2 Samuel Chapter 23:1-21

They were so loyal to David and so loving to David that when David just made the simple comment, gee, I would like a glass of water, these guys are like, come on, let's go, we're going to give them a glass of water.

And so they risked their lives. David had an incredible love for these men. David was a great leader.

It's an incredible study to go through and see the attributes of David and see the character of David and see the personality of David, how he loved people and what a great leader he was. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee, senior pastor of the Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. Today, Pastor David's teaching through 2 Samuel chapter 23, and we have as our guest in the studio one of David McGee's associate pastors.

Welcome, D.A. Hey, Bob, we're excited about what God is doing through Cross the Bridge with Pastor David. We want to take a few minutes to pray for some cities in our listening audience.

In California, we have Chico, Clear Lake, Kalinga, Crescent City, Desert Hot Springs, Doris, and Eureka. Lord, we pray for people in these cities to tune in and listen. We pray that you would heal them if they're battling some physical ailments. We pray that today many people will put their hope and trust in you for their personal salvation. God, we pray that people would be excited about following you in these cities. And God, we pray for the churches and pastors, that they would walk in unity, that they would stick to the vision that you've given them. Lord, that they would apply your word in every area of their life. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen, brother. This is great to pray for one another, and thank you, listeners, for praying along with Pastor D.A. D.A., what are some of the things that we want to take away from today's teaching in 2 Samuel chapter 23? Bob, to be a spirit's leader, you have to have a love for God and for His people.

Without love, you don't really care. We're doing it for selfish reasons. You know, I think that's true, and even David, as much as he loved God, he still got mixed up sometimes, but we can learn from him. And let's listen to David McGee as he continues teaching through 2 Samuel chapter 23 and learn what God has for us. We're looking at the life of David, and we're kind of, a couple of these things are a little bit out of sequence, like we talked about last week. David's life is coming to a close, and it's an awesome thing. David is an incredible warrior, incredible leader, incredible man of God, and yet he was not perfect, and Scripture records that he was not perfect.

And that's one of the things that I really enjoy about the Bible, is that it doesn't leave the faults and the frailties and the weaknesses of the people that it writes about out. 2 Samuel chapter 23 verse 1 says, Now these are the last words of David, and thus says David the son of Jesse. Thus says the man raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel. The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue. The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me. He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And He shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, like the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. Verse 5, Although my house is not so with God, yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things insecure, for this is all my salvation and all my desire.

Will He not make it increase? But the sons of rebellion shall all be as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands. But the man who touches them must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear, and they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place. Strong words, those who are rebellious will live an unstable life. And certainly you can see that when people don't have the Lord.

And maybe they've got stuff, maybe they've got things, but they're living an unstable life because they don't have that rock and that shelter and that foundation of the Lord. So now we will talk about the mighty men as David is talking about them. Verse 8, These are the names of the mighty men whom David had, Josheph, Bathshebeth, the Tachmonite, Sheph among the captains. He was called Adino the Esnite because he had killed 800 men at one time.

So these are the mighty men. They may have been David's personal bodyguard. They may have been kind of his elite, you know, ninja hit squad or something, or they might've been both, I don't know, but they were gathered around David. And what's interesting too is we kind of see in scripture the way they started gathering around David when he was on the run from Saul. And it says those who joined with David were those who were in distress and in debt and on the run. It's kind of interesting. They were kind of dissatisfied with life and then they started following David.

And you know what? That's something that I find in people who are passionate about Jesus, passionate about following Jesus, passionate about the Lord. There is kind of a, there's a dissatisfaction with the things of this world. You know, you just get to that point where, you know, you think, well, if this happens, then everything will be hunky-dory and I'll be totally happy. And then for a lot of us, we get to that point where that happens. We go, wow, that's nothing. This is not what I thought it would be. And there's a dissatisfaction with this.

This can't be what life is all about. After him was Eliezer the son of Dodo the Ahohite. One of the three mighty men was David. When they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle and the men of Israel had retreated, he arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary and his hand stuck to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day and the people returned after him only to plunder. So these are great stories.

They're interesting stories. And it's interesting, this phrase, and his hand stuck to the sword. Literally in the Hebrew, he wasn't sure where his hand stopped and the sword began as he was fighting. And you know what, what we're going to see as we read down this list, we're going to see that David had some really great people around him. He had some really strong people around him. And I think that's important. That's something I certainly have learned, am learning as I am a spiritual leader here is to develop a team. You can try to walk alone in this life. And friend, even with the Lord, if you're walking alone, there's only so much that you're going to accomplish by yourself. But when you've got God leading you, and then you begin to develop a team around you, you can accomplish a lot more working with others. It seems like sometimes we take this Christian independence that we don't need anybody else. And I understand spiritually that perhaps is true in that you can go directly to Jesus Christ. But to arrogantly think you don't need the church, you don't need Bible studies, you don't need to worship in a corporate setting with other brothers and sisters. That's not independence. That's not confidence in God.

That borders on arrogance. God created us that we need one another. The life lesson here? To accomplish great things, we need one another. To accomplish great things, we need one another. There's a team approach to ministry here. We have a great team. We have a great team of staff members. We have a great team of pastors.

We have a great team of elders, great team of deacons. And I think sometimes we slip into this, well, I just need God. I don't need people. Well, actually you do need people because God helps us to grow through other people.

Iron sharpening iron. So you've got people in your life, well, let's use the sunshine and the rain thing. You've got people in your life that are sunshine. And you also have some people in your life that are rain.

And they are both causing you to grow. And that's what happens in the body of Christ. And so that's one of the ways that we see tremendous fruit. And we see tremendous fruit in this place, through the salvations and the baptisms and the discipleship.

Why? Because there's a whole team of people ministering. And it takes a whole team of people.

It's so far beyond what I could do or what a couple of us could do at this point. And I so appreciate the fact that the other pastors have a heart for you guys to minister to you guys. And the other thing that you see in here is the sword, which we often see in scripture as being the word of God.

I think that's important. In the battle, he kept hold of the word of God. Because you know what happens? A lot of times we set our sword down. It seems like the moment we set our sword down, we start getting in trouble.

We start drifting off to the side. We start drifting from the truth because we sit down the word of God. And certainly for any Christian organization, for any church, for any pastor, for any spiritual leader, keep your hand on your sword in the battle. And as you read the Bible and as you attend Bible studies, you hold on to the sword and God blesses you in your fights with the enemy. Verse 11, and after him was Shema, the son of Agi, the heroite. The Philistines had gathered together into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. So the people fled from the Philistines. But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory.

Great little stories in here. Lentils are like beans, legumes. They're beans that you can cook and use in stews and stuff. One of the things the Philistines would do is they would allow the Israelites to plant these crops and to tend them, water them, weed them, do all these things. And then they would wait until they were ready to be harvested.

And then they would come in and they would steal their food. And if you think about it, they were accomplishing several things at once. Number one, they were feeding their people. Number two, they were starving their enemies. Strategically, that was what they did. That's why when Gideon, when we come across Gideon, he's threshing wheat in a secret place.

Why? Because he was afraid that they were going to come in and steal the wheat that he had threshed because that was something else they'd do. They would wait until the wheat was harvested, it was threshed, it was all purified, it was just grain, and they would come in and steal it. Well, on this occasion, they came in.

They were going to steal it. And Shema said, uh-uh, you're not stealing the lentils. Now, it's kind of interesting because when you look at this, he was defending the food they have. And once again, we see, you know, you've got to be careful about getting great theological truths from allegories and pictures of stuff.

But here again, we see another picture. Why? Because the Bible is spoken of as spiritual food. And maybe you think it's kind of an option whether to be in the Bible or not. But, friend, if you're serious about checking out the claims of Jesus, if you're serious about finding out what Jesus and God is all about, if you're serious about following the Lord, Bible study and feeding on God's Word is not an option.

It simply is not an option. It's a necessity. As much a necessity as feeding and eating every day. But it's interesting because occasionally we'll hear somebody, well, I'm looking for a church that will do this and I'm looking for a church that will do that and I'm looking for a church with a particular type of worship or a particular type of pastor or a particular location. You understand the number one criteria in looking for a church should be a place that absolutely teaches God's Word. And this is an important thing.

But a lot of times we act like it's an option. And what's the other thing we kind of see here? Well, you know, Shema kind of looked, he could have looked, here I am, I'm guarding a field of beans. This is just, man, I tell you what, you know, I need me an important job in the ministry. I don't want to just be guarding the bean field. Why do they pick me to guard the bean field?

I want to guard the wheat field and I want to guard, you know. He could have really begun to get discontent with what God had called him to do. But he didn't. He wanted to do what he was supposed to do to the best of his ability. And we need to understand that.

You know why? Because God honors that. Friend, God will watch you in the small things and reward you if you're faithful in the small things. Sometimes people have trouble that, well, I got to clean up the church first. I really wanted to, you know, I really wanted to do this. I really wanted to be on the worship team. I really wanted to teach when Pastor David's not here.

I really didn't want to be on the sparkle team. And you know what that tells us? They really don't have a servant's heart. Because if you have a servant's heart, you're like, God, I can't believe that you'd let me even clean up your church.

I can't believe you'd offer me that opportunity. And God honors that. Friend, years ago when we were in the home Bible study and a lot of Thursday nights and a lot of Sunday mornings, for the first six months, most of them, when I sat down to teach, I was sitting down. When my wife and three kids, you realize I never looked at them one time and said, well, guys, it's just y'all. Why don't we just skip it? I mean, nobody else is coming. I just, uh, I'll go watch TV.

And to be honest, the thought never occurred to me. Because God told me to teach the Bible and I was going to teach the Bible to whoever came. And the fact that my wife and three kids were showing up, man, I was grateful. I was like, all right, let's teach the Bible. I'm going to teach the Bible. Let's go in.

Let's do it. God saw me being faithful in the small things. But if you are not faithful in the small things, let me guarantee you something. God will never use you in the big ways. Now, here's Pastor David as he continues sharing verse by verse. So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless, he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord. And he said, far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Is this not the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?

Therefore he would not drink it. And these things were done by the three mighty men. This can be a little confusing when you first read it, but one thing I notice as I'm reading through the story, these mighty men, these leaders, they didn't spend a lot of time sitting around talking about what was wrong with David or whether David really should be king or anything like that. There was a commitment and a loyalty to the fact that they understood God had anointed David to be the leader, and they were going to love David, and they were going to serve David. And so because of that unity and that loyalty, they accomplished great things for God. And I think that's important. The Bible talks about being in unity in the body of Christ and not being divisive in the body of Christ.

I think that's an important thing. They were so loyal to David and so loving to David that when David just made the simple comment, gee, I would like a glass of water, he didn't say, would somebody go get me? He didn't say, hey, can somebody? He just said, you know, it'd be nice to have a glass of water. And these guys were like, come on, let's go.

We're going to give them a glass of water. And so they risked their lives. But David had an incredible love for these men. David was a great leader, and it's an incredible study that goes through and see the attributes of David and see the character of David and see the personality of David, how he loved people and what a great leader he was. And he loved the Lord, and that brings the next life lesson up. To be a spiritual leader, you have to have a love for God and for his people. To be a spiritual leader, you have to have a love for God and for his people. I remember early on in ministry, you know, I was praying, God, you're going to have to help me love people more and more.

The Lord spoke to me in that still small voice that said, no, no. You love me more. And as you realize my love for you and you realize more love for me, I will fill you with a love for people. But if you run around trying to love people more, you're going to run out because as people are, you know, we're all fallen and sometimes we don't express our appreciation for one another. So love God.

That's why that's in that order. Have a love for God, and you'll have a love for his people that will never run your eye. Can you imagine, these are a bunch of ragtag fugitives that God is going to take from these vagabonds that are hiding out in the desert to lead the nation of Israel to the height of its glory and wiping out all their enemies. It's an amazing thing. And you don't just go back, you know, 3,000 years to see stuff like this. Again, I'm reminded of what God has done in this place with his hand. And God seems to enjoy doing that.

He takes a ragtag bunch of people, whether it's a dozen disciples or these people with David or in this church or the early church or whatever, he takes a bunch of people and he starts to do an incredible work through them. When some people talk about Christianity and act like it's boring, it's like, man, what kind of Christianity do you have? Because to me, Christianity is anything but boring. As a matter of fact, it's kind of like this nonstop adventure that boring would be nice every now and again, you know. I mean, it's really this adventure. And I think sometimes we think, oh, God is fun. I think we're being sold this false bill of goods. We think, oh, the world has fun and the world has a great time. But the moment you begin to follow Jesus, then you've got to quit having fun.

Nothing could be further from the truth to me because these men are stepping out and they're seeing what God is doing. Now, let's understand this passage because you look at it first glance and you go, wow, they went and got him this glass of water and he pours it out on the ground. He's like being a jerk or something.

No, he's not being a jerk. Let's understand what he's doing. They have offered David a gift that David considers too costly to accept.

He says, you know what, you guys risked your life to get me this water. I cannot accept this gift. And when we read this, what we see is, OK, David got this gift and he poured it out on the ground. That's not what it says. That is not what it says.

Let's read it again. The end of verse 16. Nevertheless, he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord.

There's the big difference. He didn't just pour it out on the ground. He was making an offering to the Lord.

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever tried to explain to somebody that's a non-believer about tithing, about giving to the Lord? They don't get it because what they're hearing you say is that you might as well ride down the road and toss 10 percent of your income out the window, just pour it out on the ground. That's not what we're doing. We're pouring it out to the Lord. Or maybe you've come across family or friends that you serve in the church and you're trying to explain to them how much you enjoy serving at the church and they're not getting it.

Why? Because their perception is you're taking your time and you're pouring it out on the ground. That's not what's happening. You're pouring it out to the Lord. And see, David wasn't just pouring this out on the ground.

He was pouring it out to the Lord. And it's interesting that the world looks at it and goes, wow, you're just wasting that. Stop and think about this for a second. Chances are real good that the 90 percent of your income that you spend on yourself, you're not going to receive any eternal, heavenly rewards for that. That's just the reality. You're not going to get to heaven and God go, you know, I want to reward you for making your mortgage payment.

You did it with such excellence. That's not going to happen. But the Bible is very plain about the fact that the things that we do for God, the things that we give for the Lord, those things are storing up eternal significance, eternal rewards. So the only way you can keep from not pouring things out on the ground is do them as unto the Lord because everything else, friend pours out on the ground and the world stands off and they go, wow, you give 10 percent in your income. That's like wasting it when actually it's storing it. You know, they say you can't you can't take it with you.

Actually, you can send it on ahead if you're stored up in the rewards. But that's the only way you can keep from pouring it out. Everything else that the world is doing that they think that they're hoarding to themselves is actually being poured out on the ground. And it's interesting that that which is a permanent eternal significance, they sit back and go, well, you're wasting that. Excuse me.

I'm not wasting anything. David didn't waste that cup of water. He did it under the Lord.

Verse 18. Now, Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Ziriah, was chief of another three and he lifted his spear against 300 men, killed them and won a name among these three. Was he not the most honored of three? Therefore, he became their captain. However, he did not attain to the first three.

So it has them in these groupings of three. Verse 20. Benaniah was the king, was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from Capzil who had done many deeds. He had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day. So he's got a tough enemy in a tough place in a tough time. He's got a tough enemy as a lion in a tough place as a pit on a tough time with a snowy day, and he still wins, still has a victory. Verse 21. And he killed an Egyptian, a spectacular man.

The Egyptian had a spear in his hand, so he went down to him with a staff, wrested the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. Again, we're seeing these mighty men, these men of faith. We're seeing men of battle. And we need to understand here. We can read a passage of this chapter and go, I'm a little uncomfortable with all the violence that, you know, is on this and it's just da-da-da-da. This is reality. There are fights that are worth fighting in this life.

There are things that friends should tweak you and make you angry. When you see injustices, when you see people going hungry, when you see people mistreated by religious authorities and stuff like that, these are things that should stir you up to a fight. Christianity is not a religion of pacifists.

It's a religion of warriors. People are willing to stand up and do battle on the behalf of the souls of men and women. And we read about these battles.

We read about these things. And these guys weren't just talking a good game. I've met a lot of people in my life. They could talk a good Christianity.

I mean, they have all this and they say the right things and they dress the right way and da-da-da-da-da-da-da. But when it came to giving and serving and pouring their life out, it wasn't there. It was talking a good game. Christianity is not talking a good game. It's walking.

As they say, talk is cheap. Walking out. And if we were just engaged in the academic exercise of studying the Bible, man, let's just go home. There's probably something on the TV on Thursday nights.

I don't know what because I'm always here. But it's about studying the Bible so we can do the Bible. It comes down to loving one another and giving to one another and serving one another. Life lesson here, our actions really do speak louder than our words. Our actions really do speak louder than our words. See, at the end of their lives, these guys had something to talk about. I did this and I did that and I whooped up that Egyptian and I did this. And I remember this time I did that. They had something to talk about.

They had done something. Friend, I don't want you to get to the end of this life and go, well, I should have got involved in that church. There was a lot of people got saved and I should have done that.

I would have, should have, could have. Maybe I could be telling some stories. There's going to be people like that. That's the reality. I don't want you to be one of them.

I want you to live out what you say you believe. Every church, including this one, is always going to have spectators. We're not going to have comfortable spectators. I'll make sure that the spectators are uncomfortable sometimes because I love them that much. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life. Well, D.A., before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee.

That sounds good, Pastor D.A., and again, it's been great to have you with us on the program today. But tell us, what else can our listeners find on crossthebridge.com? If you're not able to make it to your home church this Sunday, why not join us for our live stream at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, or on Thursday nights at 7 p.m. Eastern Time? Just visit crossthebridge.com and click on our live stream link. There, you'll experience a live service from David's Home Church, The Bridge, in North Carolina. Again, that website is crossthebridge.com.

Those are terrific, and it's easy and it's free. So folks, sign up today at crossthebridge.com. And thank you for listening. We hope you'll join us again next time as we continue studying verse by verse through Second Samuel.