The accounting of this last part
of chapter 23 is the accounting of David's mighty men. All of
them were warriors. All of them acquitted themselves
well in battle and gained victory in every case. There are 37 in
all that are mentioned in this passage. Six are designated by
the Holy Spirit as greater than the other 31 because of their great accomplishments
in war. Now these six are divided into
two groups, one being greater and one being the lesser, but
both have been given places of honor, more honor than the thirty-one
remaining, who are mentioned by name without reference to
any of their exploits. The first three are found in
verses eight through twelve. Let's read that. These are the
names of the mighty men whom David had. The Tachamite that
sat in the seat chief among the captains, the same was Adino,
the Esnite. He lifted up his spear against
800 whom he slew at one time. And after him was Eleazar, the
son of Dodo, the Ahowite, one of the three mighty men with
David, when they defied the Philistines that were gathered together to
battle. And the men of Israel were gone away. He arose and
smote 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. And after him was Shema the son
of Agee the Herorite, And the Philistines were gathered together
in a troop, where there was a piece of ground full of lentils or
barley. 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." The Lord wrought a great victory. That's the first three,
and the most honorable of the six that are mentioned. These
are the first three. The last three are found in verses
18 through 22, and we'll read those. And Abishai, the brother
of Joab, the son of Zeriah, was chief among three. Now, he's
talking about a different three. There's two triumvirates here,
and this is a different three. was chief among the three, and
he lifted up his spear against three hundred, and slew them,
and had the name Among Three. Was he not most honorable of
the three? Therefore he was their captain, howbeit he attained
not to the first three. And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada,
the son of a valiant man of Kabziel, 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 the 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 his staff, and plucked
the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own
spear. These things did Benaiah the
son of Jehoiada, and had the name among three mighty men.
He was more honorable than the thirty. But he attained not to
the first three, and David set him over his guard." So that's
basically the account of these two different threes that are
mentioned here in this chapter. And it appears that the matter
of rank and honor was directly tied to the greatness of the
accomplishment that they did in battle. And it seems also
that the distinguishing factor that separates these two triumvirates,
these two groups of three, is the account of what the first
three did in reference to David when he was in the cave of Dulem.
You remember the story of him fleeing from Saul in the cave
of Dulem. Well, it is repeated here in this chapter in verses
13 through 17. Let's read that. And these three
are greater and have a more honorable place because of this particular
incident. And the three of the thirty chiefs
went down and came to David in the harvest time into the cave
of Dulem. And the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley
of Rephaim. And David was then in a hold,
and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. And David
longed, and said, O, that one would give me drink of the water
of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate. And the three
mighty men broke through the host of the Philistines, and
drew water of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took
it, and brought it unto 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. It 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." So their place of honor not only was that they
were great warriors and won their victories, but that they acted
in reference to David here. And this story becomes really
the central theme of what we're going to look at tonight. Now
the exploits of these three men designate them as mighty. as
mighty. They're called mighty men, the
mighty men of David. And remember that it is the Holy
Spirit that designates them as such. He designates them as mighty. However, it must also be remembered
that the work of the Holy Spirit from beginning to end, according
to Scripture, from beginning to end, the work of the Holy
Spirit is to glorify Christ. We're now in the Old Testament.
In the New Testament, our Lord makes sure and clear the work
of the Holy Spirit. We're familiar with this because
I've preached from it a number of times and made reference to
it a number of times, but let's look at it anyway. John chapter
14. As you remember, our Lord is
preparing His disciples for His leaving this world. Excuse me,
John chapter 15. And He speaks in verse 26 of
that Spirit when He comes and what He will do when He comes
into the world. And when the Comforter is come, whom I will
send unto you from my Father, even the Spirit of truth, that
which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. And ye
shall also bear witness, because ye have been with me from the
beginning." Then in chapter 16, And beginning with verse 8, And
when He has come, He will reprove the world of sin and righteousness
and judgment. We know those things have nothing
to do with what most people think they do. They have to do with
Christ, of sin, because they believe not on Me, because they're
unbelievers. Of righteousness, because I go
to My Father and see Me no more. And judgment, because the Prince
of this world is judged. I have many things yet to say
to you which you cannot bear. You cannot bear them now. And
that was true. They weren't ready. really to bear these things,
and did not really bear them well, because they stayed hidden
until the Holy Ghost came at Pentecost and sent them out into
the world. Now be it, when he the Spirit
of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall
not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak, and he will show you things to come. He will glorify me,
for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All
that the Father hath of mine, therefore I said he shall take
of mine, and shall show it unto you." So the Holy Spirit It designates
these men as mighty men, but we know from the fact that what
Christ said about Him, that the Holy Spirit came into this world
to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. In the New Testament, He does
it with taking the Old Testament and teaching people who Christ
is. Because when Christ said these
words, the only scriptures they had were the Old Testament. And so we looked at the Old Testament
and we find that the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ
with types and pictures all pointing to the substance which is the
Lord Jesus Christ. So we can be assured that though
these men were truly mighty and that their exploits were great,
that you can be assured that they picture the Almighty Christ. the Almighty Lord. Isaiah refers
to Him when it says, For unto us a child is born, and unto
us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and
his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God. The
real wording of that in the Hebrews is the Mighty, Mighty. The Mighty
One with Might, or the Omnipotent One, or the True and Only Potentate. So it says, here the Lord teaches,
here the Holy Spirit teaches of these mighty men, but He's
teaching us of the Mighty One, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
primary way in which these mighty men picture the Mighty Lord is
that each of their victories, as we have just read, they acted
alone. In each of these victories, everybody
else ran away. And they acted alone. So that's
the primary thing that each one of these victories teach. There's
different battles that they fought. Some fought animals. Some fought
Egyptians. Some fought kings. Some fought
Philistines. All of them fought alone. That
was the picture, that's the first picture we get of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They won the battles by themselves. Like young David slaying Goliath
with a single stone by himself, they picture the singular mighty
man who won the victory saving the Israel of God and at the
same time destroying the enemy, and that is none other than the
Lord Jesus Christ. What that teaches us and what
it's taught all the way throughout, the Lord has one man, doesn't
he? One guy. He picked out Noah. No, one guy. One guy who was
responsible for building an ark to save the world. One man. One
man. He picked out Abraham. Of all
the people in the area of Chaldees and all the people in the area,
he picked out Abraham to make his covenant of grace with. throughout
scripture, David, just name it, Samuel, these were unique individuals. Why does he do that? The reason
is all of them point to our salvation. That our salvation was not accomplished
as a cooperative effort, it was accomplished by one man. One
man, and that one man is the Lord Jesus Christ. It was not
a cooperative effort or an effort to make salvation possible. It
was a feat that was a singular fait accompli. Scripture is replete
with this fact. When we read of Christ, and I
just put down a few here, I found about 40 references to this,
but I just put down a few. This fact is so. When He by Himself
purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Father.
He tread the winepress alone, when He through the Spirit offered
Himself, didn't offer anything else. He who gave Himself for
our sins, who gave Himself for me, Paul said to the Galatian
church. Our salvation is accomplished
by one man defeating the enemy and saving the people. That's
what all these men teach. All these great warriors teach.
That's the first thing. Also, the particular aspects
of the victories of these mighty men can point to specific aspects
of the record of our salvation accomplished by Christ alone.
Take the case of Eleazar in verses 9 and 10. And after him was Eliezer
the son of Dodo, the Elite, one of the three mighty men with
David. When he defied the Philistines that were gathered together to
battle, and the men of Israel were gone away. He was all by
himself now. 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
to him only to spoil. So after he had finished the
battle, they came back to get the spoil. What does this teach
us? He didn't give up in the battle.
He was weary. He was weary. He was tired. He had been fighting a while,
but his hand claimed to his sword. He wouldn't let go of that sword.
And he kept fighting, though he was physically weary, until
the last enemy was finished. Until the last enemy was finished. You know where I'm going with
this, don't you? Pretty easy to see and understand. This picture
is the work of salvation, whom Jesus Christ Himself, that one
man, who alone on the cross, who by Himself, though weary
and beaten and worn on the cross, cried with a loud voice, it is
finished. He declared that salvation was
finished at that time. Use the same word that Paul uses
in Hebrews, perfect. It was perfect. It was finished
on the cross. There was not only none of the
people involved in the battle, since they had all fled. You
help Christ save you. People seem to think that way,
that it's a cooperative effort. God takes the first step, and
you take the next step, or they usually turn that around. You
take the first step, and God takes the next step, as a cooperative
effort between man and God. It's not that way. Nowhere in
Scripture is it that way. God, man, dead men can't walk
anyway. They can't take a step. But let me tell you this, if
you can take the first step, you can take the second, and the
third. You can walk all the way home, if you can take the first
step. Fact is, you can't take the first
step. Christ died for our sins, and He declared it was finished.
And these did not return to take the spoils until after it was
finished. And that's a picture of us. We the elect of God, the
sheep of God, the church of God, the chosen of God. This is a
picture of the fact that when the battle took place, the sheep
were scattered. But they all afterward received
benefit from the one thing that the Mighty One did. We all receive
benefits, not for anything we've done. I know people say, well,
if you do this, God will bless you. You can do what you want
to. God ain't going to bless you
unless He's already blessed you. And if He's already blessed you,
you've got it all because Scripture declares He's given us all spiritual
blessings in Christ Jesus. We already have them all. So
we cannot, by being a certain way, being sweet and kind and
all those things, get a blessing from God. If you're sweet and
kind, it's because you've been blessed of God. That's the reason. But we come after the work is
done, after Christ has finished the work of salvation, finished
it completely and risen up to heaven to be glorified because
of what He's done. His sheep were called out to
take the spoil that He has earned for them, that He Himself by
His own blood has bought. That's what Eleazar said. He didn't give up the battle.
He kept his hand clad to the sword till the last enemy was
dead, and the last enemy according to Scripture to be dead, to die,
will be death itself. And that will be at the hands
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at the case of Shaman, verses
11 and 12. And after him was Shama the son
of Ege the Harite, and the Philistines were gathered together in a troop,
where there was a piece of ground full of lentils or barley, and
all the people fled from the Philistines. Here again, everybody
takes off. The Philistines show up and everybody
leaves. Well, not everybody. Old Shama
hangs around. But He stood in the midst of
the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines, and
the Lord wrought a great victory that day. What is He seen as
doing here? He's seen as defending the sustenance
of the people, guarding the field against the plundering Philistines
here. He's seen as taking care that
the people of God are not without sustenance. That's the picture
of Christ. It is Christ who feeds His sheep.
It is Christ. This is the picture of the Mighty
One defending the heritage of His people with whom He is joint
heir. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the living Word, and He has preserved the written
Word, which is the food of the believer. The Gospel is our sustenance. It's what sustains us. You who
are gospel believers, you know that I think of just those back
in December. We had all those snows and we
couldn't gather. We couldn't get together as people
of God and worship God. It was an emptiness. You just
needed to get back and get fed. You've got to get fed. I need
the gospel. I need that sustenance. And our Lord here is seen as
standing in the midst of that sustenance and making sure that
nobody gets it but His people. And that's who get it. The world
out here doesn't receive the gospel. God's people receive
it. It's because Christ defends it. and takes care of it for
his people. In the case of Benaiah in verse
20, it says, In Benaiah the son of Jehoradah, the son of a valiant
man of Kabziel, who had done many acts, he slew two lion-like
men of Moab, and he went down also and slew a lion in the midst
of the pit of the time. So we have here Benaiah, he is
seen as defeating a lion-like men, two of them, and a lion. and the lion. What's that all
about? That's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan is called
a lion, roaming to and fro in the earth seeking whom he may
devour. Christ not only destroyed him, he bruised the serpent's
head and put him out of business and put him on a chain that he
can only go so far and God allowed him to go so far and then jerks
him back. Satan is God's ape. Satan has been conquered Christ
has conquered him. I know religion likes to paint
him out as one who's unconquered. And we ought to be wary of the
fact that we can't do anything with Satan. He's still stronger
than we are. He's been handling people for us for thousands and
thousands of years. No problem for him. But there's
one who owns him lock, stock, and barrel. Who controls him
with absolute sway. He can only do what he's allowed
to do. Why? Because the heavenly Benaiah
went down into the pit of the snow and slew him. He slew him. Also it says, he likewise slew
the men that were like him. What does that mean? Well, let's
look at a few passages of Scripture. First, beginning with 1 John
chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. Look at verse 8. He that committeth
sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning.
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might
destroy the works of the devil. Destroy the works of the devil.
Turn back to Hebrews just for a moment. Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14
says, For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh
and blood, Christ also himself likewise took part of the same,
that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death,
that is to create the fear of death, that is the devil, and
deliver them who through the fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. Subject to bondage. Now look
over at Galatians chapter 2. No, excuse me, 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. Not only did He destroy the lion, He destroyed the lion-like men. That's kind of an interesting
phrase, lion-like men. Well, they're like the lion.
They're like those, the one whom they follow, is what that means.
In 2 Corinthians chapter 11, we find them described in verse
13, For such are false apostles, not merely false prophets. These
say, We have been with Christ. That's what an apostle is. We
have been with Christ. For such are false apostles.
They are deceitful workers. It doesn't say they're not workers.
They're workers. They're busy. They're laborists. They're labor-intensive in their
religion, but they're deceitful. They're lying. They're lying
to men. They transformed themselves. You remember what's dangerous
among the sheep is a wolf in sheep's clothing. They transformed
themselves into the apostles of Christ. It's a self-transformation. It's not a divine transformation
or a new creature. It's a self-transformation. And
no marvel For Satan himself is transformed into an angel of
light. That's where we get our word
Lucifer from the Latin luz, which means light, which means light. In fact, in Spanish, the word
luz is light. El Señor es mi luz. The Lord
is my light. The Lord is my light. So what
was... He's called a serpent in the
Garden of Eden, but if you look at the name, what the name means,
he's the bright and shining one. Satan doesn't appear as a dark
figure, sneaking around in tombs wearing a cape with a pitchfork
and a pointed tail and horns on his head. He appears as an
apostle of Christ, as an angel of light. He wants to teach people
things. He fills the pulpits of this
land with lying like men, powerful men, men to whom others are drawn,
to teach them deceitful things and to lie. Therefore it is no great thing
that his ministers, these are the lying like men. that his
ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness. Now whose righteousness do you
think they're preaching? Are they preaching the righteousness
of Christ? They wouldn't dare. They preach
human righteousness, human merit before God. They preach human
will, human doing, and human trying. They don't preach this
one who's already won the battle and settled everything. They
preach righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.
So, Benaiah pictures our Lord Jesus Christ destroying the works
of Satan, destroying him who had the power of death, that
is the fear of death over his people, and delivering them. And he also destroys those who
are his men, his ministers, and are like him. They are like him. Also, Benaiah is seen as killing
a goodly or strong and powerful Egyptian. Back in our text, in verse 21, it says, And he,
Benaiah, 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 pluck
the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and slew him with his own
spear. Slew him with his own spear.
Now all those things no doubt represent a mighty act of war,
a mighty act of courage. Here he goes down with a staff.
That's a stick. That's all that is. A staff is
a stick. He goes down with a stick, and this fella, this goodly Egyptian,
and that word, if you look it up in the Hebrew, that word in
that particular sense means a really big, strong fella. And his spear, the Hebrews said,
was almost the same weight as Goliath's spear. It was a big
man. And here comes Benaiah down to
him with a stick in his hand and jerks the spear out of his
hand and thrusts it through his own heart. That is no doubt a
brave and a wonderful thing. But the act here is a picture
of the act of the shepherd. Why? Because he's got a staff.
He's got a staff. A shepherd putting a slaver out
of business. Christ is that Great Shepherd,
the Good Shepherd. His greatness is exemplified
in the salvation of the sheep throughout Scripture. That's
why He's called the Good Shepherd and the Great Shepherd. I give
my life for my sheep. I protect My sheep, My sheep
know Me, and I know them, and I call them, they follow Me,
and I give to them eternal life. They are My sheep. Egypt, however,
is a picture of bondage. The bondage of sin and bondage
to the law. And this is some sweet stuff
here. The shepherd took the spear from the Egyptian and slew him
With his own spear. With his own spear. What does
this mean? Well, I ask this question. How
did Christ save his people? It's answered right in this passage
of scripture here. How did he save his people? He
destroyed the power and the right of the law. How? By fulfilling
the law's demands. That's how he did it. He didn't
throw the law away. He fulfilled the law's demands.
Christ finished the law by keeping the law in His death. He took
the spear of the law and thrust it into the heart of the law
by keeping it. He impelled the law on its own
spear just as Paul said to the Romans and to the Galatians.
How are we saved? We're saved by the law. Can't be saved apart from it.
Are we saved by keeping it? Well, we're saved because the
shepherd took his staff down and took the law and killed the
law with the law. That's how that happened. Look
over at a few passages of Scripture. Romans chapter 7. Romans 7, verses 1-4, and though
people read this and think they can come up with a treatise on
marriage, this is not about marriage, it's about the law. The law's
relationship to the believer, and the believer's relationship
to the law. That's what it's about. Paul says it. No you're
not, brethren, for I speak to them that know the law, that
have an understanding of the law. How that the law hath dominion
over a man as long as he lives. Now to give an example of that,
to illustrate that fact, that the law has dominion over man
as long as a man lives under the law. That's how long. He can never
get out from under it. If he's living under the law,
that law has dominion. That can never be escaped. Here's
the example he gives. For a woman which hath her husband
is bound by the law to her husband as long as he liveth. That's
the example he gives. He's talking about the law, her
husband, living And as long as he lives, as long as the law
lives, the law has dominion over those who are under the law.
But if the husband be dead, wait a minute, if the husband be dead,
then she is loosed from the law of her husband. She is loosed
from the law of the one who has dominion over her. So then, if
while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she
be called an adulteress, and rightfully so. But if her husband
be dead, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress,
though she be married to another man, if her husband is dead. That's why we say, until death
do us part, when we make our vows of marriage. Because the
death, young people say, I like to say, we'll love each other
forever. I say, don't say it, because you won't. We'll be married
forever. No, you won't. If you're married
as long as one of you is still alive, or both of you are still
alive, and one of you dies, you're no longer married. That marriage
is over with. Because the issue of dominion is taken away. So what's he teaching here? Verse
4, Wherefore, my brethren, ye are also become dead to the law. by the body of Christ, by the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. That ye should be married to
another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should
bring forth fruit unto God. Because when we were under the
law, we brought forth fruit unto death. So, if we were under the
law, we couldn't be married to Christ. But because we are dead
to the law by Christ's death, by His body, then we're married
to Christ. We are His body and there's no
law against that because our former husband is dead. Now, our former husband was a
good husband. We were bad wives. The law is
just and holy and good. But it was strict. It allowed
for no mistakes. Our former husband allowed for
no mistakes whatsoever. Every day was a white glove inspection.
Every day, every minute, every second was a white glove inspection.
We couldn't err one way unless we were put down by the law,
by our husband, and rightfully so because we messed up. But
Jesus Christ came in and died in our room instead, and our
old husband died when he died. That's what it says in Hebrews
chapter 10 and verse 9. Coming in the end of the world
to put away sin, and it says that He'd taken away the first,
that is the law, that He might establish the second. The first
husband's gone, the second husband's gone. We love our old husband.
Love him too much, as a matter of fact. Sadly, sometimes we
go to the graveside and ask help from him. That's really sad.
That's kind of a sickness, isn't it? But the best thing you do
if you want to love him right, go put flowers on his grave and
honor him. Because he was a good husband and we was a bad wife,
but we're married to somebody else now. And our husband has already
finished everything. The law is completely answered
for us. So if the law was to come into our house, with its
white glove inspection. Not going to find any dirt. Not going to find any. Is it
because our husband holds a whip over us and keeps us in line?
No, our new husband doesn't do that. You know what our new husband
does? Here, put on this real pretty white robe. Lay down in
this lounge chair and rest. I've taken care of everything. That's our husband. The law is
dead. That's what Paul said. We're
dead. So this shepherd came down and took the spear out of the
hand of the law and stuck it right into the heart of the law.
That's what this is picturing for us. Look at Galatians chapter
2. Galatians chapter 2. Paul says it even more clear
here. Galatians chapter 2 and verse
19 he says, For through the law, I am dead to the law, that I
might live unto God. For through the law, I am dead
to the law. How is that possible? Through
the law being perfectly fulfilled for me. I am dead to it now. Once the
law was perfectly fulfilled for me, and finally and beautifully
and wonderfully satisfied by Christ's death, the law has no
more say over me or right to say over me whatsoever. Because
the law must have sin in order to operate. The strength of the
law is sin. Or rather, the strength of sin
is the law, Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. The strength of sin
is the law. So if sin has been removed, what
does the law have to say? Why, David will look at the top
of your head, down to the bottom of your feet and say, nothing
here, nothing for me here. It has no place. So you are dead
to the law. Would to God? We could say that
completely of ourselves, but the flesh is not dead to the
law. It loves the law and would religiously keep the law. We're
dead to the law. People say, you've got to be
under the law. You say, no, I don't. I'm not under the law. What are
you, an anarchist? No. I'm a believer. Are you an antinomian? No, I'm
not against the law. I love the law. The law is good and righteous
and holy. Problems with me. But I don't
have a problem anymore because my Savior has settled that matter
for me. Colossians chapter 2, verse 13 says, And you being
dead in your sins, and uncircumcised in your flesh, hath he quickened
together with Christ, having forgiven you all trespasses,
blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against
us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing
it to his cross." That's the spear right there. That's the
spear. Law holds over us the spear of
justice. Aimed right at our heart. Christ
came down here and took that law and plunged it in His own
chest. Right through His chest and into the law. And killed
the law. That's what this is talking about.
Finally, back in our text. The report of the bravery and
love and honor exhibited by the first three in verses 8 through
12. Mentioned in verses 8 through 12. Is seen here in verses 17. In verses 13 through 17, you
know the story. David was running from Saul.
He was in the cave of Dulem. He was garrisoned there, and
there was a whole group of soldiers surrounding him. He
was alone. He had been on the run for some
time now, and he got to thinking not so much about his personal
thirst, but about thirst for home. Got to thinking about Bethlehem,
and got to thinking about the taste of that water that came
out of that well at Bethlehem, and he began to think about that,
and he just sort of just said it out loud, you know, oh boy,
I'd love to have a drink of water from the well at Bethlehem. Well,
these three men in verses 8 through 12, these three men in verses
8 through 12, these three that carry the highest honor of the
37, the Tachymite, who was a Doni, or a Dino, and
Eleazar, and Shammah, these three who held the highest place among
his rank. They just heard the king. He didn't command them.
They just heard him say it. And what he did, what they did was they went and
broke through the lines of the Philistine, these three men,
just to get their king a drink of water. He didn't command them. Their heart was to please their
king. They just wanted the king to be happy. Even though he was
a king in exile and a king on the run. They went and broke
through that whole Philistine army. Three guys now. Three men
just went at them and cut right through the line of the Philistine
army and went all the way to Bethlehem. And got a bucket of
water and brought it back to David. And when they brought
it back, David poured it out on the ground as an offering
to the Lord. That's what it said. Poured it
out on the ground as an offering to the Lord. David said in verse
16, it says, The three mighty men broke through the host of
the Philistines, 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,
that I should drink this water. 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 fellows broke the line
and got David water and he poured it out on the ground. What does
this teach us? That loyalty and honor men can
give to other men. They did this for David. And
David honored them by making them high in his cabinet. This water was obtained at the
risk of their life. However, David's action of pouring
all the water on the ground reveals that David knew this simple fact. And really it's what this whole
segment teaches. That someone's worthy of honor.
Someone is worthy of honor. Not men. Because though these
men honored David, he poured what they had done out on the
ground, because they had actually earned it with their own life's
blood. They didn't die. They put their lives in jeopardy. They put their lives in line.
It reveals David knew that no man was worthy of such honor.
The water poured on the ground was spiritually an offering to
the Lord. He poured it out unto the Lord. Notice the capital
L-O-R-D, Jehovah. And because of the nature of
the sacrifice these men made, David called this a blood offering,
which is the only way anyone can approach unto God. And the
only offering that satisfied God was the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Only one who offered such a blood offering to God,
who appeased God by that offering, is worthy of such honor and glory.
Only one man who ever lived upon the earth is really worthy of
honor, of true honor and true glory. And that person is the
Lord Jesus Christ. David pointed to Him who was
to come, who would forever be praised and honored because of
His offering. So that's why David poured this
out on the ground. David was saying, I appreciate
what you fellows did, but I'm not worthy of such loyalty
and honor and love. Someone is. The Lord Jehovah
is. He poured it out to the Lord
Jehovah. In Revelation, verse 5, we read
these words. Familiar to all of you. Verse
9, they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book.
And we know the book, though many men believe it's some kind
of secret thing, I don't believe it is. I believe it's the Bible.
Secret to all men but those who know Christ. To open the seals
thereof, Why? Because you were slain. And you
have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every kindred, nation,
tongue, and people, and have made us unto our God, kings,
and priests, and we shall reign on earth. And I beheld, and I
heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the
beasts, and the elders, that is, the preachers and the
church, And the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands
and thousands. The reason that the number 10,000
is used, because in the Greek language, that's the highest
number in the Greek numerology, is 10,000. We've got bazillion
and gazillions and things like that. Googleplexes and things
like, they didn't have that, they had 10,000. When they wanted
to save a lot of money, when they wanted to save what most
of you could do, 10,000. Well, he even multiplies that by itself,
10,000 times 10,000 and thousands and thousands. That's the number
of voices. And they all say it. They all say it with a loud voice. Worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor
and glory and blessing. That's why David poured that
out on the ground. He's not worthy of this. He's
not worthy of men willing to die for Him. He's not worthy
of that. And every creature which is in
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as
are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I say, in
blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth
upon the throne, even to the Lamb, for ever and ever. And
the four beasts said, Amen, so be it. And the four and twenty
elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth for ever and
ever. That's what David was doing. So as we read about these mighty
men, they all picture Christ. And the three most honored among
the ones weren't honored for what they did. The honor was
to the Lord. When you've done your duty, our
Lord said, you can say this, I'm most unprofitable. When you've
done all your duty, you can say, I'm most unprofitable. Why? Because
there's only one worthy of honor. Only one. Father, bless us for
understanding. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Good night. God bless
you.