Title: Saul and David: Great Men Of Faith!
Text: I Sam 17:1-58
Pray!!!
Review from last 2 sermons
- Too develop a heart after one must learn from the character of David.
- In the first sermon I talked about how God prepared David’s life or fighting bears and lions to face Goliath.
- There are 3 points we discussed in this sermon and they are:
1. God uses our past and present circumstances for future glory
2. God directs our steps
3. God uses our life to bless others
- In sermon 2 we discussed why it’s important to be willing to enter a valley experience.
- A lot of the times Christians run from trials because of the difficulty and uneasiness, but David was willing to go where Goliath was and faced him head on.
- Why did David do that? For 3 reasons, and it’s these same 3 reasons we should also follow to further develop in our heart after God.
1. David wanted to defend God’s honor
2. David wanted to defeat the enemy
3. David desired to grow or advance in his walk with God.
- And now for today’s sermon on developing a heart after God entitled: Saul and David, Great Men of Faith.
- Read I Sam 17:11, 25-27, 33-37
Introduction:
- When we read these passages of scripture from our text we see some different ways of thinking.
- We see what Saul was influenced by and what influenced David.
- Saul was motivated by fear, people and selfish ambition.
- Saul was a person that didn’t like to fail and lived a life of trying to accomplish his goals on his own strength.
- Dismayed in verse 11 means disappointed, troubled, sad, in tears, offended, and wounded.
- Saul was not just fearful of the enemy but was disappointed or sad with tears that he could do nothing to overcome him.
- Saul was a great man of faith but not in God, rather in himself and his abilities.
- David had a different way of thinking that was influenced by God.
- Was David fearful? Maybe nervous.
- But his fear would not stop him from obeying the Lord and doing His will.
- Was Jesus nervous in the Garden, maybe.
- But it did not stop Him from doing the Lord’s work.
- There will be times when the man or woman of God will have feeling of uneasiness or discomfort, but we still need to follow through with the will of God for our lives.
- In verse 25-27 we see David is asking the same question over and over again.
- Why would he do that? Did he not hear them the first time? Did he not understand what they were saying?
- I believe David was not concerned with what he would receive for defeating the enemy, but rather how to restore God’s glory to the nation of Israel.
- David was not motivated by Michael Saul’s daughter or money, or being exempt from taxes for life, but rather he was motivated by restoring God’s glory to a hurtful, dismayed, fearful nation.
- Does that motivate us today? Or does the things of the world motivate the church to action today?
- What motivates you to stand up against same sex marriage?
- The loss of rights from the government to the church? The fact that people could be sued and labeled as hateful?
- Or does opposing same sex marriage move us to action because God is against it?
- David was moved to action against Goliath not for material reasons but because the nation of Israel needed a fresh move of God and the enemy had it’s time long enough.
- David believed God was on his side and the situations in life from the past would be no different then facing Goliath.
- David had confident that if God came through before He will come through again.
- Do we believe that?
- Do we believe that God will not abandon us in our of need?
- Saul thought so, he saw many miracles from God in the area of deliverance, but because he was trusting in his own abilities and not God, Goliath was too big. (I Sam 11:1-15)
- Saul started out great, but when the transfer of authority, from Samuel to Saul came about in chapter 12, that’s when Saul changed and become a person that wondered away from God.
- Saul couldn’t handle power, and some people can’t handle that position.
- David could handle being in a position of authority because he had a heart after God.
- If there is something in us that thrives for power and recognition, that’s not from God.
- David was humble and when confronted with sin, didn’t lash out and use his position but rather repented and turned to God.
- The Bible says to have no idols in our lives and the thirst for power and recognition is an idol for many Christians because they don’t want to submit to God and what He wants for there lives.
Transition:
- So how do we develop our faith in God and not in ourselves?
- By recognizing 3 key areas.
Point 1: Saul trusted In Human Ability and David Trusted In God
- What does it mean to trust in God?
- To trust in God means to rely on, depend on, confide in, have confidence in, count on, bank on and be sure about.
- It’s committing our ways to Him, having the confidence that God will never steer us wrong.
- It’s a conviction we have, it’s dependence, expectation, belief and reliance that God will never let us down, steer us wrong or give up on us.
- God will never leave us, forsake us, and will always be committed to us.
- It is far more easier to trust in our own human ability, then it is to trust in God, why?
- Because we think that we can control the outcome.
- If we put our trust in God, He might not come through for us.
- How do I know that God is real, or the Bible is real?
- How do I know that trusting in God is the answer for my finances, my health, my eternal destiny?
- This is the way Saul reacted, but David was convinced, and we need to be convinced that trusting in God is what we are suppose to do.
- It comes down to personal experience, but not just that, it comes with having an encounter with the Almighty God. (Read Isa 6:1-8) It says,
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory. At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. Woe to me! I cried. I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, see, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said, here am I. Send me!”
- We need an encounter with God also. We need to experience God and see our need for Him.
- We need to understand what it means to walk in holiness and not in pride, but that will only come if we desire and hunger after Him.
- Saul chose to live in pride and trusted in human ability and we can leave this place hearing God’s word and not changing or desiring after Him.
- David trusted in God and we need to also.
Point 2: Saul Lived In Fear and David Lived By Faith
- What does it mean to live in fear?
- It means to worry, anxiety, terror, phobia, being alarmed, nervousness, hesitation, uneasiness, torment and anguish.
- Now David living by faith sounds like the same thing as trusting in God, and that’s true, but here’s the difference I want to show you.
- David I believe had some of these feeling with the lion’s and bears and Goliath, but there was something else greater then these fears that drove David’s life and that was His faith in God.
- The Bible declares that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but rather of love power and sound mind.
- Because David chose to live by faith, even though I believe he had feelings of fear, God gave him a love for Saul, even though Saul was trying to kill him, power to overcome Goliath and a sound mind in the midst of being pursued by Saul.
- My encouragement to you today is, fear and concern will come, but don’t let it overtake you.
- The only way to receive love, power and sound mind is to reject fear and embrace faith in God.
- How do we do that?
- Go to prayer when feelings of fear come, worship the Lord with song.
- Do all that you can to live in the realm of faith in God and not fear.
- Fear will lead to bondage and faith in God will lead to liberty.
Point 3: Saul Loved His Life and David Loved Not His Life But Loved God
- What is love?
- This is what love is from kid’s point of view.
"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love."
"Love is when someone hurts you, and you get so mad, but you don’t yell at them because you know it would hurt their feelings."
"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is okay."
"Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."
"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."
"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford."
"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."
"You really shouldn’t say ’I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."
- We see the true definition from this illustration of love and that is selflessness.
- True love is thinking of others first rather then yourself first.
- Saul thinking was of himself not others and especially not God.
- We see that clearly in I Sam 15 when Saul would not totally destroy the Amalekites.
- Saul spared the best of everything and kept the king of Agag alive, why?
- To show that he was powerful to the people.
- If Saul truly loved God He would have obeyed Him in this area.
- Now sometimes we don’t obey God like we should, we must decide we are either going to grow in our obedience to God or go backwards.
- This is how pride can come into the Christian, when we love our lives and not God.
- I believe this was a pride issue on Saul’s part because he loved his life and his own ability.
- When this is threatened Saul becomes angry (I Sam 18:7-9)
- Saul wanted the people’s approval rather then God’s approval, David was more concerned about God’s approval then man.
- Does the attitude of Saul describe you? Let me give you this test:
- When someone gets the credit for what you do, what is your response?
- When you don’t get your own way, what is your response?
- Do you find that you build yourself up at the expense of degrading someone else?
- Meaning do you compare yourself to other people and say how better of a job you would do if you were in charge.
- If you are driven by man’s approval, you won’t be driven to seek after God’s approval.
- Luke 16:13 says, “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
- The point is we will either be controlled by God’s Holy Spirit or be controlled by our own spirit of self suffiency and human ability.
- David served the Lord out of pure devotion and love for God.
- He did not regard his life better then God but rather would lay his life down for the sake of God and His Kingdom.
- Saul became angry, was tormented by an evil spirit, and his life’s end was in the cave seeking guidance from a witch.
- Pride will keep you from seeing God’s plan and hearing God’s voice.
- We are nothing without the help, guidance and presence of God Himself.
Conclusion:
- In order for us as Christians to develop a heart after God as David did we must be a people who strive to
1. Trust in God
2. Live By Faith and not Fear
3. Love God more then our life.
Lets Pray!!!
