David's Army

[0:00] David's army. David's army. We're looking at the army of David, King David.! And really it's a picture of God's army. And we take up the account from 1 Samuel.

[0:12] ! 1 Samuel, if you turn to 1 Samuel 22. And here he is, David, he's in this lonely cave. It was a wild and solitary place, a place of hardship. And here he is, a hunted man, on the run, from jealous Saul.

[0:26] It was a time of great trial and challenge. And God brought to David some men. Weak men. Broken men. Men who needed ministering to.

[0:38] And we see that from 1 Samuel 22, from verse 1. Where it reads, David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave of Dolem. And when his brethren and all his fathers' house heard it, they went down thither to him.

[0:56] Verse 2. And everyone that was in distress, and everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him.

[1:09] And he became a captain over them. And they were with him about 400 men. So here's David. He's hiding in a cave. It's interesting that archaeologists say that the cave of Dolem was not far from the very place where David, as the shepherd boy, had defeated Goliath in these hills of Judah.

[1:33] Quite a contrast. Slaying Goliath and now hunkering down in a dark, dingy cave, hiding from King Saul, who threatened to kill him.

[1:46] And then, as time went by, people joined David. Some 400 men. And it became 600. David's army, ultimately, people reckon, numbered 1.3 million in number.

[2:01] Of course, that was much later. But here he is in a cave, hiding, fearful, and 400 or more men come to him.

[2:16] And we can pick up some different spiritual meanings from this record here. Here we have to go through a cave before a kingdom.

[2:27] Here was David. This cave was for him a sanctuary, a place of refuge. We could contemplate that the assembly place, when we gather together, it's a sanctuary, isn't it?

[2:40] We're coming apart, coming together. And the assembly place is a place where our Lord fits us for his service. Because the cave refuge for David became a training for reigning, a place for training for David and his army.

[2:59] And, of course, we speak about the King David, but as we do so, think about King Jesus and how David pictures for us our Lord, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings.

[3:14] David is here and we see he's in this place of hiding. And it pictures, in a way, for us how our Lord, the Lord's anointed, because David was anointed, but he wasn't yet placed as king.

[3:33] But here it pictures for us our Lord, despised and rejected. And then we see numbers of men come. People come to David.

[3:43] And these men who came to him, they were prepared to share David's afflictions, the fellowship of his sufferings, if you like. Likewise, we can identify with the rejected Christ.

[3:55] If we were in some countries around our world today, to identify with Christ, it meant great danger. It means great danger in the present day, to identify with the rejected Christ.

[4:07] And likewise for us, we come to our King. And he is for us our King. In his grace and his love, he receives us.

[4:19] We see later there was glory. But for the time, there was this place of suffering, of grace. And we think of our Lord, what he has done for us, he's relieved our distress, he's removed our discontent, and he's remitted our debt.

[4:35] It's a picture of all these things, as we see, as we'll talk about these things shortly in verse 2. And we think of David here, fleeing from King Saul. Likewise for us in our day, there's a usurper that's ruling over the world at the moment, the God, small g, of this world.

[4:53] And we have a choice to make. We can join party to that, or we can, as the Bible says, go forth outside the camp, without the camp, fearing his reproach, Hebrews 13.

[5:08] So let's have a look at what we're seeing here in verse 2. As we see, there's a calling together of these motley bunch of men.

[5:18] There's a recruitment drive going on, if you like, in David's army, God's army today. God's army is open for enlistment.

[5:30] There's a recruitment drive. God's army is calling, looking for recruits, and it's time to enlist. So point number one, effectively, is recruitment.

[5:41] Recruitment. God is raising up an army. He still is. There's a recruitment drive underway, and there's open selection right now. It's available right now.

[5:52] There's opportunities to serve in the ranks, as it were. And the Lord is recruiting to his ranks people from all walks of life. And we see here, notice, who it is that he recruits.

[6:08] Look at David's army, as we see described here. What a motley crew. What a ragged regiment. Outcasts and misfits. Notice the ones who came to David.

[6:21] They knew that they needed him. And it's the same with us, isn't it? When we come to Christ, when we come to the captain of our salvation, we realise our need of him.

[6:33] So we see the next scripture, our Lord says it's not the healthy who need a doctor, but he says, I've come to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

[6:49] God is raising up a spiritual army all around us here in this city, in these northern suburbs, in Adelaide. There's a calling together, a gathering together. And notice that they were drawn to David, these ones.

[7:05] God chooses all kinds of people. Sometimes they're people in distress. We'll just go back to verse 2 there, 1 Samuel 22, verse 2.

[7:17] And see how it describes them. Okay, see here, everyone, number one, that was in distress. The ones who flocked to David were the ones who were in distress, we see.

[7:28] Everyone that was in distress. You know, life is filled with trouble. At times there's difficulties, there's crisis, there's a great deal of pressure and stress. That's the sense of it here, this word distress.

[7:41] It means people who are oppressed. And it says everyone that was in distress went to David. And what a good thing that would be, to have such a one that we can go to, and we do have such a one.

[7:55] If we are in distress, if we have a need, we can flee to him. It speaks of those who weren't coping. God picks people who are in tough times, difficult situations.

[8:06] And I know there's many amongst us. We all have our share. The Bible talks about the day of distress. And there are many things that we can be distressed about.

[8:17] Think of what's going on on planet Earth at the moment. It's just gone quite nutsy, hasn't it? And there's a time coming, the Bible says, where there will be a distress of nations.

[8:29] Don't we see that? The global situation of distress. And furthermore, it's told of the end times that there shall be great distress in the land.

[8:41] When you're in distress, there's someone you can talk to. As we see the scripture here, Psalm 120, the psalmist cried, in my distress, I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me.

[8:55] Friends, if you're in distress, there is one you can go to. You might go to your doctor. You might go to a pastor. You might go to some helper or a psychologist.

[9:11] But first and foremost, above all, cry unto the Lord. In my distress, I cried unto the Lord. Worldly counsellors can offer some help, but I cried unto the Lord.

[9:23] When you have distress. And that's what really these folk did. The Lord will hear you cry, it says, when you are in distress. So be like these ones who came to David. God chooses people who are in distress.

[9:36] So don't think, because you're in distress, God is not with you. It's all the more that you can hold on to him. And then we see, it says that God also chooses people in debt.

[9:49] In that verse 2 of 1 Samuel 20, it says God chooses people in debt. These ones were owing money to creditors, perhaps to the government.

[10:02] We know that I'm told that King Saul had a harsh regime. And perhaps he was overtaxing these people. They were oppressed, overwhelmed.

[10:12] I don't know if you've done your tax yet, but we pay enough of it. But these people didn't have enough to pay their debts. And it's a fact that in Eastern society, anyone who could not pay their debts, they were quickly dealt with.

[10:29] And there was unjust creditors in that time. There's unjust creditors. And contrary to God's law, they would demand that in order to pay their debts, they should become a slave.

[10:42] Or their children should be sold as slaves. Imagine that. Thankfully, we don't have that just at the moment, do we? You know, you can't pay your bills, and you become a slave.

[10:53] Or you give your children as slaves. That was the world of this day. These were people in debt. This was a heavy situation. And it says that everyone that was in debt, they came to David.

[11:04] Everyone who owed money. These were poor people. Bankrupt people. People in poverty and despair. People with nothing. Thank God that we can come empty-handed to our Lord.

[11:15] Amen? We don't pay for our salvation. We can't work for it. It's a free gift for us. And we have nothing to give. But he gives us his everything. In a way, salvation, it takes us from the debtors' prison.

[11:30] You know, they would put people in debt into prison. It takes us from the debtors' prison to the master's table. Amen? What a picture that is of our God, of his supply, of our source, our great king.

[11:43] And so the poor, the ones in debt, came unto David. And we likewise, we can come. We can realise our great need, our great lack.

[11:53] We can come unto the king of kings. We can realise our great, our deepest need, which is salvation. And the debt that we owe, that we cannot pay, that he paid at Calvary's Hill.

[12:06] So God chooses people who are in distress. God chooses people who are in debt. And thirdly, it says, God chooses the people who are discontented.

[12:17] People who are discontent. It's got the sense of a bitterness of soul. Perhaps they've been suffered ill treatment. Perhaps they've been abused or wronged.

[12:29] There's a sense of heaviness here. And we can all have those times, can't we? When things go heavy, we're weighed down, we're feeling loaded down. It's got the sense of an affliction of mind.

[12:40] And we can experience that free life, that bitterness of soul, that hurt. And it says these ones that came to King David, these were desperate people. It says they were discontented.

[12:52] It says everyone that was discontented came to David. It says every person who was dissatisfied. These people knew the emptiness. The lack of fulfilment.

[13:02] The failure. And friends, it picked us for us. As we come to Christ, we've got nothing of our own selves. We haven't got a contentment of ourselves.

[13:14] And we can know a contentment that is beyond our circumstances. We can know a satisfaction. Because it talks about our sufficiencies of Christ. And these ones in David's time, they were hurt people.

[13:26] They were broken people. Searching people. People with problems. They knew a hopelessness. Yet they found hope in David. And David recruited an army.

[13:36] These ones who were not ashamed to flee to him as their captain, as their king. And likewise, friends, today, we can flee to the captain. The captain of our salvation.

[13:48] It's one of his titles. And the Lord issues a call. Join the army. And the ones who rally to the cause. Friends, when you think about it today, even in our days, it's often the little people who come.

[13:59] Isn't it? It's the little people who come to Christ. It's not often the high and mighty. It's the little people. It's the discounted people. It's the ones who the world would write off as a lost cause.

[14:12] And so here we see David's army. What are they? A stressed out bunch of rebels with empty pockets and angry creditors on their tail. These are the ones, the raw materials.

[14:26] And God made them to become mighty men. Mighty men. Likewise, we, we were oppressed by the devil. We were rebels against God in our own selves.

[14:37] We were spiritually bankrupt. And the spirit of the world is constantly hounding us with its claim on our souls. But we gather to David.

[14:50] David, the son of David, the true David, our Lord, as pictured by David. He's the ultimate David, isn't he? And some churches would reject or avoid some people.

[15:03] Yet we see that the invitation is extended right across humanity. And it's often the little ones, the discounted ones, who hear his call and say, yes, I need you.

[15:17] I need you, God. I need you. The same kind of people gather to the king today.

[15:29] And Christ ministers to the outcast. It's not the people that have it all together. It's not those people that necessarily have everything just right.

[15:39] But we can be such a church. We can have such a mission that we can reach the down and outs. We can reach the distressed.

[15:50] We can reach those that are in debt. Those that are discontent with what the world gives them. And we're one big dysfunctional family in a way. This is who Christ is calling.

[16:01] As he teaches, I've not come. Luke 5, 32. I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Thank God that you cannot be too low that he cannot reach you.

[16:13] You cannot be too desperate that he cannot touch your life. You cannot be too feeling hopeless that he cannot give you hope today. And so we see the wonderful truth that God is calling such as we to join up, to sign up.

[16:32] He's calling men and women into his armed forces, if you like. And he's calling those who are distressed, those who are in debt, those who are discontent. And he's reaching out to such as we that may not fit, may not have everything as ideal as we would like it to be.

[16:50] In our home situations, in our physical capacity, and maybe in what means we have. We might feel like we're poor, like we lack, like we're unqualified, like we're unfit.

[17:04] But God chooses such as we for his spiritual army. Amen. The recruitment campaign is underway.

[17:14] I know there's some people going for jobs lately. And there's certain requirements, you know. I know when I was a youngster I was interested in joining the police or this or that. And you had to be a certain height, a certain weight.

[17:26] And I just missed out. I just didn't... But there's no physical limitations. You don't have to be a certain height or weight or a certain age or have a certain selection, a certain academic qualifications.

[17:43] You don't have to have, you know, meet all the requirements that sometimes employers specify for jobs. But he says, whosoever will may come.

[17:54] Amen. That's the criteria. Whosoever will may come. And he's calling. He's reaching out. And the Holy Spirit reaches out. Amen. He reaches out to the lowest of the low, such as me, such as we.

[18:09] That he reaches to those who will but hear his call. And it says they came unto David. God draws them to himself. The druggies, the poor, the harlots, the derelicts, the street people, the criminals, the ashamed.

[18:25] All of the baggage. And we can dump it at the foot of the cross. Amen. We can come to him. We can come to him. God wants to reach to the gutter most.

[18:36] To those that you might feel, I'm too sinful. You cannot be too sinful. That he cannot save you. He can find, as he found me, in the gutter of sin and selfishness.

[18:50] And they came. It says they came to David. David. He was a man after God's own heart. So we see in David a picture of Christ. David showed himself to be king.

[19:02] Ruling under God. To whom a poor, guilty, needy people could take refuge. Think of that. I wonder if there might have been some who were quite desperately, quite desperately in distress.

[19:19] Desperately indebted. Desperately discontent. He did not say, no, you don't fit my criteria. Whosoever will may come.

[19:32] And David showed himself king to these. He took the rejects of the world. He turned them into the greatest army that Israel ever knew. Think of that. You might think, oh, who am I?

[19:43] He wants you in his army. Mighty man. And like David's army, many people today, they're distressed. They're discontent. They're in debt. Yet his call still goes out.

[19:58] He says, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. If you're a sinner, you're qualified. Amen. And they're all part of his army, the ones being mobilised today.

[20:10] They might be weak in the world's eyes. People might look at a church such as we and such as our folk and think how weak we are. We're not high and mighty.

[20:21] But he's making us strong. He's preparing us. We're in the cave and he's preparing us. We're instruments in his hand. And we'll confound the wires of this world.

[20:32] Friends, God knows the condition that you're in today. You might feel like you're in that number. Into stress. In debt. It's desperate. It's hopeless.

[20:43] You're discontent. You can't find that satisfaction of your soul. He watches over you. He cares for you deeply. He is that one that we can flee to him.

[20:54] And he's calling you to be a warrior in his army. So we see that believers are soldiers of Jesus Christ. We read in 2 Timothy 2 where David addresses Timothy and he says, Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things which thou hast heard of me.

[21:14] Among many witnesses, the same command. To faithful men. Who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

[21:26] No man that woreth and tangle himself with the affairs of this life that he may choose him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. So this ragtag bunch of this motley crew came to David and David made them soldiers.

[21:47] They followed and fought for him. And it's like that for you and me. If we trust Christ, as we know him as our captain of our salvation, we're commissioned as soldiers, as soldiers of Jesus Christ.

[22:06] Let's aim to be good soldiers. Amen? Good soldiers. And salvation really is that recruitment stage, if you like. When we first sought the Lord, think of it.

[22:18] Our soul was loaded down with debt that we could not pay. The sin is so taxing and burdensome. We're distressed and discontent in our heart.

[22:31] And he comes and by his blood, he pays for our heavy debt. And now we're debt free, spiritually. And we're, we who are distressed, facing his judgment, he's now satisfied the demands of his justice.

[22:47] And we're declared pardoned. We who are discontent. He's given us his gracious provision for all our wants and needs.

[22:58] He is our supply for what we really need. He gives us what we need. So he gives us grace here and glory hereafter. That's the king, our king, our wonderful Lord.

[23:11] So everyone who is in soul distress can come to this great captain and claim him as the captain of our salvation. He takes our distress. He pays for it at the cross, paid in full.

[23:26] Our debt paid. And our discontent he gives us in exchange his peace. So friends, you might feel at times rejected.

[23:38] He will not reject you for this army. If you will, but trust him as your captain. He's mustering his troops today. There's a recruiting process going on.

[23:50] And he's calling us to join up. But not just to be static. He wants you to be a good soldier. Not just soldiers in name only. We can be a soldier. We might wear the uniform, but be a bad soldier.

[24:02] We might be a toy soldier. But friends, there's no place for that. We need to be good soldiers. I mean, good soldiers. There's a war on for men's souls. And so we've seen the recruitment.

[24:15] Now there's a rousing, if you think, a second kind of application. David recruited these soldiers. Well, really, they were drawn to him.

[24:26] They came to him. He didn't have some big advertising campaign. Because think of it, when you think David was hunkered down in this hiding place. Saul was looking for him, but couldn't find him.

[24:38] But the ones who were in need came to David. And think of that. You know, sometimes we might major on evangelistic campaigns and advertising and worldly effort.

[24:53] But the ones who saw their need of the king came to the king. That's what we need. We need to reach, touch the lives of the people that need.

[25:05] The people that say, yes, I need a savior. I need him. I desperately need him. And let's be that recruiting station, as it were. And secondly, there's a rousing going on. There's a rousing that goes on of God's soldiers, if you like, this morning.

[25:19] You know, the bugle call goes out. And there's a rallying call, a rallying God's troops to leave the boot camp and to enter the battlefield. You know, many of you, you've had your basic training.

[25:31] Well and truly, you're probably more trained than I am, some of you. I know that. It's now time to get onto the battlefield, people. I want to rouse you this morning.

[25:43] To wake up from the spiritual slumber. You know, we can all enjoy the cushy pillow. But it's time to be roused. And it's time to wake up the mighty men.

[25:56] As we see Joel 3, verse 9, in part it says, prepare war. Wake up the mighty men. It's time to rouse. There's action. There's a call. There's a war on.

[26:06] And the Lord Jesus, he came to call people, the unlikely people, many of them. And when these people spent time with David, they became, they were transformed into David's mighty men.

[26:20] So these ones who, that ragtag bunch, became these fearsome fighters, this top-notch military unit. And it's the same is true for us. It's as they spent time with David, they were transformed.

[26:33] Amen. And it's the same for you and me. As we spend time with our Lord Jesus, the captain of our salvation, we will become more like him. So I want to encourage you to rouse you to this.

[26:45] To believe, yes, God can use you. You might feel like you're still part of the misfit bunch. We all are. But God is making us mighty men.

[26:56] Mighty men. For his glory. So we can be provoked to think of that. Think of God, Jesus. The most unlikely of men and women. Acts 4. 13. When the people saw the boldness of Peter and John, they perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men.

[27:15] They didn't have much. That was a pretty damning kind of character assessment of these men. They were unlearned and ignorant men.

[27:26] And they marveled. They took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. That's what mattered. Unlearned means uneducated. Maybe illiterate. This was the sense of it.

[27:37] They were totally lacking. And ignorant. It's got a sense of ordinary, untrained. And I might show off my very limited Greek knowledge.

[27:51] And the word underlying ignorant is idioties. Figure out what that is. We can transliterate that, can't we? That's the sense of it.

[28:01] These people were so low of the low. Unlearned and ignorant. Yet God worked in Peter and John. Why? Because they had been with Jesus. So, friends, God picks the little people.

[28:13] And 1 Corinthians 1.27. We read that God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty.

[28:26] Verse 28. And the base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen. Yea, and things which are not, rather, to bring to naught things that are.

[28:36] That no flesh should glory in his presence. It's interesting. Back to verse 27. God has chosen the foolish things. As another Greek word I can tell you today. Moros.

[28:48] That's 1 Corinthians 1.27. 1 Corinthians 1.27. God has chosen the foolish things. In other words, the moros of the world.

[29:00] And the base things that, you know, that's lowly. And the despised things. The least esteem. So, we go on to 1 Corinthians 4.9. God's greatest are the smallest.

[29:12] So, people of God today, don't downrate yourself and say, who am I? What am I? What good am I? What capacity have I got to do anything for God? If you can say, I'm unlearned and ignorant, but I've been with Jesus, then you qualify for God's anointing.

[29:28] For God's enabling. And God picks the little people. We see here, 1 Corinthians 4.9. That God chooses the smallest. It says, 1 Corinthians 4.9.

[29:39] I think Paul says that God has set forth as apostles, the last, as it were, appointed to death. For we are made a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake.

[29:51] It's that word moros again. We're morons. We're blockheads. We're blockheads. For Christ's sake. That's what the world would call you that believe, that trust him, that stand up for Christ.

[30:02] Oh, you're a moron. Yes, I am. For Christ's sake. Amen. And it says that we are, ye are wise in Christ, ye are weak. We are weak, but ye are strong.

[30:13] Ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place. Verse 12.

[30:24] And labour, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we suffer it. Being defiant, we entrain. We are made as the filth of the world and are the off-scouring of all things unto this day.

[30:37] Another, you know, pretty crass word, the off-scouring, means scum. God uses the smallest and he uses the scum of the earth.

[30:49] You can't be too desperately degraded in the sight of people that God cannot use you.

[31:01] Amen. Amen. That's a great encouragement, is it not? Even that we, as the world would count us, as off-scouring, as a scum. And it's the small people willing to do the small things who are the mighty men.

[31:16] We read one reference to that in 1 Chronicles 11. It talks about the three men of Adullam. And they were called the mighty men of David. And the mighty men of David, these were the ones that were in that ragtag bunch that started off.

[31:34] And then we see, as they spent time with David, God transformed them into mighty men, full of courage. These ones were made mighty because of their love for their king.

[31:44] And these three mighty men, as we'll read, they risked their lives to break through the ranks of the Philistines, the enemy, to bring David water from the well by the gate of Bethlehem.

[31:58] So we'll read here from verse 15 of 1 Corinthians 11. Now these three of the 30 captains went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam.

[32:13] And the host of the Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephaim. And David was then in the hold. So here they were in this place. And the Philistines' garrison was then at Bethlehem.

[32:24] And as they were there in that cave, David says this, verse 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.

[32:35] I just want to have a drink of that lovely Bethlehem water. And the three break 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.

[32:47] But David would not drink of it, but poured it out to the Lord 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?

[32:59] For with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mightiest. So here were these three men, the three men of Adullam, the three men that were of that cave of Adullam.

[33:12] They risked their lives. Why? Because of their love for King David. And King David poured out the water because he wanted to offer it unto the Lord. Think of it. These three men, mighty men, they were with David, it says.

[33:27] They knew the longings of his heart. They risked all for their King and they did all for the pleasure of their King. What about you and me? Do we love our King? Do we want to be with Him?

[33:38] Do we want to give our all for Him? Do we want to be stirred up to be able to answer into serious situations and trust Him?

[33:49] Do we want to give our all for our team? These men were stirred up, they were roused up to be soldiers, mighty men. You can be a mighty man. You may not be manning the machine gun or the fighter pilot.

[34:03] You might be sweeping the barracks or washing the dishes or on guard duty. But it's every part is important.

[34:14] We're all called to something, to duty. And friends, it might be the small things. Be faithful in the small. Even those often neglected tasks, those things left to the same overworked ones.

[34:30] It's an opportunity for us. A little thing that we can do for the kingdom of God. To be a willing volunteer. A reliable volunteer.

[34:42] Some say, I'll volunteer, then they don't show up. See if you can help with some little things, alright? Might be just little things. But everything's important.

[34:53] The little things are important. When you think of it, John 6 verse 9, we read of the disciple Andrew. So he brought a lad to the Lord as the occasion of feeding the multitude. And John 6 verse 9, Andrew says to the Lord, there is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes.

[35:10] But what are they among so many? Here's Andrew. This little boy. I don't know how old he was. Maybe he might have been as small as Jed. Who knows how little he was. But he was a young tacker.

[35:22] Just this little lad. And they said, oh, it's just this little lad. He's just got, you know, five barley loaves. And apparently barley bread was kind of inferior. So it wasn't all that kind of, it wasn't that sought after.

[35:35] And then two small fishes. Look, there's only two. Only two small fishes. And these small fishes fed multitudes. You know, we might think of ourselves as just a little small fish.

[35:48] But we can, in God's hands, be used of him. Little people can do little things.

[35:59] And they are mighty men. Mighty men. We read further in 1 Corinthians 12 of these mighty men. These ones that had started off as this misfit outfit. 1 Chronicles 12 verse 8.

[36:11] It says of them that they separated themselves unto David. Into the hole to the wilderness. Men of might, it says. And men of war, fit for the battle.

[36:22] That could handle the shield. And buckler, like a small shield. His faces were like the faces of lions. And were as swift as the rose upon the mountains. They were like these mountain deer.

[36:34] That could swiftly move. And so we see these mighty men. They were separated for his service. They were strong. They were skillful.

[36:44] They were steadfast. And they were swift. These were the ones who were just part of that bunch of losers, of outcasts made into mighty men.

[36:56] You can know God's enabling too. David's men were rewarded when David came to the throne. And think of it, brothers and sisters, for you.

[37:07] Again, as you are good soldiers of Jesus Christ, you will be rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ for your works. Of course, it's your salvation by faith that saves you.

[37:21] But then it's just that kind of extras that we have. Acknowledgement of our works. It'd be good to have those extras, wouldn't it?

[37:32] To have some extras, as it were. Our salvation is secured. It's sure. It's settled at the cross and our salvation. Yet, we want to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

[37:44] So, we see God has recruited us. He's roused us. And thirdly, this army of God has been given a task. And it's revolution.

[37:56] It's revolution. We're actually revolutionaries, in a way, as God's army. We're called to dare to do exploits for the master.

[38:08] It's a radical, world-changing mission. When you think of it, the call that you have as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, this work is greater than politics or government or some important calling that the world would reckon.

[38:26] This is the work of world revolution, of revival. And we want to be such an army, making an eternal impact on our community, for Christ's sake, from the grassroots up.

[38:39] We're living in a lost world. And people desperately need to know the saviour. There's people that are needy, but they don't realise who is the one they need.

[38:51] And we see that as we're witnessing door to door. You see people in desperate, desperate need. And it's just shifting their gaze from their problem to the answer.

[39:05] You know, the ultimate answer. That doesn't mean to say they may still have desperate lives, but they'll know the one who brings hope and help.

[39:16] And so the Bible says the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost. And he calls us to his mission. He says, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

[39:28] So, friends, it's ordinary, small people, people just like you and me that God can use. And you can be encouraged in that. I trust. Think of it.

[39:41] Of whom the Lord placed the very future of his church. It was on the shoulders of that little band of believers. Some of them just ignorant and unlearned men.

[39:53] Poor, ordinary people. Yet a revolution happened, didn't it? And friends, we might feel like we lack, we're incapable.

[40:06] How can we make such an impact? But it's the one we serve that helps us fulfil this impossible mission. Think of the sinful days of the time.

[40:20] Think of our sinful times that we live. It's almost like sin is even more blatant, in your face, more accessible. The world is increasingly godless. And the governments that govern us are increasingly swept by tidal waves of sin, of immorality.

[40:37] We see the cursing of Christ. It's routine on TV shows, isn't it? And we see, yet sadly, some churches, as it has been said, that we're no longer fishers of men.

[40:49] We just keepers of the aquarium. You know, it's just, oh, just have the aquarium where the fish come, you know, once a week. But we've forgotten the ministry of going out, of being fishers of men.

[41:03] That's what we're called to. We're called to go out. And we see Acts 17. It tells of the mission of the early church. They were described as turning the world upside down.

[41:18] And when we see a soul trust Christ, the whole world is turned upside down. They turn, you know, God gives them a new heart, a new start. They change from the inside out.

[41:29] There's a revolution that goes on, soul by soul, one soul at a time. And friends, we're all called to this mission as good soldiers. We need to, I think, be urged to a refreshing of that militancy.

[41:43] This message is too vital that we cannot get excited about it and earnest about it. These are the last days, friends. We're living in the last days. We may not get through the book of Revelation on Wednesday night.

[41:55] We may not have time. Friends, we're living in the last days. The Lord is rallying and raising up a mighty army. And he's choosing the most unlikely.

[42:05] You can come to the King David, as it were, the Lord Jesus. You can come and find your refuge in him. You can come and spend time with him.

[42:17] Let him transform you from that misfit into a mighty man, a mighty woman. God chooses little people doing little things and makes them mighty men, mighty women.

[42:34] Be encouraged today. Join the war effort. And part of that is witnessing. A witness is a nobody seeking to tell everybody about a somebody who can change anybody.

[42:47] You know, this is the ministry that we're all called to as a mighty man. And so we need some reinforcements of the front lines. People of God, be stirred up today. Be roused up.

[42:58] Be rallied to the cause to think of, Are you big enough in God to do the little things that are his work? Could be being sensitive to the opportunities.

[43:13] Making a call. Sending a card. Writing a note. Vacuuming the floor. Writing, sending a tract. Leaflet dropping.

[43:24] There's many reasons. We can all do something. Something. If you're an able-bodied soldier, you've got no excuse. So be encouraged. Not to put a guilt trip on you, but to know that you've got a captain, the captain of your salvation.

[43:39] And think of it. Be roused up and be encouraged to man the battle stations. Let us pray.