Sermon #781
Title: WHO SHALL BE REWARDED?
Text: 1 Samuel 30:21-25
Reading:
Subject: David’s Statute For The Sharing of the Spoil
Date: Tuesday Evening - March 29, 1988
Tape #
Introduction:
There were six hundred men in Israel
who had lined up with David against Saul. They forsook family, home, career,
and friend to follow David, when it was most unpopular to do so. They were
willing to lay down their lives for David. They followed David through thick
and thin, preferring to be with David in caves, in the wilderness, and upon the
battlefield than to be with Saul in the palace. A few of these men were the
bravest, most valiant men in Israel. But for the most part David’s men were a
rag-tag band of helpless, useless paupers, whose only hope of life was that
David might graciously receive them, defend them, protect them and lead them.
The scriptures say, “Everyone that was in
distress, and everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented,
gathered themselves unto (David); and he became a captain over them” ((1
Sam. 22:2). David, you know, was a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of
David. And his rag-tag army of nobodies fairly well represents the church of
our Lord Jesus Christ in this world (1 Cor. 1:26-29).
With that in mind, I want you to look
again at 1 Samuel 30:21-25. You will recall the story leading up to our text.
1.
While David
and his men were away seeking peace and safety by alignment with Achish and the
Philistines, the Amalekites came to Ziklag, burned the city and took all the
wives, children, cattle, sheep, and valuables that belonged to David and his
men (vv. 1-6).
2.
David turned
to seek the counsel of the Lord and, armed with the Spirit of God and the
promise of God, he pursued the Amalekites (vv. 7-8).
3.
As David pursued
his enemies, some of his men had to be left behind (vv. 9-10).
Two hundred of the men were so faint
that “they could not go over the brook
Besor.” They were “so faint that they
could not follow David.’ We are not told that they “would not go,” but that
they “could not go.” They would have
gone if they could have gone, but they simply did not have the strength and
ability to go. Therefore, they stayed “by the stuff,” while David and their
four hundred brethren pursued the Amalekites.
They would have gone if they could
have gone, but they simply did not have the strength and ability to go.
Therefore, they stayed “by the stuff,” while David and their four hundred
brethren pursued the Amalekites.
4. At last David and his men caught
their enemies and thoroughly conquered them (vv. 11-20).
David recovered all that the
Amalekites had taken from them. Nothing was lacking. David recovered all. And
David also gathered a great spoil from the Amalekites. Now David and his men
are marching back in triumph. As they approach the two hundred they left behind
at Besor, they put all the flocks and herds David had taken from the Amalekites
in the front, and shouted, as they came across the brook Besor, “This is David’s spoil!” Now read the
text with me (vv. 21-25).
Some of those who went with David to
the battle were proud, wicked men, men of Belial. They said, “We will not share the spoil with these two
hundred weak men who went not into the battle with us. They are not as strong
as we are. They have not done as much as we have. They do not deserve to be
ranked with us. And they shall not be rewarded with us. We will allow them to
have their wives and children, but no more. We have done greater things than
they; and we will have greater reward.” “The spoil that WE HAVE RECOVERED!”
Does that sound like anyone you know? There are many who
teach that the rewards of heaven are earned by men upon the earth. They tell us
that God will distribute the crowns of glory according to the merits of our
labors, works and faithfulness upon the earth. These wicked, self-righteous men
of Belial will allow the poor weaklings are saved and will get to heaven by
grace. But, because they have not performed great works, they shall not have
all the fulness of heaven’s reward. Thus they attempt to mix the works of men
with the grace of God as the grounds of reward in heaven. Such a mixture, we
cannot and must not tolerate.
Proposition: All the
blessings of grace come to God’s elect freely, not by the merits of our works,
but by the merits of Christ’s righteousness and shed blood as our Substitute.
Today, I want to address myself to
this question: Who Shall Be Rewarded? You
will find the answer to that question in David’s words to the wicked men of
Belial (vv. 23-24).
Divisions:
Today, I have a God-given word of comfort for my faint, weak
and weary brethren in the family of God. Those who think they are mighty,
strong, and deserving of special reward from God will hear nothing pleasing to
their proud hearts. But all who are the children of God, dependent upon Christ
alone, seeking acceptance with God only by grace through the blood of Christ,
will rejoice to hear what I have to say, I am sure.
1. In the family of God there are many faint, weak brethren.
2. Christ is especially the Lord of the faint and weak ones.
3. The Lord Jesus Christ will come again to his faint ones.
4. When Christ our Lord comes again, he will grant all his
faint and weak ones a full inheritance in glory.
I. IN THE FAMILY OF GOD THERE ARE
MAN FAINT, WEAK BRETHREN.
It is true, there are some strong young men and fathers
among the saints. But there are many babes in grace too. And even the strongest
are, at times, weak. The mightiest hands sometimes hang down. The most faithful
soldier weakens in the knees at times. And in the army of Christ, the strongest
ones know their own weaknesses, and trust Christ as their strength. As David
had his weak ones, so does our Lord. No doubt, there are some sitting here
tonight whose faith is real, whose love is sincere; but, right now, your strength
is weakened. You are depressed in spirit, downcast in your soul, and weak. If
you could, you would go out to fight the Amalekites, but you cannot. “The spirit indeed is willing; but the flesh
is weak.” This faintness may be attributed to many things, without excusing
it in the least.
A. In the case of David’s men,
these weak ones might have become faint because of great perplexity.
David had wrongfully sought to join forces with Achish and
the Philistines. David, who had slain Goliath, was seeking to find terms of
peace with the Philistines. David, who would not allow his men to harm Saul,
was trying to join forces with Saul’s most determined enemies. Would David
fight with the Philistines against Saul and Israel?
1.
God’s people
are often perplexed, weakened and hindered by the misguided zeal, untempered
words, and faulty examples of their God ordained leaders.
I am not talking now about false
prophets. I am talking about faithful men who err in their speech, conduct and
attitude. When pastors, elders, deacons, and teachers behave in a manner that
is out of character and contrary to the gospel of Christ, they do great harm to
the family of God - Brethren, let us ever seek to adorn the gospel of Christ
and mark a plain path, by our example, for our brethren to follow.
·
Faith!
·
Faithfulness!
·
Commitment!
·
Contentment!
·
Encouragement!
2. David, in a time of weakness,
unbelief and frustration, set before his brethren an example of weakness,
seeking safety by compromise; and many, in perplexion, followed his example!
B.
No doubt, these two hundred men became weak because they looked at the events
of providence, instead of looking to the God of providence.
They saw Ziklag burning. Their wives were gone. Their
children were gone. Their cattle were gone. Everything in this world they
cherished was gone. These were not ordinary trials. I have seen strong men
break under far less pressure. Who has not experienced this weakness? We look
at our circumstances and conclude the worst. When everything around us makes it
appear that God is against us, we have a hard time believing that God is for
us.
1.
These men
could not pursue the Amalekites, they could not obey God’s command (v. 8),
because they looked to Ziklag’s ashes rather than God’s promise!
They tried to obey. They went as far
as Besor. But they just could not go any farther.
2. Child of God, never interpret the
will of God by providence; but always interpret providence by the will
(revelation) of God.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense.
But trust Him for His grace:
Behind the frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour:
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
3. The only cure for this weakness is
faith (Rom. 8:28).
·
Trust the
wisdom of God.
·
Trust the
goodness of God.
·
Trust the
promise of God.
C.
And I am sure that these men became faint because the task before them was
great.
They were a small band of men going out to do battle with a
great, well-equipped, mighty army. Though they had both the command of God and
the promise of God, they could not think of anything except their own weakness
and the Amalekites’ strength. The fear of failure and defeat made them too weak
to fight. It is hard to be very severe with these faint ones when you realize
that they were very much like us, isn’t it? The most powerful successful foe in
the world is fear!
1.
Fear makes
every enemy a giant - Faith slays the giant.
2.
Fear makes
every path a mountain - Faith levels the mountain.
3.
Fear makes the
feet heavy - Faith makes the wings swift.
4.
Fear makes the
brook Besor a torrential river - Faith crosses the brook, swimming if
necessary, building a bridge if necessary, but faith crosses the brook.
5.
Fear makes
every tree a forest - Faith clears the forest, one tree at a time.
6.
Fear is sizing
the obstacle - Faith is obeying the will of God.
7.
Fear looks to
the strength of the enemy - Faith looks to the promise of God.
Apply this to the church and the work
of the gospel. Fear says, “We can’t do that!” Faith says, “By the grace of God,
for the glory of Christ, according to the will of God, we will do what God has
given us to do.”
II. God has many faint, weak children in his family. But,
secondly, I want you to see that CHRIST
IS ESPECIALLY THE LORD OF HIS FAINT AND WEAK ONES.
David was captain over a bunch of weak ragamuffins. Everyone
that was in distress, in debt and discontent were the ones who gathered to
David. And in this too, he was a type of Christ. A poor wretch, head over heels
in debt, without a penny to pay, good for nothing, worthless, I came to Christ.
No one else would have me. But he graciously received me and became Captain
over me.
We are not among those self-praising,
mighty ones, who have accomplished great feats of holiness and wonders of
righteousness, by which (they suppose) they have made themselves so great
before God that now, by their mighty progress, God has become a debtor to them.
Just last week, I received an article from a man who claims to preach the
gospel of God’s grace. He was very upset with something I have written. And, in
criticizing my doctrine, he went to great lengths to defend what he called
“progressive righteousness”!
We have no part with such men. We
mourn our weaknesses, iniquities, transgressions and sin. But we rejoice in the
faithfulness of our dear Lord. He delights to be the Lord of sinners who need
him. He will not cast them off because they need him.
A.
Though we are often in distress, by reason of our own weakness, Christ is
touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
Though it was through David’s sin that Ziklag was burned,
the Lord did not forsake him, or even punish him, but graciously rewarded him.
Though it was through weakness that these men stayed behind at Besor, David
still used them and rewarded them as if they had single-handedly defeated the
Amalekites.
1.
Our Lord
chastens us, but never punishes us.
2.
He reproves
us, but never renounces us.
3.
He never
forsakes or ceases to love his own (Heb. 13:5).
·
He loves all
his children with the same love.
·
He is with us,
even when we stray, especially when we stray.
·
He protects us
even when we sin, especially when we sin.
B.
It is because we are weak and need him that Christ is ever present and willing
to help us, defend us, protect us and provide for us (Isa. 43:1-5; Heb.
4:16).
It is not our goodness, but our
sinfulness that qualifies us for mercy. The strong do not need Christ’s
strength. The righteous do not need his grace. The rich do not need his help.
The Son of God still goes home and eats with publicans and sinners. He is
especially the Lord of the needy. The needy need mercy!
·
There is
nothing we would not do if we could. But we cannot do what we would.
III. Thirdly, THE LORD
JESUS CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN TO HIS FAINT ONES.
As
soon as David had finished his business with the Amalekites, he returned to his
faint, weak men at Besor. And he was determined to make them know the joy of
his accomplishments. David came to the two hundred who could not follow him,
and saluted them, asked about their well-being! That is a picture of Christ!
A. Though our Lord hides himself from us
for a time, for our own good, that we may seek after him, he will return to
those who need him.
Illustration: Peter (Mark 16:7).
And the poor,
faint, weak and needy ones will be overjoyed to see him again (Song 3:1-4).
B. Soon, our Lord Jesus will come again to
call his faint ones home, and we will go out with anxious hearts to meet him (1
Thess. 4:17-18).
O blessed day! Our faintings will then be over forever!
IV. AND WHEN
CHRIST OUR LORD COMES AGAIN, HE WILL GRANT ALL HIS FAINT AND WEAK ONES A FULL
INHERITANCE IN GLORY (2 Sam. 2:3).
As David
became an advocate for these two hundred faint men in the teeth of their
accusers, the Lord Jesus Christ shall be Advocate for us in the day of judgment
(vv. 23-24).
Look at the
reasons David gave for giving all his men an equal share in his spoils, and you
will discover why we insist that all God’s saints will have all the fulness of
the glories of heaven.
A. The rewards of heaven are Christ’s
spoils, not ours!
“This is
David’s spoil!”
B. The church of God is one body, and
we are one with Christ!
Notice how David uses that word “us.”
C. The glories of heaven are all gifts
of divine grace.
“That which the Lord hath given us!” Human merit has nothing to do with heaven’s glory.
·
The crowns are
crowns of grace.
·
The thrones
are thrones of grace.
·
The mansions
are mansions of grace.
·
The songs are
songs of grace.
D.
The weak and faint believer serves Christ just as fully and sincerely as the
strong and zealous.
These men could not go to battle. They were too weak. But
they could and did stay by the stuff.
1.
If they had
not stayed by the stuff, the other men could not have won the victory.
2.
They were more
fearful, but not less earnest or useful than their stronger brethren.
3.
Our Lord
honors those who do what they can for him.
·
The widow.
·
Martha and
Mary.
·
The woman
(Mark 14;6).
E.
These men received their reward because it was the will of the king (Lk.
12:32; v. 25).
Application:
I am seeking recruits for the King of
glory. He wants the needy! If Christ is so kind to the weak, how much more we
who are weak should be.