We're in First Samuel, chapter 17.
And really in First Samuel, we've, we've seen this progression
of the life of Saul.
Actually, First Samuel tracks the first king of Israel, and that's
a guy named Saul.
And Saul started out really well, and God was working in the
life of Saul.
The power of God was resting on him.
And as he was obeying God, God was blessing him.
But we saw that Saul took a turn to a lifestyle of selfishness,
a lifestyle of pride, a lifestyle of self sufficiency.
And in that, he found emptiness, he found hopelessness,
he found destruction.
And actually what we see is that because of his disobedience
to God, God took the kinghood away from him and essentially passed
it over to David.
And we saw David being anointed and the wonderful story
of young David trusting in the Lord and taking up the mantle.
And now we're in First Samuel, Chapter 17, and we come to a very,
very familiar story.
And I would venture to say that all of us in this room have
heard of this story before, probably more than once, probably
more than 50 times.
And that's the story of David and Goliath.
And, and one of the challenges of talking about a passage of scripture
that we're all familiar with is that sometimes, if we've heard
a story a hundred, a thousand times, we tend to kind of shut down
and think, yeah, I know the story, I've heard it a million times.
David, Goliath, yeah, we know the sword or the, the sling and stone
and eventually the sword with Goliath.
But what, what I want us to think about as we go through this
study is, is certainly, yes, there, there is the surface level
lesson that we can learn when it comes to David trusting the Lord.
But I also want us to look at Saul in this passage because oftentimes
we focus on David and Goliath, and rightfully so.
But I also want you to see saul in chapter 17, because Saul
has a chance to step up and obey the Lord and do something for
the Lord in this case.
And we see that he basically misses his opportunity and David
gets to step in and have this wonderful blessing of seeing this
victory.
So think about David, think about Goliath, but also think about
Saul.
And ultimately we're going to think about the Lord and how this
applies to us in our life.
Because anytime we look at a story, we, we see it obviously from
the perspective of it's a narrative, story, history, or, or
however you want to see it.
But also there's a spiritual lesson here for us to apply to our
lives.
And so I want us to see that as well.
So without further ado, let's look at verse number one.
It says now the Philistines gathered together their armies to
battle.
Most of you know that at this time in Israel's history, the Philistines
are the greatest rivals.
The Philistines are basically people that have come from another
land and settled in the south western side of the land of Canaan,
the land of Israel.
And they basically planted themselves there.
And they're, they're pagan, they're trying to infuse their culture
into the Israelite culture.
And in many ways the Philistines did influence the people
of Israel in sin.
And so what we're going to see here is that Goliath and the people
of the Philistines are trying to basically reject what God is bringing
in the nation of Israel and then infuse their thinking.
And what we see in our culture today is that as Christians we're
living for the Lord, but we know that the world is trying to
push, push on us the culture of sin, the culture of fleshliness,
the culture of pride.
And essentially we're Israel and we have the world, the Philistines,
that are pushing their way of life upon us.
And so that's what we see here.
So the Philistines are gathering together to, to battle
against the Israelites.
And they're gathered together in, in Shokam, which belongeth to
Judah, and pitched between Shokah and Azakah and Ephin.
And for you, you might say that means nothing to me.
But for the people that understand the geography of Israel,
this means a lot because this was a stronghold for the nation of
Israel, particularly in the land of Judah.
And we're going to see that there's this valley, the valley of
Elon, that's the setting for this story, verse two.
And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together and pitched
by the valley of Elah and set the Philist the battle in array against
the Philistines.
So we see that there's the Philistines on one side of the valley
and the Israelites on the other side.
Verse 3.
And the Philistines stood on the mountain on one side, and Israel
stood on the mountain on the other side.
And there was a valley between them.
And so we see the setting here.
There's this, the rolling hills there in that part of Israel.
And I've had the blessing to stand on the one side, the Israel
side and look over the valley and see the other side.
And it's a very remarkable place to.
To see with your own eyes.
And a lot of battles were.
Were fought in these very hills.
And so the Philistines come, and this would have been a place
of battle.
This would have been a place of confrontation.
And that's what we see exactly happen here in verse 4.
There's a confrontation and there went out a champion out of
the camp of the Philistines.
Now, that word champion means a few different things in the original
Hebrew language.
It does mean someone who's been very successful in battle.
But it also means a representative or an ambassador for
the Philistines.
And so Goliath comes out basically as the spokesperson of
the Philistines.
So you could see it this way.
The spokesperson for evil, the spokesperson for the world.
And so he comes out and it says he's Goliath of Gath, which
Gath is.
Is a place, a Philistine stronghold, one of the major cities
of the Philistines.
And it says whose height was six cubits and a span.
Now, there's been a lot of debate about really how tall Goliath
was.
I've heard scholars argue for hours about which system of measurement
are we going to use?
And so I would say it this way, guys, think about it from this
perspective.
It really doesn't matter how tall he was.
He was a lot taller than everybody else.
If you want to put a number on it, roughly he was anywhere between
a little under 9ft and up to 10ft.
That's what most scholars believe he was.
Other scholars believe he was probably only 7ft.
Other scholars say even taller.
So we could sit there and be nitpicky about his height.
But what I will say is that the reality is that we see in this
passage of Scripture that he is larger than everybody else.
And, and we see in verse five, and he had a helmet of brass upon
his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail.
And the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of brass.
So most commentators believe that just his armor itself was about
150 to 200 pounds.
And so if anybody is wearing about 200 pounds of armor, they've
got to be a pretty big person to.
To carry that with them.
And so nonetheless, we see that he is a physically imposing
individual, says, and he agrees, of brass upon his legs, and
a target of brass between his shoulders.
And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's
head weighed 600 shekels of iron.
And one bearing a shield went before him.
And so the reality is, is that he comes out here and there's this
intimidation factor.
And I want to speak to that here for just a moment, because evil
usually works in the level of intimidation.
What Satan wants to do is he wants to bring into our life intimidation.
And what we know is that though Goliath was physically imposing,
we're going to see later that a man or a young boy that was much
smaller, much less physically equipped was able to defeat him through
the power of God.
And so that's a picture for us in our own life.
Sometimes we're going to face evil, Sometimes we're going to face
a temptation, a trial, an opposition that's going to seem on
paper to be impossible to overcome.
We're going to see something that's physically or spiritually
imposing.
And it might be in a way very intimidating to the fact that we
would say, you know what?
I think we should just give up.
And that's exactly what Saul is going to do.
Saul is going to look at the situation and he's going to back
down.
He's going to cower in fear.
And really, we have two responses to a difficult situation
in our life.
We have two responses to this type of intimidation.
We can either respond in fear like Saul responds, or we can respond
in faith.
Really, there's two ways that we can respond.
And so we're going to see that Saul is going to cower in fear, and
everybody else cowers in fear.
And the reason why they're in fear is because they're not operating
in faith.
And then we're going to see a difference.
We're going to see how David responds.
And David responds not in fear.
He's looking at the same giant, he's looking at the same spear,
he's looking at the same army that's standing on the other side.
But instead of responding in fear and backing away and.
And worrying, he comes to the situation and says, look, God's on
our side, and he faces it with.
With faith.
So let's see in verse number eight, what happens?
And he stood, Goliath stood and cried unto the armies of Israel
and said unto them, why are you come out to set your battle in
array?
Am not I a Philistine?
And ye servants of Saul, choose you a man for you, and let
him come down to me.
So Goliath is issuing a challenge.
It's a challenge to the whole army of Israel.
And really what he's saying is this.
Who's brave enough to come down and face me?
Who trusts in their God enough?
And we're actually going to see that he blasphemes God.
So this isn't just an attack on the nation of Israel.
This is an attack against the Lord.
And that's what we have to also understand is when we're dealing
with.
With a situation in our life of evil, it's not just an attack
on us, it's actually attack on everything that we believe in, everything
that we stand for.
Jesus even said, hey, when people are attacking you, don't take
it personally, because really, they're coming after you.
They're coming after me.
And that's the greatest understanding, is that when someone
does something evil to us or we're facing a situation in our life
that's quite difficult, Jesus reminds us that we're not facing
anything that he hasn't faced.
Hebrews tells us that we have a high priest who understands our
infirmities, our situations, our pain, our sadness, all of these
things that we think are unique to us.
The Lord has understood those things and gone through that.
But the distinction is that he did it without sin.
And we face these problems and we don't face them in perfect nature
like he does.
And so we're going to see here verse number eight.
He challenges them and he says, verse nine.
If he be able to fight with me and to kill me, then will we be your
servants.
But if I prevail against him and kill him, then shall ye be our
servants and serve us.
And so what we see here is that he's essentially making stipulations.
He's making the rules.
He's trying to dictate the situation.
And the Israelites fall right into his trap.
They, they, they do exactly what he wants them to do.
Verse number 10.
And the Philistines said, I defy the armies of Israel this day.
Give me a man that we may fight together.
He defies God.
He defies the truth.
He defies everything that Israel is supposed to be trusting
him.
So let's see Saul's response.
Because remember, if anybody should receive this challenge, it
should be Saul.
Remember Saul's description earlier on in his life when they
picked him as king, he was, what, head and shoulders above everybody
else?
So, so he's the guy.
He's the giant in Israel.
He's the leader.
He's the one that's been selected by God to lead.
So if anybody was supposed to step up for this opportunity to prove
that God is all powerful, it should have been Saul.
Saul should have said, you know what, guys?
I'm the biggest, I'm the champion.
I'm the one that God has selected for this leadership position.
And really, that's what leadership is.
It's taking the responsibility to fight the battles for others.
And as Christians, oftentimes we want to pass the buck to somebody
else.
We don't want to take the responsibility for ourselves.
And so Saul says What?
Well, verse 11.
And when Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine,
they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
Instead of responding in faith, they respond in fear.
And that word dismayed.
There really is this idea of just being completely deflated to
being complete distress.
Hopeless, really.
Saul should not be the one who's hopeless.
Saul had the opportunity to speak directly to God.
God anointed him as leader.
And so if anyone should have confidence, it would be Saul.
But Saul is dismayed.
Why is he dismayed?
Because he's looking at the giants.
He's looking at the circumstance.
He's looking at all the things that could go wrong instead of looking
at the Lord and trusting in what he can do.
And so essentially what we see is he is demoralized because of the
enemy that's standing before him.
And we see many Christians act this way when a situation of evil
stands up.
You know, we have an opportunity as Christians to stand
in the truth and fight for truth.
Actually, in the New Testament, in the Book of Jude, it
says to contend for the faith.
That means to fight for the faith.
And as humans and as Christians, oftentimes we're ready
to fight, but we're not ready to fight for the right things.
We're ready to fight for our own pride or for our own ego or for
our own personal preferences.
But the Bible says there is a time and a place to fight, but it's
not to fight other Christians.
It's not to fight people that have personally slighted us.
Think about what Jesus says about that.
Jesus talks about turning the other cheek when it comes to a personal
slight.
But the Bible does say there is a time and a place to have righteous
anger.
There is a time and a place to stand up and fight for the truth.
And that is when God's word is on display.
And we can either trust in that, or we can trust in the evil
that's being presented before us.
And so we live in a culture today that's very evil.
I think all of you understand that right now.
Just turn on the news.
You're going to see evil all over.
And as Christians, we can respond in many different ways.
One of the ways that many Christians respond is just by complaining
about evil.
I think We.
I mean, I'm guilty of this.
I'm guilty of sitting around with other Christians and talking
about how bad everyone else is in the world.
You know, oh, man, these people are evil over here.
This group of people over here believes in all the wrong things,
and we commiserate one with another and complaining.
But, folks, I understand why we do that, but that's not helping
anything.
Sometimes we can cower in fear and actually compromise.
So we can complain, but we can also sometimes just compromise and
say, you know what?
Everybody's doing that.
Everybody thinks this way, everybody acts this way.
So it will make a lot of sense for me just to give into that and
just compromise in this and not fight for it.
And so we can either respond in compromise, we can respond in
some level of complaining.
Some of us can.
Just.
Some people just cower in fear.
You ever.
You ever in your life just been so petrified in fear that you
couldn't move?
And there's only been a few times in my life where I just was,
like, so struck with fear that I'm just like, I'm shocked and I
can't do anything.
That's oftentimes what many Christians are doing in this world.
We see evil and we just freeze and we see that it's wrong, but we
don't do anything about it.
It's just a sense of apathy or a sense of just being petrified in
fear.
So there is another response, and that could be just to cower in
fear, or there's the biblical response to evil and sin, and that
is to contend for the faith and courage and to say, I'm going
to stand for that.
I'm going to stand for the truth.
I'm going to stand against these things that are going on around
me.
And so Saul does not respond in courage to contend for the faith.
He responds in fear and being demoralized.
And so, yeah, Saul, I mean, and I understand why Saul is afraid
in humanity terms.
I mean, Goliath is coming out.
He's the giant amongst the Philistines.
Saul is the giant amongst the Israelites.
And so Saul is the logical choice to do this, but instead, he
cowers in fear.
And so instead of allowing the spirit of the Lord to guide him into
battle, he just allows his selfishness and pride to bring him
to a place of being dismayed and greatly afraid.
How many Christians today are living in that spirit of dismay and
fear and not able to do the things that we're called to do in
the midst of our Christian walk?
And that's what we see really with Saul is he's the type of person
who sees this great opportunity but yet backs away from
it because of all the risks that he might face.
And so there is no faith, it's only fear.
Verse 12.
We're going to see a contrast.
We're going to see a flip in the script.
Remember, we were thinking about Saul and the way that he responds
to Goliath and this great evil.
And now we're going to see David, and we're going to see the
way David responds.
Verse 12.
Now, David was the son of the Ephratite of Bethlehem, Judah, whose
name was Jesse, and he had eight sons in the main.
The man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.
And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the
battle.
So we see that David's three older brothers are already there
on the battlefield.
And the names of these three sons that went in the battle were
Eliab, the firstborn, and next Abinadab, and the third, Shammah.
And David was the youngest, and the three eldest followed Saul.
But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep
at Bethlehem.
So by the way, if you remember, David has already had a
relationship with Saul because he's going into Saul and comforting
Saul through his music and being in the king's chamber there.
And so David already has a relationship with Saul.
So we see that he goes back and forth, but he's now back with
his father's sheep in Bethlehem.
And the Philistine drew near morning and evening and presented
himself 40 days.
And Jesse said unto David his son, take now for thy brethren, and
Ephah of this parched corn and these ten loaves, and run to the
camp to thy brethren and carry these 10 cheeses unto the Camp Captain
of their 10,000 of their thousand, and look how thy brethren
fare and take their pledge.
So all of that to say this, David is faithfully serving his father
and ultimately serving the Lord by going back and forth between
Saul and his father in the field there, shepherding these sheep.
And now his father is asking him to go take some provisions to
his brothers on the battlefield.
And now we're going to see David be he's going to be aware of
this threat.
And so David's going to have a chance to respond.
And we go back to verse 16.
When I was reading through this passage, as I was Studying this,
verse 16 kept jumping out to me, and I'm like, why is verse 16
jumping out to me?
Because it's just a Descriptive verse.
But think about this for a second.
It says in the Philistine that's talking about Goliath drew
near morning and evening and presented himself 40 days.
This just speaks to the persistence of evil.
Sometimes we think if we just like ignore the giant in our life,
that, that maybe it'll just go away.
I don't know if any of you, by the way, I'm going to start talking
about this in this study.
When I say giant, I, I know that most of us aren't facing off
against the ten foot Philistine.
Okay, if you are, come talk to me because that'd be very interesting
to, to talk to you about.
Most of us aren't facing against a physical giant, but a lot
of times we're facing spiritual giants in our life that
are coming against us and causing us major issues.
Whether it be a particular sin or a trial or a physical ailment
or whatever it might be, we might be facing a giant in our life.
But you know, oftentimes in my own life in the past, I've thought
about, well, if I just ignore this problem, this temptation, this
trial, maybe it'll just go away.
And most times when I avoid something, it just gets worse and
worse and worse.
And that's exactly what's happening here.
Goliath keeps coming out.
It says there for 40 days, morning and evening.
It's persistent.
And oftentimes as Christians, we try to avoid the situation, lie
to ourselves about what's going on.
But that's not going to take away the problem.
The problem always is going to need some level of spiritual and,
or physical confrontation.
And we don't often talk about confrontation.
There are people who enjoy confrontation.
Those are a unique type of people.
I do not like confrontation, physically speaking.
I want to avoid every confrontation that I can.
I don't like confrontation.
But at the same time, as Christians, there is a healthy level
of confrontation, particularly with sins and issues within our lives.
And so we're going to see David's like, hey, look, I'm going
to confront this evil, this giant, where Saul doesn't want to
confront it.
So look at verse number 19.
We're going to see Saul again.
It says now Saul.
And they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah
fighting with the Philistines.
And David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a
keeper and took and went as Jesse had commanded him.
And he came to the trench as the host was going forth to fight
and shouted for the battle for Israel and the Philistines had put
the battle in array, army against army.
And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage
and ran into the army and came and saluted his brethren.
So we see that David basically meets his brothers out on the battlefield,
and David's going to see Goliath.
And so verse 23.
And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion,
the representative, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name,
out of the armies of the Philistines and spake according to
the same words.
And David heard them.
So David hears the very same thing that all the other men hear.
David now is going to experience this.
And is the question is going to be, is he going to respond the
same way as everybody else, or is he going to respond in faith?
And so really, two responses, fear or faith.
And so the Israelite army is afraid.
Not one of them is willing to stand up against Goliath.
Every one of them has.
Has left.
Every one of them has turned their backs.
And David hears this, and we're going to see what David's Response
is.
Verse 24.
And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from
him and were sore afraid.
And the men of Israel said, have ye seen this man that has come
up surely to defy Israel, is he come up?
And it shall be that the man who killeth him shall the king will
enrich him with great riches and will give him his daughter and
make his father's house free in Israel.
So essentially, David hears what the threat is, he hears what
the reward is, and he makes a decision of what he's going to do.
And we're going to see that decision.
In verse number 26, David Spake to the men that stood by him,
saying, what shall be done to the man that killed this Philistine
and taketh away the reproach from Israel?
For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the
armies of the living God?
So we see right there, David has already made his decision.
Essentially, he's like, who's going to stand up against him?
If it's not anybody else, I will.
Because who is he to stand up against our God?
That's a picture of David's faith, and it's really a picture
of our faith.
When we look at a difficult situation and on paper it looks overwhelming.
But when we say, you know what, who or what can stand against
our Lord?
I think of Romans, chapter eight, and I want you to turn there
with me, because I think Romans chapter 8 ties so perfectly
with this passage of Scripture because Paul is discussing all these
things that can come against us in our life.
And certainly there's a lot of things that can come against us in
our life.
And there's something that I had a realization of recently.
Lord really revealed it to me as I was studying Scripture, is this.
The truth is, is that every single person on this planet is going
to go through difficulties.
Everybody.
There's no one that has walked this earth without difficulty, some
having more difficulties than others, but all of us are going to
have difficulties.
The true question is, where are we going to turn when those difficulties
come?
Where are we going to look to find hope and peace in the midst
of those trials?
Someone who has no relationship with God turns to many
other things.
And you know where people turn.
A lot of people turn to relationships or they turn to substances,
or they turn to something to try to give them some hope in the
midst of the pain.
But the Bible tells us that there's really only one sufficient
remedy for the pain of this world, and that is having a relationship
with God and having the eternal perspective of knowing that
God will be with us through this pain and suffering in this world,
and that ultimately we're living for something more and that
there's a hope of the future and that's an eternal life with him
in heaven.
So Romans chapter 8.
He begins to list all of these things that are problems in this
world.
He says, verse 35. Who shall separate us?
Romans 8:35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ
shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness
or peril or sword.
He says, as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day
long.
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
He says, nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors.
Through him that loveth for loves us.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things
to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature shall separate
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We know in other places in Scripture it says, if God be for
us, who can be against us?
That's the same principle that David is working under here in the
valley of Elah.
When Goliath is saying, look, come, fight me, and everyone's afraid.
He says, no, who is this guy in compared to our Lord?
What is this spiritual trial compared to my Lord?
Who is this naysayer compared to my Lord?
Who is this person who is Sinning against me compared to my
Lord who?
What is the sickness compared to my Lord?
I think that's something that we have to frame in our life.
We are going to face things that seem overwhelming and confusing
and painful and hopeless.
But when we match it up to our relationship with God, we say, there's
nothing that can stand against my Lord.
And that's exactly what David is saying in verse 26.
He says, who is this Philistine that he should defy the
armies of the living God?
Who does this guy.
He's basically saying this, okay, in modern American English.
He said, who does this guy think he is coming against my Lord?
He doesn't know what he's fighting against.
He's ready to lose.
Verse 27.
The people answered him after this manner, saying, so shall it
be done to the man that killeth him.
And Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spake unto the men.
And Eliab's anger was kindled against David.
Now why is his brother mad at him?
David's doing the right thing.
David's obeying God.
David's standing in the truth.
David is acting in faith.
And his brother's, like, getting so mad at him.
We see.
We see that the way that it says, it says, his anger was kindled
against David.
And he said, why came ast down thou hither?
And with whom has thou left those sheep within the wilderness?
I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart.
For thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.
So what's happening here?
What's happening here is that there's a naysayer to David's faith.
David is going to be misunderstood by his brother, his
oldest brother.
And we see that, that his anger is stirring.
And we would think that maybe his older brother would be proud
of David's faith and his courage.
But he's angry because he felt that David is insignificant.
You see it there.
He says, who did you leave your sheep with?
Right?
He's.
He's questioning David's strength and his validity and his
worth.
He says, why did you come down here?
Who did you leave those sheep with?
He's angry because he doesn't think David is worthy of this type
of courage and this type of opportunity.
He's also angry because he thinks he knows David's motivation.
Look at it there with me in verse number 28, almost at the very
end, he says, I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart.
So this is somebody who is thinking that they know why we're
Doing what we're doing for the Lord.
Like, oh, you're just doing that to have people praise you.
You're just serving God because you want people to pat you
on the back.
And it's this pride in their hearts that's being projected on
somebody else to say, you know what?
You're just doing that so that people will look up to you, that
people will honor you.
But we know that that's not David's motivation.
We know that through the whole passage of Scripture.
So we know that Eliab's problem is he's trying to read David's
heart when he can't.
And he assumes that David is acting in pride because most likely
he was characterized by pride.
And so that's oftentimes how people will judge our acts for the
Lord.
Someone might say, well, I would never do that for God, so you
obviously aren't doing that in the right way.
And so what do we do when someone questions our passion for
the Lord?
Or what do we do when someone tries to pour water on the fire that's
burning for the Lord?
Well, as David does, he doubles down on it.
He says.
He says in verse number 29.
And David said, what have I now done?
He says, what did I do wrong?
Is there not a cause?
Is there not a reason to stand up for the Lord?
Is there not something to fight for?
Is there not truth to stand on?
And that's exactly the way that we respond when someone tries
to stop us from being passionate for the truth.
We say, you know what?
No, there is a reason to fight.
There is a reason to stand up.
I don't care what.
Why you think I'm doing what I'm doing, because I'm not doing
it for you.
David's not standing up against Goliath to oppress Eliab,
okay?
He's not even standing up against Goliath to impress Saul.
He's standing up against Goliath because he knows that's the
right thing to do.
And he has a heart for God.
He's a man after God's own heart.
Now, is David perfect?
No.
We know that David makes a lot of mistakes.
But we do know that when David is walking in faith and in the spirit,
he's doing this to honor God.
And so there is this anger that is stirred amongst others who
are not doing right.
You ever wonder why somebody who is doing wrong gets mad when
you're doing right?
It's like, what do you care?
Why do you want me to join in with your sin?
Because a lot of times There's a phrase, misery loves company.
And oftentimes what happens is that people don't want to see someone
standing up for the Lord because it reminds them of what's
lacking in their own life.
And so what we see here is that Eliab is upset.
He himself is a man of stature.
We even know that in First Samuel, chapter 16.
Remember, he was the one that Samuel initially thought should be
the king.
He was like, okay, well, obviously it's this guy.
He's the one that looks like a king.
And so he was the one who often was looked to as the strong
one.
But he was really essentially mad because David was right.
David knew what it meant to have faith.
And so David is going to stick to his gun, so to speak.
He's going to stand in the truth.
He's going to dig his heels in, and he's going to say this.
He says, there is a cause to fight for.
I have not done anything wrong.
And I think that's all of us.
I think all of us have to get to a place in our life.
And I know it's difficult, and I know that often this isn't what
culture teaches.
But we have to stand in the truth.
We have to be willing to dig our heels in to say, no, I'm not
going to concede ground.
Yes, I'm willing to have some level of compromise on things that
are not matters of faith and practice.
I'm willing to understand that we have freedoms within this world
and within our Christian walk, that not everyone has to be the same
as me.
But there are things in Scripture that we cannot give ground
to.
And one of those things being denying the power of God, like we
see Goliath doing here with David and Saul.
So let's see what happens.
Most of you know what happens.
We.
We know that David has the complete confidence that God's already
won this battle.
And that's true faith.
Faith is knowing that God's already got it under control.
So verse 30.
And he turned from him toward another and spake after the same
manner.
And the people answered him again after the former manner.
And when the words were heard, which David spake, and they rehearsed
them before Saul, and he sent for him.
And David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him.
Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
So here it is.
Here's the culmination of everything.
David says, look, everybody else is afraid.
Everybody else is cowering in fear.
But now I'm going to stand up.
I'm Going to fight.
He.
He showed courage, but.
But more than anything, he shows confidence.
Like, the courage comes from his confidence and not in himself.
I think a lot of times people read the story of David and Goliath
and they're like, man, David must have been this amazing guy with
a sling.
And maybe he was.
Maybe he could really throw that rock across the.
The sheep pasture.
But, but we know that this battle is not going to be fought
just with David's resources.
We know that this is a battle fought with God's resources.
God could have used any method in which to defeat Goliath, but he
needed or desired a willing vessel to work through.
And David was the one that was willing to step up.
And so David's like, I will be the one.
And so he shows courage more than anybody else in Israel.
But the courage did not come just because David's an awesome guy.
Sometimes we read these stories in Scripture, and I don't
know where your level of belief and trust in these stories
are.
I believe that these are real people and in real places with real
situations.
And we look at David and, or, or we look at Abraham, or we even
look at the guys in the New Testament like Paul or Peter, and
we think that they're super people, like, they're, they're different
than us.
But I'm going to tell you, what the Bible tells us is that these
are just regular people like us trusting in the same God.
And so David's like, hey, look, I don't know what's going to
happen, but I know that God's going to win.
That's the same way that we have to approach the giants that
we face in our life.
There are going to be times, and I, I could speak from experience.
There's going to be times where we're going to face giants
that are going to look too big.
We're not going to see hope in.
In our own selves, in our own circumstances, in our own talents
and our own resources.
But when we say, lord, okay, I'm trusting in you to give me the
victory, I don't know how you're going to do it, but I'm going
to take a step in faith and trust in you, and that's going to
bolster courage and commitment.
In my life, I often look at people who are what I would consider
spiritual heroes, and I say, wow, how could they do that?
Like, I want to talk to you on Sunday night.
If you guys can come back.
I would love to talk to you about the pastor friend that I met
in Rwanda.
I mean, this guy is one of those heroes of the faith.
After I got to know him, after I got to hear his story, I'm like,
wow, I want to be half the man that he was and is as he stood up
against evil and his forgiveness.
I want to tell you a lot of the story now, but we don't have
a lot of time.
But basically, this man was faced with his own countrymen trying
to kill him just because he had a different tribe.
On his ID card, some of his family was.
Was killed.
He was chased out by gunpoint, was a refugee for years.
Story after story of his bravery and courage and comes full
circle, desires to go back to the same village that chased him
out, the same people to minister and to start a church and
to witness and love on people that were his enemies.
That's a type of hero that should be written about.
That's the type of forgiveness that we don't often hear about within
our church culture.
And I looked at him and I, you know, it's like, how did you do that?
How can you have that type of courage?
How can you have that type of confidence?
How can you have that type of forgiveness and grace?
And he was like, it's just by the Lord, the Lord's strength, believing
that he has a better plan.
And he told me, he said, you know what?
There's three steps to this.
Obey, obey, obey.
Just obey the Lord.
The Lord called me back to my people and I say all that to say,
we look at David and we say, yeah, that's David, but that's David.
And he's a special superhero.
David was just like us, a human being.
But when faced with a insurmountable problem, he trusted
in the Lord.
And we know the rest of the story.
We don't have time to go into it tonight.
Next week we're going to talk about the rest of the story.
But most of you know the rest of the story.
He.
He takes out Goliath in the power of God, eventually has that
wonderful victory, which we're going to discuss next week.
But what I will say is this.
The battle wasn't won when the stone was thrown.
The battle wasn't won when Goliath got hit by the stone and
fell.
And inevitably, David took his own sword, Goliath's own sword, and
took his life.
The battle was won when David said, I believe that God is who he
says he is.
I believe that no one can stand against my God and that he's
more powerful than this Philistine.
He's more Powerful than evil.
And so I don't know what trial you're facing right now.
I don't know what trial you're going to face tomorrow.
I pray that you don't have to face pain and suffering.
But just as we saw, even with our own church family, having a dear
sister stand up before the church and proclaim her faith and
get baptized and just a few weeks later, losing her 17 year old
son to a tragic accident, I don't have answers for that.
There's not just one thing that we can say to say, well, we
can just get through that and pass that.
No, it's about understanding that God is bigger and he's more
powerful and he can get us through any problem that we face
in our life.
And the giants of our life will fall when faith is at the centerpiece.
But if we're like Saul, Saul just backed away, who's going to
do it?
I'll offer you to marry my daughter.
I'll offer you all these blessings.
He wanted to basically essentially buy this type of victory.
And there was no faith.
And so the distinction between Saul and David was not that David
was stronger, it wasn't that David had better skills and talents
in fighting.
Even though he does say, hey, your servant here killed a lion and
a bear.
That's pretty impressive, David.
David did that.
But David was only able to see God working through him because he
was willing to trust that God would work through him.
And if all of us want to see our giants fall in our life, we have
to trust that God is going to do the work.
Because David believes that God is going to do the work.
But if you remember, he walks out to that little creek there and
he picks up five smooth stones, so.
So he's putting feet and hands to his faith.
If I say, lord, I believe you're going to protect me.
But I'm not going to go anywhere, I'm not going to take a
risk, folks.
God calls us in our perspective to take risk for him,
but it's not a risk for him.
You understand, from his angle, it's never a risk because
everything's under his control.
But for us to exercise faith, we have to take a step of saying,
I don't know what tomorrow is, I don't know how this is going to
work out.
That's the pure definition of faith.
Faith is not.
Well, it all adds up on paper.
So now I'll take the step.
Faith is, I don't know how I'm going to wake up tomorrow with this
type of sorrow and pain.
But I'm going to trust that the Lord is going to get me through
it tomorrow.
And that's hard because American Christianity is very much,
let's see it then.
We believe it.
But that's Biblical Christianity is the opposite.
Biblical Christianity is, Lord, I believe.
I haven't seen it yet, but I'm going to trust that you're going
to do it.
And that's exactly what happens here in the life of David.
So if you're able to, I would encourage you to come back next week
because there's a lot of lessons within that story with David
going and grabbing those stones and taking the step of faith.
Because I do believe that there's a lot of people that say,
well, I believe, but oftentimes there's the uttering of
the words, I believe, but we're not ready to go grab the stones
and go out onto the battlefield.
And I know for me, a lot of times I'm acting in, like the Book
of James that says, what kind of faith do you have?
Do you have the type of faith that says, I believe, but I don't
do anything?
Or do I have the type of faith that says, I believe and I'm acting
now?
The acting doesn't save us.
The acting is not faith.
Faith is what's happening in our heart, but the actions are reproving
what's already in our hearts.
So how many of us are willing to say, lord, I'm wanting to fight
this giant.
I'm willing to fight this giant.
I'm willing to have courage and confidence and conviction in
you and not to cower in fear and compromise in my Christian walk.
Folks, I encourage you here this evening to get serious about
faith.
Get serious about the giants in your life.
Because I'm going to tell you, though, God might not deal with us
the same way he dealt with David.
Like God might not give us an opportunity to throw a stone at a
giant and knock him out, but what God does do is what Philippians
chapter 4, verse 13 says.
And most of you know Philippians 4:13, you could quote
it, but I'm going to say it's probably one of the most misquoted
passages of all the Scriptures says, I can do all things through
Christ, which strengtheneth me.
And often people think that means I can do whatever I want and
God's going to give me the power to do whatever I want.
That's not what that verse is talking about.
That verse is saying, if God brings me to something in my life,
whether good or difficult, he's going to give Me the strength
to get through it.
And that's the Context of Philippians 4:13.
So though God might remove something from you, there's also
instances in Scripture where Paul calls out to God and says, lord,
take this thorn from me.
And God says, no, it's not time for that right now, because
I'm teaching you a lesson.
And so some people will teach that if you have enough faith in
God, you won't have any problems.
God will answer every prayer that you have in the affirmative.
But that's not biblical.
We know that.
We.
We know that even Jesus in the dynamic of him in his relationship
with the Father as he's in the garden of Gethsemane.
And by the way, the word Gethsemane means to be in the press,
to have stress upon you.
Jesus was feeling all the stress of going to the cross in his
humanity.
And if you remember his prayer.
What was his prayer?
If there's any other way, Lord, let this cup pass from me.
But then he says, nevertheless, thy will be done.
And so God the Father responds to Jesus the Son by saying, it is
my will that you go and take of this cup for the glory of My name
and for the salvation of my creation.
So sometimes it is God's will for us to take the cup, but it is
for his purpose.
And we know Romans 8:28.
All things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose.
You say, pastor, make that make sense for me.
How did this problem work together for his good?
I am not qualified that it's beyond my pay grade to give you all
those answers.
But all I know is that I trust in my Lord and I trust in His Word
that all things are working together for good and will work together
for good in the glory of God.
And one day God will make all things right.
And I want to be on his side.
I don't want to be on the Goliath side.
I don't want to be on the Philistine side.
I don't want to be on Saul's side.
I want to be on the side of David and the Lord to say, you know
what?
I want to be on that team.
And I think that's all of us.
I think we all want to be on that side.
But sometimes there is that challenge of overcoming those human
hesitancies of trusting in the Lord.
And so I want to stop there.
I could talk about that all night.
We're going to pause, and we're going to come back next week.
And we're going to talk about that culmination of the victory because
oftentimes we're willing to take that first step.
But the Bible says, don't grow weary and well doing for induced
season, you shall reap if you faint, not meaning keep up, keep
going, stand strong, continue.
And that's what we'll talk about next week.