I don't know if you saw from
Norm sent out a thing, must have been last week, with the first
time I'd ever seen a man with a sling. Have you seen it? I
don't know how to sing. I'll try. which was probably to the other
end of the building away over, it was a big piece of steel.
And there's absolutely no way in the world you can see the
stone travelling through the air. And it hits this piece of
steel and it's just remarkable. Anyway, you might be able to
talk to Norm about it, or if you want to see me about it,
I'll see if I can find it. But I have thought a lot about
the story of David and Goliath. And in particular, I want us
to think about, and if you turn to 1 Samuel 17, I'll be looking
at parts of this chapter. It's a long chapter with 58 verses
in it, and so I'm not intending to read them all, but I want
us to try and get a picture. But one of the glorious pictures
that is revealed in this story is There are two representative
men, and the Lord Jesus Christ went down, sent by his Father,
to do battle with this giant in a valley, with all of the
enemies of God standing there behind their representative man. and it's a glorious picture of
what happened on the cross and it's a glorious picture of what
was happening that particular night in Jerusalem and what would
ensue as a result of the great and glorious victory that our
great David won, the great son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ.
David is typified as a man after God's own heart, but he's also
a shepherd boy. And the promise of Ezekiel 34
about this great shepherd, which is what the Lord speaks of in
John chapter 10, he says, that I will set one shepherd over
them and he shall feed them, even my servant Damon. He shall
feed them and he shall be their shepherd. David had died 450
years before this. And I, the Lord, will be their
God, and my servant David a prince among them. I, the Lord, have
spoken, and I will make a covenant of peace in your courts. we have is a spiritual book and
it's a spiritual book that's understood in light of the Lord
Jesus Christ and him crucified. It's a book that speaks of him
everywhere and in 1st Samuel chapter 17 we have this glorious
picture. So turn with me there and we'll
look at some of the aspects of it. The children of God according
to Luke chapter 1 and many other places are the recipients of
the sure mercies of David. And here we have David pictured
as the anointed one of God going down into battle. In verse 1
of chapter 17, now the Philistines gathered together their armies
to battle and they were gathered together Now of course what the
Philistines represent in the scriptures is all the false religion
and man puffed up in his false religion and standing opposed
to the children of God. And Saul and the men of Israel
were gathered together and pitched and set in battle array against
the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on
a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other
side, and there was a valley in between. So here we have a
picture of two armies that can see each other, but in between
the two of them is this valley. And down into this valley, verse
four, down into this valley came this enormous man. I should have
brought a tape measure with me. He'd have to duck his head in
parts of this building here, and he would have to bend over
to get through the door. He was an enormous man. He's
over three meters tall. His height was six cubits, and
so if you take the conservative measure of a cubit, it was 18
inches, and so he's nine and a half feet tall. He's over three
meters tall. He's an enormous man. And he
comes down into this valley. And he had all his armor on,
verse 5 here, the helmet of brass. And his coat was a coat of marble. The weight of the coat was 5,000
shekels of brass. It was about 120 kilos, just
his coat. And he had grooves of brass on
his leg and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the
staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam. Someone has said that it
was over seven meters long, the spear. And the head of the spear
weighed nine kilos. And he could throw it. He was
enormous and he had one bearing a shield before him. And this
is his cry. This is the cry of men who are
saying to the children of Israel, you have no right to receive
the promises of God. He's saying to the elect of Israel,
you have no right. The battle is about the right
to rule. And listen to what he says. He
stood and cried over the armies of Israel and said to them, why
are you come out and set in your battle in a row? Am not I a Philistine
and you servants of Saul? Choose you a man for you and
let him come down to me. And if he's able to fight with
me and kill me, we will be your servants. But if I prevail against
him in killing, then shall you be our servants and serve us. It's exactly what Satan is doing,
and it's exactly what false religion, which the Philistines typify
in this rule, isn't it? Who has the right to rule? Does
man have the right to rule, or does God have the right to rule?
Whose promises prevail? This land was promised to these
people by God Almighty. And the Philistine, verse 10,
he said, I defy the armies of Israel of this day. Give me a
man that we may fight together. And Saul and all Israel heard
the words of the Philistines, and they were dismayed and greatly
afraid. And then he goes on to talk. This went on, according to verse
16, for 40 days. And 40 days is a very significant
number in the scriptures. It's a sign of the judgment of
God. It's the 40 days of the temptation
of the Lord Jesus Christ when he went into battle with Satan.
It was the 40 days that Moses spent on the mountain of God.
So 40 days is an incredibly So we have two armies set in
battle array. And he is calling, the Philistine
is calling for a mediator, someone to represent all of Israel. And amongst Saul and all the
army, there's no one. As you might know from the previous
chapter, Saul had the kingship taken from him and David was
chosen to the shock wasn't even in the room and had
all these other handsome tall strapping sons and God says that's
not that one not that one he said today the day that was the
chosen one and he was the anointed one of God even though he remained
at this time still a shepherd boy and Jesse Verse 17, Jesse
said unto his son David, the father says to the son, you go
down, take now for thy brethren an ephor of this patch of corn
and these ten loaves and run to the camp. of thy brethren,
and carry these ten cheeses unto the captains of the thousands,
and look how thy brethren fare, and take thy pledge." You go
down. He was sent by the Father. for the brethren. I love what
verse 20 says of David. It's the same as what was said
of Abraham in Genesis 22 when he has an appointed task which
seems enormous before him. With the keeper, who's the keeper?
God's the keeper. God's the keeper. You can read
about that in John chapter 10. And he went as Jesse commanded
him. All this is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father and him going into battle,
which is exactly what happened that night that we're looking
at in John chapter 13 and following. And David, verse 23, Behold,
there came up a champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath,
by name out of the armies of the Philistines. And he spoke
according to the same words. And David heard him. And all
the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and
were sore afraid. When we see power in the flesh of men, we find
ourselves in so many ways, aren't they? And the men of Israel said, have
you seen this man that has come up, surely to defy Israel he
has come up, and it shall be that the man had killed him.
And this is the promise that David received before the battle. He was sent by his father, but
this is the king's promise. and his father's house shall
be free in Israel, free from taxes and free from service in
the military. This is the king's promise to
the victorious son, isn't it? What riches does the Lord Jesus
Christ have? What glorious riches do we see
because of the great battle he won? And he has the right to
the kingdom Go down to verse 28 and here we have the
reaction of the flesh of men and Eliab his eldest brother
Her, when he spoke up to the men, nearly out of anger, was
kindled against David and said, why camest thou down here? And
with whom hast thou left those few sheep? You're not even a
proper shepherd. You've only got this few sheep,
and you've left them in the wilderness. And he says, I know thy pride
and the naughtiness of thy heart, for thou hast come down that
might thou mightest see the battle. And here's the great, the great
answer of our great said, what have I now done? Is there not a cause? There is just one cause. There is just one cause. He doesn't
say this is one of the causes. He says this is a, this is, is
there not a cause? And if God makes his cause your
cause, you will be found rejoicing. What's the cause? If you turn
down to verse 46 it says that at the end of verse 46 And that all of this assembly,
all of the gathering of God's people, shall know that the Lord's
side is not with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's. And so Saul got to hear about
that in verse 33, and Saul said unto David, thou art not able
to go up against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou art
but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And David
said unto Saul, thy servant kept thy father's sheep. There came
a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock. And
I went out after him and smote him and delivered it out of his
mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard
and smote him and slew him. Your servant, thy servant, slew
both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine
shall be one of them. See, he hath defied the armies
of the living God." And David attributed all of his victory,
you read with me in verse 37. David moreover said, the Lord
that hath 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. around like a roaring lion. One of the remarkable things
in that picture is that lion had come and taken the lamb,
but the lamb was taken out of the jaw of Satan by David. It's a glorious picture isn't
it? Satan ruled and And our great God comes and knocks
down the door of that palace and says, I'm having mine out
of there. And you can't do a thing about it. And he does it all
on his own. And what's the bigger picture?
I don't have time, but you can go and see in Amos chapter 5
verse 19 and in Isaiah 59, is that people in religion, and
the Philistines are a picture of false religion, and people
in their self-righteous religion that makes them proud by day,
but they can escape what they see as the wiles of Satan in
this world, and they can turn by the power of their flesh from
the sins that so easily entangle so many. And for those of us who live
in this world more of it. But what's the danger
of the bear? The bear in Amos 5 and Isaiah
59 represents the law and the judgment of God. And people have
escaped the line and then been caught in the paws of the bear. They've escaped the line of outward and good. The children of God
need to be rescued by their great David, both out of Satan's wiles,
and they need to be rescued by God out of their sense that their
legal righteousness brings them some merit with God, that somehow
they get closer to God. And so they escape Satan. and
end up being entangled by the bear. But David smoked both of
them, and David rescued his sheep out of both of them. And he attributes all of it to
the Lord. Verse 37, the Lord delivered
me out of the pillar of the lion and out of the paw of the bear,
and he will deliver me out of the hand of this devil's steed.
And Saul, in those next five or six verses, Saul wants David
to be arrayed in his armor. Now he had already been rejected
as the king of Israel by God, even though he was still the
king in the eyes of men. But David says in verse 39, he
put all this armor on and he assayed to go, but for he had
not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot
go with these, for I have not proved them. I've not proved
them. What had David proved? The faithfulness
of God. What had David proved? The word
of God. He doesn't need to do battle
with he doesn't need. If God's protecting him, he doesn't
need the arm of Saul's puffed up flesh. And so David, verse
14, this is the glorious part of this story. And David took
his staff in his hand and 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 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 bared the shield
went before him, and when the Philistine looked about, he saw
David and disdained him." What did the religious world think
of the Lord Jesus Christ when they saw him? He's nothing. He's just a carpenter. They sent
their representatives up from Jerusalem at the very beginning
of his ministry. examined the Lord Jesus Christ,
went home, nothing there. Herod set him at naught. False religion and the filth
of the people of this world disdain the Lord Jesus Christ because
he was but a youth and ruddy and of fair countenance. He didn't
even look like a worrier. You could probably say he was
a sissy-looking boy, but his anything like the warrior and
the philistine said under david verse 43 am i a dog that thou
comest to me with staves and the philistine cursed david by
his gods these are these two represented man's doing this
battle in the valley aren't they And the Philistine said unto
David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls
of the air and to the beasts of the field. Then David said
to the Philistine, 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 my hand, and I will smite thee, and take thine head
from thee, and I will give the carcasses of the host of the
Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and the wild
beasts of the earth, that, and this is the reason, this is the
reason for all of this, that all the earth may know that there
is a God. encounter many battles in this
world, but our battle's not against flesh and blood, but principalities
and powers in heavenly places. We do battle, and our weapons
are mighty weapons, aren't they? He says, I can just read these
verses to you in 2 Corinthians chapter 10. For though we walk
in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, 2 Corinthians 10 through.
For the weapons of our warfare are not come, They're not what
is seen to be powerful by the people of this world. Our weapons
are not calm, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts
itself against the knowledge of God. The last was a high thing,
and out of that high thing and out of that proud mouth came
all these boastful words. We cast out on these imaginations. And that's where images come
from, all the ugliness of images. I lived with images in India
for five years or more. And you got so tired of the ugliness
of them. There wasn't one single pretty
one. They're all ugly. And you couldn't
do trade. You couldn't have a coin. You
couldn't go into a shop without seeing. You couldn't travel on
the roads. And they were everywhere. That's where these imaginations
come from, isn't it? And everything that exalts, every
high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God
and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. What a glorious scripture. to be cast down and would you
take my thoughts and make them captive to Christ. Let's go on
in our story. He says, verse 47 These are the
reasons, aren't they? There is a cause, and all the
earth may know that there is a God, verse 47, 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. The battle is the Lord's, the
Lord's, and he will give you. And it came to pass that when
the Philistine arose and came and drew nigh to meet David,
David hasted and ran towards the army to meet the Philistine. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this place, didn't he? He came sent by the Father. He
came with the bread of heaven. He came with the news and the
glory of the gospel. too big for us. And he says, it says that he
sent his face like a flint. These nights we're reading about
towards the end of John's gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ triumphantly
goes into Jerusalem, arrives in there as a king. He rules
and triumphantly goes. He ran towards the army. Verse
49, David put his hand into his bag and took thence a stone and
slaying it and smote the philistine in his forehead that the stone
What a glorious, glorious picture of our great
Lord Jesus Christ. And 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 cut off his head therewith, and
the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, and they fled. Where had all the blasphemies
come from? and he was wounded in that place,
and Satan was wounded, wounded by our Lord Jesus Christ on the
cross of Calvary, and the proudest being of this universe, one who
was too and far, way, way too mighty for us, was defeated. Listen to what the scriptures
say about the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in
Colossians chapter two, It said, You being dead in your transgressions
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he quickened together
with him having forgiven you all your trespasses, blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us. He took it out of the way, nailing
it to his cross, He made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them in it. What a triumph. What a glorious
victory our Lord Jesus Christ won. David stood upon the Philistine,
verse 51, took his sword and drew it out of the sheath and
slew him and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistine
saw this, And the men of Israel and Judah
arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines until they had
come to the valley of the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of
the Philistines fell by the way until Shaarim, even unto Gath,
unto Ekron. And the children of Israel returned
after chasing after the Philistines, and they spoiled their tents.
And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to
Jerusalem, and 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, this is the great question, isn't it? Whose son
is he? Whose son is he? Verse 56, and the king said,
inquire thou, whose son, whose son is he? And Saul said unto him, Whose
son art thou? It's a great question, isn't
it? Whose son is the Lord Jesus Christ? Whose son is he? And David answered, I am the
son of thy servant, Jesse. So just in the few minutes we
have left, there is a great challenge his promises to be fulfilled,
and are what he has promised to give his people going to be
achieved by him? There is a challenge in this
world, isn't it? Do you have the right to possess
what God has given you? Do you have the right to own
the promises that God has made for us? Goliath pictures man
puffed up in his flesh, like the Pharisees Like Goliath, they
rule by fear, and they rule by the power of man's flesh. the
children of the devil gathered that Passover, that last Passover
night, and the big question was, who has the right to rule? Who
has the right to rule on God's behalf? I want us to notice some
things about the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ here. Before
the battle, David was It was an anointed king that
came, and he was anointed king by God because the people's king
has failed. David, before his anointing,
was a shepherd boy. The Lord Jesus Christ was a shepherd
before his anointing. He has a flock of sheep, the
bride that the Father had given him. David, like our Lord Jesus Christ,
was sent down by his father into the valley to do battle with
the enemies of all God's people. And David comes in that battle
to be the representative. Who wins takes everything. Who wins rules. David went down as a representative
for God. David went down. because the
honour of God's and we don't have to fight with
carnal weapons. Also remember that when David
went down and sent down to the wall, the war had already begun,
and the war had been in action for some considerable time, and
there has been a war in this world, hasn't there, between
what appears to be the power of Satan and the power of Almighty
God. Goliath didn't have a chance,
did he? Did Goliath have a chance in that battle? People who stand
opposed to God lose 100% of the time, always. So all the hope
of the Philistines was just in this giant of a man. And what
did you see? You can see through the eyes
of flesh. You can see power. You can see
man exalted and boastful, puffed up. Goliath is like puffed up
man in this world until the Lord deals with him and brings him
down. Who can stand? That's what the
people of God find themselves, the situation that the people
of God find themselves in so often, don't they? Who can stand
against someone so mighty? Who can stand against someone
so exalted? Who can stand against someone
whose words are so boastful and so proud? Who are you, Church of God? Who are you, children of God,
against so great a foe, against so powerful a foe, against so
numerous a foe? Who are you, so weak, so insignificant,
so vulnerable against such power and influence and ability? Brothers and sisters, we stand
in our glorious and great conquering. Who gets the glory in the victory?
Who gets all the glory for all of the victory? God gets all
the glory. God always gets all the glory.
God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the
wise. He's chosen the weak things to
confound the mighty. God gets all, gets the most glory
when he wins. so pathetic, and the instruments
seem so frail. And the reason is simple, isn't
it? That no flesh will glory in the presence of God. How does
God bring down a strong man? Through the preaching of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I just do love Romans 1.16. It's
the power of God. If we understood what that meant,
we'd be amazed, wouldn't we? It's the dynamite of God. It's
the gospel. It's the power of God. Preaching
Him. Jesus Christ, preaching Him and
not my activities, preaching Him and His glory, preaching
Him and His deeds, preaching Him and His holiness, preaching
Him and His obedience, He cast down the strong man. Giants are
slain as they seek to do battle in their David's victory won him the admiration
and the love of the people. David was willing to die for
the glory of God and for the cause of God. And David became
famous because of his victory. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave himself
for the church. What love the Lord has for us.
His love for his is an extravagant love, isn't it? It's a love where
he's prepared to do everything for us in sacrifice, everything
for us in victory over all of our enemies, so that he can have
the king's bride, that he'll have the riches promised by the
king. What an inheritance we have. We are about to inherit
a universe. We are joint heirs of he who
has a universe. What does it matter about the
things of this earth? What's it matter about the pride
of men and the so-called power of men in this world? What a
great victory! How great King Hasmar has won
for us. How wonderful it is for us to
be able to proclaim a gospel that declares again and again speak alone, just as he alone
prayed in Gethsemane's garden, just as he alone was mocked,
just as he alone was crucified. He does it all, and he does it
all as a representative, and he does it all as an us. And he reigns over enemies of
us that are too big. We have things that stand apart Perfect holiness. Perfect obedience. David slew both the lion and
the bear. The Lord Jesus Christ was made
a cursed dress. He bore the curse of God's holy
wrath and his broken law in all in his body and he bore that. I am dead to the law, all the
debt I owe to God's law. That's what the other reward
for the king's, for the one who slows the job, wasn't it? He
has the king's freedom. What an enemy our sin is. What an enemy the sin that we
do because of what we are is. What an enemy we have in this
world, our flesh. The spirit lusts against the
flesh and the flesh against the spirit. Who's going to deliver
me from this body of death? O wretched man that I am, who's
going to deliver me from this body? The Lord Jesus Christ has
won the victory. Thanks be to God. This world
continually entices us with the lust of the flesh and the pride
of life and the lust of our eyes. As 1 John chapter 1 verse 2 says,
the lust of our flesh. How much our flesh continually
wants to live in pleasure in this world all the time. The
lust of our eyes. Our need to have the approval
of others all the time. to do and to face my enemies
by myself. What overcomes the world, what
overcomes my flesh in the world? Faith. Faith. The faith for one and faith in
Him. And the Lord Jesus Christ For this purpose the Son of God
was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Our great David went down into
a valley and did battle against all of our enemies and reigned
victorious and has in his hand of glorious inheritance won.
You, I trust and pray, might go and spend more time studying
that, and as you look for the Lord Jesus Christ in that, and
look for him on the cross, and look for him victorious, you
might find yourself rejoicing even more in the glories of our
great God. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we pray that you would take your words and bless them to the hearts
of your people, and that we would have our eyes turned again and
again and again away from ourselves and away from this world, and
have our eyes fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ. We praise you,
Heavenly Father, that he's declared to be the author and the finisher
of faith. Oh, Father, help us to enter
into something of what it was, of the joy that was set before
him, for him. on our behalf to do battle as
sent by you, our Father. Oh, our Father, we pray that
you would allow us to feast on the bread of heaven, to find
ourselves washed in the blood of your dear and precious Son,
enrobed in his glorious righteousness, and that we might walk before
this world knowing that there is a cause. Father, allow us to wash one
another's feet with the gospel of the glory of your dear and
precious Son, again and again and again. For your glory and
for our good, we pray, Father. In Jesus' name, amen.