SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Enduring Grace Sermons Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: This is the home for the weekly teaching and ministry of Pastor Ben Hill.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to share the timeless truth of God's Word with a world in need of hope.
SPEAKER_00: For more resources, articles, and updates, visit us online at enduringgrace.com.
SPEAKER_00: And now, here is this week's message.
SPEAKER_01: If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn to 1 Samuel.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to be in 1 Samuel 17 as we continue our study on the man after God's own heart, the life of David.
SPEAKER_01: And last week what we saw was that he was anointed the next king, that he was God's chosen anointed king of Israel, and how Saul was no longer the anointed one.
SPEAKER_01: And this week we're going to be talking beyond the sling.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I picked that title because oftentimes when we get to the story of David and Goliath, you know what happens?
SPEAKER_01: We focus on David defeating Goliath.
SPEAKER_01: But did you know David did not see that as the primary focus of what was transpiring?
SPEAKER_01: In culture, David and Goliath is a very popular term.
SPEAKER_01: We see it demonstrated everywhere.
SPEAKER_01: You have your favorite sports team that is an underdog against a giant powerhouse college.
SPEAKER_01: You know what happens?
SPEAKER_01: And that was my life, by the way, because I'm a University of Memphis fan.
SPEAKER_01: We're a nobody in football.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's a top dog compared to us.
SPEAKER_01: And so every time we faced a SEC team or a Big Ten team or a Big 12 team, the conversation was when we won, David beats Goliath.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's the language we use.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, one of the best-selling authors, uh, Malcolm Gladwell, wrote a book called David and Goliath, Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants.
SPEAKER_01: David and Goliath is headlined when the impossible happens when a mom and pop shop defeats a corporate operation.
SPEAKER_01: David and Goliath is oftentimes so focused on David and what he did that it takes away the glory from God.
SPEAKER_01: David did not see it that way.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, David saw it as it was God's fight, as we will see here in just a moment from our text.
SPEAKER_01: So the question for us as Christians, even the non-Christian, is first, who fights the battle in your life?
SPEAKER_01: Who fights the battle in your life?
SPEAKER_01: Which has a follow-up question is ultimately who fights the battle for your life is who gets the glory.
SPEAKER_01: So who gets the glory in your life?
SPEAKER_01: Is it you or is it the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: That's really what we're talking about this morning is giving God the rightful place in the story, the events of David and Goliath.
SPEAKER_01: So if you found your place in 1 Samuel 17, we're going to be looking at verse 46 and 47.
SPEAKER_01: Would you say word?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to ask you to stand one more time for the reading of God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 46 says, This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down, and cut off your head, and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds 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 that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves, not with sword and spear.
SPEAKER_01: For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands.
SPEAKER_01: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_01: David, right from the get-go, when he gets face to face with Goliath, as he's standing on the battlefield, he preaches a sermon, a two-verse sermon, that is focused on the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It is focused on where God fits in the battle in this valley.
SPEAKER_01: That the focus is not on anyone other than the Lord versus Goliath.
SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes when we talk about the underdog story, we say David is the underdog and Goliath is the top dog.
SPEAKER_01: David understood it totally different.
SPEAKER_01: David saw it as Goliath was the lowly dog, the underdog, because he, God, was fighting the battle for him, that God is the top dog.
SPEAKER_01: David and Goliath is not a story to read as an underdog versus a top dog.
SPEAKER_01: It is the top dog showing the underdog that he is the underdog.
SPEAKER_01: Because God reigns supreme.
SPEAKER_01: It is about the Lord being the one who is sovereign in the battle.
SPEAKER_01: Because God delivers.
SPEAKER_01: God delivers.
SPEAKER_01: This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand.
SPEAKER_01: David understood that Goliath had no authority, that he would not be the one who would walk away with his head hanging high.
SPEAKER_01: Because he understood that the Lord was the one who would deliver.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this word deliver is important because it really means to enclose.
SPEAKER_01: What that means is that David is telling Goliath on the battlefield, my God has already trapped you in his trap.
SPEAKER_01: You are not going anywhere.
SPEAKER_01: God will deliver you to my hand.
SPEAKER_01: You will not, under any circumstance, find victory this day.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I need you to understand the context of what David is doing because it's totally unique compared to the rest of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: If you go earlier in the chapter, what you find is that Israel for 40 days have been sitting on this little mountainside, while the Philistines are sitting on the other mountainside.
SPEAKER_01: And in the valley, here comes Goliath, day and night, coming and decrying and saying, Hey, Israel, who among you will battle me?
SPEAKER_01: But not only is he saying that, he is defying the living God, as David will tell when he gets into camp.
SPEAKER_01: But for 40 days, that is the scene.
SPEAKER_01: Goliath insulting Israel, insulting the God of Israel on the battlefield.
SPEAKER_01: Now Goliath is no short man.
SPEAKER_01: As we all know, he was over nine feet tall, according to Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, his armor is described as being over 125 pounds.
SPEAKER_01: Could you imagine wearing 125 pounds of armor?
SPEAKER_01: Not only that, his spearhead alone was 15 pounds.
SPEAKER_01: So here's Goliath standing way above anybody else in Israel, with his armor, his spear, his sword on his hilt, and a shield-bearer carrying his shield.
SPEAKER_01: In Israel, you have a king named Saul who's been stripped of his anointing, who is cowering down in fear.
SPEAKER_01: Now the thing with Saul is that he is a big man by every definition of human normal standard.
SPEAKER_01: He's head and shoulder taller than Israel, any other Israeli.
SPEAKER_01: He's a tall, kingly man, and yet he's cowered down in fear in his little tent.
SPEAKER_01: All of Israel is fearful of this Philistine giant.
SPEAKER_01: The scene is that they do not have faith because they have allowed their circumstances to diminish their faith to nothing.
SPEAKER_01: So here you have Goliath in the valley screaming like he normally does, and David comes into camp bringing his brothers lunch, essentially, from his dad.
SPEAKER_01: And he hears it and he gets mad.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Who is this Philistine, this uncircumcised Philistine?
SPEAKER_01: That he would decry the living God and his army of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: The setting is one that would catch a person off guard.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing with David David is not just your ordinary dude, he's the anointed future king of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: He's a man after God's own heart, as scripture describes him.
SPEAKER_01: He's a man of faith.
SPEAKER_01: So he goes in, he finds out, and then he says, I'm willing to do it.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what Saul and him have a conversation?
SPEAKER_01: And Saul's like, hey, I need to know why in the world do you think you can do this?
SPEAKER_01: No one else can.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what David's resume says?
SPEAKER_01: I'm a shepherd boy who, when a lion took my lamb, I went after my lamb.
SPEAKER_01: And I ripped that lamb from the jaws of death in that lion's mouth.
SPEAKER_01: And if that lion dared attack me, you know what I did?
SPEAKER_01: I took him by his beard and killed him.
SPEAKER_01: He had experienced the faithfulness of God.
SPEAKER_01: And because he had experienced the faithfulness of God to give him strength against a lion and a bear, he knew that Goliath had no authority.
SPEAKER_01: None.
SPEAKER_01: He knew God would deliver, because he uses this same word, deliver the giant, the giant, just like he did the lion.
SPEAKER_01: He was a man of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 37, we see this unfold.
SPEAKER_01: He says, The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion, and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.
SPEAKER_01: He was a man who had faith.
SPEAKER_01: He was not boasting.
SPEAKER_01: He was simply, humbly saying that the Lord God, who can deliver me from a lion and a bear, can deliver me from this giant.
SPEAKER_01: He's the delivering God.
SPEAKER_01: He trusted the Lord because he had seen God's faithfulness before.
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like the captain, Arthur Rostron.
SPEAKER_01: He was the captain of the ocean liner Carpathia.
SPEAKER_01: Carpathia was on a voyage when they got a distress signal in 1912 from the Titanic.
SPEAKER_01: That captain, without delay, got his crew to start heading towards the Titanic's location.
SPEAKER_01: Some of his fellow shipmates were concerned that the same iceberg that had sunk the Titanic might sink their ship, but the captain showed no fear.
SPEAKER_01: When asked why he was fearless, he simply told them, I know what our ship is capable of because I have waded through these waters before, and I know how quickly this ship can turn.
SPEAKER_01: We can get there and save some people.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the thing for us as believers, we've experienced the faithfulness of God, yet when trouble comes, all too often, do you know what we do?
SPEAKER_01: We forget the faithfulness God has showed us.
SPEAKER_01: And we cower in fear.
SPEAKER_01: Christian, do not cower in fear.
SPEAKER_01: Do not allow Satan to have victory in your life because God will deliver you no matter the circumstance.
SPEAKER_01: Because we serve a God who reigns in authority.
SPEAKER_01: But he's also the God who reveals himself even in the midst of facing our giants.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what David says in verse 46.
SPEAKER_01: He tells the Philistine, starting the second part, it says, And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Did you catch that?
SPEAKER_01: He wants, God wants everyone to know there is a God who reigns in Israel.
SPEAKER_01: The purpose of David facing Goliath is for God to demonstrate himself.
SPEAKER_01: Did you know God allows us to go through hardship sometimes so that he can demonstrate himself to others through us?
SPEAKER_01: That how we handle adversity is a testimony to the greatness and the work of God in our own life.
SPEAKER_01: Back in verse 26, David asks a simple question: Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't that this giant was attacking just Israel or Saul or even David.
SPEAKER_01: He was attacking the living God.
SPEAKER_01: And he, this loud-mouthed blasphemer, was not going to be tolerated.
SPEAKER_01: David did not want this blasphemer to remain in his proud state.
SPEAKER_01: God was going to use a humble shepherd boy, a teenage boy by most scholars count, to demonstrate his power and his authority to the world.
SPEAKER_01: That God is the living God that no one can stand against.
SPEAKER_01: Are you trusting God in a way that allows God to reveal himself to other people through your life?
SPEAKER_01: If you were to truly examine your life, are you living in such a way that other people see the power of God in you because of the way you trust him?
SPEAKER_01: Do they?
SPEAKER_01: There was a man named Nobel Qureshi.
SPEAKER_01: Nobel Qureshi, he was a Muslim.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, he was a devout Muslim.
SPEAKER_01: He was born in a Muslim family and he had no interest in Christianity at all.
SPEAKER_01: But then God stepped into the equation in college because he gave him a friend named David Wood.
SPEAKER_01: David Wood was a simple Christian.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing about David he was a man who truly trusted the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He lived what he talked.
SPEAKER_01: As Kureshi watched him day after day, he realized that David actually practiced what he said he preached and what he said he believed.
SPEAKER_01: And so that began to really mess up his life.
SPEAKER_01: He started wrestling with whether or not what he believed was true because this man was so different than anything else he had ever seen.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, in many cases, he said it just didn't line up.
SPEAKER_01: And so it unsettled him.
SPEAKER_01: Ultimately, God used that friendship to open the door for David to share Christianity with Kuresh.
SPEAKER_01: And Quaresh would one day eventually surrender his life to the Lord and become a writer before his death in 2017 to cancer.
SPEAKER_01: You do not know what your faith will do to change the world.
SPEAKER_01: But we have been called to trust the Lord, to live a life of faith before others so that God can reveal himself to others through our life.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the beauty of the Bible is that David, he faces Goliath.
SPEAKER_01: God is going to reveal his power through David's victory over Goliath.
SPEAKER_01: But there is even a better example of God revealing himself to the world.
SPEAKER_01: And it points us to the cross.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus came as both fully God and fully man, sent by the Father to reveal himself to the world in his love.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus' death on the cross is the biggest moment in history of the revealing of God's love and his fact that he's a living God that's ever taken place because he rose from the grave.
SPEAKER_01: God has revealed himself and reveals himself through the faithfulness of his servants and through the testimony of his word.
SPEAKER_01: Are you allowing God to reveal himself to others through your life when you're facing your difficulty?
SPEAKER_01: When you're facing your trials, when you're facing hardship, when you are facing decisions you do not know how to answer, are you still able to worship the Lord in a way that points people to Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: That, hey, that person is weird.
SPEAKER_01: They trust this Savior they call Jesus, and their life has fallen apart, and yet they still are glorifying the Lord even in the midst of that.
SPEAKER_01: Is that your testimony?
SPEAKER_01: That was David's testimony.
SPEAKER_01: He is facing a giant who should kill him.
SPEAKER_01: But he understood who was in control and that God was going to reveal himself to the whole world through the victory he was about to experience.
SPEAKER_01: Because he trusted that God would save him.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 47.
SPEAKER_01: And all that, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear.
SPEAKER_01: David, you've got to remember, he's already tried on Saul's armor and rejected it, saying, I can't go out there in this armor.
SPEAKER_01: It's too heavy, it's too cumbersome.
SPEAKER_01: Saul was probably much, much taller than him.
SPEAKER_01: So it was jumbo size.
SPEAKER_01: It'd be like my kid putting on my suit.
SPEAKER_01: It would look ridiculous.
SPEAKER_01: And so he's rejected it.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what David does?
SPEAKER_01: He goes to the little brook and he picks five stones, smooth stones, drops them in his little shepherd bag, takes his staff, a stick, and his sling, and goes to face Goliath.
SPEAKER_01: Goliath is absolutely insulted, by the way.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, You come at me like a dog with sticks.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't have what we would consider military force behind him.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, what he's coming with him, with is just common everyday items that would be on any shepherd boy.
SPEAKER_01: And here he is standing against a fully armored, equipped with military force weaponry, ready to go to battle.
SPEAKER_01: They're night and day.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not with the military might, it's not with sword and spear.
SPEAKER_01: It is a wonderful reminder of the sovereignty of God in this battle that he is going to give David victory.
SPEAKER_01: Because God is fighting the battle.
SPEAKER_01: It is not his battle.
SPEAKER_01: Now there's something about this word saves and the phrase the Lord saves that's vitally important to note.
SPEAKER_01: The word saves is Yasha.
SPEAKER_01: Yasha is the Hebrew word for saves or to rescue, to deliver, to bring to safety.
SPEAKER_01: Yasha is the root for the name Yeshua.
SPEAKER_01: Yeshua is the Lord's saves.
SPEAKER_01: If you go to the Gospels, the name that Jesus is given.
SPEAKER_01: In Hebrew is Yeshua.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord saves.
SPEAKER_01: David, whether he knew it or not, is testifying and pointing to the future Savior that would come from his lineage.
SPEAKER_01: He's pointing to Jesus, the cross, the one who saves.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord alone saves.
SPEAKER_01: The fact of the matter is, the Lord alone has saved the world through his blood and sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: And the only way for salvation, the only way for salvation is through Jesus Christ alone.
SPEAKER_01: There is no other way.
SPEAKER_01: A recent study I saw was that they interviewed several evangelical churches.
SPEAKER_01: And over, a little over half said that they thought that there was possibly other ways to be saved other than through Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Church, there is no one who saves except the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: You can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: No other religion can do it.
SPEAKER_01: There are not many directions that lead to the same God.
SPEAKER_01: There is one way, and that is through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: When we place our faith and trust in Jesus, he is good and faithful to save.
SPEAKER_01: You can rest assured that you have eternity to look forward to when you trust the Lord who saves.
SPEAKER_01: And it changes the way we live when we truly believe that Jesus alone saves.
SPEAKER_01: One of my favorite stories and examples of this is the five missionaries from America that went down to the rainforest of Ecuador to reach a violent tribe.
SPEAKER_01: If you know the story, you already know who I'm about to say.
SPEAKER_01: That one of the missionaries there is Jim Elliott.
SPEAKER_01: Jim Elliott and his team went down there carrying guns to protect themselves with one agreement.
SPEAKER_01: That those weapons were not to be used against any tribe that they were trying to reach with the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Essentially, it was used for only wildlife.
SPEAKER_01: They land and the tribe kills them, spears them to death.
SPEAKER_01: As time goes by, Jim's wife, Elizabeth Elliot, and a team would go down there bringing the same good news.
SPEAKER_01: And when they got there, the tribe received them, and many were saved.
SPEAKER_01: When we truly believe that the Lord saves, it changes the way we live.
SPEAKER_01: We live by faith.
SPEAKER_01: We trust that the Lord will deliver, we trust that the Lord will reveal Himself through our faith in him and that he will save us, but ultimately we believe that God wins.
SPEAKER_01: God wins.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what he says.
SPEAKER_01: He says, For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands.
SPEAKER_01: David declares this, and when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to David, do you know what David did?
SPEAKER_01: He ran quickly towards him, sling in hand, rock and sling, swirling it around his head.
SPEAKER_01: He throws the rock, and you know what happens?
SPEAKER_01: Hits him in the forehead, it sinks in, he falls forward.
SPEAKER_01: He dies by the hand of David, not by the stone, but by the sword that was in Goliath's sheath, with his head chopped off.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord did not come with a sword or spear with David.
SPEAKER_01: He provided the sword.
SPEAKER_01: He provided the victory.
SPEAKER_01: He did the unthinkable through a humble shepherd boy, because God provides victory for all who trust him.
SPEAKER_01: It might not feel like it right now, with the trial that you're going through, with the difficulty of your circumstance, whether it's your finances or your family dynamic, it might not feel like God is going to be victorious, but let me tell you and assure you, you will experience the victory of God, whether it's this side of eternity or the next, if you trust in Him.
SPEAKER_01: Because God fights our battles for us.
SPEAKER_01: And the reality is the battle belongs to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: The sin that you're facing, the difficulty of that temptation that draws you in, God has given you victory through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He has already won the battle.
SPEAKER_01: If I could have your attention just on this, too many Christians fight for victory rather than from victory.
SPEAKER_01: Too many Christians fight for victory rather than from the victory they've experienced in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: If you will simply trust in the work of Jesus, and you will walk through life understanding that God has already given you victory.
SPEAKER_01: When the trials come, you can still hold your head high, knowing that it is for God's glory and his praise and that he is already promised victory on the other end.
SPEAKER_01: You do not have to go through life worried, stressed, burdened, believing that you have to do something in order for victory to occur.
SPEAKER_01: All you have to do is surrender to the Lord, and He will pave the way for victory.
SPEAKER_01: He will guide your steps, and he will guide the sling to give you victory because he has already won.
SPEAKER_01: I think one of the best ways that we can illustrate this reality, at least in the modern age, is that we all have to some extent the ability to record our favorite sports shows.
SPEAKER_01: Specifically our favorite sports events.
SPEAKER_01: I can remember being that guy.
SPEAKER_01: I had one of my teachers in college who had a DVR who was recording the big game.
SPEAKER_01: He couldn't be there because we were doing a mission project, so he had it recording, and here I am, I've got all the notifications on my phone.
SPEAKER_01: I'm keeping track because it's a big game.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what I did?
SPEAKER_01: I ruined his DVR.
SPEAKER_01: I saw that his team won, and I screamed, hey, they won! And you know what he did?
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Shut up! But you know what he did also?
SPEAKER_01: He went home and he started watching the game.
SPEAKER_01: Because he wanted to watch his team.
SPEAKER_01: What I didn't tell him was that his team was down 21 points at halftime.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what he told me?
SPEAKER_01: He actually used it as a Sunday school illustration.
SPEAKER_01: It stuck all these years later.
SPEAKER_01: Was that he said, he goes, as I was watching the game, I couldn't help but be reminded how we have victory.
SPEAKER_01: Victory in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Because when halftime came, I was still happy.
SPEAKER_01: If I've been watching that live, I've been a depressed old man.
SPEAKER_01: We were down 21 points.
SPEAKER_01: But we won on that final drive in those last seconds.
SPEAKER_01: And I knew it was coming, but I didn't know how.
SPEAKER_01: We have victory in life through Jesus because he's already won the victory.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it looks like we're down 21 points in life.
SPEAKER_01: But the fact of the matter is, when we go to be with Christ, we win.
SPEAKER_01: There is no greater hope and victory than that.
SPEAKER_01: This morning, as a child of God, are you living in the victory that God has already won for you?
SPEAKER_01: Are you living from victory or for victory?
SPEAKER_01: But maybe you're not a Christian this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've come in here, you've stumbled in, you're visiting your father, and you realize you are not living in the victory of the Lord that He's already provided for you, that you need to trust Christ this morning.
SPEAKER_01: There is no greater decision for you than to trust Christ as your Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_01: So we're about to have a time of invitation.
SPEAKER_01: And during that time, I'm going to ask that you come and surrender all.
SPEAKER_01: That you would trust in Christ, in Christ alone.
SPEAKER_01: For the Christian this morning, I'm going to encourage you to celebrate the victory God has already assured you, that He's already given you.
SPEAKER_01: And that if you are not living in victory, that this morning you surrender whatever burden is on you this morning at the feet of the one who is already victorious.
SPEAKER_01: Because that will free you to worship Him, to celebrate Him, and to walk in faith.
SPEAKER_01: With every head bowed and eye closed this morning.