9/13/2015 King David Foretells of Christ Josh Sheldon

Christ in All the Scriptures

Let me read once more just one of the verses that Steve just read to you a moment ago. King David said to the detractors in his troop, "'But as his part is who goes down to the battle, "'so shall be his part who stays by the supplies.

"'They shall share alike.'". And I think it is good for us to always remember when we handle the scripture, at any particular point that we open it, that we are in a very real sense handling Christ. I mean that metaphorically, Christ is not the scripture.

The scripture everywhere, though, speaks of him. In the New Testament, he is presented in his fullest glory. In the Old, he's cloaked in types and in illusions. Dark sayings give glimpses, some clear, some shrouded.

But it's all about Christ. This entire scripture, this revelation of God we have is all about Christ. Only Christ brings it all together. Only Christ unifies the whole revelation of God. Jesus once pointed to the scripture and he said, "'These are they which testify of me.'".

On the Emmaus Road, he expounded in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. He is to be found in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms. Everywhere we look in the scripture, if we find not Christ, we're just reading words.

It really can't make sense without Jesus Christ as the one to pull it all together. He's the beginning, he's the center, he's the end of it all. This morning, I want to join company with David, with King David, the one from whom Jesus took his favorite name, Son of David.

The kings of Judah, they all counted David their father and so they were in the same sense, in some sense, they were all David's sons, but it is Jesus who he called David's greater son. And this morning, the message is simply to look in this one incident in David's life and how it represents to us Jesus.

David the Exiled King Who Acts by Faith

Yet to come. How David typified the Lord Jesus Christ as a savior, as a king. By the time we come to chapter 30 in 1 Samuel, David has been the divinely chosen successor to Saul for some 25 years. For most of this time, where's he been?

He's been in exile, he hasn't had a throne, he's been running from the king of Israel. The very nation over which David had been anointed. It's been about 25 years by the time we get to this incident, which Steve read to you.

And most of this time that he's been not the king on the throne, since his anointing, for most of that time, he's been in exile. Saul's paranoid jealousy moving him to seek the life of his most faithful and most loyal, and we could say most successful servant, which is David.

David is the appointed, anointed heir to the throne, but so far his subjects are this motley crew described in the Bible as everyone who is in distress, everyone who is in debt, everyone who is discontented.

His palace was a cave, his realm was the wilderness. At times he had to play the part of a friend to Israel's enemies, the Philistines, and at other times he had to play the part of a madman. All to be safe from Saul.

And all this time, he, knowing he was the anointed king over Israel. In 1 Samuel 30, in this incident that was read to you, we see this great act of faith on David's part, as he typifies for us again Jesus Christ, but he acts here as a king.

He's been an anointed king, but he has no throne. Samuel came and put the anointing oil on him and declared the prophecy that he was to be king over Israel, and it seems that by this time, much if not most of the nation knew of this, and yet he has no boundaries, he has no palace, he has no throne, he has no crown.

Despite all that, acting on faith, acting on the surety of God's promise to him through Samuel. He behaves here exactly as a king should. In verse 24 of 1 Samuel, he takes his royal prerogatives and he makes an enduring statute for all Israel.

Even while the nation has yet to be handed over to him. Recall what was just read to you, that he made it a statute in Israel forever. But there he is, he's in the wilderness, he's only got this band of brigands around him, really.

And he's making statutes for Israel, as a king. It would seem almost humorous, except for the gravity of the whole context. But we should see the faith of this David as he behaves as a king and makes ordinances as a king on the trust in God's promise that he is and would be the king.

When David said that everyone would share in the plunder, he was looking beyond what he had just recovered from the Amalekites. He made this ordinance. Scripture says it held sway in Israel to this day.

The worthless men amongst them, the first thing they did was what? They said, no, these guys don't get to share in the plunder. That statement should really stand out to us. Whose plunder was it? It's the leader's.

The leader always gets credit. We read so many times in Scripture how a king conquered this city, but he wasn't even there. Because he properly gets credit for the victory. When these men conquered the Amalekites, whose victory was it?

Well, no, ultimately it was God's, but in the more immediate context, it was David's. David was the leader. How presumptuous of them to say to the king what they would do or what they insist he does with his own goods.

So it reminds me of what Peter said to Amalekites. He said to Ananias, while it remained, was it not yours to do with as you pleased? David had title to it all. When they did their duty to follow their leader and win that victory for him, Luke 17, 10 says, they get no credit.

All they did was what was required of them. Who are they to say to the king what he must do with his own goods? Now it may seem odd to us that this outcast living in exile with an army of only 600 should act like a king and make ordinances.

Kingship needs all the things that I said David didn't have at the time. He should have a crown, he should have a throne, a coronation, cheers of the people, right? He should have all these things. But David, for all his faults, was a man of faith.

A man after God's own heart. He knew from the moment Saul anointed him that he indeed was king. And even though the outward trappings were lacking, he acted on that promise, on the sureness of God's word.

See what faith did for him. Faith gave him patience. In God's providence, the throne was filled by another. That was King Saul. David was in exile. He lived in the wilds at times and he lived with Israel's enemies at other times.

Who is such a one as this to make an ordinance for a nation that is not yet his? But you know, faith, real faith, faith does not wait for confirmation from men or for outer trappings. Faith acts on the promises of God as we have them.

Faith reads scripture and apprehends these promises. I don't say name it, claim it. I'm saying by faith we say God said it and I'm going to act upon it. I'm gonna order my affairs around this promise.

Faith doesn't wait till we have something to show people like a crown or a throne or a palace or a great army behind us. Faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, for by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

Like all those who are cited in the verses that follow that one in Hebrews 11 .1, like all those that are cited following that, David proceeded not on the basis of what he saw, but on the certainty of God's promises.

So it was by faith that he laid down this ordinance for a nation he had yet to receive. Faith gave him patience and faith gave him confidence to set policy for a kingdom not yet his. How easy it is for us then, right here to think of Jesus Christ.

Here's David calling himself king with his crew, some of whom are worthless men as we just had read to us. Calling himself king, but think of Jesus. How many followers did he have? Mainly his followers were the 12 who were with him from the start, fishermen, tax collectors and the like.

You know, Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ, not unlike David, no respecter of persons. David's band was outcast. It was really kind of the flotsam of Israel society. Jesus's were of no more note than they were.

Yet David played the part of a king when he made a law for Israel by faith trusting that it would one day have sway throughout the land. And did not our Lord, who had only 11 followers at the time, did he not say to Pilate, you say rightly that I am a king?

He'd been abandoned by everyone, including his 11 followers. But knowing that God has set him as king, Psalm 2 tells us clearly. Jesus is able to make that statement to the man who held, in a very temporal sense, his life in his hands.

Of course, Jesus says you could have no power over me unless it was given to you from above. Jesus was a king when he gave the Sermon on the Mount and gave ordinances to a kingdom not yet handed over to him.

Without a throne, without a crown, carrying only the promise of God his Father, Christ set policy for his subjects, which is really what the whole Sermon on the Mount is. And he told Pilate, you rightly call me a king when what was his crown?

His crown was that thorn bush. What was his robe? It was a purple robe given to him as a mockery. Like his ancestors to David, he executed his duties as God's anointed even when men had not yet acknowledged him.

This is the faith that David showed in making this ordinance. What does that mean to us? Is there a likewise for us involved in this? Well, likewise, let us behave as that which God calls us. Let us be what God says we are.

How are we described in the scripture? Saint, redeemed, bride of Christ, spotless, we're even called Christ's body. David faithfully behaved as king when his entire army was, excuse me, was 600, and 200 of them were too weak to finish the course.

Jesus took the mantle of king even when the world must have thought him a madman for it. A king, you don't even have 11 followers who will stay with you. And here Christ said, you say rightly. And we, the redeemed of Christ, we who by faith in his blood know we can come to God.

Do we apprehend by faith these descriptions of ourselves in the Bible? The ones I just rattled off so quickly. And we're not gonna go over them in detail this morning, but just think of them. Saints, redeemed, adopted by God.

He's not ashamed to call us his brethren. Justified, glorified, seated with Christ in the heavenlies. Now we're seated here right now. Physically we're right here, but our final redemption is so sure that in the book of Ephesians that's put in there as a fait accompli, an accomplished fact.

You're seated now with Christ in the heavenlies in God's eyes. We don't always feel like it. We don't always act like it. But faith reaches out to that promise, that sure, certain, simple to understand statement of God and behaves accordingly.

It's what David did. In a much greater way, Jesus himself. Think of how David typified Jesus Christ. Think of how he echoed forward, if you will, to Christ who was yet to come. He displayed a remarkable affinity for sparing people who were at his mercy.

Whereas in 1 Samuel 22, Saul murders the priests at Gebeah. In chapter 23, David saves the city of Keilah. In chapter 24, David had Saul at his mercy at En Gedi, but what did he do? He spared him. And he did it again in chapter 26.

In chapter 25, David is about to destroy Nabal and all his servants, but at the pleading of Abigail, he relented and spared them all. David had much to be offended at by this point in his life. He had been running like a criminal from insanely jealous Saul, the one who tried so many times to kill his really, truly most loyal servant.

Most successful. When he, when David saved Keilah, it was a city loyal to Saul. And its attackers were the Philistines who alone gave David refuge from Saul's murderous intents. Nabal's offense was real enough because David and his men had protected him with their lives only to be insulted and turned away when they asked for some food.

Yet each time, what did David, the one from whom Jesus Christ took his favorite appellation, son of David, what did he do? He restrained himself from taking vengeance. He lived by vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay.

With his band of men, he wielded the authority that he would soon have throughout the land. If he had chosen a course other than restraint and mercy, there would have been what? Just bloodshed. But David showed restraint.

He erred towards mercy. If he erred at all, he refused to kill Saul no matter how unwarranted Saul's attacks were against him. He refused to let a city fall to the uncircumcised Philistines, though its fall would have brought discredit to whom?

To his enemy, to Saul. Nabal's men were spared even though their master had given them up to the sword by his boorish manners. And David, his king, had every right to be insulted and every cause to go and destroy them, as he was on his way to do when Abigail stopped him.

Can you hear all the echoes of this? Can you hear the echoes of Jesus, David's greater son? Jesus had ever so much more than David to be offended at. He's our creator. By him and through him and for him and because of him, all things were made.

Without him, nothing was made that was made, says the scripture of him. This is his creation. The world, all his, neither knew him nor received him. But see, our Lord, Jesus did not come to judge. He came to save.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. All men are his subjects, but they turned and they consigned him to the cross. Yet he never called down consuming fire from heaven, as his disciples suggested.

Legions of angels were held in abeyance at his arrest. Insults were tolerated and all manner of spite ignored by the king of the earth. David teaches us to trust God. He teaches us to do good. He shows us that we can love our enemies, that we can bless those who curse us, that we can do good to those who hate us and pray for those who spitefully use and persecute us.

David's mercy shows us that we, mortals all, that we can be like Christ. David, if I can borrow from what James says of Elijah, was a man like us. Given to the same passions, given to the same anger, the same potential for faith as any of us.

See the restraint he showed. See how like Christ he was. The same magnanimous spirit led David to treat all his men equally. The ordinance that I'm focused on this morning, that those who stayed with the supplies will share, the same as those who went into the battle.

That ordinance is just that. All his men receive equal shares of the Amalekite prize. It's a victory equally spread out to everyone. You know, when I first looked at this passage some years ago, about four years ago in 2011, in the middle of that year, some national lottery ticket was won.

There's a group of employees, I forget where it was, somewhere in the Midwest. This group of employees had the habit of every way putting in a quarter and buying a ticket. Is it the Powerball? I don't even know what it's called.

But this man had the habit of tossing in his share and one time he forgot, he went to lunch when everybody was putting the ticket together and went to buy it. This one time he missed out, tossing his quarter into the pool.

And of course the ticket won. And as I remember the story, there was no thought of, well, you know, he just got out of kilter for a moment. He's been part of the group, he's one of us, and he just forgot to toss in his quarter.

So let's retroactively put in a quarter for him. No thought like that. I just, I wonder what it must have felt like to have realized that by missing by a couple minutes the weekly collection that he missed out on this fortune.

And nobody even said, he just said, well, that's the way it is. I thought he was pretty calm about it myself. But keeping him out of sharing in the winnings, even though he was really one of the group, that's exactly what those wicked and worthless men in 1 Samuel 30 wanted King David to do.

They had finally struck pay dirt and their first thought, notice that the 200 hadn't said anything about their right to the share, but the first thought of those wicked and worthless men was to keep it all for themselves.

They go to the king. It's the king's, it belongs to David. And they go to him and tell him, we're not sharing with them. And David's ordinance is not only a faithful act of a king who's trusting God to make him the king and make his ordinances have force.

He would have none of it. Each man who was with him was equal in his eyes. Every man followed orders. Those who went to the battle and those who stayed behind all did their duty. Now it may seem more glorious to be the eyes or be the mouth or be the ears of the body rather than the more humble parts, but that's just an earthly view.

A good king takes equal joy in every subject who willingly obeys whether their part brings notice from men or if it's a quieter, less prominent role. And make no mistake, the victory was the king's. It was David who led the men.

It was he who first inquired of the Lord. It was David who caused the people to sing. He has slain his 10 ,000s of his enemies. The victory was all his and the plunder was his to keep. It was his to distribute or he could take it all.

Again, let's think of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus won a great victory. On the cross, he defeated sin, he defeated death. You were not there to help him, nor was I. We neither went down to the battle, we didn't stay behind with the luggage.

Had we been there at his arrest, we would have fled naked with the other disciples. Jesus went alone to the battle and yet he prevailed. Had we been there at Golgotha, we would have joined him mocking him.

Jesus won it all by himself, but does he keep his winnings for himself? Does he distribute it only to a cherished few? You see, the victory by the victorious king's everlasting ordinance is ours. We have an ordinance in our New Testament that's very much like what we read in 1 Samuel 30 verse 24.

1 Corinthians 15, verse 57 says, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Gives us the victory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Speaking of the victory that Christ won over sin, over death, that victory it says gives to us through him.

And think of all the blessings that come with this. The plunder, if you will. How it's shared. Ephesians 1 .18 says that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

Colossians 1 .12 says giving thanks to the father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. Colossians 3, verse 24, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ.

You see, our shares are the same. Our shares of Christ are the same whether we were saved when Christ walked the earth or a moment before his return. It's the great equalizer. If you were an apostle like Peter or Paul or a small church pastor like myself, if you are a luminary like R .C. Sproul or a more pedestrian bent, it doesn't matter.

Whether you rode into battle or stayed behind, Jesus says your share is equal and it is secure. We being kept by the power of God for the salvation to be revealed in Christ. In some ways, we have less claim than those worthless men did in 1 Samuel 30.

They at least went to the battle. They at least did something. What did we do to earn a share in Christ? I should hear a resounding nothing, absolutely nothing. We didn't do our part. The only part we played in this whole thing was to add the sin that made Christ's sacrifice necessary.

That's all we add. Some people like to say, well, all we add to salvation is our faith. Don't say that. You don't add your faith to salvation. Christ wins it all and he distributes it all. You don't add faith.

Faith is given. Faith is a gift of God. Faith is foreign to us. It's not like we have something inside us and it kind of grows and we say, now I've got faith and I'll believe. That's not it at all. All we added was sin.

And when God distributes to us our share in Christ and the redemption he won, that's all of grace. For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. It being the faith.

The faith is the gift of God. Believing doesn't save you. Believing apprehends that Christ saved. The only part we played in Christ's victory was to make his battle necessary. Often in the Bible we read of men, usually kings, winning these victories when they're not even there.

David smote this place or that. Moses being described as having erected the tabernacle or done this or that work when it had all been delegated. We didn't go to the fight and then give him the credit.

We went to the battle. He went to the battle and gave us the victory. He did all the fighting and gives us the benefits. David advocated for the weak. And how like Jesus is that? That David stood between the strong and the weak and defended those who had been too tired to cross the brook and go into the battle.

600 go to battle, 200 are too weary. They were told by their leader to stay behind and guard the supplies while the remaining 400 go to the fight. Now up to that point they had fought well for him. They had been no less fierce in battle or in loyalty than the other 400 had been.

Were they to lose out because of one failure? I think back to that guy I was talking about in 2011 who failed that one time to toss his quarter in the pool and lost out on that lottery ticket. How unlike Jesus that is.

And think what if they had gone? What if the 200 weary men had gone? Would they have not been a burden to those whose strength had not yet faltered? Wouldn't the ones who were still strong, the ones who still had endurance left to fight with, wouldn't they have to be looking out for their weaker brothers during the battle when they should be focused on the enemy?

They would have just gotten in the way. There would have been a hindrance. There would have been a danger to captive families. And if they had gone, then the band of 400 who did go would have had no rear guard.

They would have been exposed. The battle went from twilight until the next evening, just over a day in length. Could they have taken so long if they had worries about being attacked by some flanking action?

The men faltered. The men got to that brook and they said, no, we're too tired to go on. Well, David gave them something to do. He said, stay and watch. Watch the baggage. You protect this, that's important.

He didn't say you've become a lesser citizen in my sight. He gave them what he wanted them to do. Those men faltered. They stopped at the brook. Don't we all falter at times? And what if every time we grew weary in mortifying sin, if we grew weary in doing well, doing good for each other, what if every time we stumbled, God treated us as those wicked and worthless men would have had David treat the 200?

What sort of gospel could we preach were that the case? No, I said David showed forth Christ when he refused their weariness to be held against them. God treats us according to our weaknesses, not as our sins deserve, but knowing how frail we are.

I think of the 11th hour workers. Do you remember that parable? Where the owner of the field goes out, they find some men, and I can paraphrase here just very quickly. Says, do you guys wanna work? Here's a denarius if you work.

Got 12 hours a day ahead of you, let's get to work. And they go to work, they're happy to have a denarius coming. And then all these odd hours, he goes back and gets more and more and more men. And at the end, we all know this parable.

They go to get cashiered out. They go to get paid. And the guys who started at the beginning, they come first. Excuse me, they're paid last. So the 11th hour workers go first, they get a denarius. Ninth hour workers come next, they get a denarius.

The first hour workers come, they get a denarius. They say, what's this? We've been here for 12 hours. They've been here for one. And the master says, well, I gave you what I promised. I gave you what I said.

Why are you complaining about these other guys getting something as well? Why is it wrong for them to have some benefit? Of course, the parable is about God. That parable is about salvation. It's all of God.

And he's the one who determines it. He's the one who distributes it. And we have no right to complain that we didn't get as good a salvation as the next guy. Because there is no better or worse or first class or second class salvation.

We don't go to the store and here's the premium stuff. And there's a clearance aisle down there. David showed forth Jesus Christ. When he said, all my men, all those who follow me, all who are mine, share alike.

Think of how Christ treats the weak. How patient he is with us. Jesus forgave Peter. Peter, who's normally pictured to us and illustrated as a big, strong, gruff guy. Probably pretty accurate. We don't know, but fisherman pulling on those nets, he seemed to be a pretty stout man.

But Jesus forgave Peter, who feared no Amalekite warrior, but who did he falter before? Who did he show his cowardice to? A servant girl. He forgave Saul, who like the Amalekites came against the defenseless people of God, Saul before he became Paul.

You see, for the people of God, there could be no grudges. King David, how easy it would be to follow the flesh and say, you know, you're right. These 200, they get back their families, but we get the good stuff.

We get the gold and the cattle and everything like that. How easy that would have been to follow the flesh, to not typify Jesus Christ. There must be no grudges with the people of God. If God in Christ has forgiven you, then you in Christ must forgive others.

He says, for if you do not forgive people their sins against you, neither will your Father in heaven forgive you your trespasses. It's so important. Crucial. And here's David in the heat of the moment falling back upon God's ways and not giving into this fleshly grudge holding that we so easily fall into.

And we've been forgiven many wearinesses and failings of our own, haven't we? Our one great success gives us no warrant to lord it over those who faltered as though the victory came from ourselves and not the arm of the Lord.

If David had followed the advice of those wicked and worthless men, that's what he would be doing. He would be saying, basically, look what I did. This is my victory. But no, he said, I'm the one who inquired of the Lord.

It's God who gave us the victory. How can we do this with God's benefits to us? How can we, as the children of God, bear grudges against one another? Because a grudge basically says, in that regard, in this particular incident that you've offended me in, I've done better than you.

I don't fall into that particular weakness. We need to be very careful here. We need to read the scripture and read incidents like this about King David. We need to really think about what happened and what he showed forth.

Christ the Merciful King and the Equal Shares of Salvation

Now, David defended the weak as did his greatest son, Jesus. He's not dealt with us according to our sins. There's not a talionic justice, an equal, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Because if there were, it would mean we get what we deserve and what do we deserve before God is nothing but eternal damnation for our sin.

Jesus looks at weak, fatigued, ruined sinners who could do nothing to save themselves and gives all for them. If you're a Christian, if you are a Christian, then know this, Christ didn't sacrifice himself for anyone who is worth the suffering because no one is worth what he went through.

He did it because of his love for his father who chose a people to benefit from his son's cross. The church is filled with a multitude, a varied multitude. Tares mix in with the wheat and we all look about the same.

The tares rise up and they demand their greater share because they think of themselves as better than those who had less opportunity or are by nature more timid. We also have amongst us those who cannot finish the journey, those whose hands become weak, those who falter on the path.

We're commanded with these people, in a way by Paul, in a manner that I think David would very much appreciate. We also have security shown to us in 1 Samuel 30. We have great security, seeing when we follow a king, we expect him to become successful for us.

In this case, all the wives, all the children were rescued, unharmed, and every piece of the spoil was recovered. Let me read again chapter 30, verse 19. So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried on the way.

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. How like Jesus. How like Jesus.

David knew no failures in battle because he wouldn't go to battle without the Lord's confirming presence. So Jesus, though in all ways greater than David, found success in all things, as he was fully submitted to the will of God his Father.

John 6 .37, Christ says, all that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. Hebrews 7 .25 says, therefore he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him.

See, as David successfully regained every person, every piece of property, so Jesus has recovered every soul that he came to save. Not one shall be lost, none shall remain captive a moment longer than is God's will.

Jesus has raided the strongman's house, and the plunder he has recovered is us. And the benefit that we receive is equally distributed to all. I alluded before to 1 Corinthians 12, and Paul speaks there about the parts that have more prominence, but nowhere does he imply, even begin to imply, that God has a higher regard for the eye, or for the mouth, or for the ear, than he does for the foot, or the humbler parts.

Salvation is salvation, as distributed equally to all those intended. I wanna close this with one more picture of Christ that was carried in King David. When Saul died in battle, and David finally received the kingdom, we read that all his men were brought with him.

2 Samuel 2, verses one through three say, it happened that after this, this being Saul's demise, that David inquired of the Lord, saying, shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said to him, go up.

David said, where shall I go up? And he said, to Hebron. So David went up there, and he brought up the men who were with him, every man with his household. So they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. All his men went with him.

Not one left behind. The 400 strong ones, and the 200 whose strength had failed, all their families, and all their households, not one being forgotten, no one being left, they all shared in the king's good fortune.

In the same way, none who follow David's greater son shall be left behind. David will say to each one of us, come up with me. Excuse me. Jesus. Jesus will say to each one of us, come up with me. I ask, have you been too weary to serve, and others have had to take your place?

Jesus knows your weaknesses. He says, stay and guard the baggage. This is your part, and your reward is both certain and equal. Have you come late to serve your king? Is the battle already fought, having been engaged before your eyes were even opened to the struggle?

King Jesus says, do not be concerned, for I am king, and have recruited each one at the right time, not a moment too soon, not a moment too late. Be satisfied that you are now of my kingdom, and will hear, well done, good and faithful servant.

Your share of all that is mine will be the same. This is how David typified for us Jesus Christ. He wouldn't have any who were under him be disadvantaged in any way. And let's just know that if you have your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you put your faith, your hope, your trust in him, if you know him to be your only way to salvation, by repentance for sins, by faith toward God, then your share in all that he has is no different than anyone else's.

In Ephesians, it says that he gave gifts to men. If you look at the reference in your Bible, that goes back to a psalm, the number of which I've forgotten but the psalm says that men gave him gifts. And the Lord Jesus Christ, in fulfilling that psalm, turns it, does he not?

Instead of taking from us, giving to us. And he gives the greatest gift of all, which is himself. And that he distributes equally, as had David in 1 Samuel 30 verse 24, amen? Heavenly Father, do again thank you for the day that you've given us, for this time in your word.

We thank you, Lord, for the history of King David that we can read it and see so many ways that he showed forth the glories to come in Jesus Christ, his greater son. But even more so, Lord, we thank you for Jesus Christ, who won the final and ultimate victory for us and distributed gifts greater than any king could even have imagined.

The gift of salvation in him. Thank you, Father, for Christ. Thank you, Father, for faith to believe. In Jesus' name, amen.