Michael Youssef - Soldiers for the Living God

I want to tell you something very important. Listen to me very carefully, there is no such thing as a fearless person. The only difference that you find is between those who take counsel of their fears and those who refuse to do so, the only difference, there's no such thing as fearless person, but the difference is with those who allow fear to possess them and those, by the power of God, overwhelm their fears. There is a difference between those who allow their fears to hold them in chains and those who allow the Holy Spirit of God that dwells in every believer to break those chains of fear.

Someone said, "Fear is the only thing that multiplies faster than rabbits," and it is, it is contagious. And the only antidote, my beloved friends, that I know as a man who have experienced all kinds of fears, the only antidote is the absolute and unflinching trust in the sovereign God. Now, while I'm at it, let me tell you something else about courage. Courage is not the absence of fear. I already told you there's no such thing as a fearless person, and there is no such thing as a person who is courageous that he doesn't or she doesn't know fear.

Courage is the conquering of fear, and that's precisely the difference, here in this chapter of 1 Samuel chapter 17, between King Saul and young David. It's exact difference, both men knew fear, but David placed his trust completely in the living God while Saul placed his trust in his armor. And here, we're gonna see very clearly in chapter 17 that fear can destroy your God-given ability, fear can destroy your God-given dreams, fear can destroy your God-given potential to do great things for God. Fear can actually destroy your health, fear can destroy relationships, and that is why the Lord Jesus repeatedly said, "Fear not, fear not, fear not. Fear not life," why? "I am the way, the truth, and the life". "Fear not death," why? "For I am he that liveth, was dead, but behold, I am alive forevermore".

1 Samuel 17:15, we are told that David held two jobs, see it there in your Bible, he held two jobs. David, when he was not performing for King Saul, he was out feeding his father's sheep. For four years, he kept going between the family farm and the king's palace, the family farm and the king's palace. Now that he's 21, he shows up on the scene, his father sends him to take some provisions for his older brothers. So, he's coming on a mission to help, he's providing, he's not there to be a spectator, he was there to do something in helping his brothers in the fight against the Philistines. And then he finds them absolutely terrified, and they were shivering in their sandals.

Let me tell you a couple of things about the Philistines you need to know. For hundreds and hundreds of years, the Philistines were the source of pain, aggravation, suffering, grief to the people of God. You know why? Because of their disobedience. You see, they remained to be a dagger in the side of Israel for all of its history because of the Israelites's disobedience.

Let me explain this to you. When Israel, people of Israel came out of Egypt, the land of the slavery, were in the wilderness for 40 years, then they go into the Promised Land. God says to them, "When you get into the Promised Land, there are wicked people, there are evil people, there are people who absolutely so wicked that they do not deserve to even live on the face of the earth," just like God did with Sodom and Gomorrah. And he said, "When you go into the Promised Land, wipe them out," but they wouldn't, they wouldn't.

And so they experience that pain for the rest of their existence. Listen to me, one way or another, God will, not may, God will judge evil. Now, the instrument that God uses in judging evil is immaterial, the instrument really doesn't matter, it is God's judgment that he's bringing upon wickedness and evil people, and he will do it again. That's what the day of judgment is all about. In a day when preachers telling you, "Everybody is gonna make it to heaven, nobody is gonna go to hell," I'm telling you, God would not be true to himself if he does not judge evil. He will judge evil. In this case, he wanted the people of Israel to be the instrument of the judgment of this evil, wicked worshippers of false gods, but they didn't do it.

And so they remained as a source of pain, sorrow, and grief for Israel for the remaining years. These Philistines had a national hero by the name of Goliath. Listen carefully, he was a huge man, we have an idea of his size, over 9 feet tall. Verses 5 and 6, you're gonna find a description of his uniform. His coat weighed 120 pounds, his legs were covered with greaves of bronze. Verse 7, the iron point of his spear shaft was 17 pounds, imagine carrying that thing. Verse 8, underline it, I want you to mark it, it's very important, remember it and don't ever forget it. Here's what Goliath said. "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you, are you not the servants of Saul"?

Oh, how painful that is, I hope you can get the feeling, you just get the meaning of the word. "Are you not the servants of Saul"? The people of God rejected the Kingship of Yahweh and wanted an earthly king, and God gave them the desire of their heart. Be very careful what you pray for. And when that happened, their uniqueness as the servants of the living God, as the army of the living God, as the children of Israel, was no longer true. Their representation of Yahweh has been replaced by being servants of Saul, they are now the army of Saul, the servant of Saul, not the army of the living God.

Every time you find yourself in a spiritual defeat, it is because you have replaced the lordship of Jesus Christ over your life with someone or something else. Take it from me, experientially, every time you find yourself in a spiritual doldrum, it is because you've replaced Jesus as the King of your life with someone or something else. Every time you find yourself in a spiritual disarray is because your life's priorities have been turned upside down, selfish ambitions on the top, Jesus at the bottom. Oh, but wait a minute, it gets worse, it gets worse for Saul and for his army. Goliath got so belligerent that in verse 10 and several times in this chapter, he used the word, "Defy," defy, defy.

I don't know about you, but listen, this is my testimony and I am responsible for it, in any area in my life where the Spirit of God does not rule supreme, the enemy of my soul defies me constantly. Verse 11, when Saul and all of Israel heard these words, they trembled in their phobophobia. What about Saul, what about Saul? He had more military experience than anybody else, he was 6'10", he was the only one in Israel who had armor, the others did not have it, he was king, he was king. He was representing the living God among the people. All of that means nothing when the Spirit of God is not leading you, all of that means nothing if you are operating your life based on the external assets and liabilities, all of that means nothing if you are constantly comparing yourself with somebody else.

"Goliath is over 9 feet, I am 6'10". He's got big heavy armor, I can't compare it with the armor I've got". Every time he counts his assets and liability, he comes out short. Under assets and under liabilities, he says, "Look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this, I can't do this". Every time poor Saul whips up his calculator and he start counting, he realizes it's just not adding up. I know this temptation of sitting down and figuring out your assets and your liabilities, I know the temptation, had I walked in fear and not in faith and trust in the living God, that God is mightier than all of my problems, had I walked by sight and not by faith in the power of the living God, had I lived by the human calculation, had I took counsel of my fears, had I lived by the secular mindset, I wouldn't have had the honor of being your pastor today, happened again and again and again and again.

Furthermore, I wouldn't have honored the God who knows every one of us by name, and he knows everything that is to be known about each one of us, I wouldn't have honored him. Listen to me, the reason there are so many people, do not tithe their income or their money, and do not give over and above the tithe, is because of fear, they are fearful, lest the God who had provided for them in the past will not provide for the future. Test me on that. It's no wonder that the moment, the very moment, a giant pops up in our lives, we run and scurry in fear. This is Saul's phobophobia, he quenched the Holy Spirit, and would not live by and in the power of the Holy Spirit, he placed his trust in his past successes, he ultimately allowed the Holy Spirit to grieve and stay out in a corner.

And as always the case, trust me, always the case, when the Holy Spirit is grieved or quenched, the spirit of fear comes in and takes his place. Ah, but then David shows up, he shows up to just bring food for his brothers, he comes in and he sees this gorilla defying the living God, and he got livid, he got livid. I mean, here's a Youssef translation, he said, "Who is this twit who thinks that he can defy the armies of the living God"? Remember this, by the time David shows up, this shenanigan has been going on for 40 days, 40 days. In fact, it went so long that international crisis intensified.

Question, why didn't God send David on the second day, seventh day, twentieth day, why? Why doesn't God answer your prayer the moment you ask, why? Beloved, that's a great question, I'm glad you asked it, because I want to answer it. God often, I'm not saying always, often wants us to exhaust our resources, God often wants us to come to the end of ourselves, God often wants us to do things in such a way that nobody can say, "God and I did it". There are some people who even don't give God the credit, even they cry their eyes out and ask God to, and by the moment God answers, "Well, I did it". In fact, David arrives at the 82nd, calculate them, the 82nd appearance of this gorilla, gruesome gorilla. And he sees what's going on and he runs to his big brothers, "Hey, guys".

The older brothers must have felt embarrassed, in front of all their friends and other military guys, and this kid brother comes in and he's showing them up, think about this. "Go away, David, go away, boy, go away, you're embarrassing me". Here is a Youssef translation, "What are you doing here, you little brat"? You noticed they accused him of being arrogant, you notice that? Just look at it in the scripture. It never fails, the weak person sees you as weak, the arrogant person sees you as arrogant, the distrustful person doesn't trust anybody, often we judge people with our own motives. Charles Spurgeon puts it best, that man was a wordsmith, he said, "We often measure other people's wheat with the measurements we keep at home".

Back in the old days, dishonest merchants put a false bottom in the measurements. So, they're basically being dishonest, and he said, "We measure other people's wheat with the measurement," if our measurements are dishonest, we treat people like being dishonest. David asked three times just in this chapter, "What is the reward for the one who kills Goliath"? And three times they tell him, marrying the king's daughter, his family will get a tax holiday, and then actually gonna get a fortune.

Now, there are some who have concluded that because David asked that question three times it's because he was only interested in the reward, but the text absolutely makes that to be a false assumption, the text makes it very clear that David loved God so much that he was broken inside when he heard the name of his God being insulted. Not like today, we sit and laugh when the name of our God is insulted. David felt that this is even worse than insulting your own mother, David revered and honored the Lord so much that he could not stand to hear this blasphemy of the great name of our God. In fact, that is one of the motivation that caused David to forgo his fears, this was enough for him to risk everything, this was enough for him to defeat his fears by faith in the living God.

Here's something very important. David arrives from the shepherd's fields, from the work of a shepherd, where he often spent time and intimacy with God, praying, singing, writing psalms. That's what's happening when he was working with the sheep. He sung, he wrote hymns, he wrote psalms, he praised God, he worshiped God. And so he comes in from that posture of praise and worship and adoration and power into this situation.

Had David been in the midst of this fear-feeding frenzy, he would not have reacted this way, cause fear is contagious, remember? It's contagious. Had he been sitting there watching the news all the time and getting depressed over what's happening, this gorilla would have frightened him too. No, he was in the presence of his glorious God, and he came down, being filled with the power of God to face this giant.

And David gives all his testimony, experience in the power of God. As a young boy with his bare hands he fought a lion and a bear. Now, you can be absolutely sure that the very God who did this in his past is gonna do it now. Beloved, that's a lesson so many of us forget. I know that, I know it experientially, we forget this important lesson. Why is the God who did what he did in the past is gonna drop you now? Poor old Saul, he's still not getting it, he's still not getting it, he insisted that David puts on his armor. You know, I thought about this long and hard. If that was me, here's how I would have reacted.

"King Saul, if that piece of junk didn't do you any good, why do you think it is gonna help me"? No, but that's me, David didn't say that, he was too polite. As if to say to the king, "Hey, King, I have an invisible armor. Hey, King, I have spiritual power. Hey, King, I have the Spirit of the living God. Hey, King, I have the only one who is truly the source of victory, and his name is Yahweh". David picks up five stones, sling, and a staff, and he gets so close to Goliath that he can see his eyeballs.

Let me stop here and tell you that the critics, Bible critics, say, "The reason he had five stones," not just one, "Because he really wasn't sure if one would work". It's absolute false, absolute false, I'll tell you why there were five. In 2 Samuel 21:22, easy to remember, 2 Samuel 21:22, there were four sons of Goliath standing up on the hill, and he was prepared for them. In case any of them come down and try to take their daddy's place, he was getting ready to whip them, he got one for each, that's why his faith was not faltering.

Now, when he gets so close to Goliath, he kinda looks at David, and he cannot see the sling or the stones, all he can see is the stick, and he said, "What am I, a dog, you coming after me with a stick"? And then he mocks the living God one more time. And David said, "You may have the trappings of your armor, but I came upon you in the name of the Lord of Hosts". Say it with me, "I come upon you".

And the next thing you hear David say, "Timber". I wanna ask you what kind of fear that is haunting you today? You're the only who can answer that question, what kind of anxiety that seem to be possessing you, what kind of worry that seem to keep you up all night? Only you can answer that question, and whatever kind of phobia you are nursing, I want you to say with me, "I come upon you in the name of the Lord of Hosts". Let's do it together, "I come upon you in the name of the Lord of Hosts". And then I want you to do it again tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after, and don't stop.