How firm a foundation, ye saints
of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word. What more can He say than to
you He hath said, To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled,
Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed, For I am thy God,
I will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand, Upheld by my gracious, omnipotent hand. When through the deep waters
I call thee to go, the rivers of woe shall not thee overflow. For I will be with thee thy troubles
to bless and sanctify too. Be thy deepest distress Through
fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace all-sufficient
shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee,
I only design Thy draws to consume. and thy gold to refine. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned
for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes. That soul, though all hell should
endeavor to shake, I'll never, no, never, no, never forsake. Be seated, please. Good morning. I was noticing
the date on that hymn when we were singing and was just thinking
about how... 250 years believers have been singing
that hymn and worshiping the Lord and just
being so encouraged by the by the words that were written so
many years ago. We're going to be in 2 Samuel
chapter 17 this first hour. 2 Samuel chapter 17. I've titled this message, Strangers
Shall Feed Your Flock. Strangers Shall Fleed Your Flock. And that comes from Isaiah chapter
61. Let's go to the Lord and ask
his blessings. Our Heavenly Father, thank you for the blessing of that hymn. and
for the hope of salvation that you've put into the hearts of
your children. Thank you for the accomplished
work of thy dear son. Thank you, Lord, for the rest
that through faith we have in him. Lord, we pray that you would
increase our faith. We come before you. Lord, confessing so much unbelief
and so much worldly concerns, Lord, we ask that your Holy Spirit
would, by your word, point us to Christ
and that we would find in him our all in all. We ask it in his name. Amen. Strangers shall feed your flock. You have your Bibles open to
2 Samuel chapter 17. And we'll begin reading in verse
25. And Absalom made Amasa captain
of the host instead of Joab, which Amasa was a man's son whose
name was Ithra, an Israelite that went into Abigail, the daughter
of Nahash, sister of Jeruiah, Joab's mother." Now, I had to
take a little time to figure out the relations here but Amasa
and Joab are cousins. Joab is the nephew, as is Emesa,
of King David. All these people are related.
A lot of nepotism going on in the kingship of David. That's significant when we get
to the rest of this. Look at verse 26. So Israel and
Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead, And it came to pass when
David was come to Mahanaim that Shobai, the son of Nahash, of
Rabbah, of the children of Ammon. And we see a contrast between
those who are with Absalom. David has fled Jerusalem. Absalom
has overthrown his throne and his kingdom. And now David flees
east of the Jordan out into the wilderness and meets some men
there that have no relation with David. Matter of fact, the first
one that we just read of is an Ammonite, the enemies of Israel. And Matre, the son of Amel of
Lodabar. and Barzilii, the Gileadite of
Rogelem. And these men, these three men
brought beds and basins and earthen vessels and wheat and barley
and flour and parched corn and beans and lentils and parched
pulse and honey and butter and sheep and cheese of kind for
David and for the people that were with him to eat. For they
said, the people is hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness." God's people are always in a wilderness. And
in that wilderness, they, cannot be satisfied with the leeks and
the melons and the garlics and the onions of this world. They
must have manna from heaven. They're weary in the wilderness. And this word weary means they've
come to the end of all their strength. They're completely
exhausted. They're spent. They've given
all that they have to physicians to try to fix their problem and
they're worse off now than they were to begin with. They say with that man at the
pool of Bethesda, when the Lord asked him, wilt thou be made
whole? Lord, I have no man. I can't fix this problem. I'm weary. And the Lord Jesus
says to those who are in the wilderness, all ye that are burdened
and heavy laden, come unto me and I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you. My burden is light. Learn of
me. That's who this story is for. It's for the hungry. who cannot
satisfy the hunger of their souls with the fleshly food of this
world. It is for the weary, those who
are battle-worn, dealing with their sin and their flesh and
all the conflicts that come in this world. And it's for the thirsty. You
see these three men, Saul, David, and his men, and they took note
that they were hungry, they were weary, and they were thirsty.
They were parched. They were dying of thirst. And
the empty cisterns of this world and the polluted waters of this
world could never satisfy the thirst of God's people. They
must be taken to that river that flows clear as crystal from the
throne of God and drink freely from the river of life. That's
who this story is for and that is the condition of all of God's
people. Now, there is a clear contrast,
as I mentioned already, between those who are mentioned in verse
25 and those who are mentioned in verse 27. The ones in verse
25 were all members of the king's family. They were royalty. They
were privileged people of power. They were aristocrats. They were
men of renown. They were somebodies. The ones mentioned in verse 27, Ammonites, men who lived in the
wilderness who understand the need of those who are stranded
like David and his army in the wilderness. You may have noticed nature in
our story that we just read in verse 27, the son of Emil of
Lodabar. And if you remember, that's where
Mephibosheth was. He was, you remember when David
said to Ziba, his servant, is there anyone left of the household
of Saul that I might show him kindness for Saul's sake or for
Jonathan's sake? And Ziba said, well, there's
one cripple boy and there's a man in the house of nature that's
protecting him in Lodabar. a place of no pasture and no
food. And David said to Ziba, fetch
him, bring him to me. So make sure the very one that's
mentioned here who is the son of Amil living in Lodabar is
the one who was protecting the descendants of Saul in hopes
of overthrowing the throne of David. You see the contrast between
these men and the men of royalty in verse 25? And then there's Barzilii, the
Gileadite. Gileadite, a rocky place is what
Gilead means and it's a small wilderness refuge far east of
Jerusalem out in the wilderness. These men became friends of the
king and they were strangers unlike the ones mentioned in
verse 25 It wasn't the privileged and
the renowned that were blessed with the opportunity to support
David. It was the strangers. It was the
outcast that came to the call of blessing. Turn with me to Romans chapter
nine. Look at verse 25. And as he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people which
were not my people, and her beloved which were not beloved. And it
shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto
them, you are not my people, there shall they be called the
children of the living God. So we see ourselves not only
in the need, of David and his weary warriors, but we see ourselves
in the lives of these strangers. In Isaiah chapter 61, the Lord
tells us, strangers shall feed your flock and aliens shall be
your plowmen and your vine dressers. Now, spiritually speaking, We're
feeding the flock now and we're dressing the vine and we're plowing
the field and planting the seed. And the Lord prophesied all the
way back there in the time of Isaiah, this will be done not
by those who pride themselves in being the children of Abraham
and the descendants of the king, but strangers and aliens. This is a theme all the way through
scripture. Mercy, mercy is for the unworthy. The gospel is for sinners. I shared this illustration on
a Wednesday night a week or so ago. A loving father goes before a judge
to plead the court's mercy for his son. And the judge listens to the
plea of the loving father and says to the father, sir, Your son is not worthy of mercy.
He's a repeat offender. And the father says, with all
due respect, your honor, if my son was worthy of mercy, it wouldn't
be mercy. The very nature of mercy is that
it's for repeat offenders. The very nature of mercy is that
it's for the undeserving and the unworthy. That's who the
gospel's for. And do we not see this repeated
over and over and over again in scripture? The Pharisees thought they were
somebody. They were descendants of Abraham. We'd be the seed of Abraham.
And what did the Lord say? God can raise up from these stones,
children of Abraham. If you were spiritual children
of Abraham, you would believe me. But the publicans and the harlots
will enter into the kingdom of God before you. And then when the Lord performed
great miracles in in Bethsaida and Chorazin and they didn't
believe what they saw, they didn't believe him. The Lord said if
the great works that were done here had been done in Tyre and
Sidon, they would have repented, they would have believed. They
were the outcast. And if they had been done In
Sodom, if what I've done among you who think highly of yourself,
I had done in Sodom, they would remain to this day. They would
have repented. And the Lord told those same
Pharisees, he said, the Queen of the South, the Queen of Sheba
is gonna stand in judgment of you. For she traveled from afar
to hear the wisdom of Solomon and one greater than Solomon
is among you. You see, the gospel is for those
who are in the wilderness, out there in a dry and thirsty land,
out there where there's no food in the world, there's no water,
there's no rest for the soul. That's who it's for. The first shall be last and the
last shall be first. That's the theme of scripture.
You remember when Jacob at the end of his life was bestowing
his blessings upon his sons before he died in Egypt? And Joseph
brings Ephraim and Manasseh. Manasseh was the elder of the
two. And Manasseh was to receive the greater blessing, being the
elder. And Jacob, blind, crosses his
hands and puts his right hand on Ephraim and his left hand
on Manasseh. And Joseph stops him and said,
no father, no father, that's the, Manasseh, no. No, Ephraim,
the lesser of the two. is who the blessings go into.
God always reverses the order of the world. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination to our God. What I'm saying to you,
brethren, is that the Lord always chooses those who are not, those
who are weak, Those who have nothing, they're the ones, they're
the ones that are fed and they're the ones that do the feeding.
Now I know that when we come before God for the salvation
of our souls, we are 100% takers. We have nothing to give. We come
before the throne of grace in need of pure, free, sovereign
grace. Lord, I can't bargain with you.
I don't have anything to offer you. I can't manipulate, I can't
make this happen. Lord, I'm completely, I'm just
a taker. I'm just a taker. But having
received grace, believers become givers. They become givers in
worship. They become givers in praise,
they become givers in service. It's not insignificant that the
Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea are fed by the same river. The
Sea of Galilee is teeming with life and surrounded with settlements
and towns and cities. and the same River Jordan that
goes from Mount Horeb down into the Sea of Galilee flows through
the Sea of Galilee into the Dead Sea, same water. The difference
between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea is that there's
no outlet in the Dead Sea and so that water just evaporates
and as you know with evaporation The chemicals and minerals are
left behind and the Dead Sea is dead. There's no life in it
whatsoever, it cannot sustain life. We're takers when it comes to
the gospel. But if the Lord does not give
us the grace, if we don't If we never have an outlet for the
grace that we received in worship and in prayer and in service
to him and all the things that God's people freely give and
gladly give, we'll be like the Dead Sea, won't we? When Paul was speaking to the
Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20, Just before they embraced and
kissed and Paul left, the last thing he said to them after instructing
them on many things, he said to them, remember the words of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who said, it is more blessed to give than
to receive. Now you would think the way that
the Apostle Paul said that to those elders that those words
would have been recorded in the gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John. They're nowhere to be found except
for in Acts chapter 20. Those words were so common among
God's people, the Lord didn't need to record it in any of the
gospel accounts. He gave it to us right there. Yes, we're poor, we're needy,
we're hungry, we're tired, we're thirsty, we live in a wilderness,
we're takers when it comes to the gospel. But all those who are takers of God's grace become givers. Notice in verse, go back with
me to our text. Let's look at these three men
in verse 27. And it came to pass when David
was come to Mahanaim that Shobi, now Shobi was an Ammonite. He was not only a Gentile, but
would have been an enemy of Israel. No esteemed place in the royal
family for Shelby. And Shelby's name translated
means glorious. Glorious. And we learn from Shelby where
our glory lies. And it's not in us. Turn with
me to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. Look at verse 26. For you see
your calling brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble are called. Now the Lord said
not many. In other words, one status in
life does not determine their election and their salvation
in any way. but those who rely upon their
status in life as did the Pharisees and as did these family members
of King David. These people are mentioned in
verse 25. They're all cousins, they're
all related, there's aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers,
they're all part of the royal family. Those that are called, those that see because they can
relate. These men live in this wilderness.
They know what it means to be stranded in the wilderness. They know what it means to be
hungry. They know what it means to be tired. They know what it
means to be thirsty. And freely they have received
and freely they give. Oh, what a blessing. What a blessing,
brethren. Delphos and I were talking about
this the other day. When a brother wants to do something
for you and give you something, receive it graciously. Because
you may not need it and you may feel uncomfortable receiving
it, but they need to give it. And it's the blessing to them.
and you robbing them of that blessing. I heard Tim James say one time,
somebody offers you something, always take it because if they
meant it, it'll be a blessing to them and if they didn't mean
it, it'll be a lesson. It's a blessing to give, it's
a blessing. We rejoice in giving. I think about those, you know,
Paul tried to restrain the churches from giving because they were
poor churches. And they begged him in 1 Corinthians
8, they begged him, don't rob us of this blessing. Look at verse 27, for God hath
chosen. the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of
the world to confound the things which are mighty, the base things
of the world and the things which are despised hath God chosen,
yea, the things which are not to bring to naught the things
that are. You see the contrast between
these men in verse 27 and the ones in verse 25. They're bringing
to naught the mighty and the things that those who think there's
somebody in verse 25, that no flesh should glory in
his presence. Now, Shobai's name means glorious,
and he's not glorying himself. But of him, of God the Father,
are you in Christ? Christ gets all the glory. Who
has been made unto us our wisdom and our righteousness and our
sanctification and all of our redemption to be found in Him. Here's my glory. My glory is
Christ. That according as it is written,
He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Shobai's name means
glorious. When Moses brought the children
of Israel through the Red Sea and they stopped there in the
wilderness. And in Exodus chapter 15, we
have this glorious prayer and expression of praise that Moses
gives to the Lord. And here's what he says, thy
right hand, he's speaking to God, Lord thy right hand has
become glorious. You see the Lord Jesus Christ
is the right hand of God and he's not glorious until God makes
him to be glorious. He's the one that divides the
sea. He's the manna that comes from heaven. He's the water from
the rock. Who is like unto thee, O Lord,
among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in
holiness and fearful in praises, doing wonders? Lord, you get
all the glory. The light of the glorious gospel
of Christ, who is the image of God, shines in our hearts. In Philippians chapter three,
verse 21, Don, you mentioned this this morning, looking on
the Lord Jesus Christ with sinless eyes, he shall change our vile bodies
and change them into his glorious body, sinless body. Turn with me to Titus. First and second Timothy, Titus. Look at Titus chapter two. Look with me at verse 11. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ, What a glorious appearing it will be when the
trump of God sounds and the dead in Christ should be raised and
those of us which are alive should be caught up together with them
in the air. Oh, what a glorious day that'll be. Who gave himself for us that
he might redeem us from all iniquity. When the Lord Jesus Christ laid down his life for his sheep
on Calvary's cross. He redeemed us, he bought us
with the precious blood that he shed, paying the price for
our sins and he purified unto himself a peculiar people who
are zealous for good works. That's what he puts in our hearts. The second man's name is Macher and he's from Lodabar. Lodabar
translated means no pasture, there's no place to feed, it's
a dry wilderness. And Macher means sold, left to
ourselves. Paul put it like this, he said,
we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Lord, my flesh, nothing but sin,
I want everything but sin. Lord, I need a new nature. I
don't need you to change my heart, I need you to give me a new heart.
I need you to put me in Christ and make me whole in his person
and through his work, or cause I can't make any contribution
to it, I'm a sinner. Nature. Turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 50. Look what the Lord tells us in
Isaiah chapter 50. Verse one, thus saith the Lord,
where is the bill of your mother's divorcement whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have
you sold yourselves and for your transgressions as your mother
put you away." I said, I didn't put you away. I didn't sell you
out. You sold yourself out. You sold yourself. That's what
sin does. Turn over just a couple of pages
to Isaiah chapter 52 and look at verse three. Isaiah 52 verse
three. For thus saith the Lord, you
have sold yourselves for naught and you shall be redeemed without
money. Lord, the condition I'm in, in
nature, a man sold to sin, it's all my fault. I can't blame God
for my sin. I can't blame anybody else. It's all on me. It's all on me. God said it, you sold yourself. I didn't divorce you, you divorced
me. I didn't sell you out to a creditor,
you sold yourself to a creditor. Your sin has separated you from
your God. And now this nature who represents
our natural condition in sin. is coming to the rescue of David,
having been fed himself in the wilderness, having drank from
the water of life himself in the wilderness, having found
a place of rest himself in the wilderness. He wants to be like
that Sea of Galilee and just take this water of life and distribute
it down the Jordan River to all those in need. Oh, Israel, fear not, for I have
redeemed thee, and I have called thee by my name. It's what the story of Gomer
and Hosea is about, isn't it? The Lord told Gomer, you go take
to yourself a harlot, marry a prostitute, And Gomer's a picture of Christ.
Hosea, I'm sorry. The Lord told Hosea, take for
yourself a harlot. And Gomer's a picture of me and
you. And she was unfaithful. And Hosea kept, she'd come out
in the morning and open the door and there on her front porch
were gifts and she thought they were left by her lovers. And
the whole time, It was her husband who she was being unfaithful
to. Hosea was leaving her gifts until finally she was on the
slave block. She had wore herself slap out
and Hosea goes to the slave market and buys her back to himself.
Can you relate to that? That's what the Lord Jesus has
done for us. That's nature. We sold ourselves. And the third man in our story
in verse 27 is a man by the name of Barzillai. And his name translated means
my iron. And iron in the Bible is a symbol
of strength. Thy shoes shall be iron and so
shall thy strength be. The Lord told the children of
Israel. And for 40 years, they wandered in the wilderness and
their shoes didn't wear out. Can you imagine wearing one pair
of shoes for 40 years? Why? Because they were made of
iron. Not literally. But iron in the Bible is a symbol
of strength. It's his strength. When we were
yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly. We have
no strength in ourselves. The Bible speaks of the fetters
of iron which hold us in our sin, the bars of iron which must
be broken, the rod of iron which God must wield in order to crush
us. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 31 says,
they that wait upon the Lord, they that believe God, they that
trust Christ, they that look to him for all their salvation. They shall exchange, and I'm
giving a literal translation of this verse. I know it says
renew their strength, but they shall exchange their strength
for his strength, for they will see that they have no strength.
And in his strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles.
They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Turn with me to Daniel chapter
10. Daniel chapter 10. Look at verse eight. Now Daniel
is standing before the Lord. Children of Israel are in bondage
in Babylon. God's delivering a promise to
the prophet Daniel about their deliverance. And in verse eight
of Daniel chapter 10, therefore I was left alone. What a blessing it is to be left
alone before God. No man on your right, no man
on your left, no one, just left alone. You know, deal with God
one-on-one. What are we gonna do? Lord, I need a daysman. As Job
said, I need an advocate. I need someone to stand in my
stead. I'm left alone before God and I saw this great vision
and there remained no strength in me for my comeliness, my comeliness,
my glory, that's what that word means, my honor, my strength
was turned in me into corruption. Others may think that I've got
some strength, but in me, Others may look at you and think, well,
you've got some good qualities, you've got some strength, but
you stand alone before God and all your comeliness in you will
be turned into corruption before God, amen? Not the way it is?
Always, always. Go down with me to verse 16 in
that same chapter. And behold, One, like the similitude
of the sons of men, touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth
and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, O my Lord,
by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained
no strength. And how can the servant of this
my Lord talk with this my Lord? For as for me, straightway there
remaineth no strength in me, Neither is there breath left
in me. Then there came again and touched
me, one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me. He strengthened me and said,
O man greatly beloved, fear not. Peace be unto thee. Be strong,
yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me,
I was strengthened and said, let my Lord speak for thou has
strengthened me. This gospel, we have no strength. We have no strength to believe.
We have no strength to worship. We have no strength to serve
God. We can't put away our sin, no
strength. But when the Lord says, be strong,
for in me, you've changed your strength for His strength, then
we can come boldly before the throne of grace and find help
in our time of need. David and his men were hungry. They were absolutely at the end
of their strength. They were weary, exhausted, and
thirsty. The members of his royal family
who thought they were somebody are going to follow Absalom. Those men are going to die. But the ones in the wilderness
who knew by experience what it was to be hungry and tired and
thirsty, The one whose name means glorious. The one whose name means sold. The one whose name means strength. They're gonna bring everything
that they need before King David. Beds, food, and water. And thousands of men. David's
gonna, in the next chapter, David's gonna divide up his army among
the thousands. There's a lot of provisions given
here. Brethren, by God's grace, every
member of the family of God participates in this giving. Participates
in this. When he divides the sheep from
the goats in the day of judgment, what's he gonna say? to his sheep. I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me
to drink. I was naked and you clothed me.
I was in prison and you visited me. I was a stranger and you
took me in. And what are the saints of God?
What are you and I gonna say? Those who consider themselves
unprofitable servants, those who can never look to what they
do and find any comfort or hope of salvation in themselves. Unprofitable servants, that's
all we are. Lord, when did we do that? In
that you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did
it unto me. You see, every member of the
church, every part of the family of God, participates one way
or the other. Their presence, their prayers,
their gifts, their offerings, whatever it is. Thank God. What are we doing? Every time
we gather, what is the church doing? We are clothing naked
brethren. We are feeding hungry brethren. We are giving the water of life
to thirsty brethren. We are taking strangers in. We are visiting those who are
enslaved and comforting them and encouraging
them. We do this together. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your word. Bless it to the hearts of your
people. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.