So Dave and his men, they go
back to Ziglag. They told him to go back where
he come from. So he goes back to Ziglag, that's where he was.
And he was confronted with some awful, distressing news. The hand of the Lord lay heavy
on him. And you know, he had been down
there with the enemy for 14 months, with godless people. And you
know, and without chastisement, you bastards are not sons. And
God, no doubt, chastised David very heavy for what he done.
But I, it came to pass here, you know, that he went down to
Ziglag. Look what it says in verse, I'm going to read the
first five verses and then from there I'm just going to go through
the verses. And it came to pass, when David
and his men were come to Ziglag, on the third day, that the Amalekites
had invaded the south, and Ziglag, and smitten Ziglag, and burned
it with fire, and 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. So David and his men came to
the city, and behold, it was burned with fire. Their wives
and their sons, their daughters, were taken captives. Then David
and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and
wept until they had no more power to weep. And David's two wives
were taken captives of Rennaram, the Jesuit Abigail, the wife
of Nobel. Let me read another verse here.
And David was greatly distressed, for the people spake of stoning
him, because the soul of all the people were grieved. Bitter
ever man for his sons and his daughter, but David encouraged
himself in his God. Now, there's two things I want
us to look at tonight. I'm using the title of this message,
Encouraged and Recovering. Two things I want you to look
at tonight. That one I'll just... Come on guys, I'm sorry. There
you go. Alright. I got started and I
thought... So we just well go on, haven't
we? I forget about things sometimes.
But two things I want you to look at. There in verse 6, at
the last part of it. David encouraged himself in his
God. The Lord his God. And the next
one is down there in verse 8. And David inquired of the Lord,
saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake
them? And he answered, Pursue, for
thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all. God said, Not only encouraged
himself in the Lord his God, And he, God said, but you're
gonna go back and you're gonna get everything that was gone,
everything that was taken, everything that was taken. Now, first thing
he had to deal with when he left down there at Philistines and
went back to Ziglag, the first thing to deal with was the awful
disappointment. They came there on the third
day and they came to the city and they found it burned with
fire. And all mine, it says there, they wept. In verse four, they
wept and wept and wept until they had no more power to weep. Well, they had reason to weep.
They had reason to weep. How would you like to come to
your house and find your wife, your kids all gone and your house
burned to the ground? And that's what happened here.
David and them, all these people came back and they began to weep.
They didn't have no home. They didn't have no wives. They
didn't have no sons. They didn't have no daughters. And so they
came back and they were so disappointed. I mean, they were faced with
some awful, awful circumstances. David's wives were taken. They
said they're going to stone him because their sons and daughters
were taken. And he had been with the Philistines
while helping the ungodly. When he gets back, he suffers
the loss of everything. The loss of everything. He's
like the prodigal. He's like the prodigal that went
off into the fire country. He went off into the far country
and he took everything he had and wasted it. And he began to
be in want. And that's what David did. He
went off into a far country and when he got back he was in want.
And there was nothing he could do about it. My and I'll tell
you what that's this is David returning to the country and
I'll tell you what he was he he would he was greatly says
in verse 6 and David was greatly distressed Greatly distressed. He wasn't it seemed like he is
greatly distressed when he's down in Philistines He didn't
feel like he's greatly distressed down there, but he comes back.
I They all got together and said, let's stone him. He's to blame
for this. If he hadn't of took us down
into Philistines, the land of the Philistines with the enemies,
this wouldn't have happened. Blamed him for those. And then
it says there also that because of the soul of the people were
grieved. Grieved. I tell you what, it's
time to be grieved when your sons and daughters are gone.
Time to be grieved when your wives are gone. And I tell you,
it's time for... I don't mean to say this in the
wrong way, but you know, we got lots of lost people. Lots of
lost people. I prayed for folks here today,
and I do it often. I go through the congregation,
and there's people that's unconverted. It's obvious that they're unconverted.
Young people. Other people. And I pray for
them, Lord, save them. Please save them. But then I
think of my own children. My soul gets so grieved for them
sometimes. And you think about God saving
somebody. You know, everybody's got somebody
in their family that's in absolute mess. I mean, they could not
be in a worse mess than they're in. Nobody, I mean they could not
be in a worse mess. And they can't get themselves
out of it. And all for us to be grieved. They were grieved
every man for his sons and his daughters. God help us to grieve
for our sons and our daughters. To grieve for those that we care
about. Care for those that we love.
Some of you got wives that's not converted. You know you grieve
over them. God save them by your grace.
But there's those of you here that you've got children, you've
got grandchildren, and you've got children here that's believing.
Thank God for it. Bless God for it. God did it. God did it. But all their soul
was grieved. But now listen to what happens
now. They came back to a great disappointment. They were going
to go home. They were going to eat and drink and rest and enjoy
their families, enjoy their homes. And they got down there and they
didn't have them. There's nothing like going home
after you've been gone for a long time and seeing everybody you
know and everybody you love and go in and get hugged and kissed
and wined and dined. You know, it's a wonderful experience. Sit down in your chair. But oh my. They couldn't do this. Their soul was grieved. Their
soul was grieved. But now look here what a work
of grace did in him. God gave him faith. It says there
in verse 6, again, but David encouraged himself in the Lord. I'm going to find a message on
that somewhere. David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
You know, he lost his wives, but he encouraged himself in
the Lord his God. He lost sons, but he encouraged
himself in the Lord his God. Lost daughters, but he encouraged
himself in the Lord his God. Lost cattle, lost houses, all
gone. but he encouraged himself in
the Lord his God. And the people spoke of turning
stone at him, but he encouraged himself in the Lord his God. And I tell you what, beloved,
he turns to the only one, the only one who can help him. He's
the one, he's in a time of great, great, great need. Now over there
in Philistines, he did not, as far as we know, he never prayed.
He never asked to leave, but here, beloved, he encouraged
himself in the Lord his God. What caused him to encourage
himself in the Lord his God? Well, he knew that there wasn't
nobody else in this world that could do anything for him. There
wasn't an army that could do it. David couldn't do it. His mighty
men couldn't do it. So what does he do? He turns
to the only one who can help him in this time of need. David
said in Psalm 134 verse 1, he said, Oh, out of the depths,
out of the depths, I cried unto thee. Out of the depths. And
he encouraged himself in the Lord. It's just like he did when
he faced Goliath. He said, He come in the name
of the Lord. And David said this, he says, what time I am afraid,
I'm gonna trust in you. I'm gonna trust in you. So he,
God worked a work of grace in his heart, put faith back in
his heart, cause that faith to be active again. And that's what
he said in all, how many times did he say that Lord? Cleanse
me and I shall be cleansed. Turn me and I shall be turned.
Save me and I shall be saved. And then look what it says down
in verse 8. Well, in verse 7. David said
to Abithar, the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither
the ephod. And that's what God told the
kings to do. And all the kings didn't do it,
but he did. And Abithar brought there the
ephod to David. Now I want you to notice this.
He had to go to the priest. Priest didn't come to him. He
had to go to the priest. This is the man that he got to
deal with God through. This is the man who offers the
sacrifices. This is the man that deals with
God and comes back and deals with man. This is the priest. He had to go to the priest. And
he had to inquire of the Lord by the priest. And I'll tell
you what, David inquired of the Lord saying, And he asked, I'm
sure that Abathar was the one that he asked the Lord to say
this. And shall I pursue after this troop, these people that
came and destroyed these Amalekites that came? And he said, answered
him, said, pursue. For thou shalt surely overtake him,
and without fail. There's no danger of failure. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
a with without fail Recover everything now. I want you to look over
here in in in 1st Samuel 28 and verse 6. Look what it says here The difference I want you to
see the difference here Saul saw the host of the Philistines
greatly afraid, and his heart trembled, greatly trembled. And
when Saul inquired of the Lord, it said over here, David inquired
of the Lord. But he went to the priest to
do it, bring hither the infant. And the Lord answered him not,
not by dreams, by Urim, nor by prophets. But when David inquired
of the Lord, When David went the way that God told him to.
When David infused the priest and had the priest to come. And
had the ephod, the thing that God set up in order for him to
inquire of. He inquired of the Lord and the
Lord answered him. And the Lord answered him and
said, Oh my. He said, Yep, you go after them. You're going to
overtake them. And without fail. It wasn't David's ability that
was going to guarantee that he was going to recover. It wasn't
David's wisdom. It wasn't David's strength. It
wasn't David's power. It wasn't David's ability. It
was God that said without fail. And then look what a promise
he made to him. Pursue. Pursue. There in verse 8, and you will
recover all. Now this, this word, this precious
word that comes from the mouth of God himself, that sets the
heart at rest, that sets the heart at peace. Now there have
been no changes in David's circumstances. Cattle's still going, wives still
going, sons and daughters still going. Nothing had changed. Still, cattle was gone, sons
were gone, wives were gone, houses were gone, everything was gone.
No changes in these circumstances. But what happened? What happened? God spoke and said without fail,
huh? You know, our Lord said, be of
good cheer. In the world, you shall have
tribulation. In the world, you're going to
have tribulation. That's just a fact of the matter. It's through
much tribulation that we enter into the kingdom of God. This
is tribulation. But God our Lord Jesus Christ
said, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. I've overcome it. And why did
his heart find peace? Why was he encouraged here? Because God had spoken. Our Lord
Jesus, how many times did he tell his disciples, fear not. Fear not. Don't be afraid. Huh? And then he'd say, how many
times did he say, be of good cheer? It is I. Be of good cheer,
it is I. It's when Paul was on that ship
and they was taking him to Rome. And that ship, you know, got
in this great storm and for 14 days, 14 days, they didn't see
a star. They didn't see the sun. 14 days they was in an awful
storm. And finally, you know, they got
over in this, over close to Malta. What's Malta now? And they got
in there. And all those fellas, you know, they thought, we're
all going to die. We're all going to drown. They said, start throwing
the prisoners overboard first. Paul stood up, called everybody
around, said, Sirs! He said, God spoke to me tonight. And you know what he told me?
He said that we're going to lose this ship, but not one soul on
it is going to be lost. And you know what he said? Be
of good cheer. I believe God as it shall be
as God said to me, because I believe God. You know, faith gives a person
courage where there's nothing but fear. When you got fear and
anxieties and you're worried about something, you encourage
yourself in God, you go to His Word, you go to His promises,
and the next thing you know that fear will turn into faith and
that faith will give you courage to deal with what you have to
deal with. I've seen it happen too many times. Too many times. And so he had a promise of assurance.
You're not going to fail, David. Not because you don't have the
ability to fail, you've already failed. Not because you're wise
or strong or powerful, but because I said. I said. One of my, listen, one of the
most blessed verses in the Bible, Hebrews 13, 5, where it said, The Lord is my helper. The Lord
is my helper. And I will not fear what man
shall do unto me. For I'll never, no never, no
never, no never, five times it says it, never forsake you. When God says something, once
is enough. But if he says it five times, Oh, I'll never, no never, no
never, no never, no never forsake them. And boy, where there's
faith, there's courage. And then look what happened.
Look what providential, what happened to them providentially.
Down here in verse 10 and 11. But David pursued, then 400 men. And then down in verse 11, look
what happened. And they found an Egyptian in
the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and
he did eat and drink, and they made him drink water. And they
gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins,
and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him, for he hadn't
eaten no bread or drunk any water for three days and three nights.
So how this fell, here they going along, and they found this young
man, young man, out in the middle of the field, And oh my, they
happened upon this. It's like a handful of purpose
where Ruth just happened to come upon a handful of purpose. And
look what it says now. David said in verse 13, To whom
belongest thou? Where you come from? And he said,
I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite. And my master
left me, because three days ago I fell sick. God promised David
that he is going to recover everything. But how in the world is it going
to be done? Where are the Amalekites? He does not know where they are.
How are they going to find the Amalekites? So they found this young man
because he is sick. His master was heartless. Heartless. Left him to die by the side of
the road. Didn't leave him a bit of water.
Didn't leave him anything to eat. Just left him by the side
of the road. It's a heartless man. Just thrown
him by the side of the road and left him. He said, I was sick
and my master left me. He's talking about a cruel man.
And I'll tell you what, our master, our father Adam left us sick,
dead, diseased, and everything else that was wrong with us.
And our David came by the side and he found us. And he fed us. And he encouraged us. Where you
come from? I had a master. He's a bad man. David. Oh my. But God's promise is going
to be fulfilled because he uses means. He uses means. And God used this young man here
as a means for David to be used. And I want you to notice something
else before I get on down here. That here's this man, this young
man sitting there. He's almost dead. And they find
him. How come he's there? How come
he's in the shape he is? How come David found him? How
come David revived him? How come David saved him? How
come David met all of his needs? How come David was interested
in who he was? How come David was interested
where he'd come from? Our Master, one time they said,
Lord, where do you live? He said, come see! You want to
know where I'm at? Come see. You want to know where
I abide? Come see. Andrew went and saw it. He said, oh,
sat with the master for a while, run back to Simon Peter and said,
I found him whom the scripture says is the Messiah. And don't
you know how encouraged this young man was when David started
feeding him? David started giving, oh, give
him some water, give him some food. And then the scripture said his
spirit revived in him. He come back to life. My master left me. That's all a wicked master will
do. And you know, Darrell told me about a message, Tim James
priest, on cut him loose. We listened to that yesterday
afternoon. And I'm telling you what, you go home and get it.
Tim James preaches. The title of it is Cut Him Loose.
He preaches out of Deuteronomy. And he preaches about a bad master
and a man who escaped his bad master. And I'll tell you what,
it was wonderful wasn't it? And he encouraged me. I laughed
and I cried. Boom! What a blessing it was. But you listen to that. What
a blessing. But all this, and here's this
young man despised rejected, hated by his master, thrown away. Like you throw away something
that's trash. But the thing that God chooses,
God chose this man and put him in David's way. And God chose
us and put it in our heavenly David's way. So that when our
master came by like he did the woman at the well, we're just
exactly where we're supposed to be, and our master's exactly
where he's going to be. And that's what happened here.
And the things that God chooses, like this young man here, he's despised and rejected, and I'll
tell you what, that's the world, that's the way they do. And the
person that, you know, the foolish to the world is what God chooses.
The weakness of the world is what God chooses. What God chooses. And our heavenly David is not
afraid and not ashamed to pick up the sick. To go where the lame is. Go to
those that have been cast away. Those who are dead. Those who
are dying. And then beloved, He not only
does that, but He nourishes them. And He feeds them. And He takes
them. And He cares for them. And He
encourages them. And then He uses them like David
used this young man. Look what David said to this
young man down, look what this young man said down in verse
15. And God will use a man like he
did this young man for David. Canst thou bring me down to this
company? Can you take me where these fellows
are that you know? You know, you was with them when
they came into Ziglag. And you know what? He said he
asked for two things. He said, swear unto me by God.
Capital G. He knew that David's God was
the only God. that that will neither kill me.
I don't want you to kill me. And the second thing I ask of
you, don't give me back to my master. Don't give me back to that mean,
hard man. Don't give me back to my master.
And beloved, when our Lord Jesus Christ saves us and takes us,
He ain't fixing to give us back to that old hard-ass master. That old mean master. He ain't
going to do it. Lord, don't tell me God won't
go back. You know, oh no, I'm glad that
David, you know this man was so thrilled that David found
him. He said, please don't send me
back to my master. Don't do that. Please don't do
that. And then look what, not only
that, but we have a perfect and complete victory. Look down here
in verse 16. And I will bring thee down to
this company. And when he had brought him down, look what these
fellows was doing now. They were spread abroad upon
all the earth. It's all scattered out. They
was eating and drinking and dancing. That's all the world is thinking
about. Let's eat, let's drink, and let's
dance. And I tell you what, and because
of all the great, they said, boy, look at all we've got here.
Man, look at all the money and all the clothes and all the people.
And then why they kept all these people alive, I was reading today
that the reason they kept all these people alive, they could
sell them as slaves. trade them off like they did
Joseph, you know, they sold him as a slave. That's why they took
them all alive. They could sell them as slaves.
Get money for them. And oh boy, they had all this
grace born and they take it out of the land of Philistines and
into the land of Judah. And David smote them from the
twilight that evening until the evening of the next day. And not a man escaped except
400 young men which rode upon camels. And look what it says
in verse 18. And David recovered all that
the Amalekites had carried away. David rescued his two wives.
Now I want you to notice this here. And there was nothing lacking
to them. Nothing too small, nothing too
great. No spoil or anything that they
had taken to them. David recovered all. He recovered all. God was
faithful to his word. He went down there in the Lord's
name And he recovered all. He got his wives, he got everybody's
children, he got everybody's money, he got everything, all
the clever things that was taken out of their homes. He got it
back. Let me ask you, did our Lord Jesus Christ recover all? Did he recover all? When he recovered us, when he
recovered us, Did He recover all? Is there
any part of us that He didn't recover us? Did He not recover
us from all our sin? Did He not recover us from the
law that demanded justice and masters that we say, please don't
send me back over there? Did He not recover us from the
hand of Satan? Did He not recover us from all
that we lost in our father Adam? We lost life? He brought life. We lost righteousness? He brought
righteousness. We were disobedient? He became
our obedience. And I tell you Christ recovered
us from everything that was against us. He left nothing. Nothing. You know Psalm 69 and
4 says this, that He restored back which He took not away.
Christ did not take nothing from the human race. He didn't take... Adam lost everything for us. Satan took everything. Justice
and law had everything. Our sin destroyed us. But our Lord Jesus Christ came
and restored. We lost our acceptance from God,
He restored it. We lost life, He restored it. We was blind, He restored our
sight. We was deaf, He gave us hearing.
We were liars, He cleansed us. We were lost and He found us. We were centered from the top
of our head to the sole of our foot and He recovered the whole
soul and the whole man. He got us locked, stocked and
barreled for what that's worth. Who got the best end of that
one? Huh? We did. What did He get? Us. What did David got when he got
that Egyptian? He got somebody that would love
him, and follow him, and worship him, and be thankful all the
days of his life for what David done for. And our Lord Jesus
Christ, it took him three days to get over there, but our Lord
Jesus' journey was short. He came into this life and lived
just about 33 years. His journey was short. And while
He was here, it was a severe journey. He was despised and rejected
and hated without a cause. But beloved, when He went to
that blessed cross, His victory there was perfect. His victory
there was complete. His victory there honored God
like nothing in this universe has ever done. The scripture
says that the Lord laid hell upon one who is mighty. Our Lord Jesus Christ is mighty
in compassion, mighty in patience, mighty in wisdom, mighty in grace,
mighty in love, mighty in meekness, mighty in power. Mighty in His dying. Mighty in His rising again from
the dead. Mighty to forgive. Mighty to
save. And oh, mighty to destroy death. Mighty to open the gates of glory
for us to go in. Mighty to recover everyone that
was given to Him. And I tell you, not only did
He recover it, but He's able to keep what He recovered. Not
only is He able to keep it, but He's going to guard it and let
nobody come close to getting it. And then let me close with this.
Let me close with this, back over, down in verse 26. Look
at this blessed gift of grace now. And when David came to Ziglag,
he sent of the spoil. That means you know all the treasure
that he got back. He got back a lot of treasure.
Great bunch of spoil. And when David came to Ziglac,
he sent a spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends,
saying, Behold, a present for you of the spoil of the enemies
of the Lord. Now our Lord Jesus Christ spoiled
all of our enemies. Spoiled means that he stripped
them of all ability. But David took all his wealth,
and in the margin it says, Behold, a blessing for you. He got it all back and a heapsight
more. And you know what? That's why
our Lord Jesus Christ did it. He has the riches of grace and
riches of glory. And He recovered all and now
He turns around and gives blessings to all of His friends. And He gives us blessings, don't
He? Here's your present, here's your
blessing. Here's some grace. I'm only,
you know what, you know, Boaz says, listen, throw her out a
handful on purpose, so when she comes up here, she'll find this
great big handful of pollen, and you let her pick it up. Well,
our Lord Jesus Christ said, here's your handful on purpose. Here's
your handful of grace. Here's your handful of mercy.
Here's your handful of love. Here's your handful of strength.
Here's your handful of comfort. Here's your handful of consolation.
Here's your handful of light when you're in your darkness. Oh, he's got handfuls and he
gives it out. He don't give out his, I'm going
to give you this. He gives us, boy, you know how
big his hand is? He gives you enough that you
can't hold it all sometimes, can you? You can't hold it all.
You say, Lord, I thank you for what you gave me, but boy, I
can't eat no more. Can't eat no more. And boy, that's
what he does. He fills us with his fullness. Bless his name. Our Father, the precious blessed
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for letting us meet
here tonight. Thank you for your blessed word. Father, meet the
needs of every heart, every soul represented here tonight. And
our Father, I pray for my children, And these people's
children, my grandchildren, these people's grandchildren, pray
for their wives as I pray for my wife, for her blessings, for
her strength, for her encouragement, for her comfort, as they pray
for their wives to be saved by the grace of God. Lord, we pray
for Bruce and Sandy, Bruce and Joe, Bill and Dortha, those who
are weak and frail, great, great trials, great heaviness of heart. God bless them. Lord, strengthen
them. Be their courage, be their comfort,
be their strength, be their help, be their hope. Let them hide
under the shadow of the wing of the Almighty. than do it for
Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Well, there's nothing
better than turn your eyes upon face and the things of earth
will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Well, I stopped