“This Is The Lord’s Battle…”
OKAY, WELCOME – to week 2 of our series, ‘Such Things were written, the theme verse for this series is…
‘Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. They give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises. – Romans 15:4
THIS MORNING - we are going to be unpacking a story that I am confident is very familiar to everyone in this room and to those watching online.
IN FACT – it is a story that almost ‘everyone’ knows about, whether they have ever been to church or not, or whether they know anything about the Bible.
This story is found in 1 Samuel chapter 17.
QUESTION – does anyone know what story we find in 1 Samuel chapter 17?
OKAY – let’s do this.
AND LISTEN - we are going to follow the battle plan, that we used last week.
FIRST – we will look at the Story of how David left the hills and made his way down into the valley to take on the giant Goliath.
AND THEN – we will look at several takeaways that are intended to teach us and to give us hope and encouragement.
AGAIN – it is a familiar story… BUT – I want to encourage to try to hear it with fresh ears this morning..
BECAUSE – I’m convinced that God has something to say to each of us (about defeating the giants in our life) if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.
Prayer…
B/S - there are giants in the land… Got any?
NOW – I’m not talking about huge people…
BUT RATHER – I’m talking about HUGE: problems, issues, hang ups, hurts, habits and obstacles that stand in the valley and taunt us… intimidate us… frighten us.
QUESTION – what is a giant?
A GIANT - is something that stands in our way, it’s something that keeps us from living the life that God has called you to live…
A GIANT – is something that keeps us from living a life that is: abundant and full… free and satisfying.
NOW MAYBE - your giant is a relationship issue (something in your marriage, your family or with a friend).
MAYBE - your giant is an addiction (alcohol, drugs, food, sex) something that has a death grip on you and is sucking out all that is good… telling you constantly that you will never be free from its grasp.
MAYBE - your the giant has to do with some problem you're dealing with, A PROBLEM - with your kids, your parents, your health, the health of a loved one… and you're not sure how you are going to get through it.
MAYBE - your giant has to do with money, finances and the lack there of.
MAYBE - your giant is fear, loneliness, self doubt, insecurity, lack of confidence or belief in yourself.
MAYBE – your giant is something very painful that happened in past… some abuse you suffered or mistake that you made. And this giant wants to become your identity and keep you in bondage.
MAYBE - your giant is something that you know you need to do… A conversation that you need to have, A person you need to talk to, Something you feel you need to do for God… BUT – there is this huge giant in the way telling you,
that you… “can’t do that” “will never be that…” “that you should not give up that or make that commitment”
AND LISTEN – here’s the deal…
GIANTS – paralyzes us, they keep us in the hills, they keep us… from living the life God created us to live - from experiencing the mighty hand of God moving in our lives…
NOW – I’m pretty confident that most people in this room know exactly what I’m talking about…
YOU KNOW – what’s in your valley…
YOU KNOW - what keeps you living in the hills…
I MEAN - you’ve heard their taunts more then once.
TELLING YOU – that you’re better off where you are.
TELLING YOU – to forget about life in the valley, to forget about the dreams, to forget about living the awesome life that God has marked out for you… BECAUSE – for that to happen you’ll have to get past them and they are just too big… They are Goliath and you are just a shepherd.
NOW – we don’t really like being stuck up in the hills…
I MEAN - we grow weary from all the fear and doubt…
We are tired of seeing our dreams fade and our hope for a better way dim.
AND – every now and then we are able to dig down deep and find enough strength to pull ourselves up and head down to the valley…
BUT – just as we reach the valley’s edge…
OUR – giant (who seems to be getting bigger & bigger all the time) begins his taunting…
YES – for some, your giant has been taunting you
NOT… for days, weeks or months…
BUT – for years (for a lifetime)… LIKE – you’ve been living in the hills for so long that you are pretty confident…that you like your dreams will die there.
BUT LISTEN – God brought you here this morning,
SO THAT – a guy named David could tell you how he stepped into the valley 3000 years ago, and took out the giant in his life…
MGCC - in the beautiful valley of Elah, there are 2 armies encamped on two hillsides with a valley between them.
The diplomacy was over, the negotiation have failed.
AND - these two armies are about to engage in battle. During this time, armies would give a signal and rush each other (think Brave Heart). AND - whichever army was left standing would win all the spoils -- land, money, possessions, people, everything.
NOW THIS - wasn't the first battle between these armies (in fact they had been fighting for years).
BUT - this time ‘before’ the signal to charge was given something unusual occurred… LET’S – pick up our reading at verse 3… you may want to turn there… BECAUSE we are going to just read through the text.
AND REMEMBER…
‘Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. They give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises. – Romans 15:4
QUESTION – what is your giant…?
Think about it as we read…
I. The Story
So the Philistines and Israelites faced each other on opposite hills, with the valley between them.
Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel. He was over nine feet tall! He wore a bronze helmet, and his bronze coat of mail weighed 125 pounds.
He also wore bronze leg armor, and he carried a bronze javelin on his shoulder. The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds. His armor bearer walked ahead of him carrying a shield.
Goliath stood and shouted a taunt across to the Israelites. “Why are you all coming out to fight?” he called.
“I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Saul.
AND UNDERSTAND B/S – that’s the favorite template for the taunts of our enemy…
‘I am’ – a big powerful champion
‘You are only’ – servants, small, weak, insignificant
YOU SEE – our giants love to define who we are…
Choose one man to come down here and fight me! 9 If he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves! 10 I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man who will fight me!” 11 When Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken.
QUESTION – have you ever been terrified and deeply shaken? Why? And what dd you do?
NOW - In the next several verses we read how David’s father, Jesse, sent him to the battlefield to take supplies to his brothers… that’s how is was done back then.
“hey, David, check on your brothers, and I know they are hungry so take them some pizza and garlic knots.
For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand….
2 X 40 = 80 times of being terrified and deeply shaken.
20 Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry.
NOW – they seem pretty confident, don’t they?
21 Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. 22 David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were.
23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. 24 Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.
Try to picture that scene?
25 Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel.
To defy who? Israel… now, put that in your back pocket.
The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.”
26 David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
Defy the armies of who? the armies of the living God?”
27 They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”
28 When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”
QUESTION – what do you think is behind them responding to their younger brother in that way?
Whenever you step out by faith to fight the enemy there’s always somebody around to discourage you, and it often begins in your own home. – Warren Wiersbe
Ever happen to you? (August 1988… leaving Navy for FCC)
29 “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” 30 He then turned away to someone else
The perfect move to make, amen?
and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before.
31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
Let no one lose what?
33 “Don’t be ridiculous!” Saul replied. “There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.”
Thanks for the pep talk, your majesty… not.
34 But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, 35 I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth.
Again – picture this scene…
If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. 36 I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! 37 The LORD who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!”
Saul finally consented. “All right, go ahead,” he said. “And may the LORD be with you!”
38 Then Saul gave David his own armor—a bronze helmet and a coat of mail. 39 David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before.
“I can’t go in these,” he protested to Saul. “I’m not used to them.” So David took them off again.
40 He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd’s bag. Then, armed only with his shepherd’s staff and sling, he started across the valley to fight the Philistine.
41 Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, 42 sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy. 43 “Am I a dog,” he roared at David, “that you come at me with a stick?” And he cursed David by the names of his gods. 44 “Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!” Goliath yelled.
45 David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
46 Today the LORD will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel!
47 And everyone assembled here will know that the LORD rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the LORD’s battle, and he will give you to us!”
48 As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him. 49 Reaching into his shepherd’s bag and taking out a stone, he hurled it with his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in, and Goliath stumbled and fell face down on the ground.
50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with only a sling and a stone, for he had no sword. 51 Then David ran over and pulled Goliath’s sword from its sheath. David used it to kill him and cut off his head.
THEN – Israel pursued them for over ten miles all the way to Gath, Goliath’s home town.
David then took Goliath’s head and held it outside of Jerusalem… “Yeah, you are next… I am coming for you.”
NOW – that image never made it to the children’s books, did it.
OKAY – what are the takeaways in this story.
AND LISTEN – the way I want to look at the takeaways, is in view of how they help us to defeat our giants.
II. The Takeaways
A) To Defeat Our Giants… We Must Face Them
NOW – I know what some of you are thinking… “duh, Steve that’s pretty obvious…we have to face our giants…”
BUT LISTEN - for 40 days the entire Israelite army refused to face Goliath.
AND NOTICE – he didn’t go away. He got worse. He got bolder.
IN FACT – by the time David arrives on the scene Goliath had already challenged them 80 times.
UNDERSTAND FOR – 40 straight days, God’s people both began and ended their day in fear and intimidation…
Ever been there?
YOU SEE - they kept putting it off, and the more they delayed, the more intimidated they got. And the more intimidated they got, the more impossible and hopeless their situation became.
AND LISTEN - it’s the same thing when we battle our giants. THE MORE - we delay in battling them, the more intimidating and hopeless the problem becomes, and the harder it is to handle later.
BUT - did you notice what David did?
David shows up on day 41 – sees the giant, hears the taunts and says, “alright I’ve heard enough, that guy has got to go.” AND - the next morning, when the Israelites woke up there was no longer any giant to worry about.
BUT UNDERSTAND – it’s not easy to face a giant..
AND – though he made it look easy… It wasn’t easy for David to step into that valley either…
YOU SEE – for him to do that, there were a couple of things that he needed to overcome and so do we; FIRST…
1) We need to overcome fear…
UNDERSTAND - when facing a giant, when going up against, what looks like an impossible situation…
FEAR - is a legitimate emotion to have.
LISTEN - I can’t stress that enough, fear is an okay thing to feel…
YOU SEE - David was facing someone a lot bigger and a lot stronger than he was.
AND – I’m confident that as he grabbed his staff and used it to help get down into the valley… that he was afraid…
I MEAN – as he kept going (further & further down into the valley) Goliath keeps getting (bigger and bigger…)
AGAIN – there is nothing wrong with being afraid…
BUT - the problem comes, when you let fear keep you from doing what God wants you to do.
AND – in 1 Samuel 17, that’s exactly what the army of Israel did… They allowed their fear of Goliath… To stop them from doing what was right as they were consumed with the two words that give fear it’s power… ‘what if’
• What if Goliath wins?
• What if I fail and let everyone down
• What if our nation becomes slaves?
• What if they take our land?
• What if I get hurt?
What if? What if? What if?
QUESTION – has that ever happened to you?
Has/is fear ever kept you from doing something that was right, something that God wanted you to do?
YES - fear can be very crippling…
NOW – before I move on from here let me say THIS…
YOU – can be afraid and still be courageous.
UNDERSTAND – courage is not the absence of fear it’s the absence of self.
Courage is stepping into the valley and facing your giants even though you’re still afraid.
To defeat our giants, like David had overcome his fear…
2) We need to overcome Naysayers
A naysayer is someone who systematically obstructs some action others want to take.
YOU SEE - many times once we get past the fear factor the next thing we face is the naysayer factor.
AND - David had naysayers coming at him from every side!
His brothers even questioned his motives.
Look again at vs. 28,
"Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave these few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle!"
YOU KNOW – I just think that they are angry because they are afraid and because David’s courage and faith made them look and feel bad.
LIKE – who wants their younger brother to make them feel like coward and frightened wimps.
AND - King Saul was no better, right?
He says to David in vs. 33,
"You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy and he has been a fighting man from his youth."
“Aren’t you my harp player. No way am I sending out a harp player to fight a 10 foot giant.
UNDERSTAND - when you decide to take on a giant, there are going to be people who will want to see you fail, people who want to see you fall flat on your face.
People who want things, and who want you, to just stay where you are and how things have been…
NOW – some of you are nodding your heads, because you know what I’m talking about, LISTEN…
• When you take a stand and say, "I’m done with those behaviors that my dishonor God." There will be people who will try to pull you back in...
• When you decide to go on that mission trip there will be people in your life who may think that’s a waste of time and money!
• When you decide to do something ‘significant’ for God or to take a bold stand for what is true and right… there will be people (maybe close friends or family members) who will act out of love and say things like:
- "You don’t want to take on a project that big, you’re setting yourself up for failure!" or
- "I just don’t want to see you get hurt"
- "maybe you should rethink that." “
- You’ve tried to break that addiction & overcome that hang up for years… what makes you think you can do it this time…
- Are you sure that you are ready for that kind of commitment
B/L – if we want to step into the valley, defeat our giant and live in a better place/way…
We – can’t listen to the nay-sayers!
LIKE DAVID – just ignore them, turn away and listen to another voice.
BECAUSE - if you listen to the doubt of those around you.. IT WILL – begin to creep into your life and you to will eventually become your own worse naysayer.
QUESTION – has anybody ever put out your fire to take on a giant? Ignore, turn away, listen to another voice
OKAY – just one more quick thing that you need to overcome in facing your giants, and we have already touched on it, but it bares repeating…
We need to overcome procrastination
As I said earlier on the very day that David, met his giant he faced him…The Israelite army never did this…
QUESTION – how big do you think Goliath seemed to them taunt 81… about 900 feet
face your giant now today!
They will only get bigger…
B) To Defeat Our Giants… We Must Visualize The Reward
David asked - “hey, what does the guy get who kills the giant?”
ANSWER - he gets a boat load of cash, he gets the princess. but better than that, he's exempted from taxes for the rest of his life.
UNDERSTAND - David went down armed with faith, but he also went down thinking about a reward. "Man, I'm going to get some money, I'm going to get the princess, I'll be the Kings son-in-law, and not only that -- no taxes."
AND B/S - to defeat our giants we must do the same thing, visualize the rewards of victory…
QUESTION - what would your life look like if your giant wasn't there? If it wasn’t standing in your way? If it was no longer in your life?
I MEAN - can you picture what would happen in your life, what your relationships might look like, who you would become, where you would go, what you would do, how you would feel, the peace would you experience…
IF - the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night wasn't this giant rumbling in your landscape?
B/S - we need to visualize the reward….
Visualize your life free from giants…
NOW – unfortunately many times we simply accept and get used to our giants, and we learn to live or I should ‘exist’ with them being there. And they become barriers to us.
Back in the 1950’s some researchers did an experiment. They took a 200-gallon aquarium and put in a northern pike and everyday they would dump in some minnows, favorite food for the pike.
NOW - I guess for a pike it wasn’t a bad life. He could swim around and had a big tank and then they fed him when he was hungry.
Then one day they divided the tank in half with a piece of Plexiglas. On one side was the pike and on the other side they put the minnows. The pike went swimming and ran into the glass.
Now I don’t know how big a pike’s brain is but eventually it figured out he couldn’t get over there. The pike just swam in circles.
They removed the Plexiglas and now the pike and the minnows were free to swim anywhere in the tank. Guess what happened to the pike. It starved to death.
YEAH - it’s favorite food was swimming on the other side of then tank, but being conditioned to believe that it was no longer possible or available to him –starves to death.
YOU KNOW - I am often amazed at how you and I have become conditioned to believe that we cannot do battle with our giant. THAT - this is the way our life is.
- Other people seem to be able to do it, I can’t.
- Other people seem to be able to allow God to work in their lives, it doesn’t work for me.
- Other people can get rid of their issues; I’m just stuck with mine.
B/S – if we believe in the pike principle, the opportunities before us, the possibilities of what might be, will always seem impossible and unavailable to us.
BUT UNDERSTAND - David did not swim that way… INSTEAD – he kept his eye on the princess and the possibilities, he kept his eye on the reward,
he knew there was something better for him if he could just get rid of the giant and so armed with what he has he heads down the hillside and faces Goliath.
To defeat our giants… We must face them, We must visualize the reward, and…
C) We Need A Solid Anchor And A Clear Focus
1) In what was David’s Confidence? In the might and power of His God.
“You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the LORD will conquer you… This is the LORD’s battle, and he will give you to us!” - 1 Samuel 17:45-47
LISTEN, LISTEN…
David's faith was in God, it wasn't in the armor, it wasn't in the army, it wasn't in his own ability.
UNDERSTAND - David headed down the hillside with the confidence that God was going with him…
YOU SEE – To David what really mattered was not the size of his giant, but the size of his God.
NOW - I don't know what giants you are facing in your life BUT – I do know that you will never step into the valley and face them if your God is too small…
INSTEAD - you’ll be just like the Israelites army, hiding in the hills, afraid…
Christianity, at any given time, is strong or weak depending upon her concept of God. I insist upon this, and I’ve said it many times, that the basic trouble with the Church today is her unworthy concept of God…
Our religion is little because our god is little. Our religion is ignoble (not honorable in character and person) because the god we serve is ignoble. We do not see God as He is…
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us… Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, “What comes into your mind when you think about God?” we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man. – AW Tozer
QUESTION – if we need a big God to defeat our giants… how do we make our God bigger?
YEAH – we all know that God is big…
BUT – how do we translate that knowledge into real life…
AND LISTEN - I think that David can offer help us some help here… YOU SEE – he did two things the help Him to see how big His God (our God) really is.
He remembered past victories
UNDERSTAND – when facing our own giants, we forget what we ought to remember and we remember what we ought to forget. We remember our defeats and we forget our victories.
I MEAN - most of us can recite the failures of our lives in vivid detail…
BUT we are hard-pressed to name the victories that God has pulled off in our past…
NOT SO – with David.
“King Saul, do you want to know why, I know that I can - do this… BECAUSE - the same God who gave me power over a lion and a bear will give me power over Goliath…
SO – just let me at him…”
B/S - victories are significant. Remember them!
CHECKOUT – 1 Samuel 17:54;
David took the Philistine's head and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put the Philistine's weapons in his own tent.
QUESTION – where do you keep your victories?
Do you quickly pass over your victories and forget them?
BREAK – that habit!
UNDERSTAND – God doesn’t want you to waste HIS victories. AND WHEN – he pulls off something that only He can do, He says to us, “Now don’t you forget that.”
IN – the OT many times God’s people would stack up a huge pile of stones as a reminder of God winning victories on their behalf. I THINK – that’s why David took Goliath’s weapons and stored them in his tent after the battle to remember…
What about you? Has God ever showed up in your life and delivered you from something, that was about to take you under?
• A tough past?
• An addiction?
• A health or financial hardship?
• The death of a loved one?
• Loss of a job?
• A difficult divorce?
UNDERSTAND – you need to set up some of your own stones of remembrance
IF – you want a big God you need to remember your past victories…
AND – not only that you need to remember the past victories of others…
The Scriptures are full of those victories…and so are the lives of many believers…
LISTEN – if God was there for (Moses, Joshua & Gideon) THEN – He’ll be there for me…
The 2nd reason David’s God was so big was because;
2) David pursued a deep relationship with God
YOU SEE - David knew who God was. He knew that God could be trusted… He knew that God would always protect & always deliver his people…
WHY – because He knew who God was, He was a man who was after the heart of God…
AND – because David, pursued God, hung out with Him…
Here is what He knew about God;
“The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. He is my refuge, my savior, the one who saves me from violence. I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and he saved me from my enemies. – 2 Samuel 22:2-4
He remembered past victories
He pursued a relationship with God
Are you?
UNDERSTAND
David’s solid anchor of confidence was in the might and power of God.
One last quick question…
3) Where was David’s Focus? On the honor and glory of God
Today the LORD will conquer you… and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! And everyone assembled here will know that the LORD rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the LORD’s battle, and he will give you to us!” – 1 Samuel 17:46,47
OKAY – let’s wrap this up…
IMAGINE with me if you would that it’s morning and the mist is breaking, and you see him again.
It’s that giant; the one who has taunted in your valley for years.
Do me a favor and just close your eyes.
Can you see that giant for what he is?
For how ugly, for how disruptive, for how much chaos it has created in your life and in the lives of the people around you? Then can you picture what your life might look like if that giant wasn’t there?
Whatever that issue is, whatever that problem is, whatever that thing is, can you see what your life would be like if it was gone?..... Then, can you hear your God?
NOW MAYBE - it is hard to hear him because there are so many other things that crowd out his voice.
BUT - can you hear him say to you, “I love you, you are not alone, and with…
• ME beside you
• Your confidence anchored in My Might and Power
• Your Focus on My Honor and Gory
Your going to See A Victory, because the belongs to ME!
