Mighty Men - check audio

[0:00] Let's pray, Lord, we thank you that we can gather tonight and just be your people in this place, at this time, in this community. Lord, your people, loved by you, brothers and sisters in Christ, that we can come and share and give and receive and know your blessing day by day, that you've blessed us with all spiritual blessings.

[0:22] And we pray you receive these gifts that we bring and open our ears that they might be ready to receive your word. Lord, use my lips, Lord, to impart that which you want to be communicating, Lord.

[0:34] Use me, Lord, despite my many failings for your praise, that you would be lifted up, that you would draw all men unto yourself. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please be seated and come with me to the Word of God if you've got your Bibles.

[0:51] And I'm told this is not working, but I'm sure that I'm loud enough. Someone's telling me that the man who did communion this morning wasn't loud enough. But they could hear me just fine, so that's great.

[1:04] Praise the Lord. I was glad of that. 2 Samuel 23. 2 Samuel 23. Talking about mighty men. Mighty men. Now, of course, this is not to exclude mighty women.

[1:16] But, of course, the scripture here speaks of mighty men. How we can be a mighty people for God. It tells of God's champions. God's mighty men.

[1:27] God's champions. They were the strongest and the very bravest. Men of valor. Men of courage. These warriors who stood with David. In 2 Samuel 23, where we'll come to shortly from verse 8.

[1:41] These were warriors who stood lockstep with David. David chose them to be men. His top men. His men. Mighty men. His men.

[1:52] Special forces, if you like. In his army. These were the best of the best. The bravest of the brave. Dependable men. Men who would not flinch under fire.

[2:03] And we need men today. Men who will rise up and be as David's mighty men. Now there's another David. David Livingston. Who was a missionary pioneer.

[2:16] Working in Africa. People would know David Livingston. His name's well known. That someone went there and encountered this unusual man. And they said, David Livingston, I presume.

[2:27] But here was this man. He was right back in the outback of Africa. And doing all kinds of pioneering work. Taking the gospel there.

[2:39] And David Livingston was working there in Africa. And some friends thought they'd help him out. They wrote to David and they said, We would like to send some other man to you.

[2:51] Have you found a good road into your area yet? And Livingston wrote back to them. He said, If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don't want them.

[3:03] I want men who will come if there is no road at all. No road at all. And this was the character of these men. David's mighty men in the word of God.

[3:16] These men were all out for the kingdom. The kingdom of David. Of course, we can reflect and draw parallels with the kingdom of God.

[3:26] Very much in the learnings from these verses. And with these mighty men, the Philistines were their committed enemy. Likewise, we, brothers and sisters, we today have a committed enemy.

[3:40] Amen? We have a committed enemy. And we are called to battle just as these men were. God is looking for mighty men. Committed men.

[3:51] David had a band of 30. And over them were outstanding men. We see, we pick it up from verse 8 of 2 Samuel 23. 2 Samuel 23.

[4:04] These be the names of the mighty men who David had. The Tacmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains. The same was Adino, the Ed's knight.

[4:15] He lifted up his spear against 800 whom he slew at one time. Adino, the first in the chapter of Psalm 37.

[4:26] Adino was a mighty man. One of the three who were over the others. And Adino, this word means wise and skilful.

[4:38] He was outnumbered, we read here, 800 to 1. How does one man with a spear defeat 800 men at one time?

[4:51] Here was a man who did not give up when he was outnumbered. He was a man of courage. He didn't turn and run. He stood with God.

[5:02] And how could he win against 800? He was empowered by God. There's no other reason how such odds could be overcome.

[5:13] Because really, they were outnumbered him. Because they were fighting God. And we are called to contend with the enemy. We are called to combat. We've got a mortal enemy.

[5:27] Public enemy number one. That is trying to find ways to trip us. And sometimes he will. But we outnumber him. Because who's on our side?

[5:37] The Lord is with us. And we go out to do battle as soldiers of the Lord. With spiritual enemies. We can be like these men. These 37 mighty men.

[5:48] Men like Adino. One of the three. Then we go, verse 9, to the second of the three. Verse 9 of 2 Samuel 23. And after him was Eliezer the son of Dodo the Ahahite.

[6:02] One of the three mighty men. David. When they defied the Philistines. That were gathered there together. And the men of Israel were gone away.

[6:14] I have practiced some of these names. So I'm hoping I don't make a mess of them. But here we are. Dodo the Ahahite. But Eliezer was the son of Dodo.

[6:25] And it goes on. Verse 10. He arose and smote the Philistines. Until his hand was weary. And his hand was gave unto the sword. And the Lord wrought a great victory that day.

[6:36] And the people returned after him. Only to spoil. Eliezer. His name means God is my helper. God is my helper.

[6:47] Can't you claim that today? Can't you say that with me? God is my helper. God is my helper. Eliezer. Here we can't fight spiritual battles on our own.

[6:58] In our own strength. What does it say of Eliezer? It says he was a man with a sword. A man with a sword. And he defied the enemy. He was a determined man.

[7:09] It says they defied the Philistines there. They defied them. And the men of Israel. As they were gathered together to battle. And then the men of Israel were gone away.

[7:21] Here was Eliezer standing alone. He was one man with a sword. And today we have a sword, don't we? Don't you have a sword? The sword, the word of God.

[7:31] Today we have a sword. Are we one with it? As Eliezer was. He was one with it. It says it cleaved unto his hand, cleaved unto the sword. It was cleaved.

[7:43] It was such that it was fastened to his hand. The word tells us we can hold fast. And we can hold forth the word of God. It tells us in Hebrews 4 verse 12.

[7:54] The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

[8:10] The word of God is quick. It's living. It's alive. It's powerful. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. The greatest weapon that we have is this book, the word of God.

[8:21] The sword of the spirit. It's called in Ephesians 6 verse 17. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Brother, sister, God will fight for you.

[8:35] God will fight for you. It may be hard. There may be difficult times. And we can get tired. We're commanded. We're exhorted to not be weary in well-doing.

[8:49] Sometimes we get weary, don't we? You know, when I see you nodding off there, I can see there's some weary ones in our midst. I know there's some weary ones this morning. And this sister apologized to me, but she said there's some kind of side effect.

[9:02] But, you know, I'm not coming to go at anyone here tonight. But sometimes we get weary, don't we? Sometimes it's because we're doing God's work that we get weary. Amen? That's why. And I commend you, brother. Those that might be weary tonight.

[9:15] Because sometimes we can have a weariness that sometimes gets over, overtakes us. Because we're human, aren't we? Let's face it. But here was this man with a sword, and he defied the enemy.

[9:27] He defied the enemy, and his hand, it could not loosen its grip. You know, I had a moment where I was doing a bit of gardening, and actually I was trying to prepare a message, and I'm trying to think what it was now, but I was thinking of preaching on the call of Samuel.

[9:47] And I was looking in the Word of God, and I had the text all written out, and, you know, it's that moment where he heard God's voice, and his father said, you know, eventually cottoned on that it was God speaking to him.

[10:00] And he said, go and lie down. Go and lie down. So I read that, and I thought, you're a bit tired, so I obeyed the Word, and I went and lay down. You know, because I was weary.

[10:11] I was, you know, there's times when we get weary, amen? And sometimes we just got to go and lie down. And so it's a spiritual thing to do. I had the Word for it there. But sometimes we get weary, weary in well-doing.

[10:22] And there was one time when I laid down, I'd been doing some gardening, and I just felt like my bones are all aching. And I was just feeling that weariness. I just, sometimes you just got to crash, don't you?

[10:34] And this was, I guess, I'm just trying to picture it for you, that this was like Eliezer. His hand kind of went into a spasm. It was just, you know, it was just carrying on, slaying the enemy, that his hand was in a kind of spasm.

[10:49] And his hand cleaved to the sword. Being like Eliezer, that our hands should cleave to this book, amen? We should handle this book, and love this book, and hold fast this book, like a sword.

[11:01] The cause is for mighty men today. Mighty men. To stay in the fight. Men who stand strong. Men who will not detour. Men who will not quit.

[11:12] Men who will not back down. Men who will not retreat. Many will. Many do. Men who will not be. We read in chapter 23, verse 10, and verse 12 also, that the Lord gave a great victory.

[11:26] A great victory. Now these men weren't considering the odds for victory. They were outnumbered. They were looking to the God of victory. Eliezer was so tired, he couldn't open his hand.

[11:40] His hand was so fatigued that he couldn't open his hand after the battle was over. His hand endured the exhaustion, and he went through. He kept going, and he went through.

[11:52] And most of the troops retreated. And sometimes that can be the same in our day, that it seems like everybody's giving up. Everybody's quitting. Everybody's running from the fight.

[12:02] But Eliezer stayed and kept on fighting. He wasn't going to run. Like Adino the Edsonite, imagine he slayed 800 men. Can you imagine? He might have been a bit weary after that.

[12:14] To slay 800 men on one occasion. I'd imagine he was somewhat exhausted. It doesn't say what he was, but I can imagine there would have been some human weariness there.

[12:26] And sometimes human weariness we've got to counteract with divine strength, don't we? You can count on being tired if you commit yourself to serve Christ. We're not talking about being tired of serving, but tired in serving.

[12:39] Not tired of it, but tired in it. Sometimes it can happen, because we're human vessels. And there may be some times of testing. Yet it is a blessing to pour ourselves out for the service of our King, isn't it?

[12:51] To be poured out as a drink offering. To be poured out in this great venture of serving our Lord and King, our Master, this cause of Christ. These mighty men ignored the majority.

[13:03] You know, sometimes people just go with the flow, don't they? They go with the majority. Others are alone. Stand firm. Stand alone. Stand alone for God.

[13:14] That's what these mighty men did. And then we see in 2310 that the ones who had kind of gone back home, you know, they'd taken their bat and ball and gone home.

[13:25] When the Eliazer won the battle through God's enabling, it says they came back. Verse 10. The others came back and gathered up the spoils. Some Christians like that, isn't it?

[13:37] They want the blessings. They want the good times. But they're not willing to fight the battle. The time of battle. But God is looking for mighty men. Mighty men. Men of commitment.

[13:49] Who don't follow the attitude of the crowd. Who don't follow the worldly crowd. God is calling for the people who will take a stand for Christ and win great victories for Him. May we be like Eliazer.

[14:01] The third of our heroes we read of in verse 11. And his name is Shammah. Verse 11. And after him was Shammah, the son of Agi, the Hararite.

[14:12] And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop. Where was a piece of ground, lentils. And the people fled from the Philistines. They fled again. Verse 12.

[14:23] But he, Shammah, stood in the midst of the ground. And he defended it and slew the Philistines. And the Lord wrought a great victory. Shammah. He was one who stood when others fled.

[14:35] His name means desolation and waste. I'm sure that he laid waste to the enemy that withstood him. Shammah was militant. Sometimes we need to get militant.

[14:47] Amen. We need to get militant for the cause that matters most. Shammah was willing to put his life on the line. Willing to go through the very battle of battles.

[14:59] Shammah was willing to put his life on the ground. And it says here, verse 11, that the Philistines were gathered together into a troop. So they kind of amassed the army.

[15:11] And here was a piece of ground full of lentils. So it was a field of beans or peas, if you like. It was a kind of pea patch. It was a field of beans.

[15:23] There was crops here. And some would maybe discount such a thing that that's not really important. You know, some would give me, oh, what are you fighting about this for?

[15:33] What are you fighting about that for? You know, you Christians, you moan and whinge and you're negative about this and that. And they would say, oh, just let that ride. Let it go.

[15:44] It's something small. But Shammah stood for the field of lentils. This piece of ground full of lentils.

[15:57] Of a field of beans, if you like. And why so? Why was he willing to go through the battle for just this piece of ground? It wasn't some great city.

[16:09] It wasn't some great monument or something that others might have counted as important. Others would maybe have counted it as not important.

[16:22] But what was different here was Shammah stood for principle. He stood for principle. This was the king's land. This was God's land.

[16:33] This was the land of the king. And the enemy wanted to just march in and take over. Their practice was to destroy the crops, to just march over them.

[16:44] Maybe tear them out or take them for themselves. And there was value to these crops. To feed the people. So this field of beans, as much as some would discount it, there was a principle at stake here.

[17:00] A principle at stake. We need to be men of principle. Men of principle. God's honour is at stake here in this field of beans. Don't compromise over little things.

[17:11] Don't make excuses about little things. What does it say in Ephesians 4.27? Neither give place to the devil. Don't give him place. Don't give ground.

[17:22] This pea patch might have seemed insignificant. This field of beans, it's just a field. It's just a veggie patch. It's just a bit of ground with some crops here.

[17:36] But it was the king's land. It was God's. And the Philistines wanted to trample it and dishonour God. And Shammah stood for principle.

[17:48] The principle here. Whilst it seemed insignificant. And also because he stood, even though it seemed perhaps an unwise thing to do, as others might have viewed it.

[18:05] Because it was a field. Not a good place to pitch a fight. In an open field, when you're outnumbered. Not a good place to fight a battle. Some would have thought, you know, let that one go.

[18:16] Don't fight it. Just roll over. Leave them to it. Let them have the crop. Everyone else fled. They thought like that. But Shammah stood his ground and fought.

[18:27] He wasn't affected by what everybody else did. You know. Everybody's doing it. Doesn't make it right, does it? We know it's right.

[18:39] Neither give place to the devil. Don't give place. Stand. Stand fast. Will you flee or fight? Will you join the majority? Just go with the crowd?

[18:51] Or will you be brave and strong and say, no, I'm going to stand? Sooner or later, we're going to have to fight. Sooner or later, they're going to have to fight for something. As we could reckon it.

[19:03] Why not here? Why not now? Like someone has put it. If they take the bean field, pretty soon they'll go after the barley. If they take the barley, they'll go for the corn. After they take the corn, they'll come for the sheep.

[19:16] Once they've taken the sheep, they'll slaughter the cattle. So better to start right here, isn't it? To start at the lentil field. To start at the field of beans. Let's keep the beans right.

[19:29] Before it gets to your husband, your wife. Your city. The enemy will keep on attacking.

[19:41] So if you notice, even in the field of beans, stop him there. Stop him in his tracks. Neither give place to the devil. Don't give him an inch. Victory comes when we stand our ground.

[19:51] When we stand firm. When we don't back down. When we take a stand. When we don't give way in compromise. I can make the mistake of compromise.

[20:04] I have done. It's easier that way, isn't it? To go with the flow. To go with what's easier. To not make any waves. To just follow the crowd.

[20:18] Now that's not to say we're in the business of making waves. You know, it's like if you're busy rowing the boat, you don't have time to make waves. You know, sometimes people make waves because they're just contentious people.

[20:31] But there's time to stand fast. When the crowd is going one way and you know it's wrong, don't go with them. And we can be discouraged sometimes when we see when our eyes are on others and what others are doing.

[20:45] Shammah didn't care if he was the only one that cared about that field of beans. He was going to do what was right. He was a man of principle. He was going to do what was right. He had the courage of his convictions.

[20:57] The people fled, but Shammah held his ground. And this one man, this one man turned the tide of the battle. We at times will have to stand alone. We'll be outnumbered.

[21:09] People will mock us and scorn. They'll criticise us for our stand of conviction. But many times we see through the word, the hearers of faith were those in that number, in those ranks, of those who did just that.

[21:23] Like Elijah, where he thought he was the only one man left alive, the only one man left standing. Of course, the Lord showed that he was not, but he felt like he was very much alone.

[21:35] Jeremiah stood alone most of his life. And even his servant, his trusted servant, was unfaithful and left him. Jeremiah. Moses, he had many times where he was in the wilderness, when he felt alone, when there was this murmuring and complaining.

[21:51] And Moses was overwhelmed at times. And he had the human frailty. He needed people to lift up his hands because he was very much weak.

[22:03] And we are called to withstand the enemy in the evil day, to do mighty acts, to be mighty men, mighty women for our Lord. We read on verse 13 of further descriptions here of the mighty.

[22:17] And three of the thirty chief went down and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam, and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim. And David was then in an hold.

[22:29] So he was kept in a holding place. And the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. And David longed and said, Oh, the one would give me the drink, would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate.

[22:48] He knew what that water was like. The water of Bethlehem. The water of Bethlehem. The water that he would have drunk as a young man. And he was feeling a bit thirsty there in the cave of Adullam.

[23:00] The cave of Adullam. And he just sort of blurted it out. He wasn't making a command. He was just sharing his heart. And the three mighty men break through the host of the Philistines, and they drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was brought by the gate and took it and brought it to David.

[23:17] Nevertheless, he would not drink thereof, but put it out unto the Lord. And he said, 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?

[23:29] Therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men. What a show of great faithfulness of these three mighty men. These unnamed three. Men who took a risk.

[23:41] Men with a loyalty to their king. It shows the love these men had for David. David was hiding here from Saul in the cave of Adullam. The Philistines were in Bethlehem, David's hometown.

[23:53] And here he was thinking back to that cool, clear water that he would have drunk from the well of Bethlehem. Perhaps without thinking, he exclaimed this. Oh, that someone would give me some water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate.

[24:08] These three men, they heard the king's cry. They heard the king's heart. And they slipped away as a kind of secret mission to bring back this precious gift to David.

[24:19] And when they brought it back to David, he was so touched, so touched that he could not drink the water. But instead he poured it out unto the Lord. He acknowledged the sacredness of their giving, of their devotion, of their appreciation, of their love.

[24:35] And David knew that these rugged warriors loved him enough to risk their lives, to even die for him at just his plea, at just him voicing his desire.

[24:47] Do we hear the cry of the king? Do we hear the heart of our king? Do we respond as these three? At risk of their lives.

[24:59] We know in the word it tells us, men have hazarded their lives. They've put their necks on the line. It talks about they've hazarded their, I'm not sure of the exact quote, but they've hazarded their lives.

[25:12] They've kind of given their necks, as it were, to be slain with the sword, as it were, for the gospel's sake. Verse 18, we read on, of the mighty.

[25:26] Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruah, was chief among three. And he lifted up his spear against 300 and slew them and had the name among three.

[25:37] Abishai was another of the mighty men, a man fearless, courageous. He remained true to the king and he always stayed close to the king. We read in other references, Abishai was very close to the king.

[25:52] Verse 19, was he not most honourable of the three? Therefore he was their captain, howbeit he attained not unto the first three. Abishai. Then we read of Benaiah, in verse 20, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of the valiant man of Capsil, who had done many acts and he slew two lion-like men of Moab.

[26:15] He went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow. Here was Benaiah, another mighty man. Here was this hungry lion, a ferocious beast. And not only was he trapped in a pit, but it was winter time.

[26:29] This was a time where it wasn't convenient. You know, he likes to go out on a cold time to go down into a pit with a hungry lion. This lion, hungry, without food.

[26:41] On a cold, snowy day, would have made it even more hungry, more angry. And the safest way might have been to have stood back and thrown something at it from above, to kill it from above.

[26:56] But what did Benaiah do? He jumped in, boots and all, down into the pit. He jumped down out of his safety of being above to being in the pit and facing that lion face to face, head on.

[27:11] Benaiah, a mighty man. Verse 21, we read all of him. And he slew an Egyptian, a goodly man. And the Egyptian had a spear in his hand. Here was this Egyptian, a fine looking man.

[27:23] The Egyptian had a spear in his hand. And Benaiah went down to him with a staff. He just had a shepherd's staff. And he plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and slew him with his own spear.

[27:36] Here was this giant of a man, this Egyptian. And Benaiah slew the Egyptian with the Egyptian's own spear. These mighty men had commitment.

[27:47] Not merely lip service, they took action, they took initiative. These mighty men, they were not passive. They were just, not just on the defensive, they were on the offensive as well.

[27:59] Benaiah went out after the lion and he killed it. He was ready to fight no matter the weather. Sometimes we can be fair weather soldiers. Can't we? Fair weather Christians.

[28:10] Oh, it's a bit hot today to go to church. It's a bit cold today to go witnessing, to go to this or that. Commitment for Christ. Here was Benaiah, he slew this giant Egyptian, some seven and a half foot tall, this giant of a man.

[28:30] Benaiah was no ordinary soldier, he was a mighty man. It reads elsewhere that he was in charge of David's personal bodyguard. He struck down two of Moab's fiercest men.

[28:42] He met the worst of enemies in the worst of places under the worst of conditions and he won. And Benaiah was a loyal servant of the king. No matter his situation, he was loyal, he was faithful to his king.

[28:57] And the crying need of this day is mighty man. The crying need of this time is mighty man. A Christian counsellor was asked the number one problem facing Christian families.

[29:09] The number one problem that they faced in counselling Christian families. And this counsellor said this without hesitation. He said, passive males.

[29:21] Passive males. As someone has expressed it like this, men, why is it that with many of you, your wife must take the initiative in spiritual things?

[29:32] Why is it that if the children are going to receive any spiritual training in the home, your wife must be the one to do it? We need mighty men in the church who will take the initiative in spiritual leadership.

[29:45] That does not mean barking commands at your family. It means setting the example in love for Christ and in serving your family and others. Passive males.

[29:57] We need mighty men, don't we? We need to be mighty men here today. We need to be mighty. We can run away and hide. We can go with the flow, the carnal, worldly flow, go the way of the flesh.

[30:12] Or we can stand as mighty men and do what's right. We can arm ourselves and stand our ground and fight. We can join the ranks of the mighty men. Shammah did that.

[30:23] God gave him the power to fight and God gave him the victory even though he was outnumbered as the others. Shammah was given the power to fight by Almighty God and God gave him the victory.

[30:37] And people of God today, we as the people of God, we are under attack. Aren't we under attack? We know it's within and without. It's just bombardment.

[30:50] Bombardment. Missile after missile. Rocket after rocket. Just fist after fist.

[31:01] You know, that's what it feels as a Christian. Yet we are empowered by God. We must take our stand and roll with the punches and take our stand even for the pea patch, even for the field of beans, the field of lentils and fight on.

[31:21] Neither give place to the devil. Fight on. Fight until the victory is won. And if we've failed, we can get back on our feet again and keep on fighting. Amen. Don't let failure stop your fault.

[31:34] You know, what does it say? The righteous fall seven times and they get back on their feet again. That's what it says, isn't it? Verse 22 on. These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and had the name among three mighty men.

[31:48] He was more honourable than the thirty, but he attained not to the first three. And David set him over his guard. So he was made a guard over the bodyguard of David.

[31:59] He was given responsibility. And God will bless as we stand, as we stand fast, as we stand forth. Fourth, God will bless us with more work to do.

[32:12] And that's a good thing. And then from verses 24 through 37, we have a whole list of other names which if I try to read out to you, I'm bound to pronounce wrongly.

[32:23] So we're going to skip those verses 24 through 37, but you can read that for your homework later. But verse 37, we pick it up again, where it includes Nahari. He was just an armour bearer, it says.

[32:37] Now some of you might be mighty men and you're an armour bearer. In other words, the one who comes and joins the mighty men, the ones who carry the heavy armoury, the armour of breastplates and armour of swords and helmets and belts and this man, Nahari, he is listed amongst the mighty men.

[33:00] Yeah, some would just discount him. He's just an armour bearer. We need armour bearers, don't we? We need men and women who will be in that ministry of helps, who will be in that ministry of support, who will be, as it were, holding up the hands of Moses, those who will be armour bearers.

[33:20] What an honour to serve God's warriors. And he was included as one of the mighty men because being an armour bearer is being a mighty man. Lastly, we read verse 37, Uriah the Hittite, 30 and 7 in all.

[33:38] Uriah was the one who David wronged. What a reproach. Yet he was listed as one of the mighty men. David must have had some regrets there.

[33:51] I put to you in that one of his mighty men he wronged. These mighty men, they had a loyalty, a love for their king, for their captain.

[34:05] Will we be amongst their number? Will we be mighty men today, here, in this time, in this city, a committed band? What were these mighty men? They were drawn from all over the place.

[34:17] What was it that set them apart? We see that they were attracted to David. They loved him. They were committed to his cause. And today, the church needs men and women who are attracted to Christ, who are attracted to the king, to the captain of their salvation, committed to the cause of Christ.

[34:39] People followed David and committed themselves to the cause. And so too we ought to be attracted to our king, our captain, our great lord and saviour, Jesus Christ.

[34:52] Committed, motivated to his cause. David's men, they weren't conscripts. They weren't conscripted to the service of the king. They were willing volunteers.

[35:03] You know, they were the ones in the crowd that put their hands highest. Said, Me, me, me, me. They were volunteers. That's what we should be, shouldn't it?

[35:14] Rather than, you know, who am I going to get to help me in the ministry? Oh, you know. Don't be like that. Be a willing volunteer for the kingdom of God.

[35:27] Be one who says, pick me. This was the spirit of these men. We read of them in 1 Samuel 22 where they first come on the scene when David's kind of in hiding in 1 Samuel 22.

[35:46] He's hiding and he's escaped to a cave called Adolin, the name of the cave. And 1 Samuel 22 from verse 1, David had departed, he'd escaped to the cave and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him.

[36:04] These folks started to gather around David. Verse 2, And everyone that was in distress and everyone that was in debt and everyone that was discontented gathered themselves unto him.

[36:18] And he became a captain over them and there were with him about 400 men. So there's these 400 men, a ragtag band of men. And what was their characteristics?

[36:30] They were everyone that was in distress. stress. Now these people had stress problems. They had emotional baggage.

[36:42] These are people with grief and loss problems and people whose minds might have been really unsettling them.

[36:55] They were in distress. In distress. You know, second, everyone that was in debt. You know, their pockets were hanging out. You know, they owed more than they had and they were under a yoke of owing people money, not coping with money.

[37:14] And thirdly, everyone that was discontented. These were the number that David picked from 100 men. You know, if it was a selection exercise for a company, would you choose such a man?

[37:27] They were distressed. They were in debt. They were discontented. They were distressed under the kingdom or under the reign of Saul. Distressed at mental problems.

[37:39] You know, emotional problems. I'm not meaning to discount that we can have such problems. I can have such problems. I get emotional sometimes. I get stressed sometimes, believe it or not.

[37:49] And they were in debt. You know, I could tell you about some debt and being heavily in debt. And they were discontented. This was a motley crew that gathered unto David in David's cave.

[38:03] People with problems. You know, some churches discount people with problems. We don't want problem people. Sometimes the problem people are those that have seen to have it all together. Isn't it right?

[38:14] Sometimes. But these people had their pasts to overcome. They had baggage. They had problems in their past. They'd done some things. But David accepted them.

[38:25] David received them. David accepted them. We are accepted in the beloved, aren't we? David accepted them and he trained them to be loyal fighting troops.

[38:37] And in the same way, the Lord Jesus, he doesn't discount. He says, go into the highways and the hedges. He says, go to the maimed and such.

[38:47] Go to those that others would shut away. Go to the lepers. Go here, go there, go everywhere and invite them to come. Compel them to come in. And so, the Lord Jesus doesn't require that we solve all of our problems before we come to him.

[39:03] If you are in distress today, if you are in debt, if you are discontent, then come to the King David, our Lord Jesus.

[39:13] Come to him. Come to the King of Kings. Join this band of mighty men and be a part of his great cause. It wasn't the self-sufficient and the self-satisfied that are attracted to Christ today.

[39:28] Isn't it right? I know our brother Neil Aitchison at one time tried to plant a church in Burnside. Now, not to discount there's some lovely people in Burnside, but they weren't flocking to come to church in Burnside.

[39:44] You know, sometimes it's the self-satisfied and the self-sufficient that may not be attracted to Christ. They've got it fine and dandy, thank you very much. And when you knock on their doors, you know, there's some like that.

[39:58] Oh, I don't need Jesus, I've got it all. They don't have life. Life everlasting. They've got nothing. But our Lord reaches out to those who feel the pain and the poverty of a life lived under the current ruler of this world.

[40:13] Those who will gladly join themselves to this king, this mighty great king, this captain of our salvation, of our souls. And he affects a mighty change of kingdoms, a change of citizenship.

[40:25] So, friends, today, we need to have this commitment to be mighty, mighty men. There was 400, but there's only 37 amongst the mighty men.

[40:35] There was only three in that kind of leading band to be mighty for God. To make that commitment that risks even life itself, as these ones did.

[40:48] They risked their lives because of their love for their king, because of their commitment to David and his cause. Now, back to Africa again, and I know there's one in our number here from that nation, from that continent of Africa, or a continent of any nations.

[41:05] But during the early years of the Africa Inland Mission, more of their missionaries died from the harsh jungle conditions than Africans who became Christians. They lost more missionaries than they saw converts.

[41:19] And this area became known as the white man's graveyard. But still, the missionaries came. And, in fact, when the missionaries came, they started packing their belongings in coffins.

[41:35] They thought that they could serve a dual purpose here. You know, that they came with their belongings in coffins. And the Africans saw this and they were amazed with this determination and they said, surely, only a message of great importance would inspire such actions.

[41:56] Mighty men. Mighty women. God raised them up in this place, in this time. May God raise up some mighty men from this number here tonight.

[42:09] Men and women who will be attracted to this King of Kings, this Lord of Lords, a King far greater than David, the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[42:22] To be attracted to Him with a hearty love and loyalty to be committed to this cause with your earnest endeavour. With your earnest heartiness to commit your time, your effort, your substance to this great cause of Christ.

[42:39] That He be known. To make Him known. And it's a battle out there, isn't it? It's a battle out there. It's a battle within and without.

[42:54] Join up with the mighty men. We can be giant killers for God, can't we? You might say, preacher, I'm outnumbered. You might be in a situation where you might be the only Christian in your environment, in your family, in your workplace.

[43:10] You're outnumbered. 300 to 1. Outnumbered. 800 to 1. You can be a champion for God.

[43:21] And maybe your mission field is right where you are right now. You might have some baggage. You might still feel like you're in distress.