2 SAMUEL 23 PURSUE GODS HEART UNTIL YOU LEAVE A GOOD LEGACY2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 2 Samuel 23 Pursue Gods Heart Until You Leave A Good Legacy

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018. Well, this evening as we look at 2 Samuel chapter 23, I've titled the message, Pursue God's Heart Until You Leave a Good Legacy. That's another way of saying it, until the very end, until your very last breath.

We have in verse 1, it tells us, these are the last words of David. And as we come to this, kind of the conclusion of this book and really the end of David's life, that really happens, you know, as we head on into Kings. But David,

David here, in these last chapters of Samuel, they're including several aspects of David's life to kind of give that final and complete picture of the life and the kingdom of David.

And we saw last week in chapter 22, we actually saw it on Sunday, and then two weeks ago on Wednesday, we saw that psalm, that kind of like the favorite psalm of David. And now here in chapter 23, we see the last psalm of David. It's probably not David's last words in the sense of this were his very last breaths, you know, on earth, but this was his last poetic work.

David was a psalmist, a songwriter, and this was his last song that he wrote. And so it's recorded for us here in these first seven verses of chapter 23. And up to the very end of his life, David pursued God's heart and he left behind a legacy, something that would last and something that would carry on and enrich the lives of the people who came after him.

And as we consider that example of David this evening, I would encourage all of us, even the younger ones of us, Junior and Hannah and David,

Cisco, all those young people, to be looking ahead and understand that pursuing God's heart, it's not something that we do for a short season or we do in spasms here or there, but it is something that we need to do all the way until the very end, until our last words, that we should be living our lives in pursuit of

God's heart and in doing so we will leave a good legacy a great legacy and the people who are left behind once we're gone will be better off they'll be left with a legacy a richness a wealth that that came from our life that was lived in pursuit of God's heart it's interesting to consider can you leave a greater legacy than David left and

Think about what Jesus said about John the Baptist in Matthew 11, verse 11. He said,

Now there's a lot of discussion among scholars and commentators about what exactly Jesus means by that. And I'm not going to dig into the different ideas, but just in general, looking at this idea that Jesus is saying, look, John the Baptist was a great man.

He was a man of God. He was filled with the Spirit. He was used by God. But he's not the pinnacle and nobody else will ever reach to and attain to, you know, the level of John the Baptist, the impact of John the Baptist. No, actually, they're the least in the kingdom of heaven that will do greater things, that will have a greater legacy. Can you imagine having a greater legacy than John the Baptist? But the Lord is saying that's...

That's attainable. That's reachable. That is part of what God is going to be doing for those who are least in the kingdom of heaven. Or think about what Jesus said in John 14, 12. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these he will do because I go to my father. Not only is it possible to do greater things

works than John the Baptist, Jesus says, you can do greater works than I did because I'm going to my father. I will be with you. I will be enabling you and you're going to be able to serve the Lord in unique and powerful and important ways. There is a great legacy that is available for you if you will pursue God's heart. There's a great need for us to pursue these things

And not just expect or think that it's going to happen automatically in our lives. Alan Redpath, a commentator, says, The day for mighty men and women, heroic men and women for God, has not ended. And so I would encourage you, as we work our way through chapter 23 this evening, to be thinking about your legacy. And even if you think it's way too early to think about your legacy, be thinking about it. The day is not over for us.

The work of God, the plan of God, and the children of God to be in need of and to be in pursuit of heroic men and women, mighty men and women. We're going to see David's last words here in chapter 23, but we also see David's mighty men.

And that day is not over where there's the need for those mighty men and women of God who will pursue God's heart and leave a good legacy, a lasting legacy. And so how do we do that? Well, we're going to look at five different things as we work our way through. First of all, in verses one through seven, we need to listen to God. If you want to leave a good legacy, you

If you want to pursue God's heart until the very end and have something lasting and meaningful at the end, then you need to listen to God. Here we have David sharing his last words, his last song. He refers to himself as David, the son of Jesse, referring to his father, his heritage, which was lowly,

But then he says, the man raised up on high. So came from a lowly place, but God raised me up. Anointed, he says, the anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel. And the sweet psalmist is kind of something that's interesting. It's one of the most noteworthy things about the life of David was his psalms and songs and worship of God, his connection to God.

Everything actually great about David can be attributed to his relationship with God. David inquired of the Lord, and we've seen that repeatedly. And as David inquired of the Lord, he also listened to God. Notice what he says in verse 2. The spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue.

David says, look, throughout my life and in my psalms and songs and as God has, you know, words through my life, the Spirit of the Lord spoke by me. Sometimes the words that I was saying was not my words. It was the Holy Spirit speaking through me. His word was on my tongue. David was listening to the Holy Spirit. But then in verse 3, we see it says, the God of Israel said, David was listening to the God of Israel.

It's interesting. Then he goes on to say, the rock of Israel spoke to me. Over and over, he's saying, I was listening to the Holy Spirit. I was listening to the God of Israel. I was listening to the rock of Israel. It's not necessarily a clear definitive reference, but there might be a slight reference to the triune nature of God here because you have the Spirit speaking

You have the God of Israel, which might be a reference to the Father, and then the rock of Israel, which would be a reference to Jesus Christ. Because remember, the Apostle Paul said the rock that followed Israel through the wilderness was Jesus Christ. And so perhaps here a slight reference to the triune nature of God. And David was listening to God on all fronts. He was listening to the Holy Spirit. He was listening to the Father. He was listening to the Son. He was listening to God.

Paying attention, not just crying out, not just saying things, not just singing to him, but receiving from God and listening to God and then doing what it was that God directed him to do. Pastor David Guzik says the remarkable relationship with God, this remarkable relationship with God is the reason why David was Israel's greatest king and the most prominent ancestor of Jesus Christ. The reason why David had a legacy is

The reason why he is the man who pursued God's heart, and we know him as that. The reason why he brought the nation of Israel to its peak, to the best kingdom years that they ever had. It was established by David. The reason why he is that noteworthy character in the lineage of Jesus. The reason for all of these things goes back to David's remarkable relationship with God. David listened to God.

And so we see here David setting for us the model, setting for us the example. We need to listen to God. Now, in the rest of this psalm, it's over the next couple of verses, verses four through five, David speaks about people in authority.

And he says people in authority need to fear God. They need to rule in the fear of God. And if they do, in verse 4 he says, Think about the thought process that David is going through. He's David, the son of Jesse, but raised up, anointed by God,

He says, those who rule need to fear the Lord and do justly. And if they do, boy, they're going to be like the light of the morning, right? They're going to be like a morning without clouds. They're going to be like, you know, new tender grass springing forth. There's going to be this great growth and brilliance that happens. But then notice what he says in verse 5. Although my house is not so with God, yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant.

So David is saying, people who rule, people who have authority should do justly and rule in the fear of God. But then he also says, but I really haven't measured up to that. I haven't really reached that kind of rulership. I haven't used my authority in that way. And of course, looking back, David could see the failures and the obvious, you know, things that he had done with Bathsheba and Uriah and the different things that the

the issues that he had experienced and the failures that he had. But here's the thing that's interesting. Although my house is not so with God, yet God has made with me an everlasting covenant. Yet God is still, even though I didn't measure up, God has still been faithful to me. He's made an everlasting covenant. It's ordered in all things and secure. God has promised and he has guaranteed my legacy.

And it's not because I performed perfectly, but it's because David listened to God. And so that's the important thing for us. We're not going to perform perfectly. We're not going to measure up and be perfect in all aspects. But we need to continually come back. And that was the noteworthy thing about David. Even after he failed, he would come back and he would listen to God. And so even though David failed terribly,

He left a lasting legacy. He left a meaningful and rich impact on the people who were after him and around him because he listened to the Lord. There's always going to be a battle. He describes that in verses 6 and 7. There's going to be the rebellious and they're going to have to be thrust away and it's dangerous. If you touch them with your hands, you're going to get hurt. So the man who touches it must be armed with iron. There is going to be a battle. There has to be some protection.

but they're not going to last. He says, they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place. Here's the contrast. Those who don't listen to God, they cause a lot of problems. They cause pain, but they're not going to last. Their legacy is not going to last. They're going to be utterly burned with fire in their place. There is going to be a battle. It is going to be difficult, but we need to follow the example of David, pursuing God's heart. And that means first and foremost, listening to God.

Well, moving on to verses 8 through 12, it gives us point number two this evening and how to leave a good legacy. And that is to build up others. If we're going to leave a good legacy, if we're going to establish a good legacy for ourselves in the pursuit of God's heart, we're going to need to pour into other people and help them become leaders.

Mighty men and women of God. Check out verses 8 through 12. We'll read through it and then work our way through some thoughts here. Verse 8. These are the names of the mighty men whom David had. Joseph the Takmanite, chief among the captains. He was called Adino the Esnite because he had killed 800 men at one time. And after him was Eliezer the son of Dodo, the Aholhite,

Verse 11. Verse 11.

where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. So the people fled from the Philistines. But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory. Here we begin looking at the mighty men of David. And the rest of the chapter is going to be devoted to this group of guys that were around David, referred to as the mighty men. The mighty men of David.

David. How would you like to be in that group? Or maybe how would you just like to have that kind of title? Are you the mighty men and women of living water, right? That's a distinct and special and

Maybe not arrogant, you know, to kind of take that title, but you're like, ah, yeah, I couldn't claim that. That would be something difficult to, you know, pronounce and to say. And yet here we have this declaration. These are David's mighty men. There was this group of people. There was this category of people that were special, that had made a huge impact in David's life.

in the establishing of the kingdom. And of those mighty men, we see here in these verses, the top three, the most mighty. There's a total of 37 listed here in this chapter, 37 mighty men. But here are the top three, the three most mighty men. The first one is Josheb Bathshebeth. And this guy is

He was chief among the captains. So think about this, right? So there's 37. Here's the top three. And this guy was chief of the top three. He was the best of the best. And they called him Adino the Esnite. Adino means ornament and Esnite means spear. He was an ornamental spear because he, using his spear, had killed 800 men at one time. That's pretty impressive.

800 men in one battle. 800 men. This guy was a fierce warrior. He was a mighty man. Then we have Eleazar in verse 9 and 10. Eleazar was a mighty man also. He was with David and a couple other guys when the Philistines had gathered for battle. And the rest of Israel had retreated. So here's just a couple guys facing the Philistines on their own. And he didn't just...

stand there and hold the line. It says in verse 10, he arose and attacked the Philistines. He went on the offensive and he attacked them so fiercely, so ferociously that his hand became fused with the sword. He couldn't let go. He was gripping it so hard and fighting so ferociously

The battle is over and his hand is stuck in this position, not forever, but you get the point, right? That he worked so hard to win this battle. He fought mightily and the Lord brought about a great victory that day. And then here's the third guy, Shammah in verse 11 and 12. And again, the Philistines had gathered together and there was this field full of lentils. I didn't really care much for lentils until Kim introduced me to them.

When we first got married and I love lentils, man, they're good. They're worth fighting for. And that's what Shama said. These lentils, boy, I'm going to have a good bowl of lentil soup after this with, you know, some bacon grease in there. And oh, it's going to be just amazing. Maybe some sausage in there. It's going to be awesome. It's worth fighting for. All the people fled from the Philistines, but here Shama comes. He stations himself in the middle of the field and he defends it.

He says, no, you're not going to have this territory. You're not going to have this land. And so these three guys, the mighty of the mighty, the best of the best. But the interesting thing to think about as you look at these three guys, these incredible feats that they did, these mighty men did not start out that way. Just rewind the tape a little bit in your memory. Go back to 1 Samuel 22, verse 2.

And remember, David is there hiding all by himself in the cave of Adullam. And there he is. He's hiding in the cave. Saul's out to get him. And it tells us that everyone who is in distress, everyone who is in debt, everyone who is discontented gathered to him. And so he became captain over them. And there were about 400 men with him. When these guys first came to David, they were probably part of this group.

They were not the mighty of the mightiest. They weren't, you know, Saul's elite force. They were the outcasts. They were the ones who were messed up and their lives were a mess and everything, you know, they were upside down and they had all kinds of problems that they had created and their lives were a wreck. But they go and they join with David and David becomes their captain. And this is where I get the point here in verses 8 through 12 to build others. David

By the Lord, not on his own, but David poured into these guys and these 400 men became a key part of David's kingdom. They became a key part of David establishing Israel as a nation and bringing them back to right relationship with God and establishing victory over the Philistines. And these three men, the mightiest of the mighty,

A part of these that David built and trained, he encouraged, but also corrected. Think about David's example when he kept his men back from killing Saul. Remember when David's hiding in the cave and then Saul goes in to use the cave as a restroom and David withholds himself, but it also points out to us that he kept his men back. He wasn't just

Thinking about himself and protecting himself. But he was training his men. He was teaching them by his example. And good training, of course, includes both. That encouragement, the building up in that encouraging sense, but also the building up in the corrective sense. Let me teach you. Let me help you discern what's good and what's not good. What's right and what's wrong. To leave a lasting legacy. To have a real impact in the world around us.

Well, we need to be invested in the lives of others and build up people around us. You think about Jesus, right? He was the perfect man. He didn't need friends, but he kept some people close to him. Why? To build them up, to have a lasting legacy so that as he ascended into heaven, they would be able to go on with the gospel message.

And so Jesus spent three years of his life pouring into these 12 guys. And you see a big difference from when they started with Jesus, and then they grew a lot while they were walking with Jesus, but then it was really after Jesus was gone that they really grew even more. And that was because not only did they have all of the teachings of Jesus, but now filled with the Spirit, they have their own connection to God, their own relationship with

with God. And as we talk about building up others, this is the key point. Building up others is helping them to connect with God, to know God, to walk with God. And as David pursued God's heart, he didn't just do it all by himself and it's just me and I'm just having my own personal devotion time and you guys, you know, you just do whatever you want to do. But David helped lead these men in

to know God, to walk with God. Just like he brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem and led the nation. Let's worship the Lord. He was encouraging to people around him to help them get right with God. And so as they gathered together with David and they're all disgruntled and their lives are a wreck and David's on the run and together they grow into mighty men of God.

The Lord plays an important role in that. Notice in verse 10, it says, the Lord brought about a great victory that day. These were mighty men because they were with the Lord and the Lord was with them. And it wasn't the mighty man's victory. It was the Lord who brought about a great victory. But they had a significant role in it.

Because of their relationship to the Lord. In verse 12. So the Lord brought about a great victory. It's the Lord who brings about the victories. And it's these guys who are with the Lord. And so they're part of it. 1 Chronicles chapter 11 gives us the same account of these mighty men.

In verse 10, it tells us, Now these were the heads of the mighty men whom David had, who strengthened themselves with him in his kingdom with all Israel to make him king, according to the word of the Lord concerning Israel. Here, these guys, these are the heads of the mighty men, the chief of the mighty men, the mightiest of the mighty,

And it says that they were with David to make him king according to the word of the Lord. These guys were seeking after the Lord just like David was. He was teaching them to pursue God's heart. They were pursuing God's heart along with David. And so they became mighty because they were fulfilling the word of the Lord. And so for us to leave a good legacy, we need to pursue God's heart, but not just in an isolated place.

We need to learn how to build up others. And I would ask you to consider, are other people's lives enriched by yours? They're better. They're better off because you're involved in their life. That is what these guys could say of David. Our lives are better because we're in contact with David. David is our chief, our king, our

He's taught us, he's helped us to know God and to walk with God. I like what G. Campbell Morgan says about this. He says, What was so great about David? Well, we know he pursued God's heart. That's what God said of him. We know that he listened to God personally.

We know that he had a huge impact. He hugely influenced the lives of these men, helped them develop character. He poured into them and built them up. And so he had a good legacy. The mighty men, even the mightiest of the mighty men. Moving on to verses 13 through 17, here we get point number three, and that is develop good friendships. This is an important part of pursuing God's heart.

God has not designed us, and I've shared this often, to be all on our own. It's just me and Jesus. God has designed us to be friends with one another, to have relationships within the body of Christ, and to be connected, and to work together, to share meals together, to pray together, to seek the Lord together, to worship together. There's this friendship that God has for you.

In pursuit of his heart. And it's essential and important for you. You'll never be able to become all that God would have you to be without the friends that God has designed for you to have. But friends don't just happen automatically. There's a development that happens. So going back to the second point, building up others and investing in each other and spending time together.

It develops these good friendships. And here in verses 13 through 17, we have a good example of the friendship that they had. In verse 13, it says, Then three of the thirty chief men went down at harvest time and came to David at the cave of Adullam. And the troop of Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephaim. David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.

And David said with longing, oh, that someone would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate. So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless, he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord. And he said, far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this.

So of the mighty men, you have these top three. And these top three were involved in this one occasion where Jesus,

Well, the Philistines are camped around Bethlehem. Remember, David was from Bethlehem, right? That's why Jesus went, or Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem, you know, for the census, because that was, they were of the line of David, and that was David's hometown, Bethlehem, right? The Philistines are now camped around it, and David is there. It's hot. They've been fighting. They're in battle. We don't know exactly when in David's history this was, but

There's this battle going on and David says with longing in verse 15, oh man, if only I could have a drink of water from the well at Bethlehem. He's kind of like just thinking back like, oh man, it's so hot and thirsty. And man, I remember, you know, when I was young at the well of Bethlehem, like there was just that water would taste so good, right?

I don't know if you have those kinds of memories, but I always remember at my grandma's house in Norwalk, back when she lived down in Norwalk, they had this water cooler and I would drink water from there, but it wasn't just the water cooler. They had these like metallic glasses and I've never really been able to like

this, but I have a clear memory of like, oh, that was the best. When you get the cold water out of the water cooler into this metal glass and then, oh, you would drink it. And after, you know, running out and around the property and shooting arrows and chasing, you know, the cousins and doing all the stuff that we did. Oh, then to go back, you're all tired and sweaty. And, oh, to have that cold water out of something about that metal cup, it just was like, oh, so refreshing. And here's David like, oh,

oh man, I remember those times I'd get the water from the well of Bethlehem and it just like hit the spot, you know, be so refreshing. And he's just kind of talking out loud. He's just sharing this and oh, that someone would give me a drink of water. Well, these three mighty men hear David thinking out loud and they say, we're going to do that. Now the

There's going to be a battle that has to be fought. These three guys go on their own. They break through the line of the Philistines. They get a canteen of water and they bring it back to David. But David, he's so moved by what they did. He's like, this is like their blood. They risked their lives to give me a drink of water. So he pours it out before the Lord. He says, no, no, I can't do that. I can't dishonor your life.

But I can offer your life to the Lord. And so he pours it out before the Lord as a worship offering, as a poured out offering unto the Lord. But I think the thing that's noteworthy about this whole account is that this is not a command that David gave. David didn't say, okay, top three, go get me some water. And then they obeyed and risked their lives because David commanded them. This was not a command. This was three guys hearing their friend say,

Say out loud, oh man, I wish I could just have a drink from that well of Bethlehem. It'd be so nice. Those are such great days. Boy, I miss those days. And these three guys say, hey, let's do something special for our friend. Let's go risk our lives for David and go get some water for him. He'll be so blessed. We just want to bless him. It's not a command. It's not a you must, you have to, or anything like that. It was just

Three guys who love David because they've spent time with him, because they're friends, because they've been together, wanting to do something special for him.

And then David cares for these guys. He doesn't just say, yeah, that's right. You should risk your lives for me. I'm worth it. I'm the king. You know, he's not like, these are his friends. He's like, oh, I can't, I can't accept you. I can't let you risk your life for me to have a drink of water. Oh man, that's so disrespectful to you. And so their friendship together is demonstrated here in this account in the way that they behaved towards David and in the way that David behaved towards them.

It sets a good example for us. You need to develop some good friendships where you actually have a real care for one another, where you're willing to risk yourselves. Remember what Jesus said? There's no greater love that you could have than to risk your life, to give your life for your friends. And Jesus says, look, I love you. I'm giving my life for you. But he calls us to have those kinds of relationships in our lives, to have that kind of love for one another.

And that kind of friendship doesn't just happen. And that's why I have the point as develop, that there's an investment of time, that there's an investment of giving of yourself and spending time and seeking the Lord together. How do you develop these kinds of friendships? I would suggest you do so, first of all, by putting God first. Jesus said the first two commandments, the greatest commandments, love God and then love your neighbor.

And so going back to this idea of pursuing God's heart, one of the reasons why these guys were such good friends is because David put God first. Because pursuing God's heart was the most important thing to David. But he didn't do so in a way that kept him from being with his friends, that kept him from spending time with them. He would instead pursue God's heart and bring them along and help them to pursue God's heart also.

And so he was loving God and loving his neighbor. This is what God has called us to do. And if you will develop good friendships, you will leave a lasting, a good legacy in the pursuit of God's heart. Well, moving on to verses 18 through 23, we get the fourth way to leave a good legacy. And that is to reach for your full potential. Reach for it. Strive for it. Don't just settle. Don't just coast.

But reach for your full potential. Verse 18 and 19 says this, Here's what's interesting about this group of mighty men.

There was the 37 mighty men, and then there was the best of the best, the top three of those, but there was also other ranks as well. And so here Abishai, he's well honored amongst them all, not quite reaching to the level of the first three. He made himself a name. He was honored amongst the first three, but he wasn't quite there in that group. He wasn't in the top three. He was in the, well, the second group of three.

In verse 19, So the second set of three, he was honored amongst them. He established himself in that way, but he wasn't quite at the level of the first three. There's a rank. Just like we have rankings,

In military, right, there's the order of command. Just like we have rankings and maybe even more appropriate to consider it, like statistics in sports, right? Who's the number one pitcher, right? Who's the number three, I don't know, football person? Who's the number two tennis person? You know, you get the point, right? But there's rankings, right? Based on what they've done and how they've accomplished and achieved things in their lives. And

There's a ranking of these guys that's not just military order people selected, but that was based on their performance. Their level was directly related to their accomplishments and what they had done. And here Abishai, he's a mighty man.

He falls in the ranking of these mighty men at this particular place because of how he performed. And then we have another guy, Benaiah. This guy's a pretty amazing guy in verse 20. Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from Kabziel, who had done many deeds. He had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day.

And he killed an Egyptian, a spectacular man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand. So he went down to him with a staff, wrestled the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. These things Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada did and won a name among three mighty men. Here we have Benaiah along with Abishai. He's not quite in the top three, but boy, this guy is pretty amazing, right? There's these lion-like men of Moab and he defeats them.

And he kind of likes that trend. So he sees a lion on a snowy day. He takes that lion into the pit. He kills the lion in the pit. Like a scene out of a Disney movie in my head. They just crawl in. He does it with his hands probably. And then crawls out of the pit all bloodied and scraped up. But he killed that lion down in that pit on the snowy day. And then there was this Egyptian. This spectacular man. An Egyptian spear. He says, I'm going to kill you with your own spear. And he wrestles with them. He fights with them. He finally gets the spear away. He kills the Egyptian with his own spear.

He was a fierce warrior. And time and time again, he proved himself. Notice what it says in verse 23. He was more honorable than the 30, but he did not attain to the first three. And David appointed him over his guard. So you have the best of the best, the top three. Then you have these other guys. And here's Benaiah. He was honored. I mean, he was accomplished. He did great.

But he didn't quite attain to the first three. You're like, what did the first three guys do compared to this guy, right? I mean, this is amazing, but he wasn't quite there. He did amazing. He did great. And he got a good position. David appointed him over his guard. He worked hard. He was a valiant warrior. He achieved much, but he wasn't quite there in that top three. Now, thinking about this, which group would you want to be in?

Would you want to be in the top three? Would you want to be in the mighty men at all? Would you want to be amongst this group? And where in the group would you want to fall? What would your rankings be? What would you desire? Is it wrong to want to be in one of these groups, to be in the top three of the mighty men? Think about what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 20.

Jesus points out something really interesting and important here for us to understand. There is a desire for greatness that you may experience. And that desire for greatness is not necessarily wrong.

Ambition is not necessarily sin, although it can be condemned many times automatically by us, and there are cases, of course, where it is wrong. We just saw the crazy, you know, political races that went through, and hey, much of that is not at all godly ambition. It's a striving for power and lording over and not at all what God wants, but there is a greatness in

That is not forbidden. That is actually, Jesus says, if you want to do it, let me just tell you how. Serve other people. Put their needs first. If you want to be great, if you desire to be great, if you want to be one of God's mighty men or one of God's mighty women, put others first and serve them. This is God's direction for us.

And notice it's a purposeful thing. Whoever desires, you have a desire. Okay, recognize you have the desire. And then here's what you need to do. Become a servant. God gives you the direction. In other words, you have to reach for it. It's not just going to happen automatically. It's not going to just happen while you sit in the chair and don't do anything. But recognize that you have the desire and then put the desire to work and reach for it.

For your full potential. I was also thinking about the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5. We are confident, yes, well-pleased rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well-pleasing to Him. We make it our aim. We're reaching for, we're aiming for, we're trying our best to be well-pleasing to God because we know absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And so we're doing our best to

So that when we leave this earth, we leave a good legacy because we've done our best to please God. We've sought for, we've strived for, we've fought for our full potential. Pleasing to God, fulfilling his will. He goes on in 2 Corinthians 5.10 to say, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. That each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

He says, look, we're going to stand before Christ and be judged, not in the condemnation sense, but in the sports statistics sense. How well did you do? How well did you perform? You went to bat. How many times did you hit the ball?

You had these opportunities to serve the Lord. You had these opportunities to walk with God, to spend time in prayer, to spend time in worship, to pray for someone, to minister to someone, to walk with the Lord in this way, to serve God in some capacity. You had these opportunities. How many times did you strike out? And strike out is not necessarily attempting and not succeeding, but what God's concerned about is not so much the results. So we might, you know,

Pray for somebody and feel like, well, that didn't go very well. But God's concerned about not how well you think it went, how well you think you performed, but how well you fulfilled the opportunities that God gave you. You share the gospel, nobody responds. That's not necessarily a failure on God's part. That's a home run on his part. If he called you to share the gospel and you shared the gospel, that's a success.

So he says, look, we're going to all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And he's going to judge us. He's going to evaluate us. How well did you do with what I gave you? The exhortation for us is to reach for our full potential. Paul describes it later on in Corinthians, right? Running the race, beating his body into submission, doing the best that he can. Run to win the prize, he says. Reach for your full potential. Seek to be the best person.

servant of God you can be. Have a perfect batting average, not because everything you do is perfect, because every time God gives you opportunity, you act. Every time God speaks and leads, you respond. Reach for your full potential. Well, finishing it up, verses 24 through 29 give us the last point, and that is be one of the few laborers. Here it's a long list of names.

A long list of names of these mighty men. Now their names are here recorded in the Bible. And I'm going to take a moment and read through these because, well, maybe your name is in there. And if your name is in there, you would want it to be read. So verse 24. Asahel, the brother of Joab, was one of the 30. Elhanan, the son of Dodo of Bethlehem. Shammah, the Herodite. Elisha, the Herodite. Helez, the Pilatite. Ira, the son of Ekesh.

You know that guy. If your name was in here, you wouldn't want me to mispronounce it, huh? Verse 30. Verse 30.

That guy. I'm really running out of steam here. The son of Ahasuerus.

The son of Macathite. Eliam, the son of Ahithophel, the Gilanite. Hezri, the Carmelite. Paari, the Arbite. Egal, the son of Nathan, of Zobah. Bani, the Gadite. Zelek, the Ammonite. Nahari, the Barathite. Armabar of Joab, the son of Zeruah. Ira, the Ithrite. Gerab, the Ithrite. And Uriah, the Hittite. 37 years.

So here we have the 37 mighty men. The first three, the greatest three, but there was also these other guys who were part of this group called the mighty men. And it's a long group of names, right? Long list of names. And you're like, why are you reading all of these names? Well, although it seems like a long list, and especially it's long because it's hard for Jerry to pronounce them, and so it seems extra long because it takes a while to work through all those syllables. But I would ask you to just stop and think.

Here we have these 37 guys. Now, remember the original group of men that were with David was 400. 400 men came to David originally. They weren't mighty and they didn't all become mighty, but some of them did. 37, perhaps, out of those 400. It's about 9%. It's not the majority. It's not most of them.

And this is the point, that just because these guys were around David, they didn't become mighty. There were those who reached for their full potential. There were those who rose up and became the mighty men. Later on, David's force grew to 600 men. Of that group, we still only have the 37 mighty men. That's about 6%. There's not very many. These guys are the few. There's other soldiers who

but they're not mighty men. Now this wasn't the 37 mighty men because that's the limited number. There's only 37 spots and so that's it. Sorry, if you want to be mighty, you can't be mighty. No, there was room for all 600 to be mighty men, but there was only 37. Not all of them pursued God's heart. Not all of them were seeking after God in the same way. Now later on in chapter 24 here of 2 Samuel, we're going to see that David numbers the armies of Israel. In David's life, in David's reign,

There was 1.3 million men in the army of David. He went from 400 guys to 600 guys, and then that grew. As king, he now has 1.3 million guys under his command. How many of those guys are mighty men? 37. It's these guys. That's 0.0028% of the army is the mighty men. See, the point is...

There's only a few laborers. It's a long list to us to read through, to work our way through. But in comparison to the guys who were around them, there was only a few who were the mighty men. Remember what Jesus said in Luke 10, verse 2? He said,

Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Listen, the work of God is a big work with lots of opportunity, with lots of need. And God has only a few who are willing to become mighty, who are willing. It's not about, you know, well, there's only so many mighty, you know, because it's all based on talent. It's all based on, you know, natural abilities. No, it's God who makes us mighty. All of us have the opportunity to be mighty.

Mighty men, mighty women, and to be part of God's work in this way. The opportunity is for everyone. The harvest is great, but the laborers are few. And so we need to pray. We need to pray for God to raise up and send out laborers. We also need to pray that we would be those laborers, that we would be about the Father's business, that we would be focused on the things of the Lord, that we would be one of the few laborers. And don't think you have to be

you know, a slaughterer to be one of the mighty men. To have your name in the list like this, I would finish off with this verse from Malachi 3, verse 16. It says, Here's the list of these mighty men.

God says, I'm also keeping another book. And your name might be in that book if you fear the Lord and meditate on his name. Pursuing God's heart, putting God first, being passionate about God, loving God, seeking after God. This is the way to leave a good legacy in the lives of the people around you to make an impression on the Lord. And he takes note how you walk with him, how you pursue him.

So this evening, I would encourage all of us to consider, to follow the example of David and pursue God's heart. Starts by listening to him, letting him speak to us, then bringing others along, building them up and developing good friendships, helping each other to reach our full potential, helping each other to accomplish what God has set before us so that we can be part of that select few, those few laborers.

who are invested in and focused on the work of God. So I pray that each one of us would be in that place, pursuing God's heart, being God's mighty men and women, leaving a good legacy as we seek after his will and his plan for us. Noah's going to come up and close us in worship. And so let's take some time to pursue God's heart, to listen to him.

Maybe the Lord wants you to build others up and so feel free during this time to pray for one another and encourage each other. Maybe develop some good friendships. So whatever the Lord moves upon your heart, let's seek the Lord. Let's pursue him. Let's become the mighty men and women of God that he wants us to be. Lord, I pray for each one of us that you would help us to look

towards eternity, to look towards you, to hear your voice, and to respond to it. I pray, Lord, that you'd minister to our hearts now as we spend this time in worship, Lord, that we would enjoy the sweet psalms, the sweet relationship, the time with you. Help us, Lord, to seek your face and pursue your heart. In Jesus' name we pray.

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