A Heart for God, Part 5

Thank you for joining Dr. Michael Yusef in the pages of 1 Samuel chapter 22. Today you'll find David, the chosen king of Israel, in a cave. You've seen him defeat Goliath, experience amazing victories in battle, and live a life of public popularity. But today, he's huddled in darkness. Welcome to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Yusef, author of more than fifty books, including his latest, which looks even closer at the life of David. It's called A Heart for God.

Listen with me as Dr. Michael Yusef begins today's life transforming Leading the Way. We saw in the last message how David got into a fleeing mode. He was fleeing from the law. After the great victory on the Valley of Eli when he slayed the giant, now he's fleeing, just like Elijah has done before.

After the great victory on Mount Carmel, he flees. 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. First Samuel 22, 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. 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. David did this, I did this, so did you. Now please, please, please, please just focus with me for a minute, okay, because this is really important in your life. If it is not right now, at some point in your life, you're going to need it, so listen carefully. David was anointed with oil by the prophet Samuel to be the future king of Israel, and yet he's hiding in a cave.

What happened? You see, when you find yourself in the cave of Adullam, you can be sure that God wants you to learn some things that the only way you're going to learn them, the only way I'm going to learn them is in that cave. God wants to teach us some lessons. God wants us to realize that when we get into the cave of Adullam, it's because he wants to purify us.

When he allow us to be in the cave of Adullam, even if we put ourselves there, when you are on your own cave of Adullam, whatever your cave may be, remember, you are now in the training school of God, so you better start learning because God wants you to emerge from that cave victorious and graduating top of your class. Look at verse 1, 1 Samuel 22. David left Gath, that's down in the Gaza Strip, and he escapes to the cave of Adullam.

Now, if you read the epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 11, by faith Abraham, by faith Sarah, by faith, by faith, by faith, but if you read carefully, all these names, we call it faith hall of fame, every one of those people have spent time in the cave, every one of them. Joseph spent time in the Pharaoh's dungeon before he became second in command. Moses spent 40 years in Midian before he was able to go and be the leader of his people. Daniel spent time in the lion's den before he became second in command in the Persian empire. Jonah spent time in the belly of the whale before he received victory in Nineveh.

Paul spent time in jail hanging on a driftwood on the Mediterranean Sea before he got to his destination. Please hear me right, this is important, because most likely none of us have ever spent time in a physical cave, very few of us. But, even if you have not spent time in a physical cave, I am absolutely certain that most of us at some point have been in a spiritual cave or in a financial cave or in an emotional cave or in a psychological cave or in a health cave. And that is why I don't want you to miss what I'm going to tell you, because if you found yourself, if you are there in a cave right now, whatever it may be, or going to be in a cave at some point, I want you to listen carefully. There is no shame in being in a cave. There is no dishonor in being in a cave, whatever your cave may be. What really matters is what you do in your cave. What matters is how you use that cave experience.

What matters is how you react to your cave. Look at what David did. He turned the underground asylum into a prayer closet. He turned the solitude into a concert hall. He turned the silence of the cave into the altar of the sacrifice of praise. David turned the darkness of that cave into a tabernacle of worship. David turned the bitterness, his bitterness, in that cave into the sweet smelling incense of praising and worshiping God. He turned his loneliness into a sweet fellowship with the Lord. He turned his fear in the cave into a faith victory, and a faith victory. He turned the hollow emptiness of the cave into a symphony of petition.

He turned the death of the cave into a vineyard. Question, what do you do when you are in your own cave of a doulam? 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, 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 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. Now, beloved, from my experience, and it may be limited, if you pour your trouble out to anybody who would listen, soon they're going to get bored with you. And the moment they see you coming, they'll run away the other way.

Trust me. But if you pour your heart out to the Lord, he will never get bored with you. On the contrary, he loves to hear your voice. 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 he's still a beloved brother and a son to his family. Verse two, 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 two 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?

400 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 much 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 love 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 closed 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 had 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 are 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. Now 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 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 appeared to have all the powerful and the rich and the famous and those in the secular media on his side 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 a 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, he 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 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 a 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's 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. Praise God. Give God glory.

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 a 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 rate of suicide, the higher the level of the unhappiness and unfulfillment in this life, the higher the level of loneliness, the higher the rate of chemical dependence, the higher the rate of dissatisfaction, the higher the rate of discontentment. Can you see it?

Can you see it? 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. 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 recognize 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 offer only a temporary fix. They are the ones who saw the temporary authority of Saul, not a 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're 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? Will you pray with me? And I pray that as we take a moment in silence, that you answer the question, may the Holy Spirit who authored his book take those words, imprint them deep, deep, deep into our psyche. Which king do you worship?

What kingdom do you live in? To whom do you bow? Thank you for joining local pastor and international Bible teacher, Dr. Michael Youssef, for Leading the Way Audio. Do you have questions about how you can experience peace? Dr. Youssef has pastors and counselors who are available to talk to you. Start by filling out a brief contact form at ltw.org slash Jesus.

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And of course, it's always the perfect time to invest in eternity. That website again, ltw.org. Well, I must say goodbye now. And I appreciate your being with us. But do join Dr. Youssef right here next time for the next episode of Leading the Way Audio. As we bring today's episode of Leading the Way to a close, allow me to invite you also to watch Leading the Way television. Each week, dig into the truth of God's Word and be challenged to love and serve the Savior. Leading the Way television is available in most areas on TBN, Daystar, NRB, INSP, TCT, Fox Business, and more. Visit ltw.org. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef.