chapter 17 and he mentioned living by faith
that's the title of my message this evening faith before our
enemy last week I talked about our three great enemies the flesh
the world and Satan and when we looked we saw the champion
of the philistines Goliath the giant Some people say he's 11
foot tall, nine and a half foot tall. One person said that his
weaver's beam was 26 feet, another says it's 21 feet. Some says
his spearhead was 25 pounds, others say 15 pounds. His armor
weighed from 180, from 125, and some said 180. So this was a
big man. He is a giant. could stand up in this building
could stand up in this building and 40 days he taunted Israel
got up every morning and went out every evening and taunted
them send me a man send me a man and he taunted Israel but Israel's
problems wasn't with the Philistines or with their champion but their
problem is like this world's problem they didn't have God
they didn't have the presence of God And when you don't have
the presence of God, you can't face your enemies. You can't
face them. You can't fight them. You'll
be afraid. You'll be dismayed. You'll be
like they were. And they were helpless before
this enemy. They had no faith. They were
trembling before this giant. But God has a man after his own
heart. One whom God chose. one whom
the Spirit of God is in and Saul and his whole army are afraid
and then comes David just a boy, just a lad, just a youth Here
he comes bold. Here he comes confidence. And
his confidence was in God. Not in himself or not in his
abilities. And I want you to notice the
first thing about David. We went down through here and
seen where David was sent out. After he left Saul, he tended
the sheep. The first thing we know about
David was he was totally and absolutely insignificant when
he went down there that day. insignificant look what it says
here in verse 12 now David was the son of that Ephrathite of
Bethlehem Judah whose name was Jesse and he had eight sons and
the man went among them for an old man in the days of Saul three
eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle and
then verse 14 and Davis was the youngest and the three eldest
followed Saul David was the youngest and in the way that they did
And Israel was the eldest, always was the one that was chosen to
be anything or be anybody. And they had it the first, the
second, the third, the fourth, and on down the line. And when
you got to the baby, got to the youngest, he absolutely didn't
mean nothing. David was the youngest of his
sons. And remember when Samuel went
in there to anoint a king? And every one of them that stepped
before him, especially the first one, God just told him, don't
consider the height of his stature and his appearance. But the first thing he saw, he
saw all that. This has got to be the one. Got to be the one. And that's why, you know, so
the first time he picked Eliab, he said, this great big husky
man here has got to be the one. And the youngest was the least.
And when they had that feast for all of them and Samuel offered
the sacrifice, David was so insignificant that
they didn't even invite him. He didn't mean nothing to his
daddy. Didn't mean nothing to his brothers. He don't need to
be here. He don't need to be here where
Samuel's at. He don't need to partake of this sacrifice. He
don't need to eat at this feast. Well, who is he? He's out there
tending the sheep. He's sending his father's sheep.
He was a shepherd and totally insignificant and let me show
you something over here Judges chapter 6 in verse 15 Judges
is right before the book of Ruth back to your left there. You
know God God don't judge like man does and God don't use men
the way God man does God don't need a lot to do nothing and
You know, if He wants to do something, He can use one man, few men,
or no man. He can do what He will. But here's
a perfect illustration of what we're talking about, about being
interested. Faith knows no age or no preeminence. But that's
the way these people were. And look what it says down here.
God was fixed to send Gideon to save Israel from the Midianites.
And here's what Gideon said to the Lord. And he said unto him,
O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is
poor in Manasseh. We have no wealth. We're very
poor people. And I'm the least in my father's
house. I'm the baby in my father the
least and this is telling us that God uses the weak and the
insignificant to confound the mighty. To confound the mighty. God's always done it that way.
David sees insignificance in the home when he was at home.
David wasn't included to that feast that I was telling you
about. He's out taking care of the family sheep. And here's
David coming now. David is sent down to this army
and sent down here as an errand boy. That's what he's sent to
be, an errand boy. That's how insignificant he was.
He was sent to be an errand boy. Look what it says in verse 15. David went, when he left Saul,
remember he was playing music before Saul, and he went back
to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. In verse 17, and Jesse
said unto David his son, take now for thy brethren an heath
of parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to
thy brethren, and carry these ten cheeses unto the captive
of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their
pledge, or else come back and tell me what's going on. David
was just an errand boy here. that's all it was to bring food
and tidings from his father to his brethren and his brethren
going to go back and tell his brethren look what down in verse
20 look what happened David rose up early in the morning and left
the sheep with a keeper And took and now listen, I love this here
and took gas and went as Jesse had commanded him What his father
told him to do is what he got up and he'd done it like our
Savior The David was a type of like our Savior when God told
him to do he said I died will oh father I delight to do I do
always those things that please him and then he goes on to say
this and he came to the trench as the host was going forth to
fight and David went down there and he's done what his father
told him to do and I'm going to show you something here He
was so insignificant to his brothers. Look how the elders treated him
look down in verse 28. I Look how his brother treated
him. When he came down there and began
to ask questions and wanted to defy this great giant here, it
didn't scare David at all. It never upset David. David wasn't
afraid of him or nobody else. He couldn't understand why everybody
else was afraid of him. And Eliab, his eldest brother,
when he heard how David was asking questions, what will happen to
the man that kills this Philistine? This uncircumcised Philistine,
this Philistine that divides the armies of the living God.
What shall it be done to the man that killeth him? And the
lie of his eldest brother, when he heard him speak unto the men,
say these things. And the lie of anger was kindled
against David. And he said, why did you come
down here? Why in the world did you come down here for? Well,
his father sent him. He come to bring them some food.
He come to tell them of what his father was thinking about
him and he come to do something for them To be a blessing to
them and do what his father sent him to do and ain't just the
way people treat our Savior Hated him without a cause and look
what his brother said Why in the world you come down here?
And no, listen to this mock, this mock that he made. And with
whom has thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? You
ain't even important enough to take care of a bunch of sheep.
You left those little sheep, those sheep, those few sheep
out there. Who do you leave them with out there in the wilderness?
Oh my, just making fun of his brother. Listen to this. And
I know thy pride. How did he know David was proud?
Did David act proud? You don't see anything in here
about David acting proud. And that naughtiness of the heart,
it means the wickedness of your heart. I see the pride and wickedness
of your heart. And all you come down here for
is that you might stand up here and watch a battle go on. Oh
my. And look how David answered him. And David said, what have I done
now? He was so used to his brothers belittling him and questioning
him and making fun of him and everything he'd done was wrong.
He said, now what have I done this time? That's what he said.
What have I done this time? What did I do? What have I done
this time that makes you find fault with me? That's exactly
what he's saying here. And then he comes down there
and says this, is there not a cause? Well, there's two or three causes
that he's talking about. I'm here because my father sent me.
That's the first cause. That's the first cause Christ
came into this world. His father sent him. Second cause
is he come down there to do something for his brethren. Christ come
down here to do something for his brethren. And the third cause
is, because there's a great enemy, define Israel, define the living
God. And David said, I'm here, is
there not a cause to stand up for the glory of God and fight
and destroy God's enemies? So that's three reasons, that's
three causes that he has there. And oh my, what have I done this
time? And I'll tell you David, When
he was talking about fighting this Goliath, it wasn't David's
might, it wasn't David's power that gave him confidence before
this giant. Look what it says here in verse
23 and 24. Look what happens now. And he's talking with these
men sitting there, talking with his brethren. In verse 8 he said
he saluted his brethren. And as he talked with them, behold,
there came up the champion. He walked out onto the field,
Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name. He walked up out of the
armies of the Philistines according to the same words. Send me a
man. Send me a man. Send me a man. If you kill me, I'll be your
servant. And if I kill you, you're gonna be our servants. And listen
to what I said. David heard them. Oh my. David heard them. And then the
men of Israel said, have you seen this man that come up? They asked David, have you seen
him? Surely to defy Israel's he come up. And this is what
God, this is what the king will do for the man who kills him.
He'll make him very rich. He'll give him his daughter and
make his house free in Israel. He'll never have to serve in
the army. He won't have to serve Israel in any way. And all this
man comes up here to defy the armies of the living God. Oh
my. So David, you know, he was, he
heard this and it bothered him. Who is this? Who is this? Call
him an uncircumcised Philistine. And this army is the army of
the living God. And what in the world do you
think you're doing? Going to defy the armies of the
living? God's alive. And oh my. And Saul heard it. And he turns, in verse 30, look
what happens. And he turned from him toward
another, and spake after the same manner. And the people answered
him again after the former manner. Same thing, the king gonna richen
up, and all that. And when the words were heard
which David spake, they rehorsed them before Saul. They went up
and told Saul what David is asking about, what David's talking about,
that David's not afraid of this Goliath. Why does he defy Israel
for? And so Saul went up there and
told Saul what David was saying. And he sent for him. The king
sent for him. Oh my. And look what it said. Look what David said, verse 32. David said to Saul, Now, let
no man's heart fail because of him. That giant down there. Let
nobody. Thy servant will go and fight
with his Philistine. He's the first man. He just went
down there on Aaron. Here's nobody. He went down there
and said, don't let your hearts fail you. He said, I'll go down
there and fight that. I'll go down there and fight
that child. Look what Saul said to him. Saul said to David, they're not
able to go against this Philistine to fight with him. You're just
a youth. David was probably in his late
teens. Probably in his late teens, 19,
18, 19, somewhere in that neck of the woods. And oh, thou art
but a youth, but he's a man of war from his youth. Oh, listen. But David, listen to how David
describes this. He said, you think this ain't
nothing. Fighting this Philistine ain't
nothing. You know, this is the way I care for my father's sheep.
Now he's going to tell them, if I care for my father's sheep
like this, you think this fellow over here is going to bother
me? Now look what he said. David said unto Saul, thy servant
kept his father's sheep. You notice that? Kept his father's
sheep. Christ said, I'll keep my sheep. No man's going to pluck them
out of my hand. And there and then there came a lion and a
bear and took a lamb out of the flock the lion come and got him
a little lamb Watch what he said that Davis
Davis said I went after him And I smoked that line I mean
I start tackle that line like it worth nothing and I took that
lamb out of his mouth and And when he arose against me, I caught
him by his beard, and I smote him and slew him. If I can face a lion and kill
a lion, you think this fellow is something? And I just protected
one lamb. Christ, that's why He said He
would carry the lambs in His bosom. Look what He says here
now. The servant slew both the lion
and the bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine
shall be as one of them, saying, He hath defied the armies of
the living God. That's the way David viewed the
armies. This is the armies of God. The living God. David wasn't
a soldier. David wasn't a soldier. And he
had never fought in a battle. He had never done anything. But I said, if they come and
get one lamb. One lamb. I'm not willing for
anything to get one lamb. I don't care if it's a bear.
I don't want to fight a bear. I don't want to fight a bear. And I got, you know, you think
about a bear. Oh, you know, people see a bear
in Cherokee and they'll be halfway up a mountain and they'll stop
traffic for miles. Everybody out there looking for,
you know, trying to see a little old bitty bear. But if there's
a great big one walking down the middle of the road and got
a couple of cubs, you better not get out of the car. There was
a fella out in Montana one time, and he told me this himself,
was out at his ranch and there's, there's a, what's them big, great
big huge grizzly bears. There's great big grizzly bears
out there. And there was this little cub, couple little cubs
out wandering around out there on his place. And he had his
truck there. He said, I'll get me one of these
cubs here and take it home and I'll raise it. He got that thing
about to his truck and here comes that mama bear. He said, I just barely got in
my truck before she got to me. Oh, he said, I'll never do that
again. And I'll tell you something, that's what I'm talking about
here. He said, this baron, a lion? A lion? David wasn't a soldier. And you
remember when the Lord told Samuel, He said, don't you look at the
height of his stature, and don't you look at his appearance. God
don't see his man, He sees the heart. But this wasn't true of
David's brothers as Samuel looked upon him. He didn't do that.
He looked at everybody but David. And true of Goliath as the army
looked upon him. They looked on how tall he was
and how big he was and scared to death of him. And it was true
of David as they didn't consider him. David, you're nobody. You're
just a little old boy. You're a youth. You're a shepherd.
And you don't amount to nothing. And what in the world are you
talking about going out there? And you ain't nobody. You're
5'6". And you're going to go out there and fight this thing?
Huh? And oh, what about us? Everybody's
seen themselves great. This fellow's seen himself as
great. Alive. ridiculed David. Samuel didn't
look on David. Goliath, they were scared to
death of him because of his height and stature and his appearance.
What about us? Do we see ourselves as great? Oh my. Are we like David? We're
absolutely insignificant? A person that thinks themselves
great, they're in trouble. If you think yourself is great
and going to accomplish great big things. God said it this way. He told
Jeremiah, seek not for thyself. Seek not things for thyself.
If you're going to seek anything, seek His glory. Don't seek after
wisdom, but God's wisdom. Don't seek after wealth, but
God's wealth. And look here, let me hurry up
and get down to this. Look at the contrast between
David and his brothers. Great difference between David
and his brothers. Everybody here was an Israelite.
All of David's brothers, and they all were Israelites. They
all knew something about Jehovah. They all knew something about
God. They were invited to the feast of the sacrifice of Samuel,
but David wasn't. David wasn't. And they were religious
people. religious people but in the side
of this giant their faith went down to there went down to there they knew about God David knew
God they knew some things about God and about sacrifices and
feasts But David knew the living God. God chose him. God put his
spirit in him. And look at the contrast in David's
confidence and their confidence. Look what he says here in verse
23. David's confidence. And David,
as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the
Philistine. And he said the same words over and over again. And
David heard them. He heard the taunts. He heard
the mocking of God. He heard him say, up there, give
me a man. Let a man come out here and fight me. And David
saw things differently than his brothers did. Saw things differently
than Saul did. Saw things differently than the
army did. David didn't think he was defying
just a few men. He was defying God. He said, you're defying God.
And one thing you can't do is defy God. And defy the living
God. And David was speaking words
of faith. It aggravated his brother. Aggravated
his brother. What in the world did you do?
What did you come down here for? David's talking about facing
this giant. And it made his brother spend. And what an awful thing he said
to his little brother. This is his baby brother. Just
talk to him awful. Talk to him like he's a stepchild
or an orphan or something. And oh my, David's speaking words
of faith. And his brother said, I know
your pride and the wickedness of your heart. And then look
what the Philistine, David's gonna go fight the Philistine.
We're not gonna get to that tonight. But look what the Philistine
said down here in verse three when David went out there to
face him. David went down there as an urn boy and ended up fighting
the giant. And the Philistine said to David, said unto David, am I a dog? Is that what you think I am,
just a dog? You gonna face me like I'm just
a dog? That you come to me with staves? Philistine cursed David cursed
David by his gods by his gods And I tell you what true faith
faith before enemies true faith will not be deterred His brothers
tried to discourage him Saul tried to discourage him all these
people tried to discourage David But you know what David did what
it says in verse 31 and when the words which were heard David
spake they rehearsed them before Saul and Saul sent for him Saul sent for him and listen
to what David tells Saul I will not let no man's heart fail because
of him thy servant will go and fight with his Philistine afraid of him at all. David's
faith was in God. And that made him different than
anybody else in that army. Anybody else there. The only
one out of all of them that had faith. And I'm telling you something.
I'm going to say something about faith here. You know Faith has
to be perfect. If we have faith in Christ, faith
in God, faith has to be perfect. Everything that we have before
God has to be perfect to be accepted. Well, now we know in and of ourselves,
our faith is not perfect. It's a gift of God. God gave
it to us. But I'm going to tell you something.
We're justified by the faith of Christ. Christ believed God
perfectly. And what He did, we did in Him.
When He obeyed God, we obeyed God. When He served God, we served
God. When He, everything our Lord
Jesus Christ did, when we was in Him, that's what we did. So
my faith's perfect because it's the faith of Christ. And look
what he goes on to say. He was young. He was ridiculed. And Saul wasn't impressed with
him. You're just a youth. You ain't
can't fight him. He's a man of war from the time
he was a young lad. And then Saul finally recognized
his faith. Look what he said down here in
verse 37, 38. And then I'll quit. Moreover, said David, the Lord
delivered me out of the paw of the lion, out of the mouth of
the bear, and he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. You see how he said that? He
said the Lord saved me. I didn't save myself. Wasn't
that bear and that lion? I didn't save myself. The Lord
saved me there. The Lord delivered me out of
the hand of it. And he will save me out of the
hand of this Philistine. And look what Saul said. Said
unto David, Go and the Lord be with you. Oh my. He said, well, you just insist. You're going to go fight him.
You've got the faith to do it. Just go on here. But now watch
what else he said here in verse 38. But just in case, just in
case you can't fight this fella and win, Saul armed David with
his armor, and he put a helmet of praise upon his head, and
he also armed him with a coat of mail. Just in case, now, you
don't make it, you can wear my armor. And some people trust
in their armor, but not David. He trusted in God. I want you
to look in Psalm 131 and then I'll be done. You remember when Proverbs, you know, he said,
trust the Lord with all my son, trust the Lord with all thine
heart. Acknowledge him in all thy ways and he shall direct
thy path. And this is the way David was,
and this is the way we ought to be. Lord, my heart is not haughty.
David didn't have a haughty heart there that day. He wasn't proud. He wasn't haughty. He just recognized
that God would save him and that he was defying the living God.
nor my eyes lofty. I didn't hold my eyes up and
look up around me and let everybody, you know, look down my nose at
everybody. Neither do I exercise myself in great matters. I don't
enter into great matters. I don't try to fight battles
and fight issues that start mine to fight or in things too high
for me. All I'm going to do is just wait
on you. Wait on you. The Lord done it.
The Lord will save me and the Lord has saved me. And that's
faith. David had faith before this great,
great enemy. And I tell you what, we can pass
faith before every enemy we have because Christ defeated them.
Every single one. Our Father, in the blessed name
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for meeting
with us tonight. Thank you for your great mercies
and grace given us in Christ before the world ever began.
Thank you for being patient, for being forgiving, for being
kind, for being full of grace, being full of mercy. Lord, you
said your mercies are tender. you said you're full of mercy
and so Lord we come thanking you that your mercy was full
tonight that your grace was here tonight we thank you for your
great and wonderful gospel for our Lord Jesus Christ who fought our battles defeated
our enemies and Goliath is nothing compared to what sin was What
death was. What corruption was. And He put them all away. And
we bless Him for it. Amen and Amen. Well, God willing,
I'll see you.