And I think we'll just take this
a verse or two at a time. So verse 18, and Abishai, the
brother of Joab, the son of Zerui, was chief among three. And he
lifted up his spear against 300 and slew them and had the name
among three. Now we continue in the rest of
this chapter to read about David's mighty men, David, throughout much of his life was
in battle with somebody. And as we read, there were men
that came out to him, pledged their allegiance to him when
he was in exile from Israel because of Saul. And some of these men
distinguished themselves. And everything and everybody
that's excellent is just a shadow of our Savior. We see in these mighty men the
attributes of our Lord Jesus Christ. The words chief among are the first thing that catch
our attention here, chief among. In other words, you're among
others, but you're the chief. And the number, there's a number
that comes after that. It doesn't matter in this case.
Doesn't matter how many. because among those he was among,
he was chief. In Solomon's Song of the Savior,
these same words are used, chiefest among, and they also are followed
by a number. In Song of Solomon 5, 9, it says,
what is thy beloved more than another beloved, thou fairest
among women." This is a scenario where in Song of Solomon 5, why don't
you turn over there? I want us to see this together.
Song of Solomon chapter 5, if you would please. Song of Solomon 5.9. This question
is asked, what is thy beloved more than another beloved? He's
among others. There are others who are beloved
of people. So what's special about your
beloved? O thou fairest among women. What
is thy beloved more than another beloved that thou dost so charge
us? And this question is posed by
those who are answering the charge given in verse eight. And the
charge that this woman, this fairest among women, which is
the church, the charge is this, you tell
my beloved when you see him that I'm so much in love with him
that I'm sick. And their answer is a question.
They seem a little bit astonished that someone could love somebody
that much, that it made them physically sick. Because that's
all it said. Just tell him I'm sick. I'm sick
with love. That's what it said. I'm so much
in love that I can't bear to not be with him. And so they're
saying, well, wait a minute. What's so special about your
beloved? So they asked that question.
This is not normal. Other people love each other,
but not like that. What's so special about him? And here's the answer. My beloved
is white. In this regard, he's more than
others. That was the question. How is
he different from everybody else? Well, he's white, and nobody
else is. Nobody else. This is, of course,
spiritual language. It doesn't mean he's Caucasian,
that's needless to say. It means he's pure, he's holy. He's white. In Revelation 7,
13, one of the elders answered, saying unto me, what are these
which are arrayed in white, in white robes? And whence came
they? And I said unto him, sir, thou knowest. And he said to
me, these are they which came out of great tribulation and
have washed their robes and made them white in the blood. of the lamb. Now the difference
in the one spoken of in Song of Solomon and those spoken of
in Revelation there, the white means the same thing. It's the
righteousness of the saints, but the difference is this beloved
one, he doesn't have to wash his robe because he is white. He is the
one that makes others white by his precious blood. It's his
character, he's holy and pure and spotless. White as snow,
white as snow. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they should be as well. Though they be red like crimson,
they should be as white as snow because he is white. And he is our righteousness. and ruddy he's white and he's
ruddy how is he chief what is it that this one this mighty
man pictures concerning our savior there's nobody else like he's
chief among chief among however many you want to name chief the name adam means man but it's
from a root word that means red ruddy The word ruddy in Song of Solomon
there, where we read he's white and ruddy, is adam. Adam with two A's and then adam
with an A and an O. Adam, it's just the adjective
form of the verb. Same word, it means red. So what this is simply saying
is he's holy and he's man. That's how he's chief. That's
how he's not like anybody else. He is the only man that's white,
that's holy. There's none like him, he is
more than other beloveds in that regard, and the red also It's
hard to think about that without thinking about his precious blood.
He's described in Revelation 9.13 this way, he was clothed
with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called the Word
of God. We know that's the Savior. It's only as man, ruddy, it's only as man that
he could shed his blood for us. That's why he became a man. Listen
to Hebrews 2.14, for as much then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same,
that through death, that through shedding his precious blood,
he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the
devil, and deliver them, those he died for. who through fear
of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage, for verily
he took not on him the nature of angels, he can't die for angels. The angels who left their first
estate, the third part of the angels who were cast into hell
along with Lucifer, there's no redeemer for them. He took not on him the nature
of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore,
in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, especially in this sense, to make reconciliation. That's what the high priest did.
He brought an offering. He came into the most holy place
once a year, not without blood. to make reconciliation for the
sins of the people. So you see, both Ruddy's, they
go together. The only way he can shed his
blood and his vesture be dipped in blood is if he's Ruddy, a
man, Adam. And so the white one, the holy
son of God, is also man. That's how you wanna
know how he's different than everybody else? He's the God-man. That's how. Utterly unique. Utterly unique. Isaiah 45, 21, tell ye and bring
them near. Yea, let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that
time, have not I the Lord, and there is no God else beside me?
What is he more than everybody else? Everything. No God else
beside me, a just God and a Savior, the holy God of heaven and earth,
and a man, the Christ, the word that was made flesh and dwelt
among us. and listen to what he said next, and there's none
beside me. Chiefest, chiefest. The chiefest among, that's the
next line there in Song of Solomon, the chiefest among 10,000. This
is a manner of speaking by which to say he is chiefest period. When I say you're one in a million,
I don't mean by that that for every million people, there's
one of you. I'm saying there's nobody like
you. That's what I'm saying. You're one in a million. And
that's what this is saying. It doesn't mean that for every
thousand people, there's one of him. He's the chiefest. You're the best. You're the highest. That's what
the church is saying about her beloved there in Solomon's Song. Now our text also says of Abishai,
back in our text there in 2 Samuel, he had the name. He had the name
among them. And that just simply means he
had made a name for himself. He had the name, he was the one
whose name everyone recognized as the chiefest. And then in 2 Samuel, I want
you to turn to 2 Samuel 7, you should just be able to flip back
a little ways there, to 2 Samuel 7, verse 18. 2 Samuel 7, 18,
he had the name. 2 Samuel 7, 18, then went King
David in and sat before the Lord. And he said, who am I, O Lord
God? You remember this is the chapter
where David said to the Lord, I'm gonna build you a house.
And God said, no, I'm gonna build you a house. Already have. And then he went in under the
Lord and sat down. I like this, I love this right
here. I remember when we looked into this a while back, David
came in and sat before the Lord. We need to do a whole lot more
of that. I just don't know how else to say that. He said, Who am I, O Lord God,
and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto? And
this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God, but thou
hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come.
And is this the manner of man, O Lord God? And what can David
say more unto thee? For thou, Lord God, knowest thy
servant. For thy word's sake and according
to thine own heart hast thou done all these great things,
to make thy servant know them. You know me, and so you must
have done these things not because of who I am. You see that there? You know your servant. Therefore,
according to your own heart, you have blessed me. And not
because of my heart. You know my heart. It's because
of your heart. Wherefore thou art great, your
chiefest. O Lord God, for there is none
like you. There is nobody like you. Oh boy. Neither is there any God beside
thee according to all that we have heard with our ears and
what one nation in the earth is like that people even like
Israel whom God went to redeem for a people to himself and to
make him a name. He had the name. He said there's
nobody like you. You're the chiefest. You're the
greatest. You're almighty. You're high and lifted up. And
what a name. To do for you great things and
terrible for that land before that people which thou redeemest
to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods. For thou
hast confirmed to thyself that people Israel to be a people
unto thee forever. And thou, Lord, art become their
God. And now, O Lord God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning
thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it forever,
and do as thou hast said, and let thy name be magnified forever."
You've done all this to make a name for yourself, and I like
it that way. Let your name be magnified. Let
everybody forget who I am or what I ever did, and praise your
name forever. Saying this, the Lord of Hosts
is the God. over Israel. The only reason you mention us
at all is just to say we belong to him. We belong to him. Let the house of thy servant
David be established before thee. Listen to Isaiah 63 7. You can
certainly turn there if you'd like to. I haven't yet turned
to a lot of scripture. But I'll read this Isaiah 63 7. I will mention the loving kindness
of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that
the Lord has bestowed on us and the great goodness toward the
house of Israel, which he has bestowed on them according to
his mercies. His name is wonderful because
of his mercy, because of his grace. According to the multitude
of his loving kindness, for he said, surely they are He didn't say, surely they are
wonderful people. They weren't. But he said they're mine. Children that will not lie. So
he was their savior. In all their affliction, he was
afflicted and the angel of his presence saved them. You know, I just kind of passed
over that, but in all of their affliction, he was afflicted. We have not an high priest which
can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He saved them in his love and
in his pity, he redeemed them and he bared them and carried
them all the days of old. But they rebelled and vexed his
Holy Spirit, therefore he was turned to be their enemy and
fought against them. Then he remembered the days of
old, Moses and his people saying, where is he that brought them
up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he that
put his Holy Spirit within him, that led them by the right hand
of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them?
To save them, no doubt. But even more important than
that, to make himself an everlasting name. So each of these mighty men of
David, they all have something particular mentioned about them.
which just happens to be spectacularly true of our Savior in every case. Look at the next one in verse
20, back in our text. And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada,
the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done many acts. But here are the two that are,
these are the three, I guess it is, that are mentioned about
him. And again, in every case, it's something a little different,
isn't it? Something a little different about each one of them
that shows a different facet of our Lord Jesus. He slew two
lion-like men of Moab, He went down also and slew a lion in
the midst of a pit in time of snow. And he slew an Egyptian, a goodly
man. And the Egyptian had a spear
in his hand, but he went down to him with a staff. And they say this is a shepherd's
staff, not a weapon. But he plucked the spear out
of the Egyptian's hand and slew him with his own spear. picture
These things did benign the son of Jehoiad and had the name among
three mighty men The distinctive thing about this
man is that he killed two lion like men He killed a lion And
he killed an Egyptian Well Satan is compared to a lion
and It just so happens in the scripture. In 1 Peter 5, 8, be
sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, is a roaring
lion walking about, seeking whom he may devour. And here's what
you need to do about that. Resist. Don't challenge. Don't stomp around and say what
you're gonna, you know, I'm gonna rebuke Satan. No, just resist. Just stand your ground. Resist steadfast in the faith,
knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren
that are in the world. It's always good to know that
you're not alone in something. Oh, that's a blessing to me. But
the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory
by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered
a while, make you perfect. Satan's gonna do what Satan's
gonna do, and when all is said and done, because of the God
of all grace, you're gonna be perfect. That's how it ends,
if you belong to him. It ends with you being perfect,
established, strengthened, and settled. To him be glory. To Him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen. Be vigilant and resist. Be wise as serpents and harmless
as doves and resist. Look the other way. Refuse. You know, Paul talked about crucifying
the flesh. We're selfish. We're proud. We're
self-righteous. We're evil. recognize it satan has something
in us but resist by the grace of god look to cry that's how
you resist the devil you flee to your shepherd who with the shepherd's staff
can disarm our enemies Be vigilant and resist, but the
Lord's the one that's gonna take care of you. He will complete
you, that's the word perfect. He will perfect you, he will
complete you. He will make you stable. He'll
make it to where you're not carried about with every wind of doctrine
that Satan whispers. From friend or enemy, He'll make you strong. He'll have to do that, won't
he? He'll have to do that. And the word settle means to
lay the foundation. In other words, your house is
built on a rock. And Satan can huff and puff,
the winds are gonna come and the floods are gonna come, but
as the Lord said in Luke 8, 48, it cannot shake it. It cannot shake your house. for
it's founded upon a rock. Not because it's a strong, because
it's because of the foundation. And that rock is Christ. That's
our hope. And so he's gonna destroy Satan
for us. He's gonna crush his head. It's
already done. And then the two lion-like men,
there are some men that are lion-like, aren't they? They're like Satan.
Everybody is in a great sense, right? We all pervert the word
of God and reject God and raise up and say, I will be, I will
do this, I will do that, like Satan did. We have a satanic
nature. But there are those who are characterized
specifically in the scripture as sons of Belial and others
who aren't. Even though in a sense we all
are satanic, there are some distinguished from the rest of the world by
that title, and they're openly and actively enemies of Christ. I believe it's false religion.
I believe it's the leaders of false religion, mainly, because
I think the scripture's pretty strong about that. The Lord made
a clear distinction between the Pharisees and those whom they
deceived. When he spoke to the Pharisees,
he didn't, there wasn't a lot of kindness. There was no, he
didn't mince words with them. He said, you're of your father,
the devil. He said, you've been killing
my prophets from the start and you'd kill me if you could. He said, you're going to die
in your sins because of the fact that you hate me. So he made
it clear, when he talked to sinners, the woman taking in adultery,
I don't condemn you, go and sin no more. He spoke with kindness and compassion
to sinners, and he made that distinction. These are the lion-like
men. You're of your father, the devil,
and his works and what you're doing. They prayed upon and they do.
I say in past tense, they're still doing it. The religious
leaders of this world, they still pray upon the souls of men like
Satan does. They're devouring souls just
like that's what he was doing and still does. The old nature is proud and self-righteous
and evil and anti-Christ just like Satan. But this is particularly
those who are just, I guess you could use the word reprobate.
The Lord said of Judas, he'd been a devil from the start.
He always been a devil. I would say that applies here,
wouldn't you? There are men like that. But he also killed an Egyptian. Egypt always in the scripture
just pictures the world. the world outside of Christ,
the world whose fashion passes away, the world as opposed to
the church. That's Egypt. Come ye out from
among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord. Touch not the
unclean. Then God delivering Israel from
the bondage of Egypt is a picture of God spiritually calling his
sheep out from among this world of bondage, Defiance of God, you remember
when the Lord delivered his people from Egypt, Pharaoh said, who
is your God and why should I listen to him? That's the world, that's
the attitude of the world. Of course, he delivers us by
the blood of the Passover lamb, that's how it happens. And all others in Egypt who do
not have the protection, the redemption that is in the blood
of that lamb, they got to die. The Lord's gonna kill them too.
He'll kill the Egyptians. He said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. No blood though. Wherever he did not see the blood,
he did what Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada did. He slew an Egyptian. That's what he did. And that's what he still does. And notice that he killed the
Egyptian with his own spear. You brought the very instrument
that kills you with you, didn't you? You brought it with you. You brought it with you. The Lord said to the Pharisees
in Matthew 12, 37, For by thy words thou shalt be justified,
and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. In Acts 13, 46, Paul and Barnabas
waxed bold and said it was necessary that the word of God should first
have been spoken to you. But seeing you put it from you
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentile. You're your own problem. You're gonna be shot with your
own ammo. Jonah 2.8, they that observe
lying vanities forsake their own mercy. The scripture speaks of those
who are taken in their own snare and are fallen into the very
pit which they themselves have dug. That's what we're talking
about here. You forged and brought, paid
for, bought, forged, whatever, and brought your own, the very
spear that's gonna be plunged into your own heart. David, speaking
of the evil man, apart from God's grace in Psalm 715, said, he
made a pit, he dug it, and has fallen into the ditch which he
made. That's what we're talking about.
His mischief shall return upon his own head. The spear that
he hates the Savior and tries to slay the Savior with, it's
gonna be turned on him. And his violent dealing shall
come down upon his own pate. That's what happens, isn't it? The Lord didn't come to condemn
the world. We did a pretty good job of that
ourselves. He came to save somebody and he did. That's what he came
to do. And so in all of the scriptures,
we're reminded again that Christ is all. Christ is our champion. He's the destroyer of all of
our enemies and the savior of our souls. He's the chiefest
among 10,000. He's white and ruddy. He's holy,
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, but was made a
curse for us that he might redeem them that were under the curse
of the law. God has raised up mighty men, both physically and spiritually,
and has used them greatly. He's used other men. They'll never forget who the
chief is. Listen now, he's chosen the weak
and made them mighty. through Christ. And here's why he did it. According
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. These mighty men are named and
described so that he that glorieth might glory in the Lord. And I just want to close with
Jeremiah 9 23. Thus saith the Lord, let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom, If you know anything at all,
it's because he gave you an understanding. All wisdom comes from him. And
he is the omniscient God. Neither let the mighty man glory
in his might. There are mighty men. It doesn't
say nobody's mighty but him. These are called mighty men,
but you know why? So we can look at them Praise
Him. So that men may see your exploits
and glorify your Father. Otherwise, it's not worth talking
about. If He can't be glorified in it,
then shut up about it. Neither let the mighty man glory
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but
let him that glorieth glory in this. You want to get excited
about something? That he understandeth and knoweth
me. If you have some wisdom, you
glory in him who is the wisdom and power of God. If you have
some strength of some kind, some power, some authority, some ability,
you glorify him who is the wisdom and power Unto the Jews a stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. And let the rich man glory in
the one who giveth and taketh as it pleases
him. Job was rich, and then he was
not. and he blessed the name of the
Lord for the giving and for the taking. That he knoweth me that I am
the Lord, which exercise loving kindness. What a wonderful way
to say that. He could say that love centers,
that'd be a wonderful, but love is not just an emotion. You exercise
love, don't you? He exercises loving kindness. His love is what he does for
me every moment of every day of my life. This is love, not that we love
him, but that he loved us and did something about it. He sent
his son to be my sin offering. He exercises loving kindness and judgment. Always remember judgment's not
always wrath. Judgment is mercy too. If you're
in Christ, he judges you. Here's his judgment of me justified. And righteousness in the earth. Oh
boy, you don't see much of that, do you? You don't see much of
that. Remember who's keeping the books.
That's what helps me sleep. Remembering who he exercises
righteousness in the earth. Doesn't look like it much, does
it? But he does. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord. May God give us grace to glory
in him alone.