David's encounter with Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 demonstrates that true strength comes from faith in God, not physical prowess or worldly accolades. The sermon highlights Goliath's intimidating presence and taunts, contrasting them with David's unwavering trust in the Lord of Hosts, emphasizing that this was a spiritual battle against God himself. David's victory, achieved with a sling and stone, underscores that God can use the seemingly weak to accomplish His purposes, and his subsequent actions, including presenting Goliath's head, signify a decisive defeat of evil. The narrative then transitions to David's growing relationship with Jonathan and the escalating jealousy of Saul, setting the stage for David's eventual kingship and foreshadowing the spiritual battles believers face.
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I never knew whether Brother Willie turned it up or down. I was always going to check it, but I never did. Now the whole thing has disappeared. Speaking about rainy nights, and somebody did around here, reminded me of the story about a creature who found a family walk along the street during the week, and he chastised them. He says, you know, we missed you folks in church Sunday. The man said, well, preacher, you know, it rained. And the preacher said, well, it was dry in church. The man says, I know, that's another reason. Certainly not dry around here.
I enjoy all the singing and all the good fellowship and all the good response and rapport I get from you folks in the pew. Usually I save this remark for the last night because If I get fired, I'm going home anyway. But the audience determines whether or not the preacher has a good time preaching. And when the folks are looking into the Word and are looking for the Lord Jesus Christ and want to learn something new, it's easy for the preacher to preach. And the words just flow out. And the preacher is as amazed as anybody when he looks at his watch thinking he has another thirty-five minutes and he's probably over time.
But the people determine, the rapport the preacher gets from the pew determines whether or not he has a good time preaching. Some places I've been, I've preached everything I know that there is in the Bible and have only used up ten minutes. That's hard preaching. And Vance Havner went to one such Bible conference one day and people more interested in fun and games than they were in the Word. And somebody asked him later, said, Dr. Havner, have you ever Mend us such and such a conference, and he says, yes, I spent a month there one week. And that's about the way it goes. Thus far, we've worked our way up. We want to read a little bit in First Samuel chapter eighteen.
But first of all, we've got some things to finish in First Samuel chapter seventeen, which is a rather lengthy chapter. Remember, we didn't read it in its entirety this morning. We just picked out several verses from it. But the situation is this. Here we have David. We determine he's a lad of maybe about seventeen years of age, probably a teenager. And he has been busy taking care of his father's sheep down in the south forty. And one day his father calls him and says, David, I've got something for you to do. And he says, I want you to go to where Saul's army is encamped. And there you have some brothers who are in the army. I want you to go and see how they're doing and take some groceries to them.
This little presence, you see, for the commanding officer, we said, that's not a bad idea to do. And we want you to do that. We noted David's diligence. He still feels his ministry is to be a shepherd of the sheep. And so your Bible says he found somebody to take care of the sheep while he was gone. And that shows his responsibility. I may not always take care of sheep, but as long as I take care of sheep, they are my responsibility. And may his tribe increase. And so once he had seen to the responsibility of the sheep, he goes off to visit his brothers in the army, you remember. And he arrives at a time when Goliath has been making all of these terrible threats and invitations and so forth.
And David says, what's going on here? And his brothers say, well, twice a day for forty days now. So that means eighty times Goliath has come out and has challenged Saul's army, you send a champion out to fight with me. And it's interesting there, champion is the word middleman, which reminds you of Job chapter nine. And remember, Job says there is no middleman, there is no umpire between God and man. And whoever this person would have to be is going to have to be both God and man. And Job would say no such person exists. You just wait, Job.
one of these generations the God-man will come along. And Job says he's going to have to know what God requires, and he's also going to have to know some of the pressures of being a human being. And so that's the word used here. You send out a champion, Goliath says, and he and I will fight, and if I win, then you all be our slaves. And if he wins, then we will be your slaves. In fact, I don't want to get into this because I don't know much about psychology but I think that's what's found in chapter seventeen of first Samuel and verse eight and and verse nine I I think the way the words are set Goliath kind of slants the whole thing this way to make it look as if it's going to be an easy victory for him and an impossible victory for anybody who's in God's army and you have I think four indications there why are you come this is verse number eight of first Samuel seventeen Why are you come out to set your battle in array?
Am not I a Philistine? And ye servants to Saul. You see how it goes? I am a free Philistine. And you folks are the servants, the slaves of Saul. That immediately kind of puts them down, doesn't it? Now, he does the same sort of thing again. Choose you a man for you and let him come down to me. I'm the one that has to be served. He has to come down to me, you see. And this sort of thing, the whole thing is geared, is engineered to throw fear and negativism into the hearts of God's people. Number three, he says in verse number nine, If I prevail against him and kill him, then shall you be our servants and serve us?
Well, let me begin earlier in that, verse nine. If he be able to fight with me and kill me, then will we be your servants? But if I prevail against him, see the difference between the word fight and the word prevail? prevail is a softer term than fight. And it suggests the whole idea of it's going to be easier for me and difficult for him. If I prevail against him and kill him, then ye shall be our servants and serve us and serve us. And I think there's four indications there. When Goliath sets up the terminology of these challenges that he sets for Saul and for Saul's army, You see, to degrade the whole thing, to make a negative sort of a thing out of it.
And so David has to be told all of this. And he said, we've heard this now eighty different times, and he stands down there. And I will tell you that Goliath must have been a very imposing, intimidating figure. Now he stands about ten feet tall, you remember. And he's clothed with a coat of mail, and he's clothed with this brass or this bronze. And in that hot Palestinian sun, he must have been a glowing character. He must have been brilliant, the size of the man, you see. A lot like Nebuchadnezzar's idol out there in the plain. That stood about a hundred feet tall, you see, and made out of gold. Must have been a very imposing figure. And there was enough just to look at Goliath.
in his gleaming situation there that would just intimidate anybody. And so he comes out twice a day and hurls these taunts and these threats, and David says, what's going on? And the men in the army say, well, this is the situation. You've heard him, you've seen him, and so on and so forth. But if one of us could only manage to kill this guy, we would get a lot of money. Saul would pay us a lot of money. He'd give us his daughter to wed. I suggest it's a good way to get rid of an ugly daughter, make her a lottery prize. And number three, and his father's house would receive glory, which means from now on we wouldn't pay any taxes. We'd be in all the state parades, and it's a wonderful thing.
And David says, I can't believe my ears. And he repeats these things again, incredulously, I think. And he says, what is it you're telling me that the whole thing amounts to gold and glory and girl? Is that all that you fellow see in it? And David says, this is a spiritual battle. This fellow is an uncircumcised Philistine. He has not defied the army of Saul. He has defied the armies of the living God. And that's what's going to get him into trouble. And David, this young fellow, addressing these soldiers in this way, and he knows more about the reality of the situation than any of them. He sees the way the things really are.
And of course, his oldest brother, Eliab, doesn't like this. And it may be because Eliab has a guilty conscience, and he doesn't want anybody telling him that he is a coward, you see. So he berates David. He says, with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? You're nothing but a bloodthirsty kid, he tells him. And you're hoping to come up here and see some of us get killed and see the blood run and so on and so forth. And David says, is there not a cause? What have I now done? Have I been speaking that which is wrong? I'm not a bloodthirsty kid. I'm saying this is a spiritual warfare. And remember we mentioned, for you and I in this age of the church wrestle not against flesh and blood.
And that's very much so, but against principalities and spiritual wickedness in high places and some of these others. And that's as true now as ever it was. A lot of folks who attend church meetings don't believe this. They kind of go along hand in hand with the world. But you and I recognize there are devilish forces out there, and it's only the Holy Spirit that keeps them at bay. When the enemy comes in like a flood, you will raise up a standard against them. And we believe that so today. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Lord's church. And David recognizes this as a spiritual fight. I don't care how tall he is. I don't care what he's wearing by way of armor. This is a spiritual thing, and the guy is big, but he's no bigger than our God, you see.
And our God will defeat him. And I don't think at this time David had a feeling that he was going to be the one to go down and fight Goliath. Because you remember, he didn't have any ammunition for his sling, did he? Before he went to face Goliath, he had to stop by the brook and pick up five stones, your Bible says. I don't think he went to the battlefield with the idea, well, I'm going to get instant honor here. I'm going to go down and kill Goliath. I think at this time he's trying to explain to his brothers and to the other men, In the army, this is a spiritual battle. He's fighting against God. And maybe God's going to open up the earth and take him down alive to the pit or strike him dead with a lightning bolt from heaven. Boy, he'd be a perfect conductor, wouldn't he?
He's wearing a lot of metal. He's gone. He nuked into eternity, you see. And I don't think David realized at this point that he's going to be the one who God's going to use. So he has to stop when he finally does go down to faith, Goliath. And you notice this situation here. And when Goliath, Goliath, I think, is a little bit insulted that this is the best they could produce. They sent way off to the sheepfold to get a shepherd to come down and fight him. And I think he's a little nonplussed, you see. And in verse forty-five now of first Samuel seventeen, David said to the Philistine, thou comest to me, and then he lists three things.
He says, you are coming to me with number one a sword, number two with a spear, number three with a shield. He said, but I'm coming to you with three things. And he lists three things that are on his side. I come to you, number one, in the name of the Lord of hosts. Number two, the God of the armies of Israel. We're not talking Saul's hosts. We're not talking Saul's armies here. We're talking about the living God of heaven. Number two, the God of the armies of Israel. Number three, whom you have defied. And that's the real problem, Mr. Goliath. You're not fighting against Saul. You're not fighting against Saul's army. You're not fighting against the armies of Israel.
You are fighting against God. And friends, isn't that always a dangerous thing to do? Dangerous thing to do. I shudder when once in a while I come across somebody who seems to be shaking his fist in the face of heaven. I defy God, you know, this sort of thing. And I shudder. I shudder. But that's what's going on today. And I've had people tell me, I don't worry about the great white throne judgment, because I ain't going. I know you are. I got news for you. Someone said it's a good thing when the Lord went to raise Lazarus from among the dead, he said, Lazarus, come forth. If he simply said, come forth, everybody in the cemetery would have come forth. It's a good thing he directed his remarks.
And I've had people say, I don't believe that. It doesn't make any difference whether you believe it or not. If God says it's going to happen, it's going to happen, you see. I had a Christian tell me not long ago, I used to believe in the rapture, but I don't believe in the rapture anymore. And I said, you don't, why not? Well, he says, law of gravity, it's impossible for you to go, you know, this sort of a thing. He said, if the Lord says he's going to catch us all away, he's going to catch us all away. And friends, it's closer than ever before, you see. Closer than ever before. Wonderous things are in the future of the saint of God, you see. And the people today and the world today is largely laughing at God because they think God has become powerless.
And David, you see, is trying to convince these fellows and they are not convincible. So I think David comes to the fact, well, I know this is true and nobody else seems to want to do it, so I guess God wants me to do it. So he starts out to face Goliath, and so he goes. He's tried on Saul's armor. That was a rather ludicrous thing. He couldn't wear the armor of some fellow who stood head and shoulders above all the other fellows round and about. And very graciously, David said to him, well, Saul, I appreciate the gift, and I know what you're trying to do, but, you know, I just can't wear your armor because I have not proved them. Now, that's a nice, gracious way of getting out. It's not your fault, Saul. It's my fault. It's my fault.
And so he mentions these particular things. And Saul, you remember, said to David, all right, he said, if you're determined, he said, go and the Lord be with you. I think Saul feels there's no way that a shepherd boy can kill a man who has been a man of war from his youth up. That's what he told David. And so I think he says, well, go ahead, David. The Lord be with you. The Lord take you to your eternal home. And I think he feels he's saying goodbye to David. But I think maybe also Saul feels maybe Goliath will be satisfied with the blessed lust after he has killed David. Maybe that'll solve the whole problem, you see.
After all, David is not one of our army. He's not one of our representatives. He's a kid that's wandered him from the back field somewhere. And I think he says, well, go and the Lord be with you. Bye, David. Bye, David. And I don't think he had a clue. that David was going to win the battle. Now, David goes along with his sling. One of our elders told us that on the way home on Sunday noon, he said to his son, well, son, what did you learn in Sunday school today? And the little boy's in the back seat said, well, I learned that David killed Goliath with a sling shot. And our elder said, no, he didn't kill him with a sling shot. He killed him with a sling. You know what a sling is? Yes, mother had a broken arm, put her arm in a sling.
No, that's not exactly it. He said, I guess I could make you one and show you about as easy as I could try to explain one to you. So he says, I went out in the barn that afternoon and I cut some long strips and I cut out a piece of rubber inner tube for the saddle, for the thing that holds the stone, you see. And he said, that didn't work. And I had to use a piece of leather. He said, well, of course. Where's David going to get a piece of inner tube, you see? He used leather and this thing is going to be authentic. He said, then I had to select a stone. Well, he said, I'd read somewhere that the archaeologist had dug up the armory that was King Saul's and in it they found some sling stones.
And these stones were four or five inches in length and rather elliptical. Now that's a bigger stone than I had imagined. But he says, I found a stone just like that. I put it in the saddle. I wound up this and let it go. He said, Phil, I didn't see that stone go. It went like an invisible bullet. But I heard it crash through the top of a palm tree way off yonder somewhere, and I was more impressed than my son. I said, son, you see how it works? Uh-huh. Can I see the funny papers now? And the kid was gone. But the elder was impressed with the rapidity of the projectile going forth and the lethal force of it, you see.
And David took the sling, gathered up five stones, you remember, went off to face went off to face Goliath. You know the story. Of course, Goliath rather put him down this sort of a thing. And you've got three things going for you. I've got three things going for me. And the way chapter seventeen ends up, this rather lengthy chapter, of course, David prevailed over the flisting with a sling and with a stone. That's verse number fifty of the seventeenth chapter. And smote the flisting and slew him, but there was no sword in the hand of David. Of course, you know, David went up and took Goliath's own sword. which must have been a monstrous thing because it was built to be used by a man standing nearly ten feet tall. And this shepherd boy has to wield this sword and he chops off Goliath's head.
And then your Bible says that David took Goliath's rather gory sight, wouldn't it? David, the shepherd boy, carrying around the head of a giant with all the gore and the blood oozing out of it. And your Bible says he carried that head down to Jerusalem. and then he carried it back again, gave it to Saul, showed it to Saul. And I've puzzled about that. And I become convinced, and I don't want to argue with anybody about this after the meeting. I go off duty at eight thirty. So write letters to the editor or some other thing. But I think that's what is meant when we read about Galgotha, the place of the skull.
Now I know before my wife and I had opportunity to go over there, We used to see people's slide pictures. Now everybody takes videos. These are the old-fashioned days. Everybody came home with slides of the Holy Land. And we'd be invited to supper and to sit down to watch slides of the Holy Land. And my wife and I became expert in slides. You see, we became corner sewers. Corner sewers of the fact, well, the Simpsons have better Holy Land slides than the Walcuts do, you know, this sort of thing. But I always wondered, they always showed me a picture of Calvary. I never saw the bottom of it. I had no idea how tall this hill was, you see, until we had a chance to go over there.
Now I see why they never showed me the bottom of the hill, because that's the Jerusalem bus station. No, but they didn't want that in. That would destroy the picture. And so we had a lecture, and he was up there telling us about the Lord's crucifixion. And I was mesmerized by the bus station. Because bus after bus would back out of its parking stall and go down the driveway, which was going right toward the base of Calvary. And at the last minute, the bus would turn and go out into the street and the people would be gone. I said, that's just the way it is. People by the hundreds, people by the thousands, getting so close to Calvary and then turning and going back to their secular life again.
But anyway, during these, slides, people would always point out, you see the skull, you see the two indentations for the eye sockets, and then there's the nose in it, and I don't believe that was so, because you can walk the Via della Rosa, and they say, now this is the very place where Christ walked, except it was eight feet lower down, because all the rubble and so forth of the centuries since, you know, that's not the same thing. Well, why is the is the pathway. Why are the roads so inaccurate as they used to be? And the Calvary is the same, and I couldn't accept that. And I think what we're talking about is David taking the skull of Goliath to Jerusalem, the place of the skull.
This is what the Lord can win in the victory over one who is dedicated to Satan. The end of the evil kingdom, you see. Then he comes back and presents it to Saul. Now, if you don't see some sort of spiritual inclination in it, it's a rather gory picture of a young fellow carrying a bloody skull around, a big, huge skull, you see. And it's a rather gory thing that turns you off right away. But I think there's some significance in the fact that David took it down there and then brought it back again. And this is what he did. And then Saul says to somebody, who is this kid anyway? And he'd forgotten that David used to play the liar for him or the harp for him, you remember, when he had this distressing spirit that would come upon him.
And he'd forgotten already who this was. And they said, oh, that's David, the son of Jesse, and so on and so forth. All right, now that's taken us up to chapter eighteen. And so we'll read just the first nine verses of chapter eighteen. The first nine verses, chapter eighteen, verses one through nine, came to pass when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan. Oh, here we're introduced to Saul's son Jonathan. The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And this relationship, this friendship, is going to continue, isn't it, until Jonathan is killed with his father in Gilboa. All right. Verse two. Saul took him that day and would let him go no more home to his father's house, that is David.
Then Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him and gave it to David and his garments, even to his sword and to his bow and to his girdle. And David went out whithers whoever Saul sent him and behaved himself wisely. You're going to read about that some more. And Saul sent him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. He was well liked. David was a man's man. Not only because of the victory that had won over Goliath, but because of all the things that we read about him before. He was a man prudent and matters, all these other things that we read about him.
Verse six, it came to pass as they came when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with tablets, with joy, and with instruments of music. And the women answered one another as they played and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him. He said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands. Imagine that, adding up how many people you've killed. And what can he have more for the kingdom?
Remember some time ago the prophet Samuel had told King Saul, when thou was little in thine own sight or in thine own eyes, God could use you. But now because you have been lifted up in pride, God has rested the kingdom from you and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. I wonder if Saul is beginning to get an idea that David is that one. It may be just a faint idea here, because after all, David is still just a lad, you see. But it may be some sort of indication of this. And so Saul, verse nine says, and Saul eyed David from that day forward. So you have here the introduction to Jonathan.
Here is one spectator. That's what I call him. And I think that Jonathan loved David because he had confidence in the work of David. Now you see, Saul is going to be deposed. By rights, Jonathan should be the next king if we have established this monarchy, this dynasty, you see. But that's not to be the case. And apparently that doesn't bother Jonathan because he loves David. And he recognizes that the work that David has done has put him in the place that he is. And I think Jonathan feels privileged that he can love such a one as David, the one after God's own heart. Now, you know, that sort of leads us into our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have confidence in the work of another, as Jonathan had confidence in the work of David. Isn't it a wonderful thing to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Mark says, He doeth all things well. Remember one time when the critics of the Lord came to Peter and says, Now does your master pay the temple tax or no? And Peter says, Yes, of course he does. But Peter didn't know. He hadn't any teaching on it. But he always knew that Christ always did the right thing. And so later on, you remember in the house, the Lord came by Peter and he said, now who pays taxes? You know, the children of the king and so on and so forth. And Peter gave the right answer and he said, yes.
And the Lord said, yes, but lest we offend them, you go catch a fish and bring up the first fish that you catch. I don't know what the significance of that is. Peter was a fisherman, you know. Maybe he might have called that that we in the fishing business used to call a trash fish. Well, it wouldn't be any gold coin in that. That's just a trash fish, you know. It has to be a red snapper that's a lot prettier, you know. Or a sea bass. Now, that's a real sweet fish. Or maybe a flounder. That's a funny fish because it got both eyes on one side of its head during part of the year. Well, never mind. We won't go into all that. But take up the first fish.
that you catch, and you'll find a gold coin in its mouth and take that and pay the temple tax for you and for me. But I like Peter there because he says, I'm not sure what the answer is, but I know my Lord always does the right thing. I know sometimes in our Christian lives, dear friends, things will come along. Things that really upset us. Crisis. We've been talking about that this week. And you wake up in the morning and say, well, now what do I have to do this week? Well, this is priority. I have to do this first. This is number two. This is number three. This is number four. But then you get a phone call or a knock at the front door or a letter in the mail. And this takes precedence over all the rest of them. And that goes to the top.
And all the rest of them go down one notch. And there's a lot of things that upset us. And a lot of things that are unplanned by us. And things that we can't foresee. But you say, thou, Lord, doest all things well. You don't do things haphazardly, Lord. And Lord, you don't hit me over the head just to prove to me who's boss. Now, the world today thinks that's the way God operates. That God is mean and God is vindictive and God is a despot because he lets babies die and he causes tidal waves and all these other sorts of things. But the believer says, No, my Lord is one who gave his life a ransom for many. And he has my interests at heart all the time, you see.
And so Jonathan, I think, apparently, from what you read about him in the Word of God, has no problem with the fact that David is to be the next king in what should have been Jonathan's place, because he has confidence in the work of another, just as we do. And I think also in verse number four here, Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, gave it to David, gave him his garments, even to his sword. You can divide up these things, things with which he defends himself, things which speaks of his princely role, you see, his very fancy garments that he must have worn, even to his bow, that which we do at a distance, and all these other sorts of things. But you know, over in, well, there's one other thing mentioned here, or one thing that's not mentioned here, and he never gave David his sandals.
I think that's significant. He gave him his weapons of war, self-defense, defensive weapons, offensive weapons, His robe, his girdle, his sash, in the girdle is where you kept your valuable sorts of things, you see. He gave David everything except his sandals. He was never willing to stand where David stood. And you know, David, over here in Second Samuel, Second Samuel chapter one, David, I think, had to preach three different funeral services, and none of the three were very victorious. But over in Second Samuel chapter number one, he gives a funeral oration over Jonathan, who has been killed with his father at Gilboa, you remember.
Second Samuel chapter one, verse number seventeen. David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son. Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow. I think that's the tune. I don't think we're talking about military things here. The tune. Behold, it is written in the book of Joshua, which is lost to us today. We have no way of reading that today. But then he says, The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places. How are the mighty fallen? And he repeats that phrase two more times in this funeral oration. And he goes on to mention, tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ascalon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.
Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offerings. For there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil. David never seems to be vindictive concerning Saul, even though Saul tried to kill him on a number of occasions. And verse twenty-three, Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives. That's a gracious spirit, isn't it? Saul tried to kill David over and over again. They were pleasant, and in their death they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles. And then in verse twenty-five, David repeats again, how are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle?
Verse twenty-seven, he repeats the same thing again, how are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war bears? Oh, Jonathan, if you'd made the decision to stay with me instead of staying with your father, you'd be alive today. David wasn't involved in that battle, you remember. And, oh, Jonathan, if you had only remained with me, but you never gave me your sandals. Now, you see, you might bring that up to nineteen ninety-eight. We not only sing, I walk today where Jesus walked, but I need to stand today where Jesus stood. And sometimes you might be the only believer in a crowd of people, and the Lord expects you to make a testimony for him. Used to be when I worked for General Motors, seven o'clock, Monday morning before the whistle would blow and we all had to go to work.
The men would gather around and they'd tell all the things that they had done over the weekend. Man, did I really tie one on Friday? Oh, yeah, it tells about. It tells about. Man, I didn't know where I was all week. And I stood there and the Lord said to me, what did you do over the weekend? Yeah, that's right. They brag about what they did for the devil. Why can't I brag about what I did for the Lord? So I got a chance to get a breath in Edwes. I said, man, did I have a Sunday? Yeah, yeah, tell us about it. Tell us about it. Well, I went off to Sunday school. It was a glorious time. We were studying Romans chapter number eight, and then we had preaching, and I went as long as my breath would hold out. And when my breath was finished, so was my congregation. They'd all disappeared.
They didn't want to hear about all the good things you see in the Lord. But sometimes you take a stand and you say, let me tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me tell you something. And you meet with a family and they're all mixed up and their lives are just all knotted together and you wonder how the Lord's ever going to untie all those knots. And you say, listen, you get saved and turn these things over to the Lord and the Lord will straighten them out for you. And then they'll say, how will he straighten them out? Well, I don't know. I don't know. But I know this. He'll straighten them out for you. if you give your heart and your life to the Lord Jesus Christ. We give the Lord everything. Have you given him your sandals yet? Are you willing to stand where the Lord Jesus Christ stood?
So that's Jonathan. That's the one spectator. And then you have the two speculations here. Self-indulgence Saul, you see. And they came back from their victorious military situations and parades. The women answered one another and they said, Saul has slain his thousands. And you can see the chest of Saul just puffs up and puffs up and puffs up, you know. And then they sing the second chorus. And David has slain his tens of thousands. And Saul didn't like that. What can he have more? But the kingdom, but the kingdom, you see. The two speculations, the self-indulgent Saul and the meditative David. Verse number fourteen.
David behaved himself wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him. And the Lord was with him. That's the meditative David. And you read about that several more times. Verse fifteen, wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him. And it repeats over several different times in this chapter. David always behaved himself wisely or the alternative word is he prospered he prospered whatever situation he was in he behaved himself wisely this sort of thing well let's close with this there's some three successes mentioned here in the latter part of this in this chapter in this eighteen chapter faithfulness in externals chapter eighteen verse number five David went and whithersoever Saul sent him and behaved himself wisely there's our expression Saul sent him over the men of war and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants.
Faithfulness before the Lord in external things. This would include a man's relationship with his neighbors, a man's relationship in his secular life, a man's relationship in anything that the world can look at and expect to see us living the life that the Lord Jesus Christ would have us to live. And someone has made this frightening statement, the unsaved world will expect us to be better than you and I expect ourselves to be as Christians. Sometimes we put the bumper sticker on. Christians aren't perfect. They're just forgiven. And that sometimes can be a cop-out. Sometimes I watch out for cars that have religious bumper stickers on the back. Because if you don't go to their church, they'll cut you off and throw you into the ditch.
Rather vindictive sometimes, you see. I don't have bumper stickers. I think the value of a bumper sticker keeps your bumper from getting rusty. But at any rate, I see a lot of these things around, and I'm always, one of the things that really bugs me is to see one that says, God is my co-pilot, you see. And my wife knows I fuss about that. And I say, catch up with this guy. I want to hand him a gospel track. You know, here I'm mad at you. Here, this sort of thing. And we have a friend of ours. who's a co-pilot for Northwest Airlines. I said, how you like the job? He said, I don't like it. It pays good. He said, I don't like it. I don't have anything to do.
And you're the what? Oh, you're the co-pilot. God is my co-pilot. He doesn't have anything to do. I said, won't they let you even blow the horn? He says, I blow the horn if I could find it on the airplane. I don't think airplanes have horns, you see. He says, I can't even talk over the intercom to the people in the passenger compartment. Hello, this is your captain speaking, you know. He says, I don't have anything to do until I get to be a pilot. I said, how long will that take? He says, another five or six years. So he's paid well for having absolutely nothing to do, and he's the co-pilot. Then my wife bumped me in the elbows the other day. She does that a lot. She says, look at that one.
And the bumper sticker says, God is my pilot. I'm just a co-pilot. And I said, no, there's a spiritual person. There's a spiritual person, you see. And so this is what David was. Faithfulness in externals. Faithfulness in internals. Verse number fourteen. David behaved himself wisely in all his ways. And the Lord was with him there. You see that expression again. He behaved himself wisely internally. His impulses, His desires, His goals, His ambitions, and so forth were approved of by the Lord. So he was faithfulness in internals. Verse number thirty, faithfulness in eternals.
Verse number thirty, the princes of the Philistines went forth, and it came to pass that as they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was much set by, even amongst the enemy. because he behaved himself wisely. Whatever David became involved in, you always read he behaved himself wisely. It can be an internal thing. It can be an external thing. It can be an eternal thing. But he always behaved himself wisely. Always behaved himself wisely. And that brings us up to the present. More Lord willing about it tomorrow morning. Shall we pray? Our Father and our God, we give you thanks again for your word.
We thank you, Father, that we can read that heaven and earth shall pass away, but your word shall never pass away. And Father, we thank you for this, that our salvation is sure. We thank you, Father, the Lord Jesus Christ has paid the full price. We thank you that he has given unto us eternal life, and we are bound for glory. Father, we pray that you might seal these things to our hearts by the Holy Spirit. May he truly continue to be our teacher, even though we dismiss one from another. May he continue to teach us and to lay the truth of God upon our hearts. For we pray these things, Father, with much thanksgiving in Christ's name. Amen.