Let's turn our Bibles now to Psalm 57. We're reading Psalm 57 again, or not again, but we'll be reading Psalm 57. I've been choosing some of the Psalms in recent weeks that are connected to the passages that we're reading. And here again, we look at the introduction to the Psalm, and it connects to what we'll be reading in 1 Samuel 22. So let's listen to God's word now. Psalm 57, to the choir master, according to do not destroy a mictam of David when he fled from Saul in the cave. 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. I cry out to God most high, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. He will send from heaven and save me. He will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah. God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness. My soul is in the midst of lions. I lie down amid fiery beasts, the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth. They set a net for my steps. My soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah. My heart is steadfast, O God. My heart is steadfast. I will sing and make melody. Awake, my glory, awake, O harp and lyre. I will awake the dawn. I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth. Amen. As we come to God's word again, let's pray for his help. Lord, we thank you for the great privilege that we have to hear from your word. We are going to hear the very words that you have spoken. We pray that we would come with humility and eagerness and that you would help us to see wonderful things in your law. We do pray that we would grow in our desire to hear the word. And we pray that even tonight you would feed us as our good and perfect shepherd. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. This evening our sermon comes from 1 Samuel chapter 22. That's 1 Samuel chapter 22. Hear the word of God. 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. And everyone who is in distress, and everyone who is in debt, and everyone who is bitter in soul gathered to him. And he became commander over them, and there were with him about 400 men. And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, please let my father and my mother stay with you till I know what God will do for me. And he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. Then the prophet Gad said to David, Do not remain in the stronghold, depart, and go into the land of Judah. So David departed and went into the forest of Herod. Now Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the Tamarisk tree on the height, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him. And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, Here now, people of Benjamin, will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards? Will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds that all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie in wait as at this day. Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahathub. And he inquired of the Lord for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine. Then the king sent to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahathub, and all his father's house, the priests who were at Nob, and all of them came to the king. And Saul said, Here now, son of Ahathub. And he answered, Here I am, my lord. And Saul said to him, Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, so that he has risen against me to lie in wait as at this day? Then Himalek answered the king, And who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, captain over your bodyguard, and honored in your house? Is today the first time that I have inquired of God for him? No. Let not the king impute anything to his servant after all the house of my father, for your servant has known nothing of all this, much or little. And the king said, you shall surely die, Himalek, you and all your father's house. And the king said to the guard who stood about him, turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David. And they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me. But the servants of the king would not put out their hand to strike the priests of the Lord. Then the king said to Doeg, you turn and strike the priests. And Doeg the Enamite turned and struck down the priests, and he killed on that day 85 persons who wore the linen ephod. And Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword, both man and woman, child and infant, ox, donkey, and sheep he put to the sword. But one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahudub named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. And David said to Abiathar, I knew on that day when Doeg the Edomite was there that he would surely tell Saul, I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father's house. Stay with me. Do not be afraid. For he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me, you shall be in safekeeping. So just listen to that chapter being read. This chapter is full of sin and spiritual darkness. It's hard to read about the depths of Saul's sin and willful rebellion against God that we see here. Any of us who knows God's character knows that Saul cannot last much longer than this. He is committing horrible crime. But one of the sad parts of the passage is not just that Saul is sinning, but also that Israel is being destroyed in the process. Saul is destroying Israel from the inside out. But at the same time in this passage, God provides hope. If you notice how the passage is set up, the sin of Saul is in the middle, and it's sandwiched between two reports about the growth of David's kingdom. It's very purposeful, and that is a reminder to us that God is busy, even in the middle of sin, God is busy to establish his king and his kingdom. There is great hope still for Israel. And that leads us to our main idea that what we see here is that God sovereignly establishes a godly kingdom in the face of rebellion and sin. God sovereignly establishes a godly kingdom in the face of rebellion and sin. See three things this evening. We'll see God establishes his godly king, verses one through five. Secondly, God uses Israel's godless king, in verses six to 19. And finally, God provides salvation through his godly king, in verses 20 to 23. First, God establishes his godly king. We read about David's escape from Gath last week. Chapter 21 showed David at one of the lowest points of his life. He's the king, but he is alone and defenseless, and he is literally running for his life, first from Saul and then from Achish, king of Gath. That was chapter 21. Chapter 22, the one that we're looking at, is very different. Here we see God establishing David As the king. Verses 1 to 2, we see the beginning of David's kingdom. David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers in 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 in soul gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men. You see, as you read those verses, it is important to see that this is the beginning of David's kingdom. It might not look like much of a kingdom, but it is. We might expect David's family to gather to himself. It is almost assuredly hating them as well. But notice also that God gathers 400 more men to serve David. So look at the description. These are probably not the men you would want to build a kingdom with. These are the people who have gotten into trouble in different ways in Israel. You might, as we read this passage, we might kind of have a romantic view of what's going on, something like Robin Hood and his merry men. You know, David is out and the wilderness and all these men are gathering to him. But it's not romantic like that. These men, as I said, have gotten into trouble. These are people who are in debt. They haven't been paying their money. They are bitter and discontented with what is going on. The reality was probably much, much different for David to be managing these men. And yet, even these men are the exact men that God has chosen to build his kingdom with David. So we see in these verses, David continues to grow in his trust for God and his reliance on God's word. We see first David's faith in verses three to four. David takes his father and mother to safety in Moab. But what stands out is his faith. Look at verse three. talking to the king of Moab, a pagan, says, please let my father and mother stay with you till I know what God will do for me. David here is humbly waiting to find out what God will do to protect and establish him. Remember, David has God's promise. He is the next king. But now he is waiting to see what God will do next. Notice he doesn't tell the king of Moab, I'm waiting to find out what I will do, what I can do in my own strength and with my own plan. No, what God will do, how God will keep his promises for me. David also in these opening verses grows in his reliance on God's word. God sends the prophet Gad in verse five to tell David to move. He's somewhere out here and he says, move back to Judah. Notice that God doesn't tell him why. God doesn't give him some strategic reason why this would be a wiser move. He just commands, and David obeys without further question. The presence of men, of faith, and of God's Word are all encouraging signs for David and his kingdom. God is with David, and God is at work to give David all that he needs. Well, that leads us to Saul. And we see, secondly, God uses Israel's godless king. Verses 6 to 19. There's a very dramatic shift in the passage as we reach verse 6. And we see Saul, the current king of Israel. And the contrast between David and Saul in this passage is very, very purposeful. David is a king on the run. Saul is a king who is reigning on the throne. Look at verse 6. Verse 6 is the picture of a king. This is what you'd expect. Saul is sitting there under the tree at Gibeah. He is sitting there in state, and all his servants are standing before him. This is a king. But as soon as Saul opens his mouth in verse 7, we realize that he is a king, but he is a godless king. Saul has become a king like all the nations. In verse 7 to 8, Saul accuses his servants of a conspiracy. And in his words, we see his sinful heart. Saul is really only concerned about himself. He blames everybody else around him for the fact that David is now running away and Jonathan, his own son, has committed himself to David. All of this actually is Saul's fault. It's Saul's sin, but Saul cannot see that or does not want to see that. In verse 7 in particular, Saul reveals that his kingdom is built on sinful, worldly foundations. Look what he says. He asks his servants, will David be able to give you land or positions like I did? Now, a comment like that is not unusual. You know, many kings, many politicians, even today, build personal loyalty by doing something like this, by giving their servants lots of stuff. But notice what Saul's comment reveals. He is unable to understand any other motivation for supporting David other than getting things. Saul has already showed this kind of worldly attitude when he condemned Jonathan for supporting David. Saul could not understand that someone like Jonathan would be willing to support David for the only reason that they loved God. Greed, not God, is really the foundation of Saul's kingdom. So Saul is so self-centered in his sin, and he is showing that his kingdom is founded on these sinful worldly foundations. But we see also that Saul's sin prevents him from even correctly understanding the world around him. Right. There's no basis for this supposed conspiracy, except in Saul's very active and sinful imagination. But it gets worse because at the end of verse eight, we find Saul accusing Jonathan of stirring up David against Saul and of accusing David of lying in wait to kill Saul. There's nothing. Absolutely nothing in all of 1 Samuel that supports any of those claims. Jonathan supports David, but David is not Saul's enemy. And in fact, later in 1 Samuel, Jonathan is the one who fights alongside Saul, his father, even to the death. Saul, Jonathan, is still a faithful son. And David is still a faithful servant of Saul. Later in 1 Samuel, David gets multiple times where he could have killed Saul. He doesn't take any of them. David is never lying in wait to kill Saul. In Saul, we see how deeply sin can affect us. Saul has turned his back on God. And because of that, he is now not even able to see reality rightly. This is a situation in Romans 1. If we wanted to paraphrase that passage, we could say that Saul has become foolish in his thinking, and his foolish heart has been darkened. But unfortunately, Saul is not the only wicked one in this passage. There's someone equally as wicked as Saul, and it's Doeg the Edomite. We meet him in verse 9. Doeg the Edomite, not anybody else, Doeg the Edomite reveals that David visited the priests at Nob, and he says that Ahimelech the priest helped David. Well, that's what Saul wanted to know. Verses 11 to 15, he immediately summons Ahimelech the priest and his entire family, all the priests to come. But it's not a fair and even-handed trial. As we see in verse 13, Saul is already convinced that Ahimelech is guilty. Saul believes that Ahimelech's help is part of yet another conspiracy, another layer of treachery with David against Saul. Ahimelech must have helped David to attack Saul. But that's just not true. That's not true. And Ahimelech points this out in verses 14 to 15. Ahimelech first defends David's character. He says, Saul, who are you accusing of all these crimes? Your son-in-law? Your honored man? The man who is in charge of your bodyguard? No, David is innocent and so am I. Ahimelech says he knew nothing of David's plans. But Saul's sin here is so deep that it has warped his understanding of reality. He is no longer able to listen to the truth. Everything that Ahimelech says is true. And everybody else standing around Saul knows that that is true. David is upright. Ahimelech is innocent. But Saul now hates the truth so much that he can't stand to listen to it. And he cannot stand to hear it from somebody. So now he even hates Ahimelech, the priest. Notice who his hatred is against. It's not just Ahimelech as a person, it's Ahimelech the priest. This is very significant. Ahimelech and his family lead Israel in worship. The people of Israel can only be made right with God through sacrifices that are offered by the priest. Think of all the Old Testament laws. They center on the priests and the sacrifices. They are central to Israel's relationship with God. And that fact makes Saul's words so chilling. Verse 16, and the king said, you shall surely die, Ahimelech. And not just him, you and all your father's house. Saul is set on killing every single priest. And by doing that, he is purposely destroying God's worship. We see here in Saul's words that he is an apostate. He has fallen away from the faith. But worse than that, in his sin and in his rebellion, he is now intent on destroying God's church. That's what he's doing here by killing the priest. He is destroying God's representatives, God's spiritual leaders. And by doing that, he is attacking Israel. This is something that you would think a pagan king would do. Somebody from outside Israel would love to destroy the tabernacle, would love to defeat the God of Israel. But this is the King of Israel who's saying these things. This is Saul. At one time, Saul was God's chosen king for his people. But now we see Saul's fall is complete. He is willing to destroy Israel itself. Why is Saul doing this? Why is he so radically opposed to the priests? We get a clue in verses 17 to 18. They are priests of the Lord. Let's repeat it. They are priests of the Lord. Saul, remember, Saul is sinfully rebelling against the Lord. And because he can't attack the Lord directly, he attacks God's servants. We saw this already in Saul's hatred of David, and now we see it in Saul's hatred of the priests. As it turns out, no Israelite is willing to carry out Saul's death sentence on the priests. None of Saul's closest servants are willing to kill the Lord's priests. That is not credit to the servants, because if these servants are anything like Saul, they probably don't have much of a regard for God. We've seen how Saul has lived his whole life this way. But it is convicting to see that these men fear God far more than they fear Saul. No Israelite steps forward, but there is someone who's willing. There is someone who is willing to kill the priests and destroy God's worship. and that's Doeg. Doeg, the Edomite, Saul's only ally at this point is a pagan Gentile. That fact is a spiritual commentary about the depth of Saul's sin. His only ally, the one who he is closest to, is a pagan, one who is opposed to God. And if you notice carefully what Doeg does, it is complete destruction. Verses 18 to 19, he kills all the priests, all their families, and all their animals. No one and nothing is left. And if that kind of destruction sounds familiar, it should. Because this complete destruction is what God commanded against his enemies. We see this in the book of Joshua. God commands total destruction of the pagans living in Canaan. It is a sign of God's judgment on unbelief. But now here's Saul using the instrument of God's judgment against God's own completely innocent priests. Do you see how Saul is so deeply perverting The ordinances of God, it is it is so hard to understand what Saul is doing here. But it gets even worse, because if you remember, Saul failed to do this very thing before. Saul failed to completely destroy the sinful Amalekites in chapter 15. And that is the exact reason that God took away his kingdom. Now he is very thorough. He is very thorough to wipe out the priests and everything they have to further his own sinful rebellion against God. As we look at what Saul is doing and Doeg is doing, it's fair to ask, where is God? Where is God here? Why is God letting Saul assault his church like this? Part of the answer is found way back in 1 Samuel chapter 2, in another case of sin in Israel's leaders. Remember in chapter 2 what the problem was? That's where we met Eli and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas. They had dishonored God. They had perverted God's worship. And God had promised to completely destroy Eli and his family. He says, chapter 2, verse 33, God uses Saul's evil actions in 1 Samuel 22 to fulfill his promised just judgment in 1 Samuel 2. That fact doesn't make Saul's sin any better. It doesn't excuse what Saul or Doeg did, but it does remind us of one very important point. The Lord still rules Israel. Even in Saul's sin, he cannot help but serve the Lord that he hates. We've seen this earlier in Saul's life, especially in 1 Samuel 18. God used Saul's many attempts to kill David to actually bring more glory to David. And God is doing something similar here in this chapter as well. It may look like the situation in Israel is completely out of control. There is a king who is destroying the church. But it's important to realize God is equally in control to establish David and to use Saul for his own purposes. God the king remains on the throne. That leads us to our third and final point that God provides salvation through his godly king. Verses 20 to 23. As we see in verse 20, all hope for Israel is not lost. One priest, only one escapes. One of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahatu, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. Only one priest is left, but he flees to the one right person. He flees to David. And notice what David, the godly king, does. After David hears Abiathar's story about Saul's sin, David humbly, publicly, doesn't condemn Saul, He actually admits his own responsibility. Verse 22, he says, I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father's house. David could have used this for propaganda points. Look how evil Saul is, but instead, as the godly king, David recognizes that he was a part of this. From 1 Samuel 21, he bears some of the guilt for their death. But David does much more as the godly king. He offers Abiathar safety and salvation. He says, I'm sure when Abiathar heard those words and looked around, he could have hoped for a little bit more. Here's a king on the run. Somebody who's going to help me. He only has 400 men. He's hiding way out in the wilderness. Abiathar could have rightly had second thoughts about this plan. Of course, he's desperate, but maybe there'd be more hope elsewhere. Maybe there's somewhere else or someone else he could go to. But Abiathar comes to David and he looks with the eyes of faith. He sees the godly king that he needs, he sees the blessing of this king's tiny kingdom, and he accepts the salvation that is offered by David. Isn't it amazing that David can even make that statement to offer that kind of protection to Abiathar? He can look at his army, too. He can look at his situation just as well as Abiathar. And yet he offers him permanent salvation. How can he do that? Because he has God's promises. David is not offering his strength to protect the priest. He is offering God's strength. This is ultimately God's kingdom. When we start to recognize that that's what's going on, it's not really even just David's kingdom, but God's kingdom, that helps us to see how this chapter fits into God's greater work of bringing salvation in Jesus Christ. Because this chapter is the story of two kings, but also now we see the story of two kingdoms. Two kings and two kingdoms who are radically opposed. David's kingdom is the kingdom where God is present and blessing his people. It's a small kingdom. Yes, it's in danger of being destroyed, and yet this is the kingdom where you want to be. By the end of this chapter, we find that David's kingdom has a prophet, has a priest, and has a king. It is complete. This is what God promised for Israel, and we only find it in David's kingdom. God is present there. He is blessing his people through David, through Gad and through Abiathar. Saul's kingdom over here, it's the complete opposite. This is the kingdom where sinful man rules. It is a kingdom of sin and destruction, a kingdom that is increasingly opposed to God and his ways. There is no blessing here. There cannot be blessing here. There is no godly king. There is no prophet bringing God's word. There is no priest leading God's worship. What we see in that contrast between David's kingdom and Saul's kingdom is part of a much larger contrast between God's kingdom and Satan's kingdom. That is really the contrast at the heart of this passage. Satan and his kingdom have always been radically opposed to God and his kingdom. We see this from Genesis on. 1 Samuel 22 is just another example of the seed of the serpent trying to destroy the seed of the woman. That was promised. in Genesis 3. But the good news is that God establishes and strengthens His kingdom in the face of sin and opposition. Think of Genesis. After the whole world was plunged into sin because of Adam and Eve, God didn't give up. No. He rescued Adam and Eve. He forgave them. He brought them back into a relationship with Himself, and He promised them a Savior. That was God firmly establishing His kingdom of gracious salvation. Satan's plan to ruin God's rule failed right then and there. It failed in Genesis, but Satan has not given up trying. Saul, Saul is just the latest of Satan's kings who have tried to destroy God's work. And sometimes, maybe even at a time like this, it looks like they've almost succeeded. Think of the time of Elijah, only 7,000 who were faithful to God, who had not bowed down to Baal. Only 7,000 believers. But if we look carefully at God's kingdom, no matter how small it may appear, we see God's rule, God's blessing, and God's security. David's kingdom, again, is a prophet, a priest, and a king. David's kingdom has the word of God and has faithful men. We shouldn't be surprised to find those people and those blessings here because this is Jesus Christ's kingdom. He is the real king of this kingdom here. Jesus Christ is our prophet, our priest, and our king. Jesus Christ is the very word of God. Jesus Christ is the savior who draws men into his kingdom and offers them salvation and blessing. We are seeing in 1 Samuel 22 another example of the rule of Jesus Christ. This chapter then encourages and challenges us. It encourages us because we see yet again that Jesus and his church will never, ever fail. The kingdoms of the world may look very powerful and their kings may be very evil like Saul. But God has established His Son as King, and He will not let His kingdom fall. But this passage also challenges us. It challenges us and the people around us, because the question here is, which king are you following? Which kingdom are you in? Are you still in the kingdom of Saul, the kingdom of sin, the kingdom of Satan? It may feel very comfortable there. It may feel very comfortable. You may get your field. You may get your promotion. But you are living life opposed to God. And you will not win. Even your own sinful rebellion will be used by God for his purposes. There is no true blessing in that kingdom. There is no true blessing in the service of Satan. There might be a few passing pleasures of sin. Yes. But there can't be true blessing. And there can't because you are rejecting Jesus Christ, the source of all blessing. That means if you are in Satan's kingdom today or you know someone who is still serving him, take this passage as a warning, but also as an invitation. It is always an invitation because this is the gospel that Jesus Christ is the Lord's anointed and you can and must follow him. You must believe on him for the forgiveness of sins and be saved. And then, and only then, will you experience true everlasting blessing. And not just a little bit. Abundant blessing far beyond our imagining. Now if you are saved, if you're already in Christ's kingdom, then rejoice. Rejoice. It can often feel like we're out in the wilderness with David. But we are exactly where we need to be. We are with Christ our King. and we are in His blessing. My encouragement this evening is look again. Look again with the eyes of faith and see we have Christ. And in Christ, we have all good things. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we do thank you again for the blessing of Jesus our King. We thank you that the souls of the world will not be able to overcome the church. but that you have actually caused us to be brought into your kingdom, a kingdom whose foundations are absolutely secure, a kingdom that can never fail. We thank you for the blessing of knowing Jesus Christ and being able to worship and serve him. And Lord, we pray that you would increase our desire to grow in your kingdom and for others to be brought in for their salvation and your glory. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.