Battlefield 3

The Battlefield 3

"Bullying Words"

1 Samuel 17: 26-29 "Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, 'What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?'

27 "And the people answered him in this manner, saying, 'So shall it be done for the man who kills him.'

28 "Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger was aroused against David, and he said, 'Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.'

29 "And David said, 'What have I done now? Is there not a cause?'

Now, in David's battle with the giant Goliath, we've seen that it was a spiritual battle.

Goliath was threatening God's plan of redemption by seeking to destroy the Jewish race, reducing them to slavery and ultimately extinction.

If Goliath had succeeded, the pathway for the coming Messiah Jesus would have been endangered.

We've also seen that Goliath's method of attack was to bully Israel into paralysis....twice a day for forty days he appeared to mock and bully them.

And finally we saw last time that David was the only man of courage in the entire nation....he was 'bully-proof,' and his courage came from having defeated a lion and a bear in his past.

Now this time I want to talk about the battle David experienced BEFORE he faced Goliath in the physical arena---it was the BATTLE OF WORDS.

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In studying this story I've seen some things I've not noticed before.

The moment David heard the giant's threatening words against the armies of Israel, he became angered with righteous anger...

It was in his heart to immediately enter the battle and go against Goliath alone.

And it was at this very juncture when David was confronted with three different verbal exchanges with three different people that were designed to knock the wind out of his sails and defeat him before the actual battle ever happened.

We're going to see that each of these exchanges happened with a very important person in his life whose opinion, in the natural, would have carried weight.

So let's look at them, and see how David successfully deflected what they said....

We see first that David experienced...

BELITTLING words from own brother.

His oldest brother Eliab said to him,

“Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle."

Ouch! Eliab's words to his little brother David are like daggers carefully aimed to deflate his courage.

First, Eliab defines David down, "Why have you left those few sheep in the wilderness?"

Translated, "David, you're nothing but a small time shepherd boy...you have no business being here with the real men!"

Folks, beware of people who BELITTLE you, who don't DISCERN God's grace on your life...who insist on CATEGORIZING you according to their own opinion of you, and not according to WHO YOU ARE in Christ!

Second, Eliab passed judgment on David's motives: "I know you are full of pride, and your heart is evil."

Now Eliab was, no doubt, jealous of David.

He had been there when Samuel had suddenly shown up at Jesse's house and anointed David the next king of Israel.

And it probably irked Eliab that David had expressed courage in the face of Goliath when he himself was hiding in his tent like all the others.

Application: Whenever you stand above your peers in courage and zeal, don't be surprised when the very ones that should support you turn against you.

David's response was, "Is there not a cause? Then he turned from him toward somebody else." (17:29).

APPLICATION: When you're engaged in a battle with a giant, don't give ear to people who want to marginalize you and shoot you down...

Do what David did and turn away!

Don't listen to them, or allow them to hinder you, or to pour cold water on your zeal...

David deflected Eliab's harsh words by just turning away...

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The SECOND verbal attack against David was....

II. DOUBTING words from King Saul.

"And Saul said to David, 'You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth'" (17:33).

Look carefully at the first four words out of King Saul's mouth...."You are not able..."

If ANYONE should have been encouraging to David, it should have been his King, the man who led the entire army!

But he didn't encourage him and here's why....he also did not discern the anointing that was on David...

Saul looked at him totally in the natural and saw exactly what Goliath also saw..."He was only a ruddy-faced boy."

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How often we judge people this way!

We look at their appearance, or the way their dressed, or their educational background, or their family roots, and we size them up according to these fleshly measures.

This is why the Apostle Paul said, "So from now on, we do not think about what people are like by looking at them" (2 Cor. 5:16).

And Jesus encouraged us the same way, "Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly" (John 7:24).

David shook off Saul's doubting words by sharing his testimony of past spiritual victories....

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Even so, Saul totally missed who David was in God, and almost sent him to his death by forcing his OWN ARMOR onto him, since he didn't believe David could do it alone.

"Then Saul gave David his own armor—a bronze helmet and heavy battle clothes. David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before. “I can hardly move!” he exclaimed, and took them off again" (17:38-39).

Saul's armor represented the inefficient weaponry of the world, which could not win the battle.

APPLICATION: The world will always try to hand you fleshly weaponry to win a spiritual battle with....And it never works!

The world will hand you POSITIVE THINKING in the place of BIBLE TRUTH.

It will tell you to have FAITH IN YOURSELF, instead of FAITH IN GOD.

It will hand you SELF HELP BOOKS, instead of THE BOOK OF ALL BOOKS!

It will put you on a DRUG instead of getting you FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT!

David rejected Saul's armor saying, "I can't move in this."

Translated---This isn't what God has taught me. I won my battles with the lion and bear by faith, and that's how I'll win this one!

And he took it off.

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APPLICATION: In a battle with giants, always use the spiritual weaponry given you by Jesus Christ.

Paul wrote, "I use God’s mighty weapons, not those made by men, to knock down the devil’s strongholds" (2 Cor. 10:4 LB)

From there, David went straight to a bubbling, gurgling brook and "...chose for himself five smooth stones...and his sling was in his hand" (17:40).

David knew this was not a battle between flesh and blood.

Goliath was standing directly in the pathway of God's redemptive plan for the world!

So David chose to lean on his faith in God....

With sling in hand, and Saul's worldly armor left behind, David approached the giant.

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And this is where the THIRD verbal attack happened.

His brother had used BELITTLING words; Saul had used DOUBTING words...But Goliath used,

III. THREATENING words

43 "And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 And the Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”

Those are frightening words!

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But again, David refused to give up verbal ground...

45 Then David SAID to the Philistine...“You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied."

He's saying, "You, Goliath, have placed you confidence in your worldly weaponry, but my confidence is in the name of the Lord.

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Then David literally reversed Goliath's verbal curse by saying,

"No, you've got it all backward...."

The birds and animals aren't going to be feasting on me today, they're going to be feasting on you!

He said, "This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth..." (17:46)

And the next verse tells us what David's motive was...

"Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands!" (17:47)

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Now, I believe that at this point David had already won the battle.

You say, "How Jeff? He hadn't even fought him yet!"

My answer is, he had already won because he had not allowed any of the negative words thrown at him to land on fertile ground!

Not the BELITTLING words of his brother, the DOUBTING words of the King, or the THREATENING words of the giant.

NONE OF THEM found fertile ground in David's soul!

All of them were successfully deflected!

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It is SO IMPORTANT IN BATTLE to not give up ground in the verbal arena.

Words are powerful in the day of battle.

The 12 spies that came back from spying out the Promised Land caused a whole generation of Israelites to lose their destiny by the doubtful, unbelieving words they spoke to them.

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And listen--Not only should we deflect words that don't come from the Lord through others, but also watch the way you talk to yourself.

No one talks to you as much as you do!

Have you ever stopped to consider what you say to yourself?

If we're not careful, we'll build a case for our own defeat by what we say to ourselves!

This is why the Bible instructs us to "Speak to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" (Eph. 5:19).

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So here is what David teaches us about spiritual warfare...

Worldly weapons won't win a spiritual battle.

We must never verbally agree with the enemy, but say what God says.

Our motive for victory should be the glory of the Lord, that observers will know the Lord did it!

LET'S PRAY