David's Duel with Goliath, Part 3

I'm so sorry, I forgot to tell you, it's Daylight Savings Time this weekend. That's why I want you to go to bed early on Saturday night. It wasn't because you guys are sleeping in church. I'm sorry, I guess I didn't communicate that very well. You know, it was in my mind, it just wasn't on my lips. So, you turn your clocks ahead, you know, one hour early on Saturday night, and so you get one hour less sleep this weekend. That's all I was trying to tell you. Please, if you took it the wrong way, that wasn't my idea.

You guys don't sleep in church. That's the other people who come, not you guys. Okay, if you got your Bible, 1 Samuel chapter 17. We'll finish David's duel with Goliath this evening, trying to come up and understand what those principles are that caused David to be that victorious warrior. He was one who stood alone. Because he stood alone, he stood apart from everybody else. Because he stood alone and apart, he stood above everybody else. He led Israel to victory. They followed him into victory.

And this would set the tone for the rest of David's life, both good and bad. And you'll see that as the chapters unfold each and every week as we study it together. But we're trying to understand some of the principles that are a conclusion to 1 Samuel 17 as to what took place in David's life that made him the kind of man that he was, that he was able to obtain victory over this giant. And by looking at them, we're able to understand how it is we gain victory over the giants that we face. Maybe they're huge.

Maybe they're not so big. Maybe there are obstacles that come our way. But how do we gain the victory every day? How do we learn to stand alone that we can stand apart, ultimately stand above because God puts us above everybody else, not to exalt us, but that he himself would be glorified. Well, principle number one was simply that there had to be a selection by the sovereign will of God.

You were selected by God. That's what David was. He was selected by God. God had rejected Saul as king and God says, I've chosen a man after my own heart.

And David was that man. And he was specifically selected by God. In order for him to accomplish anything for his God, he had to have the ironclad assurance that God had chosen him to be the king of Israel, that God had placed him in his family, that God had placed him in his town, in his nation to be the kind of man God wants him to be. The Bible says over in Psalm 78, these words, verse number 70, He also chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds, from the care of the ewes, and with suckling lambs he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance.

So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them with his skillful hands. God had selected him. God had chosen him. God had appointed him. In order for us to gain victory over any obstacle that we face, we must believe that God has chosen us for his purposes. And that's exactly what took place in David's life. You know, as I thought about this, I was thinking way back many, many years ago. I did a series on a Father's Day that went into two parts, and then three parts, and four parts, and you know how that goes.

And it had to be a six-part series for Father's Day. This was back in the early 90's. And it was entitled, The Marks of a Man. What are the marks of a man? And point number one was that the first mark of a man is that he's uninhibited in his calling.

That is, he knows that God has called him. God has selected him. God has chosen him. And because he has, nothing thwarts his desire to fulfill the purposes that God has for him. And we said way back then that he's uninhibited in his calling because he knows he's been selected by God, number one, for salvation, number two, for service, and ultimately to suffer for the sake of the kingdom of God.

And that man of God is able to stand strong because he knows that God has selected him. Abraham was the same way. God called him from Ur of the Chaldees. God chose Abraham. God selected Abraham to be a father of a great nation. How did he do that? Acts 7 tells us that the God of glory appeared to him. When you read Genesis, you don't know how God spoke to him, but when you read Acts, the Bible tells us that the God of glory appeared to him. And the God of glory would speak to him. And we would say to ourselves today, well, if the glory of the Lord came and spoke to me, I would follow and do what he says.

But the Bible says that we all with unveiled face behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3, 18. So the God of glory is still speaking, but he speaks to us through his word. He calls us through his word. He uses us and tells us how he wants to use us through the word that is given to us. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 1, 26, for consider your calling.

It says in 2 Timothy 1, 9, that God called us with a holy calling. Romans 8, 28, he called us according to his purpose. Romans 1, 29, his calling is irrevocable. In Ephesians 4, verse number one, we are to walk worthy of our calling.

In 2 Peter 1, 10 says that we are to make certain about his calling and choosing you. When God called Saul back in Acts chapter nine, who then later became Paul, he told Ananias, you go tell him that he's a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before kings and before the Gentiles. And you tell him how much he must suffer for my namesake. In that scenario in Acts 9, 15, and 16, we're able to understand the call of God on Saul's life. How God had chosen him and selected him for salvation, to save his soul.

He's a chosen instrument of mine. You know that God selects you, he chooses you, he calls you to save you. And if God has saved you, then he is going to use you for his purposes. He wants to use you in a great and mighty way to honor and glorify his name. In fact, the Bible says in the book of 1 Peter 2, verse number nine, these words, Peter says, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Well, that was David. David had been called by God, chosen by God, appointed by God, and he would be used in a mighty way. Every man of God in Scripture, every woman of God in Scripture, understands that God has called them for his purposes. You need to understand that. So whenever you face a battle, you know, when God, you know, I believe that when God puts two people together for marriage, that God actually puts them together.

That's why the Bible says, what God has joined together, let no man put asunder. Divorce, right? Because in eternity past, God had a plan. The plan was to join you together. So when we have a marriage ceremony, we recognize the fact that it's God who joins them together. Well, listen, if you've prayed about this, you're trusting God and you're looking to him and he puts you together, God has not only selected you for salvation, but he has selected you in the sanctity of this marriage to honor and glorify his name.

And so whatever obstacles your marriage might face, believing that God has put you two together, those obstacles can be overcome by the grace and mercy and strength of Almighty God. And so you must believe that God has chosen you. And David understood that. When he was anointed by Samuel and he was specifically called out by Samuel, he knew that God had a plan for his life. And the Bible says that God chose David.

God chose Saul. God chose Abraham. God chose Joseph. You can go on down the line, and he chose you for his purposes, if he saved your soul. And therefore, he wants to use you in his service. He wants to use you for his service. You tell Saul, he's a chosen instrument of mine. You're God's own possession. To bear his name before kings, before the Gentiles, before people. God wants you to serve him, and he will do what he can to bear, so that you'll bear his name before others, like David did. He came in the name of the Lord of hosts.

He wanted to make sure that all the community and all the world knew that it was God who fought the battle. He wanted others to know who his God was. And then, in that call to salvation, in that call to service, is always the call to suffer for his namesake. We're talking about that on Sunday morning in Luke chapter 14, that God has called us to his purposes. Philippians 1, verse number 29 says, It's been granted to you not only to believe on his name, but to suffer for his sake. Right? Peter says the same thing in 1 Peter chapter 4, verse number 19.

We're to suffer for the glory and honor of God. And David would do that. He would suffer for the glory of God, because he'd been called in the service. But it all begins with being selected by God, and that's exactly what took place in the life of David. This is all review, by the way, in case you didn't know where we were. Okay? And then, you had to be sanctified by the Spirit of God. Remember, the Spirit of God came upon him mightily, the Bible says, about David.

And it came upon him in a supernatural kind of way, that he would perform the duties of the king. The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and it came upon David. Well, if we're going to be used by God, we must be sanctified by the Spirit of God. Set apart for His purposes. Holy for His purposes. And that's important because we need to walk in the Spirit so we don't fulfill the deeds of the flesh, that we are able to do the things that God wants us to do. We're to be controlled by God's Spirit.

We're to walk in the Spirit. We're to be led by the Spirit. And David would have to lean upon the Spirit of God to help him accomplish his great tasks. But he was sanctified by the Spirit of God. He was selected by the sovereign will of God. And number three, he was submissive to the authority of God.

He was submissive to the authority of God. Remember back in 1 Samuel chapter 17, it talks about how he was at home in Bethlehem, and his father sent him to the front lines to take food to his brothers. And he had gone back to Bethlehem because that's where Saul had sent him. He didn't use him as his armor bearer. He had other armor bearers, but he chose to send David back to Bethlehem. And yet, now David was called by his father to follow his father's instructions. And he could have said, you know, dad, you can send some of the other brothers.

I'm the next king of Israel. I don't need to go to war. I can sit back and I can relax. I don't need to go to battle. But he didn't do that. He was submissive to his father. He did what his father asked. He ran to the front lines. He was obedient to the authority of God in his life. He was submissive to that. This is so crucial because it helps us understand the willingness of a servant to be used by God for his purposes. The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 5 that we are to submit ourselves one to another.

1 Peter 2 talks about how we are to submit to the authorities that God has ordained. Romans 13 says the same thing. 1 Peter 5 verse 5 says that we are to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God's destiny. We are to submit ourselves to what God has for our lives. Submission to authority is absolutely crucial in order for us to gain victory over any obstacle that we face. And so we talked about that last week. And then number 4 was this, that you'd be scorned by those in the family of God. Scorned by those in the family of God.

And when David was sent to his brothers in 1 Samuel 17, he went there and the first thing Eliab did was become angry with him.

And wanted to insult him because he thought that David was arrogant and that he had a wicked heart. And he just wanted to come and see the battle. And so he put his own brother down. And we saw that that was the first battle that David had to face.

It was a battle of the inner spirit. And yet he was scorned by those closest to him. And that's the way it's going to be for you as well. You're scorned by the family of God, by those closest to you. Because if you're submissive to the authority of God, doing what God says, because you're sanctified by the spirit of God, because you've been selected by the sovereign will of God, those who are against that will scorn you.

And even those who are your friends, they might not understand all that God's doing in your life, but if they're not walking in the spirit, they're not submissive to the will of God, then they will look at you as Eliab did with David, with scorn and ridicule.

And that's exactly what took place. Jesus even said in Matthew chapter 10, he didn't come to bring peace, but a sword. He set a father against his daughter and a daughter against her father. And likewise, a son against his mother and a mother against her son. God came to bring a sword, not because he wants to divide families, but because your stand for Christ will cause others to come against you who don't have that same love for Christ. And David, he just went because he was submissive to his father, doing what his father asked, and his brother would become extremely angry with him.

And so you'll be scorned by the family of God. Then number four, stimulated by the past victories of God. We talked about this, this is where we left off last week with David. He was stimulated by the past victories of God. That's why he referred back to the lion and the bear, that God had done a great work in his life. And now he was able to continue on. He was motivated to go to war because he knew what God could do. And so we talked to you about those past victories and keeping those memorials that will give you the stimulus to continue on serving for the Lord God.

And that's why he would take the sword and the armor of Goliath and put it in his tent. And that's why he carried that head into Saul's palace, because it was a memorial. And that's why they hung his head on the city gates in Jerusalem so all would know that this is a place where the giant killer lives. And so it was a memorial. It was a victory based on what God had already done in David's past. And David was motivated to continue to serve God and to fight for God because God had been faithful to him in the past.

Listen to what the Bible says in the book of Proverbs, the 20th chapter, the, I'm sorry, the 20th chapter of the 11th verse.

Proverbs 20, verse number 11, says this, It is by his deeds that a lad distinguishes himself if his conduct is pure and right. It is by his deeds that a lad distinguishes himself if his motives are pure, his heart is right. David's motives and heart was pure and right before God. And it was his past deeds that distinguished him. How you live your life, if it's out of a pure heart and a clean conscience, those deeds will distinguish you from others and set you apart from others. And that's what happened in David's life.

And those past victories that God accomplished in and through him allowed him to go to war against Goliath with great confidence. Great confidence. And so these things all add to the elements that help us go to battle with confidence to win because God is on our side. Number five. Six. Yep, you're awake. That's good. Number six. He was supported. He was supported by the Lord of the armies of God. He was supported by the Lord of the armies of God. First Samuel chapter 17, verse number 45, David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have taunted.

This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands and I will strike you down and remove your head from you and I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands. David was 100% supported by the Lord of the armies of Israel, the Lord of hosts, Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord of armies, the Lord of multitudes.

It's a phrase used 245 times in the Old Testament. 202 times it's used in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Malachi, I believe Zechariah. All centered around the coming of the Messiah and his kingdom. It's first used in 1 Samuel chapter 1 where the Lord of armies is the one we revere and the one we worship.

And it begins to open up to us a whole slew of realities concerning the power of God. He is the Lord of armies. He is the Lord of hosts. He is the Lord of multitudes. Well the reason David could go to battle is because he had that Lord on his side. He is the victorious warrior because of the Lord himself. And if you go through the Bible you realize that in Jeremiah 31 it's the Lord of armies, the Lord of hosts, who gives us the sun, the moon and stars. That's pretty powerful. Isaiah 51, he's the one who divides the sea.

In Isaiah 13, with his fierce anger, he is the one who shakes the heavens. In Haggai 2 verse number 7, he was the one who will shake all the nations, the Lord of armies. In Isaiah chapter 31, he is the one who fights for Zion and defends Jerusalem. It's the Lord of armies who does this. And David had confidence in this Lord. And so when we go to war, no matter how big the army may be, no matter how great the giant appears to be, we have the Lord of armies who is supporting us and strengthening us.

After the four brothers of Goliath were killed in 2 Samuel 21, if you were with us last week you know who they are and what their names are. 2 Samuel 22, David says this in verse number 19, They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. When you are confronted in the day of calamity, know this, it is the Lord Sabaoth, the Lord of armies, the Lord of multitudes, that is truly your support. He is the one who will take you into battle. He is the one who will take you through the battle.

He is the one who will win the victory of the battle. That's our God. And so David, knowing that he was supported by the Lord of the host of the armies of God, then he knew he could not be defeated. He would go with confidence. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 17 that he would run at Goliath.

Number seven, David was strengthened in the secret place with God. He was strengthened in the secret place with God. This is important. This sums up the story of David. 1 Samuel 13, I'm sorry, 17, 34, 35. David said to Saul, your servant was saying his father's sheep and a lion and a bear came and took a land from the flock and I went out after him and attacked him and rescued him from his mouth. And when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear.

And this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them since he has taunted the armies of the living God. Now when did David do all that? Where was David when all that happened? He was tending sheep in the backside of Bethlehem. Remember when Samuel came to Jesse's house, he came to anoint the next king of Israel. But David wasn't there. All the other brothers were there but David wasn't. In fact, David wasn't even in the mind of Jesse when Samuel showed up. Samuel had to ask the question, you got anybody else?

Is this all you got? Because this seven, they're not gonna cut it. There's gotta be somebody else. Oh yeah, we got one boy out tending sheep in the backside of Bethlehem. You can go get him. He brought him in and that was the man. But David spent his life in the secret place. One thing about David you're going to learn as we go through this story of David is that David was alone almost all the time. Almost all the time. By the way, if you don't like being alone, you will be an ineffective leader.

You gotta love to be alone because it's in the secret places that your strength comes from. You need to understand that. We like to busy ourselves with all kinds of activities. There's nothing wrong with activities. There's nothing wrong with doing things. But you can't, you can't go through life without the secret place. Because the secret place is where you learn to commune with God. A.W. Pink has written a book about David. In there he says this. He says, It was away from the crowds in the quietude of pastoral life that David was taught the wondrous resources which were there in God available to faith.

There in the fields of Bethlehem he had by divine enablement slain the lion and the bear. This is ever God's way. He teaches in secret that soul which he has elected shall serve him in public. Ah, my reader, is it not just at this point that we may discover the explanation of our failures? It is because we have not sufficiently cultivated the secret place of the Most High, Psalm 91. That is our primary need. But do we really esteem communion with God, our highest privilege? Do we realize that walking with God is the source of our strength?

There had been direct dealings between David's soul and God out there in the solitude of the fields. And it is only thus that any of us are taught how to get the victory. Have you yet learned, my brother or sister, that the closet is the great battlefield of faith? It is a genuine denying of self, the daily taking up the cross, the knowing how to cast down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and the bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Let the foe be met and conquered in private, and we shall not have to mourn defeat when we meet Him in public. Oh, may the Holy Spirit impress deeply upon each of our hearts the vital importance of coming forth from the presence of God as we enter upon any service unto Him. This it is which regulates the difference between success and failure. That's so important. Our Lord said to the disciples on the night or the eve of His crucifixion, He says, Could you not pray with me for one hour? Pray, lest you enter into temptation.

They did not pray. They could not stay awake. They could not commune with God in the secret place. And when it came time to go to battle, they lost. They could not stand with Christ. They forsook Him and fled. Was it prophesied that they would? Yes. But they would not be obedient to God to go to the secret place and commune with their Father. Folks, this is so crucial. This is so important to your own spiritual life. How did David know what to do? How did David write all these Psalms when he was alone in caves, in the secret places?

But at a very young age, this young man learned to cultivate, in his period of aloneness, a relationship with the living God that sustained him when it came time to go to battle. And that's exactly what you and I need to get a hold of. If you learn anything about the life of David, learn this, that in the time that he was alone, that's when he grew the strongest. It wasn't because he went to fight Goliath that he was strong. No, he fought the battle in private so that when he went out in public, he was able to be strong.

That's important to understand that. You know, when we enter into a place of solitude, we find very simply this, that they become very significant. Your body needs sleep and rest. Your soul needs silence and solitude. Right? If your body doesn't get sleep and rest, what happens? It wears out. If your soul doesn't have silence and solitude, guess what? It wears down. So God has designed the discipline of silence and the discipline of solitude. In fact, the number one discipline that Jesus ever practiced was the discipline of solitude.

Did you know that? The number one discipline that Christ practiced was the discipline of solitude. That's why you find him getting up early in the morning and going off to prayer because he had to cultivate that relationship with his Heavenly Father. He had to seek guidance from his Heavenly Father. Silence is a rest for our lips. And solitude is a rest for our lives. Silence is a rest for our lips that we might learn to listen and to look to God. Solitude is a rest for our life that we might learn to love our God.

And so many times we miss that. We can't hear God speak because we're too busy. There's so much other things happening to us and God wants to speak. I remember the words of Max Lucado in one of his books. I think it's called The Gentle Thunder. He says, Once there was a man who dared God to speak. Burn the bush like you did for Moses, God, and I will follow. Collapse the walls like you did for Joshua, God, and I will fight. Steal the ways like you did on Galilee, God, and I will listen.

So the man sat by a bush near a wall close to the sea and waited for God to speak. And God heard the man, so God answered. He sent fire, not for a bush, but for a church. He brought down a wall, not of brick, but of sin. He stilled a storm, not of the sea, but of the soul. And God waited for the man to respond. And he waited, and he waited, and he waited. But because the man was looking at bushes, not hearts, bricks, not lives, seas, not souls, he decided that God had done nothing. Finally, he looked to God and asked, Have you lost your power?

And God looked at him and said, Have you lost your hearing? See, God speaks, we just don't listen. It was David who wrote, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Right? He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leaves me beside quiet waters. Why does God do that? Because you have to learn to listen.

You have to learn to listen to God. David learned to listen. He learned to listen for the voice of God. And it was in the solitude, in the backside of Bethlehem, that David was able to grow strong in his walk with the Lord. But you know, I wish that we could find that place of solitude, that place of silence where we could go each day. It might be in the morning, it might be at night, it might be at noon day. Some place where we go and just get alone with the Lord. Because when you do, when you do, certain things happen.

Let me tell you what happens. Number one is this. When you get alone with God, and listen for His voice, have Him speak to you through His word, this is what happens. It's at that time I truly express reverence for God. Reverence for God. The Bible says, Book of Ecclesiastes, third chapter, seventh verse, the whole thing about there's a time for everything under the sun, right?

There's a time to be silent. There's a time to speak. Well, there's a time to be silent. In the book of Habakkuk, the second chapter, the 20th verse, it says, the Lord is in His holy temple.

Let all the earth keep silent. Don't speak. Don't say anything. Because God needs to be revered. The best time of reverence for God is in the realm of silence and solitude. The Bible also says in the book of Zephaniah, chapter one, verse number seven, be silent before the sovereign Lord. God just wants us to be quiet long enough to hear what He has to say. The problem is, we're so busy doing everything else that we can't hear what He's saying because everything is cluttering our mind and our ears and we can't sit down long enough to listen.

And God wants us to listen to His voice as He speaks to us through His Word. When I go off into solitude, into silence, I begin to express my reverence for God. That's why the Bible says in Ephesians 5 that when you go to the house of the Lord, go there to listen and not to speak.

Because you need to listen to what God has to say. The highest form of disrespect in your reverence is when someone is speaking and you're trying to speak over them. Is that not true? You're trying to speak and tell your kids what to do and they're talking back to you. They're not listening. See? They have to get their word in. And you know, I wonder what God thinks sometimes. We're always talking to God. Always talking, always talking, always talking. But we never spend time listening to God. And I think we need to learn to listen.

If we do, we'll speak less. We will. And when we do speak, we'll know what to say because we would have heard His voice. We know how to respond. So you express reverence for God in the time of silence and solitude. Also, it's at that time you experience deliverance from God. You experience deliverance from God. Listen to Lamentations 3. Verse number 25. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord. I'm sorry, verse 25. That's verse 26. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.

It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone and be silent since he has laid it on him. Sit alone. Be silent. If you want to seek the Lord and wait patiently on Him, sit alone and be silent. Why? Because that's how God is going to deliver you. See, God has a plan to deliver you from whatever obstacle you're facing, but you've got to know what the plan is. That's why way back in the book of Exodus, 14th chapter, 13th verse, it says this.

The Egyptians were coming down upon the nation of Israel. They had just been set free in that miraculous deliverance from their Egyptian bondage, and they were off to the races. They came to the Red Sea. They could not cross the Red Sea. What were they going to do? Pharaoh and his army was bearing down upon them. Oh, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness, for the wilderness was their cry. But Moses said to the people, do not fear. Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today.

For the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent. Just be quiet. Just be quiet. God's going to take care of everything. You see, it's in the place of silence and solitude where we stop fussing and start trusting. And once you begin to start trusting, your deliverance has already taken place. But you're not going to learn to trust unless you're in that place of solitude, that place where you're all alone, communing with your God, cultivating that relationship to believe and to trust in all that He has.

It's there you express reverence to God. It's there you experience the deliverance of God. And number three, it's there you exercise dependence on God.

It's there you exercise dependence on God. Remember Psalm 62, verse one, my soul waits in silence for God only, for Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold, I shall not be shaken. Verse five, my soul waits in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold, I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rests. The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. He went from silence to sureness, from sureness to strength.

It was God only. It wasn't God plus someone or God plus something. It was God only because God was enough. And so the psalmist learned to depend upon almighty God for all that he needed. It's there you exercise dependence. You see, we are such doers that we want to take matters into our own hands instead of depending upon God to do the work for us or through us. And yet when we break away into silence, break away into solitude, break away and have a Sabbath for our lips and for our lives, we then are able to express our reverence to God, experience our deliverance from God and exercise our dependence upon God.

Isaiah 30, verse number 15. In quietness and in rest shall be your strength. And then he says, but you were unwilling. In quietness and in rest and trust is your strength. But you were unwilling. In the quietness, you learn to trust. In the quietness, you learn to depend. But because you wouldn't do that, you were unwilling to do that, you can't win the battle because if you're not dependent upon God, who are you dependent upon? Something else other than God, right? My own initiative, my own ingenuity, my own relationships, my own friends, my own ideas, but God wants you dependent upon him.

And that's why David learned what he learned. Do you think David was the man who reverenced his God? Yes. Was David a man delivered by his God? Yes. Was David a man dependent upon God? Yes, because of the silence he learned in the backside of Bethlehem. When everyone else was going to war, he was still on the backside of Bethlehem, learning to trust his God. So at the moment he was called, he was ready to go because the deliverance was not in the valley of Elah. The deliverance was in the backside of Bethlehem because that's where he learned his dependence, see?

That's where he learned his reverence. So when it came time to go to war, he was more than ready to go to war. Here in the place of solitude is where you extract guidance. This is where God shows you what to do. Here is where you extract guidance. This is where God opens up to you the path he wants you to follow. Remember Elijah? Elijah just defeated 450 false prophets of Baal there in Israel, in the land of Israel, and killed them all. Here was a man who had prayed that it would rain on a clear day, and all of a sudden there was a deluge of water upon the earth.

Here was a man who raced King Ahab who was in a chariot. Elijah was on foot. He won the race, okay? And yet, there was a woman called Jezebel who wanted him dead. He had a hard time with that. Figure that. I don't get it. So what did he do? He went to extract guidance from God. And he went to a cave. And God wasn't in the fire. God wasn't in the whirlwind, right? But God was in the whisper, in the quietness of the voice. And God would speak to him and say, you know, you're not the only guy, Elijah.

You're not the only guy left. I got 7,000 other ones just like you who have not yet bowed the knee to Baal. And God would speak to Elijah. But he had to get the guidance from the Lord God. And it came not in the fire and not in the wind. It came in the silence, the still small voice that God would speak to him. And he was able to get the guidance he needed. In Luke 6, 12 to 13, the Bible says that the Lord went off into the mountains to pray.

When he was all done, he came back. He chose for himself 12 specific men to be his disciples. He went to extract guidance from his Heavenly Father that he would know which men to choose at which time. Listen, if you're having a hard time deciphering what God wants you to do, you need to go to the place of solitude and silence and stay there until God gives you the guidance you need to take the next step. And then, and then, it's here. Having expressed reverence in the place of solitude, having experienced deliverance in that place, exercised dependence, extracted guidance, here is where you exhibit a resurgence.

Here is where everything begins to now bubble up with excitement because now you know what to do. And so that's exactly what took place in the life of Christ. Remember in Mark chapter 1? Mark chapter 1, there's a story about the busiest day in the life of Christ recorded in Mark's gospel. Remember Mark portrays Christ as a servant, right? And as a servant, he always does those things that servants do. And so Mark is emphasizing the immediacy of the servant. That's why the word immediately is used over and over and over again in the book of Mark.

And that's why Mark has a unique emphasis on the hands of Jesus, unlike any other gospel because the servant always uses his hands, right? So Mark's gospel is unique. Well, in Mark's gospel, Mark chapter 1, you had this whole long day. It begins at Capernaum where he goes to the synagogue and begins to preach. And there was a man there deemed possessed. He cast out the demon. He leaves the synagogue. He goes to Peter's house. If you've been to Capernaum with us, you know exactly how that would happen.

He leaves the synagogue, walks out, goes to Peter's home. There, Peter's mother-in-law is sick. He heals his mother-in-law. And the Bible says that everybody was coming from all around the region to be healed.

They were there until the wee hours of the night. And the Bible says in Mark chapter 1, verse number 35, and early in the morning while it was still dark, he arose and went out and departed to a lonely place and was praying there.

Busiest day recorded in the life of Christ is Mark chapter 1. And as he was healing people, all who came to him, he was up late in the night, he still was able to get up early the next day to go off to a lonely place, a quiet place. Why? Because there needed to be a resurgence of ministry, an ability to be refueled for life, to do what he needed to do. So he went to the lonely place. Folks, this is so important, to be able to be away in Mark chapter 6, after the death of John the Baptist. The disciples had gone out and preached the gospel.

They came back, and Jesus says, come away to a lonely place for a while. Why? Because you need to recuperate and there needs to be a resurgence because what I'm going to tell you is going to be hard for you to grasp. Tell them about the death of John the Baptist, the greatest man who ever lived. And yet he took them away to a lonely place. See folks, this is what happened in David's life. As you go through 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, this man is constantly alone in a secret place with God. How do you think he wrote all those Psalms?

God was speaking to him and he would write them and be used in a mighty way for God. Listen folks, to stand above, you must stand apart. To stand apart, you must stand alone. But here's the good news about standing alone. John chapter 16. Listen to the words of Christ. John chapter 16, verse 32. Christ says, Behold, an hour is coming that has already come for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave me alone.

And yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. Isn't that good? Even though you stand alone, you're never alone because the Father is always with you. That is so good. And David knew that. David experienced communion with his God. Unlike most men ever, could ever dream of having that relationship with the living God. And so I guess I wanna encourage you. Look, you're gonna face obstacles. You're gonna go to battle. But they're one in the secret place. They're one in the place where you are alone with God.

That you might learn dependence you might learn reverence. You might experience the deliverance of God, a resurgence from ministry with God because you want to serve him with all your heart. Look for that place of silence. Locate that place of solitude where you can be alone with God to listen to him speak through his word. And that's what David did. So, that's principle number seven. Number eight, David was stabilized by the truth of God. He was stabilized by the truth of God. It says in Psalm 40 verse 11, a Psalm written by David, thy loving kindness and thy truth will preserve me.

Psalm 119, Psalm 119 verse number 28 says this, my soul weeps because of grief, strengthen me according to thy word. Psalm 119 verse number 116 says this, sustain me according to thy word that I may live and do not let me be ashamed of my hope.

David knew that his stability came from the word of the Lord and so does yours. This is where everything that's shaking can stand erect and strong because it's God's word that stabilizes. That's why the Psalmist in Psalm 119 would say these words over and over again. Psalm 119 verse number 149 hear my voice according to thy loving kindness, revive me O Lord according to thine ordinances. Lord, without your ordinances, without your word, I cannot be revived. Verse 154, revive me according to thy word.

156, revive me according to thy ordinances. Verse 159, revive me O Lord according to thy loving kindness. It was all about how the Psalmist, who would be David, would be revived and strengthened by the word of the Lord. That's why Saul, as Paul would say in Acts 20, verse number 32, the Ephesian elders, I commend you to God and the word of his grace which is able to build you up, strengthen you, stabilize you because only God's word can do that. David knew that. That's how he was an unshakable man.

He was stabilized in the truth of God's holy word. The only way you can stand strong is because God's word is causing you to stand strong. It is the truth of God's almighty word. And then number eight, nine, I'm sorry. You need to be skilled in your service for God. Skilled in your service for God. David was a son. David was a shepherd. David was a soldier. David was a servant. David was a singer. But David was not a slouch. Okay? He was skilled in what he did because he fine-tuned his ability as a soldier in the backside of Bethlehem.

He fine-tuned his musical ability in the backside of Bethlehem. He was good, great at what he did. He was skilled in his service for God. Listen, the Bible says in Colossians chapter three, verse number 23, whatever you do, you do it heartily as unto the Lord because it's him you serve, right?

Ecclesiastes 9.10 says that whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your strength, with all your might, with all your skill. Okay? Don't be a slouch in your service for the king. God demands excellence and we must give him the best of what we have. He has selected us for his service. Therefore, we must be skilled with the gifts he's given us to serve him to our utmost. And that's exactly what David did. Proverbs chapter 22, verse number 29 reads this way. Do you see a man skilled in his work?

He will stand before kings. He will not stand before obscure men. Good verse. You see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings. Where did David stand? Stood before King Saul because he was skilled in his work. He was a man committed to excellence in all that he did. And lastly, David was settled on giving glory to God. First Samuel 17 tells us that this man wanted to make sure that everybody knew that the Lord of armies was the victor.

It wasn't David who was the victor. It was the Lord of hosts, the Lord of armies. He was settled on giving glory to God. It wasn't about him. Never was about David. It was all about the glory of Almighty God. Ten principles that will lead you into battle and assure you a victory. Ten principles evidenced in the life of David that caused him to be the kind of man that was used by God in a mighty way. Every one of you here tonight wants to be used by God in a mighty way. You do. You want to be used to further the kingdom of God.

You want to be used to fulfill the purposes of God. It all begins because you were selected by God. God chose you. You must be sanctified by the Spirit of God. You must be submissive to the authority of God. You will be scorned by those in the family of God. That's going to be inevitable. The Lord predicted that. The Lord promised that. It's evidence all throughout the Scripture. Whether it was Moses with Miriam and Aaron, whether it was Joseph with his brothers, whether it was David with his brother, it's just all throughout the Scripture.

Christ is a perfect example of that. He came to his own. His own received him not. They even killed him because they scorned him so much. They couldn't stand him. You will be scorned by those in the family of God. That's just the way it happens. But you need to be supported. Supported by the Lord of the armies of God. And that is what David did. He understood that. He was stimulated by the past victories with God. He was one who was strengthened in the secret place with God. He was stabilized by the truth of God, skilled in his service for God, and settled on giving God all the glory.

That's what happened in David's life. And now you're going to see how all those principles will be needed as he goes into chapter 18 of 1 Samuel. And he hears a song. Oh, David, or Saul has slain his thousands, but David has slain his ten thousands. And everything in David's life will now change because of the greatest victory in his life. The aftermath of success. What happens next when you go to war and you win and you're victorious? The aftermath of success tells us what takes place next in the life of David.

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for tonight and a chance to read your word and a chance to study the principles that enabled David to be the man you wanted him to be. Three weeks we spent on this one chapter alone, Lord, just to look at David's duel with Goliath.

Every man, woman, boy, girl in this room tonight will face all kinds of obstacles in their lives, all kinds of battles, all kinds of giants. Give them the wisdom. Give them the knowledge they need based on your word to accomplish the task that's before them. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.