But in that book, the Christian, the pilgrim, he
was looking for that celestial city. He was leaving his town,
his hometown. Bunyan called his hometown the
City of Destruction. And that's this world, that's
a picture of this world. God's going to destroy this world.
It's not just an old fable, it's the truth, all through the scriptures. And Pilgrim was leaving the city
of destruction, having been warned by an evangelist through the
reading of the word, through the preaching of the word, being
warned that the city was going to be destroyed and his only
hope was to get to that celestial city and to go through yon wicked
gate, which is a picture of Christ, how to get to Christ. And when
he was in that city and leaving that city, it said he had a burden
on his back. He had a large bundle on his back, carrying it on his
shoulders, weighting him down. That song we just sang, it said,
cling to the cross, the burden will fall. Well, old Pilgrim's
neighbors, friends and neighbors, they didn't have a burden on
their back. And they didn't see the need to leave that city.
And they didn't know anything about a celestial city, nor did
they care. But the pilgrim, by God's grace,
having been warned, he was trying to get out of that city just
as fast as he could and get to that gate, which was Christ.
And they were making fun of him. Where are you going? What are
you doing? You're leaving your wife and family. What's this all about?
He had this burden on his back. He wanted to get rid of this
burden. He wanted to flee from the wrath to come. While everybody
else was mocking, he had a real problem. And it was his sin. This is what we're talking about.
This is what the gospel talks about, deliverance from sin. Sin. Not all your worldly problems. The gospel doesn't know anything
like that. The gospel doesn't tell anything like that, does
it, Rick? When Christ talked to his disciples, he said, you're
going to go through tribulation. Now that you're a disciple of
mine, you're going to go through problems like you've never been
through before. You're going to be hated. Yeah, the time is
going to come when they kill you and they think they're doing
God the favor. The gospel talks about deliverance
from sin, from sin, from the bondage of sin, from Satan. Deliverance
from the wrath to come. Turn with me to 1 Samuel. 30,
1 Samuel chapter 30. I'm going to give you another
in a series of this son of David, another message in this series
that speaks of the deliverance of David's people. David delivers
his people from captivity. He delivers them, and this is
such a clear picture of the Lord Jesus Christ coming for his people
to deliver them. He's called the Deliverer. That's
what Messiah means. That's what Christ means, Deliverer.
And as I keep, I've said already so many times, it's not talking
about deliverance from worldly problems, although he may give
us some deliverance from some of these things. Whatever we
have, he gives it to us. Whatever grace we have, he gives
it to us. Whatever problems were delivered
from, he delivers them from us, from them. But the scriptures,
the gospel is concerning with deliverance from sin. Sin. All these things are going to
be passed away, but we've got to face a God, a holy God. All
right, look at 1 Samuel 30, look at verse 17, 17 through 20. smoke them, that is, the Amalekites. David smoked or killed the Amalekites
from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day. There
escaped not a man, a grown man of them, save four hundred young
men, boys evidently, which rode upon camels and fled. David evidently
let them go. Well, they can't get off on camels.
They can't get very fast on camels. David evidently let them go.
David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away.
David rescued his two wives. There was nothing lacking to
them. That is, nothing missing, neither small nor great, sons
nor daughters, neither spoiled, nor anything that they had taken
to them. David recovered it all. And David
took all the flocks and the herds which they drave before those
other cattle, and said, This is David's spoils. This is David's spoils. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
the Son of Man, He's the Messiah. He's called throughout the Scriptures
the Son of David. That is, the son of David indicating
what family he was to come from. Son of David. He was the only
sinless man who ever lived. The only man to ever live on
this earth who had no sin. The scripture says, in him was
no sin. Now, this is inconceivable. If
you know anything about yourself, if you feel anything about yourself,
you know anything about your inward self and condition, honest
with yourself, this is inconceivable. Not a thought of sin, not a word,
ever a word of sin, and not a deed of sin, never worked one work
of sin. It's inconceivable. But Christ
was without sin, totally, completely. He was called the man approved
of God. The only man God ever said, now
I approve of this man. He lives the way a man is supposed
to live. Christ was actually, it said
in 2 Timothy 3, 16, justified in the Spirit. That is, he was
actually proven to be perfect. He earned the love of God. Only
man who ever lived who earned the favor of God Almighty. Only
man. Why did he earn this favor of
God? Because he loved, the Scripture said, he loved righteousness
and he hated evil. because he was perfectly obedient
to God Almighty, because he lived for the honor and the glory of
God. Now listen to me. His heart, his mind, his affection,
his whole life was set on things above. He said, I must be about
my Father's business. What's the business of the Father?
The glory of God and the salvation of God's people. He sought to
think He sought to say, he sought to do only those things which
pleased God, nothing else. I'm talking all of his life,
every minute of every hour of every day for thirty-three and
a third years. Holy and righteous. He hated
sin. Therefore, the Son of God was
holy and righteous, and by himself he purged our sins, as Scripture
says. He destroyed our sins. the sins
of God people, yet it cost an awful price, his blood. Now listen,
there's a similar, you say, what's that got to do? Well, there's
a similar picture here of David, King David, and of Samuel. Samuel was God's prophet. If
you read Spurgeon's article in our bulletin, I hope you did
read that last Sunday, Spurgeon's article on the back, when he
talked about how that Samuel didn't let delicate Agag go,
but he hewed him in pieces before the Lord. Did you read that?
I hope you read that. I hope you read that. There's a picture
here. Look back at 1 Samuel chapter
15 with me. If you read that, this will mean
something to you, this picture, but I'm going to go back over
it with you. 1 Samuel 15. Here's a picture, as I've said
before, Saul, King Saul, is king in Israel
right now. He's king in Israel. He's a picture. King Saul is a picture of natural
man. This is a spiritual picture and
King Saul represents the natural man. All of us by nature. King
Saul is a covetous man. He loves this world. He loves
the things of this world. He's out to get them. He's a
sinful man. He's a disobedient man, that
is, he's not really caring about the glory of God and to be obedient
to God. He's religious. The scripture
said he's a religious man, he's religious for gain, just what
he could get out of God. There was no fear of God, or
else he'd have been obedient to God. Stand. He was a lover
of sin, he was a lover of sinful pleasure. Now look at this, in
1 Samuel 15, the first three verses with me. Samuel said to
Saul, now the Lord sent me to anoint you to be king over his
people, over Israel. Now therefore hearken unto the
voice of the words of the Lord. Now this is God's prophet, Samuel. Two full books written by this
man. bearing his name, Samuel. This is God's true prophet. And
he comes to this worldly king, Saul, and he says, Now God has
a message for you from me. Verse 2, Thus saith the Lord
of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he
laid weight for him in the way, or that is, the people of Israel. Amalek laid wait for him in the
way when he came out of Egypt, when the people were coming out
of Egypt. I'll show you that in a minute. Now Samuel says
to Saul, now you go and you smite Amalek, kill him. He doesn't
mean just give him a bloody nose. He says you kill Amalek and utterly,
now look at this, utterly destroy all that they have. Spare them
not, but slay both man, woman, young toddler, infant, baby in
arms, ox and sheep, camel and ass. Kill them all. Does that seem hard to you? It is. But God is holy and God
is sovereign, and this really happened. This is not some fairy
tale. And the Scripture says, God doesn't
change Malachi three, six. It seemed hard to you, turn back
to Exodus chapter 17, now the second book, Exodus 17, I'm going
to show you what he was talking about here. He said, the Lord
said, I remember what Amalek did to Israel, Amalek. Amalek. Who is this Amalek? Who are the
Amalekites? Amalek. Well, Amalek was a son
of Esau. A son of Esau from a woman who
was a concubine. Not only was Esau, the scripture
says, Jacob have I loved, chosen, Esau have I hated. Why? It seemed
good to the Lord. Now understand me. Jacob didn't
deserve to be loved either. Jacob's his name means sneak,
supplanter, cheat. When we talk about the judgment
of God, the wrath of God, the dealings of God, we have to remember
that all men, all mankind, are sinners at best. All men and
women by nature are sinners against the holy God and will be judged
accordingly. Now children, we firmly believe
that the scriptures teach it. That children are under the blood
of Christ. That children are saved by the
blood of Christ. If children die in the process
of God judging men and women, they go to be with the Lord.
So God hasn't been unjust or unfair to children. No. He's been merciful to keep them
from living through a sinful life. And maybe going to hell
by their deeds and actions. But men and women deserve The
wrath of God, the punishment of God. And little children do,
too, because they're born in sin. They come forth from the
womb speaking lies, don't they? But God in mercy. We believe
the Scripture says, Christ said, that of such is the kingdom of
heaven of little children. Okay, now look at this. The Lord
said, I remember what Amalek did, how he laid wait for my
people. Now look here at Exodus 17, verse
8. Now the children of Israel were
coming out of Egypt. God set them free from bondage. These were God's people, God's
chosen people, Israel, and they were coming out of Egypt, leaving
that land, going to the promised land, and it said in verse 8,
then came Amalek. Evidently Amalek and his band
of soldiers were waiting, hiding You want to pounce on these people
and spoil them. And it said in another place
that they came up from behind and killed the weak, the blind,
the hawk, the lame, the children, killed the weak ones, came up
from behind, the slow ones, and grabbed all their goods and so
forth, and fought with Israel in this place called Rephidim,
Rephidim. They were the first ones to fight
against Israel. Now, we always get this picture
of Israel going out of Egypt and just slaying everybody in
their path. Well, God, the people hated the Israelites. The Egyptians
hated the Israelites. Everybody hated the Israelites.
Even now they hate the Jews, right? But this is a spiritual
picture, a spiritual picture. I'm not going to go into that,
into politics. But this is a spiritual picture. And Moses called upon
somebody to go handle these Amalekites. And look who he called upon.
Look at verse 9. Moses said, Joshua, go get them. Now you know what the name Joshua
means? It's the Old Testament word for Jesus. Even my margin
says, if you have a little J beside the word Joshua, in the margin
it says called Jesus. It means Savior. And Moses, who
represents God here, said to Joshua, that is, Jesus, you go
get these Malachiites. They're after my people. You
go get them. God chose them. And look what
he said to Joshua. He said, choose us out some men to go with you. Choose some men, Joshua. Whoever
you decide, they'll go. And go out and fight with Amalek.
Tomorrow, now, he said, I'm going to stand on top of the hill with
a rod of God in my hand. He said, You choose us out some
men. And God told Christ, He said, You chose us out some men.
He chose us some men. Christ elected a people. God
elected a people in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Christ, when He came to the earth, He said, You didn't choose me,
I chose you. He chose twelve men, twelve apostles, and He
chose you. And He said, Go out and fight
with Amalek. Now listen, all the way through
our story here, Amalek represents sin. Sin, or that which God hates. Esau hath I hated. God hates
sin. He hates unrighteousness. He
hated Amalek. We'll see that in a minute. And
Moses said, I will stand on the hill with this rod in my hand.
Christ came to do battle with sin, to put it away, to recover
his people. God was in Christ, the scripture
says, reconciling the world to himself, his people. And the
scripture says God was bruising Christ. God stood on Mount Calvary. You see where it says, Moses
said, I'll stand on top of the hill with a rod of God in my
hand. God was standing on Mount Calvary with a cross in his hand,
a cross in his hand to deliver his people. How? With this rod
of God, this cross of Christ. And look at verse 10. So Joshua
did it, just what Moses said to him. Joshua was obedient unto
Moses. And look at this. And he fought
with Amalek, and it says, Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the
top of the hill. Moses was a prophet. Aaron was a priest. And you know
who Hur was? He was from the tribe of Judah, the kingly tribe.
Prophet, priest, and king standing on the hill, overlooking the
battle. while Joshua took care of the
enemy, the Amalekites. And that's a picture of Christ,
our prophet, priest, and king, God, the triune God, who undertook
this work on Calvary's hill, on the mount, all together on
the mount. And verse 11, And it came to pass, when Moses held
up his hand, Israel prevailed. Christ said, Well, if I be lifted
up, I'll draw all men. I will. Not that I will succeed. He's called the son of his right
hand. Christ, throughout the scriptures,
is called the son of God's right hand. And if God holds up Christ,
look, like that serpent on a pole, all who look to him. If he holds
up Christ, lifts up Christ, we have the victory. Israel prevails. God's people prevail. In Christ,
we're more than conquered. But look at what it says. When
he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. If God lets you alone
for a minute, your sins are going to get the better of you, aren't
they? But, verse 13, Joshua did not fail. He discomfited Amalek
and his people at the edge of the sword. Discomfited means
more than made him uncomfortable. It means he wiped them out, the
Amaleks, with the edge of the sword. Joshua prevailed and Christ
said, while he was hanging on that cross, it's finished. He
didn't make an attemptment, he made an atonement. He didn't
try to put away sin, if you'll let him. He didn't make the down
payment, if you'll make your decision. No, he said, it's finished.
I put away all the sins of all of God's chosen people forever.
He said, it's finished. Nothing left to be done. It's
done. The transaction's done. It's
finished. Christ the Word, the sword of God's Spirit. Christ
called the Word, the sword of God's Spirit. By himself purged
our sins. Now look here. Here's the edict
God laid down, verse fourteen. Here's the commandment concerning
these Amalekites. Now, this is important here.
You've got to understand that. Verse fourteen. The Lord said unto
Moses, after Joshua prevailed, the Lord said to Moses, Now you
write all this down in a book, and you rehearse it in the ears
of Joshua. For I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek
from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and
called the name of it Jehovah-Nissi, that is, the Lord our banner.
And he said, because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will
have war with Amalek from generation to generation. God is fighting sin, has been,
always will, until he makes an utter end of it. And he did in
Christ on the cross. That is, the spiritual sins of
God's people. Someday he's going to make an
absolute, actual end of all sin and unrighteousness from all
of the universe. No more sin. No more iniquity. Holiness. Let me read this to
you over in Deuteronomy. If you want to turn, you can.
Deuteronomy 25. Deuteronomy 25, this is great. You want to mark this in your
Bible. I'm talking fast because there's a lot of material to
cover. Deuteronomy 25, look at verse 17. Now Moses is writing
still here and he says here in verse 17, Deuteronomy 25, you
remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, don't you forget
it. When you come forth out of Egypt, how he met you by the
way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble
behind thee. When you were faint and weary,
and he feared not God, therefore it shall be. Now look at this
verse 19. You want to mark this. When the Lord thy God hath given
thee rest from all thine enemies round about in the land which
the Lord thy God giveth thee for inheritance to possess it,
that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under
heaven. You won't forget it. You'll never forget this. Christ said, or the scripture
says, there's sins and there's iniquities, I'll remember no
more. No more. And this is what the song in
heaven is going to be about. Not that God gave us a little
mansion in heaven. Oh, why don't we have it? He
had a little cabin. Oh, we're having such fun up here, golf
courses and, you know, swimming pools and all that. Oh, we got
streets of gold. Let's know what this thing is
going to be about in heaven. It's going to be about deliverance
from sin, right? Unto him that washed us from
our sins in his own blood. Saved us from our sin. Sin, sin,
sin. This is all salvation. This is
what salvation is about. This is what the gospel is all
about. This is why Christ came to deliver us from our sin. And this is who Amalek represents
here and will throughout our story here. So you need to remember
that. Understand that. So what's this got to do with
David? All right. Back to 1 Samuel 15. This is fantastic. If you don't enjoy it, I already
have. So somebody got something already. 1 Samuel 15. This is
marvelous. It's magnificent. This is the
word of God. This is a miracle, this book,
1 Samuel 15. What's this got to do with David? Well, God told Saul, remember
we read it back there, he said, you go kill the Amalekites, every
one of them. Kill them. That seemed hard, didn't it?
Saul thought so, too. Saul thought so, too. Well, look
at verse 7, 1 Samuel 15. So Saul smote the Amalekites
almost. But he took Agag, the king of
the Malachites, alive. The king. He utterly destroyed
all the people at the edge of the sword, but he saved the king.
But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep
and the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, all that was good and
would not utterly destroy them. Everything that was vile, no
use, don't need that, don't need that, the rubbish, you know,
no good. They destroyed all that, but they kept the best and kept
this king. And I read in one place where it said this King
Achag was evidently a very jovial, nice fellow, had a nice smile
on his face, sweet and kindly to look at and so forth. And
Saul just couldn't bring himself to kill this fellow. He was the
enemy of God. He was on a malachite, but he
wasn't nice, you know, he had a sweet smile on his face. He
just stabbed you in the back, you know, like some of these
preachers, you know. He's out to rob you blind, but
he sure is a sweet fellow, you know. It was just a gag and evidently
Saul was taken in by this clown, this crook. Taken in by him.
He saved him, so I'll let you go. You're not worth killing
anyway. But Saul, now Saul, remember, was made king. He was taken by
God and made king of God's people. What a calling, a high calling.
He experienced the goodness and the mercy of God, yet he plainly
disobeyed God Almighty through the prophet. Disobeyed him. This reminds me of Adam. Remember,
I told you Saul represents man, and Adam is our representative.
Adam. All of mankind. Listen to Saul's excuses here.
He sounds just like Adam back in the garden. Sounds like us.
Verse 10. Then came the word of the Lord
unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I set up Saul to be king.
He's turned back from following me. He hadn't performed my commandments,
and it grieves Samuel. Samuel liked Saul, and he cried
unto the Lord all night. But Samuel rose early to meet
Saul in the morning, and it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came
to Carmel. Behold, he set him up a place,"
and he's gone about in verse 13, "'So Samuel came to Saul,
and Saul said unto him, Here comes the whole song. Blessed
be, there you are, my favorite little preacher. Blessed be thou
of the Lord. I perform the commandment of
the Lord. Lying through his teeth. And
Samuel said, look at verse 14, I hear sheep. Don't I hear, I hear sheep bleating.
What's this all about? Cows mooing. What is this I hear? And Saul says, oh, verse 15.
Oh, they brought them from the Amalekites, the people. These people, they spared the
best to sacrifice unto the Lord. See that? They spared the best.
We're going to give it to the Lord. But the rest we utterly destroyed,
got rid of it. Samuel said unto Saul, you just
stay right here. I want to go see what the Lord
has to say to you. And he said unto him, stay on.
Verse 17, Samuel said, When you were little in your
own sight, you were a nothing and a nobody, weren't you made
the head of the tribes of Israel? Weren't you made king? The Lord
anointed you king? The Lord sent you on a journey?
Lord, in His goodness and His mercy, took you off the dung
heap from a nobody, a nothing, gave you mercy and grace, did
all these things for you, and now you've utterly disobeyed
God? The Lord told you to go and utterly destroy the sinners.
He recognizes them now, the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against
them till they'll be consumed. Why didn't you obey the voice
of the Lord? Verse 19. You flew on the spoil, you covetous
man. You're in this thing for What
you could get out of it, weren't you, Saul? But Saul kept pleading. But the
people, he said in verse 21, the people took the spoil, the
sheep, oxen, the cheap things that they should have been utterly
destroyed. The people. It sounds like a
modern-day man's plea for money, doesn't it? Oh, we're going to
give it to the Lord, you know. We're covetous, yeah, but it's
for the Lord. Verse twenty-two, here's Samuel's answer. Samuel
said, "...hath the Lord as great delight in your religious observances,
that is, your burnt offerings and sacrifices, and obeying the
voice, the word of the Lord?" Behold, to obey is better than
sacrifice, to hearken than the fat of ram. I tell you, rebellions
is a sin of witchcraft. Look at that. Unbelief is a sin
of stubbornness, is as iniquity and idolatry. You've rejected
the word of the Lord, therefore God rejected you. You reject the word of God, God
rejects you. You know, man's show of religion,
and this is why we keep harping on this. God did it. God harped
on it. Isaiah chapter 1, Jeremiah 20,
just all the way through the prophets and the scriptures,
the epistles, man's shows of religion, his vain shows of religion,
the highly esteemed shows of religion, his preaching, his
preachers, his Sabbaths, his feast days, his holy days, his
Easters, his Christmases, his pageantry, all his stuff, his
solemn assemblies. Isaiah said in chapter 1, is
an abomination to God Almighty. because they're drawing near.
They're drawing near with their lips. They're going through all
these motions, but their heart is far from it. They've rejected
the Word of God. The Word of God has no place
in the religious observances anymore, except to prove what
they want to try to prove. They've rejected the Word of
God and going through their silly motions of religion. Well, look
at this, Saul gets desperate now, down to verse 24. Saul gets
desperate, he realizes now he's going to lose, he's going to
lose his position. He's got something to lose now,
he's getting desperate. Verse 24, Saul said, I've sinned, I've sinned. Yeah, does that sound
like somebody? Oh, that guy can turn the tears on again. Saul did. I've sinned. I bet he was crying by this time.
I've sinned. I've transgressed. Verse 25,
Now pray, pray thee, pardon my sin. Turn again with me, that
I may worship the Lord. Samuel said unto Saul, I will
not return with thee. You've rejected the word of the
Lord. The word of God has no place in you, Saul. You rejected
it once, you reject it again. You're in this thing for the
money. You're in this thing for the favor. And the Lord has rejected
you from being king. And if Samuel's turned to run
away, verse 27, to go away, Saul grabbed the horse. And Samuel said, God has rent
the kingdom from you. Verse 7. 28, the Lord hath rent the kingdom
and given it to a neighbor of thine who is better than thou. Now, Samuel now was the prophet
of God. He was obedient to the Lord.
All he cared about was the word of the Lord, the glory of God.
He wasn't in this thing for the money. He wasn't a P-R-O-F-I-T
prophet. He was a P-R-O-P-H-E-T. prophet
of God, not in it for the money, not in it for what he could get
out of it. He was in it for the glory of God. All he was concerned
with was the glory of God, the truth of God, zealous for the
truth sake, and the people of God. They're good. Samuel. What
did Samuel do? He was obedient to the word of
God. Look at verse 32. Samuel said, You bring me Agag's
off. I'm going to do what you didn't
do. And they brought Agag in and says, Bring me a gag and
a gag came in delicately. Excuse me. And a gag said. I listen to preachers
yesterday talk like this and you know what he was listening
to. And Agag said, surely the bitterness
of death is past. And Samuel said, as your sword
has made women, I know you look harmless to everybody else. You
look sweet and innocent, and you look like such a sweet, kind
man and everything, but your sword, it's your, you're the
one who gave the order to go kill men and women and so forth.
You're the one that's killing souls. And the reason I talk
about these prophets, they're killing men's souls. They're
not harmless little fellas, they're killing, they're dragging people
down to hell with their lives and so forth. He said, as your,
your mother will be childless among women and Samuel got a
sword and cut that guy to pieces. Oh, Harvard. What a hard man. Judge not, Samuel. I tell you what, if this old
dude didn't judge, the Israelites are hurting from then on. God
knew what he was doing. If the Amalekites were allowed
to stay in the camp, they were going to sneak in and cause the
Israelites problems from that day forward. And they did. They did. Samuel was obedient. I tell you, the law and the prophets,
you know what the law and the prophets do? They expose sin. What's the job? That's what the
law and the prophets are all about. That's what the law is
for. Not a thing to live by to expose your sin. No matter how
subtle, how delicate, how pleasing and proper, how well liked by
people something may be, sin's sin and God will judge it. Rebellion
to God, it's trouble to the people too. It'll cast your soul into
hell. One little scene. Agag was king. He was representative of the
Amalekites. Samuel brought him forward and exposed him and hewed
him to pieces. And listen now, the essence of
all sin, the king of all sin is what? Unbelief. Right? Unbelief. Unbelief. The scriptures, the Holy Spirit
will take the law and the prophets and expose unbelief. John 16
says he'll convict the world, that is, he'll convict the world
of sin because they believe not on Christ, not some Jesus, but
they believe not on a sovereign Christ, a God who doesn't change. And this is the work of the Holy
Spirit to show us God's holding on the throne. He will by no
means clear the guilty. And every soul has sinned and
is guilty before God Almighty. And this is the first work of
the Holy Spirit. Before we were talking about Sunday morning,
the fear of the Lord. To bring a man to see, hey, God is going
to hew me to pieces. Unless somebody's hewed for me.
Unless somebody takes my place. Unless something's done about
this sin that I'm full of. Samuel took care of Agag. Now
Samuel is a prophet in the very next chapter we saw earlier.
The very next chapter he anointed the king. Samuel was the prophet
and the priest. Now he's going to anoint the
king. There you have the prophet and the priest. He represents
Christ too. And in the very next chapter he anoints the king who's
going to come and really going to kill these Amalekites. Samuel
took care of the granddaddy. David going to kill them all. The king is coming, he's going
to put it away once and for all. He's going to get these old boys
out of his people's hair. A man after God's own heart who
was zealous for the truth, zealous for God's glory. He was a man
with a cause. He stood before that giant and
he said, is there not a cause? This uncircumcised Philistine
is mocking God and God's people. This is not a cause. He was just
a boy. He didn't seem like anything to anybody, but he said there's
a cause. I'm going to knock this guy's
head off and all these Philistines, all the enemies of God's people,
and though Christ appeared to be but a man, he's going to crush
the serpent's head. He's going to do away with the
sin of God's people once and for all. Not try to make it try,
but do it. David came to save God's people,
to put away their enemies, and to reign and rule over them in
wisdom and truth and justice and kindness and mercy. Now look
at 1 Samuel 30 back there, and I'll hurry. 1 Samuel 30. This is what I read to begin
with. 1 Samuel 30. Now, do you remember
this story? We preached on this one time.
Ziklag. came to this town called Ziklag
and he lived there for a while. Ziklag, him and his wives and
children and the people lived in this town of Ziklag. And it
says in verse 1, it came to pass when David and his men were come
to Ziklag. Now they had left on a journey.
David and his men had left on a journey and they were coming
back to town where their wives and children were. And it came
to pass when David and his men were come back to Ziklag on the
third day that the Amalekites had invaded the South. These
Amalekites, I'm telling you, they were a wicked and cruel
people. They had invaded the South and Ziklag and smitten
Ziklag burned it with fire, taking the women captives that were
therein. They didn't slay any. They didn't slay any, either
great or small, but carried them away, captive, and went on their
way. And David and the men came back and saw it. Sweet, kindly,
wonderful King David. King in exile. He comes to his
city, the scripture says. David, the king, comes to his
city and he finds it burned with fire. His city. It's his city. Burned with fire,
his wives, his sons, his daughter, captive by the enemy. taken captive
by the Amalekites. Christ is the king. He came to
this earth. It's his. He came to his people. There he is. There his city,
Zion, they're called. He finds the city burned with
fire under the wrath of God Almighty, under condemnation and judgment
of God, about to be destroyed for their sins. He finds his
wife, his bride, his church, his sons, his daughters, captive
to sin, Satan. He finds them that way, and it
says in verse four, look at it, and David and the people that
were with him wept. Until they couldn't weep anymore.
They remind you of a scene that we read over John eleven when
Christ came to the grave of his friend Lazarus. And all of his
people. John eleven thirty five it says
when Christ came to the tomb. I said wherever you lay him he
heard about Lazarus sickness and death he knew about it he
tarried he waited a while so he's going to raise him from
the dead he knew what was going on but he came because he caused
it but he came to that grave and Being a tender and kind and
merciful and gracious, good, loving king, friend that he was,
he came to the tomb and all these people weeping uncontrollably. His friend dead. He says he wept. He wept. He wept. Not because what happened. Not
because his buddy died, not because he didn't have any control over
it. What Christ was weeping over, and this is what this foolish
generation has missed, Christ was weeping over what sin had
done to his creation. Sin is the cause of all this. Sin causes death, weeping, wailing,
gnashing of teeth, death. And you talk about weeping, wailing,
and gnashing of teeth when people experience spiritual death. Separation
from God for eternity, they'll be weeping and wailing uncontrolled
until they don't have power to weep anymore. Christ wasn't weeping
because he was helpless and frustrated. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
David was weeping too, but he wasn't helpless. You're going
to see in a minute, David's going to do something about it. He's the king. God's king. He's able to save. He's able
to deliver. Christ wasn't weeping because
He couldn't do anything about it. No, He's the King. He's able
to even raise the dead. And He said to Mary, He said,
If you'll just wait around, you'll see the glory of God. A dead
man rise. All is not lost, yea, nothing
is lost. It all looks lost, but it ain't
going to be hiding or a hair. Not one hair is going to fall
to the ground. Not one person and David after he got through
crying he said boy get your soul to. Go get what's rightfully
ours. Wives are wise in the hands of
these evil and wicked men. Our children can't let it be. And David prays, though, first
of all, David was a praying man. He was, he besought God. Verse
six, David was greatly distressed. People spoke of stoning him. The soul of the people was grieved,
every man. But David, it says in verse six, encouraged himself
in the Lord his God, the last part. Verse seven, so David said
to Abiathar, the priest, and said, bring me the epod. Are you with me? He said to the
priest, the first thing he did, John, now, he wasn't going to
go in on his own, was he? He wasn't going to go out there
in the strength of the flesh. He said to the priest, he sought the
priest, he sought God, he said, bring the ephod, that multicolored
robe, bring it. And Abithar brought the ephod
to David, and David put it on. Now, wait a minute, only the
priest can put on the ephod? Only the priest can eat the showbread,
too, and David did that, didn't he? Went right in the temple,
said, I need something to eat. He ate showbread. Now I need
something to wear. Give me the ephod. This is the type of son of David. Christ, our great high priest,
our king. Only the priest could wear this
ephod, but he put it on. David inquired and he said, look
at this. Oh, this is great. This is glorious. David inquired
at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this truth? Shall I overtake
them? And the Lord answered, Pursue,
and thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail. Christ in the council halls of
eternity, in a covenant with God Almighty, said, Shall I go
to earth to save your people? God said, Go. And thou shalt
not fail nor be discouraged." He said to the angels, call his
name Jesus, not because it sounds good, but because he shall save
his people from their sin. Not one of them will be lost. He shall overtake them all in
the day of his power. What if they're not willing?
They shall be willing in the day of his power. What do you
mean if they're not willing? Ain't a one of them willing is
the joke. Until God makes them willing.
So David came to where they were. Here he comes. 1 Samuel 3. David came to where they were
held captive. And this is where we read at the beginning, verse
17. And David smote them, the Amalekites. He smote them all,
except a few hundred here. David, it says, look at this.
Recovered, verse 18, recovered all that the Amalekites had carried
away, and David rescued his two wives. And it says there was
nothing lacking to them, nothing lacking to them, neither small
nor great. That is, there was nobody missing. Nobody was unaccounted for. Where's poor little Jimmy? Poor
little Jimmy didn't make it. He was weak. He didn't have the
faith to pray through. Oh, no. It's all according to the power
of David, isn't it? It's all up to David. These people
were captives. And that's us, what sin has done
to us. We're captives, but it says none
will fail. None will be lacking. Neither sons nor daughters, neither
spoiled or anything that had been taken from them. All recovered.
All recovered. Verse 20. David took all the
flock. Not only that, he took everything
the Amalekites had. Everything that was theirs. Didn't
Christ say, the meek shall inherit the earth? I'm going to take
it from these wicked people and give it to my people so they
can really enjoy it. This is David's spoil, you see. This is David's doing. See how
God is quick to give all the credit? This is David's doing. Ain't nobody else had anything
to do with this, did they? David. David did that. And Christ, our
King, conquered all, the Scripture says. He put away our sins by
being made sin for us. He was smitten, stricken of God. He deserved what we deserve,
or he got what we deserve, that is, smitten, stricken of God.
That's us. We're sinners. And all of the
Malachi, sin must be put away from God's people. Not one sin
can be exposed in that final day. We've got to be holy, just,
and holy and righteous as God is. And only Christ could, because
of who he was, could put away all that sin. Agag's killed. He's dead. That old fellow's
dead. Agag. Satan. He's on a leash. He's these pinhead prophets talking
about Satan today. They put him on equal footing
with God, don't they? Put him on equal power with God.
Satan's over here wanting you, and God's over here wanting you
not. And you're just as powerful as the two of them. You cast
the deciding more. Yeah, your vote's what settles
it all. But Satan's trying, God's trying,
and they're butting heads like this. Satan's on a chain. Read
the book of Job for yourself sometimes. Start chapter one.
It said Satan came to present himself to the Lord. What are
you going to let me do today, he said. Can't go anywhere or
do anything with what you allow according to your purpose and
will. We can't explain all the evil and all that. I'm not going
to attempt to try. But know it for a certain fact that Satan
can't do anything. He's not sovereign. God's sovereign. God's sovereign. He's dead anyway. He's as good as dead. He's on
a chain. Agag's dead. He's killed. The Amalekites are
smitten. Sin is put away. They said there are 400 ewes
that got on camels and slowed to go away. 400 ewes. What's
that? Well, some sins still plague
us, don't they? Some Amalekites are still around,
aren't they? They still plague us. But the scripture says they
won't hurt you. They won't hurt you. They shall
not have dominion over you. They shall not. And he tells
us to resist in Christ, and they will flee. And later on, if you
have time, read 1 Chronicles 4. The sons of Simeon went down
and finally killed every single Amalekite that lived on the face
of the earth. Simeon's sons. Killed them all. He says nothing like him. None
of God's people will be missing in that day. The spoil is taken. God's people shall inherit the
earth. All the spoils of their king will be joint heirs for
the unsearchable riches of Christ. This is David's spoil. This is
the son of David's doings. This is Christ's doings. We don't
have a thing to do with it. Not a thing. Because of him,
through him, and to him. Scripture says, are all things. This is David's for us. That
was the title of this message. This is David's for us. And in
heaven, he's going to get all the glory. Because why? He did
it all. He did it all. Nothing lacking. Nobody missing. All taken. God's people saved. Victory in Jesus. Let's sing
that song, Jeanette. 496. That's the old, old story. That's an old, old story there.
We looked at it. This song says, I heard the old,
old story, how a Savior came from glory, gave His life on
Calvary to save a wretch like me. I heard about His groaning
and then His precious blood's atoning, and I repented. of my sins and through Christ
the victories won. Stand with me and we'll sing.
Let's sing the first and second verses. I heard an old, old story How
a Savior came from glory How He gave His life on Calvary To
save a wretch like me I heard about Him crawling Of His precious
blood's atoning Then I repented of my sins and won the victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior
forever. He sought me and bought me with
His redeeming blood. And all my love is new. Victory beneath the cleansing
blood. In Jesus, my Savior forever,
He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood. And all my love is to Him He
plunges me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. Amen.