The title of the message this
morning is the Gospel of Representation. The word of God sets forth a
very simple truth. It's the truth of representation. God sees all men in one of two
representatives. He either sees us in the first
Adam or he sees us in the Lord Jesus Christ, the second Adam.
Those are the two representatives. And what that means is very simple. It's not difficult to understand.
That you are who your representative is. That you have done exactly
what your representative has done. You're not guilty because
of what you've done. And by the same token, you can't
be made righteous by what you do either. Your guilt or your
innocence before God is based on what your representative has
done for you. Now, if you're an Adam, the first
Adam, you're represented by him, then you're guilty because Adam
sinned against God. In rebellion against God, he
sinned against God willfully. And you did too because he's
your representative, so you're guilty. But if you're in Christ,
if you're represented by the Lord Jesus Christ, then you're
perfectly righteous. Because the Lord Jesus, as a
man, earned a perfect righteousness as the representative for his
people, and you did what he did as your representative. So if
you're represented by Christ, you're righteous. Now, that simply
means this, you and I are either guilty in Adam or we're righteous
in Christ. We're either dead in Adam or
alive in Christ, one of the two. And that's the picture that's
given to us in this story of David and Goliath. The story
of David and Goliath is a story, I know it's a, we tend to think
of it as a children's story, but this, it's a good story for
our children, but this is a very clear picture of the gospel of
representation. Goliath's challenge to Israel
was, I'm the champion. the Philistines, you send someone
out to fight with me. And then what he said in verse
eight of first Samuel 17, he stood and cried into the armies
of Israel and said unto them, why are you come out to set your
battle in a ray? Am not I a Philistine and you the servants of Saul?
Choose you a man for you. Let him come down to me. If he'd
be able to fight with me and kill me, then we'll be your servants.
But if I prevail against him and kill him, then shall ye be
our servants and serve us. Now this is his proposal. The
country who will be the ruler of this whole deal will be the
country whose champion wins a personal one-on-one battle. The war is
not going to be won by thousands of men fighting. The war is going
to be won by two men fighting as a representative of their
people. And this morning I want us to look at these two champions.
I want to see who they are and who they represent. I want us
to see the gospel of salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. Your
last week, we looked at the story of Boaz and Ruth, a beautiful
love story. Maybe you girls were enthralled
with that. Well, this morning, I've got
a message about a brave, valiant warrior. Maybe you boys will
be interested in him. But I'm telling you, both are
the gospel. Both of these stories are the
gospel in a picture. Now, Goliath is the first champion. He represents the first Adam.
Goliath represents the flesh. The word Philistines comes from
the root word that means self. That's what the flesh is interested
in, in itself. And the name Goliath means exile. It kind of means he's exiled
in shame. That's us in Adam, we're exiled
from God in shame. Now, if we're represented by
the flesh, this is what Goliath represents. We're servants to
the flesh. We're servants to the law and to sin and to Satan. Now, Goliath represents the flesh,
but I'm telling you what, he's one tough opponent. I mean, Goliath,
wow. That's the flesh. You just try
to defeat the flesh. It's one tough opponent. You
talk about trying to put away sin. I can't quit eating ice
cream at night. I mean, how can I conquer that?
How can I expect to conquer sin for goodness sakes? Goliath is
a tough opponent. The man stood 11 feet 4 inches
tall. I mean, what a monster. He wore
armor that weighed over 180 pounds. And this man carried it like
it was me wearing a suit. I mean, he moved around, fought
in this. You think of the strength that it took to wear armor weighing
180 pounds. His spear was 26 feet long. The head of that thing weighed
20 pounds. Now you think of the strength
to control that thing and throw it, just wow. I mean, and if
Goliath was your enemy, you'd be scared out of your wits. The armies of Israel were too.
Look at verse 10. The Philistines said, I defy
the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight
together. And when Saul and all Israel heard those words of the
Philistine, they were dismayed and they were greatly afraid.
Well, no wonder they were so greatly afraid. They knew they
couldn't, they didn't have a man to go defeat Goliath. I mean,
Goliath is a monster covered in metal. I mean, the killing
machine. What if somebody could fight him? Well, here's another
way Goliath is a picture of the flesh. Boy, this man's self-confident,
isn't he? Goliath is a confident, And for
40 days, he's just unrelenting. He kept defying the armies of
Israel. That's the flesh. The flesh never
stops. It never stops sinning. It's
just relentless. And Goliath said, I defy you.
I defy the God of Israel. You can't beat me. I mean, he's
so self-confident, he knew nobody could beat him. And he put a
reproach on Israel. That's Adam, he put a reproach
on the whole human race. Adam defied God Almighty, put
enmity between us and God. And then, Goliath's a picture
of Christ, a picture of the flesh, because when he saw David, when
he saw this type of Christ, he was so self-confident, he disdained
David. Look at verse 42. When the Philistine
looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but
a youth and ruddy and of a fair countenance. Goliath saw David
and he said, you insult me. You think his pipsqueak can defeat
me? You're supposed to send me out
a champion. Well, that's our flesh, isn't it? Our flesh is
so self-confident, we disdain the Lord Jesus Christ. I need
him to save me? You're crazy. I can do that myself. I can do just as good myself.
We're so confident. We think we can do it ourselves. That's the definition of self-righteousness. We think we can do a good enough
job ourselves. We can please God. You see how
Goliath, he represents the flesh in so many ways, doesn't he?
And he is an enemy that we can't defeat by ourselves. We can't
defeat him. And can you imagine, this is part of Israel's fear,
the misery they live in if they sent a champion out to Goliath
and he defeated him. All the misery that they'd be
in if Goliath wins that battle having to serve those Philistines. But I'm telling you that's nothing
compared to the misery of men who are in the flesh. What misery
we have to live in both now and in eternity. If we're forced
to live in Adam, we'll be under the condemnation of God's law.
We'll forever live under the ruling power of sin. We'll forever
be under the condemning power of sin and under the direction
of Satan. Can you think of anything more
miserable than that? What a misery to live in that
state. But here this Goliath keeps coming
out and challenging you. Is there any champion who can
deliver us? Is there anybody that can go
out and meet that enemy as our representative and defeat him?
Saul can't do it. Saul's just as scared as the
rest of them. Now remember, Israel chose Saul to be their king.
And you know why? He's head and shoulders above
them all. He's the biggest, strongest, baddest guy they got. He's afraid. He knows he can't go down there
and defeat Goliath. Saul had acted like a champion
some in the past. But when a bigger bully came
on the block, Saul's afraid. He didn't know what he was going
to do with him because he knows he can't defeat him. Well, the best we got can't
do it. Can there be found anywhere a
champion who will take up our case? The songwriter said, yeah,
there's one. There's only one, the precious,
precious Jesus. He's the one. That's who David
represents. And that's who I want to spend
the bulk of our time looking at. David is a type of Christ
in this chapter in several ways. First, he's a type of Christ
because he was ruddy and had a fair countenance. David was
a handsome young man. This is in verse 42. When the
Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him for he
was but a youth and ruddy. and of a fair countenance. Now
look over at Song of Solomon chapter 5. I'll show you how
this is a picture of Christ. David was ruddy. That means he
had a reddish complexion and that makes him a type of Christ.
Christ is described in scripture as ruddy because Adam was made
from the red dust. And look how Solomon describes
the Savior here in Song of Solomon 5 verse 9. What is my beloved more than
another beloved? O thou fairest among women. What
is thy beloved more than another that thou dost so charge us?
Oh, let me tell you. My beloved is white and ruddy. He's the chiefest among ten thousand. He's white. He's God. He's perfectly
holy. And he's ruddy. He's a man. He's a real man. You think David's of a fair countenance? Oh, my beloved, he's the chiefest
among 10,000. He's altogether lovely. See how
David's a type of Christ. Now, this is pretty obvious,
but it's worth looking at. If Christ is going to be the
representative of sinful men and women, boys and girls like
us, he's going to have to become a man, isn't he? God can't be
our representative. If we're going to have a champion,
if we're going to have a representative, He's going to have to be a real
man because we're real men. What a miracle of grace and love
that the Son of God would willingly humiliate Himself to clothe Himself
in flesh like ours without sin. But He became a real man. so that he could be the representative.
He'd be the champion of sinful men and women, boys and girls.
David is a type of Christ because he's ruddy. Christ is a real
man. Now I want to stick mostly to
chapter 17, but there is a second way here. David's a type of Christ
because God himself chose David. And you can read this this afternoon
if you want, chapter 16. This tells us the story of when
Samuel came to Jesse's house to anoint a new king. And Jesse
said, wow, one of my sons is going to be king. I know who
it'll be. It'll be my oldest. And he started bringing out his
son, the eight sons, and he started bringing them out from the oldest
to the youngest. He brought out seven sons. Every
son he brought out, Same-a thought, boy, he's impressive. This must
be the king. God said, nope, that's not the one. Nope, that's
not him. Nope, that's not the one of my
chosen. He brought out those seven sons. And Samuel said,
Jesse, don't you have any more sons? I mean, Samuel knew he
was supposed to anoint one of Jesse's sons. Don't you have
another son, Jesse? And Jesse said, well, yeah, I
got one more. But he's not much. He's the youngest. I didn't figure
he'd want to see him. I got him out keeping a sheep.
Samuel said, you bring him in here, or I'm going to sit down
and eat until we see him. You bring him here. And David
walked in the room. God said, that's the one saying,
that's him. That's the man after my own heart.
That's the man I've chosen. You anoint him as my King. That's
the Lord Jesus Christ. We looked at this Wednesday night,
Isaiah 42. Behold my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect, and who my soul delighteth. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's
elect. He's his chosen, appointed, anointed
prophet, priest, and king. He's God's appointed savior,
the appointed champion, just like David was, God chose him.
Here's a third way David is a type of Christ. David was a shepherd. Now, where was David when all
this with Goliath was going on for 40 days? Where was David? Where was the champion? He was
keeping his father's sheep. Look at verse 15 of 1 Samuel
chapter 17. But David went and returned from
Saul. He'd been there with Saul, playing his harp to relieve this
evil spirit that Saul had. And he left Saul and he went
to feed his father's sheep in Bethlehem. The Hebrew was out
there keeping sheep. And I'm telling you, he was doing
a good job of it too. You know, it's never recorded
in scripture that David ever lost even one of Jesse's sheep.
He never did. And he did that because David
is a picture of the Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep.
The father has a flock, a people he elected. And he gave them
to his son. And he gave them to Christ to
keep. Just like David's out there keeping the sheep. And Christ
knows his sheep. He knows every one of them by
name. He loves them, calls them by name. And just like our Lord
Jesus, David defended Jesse's sheep from predators, just fearlessly
attacked them. We read earlier how this lion
and a bear came and take one of those sheep, Jesse's sheep.
David was so fierce and so brave, he went and barehanded attacked
a lion and attacked a bear. Maybe he had a shepherd's staff,
you know, a rod or some smoke, from the sounds of it, he came
up and smoked the lion in the head and the lion dropped the
sheep. And David took it. And that lion reared up and David
just went on and grabbed a hold of him and killed him with his
bare hands. I mean, you talk about a brave, fierce man. That's our Lord Jesus Christ.
He met every enemy and barehanded killed every one of them. Christ
didn't live so his sheep would live. Christ gave his life for
his sheep so they'd live. The Lord Jesus Christ, the great
shepherd of his sheep. He gave his life for his sheep.
Now he's gonna have them. They're gonna be all gathered
together. There'll be one fold and one shepherd. And this you
can bank on. He won't lose one, not one. And when it came time, according
to his father's commandment, according to Jesse's commandment,
David did have to leave the sheep for a time, didn't he? But he
didn't just leave them to their own devices out there in the
pasture. He left them with the keeper. Well, the bodily presence
of our Lord Jesus is not with us anymore. But thank God, he's
not left his people to their own devices. He left them with
a keeper. He left them with pastors, teachers. He left them in the hands of
his spirit. David's a type of Christ. He was a shepherd. Fourthly,
David's a type of Christ because this shepherd was sent by his
father to the battle. Verse 17. And Jesse said unto
David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah, this parched
corn, and these ten loaves, and run to thy brethren, and carry
these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how
thy brethren fare, and take their pledge." Now David was loaded
down with provisions from his father to bring to his brethren.
He even brought a present for their commander. And I'll tell
you why he did this. At this time, you know, Saul,
the king, he drafted men into his army, but he didn't provide
for them. I don't think he provided for them. I read armor or weapons
or food or clothing or anything. Their families supplied all that
and would keep sending them food and supplies and so forth. Wasn't
that us? Believers? God's children. Here
we are in this world, we're in a battle, we're faced with a
battle, we're scared out of our wits, and we don't have any resources
spiritually, do we? And the father sent his son,
loaded him down with benefits to bring to his brethren, to
bring to his elect everything that they need. And there's a
very important statement here at the end of verse 18. Jesse
told David, you take their pledge. I'll tell you what Jesse's telling
David here. You go down there to the camp, you find your brethren,
and you redeem them. That's what this means. See,
maybe before Jesse sent them some supplies, maybe they ran
out of food or out of supplies or something, and maybe they
pawned something to get what they needed, or maybe they signed
an IOU. You know, when Jesse sends me
some stuff, you know, I'll pay you back. Well, Jesse told David,
you take this money, you take these provisions, and you go
pay their debts. You settle the debt. You redeem
them so they're free from any debt. That's what the Lord Jesus
Christ came here to do. You and I are born with a price
on our head. Our father, Adam, he's our representative. He did
that to us in the garden. He put us under the debt of sin
and we owe a debt to God's law and we can't pay it. God's law
demands obedience. We can't pay that debt. We don't
have the ability to keep that law, even though that's what's
demanded of us. We can't keep it, but it's still
demanded of us to keep God's law perfectly. What's the debt
we can't pay? We owe a debt to God's justice,
and we can't pay it. God's justice demands death for
sin. One day I'll die. But that, my
death, won't satisfy God's justice. And you know why my death won't
satisfy God's justice? My life is not worth anything.
If my life's not worth anything, my death's not gonna be worth
anything. I don't have anything to pay. I owe a debt I can't
pay because my life is nothing but sin and depravity. And that's
why the father sent his son to this earth. He sent his son to
be the savior of his people. to redeem his people, to pay
the debt they couldn't pay, to pay their debt to the law, to
set them free from the bondage of sin. And Christ our Redeemer
paid the debt in full and his people are free, debt free. And
Jesse sent David on this mission. You noticed David was an obedient
son, wasn't he? Jesse came and told him what
to do. And at first light, David set out to do it. Verse 20, David
rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with the keeper.
And he took and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came
to the trench as the host was going forth to fight and shouted
for the battle. David was an obedient son. And
that's how Christ paid the debt his people owe. He paid it with
his obedience and with his blood. His people owed a debt to God's
law they can't pay. So as their representative, Christ
kept the law for them. He paid their debt. He obeyed
God's law perfectly. And what he did, his people did,
because he's their representative. My personal righteousness before
the Father is nothing other than Christ's obedience to the law.
He is my righteousness. Mike, that's what you sang about.
Jehovah said, he is my righteousness. His obedience is my obedience.
Well, here's the fifth way David's a type of Christ. David knew
there's a cause. He knew there's a reason for
him to be here. Verse 29. And David said, what
have I now done? Is there not a cause? David asked
his brother, isn't there a job to be done? Somebody's got to
kill Goliath here. I mean, this is a problem. It's
got to be dealt with. And David knew he's just the
man for the job. He's going to go kill that man.
He's going to cut his head off. I love how he went. He said,
I'm going to cut your head off. And he didn't have a sword. All
he had was a sling and a couple of stones, you know. I'm going
to cut your head off. David knew he's the man for the
job. Isn't that a clear picture of
our Lord Jesus? Even He just a boy, 12 years
old, He knew there's a cause. He asked His parents, wish you
not? I must be about my father's business. There's a cause here. There's a battle to be won. There's
righteousness to be established. There's salvation to be purchased.
There's a cause. And that boy, the Lord Jesus,
knew He's the man for the job. That's why he was sent here.
And he did it. He did it perfectly. So that
his people would be saved from all their sin and be made righteous
and accepted in him. Is there a cause? Oh, there's
a cause. And the Lord Jesus Christ did
it all. Well, here's the sixth way David's
a type of Christ. He stripped off all the armor
that Saul gave him. Verse 38. And Saul armed David
with his armor, and he put a helmet of brass upon his head. Also,
he armed him with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword upon
his armor. This would have been Saul's sword. And he is saved
to go, for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul,
I cannot go with these, for I have not proved them. And David put
them off of him. Now Saul just naturally assumed,
David's the man for the job. David said, son, go at it. Or
Saul told David, go at it. Nobody else didn't want to do
it, you go. Saul just naturally assumed that David's going to
go fight this giant. He better be armed. He better
have some protection, you know, at least something. Now remember,
the army didn't provide armor, didn't provide weapons, I think,
for their soldiers. But Saul had some. And you can
rest assured, oh, Saul, he had the best armor money could buy.
Now, if he's going to go into battle, he's going to be protected
as well as he can. And he gave David his own personal
armor, the best armor could be found in Israel. David tried
it on, but he took it off. He said, I can't go fight him.
He said, I haven't proved him. This armor will not do for this
battle. It's nice, but it won't do for
this battle. Well, that's a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. His
armor is His deity. God can't be hurt by anything
because He's God. So Christ took off His glorious
God, now He's still God, but He took off His glorious God
and became a man. And He became a man because God
can't be hurt, but a man can. God can't suffer, but a man can.
So Christ took on Him flesh. so that he could be heard. So he'd feel the pain and the
suffering and the sorrow of the sin of his people. God cannot
die, but a man can. So Christ, the Son of God, took
off his glory as the Son of God. Now, he's still God. He just
covered up that glory for a time, and he became a man. Because
God can't die, but a man can. And he became a man for this
purpose, to suffer and to die for his people. And when David
went to fight Goliath, you notice he didn't take any weapons with
him. All he took was just a few stones. Look at verse 40. David,
he took a staff in his hand. He chose him five smooth stones
out of the brook and put them in a shepherd's bag, which he
had even in a script. And a sling was in his hand,
and he drew near to the Philistine. Now a lot has been made about
how many, the number of stones David took. I don't know a lot
about that, quite honestly. I do know that the number five
is the number of grace in Scripture. That's about all I know about
it. But you know, in a sense, people spend all this time trying
to figure out what the five stones mean. I have no doubt they mean
something. God probably is the only one that knows, but it wouldn't
be in God's Word. There's a sense in which it really
doesn't matter how many stones David took, did it? He just needed
one. He just, Bobby just needed one.
I know what that stone represents. That stone represents the stone,
the living stone, the Lord Jesus Christ. He disallowed indeed
of men, but chosen of God and precious. More important than the number
of stones, this is why I think it's important about these stones.
Human hand had nothing to do with these stones. These stones
were made smooth in the brook by the water that God provided
flowing over them. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Nothing about him is manmade. He didn't partake in Adam's seed. He's a seed of woman. So he would
not partake in Adam's guilt. Nothing about him was manmade
so that he could put away the sin of his people. Christ came
all of God. all of God's purpose, all of
God's direction, all of God's grace. He went to the cross to
make payment for sin. Man didn't have anything to do
with it. Man's out of the picture here. God turned off the son.
This transaction's going on between a father and a son. Man had nothing
to do with it other than providing the sin death that required the
whole transaction in the first place. Atonement is the work
of Christ by himself. Scripture says when he had by
himself purged our sin, he sat down on the right hand of God,
on the right hand of the majesty on high. Now here's a way though
David is not a type of Christ. David won the battle by living,
didn't he? Christ won the battle by dying as the substitute of
his people, to put their sin away so they'll never die. Well,
here's the seventh way David is a type of Christ. He defeated
every enemy. David killed that lion and the
bear that attacked his father's sheep, and he did it with his
bare hands. And David told Saul, I'm going
to kill Goliath the same way. Verse 42. When the Philistine
looked about and saw David, he disdained him. For he was but
a youth and rutting of a fair countenance. And the Philistine
said unto David, am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves?
And the Philistine cursed David by his cause. And the Philistine
said to David, come to me, and I'll give thy flesh unto the
fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field. Then said David
to the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword and with a
spear and with a shield, but I'm come to thee in the name
of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom
thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver
thee into mine hand and I'll smite thee and take thine head
from thee And I'll give the carcass of the host of the Philistines,
not just you, the host of the Philistines, this day into the
fowls of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all
the earth may know there's a God in Israel. And all this assembly
shall know that the Lord saveth, not with sword and spear, for
the battle's the Lord's. He'll give you into our hands.
And it came to pass when the Philistine arose and drew nigh
to meet David, that David hasted and ran toward the enemy to meet
the Philistine. Now I can't help but think of
our Lord there. When that mob came to get him in the garden,
what did he do? It's like he ran. He hasted to
meet him. He stepped out between that mob and his people. He said, you let these go free.
It's me you seek. He hasted to meet the enemy.
All these other times that the people try to take our Lord,
His hour has not yet come. He's walked through their midst,
they couldn't lay a hand on Him, and suddenly they couldn't see
Him anymore. Not this hour. Now the hour has come. He didn't
run to hide from it. Mikey hastened to it. He went
willingly to redeem His people. David's running to the battle.
In verse 49, David put his hand into his bag and took thence
a stone and he slain it. and smote the Philistine in his
forehead. And the stone sunk into his forehead, and he fell
upon his face." You know, just face first, dead. "'So David
prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone,
and smote the Philistine and slew him, but there was no sword
in the hand of David. Somehow that stone went past
all the armor.'" It was on Goliath's head. You know, some of the writers
say maybe Something got pushed aside or, you know, most of them
think that stone just went right through that brass, sunk into
his brain and killed him. However it happened, I know how
that stone got there. It was by God's direction. God
directed that stone to accomplish his purpose. That one little
stone killed that giant. And I know that stone is Christ.
That one man putting away the host of sin of his people all
by himself. And it's clear here, David did
bring a sword to this battle. He didn't need a sword, did he?
What do you bring a sword to a rock fight for? But look at
verse 51. Therefore, David ran and stood
upon the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of
the sheath thereof and slew him, cut off his head therewith. And
when the Philistine saw their champion was dead, they fled.
Now, you know, Goliath thought he was going to kill David with
that sword, didn't he? Instead, David cut off Goliath's head
with it. Now I'm sure, at Calvary, Satan finally thought he got
God. He finally thought it. When Christ
was crucified, Satan thought, I won the battle. He had worked
so long at this. He'd worked in the hearts and
the mind of the Pharisees. He took over the heart of Judas.
He worked in the mind of Pilate. And little did Satan know, The
very means he thought he had defeated God's Christ was the
very means Christ used to cut off his head, to crush his head
at Calvary. That's how Christ, our substitute,
took away the reproach of Israel, his people. And because of this
great victory, David got all the spoils. Look back at verse
25. This is what was promised the man who would kill this giant. And sure enough, Saul gave it
to him. And the men of Israel said, have you seen this man
that has come up? Surely to defy Israel has he
come up. And it shall be that the man who killeth him, the
king will enrich him with great riches and give him his daughter
and make his father's house free in Israel. David was made rich. Oh, he was made famous. They
started making up songs about David. Saul's killed his thousands.
David's killed his ten thousands. His family was tax free. He lived tax free. in Israel,
and David got a bride out of the deal too. He became the king's
son-in-law, married the daughter of the king. That's our Lord
Jesus Christ. Because he won such a great victory
over every spiritual enemy, he got all the spoils. He got them
all. He's made rich. He's given a
name which is above every name. He got the king's daughter to
marry. He got a bride out of the deal.
He made all his house free, tax free, debt free. And when Christ
won the battle, he made a show of them openly. Look at verse
54. David took the head of the Philistine,
brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.
You can just imagine anybody that visited David, came to that
tent, saw that armor. David had a story to tell, didn't
he? He's making a show of Goliath openly. He defeated him. And
because of this great victory, the father has given Christ a
name which is above every name. And he's made a show of his enemies
openly. Defeated every enemy. Now, one
last thing here I want to show you. I told Janet, I've been,
I can never remember not knowing the story of David and Goliath.
My own mother must start telling it to me before I could Talk,
I can't remember not knowing the story. And I've never seen
this before. Verse 52. The men of Israel and
of Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines until
they had come to the valley and to the gates of Ekron. And the
wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shearim, even
unto Gath and unto Ekron. And the children of Israel returned
from chasing after the Philistines and they spoiled their tents.
Now here's the deal. The champion who lost the battle,
his country is supposed to serve the other one. And that was the
deal. Why didn't the Philistines honor their word? Why didn't
they just stay there and become the servants of Israel? Remember
the Philistines and Goliath represent the flesh, don't they? They didn't
stay and serve Israel because the flesh cannot serve God. The flesh cannot please God. In this flesh, it's impossible.
We cannot serve Him. We cannot please Him. What can
be done with the flesh? All that can be done with the
flesh has got to die. You've got to put the flesh in the ground. In Goliath, I'll die. In Adam,
I'll die. The only way we can please God
or serve God is to be born again. We've got to have a new nature.
God's got to give us a new heart and a new nature, a nature of
faith that looks to Christ. That's how we serve God, please
God, by looking to Christ.