2 Samuel Chapter 23 Verse 1

 We will notice a theme of David’s personal eulogy, (his account of the

best parts of himself at the end of his life), after all of his exploits,

victories, success as king. That theme is that in his mind, he owes all of it

to the Lord and to the incredible people God put around him throughout

his life. Man, that is truly the mark of the greatest success and life

possible!

 I’m not talking about humility or gratitude although I could. That

certainly does mark a person of success and a person who has lived a

remarkable life. I’m actually talking ground-level practicality here! Let’s

just inventory resources! If you owe everything that you’ve earned in life

to your hard work and diligence and effort and grit, man you could do a

lot. Hard work beats talent every day and twice on Sunday!!

 AND/BUT, couple that hard work and effort and grit with the hand of God

on your life, how much more did your life just achieve? Plus, (let’s put

other resources there as well), plus, incredible wonderful outstanding

people all throughout your life that have partnered with you and helped

you along the way. THAT life, the life resourced with the hand of God and

the help of others, FAR more, FAR MORE successful than a self-made

man. That’s just simple practicality!

 David lists his greatest qualities that have led him to one of the most

remarkable lives of all time. A life even chronicled for us in the immutable

and immortal Word of God. He is a son. A man that has been raised up on

high. Anointed by the God of Jacob. A worshipper. That is the genesis and

source of all of his success!

2 Samuel Chapter 23 Verse 2

 Filled with the Spirit and a man of the Word. Not without mistake, for

sure. But I want you to notice is a result of someone who has gone through

life seeking to be close to the Lord - David was able to lay his burdens at

the feet of the Lord, and shed the weight of his mistakes. Your mistakes

can either define you or they can change you. Everyone fails. Everyone

makes mistakes. Not everyone changes because that take humility.

 I didn’t say learn. Everyone learns. Everyone learns from their mistakes

but some learn just how to hide them better. How to avoid getting caught

better. Some learn how to avoid the shame and pain of being found out.

Everyone learns. Not everyone changes. Changing means, its over. No

more power over you. Something in you has changed. And you know it

when you can talk about it freely and it doesn’t affect you any longer.

Why? That’s not who you are anymore.

 Someone said to me recently something that will stick with me the rest of

my life. Your past is either your baggage or it is your story. You either

carry it along with its weight, or its part of your story. Stunned me when

he said that because I realized that is exactly what happens when you

change. Let me give you the churchy word for change. Repent. When you

face what you did, who you were, agree with the Holy Spirit that it and

you were not good, take full accountability and resolve to not make that

mistake again. At that instant, it loses its power and weight because it goes

from something you carry to something that’s in your past.

 David was a man of repentance. A man of change. The Spirit of the Lord

was his authority and the Word of God his foundation. And as he grew in

the Lord, grace shouted louder in his heart than guilt because he got to

know the Lord and because he changed.

2 Samuel Chapter 23 Verse 3

 A man of divine resource, surrounded by incredibly faithful and valiant

people that would support and challenge him, a man who went beyond

learning and embraced personal character-level internal change, that is a

man or a woman who has the authority to tell us about leadership!

Learned through humility, accountability, repentance and change, David

looks back on those personal decisions and from the back end of it all

attributes it to the voice of God, because it was…

 The God and Rock of Israel says, He who rules over men must be just. The

same word in the Hebrew for righteous. Sadiq in the Hebrew and that was

a term used for a man that was powerful yet teachable, changeable, gentle,

patient, wise, and caring. A man that did what was right in the eyes of the

Lord. This was a term used for Joseph, the step-father of Jesus. He was

known as a Sadiq.

 This is the imperative of leadership in the family of God. Do what is right

in the eyes of the Lord. Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, O man, what is

good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love

mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” This is the job description of

all leadership in the church. All leadership truly. All others are just bosses.

This is leadership.

 Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the righteous are in authority, the people

rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” ALL leadership

must be just. Stop thinking of someone else. You cannot make someone

else just. This is for you. This is for me. This is not for others. All

leadership MUST be just. Righteous. Or God will deal with you.

 Psalm 12:5, “For the oppression of the poor (zero empathy), for the

sighing of the needy (zero righteousness), Now I will arise,” says the

Lord; “I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.” Leaders that are

unjust, that do what is not right in the eyes of the Lord, are not leaders at

all. They are tyrants, simply doing what was done to them, not able to

change to be like the Lord (Hebrews 6:10, “God is not unjust…”) And

they will be dealt with harshly.

 He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. Ruling in

such a way as to know that God is actually the authority, not them.

Knowing that in a moment, God could remove their authority. Maybe not

their position, but their authority. Explicit authority is different than

implicit authority. Explicit denotes the position. Implicit denotes the

character. A leader without implicit authority stays frustrated, burns out,

ends up hating their position and blaming everyone else for it. But one

with implicit authority, favor and trust of the hearts around them, ruling is

likened unto worship. Because God is the Boss. And leadership is a

privilege to the leader and to the led.

2 Samuel Chapter 23 Verses 4 – 5

 The summary of David’s righteousness! I was not so! My house, a mess,

and all because of me! Yet my salvation and righteousness and victory is

because of His covenant with me! Ordered in all things, God working out

all things for the good for those that love Him (Romans 8). All things

ordered, all David’s salvation, all his joy, all entirely attributable to God,

and all incredibly and solidly secure. Living in awareness/gratitude of that

is to live in a sense of continual increase/profit.

2 Samuel Chapter 23 Verses 6 – 7

 His relationship and salvation was founded solely upon God’s covenant

and faithfulness and yet David had learned the importance and reward of

wisdom. That when you turn from the Lord, you turn from all that is good.

And consequence comes.

2 Samuel Chapter 23 Verse 8

 So, the final words of David so far are entirely about the goodness,

righteousness and covenant of God throughout his life. How he failed God

and learned the deficit that waits for me, for you, for any of us that reject

the source code of this whole thing… Which just makes sense!

 And I love how he now turns to those along the way that have inspired

him and shown valiance and faithfulness throughout his life. He’s like,

“Let me tell you about the people, the incredible mighty people that God

brought into my life.” Someone may list their accomplishments or on a

resume walk through they achievements and qualifications, schooling and

awards…, David’s resume has 37 names of others in it! Men that without

having, he would never had lived the life he lived!

2 Samuel Chapter 23 Verses 9 – 17

 David recalls the intense respect, loyalty, love and care that these men

took of him to the point that he was overwhelmed and couldn’t even

receive what they brought to him but poured it out to the Lord in worship

unto God for them in his life!!

2 Samuel Chapter 23 Verses 18 – 23

 Seven men in David’s life were his notables. Extraordinary men of great

strength and faith that did legendary things. And now he lists every name

of his thirty mighty men.

2 Samuel Chapter 23 Verses 24 – 39

 Uriah the Hittite. Slain husband of Bathsheba, the wife of David. Part of

David’s story. Shame, guilt, regret, remorse all there as David’s hand

writes out the name of his greatest mistake and yet all without power to

condemn but unto the glory of God.

 I wonder how Uriah would feel about that statement. Of course, not now,

but if he were still alive. That statement is true and it has virtue and it is

righteous, it’s the way it is… David’s sin has been dealt with, he has

changed, and now it is part of the story that brings God glory in David’s

recounting of his life… And, it’s incredibly unfair to Uriah.

 It gives us pause that we need to take. That I need to take. That folks do us

wrong, and just like God wants to use all things for the good in my life,

He will do the same in theirs too. It’s hard for me to let someone go. Let

them go free. Not only allow but want their baggage and guilt and shame

to stop being carried by them but to become a part of their story of God

glorified in their lives…, and it strikes me that is a part of forgiveness.

 Think of the worst thing that has ever happened to you in your life. For

that person that did that to you, even them, Genesis 50:20, “But as for you,

you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it

about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” That verse is not about

Joseph; it’s about his brothers. The ones that killed him. God meant it for

good for them… Because they were the ones saved alive that day by

Joseph…

 Wrestle with that. Because this great slogan we all say and claim for

ourselves, “God is good all the time, and all the time God is good,” is true

for them as much as it is true for us… And part of maturing as a Christian,

a maturity that I somehow desire and despise at the same time, is to allow

God to be glorified and to desire to see God’s goodness in and through and

FOR them in what they did to you. A whole another level of forgiveness!

 The mighty men of my life, David says, anchored by the one that I

betrayed the most. The one that sparked the greatest change in David, no

doubt. And therefore, perhaps the greatest glory unto God. Tough one to

ponder for sure…