Michael Youssef - Peace Beyond Reason
We're going to see today how David turned his cave into a prayer closet. But the truth is, I lived long enough, I talked to enough people, whether we're in the church or outside of the church, to learn that there are some people who actually thinks that they're making themselves nuisance when they come to God in prayer. What a contrast with David, the man whose heart after God's, a man who learned how to turn the dark cave of Adullam into a prayer closet. We saw in the last message how David got into a fleeing mode. He was not perfect by any stretch of imagination.
I've been showing you his Achilles heels, I've been showing you how clay feet he had. But he was fleeing. He was fleeing after the great victory on the valley of Elah when he slayed the giant, now he's fleeing, just like Elijah's done before. After the great victory on Mount Carmel, he flees. First you see when David began to flee from God, he lied. But that's not all, he actually asked Jonathan to lie for him as well. Then he pretended to be a madman, and then he went to the enemy of God, the Philistines, King Achish. Then he got to the bottom of degradation, and in his bitter spirit David writes Psalm 118, verse 9. When even the king Achish rejected him, here's what he said. Everything you see in the psalm comes out from the life of David. He said, "It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes".
Here he begins on the road to restoration. After he began to flee from God, allowing his fears to get hold of him, David takes the very first step of stopping running and turning to the Lord. Stop running in fear and begins to trust. Remember, I told you there is no such thing as a fearless person. You remember that? There's no such thing as a fearless person. We saw Saul was fearful, but David was not. But now we see David is fearful. He was sitting here literally in fear. Do you know that fear always, always, always, when it's hosted, when it's cuddled, when it's allowed to prosper inside of you, will overwhelm your faith every time, every time. Here in the cave of Adullam, David writes three psalms.
By the way, it's a very dark place. He writes three psalms, Psalm 34 and Psalm 57 and Psalm 142. In Psalm 142 he will learn how to turn his darkness into light. Here in this psalm he's beginning to learn to turn this dark cave, this forbidden cave into a prayer closet. Here he said, "I look to the right and watch: but there is none who takes notice of me. I cry to you, O LORD; I say, 'You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.'" Why does David talk about looks to the right? Because in the courts of law back then, as probably is as it is today, the lawyer, the one who's defending you, the defending lawyer sits at the right hand of the accused. And so, he looks to the right hand, nobody's defending him. He has no lawyer in the court to speak for him. He's all alone. Nobody to defend David.
Look at verse 1, 1 Samuel 22. Follow it with me. "David left Gath," that's down in the Gaza Strip, "and he escapes to the cave of Adullam". Question, what do you do when you are in your own cave of Adullam? You know what most people do? Most people, the way they react is they start with a litany of excuses. "Well, you know, if so-and-so didn't do this, I wouldn't be here. But if so-and-so did this, and if this did not happen," it was just litany of excuses. There are others who turn their caves into a pity party. You know the one that nobody turns up to? You invite a lot of people, but man, they're not going to show up. Pity party. Most people turn into their caves into a bit of anger, and they're angry, and they are angry. Most people turn their dungeon into despair. They give up. "What's the use"?
Please, I'm pleading with you, don't do that, don't do that, don't do that. There's a far superior way to dealing with your cave. Pray like David did in your cave. One of the old reformers used to say, "It is not the arithmetic of our prayer, how many they are. It is not the rhetoric of prayer, how eloquent they are. Nor it's the geometry of prayer, how long they are. Nor it is the music of prayer, how sweet our voices are. Nor the method of prayer, how orderly they are. Nor it is even the theology of prayer". Theology and doctrine, you know it's vitally important to me. Important as it is, no matter how sound doctrine your prayer might be, the most important prayer is that prayer of a fervent spirit.
The prayer of a fervent spirit availeth much. You can certainly sense that fervor in David's prayer in Psalm 142. "I cry with my voice to the LORD; With my voice I make supplication to the LORD. I poured out my complaint before Him; I tell my trouble before Him". When David's brother and his father's household heard about it, they came down to be with him. Here's a piece of good news. David may have been a fugitive from Saul, but those who loved him unconditionally, they came to comfort him. David may have been a hunted man by Saul's henchmen, but is still a beloved brother and a son to his family. Verse 2, we see not only his family and his loved ones have come to be with him, but a whole motley crew showed up, 400 of them.
Look at the description in verse 2 of that motley crew. "Those who were distressed, those who were bankrupt, those who were discontented". What a great membership list of a church, yeah? Amen? Four hundred of them, and David became the leader. This is a picture of all of us who love Jesus. It really is. It's a picture of those of us who, out of desperation, came to the Son of David, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a picture of all of us who came to God's anointed Messiah, Jesus. This is a picture of all of us who have come to the man of sorrow who is acquainted with grief. This is a picture of all of us who came to him out of desperation, declaring our own spiritual bankruptcy, that we could not save ourselves, that we could not help ourselves, that we could not, no matter how good work we do can save ourselves.
Those of us who have acknowledged that we cannot under any circumstances get ourselves to heaven. Those of us who are incapable of pleasing God by all the good works that we do. This is a picture of all of us who have become discontented with what the world is offering us and we needed only Jesus. This is a picture of us who loved the Lord Jesus Christ, came to the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man Jesus who healed the sick without sending them a bill, who fed the hungry without charging them, who clothed the naked with his own righteous robes, who set the demon possessed free and raised the dead.
That's our Savior. That's our captain of salvation. That's our Lord Jesus. And he still welcomes all of us. He still welcomes all of us who are weary of this world troubles, of this world bad news, He still welcomes everybody who would come to the end of themselves and said, "I cannot help myself. I cannot do it," and he welcomes you. Those of us who are heavy laden and carrying burdens that we have no business carrying, load them down on Jesus, he's waiting. He's saying, "Come to me. I want all of you who declare spiritual bankruptcy, all of you who are discontented, all of you who can find no satisfaction in this world, come to me". For Jesus said, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture said: 'Streams of living water will flow out of him.'"
Those who were in distress, bankrupt, and dissatisfied with life came to David. What an amazing picture. What an amazing picture in the Old Testament of us in the New Testament. Here Saul is a type of Satan. I'm not saying Saul was Satan, but it's a type. There are types in the Bible. Pharaoh is a type of Satan. Here Saul is a type of Satan. He's a picture of Satan, the prince of this world system. He's in authority, he's in power. Make no mistake about it, Satan is in control of this world system. You know, if you don't know this, turn the news on for just five minutes. I promise you. And, like Satan, Saul appears to have the upper hand. He killed the priests of God. He did the unthinkable. Saul is like the devil.
The Bible said that Satan comes to steal and to destroy and to kill. That is why he is a type of Satan. Satan appeared to be powerful right now. Satan appears to have an upper hand right now. Satan tried to destroy God's Messiah, but he failed, so he tries to do the next best thing, discourage his children. But David, by the same token, is a type of Christ.
Again, he's not perfect, he's not Christ, a type of Christ. Typology is a very legitimate method of interpreting the Bible. He's a type of Christ, the captain of our salvation. He is rejected by the religious leaders, he is ignored by politicians, he is persecuted by those who are bishops in the church, he was hunted down by the government, and finally they crucified him. But for all of those who put their faith in him, those who placed all of their trust in him for their salvation, he is their captain, he is their deliverer, he is their protector, he is their comforter, he is their shield and buckler, he is their friend that sticks to them closer than a brother.
Now, beloved, when Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, there the angel said to the disciples as they saw Jesus ascending into heaven, he said to him, "This same Jesus," not somebody else, "this same Jesus whom you saw ascending into heaven is coming back. And when he comes back, he will rule supreme as King of kings. He will reign in majesty and splendor. He will rule with an iron scepter. He will be the only sovereign. He will have every knee, whether they like it or not, bow to him. He will have every tongue, whether they want to or not, declare him Lord. Those who have rejected him will tremble in fear. Those who have scorned his name will experience gnashing of teeth. Those who have scorned his kind invitation and would not come to him, they will cry and no one would hear them. Those who have mocked him will be put to shame".
What a shame, what a shame, what a shame. Listen to me. Though I don't say this with great joy in my heart, I say it with sorrow. For those who have rejected the invitation of Jesus, the day is coming. And beloved, I can tell you, I can tell you as I look at the world today, it might be sooner than any of us think. Those who have rejected the invitation of Jesus, they will be in gnashing of teeth and trembling. But for those of us who love Jesus, the day of his public coronation will be a day of rejoicing for all the believers. It will be a day of sorrow and terror and fear for those who refuse to bow to him now, but for us, we will lift up our heads, because the day of redemption is here.
I want you to listen carefully. The meaning of the word secular, the word secular means that only this life matters, nothing else matters beyond this life. It matters whether you're rich and famous and making it in this life, a secularism. All that matters is how you make yourself happy in this life, nothing beyond this life. All that matters is how you get all you can, can all you get, and sit on the lid in this life. Now that you understand, think with me. You can see how many sermons in many a church today, how many preachers have fallen in this secular thinking trap. They tell you that your best life is here and now. Christ did not die on the cross so that this will be the best there is, no! He is waiting for his children in heaven, and one day we're going to meet him on the clouds, and we're going to reign and rule with him forever, praise God.
The sad part for me is that secularism is dominating many a church, many a church. What a tragedy, what a tragedy. I'm a positive person, and I always like to focus on good news, but you don't know good news unless you understand what the dreadful news is about. How can you distinguish between the two? Here's the dreadful news. It's not just bad news, it's a dreadful news. The more a person focuses on this life alone, the more a culture like ours focuses on this life alone, the higher the rate of depression, the higher the unhappiness and unfulfillment in this life, the higher the level of loneliness, the higher the rate of dissatisfaction, the higher the rate of discontentment. Can you see it? Can you see it?
The more secular we become, the more miserable we are. Our forebearers may not have had as much luxuries as we have, but they were contented, they were joyful, because they focused on eternity. I want to tell you, my beloved friends, I'm coming close to the end, so I want you to listen very carefully. The moment you realize that this life is mere preparation for the next life, the moment you realize and begin to see this life as a mere dress rehearsal for the next one, only then can you have true fulfillment and satisfaction in life, no matter what the circumstances may be. To every dissatisfied person who comes to God's anointed Messiah King, Jesus, to everyone who recognizes that their need for satisfaction can only come from following Jesus, they will be satisfied in this life.
Isn't that the amazing thing? That's the biblical paradox. Jesus said it's a water, salty water that makes you more thirsty. The more you drink it, the more you want. The more you drink it, the more you want, until you come to the point of recognizing that all of the money in the world, all of the entertainment in the world, all of the diversion of the world will fail to satisfy you, and come to God's anointed Messiah, King Jesus, you will know true satisfaction. It's the only time you will really know true satisfaction. Only then will you know the peace that does not make sense.
See, those individuals who came to David, they recognized the power of God's anointed. They knew that the future is with God's anointed, not with Saul. They are the ones who recognize that Saul could never give them lasting peace. They're the ones who realize that Saul was a usurper and offered only a temporary fix. They are the ones who saw the temporary authority of Saul, not the lasting authority, as it is God's anointed from whom the Messiah came.
So, they were the ones who converted from Saul to David. They were converted from Satan's kingdom to Jesus's kingdom. They were converted from being under the authority and the domain of Satan to coming under the authority and the domain of God's anointed Messiah. Those were converted from King Saul to kingdom of David. I need to ask you a question as I conclude I pray to God will haunt every one of us until you answer it to yourself. Which kingdom are you living in? Which kingdom are you living in? What king do you bow to? What authority do you live under?