Contrast to Saul. David had no intention of taking Goliath alive. like Saul did with Agag. Another contrast. I mean, we just learned these lessons.
We say, okay, don't be like Saul. Try to be more like David. Certainly not in the sinful areas, but in the courageous areas of the scripture. You're absolutely. His sole objective was to destroy the enemy.
It was a matter of survival. Objective has been satisfied. 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. Today, Pastor Rick concludes his teaching through 1 Samuel chapter 17 on this edition of Cross-Reference Radio. Abraham happily went along with it. But it caused years of grief when Ishmael came into the picture. Abraham had to send him out.
And of course, Ishmael did not turn into some great Figure to model your life after. I mean, you couldn't picture Isaac saying, be like Uncle Ishmael to his son Jacob.
Well, Jacob had enough power and enough time being like anybody. And then Esau, who identified with Ishmael. They were both manly men, but who would want to say his hand was against every man and every man's hand was against him? That was Ishmael. I don't want to be that abrasive individual that's just cantankerous.
I do anyway, verse 18.
So it was when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
Well, the next person that the Philistine will meet will be his Maker. David's running to meet Goliath. Goliath doesn't know that he's on course to meet his Maker in just a few seconds now.
So David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. I covered this before, but there are two instances that we see in the scripture that depict God running. Does God ever run? Twice in Scripture we see him run. and in neither one is he running away.
is the picture of David the son of Jesse running to kill the giant. The enemy of God's people. And then there is the parable of the prodigal son and the father running to receive a child. How many. Heartbroken prayers did that Father utter.
and have to wait for the day. when his smelly son comes home. At the end of himself, in rags, but humble, genuinely humble. He genuinely saw himself. That's what humility is.
Humility is not. you know, self-hatred. Self hatred's such a waste of time, such a tool of the devil. Yeah, we get frustrated by what we're not. That's not grounds enough to halt.
You have to find out what you are and develop that. And so if um You know, if you can throw a fastball 105 miles an hour, you pretty much have to lead on what direction you should go in in life. And it's not throwing peanuts at the stadium. Uh and you know these baseball Examples, they're not working on this generation well. And we've got to figure out a way to do that, Lord.
We know God is a baseball fan. The Bible starts out in the big inning. There we go. All right. David is the aggressor here.
He's running toward the giant. He's eager for the fight. It has to happen. There's no half heartedness. It's like, well, maybe I'll try to do this to him.
He's just running straight at him. He's got the energy. He's got the momentum. Goliath doesn't know what's happening. He thinks he does.
He's got his armor on. He's got his shield on. He's got his little helmet on, his big helmet on his big head. David would later write, For by you I can run against a troop. By my God, I can leap over a wall.
There's that surge. And Maybe that's how he delivered the lambs from the lion and the bear. How different? was David from all the army in Saul. Again, chapter 17, verse 24.
And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. And David is, everybody's running from the giant. David's running to the giant. And Again 1 Samuel 17, 35. Talking about the bear and the lion, and I went after it and struck it.
You see the aggression? And I delivered the lamb from its mouth. and when it arose against me I caught it by its beard and I struck and killed it. But again, his coming struggle with Saul will be nothing like this, and it will be from one of his. Own Kin.
From the line of Jacob. This giant will be nothing compared to what he's going to face in Saul. Vicious. Evil Stupid person. can hound a life senselessly Verse forty nine.
And David put his hand in his bag, and took out a stone, And he slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead and he fell on his face to the earth. The pinging noise of that rock hitting the head was so loud it knocked over half the front line. No, it did not. That would be goofy. It's cartoonish.
But apparently he's still running and he's reaching in his bag. And he's loading up his sling as he's running. I mean, that's how the story reads. And he slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. There you have it.
You've heard of Achilles' heel Well, there's Goliath's head The weak spot. And the helmet of salvation. is not for the unsaved.
So the stone sank into his forehead, And he fell on his face to the earth. It was embedded. What's happening on both sides? Shock and awe. Shock and awe on both sides in front of all those witnesses.
I mean, I would love to have had just a camera shot of the faces of the people on both sides. The sock! I mean, you couldn't fake that kind of a look. Just silence. There's thousands of people here watching this on live, you know, live Elaw Valley.
Verse fifty. David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him, but there was no sword in the hand of David.
So he's got to fulfill this prophecy from verse 46. I'm going to chop your head off. Temporary minor setback. Whenever a sword is in David's hand, there's trouble for the enemy. Verse 51 Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine.
took his sword, and drew it out of its sheath and killed him. and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, They fled. I bet they did. as fast as their little sandals could carry them.
Again, these are mean people. Don't feel sorry for them. These are vicious people. Ready to enslave the Jews. And the treatment of the women and the children in the Philistine camp was not something that you'd want to model.
But again Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine. Here he's running again. He's on the move. He drops him from a distance with the sling. He closes the gap.
He gets up on him. He's in haste. He wastes no time to finish the job. What lessons? He's just flying off the page.
While the onlookers are soaking it all in with their eyes, some historian, somebody who wrote it down, was an eyewitness and they saw it and it stood out. It kept replaying in their head. I mean, he just flung that stone, he was on him. And he just got right to work, took the sword out of his head, giant sword, lifted that thing, stabbed him, chopped his head off.
Well, Goliath might recover and David knew it. Or his his buddies might recover their you know, his comrades might overcome their stupefied amazement and come after him. And so without hesitation and with a stroke, He removed the head of the giant, As promised, a promise is a promise. Contrast to Saul David had no intention of taking Goliath alive. like Saul did with Hagag.
Another contrast. I mean, we just learned these lessons. We say, okay, don't be like Saul. Try to be more like David. Certainly, not in the sinful areas, but in the courageous areas of the scripture.
You're absolutely. His sole objective was to destroy the enemy. It was a matter of survival. Objective has been satisfied. In verse 52, now we start getting to the aftermath.
What happened? Then what happened, Grandpa? As you're telling the story, you know.
Now the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance of the valley of the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell along the road, of Shea Raim even as far as Gath and Ekron, This is sort of like, you know, the the the highway of death in the Gulf War when the Iraqi army was leaving Kuwait. With loot having pillaged and molested and mutilated, these men were savages. They were not an a a decent army in retreat. They were monsters.
And Of course the Militaries saw to it that they would not live to fight another day. And that is what is going on here. Had Israel not won these battles like this, the Philistines were in enough trouble. Had they not won these battles, it would have all been worse. This will not decimate the Philistine army because they're going to live to destroy.
Uh Saul and his family His sons But David will ultimately subdue him. But here, the operative thought from verse 52 is finish the job. They were up and they were out. The troops, not a time for mercy, this was time for action. Psalm eighteen, verse forty, David would write, You have also given me the necks of my enemies, so that I destroyed those who hated me.
course the Christian And Christian response is not one of hatred towards people, But it is hatred towards those things that damn a soul. When When Elimus stood in the way of Paul trying to undo the gospel, Paul struck him blind for a little while. Um The Lord doesn't seem to be very liberal with that gift. That would be one I would be asking for. But anyway, the army of God here is at work behind the God given champion.
That's something for the church to remember, for Christians to remember. We have our champions, and what is our role and what do we do with that? Do we just applaud their victory? Or do we get involved in the fight ourselves? And that's what's happening.
It's not enough to attend church. You must apply yourself. You have to yourself personally get involved. There's a story when Elijah the prophet was on his deathbed, and King Joash comes to him. He's very moved by Elijah the prophet, not moved enough apparently, but he was moved by him.
And he comes to see the prophet, and the prophet, even on his deathbed, is giving his ministry out.
So we pick it up in 2 Kings 13. And Elijah is speaking to the king. He says, Open the east window. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot.
These are the arrows. He told him to get his arrow and bow. And he's shot. And he said the arrow. Of Yahweh's deliverance.
and the arrow of deliverance from Syria for you must strike the Syrians at Aphhex till you have destroyed them. And then he said, Take the arrows, So he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Strike the ground.
So he struck the ground three times and stopped. And the man of God was angry with him, And said you should have struck the ground. Five or six times. Then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it. But now, You will strike Syria only three times.
The prophet is saying, these people are monsters. They're raiding us, they're enslaving us. Remember Naaman had that little Jewish girl in the home. He picked her up from a raid. She didn't just wander into his house and say, Hey, I'd like to work here.
This is serious business. And Elijah says, listen, you're the king. And I need you to go after the enemy.
Well, it was a half-hearted thing. It's like, okay, I'll take the ground and strike it. There was no drive, there was no passion, there was no zeal. What if you had given this these arrows to David? They would have broken him.
He was just stabbing the ground. And so that was what was missing from the king. And that's why the prophet was angry, because you've got no passion for righteousness. There's no indignation in you. There's no fire in your belly.
Just casual. That's not the case of this day there in the valley of Elah. David ran out with zeal, and the army saw it, and they reacted to that. They picked up on that. They saw the zeal of their champion and they caught the wave.
The vision, you could say, they caught the vision, and they were on it. It's how the church needs to be. There's nothing wrong with having heroes, human heroes. They're not on the level with Christ, and of course not. We're gonna have heroes nonetheless.
You better have them as a matter of fact. It says, as far as Gath and Ekron, ten miles or so. That's a long that's a lot of work. And again, everything in Israel is uphill, so it's a lot. Verse 53.
Then the children of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their tents. All of this started with with dad. It was Jesse that started this whole thing. Boy, I need you to take some cheese and some bread and some grain to your brother's. And who would have thought that an errand boy Would have brought down the Philistine army.
It was a dramatic victory.
Now what?
Well, more battles ahead. Throne is awaiting David, and a crown. one of the greatest men of all in all the Scripture. One of the most down-to-earth men in all the Bible. Verse 54, and David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put it And he put his armor in his tent, just like that.
He took his head. He chops it off and he keeps it. He had probably salted it. Because if you're gonna be going I mean Jerusalem's twenty miles away from the battlefield. And then to Bethlehem, another seven miles, and light possibly back up to Gilgal.
I don't know, your gal might have been another twenty or eighteen or so.
So there's a, I mean, and he's having conversation with people on the way when he gets to these places. I mean, he's walking down the street, somebody's going to, hey, what do you got in your hand? A big head? It is only. Yes, as a matter of fact.
Goofy on one hand, it's glorious on another hand. You don't know what to do. A Christian perspective is like it's kind of gross. But is that meaningful of a victory?
So he takes this David took the head to the Philistine. And brought it to Jerusalem.
Now it's not Jerusalem yet.
So we know that The historian is Has compiled records and he's writing, looking backwards. It is now David's king by the time this is, or at least has been king. By the time it's published, But at the time Jerusalem was Jabos, and the curse was upon them too. They were to be pushed out of the promised land because of a judgment upon them. They were a wicked people.
It was a free city at the time. David could walk in, the Jews could walk in to the city of Jabos, but the day would come when it would not be a free city. They'd lock David out and they would mock him. They'd say, you know, we're going to put our invalid people up on the wall to repel you. And David said, we're going to see about that.
And David said, Whoever can climb up the well in the city and open the gate for us will be commander of my army.
Well, Joab will do that. Can't wait to get to him.
So, this is an eviction notice. David is taking the head to Jabus for a reason. To him You know, Melchizedek is connected to this city. To David, this city belongs to the Jews. And he takes the head there and he says, You're next!
He's got so much momentum from the battlefield. It almost doesn't know what to do with it. It proves to be very prophetic. Did he connect it with his anointing?
Well, there's no word of it. Maybe he did.
So The battle that, you know, people are plundering the tents of the Philistine, but David has got bigger plans. And he's going to take the head to Saul also. We'll get to that in a minute. It says he put the armor in his tent. What ten?
Well, the Hebrew word there is dwelling place, it's his home. It could be, you could have taken it back to Bethlehem. which is seven miles from Jabus. Or it could be the tent of the Lord that is at Gilgal. It's not clear.
We know the sword ends up there. Wherever it goes, he takes the armor. It now belongs to David. Luke's Gospel, chapter 11. Jesus said, If I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, His goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes, upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armour in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. I think the Lord must have had the fight of David and Goliath on mind because he mentions the guy who loses the armor lost to one who's not said to have had armor. And um They took all the spoils. Just an amazing story.
1 Samuel chapter 21, verse 9.
So the priest said, The sword of Goliath and David said, Have you any weapons? He wanted to run from Saul. Do you have any weapons?
So the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, you ought to love it because there's a passion with that. He doesn't say, well, Gliath is here. No, he goes on. He gives a little bit more, you know, whom you killed. in the valley of Elah.
There it is wrapped in the cloth behind the ephod. If you will take it, take it. But there is no other except that one. And David said, There is none like it. Give it to me.
This is just a mess. You know what some of the worldly historians like to say?
Well, if there really was a man named David, I shut up. I mean, it's just on your rookie, it's boring. The unbelief after a while becomes boring because it is overwhelming information. Available. that they choose with pseudo-intellect at that point What is it with some people?
You know, they feel they're successful at. If a person feels that he's successful at spitting a watermelon seed 20 feet, that he can somehow can do brain surgery too.
Now, I don't think anybody thinks that, but my point is there are those that may have a successful career in one thing, and they therefore think they're an authority on anything else you ask them. Man. No wonder we're going to all like being in heaven. None of those guys are going to be there. That stuff won't be happening.
Well Verse 55. Then Saul said, Then Saul saw David going out against the Philistine. He said to Abner, the commander of the army, Abner. Whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.
So the king said, Inquire whose son this young man is. It's kind of comical because. Why do you got to get my soul involved as your soul lives? Leave my soul out of it. Why don't you just say, I don't know?
Okay, maybe you don't see it that way, but as I'm reading it, I don't want somebody saying, as your soul lives, Rick, I'm this is none of your business. That you wait. He wants to know from.
Now, this is as David is going out.
So the historian is going back now before David kills the giant. And he sees then, verse 55: when Saul saw David going out against the Philistine. That's when he's inquiring.
Well, you know, he might be his future son-in-law if he kills this giant. Or, who do we send the remains to? The giant kills him. Uh I I like to think That as David left that line, the gait, the walk, the strut. was it caught the eye It just like it was a confidence there.
David was going like this guy is going to be done in a few minutes. And Saul picked up on that. Instead of just sitting there with his mouth shut, and somebody, of course, gets it into writing. Verse fifty seven Then, as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistines, Abner took him. and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
Yeah.
So, as the army is out running after the Philistines doing what they're supposed to do, David's got a head to keep. Is that look I'm done for the day, okay? I'm gonna take my big head. And go home. Yeah.
Uh Uh I'm I'm laughing because that's exactly what took place.
So David comes to Saul with the head. Is this the guy? Is this the guy that you were so afraid to face? Here's the head. And I don't know, and David probably says, okay, you can hold it for a little while.
But he's not gonna let him keep it. It's my head. After a while, the salt was no longer working, I'm sure, and David probably just threw it into a ditch. I don't know. Of what What a barbaric picture.
Verse 58. And Saul said to him, Whose son are you, young man?
Well, now I'm a young man. Before I was a ruddy lad, now I'm a young man.
So David answered unto Son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehem.
Well more detail here about Saul's future son-in-law, because he's family now. He promised he's going to, and Saul, of course, not going to make it easy because that's the kind of fool he was. David thinks he just put down the biggest enemy of his life. And Israel. And yet he's talking to the biggest enemy to be.
He has an appointment with Saul and he doesn't even know it. Neither does Saul at this time, but soon. With King Si's resources, Saul is going to hate David and spend the rest of his life. trying to kill him, to slaughter him, Goliath, again, a big problem. I tried to stay away from the big metaphors with Goliath.
You know. But it's very difficult. Because it fits so easily. But Saul will be a problem. Every single day Not just a moment on the battlefield.
David will wake up and it will get worse. It looks like it will clear up and it won't clear up. It's back again. And it's just this juggernaut, this Chronic problem that won't leave him alone, and he's done nothing to deserve it. In fact, Saul should have made him his champion.
No, he makes him his target. But David again will be the last man standing. He won't carry the head of Saul around. But it will break his heart. Because of what it meant.
It meant the potential, what was lost, what it could have been. David knew what it could have been, and it never was given a chance to be. They're just those kind of people in this world. Yeah.
Uh 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. Here, you can also listen to interviews with Pastor Rick to learn more about his life and ministry.
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