and the Let's take our Bibles this morning, and we'll be in the book of 2 Samuel chapter number 1. I'm sure you've enjoyed the good preaching today, and help my heart, just tremendous, tremendous truth. And I want to try to just piggyback right on the back of some things that have been said already, and just tremendous. And how it is, you hear other men preaching, and you know there are some things you may be leaning towards saying, you hear that. And so then you're tempted to kind of start looking back, you know, at those things you keep in your Bible. Then you realize you better not do that. You might get in trouble. But I do appreciate the good preaching and appreciate the opportunity to be here. And I'll be brief and get out of the way. 2 Samuel chapter number 1. And I want to begin reading in verse 17. And let me just preface by saying we're familiar with the Scripture here. Saul has been slain in battle, and in this, word has come to David, and now David has some things to say about these men that have died, and also gives them some commands in this passage. The Bible said in 2 Samuel 1 verse 17, And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son. Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow. Behold, it is written in the book of Jasher, the beauty of Israel is slain upon the high places. How are the mighty fallen? Verse 20, and I believe this is what we just heard much about. Tell it not in Gath. Publish it not in the streets of Ascalon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Geboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offerings, for there the shield of the mighty is vowelly cast away, the shield of Saul. And then he says, as though he had not been anointed with oil. from the blood of the slain and from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. You daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, and other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel. How are the mighty fallen? There says it again. In the midst of the battle, O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant hast thou been unto me, for thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of a woman. How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished? My father, I want to thank you again for the privilege to be in your house. And Lord, thank you for the help I've got today. I pray, God, that you continue blessing in the meeting. And God, I pray that you'd help your people. God, no doubt at the end of the day in this meeting, our desire is to be able to leave and able to serve you and to give you our best. May your son get the glory out of all that's said and done. And it is in Jesus' name do we pray. Amen and amen. In the Scripture you find, especially in preaching about their lives, you find that David and Saul are usually preached about or they're compared and begin to look at the differences of their life. When you study David and Saul, Saul really had a lot more potential than David did. Saul, the Bible said that he was head and shoulders above every man. And so when you look at Saul's life, we think no doubt Saul would have been a great king. But it doesn't matter how much potential you have, if you don't keep your heart right with God, your potential will never take you far down the road in serving the Lord. And then when you look at these now, I find there's some areas that David really was greater than Saul. I find, first of all, David was much greater on the subject of worship. David loved to worship God. It was David that said, Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together. I believe David knew something about private worship, and we know that David knew something about public worship. Then you find that David was greater than Saul in his repentance. David knew something about repenting. It was David in Psalm 51 that said, wash me, purge me, cleanse me. And then you find David learned that lesson with his sin. And I'm telling you, it doesn't matter how great you are. It doesn't matter what you accomplished. It doesn't matter how long you've been saved. Repentance should be a daily walk in the life of a believer. It's amazing how many people in our church have never had to repent of anything. And I don't know how it is in the mountains, but in the same hills, we've got to do some repenting down there, amen. And so there's that. But them even more so looking at their life, I find that even in humility, David was greater than Saul was. This is an interesting thing said about Saul. The Bible said, when Samuel comes to Saul in 1 Samuel 15, 17, here's what Samuel said. And Samuel said, when thou wast little in thine own sight. In other words, Samuel comes and he says, Saul, you've disobeyed God. You've grieved God. And he said, there was a time when you realized just how bad you needed God. And I don't know about y'all men, but the more wicked the day is, and the greater the burden is, the more I realize I need the touch of God Almighty. I need the breath of God in my life. And God help me never forget where I was. And what I was when God came by and saved my soul and changed my life. Brother Doug, be honest with you, if he takes his hand off of us, we won't make it to the pulpit tonight in our churches. And Saul got to a place where he had forgotten God being good. Likening that, look what David is able to say in 2 Samuel 23 verse 1. Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointing of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel." In other words, Saul forgot where God had brought him from, but David remembered what he was when God passed by. Yes, he is the king, but he remembers that day when the man of God broke the oil on his head and took a little shepherd boy, and God made him into a king. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be where I'm at today if it weren't for God touching my life, and God blessing my life, and God helping me, and God help me never to forget where God brought me from. If you forget where God brought you from, you're heading for a mess. Amen. And so you find these men here, so when you come to this chapter, David is now testifying. David is, according to our text, the Bible said that he laments, or he begins to wail, or he begins to mourn, and he puts this mourning to a song. As he does that, no doubt, he remembers the fact that Saul had made David his enemy, though David never let Saul become his enemy. You can't help how people feel about you. As the man of God just said, you sure can help how you feel about people. And everybody ain't going to love us. Everybody ain't going to like us. I mean, you've got enemies on the outside. You've got enemies on the inside. And sometimes you just have to find your prayer closet somewhere. And just remember, if the world turns their back on you, If everybody walks away from you, thank God, that there's a God in heaven that loves us, that there's a God that cares about us, and though they may be against us, thank God, God is still for us, amen. And so he realizes that David never let that bitterness get in his heart. And David makes some comments, and I'm going somewhere quickly. David makes some comments. He says it about these men. He said the beauty of Israel, or the glory of Israel, these men that died, Saul and his three sons, specifically Jonathan. that these men were the beauty, they were the light, they were the glory. I remind you, church, that you and I are not children of the darkness, we are children of the light. Amen. And Jesus said, let your light so what? Not be hid, But let your light so shine. It is a dark world, young people. It is a dark world. And yes, it's a dark day, but God help us to let the light shine for Jesus. It might be a wicked day, but God is still good. His Word is still right. Jesus is still coming. And God help us to spread some light. Amen. The beauty of Israel. And he says about these men three times. He says, Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Anybody can fall in a battle. But he says about these men that, Brother Wells, these are some mighty men that fell. Brother Shook, he emphasizes not just anybody, but these mighty men. I thought about this, what's the emphasis? A mighty man's hard to replace. Brother Ryan, there's some men that we've had to say goodbye to, that we've grown up around, that we've heard preached, and I'll be honest with you, you can't go down to Walmart and replace somebody, man. You can't just go plug somebody out and just say, oh no, but if there are some men that stood for God that's already been preached, it didn't matter what it cost them, they stood for God. I say thank God for some mighty men in my life. And oh God, raise up a generation of boys and young men and preachers who will be mighty men for God Almighty. A mighty man's hard to replace. A mighty man. I thought about the mighty man's fall. Always take somebody with him. I'm telling you, dear man of God, dear servant, dear lady, dear pastor's wife, it's a lie of the devil that if you take a season off or you back up, it won't affect. I'm telling you, there'll be some broken hearts in your church. There'll be some broken preacher friends if they get the call about a mighty menace. I'm telling you, we don't need more getting out. We need some more saying in. We're not better without you. We're better with you serving God Almighty. A mighty man's fall always discourages the youth. Can I say it again? A mighty man's fall always discourages the youth. I was back there in Maputo just a few weeks ago. We had a pastor's kids' youth camp. The second year we've done that, preacher's kids. And I had those kids, Brother Dotson, to write down the names of somebody who's been here, about 40 kids. And I had them to write down a name of one of their heroes. Do you realize this? There's about five or six of those heroes that are in this building. Did you hear me? There's about five or six of you that there's a pastor's kid, there's a preacher's kid, there's an evangelist's kid, there's a missionary's kid, and when they think about their heroes, buddy, it would break their heart to hear that a mighty man has fallen. I'm begging you men of God, keep on fighting, and keep on swinging, and keep on preaching, and keep on living for God. You're a mighty man, and God's using your life, and keep on going for God, amen. A mighty man's fall always hurts the youth. It takes a long time for people to get over seeing a mighty man fall. Let me hurry, I'm going somewhere. David also tells them how he wants these men to be remembered. Isn't that what you did while the good brother reigns? I think it's in order every time we get together. We are to pay tribute to the men of God that labored before us. I don't want to thank Brother Shook for standing for years after he's in glory shouting the house down. I want to make sure I tell him now how much he means to me. Amen. I want to let my mama who's prayed for me and I want to let my mama know I'm thankful for her. I want to let my man of God know I'm thankful for him. I mean, buddy, I want them to know I don't want to have to wait until they're gone and they'll tell me how much I love them. And then I'm telling you again, we cannot just easily replace a mighty man. Now David gives two commands. David gives two commands. Notice the commands he gives. First of all, in verse number 18, he said, tell them to make sure that you teach the children of Judah the use of the bow. Interestingly enough, don't tell them to mourn. Mention Saul's shield. But very simply saying, I believe that it is a reminder that before the Philistines get to you, before the Amalekites come in, before they get where you are, He said, learn those young boys how to pull that arrow back and defeat the enemy on the battlefield before it ever gets into your heart. Well, Saul was defeated by the enemy in his heart before he ever lost the battle to the Philistines on the battlefield. Oh, a mighty man can fall if he doesn't keep his guard up of those around him. God teach us how to keep the sin out of the house, and keep the sin out of the church house, and keep my life clean for God, and not let those things get in, and become a burden, and bitter, and battle those things in my heart. He said, teach them how to do it. Boy, wouldn't it be good to teach our young people how to keep the sin out of their life, out of their lap, out of their hands. Amen. And don't wait until they bring it home. Amen. And don't wait until they pull it in. Don't wait until they get their license. Teach that boy how to get that King James Bible out and learn how to deal with sin in their heart. There's another command He gives. It said in verse number 20, He said, tell it not in Gath. And then he said, publish it not in Ascalon. He said, don't. He said, they're going to find out. I believe what preacher was saying. I agree 100%. Sometimes the word gospel is not just something that's untrue. Sometimes it's just spreading a false report. To be honest, we live in the social media day. There ain't no such thing as a secret. Say amen right there. I mean, it comes down the line. Man, I thought about them even saying that, if there's any kind of joy or respite. And I grew up in church all my life. I mean, praise God, I was potty trained on the church pew at the church. I learned how to drive. My first driver's lesson was with a church bus. Somebody say amen right there. And I've always been grieved by this. When somebody says, yep, I knew it was going to happen and there'd be no tears in their eyes and no remorse. If you knew it was going to happen, why weren't you praying? Why weren't you giving it your all? Why didn't you turn it up a little bit? I'm telling you, God helped us to never rejoice over those that had to happen to them what Saul did. He follows that up. Preacher, why would he say that? Because here's what David knew. Brother Radcliffe, David knew the enemy would rejoice at just hearing not only that Saul had died, but how he died. I'm gonna say something about this quick, I'll be done. The enemy would rejoice. Let me remind you that rejoicing is what believers do. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I say rejoice. We have much to rejoice about. The world that doesn't know God, they may have pleasure for just a season, but they don't know what real joy is. They don't know what it's like to serve Jesus Christ. They don't know what it's like to give you all for God. They don't know the peace we have. And oh God, help us to rejoice in what God did. But David said that if we're not careful, that we can provide them with a reason to rejoice. Think about this, the Word of God does it this way. In Judges 16, 23, the enemy rejoiced when they brought Samson in and they had caught him. In Psalm 13, 4, the enemy rejoiced over David having to suffer. That lets me know that there's a never a time in David's life when he was not being watched. Lamentations 2.17, the enemy rejoices because God's people are not what they used to be. Amen? In Micah 7 and 8, the enemy rejoiced because God's man is backed up. And the fact of the matter is, there is an oppression. And I know sometimes it gets hard. I know the battle gets heavy. I know the storms get deep. But oh God, help us has already been said. God, help me to finish well. God, help me give it my all. I have nothing without Him. I say thank God for mighty men. But oh God, help us to finish well. Amen. Give me this and I'm done. I thought about this. The enemy rejoices when leadership abandons its post. The devil would love nothing more, daddy, for you to abandon your post as head of the house and watching over that little flock. I thought about this. The enemy rejoices when we trade the spiritual for carnal. Give up what we've got to retain something that will never fulfill us. A lot more I want to say, but I got to say this. I want it to be this. I can't help but believe this. But many of us are the recipients of those good, timely, encouraging text messages from Brother Wells. Somebody say amen right there. Brother Wells has, well, I say he ain't got no idea, brother Coates, but I guess it's like this. Lord knows where I'm at, what I'm doing. Lord says, yep, it's about time him get one of them texts. Amen. Brother Wells, it'll take heaven to reveal. I know you're just minding God. It'll take heaven to reveal the help that's been. But I wonder how many times the devil had hoped he'd have got somewhere and got hooked in with Verizon and AT&T like he usually is and hoped that text message would have never gotten to my phone. Only time I want the devil to rejoice, brother Raines, is when I have finished well for him and he says, finally, finally. I ain't got to worry about him. I ain't got to worry about him holding down that corner of Tennessee. I ain't got to worry about him holding down that mountain anymore. I ain't got to worry about him preaching on sin no more. Oh, I ain't got to worry about her praying a hole in heaven. Oh, may God help us to finish well, run well, preach well, sing well, and thank God one glorious morning we'll say goodbye down here and it will be worth it all when we see our King. Mighty man, finish well. The enemy will rejoice by God's grace. Let's not give him a reason to.