All right, brethren, let's turn
to 1 Samuel chapter 30. 1 Samuel chapter
30. When David and his men had returned
to Ziglag, the Amalekites had burned the city to the ground.
And they had taken all their wives and their children, all
their cattle and all their possessions. Now it's hard to see it, but
that was grace and mercy to David. Because that brought David to
the end of himself. To the end of himself. He showed
David his weakness, his utter weakness, and he showed David
Christ as his strength. And so by the Spirit of God,
David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. His men even wanted
to stone him. David encouraged himself in the
Lord his God. Now the ephod was worn by the
priest. That's how they had light, that's
how they had access to God. Before, remember, when David
came to the priest, he looked right past the ephod and took
that sword of Goliath. Leading to his own strength,
his own wisdom, took that carnal sword. But this time, by the
Lord's grace, he called for the priest and the ephod. And it
says in verse eight, and David inquired of the Lord, saying,
shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And the
Lord answered him, Pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake them,
and without fail recover all. So David went, he and the 600
men that were with him, and came to the brook Bezer, where those
that were left behind stayed. But David pursued he and 400
men, because 200 abode behind which were so faint that they
could not go over the brook Besar. Now first of all, we have a picture
here of every elect child that God saves. This is a picture
of every elect child God saves. We're weakness. These 200 men
were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besar.
Verse 21 says, they were so faint that they could not follow David.
Now by our first birth, being born of Adam, we have no strength
whatsoever. We're dead and trespassing sins. But after God calls us and gives
us a new spirit because of our sin nature, We still have weakness. Our flesh is still the weakness
it always was. Our Lord said, the spirit indeed
is willing, but the flesh is weak. It's certain that these
men wanted to go. It's certain they wanted to go,
but they could not. That's what it says here, they
could not. They didn't have the strength, they didn't have the
ability to even cross the Brook Beezer, much less to go fight
the Amalekites. They didn't have strength. They
were weak. Now after God calls us, our flesh is yet weak. Our flesh is yet weak. We become
weak when we look at God's providence rather than trusting God's word.
Now you think about the providence they just suffered. They lost
their wives. Their wives were kidnapped. Their
children were kidnapped. their cattle and their possessions.
This was like everything they owned was taken from them. They
were robbed by the Amalekites. That's what happened to us in
the fall. We lost everything. That's how weak we became. We
lost everything. They had lost everything. But
they had God's promise. God gave David the promise to
pursue the Amalekites and you will without fail recover all. But how often we look at the
providence, and though we have God's word, we're weak because
of the providence. We heed the providence rather
than God's word. They had marched with David,
they'd been faithful to follow David, but now they're on the
march again. They just pick right up after
they come home and see all this, they pick right up and they have
to start pursuing the Malachi. And they're just too faint. They're
just too faint to go any further. And I'm sure that David saw himself
in these men. It would be hard for David to
be severe with these men when he saw himself in these men because
they're in the same shape that David was in And his weakness,
when he feared Saul, and when he fled down to the land of the
Philistines, and he went to Achish to try to find refuge, rather
than go to Christ as refuge. That was weakness in David. And
they followed David in that. They went with him. And here
they are now, that probably had something to do with their weakness.
They see that their beloved David is fallible. He's a sinner saved
by grace just like them. But David had just received much
mercy from the Lord, much grace from the Lord. The Lord strengthened
him, brought him to his right mind, and made him inquire of
the Lord. And so David had mercy on him. He was gracious to him. He made
him abide there. He told him to abide there with
the stuff. Abide there with the stuff. Now
that's a picture of you and me saved by grace. So often weak,
so often unable, with no ability. But now secondly, let's see the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now jump down to verse 17 and
notice that the Spirit of God recorded this only speaking of
David. He doesn't speak of the men that
were with David. He only speaks of David. Verse 17, And David
smote the Amalekites from the twilight even into the evening
of the next day. And there escaped not a man of
them, save four hundred 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
spoil nor anything that they had taken to them. David recovered
all. And there's a reason that the
Spirit of God only speaks of David, and it's because Christ
alone won the victory for his people and recovered all, for
all God's select. Christ alone did it, and that's
who we see in David. Somebody made a good comment.
They said these words, David recovered all, they declare what
happened in Adam in the garden, and they declare what happened
in Christ crucified on the cross. In Adam, we lost all. In Adam, we lost all. We lost
all. In Christ crucified, all was
recovered by Christ for everybody he represented. Everybody Adam
represented lost all, but everybody Christ represented, all his elect,
Christ recovered all. David recovered his wives. Christ
recovered his bride, God's elect, by what he did on Calvary's cross.
There was nothing lacking to them. David recovered all, and
there's nothing lacking to God's elect. Christ has recovered all. Christ recovered all that we
lost in Adam, and just like David took spoils of the Malachites,
our Lord not only recovered all that we lost, he did more for
us than we lost. He accomplished our eternal redemption. Christ Jesus, our Lord, made
us eternally righteous. By dying under the law's righteous
and just condemnation, bearing our sin, dying under the law's
just and righteous condemnation, our Lord accomplished eternal
redemption for His people. He purchased us. He let captivity
captive. He purchased us from the captivity
of the law. And he did more than that. He
accomplished making his people the very righteousness of God
in him. We are eternally righteous and
eternally redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ. Adam could always
fall. We can't ever be lost because
he made us eternally redeemed, eternally righteous by what he
accomplished. Adam had life. He had life, but
he lost it. Christ recovered life, and he
recovered it more abundantly. Our Lord Jesus Christ not only
gave us spiritual life, it is eternal life. Death has no more
sting for God's child, because you will not die. You that have
been born of God shall never die. You have Christ dwelling
in you. Adam was upright, and he had
perfect wisdom. He was upright, he had perfect
wisdom, but he lost it, and we lost it in him. But Christ is
the wisdom of God in His people, made wisdom to us, and He's the
holiness of His people. With Christ abiding in you, when
He comes and abides in you, He gives you the mind of Christ.
And for the first time, you behold that in Christ at God's right
hand, you have a perfect holiness in Christ. And with Christ abiding
in you, in your new man, your new man is holy. and He will
preserve His people. He will keep you sanctified by
Him unto Him, just like when David strayed, the Lord sanctified
him and brought him back and kept him, and the Lord would
do that for all His people. Adam lost fellowship with God,
and we lost fellowship with God. Christ recovered that fellowship,
but it's more than what Adam had. Adam had fellowship as God's
creature, created of God, and he had fellowship with his creator.
The believer has fellowship with God as a son, as a child to our
father. It's a better fellowship than
Adam had, and it will only get better, better, better, better.
Adam lost the world. By Adam's sin, the whole world
came under a curse. Briars and thorns and the sweat
of your brow. Christ Jesus the Lord recovered
the world. He will fold this world up. It'll all burn up. It'll all
be dissolved. But He will create a new heaven
and a new earth for His people, and there'll be no trace of the
devil, no trace of the curse whatsoever, only righteousness. You see how everything we lost
in Adam, Christ recovered, but He recovered far more than we
lost in Adam. The gospel declares to us that
in and by Christ, there's nothing lacking for His people. Christ
has recovered all. That's our gospel. We're not
preaching to sinners that there's something lacking that you gotta
make up for. We're declaring there's nothing
lacking for you that trust Christ. Christ recovered all. That's
what Paul kept preaching and kept preaching. You're complete
in Christ. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished. That's what the Lord tells us
to preach. Her iniquities pardoned, and she's received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sin, double. She received more than
she lost. That's our Lord's promise. Now
thirdly, because the Lord Jesus won the victory, the spoils are
Christ's, just like the spoils were David's. David won the victory. Now look at verse 20. And David
took all the flocks and the herds, and they drove before those other
cattle, and said, this is David's spoil. Now David recovered all
the wives and the children, and he recovered their cattle, and
David took all this great spoil from the Amalekites. David's
the one who conquered the enemy. He did it. And so the spoils
belong to David. They're David's spoils. And as
they drove those flocks and those herds before the other cattle,
you can hear the men singing. They're crying out, this is David's
spoil. David won the victory. This is
David's spoil. And they're marching back to
the Brook Beezer. That's so with our mighty king
and captain. Christ Jesus has won the victory.
He accomplished the victory. He recovered all, and the spoils
of victory are his. The spoils of victory are his.
He has triumphed. He has spoiled all our enemies.
Listen to this from Colossians 2.13. You being dead in your
sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, have forgiven you all trespasses, blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross, and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. There was a, you
know the old practice of the Romans, how when they would conquer
a king, they would come, just like what we see in our text,
they would come bringing all the spoils of victory, declaring
the, singing praises to the king as he came in, declaring how
he triumphed over the enemy. That's what Colossians is talking
about. Christ triumphed over his enemies openly for all to
see. He spoiled powers and principalities
openly, made a show of them openly. And when he went back to glory,
there's never been a king, there's never been a king who returned
from the battle who ever came with such spoil and with such
glory and acclamation as our Lord Jesus Christ returned to
glory. Angels cried, lift up your heads,
oh you gates, and be you lift up, you everlasting doors, and
the king of glory shall come in. You picture the palace and
the gates opening up, and here comes King Jesus into the palace
in glory. The King, victorious. What did
God the Father promise His Son would be His inheritance? What
would be His reward? What was it the Father promised
the Son? Isaiah 53, 12, He said, Therefore
will I divide him a portion with the great. I'll give him a reward
with the great." Who's the great? It's Jehovah. Jehovah's the great. God gave the man, Christ Jesus,
a portion with the great. Christ is the heir of God. This is what he prayed for. This
is what our Lord prayed for in his high priestly prayer. Now
he had glory with the Father as the Son of God. He had it
as the Son of God. But this is what he prayed for
that he would have it as the God-man. This is what the Father
promised him. He said, I've glorified thee
on earth, I've finished the work which thou gavest me to do, and
now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was. That's the reward
the Father promised him. A portion with God the Great,
the Great I Am. And that's what Christ wanted.
That's all he wanted. That's the only reward he wanted
was his father. Do you know he's the only man,
Christ is the only man, who ever earned a reward with God. He's the only one that ever did.
No other man has ever earned a reward with God. Not a one. Christ Jesus did all the works
for his Father and for his people, and he accomplished it all, just
like he promised he would. The Lord God says, this is why
I divide him a portion with the great. He said, because he had
poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the
transgressors, and he bared the sin of many, and he made intercession
for the transgressors. He's the only man that ever earned
the reward from God. But here's a great lesson. The
only reward our Redeemer wanted. You hear men talk about rewards,
and you hear about them talking about wanting rewards in heaven.
The only thing our Redeemer wanted was His Father. Glory with His
Father. Father, glorify Thou me with
Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before
the world was. Well, next we have a picture of Christ coming
to us. We have a picture of him coming
to us the first hour. And we have, this is a picture
of every hour of weakness that he comes to give us the spoils
of his victory. This is a picture of that final
day when he returns and gives us the spoils of the victory.
Verse 21 says, and David came to the 200 men which were so
faint that they could not follow David. whom they had made also
to abide at the brook Bezer. And they went forth to meet David,
and to meet the people that were with him. And when David came
near to the people, he saluted them." What a picture we have
here of us who God has called. And when Christ first comes,
this is what it is. This is how it happens. And in
every hour of weakness, in all our need, this is how Christ
comes. We're often just like them. We're
so faint, they were so faint, they could not follow David.
But Bezer, you know what it means? It means cheerful. It means cheerful. And it comes from a word that
means to bring glad tidings. There they are in their weakness,
and they're at a place called cheerful. Glad tidings. And so here comes David. He's coming with the men. And
they're all singing, David has won the victory. These are the
spoils of David. And these men hear that good
news. They hear those glad tidings. And as David drew near, they
drew near to David. And that's just what happens.
Christ comes with this gospel, and he's declaring the good news
that Christ has won the victory, and all the spoils belong to
our Lord. And as the message goes forth,
he strengthens the dead sinner, gives them life, or he strengthens
his weak child, and begins to strengthen you in your heart,
and you draw near to him, and David saluted him, and Christ
salutes his child. That's what happens. He comes
to us and he draws us to himself with the good news of the victory
accomplished. Don't you know that strengthened
him? Don't you know when he heard them, that 400 men coming and
them singing, David's won the victory. These are the spoils
of David. Don't you know that gave him some strength? David's
glad tidings made them cheerful. He strengthened their spirit.
He came to them and saluted them. These weak ones, these weak ones,
they were too weak to go fight. He came to them and saluted them
with the good news. That was Christ's desire above
everything else too. His desire and His promise from
the Father was He would give them an inheritance with the
great, a reward with the great, and also this was His promise
to Christ, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong. But
now wait, that doesn't make, that doesn't fit this picture.
These men at the book, these are weak. They're so faint, they
couldn't do anything. Christ is going to divide the
spoiled with the strong, but we're weak. We're not strong. But all his elect who he redeemed,
everyone he redeemed are strong. One, because everything Christ
is, we are before God. He is our strength with God.
He's the one who fulfilled all the law and every work, sin of
Him to accomplish. And God looks at us as having
done that. He always did that which pleased
the Father. And the Father looks at you and
me and sees us as always doing that which pleased the Father,
because He only sees His child in Christ. But Christ also makes
us know that in ourselves we are absolutely, totally, thoroughly
weak. And he told Paul, and that's
when you're strong. That's when you're strong. Paul
said, be strong. But he didn't say be strong in
yourself. He said be strong in the Lord and the power of his
might. When he divides the spoil with
his weak people, that's how he makes you strong in him. and
the power of his might. Christ alone is our strength.
But though we're weak, brethren, though we're weak, though some
may not serve as like those that went into the many, 400 men went
into the battle and fought, all may not fight like others. Some
may not serve like others. Some may not have the same fruit
as others. Some may be far weaker than others. Some may be called the last hour
of their life and not even believe on Christ and serve Him and suffer
for His cause at all. While others were called early
in their life and went their whole life. Yet Christ divides
the spoils of His victory equally with His people. Equally with
His people. He's the heir of God, and it's
His joy to make us joint heirs with Him. That was the joy set
before Him, to make you an heir, a joint heir with Christ. Paul
said in Romans 8, 17, if you're children, then you're heirs.
You're heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. This is what
the psalmist said in Psalm 68, 18. Thou hast ascended on high,
thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast received gifts for
men, yea, for the rebellious also, for the weak also, that
the Lord God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord, now
listen, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of
our salvation. That's why Paul heard this, and
Paul rejoiced in this, and he saw Christ as having accomplished
a victory, and all the spoils belonging to Christ, and him
being a joint heir with Christ, and Christ willingly giving all
the spoils equally to his people. And Paul said, therefore, let
no man glory in men, for all things are yours. Do you believe Christ? Is Christ
your all? Is He your all? Is all your righteousness,
all your holiness, all your salvation Christ only? Is He your all?
All you got? If He don't save you, you won't
be saved. Is He your all? If so, then He says, all things
are yours. Whether Paul, or Apollos, or
Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present or
things to come, all are yours, and you are Christ, and Christ
is God's. That's what we have in Christ.
Whatever Christ has as a spoil of His victory, He gives equally
to all His people. Equally. Now lastly, we see the
legal spirit that Christ saves us from and we see the gracious
spirit he gives us. Not everyone was cheerful at
this glad tiding. Not everybody was happy. Verse
22, Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial of those
that went with David. Now this was not all the 400
men. There were some of God's elect
with David. They were faithful men. They
didn't say a word. But this was all who were wicked
men of Belial of those that went with David. There were some men
that weren't God's elect that went with David. It means men
of worthlessness. And they said this, they spoke
up real quick. They said, because they were
not with us, we will not give them all of the spoil that we
have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children,
that they may lead them away and depart. Now here's the spirit
they had. They said, look at what we did.
We were strong. We followed you, David. We went
across the Brook Beasle. We fought the good fight. We
recovered all. That's what they said. We recovered
all. And these weaklings stayed behind. They didn't do anything.
We did more. These weaklings did nothing.
They deserve nothing. We deserve more. They deserve
nothing. Their heart's the heart of the legalist. The legalist
does works to earn a reward from God. He doing works to earn a
reward from God. They think they indebt God to
reward them in heaven. You hear people speak about this,
how they're going to have a better reward in heaven and a better
mansion and all that. There are no rewards of such
nature in heaven. But these men also think God's
going to reward them for their works in the earth. They're like
the son who stayed home in our Lord's parable of the prodigal.
Like that son at State Hall, he served his father for a reward. That's why he served his father.
And so when the father had grace on the prodigal son, being so
sinful, and he had mercy on him, and he killed the fatty calf,
that angered that boy that had served his father. This is what
he said. He was angry, and he would not
go in. They were in there enjoying the
festivities. The sun had come home, and he
wouldn't go in. Therefore came his father out
and treated him. And he answered and said to his
father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee. Listen to what
he said now. Neither transgressed I at any
time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid. that
I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this thy son was
come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast
killed for him the fatted calf. Christ, brethren, loves all his
children with the same love. We only have one righteousness,
it's Christ. We only have one holiness, it's
Christ. Why would he love us any differently?
He has perfected all his people the same. We all have the same
in Christ, and even the weak he loves, and he's gracious and
merciful even to the weak. He said of that widow that just
put in too much, he said, she's given more than they own. She
gave everything she had. You know, you think about giving,
and this is one way men want to give, and they think God's
going to give them a reward for giving. They give as an investment,
thinking that God's going to give them a return on their investment.
You know, Paul said, he said, if you can give cheerfully, willingly,
sacrificially, if you can give, it's God's gift to you. He said,
for one, he supplied all you need so that you can do it, you
have the faith to do it. He said, you provided for the
need of your brethren. He said, and they pray for you
and pray for God's grace for you, and they glorify God for
your professed subjection. And that just so overwhelmed
Paul that he said, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift. That's Paul. Paul's talking about the ministry
of giving. It just so overwhelmed him. He
said, God has gifted us to be able to give. What more reward could you want?
It's all given by God. It's a gift from God. He said
to that harlot who broke that alabaster box of ointment on
him, he said, leave her alone. She did what she could. She wrought
a good work on me. She did what she could. He turns
us back to Him when we stray, just like He did David. He put away our sin, He justified
us, and so He's righteous to be merciful to us. In fact, it's
only just to be merciful to us. Anything else would not be just,
because He has perfected His people. and it's just and right
for us to be merciful to our brethren. Brother Don wrote this.
He said, it's not our goodness but our sinfulness that qualifies
us for mercy. The strong do not need Christ's
strength. The righteous do not need his
grace. The rich do not need his help. The Son of God still goes
home and eats with publicans and sinners. He is especially
the Lord of the needy. The needy need mercy. And Christ
said, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is
made perfect in weakness. He showed David his weakness.
He showed David David's own weakness. Now listen to David. He showed
David that the Lord was his strength too. And listen to what David
declares here. He declares the Lord is his strength and he is
the strength of all his people. Verse 23, Then said David, You
shall not do so. my brethren, with that which
the Lord hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the
company that came against us into our hand, for who will hearken
to you in this matter?" David said, we didn't recover the spoils. What are you saying we recovered
the spoils? We didn't recover the spoils,
David said. We're just like these weak brethren
who stayed by the brook. The Lord gave us the spoils.
He gave us the strength to fight the battle. Everything we have,
the Lord gave us. David and those men who fought,
the only reason those had strength to fight was the Lord gave it
to them. He said, the Lord preserved us. David knew that. It was the
Lord who saved him from himself time and time and time again.
It was the Lord who saved him from the hand of Achish. It was the Lord who saved him
out of that predicament he got himself in, in the land of the
Philistine. And over and over and over, we see the Lord preserved
him. He said, the Lord preserved us. He said, the Lord delivered
the Amalekites into our hand. If you want a victory, any kind
of victory over sin, any kind of victory over anything in your
life, if you want a victory, you're lying. You never have
won a victory. Christ won it. He might have
made you win it, but Christ won it. You didn't win it. It's only
Christ that wins a victory. That's what David said. He said,
nobody go harder to you in this matter. Not one sinner saved
by grace because we know all is given us of the Lord. So David
said this. Now listen to what David said.
And hear Christ's word to you and me who he said. David said,
but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall
his part be that tarrieth by the stuff. They shall part alike. And it was so from that day forward
that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto
this day. And the rest of those verses say David even sent spoil
to his friends throughout Judah. You know what that's teaching
us? All God's elect brethren, you and me and everybody God
saves. Those that were there just like
these brethren that were there at the battle and the friends
that weren't there. All those that were with Christ
when he walked this earth and you and me that weren't there.
We were all the weak who tarried with the stuff. Every one of
us. Listen to this from Psalm 68,
12. Kings of armies did flee up space, and she that tarried
at home divided the spoil. Though you've lain among the
pots, you shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver
and her feathers with yellow gold. You tarried at home. Christ
did all the work. We were weak by the brook. Christ
did all the work. And so Christ divides the spoil
equally with those that go into battle, those that labor hardest,
those that fight the longest. He divides it equally with them
as he does to the weakest that tarry by the stuff. I read our Lord's parable in
the beginning of the householder who hired servants to work in
his vineyard. Peter heard the Lord tell the rich young ruler,
to sell all, give it to the poor, follow Christ, and he'd have
treasure in heaven. And Peter said, we've forsaken
all and follow thee, what shall we have? And the Lord said this,
He said, In this life, Peter, you're going to be privileged
to preach my gospel. That's what He meant when He
said, In the regeneration, you're going to sit on twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel. He's talking about in
this life, while you preach the gospel, that's how they judged
Israel. They preached the gospel, just like Noah judged that world
when he preached to them in their day. And the Lord said, that's
a privilege that you get to serve the cause of Christ, Peter. That's
your reward. And he said, and everyone that
had forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother,
or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive
a hundredfold. That's in this life right now,
a hundredfold. You got brethren all over this
world. More than you had before. Fathers and mothers, sisters
and brothers. And in the life to come, they shall inherit everlasting
life. But he gave them a warning. He
knew that our Lord detected that legal spirit in Peter. And he
said, but many that are first shall be last, and the last shall
be first. And then he gave a parable to
explain what he meant. Those first servants, that householder,
he went out early in the morning. And those first servants, he
went to them, and he let them bargain with him. And they agreed
for a penny. They bartered with him on what
he would pay them, and he agreed to pay them a penny. They represent
the sons of Belial, men who worked simply to get paid a reward.
They are the called but not chosen. That's who these sons represented
who went. They went and fought, but they
really weren't a partaker with the rest of them. At the end
of the day, When the householder gave them all a penny, those
who had worked the longest, they began to murmur. They said, these
last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal
to us. Now think about that spirit.
They only worked one hour. You made them equal to us. That
said, we're so much above them. We worked so much harder than
they did. We deserve more than they deserve. What kind of spirit
is that? That's a legal work spirit. Nobody's
gonna be saved with that spirit, period. We've borne the burden
in the heat of the day, they said. But those others in that
parable represent the child of grace. The Lord came to them,
and he didn't tell them what he'd pay them, and they didn't
ask. He said, whatsoever is right, I will give you. And they went
their way. That's a child of grace. We're
not working for a reward. We're not working because we
want something better than somebody else. That is a mercenary spirit.
Somebody will say, well, if I'm not going to get a better reward,
then what's going to motivate me to work and serve if I've
got to serve longer than somebody else? If we have that heart,
one, we need to be very, very frightened. But here's what it
is. God gave His Son to you. Christ
came and redeemed us. Christ made us righteous. We're
holy. We're just. He's given us all things that
we have, and He's our reward in heaven. That's our motive.
That's why they didn't ask, and that's why they knew seeing the
cross and seeing God did what was just and right on the Calvary's
cross, and making His Son sin and poured out justice on Him,
and then calling me by His grace because it was the right thing
to do, saving me and preserving me all my life because it's the
right thing. Justice demands it because Christ justified me.
Then I know whatever's right, that's what He'll do. That's
what He'll give me, whatever's right. I don't have to ask. Trust
my Lord. And so we know whatsoever Christ
gives us is right. Christ is our reward right now. And he'll be our reward and glory.
Just like he wanted the Father, we just want Christ. All the
blessings of God are given to us freely by Christ. We haven't
conquered any enemy. He's conquered them all for us
and still does it and will do it right up to the end. All the
blessings. Serving Christ in this life is
reward in itself. That's a privilege of His grace. A privilege of His grace. The
brethren, He's given us a gift to us. A gift of His grace. A reward to us. And in glory,
we'll have Christ. And that's all we want. To be
with our Lord and know Him just like He knows us. He will give
you what's right. Because that's right to give
all His people. Amen.