I've entitled the message for
this evening, David's Spoils. David's Spoils. And David is
described like nobody else is in the scripture. He's described
as the man after God's own heart. I don't think you could say anything
better about somebody. God says regarding this man,
his heart beats with mine. A man after God's own heart. David had a very checkered past. You can look at all kinds of
things about him and say, this is the man after God's own heart.
He had been in a compromised position for some 16 months before
what takes place in chapter 30 happens. Go back in 1 Samuel
27. And David said in his heart,
I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There's nothing
better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines. Now, he didn't ask the Lord Council
about this. He just said, this is what I
need to do. I need to get out of here and
I need to get into the land of the Philistines and Saul will
quit looking for me. And Saul shall despair of me
to seek me anymore in any coast of Israel. So shall I escape
out of his hand. And David arose and he passed
over with The 600 men that were with him unto Achish, the son
of Maok, king of Gath. He aligned himself with some
Philistines, the enemies of Israel. And David dwelt with Achish at
Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David
with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the
Carmelitess, Nabal's wife. And it was told Saul that David
was fled to Gath and he sought no more again for him. And David
said unto Achish, and remember this is a Philistine, one of
the kings of the Philistines, if I have now found grace in
thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country
that I may dwell there. For why should thy servant dwell
in the royal city with thee? Then Achish gave him Ziklag that
day. Wherefore, Ziklag pertaineth
unto the kings of Judah unto this day. And the time that David
dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months. Sixteen months he dwelt away
from Israel, away from the temple, away from the tabernacle, away
from the sacrifices. He fled into the land of the
Philistines. And look what he does, verse
eight. And David and his men went up and invaded. the Geshurites,
and the Gesrites, and the Amalekites, for those nations were of old
the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even to
the land of Egypt. And David smote the land, and
left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and
the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel,
and returned, and came to Achish. And Achish said, Whither have
you made a road to-day? And David said, Now look, he
lies to the king. He says, Against the south of
Judah. and against the south of the Jeremelites, and against
the south of the Kenites. He lied about who he attacked.
And David saved, now here's what David did, he saved neither man
nor woman alive to bring tidings to Gath, saying lest they should
tell on us. Saying so did David, and so will be his manner all
the while he dwelt in the country of the Philistines. He killed
them all just so they couldn't write on him. And Achish believed
David, saying he had made his people Israel utterly to abhor
him. Therefore, he shall be my servant
forever." Now, we see the deceit of David in this. Look in chapter
29. God mercifully enables David
to get out of this mess, and we read how in chapter 29. Now, the Philistines gathered
together all their armies to Aphek, and the Israelites pitched
by a fountain, which is in Jezreel. And the lords of the Philistines
passed on by hundreds and by thousands, but David and his
men passed on the rearward with Achish. Then said the princes
of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews hear? And Achish said
unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant
of Saul, the king of Israel, which hath been with me these
days, or these years? And I found no fault in him,
since he fell unto me unto this day. And the princes of the Philistines
were wroth with him. And the princes of the Philistines
said unto him, Make this fellow return, that he may go again
to his place, which thou hast appointed him. And let him not
go down with us to the battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary
to us. For wherewith shall he reconcile himself unto his master?
Should it not be with the heads of these men? Is not this David,
of whom they sang one to another, and danced, and sang songs for
his thousands, and David his ten thousands? Then Achis called
David, and said unto him, Surely, as the Lord liveth, thou hast
been upright, and thy going out, thy coming in with me, in the
host, is good in my sight. For I have not found evil in
thee since the day of thy coming unto me. Unto this day, nevertheless,
the Lord's favour thee not. Wherefore, now return, and go
in peace, that thou displease not the lords of the Philistines."
Now, the Lord, in his mercy and in his providence, made it to
where David had to go back. He didn't let him get into a
position where he could be fighting against the Israelites. So he
comes back in chapter 30, verse 1. He's coming back to Ziklag.
And it came to pass when David and his men were come to Ziklag.
Chapter 30, verse 1. On the third day that the Amalekites
had invaded the south in Ziklag and smitten Ziklag and burned
it with fire and had taken the women captive that were therein,
they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away
and went on their way. David is returning to Ziklag,
and while he's returning, during this three-day period that he's
going back, the Amalekites invade Ziklag, and they take everybody
away, and they're all gone. Now, who were the Amalekites?
This is very important. The Amalekites were the descendants
of Esau. Amalek was the grandson of Esau. And if you remember, the Amalekites
were the first people to attack Israel after they entered the
promised land. And there's great typical significance
to that. They're entering the promised
land. Picture salvation, the life of the believer. And the
battle actually begins after they enter the promised land.
You remember there in Exodus chapter 17, where their first
battle after they left Egypt, the Amalekites attack them and
Moses. would raise up his arms toward
heaven, toward the Lord, and when he had his arms up, Israel
would win. And when his arms would get tired
and he put them down, the Amalekites would begin to win. And then
Aaron and Hur held his hands up so they would win. Now, the
Amalekites represent the flesh. They represent the flesh. The battle begins. Now look in
Exodus chapter 17. You know, the battle really begins
after the Lord saves you. Look what God said about the
Amalekites. Verse 12, Exodus 17, that Moses'
hands were heavy. And they took a stone and put
it under him, and he sat there on. And Aaron and her stayed
up his hands, the one on the one side, the other on the other
side. And his hands were steady into the going down of the sun.
And Joshua disconfited Amalek and his people with the edge
of the sword. And the Lord said unto Moses, write this for a
memorial in a book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, for
I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.
And Moses built an altar and called the name of it Jehovah
Nissi. For he said, because the Lord
has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation
to generation. There's never going to be peace
with Amalek. Now look in Deuteronomy. Chapter 25, 40 years later. When
they're getting ready to enter the promised land. Verse 12. Verse 17, I'm sorry. Moses is
speaking before they enter the promised land, he says, remember
what Amalek did unto thee by the way when you were come forth
out of Egypt, how he met thee by the way and smoked the hindmost
of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee. when thou wast faint
and weary, and he feared not God. Therefore it shall be, when
the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round
about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for
an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Thou shalt not forget
it." Now do you see how God has a special judgment against this
nation of Amalek? Amalek represents the flesh,
the battle, the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit lusts
against the flesh, and these are contrary one to the other
so that you can't do the things that you would. Now turn to 1
Samuel chapter 15. It's the Amalekites that invaded Ziklag. This is God's instruction to
Saul. Verse 1, Samuel also said unto
Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people,
over Israel. Now therefore hearken thou unto
the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he
laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt. Now
go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and
spare them not, but slay both man and woman. Infant and suckling,
ox and sheep, camel and ass. Kill every single one of them. That's God's instruction to Saul.
And if you go on reading in this chapter, Saul didn't do what
God told him to do. He spared the king, and he spared
the best animals for himself. And he was rejected as being
king because of that. Now, it's the Amalekites that
invade Ziklag. begin reading in verse 3 of 1
Samuel chapter 30. I think it's interesting to note,
if you go on reading about the history of Saul, that it was
an Amalekite that killed him. He spared the Amalekites and
it ended up being an Amalekite that killed him. But in verse
3 of 1 Samuel 30, 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. They were so distraught over
what had taken place. And David's two wives were taken
captives, Ahinoam, the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, the wife of Nabal,
the Carmelite. And David was greatly distressed. for the people spake of stoning
him. You see, it was David's fault
that all this took place. And David knew it. And the people
knew it, too. And they were getting ready to
stone him over this. Now, David was greatly distressed. He had hit the bottom He lost
everything. And deep down, he knew it was
his fault, just like everybody else did. They were getting ready
to stone him. But, you know, there's something
good about hitting the bottom. You know what it is? You've got
no place to look but up when you're at the bottom. Now, there
was absolutely nothing to be encouraged about in his circumstances. But look what it says in verse
six. And David was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning
him because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man
for his sons and for his daughters. But David encouraged himself. in the Lord His God. Now David does something that
only a believer can do. There wasn't anything in his
circumstances that gave him any encouragement at all. But yet
he encouraged himself in the Lord His God. Now as long as God is As long
as he's on the throne, ruling and reigning in absolute sovereignty,
controlling every event, as long as God is good, as long as God
is just, as long as God is gracious and merciful, as long as salvation
is by grace, as long as the blood of Christ has power to put away
sin, You have reason to be encouraged. I don't care what the circumstances
are. David had nothing good as far as his circumstances were,
but he encouraged himself in the Lord. He is God. And everybody in this room has
a reason to be encouraged in the Lord. He is God. Number seven. Now, David does
what he should have done back in Chapter 27. And David said
to Abathar, the priest of Himalax, son, I pray thee, bring me hither
the ephod. And Abathar brought hither the
ephod to David, and David inquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I
pursue after this troop? Look, he wouldn't even go after
him unless the Lord gave him correction. At this time, he
now inquires of the Lord. Now, in chapter 27, when he decided
to go down into the land of the Philistines, he didn't inquire
of the Lord, did he? He just made his move. It made sense
to him, and there he went. And he was in this compromised
position for 16 months, but now he inquires of the Lord. Shall
I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he
answered, Pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without
fail recover all. Now can you see how this is a
glorious type of the Lord Jesus Christ delivering us from the
Amalekites? He says, you shall surely, without
fail, recover everything. So David went, verse 9, he and
the 600 men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor,
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 couldn't go over the brook besore. Evidently,
this was a current that was very strong. They'd already journeyed
three days in order to get to Ziklag and now they're getting
ready to leave that very night and they're tired and there were
200 men that did not physically have the strength to get across
the river. So David left him behind and
he goes with 400 men to pursue this great army. Now let's go
on reading. Here we see the Lord's adorable
providence. Verse 11. We're going to get
back to these men who stayed behind later. And they found
an Egyptian in the field. Evidently, they didn't know what
direction to go, but through God's providence, they found
an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David and gave
him bread. And he did eat, and they made him drink water. And
they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins.
And when he had eaten, the Spirit came again to him, for he had
eaten no bread nor drunk any water three days and three nights.
And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? And whence art
thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite. And my master left me because
three days ago I fell sick. Now look at the cruelty of this
Amalekite. He became, his servant became
sick, so I just left him to die there. But you see the Lord's
providence in this. The Lord was the one that caused
him to be sick. Because the Lord is going to use this to accomplish
his purposes. He now comes to David and look
what takes place. Verse 14, We made an invasion upon the south
of the Charites, and upon the coast that belonged to Judah,
and upon the south of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag with fire.
And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company?
And he said, swearing to me, my God, that thou wilt neither
kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I'll
bring thee down to his company. Can't you see the beautiful providence
of God in this? This man became sick, left to
die. God was in control of every event. to bring his purpose to pass.
And do you know he's in control of every event right now, always
has been, always will be, to bring his purpose to pass. There's no such thing as chance
or luck or happenstance. He controls everything. Verse
16, And when he had brought him down, behold, there were spread
abroad upon all the earth. They find Amalekites who had
smitten Ziklag, and they're having a party. And when they brought
him down, behold, they were spread upon all the earth, eating and
drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil that they
had taken out of the land of the Philistines and out of the
land of Judah. Oh, they were so happy. They
had no idea what was getting ready to take place. They were
having a party. I mean, all the spoils they got. But look what
happens. Verse 17, And David, with his four hundred
men, smote them. from the twilight, even unto
the evening of the next day. There escaped not a man of them,
save four hundred young men which rode upon camels, and fled. Now there was some smiting going
on in the dark. I don't know how many people
were here, but it was a great company of people. And David
and his four hundred men come supernaturally and smite and
destroy every single one of them, except for four hundred that
got away. Now, there's some smiting that
was going on in the dark. And what that made me think of
is the cross. The smiting that took place in
the dark. God turned the lights out, the
sun refused to shine, and we really cannot see What all was
going on in this great transaction between the Father and the Son?
There was some smiting going on. You see, the sins of God's
elect became the sins of the Lord Jesus Christ. They became
His sins. You know, I've believed that
ever since the Lord saved me. And it becomes more amazing and
more glorious to me. Seems like every day. I'm so
amazed by this that my sin actually became his sin. And God smote him because my
sin was in him and on him. He bore our sins in his own body,
on the tree, and God smote him. But that perfect obedience that
he worked out, that perfect righteousness of his, it's mine. Every single one of them were
destroyed. And you know, there was not only,
that's not the only smiting that was going on. 4,000 years earlier, there was
a prophecy regarding the seed of woman crushing the serpent's
head. And that's what was going on
here. The Lord Jesus Christ was defeating Satan and crushing
and smiting his head. All judgment took place. He destroyed
them all. But I think it's interesting
how the Lord gives us this interesting detail. 400 young men which rode
upon gamels fled and they escaped. And what that tells me is as
long as we're in the flesh, we're still going to deal with the
Amalekites. I'm just sure of it. As long as we're in the flesh,
I have no doubt that the Amalekites represent the flesh. When God
saves somebody, he's given a new nature. He enters the promised
land, but he still has the old nature, the Amalekites attacking
him. And they're always going to be there until the day of
death. So they get away. But look what
it says in verse 18. And David recovered all that
the Amalekites had carried away. And David rescued his two wives. And there was nothing lacking
to them. neither small nor great, neither
sons nor daughters, neither spoil nor anything that they had taken
to them, David recovered all. And David took all the flocks
and the herds which they draved before these other cattle and
said, This is David's spoil. Now, remember, God promised,
You will without fail recover all. And David recovered all. And verse 19 describes the completeness
of the salvation of our greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember, this is given to typify what Christ did for us. And look
what it says. There was nothing lacking to
be. Neither small nor great. neither sons nor daughters, neither
spoils, neither anything that they've taken. David recovered
all. Now, this shows the completeness
of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of his people.
There's nothing lacking. Nothing. Of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. You lack In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body, and you are complete." Complete. You lack nothing in Him. Now, all that He died for, He
saved. And when He said, It is finished,
He said, There is nothing lacking. And when I stand before God in
judgment, there will be nothing lacking. And from now until then, There
is nothing lacking. What a complete salvation we
have in the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't get any more saved. I
can't get any more loved. I can't get any more accepted.
I can't get any more holy. I can't get any more righteous
than I am right now in the Lord Jesus Christ. You believe that? I tell you what, if you believe
it, you'll rejoice. There was nothing lacking. Verse 20, And David took all
the flocks in the herds which they drave before those other
cattle, and said, This is David's spoil. You see, not only did
David recover the losses, but he took what the Amalekites had,
and he ended up having more than he did before this raid. Now, I have more than I lost
in Adam. Adam lost human righteousness. I gain divine righteousness. I have the very righteousness
of God. I am the very righteousness of
God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Adam lost an innocent nature. He did have an innocent nature,
didn't he? He didn't sin. He had an innocent nature, and
he lost that innocent nature. But I gain a divine nature that's
given to me in the new birth that's actually impeccable, that
cannot sin. The Lord Jesus Christ cannot
sin, and the new nature in every believer cannot sin. Yes, Adam lost. his innocent
nature, but I've gained a divine nature given to me in the new
birth." Adam was subject to falling. He fell. And you know everything,
and everybody's going to fall if the Lord doesn't keep his
hand on them. All the Lord's got to do is remove
his hand and you'll fall. And you have no idea how far
you will fall. But it's a whole lot further
than you think. But in Christ, I cannot fall
away. I'm completely secure so that
I cannot fall away. And let me say something Adam
never knew anything about in innocence. Adam didn't know anything
about the joy of the forgiveness of sins. Adam didn't know anything
about the freeness of God's grace. He didn't know anything about
the greatness of mercy. He didn't know anything about
the joy and the peace of believing. He knew none of those things
that every believer gets to experience. He didn't know of the joy of
acceptance in the beloved. Oh, we have much more than we
did before the fall. Now let's go and read verse 21. And David, came to the 200 men,
which were so faint that they couldn't follow David, whom they
had made also to abide at the brook Besor. And they went forth
to meet David and to meet the people that were with him. And
when David came near to them, to the people, he saluted them.
He asked them how they did. He treated them with respect.
Nothing but respect. They didn't help. They just stayed
back. They didn't do anything. And
David saluted them and treated them with respect. Verse 22,
Then answered all the wicked men, and men of Belial. Now, the sons of Belial in the
New Testament, that word is a word used for Satan in 2 Corinthians
chapter 6. Does Christ have concord with
Belial? It's used as a word for Satan.
Now, in this group of people, there was a group of people who
were called wicked men and sons of Belial. Now, what did they
do? Then answered all the wicked men, every single one of them.
Now, this is what the wicked men had to say. The men of Belial,
of those that went with David, and they did the fighting, and
they were used to smite the Amalekites, and they brought all this spoil
back. But here's what they say. Because they went not with us,
we will not give them out of the spoil that we've recovered,
save every man his wife and his children, that they may lead
them away and depart. Now, they didn't do what we did.
They didn't work the way we did. They didn't fight the battle
the way we fought. This bunch of nobodies just stood back there
and did nothing. And they shouldn't get the riches
of the spoil. They didn't do enough work. Wicked men always hate grace. Now, you can just write that
down. Wicked men always hate the notion of grace, and wicked
men always have a high opinion of what they've done. Look what
all we've done in recovering these spoils, and they always
look down upon and mistreat others. You see, the Pharisee trusted
himself that he is righteous, and he despises others. These
are just like the fellows who worked 12 hours in the parable
of the workers in the vineyard, We worked 12 hours. They worked
one. We ought to get more than they
did. We did more. That was their attitude. But notice that the scripture
points out that the men who made this request were all the wicked
men. The sons of Beelzebul. You see,
do you think that your works somehow exalt you above your
brethren? Do you think that something that
you have done kind of makes you higher and more pleasing to God
and you would add what you did to what Christ has done and think
somehow that makes it better and you deserve a higher place
and they deserve less? Now, that's what was going on
at this time. But look at David's response,
verse 23. Then said David. You shall not do so, my brethren,
with that which the Lord hath given us, who hath preserved
us, and delivered the company that came against us into our
hand." Now, notice three words. Gave. Preserved. And delivered. David said what we have, the
Lord gave us. He supernaturally gave it to
us and we've been preserved. If he didn't preserve us, we
would have been destroyed. We've been delivered. That's
the message of grace. The Lord gave us this. The Lord
preserved us and the Lord delivered us. He saved us. He did it all. You know, the idea of greater
rewards is wickedness. That's what it is. We ought to
get more. We've done more. That's so contrary
to love. Do you want to exalt yourself
over your brethren in Christ? I get a higher reward in heaven.
I have earned a greater place. I've done more. Do you have such
a high opinion of your works that you would add that to the
work of Christ and somehow it comes out better? That's so ridiculous. It's so offensive. Verse 24, 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 teareth by the
stuff. They shall part alike. Everybody gets the same thing. If you have the Lord Jesus Christ,
what more could you want? What could you add to him that
would make things better for you? His glorious righteousness? Everybody gets the same thing. Verse 25, And it was so from
that day forward that he made it a statute and an ordinance
for Israel unto this day. And you know, this statute is
still in effect, isn't it? Every believer is saved by the
grace of God. Every believer is preserved by
God. Every believer is delivered by
God. He did it all. And every believer
was saved the same way. And you're given the same thing.
Every believer. And, you know, if there's going
to be a fight about where you're going to be in heaven, It ought
to be a fight about who ought to have the last place and who
ought to take the lowest place. And if you're looking at the
church and thinking, boy, I tell you, those people, how do they,
you ought to be thinking about yourself. If you get everybody
in here, beginning here, I'd be thinking if anybody ought
to be excluded, it ought to be me. And that's the attitude everybody
ought to have. And there ought to be a fight
for the lowest seat, not the highest seat. but the lowest
seat. And if you know yourself, you
know that's where you belong in the lowest seat. Now, remember,
these fellows were not wanting to share the spoils, but look
at David's attitude. Verse 26, And when David came
to Ziklag, he sent of his spoil unto the elders of Judah, even
to his friends, saying, Behold, a present for you of the spoil
of the enemies of the Lord. He gives it all away. And that
is a beautiful gospel story and a beautiful gospel type. And
I trust the Lord will bless it to us. Let's pray together.