Where Real Faith Comes From (1 Samuel 17)

So according to Pew Research, they did a survey of the most

recognized Bible story for Americans.

And you won't want to guess. So they're like 1 and 2 are like

high up there, and three is like a distant third.

And then four through 10 are pretty close together.

There are two stories that are, I guess, the most well known for

Americans and anyone to know. Guess you said Genesis of that.

That's kind of. There's a lot of stories in

Genesis, but you revelation. No terrible guesses.

OK. OK.

I want to say no, no, there's no wrong answer, but those are

wrong answers. OK.

Noah's ark. close. close. David and glide.

Thank you. Yeah, yes, yeah.

He's not cheating. We've been announcing the

passage for the whole week. So yes, today's survey is on

David and Goliath and that that is wonderful guest.

Yes, yes, the other the other well known story is Moses.

I'm thinking a lot of movies made about Moses, 10

commandments and and stuff. So OK, someone in the first

service said Judas Iscariot betraying Jesus.

I'm like that one, he, he betrayed Jesus and then he

killed himself. Like, I don't know if that's the

the children's story we grew up hearing.

So, yeah, all right, good. Some bad answers.

But yeah, a lot of good answers. Good, good, good.

So in this crowd, I would say it's closer to 100%.

We all know the story of David and Goliath.

And whether it's the Pew Research Group or me asking you

guys, you know, like, OK, David and Glass, we know the story.

What do you think is the point of the story?

What is the moral of the story? And I would say, I would guess

that the majority of us would say it's about courage.

It's about bravery. It's about facing and overcoming

giants in your life. You know, be like David, have

courage and face your giants and overcome it.

Many would say that is the moral of the story, and I'm not

disagreeing. Yeah, it is about all of that.

But here's the problem of just leaving it there because courage

just doesn't appear out of nowhere.

You can't just go home and say I am going to be brave like David

today. I'm going to face all my giants

today because where does that bravery come from?

So today, yeah, beyond what David did and what David had, I

think the more important question is we need to learn

from this story. Where did Davis faith, where did

his faith come from? I think that's more important.

So that's the question we want to answer today.

Where does real faith come from? Where does real faith come from

#1 Real faith is formed in the small moments.

It's formed in the small moments before the big moment.

See, David's faith was there long before he ever fought

Goliath. Now let's turn to First Samuel

1 Samuel 17 · chapter mention

chapter 17, and let's read three to 10 for now, and I'll read 11

a little bit later. Three to 10.

This is the battle of Israel versus the Philistines.

The Philistines were standing on the hill on one hill, and the

Israelites were standing on another hill with the ravine

between them. Then a champion named Goliath

from Gath came out from the Philistine camp.

He was 9 feet 9 inches tall and wore a bronze helmet and a

bronze scale armor that weighed 125 lbs.

There was bronze armor in his shins and a bronze javelin that

was flung between his shoulders. His spear shaft was like a

weaver's beam, and the iron point on his spare weight 15

lbs. In addition, a shield bearer was

walking in front of him. Next, he stood and shouted to

the Israelite battle formations. Why do you come out to line up

in battle formation? He asked him, Am I not a

Philistine and are you not servants of Saul?

Choose one of your men and have him come down against me.

If he wins in a fight against me and kills me, we will be your

servants. But if I win against him and

kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us in the

Philistine said I defy the ranks of Israel today.

Send me a man so we could fight each other.

Let's stop there. This whole 10 verses or 8 verses

that we read, it's really about how nobody in Israel had faith.

They had no faith because Goliath is overwhelming.

He's over 9 feet tall. His armor alone is 125 lbs and

plus his, his javelin and all that, that's a lot of weight

he's carrying. And in the description, it's

that several times he had a bronze disc, bronze, that a lot

of bronze, bronze on the shin, his bronze helmet.

See, it's not like bronze was the latest technology at the

time it's been around. It's actually they were going

away from bronze because bronze is so heavy.

They were transitioning to iron. But why does Goliath wear these

older, heavier bronze armor? 125 lbs.

Why? Because he can.

He's making a statement. I'm wearing the old school armor

because I can. And then it says that he had a

scale armor. Well, that also shows the latest

technology in his gear. And he shouts to the Israelites,

challenging them to a fight. Goliath was the representative

of the Philistines and Goliath is asking for a Israelite

representative to fight this winner take all battle.

In ancient battles you watch on movies, they all get in line and

then they all start screaming. Boom, right?

That's the battle scene. But this battle scene is more

like if you guys watch the movie Troy or Brad Pitt, it's like, uh

huh, one-on-one winner take all. So Goliath is a representative

and he's demanding you guys send the representative too.

And for the original audience, if, if you were there in this

battle or if you're hearing the story in part of the original

audience, there is there should be an obvious choice.

Because in Chapter 9 we read last week, it was a description

of Saul. It says that first, he was more

impressive than any other. And also he was a head taller

than anyone else. Israel had their own giant King

Saul giant versus giant. But verse 11 we know we find out

why Israel, like Israel has no representative because Saul is

so scared. Verse 11, when Saul and all

Israel heard these words from the Philistine, they lost their

courage and were terrified. There was no courage, there was

no faith in the Israelite camp. Now let's read David's, David's

response. Now we're going to skip to verse

32 and that that we just skipped 21 verses and the 21 verses

essentially explains why David is there in the first place.

David's dad, Jesse, sends David to the battlefield to give food.

He's a, he's a DoorDash delivery guy.

He's just dropping off food for his brothers.

And then he gets there and he's like, what's going on?

What was this giant talking trash about our country and our

God? And then this is what he says to

King Saul in verse 32. David, he's still a teenager.

He's still 16 at this point. David said to Saul don't let

anyone be discouraged by him, your servant will go and fight

this Philistine. The 16 year old says I don't be

scared because I will fight this Philistine. 1st 11 says there

was no faith and they were terrified.

First 32 says I will fight this guy, do not be afraid because I

will take him on. They're literally opposite

responses. Saul sees a giant, everyone sees

a giant, but David sees God. Everyone else saw what Goliath

could do. Only David saw what God could

do. And going back to the question,

how is only David seeing this? How is only David able to

respond this way? Where does this faith come from?

Where do you get this? That's the natural question.

For a while, Maddie stopped kind of growing now.

But there was a point where people ask me, what do you feed

him? When he would look, they would

look at me and my wife. They're like, where does this

height come from? On 5-6 is five nights.

So he's like, you know, are you the step dad?

Like what's going on here? Where does it go from?

And there's this like, question. Now most people don't even know

that I'm his dad. Like outside of church, it could

be where does it come from? So people are looking at David

like, where does his bravery come from?

And it's not that moment. It's not at that moment.

He didn't have any faith in God, no, any bravery.

And then he just brings it out within.

It didn't come in that moment. It came before that moment.

People think they could always build their faith later when

they need it. But great moments and faith come

from ordinary moments. See trials.

They don't just announce themselves.

They come when you're at work. They come during normal life.

They come when you're delivering food to your brothers.

The biggest trial of David's life, the biggest challenge

came. The biggest moment of faith came

to David when he was literally running errands for his parents.

The scary truth is that when crisis hits, many times it's too

late to conjure up this faith that you don't have.

When crisis comes, it reveals the faith that you already have.

David's faith didn't just appear out of nowhere, it was building

up to that moment. His faith was shaped and formed

by God little by little. In the lesser moments, in the

ordinary moments when he was shepherding, God was building

and shaping him little by little.

So when the big moment came, he was ready.

And David, your servant will go and fight this Philistine and,

and Saw, of course, he's like, are you crazy?

And David explains where his faith and bravery comes from.

3337 should be the next slide. But Saw replied, you can't go

fight this Philistine. You're just a youth and he's

been a warrior ever since he was young.

David answered. Saul, your servant has been

tending his father's sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came

and carried off a lamb from the flock, I went after it, struck

it down and rescued the lamb from its mouth.

If it reared up against me, I would grab it by his fur, strike

it down and kill it. Your servant has killed lions

and bears. This uncircumcised Philistine

will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the

living God. Then David said, the Lord who

rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear

will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.

Saul said to David, Go, and may the Lord be with you.

He had smaller occasions for faith and David was training and

David grew his faith by trusting in God in the lesser moments.

We need to be trained in daily obedience.

We need to be in the Word of God.

The Bible doesn't just give us information, it forms us.

Romans 12/12 says be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Psalm 123 says the blessed is a person who meditates on the law

of the Lord day and night and becomes like a tree planted by

water. When you spend time in the in

God's word, reading and meditating, reflecting, it

renews your mind, it shapes you and forms you.

When you spend time with God's word, it says here you're like a

tree planted by streams of water.

You're you know how to find renewal strength from God and

God starts shaping little by little what you believe, what

you value, how you interpret situations instead of I'm

doomed. It's all it's time to trust in

God more. God starts to change your

perspective and ultimately God changes what you do changes your

heart, changes your actions. So I can't focus enough how

important it is to spend time with God on the daily.

We provide explore devotionals in the back for you.

You don't have to use those, you can use your own.

You can find whatever you like online.

The point is, I want you guys to interact with the word of God

and start practicing the little moments.

Ah, I, I did a quiet time and then it's about loving difficult

people, loving your enemies. Tomorrow I'm going to go to work

and I'm going to be kind. I'm going to show grace and

kindness to that Co worker that I can't get along with.

You and your wife and your husband got in a little argument

and I'm you know what? I'm going to practice what I

just read. I'm going to forgive.

I'm going to pay back not with words, not I want revenge, but I

want to pay back with love and kindness.

The little moments when David says the Lord who deliver from

me from the lion of the bear will deliver me from this giant.

It was not just it was not hype, it was theology formed over

time. It doesn't say here, but maybe

it started with foxes and coyotes.

He had to trust God to fend off little animals.

I guess coyotes are not that little, but you know what I

mean. And he was able to trust God and

the lions and the barons. And now he had to face the trust

in God facing 9 foot giant. And when you read Psalm 23, you

see Psalm 23 is not what he wrote in his youth, but it

reflects back to the shepherd days in his youth.

And you see what he was learning.

You see what he was wrestling with.

I don't think we have it, but I'll read it.

And it's such a, it's a passage that most of us have heard.

Oh, just kidding, it is up there.

The Lord is my shepherd. I have what I need.

He lets me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside quiet waters. He renews my life.

He leads me along the right path for his name's sake.

Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no

danger, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they

comfort me. Prepare a table before me in the

presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil.

My cup overflows. Only goodness and faithful love

will pursue me all the days of my life.

And I will dwell in the House of the Lord as long as I live.

Could we go to the slide before in David's youth?

I'm sorry. Psalm.

The The first page of Psalm. First verses of Psalm.

Yeah. In David's youth, he learned

contentment. He was a lowly shepherd,

remember, His brothers were doing other more important

things. He was the youngest doing the

lowliest of jobs. And he says, you know what?

While I'm shepherd and I learned that God is my shepherd and he

learned contentment. I have what I need.

I'm the Lotus of the totem pole, but he's content.

Even though I go through the darkest valley, I know he, I

know. Coolio made this line famous in

a song, and actually many people didn't even know it's in the

Bible, but it was actually King David who wrote these words, not

Coolio, but he learned. David learned how to trust in

danger, trust in danger, trust God during danger.

And he closes Psalm 23 saying my cup overflows.

He experienced God's love personally.

He knew what it meant to be filled by God.

I want us to people who love God's Word and interact with it

and practice it. You know what?

I'm going to obey this. I read this in my quiet time

today. I want to obey this at work.

I want to obey this in my family.

I'm going to see some friends today.

I want to obey this. The little moments count.

It is shaping you and forming you.

And when crisis comes, you'll be ready.

People think when you date, it's just, oh, it's fun and exciting

and it is. But when you date, it's actually

times for small obediences so that when you get married, when

crisis comes, and I promise you crisis will come, marriage will

get hard. But hey, even when we're dating,

we obey, we follow God's Word, and you'll be able to follow

God's ways in crisis again. You can't just ignore God's

ways, dating and marriage and suddenly you're in crisis and

suddenly you're going to be good Christians.

No, start now, start now. All right, Where does real faith

come from #2 Real faith depends. And who your faith is in real

faith depends on the object of your faith.

It is not the strength of your faith.

It is the object of your faith. Let's read verses 44 to 51.

Now this is the actual battle. This is David versus Goliath.

All right, giant, 9 foot giant versus teenage David verse 44.

Come here, the Philistine called to David.

And now I'll give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the

wild beasts. David said to the Philistine.

You come against me with the sword, spear and javelin, but I

come against you in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of

the ranks of Israel. You have defined him.

Today the Lord will hand you over to me.

Today I will strike you down. Remove your head.

Give the corpses of the Philistine camp to the birds of

the sky and the wild creatures of the earth.

Then all the world will know that Israel has a gun, and this

whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or spear that

the Lord saves. For the battle is the Lord.

He will hand you over to us in. The Philistine started forward

to attack him. David ran quickly to the battle

line to meet the Philistine. David put his hand in the bag,

took out a stone slung It hit the Philistine on his forehead.

The stone sank into his forehead and he fell down face down.

He fell face down to the ground. David defeated the Philistine

with the sling and a stone. David overpowered the Philistine

and killed him without having a sword.

David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine sword,

pulled it out from his sheaf, and used it to kill him.

Then he cut off his head and the Philistine saw that their hero

was dead. They fled.

You go 1 slide back. The real issue here, the real

lesson here was not that all. David is so strong.

He's so skilled. David Pheasant I want everyone

to know that the battle is the Lord's.

I'm going to defeat you with this toy because I want everyone

to know that God won this victory.

There aren't really three big characters in this story.

We see saw the guy with no faith, but we actually see 2

characters who have a lot of faith, a lot of courage.

One of them is David, other being Goliath.

Goliath verse 44, He's very confident.

He has faith. Come here, Philistine called to

David and I will give you flesh, your flesh to the birds of the

sky and the wild beasts. He said I ain't going to tear

you up and your remains will be given to animals.

He's confident. Goliath represents the world's

version of faith and courage. Goliath is.

He has faith. He is confident.

He is brave. But what is the source?

It's himself. I'm the biggest.

I'm the strongest. I have the best armor.

I have the latest technology. I have faith in myself.

That is the world's version of faith and courage.

And this is the type of faith that we are tempted to have.

Faith in yourself. See, Goliath had all the

ingredients necessary to succeed, strength, confidence,

resources. We talk about self esteem and

you know, visualizing success. Well, that's exactly what

Goliath had. You're so confident, high self

esteem, visualizing success. I will tear you apart, but when

your faith comes from within, it will eventually fail.

Saul faith came from within as well.

Saul was confident in his battles until he met Goliath,

until he met somebody bigger and stronger than him.

Goliath looks like he was doing great until he meets somebody

anointed by God. If you believe in your

abilities, your looks, your connections, your work ethic,

you'll be great until you're not.

Think about it. You could have everything, but

suddenly your health can fail. Someone better than you can

replace you. Times are changing fast.

Your abilities might become outdated.

Your skills might be no longer applicable in this new world.

The world is unpredictable. Who knew COVID would happen?

You know, we had the we had men's retreat over the weekend,

great time of men just encouraging one another, praying

for each other. And one of the brothers said to

me, Pastor Tim, you know, because of AI, we might not we

might not need pastors in the few years.

I said, thank you very much. Appreciate.

I'm glad I'm here and never come to men's retreat again.

No, I, I didn't say that. I just thought it, but I didn't

understand that long. So I was like, OK, thank you.

And it's kind of true. Like what if they like there was

like AI is so advanced that they could preach tournaments and you

know what the with the voice and then they could do counseling

and, and pretty much everything I do AI could do.

But it's possible, it is possible that all our skills

that we're so proud of could be replaced.

If your confidence comes from your abilities, what are you

going to do when your skills no longer matter?

Then what are you? Then who are you?

The world is so unpredictable, it's crazy.

Remember I shared about the company behind us in all sense,

right? Innovative.

Like they make sensors and innovate and then they combine

the innocence, right? They've been around for 24

years. We get a new president.

Four months later, they're out of business.

Trump cuts their funding and they're just gone like that.

I, I talked to the owner, he was so upset.

And then before they move out, right?

It's innocence, right? He, he scrapes the 1st 2 letters

of his company's name. And now when you look at the

name, it says no sense. His last bit of, you know,

rebellion before, you know, no sense because he says that he

makes no sense. This world has no sense.

We're doing great. And like that, we're out of

business. When your source of faith, your

bravery, your confidence when it comes from within, it could only

take you so far. But here we see the source of

Davis faith. In verse 45 it says you come

against me with the world's version of faith and confidence.

You come with me with sword, spear and javelin and 125 lbs of

it. But I, I, yours is the world's

version. But I have truth, faith.

But I come against you in the name of the Lord of armies, the

God of the ranks of Israel. Today the Lord will hand you

over to me. All the world will know that

Israel has a God, David says. My source is different.

The source of my faith, my trust is in God, not my own ability.

But it says the battle belongs to the Lord.

The real issue is not how much faith you have or how little of

it. It's what is your faith in.

A lot of times we have strong faith in the wrong things.

The Bible teaches us. Even Jesus says, hey, your

faith, mustard seed is OK. Little faith in a good thing.

Little faith in in our our God is OK.

It's better than big faith and the wrong thing.

So we don't trust. We don't have to trust in our

confidence. We don't have to trust in our

experience and resources or how much control we have in our

lives. We trust in the King of kings.

Trust the God who is the Lord of all armies.

As long as your trust comes from within, it's fine until you run

into a giant, until you run into a Goliath in your life.

Then what are you going to do? Then you become like Saul in

verse 11. You become afraid.

You become terrified because the problem is too big.

The obstacle cannot overcome. But if your faith isn't God, you

can stand even everything, even when everything falls apart,

because we come in the name of the Lord, the Lord of armies for

the battle is the Lord's. Like I said in the beginning, I

don't want you to go home today and like, OK, I got to become

like David. What's the real story here?

The real story is that the Israelites needed a

representative and they couldn't find one they needed.

They needed a representative rescued them from that

situation. They couldn't defeat Goliath and

they were just waiting for representative.

They're hoping Saul was. They thought Saul was, but they

realized, man, we have no representative, but God sends

David, teenager David to become the Israel's representative and

rescue them from Goliath. We are the Israelites in the

story. We are sinners in need of being

saved, and we cannot defeat the Goliaths in our lives on our

own. We need a representative, and

God sends mankind a representative to fight our

vital battles, to defeat sin, defeat death.

That's what we're celebrating next week.

God sends Jesus as a representative, and he

accomplishes everything that we couldn't.

God sends us a rescue, a rescuer to rescue us out of our sin, to

rescue us out of death, to rescue us from the Goliath.

So when we have troubles in life, what are we to do?

Return to our representative. He's already fought the good

fight. He's already lived the perfect

life. So when God sees you, he doesn't

see your sin, He doesn't see your failures.

He sees what Jesus did for you. He sees righteousness.

And with that power, that story, because the gospel, with that

gospel power, we could face anything in this life because

God is in our side. What is real faith?

Main point? Real faith is shaped by ordinary

moments and rests in the power of God.

Let's take time to pray.