Those new Bibles have come in.
There's probably about 15 or 20 of them left. $79 a piece. And it's the best quality Bible
I've ever seen. It's like a $200 Bible. Yeah. Would you turn to 2 Samuel chapter
21. 2 Samuel 21 verse 15. Moreover, The Philistines had yet war again
with Israel. Verse 18, And it came to pass
after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines
at Gob. Verse 19, And there was again
a battle in Gob. Verse 20, And there was yet a
battle in Gath." Four times we read of these battles. David
is at the end of his life, and yet four times we read he fights
again. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name, and Lord, we come with thanksgiving We're
so thankful that salvation is in thy son. We're so thankful
that salvation is by grace. We're so thankful that your salvation
is an absolutely just salvation. We're so thankful for the forgiveness
of sins. We're so thankful for the revelation
of yourself to our hearts. Lord, we stand amazed at the
greatness of your grace toward us. Lord, we ask that you would
be pleased to speak in power to our hearts. We ask that your
gospel would be preached. We ask that you would exalt your
son in our midst and let us see something of his glory. We ask
that you would be with those of our number that are sick and
going through trials, that you would bless them for Christ's
sake and be with all your people whenever they meet together.
In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now, this is the end of David's
life. And we read of four battles that
take place again. There's always an again. Now,
one of the things I was thinking about this passage of Scripture,
this is both a type of the gospel, a type of Christ, and it's also
a type of what every believer experiences all the time. Let's begin reading in verse
15. Moreover, the Philistines had
yet war again with Israel. And David went down and his servants
with him and fought against the Philistines. And David waxed
faint. David became very weak. David was an old man at this
time. This was toward the end of his life. And he waxed faint. You know, things don't get easier. Things don't get easier. You
wait for them to and they don't. You're going to wax faint. Verse 16, and Ish-baib-nab, which
was one of the sons of the giant, speaking of Goliath who was killed
many years before, and this was one of his sons, the weight of
whose spear weighed 300 shekels of brass in weight. He being
girded with a new, something different, something new. The
translators put sword there, but it's not in the original.
He had something new he was working with, this giant. He thought
to a slain David, I've finally got what I need to kill him.
But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, suckered him and smoked the Philistine
and killed him. And then the men of David swear
unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle,
that thou quench not the light of Israel. Now, the first thing
I see in this is a type of the gospel, a type of Christ. On the cross, in Gethsemane's
garden, Christ grew weak. I don't really know how to explain
that, but the scripture says he was crucified in weakness,
doesn't it? Christ grew weak. Do you remember when the angel
came to strengthen Him? And somebody says, how can you
say Christ grew weak? Well, on the cross, on the cross, I don't
know how to explain it, when He was made sin, He grew weak. He died. Of course He grew weak.
He died under the wrath of God. But do you remember how an angel
came and strengthened Him at this time? Well, Abishai pictures
that angel coming to strengthen Him. He suckered him. He helped him at this time. And
it almost sounds like it was Abishai who smoked the giant. But look in verse 22, when it
gives the story of these four fighting in Gath, these four
were born of the giant Gath and fell by the hand of David. and
by the hand of his servants, and every commentator I read
said that it was David who killed the giant. And when the Lord
Jesus died, he put death to death, didn't he? He killed the giant. It was gone. It was over. So I see that as a type of Christ,
but I also see this as a type of the believer. The battle always going on, and
the believer waxing faint. And look what they said after
this in verse 17, but Abishai, the son of Zeriah, suckered him,
and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David
swear unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us
to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel. David here
is called the light of Israel, and what I think of automatically
is Christ, the light of the world. I was thinking about this this
week, a couple of days ago, and I was just amazed by the fact
that I have light. God has given me light as to
how he can actually see me as perfect, and I really am perfect,
through the gospel. Isn't that amazing? What light?
The only light there is, is the light of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the light as to how God can look at me, Todd Nybert,
and say, He's perfect. He's just like my son. He's altogether lovely. Now,
the only way I can see that is through the light of the gospel.
How Christ took my sin and actually put them away. And I have his
righteousness and I stand perfect before God. Christ is the light
of that. Now, we also see in this the
believer growing weary. Again, a battle with the Philistines.
We're always in a warfare that we'll be in until our death. How much battle do you do every
day with your sin? David said, my sin is ever before
me. David goes into this battle again. Look in verse 18. And it came
to pass after this, there was again a battle with the Philistines
at Gob. Then Sibachai the Hushite slew
Saph, which was one of the sons of the giant." Now these battles
we fight with are giants. My sin, my sins, they're giants. They're things that I can't stand
before, humanly speaking. I need God's help. I need God's
grace. I need God's mercy. I need Him
to do something for me because of these giants. All four of
these battles are with sons of Goliath, the giant. Verse 19,
and there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines,
where Elna, the son of Jeoroiagum, a Bethelmite, slew the brother
of Goliath, the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like
a weaver's beam. And there was yet a battle in
Gath, and there was a man of great stature that had on every
hand six fingers. and on every foot, six toes. Now, in numerology, in the scripture,
six is the number of man. Adam was made on the sixth day. You remember the number 666 in
Revelation. That is failure upon failure
upon failure. Man, he's not gonna win this
battle. But how scary this man was. I
mean, he was a giant with six fingers, six toes. just representing
the giant man that I got to deal with, the giant of my sin. And when he had defied, verse
21, and when he had defied Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shema, the
brother of David, slew him. These four were born to the giant
in Gath and fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his
servants. Now, four battles David had to
deal with at the end of his life. I mean, he was old at this time,
and you'd think it would have become easier for him. But instead,
in his experience, it became more difficult battling these
giants. Now, every believer has a war
they're dealing with. Turn with me to Genesis chapter
25. You know, you read about this struggle, In Galatians 5,
17, the flesh lusts against the spirit, the spirit lusts against
the flesh. These are contrary one to the
other. They're at odds with one another so that you can't do
the things that you would. You read in Romans chapter 7
of the battle that goes on in the heart of every child of God
where Paul ends up saying, oh, wretched man that I am. Not wretched
man that I was. Boy, I used to really have a
problem with sin. No. He says, wretched man that I am, who shall
deliver me from the body of this death." Now turn with me to Genesis
25, and this is a remarkable illustration of the battle that
the believer fights. Verse 20, and Isaac was 40 years
old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel, the
Syrian of Paddaniram, the sister of Laban, the Syrian, And Isaac
entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the
Lord was entreated of him. And Rebekah, his wife, conceived."
Now she has life. Now she has life. And what happens
when she has life? Verse 22. And the children struggled
together. And that word struggle, that's
kind of a light translation. I mean, they were beating one
another. They were beating one another. There was a fight going
on in her womb. And at this time, she didn't
understand it. She didn't know she had twins. She didn't understand
this thing. And the children struggled together
with her. And she said, if it be so, why am I thus? Why am I like this? You know,
this fight didn't take place until she had life placed within
her. And when she had this life placed
within her, all of a sudden there is this fight. Why am I like
this? What's wrong with me? And she
went to inquire of the Lord. Verse 23, And the Lord said unto
her, Two nations, are in thy womb, and two manner of people
shall be separated from thy bowels. Now, when someone is saved, all
of a sudden there's two people. There's two people. Two manner of people. Completely different. Now, I
know Jacob and Esau are used to illustrate God's sovereignty
and salvation. God said Jacob had a loved and
Esau the hated. But just as importantly, Jacob
and Esau represent the two manner of people that dwell in every
believer. Let's go on reading. The one
people shall be stronger than the other people and the elder
shall serve the younger. Now, if you're a believer, the
new man born of God is stronger than the old man. And the old
man is a servant, is a slave to the new man. Now, how can
that be? How can that be? Well, I can tell you. My old
man is a reminder to me all the time that all I have is Christ. And my only way of acceptance
is through what Christ did. My sin, my old man that's always
there with me, it's a reminder to me, all you have is Jesus
Christ the Lord. But that's all I want. He's all
I want. Now look at this description, verse 24. And when her days to
be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her
womb. The first came out red, all over like a hairy garment,
and they called his name Esau. Now he was born with a garment.
He already had a covering, didn't he? A covering of his own. A
garment of his own. And after that came his brother
out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel, and his name was
called Jacob. And Isaac was three score years
old when she bared them, 60. And the boys grew, and Esau was
a cunning hunter, a man of the field. And Jacob was a plain
man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau because
he did not eat of his venison, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Now the word plain, Jacob was
a plain man. That word is also translated
undefiled, perfect. Perfect. Now somebody's thinking,
if you know anything about Jacob, how could he be described like
that? He was a deceitful man. Everything he got, he got by
deceit. Well, that was the old man. Jacob and Esau. Esau, a cunning hunter. Everything
he gets is by deception. That's what hunters do. They
deceive their prey. Everything he got, he got by
deception. He was a sinful man. He was an evil man. He didn't
care anything more about God than a bowl of soup. He would
trade his inheritance for a bowl of soup. Jacob was a perfect
man, a righteous man, a holy man. And so that is every believer. In that same person, two manner
of people, a sinful man and a perfect man, a holy man, a righteous
man, the seed that does not commit sin. Every believer possesses
that. Now, the giants, he has to face
four different giants. The giant of his sin, his old
nature, And then the other three I look at as the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Four giants
he's called upon to continually fight. Now, look back to our text in 2 Samuel
21. Now, the giants were called upon
to fight. We can't defeat. David was too
weak. He had waxed faint. And Ish-baibonob,
which was of the sons of the giants, the weight of whose spear
weighed 300 shekels of brass and weight, he being girded with
something new. He thought to have slain David.
And like I said in that picture of the gospel, I don't have any
doubt that the devil thought, now I can defeat him. Now I can
defeat him. I've got something I haven't
used before and this is going to lead to his destruction. Of
course it didn't. The Lord crushed the head of the serpent with
the very thing that the serpent thought he was going to defeat
him with. But David waxes faint. He can't stand before that giant. But, verse 17, Abishai, his name
means Jehovah has given. That's what that word means.
Jehovah has given. Now even though you wax faint,
do you know that everything that you have has already been given
to you? And there is no way that that
giant is going to defeat you. He that spared not his own son,
he's already given you that which is most precious. He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall
he not with him freely give us all things? Abshi, Jehovah has
given, is given to you and no giant will defeat a believer. Can't happen because God's already
given that which is most precious and he's not gonna withhold anything
else. No believer will be defeated
by any of the giants they're facing. Verse 18, It came to
pass after this that there was again a battle with the Philistines
at Gob. Then Sibachai the Hushite slew
Saph, which was of the sons of the giant." Now, don't... It's not going to get easier.
You've got giants that you don't even know about yet, and they're
going to come your way. But you've been promised victory. You've been promised help. Because
God has already given that which is greatest. Do you think He'll
withhold anything? He won't do it. Verse 19, And there was again
a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elianon, the son of Jairo,
One of the difficult things about going through the Old Testament
is trying to, I practice pronouncing these names and I forget the
way it sounded, so you'll forgive me. Slew the brother, notice
the brother is in italics. This was another giant that was
one of the sons of the giants. I guess he named him after himself,
Goliath the Gittite. The staff of whose spear was
like a weaver's beam. And there was yet a battle in
Gath where was a man of great stature that had on every hand
six fingers and on every foot six toes, four and 20 in number. And he also was born to the giant
and when he defied Israel, Jonathan, Don't you remember how David
said, is there any of the house of Saul that I can show the kindness
of God to for Jonathan's sake? This is a different Jonathan,
but it's the same name. For Christ's sake, God's not
going to withhold his mercy from me. For Christ's sake. And if I'm facing a giant with
six fingers and six toes, the number of man, he still won't
defeat me because Jonathan. God, for Jonathan's sake, for
Christ's sake, is gonna have mercy on me. When he defied Israel,
he taunted Israel, he reproached Israel. No doubt, you've been
reproached, I've been reproached by giants now. That's what he
was doing, he was reproaching, he was taunting. How can you
be saved? How can you be a believer? How
can you know the living God? Look at you, he was reproaching
and taunting Israel. But Jonathan, the son of Shemai,
the brother of David, slew him. These four were born to the giant
Gath and fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his
servants." Now, the servants defeated the giants, but it was
through the hand of David, wasn't it? And all victory comes through
the hand of David, the son of David. The Lord Jesus Christ. But what a Savior we have as
we face these giants. And I got more giants coming. And here David is at the end
of his life. As a matter of fact, when we get into chapter 22,
we have his, it's Psalm 18 as well. He's going to give the
summary of his life. And then his last words in chapter
23. and the men of David, but this is the end of his life. He's still facing these giants. So understand, it's not gonna
get any easier, but victory has already been
accomplished. It's not certain, it's already
been. Thank God for the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ.