Turn with me now, if you would,
to 2 Samuel, chapter 23. 2 Samuel, chapter 23. I showed you a story this morning
from 1 Samuel chapter 30. We were in 1 Samuel this morning.
And then I showed you a picture inside that story. And I would
like to do the same thing tonight, the exact same thing that we
did this morning. I just want to tell you a story
and show you a picture inside that story. This is a glorious
story. This is a wonderful story, and
it's a glorious picture of our salvation, of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. This chapter, 2 Samuel 23, it
opens by saying in verse one, it says, now these be the last
words of David. The last words of David. David
was at the end of his life here. And in his last words, he declared
what his hope was in his last words. He says some things here
in these last moments, these are not literally the very last
words, but these are the last words of his life. And he's declaring what his hope
before God was. Verse one says, now these be
the last words of David. David was the son of David, the
son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the
anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel
said, The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His Word was
in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock
of Israel spake to me, he that ruleth over men must be just
ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light
of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without
clouds as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining
after rain. Now in verse five, he said, although
my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, ensure, for this is all my salvation,
and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. He said,
my life on this earth has been full of sin. It has been full
of sadness. It has been full of disappointment.
But he said, my eternal hope is in the fact that God, the
father, son, and spirit. They made an everlasting covenant
concerning me, father, son, and spirit. They made a covenant
of election by the choice of the father. The father chose
who God would save. They made a covenant of redemption
by the blood of the son. The Lord Jesus Christ came and
made the payment for every soul the father chose. The father
said, I'll choose them if you'll redeem them. And the son said,
I'll redeem them if you choose them. And they made a covenant
of regeneration life. God made man and he was a living
soul, but man died. And Christ came and made the
payment and the spirit comes and calls to life again, born
again, regeneration. David said that covenant, even
though I have not physically laid hold of the reality of it
yet, the reality of my eternity, because of that covenant, he
said, God has given me faith to believe it. and to look to
it and to hope in it as all of my desire and all of my salvation. If you
get down to the heart of it, what is your desire? David said,
I want to be found in the covenant. I want to be found in the blood. I want to be found in the choice
of the father. Verse 6, 2 Samuel 23, verse 6,
it says, but the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns
thrust away because they cannot be taken with hands. But the
man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff
of a spear, and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the
same place. He said outside of that covenant,
outside of the blood of Christ that sealed that covenant, there
is no salvation. There's none. Now, to understand
what we're about to read, let me tell you that David had many
men that fought with him in his army. David had many men that
fought with him in his army. In the text this morning, we
mentioned 600 of them. He talked about 600 of his men
that were with him. He had a lot of soldiers that
fought with him and for him. But David had 37 men who the
scripture calls his mighty men. Out of all of his soldiers, he
had 37 men who the Lord gave extraordinary strength to. Just
amazing, amazing strength to. Inconceivable might and skill
and victory in war. Mighty, mighty men of war, all
right? But of those 37, The scripture says three of them
were the mightiest. He had many soldiers. 37 of them were mighty men. Three
were the mightiest of them all. They were given literally supernatural
strength. What they were given was a miracle
from God. That's what it was. It was a
miracle from God. All right, let's read about them
here beginning in verse eight. These be the names of the mighty
men whom David had the Tachmanite that sat in the seat, the chief
among the captains. The same was, I don't know. That's the man's name. I don't
know the as night. Now watch this. It says he left
up his spear against 800. whom he slew at one time. He slew 800 men. Just think, you know, you hear
that and you think, well, that's a lot. You just think about that.
800 men, not 80, 800, not over the course of his life. At one moment in time, at one
encounter, He slew 800 men. That's amazing. Verse nine. And after him was Eliezer, the
son of Dodo, the Ahorite, one of the three mighty men with
David. When they defied the Philistines
that were gathered, that were there gathered together to battle. And the men of Israel were gone
away. He arose in smoke, the Philistines
until his hand was weary and his hand clave unto the sword. And the Lord wrought a great
victory that day. And the people returned after
him only to spoil this man. Eliezer was with David and two
other of the mighty men. When the Philistines attacked
Israel and Israel ran, the Philistines came in and all Israel ran. And this man Eliezer slew Philistines
until his hand was so weary. It was as though it could have
just fallen off his arm. His hand was so tired from slaying
men, but God would not allow him to let go of his sword. He
physically could not let go of his sword. He just kept slaying
Philistines and slaying Philistines until the battle was over and
they were all dead. And then after all of that, then
Israel came back to gather the spoil. So the first of the mightiest
was named Adeno. And the second one was named
Eliezer. All right. Verse 11. And after
him was Shama, the son of Agee, the Herorite. 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 wrought a great victory. There was a
piece of ground that produced food for Israel. Here it says
it was full of lentils over the same account as in Chronicles.
And it says barley was there, whatever all was planted in this
field. This is where Israel got their
food. This was a piece of ground where Israel got their food and
the Philistines came in to take it from them. They were going
to take their food away from them. And it says all of Israel ran
like they always did. And Shama went and stood right
in the center of the field. He went and walked right out
into the center of the field and he slew every single Philistine
in that army. And the Lord brought a great
victory that day. Amazing. Now, what I want us
to understand about these three men, and I pray the Lord will
let us enter into this. Ask the Lord to help you to enter
into this, because this has just blessed me so much. What I want
us to understand about these three men is David was their
King and they loved David. These three mighty, mighty men. They loved David and all of their
might and all of their victory and all of their desire was for
David. It was all for David. They put
their lives on the line for David. They gave their all for David, his protection and his safety
and his deliverance. That was all of their concern.
That was their concern. His comfort and His peace and
His contentment and His happiness. That was all of their concern. And these three men are here
with David at the end of his life. And David right here is
held up in a cave like he was so many times. And this time
it's because the Philistines once again have attacked Israel.
The Philistines just kept attacking Israel. And once again, they've
attacked Israel and they have taken Bethlehem. That was David's
birthplace where he was born. They've taken Bethlehem captive
and David's David's not able to go home. All right. Look with
me at verse 13. And three of the 30 chief went
down and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of
Adilam. And the troop of the Philistines
pitched in the Valley of ref ref AM. And David was then in
and hold. He was, he was in a hold there
in the cave and the garrison of the Philistines was then in
Bethlehem. And David longed and said, Oh,
that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem,
which is by the gate. David knew that he was at the
end of his life. and he was tired from all of
his fighting. David truly fought his whole
life. He fought and fought, he was
tired from all of his fighting. And as though he made a final
request, I can envision him, he is held up in this moment
in this cave, and I can envision him just mumbling this to himself. Here he is, he's tired, he's
at the end of his life, He's held up in a cave and the Philistines
have Bethlehem and I can just see him mumbling this to himself.
He said, oh, if I could just have one more drink of water
from the well at the gate of Bethlehem before I die. Those three mighty men heard
him say that. They listened to him say that.
Verse 16, and the three mighty men break through 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. What love, what love in their
power and in all of their ability, all of their might, in all of
their wisdom, And in all of their skill, they broke right through
everything that was standing in David's way. And they drew
water out of the only well that his desire was to draw water
from. And they brought it back to him and they put it right
in his hands, water from the well. Verse 16 goes on to say, nevertheless,
He would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto 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, men. That's what those three mighty
men did for David out of respect, out of love, out of admiration,
out of honor for those three men. David would not drink it. And
what he was saying was, I'm not worthy of the honor that they've
bestowed upon me. This is their glory. They risked
their lives to do this, and this is their glory. So he poured
it out on the ground. He poured it out unto the Lord. And that's the end of that account.
That's an amazing story, isn't it? That really is an amazing
story. As amazing as the story is, let
me show you a picture inside that story. The names of those
three mighty men are Adeno, Eleazar, and Shammah. Adeno means His
ornament. It means His adornment, His delight. That's Christ. The Father's adornment,
all the Father's delight, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Eleazar
means God has helped. How has God helped sinners like
us? If we wanna see God's help, where
do we look? The Lord Jesus Christ. He has
helped us in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Shammah
means astonishment. Oh, the glory of the astonishing
work of what God has done for his people. Just astonishing.
It's not just grace. It's amazing grace. It really
is. It's astonishing grace this morning. And our story this morning, David
represented the Lord Jesus Christ. We looked at a story of David
and he represented. We, that, that title was Christ
recovered all David recovered all. Well, he's a picture of
Christ. Christ recovered all in our story tonight. David represents
a center saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. He represents you and
me. David was still just a man, a center saved by grace, and
he represents you and me. These three mighty men represent
our mighty God in three persons. Father, Son, and Spirit, all
found in the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ. All
the fullness of the Godhead found in the person of Christ alone.
Verse eight says, 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 Adeno. All right,
Adeno slew 800 men at one time. That's what it says. One fatal
swoop, 800 men. As a picture of Christ, this
is what the book of Hebrew says. It says, our Lord Jesus Christ
by himself purged our sins. By offering one sacrifice, And
how glorious is that? One sacrifice, He perfected forever
them that are sanctified. One fatal swoop. Verse 10 says that this man Eleazar
clave to the sword. The sword of the Spirit is the
Word of God, which is quick, powerful, piercing to the dividing
of soul and spirit." The Word is Christ. Christ is the Living
Word. Verse 12 says, "...shamah preserved
the sustenance of Israel." Because of this man, they were fed. That's
Christ, the Living Bread. Christ, our Deliverer. Christ, our life, Christ, our
sustenance. These three men represent God,
our keeper, our protector, our sustainer, the one who loved
us and gave himself for us. Just like everything that these
three mighty men did for David, all the amazing things that they
did for David. Everything that our God does
is for us. Everything, that's just amazing.
Everything that our God does is for us. It's because of His
own love for us and His faithfulness to us. God commended His love
to us. David here, again, he's at the
end of his life and he's weak. And he's estranged from his home. He's outcast. But even so, it
says that he was in the stronghold of the rock. He was in a cave
and he's at the end of his life and he's weak and he's distressed,
but he was in the stronghold of the rock. Even though he was
hiding, he was hiding in the rock. And so are all of God's people. And the love that had been with
David and carried David this far, it was gonna stay with David
all the way to the end. Greater love had no man than
our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Greater love had no man. It's
not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent his son
to set his face like a flint to break through the wall of
the enemy, to bring the water of life to his people. David,
representing every single child of God, this is what he said.
He said, oh, if I could just drink from the well of Bethlehem,
look at this condition I'm in. Look at this awful, awful condition
I'm in. If I could just drink from the
well of Bethlehem, that's Christ. That's the only well that God's
people want to drink from. That's the only one. Somebody
will say to him, well, David, there's other wells. Why don't
you, what about one of these closer wells? What about one
of these wells that's easy has to be that well. It has to be
that well. Every time the Maker and Defender
and Redeemer of the people of God, every time He hears that
faint cry from one of His own, immediately living water is drawn
from the living well. Every time. Every time the cry
for mercy goes out. Every time, immediately. blood
is drawn from Emmanuel's veins that was given to cover all of
our sin. And nothing and no one can stand in the way of that
accomplishment. We are more than conquerors through
Him. that loved us. He said, if any
man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. If any man thirst,
ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. Ask of
me and I'll give you water to drink that'll cause you to never
thirst again. You just ask and you'll have
it. That's what he said. You just
ask and you'll have it. Verse 13 says, And three of the 30 chief went
down and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of
Adalim and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim. And David was then in and hold
and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. And David
longed 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 break through 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 unto 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. He said, this is not my glory,
it's theirs. And that's what every child of
God says concerning the work and the reward of everything
that Christ endured to bring life to them. Not unto us, O
Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name, give all the glory. David poured it out unto the
name of the Lord. David said, I will not honor
myself with this. I will only honor the Lord. And that's what all of God's
people say. May all of the glory for this astonishing work be
unto Christ alone. All of it. Now, let me close
the message by reading these verses of scripture to us. Turn
with me, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 12. Isaiah chapter 12. This is a wonderful chapter. Isaiah 12 verse one says, and
in that day thou shalt say, oh Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou wast angry with me,
thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God
is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength
and my song. He also is become my salvation. Verse three says, therefore,
With joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall you say,
praise the Lord, call upon His name, declare His doings among
the people, Make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the Lord, for he hath
done excellent things. This is known in all the earth.
Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy
One of Israel in the midst of day. Amen. Amen and praise the Lord. All
right, let's close by singing Praise Him, Praise Him. This
is hymn number 442.