1 Samuel 17

[0:00] Good evening, church. We're going to continue our series from 1 Samuel, and tonight we're going to study chapter 17.

[0:19] It's a famous story. It's about David versus Goliath. And we all have Goliath standing and looking at us in our Christian walk.

[0:37] So as we study this chapter tonight, we're going to meet our true champion, and we're going to turn to our true champion.

[0:49] Let us pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for gathering us here tonight. And Lord, please prepare our hearts to receive your message.

[1:02] And Lord, I pray that only your deeds, your perfect track records, and your glory will shine tonight.

[1:14] And Lord, use your servant only as an instrument to deliver your message. In Jesus' name, amen. 1 Samuel chapter 17 can be found in your pew Bible, page 239.

[1:33] That's page 239. It's a long chapter, so we're not going to read the whole chapter tonight. We will look at certain parts of the chapter, and you're welcome to read this entire chapter on your own.

[1:53] So Philistines gather their armies for battle once again. And one side, there's a Philistine army with this 10-foot giant named Goliath.

[2:04] And the other side, there is King Saul and Israel army, and they're facing each other. And Goliath is just taunting the Israel army, throwing insults and threats, and just physically intimidating them, because he is the champion, and he is almost 10-foot tall.

[2:34] Let's look at verses 8-11, and also verse 16. Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, Why have you come out to draw up for battle?

[2:54] Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.

[3:07] If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.

[3:22] And the Philistines said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

[3:44] Verse 16. For 40 days, the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.

[3:54] So for 40 days and nights, this giant is taunting the Israel army. And he's putting a lot of pressure on them, saying, choose one man.

[4:10] And if you guys, he wins, we'll be your servants. If I win, then you're going to be our servants. And King Saul, we learned in previous weeks, the Bible says King Saul was a head taller than everybody else.

[4:32] So let's just say King Saul was maybe close to seven foot tall. But he's not stepping forward. Basically, everybody is just frozen, gripped by this paralyzing fear.

[4:46] And this is, and the way he taunts them, when he says, you guys are but nothing, you guys are nothing but servants of Saul.

[5:03] Which is not true because they are actually armies of living God. And they have track record that goes back to Moses, Joshua, Gideon.

[5:16] But Goliath is, for 40 days and 40 nights, he's keep telling them, you guys are nothing but servants of Saul.

[5:28] He conceals Israel's true identity. And just keep gripping them and pushing them to look within themselves.

[5:40] Look at yourself. Who's going to fight me? And he defied all ranks of Israel. And paralyzing fear, it leads to unbelief.

[5:58] And eventually you end up in despair. In the times of Moses, when they were just about to enter the promised land, they sent out 12 spies into the promised land to scope the land first.

[6:14] Only two spies came back and reported to the people saying that, yes, the Lord gave us this land. We can conquer this land because the Lord is with us.

[6:26] He's going to fight for us. But rest of the tent spies came back and they said, we're doomed. We're good as dead. They said, they have fortified walls.

[6:38] They have fortified cities. And they are giants in this land. And they came back. They cried all night in their tent saying they were doomed.

[6:51] They were just gripped by this paralyzing fear when they saw the sights of the walls and the cities and the giants living in this land.

[7:01] This generation saw what God did. They witnessed the 10 plagues God put on the Egyptians. This generation actually walked through the parted Red Sea.

[7:17] They saw the pillar of cloud by the day and pillar of fire by the night. And yet, when they heard this report from these 10 spies, all of a sudden they just forgot God's perfect track record.

[7:34] They went into despair and unbelief. And the Bible says God became angry with that generation. And nobody entered the promised land except Joshua and Caleb.

[7:49] Now, David comes to the battlefield. And he was delivering some food, some goodies for his brothers and brothers' captains.

[8:01] And as he comes to the battle, he also hears the same threats. Goliath is making these insults and threats. And as soon as King David hears, now he has different response.

[8:18] He's not gripped by this paralyzing fear. Let's turn to verse 26. David says, For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?

[8:42] Not just any ordinary army. King David says, Who is defying the armies of the living God? One of my favorite battle stories from the Old Testament is from Joshua chapter 10.

[9:04] There was an Amorite king who forms a coalition. He gets five other kings in the region. And then they form a coalition to attack Israel together.

[9:17] So the battle begins. And Joshua and the armies of the living God, they are winning. They are against all odds.

[9:31] They were winning against this coalition of armies led by five kings. But as the battle is going on, they needed more daylight to finish the battle.

[9:45] So Joshua cries out to God. And then God, the Bible says, The sun stopped in the midst of heaven.

[9:57] And eventually, the sun set so slowly, it gave Israelites another whole day worth of daylight.

[10:10] And they come out victoriously. One night, I was praying to God.

[10:22] And I was praising Him. Imagining this particular battle scene. I don't know how God...

[10:34] I mean, sun stood still basically means the earth kind of stopped rotating. And it slowed down to the point it almost stopped.

[10:47] I don't know whether God just had to verbally command the earth to slow down and stop. Or whether He put His invisible hand on top of the earth and making it to slow down.

[11:00] I trembled in joy as I was praying. Because this is awesome God. Our God is mighty and awesome God.

[11:14] Now, David... I'm sure he heard all these stories of his ancestors. But to him, this was not just a folktale that he heard from his grandfather.

[11:28] All the battles that God fought for Israel during the times of Moses, Joshua, Gideon. David's faith was deeply rooted in God's perfect track record.

[11:44] So as soon as he heard these insults and threats from Goliath, He's saying, who is this guy? Who is this defying the armies of living God?

[11:58] Let's look at David's testimony from verses 34 to 37. So David goes up to King Saul and says, King Saul, let me fight this guy.

[12:10] And this is what he tells King Saul. Your servant used to keep sheep for his father.

[12:23] And when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth.

[12:34] And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this circumcised Philistine shall be like one of them.

[12:54] For he has defied the armies of the living God. And David said, The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.

[13:15] The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of Goliath.

[13:26] When the enemy is pushing for them to look within themselves, David does not look within himself.

[13:40] He looks to the Lord. David says, The Lord who rescued me from the paw of bear and lion. The Lord will also rescue me from this ten-foot giant.

[13:54] So, when the enemy attacks us, trying to conceal our true identity and also create this paralyzing fear so that we're going to despair and unbelief, David just does not look at himself.

[14:20] I mean, if you really look at David, he's not even a soldier. He's a shepherd. He's a local shepherd. The Bible said he's a young boy. So, I don't know, maybe he's 15, 16, 19 at the most.

[14:35] And he is facing this ten-foot professional warrior. So, if David was looking at himself, I can, I can fight this guy.

[14:48] But he knows God's track record. And his faith was deeply rooted in God's track record.

[15:03] Not his own. Not his own strength. He didn't go up to King Saul and say, Oh, King, I have this great secret weapon that I can just get, you know, put him down.

[15:15] He didn't say, you know, I perfected this sling skill with the right wind, with the right velocity, with the right size of stone. I couldn't, he, he didn't do that. It wasn't, it wasn't about him.

[15:29] He said, the Lord who rescued me from the bear and the lion's paw will deliver me from the hand of Philistine.

[15:42] The other thing we learn about David is that he did not abandon his sheep. He went after the bear.

[15:54] He went after the lion. He risked his life to rescue his sheep. I have a teenage son. His name is also David. He's 14.

[16:07] If my son was a shepherd, I'll remind them every morning, son, I love you so much. If a bear or lion, never mind bear or lion, a wolf takes our sheep, just walk away.

[16:24] Do not risk your life. I love you too much. I don't even want you to get a scratch on your body. It's okay. Just at the end of the day, tell me how many sheep we lost.

[16:34] I can write that down on our business loss column in our tax return. That's okay. Don't risk your life. But David did not do that.

[16:46] He didn't abandon his sheep. He went after the bear, after the lion, risking his life. And he rescued the sheep.

[16:58] Now, who does this remind us of? Who else does not abandon us?

[17:10] Just like we sang a couple of minutes ago, who always comes to our rescue? Who never leave us? Who never abandon us?

[17:22] And that is our shepherd, the true humble king and our champion, Jesus.

[17:36] Jesus. in Luke 15, Jesus tells us a parable.

[17:51] If a man, if a man has a hundred sheep, and if one gets lost, this man will search and search until he finds the lost sheep.

[18:08] And when he finds this lost sheep, Jesus said, he rejoices. He calls all his friends and he celebrates because he found the lost sheep.

[18:23] And that picture of the man who is searching, not giving up, until he finds that lost sheep.

[18:34] That is our shepherd, Jesus. In John chapter 10, Jesus tells us, I am the good shepherd.

[18:49] The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And this is exactly what he did for us.

[19:03] He laid down his life humbly for us so we can have life in him.

[19:15] I would like to read from Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 through 11.

[19:26] and this passage shows us how humble Jesus is.

[19:39] Verse 5 Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but empty himself by taking the form of a servant.

[20:10] Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.

[20:23] death even death on a cross therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.

[20:38] So at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

[21:02] So David is like a sign or a preview of what to come.

[21:17] David is a shepherd who became a king and Jesus is our shepherd and Jesus is our perfect king.

[21:31] So when we see David we can see what is to come after David. and this morning Pastor Nick preached about you know God's covenant with Abraham.

[21:52] God blessed Abraham and he made this covenant with him saying all nations will be blessed through you.

[22:06] God's covenant with Abraham is a threefold blessing. God formed a nation of Israel through Abraham and God blessed Abraham so his descendants will be as many as stars in the sky.

[22:26] And the third blessing is the spiritual blessing that all nations will be blessed through you. Since Abraham 14 generations later King David comes just like God promised Abraham 28 generations later from King David then our true king Jesus comes and this is all according to God's promise.

[23:01] We read today in the morning Isaiah chapter 55 and there it says God's words do not return to him empty.

[23:17] it accomplishes what he purposes and that's exactly what's happening in 1 Samuel 17.

[23:29] You're seeing God's promise to Abraham being fulfilled. King David comes and then 28 generations later our true champion Jesus comes.

[23:47] Now Jesus' battle was not facing a ten-foot giant. Jesus' battle was not about flesh and blood.

[24:01] Jesus' battle was not a nation against a nation. Jesus conquered death. Jesus defeated the power of sin.

[24:16] And so conquering death he became the true champion. Just like just like fear is real the enemy the devil is also real.

[24:40] Apostle Peter warned us how the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

[24:57] Is the enemy taunting you like the Goliath taunted the Israel army?

[25:10] is the enemy using the same tactic trying to make you forget that you are a child you're children of God instead the enemy pushes you to look within yourself and when we look within ourselves there is greed pride depression habitual sins secret sins people that we just cannot forgive wounds from the past but this is what enemy does enemy does not want us to fix our eyes on the true champion enemy says no keep look within yourself we we need to fix our eyes on

[26:10] Jesus because he conquered the death once and for all and that's not something we can do that's something only Jesus can do and he did but in our Christian walk we will constantly see these giants because the enemy will constantly taunt us so how do we how do we fix our eyes on Jesus there was a battle between Amalekites and the Israelites this is in Exodus chapter 17 so when Amalekites attacked Israel Joshua led the armies of living

[27:10] God and Moses stood at the top of the hill with his hands up and when Moses kept his hands up the Israel army they were winning but eventually fatigue sets in so Moses put his arms down and then the direction of the battle changes and now the Israel is losing so Aaron and her brings a stone for Moses to sit on Aaron on one side holding up one arm and her on the other side holding up the other arm and they supported Moses arm throughout the whole battle my brothers and sisters in

[28:13] Christ do you have Aaron's and her in your life do you have Aaron's and her praying with you praying for you encouraging you reminding you to fix your eyes on Jesus instead of looking within yourself or are you trying to do this alone by yourself if you already have people surrounding you praying for you praying with you encouraging you that is that is wonderful keep praying keep encouraging one another reminding one another to fix your eyes upon Jesus if you don't have that or if you are new to our church this is a perfect opportunity in front of you there is a welcome card but back of the welcome card you can write your prayer request if you want us to if you want only staff and elders to pray for you you can check that box if you want the whole church as a body of

[29:30] Christ to pray for you you can check the other box check both point is we would like to pray for you let us know how we can pray for you this Thursday we're having church prayer meeting at seven o'clock so I would like to invite you to come to our prayer meeting this Thursday at seven so we can pray for one another encourage one another and even if the enemy threatens us prowls around like a lion that we can encourage one another remind each other saying don't get scared look at Jesus perfect track record look at Jesus so I invite all of you to use the prayer card and also come this Thursday evening I would like to end this evening with passage from 1

[30:40] Corinthians chapter 15 verses 54 to 58 death is swallowed up in victory oh death where is your victory oh death where is your sting the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ therefore my beloved brothers and sisters be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain stand firm my brothers and sisters in

[31:41] Christ let us pray Lord Jesus we thank you that you are our shepherd who does not abandon us and who always come to our rescue and Lord Jesus we thank you that you humbly lay down your life for your sheep and defeating the power of sin the death and now we have true champion Lord help us to fix our eyes upon you in the midst of storm mist of enemy taunting us trying to scare us trying to lose our true identity

[32:45] Lord help us to pray and Lord help us to pray for one another help us to pray together Lord help us to encourage one another and Lord help us to constantly reminding each other that don't be afraid fix your eyes upon Jesus and Lord we thank you and in Jesus name we pray amen God Lord God help us