Address—Bill Prost
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Could we sing together #283?
283.
A hymn written by Isaac Watts, who was probably one of the fathers of English hymns.
Maybe most know the story, but it's worth telling how that he was very concerned about the poor hymns that were sung in the.
Church, which he attended with his father back in the 1600s.
And his father's short retort was Well then, son, give us something better thinking that would be the end of it.
It was only the beginning because the next Sunday Isaac Watts produced to him and everybody took to it, and he began to write more hymns, and as I say again, he became one of the fathers of English hymn writers. This hymn is particularly appropriate, and I trust we would sing at each one as a prayer #283.
When we.
Let's look to the Lord.
Loving God our Father.
We trust that we sing these words from our hearts.
When we consider that one.
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Whose death we remember this morning by an old and beloved son.
And surely we have to own with the hymn writer that we're the whole realm of nature, ours.
It were an offering far too small.
We pray, then, as we open Thy word this afternoon, that Thou wilt speak not merely to our consciences, but also to our hearts.
And may that One who loved us and died for us be before us His honor and His glory, as we had before us this morning.
We pray for those that are traveling, asking Thy mercies and care for them, and commending our time together to Thee, for we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
I feel LED this afternoon to turn to a scripture.
On which I have spoken before.
And there are perhaps some sitting here that have heard me speak on it, but I feel led to speak on it again, and I trust it's from the Lord. And for this reason, we're living in a world where man is increasingly regarding everything, with the horizon only of this world.
Man is increasingly.
Looking at everything.
Through the eyes of what we might call secular humanism.
Which in essence says that the end point of everything is the happiness of man.
Of course, man can only fail in that because there's only one that can make him happy. And yet, even though a man like Solomon tried thousands of years ago to make himself happy with everything that was in this world.
And had to own that it was all vanity. And, as the JND translation puts it, pursuit of the wind. I say in spite of all that.
Man keeps trying.
But I'd like to take us to an Old Testament Scripture that in type brings before us, I suggest, the judgment seat of Christ. And for you and for me as believers, I believe that ought to influence at least my own heart more than it does.
The Apostle Paul a number of times referred to in simple terms, that day. That day. What did he mean? I am persuaded he could say that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. That day, I suggest, was the judgment seat of Christ for believers.
When everything in your life and mine will be reviewed.
And when the Lord will put His stamp, either of approval or otherwise, on the way we have lived down here.
I suggest to you that there will probably be some big surprises.
And that there will probably be those who relatively insignificant as far as we are concerned, are recorded the highest honors.
And conversely, there may be those whom we had thought.
Would be given a great reward.
Who will find more burned up than they thought would be?
Turn with me then, please to second Samuel 2/3.
Second Samuel, chapter 23.
We are going with the Lord's help this afternoon to speak about 10 men.
Ten men.
Nine of whom are named in this chapter and one who is not.
There are many others recorded in this chapter, and there are quite a few about whom we know.
Very little, or perhaps nothing, that's in keeping with the chapter. There will be many who will come forward at the judgment seat of Christ whom we have never known. But there are some in this chapter whose names we know, and we know why they were rewarded.
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Because this chapter gives us David's review of his mighty men at the end of his life, or close to the end when he looks back on what had transpired during his reign and says what really had pleased him.
Let's begin with verse 8.
Second Samuel 23 and verse 8. These be the names of the mighty men whom David had the Tachmanite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains. The same was Adino the Esnite.
He lifts up his spear against 800, whom he slew at one time.
There's a slight correction necessary here, and I believe it's made in the Darby translation. It should read He stood up against 800 who were slain at that time or close to that.
And after him was Eliezer the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines that were gathered there together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone. Away he arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave under the sword. And the Lord wrought a great victory that day.
And the people returned after him only to spoil.
And after him was Shama the son of Agay. The Harare and the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentils. And the people fled from the Philistines, But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines and the Lord.
Brought a great victory.
In the days in which all this took place, it was quite right in that dispensation for men to use the sword against the enemies of the Lord.
It's not your place and mine right now. The day for judgment will come, but it is not today. But morally and spiritually speaking, I suggest to each one that you and I are in a battle, Not a physical battle, but a spiritual one. And as it says in the New Testament, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.
So on there is a need for Christian warfare.
And these three men who head the list, it's very interesting. As far as I can see in Scripture, they are not mentioned anywhere else.
Many others are mentioned in things concerning David's military campaigns and the things that happened to him when he was.
Becoming king and until he sat on the throne. There are various ones mentioned and we'll see some of them, but as far as I can see, other than in First Chronicles Chapter 11, which is the parallel chapter to this, I don't know.
That these men's names are mentioned anywhere else, they are some of those who are singled out, but who did what they did quietly before the Lord and without seeking their own glory.
This man, Adino the Esnite, it simply says he stood against 800.
I can't imagine that it does not say that he slew them all, as it is implied in our King James.
But he stood up against 800. How could he do it?
He could only do it with the Lord's help.
And I say to you and me, the devil is ranging 800 against us today.
And it will come to the point in these last days when you and I may have to stand alone. It's nice to be able to have those with us who can stand with us. A tremendous encouragement.
But sometimes we have to stand alone against overwhelming odds.
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This man Eliezer, the whole height, it's noteworthy, and it says so in verse 10, that his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword.
Doesn't require a lot of imagination to realize what the teaching is here, does it? What is the sword? Typically for you and me, it's this precious book.
But notice it's the sword of the spirit.
You and I cannot live a careless worldly life as a Christian and then expect suddenly to pull the sword of the Spirit out of our scabbard and be able to use it.
No, it doesn't work that way.
An old brother was once raising the question in a reading meeting. What is your sword? And somebody quite properly said to him, It's the word of God.
And he said, yes, but that's only part of it. It's that part of the word of God that you have read, meditated upon, and walked in. That is your sword.
Let's remember that.
But his hand clave unto the sword, and he wrought a great victory.
Did I quote that correctly?
No, I didn't.
The Lord brought a great victory. Let's remember that sometimes we like to take credit to ourselves.
Let's remember the Lord wins the victory when we use His word. He gets the glory. What happens afterward? Oh, the rest of the people, it says, returned only to spoil.
And there's nothing said here that Eliezer got upset about that or said, hey, wait a minute now this is my spoil. I'm the one that stood here and defended this land. I'm the one that stood against the Philistines.
No, don't be afraid to share the spoil, even if the Lord uses you to win the victory.
So then here's this man, Shama.
And I think if I had been there, humanly speaking, I might have said, what's a field of lentils worth?
There are lots more where they come from. They're cheap, they're easy to grow.
Why bother risking my life for a field of lentils?
May I suggest that sometimes the devil will whisper that in your ear when it comes to the things of the Lord, He'll say don't. Don't risk your life, your reputation, your everything down here for something that after all, the Lord knows your heart and the Lord knows you care. So don't risk everything just to defend some point of truth in the Word of God.
The devil will say it's not that important.
For this man, Shama had a heart for the Lord, and he valued the land that the Lord had given them. That was Israel's land, that was Israel's food, and he wasn't prepared to give up any part of it.
People fled from the Philistines, and once again it says the Lord wrought a great victory.
Good morning, Ted, Porter said he was going to go out on a limb.
I'm going to go out too.
I have thought about these three men over a period of years.
And I have wondered.
Was what they did, as is recorded in these first few verses, sufficient to warrant their being placed at the top of the list?
Does it seem like that? It seems as if others did in some ways just as much.
Why then, are they there?
I suggest that what we read next, although these men are not named, so I will not be upset if someone says, well, Bill, you can't prove that. But I suggest that although they're not named, these three men are responsible for what happens next. Let's read on.
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Verse 13.
And three of the 30 chief went down and came to David in the harvest time under The Cave of Adelaim, and with the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Refame. And David was then in an hold, and the Garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.
And David long and said, Oh, that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate. And the three mighty men breakthrough the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David.
Nevertheless, he would not drink thereof, but poured it out under the Lord.
And he said, Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it. These things did, these three mighty men.
I leave you to decide whether I'm right in that, but I would suggest that although they're not named, these three men were responsible for this deed.
And it was no like thing.
If you look up on a map.
You will find that The Cave of a Dullum was not particularly near Bethlehem.
And these men?
Had some job to do.
Because it doesn't say they sneaked around during the middle of the night, nor does it say that they.
Somehow camouflage themselves in philistine uniforms or some trick like that.
It says they breakthrough the host of the Philistines.
What for a bucket of water?
Man would say naturally that doesn't make any sense.
We all like to drink good water, don't we?
When I was a boy we had water through a tap, but it came from a sister.
And I can well remember my brother and I being sent by my mother up to a well that was probably about 200 yards away up on the hill by the boss's house, one of those old pumps that you pump the water out of.
But she wanted that water to drink because it was good water straight from the well. And it was. I can remember it to this day.
And David had his favorite well, too.
What was that made these men do it?
Oh, it was David that was before them. Here was the rightful king.
They didn't just see a man who wanted a drink of his favorite well, they saw the man who belonged on the throne, the man who was in rejection.
He should have been able to get any water he wanted and they said we can't, as it were, put him on the throne right now. But he's expressed A wish and no risk is too great to get him that water.
I suggest.
So when you and I come together to remember the Lord.
This is giving the Lord a drink of that water.
Oh, in one sense, there will be plenty of it in the coming day. When the Lord has His rightful place, there will be no problem to offer the Thanksgiving and praise of which He is so worthy.
And I don't want to dwell on this, but I know there are those here who know the Lord Jesus and who love the Lord.
But are who are not remembering him in his death. May I suggest that the Lord longs for that drink from your soul.
Whether or not you are a brother or a sister, that is not the point if you are a brother.
Please pay attention, and I'm going to say it again to what our brother Ted said this morning.
Remember, the Lord gets the drink in the time of His rejection from you and me. And I suggest, typically speaking, that is why these men are at the head of the list. Were they faithful warriors? Indeed they were. Were they brave men? Indeed they were. And we need those kind of men today. We need those.
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And may I say it, we need especially young men who will step out for the Lord, because let me tell you.
If you young men will step out for the Lord boldly, I believe I'm right in saying that the young sisters will gladly follow. And if I'm wrong, maybe some of them will tell me afterward. But they are looking to you for leadership and guidance in this difficult world.
But they are also looking for what these men did for David.
They are looking to you for that devotedness to the Lord that says no sacrifices too great for the one who loved me enough to die for me.
Now, does that mean that you don't have a career? I don't believe so. Does that mean that you don't necessarily get a good education? That I'm not saying that, of course not. The education you get, it depends on, as we have in the Old Testament, and this is from the Darby translation, the tenor of your way. Some people are far better working with their hands. Some people are better at making their living with their heads.
Whatever it is.
The Lord would have us to be diligent in it, and it was brought before us that whatsoever we do were to do it to the glory of God.
But let's remember that all of that is only a means to an end. It reminds me of a story that took place years ago in the 1800s, where a man who was a gospel preacher was one day peddling coal around the streets of, I think it was London, England. But it doesn't matter which city. And in those days, people bought small amounts of coal because they didn't have big.
Coal sellers, the way people used to have in this country back in the days of burning a lot of coal, and so they bought small amounts of it at a time.
And he would have peddled it with a little cart, and people would come and buy 10 lbs, twenty pounds, 30 lbs. And then he'd come back in another few days and they'd buy some more. And one day someone saw him pedaling coal. And she said, oh, I know you.
She said you're the man that goes out there periodically around the streets here and preaches the gospel. But then I didn't know this was your job.
Well, he knew what she meant, but he said very quietly to her. He said, ma'am.
I would only say that this is not really my job. My job is to preach the gospel.
But I do this to pay expenses.
That was well put, very well put. May we all look on what we do down here is paying expenses.
And so these three men head the list.
Service on the one hand, there was plenty of it, but devotedness on the other, and we'll refer back to that in a few minutes, but let's go on.
Three men here now. Now we come to three more.
Verse 18.
And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Xeroy, was chief among three. And he lifted up his spear against 300, and slew them, and had the name among three. Was he not most honorable of three? Therefore he was their captain. Howbeit he attained not unto the 1St 3.
So there are two sets of three here. The first three we've talked about. Here's the second set, and Abishai is the first among that second set, and he's their captain.
Why wouldn't he have been put in the first three? Was he a brave man? Oh indeed, he was no man braver than Habashi, and several times he demonstrated that, one time even saving David's life when David was.
Going against the son of the giant as it reads and the son of the giant it reads had a new sword, or in the Derby it reads new armor and David was faint.
And a Bishai came to his his rescue.
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He was a brave man. He wasn't afraid of the giant.
But there were times in David's life when Abishai didn't have a heart, that beat In Sync with David. When Shimmy and I, you'll remember through dust and stones at him, when David was fleeing from Absalom, Abishai, he had the whole situation in hand. He said, let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head. And I imagine he was well able to do it.
David had to restrain him.
Another time when David was going to go down to the camp of Saul and Abishai said I'll go with you.
But then here was Saul, lying on the ground in a deep sleep, and Abishai said David, let me smite him and I won't have to do it twice.
And I will imagine that he would not have had to do it twice either. He knew how to do it. David had to say no, no you don't lay your hand on the Lord's anointed. Let the Lord look after that.
Sometimes we are very bold for the Lord.
But we don't have the Lord's mind about what we're doing. David honors abishai.
But he doesn't quite make it to the first three, the ones who were in the background.
Never mentioned before they had the 1St place.
We need Abashais, but they need to remember that they must have a heart that walks in the same path as David did. Walks with Christ our David.
Well, here's another man in verse 20, Benny I, the son of Jehoiada.
The son of a valiant man. Now that was something I'm looking here.
That young men and young women who are sons and daughters of valiant men and women.
Many of you and not all of you. I don't mean to include everyone. Maybe you were brought up in an ungodly home. Consider it a great privilege that the Lord has saved you. But if you were brought up in a Christian home with parents who love the Lord and cared for His things, I would say you are the sons and daughters of valiant men and women.
The son of a valiant man of who had done many acts.
He slew 2 Lion Lake men of Moab. He went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow.
My Oh my.
First of all there were these lion like men, but finally the lion itself.
Again, it doesn't take a lot of imagination to know what the lion speaks of. The devil is the lion, and he goes about today as always, as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And I'm sorry to say that he is devouring too many believers today, not in the sense of taking away their salvation, but in rendering them powerless.
Just when they are most needed.
First of all, he has to meet men who are like lions, but behind them is the real lion, the devil. And finally he has to meet him at close quarters in a pit. A lion in a pit who can't imagine. And he didn't have a pistol or a gun in his hand either.
He only had weapons that he could use with his hands, like a sword or a spear. I cannot imagine that.
You and I, if we're going to serve the Lord, have to be able to face the devil. But remember, he knows he's a defeated foe. He knows he's defeated. The Lord defeated him first of all, and rendered him powerless in the temptations in the wilderness. And then he defeated him at the cross. And you and I face a defeated foe. We can get the victory with the Lord's help.
But there was more than that. Verse 21. And he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man.
And the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, and he but he went down to him with a staff and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear.
Hmm, what is the Egyptian speak of? Well, that's the world, isn't it? Egypt is the world out of which God calls the believer, but all too often we tend to go back into it.
And here he meets this man, and it looks as if the Egyptian has the upper hand. He has a spear.
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And Veniya has only a staff.
But oh, it's a staff in the hand of the Lord. David had only a stone with a sling, and Goliath had a spear and a sword and all the armor that he needed. But he was no match for David and his stone and sling in the hands of the Lord.
Nor was this man a match for Benny. Ayah, what does he do? He takes that staff and takes the spear away from this man and kills him with his own spear.
No, I'm not suggesting that you and I are to go out and do that kind of thing to the world.
The lost world today needs Christ, but we need to get the victory over the world. You cannot preach Christ to a world if you are part of that world system. And we won't belabor that point because we've had it before us already.
Verse 22 These things did Benny I the son of Jehoiada, and had the name among three mighty men.
He was more honorable than the 30, but he attained not to the first three and David set him over his guard.
I think of Benny Ayer as a young man who was learning. He's not at the top yet.
We don't have time to turn to it, but if we were to turn on further, we would find out that this man, Benny Ayah, was much used right at the end of David's reign and when Solomon sat on the throne. Whom did Solomon pick out to be the captain of his host?
This same Bennyaya you find the verse. It's there where this same Bennyaya became the captain of Solomon's host.
He has some things to learn. He didn't know it all, but he was content to start by overcoming the devil and overcoming the world. And I say to you that are younger and don't think that we didn't have to go through it sometimes before we can serve the Lord in the fullest way in which one of us ever does that. But before we can serve the Lord in the fullest way, we have some overcoming to do.
Don't be afraid of the school of God.
Don't be afraid if you're not among the first three right away. Bennyaya got there eventually.
But we said there was.
Two sets of. There were two sets of three here, and we have three names in the first three.
And it talks about this three here.
Where is the third one.
Is not named.
I said we'd talk about one man that wasn't named.
And it's very interesting in this chapter at the very end, in the last verse, verse 38.
It says at the end 30 and seven in all.
But if you count the names in this chapter.
There are only 36.
What happened to the other third one?
I'm going to make a suggestion. I can't prove it. I leave it to you to consider.
Is there a place?
In this second three for Jonathan.
Is there a place for him there?
In devotedness he was unequal.
Unequalled.
When David lamented over Jonathan, he could say, Oh my brother Jonathan, thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.
And we have no record that David was ever displeased by anything Jonathan did directly to him.
Twice Jonathan came down to David when he was in rejection.
Saul tried to find David and could never catch up with him. Jonathan had no problem knowing where he was and he didn't have a cell phone or Agps either. But he knew where David was and he knew how to go. And it says he encouraged him in the Lord is God.
But what happened?
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Jonathan, it says, once went back to his house and the second time it says he went back to the city.
Oh, his house, with its comforts, had a hold on him.
The city which held Souls Court had a hold on him that he couldn't seem to overcome.
He looked forward to being beside David in the Kingdom.
But he didn't make it. He never served under David.
He was slain, as we know, on Mount Gilboa.
By the Philistines, the very ones whom he previously had been used of the Lord to defeat in a wonderful way earlier in Saul's reign, probably when David was scarcely born, or only a little boy.
Because if you do the math and look at the genealogies carefully, Jonathan was not the same age as David. Jonathan was easily old enough to be David's father. He was not the same age as David.
And Jonathan was winning battles long before David was doing anything like that.
Again, I merely suggest the thought. There is a name missing here, and I have pondered it a bit. Jonathan seems to be the only one that I can think of that fits in there. But for you and for me, what is the teaching? I suggest two things #1 let's not be a Jonathan that has, as someone has said, one thing lacking.
He never served under David, so in that sense David couldn't in this sense name him as one of his mighty men.
Our late brother Eric Smith, whom some here will remember, I think I can say I knew him well.
He used to say how many dear believers there are today who are dead on the battlefield because they are unwilling to go into rejection with Christ.
But on the other hand, at the judgment seat of Christ, there won't be a name missing. There won't be any name missing for anyone who has done something for the Lord down here, It says in First Corinthians chapter 4. Then shall every man have praise of God?
Well, we said we'd talk about 10 men.
We have four more.
Verse 24.
ASA Hell, the brother of Joab, was one of the 30.
Asahel.
We're not going to turn back to the scripture about him.
I think it's good to look it up if you don't know where it is. Asahel was distinguished by something that used to appeal to me when I was young.
Because I always like to run.
And Ace of Hell, it says, was as fleet of foot as a wild Roe.
Have you ever seen a deer running?
They don't seem to put much effort into it, do they? And yet they can sure stay ahead of things.
I can well remember walking out the back of our property when we lived in the Hamilton area and we bordered farms and knew the farmers very well and they had no problem with our walking through their property. Of course, we did favors for them too when they needed it.
And I remember our dog, who was young and in good energy at that time, suddenly flushing out 2 deer in a deep gully, 1A buck and 1A doe, and he thought it was his great duty to chase them. And he sure did. And I can still see him going across that field going, as we would say, flat out.
And the deer didn't seem to have any problem staying ahead of him. And of course, eventually matters came to a head when the deer came to a fence and and of course, the fence stopped him. And that was the end of the chase.
But I couldn't help but admire how beautiful those deer looked. An ace of hell he could run like that.
And did he have a heart for David? He did, and David names him here and in other places. But poor ASA, hell, he came to an untimely end, as you will remember, because he insisted on chasing a man by the name of Abner, who was the captain of Saul's host. He wanted the victory, we would say in modern language. He wanted the kudos of killing an Abner.
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Get the captain of Saul's host. He wanted that glory.
And Abner tried to persuade him not to. ASA hell go go after somebody else. I don't want to have to kill you. How can I hold my head up to your master after that?
But Asahel wouldn't quit.
An Abner kills him.
I take that as a warning to my own soul and a warning to all of us here. Let us not be persuaded to enter into a battle for which we are not equal and for which the Lord has not called us.
It does not say it, but I suspect that there was pride in ASA Hell's heart. After all, he was the brother of Abishai. He was the brother of Joab. He wanted to distinguish himself, I'm sure, but he took on something that he wasn't ready for, and he died before David ever got to the throne.
No, I see that.
David was already reigning over Judah.
But he wasn't king over all Israel, and poor Asahel, he died an untimely death. There's a lesson for us in that, in taking on something that the Lord hasn't called us to do. Now, if He's called you to do it, He'll give you the strength and give you the victory. But if we think we're going to take upon ourselves that which the Lord has not fitted us for.
We may find that we die in the battle.
Let's go down here.
Verse 34.
We're picking out a few names here. We're passing over many. David knew who they were. He knew what they were worth. And at the judgment seat of Christ, there will be many names that we will never have seen before, but whom the Lord will single out for reward. But here's a man in verse 34, the end of the verse, Helium, the son of Ahithophel.
The Galenite.
If you remember your history of David, and I am, I hope, not, assuming too much here and assuming a relative familiarity with the history of some of this.
Ahetha Fell was David's counselor.
And the word of God records that his counsel was so good that it was as if a man had inquired the oracles of God. He was a man gifted of God to give good counsel.
But when David was running away from Absalom.
And when Absalom tried to usurp the throne, this man Ahithophel.
Was out to get David. He was out to get him. And he said to Absalom, Absalom, you give me 12,000 men and I'll go at the head of them and I'll go out and get David when he's unprepared and when he's weak and everybody's not ready for battle. And I'll get him and I'll get the king only. And pretty soon you'll have all Israel united behind you.
As far as it went, it was good counsel.
But we might ask ourselves, why was a hit the fell so ready to do that? Even Absalom says, Is this the way you treat your master, that you defect to me? He didn't. He didn't understand it at first.
There was a reason for it.
And if you read the genealogies, you see why.
Ahithophel was the grandfather of Bathsheba.
He was one of the few that knew the inside story about what had gone on between.
David and Bathsheba and how Uriah had been killed by David's miserable planning.
He knew all about that.
And it was his granddaughter's husband who had been taken away, and he said to himself, that man is not fit to sit on the throne.
We know the rest of the story that God appointed a man by the name of Hushai also to give counselor Absalom. But Hushai was not a true man to Absalom. He was a spy. He was on David's side. And who should I gave bad counsel to Absalom? And the Lord made Absalom believe Hushai's counsel was better.
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And poor Ahithophel, he knew that Absalom was done for and it's recorded that you went home and set his house in order and then went and committed suicide.
For what about ilium?
Helium was Bathsheba's father and even closer relationship.
And what does ilium do?
He stays devoted to David. He recognizes the rightful king and stays there.
And he gets his reward.
The lesson for my own soul in this?
Is that sometimes, And let's be frank, there are troubles and difficulties among those gathered to the Lord's name.
And sometimes there may be someone who acts in such a way.
That you and I, it seems, just can't get over it.
Maybe something is done that affects a member of my family or effects a good friend of mine.
And I find it in my heart very difficult.
To get away from the resentment and anger that builds up as a result of what sometimes is such a display of the flesh. Does it happen? You know it does, and maybe I'm guilty of it.
And the tendency is to say I will not put up with that.
I cannot be in fellowship with that. That is so wrong. Eliam could have said that, but what does he recognize? Oh, he recognizes God's rightful king. He recognizes the man whom God has put on the throne. He recognizes an Absalom as a usurper. And he says I will not follow that man even when his father did. That must have been hard.
A Hippophel, the man who gave counsel like the oracles of God.
And yet his son, his son, had to turn his back on his father and watch his father come to a bad end. But he didn't do it.
Very touching.
And a real lesson for you and for me.
Two more men.
Verse 37.
2nd.
Neharrai the bureaucrat armor bearer to Job, the son of Zeroy.
Isn't that interesting?
Who was the captain of David's host? Joab, the son of Zerowaya. He wanted that position. He distinguished himself by getting it.
In fact, the tunnel in the under the city of Jerusalem, through which he must have crawled to defeat.
The enemy that were up on top of that hill in Mount Zion is still called Joab's Tunnel. It's still there, apparently. So they tell me I've never been there.
For this man, Joab was a fleshly man. He wanted, he was ambitious. He wanted a place in this world. Sometimes he knew better than David, but he was out for himself and not for David. And even though he was the captain of David's host all through David's reign, he's not named here. Very, very searching.
For your heart and mind will I get to the judgment seat of Christ and find.
That there isn't much leftover that isn't burned up.
But his armor bears there.
That armor bearer could have looked at Joe, Evans said. This man doesn't really care for David. This man is simply ambitious. This man wants a name for himself. He wants to be out in front. He wants to be the chief captain. And we know that in order to stay in that place, Joab killed two other men.
Whom David has to say he killed two men.
That we're better than himself.
Very, very sad. He killed Abner, the captain of Saul's host, in a subtle way, and he killed a man by the name of a Massa.
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And he killed him also in a subtle way. He didn't do it enough, what we would call a fair fight.
He tricked both of them and killed them, David says. He slew two men that were better than himself.
But he was content, this armour bearer.
To bear the shield and the armor for Joab. Why? Because it was in the service of David. Can you and I look beyond that? Can we work with someone and help someone in their service for the Lord? Even if we don't admire the person, I think we should.
Remember, we're not doing it for ourselves, but for the Lord. Joab was fighting David's battles even though his heart was not one with David, and his armor bearer was there ready to serve. He was right in the forefront of the battle. It was a dangerous place to be, and he gets his reward.
And finally #10 in the last verse, verse 39.
Uriah the Hittite.
We all know the story of Uriah.
How that David did his best.
First of all, to make it appear as if the baby that he had fathered with Bathsheba was in fact Uriah's baby. But that didn't work. Uriah wouldn't go down to his house as he was told to. So then David, we know, sent a letter right in Uriah's own hand telling this man Joab, who was captain of the host, to see to it that Uriah got put in the hottest part of the battle where he would be smitten and killed.
The Lord allowed it to happen. Some have raised the question. Uriah was an innocent man, why didn't the Lord?
Deliver him.
And I don't have a complete answer to that question.
Except that it would have been most difficult for Uriah eventually to come back home.
And it would have had to come out what had happened.
And here he would have had to have seen the one to whom he was so faithful. And remember, he was a Hittite. He was a Hittite. The Hittites were in the land of Canaan long before the Israelites. They dated back at least to the time of Abraham and maybe 1000 years before. History tells us Hittites were around a long time.
And they were a warlike people. But this Hittite was devoted to David. And he would have had to have come back home from the war to find that things that happened between David and his wife. And you can imagine, maybe you can only imagine what it would have meant to him. I believe, for myself anyway, that it was a mercy.
That the Lord did take him away like that so that he wouldn't have had to face that.
But David recognizes the devotedness and the bravery of that man.
The devotedness and the bravery of a man who was not an Israelite, but whose heart was one with David, who wouldn't even go down to his house when the rest of the host of Israel were living in tents and having what we call in general terms of bivouac, having to cook their food, probably over open fires and sleep in tents.
I've slept in tents, yes, it's kind of fun for a while, but I wouldn't wanna live in one all the time. It's not an easy thing.
And he says I'm not going to go down and be comfortable under those circumstances, even though though David told him he could, he got his reward. And if you see someone taken away suddenly, I just say this.
And it seems as if the Lord ought to have delivered them.
We need to be careful about judging why it happened. The Lord may have taken them away.
I can still remember and I'll share this with you as a last verse turned to Isaiah 57 and one.
Isaiah 57 and verse one.
The righteous parish, and no man layeth it to heart.
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And merciful men are taken away.
None, considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil.
To come.
This is a personal note.
But I can still remember.
My late father-in-law, Albert Hayhoe, was called away very suddenly.
After surgery.
Back in 1981.
Was on a Wednesday that he went to be with the Lord. Can still remember getting a short but very poignant phone call from our late brother Paul Jevidan of Kentucky.
He didn't say much, He didn't linger much on the phone, but he simply read me that verse and he said, Bill, I wonder if that's why the Lord took him home.
Sometimes the Lord takes away people whom we would have thought he should spare, but the Lord in his wisdom takes them away for his own reasons. This man Uriah was a faithful man and the Lord was going to take him away rather than having him face.
The terrible difficulties that he would have seen had he lived.
Well, we trust these thoughts can be used of the Lord for the blessing of each one of us. They've meant much. I can honestly say to my own soul, our time is gone, so let's simply close in prayer.
Our loving God and our Father.
We thank Thee for those things which were written aforetime, which were written for our learning, and we thank Thee that Thou hast given us these things, these examples of those who lived thousands of years ago and yet who teach us things and give us lessons which are good for the pathway of faith today. So we commend thy word to thee, to each one of us, and pray that Thou wilt use it in blessing, for we ask it, Lord Jesus, and.
Person worthy name Amen.