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MP3 Audio I Samuel 17 Do we really understand this story? Do we really understand this story is talking about victory in the face of enormous obstacles? Do we really understand this story is applicable to our everyday lives, that it is the story of faith? Applied faith in a real world? Do we believe this is a story for children? If we believe this story is for children, we have missed the entire point. The enemy gathered together in the land of Judah to fight them. We should recognize when the enemy is in our territory. If we don't see the enemy coming, we will not fight against them, but will surely fail. This is one of the major problems today, Christian people don't know the enemy is in our territory, therefore, they don't know they are supposed to fight. Satan is always attacking God's people. God's people don't attack Satan. It is not in the spiritual nature of the child of God to attack anybody. It is in the spiritual nature of the child of God to stand for the truth of God’s Word. God's people are often accused of attacking Satan's people when all they are doing is standing for the truth of God's Word. It is in the natural nature of the unbeliever to attack that which he does not understand. The unbeliever does not understand God, nor the child of God, therefore it is natural for him to attack God. The only way the unbeliever can attack God is to attack that part of God he sees - the child of God. Notice, that Satan's army is on one mountain to and God's army is on another mountain top. There is a valley between. This is the way it should be. Christ said we ought to come out from among them and be ye separate, but today God's people want to mix and mingle with the world. God says there should be a difference between the people of Satan and the people of God, but today that line is blurred. The valley between God's army and Satan's army is for fighting, not for partying, not for getting along together. A major problem today is that God's people are letting Satan and his followers set the tone of the battle. Sometimes even our "friends" want us to let Satan set the tone of the battle. Remember, Saul, who gave David his armor? Saul was on the same side as David, and would allow David to fight with his armor instead of the armor God provided him with. In I Samuel 17, Goliath is setting the tone of the battle. He is the one telling Israel how they will fight and the terms of victory or defeat. When we fight the Devil, we are not to fight him with his tools, but the weapons of our warfare are spiritual, not physical. We can cast down strongholds, but not with Satan's weapons. David did not fight Goliath with Saul's armour, or with armour like Goliath had on. He fought with the weapons God had given him. It may seem strange that David would fight the giant with stones and a slingshot, but these are the weapons God gave him, and these are the weapons that God will use. The weapons of our warfare against Satan is not to pass a bunch of laws, or to work in congress. The weapons God wants us to use is the preaching of the gospel message. When souls are saved, they will want to do right. There is no way morality can be legislated, but when souls are saved, they will want to obey God's laws, not just the laws of the state. I do need to state that it is not wrong for a Christian to run for political office, or for Christians to vote for the candidates. One thing that is wrong with our society today is that Christians have backed off the political process, and Satan has taken it over. This is one reason our political process is leaving God out and laws have been passed to hurt Christians. Note: the physical armor of Goliath shows that he is a symbol of the Anti-Christ. 666 is the number associated with Goliath. (1) He stands 6 cubits and a span (6") tall. He has 6 different types of armor mentioned, but we know he also has another weapon, which is a sword. The six different types of weapons are: 1) a helmet of brass on his head. 2) a coat of mail on his body. 3) grieves of brass on his legs. 4) target of brass between his shoulders. 5) a spear in his hand 6) a shield in front of him, which was carried by another person.
It is interesting to note that the Christian also is to be armed, but with a totally different kind of armour. Eph. 6:10-18 states, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; Notice the following armour the Christian will wear. There is no armor for the back. Christians are not supposed to turn their backs to their enemies, but face them. There is no need for armor on the back if the Christian is going forward. The Christian does not retreat from the enemy.
The challenge of Goliath. Goliath never openly states that he is challenging God. He publicly states he is challenging people. Verse 8 calls Israel the servant of Saul, when they are actually the servants of God. In Verse 10, Goliath defies the armies of Israel, but he is really defying God. It is impossible to defy God’s people without defying God. Goliath doesn’t want to remind the armies of Israel that God is on their side. He wants them to forget about God and get their minds on something else. When Satan challenges the child of God, he never publicly states he is challenging God. Satan doesn’t want to remind the child of God that God is on his side. Satan wants the child of God to think they are on their own. Does Satan present evil to you in this manner? Are you trying to overcome temptations by your own strength, forgetting you have the power of God to overcome temptations? Satan always tell us "You can’t do it." He directs our attention away from God and his power and promises toward us and our inability. Satan makes us tremble because we forget God. Goliath doesn't want God's people to know they have guardian angels watching over them, lest they dash their foot against a stone. Satan doesn’t want the child of God to understand they have guardian angels watching over them. Psalms 91:12. The entire Psalms is very good to read concerning how God watches over his people. But we often forget. God is going to protect His people from all evil. Goliath wants Israel to believe they are going to have to fight him all by themselves. This is the only way he can have the victory. We need to remember 1 John 4:4, Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. We do not fight in our strength, but in the strength of God. Satan is challenging God exactly like Goliath challenged the armies of God. Today, as in all ages, Satan is challenging the people of God. Satan is trying to make us believe that we are going to have to defeat him all by ourselves. After all, Satan challenges us, not God, to defeat him. Satan is cleverly leaving God's name out of his challenge to us. Unfortunately, most of God's children are just like the Israelites. We are full of despondency, full of dismay, and greatly afraid. We have looked only on the surface, and haven't looked into the depths of the Word of God to see where our real strength lies. It is impossible for any child of God to defeat Satan without the power of God. We must remember, "Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." I John 4:4. "God will never put more on us that we are able to bear," is found in I Cor. 10:13. Satan is like a roaring lion, going about to destroy anybody he can get - I Peter 5. Saved people have all the power and glory of heaven at their command, if we will just submit ourselves to that power. Notice James 4:7, "Submit yourselves therefore to God, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Satan will always leave us alone as long when submit ourselves to God. He will leave us alone because of the power of God, not because of our power. Satan knows Christ has already defeated him, and he also knows we cannot defeat him. Our power lies in what Christ has already done, not in what we are going to do to Satan. David faced discouragement from his brothers, and it is likely we will face discouragement from "Christians" who do not understand the will of God. Remember Joshua and Caleb, who desired for all Israel to obey God and take the land of Canaan, as God promised? Remember the other 10 spies (whose names we forget) who discouraged all the nation of Israel? We must be very careful to get our guidance from God’s Word and not from those around us. David's brothers were in the battle, but they hadn't prepared beforehand, therefore were discouraged. They, along with all the rest of Israel were busy trusting their weapons and the number of their soldiers. They were trusting their training as soldiers, instead of trusting God who has allowed them to train and learn to fight. They do not know they aren't trusting God, but this is what is happening. Many times Christians don't know they aren't trusting God when they are afraid and discouraged. Sometimes faithless Christians, who are afraid, will think faithful Christians are trying to be a smart aleck or just plain stupid, when they say God’s children ought to be strong and obey God and not be afraid. Sometimes faithless Christians think faithful Christians don't understand the situation, or that they are expected to do what they are afraid to do. The problem isn’t that faithful Christians don’t understand the situation. The problem is that the trusting Christian and the fearful Christian are thinking two different ways. The faithful Christian sees the situation and believes God will fulfill His promises, and work out whatever difficulty Satan has put in the way. The faithful Christian fully realizes the problem he is facing, but isn't fearful because he is trusting God to supply whatever is needed. The faithless Christian only sees the circumstances in front of him, and his meager resources, and does not believe the promises of God. The fearful Christian sees the problem also, but he doesn't see, nor understand that God is able to work something out so there can be victory, therefore he becomes fearful and afraid. Sometimes the difference between the fearful Christian and the faithful Christian is the knowledge that something must be done. The fearful Christian might sit back and wait on God to do something, while the faithful Christian understands that God will do something just as soon as he steps out on the promises of God and puts feet on his faith. There is no doubt that David's brothers (and the rest of the Israelite army) wanted Goliath to be defeated, but they didn't believe God could do it, or that He would do it -- through them. When people misunderstand the faithful Christian's motives, it doesn't stop the faithful Christian from going forward. David was misunderstood, yet went forward with his message of faith. This is because his message was from God, and wasn't from his own heart. David was concerned that others believe he was telling the truth, and, no doubt, was bothered when people didn't believe him, but that didn't stop him from trying to get his message across. When some didn't hear, he went to somebody else. Finally, the fact that somebody out there was saying Goliath could be defeated began to get through. King Saul heard about David, and ordered him to come to him and explain what his message was. It is very true that often we must preach and tell the gospel story for many years and many times before the message is finally heard. The message may never be heard, but it is our burden and responsibility and privilege to continue telling the message regardless of whether people listen or not. God will always take care of the results, if we will do what He tells us to do. Past victories make this victory possible. Sometimes we wonder why God allows certain things to come into our lives which aren’t pleasant at all. (1) Sometimes "bad" things happen to us so we will be better able to understand when some other person goes through those same bad times, and we can be a help to them. (2) Sometimes "bad" things happen to us so we will understand we are no better than other people, and that "bad" things happen to every person. (3) Sometimes God allows bad things to come into our lives so we can have "small" victories as God prepares us to have a "large" victory later on. Remember the bad time for David when the bear and the lion attacked the sheep David was keeping? God used that "bad" time to give David strength to kill Goliath. David knew that God had blessed him in times past by allowing him to protect his sheep from a bear and a lion. It is not that David was more brave than his brothers, but that he believed God would help him if he only stepped out by faith and did what God commanded. God had allowed David to be put in charge of the sheep, and David was trusting God to help him take good care of the sheep. There was an occasion when a lion came after a lamb, and another occasion when a bear came after a lamb. When the lion and bear came after a lamb under David's care, David chased them and caught them, and took the lamb out of the mouth of the animals! When the lion and bear rose up against David, he took him by the beard and killed him. God helped David kill the invading bear and lion, and David declares that these past victories have taught him that God will give him this victory also. Now, David could have not had the victory over anything. He could have been a defeated, faithless Christian like his brothers. All he had to do was to look at his job as a shepherd. He could have considered his life more valuable than a single lamb out of the flock. When the lion and the bear attacked the lamb, David could have ran away and told his dad that he was worth more than a lamb. He could have quit the shepherding business and looked around for a more profitable and less dangerous job. But he didn’t do that. Instead, David understood that present calamities and present troubles come for a reason. We may not understand why we have to endure hardships and troubles and fight those situations and circumstances that are trying to suck the life out of us, but our place is not to run away, but to stand firm and do what we are supposed to do. Past victories in our lives will give us grace, strength and courage to believe God will also help us in more difficult times. If we run away from our troubles, or fail to face them head on, we are only making our situation worse. We never learn that God is able to give us the grace and strength to overcome bad times and terrible situations. We will always be a faithless Christian. Notice how God works in our lives. He starts out by giving us some sort of trouble we can have the victory over. As we gain grace and courage by trusting in Him for the little things, he continues to put other things in our path that we must trust Him for. As we continue to trust Him, he continues to give us grace and faith to trust Him more. Godly people aren’t the only people that put their trust in something to help, guide and protect them. Goliath and David have something in common when it comes to trusting. Both are trusting in what they have to trust in. Goliath is trusting in his armour, and David is trusting in his God. David didn't trust the armour of the flesh. It might look good on Goliath, but it doesn't look good on David. Goliath is trusting his armour because he is not a child of God, and has nothing else to trust in. But the child of God can't trust in the things of this world, even though they look good to the flesh. The child of God must trust God. God is everything he has to trust in. God is all the child of God needs. Well meaning faithless children of God might give us their armour to trust in, as Saul gave David his armour. But it won't fit the faithful child of God. Saul gave David his armour to wear so Saul would have some comfort about young David going out on the battle field to face Goliath. The armour that gave Saul comfort only discomforted David. Saul's armour would only slow David down and hinder him. It might even cause Goliath to get an advantage over David. Every child of God must fight Satan the way God tells him to fight him. Fighting Satan and trusting God is an individual matter. Saul cannot trust God or fight Goliath for David. Saul couldn’t even trust God or fight Goliath for himself! If Saul was able he would already have begun to fight Goliath. Every person must come to individual salvation, and faith in Christ. It is not enough to have brothers and sisters that trust Christ, every person must trust Christ. It is not enough to have mothers and fathers that trust Christ, every person must trust Christ for themselves. It is not enough to be in a church that trusts Christ, every person must trust Christ. Preparation for Battle I Samuel 17:34-37, "And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: 35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth; and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. 36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defiled the armies of the living God. 37 David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. …" Like it not, understand it or not, David had already prepared to fight Goliath. He didn’t know when he was fighting the bear and the lion that God was preparing him for a larger battle. When David was fighting the lion and the bear, he thought he was doing just that, and nothing more. David thought he was defending his family’s living, protecting the herds of his father. In reality, David was learning to trust God in difficult times. David learned his lessons well. The lessons didn’t have to be repeated. David did have to fight both the lion and the bear. God wanted David to know that he was trusting God, and that David was not trusting his skill as a fighter. God wanted David to know that it wasn’t a "fluke" that he killed both the lion and the bear, but that he had experienced the power of God working in him. Like it or not, understand it or not, you have already prepared to fight Satan and the evil he puts into your life. Or you have already prepared to be defeated in your battle against Satan. Past victories are a prelude to future victories, and past failures are a prelude to future failures. It is not by accident that you have had to face some difficult times in the past. God put those incidents in your life on purpose. God wants you to learn how to trust Him. Many people read a lot of books about "How to have God’s victories in your life", and a lot of those books are very encouraging to read. But there is something about books you need to know. You can read all about how others have been able to defeat Satan and his evil devices. but you will never fully understand what others understand until you have experienced the victory only Christ can give. You will never have the victory Christ can give until you are put to the test. And the only way you can be put to the test is to face the adversary "head-on." You must go through hard times and see and know that God is working in the circumstances of your life before you can experimentally know the victory Christ gives. The truth is that all of us shy away from hard, difficult times. We all want to coast through life having no troubles, no problems, and nothing extremely difficult to deal with. We all want to live on "easy street" during this life, having no physical health problems, no emotional problems, no financial problems, no problems with family, friends, or foe. Then die an easy death (a death with no suffering at all, a death that preferably comes in old, old, old, old age when we are {quote - ready to go - unquote}) and then go to heaven for eternal bliss and happiness. We all want this easy life, but that is not the way life is. Life is unfair. Opportunities are not equal. Bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people. This is life. This is the way things are, and things won’t change, even if Congress passes a million laws trying to change it. We just need to remember that God is in complete control of our lives, if we really belong to Him. God isn’t going to let anything happen to us that will destroy us. Everything that happens to us, God intends to give us the victory. Not the victory over the circumstance. Things might not turn out the way we want them to turn out, but that doesn’t mean God hasn’t given us the victory. The victory is not that we turn out to be number one. The victory is when we are with the one who is number one, and when we know beyond a doubt that the one who is number one loves us. This is the victory. One example will have to suffice. When Nebuchadnezzar was going to cast Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the burning fiery furnace, notice what they said. Daniel 3:16 states, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego have the victory over this pagan king before they are cast into the burning fiery furnace. They have the experience of victory over King Nebuchadnezzar after they come out of the burning fiery furnace. They understand what victory in God is, and because they understand what real victory is, they are able to experience victory. This is where a lot of people today go wrong. They don’t know the difference between having victory before a trial and having victory after a trial. Before the trial, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had complete trust in God, and after the trial, they still had complete trust in God. The difference? Only in their experience of victory. David completely trusted God to cause him to defeat the lion and the bear. David experienced complete victory in that area of his life, and now David is getting ready to experience victory in another area of his life. There are some preparations David must make in order to defeat Goliath, and there are preparations we must make in our lives to defeat Satan and the evil he throws our way. After David was ready to go fight Goliath, he made careful preparation for this particular battle. Each of us should make careful preparations before we go into the world each day. Each day we should pray that God will protect us and guide us in the way that He wants us to go. We should ask God to give us the grace to follow in the path He is directing for our lives. This is the only way we will ever have the victory. As David prepared to fight Goliath, he got the armour he was used to using, that he had confidence in. David went down to the book Kidron, and gathered five smooth stones. These stones had been washed by the water of the brook and would sail smoothly through the air, straight at the target. They wouldn't be adversely affected by wind, or miss their target because air passing over the stone would cause it to veer off course. We should use weapons which are washed in the water of the Word of God. These weapons are smoothed by the washing of the word of God over them, and won't be moved by the movement of the wind against them. They will go straight on their course, and will not be swayed by adverse circumstances. The weapons we use against Satan is the pure Word of God, which we have in our hearts. And not just temporarily put into our hearts, but permanently attached and made an active part of our lives. David chose five smooth stones because five is the number of grace. David would defeat Goliath by the grace of God. It should be noted that David didn't use all the grace God gave him, but only 20% of it. There is plenty of grace left over for other tasks God gives us. It should also be noted that Goliath had four other brothers. It is likely David was ready to destroy all of the people who would stand in the way of God giving Israel complete victory. David would later kill all of Goliath's brothers, but for now, he will kill only Goliath. It is very tragic to think that all of Goliath's brothers would rise up against God and the nation of Israel, but sometimes that is the way it happens. We must be very careful in our families to so raise our children that they won't rebel against God or His people. The end result will always be the total, complete destruction of our family. If, instead, we train our families to trust God and to be obedient to Him in all things, the end result will be victory and eternal rewards. I Samuel 17:42 states, "And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance." Goliath didn’t think David was much of a threat to him personally, or to the Philistine army. Goliath didn’t have spiritual eyes to see that the Lord of Lords and the king of Kings was fighting with David. Satan, and his dupes, may look upon the faithful Christian as not much of a threat. What Satan and his demons don’t understand is that the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords is fighting for His people. We don’t need to fear, but have confidence in God and His abilities. Forget trusting in our abilities. Train all you can. Read all you can. Pray all you can. Study God’s Word all you can. But don’t trust in those things. Trust in the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. He is give the victory. He is our confidence. He is our stay. He is our Saviour. Goliath was not trusting in the gods he was serving. He didn’t even respect his gods. Verse 43 states that Goliath "…cursed David by his gods." Goliath said to David, "I WILL give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field." David did not curse Goliath by the God of heaven, but stated, "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou has defiled. This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’S and he will give you into our hands." |