David's focus, unaverted

Turn with me to 1st Samuel chapter 17, just a little thought. 1st Samuel chapter 17, this verse came into my mind yesterday. I've just been thinking about it in light of what we've been hearing at this conference, in light of the price that the Lord has paid for us in the past, in light of His coming and the judgment seat of Christ in the future.

I was thinking of this verse. And in 1st Samuel 17, as you're well aware, that there is an enemy, we've been hearing about Philistines and so on, and enemies, and the enemy is Goliath. And he comes on and he presents himself for 40 days.

And as the time goes on, he draws nearer and nearer. He's claiming more ground. He's encroaching upon the nation, the people.

And it's in this valley. In fact, the name of the valley is literally the Valley of Bloods. And as he comes on, David is sent by his father to seek the welfare of his brother.

That's where I want to cut in. Verse 28, and Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spake unto the men, and Eliab's anger was kindled against David. David has come seeking the welfare of his brother, and he wants to see, he has an interest, and yet Eliab's anger was kindled against David.

And he said, Why camest thou down hither? And with whom hast thou left those few sheep? Notice there was even a disdain for the sheep, a few sheep. They're not really that important, but what were you doing, what are you doing in the wilderness? I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thy heart. For thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.

And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause? Is there not a cause? In 2024, that question I would ask everybody, is there not a cause? Why are we here? Is there not something to not only hold on to, but to fight for? Is there not a cause? And as I was thinking of that, I thought of David going down to that battle, and now he's being questioned, his motives are being questioned, his arrival is being questioned. He comes in, and the one who's literally going to turn out to be the Savior of the day is looked down upon with disdain. He's really the only one that has in his heart something that he's going to do, he's willing to do.

He doesn't know what he's going to do yet, but as the situation presents himself, he sees a need and he responds. Is there not a cause? And what he says as he looks at the situation and takes it all in, he says, this giant, he says, this uncircumcised dog, this Philistine, he's mocking the name of the Lord? He's bringing reproach upon the name of our God? It's not about now, it's not personal. It's not a matter of that, that look what he's doing to us as the people.

Look what he's doing to the nation. If they win, they're going to take our land. If they win, they're going to do this to us.

No, everything now is in relation to the honor of the Lord, and that is what incites David. Can I ask you something? When you see conditions, when you do you see conditions, when you are made aware of the slipping away, of the ebbing out of things that you've been hearing in this conference, the lack of strengthening, the desire, exercise, reverence, holiness, the incursion, the encroaching of worldliness, not only in our own lives, but in the lives of the assemblies of God's people. And really what is happening is the Lord himself now is being pushed out.

Does that affect you? It affected David. He looked at what was happening. The covenant people, the God who had delivered his people, and now the nation that is called upon to serve this God now is being held at bay, restricted, challenged, cursed by this Philistine? David says, is there not a cause? Look around us, all that is happening.

We are literally surrounded. Here was one man and he kept coming on, coming on, gaining more ground, getting closer, coming further and further, and they watched, and they let it happen. And David finally says enough.

Enough. This is not about us. This is about God's interests.

This is about what God is. We were hearing about mounds of dirt earlier today, and little outposts and memorials, and what is happening today is that, as always, the world around us, and whether they are Goliaths that are giants, or they are dwarfs or mice that come in, they are attacking, chipping away, stealing away the dirt, and challenging God's interests. Would to God that in this conference there were men and women, older and younger, that saw this happening and seeing it rise up and say, is there not a cause? And I want to just look at four things that would have been interesting in this particular situation very quickly.

I want you to think, first of all, that David never lost his focus, never lost his focus. There were men in that battle, they had lost their focus. It's easy for us to lose our focus in the light of the periphery of things that are happening, whether it's an election that's coming up, and we lose our focus, and we get immersed into that, and we get absorbed in that, and it takes our time away there.

Whether it's activities of life, whether it's hobbies, habits, whether it's family, I'm not saying these things are bad necessarily, but they can become weights. Jobs, education, friendships, relationships, and they cause us to lose our focus. David came down, and with laser-like sight, he never lost his focus.

I want you to think how that can happen, because here it says that Goliath drew on 40 days. 40 days. You're well aware in your Bible that 40 is the number of testing.

The ark, of course, right? 40 days. The Lord Jesus in the wilderness, 40 days. 40 is the number of testing.

So here this is happening, 40 days they're being tested. And maybe David could have come there and seen all this and said, you know, it's been 40 days, I mean, surely somebody's gonna act. Look how much time.

And if somebody hasn't acted by now, well, surely there must be a reason. 40 days. I just wonder sometimes how much time we allow things to go on and on and on.

Now sometimes, often, time is our friend. Or often, in assembly matters, time is our friend. Don't act too quickly.

Paul gives the encouragement to Timothy, lay hands suddenly on no man. Watch, observe, look at the life of individuals. That is important.

But there are other times in which things must be nipped in the bud. Things must be addressed. And we go on and on.

Maybe it's, and it might not be bad things. Certainly when there's bad things and there's sin, that must be immediately addressed. That must be nipped in the bud.

That cannot be allowed to fester and grow. But then there are needs that are, that surface in the lives of God's people, in the lives of the assemblies, in the lives of, it could be anyone. Younger ones, children, it could, whatever.

Is there not a cause? David says, too long. 40 days is too long. Time.

Maybe things have been going on in someone's life here. It's too long. Maybe, maybe there's something that you know needs to go.

And you've held on to it. And it needs to go. And maybe there's something in someone's life and it needs to come.

Something that you know you need to do. There are things that you know you need to not do. And then there are things we know we need to do.

Maybe you haven't been praying like you ought. You haven't been reading like you ought. Maybe you've been silent in that meeting.

We've been hearing about worship. Maybe there are people you know you need to speak to. And opportunities have arisen.

Doors have been opened. And you've remained in the background. You didn't do it.

You think, well, you know, another day, another week, another month, another year. 40 days. You know, it's interesting.

In Psalm 89, the psalmist says, remember how short my time is. I think it was Ethan the Ezraite. It's a masculine.

It's a psalm of instruction. Remember how short my time is. He's actually calling upon God so that God will act on his behalf.

But the interesting thing is the next psalm, Psalm 90, it's a psalm of Moses. He says this. He says, we live our lives as a tale that is told.

And so now Moses is looking at, what can I do for God? There's bookends here. But both men realize this, and what we need to realize, all of us, no matter if you are young or older, and it seems that when we get older, the clock seems to race and minutes become nanoseconds. But we're all running out of time, and there's only so much time.

That's number one. 40 days. Number two, he could have looked and lost his focus because of the inactivity of others, whether it's the soldiers or Saul.

And he could have seen all these men, and they're doing nothing. His own brothers are not only doing nothing, but they're actually mad at him for wanting to do something. And so, you ever get upset with the inactivity of others? You ever think, you know, somebody should do this.

Somebody should be doing this. Well, you know what? You know what all of our middle names are? Somebody. Somebody.

I am Frank somebody Sona. And how often I have failed to recognize that that is who I am. And I don't mean that in a vaunting way.

I mean that in an active way. David could have looked at that and said, look at these soldiers, all these soldiers. I'm just a shepherd.

I've been feeding sheep and keeping sheep. I'm not really, you know, I can defend them over the bear and the lion and so on, but beating up men, that's not what I do. And he could have thought, this is really not in my hand.

No, no. David did not let the inactivity of others curtail his service and activity. But then he could have looked at Saul and said, Saul, you're the king.

You notice he never says a word to Saul later on. That's commendable. But I will say this, that there are men in assemblies that are leaders, and you need to set the tone.

You do set the tone. And an assembly will rise no higher than its oversight. But thank God when assemblies do rise high because of their oversight.

And those men, they are in the forefront, not because of a position, but because of a work. And David could have said that, well, look, you know, if Saul's not doing it, he's the king, I'm certainly not going to do it. Nope, never lost his focus.

A young man, referred to as a stripling, he's going to do it. So he could have been, lose his focus because of the inactivity of others. Number three, he could have lost his focus because of the scorn of his brethren.

They were mocking him. They were making fun of him. What are you doing here, David? You think you can do something? They could have, they should have and could have encouraged him and said, well, you know what, none of us are doing anything.

Maybe you can. And God seems to be on your side. And go ahead, David, you know what? They didn't even, you know what, they didn't even say.

They could have said, as he goes out to fight Goliath, it would have been nice to hear Eliab or one of these others say, we'll pray for you. They didn't even say that. You know what's amazing to me? I just thought of this.

I have actually heard Christians say, you're going to speak in the gospel, and I've heard Christians say, well, good luck. You know, good luck in the gospel. Okay, luck has nothing to do with it, brethren.

Please eradicate that statement from your vocabulary. We need God. We are absolutely dependent upon God.

And like my brother Larry has been saying, without him we can do nothing. Nothing spiritual will be accomplished. But with God, look what David did.

A great victory. Psalms that are sung. David is slain as ten thousands later on.

You know, you do for God, and you will be reproached. You will be made fun of. You will become the brunt of talk, of persecution, absolutely by the world.

So be prepared. And if you're not getting persecution by that world and environment in which you live in, you need to ask yourself a question. If you're trying to be a nice guy to everybody, you're not going to make much spiritual progress.

And sadly, you can get reproached by even your brethren. Pray for them. The scorn of others.

But lastly, he could have lost his focus because of the newness of the situation. He'd never fought a giant before. Not many giants around.

Years ago, in Genesis, but not now. And maybe there are those and you're facing a new situation. We're gonna watch Lord Willing of Baptism later on.

A person who's recently saved. You are going to face things, and for those who are any new converts in the audience, you are going to face giants and things that you have never faced before. It's all new.

And for every one of us, in certain ways, that we face Goliaths all the time. We face new situations, new activities, new challenges, new fights. David never lost his focus.

And even as he went into that battle to fight a man whose shield weighed 125 pounds, and whose head of his spear weighed 19 pounds. I think of that. The biggest bowling ball weighs 16 pounds.

Can you imagine a tip of a spear that was bigger than the biggest bowling ball? David didn't see any of that. All David saw was, the Lord has given him into my hand. He is challenging.

He is standing in the way of the spiritual progress and victory of God's people. He is reproaching the name of our God. And that is what drove David.

David says, is there not a cause? Brethren, as this conference winds to an end, there is a cause. It is the greatest of all causes. In fact, in the midst of this world of confusion and chaos and destruction and deception, it really is the only cause there is.

God's cause. And he's calling out a people from a condemned world. Don't lose your focus.

Nail your colors to the mast. That used to be a saying we hear often, but you know what's interesting? I'll just give you this background. I'm done.

I'll sit down. I think it was 1801, the Battle of Copenhagen. Lord Nelson sailing the British fleet to fight that battle and to fight the enemy on the ocean.

They were vastly outnumbered. His own military men thought that they can't win this. They were afraid.

They wanted to turn back. Lord Nelson looks, he puts the telescope to his eye, and he says, I see no ships. Sail on.

The funny thing was, he had a glass eye. He actually put the telescope to his glass eye. That's why he said, I see no ships.

Here was a man who wasn't going to be distracted. He wasn't going to lose focus. I see no ships.

Sail on. Dear brethren, younger men, in God's name, there is a cause. Older ones, there is a cause.

Young sisters, there is a cause. Do not lose your distinction. Do not lose your focus.

Do not compromise your identity to be blended in with a world. And what the devil wants to do is to make you lose that focus. Live like that world.

Lose your effectiveness. David goes into battle and he recognizes this. There's a giant.

He'll be taken care of soon. And if God uses me to do it, I'm willing. If none of these men will let God use them, then oh God, use me.

Might God help all of us to leave this conference that day with an upward look, with a heart that is turned, and say, oh God, use me in the moments I have left for your cause.