Would you turn with me please to the passage we read in God's word, 1 Samuel chapter 22. And as the Lord would enable us, we might consider together verse two. We'll read from the beginning. David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave of Dullam. And when his brethren in all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. 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. And there were with him about 400 men. 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. We find here David making his way to a place called Adullam. And there it would appear there is quite a cave complex, small caves and large caves often interconnected. This cave system is probably about 25 miles southeast of Jerusalem in the hills of Judea. It is a sort of place that would be an ideal refuge for someone who has been hunted as an outlaw. And that's why David has resorted to go there. He has fled from Saul because Saul at this time, as you may remember, was jealous of David. He is fearful that David has conspired against him and that he is intent in becoming king. And that's the last thing that Saul wants, the end of his household, the end of his line. You remember how he even threw his own javelin at his own son, Jonathan, because he was thinking that he was showing favor to David rather than loyalty to himself. So here's David, he has had to escape and he is now effectively an outlaw and he has made his way, he has been in Gath briefly, and you got that in the previous chapter, but that's a risky place, being in Gath, that's where Goliath is from, no doubt the men of Gath, they would have the face, even the youthful face of David, etched in their memories, remembering what David had done to their champion. And therefore, this was a risky place to remain. He had to leave there, and he ends up in the cave at Adullam. And while he is there, we find that his brethren and all his father's house hear that he is there, and they go down to him. It would appear that David's family themselves felt threatened by the fact that David was an outlaw. Often wicked men, when they're so intent on persecuting the church, will persecute those connected with them. It's one way of trying to put people off the gospel. to even attack those who have no interest in the gospel, but through family relationships are connected with them. And we should pray for those who are persecuted when we then think of such things and realize that there are great pressures brought to bear on them to renounce their faith when they see the effects it can have on others. Well, David's family are here, and we find that others through time join him. At the point in the chapter here, there are about 400 men. Later on, in chapter 23, verse 13, we find that this number has swelled to around 600. Why is it that these men have gathered to be with David? As we read verse 2, in need of those who are in distress and those who are in debt and those who are discontented, gathering themselves unto him, we can wonder what sort of group of malcontents is this? Because they might appear to be a group of people who just want to be rebellious, A group of chancers are just out to get what they can for themselves, who have become indebted and uninterested in paying off their debts. And no doubt, they might want to form a roving band of plunderers. After all, others do these things. The Philistines were causing havoc all over the place. But why can't they join them and try and get something for themselves? Well, there may have been some who had that attitude. That may be the case. But we have to realize that that was not true of all of them. And that becomes clear when you remember the sort of character David was. What was David's attitude to Saul? Well, the young folk will remember that twice David had the opportunity to kill King Saul in the next few months and years. And he was egged on by his men just to do that. Get rid of this man who is causing you so much trouble and who is troubling the whole of Israel. What's David's attitude? I will not lift my hand against the one who is the Lord's anointed. God has set him in that position as king, and he will remain there until God removes him. And I will do nothing against him, but always be a faithful and loyal subject of the king. He was the Lord's anointed. It's a reminder to us that We are to be faithful subjects in our nation of our queen and we are to obey those in authority over us. Of course, if they ask us to do ungodly things, then we must obey God rather than man. And it may be that in the not too distant future, we will end up in situations where we will end up breaking man's law to keep God's law. and to maintain our rights that God has given us in this world. But we are to be faithful insofar as we can. We are to obey those in authority over us for conscience sake. David was like that. Why are these people gathering? Well, you've got to remember the situation. Saul is wreaking havoc. His rule is tyrannical. You see his treatment of Ahimelech, the priest. You have summary justice. You have injustice. You have this man killing the priests of the most high, for no reason but his own neurotic fears of a conspiracy which had no basis of fact, and Saul as a hopeless leader of the nation. These people who are joining are concerned about these things. And you also have the Philistines Causing problems not far to the east of Adullam is the place called Kila that we read of in chapter 23. And the Philistines have fought against Kila and robbed the threshing floors. And we find it's David and his men who are doing what Saul should have been doing, defending the people. In other words, We're not to see this as some rabble of troublemakers out just to suit themselves. Rather we have men who are gathering round a godly man, one who is faithful, one who others know is faithful and a loyal subject of Saul. and seeing him as one who will be a leader and one who will be a deliverer, and they are coming to serve him under God. And so we read that, yes, they come, and they are those who are in distress and in debt and are discontented. We'll see what that really means. And they gather themselves unto David, and he becomes their captain. And in this event, we can see a parallel between these people rallying around David and the way in which sinners rally around the great son of David, the Lord's anointed. There was David. taking up the work of deliverance, overcoming the enemies of the kingdom of God. And why was Christ sent? Sent the son of David, the Lord's anointed, to establish the kingdom of God, to overthrow the enemies of God and man. And in the gospel, people are called to rally under the banner of Christ, to enlist in the service of Christ, to take him to be their master, their captain, and to be enlisted in fight under the captain of our salvation and serve in his army for his glory. And the question is, have you enlisted? And will you enlist? And will you do what these men here did under the greater David. Well, let's notice two things as we see this narrative and see beyond the mere narrative of the history to a parallel in the gospel. Well, notice first of all those who rally around God's anointed. And then secondly, what is expected of those rallying around God's anointed? First of all, those who rally around God's anointed. You'll notice there are three classes of people described for us in the text. We read everyone that was in distress, everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented gathered themselves unto David. We'll take each in turn and consider how that applies to you tonight. First of all, there were those who were distressed. And when you think of David, well, that word distress could mean many, many things. Many different situations can bring distress to us. If you think of the trials that the Philistines were causing, some of these people themselves may have lost their lands or their crops, their families, and therefore the distress of such a thing led them to the side of David. With others, it may have been Saul's behavior as he turned on them. if he treated the priest of God the way he treated him. You can be sure that anyone who gave any sign of loyalty to David or questioned in any way why Saul was against David, they would come under suspicion, under threat. There would be summary justice. They were dispensable. So you can see many people would have felt distressed. And feeling their need, feeling their poverty, they would have sought out David, looking to him to be a helper, looking to him to be a deliverer, looking for relief. Now is it not a fact that often God in his providence directs your affairs so that you are brought into distress. Various things at times bring you into a distressing situation. And when God allows these things in your life, what is he doing? Is he not showing you that things that you prize aren't necessarily the most important things in life. There are other things and spiritual things which are much more important. But he's also showing you your helplessness and your poverty. Don't they say there is no atheists in a crisis? Because in a crisis, in a distressing situation, We all have a tendency to cry out for help. If there is a God, let him come and help me. Why do they do that? It's because they feel their own helplessness and are reaching out in despair and in distress with a cry for help. Do you remember Psalm 107? You've got a picture there of four different times when God brought people into distress. When an enemy came and a person was in difficulty, perhaps in the wilderness, the way David here is in a difficult place living. You've got a person who is a prisoner, perhaps he's been taken prisoner, and he cries out in his hopeless despair for relief to God, and God frees them from their distresses. You've got a person who's sick, and he cries out, and God sends his word and heals them. You've got a seafarer in a storm, and he cries out to God in his need, and God turns the storm into a calm at his command and will and brings him safely into the port. You wonder what God is doing in your life. Well, distressing situations will come, and in every distressing situation, God is speaking to you. And you should take these things as a message from God. God speaks in providence, and he sends sickness. He sends the threat of death. It may be death itself that comes in a loved one. It may be the loss of a job. It may be something else that causes anxiety. What's God doing? He's saying, you're not invincible. You're not almighty. You need to rely upon me completely. I am the one who alone can help you. What's he doing? He's calling you to look away from self, to look to Christ. to realize that you need resources that only Christ can supply. But God's people have learned that lesson. They know that God is able to supply all their needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. And that Christ is willing to be the shepherd of those who will be his sheep and will follow him. You know, God, if you're in a distressing situation tonight, God's actually speaking to you and saying, look, don't you realize you need me? And should you not stop this pretense that you're self-sufficient and come and enlist under Christ and give me my place and let your total dependence be upon me? Recognize your poverty, your spiritual poverty, and your need of God always. Perhaps God has been challenging you spiritually and you feel you're, and you're conscious of Him speaking to you, and yet you do not have that peace that he alone can give, you are longing to know what it means to believe in your own experience. Go in your distress to Christ. He is a prince who gives repentance and remission. I can't repent of myself. I need help to repent. I need a new heart. I need a stony heart taken out and a heart of flesh given to me. I need to be born again. I need the grace of God. Help me, Lord. Cry out. Those who were distressed, they came to David. They found relief. You'll find relief in the son of David. Nor does the second group, those who were in debt. We know Saul was a poor leader. And that meant that, well, the Philistines came and they stole things. And no doubt another problem was that he didn't really mind if people lent to others unusually. And whenever you ended up with this lending to others, it tended to lead to people becoming greatly in debt. For example, we read in 2 Kings 4 in the days of Elisha of the Shunammite, and she could say, thy servant, my husband, is dead. Thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord, and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. What a desperate situation. These were lawless times, as were the days of Saul, lawless times. Those who were in debt, well, those who came, they were in debt. They came to David because, well, probably there was the oppressive lending and the creditors taking people to law and getting their own way. Saul doesn't care, but David does care. So those who are in debt, they're not those who are wasters. They're not those who gladly will set up a business, run it into the ground, make lots of money, leave the creditors impoverished, and then go on and set up another business somewhere else. They're not like that. These people came to David seeking relief and help. Friend, do you realize you're a debtor tonight? You see, the sinner is a debtor to the Lord to keep the whole law. And isn't the reality that you do not keep the whole law? In fact, you don't keep any of the law. for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And James reminds us, if you've broken the law on one point, you've broken it in all. And we could easily go through the Ten Commandments, do this, in the quietness of your own soul at home, do this and ask yourself, where have I broken this, that, that commandment? How often have I done it? Apply that law to yourself, and you'll find yourself convicted, condemned as a sinner before God. The law of God expects you to keep it perfectly. It says, as we read this morning, cursed is everyone who continues not in everything written in the book of the law to do it. Friends, let us realize that sin is no small matter. It is a robbing God of his glory. It is a misuse of the provisions he makes for us when we use them to go on in sin rather than acknowledging him and serving him in holiness of life. We are debtors and we have failed to keep. We have failed to keep the law and therefore have impoverished ourselves, have racked up a huge debt. Because here is the law of God saying, do, and you've not done, and you've not done, time and time again, each day of each week, of each month, of each year of your life, you have only increased that debt. Isn't it a fearful thing to hear the footsteps of the creditor? Are they not creeping up? Every day you hear of souls passing from this life into eternity, called before the judge. The creditor is coming and saying, where is that that you owe me? You are indebted to keep the law. It was your duty to, you failed to, and instead you broke it in so many ways. Have you felt your sin? Have you felt your inability to pay that debt that you owe to God and to his law? Or you can try and ignore it. But ignoring the debt doesn't make it go away. It just gets worse and worse. Some try and pay it off themselves. Well the trouble is you get nothing to pay it with because God expects your obedience. That's a debt that you owe as well as the debt for failing to obey. You get nothing to pay it with. The fact that you would not even make the debt worse doesn't cancel it. and every sin is an infinite evil against an infinitely holy God. What a grim situation. Ah, but friends, is not Christ able and willing to pay the debt for all who came, for all that he came to die for, for all that will come to him? Didn't we think of that this morning, perhaps in a slightly different picture? But of Christ paying the debt that was owed, redeeming his people, buying them out of their debt by paying the debt of their sin. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches of his grace. Friend, have you seen yourself as a miserable debtor? That's what you are. And there's only one who can pay that debt for you. And he has discharged the debt for all his people, for all who will come to him. Friend, have you come to Christ? Are you trusting in Christ? Remember that debt's been canceled. Or rather, not canceled, but had stamped on it, paid in full, with the blood of Christ. I love the Savior who has forgiven you your sins. Are you still awaiting the footsteps of the creditor? You know there's a debtor's prison awaiting you that will be an awful place, a place of eternal misery. You must, friend, you must seek relief from the one who alone can give it, Jesus Christ, and seek it now, because now is the day of salvation. Nor does the third group who were coming, those who were discontented. Literally, it means those who were bitter of soul. Why were they discontent? Well, you get some people that are never happy, but that's not the problem. These people were discontent due to the tyranny of soul. In other words, they had a valid reason for their sorrow, for their grief, and they wanted a better leadership. And that was to be found in David. Are you discontent with slavery to sin? Slavery to Satan? Are you discontent with your life? Perhaps things that before you enjoyed, you no longer enjoy. You've lost your taste and your relish for the world and the things of the world and for the ways of sin and you want Something more. Where can you find peace? Where can you find contentment? Friend, there's only one place. Jesus Christ. And submitting to him. And yielding your soul to him. And saying, I will follow him. He's able to provide relief. He's able to give you a new heart. He is able to renew your soul. you need a better master. And should you not say, I want to be done with serving self, with serving Satan, with serving sin, I will serve Christ from now on. That's God's people. Like Polycarp they can say, They've served Him all their life and He never did them any harm and they will not deny their Savior. Should you not enroll in His army tonight? You who are discontent, you'll never find it. You'll never find contentment except in Christ alone. Now, we have majored on these three groups of people because that, in a sense, is the important message. We'll just notice briefly what is expected of those rallying around. You see, here were people rallying around, and what was expected of them? Well, we read that he became a captain over them, and that has certain implications. Those who resort to Christ, what do they do? Well, first of all, they accept his leadership. He'll be my captain. David quickly became their captain, and the people, therefore, are under orders to obey and serve him. In the gospel, what are you called to? You are called to come under the leadership of Christ, to obey him and to serve him. To obey him and serve him, not as a means of gaining forgiveness, that's impossible, but out of gratitude for the forgiveness that he offers those who come to him. Are you or will you follow Christ He became their captain. So the people followed him wherever he went. Will you follow Christ wherever he goes? Will you imitate him in whatever he does? Will you obey him? He says, if you love me, keep my commandments. That's what he expects. Those who come to the stronghold of salvation, unless they come with that attitude, Well, they don't really want to be under Christ, and Christ will not have them. Do not think that our gospel blessings and offer for those who refuse a whole Christ as their savior. You can't choose little bits here and there and say, well, I'll have the blessing, but I don't want anything to do with this following Christ. It is penitent sinners, those who turn from sin, that Christ saves. It's those who enlist in his army and who are intended following him that he receives. It's not that we gain anything or we earn anything by doing that, but a true faith will always lead to a person saying, Christ is my captain. I agree with everything he says, especially with sin. I want to be under his leadership and control. That doesn't mean to say that the person who comes under his leadership is perfect. You read the history. Many of David's men got things wrong at times, didn't they? And God's people often make mistakes, and they sin. But their desire is to be under the leadership of Christ. What must you do? What's expected of those who rally around? Well, they accept his leadership. Secondly, they amend their ways. I suppose we've partly covered that already. But some of David's men were unruly. Later on he calls them sons of Belial, sons of the devil. And you can read of that in 1 Samuel 30, 22, where they are greedy and selfish. David says, no, that's not the way it's to be under my leadership. We'll have none of that nonsense, selflessness. That's what's required. All will share every blessing in my kingdom. And they had to learn. to reject wrong ways of thinking. And so the gospel, it begins a life of repentance, doesn't it? You're a believer here tonight, since you first came to Christ, what have you been doing? Repenting. So long as you have breath in your lungs, you'll be repenting. Because you're always applying the word to yourself. Those who enroll under Christ, they amend their ways. Then notice a third thing they do, they apply themselves to a service. You see these men recognized themselves, recognized Christ as captain. What did that mean? They served David. You read of people who, David says, he's thirsty. Oh, that I had some of the water at Bethlehem. They go to the well and they risk their lives and they get the water. David doesn't take it. He pours it out as an offering to the Lord. It's far too precious because men risked their life for it. You see, these men were willing to serve David, to risk their lives for him. Are the Philistines attacking? Let's go and fight them to defend God's people. And they go and they fight. They're serving under David. And you see, when you are called and encouraged and invited to join Christ's and his stronghold of salvation, then you are saying, I will serve him. I will enlist in his service. I no longer will live to myself. I will live for Christ. Myself and my time, my resources, my talents, my family, they are all belonging to Christ and devoted to his service. I want to see his kingdom flourish. And I will engage in that spiritual battle. And I will pray for the advancement of the kingdom. And I will witness that others may come to see that Christ is worthy of submission. And I will serve him. I will be devoted to his service. Friend, is that you? You've no right to say I'm a believer if you're not devoted to his service. Christ expects those who have rallied to him to serve. And if we do not serve him on earth, we shall not serve him in heaven. Here then was David, despised no doubt by many, but people did rally around him. Christ is despised by many today. But the gospel standard is raised. The question is, do you rally around it? Some rally around, as soon as they see it, they love Christ. Will you join them? The day is coming when he will appear in his glory as king. But if you have not bowed the knee before him now, then will be too late. Now is a day of salvation. Embrace him now. Rally to him now. You who are distressed, indebted, discontented, realize you should be, if you're not, feeling these things, and rally around him. He will give you salvation, relief, and go on and serve him as one of his people. Let us pray.