Abounding Grace

Guest (Male): God doesn't save with sword or spear but rather with a sling and a stone. Hear all about it next on Abounding Grace.

Pastor Ed Taylor: The Lord doesn't save with sword or spear. The battle belongs to the Lord, and He will give us the victory as we remain in the spiritual realm. The end result in the spirit is always David prevailed. It's always that way. And you can insert your name, friend. The end result of battling in the spirit is that you and I prevail. I don't care how big and how impossible the giant seems, how loud it screams, how defying and mockingly it may be. Be careful, because it's not the sword and the spear. It's the sling and the stone.

Guest (Male): This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love. That You would take my place. That You would bear my cross. You laid down Your life. That I would be set free. Oh, Jesus, I sing for all that You've done for me.

When you're faced with a spiritual battle, you can go in one of two directions. You can try to fight it in your own strength or rely on the strength and sufficiency of God, realizing it's His battle, not yours. Today on Abounding Grace, we'll learn a valuable lesson from David's experience with a big giant. He prevailed in the fight, not because of his might, but rather in realizing the battle belonged to the Lord. Before we get to 1 Samuel chapter 17, Pastor Ed Taylor briefly visits the book of Exodus.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Exodus chapter 34, verse 5. "Then the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed: The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation."

How about that for a name? How would you like to put that on your business card of who you are? And we don't have time to get into this, but at the end there, I've looked at this in depth. You can look it up on the web, but this isn't pronouncing some curse of generational curse on the rest of your life. Because the moment that a father or a grandfather or a son repents, everything changes. Both the generation behind them and the generation ahead of them.

Isn't it true for some of you that you're the one that got saved, and then your dad got saved? Changed everything. And then your kids are raised in a godly home. So this isn't some, "Well, you know, I'm just experiencing generational curses of everyone." No, repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and the curse is broken in Jesus. So don't think that you're stuck because you grew up in a dysfunctional home. I was talking to someone today about dysfunctional homes and you're like, "Man, we all grew up in a dysfunctional home." It's just the difference is how dysfunctional we really were.

And you go, "Wait a minute, I grew up in a pretty good home." I know, as good as your home was, without sin it would have been better. And you're going to experience a sinlessness when you're in the presence of the Lord. So we thank God if you grew up in a really terrific home with terrific parents. Amen. They weren't perfect, but they were pretty good, weren't they? That's awesome.

And then some of you grew up in a really broken home and you're like, "Man, I wish if I could do it all over." Listen, whether it was a good home or a really difficult home, your home can be different. Your home, it all changes with you. And even in your home, as I see my kids grow up and become adults themselves, I look back and I'm like, "Oh man, if I was doing it all over again, I'd do it different. I'd do it different. I'd do it different." But that's how it works. You can't do it all over again. You did the best that you could, parents, with the tools that you had at the time.

I think of my parents. Both my parents are in heaven right now with my son. I think of them all growing up. You know what? They were chain smokers, man. They were the kind of people that smoke and then they'd take another cigarette, light the next one with the old one. I grew up with cigarette smoke in layers in my house. I remember it. And it didn't bother me. I didn't know any different. That was my house. I didn't know any different.

I'd visit my grandmother, who's also in heaven right now. I'd visit her in Arizona. You know what my grandmother did? She smoked so much she rolled her own cigarettes, man. She was a tough guy. She'd roll her own cigarettes, she'd be licking them right there at the drinking coffee, rolling cigarettes. That was my granny. Great woman, got saved later in life and quit smoking. Unfortunately, she ended up passing away from lung cancer from all of that. But she was changed. My whole family, just and they would light the cigarette, light the next one. That was just how it was.

I didn't know any different. And then I started smoking when I started, because that's what my family inherited. I inherited that from my family. And I was like, "Well, everybody smokes, I'm going to smoke." And then when I got saved and I started talking to my mom and trying to convince them, "You guys need to stop smoking." Even if it's not just for the Lord. Smoking won't send you to hell, you guys know that. But it'll make you smell like you've been there, man. So stop, stop.

All right, we're all together. We're all together. We're here. I remember this and it's all getting back to the theme of parenting. My mom would say, "But you don't understand, son. When we were young, doctors were on TV telling us that smoking was okay. Movie stars were projecting to us exactly the kind of right cigarettes that would come and have these health benefits. And I just did what I was told. And my mom smoked, I smoked." And now with findings, we see that it's really not good for you. And it's not good for the people that are next to you.

But parents, you know, we do what we have. And then the Lord gives us wisdom and understanding and we're able to grow. But when you look at your life, don't look at Exodus and go, "Well, I'm under the generational curse." That's not true. Jesus broke the curse. He died on the cross. He took all the suffering consequences of your sin so that with the decisions you make, you can start pouring into your kids and your grandkids and change the course of history. You can change the course of your legacy and your family name as you serve Jesus.

So don't be stuck here. We look at the name of God and He's merciful, He's gracious, He's long-suffering. And to the generations, really the essence of that to the generations is for every unrepentant generation, they pay the price for their own sin. Every generation. It's been that way since Adam and Eve and it will be continually that way until Jesus Christ comes to return for His church and comes again in the second coming.

So back in 1 Samuel, I'm coming to you with the name. I'm coming to you with the name, the authority. And he says very strongly, "Today the Lord will deliver you into my hands today." It's not going to be a prolonged battle. It's such great faith. "I'll cut your head off. I'll cut your head off." I mean, you're not even going to have a chance. David, Jonathan, his armor-bearer are all the type of man we want in our lives. The type of man, the type of person, the type of woman we want to be: faithful, loyal, courageous, God-consumed, reliable. Men and women of faith, men and women that keep our word.

But there are times when Goliath comes where we think everything is against us. The Bible says in Romans chapter 8, verse 31, "What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" It's important for you to know today, church, that God is for you as a believer. A horrible way to live your life is to live a life like everything is against us, including God. Even Job got to that distressing season where he even thought God was against him because of his trial. Seeing God as an adversary is a horrible way to live.

But I'll tell you another horrible way to live is seeing God like a Santa Claus character. You know what Santa Claus does, right? He keeps a list, he checks it twice, he's going to find out who's naughty and nice. And you know how naughty you are, so you're busted. There's no way you can get out of it. But that's not the heart of God for you to live your life like that. It's not the heart of God for you to cower in fear from Him. It's not the heart of God for you to be in a place where you always think He's against you. He's not against you. He loves you. And He poured out His wrath on His Son for you. And if God is for you, and He is, then who can be against you?

If God is for us, and sure we all stumble and fall at times, we're like God's kids as we're growing up and maturing. Learning how to walk, learning how to ride a bike. It's just like with our own kids, those of us that have the privilege of raising kids. Or maybe you've had cousins or nieces or nephews or grandkids where you've had the opportunity of teaching them how to walk. Or you've had the opportunity and the privilege to teach them how to ride a bike.

And there they are walking and they're taking their first steps and they fall down. Do you go over and go, "Dude, what is your problem? You should be able to take more steps, so get up. Get up, get up!" And you're down, "Get up!" You know, you're not no, that's not you don't do that. Was I looking at you? Who was I looking at? No, no, that's not what you do. You run over, you rush, "Are you okay?" You dust them off, you get them back up, take another step.

You take them on the bike and you hold the seat and you're running alongside them and you let go and then, "Hey, Dad! Dad! Woo, Dad!" You know, "What are you doing? What?" No, no way you rush over, you dust them off and go, "Come on, let's go. You made it three feet, six feet next time." Before you know it, they take off and never come back. That's what happens with your kids. You better be ready.

That's God's heart for our kids, right? We're raising a next godly generation that they will leave their mother and father and cleave unto their husband or their wife and raise their own godly family in honor and respect to their parents for the rest of their lives. That's the goal. But with our own kids we don't do that. Do you think God does that with you? "Get up! You failure!" No, if God is for us, who's against us? He's not against us.

Hey, if you're prideful, the Bible says God resists the proud, so you know, there are times when God resists you. But not if you come humbly and trusting just as your Abba Father who loves you. And I know some of you have to learn the concept of a dad that loves you, but I'll tell you what, He's a perfect dad. And He helps us along the way. God is here to strengthen, to fight for us.

Verse 48: "And it was so, when the Philistine came across and arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hastened, ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. Then David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, and he slung it and struck the Philistine in the forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword, drew it out of his sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it.

And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. Now the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance of the valley and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell along the road to Shaaraim, even as far as Gath and Ekron. Then the children of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their tents." Verse 54: "And David took the head of the Philistine, brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent."

Now what a glorious verse 50 it is. David prevailed with a sling and a stone. You might want to mark that. David prevailed with a sling and a stone. It's a fulfillment of verse 47 where he says, "God doesn't save with sword and spear." Those were his choices: sword and spear, sling and stone. May I lay before you a couple of options of what those picture and what they typify, what they're type of?

The sword and the spear speak to us of our resources. They speak to us of our abilities. They speak to us of our strength, you know, physically. Maybe you have muscles or you've been trained a boxer or an MMA fighter or something and that's your resources. And maybe you've grown up your whole life your own words, you're articulate, you're very articulate, so you fought battles with your words before and been very victorious. Or you fought battles with your fists, or you fought battles, unfortunately, maybe some of you have fought battles with love where you extend love and withhold love, and that's how you fight battles. Or you fight battles by the silent treatment, you know, for the silent treatment you win this and then you'll promise to talk or what. It speaks of really the carnality of who we are apart from the Lord.

What does the Bible say? The Bible says God doesn't save that way. He doesn't save with the resources of man. He doesn't save, you could say that with the well-trained, well-armed. Certainly He can use training and arms. I'm not saying He can't use that, but God gets the glory when how? When He wins with a sling and a stone. Those are elements of faith, we should say. It's walking in the spirit. They're just very common, normal things. A smooth stone, a sling that's been used, a little bit of aiming but a lot of faith.

Where it seems as if you're in a place where you don't like to be. I certainly don't like to be in a place where I'm outnumbered or I have the odds are against me. I mean, certainly if I had my choice in some battle, I'd want to be on the side of the odds. But that's not from the Lord. The Lord doesn't use conventional means to bring deliverance to His people. He uses supernatural means. He doesn't use the resources of man. He uses His own resources given in abundance to the man and woman of faith.

You see, so often when I'm faced with a problem, I look at natural ways or conventional ways to solve the problem. Perfectly normal. For example, something breaks down in your house and you're good with your hands. So your first thought is, "I'll fix it." Really nothing wrong with that. But when you do that enough, you don't pray. Why pray? You know how to fix stuff. You fixed it before, and before, and before, which should tell you something about your ability to fix things.

But, you know, there's nothing wrong with that. There would have been nothing wrong for David to go with sword and spear except that he had insight on faith. God doesn't save that way. And when you're able to do something, think about it in your life. Maybe it's not fix something, but when you're able to do something, you don't pray. Why? Because you can fix it. And you're not being trained for war, friend, when you don't pray. You're not being trained for war when you don't trust. You're not being trained for war when you don't intercede and you don't plead. You don't train for war, you're not trained for the Goliath in life when you can handle everything on your own.

David had great insight as a young man. And it's natural I look for some regular conventional way, but God doesn't use them. He uses many ways, unconventional. Things I didn't think about, things I didn't know about, things I didn't see. God doesn't save with sword and spear. As I'm looking for human ways, oftentimes I get discouraged because there is the Goliath that shows up and I don't know how to handle it. The things that I did before to get me out of small jams aren't working now. The things that I might have been able to, you know, kind of worm my way through and get away with are not working now.

And so because I didn't trust in the Lord on the smaller things, when the big thing comes now I'm looking and scrambling for some solution. And you know what happens? You get discouraged because no solution works. That wasn't God doesn't save that way. I try to think of every possible way. For me personally, I'll often spend nights when I'm faithless, I will spend all I'll be up all night thinking of ways. I can't go to sleep. The Lord promised me rest, you know, the Bible? The Bible promises me rest. Not just sleep but rest. That's what the Bible promises you too. It's not just this is only for Ed, it's for all of us. The Bible promises, but when my mind's racing and I'm trying to figure things out, I don't rest. I'm looking for some way.

God doesn't save with sword or spear. Why? Well, notice in verse 47, you might want to circle this, mark it, put a star next to it: The battle is the Lord's. It's not yours. Satan is always trying to draw us, as well as our flesh is always trying to draw us into an area where we're in the flesh fighting a spiritual battle. There are circumstances always trying to draw you away from the spiritual realm to fight a spiritual battle in your flesh. And if he can get you into the flesh, you're going to be beat up really bad.

I think of the seven sons of Sceva in the book of Acts. They think they can just take on people in the name of that guy that in the name of God, and they run away beaten and battered and naked, exposed for their human weakness. As we chuckle on the seven sons of Sceva, think about how many times you've run away from a problem battered, beaten, and naked, exposed for your human weakness. Just for yourself.

You see, we don't go to battle with sword and spear but with a sling and a stone. Unconventional, things you wouldn't have thought of. The moment that the devil can draw you into the flesh to battle him with sword and spear, with words and letters, with emails and revenge, you'll feel the fleshly temptations in your life. And the battle against Satan in the flesh is just folly because he can twist you up and destroy you. Have you learned yet that the devil doesn't play by any rules?

The Bible says for us not to be ignorant of the schemes and the devices of the devil. Let me cover all of his schemes. He does not play by the book. He's a dirty low-down rat and doesn't play by the book. But as we begin to use the spiritual weapons that God has given to us: prayer, the helmet of salvation, the spiritual armor, the belt of truth, the feet that shod with the gospel of peace, the sword of the spirit, the word of God, shield of faith. When we fight the battle spiritually on our knees, battling in the spiritual realm, the devil doesn't have a chance. He has no power or authority in the spiritual realm. He submits to God. The Lord doesn't save with sword or spear. The battle belongs to the Lord, and He will give us the victory as we remain in the spiritual realm.

The end result in the spirit is always David prevailed. It's always that way. And you can insert your name, friend. The end result of battling in the spirit is that you and I prevail. I don't care how big and how impossible the giant seems, how loud it screams, how defying and mockingly it may be. Be careful, because it's not the sword and the spear. It's the sling and the stone. And people will mock you. You're going to battle with a sling and a stone? Yep. You're just a kid. Yep. You need some armor. Nope. I don't need anything from the flesh because I go in the name of the Lord.

And people will watch. Even you, you're going in the name of the Lord and you're battling in the spirit against the flesh, the flesh against the spirit, the two war against each other so that we don't do the thing. You're even looking at it, going, "I don't know, you could go into battle with a sling and a stone and go, I'm not sure, I don't know. Yes, yeah, yeah! No, I don't know, I don't know. What if I'm a bad shot? I only got five. I only got five. I'm probably can run circles around him and get him dizzy, you know, or something. I don't know." You know, we get in the human realm, we even doubt the faith that God put us in in the first place. That just makes you human.

I don't think God judges you or condemns you for being human. No, according to Psalm 103, Psalm 103 says that God knows that we're just made of dust. He has compassion on us. He knows us. We condemn ourselves, and even though the Bible says there's no condemnation for us. Oh, that we would go to battle not with the sword and spear.

Well, in verse 55 it says, "Now when Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, 'Abner, whose son is this youth?' And Abner said, 'As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.' And the king said, 'Inquire whose son this young man is.' Then as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine," don't you like how the Bible calls it the slaughter? The dude cut his head off. David was a pretty crazy kid. Where did he learn that from? I don't know. But I mean, he was pretty like this he had a head in his hand of a big giant. That must have been a giant of a head. And they call it a slaughter. Little stone, big sword, it wasn't even his.

So notice it says Abner took him and brought him before Saul, the head of the Philistine in his hand. You called? Wow. I don't know, that's a pretty amazing victory. And Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, young man?" And David answered, "I'm the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite." So through Abner we'll learn a lot more about Abner and Saul coming chapters. He asks who this kid is and they bring David before him. David identifies himself, which brings us to another Bible difficulty just very quickly.

And that is, how could Saul not know who David was if he was playing music for him already? He was the one that was calming him when the distressing spirit came. You guys know in the previous studies that's how David was brought before and given presents before King Saul after his anointing. So how is that possible here? Well, there's a couple of options. Number one, it's possible that the king, being busy and preoccupied, never really took notice of the humble harp-playing kid and the musician that calmed him. He was too busy dealing with the distressing spirit and then he calmed, and he wasn't interested in who the one playing the music was. He was just interested in the result.

Or, it's possible that Saul knew exactly who David was, but after David performed this victory, the king wanted to know who his father was. And you see that in the text. It says, "Whose son are you?" And that's what he was referring to as he's bringing David and trying to figure out who is he and really who's his dad? Who's his dad? Which was actually the request and the answer in verse 58. And we already know this. Saul is known for placing the most valiant men in his bodyguard, and perhaps was looking for his dad to tell him that he wants David as one of his close confidants.

So there's a Bible answer for these types of difficulties as you come across them, jot it down because there's an answer to it. And those are a couple possibilities. Either way, we know that David was used greatly of the Lord, that he could go from playing the harp and soothing to great battles. And I think that's just really encouraging. And I think God would have us to be reminded of some of the things that He would share for us, especially be careful with the sword and the spear.

Even how talented you might be and how many victories you've had before, that's not how God saves. He doesn't save with our human abilities. He doesn't save with our human understanding. He doesn't save because we've been walking with the Lord for a certain amount. He saves with the slings and stones. Common, ordinary things that you wouldn't think would be armor for the battle. We think in battle sometimes that we're battling people, but that's not the truth. The truth is we wrestle not against flesh and blood. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, against principalities and powers. That's who we battle.

Guest (Male): What a fabulous lesson from the 17th chapter in 1 Samuel, here on Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed Taylor. A good reminder: the battle belongs to the Lord. And if you'd like to give this a second listen, just go online to aboundinggraceradio.com.

Here in the month of September, we have picked out an excellent book from our friend in the ministry, Ron Rhodes. It's The End Times in Chronological Order. You'll learn when the important end times events will happen in relation to each other, who the major players in the end times will be, and how to interpret the signs of the times. And we'll send it to you when you support Abounding Grace with a gift of $25 or more today. Reach us toll-free at 877-30-GRACE or go online to calvaryco.store.

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Come back next time when Pastor Ed will continue his study of 1 Samuel. Maybe you've heard some suggest that David and Jonathan were homosexuals. Pastor Ed will address that misconception as well as answer the question: does God approve of homosexuality? That's here on the next Abounding Grace.

This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love. That You would take my place. That You would bear my cross. You laid down Your life. That I would be set free. Oh, Jesus, I sing for all that You've done for me.

Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church Colorado, here in Aurora.