Love Worth Finding

Guest (Male): How can we live like kings and queens in victory? Listen to Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: Not only did the Lord Jesus win the battle against our arch-enemy, the devil, but he gave us an example that we should walk in his steps. As Jesus fought that battle so long ago, there is a continuing battle. In a sense, it is already won, and yet in a sense, it needs to be fought day by day.

We don't fight for victory; we fight from victory. But we fight anyway. The victory has been won at Calvary, and that is the reason that we can win it day by day, practically, right now.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring profound truth simply stated by pastor and author, Adrian Rogers. The story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 teaches us how to deal with the problems in our lives. Some of us live in quiet desperation, intimidated by our giants, but God's plan for his children is to live like kings and queens in victory.

If you have your Bible, turn to 1 Samuel chapter 17 as we learn more about our vicious enemy and our vicarious encounter with him in Scripture. Once again, here is Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: I want you to find 1 Samuel chapter 17, please. We all have some giant-sized problems, some king-sized problems, some ugly and some cruel giants that have threatened us and threatened our loved ones. Goliath-like problems. Many people who are listening to me tonight are living lives of quiet desperation because of some problem in their lives: giants of temptation, giants of fear, giants of jealousy, giants of covetousness, discouragement, heartbreak, or financial reverse.

Problems, real problems—that is what we are talking about. God's plan for his people is victory always and in every circumstance. Thanks be to God who causes us always to triumph in Christ Jesus. In all these things, we are more than conquerors, super-conquerors, through him that loved us. So, dear friend, just as David defeated Goliath so long ago, you should have, can have, and, bless God, will have wonderful, wonderful victory.

Let's begin reading chapter 17, verse 3: "And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, and there was a valley between them. And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of his coat was five thousand shekels of brass.

And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him. And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, 'Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.

If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.' And the Philistine said, 'I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.'"

Now since nursery school and since your early days in Sunday school, you know the story of David and Goliath. David is now just a youngster. He is just a boy. He hadn't even started to shave yet. The Bible says later on in this chapter he was ruddy and of a fair countenance. I take that to mean he had a little peach fuzz on his chin—just a strapping teenage boy.

His brothers had gone off to battle. It seemed like the perpetual enemies of Israel were the Philistines. David, like any red-blooded boy, wanted to see that battle. He had to stay home to take care of the sheep, but David's daddy said the boys need something to eat and they need some home cooking, and he sent David as a messenger there to carry food and provisions to his brothers.

He was all excited, as any red-blooded person would be, I suppose, wanting to get out there where the action was, especially as a boy, expecting to see a fight. When he got out there, there was no fight at all—just a shouting match, and even the other side was doing most of the shouting.

He looked over there across the valley, and there was the biggest man that he had ever seen. His height was somewhere between nine feet and eleven feet in height. Some people say he was almost ten feet tall; some say he was over eleven. I know today the NBA would like to have this man. He was big. He was the Incredible Hulk of his day.

He was the original Bigfoot. He was big, real big. And he is over there cursing and swearing and defying the armies of Israel. He is saying, in effect, "You cowards, you weaklings, you miserable people, send somebody over here to fight me. Just one man. Winner take all. If he defeats me, we will lay down our arms and surrender. But if I take him, the battle is ours. Winner take all."

David wondered why doesn't somebody go over there and put that guy to sleep. No one was going. Not even big King Saul. No one was going. You see, they were looking at the thing from a human perspective. As they looked at the situation and they saw Goliath over there, they were terrified. Their basic thought was, when they looked at this giant, they thought, "Oh, we can't go. Look how much bigger he is than we are."

But David looked at him, and do you know what David thought? David said, "Look how much smaller he is than God is." And so David decided he would go. Armed in the power of Almighty God, David with that sling and with those five smooth stones went out and won the victory, killed Goliath, and cut his head off with Goliath's own sword.

Now, you know that story. There are three things I see as I look at this passage. Of course, there are many other things. But one thing I see is a vicious enemy: Goliath. The second thing I see is a vicarious encounter: the battle was fought by one on behalf of them all. And the third thing I see is a victorious example: something that I can use in my own life.

See if you see those three things with me today as we think first of all about a vicious enemy. I believe that Goliath of Gath is an Old Testament picture, a symbol, an illustration of Satan himself. Let me tell you why I believe that. First of all, look at his measure, beginning in verse 4.

"And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of his coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass upon his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him."

Have you ever noticed the use of the number six there? He is six cubits and a span high. In verses 5 and 6, he has six pieces of armor. His spearhead weighs, in verse 7, six hundred shekels. Now, you know that in the Bible, the devil's superman, of which in a sense Goliath could picture, is what? Six, six, six. I see his measure.

Here he is described in these terms. But not only his measure, I see his might. Look again in verse 4: "There went out a champion." This speaks of his power. He was a superman, a mighty man, a powerful person. And again, this reminds me of the power of the enemy. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.

Not only do I see his measure and I see his might, I see his manner. Look, if you will, in verse 10 of this chapter: "And the Philistine said, 'I defy the armies of Israel this day.'" How arrogant he was. How defiant he was. How rebellious he was against the things of God.

And what fear he was causing. Satan today, like Goliath of old, is making more noise than perhaps ever before, and saints are folding up when they ought to be standing up because of the arrogance of our enemy. I see his measure, I see his might, I see his manner, and I see his motive.

What was his motive? To destroy the work of God. Look at it again in verse 10. The Bible says, "I defy the armies of Israel this day." That is, "I am against the people of God, and the things of God, and the work of God," as the devil has always been. He was a very sinister enemy.

Look in verse 16, if you will. In verse 16, the Bible says, "And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days." Do you know what forty is in the Bible? Forty is the number of testing. Moses was in the wilderness for forty years. Israel wandered through the wilderness for forty years. Christ was tempted of the devil or fasted forty days in the wilderness and was tempted.

Forty in the Bible is the number of testing, the number of temptation, of trial. And here is Goliath, who pictures the devil, our enemy, who is testing, trying, sifting, fighting the people of God. And so the first thing I see is a vicious enemy.

The second thing I see is a vicarious encounter. I want you to notice how the battle lines were drawn that day. Look, if you will, in verse 8: "And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, 'Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul?'" Now notice this: "choose you a man for you." Not a group of men, just a man. One man. "Choose a man for you, and let him come down to me."

And in verse 10: "Give me a man, that we may fight together." One man was to fight for all. Not only, therefore, do I believe that Goliath of Gath is a picture of Satan, but I believe that David is a picture of our Savior. I believe here we have a prefiguring of the Lord Jesus Christ, who fought for us, a vicarious encounter with Satan himself.

Vicarious means in our place—one standing in the place of another. Here, David stood for them all that day, just as the Lord Jesus went to bloody Calvary and stood for me and stood for you on that day. A vicarious encounter.

Let me tell you why I believe that David pictures the Lord Jesus. He pictures the Lord Jesus so much in the Bible that sometimes in the Bible, Jesus is called David. Did you know that? And the Bible calls Jesus "my servant David," because David is so much like in many ways his greater son, the Lord Jesus.

Let me show you what I'm talking about. This young boy who went out to fight Goliath was the sanctified one. Go back to 1 Samuel chapter 16 now and look, if you will, in verse 13. You see, something had happened to this young man. He had been anointed to be the king of Israel. He was just a lad, but you remember the story when the prophet Samuel was to come and anoint David as king.

Saul was the king, but he wasn't the king that God had really wanted. "Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him," David, "in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward." David was anointed with oil, symbolizing the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit came upon him and set him aside. And he wasn't an ordinary man.

He was like our Lord, a sanctified man, though our Lord was sanctified in such a greater way than even David. But not only was he the sanctified one, look, if you will, here in this 17th chapter and you're going to find out that he was the sent one. Look in chapter 17, verse 17: "And Jesse said unto David his son, 'Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren.'"

Sent by the father with bread for the brethren. That's Jesus—sent by the father with bread for his brethren. "I am the bread of life," says the Lord Jesus. Jesus is pictured here, I think, perhaps in a shadow, perhaps only faintly. But I think as I look at these sacred pages that every one of us, every time and every place we look, ought to find Jesus somewhere standing in the shadows.

I believe the whole Bible, somehow, some way, is about the Lord Jesus. And I'd rather see him too much in the Bible than see him too little in the Bible. I want to tell you David was that sanctified one. David was that sent one. David was that scorned one. Look, if you will, in verse 28. What happened when David got there? Did they receive him with love and gladness?

"And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, 'Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.'"

Now, I want you to notice the scorn with which his brother treated him when he came that day. He wasn't received lovingly and kindly. Continue to read: "And David said, 'What have I now done? Is there not a cause?' And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner."

What does that mean? It means that when young David came with a cause, with a mission, for the father and for the glory of God, he was scorned. He was ridiculed. He was looked down upon, because the Lord Jesus is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

Young David, the sanctified one. Young David, the sent one. Young David, the scorned one. But young David, the saving one. It was David that fought the battle that day. It was David that went against Goliath of Gath. And it was David that single-handedly won a battle. And that battle, ladies and gentlemen, was a battle for all of them. One man vicariously fought and won the battle for them all there that day.

So that is the second thing I see. First of all, a vicious enemy. Secondly, a vicarious encounter. Thirdly, a victorious example. Because not only did the Lord Jesus, when he was here in the days of his flesh, win the battle against our arch-enemy, the devil, but he gave us an example that we should walk in his steps.

As Jesus fought that battle so long ago, there is a continuing battle. In a sense, it is already won, and yet in a sense, it needs to be fought day by day. You say that sounds like confusion. Well, we don't fight for victory; we fight from victory. But we fight anyway. The victory has been won at Calvary, and that is the reason that we can win it day by day, practically, right now.

Now, I want you just to imagine the giant in your life. Is it lust? Is it envy? Is it materialism? Is it laziness? Is it fear? Is it greed? Is it hatred? Is it doubt? What is it? What is it that stands between you and God's will for your life? And the joy and the victory that God wants you to have? There is victory in Jesus, and there is a victorious example in this story so that you can live like a king.

Are you ready? The three principles that are here. First of all, there is a principle of persistence. Any battle is going to be won by those who are persistent. I want you to look, if you will, in verse 32 of this chapter: "And David said to Saul, 'Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.'"

David purposed in his heart he would do it. And when he purposed in his heart, he was not deterred by anything. There was the dismay of others. Others were frightened. Look, if you will, in verse 11: "When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid."

And look, if you will, in verse 24: "And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid." Now, you know fear is infectious. But David wasn't daunted by their fear. You see, in your battle, you're going to find that you're surrounded by a bunch of cowards, a bunch of weak-kneed people, a bunch of people who feel that it really cannot be done.

And if you're not careful, their fear is going to infect you. And the marvelous thing about David is this: that he was persistent in the face of the dismay of others. The fear of man made Saul a coward. The fear of God made David a hero.

Guest (Male): The fact that David feared God over man made him heroic. What an insightful example of the power of God working through us. We'll hear the conclusion of this message coming up tomorrow. Now, do you have a prayer request that you would like to share with us? You know, at Love Worth Finding, one of our greatest honors is to come alongside you and pray with you and for you.

If you can, go to our website: lwf.org/radio and scroll down and find our prayer wall. This resource is one of our favorite ways to keep the ministry and the community praying continually for one another. We can't wait to hear from you. Again, go to lwf.org/radio and scroll down to find our prayer wall.

Cary Vaughn: Hi, this is Cary Vaughn, and this program has been brought to you by Love Worth Finding, a non-profit ministry showcasing the powerful preaching and teaching of pastor Adrian Rogers. We operate solely through the generous gifts of individual supporters just like you.

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