In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith discusses the story of David and Goliath from 1 Samuel chapter 17. He emphasizes the importance of recognizing that God is on our side and will help us in our battles. David's confidence in God's support enabled him to face the giant Goliath without fear. Pastor Chuck highlights the fact that God often uses unconventional means to bring deliverance and encourages listeners to trust in God's supernatural power rather than relying on conventional methods.

Oh, let the Son of God enfold you With His Spirit and His love Let Him fill your heart and satisfy your soul Oh, let Him have the things that hold you And His Spirit like a dove Will descend upon your life and make you whole Welcome to The Word for Today Featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor Chuck Smith Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California Pastor Chuck is currently leading us on a verse-by-verse venture through the entire Bible And on today's edition of The Word for Today We'll be continuing to follow David's encounter with Goliath As we pick up in 1 Samuel 17, verse 38 And now with today's message, here's Pastor Chuck Smith And so Saul armed David with his armor He put on a helmet of brass on his head And he armed him with this coat of mail And David put on the sword upon his armor And he tried to go out, but he had not proved it And David said to Saul, I can't go with these For I have not proved them And David put them off And he took his staff, just his shepherd's staff, stick In his hand, and he chose five smooth stones out of the brook And put them in the little shepherd's bag which he had Which was a little leather pouch Like you would carry a script, sort of a purse And his sling was in his hand And he drew near to the Philistine Now, it's a little leather pouch with two leather straps And David probably used his sling to keep the sheep in line And so, you know, all day long he's winging around with that sling And throwing at rocks and throwing at bushes And throwing at the sheep And so David picked these smooth stones out of the creek bed Put them in his little bag And he drew near to the Philistine And when the Philistine came close to David The man who was bearing his shield was in front of him And when he looked about and saw David He disdained him, for he was but a youth And ruddy and of fair countenance He was just a little red-headed kid And the Philistine said unto David Am I a dog that you would come after me with a stick? For David had his shepherd's stave in his hand And the Philistine cursed David by his gods And the Philistine said to David Come on up here, son, I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air And the beasts of the field Figured that he would scare the little kid off with the threats I'll cut you up and feed you to the birds And David said to the Philistine You come to me with a sword And with a spear and with a shield But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts The God of the armies of Israel Who you have defied David again, the right perspective You come with a sword and a shield I come in the name of the Lord of hosts The God of the armies of Israel that you have defied This day will the Lord deliver you into my hand And I will smite you And I'm going to take your head off of you And I'm going to give the carcasses of your whole army To the fowls of the air And to the wild beasts of the earth He didn't scare David Threatening to cut him up and feed him to the birds David said, I'm going to cut up your whole army, man Feed the whole army to the birds That all the world or all the earth may know That there is a God in Israel David saw that God was on his side And as Paul the Apostle tells us in Romans 8 If God is for us, who can be against us? Paul asks a series of questions there in Romans 8 And they're probably the most important series of questions in the Bible And I'll tell you, they set me free They changed my life They changed my relationship with God 180 degrees As I began to study these questions in Romans 8 If God be for us, who can be against us? And suddenly I realized that God was for me He wasn't ready to bash me the moment I did something wrong If I would stumble or fall, He was ready to pick me up And He was wanting to help me When you're teaching your little child to walk Holding it out and standing it on its feet Then gradually pulling your hands away, letting it get its balance And say, OK, now come, come on, come on And they take that step and you're so excited Oh, good, good, good, and you hug them and all Now, if they go to take a step and they fall You don't pick it up and wail it Say, I told you to walk No, but if they stumble, you grab it and you hug it And you hold it close and you say, oh, that was great, honey Now try it again, try it again And God doesn't pick you up and wail on you Every time you stumble and fall or make a mistake He's not there to bring fiery judgment He's there to lift the fallen God is for you Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Paul answers the question, it is God who has justified In other words, God isn't charging you As David said, oh, how blessed is the man To whom God does not impute iniquity God's not keeping a list God doesn't impute iniquity against me He's not looking for every little flaw Oh, did you see that? No, he doesn't even keep a list against me Oh, how happy, how blessed is the man To whom God does not impute iniquity Paul, of course, was quoting from Psalm 32 Who is he that condemneth? Paul asked Again, Jesus isn't condemning me For Paul said, it is Jesus who died Yea, rather, is risen again And is even at the right hand of the Father Making intercession for me You see, God's not laying anything to my charge Jesus is not condemning me, he's interceding for me And so the final question Who shall separate us from this love of God? Oh, David realized, hey, God's for me, I'm not afraid Of the giant or anyone else If God is for us, who can be against us? And seeing the battle in the right perspective And it's important that as we look at the problems of life And the battles that we face It's important that we have that awareness and consciousness That God is for us And God has made available to us His infinite resources And he is there to help, he's there to strengthen He's there to lift, and if we fall, he's there to pick us up God is for you And all the assembly, the earth will know that there's a God in Israel And all the assembly shall know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear For the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands The Lord doesn't use conventional means To bring deliverance to his people He uses supernatural means You see, so often when I'm faced with a problem I'm looking at natural ways or conventional ways To solve my problems, to find the solution I'm looking at some conventional way God doesn't use conventional ways He uses unconventional ways many times God doesn't save with sword or spear If I'm looking for conventional ways Often times I get discouraged, I despair Because I can't see any possible way out I've tried to think of possible ways By which this situation might be resolved And I can't see it, and I worry because there's no conventional way God doesn't save with sword or spear It's his battle Now, Satan is always trying to draw us into that arena Where we are in the flesh, combating him And if he can get you in the flesh, he can really give you a battle I mean, he can wipe you out The moment he can draw you into the flesh To battle against him with sword and spear To battle against Satan in the flesh Is just real folly Because he can just, you know, make a pretzel out of you But, as Paul said, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal But they are mighty through God To the pulling down of the strongholds of the enemy And I mean, I can go into my closet And I can make a pretzel out of him As I begin to use this weapon that God has given to me The prayer and the spiritual battle And I keep it in the spiritual realm He doesn't have a chance The Lord doesn't save with sword or spear The battle is the Lord's And He will give us the victory If we remain in the spiritual realm And so it came to pass when the Philistine arose And came and drew close to David That David hastened I love it And ran toward the army to meet the Philistine I mean, David running at this giant And he put his hand in his bag And he took from there a stone And he slang it It's an old English word, isn't it? And he smoked the Philistine In his forehead That the stone sunk into his forehead And he fell on his face to the earth So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling And with a stone And he smoked the Philistine and slew him But David didn't have any sword in his hand And so he ran And stood upon the Philistine and took his sword And drew it out of the sheath And he slew him and cut off his head with it And when the Philistine saw their champion was dead They fled And the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted And they pursued the Philistines Until you come to the valley and to the gates of Ekron And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Sharim Even unto Gath and to Ekron And the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines And they spoiled their tents The Philistines of course had left their tents So they went in and took all of the loot that was there All of their armor and everything And David took the head of the Philistine And brought it to Jerusalem But he put his armor in his tent So David carried this head around for a few days As my little granddaughter would say, gross And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine He said to Abner the captain of his host Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, as my soul liveth, O king, I can't tell you And so the king said, inquire Find out whose son this stripling is And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistines Abner took him and brought him before Saul And he still had the head of the Philistine in his hand Probably, you know, holding by the hair I would imagine And Saul said unto him, whose son are you? Young man And David answered, I'm the son of your servant Jesse From Bethlehem Now David had before, you remember, been called by Saul To play the harp whenever Saul would have one of his fits of anger To soothe Saul And Saul knew who David was I mean, he was this little kid that used to come in there And play the soothing harp when he would have his fits of anger But he couldn't remember who his family was And of course he had promised that the family would be tax free And so it wasn't that he didn't recognize or know David It's just that, you know, who is your family? Who is your dad, you know? And so David said, you know, Jesse, the Bethlehemite And so it came to pass when he had made an end of speaking to Saul That is, David had finished That the soul of Jonathan, the son of Saul Was knit with the soul of David And Jonathan loved him as his own soul And Saul took him that day and would not let him go to his home To his father's house anymore Then Jonathan and David made a covenant Because he loved him as his own soul And so here the son of Saul, Jonathan Who also in his own right was a hero on the field of battle He had been in charge of part of the army of Saul Over a thousand men And he had done tremendous exploits on the fields of battle But now he sees this young man David He saw him as he faced Goliath He saw the faith, he saw the courage He admired him, he loved him as his own soul The love was so great that they formed a love covenant They made a covenant of love between them Now, any suggestion That there was a homosexual relationship Between David and Jonathan Is and borders on blasphemy The Hebrew language does not support that concept at all That is a concept that has only lately been suggested By those from the homosexual community Who are trying to somehow justify from the scripture Their unscriptural deeds The Bible says that David was a man after God's own heart And if David were engaged in activities For which God brought judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah And judgment upon the tribe of Benjamin And God so clearly and distinctly forbids In Romans chapter 1 Then if David had been involved in such perverse activities Surely it could never be said That he was a man after God's own heart The scripture does not even hint to that It is only a suggestion of perverted minds There was a bond of love, a camaraderie A close kinship between these two fellows There was a mutual admiration And thus they made the covenant of love Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him This was the princely robe And he gave it to David along with the meal In the Hebrew which is sort of the garment That was worn under this princely robe Leaving just his linen garment He gave to David his sword And his bow And his girdle Which is not what you women think of when you think of girls Just the sash that you tie around you And David went out Wherever Saul would send him And he behaved himself wisely And Saul set him Over the men of war And he was accepted in the sight of all of the people And in the sight of Saul's servant And so David was brought and made A captain in Saul's army He behaved himself very wisely Everybody began to admire David It came to pass As they came When David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistines That the women came out of all of the cities of Israel Singing and dancing to meet King Saul With their tambourines With joy And with instruments of music Or their little triangles And the women would sing In antiphonal type of singing Answering one another And as they played And they said Saul has slain his thousands Now this was something that had become a practice Earlier you remember the story When Jonathan smote the Philistines with a great slaughter And Saul blew the trumpet in Israel So the people heard that Saul had smitten the Philistines I mean Jonathan was out doing the work Wiping out the Philistines Saul was going around taking the bows And it became sort of a custom When Saul would come with his armies to a city All the ladies would come out with their tambourines And their cymbals and so forth And they'd get in their dances And they had this one Israeli dance That was for the victorious Saul Saul has killed his thousands And he was sort of prideful over the thing Even though it was Jonathan that was doing most of the fighting He was taking the credit and the glory And he liked that And so as Saul came in And the gals came out with their tambourines And all singing Saul has killed his thousands But they added a second verse David his tens of thousands Bad news Saul So Saul was very angry The saying displeased him And he said they've ascribed to David ten thousands And to me only thousands What can he have more but the kingdom Now you remember it had been years earlier That Samuel said to him Because you have not allowed God to rule over you God is taking the kingdom away from you And he's going to give it to another From that time Saul probably was looking for someone You know who could it be You know God's going to give it to someone else And he was probably looking for someone Who would be rising on the scene And when he saw the response of the people He saw how David was so brave in the field of battle And he saw how the people were beginning to turn towards David I think that he got an inkling at that point Hey this must be the one That God's planning to give the kingdom to And thus he by force from now on Will do his best to destroy David And to keep him from taking over the kingdom So this begins Saul's attempts on David's life We'll return with more of our verse by verse study Of 1 Samuel in our next lesson As we find Saul plotting to kill David And we do hope you'll make plans to join us But right now I'd like to remind you That if you missed any part of today's message Or perhaps you'd like to order a copy For that special friend or loved one You can do so by simply contacting One of our customer service representatives And they'd be more than happy to assist you With the ordering details Simply call 1-800-272-WORD And phone orders can be taken Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time Once again our toll free number is 1-800-272-9673 And for your added convenience You can order online anytime When you go to the wordfortoday.org And while you're there Be sure to browse through the additional resources That include Bible studies, commentaries, CDs, DVDs And so much more Once again that's the word for today online At thewordfortoday.org And for those of you who still prefer to write You can use our mailing address 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Box 8000 Costa Mesa, California 92628 And be sure to include the call letters of this station With your correspondence And now on behalf of the word for today We'd like to thank all of you Who share in supporting this ministry With your prayers and financial support And be sure to join us again next time As Pastor Chuck Smith Continues his verse by verse study Through the book of 1 Samuel That's right here On the next edition of The word for today And now once again Here's Pastor Chuck Smith With today's closing prayer Father we thank you for this opportunity Of studying the word That we might learn and grow thereby And Lord we so appreciate Your grace towards us We thank you God that We can put our trust and our confidence in you Though there are frightening giants before us Lord we thank you that You are on our side And if God is for us Who can be against us Thank you Father In Jesus name Amen I am Goliath What's going on? There's a big scary giant Don't be afraid we have God on our side My name is David and I know all about big scary giants I've defeated lions and bears And God will help me defeat Goliath too It's true and Pastor Chuck wants to tell you All about the story of David and Goliath In his new book Just for Kids So come along on a great adventure And discover how God used David To defeat a big scary giant And learn why David believed that God Was big enough even to conquer Goliath And as a gift each book contains An audio CD of Pastor Chuck Actually reading the story of David and Goliath So your kids can read along To order your copy call the Word for Today At 800-272-WORD Or to see a sneak preview of the story of David and Goliath Visit us online at thewordfortoday.org This program has been sponsored by The Word for Today In Costa Mesa, California