When “Goliaths” stand before us and threaten us, what do we see? Hopelessness or Victory? How do we proceed? God wants to give us Victory! Pastor Jim explored these truths during his sermon on September 6, 2015.
Click the below “Play” button to start listening to the recording, then scroll down and follow along…
The scripture reading was from 1 Samuel 17 (starting at verse 31)… Click the below drop down box to “open up God’s Word”…
David vs. Goliath
22 David left his things with the keeper of supplies and hurried out to the ranks to greet his brothers. 23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came out from the Philistine ranks. Then David heard him shout his usual taunt to the army of Israel. 24 As soon as the Israelite army saw him, they began to run away in fright. 25 “Have you seen the giant?” the men asked. “He comes out each day to defy Israel. The king has offered a huge reward to anyone who kills him. He will give that man one of his daughters for a wife, and the man’s entire family will be exempted from paying taxes!” 26 David asked the soldiers standing nearby, “What will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel? Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?” 27 And these men gave David the same reply. They said, “Yes, that is the reward for killing him.”
28 But when David’s oldest brother, Eliab, heard David talking to the men, he was angry. “What are you doing around here anyway?” he demanded. “What about those few sheep you’re supposed to be taking care of? I know about your pride and deceit. You just want to see the battle!” 29 “What have I done now?” David replied. “I was only asking a question!” 30 He walked over to some others and asked them the same thing and received the same answer.
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31 Then David’s question was reported to King Saul, and the king sent for him.
32 “Don’t worry about this Philistine,” David told Saul. “I’ll go fight him!” 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.” 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. 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.
This story is so familiar that we have become anesthetized to it. We’ve turned “David and Goliath” into a cliche; even hard fought football victories have been referred to as “A David and Goliath Story.” It’s so easy to miss the powerful truths that are in this account.
Who or What is YOUR Goliath?
Have you ever met Goliath? Perhaps you have met him in the past, or maybe Goliath is troubling you even this morning. Perhaps Goliath is a vague fearsome yet unseen figure in our future.
Most of us have had or know of a “Goliath” or two in our lives. Sometimes we get to the point where we allow the giant dictate our lives.
I want to encourage you today that those “Goliaths” are already defeated by the Power of Jesus Christ! Like David of old, as we confront Goliath, God will defeat them and allow us to live a life with hope and joy. Check out God’s promises in these verses (New International Version)…
David’s Goliath
David’s Goliath was a major life threatening physical challenge. Here are a few facts and statistics about David’s predicament…
How can you defeat this enemy? Can you put on his “clothes” and out-Goliath Goliath?
Goliath’s Challenge: Faith or Fear?
The sight of this giant was imposing and generated fear in the hearts of the Israelite army.
On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. (1 Sam 17:11)
When the Israelites saw the man, they all ran from him in great fear. (1 Sam 17:24)
What would YOU do if you were in Saul’s army?
David’s Response: Dump the World’s Wardrobe
Goliath issued the same speech morning and evening for 40 days. He ranted this challenge 80 times and none of God’s people flinched. Fear had prevented them from moving.
King Saul was said to be the tallest man in Israel. He was supposed to be the leader. he was supposed to be the one who accepted this challenge on behalf of his people. But that’s not how he responded.
- Do your best. Use the tools of the world, put on Saul’s armor and give it your best shot.
- Save your skin! Run away and live to fight another day.
David shows us a different option because he sees a different battle. This Goliath isn’t threatening him. The battle isn’t between this powerful Philistine army and its imposing giant. No. The battle is between those who trust in their own power and those who trust in God. David sees this as God’s battle, not his.
And so when Saul offers this shepherd boy the king’s armor, David says he can’t wear that stuff. 
Instead he recalls his past experience where God protected him. He puts his confidence in God; not in himself or in Saul’s armor. He realizes that he can’t be Saul; he has to be true to who he is and to let the Holy Spirit do the rest.
As he ditches the “emperor’s clothes” and leaves them in Saul’s tent, Goliath is defeated and is left in the field.
Lessons to be Learned
God has given all of us gifts, and He has called us to use them to defeat the “giants” in our lives. God isn’t just an adviser; He’s actually fighting the battle. Here are a few thoughts on what we should be doing…
1: Never Sit Silently on the Sidelines
David saw a need that no one else was willing to meet and he stepped up.
God didn’t save Saul and allow him to become king of His people just so he would freeze and be unable to lead then challenges came along.
But what about us???
God didn’t save you just to occupy a space in a pew! You were saved for service.
Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish!
We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing!
No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Ephesians 2:8-10 (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
Jesus went right at the cross; He didn’t sit on the sidelines. David went right at Goliath; he didn’t run away like Saul and his army.
David was acting on God’s promises. This land, this God, were promised to the Israelite people. This wasn’t the first time God called them to step out in faith and act on that promise…
PROMISE
Numbers 13:1-3
The Lord said to Moses, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.” So at the Lord’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.
Numbers 13:17-33
17 When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)
21 So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) When they reached the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.
26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” NIV
When WE see giants… how do we respond???
Pastor Jim had prepared material that would have explored other areas, but the actual sermon focused on the first point. Below is “bonus material” which was in his notes but not presented on Sunday.
Pause the recording and click the below Drop Down box to delve deeper.
BONUS MATERIAL
2: Never be Afraid to Engage the “Impossible”
David didn’t see Goliath as an obstacle; he saw him as an opportunity to glorify God. Look at David’s own words in v45-47…
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.
All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” NIV
The battle is the Lord’s! The Bible consistently tells us that victory all depends on God; not on our own “armor” or strength…
The “Giants” in our lives laugh at us. They taunt us. They get scarier as we get closer to them. They tell us WE can’t win. But the battle is God’s. And… God WILL win!
David never says “woe is me.” He knew that it was God’s battle. God used David’s arm, sling, and one of the 5 stones he gathered (the other 4 were for Goliath’s brothers). God took Goliath out through David.
3: Never Try to Acquire Another’s Spiritual Clothing
Saul wanted David to put on his suit of armor, and the result is comical. Here’s how Chuck Swindoll put it in his book “David a Man of Passion and Destiny“…
And David says,”Saul, I can’t fight with this stuff. I can’t even walk in it, and I sure haven’t tested it myself in battle.” So David dropped Saul’s sword and slid out of the armor.
If David wore Saul’s armor into battle- trusting in that instead of God- the outcome may have been dramatically different.
We can’t wear someone else’s armor. God has given us our own unique “clothes.”
Romans 12:3-8
We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
If we try to wear someone else’s clothes; if we try to use someone else’s gifts… they won’t fit! Use the gifts God has given YOU- then you’ll be able to defeat the giant.
Conclusion
We should seek God’s wisdom and guidance no matter how big or small the matter is. We don’t know what impact our ordinary life may have on God’s plan to do extraordinary things.
No matter what Goliath you or I may be facing, God is willing to give us the victory. Paul stressesthat truth over and over in Romans chapter 8…
Rom 8:31-32
So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose?
Rom 8:37-39
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing — nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable — absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
Can we employ the faith of David who went straight at Goliath saying, “You come at me with a big sword… but I come at you with God!” Do we see God and victory? Or, are we blinded by hopelessness and defeat?
A young woman named Florence Chadwick attempted to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast in 1952 in an attempt to set a record for covering that distance. When she entered the water, a heavy fog had settled itself on the path before her. Blinded by fog, she became disoriented and discouraged and gave up. When she finally decided she couldn’t go on, her escorts in a boat helped her out of the water.
The escorts failed to tell her the truth: Florence was less than 300 yards from the goal. Her only reply after learning how close she actually came was, “All I could see was hopelessness.” Her clouded vision kept her from victory.
Where is your faith? What are you trusting to get you through the rough stretches?
David saw victory. What do WE see?
Quiz Time!
As you reflect on what you’ve just heard/read, give this quiz a try. If you don’t understand an answer (or if you disagree with the “correct” answer, post a comment)…
Warning: This quiz also covers the Bonus Material!
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