As the Lord may help us this
morning, I'd like to invite your prayerful attention to the chapter
we read together, 1 Samuel 30, and we'll take as our text the
last clause in verse 6. 1 Samuel 30, verse 6, and the
last clause in that verse we read, But David encouraged himself
in the Lord his God. David encouraged himself in the
Lord his God. 1 Samuel 30 and verse 6. It's a very interesting study
in God's Word to find the words but. Whenever we find a but,
we so often see God's blessing following it. We have a prime
example in, it's only just come to my mind, in the Epistles to
the Ephesians, chapter two. Ephesians chapter
two, we see here how the Apostle Paul is reminding those Ephesian
believers what they were. and what they were in time past, and reminding them that they
were in darkness, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace,
but God. Straight, great problem. And
going back to the previous chapter, chapter 20, Davison in this account
in the scripture, He wasn't at home caring for
his family. He was, as we read in the scriptures,
David was a man of war from his youth. And there he was, David and his men, they passed
on in the rear wood with Achish. David felt he was doing the right
thing. fighting against those who were
opposing Saul, who was at that time the king of Israel. No doubt God had given David
much skill and wisdom in being a soldier. But of course it was because
David was a man of war from his youth that he was prevented from
building the tabernacle, building the temple, when the worship
of God was established and he had it in his heart to build
the temple for the worship of God. But no, God told him that
his son Solomon would do that because he would be a king of
peace, whereas David had been a man of war from his youth. But at this time, going back
to the context before us. Before David became king of Israel,
he had to learn by experience and by the hand of God upon him
that God's ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our
thoughts. We see very clearly in the prophecy of Isaiah, how
that these things are clearly set before us. We see that, my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways. and my thoughts than your thoughts. God is above all our
thinking. But we see David here, unaware that his home and his
family and the population of Ziklag have been taken captive
and David was still there, an achish, was very instrumental
in sending David back to Ziklag. David thought that he was in
charge of the Revere Ward, which was an important part of strategy
in those days. I think it was one of the battles, Ai, when
the Children of Israel went into the Promised Land, Joshua had worked it out that
they need to be guarded from the back because the enemy would
come behind and overtake them and attack from the rear and
David was there ready and yet we read that David couldn't understand why
he couldn't be there but Akish was instrumental in bringing
David back to Ziklag, and Achish answered and said to David, I
know that thou art good in my sight, as the angel of God, notwithstanding
the princes of the Philistines have said, he shall not go up
with us to the battle. Wherefore now, rise up early
in the morning with thy master's servants, that I come with thee,
and as soon as ye be up early in the morning and have light,
depart. So David and his men rose up
early to depart in the morning to return to the land of the
Philistines, and the Philistines went up to
Jezreel. And it came to pass when David
and his men were come to Zipline on the third day, remember it
was three days March, that the Amalekites had invaded
the south and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burnt it with fire,
had taken the women captives that were therein. They slew
not any, either great or small, but carried them away and went
on their way." Now here we see David in great
distress. And God was teaching him through
this, because God knew that very soon
after this, David would become king. He was anointed to be king
of Israel, and he was about to do that, because in the very
next chapter, we see where the life of Saul was sadly taken. But at this time, all that was
important and highly valued to David and
to his men had been taken. The city was burnt, their wives,
their daughters were kidnapped. What a desperate situation this
was. And what's more, David's army
blamed him for the loss of their families. and we read that they were ready
to stone him. What we see in so much of the
Old Testament are types of our Lord Jesus Christ. We see it very clearly in the
10th chapter of John, the Lord Jesus had been teaching about
himself as the good shepherd, And then, after this, he spoke
about he and his father being one and that he alone is the
way of salvation. And the people were ready to
stone him because he quite rightly declared himself to be God in
the form of a man. and they would have stoned the
Lord Jesus had he not divinely prevented them. And here, the
people were ready to stone David. And we have here David inquiring
of the Lord, and he was, of course, encouraged. But here we see David
endangered. Our Lord Jesus was endangered
time and time again through his life. At one time, he was driven backwards towards a steep
place where he might have been put to death. But we read, he
passing through the multitude went away. They could do nothing. without his permission. Even
when our dear Lord Jesus was facing crucifixion, he said,
no man taketh my life from me. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This have I received from my
father. But here we see David and his
men around him, and they lifted up their voices and wept till
they had no more power to weep. their wives, their families,
all their possessions were gone, the houses were burnt with fire, and David was greatly distressed. But, in that sixth verse, we
read, he was distressed for the people spoke of stoning him because
the soul of the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his
daughters, But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. To whom can we go, said the Apostle
Peter? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. There is no one that we can go to who understands all
about us, who knows the future as well as the past, and has
power to restore Revive and enter into the situations, however
dark and deep they are, of his people, than our Lord Jesus Christ. And here we see how David encouraged
himself in the Lord his God, and he inquired of the Lord,
saying, shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake
them? He answered him, pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake
them. Without fail, recover all. Our Lord Jesus said, all that
the Father hath given me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. Now here we see God's will
made known to David, He said, shall I pursue? And the answer
came, thou shalt surely recover all. And so as we read, David went,
and the 600 men that were with him, and when they came to the
Brook Bessor, where those that were left behind stayed, there
were 200 that stayed there to guard the possessions, and the
other 400 went on with David. Not a big army, but the Lord
was with them. Those that were left behind have
special mention in this chapter. The blessing is, friends, that they
were obedient. They weren't able to go forward.
They were faint. They might have been a bit older
or not so strong as the rest of the army. But David was a very thoughtful
leader. And although he was a man of
war, he was very just. And he did not push these men
on to go to battle. No, they were to guard the possessions
they left behind and they were obedient in doing so. And as
we shall see, they were blessed in being obedient. So here we
have David inquiring of the Lord and he is encouraged to go forward. Now how could they find who and
what was lost? David pursued, yes, but how did
he know where to go? Well, they found an Egyptian
in verse 11. God's sovereign hand is so remarkable,
isn't it? If God needs to use anyone to
do anything, People don't need to hunt around
for it. God has preordained it. He has worked it all out in his
sovereign will. And as David was obedient in
pursuing, this poor Egyptian lad, who was left behind because
he was taken ill, was the instrument in God's purposes. His master
had left him behind. He hadn't cared for him. The
poor lad was starving. And rather like the citizen of
the far country, who the prodigal son joined himself to, that citizen
of the far country, I feel sure, is a type of the enemy of souls,
the devil, because he didn't give him anything. He sent him
into the field to feed the swine, and remember it was a time of
famine, and the poor prodigal son was reduced
to such a low level that he was so hungry, his fame would have
filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat. No man
gave to him. Now here we see this man was
not provided for in any way. He hadn't eaten or drunk for
three days. And David's men, they gave him bread and
he did eat and they gave him water to drink. And they gave
him a piece of cake of figs and two clusters of raisins, energy-giving
food. And when he had eaten, his spirit
came again to him. for he had eaten no bread nor
drunk any water for three days and three nights. And David said
to him, to whom belongest thou? And whence art thou? It was then
he went on to tell them. And he knew all about the invasion
of Ziklag. He knew what his army had done. He knew where his master had
gone. His great worry was that if David
should expose him for telling them, he would be put to death. He said, we made an invasion
upon the south of the Cherithites, and upon the coast which belongs
to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag
with fire. And David said to him, canst
thou bring me down to this company? And he said, swear unto me by
God that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands
of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company. So
David took care of him, and he showed them where they were. Verse 16. Behold, they were spread
abroad upon the earth, eating and drinking and dancing because
of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of
the Philistines and out of the land of Judah. And David smoked
them from twilight until the evening the next day. And there
escaped not a man of them, save 400 young men which rode upon
camels and fled. And David recovered all that
the Amalekites had carried away and David rescued his two wives
and there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great,
neither sons nor daughters, neither spawn or anything that they had
taken to them. David recovered all. That plea for protection that
that young man, an Egyptian young man, pleaded for with David. David was blessed in taking care of
him. He was valuable to them because
he led them to those Amalekites. And David was he who was endangered
and then encouraged. He's now enriched because what
he set out to do he achieved. This is only a type of what our
dear Lord Jesus did. When we consider how lost and
ruined the human race is, even now, as a result of sin entering
into the world, the Lord Jesus came. And that word that was given
to His earthly father, Joseph, thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sin. And the angels,
declaring his birth, said to those shepherds, and we have
it recorded in Luke chapter 2 in the Holy Scriptures, unto you
is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is
Christ the Lord. a Saviour, a Saviour of sinners. He is Christ, the Anointed One. He is the Lord, because He is
of the Godhead of heaven, and being Emmanuel, God with man. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall
not perish, but have Everlasting life. Have everlasting life now. And a continuation of it. The Lord doesn't save a person
and then leave them. No, he continues with them. That's
why we can sing that hymn, the righteous shall hold on his way.
He will hold on because the eternal God is their refuge.
and underneath are the everlasting arms, those arms which cannot
fail. We read those scriptures, but
when we think of it, none can fall below the power of those
everlasting arms of our God. Yes, they may on the main of
temptation be tossed, their sorrows may swell as the sea, but none
of the ransoms should ever be lost way and so it's well worth noticing
that as we are given a list of all the possessions that David recovered from the Amalekites
when he sent them on their way by battle. There's a list beginning
in verse 27 of this chapter and it's worth noticing that the
first one to receive a gift was Bethel. Now Bethel of course
is where the presence of God, the Ark
abided and there God was worshipped, there He said, I will meet with
thee and commune with thee from above the mercy seat. We, in this New Testament age,
come by that new and living way which the Lord Jesus has consecrated
for us, that is Himself. But here we have a type of the
Lord Jesus in Bethlehem. O God of Bethel, by whose hand
thy people still are fed, we sing, don't we? And therefore
we would rejoice that we have it recorded that David's priority
was to begin to distribute this wealth
that they had recovered and beginning at Bethel. And where we see David as a type
of the Lord Jesus, we see that the Lord Jesus, who himself took on our infirmities
and he carried our sorrows, and we see of speaking of the Lord
Jesus that he in Matthew 8 and verse 16 we read that when the evening
was come they brought unto him many that were possessed with
devils and he cast out the spirits with his word and healed all
that was sick that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by
Isaiah said, Isaiah the prophet saying himself took our infirmities
and bear our sicknesses. What a blessing it is that our
Lord Jesus in all his love and mercy and great favor is he who
gave his life a ransom for many and he took on him the full weight
of all the sin of all who would be saved. Himself took our infirmities. And we read in Hebrews chapter
4 these well-known words. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then
that we have a great high priest who is passed into the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. We need strength from God, don't
we, to hold fast our profession. And the inspired word of God
goes on to say, and we have it here in two negatives, and I
think I'm correct in saying that in the English language, if we
see a double negative, that becomes a positive. He said, for we have
not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of
our infirmities. He cannot be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities. We have not a high priest which
cannot. So we do have a high priest who
can feel for our infirmities, but, and here we have a but,
but in all points, tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Our Lord Jesus uniquely lived
a perfect life on this earth. No one before and no one afterwards
has done this. In all points tempted like as
we are yet without sin, let us therefore come boldly to the
throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help
in time of need. What the Lord Jesus has recovered
for us is complete salvation Those families that David recovered,
those households, when they rebuilt their houses, must have rejoiced
in the fact that they were now reunited. But we read in the scriptures
of the Lord Jesus that in him shall all families of the earth
be blessed. And without the finished work
of the Lord Jesus, each one on this earth will be
eternally lost. And I don't think anyone can
begin to explain what it is to be eternally lost. The Lord Jesus
taught it and we can read about it. In Luke chapter 16, with
that parable the Lord Jesus taught about the poor man, the poor
beggar, Lazarus, and the rich man, the poor man died first,
and he was carried, we read, to Abraham's bosom. And we do read in the scriptures
that Abraham was noted for his complete dependence and believing
in all the promises God had given to him. We read it was accounted to him
for righteousness, that he believed God. And he did believe. The son of promise was given
to him. Isaac. And through Isaac and Jacob and
the tribe of Judah, the royal line of David, that Lord Jesus
came to this earth. We read in the scriptures that
Abraham saw my day and was glad. And of course, Lazarus enjoyed
forever and ever, he's still enjoying, in the immediate presence
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who he said, I go to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where
I am, there you may be also. But to be lost, we cannot begin
to imagine, can we? No hope. There is no gospel. There is no way out. Forever
and ever. I can't find it at the moment,
but I think I can remember some of the words. A man attempted
to write a poem about eternity. And it begins, it came there
a bird each thousandth year. One sang grain from the hills
to bear. When all had vanished, grain
by grain, eternity would still remain. That immeasurable eternity. And we each have an eternal soul. And we each are only here for
the duration of this life. And then comes that immeasurable
eternity. Where will we spend eternity? Now just as David pursued
and recovered all, our Lord Jesus came to this world. And by his
wonderful redeeming work, he brought back with his own life
and his own death and resurrection, he redeemed lost souls. His work is completed. He has
nothing else to do. And he has given to us the glorious
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He says these wonderful words that we read of in the 10th chapter
of John, and we read, I am the good shepherd, and know
my sheep, and are known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father. and I lay down my life for the
sheep. And other sheep I have, not of
the house of Israel, but Gentiles, which are not of this fold, them
also I must bring. And they shall hear my voice,
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. And the Lord Jesus
Christ also said, The glory that I have, the glory
which thou gavest me, I have given to them, that they may
be one, even as we are one. I in them and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one. May God bless his word to us
and help us to remember that the Lord Jesus, who is the antitype,
the fulfillment, of all the glimpses of Christ we see in the Old Testament
is He on whom our hope of heaven depends. May the Lord add His
blessing and lead us each to a saving knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ who came to save His people from their sin.