Turn with me again to the book
of 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel 21. 1 Samuel chapter 21. Years ago, I remember Tom Harding preaching
from this text. And I remember after, I enjoyed
the message so much, I said, Tom, I'm going to steal that
outline. And of course, he was fine with
that. I think he said he stole it from
somebody else. But as I was studying this week,
I came across this text and a few, just a few little notes jotted
down in my Bible. Here in our text, we'll read
this here in just a second, but David is, he's fleeing from Saul. And in his haste to get away
from him, he's left all of his provisions behind. Has no food,
has no weapons. In fact, he's eating bread from
the temple. and looking for something he
might use to defend himself. But look here at 1 Samuel 21,
look beginning with verse eight. 1 Samuel 21, verse eight. And David said unto Ahimelech,
Is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? I've neither brought my sword
nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required
haste. And the priest said, the sword
of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of
Elah, behold, It's here. It's wrapped in a cloth behind
the ephod. And if thou wilt take that, take
it. For there is no other save that
there. That's the only one here. And
David said this, there is none like that. None like it. Give it, give it to me. Can you imagine, I mean, I just
think about this. This is the sword which David
used to destroy Goliath. He took Goliath's own sword from
him and he cut his head off with it and now he holds it in his
hand once again in a time when he is pursued by the enemy. This is a desperate time for
David. He's running for his life. And
now he holds that sword that God had provided him to slay,
Goliath, and he says this, there's none like it. There's none like
it. Give it to me. I can't help but
believe that when he handed him that sword, that must have comforted
David. That must have reassured him
in this battle. That even though the enemy was
mighty, what a mighty foe Goliath was when David withstood him. And now Saul pursues him. Even
though the enemy was mighty, yet the Lord was pleased to deliver
him. There's but one sword, just one. None other, that's what the priest
said, there's none other save that which is here. And David
says, there's none like that. Give it to me. In light of that
phrase, I want us to consider just a few things here this evening
that we find in scripture in which this statement holds true.
There's none like it. Give it to me. And the first
is this, the word of God. Is there anything like the word
of God? Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
six. Ephesians chapter six. Look beginning with verse 13. Ephesians six, verse 13. Wherefore, take unto you the
whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil
day, and having done all to stand, stand therefore having your loins
girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness,
and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and above
all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, take the helmet of
salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God." The word of God, that which was from the beginning, that
which is able to make us wise unto salvation, that which endureth
forever. That's what's said of God's Word.
The Word of the Lord endureth forever. It's the inspired Word
of God. It's God-breathed. You know, this alone is pretty fascinating.
You consider that this Bible is made up, God's Word is made
up of 66 books. The Canon of Scripture. And these books were written
by 40 different men. 40 different men over a period
of 1500 years. And these men, they came from
all different backgrounds. There were shepherds, fishermen,
a doctor, kings, prophets, others, and most of them Never even knew
each other. Very few would have had time
to collaborate or even been acquaintances with each other. It's written
in three different languages. It was. It was written in Hebrew,
Greek, Aramaic, written on three different continents. You know, we couldn't sit down
here as a group probably and write a letter and all be in
agreement with one another. And it all has a common story,
a common theme. The creation, the fall, and the
redemption of God's people. And there's no errors in it.
No errors. No contradictions. Isn't that
just amazing in and of itself? I ask you, is there Any other
book like it? No, no. There's none like it. Give it to me. Listen to Hebrews
chapter 4 verse 12. The Word of God is quick, powerful,
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It's a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart." It's one word. It's God's Word. It declares
the Lord Jesus Christ. What did David say? There's none
like it. None like it. Give it to me. Consider salvation. Consider
salvation. Turn to Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4. Verse 12. I ask you, is there anything like
the salvation of the Lord? Look at verse 12. Neither is
there salvation in any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Salvation. Salvation by the blood. It is found throughout the Word
of God. Consider Abel. What did Abel
bring? His sacrifice was accepted. It was a blood sacrifice. It's a blood sacrifice pictured
in Isaac. God told Abraham, He said, Take
now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, and offer him
up as a burnt offering. In Genesis 22, verse 7, we read
this, that Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and he said, My father,
There they were walking along the way, walking up for this
sacrifice. He said, here am I, my son. And he said, behold,
the fire and the wood. Where's the lamb? Where's the
lamb for a burn offering? And Abraham uttered those words.
He said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. And they went. So they went,
both of them, together. And they came to that place which
God told them of, and Abraham built an altar there. And he
laid the wood in order, and he bound Isaac, his son, a willing,
he had to be a willing sacrifice. I think about that like my Isaac
now. Can you imagine me trying to
bind him? He bound Isaac, his son, and
he laid him on the altar of wood, and Abraham stretched forth his
hand. And he took that knife to slay
his son, to shed his blood. And the angel of the Lord called
out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, here am
I. And he said, lay not thy hand
upon the lad, neither do thou anything to him, for now I know
thou, fierce God, seen, you've not withheld your only son. And
Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there was
that ram caught in the thicket, caught in the thicket, horns
tangled up in it. and he took that ram and he offered
it a burnt offering instead of his son. He shed the blood of
that lamb instead of his son, picturing the Lord Jesus Christ. I ask you, is there any salvation,
any salvation like God's salvation? What'd Dave say? None like it. None like it. Give it to me. In Exodus 12, the Lord spoke
to Aaron and Moses. And he told them, he said, every
one of you take a lamb according to the house of your fathers.
A lamb for a house. And that lamb was to be without
blemish. Had to be perfect, didn't it?
a lamb, a male of the first year in its full strength. Take it
out from the sheep, from the goats. Keep it up until the 14th
day of the same month and the whole assembly of the congregation
shall kill it. And then take the blood. Don't
stop there. Take the blood and strike it
on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the house
wherein you shall eat it. Almighty God's going to pass
through in judgment. But listen to this promise. He
said, when I see the blood, the blood, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. That wasn't the case in Egypt,
was it? The death of the firstborn. A cry that went out. Can you
imagine the cry that went out from that land? But what about the children of
Israel? Where were they found? Safe and secure. Where? Under the blood. Under the blood. Salvation. Deliverance. A salvation that truly saves. Just one, one salvation, and
there's none other, none like it. David said, give it to me,
give it to me. Third, turn with me to John chapter
13. John chapter 13, beginning with verse 1. John chapter 13, verse 1. Now before the feast of the Passover,
when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should depart
out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own, which were
in the world, he loved them to the end. His love. His love. Having loved his own. Doesn't say loved everybody,
does it? It says having loved his own.
That's a particular love. His sheep, his elect, his people,
having loved his own. And listen, with an everlasting
an unchanging love. He loved them continually. He
loved them forever, even to death. Forever. Paul wrote in Romans
8, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation There's so many things in this
world that get us worked up, isn't there? A flash of anything
on the news and we get stirred about it. Listen to this. Who
shall separate us from the love of God? Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? Shall distress? Shall persecution? Famine? Nakedness? Peril? Sword? As it's 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're
more than conquerors through him that loved us. I'm persuaded that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, 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 Jesus Christ our Lord. Greater love, greater love hath
no man than this. that he lay down his life for
his friends. Love revealed through the death
of his son. I ask you, is there any love like God's love? Is there any
love like Christ's love for his people? I say there's none like
it. None like it, give it to me. Fourth, faith. Faith. Turn to 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1.
2 Peter 1, verse 1. Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious
faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus
Christ. is obtained. What that means is it's received.
It's received by, if you pull your concordance out, received
by divine allotment. Faith is the work of God. Faith
is the gift of God. That's what God's Word declares.
For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. What is it? It's the gift of
God. Faith is precious. We just read
that. Faith looks to Christ. That woman with the issue of
blood, our Lord spoke to her and he
said this, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace
and be whole of thy plague." Who was she looking to? She was
looking to Christ. Who healed her? The Lord Jesus
Christ. She said, if I can just touch
the hymn of his garment. Faith's obtained. Faith is the
gift of God. Faith is precious. Faith looks
to Christ. Faith rests in Him. And without faith, it is impossible
to please Him. Hebrews 11, we call that the
hall of faith. Listen to this again. Faith is
obtained. It's the gift of God. It's precious.
Listen to just a few of these passages here. By faith, Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice. By faith, Enoch was
translated. He didn't see death. By faith,
Noah built an ark. By faith, Abraham went out to
a place that afterward he would receive. That's not typically
how we operate, is it? We see it and then we go to it.
God told him, you go, and he went, not even knowing where
the Lord was going to send him. By faith, Abraham sojourned in
the land of promise. By faith, Sarah bare Isaac, even
in old age. She was past the age of bearing
children. By faith, Abraham offered up
Isaac. He believed God. By faith, Moses
gave up the wealth of Egypt. Can you imagine that? He was
raised in Pharaoh's house. He could have stayed there a
life of ease, but he gave up the wealth of Egypt. By faith,
the Red Sea was dried up. By faith, the walls of Jericho
fell down. By faith, Rahab the harlot was
saved, delivered. What's said of all these? I would love to have this said
of me. These all died in faith. The same faith. One faith. Believing, believing God. There's one faith. None other. There's none like it. Give it,
give it to me. And then last, the Lord Jesus Christ. Is there any like the Lord Jesus
Christ? Jesus Christ who loved us and
gave himself for us. I must have him. I must have
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's my wisdom. He's my righteousness. He's my sanctification. He's
my redemption. The Lord Jesus Christ, who by
his own blood entered once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. He didn't leave one thing. Not
one thing left undone. I must have Him. He that bore
my sins in His body on the tree. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
1. Hebrews 1. Look, beginning with verse 1
of Hebrews 1. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, spoke then, they wrote the word of God, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir
of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Look at verse
3. Who being the brightness of his
glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
Well, we just read it there. He's the brightness of His glory.
He's the express image of His person. He's God. He is God in
human flesh. He became a man. Almighty God
became a man. He took upon himself the form
of a servant. Men were looking for a king.
He took upon himself the form of a servant. He was made in
the likeness of men. Can we even imagine the condescension,
Almighty God being made a man? and being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross." What did he do? What did the Lord
Jesus Christ do? Look there in verse 3 again. He by himself purged our sins. He cleansed me from my sin. Listen, by Himself purged our
sins. By Himself. No help. No help from me, no help from
any other man. He by Himself purged our sins. Listen to these words from Isaiah
53. Surely He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded. Why? For my transgressions. He was
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray. We've turned everyone to our
own way. And the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Where is he now? Look again,
do you still have verse three of Hebrews one? We read that
he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, seated
at the right hand of God. Having satisfied God's demands,
his holy law, having satisfied his strict justice, having made
full atonement for my sin, having paid the redemption price in
full, where is he? Seated. Seated. Paul, writing to the Romans,
he said, It's Christ that died, yea, rather that it's risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Seated. When do you sit down? When the work's finished. Finished. That's what he said on the cross.
It is finished. Is there any like him? Is there
any like our Lord? Is there any like our Savior?
There's none like Him. The psalmist wrote this. Who
is like the Lord our God? We read this to open the service. Who is like unto thee? Let me close with the words of
a hymn. Gracious Lord, incline thy ear. My request vouchsafe to hear. Burdened with my sins, I cry,
give me Christ or else I die. All unholy and unclean, I am
nothing else but sin. On thy mercy, I rely. Give me Christ or else I die. Thou dost freely save the lost.
In thy grace alone I trust. With my earnest suit comply.
Give me Christ, or else I die. In the words of David, there's
none like it. None like it. Give it to me. All right.