Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): What's the key to success in the battles we face in today's world? Pastor Jeff says it all depends on who you have fighting those battles.

Jeff Johnson: He's praying for me. He's on my side. Again, me and God, we're a majority. I got a right-on relationship with my right-on redeemer. We go up against many things throughout the days and the years together. And yet, I watch my God give me the victory. He is for me.

Guest (Male): Welcome to today's edition of Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson. There are a lot of great stories in the Bible that we tell our kids. There is one, however, that I think young boys love more than almost any other: the story of David and Goliath. Here you have a little teenage kid named David who went to the battlefront, choosing only to carry his favorite slingshot and some rocks. He defeated a giant of a man trained for war. God truly shows himself as sovereign in this amazing encounter. Here’s Pastor Jeff with all the details from 1 Samuel chapter 17.

Jeff Johnson: 1 Samuel chapter 17. This morning, we're going to be talking about the battle is the Lord's. Remember last week, we looked at two individuals, Saul and David, and we looked at both of their responses to stress, their reaction to circumstance in their lives, to pressure. It really revealed to us the difference between victory and defeat in our own lives. It's how we react. It's what we do with circumstances that makes all the difference in the world. So they are written down here for our learning, to help us.

David, of course, who is a type of Jesus Christ—and we're going to be looking at that this morning through 1 Samuel 17, very much so a type of Jesus Christ—has his past experiences, which many say that past experiences strengthen us for tomorrow's challenges. What we go through is not for no reason at all, but to comfort those in the same comfort we were comforted with. And so we go through things to be strengthened for what is future.

So David is no different, and these experiences caused him not to fear in the face of the enemy and to have the right perspective which we need. Now, when you look at Jesus, you see the same thing because after his victory in the wilderness against Satan, he went steadfast right to the cross. He said, “Okay, bring on the cross.” And he went right to it. Through his experiences, he went on to get greater victory.

Now, David realized that this giant, who kind of is a type of Satan—see, if the giant is the type of Satan, then David is a type of Christ—this giant is coming against the living God. And he, David, said, “He would deliver me out of his hand.” And he had confidence in that. Saul was feeling very guilty, and remember, he gave David his armor, a type of the armor of the flesh. He put Saul's armor on David. Of course, it's a type of this world, the things of this world, how we would lean towards the reasoning, the philosophy of this world to deal with issues today, to deal with the issues in our streets today, to deal with the issues in our homes today.

Just trusting in what man says instead of what the Lord says. But David, we know, put off these things. He knew it wasn't by my power, by my might. I'm not going to go against this guy with the armor of this world. It's by the Spirit of the Lord this guy's coming down. And he realized that. And he chose what he knew, and he took the stones. See, God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. So he took these little stones, picked them up, which is a type of the hand of God.

Now, again looking at Jesus, he also took off and stripped himself of his glory, didn't he? He humbled himself and became a man. He became in human flesh, God with us. He took off the godly powers that he had, and he depended totally upon God when he was here. In fact, over in Philippians, there's a beautiful scripture in Philippians 2. It says in verse 6, “who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

And so Jesus, as David stripped off the armor, Jesus pulled off those godly powers. And so we find ourselves in 1 Samuel chapter 17 and the last part of verse 40, and it says that David now drew near to this Philistine. David here is also a type of Christ because number one, he was, we know, born in Bethlehem. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. And secondly, he was sent from his father's house to go to his brethren to bring them gifts. Isn't that a picture of Jesus? Sent from his father to come to us to give gifts unto men.

So now, after many days of humiliation—I mean, this giant was totally arrogant. He defied the armies of Israel. He cursed at them. He challenged them over and over again. God now, through David, will reveal to us how to not only cope with what you're going through, but also have victory through your circumstance, through what the enemy is trying to do to you in your personal life. I mean, this is the ingredients right here. This is, if you will, the formula. There's really no formula; it's simply trust in the Lord. Have faith in God. Stand firm. Put on the armor. There are many different ways that we can stand and fight the fight, but not us doing the fighting.

It's so beautifully laid out here. Verse 41 now, we go on. “And the Philistine came and drew near unto David; and the man that bore the shield went before him. And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.” The giant here is humiliated, to say the least. He comes out there with all his gear on, speaking in a deep voice, challenging Israel. And he says, “Bring out your champion.” And this little boy runs out. And he comes running on the field towards him.

Goliath can't understand it. There's no glory in killing a youth. But again, I want to refer to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 where it says in verse 28, “and the base things of the world God has chosen, and the things which are despised, God has chosen, yea, the things that are not to bring to naught the things that are.” Why? So no flesh would glory in his presence. And so God loves to do it this way. He always does it this way. This is God's way to reveal his power, to reveal himself. He uses the foolish, the weak.

Verse 43: “And the Philistine said unto David, ‘Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, ‘Come to me, and I'll give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.’” The reason he says, “Am I a dog?” is because David comes running out with a staff and that's all he saw that David had was a staff. He said, “You're going to beat me like a dog? So you're bringing your staff? Am I a dog?” This is the lowest of all the animals during that time. His pride was crushed.

He says, “You're coming out against me with a staff, a shepherd's staff?” And he began to curse and threaten David. He tried to intimidate him. He gave him a very vivid picture of what he's going to do to him, didn't he? “Feed your flesh to the birds.” Now, as I was thinking about this, I thought of also how Jesus said to us in Matthew 10, because there comes a time where man does come against those that are living for the Lord.

And Jesus said in Matthew 10, “But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; and ye shall be brought before their governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour whereas ye speak.”

So the Lord's just saying, don't worry about it. They're going to come against you. But when they do, don't worry about what you're going to say. I'll give you the words to blow their minds. I'll give you the words to nail them when they come against you. And then I thought also of Acts chapter 4. We remember how they were threatened, it says, with their very lives. I believe they were threatened. And then they ran to their own fellowship to tell them what had happened, and then they began to cry out to God.

They said, “God, you're the creator of the heavens, the earth, the seas, and all that dwells therein.” They had a great perspective and concept of God. And they said, “You're able to deliver us. Give us boldness so we can go out and do it again.” And yes, we will be threatened. Yes, people will come down and against us because we're serving the Lord. But we cannot let the enemy scare us into turning and running. We must stand in his power and his might and to ask him for boldness.

David had boldness here. You're going to see it in a minute. The Lord gave him what he needed to face this situation. He will give it to you as you ask him. They asked for boldness; what did God give them? Boldness. I mean, that's a prayer that God will answer. Notice verse 45. “Then said David to the Philistine, ‘Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield.’” And he's got that little voice of a kid. “‘But I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.’”

David's response is a classic response. Again, he had the right perspective as he looked at the situation. “You come to me with man's best, with the strong arm of man. But let me tell you this: I come to you in his name.” And when he says in his name, he's talking about God's reputation. “I stand behind the name of Jehovah, his reputation, the strength of the Lord.” He is a well-known God of awesome power, and I stand in his power against you.

I love it when over in Exodus chapter 15, verse 3, it says, “The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.” And so Moses really squared Pharaoh away, who he's coming up against. He's a man of war, man. You don't want to mess with the Lord. Then David says, “You were guilty of blasphemy. You come out not against me; you've come out against God. For you defied the armies of Israel. And in defying the armies of Israel, you've defied God. You're against him. So your fight is with God, you poor giant.”

Verse 46: “‘This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.’” David's just going on, and look at David's confidence in his God here. It's just incredible. “Today,” he says, “this is what the Lord through me is going to do to you.”

Now, do you think he was afraid of this giant? I don't. I don't think this giant even stood out there, and he knew. Look at the confidence he had. Look at the stance he had. It was in his God and how great his God was against this puny little nine-foot, maybe eleven-foot giant. And he hadn't a chance. “You say you're going to feed me to the birds,” David says, “but I'm not only going to feed you to the birds, I'm going to feed your whole army to the birds. And then on top of that, I'm going to cut your head off.”

I mean, look at this giant. He's looking at a little kid telling him all this. You don't think his juices were going? And what was the reason why he said this? He says, “So that the whole world will know that our God is awesome.” This is for God's glory. You're going down, giant. And this is going to show the whole world that God is an awesome God, that he is with us, that he is for us. And that's very important, isn't it? That we know that and that we stand in that knowledge. We need to know that.

Over in Romans chapter 8, Paul makes it very clear to the Romans just what God's thoughts is towards us. In Romans 8 and verse 31, it says, “If God be for us, then who can be against us?” If God is on your side, then you've got it made. You're the winner. We need to know this, though. I mean, we need to hear this. I need to know that I'm saved, that I'm on God's side, that he loves me, that he's for me, that he's faithful, and that he's going to fight for me.

It's really not “who am I?” It's “whose am I?” that I should fear. Think about it. Whose I am. I am the Lord's and he is mine. I am my beloved's and he is mine. We are one. You talk about a strong majority, huh? Me and the Lord are the majority. God's not out to catch me in a sin, and here's the picture that so many of us get caught in so many times, that God's up there and he's waiting for me to sin so he can whale on me, so he can punish me, so he can condemn me.

The weird concepts that we get, and they're lies. They're from the enemy. They're twisted of a very loving God in the scriptures, a very patient God, a very good God all the way through. His compassion is in the Old Testament as well as the New. He is a God of love, and he cares for us, and he is for us. His grace is for me, his mercy is on me. My God is on my side.

When you look at your relationship with your child—and the other day I was trying to get my granddaughter to walk. And she's almost ready to take her first step, and this is exciting, right? So you're ready and you're handing her back and forth and she's taking a step. And I was just showing off how she's going to do it. And she tries to take the step and whap, she goes onto the ground. Now, I don't go to her and say, “Gosh, you idiot! What are you doing falling down? Get up!” and just spank her or whatever and bawl her out.

I don't do that, and nobody would to a little thing like that. No, I encourage her. I get her up again. “You can do it, you can do it!” and just keep getting her to take that first step. And she falls, and she falls, and she falls. But I'm going to encourage her. The same way it is with God with us. He is for me. Look at Romans 8, verse 32. In the end part of the verse, he says, “He delivered up his Son, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”

Verse 33: “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies.” God is the one that has blessed me with the knowledge that he has forgiven me of all my sins. He doesn't count up my sins. He doesn't keep a list of all that I've done in the flesh and how I've blown it. He washes that away from me. He forgives me. Blessed is the man who knows this. He's not seeking to punish me, but to forgive me.

Look at verse 34. He says, “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for me.” He's praying for me. He's on my side. Again, me and God, we're a majority. I got a right-on relationship with my right-on redeemer. We go up against many things throughout the days and the years together. And yet, I watch my God give me the victory. He is for me. And look at verse 37. “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

So I'm going to win. To God be the glory, for he will deliver me and he will fight for me. This is the knowledge that David had when he went up against Goliath, that my God is faithful and he's going to bring you down. Back to our story, verse 47: “‘And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands.’”

And so the reason why that God is going to do all of this is so that Israel and others will know, everybody will know, they will learn that God doesn't deliver by man's ways, by the world's ways, but he supernaturally delivers. And the key in living in these days, these tough times that we're living in—and we are living in tough times—and the real key to continue to live in these dangerous days is to continue to look to the Lord.

The New Testament saints knew it so well. Let me read you a portion of 2 Corinthians chapter 4. At the end of the chapter he says, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” In other words, all things are working for the good. And we look not at the things which are seen because they were ugly, they were terrible.

What they were going through in the early church was great persecution. There was blood everywhere. People were losing their jobs, losing their homes, losing their lives, and it's happening today. So we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen: for the things that are seen, they're temporal, they're going to be removed; but the things that are not seen are eternal, they're going to continue on for. There's the key. Keep your eyes on the Lord, on his word, on his truths. Don't get bogged down with this place. Don't let it get to you. Stay in the truth, and the truth will set you free from the oppression and depression of our age that we're in.

If we try in ourselves, if we try to go our way, there's going to be frustration, there's going to be defeat. We will worry. We will have fear. And some of you today, as you're sitting there, you have been going through this last week with fear, frustration, and worry about what is going on around you. But it's his battle. You see David's faith? It's not mine; it's his battle. He's going before me to fight this warfare. Remember when Jesus said, “You destroy this body, and in three days I'll raise it back up again”? Now, that's faith, huh? “Go ahead, take me out. I'll come back, man.” That's faith.

In fact, over in 1 John chapter 5 and verse 4, it says, “For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” Faith is so important, isn't it? What is faith mean? Believing in God, believing God is going to fight the battle for you, that the battle is the Lord's. That's faith. That type of faith will overcome giants in your life, incredible circumstances and situations that come up, look like they're going to devour you, but you will see God devour them because of your faith.

We've got to be careful not to allow the enemy to get us into the flesh arena because he's always going to try to lure us into that arena, to put on Saul's armor, to put on the reasoning and the ways of the world. I mean, if you do, he is going to nail you. He's going to wipe you out every single time. He'll punch your lights out because he's good at doing it. He likes to lure you into the flesh, get you trusting in something of this world, and he'll just nail you every single time. Just don't do it.

Guest (Male): That's the bottom line. When it comes to letting Satan lure us into succumbing to the pressures of the world, just don't do it. This is Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson. You just heard his study from 1 Samuel 17. We pray you've been blessed by what you've heard today. 1 Samuel is filled with practical insights for Christian living. And if you'd like to hear this study again, go to sounddoctrineradio.org or listen through the Sound Doctrine podcast app.

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