We’re going to be in 2 Samuel, chapter 5.

2 Samuel, chapter 5. We’re going to start in verse 17, to the end of the chapter.

Here’s the word of the Lord. When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of the Lord, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand? And the Lord said to David, Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand. And David came to Baal-perazim. And David defeated them there, and he said, The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like a breaking flood. Therefore, the name of that place is called Baal-perazim. And the Philistines left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away. And the Philistines came up yet again, spread out in the valley of Rephaim. And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, You shall not go up, go around to their rear, and come against them opposite the balsam trees. And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the Lord has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines. And David did as the Lord commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gezer. Some tough names.

The Philistines were no new enemy to Israel at this time. They were a faithful foe. And geographically, how they were positioned, they were allotted to the tribe of Judah to be inherited. And they were just to the west, right along the sea. They were just to the west of Judah, and sort of to the southwest of Jerusalem. And they were promised in the covenant by God to Judah. But, we know based on previous history, we know based on previous testimony in the scripture, that when God gave that territory to Judah, it says that they could drive out the Philistines in the hill country, but they had iron chariots, and they couldn’t drive them out of the valley and the coastlands. And so here they are, still to this day, two generations or so after the initial conquest, plaguing the kingdom of Israel.

But, as we know, it’s a promised part of the territory. And so, it’s a necessary battle. It’s a necessary war to be fought. They were, the Philistines come from Ham, and they are similar to the Canaanites, and they come from maybe the island of Camphor, in the middle of the sea, or maybe up toward Athens. They were a sea people, and there was this big, complex migration to that area of the Mediterranean. And so, here they are in the time of David, whenever he’s anointed king. And so, one thing to note about them I thought was interesting is, so we’re coming out of the late Bronze Age and into the Iron Age, and they were skilled iron workers. And we know, based on, you know, on scripture that Israel didn’t have a blacksmith at that time, at the time that Saul was king. They didn’t have a blacksmith, and so they couldn’t iron out their own swords. They didn’t have spears. They didn’t have these luxuries for war. And they actually had to go to the Philistines’ blacksmiths to get their plows sharpened, and all of these sorts of things, and pay them to do it. So, the Philistines sort of had an upper hand on them in that sense, right? We hold the guns and the ammo, and we’ll tell you how much you can get and when you can get it, if at all. For now, we’ll give you blanks, you know. So, a couple, you know, Israel invades Canaan. They conquer it. The Philistines are still left sort of in a remnant there. That’s a couple generations later. Here they are. 1 Samuel tells us that there was a heated battle between Israel and the Philistines, all the days of King Saul’s kingship. And there were just a thorn in his side. And they were also not unfamiliar with the God of Israel. There’s a situation where Israel goes out to battle, and Hophni and Phinehas send out the ark, and the ark gets captured by the Philistines, and it ends up beheading and cutting off the hands of Dagon, the God of the Philistines, and showing himself strong. And they say, well, get this God out of here. And they send him on to the next one of the major five cities in the land of the Philistines. And they plague that city. And then God plagues the next city. And finally, they ship it on a cart back to Israel. And God defeats the Philistines by himself, needing no one. So, the Philistines are not only familiar with the people of Israel, they know full well the God of Israel and what he’s capable of. Yet, they still came up. To David. David, at this point, had been king of Judah for around seven and a half years. And there was no conflict. And Judah is, again, next door neighbor to this area controlled by the Philistines. And as soon as he gets anointed king over Israel, they decide to come on up.

So, what did he do? And that’s what I want to talk to you about today, now that we know who the Philistines are, sort of the contextual setting of it. What did David do when the Philistines came up to him? Why is it even important? Romans chapter 15 tells us this.

Verse 14. I’m sorry, verse 4. For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope. So, I think there’s something here in seeing what David did in this encounter to encourage us, to strengthen us. Something that we can learn from. Because we know, that we don’t go out and fight wars with Philistines today. I don’t believe any of you do. And I don’t even think if we did, they would be the real enemy. Because we know what the Scripture says, that we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood. That’s not our enemy. We wrestle against powers and principalities.

But I want to ask you today, are you aware that there’s an enemy? And as we just sang, we know that he prowls around like a lion. His aim is to kill and destroy. Are we aware that there is an enemy? That there are many enemies, and they’ve come up, and they’ve spread themselves out. And they’ve set themselves against us. I think, I think, I think, we’ve been sort of lulled to sleep. Maybe it’s just the context in which we live. We have so many luxuries. We have so many modern amenities to soothe us and pacify us, that we’re oblivious. We don’t see that there’s a battle going on. We don’t see that there are enemies camped right outside of our doors.

Maybe, maybe we don’t care. Maybe we’re fine being a slave to the enemy. Let’s go back to Egypt. It was easier there. You know, do you know what makes someone an enemy of you, of us, of our God? They have different, they have different passions. They have different, they have a different set of standards. They have different interests. And so whenever we set our interests and our mission against theirs and it doesn’t line up, we’re enemies. I’m trying to accomplish my task and you’re trying to accomplish your task and they’re conflicting. Who wins?

We have to know that there’s an enemy. You have to acknowledge him. It does you no good to spray some cologne on it. And act like it doesn’t stink. It does you no good to enslave yourself to him. Because then you become an enemy of God. You have to acknowledge the enemy. And you have to prepare yourself. You have to suit up for that battle. In the same passage that we know we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, but powers and principalities. It gives us some insight on how to defend against it. Put on a belt of truth. And we cover our chest with righteousness. And we have a shield of faith. And a helmet of salvation. And we go about wearing shoes of peace. Gospel peace. And we wield this thing called the sword of the Spirit. It’s our weapon of opposition. There’s an enemy and you must wage war against him. There are many enemies. You must wage war against them. Or you will become a slave.

I want you to know this. This is my main point. I’ll give it to you all at once. We have sure victory in the fight against the enemy. We have victory in Christ over all enemies when fought with principles of Christian warfare. We have sure victory in Christ over all enemies when fought with principles of Christian warfare.

What did David do when he heard that the Philistines came up and spread themselves out in the valley? He ran out of the valley. He sounded the horn. He commanded his army to go out. Start wiping them out. That’s not what it says. He fled. He ran and hid in the hills. I’m done with this. You can have Jerusalem. You can have it. I’m done. I’m going to go live my life out in the wilderness or something. That’s not what it says either. He didn’t rush out to battle thinking he was saved. He didn’t rush out to battle thinking he was saved. And he didn’t hide and cower. Deuteronomy says that when we prepare ourselves for battle and we look out and we see them with their chariots and their horses and their weapons of war, don’t be afraid. Don’t start whimpering. Don’t hide. Don’t be scared.

As Massou said, it’s the Lord who fights for you. The Lord will go before you and fight your battles. Don’t be discouraged when you see the enemy overwhelming you or so he thinks he is. Look to the Lord who has gone out before you.

He went down into the stronghold. That’s what David did when he heard, when he was made aware that the enemy was present, when the enemy, was at hand. He went down into the stronghold. A place of safety. A place where I can have some peace of mind. I can think clearly. You can’t rush out onto the battlefield and start making a battle plan. Arrows are flying at you. Some guy’s coming with a sword to cut your head off. You better be sure they’ve already got a plan. They know exactly how they’re coming at you. The enemy certainly knows how to attack you. The enemy knows where you’re weak. The enemy knows how to tempt you. The enemy knows how to make you fall. How to make you beg for mercy. The enemy knows these things about you. You should know them too. But you should know the first place to go when the enemy is at hand is down in the stronghold. And as the psalmist says, God himself, God himself is our stronghold. Find yourself in the fortress. Find yourself in the presence of the helper. Find yourself among the sustainer. The psalmist says, he is my strength. He’s my shield. He’s my refuge. He’s my rock. He’s my strong tower. God himself is my stronghold. And I must, I must know that it’s only in him that I am safe.

In Christ, you can have victory over all your enemies. So, in my main point, I want to clarify this. When I say we have sure victory in Christ over our enemies, when fought with principles of Christian warfare, I’m not saying that your victory comes because you fought a certain way or because you did a certain thing. One of the principles is that you are in Christ. By faith, I come to God as my protector, as my shield, as my strong tower, as my fortress. And I know by faith that I am safe in him and no one or nothing can come against me. Nothing can separate me from him.

You must seek protection in the stronghold.

What are you doing? Sitting in there. Sitting. This isn’t Zen Buddhism where you’re emptying your mind. You’re finding this place of nothingness. No, in Christ, I’m communing with him. I’m talking to him. Look what it says.

He went down into the stronghold and David inquired of the Lord. He’s speaking with the Lord. I want to contrast David with Saul for just a minute. King Saul. It says in 1 Samuel 14, 37 that he inquired of the Lord and he had just previously made a rash vow that none of his men could eat while they were fighting until they had fully conquered the enemy that day. And some stuff happened and Jonathan was about to die because he broke the vow and that’s the penalty for breaking a vow under old law. Under old testament law, Saul inquired of the Lord and the Lord didn’t answer him. In 1 Samuel 16, verse 14, it says that the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. He no longer had the benefit of God’s direction, of God’s guidance, of God’s protection. God still did mighty things through him for his people and for his namesake, but Saul, in particular, did not possess the Spirit of God. And so he did not possess the benefits of having the Spirit of God. After that, Saul has been messed up on a few major notes here. In 1 Samuel 28, verse 6, it says that Saul inquired of the Lord, but he did not answer Him.

Saul was not in the stronghold. Saul was not in Christ. Saul was in himself. Saul was leaning on his own power, on his own might, on his own wisdom. Saul was making rash decisions. Saul sacrificed before Samuel got there at one point. And the minute he sacrificed, Samuel shows up. So what he said was, I don’t believe what the prophet said. He called Samuel a false prophet. He’s making rash decisions because he doesn’t trust. He’s not in the stronghold. David, on the other hand, he’s not in the stronghold. David has the Spirit of God. It tells us that the Spirit came upon David when he was anointed to be king. In 1 Samuel 23, it says that David inquired of the Lord. And then again, shall I go up against them? And God gives His blessing, go up, and you’ll have victory. 1 Samuel 30, verse 8, again, David inquired, shall I go up against the Philistines? You shall, and you’ll have victory. In our current passage, what do you see David do? He inquires of the Lord. Shall I go up? You shall.

In the stronghold, through prayer, you need to look for both permission and provision. Provision. I think when we’re talking about enemies, internal enemies, and enemies directly against us, things that might tempt us to sin against God, I don’t know that you need to spend a lot of time praying about it. You need to act on it quickly and get rid of it. If you’re addicted to pornography, you don’t need to pray about whether the Lord’s going to deliver you from it. You need to get rid of it. Cut its head off. You already have permission. You have a commandment at that point to deal with the sin. I mean my permission, one, because David seeks permission here, but maybe you have an enemy that is outside of yourself, and it’s just a thorn in your side, and you just got it in your mind to walk across your driveway and just spill it. You’re about to do away with your enemies. Whatever it is that’s coming against you, you’re going to do it. You’re going to overwhelm it and you’re going to conquer it. Do you have the permission of God to do it? And do you have the permission of God to do it in the way that you were planning on doing it? Pray about it. Make sure you’re going to deal with it according to the principles of Christian warfare. Not Philistine warfare. Not barbaric warfare. Not fleshly warfare. Christian warfare.

So seek permission. Make sure this particular battle is one that the Lord wants you to fight. Because He may not want you to fight it today. You may need to fight it tomorrow or the next day. Or it may not at all. It might not be your battle to fight even though it’s plaguing your mind and your life. You certainly need to ask for provision. Look what David says. Shall I go up? Will you give them into my hand? Will you give me what’s necessary to overcome this enemy? Lord, I need it. I don’t have the strength to overcome this enemy. I don’t have what’s necessary to deal with this temptation. I need You to give me what’s necessary. I need You to provide me the strength to stand firm, to obey Your law, to be pleasing to You. I need You to give me the strength to not act out of the flesh. I need You to give me Christian humility to deal with this issue. I need You to provide for me whatever weapons necessary, whatever is in Your Word that addresses this issue, whatever truth is relevant to it. I need You, Lord, to give it to me so that I can conquer this enemy that is at my doorstep.

I’m dealing with anger in my heart. And I know that I need to address this issue. Lord, will You help me? I don’t want to turn into the brook. I don’t want to take 72. I want to go down Old Railroad. But I know that I have Your permission to go here and Your commandment to go here. Will You give me the strength to go? Will You give me the… humility to ask for forgiveness? Praise God, He gives it.

That’s my next point. Praise God, because He gives victory.

David came to Baal-perazim and David defeated them there. And what did he say? I’m a pretty cool dude. I’ve slain some enemies. I was trained. I was trained in war. I know how to wield a sword. No. He said, the Lord has broken through my enemies. The Lord has gone before me. The Lord has defeated them. Give praise to whom it is due. When you have victory over sin, when you have victory over acting out of the flesh because someone is pestering you, or whatever the situation is, whenever your enemy is against you and you have victory over it, praise God, because you didn’t do it on your own.

God gives victories. Give Him praise.

When…

When you fight these battles, sometimes there’s some stuff left behind. Sometimes there’s some stuff left behind. I, you know, thinking about it in my own life, I want to get rid of this particular sin. I want to get rid of this particular temptation that I have because I just can’t control it. Maybe it’s not a sin for you. Maybe it’s one of these things that I have freedom to do it, but I don’t have the self-control to not abuse it and turn it into sin. Well, then I start playing this game. God will give me victory. I’ve gotten away from it. But I’ll leave this little trinket up on my shelf. Well, it’s just a reminder. It’s just a reminder that God broke through and gave me victory. I’m not going to do it again. I’m not going to worship it.

He says that the Philistines left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away. In the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles, it says that they burned them. God commanded them to, whenever they drove someone out of the land, you leave nothing. Because here’s what it does. It’s like a weed in your yard. You mow over it, and you spray some weed killer, but you shot some seeds out, and before you know it, some more are going to sprout up. Might not at first, but over time, it’s going to rear its ugly head, and it’s going to plague you.

David burned the idols. When God gives you victory over your enemies, you must purge any idols left behind. Don’t give opportunity for it to rise up again against you. That’s why he’s fighting the battle in the first place, because they couldn’t drive them out. They didn’t completely remove them from the land, so they’re there, they’re quiet for a while, and before you know it, you’re trying to have a nice meal, and here it is, setting up in the valley, about to come sack the city of Jerusalem, or wherever the stronghold was. I assume so, because he had just been made king over Jerusalem. Some people think he was somewhere else. I think it makes sense that he was in Jerusalem. I don’t know. Wherever you’re at, if you don’t get rid of it, it’s coming back for you. It knows where you live. It’s a public record. It’s looking it up. Madison County website. It’ll be there. Just wait. Just wait. God says to get rid of them, or eventually they will become a snare. He commands in Deuteronomy 7, 5 and 6, to tear down those altars and to burn the images. They have no business in the life of the Christian. They have no business to be set up as a memorial. Get rid of them. The only memorial you need is that God delivered you.

Look what happens. The Philistines came up yet again.

As Christians, we can’t be weak-hearted and weak-minded and weary, and we can’t be scared. They said, mbolism is the imperative sport for Christians. It’s going to be the business of the Christian until you die. On this side of glory, there is no cessation of spiritual warfare. And if we can wrap our minds around that and prepare ourselves for it, we will have more and more and more victories. They’re just going to keep coming up until God determines it’s time to stop.

It says, When David inquired of the Lord. The Philistines came up yet again. They spread out in the valley. And when David inquired of the Lord. I don’t know how much time has passed between this first battle and this second battle. I don’t think it really matters. David was not presumptuous on God providing what he needed for the battle. He made sure of it because what did he do? He inquired of the Lord.

And lo and behold, he’s supposed to do something a little bit different. David, I think by human standards, David had every right to sort of presume that well, just whooped their butts last week. Let’s go out and get it again, boys. That’s not what David did. David, probably over anyone, they sang the song about him, right? Saul’s killed his thousands. David is ten thousands. David slew the giant, Goliath, with a rock and a sling. Don’t these guys know who I am? I’m David, king of Israel. I’m about to go out here and show them what’s up. That’s not what he did. It doesn’t say it, but you can assume David went back down into the stronghold. David is applying the same principles for victory that he applied the first time and the time before that. David is not assuming victory. He knows that he needs God’s permission to go up. He knows that he needs God’s direction in where to go, because God said, you shall not go up, go around to the rear. And he knows that he needs, yet again, God’s provision in providing the victory.

As much as you can’t grow weary of Christian warfare, you can’t grow weary of practicing the principles by which you will have victory. You must pray. You can’t not ask of the Lord. You can’t do it on your own.

I think pride might be at the heart of presumption, like assuming something. Maybe not in every case, but in this case, if I assume that I’m going to have victory, it’s a bit prideful.

And pride, pride comes before the fall.

You see the contrast with David and Saul in this way, too. Saul, because he was not following his principles, died on the Mount of Gilboa and his son, and gave up his kingship because he presumed too much. He just assumed, well, I’m king. That’s what I’m supposed to do. Go out. Take care of God’s business. You need God to take care of God’s business. You need God’s provision.

So because you’ve been clean and sober 10 years, don’t just assume that you’re going to walk into the lips. Or go to a liquor store or a nightclub or whatever it is, and not be tempted beyond your means. Don’t assume, well, I’m going to witness to my friends. I’m going to be a light in the darkness. Did you pray about that? Has God given you permission to go there? Do you know for sure, without a shadow of a doubt, that God is going to give you peace? you the strength to withstand that temptation. Don’t presume on the Lord’s mercy. You fight with everything you’ve got. Well, one more time, it won’t hurt. I don’t know that you fully understand mercy if you assume it. It’s not owed. By definition, it’s contradictory. You better fight with everything you’ve got.

My last point.

Be prepared to act when the Lord instructs and do precisely as He says. The Lord says, you shall not go up, go around to the rear, come against them opposite the balsam trees. And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself. Then the Lord has gone out before you. Rouse yourself. Be prepared to go. I’ve been praying about this. I’m struggling and I’m sitting in my easy chair. I’m not ready to do what I need to do. The Lord said, when you hear me, go.

You must be prepared. Sleep in your armor. I know it might be a little bit uncomfortable. You’ll be all right.

Maybe stay up a little bit later. Because the Lord might, it might be around midnight. You’re praying, ready and waiting for Him.

You’ve got to be ready and you need to do exactly what He says. He said, don’t go up, go around the rear. If you go up, it’s not going to go well for you. Partial obedience isn’t obedience at all.

There’s numerous, I think, accounts in the Old Testament when God says, you go to this people, you wipe them out, you don’t take anything with you. Nothing gets left alive. You burn everything.

Man, this one won’t hurt. Man, gold is valuable, right? It’s just a nugget. I take that back with me. That’s not obedience.

He said, take nothing. So you take nothing. Saul did it. He goes up in battle. The Lord told him to wipe everything out. He comes up and he sees Samuel standing off. He’s like, hey, man of the Lord, what’s going on? He’s like, I don’t know. And Samuel’s like, how did it get out? go. He’s like, oh, it went great. We won. He’s like, what’s this bleeding I hear? He heard all the sheep and the animals baying and neighing. Samuel said, you disobeyed. You didn’t do what the Lord said. You didn’t win.

And the Lord is merciful to forgive us in our failures.

But again, you keep presuming on them to do them over and over and over again. Drive it out. Get rid of it. Obey. Reading the proverb for today in chapter 10, verse 29, it says the way of the Lord is a strong hold to the blameless. The way of the Lord. If this is the Lord’s way, I do it that way. Particularly and precisely. I’m going to close with Psalm 59

verses 9 and 10. It says, oh, my strength and the strength is personalized there. He’s talking about God. I will watch for you. For you, O God, are my fortress. My God and His steadfast love will meet me. And God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

Again, you can have sure victory in Christ over all enemies when you fight them with principles of Christian warfare. You’ve got to find yourself in Christ. Outside of Christ, apart from Christ, you can do nothing. And I can do nothing. You’ve got to be a prayer. You have to look to God for instruction, provision, permission. Praise Him. Praise Him for everything that He does. Make a list of it. Make a log of it. Make a list of it. To recount the things that the Lord has done.

You’ve got to purge your life, your home, your thoughts, your web browser, your bookshelf, your DVD collection, your friend list, your contact list. You’ve got to purge it all of things that are going to be become a snare to you.

Don’t be presumptuous. You prayed last time and God gave you victory. Why would you do anything else this time?

Be ready all the time. Be ready and do precisely as God instructs and you will have victory over every enemy that comes against you. Lord, I praise you that we mustn’t be afraid. The enemy roars around like a lion to devour us. They encamp around our homes. They set up shop in our mines. They torment us. But Lord, you’ve not left us to ourselves. You’ve given us every grace. You’ve given us everything necessary to fight this battle. And further than that, you fight it for us, Lord. You go before us and victory in Christ is sure.

Lord, would you make us a people who are faithful to look to you, to depend on you, to call on you, to trust in you, to believe in you, Lord. I think sometimes when the adversary is in front of us, when he’s close and we know it, it sort of reveals what kind of faith we really have. It really shows how much we believe. It shows how much we trust.

Strengthen us, Lord.

Strengthen us, Lord.

I thank you that we have victory in Christ. That in Him we’re safe. We have hope. And an assurance that you’ll never leave us. Never forget us. We thank you, Lord. We praise your name. We bless it. Jesus, Amen.