David's men

… Wir freuen uns, heute Abend einen Vortrag über Gottes Wort zu hören. Wir freuen uns, heute Abend einen Vortrag über Gottes Wort zu hören. Wir freuen uns, heute Abend einen Vortrag über Gottes Wort zu hören. Wir freuen uns, heute Abend einen Vortrag über Gottes Wort zu hören. Wir freuen uns, heute Abend einen Vortrag über Gottes Wort zu hören. Wir freuen uns, heute Abend einen Vortrag über Gottes Wort zu hören. Wir freuen uns, heute Abend einen Vortrag über Gottes Wort zu hören. Wir freuen uns, heute Abend einen Vortrag über Gottes Wort zu hören. Und jeder, der sich im Geist verletzt hat, hat sich um ihn herum gesammelt. Und er wurde ein Kapitän über sie. Und es waren mit ihm etwa vierhundert Mann. Und dann zurück in die ersten Chronikale, dieses Mal, Chapter 11. Chapter 11, just to read a verse 10. And these are the chief of the mighty men whom David had, who showed themselves valiant with him in his kingdom with all Israel, to make him king according to the word of the Lord concerning Israel. And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had. Jashubim, the son of Hathmonai, the chief of the captains, he brandished his spear against three hundred, slain by him at one time. And after him Eliasor, the son of Dodo, the Ahorite. He was one of the three mighty men. He was with David at Pasdamim, where the Philistines were gathered together to battle. And there was there a plot of ground full of barley. And the people had fled from before the Philistines. And they stood in the midst of the plot and delivered it, and smote the Philistines. And the Lord had brought a great deliverance. And... Chapter 12 and verse 18. And the Spirit came upon Amazigh, the chief of the captains, and he said, Thine army, David, and on thy side thou son of Jesse. Peace, peace be to thee. And peace be to thy helpers, for thy God helps thee. And David received them and made them chiefs of bands. It's just, dearly beloved, it's quite a vast subject. I'm trying to summarize it for you. But the thought is you see in that 27th chapter of 1 Chronicles, if you follow it down, you see that these men there that got these places in David's ruling over the kingdom when David set it up and administered it, they were those that were his mighty men with him. The chief captains. And you see if my thought is this, I do believe we've had it in the correct order. I hope none of you feel that we're stepping backwards. I think the divine order is to have set before us that which is positive. As I said, the objective truth. Let's have that objective truth and matter before us before we go into that which is subjective. And I, of course, tread with great fear into the subjective because, you know, it's a very personal matter. And, of course, in suggesting anything on a subjective line, one is speaking to one's own heart and soul as much, if not more so, than to you, dearly beloved. But we can all enjoy the objective truth, and know good to God that we enjoyed it more. And, of course, we see this supremely set out in what has been known as the keystone of the epistles. You know how when an arch is being built, there's a stone that's put in the top to lock the arch together. And it's often been suggested that the Ephesian epistle forms such a function. And there we see some very objective truth set before us in the first three chapters. And then we're followed up in the next three chapters. In the first three chapters, we're in Christ. In the next three chapters, we're in the Lord. There's a lot of things done in the Lord, I think about seven times. And there we have the subjective side. So I wanted to say, having said before us, of course, we probably haven't exhausted all that's in that scripture, 21st of Revelation, and all that might come out from it. But I just had this exercise, dear and beloved, to stress that with such a position before us, a glory that is His, as the hymn writer says, I will not gaze on glory, but on the King of grace. Not at the crown He giveth, but on His piercing hand. It's the occupation with our blessed one that would enable us to be here for His glory. And we shouldn't despise the rewards. I know it may not be our supreme motive in serving the Lord here. Nonetheless, since if He sees fit, our blessed Lord, to give a reward, we shouldn't despise it. And we should appreciate it as from Him. And the thought I have is that of being here for Him, in the light of that kingdom, of having a place in it, a place of honor next to Him. I know, of course, that our perfection before Christ, there's nothing, not a single, anything that we can do can alter that eternal portion which is ours in Christ. But there should be now in our hearts and lives and everything of us that which is in moral correspondence to that blessed man. We had a slightly different thought, but nonetheless, in our local Bible reading on Wednesday, in considering Exodus 29, where we thought about the consecration of the priests and the blood coming upon the ear that might be sanctified and that we may just only take in that which is of God and refuse all that that is of this world. The blood upon the thumb that we might do what is sanctified, do what is for the glory of God and do nothing which is of this world. And, of course, the blood upon the right toe that we might walk in the ways of God here to glorify Him, walk in the pathway of His pleasure so that we might be here for His glory. And in 1 Samuel 22, we have a moth in a gown there, a crowd. We wouldn't, naturally speaking, want to associate with such, would we? Those who are in distress and those who are in debt and those who are in discontented, 3 Ds. But, you know this, everybody in the nation of Israel was in debt to David, weren't they? Because Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, said, give me a man to fight against me. And it was only going to be just a two-man battle. And if the one from Israel had gone, they would have been slaves of the Philistines and enthralled them in dominion to the Philistines. They could have just been wiped off. So David went out and slew Goliath. Death by dying slew. He took the sword of Goliath, didn't he? Cut his head off. He made sins and drain all through our blessed Lord. Death by dying slew. So everyone in Israel owed their life to their blessed Lord. And surely, dear and beloved, I speak with feeling, we owe our life to the blessed Lord who has died for us. We can't risk it. We owe our life to Him. We are in debt to Him. Everyone that was in debt. And then we are in distress. Yes, we are in distress, aren't we? Because we see this world that our Lord that died for us, and the Lord, the one that should be supreme, that should order and own this world, He's set aside. Our Lord is now rejected. By the world, disowned. And many still neglected. But by the few who praise His name enthroned. By the few enthroned. But we are discontented because they're all man's end. This week, they've been coming round knocking at our doors. I don't know if you've been doing it. Are you going to vote for our man? Are you going to vote for our man? Well, of course, I'm sure all you dear saints, you always answer the real answer, don't you? Our man's in. Oh yes, he's in. He's in. We voted for that blessed man. He's there. And we need no other man but Him. Our citizenship is in heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven from where it's also. We look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. We look for Him as Saviour. He's going to change these bodies, not vile bodies, no. They're not vile bodies. They're bodies that have been humbled by sin. Calling to the mighty power, the wonderful, dynamic power of the blessed Lord, the one who is able. Oh, the blessed ability of that glorious man. Oh, the ability of Him when He's able to subdue all things unto Himself. He's going to touch these bodies and make them like unto His own glorious body. Yes, our man's in. But we're discontented because there's the wrong man in. Saul was the wrong king. And we are discontented too with the condition of things in this world and that the Lord has rejected. So we gather around the true man, the man Christ Jesus. And we're here for Him in this scene. And it's the treasure that we found in His love. It's His blessed affection. It's because He has died for us. And the words of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 2, The Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. His wonderful love. His glorious person and how He's shown His love to the fool, to the utmost. Dying in our room and setting Calvary's cross, it gives us to be here for Him in this scene of contrariety. Yes, there may not be many great rewards here. Whatever we're in, if we're in a business of ourselves, the Lord will give us and provide for us. There might be opportunities so often. There might be opportunities of gain, some advancement to material things. But the true saint of God rests faithful. And if we are working for an employer, whatever condition we're in so often, they would ask us to do this or that for the next thing. That might be unrighteous or unworthy. But the true saint of God is faithful to the Lord Jesus and will not enter into such unholy or unrighteous ways. He's both the Lord Jesus Christ. And indeed, it's not an easy pathway. We are not called to be in hothouse plants. So, it's a difficult pathway. But the Lord is with us and He's there. And He's the one that's near us, beside us. And we have to be close to Him. There was one, you know, that loved David as his own soul. Jonathan, great and mighty man. And he loved David as his own soul. And he said to David, I will give thee your heart's desire. I will give you your heart's desire. Where was Jonathan when David expressed his heart's desire? Was he with David in the cave of Adon? No, he wasn't there. David expressed his heart's desire. He says, oh, that one would give me to drink of the water that is by the well of Bethlehem. Three of these men, they battled through. They were against countless odds. They battled through to grant David his heart's desire. And I'm sure every one of us, from the youngest to the oldest, we would do almost anything. We would surely do anything to grant the Lord His heart's desire. And it only comes, and we want to know His heart's desire is to be near to Him. I remember, you know, when I was not long converted, maybe two or possibly three years, and I was wondering about breaking bread. And really, you know, in the village where I was brought up, there were seven different places where I was gathered. There were seven different places. And, you know, I think it was in the ordering of God, because it brought home to me the reality of what it is to be with the people of God. You know, because my very own grandmother said, you know, she says, I wouldn't object to you if you went to the church. In fact, she says, since you go to that place there, she says, I have nothing but, I just despise you. And there are many other saints, you see, who knew that, the reality of that. I've seen brothers in the flesh cross the road to pass by their own brother in the flesh, because they were identified, which I feel before God was the testimony in this day and dispensation. To be associated with the testimony. Ruth said to her mother-in-law, Naomi, where are their lives? I will die. Yeah, for I'll be buried today. And there was a sight with a rejected Lord among his people here. There's no great clod in it, but we know we have the smile of the Master's approval. We are with him, and he's with us in it, in that blessed place, here for his glory. And so these three were there. And you know, when I was just weighing up the situation as to where the Lord would have me to be, there was a dear brother, and he said to me, dear, the Lord desires your company more than your service. The Lord desires your service, but he desires your company even more, so let us keep close to him. And surely that's what we find in Mary, don't we? She sat at his feet, she sat at his feet and heard his word. Oh, that blessed place to be near to the Lord, like the disciple whom Jesus loved in John 13. To be near and close to the Lord. You may have often heard me say it, repeating what a dear brother, Edinburgh, used to say. He was introduced to an evangelical Christian. This person had a shop, and it was a meeting point for all sorts of the Lord's people, of all shades and hues and colors, but at least they all loved the Lord and they were all keen to serve him. And he was introduced as a close brother, and this so-called hoping brother said, oh, there's no close brethren in the Scripture. So our brother, Willis Stewart, he read in John 13, he said, there's the close brother, he was close to the Lord. And that's the kind of closeness we want, isn't it? That's the thing to be, first and foremost, let us be close to the Lord. And that's the only kind of brethren that we have in the Scripture, close brethren, that are close to the Lord. So let us be found in that place. And then I didn't go into all of the mighty men, but we read about Joshua Beam, and he defended the parcel of the ground, the plot of lentils for barley. And, you know, those who might say, well, wheat's better than barley, oh, what about this terrible lentils? Barley, that's just mere ordinary food, but it was the food for the people of God. It was the food for the people of God. And oh, today, dear and beloved, are we valuing this precious Word of God? Are we valuing that which is the food for the people of God? Are we despising it, or are we prepared to stand out for it today? Costs what it may. And then we see Joshua Beam, he's one of those that we read about later on. He comes out in that place in display with him. And therefore, will he divide a portion with a strong, says in Isaiah 53, how precious it is. And so if we have before us the wonderful love of the Lord Jesus Christ, and where his love will lead, of course, we know he's going to lead us beyond that scene that was brought before us in the latter part of 21, into the eternal scene, God's eternal day, bridegroom and the bride seen in glory ever, all hearts then satisfied. It's wonderful, isn't it? A bride in here, and this scene is only a bride for a day, and of course, we're there, it's the bride in God's eternal day. But we take on the wife character today. And Mr. Couch-Dinggis says in one of his writings somewhere that if there was a widow whose husband had been killed in a certain locality, she wouldn't want to be in that locality again. She wouldn't want to be friends with those who had been the cause of her widowhood. And of course, our blessed Lord is alive, but you know, this world crucified the Lord Jesus. So how can we be at home in this world which crucified him? Let us indeed have the light of that other world in our hearts and souls, and be kept close to the Lord in these days for his name's sake. …