Sermon: Mighty Men

Would you take a copy of God's word this morning? We will continue through the Book of 2 Samuel as we come to the close of it, just a couple of more weeks. This morning, we're in 2 Samuel 23. If you want to use a pew Bible, you can turn right there to page 276 in the pew Bible. And this morning, 2 Samuel 23, and we're looking at verses eight through 38 this morning.

2 Samuel chapter 23 and verses eight through 38.

And let's go ahead and we'll pray and ask for God's blessing upon His word before we open it together.

Our Father, like crying children, we cry out to you in need of your grace this morning, and we're thankful that you are a father who hears our cries. And we pray that even as we sit and as we stand in this place, that you would minister to each of us as we have need, that you would be a tender father to us. The bruised reed not break, the smoldering flame not extinguish, but lift us up into your arms into the heavenlies

that we might have greater knowledge of you, greater sight of you, and delight in you all the more. And we pray all of this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. This morning, 2 Samuel chapter 23, verses eight through 38. This is the holy, inerrant, sufficient word of God. "These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb Basshebeth a Tekoaite. He was chief of the three. He wielded his spear against 800 whom he killed

at one time. And next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar the son of Dodo, son of an Ahohi. He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel withdrew. He rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clung to the sword. And the Lord brought about a great victory that day, and the men returned after him only to strip the slain.

And next to him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the men fled from the Philistines. But he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines, and the Lord worked a great victory. And three of the 30 chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the cave of Adullam,

when a band of Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim. David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. And David said longingly, 'Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!' Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David.

But he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the Lord and said, 'Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?' Therefore, he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did. Now Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah was the chief of the 30, and he wielded his spear against 300 men and killed them and won a name beside the three.

He was the most renowned of the 30 and became their commander, but he did not attain to the three. And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was a valiant man, of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two ariels of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen. And he struck down an Egyptian, a handsome man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but Benaiah went down to him with a staff and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian's hand

and killed him with his own spear. These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and won a name beside the three mighty men. He was renowned among the 30, but he did not attain to the three. And David set him over his bodyguard. Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the 30. Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, Shammah of Harod, Elika of Harod, Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh of Tekoa, Abiezer of Anathoth, Mebunnai

the Hushathite, Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai of Netophah, Heleb the son of Baanah of Netophah, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the people of BenjaminBenaiah of Pirathon, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash. Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth of Baharumim, Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the son of Jashen, Jonathan, Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam, the son of Sharar, the Hararite. Eliphelet, the son of Hasphael of Maachah, Eliam the son of Ahithophel, the Gilonite.

Hezro of Carmel, Paarai the Arbite, Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai of Beeroth, the armor-bearer of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, Uriah the Hittite, 37 in all. Though the grass withers and the flower fades, the word of God is forever. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Why is this here? I was telling the staff this morning I didn't want to get to the end of it and you go, "Oh, there's Jason, the dodo at the end of this." At first glance, this passage looks like a list of names, hardly the kind of text we instinctively gravitate towards. God does not waste words, though. And when He is recording names, He is telling us something about what He values and what He is doing through his people.

I have a friend who pastors a old, historic Southern Presbyterian church. I was there preaching at a conference a while back, and coincidentally on that same week, the church had hung his portrait in the foyer in a gallery of all of the different senior pastors that had served the church. He hated it. I loved it because he hated it. He was embarrassed. I would equally hate it and be embarrassed, but the church is not.

It's their way of remembering those who have labored for them. It's their tradition. It's what we have here in 2 Samuel 23, a kind of God-ordained gallery. Not of pastors, but of warriors, men who stood next to David, men who God worked through.

It's a hall, if you will, of appreciation. It's a hall of portraits. Some are more detailed than others. Some, there's just a plaque there with their face hanging there with just a nameplate underneath.

But they're here remembered, mighty men. Mighty men who stood alongside of David. In many ways, the men who made it possible for King David to be the man that he was and to have the effect that he had in the world. We have the elite three in verses eight through 12. These three are Joshab, Eleazar, and Shammah. Joshab, we are told in verse eight, was the chief of the three. Joshab, 800 he killed in a single combat. Eleazar, fighting until his hand clung to his sword.

Shammah, standing alone in a field of lentils while everyone else ran away. These are the three. This is the George Marshall and the Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Douglas MacArthur underneath FDR. This is the John and the James and the Peter under Jesus. Mighty men. And here is their portrait in the hall of appreciation forever. This is who they are, remembered. Now, it sounds impossible, their deeds, like a little exaggeration

to go with that appreciation. Except in history, you have different glimpses of this. You have the 300 Spartans who will stand at Thermopylae. You will have soldiers like Alvin York, who will turn back an entire battalion in World War I. Joshab, 800 in a single combat. Eleazar, fighting until his hand clung to his sword. Shammah, standing alone in a field while others fled. And you ask, does that seem fanciful?

Well, not when you notice the refrain, verse 10, verse 12. The Lord brought. The Lord worked a great victory. Their portrait hangs in the hall of appreciation, but the great banner over all of those portraits is God was with them.

And that makes the seemingly impossible not only possible, but realityThis is the same God who allowed that young ruddy boy, David, to slay Goliath, the same God that will preserve Daniel in the lion's den, the same God that will keep Jonah alive in the belly of a fish, the same God that will raise Jesus from the dead. When this God chooses to act in seemingly monumental ways, one man killing 800 is not far-fetched.

God brought great victory. So here's our first point from this text. The great God of heaven and Earth works for His people through His people. The great God of heaven and Earth works for His people through His people. God works through men. He brought great victory through His people, for His people. You say, "Well, of course. Now, that seems to be a given." But it's not a given. He could work through angels. He could suspend the laws of nature time and time

again to work miracles, but that's not His regular course. That's why it's called a miracle. No, He chooses to work through His people to accomplish His purposes in His divine wisdom, and you can be courageous when this God stands over you, and He stands with you.

Thus, Paul says to the church, "Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might." He then says, "Put on the whole armor of God." He will exhort, "Stand therefore." He will urge, "Fight the good fight of faith." He says to the Corinthians, "Be watchful. Stand firm in the faith. Act like men. Be strong. Be steadfast. Be immovable." The same Paul who will speak about you and I being clay pots, leaky vessels.

And yet God works for His people through such people. Clay pots can be strong. They can be courageous. They can stand firm when this God stands over you and with you.

The three are examples of that. We then have this interlude before we get to others in the whole of appreciation,

and that leads to our second point. God works through His people who are true servants. He works through His people who are true servants. We have this little vignette that takes a great deal of this passage of the devotion and the love of these mighty men. David is at the cave of Adullam. This is during the time where David is on the run in the wilderness. And this he has made his stronghold, as the text said, and the Philistines have the territory.

They have such a presence in the land that they have gone as far east as Bethlehem and set up a stronghold there, a garrison, we're told in verse 14, and David is hiding in this cave with his mighty men. And he must have said, just in kind of an idle conversation as people do often when they're under duress and thinking back to what they're missing being stuck in this place. He says in verse 15, "Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from

the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate." He wants the taste of home, some of that cool and sweet and filled-with-childhood-memories water in the well of Bethlehem. It was simply an offhanded comment. He probably made it, didn't think anything of it, and went back to sharpening his sword or taking a nap. But his men heard it,

and they were devoted to him. They loved him. They saw their lives in light of service to him. And so the three mighty men, they snuck out of the cave, and they journeyed down to Bethlehem, and they creeped, and they crawled their way through the Philistine lines like Israelite ninjas, silently. And they got to the well, and down they drop the bucket into the well, and up they bring the water. And they filled their canteens, and

then they sneak back through the darkness like Israelite ninjas. No doubt when they got past the earshot of Bethlehem, you can imagine them elbowing one another. "Can you believe what we just did?" Probably laughter, if not, "This is funny," but just of exceeding joy. "Can you imagine what David is going to do? How happy he's going to be."

These men were devoted to him, loved him, wanted to plaster a smile on his face. "Here, David, take this. Taste this. It's water. Water from your home of Bethlehem."Have you experienced this? You have a loved one, maybe a family member, a friend, and you want to get them a gift, something truly special, not because you want praise, but because you just want them to know how devoted you are to them, and you love them. You want them to be overwhelmed with joy

and to see that face plastered with a smile. You want to see them maybe even laugh with delight when they receive it, or if it's really good, you want to see a tear of happiness roll down their cheek. They feel that loved. And so you spend your time and energy and money, and you think you got it. The day comes, you give it, they open it up, but there's no smile.

The look is just disappointment.

They don't like it. They don't even seem to want it.

Think what disappointment must have seized these three men. David doesn't want it.

He pours it out upon the ground.

Was that cruelty on David's part, pouring out their sign of devotion?

No. It was a sign of his devotion to them.

It says, verse 17, "Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this! Shall I drink the blood of men who went at risk of their lives?" David refuses to treat their devotion lightly. He recognizes that what they risked was too costly to be consumed casually, so he offers it to the Lord. Though David is the anointed king, though he knows that they are devoted to him, what he recognizes, that they are actually the Lord's mighty men.

He's not worthy of their lives. They're God's servants. David doesn't, as a leader, lord it over them. He sees himself as a servant and these mighty men as servants of the Lord.

And so he pours out the drink as an offering to God.

All of these men's portraits hang in the hall of appreciation because they were true servants of God. God works through his people who are true servants.

As a side point, you look at this group and you think of all that is set against them. Saul and his army, fellow Israelites war against them, the Philistines will war against them, Absalom and his army will war against them, and on we could go, and yet they remain devoted to David. Why? In part, and this is a good lesson for leadership, because they knew he was devoted to them.

Devotion goes a long ways towards having the reciprocal effect of devotion. I'm reading a biography on Napoleon right now, and Napoleon at the Battle of Jaffa. He wins the Battle of Jaffa in Egypt in the Egyptian campaign, and then the plague comes upon his army. And the surgeons refuse to interact with any of the soldiers that have the plague, and they have these makeshift hospitals that are set up to care for those that are wounded in combat, but

the plague victims are just scattered out all over the landscape. And Napoleon is walking towards one of these hospital tents to spend time with his wounded soldiers, and there is a man, one of his soldiers, that is sunk with the plague. And Napoleon reaches down and he picks him up in his arms. And he walks that plagued soldier into the tent and lays him down.

His troops were devoted to him. He was devoted to them. Seldom will a man lay down his life for friends.

What devotion have you received from that King of kings and Lord of lords?

What reciprocal devotion is there meant to be?

Next, we have the leaders of the 30,

Abishai and Benaiah. Abishai was a fierce warrior. He wielded the spear. He slayed more than 300 men with it, but as we're told in verse 19, "He was the most renowned of the 30 and became their commander, but he did not attain to the three." And then Benaiah, he is called a valiant man, a doer of great deeds. We read of him that he struck down Ariels. We have no clue what Ariels are, but they must be powerful. We're told he went into a pit in winter when a lion would be hungry, and he

struck it down. He struck down the Egyptian man who had a spear, and he had nothing, and he went and he took the spear from that handsome big Egyptian and struck him down. He was such a great warrior and leader that we're told that David, in verse 23, set him as the head over his bodyguard. And then we have the list of the 30Each is mentioned by name in verses 24 through 39. Thirty-six names mentioned, though we're told that

there were 37 in all, so maybe Joab was the 37th, and because he was so unfaithful at the end, his name isn't listed here. We don't know. But the 30 was a designation. It wasn't an exact number. Maybe it could be that Asmin died among the 30, because we know that a couple of them died, that they were replaced by yet another loyal man, all of them warriors of Israel, mighty men, fierce fighters for David and his throne,

devoted to him, who was God's covenant king.

Each listed by name, which leads to our third point: God's mighty men are individuals before God. God's mighty men are individuals before God. The individual matters.

At this time, we know from 1 Samuel 23 that David had 600 men with him at the cave of Adullam. And do you know that without the 600, there would have not been the 30, and without the 30, there would have not been the three, and without the three, there would not have been the one David, the individual matters. Each played a role among the people of God. Each played a role in this army. Today, the church is the army of God on Earth,

the church militant, as we call it. We are the mighty men of that mighty man. And we're all, as I prayed through 1 Corinthians 12 this morning, we are all members of this one body, and each member of this body has a responsibility. Some parts are more visible than other parts. Some parts receive more renown than other parts. Some parts are like the three or like the 30, or even like the 600, and others are

one of many. Some are the eyes, some are the ears, some are the spleen. Who knows what the spleen does? But if it's not working, you find out.

Each individual has a part to play. The individual matters. Another way of saying that is you matter.

You matter.

It's no mistake that we're told that if we're in Christ, our names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Our names are inscribed upon His hands.

It's true that there is a corporate salvation. That's true. It's true that we're saved as the body of Christ. It's true. But it's not as if there is some kind of generic name that is inscribed in that Lamb's book of life or that is inscribed upon His hands. 21st century, East Lansing, Michigan, members of University Reformed Church. No.

Tom Spalding is written in the Lamb's book of life. Chris Miao is written in the Lamb's book of life. Jacob Hawkins is written in the Lamb's book of life. John Chin is written in the Lamb's book of life. Marcy Hall is written in the Lamb's book of life.

The name inscribed upon His hands because the individual matters.

Jesus speaks in Luke 16 of a good shepherd going after that one lost sheep, of the widow hunting after that one lost coin,

of the father lamenting and then rejoicing at the one prodigal son that returns. The individual matters.

You're important to Him. If we can say it this way, each has a portrait that hangs in the hall of appreciation as an individual, which also means that we each have a part to play.

So finally,

the great God of heaven and Earth who works in this world through His people is a God of astounding grace, is a God of astounding grace.

When detailing the greatest among this list, the chief three, the author lets us know, as great as they were, quote, "The Lord brought about the great victory. They were but instruments in His hands." It's the gracious God who secures victory for His people, and that's all of grace. But did you catch it? He's trying to press that home even more for you and II read through all of those names. Most of those names were foreign names to you. You went, "Ah, never heard of him.

Never heard of him. Never heard of him. Never heard of him. Never heard of him." But there was one name you've heard of at least,

and it should've stuck out.

The last name is not accidental. Uriah the Hittite, the very man that David had killed. His name hangs in the hall, reminding us that even the greatest king, surrounded by the greatest, mightiest men, was still a great sinner in need of an even greater grace.

It wasn't the mighty men that ultimately saved him. It was the God of all grace.

It's as if the author is saying at the end of this hall of appreciation, there's one who is mightier than all, and all depends upon Him. There is one that must be appreciated above all, one who gives the victory, the God of all grace. David was amazing. He's surrounded by amazing, mighty men, but David was also an amazing sinner, as were these mighty men, and he needed the grace found in the one who alone was perfect, the Christ to come, the son of David,

the mightiest of men. David was a slayer of giants, but he couldn't slay this giant.

He could bring peace in the nation, but not peace in his soul.

He's the slayer of Uriah the Hittite, and he needed the slayer of sin, and the slayer of death, and the slayer of the devil, and the slayer of hell, the mightiest of men, Jesus the Christ.

And Uriah the Hittite, his portrait hangs there just to remind that the great God of heaven and Earth who works in this world through his people is a God of astounding grace. It's He who ultimately secures the victory.

So here's questions for you in closing.

Is your name written in the Lamb's book of life?

Do you know that your name, your name, not your family's name, not generally the church's name, your name. Is your name inscribed upon the palm of His hand?

If not, then come to Christ. If it is, stand in Christ. You have a role to play. You have a mission before you.

You're to work out your salvation with fear and trembling and to be active in the fight of faith in the body of Christ. You're a mighty man in the Lord's army.

Fill your role to His praise and to His glory. Let's pray.

Our Father, we are thankful. We're thankful this morning that there are the giants that have come before us of the faith, upon whose shoulders we stand.

Such mighty men and mighty women of faith, of valor, of courage.

But most importantly, we're thankful for that mightiest of men, the God man, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We humble ourselves before Him this morning and want to see Him appreciated and exalted and glorified in our midst. May it be so. We pray all this in the strong name of Him, who is the savior of men, Jesus Christ. Amen.