Saul's vision for David. But it was not David's vision for David. Not God's vision, it was borrowed armor, and borrowed armor is not for the Christian. You have to have your own suit of armor. and you can't turn it in shiny.
Here's my armor, Lord.
Well, there's no dents. There's some sweat from dodging. That doesn't count. He could not walk dressed like this kind of a king. Cannot fit.
man with armor of man over the armor of God. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1 Samuel. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically, how you can get a free copy of this teaching.
And now here's Pastor Rick in 1 Samuel 17 with this edition of Cross-Reference Radio. Right now, in the story, we are attracted to this man. This youth And all of his energy.
Now, when they said He gets the king's daughter, but David played in the king's court. Maybe he got a look at Mirab and Michelle and said, you know, they're good looking. I wouldn't mind having them. Or. The one I like.
David, you mean my father's house would be tax exempt? I like that one. Get a new chariot So David again spoke to the men. Verse 26, rereading parts of it. What shall be done for the man who kills his Philistine?
Tell me again? But David saw this as a reproach. The others don't seem they know it is. But they're not voicing it. They're not saying this is shameful.
I wish we had a champion. I'm not strong enough to face him. But David Even in his youth he sees what's going on. This is a reproach. Who is this godless man?
We say no, they wasn't godless in the technical sense. He had his idols, but they're not really gods.
So, in that sense, they're godless. That he should defy the armies of the living God. Oh. David was very sensitive to God. And it is said that Saul did not seek out Samuel.
You think maybe he would have dispatched a runner to go get Samuel. And Saul will not seek Samuel until after Samuel is dead. How messed up is that? Verse 28.
Now Eliab the oldest son heard when he spoke to the men, And Eliab's anger was aroused against David, and he said, Why did you come down here? And with whom did Have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart. But you have come down to see the battle. Oh, this is priceless.
Eliab should have just shut up. Uh Before David can fight the enemy, he's got to fight family. He meets with conflict from his own blood, How typical of life his first obstacle A type of Jesus. Who will was not received by his brothers. John's Gospel chapter seven verse five for even his brothers did not believe in him Saul the king.
He's not going to be very receptive in verse thirty-one initially. Matthew chapter 2, when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him, the opposition everywhere. And of course The giant Goliath. And Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. This is captured in this story.
Similitudes are they're everywhere. He says, For you have come down to see the battle. Yeah. What battle? There's no battle going on.
Uh you're exaggerating. Yeah. You're flattering yourself, he could have said. If he was the insolent lad that he's accused of being, well, first off, he's saying, You didn't, you know, you didn't, knowing you, David, you didn't take care of the sheep.
Well, David did. Verse 29, and David said, What have I done now? Typical younger brother to bigger brother, right? But then he says, Is it not a cause? In other words, he looks at the crowd and he says, Can I get a witness?
Had he been insolent, he would have said, Excuse me, Eliab. Did Samuel anoint you? No, no, he passed by you, didn't he? Did you jam in the king's court? No, no, not you again.
Me. If he were truly insolent, but he does none of this. He just reasons. And it's a good reason. He says there's a reason to be disturbed, Eliath.
Is there not a cause? Why should I be comfortable with this? As you've obviously become, he didn't say that. I would have messed up and said You know, as much as I could have gotten out. Then, verse thirty, he turned.
From him toward others, toward another, and said the same thing. And these people answered him, as the first ones did. And so there he's getting, he's looking away from Eliab. He is, the indignation is beginning to percolate. Come on, there's a cause here.
Isn't there? And he's excited about this. Verse thirty one.
Well, I can't question. Have you ever got excited about your faith? You old-timers, I don't mean in age, I mean who've been in Christ a long time. Do you ever get excited about the things of Christ ever anymore? Or is it just kind of old school now?
Well, not old school, but. You're so familiar with it, it doesn't move you. I would suggest to tell God just that. Lord, I need to be refreshed. Verse 31.
Now when the words which David spoke were heard. They reported them to Saul and he sent for him. David's righteous indignation propelled his word to the king because no one else was saying anything like this.
Somebody said, huh, what? He said, it just right up to the king's tent. Because they were desperate for a champion. And David alone spoke like a champion.
Now could he back it up? Or was it just, you know, religious language? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine and on and on and on?
So dares defy the armies of God?
Well, we're going to find out. I would not, being the man that I am and know that I have been, I would not like to be David's position. unless I had the same fire in my belly. Verse 32: Then David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go out and fight this Philistine.
Well, arguably, any leader would have said, you know, you don't understand. This guy's nine foot tall. He can dunk a basketball. Without bending his elbow.
However, I mean Without straightening his elbow.
Sorry. Anyway. Yeah. His confidence, David, is based on zeal alone. It seems.
But he is experienced. He's killed a lion and a bear. Saul, have you done that? Eliab? I mean, the the Syrian bear gets to be about 500 pounds.
And When he engaged these beasts, he's going to tell the story in a minute. They would have eaten him if he lost.
So he knew this going into the fight with the lion and the bear. And he took him out.
So now looking at this Philistines, I'm going to do the same thing to him.
Somebody surely was praying that God would send somebody to destroy the giant, and God is answering their prayers. After forty days, this rock slinger is what David's going to be. He's going to do just that. Verse 33. 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, Well You would expect Saul to say this, but Knowing the man, You know that he's instinctively contrary to God. Saul's instincts always go opposite God in God's name. You find people who claim to be Christians do the same thing. They tell you they talk the Christian talk, they quote the Bible, but instinctively they do not do what God wants them to do. 'Cause he's turned them over to themselves.
And he's not duct tased their mouths shut so they can say whatever they want to say to seduce people to believing them. Saul had Experience, but he didn't have faith, and that's why he couldn't use that experience today. God knew David was fit for this matchup. David did not have experience with Philistines, but he had experience and faith in killing big things. He says, For you are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.
And that's the material. Materialistic uh materialistic unbelief in in action right there. Satan is out of blowhard. is a real enemy. And he will call every bluff Into contest.
He will engage in combat. He is not timid. and he is a man of war from way back. That's the devil, and that's a picture of Goliath pictures in one hand the flesh, and another hand he pictures Satan. Is a very real enemy.
And you could say the world in other ways, also, with all of his armor and all of his confidence. And all of his arrogance, his and his disinterest in Yahweh. Verse 34, and not only was he disinterested in Yahweh, he was interested in false gods. Verse 34, but David said to Saul, Your servant used to keep his father's sheep. And when a lion or bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it, and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth, And when it arose again, I caught it by its beard and struck and killed it.
David said, I didn't take any mess from a lion. taking one of my bad sheep. I'm not taking any mess from this Philistine. Here's David. This is saying, here's my resume.
I am not green as I look. He had faced death in battle, And God delivered him. He says, I went out and struck it. He knew how to kill. He um And what he says, and deliver the lamb from its mouth.
Not only saving the lamb, but slaying the beast. Two different, they're not the same thing. He could have delivered the lamb and chased the animal off, but he slays the animal because he says, And it arose against me. The lion did not take it lying down. He got up.
And where this interesting little note here says, I caught it by its beard and struck and killed it. David's no small teen at this point. He's gone, as I mentioned, through a growth spurt, but the fact. That he mentions that it is bearded means it's not a juvenile and it's a male.
So it's a matured male lion. He's not a cub. That he's facing here. And Court, when I mentioned his size, Saul's going to try to give him his armor. If it fits Saul, for Saul to even suggest it fits David.
It has to imply that David was sizable enough. I don't like all of those little precious moment things that show David and his pants are too big and Sword is bigger than him. It's just that's sort of things on mine. Anyway, Uh verse thirty six, Your servant has killed both lion and bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them.
Seeing he has defied the armies of God, it's on. David is like, I'm not bad. I'm going to take this guy out. If you don't let me go, I'm going to sneak out and kill him in his bed. He's not being idealistic.
He's saying, I have experience. Confidence without reason is arrogance and it is folly. And that is not what is going on here. He is not stepping out into the mission field like John Mark, you know, stepped out into the mission field, found out these people eat disgusting things. And he wanted to go home and he did.
He he recovered, but There's great lessons in that. There are no shortcuts to faith. And that's part of the lesson here, too. And that the prize of achievement for the Christian is to be faithful. is to believe.
Faith moves forward in the face of defeat. It still gets up and goes to trust God because it has enough proof about God, whether it likes it or not. And Just ask the heroes of faith in chapter eleven. If faith is something easy or fun, Because all of it is built on hardship. We don't read.
And Abraham had faith because life was good. If a prosperity teacher wrote the Bible, they would say something like that, but thank God they're banned from writing anything like that in the Bible. He says this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them. This godless animal, is what he's calling him. And he says, seeing he has defiled, the fluent blasphemer is going to pay.
Big mouth. The armies of the living God have been defiled.
Well, you know, of course, that stress of A buzzword for us. It puts a buzz, you know, Revelation 19. Verse 14, and the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Followed. him on white horses, and we'll be in that number.
You won't recognize me. 'Cause I'll probably have hair and no glasses. I wonder I wonder If I live long enough to be raptured, will I get to throw a rock at somebody on the way up? You know, I mean, just to get their attention. Yeah.
Uh that's not very Christian of you, Pastor. Yeah, but it's a thought, is it not? He's like, well, okay, I'm in. I can get away with this. And then the Lord sends you back down headfirst.
On second thought, maybe you need to.
Okay, enough of that. No humor tonight. VERSE thirty seven. Moreover, David said, Yahweh, 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. Saul said to David, Go and Yahweh be with you.
Saul is just such a weasel. He said, Okay, look, I got nobody else. He said, Sure, you want to go, kid? As long as I don't have to go, fine. Uh He's just too d spiritually dense.
To appreciate what made this man say what he was saying. He didn't get the spiritual side where you kill the lion, kill the bear. What didn't register with Saul is by the hand of the Lord, I'll take him out. Because when 1 Samuel we read in the when Samuel Invited Saul to the dinner.
So the cook, 1 Samuel 9, verse 24.
So the cook Cook took up the thigh with its upper part and set it before Saul and he said. And Samuel said, Here it is. What was kept back? It was set apart for you, Eight. For until this time it has been kept for you.
Since I have said, I invited the people, so Saul ate with Samuel that day. But it doesn't say that Saul said, Why me? Why is a man of God treating me like I'm the star? But he just said fine and stopped eating. And Samuel said, We pray before we eat, for we No, we don't.
Sam already did that. You just get you just spiritually dull. Is that Saul? Not Samuel, of course.
So here is another gesture of a righteous man. It doesn't compute with him. He will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine. The just shall live by faith. Paul says that three times.
and I think each time he said it he had an another bruising bump to show for it from his persecutions. And Saul said to David, Go, and Yahweh be with you.
So let's get this straight. A shepherd, not a king, will represent the people of God on the battlefield. There's a type of Christ for us. He is a king, of course. But he is.
also the good shepherd. is both. Verse thirty eight So Saul clothed David with his armor. and he put a bronze helmet on his head, He also clothed him with a coat of mail, I know no jokes. Here's an attempt of the flesh to suit up the righteous with the suit of the flesh.
Uh the suit of the faith. Less Trying to suit up the faithful. F. B. Meyer.
who was a uh Pastor in London. Over a hundred and 100 years ago. He says Saul was eager for David to adopt his armour, though he dared not don it himself. It's true. Yeah, you wear what I can't wear.
Maybe it'll work for you, kid, but it ain't gonna work for me 'cause I'm not going out there. But David stepped away from Saul's armor. He chose to face the giant as he was. He said, this is who I am. I'm going to try to be somebody else.
Um for a little while I tried to be like Chuck Smith. It didn't work. It's not just myself. If the jokes look corny, which they never are. It's a miracle.
Uh then they have to be corny. But I'm going to be myself. And I encourage Christians in the spirit, of course, don't be your flesh. That's not the implication. But be who you are.
Develop that. Develop who you are. And you will have, I think, A better go at things. But now, if you discover you're just a mean, snot-nosed little person, then you've got a lot of work to do because that's not who Christ wants you to be. Um I think that occupies a lot of time in my prayer.
Not prayer about others who are that way, but prayer about my weak points. It doesn't take much time. I've only got one or two. Yeah. Oh Lord, I've eaten too much vanilla ice cream again, and that's my worst problem.
I wish. Anyway, he put on a bronze helmet on his head, clothed him with the coat, There again the Jewish king had a bronze helmet. And his armor contributed nothing to the victory. Verse 39. David fastened his sword to his armor, and tried to walk For he had not tested them.
And David said to Saul, I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.
So, David took them off. This doesn't work for me. I can't look at it. I can't look at it. I look like a penguin with this.
I can't do this. Saul's vision for David. But it was not David's vision for David. Not God's vision, it was borrowed armor. and borrowed armour is not for the Christian.
You have to have your own suit of armor. And you can't turn it in shiny. Here's my armor, Lord.
Well, there's no dents. There's some sweat from dodging. That doesn't count. He could not walk dressed like this kind of a king. Cannot fit man with armor of man over the armor of God.
And so many lessons here. I had to take them out. Who can remember them all? But it's just the it's after a while, it's just that you absorb the event. You I can't remember all the points.
If I sit down, I can and think about them. But when I'm going through struggles, all I want to remember is I need to be armored too. The giant has his coat of mail, and I've got my shield of faith, and breastplate of righteousness, and helmet of salvation. My feet are shod with, and on it goes. And the sword of the word.
He says, I cannot walk with these.
So David took them off. What did not work for Saul wasn't going to work for David anyway? He could have said that. Listen. Your armour all has gotten you as fear of the giant.
My armor Going to be a little different. The shepherd's garb. Verse forty. Then he took his staff in his hand, And he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And David drew near to the Philistine.
Yeah, he's drawing near to him. We're not going to get to the battle tonight. That'll be next session, hopefully. We're almost done. He took his staff in his hand.
So he's not going empty-handed. You can say, you know, the the wooden staff, Of Calvary, if you wanted to really put that kind of meaning in there, I don't think it'd be too much of a stretch. And he chose for himself five smooth stones. Side note, Goliath had four brothers. Did you So I got one for Goliath in case his brothers don't like it.
I got one for them too.
Now I don't think that was in David's thinking, but it's in my thinking. And so he goes out with his magazine loaded. And he's very serious about this. These stones. They're in the brook.
and they're made smooth by years the action of the water Smoothing them out, making them better for hurling. coming out of that sling with more accuracy. We pray, we look at that, we saw it, we say, Lord. Can you wash me smooth?
so that you can hurl me at an enemy. That's beautiful Bible language. But I will say this those who have done things for God have done so because they've had beautiful Bible language. It counts it does matter. Because God draws from these things later.
Something stands out in a sermon, something stands out in a devotional time. And you may forget about it, and then one day you're on the battlefield and the Lord pulls it out for you. And he doesn't do it just for you to ignore it. This um Five smooth stones. Why not just one?
Well, he's not overconfident, number one. Number two, there's also an armor bearer to take out. And he might miss the overconfident part, but that armor bearer is a grown man. That shield's big. He's not a little boy carrying Goliath's armor.
This is a man who was himself capable of doing some damage to David. And so he goes out ready, and you just got to love this. And he put them in the shepherd's bag. in a pouch which he had. Which way he also kept snacks?
And a little beef lamb jerky or something, and it's just interesting, it's just so natural. And the sling was in his hand. In other words, it wasn't in his holster. And he drew near the Philistine. Later, he's going to run.
Not yet. We'll get that late next session. What's at stake here? Everything. His own life.
And Israel, if David lost. And he is not uh David's not fooling around either. He said, The Giants are really big and mean. Yeah, but so is David. He might be not as big, but he's just as mean.
So here's Goliath on the other side. I'll finish with this. He's on the battle line. He did his big talk for the day. And suddenly there's a figure stepping out from the Jewish camp.
stepping out from the line. And as it emerges, he sees it someone coming out to face him.
So he's Grabs his gear and his armor bearer. And as David emerges from the ranks, Goliath heads out. And he is going to have CONTACT WITH A MAN OF GOD Contact with a man of God is imminent.
So I look at a verse like that. And I say in my life, I want to be the man of God that the enemy has contact with. I can't avoid that. I want to perform. With everything I've got.
I have a lot of righteous indignation, and I have to watch it, because it could quickly become flesh. Carnal. But That does not mean that I'm going to surrender a righteous indignation. When I hear of something that's absurd, it's absurd. And if persecution is the consequence, then persecute.
Uh but I think when we hear about the insanity that goes on about us, there should be a righteous indignation. And we should express it to people. Yeah, you like your little weird old stuff? You you know, you want to censor me? I'd like to censor you.
Yeah. Um Thanks for joining us for today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Rick is in the book of 1 Samuel. If you'd like to listen again to this or other messages or share it with someone you know, please visit crossreferenceradio.com.
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