Facing Your Goliath in the Lord's Strength

Facing Goliath

1 Samuel 17:2-11, 16, 23-24
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. He was over nine feet tall. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; 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. 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 ranks 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…  16 For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand…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 When the Israelites saw the man, they all ran from him in great fear
 
1.    We are in a battle

• The context of Israel and Philistia
• Every person is in a spiritual battle
• We are not in the garden anymore
• Every day we battle the world the flesh and the devil

 
2.    Every Person Faces Goliath

• The size and stature of Goliath: the largest man who ever lived and humanly speaking, the scariest warrior
• The response of Israel—fear

1. Goliath’s strategy is to consume us with fear

• Fear robs us of our identity
• Fear can lead to shame, anger, pride, lust or selfishness
• If the devil can deceive us to look at our fear rather than God, then we are paralyzed to fight the battle, pursue after Christ and become servants for Christ’s Kingdom

 
1 Sam. 17:32-50
32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
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.
 
3.    Our confidence to defeat Goliath needs to be in God and not in ourselves

• Saul’s armor represented the flesh, the best of human resources
• Our problem is not just that we are weak but we are completely inadequate and helpless!
• Eph. 2:1, Romans 8:1-3, 2 Cor. 3:4-6
• David’s confidence was in God
• He had seen God work in His life in defeating the lion and bear
• We need small victories to build a track record of trusting God and seeing Him work in our lives
• David understood God’s nature and provision of victory
• David rejected the resources of the flesh
• We need to say no to sin and to self-sufficiency; there is a difference between Christ-confidence and self-confidence
• Sometimes in order to break with the flesh we must put it to death!
• Col. 3:5
• We have got to be ruthless with ourselves so that we don’t take matters into our own hands and trust in ourselves rather than trusting in God
• David took off Saul’s armor and we need to take off the old self and put on the new self-Ephesians 4:20-24

 
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 only a boy, ruddy 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 of the air and the beasts of the field!”
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 hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, 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.
 
4.    The Battle is the Lord’s

• David challenged Goliath in the Lord’s strength and he ran full out to the fight his enemy
• God is the Victor
• Jesus has already won
• We have victory in Jesus’ name
• We need to know our rights as a children of God
• When our eyes are on Christ and we know our position in Him, we have His confidence to run to battle and defeat the enemy
• The battle belongs to the Lord!