South Shore Pentecostal Church

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Apostolic Truth Radio program with Pastor Craig Ouellette, a radio ministry of South Shore Pentecostal Church located in Whitman, Massachusetts. At a time when many Christians do not know what to believe, South Shore Pentecostal is honored to bring you clear biblical teaching on which you can confidently build your faith. Thank you for joining us.

J. Craig Ouellette: You can open your Bibles up here this morning to the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 17. We’re going to read those verses here this morning, and we’re going to talk about fighting giants. Say, “fighting giants.” Amen. Praise God.

In 1 Samuel 17, verse 34, it says, "And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God."

David said moreover, "The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said unto David, "Go, and the Lord be with thee." Then down to 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 will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.'"

Then said David to the Philistine, "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. 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. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword or spear: for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands."

We are talking about fighting giants. I think we all have an idea in our mind what that means. Usually, we're talking about something that's significantly larger than normal. When we’re talking about living beings as giants, perhaps you think about Goliath, as we just read, or you think about the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk. Greek myths like the one-eyed Cyclops was a giant, or some movie character like the Hulk.

"Giant" can have a good meaning. If you get a giant pay raise, that's good. If you accomplish a gigantic task, that's a good thing. But usually, the idea of a giant comes with some element of fear or worry because it requires some extraordinary ability or talent to deal with it, or at least we believe that's the case. Giants are a big theme in the Bible. We read in Genesis 6:4, in the days of the flood before the Ark was being built, it said there were giants in the earth.

When we read in the book of Numbers, when they go to spy out the land of Canaan, we find out that the twelve spies come back and they report there are giants in the land. Because ten of them were afraid of the giants, they brought up an evil report of the land, and people believed the report, causing them to wander in the wilderness for forty more years. We all know the story of Goliath, but if you read through other parts of the Bible, you find out that David had warriors that killed relatives of Goliath that were also giants. There are four of them listed in that passage in 2 Samuel 21.

Giants are a theme, and every one of us faces giants in our life. Most of the giants we face as Christians are spiritual in nature. There can be actual demonic forces involved in those giants. A lot of times, a situation appears to be a giant to us because of our feeling or our abilities related to the circumstance, or our view and interpretation of the situation. One thing we need to remember is the way demons work is with thoughts.

You don't necessarily always feel something evil when a demon is involved. You don't necessarily feel a spooky feeling or a strange feeling. A lot of times, it's just thoughts sent at us to undermine what we need to do or what God would like us to do. These stories and myths of old are there to let us understand that even though there are giants, there are times when giants can be overcome. Giants are able to be conquered. We have the stories to let us know. With David and Goliath, it's not a myth; it was a real historical event.

Goliath was a real being. Those giants listed in the Bible are real beings. We're going to talk about some elements required for fighting giants this morning. The story of David and Goliath reveals a number of these elements, and we'll pull all of these out of that scripture passage we read. To successfully fight giants, a person must first know who they are. Second, they must know what the Lord has said about the situation. Third, they must have their heart right with the Lord. Fourth, they must have a relationship with the Lord.

There’s a difference between having your heart right and having a relationship. You can confess your sins to God and be sincere, and your heart can be right, but you might not have a relationship with God. You have to have a relationship with God. So, for number one, we must know who we are. When we go back to that passage and we look at what David said, we’ve got to know our identity in God. When you're fighting a giant, whether it's a physical thing or a spiritual thing or a combination—and normally it is a combination—you must know who you are.

David knew he was an Israelite. He didn’t just say, “I’m just here, I live in Bethlehem. My family’s lived here for a hundred years or two hundred years.” David said, “I’m an Israelite. I’m part of the people that are here, and I’ve got a promise from God. The fact that I’m an Israelite says I’ve got a promise from God, that there is a God.” He said to Saul about Goliath, “Who is this uncircumcised person going to defy God’s armies?” What David was saying really is, “I’m circumcised.”

David knew who he was, and he had done what he needed to do in order to have the promise. Goliath was uncircumcised; he does not have the promise. I am circumcised; I’ve got the promise. They're unsaved; they don't have the promise. I'm saved; I've got the promise. Amen. They're not born again; they don't have the same promises. I'm born again; I've got promises with God. Amen. This is what we're saying.

David did not approach Goliath based on his strength or skill, but on his identity as an Israelite who belonged to the Lord. He said, “I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts.” Whose host? The host of Israel. I’m representing that God. My identity—I am one of God’s people. I belong to the Lord. Hallelujah. So I’m coming against this giant not because I’m strong, not because I’m skillful, not because I’m fast or smart, but I’m coming because of who I am. My identity says I am an Israelite; I have a promise from God.

Knowing who we are starts by obeying the gospel. That's right. Knowing who you are starts by obeying the gospel. For David, that meant being circumcised and following the law of Moses. David could say he was an Israelite because he was circumcised and being obedient to the God that called him to be there. He was following the law of Moses. For Christians, it starts by obeying Acts 2:38. That's where your obedience starts. You repent, you get baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

That is where Christian obedience starts. You do that by faith. If you believe the word of God—if you really believe God—people that say, “I have faith in God,” but don’t do what the Bible says to do, don’t really have faith in God. They might have faith in part of God or some of God, but saving faith requires me to rely upon God. Saving faith requires a person to rely upon God for their salvation. And that means you do whatever you need to do—whatever God says to be saved.

People say, “We can’t earn salvation.” Well, we’re not earning it; we’re obeying what God says to do to obtain what God has given. An example is Naaman the leper in the book of Kings. Naaman finds out that Elisha can heal him. So he goes to Elisha, and Elisha says, “Go wash yourself, dip yourself seven times in the Jordan River,” right? He doesn't want to do it. He thinks it's ridiculous. He thinks, “Why doesn't Elisha come out and raise his hand over me or say something or strike the thing or do something?” But Elisha said to go dip seven times.

Naaman goes and dips seven times, and when he's done it seven times—not five, not four, not six—seven, he comes healed, clean as a baby. Now he tries to pay for it. He brought money; he brought silver and gold. Elisha says, “No, no. You can’t buy it. Your healing is free, but you still had to do what you were told to do to obtain it.” Amen. And it’s the same way with salvation. Just like I can't buy healing—I might give an offering, but there's no price here—just like you can't buy healing, you can't buy salvation.

But just like you have to do what God says to do to obtain it, you’ve got to repent, get baptized in Jesus’ name for the remission of sins, and receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Hallelujah. So obedience is part of responding in faith. If he's Lord, how can I say he's Lord and then he says do this and I say, “Well, I don't want to,” or “I don't understand”? See, our problem is we get all caught up in democracy. It’s a kingdom. Amen. Jesus isn't operating under the Constitution; he’s operating under his word.

It’s a kingdom, and the word of the King prevails. So if the King says something—see, because we’ve been raised in a democracy, people tell us things and we say, “Well, I don’t understand, I’m not going to do it,” or “I don’t want to do it that way.” If we were raised in a kingdom and the King said, “I want you to move your house from there to there,” we moved. If the King said, “I don’t want you to do that,” we didn’t do it. If the King said, “I want you to take the day off and come over into my field,” you went over in his field.

"Well, I don't understand why I got to do it today and can't I do it tomorrow?" You do what the King says. It’s the same thing with living for God. We’ve got to come under his submission. Now, our fear is we see people that are politicians and leaders that are wrong, but the Bible shows us a God that’s never wrong. The Bible shows us a God that’s not manipulating us, not trying to hurt us. If he tells me to move my house from there to there, he’s got a good reason. He’s got a reason, and I’m included in the reason. You’re included in the reason. You have to do what God says.

In Acts 5:32, Peter and John, speaking to some of the Jewish leaders, said, “We are witnesses of these things; so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.” Now, if God gives the Holy Ghost to those that obey, in my mind it follows he’s not going to give it to those that don’t obey, right? I don't think I'm twisting it. And then Hebrews 5:9 says that Jesus is the author of our salvation. It says, “And being made perfect, he became the author,” or the captain, “of our eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”

True faith is going to have an element of obeying the word of God. When we see that there’s something in the word of God that we’re commanded to do, we’re going to want to obey that. Amen. Why? Well, I want to please God. You want to please God. We want to obey because we want to do what he asks us to do. Just like a child will obey parents because they want to please the parents and they often don’t understand why the parent is putting the rule there. But oftentimes, they will obey because they want to please the parent. Same thing with God. We will obey because we want to please God.

Again, if you don’t have a relationship with God or you really haven’t come into contact with God, what I’m saying to you sounds very strange and hard. But if you know the Lord, that he’s a good God, he’s a loving God, and he has our best interest at heart—amen. David knew who he was; we’ve got to know who we are. Why do you have to have obedience? Because I need to know that I’m saved the Bible way, not some organization’s way. I need to know that I really am saved, not somebody tells me that I’m saved. I need some Bible evidence that I’m saved, not just a feeling that I’m saved.

We’re not saved by feelings. But when something really happens to you, you’ll have a feeling about it. Amen. So I need to know that my experience lines up with something in the Bible. So I start by obeying what God says to do: repent, get baptized in Jesus’ name. Notice in Matthew 7:21—this is at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, one of the best known messages. You’ve got the Beatitudes in there: “Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of God,” and so forth and all those different things.

But as he's closing out the Sermon on the Mount, he says in verse 21, “Not everyone that saith unto me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?’ Then will I profess unto them, ‘I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.’” Now, notice these people thought—they’re surprised. They're standing before God.

They’ve been doing religious things. They’ve been doing some good things. Casting out devils is a good thing, isn’t it? Prophesying, if it's true, is a good thing, isn’t it? Doing good works is a good thing, isn’t it? But the Bible’s telling us that there’s going to be people that will be surprised when they stand before God, and God will say, “I never knew you.” I don’t know about you; I don’t want to be surprised. I do not want to stand before God and be surprised that God says, “I don't know you,” right?

They think that their works—just because they're doing all these works—indicated they were right with God. Now, if you're living right for God, God's spirit is going to motivate you to do works. But you've got to start by obeying. Now it says, he says to them, “I never knew you, you workers of iniquity.” See, what we don't understand is that word “iniquity” means lawlessness. Now, he didn’t say they’re not casting out devils. He didn’t say they’re not prophesying true things. He didn’t say they didn’t do good works. There’s no implication.

He says, “But I never knew you, you workers of iniquity.” Lawlessness. What he's saying is, you were casting out devils without authority. You were prophesying without authority. You were doing works in my name without authority to use my name. This is what he's saying. Then he says, “Depart from me, you work iniquity.” He says, “I never knew you,” even though they were using the name of God. They did not know the God whose name that they were using. Now, that seems pretty shocking. Does that shock you? I don't know, to me it's shocking.

Well, the first thing is, if I’m going to do things legally, I’ve got to obey. See, it's doing things without obeying—doing good things, prophesying, doing religious things in Jesus' name without authority.