A Journey to Holiness - Holiness Requires Faith

Holiness Requires Faith

Last week we looked at Holiness requires Obedience and looked in 1 Samuel 15, as King Saul disobeyed the instructions from God.

The Lord delights more in obedience then He does in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as we seen last week we must be obedient before we offer any offering or sacrifice, or even service to the Lord.

This morning we are going to continue our series on A journey to Holiness, and still be in 1 Samuel with a very familiar story of David and Goliath, this morning looking in chapter 17.

To help us understand what has happened since last week, I want to just quickly give a summary of chapter 16, and the beginning of 17 up to our main text.

The end of chapter 15 Samuel tells Saul that God has torn the kingdom from Saul, that God will give the kingdom of Israel to his neighbor.

Samuel ends up killing king Agag before the Lord, as we remember Saul kept him alive, even though he was not supposed to.

Samuel is grieving over Saul being removed as king, even though Saul continues to lead as king, but God comes to Samuel in the beginning of chapter 16 and asks him how long are you going to grieve over Saul?

Then tells him to fill a horn with oil and go to Jesse’s house in Bethlehem to anoint one of his sons as king.

God tells him I will show you which son it is to be, Samuel responds to God, if Saul finds out he will kill me, God says take a heifer that you may offer a sacrifice, and that you are doing it for the elders of the town of Bethlehem.

Samuel gets to Jesse’s house and Jesse calls in his oldest son, Eliab and Samuel says, Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.

But the Lord said, Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected Him, for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

Samuel goes through all the rest of Jesse’s sons but one, Samuel asks Jesse is this all of your sons, Jesse said the youngest is out tending the sheep, Samuel says we will not sit down to eat until he gets here.

David comes in and it says he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance . The Lord said arise anoint him, for this is he.

The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.

The Spirit of the Lord had departed Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized Saul.

Saul’s servant sought someone to play music for Saul to sooth him when the evil spirit came on him, this person just so happened to be David.

Which brings us to chapter 17, the Philistines had gathered their armies for battle; therefore, Saul gathered his armies for battle.

The Philistines where on top of one mountain top, and the Israelites where on another, with a valley between the two armies.

Goliath would come into the valley, now Goliath stood 9 feet 9 inches tall, and was clothed in armor and had weapons that equalled his height, just the weight of his spear head weight 15.1 pounds of iron.

Goliath was considered a champion, and he wanted a one on one fight, and he stated

1 Samuel 17:9 NASB95

9 “If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will become your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall become our servants and serve us.”

But then after he made that statement he shamed the Israelite army.

All the Israelites and even King Saul were afraid of Goliath.

Now David was sent out to take food to his three oldest brothers that were there at the battle, by his father.

David generally just tended the sheep for his dad, but there were times his dad would send him with food for his brothers and to check on them.

Goliath came out into the valley every morning and evening, and this had been going on for forty days.

David left early in the morning and got to the battle line just at the time when Goliath was coming into the valley to give his morning challenge.

David dropped the supplies that he had brought and ran forward to see what the commotion was all about, and heard what Goliath was saying.

All the Israelites fled from the side of the valley, and began to talk about Goliath, saying surely he is coming up to defy Israel. The king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.

This brings us to our first point and our main text, before we get into it, let’s pray.

Pray

I. It takes Faith to Speak Up

1 Samuel 17:26–30 NASB95

26 Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will 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 taunt the armies of the living God?” 27 The people answered him in accord with this word, saying, “Thus it will 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 burned against David and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle.” 29 But David said, “What have I done now? Was it not just a question?” 30 Then he turned away from him to another and said the same thing; and the people answered the same thing as before.

After David sees and hears this challenge from Goliath, he wants to know what is going to be done.

David being the youngest of 8 boys, he is there to bring supplies to the oldest three brothers, his job is normally taking care of his father’s sheep, David has never been trained for battle, but now at the battle front asking questions about the battle, his three oldest brothers are probably feeling a bit embarrassed because their little brother is there asking questions.

These brothers are like would you just go back to the sheep and leave us a lone.

But David is like why are you guys allowing this guy to make fun of God?

He is just an uncircumcised Philistine, he is nothing, you have God behind you.

Not only is Dave speak up to his brothers here but he is speak up in a sense to the whole Israelite army.

He does not just ask one guy, but he turns and asks another guy.

When it comes to speaking up it takes faith, especially when we are to share our faith, or if we are out of our comfort zone, or if it is something God has called us to do, it takes faith.

II. It takes Faith to Stand Up

1 Samuel 17:31–39 NASB95

31 When the words which David spoke were heard, they told them to Saul, and he sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” 33 Then Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.” 38 Then Saul clothed David with his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head, and he clothed him with armor. 39 David girded his sword over his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. So David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” And David took them off.

David kept asking to the point that it got to king Saul, now Saul does not know that David has been anointed as king, but David has not been put in motion as king just yet, just anointed.

Saul sends for David, and David stands up in front of the highest authority in the land, King Saul.

We must remember all the soldiers, and even King Saul has been afraid to fight Goliath for forty days.

Now here is David believed to be around the age of 16 standing in front of the King of Israel saying - Let no man’s heart fail on account of Goliath, your servant, meaning himself, David will go and fight with this Philistine - Goliath.

Saul says, you are but a youth, Goliath has been a warrior and been trained as a warrior since his youth.

David responds, I have been keeping sheep, killing bears and lions with my bear hands and this Goliath will be like one of them since he has taunted the armies of the living God.

David shows his faith to stand up to the giant, he says -

1 Samuel 17:37 NASB95

37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.”

Then Saul tries to put his battle armor on David but it was to big and bulky and David was not used to wearing all that or fighting with a sword.

David takes it all off, and says I cannot go with these.

David placed his Faith in the Lord to stand in front of the King and he had faith that he could stand up to the giant.

David said The Lord will deliver me, we must remember when we are going to stand up against opposition that The Lord will deliver us.

1 John 4:4 NASB95

You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

III. It takes Faith to Face your Giant

1 Samuel 17:40–51 NASB95

40 He took his stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd’s bag which he had, even in his pouch, and his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine. 41 Then the Philistine came on and approached David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. 42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance. 43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.” 45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. 46 “This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.” 48 Then it happened when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, that David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground. 50 Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David’s hand. 51 Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

David did not take a sword or a spear, he took his shepherds stick, five smooth stones and his sling, that was it.

Goliath came out with a shield bearer, and a sword and his spear.

When Goliath saw David he immediately started to try to intimidate David.

David said to Goliath, you come at me with sword and spear and a javelin, that is you come in your own power.

David then says, I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, David is saying I do not come in my own power but in the power of God Almighty.

David then tells Goliath, Today the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you, then all this assembly will know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.

We know that David took one stone out put it into his sling swung that sling and delivered that stone right into the center of Goliath’s forehead and Goliath feel to the ground, David went and took Goliath’s own sword and cut his head off.

We may ask, how could this 16 year old boy who had never been in battle take out a giant, a 9 foot, 9 inch trained warrior, with just one little stone from a sling.

It had nothing to do with the stone or the sling, it had to do with David having faith that God would use him.

From the very beginning of the story, when David arrived on the scene David had faith, see he had faith to speak up against his brothers and speak out to the army.

He had faith to stand before the king of Israel, stand before the giant, he also had faith to face the giant to battle that giant when no one else, would go out against the giant, David had Faith that God would use him.

We all face giants in our life, those giants can be lose of jobs, divorce, health, bills, marriage problems, losing a loved one, a giant in our life can be anything, and a giant for me may not be a giant for you.

If we are going to make that journey of holiness and be holy as God is holy, we must have the faith that it takes to face those giants in our life, like David had when he faced Goliath.

Do you have the faith it takes to face giants in life, do you know where to turn, when you are faced with difficulties like a giant - say the lose of a job, the lose of a loved one, or a major health crisis, or other big problems in life.

David turned to the only one that could make a difference, he turned to the only one that had control over the situation, and could help him defeat the giant ahead of him.

David turned to God Almighty, have you turned your life over to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?