Let's turn to 1st Samuel 17.
1st Samuel 17. Has a good song and it goes right
with a point I want to make. I hope I can make a point. I'd like to find some sinners.
Wouldn't that be good? I'd like to go out in the public,
walk up down the street and bump into somebody that was a sinner.
Not somebody that had sinned, not somebody that does some sins,
but they're the now. That's what they are. That's
their instinct. And if I did, I have good news
to tell them. And then after I tell them the good news, they're
going to get really upset because they won't see much of a change.
They're not going to have some magnificent new understanding
and enlightenment on all things, and they won't be walking as
they wish they would walk, and they're going to see their sin.
And actually, as they grow older in this walk of faith, in this
life that we live, in this new creation, that sin's going to
get worse and worse and worse and worse. We're not getting
better and better and better and better. The more I understand,
the more I understand I don't understand nothing. And the more wicked I am, and
my thoughts and my intents, and the little bit I see in this
heart that so easily deceives me, it's just, it's terrible. Would you be made whole? Would
you have eternal life? It's gonna come at a cost. You're
gonna, everything, all that comfy life you had in that church you
was playing is gonna get shook up. Lord asked it would you be
made whole well if I hadn't found a sinner that that was they were
the noun Not not well, and I'm just so bad that I'll wait till
I clean up some before I go now you still self-righteous we'll
sit in a minute, but If I found somebody that was just desperate
and in need, a dead dog sinner, and the Lord worked in them,
and I gave them good news, and the Lord made it effectual, and
he did all that, he planted and he watered and he gave increase,
and then they were going through those trials of like, man, I
think it's getting worse. I said, it seems that way, don't
it? Then I can give them comfort. Comfort them. Comfort them. You know how much great comfort
I see in David and Goliath? Goliath, I hope we can see, this
is a diamond, okay? There's a lot of facets to it.
There's a whole lot of points. Maybe like the Ark, we spent
six messages, I think, on Noah's Ark in a row. Cameron said, you
got time? But if we go through 1 Samuel,
we may spend a lot of time on David and Goliath, multiple times.
There's a whole lot there, but I want you to see Goliath as our sin.
Does your sin bother you? If you're a sinner, I'm talking
to God's people, if you're sinners, does your sin bother you? I don't
like mine. And it speaks, how in the world
could the accuser of the brethren, who's already been defeated,
best to play out, says to me, how in the world could you be
a child of God? It's what my old flesh says to my new man.
You? There's no way. I hope this is
personal, not facts and a creed or a statement of faith or something
like that. I hope God speak to us one-on-one. Get us by ourselves and talk
to us. Do something in us. We're going to bounce through
these I thought that old writer too, he said, a sinner's a precious
thing. The Holy Ghost has made them so. God's got to make those. I want to bounce around a little
bit in 1 Samuel 17 a little bit, but I think it's going to be
a blessing to you. I really think the Lord blessed. He did it to
me. This is the story of David and Goliath. This is widely known.
Even in this reprobate country, that God's turned over to wickedness.
Most people, I would imagine, if you walked down the streets
and you heard David and Goliath, they would tell you something
about a little fella and a sling and a giant, wouldn't they? And
then he won. It was a little boy, a teenage
boy or something, and he had a sling, and there was a giant,
and he beat up the giant. He won, he killed him. And this,
especially right after the New Year's, is often preached from
heretical pulpits. I don't know if I had a stronger
word out of God's word to say, I'd say it. They're heretics,
and they're deceiving men and women, souls. They preach this as a story as
a little man that can overcome. You ever read them little children's
books? It's so nice, and they're in crayon, and look at this,
and you're teaching your children to be heretics from birth. It's
not the little man overcoming or they'll say, well, when you
meditate on your faith and you push through the difficulty and
be victorious or the power of positive thinking, right? Just
lean on your faith. Let me tell you something. I
want to say it as plain as I can. That's a false hope. If you're
relying on your experiences and the words of dead men of the
past or whatever, the heretics that lied on God or your grandparents
or anything else, and you're leaning on your faith or something
like that, it's a false hope. Paul said, for whatsoever things
were written afore time, this was written before Paul was,
were written for our learning. We're gonna learn something.
That we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, it's
gonna take a long time. How do we get them patients through
trials? And we're gonna have to get comfort from these scriptures
that we might have hope. Hope. What's that hope? There's
billboards down the road there, right? Get hope this year. Is
that one of your goals? Well, if they knew what it meant,
I pray so. What's hope? Who's our hope? Who's our hope? Our greater David's our hope.
Colossians 1.27 says, To whom God would make known what is
the riches of his glory, of the mysteries among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Hope's a person. Our
expected outcome, our expected end, that's what the word means.
Not wishy-washy, like that'd be nice if that happened. We
got 85% chance. Our expected outcome is him. He's our hope. He's our hope. The story of Dave and Goliath,
it's a picture of Christ. If you miss that, you missed
it all. You're beating the air. It ain't
worth nothing. And you're giving people false
hope and you're not building the kingdom of God, you're destroying
the kingdom of God. That's called an enemy. This story of David Gloth, it's
a picture of Christ, the captain of our salvation. I wanna show
you just a few things. Here in 1 Samuel 17, look here
in verse 17. David was sent of his father.
1 Samuel 17, 17. And Jesse said unto David his
son, now, take now for thy brethren an effa of parched corn and these
10 loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren, and carry these
10 cheeses to 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 the
Philistines. And David rose up early in the
morning and left the sheep with the keeper and took and went
as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the trench, way
down the trenches, as the host was going forth to the fight
and shouted for the battle. He came in. The father sent Christ
his son to this earth, didn't he? And did he sleep in? Nowhere in the Bible it talks
about it being good to sleep in. It's good to rise up early. Get
up early in the morning, be good for you. He got up early, right
when it was time. Right in the beginning, didn't
he? He stood up, made that covenant of grace throughout time. But
he came onto this earth, came right down here in the trenches
to be about his father's business. David hears a picture in Christ,
and David wasn't received by his brethren. Can you believe
that? He brought all these good tidings and gifts. I brought
something good for you, and you didn't like it. No, surely that
wouldn't happen. It happened to David. Look here,
verse 28, 1 Samuel 17, 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 hither? And with whom hast thou left those few sheep in
the wilderness? Ain't you got something else to be doing? What
are you doing down here? You got a job to do. I know thy pride
and thy naughtiness of thine heart, for thou art come down
that thou might see the battle. He said, David, you come down
here, you just want to watch a bunch of people get killed.
Remember what we looked at? Wednesday, you can get people to watch somebody
kill somebody with you, but they won't stick around with a dead
body. He said, you're coming down just to watch somebody die.
Teenagers want to see war going on. Probably played war your
whole life. He said, I know your pride. I know your naughtiness
of your heart. What happened there, Lord? He
came unto his own, and his own received him not. David was there,
and I get it. Lord's teaching me. He came with
good things, not asking nothing of his brethren. Here, have this.
And they, boy, they started giving it to him, didn't they? The Lord
came here, never offended nobody. He came unto his own and his
own received nothing. He came to that nation of Israel.
They had nothing to do with him. He came to this own creation,
as Luther said, made a real good point on that. He wasn't speaking
when he came to his own people, those that he laid his life down
for. He owns everything. It's his. He came here, and it
rejected him. Didn't want nothing to do with
him. They said, just like Eliab told him, he said, it's pride
not as a heart, David. Oh, do you know the hearts of
men, Eliab? Mankind thinks we do, don't we?
We do. I think I know motives. I don't. But that's what that, Lord gave
that illustration, that parable. And that one fellow looked at
him, said, we won't have this man reign over us. Remember that?
He said, you're an austere man. He said, you reap where you don't
sow. You ain't fighting this battle, David. You just come
down here to watch. You're reaping where you don't sow. He was sent
of his father. He was not received by his brethren.
And then David was sent. He was despised. He was maligned
by his brethren. And he effectually won the battle.
What's that mean? Got the job done. He defeated
the enemy that no one else could or would. because they didn't
even know what it consisted of. They'd never seen nothing like
that. I want to set the stage of where this took place, David
and Goliath. It was two big old mountains
on either side of a valley. The valley was in the middle,
and there's big old mountains on either side. And Israel was at war with
the Philistines. And over on one mountaintop,
it was all Israel, the nation of Israel, physical nation. And
on the other hilltop was the Philistines. And every day, down
in this valley, here come this giant. and he would make his
challenge. He would cod his demands and
tell what ought to happen. And this giant, we can read through,
this is a long chapter. I should have asked you if you
wanted to, to read it beforehand, but I forgot to. It's a long
chapter, but you can read, he was six cubits tall and a span,
six cubits and a span tall. Do you know how tall that is?
That's real tall. I wasted so much time reading
old dead fellas on how tall that was. It's anywhere between nine
and a half feet to 12 feet. And I thought, can you tell the
difference between somebody that's 10 feet tall and 11 feet tall?
It don't matter. It's big, okay? You're a big
fella. When I get it, we'll see the
fear in a second. I don't encounter, I don't pay attention to how
tall people are, unless they're taller than me. It ain't often I bump into
somebody I see eye to eye with, and I'll say, this is odd. And
if somebody, I turn around one time at a grocery store, I ducked
underneath the thing they had in the store, and that guy said,
they don't think about us tall folks, do they? And I said, no, they
don't. I turned, and I was about right here on him. Oh, buddy. I mean, I got goosebumps. I didn't
know what to do. I've experienced that. God's telling us, this
enemy, bigger than you. A lot bigger than you, a lot
bigger than you. And more than that, Verse five there says,
in 1 Samuel 17, five, he had a helmet of brass upon his head.
That was the finest protection at the time. And he was armed
with a coat of mail. And the weight of the coat was
5,000 shekels of brass. We called that battle rattle
when I was going in. That's your kit, that's your armor plating,
your armor vest, the stuff you carry on it, and your helmet.
And it weighed about 200 pounds. and he had brass shin guards
on him. This man was a giant. He was
huge, way bigger than you, and what he wore for protection weighed
more than you do. It was good stuff, good stuff.
Verse 7, and the staff, that's the defensive weapons, here's
the offensive weapons. And the staff of his spear was like a
weaver's beam. That's the thing that supports
a weaver shuttle. And his spear's head weighed
600 shekels of iron, and one bearing a shield went before
him. His spear was about 26 foot long, 26 foot. And the head of it weighed about
20 pounds. We split wood yesterday and I picked up a nine pound
hammer. We call it sledgehammers in other parts of the world.
I picked that up and you try to see how close I'll see if
I'm still strong. I see how close to the end of
that handle I could hold that sledgehammer out and I can't hold it as far
to the end as I used to and I thought that's just nine hits only this
long. Here's a 26 foot long spear. It's like a piece of wrought
iron fence or something and then the head of it weighs 20 pounds.
That's the piercing end. I don't know if I could pick
that up. He carried it as a javelin, as a spear. He could throw it
where he wanted to. What does that teach us? What does seeing
his armor, which we've been given armor, but seeing his armor,
what's that teach us? This is a mighty warrior and
this is your enemy. And this man came yelling and
carrying all these things without a struggle. He didn't break a
sweat. What's that? What's that teaching us? You
ain't no match for him. You can't win. This is an enemy
that you have no hope of overcoming. I mean, none. None. He comes and he says something.
We see these things, but then he says something to them. I'm
going to paraphrase what Goliath said. He'd go down that valley
and he would yell up that hill, and you'd probably hear him,
to the army of Israel. And he said, you, instead of
using your whole army, ain't I Philistine enough for you?
Instead of using your whole army, why don't you just send one man
out to fight me? He said, you trust your king.
Remember Saul, that one, Israel said, we want a king like everybody
else wants a king. And Sam went down and said, no, you don't.
And they said, yeah, we do. The whole time, Sam never mentioned
it. They needed a ruler, didn't they? Somebody tell them what
to do and when to do it. They had Samuel, and he spoke of God. He just told you what God said.
You had one, you didn't want it. So they want Saul, and they
got it. And he said, you trust Saul. You like him. You voted him in. You wanted
a king. You trust him. You trust his judgment, don't
you? If he says do something, you'll do it. Let him pick the
best fighter, and I'll fight that man. And then if that chosen
man wins, if Saul's chosen man, the one he picks out, this king
picks out, if he wins, all the Philistines are gonna be your
slaves. We'll lay down our guns and we'll come, we'll just do
whatever you tell us to do. But if I win, all of Israel is gonna
be my slaves. It's gonna be the Philistine
slaves. It says in verse 11, When Saul and all of Israel heard
those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly
afraid. You know what that means? They're scared to death. You
know what it means if I'd have heard something like that? I'd
be scared to death. These consequences are great.
I mean, even if I was one of them that lived, I ain't no match
for the opponent, and I ain't no match for the outcome. It's
just, it's too much. I can't swing that. I'd be afraid
too, wouldn't I? And you know what fear and anxiety
and unbelief all is? Sin. Sin. The Holy Ghost comes
when the Lord works in somebody. Not everybody. That's why I was
talking about a noun. I want to find a sinner. Not a verber, a nouner. So that's
really what they are. And the Holy Ghost comes to them
and He convicts them of sin. Because what's that sin? Well,
I was drinking and chewing and No Not even not even play in
church, which is the outcome of it because they believe not
on me Why would I be fearful God's on his throne What's wrong
we're gonna see David which David is a picture of Christ and this
is magnificent and then but as a picture of us believers there's
days and I have no fear in me, and I don't care what somebody
thinks. I don't care what somebody says,
and I don't care what happens. Lord's on his throne, he's doing
it. Here's what he says, now lead me, follow me, or get out
of my way. And then later on in life, what's
David do? Let Spittle run down his beard and act like he's a
madman? That's a man after God's own heart. That's us, isn't it?
He saved us, but we're in this old man of flesh. John recorded
what the Lord said of sin, because you believe not on me, there
in John 16. And then later on in life, John recorded this in
1 John 2. He said, my little children, these things I write
unto you, that you sin not. And I thought, you know, you
could say that you fear not, that you have no anxiety. And
if any man sin, and when you are afraid, We have an advocate
with the Father, Christ Jesus the righteous. He's on his throne.
These things that's happening in your life ain't by accident
and it ain't the devil getting an upper hand over you or God
or anybody else. It's the Lord allowing it to
happen for his glory. Now if we could understand those things
and see this world through those eyes, we'd have a lot better
time. We'd be a lot happier walking around in this world, wouldn't
we? Might limp while you're walking around. Might be in a wheelchair,
but we'd be happier when we did it. I pray God do that for me.
I pray often he does that for you too. sins this giant that so easily
besets us, isn't it? He says in verse 24, and all
the men of Israel, what's it say? All the men of Israel. Is
this that nation? This is what took place physically
in that nation, but that physical nation typifies that spiritual
nation. They're not all Israelites born
of Israel. Spiritually speaking, this is all us, okay? All the
men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were
so afraid. Are you afraid of what you do
if God take his hand off of you? Or you got a good handle on it? I'm so afraid. God keep me. Keep me. This is precious. And
the men of Israel said, have you seen this man that's come
up? Why don't you put your sin away? Have you seen sin? Why
don't you keep the law? Have you heard the law? You that
want to keep it? Have you seen him? Surely he
came to defy Israel as he come up. That's why he come, he come
kill us. That's bad. And then here's the reward, or
this is an inheritance, if you will. Look at the second part
of verse 25. And it shall be that the man who killeth him,
the king will enrich him with great riches. And this is precious.
I got this underlined and highlighted. And will give him his daughter. The victor, the one that puts
away this mighty enemy that nobody can do, he's going to get the
king's daughters. You remember us looking at that?
That's in Psalm 45, wasn't it? The king's daughters? Who's that?
I always remember this because that's the hospital in Ashland,
King's Daughters Hospital. And that's us. We're the king's
daughters. What's this inheritance going
to come? What's this great war going to come if somebody defeats
this great enemy? You're going to get the people
for your inheritance. You're going to get the king's daughters
and make his father's house free in Israel, verse 26. And David
spake to the man that stood by him, saying, what shall be done
to the man that killed this Philistine? And taketh away the reproach
from Israel. This ain't just you not being enslaved. This is reproachable. This is
a reproach. It's shameful. It didn't even
happen. For who is this uncircumcised
Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?
You afraid of this uncircumcised Philistine? Don't you know we're
God's people? What's David asking? Why are
you afraid? God's on his throne. We're his people. Fear not. What's
Christ come to us do when we see overwhelmed with our sin
and we say we can't do nothing about it? He comes to his people
in great fear and says, fear not. Fear not. Look down at verse
32. And David said to Saul, let no
man's heart fail because of him. Don't let your heart be troubled.
It wasn't Christ that sent us a bunch of beggars and blind
folks. He said this to the apostles. He said, don't let your heart
be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. I'm going
to prepare a place for you. David's about to go prepare a
place for Israel, isn't he? With Goliath. He said, let not your
heart fail because of him, thy servant will go and fight this
Philistine. Well, Saul didn't believe it. He said, this enemy
is too mighty. Look at 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. He's been doing this his whole
life and you ain't even a man yet. Many people think they're
too big of a sinner to be saved. What a horrible thought. What
a high thought of self and a low thought of the Savior. And people
say, I'm too sinful for Christ to deal with me. That is not
humility, that is blasphemy. Because you don't know Him. And
you don't truly know what sin you are. And you think you can
do something about it. That's for the unbeliever. Oftentimes
even believers. even those that are purchased
possessions of the king. We think too highly of the opposition
we face and too little of our Lord. Christ has already fulfilled
the law. He's already crushed Satan's
head. How will he not freely give us
all things? Now, we're still in this world. We still sin.
We still have pain and all the things that go with the sin.
But he's already done all these things. Not that we diminish
it and say, oh, well, let's go send more that grace may abound.
God forbid. That's not what I'm saying at all, and you know that.
But why are we so overwhelmed with what we are and what we
commit and the heart that it comes from and not consumed with
our victor? not consumed with our captive
of our salvation, let's put these things away. He's already dealt
with the law. He's already conquered Satan.
He's put our sin away on that cross, but we're still in it. Why are we worried about it?
I don't want to sin anymore at all. I wouldn't encourage anybody
to. But if we're getting it down, we're looking to our sin, our
enemy, and not our Savior. You hear me? Now, this is good. The Lord has to do it. I want
Him to apply that to me. When I'm wallowing around in
pity and be like, I'm covered in sin. I'm looking to my sin
and I'm not looking to the one that saved me from my sin. And
I want to look to Him. I ain't faithful to do that.
I tell you good news, he is. He's faithful. He's faithful. David tells Saul about that bear
and that lion. He said a bear came, I was watching
the sheep, and a lion came. Do you remember what that was?
We looked at that in Psalm 23. I'm the remembrancer today. Remember
what the Lord said about that? That great shepherd? We went
and looked at this. That law was the bear. He fulfilled
it. And Satan's that line that goes
about roaring, seeking whom he may devour, he killed that too. He conquered both. How did David
do such great things? Look at verse 37. 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. How'd you do all that? The Lord was
with me. David said, well, I was getting pretty good at bear fighting.
He said, the Lord did these things. And Saul said unto David, go
and the Lord be with you. What a thing. At the declaration
of what God would do, his people bow. Kings bow. all will bow
someday. Remember what Eli told Samuel
a long time ago when Samuel was young? Samuel told him the whole
thing, the whole dream he had, what was going to happen. It
wasn't good news for Eli and Eli said, it is the Lord, let
him do what seemeth him good. Samuel just sat back, leave it
alone. Lord's on his throne. Child of God, Christ has put
away your sin. He's defeated your accuser. He's
fulfilled the law for you. Don't doubt him because of your
sin or your lack of ability or your lack of faith. Believe him
because of his ability and his faith. That's why. Saul tries to give David his
armor and a sword. That ain't gonna happen. That
ain't gonna happen. Our God is a God of means. That's
so. But he will not use our strength. He will not use our wisdom. He
will not use our methods to accomplish what he's going to accomplish.
It says in verse 40, verse 17, 40. He refused Saul's armament and
his weapons, but 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 a script. And his sling
was in his hand and he drew near to the Philistine. He had a wooden
staff. You get that shepherd took a
wooden staff. a sling, and five smooth stones."
That's what he had. That's what he went to fight
this amazing giant with amazing armor and amazing offensive weapons.
He just took a wooden staff, a sling, and five smooth stones. Verse 42, and when the Philistine
looked about and saw David, he disdained him. For he was a youth,
and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. This Philistine despised his
youth. Paul told Timothy, he said, let not people despise
your youth, Timothy. You got the word of God. Don't
care what them old folks say, you go preach to them. And that's
a good thing, because I thought, you know, Christ was 30 years
old when he entered his public ministry. And that was a lot
of my life, I thought, 30's old. Up to about 29 and a half, I
thought 30 was old. And you know what now? 30 ain't
that old. If somebody 30 years old came
up to me and started giving me life lessons, I'd tell them to
hush and go beat it. I don't need to listen to what
you got to say. Christ's youth was despised. Why not? Just like
David. David's youth was despised. David
knew something. Christ is Almighty God in human
flesh. And he was of a fair countenance.
Well, that's opposite, isn't it? Sometimes there's types and
sometimes there's anti-types. Remember I was teaching that?
David was a pretty boy. Handsome. Good looking. He wasn't
scarred up. Didn't have wrinkles. Hadn't been out in the sun too
much. He was a pretty boy. And he's young. Why is that despised? That's a battlefield. I don't
want a pretty boy on the battlefield. I want a man. I don't want somebody
that's inexperienced. I want somebody that's got some
scars on them and they've got some dirt on them. And this Philistine
looked on this one just as Christ is absolutely lovely and of a
fair countenance to all his people. Isn't he beautiful to you? But
in this body, in this world, there's nothing about him that
the world loved. He was unkindly. And he despised him. Verse 43,
and the Philistine said unto David, am I a dog? That thou comest to me with staves,
you come to me with sticks, with wood. And the Philistine cursed
David by his gods, little G gods. You reckon that scared David?
Somebody put a hex on me one time. It was one of them voodoo
people. And they said, this will curse me. I laughed at them.
I wouldn't meddle in those things, but that don't bother me one
lick in the world. But this Philistine, this giant,
Goliath says, am I a dog? Am I a dog? Are you calling me
a dog? and you call me a sinner? Is
that what happens? What a picture this is. It's
a small picture, but what a picture. Remember that woman that come
to the Lord's feet? She asked him for help, said
her daughter needed help, and then she said she needed some
help, and then finally she begged, didn't she? He answered her,
he said, it's not me to take the children's bread and cast
it to dogs. Did she say, you call me a dog
and pack her toys and go home? You mean I could be wrong? I
remember one time back in 1987, I thought I was wrong, but I
wasn't. I was just mistaken. That's all of us, isn't it? You
call me a dog? That's what Goliath said. That's sin, not bowing to Christ,
isn't it? You mean that's me? What'd that woman say? Yeah,
I'll take the crumbs off your table. I'm a dog. I'm your dog.
David was a dog, wasn't he? So I said, well, you think I'm
a dog? And David knew he was a dead dog sinner. The spirit was with
him. And he says, all you show up
with is a staff? You come to me with staves? What's
a staff? What's a wooden staff? I told
you it's a wooden staff, right? A shepherd's staff. You come
to me with a piece of wood? You see where I'm going with
that? You're only going to use a cross to put me away? Well sure, well there's blood
on the cross. People don't like hearing those
things. We need to talk about improving family life, don't we? And overcoming
adversity. Building the youth. Let's get
us a bunch of kids in the back and have Sunday schools. And
they can color and have puppet shows. We need the staff. Because we're
dogs. That's what's needed, isn't it?
And he was just appalled at this. Verse 44, and the Philistine
said to David, come to me and I'll give thy flesh to the fowls
of the air and to the beasts of the field. You come here to
me and I'll take care of you. That's a pretty good thread, isn't it?
I'll put you on that pole, and I'll let the birds of the air
come and peck your flesh off until parts start falling off,
then the dogs can come up and start eating the bones that's
laying on the ground, and we won't even bury you, and we'll take your skull
and chuck it over the side of the hill. We'll call it Golgotha,
the place of the skull. Remember how our Lord was taken
down? Why? That was Wednesday night,
too. That's the threat, and even Satan, when Christ was hanging
on that cross, says, I got him. I got him. No, you don't. You
might have been appalled or shocked or had deep thoughts about these
things, thinking you was winning and you ain't. That's a serious
threat, though, isn't it? Then verse 45, 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." Oh, you've rejected God, and I come in his name,
Goliath. All I got's this wooden cross,
a sling, and five rocks. That ain't a threat, that's promise.
Oh, this is serious. This ain't just a thought to
some man. He comes on behalf of the Lord of hosts. That's
what Christ said in John 5. He said, I come in my Father's
name and you receive me not. If another shall come in his
own name, you'll receive him. He said, but I come in my father's
name and you not receive me. And that's the thing, David had
the spirit of God with him. And he was the anointed of the
Lord. And when Christ came, he is God
and was preaching and people didn't receive him, came to his
own and received him not, and was mocked and ridiculed. And
God's preachers now, they go and they preach. And you know,
it's sad and it's wrong. It's like, well, they refuse
the preaching of the gospel. They didn't listen to the preaching.
That's not what the scriptures say. What does Stephen say? You've
refused the Holy Ghost. If the Spirit's with us, and
we're preaching, and people don't like it, they haven't just refused
Kevin, they haven't refused what Kevin said, they'll blame it
on that. You've said this, well, hush, and listen, maybe God said
it to you. But if I've come and sinned to God, preaching in the
Holy Spirit, they're not refusing me, they're not refusing even
the message, they're resisting the Holy Ghost. They're blaspheming
the Holy Ghost. I don't get up on my high horse
and say, well, I did good and they did bad. I know the outcome
of that. That's terrible. That's judgment,
eternal death and damnation in the absence of God. Him turning
his back on them. I want to plead with them and
beg with them and hear it again. Verse 46, this day will the Lord
deliver the end of my hand. And I will smite thee, and take
thy head from thee, and I will give the carcasses of the host
of the Philistines this day unto the fowls there, 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." He came
down there not with swords and spears and all this modern weapon
and modern equipment. He came with His cross. He delivers
the message with the sling. David's doing all this alone,
isn't he? I wouldn't go stand with him. If this was physically
happening, oh yeah, no, you'll be fine. Like Saul, Lord be with
you. David's alone. He's treading
this winepress alone and he conquers all of our enemies by himself. What did Christ do? He treaded
the winepress alone and he conquered sin and death and Satan and ourselves
all by himself without anybody's help. So he gets all the glory,
doesn't he? Verse 48, and it came to pass
when the Philistine arose and came and drew nigh unto David,
that David hasted and ran towards the army to meet the Philistine.
He didn't zig and zag, he didn't lollygag, and he didn't go backwards,
he ran towards it. You know what I thought of? Same
thing you did, Hebrews 12. Who for the joy that was set
before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God." He boldly went
towards that. What should I pray that the hour
not come for this hour? That's why I came to this earth,
he said. Verse 49, And David put his hand in his bag, and
he took thence a stone, and slang it Notice the sling, that was
the action, the sling it mentioned. It's just the stone and David
and what he did with it. 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. Everyone's drawn to those five
smooth stones. I've heard a bunch of good messages
on those. Todd brought that out wonderfully out of Romans 8,
the five smooth stones that Paul gave us. And somebody told me,
said, I think you're stretching the word too far. I don't think
so at all. It's a gospel. Hush, bow to it. Instead of correcting
God's preachers. And there's a lot of things.
Grace is typified by the number five, right? And we can get into
numerology real quick and miss Christ. And I'm grateful these
things weren't numbered. These stones weren't numbered.
I'm grateful they're not described. And the one, the particular one
that's used isn't even told to us. There's a wealth of messages
laid in that picture. But have you ever asked what
the sling was? We always talk about the five
smooth stones. What's the sling? You know, I never entered into
that till now. Never have. That's the messengers of God.
He uses them, his preachers, and all they do is just sling
Christ the smitten rock. They just throw out there the
cleft of the rock that we must be in. He aims it. We're just
the thing used to send it. The rock of ages. Here he comes. And though the using of us is
mentioned, this type of sling, what brand was that sling? It's
the one that's holding it, right? What happens? In the verse 49,
it says, and slang it and smote the Philistine on his forehead,
and that stone sunk into his forehead. I can't make it go in people's
hearts, but I can do the best I can to put it in your ears. And he
fell upon his face to the earth. The truth of this word, what's
that mean? Who we are, who Christ is, the
finished work, At that truth, every knee will bow, and every
tongue will confess that he's Lord. Either you're gonna do
it now, or you're gonna do it later. We'll all become prostrate
before him. We'll hit our faces to the dirt,
down by where his feet is, and we're gonna bow to him. At him
and his truth, that he is truth, either now, or when it's too
late. That's called salvation. Or at
judgment, that's called damnation. Verse 50, 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. He didn't do it with a sword. He did it by the
foolishness of preaching, right? To save them that believe. Well,
I wouldn't have picked it that way. You're just gonna come down
and preach at a cross and a man crucified on it, and we're the
ones that put him there? That's it? How are we gonna grow
the church? It means the Lord saw the fit, wouldn't it? Therefore
David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword,
and drew it out of his sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut
off his head therewith. And when the Philistine saw their
champion was dead, they fled. I've seen a lot of men put their
faith in other men, and when those men die, they're just lost
little puppies, because that's what they've been the whole time.
But David used Goliath's sword to cut his head off. And many
times the sword is called a word, right? How does the Lord defeat
his enemies? With their own words. The very
words that come out of their mouth. He said, so said ye. Judas said, is it I, master,
not Lord. Is it I, master? He said, you
just said it. You said it. I've had people tell me, you've
had that happen too. People tell me one thing, and they're like,
this is how it has to be. Okay, so we'll do it that way.
And then later on, they say, why'd you do it that way? I say,
you told me to do it that way. I never said that. I said it
had to be the offensive way. We just had it all on videotape. He used his own words. And he
ran, it says there at the beginning of verse 51, to do this. He's
already dead. What's the rush? Oh, there's
a rush. This life's a vapor, isn't it?
It says, therefore David ran. What's the Lord tell us? He speaks
in Revelation 22. And behold, I come quickly. I come quickly. For us, like
we just looked at Jacob. That last enemy that we got to
face. There's a whole lot of things we face in this life.
We think they're mountains and they ain't even mow hills. And
the Lord's already put away, he's fulfilled the law and he's
crushed Satan's head. And this is all done. It's finished.
But we keep seeing these enemies. And he said, what's wrong with
you? Why are you afraid of these uncircumcised Philistines? I'll do it. In the
name of the Lord, I'll do it. For his name's sake. And he conquers
all these things. And we see it over and over and
over and over again. And we get all fired up and afraid,
and he says, fear not. And then we're taught to not
be afraid. And then, foolishly, like little bitty children, we
get scared again. Until that last enemy comes up, and that's
death. That's the grave, isn't it? He
said, the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. And the
Lord said, behold, I come quickly. This life's a vapor. I mean,
that fast. And we'll be picking our feet
up, putting them in that bed, commanding our household, and
saying, Lord be with you. I'm going home. Aren't you thankful
he runs? He runs to us. He said, I come
quickly. I'm coming to my people. Isn't
that sweeter? Isn't that a little more precious
than lean on your faith? Stand, don't lean on your faith.
Stand in amazement and worship the object of our faith, Christ
the Lord, our greater David. I hope that was a blessing to
you. Let's pray together. Father, forgive us our fretting
and our fears, our unbelief. We're thankful for our king. Oh, what a majestic Lord we have
who's faithful, who protects us, provides for us, and runs
to us, is with us always. Thank you for Christ, Lord. Thank
you. Thank you for the brethren that he shed his blood for we
have on this earth, the family you've given us. We're thankful
for that, Lord. We're thankful you've knit us
together and be with us now as we eat together, Lord, Make our
eyes red and our teeth white. It's because of Christ that we
ask these things. Amen.