2 Samuel 23

2 Samuel 23:4

A Morning Without Clouds A morning without clouds.—2 Samuel 23:4.Our text is taken from the last song that King David wrote. He was looking forward to the time when Jesus would come to reign on the earth, and he said that His rule would be like “a morning without clouds” —Jesus would be like the morning sun lighting up all the sky, and bringing gladness and light where before there was sadness and darkness.But I want you to take the words in a different sense this morning—I want you to take them as your very own text; for life is like a day from sunrise to sunset, and you are in “the morning of life.” And the best thing I could wish for you is that it may be “a morning without clouds.”Have you ever risen early on a fine spring morning in the country? As the dawn breaks the little birds burst into song. Then the sun rises and floods the world with gladness. The earth is refreshed with her sleep and the air is pure and sweet. There is something abroad that makes you feel as if you could dance and sing with joy.The three things that strike you about such a morning are its purity, its beauty, and its gladness.

And those are just the three things that the morning of life should be—pure, and beautiful, and glad.1. First of all, the morning of life should be pure.

It is sin that darkens our sky and makes things gloomy. You have sometimes seen a beautiful, bright morning quickly clouded over; and many a morning of life that has promised brightly has been darkened ere long with the black thunder-clouds of sin.Now it is not easy to keep pure, for even in life’s morning the clouds of wicked thoughts and evil tempers and bad desires are ready to rise on our horizon. As yet they are tiny little cloudlets, but the only way to keep them from rising up and shadowing our life is to let Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness, shine into our hearts. He alone can keep those clouds away so that all our day may be bright, and that at evening time there may be light.God has given you each a life, pure and fresh from Him. Some older people would give all they possess just to be standing where you stand full in the morning sunlight. Oh, boys and girls, realize the value of your gift before it is too late!

Never stoop to anything that is mean, or base, or dishonorable. Ask God always to keep your souls like a pure, fresh, cloudless morning.2.

Secondly, the morning of life should be beautiful. It is said that if you want to see the Alps at their best you must rise at four in the morning. Then the glorious snow-crowned peaks shine out in all their grandeur, free from the mists that often shroud them later. What makes the morning so beautiful? It is the light of the sun—the dawn after darkness.Our morning of life should be beautiful too, but it will be truly beautiful only if the Sun of Righteousness shines in our hearts. He will make all the graces grow—the graces of love, and unselfishness, and kindness.In a school in one of our great cities there was an annual flower show, at which prizes were awarded.

And in the slums of this same great city lived a little crippled girl to whom someone had given a small geranium. Day by day she watched and tended her plant, and day by day the plant grew more beautiful.

And when the day of the flower show came, the little cripple’s geranium easily carried off the prize. When the judges asked her the secret of its beauty she told them that she had always kept it in the sun’s rays, moving it as the sun travelled on.It is the sun that gives beauty and strength to the flowers, and it is the Sun of Righteousness who gives beauty and strength to our lives.3. Lastly, the “morning of life” should be glad.When Robert Louis Stevenson was a small boy he was very delicate. Sometimes he was kept in the house all winter, and many were the weary sleepless nights that he spent longing for the dawn. For the boy had a great horror of the dark, and conjured up all sorts of imaginary terrors. He always looked forward to the time when the carts came in, for he knew that when they rattled past the daybreak was not far away, and that in an hour or two the light would stream through the blind.

Oh, the gladness of the morning after the long dark night!And childhood is the glad time of life, bright and free from care. Be happy, boys and girls, just as happy as ever you can.

But I want to tell you one thing— a very sure thing. Your morning will never be truly happy unless Christ has some part in it. For the same thing makes life glad that makes it pure and beautiful— Jesus Himself, the Sun of Righteousness, shining in our hearts.There is just one thing more I want to say—share your gladness. You have strong bodies and happy homes, but there are other children whose morning is clouded—clouded by sickness, or want, or ignorance. There are suffering children in our hospitals, there are starving children in our slums, there are heathen children in far countries who have never heard of Jesus.Now I think the grown-up people should look after the grown-ups who are in trouble, and I think the children should look after the children. And the best way to show our thankfulness for being so happy ourselves is to try to make others happy. Let us give our dollars, and our toys, and our prayers, and our time, to help some of the children whose morning is not “a morning without clouds.”

2 Samuel 23:16

A Precious Gift He would not drink thereof, but poured it oat unto the Lord.—2 Samuel 23:16.In past wars, the British awarded medals of honor to brave soldiers. America also has their own version of these honors. In World War I and World War II, families of soldiers were very proud when their loved one received a medal of honor. If you could say that your father or your brother or one of your best friends has got the Distinguished Conduct Metal (D.C.M.) or the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.) or the Military Cross (M.C.) or—highest of all honors— the Victoria Cross (V.C.)Today I want to tell you of three brave warriors of old who had the D.S.O. In the twenty-third chapter of second Samuel you will find two lists of those who were known as King David’s “mighty men” Three of them won an honor equal to our V.C. and thirty of them received an honor equal to our D.S.O. The three V.C.’s did very gallant deeds, but it is not of them I want to speak today.

It is of three out of the thirty D.S.O.’s I want to talk.You will find in four little verses of this chapter the story of one of their finest deeds. They were followers of King David in the troubled days when Saul was still alive and David was leading the life of a hunted man.

We are told the names of two—Abishai and Benaiah—but the name of the third we do not know.At the time of the story David was at his favorite stronghold, Adullam. It was about twelve miles from his old home at Bethlehem. But Bethlehem was now in the hands of the Philistines, Israel’s bitter enemies, and the town was filled with a Philistine garrison, while around it lay their outposts. David and his men—four hundred or so in number—were not strong enough to rid the town of the enemy but they did their best to worry and harass him by raids. Perhaps it was on his return from a raid on the Philistine hosts that David wished the wish that led to the famous adventure of today’s sermon. It was high summer. The weather was scorching. The mountain torrents were dried up and water was scarce.

Hot and tired and thirsty, David sighed aloud, “Oh for a drink of water from the well by the gate of Bethlehem!”Perhaps poor David was as much home-sick as thirsty when he longed for that drink. Probably he was remembering the days when he was a shepherd boy watering his sheep from the clear spring by the gate. He thought he saw himself a little boy quaffing long draughts of its cool water, and he sighed as much for the days that had been as for the water itself.I don’t suppose that David knew he had spoken aloud, but three of his soldiers heard the wish and the sigh. They adored their splendid young leader, and one and all they determined then and there that they would bring him a drink of that water though it should cost them their life. So they slipped away quietly, fought through the Philistine lines, filled a water bottle at the well by the gate, and fought their way back again. They arrived at Adullam no doubt spent and wounded, but they had the water safe.

Imagine David’s astonishment when he saw them and heard what they had done!But David had a stronger feeling than astonishment. Do you know what it was?

It was a feeling that the water which had almost cost those men their lives was sacred. To drink it, he felt, would be as if he were drinking their life-blood. He dared not drink it. It was so costly, so precious, there was but one thing to do with it. There was but one Person worthy of it, and that was God. So David poured it out as an offering to Jehovah.I daresay the three men who had risked all to get that draught were a little disappointed when they saw the water sinking into the hot dry sand.

But when David explained to them that he offered it to God because it was the finest gift he had ever been given and he felt unworthy of it, when David explained all that, I expect they went out from his presence very silently and thinking hard.Boys and girls, David gave to God the most precious thing he had. What sort of gift do we give Him?

Let me tell you two stories of what people give to God. The first is the story of an old man; the second is the story of a young girl.The old man had come to the end of his life and he was making his will and disposing of his possessions. He was a farmer, so he had much in the way of live stock to divide among his sons and daughters. Suddenly he remembered that one of his cows was amissing, so he said, “If that lost cow is found give it to my youngest son, but if it is not found, let it be for God.” All he was willing to give to God was what cost him nothing.The other story comes from a mission station in Africa. It was Christmas Day, Christ’s birthday, and on that day the natives brought with them to the mission house a gift for Christ. They were very, very poor, and their presents were mostly a handful of vegetables, or a little fruit.

Those who brought a copper coin were accounted wealthy indeed.Among the givers was a girl of sixteen who had very lately been converted from savagery. She stole forward timidly, and from the folds of her dress she drew out a silver coin of the value of 85 cents.

It was a fortune for one in her position, and for a moment the missionary hesitated to take it; but to avoid a scene he accepted it without remark. Later he sought out the girl and asked her how she had been able to offer such a princely gift. With shining eyes she told him the secret. In order to bring to Jesus a gift worthy of His love for her and worthy of her love to Him, she had gone to a neighboring planter the previous day and had bound herself to him as a slave for life in return for the silver coin She gave herself and all her life to Christ in that one grand act. It was the most, and she felt it was the least, she could give.Boys and girls, what do we give to Christ? Is it the old man’s gift of less than nothing? Is it the slave girl’s gift of our lives and ourselves?