You Aren't David

You Can’t Be The Hero of Your Story

1 Sam 16

Main Idea: You aren’t David— Your problems are too big for you that is what you need Jesus. Jesus is David

I love a good superhero.

What makes us love a superhero?

Powerful/Strong/Wise/Savior/Good

Everyone loves a good super hero:

What are some of your favorite Super heroes?

Batman/Superman/Thor/Ironman/Captain America/Spiderman

If I had to say my all time favorite superhero is batman.

I love batman.

I think he is the greatest hero.

I in turn wanted to be a superhero.

Superhero saves people from their problems and I felt like my problems weren’t so bad so maybe I could help others.

But I didn’t have super powers and nothing tragic has really happened in my life— I mean that is what truly makes a superhero.

And while I wanted to help people, I soon realized that some people don’t want to be saved.

For a ton of reason.

People don’t really want to be saved.

Actually many people want to not need help.

You see needing saving means you are weak and vulnerable.

I don’t want to be damsel is distress.

I’ll figure it out myself.

And so we have men who hide their emotions and we have women who won’t let a guy hold a door open because they want to be strong.

I am not saying this to ruffle feather what I am saying is that in our culture today this is normal.

If you have a problem then you need to fix it.

And I agree with that only so far.

I do believe that at times we need to figure things out because that is life.

If you want a job you have to apply for a job.

If you want to buy a car then you need money for that car meaning that you are going to have to work for that car.

No body is going to hand that to you, but often times we think that is how it works.

So we want to be powerful and independent yet we don’t want to do anything about it, we don’t want to get things figured out.

Yet we want to drive the car.

We want to be in charge of our life.

Here is the issue with that mindset:

That may sound good to the world and it may even sound good to you, but that goes against what God has called you to be.

You are 100% in charge of your life but depending on what you have decided about who Jesus is to you— that is going to change a lot of stuff.

If Jesus is your savior— you don’t get to be in the drivers seat.

If he isn’t your savior— they you can keep driving and be in control of your life because the direction you are going is no where good, and it will eventually lead you to hell which is a real place where that is absent of God.

Being that the reality of hell is where no one wants to end up, I would suggest that be begin to live a little differently.

And one way we can do this is by admitting that our problems are too big for us to solve.

Me: Have you ever thought that you could solve an issue that was beyond you?

Like let’s say you offer to fix your car but you are not a car person.

So my van is having all sorts of problems— and to me— it is making a noise in the back that’s fine— you know how to fix that just turn the radio up.

When the sound was still loud even with the radio— I got under the car to see what was wrong and I noticed this metal stick down from the car.

Now at some point this was screwed in but now it isn’t and it is causing the whole van to rattle.

Easy fix— duct tape is perfect for this situation.

Should we ever use duct tape on a car— well the guy at the shop told me nope but did I anyway. absolutely.

Why you may ask because I was fixing my problems.

I want to figure out the answer myself.

Anybody else relate to this?

Like if I ask for help I feel weak.

If I ask for help then I feel stupid.

I know nothing about cars but yet, as a man aren’t I suppose to?

So instead of having someone else do it— I’ll go on youtube watch videos for a week and then try it and fail— watch more videos until finally I take it in a month later because I give up and have spent a ton of money and the van still isn’t fixed.

I want to fix my problems!

I want to fix my kids problems and my wives.

I want to fix our youth problems, our church problems.

I want to fix it all.

I’m a fixed by nature.

Can you relate to this?

But what happens when my problems are too big for me to solve.

I make way for an expert eventually.

It doesn’t mean that I should try but it also means that I have to know when I am out of my depth.

What happens when your problems are too big for you to solve?

We: We can relate to this right?

Like do you eventually give up?

When it comes to a math problem, we need to keep grinding it out.

Try and try again because it can be solved.

But about when a friend ask us to do something you know we’re not suppose to do?

We like our friend but we also know the right thing to do.

Or maybe there is a sin in your life like, lying, cheating, disrespecting your parents, being prideful, putting God in second place to everything else, indulging in porn, sex, maybe not having sex but doing everything except sex, drinking, drugs—

Look I know you all go to the Christian school but we would be foolish to believe that this stuff isn’t happening in your life.

Because we are all sinful.

We deal with temptation daily and we give into sin daily.

Don’t be misguided— we all have giants in our lives that weigh us down.

So when we are in the mist of temptation or sin— and we have tried to figure it out.

We know that there is a problem.

We keep doing what we don’t want to do and in the process we keep repeating the same thing over and over again.

The writer Paul said something about in Romans 7:15

Romans 7:15 ESV

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

So when this happens to us what do we do?

Do you just keep our heads down and try to figure it out no matter what?

What happens when we meet an immovable foe?

I think the first thing we should do is to acknowledge that we are up against a foe we can’t beat.

Because we keep doing what we don’t want to do.

We have to first acknowledge that we have a sin issue, we have a problem and we are powerless to do anything about it.

God: So How do we attack our problems in a godly way?

What do we do when the odds seem to be against us?

Let us turn to the word of God for clarity.

We are going to be looking at a very familiar passage today.

David and Goliath but before we tune out the story because we have heard it 100 times, let us listen to the story with a fresh understanding, pretend like it is the first time you heard it—

Like you have no idea what is going to happen.

We may say— David who?

What is a giant?

Lets turn to 1 Sam 17:1-11

1 Samuel 17:1–11 ESV

Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. And they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him. He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.” When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

The men of Isreal, God’s chosen nation where drawing up the battle-lines.

The men of Isreal had defeated many foes under King Saul’s reign and today should be no different.

If you can picture it the two sides where both a side of a mountain, with a valley between them.

It was common in the day for them to size up the opponent and even maybe throw some insults at each other.

But on this day, something was different the Philistines sent out someone that the Israelites had never seen before.

This foe was a giant you may say, from anywhere from 7ft tall to 9ft 9in. Average guy was 5’10

This guy was crazy strong, his muscles had muscles.

He, this Goliath was built up, training up to destroy anything in his path, and that included the Israelites.

Not only was this guy huge and ripped out of his mind, which is my goal as well, but he was armed from head to toe.

Let me break down his armor for you.

He wore roughly 125 lbs of armor. (Which I can just barely bench)

His spear which was about 26 feet high and the head of that spear weight about 17 lbs of iron.

oh and he had a sword.

THIS DUDE WAS MADE TO DESTROY HIS ENEMY.

He came out, and he looked at that army across the valley and he shouted:

Send someone to fight me, and if you win then we will be your slaves but if, who are we kidding, when I win you will be our slaves.

They heard him shout insults towards them.

you cowards come and face me!

I defy you and your God

When we win we will show you whose god is real

You are loser

You failures

You godless nation

Over and over again for 40 days

There were no takers.... Silence fell over the mountain.

He was intimidating, he struck fear into the hearts of the Israelites.

It says in verse 24 that all the men of Isreal would flee when they saw him coming!

They ran away.

One man, one human, one giant made hundreds, thousands of people become greatly dismayed and fearful.

Much like Isreal we also have Goliath’s in our life.

We all have giants in our lives.

Maybe you have a giant called fear— fear of failure, fear of being alone.

Maybe you have a giant called rejection— people are only going to love me as long as I continue to give them what they want.

Maybe you have a giant called comfort— nothing is wrong with resting but there is an issue when comfort prevents us from doing what God has called us to do.

Maybe your giant is anger— We can’t keep a lid on our temper, We jump to anger as a reflex for no good reason.

Maybe you have a giant in an addiction— porn, drinking, drugs, shopping, binge eating, our phones, video games.

Today you may have a giant in your life that waits for you each morning, afternoon or evening— just begging you to come up against them—

It is yelling insults at you— challenging you to do something about it.

You want to but each time you go to fight it— the giant always wins.

Which leaves you broken, powerless, weak, and defeated.

This is exactly how the army of Isreal felt when they came face to face with Goliath.

Broken, powerless, weak and defeated.

It is easy to get into this place right.

But God doesn’t want us to live in this place.

For the Israelites God sent a hero— a rescuer.

1 Samuel 17:20–24 ESV

And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry. And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers. As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him. All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid.

So now we enter David.

The boy who would one day be King— you can read about that in the chapter pervious.

But David was not at the battle but his brothers were and he was bring food and supplies to them.

And he arrived right as Goliath was coming out to shout his insults.

And notice how the men of Israel reacted— They fled from him and were much afraid.

Now David was a shepherd but dude was also very strong.

He killed a bear and a lion with his bear hands.

I have never done that and I have been to the zoo and I watch the discovery channel— I know that when I come face to face with a bear or a lion— My only hope is that I am with someone who is slower then me.

But what was noticeably different about David is that he knew the power of God.

So He says to the King that he is willing to fight Goliath.

No body else has signed up for this.

King Saul even made a prize for the one to defeat Goliath.

1 Samuel 17:25 ESV

And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And 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.”

That is a good deal guess what--- no one took it.

They were all scared.

So David goes to King Saul and says I will do it.

I will face Goliath.

Saul is like— you are just a youth— no way is that going to be on my head—

David is like listen— I’ve killed bears and lions and I will strike down this guy who has defied the army’s of God.

David had 100% confidence that God was going to see him through this.

Whatever or whoever this Goliath is David knew that God was bigger.

And Saul was like— well I got no body else— Go for it but take my adult armor--

It doesn’t fit

So David prepares for battle and let us continue to read.

1 Samuel 17:40–52 ESV

Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine. And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and 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. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.” When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. 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. And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron.

David slayed Goliath.

David stepped in and defeated this giant.

We know this story.

You:

David was victorious over this giant, this Goliath in his life.

And I am sure that you have all heard that if you were to just try harder you could beat the giants’ in your life as well.

I am sure that you have heard, you are all young and you can take on the world!

Don’t let your giants rule your life!

And you get fired up!

You makes promises!

And things change for a week or two and then you fall back into the same place you just promised yourself you wouldn’t be.

That giant you thought you took out, is back and it is taunting you— insulting you.

You are scared, mad, upset, frustrated, you feel hopeless.

Do you know why it’s not working?

Do you want to know why your giant is still at those battle-lines harassing you, and is this immovable object.

Because we are going at it alone.

Let me tell you something that is freeing today, do you want to be free from your giants?

From your Goliath’s?

Listen carefully:

When Isreal was scared and were fleeing from Goliath— David stepped in to rescue them.

David stepped in and he defeated the giant.

For far to long you keep thinking that you are David— you’re not.

WE ARE NOT DAVID, JESUS IS DAVID

Let me say that again:

We are not David, Jesus is David.

By making us David that puts us as the center-focus.

Jesus is David,

Jesus is the giant killer.

Meaning that the giant that is recking havoc in your life— Jesus already defeated that giant meaning that you can go to that giant in your life and confidently say— You have already been defeated by the blood of Jesus— you have no power or control over me.

I hope that this is freeing for you:

You are not David

I am not David

Jesus is David.

Jesus is the one who fights our battles for you.

He is the one who stares down the enemy and he takes up the sling and the stones and he fights for you.

You are in the crowd— You are not the hero— Jesus is the hero.

WHEN WE ARE fleeing from the enemy, who to us is immovable, When we are shaking in our boots:

Jesus is taking aim, and he fires the stones for you.

The giant falls because of the work of Jesus.

Not my work or your work, but the work of Christ.

WE:

Are we to participate with Jesus sure, we are!

We are called to follow his leadership and align ourselves with the direction he’s going.

But if we only think as humans we can handle our junk, handle our sins, our dirty secrets, our private sins, we keep everything hush hush, that we will just overcome it we will pull ourselves up by our bootstraps— nope — that will all lead to destruction.

Doing it on your own will fail over and over again.

In the story of David and Goliath God did not want victory to come to David because he was fitted with the best armor or had the best sword:

God wanted victory to come simply because one young man trusted him.

Let me tell you something, some of you are sitting here today thinking, it can’t be that simple.

It can be.

I was deeply addicted to porn for years, I thought I would never ever get out of the rut.

I always would try or be really convicted at youth group or church or a camp to stop, and I would for awhile.

It was not until I took my focus off the giant Goliath and turned my focus to Christ did everything start to change.

I needed to trust that Jesus would go to battle for me, that Christ was fighting my battles.

I needed to focus on God first

Maybe that is what you need to do today.

You know that is the definition of worship right, it means to focus on God.

Let me say one last thing before we wrap up.

Whatever giant your battling might be big— but it’s not bigger than Jesus.

Trust Him and lean into Him to fight your battles.

Let’s Pray