The Victory of God, Pt. 1

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We love to root for the underdog—the outnumbered, the outmatched, the one who has no business winning—and yet somehow does. It’s an instinct that runs deep throughout history and the pages of the Bible. Pastor Nick Gatzke reveals the unexpected, supernatural victories that belong to God’s people.

Most of us have never been on the battlefield of war. But you are in a war right now, and you might not even know it. The story of God is the story of a cosmic war. And the story of humanity is our place in that war. And as the Bible describes the works and the ways of God, that are themed throughout its entirety, we see repeated expressions of conflict in the opposition of things like God versus Satan, good and evil, light and darkness, the spirit and the flesh, righteousness and sin, life and death. This is the language of war. And as we think about the beginning and the end of the story of God, in the middle of that story and moving from the beginning all the way to the end is this war.

I was thinking about the idea of the beginning and the end. of the story of God. And it became clear that there are many themes to trace when we think about the idea of the beginning and the end. We could talk about and have talked about creation and recreation as a theme of the beginning and the end. We could talk about death and judgment. We could talk about life and new life. But today, as the capstone sermon in this series that we are calling From Old to New to You, we trace the theme of victory. Victory in the midst of a war, in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, and what this victory of God means for your life. There’s a cosmic war that’s taking place. And the Bible shows us that God is the one who will have

victory. And so go with me. As we tell the story of God from this particular angle and conclude our series together, we see that this conflict between God and Satan begins at the very beginning of the Bible, in the Garden of Eden. And that at the very beginning, there is a promise of lasting victory. God created everything in the world, and behold, it was good. Adam and Eve were given work to do in the garden and among the animals. There was perfect communion between God, his creation, and his created. The glory of God was displayed minute by minute as everything in the world functioned in perfect harmony. But then came a snake. And Satan tempted Eve to sin. And she did. And Adam was tempted to disobey God and he did. And just like that, the harmony was broken. The glory of God that was displayed in every second was temporarily diminished. And it looked like from the very beginning of creation that God was going to lose this creation to Satan. But in the curse, that God placed on Satan and on the earth and on Adam and Eve, he also gave the promise of victory. Genesis chapter 3, 14 and 15 points to that curse and that

promise. It says this, the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you. above all livestock and above all beasts of the field. On your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. This is the promise that while Satan merely strikes the heel of Eve’s offspring, Victory will ultimately be found for humanity when they stomp the head of the

serpent. And so God made a promise. Now perhaps some of you have had someone make a promise to you, and as time has gone on and on and on and on, you begin to wonder if the one who made the promise has forgotten their promise. And perhaps throughout biblical history, some may have thought that of God. When would Satan’s head finally be crushed? Why is life so hard? If God is the one who promises victory, when will that victory be attained in its completion?

And this is the story of the Bible. Throughout the Old Testament, we see many individual victories of God, and those victories display a greater type of victory that is coming for those who oppose him. The victories of God in the Old Testament are myriad, many, many victories, and they’re displayed primarily through the military victories of God’s people, Israel. Now remember, what was the purpose of God forming a people? The purpose of God forming a people was to display his character and his works and his glory to them and to the earth as he interacted with this people. And he does this even with this people as he accomplishes victory. And it seems like when you think about all the victories of God displayed

through Israel in the Old Testament, that there’s a common couple of realities that emerge. It seems like In almost every single one of them, defeat is imminent. That there’s little hope. That in the war, it seems like God and his people are near destruction. The second one is that the battle is not simply fought in a physical way between people and nations. The physical battles of the Old Testament point to a greater battle that is happening between God And Satan, and therefore victory or defeat, is not just about nations and land. It’s about God and his power. And thirdly, we see that in nearly every one of these situations, it seems like the disposition of God’s people, Israel, toward him is a deciding factor in the battle. If the people of God are self-reliant and prideful, they lose. But if the people of God are humble and reliant upon God, they see victory.

And so today, we have time just… of the great victories of God that are representative in the Old Testament, and they’re representative of many other victories as well. It was of great disappointment to me as I worked on the sermon throughout the week and cut out five pages of victories of God in the Old Testament. But today we look at just two. The first one is a story that

many of us know. It’s the story of David and Goliath. Remember with me, if you can, that God’s people, Israel, were on the verge of their defeat. to the Philistines, and that the battle lines had been drawn, and that in 1 Samuel chapter 17, it tells us of a man named Goliath, a Philistine who was a champion warrior, a mass killer. And the ESV tells us, and many Bible translations tell us, that he was six cubits tall, which equates to nine feet, nine inches tall. And Goliath, day after day, came to the front of the battle line, and he mocked God by mocking his armies. And in mocking God, he spat upon them. And the people of God and their king, Saul, were afraid. Defeat was apparent. But David, a young shepherd boy, would not stand for this giant to mock God. His confidence, David’s, was not in his size. It was not in his skill, and it was not in his army. His confidence for victory was in God and God alone. In fact, 1 Samuel 17:26: “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” This isn’t just any army. This is God’s army.

And when speaking to the king, King Saul, a few verses later in verses 36 and 37, he goes to him and he displays a confidence, not in himself, he displays his confidence in God. “Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, the Lord be with you.” And we know the story. They enter the battlefield and David takes the stone and he puts it in the sling and he lands one right between the eyes and the giant falls. And then he cuts his head off because this is war. And the lesson of David killing Goliath is not the lesson of a story of courage. It’s not of the underdog who rises up to beat the big giant, as famous author Malcolm Gladwell might say. It’s not the story of how to overcome the giants in your life, as many pastors have preached. The story of David and Goliath is a story of faith and the victory of God. It was God that emboldened the shepherd boy. It was God that David trusted and stood up for. It was God who would not allow his name to be profaned among the nations. And it was God that allowed David to defeat the giant and Israelites to defeat the Philistines. This was a victory of God.

Another story of the victory of God is found Later on in 1 Kings chapter 18, it’s the story of Elijah the prophet and the prophets of Baal. Some of you may have remembered this story. The people of Israel were at best lukewarm toward God and their king even less so. They didn’t know if they should follow God or follow the false God of all the people around them, the God named Baal. Satan had his grip on the people of God because they had forgotten who they were and they’d forgotten whose they were and they wandered from him. And the prophet Elijah came as a representative of the covenant God of this people, Yahweh, and he set up a test for the prophets of Baal. And for the power of God. And he did so by a sacrifice to display this power of God. Two bulls were slaughtered. One to God and one to Baal. Two altars were set up for the sacrifice. And 450 prophets of Baal would call upon him to set the bull on fire and receive the offering. And only one prophet of God. The lowly man Elijah would call upon him to set the bull on fire and display that he was the one true God. Now, if you can imagine the picture and try to feel the

context of what is happening, you begin to see that this is the world against Elijah. 450 prophets to one prophet. The king and his 450 prophets. And the people. against the one lowly prophet, Elijah. 450 representatives of Baal against one representative of Yahweh. This is Elijah against the world. And victory would seem impossible. And the bulls were slaughtered. And the 450 prophets of Baal would call out to Baal. They would cry out to Baal. They would sing to Baal. They would cut themselves and sacrifice to Baal. But nothing happened. And as the hours slipped by and the day began to fade away, the dead bull lay on the altar with no flame. But 1 Kings chapter 18 tells us what Elijah did and what God did as a result.

It says in verse 30, Elijah said to all of the people, come near to me. And all of the people came near to him and he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down. Elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob to whom the word of the Lord came saying, Israel should be your name. And with the stones, he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench about the altar as great as would contain two seahs of seed. And he put the wood in order and he cut the bull into pieces and he laid it on the wood. And he said, fill four jars. with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood. And he said, do it a second time. And they did it a second time. And he said, do it a third time. And they did it a third time. And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water. And at the time of the offering of oblation, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” And then the fire of the Lord fell. And consumed the burnt offering. And the wood and the stones and the dust. And it licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. And said, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. And Elijah said to them, seize the prophets of Baal. Let none of them escape. And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there. And they were slaughtered because this is war.

But the victory is God’s. And so you see, by just a few examples, and we could give many, many more, that the story of God in the Old Testament is the story of war and it is the story of victory. Victory over the power of Satan and victory in the lives of his people, Israel. And so let’s pause here, kind of at the halfway point, and just draw a couple of

implications. What does this mean and what does it mean for us? Implication number one is that the victory of God doesn’t always come in the time that the people wanted it to. We see that to be true again and again and again. And this is true in your life. You want the victory of God in your life? You want to see his power and his majesty and his might in your life? Everybody wants that. But it doesn’t always come in the exact time you want it to. And so faith means patience and trust. And that leads to the second implication.

that trusting God instead of ourselves or our circumstances or our leaders, trusting God, enables us to see and to experience that true victory. Most of us go through life and we trust our own abilities to some extent. We navigate the world based on what we see and feel and know, our circumstances, and we might trust our leaders or our community around us. We might trust the fact that we’re Americans or the fact that we’re from a certain family or we might trust our president or we might trust even our pastor. And yet, When you want to see victory in your life, know that every single one of those will at some way, shape, or form be inadequate. Trusting God and God alone will enable you to see that victory in the right time.

The third implication that we see from the Old Testament is very clearly that false gods and false hopes lead to disappointing results. There was no voice from Baal and there was no action at the altar. They hitched their horse to the wrong wagon. And as a result, they were let down. And the same is true for you and the same is true for me. If we place our trust or our hope in things other than God, then we too will end up disappointed.

And the fourth implication from the Old Testament is this. The faith that you live by will be the faith that you die by. Think about it. If David had faith in himself against Goliath, he would have fallen. If Elijah’s faith was in his power to rain down the fire of heaven, he would have been the one slaughtered by the creek. In all of these cases of victory in the Old Testament, in all of them, the people that lived by faith saw God’s victory. And when it came to their deaths, they did not die in defeat. They died in that victory.

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This transcript was generated using AI transcription technology and reviewed for accuracy, but may contain errors. Please refer to the original audio for precise wording.