On To Victory #1 (Based on David vs. Goliath)
Text: 1 Samuel 17:17-18:2
I certainly want to welcome everybody that is with us this first
day of the week as we gather to remember the great victory that Jesus
Christ won for us so many years ago.
Your presence is a wonderful blessing here this day and we hope
that you will find yourself encouraged in your daily walks from being
with us.
To begin this series which we will be doing over the next 6 weeks,
I thought it appropriate to recall an old Charlie Brown comic strip
that really describes the way many people could view life.1
"Linus says to Charlie Brown, "Life is difficult, isn't it Charlie
Brown?" Charlie replies, "Yes, it is. But I've developed a new
philosophy; I only dread one day at a time!"
For many people in our world, that is as true as life is.
Everywhere one looks in the world people are constantly facing a battle
of some sort. As Jacob described his days on earth to Pharaoh in
Genesis 47:9 as "few and evil", so do men and women today.
One's view of life on this planet can become very pessimistic.
Like the writer of the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes we can
conclude that after seeing everything there was to see under the sun,
"All is vain"!2
Like Charlie Brown we learn to dread one day at a time.
In this series we are going to look at one of the most famous stories
of all time and try to see it for the first time, and listen to the
voice of God through this story as He actually tells us the opposite.
God wants to remind all of us as we face the battles that are common to
life that we don't have to give up and more importantly we can be
victors!
Let's read together a few passages before we get started:
1 John 5:4,5, John 16:33, Romans 8:31-37 & 1 Samuel 17:47.
Keep your Bibles at 1 Samuel 17 for a few moments. What a
different picture these passages paint with regards to the battles that
all of us face.
No matter how hard we try to avoid them, all of us at one time or
another face battles.
The Battles we face may not share the same face, but we share the
same fate. We will be forced to fight wars in our lives, whether it be
wars of the flesh, mind or spirit, they will come!
One thing we want to make note of in this series is this:
as Goliath fell, God is trying to remind us that the giants we face can
fall as well!
Your battle may be a lot different than mine but it is real!
Now, someone might come to you and say, "don't worry about it" or
"there's not much to it", but to you there is! To you it is a giant
who is threatening to take over your territory.
Your battle might take the form of some certain sin. It's an act
or thought that you are fighting over and over again and can't seem to
stare down. You want to stop doing what is wrong, but you just can't
muster the strength to say no. You've vowed to God that the last time
would be the last time and then there is a next time. You are so close
to just giving up the fight.
Your battle may not be that but a battle in regards to being
rejected by a loved one or a close friend. They have made it their
personal agenda to make sure you are not a part of their lives and you
are hurting terribly because of this. You know life must go on, and
you try to tell yourself that you don't really need them, but then
every morning the feeling of being rejected still stings and seems to
be eating at your very inner self.
Your battle might be one of feeling doubt over the future. You
marched triumphantly through life as being confident of God's role and
then all of a sudden some event happens to you that you really never
thought should happen. (Did you know that there are events that really
never should happen?) So, there is a question mark now about how
things will turn out. You face this giant on trembling knees and
uncertain worded prayers!
Your battle might be none of those, but something else I haven't
touched on, loss of health, wealth, status etc. The fight nonetheless
is real, and at times it does not seem like you can really win.
If you don't know what I am talking about I count you blessed, if you
do, you know how desperate the fight can be!
Sometimes during the face-off with our Goliath, the question we
are asking is not how can we conquer? But, how can we survive?
God says, turn to 1 Samuel 17 and I'll tell you.
We might ask why, and there is an answer:
1 Peter 5:8- our adversary is always around. With this in mind, we are
urged in 1 Corinthians 10:12- to take heed. The enemy of man is
always there and delights in thrusting unsuspecting men and women into
wars that wage against our hearts, souls & minds.
Let's look together at the battle that made David the man of God
that all of us admire.
We want to first notice something special about David.
1 Samuel 16:7- before David ever became a hero, he was identified by
God to become a king. Why?
Because he had the right heart!
Now, one of the keys we are going to notice in this series is that in
our battles, the key may not be having the right force as it is in
having the heart of faith! (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
As Lynn Anderson wrote "God wants His man to 'have the heart,' not
merely 'look the part.'"3
How can we find the heart of a conqueror?
- Sometimes our battle comes because of innocent suggestions!
(vs.17-24).
Did you notice something important about David's heroic act?
He didn't go to get involved! As another man noted that in this scene
there would have been the well-fed Philistine army versus the scraggly
band of Israelites and "that is why David was there in the first
place….David had come to the Valley of Elah only because his father,
Jesse, had commissioned David to carry food to his three brothers who
were serving in Saul's rag-tag army."4
Have you ever got involved with a giant innocently?
A lot of times we have. Someone calls you for advice, you give some
and then wham, you are in the midst of some crisis that you never once
looked to get involved. You start questioning your own self and forget
that you were the one sought, not the one seeking.
As Charles Swindoll wrote, "The sun rose that morning just like any
other morning for both David and Goliath. That's the way it often is
in life."5
Jesse calls his son, "David I want you to go see your brothers" and
with that David returns one of the greatest heroes Israel ever knew.
- It is us who must fight our own Goliaths!
Others can encourage us, but the giant is looking at us and nobody
else. This is perhaps what is so frustrating about the battles that
take place; nobody else seems to be able to fight with us!
This day, David was faced with a battle that nobody else would fight!
What happens when we choose to run and not fight?
What happens when we believe we can't win?
The Giant consumes you! Vs.16,23,24.
How do you know when the battle that you are fighting is a Goliath or
not?
Does it keep coming back after you run from it?
If it does it is time to find the champion inside of you and face it!
40 days is a long time, but we need to make note of something. This
was the 41st day for Goliath but only the first day for David!
And if you don't mind noticing, this day would be Goliath's last and
one of David's greatest!
My friends until we face the battles we fight, we can't win!
The key now is understanding how to fight!
- David was human! Vs.40.
Have you ever stopped to think how David might have felt when he picked
up that first stone?
Do you ever wonder if David thought, 'what am I doing? I can't defeat
a giant with little stones'?
"Did his courage preclude fear? Surely not. Did his confidence in God
mean he wasn't the least bit apprehensive? I doubt it. What is
important is not that David felt true fear and apprehension - as any of
us would - but that he acted courageously in spite of that fear.
Acting in the face of fear, not fearlessness, is true courage. It is
the courage of Jesus, who in the face of certain death asked, "If at
all possible, let this cup pass from me," yet unwaveringly submitted to
the inevitable."6
Have you ever felt, that in order to overcome some habit, feeling, or
hurt, you have to be tougher than human?
The reason you feel you can't conquer is because you don't feel like
much of a conqueror?
There's too much fear, doubt, uncertainty, nervousness to win.
- David won because the battle was God's! vs.47!
This is the key, when we are engaged in any type of internal war, we
have to look up and acknowledge who is really going to fight!
If we are going to rely on ourselves, we will need to run!
If we are going to rely on the strength that is above, we can face and
fight!
"Trust him who loves you to help you when you're afraid."7
When we realize our strength is minimal, God's strength is maximized.
(2 Corinthians 12:9,10)
Whenever we depend on God for victory, God will not let us down.
Psalms 25:1,2.
As a child of God, He cannot let you down!
Why was Paul convinced that we are more than conquerors?
Namely two reasons-
vs.31- if God be for us who can be against us &
vs.38,39- nothing can separate us from the love of God!
- The Battle will be won! (vs.50)
In a human comparison, David was nothing to Goliath, but at the end,
David stood like a giant over him.
At the end of the day, the child of God will stand like a giant over
the weapons of Satan. How do we know?
John 19:30- It is finished,
Luke 23:46- Father into your hands I commit my spirit.
When Jesus breathed his last he sealed the defeat of Satan and when he
rose from the grave he won the victory for all of God's children.
By doing that when we place our souls in the care of the Father we
begin to understand that "Good has already triumphed! Evil has been
defeated! Satan can't beat us!....walking closer than ever to the One
who has already fought the greatest battle ever -- and won!"8
Do we still have to fight?
Yes, but we know we're going to win. In the end we shall win!
My friends, as you face uncertain trials and difficult journeys in your
life, understand that if you are with God, like David you can trample
down the enemy and stand as more than a conqueror!
What does God ask of us?
The faith to go and get five smooth stones and a heart of a champion.
"David…just accomplished an incredible thing, a remarkable
achievement. A young man, not yet twenty years old, who had never worn
the uniform of the Israeli army, never once suited up for battle,
never once known what it was to carry a sword, had run out onto the
battlefield, faced a giant almost ten feet tall, and killed him with
one throw of his sling."9
My friends, do you think that is the stuff fairy tales are made of
but something that cannot connect with your life?
I believe differently, and I believe that the God of the Bible is still
the God of surprises for our lives today. He can do for you what He
did for David.
How do we know?
His Son Jesus walked alive after dying and showed us all the path to
final victory. Is that what you want?
Do you want life to have a final joy?
Do you want meaning to all the madness?
It's found in Jesus, He invites you to come and share this victory that
he won so many years ago….
Next week, we are going to start looking more indepth at the keys to
David's victory by looking at the themes, understanding that victory is
possible & when others believe you will lose.
But for now, keep up the fight, the battle belongs to the Lord and we
will be victorious if we keep our faith in Him!
1. Quoted from Randy Becton, Everyday Strength, A Cancer Patient's
Guide To Spiritual Survival (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1989) p.20
2. See Ecclesiastes 1:2, 1:17, 2:1, 2:11, 2:15, 2:17 for starters.
3. Lynn Anderson, Finding the Heart to Go On (San Bernardino, CA:
Here's Life Publishers, 1991) p.18
4. F. Lagard Smith, Meeting God in Holy Places (Eugene, OR: Harvest
House Publishers, 1997) p.177
5. Charles Swindoll, David: a man of passion & destiny: profiles in
character (Dallas, TX: Word Publishing, Inc., 1997) p.39
6. Lagard Smith, p.178,179
7. Becton, p.28
8. Lagard, p.152
9. Swindoll, p.51
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