Good evening. If you would, open
your Bibles back to 1 Samuel. The subject of my message tonight
is the most famous and most well-known one-on-one battle or fight this
world has ever known. A fight between two people that
when you say their names, everyone immediately knows the story.
For thousands of years, this story has been told across the
four corners of this world. And when I say the names David
and Goliath, everybody immediately knows something about that story.
Even the youngest of children, after hearing the story once
or twice, knows bits and pieces of that story. And I give a description
like that of this story because it's important that we realize
the role that this story plays when we look at it in comparison
to the greatest victory that's ever been achieved. When we look
at it as a comparison and side-by-side by the greatest sacrifice that's
ever been made. When we look at this story of
David and Goliath, we can see so many things about the Lord
Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross. And these stories are
so important for a lot of reasons, but one of the most important
is that our goal here, and every time someone stands in this pulpit,
we want to preach about the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ and
how salvation is completely in Him. And in doing so, we struggle
to find the words and the ways to express it that we can all
enter into it. So we see these stories. And
I think this is why the Lord has made this story so famous
to us. That when I give examples from
that story and say things about it, we all know it. We can recollect
it. I don't have to spend time telling
us what happened. We all understand it. And in doing so, it's so
important that we see so many more little facets and little
things and important details about what the Lord has done
for His children. So we'll take a few minutes tonight
and let's look at this story. Turn with me to 1 Samuel 17,
and let's start in verse 8 with the first words of Goliath. 1 Samuel 17, verse 8. And he stood, and Goliath 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 of Saul? Choose you a man for you, and
let him come down to me. Goliath asked all the men of
Israel to choose you a man. The title of my message tonight
is God Chose a Man. Whenever we do the choosing,
it always ends up badly. The people of Israel had been
given a chance to make a choice. They wanted a king, and they
chose one. They chose Saul, and that's how
they got into the situation they're in right now. Now, why would
God have to choose a man? There's only one reason, and
that's because God had chosen a people. There needed to be
someone who would come and save all these Israelites, all these
soldiers, because Goliath, they were scared of him, and they
needed someone to save him. The Lord Jesus Christ, it says
in Deuteronomy, for thou art an holy people unto the Lord
thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that
are upon the face of the earth. In the Psalms it says, blessed
is the nation whose God is the Lord and the people whom he hath
chosen for his own inheritance. God chose a man because he had
chosen a people that needed to be saved. So when we keep in
mind David here, and we look back at the foundation of where
David came from, realize that he's such a great picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The first time David's name is
ever mentioned, it is said that David is the son of Jesse. The
most important thing we need to know about the Lord Jesus
Christ is he is the son of God. The second time that David's
name is mentioned is when Chris read it. In verse 13, it says
that David was anointed to be king. The second thing we hear
about the Lord Jesus Christ is that he will be king. And as
we go into this story, it's important that we see how much David portrays
our Lord. Look in verse one of 1 Samuel
17. It says here, Now the Philistines gathered together their armies
to battle and were gathered together at Shocho, which belonged to
Judah, and pitched between Shocho and Azekiah in Ephesdamim. And Saul and the men of Israel
were gathered together and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set
the battle in a ray 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 between them. There
is always a battle between God's people and their sin. There's
always a battle for us between our sin, between ourselves. We
struggle constantly with it. And that's who Goliath represents
here in the Philistines. The people of Israel always were
fighting with the Philistines. Throughout everything we read,
there are times when it looks like the Philistines were beaten
and then they came right back and they fought Israel again.
And that's a picture of our sin and this flesh. Any moment we
think we've got them, we think that we have peace with ourselves,
it's just going to snap back up and get us so fast. In this
story, the background of this is there was a time of peace.
There was a treaty between the Philistines and the Israelites.
And guess what happened? The man that we chose to be our
king, Saul went and picked a fight with the Philistines. He went
and attacked a small outpost and killed some Philistines.
So they came to fight. We like to blame our sin for
a lot of things. But even when our sin isn't before
us and isn't causing something, we go search for it. We jump
right back into a fight that we don't need to have. And look
here in verse 4. This is describing our enemy. These measurements say Goliath
was 11 feet 4 inches tall and the armor he wore was 272 pounds. Our enemy is huge and should
have the same effect as Goliath's appearance would have had on
all the soldiers of Israel. When we see our sin, we should
be as scared as every man was that they would be called upon
to face that enemy. All the writers, almost all of
the old writers, have little asterisks beside how tall Goliath
was. And there are some really interesting
things they write. But all of them share the same
thing in common. They all try to come up with
some possible scenario that would make Goliath shorter than 11
feet 4. They say maybe they were using
a measuring system up in the north that was a different measuring
system that could have, maybe a hundred years ago, everything.
But yet the smallest thing that anyone found was around nine
feet. What we constantly do is we try to diminish the enemy
in front of us. We always try to act like our
sin's not that bad. It's not that big of a deal.
Not that if Goliath was nine feet tall, any of those men in
the army of Israel would have been jumping at the chance to
go fight him. The armor signifies our enemy's strength in comparison
to us. We are absolutely no match for
our sin, for our enemy. Look at verse eight. And he stood,
Goliath stood and cried unto the armies of Israel and said
unto them, why are you come out to set your battle in array?
Am I not a Philistine, and you 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." Goliath is offering a chance to end the
battle. These men are fighting every
day. These two armies are fighting against each other, and men are
dying. And he says, how about you send someone out here to
represent all of you? I'll stand here and represent
all the Philistines, and we'll just fight. And he said, all
the dying will be over, but the penalty will be that if I win,
you're our slaves forever, and if you win, we're your slaves.
This is an example of the deal that's before us. If we want
to rationalize with our sin, if we want to think that we can
handle this ourselves, there is a prize to this. If we cannot
sin our entire lives, if we can be perfect, then we will be victorious. But if not, the punishment is
everlasting servitude. We are going to be banished and
servants for the rest of our lives to our sin. Our flesh and
sin are always trying to deceive us, trick us. Goliath's deal
that he's offering, we don't have to go to all this trouble
of war. We can save many lives if you do this. Of course, we
lose everything we bargain with in the flesh. And when we don't
give in to temptation, this is often what happens next. Look
at verse 10. And the Philistines said, I defy your armies of Israel
this day. Give me a man that we may fight
together. We are mocked and ridiculed by
the world. Our enemies, our flesh, our sin
are ever before us, attacking us in the most sensitive of places.
To a soldier, the people that Goliath was saying this, I'm
not sure you could insult them in any worse way. He says to
them, I defy the armies of Israel. The people of Israel, that name
was given to them because of the God of Israel. He said, I
defy your God. And then he says, the armies
of Israel this day, he says, I'm also defying everyone in
your nation. I defy your God, I defy your
family. And then he says, give me a man.
He defies their manhood. It gets to everything that we
hold dear to us. When challenged this way, there's
only one way that we ever react. Look at verse 11. When Saul and
all Israel heard those words of the Philistines, they were
dismayed and greatly afraid. They were troubled and scared
and had no idea what to do. Have you ever been there before?
Have you ever been face to face with something you've done, something
you've said, something before you? Have you ever been troubled
by your sin in that way? Have you ever been scared of
what you might do next? I hope the answer to that is
yes. I hope that we have. Because it's much worse to be
unaware of our sin. Or even worse than that, the
worst possible is to relish or enjoy our sins. And we're all
not away from that. That is something we're all victim
of at times. If we are troubled by our flesh
and our evil nature, we can thank God for showing us who we are
on the inside. And then we can thank Him because
of what always follows a child of God's dismay and fear. The
first words after the end of verse 11, the 11 ends with greatly
afraid, that's where we are. The first response to that is,
now David, whenever we are dismayed, whenever we are greatly afraid,
our Lord is always there. Now at this moment, when all
those soldiers were so scared, did they have any idea that David
was coming? Did they have any idea that David
had already been anointed? Did they have any idea that the
Lord was with David? Did they have any idea that it
was not gonna be long until David came, and not just someone who
would challenge this man, but who would win the victory? Just
because we don't see it or we're not aware of the imminent victory
the Lord will give His children, He is always there. When we're
afraid, look to Him. Always look to Him. Skip down
to verse 16. And the Philistine drew near
morning and evening and presented himself forty days. Forty days
have passed since the first time Goliath came out and spoke. So
we know these two armies have been fighting for 40 days in
the same place. And the first thing these men
heard every morning was that man walk out on the battlefield
and mock them and say, if you're a man, come out here and fight
me. I defy your gods and your country. And the last thing they
heard every night before they went to bed was that man coming
out there and defying them again for 40 days. That means about
80 times he has come out there and yelled that. Now, the first
application to that is how miserable that would have been for them.
How awful it is for every day and night how our sin is ever
before us. It is always there. The second
application to that I see is when David is gonna come to save
these people. After Goliath has challenged
them all so many times, no one can have an excuse. Has any of
you ever had a situation and something happened and after
it happened you thought, If they'd ask me that again, I'd do it. If they'd give me a second chance
to save that person, I'd do it. We say that kind of stuff all
the time. If I had another opportunity, I'd take it. These soldiers,
every one of them in the army, had 40 days and 40 nights, an
opportunity to stand up and defend what this man was saying to them.
All those opportunities for one person to stand up and say, you're
not going to talk about our God like that. But no one did. And
that's us. We are never going to stand up
to our sin. Part of that is because we're
cowards. Part of that is because our inability and so many other
things that make us too weak to even think we could do it.
But that's where we are. So what do we need? Look in verse
17. And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren
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. Now Saul and they and all the
men of Israel were in the valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines.
The father sent the son to go to the battle. Jesse sent David
to go fight. Well, David didn't even know
he was going to fight, but he sent him to go fight. Look in
verse 20. And David rose up early in the
morning and left the sheep with a keeper. When the sun left,
he rose immediately. When he was told, he went and
he left the sheep with a keeper. Our Lord never leaves a single
sheep unattended. And he 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. And Israel
and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against
army, and David left his carriage in the hand of a keeper of the
carriage and ran into the army and came and saluted his brethren.
And as David 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. When David arrived at the battle,
the first thing he heard was Goliath's defiance. And let's
look at his reaction. Verse 24, 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's come up? Surely to defy Israel is
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. All the
men, again, remember this is around the 80th time he's walked
out there, and their immediate reaction is all the men of Israel,
when they saw the man, fled from him and were sore afraid. Look
at verse 26 and let's listen to David's reaction to this.
And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall
be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away
the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised
Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? I love that when these men say
something, they say things like, have you seen this man? They
keep saying words like, have you seen him? And the words like,
visually seeing him. David speaks nothing of that. All David's concerned about is
his, who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy
the armies of the living God? David says, who is going to go
out there and take care of this? David doesn't know that this
has been happening 80 days or 80 times. The first time he hears
it, he says, who's going out here to do this? Who's the king
appointed to go fight and slay this man? Verse 27 says, And
the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall
it be done to the man that killeth him. 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 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." Poor Eliab here is such a great example of us.
We saw in the beginning that Samuel first looked at Eliab,
the oldest of the boys, and he said, this must be him. Looking
at him, he must be the one that's gonna be king. Now we see Eliab
here, and Eliab has a reaction that I think any older brother
would have for his 12th baby brother. Eliab is big and a warrior. You think he's been fighting
in this army a long time. and he is upset because David
comes and says, who's gonna go kill this man? Eliab is upset
as we are. When someone comes, when the
Lord Jesus Christ comes to save his children, why is it that
we get so angry that he might get the victory? Eliab here has
had 80 opportunities to step up and fight Goliath, and he
doesn't want to do it. He won't do it. But the moment
that someone else wants to step up, he cannot handle, his younger
brother would get the glory. And that's us. We cannot, even
those children of God that have been taught and told so many
things about the Lord Jesus Christ and what He's done for His children,
we still somehow, it constantly creeps into us that we might
be able to get some of the glory. And mankind, this flesh, that's
what we do. We want the glory. We want it
all. And look what David says to him. And David simply said,
what have I now done? Is there not a cause? David had
a cause to be there. His father sent him. That was
his cause. But more importantly than that,
David actually had a cause. There are three other definitions
of the word cause that's used as a noun like this, and listen
to what the three are. At the end of that verse, the
phrase says, is there not a cause? The first is, is there not a
purpose? The second is, is there not belief? or conviction? And the third
is, is there not an action? Are we not justified to act?
The Lord Jesus Christ came with a purpose. He came with a purpose. He came with conviction that
something had to be done. He had to save His sheep. And
third, He was justified. He was perfect and holy that
He might act on behalf of His people and save them. This is
what David felt when his brother said that. And in verse 30, David
turned from him toward another. He didn't give his brother any
more thought. He turned to 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 spoke, they rehearsed them
before Saul, and he sent for him. David kept saying the same
thing over and over again. It's important to see the picture
here. David did not feel like it was the time or his place
to make the decision. He was not going to give the
order for himself to go. He kept saying someone has to
do something until he came before the king and the king in a minute
will be the one who gives the order. Look at verse 32. And
David said to Saul when he came before the king, because all
these men, all these soldiers kept saying, there's this guy
out here who keeps talking about somebody's got to go do something.
He's acting like he's going to do it. And David said to Saul,
"'Let no man's heart fail because of him, "'thy servant will go
and fight with this Philistine.'" That line, let no man's heart
fail because of him. That is what the Lord constantly
reminds us of. He constantly tells us, let no
man's heart fail because of him. Don't fret, don't worry because
of your sin. It has been paid for, it's been
punished, it's taken care of. 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, and he a man of war from his
youth. Saul says, you can't go fight him because you're not
like him. He said, you can't go fight him. You're not like
him at all. That's exactly why he could go
fight him. The Lord Jesus Christ could conquer
our sin because he wasn't like us. He didn't commit the sin. He didn't sin. He was perfect. So he was the able sacrifice,
the able replacement, the substitute for us. We couldn't go fight
it ourselves because we couldn't win. We are what we were going
to try to defeat. But He was different. He was
the right substitute. So in verse 33, Verse 34, And
David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and
there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock.
David's trying to give Saul a reason. He's trying to explain that he's
able to do this. Verse 35, 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. David tells a story, or a couple stories, of times that
he defended the flock against a lion and a bear. And this is
a really great story, and I remember as a kid just listening to this
thinking, he defeated a lion and a bear with like his bare
hands? and thinking how amazing that
was. And he's expressing to Saul that, I can fight. This is not
a battle I can't win. But there's a couple important
things to learn from this that are great. The first one is that
he's keeping his father's sheep. What a picture that is for us.
But it says, a lion and a bear took a lamb out of the flock.
In verse 35 it says, I went out after him. The first thing is
the shepherd goes after his sheep immediately. The shepherd always
protect the sheep. The next says, and I smote him
and delivered it out of his mouth. The first thing the shepherd
does is protect and make sure the safety of the sheep is the
most important thing. The next line is about him smoting
them. He did not smote the lion or kill the lion, then get the
sheep. He got the sheep, then he smote
the lion. God's purpose is the sheep. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save his people. He didn't come to punish sin.
He came to save his people from their sin. And then if we look
more, it says, "...delivered it out of his mouth, and when
he rose against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him
and slew him." Let me add this one thing to it. We talk about
God chose a man. Let me show you an example here
of how we know that God chose David. If you know anything about
a lion or a bear, and we'll just use a lion for this, when they
go after something and attack something, they're going to kill
it. And the sheep is well known for
the only defense mechanism it has is it bleats or it tries
to run away. And sheep don't really run. They
don't have any defense mechanism. And that's a great example of
us. But I had never thought of this before. It says that the
lion and the bear took the sheep in their mouths and fled. There is no way that a lion grabs
a sheep, attacks a sheep, grabs it, takes it away, and the lamb
survives that. There's no way that happens.
Lions are excellent hunters. They go after a weak spot, they
find something, and oftentimes the prey is dead before they're
even running away with it. But it says here that the shepherd
went and the sheep, he delivered them out of the mouth. We are
protected by our shepherd no matter what happens. Despite
the moments that we think that we're in the jaws of our sin,
that we're in the mouth of our enemy, a place that really seems
like there's no way we will ever escape, it's not enough to think
that we could possibly escape. If you're a child of God, you're
never in any eternal danger. None. Though the lion has the
sheep in its mouth, the sheep is protected. We have to remember
that. We don't ever realize it, but
the victory has already been won. Okay, look at verse 37. 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
the Philistine. And Saul said unto him, David, go, and the
Lord be with thee. Saul sent him away and said,
go and the Lord be with thee. That is a wonderful phrase to
be sent off on. The Lord makes us to choose him. He convinces us of his worthiness
to be our representative. And the prerequisite to anything
is simply the Lord be with thee. If the Lord is with us, that's
our victory. Always remember the victory is
if the Lord is with us. The child of God can't be focused
on the short-term outcome of anything. The Lord already has
the victory, and in Him, that's where our victory is. Look at
verse 38. So remember, Saul just told David,
ìGo, the Lord be with thee.î Verse 38 says, ìAnd Saul armed
David with his armor, and he put a helmet of brass upon his
head. Also he armed him with a coat of mail.î Saul said, ìYou
go fight him, but take all of my stuff with you because youíre
going to need it.î As sinners, it is so hard to
put down our sword, our shield of self-righteousness, and all
these things that we just feel like we have that will some way
help us. Saul could not finish with, the Lord be with thee,
and let it at that. We need to remember, just stop
adding anything. Stop trying to be of any help
at all. It never does any good. And look what David said, verse
39, And David girded his sword upon his armor, and he was saved
to go, and he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul,
I cannot go with these, for I have not proven them. And David put
them off. I think David here is actually a good example of
Lord's mercy and graciousness and kindness to us. David was
never going to wear these things, but instead of insulting the
king or doing anything, David just said, I haven't proved it.
I can't take this with me. I'm going to go fight this on
my own. And verse 40, and he 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. David took only what he needed
from being a shepherd. The shepherd doesn't need anything
else. The shepherd's staff is plenty for him. The Lord was
a shepherd. That's all He is. He protects
His sheep. He didn't need anything else.
Now look at verse 41, and we face off with the two men. And
the Philistine came on and drew near unto David, and the man
that bare the shield went before him. And when the Philistine
looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but
a youth, and ruddy, and of fair countenance. And the Philistine
said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou shouldst come to me
with staves? And the Philistine cursed David
by his gods. And the Philistine 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. David went out there without
the armor, without the same weapons that the Philistine had. When
the battle takes place, whatever we bring is what we'll fight
with. We can either be in the Lord, we can be found in Him,
or we can be backing the one that has the biggest armor, the
one who has the biggest sword, the one who stands the tallest.
And in verse 45 it says, Then said David 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. You remember
what Goliath said to David, the first words? We didn't say it
to David, but the very first words he said, Choose you a man
to come fight to me? There's a similar thing in Luke
23, and it says, "...and the people stood beholding, and the
rulers also with them derided him at the cross, saying, He
saved others, let him save himself, if he be Christ the chosen of
God." Right before his death, He's taunting David in the same
way that the men taunted the Lord. The moment before the great
victory, man will still be standing there in defiance, blind and
ignorant to what is about to happen. Whatever battle you're
facing, make sure to come in the name of the Lord of the Host.
If you have a different motive or are on the wrong side, you
better stand down immediately. If you haven't asked the Lord
for guidance or He hasn't given you guidance yet, just sit down
and wait. This is advice that I have to
take. Listen to Matthew 15. It says,
They be blind leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead
the blind, both shall fall in the ditch. I will bring the blind
by a way that they know not. I will lead them in paths that
they have not known. I will make darkness light before
them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them,
and not forsake them. Goliath came with what he was
fighting with, and David said to him, you came with all these
weapons, you came with your self-righteousness, you came with your good deeds,
you came with all these things, but I'm coming in the Lord, the
Lord will be my victory. And in verse 45, then said David
to the Philistine, Let's go to the end. 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 carcasses 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. David says here, I will do all
of this for the glory of God. This is for Him. I'm not fighting
you, I'm not standing before you thinking I can defeat you,
but the Lord of hosts is with me. And I'm standing here because
I know that if I stand before you, it will be known that there
is a God in Israel. When the Lord Jesus Christ made
His sacrifice and all the people were mocking Him standing before
Him, He was doing it knowing that He was saving His sheep
and God be the glory. God would get it all. All right,
let's finish looking at verse 47. And this assembly shall know
that the Lord saveth not with the sword and the spear, for
the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you under our hands.
And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose and came and
drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted and ran toward the
army to meet the Philistine. David had a sling, a long-range
weapon, that the distance was his ally. But it says, when Goliath
was ready to fight, David hurried and ran right at him. Verse 49,
and David put his hand in his bag and took fence a stone and
sling it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone
sunk into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth. This story has always been quoted,
or I've always heard it in common description in movies and all
these things, as the great underdog story. As this amazing victory
over this young boy David, who's a teenager, never been in battle
before, going to fight the largest, greatest warrior of all time.
Which is ironic because I would like to say that Goliath was
this great underdog, but to say that Goliath was an underdog
would imply that he actually had a chance to win. When this
battle started, Goliath had a 0% chance of victory. When the Lord
Jesus Christ became a man, it was a done deal. His victory,
His success, His sacrifice for His children, His sheep, was
100% done. It was as if He'd already done
it. Complete victory in Him. Look here at verse 50. Well, at the end of that it says,
"...and He fell upon His face to the earth." Goliath was hit
in the forehead with a stone, which physics would tell you
he would fall backwards, but instead he fell forward on his
face. All people, all men, will fall
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ one way or another. It will either be in bowing or
it will be in death. And in verse 50 it says, So David
prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone,
and smote the Philistine and slew him, but there was no sword
in the hand of David. 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. What about the Scriptures, and
there are a lot of them that use this phrase, his enemies
will be made his footstool." It says, David ran and stood
upon the Philistine. He stood on him. Then we see
that he took his sword and drew it out. Whatever weapon, whatever
we choose to take with us when we stand before God, that will
be the weapon that will be used against us. If we want to walk
with our good works, we will fall short. If we think our self-righteousness
is enough, we think our family name, our church attendance,
our baptism, whatever it is, we will find out that that is
going to be the thing that will slay us. And then David used
the sword and cut off the head of the Philistine. And when the
Philistine saw their champion was dead, they fled. I'm sure
there was an interesting moment of when these men were on two
sides of a hill watching this happen and David from a long
way looked like he was swinging his wrist and all of a sudden
Goliath, this huge man, just went and just fell face first
on the ground. And I'm not sure if there were
people who thought maybe he tripped, maybe he's going to get right
up, who knows what happened. There was no doubt in the last
moment when David cut off his head and ended the departure,
the reign of Goliath. There is no doubt when the Lord
Jesus Christ arose from the grave that the victory was His. All
the sins of His people, all of them, they were gone. There's
no doubt about it. The victory is His. And if we
keep going, In verse 52 it says, And the men of Israel and of
Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines until they came
to the valley of the gates of Ekron. And these men chased them
and came back and they took everything that they had. And in closing,
let me go back to something that was said earlier in this chapter
about what was told to David would be the spoils of the victory.
Look back at verse 25. And the men of Israel said, Have
you seen this man that has come up? Surely to defy Israel is
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. So for this victory, David would
get great riches. David would get to marry the
daughter of the king, and his father's house would all be free
in Israel. When the Lord Jesus Christ saved
his people, when he was the sacrifice for all of his children, these
are the three things that all of his sheep get. They will be
enriched with great riches. The child of God gets everything
that the Lord Jesus Christ gave them. We get his righteousness,
we get his holiness, and we get to dwell with him. Secondly,
the Lord Jesus Christ gets His Father's child. The child of
God is the Bride of Christ. Because He was victorious, we
are His betrothed. We get to be with Him. And thirdly,
it says, make His Father's house free in Israel. All the people,
all the chosen people of God will be free forever in glory. So the three things we get, we
get the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, we become
His bride, and we get to spend forever in freedom from sin and
glory. That's what we get because of
what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross for His sheep. All
right.