Welcome to the Power For Life. This broadcast brings to you a message of life-changing revival in the Holy Spirit. We pray that today's program will help to spur you on to experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in your life. Now here with today's message is Tom Hill. For our study today, I want us to examine a circumstance in the life of King David, the greatest king that Israel has ever had. And from his example and the illustration in his life, I want us to see how God brings victory into the life of his children. And we see it by example illustrated for us in this occasion in the life of David. The situation occurs in 2 Samuel chapter 5. I'll give you just a little bit of background to the setting so that you can more clearly understand what's happening in our study today. King David has been hunted by King Saul. Saul hated him. He wanted to destroy David. So David fled. And while he was in flight away from King Saul, the people of Judah, which was just one small tribe of the people of Israel, chose David to be their king. As king, he directed them in their battles against the enemies that they faced. And in time, King Saul was killed in battle. His son Jonathan was also killed. And there came a war between David's family and King Saul's family as to who would be king of all of Israel. Well, God had chosen King David years before to be the king, and so ultimately David was elevated as the king of all of Israel. Not just the tribe of Judah, but all of Israel. As he became king, we find the scriptures describe for us that his enemies tried to take advantage of his new kingship and authority. Immediately, the enemies came and began to attack him, trying to break them down, assuming that because David had just taken over as king, that they would be vulnerable to attack. That's the setting that we find as we come to 2 Samuel chapter 5. I'll read just a few verses and then we'll take a look at them and study them to see from this example of David's life how God brings victory to his people. Our setting is 2 Samuel chapter 5, starting in verse number 17, and here's what we read. But when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all of the Philistines came to seek David. And David heard of it, and he went down to the hold, or the fortress. The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? Wilt thou deliver them into my hand? And the Lord said unto David, Go up, for I will doubtless deliver them into your hand. And David came to Balperazim, and David smote them there. and said, The Lord hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baalperazim. And there they left their images, and David and his men burned them. And the Philistines came yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And when David inquired of the Lord, the Lord said to him, Thou shalt not go up, But fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. And let it be, when you hear the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, then thou shalt bestir thyself. For then shall the Lord go out before thee, and smite the Philistines." And David did so, as the Lord commanded him. And he smote the Philistines from Geba down to Gezer. Well, here's two different battles. The Philistines coming against the children of Israel and King David, leading them in victory against the Philistines. It's this setting that I want us to use as a foundation to discover how God brings victory to His children. And I pray that the Spirit of God will apply these truths in your life, that you might experience the victory of God in your life today and in the days that come ahead of you. I want you to notice two things. First of all, I want you to notice that before victory could occur, David had to have an awareness and a knowledge of the enemy. Now that may sound very simple, very basic and very elementary, but yet it's very important. Because if you aren't aware of your enemy and have a knowledge of your enemy, then that makes your battle against them all the more difficult. In fact, sometimes we have enemies against us and we aren't fully aware of them, and so thus they can take an opportunity against us because we're caught off guard. Well, David was not caught off guard. David was fully aware of the attack of the enemy, and he knew what they were doing, and he was aware of their activity against him. Notice that it says in verse number 17, that as soon as he was made king, the Philistines came against him. They came against the city, the kingly city, which is Jerusalem. And David went and hid down in the fortress, that he might be safe. And then notice that it says that all of the Philistines came into a valley that surrounded the city and was nearby, that they might make war against David and against the children of Israel. Then we read further on in the verses that I read, that after David defeated them the first time, they came back yet a second time, came back to the same place and attacked him again. And on all of these occasions, David knew exactly what was going on. He was aware of the work of the enemy. He knew they were coming against him and he took precautions against them. He knew his enemy. He was aware of their activity against him. Now when we come to our spiritual lives, we must also have a knowledge and an awareness of our enemy. And I think it is at this point that many in the church today have become very confused because they are fighting the wrong enemy. And I say that because the Scriptures describe for us very clearly who our real enemy is. And if we are not fighting that enemy, then we're fighting the wrong battles. And we're fighting them in the wrong fashion. And I want us to know from Scripture how it describes for us who the real enemy is of the Christian, and who the real enemy is of the Church of Jesus Christ, that we might become aware of our enemy, know who he is, and be aware of his attack against us. The Scriptures outline for us very clearly that there is only one enemy of the believer in Jesus Christ, and that's Satan himself. Oh, he's called by a variety of names. He's called Satan. He's called the devil. He's called Beelzebub. He's called an angel of light. He has a number of different names. But it's the same evil person in power, the devil himself. That is the true enemy of the believer in Jesus Christ. And I want you to notice from Scripture that it describes that for us and tells us that's our enemy. The first reference I want you to notice is taken from 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse number 3, where it describes for us who our enemy isn't. It says we don't wage war in a carnal battle. It's a spiritual battle. So in other words, my friend, our enemy is not the government. Our enemy is not other organizations that might appear to be waging war against the church and against the believer in Jesus Christ. Those aren't our true enemies. Our enemy is not our employer. Our enemy is not our neighbor. Our enemy is not the people in society around us. Now, it may appear like that's the enemy, but that is not our true enemy. For the Scriptures tell us that we don't wage war in a carnal fashion. It is a spiritual warfare. It is a spiritual enemy that we face. Those are not spiritual. Those are human. Those are physical. Those are tangible things. Those are not our real enemy. Oh, we may have differences of opinion with them. We may view things entirely differently. And as I say, it may appear like they are the enemy. when in reality they are not. Our true enemy is the devil himself, a spiritual foe. We find it also described for us in Ephesians chapter 6 verse number 12. It says, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood. but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in high places. You see, our real enemy is a spiritual foe. It is a wicked, damnable enemy, the devil himself. Satan, Beelzebub, one who comes as an angel of light and deceives us many times. It's the evil one. That's our true enemy. The Scriptures describe for us again in Scripture that we are to be watchful. The Lord Jesus, the night when He was betrayed, He and His disciples went out to the garden to pray. And He left them alone and went and prayed by Himself and came back and His disciples were sleeping. And He said, Watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation. You see, we need to be like David. We need to be aware of our enemy. We have to be on our guard. We have to be watching and praying that we fall not into temptation. For our enemy and our foe is a spiritual foe. One who is very subtle. One who comes with many disguises and empty promises that sometimes fool us and trick us. In fact, the scriptures give to us some very clear direction. He says, don't give place to the devil. That's in Ephesians. We are to so watch and guard our lives and be aware of our enemy that we don't give the devil a foothold, it says. Don't give him a resting place. Don't give him a portion or some aspect of your life where he can somehow gain entrance and control into your life. Don't give him a foothold. Our foe is the evil one himself. The personification of evil. The devil. Satan. And so the scriptures give us some clear proof and evidence that we have an enemy. And we are to be aware of that enemy, and we are to know and be knowledgeable about him. The Scriptures advise us in 2 Corinthians that we are not to be ignorant of his devices. He's tricky. He's subtle. He's clever. He fooled Eve in the garden, and he has fooled men and women for centuries since then, because he is clever and sneaky like a snake. Ah, but we must be aware of our enemy. David was aware of his enemy. He knew about the activities of the Philistines. And he took precautions. We too need to be aware of our enemy as believers in Jesus Christ. And it is the devil himself. We must be on our guard. We must watch and pray. We must protect and make sure we don't give him a foothold lest he trick us. We must be aware of his devices. For he is like a roaring lion, the Scriptures say, roaming about, seeking whom he may devour. We must know our enemy. Before we can experience the victory of God, we must know our enemy. We must be aware of him and of his actions against us. And who he is, it's none other than the devil himself. Satan, the evil one, that's our true enemy. He may use the government, he may use organizations, he may use people as part of his battle plan against us, but they are not the enemy. They are merely tools of the enemy. We must be aware and knowledgeable of our true enemy, the evil one himself. That's the first thing I want you to notice from our passage. David knew his enemy. He was well aware of who he was. And he took precautions against him. Now, the second thing I want you to notice, as part of David's experiencing the victory of God in his battles, he sought God. Did you notice that as I was reading through? The very first time they attacked, in verse number 19, it says, David inquired of the Lord, Lord, shall I go up and attack them? And God said, yes, go attack them. I will give them into your hand. Victory is yours. Then notice the second time the Philistines returned. They came back to attack him yet another time. And a second time, David went to the Lord and said, Lord, what do I do? Do I go up and attack them? And this time the Lord said, no, I don't want you to attack them. I want you to go around behind them. I want you to spring an ambush on them. Go around behind them. And when you hear the wind blowing in the tops of the mulberry trees, that's your sign to attack. And when you attack, you will win and be victorious. The point I want you to notice is this, that before David ever went and attacked his enemy, he sought the Lord. He went to the Lord for direction as to how he should respond to the enemy. And notice that the direction from the Lord was different each time. One time he told David to pursue after them and attack them. The second time he said, no, go and do a sneak attack and I will perform something miraculous on your behalf. And then you attack. What's my point? My point is this. Because we have a spiritual enemy as Christians, and because the church of Jesus Christ faces a spiritual foe, we need to seek God's direction. For you see, I am incapable battling a spiritual foe, the devil is far superior to me. He has greater power than I have. He has greater knowledge than I have. He has greater resources at his command than I have as an individual, as a person. And I am utterly helpless before him. And so are you. And so is the Church of Jesus Christ. For you see, we wrestle not against flesh and blood. but principalities and powers. The devil is very real. He does have power. He does have abilities at his command and he has many forces that he can marshal at his command. Before we can attempt and ever experience any kind of victory against him, we must seek the Lord. We must go to God Almighty Himself and seek from Him direction as to how we are to fend ourselves against our enemy. Notice that on one occasion, the direction from the Lord was what you would expect. Go out and attack them, David. Notice the second time that the call of the Lord was for faith. For does not the suggestion of the Lord sound on a human standpoint rather foolish, kind of ludicrous? What commander today would ever follow the directions of what I want you to do, General, is to go around behind the enemy, and when you hear the wind blowing in the trees, attack. Why, you would be laughed and scorned to death. You would be mocked until the day you died if you ever suggested a plan like that. Yet that's exactly what God said. So there are occasions when we go to God for directions, He will give us what we might expect to do. There are yet other times when He calls upon us to believe Him, to trust Him for the supernatural. that we might not rest upon our own abilities and our own skills. For you see, David had many battles against the Philistines. He had fought them on numerous occasions, and he knew all about the Philistines. He knew some of their battle plans, in fact. Ah, but you see, David did not rest upon his own skills and abilities. He did not rest upon his own knowledge, nor that of his counselors about him. No, he sought God. God, what do you want me to do? That's what I will do. And my friend, if we are to ever experience in our lives victory over our spiritual enemy, the devil, we must not rely upon our own abilities and skills, for we are no match for him. We are hopelessly outclassed. But we have one in whom we can trust, and that's God himself. And the Scriptures advise us repeatedly that we are to come to the Lord. Come to Him and He will give us wisdom and direction. We read in Proverbs chapter 16, for example, it says, Commit your works unto the Lord and He shall make them clear. We're to come to Him. Commit all of our works to Him. He'll make our paths straight. The Scriptures call us to come unto Him for direction. Then we find in the book of Isaiah, we find a warning where God said, Woe unto those who go down to Egypt for help, for they seek not at my face, they seek instead after human help. Could it possibly be, my friend, that you have sought after human help for a spiritual battle? You see, God warns you against that, that it will not work. It will not provide the victory that you need. We must seek God's face for the victory and the power that we need to overcome our spiritual foe. We read in the book of James, it says, If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth liberally and upbraideth not. This is a favorite verse of mine. I rely upon that verse virtually every day. For there are things that come into my life on a daily basis that I don't understand, that I can't comprehend, that I can't see the direction that I should take. Ah, but there's that promise that says, if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of the Father, who giveth liberally and upbraideth not. We have one to whom we can go for direction. And He has promised to give us the wisdom that we need for those occasions that baffle us and confuse us. We've seen the Scriptures over and over again. They tell us to go to God. Seek His face. He calls to us, come to me and I will help you. And why is that? Partly because of the enemy that we face. We face a foe not of flesh and blood. but a spiritual foe. And secondly, our victory depends upon faith in God. Our victory depends upon faith. Just like David, even the first time when it was a suggestion and a direction by God to attack the Philistines, which was a normal, expected thing to do, he still had to trust God that God would give him victory. And then the second time, when God directed him to do something that was a little bit more unusual, it again took faith. And my friend, if we are to experience victory over our enemy, the devil, it will take faith. We will need to trust God, for it is in faith that we find victory. The Scriptures remind us that in 1 John 5. What overcomes the world? What overcomes our enemy? Even our faith. It may be that God will ask us to do something very normal and expected. We still need to trust God. It could be that He would ask us to do something from a human standpoint that sounds very foolish. Yet again, we need faith. We need to trust in God. The scriptures tell us in the book of Corinthians, chapter 1, it talks about God often taking the foolish things of this world and using them. Why? That all of the praise and the glory might go to God and not to man. So, you see, our victory rests in faith. We must know our enemy, must be aware of who he is. It's a spiritual foe. It's none other than the devil, Satan himself. In order to experience victory over our enemy, we need to go to God and seek His face. Seek direction as to how we might attack and defend ourselves against the enemy. And then the third thing I want you to notice, as was shown out here, and I've kind of alluded to the fact, that ultimately victory rests upon the supernatural power of God. It doesn't rest upon my skills. It doesn't rest upon your abilities. It doesn't rest upon us having a whole crowd of people. No, victory rests upon the supernatural power of God that He exerts through His Holy Spirit that subdues the enemy and brings us victory. We can't rest in our own strength. We can't rest in our own abilities. It comes only from God. And the Scriptures tell us that, that the victory belongs to God. We read in 1 Chronicles where it says, Thine, O Lord, is the victory. It belongs in God's hands. We read in Psalm 98, verse 1, it says, For thy right hand, O God, and thine arm hath brought us victory. We read further in 1 Corinthians about the foolishness of some of the things that man would call foolish. But God says, that's my plan. It's resting upon God's supernatural authority and ability to bring to pass things which are not, it says. And then we read in Zechariah chapter 4, that verse that summarizes it so clearly, it says, It's not by might. It's not by power. It's by my Spirit, saith the Lord. So that our victory over our enemy depends upon the supernatural power of God that He displays through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, that subdues the enemy and brings us victory. Could it be that today you are facing a spiritual battle? And you sense within yourself that you are utterly helpless and incapable of defending yourself against the enemy? Well, you are. Because you are not facing an enemy of flesh and blood, but an enemy of spirit. And the only way that you will find and experience victory in your life as a Christian is by seeking God's face. That He might give to you direction. That He might provide for you the supernatural ability that you need by His Spirit to overcome and subdue the enemy that you face. I pray that the Spirit of God will take these truths today from His Word and apply them in your life. That you might seek God's face. That you, like David, might call out to Him, Lord, what shall I do? And you seek after His help. And that you might find His direction. and that you might rest in faith upon His Holy Spirit to bring about in you a supernatural victory over the enemy that you face. Don't rest in yourself. Don't rest in human abilities. Rest only upon God. He will bring the victory by His Holy Spirit.