2 Samuel chapter 23, we're going to be looking at that together.
We have come almost to the end of our series in the book of 2 Samuel.
I'm not going to read David's last words from verse 1 to 7.
I'm going to pick it up in verse 8 just for the sake of time for the reading.
Normally, I will ask someone else to do the reading.
Sometimes I do it myself, but often I will ask someone else to do it.
This morning, there are so many names in this passage this morning
that I felt if I gave it to anybody in church, they would never, ever speak to me again.
And so I'm going to attempt them.
I ask for your forgiveness.
Just because I'm the pastor of the church does not mean that I am any better
at the pronunciation of Hebrew names written in English characters
or in Hebrew characters, for that matter.
So please do forgive me for the names that I get wrong.
But we're picking it up in verse 8, and we're going to read through to the end of the chapter.
These are the names of David's mighty warriors.
Joshab, Bashabeth, Atachemonite, was chief of the three.
He raised his spear against 800 men whom he killed in one encounter.
Next to him was Eleazar, son of Dodai, the Ahite.
As one of the three mighty warriors, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines,
sorry, when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas-Damin for battle.
Then the Israelites retreated.
But Eleazar stood his ground and struck down the Philistines
till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword.
The Lord brought about a great victory that day.
The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead.
Next to him was Shammah, son of Agi, the Harite.
When the Philistines banded together at a place where there was a field full of lentils,
Israel's troops fled from them.
But Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field.
He defended it and struck the Philistines down,
and the Lord brought about a great victory.
During harvest time, three of the 30 chief warriors came down to David at the cave of Adalem,
while a band of Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephain.
At that time, David was in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem.
David longed for water and said,
Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem.
So the three mighty warriors broke through the Philistine lines,
drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem, and carried it back to David.
But he refused to drink it.
Instead, he poured it out before the Lord.
Far be it from me, Lord, to do this, he said.
Is not the blood of men who went at risk of their lives?
David would not drink it.
Such were the exploits of the three mighty warriors.
Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zariah, was chief of the three.
He raised his spear against 300 men whom he killed.
And so he was as famous as the three.
Was he not held in greater honor than the three?
He became their commander, even though he was not included among them.
Benaniah, son of Jehiadah, a valiant fighter from Kebzeel, performed great exploits.
He struck down Moab's two mightiest warriors.
He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.
He struck down a huge Egyptian.
Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaniah went against him with a club.
He snatched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear.
Such were the exploits of Benaniah, son of Jehiadah.
He too was as famous as the three mighty warriors.
He was held in greater honor than any of the 30, but he was not included among the three.
And David put him in charge of his bodyguard.
Among the 30 were Ashiel, the brother of Joab, Elam, son of Dodo from Bethlehem,
Shammah, the Herodite, Elikah, the Herodite,
Helez, the Palite, Ere, the son of Ikesh from Tekoa,
Abazir from Anoth, Sibkaph, the Hushite,
Zalmon, the Ahalite,
Mahariah, the Nethathalite,
Heldad, the son of Banna, the Nethalite,
Ithai, the son of Riba from Gibeah in Benjamin,
Benaniah, the Pirithite,
Hidai from the ravines of Gash,
Abi Abilon, the Abraphite,
Azimeth, the Bahuramite,
Ihlaiab, the Shabalonite,
the sons of Jashin,
Jonathan, never been so grateful for the word Jonathan,
son of Shammah, the Harite,
Ahim, the son of Shari, the Hazorite,
Elaphat, the son of Hashbi, the Mahakite,
Eliam, the son of Ahithophel, the Gilanite,
Hezro, the Carmelite,
Parah, the Arabite,
Igal, the son of Nathan from Zobah,
the sons of Hagri,
Zelech, the Ammonite,
Natali, the Birithite,
the armor-bearer of Joab, the son of Zariah,
Iriah, the Ithite,
Garab, the Ithrite,
and Uriah, the Hittite.
There were 37 in all.
Well, this is God's word.
Let's pray together
and ask that he might help us understand it.
Father, we've read
a list of names of people that you know and we don't.
And Lord, it's extraordinary to us that passages like this are in your word.
And so we ask, Lord, for your help this morning,
that we might understand these words truly.
But we pray even more boldly for more than just understanding with our minds.
We pray that you might be at work by your spirit,
that we might hear your voice,
that we might respond in obedience and faith.
Lord, do something in our church this morning,
even through the frailty of my mispronunciation of all these names
and my weakness as a preacher.
Please do something this morning for the sake of your glory.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
I wonder if I was to ask you this morning
just to close your eyes for a moment and think,
what is a typical Christian?
What is a typical Christian?
What's coming to mind as you think?
What do they look like?
Are they black or white?
Male?
Female?
Young?
Old?
Cool?
Uncool?
I don't know, as you think about it,
what you come up with,
but I know that when the producers of TV shows
do something like that,
they come up with people like,
I don't know,
Doc Cotton,
the Vicar of Dibley,
Mrs. Bouquet.
The stereotype Christian in our culture
is an older white woman
who is fussy,
weak,
easily upset,
and knows their Christian faith
to be something probably implausible
to those around them.
They live somewhere in suburbia,
don't they,
or in the Oxfordshire countryside,
and they probably drive a Honda Jazz
at about 15 miles an hour
in the middle lane of the motorway.
You know the stereotype.
Now, we know, don't we,
that that's not right.
You only have to look around you this morning
to know that's not right,
but I want you to see from our passage this morning
how not right that stereotype is.
Because in 2 Samuel chapter 23,
we meet a list of mighty warriors
headed by this guy,
Josheb Bashabeth.
I doubt before this morning
that any of you had heard of him this morning.
Josheb is the most honoured of David's men.
He is the top of the list
of God's faithful soldiers.
And in our contrast
to the stereotype in our minds,
or at least the stereotype
in the minds of TV producers,
our hero this morning,
Josheb, is a man.
He's almost certainly a man of colour.
He's anything but weak.
If he did ever drive a Honda Jazz,
it would only be in hot pursuit
of someone who was trying to get away from him,
and he'd be probably driving it
on two wheels most of the time.
Josheb appears in verse 8,
doesn't he,
topping the list of courageous men
who trusted the Lord,
protected David,
and were committed
to God's covenant promises.
Now you might have noticed
as I read the passage
that the men themselves
are divided into two groups.
There's the three and the thirty.
The three are led by this guy, Josheb,
and are complemented by Abishai,
who in verse 18
wasn't included in the three,
but was honoured above them
and commanded them,
whatever that quite means.
The thirty are headed by Benanias,
son of Jehida,
who wasn't accounted among them,
but was also part of the bodyguard
and ran the bodyguards.
Look at the detail of all this with me
just briefly.
Josheb, we're told,
in verse 8,
killed 800
with his own spear
all in one go.
Eleazar, in verse 9,
was the guy who,
when everyone else ran off
in the army,
he courageously stood his ground,
fighting so hard
that his hand locked
on the sword
that he was using.
The rest of his mates
in the army
did return
once he'd finished killing,
but only to strip the dead
after they'd fallen
at Eleazar's hand
in verse 10.
Shammah,
slightly amusingly,
I suppose,
stood his ground
in a field of lentils,
right?
Obviously,
he really liked lentils.
Everyone else fled,
but Shammah wasn't going to flee.
He stood there,
not moved,
defeating on his own
all who came at him.
Abishai,
who doesn't make it
to the three,
imagine not making it
to the three,
even though he'd killed
300 men on his own.
Benaniah,
in verse 20,
is the giant slayer
of his time,
coming against the biggest
and the best
of other nations
and winning,
killing an Egyptian
who was a giant.
He even kills a lion,
presumably with his bare hands,
I think,
that's how we're to read it,
in a pit
on a snowy day,
maybe even without
his shirt on,
I think that's how
you have to imagine it,
isn't it?
You see,
basically what you find
in 2 Samuel 23,
in contrast to our stereotype,
what you find
in 2 Samuel 23
is that big men,
real men,
courageous men,
serve the king,
God's king,
Jesus.
You know,
in the stereotype
of our day,
this is more like
Anthony Joshua
than it is like
Doc Cotton.
This is more like
Tyson Fury
than it is like
the Vicar of Dibley.
Now,
I should say at this point,
if you're a woman
in the room,
I'm not trying to make you
feel uncomfortable
this morning,
nor should you think
that this is that kind
of stereotypical image
of aggressive
muscular masculinity,
the type that's been
so abusive and damaging,
especially to women
over the centuries,
that this passage
is not commending that at all.
I'll show you that
in a moment.
But I do think
that our passage
this morning,
although it's not
recommending that kind
of muscular masculinity,
the kind of toxic masculinity
that we hear about,
the passage does still
have something to say
to the men in the room,
especially.
So if you're a man
in the room,
let me speak to you
directly,
just briefly.
What you're going to find
in 2 Samuel 23
is that real men,
courageous men,
are not half-hearted
in their service
of God's king.
It's not what they're like.
Real men,
courageous men,
are not the guys
who play it coy
when it comes
to following the Lord,
just following him
when it suits
or when it doesn't
interfere too much,
but whose real passions
and interests
lie elsewhere,
not really following the Lord.
We just do that
on a Sunday.
Nor are the real men,
the courageous men,
living their lives
out on the streets
picking fights
with smaller kids
or taking knives
into school
to prop up
their low self-image.
It's not what
courageous men do
in 2 Samuel 23.
They're not snorting coke
in the toilets
of a seedy nightclub.
They're not dealing
weed on the streets
or joining gangs
just to get a sense
of belonging.
In 2 Samuel 23,
big men,
real men,
courageous men,
the kind of men
that we should long to be,
those men are losing
themselves
in the service
of God
and his king.
And that is the example
that's been set up
for us this morning.
In a way,
the application
of 2 Samuel 23
to you,
if you're a man
this morning,
is basically
something like this.
Man up
and take following
Jesus seriously.
And if you're a woman
in the room,
please don't think
that this has nothing
to say to you.
The truth is,
as a woman
in a church
where the men
are not rude
or abusive
or dismissive,
a church
where the men
in the church
are losing themselves
in service
of King Jesus
is the kind of place
where women
long to be also.
These are the kind
of men
that you want
to marry.
These are the kind
of men
that you want
leading the church.
These are the kind
of men
you want helping
at youth group,
serving in the church.
And besides all of that,
actually the truth is
that all of us
need to man
up or woman
up,
as it gets said
in our house,
in the service
of the Lord.
That's what we need
to do.
Man up,
woman up.
Take courage
and serve the Lord.
So let me show you
three ways the passage
teaches us to do that.
And the first one
is this,
man up or woman up
if you prefer that,
and trust the Lord
and not yourself.
Trust the Lord
and not yourself.
I think this is
what we're to notice
in the passage
is that it's not
so much the great feats
of the warriors,
but the repetition
of this phrase,
the Lord
brought about
a great victory
that day.
That phrase is there
in verse 10.
If you look down,
it's again repeated
in verse 12.
In other words,
these great warriors
find their greatness
not so much
in the size
of their biceps,
but in the fact
that they are instruments
in the hands
of the Lord.
Interestingly,
their physical appearance
is never mentioned,
is it?
Actually,
it's only mentioned
in a negative way
in its weakness
with a hand
that gets locked
to a sword
getting noted.
Now,
I'm sure these were
probably big guys,
but the truth is
they were not
the kind of guys
who were taking
those pictures
in the gym
of their muscles
and then posting
on Instagram,
right?
Some of those guys,
you know who they are,
don't you?
Maybe you are one yourself.
It's not those here,
right?
That's not what they're doing.
These men,
if you were to ask them,
where does your strength
and your prowess
come from?
How is it that you
have achieved
these great things
in service of the Lord?
They would say,
oh no,
that's really easy.
Let me give you
a simple answer to that.
The Lord did it.
The Lord did it
through me.
You know,
you're not to imagine,
are you,
that Joshua killed
800 men by himself
because he fancied it.
It's not like
he's at the gym one day
and going,
I wonder what I could
bench press today,
right?
I wonder if I could
take 800 men
by myself.
He's not thinking
that at all,
is he?
I think what you're
to imagine
is that he did that.
He took on 800 men
on his own
because everybody else
had fled.
That's exactly
what happens
to Eleazar and Shammah,
isn't it?
They trusted God,
not themselves,
even when everybody else
thought that all hope
was lost.
These are men
of courageous faith,
men who in the midst
of battle believed
that the Lord's promises
were still trustworthy,
that God would deliver
whatever the odds
because they were fighting
for God and his king.
Now,
just for a moment,
well,
maybe not just for a moment,
for the rest of the sermon,
but for this moment
in particular,
engage your brain
if you can
because we need to do
some work here
in order to see
the application.
Now,
you need to remember
that in David's day,
the great promises
of redemption,
so your Bible
is dominated
by promises
of salvation
which run from
the beginning
to the end.
They are hinted at
to Adam,
they are spelt out
to Abraham.
I will make you
a great nation,
I will bless you,
you will belong to me,
says God to Abraham.
Now,
that great promise
to Abraham
in David's day
is administrated
through the nation
of Israel
and his role
as king of Israel.
The promise
is demonstrated
by the success
of a nation,
if you like.
How do I know
that God has a promise
to save people
in the Old Testament?
I see it
in the success
of God's king
and this nation
of Israel.
That's how I see it.
Now,
that arrangement,
that administration
of the promise
made to Abraham,
that ends
at the end
of the Old Testament
when the nation
of Israel
are exiled
and then they
return to Jerusalem
in weakness
and defeat.
And then comes
Jesus,
the Messiah
in the New Testament
and he inaugurates
in his blood
what he calls
a new covenant.
A new covenant.
I am taking
these promises
of redemption,
says Jesus,
which dominate
your Bible
from the beginning.
Those are now
administrated
through me.
I am the one
who is able
to give you
membership
of God's people,
forgiveness
and love
and a knowledge
of God.
The New Testament,
the new arrangement.
And in the New Testament,
God's people
are no longer
just one nation,
are they?
In the New Testament,
God's people
are a church
made up of people
from all nations
under the leadership
of God's king,
Jesus.
And the promises
of Abraham,
the promises
of God to Abraham
are no longer
administrated then
by the sword
of a nation
but by the preaching
of a church
where men and women
from every land
are invited
to join God's people
not by surrendering
to Israel
but by trusting
in Jesus Christ
and joining the church.
Knowing that forgiveness
comes not from
a sacrificial system
in a temple
in Jerusalem
but from the fulfillment
of that
in Jesus' sacrifice
on the cross.
So the new covenant,
the promise
of the Lord
is not this land
will be ours
but that this church
will be his
and his church
will grow,
his church will flourish
and it will be full
of people
from every tribe,
every language,
every nation
and that King Jesus
will not let us down
but will return one day
in power and glory
to take his people
to be with him
in a world
that he remakes
by his power
and his glory
forever and ever and ever.
Now that means
that when you and I
read 2 Samuel 23
the application
is not
find a field of lentils
and stand firm,
right?
You'd do well
to find a field of lentils
in London anyway,
wouldn't you?
No, that's not
the invitation, is it?
The invitation
is not to wrestle
in a pit with a lion
but rather
the invitation
is stand your ground,
live your life
trusting Jesus Christ alone,
believing in his promises
that he has made
to build his church
that he will not leave you,
that he will not let you down
and that you can trust him.
Invest your hopes,
he says,
invest your service
in the promises of God
to build a people of faith.
You know,
manning up
or womaning up
means not giving up
on those promises,
the promises of God
to exalt King Jesus
and present him
with a beautiful church.
And so just like
for Josh Ebb
and Eliezer
and others
where real men
trust the Lord
to keep his king,
so today
real men,
real women
trust the Lord
to keep King Jesus
on the throne
for eternity.
So much so
that not giving up
in trusting the Lord,
the best way to live,
the only true thing
to invest in
is not our own fame
and our own glory,
not prosperity
and comfort
but trusting in
standing our ground
on the promises of God
knowing that God the Father
by the Spirit
through the work of the Son
will keep his promise.
So let me try
and give you
I think essentially
a contemporary
Josh Ebb
or Eliezer
or Shammah story.
Here the warrior
is a mother.
Her son has left home.
It's a true story.
It's a friend of mine.
Her son left home.
He got into drinking heavily
and fighting.
He was depressed
and self-harming.
He had absolutely
no interest in the gospel
despite having been raised
in a Christian home
where he had been taken
along to church
where his parents
had shared the gospel
with him day on day,
prayed for him
over and over
yet still fighting,
drinking,
self-harming.
That was his life.
And it went on
not just for a few months.
It went on for years
and years and years.
And then came
the global pandemic,
COVID.
And Tom started to think.
And he remembered the gospel
that his parents
had told him.
The seed sown
over his childhood.
He dug out his Bible,
his old Bible
and he started to listen
to sermons
because she could do that
online in COVID
for the first time.
And he gave his life
to Christ.
His parents,
his mom,
is a warrior
in 2 Samuel 23 terms.
What about a young person
who is willing at school
to talk openly
about being a Christian?
Who's bullied
for holding fast
to the Bible's message
even when teachers
are laughing at them?
Holding fast
to their commitment
to honour God
with their body,
to speak of Jesus
every opportunity
they get
despite everybody
coming at them?
They're a warrior,
aren't they?
What about the man
who faces
the full onslaught
of the world,
the temptation
to live for pleasure
and live for comfort?
Who's told
by everybody else
that life is about
the woman on your arm,
the money in your bank,
the car in the car park,
the name on the wall
at work
and yet they refuse.
I'm going to trust
the Lord.
I'm going to trust
his promises.
I'm going to live
for Jesus.
I'm going to give generously.
I'm going to invest
in gospel priorities.
I'm going to spend
my time and my energy
encouraging others
at church.
I'm going to make sure
I'm there when the church
gathers because I want
to be there to encourage
and bless and strengthen
others.
They're a warrior.
They're a warrior
because real men,
real women,
trust Jesus
and live for him.
Secondly,
man up
and sacrifice yourself
or woman up
and sacrifice yourself.
In the centre
of the passage
is an intriguing account
of these three warriors
bursting through enemy lines
to get David a drink.
It's an odd story,
isn't it?
David at the time
is hiding in the caves
in the stronghold.
He's on the run
from Saul
who's trying to kill him
and there's a garrison
of Philistine soldiers
who have set up camp
in Bethlehem
and David is longing
for a drink
from the well
near the city gates.
Not presumably
just because he was
generally thirsty,
although he might have been,
but really here's the sense
that he longs for home.
Nothing tastes quite like
the water from your own well,
does it?
You know that
when you go away on holiday
and you drink the water
from the tap
and this tastes weird.
That's it here.
I long to be in Bethlehem.
I long to be home.
And it's almost as if
the warriors sort of,
they're not commanded,
are they?
They're not ordered
to go and do this.
It's though they listen
to David and think,
do you know what?
David really wants?
He wants a drink
from that well
back in Bethlehem.
Okay, come on lads,
let's go.
And so they break
through the enemy lines
and draw some water
from the well.
How on earth
did they do that?
And they bring it
back to David.
And then oddly,
David gets it
and he pours it out
before the Lord.
I think as an honour
to the men
who got it for him.
You know,
I used to think,
surely they would be
slightly irritated
by David pouring it out.
Thanks very much.
Pours it on the floor.
But I think we're to see
that they are
being honoured
by David.
David,
your sacrifice
is so valuable,
I will pour this out
before the Lord.
I think in that sense
it's quite like
the story in Mark 14
where the woman
at Jesus' feet
pours out perfume
on his head
as a sort of ceremonial sign
that Jesus was worth
more to her
than the expensive perfume.
Jesus,
for her,
was worth everything.
Just like David's thirst
for home
was worth
the warrior's lives.
David,
we love you
even more
than our own lives,
he says.
I honour you
for that,
says David.
Now here what you've got
is a picture
of a warrior
with devotion
to the pleasure
of his king.
I will do
whatever it takes
to bring joy
to my king,
say these warriors.
And so for us
to do that same
translation work,
yeah,
the same work
that we were doing before,
and we can think,
can't we,
the rule of life
for the Christian
is I live my life
to bring joy
and delight
to King Jesus.
Not out of mere duty
or formality,
but because the joy
of the king
is my joy
and my purpose.
Let me try for a moment
just to see
how this might apply
for us
as a church corporately.
We were talking
as leaders
just the other day
that it feels like
in many ways
we are entering
into what essentially
feels like
a completely new season
for us as a church.
For a number of years
we've been trying
to purchase the freehold
and that looks like
that's now settled.
The hall on the back roof
has been leaking
for a long time
and that is now repaired.
The bank account
that had so much money
in it at one time
is now empty.
There is a merger
on the horizon
with Redeemer Queens Park.
And we're really here,
aren't we,
on the shoulders
of the sacrifices
of those who've gone before us.
The legacy
that was given to us
that's enabled us
to do those things,
to purchase the freehold,
to repair the roof.
The hard work
of many in this room
who've taken on roles
in the church
to keep things going.
And now, again,
we're being asked,
we're not being commanded,
we're being asked,
aren't we,
to consider
the pleasure of Jesus
greater than the comfort
of familiarity
as a church.
The question before us
essentially
in this new season
is,
do we want to stay
as we are
or are we willing
to change
and move forward
for the pleasure
of Jesus?
Because there are people
in these flats
around us,
in this community
in which we live,
that belong to Jesus
and our job
is to go call them
to come home to him.
And he's asked us,
hasn't he,
to be his mouthpiece?
I wonder,
I like to imagine this,
it's not here in the story,
but you imagine,
maybe these three warriors
tried to persuade
somebody else
to come with them
on that night
to go break through
to collect the water
from Bethlehem.
Maybe Abishai,
perhaps.
Hey Abishai,
we've got an idea.
What's your idea?
Oh,
what are we going to do?
We're going to,
you know the garrison
of Philistine soldiers
in Bethlehem?
Oh yeah,
I know,
I've heard of that.
Yeah.
Well,
they're guarding the well
in Bethlehem,
aren't they?
Yeah,
yeah,
yeah.
We're going to break through
and we're going to get some water
for David to drink
from the well.
Are you nuts?
Are you,
are you crazy?
You know,
don't you,
that David is not instructing
any of you to do,
there's no command
to go do that.
Why are you doing it?
Oh no,
we,
no,
we want to see the look
on David's face
when he sees the water
from the well.
We can't,
we long to see that.
Don't,
are you in?
Abishai says,
no,
you're crazy.
You,
you go if you want to go.
You're crazy.
You go.
I'm staying right here.
And what does the passage say
of Abishai?
He was never included
among them.
He was never included
among them.
Where are we going?
We're about to risk it
for Jesus.
We're giving this,
we're going there,
we're doing that.
You do,
do you realize
that you don't need that?
Jesus doesn't,
we don't have to do that.
You don't have to give
a legacy to mission.
You don't have to sacrifice
your weekends
to go door to door.
You don't have to serve
on the refreshment rotor.
You don't have to serve
in the children's ministry.
You don't have to change.
You could stay where you are.
You could stay as you are.
Oh yeah,
I long to see the look
on Jesus's face
when I see him
and he says,
you sacrificed it for me.
Well done,
good and faithful servant.
Thirdly,
man up
and be faithful
to Jesus.
I hopefully have demonstrated
one thing to you
in my reading of the passage
this morning
and that is that
I am not very good
at Old Testament names.
It's nice of you
to laugh at me
as I read the passage.
You know,
I don't know about you
but I read some of these names
and they go through my head
but they fall out
the other side.
But even still,
even with,
even with a brain like that,
I've noticed
that there is an omission
on this list.
I wonder whether
you've noticed it too.
There's somebody
whose name you would expect
to be on there
whose name is not there.
It's a name that's come up
all the way through 2 Samuel
but is now excluded
from the list of warriors
and mighty men.
What is that name?
Well, it's the name Joab,
isn't it?
Joab is the commander
of David's army.
He too was an amazing warrior,
right?
You know how Joab got his job?
Can you remember that story
in 2 Samuel?
Joab got his job
because David said,
listen,
if you,
if you will do this for me,
you can be the commander
of my army.
I want to take
the city of Jerusalem.
No one had managed
to conquer the city
of Jerusalem.
It was too well defended.
But David said,
this is the city
I want for myself.
This is going to be
the city of David.
Someone conquer this for me.
And if you conquer this,
you can be commander
of my army.
Joab says,
I'm in.
And he climbs up
the water shaft
to conquer the city
of Jerusalem
and defeats the city
and hands it over
to David.
And so it's a massive surprise
as you get to the end
of the book
that Joab is not there.
He's not in the three
and he's not in the 30.
Why?
Well, if you've read 2 Samuel
and you've been with us,
you'll know that's because
Joab is unfaithful,
isn't he?
He refuses David's orders
time and again.
He takes matters
into his own hands.
He manipulates the king.
He murders people
when he doesn't get
his own way.
In the end,
Joab is actually punished
by David's son Solomon
who executes him
next to the altar
in the tabernacle.
And you see here,
I think,
is the point
in 2 Samuel 23.
Real men,
real women of God
are faithful to the king
not just on occasion
but in their lives.
courageously staying true
to King Jesus.
Living their lives for him.
Joab was faithful in moments
but not in the end.
He betrayed
and was unfaithful.
I went for coffee
this week
with a friend
who's pastoring
an Anglican church
not very far from here,
just over in Hampstead.
We've got a lot
of mutual friends as well.
We went to
theological college
around the same time.
He was actually
a couple of years
younger than me.
He didn't look it
but I'm sure he was.
Anyway,
he and I
were chatting together
and we were saying
about the people
who we knew
who we'd trained with
and how sad it was
how many of them
were no longer
walking with the Lord.
It wasn't difficult
for us
although we reflected
on people at college
who were brighter than us
and that was most of them
and who had gone on
to do amazing things
but who had made a mess
of their ministries,
blown up their lives
with scandal and sin,
people who'd fallen out
with one another,
people who'd covered over
the sins of others,
people who'd been unfaithful
to their wives
even for years and years
and pretended to be otherwise,
people who'd bullied
their staff members,
people who'd refused
to submit to the authority
over them
and had bounced out
of ministry.
The conversation
was kind of sad.
Lots of people had started,
not many people had finished
and that's it here.
These men get named
on the list
because they finish
with David
and they keep going
to the end.
Joab did not.
And so for you
and I this morning,
the call this morning
is not just follow Jesus.
The call is keep following
Jesus to the end.
Keep following him.
Don't just look back
and say,
I remember a great time
of closeness with the Lord.
But know those today.
So we're to man up,
woman up,
trusting,
sacrificing,
and keeping going
in faithfulness
to the Lord Jesus.
It would be wrong though,
I think,
to end a sermon there
because we have to ask
one more question
before we finish
and that's this question,
the question,
why?
Why?
I don't know
whether you've thought
about that.
why would these men
do that for David?
Right?
Why the trust?
Why the sacrifice?
Why the faithfulness?
Now the obvious answer
to that is it's because
of who David is.
Yeah?
David is God's king.
He's not just a nobody.
He is God's promised king.
He is appointed
to be the king
of God's people.
He is the holder
of the promise of God.
He is the administrator
of the blessing of God.
It is David as God's king
who is handing out
the blessing of belonging
to God's people.
And David himself
is the great warrior,
isn't he?
He is the boy
who went to a giant
with a few smooth stones.
He didn't just kill
an Egyptian as another soldier
but he went as a boy
with a stone and a sling.
David is the one
who they sang about
who had killed
thousands of people
in his great battles.
The courage
of these men
comes from David's status.
Why?
Why are you doing this
for David?
It's because
of who he is.
Their courage
comes from David's status.
And so for us,
why would we,
why would I
stand in front of you
this morning
and commend to me
and all of us,
listen,
I think you should
trust Jesus
with all that you have.
I think you should
sacrifice to him
in large ways
and small ways.
I think you should
be faithful to him
all the days
of your life,
living only for him.
Why on earth
would I say that to you?
Because of who Jesus is.
He's God's anointed king,
the eternal son
from heaven.
He's the one sent
to bring his people home.
How do you know that?
Well, not because
he went to a giant
called Goliath
armed with a pebble,
but because in an even
more remarkable way,
he went at the giant
of sin,
death,
hell and Satan himself
with a wooden cross
and he defeated it all,
defeated them all.
He rose from the dead
in triumphant victory.
He rescued us
from the clutches
of our sin,
promises us resurrection,
life with him.
Jesus smashes death,
destroys the devil,
rises to new life
and says,
come follow me.
And that's why
we're to be faithful to him.
That's why we're
to sacrifice to him.
And that's why
we're to trust him
because of who he is.
Perhaps you've never
thought about it
like that this morning
before.
Or maybe you're
kind of half-hearted
in your following of Jesus.
Well, listen,
if that's you this morning,
my encouragement to you
is not so much
to dig deep
and see whether
there might be courage
to live for Jesus there.
Please don't do that.
Please don't think
that I'm saying to you
this morning,
work hard to trust Jesus.
I'm not saying that
so much as saying,
look to Jesus.
Look at who he is.
Recognize that he is
the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords.
All of us in this room
one day will stand
before Jesus
to give an account
of the lives
that we've lived.
And the more
that we see that,
the more that we know that,
the more that we'll find
by his spirit
we are courageously given
to live the Christian life
whose praise and his glory.
If I can put it like this,
and I mean this reverently
and not in a flippant way at all,
Jesus' identity,
if you like,
is the protein shake
of the Christian life.
If you want to build up
strength as a Christian,
look at who Jesus is
over and over and over again.
Jesus is the man's man,
isn't he?
The ultimate man.
The man of love
and generosity,
of sacrifice and service,
of faithfulness
and trustworthiness.
is the man to whom
all of us
one day will be united
in what truly is marriage,
isn't it?
As the church
becomes his bride.
In Matthew 25,
Jesus tells the parable
of the master
who goes away
and leaves his servants
with money to invest
and work
while he goes away.
He gives different amounts
to different people
what he says
according to their ability.
And the master then returns
to see what they've done.
For two of those servants,
they've lived courageously,
haven't they?
In the light of the master's
returning,
he says this,
and I'm going to end
with these words.
His master replied,
well done,
good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful
with few things.
I will put you in charge
of many things.
Come,
share in your master's
happiness.
We long to hear that,
don't we?
Come, Lord Jesus.
Let's pray.
Let me leave a few moments,
just as quiet
as you might reflect
on what the Lord
has said to you.
Amen.
Heavenly Father,
we want to be like these
soldiers here,
warriors of the faith.
We want to trust you
and King Jesus,
absolutely.
We want to consider
the joy of Jesus
worth even the greatest sacrifice.
and Lord,
we pray,
make us faithful
to the very end,
we ask.
Keep us trusting you
and living for you.
Lord,
we know that the strength
to do all of that,
none of that lies within us.
We long that you might
do that work
by your spirit
as we see more clearly
who Jesus is.
Leave us this morning
with a really clear impression
of the greatness
and worthiness of Jesus
that we might want to
and take courage
to live for him
in every area of our lives.
Please,
we pray this morning,
even especially for us
as a local church
at this point
in the life of our church.
May we not falter
in our courage
to live for you.
May we,
like those who have gone
before us,
consider all things
or loss
compared to the surpassing
greatness of knowing
Christ Jesus our Lord
and living for him.
In his name we pray.
Amen.