken and the helpless, and becomes their refuge. 

1 Samuel 22:1-5 

• The “there” David departed from, was Gath. He fled after faking a mental breakdown in order to escape with his life from the Philistine king. Escaping is all David has been doing.
• And now he needs a hiding place. 
• But watch how the Lord meets him at the lowest point of his life. 
• First, his family seeks him out. They go down to the cave to be with him. 
• No doubt they are fearful of Saul’s vindictiveness. Everyone connected to David was at risk. 
• But don’t dismiss how amazing it was they would come to David for refuge.
• Remember, David had a kind of strained relationship with his family. This is a family that once forgot to call David in from the sheep when Samuel came to them, and his brother treated him with contempt at the battle line. 
• Much has changed since those early days. And here they are finding a safe haven with David.

• But there is another company that seeks refuge with David, and they’re described in three ways: the distressed, the indebted, and the embittered.
• Distress means pressure. They were people who were being squeezed hard by life.
• The indebted were people who had a creditor. They had fallen into economic ruin under Saul’s heavy taxation and poor leadership.
• Bitter in soul is a phrase used of those who are deeply wounded by injustice and hardship. It describes a soul that has gone sour with grief. Something was taken from these men and they haven’t gotten over it. 
• So you have the broken, the broke, and the bitter.
• Dale Ralph Davis, “A motley kaleidoscope of social riff-raff, malcontents, folks in debt and/or distress, began filtering to David. At this time four hundred of them looked to David as their captain.” (1 Samuel: Looking on the Heart)

• Word got out that David was hiding out in the cave of Adullam and these desperate men flocked to him. 
• “And he became commander over them.” 
• These weren’t elite warriors. Yet they all came and pledged their allegiance to David, casting their lot with him and becoming enemies of the crown. 
• David doesn’t reject them. He doesn’t turn away the messy and broken. 
• He brings them in. He trains them. And many of these will later become known as David’s “mighty men.” 
• This is the beginning of David’s kingdom.  A new royal court made up entirely of the broken, the broke, and the bitter. 

• This is a glorious picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
• When Jesus established his ministry and began proclaiming the kingdom, he didn’t go to the religious elites in Jerusalem.
• He gathered the fishermen, tax collectors, prostitutes and lepers. His early followers were the unimpressive and outcasts of society. 
• Paul wrote to a congregation that had gotten a little too impressed with themselves to remind them of their gospel beginnings. 
• 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
• By the world’s measurement, most Christians will be unimpressive people. 
• But Jesus is glorified in calling and gathering to himself the kinds of people who came to David in the cave. 
• He takes those who are spiritually bankrupt and makes them citizens of his kingdom. 
• He takes those who are being squeezed by life, crushed under the weight of their own sin, and he doesn’t reject them. He receives them. He shelters them. He becomes their refuge and reshapes them into his image. 
• That’s the richness of God’s mercy and grace. 

DAVID TAKES CARE OF HIS PARENTS

• Tucked in the narrative is something really special. David makes arrangements for his aging parents. 
• They aren’t cut out to be living on the run. He needs to get them to safety. 
• He crosses the Jordan into Mizpeh of Moab to ask the Moabite king to grant his parents sanctuary.  
• Why Moab? Because part of David’s heritage is Moabite.  David’s great-grandmother was Ruth the Moabitess.
• What a relief for David to know his parents will be taken care of. 
• It’s amazing to think about how a woman named Ruth left Moab to follow the God of Israel, and three generations later her great-grandson finds shelter for his parents in the land she came from. 
• God’s kindness has long arms. He arranged circumstances long in advance in order to bring relief in David’s present distress. 
• We also see that even in David’s distress, he is still keeping the fifth commandment.
• Even under enormous pressure, he doesn’t set aside his responsibility to his parents. 
• Some of you have carried the weight or are carrying the weight of caring for aging parents. It can be exhausting. But look at what the man after God’s own heart is doing in the hardest season of his life. He is finding his mother and father a safe place. 
• David is honoring the Lord by honoring them. 

DAVID WAITS ON GOD’S TIMING

• Notice also what he says to the king of Moab, “Let them stay with you, till I know what God will do for me.”
• He knows he has been anointed by the Lord. He has the promise. He has the Spirit of the Lord. What he doesn’t have is God’s timeline. What he doesn’t have is the roadmap from the promise to the palace. 
• That is one of the most difficult places to be as a child of God. 
• You know what God has said but you are not sure of his plan. 
• David is going to spend years in this wilderness.
• He will have at least two chances to kill Saul and take by force what God has promised him, but he will not do it. 
• He will wait on the Lord’s timing, till he knows what God will do for him. 

• You might be in that place right now. Tired of not knowing. You’ve prayed but what you’ve asked for has not come. 
• You are living that sentence, “Till I know what God will do for me.” 
• There are two psalms that have titles that put David in a cave. 
• Psalm 57:1-2 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. 2 I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
• Even in his distress and this confusing period, he sought the Lord as his refuge and he declared “I am crying out to God who fulfills his purpose for me.” He didn’t know how it would come about, but he was confident in the God who promised and who would surely bring it about. 
• Psalm 142:4-5 4 Look to the right and see: there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for my soul. 5 I cry to you, O Lord; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
• This is a man hiding in a cave who cannot see what trouble tomorrow might bring and still calls God his portion.

DAVID SUBMITS TO GOD’S WORD

• V5 we read of a prophet by the name of Gad. This is the first mention of him and he will stay with David the rest of his life.
• And it is important that he shows up at this moment because it is a reminder that David is the Lord’s anointed. He will receive special guidance from the Lord through the prophet of the Lord who has the word of the Lord. 
• Saul may still hold the palace, but he does not have the prophetic word. He has forfeited the privilege of receiving God’s word.

• The prophet comes with a word of warning and guidance. “Get out of the stronghold, depart immediately and go into the land of Judah.” 
• David might have felt safe in the stronghold of the cave of Adullam. Judah is where Saul’s men are hunting him. Yet, God is telling him to leave the safety of the cave and head into the territory of the man trying to kill him. 
• There are times where obedience moves us toward the danger and not away from it. 
• We often think the will of God always looks like safety, comfort, and ease. It often doesn’t mean that. 
• David had every reason to stay in the cave. But he went where the word of God sent him. 
• And that is the difference between this king and the one mentioned next, who has rejected the word of the Lord and takes counsel from nobody but himself. 

1 Samuel 22:6-19

• The narrative shifts back to Saul as this is one of the most obvious chapters where these two kings are being contrasted. 
• While David is sheltering outcasts in the cave, Saul is on high ground in Gibeah, out in the open, sitting under a tree, surrounded by his servants. 
• He has his spear in hand. He threw it at David a few times, he threw it at Jonathan, his own son. Later we will read he sleeps with it stuck in the ground by his head. It seems like that spear was Saul’s true scepter. 

THE SULKING KING

• Saul hears that David was discovered and he throws a pity party. 
• He addresses the people of Benjamin. He is not addressing all of Israel, just his own tribesmen.
• And while he might give the appearance of having it all together, Saul is an insecure and fearful man. 
• He accuses them of disloyalty. He doesn’t trust them. 
• “Nobody feels sorry for me.” That’s the loudest thing in his heart. 
• He is full of self-pity, playing the victim. 
• And when someone has convinced themselves they are the victim and not the perpetrator things can get really ugly. 

THE SLANDERING TONGUE

• One man steps out of the circle and speaks up. Doeg the Edomite. We were briefly introduced to him in the last chapter, lurking in the shadows observing David’s interaction with Ahimelech the priest. 
• Doeg is an Edomite, a descendant of Esau. He is a foreigner in Saul’s service, chief of Saul’s herdsmen. 
• What he reports is basically true. He adds something that is not in the previous chapter, that the priest also inquired of the Lord for David. 
• What’s he doing? He is twisting the truth to fuel Saul’s rage. The king is spiraling into paranoia and he steps forward with the one piece of information that will aim that paranoia at someone else. 
• He makes it look like the priest engaged in an insurrection. 
• Psalm 52 is titled, when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”
• And David writes, “Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?… You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right.”
• David gets it. You don’t have to lie to destroy someone. You can do it with accurate information, delivered to the right person, at the right moment, for your own selfish gain. 

THE STEADFAST PRIEST

• Doeg gets what he was hoping for.  Saul summons Ahimelech and all the priests of Nob.
• V14 is Ahimelech’s response. He speaks with absolute integrity. He has done nothing wrong. 
• He didn’t know David was fleeing Saul. He acted in innocence and righteousness. 
• Instead he stands before the king holding a spear and says, “David is the most faithful servant you have. He is your son-in-law. He is the captain of your bodyguard. He is honored in your house. And to inquire of the Lord for him is not anything unusual.” 
• He tells the truth to a hostile king at the cost of his life. 
• That is faithfulness under pressure. Will we say the true thing when saying the true thing is costly?
• Will we speak up for someone who is being accused unfairly or being treated unjustly when speaking up for them will be costly to us? 

A SAVAGE ORDER

• But a tyrant driven by fear cares nothing for truth. 
• He tells Ahimelech, “You shall surely die and all your father’s house!” 
• Saul issues a murderous order to his guard, but they wouldn’t do it.
• These are soldiers who serve at the king’s pleasure. They know what it costs to refuse a direct order from the king. 
• There is still enough fear of God in these men that they will not raise a sword against the priests of the Lord.

• But Saul knows there is one man who will do it. Doeg.
• Doeg has no fear of the Lord. And in a single day, he strikes down eighty-five priests wearing the linen ephod. And then he turns his sword on the priestly city of Nob, an entire town, men, women, children, infants and livestock, are put to the sword.  This is a gruesome scene. 

• In chapter 15, Saul disobeyed the clear order of the Lord to completely devote Amalek to destruction but he spared King Agag. 
• And here the total destruction he refused to carry out on the enemies of God he now carries out in full on the priests of God. 
• This is a totally reprobate and unrepentant heart. 

• Back in chapter 2, God sent a word against the house of Eli. Eli’s sons had made a mockery of the priesthood and Eli would not restrain them.
• 1 Samuel 2:31,33 Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. 33 The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men.
• Ahimelech is Eli’s great-grandson. And what happened at Nob is the fulfillment of the word of the Lord declared several decades earlier. 
• Now, the fact that God had spoken does not make Saul any less guilty. 
• God’s sovereign purpose never becomes an excuse for a single act of human sin. 
• Saul gave the order. Doeg swung the sword. They will answer for it. And God’s word is proven true.
• Even in opposing God, God’s enemies only bring to pass God’s word. They carry out his will. 

• But the story does not end in despair. There is a survivor.

1 Samuel 22:20-23

• Amidst the horror at Nob a young priest escapes. Abiathar, one of the sons of Ahimelech. 
• He is fleeing for his life and where does he run? He runs straight to David in the cave of Adullam. That cave is safer than any other place he could have run to. 

• Look how David receives him. 
• First, he humbly acknowledges his own part in the tragedy. He doesn’t make excuses. He saw Doeg and he knew he would tell the king. Back in chapter 21, David told Ahimelech he was on the king’s business. That lie put an entire town in the ground. 
• Next, David turns his attention to the young man who is hurting and is there because of David’s actions. 
• Three things David says to him that are the gospel in miniature. 
• “Stay with me.” That is an invitation. It’s not conditional. Abiathar has nothing to offer at this moment.
• “Do not be afraid.” He isn’t saying that fear is silly or unreasonable. Saul really meant to kill him and he is going to keep trying. “He who seeks my life seeks your life.” Abiathar’s safety is now tied to the king’s own life. 
• “With me you shall be in safekeeping.” The word in Hebrew means a guard; a charge that someone has been given to keep. It is the word used in the law for the duties the priests were charged to keep at the tabernacle. The priest whose job was to keep the charge of the Lord is now himself kept. 

• “Abiathar, if you are with me you are safe.” 
• Why could David speak with such confidence? Because David knew God’s covenant promise. Saul could not overturn the promise of God. 
• To be with God’s anointed king was to be in the safest place on earth.

• At that moment, a beautiful exchange took place in Adullam. Abiathar brought the priesthood to David. And David provided royal protection to Abiathar. 
• Together in the wilderness, God’s prophet, priest, and king were united in seed form. 

• The words David spoke to Abiathar were spoken by David’s greater Son. 
• Jesus looks to every weary sinner who flees to him, and in effect he says the same three things: “Stay with me; do not be afraid; with me you shall be in safekeeping.” 
• Unlike David, Jesus never sinned or made a mistake that caused our ruin. 
• We caused our own ruin through sin. We brought judgment on ourselves. 
• But Jesus stepped into our place, on the cross, he bore the wrath and judgment we deserved. 
• He entered the darkest cave of death itself, and he broke its power when he rose victorious on the third day. 
• Jesus makes a covenant commitment to all who look to him for refuge. 
• If you are united to Christ by faith, your life is hidden with Christ in God. 
• He has become our Adullam. He is the cave for everyone who flees to him for refuge. 

CONCLUSION

• You are safe with King Jesus.  No enemy can snatch you out of his hand. No failure can break his covenant love. 
• No spiritual power can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
• Outside of Christ there is no safety. But inside the refuge of our King, even the poorest cave is a safe place. 

• If you’ve never found refuge in Christ, the good news is you can come to him as you are. He won’t turn away any sinner who comes to him by faith. Trust in him. Bow the knee to the King who poured out his own blood to buy your freedom. 

• If Christ is your refuge, stay with him. If you are in a long stretch of not knowing, and you’ve been tempted to go find a faster answer somewhere else, do what David did. He declared, “I don’t know what God is going to do, but I’m going to wait on him until I know.” 

• To each one of you who call this church home, help build your local church to reflect God’s kingdom. May our church be a sanctuary like Adullam, a welcoming place where the broken and sin-weary can find the same thing those four hundred men found. A King who takes them in, and a company of people who all got there the same way. 

• Let us all stand fast under the protection of our King, resting in his unshakeable promise.
• In him we are safe because the safest place to be is where the King is. 

APPLICATION AND REFLECTION

In light of today's message....

• What did I learn about the gospel?
• How can I apply what I learned about the gospel to my life?
• With whom can I share the gospel this week?