Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: He brought us through some things and now we're waking up to the realization that, hey, could that have been the bear or the lion situation in my life to prepare me for the giants that I'm now living with?

David J: This is Real Life Radio. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I'm David J, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's Word, the Bible.

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David J: That's "Knowing God" by J.I. Packer. Get your copy for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series now called "First Samuel" and a message titled "Winning the Battles of Life, Part Four."

Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of its prophets. So here, as we continue in chapter 17, we see how God really is bigger than any giant. You see, Goliath was shouting all sorts of lies that made God's people feel weak, but David shows up believing that Goliath cannot break his confidence. David's heart trusted God more than what he saw and placed his security on remembering God's past faithfulness.

So today, Pastor Jack teaches that when a situation seems impossible, God will not forsake us, no matter how we feel. We just can't wait around until we feel strong enough. God uses our faith, our simple obedience, and what we immediately have to give. Now in his message called "Winning the Battles of Life, Part Four," here is Pastor and Bible Teacher Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth." But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep his father's sheep. And when a lion or a bear came in and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it and delivered that lamb from its mouth. And when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and struck it and killed it.

Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this—oh, I wish I could see David's face. And you could—I don't know, maybe he was really calm about it, but I kind of see David's finger just kind of go—and this uncircumcised Philistine." And he points maybe across the hill through the valley over to the other side where that big behemoth of flesh is standing there, rattling around in his armor.

David is going, "You see this uncircumcised Philistine? He will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God." Oh, that's passion for God, isn't it? That is love for God. No wonder he was the psalm writer. It's one of those things, you know, where I can talk about my mama and you can talk about your mama, but don't you ever talk about my mama. You know that thing? Guys know that thing.

Look, you can talk about your God all you want and I can talk about my God all I want. But when you talk about my God the way that Philistine had talked about David's God, listen, that Philistine was in big trouble. I want you to know that David's not out of control. His emotions aren't over-ruling. This is the divine appointment.

"For he has defied the armies of the living God." Moreover, David said, "The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and the Lord be with you." I don't want to spend more than a second or so on that last statement.

Saul has been hiding. Remember, he's the tallest guy in Israel. Remember? He's the tallest guy in Israel. He's dressed for battle, so it's only natural Goliath is saying, "Hey, send over your big boy." Well, the big boy was the king, but the king had the heart of a pea and he was scared to death. And here's this young teenager, and he says, "Hey, listen, by the power of God, I've beaten up a bear, I've beaten up a lion.

And if God gave me the ability to do that, to spare one little lamb—kind of reminds you of Jesus, doesn't it?—then step aside, King. I'll take care of this." In my gut, and I may be dead wrong, but the carnality of Saul says, "You know what? Go, and the Lord be with you." Why don't you just put a guillotine around your neck, kid, and go fall in a ditch? I mean, why don't you just go hang yourself? I mean, here, you know what, Junior? Why don't you go take a hike?

The armies of Israel are encamped and here's a shepherd kid. Jewish scholars speculate somewhere between 15 to 22 years of age, a young guy. Listen, our faith needn't be shaken. Christian, jot it down. If you don't jot it down, something is wrong with you because there's going to come a time when your faith is going to be challenged. Man's promises are no good, but I can say on the word of the Lord, it will come to us.

So number one, my friend, our faith needn't be shaken. It will be attacked, it will be hit, but it doesn't have to be shaken because of this: our very existence is in His hands right now. You know that's true right now. I know you don't feel like it, I hope you do, though, after that powerful worship. I feel like jumping over the moon right now.

I have to tell you, I didn't feel like that when I came in here tonight. Tonight was a great night to stay home. Did you know that? It was a beautiful day, wasn't it? I wanted to stay and sit out in the backyard tonight. I was determined to do that and then I figured out, "It's Wednesday night. I've got to go to church." I'm glad I came because number one, in worship, we did damage to the kingdom of darkness.

Secondly, I am reminded that my very existence is in the hands of God right now. The fun thing is, the unbeliever can be here tonight and say, "I don't care about God. He doesn't exist. I don't care, and this is a bunch of nincompoop stuff." All God has to do is grab a little tiny vessel in your heart or in your brain and go, "Eee!" And you go, "God! God! God! Come in, please! God, are you there? Are you listening? God, who I don't believe in, come in!"

He has a way of getting your attention. Your very existence is in the hand of God. What a great thing to know as a church, as believers. The Lord reminds me, "Your existence is in my hands. I'm holding you along the freeway, wherever you go, at work, I'm holding you. When you're going down the hallway at that company or when you're in that airplane or when you're working with those guys on that project or when you're doing this thing or when that boss calls you in for this situation, you are in the hand of the living God."

Christian, don't let your faith be shaken. David's faith is not shaken because he knows where his life is. "God delivered me from killing or having a bear kill me and having a lion kill me, and in turn, I killed the bear and the lion." For what? A little lamb. Don't you think maybe God would have said, "Look, the poor bear, look at the bear, he's just a bear, he's a cute little thing, let him eat a little lamb.

And it's just a little lion, I mean look, lions have to eat too, just let them eat the lamb." There was a principle. God was teaching David, listen, He's been teaching you and me since we were born that He's with us. He has a plan for our lives and He's brought us through some things. Boy, do we have some stories, don't we?

He brought us through some things and now we're waking up to the realization that, hey, could that have been the bear or the lion situation in my life to prepare me for the giants that I'm now living with? I have no doubt about that, no doubt at all. What's going on in your life? It's for a great reason. God knows about our very existence and He knows about it right now and He's holding our lives in His hands.

We learn that in verses 31 and 32. Look at verses 33 to 36. Our faith needn't be shaken because you know what? We're well taken care of. Did you know that? We're well taken care of. Saul said to David, "You are not able." Listen to this man talk. "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are just a young kid, you're a youth. You belong to the youth group.

No one's going to take you seriously. You're just a punk. And he's a man of war. In fact, he's been a man of war all the days of his life since he was a kid. This guy was so big when he was a teenager, he was beating everybody up. But you're just a shepherd boy." Verse 34, but David says to Saul, "Your servant used to keep his father's sheep." Every man that God has used to deliver His people, have you noticed, have been shepherds.

The most despised, ridiculous job in Israel. Did you know that? You say, "Jack, are you sure? Jesus was a carpenter and all that stuff." But He called Himself like our shepherd, you know? Yeah, I know that. But a shepherd in Israel is a despised occupation. David was a shepherd. In fact, you remember back in previous studies when Samuel came looking for him?

All of the sons were paraded in front of him for choosing who was to be king. And he says, "Is this it? Is this all your sons?" And he says, "No, I've got one other son, but he's a shepherd. He's out with the sheep." He's got a zero job. You can't take a zero job and make the guy into a king, you know? That's exactly what God loves to do.

The truth of the matter is, in all of these events that took place in verses 33 to 36, isn't it beautiful? David didn't complain about it. He looked back at his past and he rejoiced in it and saw God's strong hand in it. He said, "Hey, here's the deal, Saul. I don't know if you know who I am, it's not really important. I'm just a punk shepherd kid, but God has been with me for a long time. I know it."

I don't think he convinced Saul. Saul will be convinced by God later. But the truth is, Jesus, and Jesus's love for us, His love for me, I see in this passage is my strength. It's my comfort that my God would come from heaven and wage a war, as it were, in this life and put up with all the stuff that goes on in this world to die on the cross, to be risen from the dead for me.

And spiritually now, devotionally, in a meditative way, I would suggest this: hasn't Jesus, apparently from what we're learning here, hasn't His mighty hand delivered us from the paw of the bear, whatever the bear may be? I know this: He's delivered us from the jaws of the lion, for the Bible says Satan is like—you know, he's not a lion, it says he's like a lion. That means he's not, but he's like one, roaming around, seeking whom he may devour. Does that make you nervous?

It shouldn't. Make you whistle down a dark alley some night? It shouldn't. Because if that roaming lion seems to show up and go, "Rawr!" You know what? Jesus has plucked every one of the teeth and fangs right out of his mouth. He's defeated. Our Great Shepherd, He takes care of us well. You see, Jack, I don't know about that. I mean, I know it in my head, but in my heart, I don't know. I'm really going through it.

I heard someone recently say, "I'm done with Him. I've had enough of this, and I'm done with Jesus." That evokes a weird emotion, you know, because you don't know what's going on. An incredible amount of pain involved, no doubt. But when I think, "Can a person go so low and go so far down? Can a person agree with Peter and say, 'I give up, I don't even know the man'?"

Will Jesus be with him there? Boy, that's something for us to deal with right now in our hearts as believers in God. How far will God go with us? Might I remind you that Peter denied Jesus Christ to the point of cursing? And did Jesus go up to him and say, "You know, I always, always thought you being the big guy, your mouth would never stop. You're always yapping on and now look at you, you big loser.

This is exactly what I expected from you. 'Oh, follow me, I'm Peter, I'm the big guy.' And now when the chips are down, you cave in on me. You bail out on the whole thing and you're cursing the day that you ever met me"? That is not our God. I am not going to ask you to show your hand, you don't have to. Has there ever been a day in your life when you said, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?

God, if you love me, what's going on?" Well, He will not forsake you, no matter how you feel. His love for us is our strength. Isn't there just a time in your life when you just have to stop when nothing makes sense and you say, "You know what? God's my comfort"? This chair's not making me comfortable, this situation... You know, you can go check into a... what's the highest star hotel you can get into? Like, what is that? A five?

So let's say you check into a six. And you know, if your heart's not resting in the everlasting arms of Jesus, you won't sleep well. Can you imagine? I remember when we went to Russia in 1993, I think it was, and the airline was trying to get our business in the future. It was great. It was Alitalia, the airline of the Pope. It's the Pope's airline.

Italy wanted our Calvary Chapel's business, so we were the guinea pig. It was great. I remember they flew us to Madrid, us, the team, and we stayed in a room, we stayed in a hotel where presidents have stayed, and I don't know how many hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars it was a night to stay in that place. We didn't have to pay a penny. And you wake up and it's like, "Well, I don't know, I would have rather laid out $600 and slept on that instead, you know?"

No, listen, when your heart's right with God—I'm not talking about a life with no bumps, a life with no problems—we've got problems. But when you're crying out to the Lord and when you're lifting your life up unto the Lord, it's going to work because He's at work for you. Verse 37 teaches us this: our faith needn't be shaken because you know what? Our defender is greater than any enemy, and that's true right now.

Our defender is God. Jesus Christ is your defender. It says here in the 37th verse, "Moreover David said, 'The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will'—listen to him—'He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.'" We have to keep going because I have to finish this tonight, but do you know how many months could we spend on this statement here: "He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine"?

How'd he know that? Come on, church, how did he know it? How could that boy be so sure? "Why you know, Jack, it's the Bible and you know, the guy might have wrote it after it all happened and he was kind of sitting back under a tree and thought, 'Boy, you know, this would sound good 5,000 years from now.'" Nope. Teenager, what's going on in your life? "Oh, brother, I don't want to talk about it."

That's it. Jot down in your little journal that thing you don't want to talk about. Chances are, it is custom-made by God. "Oh no, not this one." Jot it down. Watch what God does through it. I don't care how ugly, I don't care how horrible, it can be absolutely even wicked and the source of it from hell. God takes that which is evil and He will turn things around and make good out of it. He'll do it.

It's the way He works. Our defender is greater than anything that you're going to encounter tomorrow. The second point to our study, verses 39 to 47. Winning the wars of life, we can be rest assured of it because we know the end. It's this: our lives have been empowered. Now look, jot it down. Our lives have been empowered. We all talk about it, but I fear sometimes we don't experience it.

Our lives have been empowered. You're going to hear and read verses 39 to 47 about the empowerment of God in David's life. This is kind of cute. It says verse 39: David fastened his—that's Saul's—sword to his armor and he tried to walk with it. Here's David, a young kid. Saul's a big guy. He puts on Saul's gear, or Saul puts it on him, somebody's putting it on David, and David's got this stuff on.

I mean, he looks like a dingdong. I mean, the nothing fits. And look at this. I love it. Because our power strength, we learn in verses 39 to 43, our power strength is not to be of the world. Watch this. He tried to put them on, he tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, "I can't walk with these, for I have not tested them."

So David took them off. Verse 40: Then he took his staff—hey, a staff, that's for sheep. That's not an M16. That's not a rocket launcher. That's not a Katyusha. A staff! He took it in his hand and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook—I've told you we've been there, the brook is there, it's very cool, you've got to sign up and go when we go to Israel next—they're there. I don't know how they keep getting them there, but they're there. And he put them in his shepherd's bag—hey, that's a sheep thing again.

David J: Pastor and Bible Teacher Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio, with his message called "Winning the Battles of Life, Part Four." You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called "First Samuel." It's a series that highlights the prophet Samuel, who was called by God during one of Israel's darkest times to bring the people back to a heart of true worship. And we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

Did you know there's an easy way to stay informed on the latest biblical events shaping our world today? Check out the "Happening Now" section at jackhibbs.com. Now, these live events feature Pastor Jack Hibbs alongside special guests, diving into current events, cultural shifts, and how they align with biblical prophecy. It's a unique blend of Bible teaching and real-time analysis that helps you make sense of today's headlines through the lens of scripture.

Happening Now is not just about information; it's about equipping you with the truth and encouraging you to stand firm in your faith, no matter what's happening around you. Now, these discussions are eye-opening, they're thought-provoking, and they're a great way to stay spiritually grounded in a rapidly changing world. Whether you watch live or catch up on past events, Happening Now will help keep you connected to God's word and what's going on in the world today. Visit jackhibbs.com and click on "Happening Now." Don't just watch the news; understand it from a biblical perspective.

This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com, that's jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We'll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.