author: Ryan Hayden Take your Bibles with me and turn to the book of 1 Chronicles today. 1 Chronicles chapter 11.

We have a very interesting story to preach about tonight, a story that I don't know that I've ever preached on before. We are going to look at David's mighty men. David's mighty men.

Are you in 1 Chronicles 11? We've been mostly in 1 and 2 Samuel as we've been talking about David - and all of the stuff we are going to look at tonight is in that book too - but in Chronicles here it is all in one place, and in Samuel it is spread out, so we are going to look at this chapter in 1 Chronicles.

I want to go ahead and read most of this chapter tonight.

[!bible] 1 Chronicles 11:1-3 - KJV

1. Then all Israel gathered themselves to David unto Hebron, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.
2. And moreover in time past, even when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD thy God said unto thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel.
3. Therefore came all the elders of Israel to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD; and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD by Samuel.

Ok, so this is exactly where we have been in our story of David. David is finally made king over all of Israel. This would match up with what we read last week in 1 Samuel 5.

So what does David do now that he is king? Let's keep reading:

[!bible] 1 Chronicles 11:4-9 - KJV 4. And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus; where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. 5. And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David. 6. And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief. 7. And David dwelt in the castle; therefore they called it the city of David. 8. And he built the city round about, even from Millo round about: and Joab repaired the rest of the city. 9. So David waxed greater and greater: for the LORD of hosts was with him.

The very first thing David did was take the city of Jerusalem. Even though Israel had been in the land for 400 years at this point, Jerusalem was one of those places where they had never driven out the Canaanites.

Jerusalem is in an ideal place to be protected. It's in the center of Israel. David wanted that city. But because it is so well fortified, Israel had never been able to take it.

But David takes the city and drives out the Jebusites with the help of his general Joab. They rebuild the city and make it their capitol and it was known from that time on as "the city of David."

Now, let's read the next section here in 1 Chronicles 11 and learn about these "mighty men."

[!bible] 1 Chronicles 11:10-14 - KJV 10. These also are the chief of the mighty men whom David had, who strengthened themselves with him in his kingdom, and with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of the LORD concerning Israel. 11. And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had; Jashobeam, an Hachmonite, the chief of the captains: he lifted up his spear against three hundred slain by him at one time. 12. And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighties. 13. He was with David at Pas-dammim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle, where was a parcel of ground full of barley; and the people fled from before the Philistines. 14. And they set themselves in the midst of that parcel, and delivered it, and slew the Philistines; and the LORD saved them by a great deliverance.

So here we learn that David didn't rule by himself. David had a bunch of guys around him called his "mighty men" who helped strengthen his kingdom and fought bravely in battle.

Now, these guys are abosolute legends. We've already read about two of them:

• Jashobeam and Eleazar

Let's' keep reading...

[!bible] 1 Chronicles 11:15-19 - KJV 15. Now three of the thirty captains went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam; and the host of the Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephaim. 16. And David was then in the hold, and the Philistines’ garrison was then at Bethlehem. 17. And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, that is at the gate! 18. And the three brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but David would not drink of it, but poured it out to the LORD, 19. And said, My God forbid it me, that I should do this thing: shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? for with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mightiest.

This is a story again that is repeated in 2 Samuel. In 2 Samuel, David remembered this story on his deathbed. The Philistines started attacking Israel again after David became king - he actually fought two more wars with them - and at one point David found himself back in the cave at Addullam - the same cave he was hiding out from Saul in. The Philistines had temporarily taken over the city of Bethlehem, David's home town.

David sort of wished out loud for a drink from the well in Bethlehem and three of his captains, three of these mighty men, went and broke through the line of the Philistines just to bring him a drink of that water. That was too much for him and he poured it out as an offering to the Lord.

Let's keep reading...

[!bible] 1 Chronicles 11:20-25 - KJV 20. And Abishai the brother of Joab, he was chief of the three: for lifting up his spear against three hundred, he slew them, and had a name among the three. 21. Of the three, he was more honourable than the two; for he was their captain: howbeit he attained not to the first three. 22. Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done many acts; he slew two lionlike men of Moab: also he went down and slew a lion in a pit in a snowy day. 23. And he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high; and in the Egyptian’s hand was a spear like a weaver’s beam; and he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and slew him with his own spear. 24. These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had the name among the three mighties. 25. Behold, he was honourable among the thirty, but attained not to the first three: and David set him over his guard.

So here we learn about two more of these mighty men Abishai who was the leader of the three mightiest men and who at one point killed three hundred men by himself.

And Benaiah, who had all kinds of exploits, including killing a lion and killing a giant with his own spear.

Then, and we aren't going to read it, verses 26-47 just list the rest of David's mighty men.

So I want to talk tonight about David's Mighty Men. Here is how I'm going to do it:

• First we are going to talk about where these mighty men came from.
• Then we'll look at some of the heroic exploits of these mighty men.
• Then we'll talk about the qualities of these mighty men.
• Finally, we'll talk about how we need mighty men today.

Sound good? Let's pray and we'll jump into this topic.

author: Ryan Hayden

So the first thing I want us to think about tonight is...

1. The origin's of David's Mighty Men

Or, put another way, where did these guys come from? Because I think that is interesting.

Was there some kind of selection program in Israel that was looking out for the mightiest men? Were they like "ooh, that five year old is dominating everyone at soccer - lets mark him out for the mighty men program?"

No. Nothing like that. The Bible tells us where these guys came from. Listen to 1 Samuel 22:1-2

[!bible] 1 Samuel 22:1-2 - KJV

1. David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down thither to him.
2. And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.

David's mighty men came to him when he was on the run from Saul. They came to him when he was seen as a rebel and an outcast.

And who were these guys? They were in distress, they were in debt, they were discontented. They were a rough crew.

But following their captain David and fighting alongside him, and learning from him, many of these guys become the legendary mighty men.

Now, there are three things I think we can take away from this:

First, mighty men are not born, they are made. I don't think that anyone would have looked at the 400 guys who ran to David as he hid out from Saul and thought - "those guys are going to be some legendary warriors. Those guys, they are the best of the best." No. I think the circumstances and the conflict and the influence of David turned them into the mighty men that they were.

Vince Lombardi, the legendary football coach was known to say:

"Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile."

You might not be very mighty right now - but if you follow the right Captain into the right battle - and you do not shrink under the conflict - then you can become a mighty man too.

And that by the way, is the second thing I think this teaches us: anyone can become a mighty man. You might be just a humble hobbit, content and happy to eat your first and second breakfasts in your comfy little hobbit holes, but when God calls you to step up and go on the journey of faith - with His help you can rise to the occasion.

But there is a third thing I think we can learn from the origin of these mighty men, and that is we shouldn't despise the small beginnings of things.

If you were to look at the ragtag group of misfits joining David in the wilderness - it wouldn't look like much. But it became the core of the greatest kingdom in the history of the Bible. Those misfits became legendary warriors and generals who we are still reading about 3 millennia later.

But at one point, it was pitiful. It was small. It was never going to work.

Nearly everything great starts out that way.

• Apple Computer started as two hippies making hobby computers out of their parent's garage.
• The mighty Chicago bears started as a bunch of factory workers in Decatur playing football on their breaks and days off.
• The great Abraham Lincoln was once a poor shoeless lanky country kid, trying to read books by candlelight.

Small beginnings are the necessary starting point for any greatness. Every NBA player had to learn how to dribble and shoot. Every concert pianist had recitals where they were playing ba ba black sheep. Every fine artist started out with stick figures.

So just because something is small now - doesn't mean that it must stay small.

Spurgeon, talking about these mighty men, said

Happy are they that follow a good cause in its worst estate, for theirs is true glory.

So, when we look at where David’s Mighty Men came from, it’s pretty clear: they weren’t born with capes on, destined for greatness from the cradle. They were a bunch of distressed, indebted, discontented guys who stumbled into a cave with a rebel on the run. No one was picking them out of a lineup saying, “Yep, those are the future legends right there.” But under David’s leadership, through the fire of conflict and the grind of hard effort, they became something extraordinary.

Which makes what they did all the more extraordinary. So let's move on to the next point and talk about...

2. The Exploits of David's Mighty Men

This is what made them mighty men. They accomplished things for God.

Let's look at just a couple of the things the Bible tells us these men did.

First, consider the taking of Jerusalem. There is a reason why it took 400 years for anyone to take it. It was almost an impossible task.

When David first set out to take the city, the Jebusites mocked him. Listen to 2 Sam 5:6

[!bible] 2 Samuel 5:6 - KJV 6. And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither.

That's a lot of words, what that verse means is that the Jebusites were taunting David and saying "You will never take this city - a bunch of blind guys could protect this city."

But David and his mighty men did not shrink back because the task was difficult. David issued a challenge - whoever gets in first will be my captain - and Joab rose to the occasion and the impossible was done.

Here is the thing about mighty men - they do hard things. They do not shrink from worthy tasks just because they may be difficult or because most other people are afraid of them. Most of the time, great people are not great because they have superior intelligence or good looks - they are just ordinary people who dared to do what everyone else thought was out of reach.

Let's look at a second exploit of these mighty men. Look at 1 Chron 11:12-14 again:

[!bible] 1 Chronicles 11:12-14 - KJV 12. And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighties. 13. He was with David at Pas-dammim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle, where was a parcel of ground full of barley; and the people fled from before the Philistines. 14. And they set themselves in the midst of that parcel, and delivered it, and slew the Philistines; and the LORD saved them by a great deliverance.

In this episode, the Israelites were fighting against the Philistines in a Barley field. The Philistines looked like they were winning and all of the Israelites retreated. All of them except one guy - Eleazar. He stood his ground and fought against all of the Philistines alone.

Eventually, inspired by his bravery, the Israelites came back and won the day.

So what does this teach us about mighty men? Mighty men are willing to fight alone, they are willing to stand their ground when everyone around them is running away. Very often, these mighty men inspire others who may be a little cowardly to join the fight - they just need an example.

Will you fight when everyone else is running? Will you be the example.

Let's look at another guy, we've already read about Benaiah. Look at verse 23 again:

[!bible] 1 Chronicles 11:23 - KJV 23. And he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high; and in the Egyptian’s hand was a spear like a weaver’s beam; and he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand, and slew him with his own spear.

This Egyptian was 7.5 a half feet tall. He was Victor Wembenyana tall. But he wasn't one of those string bean tall guys - he had a spear that was like a 2x4.

Benaiah didn't shrink back and run away - he ran to fight this giant having only a staff, only a walking stick. He took the giant's own spear and killed him with it.

I think a lesson from this would be that mighty men don't make excuses. They take action with what they have. If you just have a walking stick - and there is a giant that needs taking care of, you go in there and get him with the walking stick.

One more exploit of these guys to look at is in verse 11:

[!bible] 1 Chronicles 11:11 - KJV 11. And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had; Jashobeam, an Hachmonite, the chief of the captains: he lifted up his spear against three hundred slain by him at one time.

If you look at verse 20, Abishai did the same thing:

[!bible] 1 Chronicles 11:20 - KJV 20. And Abishai the brother of Joab, he was chief of the three: for lifting up his spear against three hundred, he slew them, and had a name among the three.

So you had two of these guys who went up against 300 men by themselves and won. 300 to 1 and they came out the victors.

These were truly mighty men. So that brings me to my next question:

We've talked about where they came from and what they did, let's talk about...

What made them mighty? So point 3:

3. The Qualities of the Mighty Men

There are three things about these guys that stand out as an example to me that I want to point out to you.

First...

A. They were skilled and dangerous

These guys didn't kill hundreds of people by accident, they were masters of their craft - they were men that were honed for battle. They were trained, they were prepared, they excelled at what they did.

And I want to tell you that we need men to step up today who are skilled and dangerous - men who know how to do hard things. Men who are disciplined and alert.

• You don't become a mighty man by sitting around on the couch watching tv all day.
• You don't become a mighty man by playing video games.
• You don't become a mighty man by doom scrolling social media or youtube.

Do you have discipline in your life? Do you have skills?

Here is what I believe, I believe we have a job to do, I believe it is hard and it is going to take every ounce of the talent and skill and time that God gave us and that we better be deliberate about it. Because mighty men don't happen on accident.

They were skilled and dangerous. A second thing that stands out to me about these guys is that...

B. They were brave

When everyone else was retreating, they stood their ground. When no one would fight, they fought alone. They fought against giants and lions and armies. They were brave.

Do you know that the Bible calls us to be brave. The Bible tells us Christians to "man up." Listen to these verses:

[!bible] 1 Corinthians 16:13 - KJV 13. Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.

[!bible] 1 Timothy 6:12 - KJV 12. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

[!bible] Ephesians 6:13-14 - KJV 13. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

We need men who are skilled and dangerous and men who are brave to fight the Christian fight.

Another thing that stands out about these mighty men is...

C. They were incredibly loyal

These guys stuck with David when he was in the cave and stayed with him until he was wearing a crown. They fought with him even when he was an outlaw. They weren't working for a title or for a paycheck - they were working for God's anointed king.

I think about that story of how they were willing to go risk their lives so that the king could get a glass of water. These guys were incredibly loyal and awesome.

Loyalty is still a Christian virtue. Paul talked about how so many people had forsaken him, but he had those who were loyal - like Timothy - who stayed by him until the end.

Mighty men are loyal men.

So we've talked about the origin of these mighty men, the exploits of these mighty men and the qualities of these mighty men.

Let me close the message tonight by pressing home...

4. The need for mighty men today.

Look...mighty men like this are not just for history books. You will almost certainly not go up against 300 men with just a spear...but there are still battles we need to rise to and fight.

We still have enemies and battles. The devil still attacks us as we seek to serve the Lord. The forces of evil are still present and active in our world. They want to keep you from raising your kids for God. They want to keep you from being your best self. They want to keep you enslaved - and we need mighty men to fight back.

Not with weapons, but with bravery.

There is this guy from Vancouver, Canada that I think about often named Chris Elston who goes by Billboard Chris. Chris started noticing how so many kids were going trans. He started looking into it and finding out that many of these kids were being put on puberty blockers and having surgeries when they were 12, 13, 14 years old.

So do you know what he did, he took a stand. He made a sandwich sign that says "Children cannot consent to puberty blockers" and started wearing it in the city and talking to people. At first, people mocked him, they derided him. They called him a hater. But the more he stood, the more people came to support him.

He started going to other cities. Same thing - hate at first, then more and more supporters started voicing their opinions. He probably did more than any single person in the world to shine a light on what was going on - and now the government is stepping in to stop it.

Now almost all of the major hospitals are stopping doing any of this stuff to minors. Because one many, one mighty man stood up.

Are you going to stand up for your family? Are you going to stand up for your beliefs? We still need mighty men.

We need mighty men because cowardice and mediocrity still rules the day. Most people are afraid. They are afraid to speak up. They are afraid to stick their neck out there. They are afraid to evangelize. We need men who will stand up and fight for what is right, even if they are the only one standing in the field of battle.

We need mighty men because there is much work to be done. There is a world to evangelize. There are people to be discipled. There are children to be raised in the faith. There are homes to be established. Squishyness isn't going to do it. We need mighty men.

We need mighty men because you can't build kingdoms alone. David couldn't rule alone. The mighty men around him were what God used to help establish his kingdom.

This is the way God has always worked. Churches aren't built by just a pastor. We need a team of mighty men who are working hard together. Who are standing together. Then we are a mighty force.

So how about it? Will you step up to the challenge? Will you be a mighty man for God? Will you serve God with the same zeal that David's warriors showed?

Let's' stand for prayer.