1 Samuel 17
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Chad. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab a Bible and go to First Samuel, chapter 17. We're working our way through the book of 1 Samuel.
It'll be on page 137. If you grab one of the blue Bibles that is um in the seat in front of you, if you grab one of the black Bibles, the words will be bigger, but I don't know what page it'll be on. Uh go to 1st Samuel chapter 17. If you don't own a Bible, you can take one of those blue ones home with you. Uh we want you to have a Bible.
We want you to read it. We are working our way, like I said, through the book of 1st Samuel. And today, we've made it to the story of David and Goliath. If if you don't know much about the Bible, you've probably heard of David and Goliath, even if it was only in connection to like a a sports event where they said it was a real David and Goliath story. But that that you you've heard of this.
And one of the things that we're going to see as we go through this is that there's a certain way that because of our understanding of the New Testament that we are to see and to read this text. There are uh there are some movies that have twist endings and there they there's such a twist ending that you can't ever watch the movie the same way twice. But the really good ones make you want to go back. The really good ones like you're like what?
No. And then you want to go back and see, did that was that real? Did that really show up in the And then you watch it and the really good ones you're like, oh wow, yeah. Okay.
Um, and so what I'd like to do is is list off all those and tell you what the twist is real quick and just ruin about seven movies for you. No, I'm just kidding. But there is something too when we see the New Testament and we see the the Revelation of the mystery of Christ that when we come back to the Old Testament, there's certain places where we go, "Hold on a second. There's something else going on here. God's doing something bigger here.
And this is one of those stories. So, I'm excited. We're going to just walk through the text, walk through the story, see how it fits inside of the narrative for of First Samuel, and then we're going to see how it fits inside of what God does in redemptive history. So, uh, let's ask the Lord for some help and let's get started because we got a whole chapter to go through.
Lord, we ask we ask for help. Um, we ask that your spirit would be at work so that we might listen. Lord, we're so heart of hearing and our hearts are so often dull. So we pray that your spirit would be at work that we might hear your voice that we might follow you in obedience and faith and that we might delight in Christ this morning in Jesus name. Amen.
Uh, chapter 17 verse one. Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle and they were gathered at Soo which belongs to Judah and encamped between Soo and Azaka in Ephesam. So they've already encroached on Judah's territory. So the Philistines have already marched in. They're encamped in an area that belongs to Judah, but they're already there.
In verse two it says, "And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the valley of Ela and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side with a valley between them. So they've reached a stalemate. The Philistines are moving in. This is constant.
The people they would gather for war, go to war. They're always fighting over territory. This is we'll see as we keep going through 1 and 2 Samuel, this is just non-stop. They're always fighting. Um, but they they reach a spot where they're on one mountain and there's a valley in between them that's actually a really it's the valley that kind of helps you get into the hill country of Judah.
So they it's the best place for them to come in, but they're on a mountain and now the army of Israel is on the other mountain and there's a valley in between. first army to go down into the valley has a tactical disadvantage. So if you want to charge into battle by running down into the valley and back up, it's it's bad for you. Uh fighting people uphill is bad. It's harder to fight uphill.
People running downhill that you have more momentum and also you can reach their feet and they can reach your head. So it's it's not a good setup. So what they've done is parked on two mountains with a valley in between and then what? Stare at each other down and to see who's going to go first. And for the Israelites, this is kind of good.
They've stopped the advance of the Philistines and we're kind of stuck here. Verse four. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And you're like, "What?
Six cubits?" Yes. And a span, you guys. A cubit is about 18 inches. A span is about nine. He's 9 foot n in tall.
What? Six cubits in a span. Yes, he's 9 foot n in tall. This man is massive. He comes out from them and it says he's a champion.
And we're going to see what that means where he's going to say, "I will fight on behalf of our entire army. You send forth someone who will fight on behalf of your army." That's a champion. No need. Neither one of us is going to charge down into this valley. Well, we can fix this.
Just send out your best guy. That's what he's going to do. That's what he's going to holler at them to do. And we're going to find out a little more about him. So, 9 foot 9 in tall.
And it's going to tell us more about him. It says this. He had a helmet of bronze on his head and he was armed with a coat of male. And the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze. That's 125 pounds.
If you're like my wife and I and you stay up on the weekends and watch cop shows, um, what'll happen a lot of times when a police officer catches someone, which they do periodically, they'll announce to that person how heavy their belt is. They'll say, "I caught you and I'm wearing a 25 pound belt." They usually say like this, "I caught you and but they they this guy has 125 pounds of just his chain mail, not including his helmet. He's he is wearing a massive amount of armor. Some of the people in this room weigh 125 pounds or less than 125 pounds. He He wears you into battle.
All right. He had bronze armor on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam. And his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron. That's 15 pounds.
I I'm going to go out on a limb and saying getting stabbed by any spear is bad. A 15lb spearhead is over. And his shieldbearer went before him. So, he had somebody just carry his shield out.
Now, if he's anything like Dwayne the Rock Johnson, that shield bear is about 4 feet tall, just to add to the intensity level of what he looks like when he comes walking out. I want to show y'all a picture of someone who is 8' 11 in tall. Goliath makes him look small. So, when I said it's bad to fight uphill, Goliath is always on his own hill.
You can reach his bronze shield greaves, shin greaves, but he's up here. The parts that you need to get to are far away. This is a difficult place, difficult person to fight. He is massive. Now, I don't want to give anything away.
If you haven't heard the story and you don't know where this is going, but there's a reason why they know exactly how much all of his stuff weighed. They're going to have a lot of access to it later. He didn't come out and announce it. They got that stuff later and waited and we're like, "Look at how big this is." All right.
Anyway, sorry. Where are we at? Uh, okay. So, his shield bearer went before him.
Verse eight, he stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine? And are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants.
But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. And the Philistines said, "I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together." She says, "Send out someone." He wins. We surrender. I win.
You surrender. Send me a man. Verse 11. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. The tone of this standoff has changed because before it was a tactical disadvantage to march down into the Nobody's going to do that, be silly.
They'd write about you in the history books and say you were stupid. But now every single man there has been personally challenged and had to decide I'm a coward. I'm not doing that. And it seems like they didn't even all they're just dismayed. It's like none of them even thought that was an option.
We don't even have someone who Jonathan's not going. We've seen that he none of them are just it just is it doesn't seem like there's any shame upon Saul to not go. It just is like well this is but now we're just sitting here. He's given us a way to to navigate through this but nobody's going to go. That's the situation that they're in.
Verse 12. Now David was the son of an Ephrothite of Bethlehem and Judah named Jesse who had eight sons. In the days of Saul, the man was already old and advanced in years. This he's not out with the army. He's home.
The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab, the firstborn, and next to him, Abinadab, and the third, Shama. David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. So, if you remember from chapter 16, David's met Saul, and he's been playing music for him, but he hasn't just stayed with Saul.
It even said at one point he was his armor bearer, but he hasn't gone into this battle with him. He's back and forth, and now he's back with his dad tending sheep, but his three brothers have gone for 40 days. The Philistine came forward and took his stand morning and evening, every day. In the morning, he would walk down and do this. And in the evening, he would walk down and do this.
So, for 40 days, the armies would line up. He would defy them, curse them, mock them. I It doesn't tell us. I assume he came up with new ones over time, challenge them, and for 40 days, so 80 times, nobody's answering this. It's it's a long that's a long time to mentally have to decide I'm not the person for this.
Everybody's really settled in. We don't know what we're going to do. Nobody has a plan. But they've all had to deal with the fact that they they they are insufficient. They cannot do this.
Nobody stepped up. Verse 17. So, but they've been gone for a while. And that's what leads to this next part. And Jesse said to David his son, "Take for your brothers an epha of this parched grain and these 10 loaves and carry them quickly to the camp of your brothers.
Also, take these 10 cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See if your brothers are well and bring some token from them." Couple of things. Uh the grain he sends is just he's trying to help feed them, make sure they're eating enough. It's not very expensive or nice things. He does send 10 cheeses to the commander of a thousand, which I think we've lost this as a gift, but I think 10 cheeses would be a great gift to give somebody.
So, just, you know, hey, I just picked you out 10 different types of cheese. I mean, you know, that sounds wonderful. And then he says, bring back some token. We're going to see later David does show up with a token. Is it different than what he thinks?
Okay. Verse 19. Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Ela fighting with the Philistines. And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with the keeper and took the provisions and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line shouting the war cry.
So he shows up about the time they're all geared up walking out shouting. And it seems like they probably did this every day. Get your gear on. We're going to go out and be like, "Ah, we'll fight you except for that one specific guy." And also, no, we're not going to do that.
Then the Philistine comes out, defies them, and they just kind of hang out. But it seems like every day they went and shouted on the mountain. We're like, we're still here. Uh 21. And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army.
And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers. And isn't that just what it's like with a younger brother? You are you're in line for battle. And he just shows up. He's like, "Hey, where's your commander?
I got cheese for him, you know. But he just runs up into the ranks and starts talking to him. But it does seem like a little bit like this is a little pump. They're just kind of doing it, but they're not about to fight. So David comes over and starts talking to his brother.
Then it says this, verse 23, as he talked with them, behold the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. and David heard them. I love that line. He's been saying this over and over again. The only difference this time is that David heard them.
And immediately David's like, "Oh, hold up." All the men of Israel when they saw the man fled from him and were much afraid. So they just they back up. I don't know if they break rakes and run. It says they flee from him, but I don't know if this is just kind of a a posture of cowardice, but it says that they flee from him. It says, "And the men of Israel said, "Have you seen this man who has come up?
Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel. He won't have to pay taxes. Probably won't have to join battles." And David said to the men who stood by him, "What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel?
For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him in the same way, so shall it be done to the man who kills him. So David immediately frames this up in covenantal language. He's an uncircumcised Philistine. He's not a part of the covenant people, and he's defying the armies of the living God.
He's brought reproach on Israel by defying the armies of the living God. David's thinking about this differently than it seems like they are. Now Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spoke to the men. And Eli's anger was kindled against David. And he said,"Wh have you come down?
And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle." And David said, "What have I done now?" Was it not but a word? And he turned away from him and toward another and spoke in the same way. And the people answered him again as before. Now, if you'll remember, Eliab was the tallest, bestl looking brother who Samuel thought, surely this is the one who's chosen.
He's not chosen. None of the other brothers are chosen. And then David is chosen. Well, David shows up and thinks about this differently, approaches this differently, starts talking differently, and in some ways alive just has to deal with the fact that he hasn't stood up to this challenge. He doesn't like the way David's talking, and he just starts accusing David of things.
And you can tell, you can just read in the conversation, there's a little bit of tension here that seems to be ongoing because David doesn't say, "What did I do?" He says, "What did I do now?" And then he said, "Isn't it just a word?" He said, "I asked the question, why are you fussing at me?" But if you're I don't if you come from a family where there's a lot of children, you end up I think David's ended up with multiple fathers. Like I know my older son tries to parent his brother who's three years apart. Well, Eliab and David, they're way apart. So, I think David's just like, "What is going on?
Why am I being fussed at?" But David just moves on, starts asking someone else, and they answer the same way. Verse 31, when the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. I think this is interesting, but word gets to the king. Hey, there's a person here who isn't really scared. He's asking some questions.
He talked about the armies of the living God. He caused him an uncircumcised Philistine. He didn't seem scared. He seemed I just we thought we'd let you know. Like word gets to Saul to the point that David is brought to him.
David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." So he goes in and sees Saul and says, "Y'all don't need to be afraid. I'll go fight him. I've been here for 12 seconds. I heard this guy once and he's going to need to die.
And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth." And he has been a man of war from his youth. He says, "You're you're young. He's been doing this since he was young." Like you can't you can't David's not even with the army. He's been watching sheep. It's not this isn't he just is like, "What are you talking?
You can't go do that. I can't send you forward. That won't work. But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth.
And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 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. Okay.
David says, "Y'all don't need to be afraid. I'll go fight him." Saul says, "You can't do that." And David says, "So, I'm a shepherd." Sometimes bears or lions come and they take sheep. When they do that, I pop them and I tell them, "No, and I get that sheep back. And if they bow up at me, I grab their beard and kill them. You know how you grab a lion by the beard for murdering purposes.
And then he's like, I noticed Goliath has a beard. He's not anchoring this in himself. He is talking about his experiences, but he's saying he's defied God. It His fight's not with me. I'll go.
His fight's not with me. And this is what he says. He struck down both lions and bears. He says he's he has defied the armies of the living God. Verse 37.
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 the Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go and the Lord be with you." So David says, "The Lord's delivered me from all of that. He'll deliver me from this. He said, "I've seen him at work before in my life. I know what he's like. I know what this guy's done and he's already he's already stepped all in it.
He's already defied the Lord. This is I'll just be the one who goes." And so Saul said to David, "Go and the Lord be with you." He sees the Lord at work in him. He sees the only person who seems to want to volunteer for this job. And I don't think David blinks. He seems confident.
He says, "Okay, yeah, the Lord be with you." Verse 38. Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of male. And David strapped his sword over his armor, and he tried to go in vain, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, "I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them." So David put them off.
Okay. I have a personal bone to pick with every cartoon I've ever seen of David and Goliath. in the cartoons, which I know you're gonna be surprised aren't super accurate all the time. What happens in this moment is that little shepherd boy, David, who usually looks like he's 11. Saul takes his Saul was the biggest guy in the Israelite army.
He was the tallest person in Israel. Saul puts his armor on David and David looks like a child in adult armor and then goes, "I can't move." With his little arm sticking out like a turtle or something. That bothers me because that's really stupid. And I don't think Saul would be like, "Here's massive armor that doesn't fit you. Good luck." It would have fit reasonably well.
Now, it may have been Saul's actual armor because they didn't have a lot of armor, but it would have fit in an intelligent manner. He what it says, David doesn't say, "I can't take these because they're way too big." He says, "I can't take them because I haven't tested them." He says, "I don't know how to fight an armor. I don't I don't use a sword. I don't This is This is all weird for me. I'm not used to a helmet like that.
Today is not the day to learn how to use this stuff. I appreciate it, but it's not it's not going to happen. And in some ways, there is this disconnect even he's not even going to be bearing. He doesn't even wear Saul's uniform. Saul's not connected to this at all.
David's going to walk out only David. So, that's happening in this as well. It's a little bit layered in, but the reasoning being I haven't tested them. He takes it off. Verse 40.
Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand. And he approached the Philistine. Sling, twisted leather cord, pouch in the middle. You have one side that's going to stay connected to your hand and one side that you're going to release.
Swing. A lot of times you spin to get more momentum, then you release one side of the pouch and the rock flies out way faster than you could ever throw it. That's what it's talking about. So he had a sling and they would use these in battle. And we see later where they're used in battle.
Verse 41. And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David. So David comes walking out. For the first time in 40 days, something different starts happening. Someone starts heading down and Goliath had said come down to me.
Which means I think that Goliath was walking down into the valley. So it's almost like stadium setup. There's a valley down here. There's an army up here. There's an army up there.
And David starts walking down the hill. This hadn't happened. Tone changes. And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David with his shieldbearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him.
for he was but a youth ruddy and handsome in appearance. You ever see someone so attractive it makes you angry? Goliath walks down there and they've sent someone pretty out to fight him. You know how like if someone sets you up on a blind date, they've gauged you. You can tell where they think you rank or whatever.
So when David comes walking down, that's what that's what Goliath is dealing with. Y'all, this this is who he he's mad. He wanted their biggest baddest. He wants some gnarly looking. What is What?
What? So he hate he's he's infuriated. It's dis it's disrespectful to send David down here. He disdained him. Verse 43.
And the Philistines said to David, "Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. So he's mad that he's carrying a stick. It's just just he doesn't even what? And he just starts cursing him. And the Philistines said to David, "Come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field." Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied." So he says, "You come to me with a stick." And he said, "No, not a stick." He says, "First of all, you're outfitted with as much military might as you can find.
You got a sword, a spear, and a javelin. I'm not coming to you with anything except for the name of the Lord of hosts. You've defied the Lord. That's the response. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand.
And I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth. That all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand.
He says, "You come to me and I'm going to feed you to the birds." David says, "I'm going to come to you. I'm going to cut off your head and we're going to kill everyone behind you. And then everyone will know that there's a God and the battle belongs to him. And I'm here in his name." Now, if you're an Israelite, I I don't know how you feel about David headed down there.
You You were afraid to go. David's going. He doesn't You don't know him. There's been a lot of, I'm sure, whispering about him, somebody who's willing to go. He does say he's going in the name of the Lord.
And if for faithful Israelites, they would understand that's good and that God can deliver. I think if you're a Philistine, you're about as confident as you can possibly be. Imagine like a Clemson fan but worse. Just so confident. But you you you're David's coming down.
He doesn't have armor. He doesn't have anything. He even if you can't hear what they're saying, just the tone of their voice. Have y'all ever heard Andre the Giant talk?
Like when Giants talk, it's like a this is a booming I'm just saying they would sing in different parts of the choir like when David responds. I just think it hits your ear differently. And I think there's quiet. So we're waiting to see what's going to happen. 48 When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line, the battle line to meet the Philistine.
And David put his hand in his back, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. Goliath starts marching forward. You're like, "Here we go." David starts running. He does a thing, and Goliath falls over.
They're not even near each other yet. Maybe you would have known the motions of what just happened, but Goliath is now on his face like that. So, David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. So, it's just saying that when David entered into this, he had no weapon.
He He wins with a sling and a stone. It does say he killed him, but it's going to tell us in a second that he killed him. So, I think that this is like a summary statement of David prevails with a slinging stone and kills Goliath. Killing being summary statement because it's going to tell us he kills him in a second with Goliath's sword. So, it says 51.
Then David ran, stood over the Philistine, which I would assume the the Philistines are still trying to see is Goliath going to move, is he going to do something? You know, you have those moments where you're like, something could happen. What? What?
And David stands on top of him, took his sword, drew it out of its sheath, killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Echrron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Sherim, as far as Gath and Echron. And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.
Okay, a whole lot just happened there. Hits him with a stone. Goliath falls on his face. I don't know if he spun backwards and fell on his face or if he was moving forward. When he got hit, he just fell forward, but he he's laying on face down.
David pulls his sword out, kills him, cuts his head off. Everybody's watching this for a shocked 35 seconds, minute. I don't know how long it took him to get all the sword out and do all the stuff he did. David, it's over. And when that happens, the Philistines break and run.
They have no intent on being servants. They're just trying to get out of there. Then the Israelites take off after them and just start. This is this is the most casualties in these kind of battles happen when somebody when the team breaks and runs because they're just easier to kill as they're running away. So they chase them just wherever they can chase them all the way back to their cities.
Then they come back and plunder everything. David. My my understanding of what it means that he took the head to Jerusalem and put the armor in his tent was that David on that day took the armor in his tent and that from then on he Goliath's head traveled with him. So when I said he brought a token to his dad, he was like went well. The brothers are fine.
Cheeses were a big hit. Verse 55. As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abnner, the commander of the army, Abnner, whose son is this youth? And Abnner said, as your soul lives, O king, I do not know. Abnner is Saul's uncle who's the commander of his army.
The there is a little bit of wait. I thought Saul knew David. Yeah, he does know David, but also Saul is a king. who's older. And I'm sure he was like, "Hey, nice to meet you.
What's your dad's name?" And then completely forgot that. So that later when David's going out to do this, Saul goes, "Who? Wait, who is this kid again?" Like he just he knows who he is. He knows David. He's met him.
He's played music for him. But I just think he didn't apparently didn't keep up with all this stuff. And now he's figuring out, well, who's this household? We've got to bless his dad. We got to bless this family.
We got to know where they're coming from. What position is he in? We got to know all of that. So I think that's why he's asking And the king, verse 56, said, "Inquire whose son the boy is. And as soon as David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him, brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand." Hadn't let that go.
And Saul said to him, "Who son are you, young man?" And David answered, "I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite." David, not not long before this, walked in and said, "Don't be afraid of Goliath." And then he walks back in the next time, holding his head and says, "I'm the son of Jesse the Bethleamite." This in 1 Samuel as we're following the story, we know that David's been anointed. He's going to be king. We know that the spirit's on him and he's moving in that direction. This is David's introduction to the nation of Israel. From here on, everybody knows who David is.
And this is actually this moment, it's going to happen very quickly, where Saul's very thankful for David and then their relationship immediately just breaks. And we'll see that as we go into the next chapter. But this is the thing that propels David into who he is, what he's going to do, moving towards being king. And on the national in the national psyche, they understand who he is and what's going on and his connection to Saul from this day forward. It says he stays with him.
He's going to keep moving forward. Now, when we read this text, I I think there's times where we look and go, "Okay, so I want to be like David." I think that's reasonable response. I want to I want to be like that. I want to be able to in the face of opposition and fear. I want to trust God.
And I think we could say that you should trust God the way David trusts God. You should be able to see the times that he's provided in the past and apply that to the future. You should be able to say, "I know he's protecting me from this. I know he can protect me in this." You should be able to face anything trusting that God is good and that he provides and that he protects. But I don't think the primary thing that's happening in this story, the primary thing that we should get out of it is if you could just be like David, you could face down any giant in your life.
I I don't think that that's in tune with the rest of the Scriptures. I said earlier that we've read the whole Bible. So, we can't read it the same way twice. Once you know what's happening in the mystery being revealed in Christ, you can't read this the same way and come out of it with we should all go be like David. Because the storyline of the Bible, the story line of the Gospel, the hope that's fulfilled in Christ is not you can be like David.
And y'all, this is actually wonderful news. What's happening here, what we get to see here is so much better and so much more beautiful than if you'll navigate everything well. If you'll be the one who stands among a h 100red thousand, who's confident enough, who trusts enough, then everything will work out for there's something so much more beautiful happening here that as we read this with New Testament understanding, there should have been a moment when we were going, "Oh my goodness. God's going to do this again. There's going to be a son of Jesse from Bethlehem that nobody expects who's going to go save again.
There's going to be someone that God sends that you wouldn't have thought could do this that when people ran into him, they said, "This this isn't you're you're you're nothing. You can't do this." But he's going to do this again. That we can almost see flashes of when David's headed down the hill holding on to a staff. You can almost see Christ headed up the hill holding on to a cross because God's going to send forth a champion again. That's the story of the Bible.
That's the hope of the Bible. Not that we would all be like David. That's not the hope. The Gospel message is so much better. It's that there is someone who was like David, Jesus Christ, who came when there was no hope of solving the problem.
Who showed up from the most unlikely setup. When there was nobody who could fix this. When everybody else had failed and had to stare into the face of I can't do this, there was somebody who showed up who accomplished it for us. that Jesus conquers the giant of sin and death and hell. This is the New Testament authors in Acts chapter 13.
Paul is preaching and he says, "Then they asked for a king and God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years. And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, "I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will." Of this man's offspring, God has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus, as he promised. So he says, "David, the son of Jesse, comes and that God has worked through that line and brought about Jesus." And then he finishes, he goes through and he starts quoting these things that they think are about David. And he says, "That's not about David. about Christ.
And he says, "Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses." He says, "Jesus has gone before us. He offers forgiveness of sins and we're made free because of him." We get to watch Jesus go out to battle and then we get to run and plunder. We get the spoils that he won. We get the victory that he won. We get the hope that he grants.
That we have a champion. That we should look at this and go, "How wonderful is it that someone shows up and accomplishes this. That someone shows up and saves." And that we have that in Christ infinitely more, eternally sealed, ultimately accomplished. This is why Jesus says, "Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." Because what qualifies us for Jesus, what qualifies you for a champion is being insufficient. Are you weary?
Have you looked at yourself and thought, "I can't do this. I don't know how to fix this. I'm trying. I can't I can't straighten myself out." This is one of the things that happens every once in a while. I'm the one who's caused me more problems than anybody else.
I've lied to myself more. I've sinned more. I've twisted things up more. Even the people I really love are just the people I get closest to me so I can hurt the best. It's really messed up, but that's how that works so often.
And what I don't need is a bigger, better, stronger, more powerful version of me. I I don't want to look in the situation and go, I in the middle of my sin, I just need more me. if we just have more me here. It's like, no, I need Christ. I need a redeemer.
I need hope. I need a champion. And we get to look as we read stories like this and go, "Praise be to Jesus that he went before us and that we get to follow after him." And if you're here this morning because you're trying to straighten yourself out, you're trying to be enough, do enough, fix it. What I would say is the Gospel is such better news than that. You have a champion in Christ who has gone before you and accomplish the victory.
And all you need to do is trust him and get behind him. That's the hope. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. We thank you that we see in this story how you save and how you provide a champion for yourself to deliver your people.
We we thank you that you go out of your way multiple times in this text to say he's a son of Jesse. He's a son of Jesse. He's a son of Jesse. So that when you point forward and say there's going to be a root of the tribe of Jesse who's going to bring salvation, we can know that you're doing something here. We're thankful, Lord, that the battle is yours, not ours.
And that victory is yours, not ours. And that someone went before us in faith and obedience to secure a victory that we could not earn. So Lord, may your name be praised, may you be glorified, may you be honored. May you be submitted to. May you be worshiped.
May you be obeyed. May there be delight and joy in the hearts of your people as we consider your works and your salvation and the hope that is found in you. And for every person here who is trying to save themselves, may they surrender to the victory of Christ. May his blood cover them. May forgiveness of sins be applied to them.
May your spirit be at work to free them from all the things that could not they could not be freed from under the law. May they trust you. And this is all to the praise of your glorious grace and your wonderful name. Amen. The band's going to come back up.
One of the things we do regularly as a Church family is we take communion together. And communion helps center us in where we are in history. It helps ground us in where we are in human history. helps ground us in where we are in the story as we follow the Lord. Communion is for Christians, those who have placed their faith in Jesus.
So if you are not a Christian, this is not for you. If you have not trusted in Christ, we would call you to believe in him, to be baptized, to to join following him. But this morning, we would ask you not to take communion. Communion is where Jesus, the Lord's table, the night before he is to suffer, he says, "This is my body. that's broken for you.
This is my blood that's shed for the forgiveness of sins. He says, "Take all of you." And he's talking to his disciples and he says, "Do this in remembrance of me." And Paul says that when we practice communion, we proclaim his death until he comes. We ground ourselves where we are in history, which is that he has died. He has risen. His sacrifice covers us.
And we long for the day that he returns. and we get the full extent of the glory of Christ. If you belong to Jesus, take a moment to consider yourself to walk in repentance, to consider his broken body, his shed blood, to not just do this as a as a ritual that you forget what it's about. There's a reason why it's tangible. There's a reason why at times when I'm dipped this and I'm walking back, you see people walking around our Church family with their hands like this as they've taken the the bread and dipped it and it's dripping down their fingers and it's a tangible reminder that he really died.
He really came. He really rose and it really has been accomplished for all who believe and that he will not put to shame any who come to him. And so you get a tangible reminder this morning of the victory that has been won. And we proclaim his death until he comes when all things are set right. So as the band plays and as you're ready, come take communion.
There's gluten-free communion in the back over here.