Let's turn to 2 Samuel 23, beginning in verse 8 through the remainder of the chapter. Jake Shoemaker once told me he's never heard anyone say the word penultimate except for me. This is the penultimate sermon in our series of Samuel. It's always my favorite sermon because that's my favorite word, so I got to say it again today, the penultimate sermon, and I'll just beg your patience and your forbearance as I work my way through some hard to pronounce names. This is a short sermon about a long list. And that title is probably a misnomer, it just sounded cool. Neil Quinn said, you should title this a short sermon on a long list. I said, that's a great title. I don't know if the sermon is short or not, but it is a long list. So let's give careful attention now to God's holy word, which is living and it is active. These are old words, but they're alive today for us. These are the names of the mighty men whom David had. He was chief of the three. He wielded his spear against 800, whom he killed at one time. And next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar, the son of Dodo, son of Ahohai. He was with David. when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel withdrew. He rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clung to the sword. And the Lord brought about a great victory that day, and the men returned after him only to strip the slain. And next to him was Shammah, the son of Agi, the Herorite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils and the men fled from the Philistines. But he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines and the Lord worked a great victory. And three of the 30 chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the cave of Adullam when a band of Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim. David was then in the stronghold and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem and David said, longingly that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate. Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the Lord and said, far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives? Therefore, he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did. Now Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the 30 and he wielded his spear against 300 men and killed them and won a name beside the three. He was the most renowned of the 30 and became their commander, but he did not attain to the three. That's a reference, by the way, to the first three men that we were told about in verses 6 through 12. That's the three there. He did not attain to them. And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two Ariels of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen, and he struck down an Egyptian, a handsome man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but Benaiah went down to him with a staff and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. These things did Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and won a name beside the three mighty men. He was renowned among the 30, but he did not attain to the three. And David set him over his bodyguard. Asahel, the brother of Joab, was one of the 30. Elhanan, the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, Shammah of Herod, Elika of Herod, Helez, the Paltite, Era, the son of Ekesh of Tekoa, Abiezar of Anatoth, Mebunai, the Hushethite, Zalmon, the Aohite, Maharai of Netufah, Heleb, the son of Banna of Netufah, Itai, the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the people of Benjamin, Benaiah, a Parathon, Hidai of the brooks of Gaash, Abi-Alban, the Arbethite, Asmaveth of Baharim, Eliabah, the Shealbanite, the sons of Jason, Jonathan, Shammah, the Herorite, Chaim, the son of Shirar, the Herorite, Eliphelet, the son of Ahasabai, of Macca. Eliam, the son of Ahithophel, the Gilanite. Hezro of Carmel. Parai, the Arbite. Egal, the son of Nathan, of Zoba. Benai, the Gadite. Zelic, the Ammonite. Nahari of Beroth, the armor bearer of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, Era the Ithrite, Gerab the Ithrite, Uriah the Hittite. 37 in all. Thus far God's word for us today. David was a great king. But he could not have soared to the heights that he did were it not for others. He could not have made it on his own. And as his historical record winds down, attention is given to those who made his kingship possible. First and foremost is in chapter 22. in which he acknowledges that if it were not for the Lord, he could never have accomplished that which he did for Israel. And now, in chapter 23, we're given a lengthy list of men who were also instrumental in establishing David's kingship. This list appears almost identically, there's some changes to it, but when this list appears in 1 Chronicles, It comes with this preface. Now these are the chiefs of David's mighty men who gave him strong support in his kingdom together with all Israel to make him king according to the word of the Lord concerning Israel. That's why these names are listed here. These are The men who gave David strong support, together with all of Israel, and they are the ones who made him king according to the word of the Lord. They are ones used by God to support David and assist him to be the king that he was called to be. This is not just about history, the passage that we've just read. It's not even primarily about history. It is primarily about honor. These names are in here not just for the historical record, but as a means of honoring these men. These are David's men of valor, men who fought valiantly, honorably, and so they should be honored as such. Maybe we could say it would be sort of similar to the official portraits of the presidents that all hang within the White House. They are not just a matter of the record as though The portraits hang there to say these are men who held the office of president, although that's true. But they're there as a matter of honor and tribute to say these are men who sacrificed to lead our country for which we should all be grateful. And so that's what we find here. These are men that David honored, men that Israel honored. And the new covenant church followed a similar pattern. They took their cue from the old covenant and recognized that there are certain people that should be singled out or highlighted as worthy of special honor. And that's one of the functions of those sort of maybe boring to us ends of pastoral epistles, Pauline epistles, where we get a bunch of names that we wonder, what are these doing here? So, for example, look at Romans 16. Turn there in the New Testament, and I'm suggesting to you that what we find in Romans 16 is the equivalent of what we find in 2 Samuel 23. Romans is this grand doctrinal treatise, but Paul wraps it up in this way, beginning in verse three. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment then. I'm about to read now weird Greek names, as I just read weird Hebrew names, but he says, greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risk their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. They risk their lives. They are worthy of honor. Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Eponidas, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia. That would be a difficult thing, wouldn't it? To be the first Christian in a community? So he's honored for that. Greet Mary, verse 6, who has worked hard for you. Seven, greet Andronicus, Injunia, my kinsmen, and fellow prisoners, those who suffered for the sake of the gospel. And they're well known to the apostles, and they were in Christ before me. Greet another guy, in verse 8, who is my beloved in the Lord. And greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. Greet Apellas, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong in the family of him, that guy. We see that Paul is writing these things because these people were used mightily of the Lord. They were chosen of God, their fellow workers. And so these are names that in one sense mean very little to us, but we understand why they would mean so much to Paul and to the church. They worked hard. They loved well. They served much. And so they should be honored. They should be remembered. And so you have a list of hard-to-pronounce names in the Old Testament, and those names might not mean a whole lot to us, but we understand why they would mean a lot to David. These are people that worked hard, that loved well, that served much. They risked their necks, just like Paul says of Prisca and Aquila. And I bet you you could probably assemble, put together, compile a list of your own, a list of people who were used mightily by God in your life, who were used of God to bring you to faith or to grow you in faith. We generally do not have Damascus Road conversions where There's a blinding light and we just have this sort of total switch that's flipped and now we're changed because we've heard a voice from God. That's not normally how God works these days, but we had parents who brought us to church, maybe, for you. Siblings who were good examples for us. Grandparents who prayed for us. Friends that challenged us. who preached to us, maybe a mentor who invested in your life. Who are the mighty men and women of valor in your life? If you were looking back, you knew that your time on earth was coming to an end and you're looking back and you want to give honor to whom honor is due because of the ways they were used by God to strengthen you in faith, bring you to faith or strengthen you in faith, Who would you include in that list? An examination of these men in David's life indicates a number of things that make someone worthy of such recognition. I want to highlight three things that were meaningful to David as he would review this list and we can think about ways in which we might apply that to those in our lives. I also want to challenge you, brothers and sisters, with these three things to attain to be a mighty man or woman, boy or girl, used of God. But for David, we see that these men are those who evidence God's strength. or they elicit God's praise, or they emphasize God's mercy. They evidence God's strength, they elicit God's praise, they emphasize God's mercy to David. Let's look at those each in turn. First, men who evidence God's strength. Let's return back to our text in chapter 23, and we're gonna look at this, first this group of the three, right? This long list can be split into four sections, there's four narratives, or four sections. The first is a narrative of the three, and that's verses 8 through 12, and so you have Joseph Heboth, who has said we can call him Josh, so there's Josh. And then there's Eleazar and there's Shema. So we have those three. They are the mightiest of the mighty. Then the next section is a story of another three. They're anonymous, an anonymous trio. And that is in verses 13 through 17. The third section details about two individuals, Abishai and Benaiah, who were high-ranking, but they didn't attain to the glory of the first three. And then the section ends, verses 24 to the end, with a bunch of other names. But I want to consider these first three gentlemen, specifically the second two, as those who evidenced God's strength. The stories given about them, especially Eliezer and Shema, are here, I'm suggesting, not to be about them so much as that they are to be about the God who uses them. Now that's true of every single person listed here, but there's a statement made in their stories that makes it explicit. So let's look at the first story there in verse 9 about Eliezer. We're told he fought through and chopped down so many Philistines that he actually got a cramp in his hand and he couldn't let go of the sword. That's the kind of warrior he was. Apparently though, that's been known to happen in battle. There's a story told of a soldier from the Scottish Highlands who was fighting against the Napoleonic Army in the Battle of Waterloo. And one historian notes, so much blood coagulated around his hand that it had to be released by a blacksmith so firmly were they, his hand and the sword, hilt, glued together. And so that's something that's happening here, it appears, that his hand clung to his sword. But the narrator puts that in the story, not so that we would say, wow, what a fighter, but actually so we would say, wow, what a God. Notice that in verse 10. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. And the same is true of Shammah, the third of the mighty three. Shema, the son of Agi, the Harite. His story is that he defends a critical field of lentils. He really loved lentils, I guess. But the victory, again, is attributed to the Lord in verse 12. But he took his stand in the midst of the plot of lentils, and he defended it, and struck down the Philistines, and the Lord worked a great victory. Matthew Henry makes this point. No matter how great the bravery of the instrument, the praise of the achievement must be given to God. No matter how great the bravery of the instrument, the praise of the achievement must be given to God. He goes on and says, these fought the battles, but God won the victory. Let not the strong man then glory in his strength, nor in any of his military operations, but let him that glories glory in the Lord. And here he's quoting from Jeremiah chapter 9, 23 and 24, which says, let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might. We're talking about mighty men. Let them not boast in their might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord. who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness. And Paul picks up that language numerous times in the New Testament about the one who boasts, let him boast in the Lord. And when he uses it, he uses it normally in one of two ways. He says that to do that means you either boast in the cross of Christ or you boast in weakness. Those are the same thing though, aren't they? From a human perspective, to hang upon a cross was the weakest thing imaginable, and yet that was how God's strength was displayed against the forces of hell. The cross is the ugliest thing imaginable, but God was using it to make the most beautiful thing happen, the reconciliation between God's people and sinners. And so what makes us great, if we are to be great, is that we recognize how weak we are. How weak we are. And that can be scary to acknowledge that or to admit that, but it's actually never a scary thing to be weak and to acknowledge that you're weak. if you are kept and held by a mighty God. And that's what Paul would say. He says that God said to him, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, Paul says, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses So that the power of Christ may rest upon me. I want to be weak and I'm going to to boast I'm even gonna brag about my weakness so that the power of Jesus can be seen and displayed and that's what we have in these men these stories of valor and and Heroism and and it's exciting and it's certainly all about bravery and yet they do it so that the Lord could work a victory and in doing it they point to the Lord who gives the victory and And the mighty men and women in your life are those who are mighty in God. That's what gives them their boldness. That's what gives them their bravery and their valor. The strongest people that you will ever encounter in the world are jars of clay that have just enough cracks so that you can see the real treasure inside, which is not their strength but God's. Those are the mightiest people you'll ever encounter in life. Real might is seen in evidencing God's strength. That's the first point. Notice though, secondly, that mighty men are also those who elicit God's praise. And this point carries over from the first, right? It follows that if these mighty individuals are being used by God, then He's going to get the glory and not them, right? And we see that in the fourth episode about the anonymous trio. This is verses 13 and 17. If you cast your eye down there to that passage, we note some historical facts or some geographical markers that David, in verse 13, and his men are at the cave of Ajelem. We've seen David in that specific cave before. And so this takes us back to those days when he was on the run from Saul, when he was public enemy number one. And he's hiding out in a cave. there and David makes this passing comment, oh I wish I could have a drink from the well back home. He's heard that the Philistines themselves are stationed at Bethlehem where David grew up, verse 14. And David, he said longingly, it's a statement that's sort of forlorn and nostalgic. Think about it, he's so discouraged, he's been on the run. And Saul, his mentor, someone who's sort of like a father to him, now wants to kill him. And he's discouraged, and he's distressed. And he's saying, you know what would make this all better? If I could just have a glass of water from back home. We all know that the water tastes best wherever we grow up, right? And that's what he's longing for, something that would give him that sense of home and belonging. He doesn't say it as a command. And yet there's these three men who, out of love for their leader, They actually get up, they fight through the band of Philistines that are in Bethlehem, and they get him some water from his boyhood well, and they bring it to David, and David accepts it, and then dumps it out. And you're like, wow, talk about rude. What's going on here? No, it's not that David does not appreciate the gift, he certainly does and much more. What David does is he turns, it's an amazing thing, he turns a gift given to him into a gift given to God. He actually elevates what the men had done and what the men brought him. So he's not diminishing their act. He's not being rude at all. Look at verse 16, he would not drink of it, and he poured it out to the Lord. That's the language of offering, of a sacrificial offering in the Levitical codes, of a drink offering, right? There's different kinds of offerings, there's grain offerings, and there's drink offerings, there's burn offerings. Here he takes the gift, he elevates it, says it's something that isn't worthy of his lips, but it is worthy of his Lord. So he pours it out. Why is he saying that? Well, he recognizes that they risked their lives to do this kindness for him, and so since their life was bound up in this gift, to drink it would imply that David thought he was worthy of their lives. He was worth the value of their lives, and he knows that he is not, but he knows that God is. So that's what verse 17 means. Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives? And so what we learn from this, friends, is that the best people in your life will be people that draw you closer to God and not push you further away from him. The best people in your life will be those that draw you closer to God and do not push you further from him. What's the company that you keep? Are they people that inspire praise in your life? Do they elicit God's praise? Do they help you to love the Lord? Or are they people that sort of cast a shadow over your devotion to God? People that actually draw you away from the Lord into things that are illicit, things that are sinful things that are not helpful or holy. The best people will be those who through their words and even just their deeds, their presence, will give you ample reason to pray and to praise. Do you have someone like that in your life? Can you think of someone? Can you envision someone right now even? Someone that just through their character, someone through their dignity, Someone through their mere presence makes you want to be more like Jesus. Someone who makes you want to be a better Christian. As I was reflecting on this, I was reminded of the way that God used a friend of mine, a peer, a housemate, actually. We shared an apartment in college. God used this friend to draw me closer to the Lord during a period of backsliding. And it wasn't because I lived with this friend and he said, you know, Jonathan, I think every night before bed we should read our Bibles together and we can pray for one another and we can encourage each other. It's not because he got into my business and challenged me, although he would have had the right to do so, and I'm sure he was aware of the things that I was engaged in at that time. He never called me out on anything. It was just through his pious living. In fact, there was one simple act that God used in a profound way. to bring me closer to the Lord, to convict me of sin, help me to flee from sin, one simple act, and it was this, that he always kept his bedroom door open. He had nothing to hide. And I always kept my bedroom door closed. Light, darkness, And that light shone in the darkness and brought me into the light. God used a simple act of a holy person in a powerful way. Do you have someone like that? The greatest people in life will be those who make you want to be a better Christian, to be in church more. Do you have someone that it's almost as though there's holiness in the air when you're around them? You kind of breathe it in. Have you ever been so touched by the Christian kindness of a brother or a sister that a mere thank you won't do? Instead, you need to praise God. Something that's come to you that's just so great, so mind-blowing, you can't believe the generosity, you can't believe the kindness that to say thank you just wouldn't be right. You need to praise the Lord. A response that needs to be vertical, not just horizontal. Someone in our midst as a congregation felt that way recently and they expressed it beautifully in a letter that's in all of your mailboxes. You should go and read and thank the Lord for it. So that's the real accomplishment of this trio of soldiers. Not that they brought David water, but that they brought David closer to God. And wouldn't that be quite the accomplishment for you and for me as well? Could there be any higher honor in all of life than to know that we've helped someone love God more? That we've helped someone to praise God? Would you be fulfilled in life if you were told by someone that you made them think more of God? That's a good thought experiment and it probably challenges many of our aspirations in life and pushes back against what we consider greatness really to be. And so, the mighty men in David's life, they evidenced God's strength, they elicited God's praise from David. There's one other thing, one other theme I want to explore, and it's how this list of men for David would also emphasize God's mercy and how our heroes of the faith will do the same. This list emphasizes God's mercy but it does so in a sort of subtle, almost easy to miss kind of way. There is no particular order to those list of names given in verses 24 through 39 in Chronicles, that same list is there and it's in a different order. There's no, it's not alphabetical as far as I know, it's not by age or anything like that. I believe it's arranged though to make a point because we get to the Final name on that list, and we find the only person that we actually have heard of before, and remember, verse 39, one of David's mighty men was Uriah the Hittite. But we know Uriah, and David knew Uriah as well. As David surveys this list at the end of his life, He would not only say these are men who demonstrated God's strength or men who drew me to praise God, he would have to say there's a name on this list that reminds me every waking moment of my need for God's mercy. That's the one thing we all need, isn't it? I mean, really, when it comes down to it, that's all we need. We need mercy. We don't need nice jobs. We don't need cool cars. We don't need many friends. We need God's mercy, though. Without that gift, all other gifts are worthless. Which means the greatest man in all the world, we're talking about these heroes, right? The greatest hero in all the world is the one who doesn't just cause you to remember God's mercy and the need of it. It isn't just one who emphasizes God's mercy, but one who can extend God's mercy, one who is God's mercy in the flesh. It's Jesus Christ. This is the mighty man you and I need in our lives, that we need by our side. Uriah did not offer David mercy, but his death was a continual reminder of David's need for it. But Jesus actually can give mercy. He is the founder, the champion of our faith, Hebrews 12 says. He's the victor, the conqueror. And he is the conqueror because he has done what other powerful people would never dare do. Have compassion. Have mercy. Show kindness. A faintly burning wick, he does not snuff out. A bruised reed, he does not break. That's greatness. That's real strength. And it's in him that we find our strength as well. If we want to be mighty men and women, mighty boys and girls of God, we will be merciful people of God. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. And that's what we need so desperately. And so here's where the New Testament virtues Sort of, not sort of, they make a pretty strong departure from the Old Testament list of heroes because we learn now that the bravest people in all the world are not those who can take on hordes of Philistines or defend lentils. The strongest people in the world are those who can look evil in the face, look sin in the face, and are armed with forgiveness and love and compassion. On October 7, 2006, Charles Roberts entered West Nickel Mines Amish School in Pennsylvania, where he shot 10 little girls and he killed five of them, and then he took his own life. And at Charles Roberts' funeral, more than half of the mourners there were Amish. And the first person to greet Terry Roberts The murderer's mother, after the funeral, were the parents who had lost not only one, but two of their daughters in that massacre. And they said, we forgive you, we forgive your son, and we love you. What did Terry Roberts need at that moment? She needed mercy, not condemnation. And that's what she got from those parents. That is real strength. Greatness is not taking the enemy down, but it is turning the other cheek. And are you ready to be strong like that? That's a terrifying thing. That's a scary thing. It's a scary thing to be humble in that kind of way. To not say, I'm out to get something, but I'm ready to maybe receive something. It could be another blow. That's a scary thing, but friends, Christ has done it for you. Not only throughout his whole earthly life did he show compassion on those who were cruel to him, but even at the cross, as the wrath of God for your sins, not his sins, but for your sins and for my sins, was poured out on him. He didn't say, this isn't fair. I'm done with this. He turned the other cheek. He received the full blow of God's judgment, of God's condemnation. Christ has done that for you so that now you can do it for others. And he's promised to be with you. And when he is with us, we shall do valiantly. Let's pray. Father, we have been challenged to consider what true greatness is. The Bible teaches a different message than what the world provides. We're reminded that The thing we need more than anything else is mercy, and when we have your mercy, we are truly great. When we extend and show your mercy, we are truly great. We're thankful for the people in our lives who have done that for us. Above all, we are thankful for Jesus Christ who has done it for us. Would we be inspired, encouraged, challenged, motivated now? to go out and to show mercy to others and to be the kinds of people who are worthy of honor and recognition, not because of the accomplishments we've made, but because we show your power, because we draw people to your praise, and because we remind people of our need for mercy, which we find in Christ. In whose name we pray, amen.