1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 So this is "Lessons from the Kings- Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times." 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:10,000 This is lesson number four in that series. The title of this lesson this morning 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:15,000 is "The Giant Killer- David and Goliath." And if you're following along and your Bibles 4 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:21,000 open up at First Samuel, First Samuel chapter 17. 5 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:28,560 And as always I will be putting the passages up on the screen. 6 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:33,000 We start with a question here, on this particular theme. 7 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:38,000 What does it take to be a champion or a winner? We talk a lot about that 8 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:43,000 in our sports mad country. Some say it's a combination 9 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:48,000 of skill and luck to be a winner. 10 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:53,300 Perhaps to be a winner you have to be good at something. Work hard be at the right place at the right 11 00:00:53,300 --> 00:00:58,000 time. These are the things that I hear, a lot of times, when they talk to 12 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:04,000 elite athletes or champions. They kind of describe the hard work they've done so and so forth. 13 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:09,000 Of course not everything in life is about sports. 14 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:15,000 What about winning a war? Or winning over discouragement? 15 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:20,000 What about winning over illness or loneliness? What about winning over fear or bad 16 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:25,000 habits or dangerous situations? Those are challenges as 17 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:29,000 well, that we try to win over. Sometimes ordinary 18 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:36,500 people like you and I, we have to face extraordinary challenges in our lives, 19 00:01:36,500 --> 00:01:40,000 kind of make or break situations. 20 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:45,000 So the lesson today, lesson from the kings today, 21 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:50,000 I want to tell you a story about a little guy, a nobody, 22 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:55,000 who faced a great challenge and who won. And of course, this is the story 23 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:59,000 of David and Goliath. A pretty familiar 24 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:05,000 story. So let's set up the scene, shall we? 25 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:10,000 The scene for the story, a story, as I said before, you're pretty familiar with. Hopefully we'll kind of 26 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:14,560 draw some lessons from it that you may not have thought of before. 27 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:19,400 So let's set the scene. First Samuel chapter 17 verse one, 28 00:02:19,420 --> 00:02:24,860 "Now the Philistines gather their armies for battle; and they were gathered at Socoh which belongs to 29 00:02:24,860 --> 00:02:30,400 Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammin. 30 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:35,000 Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and camped in the valley of Elah, and drew up in battle 31 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:40,000 array to encounter the Philistines. The Philistines stood on the mountain on one 32 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:44,000 side while Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with the valley 33 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:49,000 between them." Now we need to understand of course, that the Philistines for a long, 34 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:54,000 long period of time, were the arch enemies of the Israelites. 35 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:59,000 The Philistines lived along the coast with the Mediterranean Sea on one side 36 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:04,000 and the Israelites on the other. And of course, there was always pressure to 37 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:09,480 expand their territory by attacking their neighbors, which were the Jews. They had 38 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:14,000 nowhere to go on one side of the sea. There was only one other side to expand their 39 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:19,000 territory and that was where Israel was situated. 40 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:24,000 In addition to this the natural pressure, the Bible says that God often 41 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:29,000 used the Philistine nation to punish the Israelites in the form of military 42 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:34,000 campaigns because as we know of the history of the Israelites, 43 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:39,000 they were unfaithful and they were disobedient. So many times God used the Philistine nation 44 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:43,000 to punish them. When Saul, the first king of Israel was 45 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:48,000 anointed, many of his military campaigns were with the 46 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:53,000 Philistines, as he tried to push them back into their territory. 47 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:58,000 When he succeeded there would be peace. Now this period of peace did not 48 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:02,000 last long since Saul himself disobeyed God. 49 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:07,000 And the Lord roused the Philistines to once again come and attack Israel and 50 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:12,000 this time they had a new secret weapon. This is the situation we find 51 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:17,000 as we begin reading Chapter 17 in the book of Samuel. 52 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:22,720 You notice that the writer describes that the opposing armies were grouped on two ridges, 53 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:28,640 facing each other, and they had to go down into a valley in order to fight. 54 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:33,000 Now this was a feature of ancient warfare that opposing armies they would face 55 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:39,040 one another they would examine each other, they would taunt each other, before entering into combat. 56 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:43,220 Today we call it talking trash. They talked trash to each other, 57 00:04:43,220 --> 00:04:47,000 put each other down. That's what normally preceded 58 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:52,000 the battle in those days. So this is the scene before us, as 59 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:57,000 we see the Philistines roll out their new secret weapon and the new 60 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:02,000 secret weapon was a champion fighter, called Goliath. 61 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:06,000 So let's keep reading, "Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines 62 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:11,000 named Goliath from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 63 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:15,000 He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was clothed with scale armor 64 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:20,000 which weighed 5,000 shekels of bronze. He also had 65 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:25,000 bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders. 66 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:30,000 The shaft of the spear was like a weaver's beam, and the head of his spear weighed 600 shekels of iron; 67 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:35,000 and his shield carrier also walked before him." 68 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:39,000 So, I want you to imagine, in an age where there were no true long range 69 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:44,000 weapons, where the majority of the fighting at war was 70 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:49,000 hand-to-hand combat, try to imagine how intimidating 71 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:53,000 this Goliath was. I mean, in a time where 72 00:05:53,000 --> 00:06:00,000 men's average height and weight, the average height and weight of a man was five foot six. 73 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,000 Perhaps a hundred and fifty pounds. 74 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:08,000 Goliath was ten feet tall, ten feet 75 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:12,000 tall. He weighed 400 pounds. He carried 125 76 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:17,000 pounds of armor. His spear was 12 feet long. 77 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:22,000 The tip of his spear weighed 15 pounds. Imagine, if just the tip of the spear 78 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:27,540 weighs 15 pounds. He even had someone else carry his shield. 79 00:06:27,540 --> 00:06:31,560 So this was the weapon that they unveiled on this battlefield. 80 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:38,000 A giant champion, superior to any man in any army. 81 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:43,000 Now, I think you're all familiar with the psychological warfare, they talk about that a lot, 82 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:49,000 psychological warfare, things that you do to psych out the enemy. 83 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:54,000 In World War 2 they used to drop pamphlets down on the enemy telling them to surrender, 84 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:59,000 telling them if you surrender you'll have this and that we won't hurt you 85 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:03,000 or whatever else. I remember 86 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:08,000 hearing about Tokyo Rose. This was a woman, a Japanese woman, who spoke 87 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:13,000 English very well and they would broadcast Tokyo Rose to the allies who 88 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:18,000 were out in the field, at the time, at war, and she would play music, American 89 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:23,000 music, to make the soldiers feel nostalgic and she would be telling them you're not going to 90 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:27,040 win, you might as well give up. How about going home for Christmas? 91 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:30,000 The psychological warfare. 92 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:34,000 So, as I say, this type of approach, nothing new, armies were using it 93 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:39,000 thousands of years ago and the Bible records a prime example of psychological 94 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:44,000 warfare in this story. So let's keep reading. It says, "He 95 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:48,840 stood and shouted," this is Goliath. "He stood and shouted to the 96 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:55,320 ranks of Israel and said to them, 'Why do you come out to draw up in battle array? 97 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:58,440 Am I not the Philistine and you servants of Saul? 98 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:03,000 Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. 99 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:08,000 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will become your servants; but if I prevail against 100 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:12,700 him and kill him, then you shall become our servants and serve us.' 101 00:08:12,700 --> 00:08:17,740 Again, the Philistine said, 'I defy the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man that we may 102 00:08:17,740 --> 00:08:22,000 fight together.' When Saul and all of Israel heard these words of the Philistine, 103 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:27,800 they were dismayed and greatly afraid." 104 00:08:27,820 --> 00:08:32,000 So every day, think about it now, every day Goliath, 105 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:37,000 the massive Philistine champion comes out and he challenges someone from 106 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:42,000 the Israelite's side to come out and fight one on one, man to man, 107 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:47,000 winner take all. Whoever wins becomes master whoever loses 108 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:51,000 becomes slave. With one contest, the Israelite 109 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:56,000 nation, could lose its freedom. In verse 16 of this 110 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:01,000 passage, it says that this taunting, this trash talk, goes on every 111 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:07,000 single day, morning and night, for 40 days. 112 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:12,000 Forty days, in the morning, basically Goliath is coming out and 113 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:17,000 saying, "You people are chicken, fraidy cats, send me somebody to fight. 114 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:22,000 And then at night the same challenge. Morning and night, morning and night. 115 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:28,380 Forty days in a row. Talk about mind games. I mean, who could fight the giant? 116 00:09:28,380 --> 00:09:31,000 Now what's worse is that each day as the giant came out 117 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:36,000 to taunt them, other nations were getting the news that the great nation 118 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:43,500 of Israel, God's people, were being humiliated and defeated by a single man. 119 00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:51,000 Just one man. Talk about an army of one. Of course what was really happening was that 120 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:56,000 every single day as Goliath came forth to successfully face them down, 121 00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:01,000 the Israelite army could feel their courage and their self-esteem shrinking, 122 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:06,000 as their fear and shame grew, since none dared to answer 123 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:13,480 the call of the giant, except one person, and his name was David. 124 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:16,000 David the challenger. Now in verses 125 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:20,000 12 to 24 the writer introduces a new 126 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:25,760 character on the scene, as the story shifts gears. 127 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:30,000 David, as we know, the youngest of eight sons of Jesse. 128 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:36,000 He wasn't permitted to go to the battle. He had to stay home to take care of his father's sheep. 129 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:41,000 As the youngest, his father uses David as a messenger boy to bring 130 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:46,640 food and to get information from his other sons, who were at the front lines. 131 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:51,400 David was a teenager at this time. So at this point, 132 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:56,000 David is a shepherd boy, not aware of the great challenge that will face him 133 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:01,800 the next time he goes on an errand to the battlefront for his father. 134 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:05,000 And in the next section we see a transformation take place in 135 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:10,000 David's life. We continue to read, we see the things that happened to 136 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:15,000 transform this humble shepherd boy into one of the greatest heroes and winners. 137 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:20,000 We talked about at the beginning, how do you become a winner? How do you become a hero? 138 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:26,400 If we observe David's life and transformation we get some clues on how that happens. 139 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:30,000 So first of all, David hears 140 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:34,700 and he accepts the challenge. We're talking about transformation here. 141 00:11:34,700 --> 00:11:39,000 So his transformation from shepherd boy to hero begins here, 142 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:44,000 and it begins with the fact that he actually understands what's going on. So let's read 143 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:49,000 verse 25, it says, "The men of Israel said, 'Have you seen this man who is coming up? 144 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:53,740 Surely he is coming up to defy Israel. And it will be that the king will enrich the man who 145 00:11:53,740 --> 00:11:59,000 kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house 146 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:04,000 free in Israel.' Then David spoke to the men who were 147 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:08,720 standing by him, saying, 'What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the 148 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:13,000 reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt 149 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:18,000 the armies of the Living God?' The people answered him in accordance to this word, saying, 150 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:23,000 'Thus it will be done for the man who kills him.' Now Eliab his oldest 151 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:28,000 brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's anger burned against David and he said, 152 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:33,000 'Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few 153 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:38,000 sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; 154 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:41,000 for you have come down in order to see the battle.' 155 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:46,000 But David said, 'What have I done now? Was it not just a question?' Then he turned 156 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:52,600 away from him to another and said the same thing; and the people answered the same thing as before." 157 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:55,000 So by now the army is visibly 158 00:12:55,000 --> 00:13:02,120 afraid, another day or so and the Philistines will just cross the valley and destroy them all. 159 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:05,000 Notice that his brothers are angry that he is there to 160 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:10,000 witness their shame. That's why they're angry. They're embarrassed 161 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:15,000 and their little brother is seeing their inaction and embarrassment. 162 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:19,840 Now, if you caught it in the very first verse that I read in this section it says that the king was offering a 163 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:24,000 reward for someone to go up and fight the giant. 164 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:29,960 Actually, he's offering a position in the royal family and the money to fit into the royal family. 165 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:34,000 That's the reward. Now what's really going on is that Saul, 166 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:40,800 the king is desperately looking for someone to do what he should be doing. 167 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:43,000 He is the leader. He is the king. 168 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:48,000 He is the one anointed by God. He is the one that should go to 169 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:53,960 God and say look, I'm the king, I'm going to go forward. But he's looking for somebody else to do it. 170 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:58,000 And if you read this whole passage you'll see that in not in one of 171 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:03,460 the passages does Saul ask God for help. 172 00:14:03,460 --> 00:14:08,000 Nowhere in the story does Saul go to God and say, Lord, what do we do? 173 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:10,000 How can we face the giant? 174 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:14,320 Nowhere does he do this. 175 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:20,000 So we see that David, he hears and he accepts the real challenge, 176 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:24,000 really what's going on. He doesn't just hear the words, he's 177 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:29,000 able to see exactly what the problem is. So David recognizes that the insult 178 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:34,000 isn't against the army or even against King Saul or the nation of Israel. 179 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:39,000 The insult is against God Himself. Because if you insult God's army or 180 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:44,000 God's King ,who do you insult? Well, you're insulting God. So he gets that. 181 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:49,000 And so David's transformation begins with a vision. An understanding 182 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:54,480 of what the true problem is and how serious the problem is. 183 00:14:54,480 --> 00:15:01,000 The second step in David's transformation, he decides to do something. 184 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:06,000 Verse 31, it says, "When the words which David spoke were 185 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:11,000 heard, they told them to Saul and he sent for him. David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart 186 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:16,000 fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.'" 187 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,400 And so what happens here? 188 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:23,880 David reacts, not with fear, but with righteous indignation, holy anger. 189 00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:28,000 Today we would say, well, this is so wrong. This is wrong in so many ways, that this 190 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:33,000 man is standing here insulting the armies of God, God's king 191 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:38,000 God's people, and nobody is doing anything, this is wrong, so he gets it. 192 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:43,000 He gets it, righteous indignation. It was so wrong to insult 193 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:49,260 God and somebody had to do something. Somebody had to go out and shut this guy up. 194 00:15:49,260 --> 00:15:53,000 So David decided that if no one else was going to, 195 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:57,000 he would do something about it. And this brings us to the 196 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:02,000 third most important step in David's transformation. He saw the 197 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:07,000 problem. He decides to do something and then he puts his confidence in 198 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:12,000 God for victory. Let's read verse 33, it says, 199 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:17,000 "Then Saul said to David, 'You're not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; 200 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:22,000 for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.' But David said to 201 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:27,120 Saul, 'Your servant was tending his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, 202 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:31,560 I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose 203 00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:38,000 up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 204 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:43,160 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, 205 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:47,000 since he has taunted the armies of the living God.' And David said, 206 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:52,000 'The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the Lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver 207 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:57,000 me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go and may the 208 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:01,000 Lord be with you.'" So David is basically saying, 209 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:06,000 he's faced danger and death from wild animals while guarding his sheep and he 210 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:11,000 had defeated them with his bare hands. And he had spent many 211 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:16,000 lonely nights by himself in the mountains and these had given him a lot of time to be with 212 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:20,000 God and to know God and to trust him for protection. 213 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:25,000 And basically, a great argument, says, What's the difference, a lion, a bear or this 214 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:30,000 Philistine animal? I've taken on all kinds of animals. 215 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:34,000 So David would risk his life. He'd go down into the valley to fight 216 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:39,000 and he was ready for battle because the transformation from shepherd boy to 217 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:44,000 warrior was complete. First, he was right. 218 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:49,000 Insulting God was wrong and this guy had to be put down because rightness 219 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:55,720 gives you power, rightness gives you power. 220 00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:59,880 It is empowering when you know that you are right. 221 00:17:59,880 --> 00:18:03,540 He was set. Action was needed and he made the 222 00:18:03,540 --> 00:18:08,000 decision to act. So many people they whine and complain and 223 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:13,600 criticize instead of taking action. And he was confident. 224 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:18,000 He knew that his victory would come from God not himself or his strength. So he went 225 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:20,860 into battle with confidence. 226 00:18:20,860 --> 00:18:27,000 You see, transformations occur in our lives when we make up our minds 227 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:30,000 to do what is right 228 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:35,000 and trust God for the strength to complete what is right. 229 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:41,640 And so we've gone from the transformation complete. Let's go now to the victory. 230 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:46,000 And so the story shifts back now to the scene of battle. 231 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:51,000 Verse 38, it says, "Then Saul clothed David with his garments and put a 232 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:56,000 bronze helmet on his head, and the clothed and with armor. David girded his sword 233 00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:01,000 over his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. So David said to Saul, 'I cannot go with these, 234 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:06,000 for I have not tested them.' And David took them off. 235 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:11,000 He took his stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the 236 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:15,000 brook, and put them in the shepherd's bag which he had, even in his pouch, and his 237 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:20,000 sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine." So at first, King Saul, 238 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:25,000 of course, gives David conventional armor and sword and helmet, but the equipment proved to be 239 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:30,560 too bulky untested by David, not something he's used before. 240 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:35,620 He chooses to fight with his own weapon, which is the shepherd's sling. 241 00:19:35,620 --> 00:19:41,600 In a primitive sling shot, if you were, where you swing the rock over your head and release it. 242 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:45,000 These were deadly, very accurate up to about a hundred feet. 243 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:49,000 Again, the battle in those days, was in close quarters 244 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:54,000 and this is how he had killed many of the animals. We go ahead, verse 245 00:19:54,000 --> 00:20:00,000 41, it says, "Then the Philistine came on and approached David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. 246 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:05,000 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, with a 247 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:10,000 handsome appearance." Isn't it interesting that in the middle of the battle the writer goes on to describe that 248 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:15,000 David happened to be good looking. Young guy, but good looking guy. Anyways, goes 249 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:21,360 on verse 43, "The Philistine said to David, am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks? 250 00:20:21,360 --> 00:20:25,000 And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine 251 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:31,260 also said to David, 'Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.'" 252 00:20:31,260 --> 00:20:34,440 So David and Goliath go down into the valley. 253 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:39,720 They confront each other. They're like two prize fighters trying to psych each other out. 254 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:44,000 Do you ever watch boxing and before the fight starts the two 255 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:49,000 fighters come and they face each other and the referee is reading, 256 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:53,800 watch yourselves at all times, low punches and the trainers are back there rubbing, massaging their 257 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:59,000 backs and you see the two fighters just looking at each other, into each other's eyes, 258 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:01,000 they're trying to psych each other out. This is going on here. 259 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:06,000 They're trying to psych each other out. Goliath, of course, is angry that 260 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:11,000 the Israelites have sent a mere boy with no weapons to fight him. 261 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:17,520 He curses David and he threatens to kill him and give his body to the animals to eat. 262 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:21,000 This is what David says, "Then David said to the Philistine, 263 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:26,000 'You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord 264 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:32,600 of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. 265 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:37,000 This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your 266 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:42,000 head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the 267 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:47,000 birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that 268 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:52,000 there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does 269 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:57,000 not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord's and He will 270 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:03,240 give you into our hands.'" Boy, talk about trash talk. 271 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:06,000 Goliath says I'm going to rip you up and I'm going to feed your 272 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:11,000 body to the birds, pretty scary stuff for a big guy. 273 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:18,220 Then David comes back says not only am I going to kill you. I'm going to cut your head off 274 00:22:18,220 --> 00:22:21,000 and feed you to the animals, and not only that, 275 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:26,000 all of your army is going to be fed to the animals, it's like their one upmanship, 276 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:31,740 as far as the trash talk is concerned. 277 00:22:31,740 --> 00:22:35,000 So David's not afraid. 278 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:41,400 He pronounces a curse on him, but a judgment on Goliath, in the name of the Lord. 279 00:22:41,460 --> 00:22:48,320 He tells him that because he insulted the Lord both he and his armies will be defeated by the Lord. 280 00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:51,000 This is exactly why a teenager with no 281 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:55,000 weapons was sent, to show where the 282 00:22:55,000 --> 00:23:02,000 power was really coming from. Isn't that how God works? 283 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:07,600 He doesn't raise up huge armies. He picks small things, humble things, 284 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:12,600 foolish things, to confound the wise and that's his style. 285 00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:17,000 Let's keep reading 48 to 52, 286 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:22,000 not read it rather but just confirm it. We know the story. David had five stones 287 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:27,000 but he only needed one. A lot of speculation, why 5? Some some say, well, he knew that 288 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:32,660 Goliath had other brothers and he had the other stones for the other brothers. 289 00:23:32,660 --> 00:23:37,000 I don't know. We do know he knocks the giant out with his first shot and then jumps 290 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:42,000 on him, cuts cuts off his head with his own sword. Talk about humiliation. 291 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:47,000 That's like being shot with your own weapon. And when Goliath's 292 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:52,000 men see what has happened, that their secret weapon has been defeated, they lose courage and they run. 293 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:58,000 And they're chased back to their border by the jubilant 294 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:02,000 Israelites and their army. 295 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:07,000 So an interesting thing about this story. 296 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:12,000 Literary historians,not Biblical historians, 297 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:16,000 literary historians, those who study ancient literature, 298 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:21,000 literary historians tell us that this story is the basis for 299 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:26,000 every Rocky type story and movie, you know, Rocky, the boxing movie with 300 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:30,000 Sylvester Stallone, the idea of the little guy, 301 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:35,000 the underdog winning against great odds. Well literary 302 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:40,000 historians tell us that this story is the basis for every Rocky type movie or 303 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:44,000 book, every story where the little guy takes on the big guy and wins. 304 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:48,000 This is the source material, 305 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,000 where all of those stories come from. 306 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:56,000 But this story is special because it also teaches us what it takes to 307 00:24:56,000 --> 00:25:02,480 win spiritual and emotional and social battles, not just sporting events. 308 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:05,000 In David's case, he defeated the giant 309 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:11,600 because, first of all, because he was a child of God and Goliath was not. 310 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:15,000 That was the real difference between Goliath and David, 311 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:20,000 not size, not strength. It was who they were. Goliath was a pagan, a 312 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:25,000 blasphemer. He was a sinner. David was one of God's chosen people, a 313 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:31,000 believing obedient holy child of God, even anointed to be future king. 314 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:35,700 Power to overcome is given because of our relationship with 315 00:25:35,700 --> 00:25:39,320 God, not our personal strength. 316 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:46,000 All the working out in the gym doesn't help if God is not your helper. 317 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:51,000 So this story teaches that in a very 318 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,760 dynamic, in a very dynamic way. 319 00:25:54,760 --> 00:26:00,700 David defeated Goliath because he was zealous for God. 320 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:05,000 The word zealous is another word for jealous. 321 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:11,000 It means that the things of God are important to you. 322 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:15,000 So David respected the things and the person of God. 323 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:20,100 He was concerned about an insult to God and an insult to God's people, 324 00:26:20,180 --> 00:26:26,000 that spoke to him. You ought not to do that. 325 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:33,000 This zeal is what inflamed his courage to go out and fight even if he was outmatched. 326 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:38,320 He was outmatched physically but he wasn't outmatched spiritually. 327 00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:42,000 Spiritually he was pumped. 328 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:46,000 It's the quality that moved Noah to build the boat. 329 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:51,000 It's the quality of character that John the Baptist had to go and preach. 330 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:56,000 It was the quality of the Spirit of Jesus 331 00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:01,000 that led him to the cross for our sins and the Apostles to 332 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:05,320 risk their lives preaching the gospel. 333 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:10,000 Zeal is that quality that separates those who are just fooling around for Christ 334 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:15,000 from those who are becoming fools for Christ. There's a difference. 335 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:20,620 Big Difference. David was a fool for God, 336 00:27:20,620 --> 00:27:28,900 because only a fool, a zealous fool, would go fight a giant barehanded. 337 00:27:28,900 --> 00:27:34,000 Only a fool would do that. Only a fool for God 338 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:40,000 takes on the giant, Goliath, in life. 339 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:46,000 And then finally, David won because he had confidence in God. 340 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:50,000 The Philistine relied on size and strength alone. 341 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:55,000 David relied on God for his size and strength. 342 00:27:55,000 --> 00:28:00,000 David knew from experience that the Lord saves those who call upon him and this gave him 343 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:05,000 confidence to face his great enemy. David was confident because with 344 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:10,000 the God of salvation on his side he could not even imagine losing. 345 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:15,000 How can I lose? All right. So now you have the story of David and Goliath, 346 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:20,000 an event that took place some 3,000 years ago. Let's bring the battle into the 347 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:24,800 21st century, shall we? Let's see if it's relevant to us today 348 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:29,000 by asking the following question. Because remember, this series is called 349 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:37,000 "Lessons from the Kings." So what's the lesson for us? 350 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:42,000 Who's your Goliath? That's the lesson. 351 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,400 Who's your Goliath? 352 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:50,000 Every person has his or her own personal Goliath 353 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:55,000 facing them every day, 354 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:58,500 worry, bad habits, 355 00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:02,000 Family problems, fear of death, 356 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:07,000 money issues, problems dealing with intimacy, sexual 357 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:12,000 intimacy, whatever. You see, every day, 358 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:17,000 our own personal Goliath gets up with us in the morning 359 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:22,000 and challenges us to come out and fight. And every 360 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:29,000 night he taunts us for having refused. 361 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:34,000 Let me ask you, when it comes to your personal Goliath, 362 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:39,000 We're not going to take, we could go around and ask and I 363 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:43,540 am confident that every single person, including me, 364 00:29:43,540 --> 00:29:47,400 could name their Goliath. 365 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:53,000 Hey, I'm sure some of us could name three or four Goliath's. 366 00:29:53,000 --> 00:30:00,000 Some people can say I'm surrounded by Goliath's. 367 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:04,080 Let me ask you, when it comes to your own personal Goliath, are you winning? 368 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:12,000 Have you cut off his head yet? Or are you like Saul, shrinking back in fear, paralyzed by his 369 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:18,000 size and power over you. 370 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:23,000 Question is, do you want to be a giant killer? So I've got some good news for you. 371 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:28,000 You can be a victor today. 372 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:34,000 The challenge and the victory, it came in one day for David 373 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:40,280 and it can come in one day for us as well. Here's where to start. 374 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:46,000 The obvious, of course, become a child of God. 375 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:51,000 You can't defeat Goliath unless you are a child of God and you become a 376 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:56,360 child of God when you're born again by repenting of your sins and being baptized in the name of Christ. 377 00:30:56,360 --> 00:31:01,320 We know this, but in the context of this lesson it's very important to remind 378 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:06,000 people that this is the first step in overcoming 379 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,160 any of those Goliath's. 380 00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:15,000 Secondly, you become zealous for God. Become a fool for God and your good 381 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:21,600 conduct and your attitude and your Bible study and your worship and your efforts to bring others to Christ. 382 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:26,000 Because zeal for God generates courage and courage moves us 383 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:35,200 into the arena to fight our own personal Goliath's. 384 00:31:35,260 --> 00:31:36,380 Get in there. 385 00:31:36,380 --> 00:31:42,820 Don't be afraid to do your best, to be foolish, to go overboard. 386 00:31:42,820 --> 00:31:45,000 Never mind if the world will say 387 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:50,000 this guy's a little too religious. Don't worry about them. I don't think 388 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:57,180 God ever accused one of his children of being overly religious. 389 00:31:57,180 --> 00:32:00,480 This is not an accusation that God makes to us. 390 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:05,000 Jesus doesn't accuse us of being, oh you're just a little too religious. Oh you're just a 391 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:10,000 little too overzealous for me. He never says that. 392 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:14,000 He never says that. Who says that? Well, that's the world that says that. 393 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:21,000 Who are we trying to please here? Who are we trying to impress, the world or God? 394 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:25,000 And you will cut off his head. If you absolutely 395 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:30,000 trust in God for the final victory. If God can 396 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:35,320 create a billion stars, each larger than the Earth itself, 397 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:40,000 if God can create a human life from the dust of the ground, 398 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:47,740 surely he can give you the strength to take care of a few puny giants. 399 00:32:47,740 --> 00:32:50,780 The final victory may be long in coming, 400 00:32:50,780 --> 00:32:54,000 but when you put your trust in God, you know 401 00:32:54,000 --> 00:33:01,000 that first and most crucial step towards victory has been taken. 402 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:07,000 You know that song I'm on my way to Canaan's land, I'm on my way? 403 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:13,000 We can change the words of that and it could be, I am on my way to victory. 404 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:19,720 I don't know if such a song exists but it should be written. I'm on my way to victory. 405 00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:23,000 I'm not there yet, maybe, but I know that I'm on my way 406 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:28,000 to my own personal victory and the final victory may be 407 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:33,000 long in coming, as I say, but when you put your trust in God you know 408 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:38,000 that you're on your way to that final victory. So make sure 409 00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:43,000 you know how to be a victor. 410 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:48,000 Make sure that you, this day, 411 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:53,000 become one who can overcome the giants in your life. 412 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:58,000 So those are some of the lessons from David and Goliath, from King 413 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:04,920 David, ultimately became King David. Next week we're going to look at a love story. 414 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:08,640 Some of the lessons we can draw from a wonderful love story. 415 00:34:08,640 --> 00:34:13,340 One of my favorite stories in the Bible and that's David and Abigail. 416 00:34:13,340 --> 00:34:19,900 Great, great, great love story and marvelous lessons from this particular episode. 417 00:34:19,900 --> 00:34:25,040 That's it for today. Thank you very much.