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I'd like to suggest.
Brother's.
Reflecting on our prayer meeting and the various things that were mentioned in the prayer meeting.
I've never heard this portion taken up in a reading like this.
Fact. I've never suggested abortions in a setting like this.
I just wondered if it would be.
A consideration to look at First Samuel 17.
So I look at the.
Group of us that's here.
Various and sundry ages and things that we're all faced with. I just make that a suggestion.
Not to force it, perhaps if there's somebody has somebody, something else, I'd be happy. I just think that is a suggestion. First Samuel, chapter 17.
Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shoko, which belonged to Judah, and pitched between Shoko and Azika in Ephes, Damon, and Saul. And the men of Israel were gathered together and pitched by the valley of Eli, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side.
And there was a valley between them.
And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gaff, whose height was 6 cubits in a span. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head. And he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was 5000 shekels of grass. And he had Greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his Spears head weighed 600 shekels of iron.
And one bearing a shield went before him, and he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel.
And said unto them, Why are you come out to set your battle in array? Am not IA Philistine a Philistine? And ye servants to solve, choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me and to kill me, then will we be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then shall you be our servants and serve us? And the Phyllis Sting said, I defy the armies of Israel this day.
Give me a man that we may fight together.
From Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine.
They were dismayed and greatly afraid. Now David was the son of that appetite of Bethlehem, Judah, whose name is Jesse, and he had eight sons. And a man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul. And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons that went to battle were Eliab the first born, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shamah.
And David was the youngest, and the three eldest followed Saul.
But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father sheep at Bethlehem, and the Philistine drew near.
Morning and evening and presented himself 40 days.
And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an IPA of this parched corn, and these 10 loaves, and runs to the camp of thy brethren, and carry these 10 cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge. Now Saul, and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of the fighting with the Philistines. And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took and went as Jesse had commanded him.
And he came to the trench as the host was going forth to the fight. He shouted for the battle for Israel. And the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army. And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren. And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion of the Philistine.
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Philistine of Gaff, Goliath by name out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words. And David heard them. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid. And the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man that has come up? Surely to defy as he come up? And it shall be that man who killeth him. The king will enrich him with great riches.
And will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel.
And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine?
And taketh away the reproach from Israel, For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him. And Eliab his heart his eldest brother heard, when he spake unto the men. And Eliab's anger was kindled against David. And he said, Why came his style down? Hit her, With whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness?
I know that I cried, And the naughtiness of thy heart, for thou art come down, that thou mightest see the battle. And David said, What have I now done? Is there not A cause? And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner. And the people answered him again after the former manner. And when the words were heard, which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul, and he sent for him. And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him.
Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine, to fight with him.
For thou art buddy youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father sheep, and there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth.
And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.
Thy servants slew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing had he hath defied the armies of the living God. David said, Moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee. And Saul arm David with his armor, and he put a helmet of brass upon his head.
Also he armed him with a coat of mail, and David girded his sword upon his armor, and he is saved to go, for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not proved them. And David put them off him. And he took his staff in his hand, and he chose 5 smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, which he had even in a script, and his sling was in his hand.
And he drew near to the Philistine, and the Philistine came on, and drew near unto David.
And the man that bare the shield went before him. And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth and Ruddy, and of a fair countenance. And the Philistine said unto David, Am IA dog, that thou comest to me with staves. And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistines said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air.
And to the beasts of the field. Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield. But I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou has defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand. And I will smite thee and take thine head from thee. And I will give the carcass of the host of the Philistines to stay unto the fowls of the air.
And to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
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And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with the sword and spear, for the battle is the Lords, and he will give you unto our hands. And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose and came, and drew nigh on to meet David, that David hasted and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
David put his hand in his bag, and he took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into the into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a slang and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistines, and took his sword, and threw it out of the sheet thereof, and slew him.
And cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. And the men of Israel and of Judah arose and shouted, and pursued the Philistines, until thou comest to the valley, and to the gates of Akron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way of Cherum, even unto Gath, and even unto Akron. And the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they spoiled their tents. And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem.
And he put his armor in his tent. And when David saw it, and when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host Abner, whose son is this youth. And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell. And the king said, Inquire thou whose son the stripling is. And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. And Saul said unto him.
Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant, Jesse the Bethel, the Bethel of her mind. As I mentioned, I've never heard this portion taken up and it would not be my intent to go through it verse by verse, but so look around the room. I know there are many brethren here that have meditated on this portion and they're.
Our number of children here, there are a number of young people, perhaps young people that are exactly the age of David when he faced the Philistine I was.
Just meditating a little on the.
Fair meeting that we had. We opened our firm meeting by seeing miss scenes of confusion. If ever there was a scene of confusion in Israel, it was at this time.
And then to hear while the expression is, is prayer that we face giants in our day, and there's many of them and.
And then another brother trade that.
We have David that was able to be victorious as a picture of the Lord Jesus as he faced the giants. I just wondered if it might be the minus brethren here to consider this portion.
In view of perhaps reaching up and getting some fruit that flow to the ground as opposed to fruit that's way up in the tree.
There are a number of principal figures in this chapter. We have Goliath, a picture of the Philistine. We have Saul, a man of the flesh. Both of them are heavily armed. We have David. He's also heavily armed, but he's armed with a breastplate of righteousness. He's armed with a shield of faith.
We have Davids family.
And we find that they're in opposition. Sometimes we find our brethren or in opposition to us. We have all these things in this portion. We have the armor of God just.
Thought it would be helpful for us to consider some of these things as we face in our own lives many of the things that David faced in this chapter.
As you made your comments, Brother Dave, I was thinking about him also while here in the Valley of Conflict. Here's a valley of conflict, tremendous conflict. We talked about pictures in the Old Testament. This is more than a picture, it's a mural.
With many pictures in it and I believe it's wisdom that we don't take it up verse by verse not his our brothers intention, but that we look at all these various pictures that God has given to us for our blessing. I think I believe we'll profit from you. We learned from Romans that whatsoever things were written before time were written for our learning and I believe this is.
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An account that is in that category, that which was written before time. And we have something to learn from this. And the scripture goes on in Romans that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, we might have hope.
And if we don't have hope as a result of reading through this portion and seeing how God.
Is working on behalf of his people. I don't know where we're going to find home. This hope you know, it's that which God delights to instill in our hearts and David.
In spite of his felt weakness, he had hope in God and that's what we need today. And if there is hope in God, it's going to be reflected in our faces.
You know, I come to a conference like this.
And I see some they just seem to be beaming. They're happy. And I say to myself, I believe this is the result of hope in God.
And we get that in Psalms too.
You know the question is, why art thou cast down on my soul?
Why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God.
For he is the health of thy confidence.
And so I believe.
The world looks upon us, and if they see one who's happy and contented.
It's unique because what we have in the world today has has been emphasized already in this conference is confusion and creature complaints.
So much discontentment in everybody wanting something more. But you know, the Christian, he hopes in God and God is for him and he comes to realize that. And God is the one who enabled him to overcome the power of the enemy, even though it seems so tremendous.
And I think we need to compare, you know, the giant to God himself. I think that's really what David did.
He didn't compare the giant to himself.
I don't think he would have gone out on the field that had been the case, but he compared the giant to God.
And you know that God is for him imposing the strength of the Lord. Now I, I think it's good, you know, to look at this portion in its entirety. And this has been brought out. We don't need to take it first by first, but there is so much here for our learning.
And I think it's going to be a blessing to us.
So in verse 11 it says when Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
And so.
As you mentioned.
The they were all comparing the Philistine to themselves.
That's why they were afraid.
So he had one little shepherd boy that was not doing that. He was comparing him to the Lord.
Believe the words here, if we look at them, tells us that very thing and it's good to read them, for example.
Verse 24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were sore afraid. Have you felt fear in your life? Put yourself in this position.
Fear.
And we're sore afraid we're singing in that hymn. Oh, give us submission and strength.
When there's fear, the strength is gone. And look what they say. Here's what they say, The men of Israel said. Have ye seen this man?
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That's those are strong words. Have you seen this man? They're looking at this man. They're looking at the enemy, David.
One of the verses afterward he he talks about the living God.
The living God.
Who is this Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? And so we have in this passage a thing that our brethren have been telling us about.
Looking to the living God.
When I was young man in school.
We had some reading assignments.
And I never really enjoyed reading till I got saved. So what I do is I look at the pictures in the book. Sometime there was 5-6 or ten illustrations and.
I'd read table of contest and read the end of the book and so.
And I had to read. I write my book report. I didn't get excellent March, but I didn't get passing March anyway.
So when I first looked at the scriptures, I did start in the Genesis there, but I got tired around the Book of Kings or something Chronicles. And so I went and I read the last book.
I was terrified so, and that's how the Lord brought me to realize what I was like before Him, all this bloodshed in the Old Testament and all all these types that were there. And I'd read this portion through First Samuel 17. And so if I do that with First Samuel 17 and I go to the end of the chapter.
That was Saul's question. Whose Whose son is this, you know?
And I think that's the key to this whole book that we have in our hands. Whose son?
Is this and so David?
In this chapter.
What a beautiful type.
Of the Lord chief and when we look at him and what he's going through and we compare that to the Lord, he's going to go down in the valley to meet that giant, you know, and that's the valley of death, isn't it and so.
How gracious of our Father.
Have recorded for us.
In specific details.
What revealed to her? What will reveal to our hearts? Whose Sonny is?
Because what gives such?
Dimension.
To our Lord.
You look at him as a perfect man, and it's beyond us to be perfect imitators of him.
But who is this man?
They said look, look at that man. Who can go against that man well.
Go, life says, give me a man. Well, there he is.
Pilot says behold a man.
Who is this man?
His name is Jesus. That's what he was called. That was his name. My name is Michelle. His name is Jesus. Very simple. Jehovah the Savior.
He came and he became building the office of the Christ.
The one promised in the Old Testament.
And now he's Lord.
Overall thing, but who is this person in essence?
Which he always was and always will be.
The Son of God.
And it gives dimension to our souls when we consider him.
That infinite person, the One, sustains the universe by the word of his power.
He's that one that hung on that cross in whose face we spat. That's the Son of God. And here he is in chapter 17. What type of phase is a beautiful to have these comparisons and to have our hearts enjoy the grace and humility of our Lord Jesus in this picture.
It's nice to notice that.
One of King Saul's servants that noticed David.
This young lad keeping sheep, but he had a testimony this this young boy did mentioned in chapter 16 there that.
Verse 18 then answered one of the servants and said, Behold, I have seen a young, seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehem knight. He is cunning and playing and mighty.
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And a mighty valiant man, and a man of war. No doubt he had heard of him slaying the bear and the lion.
And prudent in matters.
And a comely person.
And the Lord is with him.
So this is a testimony that David had as a young boy keeping his father's sheep.
And so that was attractive to Saul. We know that Saul was an unbeliever, but perhaps he was God fearing. But we find out that he didn't have faith, but yet he he wanted this young boy to play before him. And he was impressed by, you might say, his resume.
But King David had.
A resume that God had given to him. And we know that that characterized David throughout his life.
That he was on God's side and God was on David's side. And and so this is something that each one of us here.
That know the Lord. We know that the Lord is on our side and the Lord will be on our side all the way home till we get the glory. He'll never leave us nor forsake us. We know that King Saul did forsake David and he haunted them like it says, like apartment in the mountains.
And but we know that with our Lord, He will never forsake us.
And so we have one that that cares for us no matter what kind of a trial that we may go through. But David, even at his young age, had faith in God that God would deliver this giant into his hands. And so we know today that we are living in a a corrupt world that all around us, we see that corruption increasing more all the time.
And it is a struggle day by day, perhaps more so in other countries than it is here in Canada, United States. For those that are Christians to survive in such a world is a struggle day by day. We think of dear ones in India and Africa that are really put to the test.
Of their faith each and every day. It's a struggle, but we know that when the Lord is on our side.
That he is going to see us through the difficulties and so we can depend on him.
We can't depend on man, but we can depend on the Lord. And so we have His promise in His Word. He'll never leave us.
Nor forsake us.
Maybe I could just elaborate a little on those characteristics that you brought before us, Brother Enos, because they're the very characteristics that if we cultivate, give real moral power against the giants in our life. And so in that 18th verse, as you say, there was one of the servants of Saul that he he comes and he says I have seen a special him like the son of Jesse, the Bethlehem Mike, someone that was coming and playing.
Well, you know, David was able to see who's troubled spirits.
It's marvelous when there are those that come alongside us and we have a troubled spirit and they're able to see a troubled spirit. David had that character and then it says here he was a mighty valiant man. He was a man with fear. Knowing the apostle brings before Timothy and and that letter that he writes to Timothy, he said, he says that he needs to be characterized by a man without fear. The Lord hasn't given us the power of fear, but.
But it wasn't a power and of a sound mind. It was those things that David David had. It says there then that the the man noticed he was a man of war.
And they would have proved himself. I'm sure there were cattle thieves in the area that realized he had just didn't mess with David sheep. They could prove himself in that way. And then it said he was proving in speech people really enjoyed being in his company. Now there there are those of you who just enjoy being in their company because of their prudent speech. We just enjoy it. We we just enjoy that. And it says he was a Cummins person. His very presence was charming. It's interesting, Akish says about David.
He is as an Angel of heaven. That's English, the king of Gap saying this about David.
Tremendous characteristic. And then it says here, and the Lord, who's with him?
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Beautiful characteristics that you brought before us Enos that are those very characteristics that enable us to stand before the enemy. Know it's interesting that the the the spies when they went against when they went at the spy of the land, ten of them came back with, oh, they said there's giants in the land and how did they do those giants and how did they do themselves and said, oh, we're just like grasshoppers, you know, if they only recognize.
The characteristic of the grasshopper, which is able to surmount anything in its way. If they'd only taken on that character, it would have been a great blessing for them. But they looked at themselves and they compared the giants with themselves instead of, as Joshua and Caleb, comparing the giant with the Lord.
Which is what David did here.
Well, we see these characteristics of the giant, don't we? And in those first, those first 11 verses, it's very interesting to see how.
The enemy used his his his armor, it says here in the end of the seventh verse, and one bearing a shield went before him. The very thing that could have preserved Goliath life.
He thought all somebody else can carry that and I wondered if that's one of the reasons why we have an Ephesians 6 where it says above all.
Take the shield, that which is so necessary in our lives, so necessary to ward off those darts that the enemy throws at us. Well, what does Goliath do here?
Brother Henry he brought before us the end of the 26th verse where David viewed the armies of Israel and how he used them. He used them as the armies of the living God in the end of verse 26.
We have it also in the end of verse 36.
The armies of the living God. So how does Goliath view the people of God? He views them as we have in the eighth verse, the servants assault.
He used them in the 10 first the armies of Israel much different than the way David used the people of God and his desire was as we have in the 26th verse it says, did David speak to the man that stood by him, saying what shall be done to the man that killed this Philistine and.
This is what bothered David the most taketh away the reproach of Israel.
The reproach of Israel, that's what he wanted clear the reproach of Israel. And he was able to stand before that humongous figure who is heavily armed and who boasted that he was going to provide a banquet for the fowls of the air with the beasts of the field.
Last time I read through this passage, I found it.
Helpful to look at the chapter we've read today in its context. In the previous chapter of chapter 16, as we've had so nicely brought before us, you have Davidde character and those traces has been mentioned that helped us defeat the Giants.
But in this chapter from verse one to verse 12, which is where the enemy wants to get us, we don't have any of that. We have David reintroduced to us in verse 12, as has been said in his warring character as opposed to his more moral character in the previous job. And then this verse 1 to 12. And I know this is where Satan tries to get me all the time and my brother know who are here.
Is what do we have? We have.
Saul, who was characterized by energy in the flesh and trying to do things in his own strength, to know that he had been commissioned by David to defeat the Philistines earlier when he was anointed.
But here in the chapter we have him terrified and afraid. We have a big long description of.
The armor that Goliath lore, his height, their weight. And I've said this before, I know, but I've often wondered when I look at this passage why we get such incredible detail as to the armor and I think Satan, one of his toxic against us.
Is to try and get us to look at things in their natural perspective, without the Lord, without David in the previous chapter, without David introduced in verse 12. And how hopeless and how helpless we are in our own strength in the face of the giant being before us. And he tries to have us look at the enemy, as Dave has said, just looking at us as a servant of Saul. We're just the servants of Saul. We don't have any strength in our own. We're just.
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We're just.
The servants of Saul, you're part of the.
Christians who meet and not look at things from the perspective of where the children of God and that we're joint heirs with Christ and that he's given us strength to overcome the enemy. And it's it's searching for me as I consider the 1St 12 verses of the OR 11 verses of this chapter to realize that that is where the enemy wants to get me. He's noticing too in the.
2 verses.
We have reference to two words gathered together.
I suppose in verse one the enemy is gathered together with.
Goliath in view. Goliath is their champion.
Now we come to verse 2.
The people are gathered together.
Who do they have in view? Could it be Saul?
Well, Saul was a tremendous discouragement because as has been pointed out in verse 11.
Saul 1St and then all Israel heard the words of the Philistine. They were dismayed and greatly afraid. Now what kind of a leader is Saul that would cause all of the people to be dismayed and greatly afraid? I don't think that's a good leader.
But you know, I'm connecting these two words with what we have in Matthew 18 and 20.
You know the Lord Jesus says, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
And I wonder, when we are gathered together as we are in this setting today, do we see the Lord in the midst?
And if we do, we are in a place of strength.
You know the Lord Jesus said all power is given unto me both in heaven and in earth. But sometimes we look around and we get occupied with numbers and sometimes with some individual that perhaps has great gift but we find out is not perfect and might even lead us to become discouraged because of their manner of life later. But you know we need to keep our focus on who it is.
To whom we are gathered. And we sang in the opening hymn, We are weak, but thou art mighty.
And in this.
We know the Lord can work on our behalf.
And on behalf of the Assembly.
Problems that overwhelm us.
To him.
Not difficult and we need to keep our focus on the board. I was talking to a young man recently.
And he turned out to be a believer. His name is Mark doesn't live far from where we live. And he said, I just heard something that I really like.
And so he spoke what he had heard, and I liked it too. This is what he said.
If the Lord brings us to it, he will bring us through it.
That was what characterized David, wasn't it? That he had his trust and his faith in the Lord. That's what characterized David. He wasn't afraid of the giant because he knew the Lord was with him and he he saw the giant is not a something that he couldn't overcome, but he saw the giant as something that God could overcome.
And that's how we should ourselves see obstacles in our way today. There is a contrast, though, as we know here, it's Speaking of really physical warfare, where David really actually took a slaying of the stone and so on, and went out and faced the giant.
Literally. And defeated them because he trusted the Lord that the Lord would deliver him.
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Today we're not asked to take a gun or a rifle or some weapon and go out and to face the enemy. We're not asked to do that, but we are asked to go against the enemy with what God has given to us.
By faith and that we have, we should look at it briefly, I think in Ephesians chapter 6 that speaks there of the spiritual warfare that we are up against and what God has provided for us to combat that warfare.
Just before that, Brother Wally, that statement that you made, that Mark gave you is actually a scripture.
If you turn back to the book of Exodus.
In Exodus chapter 18.
Exodus 18 and verse 23.
If God commands thee, thou shalt be able.
Thank you. I didn't connect that first. Very good.
So in chapter 6 of Ephesians we have.
The spiritual warfare that we're we're up against and tells us what to use against that.
As David were in verse 10, it says finally my brother and be strong in the Lord. David was certainly that and then the power of his might and David trusted the Lord and the power of God's might to defeat the the giant.
Well, we should too count on the Lord's strength, and here's the armor that we have put on the whole armor of God, that you may able to be stand against the Wiles of the devil.
Verse 14 stand therefore doesn't tell us a defeat the enemy here the Lord Jesus has defeated all our foes. He has caught all our foes between their feet by being trodden down. All our enemies that were against us in this in this Christian era in which we live have all been defeated by Christ. But it asks us to stand.
That says stand therefore having your loins girt about you with truth.
And we should have the truth that's going to protect us. That's doctrine. Having on the breast, breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and taking the shield of faith, wherein he shall be able to sequench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. All these are spiritual things.
That we can put on to go against the enemy in a day in which we live.
In Davidde Day it was different.
They they were promised a land that God had promised them, the land of Israel.
And they were told to go in and, and to clean the land out, you might say, get rid of the enemies out of the land so they could possess it. And so it was a real physical warfare that they were up against. The enemies were real and they were trying to keep Israel from taking the promise of that land that God had given to them. And even the day, the day that we live in.
The promise that God has made to Israel is still real.
The coming day, God is going to give them their land back.
Give them every inch of that land back and they're going to possess it and live in it.
Just like God had promised them, they had forfeited it because of disbelief, because of disobedience. But we we're not of Israel. We're we're of the church, and we're living in a day in which our warfare is spiritual. And so we have the remedy here in Ephesians chapter 6.
And how do we defeat that enemy today? I think we have it in verse 18. This is our resource is not a spear or a a physical sphere or a sword or a slang or a rock, but it's praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there too with all perseverance and supplication for all the Saints.
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And it goes on to say.
In this portion that you've referred to Brother Enos and about verse 18 particularly and that is one thing that meets the lack of that the previous verses don't quite fulfill and that is that there is no weaponry or no protection for the the knees and the legs. But if we're on our knees.
The enemy can't affect that part of our body, so that's very important.
It's the strongest warfare that we have, isn't it? I believe so.
As believers, because God's here is always open to hear.
One little bit of a cry from one of his own. He's attentive and listening and he wants to hear from us and he he loves to hear us when we're independents.
And waiting on him, not just for the big things in our lives, but all the little things too, that that come up, come up against us every day. Small little things that we may think insignificant. A God delights to hear even about those things.
I saw in Fulton board yesterday.
It said.
If we do not pray, we will become prey. The people of Israel had chosen a champion before, had they? Saul was taller than everybody else. He was a head length above everybody's shoulder, you know. So if you say, OK, let's pick somebody to go for us.
Let's pick salt. Obvious choice. But Goliath was so much bigger, wasn't he? So it took a smaller person, the one who was last of Jesse's sons. You know, he wasn't there. He had to be fetched.
And so here's the battle. The armies are there, all the generals, all the armament. And but David isn't there. And so David comes last, and this, this, this real mighty man.
Made himself of no reputation. He was the smallest of all. Well, Saul, he didn't understand confidence in God.
So he tries to load up David, this little man, I don't know for sure how little he was, but no doubt considerably smaller than the giant. But he loads him up with all this army. And David, he didn't feel comfortable with the armor. David, he's going into strength of the Lord.
And I believe this is what we see in this chapter that.
After the flesh, we seek to meet the enemy, and it's useless.
You're going to strengthen the Lord.
You're going to find victory.
And the point is that if David had gone with all that armor.
And he had won. He might have said, well, this armor has helped me out. And there would have been some recognition of Sauls armor that he, you know, God wouldn't have any of that. Because in this story we're going to find out that God glorifies his own name, and he does it through weak instruments.
I believe that's what.
Brings glory to God and the Lord Jesus said My strength is made perfect in weakness.
And I believe Paul the apostle, he felt very weak, especially with that.
Thorn in the flesh and then his speech, it was contemptible and his bodily presence, it was weak too, you know, after the flesh, no doubt he felt very weak and perhaps he would have liked to had it different, but you know, the Lord says.
Paul, this is how my strength is going to be manifest through your weakness.
I think we have that in the story here.
I wondered if the fact that David didn't need an armor is a type of showing us that the Lord Jesus was all these things that we need to put on. He was that in himself.
He was he was perfect, he was he was truth and he is truth and so he was obedient. There was nothing that he needed additional to go and meet the enemy when he was before Pilate and Pilot kind of tells him, you know, I can do things to you and the Lord saying he didn't do anything unless my father allows you. So he showed his complete trust in in God as a man and in God as his father. The characteristic of David.
00:50:23
In this chapter one another characteristic here that's striking is that he never shows even a hint of being afraid of what might happen to him.
Not even a hint that he's concerned about himself. That's quite amazing. And even Saul, it seems, tries to get him.
To be concerned about himself, you're just, you're just a little guy and he's a huge giant and you're.
He's been a fighter all his life and you're just a youth, so sometimes the discouragement.
Doesn't just come from the enemy.
Sometimes we can. People can point things out about us.
And the enemy will point to us, try to get us to look at ourselves in the face of adversity.
David.
He wisely looks back on when at another time when he wasn't concerned about himself. And this is the characteristic of David, right? He was concerned about the sheep, he was concerned about the armies of Israel, he's concerned about the Lorde name and his glory, always concerned about others and chiefly the Lord.
But not concerned about himself. There's not even a hint that he's concerned about himself at all here.
Brother Ted, you've been bringing something very important before us, I believe.
We've been looking at the enemy and saying, well, there's Goliath, he's the enemy.
But wait a minute, wait a minute. There's more than that here. There's more than that.
We have 3 enemies. We have the world, We have Satan.
And we have another one too. It's called the flesh.
The enemy Within.
And this plays an important role in what's going on here as we look at this picture.
What about the men of Israel?
It says in verse We already looked at this.
The men of Israel fled from him and were sore afraid.
Well, what kind of testimony is that?
They fled from him. Later on. We're going to read about David, it says about him.
He ran to meet the giant.
The men of Israel are running this way, and David ran the other way.
I remember a brother saying this, and it's to my shame. Perhaps to yours. You know, when there's a difficulty, we should run to meet it.
And I say I speak to my shame.
We often don't do that, do we?
So that here's a a difficulty.
Another difficulty our brothers brought before us, Saul says.
You are not able to go. You can't do this.
Others may tell us that, our own hearts may tell us that, but it's the enemy within. It's not the enemy we're facing that's feeding this to us.
And then there's another difficulty, and it's a it's a large difficulty. It's a weed that I find in my heart. His oldest brother, one that was close to him.
His oldest brother, who should have known better, says, why did you come down, hit her? Why in the world are you here, David? Why are you wasting your time coming here and being here?
That's a tremendous discouragement from those who are closest to us. But then there's something else that's even more insidious. He says this I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart, for thou art come down, that thou mightest see the battle imputing wrong motives.
00:55:00
To our brethren.
Thinking that we know what's going on in their hearts and in their minds. This is a very serious difficulty. Brethren have been turned aside immensely by this.
Saying that they know. Oh, they know, you know that's.
Solomon had this to say about God and his prayer.
Thou only knoweth the hearts of the children of men. Let's not take the position of God and think that we know everything that's going on with our brethren. Take a humble place when they're willing to help and stand up to the enemy.
A liab, I think is an example of what it says in Proverbs. As in water, face answer at the face, so the heart of man to man.
And.
Quite often.
Probably more often than not, we think we see something in someone else. We think we know their heart, we think we see something in them. We're actually just seeing a reflection of our own heart.
You come down to see the battle.
What battle been 40 days, it's been provoking you and you guys are running away? Eliab was one of those that turned his back and he ran away.
But here's this fearless young man and that provokes in our hearts called envy.
Different of jealousy, isn't it? Envy is why they delivered the Lord Jesus because of envy and not that they wanted to be the Messiah.
They didn't want him to be the Messiah.
And if we're all cowards, speaking for myself and I see someone.
With courage, maybe. I'd rather he'd be a coward too, you know?
So I wouldn't look at that.
So the older brother there, he had, I could say, a position in a relationship to David that he wanted to maintain.
And so he had envy, and he could say, oh, I know why you came down. You can learn to see the battle.
He didn't know he came down. He didn't know because he was, he was fearful of Eliot himself. And so may we take courage, brothers and sisters, as we see, perhaps younger ones among us.
Who display a greater measure of confidence in the space that we have us older ones.
Maybe as we look at these thoughts of Eliad, it would be helpful to look at the household that David was raised in. And we see that from the 12Th verse up to the point where live is mentioned. And for these verses here, it says David was the son of that aphrophyte. And what's interesting, we don't read very much of what David says about his father. We do read quite a bit of what David says about his mother.
There are a lot of mothers here and there are a lot of fathers, and it's, I think, instructive to see the household that David was brought up in and to look at the mothers and to look at the fathers.
So here in this portion it says in David the son of the phrasal, and Judah, whose name was Jesse Getty, Sons. Well, he goes among them for an old man.
And it's to me, it's instructive because Jesse would have known that there would have been for some friction.
Between the sun which comes out and that's what's being brought out in the these previous comments, there was obvious friction between between Eliab. We don't know about the others, but obvious friction between Elias and David.
And I, you know, I, I so appreciate that.
That David doesn't hold that against a lot. In fact, when you look later on at the list of his officers, we find a lot of in a very prominent part, he doesn't hold that against them. And I, I, you know, sometimes we have have a difficulty withholding things against our brethren.
I was. I was very much rebuked.
My wife and I go down for a period of time.
To Florida every year. A few years ago, we were.
We've been going to West Palm for 10 years and I so appreciated sitting under the ministry of Ralph Earsman.
Tremendous ministry. Just so enjoyed getting down there and listening to this man's ministry. Well, a couple of years ago we got down there and his family had moved him back up to Chicago.
01:00:06
Just because of age and he wasn't there anymore.
And a sister said to me, she said, know what we missed the most about our brother Ralph?
I said what was that? She said this. It just smites me. She said he was a brother that remembered nobody's fault.
A brother that remembers nobody's fault. What a legacy and what a characteristic to to carry amongst the gathered Saints. It's beautiful.
And we find that with David in his reaction with Elias, practical look at that later on.
But what was the household that David was brought up in?
You know it says turn to the turn to be 86 thought.
David writing here and Psalm 86.
Verse 15 Thou, O Lord, are the God full of compassion, gracious, long-suffering, plenteous, and mercy and truth.
Will turn on to me, and have mercy upon me, and give strength unto thy servant, and save thou. Here's the statement about David, Mother.
The son of Vine enemy.
The son of Thine Handmade.
Think of David being brought up in a household where he had the conscious sense that his mother was the handmade of the Lord.
What a wonderful position. I'm not a sister here.
I'm not a mother. I'm never going to be one.
I had a mother that was a handmaid of the Lord.
Is that how you carry yourself and the family that you find yourself?
With a husband, With children.
A Handmade.
Of the Lord. It's repeated Turn 216 song.
We often take this portion up in connection with the 15th 1St, which says Precious in the sight of the Lord, of the death of the Saints. Oh Lord, truly I my servant. Again, my servant. I'm assuming if you go through this chapter, although the heading does not say it's a David. Regardless, we have this comment. I'm thy servant and the son of thine. And what a beautiful commendation.
For a mother of this man.
But then let's look at where we have.
To the Father.
UPDATE So here's a man that knows there's some friction perhaps.
Amongst the boys.
But how does he carry himself as a father?
Verse 17 And Jesse said unto David his son.
Take now for thy brethren.
Anita of this parched corn.
These 10 loaves.
And run to the camp of thy brethren.
You know our brethren are our brethren.
Sometimes we're at loggerheads with them.
Sometimes they don't see eye to eye with them.
They don't see eye to eye with us. It's very evident here, although we know that David didn't hold that.
Against the line.
So as a father, he looks on, but what's his desire? His desire is that his sons defend.
He want his he wants his sons to be fed. And so he sends this and he, he recognizes that they're in that they're in a conflict. You know, as fathers, we recognize too, that we have children that are in a conflict. Is it our desire to make sure that our children are fed and that the those they spend time with the captain of their thousand, make sure he gets 10 cheeses to make sure that those that are, are, are sons and our daughters are with that they get food as well.
What a beautiful characteristic of Jesse to make sure that his sons, when they're in the conflict, have food. And isn't that what God desires for us as well, is that we would have food?
01:05:04
Just add one more comment to that that I appreciate in this chapter. David encourages, I'm sorry, Jesse encourages David to run into the camp of his brother.
With his food and he recognized in David that energy to be a health and you see it played out beautifully later in the chapter, verse 23.
Sorry, verse 22. David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage and ran.
Into the army and came and saluted his brother, and then later in the chapter you see him.
A verse 48, It came to pass. The Philistine arose and came and drew an eye to meet David, and David hasted and ran toward the army to meet the Philistines. David had tremendous energy here for the Lord going in his strength. His father recognized that in him and encouraged him to use it, and I know it's a tremendous encouragement.
To see.
Younger brothers who have energy encouraged in the Lord by the older ones. And what a tremendous thing that is actually there's.
I've been very encouraged recently in Rio Ferry there's a.
An older, younger brother who's been encouraging the young people to.
Exercise and do things together. And it's actually been an extremely helpful thing just to be together, enjoy time, spend energy together. And it's nice when we can encourage others to use what the Lord has given them for him. And we see that here in Jesse with David, and we see it you so beautifully later in the job. There's a verse in Isaiah 40 that's perhaps bears on what you're saying.
And I enjoyed it so much.
Isaiah 40 and verse.
29.
He gives power to the faint.
And to them that have no mighty increases strength, even the youth shall faint and be weary, and young men shall utterly wolf.
And then disperse. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
Margin. My Bible says change.
They shall mount up with wings as evil Eagles, they shall run not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.
It's been said that somebody that's waiting upon the Lord is not really a weary person. I think the basis is this verse because when we wait upon the Lord, we mount up with wings as Eagles.
We run and we walk.
Actually, that's what characterized David. He was one that waited upon the Lord.
And.
He was running. I really enjoy what was just brought out and bonus dead how many times references made to David Ronnie in this account.
He encouraged himself in the Lord, didn't they David it mentions about him sometimes that's what we need to do. We know that reading here about David and Goliath and.
His elder brother tried to discourage him. Really. A David. He had courage, he got it from the Lord and.
Even as a young boy.
He had his encouragement and trust from God to do what he was doing.
As mentioned earlier on that when they sent spies to spy out the land.
It mentions there in that account that they picked a.
We might say a leader of each tribe, 12 tribes, a leader or a prominent person of each tribe to go spy out the land. And we know when they come back, they brought a discouraging word back to the people. They discourage the people except for Joshua and Caleb. And so sometimes even if you're young, you may be seeking to serve the Lord.
You may come across some word of discouragement.
But we can be like David. David encouraged himself in the Lord, and certainly he was encouraged by the Lord to go against this formidable foe, Goliath, which all the men of Israel were afraid of.
01:10:08
And so it's nice to know from the word of God that anyone here in this room today can be a David.
Could be a David to stand up against the enemy.
I was looking at that verse in chapter 30 Enos and he says he was greatly distressed, but he encouraged himself and the Lord his God. And I think verse six it is. And when we consider the family portion that was somewhat mentioned a little bit, I'm sure Jesse wasn't in any way surprised after Samuel had gone through all those ones and came to lock on David and he was the one that would go and do that work. But.
I was just wondering if somebody could maybe look at the verses 12?
Well, verse 13 says the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle.
And at the end of verse 14 it says in the three eldest followed Saul.
But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem, and the Philistine drew near morning and evening and presented himself 40 days.
I was considering those verses when Wally read the verses in Isaiah 40 about waiting on the Lord.
Just wondering if somebody could maybe touch on those verses a little bit about how they followed Saul and then David went back.
40 days that he presented himself.
Or maybe next meeting.
Yeah, I would point out though.
And I hope we do take that up. But there's an important thing to note about David's boldness here.
He was coming down and out of his own will.
He was sent down by his father and I believe that was a.
Huge source of his boldness, the Lord Jesus said I In fact, he said he never did his own will. There wasn't a single thing the Lord did while he was here as a man that was of his own will. He was always only doing his Father's bidding. And for us, I can be a tremendous boldness. If we know that we're going, we have the confidence we're going on behalf of the Lord. The bold, the righteous are as bold as a lion. And I believe David's boldness was that he wasn't acting.
For himself.
Or by his own will. And that's a picture of the Lord Jesus.
The 20th verse, which is what you're referring to, it says David rose up early in the morning. And again, the verse that says that he went as Jesse had commanded him. In between, though, there's a statement. And the Lord would never have us take up for the responsibility.
And then leave that responsibility and go to another one and leave the previous one.
Sloppy and unfinished.
It doesn't say he just left the sheep.
He left the sheep with a keeper.
He left the sheep with a keeper. Yes, he was obedient. He did just what his father wanted them to do, but he tied it up first. What he left behind. And I, that's mighty because I'm.
I'm usually terrific on the start, but not much good on the finish, and I can have a tendency to, to to leave things sloppy. And here David didn't do that. He left the sheep with a keeper before he went on to carry on what his father sent him to do, say he was prudent in matters very good. Could we sing together? Hymn #40 in the appendix?
Particularly in the 1St 2 lines are Hail to the Lord's Anointed Great David, Greater Son hymn #40 in the appendix.
Hail to the.
Sun.
To light my heart.
Shall come.