The Results of Courage 1 Chr 19:13 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

This message is on the results of courage.  Our text is 1 Chr 19:6-15.  Joab and Abishai were getting ready to fight against the Ammonites and the Syrians.  Before the fight Joab said, “Be of good courage, and let us behave ourselves valiantly for our people, and for the cities of our God: and let the Lord do that which is good in his sight.”

This is a fight that the Ammonites provoked.  And then they hired the Syrians to help them.  So, when Joab saw that he was facing two enemies, “before and behind,” he encouraged Abishai with the words of 1 Chr 19:13.

It takes courage to fight a battle like they fought.  Without it you cannot win.  We constantly face spiritual battles in our lives.  So, we want to learn from this text today the results of courage that we see in Joab and Abishai.  The results of courage are:

Vigor – Courage gives you strength to fight; discouragement saps that strength.  Your courage comes from knowing that you are fighting a battle of the Lord.  So, He is involved in the fight.  He is your strength.  How many fights have you lost because you were discouraged?  Most preachers who give up do so because of discouragement.  However, when they are encouraged, they are invigorated.

Valiance – Your courage is manifested in bravery which other people can see.  Other “people” are encouraged to stay with you in the fight when they see your valiance.  How many people are ready to quit and give up if only you would quit?  How many people are encouraged to stay in the fight because you haven’t quit?  David encouraged himself in the Lord and the men who were ready to stone him became encouraged and decided to fight with him instead of against him.  They fought for their city.  They recovered all.

Victory – Courage keeps you fighting in the battle until you emerge victorious.  The Lord has something that he wants to accomplish in the fight, something that is “good in his sight,” and if you don’t enter the battle with courage, you might give up before the Lord has accomplished what he wants to do.  Generally, you are ready to quit before the Lord is ready for you to quit.  In 1 Cor 16:13, Paul said, “quit you like men.”  That is you and I need to remain steadfast until the job is done or the enemy is defeated.

Conclusion: Courage is terribly deficient these days partly because men don’t want to fight the spiritual battles against our enemies anymore.  Pastors have led their congregations to let the world, the flesh and the devil in.  As the saying about your enemies goes, “If you can’t beat them, join them.”  But you must continue to fight and you must fight with courage to keep from joining your enemies!!