Well, good morning. It is a great privilege to be here with you. What a joy it's been already just to see so many familiar faces and to sing together with you. You are a church that sings well. Praise God for that. That has been encouragement to my heart this morning. This, in a lot of ways, feels like home. I was raised in this church. I grew up here in my high school and college years. I walked this aisle on a Sunday night one time to commit my life to ministry. I was married to my wife on this stage right here. I preached some of my first sermons in this very place where I'm standing right now. And when I was 16 years old, on a Sunday night service, I was sitting right back there when Stanley Hughes was preaching, and I fell asleep in his sermon. And by God's grace, I dreamed I got shot and I woke up screaming in the middle of his sermon. Lots of history here. It is good to be back with you this morning. Our text for this morning is from the Old Testament. It is from 2 Samuel 23, just five verses, verses eight through 12. If you're using the Bibles in the pews ahead of you, I think that text is found on page 380 if you want to use that. 2 Samuel 23, verses eight through 12. 2 Samuel really is a continuation of 1 Samuel. In the original documents, they were all one book. It was one telling of one story focused on three men. Samuel, who was a great prophet of God, who the Lord used to draw his people out of the doldrums of a point in their history that we see in the book of Judges, where things were just not good among God's people. And God used Samuel to identify and to raise up the first king of God's people. It was Saul, and Saul had a few high points, but mostly a lot of low notes in his life. And Saul would give way to David. And so those three men, Samuel, and then Saul, and then David, make up the scope, the trajectory of the telling of 1 and 2 Samuel. And from the middle of 1 Samuel all the way through 2 Samuel, primarily it is focused upon the person and the life in the ministry of David. This text here at the end really verses chapters 21 through 24 of 2 Samuel serve as kind of a conclusion to David's life. This is not chronological. These are not things that happened at the end of his life. It is the author of 1 and 2 Samuel going back and picking out a few key areas that we hadn't heard about before and saying this epitomizes David's life, his reign. his kingdom as God's chosen anointed one. David was the forerunner of the Messiah. He was the greatest king Israel would ever know before the person of Jesus Christ. And so chapters 21 through 24 are this summary of sorts. And so we'll want to have our eye out for that this morning, that what we read about David historically really is pointing our hearts toward Jesus and his salvation, that David's kingdom here on earth is a forerunner and a harbinger, so to speak, of God's kingdom eternally. That's the perspective we want to have in mind. If you're able, would you stand with me in honor of our Lord and his word and we will read this passage together. The word of God inspired by the spirit of God for the people of God, here's what it says. These are the names of the mighty men whom David had. Joshua of Bathshebeth, the Kemenite, 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 Eliezer, the son of Dodo, son of Ahoy. 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 Eiji, the Herorite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, and 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. Father, this is your word, and we are your people. and we are in need of your spirit to use the means of your word to affect change in our hearts today. Lord, we pray that you would have your way among us, that our joy would grow in Christ, that our faith would deepen and mature, that he would be glorified and lifted high among us. Have your way, do what only you can do. These are big things for us to ask, but you are a big God, so we ask not with faith in ourselves, but with confidence in you. In Jesus name, amen, amen. You can be seated church, thank you. The structure of chapter 23 is helpful in helping us to make sense of the events we encounter here and the meaning that they are supposed to convey to us. If you look at verses eight through 38 as a whole, they are separated into two primary sections describing two primary groups. The first is the section we just read, verses eight through 12. It has to do with a small collection of David's closest and most loyal followers. A group of three mighty men and the exploits they achieved, the deeds they accomplished in service of David as their king. The second group is similar, but it's larger. It's not three, but it's 30. Sometimes they are described not as the mighty men, but as the chief men. Find them in verses 18 through 38. They also served faithfully. They also fought valiantly. They displayed unusual commitments and courage to God's king and to his kingdom. And so for both the smaller and the greater, both for the three and the 30, we are given a series of deeply compelling events of what these men did, of what they pulled off alongside David during his reign. And in the middle of these two hero sections, we have a more prolonged account about David himself and a personal encounter he had, an episode with his men that further serves to reveal David's heart toward the Lord and toward God's people. So a series of selected events from David's past intended to lead us toward conclusions, not just about David and his kingdom, but about Christ and his. Let's look at this closely this morning, specifically the account of the three. And I want to read verses eight through 12 again. It is worth becoming more familiar with the lay of the land. You can follow along in your own copy of the scriptures. These are the names of the mighty men whom David had. Joshua Bashebeth, the Temanite, he was chief of these three. And he wielded his spear against 800 whom he killed at one time. Next to him among the three mighty men was Eliezer, the son of Dodo, son of Ahoy. He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle and the men of Israel withdrew. But 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. Next to him was Shammah, the son of Ashi, the Herorite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, and there was a plot of ground that was full of lentils. And the men fled from the Philistines, and 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. The text is fairly self-explanatory on its own, but maybe some additional context would prove helpful for us this morning. Joshua Boshebeth was the leader of this trio. And for him, we are simply told this, that in a specific battle on a certain day, he personally cut down 800 enemy soldiers. It may well be the case that he was fighting that day against the Philistines. Many of the encounters between David and his enemies revolved around a battle with Philistia. If we're honest, if I'm honest, when I read this, one of the first unbelieving thoughts that comes into my mind is this, one man against 800, really? This must be hyperbole, it must be biblical exaggeration. There's no way that could be true. Maybe just by way of comparison, let me share a modern day story, just for some perspective. In October of 1973, Israel was fighting a war called the Yom Kippur War. It was one of their holiest days in their annual calendar, and they were suddenly attacked by surprise by two of their enemies, Egypt and Syria, together. The Israelite army, as you would expect, was caught off guard. They suffered massive initial loss of life and equipment. and they were being advanced upon rapidly by anywhere between 500 and 1,500 enemy tanks. And so in those opening moments and hours of that war, the outlook was bleak to say the least. That's when one man, one Israeli soldier named Zvika Greengold, you can look him up, you can Wikipedia him right now on your phone, he's a real guy, Zvika Greengold, he was an officer He was on leave at the time. He saw what was happening. He heard the attacks. He rushed to the nearest military compound close to him. He waded through the injured bodies, the destroyed vehicles. He found, after some time, two moderately functional tanks, and he assembled a skeleton crew of those who were able to serve. They set off in the direction of the enemy. So two tanks, injured men, disabled inventory against hundreds, if not thousands of the enemy, Egyptian and Syrian aggressors. The first enemy tank that they encountered, they destroyed. Soon, one of the two tanks that they were piloting was hit and incapacitated, and so Zvika was in that one, he was injured, he was burned, he hopped out of that one, got in the other one, and for the next 30 hours, That one tank moved from defensive position to defensive position, firing upon the enemy, giving the impression there were far more Israelite defensive forces than there really were. And in the end, Israel, as we know, won that battle. And they won the war. All because one soldier, one man, stood his ground against hundreds. That happened, not thousands of years ago, but barely more than five decades ago. But perhaps, church, the account of Joshua Bashebeth is not as far-fetched as we might be prone to think. A single man with a spear in his hand, warding off 800 who oppose the people of God. Eliezer is next on this list, and during an encounter again with the Philistines, he found himself quite suddenly alone. The rest of the soldiers with him had cut and they had run, but this man, Eliezer, he stood. He stood alone. And he stood, as we are told, until he was absolutely exhausted. He stood and he fought, the text says, until he was weary. And his hand, either because the muscles in his arm had seized or because the Philistine blood around his palm had coagulated, either way, he could not loosen his hand from his weapon. And so courageous was his stand, so effective his fighting, that when the others finally came back, the ones who had run, there was nothing left for them to do but mop up the mess. The enemy was defeated. Shema is the last of these great warriors, and he too found himself apparently forsaken and alone in the midst of a field, we are told, on a farm. Now the crop that day was little more than lentils. I don't know how many people in here like lentils. They're not the most popular thing in the world. Nothing spectacular, nothing that is necessarily precious or irreplaceable. But it was a plot of ground that represented a promise. It was part of God's covenant promise to his covenant people. It was a field, so to speak, that spoke to God's faithfulness. Yahweh had said, this land is yours. It's mine and I give it to you. And so it matters, it represents a promise. And as such, Shammah took his stand and he defended what God declared to be importance, and the enemy that day was defeated. Three mighty men, three accounts of courage and of conquest, of valor and of victory, in the face of overwhelming odds and terrifying circumstances. Joshua Boshebeth pressed on even as he was outnumbered. Eliezer continued to fight even when he had grown weary. Shema stood his ground even when he looked up and found out that he was alone. Church, there's certainly something in this text for us to wrestle with today in our own hearts as we reflect on our own lives, our own fields, our own homes, our own souls. And we'll do that in a moment, but before that, we must not miss what is the most crucial aspect of these three absolutely stunning accounts. We are meant, I think, to read these and to be awestruck. What they did in the face of such opposition, such disadvantage, it is supposed to capture our attention, but first, We must set our feet upon this foundation. Look what it says in verse 10. And the Lord brought about a great victory on that day. The same thing is repeated in verse 12. And the Lord worked a great victory. As we are reminded of church so often, not just in the Old Testament, not just in the life of David, but all throughout scripture, it would be an awful mistake for us to suppose, reading through this text, that these three men were the heroes of their story. They're not. Yes, they achieved great things. That's why it's written. Their accounts are recorded for their honor and for our encouragement. But in the end, in all of their apparent greatness, these three were little more, they were nothing more than instruments in the hand of a God who was far greater than any of those three, individually or collectively. Ultimately, all the glory in this passage belongs to God. However, I would want to make the point, these three were willing instruments, They were courageous, and they were convictional instruments, even when standing their ground with conviction looked like a losing proposition. There's nothing about any of these three situations that makes you think, I'm gonna bet on that guy. He's gonna live to tell the tale of his day. Others ran, but they remained, right? Others disappeared, but these three stood determined. Determined to do hard things with all the strength, all the endurance, all the guts that God would provide them. And it should not be lost on us, friends, that victory for these three, as they stood outnumbered, weary, and alone, victory was not a given. Their only hope on that day was that the God of heaven would mingle their simple obedience and their clear weakness with his strong wisdom and providence. That was their only hope. Ultimately, everything depended on him and not them. And the surprise we feel that we're supposed to feel As we read these stories, that surprise is meant to remind us they did not win the day. God did. Sisters and brothers, I wonder if there are any here today who find yourself this morning weary and outnumbered. Maybe you are the only believer in your home. Maybe you're the only Christ follower in your marriage. Maybe for you each day at work or in the office or the classroom, maybe it's your living room or your kitchen, for you, it feels like war. Life is a battlefield. The enemy is strong, whoever they are, they keep advancing. And your strength just keeps waning. Your grip feels like it's just about to slip. Maybe for you it's not just that you're outnumbered, but you look around and you are fairly certain you are alone. You seek to stand on God's word where he has planted you. His promises where he has placed you. To stand for what you know to be right, for what God has said matters. And you thought as you began your stand that others would stand with you. Maybe they said they would, maybe they gave Their word, maybe they stood in a place like this and they made a vow saying I'm with you. But when times got tough and the heat was turned up, they cut and they run. They were gone either physically or spiritually or emotionally. And now it's just you in the middle of a field fighting for what God promised. What his word says still matters. outnumbered, weary, and alone. If that's where you find yourself this morning or this week, I wanna say to you, take heart, because you are in good company. For this is often how God, in his strange wisdom, how he sees fit to work. And indeed, the weak and the weary and the isolated are often the very ones that our God delights to call and to use to draft into his service and work both in and through for the good of others and for the glory of his name. Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul as he writes to encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ. 20 centuries ago in a place called Corinth, struggling saints just like us, Paul says, for consider your calling, brothers and sisters. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are. So that no human being might boast in the presence of God. Oftentimes, the calculus of the kingdom of God is that God will purposefully place his people in a clear position of earthly disadvantage, so that when victory is brought about, when God's people actually do win the day, they cannot be the ones that get the credit for that. In fact, I think it's worth considering and asking ourselves this morning, when in the history of God's people, from now all the way back to the beginning, when has it ever seemed that God's people are the favorites? When does it ever seem like a safe bet to put all your money on God's people? Is it Noah building a boat in the middle of a desert? Is it Abraham? waiting for a son when he's closer to the funeral home than he is a maternity ward? Is it Moses up against Pharaoh? Is it, as we heard earlier, David against Goliath? Is it the early church against Rome? Is it Jesus Christ, dead and buried and cold and rotting behind a Roman stone for three or four days? Does that look like a winning proposition? Apparently Yahweh loves an underdog story. And so God has chosen to operate in this fallen world, this place we call home, in such a way that no human being, not then, not now, not them, not us, no one has a right to boast before God. Friends, this is how the kingdom of God works. Remember, David's life, his reign, his battles, his kingdom, harbinger of Christ and his kingdom. How does God's kingdom work? Largely through God's people doing really hard things in difficult places in the midst of a broken world. And doing so very often when we feel outnumbered, when we sense that we are weary, when we know that we are alone, when we are confident we have no hope if God doesn't come through. In fact, we have no tomorrow if our God is not faithful to us today. I just wonder if your heart is not a little bit like mine, you just need to be reminded of that this morning. In your battle, in your field, in your family, in your soul, have you forgotten that hard things for the glory of God in a broken world is how things work? That's the norm. It is not the exception. And is there something within you this morning that stirs at a heart level? And you read about, you hear of the faithful stand of these faithful three, doing hard things for God's King, with conviction and with courage, even in the face of great difficulty. And God uses them in mighty and magnificent ways. Is there something within you that wants to cry out, I wanna be like that? God, do that again. Do it in this day, do it in this time, do it in my family, do it in my relationships, use me. Don't let it just be something of the past. Do it again. If that's you this morning, can I just say to you, that is a good inclination. And I suspect it is very likely in the week ahead, there will be places and opportunities where you will have the chance in your life to stand with conviction in a world that opposes your Savior. A chance to persevere with courage in the face of deception and lies that run rampant all around us. Opportunity to endure in love when your enemies attack and attack and attack. A chance for us to be salt and light in a world and a culture that is increasingly bland and dark. I suspect those opportunities will arise in each and every one of our lives in unique ways. But when they come, and they will, Remember, our hope in those hard places, on those hard days, our hope is not that we might somehow rise to the occasion and become our better self and pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and meet the challenge in our own strength. The only hope, the only confidence you and I have is the same as Shema and Eliezer and Joshua Bathshebeth. that the Lord in our darkest moments would be faithful to us and would work in us and through us in spite of our weakness for his glory and for our good. Before I move on from this, just as an aside, let me just say a few words to men who are here today and to boys and young men who will one day be men. There is, I think, a unique challenge that men face as we encounter hard things. And that struggle, I believe, is rooted in the biblical fact that the first man, Adam, his personal temptation when faced with hard things was to avoid. It was to abdicate. In the garden, the enemy shows up, and what does Adam do? He slips back. He's behind Eve, he's out of the spotlight. He is relinquishing the responsibility God had given to him to love and to lead wisely in the home. Now there's a whole theology of gender and roles behind that statement. If you have questions, your pastor would love to spend all the time you'd like this next week answering those. We don't have time for that this morning, but I believe it is right, And it is biblical to say this, that one of the ways that men are specifically tempted in our sinfulness is to avoid and to abdicate when things get hard, when difficult times arrive. We are still often sinfully inclined like Adam to step back when we ought to step up. Now, I'm not saying that women never struggle with this, but I do believe it is a specific struggle that men should be specifically aware of in our hearts. And so men, it is good to be reminded in a place of grace like this, of this weakness within us, and to be encouraged, and to be challenged, that it's okay to do hard things. It's okay to plant your feet in a difficult field and say, I'm not moving. This matters. You may not think it matters. God says it matters, and so it matters. It's okay to stand even when it's difficult, to stay even when you're weary, to remain even if you're alone. This world is broken, and it continues to fracture at an alarming rate. But one of the means of grace that God has given and designed for this broken world is godly men, indeed any godly individual, man or woman, who will stand in the strength of the Lord for what is right, who will stand humbly and courageously and not let their feet be moved, even from hard places. And I would say may it be so among us as the people of God. As we reflect one more time on this surprising text and the staggering accomplishments of these men, remember with me once more the specifics. Joshua Boshebeth pressed on even when he was outnumbered. Eliezer continued to fight even though he was weary. Shema stood his ground even when he looked up and found that he was alone. Amazing accounts of God's people accomplishing marvelous things according to God's strength and for God's glory. But let me also remind us one last time of the true hero of this text. It was not any of these three mighty men. Rather, it was the awesome God they looked to and hoped in, the one they followed and were strengthened by on that day. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. If you are here this morning and you are a follower of Christ, and I suspect many of you are, and you find yourself in a challenging place, faced with difficult obedience, a hard path before you, Friends, what you need most this morning is not to have your eyes fixed upon heroes of old with impressive resumes of conquest and faith. What you need is not to compare yourself to them or to work harder to measure up. What you need most, what we all need most at all times, is to have our hearts freshly captured and captivated by the glory and the beauty of Christ. To behold in Him all of His faithfulness, His accomplishment, His finished work on our behalf. The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is this, Jesus stood in a hard place even when no one else stood with him. Judas betrayed, Peter denied, the disciples fled, Christ remained steadfast and faithful. Our Savior fought for faithfulness even though he was outnumbered and set upon from every side. The Jewish leaders, the Roman soldiers, Pilate, Herod, the crowds of Jerusalem that just a week earlier had said, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Now they cry for murder, For crucifixion, Christ didn't flinch. Christ endured even though he was weary, he was beaten, he was mocked, he was falsely accused, he was spat upon, he was crowned with thorns, he was nailed to a tree. Oh, how burdened our Savior was. And yet for the joys set before him, he endured, he pressed on, and he stood. He stood and he fought for the people of God so we might enjoy the promises of God. He faced our enemy, he bore our cross, he walked out of that tomb alive. And thus he brought about a victory infinitely more surprising than anything we find in 2 Samuel 23. And in so doing, Jesus Christ demonstrated he alone is worthy of all praise. of all glory, of all worship, that His is the name above all names. And thus He alone deserves our affection and our attention. Church, Christ is our, He is your mighty hero. And as such, He is worthy of our lives poured out in love and devotion to Him. He's worthy of you doing hard things in hard places where he has planted you so that he might be shown to be good and gracious and full of glory above all else. And there is coming a day when everything that he has done for us, everything he is bringing about within us and through us, there is coming a day when he will get All of that credit. Maybe it will look something like this. It's from a theologian and author named A.W. Pink, wrote prolifically in the early 20th century. Maybe you just close your eyes and let this scene unfold in your mind. When the books are opened before an assembled universe, and the fidelity and courage of God's ministers is proclaimed, It will be principally for the glory of their captain, whom they served and whose fame they sought to spread, and by whose spirit they were energized and enabled. Whatever crowns his servants and saints receive from God, they will be laid at the feet of the Lamb, who alone is worthy. That day is coming, church. It's been promised. And so for as many days as God would give us between then and now, may we live with that good, promised future day in view, doing hard things in a broken world, all for the glory of our true hero and king, Jesus Christ. And if Christ is not yet your king, he can be. You'll bow before him someday. You'll do it now. willingly, joyfully, or you'll do it that day under compulsion. It'll be the last good thing you see for all of eternity. Jesus came to this world as a baby. We just got done celebrating that. And he lived all of his days utterly, sinless, faithfully, righteous in this broken place. And for that, he was murdered. He was crucified on a cross, not for his sins, but for ours. But that grave could not contain him. His victory was promised. And he rose three days later so we might know, so you might know his payment for your sin is and always will be sufficient. Christ accomplished hard things. He did the greatest thing so you could be forgiven, so you could be saved and secure forever. Friend, if you do not know Christ, he is worthy of your consideration. He is worthy of your life. He is worthy of your surrender. He's the hero you need. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your glory shown to us in Jesus Christ We thank you for the goodness that you provide for us as your people in the gospel. Thank you for doing hard things for needy people like us. Jesus, thank you for doing the hardest thing, the thing that we required most but were most incapable of accomplishing. Thank you for living for us, dying for us, rising for us, providing salvation and hope. Or may your people in this place this morning rest and rejoice in the finished work of Jesus. And then may they go out and stand and remain and endure in hard places for the glory of their King. And Father, if there be any here today that don't yet trust in Christ, would you open their eyes Soften their hearts so they might behold both their need for a savior and the sufficiency of Christ to be that savior. Would you cause them, would you call them so they would call upon Christ today? Father, have your way in a broken world amidst needy people. May Christ be glorified and we ask it in his name. Amen, amen.