Sermon #779 Miscellaneous Sermons

Title: “David’s Spoil”

Text: 1 Samuel 30:18-20

Reading:

Subject: The spoils of Christ

Date: Tuesday Evening - March 22, 1988

Tape #

Introduction:

While David and his men were away, endeavoring to secure peace and safety for Israel, the Amalekites invaded Ziklag, burned the city with fire, took all the women and children captive, and thoroughly spoiled the city. When David and his men came home, they saw their city smoldering. Nothing was left. You can imagine the pain and grief they felt. Their wives, their children, their homes, their cattle, everything was gone! In the madness of their grief, David’s men turned on him, as if the calamity had been his doing, and spoke of stoning him.

“But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” There is a sermon in that! Children of God, when trials and sorrows come, encourage yourselves in the Lord. But I cannot speak about that now. David waited upon the Lord to direct his steps. He called for Abiathar the priest and the ephod, “And David inquired of the Lord.” Then, under God’s direction and armed with God’s promise, David pursued the bandits of Amalek. He thoroughly defeated his enemies and recovered all that the Amalekites had taken at Ziklag. In addition to recovering all the wives, children, and cattle Israel had lost, David took great spoil from the Amalekites. David recovered all. And David took the flocks and the herds which they drave before those other cattle, and said, “This is David’s spoil.” As the conquering armies of Israel returned home, they placed the spoils of victory in the forefront and shouted with joy, “This is David’s spoil.”

Today, I am going to talk to you for a little while about “David’s Spoil.” But, as you might have already guessed, I am going to be preaching about another David, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, the Son of David. I want, by the Spirit of God, to show you the spiritual message revealed in this historic event in Israel. Throughout the whole story, David is a very special type of our Lord Jesus Christ. David’s conquest over the Amalekites foreshadowed our Lord’s victory over our enemies. David’s recovery of Israel’s losses pictured Christ’s recovery of that which we lost by the sin and fall of our father, Adam. And David’s spoil represents the great bounty of grace won for us by our Lord Jesus Christ. We are told that “David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives. And there was nothing lacking...David recovered all.” Then we are told that David took much, much more. “This is David’s spoil.” What a picture!

Proposition: While our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished redemption for us by his death upon the cross, he recovered all that we had lost by the fall, nothing was left in the enemies’ hand; and he also gathered great spoil for us (Isa. 53:12).

Using David as a type of Christ, I want, if God will enable me, to set the hearts of David’s men - Christ’s men - shouting his praises, saying, “This is David’s spoil!”

Divisions:

1. Our Lord’s Recovery

2. Our Lord’s Spoils

3. Our Lord’s Statute

I. 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 what Israel had lost. And it is Christ alone who has recovered all that we lost in the fall of Adam. All the blessings of grace which we enjoy come to us through Christ. Without him, we can do nothing. And without him, we can obtain nothing. All the good that we enjoy comes to us from God the Father, through the Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

A..David’s men defeated the Amalekites and took away their spoils, but it was for David’s sake that God gave success to the army of Israel.

God’s eye was always on David. He dealt with Israel accordingly, as he dealt with David. David was the Lord’s chosen servant. David was the Lord’s anointed. It was not for Israel’s sake, but for David’s sake, that the Lord led them to the camp of the Amalekites and drove them away as dried stubble before the wind. Even so...

1. It is for Christ’s sake that the Lord God bestows his mercy, love, and grace upon us (Eph. 4:32).

Christ alone is the channel of mercy. God’s eye is always upon his Son. And he deals with us as he deals with his Son, if we are in Christ. For Christ’s sake the Lord our God...

· Chose us!

· Accepts us!

· Pardons us!

· Justifies us!

· Regenerates us!

· Sanctifies us!

· Preserves us!

· Glorifies us!

All the blessings of grace are in Christ, flow to us from Christ, lead us to Christ, and glorify the name of Christ (Eph. 1:3-14).

· All fulness is in Christ (Col. 2:10).

· All fulness comes from Christ (John 1:16).

· Christ alone is Pre-eminent (Col. 1:18).

2. Because everything comes to us for Christ’s sake, we may say of every covenant blessing, “This is David’s spoil.”

We see upon every blessing of grace the mark of the cross. These things are the fruit of our Savior’s death. These things were purchased for us by our Redeemer’s blood.

B. David’s men won the victory over Amalek because of their association with David, and by David’s direction.

If David had not been there to lead them, when they saw Ziklag in ashes, these men would have thrown in the towel and scattered among the nations. But David led them to victory.

1. Blessed be God, our great David, the Lord Jesus Christ is always there - “Jehovah-Shammah!”

2. Following our Master, we fight the foes that rise up against us.

3. And by his direction, by virtue of our union with Christ, we shall overcome our enemies and win the victory at last (1 John 4:4; 5:4; Rom. 8:35-39).

See the glorious banner waving!

Hear the trumpet blow!

In our Leader’s name we triumph

Over every foe!

C. As David recovered all that Israel lost to the Amalekites, our Lord Jesus Christ has recovered all that we lost in the fall of our father Adam by reason of sin.

By nature, by reason of sin, we had lost everything. We lost paradise, with all its joys. We lost this world. That which was once the fertile field of vegetation now yields thorns and thistles to us. We lost life, hope, peace, and the favor of God. But Christ has restored all! All that the first Adam lost the second Adam has restored. David recovered all. And Christ recovered all.

1. We were lost; but Christ recovered us (Lk. 11:22).

“I plucked the spoil out of his teeth” (Job 29:17).

“Firebrands plucked from the burning!”

As David rescued his two wives that had been taken into captivity, Christ Jesus has snatched his beloved bride from the hands of the law, the fires of wrath, and the hand of satan.

2. We had forfeited life; but Christ recovered life for us (1 Cor. 15:22, 23, 49; Eph. 2:1-4; john 3:17).

3. We had forfeited our eternal heritage; but Christ recovered all (Eph. 1:14).

· Behold all the elect around the throne, and say, “This is David’s spoil.”

· Let each believer look at himself, his past, his present, and his future, and say, “This is David’s spoil.”

These are the things our Lord has recovered for us. But there is more than the recovery. As Israel was enriched by the Amalekites, God’s elect are enriched by their enemies. By Christ, God’s promise is fulfilled - “They that spoil thee shall be a spoil” (Jer. 30:16-17; Col. 2:13-15).

II. So, secondly, I want to show you a little bit about our Lord’s spoils (v. 20).

The spoils which David brought back to Israel were things that Israel could never have possessed had the Amalekites not taken them captive. Their captivity was a very painful, sorrowful things in the experience of it. But it was a most blessed thing in the end of it. Israel lost nothing by their captivity, but gained much in their recovery. And God’s elect really lost nothing by our fall in Adam. In the end it will prove to have been a great act of mercy on God’s part that he allowed us to fall in Adam, that we might be recovered by Christ.

· God did not cause Adam to fall.

· God could have prevented the fall. (Abimelech)

· God did ordain the fall (Rom. 11:36).

· And God ordained the fall for our good and his glory (Rom. 8:28).

A. As David turned Israel’s loss into great gain, our Lord Jesus Christ has turned our fall into a great blessing.

I know what I am saying. I am not speaking rashly, without thought. I know that some will take what I am preaching today and pervert it, misuse it, and perhaps even use it to reproach me. But I am preaching for the comfort and edification of God’s elect and the glory of Christ. Let others do what they will with what I have to say. As martin Luther once said, “O happy fall!” I am convinced that in the end God’s elect will find great reason to praise and give thanks to God for their fall in Adam as well as their recovery by Christ. Had there been no fall, there could be no song of redemption to the glory of Christ the Lamb (Rev. 5:9-14).

1. In Christ manhood is lifted to the place of highest possible honor and glory, because we are made to be one with Christ himself (Eph. 5:30).

Adam was made a little lower than the angels. But Christ brings manhood up to the throne of God and makes angels the servants of men (Heb. 2:5-9). “This is David’s spoil.”

2. If we had not fallen in Adam, we could never have known the blessedness and the glory of redeeming love (Heb. 2:16).

One of the greatest glories of heaven shall be the eternal remembrance and endless celebrations of redemption (Rev. 7:14). And 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 (Eph. 2:7). Others are the work of God’s hands. But we are the product of his sweat and tears and blood and death! “This is David’s spoil!”

3. In heaven, you and I shall be creatures who have known sin and have been completely recovered from its pollution, guilt, and penalty (2 Sam. 12:13; Rom. 4:8).

Should Gabriel himself offer to trade places with this ransomed sinner, I could not be persuaded. It is an infinitely greater honor and privilege to be the least of God’s children than to be the brightest angel of his presence. We have blessings of grace that Adam could never have known in the garden and the sinless angels can never know in heaven. “This is David’s spoil!”

· We are elect, adopted sons of God (1 john 3:1).

· We are forgiven sinners (Isa. 43:25).

· We are preserved by grace.

· We know the love of God.

· We see the glory of God.

· We are the heirs of covenant mercy.

· We have experienced the faithfulness and immutability of God.

4. And you and I shall, because of our fall in Adam and recovery by Christ, be granted the privilege of a glorious resurrection (Rom. 8:16-23).

· Soon we shall sleep in Jesus.

· But these bodies shall be raised up in glory.

“This is David’s spoil!”

5. 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 wondering worlds (Eph. 1:6, 11, 14; Eph. 3:10).

· The purposes of God.

· The love of God.

· The justice of God.

· The righteousness of God.

· The power of God.

“This is David’s spoil!’

B. That which we willingly give to our Lord Jesus Christ because of his grace may also be called his spoil.

Illustration: The man for whom Philip Doddridge

successfully interceded (1741). Every

drop of my blood thanks you, for you

have had compassion on every drop of

it. You are my delieverer, and you have

a right to me. If I live, I am your property,

I will be your faithful servant.” (See 1 Cor.

6:19-20).

1. Our hearts are his alone forever (1 John 4:19).

2. Our gifts are but tokens of love (2 Cor. 8:7-9).

· The Alabaster Box.

· The Widow’s Mite.

3. Our talents are spent in his service.

4. Our homage, reverence, praise, and obedience to him as a church is his rightful spoil.

5. Indeed, this whole race must one day bow before him (Phil. 2:9-11).

Of all these things, we say, “This is David’s spoil!”

III. Before I send you home, let me give you one more blessed thing revealed in 1 Samuel 30. Look for just a moment at OUR LORD’S STATUTE (VV. 24-25).

There were some men who did not follow David to battle, because they were faint. And the wicked men of Israel wanted to rob them of their part in David’s spoil. But David divided his spoil equally with all the men of Israel, the faint and the strong alike. And our lord Jesus Christ will do the same (Matt. 20:10-12). No back settlements! Same Father - Same Elder Brother - Same Spirit - The same right to heaven - The same portion - The same glory!

Application:

Are you David’s spoil? Learn the lessons of our text and rejoice.

1. Sin contracts no guilt that grace does not remove.

2. Sin brings no deformity that grace does not correct.

3. Sin loses no blessing that grace does not restore.

4. Sin causes no grief that grace does not turn to joy.

Romans 5:20!