to the book of 1 Samuel chapter
17. About a week ago, I was speaking with Brother Kyle
Brink, a friend that I've had some correspondence with in Japan,
and we were talking about this chapter, 1 Samuel chapter 17. And I had it on my mind and woke
up early this morning thinking about it and wanted to take this
evening for a few minutes before we have the Lord's Supper and
take this chapter and basically read it, make a few comments
on it. Before we do, let's have a word
of prayer. Our Father, we pray this evening
for Christ's sake that you might be pleased to take this glorious
passage of Scripture And Lord, by Your Spirit, teach us of the
wonder and the mercy and compassion of Almighty God in Christ in
the redemption of Your people. We ask that You'd comfort our
hearts for Christ's sake. Amen. 1 Samuel chapter 17. Now the Philistines gathered
together their armies to battle and were gathered together at
Socho, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Socho and
Azica and Ephesdamim. And Saul and the men of Israel
were gathered together and pitched by the valley in Elah and set
the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines
stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain
on the other side, and there was a valley between them. And
there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines
named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had a helmet of brass
upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the
weight of the coat with 5,000 shekels of brass and he had greaves
of brass upon his legs and a target of brass between his shoulders
and the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam and his
spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron and one bearing a shield
went before him. A monster about 11 feet tall. 350 pounds roughly of armor. Oh, what a fit picture of the
enemy of God's people. How are they going to stand against
one who is so mighty? Verse 8, And he stood and cried
unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come
out to set your battle in array? Am not I a Philistine, and ye
servants to Saul? Choose you a man for you, and
let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me
and to kill me, then will we be your servants. But if I prevail
against him and kill him, then shall ye be our servants and
serve us." And the Philistines said, I defy the armies of Israel
this day. Give me a man that we may fight
together. When Saul and all Israel heard
those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly
afraid." The enemy of God's people is arrogant, haughty, heady. He claimed, he said in verse
8, give me a man. Give me a man. Choose a man for
you and let him come down to Me." I'll tell you, one has come
down that has been victorious over the enemy of God's people.
The issue concerning that arrogant demand right there, the issue
is servitude. Who will the people of God serve? You know, the problem is that
by Adam's fall and rebellion against God, all mankind was
found now in servitude of sin. Romans 6, 17 says, But God bethanked
that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from
the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you.
Verse 12, Now David was the son of that Ephrathite, of Bethlehem,
Judah, whose name was Jesse. And he had eight sons, and the
man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul. And
the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to battle.
And the names of his three sons that went to the battle were
Eliab the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third
Shammah. And David was the youngest. and
the three elders followed Saul. But David went and returned from
Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem." Here we see the
obedient son, David. A true picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the obedient one. He who will care for, watch for,
protect, feed the sheep. Just as our Lord Jesus Christ,
we're here this evening feeding upon Him. Let's you eat my flesh
and drink my blood. You have no life in you. Verse 16, And the Philistine
drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days. I've read that and I thought
to myself, who but the Lord? would have restrained that monster
of a man. Forty days came in the morning
and in the evening. He presented himself and defiantly
said to the people of God, Here I am. What are you going to do
about it? Why don't you send somebody over
here? You want some of me? Why don't
you come on out? Only the Lord could restrain
Goliath against the nation of Israel. Only the Lord God of
heaven restrained the destruction of His people until He was pleased
to call them out in regenerating grace by His Holy Spirit and
deliver them from certain destruction. Who but God could restrain Goliath? Who but Almighty God kept the
Goliath of sin and Satan himself from destroying you? Me. Psalm 56, 1 and 2. Be merciful unto me, O God, for
man would swallow me up. He fighteth daily, oppresseth
me. Mine enemies would daily swallow
me up, for they be many that fight against me. O thou Most
High." Verse 17 and 18, And Jesse said
unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of
this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp
to thy brethren, and carry these ten cheeses unto the captain
of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their
pledge. Jesse, David's father, sent David
to go into the camp. Go where your brethren are. See how they fare. See how they're
doing. And be their pledge. That is,
be a surety for them. I'm going to send the provision.
Here's what I'm going to send you. I'm going to send you now
with some corn and some loaves. It's Jesus. All that they needed. See, I read that soldiers back
then often were not completely taken care of by the army, the
government. Most of the time it was their
family. And if these had run up any debt whatsoever, what
Jesse told David was, I want you to go and you make good on
their debt. You be a pledge for them. Take their pledge. Just as surely as David brought
the provision from his Father, our Heavenly Father who has everlastingly
loved all that He chose in the Lord Jesus Christ sent Him into
this world to be our surety, to be our pledge, To go where
they are and see how they fare. How did we fare? We were lost. In debt to sin. In debt to the
law of God. Broken. All that was lost in
the fall. He was made surety. to restore
it. Psalm 69, 4, They that hate me
without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head. They
that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully are mighty.
Then I restored that which I took not away. Verse 19, Now Saul
and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah fighting
with the Philistines. And David rose up early in the
morning and left the sheep with a keeper. and took and went as
Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the trench as
the host was going forth to the fight and shouted for the battle.
For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array,
army against army. And David left his carriage in
the hand of the keeper of the carriage and ran into the army
and came and saluted his brethren. Just as David, sent by his father,
came and saluted, greeted His brethren. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the Word Himself was made flesh, came into this world, tabernacled
among us, set His face as a flint to the cross for the redemption,
for the salvation, for the recovery of His people. Verse 23, And
as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the
Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the
Philistines, and spake according to the same words. And David
heard them. And all the men of Israel, when
they saw the man, fled from him and were sore afraid. 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 will give him his daughter, and make his father's
house free in Israel. And David spake to the men that
stood by, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth
the Philistine, and taketh 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 after
this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth
him." What shall be done? David said. What shall be done for the one
that shall take away the reproach of Israel? I tell you, this is what's done
for the Lord Jesus Christ. He's highly exalted. Sit thou
at my right hand. who have by your blood taken
away the reproach of my people. Sit down until I make all your
enemies your footstool." I was looking at what it was told David
should be done for the man. And I mean how beautifully. We
could just stay right here, but I do want to go through the chapter,
so I'll stay here just a moment. But listen to this. What shall
be done for the man The king, middle of verse 25, will enrich
him with great riches. Speak of the riches that was
given the Lord Jesus Christ in redemptive glory. His bride. Go back and read Song
of Solomon and read what he says concerning the riches of his
bride. He said, You've ravished me.
with one of your eyes. Stolen my heart. I'm heartless. As I said before when we went
through that blessed book, I can't even take that in. I mean, that
we would say that concerning Him, yes, but that He would say
that concerning us. What shall be done? The King
will enrich Him with great riches and give Him His daughter. Make
His house free. Free. Free from sin. free from bondage, free from
hopelessness. He will make that woman that
takes away the reproach of Israel rich, rich, rich. There is a man in glory who sits
on the throne of God, for he is God. But I love what David
said, And here was the issue with David. The latter part of verse 26,
ìWho is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies
of the living God?î I want you to notice the blessedness that
David laid on the symbol of the covenant of Godís grace. God
had given Abraham a promise and here was the covenant He was
circumcised. Look at the honor that is placed
by David right here on the symbol of God's covenant. Later, we
would read of David saying, This is all my salvation. He hath
made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, ensured.
This is all my desire. That's all my hope. That's all
my salvation. This is all my plea. What do
you have, you that believe? What do you have? Here. You've
got the Word of God. The covenant. The covenant. Who
is this uncircumcised? He's not in the covenant. Who
is this that speaks disrespectfully of God Almighty? Almighty God. If God be for us, in covenant
mercy, Covenant grace. Who can be against us? Who is
this uncircumcised Philistine? Verse 28. And Eliab, his eldest
brother, heard when he spake unto the men. And Eliab's anger
was kindled against David. And he said, Why camest thou
down here? Down hither? And with whom hast
thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride.
The naughtiness of thine heart, for thou art come down, that
thou mightest see the battle. And David said, What have I now
done? Is there not a cause? And he
turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner,
and the people answered him again after the former manner. And
when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them
before Saul, and he sent for him. And David said to Saul,
Let no man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and
fight with the Philistines." What a picture. A fallen man. All fallen men. All God's elect. All men. What a picture of those,
even God's elect, before God calls them out in regenerating
grace. Here was David, God's deliverance,
sent to where the nation of Israel was. And there they were in fear
and in defeat. I mean, 40 days Goliath had been
coming out there making fun of them, picking on them, daring
them, razzing them. What had they done? Nothing.
What could they do? Nothing. No, they weren't going
to do anything. They were absolutely in bondage. The Philistines had them exactly
where they wanted them. They weren't going to do anything.
It was David. And what was the attitude of God's deliverance? What was the attitude of Israel
against David? Get mad at him. Arrogant. And so were you and me before
God Almighty in quickening grace called us out of darkness. We walked after the dictates
of this world and had the same attitude toward Him. Paul says,
I did it ignorantly. All of us did. Almighty God,
merciful, gracious. Isaiah 53, 3 says, He was despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were, our faces
from Him. He was despised and we esteemed
Him not. But I tell you, though He was
despised and we esteemed Him not, for the love of His Father, for
the love of His people, for the love of His honor, for the love
of His name, for the love of that everlasting covenant. He said, I will save them in
spite of them, in spite of what they are. Thy servant will go
and fight with this Philistine. Verse 33, And Saul said to David,
Thou art not able to go against this Philistine, to fight with
him for thou art but a youth. He's a man of war from his youth.
And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep.
There came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock.
And I went after him and smote him and delivered it out of his
mouth. And when he rose against me, I caught him by his beard
and smote him and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion
and the bear and this uncircumcised Philistine. shall be one of them,
seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. And David
said, Moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of
the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me
out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go,
and the Lord be with thee." The only comfort that God's people
have is that the battle is the Lord's. I can settle down. You that believe, settle down
right there. The battle is the Lord's. I will fight this Philistine. And the Lord that delivered me
from the paw of the bear and the lion will deliver me from
this Philistine right here. The Lord. Thy servant, he said in verse
34, kept his father's sheep. I like that. The Lord said in
John 17, 12, those that thou gavest me I have kept. And none
of them is lost but the son of perdition that the Scripture
might be fulfilled. Verse 38, And Saul armed David
with his armor, and he put a helmet of brass upon his head, and he
armed him with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword upon
his armor, and he assayed to go, for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot
go with these. I have not proved them. And David
put them off. And he took his staff in his
hand and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, put
them in a shepherd's bag, which he had even in a script. And his sling was in his hand,
and he drew near to the Philistine. And the Philistine came on and
drew near unto David. And the man that bare the shield
went before him. The redemption of God's elect
has absolutely no stench, no smell, no hint of human merit
to it. Saul said, here, take my armor.
Put my helmet on you. You can have my mail. David said,
I can prove this. Took it off. No. No work, no
merit. of man's making is going to prevail
in the redemption of God's people. David, a glorious picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ, went forth in the strength of the Lord.
That's it. Psalm 71, 16 says, I will go
in the strength of the Lord God. I will make mention of thy righteousness,
even thine only. It's not the Lord and I have
a – no. Salvation is of the Lord. If
David would have worn that armor, you know what Saul would have
said? Till the day he died, he would wear my armor. Boy, I'm
glad he had all my stuff that day. David said, I can prove
this. This was the father's servant,
armed with the weapons of God's creation. A stone. Five smooth stones. Boy, it makes me think of the
rock. The mighty one in strength and
power. A smooth stone. I thought that
was significant. Picked up five smooth stones. Nothing abrasive about it. Not
before the Father. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. But you know I thought, and this
is just a thought to me, just bear with me here as I just share
a thought. That smooth stone right there,
that stone was Goliath's downfall. I thought five smooth stones. He took one. He took one. Scripture
doesn't say what the other four were for, so I'm not even going
to speculate on that. It did say it was a smooth stone,
though. Nothing abrasive about it. What was it? My thoughts, my thoughts on the
smooth stone. That smooth stone was the one
that David slew that giant by. Romans 5, 19 says for us, by
one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So by the
obedience of one shall many be made righteous. That smooth stone
that slew, that which oppressed us, the obedience of Christ. I know that's so. I know it.
By one man's obedience shall many be made righteous." How
about this smooth stone that was not offensive to the Father?
Colossians 1.20, "...and having made peace through the blood
of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself." Nothing
abrasive about that to the Father. This is my beloved Son, and I
am well pleased with Him. I tell you, whatever we do see,
in that smooth stone, this is what I know. Almighty God was
pleased with that to destroy all that oppressed His people.
Verse 42, the Philistine looked about and saw David. He disdained
him for he was but a youth and ruddy and a fair countenance.
And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog that thou camest
to me with staves? And the Philistines cursed David.
by his gods. And the Philistines said to David,
Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air
and to the beasts of the field. Then said David to the Philistines,
Thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield,
but I 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 will smite thee, and take thine head from thee,
And I will give the carcass of the host of the Philistines this
day unto the fowls 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 all this assembly shall know
that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear, for the battle
is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands." How proud and arrogant are the
foes of God's people! But oh, the beauty! of the confidence
of our blessed David, the Lord Jesus Christ. This day, the Lord
will deliver you into mine hand. I'm telling you, that's a beautiful
passage of Scripture. When he hung upon that cross
after he was spit on ridiculed, that arrogant, uncircumcised
Philistine said to him, he said, I'm going to eat you up. And he went to the cross and
he laid down his life. And there at that cross, before
he commended his spirit into the hands of his father, he said,
it's finished this day. The Lord will deliver you into
My hands." Victorious. Verse 48, And it came to pass,
when the Philistine arose, it came and drew nigh to meet David,
that David hasted, ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
And David put his hand into his bag, and took thence a stone,
and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone
sunk into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth.
So David prevailed over the Philistine, with a sling and a stone and
smote the Philistine and slew him, but there was no sword in
the hand of David. Therefore David ran and stood
upon the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of
the sheath thereof and slew him and cut off his head therewith.
And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they
fled. Just as surely as Goliath was
slain, All that oppressed Israel was
put away. The Lord, just as God Almighty
said back in the Garden, Serpent, you will bruise His heel, but
He's going to bruise your head. He's going to put you down. Satan,
your time will come. And the Lord wrought a mighty
victory, just as David. I was thinking about how all
of Goliath's weapons couldn't. David said, you're coming to
me with a sword and a spear and a shield. I'm coming to you in
the name of the Lord. And it says there was no sword
in David's hands. Satan, just like in the book of Esther,
whenever Haman was going to put Mordecai out of Haman's misery,
Haman was so angry at Mordecai because Mordecai would not bow
down to him. So Haman took and started building
these gallows And he was going to hang Mordecai, Esther's uncle,
right there in town square. Going to make an open show of
him. And as providence would have
it, Haman found himself in a situation where he thought, I'll go appeal
to the queen because the tide has now turned. And it looks
like to me that I'm going to be in trouble. And he goes into
Esther's bedroom to try to appeal to Esther. The queen! The king comes in and sees Haman
appealing to Esther on her bed. And the king doesn't like what
he sees. And he takes Haman and hangs him, destroys him on the
very gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. I wonder what went through the
mind of Satan when he heard the cries of the Jews toward the
Lord Jesus Christ at that mock trial. Crucify Him. Crucify Him. I don't doubt for one second
that Satan thought, I got Him now. Going up that hill, dragging
that cross, beaten, bloody, took that cross, laid himself upon
it. And there, the very means that
Satan had purposed to destroy the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord
wrought a victory, mighty victory at the cross. There was no sword
in David's hand. David came and took the very
sword that Goliath had purposed for him, after he put that stone
right in his forehead, came and took Goliath's own sword and
cut his own head off with it. Verse 52, And the men of Israel and all
Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines until thou come
to the valley and to the gates of Ekron, and they wounded the
Philistines. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down
by the way to Shea or Raim, even unto Gath, and to Ekron. And
the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines,
and they spoiled their tents. And David took the head of the
Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor
in his tent. And when Saul saw David go forth
against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the
host, Abner, whose son is this you? And Abner said, As thy soul
liveth, O king, I cannot tell. And the king said, Inquire thou
whose son this scripting is. As David returned from the slaughter
of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul,
with the head of the Philistine in his hand. And Saul said to
him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered,
I am the son of thy servant Jesse, the Bethlehemite." Here, David,
glorious victor over all that oppressed the people of God. Here he came, the Scripture says,
he took in verse 54 the head of the Philistine and brought
it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent. David took Goliath's armor and
put it in his own tent. You know, all that find themselves in David's
tent would behold the evidence of the mighty victory that David
wrought in the strength of the Lord over Goliath. They would look at that armor
right there and they would be reminded You're the one. You're the one. You're the one that destroyed
that Philistine. There's that armor right there, hanging. The
Lord Jesus Christ, as all in the covenant mercy of God's grace
are brought into His tent, into His presence, they behold that
He alone has spoiled principalities powers and has made a show of
them openly triumphing over them. 1 Samuel 17. What a glorious picture of the
redemption of God's people by the Lord Jesus Christ. May Almighty
God add His blessing on this blessed Scripture. I'm going
to ask the man if he'll come at this time, and we'll receive
the Lord's Supper.