Deliverance: Goliath Had A Brother!

I’ve been a pastor for nineteen years.  In fact, August 1, 2001 was the day we opened the church we founded in Riverside, California.  In those nineteen years, I have seen a lot, and one of the things I have seen over and over is people who just can’t seem to break away from certain sins.  It’s like they’re trapped in that thing – They think they’ve beaten it, only to come have it come back at a later time.

The problem with this is that people begin to think that they can’t be completely delivered; that there’s a reliance on willpower for deliverance.

There’s a young man that attends one of our Free Talk Sessions that is quite taken with my testimony about how I stopped drinking.  He wants to do the same thing, but without Jesus and he’s struggling with it.  I have to declare to you right now, I could not have stopped drinking without Jesus in my life.  I can state that so positively, because I tried many times to quit drinking, unsuccessfully, before I got saved.

Willpower cannot keep you from sin.  There will be weak moments that will cause you to do that thing you don’t want to do.  This is why twelve step programs will say that you are forever an addict.  I have news for them, I am an ex-drunk! I’m delivered.

The real question, today is, “Why do some people go back to the sin from which they’ve been delivered?”  That’s what I want to explore in this post – Through David’s life!

2 Samuel 21:15-17 (NKJV)
^21:15 When the Philistines were at war again with Israel, David and his servants with him went down and fought against the Philistines; and David grew faint. ¹⁶ Then Ishbi-Benob, who was one of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose bronze spear was three hundred shekels, who was bearing a new sword, thought he could kill David. ¹⁷ But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, "You shall go out no more with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel."

Goliath Had A Brother

I believe, as a Christian, that one of the biggest things we struggle with is our old sin.  It’s supposed to be “buried with Christ in baptism.”  (Romans 6:4).  “Put off the Old man and put on the new.”  (Ephesians 4:22-24).  “Walk in the newness of life.”  (Romans 6:4).

The problem is that some of those things are stubborn and difficult.  It’s not easy to defeat some habits and addictions.  The Bible says that “we are slaves to sin;” they own us!  They can be giants that we face and have to fight to defeat.

I want to talk about David and his defeat of the giant, but I want to look at it in a little different way.  We all know the story – A young shepherd faces and defeats a battle hardened giant. 

So, look at this:  David has decided that he will destroy the giant and he’s preparing for the battle:

1 Samuel 17:40 (NKJV)
^17:40 Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.

Why did David take five stones?  Does he think he’s going to need five stones to defeat Goliath?  Is he afraid God isn’t going to help him?  The answer is that Goliath had a brother and he had three sons.  David knew he might not have to defeat just Goliath.  He knew that there might be others who came for him.  David did defeat Goliath with just one stone.

1 Samuel 17:49-51 (NKJV)
^17:49 Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. ⁵⁰ So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. ⁵¹ Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

David destroyed the giant with one stone, then he cut off his head.  You don’t get much deader than that!  No head equals totally dead! 

So, let’s think about this for a moment.  Why do people get saved?  People don’t come to Jesus when everything is good.  “I’m so blessed, I need Jesus!”  People usually get saved when they’re sick of the way they’re living.  In my own case, I thought I’d ruined my life!  I was exhausted, sick and depressed.  I was addicted to alcohol, a depressant, what else could I expect?  I needed to defeat that giant in my life – alcohol!

For others it may have been something different – maybe financial debt, or sickness, or marital problems.  Whatever it was that led you to Jesus was probably a giant in your life, and you were looking to defeat it.  Some of you may still be in the process of selecting your stone, or running out to face it.  Others have already cut off the giant’s head.  Maybe its been a while.  Maybe you’ve even testified, “I beat my giant (whatever it was)!”  Months later, or years later it’s come back, you’re facing it again and you don’t understand why.  I’ll tell you why – Goliath had a brother!

When David defeated Goliath, he was seventeen years old.  He hadn’t become king yet.  That didn’t happen until he was thirty.  So, our text takes place many years after he killed the giant, but now he finds himself fighting with a giant once again.  The giants have come back!  The original giant has been defeated – He’s not coming back from the dead.  That original deliverance in your life wasn’t temporary.  The giant in your life has been destroyed, it’s not coming back, either, but a similar thing is rising up to destroy you.  This is what’s happening in our text – Do you think this son of Goliath isn’t gunning for the man who killed dear old dad?  Of course, he is!  The devil hasn’t given up on you, either – He wants his revenge!

This Happens to Mature Christians

Look at verse 15 of our text:

2 Samuel 21:15 (NKJV)
^21:15 When the Philistines were at war again with Israel, David and his servants with him went down and fought against the Philistines; and David grew faint.

David has been engaged in the battle.  He’s been fighting, and the Bible says, David grew faint!”   He’s weary.  The devil above all other things is an opportunist.  He watches and waits, and when the time is right, he comes back.  He even did that with Jesus!

Luke 4:13 (NKJV)
^4:13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

When he saw that he couldn’t tempt Jesus at that time, he departed “until an opportune time.”  Goliath’s son waited until David was weary to attack him.  He waited until David wasn’t in a good position to fight.  When you’re exhausted from battle you don’t have the energy to fight a fresh opponent.  In a spiritual battle this takes place when you’re spiritually worn down – when you’ve been facing assaults.  When you’ve been pushing back against the enemy, but he’s worn you down.

A number of years ago I had an opportunity to visit a battlefield from the US civil war.  The person I was there with was an expert on civil war battles.  This particular battle was won by government troops, because they just kept sending wave after wave of fresh troops until the opponents were too tired to fight any more and were destroyed.

That’s how the devil fights – temptation after temptation, struggle sfter struggle, with sickness.  Financial failure after financial failure – marriage problem after marriage problem until you’re worn down and exhausted then he sends in the giants, and this giant looks an awful lot like the last giant!  Why?  Because they’re related!

Think about it.  He beat you once with pornography.  That’s his “Go-to Giant” in your life.  Maybe it’s not exactly pornography, but an affair with someone at your job.  Maybe it’snot alcoholism this time, but some other addiction instead.  That’s how good strong Christians end up failing.  That’s how they end up defeated.

“I thought God would protect me! I thought God would keep bad things from happening!  I’m just tired of it all – I don’t want to fight anymore!  Oh, Hello, Ishbi-benob, is that a new sword?” 

Guess what, this wasn’t the last one, either. 

2 Samuel 21:18-20 (NKJV)
^21:18 Now it happened afterward that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbechai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was one of the sons of the giant. ¹⁹ Again there was war at Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. ²⁰ Yet again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also was born to the giant.

Three more times they came after him.  Remember, the five stones?  There’s the other four.  The devil isn’t going to give up!

What Saved David

This is the interesting part – What saved David?  You might say, “A better question is “Who saved David?”  Okay, “who saved David?” – His fellow soldiers.  The reason I asked what saved David is because what really saved David was the fellowship he had with those other men.  There was a camaraderie and concern among them.  Abishai was concerned for David so he fought for him.

That’s why God has structured the church the way He has.  That’s why the church is a body of believers.  Christianity was never intended to be a solo pursuit.  It was always about being of one accord, fighting and contending together against a common enemy – You know who!

How many times in the Bible are we exhorted to be together and encourage each other?

John 15:17 (NKJV)
^15:17 These things I command you, that you love one another.

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NKJV)
^10:24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, ²⁵ not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

1 Thessalonians 4:18 (NKJV)
^4:18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

This is God’s plan for us to defeat the giants that we face.  The Bible shows us that this is the way to go!  The Bile gives us concrete examples.

Matthew 18:19-20 (NKJV)
^18:19 Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."

Are you struggling with something?  Is there a battle to wear you down?  Ask someone to pray with you – Don’t fight alone.  Find an Abishai to stand in the gap with you!

James 5:16 (NKJV)
^5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Sickness?  Physical or spiritual?  Confess your sin and pray for one another.

“I don’t want anyone to know I’m struggling!”

“People might judge me, if I confess and ask for prayer.”

Abishai saw that David was weary – If you hold back and put on appearances, that it’s all good – there won’t be anyone to help.  Don’t let your ego be your downfall.  David need help with that second giant – we all need help!  That’s why God brought us together.  FOR EACH OTHER!  No soldier wins a war by himself.  Not even David!

Bamboo in the Garden

Have you ever seen a stand of Bamboo?  It grows out from one stalk in different directions in the ground.  So, the area covered by the bamboo grove is constantly being enlarged.  If you want to reforest an area it’s very effective because it grows and spreads rapidly. 

The difficulty is in trying to contain it.  What happens is that shoots called rhizomes spread underground and the plants sprout out of the ground along the rhizome.  Now, these are not like roots. They’re stalks of the plant that grow horizontally under the ground.  They’re very tough and difficult to remove.  You don’t see them growing, they’re hidden under the soul.  The only way you know they are there is that a plant sprouts out of the ground and shows itself.  All of the Bamboo in a garden are connected by rhizomes.

If you plant them in an area and don’t want them to spread beyond that area, you must be diligently searching for and tearing out the rhizomes, because when one is removed another immediately begins to generate.  Some types of Bamboo can grow up to twenty-four inches in a day.

2 Samuel 11:1-17 (NKJV)
^11:1 It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. ² Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. ³ So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" ⁴ Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. ⁵ And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, "I am with child." ⁶ Then David sent to Joab, saying, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷ When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered. ⁸ And David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." So Uriah departed from the king's house, and a gift of food from the king followed him. ⁹ But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. ¹⁰ So when they told David, saying, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "Did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" ¹¹ And Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing." ¹² Then David said to Uriah, "Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³ Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. ¹⁴ In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵ And he wrote in the letter, saying, "Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die." ¹⁶ So it was, while Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. ¹⁷ Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also.

Rhizomes in Our Lives

David is God’s man to lead Israel but sin has overcome him, just like Bamboo overtaking a garden.  The first step is a step away from responsibility.  David stepped away from the battle.  He’s no longer contending against the enemies of Israel.  He hasn’t really done anything wrong yet, but he’s resting in what God has already done in him and through him.  He’s let his guard down.

This is how sin works in us.  We’re delivered.  It’s not necessary to pray for that deliverance any longer.  It’s not necessary to be contending.  “I don’t need to pray for that anymore, I won’t fall into that again.”

I had a friend that began to look at pornography.  His wife caught him at it, and he confessed and was delivered from it.  The problem was that he thought he’d overcome it.  So he decided to check himself and ended up right back in the same problem again.  He’d let his guard down…He’d stopped contending for that deliverance.

In the garden, you need to continue to hunt down the rhizomes.  The only way that you can control the growth is through constant attention.  If you stop searching for and removing the rhizomes, the Bamboo will get out of control again.

We need to constantly be digging for rhizomes of sin in our hearts or that sin will spread and appear again. 

David has neglected his heart and stalk of lust has grown up.

2 Samuel 11:2-3 (NKJV)
^11:2 Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof, he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. ³ So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"

From this stalk of lust, rhizomes have spread out to other areas of his life.  Lust led to adultery, lies, cover-ups, manipulation, and murder.  That sin of just looking at a naked woman and lusting sexually for her finally led to the murder of an innocent man.

The events that led to the resignation of President Nixon started in a simple enough way.  There was a break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC.  The break-in was illegal, but what cost President Nixon his job wasn’t the original crime.  What cost him his job was the cover up of those things; the lies, the manipulations and all that resulted from that.  The original break-in led to the crimes that destroyed Nixon.

In the Bamboo plants, there is one stalk.  That stalk puts out rhizomes and other plants manifest themselves in different places.  As a result of the way the plants reproduce, all of them in a particular area are connected.  All of the sin in our lives is connected like the Bamboo.

Sin defiles and deceives the human conscience, and thereby hardens the human heart.  A sin-hardened heart grows ever more susceptible to temptation, pride, and every kind of evil.  Unconfessed sin, therefore, becomes a cycle that desensitizes and corrupts the conscience and drags people deeper and deeper into bondage. – J F MacArthur, The Vanishing Conscience

Sin is aggressive – like an organism; like a virus.

Genesis 4:7 (NKJV)
^4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."
The man-eaters of Tsabo is a true story of man-eating lions that were killing and devouring native workers on a British railroad project in Africa.  In the end, the lions were destroyed as the British leader set up a stand in the trees and waited for days until the lions attacked again.  He maintained a vigil in order to protect the people.

No less of a commitment is needed in our lives.  If David had pressed into the things of God; if he had continued to do what was necessary to protect Israel from the enemies of God, he would have been removed from the temptation.

When we take ourselves away from the things of God; the battle for souls and things that strengthen faith, we create distance from God.  When we stop reading our bible or praying we’re drifting away from God.  The closer you are to God the less likely you are to sin.  When we’re close to God it is difficult to get something between us and God.  It’s much easier when there’s a distance between us and God.

But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the enemy [God].  It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that they’re cumulative effect is to keep the man away from the light…Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick.  Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one – C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Closeness to God eliminates opportunity for Satan to draw us into decisions that lead to sin.  Satan doesn’t force us to do anything; we make a decision to sin.

David stumbled on to Bathsheba.  It wasn’t something he was looking for, but when he asked who she was, and sent for her, he made a decision to sin.  That decision was the result of his traveling on a path that led to a separation from the will of God.

The Result of Sin

Bamboo is what biologists call an “extremely opportunistic” plant.  It wants to exploit all of the sunlight, water and nutrients for its own reproduction.  This plant isn’t concerned about the others in the garden and if left alone will destroy every other plant in the garden by robbing them of nutrients.

David has turned away from the Will of God.  He’s backslidden at heart.  We often think of backsliding as when we are already engaged in sin, but backsliding begins when we slide back away from God and pursue our own desires.  David was already backslidden when he sinned with Bathsheba.  He backslid when he tarried in Jerusalem, because he’d already begun the process of pulling away from the will of God.  All of the other things that took place were the result of that original sin of pulling away from God.

David and Uriah knew each other.  Uriah was a mighty man; one of David’s elite hand picked.  They were friends.  There was a camaraderie between them, but sin is selfish.  David’s not thinking of Bathsheba; He’s not thinking of Uriah.  He’s thinking only of David.  David’s not even thinking of his children, because sin always computes out in our children’s lives.  David’s sin played out in his children’s lives in a way he didn’t expect.

Deuteronomy 5:9 (NKJV)
^5:9 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Sin in our lives follows us into the next generations.  In David’s case his son Amnon rapes his half sister Tamar – selfishness and lust.  David is angry but he can’t judge the sin in Amnon.  He can’t judge the sin that he himself had fallen into, but Absalom, Tamar’s brother did judge it and killed Amnon.  Absalom went into exile after that, and when given the right to return, he tried to usurp the government of his father.  Look at his reasoning:

2 Samuel 15:4 (NKJV)
^15:4 Moreover Absalom would say, "Oh, that I were made judge in the land, and everyone who has any suit or cause would come to me; then I would give him justice."

He believed that his sister never received justice, so he overthrew the kingdom.  David’s sin played out in his children’s lives.  Their lives came under the influence of sin and it destroyed them.

Bamboo can infect not only the garden in which it’s planted but it can spread and affect another garden that’s next door.  The rhizomes being underground can easily pass under a fence and into the garden of a neighbor.  Our neighbors in Riverside planted Bamboo next to their fence in order to give them privacy.  My wife had to be constantly digging and cutting rhizomes that passed under the fence in an effort to keep them out of our yard.

Amos 1:9 (NKJV)
^1:9 Thus says the Lord: "For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, And did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.

Tyre and Israel had a relationship of brotherhood at one point.  It’s a picture of relationship between people in the congregation; regard, concern – I’ve got your back, you’ve got mine.  But Tyre sold out the relationship when they broke the covenant of brotherhood.  They joined with the enemy of Israel and instead of living peacefully they sold out – Every man for himself.

In the garden the assault is underground and it isn’t until the stalk manifests itself that the assault can be recognized.  By then it can be too late and only a pitched battle will save the garden.

The church can’t be protected from what is hidden.  Discord in relationships, loss of dominion causes the church to stall.  Sin in the church affects us all.  The effort turns to keeping people from scattering and forward momentum stops.

Eradicating the Bamboo

Bamboo can be beaten, but in order for that to happen the rhizomes must be found and removed along with the original stalk.  It must all be removed.  Any stalk that’s left will begin to put out rhizomes.  Any rhizome left will put up other stalks.  In order to defeat it it must all be destroyed.

2 Samuel 12:13-18 (NKJV)
^12:13 So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan said to David, "The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. ¹⁴ However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die." ¹⁵ Then Nathan departed to his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it became ill. ¹⁶ David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. ¹⁷ So the elders of his house arose and went to him, to raise him up from the ground. But he would not, nor did he eat food with them. ¹⁸ Then on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, "Indeed, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not heed our voice. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm!"

David recognizes his sin and repents.  This is more than just crying out he’s actively contending for God to move.  The relationship must be restored.  The connection to God will must be strengthened.  The consequences of the sin played out in the death of the child, but God restored David – never removing him as king.  God blessed him later as he allowed his son to rule after him.

1 Kings 15:4-5 (NKJV)
^15:4 Nevertheless for David's sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, by setting up his son after him and by establishing Jerusalem; ⁵ because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

It took David contending to live for God after that.  We have to have a resolve to live for Jesus. 

Have you ever taken a piece of paper and folded it over, then torn the paer along that line?  When it’s been folded it’s easy to tear it along the fold, because that fold becomes a weakness in the paper.  Sin, when we have fallen once, will attack us at that same place; that fold in our lives seeking once again to gain entry into that weak place.

We must contend in order to overcome.  Where is victory found?

1.        Remember that what is hidden from people God sees.  When we know that wickedness lies in our heart yet we fear God we can have victory.

Matthew 10:28 (NKJV)
^10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

2.        The second thing that brings victory is a right relationship with your pastor.

Hebrews 13:7 (NKJV)
^13:7 Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.

Hebrews 13:7 tells us to submit as well.  Your pastor will hold you accountable for your sin.  That’s why I call my pastor, Pastor and not by his name.  I have submitted my life and I’m accountable to him.

3.        Don’t neglect your relationship with Christ.

Hebrews 2:3 (NKJV)
^2:3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,

This Scripture speaks directly to our relationship with Jesus. 

If you want victory do the things you’re supposed to do:  Pray, read your Bible, go to church, and be in fellowship with your pastor.  Stay vigilant, looking for and judging sin.  Root every bit of sin out of your life, so that it can’t spread into other sin.  Finally, contend for victory.  Fight to remain in the will of God, and free from sin.