Jesus is my great high priest,
bears my name upon his breast, and that we may never part, I
am sealed upon his heart. All my sins were on Him thrown,
He for me did once atone. He did all my debts discharge,
And has set my soul at large. ? By his own atoning blood ?
He my wounded spirit cured ? Washed and made me white as snow ? Cleansed
me well from top to toe He has bought me with his blood, reconciled
my soul to God, made me meet for glory too, and will bring
me safely through. Please be seated. Psalm 100. Psalm 100. This will be our call to worship
for this morning. A psalm of praise. Make a joyful
noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord,
he is God. It is he that has made us, and
we not ourselves. We are his people, and the sheep
of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,
and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him, and bless
his name. For the Lord is good, his mercy
is everlasting, and his truth endureth to all generations.
Let's pray. Lord, we come before your presence
thankful that we were made sinners in Adam, that in the fullness
of time we might be made the very righteousness of God in
Christ through his shed blood. So, Lord, we are debtors, debtors
to your grace. You have made us and not we ourselves. Seeing how our Savior laid down
his life for us, we're gladly bound to give thanks. We pray
you'll be pleased to show us more of this glorious mystery,
Christ our Savior, not only revealed to us, but in us through the
preached word. And we pray you'll help our pastor
to that end, and we'll sing your praises, amen. Let's all stand together once
again and we'll sing hymn number 168, 168 and your hardback. Lord, I hear of showers of blessing,
Thou art scattering full and free. Showers the thirsty land
refreshing, Let some drops now fall on me, even me. ? Eve and me ? Let thy blessing
fall on me ? Pass me not, O tender Savior ? Let me love and cling
to thee ? I am longing for thy favor ? Whilst thou art calling,
O call me ? Let thy blessing fall on me ?
Pass me not, O mighty spirit ? Thou canst make the blind to
see ? Witnesser of Jesus' merit ? Speak the word of power to
me Even me, even me, let thy blessing fall on me. Love of God so pure and changeless,
blood of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and boundless,
magnify them all in me, even me. Eve and me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not, thy lost one bringing,
bind my heart, O Lord, to thee. While the streams of life are
springing, blessing others, oh, bless me. Even me, even me, let
thy blessing fall on me. Please be seated. Sadly, Joy will be going back
to Kentucky next, this Friday, right? So we'll miss you, Joy. Thank you so much for your labor
of love. It's a blessing. Let's open our Bibles to 1 Samuel,
1 Samuel chapter 30. You've been in this chapter a
few weeks now, such a glorious chapter where David goes and
recovers everything that the Amalekites had taken. And after
that victory, he takes up the spoils of the battle. And if you'll notice with me
in verse, in verse, Verse 26. And when David came to Ziklag,
he sent of the 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. Behold, a present for you. Notice with me in verse 20, this
is the verse I was looking for. I couldn't get my eyes on it
there for a moment. Verse 20, and David took of all
the flocks and of the herds which they dragged before those other
cattle and said, this is David's spoil. I started to title this message
that this is David's spoils. They do belong to him and he
has the sovereign right to give them to whomsoever he wills. But I've chosen to title the
message for whatever difference that makes, behold a present
for you, a present for you. The showers of blessings we're
just saying of. Is there anything a sinner can
hear from God that's more precious, more valuable, more necessary,
or more comforting than that he has a present for us? A gift. This gift is coming from none
other than God Almighty, who possesses himself unsearchable
riches. When this gift is given, it is
to be received and it will be received if the Lord has given
us any understanding as to who the gift's from or what the gift
is. The Lord said to that woman at the well in John chapter four,
if you knew the gift of God and who it is that saith unto you,
give me to drink, I would give you living water. So If we have
any understanding, and that can only come as a result of the
new birth. The free will gospel says that
God has a gift for you, but you have to receive it. You have
to accept it. We don't believe that. Yes, the
scripture says, to as many as received him, to them gave he
the power to become the sons of God. But the next verse says,
who were born, past tense. So those who received the verse
in John chapter one, verse 12, are those who were born. And he says, not of blood. Notice with me. Go back with
me to that text. I want to point that out quickly.
In John chapter one, it's important that we distinguish
the difference between accepting and receiving. We don't accept God. God must
accept us. An empty glass does not accept
water, it receives water. If the Lord has made us empty
and he's given us any understanding as to what the gift of God is
and who gives that gift of God, that will happen as a result
of the new birth. And if the new birth happens
by God's grace, we will receive the gift. Irresistibly we'll
receive it. We won't accept it. We won't
think about it. We won't try to decide whether
we need it or not. We will gladly, irresistibly
rejoice in receiving the free gift of God. So these are David's
spoils who he owns and he's gonna give them to his friends as presents. And here in John chapter one,
The last part of verse 12 says, to become, I mean, the first
part of verse 12 says, but as many as receive him, to them
gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name, whom were born. That's the new birth. Whom were
born. Not a blood. This new birth is
not a result of descent. We're not born into the family
of God because our parents are believers. And then he says,
this new birth is not only not of descent, but it's not of the
will of flesh. It's not by dedication. You are
not born into the family of God because we've committed ourselves.
We've dedicated ourselves, we've gotten serious about our religious
walk, and we've made commitments to God and to ourselves, and
we've quit some things and started some things. No, it's not of
the will of flesh, nor is it of the will of man. He's talking
about the new birth. It's not of blood, not of descent,
it's not of the will of flesh, it's not of dedication or commitment,
and it's not of the will of man, it's not of decision. It's not
man exercising his free will to accept Jesus. That's not how, that's not what
prepares the heart to receive the gift. But of God, you see
that in verse 13, but of God. The new birth is a sovereign
work of grace in the heart. It's the spirit of God that listeth
withersoever he wills. It's the will of God that births
a man into the kingdom of God. He must accept a man be born
again. He cannot perceive, he cannot
see, he cannot enter in to the kingdom of God. He must be born
again. "'Oh, how can I be born again?
"'Oh, Nicodemus, that which is of the flesh is flesh, "'and
the flesh profiteth nothing. "'You cannot be born of flesh. "'You must be born of the Spirit.'"
So now David is gonna give presents. He's
gonna give gifts to his friends. And like an empty glass, these
friends are not going to look the gift over and decide whether
or not they want it. They're going to receive it gladly.
These were David's spoils. He owned them. He's given them
to them. You know, for most people, they
call it the gospel, which means good news. But in fact, it's
a bribe. And the scripture says that God
hates bribes. You know, how you've had people
give things to you before, because they wanted something in return.
I remember years and years ago, we moved into a new neighborhood.
We were young. And the neighbor came over the
first day and brought a pie. And I thought, oh, great. We're
going to have good friends with our neighbors. And the first
thing out of his mouth when he handed us that pie was, just
greasing the wheels. Just greasing the wheels. You
know, we lived there for almost five years. We never were friends.
We were neighbors, cordial, but we were never friends. That gift had an ulterior motive. He was bribing me to do things
for him. And that's the way people see the gospel. You know, God's
going to bribe you. He's going to offer you something,
but he wants something in return. And he'll save you if you promise
to serve him. He'll save you if you promise
to accept him. He'll save you if the gospel
is not good news, it's a bribe. It's a bribe given by God to
man because God needs something from man in order for God to
be complete. What kind of God is that? It's
a false God. That God doesn't exist. Our God
is sovereign. Our God is omnipotent. Our God
is holy. Our God is immutable. Our God
is self-existent. Our God is eternal. Our God doesn't
need anything from us, nothing. We need everything from him. These are David's spoils and
he's gonna give them as presents, as gifts. to his friends. God's not bribing us. You remember the Amalekites came
and they, David and his men, his 600 men were off on a military
campaign and the Amalekites who are a picture of our sinful flesh,
our rebellion against God, our unbelief, They were perpetual
enemies of Israel. Israel could never rid of the
Amalekites. David's away, the Amalekites come to Ziklag where
David and his men had left their wives and their children and
they took them all. And so when David and his men
come back, they see the city in smoke, it's being burned and
all of their loved ones are gone. And the scripture says that David
took his men and pursued the Amalekites. And three times in
this chapter, God says, David recovered all. And there was
no hurt nor harm done to any of the wives or any of the children.
David got them all back. What a glorious picture of what
the Lord Jesus did when he came into this world. We've been carried
off into slavery by the Amalekites. Our sin and rebellion and unbelief
against God has killed us. It has slain us. We've been separated
from our David, from our master, from our God. Your sins have
separated you from your God. And we're helpless. The wives
and children had no power against the Amalekites. Had David not
come and pursued them and delivered them from the hands of the Amalekites,
there was no way they could be set free. And so they're dependent
upon David to recover them. That's where we are. We've been
carried captive by our sin and our David recovered all. Not one of his sheep will be
lost, not one of his wives, not one of his children will fail
to be redeemed. What he accomplished on Calvary's
cross was the full redemption and satisfaction of God's justice. And he actually saved. He didn't
make a stab at it. He didn't attempt to save. It's
not that God, this idea that God loves everybody, that Christ
died for everybody, God wants everybody to be saved, it is
a lie from the pit of hell. That is, and that now it's up
to you. You do your part, God's done his part, and it's a bribery,
God. No, David by himself recovered
everything. And now he's gonna take the spoils
of this war which belonged to him. You see that? We're back
to our text. You see that in verse 20, the
last part of verse 20, this is David's spoil. He has the sovereign
right to give the spoils of this war to whomsoever he wills. No man can obligate him. It is completely up to his choice. It wasn't up to the choice of
his friends to say, hey, you owe me some of that. Turn to
me to Romans chapter nine, Romans chapter nine. Verse 15. You're familiar with this. This
is who our God is. He's not bribing us. He's not
dependent upon us. He's not needing anything from
us. This is who our God is. For he
saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, not by man's will, and it is not of him that runneth,
it is not by man's effort, but of God who showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose, have I raised thee up that I
might show my power in thee and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. God hardened Pharaoh's heart.
Pharaoh didn't belong, God was using Pharaoh. God wasn't trying
to save Pharaoh. Therefore, verse 18, Hath he mercy on whom he will
have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Now that truth will do one of two things, well, maybe
three things that make you angry, that you've got no control or
say so over your salvation. that you believe that you have
some power over when and where and how you get saved, you get
angry at that, at a God like that. The second possible response
is that you just resolve yourself to it and just say, yeah, well,
what will be, what will be, you know, and you become the fatalist.
And you just sit back and wait for God to strike you with something.
Wait for Him to give you a feeling. Wait for Him to give you an experience.
Wait for Him to, you know, I can't do anything about it, so why
can God charge? Matter of fact, that goes, that
argument is, we won't go there right now, but in the rest of
that, oh man, who art thee that speaketh such against God? Why
does God find fault with me? If it's all His will, how can
He accuse me? I'll just do nothing. The third
response is, You become a mercy beggar. Lord, if I'm gonna be saved,
you're gonna have to save me. Lord, I'm completely dependent
upon your mercy and your grace and the work of salvation that
the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on Calvary's cross if I'm gonna
be saved. Lord, have mercy upon me. I'm a sinner. I've got nothing to offer. And
when the publican smote himself on the breast and would not so
much as even look up, but cried to God, have mercy upon me, the
sinner, that man went home justified. The self-righteous Pharisee?
No, he remained in his sin. What does this truth of God's
absolute sovereignty have for you? It make you angry? Did it make you just a fatalist? Or did it make you a mercy beggar? Good indication that you're one
for whom God shows mercy if you're seeking mercy. If you're seeking
mercy. No man's ever sought God's mercy
and not found it. Because if you sought it, it's
because He gave you that. He gave you that. Isaiah chapter 53 verse 12, the
scripture says, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong. With the strong. He shall divide
the spoil with the strong. You say, well, how can I be strong? Only in history, because that
chapter of Isaiah, this chapter of Isaiah, no, Isaiah chapter
40, the last verse says, they that wait upon the Lord, they
that believe in Christ, they that trust him for their salvation
shall exchange, the Bible says renew their strength, but the
word is exchange their strength. They'll, Paul put it like this,
he said, when I'm weak, then I'm strong. His strength is made
perfect in my weakness. Therefore, I'll glory in my weakness
that I might know his strength. And they that wait upon the Lord
shall exchange or renew their strength. And they shall mount
up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk and not faint." So he, Isaiah 53, shall divide
the spoil with the strong. Those who are strong in Christ. Those who are looking to Christ
for all their strength. the ability to believe, all their
righteousness, all the hope of their salvation is found in Christ. And the Lord Jesus, David in
our text, takes the spoil and divides it among the strong. In Exodus chapter 15, the scripture says that the unbeliever
will say this, I will pursue. I will pursue. I'll seek after God. And God
says, no man seeketh after me at any time. It's not of him
that willeth. You don't just decide, I will
pursue. That's the enemy of God that thinks I can pursue God,
but I'm ready to pursue God. No, you can't. And then the second
thing that the enemy of God says, I will overtake. I'll take hold of him. I'll make
him Lord. You hear people talk about that.
I'll make Jesus Lord. I love it. There are a couple
of times in the New Testament when they tried to make Jesus
King. There was a crowd. They saw a
miracle. They got caught up in a moment
and they They rushed to get him and elevate him and make him
king. And he walked out of their presence
and they didn't know where he went. You don't make Jesus Lord. I
will pursue, I will overtake, Exodus 15. And the next phrase
that the enemy of God says, I will divide the spoil. I'll take what Jesus did and
I'll take my part in it. I will apply the spoils of war
to my own account. I'll do what's necessary. Oh no. Matthew chapter 12, the
Lord talks about a strong man. who's keeping his house. They
had just accused him of being Beelzebub, the devil. And now
the Lord is gonna say to them that Beelzebub's the strong man
and he's got a hold of your house. And he's gonna keep you unless
one stronger than he comes and defeats the strong man. And only
then Can those who are held captive in their unbelief be saved? This is David's spoil. He owns
it. He can give it to whomsoever
he wills. It's all his right and we're dependent upon him.
He gives it to his friends. Notice, go back with me to our
text. in 1 Samuel 30 verse 26, and
when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders
of Judah. Now, David's gonna die, Solomon's
gonna take over the kingdom, and then after Solomon dies,
the kingdom will be divided. The northern kingdom was known
throughout the rest of the Old Testament as Israel, the southern
kingdom as Judah. The difference between the two
kingdoms, is that in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the successor
kings were those who were able to overpower the previous king.
In other words, if you could kill the king and establish enough
following, you could take over and be king. And that's how the
rest of the Northern Kingdom existed until they were all carried
off into Babylon. The Southern Kingdom, the kings
in Judah, were all the successors of David. Of my throne there shall be no
end. The Lord Jesus Christ is on the throne of David. He is
the son of David. He is the successor of all the
promises that were made to David and consequently to Judah. Now
this is important in our text. because he gives them, David
gives the spoils not to those cities in the North. And for
the next several verses, 13 cities are gonna be identified every
single one. I looked them all up. Every one
of them are in Judah. So David goes down into the Southern
part in Judah and he gives the spoils of war to the descendants
of Judah. And the Lord Jesus is called
the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And Judah's name means, and he
shall be praised. So here we have a picture of
the Lord Jesus taking the spoils of war that he got from the battle
that he fought on Calvary's cross and giving them to a certain select people. Notice in verse 31, and to him which were in Hebron,
that's the 13th of the cities that are identified, and to all
the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt. That's just old English language.
All the places where David and his men were accustomed to go. There were places David wasn't
welcome. There were cities that David
wasn't welcome. There were the Philistines that
David wasn't welcome among. There was Saul that David wasn't
welcome. But these cities, David was welcome. And that's where he goes. And
that's where he's still going. He's going to those places where
his friends welcome him, want him, desire
him. He would depart. What does the Bible say about
the friends of God? Well, the first mention that it gives us
is Abraham. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him as righteousness and he was called the friend
of God. So here we see that a friend
that receives the spoils of war from David are those who believe
him. They don't say, well, yeah, but. They don't say, I don't believe
that. They bow, they believe, they rejoice, they receive, they
delight in all of His Word and all of His promises. Abraham
believed God and he was called a friend of God. In the New Testament,
the Lord Jesus said, no longer do I call you my servant, for
a servant does not know what his master doeth. I call you
my friends. Now, child of God, we are the
servants of God, but here the Lord is saying to us, a servant
doesn't have any idea what his master's doing, but a friend
does. How do I know if I'm a friend
of God? God has revealed to me what he's done. I'm not confused about what it
is the Lord Jesus Christ came to do when he came into this
world. He has revealed to us what it
is that he came to do to save his people, to actually save
them. So here's my hope. The Lord calls me my friend because
he's revealed to me We don't worship a God who's in the heavens
wringing his hands wishing that men would let him have his way.
We worship a sovereign God who has revealed to us what his purpose
was when he came here and how gloriously he accomplished the
purpose that he came to accomplish. Thirdly, the scripture says that
he is a friend of publicans and sinners. Publicans, they were
the outcast. They were hated. They were the
off-scouring. Sinners, they were the ones you
looked down at. Look, he eats with publicans
and sinners. He's a friend of theirs. They
said that to him in derision. But oh, for the publicans and
the sinners, that's a glorious thing. that the Lord Jesus Christ
would be their friend. Because that's me. That's me. I'm sinful. I'm a publican. Lord, be my friend. I don't have
any friends. I don't have any friends in heaven
unless you make me your friend. Turn with me to the Song of Solomon.
I'm talking about who are the friends of God. The Song of Solomon. Chapter 5. And I would say this to young
couples and every married couple and young people thinking about
getting married. Make sure your spouse is your
best friend, your best friend. You've got no friend like your
husband or like your wife. And you can share things with
them. The love and other things will
come, but that's foundational for a marriage is friendship. And that's the foundation that
the marriage that Christ has with his church. Look. Look at Song of Solomon, chapter
5, verse 16. His mouth is most sweet. Now that means the words that
proceed out of his unfeigned lips. The precious words that
come out of his mouth are sweet to my ears. I love to hear him
speak. I love what he says. He is altogether lovely. This is my beloved. This is my
friend. Oh, ye daughters of Jerusalem. He's my friend. How important
is that? That's who he gives the presents
to, his friends. In Proverbs chapter 19, verse
six, it says, is a friend of him that giveth
gifts. Very wealthy man's giving gifts
away, you're gonna be their friend, aren't you? God's giving gifts
away? Oh, I'm gonna flee to him. Every man is a friend of him
that giveth gifts. And then the Proverbs also say,
Faithful are the wounds of a friend. A friend of God is one who counts
him faithful even when he wounds them. Yeah, I've seen it. I felt it
in my own heart. Seeds of it. Thank God by his
grace, he'd restrain the evil that's there. But you've seen
it. What am I talking about? Getting
angry at God when things don't go your way. Faithful are the wounds of a
friend. A friend of God will call him
faithful and true even when he wounds them. Lord, I must have
needed this. Lord, you're right. I'm wrong.
Whatever you do is right. Lord, forgive me for doubting
you. You're faithful. Exodus chapter 33. The Lord says that he spoke to
Moses face to face, even as a man does to his friend. You have
a friendly conversation with a man. You rejoice in sharing
and hearing what your friend has to say. When God gives gifts, The Bible
says that they are without repentance. In other words, when God gives
to his friends and from the children of Judah, the spoils of war,
he doesn't take them back. For the gifts and the calling
of God are without repentance. And Hebrews chapter six says
that it is impossible for them who have heard of the heavenly
calling to fall away. It's impossible. He won't let
it happen. He'll keep them and present them
one day faultless before his throne with much joy. Our God doesn't give gifts and
take them back. So in closing, what is the gift?
What is the present that he's giving to his friends? What is
the spoil of war? In short, it is himself. I am thy shield, Abraham. I am thine exceeding great reward. And all the other blessings that
I have to give you, all the other things that you need and that
you desire are found in me. So all the blessings of God,
all the encouragements, all the hope, all the comfort, all the
assurance is found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
look to his face and with his face comes his hand. How oftentimes
we look just to the hand of God to give us gifts. Rejoice in
him, rejoice in his face and what he has in his hand will
come with His face. He is the gift. For by grace are you saved through
faith. The gift of God is faith. Faith is looking to Christ, resting
in Christ, believing upon Christ, rejoicing in Christ, dependent
upon Him for all your salvation. For by grace, by grace, or you
say through faith, not by faith, but through faith. And that,
not of yourself. It is a gift of God so that no
man can boast. Oh, these friends of David received
the spoils. They couldn't boast in them.
They couldn't say, oh look, David's repaying us. No, David just went
to all the places where he was wont to haunt. all the places
where he was accustomed to walk, all of his friends, all the children
of Judah, and he gave the spoils of war freely to them. And David got all the glory. Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift. his unspeakable gift. When Peter finished preaching
on the day of Pentecost, they heard who Christ was, what
they had done, what he had accomplished, and they were cut to the heart
and said, what must we do? Peter didn't say, you know, just
go home, see if God does something for you. No. He said, repent. Change your mind about how it
is that God saves sinners. He doesn't save sinners based
on something you do. He saved sinners based on what
Christ did at Calvary's Cross. You know, men will get religion
and they will they will become faithful to their religion for
their whole lives in hopes of changing some behavior
or getting a new life. Men will turn over a new leaf.
They'll wash the outside of the cup. They'll do all sorts of
things. They'll reform their lives. One thing that man cannot do
is repent. He cannot change his mind as
to how it is that God saves sinners. If God leaves him to himself,
he is bound to that old nature, that works gospel, believing
that he has a free will and that his works count for something.
And he will hold on to that and go to hell with that if God doesn't
give him repentance. And so when Peter said, repent,
he was saying to them, you need a different mind, you need a
different heart. And then he defines repent when
he says repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And thou shalt receive the gift
of the Holy Ghost. The gift of the Holy Ghost is that gift that comes from
God that enables us to repent and to believe. And if you, being
evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much
more will your Heavenly Father give the gift of the Holy Spirit
to them that ask Him. Amen. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for David's spoils. Thank you for the gift of eternal
life. Thank you for Christ. Lord, make
us an empty glass. Enable us to just receive the
gift We ask it in Christ's name and for his sake, amen. 46, in the spiral hymnal, let's stand
together, number 46. Eternal love, electing grace,
secured for me in heaven a place, chosen from all eternity, the
Son of God by blood bought me. In sovereign power at the exact
appointed hour, Revealing Christ, creating faith by soul, He quickened
from its death. ? Now I rejoice in sovereign
grace ? ? Fav'ran God shall have my praise ? ? Praise God for
grace, praise God for grace ? ? Sovereign, eternal saving grace ? No.