23, these be the names of the
mighty men whom David had. And in the rest of this chapter,
we're given 37 different people who were the mighty men of David.
And the deeds of five of them are recorded. And we're going
to see the gospel very clearly in these men. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name and we give thanks for the salvation that's
in your Son. Lord, we thank you for your grace. We thank you for the forgiveness
of sins. We thank you that we're accepted in the beloved. Lord,
give each of us the grace to believe your gospel. Give each
of us the grace to confess our sins before you. and find cleansing
in the blood of your Son. Give us the grace to love you
more, to love one another more. Lord, pour your Spirit and your
blessing upon us. And what we're asking for ourselves,
we ask for all your people wherever they meet together. In Christ's
name we pray, amen. Now these are the elite of David's
army. And this is a very remarkable
thing. Israel had gone from being a nobody without any military
might or influence or power. They were just a very weak group
of people, and all of a sudden they're the most powerful nation
in the world. David was actually the Nebuchadnezzar
of his day. Now let me show you that from
the Scripture. Turn with me to 2 Chronicles 14. I'm sorry, 1 Chronicles chapter
14. Verse 17. And the fame of David went out
into all lands And the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations. Now you see that David at this
time was the most powerful man in the world. And Israel had
gone from being a petty tribe to all of a sudden David is the
most mighty man and his armies, the most victorious armies there
were. Now we're given his elite, 37
men. And five of them, their deeds
are mentioned. But look at these first, let
me show you what these men thought of David. Turn back to 2 Samuel
23. This is the top three that are
mentioned. And here's how they loved David
and were loyal to David. And David, verse 14, And David
was then in an hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was
then in Bethlehem. And David longed, this is when
he was in hiding. David longed and said, One would
give me a drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which
is by the gate. He just made that wish. And look
what these men did. 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. That's how much they loved David. All David had
to do was make a wish. Oh, I'd love to have a drink
from that well. And these men were willing to
risk everything in order to get David that water. Now, these
were the mighty men of David. Verse, let's go on reading. And he 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." These men who were so loyal to David. Now, in each
one of these actions of these five different men, what I want
to point out, it was always the actions of one man. That's very
significant. In these Heroic deeds, it's always
the action of only one man. Now, what's the significance
of that? There's one man involved in our salvation, Christ Jesus
the Lord. These are always the actions
of one man. Now, let me put it this way. How much did you have to do with
your salvation? It's because of one man. Isn't
that so? How much did you have to do with
your election? One reason for your election,
Christ. How much do you have to do with your redemption? Where
did you fit in in that equation? You didn't do anything. Christ's
precious blood put away your sin. You weren't involved in
that. You had no hand in it. Remember, this was one man that
does all these actions. How much did you have to do with
your justification? It's one man, wasn't it? It's
Christ Jesus only. How much did you have to do with
your regeneration? The fact that you were born from above. Well,
that's because Christ, God gave you new birth, not because of
anything you did, but because Christ died for you and stood
as your surety and representative. Now, understand in this thing
of salvation, one man. Now, with that in mind, let's
begin reading in verse 8. These be the names of the mighty
men whom David had. The Taqmonite that sat in the
seat, chief among the captains, the same was Adino, the Esnite,
and he lift up his spear against 800 whom he slew at one time. Now, I don't know how this happened. Some of the other versions say
in one battle, but it wasn't in one battle. That's not in
the original. Somehow with his spear, supernaturally aided by
God, he flew 800 men at once. You say, how could he do that?
I don't know. The power of God. But the point is, he did it in
one act. Hebrews 1.3, when He had by Himself
purged us of our sins. I love that phrase, don't you?
When He by Himself. I mean, you didn't have a hand
in this thing. He did this by Himself and He had completely
accomplished it. Just like this man with one act.
One act. He killed 800 people. The Lord
Jesus Christ by His one act actually finished the salvation of His
people. He killed all of our enemies. He killed all of our
sins. He put them all away by that one single act. Now listen to these words. Listen
to these words. His words from the cross. It
is finished. I wonder how many religious people
understand what that means. It is what? Finished. Completed. Nothing left to do. It is finished. That doesn't simply mean that
His work on earth is finished. It means the salvation of everybody
He died for is finished by that one act. He hath perfected forever. that are sanctified by that one
act. Turn with me to one other scripture.
Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Just like this man with one act
killed 800 people, Christ with one act put away the sins of
His people and saved His people by just that one act. Hebrews
chapter 10. I'm using a new Bible. Pages
don't go very well yet. Verse 10. By the witch will,
by God's will, we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once. Once for all. once for all. By that one act, he saved everybody
he died for. Now go back to our text, 2 Samuel
23. And after him was Eliezer the
son of Dodo the Aholite, one of the three mighty men with
David, when they defied the Philistines that were gathered together to
battle, and all the men of Israel were gone away. You know what
that means? They deserted. All the men of Israel ran away. They
thought, we can't win this battle. They deserted. Verse 10, and
he arose 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 the
spoil. I think that's, picture this in your mind. Everybody
deserts but one man. And he goes hacking through the
Philistine soldiers and destroys them all. And his hand was actually
cleaving to the sword. It wouldn't let go. Even afterwards,
they couldn't get the sword out of his hand. And he, by this
one mighty act, defeated the Philistine armies. Now, how about
supernatural? That's all you can call it. And
I think it's interesting how the fellows who deserted, they
come back to take the spoil after he has won this victory. Does
that remind you of anybody? But here's the point. Here's
the point. What does the sword represent? The sword of the Spirit, which
is the Word of God. All Christ uses is His Word. He doesn't use anything else.
He doesn't use error, no lies of the truth. He doesn't use
false doctrine. All He uses is His Word, the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God. And oh, the Word of God accomplishes
everything that God intends for it to accomplish. So this one
man, He delivers everybody by this one act. He takes on the
whole Philistine army. I love the imagery of that. I
mean, He was holding that sword so tight. When it was over, they
couldn't get it out of His hand. All Christ uses is His precious
Word, the Word of God. Don't you love the Word of God?
I love the fact that God has given us a revelation of Himself,
inspired by God, inerrant. And you ought to really believe
that. I don't believe that simply because I've been taught it all
my life, although I do. I believe because I know this is the Word
of God. I can tell by reading it. This reveals Christ, and
this is all God uses is the Word. Now, look in verse 11. After him was Shammah the son
of Agee the Herorite, verse 11, and the Philistines were gathered
together into a troop where was a piece of ground full of lentils. It was their food. It was their
sustenance. And the people fled from the
Philistines. Once again, all the children
of Israel desert. But he stood in the midst of
the ground. this man, and defended it, and
slew the Philistines, and the Lord wrought a great victory."
Now here we have another picture. The Philistines are coming after
the Israelites' food. What do the Israelites do? They
desert. I think of when Christ was on
the cross alone. Where were all the disciples?
In hiding. In hiding. But this one Israelite stands
before this lentil field and defeats the entire Philistine
army to protect the sustenance of Israel. Now, what is our food? Who is our food? Except you eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, there's no life
in you. I live off Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. That's my food. The only thing
that gives me any spiritual strength or power is knowing that everything
God requires of me, He looks to His blessed Son for. And that's
what I live off of. By the grace of God, and I know
it's only by the grace of God, I don't get tired of hearing
the gospel. I don't get tired of preaching the gospel. I don't
get tired of preaching the same things. Because this is my food. This is dinner time. This is
breakfast. This is lunch. And this man,
one man, protected the one thing needful that we have to have,
our food. Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
But by this one act. I love the way these men did,
one man performed these miraculous heroic deeds. And here, Christ
our food is protected. Now look in verse 18. You know, I'm sure these other
names mean something and are interesting, but their acts are
not recorded. I thought it maybe would be a good idea to look
up everybody's name and see what it means, and I'm sure it would.
Maybe you can do that on your own, because we're going to go on
to chapter 24 next week. But here's the fourth act by
one man. And Abishai, the brother of Joab,
the son of Zeruriah, this was actually David's nephew, was
chief among three. And he lifted up his spear against
three hundred, and slew them, and had the name among the three."
Now here is one man with one spear, and he killed three hundred
people. Now the interesting part of this
is where it says he lifted up the spear. He lifted up the spear. Now that word is generally translated,
he stirred himself. He stirred himself up. He aroused
himself. He awoke himself. He lifted up
the spear. He had to find the reason in
himself. He lifted up the spear. Now,
the point is, when Christ saved me, he stirred himself up to
do it. He didn't look for a reason in
me. He didn't look for a reason in me to have favor toward me
or to accept me or to love me or to die for me. The reason
wasn't found in me. He stirred up himself to do this. He is the reason he does what
he does. Isn't that glorious? He didn't
have to find a reason. Let me show you some scriptures
on this. Turn to Psalm 7. Verse 6, "...Arise, O Lord, in thine anger.
Lift up thyself because of the..." That's the word. "...Lift up
thyself because of the rage of mine enemies, and awake for me
to the judgments that thou hast commanded." Stir yourself up
to do this. Psalm 35. Verse 23, Stir up thyself and awake to
my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord." He's saying,
stir up yourself, do this because of who you are, not because of
who I am. Come to rescue me because of who you are. I'm not asking
you to do it because of any goodness in me or because I deserve it.
The reason is found in yourself. Look in Psalm 44. Verse 23, Awake! Why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise,
castest not off forever." That's the same word, arise, stir up
yourself, awake. Don't let me be cast off. One
other scripture, Psalm 80. Verse 2, Before Ephraim and Benjamin
and Manasseh, stir up thy strength, and come and save us. Now this
man who lifted up Abishai, that lifted up his spear, he stirred
himself up, he roused himself. And you know when the Lord saves
me, when the Lord does something for me, He stirs Himself up to
do it. In other words, the reason is
found in Him. It's not found in me. It's found in Him. Why
did God save you? Because He saved you. No reason
found in you. No reason found in me. The reason
is found because He stirred Himself up in the greatness of His glorious
heart to save the people and make them just like Christ. Okay,
back to our text. Verse 20. This is the last of
the actions of the men. And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada,
the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done many acts. 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, and he went down to him with a staff, a shepherd's
staff, that's what that is, a shepherd's staff, and plucked the spear
out of the Egyptian's hand and slew him with his own spear."
Now here we have the last act of this one man. First of all,
he slew a lion. Who's that? Your adversary, the devil. as a roaring lion goeth about
to seek whom he may devour." You any match for the devil? How easy would it be for him
to turn you inside out and every... So easy. So easy. How could you
stand, how could I stand before this mighty adversary? Well,
I can't, but my Redeemer slew the lion for me. And Satan was
judged on the cross. He was judged too. I was justified,
he was judged, and now he's lost all power. Yes, he's powerful
in the sense that he's the god of this world, but remember,
he's God's devil on God's chain doing God's will. Benaiah slew
this lion, and then the scripture says he slew two lion-like men.
Now, who are these? the devil's servants, the false
prophet, the preacher, the man who preaches another gospel. He's a lion-like man. Remember
the false prophet looked like a lamb, but he roared like a
lion? He looked like a lamb in the
book of Revelation, but he sounded like a roaring lion. This is
the man who these two men were the preachers, the false prophets. they're a mess, but the Lord
has delivered us from that. We can... Now I know, while I'm
standing here, I know that if the Lord takes His hand off of
me, I would go in another direction. I would leave Christ. I would
leave the gospel. I know that and you know that
too. But He preserves us from these men. He gives us the understanding
to know what we're hearing and what a blessing that is. And
who is this Egyptian? Look again in verse 21. He also
slew an Egyptian, a goodly man. He was good-looking, powerful,
and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand. 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." Now, who's Egypt? Bondage. Bondage. Serving with rigor and
bondage. The children of Israel were in
bondage to Egypt. And what did he do? He comes
at the Egyptian, And all he has is a shepherd's staff. And he
comes running at that Egyptian with a big spear. Goodly Egyptian. You know, to a natural man, the
law looks good. Looks good. He comes at him and
he takes the spear out of his hand and he kills him with his
own spear. Now, what's that? I, through
the law, am dead to the law. that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ. I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. The Lord died. The law killed
him. I live because of that. He lives. He did this with the great shepherd
of the sheep that died for a sheep. He came upon that Egyptian, took
the spear out of his hand, and ended up killing him. And now
I live. Now in each one of these instances,
it's so glorious, you have the work of one man. How much of your salvation has
to do with you? Every believer knows my salvation
is because of one man, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And these
are the mighty men of David who delivered Israel by these one
acts. And I was saved by one act. by one man. And when he said
it is finished, my salvation, the complete forgiveness of my
sins, my acceptance before God, my perfect righteousness was
accomplished by that act of one man. Those are David's mighty
men. Now we're going to start in chapter
24. There's several things I want
to get out of that, but I'm looking forward to that next week.