Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): Jesus and David had much in common even though they lived in a world many years apart. Here’s Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: David and Jesus. Both were sanctified by the Spirit, both were sent by the Father, both were seeking a treasure, scorned by his brothers, strengthened by his experiences, and both of them were sustained by the word of God. They quoted it, they stood upon it. They both stripped off their armor, they both were successful by faith. How are you going to be successful? How am I going to make it? It's through faith. We’ll become overcomers in this world.

Guest (Male): This is Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson. A normally adjusted person doesn’t go looking for a fight. In fact, most of us wouldn’t want to get into any kind of a fight whatsoever. Many an evil leader over the years has controlled entire countries through fear. Today, Pastor Jeff takes us to 1 Samuel chapter 17. The entire Hebrew army was frozen in fear of one Philistine giant. Yet here we find a young man who would not even be old enough to join the military, yet he stepped out to fight the most feared man in the Philistine army. Here’s Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: 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. Go ahead, take me out. I’ll haunt you. I’ll come back, man. That's faith.

In fact, over in 1 John chapter five and verse four, 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 does faith mean? Believing in God, believing God is going to fight the battle for you, that the battle is the Lord's.

That type of faith will overcome giants in your life, incredible circumstances and situations that come up and 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. 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. Realize that the weapons of your warfare are not carnal or fleshly, they are mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. This giant is nothing against God. And this giant is fighting with God. And so God is going to deliver. And as we begin to wear our spiritual armor, as David went out with his spiritual armor, as we begin to use the word of God, we’re going to experience victory.

David knew these stones were the key. Stones of faith. He used them before, he’s going to use them again. You’ve used the word and prayer before, you’ve got to continue to use these stones of faith. Again, talking about faith, the faith chapter in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 34, it says these, talking about David, quenched the fire, violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in the fight, turned to fight the armies of the aliens.

And that’s a picture of David. Not only he defies the giant for defying God, but he says, "I’m going to wipe not only you out but all of the army that's behind you." And I’m sure the army had a chuckle with that one as they watched this little puny kid coming up against Goliath and they were just waiting for this guy to wipe him out.

But the scripture says one will chase a thousand, two will put ten thousand to flight in the name of the Lord. Verse 48, and it came to pass when the Philistine arose, he just kind of had enough of what was going on. He came and he drew near to meet David. I’m sure he was hot under the collar. And David hasted and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

The giant gets up and I want you to notice he doesn’t have his shield guy going before him or he doesn’t even grab his shield. Again, we’ve been going through this in Ephesians, we need to use our shield of faith. David had his up, the giant didn’t have his up. Would have saved his life if he would have had it.

Notice David's reaction to this seemingly overwhelming circumstance as he faces this external threat, and it’s an outside threat coming into his life. He had this kind of inner confidence that caused him to just not only cope with the situation but actually enabled him to run at it, to take action towards it, to be aggressive, to be on the offense instead of the defense all the time. He just said, "Come on, man," and he just started running towards the guy. I’m sure this spooked the giant some.

When you look at Jesus again, David is a type of Jesus. Jesus set his face towards Jerusalem. He went eagerly looking towards the cross. Why? For the joy that was set before him. He knew the victory and the glory of God was in the cross and he ran towards the cross for us.

James says count it all joy, brethren, when you enter into trials. It's going to build your patience and your endurance. Paul said, "I glory in trials and tribulations." How do you handle trials and tribulations? Think about it. Just the way we look at them. Are they giants or are they just nothing? I mean, are we just praising God? Are we running at them? Are we going, "All right, man, bring it on. God’s working in my life, I'm the Lord’s, He is mine. It’s nothing. He’s going to teach me, I’m going to grow. It’s great."

Verse 49, David put his hand in his bag, took thence a stone. He slinging it and smote the Philistine in his forehead and the stone sunk into his forehead and he fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and he smote the Philistine and slew him, but there was no sword in the hand of David.

So David prevails with what? A stone and a sling. Faith in God will do it every time. A lot of people think it's foolishness, don’t they? The preaching of the cross is foolishness to them that perish, but unto us we know it’s the power of God unto salvation because we’ve been saved because someone shared with us what Jesus did for us on the cross and we received that and our whole lives were changed.

But there’s a lot of people laughing at this. And so God saves through the preaching of the cross. Remember when Joshua told his commanders and generals, "Listen, here's how we're going to take the city: toot your horns and we're all going to shout." They said, "You’ve lost it, Joshua. What are you, nuts? You don't take a city like this." Well, listen, this is what God said. And so they said okay.

So they went, and you know the story. They tooted their horns and they shouted and the whole thing fell down and they took the city. Hey listen, come on, God's ways are not our ways. They're past our finding out many times. But yet God says, "This is the way I want you to do it. Do it. Be faithful and I’ll bring forth the victory."

David's stone I believe was the first guided missile. I believe David understood that the Lord was with him in the way of he could fling that and God was going to bring it right where it needed to go. And so David is Christ, bruised the enemy’s head, didn’t he? The enemy came falling down and God nailed him right between the eyes and he went down.

As the giant lay there kind of stunned, David now look at verse 51 is going for the finishing off of this guy. Therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of the sheath thereof and slew him and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.

So the very thing, now look at this, the very thing that this giant turned against David, David now picks it up and uses it to destroy his enemy with. And isn't this exactly what Jesus did as the enemy got them to kill Jesus and the enemy was rejoicing and Jerusalem was having a great party as Jesus was dying out in the dump and there stretched out on a cross, nailed to that cross.

And yet that cross would end up defeating, utterly defeating Satan, and I am sure he was shocked because gotcha! Tricked ya, you old enemy! You thought you were going to kill the Son of God and that turned around against you and killed you, lopped your head off on Calvary. Isn't that neat how the Lord turns it around?

So Satan's plan always is to destroy, but God's plan always supersedes Satan's. And my life is a testimony to that for the enemy was seeking to destroy my life, but my God intervened. Goliath's dead, they fled, and I’m sure in total disbelief. Can you imagine his army? Goliath, he fell. Oh, he must have just tripped. Oh wait a minute, the little kid's running over, he's grabbing his sword, he’s cutting his head off! Let’s get out of here! And they just in total disbelief, they didn’t realize what was going on here. Total backfire.

Verse 52, and the men of Israel and of Judah rose and they shouted and they pursued the Philistines until thou come to the valley and to the gates of Ekron and the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way of Shaaraim, even unto Gath and unto Ekron. And the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines and they spoiled their tents.

And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent. Jesus remember, when he died on that cross, there were literally thousands upon thousands that after his death, after what he did to Satan, especially after three days he rose again from the dead, all of the heavens rejoiced and the earth rejoiced and all of us continue to rejoice and shout the victory. He triumphed over the enemy in the death of the cross. He wiped him out.

And so as these begin to rejoice and praise, the enemy is defeated. David carries Goliath's head around for a few days. Kind of gross but it’s kind of a war trophy, you know what I mean? Look at this guy! Everyone's like, "Whoa, his head's big as you, David." Probably had a wheelbarrow or something.

Verse 55, listen, look at this. And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, "Abner, whose son is this youth?" And Abner said, "As thy soul liveth, oh king, I cannot tell." And the king said, "Inquire thou whose son the stripling is." And David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine and Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand, still dragging it around.

And Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, thou young man?" And David answered, "I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite." Now, you say first of all, what is going on here? I mean it looks first of all that Saul doesn’t recognize David. Now some say that there was a lapse of time here as I was reading into this more and doing some study on it.

There was a lapse of time between chapters 16 and 17 and so because there was that lapse of time, David grew up to become a man and now he couldn't recognize him. I really personally don’t see that. David is still a ruddy little guy. Some say though that Saul the only time that he saw David was when he called for David when he was in his rage. And so when he saw David in his rage, he had memory lapse, he didn’t really recognize. And that’s how they explain where he couldn’t recognize David here.

But it looks to me as that Saul knows David here, but he wants to know his father. Now if you read it carefully, it looks like he’s trying to know who's your father. Now why would he do that? Well, I think maybe it’s because he wants to see who his new son-in-law's father was. He wanted to know his background, he wanted to know his social status, his condition, and he wanted to know and look into this man's life.

Also remember he promised whoever takes the giant out is going to have his taxes reduced, wouldn't have to pay taxes. So who is this guy so we can put him down in the books, he doesn't have to pay taxes. So that’s another way to look at it. And David comes up with, "Hey, I'm the son of Jesse." So he answers his question.

This I think is just an awesome, beautiful story which I believe is a continuing type of Jesus Christ that God has given us the victory over our enemy. And what is our enemy but sin and death that was working in our lives to destroy us? God has given us that victory through his son Jesus Christ. To allow us to be overcomers in this world, to live this type of faith that the battle is the Lord’s and that he will deliver me. To be able to experience this in our lives, in this world.

So David and Jesus. Both were sanctified by the Spirit, both were sent by the Father, both were seeking a treasure, scorned by his brothers, strengthened by his experiences, and both of them were sustained by the word of God. God's word, they quoted it, they stood upon it. They both stripped off their armor, they both were successful by faith. How are you going to be successful? How am I going to make it? It's through faith. We’ll become overcomers in this world.

And both of their victories brought glory to God. And so what is our victory for? What are we seeking victory for? To God be the glory. I’m going to tell somebody, I’m going to tell somebody what God did for me, that this is the power of my God, my God's awesome.

He changed my life. I once did this, now I do this. He has changed me to God be the glory. So seeing Jesus has stripped and defeated our enemy, it's not through my faith, it is not through my ability, my strength. It’s not through my therapist, it's not through my group meetings that any real victory is going to happen in and through my life. No way.

It’s not a thing that I’m going to do that I’m going to get the victory. It’s through Jesus' work on the cross because he now is my champion. He is my hero, my victor. David's victory here, and I want you to see this as he defeated that giant, inspired all of Israel. It encouraged them to have faith, to have courage, to be bold and aggressive against their enemy.

Before they were backing off, remember? And now they see little David go down there and do that, they all got hyped up, man. "That’s it David! Yeah! Whoa! Look at what David... we can do it! Come on!" and it encouraged everybody. Just that little step of faith. How God wants to encourage us this morning to step out against our enemy.

We need to go for it. God's saying to us, "You go for it in the name of the Lord. You stand firm in his word and you’ll watch the enemy be slain." Not that we’d seek to be like David and be giant killers, don’t go looking for any giants.

But look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Stand in what he has done. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, don’t make provision for your flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. Because I’ll tell you something about your flesh: it will reach out to man's strong arm, it will reach out to maybe this group therapy will do it, or this certain thing will do it, or this psychologist will do it, and this is my answer. Come on, it's not your answer.

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t lean towards the flesh, lean towards the Lord. Put on your whole armor. Don’t go the world’s way. If you go the world's way, you're just going to end up in defeat. And he says and if you put on the armor, you’ll be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

How are we going to withstand in our time? What are the answers to the street? What's the answers to the home today falling apart all around us? The answer's always been Jesus. The answer's always been in everyone individually repenting before God and getting right and living for the Lord. The answer's always been there. And yet they have these great committees and spend all this money to study into this and how are we going to stop the crime on the streets?

"It's got to stop now, you've got to stop. We’re going to look into it and we’re going to get a committee. We’re threatening you, stop that sin." I mean, what are they talking about? I mean, what are they going to do? Think about it. Who can do anything but Jesus Christ?

And what do we need to do? Well, we need to through the preaching of the cross, share the power of God with those that are out there. That in and through their lives being in him they’ll have the victory and that no other way. There is no other way.

And as we bind the strong man, Jesus said we’ll take the spoils. And remember what Paul said, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race. Now there's laid up a crown for me, and also to all of those that love his appearing, there's a crown for you."

But you know what? That’s in the sweet by and by, right? All right, there's a crown for me, great. What about for today? I need something for today, right now. He’s the God of today. Do you need deliverance for today? Do you need deliverance from fear, from worry, from anxiety, from guilt? Do you need deliverance from an addiction that you're locked into, from a sin that is overcoming in your life?

Because sin can be a giant. It is a giant that is causing many people to live and to die in defeat. To continue to hold it over them and eventually wipe them out. But faith in Christ will slay, I don't care how big your enemy is. It put away and continues to put away sin and death. Those are two biggies. Think about it.

When Satan was defeated there on Calvary, sin and death were defeated. Wiped out. Sin no longer has dominion in my life and death, ha! I’m going to live forever. This body’s going to check out, but I’m going to live forever because of Jesus Christ and what he did. I’m not afraid of death. Awesome. He’ll free you to continue to pursue your enemies and eventually, listen you guys, we are going to see him totally defeated and wiped out one of these days.

Guest (Male): Pastor Jeff Johnson will be back in a few moments to bring us a few closing comments on David's great victory over Goliath and how we can defeat the giants in our own lives as well. Well, if you enjoyed today's message from Pastor Jeff Johnson from the book of 1 Samuel, I'd like to remind you that you can hear it again on several different venues. First, you can go online to sounddoctrineradio.org where you can hear today's study as well as make a donation to this radio outreach. That's at sounddoctrineradio.org.

You can also listen at oneplace.com and through the Sound Doctrine Radio app. I should also mention Sound Doctrine can be heard wherever you enjoy podcasts including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. What does it take to win the battle against the giant enemies in our lives? Here's Pastor Jeff once again.

Jeff Johnson: Number one, you must first do this: you must recognize that you are a sinner and you need to confess your sin. If you confess your sin, He is faithful and just to forgive you and to wash you of all un-cleanness. Number two, you need to repent of your sin. You need to turn away from your sin and you need to turn and go God’s way.

In fact, over in Acts 3:19 it says, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." You need refreshment? Then repent of your sin. Seek the Lord. And finally, you need to receive what He has done for you.

God so loved the world that if you would believe in Him, believe what He gave, believe what He did, you should not perish but have everlasting life. And He's going to give you victory as you receive Him and let Him come into your heart. And you’re going to be able to do as David, for the battle is the Lord’s. To be able to say that and believe it and to be able to hang in there and trust in the Lord to see you through your Goliaths.

Guest (Male): We hope you’re enjoying our study of 1 Samuel and come back next time when the journey continues on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff. This program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Downey. Have a great weekend.