“Saul” – 1 Samuel 24

Most of you know that Speedy has not always been the model citizen that he is today and I know he won’t mind if I tell about something that happened to him back before he came to have a life-changing relationship with Jesus.  It seems that one day Speedy and some of his biker buddies were out riding around and stopped in this little diner up in the panhandle.  They walked in and there was a trucker sitting at the bar eating his lunch and Speedy went over and started giving him a hard time, calling him names and just trying to provoke him and get a rise out of him.

Speedy said, “Oh, you’re a big man in that truck but without those 18 wheels around you, you’re not much of a man, are you?”  The trucker didn’t say anything.  He just kept eating.  So Speedy continued.  “All you truckers think you’re so tough, trying to run us bikers off the road all the time.  It’s a different story when we’re face to face, ain’t it?”  Speedy even kind of gave him a little shove to make his point but the trucker never said a word.  He just got up, paid for his meal and got in his truck and drove off.

When he left, Speedy said to the waitress, “He wasn’t much of a man, was he?”  She said, “No and he’s not much of a trucker either.  He just ran over six motorcycles on the way out of the parking lot.”

That’s funny, not because it’s true, but because we have all been in the trucker’s shoes haven’t we?  We have all had somebody pick on us.  All of us have had somebody do us wrong, abuse us or treat us bad even though we didn’t deserve it and we have all wanted to get even, haven’t we?  For some of us, it happens more than for others, but everybody has times in their lives when all you want to do is…get revenge.

All you have to do is Google “how to get revenge” and the websites pour in.  The internet is busting with people who are fountains of knowledge when it comes to getting revenge.  They might not can spell the word but they know how to get it, at least in their minds.  Have you ever gotten revenge on somebody and it came back to bite you?

When he was an attorney, Abraham Lincoln was once approached by a man who passionately insisted on bringing a suit for $2.50 against an impoverished debtor. Lincoln tried to discourage him, but the man was bent on revenge. When he saw that the man would not be put off, Lincoln agreed to take the case and asked for a legal fee of $10, which the plaintiff paid. Lincoln then gave half the money to the defendant, who willingly confessed to the debt and paid the $2.50! But even more amazing than Lincoln's ingenuous settlement was the fact that the irate plaintiff was satisfied with it. Daily Walk, May 22, 1992

Did you know that the Bible talks about revenge?  In fact, it has quite a bit to say about it and like only the Bible can it tells us how to completely rid ourselves of most of our enemies.  I say “most of” our enemies because there will always be somebody who doesn’t like you no matter what you do and maybe some of you deserve it but most of you don’t and yet most of us still have them.

I have heard it said that if you haven’t made any enemies by age 35, you aren’t doing something right and maybe that’s true but when we have an enemy, the question is, how do we get rid of that enemy?  Let’s look at a story from the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel.  Now, when we talk Old Testament revenge we could very well talk about not just killing your enemy but killing him, his family, his animals and his whole tribe and then making it a law that nobody ever speak his name again. So, yea, there’s that option.  But I don’t recommend that most of the time anymore.

If you really want to get rid of an enemy, take some advice from somebody who knew a thing or two about enemies and how to handle them.  We continue in our sermon series on David today with a look at what happened after he killed Goliath.  You would think that King Saul would absolutely love this guy and he did at first but he quickly became paranoid that David would take over his throne and become king of Israel – which David did – but in the process, Saul did it wrong and wound up with nothing and David did it right and wound up with everything.

Let’s read about one such instance in 1 Samuel 24.  Yes, I want to read the whole chapter but it’s not too long and reads like a story so just sit back and enjoy.

After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.” ² So Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.  ³ He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. ⁴ The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said^[b] to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.  ⁵ Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. ⁶ He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” ⁷ With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.  ⁸ Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. ⁹ He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when men say, ‘David is bent on harming you’? ¹⁰ This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’ ¹¹ See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. See that there is nothing in my hand to indicate that I am guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. ¹² May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you. ¹³ As the old saying goes, ‘From evildoers come evil deeds,’ so my hand will not touch you.  ¹⁴ “Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Who are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea? ¹⁵ May the Lord be our judge and decide between us. May he consider my cause and uphold it; may he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand.”  ¹⁶ When David finished saying this, Saul asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” And he wept aloud. ¹⁷ “You are more righteous than I,” he said. “You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. ¹⁸ You have just now told me about the good you did to me; the Lord delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. ¹⁹ When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the Lord reward you well for the way you treated me today. ²⁰ I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. ²¹ Now swear to me by the Lord that you will not kill off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s family.”  ²² So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

If you were to ask David – who was a great warrior and has killed more than his share of enemies – what the best way is to get rid of an enemy, he would tell you to make the enemy…your friend.  Now, this is not how David always did it.  Sometimes David would take revenge on an enemy and wipe that person or people out.  The problem is that with that method, there is always retaliation.  Some friend or son or cousin would always come back looking to settle the score.  The problem was and still is that the score is never settled.  But when you make the enemy your friend, the only thing that dies is the score.

In looking at this story there are several things that we can learn about taking revenge and how to make enemies into friends and we will get to those in just a second but we first have to address something else.  We saw last week that God often gives us divine encounters with people so that we can use our God-given talents with them.

In this story, God has given David a divine encounter with King Saul when Saul goes into a cave to use the bathroom.  You may or may not ever have a similar encounter but whether you do or not, we can learn some things from how David reacted in this encounter.  To say that Saul is in a compromising position is putting it mildly.  There is no worse place to be than where Saul is at this point and he doesn’t even know it.

There are 600 men behind him in this cave; 600 warriors who are just waiting on David to give the word to kill Saul; 600 guys, some of whom you know are making jokes way back in the back of that cave.  We will not do that this morning.  You will have to come back tonight to make fun of Saul.  I’m just kidding.  Let’s look at some things David does to get rid of his most feared enemy.

First and foremost, David has not given Saul any reason to hate him.  He has given Saul no ammunition to use against him.  He hasn’t done anything wrong.  He has acted godly, caring and professional in every way.  Romans 12:18 says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”  If it is possible!  Sometimes we all know that it is not possible but as far as you are concerned, do all you can.

Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is more desirable than great riches.”  A good name according to who?  Today’s society actually respects a person more who will fight for every last right and allows no one to ever take advantage or get anything over on him.  But God says to turn the other cheek and to walk the extra mile for the other person.  That’s a good name according to God.  Be that person and as far as it is possible, live at peace with everyone.

So, first of all, David has given Saul no reason to hate him; no reason to not get along with him.  That’s the first thing you do to get rid of an enemy.  The second thing we see from this story is that David showed Saul mercy and he showed mercy when Saul was the most vulnerable.  He had every chance to stab Saul in the back or slit his throat and end all this chasing around foolishness.

Can’t you just picture it?  David and his men see Saul and his men approaching so they run and hide in a cave so Saul won’t find them and then a few minutes later, look who walks in the cave.  Saul is just trying to get some privacy and doesn’t know how close to death he is.  David sneaks up behind him with his knife out.  In his mind is racing all the reasons why he should end all this.

Saul has taken everything, and I mean everything from him.  David has no place to live.  He is newly married to the king’s own daughter but he can’t go back to her now.  All he has is on his back and he has done nothing to deserve this and everybody knows it.  Now the one causing all this grief is right in front of him and even his own men are encouraging David to kill him. 

David reaches out ever so quietly with that razor sharp knife…and cuts a corner off the king’s robe.  Then he even feels bad about doing that because it showed disrespect to the king.  This is God’s chosen man and David knows he shouldn’t disrespect him, much less kill him.  David shows mercy to Saul, not just for Saul’s sake but for God’s sake. 

And God says to show mercy.    So, there’s that.  Luke 6:27 says, "But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.”  Do good to those who hate you.  No problem there, right?  That’s all we have to do.  Proverbs 25 says, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.”  Romans 12 says the exact same thing.  Do you know why it says to do this?  It says to do this because it disarms your enemy and a disarmed enemy is on the way to being a defeated enemy.  It goes on to say that showing your enemy mercy is like pouring hot coals on his head.

Do you want to get rid of an enemy?  Don’t give him reason to hate you but if he does…show him mercy.  Luke 6:36 says to be merciful because your Father is merciful.  If God can show us mercy, we can show others mercy and in doing so, we get rid of our enemies.

The next thing we see David do in this story and the thing that we should also try to do if possible is to communicate with our enemies.  In verse 8 we see David start to try to talk to King Saul.  He shows him respect.  He has shown him mercy and now he tries to communicate with him.

I heard about the man who was having trouble communicating with his wife and he finally came to the conclusion that she was going deaf.  So he decided to conduct a test to see how bad it was.  Without her knowing it and with her back to him, he started by whispering from across the room.  “Can you hear me?”  There was no response.  He moved a little closer and whispered again.  “Can you hear me now?”  Still no response.

Again he moved a little closer and repeated it without a sound from his wife.  Finally, he got right up behind her and whispered right in her ear.  “Can you hear me?”  She finally turns around and said, “For the 4^th time, yes!”

So many times we have enemies just because of a miscommunication or lack of communication and trust me, I know, you can sometimes try your best to communicate and some people are never going to listen.  Don’t let that be said of you.  If you really want to rid yourself of an enemy, you are rarely going to explain him away.  But you may very well listen him away.

David communicates respectfully.  He communicates sincerely and he communicates humbly.  None of that is easy to do.  The question is how bad do you want to get rid of this enemy?  Sometimes it’s easier to just keep on fighting than it is to make the effort to be respectful to somebody who doesn’t deserve it; to be sincere with somebody that is a smart-alec and to be humble with an arrogant person.  But that is what Romans means by “as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” 

That’s not a suggestion.  That is a command from God and not to do so is sin and you can’t expect God to bless a situation in your life when you are sinning.  That goes for any aspect of your life.  Don’t even try to pray for wisdom for some situation in your life if you have sin in your life.  Don’t expect God to show mercy if you are not showing mercy and don’t expect God to listen to you if you haven’t been listening to Him.

I hope you have noticed that everything we are to do to get rid of our enemies is just what God does with us.  He shows us mercy.  Oh my, does He show us mercy.  He communicates with us.  He has even given us His Holy Spirit to live inside of us to communicate respectfully, sincerely and humbly.  He has given us His Word to know His will.  Are you communicating with Him?

There is one more thing that we see David do in this story; one more way he makes sure, to the best of his ability that Saul will no longer be his enemy.  He not only didn’t want Saul to chase him down and try to kill him anymore.  He tried to be reconciled.  He tried to make him a friend or at least show Saul that David cared for him.  He made every effort to be reconciled.

Two little brothers had finished supper and were playing until bedtime.  Somehow one of them hit the other one with a stick and hurt him and then the war was on!  They were screaming and fighting until mama went up there to get them ready for bed.  She said, “Now Billy, before you go to bed you are going to have to forgive your brother for hitting you.” 

Billy thought about this for a while and he finally said, “Well, okay, I’ll forgive him tonight…but he better watch out in the morning!”

That’s not exactly reconciliation, is it?  Because David was merciful and he communicated respectfully, sincerely and humbly, Saul was willing to be reconciled (at least for a while).  David did everything he could to live at peace with Saul.  He hadn’t done anything wrong but he swallowed his pride and gave up his right to be mad and instead of getting even he reconciled with Saul and got rid of his enemy by making him his friend. 

See, reconciliation is more than just calling a truce.  Because David did everything right Saul was all in favor of just packing it up and going home.  He was moved by David’s acts and efforts and wanted things to be right between them.  It didn’t last but there was nothing David could do about that.  He had done everything in his power to make Saul not an enemy but a friend and God had blessed it and God continued to bless David and did not bless Saul.

Now, Matthew 10:16 says, "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”  What Jesus is saying is that we are to be smart; we ought to be cautious.  It’s a mean and crazy world but if there is a relationship problem between you and somebody else, it better not be your fault.

We have David as a model for how to handle difficult people and Saul was difficult to say the least.  But we also have God Himself as a model.  David was a man after God’s own heart and this is one reason why that is said.  He modeled himself after God who wants nothing more than to have a relationship with you.  He is merciful, He communicates with us.  He even sent His own Son to the cross so we could be reconciled with Him even though some of us are pretty difficult.

David was merciful.  He communicated and he tried to reconcile but he couldn’t do that without a relationship with God and neither can you.  It’s one thing to not be reconciled with a neighbor and it’s a completely different thing to not be reconciled to the Creator of the universe, the Redeemer and the Sustainer, the Father and we do that through His Son Jesus.

Jesus said to simply believe in Him and we can be reconciled but that means to admit you are a sinner, ask and be forgiven of all your sins and give your whole life to Him, knowing that He loves you and He is in control.  Be reconciled to Him today.

David and Goliath – 1 Samuel 17

Maybe it’s just because I’m a guy. Maybe it’s because I was raised watching boxing with my dad. Or maybe it’s entertaining to everybody. I don’t know. But I love to watch a good fight. I’m not talking about street-fighting or when some loser punches his wife. I just mean I like to watch 2 athletes box or wrestle or kick box or Karate or that MMA stuff in a ring. And the best fights are always when the underdog wins.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a whole Rocky movie but isn’t that the premise behind most of them? Rocky is too young or too old or too something and he surely can’t win the big fight…but he does. I think everybody likes a story like that even if you don’t like to watch boxing. Maybe that’s why they made 6 of them and I think they made just about as many Rambo movies but that’s another sermon.
I did a little research, and as always, when I say I did some research I mean I googled it, and found out that everybody likes an underdog. And it is true in every sport from boxing to tiddlywinks but it is also true in every other aspect of life.  We have a political season coming up and you will hear certain politicians being referred to as the underdog. 
Don’t be fooled.  That is not an accident.  If somebody calls them an underdog they are most likely being paid by that politician to say it because politicians know that being an underdog works heavily in your favor.  Studies have shown that being labeled an underdog can make your actions seem more virtuous and your face appear more beautiful. (The Underdog Effect -Why do we love a loser? By Daniel Engber)
Being labeled an underdog gives the impression that you try harder, have more heart, more courage and more gumption.  And that may or may not be true but that is how we look at underdogs.  What it boils down to is that everybody likes an underdog because everybody sees themselves as an underdog.
We can all relate to being the underdog and for most of us we never seem to win anything and so we root for the underdog because we long for some kind of justice in this world.  How much more so when we see the underdog as being young and pure and on the “right” team and his opponent is just a big ol’ meanie-headed jerk!  Which is what makes the story of David and Goliath such a timeless classic and the perfect underdog story.
If you would like to read along with that story, turn to 1 Samuel 17.  And since most of you have not read this story in a good while, and probably haven’t turned to the book of 1 Samuel in a while, I will set the story up for you as you find your place in 1 Samuel chapter 17.  The Samuels are in between the books of Ruth and 1 Kings.
I have been looking forward to preaching from this passage for a long time.  It is one of my all-time favorite stories in the whole Bible.  I have said many times that I grew up reading about David growing up and now it seems like we are old friends.  And this story has fascinated me since before I could read it for myself.  And it has continued to fascinate me as I have been studying it lately.
I called my mom just this week and said, “Mama!  Did you know that Goliath was 9’6” tall???  His armor weighed 150 pounds!  The head of his spear alone weighed like 16 pounds!  That’s incredible!”  I felt like a little kid again saying, “Mama, look at this!”  I love this story!  It has action, drama, suspense, an underdog and a big ol’ meanie-headed jerk.  And the big ol’ meanie-headed jerk gets his big ol’ meanie head cut smooth off.  How great is this?
But I’ll tell you what else it has.  It has a twist in the story.  Because it looks like as you read it the first time that the story is all about David and Goliath.  But while this story does star those guys, the Author, the Producer, the Director and the One who made it all happen is God.  This story is more about God than it is about David or Goliath.  Let’s read the story and we will see on the other side why I say that.
1 Samuel starting in chapter 17.  I’m not going to read the whole chapter but I will read most of it.  And it’s ok.  I promise it won’t take any longer than usual so just sit back, relax and enjoy “Story Time” this week.
Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. 2 Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. 3 The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them. 4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.[a] 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels[b]; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.[c] His shield bearer went ahead of him. 8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. 12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. 13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah. 14 David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, 15 but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. 16 For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand. 17 Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah[d] of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 18 Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance[e] from them. 19 They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.” 20 Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. 22 David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. 23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. 24 Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.
Now skip over to verse 32.  32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” 33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you.” 38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. 41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42 He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, “Am I a dog,  that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!” 45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” 48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground. 50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. 51 David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. 52 Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath[f] and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. 53 When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp. 54 David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent.
Isn’t that a great story?  Do you believe it’s true?  I hope so.  I sure do.  And while some scholars disagree about just how tall Goliath was – some say only 6 something while others say he may have been as much as 11 feet tall – it doesn’t matter.  Again, as in all great biblical stories, critics want to pick it apart and say that there is no way this could have happened because of such and such reason.  I won’t even go into the ridiculous things they said about this story.  Either God did a miracle or He didn’t.
Either the story is true or it isn’t.  Either the whole Bible is true or none of it is true!  And when you get distracted by debating if Goliath’s helmet covered his forehead or not or if both of his legs were covered in armor or just one of them, then you miss seeing what this story is all about.  I want us to see that God intervened here.  I want us to see that it was God’s grace and mercy at work, not a slingshot.
I want us to specifically see that God gave David a divine encounter.  God gave David divine talent.  God gave David divine confidence.  And then God gave David divine victory.  Look again at verse 23 to see how God gave David this divine encounter.  As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it.
Do you think it is just coincidence that David showed up when he did?  Do you think it was just good luck, good karma, chance, fate or happenstance that David happened to be at the right place at the right time to hear Goliath defy Israel and God Himself?  Do you think it was coincidence that it was 40 days exactly that he had been doing this when 40 days in the Bible is nearly always symbolic of trials or testing?
So often, God shows up in the Bible and brings relief at 40 days.  And that is exactly what He does here with this little teenaged shepherd boy from the sticks.  God brings about this divine encounter and does it in a way that only God can do.  And what do we call it when God does something only God can do?  That’s called a miracle.  And miracles don’t happen by chance, good luck or certainly not by some made up thing called karma.
Why did God give David this divine encounter with Goliath?  Was it to show how strong David was or how brave he was?  Or to prove he should be king while putting Saul in his place? Was it because nobody else was able to defeat Goliath?  No.  In fact, I am confident that if David had not been obedient to what God told him to do that God could just have easily have used any other man, woman, child or tree on the battlefield to do the job.
God would have found somebody else to do it and David would have had to suffer the consequences of disobedience while the other was blessed for his obedience.  And either way, God gets the ultimate glory, not the person.  And I will tell you why I am so confident in saying that in a minute but we see in our next point that God gave David divine talent.  He gave him the divine encounter with Goliath and now we see in verses 34-37 that God also gave David divine talent.
But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you.”
Now, when I say that God gave David divine talent, I, of course, do not mean that God gave David the talent to be divine or to be god-like but that the talent was a divine gift.  And it was obviously a God-given gift that David had to be able to kill a much more powerful enemy.  This is not Samson who had great strength.  God had given David the talent and the ability to think straight under pressure, to be able to move quickly and to do what was necessary to kill a lion and a bear.
Now, don’t you wish you had that kind of talent?  And if you do…why?  Because what possible good would it ever do you?  When would the ability to kill a lion and a bear be of any use?  What about the ability to use a slingshot?  Wooo, there’s a talent!  Big deal, right?  Don’t you know David must have practiced with that slingshot a thousand times, wondering what good it would ever do in the scheme of things?
I bet he prayed, “God give me some real talent.  Sure, I’m good with this stupid slingshot but I want a real talent that will help me in life.”  Doesn’t that sound ridiculous now?  How God must have smiled to hear a prayer like that from David!  And how He must smile when He hears a prayer like that from you!  Because He knows what you don’t know; that He is going to give you a divine encounter with somebody and He is going to use you to bring about change in their life because He has gifted you with the talent that person needs.
And you can choose to use your so-called “insignificant” divine talent to pray or to read or to use the internet or ride a motorcycle or use a slingshot to God’s glory and be blessed by it or God will find somebody else and bless them while you suffer the consequences of squandering your divine talents.  Phillips Brooks once said, “It is almost as presumptuous to think you can do nothing as to think you can do everything.”
God hasn’t called any of us to do everything.  But He has called all of us to do something and He has provided the talents and abilities to do it for every one of us.  And when that divine encounter comes for you and you have the opportunity to use your divine talent, you can have divine confidence like David did.  Let’s look at verses 45-47 to see that.
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
That’s big talk for a little boy!  How does a guy like David get that kind of divine confidence?  Because if it were me looking across the field at Goliath the warrior I think I would have remembered the verse that says, “Be still and know that He is God.”  Instead, it says that David ran toward him.  Did you see that in verse 48?  David picked up 5 stones and took off running toward Goliath.  And maybe it’s just because I’m such a big fan of David’s that I think he picked up 5 stones because Goliath had 4 brothers behind him.  But I don’t know that.
How do you know when to “Be still and know that He is God” and when to run toward the warrior?  Because both take divine, God-given confidence; not confidence in yourself, but that God is going to do what He said He would do.  And that is where that confidence comes from.  It comes from knowing what God says and believing it.
And for David, we know he was taught the scriptures and I believe it was a scripture like is found in Deuteronomy 20:1-4 that gave him his divine confidence.  Let me read that to you.  This is a passage that David would have been familiar with, I’m sure.  It says, “When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. 2 When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. 3 He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. 4 For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”
Now, as much as I would love to claim that verse, I can’t.  It is not a promise to everyone in the world.  It was given to the children of Israel and as a child of Israel, David could claim that verse and I believe he did, (or one similar to it) knowing that God was the One going with them to fight and that it was God that was going to bring about the victory.
David shows up on the battlefield, hears Goliath and thinks, “It’s not that he is so big that I can’t win.  He is so big I can’t miss because God is going to do the fighting.”  And while we can’t claim that particular verse and say that every enemy we are going to come across is going to be defeated, we do have thousands of other promises from God in His Word that we can hang on to because we know what it says and we believe it!
When God says He will never leave us; that He is our shield, our rock, our fortress, that His name is a mighty tower; when He says He will give us rest, He will give us a full and abundant life, He will give wisdom, forgive sins and not forsake His people for His great name's sake then we can have confidence in that to the point that we know without a doubt that He will use our divine encounters with our divine talents to give us that divine confidence which will ultimately result in divine victory.
Let’s look how that worked out for David in verses 50-51.  He has divine victory. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. 51 David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.
All the “Rocky’s” 1-6 can’t compare with that!  Some people might think this is not as big of a miracle as parting the Red Sea was but have you ever tried to use a slingshot?  Especially one like David had?  This was no small miracle.  In fact, because of that one kill, the ladies back home made up a song that went, “Saul has killed his thousands but David his tens of thousands!”
David had only killed one guy but the ramifications of that were bigger than just Goliath.  It changed everything for David and for all of the people around him as well.  God loved them so much He wanted to give them victory.  And God could have just done it.  God could have struck Goliath down with a heart attack.  But as we saw last week and we see again here, God allows us to be a part of His plan.
When we take advantage of our divine encounters and use our divine talents, He gives us divine confidence based on His promises.  And He does it to bring us to divine victory through Him and for Him when we are followers of Him.

“Living Out God’s Grace” – Galatians 5:16-26

The Civil War was by far the bloodiest conflict this nation has ever been a part of.  From 1861-1865 there were over one million casualties, both military and civilian.  In no other war has there ever been such bloodshed.  What made it worse was how often it would pit brother against brother or family against family.  It was such a horrible time in our nation’s history.  It’s hard to fathom what was going on in some people’s minds.

We are talking about neighbors, friends and loved ones who had so much in common who basically decided that we are right and you are wrong and we feel so strongly about it that it is worth killing each other to prove it.  It basically boiled down to one side saying they wanted to live this way but the other side said, no, you need to live that way.

It tore our nation apart and in some ways, even 150 years later, we still haven’t healed.  Is there anything worse than two family members fighting against each other?  Yes.  Yes, there is.  What’s worse than two family members fighting is one person at war with himself.  The book of James says a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways and yet every single one of us has, not just the tendency, but the innate programming to want to do what is right…and evil at the same time.

You thought it was just you, didn’t you?  You thought surely you were the only one who ever did what he didn’t want to do.  You want to do the right thing.  You know BOOCOD. You know the benefits of obedience and the consequences of disobedience.  You love Jesus.  You have a personal relationship with God through His Son.  You are filled with the Holy Spirit.  You go to church.  You worship.  You even raised your hands on that last song!  There’s even a fish symbol on your car and a cross around your neck and yet you often find yourself going to God in prayer asking for forgiveness for the same old thing that you swore you would never do again.

Right now some of you are thinking, “Oh great!  The preacher saw me doing that thing!” and some of you may be right but probably not.  The reason I know this is simply because the Bible says it but also, and I’ll be honest, I know it from being there in my own life.  I know the regret.  I know the shame.  I know the consequences and I don’t ever want to be there again.  So…what do we have to do to not be in that place of regret, shame and consequences?

We first start by turning to Paul’s letter to the Galatians, chapter 5, verses 16-26.  Paul knew this frustration as well.  He could relate.  He even said as much in Romans 7:15. “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”  Does that sound like you?  Sure it does.  It sounds like everybody and that’s the good news.  The bad news is that in God’s eyes, it doesn’t matter that everybody does it.  It is still sin and you still put a barrier between you and God every time you sin so STOP IT!  But how?

Galatians 5:16-26.  Galatians is between 2 Corinthians and Ephesians in the New Testament and is written to church-going people; people that were truly believers but who had drifted off the path of the pure Gospel as being the only way to Heaven and had started to believe that maybe it wasn’t just God’s grace that allowed them in and that maybe they weren’t saved only by grace and through faith.  The Galatian churches also knew the regret, shame and consequences of not doing what they wanted to do.  Here is what Paul told them.

 ^“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  ¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.  ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

I know I have told you this story before but it is a good reminder and I want to tell you again, briefly, about my duck friends who live in Duckville.  It was Sunday morning and the bells of the First Baptist Church in Duckville were ringing, calling all the wonderful ducks to church and so all the ducks waddled down the road to the duck church, waddled in and sat in the little duck pews.  They sang and worshiped and then the little duck pastor waddled up and began to give the sermon. 

He said, “My dear duck family, we may not be eagles but we too have wings and God has called us to freedom.  We don’t have to waddle everywhere.  We can fly!  God has given us wings to soar like eagles!”  All the ducks said “Amen!” and they were all so moved at this inspirational message.  It just blessed them all so.  It was just great - and then they all waddled home.

That’s one of my greatest fears, my dear little duck family.  Y’all are always supportive and I appreciate that.  But I wonder sometimes if all of us don’t waddle home after church and I don’t just mean the way it feels leaving Dos Chiles on Sunday afternoon.  Waddling home might be easy to do in a passage like this and we will see why in just a minute. 

First, I want us to break this down into manageable chunks.  Paul starts by describing that civil war that rages inside each of us.  Then he gives examples of the results of not making the right choice and then he illustrates what making the right choice should look like and all through it he gives us the way to keep from making the wrong choices.

Robert Robinson wrote a hymn in 1758 that we still sing sometimes around here.  The song “Come Thou Fount” has these words.  O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

That’s an honest song.  We all have hearts that are prone to wander away from God.  Without a conscious effort we all will wander away.  I have heard it said that nobody drifts toward God.  If we are drifting, it is always away from God so we have to be vigilant about our walk with God so that we don’t drift.  The reason that we drift is because of that civil war inside of us that causes us great damage.

Paul says the sinful nature is at war with the Spirit.  You’ll notice that “Spirit” is capitalized.  No, Paul didn’t use capitalization when he wrote it but we do because it is talking about the Holy Spirit; the Spirit that lives inside each believer.  2 Timothy 1:14 says, “Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.”

Now, you would think that when the Holy Spirit comes into our lives that there would be no way the sinful nature could still have any control but we are born with this sinful nature.  Paul sometimes calls it the flesh or the old man.  It is who we used to be but we don’t have to be that person any more.  The problem is we sometimes make provision for that old man.  In Romans 13:14, again Paul encourages us to make no provision for the works of the flesh.  Instead he tells us four times in our passage in Galatians what to do.

He says in verse 16 to live by the Spirit.  In verse 18 we are to be led by the Spirit and in verse 25 we are to live by the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit.  So, there you go.  That’s all you have to do to avoid sin and avoid the regret, shame and consequences that come with it.  Live, be led and keep in step by the Spirit.  It’s that easy.

So, I appreciate you being here and I’ll see you tonight at 6 but for now we can all just - waddle on home. What do you think?  I don’t know about you but I don’t want to waddle home. I refuse to leave here unchanged. I want to know more about what it means to live, be led and walk in step with the Spirit.  Paul tells us that to not do this results in a lifestyle starting in verse 19.  We don’t want that.

We want the fruit or the evidence of the Spirit living in our lives that starts in verse 22.  I want love, joy and peace and all those other good things but what does it look like to walk in the Spirit?  That’s so churchy.  It sounds good and we all want to do it but how is my life going to change when I am walking by the Spirit?  What parts of my life, my attitude, my habits need to change?

Well, let’s think about this.  If you said you lived your life by...I don’t know, politics, what would it look like?  If you decided you were going to live, be led and walk by the Democrat party, what would you do?  First, I recommend counseling because that’s a bad idea but just humor me here for a minute and let’s use it as an illustration.

If you wanted to live by the Democrat party, you would go to all the meetings.  You would watch all the debates.  You would go on the website and find out everything there is to know about the party; what they believe, why they believe it and where it comes from and you would try to do whatever was needed to get the word out about how great you thought it was.  If your life was to be devoted to it then you would rarely be at home watching TV.  You would want to be out helping the cause and most importantly, you would never listen to or support or make any provision for the other side.  You know.  Sort of like CNN.

Make no provision for the other side.  Make no provision for the old man, the flesh or the sinful nature.  Allow Satan no foothold, no matter how small.  I’ve told you before that at Unchained Biker Church, Ben often led us in songs that were classic rock and roll songs that he had changed the words to and had made them into great worship songs but when he came to be our music guy, I asked him not to play some of those.

Do you know why?  It’s not because I don’t like those old songs.  I actually do.  I really do.  The problem is that some of those rock and roll songs bring back memories of a time when I was definitely not walking by the Spirit and I was doing some things that weren’t right.  The thing is, I was having fun doing those things.  I know I’m not the only one to ever have had fun while sinning.  The Bible even says that sin is pleasurable for a season (Heb. 11:25).

So, when I hear those songs, even when they have different words, it takes me back to a time when I was having fun for a while but I knew the regret, shame and consequences all too well.  But I hear those and start to have a conversation in my head.  “Man, those were some fun times, huh?  We ought to do that again.  It’ll be different this time, though” and I don’t want to open that door for those thoughts.  I don’t want to make any provision for that old man because while a part of me wants to go back to that, the part that is walking by the Spirit hates that old man and the lies he tells and wishes he would go back to hell where he came from!

It’s not wrong to listen to rock music or country music in and of themselves.  It’s not wrong to watch TV.  It’s not wrong to surf the internet but if anything leads you to sin then shut that down.  Don’t go near it.  It is just what Jesus meant in Matthew 5:30 when He said, “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”

To really walk by the Spirit you have to be tuned in to the Spirit.  You should spend the majority of available time reading God’s Word, studying its meaning and praying over it, listening to Christian music, being in church with other believers, finding out what pleases God.  In Ephesians 5, Paul says, “and find out what pleases the Lord. ¹¹ Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness.”

How are you going to know what pleases the Lord if you are not consistently in the scripture, if you are not consistently in church and consistently in a state of prayer?  F.B. Meyer said, “This is the bitterest of all--to know that suffering need not have been; that it has resulted from indiscretion and inconsistency.”  Ezekiel 36:26, 27:  A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you . . . I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes.

How can you walk in His statutes if you don’t know His statutes?  You have to be consistent and you have to have a plan.  Without a plan you will wander and drift and you don’t want that.  You need to make a plan for how much time you are going to allow yourself to watch TV or play golf or whatever else you may do that might not be wrong to do but might keep you from spending quality and consistent time with God in prayer and in His Word.

Have a plan right now so that no matter what else comes up, if you are at all able to, you will be at church on Sunday.  How many of you know that missing church one Sunday makes it twice as easy to miss the next Sunday?  Do you know what missing church does?  It makes a provision for the flesh.  It opens a door – maybe a little door or even a window to just look through – but it opens it for sin to come in and pretty soon you have regrets, shame and consequences and all you did was miss one Sunday.

These are some of the secrets to living by the Spirit but there’s a problem.  If you do all these things; if you never miss church and you spend time every day in the Word and in prayer and all you listen to is Christian music – all those good and necessary things – it’s still not enough.  You have to do those things to keep from making any provision for your sinful nature but you can do all those things and be Mr. and Mrs. Goody Two Shoes all day long and still not be able to conquer your own sinful nature, much less Satan when he attacks.

If you could do it then think about it.  How proud would you be of yourself?  Look what I did.  Look how I overcame the old man.  I am a pretty good person.  I’m a really good Christian.  That is the same as being under the Law and verse 18 says if you are led by the Spirit then you are not under the Law.  Let me read Ezekiel 36:26, 27 again:  “A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you . . . I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes.”  God says He will cause you to walk in His statutes.

You have to make sure you make no provision for the sinful nature.  You do what you can do but acknowledge that you can’t do it.  You can’t fight off the sinful nature on your own.  Only God working through you can. 

If God said that to be a good Christian and go to Heaven that all you had to do was jump from the ground up to the steeple on top of this building, then you would prepare yourself.  You would put on good tennis shoes.  You would stretch out and eat a good meal that morning and you would plan how you were going to jump and where you were going to land exactly but when it comes time to make it all the way up there you would say, “God, I can’t do it.  Please do it through me.”  That is right where God wants you to be.

Romans 6:14 says, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”  Do you believe that?  Do you have faith that God is able to overcome your sinful nature and that He wants to do it through you and all you have to do is make no provision for that old nature?

I want us to stop right now and bow our heads and close our eyes and spend time with God right now asking Him what in your life needs to change.  You don’t have to.  You can waddle on home and keep fighting that civil war and struggling and dealing with regret, shame and the consequences of living in sin or you can ask God to search you and try you and see if there be any wicked way in you, and lead you in the way everlasting. (Ps. 139)

Do that right now as the music plays. 

*Turn off recorder*

Invitation / Prayer

This is just the tip of the iceberg in unpacking this wonderful passage of scripture.  But if you don’t have a real handle on this aspect of walking by the Spirit then it will be a hard and frustrating life for you.  Come back tonight at 6 and we will continue to unpack this.