2 Samuel chapter 19. 2 Samuel chapter 19, beginning in verse 31. And Barzillai, the Gileadite,
came down from Rogelem and went over Jordan with the king to
conduct him over Jordan. Now, Barzillai was a very aged
man, even four score, 80 years old. And he had provided the
king of sustenance while he lay at Mahananim, for he was a very
great man. Now turn back to chapter 17 for
a second. And it came to pass when David
was come to Mahanam that Shobai the son of Nashash of Rabah,
of the children of Ammon, and Maker the son of Emiliar of Lodabar,
and Barzelei, the Gileadite of Rogelam, brought beds, and basins,
and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched
corn, and beans, and lentils, and parched pulse, and honey,
and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kind for David. and for the
people that were with him to eat. For they said, the people
is hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness. Now this is
when he was in hiding from Absalom and Absalom was going to kill
him. Now go back to our text. It says, Barzillai was a great,
a very great man. Verse 33, and the king said unto
Barzillai, come thou over with me and I'll feed thee with me
in Jerusalem. And Barzillai said unto the king,
how long have I to live that I should go up with the king
into Jerusalem? I am this day fourscore years old. Anybody
in here 80? I know a few people are. That's
old. That's old. I am this day fourscore
years old, and can I discern between good and evil? Can thy
servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear any more
the voice of the singing of men and singing women? Wherefore
then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my Lord the King? Thy servant will go a little
way over Jordan with the King, and why should the King recompense
it to me with such a reward? I don't deserve this. Let thy
servant, I pray thee, turn back again, that I may die in my own
city and be buried by the grave of my father and my mother. But
behold, thy servant Chima, I believe this was his son or grandson,
let him go over with my lord the king, and do to him what
shall seem good unto thee. And the king answered, Chima,
shall go over with me, and I'll do to him that which shall seem
good unto thee. And whatsoever thou shalt require
of me, that will I do for thee. And all the people went over
Jordan, and when the king was come over, the king kissed Barzillai
and blessed him. And he returned to his own place.
Then the king went on to Gilgal and Chima went on with him and
all the people of Judah conducted the king and also half the people
of Israel. Let's pray together. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would be pleased in your mercy. to speak to our hearts
from your word. May your gospel be preached in
the power of your spirit for Christ's sake. May we be found
in him. Would you forgive us of our sin
for his sake? And oh Lord, enable us to hear.
In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now look with me once again at
verse 32. Keep this thing turned on. The very last phrase of verse
32, For he, Barzillai, was a very great man. Now we know that he
was used of the Lord to help David in the wilderness. He was
obviously a very generous man and given him very much. But
the scripture says he was a very, not rich man, but a very great
man. Now, who would God the Holy Spirit
call a great man? That's what I want us to consider.
What is it about this man, Barzillai, that God would call him a great
man? Now you and I should aspire to
this man's greatness. If God calls him great, he's
great in God's sight. And you and I should all aspire
to this greatness of this particular man, Barzillai. Now I read that passage of scripture
and the first thing that I would point out about why God would
call this man a great man is because of his loyalty to David,
his love to David. When David was in the wilderness
fleeing from Absalom, Barzillai put himself at great risk. You see, if Absalom knew what
Barzillai did, what would Absalom do? He'd kill him. He'd kill
him. Barzillai, out of love for David,
put himself at great risk. He put himself in a position
where he could be killed. But he did this out of love to
David. Now, greatness in God's eyes
is seen in how you view his son. I want you to think about that.
Greatness in God's eyes is seen in how you view his son. Barzillai loved David. And I
repeat, he put himself at risk for the good of David. Now, if
you love the Lord Jesus Christ, God gave you that love, didn't
he? It came from him. It didn't come from you. It came
from him. He gives you the love, He gives
you the loyalty. If you have loyalty to Christ,
He gives you that loyalty and He treats you just like it all
came from you. That's amazing in itself. But
do you, what do you think of Christ right now? What do you
think of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you love His person? The God-man? The second person
of the blessed Trinity, the one who has all power, the God man,
God manifest in the flesh. Do you love his word? Do you
love what he says? Do you find his words, words
of spirit and words of life? Do you love his salvation? Do
you love the way he says, the way that he gets all the glory
and none goes to you? Do you love him? Now what God
thinks of you right now is seen in how you view his son. Now, Barzillai was willing to
put himself at great risk for David's sake. He knew it might
cost him his life, but he did it anyway because he loved his
son. Now, if I would be, and I almost feel funny saying
this, but if I would be a great man like Barzillai, and I want
to be, don't you? I want to be. I would be someone
who loves Christ, consumed with His glory to the point that I
would put myself at risk for His sake. And I'm thinking, well,
is the Lord going to put me in a position like that? Well, if
He does, He'll give me the grace to deal with it. But that is
greatness in God's sight. Someone who loves Christ and
is willing to lose, to put themselves at great risk for the glory of
his name. Secondly, what do I notice about
Barzillai, whom God calls a great man? He was a very generous man. He was a very generous man. You
look at it. He was the one who foot the bill
for all this stuff, for this army in the wilderness that we
read about in 2 Samuel chapter 17. Barzillai was a very generous
man. Now the scripture says that God
loveth a cheerful giver. The Lord said it's better to
give than to receive. Now, Barzillai was a generous
man. He felt it a privilege to give
to the cause of David. That was so important to him. Now, in this thing of giving, I don't or I shouldn't wait till
all the bills are paid and see what's left and then give. If
I'm generous, Giving comes first. Did with Barzillai. Giving comes
first. And it's a privilege. It's a
joy. It's a blessing to give. Barzillai enjoyed this. It was a blessing to him. He
found it a great privilege to give to David in the wilderness. So he was a generous man. And he was a humble man. He said
in verse 35, can I discern between good and
evil? He said in verse 36, thy servant
will go a little way over Jordan with the king, and why should
the king recompense me with such a great reward? I don't deserve
any of this. Now what I see about Barzillai, He was a man who loved
David. He was a man who was generous
in the cause of David. And he was a humble man. He said,
I don't trust myself. Why would you want me to go with
you? I can't even discern between good and evil, and I certainly
don't deserve this recompense. Now, one thing I know about a
great man is a great man has no sense of entitlement. He doesn't
feel that God owes him anything because of what he's done. He
feels himself to be a sinner. That's what a humble man is.
I don't have any of this coming. I shouldn't be brought to the
king's table like this. You're doing too much for me.
I don't have this coming. He was a very unassuming man.
And God calls him a great man. You know, I don't care how gifted
somebody is, if they're not humble. They're very little in God's
sight. I don't care how gifted and how great they think they
are. They're nothing in God's sight if they think they're anything. Anybody who's a great man in
God's sight really believes that he deserves nothing. That if
God recompensed him for what he deserved, he'd just send him
to hell. That's Barzillai. He really believed himself to
God owed him nothing. And Barzillai was a man of faith. And what do I mean by that? Well,
look in verse 37. Let thy servant, I pray thee,
turn again, that I may die in my own city and be buried by
the grave of my father and my mother. But behold thy servant
Chima. Now, everybody says it was either
his son or grandson. I don't know. Behold thy servant
Chima. Let him go over with my lord,
the king. And do to him what shall seem good unto thee. Now that is what faith is. Do
to him whatever seems good to you. He doesn't tell him what
to do. He just, as it were, here he is, do what seems good to
you. Now this statement is made several
times throughout Samuel. I think the first time we read
it is when Eli, Samuel comes up to him and says, God's going
to kill your two boys. And he said, it's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. Can you rest in that? that the
Lord is going to do what seems Him good. That is called faith. You really believe whatever He
does is best, and you rest in that. Turn with me for a moment
to 2 Samuel chapter 15. David said this. You may remember
this from a few weeks ago. Verse 25. And the king said unto
Zadok, carry back the ark of God into the city. If I shall
find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he'll bring me again and
show me both it and his habitation. But if he thus say, I have no
delight in thee. If he says that about me, I have
no delight in thee. Behold, here am I. Let him do
to me as seemeth good unto him. He's gonna do what's right. Look
at Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 19. He's speaking of Ziba slandering
him, and he says in verse 27, And he hath slandered thy servant
unto my lord the king. But my lord the king is an angel
of God. Do therefore what is good in
thine eyes. Whatever you say, that's right. I mean, I got slandered. And
he did get slandered. Ziba lied about him. But what
does he say? Punish Ziba? No, he says, just
do whatever you see to be good. Now, that's what faith is. Faith
really believes God reigns. He's in control. And whatever
he does is good. Lord, I'm in your hands. I'm utterly and completely in
your hands. Do whatever is good in your eyes. You know, I think of what the
Lord said, Lord, I thank Thee, Father, I thank Thee that You've
hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them
unto babes, even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thine
eyes. Barzillai was a man of faith. And Barzillai had a proper attitude
about life. Look what he says, I love this
question. I am this, verse 35, I am this
day four score years old, and can I discern? No, verse 34,
I'm sorry. And Barzillai said unto the king,
how long have I to live? That's something, me and you
ought to be asking ourselves. How long have I to live? David
said, or I mean Moses said, teach us to number our days, that we
may apply our hearts to wisdom. And he was not afraid of death. Look what it says in verse 37. Let thy servant I pray thee turn
back again that I may die in my own city and be buried by
the grave of my father and my mother. Now, of course he knows
he doesn't have much time because he's 80 years old. And he talked
about the difficulties of being old. I can't enjoy life as I
once did. I can't hear singing the way
I once did. I can't taste food the way I once did. And what
that's talking about, if we get to be 80 years old, we're going
to learn something about you don't get the pleasure out of
life that you get now. I mean, that's part of being
old. But he was ready to die for this one reason. What is
the one thing that would keep you from being afraid to die
right now? There's only one reason, you're
afraid the sin issue isn't taken care of. But if your sin is taken
care of, and it's been put away by Christ, and you stand before
God perfectly righteous, you look forward to die. What a blessing
to die. to be done with sin, to be done
with unbelief, to be done with this world, to be done with all
the difficulties involved in this life, and there's plenty
of them. He was ready to die. I think of Simeon in the temple,
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes
have seen thy salvation. Another thing that I would notice
about this man, look in verse 38, And the king answered, Shemla
shall go over with me, and I'll do to him that which shall be
good unto thee. And whatsoever thou shalt require
of me, that will I do for thee. And that's literally, whatsoever
you shall ask of me, that's what I'm going to do. Now, a great
man in God's sight. And there is such a thing as
a great man in God's sight. As a matter of fact, everybody
in Christ is great in the sense that you're in Christ. That's
your greatness. It's not any ability you have. It's in Christ. was a man who asked for things. That's what a great man in God's
sight is. He asks for things. He asks for
mercy. What does he require? What do
I require? I require to be found in Christ. That's what I require. I require to find mercy. I require, I ask, I need to have
my sins forgiven. I need to be preserved. I'll
fall away if I'm not. I know it. Someone that's great
in God's sight is someone who is always asking. The Lord said,
you have not because you ask not. And look at this. Verse 35, I'm
this day four score years old, and could I discern between good
and evil? Can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can
I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women?
Wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my Lord
the King? A great man, in God's sight,
is someone who doesn't want to be a burden to others. Someone
who does not want to be a discouragement to others, but somebody that
wants to be an encouragement, not a burden. Not sapping and
somebody who uses people and manipulates people and uses them
for their own ends. Somebody like that's a burden.
Someone that's not an encouragement is a burden. A great man doesn't
want to be a burden. He wants to be an encouragement
to the Lord's people. God called this man a very great
man. And this is the man that me and
you are to aspire to be. Someone who loves Christ, who's
loyal to Christ, who's willing to put their lives at risk for
the sake of Christ, regardless of what it costs. Somebody that's
willing to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow the
Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody in God's sight that's
a great man is someone who, from their heart, is generous toward
the cause of Christ. It's a delight to them. And that's
exactly what Barzarellai was. He was a man of humility. He
didn't think he had anything coming. Why would you recompense me?
I don't deserve anything. That's the way he felt about
himself. He was a man of faith. Whatever is good in your sight,
that do. He'd just leave it there. He
didn't tell the Lord what to do. He just said, whatever's
good in your sight, that do. He had a proper attitude towards
life. How much longer I got to live?
Teach me to number my days. And he was ready for death. If
what Christ did is enough, I'm ready for death. He was an asker and he was not
a burden. I don't want to be a burden to
other people. I want to be an encouragement rather than a burden. May the Lord God of all glory
and grace give us the grace to be just like this man, Barzillai.