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1 Samuel 22:1-2, 2 Samuel 23:13-17
22:1 David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul,1 gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.
[1] 22:2
(ESV)
2 And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul,1 gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.
[1] 22:2
(ESV)
13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the expedition. 14 And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.
15 David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. 16 And Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. 17 And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this.”
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
If you all would open your Bibles to 2 places tonight, 1st Samuel 22 and then 2nd Samuel 23. 1st Samuel 22 and 2nd Samuel 23. Beginning in 1 Samuel, David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adulun. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress and everyone who was in debt and everyone who was bitter and soul gathered to him and he became captain over them.
Jeffrey Heine:And there were with him about 400 men. Turn to second Samuel chapter 23, and we'll begin reading in verse 8. Actually, sorry, verse 13. And 3 of the 30 chief men went down about harvest time to David at the cave of Aduelan when a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines from the well at Bethlehem that is by the gate.
Jeffrey Heine:Then the 3 mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and carried and brought it to David, but he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the lord and said, far be it from me, oh lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it. These things the 3 mighty men did.
Jeffrey Heine:Pray with me. God, we ask that you through your spirit would open up your word, that we might understand and receive it. But, God, we ask for so much more than an intellectual knowledge. We wanna be shaped by your word. Through your spirit, we want you to breathe life into us, transform us.
Jeffrey Heine:And so we ask that that would happen in this moment. I pray that my words would fall to the ground, would blow away and not be remembered anymore. But, Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
Jeffrey Heine:We've been studying the life of David for about 8 weeks now, and one of the reasons that we are studying him is because so much of who Jesus is and understanding who Christ is comes from an understanding of David. The terms that we use, messiah, well, that was used of David. Jesus was often called the son of David. He will reign forever, on the kingdom promised to David. This past week, we had Easter, and I don't want you to ever think that what we're studying now is a, somehow a discontinuation of what we started in Easter when we're talking about the resurrection.
Jeffrey Heine:We've talked about the resurrection, we've talked about Jesus, but now we're shifting gears and talking about David, that's not the case. The 2 go hand in hand. Paul in 2nd Timothy 28, he says this, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel. And so when Paul wants to put the gospel in in just a little nutshell, he says this, remember Jesus Christ or Jesus the anointed one, he has risen from the dead, and he is the offspring of David. That's my gospel.
Jeffrey Heine:Understand those two things together. And so so understanding David and David's life and the promises that God made to David and what God was trying to establish through the life of David, those things are crucial if we were to understand the work of Jesus. Now it's been a couple of weeks since we have last been in David, so let me kind of catch us up to speed. Samuel, the prophet Samuel came to David and anointed him. If you remember, anointed him as king and he was just a boy.
Jeffrey Heine:And when that happened, the spirit of God rushed upon him. And after that happened, David's life fell apart. Before then he had lived an obscure, but, but a peaceful life, a good life. And then he's, he's anointed, he's filled with the Spirit, and then everything is just, crazy. When we come to this point in 1st Samuel 22, it begins by saying David escaped.
Jeffrey Heine:This is now the 8th time David has had to escape from something. People have been trying to kill him. Saul has sent assassins to him. Saul personally has tried to spear him to the wall two times. He has had now to leave his wife, he has had to leave his best friend, and now he has no home, he has no job, and he is going to live in a cave.
Jeffrey Heine:At this point, he has got nowhere else to turn. He, he tried running up to the Philistine, one of their towns, and he got run out of there. So now he can't stay in Judah, he can't stay in Philistine, and, the area occupied by the Philistines. He's really got no place to go. So he just finds a cave and he lives there.
Jeffrey Heine:And so when I'm reading this, I think, man, if ever you think you have problems in your life, just imagine yourself in David's shoes. He's got no home, he's got no job, he no longer has a family, he is separated from his wife, he has no friends, and he has no place to go. And he's living in a cave, this isn't like, you know, your DeSoto caverns kind of cave, this is a this is a a dark, a damp place, and it's representative of his life. I've I've gone caving, some when I was stupid and in college, and, I remember trying to get through a cave and said you could take 2 days and you could wind your way through and get to the other side of the mountain. And my grandmother gave me glow in the dark stars and put them on my body and said maybe that will help guide your way.
Jeffrey Heine:And and after over 24 hours of going through this cave and the glowing dark stars are, of course, gone, and, we're trying to squeeze through this little hole, All of a sudden the cave got oppressive to me. Just being that long in the dark and in the damp, I just I just wanted to get out, but I was 24 hours from getting out. And you just feel this crushing weight of earth on you. This is where David is. He just feels the crushing weight of of all of life is just kind of hitting him at this moment, as he's in the cave.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm not sure what people told you when you became a Christian and what your life should look like, but if they told you that everything was going to turn out roses, the moment that you were filled with the spirit and you decided to follow the Lord, you, you were sold a bag of lies. Because that is not what happens here. Jesus promises us many things. He promises us peace, comfort. He promises us life, but he never promises us an easy life.
Jeffrey Heine:As a matter of fact, it's the opposite. He says, if anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. So he promises us a cross. And what he asks you to do is actually to lay down your life. Whoever tries to save his life is going to lose it, but whoever loses their life for his sake will find it.
Jeffrey Heine:That's what's promised. And so we lay down our lives before God when we follow him. The only reason David is in a cave, hear me, the only reason is because he was following Jesus. If he had decided not to follow Jesus, he wouldn't be here. But all of these bad things have happened because of his pursuit of his savior.
Jeffrey Heine:There is joy. There's joy in following the Lord. And David, I am certain in these times of darkness had an underlying joy that the spirit sustained him. But as a Christian, don't think that the joy the Lord gives you is just an end in itself. Just as Nehemiah said, the joy of the Lord is to be our strength, the joy of the Lord is our undergirding to serve him when things get bad.
Jeffrey Heine:Let's look at what David does when he's in this dark place. He does what any good artist does when they're in a dark place. He decides to write. He, he writes some songs. I don't know what it is, but musicians typically can't write songs when they're in a good mood.
Jeffrey Heine:And, they, they need to be in that dark place, you know, that, you know, Taylor Swift has to be in a bad place, right, never or something like that. Bad example. But it's it's it's in those horrible times that really this this creative longing comes out. And that happened to David. David begins pouring out his soul.
Jeffrey Heine:Actually, the psalm that we read to start the service was written in the cave of Abdullen. That that song of rejoicing when David is pouring out his heart. And actually, if David prayed like he prayed in the cave, if he prayed like that when he later gets in the palace, he wouldn't have the troubles he's going to have when he gets in the palace. But the cave brought him to his knees. The cave led him to praise.
Jeffrey Heine:And I want us to look at one of those songs that he sang in the night. Turn to Psalm 142. This is also a Psalm that David wrote during this time of darkness. This is likely a Psalm that he wrote when he first got there. The Psalm that we opened up the service with is likely a Psalm shortly before he left.
Jeffrey Heine:So Psalm 142. With my voice, I cry out to the lord. With my voice, I plead for mercy to the lord. I pour out my complaint before him. I tell my troubles before him.
Jeffrey Heine:When my spirit faints within me, you know my way. In the path where I walk, they have hidden a trap for me. 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.
Jeffrey Heine:I cry to you, oh lord. I say, you are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. Attend to my cry for I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors for they are too strong for me. Bring me out of this prison that I may give thanks to your name.
Jeffrey Heine:The righteous will surround me for you will deal bountifully with me. This is a beautiful prayer of both distress and also trust. One of the themes throughout this is loneliness. You know, you look at verse verse 4 here and he's saying, look to the right, and I see there's no one who takes notice of me. There's no one who remains for me.
Jeffrey Heine:There's no one who cares for my soul. David is completely alone and he's feeling this this horrible loneliness closing in around him just like the darkness is. And But look how it ends. The last part of verse 7 says the righteous will surround me for you will deal bountifully with me. David here, he's, he's praying and he's trusting the Lord for friends and this dark time with David, he's longing for morning thing.
Jeffrey Heine:He doesn't say, God, give me wealth. He doesn't say, give me power. Don't put me on a throne. That's not in his mind. What he says is, God, I need a community around me that will love me, that will sustain me.
Jeffrey Heine:I need a community that will be gracious to me. Let the righteous surround me. That's the that's the longing of David's heart in this time. And I bet it is the longing for many of your hearts. It's not that that you long, you know, to have a better job or more money or or or more, power or fame or anything like that, but really, probably the longing in your heart is that you can be part of a community that loves one another.
Jeffrey Heine:A community that will know you and will love you and will build you up, that you would be surrounded by the righteousness, by the righteous community. And that is David's prayer. And God hears this prayer, and he answers it. But I can guarantee you, he answers it in a way that David absolutely did not see coming, that David did not expect. Look back at 1 Samuel.
Jeffrey Heine:1 Samuel 22. We'll read it again. It's just 2 verses. David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adolin. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him.
Jeffrey Heine:And everyone who was in distress and everyone who was in debt and everyone who was in bitter and soul gathered to him and he became captain over them and there were with him about 400 men. Not at all what David's expecting or hoping for. David's family finds out where he is. David might have been here for weeks or even months at this time, living alone. And his family comes to him, likely they had to flee from Saul as well because if Saul is trying to kill David, he's going to try to kill David's family.
Jeffrey Heine:But the only thing we know about David's family is, one, his father didn't believe in him because he didn't even bring him before Samuel as an option for king. And the only other thing we know about his brothers is that they called him evil when he went to go visit them in battle. And so David doesn't have a great relationship with his family. And then he looked at the people that came to him. I mean, it was it's those who were, in distress, everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, everyone who was bitter in soul, gather to him.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, come on. When, when you're asking God, you're like, God, I'm in a really dark place. I, I really need some friends here. Could you could you please just maybe send me somebody extra needy? I mean, I I really need somebody extra needy, really demanding, gonna take up a lot of my time.
Jeffrey Heine:You know, I don't really have any resources too, so can can you give somebody who's in debt and I'm going to have to help them out? We we don't pray for those things, we don't even look for those things when we're in a dark place. That's not the community we're trying to find, but that's the community that God gave David. No one wants this, but it's how God answered his prayer. Now, when I read this, the image that comes to my mind is the, the Rudolph, little movie cartoon, whatever it is that comes on every Christmas when Rudolph goes off to the island of misfit toys.
Jeffrey Heine:Y'all remember that? That's what this is here. That's what the church is. We're the island of misfit toys, all right? That that that's who God calls together and in this strange way, we become a community.
Jeffrey Heine:This beautiful thing. This is what Paul says to the Corinthian church. First Corinthians 1, for consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful.
Jeffrey Heine:Not many were of noble birth. 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. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are. I was actually reminded of this, that, that I am a fool when I was coming here earlier to set up.
Jeffrey Heine:I was outside the doors here, at Cornerstone and I got out my keys And for some reason, the door didn't open because I was pressing the open button to my car, and I just kept pressing it, and I just kept pressing it. I was like, why is this not unlocking? And I just think, what, what is wrong with me? I am a foolish idiot. And now I'm here.
Jeffrey Heine:This is the one you are listening to, is the one outside the door hitting his car. But, but I'm not ashamed because God uses foolish things in the world. He uses those who are weak, those who don't have any power. So the church is full, full of foolish, weak nobodies. Those are the people that were drawn to God's anointed.
Jeffrey Heine:Those are the people that were drawn to Jesus. This description we read here reads very similar to almost every gospel when it talks about the poor, the oppressed, those who were sick, flocked to Jesus. So we see here clearly, I believe what the church should look like, in which we consist of desperate, hurting, bitter people. It feels some way we can find healing around this one, one person. This is what Jesus did when he picked his closest friends, when he picked the 12 disciples.
Jeffrey Heine:He did not pick the educational or the cultural elite. He didn't pick, you know, the person with the big lake house or the person with the, you know, extra season tickets so they he might, you know, bum a ticket sometime or he picked people who had nothing to offer. He picked fishermen, now, right, fishermen are not exactly known for their sophistication. They're not known for their refinement or their education. He he picked some hotheads, he picked some skeptics, he, picked a tax collector, and then he picked a zealot who his political party killed tax collectors.
Jeffrey Heine:All to be part of his inner circle. You know, when I, when I'm just kind of think through the different viewpoints and everything of what his disciples, the personalities, the political views that they had, it's kind of like, you know, Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich being called to be come together, be best friends. It just, it just wouldn't happen. But that's what Jesus called together is these conflicting personalities. So don't picture the disciples, you know, just always sitting around the fire singing Kumbaya or something like that.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, you've heard you never taught politics or religion. What do you think they talked about? There was lots of fighting, I'm sure, but they were there for one reason, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ pulling them together despite all of their differences. This is what biblical community looks like.
Jeffrey Heine:I really think the church needs to understand this because a lot of people go to church to find a community. Perhaps you, you go to, you know, your home group. I'm going to find this community. And in your mind, what you're saying is, I want to find people who are just like me. I want to find that group that I just kind of slide right in and we have so much in common.
Jeffrey Heine:We're going to get along. You know, that's, that's great, but that's not biblical community. Alright? Biblical community is when you really you don't have many things in common except for the savior who unites us. All right?
Jeffrey Heine:And and your job as the church isn't so much to, to find community as it is to reflect the gospel. As for when the world looks in and they see such conflicting personalities, loving one another, serving one another, like how is that possible? Jesus, They'll never ask that question if you're always around people who are just like you. People who share the same views as you, shame it same interests as you. That will not reflect Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:The church is not a country club. The church is a hospital, And it's a hospital for the broken and for the hurting. And Jesus heals us. These are the type of people that gathered around David. They gathered around God's anointed one and they made him their captain or their ruler.
Jeffrey Heine:And what a good captain does is transform this group of nobodies into somebodies. And that is what David does to these people. In 2nd Samuel 23, we get a description of these exact same men. All right? It's the exact same people.
Jeffrey Heine:Now they're no longer just this, you know, island of misfit toys here that, that, they're an army. They're mighty men. And we don't know if this took weeks, we don't know if this took months, but before they left this cave, they had become a new people. And so look at this description here in in chapter 23. We saw the story here of the, the 3 people who, they were so mighty that they overheard David in a moment of weakness, probably, longingly say, oh, I wish I had some water from Bethlehem, his hometown.
Jeffrey Heine:And these guys are so incredible, they're they're they're such studs at this point that they hear it and they're like, we're gonna get it. That is an insane plan to do. That means going to it says there was a whole garrison there. Garrison is at least 20 soldiers. The well was by the gate, which was uphill in the most fortified area.
Jeffrey Heine:So 3 soldiers battle people uphill, and then while they get to the gate, 2 of them are holding off all the other guards while somebody scoops up some water, puts it in a flask, and then they go down battling all these other people and somehow bring it before David. These are mighty men. And what David does with this absolutely just astonishes me, but it tells so much about how he was transforming this community and who he was pointing them towards. When when I first read David's reaction when when they did this, it ticked me off. I I really got angry.
Jeffrey Heine:You know, I the the scene I picture is these 3 sweaty, probably bloody men coming into the cave. And they kneel before David and they say, here, we, we heard you ask for water from Bethlehem. And here it is. And you have every, every eye, 400 men, fixed on him. And David takes the flask and he pours it out.
Jeffrey Heine:When I read that, I thought, jerk. I mean, that was my first reaction. Like, what a jerk to do that? And my mind, it went like this, you know, I could just imagine if, if I wanted to give somebody a nice gift, perhaps a gift certificate to a, a nice restaurant. Well, I don't know.
Jeffrey Heine:Some nice restaurant. Well, Highlands Bar and Grill. Alright. There we go. Highlands Bar and Grill.
Jeffrey Heine:So I, I eBay some of my items. I, I work, you know, some extra jobs, mow lawns, whatever it is, and I can come up with a gift certificate that will pay for an appetizer or something like that. And I, and I give, I give this person this gift certificate and they grab it, and they don't say thanks, and they tear it up and throw it to the ground, I'd be a little angry. That's kind of what David does here, but not quite. The key to understanding what he's doing is in verse 17 or verse, we'll look at the end of verse 16, but he would not drink of it.
Jeffrey Heine:He poured it out to the Lord. He poured it out to the Lord. David didn't just pour it out. He, he poured it out as a drink offering, as an act of worship to the Lord. Now any other king would have said, my men exist to serve me.
Jeffrey Heine:My men are below me. Therefore, I am the one worthy of this and would have gladly taken it. And what David is saying is, no man is worthy of this offering. Not me. And he points us to another, and he, he pours it out as a drink offering to the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:Says, look at the Lord. And he doesn't thank these men. He doesn't say, guys, thank you so much for this incredible sacrifice. He doesn't put him up on a put him up on a pedestal, give them medals, glorify them in any way. All glory goes to the Lord in this.
Jeffrey Heine:And the reason is he knows that, yes, these men are mighty, yes, these men are strong, yes, these men act bravely, but all it would have taken was one stray arrow and they would have died. All it would have taken was one unseen guard coming up from behind, and the mission would have been a failure. And yes, these men did all this, but ultimately, it was the Lord. The Lord allowed this. And that's how he was what he was teaching his community that all the gifts we have, everything that we bring to the table, it's the Lord's.
Jeffrey Heine:You you might think you are where you are because you worked really hard, you studied really hard, you've made the most of every opportunity, you've made wise investments. Therefore, yes, I've made it where I am. Let me tell you, that is a lie. Everything you have is due to the Lord. There are people who are smarter, who have worked harder, who have tried to seize every opportunity, who never made it, who never had doors open.
Jeffrey Heine:You you were one blood vessel popping from losing everything. You could have been born in another country to another people, to another family. You are who you are because of God. Nobody made these soldiers probably 6 foot 3 and muscular. God did.
Jeffrey Heine:And so David gave credit to who it was due. And when they begin to understand that they are everything, even their noble acts are purely a gift from God and that he alone is worthy of worship. They become this radically transformed community. They become mighty men. As they surround around their captain, they are changed and transformed by him.
Jeffrey Heine:So do you see the kind of community that David is building here? This indeed becomes the righteous community that he prays for. They start off as the island of misfit toys, they start off as bitter and souled and needy, but they become loyal, They become fierce fighters. They become a community a community that will never boast in their own achievements, a community that will give glory to the Lord. And this is the community that God has called you to be a part of in the church.
Jeffrey Heine:What this reminds me of when you look at these two stories together, just think of Jesus and his disciples before Pentecost and afterwards. When Jesus first gathers his disciples, man, they're nothing. I mean, they're at, they're at, nobody would select those 12. And then he gives them his spirit. Then he dwells inside them, and and as they are with him, and he he begins transforming them, and they look at them after Pentecost.
Jeffrey Heine:They are set on fire, and they turn the world upside down. They become mighty men, simply because they've been in his presence. That's what the church is called to be. I remember seeing this happen at the University of Georgia one time, I was in a group, small group, whatever you would call it, none of us were alike. It was hard work for us to try to be together.
Jeffrey Heine:And there was one guy, ironically, his name was David. All right? And, he had a bowl haircut. He, dressed horribly. I I could hardly understand what he said half the time.
Jeffrey Heine:I'll, I mean, I'll just say it. Here's what when you think of a loser, you think of this guy. Alright? And I remember that, the pastor at the ministry I was in said, whoever wants to get up and share, they can share, which is always dangerous. And, this guy got up and walked forward, and I just remember thinking, oh my gosh, no.
Jeffrey Heine:And he preached for about 15 minutes, and it blew me away. One of the best sermons I've ever heard. And it was just such a demonstration of God using weakness for glory. And I remember just feeling so ashamed because I now look back at that small group that I was in, and I thought I was the chosen one. I was the one who had all the gifts.
Jeffrey Heine:I was the one who brought so much to the table. And really, everything that I brought, Paul would later say, he called it refuse. It was refuse. All that mattered was being in the Lord's presence and the transforming power that came from that. So God taught me so much, and my my view of community and church changed a lot that day and what God had called me to be a part of and how I could, through all these other people who are so different from me, give myself to them, love them, and watch God create something beautiful.
Jeffrey Heine:That's what God is calling us to do as his church. Pray with me. God, we don't confess to be anybody, anybody at all apart from you. We are misfits. We are losers.
Jeffrey Heine:We are foolish. We have no power. We are needy people, bitter in our soul. Yet we want to come to you, Jesus. We wanna come to you where you are, and we want you to heal us and to transform us and to change us and to make us like you.
Jeffrey Heine:So, god, I pray that through your spirit, you would do that. God, we recognize your grace upon our lives. Everything we are, everything is a gift from you. So we give you thanks and praise. In the name of Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:Amen.