In this sermon, the speaker focuses on a story from the Bible about David and his 400 men. Despite being on a mission from God to pursue the Amalekites, David and his men come across an Egyptian man in the desert who is weak and hungry. Instead of ignoring him, David shows unexpected kindness and helps the man by giving him food and water. This act of kindness is praised by the speaker as an example of going above and beyond what is expected and being blessed by God for it.

1 Samuel chapter 30. It's been wonderful to follow the life of David through this great book of 1 Samuel. And it's almost with a touch of sadness that we come to the last couple chapters. Next week we'll be concluding the book of 1 Samuel. But here we deal with an incident in David's life that springs from a bad time in David's life. You know, when we think of David as this man who was the greatest king that Israel ever knew, this man who was a mighty warrior for the cause of God, this man who is given the beautiful title in the Scriptures, a man after God's own heart, we would think that David's walk with God was just sort of like a rocket ship to glory. You know, from glory to glory. It's just never-ending, just on an escalator to heaven. It didn't work like that. In some ways, it was more like a roller coaster. I mean, you know, as you think about it, that later on when David was king, that there was an infamous incident in his life where he committed adultery with a woman, and there was all sort of evil that came into his life because of that. But you may not be aware that earlier in David's life, there was another significant time of what we might call backsliding or decline in his walk with God. During this time, David actually forsook the people of God and lived among the Philistines for more than a year. He said, I don't want to be a part of the godly. I'm going to make my place with the ungodly. And actually, he even decided that he was going to fight with the ungodly against God's people. Well, behind the scenes, God was working and wouldn't allow it. But when David and his men first heard that the Philistines were not going to allow them to fight with them, they were disappointed. And David and his men make this trip back down from this northern city named Aphek, and they come back down to the city where they were living, a city named Ziklag. And when they come to the city of Ziklag, they find that all of their wives, all of their children, all of their possessions were gone. You see, while all the fighting men of the city of Ziklag were up ready to try to fight in a battle, the Amalekites, a people group down to the south, had come up to the city of Ziklag, taken everything, everything, all their possessions, all the people, and they burned the city with fire. And when David came back with his 600 men to the city of Ziklag, it was a burned-out ghost town, and everything they had was a loss. Now, God had David's attention. And when David hit rock bottom, he turned his eyes to the Lord. And I love what it says at the end of verse 6 in 1 Samuel chapter 30. It says, David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. We talked about that last week. What it meant that David strengthened himself in the Lord his God, and how important that principle was. And if you're interested in that, get the tape from last week, because we spent a lot of time talking about it. But what did David do with the strength that he received from the Lord? Well, that's what we're going to take a look at this week. What David did, and you know what David did? I'll give you the broad outline of it. David won back everything that had been taken from him. But that's not all. He won it back plus more. And how did he get from that place? From the place where he had lost everything, to getting it all back, to having even more on top of that? Well, let's take a look. Verse 6 told us that David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. The next step we see is in verses 7 and 8, where it says, Then David said to Abiathar the priest, a Himalayan son, Please bring the ephod here to me. And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. So David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them? Friends, that's a beautiful thing. What was the first thing David did when he strengthened himself in the Lord his God? He inquired of the Lord. God, what do you want me to do? God, where do you want me to go? And a lot of times we don't even bother to ask those questions. Or sometimes when we do ask them, we're not asking them sincerely. More just kind of, Lord, I've got my plan. Won't you bless it along the way, please? David wasn't at that place. He inquired of the Lord. You want to know how passionate his inquiry of the Lord was? Notice what he says there in verse 8. He asks the Lord, shall I pursue this troop? Can we remember what kind of man David was? David was a soldier, a general, a man of war. When you attack a soldier, you usually don't have to ask the soldier if he's going to fight back. He just does it. It's instinct. You just do it. It's reaction. David is saying here, I'm not leaving anything up to chance. I think before David strengthened himself in the Lord, before David turned his heart to the Lord the way he should, he would have just made an automatic reaction. David is leaving nothing up to chance, nothing up to an automatic reaction anymore. He is asking God about everything. Nothing is done just because it was done before. That's a beautiful heart that's waiting on the Lord and seeking him. And so he says, Lord, what do you want me to do? Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them? And look at how the Lord answers in the second part of verse 8. And he answered him, pursue for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all. How do you think David felt when he heard that? Yes, Lord, you have given me a promise. I'm going to receive that promise. I'm going to believe it. Wouldn't you say that's the third thing David did? First, he strengthened himself in the Lord as God. Secondly, he inquired of the Lord. Third, he received and believed God's promise. You know, God has a promise for your life, doesn't he? And I think as much as anything what the devil wants to do is just rob your faith in that promise. Make you think that God doesn't want to use you, that God's done with you, that you're disqualified from his purposes, that God doesn't really care all that much about you. Anything he can do to discourage you, to get you with a focus off of God's promise and off of God's glory, Satan would love to do that. But David was having none of it. He heard God wants to use me. God has promised me I'm supposed to go after them and I will recover everything. Thank you, Lord, for your promise. And so David goes forth in the boldness of that promise. Look at verse nine. It says, So David went, he and his 600 men who are with him. I love that. First of all, I just love the simplicity of it. It says, So David went. Three simple words. God told David to do something and David did it. You think, wow, you know, I didn't have to come and hear some preacher tell me that. I can read that for myself. Pretty simple, right? God told David to do it and David did it. What's complicated? It's so simple. Well, it's simple for David. But you know, when the Lord tells us to do things, well, it's a lot more complicated then, right? You see, then there's a lot of excuses we have, a lot of rationalizations, a lot of reasons. Obedience is very simple and cut and dry for everybody else. For us, well, the Lord just understands how complicated it is for us, right? No, it's just complicated in our own eyes, isn't it? Friends, I think the Lord wants us to really understand the simplicity of obedience. Oftentimes, obeying the Lord is just as simple as Jesus saying, do it and we do it. Doesn't that define what it means to have Jesus Christ as your Lord? Jesus says, do it and you do it. What's the use of saying that Jesus is our Lord if we won't do what he says we should do? If you don't, I just don't know why you can call Jesus your Lord. You might say you admire him as a great teacher, as a wonderful moral example, as a great role model for the kids, whatever you want to say. But if we don't do what he says to do, then I don't think he's our Lord. Ask yourself this searing question. Right now at this place in your life, is there a single thing that you are doing in your life because Jesus told you to do it? Now, I don't mean you want to do it, you know, and isn't it great that sometimes Jesus agrees with what we want to do? That's so nice when he does. No, I mean you're doing it because Jesus told you to do it or you're not doing it because Jesus told you not to do it. That's where it comes down to having Jesus be our Lord and David had an obedience that was just that simple. So he went. But I don't think that's the only thing exciting about verse 9. If you take a look at it there in the beginning, it says, so David went, he and the 600 men who were with him. I mean, this is marvelous. Because just a little bit before this, these men were going to stone David. Look at verse 6. It says, then David was greatly distressed for the people spoke of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. They come back to the city of Ziklag. Everything's gone. And who does the blame go to? David. Well, well, it should. He's the leader, right? And all the guys start holding rocks in their hand and getting this funny look in their eye at David. David goes, hmm, I guess it's time to seek the Lord. And that's what David did. But these men from verse 6, getting ready to stone David, all of a sudden they're following David. Why? You know what? Because I think David's example inspired them. They saw David strengthen himself in the Lord is God. They saw David inquiring of the Lord. They saw David going forth in obedience. And now these 600 men who are ready to stone him, now they're going to follow him anywhere. I mean, I can just see it in my mind. I can just see David coming out from seeking God and meeting with the priest and receiving this direction of the Lord. He comes and he stands before 600 men and he says, OK, first of all, put down the rocks, he says. Secondly, he says, guys, God has given me a promise. He says that I'm supposed to pursue the Amalekites and that I'll recover all. And David says, I'm going. Doesn't matter to me if a single one of you comes with me because God's given me the promise. And if it's me against 2000 Amalekites, who cares? God is with me and it's going to happen. I'm going. I believe God's promise. If you're with me, you're with me. If you're not, you're not. I tell you, who could not rally behind a leader like that? Such faith in God stirred the hearts of the 600 men and they just couldn't stand by and not follow David. And what a sight it is. Now, David and the 600 men, they're on the march again. And this time they're not hoping to fight for the Philistines. This time they're not in it for themselves. Now they're out doing it on a mission from God. Those 600 men mount up and they ride out and they're doing it because God told them to do it. And I tell you, there's not an army on earth that could have stopped David and the 600 men when they were walking in God's will. So they're out, they're going. It's great. Everybody's pumped up. And then look what happens. Verse 9, David went, he and the 600 men who were with him and came to the brook Besor, where those who stayed behind, those who stayed were left behind. But David pursued. He and 400 men, for 200 stayed behind who were so weary that they could not cross the brook Besor. Now, did you notice this? Notice that when David comes and they're charging along the way and they get maybe 10, maybe 15, maybe 20 miles along the way, they come to a brook, the brook Besor. And I don't know that the brook was so difficult to cross, although it could have been at flood time and the brook was swollen and it would have been some work to cross. But apparently 200 of David's 600 men say, we can't go on anymore. We're weary. We're worn out. Now they had a good reason. Three days ago, they had marched, or excuse me, the day before, two days before, I should say, they had marched 25 miles. The previous day they had marched 25 miles. That day they had already marched 25 miles and now they throw on 10, 15 miles on top of that. Anybody in here tired after just hearing that? They get to the brook Besor and 200 of David's men say, we don't think we can go on. Now, this was a trial for David. They were already facing a far superior number of Amalekites. And you got your 600, but now one third of them can't go on. And what's David going to do? You know, in a similar situation, a lot of us would just kind of give up. We'd say, all right, Lord, I got right with you. I strengthened myself in you. I inquired of you. I'm getting everything right. And now this comes along. Thanks, God. You know, we put ourselves in the right direction and we want to go the right way, but then a trial comes along. We say, well, thank you, Lord. If you were blessing me, no trials would come in my way. So I guess I'm not going to go on any further. No, David was not going to stop. Look at what it says here in verse 10. It says, but David pursued he and the 400. And I'll tell you this as well. I think David ministered to those 200 who stayed behind in love. Oh, it didn't have to be that way. He could have looked at them and sneered. He said, wimps, weaklings. I guess you don't love the Lord. I guess you don't love me. I guess you don't love your families. Well, we're going on even if you don't come with us. No, no, no. Matter of fact, as we cover it later, verse 21 says that David made them stay at the brook. I have the feeling that these guys were just dog tired. They wanted to go on. They said, well, we'll go. And David said, no, you stay. You're weary. You're worn out. You stay here. Rest up. You'll be a reserve force for us as we go. And I'll tell you what as well. You can stay here at the Brook Bistore and keep our supplies. You will lighten the load of the 400 who go on. And they'll be lighter and better equipped for battle. And they can go on. You stay here. We'll go on. But I love what it says at the beginning of verse 10. But David pursued. He was not going to let this trial. He was not going to let this discouragement get in the way of what God wanted him to do. And so there it goes out. He lightens the load. The 400 go on and they're full of faith. You see the 400 now charging across the desert. There they go. Just being beaten up everywhere. You hear the thunder of the horses hooves as they go. They're excited. They're going to go. They're on a mission from God. Then they hear something. I don't know. Maybe they heard it. Maybe somehow it leaked through through the thunder of the hooves. Maybe they saw a frail, weak man standing and then fall down. But something caught their attention on the desert floor. Look at it here. Verse 11. Then they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David. And they gave him bread and he ate and they let him drink water. They gave him a piece of cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. So when he had eaten, his strength came back to him. For he'd eaten no bread nor drunk any water for three days or three nights. In a coldly clinical way, I look at this and I say, David, are you nuts? You're on a mission from God. You don't have time to help some poor guy in the middle of the desert. The Amalekites could be getting away. Come on, tick tock. The clock's running. You're going to stop all of your 400 men and perhaps jeopardize the safety of your wife and your children and all the possessions you have for the sake of one guy in the middle of the desert. But once you just pass by, say, OK, we'll pray for you and we'll pray while we're right and move on. No, no. David stops the entire company of the 400 men. And David doesn't do this. He doesn't say, OK, look, somebody go deal with this guy. He himself goes to the man and they don't just throw him some food and some water and say, here, buddy, you know, God bless you. Be warm, be filled. We're on our way now. David talks to him. Look at verse 13. Then David said to him, to whom do you belong and where are you from? Isn't that a lot of care? It's not a concern. It's just I have an interest in this man. I'm going to show an unexpected kindness to this man. Is there anybody here who would expect David to do that? I don't think so. But you see, now David's heart is beating in sync, in rhythm with the heart of God, isn't it? Now he's thinking the way the Lord thinks. You know, the Lord loves the individual that much. Here you are this morning. You're in the midst of a room full of people. The Lord loves you. He cares about you. And if you were the only person here this morning who came with a need, let's say everybody else's life is here. Oh, everything's great. No, he has single need. They're all on, you know, cloud nine of blessing. You're the only one here whose life is messed up. You know, about 100 of you saying, yeah, that's me, that's me. The Lord loves you, even if you were the only one. God loves you. He wants to minister to you. He'll stop everything else right now. And by his spirit, speak to your heart and nourish you and comfort you and strengthen you. That's what David did for the Egyptian. He said, to whom do you belong and where are you from? And he said, verse 13 again, I am a young man from Egypt, servant of an Amalekite. And my master left me behind because three days ago I fell sick. We made an invasion of the southern area of the Karathites and the territory which belongs to Judah and the southern area of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag with fire. David looks at this guy and this guy could have been the guy who set the torch to my house. David says, off with your head. No, he didn't say that. But verse 15, David said to him, can you take me down to this truth? They said, swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master. And I will take you down to this truth. Praise the Lord. Lord lined that up, didn't he? This guy dying in the middle of his death is the David very unexpectedly befriends. It turns out to be the key to finding out where the Amalekites are. You know, the Lord will bless you when you show unexpected kindness to others. And I want to stress that word unexpected. You know, many of us kind of get a sore elbow from trying to pat ourselves on the back because we do what everybody else might expect us to do. Friends, Jesus expects us to show unexpected kindness. In the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus spoke, he asked a very searing question. Matthew chapter five, verse 47, Jesus asked, what do you do more than others? Well, this is David doing something very unexpected, very beautiful in his kindness, very beautiful in his concern, and the Lord was blessing him for it. And so look what happens here. Verse 16. And so when he had brought him down there, they were spread out all over the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil, which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. You get the scene here, don't you? David has men that peek their head over a ridge and they see down below them, maybe in a valley, and they see a couple thousand Amalekites. And what are they doing? They're throwing the biggest party you ever saw in your life. You know, there they are eating and drinking and music and a conga line going around the thing. They're just, oh, it's just great. They're having a great time. They say, oh, we're so smart. The Israelite army, the Philistine army, they're all fighting each other up to the north. The south is unguarded. We'll come in, take whatever we want. And so they raided all over the south. They did their thing. Oh, isn't it great? And here they're throwing a big, huge party. Oh, great. David has men, they look at that. And you know what they say? They say, praise the Lord. Isn't this wonderful? He says, we got him. Lord, you set him up for us. Because look at what happens here. Verse 17. And David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped except 400 young men who rode on camels and fled. Now, in the New King James Version, it says David attacked them from twilight. I don't believe that's a good translation. The Hebrew word there that's translated twilight in other places in the Bible is translated dawn. And you could see how the Hebrew would have the same word for twilight and dawn, right? Because it refers to kind of that grayness of sky. I believe the more accurate translation would be that David attacked them from dawn until evening the next day. Because you know what David did? He says, look, men, we're exhausted. We've done almost 50 miles today. We're worn out. Let's sleep tonight. We'll get up at dawn tomorrow when all those Amalekites are so totally hung over that they're not going to be able to do a thing. David and his men, you know, the next day, they don't have to run into the camp of the Amalekites. They can walk. They don't have to shout. They could whisper. And the Amalekites, oh, their heads are splitting. They can't fight. They're all hung over. And David and his men just wiped them out. It was a far superior force as many of them escaped as David had in his whole company, as you see there in verse 17. So look at verses 18 and 19. This is precious. So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away. And David rescued his two wives and nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them. David recovered all. Isn't that thrilling? Isn't it thrilling that God's promise was fulfilled? God promised it in verse eight. Pursue for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all. And what does it say? They recovered all. God is so true to his word. But can I point this out here? God fulfilled his promise, but he didn't do it as David just sat passively on the sideline. God fulfilled his promise as David was out there being used of the Lord. Friends, I understand that there are times in our Christian life where the Lord basically says to us in one way or another, you don't do anything. Let me take care of this. But might I say that that is a more rare way for God to work? More typically, when God makes his promise to us, he says, I want you to work with me in the fulfillment of the promise that I've made to you. Let's get to work. When the Lord promised David, you shall recover all, David didn't just say, OK, great, well, let's just sit here and pray and the Lord will do it. No, friends, God could have rained down hailstones from heaven on the Amalekites, but he didn't. He used David's faith filled actions. God's promise didn't exclude David's cooperation. The promise invited his cooperation. So David went out in the strength of that promise and he recovered it all. Isn't that beautiful? From having everything lost to recovering it all. That's the kind of work God wants to do in our lives. You know, Jesus wants to do that work. Do you understand that David is a powerful and a consistent picture of Jesus Christ in the scriptures? Jesus said, speaking of the Old Testament, that in the volume of the book, it's written of me. And I would suggest that almost on every page of the Old Testament, you can see a picture or illustration of our great savior, Jesus Christ, somewhere. Listen, as much as I love and I admire David, I'm not here to preach David to you. I'm here to preach Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ said that in the Old Testament, it speaks of him. Matter of fact, Jesus was given a precious title, the son of David, not the son of Abraham, not the son of Solomon, not the son of Judah, although all of those were true biologically. But to say that someone was the son of something else in the Hebrew speaks more than just genealogy. It says that there's an association or a characteristic that's similar between the two. Matter of fact, in the Hebrew language, you can say that somebody is a son of foolishness and you're not saying that their father or their mother is foolish. You're saying that foolishness is their parent. They're characterized by foolishness. And the similarity comes that when Jesus Christ is given the title son of David, it means that David is a beautiful picture, a beautiful similarity of Jesus. And can't we say together this morning that Jesus has recovered all just as much as David did? Jesus did everything that Adam lost in the garden. Jesus recovered all everything that mankind has lost through the ages, through their sin. Jesus has recovered all everything you have forfeited through sin and the flesh and the devil. Jesus has recovered it all. That's a precious promise for you to cling on to. You might think that that it's lost, that it's gone for good, that whatever has ripped it off from your life, whether it be your upbringing, whether it be just your own nature, whether it be the devil, whether it be just sin, you may think it's gone for good. It's not. Jesus can recover all. Friends, it gets better than that. Look at verse 20. Then David took all the flocks and herds, which they had driven before those other livestock and said, this is David's spoil. You see, it gets better than just recovering all spoil is what you get on top of recovering all. David didn't just get back what was taken. He got more. He got spoiled. He got extra. This was blessing straight from the grace of God. Shouldn't David have been thankful enough just to get back everything that was taken? Yes, because no, David, I'm going to give you even more. Now, can't we say that the same is true of Jesus Christ, his great work on our behalf? Friends, Adam was never called the son of God the way that you and I are. Adam never knew the blessing of forgiveness the way you and I can. Adam was never filled with the Holy Spirit the way that you and I can have under the terms of the new covenant. Adam never had those things. We have them. We have them in Jesus Christ. We get spoils from the battle from Jesus. He won back more than Adam ever lost. It's true on the great big scale when we think about what was lost now, but it's true on the smaller scale in your life, too. You look at the wreckage, you look at what was lost in your life through sin, through disgrace, through the world, the flesh of the devil. It doesn't matter. You think of the brother who shared with us this morning, that precious brother, Santas. Don't you think a lot of wreckage was lost in his life through the sin and the addictions and all that problem? I have no doubt that he'd stand before you right now and say, not only did God give him back everything he lost, God gave him more spoils from the battle. That's what the Lord wants to do in your life. And that's what Jesus here pictures for us so beautifully through this man, David. Well, the rest of the chapter concerns what David did with the spoil. And I think that's pretty relevant. Let's take a look here. Verse 21. Now, David came to the 200 men who had been so weary that they could not follow David, whom they also had made to stay at the Brook Besor. So they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near the people, he greeted them. Isn't that a beautiful picture? Here you are. You're one of the 200 at the Brook Besor and you're worried. You're saying, well, how did it go with the battle? You know, I hope they could overcome the Amalekites. Oh, we know they did. We just got to trust God. And there you are. You're going back and forth. And maybe it took David two or three days to come and get back. And all of a sudden you're sitting there. You're with the 200 men at the Brook Besor. And then you see this huge company of people, not 400 men, because now all the women and children are with them, too. Right. And not only that, they are loaded down with stuff. There's U-Haul trailers and trucks and moving vans with them, you know, covered wagons and all this. My heavens, you think they're bringing. They're bringing all the stuff that was conquered and even more. Unbelievable. This is fantastic. And you're so excited as they come there. Look what David does when he comes. Verse 21. When David came near the people, he greeted them. He didn't say, boy, you guys missed a good battle. You bunch of wimps. No, he greeted them. He blessed them. He said, oh, God had a place for you in this battle, too. God had something for you to do. Yes, blessings to you in the name of the Lord. And you look in all this great company of people. Your eyes are searching all over. There's your wife. You see your wife. You thought you'd never see her again. You thought she was gone for good, that the Amalekites had taken her. No, there she is, safe and sound. And here come your children and your hearts warmed. Oh, it's such a precious moment. There you are with your wife and your children. Oh, it's just so exciting. Your tears are running down your face. You're so grateful to God. Thank you. Thank you, you say to the man who rescued your wife and your children from the Amalekites. Yes, it's so great. And all of a sudden, you see a guy walk by in his camel. Look here, verse 22. Then all the wicked and worthless men of those who went with David answered and said, because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil which we've recovered, except for every man's wife and children, that they may lead them away and depart. Well, the wicked and worthless men, by the way, you know, even David among his 600, they weren't all choice men. There were some wicked and worthless men among David's 600. There you are so grateful to see your wife and your kids. You're one of the 200. Then you see a guy riding by in a camel and hanging from his camel. There, you know, sort of bundled off to the side. You see, that's your toaster and your blender. The Amalekites took him from your house. And here this guy recovered it. You run up to the guy in the camel and say, oh brother, thank you for getting back my toaster and my blender. You know, they don't make them like this anymore. I'm so glad you got it for me. Bless you, brother. Thank you. And the guy looks down at you up from the camel and he sneers and he says, buddy, that's my toaster. That's my blender. It might have been yours before, but you didn't put your neck on the line trying to fight the Amalekites. You were back here kicking your heels and putting your feet in the brook. Be sore while we're out there putting our lives on the line. That's the whole dilemma here. Guy says, hey, you should be thankful to have your wife and kids back. We'll keep all the stuff. No, no. Look at what David says, verse 23. But David said, my brethren, you shall not do so with what the Lord has given us, who has preserved us and delivered into our hand the troop that came against us. For who will heed you in this matter? But as his part is who goes down to the battle, so shall his part be who stays by the supplies. They shall share alike. And so it was from that day forward. He made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day. Isn't that precious? You're back in the supply lines. You're invisible. You're behind the scenes. You're doing the work back at the brook. Be sore. You get the same reward as the guys out on the front line. My friends, that's not a principle just for distribution of the spoils and warfare in ancient Israel. That's how God operates. God rewards the invisible behind the scenes people with the same reward that he rewards the people that they support, the people that they bless. Think about it right now. Right now, your children are being ministered to by people upstairs. And most of the people in this room right now, if you were to name our staff of children's ministry teachers up there right now, you couldn't do it. I don't know if I could do it to tell you the truth. And there they are. They're out doing the work. Praise God. Now, not only are they doing a wonderful ministry in themselves, but friends, they're making it possible for this ministry to happen right now. They're supporting this right now. And if there is any reward that the Lord might give to me for what I do this morning, they share in it. They share in it. And the people who cleaned up this facility and the ushers and the sound people and the worship team and anybody. And I would almost say the more invisible, the more blessed. Because to God, it doesn't matter visible or invisible. He sees it. He sees it and he applauds. God bless those servants who may never get a bit of recognition from man, who may never hear the applause, the thank yous, the this or that from man, but they hear the applause of heaven. And friends, that's what we need to focus our heart on. God will reward. God will bless those. It's a precious principle that's not just here in Israel. It's it's in God's kingdom, period. Now, there's one more thing that happened with the spoil and look at verse 26. And when David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends saying, here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord. Then it describes all the cities that David sent the spoil to. And it says at the end of verse 31 to the places where David himself and his men were accustomed to row. You see, when David came back to the land of Judah, he realized that he had a family offended the elders of the cities of the southern area of Judah. That was the area where David used to hang out before he went over to the Philistines. And when David went over to the Philistines, it hurt those men. It offended them. The year and more when David was aligned with the Philistines, it hurt those men. It offended them when David was not there to protect them against the Amalekites. It hurt those men. It offended them. So when David gets back to Ziklag, you know what he does? He calls up Israelite Express and he FedExes out packages and out to them all. He says, I want you to take this. I want you to take some of the spoil from the battle. I'm giving you a gift. I want to mend this broken relationship. I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you. Take this. You share in the spoil of the battle. President, isn't that a glorious thing? How generous David's heart was and how he wanted to set things right with the elders of Judah. I think that's the final progression in all that we've seen. I mean, first, David strengthened himself and the Lord is God. Then he inquired of the Lord. Then he believed God's promise. Then he did what God told him to do. Then David showed unexpected care and kindness to others. Then David went out and he won the Lord's victory. Then he shared the reward with others and then he did what he could to mend relationships. Isn't that beautiful? Can't we see here? It's a beautiful picture. David got back everything that was taken away plus more. Friends, don't set your sights so low. God doesn't want to just restore what was taken away. He wants to give more. I want to conclude with just a final look at how this chapter shows us so powerfully Jesus Christ. I said that one of the great titles given to Jesus is that he's the son of David. All right. Think of David being a picture of Jesus. All right. You are one of David's 600 men and David is like Jesus. Isn't that the place where you want to be? Yeah, Jesus, let's go. You lead me out in battle and I'll follow you. I'll follow you. Jesus, we're going against the Amalekites. We'll go. I'm going to follow you, Jesus. I'm one of your men. I'm behind you, Jesus. I'm with you through thick and thin when I understand and when I don't understand. I'm following you. You're one of the 600. David is like Jesus. Or how about this? We are like the weary ones left behind at the Brook Bezor and David is like Jesus. You're weary this morning. You're hurting. You've struggled. You've tried, but it's hard. Jesus looks at you just like David looked at the weary 200. And he doesn't say, you weakling. No, he says, I want to love and care for you. Stay a while right here. I'll give you something to do. It's simple. You stay here and watch the stuff. That's valuable service for me, but it's not too hard. You stay here and you can do that. And you're going to be rewarded. You're weary. You're tired. I want to restore you and I'm going to reward you because you belong to me. Or let's say that you're like the Egyptian slave and David is like Jesus. There you are, right? You've never even met David and you're dying in the wilderness. You're ready to perish. You haven't eaten or drinking in three days. You're hanging on for dear life. And then Jesus comes to you and he says, here, I want to give you something. And I just don't want to throw some bread and some water your way. I want to strengthen. I want to get to know you. Tell me who you are. Who are you? Where are you going? Where are you from? I want to have a relationship with you. And you know what? There's something you can do for me, too. We can work together. You've never given your life to Jesus Christ. You're like that Egyptian slave. Jesus comes to you this morning and he says, here, come, you join me. Or let's say that we're like the spoil that David recovered. And David is like Jesus. You know, David went out to get it. He's the spoil. He's that. And Jesus would have done what he did just out of obedience to the Father. But he gets us and we're his spoil, we're his reward. We're the cream and the cherry on top of the sundae for Jesus. That's how much he loves us. That's how much he cares for us. And then finally, we're like the elders of Judah. And David is like Jesus. Jesus looks at you this morning and he says, you know what? When I defeated death, when I defeated sin, when I defeated Satan, I got more spoil than I know what to do with. I want to give you some gifts. I want to pour out gifts upon you. I've got spoil from the battle, as it says in Ephesians chapter 4, but to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, he says, when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive and he gave gifts to men. Jesus Christ has gifts. He wants to give you spoils from the battle. Won't you receive them from him right now and take them to heart? Friends, God is so good. And I know that Jesus wants to be to you at least one of those things. You stand in one of those five places, maybe more than one. Receive from Jesus what he has to give you.