David // David's Heroic Victory // Pastor Josh Evans

Amen. Aren't you thankful you don't have to fight your battle alone? Well, a few of you at least are thankful for that. I don't know about the rest of you. If you're trying to fight them on your own, you are fighting a losing battle.

But if you fight with Him, you're fighting a winning battle. If you have your Bible today, go to 1 Samuel chapter number 17. 1 Samuel chapter number 17. What great music that we've had today. Just phenomenal. I always appreciate our our worship team each and every week and them leading us to the throne. I believe music's important and it prepares my heart for for preaching and I hope that it prepares your heart for for receiving what the Lord has for each one of us here today. Well listen, I do want to echo what Pastor David said that if this is your first time, I met a couple of you for the very first time today.

We always at Union Grove love meeting people for the first time and so let me encourage you if you did not do this on your way in, stop by our Welcome Center and we'd love to get a gift in your hand just as our way of saying thank you for being a part of our services and we appreciate you being here. Well, last week we kicked off a brand new series on the life of David, on the life of King David. And David is one of my favorite characters in all of Scripture. I mentioned this last week and but he is just someone that everyone in this room can can relate to at some level and so many of you if you're if you found yourself just kind of wanting to do something and and then you do something else you find yourself maybe even in sin at certain times hey David he had some struggles but then he also had some heroic moments in his Christian walk and he was considered a man after after God's own heart and so all of us in here and we're going to see through this series can relate to some degree with the life of of King David and here in 1st Samuel chapter 17 we see one of the most famous preached on passages of Scripture that we have today it's when David fought Goliath, when David fought Goliath.

Now if you're like me you know I've been kind of thinking through this message this past week and this is such a familiar passage of Scripture. I always go back to when I was a kid and you know you're in in primary church or junior church, kid church, whatever you called it and you have a flannelgraph. How many of you remember the flannelgraphs?

I don't even know. Are flannelgraphs still a thing? Is anybody are they still out there? And so I haven't been to our kids ministry in a while.

I don't know if we're still using them but I still remember it's like you would always you know go and you would see the the flannelgraph and you'd see this little guy that was David and you put him up there and by the end of the lesson he'd fallen off the flannelgraph remember? And then you put the big Goliath and so I remember that and so this is going to be a familiar passage of Scripture. In fact I don't think I have ever preached through as much Scripture as we're going to read today. We are going to read 54 verses today and so I want you to look to your neighbor and say get ready, all right? Some of you can hardly take it when I preach on one verse, all right? 54 are coming your way and this is a long story but there's so much truth for us here in this in this passage in 1st Samuel chapter number 17 here today and I want to go ahead and say this because many of you know this story so before we jump in the reason that this story is so relatable to you and to me is that here's the big truth is we trust and hope in what we depend on or who we depend on so my question is right up front as we jump in I want you to think about this question for the next you know 25 to 30 minutes that we have where is your trust or who is your trust placed in we all to some degree place our hope our trust our confidence in something or someone you say what are you referring to we place it a lot of times in our ability right in what you can do and and here's the thing when you place it in just your ability there comes a day when your ability is going to run out right and if that's where your trust was placed in and you and what you can do when you reach a point where you can't do anything about your situation you're left with devastation right because there's nothing you can do about it that's why we can't place our trust our confidence in in us some of us place it in our career some of us place it in relationships we place it in a lot of different areas and then when some of those things spiral out of our control we're left with complete devastation because our hope and our trust our confidence was placed in the wrong thing or in the wrong person so where is your trust placed in let's jump right into the story uh verse one now the philistines they gathered together their armies to battle and were gathered together at shakola which belonged to juda and pitched between shakola and ezekah in uh efesedim aren't you thankful for these places that's why i moved to lexington it's easy to say right um i just didn't want to have to struggle pronouncing my address and so uh and saw the men of israel were gathered together they pitched by the valley of elah set the battle in array against the philistines and the philistines stood on a mountain on once on the one side and israel stood on the mountain on the other side there was a valley between them uh some say it's a not quite a mile that valley but it's a good uh ways in between the two uh two sides and the philistines they were actually living in an area of canin and they were supposed to be driven out and so you can look at them and just say these are the the bad guys of the story if you would verse four and there went out a champion out of the camp of the philistines named goliath of gath whose height with six cubits and a span somewhere a little over nine foot uh he stood which is a a big a big guy right if i'm picking a basketball team i'm probably going to look at goliath and say hey i'd like to have him on my team and he was tall and he stood above everyone so nobody wanted to wanted to fight him and look at what he had on he had a helmet of brass upon his head he was armed with a coat of mail not letters okay there's my dad joke for today all right the coat of mail and the weight of the coat was 5 000 shekels of brass and he had greaves of of brass upon his legs and a target of brass between his shoulders which by the way brass was unique to the philistines and and the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam and his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron and one bearing a shield went before him many think that everything that he had on weighed over 150 pounds could you imagine that like if you saw me at the gym i can hardly lift the bar right 150 pounds is is wild right and that's what he was wearing not only the stuff he you know the stuff he was carrying that's like how what he had had on that's how big that's how strong i want you to get the picture that goliath was a force to be reckoned with nobody was looking at goliath and thinking they had any chance to come out alive against him verse 8 and he stood and cried unto the armies of viscera and said unto them why are you come out to set your battle in array am not i a philistine and ye servants to saul choose you a man for you and let him come down to me if he be able to fight with me and to kill me then will we be your servants but if i prevail against him and kill him then shall ye be our servants and serve us this is like representative warfare and other words one person from each army fights and if you win if that person wins the whole nation wins but if that person loses the whole nation loses do you see what kind of pressure was on whoever stepped up to fight he was fighting goliath which was on the looks of everything impossible to defeat but yet the pressure of if i lose in this battle then all of israel will have to be servants to the to the philistines verse 10 the philistines said i defy the armies of israel this day give me a man that we may fight together when saul and all israel heard those words of the philistine they were dismayed they were greatly afraid now david remember we learned about david last week and he was a teenager about 15 years old he was anointed to be king remember saul um god had rejected saul because saul uh had done some things that god did not want he didn't fully obey god and uh and so god told samuel to go and and anoint a new king so he sends him to the house of jesse and and we know they put all the all the brothers in front of jesse and and and samuel passed by said these aren't any of them and there was one left out in the uh in the field and if you were in our service last week we did eventually find jesse if you're wondering okay he eventually made an appearance okay and um but we sent we sent jesse and and jesse came back he had had david with him david was 15 years old he was kind of a runt he was the youngest of the family uh in fact i mean the samuel the prophet comes to the house david wasn't even invited he invited all the other kids david that's how low he was he was unqualified and so we pick it up verse 12 now david was the son of the ephrathite of bethlehem judah his name was jesse and he had eight sons and the man went among men for an old man in the days of saul the three eldest sons of jesse went they followed saul to the battle and the names of his three sons that went to the battle were eliyab abinadab and the third shama david was the youngest and the three eldest they followed saul but david went and he returned from saul to feed his father's sheep at bethlehem so this battle's going on and david's left there he's just taking care of the sheep just like he always did and god's already anointed him to be to be the king and there he is in the field by himself just watching over some sheep waiting for god to eventually do what he said he was going to do in and through him verse 16 in the philistine he drew near morning and evening and presented himself 40 days he would taunt them and he'd come out in the morning when they're waking up and he would say give me a man then in the evening while they're probably grilling s'mores talking about life he'd yell and tell them give me a man verse 17 back at the ranch jesse said unto david his son take now for thy brethren an ephah of of this parched corn and these 10 loaves and run to the camp to thy thy brethren and carry these 10 cheeses into the captain of their thousand and look how thy brethren fare and take their pledge in other words this is just my commentary on this is like lunchables you know what a lunchable is how many of you have kids that love lunchables all right my son goes through lunchables like crazy they're these little square things with some crackers cheese and whatever i'm picturing david with a whole bag full of lunchables going to battle right and and so he's headed there to to take them and verse 19 now saul and they and all the men of israel were in the valley of elah fighting with the philistines i think that's funny they really were just watching goliath and hoping somebody would step up and fight him verse 20 and david rose up early in the morning he left the sheep with the keeper he got a um a uh sheep uh babysitter i guess and and he headed and took and went as jesse had commanded him and he came to the trench as the host was going forth to the fight and he shouted for the battle for israel and the philistines had put the battle in array army against army david left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage and ran into the army and came and saluted as his brethren verse 23 you guys still with me all right a few of you some of you are dozing off i believe verse 23 and as he talked with them behold there came up the champion the philistine now this is where it gets good so if you tuned it out this is where the story is awesome the philistine of gath goliath by name out of the armies of the philistines and spake according to the same words and david he heard them and all the men of israel when they saw the man they fled from him and they were sore afraid the men of israel said have you seen this man that has come up surely to defy israel is he come up and it shall be that the man who killeth him the king will now this is how desperate saul was okay saul should have been the one willing to battle this guy but remember saul had been rejected by god he wasn't really doing that which was pleasing to god at this point and so he should have been but nobody in the camp would would step up and so saul gets desperate he begins bribing his soldiers and and here's basically what he's told him he says the king will verse 25 the king will enrich him with great riches seems like a good deal make some money off this we'll give him his daughter okay you get a princess out of this for a young guy in army it's kind of like what what better i mean you get money you get a girl and make his father's house free in israel you don't have to tax you're not going to be taxed anymore seems like a great gig why is no one signing up for this it's because it was a it was considered a death warrant for them there you can't enjoy any of those things if if you're going to to die in battle which all of them felt was exactly what would happen because nobody could handle handle goliath verse 26 and david spake to the men that stood by him saying what shall we done to that man that killeth the philistine and taketh away the reproach from israel and i love this next phrase for who is this uncircumcised philistine that he should defy the armies of the living god in other words you know what david he sees the same guy the same guy that makes everybody afraid the same guy that nobody in the army would ever go out david sees something entirely different when he looked at him he looks and says who does this guy think he is verse 27 and the people answered him after this manning man are saying so shall be done to the man that killeth him and eliab his eldest brother remember eliab from last week he was the first guy that came through and and samuel's like this has to be the next king he looks like a king eliab his elder's brother heard when he spake unto the men and eliab's anger was kindled against david he said why did you come down hither and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness eliab's never cared about the sheep until here he's mad at david he probably still had some pride and resentment that david was anointed by samuel to be king and they skipped right over eliab he says to him david i know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle by the way isn't it interesting here the opposition that david is facing within the army of israel you know one thing that's always intriguing to me is some of the worst opposition a move of god will ever see comes from within the church isn't it isn't it sad because we we sign up to do things and to to fight for god and to fight for the name of god and to make his name famous and and we're fighting an enemy a real enemy that wants to destroy it and some of the worst opposition that the moves of god have ever faced comes from within not just from from without and here david he begins as he as he's like man i'll take on this philistine the first opposition that he faced was within the camp of israel verse 29 and david said what have i now done is there not a cause is any turn from him toward another spake after the same manner the people answered him again after the former manner when the words were heard which david spake they rehearsed them before saul in other words they reported it to saul david said to saul let no man's heart fail because of him thy servant will go and fight with this philistine david had all the confidence in the world and saul said to david thou are not able to go against this philistine to fight with me with him for thou art but a youth now we know because david wasn't at battle you had to be uh 20 years old exodus chapter 3 you had to be 20 years old to be in the army there and so we know his brothers were over the age of 20 so david's still a teenager and saul looks at him he's like look you're you're just a you're just a kid and he's a man of war from his youth in other words saul said david you're a kid and goliath has been fighting longer than you have been alive you stand no chance verse 34 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 when 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 david begins to tell saul listen when i was watching the sheep i was by myself and a bear and a lion came they tried to they tried to take my sheep and they took one and i could have i could have let him go and just take that one and protected the own but i said no i went out after the one and i smote the lion i killed the lion and the and the bear thy servant slew both the lion and the bear and this uncircumcised philistine shall be just like one of them seeing he as he hath defied the armies of the living god david said moreover the lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion if you mark in your bible i'd mark this verse the lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion 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 so david he basically says listen saul i want you to understand i'm good but i'm not that good he's good and he's going to do the same thing through me he's going to deliver me out of thy hand verse 38 and saul armed david with his armor put a helmet of brass upon his head also he armed him with a coat of mail and david girded his sword upon his armor he has said to go for he had not proved and david said unto saul i cannot go with these for i have not proved them and david put them off of him says look i can't fight with this stuff on and he took his staff in his hand and he chose him five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had even in a script and his sling was in his hand and he drew near to the philistine philistine came on and drew near into david and the man that bear the shield went before him and when the philistine he looked about and he saw david he disdained him for he was but a youth and ruddy and of a fair countenance goliath looks at david and he says really really this is this is who this entire army of israel is going to send this young teenage kid this skinny kid that was ruddy with a baby face that's the guy the philistine said unto david am i a dog that thou comest to me with staves and the philistine cursed david by his gods philistine said to david come to me and i will give thy flesh into the fowls of the air into the beast of the field pretty intense language david i'm sure was you know he's probably looking at him like what in the world have i done that's some serious trash talking and so david says i'll one up your fowls of the air in the beast of the field and verse 45 he said to the philistine thou comest to me with a sword with a spear and with a shield but i come to this with something much greater i come to thee in the name of the lord of hosts the god of the armies of israel whom thou hast defied he says today verse 46 today will the lord deliver thee into mine hand i will smite thee i will take thine head from thee and i will give the carcasses of the host of the philistines this day into the fowls of the air and to the wild beast of the earth that all the earth may know that there is a god in israel by the way if you're a young person and you really want to scare your opponent on a basketball course you quote verse 46 to them just as you're standing on the court before they tip the ball you just say hey guys i just want you all to know i'm going to smite you and i'm going to take your head from thee actually you probably shouldn't do that they're going to come to the president of the school and say you got some wild kids in your school but david he he looked at him he says listen today you're going to be delivered into our hands why so that david could be lifted up no that wasn't the reason david wanted no glory from this he's about to be a superhero but david didn't want any of the glory any of the recognition he says here's what's going to happen all the earth may know that there is a god in israel did you know that that's why you're here today did you know that the reason that you are here on this earth is so that the people around you in the world around you knows that there's a god in israel that there's a god in heaven above that's why we exist it's not so that you can become famous it's so that we can make him famous verse 47 and all this assembly shall know that the lord saith not with the sword and spear for the battle is the lord's and he will give you into our hands he says there's really two things that are going to come out of this battle the world's going to know that there is a god and the second thing all the people in this assembly that's israel all the chosen people by god i want them to know that their battle is the lord's and i want you to know church that whatever battle you're facing today is the lord's and this story proves that he is trustworthy and will do what he what he's going to say verse 48 and it came to pass when the philistine arose and came and drew not to meet david that david hasted he ran toward the army to meet the philistine i love that he ran he was not afraid because he knew who was with him david put his hand in his bag and took thence a stone and and slang it and smote the philistine in his forehead that the stone sunk into his forehead and he fell upon his face to the earth so david prevailed over the philistine with a sling with a stone and smote the philistine and slew him but there was no sword in the hand of david this is where on the flannel graft the teacher would like lay the goliath down therefore david ran and stood upon the philistine took a sword and drew it out of the sheet thereof and slew him and cut it off his head therewith when the philistine saw their champion was dead they they fled we're going to stop there but you see the story it's a familiar story nobody in here came and said wow i've never heard this story but i want to go back to the original question of where is your confidence today and who is your confidence in you see david he was willing to face the giant he was willing to face a bear he was willing to face a lion he was willing to do anything that was in front of him because his trust was not in him it wasn't in his ability it wasn't in anything in and of himself it was because his confidence and trust was found in god the father i want you to understand today that there is no need to fear for those who place their trust in god there's no reason to live in fear for those who place their trust in god i want to talk about trusting god in the midst of our giants in the midst of the giants that we're going to face and you say why and what will trusting god do for me i want to give you a few thoughts from this story number one trusting in god gives us a different perspective trusting in god gives us a different perspective do you notice that way back when david and he's coming with these bags of food for the army and he shows up isn't it interesting that when david lays eyes on the situation he sees something totally different than the rest of the army of israel he didn't notice the size of goliath he didn't notice the philistine army he didn't notice the armor or or the weapons that goliath had david saw something totally different and by the way when you place your trust and your confidence in god and not in yourself you're going to see life totally different some of you the reason why you live defeated in your life is because you're looking at your ability and you're trusting in your ability some of us the reason why all we can see is the obstacle in front of us and we can never seem to get over the obstacle it's because we're focusing on the giant in front of us and not the god that's sitting on his throne you see for some of us we need to recognize that trusting in god is the answer to give us a completely new perspective on the battle that we're facing today you see when everyone else flees david looks at it like who is this guy you see david he was placing all of his confidence on who god was not on what david could do you see the reason we struggle in life is because we love control we love to be in control i'd venture to say there's nobody in here that just hates control we all like control and we got to understand that when things spiral out of control that's when where your trust is placed in that's when it's going to shine the most you say what did david see that the israelites didn't see david saw the size of his god while the armies of saul saw the size of their giant david saw the size of his god while the armies of saul saw the size of their giant you see the israelites verse 11 they were they were afraid because of the obstacle in front of them david had placed all of his confidence in god's character god's provision god's protection god's presence god's strength god's promises and he placed all of his hope in who god was so when he was faced with a giant all he saw was this giant he doesn't stand a chance to the god in israel and whatever giant you're facing i know you're not out here saying man i got a nine foot six giant in front of me right but some of you you're facing giants it could be a sin in your life it could be something that you just can't get over maybe a a struggle that you can't get over it could be a person in your life somebody that you just can't you know seem to to get along with it could be a relationship it could be a career problem it could be something in your ability that you're being asked to do something and you feel unqualified for it could be a spiritual problem listen i don't know what giant you're facing today but i want to remind you that you don't need to notice the size of your giant you need to notice the size of your your god you see david he overlooked the size of the giant in front of him because he was willing to trust the god that was that was within him listen there's going to always be giants in your life but the our lives are not about the giants they're about the king of kings the lord of lords and you see if your life if you're trusting in him there's nothing that is impossible when god is on your side there's nothing there's nothing in front of you you say hey god called me to do this then do it but no there's no buts about it if god called you to do something nothing is impossible with him nothing it doesn't matter how big the obstacle is it doesn't matter how how big the giant is you speak to your giants and you tell them how big the god that you're serving is you see that's what this story is all about david saw the size of his god while the armies of saul saw the size of his giant you say what else did he see david saw god's protection in the past that gave him the perspective to trust his protection now god or david saw god's protection in the past that gave him the perspective to trust his protection now you see the david's immediate response was he protected me from a lion he protected me from a bear why on earth would i not think he's going to protect me on the battle with the philistine you see some of us we can't move on in our life because we're faced with giants at times and i look to you and say have you not looked at how faithful and good god has been to you up to that point surely he's going to protect us against the giant that faces us today and whatever giant you have that's what you got to live with when you choose to trust in him you're going to notice that you're going to get a different perspective you're going to start recognizing how good and faithful he's been to us up to this point surely he's going to protect and continue to be faithful let me remind you that god's been faithful to you do you believe that do you believe that okay a few of you some of you man listen god's been faithful you say has it been easy no none of us have had just an easy road but he has been faithful all the way and let me remind you that whatever you're facing with if he's been faithful now he will be faithful then he's not going to make a mistake god can't make mistakes he's going to be faithful you see trusting in god it gives us a different perspective david showed up to the battle he saw something totally different he saw the size of his god not the size of his giant and he saw man god's been faithful to me now he's going to continue to be faithful trusting in god it'll give you a different perspective the second thing trusting in god gives us the courage to act confidently it gives us the courage now we love this story we love to relate to this story right everybody loves to be david in this story right but in most cases i think if you were honest and i was honest i think we relate way more to the israelites you say man they didn't tell me that in sunday school growing up i was always david listen i i've only been around many of you are older than me i've been around for 36 years i got saved at the age of five so i've walked with god for like 31 years listen i'll just tell you right now that in my life when i face obstacles or barriers in front of me a lot of times i way more identify with the israelites than i do david i'm not the one looking at everything that comes into my life saying hey bless god if he did this in the past surely he's going to give this into my hand i don't walk into the door when when my wife tells me a problem that goes on i don't walk in and say surely god's gonna smite it she would not be with me if i talk that way by the way but you see that's not how i always live and i bet if you look at your life when life spirals out of control you probably if you're honest relate way more to the israelites you look at your giant and start saying man that's too big or that's too small i'm too little i'm not significant enough god would never ask me to do this god could never do that through me let him use somebody else i'm unqualified i can't do this and you start identifying with the israelites you see trusting in god it gives us this courage that is that is deep within us a courage that is not from you but a courage that lives in the person that lives inside of you you see it gives us a courage to act confidently when we have nothing to stand on other than god himself by the way let me remind you that god already defeated your biggest giants in life you say what was my biggest giant you see you were born everybody in this room was born into this world as a sinner that was your biggest giant it was the biggest obstacle that nobody in this room could ever muster up enough goodness to ever overtake the obstacle in goliath in your life the goliath of sin in your life you see god took care of that giant by dying on the cross in your place he didn't just die for you he died instead of you and you see he took your place on the cross defeating the giant of sin giving you a way to have access to our father in heaven through trusting in jesus christ you see here here's the point of that the point is that jesus he defeated the giants in your life so that you can courageously face any other giant that comes into your life because of the person living within you you see that's the that's the big idea here number three trusting in god helps us walk with humility the third thing trusting in god helps us walk with humility say what is trusting in god do first it gives us a different perspective second it gives us the courage to act confidently third it helps us walk with with humility trust in the sovereignty of god you see david he was the greatest king of israel now israel saw a lot of kings it saw a ton of kings but david was the greatest you say why was david the greatest king of israel it's because he never confused himself with the one true king of israel you see the reason david was the greatest king of israel is because he never confused himself with the one true king of of israel you see in our life you are not the hero of your story you're not the hero god is the hero of your life you see david's trust it was not in his ability but it was in god's ability if you look back at our text verse 37 the lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion out of the paw the bear he will deliver me out of the hand of the philistine you see david was just looking at hey my god's all powerful he's omnipotent he's going to protect me he's protecting me up to this point look i can't go out here and do anything against this philistine i'm going to be buried in the ground if i go out on my own but because i have god on my side there's no way he can defeat us and by the way when god's on your side you're always in the majority it doesn't matter what's in front of you you're always in the majority because he's got this you see david's trust was not in his ability but in god's ability david's trust was not in his control but in in god's control david said that no man will defy the name of god and david was willing to fight for the name of god you say what's the point familiar passage of scripture i want to ask you again who or what is your trust in who or what is your trust in let me tell you there's no fear that you have to live with if god is who you are placing your hope and your trust and your confidence in there's nothing that can be in front of you that is too great for him to handle if you're in here today and say man all i can notice is my giants it's probably because you're trusting in yourself and not in in him because trusting in god it's going to give you a different perspective you're going to wake up each and every day ready to tackle whatever comes your way not because of you but because of who lives inside of us who or what is your trust in would you bow your heads with me i'm going to ask everybody to stand at this time everybody all over the room nobody looking around i don't want to embarrass anybody in here that's not my intent but i want you to think about that question who or what is your trust in if you want courage like david if you want the ability to see life through a different perspective the ability to look at you know the size of your god more than the size of the obstacles in front of you if you're in here today and you say man that's what i want i want a different perspective i want to act with courage i want to live with humility if those are the things that you want the way to achieve all of those things is by trusting in him and placing your confidence in him and his character not in you and your ability say pastor josh i'm in here today and my trust is not where it needs to be my confidence is more in me than it is in god listen this is a safe place you can be honest with me you can be honest with with god today you say pastor josh i need to work on where my trust is placed in today would you look at me make eye contact with me several people are looking at me sweet i see that thank you for your honesty i see that listen i'm going to pray for us and if you say man that's me today we have up here an altar this is where i believe a lot of things happen a lot of life change happens i want to encourage you to to come forward and to make a decision and you can make a decision right where you're at here today but i want to encourage you to respond and place your trust your confidence in him his ability and who he is not in you father i love you blessing this invitation time for it's in your name we pray amen if god speaks to you you can come and do business with god