Now let's turn again tonight to 1 Samuel chapter 30. 1 Samuel chapter 30. There were 600 men who lined up with David against King Saul and forsook everything they possessed. They forsook family, home, career, and friend, to follow David, and they did so when it was most unpopular to do so. They were willing to lay down their lives for David. They followed him through thick and thin, preferring to be with David in the caves and in the wilderness than to be with Saul in his palace. Now, a few of these men were the bravest, bravest men in Israel. They were mighty, mighty strong men.

But for the most part, David's men were a ragtag band of helpless, useless paupers. Their only hope in life was that David would graciously receive them, defend them, protect them, lead them and provide for them. The scripture tells us with regard to these men, everyone that was in distress and everyone that was in debt and everyone that was discontented gathered themselves under David and he became captain over them. Now, David, you know, as we saw this morning, was a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, the son of David.

And this ragtag body of nobody is a pretty good picture of us. We were like them. people distressed, in debt, and discontented, for we had nothing with which to content ourselves. And we've come to him by faith, and he's received us, to defend us, protect us, lead us, and provide for us, both now and forever.

Now with that in mind, I want us this evening to look again at 1 Samuel chapter 30, verses 21 through 25. You'll recall the story that's leading up to our text, and let me just refresh your memories a little bit. I won't repeat what I preached this morning, but let me just bring you up to the point where we will read.

While David and his men were away seeking peace and safety for Israel, by an alignment with Achish and the Philistines, the Amalekites came to Ziklag, and they destroyed the city. They burned it to the ground, and took captive all the women and children and all the treasures that belong to the men of Israel. They took their cattle, their sheep, and all their valuables, everything. They took it away into captivity. When David came back and saw what had happened, he encouraged himself in the Lord and he sought the counsel of God. And he said, should I go up and pursue after this people? And God said, go get them. Go get him, you'll recover everything.

And so David took his men and pursued after the Amalekites. But when they came to the brook Bezer, verses nine and 10, we read, so David went, he and his 600 men that were with him, and came to the brook Bezer, where those that were left behind stayed. But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook.

Now those words are important. The text does not say they would not go. They would have gone if they could. It says they could not go. They were faint. They were not able to pursue any longer. They were not able to go on in the fray of the battle. They were not able to go on over the brook pursuing the Amalekites.

And so while David and the 400 other men went after the Amalekites, these 200 stayed by the stuff and watched it until David returned. At last, David caught his enemies and conquered them. And when he came back, having recovered all the spoils of the Amalekites, he put those things out in front and came approaching the brook Bezer to meet these who had stayed by the stuff. And when he came before them, he drove the spoils in front of him and said, this is the spoil of David. And so as they come up, we read beginning in verse 21. 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. Now that word saluted means he asked after their well-being. He didn't just say hi, he said, are you all right? Everything okay? He was concerned about their well-being when he came back from the battle.

Then answered all the wicked men and the men of Belial, of those that went with David and said, because they went not with us, we will not give them all of the spoil that we have recovered. Now those again are important words. They reveal a great deal concerning these men, these wicked men of Belial who profess to be loyalists in the army of David. We will only give them, he says, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart. Then said David, ye 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 unto you in this matter? 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. Some of those men who went with David to the battle were proud, wicked men. Men of Belial.

And they said, essentially, we will not share the spoil with these 200 weak men who went not with us into the battle. They are not as strong as we are. They have not done as much as we have done. They've not hazarded as much as we have hazarded. And they do not deserve to be ranked with us. After all, we went to the battle, we recovered the spoils, they just stayed here by the stuff. We will not allow them then to have the reward which we have gotten for ourselves. We'll give them their wives and their children and send them on their way. Does that sound like anyone you know?

There are a good many A good many who teach that the rewards of heaven are earned by men upon this earth. They tell us that God will distribute the crowns of glory according to the merits of man's labors, works, and faithfulness upon the earth. These wicked self-righteous men of Belial will graciously condescendingly allow that such peons as we are who have nothing of merit before God will after all be saved and we will get to heaven as it were by the skin of our teeth. but because we have not performed great works as they have, because we have not accomplished great feats as they have, because we have not been as good, as faithful, as noble, as earnest, as zealous as they have, then we shall not have all the fullness of heaven's reward. And thus they, while attempting to preach grace, mix the works and merit of man with the grace of God as a grounds of reward in heaven.

And such a mixture. We cannot and we must not tolerate. Now, I raise this issue because it's an issue that is constantly, constantly placed before men from the very beginnings of religious experience. Churches all over the country. Bible colleges all over the country. Try to persuade folks that in order for you to have a greater crown in heaven, in order for you to have a bigger mansion, in order for you to live on Main Street paid with gold rather than in the slums back in the back settlements of the heavenly Canaan, you've got to do your part on this earth and give and serve and labor and preach and witness and be faithful to the church and all those things.

And I know the reason why. I know the reason, I know the basis of the whole thing. It's twofold. First, they understand that if they didn't keep folks who don't know God under the law, they would not serve God. Legalists have got to have bondage to serve. Legalists must be motivated either by the threat of punishment or the promise of reward, and thus they, by their doctrine, declare that they are mercenaries and not faithful soldiers. And secondly, the doctrine has its roots in nothing less than works religion, and it must be destroyed. All the blessings of grace come to God's elect freely, not by the merits of our works, but by the merits of Christ's righteousness and shed blood as our substitute.

So tonight I want to address this question as I told you I would this morning. Who shall be rewarded? You'll find the answer to the text in David's words in verses 23 and 24. David said, ye 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. You remember these men of Belial said, we have recovered the spoil. We'll not share that which we have recovered. And David says, now fellas, you didn't recover anything. You didn't accomplish this great feat, God did. This is what God has given us, and he says, for who will hearken to you in this matter?

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, or they shall share equally in all things. Tonight, I've got a God-given word of comfort for faint, weak, weary brethren and sisters in the family of God. Those who think they are mighty, strong and deserving a special reward from God will hear absolutely nothing pleasing to their proud hearts, but only that which will cause them great anger. But all who are children of God, dependent upon Christ alone, seeking acceptance with God only by grace through the blood of Christ, I'm certain will rejoice in what I have to say this evening. I'm going to make four statements. I'm going to draw them from this passage of scripture and demonstrate them to you from the entire volume of the word of God.

First, understand this. In the family of God, among true believers, in the church and kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, there are many faint and weak brethren. There are many, there are many. It is true there are some strong young men and fathers among the saints. But those who imagined themselves strong have got something to learn. Those who imagine themselves mighty have got something to learn.

I received a letter this week from a young fellow in Bible college, and I hope he was sincere. If he was, he'll receive what I said to him as I intended it, but he wrote and described himself as a prophet of God and a leader in the church. And I asked him, I said, who on earth made you a prophet or a leader? What makes you think that you're a prophet of God or a leader?

And the reason for saying so is that men and women must learn to understand that we're not to think so highly of ourselves. We're not to lift ourselves up in our own minds or in the minds of others as well. These men who are in the kingdom of God, truly strong men and fathers, young men who are valiant in the cause of Christ, They too are sometimes weak and faint.

And along with those strong men who sometimes are weak and faint, there are babies in grace. The mightiest hand sometimes hang down. The most faithful soldier sometimes gets weak in the knees. And in the army of Christ, the strongest ones know their weaknesses, and trust Christ as their strength. And indeed, that is our strength.

When I'm weak, then am I strong. When I know, not just talk about it, when I know that I have no strength, then I've got some strength. When I know that I'm empty, then I've got some fullness. Now I'm not talking about just talking about it, I'm not talking about just talking pious and talking religious. I'm telling you when a man knows without Christ he's nothing, in Christ he's got everything. When a man knows that without Christ, he can do nothing, he also knows that through Christ, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

No doubt, there are some sitting right here tonight whose faith is real. You love Christ sincerely, but your strength is weak and you know it. You're depressed in spirit, downcast in soul. weak in heart. And if you would, if you could rather, you would go out in the fight like these men you would pursue after the Amalekites with your David, but you can't. The scripture says, the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And this faintness comes from a number of things.

In the context that we have here, in the case of David's men, perhaps, Their weakness might be attributed to the fact that they had been cast into great perplexity by David himself. They had been cast into great perplexity by that man with whom they had aligned themselves in the cause of Christ. You see, David, mighty man that he was, strong man of faith that he was, wrongfully sought to join forces with Achish and the Philistines.

He went down to Egypt for help. We never read anything quite like this about David anywhere else. He went and tried to protect himself and these men who followed him by aligning himself with the enemies of God and the enemies of God's people. He went down to Achish and the Philistines to get help. He who had slain Goliath was now trying to find terms of peace with the Philistines. David, who would not allow his men to harm one hair on Saul's head, was now joining forces with men who were Saul's implacable and determined enemies.

And I'm sure these fellows, I don't think I'm reading anything in here. They looked at David. And they quietly, they wouldn't dare question him. David's the leader. David's the captain of the Lord's host. David is God's anointed king. Why we can't go challenge David? But they looked at David and said, David, what are you doing? What are you doing? We've come to follow you because you're loyal. We've come to follow you because you follow God. We've come to follow you because God's with you. David, what are you doing?

And in their perplexity, their hearts were made faint. You see, God's people are often perplexed and weakened, often hindered by misguided zeal, untempered words, and faulty examples in their God-ordained leaders. Now I'm not talking about false prophets. I'm talking about faithful men. Faithful men who err in speech and conduct and in attitude. When pastors and elders and deacons, teachers and leaders in the kingdom of God behave in a manner that is out of character and contrary to the gospel of Christ, they do great harm to the family of God. In God's good providence, you men who are deacons here, little Lindsay, whom God has gifted as a teacher here, and this man who is attempting to lead you in the kingdom of God, God has given us a position of great honor in his kingdom.

Let us be careful. Let us be careful to adorn the gospel of Christ and to mark a plain path so that those who follow us may walk in the plain path of uprightness, faith, and righteousness. I say for us particularly, but the same is true for every one of you. We who are God's children, we who profess faith in Christ, are in God's providence all given positions of leadership and direction over some. Let us be careful that we lead them right.

Be careful that you walk uprightly before them. Be careful that you set a proper example. Fathers and mothers, don't be so foolish. Now listen to me. Don't be so foolish as to imagine that your children will do what you say rather than do what you do. They won't do it. They won't do it. The only time they'll do that is if you say the wrong thing. They will follow your example. I promise you, they'll follow your example.

So set before them an example of faith and faithfulness, contentment and commitment to Christ, An example of encouragement and kindness in all things in the kingdom of God. David, in a time of weakness and unbelief, frustration, set before his brethren an example of weakness.

Seeking safety by compromise. And many in perplexion followed his example. And they, they just, they couldn't go anymore. They just could not pursue after the Amalekites. I can't stress enough the importance of a proper example among those whom God has given a position of leadership.

We're going to go downstairs in a little bit, celebrate our brother's 90th birthday. And, uh, You'll forgive me if I digress a little bit. God commands us to give honor to whom honor is due. And I've had the privilege of being this man's pastor for 15 years as yours. What an example of faith. What an example of faithfulness he's given us to follow.

See that you do. See that you do for the glory of God. See that you do. And see that you set the same example. so that when your hairs are gray and your step is faltering and you can't remember everything the way you wish you could remember it, folks, remember the example you set before them for the glory of Christ. God give us that kind of grace, that kind of faithfulness.

No doubt these 200 men became weak because they looked at the events of providence instead of looking at the God of Providence. Oh, I've been guilty of that, haven't you? You remember when Peter began to sink? When he was walking across the water? It's when he stopped looking at the Savior who said, come to me, he began to look at the waves.

And these fellows came to Ziklag, and all they could see was the burning embers of their city. All they could see was the empty place where once their wives and children were. All they could see was nothing but ashes, that's it. And they must have thought, well, what's the use? What's the use? Everything they cherished was gone. Now, these were not ordinary trials.

I've seen strong men break under less pressure than this. We look at our circumstances and conclude the worst when we do. I don't know why, except because of our sin and unbelief, but we always do. We look at our circumstances and conclude the worst. We just presume. I mean, we forget everybody and everything else, and we think, oh, woe is me. That's our attitude. That's our thought. That's our way of handling things. When everything around us makes it appear that God's against us, we might quote Romans 8, 28, but we have great difficulty understanding that God's for us.

These men couldn't pursue the Amalekites. They could not obey God's command for God commanded them to pursue the Amalekites. But they couldn't do it because they looked at Ziklag's ashes rather than God's promise. And we do a whole lot of looking at our ashes. We do a whole lot of looking at our losses and looking at our troubles and looking at our woes rather than God's promise in his word.

They tried to obey. They got their gear up. They'd been out with David pursuing a treaty with Achish, and they had done what they could, and they said, all right, David, we'll go after them. But they got to Beezer, and they said, just can't go anymore. Just can't go anymore. The packs got too heavy. They simply couldn't pursue. And I say that because I want you to understand, we must never Never, never determine what God's will is by our experiences of providence.

You got that? Oh, Mark, God's given you those two boys, that wife, and you got such a lovely family. Don't presume. when difficulty comes with a family, sickness, difficulty. Don't presume that suddenly God has ceased to be gracious. Men and women so many times have such difficulties with their families, such difficulties in domestic trouble, such difficulties in raising children, such difficulties in sickness and bereavement and sorrow. And they think, oh, God's turned his back. God's forgotten to be gracious.

Don't judge God's goodness or God's will by providence, but rather judge providence by God's revelation. Nothing will help us through this world more than understanding that. Judge God's providence by what God says in his word, not what you see with your eyes. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace.

Behind the frowning providence, he hides his smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste, oh, how sweet will be the flower. Now the only cure for this weakness of faith is faith itself, nothing else. We know, I think we do know it, that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. Knowing such, Let us trust the wisdom of God, the goodness of God, and the promise of God in all things.

Again, I'm quite sure that these men became faint because the task before them was simply overwhelming. Not only did they see a perplexing thing in David and experience weakness in themselves by looking at their circumstances, but they had been given a huge, huge, enormous task. Here's a band of 600 men, a ragtag band. And they are called by God to go with David up against the Amalekites, who were a well-trained, well-disciplined, well-armed army, and go take them. And I can just picture them. With what? How are we going to do this? How on this earth is this little band of fellas with nothing going to go up against that huge army and take them into captivity?

Now they had the command of God and the promise of God, but they couldn't think of anything but their weakness and the Amalekite strength. And the fear of failure and defeat made them too weak to fight. And it's hard to be very severe with these faint fellows when you realize that they're very much like us.

The most powerful, successful foe in this world is fear. I never met anything like it in my life, did you? Fear. I know that with Winston Churchill, it was just a matter of rousing philosophy, and it roused pretty good. He said, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. And I'm telling you, for us as believers, that's just the only thing we got to fear, is fear itself.

Fear makes every enemy a giant. Faith slays the giant. Saul and his armies and Goliath. And Saul and his armies are just trembling. They're scared to death. All those well-trained soldiers with all their discipline and all their armaments are scared to death of giant Goliath. Here comes one little ragtag boy with a slingshot. Says, give me a shot at it. What are you going up against him with? With a slingshot? No, sir. With the name of God. That's sufficient.

Fear makes every path a mountain, inscalable. Faith levels the mountain. Fear makes every brook, like the Brook Beezer, a torrential river. Faith crosses the brook, swimming if necessary, building a bridge if necessary, swinging across on the vine if necessary, but faith crosses the brook. Fear makes every tree a forest. I can't do that. Look at that huge forest.

I recall when I was a boy hearing a story, a cute story, but oh, what a lesson. This little old bitty scrawny fella went up in the Northwest and applied for a job as a logger. The fellow took one look at him and he said, wow, you can't cut down any trees. He said, you had any experience? He said, yes, sir. He said, where? He said, did you ever hear of the Sierra Forest? He said, well, I know. I heard of the Sierra Desert once. He said, that's what it was. It was Sierra Forest when I got there, Sierra Desert when I left. The fellow said, you cleared the Sierra Forest?

We can't do anything. Just start working on the tree, one at a time. Fear takes the forest one tree at a time and makes a huge forest of it. Faith takes the forest one tree at a time and levels every obstacle. Fear is sizing the obstacle, measuring, counting, looking. Faith obeys the will of God. Fear looks to the strength of the enemy.

Go up against the Amalekites? David, you've lost your mind. You cannot possibly have understood the Lord right. Go up against the Amalekites? Faith. Here's the promise of God. He said we can overtake them. We'll recover everything. God said so. Now apply this to the church and to the work of the gospel. I don't know how many times, God forgive me, you forgive me. I don't know how many times I have said, we can't do that. We can't do that. Faith says if God's in it, we can do it. If God's in it, we can do it, anything, anything. By the grace of God, for the glory of Christ, according to the will of God, we will do what God gives us to do. That's the attitude of faith.

Secondly, not only does God have many faint, weak children in his family, but I want you to see that the Lord Jesus Christ is especially the Lord of his faint and weak ones. David, we're told back in chapter 22 in verse two, was captain over this bunch of weak ragamuffins. Everyone that was distressed in debt and discontent, these are the ones who gathered to David. And in this too, he's a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were head over heels in debt, without a penny to pay, good for nothing, worthless. They came to Christ just like that.

When I looked to him, when first I called on his name, when first I began to seek after him, and I'm telling you the truth, nobody topside of this earth would have anything to do with me. Nobody. Nobody. And if I had been them, I wouldn't want anything to do with me. But he took me just as I was, just as I am by nature. Received me and became captain over me.

Now we are not among those self-praising, mighty, proud ones who accomplish great feats of holiness and wonders of righteousness by which they suppose that they have made themselves great before God, so great that now God is obliged somehow to give them great reward, exalting them above other men. We have no part with such men.

We mourn our weakness and our iniquities, our transgressions and our sins. And if we could, if we could do what we would, if we could serve him in every detail as we ought, but we've only done that which is right for us to do. If we could love Him perfectly and obey Him perfectly, we recognize that doesn't earn us anything. That doesn't merit us anything.

We ought to love Him perfectly. We ought to obey Him perfectly. That's just right. That's just our duty. But we do rejoice in His faithfulness. We delight to be the Lord, to be the servants of this Lord who delights to be Lord of sinners who need him. And he will not cast us off because we need him. We are often in distress and in distress by reason of our own weakness.

But even then Christ is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. You read this passage carefully in the one preceding it. And you will see that it was a regrettable sin on David's part that Ziklag was burned. It wouldn't have been burned if he hadn't been out trying to join forces with Achish and the Philistines. He'd have been right there when the Amalekites came.

And yet the Lord doesn't forsake him because of his sin. He doesn't punish him because of his sin. He didn't even rebuke him because of his sin, but rather, overlooking his sin, the Lord greatly rewarded him because of his grace. He graciously dealt with him, not because of anything in David, but because of great mercy in him. Though it was through weakness that these men stayed behind at Beza, David still used them and still rewarded them as if they had been single-hearted and had single-handedly defeated the Amalekites.

Isn't that amazing? While God in his providence brings the Amalekites against Zikwag, He causes them to do what Amalekites were not known for doing. He causes them not to kill anybody or any cattle. They just took it all as hostage. They took it all as a spoil. And when David comes back, he takes David, whose fault it was that Ziklag failed, and used David to conquer the Amalekites. That's just like it. That's just like it. Now our Lord chastens us for sin. Let none think lightly of it.

But he doesn't punish us for sin, he punished our sin in Christ. He reproves us, but he never renounces us. He never forsakes or ceases to love his own. He loves all his children and loves us with the same love. He is with us even when we stray from him. No, especially when we stray from him. He protects us even when we sin. Oh, bless his name. He protects us especially. mercy. He protects us. It is because we are weak and needy that the Lord Jesus Christ is ever present and willing to help us, defend us, protect us, and provide for us. Now third, the Lord Jesus will come again to his faithful.

I'll just of skim across this and get to the next point. But as soon as David had finished his business with the Amalekites, he returned to his faint and weak brethren at Bezer and was determined to make them know the joy of his accomplishment. David came to these 200, driving in front of him, all the spoils of victory, all that he had recovered, all that he had taken from the Amalekites, and shouted, this is David's spoil. And when David met him, he said, how you doing? Y'all all right? Everything well? Everybody's safe? No harm come to you? He saluted them. What a picture.

Though our Lord Jesus often hides himself from us for a season. And we are made to sing from our souls those deep, deep notes of that song Judy sang earlier, how tedious and tasteless the hour when Jesus no longer I see. He does it for our good. He hides his face from us so we'll see That's the reason. When we would turn our back on him, he puts his hand in by the hole of the door and causes our bowels to move toward him, and he causes us to sink in.

And when those poor, faint, weak, and needy ones see him coming again, oh, how they rejoice. I can kind of picture these fellas staying by the stuff. They have seen David and armies go off chasing after the Amalekites. And they're staying there for a couple of days now. And here they are out in this wilderness area.

What's gonna happen if Saul comes over now? Wonder if David will come back. After all, we didn't go with him. And when David comes back, I can see everyone standing to their feet. Oh, how delightful to see David. And when our Lord has withdrawn himself for a season and hides his face from us for a season, oh, how blessed it is when he comes back.

By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him not. I'll rise and go about the city, in the streets, and in the broad ways. I'll seek him whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him not. The watchman that go about the city found me, to whom I said, saw ye him whom my soul loveth? It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth. I held him and would not let him go.

Not only does our Lord return in grace, but soon the Lord Jesus will come again to call us his faint ones home. And we will go out with anxious hearts to meet him. Oh, blessed, blessed day. Then our fainting will be over. Then our weakness will be ended forever. Now, one last thing. When our Lord Jesus does come again, he will grant his faint and weak ones a full inheritance in glory. He will withhold nothing.

Look in 2 Samuel. Chapter 2, 2 Samuel 2. When David was made king in Israel, in chapter 2 and verse 3, we read, his men that were with him, these same 600 men, did David bring up every man with his household, and they dwelt in the cities of Ephraim with David. As David became an advocate for these 200 faint men in the teeth of their accusers, so the Lord Jesus will be an advocate for us in the day of judgment. Now you look at the reasons David gave for giving all of his men an equal share in his spoils, and you'll discover why it is that we must insist that all of God's saints will have all the fullness of heaven's glory, all of it.

First, the rewards of heaven are Christ's spoils, not ours. He won the victory, we didn't. These fellows came back and said, this is David's spoil. Whatever heaven's glory is, Christ bought it. We don't have anything to do with it. Christ earned it, we didn't earn it. Secondly, the church of God is one body and we are one with Christ.

Notice how David identifies and unites himself with his brethren. He uses that precious word us, us. They shall be made partakers with us. Each one shall partake alike. David said, the Lord preserved us. The Lord gave us the spoil. And you and I are so really and truly one with Christ that we cannot be in any way divided from him.

He says, Father, give me the glory which I had with you before the world was. He's talking about the glory of his mediatorial accomplishments. And he looks at his children. you and he says the glory that you gave me I'll give you. The father made him to rule over everything and he makes us to rule over everything. The father gave him everything and he gives us everything. The glories of heaven are all gifts of grace. David says of these spoils, it is that which the Lord hath given us.

Human merit has nothing to do with heaven's glory. I don't know where I do know where the doctrine came from. This idea of degrees of reward in heaven is nothing on this earth but a remnant of papacy. And their doctrine of purgatory by which the papists have, throughout their history, endeavored to get folks to do and to give. If you'll do, then God will reward. If you'll give, then God won't punish. Oh, what nonsense, what nonsense. Our works cannot merit God's favor. Our works cannot merit God's blessings. The crowns of heaven are crowns of grace. The thrones of heaven are thrones of grace. The mansions of glory are mansions of grace. The songs of heaven's redeemed are all songs of grace. The weak and the faint believer, after all, serves Christ just as sincerely, just as fully, just as truly, as do the strong and zealous. These men could not go to battle. They were too weak. But even in their weakness, there was something they could do.

They could stay by the stuff. They could do that. David says, could you fellows be all right to stay here and take care of the stuff? And I said, yeah, we can do that. We can do that. And there they stayed. If they had not stayed by the stuff, the other men couldn't have won the victory. Somebody had to stay by the stuff. They were more fearful than the others, but they were not less earnest and useful than their stronger brethren. And our Lord, And David honored them, even though they were faint and fearful. And he still does. He honors those who do what they can for him.

Sometimes I am more than a little embarrassed in traveling other places, folks. make too much over guest preachers and make too much over what they think an individual man does. But people somehow imagine that the man who preaches and the man who writes and the man who's out in the forefront, he's the man who's in the service of the Lord. But our Lord teaches us so much to the contrary. to teach him about giving.

And he said, now fellas, don't pay any attention to that rich man and don't pay any attention to that fella with a large estate. Don't pay any attention to that fella who comes in and pomp and pageantry and his servants carry his gifts to the altar for him, don't pay any attention. And he sees one widow with two pennies and she slips up Drops it into the treasury and slips back to her seat. Our Lord said, watch her.

You want to learn something about giving, there it is. They out of their abundance gave a little. She out of her deep poverty had given all she had. And he honored her. That woman who came behind him and anointed him for the burying, with an alabaster box of ointment. I don't even know her name, but our Lord Jesus said, wherever the gospels preach, you tell folks about her. Tell them she did what she could. She did what she could.

I don't know whether you have read it carefully. I hope you have. On the bottom of the first page of our bulletin today, no individual believer can do everything that needs to be done for the glory of God and the good of men's souls. You can't and I can't. But it is his duty to do what he can. Yours and mine. Now you can't do what God gave me to do. And I can't do what God's given you to do. But it's Rex Bartley's most reasonable duty to do what God's put in your hand to do. for his glory. And it's Don Faulkner's most reasonable duty to do what God's put in his hands to do for his glory. And those who do will be astounded in the day of judgment to see how far reaching their sphere of influence has been.

One last thing. These men received their reward simply because the king said this way it's gonna be. David said this is a statute in Israel forever. And our Lord Jesus says to you and I, fear not little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

And he's gonna give it to you. He's gonna give it to you. the weak and the strong. Those who are found in the thick of the fray and those who are weak and faint and stay down here by Beezer and can't cross over that little brook because they're weak and faint, stay by this dock. He will give you his kingdom and all his glory.

Now I'm telling you, who are here without Christ, if you would inherit the very glory of God in Jesus Christ, if you would obtain all the fullness of grace and glory, if you would obtain God's salvation, look to Christ. For God's salvation is in. He's in. He's in. God helped you. to trust his son. And God make us faithful in all things, as he is faithful to us. Amen.