Good morning everybody. If you'd
like to turn over to 2 Samuel chapter 23. 2 Samuel 23. This is probably a
familiar chapter to just about everybody in here. This chapter
is famous because it records David's last words. And that's
normally why people know about it, but that's not the focus
of this morning. It's actually the second half
of the chapter on David's mighty men. So David, King David had
a big army full of courageous, valiant warriors who fought many
battles. But in the Scripture 37 of them are pointed out as
being David's mighty men. And these men were endowed by
the Lord with supernatural gifts in battle that they could vanquish
Israel's enemies. One man against 800, one man
against 400, and just whipping everybody. And it was all supernatural. And of those 37, in this chapter
right here, 30 of them are named. Of the 30 that are named, 5 of
them actually have their exploits talked about. So 5 of them have
a story attached to them. Of the 5, there are 3 that are
the captains. Now, these are the head honchos.
These are the guys you do not want to mess with, right? They
run everybody and everything. Adino, Eleazar, and Shammah. Those are the names. And each
one of them is a type and a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, a different
aspect of His person, and a different aspect of how He saves a sinner. And we'll see that here in a
minute. But before we get into that, what I'd like to do is
look at an interaction that these three men had with King David. Now, look down here at verse
13 of 2 Samuel 23. And three of the thirty chiefs,
these are the three mighties, went down and came to David in
the harvest time under the cave of Adullam. And the troop of
the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephian. And David
was then in a hold and the garrison of the Philistines was then in
Bethlehem, that's David's birthplace. And David longed and said, all
that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem,
which is by the gate. Now long gone are the days of
the youthful, valiant warrior, David. He hasn't been in battle
for a very long time, and he will never go into battle again
for the rest of his life. David's gotten old. point in
his life 2 Samuel 23 it opens with these are the last words
of David, his last prophetic words. Very close to the end
of his life, he's pushing 70. You've got one more chapter in
2 Samuel then you roll right into 1 Kings 1 where it says
in the first verse, David was old and he was stricken in years
and his body wouldn't hold heat anymore. And then by 1 Kings
2 he's dead. So, he's pushing the end of his
life, he's pushing 70 as of right now, he's old. And here's what
he's doing, he's in a cave, he's in hiding. And It's because the
Philistines have invaded again. They've taken over his birthplace,
Bethlehem. They have a huge garrison, a
huge force. He's not in the palace. He's not in his house. He's held
up in a cave, doing what he has done his entire life, dealing
with these Philistines, his great enemy. Now you think about this,
imagine David pacing around this cave, right? And he starts thinking
about his life, right? He's close to 70 years old. And
he thinks back to when, do you think? I think he thinks back
to Goliath. He goes back to Goliath and he
thought of that day when he was a youth, just a young guy, right?
Everybody thought he was just going to get slaughtered. And
he walks out there, he kills that giant, he takes his head
off, right? And what does David think? He's
a youth, he thinks, We don't have to deal with these guys
anymore, right? I won. Israel won. They know we're the
superior force. We're not going to have to mess
around anymore. These guys, we will never see them again. That's
wishful, youthful thinking. But what does he do for the rest
of his life all the way up to this point and beyond? He fights
with the Philistines. He's dealing with his same old
enemies that he just can't put down. There's nothing he can
do about them. And here's the other thing, he can't fight.
He's too old. He's too broken down. He can't
go out into battle. He is unable to do battle with
his enemies, to do anything about them. Now, spiritually, I can
relate to this. I'm tired of this old man. This
old, wicked, sinful, fleshly man. I am tired of him and I
hate him. here is what I hate most about
him. See if you can enter into this. I hate the fact that I
can't hate him more. I hate the fact that I cannot
in perfect sincerity and true insincerity hate my sin and hate
that old man more than I do right now. He is always with me which
means anything I do it is insincere at best. This is a scripture
I thought of here, This is Solomon speaking. Andy just read about
Solomon. Wisest man. Ecclesiastes 114. He says, and vexation of spirit. Because
I've got that old wicked man of sin, you know what that means?
It means it's all vanity. I can't even mourn over my sin properly.
I cannot hold my Savior and my Redeemer in the appropriate esteem
and regard and respect. I do it in vanity because that
old man is with me and he touches absolutely everything I do and
I hate him. I absolutely can't stand him.
I've been dealing with him my entire life. enemies, my sins,
my entire life, and it is the same enemies over and over again.
David is wandering around that cave. He says, since the time
I was 15, now to the time I'm 70, I've still been dealing with
these Philistines, what's changed? Nothing. Well I can tell you
from the time I was born until now here's what's changed, nothing.
There is something new that was not there before. But this flesh,
this old man, these sins, nothing changed. It's the same sinful
passions and lusts and interests and the same self-glorying and
selfish faults. It's the same thing over and
over and over again, and I can't do anything about it. I can't
fight. I can't stop. I can't do anything
about the sins of the past. I can't make up for them in any
way. And as much as I hate this, this is the truth, the sins of
tomorrow. they're coming as long as I'm
in this world, I can't do anything about them either. Can you identify
with that? That's called a sinner. That's a sinner right there.
Now, in this state, this state of being old, being battle-weary,
being unable to fight, David longs for something. He has a
great desire, there's a longing. And what he says here, I don't
think he says this to anybody particularly. I think he's pacing
around and he's kind of mumbling to himself. You ever do that?
You just think out loud? Look at what he says, look at
verse 15 again. And David longed and said, All
that one would, notice these two words, give me drink of the
water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate. Notice
what he did not say. I wish I had the strength and
the energy to go out and fight these Philistines and go out
to that well in Bethlehem that they're guarding and get my own
water and pull it up. I wish I had the strength and
the energy and the power to pull all this off. No, that's not
what he says. He says, here's what I want,
this is my great longing, this is my great desire, that someone
would just give it to me. That free for nothing, no strength
and energy on my part, no contributions made by me, I'm old, I'm battle
weary, I cannot do it, I am unable, I need someone to go for me and
just give it to me. Just come to where I'm at and
hand deliver it to me right there. Can you enter into that? I'm old, I'm battle-weary, I
can't fight, I can't do it. And here's what I need. I need
somebody to go get it for me. To go do battle with my enemies,
I need a hero, a savior. Someone who's gonna go do this.
Vanquish all my enemies, my sins, and go get me that water of life
and bring it to me where I'm at and charge me absolutely nothing
for it. demand absolutely nothing from
me in return, but simply do this for me." Does anybody have an
interest in that? Look at the next verse down here.
I believe it's verse 16. And the three mighty men, they
overheard it. They heard what David said. 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. David says, I long, I just want
this one thing, that somebody would go get me that cool, refreshing
water, that water of life. And the three mighties, Christ,
in three distinct characteristics, through. The garrison is out
there, the Philistines, there are thousands of them out there.
And it would be think of the amazement of this. Three men
against thousands and they rush the Philistine line, this Philistine
garrison. He is going into their headquarters. They are going
to where all the wasps are right there. They break through the
line and they get up to that well in Bethlehem and they draw
up that water. Why did they do this? Did they
do this to liberate Israel for the safety of all the people?
No, they do it for one thing, for a cup of water for David. At the peril of their own lives,
at the potential cost of their own blood, they do this. Why
would they do something like this? Why would they risk so
much? There's only one answer. They love David. That's it. there's no other reason
you do that. You love somebody. This is the
scripture I thought of, John 15, 13, "'Greater love hath no
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.'"
I think the three most overused and meaningless words that come
out in our society today are this, I love you. Because they
are normally not backed up with anything whatsoever. Those are
not words. What that means is I am willing to sacrifice for
you. Love is known through what you're willing to sacrifice.
These men went out out of love for David simply because he needed
that water, that water of everlasting life. I love him. I'll go put
my life in jeopardy. I'll do just that just for David. And these men, they put their
lives in jeopardy, but they walked out unscathed. No harm actually
came to them. They took on the entire Philistine
army. Nothing bad happened to them. Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Number one, he did this. He loved his father so much.
peril of his home life, he would go for the glory of the Godhead,
and die on a cross under the wrath of God." That God might
be greatly exalted, greatly glorified to the maximum. That was out
of love for His Father. He did it out of love. That is
glorious. That is amazing. I love that,
but that is not personal. This is. If you are a sinner,
it was out of love for you. elect of God, those chosen before
the foundations of the world unto salvation." That is a body
of people. That is a bride of Christ. But don't think for a
second that those are nameless and faceless beings. Those are
people. People who He knew and loved
before the foundations of the world ever existed. And He went
and He did battle and He became their sins. And He died on a
cross suffering under the wrath of God. It was for a reason.
A reason, a singular reason, a very simple reason, for love's
sake. that he would not be without his bride. That's the only reason
these men would have done this. Now, this is what I saw out of
this, and I thought this was absolutely amazing. You have
David. David is old, he is battle-weary,
he is unable. And he has a great longing, this
great desire that he might have that water of life that someone
would just give it to him. Free for nothing, scot-free grace.
That's all he wanted. He had this great desire and
this great longing. And you know what? He had it. There will never be and there
never has been any man who is old and battle-weary and unable
A sinner who can't get the job done, who desires to be saved
by Jesus Christ alone, by Himself, to the tune of His own glory,
that has not been saved. It's never once happened. Do you desire to be saved by
Jesus Christ alone? Yes. Yes. A sinner says, yes, yes,
I am unable. I want somebody just to give
this to me. I want to be saved by Christ alone. You have been. It is past tense. It is done. Let me read you the Scripture.
Listen to this. Isaiah 65, 24, and it shall come to pass that
before they call, I will answer. And while they are yet speaking,
I will hear. I tell you this, there is no
salvation apart from a sinner coming and believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ. There's no salvation apart from crying out for mercy
and begging for grace. But we do not do those things
for salvation. We do it in response to it. A
man believes on the Lord Jesus Christ because before the foundations
of the world, Christ Jesus stood as His lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, owning His sin, putting them away, and He is
perfect before the Father. And that He does the only thing
He can do. Right, Mike? He believes. He
trusts the Lord Jesus Christ. You're not begging for mercy,
not so much for it, it's because you've been shown it. You're
not coming to Christ so much for salvation, it's because you
have it, because it is finished. You have that great longing to
be saved by Him, that you might have that great water of life.
I'll tell you right now, this is what the Scripture is saying
right there, you have it. Now believe on Him. Now trust
Him. Now come to Him. It's done. Now what about this? What about
David pouring out this water on the ground? Now you think
about this. These three men go out at the peril of their own
lives just to bring David this cup of water. And they bring
it to him, and David takes it, and in front of him he pours
it out on the ground. Yeah, that's kind of laughable,
right? Is this disrespect? Is David
wrong in doing this? No, what it said was he poured
it out unto the Lord. This was an offering. It was
a sacrifice. What is he saying by that? He
is confessing his great unworthiness. I didn't take on the Philistine
garrison. I didn't go to the well. I didn't draw the water.
I didn't put my life at risk. I didn't do anything for this
water. It was just freely brought to
me, and that means whatever was done, it's the Lord. And that
means any glory that is associated with this, it is to the Lord. I pour this out unto the Lord. And that is what we do folks.
Believers, we don't do anything to earn this. We are simply objects
of this great grace, this great love. We have never earned it.
It was given to us before we ever asked for it. And what do
we do when it is given to us? We absolutely, 100% insist that
Christ gets all the glory in our salvation. And we do make
an offering. We do. Listen to this. It says
Hebrews 13.15 it says, "'By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice
of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to His name. What does he charge us for this
great thing, for this water of life freely? Nothing. It's absolutely
free. But this is what we offer Thanksgiving. Praise, worship, wonder, reverence. That is the offering, the sacrifice
of our lips. It's all we've got is a gratefulness
and thankfulness that Christ Jesus came into this world to
save sinners of who I am chief. Now, let's meet the three mighties. The first one is Adeno. Look
down here in verse 8. 2 Samuel 23, 8. These be the names
of the mighty men whom David had. The Taqmanite, that sat
in the seat chief among the captains. The same was Adino, the Esnight.
He lift up his spear against 800, whom he slew at one time. Now, Adino is, or Adino, whatever
his name is, I don't know, I don't speak Hebrew. But in any case,
he is chief. Of the three, he is chief. He
sits in the seat. He is principal. That means whatever
Adino represents, that's it. He is principal. He is chief.
He is everything. Notice that he is a tachmonite.
That's his family name. You know what that means? Wisdom. This is the type of Adonai. He
is Christ, the wisdom of God. Well, what did he do? This is
what Adonai did. He stood up against 800 Philistines. Everybody else ran away. One
man stood, Adonai, against 800 men. And with one thrust of his
spear, he took out 800 Philistines, the entire Philistine army. Notice
what I did not say. I did not say that he alone took
on 800 Philistines, and during the course of that long battle,
he slew 800 men. That would be miraculous enough.
That is not what I said, and that is not what the Scripture
says. It says that in one thrust of his spear, singular, one man,
one stroke, one thrust, He took out all the enemy, all 800 of
them all at once. What is the appropriate scripture?
Hebrews 1.3, Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express
image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His
power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on
the right hand of the Majesty on high? With who? with nobody
by himself. What you'll notice, all these
three types all have this in common. One man takes on the
battle, and that one man can never fail. He takes on 800 at
once. He by Himself purged our sins. Hebrews 10, 14, for by one offering
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. This is
Adonai, the wisdom of God. There is a question that has
been asked in every single generation. I've read somewhere, and I suspect
this is true, that Job, in the Old Testament, is the oldest
book in the Bible. It was written before all the rest of them.
Job asked this question. It is a question that every generation
asks. This is what it is. Job 25.4
says, How then can man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean
that is born of a woman? I don't hear anybody in our generation
asking that question, but we should. This is what it says
first. It identifies something, that
God is in fact just. That He demands perfect righteousness
and perfect holiness. No spot, no blemish. He demands
perfection. A man must be justified before
God to be accepted. How can a man be just born of
a woman? How can something filthy be made
unfilthy, be made clean? How do you take a man who is
a sinner and make him to where he is not? How is that even possible? If that's the case, if that's
the character of God that He demands absolute perfection,
how can anybody be saved? The answer is, I don't know,
I don't know, the wisdom of God. There are two things that do
not exist simultaneously in the human realm. Justice and mercy. We cannot do both at the same
time. I'll give you this example. A
man goes on trial for a crime. He is found guilty. The judge
hands down his sentence. He punishes him to the maximum
allowment of the law. Justice is done, but there's
no mercy. Bring that same man in the courtroom.
He is found guilty. The judge hands down the sentence
and he says, you've been found guilty, but no punishment, no
consequences. You can leave. You are free.
There's mercy, but it's at the expense of justice. Justice is
not done. Somebody says, well, what if
we took that same guy and we just maybe punished him a little, right?
But not to the maximum allowment of the law, you know, just a
little bit. Aren't we showing justice and mercy at the same
time? No, you're making a miscarriage of both. All that suffering and
there is no justice and there is no mercy. In Christ is the
only place that justice and mercy was accomplished for sinners.
Second Corinthians 521, for he hath made him sin for us who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him. The great transfer. The sins
of the elect. If you're a believer, these are
your sins lifted off of you, put in Christ, punished in Christ
to the extent that you are justified before God and you're not just
neutral. You are made the very righteousness
of God in Him. You are perfect and you lack
absolutely nothing and that is your standing right now eternally.
It cannot change. So this is how does all that
work? Here's my answer for that. David said this, Psalm 131. Neither
do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high
for me." That's what David said. And I will say it with David,
I have no idea how God does what he does, but I say this, I believe
it, and I glory in it, and I love it, and it's for this reason.
This is what it said in 1 Peter 3, 18, it says, For Christ also
hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God. Who did he suffer for? The unjust. For sinners. For those who are
old and battle weary and can't get the job done, can't fight,
can't do anything about their sin. That's who he died for. If you're one of those people
you stand before God with no sin right now. Perfect. You lack
nothing. It is finished. Keep in mind
Adonai sits in the seat. He's chief of the captains. This
is everything. the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Folks, it's everything. That is our salvation. I'll give
you this example, it's very simple, right? Night of the Passover,
what did the Lord say? When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. On the night of the Passover,
what was the only thing that mattered? Whether you were in
the house with the blood over the door, not. That's it. That's very, very simple. What
I tell you is this, folks, you can't get yourself inside that
house, God has to put you in that house. And He had to do
it before the foundations of the world were ever built. But
if you are old and battle weary and you can't fight, you are
in the house and you always have been. And that means God will
and has passed by. It truly is finished. This is
chief. The cross is everything in our
salvation. Now, the second one is Eleazar. Look at verse 9. And after him was Eleazar the
son of Dodo, the Hoahite, one of the three mighty men with
David, when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together
to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away, everybody left,
he arose, Eleazar did. and smote the Philistines until
his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword. And the Lord brought a great
victory that day, and the people returned after him only to spoil."
The Philistines attack. Everybody runs away except for
one man, Eleazar. He stands up. I think it's funny.
They all come back after Eleazar wins the battle, but only to
what? Only to spoil. only to reap the goods. They
didn't fight any battle, they didn't do anything, but they
get all the reward. Just another picture of grace.
Philistines come, Eleazar stands up, he arose. He smote the Philistines
and along the way his hand gets tired. And it says supernaturally
right there, his hand cleave to that sword. Here's what that
means. His hand melded to that sword.
They became one. shoulder to tip of blade forever
Eleazar and that blade, that sword were one. He cleaved to
that sword. Now, what is this all about?
Who is Eleazar in all this? Let me give you the Scripture
it's Ephesians 6.17 it says, and take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Michael preached on it this morning,
John 1.1, "...in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God." Eleazar is Christ, the Word of God. Two things that
cannot be separated, Christ and His Word. He is the Word. This
God-man, Jesus Christ, this man who is the glorification of the
Godhead and the consummation of the entire Godhead in one
man, That's what this written word speaks of. Now if you go
to this book and you start looking for life lessons and lessons
on how to be a better husband and father and leadership and
stuff like that, you're going to get awful confused. Awful confused. But if you go looking for a man
and a sacrifice and how a sinner can be just before a holy God,
you'll find it. You'll find it right here. That's
the written word that testifies of the man who did the work.
And then you have the preached word. it is the exact same message,
Christ and Him crucified for sinners, the hope of salvation. That is the message of the Gospel.
And when this Word is made effectual by the Holy Spirit it does two
things simultaneously. I find this very interesting,
two things simultaneously. It slays you and it gives you
life all at the same time. It slays you. It destroys with
fire and brimstone Every false refuge you have in yourself,
any hope of salvation based on something you do, or something
you decided, or something you plan to do, or any goodness inside
you, it comes along and it absolutely crushes all those hopes and dreams
where you are dead, you have absolutely nothing. And at the
exact same time, it gives you life. And with life comes hope. And you know what that hope is
in? It's the hope in cleaving. The hope that before the worlds
were ever created, that eternally the Lord Jesus Christ has cleaved
to me. Just as Eleazar and that sword
are one, they are melded together for eternity. From shoulder to
tip of blade, they are one. That's my hope that I have always
been in Christ, found in Him. David is in a stronghold right
here. He's in a cave, he's protected, he's hiding from the enemy and
they can't get to him because he's in the hold. I'm in Christ eternally. That is my hope of salvation. This is the first time the word
is used in the Scripture, this word cleave. It's Genesis 2.24,
it says, Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother,
and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. One. We just had a wedding, Becca
and Matthew. And when they said, I do, everything
changed. Rebecca is not Rebecca Vincent anymore. She is Rebecca
Murray. She has a new name. soon as they
said, I do, she has new possessions. Everything Matthew has, it's
all hers. I'll tell you, in this earth,
that's how we look at things. By law, if people are married, one
of them cleans out the bank account and moves to Costa Rica, it's
completely legal. They are married. It is joint property. She has
all new possessions. Everything Matthew has, it's
hers, and she is not her own. When they said, I do, Matthew
took full responsibility for her in every which way, shape,
and form. And that's my hope. In that eternal
melding, that eternal union, I have a new name. The name of
the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah Sidcon you, the Lord our righteousness,
that's my name. I have new possessions. I have
the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. It's mine. It really
is. It stands the test of the law.
I have full acceptance with the Father. I have His happiness
and His joy and His love upon me in Christ. I have sonship. We are made kings and priests
with God. I have no idea what that means.
But it sounds awful good, doesn't it? Everything Christ has with
His Father, that's what we have in Him. This new name, these
new possessions, and I am not my own. I'm bought with a price. He has taken full responsibility
for me and now it is completely on Him to deliver me unto His
Father without a scratch on me." I can't mess this up. When the
Word comes in and it's made effectual, Christ the Word, that's exactly
what it does. It slays you and it gives you
life all at the same time. And this hope and cleaving, you
know what it does? It cleaves back to Him. My hope is that
He cleave to me and He always has and He always will. And I
cleave back to Him. I trust Him that He will never
let go, that He will never leave me, He will never forsake me.
And He did what He said He did. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. He promises He saved sinners. Doesn't get any simpler than
that. That means I'm saved. That means
I'll just trust Him and sit back and believe Him. And finally this, look at verse
11, this is Shammah. And after him was Shammah the
son of Agi the Harahite. And the Philistines were gathered
together into a troop where was a piece of ground full of lentils,
beans. 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 So this field, this patch of
ground, this is where the Israelites got their food. Now lentils is
what it calls it. Beans is what it says in this
account. When you read the Chronicles
account it says it was barley. And when you look at those two words
what everybody agrees on is no one has any idea what type of
vegetation this actually was. Some form of pulse. But everybody
agrees on this. Every time it's used in the Scriptures poor people
eat it. It was food for poor people. and they would go down
and they would get their food right there. And so the Philistines
come, they're going to take their food, they're going to take their daily
bread and everybody flees once again. But then Shammah stands
up and He defends the field. This is Christ, the defender
of the saints. Now what is our daily bread?
We just talked about it. It's the Word. It's the Gospel. It's Christ and Him crucified.
That is our daily bread. I thought about the children
of Israel in the wilderness. They were given manna. And everything
manna represents, that is my daily bread. It's what I eat
every single day. It was round. It had no beginning and it had
no end. I can eat this every day that
my salvation is eternal. That it was settled in eternity
past. That means I can't mess it up. I'll eat that every day.
It was white. It was pure. Christ, my righteousness,
I have a righteousness before God. It was small. He humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. And through that death, I'm made
sinless. I have no sin before God right
now. It was faithful. It fell every
single day. If we believe not, yet he abided
faithful, he cannot deny himself. Ate that every day. He was provided
people who couldn't provide for themselves, and it was by grace.
You know how they ended up getting manna? They murmured and complained. They said, there's no food out
here. We want to go back to Egypt.
At least we had the flesh pots, things like that. And you think
the Lord would have just wiped them out, but no. Gracious, merciful. He caused manna to fall every
single day. It fell on the people who didn't
deserve it and couldn't provide for themselves. I eat that every
single day. That salvation is for a sinner.
I could eat that every single day. And it satisfied them. Everybody
got the same thing and everybody was satisfied until they weren't. Until they weren't. Turn over
to Numbers chapter 21. Numbers 21, and look at verse
5. Numbers 21, 5, and the people
spake against God and against Moses, wherefore have you brought
us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is
no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth
this light bread. Eventually, manna didn't satisfy
him anymore. Manna alone wasn't enough for him anymore. That
bread from heaven, angel's food, tasted like honey. It didn't
satisfy anymore. I'll tell you what, folks, that's
the fate for all of us if we're left to ourselves. If we are
left to ourselves, that's all of us. If us keeping ourselves
is on us, no reason to even be here, because we will all get
tired of Christ and crucified alone. At some point we will
say, no, give me something else. Give me something more. But notice
what the Lord did for these people. Look at verse 6. And the Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of
Israel died. Therefore the people came to
Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the
Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take
away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent and
set it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass that everyone that
is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. Moses made a
serpent of brass and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass that
if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of
brass, he lived." Was this a judgment to them because of their complaining
and their murmuring, the fact that they were tired of manna?
This was a blessing unto them. What did he do? He slew them
and he gave them life all over again. He sent those fiery flying
serpents to bite the people. and to kill them, and to hurt
them all over again. And he said, Moses, put that
serpent of brass on the pole. I love that it's a serpent of
brass. It reminds me of this. Christ made my problem. My problem
is sin. The fiery serpents were the problem.
He was made my problem, and he died under the wrath of God.
And everybody who looked to him lived. This is what the Lord
does for us, our shama, our defender. Here's who I need defense from
more than anybody else. Yes, Satan and principalities and
powers, absolutely. My biggest problem is right here.
He's the defender of the saints, especially folks, from ourselves.
But this is how he does it. He kills us constantly. Hacks
away at all those false refuges, any hope we have in ourselves,
and lifts up that head and says, Look and live and do it one more
time and do it over and over and over again. And that's how
we live. And we will never fall away because we got Shammah who
will always point us back to Himself. Now, David had three
mighties. We have one, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if I can leave you with any thought, it's this. If you are
old and you are battle-weary, and you can't do anything about
your enemies, your sins, you can't do anything to save yourself,
I want you to know this. He has already gone and got that
water of life and given it to you. You owe absolutely nothing. Just trust Him. It's finished.
All right. I hope it blessed you.