1 Samuel chapter 30, verses 18, 19, and 20 will be
our text. David recovered all that the
Amalekites had carried away and rescued his two wives, and there
was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither
sons nor daughters. neither spoiled or anything that
they had taken to them. David recovered all. And David
took all the flocks and the herds which they drove before those
other cattle and said, this is David's spoil. While David and
his men were in Ziklag seeking, or away from Ziklag rather, seeking
to secure peace and safety for their families, for the nation
of Israel, seeking peace and safety by compromise, by aligning
themselves with the Philistines, but nevertheless seeking peace
and safety for the people around them. David and his men being
away from Ziklag, the Amalekites came and they burned the city
to the ground. and took everything there. They took all the women, all
the children, all the cattle, all the wealth, all the riches,
everything in Ziklag that belonged to David and his men, they carried
it away into captivity. And when David and his men came
home, you can imagine how disheartened they were, what terrible, terrible
grief must have filled their hearts. Nothing was left. They
saw the city smoldering and their wives and their children, their
homes, their cattle, everything taken away from them. And in
madness, just in the sheer madness of their grief, they looked at
David and said, this is your fault. And they talked of stoning
him to death. But the scripture tells us that
David encouraged himself in the Lord, his God. Now there's a
sermon there. I'm not going to preach on it
right now, but there's a sermon there. Children of God, when
trials and sorrows and difficulties come, there's one place and one
place only where you can encourage yourself. Encourage yourself
in the Lord your God. He alone is always, to his children,
a source of encouragement and strength. David waited upon the
Lord to direct his steps. as he was in this terrible time
of calamity and difficulty. Here's this man who's God's anointed
king in Israel, and he's been seeking to protect these people
God's trusted to him. And now they're talking about
stoning him to death because of a mistake that he's made.
They said, now this whole calamity is your fault. So David called
for Abiathar the priest. He said, bring me the ephod.
And David inquired of the Lord his God and said, shall I pursue
the Amalekites? And God said, go after them.
Go after them, and not only go after them, but you go, and you
go with this word of assurance and this word of promise. You
shall not fail to recover everything that was taken away from you.
You shall not fail to recover everything that has been missing
and been taken captive by the Amalekites from Ziklag. And so
David pursued after the Amalekites, and when he found them, By the
word of God and by the power of God, he overcame them, he
discomforted them, he destroyed them, and he regained everything
that had been taken into captivity. Nothing was lost. Not one soul
died during this event. Not one person, not one person
taken into captivity was not delivered at last back to David
and his men again. And so David recovered their
wives, his wives as well as the wives of his men, recovered their
children, recovered their cattle, recovered their riches and everything
else. But more than that, he spoiled the Amalekites and took
all the wealth of the Amalekites. And as they came back to the
men who were waiting for them at the Brook, Bezer, or the river
at Bezer, they came back there and as they did, they brought
these spoils from the Amalekites and put them out in front. And
they drove the cattle of the Amalekites out in front of the
rest of the camp of Israel. And as they came into the camp,
with the spoils of victory. These men returning from war,
they come with this shout of joy, David's spoil! David's spoil! David's spoil! And everyone knew
that David came back now a mighty conqueror. Now I want to talk
to you this morning about this subject of David's spoil. But
I hope you know me well enough and understand the Scriptures
well enough to know that I'm not terribly interested in the
cattle and riches that David brought back on that day. I'm
here to declare to you the gospel message contained in this passage
of Scripture and that which is contained in this historic event.
This picture is a picture and a type and representation of
our Lord Jesus Christ, David's great son, our Lord and our Redeemer. And the spoil I want to speak
to you about is the spoil that he has taken and won for us as
our mighty captain and the captain of our salvation. I want, by
the Spirit of God, to show you very simply and plainly what
the Scriptures here teach us and demonstrate for us about
the spoils of victory won by our Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture
tells us David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried
away, and David rescued his two wives, and there was nothing
lacking. David recovered all. And so it
is that our Lord Jesus Christ has recovered his bride and recovered
for his bride everything that had been taken into captivity.
Nothing is lacking. Christ has recovered all, but
more than that, he has brought in great spoil as well. While
our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished redemption for us by his death
upon the cross, he recovered everything that we lost by the
sin and fall of our father Adam. And not only has he recovered
that which we lost by the sin and fall of our father Adam,
but he's gathered great spoil for us besides. Turn to Isaiah
53. Isaiah chapter 53. The prophet
speaks of this when he describes our Lord's substitutionary atonement. In verses 10 and 11, he tells
us what Christ accomplished at Calvary, what he would accomplish
in the forgiveness of our sins, justifying of our souls. And
then in verse 12, he says, therefore will I divide him a portion with
the great. And he shall divide the spoil
with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death,
and he was numbered with the transgressors, and bared the
sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Now here
in 1 Samuel 30, hold your Bibles here, or put your Bible mark
there and be ready to turn back to it at leisure. I want you
to see three things. Using David as a type of Christ,
I want to show you something about the spoils of our Lord
Jesus Christ. First, we are told that David
recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away. So my first
point is our Lord's recovery. It was David who recovered everything. Everything that Israel lost,
David went and fetched it back for them. And so it was our Lord
Jesus Christ and he alone who has recovered all that we lost
in the fall of Adam. All the blessings of grace that
we enjoy, all the privileges we enjoy, all things come to
us through Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. I can't stress
that sufficiently. I can't state it emphatically
enough. All the blessings of grace are ours only in Christ. Without him, we are nothing.
Without him, we have nothing. Without him, we can do nothing.
Without him, we get nothing. Only Christ brings to us the
blessings of God's grace and goodness, so that all the good
that God sends to sinners, he sends to us through Jesus Christ
our Lord and our Redeemer. David's defeat of the Amalekites
And his taking the spoils was for the sake of David, and not
for the sake of Israel, but for David's sake, for David's honor,
for David's name. It was for David that God gave
success to the army of Israel. And so it is that everything
God does for us is because of Christ, only for Christ's sake.
Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 4.32, even as God for Christ's
sake is merciful to you. God, for Christ's sake, is merciful
to you. For Christ's sake, he forgives
our sin. For Christ's sake, he receives
us. For Christ's sake, he hears our prayers. For Christ's sake,
he pardons us, justifies us, and so on. God's eye was on David
during this whole affair. And God's eye is on Jesus Christ,
our representative, our surety, our Lord, and our master in this
whole affair of salvation and grace. David was the Lord's anointed,
and so the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord's anointed, our great
benefactor and our Savior. It is for Christ's sake that
the Lord God bestows His mercy, love, and grace upon sinners.
God looks on Christ and Christ alone as being that one who is
worthy of his acceptance. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased, he said. Hear ye him. This is my beloved
son. I have no other one like him
in whom I am well pleased. No other one with whom my soul
delights. No other one I look upon and
smile continually. The Lord God looks on Christ
and deals with us in Christ in mercy, but only as he looks on
us in Jesus Christ the Lord. More than that, we've recognized
the blessings of grace described in the book of Ephesians particularly
flow to us only through Christ as the mediator, only through
Christ as the channel of blessing. So that whenever we think about
election, adoption, redemption, forgiveness, acceptance with
God, our eternal inheritance in heaven, always understand
and remember and recognize that it comes to us, these blessings
come to us because of Jesus Christ our Lord. All the fullness of
God is in Christ. All the fullness of God's grace
comes to us from Christ, so that in all things, Jesus Christ stands
preeminent. That's by God's design. Because
everything comes to us for Christ's sake, we may say of every covenant
blessing, this is David's spoil. So that whatever it is that we
enjoy as God's people in this world, whatever it is we shall
enjoy as God's people in the world to come. This is David's
spoil. We see upon every blessing of
grace the mark of the cross. We see upon every blessing of
grace the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We see upon every blessing
of grace God's Son Jesus Christ our Redeemer. These things are
ours because we are Christ. They were purchased by his blood,
won by his victory, accomplished by his hand. Not only, however,
Did these men win the victory over Amalek because of their
association with David? But they won it by David's direction
as well. If David had not been there,
when these men came back to Ziklag, they saw Ziklag burnt, the smoldering
ashes. They saw their families gone.
Their riches gone, their cattle gone, everything they'd worked
for gone. If David hadn't been there, these fellows would have
simply thrown in the towel and dispersed among the nations.
But David was there, and David led them to victory. So it is
that our great God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is a name that
stands with us continually, so that his name is Jehovah Shammah. The Lord is there. Can you get
hold of that? The Lord is there. Child of God,
wherever you are, whatever your circumstance, whatever your condition,
whatever it is that you now are called by God's grace to endure,
whatever it is that you now experience by God's providence, the Lord
is there. His name is Jehovah Shema. He is the Lord present with you.
The Lord's at hand. Paul said, let your moderation
be known to all men. The Lord's at hand. That word
moderation, it means gentleness. It means ease of character, just
peace and settledness. Let your gentle composure be
known to all men. The Lord's with you. The Lord's
with you. Not only is He there with you,
He's there with you always. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again,
I say rejoice. Let your moderation be known
to all men. The Lord's at hand. Blessed be
our God, Jehovah Shema. He's not only God at hand, but
he is God who fights our foes for us. He said to Israel, the
battle is the Lord's, it's not yours. And whatever it is that
He calls you to endure, whatever foe He calls you to face, whatever
obstacle stands before you, stands not before you, but before Him.
Whatever battle you must endure, He fights the battle for you,
and the foes that rise up against you, rise up against Him. And
by his direction, by virtue of our union with Christ, we shall
overcome our enemies and win the victory at last, even as
David did. Listen to the scriptures. Turn
to Romans 8. Romans 8. Romans 8. The apostle John writes, you are
of God, little children, and have overcome them. Not because
you're great. You're not. Not because you have
great faith. You don't. But greater is he
that is in you than he that is in the world. And whatsoever
is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith, that is, even Christ,
the object of our faith. Now listen to what Paul says
about this in Romans 8 and verse 35. Excuse me. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The hymn writer
expressed what I'm trying to say this way. See the glorious
banner waving, hear the trumpet blow, in our leader's name we
triumph over every foe. And so we shall. So we shall. It is written the God of peace
shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. As David recovered
all that Israel lost, to the Amalekites, so the Lord Jesus
has recovered all that we lost in the sin and fall of our father
Adam. By reason of sin, we lost everything. Everything. God created man in
his own image. I don't know what all that includes.
It certainly includes a brightness of character. It certainly includes
intellect, emotion, will, it certainly includes those things.
God created Adam in creature righteousness or in innocence.
He created Adam without any sin or inclination towards sin. He
put him in the garden, made him king over all the earth, brought
all the animals to him, said, you name them, whatever you call
them, that's what they are. And he brought them to him one by
one and Adam named them. People sometimes get overwhelmed
by just the bombarding of pagan teaching, just the constant bombardment
of the teaching of the educational system and the pagan godless
society in which we live. We get the idea that somehow
there was a time when You know, when men just kind of grunted
and scraped around like dogs and had no language and no sense
or anything, God created Adam upright, brilliant. He didn't
come forth grunting, he came forth speaking. He named everything
that is. Everything that is. That's a
job. That's a job. Adam named it all. The scriptures are very plain
concerning that. And yet this man, Adam, by reason of sin,
lost everything. Everything. He walked with God
in communion, sweet fellowship, uninterrupted peace and harmony,
lost it all. The Lord Jesus Christ has restored
it all. We lost life, and hope, and peace,
and the favor of God, and communion with God. The Lord Jesus Christ
has brought life, hope, and peace, favor with God, and communion
with God. We even lost this world, that which was once the fertile
field of vegetation now brings forth thorns and thistles. The
Lord Jesus Christ shall recover that as well. As David recovered
all, so our Lord Jesus recovered all. We were lost. He came to
us and found us. The scriptures describe how he
found us numerous ways, but in the one parable in Luke 15, our
Lord describes us as being like a lost coin. And a woman loses
that coin and she sweeps the house until she finds the coin.
He describes us as being like lost sheep and a shepherd goes
and he seeks the sheep until he finds it. He describes us
as being like a prodigal son. And the Lord God graciously,
graciously, graciously arranges all things so that the prodigal
son at last comes back home to his father and all things are
prepared for him. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
describes us as those whom he has found by his grace. Sometimes
people talk about finding the Lord. Nothing could be further
from the truth. I recall hearing a story once,
years ago, a little boy was pulling his wagon up the street, and
somebody came by and asked him, said, son, have you found the
Lord? And the little boy looked up
at him. He said, no, sir, I didn't know he was lost. But I was,
and he found me. And that's exactly the way it
is. He's not lost, we are. We're not seeking Him, He seeks
after us until He finds us. And He speaks like Job did. He
said, I plucked the spoil from the dragon's teeth. We're described
as firebrands plucked from the burning. As David rescued his
two wives that had been taken into captivity, so the Lord Jesus
snatched his beloved bride from the hands of the law, from the
curse of the law, from the fires of God's wrath, and from the
hand of Satan. We had forfeited life. For the
Lord Jesus Christ brought us life again. As in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive. As we born in the
image of the earthly, so we shall bear the image of the heavenly.
We forfeited our eternal inheritance, all hope of an eternal inheritance
with God, but the Lord Jesus Christ has recovered that as
well. Behold, God's elect around the
throne. That multitude no man can number,
10,000 times 10,000. as they gather around the throne
and worship the Lamb, and hear them, this is David's spoil,
the spoil of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let each believer look on himself,
all that he is, all that God has done for him, all God is
doing for him and in him, all that God shall yet do for us.
Let us look on ourselves and say, this is the spoil of our
Lord Jesus Christ. These are the things Christ recovered
for us. But there's more than that, more
than just the recovery. As Israel was enriched by the
Amalekites, so God's elect are enriched by their enemies, enriched
even by the fall. By Christ, God's promise is fulfilled. They that spoil thee shall be
a spoil. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 30.
Jeremiah chapter 30. This is God's promise. I want
you to look at two texts, Jeremiah 30 and Colossians 2. Verse 16 in Jeremiah 30. Therefore, all they that devour
thee shall be devoured. And all thine adversaries, every
one of them shall go into captivity. And they that spoil thee shall
be a spoil. And all that pray upon thee will
I give for a prey. For I will restore health unto
thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord. Because
they called thee an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no
man seeketh after. Now then, look in Colossians
chapter 2. We'll see the fulfillment of it. Colossians 2, beginning
at verse 12. The apostle speaks of us being
born of God's spirit, buried with Christ in baptism, wherein
also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you being dead
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. So secondly, I want
us to see just a little bit about our Lord's spoils. These great
spoils, not only has he recovered and restored that which he took
not away, but he's obtained great spoils for us as well. Look in
verse 20 of our text, 1 Samuel 30 and verse 20. David took all
the flocks and the herds which they drove before those other
cattle and said, this is David's spoils. Now, listen carefully to what I'm
saying. The spoils that David brought
back with him were things that Israel could never have possessed
had the Amalekites not come and taken Siklag into captivity. Did you get it? The spoils that
David brought back, the riches, are things they could never have
possessed had there not been this invasion by the Amalekites
and this taking into captivity by the Amalekites to begin with.
Their captivity was a painful, sorrowful thing in the experience
of it, but it was a most blessed thing in the result of it. For
in the result of it, they came back richer than when they went
out. Not only that, they didn't lose
anything. They didn't lose anything by
the captivity. Look in verse 2, verse 2. 1 Samuel chapter 30, verse 2. They'd taken the women captives
that were therein. Look at this next line. They
slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away
and went on their way. Even so, God's elect really lose
nothing by the fall of Adam. In the end, the fall will prove
to have been a great act of mercy on God's part, a great display
of his wisdom and grace and goodness that he allowed us to fall in
our father Adam, that we might be recovered by Christ. Now,
I don't pretend, I don't make any pretense of understanding
The mind of God. His infinite mind is infinitely,
indescribably beyond our grasp of things, Rex. We don't pretend
that our ways are His ways. There's not even a thought of
that in our minds, I hope. We don't pretend to understand
why God does things or has done things the way He has in the
detail. But we don't need to understand
the details. But with this we know, what God has done, He's
done on purpose. And what God has done, He's done
according to His good purpose of grace toward us in Christ,
for the glory of His name. So when you think about the fall,
and you think about the entrance of sin into the world, people
get so bent out of shape. How could God permit that? How could God ordain that? How
could God purpose that? I don't know all the answers.
I don't even know the answers to the questions that I've got,
much less to the questions you've got. But this much I do know.
God did not cause Adam to sin. I'm aware of that. I'm just as
confident that's so as I am that the Scripture declares God's
holy. And the fact that God's holy declares that He tempts
no man to sin, neither is He tempted by any man to sin. Adam
sinned because that's what Adam chose to do. God simply left
him to himself and Adam transgressed and plunged the human race into
depravity, sin, corruption, and death. But I do know this, God
could have prevented it. No trouble for that. Do you remember
when, in our scripture reading this week, if you've begun reading
the scriptures again this year, is it Genesis 12, was it, where
Abraham sojourned in Egypt and Pharaoh took Sarah and God kept
Pharaoh from taking her? Well, Pharaoh had no interest
in God. but God kept that sinful pagan king from touching Sarah. Later on, Abimelech, Abraham
was sojourning through his land, and Abimelech said, man, she's
a good-looking woman, and she must have been something else.
She's nearly 100 years old, and they're still wanting to take
her. And they took Sarah, and he was about to take her for
his mistress, and God stopped him. He said, I withheld you
from sinning against me in this. I withheld you from that. Well,
surely if he could prevent those pagan kings from that act of
sin most natural to them, most common to such men, whose hearts
were bent in corruption, surely then he could have kept Adam
from eating an apple or whatever the fruit was in the garden.
That wouldn't have been a problem for him. Had it been his purpose
to do so, he could easily have prevented the sin of Adam. But
God ordained the sin and fault of Adam just as much as he ordained
the creation of Adam and created him. The scripture declares,
of him, through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory
forever and ever. All things are of God. The fall
didn't take God by surprise. It wasn't something that kind
of sneaked up on his backside, and he didn't know what was happening.
God Almighty ordained the fall, and He ordained it for our good
and for His glory, and that's the plain statement of Romans
8.28. We know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
Now, what do we make of that? As David turned Israel's loss
into great gain, So our Lord Jesus Christ has turned our fall
into a great blessing. I know exactly what I'm saying.
I'm not speaking rashly. I worked on this message and
I worked it over in my mind all night last night, just about.
I just, I kept going over this over and over again. I want to
speak as plainly as I possibly can. I want you to understand
what I'm saying. I know some men will take what I'm preaching
and pervert it. They'll misuse it. And somebody
maybe will hear this message and reproach me for preaching
it, but that's all right. I'm here to give some comfort
and edification to God's elect for the glory of Christ. Let
others do what they will. With regard to the fall, I speak
as Martin Luther once did. Oh, happy fall. I'm glad it happened
just like it did. I'm glad it happened just like
it did. I'm convinced that in the end, God's elect will find
as great reason to praise Him for the fall as for anything
else. Everything. Read Revelation chapters
4 and 5. Does the Scripture plainly declare
that everything is going to praise Him? Everything. Is the fall
somehow or another excluded from everything? Oh no. This fall
of Adam and our fall in him was as much an act of God's wisdom
and grace and goodness in his purpose as was our redemption
from the fall. He permitted the fall. He brought
it to pass in his providence because he purposed good for
us. You see, had there been no fall,
there could never be a song of redemption to the glory of Christ
the Lamb. Judy's saying that hymn Right
before I preached, the angels can never sing redemption story.
They can never sing it. They know nothing about redemption.
They can talk about preservation. They can talk about election.
They can talk about God's goodness in keeping them from the fall
of the other angels. But they know nothing about deliverance
and redemption and grace and salvation. And had there been
no fall, neither would you. Had there been no fall. In Christ,
we've experienced things as a result of the fall we could never have
experienced otherwise. You see, in Christ, manhood is
lifted to the place of highest possible honor and glory because
we are by redemption made to be one with Jesus Christ himself. In Ephesians 5, turn over there
if you will. Ephesians chapter 5. It's a sad commentary on mankind,
but most people look at Ephesians chapter 5 and they say the subject
here is husbands and wives. I've got commentary back here
in my office that'll spend Chapter after chapter after chapter after
chapter, hundreds of pages discussing this thing of husbands and wives,
and they'll take off and do marriage counseling series and all that
stuff, while these things are set before us here. That's not
the subject. And Paul says so plainly. Look
here at Ephesians chapter five, and we'll begin reading verse
25. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. that
He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but it should
be holy and without blemish. So ought men also to love their
wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth
and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church. For we are members
of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. For this call shall
a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his
wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery. But be sure you understand what
I'm talking about. I'm talking about Christ in the church. This
is the wonder. This is the wonder. It's no great thing for a man
and a woman to come together. That's no great mystery. It's
no great mystery for a man to leave his mother and daddy and
be joined to his wife and they too be one flesh. That's not
a great mystery. Oh, but now this is a mystery.
God Almighty has come in human flesh and assumed to himself
humanity and thereby brings us into union with himself. Now
that's a mystery. That's a mystery. Adam was made
a little lower than the angels, but Christ brings manhood up
to the throne of God and makes the angels to be the servants
of men. This is David's spoil. If we had not fallen in Adam,
we could never have known the blessedness and the glory of
redeeming love. Here's one of the greatest glories
of heaven. Eternity shall make room for
us to have an everlasting remembrance and endless celebration of redemption. John says, who are these? Who are these? Why, these are
they that came out of great tribulation. and have washed their garments
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. I'm just guessing. I'm not even making a good guess. I'm just making the best stab
I can. For all eternity, we will continually
meet upon one another and meet with one another. And as often
as we meet with one another and see one another and greet one
another and speak to one another, we will be in astonishment to
one another. These are they who came out of
great tribulation. These are they who have washed
their garments and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. God's highest praises from his
creation shall be revealed in the great multitude of redeemed
sinners who show forth the exceeding riches of his grace. All other
things are the work of his hands. We're the work of his heart.
We're that which God has brought in the sacrifice of his son. In heaven, you and I shall spend
eternity Listen now, we shall spend eternity as creatures who
have known sin in all its pollution and guilt,
corruption and defilement, in all its bitter experience. But having known it had been
delivered from all its pollution, corruption, defilement, guilt,
penalty, and consequence. And we will know it with no sorrow. I suppose the sweetest, bitter
thing on this earth is repentance. But I'm telling you that there
will be no repentance in glory. That's done when we leave here.
The believers' remembrance of sin will be but the remembrance
of God's grace and mercy. So that we who are born of God's
spirit are given privileges of honor and grace as the least
of God's children. that the brightest angel of his
presence could never know. We have blessings of grace that
Adam could never have known in the garden, and sinless angels
can never know in heaven. We who are God's elect are adopted
as the sons of God. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. Not only are we adopted, we have been forgiven
of all our sin. Our sins are blotted out as a
thick cloud, removed from us as far as the East is from the
West. We are preserved by God's grace. We know the love of God. We see the glory of God. We are
heirs of his covenant mercy. We've experienced his faithfulness
and immutability. And you and I shall, because
of our fallen Adam and our recovery by Christ, be granted the privilege
of a glorious resurrection. Turn to Romans 8 for a moment.
Romans 8, verse 16. The Spirit itself bears witness
with our spirit that we're the children of God. and a children
than heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If so
be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation
of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of
God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly,
but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope, because
the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together
until now. And not only they, but ourselves
also, which had the first fruits of the Spirit. Even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
redemption, or the resurrection, the deliverance of these bodies
from the grave. Soon, we shall sleep in Christ. But these bodies shall be raised
in glory at the appointed hour. This is David's spoil. Again,
because of what Christ has done for us, both in allowing us to
fall and in recovering us from the fall. The full glory of God
shall be manifest in us to wandering worlds. How can I describe this? The
Lord God shall spread his ransomed people before Satan, the demons of hell,
and all the damned, and shall display to the angels in heaven
and to the demons in hell and to the regions of the damned
He shall display His purpose, His power, His grace, His love,
His wisdom, His goodness, the manifold wisdom of God. Not only are these things which
Christ has recovered for us, spoils that He has brought to
pass and brought to us, but that which we willingly give to our
Lord because of his grace may also be called his spoil. Let
me see if I can illustrate it for you. In 1741, there was an
Irishman who had been sentenced to hang, and Philip Doddridge,
who was a Presbyterian preacher, a Scottish Presbyterian preacher,
I believe he was, was convinced of this Irishman's innocence,
and he made earnest entreaty and intercession on behalf of
this young man. And because of Dottridge's influence,
the man was not only reprieved from death, but set free. And
this is what the man wrote to Dottridge. He said, every drop
of my blood thanks you, for you have had compassion on every
drop of it. You are my deliverer. You have a right to me. If I
live, I am your property. I will be your faithful servant. Now, this is my response to the
Son of God. Every drop of my blood thanks
you because you've had compassion on every drop of it. You're my
deliverer. You have a right to me. If I
live, I am your property. I will be your faithful servant
forever. You see, we're not our own. We've
been bought with a price. This is David's spoil. Our hearts are his. Oh, let them
be his alone forever. We love Him because He first
loved us. Our gifts, these gifts we bring
week after week, they're just tokens of our love for Him. Paul
says, by these things prove now the sincerity of your love. The
alabaster box that woman brought, she brought in gratitude. That
gal, she had been a woman of ill repute and had been saving
up for this sweet spikenard all her life. I presume she was saving
it for retirement. I don't know, but it was worth
a year's wages. It was worth a year's wages.
She brought it, broke it open. And pour out the perfume just
to fill the room with the perfume where Christ sat. Just for Him. Just for Him. Oh God, give me
grace to do something just for Him. Just for Him. Not for you, not for me, not
for anybody. Just Him. Just Him. Because He's
our Redeemer. He loved me and gave Himself
for me. that would have brought her two mites and cast it into
the treasury, and our Lord said, she's given everything. She's
given everything. Our talents, whatever God gives
us, whatever abilities we have, whatever opportunities we have,
God give us grace to use them and spend them in His service.
Our homage and reverence and praise and obedience as a church
and as believers individually are just His rightful spoil.
Indeed, the whole race of mankind will one day bow before Him.
Of these things, too, we say, this is David's spoil." Now,
before I send you home, let me give you one more blessed thing
revealed in this 30th chapter, 1 Samuel. Look in verses 24,
25, and 26. Yeah, verse 24. David comes back to the camp
and these men of Belial, the wicked ones who had gone with
David, they said, now, now, fellas, when we get back, those fellows who stayed back
at Bezor, who couldn't cross over, who were too faint-hearted
and too weak-kneed, they couldn't go on and pursue to the battle.
We're not going to divide the spoil within that we have won.
And David makes a statute. So I want you to look at David's
words and learn our Lord's statute as well. Verse 24, who will hearken
unto you in this matter? But as his part is that goes
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. David came to Ziklag,
the center of the spoil, and to the elders of Judah, even
to his friends, saying, Behold, a present for you of the spoil
of the enemies of the Lord. The statute was plain. David
divided the spoil equally with all the men of Israel, with the
faint as well as the strong. with those who were warriors
and with those who were too weak, who just stayed by the stuff.
Thank God there are some folks who stayed by the stuff. These
men were also to be honored with the spoils. And our Lord Jesus
Christ will do the same thing. Turn over to Matthew chapter
10, or chapter 20 rather. Matthew chapter 20, I'll show
you. Verse 10. You remember our Lord
speaks of the husbandman. He says, go out and hire some
in the morning, hire some at noon, and hire some at the end
of the day, the last hour of the day. And verse 10, when the
first came, they supposed that they should have received more.
And they likewise received every man a penny, each one. And when
they had received it, they murmured against the good men of the house
saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made
them equal to us, which have borne the burden and heat of
the day. And he answered one of them and said, Friend, I do
thee no wrong. Didst thou not agree with me
for a penny? Take that that is thine and go
thy way. I will give unto this last, even
as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with mine own? Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he
brings us to glory, will take every one of his children, those
who were born in the last watch of the night, as well as those
who served him year after year after year after year, all the
generation that they lived on this earth. He will take them
everyone. And he will present them with
all the riches of heaven's glory and all the riches of eternal
life. And this is what he'll say. Behold
a present for you. This is my gift to you. Altogether, according to his
free grace, not according to our merit. This notion that there's
going to be somehow degrees of reward and Some folks are going
to earn a higher standing before God and a brighter crown and
all that silly stuff. It's totally contrary to free
grace. Bob Ponce, you and I, if we are in Christ, shall possess
all of Christ and all his glory and all his inheritance equally
forever. We're chosen by the same Father,
in the same love. We have the same elder brother,
we're redeemed with the same blood. Rode with the same righteousness,
saved by the same grace, kept by the same Spirit. Our portion
shall be the same, and glory shall be the same for us. Say,
well, are you suggesting, Pastor, that
the totality of heaven's glory is the free gift of God's grace
in Christ? Yeah, that's it. The totality
of heaven's glory is the free gift of God's grace in Christ.
This is what I'm declaring to you. Where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. We have been spoiled by Satan. But blessed be God, our Redeemer
has delivered us from Satan's hand. And sin has contracted
no guilt that grace does not more than erase. Sin has brought
us no deformity that grace does not more than correct. Sin has
brought no A loss that grace does not more than restore. And
sin causes no grief that grace will not ultimately turn to joy. None, whatever. This is David's
spoil. May God add his blessings to
his word. I'll ask the lady to come lead us in a hymn and we
will have a baptismal service for James and Ron. You could
go ahead and pick a song when you come. I've got just a couple
of comments to make. Ron, if you and James want to go on back. In baptism, we confess our faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. These men came to me several
months ago, just before I broke my arm, and both of them said
that God had saved them since they had made a profession of
faith. They had learned the gospel of God's grace, and at the time
they had been baptized thought they had been baptized, they
were unbelievers, and they wanted to confess Christ in believer's
baptism. And by this act of obedience
to Christ, we make a renunciation, a renunciation of all former
past religion as being false religion, dead works religion. I recall, I just happen to think,
seeing Lisa sitting back there, going over this with her. She
was raised in a Catholic church. When God was pleased to speak
peace to her heart and give her faith in Christ, by baptism she
says all that was false. A false refuge. Same thing with
Bob Pontius just a few weeks ago, raised in a fundamentalist
church. The same thing. It's all works
religion is false religion. And by confessing Christ in baptism,
we're renouncing all former works religion as idolatry and dead
works. Not only that, but we're confessing
our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. that by his death, burial, and
resurrection, we died in him as our substitute. We were buried
with him, and we are raised together with him in the newness of life.
And we make a public avowal of consecration and commitment to
him. I remind James and Ron now as
I have reminded you and I remind myself and let us remind ourselves
again as we observe this ordinance with them and watch them confessing
Christ as they are buried with him and arise now in the hope
of everlasting life to walk in the nearness of life. We lift
our hands to God. I'm yours. From this day forward,
I'm yours. It is a consecration of myself
to Jesus Christ in his church, in his kingdom, for his gospel,
for his glory. Now, if God's given you faith
in Christ and you want to confess him in baptism, you let me know
and I'll be happy to arrange it for you as well. But now let's
sing a hymn while we get ready to have the baptismal service.