Go with me to 1 Samuel 30. Read
with me the first four verses of 1 Samuel 30. And it came to pass when David And his men would come to Ziklag.
Now, David had been living here in this town, Ziklag, which was
in the country of the Philistines. And he left and he came back.
And they came back on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded
the south and Ziklag. And smitten Ziklag. And burned
it with fire. And had taken the women captives
that were therein. They slew not any, either great
or small, but carried them away and went on their way. So David
and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burned with
fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters were
taken captives. Then David and the people that
were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had
no more power to weep. Now half of this book, 1 Samuel
and all of the next, 2 Samuel, is the life of David, a real
man, one of God's children, one of God's elect. It is a story
of his life from the beginning until the end of his life. You
know, the Scripture says we spend our years as a tale that is told. All of God's people, God's elect,
whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, their stories
have been preordained by God. All about it has been predestined
by our God and written in the Book of Life, everything concerning
us. And the life of David, this is
the life of David, but there's a much greater story in this
book. A much greater story. A story
within a story. It's the story of the son of
David. God calls his son by the name of son of David, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who was made, we read last night, of the seed
of David. This book says, in the volume
of the book, it is written of him. who came to do His will,
which was save God's people that were taken captive, recover all
that was lost. That's why He came, the Son of
David. But we miss a blessing if we don't consider the actual
story here, the story of David. And in all Scriptures that we
read, we miss a blessing if we don't see the real story there,
the real people, God's people. who went through real troubles
and real trials just like us. Now, David is in Ziklag, this
town. It's not Israel. It's a foreign
country. This is not the city of God,
Jerusalem. He's going there. That's where
he's going to end up. But he's not there now. David
is not where he belongs right now. He's a stranger in a strange
land. But the Lord is going to bring
him to his city, Jerusalem. But he puts David through great
trials to get him there. And doesn't the Scripture say
of all of God's people, we have here no continuing city, but
we look for one which is to come? A heavenly, a much better, a
new Jerusalem. And the Lord says to all of his
sons, in the world you shall have tribulation in this journey,
in this pilgrimage, They were strangers and pilgrims here. And one way that the Lord used
to teach David that he didn't belong in Ziklag, in God's wonderful
province, one way that He taught David that he didn't belong in
this place where he was, was by turning everyone there against
him. He was down in Ziklag. He didn't
belong there. And the Lord made the Philistines
turn against him and say, What are you doing here? We know who
you are. You don't belong here. Get him out of here. He's not
one of us. And the same it is with God's
people. He said, We're not of this world. The Lord prayed to
the Father, didn't He? They're not of this world, even
as I'm not of this world. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of it. There's a purpose for them. But
I pray that you should keep them from the evil in that work. And even David's household was
turned against him. In this story it says they spoke
of stoning him and did not Christ say about his people, a man's
enemies shall be those of his own household? And those that were with him,
it says they wept until they could weep no more. They had
no more power to weep. Ever been there? It says he was
greatly, in verse 6, they were greatly distressed. David was
greatly distressed. He was as low as you could get. Everybody's against him. Where's
he going to go? What's he going to do? When you're
as low as low can be, where are you going to look? There's only
one way to look. It says here, look at verse 6,
it says in the last line, David encouraged himself, and the Lord
is God. Like old Eli, when all of that
happened to his household and so forth, all he could say was,
he didn't understand why it happened, but all he could say to comfort
his own mind and heart was, it's the Lord. Old Job, you know the story of
Job, don't you? When all that happened to Job
in the Lord's Senate, didn't it? Satan was an instrument.
Other things were the instrument of the death of his family and
all, but God killed them. God said, I kill and I make alive. Accidents don't kill things or
people, God does. That's our comfort. Old Job said, naked I came. I
came into this world without anything and everything I have
is by the grace of God. This family, God gave it to me.
My wife, my children, all my belongings, God gave it to me
and I'm going to leave this world without it. The Lord gave it
and the Lord took it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And that's our only recourse,
isn't it? The trial has come. It's the
Lord. So he encouraged himself But
he asked the Lord. He called upon the Lord. He asked
the Lord, What shall I do? Look at it. Verse 8, David inquired
of the Lord, Shall I go? Shall I overtake them? What shall
I do? Shall I go on? I don't know how
to go on. Where do I go from here? And
the Lord said, Go. Go. And the Lord says to us,
You are encompassed with a great cloud of witnesses. Here's one. We're looking at it. People like
you and me who went through great trials and God said His grace
was sufficient. Was it? It was. So He says to His people, run
this race. Go on. Walk by faith. Run. And looking unto the Lord
Jesus Christ, your Deliverer. Now the real story. The story within the story, the
purpose of this in every story. David's purpose, the story of
this story in David's life was for this purpose, the tale of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And our story, the reason we
were born into this world and the reason we went through all
the things we've gone through and the reason the Lord saves
us is for His glory, for His story, a greater story. For this purpose He raised us
up. to show us the Son of David, the captain of our salvation.
Let's look at it. Like David's wives and children,
the sons of God we saw last night are held captive, taken captive
by Satan at his will. Taken captive by sin and the
bondage of sin. Scripture says they are under
the bondage of the fear of death. The bondage to Satan, sin, and
the world. This is no fairy tale. I'm not
telling a fairy tale here, this is true. And those who have been
in it, they know. And God Almighty sent His Son,
His name is Immanuel, God with us. God Almighty sent His Son
into this world for the express purpose of delivering His children
from this captivity. And the way He delivers us is
delivering us from sin, which held us captive and under its
penalty, and he did that by being made sin, by bearing the weight
of that sin upon himself. The Lord delivered his people
from the law which held us captivity, didn't it? These handwriting
of ordinances that are against us. The Lord Jesus Christ, Scripture
says, nailed them to his cross, blotted them out, and suffered
the penalty of that law. The Lord Jesus Christ came here
to deliver us from Satan. who held us captive. How? He's
stronger than him, so he bound him. Satan is a fallen angel, is he
not? So that means he's on a chain. That's a joke. And this mission of mercy which
the Lord Jesus Christ came on, this mission to rescue his people,
this great, Scripture says, it's a great work of salvation, was
purposed by the Father and the Son before this world began.
in a covenant purposed by them. Look at verse 8. A similar meeting
was held between the Father and the Son in which the Son said,
Shall I go and pursue? Shall I go and overtake? Shall
I overtake them? And the Father said to the Son,
Pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake them. And without fail,
recover all. Oh yeah, this actually took place,
a covenant between the Father and the Son in which the Father
was sending the Son to this earth to recover His people from their
captivity, to deliver them by being their ransom. And so it
is written in Isaiah 42, Behold My servant. And He said, He shall
not fail. Shall not fail. The Lord Jesus
Christ. David, it says, wept, didn't
he? The Lord Jesus Christ came here,
a man. And I love that story of the Lord at Lazarus' tomb,
don't you? Shortest verse in all of Scripture.
It says he wept. Jesus wept. Now, our Lord wept. I believe there he wept because
of the—not out of helplessness. No, no, no, no, no. Not because he wished this hadn't
happened. There's nothing they could do about it. Oh, no, no,
no, no. That's why he came. He came to this tomb to do something
about it. I believe the Lord wept because
of the ravages of sin upon his world. The consequences. That's the end. And we weep.
Oh, my. We weep and we sorrow. We lay
our loved ones in the grave that we love. This is the consequences
of sin. And we sorrow. but not as those
who have no hope. The Lord didn't weep. Scripture
also says there in Isaiah 42, He shall not fail or be discouraged. He has come on a mission. He
came to raise Lazarus. And He came to raise all His
people. This is the Father's will. That everyone that sees
the Son, He will raise them up. I love the fact, Brother Tom,
that every funeral our Lord attended, the person got up and left and
walked out alive. You can't live and you can't
die. You can't stay dead in the presence of life. He was not discouraged. The Lord
Jesus Christ didn't come to this earth to try to do anything.
He came on a mission. That's what we heard last night. He came to do a work. He finished
it. His dying words were. His first words recorded was,
I must be about my father's business. His dying words were, I did it.
I accomplished it. No, not discouraged. He's a man on a mission. David's story. When the Amalekites
attacked David's people. Now you know who David is. You
know anything about David? He's a great man. He's a man's
man, wasn't he? Had nobody like him, David, at
that time. As a boy, he took a lion in his
bare hands, and a bear, didn't he? And slew him, grabbed him
by the beard and slew him. He had one of his lambs. See,
he's the good shepherd. He never lost a sheep. Old Saul
couldn't even find his asses. But David never lost a sheep. You think God doesn't have a
sense of humor? His father's name was Kish, and
Kish's asses were lost. Saul couldn't find his asses.
David never lost a sheep. David is a type of the Son of
God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He never lost a sheep. He's the
good shepherd. He's the chief shepherd. He's
the great shepherd. What makes him such a good shepherd? He
never lost a sheep. He leaves a nine and a nine and
goes after one. That's how good a shepherd he
is. He's not willing that one of them should perish. And bless God, they never have.
Never will. To the praise of the glory of
this great shepherd. When these Amalekites attacked
David's people and took David's wife, they attacked David. And
you've attacked the wrong man. Abigail was one of them. I bet
you Abigail was saying, you boys don't know what you've done.
She saw David's wrath, didn't you? Don't you know? And perhaps her family, they
were worried about what was going to happen to them. And Abigail
said, don't y'all worry. My husband's David. He's coming
to get us. For the life of me, I don't know
why this world wants that Jesus that they worship. This other
Jesus can't save a fleet. Their rock is not like our rock.
Their Jesus is not our Jesus. His name means Savior. That's
exactly what He did and what He does. Everybody God purposes
to save, He sends the Savior. Well, when these Amalekites attacked
David's people and took David's wives, they attacked David and
they attacked the wrong man. And Buddy, whatever is done to
God's people, whoever attacks them, whoever holds them captive,
they've attacked the wrong man. And old David is a man. No one
is going to stop him until his enemies are destroyed and all
of his people are ransomed. And God Almighty sent a man to
this earth. Aren't you thankful God sent
a man? And aren't you thankful throughout eternity we're going
to have a man to look to? Flesh and bone, not blood, he
poured all that out. Flesh and bones. When he appeared
to his disciples after he arose, he said, touch me, handle me.
A spirit hath not flesh and bones. We want to have a flesh and bone
man to see. To hug up to, as Brother Maurice
would say. To touch and handle. The Word
of life would make flesh. A matchless man, a strong man,
armed an incomparable, uncomfortable man. Even his enemies had to
say, Behold the man. There has never been another
like him. If you attack his people, you
have attacked the wrong man. So the Lord Jesus Christ came
and would not rest until his work was finished. And nothing
and no one would or could stop him until he had recovered them
all. Well, look at it. And he takes
with him six hundred men, verse 9. David went, he and six hundred
that were with him came to the brook. Well, verse 10 says they
pursued and four hundred men, two hundred became faint and
weak and they had to stay behind. So here he came with four hundred
men. Four hundred men he comes. And he comes down to where he
pursues after this troop that has his family in captivity.
Jump on down to verse 16. It says, And when he had brought
him down, when this guide brought him down, behold, they, these
Amalekites, were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and
drinking and dancing, having a big old time. We've got away
with it because of all the great spoil.
Look what we've done. Look what we've taken. And they
were having a big old time, a big party, not realizing the great
danger that they were in. Are you reading between the lines?
If not, I'll tell you. Now, David has come. He's not
in love with this bunch. Do you understand me? David doesn't
love these people, Tom, does he? He's going to kill them.
everything that pisseth against the wall. That's the words of
Scripture. They're under the wrath of David,
aren't they? Not to love. David didn't send some little
peanut, little pissant messenger down there to tell them how much
David loves them and that they'll accept him as their personal
Savior, God have mercy on them. No, sir! They're going to die. But David has his eye on his
beloved ones. That's who he has his eye on,
an eye of mercy, an eye of love, an eye to get them out of there.
Joe, he's going to get them out. But the rest of them are going
to die. If you're under David's love, you're safe. If not, his wrath abides upon
you. And people, the message we preach
to this God-hating, son of God-killing world, these bunch of trespassers,
you know that's what all men are, trespassing on God's earth
without giving Him a thought, without thanking Him, without
asking Him His permission, squatters on God's earth, scoffers and
mockers, don't even acknowledge Him at all. God's not in love
with this earth. He's angry. And this world who knows one
verse of Scripture in the Bible, John 3.16 doesn't have a clue
what verse 36 says, does it? But the wrath of God abides upon
it. And they're laughing and having a big old time like he
read there in Genesis 6. We got away with it. It's fitting
that I deal with this. It's a more nice, sunshiny day.
The days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.
The sun was shining when Noah went into that ark. Not a drop
of rain had fallen. And that made people laugh all
the more. But then it fell, didn't it?
And they knew not, Scripture said, until the judgment came. There's a person, Ecclesiastes
8.11, that says, because sentence against an evil work is not speedily
executed. Therefore, the heart of the sons
of men is fully set in them to do evil." We got away with it. No, you didn't. They said at Calvary's cross,
they said, let his blood be upon us and our children. And it is. It is. At the same time, God in mercy
and grace has that blood upon us and bless God, some of our
children. Oh, man. Our message, our first message
to this world is not God loves you. That's a lie. Old Brother
Barnard got up that day a few years ago and said two greatest
lies have ever been told. One is that God loves everybody
and two is that Christ died for everybody. He said neither one
of them. And if God does love you, and
the love of God, Scripture says, is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. That ark, had there been a bumper
sticker on it, it would have been on the inside. Smile. God loves you. Right? Oh, the love of God is in Christ
Jesus, our Lord, isn't it? The message to this generation
in the beginning of wisdom, saving wisdom, is the fear of the Lord.
So the message to this generation is repent or perish. Old-fashioned. Did some old, long-bearded, crazy
man prophet say that? No, Jesus Christ said that. You know, knowing David, I bet
you Abigail might have said that. Knowing David, she might have
said to her enemies, these captives, she said, you know, you've done
a terrible thing, but if right now you would just go and ask
David mercy, it doesn't matter what you've done. Right now,
you just go and ask David mercy. I know David. I've seen him have
mercy. You just ask him mercy. He'll have mercy. He's a merciful
man, ready to pardon. And our Lord is merciful, ready
to pardon, isn't He? He says, all manner of sin and
blasphemy shall be forgiven among men. All manner. But you don't
know what I've done. He does. And He said, all manner, didn't
He? Right now, if you ask Him mercy,
right now, He'll show it. He's talking about taking applications
for mercy. Every single person who's applied
for acceptance has been accepted. Every single person who has applied
for my Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. You got it. Every
single one. He doesn't turn any way. And we have not because we have
not. Ask and you'll receive. Seek
and you'll find. Knock and it will be opened to you. The door
of the ark is open. It is open. Whosoever will come. You can't blame God, can you? Oh, no. So David came. Here he comes. And our Lord came. The first
time our Lord came was in mercy. A mission of mercy and grace. He said, I have not come to destroy
man's lives, but to save them. I have not come to destroy the
world, but to save it. He came in a work of redemption,
but He is coming again the next time. No mercy, but wrath and
judgment. And it says in our text, it says
in verse 17, He came down, David came down and smoked them from
twilight even into the evening of the next day. And there escaped
not a man of them, save four hundred young men which rode
on camels. As I said, this is no fairy tale.
This is God's Word. You cannot lie. And he said,
listen to this, no fairy tale, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is this that cometh from Edom with thy garments from Bosra? This that is glorious in his
apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. I that speak
in righteousness mighty to save. Wherefore, why art thou red in
thine apparel and thy garments, like him that treadeth in the
wine-vats? I have trodden, I have trodden the winepress alone,
and of the people there was none with me. I did this work for
them, and I will tread upon them in my fury, and their blood shall
be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.
The day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeeming
is come." No fairy tales. Revelations talks
about the blood being up to the bridles of the horses. And David slowed them. He really
did. It was a horrible slaughter.
Horrible slaughter. What they did, what we did to
the Son of God was worse. Horrible slaughter. His blood
wasn't shed in vain. It was on purpose. We did what
God determined before to be done. That very blood which we shed
was the blood that redeemed our souls, that ransomed us. But the Lord is coming again
in wrath and judgment. Here in our text it says that
David allowed these 400 young men, he slew them all, he smoked
them all, but he allowed 400 young men on camels to flee. Scripture says a wrath of man
shall praise him. that the remainder of wrath he
will restrain. Somebody may have been worried
about those 400 men on camel. David said, don't worry about
it, just men on camel. This whole world is worried about
a fellow named Osama bin Laden, aren't they? He's just a man
on camel. Huh? All of this is the Lord's
doing. You know, we need to fear the
Lord. No, that's the beginning of it. Let's fear Him who sent
Him. God sent that man. Like the Tower of Siloam. Those
towers didn't fall accidentally or somebody had a whim. No. The
Lord said, I kill. Judgment's mine. The wrath of
God is clearly revealed from heaven, isn't it? Clearly revealed.
Men don't perceive it. I've spoken once. Twice they
perceive it. No. Clearly seen. Now, fear the Lord. That's the
beginning of wisdom. And then you won't fear men on
camels. They are let loose on purpose. These demons of the
devil are let loose on purpose. Do His will. The remainder of
wrath He will restrain. Look at verse 18 and 19. Oh,
here is the conclusion of this wonderful story. And it says,
And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away.
And David rescued his two wives. Read on. And there was nothing
lacking to them, nothing missing, either small or great. Not one
hoof left behind. Sons or daughters, neither spoiled
or anything that they had taken, that these enemies had taken
away, David recovered all. A double L, all. Recovered all. Back during World War II, it's
a true story. There was a prisoner of war camp
in the Philippines. It was Japanese-held Philippines
at the time. And there was an American prisoner
of war camp that the Japanese had, and they had 511 prisoners
of war, 511 American soldiers held captive. And this is a true story. It's
written as the greatest rescue operation in the annals of military
history, still to this day. And the government of the United
States was determined to get those prisoners out. And so they
called upon the best man. They got together and they decided
on the very best man for this rescue operation, a man named
Henry. His last initial M, Henry Moussa, a man born of Italian
immigrant, a distinguished soldier and merit. And he was a colonel,
Colonel Henry Moussa. So the government, from the president
on down, they elected Henry Moussa to go after these prisoners of
war. And he took with him a hundred
Army Rangers, and they went to this vastly fortified prison of war, prison compound
in the Philippines. They were vastly outnumbered.
Estimates have it maybe a thousand Japanese soldiers guarding this
camp. Five hundred and eleven American prisoners in that camp.
When it's all over, five hundred and eleven prisoners came out. Not one of them wounded or dead. It's called the great raid. I
got a story better than that. It's called so great a salvation. God said, behold, my servant,
mine elect. Now you know what that means.
God said, this is my choice man. I'm sending him to recover my
people. How many are there? as the stars
of the sky and the sands of the sea. Well, how many did he recover? All of them. What do you reckon
those soldiers thought about Henry Musial? Hero. My captain of my salvation. I bet we got one of them. That's
our Lord. And it says in conclusion, it
says in verse 20, and David took all the flocks and herd, everything
that the enemy held, he took it all. He took it all. It says, this is David's spoils.
He says, it now belongs to me. All of it. Rescued all his people,
all his wives, not one of them missing. Recovered it all. And everything that the enemy
took, he recovered all that back. It all belonged to Him. Scripture
says to this end, Christ both died and buried and rose again
that He might be Lord, the dead and the living. God has given
all things into His hand. Ask me, I'll give you the heathen
for your inheritance. He's the heir of all things, the owner
of all things. He bought it all. He earned it all. He conquered
it all. Overcame it all. He recovered all that we lost
in Adam. All his people. And God gave
it all to Him. And the rest of this story, if
you go back and read it for yourself, it would be a real blessing.
Those weak ones that couldn't go down with David, when David
was dividing all the spoils up, when he was dividing all the
spoils, David was a just man. And those that couldn't go, those
that were weak, those that couldn't go, they were back there praying
for David's victory, weren't they? The 400 men went with him,
strong men. Nevertheless, when it was all
over, it all belonged to David. David spoils. And David said,
I'm going to divide it up, all these four. And he said, everybody
gets the same part. Whether you went with me or you
stayed behind, whether you're strong or whether you're weak,
everybody gets the same. It's mine. Some of them said
you can't do that. He said, I've done it. I spoil. See, this is David's
spoil, and this whole story, this is Christ's story. This
is Christ's spoil. This is Christ's glory. This
is Christ's salvation. You're Christ's people. He's
not going to lose one of you. He recovers it all. Glory be
to the Son of David.