Seeking once again the Lord's
help to grant me the ability to speak to you this evening,
I'd like to draw your attention to the chapter that we read together,
1 Samuel chapter 17, and the text you'll find in verse 28.
And Elib, his eldest brother, heard when he spake unto the
men. And Elib's anger was kindled
against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither, and
with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness?
I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart, for thou art
come down, that thou mightest see the battle. We all know, I'm sure, of this
story of David when he was a young man and how he was called to be king of Israel,
how he was anointed to be king of Israel and how he then went
into the palace of Saul to play the harp and then seemingly Saul
forgot about him and he returns back to his father's house and
continues looking after the sheep and then his father sends him
to the battle to the army to deliver some food to his brothers
And it is there that David hears about Goliath. And as he hears
about Goliath, he begins to inquire about what would happen if somebody
defeated this giant. And as he is inquiring, his brother
Elib begins to be angry. and accuses David of pride and
naughtiness of heart and that he had left the few sheep to
come down and to witness the battle. We know that it wasn't
so. David has been sent by his father
and David being a young boy full of faith and confidence in the
Lord as he saw this giant, the Philistine, he was not afraid
because he understood that God, the Lord of hosts, was able to
deliver Israel from this Philistine. And David as he sees this Philistine
he sees him and compares him to past events in his life and
he says this Philistine is no different to a bear or a lion
and the Lord delivered me and my sheep from the bear and the
lion and so my God is going to deliver me from this Philistine. And so as he speaks to his brothers,
his brothers, they are mocking him. And then as he goes to Goliath,
Goliath also begins to mock him and says to him, am I a dog that
you'll come to me with sticks? You're but a ruddy or a thin
youth. What do you think you are going
to do to somebody like me? And as these thoughts came to
my mind, I began to think about what we spoke about this morning
and about the Lord Jesus Christ and about Satan and how the Lord
Jesus wrought a great victory for his people upon the cross
and how Satan and sin and the grave was defeated by the Lord
Jesus Christ. And if we look at the life of
David, we see that David is a type of the Lord Jesus. He is one
who we can, as we look at his life, it shows us some comparisons
to the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. David, as he faces Goliath,
Goliath sees him as a weakling. but he is in the hands of Almighty
God therefore he is strong. The scripture tells us doesn't
it that God's strength is perfected in weakness and he is even more
glorified through the weakness of men as he is a greater seen. And so as David as he approaches
Goliath not only is he a shepherd but he is also a king. is a king in the waiting. If
you remember in chapter 16 after Saul had rebelled against God
and disobeyed God the kingdom was snatched from him and given
to somebody else and that somebody else was going to be Daniel the
son of Jesse. In chapter 16 and verse 6 it
says Samuel went to anoint the king. He was presented with the
sons of Jesse and he saw that some of them were worthy of anointing,
some of them looked like kings. In verse 6 it says, And it came
to pass, when they came, that he looked on Elib, and said,
Surely the Lord's anointed is before me. But the Lord said
unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height
of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth
not as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance but God, but the Lord looketh upon the heart. And so
all of Jesse's sons pass before Samuel and they are all rejected
and then there is none left. And so Samuel asks, is there
another? And there is just one other, David, who is in the fields
looking for sheep and he goes and he is sent for him. Send
and fetch him for we will not sit down till he come hither.
And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and with all
of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look to. And the Lord
said, Arise, anoint him for this is he. And Samuel took the horn
of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. And the
spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to
Ramah. And so the Lord had chosen this
thin this thin, good-looking shepherd
boy to be king of Israel. And this young man was anointed
in front of his brothers to be the king of Israel. And as he
comes to the battleground, no doubt those thoughts are still
in the mind of his brothers and they rise up in jealousy against
him. And they begin to accuse him,
why have you come down here? With who have you left those
few sheep? Although you have been anointed
as king, you're still just a little shepherd boy. You have no business
being here down in the army. You have no business looking
at the battle. And they begin to mock him and
look down upon him. And he says, well, I was just
asking. but God was going to use him
to defeat this Philistine. And so he was a shepherd boy
yet he was king. We know as we follow his life
we see that he becomes king of Israel. and he becomes a great
king of Israel and he becomes the one in which Nathan prophesies
regarding him that his throne is going to be an eternal throne. that on his throne, through his
lineage, the Messiah would come and that Christ would establish
an eternal kingdom. And so in this picture of David
and Goliath, we have the little shepherd boy who is king of Israel,
fighting against a mighty giant that in his own strength and
ability, he could not have won. But because he trusted in the
Lord of hosts, he was able to gain the victory. We also think
of Christ. Christ, who was David's shepherd. And when David wrote that psalm,
the Psalm 23, He says, the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. They would have fully understood,
didn't he, of what a shepherd was, being one himself. He understood that the shepherd
was someone to rely on, someone to trust in, someone to rest
on and to have security in. And he understood that the Lord
was his shepherd. And so as he went out to battle
against Goliath, he remembered, well, the Lord has protected
me from the lion and the bear. The Lord is able to protect me
from this Philistine. And as he writes, the Lord is
my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me
to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads
me in paths of righteousness, for his namesake, yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. You see, David never feared any
evil. He didn't fear this great Goliath
that was before him because he trusted in the true and living
God. The Lord is my shepherd, he says, and he leads me forth
by the right way. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I won't fear any evil. Why? Because the Lord is with me.
He's at my right hand. He is watching over me and he
will protect me. He says, Thou preparest a table
before me in the presence of mine enemies. You provide for
me. You anoint my head with oil,
my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. So we have the shepherd boy who
is king of Israel, trusting in the good shepherd of the Lord
Jesus Christ, trusting in the Lord of hosts for his protection,
for his help, for his ability, for his provision. John 10 tells
us there the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, he says, I am the
good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I
know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me,
even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep have I which
are not of this fold. Them I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice, and they shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore does my father love
me because I lay down my life that I may take it again. And
so the Lord Jesus Christ in comparison to David is also the good shepherd. David the shepherd of Israel,
Christ the good shepherd of his people. But not only is he just
the good shepherd, he's also the king. David was king of Israel
so Christ is also king of Israel, king of his church, the king
of kings and the Lord of lords in Isaiah. It tells us there regarding the
prophecy of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 9,
it says, for unto us a child is born and unto us a son is
given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his
name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace and the increase of
his government and peace there shall be no end and upon the
throne of David upon his kingdom to order it and to establish
it with judgment and with justice from henceforth forever and ever
the zeal of the Lord's house will perform this and so the
prophecy regarding the birth of the Lord Jesus not only is
he a shepherd of Israel or the good shepherd but he is also
a king the king the lord jesus christ to sit upon the throne
of david to establish it with judgment and justice forever
and ever his kingdom it has no end with his government the government
shall be upon his shoulders, his dominion, he will carry all
as the sovereign king, as the sovereign ruler of the skies. All power and all authority was
to be given to the Lord Jesus Christ and in his birth You will
remember as he is born in Bethlehem, as the angels break forth from
heaven and sing regarding the Lord Jesus Christ. And you shall
find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, laying in a manger.
They shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. And so as he entered, although
his birth is humble yet, the angels sing out, as it were,
because he is a king. They understand that this great
king with an eternal kingdom has been born into this world
and he has come to save his people from their sin. And he's from
the line of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we go through the life
of the Lord Jesus Christ we do not see really that it is a life
of any royalty. We do not see that he had any
material benefits by living upon this earth. He did not live as
a king, yet that did not make him not a king. David had been
anointed king over Israel, yet he was still looking after the
sheep. The Lord Jesus Christ was king. The Lord Jesus manifested in
the flesh, yet he lived with nowhere to lay his head, yet
that didn't remove his sovereignty, did not remove his kingship from
him. He is the king. And in his life, as we are all
aware, when it came to that time of his death, they began to mock
him regarding that he was a king. John 19. And verse 14, and it was the
preparation of the Passover and about the sixth hour. And behold,
and he saith unto the Jews, behold your king. Behold your king. And they cried out away with
him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, shall
I crucify your king? And the chief priests answered,
we have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore
to be crucified and they took Jesus and led him away. The king
of Israel, born into this world yet when presented to his people,
behold your king, they reject him. This is not our king, we
don't have any king except Caesar. And then on the cross, those
words, this is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. God manifest in the flesh. The light dwelt in the darkness,
yet the darkness comprehended it not. He came unto his own
and his own received him not. The king of all the world, born
into this world, yet rejected by his own people and when presented
to his own people as their king, they said, no, he's not our king. We don't want anything to do
with him. Crucify him. Crucify him. Crucify him. But that doesn't make him not
a king. Just because the majority reject
him as king doesn't mean that he loses that title. He was their
king. Yet they failed to believe him
to be their king. You go to the book of Revelation. And as John has that view into
heaven and as he witnesses the unfolding of the last times there
are some certain things that he sees. And one of those things
is the risen Christ sitting at the right hand of God and at
the beginning of Revelation walking through the churches examining
the things that he sees and reporting on the things that he sees. But
in chapter 17 we have in verse 14 it says and
these shall make war with the lamb and the lamb shall overcome
them for he is lord of lords and king of kings And they that
are with him are called the chosen and faithful. And he says unto
me the waters which thou sawest are where the whore sitteth are
the peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues the king
of kings and the lord of lords. We turn over to chapter 19 and
we have the same words again. It's quite a long reading there
but in verse 16 it says, And he hath on his vesture and on
his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. That was the title written upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. Those words, the king with complete
control. the king of kings and the lord
of lords. There's no one above him. There's
no one greater than him. All other kings and all other
masters are subject to this king, the Lord Jesus Christ. We know
at the end of time, every knee will bow at the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And those who cried out, crucify
him, crucify him. He's not our king. We don't want
anything to do with him. We'll ultimately have to bow
down and confess. King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And as David's brothers mocked
him, why aren't you looking after
those few small sheep? You're just a shepherd boy. What
are you going to do in front of this great Goliath? And so
they mocked the Lord Jesus Christ Behold the king as we saw this
morning who putted the crown of thorns upon his head, putted
a robe around about him and mocked him, hail king of the Jews. And so as they mocked David,
so they mocked the Lord Jesus Christ. in verse 45 in the chapter
that we read together. And David said unto the Philistine
now comest to me with the sword and with the spear and with the
shield but I come unto thee in the name of the Lord of hosts
and the God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defied. David was going to gain the victory
over Goliath. David says you will know today
that the Lord doesn't save by sword or spear for the battle
is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands. David beat Goliath with a sling
and a stone. Nothing substantial Yet it was something that he
was used to. Something that he used before to get a victory. Yet his confidence wasn't in
his own ability. His confidence wasn't in the
means that he had. But his confidence lay solely
in God. He says God is able to give you
into our hands. And so the king, David, faces
this giant with a sling and a stone. Now if David had failed, Israel would have been defeated. They said, didn't they, you bring
out your best and we'll bring out our best. If these two fight,
and the one loses will be your slaves. And if we lose, we'll
be your slaves. And so everything hung on this
battle between these two men, David and Goliath. And if David
had failed in his mission to kill Goliath then the army of
Israel would have been overtaken by the Philistines. Ultimately
then the David who is in the line of Christ,
that line would have been broken and so David could not fail.
He had to get the victory and he did so by a small stone and
trusting in the living God. What about Christ? The life of Christ in the sight
of men was small and insignificant was easy for them to get rid
of him, paid Judas, who sold the Lord Jesus Christ into the
hands of sinful men, and he was crucified. Yet in doing so, he
got a great victory. Christ went to battle with Satan,
with sin, and with the grave. And as we see in David and Goliath,
we see Goliath almost like Satan and sin and we see Christ as
David and we see him gaining the victory. And if David had
failed, then the army would have been overtaken. And if Christ
had failed, if it were possible, then sin would never have been
defeated. Satan would never have been defeated. And every single person that
would ever been born on this earth would have gone to hell.
So Christ had to gain the victory because of all that relied upon
him. All that was trusted into his
hands. He became the surety for his
people. He stood in their room and in
their place. And he got the victory. We read in the scriptures that
he cried out, is this finished? And the temple was rent in two
and Christ got the victory. David got the victory and Goliath
fell to his face to the ground and he was dead. Christ got the
victory, the temple curtain was rent in two, the rocks shook,
the earth went dark and Christ died. We turn to the book of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream
and in his dream he saw the kingdoms of the earth in the figure of
a man. The top of the figure was gold
and it goes down to silver then brass and then his legs of iron
and part of clay. And we read that in verse 34
Daniel chapter 2 in verse 34 Thou sawest a stone was cut out
without hands which smote the image upon his feet that were
of iron and clay and break them to pieces. Then was the iron,
the clay and brass, the silver and the gold broken in pieces
together and became like chaff of the summer threshing floor.
the wind carried them away that no place was found for them and
the stone that smoked the image became a great mountain and filled
the whole earth. If we go on, we read that Daniel,
by the help of God, interprets that dream. And he says that
what he sees are the kingdoms of the earth and that small stone
that is taken out without hands is thrown at the bottom of the
statue and that the statue comes down. And that stone, he tells
us in verse 44, In the days of these kings shall
the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed
and the kingdom shall not be left to another people but it
shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall
stand forever. For as much as thou sawest that
the stone was cut out from the mountain without hands, and it
break in pieces, the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver,
and gold, the great God has made known to the king what shall
come to pass hereafter. And the dream is certain, and
the interpretation thereof sure. And so he sees in his dream the
image presented to him through the whole length of time. And
as he sees the kingdoms that are there, Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon, the greatest kingdom, and then all the kingdoms degenerating
from that point until he comes to the iron and clay, the weaker
kingdoms. of our time we could say or of
the last times. Then he sees this small stone
that is brought out of the mountain without any hands, it's not a
natural kingdom and that is the Lord Jesus Christ born of a woman,
born under the law and he came to establish an eternal kingdom
that would destroy all other kingdoms. Every other kingdom
on the face of this earth is limited. Nothing left of great
Babylon. Maybe a few remnants or antiques
but nothing substantial has gone away. We go through history we
see these great powers come and go and there's nothing remains
just a few artifacts. Their power goes. Yet the kingdom
of Christ which starts as a small stone becomes a great mountain. And so David used a small stone
to kill the giant Goliath and to bring him down and to bring
ultimate victory for the people of Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ
who is the rock And he said to the Apostle Peter, flesh and
blood has not revealed these things to you. And upon this
rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. And Christ's kingdom started
in a small way, insignificant way. Twelve or eleven apostles
then the church grew and it grew and it grew. And when we look
round about us it seems like the kingdom of darkness has more
power. The kingdom of darkness is like
a great giant Goliath and we have no strength against this
great army. And the church seems so weak
and insignificant like a little shepherd boy in the front of
a great army of people. Yet Christ has promised that
his church will go on to continue to be built and it will gain
the victory and it will come to a sudden destruction. It will come to a sudden end.
As Daniel said to King Nebuchadnezzar, what you have seen is going to
take place. It is sure that this stone will come and
it will break in pieces all of the other kingdoms. that God
hath made known to the king what shall come to pass. What shall come to pass. We know the scripture tells us
that no person can hinder the revealed will of almighty God. If he has said it shall come
to pass, if he has said that these kingdoms, these earthly
kingdoms are going to be destroyed in a moment by the kingdom of
Christ, it will happen. We read Jesus tells us in Matthew
24 of the last days Verse 25 it says, Behold I've
told you before wherefore if they shall say unto you behold
he is in the desert go not forth behold he's in the secret chambers
believe it not for as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth
even to the west so shall also the coming of the son of man
be whatsoever the carcass is there will the eagles be gathered
together and for as the lightning cometh out of these and shineth
into the west we've all seen lightning we've seen that it
can be dark and then suddenly the lightning comes and the whole
sky is is lit up And it says so will be the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody will be going about
their business. Just like in the days of Noah
then suddenly judgment comes. Suddenly the rain came. Suddenly
Noah and his family entered into the ark. Suddenly the lightning
will come. Suddenly the Lord Jesus Christ
will appear and all of the kingdoms of the earth will be rolled up
and cast into the fire and all of those who have rejected and
said we will not have this man to reign over us, he's not our
king. all of them will be cast into
hell with Satan and his angels. And so Goliath was killed suddenly
by David in all of his pride. He says, look at you, you're
just like a little boy coming to fight a dog, yet he was killed
in an instant and ushered into eternity. And so it will be the
same for the coming of Christ. It will be in an instant. Every
single thing will be over. Every kingdom that Nebuchadnezzar
saw will be smashed to pieces and rolled up in a stone and
the kingdom of Christ will be established forever and ever
and ever and he will be the king of his people and there his people
will be. David will be there King David
will be there with King Jesus. And do I wonder where will we
be? When the Lord Jesus Christ comes again, when he appears
as a lightning, will we be ready before him? Will we be like the
wise virgins who have their lamps burning and as the bridegroom
comes we are able to be invited into the marriage supper of the
Lamb or will we be going out to buy the things that we need?
and come back and find that the door is shut. Or maybe being
able to be like David, to trust in the true and living God, the
Lord of hosts, and to have a complete confidence in him that he is
able to deliver us from the mighty enemy of sin. the mighty Goliath,
that he gained the ultimate victory over sin, over death and over
the grave and those who trust in him are unable to find eternal
life and that they will be with him forever. And so they mocked
David, why camest thou hither? And with whom as they left those
few sheep they mocked Christ, hail king of the Jews. But little
did they know that these were the two that we're going to give
them the victory. David got the victory in Goliath,
Christ got the victory over Satan, who maybe be found in Christ
this night. Amen. Our closing hymn is from Gadsby's
hymn number 837. Repent and waken souls, repent. Hear the good tidings God has
sent of sinners saved and sins forgiven and beggars raised to
reign in heaven. Hymn number 837 to the tune 356. near the good tidings God hath
sent. O sinner, say that sin's forgiven,
and begotten to reign in heaven. He took our weakness, poor of
heart, And did He put us with His blood. He gave His dark dungeon when
we lay, The sacred place But Jesus answered, set them
free, and pardoned them, and punished them. I found my lost thing in the
sand, and it had cried for me. and rejoiced. Sing to the Lord with cheerful
voice. His goodness praises, wonders
tell, who ransomed Dear Lord and Almighty God, we
do thank Thee for Thy Word that Thou hast given to us, that we
might know Thee, the only true God, and Thy Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. We thank Thee for the Gospel
and we pray that the Gospel may go forth with power and that
sinners may believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. We ask that we may be dismissed
with Thy blessing and now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship and the communion
of the Holy Spirit, do rest and abide with us each now and for
evermore. Amen.