We're going to be looking at
a verse of scripture in Romans chapter 5 today, if you want
to turn there. I've entitled this message, Grace
for the Sinfully Weak. grace for the sinfully weak.
It's one of those places of scripture that we should have ready access
to, not only being able to find it easily and quickly in scripture,
but refer to it in all of our times of need, especially those
times when we are fearful and doubtful And we need the Lord
to help us. Before I begin reading here,
I'm going to give you a little heads up. I also want to go to
1 Samuel, the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 17. So hold your place
in Romans 5 and find that, and then we'll be able to turn to
it more quickly after we pray. Father, we thank you for your
great mercy and grace. to sinners in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we pray that by that grace
that you had in your heart from eternity for your people and
your Son, that you would bless us now by your Spirit to be able
to lay hold in our own hearts on the Lord Jesus Christ as all
of our salvation. We pray this grace to all here
today. To the glory of your Son, the
glory of your name, and the salvation of our souls. In Jesus' name
we pray. Amen. In Romans chapter 5, the
book of Romans is the gospel. In Romans chapter 5, in the first
four verses, it speaks about how by this grace, by our justification
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and by this same grace, we stand
in life. And we stand under the truth
of what God has revealed in the Gospel. What do I mean by that?
I mean that God has taught us that He receives us for one reason
only. Not for anything in us, not for
our works, but for what He has provided and what He received
from His Son for His people. And that same grace gives us
faith in Christ. And that faith in Christ allows
us to endure all kinds of trouble. Trouble within. Trouble without. Trouble in life. Trouble in sufferings. Trouble in death. Trouble from
persecution and in sickness. Trouble in everything. And that
glorifies God because we have this focused view of what God
has said concerning our forgiveness and our acceptance before God
entirely based upon what He thinks of His Son. Not upon us, not
upon our works. And it's important that we have
that as a firm foundation. That enables us to endure the
troubles of life. And so he goes on and expands
on this in verse 5 and following. He says, these troubles in our
lives, verse 3 and 4, these troubles in our lives, we actually glory
in them. We boast. against our tribulations. Because we know that the tribulations
God sends are actually intended by God and used by God to work
a greater grace of faith in us in Christ. And so he goes on
and explains how this works in verse 5. The result of patience
and experience, hope maketh not ashamed. Verse 5, Why is our
hope not ashamed? Because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us. The
Spirit of God in us gives us hope and shows us the love of
God. How does He do that? Verse 6
explains and it's going to expand on it in the verses that follow.
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ
died for the ungodly. Now that should be the greatest
comfort to every sinner. And unfortunately, unless we
are sinners, it provides us no comfort. Because unless you are
a sinner, you have no need of a Savior, Jesus told the Pharisees.
The sick need a physician, the healthy do not. Sinners need
a Savior, the righteous need no Savior. And this affirms that
fact that the greatest comfort given to us by the Spirit of
God in our trouble, in verse 6, is that when we were yet without
strength, when we had no spiritual strength, We had no ability to
perform the functions of spiritual life in ourselves. Nothing. No spiritual strength. In due
time, in God's appointed time, after a long time, but at the
precise time God had ordained and fixed in time, Christ died,
not for the righteous, but for the ungodly. That is the gospel. In scripture, I've pointed this
out before, it says that the name God gives to those in scripture
depict their character. In 1 Samuel 25, 25 it says that
Abigail spoke of her husband Nabal and said, As is his name,
so is he. His name is Nabal because folly
is with Him. And so the name in scripture
really is a handle, a reference to the entire person. And here
God gives a name to those for whom Christ died. And what is
that name? Look at it. In due time, Christ
died for the ungodly. That's our name. That's our character. Outside of Christ, in ourselves,
we're nothing but sin. We are ungodly, opposed in our
minds to God. Verse 7. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet for adventure, for a good man, some would even
dare to die. But God, here's love, God commendeth
His love. He made known The word commend
means He manifested, He made known, He displayed it. He commendeth
His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Verse 9, Much more then, being
now justified by His blood. This is a very condensed summary
of the entire Gospel. Justified while we were sinners
by the blood of Christ. Every part of it is necessary
to convey the truth of it. While we were sinners, God provided,
Christ performed in shedding his own blood, and we obtained,
by what he did in his resurrection, a complete and perfect record
before God, justified. In the court of heaven, God declared
us to be as righteous as his Son, in his obedience unto death. And so he says, since we were
justified, much more than being now justified by his blood, we
shall be saved from wrath through him. All the troubles that come
upon us are not the wrath of God. We will be delivered from
the wrath of God because we're justified in the Lord Jesus Christ. And verse 10, For if when we
were enemies, when we were enemies, we had offended God, we were
in our minds and by our wicked works enemies. And you think,
well, I really wasn't an enemy of God. I mean, I was going along
in my life, I was actually pretty obedient. I was doing pretty
much what should be done. I mean, yeah, not perfectly,
but I can't really claim to be an enemy of God. You have to
take God's view. We have high thoughts of ourselves
because we have such a low view of God. God says our mind, our
natural mind, is hostility against God. We're haters of God by nature.
And so when we were enemies, when we had offended God by what
we are by nature and what we have done, had nothing to provide
to God to make ourselves right with Him, we had offended Him.
He had every right to condemn us. He took the initiative. He found a way in his wisdom
and out of his grace provided that reconciling sacrifice for
his enemies. For his enemies, for if when
we were enemies we were reconciled to God, not by a small thing,
he didn't just create some kind of an animal and sacrifice it,
but he required his holiness and his justice required this
alone, by the death of his son. the death of his son, that means
that the reconciliation was actually accomplished. Much more than
being now reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. There is
no possibility that we shall fail in all the purposes God
has for us. God, who reconciled us by the
death of His Son, will save him by His exalted reigning life
in glory. Now, I want to say all that to
you in order to set the stage here under this heading. Grace. for the sinfully weak. I want
you to consider this from the OT under two themes. And those themes in Scripture
are dominant throughout Scripture, in both the Old and New Testament.
But especially in the Old Testament, we see things that are carried
through into the New Testament and fulfilled there. And if you
were to read the Old Testament, what things would stand out to
you most prominently, so that after you were done reading and
set it down, you say, what did I get from reading all of that?
One of the things you'll see in the OT is that there is a
constant sacrifice and offering for sins. And if you look at,
for example, in the book of Genesis, which we referred to just a couple
of weeks ago about Abel. Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain. Right at the outset, there's
sacrifice. And God had already killed an
animal and with the skins of that animal had clothed Adam
and Eve. Just after they had sinned, so
there was another sacrifice. And he spoke of sacrifices throughout
after the flood of Noah. Noah offered sacrifices and offerings. When Abraham was called to go
out, and he went out, he set up an altar and offered sacrifices
to God. And so did all of his sons, Isaac
and Jacob. And then when they entered into
the land of Egypt, and they were brought out, it was by the Passover
Lamb sacrificed. And in the Law of Moses, God
gave them sacrifices and offering. There was constant sacrifices
and offering. And all of those things culminated
in this event that took place once a year in the Old Testament
from Leviticus 16. I'm not going to take time to
read that to you now. Maybe I'll read a couple of verses
to it. But Leviticus 16 is the center stake of all those sacrifices
because that chapter of the Old Testament describes one day in
a year. One day. When one man, the high
priest, would go into the tabernacle, and he would offer the blood
of one goat as a sin offering to God, and then he would confess
the sins of Israel over another goat called the scapegoat. And
those two goats together acted as one offering. to make atonement
to God for the sins of Israel. And that atonement was made by
the High Priest on that one day. And so, all the mention of sacrifices
and offerings throughout the Old Testament is a major theme
of the Old Testament Scriptures. So that's the one theme I want
to look at. And that's actually mentioned
here in this verse, isn't it? In these verses we just read,
when we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly. And God reconciled us to Himself
by the death of His own Son. Scarcely for a righteous man
will one die, yet peradventure for a good man would one dare
to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's sacrifice. That's
an offering. And God received the sacrifice
of His Son. And He says in Ephesians 5-2
that it was to God a sweet-smelling savor. because it brought satisfaction
to God for the sins of His people. In such a way that there was
nothing that gave Him greater pleasure and satisfaction than
the fulfillment of His eternal will in the death of His own
Son to reconcile, to bring His people to Himself by the sacrifice
of His Son. And so sacrifices dominate the
Old Testament scriptures. And you can't miss it. If you
read the Old Testament and then into the New, you'll see that
that was what was going on there. And there was a man who came
before Jesus named John the Baptist. And what did he do? Remember?
He pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ and he said to the people
who heard him, he said, Behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb
of God which taketh away the sin of the world." That statement
by John put the cap on all of those sacrifices and offerings.
Here He is, the Lamb of God. Here's the One of whom the Old
Testament Scriptures spoke. So that's the first theme. And
then there's another theme that you'll see throughout scripture.
And you see this, especially when the nation of Israel is
entered into the land of Canaan. And throughout their history,
all the way up until the New Testament. And even in the New
Testament you see this theme. And that is there are constant
wars going on. There's battles. Israel fighting
against the inhabitants of this land that God had promised them,
the land of Canaan. And the people of that land are
constantly fighting against Israel. Israel is fighting back and sometimes
Israel is defeated and sometimes they are victorious. Those battles
continue to rage throughout their history. And there was one battle
in particular that stands out, and one man in particular. And
now I want to point these things out to you as together. The sacrifices
and offering as one thing, and the battles and the wars as another
thing. And I want to point out to you
that scripture takes these two main events in the Old Testament,
and in the New Testament folds them together in one person and
in his work, and it's the Lord Jesus Christ. Because on the
Day of Atonement There was one man, the high priest, who went
in by himself into the tabernacle with a sacrifice. And he offered
that sacrifice. No one was with him. He offered
it by himself. He took the blood of that sacrifice
into the holiest of all and sprinkled it on the mercy seat where the
cherubims were constantly looking down. And God himself received
that sacrifice at the hand of the high priest and typically,
ceremonially, He passed over, he forgave the sins of his people. And then he took the other, the
same high priest, took another goat called the scapegoat and
laid his hands, both of them, on the head of that scapegoat.
And what did he do? Why did he lay his hands there?
Because he confessed the sins of the nation of Israel. onto
the head of that goat. He transferred their sins to
the head of that goat. And then he sent that goat out
into the wilderness by the hand of a fit man. And it says in
scripture, I want to read this to you from Leviticus chapter
16. I want you to listen very carefully
to these words from Leviticus chapter 16. Listen as God tells
us the significance of what this is here. I'll read verses first
21 and 22. This is where the high priest,
in this case it was Aaron, would lay his hands on the head of
the goat. He says, "...and Aaron shall lay both his hands," Leviticus
16, 21, "...Aaron shall lay both of his hands upon the head of
the live goat, and confess over him," the goat, "...all the iniquities
of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all
their sins." Nothing's left out here. iniquities, transgressions,
and sins. And he put them upon the head
of the goat, and then shall send him, the goat, away by the hand
of a fit man into the wilderness. Goat be gone! And with the goat
went the sins, and iniquities, and transgressions of the nation,
the children of Israel, those born to Jacob." Look over at
verse 29 of the same chapter, Leviticus 16. It says, And this
shall be a statute forever unto you, that in the seventh month
on the tenth day of the month you shall afflict your souls
and do no work at all Whether it be one of your own country
or a stranger that sojourneth among you. And verse 30, very
important. For on that day shall the priest
make an atonement for you to cleanse you that you may be clean
from all your sins before the Lord. Now, we learn in the New
Testament that the blood of goats and calves never put away sin.
But it pointed forward to the one who is the Lamb of God who
actually did when he offered himself to God for the sins of
his people. But what's significant here,
notice here, all the children of Israel were not in the tabernacle. They were outside. They weren't
there offering the goat. They weren't there sprinkling
the blood or confessing the sins on the head of that goat, were
they? They were outside. Only one was in the tabernacle
performing this ceremony, and it was the high priest. And the
high priest laid his hands on the head of the goat. But what
did John the Baptist say? Behold the Lamb of God. And so we learn in the New Testament
that the High Priest is actually the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
He alone was appointed by God and anointed by God and given
that service to do to God for the people. The High Priest's
job was to offer sacrifices to God for the sins of the people.
And take away their sins. Make atonement for them. Bring
them to God. Reconcile them. Remove what offended God that
they had done in their own sins and in their minds and all that
they were. And so there was one man, alone, who was in the tabernacle. The people were outside. And
he offered this sacrifice. And it was what God thought of
the sacrifice that He required, and He provided, and that the
high priest offered, that made the atonement. And this is significant. And it was made on one day. When the priest had finished
making the atonement, then he went out of the tabernacle, he
put off these plain linen clothes and he put on his high priestly
robes again. But the atonement had been made
at that point. And what was that the atonement made? It says here
that their sins, that they might be cleansed from all their sins
before the Lord. So the high priest by himself
offered the offering that cleansed the people, removed their sins
from them so that they were clean before the Lord. And it happened
on one day. Where were the people? They were
outside. What did the people do? Nothing. Was the atonement
because of what the people thought? Or was it because of what God
thought? It was only what God thought of what the high priest
did in the offering that made the difference. There was one
issue. Did God accept the sacrifice? Well, He obviously did because
He is the one who required it and provided it. And the high
priest offered it according to His requirements. In Hebrews
chapter 1 and verse 3 it says this. Let me read these verses
to you and see if it sounds like anything we've just talked about
at this point. Hebrews in chapter 1 and verse
3. Here's a verse that I would recommend
you memorize this verse of scripture. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 says
that the Lord Jesus Christ being the brightness of God's glory
Not just a dim flicker, not just a reflection, but He Himself
is the very brightness of God's glory in all of His work as our
High Priest. Who being the brightness of His
glory and the express image of His person, when we look at Him,
we see God the Father and upholding all things by the word of His
power. When He, the One who is God Himself
who created the world and upholds it too, is the glory of God,
when He had by Himself purged or cleansed our sins, He sat
down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Amazing grace. Christ Himself, by Himself, purged
our sins. And then, when they were purged,
He sat down. When did the Lord Jesus Christ
sit down? On the right hand of the Majesty on High. When He
rose from the dead and ascended to glory. He took His place there
because the work was finished. The work was accomplished. Salvation
was fully accomplished by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
without our contribution. We weren't there, were we? It
happened outside of the history of our own personal time, didn't
it? We had no personal obedience that contributed to this, did
we? This is Christ's work. This is God's doing, and God
declares this to us, and that's the gospel. And He commands us
to believe Him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Now, I told you also that there's
this other great theme and the two themes are integral. They
overlap in their fulfillment in the New Testament. And they
were intended to do so. Remember when God promised to
Adam and Eve after they sinned what was going to happen to the
serpent? He told the serpent, he said, the seed of the woman
is going to do what to the head of the serpent? Going to bruise
his head. He's going to defeat him. He's
going to destroy him. And who was the serpent? It was
the devil. The devil introduced doubt into
Eve's mind that God was true, that his word was true. And she
doubted and she sinned and she fell and Adam also took the fruit,
ate of it, and he also sinned. And the whole human race in his
one sin fell and became guilty before God. And we've all been
born into sin because of that transgression through our father,
Adam. But the promise of God in condemning
the serpent was this, the seed of the woman, and that's the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is going to bruise the head of the serpent,
But the serpent would bruise his heel. And that's what we're
going to see here in 1 Samuel chapter 17. And I just want to
read this to you. This is scripture. And it's one
of those places in scripture when you read it, you can understand
at least historically clearly what's going on. And it's very
engaging. That means it captures our interest
naturally. Even young children can hear
this text of scripture and can see and have their emotions moved
because of what God says here. So let's read 1 Samuel chapter
17 together. It may seem long, but it's good
to read this. Now, the Philistines, these were the enemies of Israel,
the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle. And they
were gathered together at Shokoh, which belongeth to Judah, and
pitched between Shokoh and Azekah in Ephes-dam-im. Now the names
of these cities have significance, and I'm not going to get into
them right now. I will mention that Ephes-dam-im means the coast
of damnation. And that's significant because
something's going to happen here. Someone is going to fall. Someone
is going to be condemned. Verse 2, And Saul, who then was
king, and the men of Israel were gathered together and pitched
by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the
Philistines. Two battles, two armies set in
array. They've positioned themselves
for war. Saul and his men, which are the
armies of Israel, and the Philistines, which are the enemies of Israel,
and the enemies of God. The word Philistines means those
who serve their own lusts. Verse 3, And the Philistines
stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain
on the other side, and there was a valley between them. And
there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines,
named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits. A cubit
is from here to here. So that means that he was approximately,
let's say, six times one and a half is what? I can't do that
math. It's at least nine feet tall.
Okay, so he might have been a little more than 9 feet. Let's round
it off to 10. Have you ever seen a 10 foot
person? They don't have them nowadays. There were giants in
those days and he was a giant. And actually, the Philistines
had a number of giants. Israel didn't have any giants
in their army. They were just regularly sized
men. So there went out this champion out of the camp of the Philistines
named Goliath of Gath whose height was six cubits and a span. Span
is how far it is across your hand. And he had a helmet of
brass upon his head and he was armed with a coat of mail, that
means metal, all around his body. And the weight of the coat was
five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon
his legs and a target of brass between his shoulders that protected
him. So if someone shot an arrow, it hit the target and bounced
off. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and
his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron, and
one, bearing a shield, went before him. And he stood." This is what's
significant here. First of all, God pictures this
man as huge, and his armor as impenetrable, and his weapons
as monstrously large. And why does God paint such a
large picture of him, besides the fact that that's the way
he was? In order to strike an image in our mind that this man
was informable, he could not be conquered by a regular person.
No one in the army of Israel could defeat this man. They were
powerless against him, and they were afraid of him. And that's
why he's telling us this, because he's going to picture our enemy.
We're powerless against him. We have no ability to defeat
him. And we're terrified, and rightly so. So Goliath stood,
and he cried unto the armies of Israel, and he said to them,
Notice how he speaks according to the will of God here. Why
are you come out to set your battle in array? The whole army,
why did the whole army come out here? In other words, am not
I a Philistine? And you, servants to Saul, choose
you a man for you, and let him come down to me. And if he be
able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him
and kill him, then shall you be our servants and serve us.
Just one man. Let's just fight this out, the
two of us, man to man. And the Philistines said, I defy
the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight
together. To defy means I'm shaming you. I'm claiming that you have no
power against me and that I'm going to defeat whoever you send
out. Choose a champion. And we too, just one man in each
army, in each kingdom, in each nation, one man are going to
fight. And that's going to determine
the whole battle. If I defeat him, you are all our servants. And if he defeats me, then we'll
be your servants. What does that remind you of?
It reminds us of what we just talked about about the Day of
Atonement, doesn't it? How many people went into the
tabernacle? How many people offered the Lamb? How many people were
necessary to obtain the Atonement? Just one man. Why did just one
man go in? Because he was God's appointed
High Priest to offer for the sins of the people. Just one
man, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's go on, verse 11. And when Saul and all Israel
heard those words of Goliath the Philistine, they were dismayed
and greatly afraid. Saul was already a head taller
than everybody else, and he was afraid. The king. Saul was a
man chosen by the nation of Israel because they wanted a king like
all the nations around them. So he was a man after their own
heart. He was a man like all the nations,
and he had no power against this enemy. Now David was the son
of that Ephrathite of Benjamin Judah, whose name was Jesse,
and he had eight sons, and the man went among men for an old
man in the days of Saul. David's father was old in those
days. Verse 13, David's brothers, went and followed
Saul to the battle. And the names of his three, of
his, Jesse's three sons that went to the battle were Eliab,
the firstborn and next to him, Abinadab, and the third, Shammah. And David was the youngest, and
the three eldest followed Saul. But David went and returned from
Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. So what was David? Well, first of all, he was the
youngest. Secondly, he was a shepherd. And whose sheep did he take care
of? His father's sheep. The Lord Jesus Christ came in
due time. A long time. He wasn't the oldest
in that tribe, in that nation. He was born in due time. Late
in time. And whose sheep did He take care
of? His father's sheep, his people. Let's go on. And the Philistine
drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.
And Jesse said to David his son, Take now for thy brethren an
ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to
the camp to thy brethren. And carry these ten cheeses unto
the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare,
and take their pledge. So, what did his father do? When
he was taking care of the sheep, he sent him. Jesse sent his son. God sent his son, didn't he?
What did Jesse send his son to do? To see how his brethren were
doing in the battle. And what did the Lord Jesus Christ,
when he came into the world, it says he came to his own, and
his own received him not. And what did he come to do? I
did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the
world through him might be saved. So, verse 19, Now Saul, and they,
and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah fighting
with the Philistines. And David rose up early in the
morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and went as Jesse had
commanded him, because he did what his father told him to do,
just like our Lord Jesus. And he came to the trench, as
the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle.
For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array,
army against army. And David left his carriage in
the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army,
and came and saluted his brethren. And as he talked with them, behold,
there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by
name, out of the armies of the Philistines. And, this is Goliath
now, he spake according to the same words, and David heard his
words. David heard the archenemy of
the children of Israel defy the armies of Israel and boast that
he was going to kill their champion and make them his slaves. And
all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and
they were sore afraid." This is the entire army of Israel.
They're terrified. And the men of Israel said, Have
you seen this man that has come up, surely to defy Israel as
he come up? And it shall be that the man
who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches,
and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free
in Israel. And David spake to the men that
stood by him, saying, What? What shall be done to the man
that killeth this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from
Israel? For who is this uncircumcised
Philistine? That means he has no part in
God, he's an ungodly man. That he should defy the armies
of the living God. Who is he? He might look like
a giant to you, but he's a pipsqueak in God's eyes. So David's oldest
brother Eliab heard David asking these questions and saying these
things to the men around him. His older brother, 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. Whose pride did Eliab really
know in that statement? He revealed his own pride, didn't
he? Because when we judge others,
We are only judging ourselves because we do the same things.
Verse 29, And David said, What have I now done? Is there not
a cause? There's this giant out there
defying the armies of Israel. Is there no reason here? You're
worried about me leaving the sheep? Those few sheep? And here's this guy about to
defy the entire army of Israel. Is there not a cause? And he
turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner.
And the people answered him again after the former manner. And
when the words were heard which David spake..." So David is talking
about these things. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? David was clearly impassioned
against him, wasn't he? So they told the words that David
spoke. They rehearsed them before Saul, who was the king. And Saul
sent for him. And David said to Saul, Let no
man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight
with his Philistine. And Saul said to David, Thou
art not able to go against his Philistine to fight with him. For thou art but a youth, just
a young man. And he, a man of war from his
youth. So Saul looked at the outside.
He saw the Philistine Goliath. Whoa, he's big. We have reason
to fear. He saw David. He says, you're
just a little tiny guy. What are you going to do? This
guy's a man of war since his youth. Verse 34. And David said
to Saul, thy servant kept his father's sheep. And there came
a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went
out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth.
And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and
smote him, and slew him. He killed the lion and the bear,
thy servant slew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised
Philistine." He compares him now to what? A lion and a bear. shall be as one of them, seeing
he hath defied the armies of the living God." The armies of
God are the sheep of God's flock. And so he says, he's just like
that. He's a beast coming against the
sheep, and I'm going to, as the shepherd, I'm going to kill him. Because God is going to do it.
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. And Saul said
to David, Go, and the Lord be with thee. Somehow Saul entrusted
David with the entire army. Isn't that amazing? And Saul
armed David with his armor. Saul tried to help David. He
put on the helmet of brass upon his head. Also he armed him with
a coat of mail. And David girded his sword upon
his armor and he assayed to go. He tried them out. For he had
not yet proved it, and David said to Saul, I cannot go with
these, I have not proved them. And David put them off, and he
took his staff in his hand, that was a shepherd's staff, and he
chosen five smooth stones out of the brook, and he put them
in a shepherd's bag, which he had, even in a place where he
kept his money. And his sling was in his hand,
and he drew near to the Philistine, and the Philistine came on, and
drew near to David, and the man that bare the shield went before
Goliath. And when the Philistine looked
about and saw David, he disdained him,
for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. He
wasn't tan and manly looking. He was a little young guy, fair-skinned,
and he looked nice. He wasn't all beat up from war.
You send out this guy? This is embarrassing. And the
Philistine said to David, Am I a dog that thou comest to me
with staves? A sticks? And the Philistine
cursed David by his gods. We'll see how powerful his gods
are in a minute. And the Philistine said to David, Come to me. I
will give thy flesh to the fowls of the air and to the beasts
of the field. Now that would strike terror in the heart of
a normal person. But listen to what David said. 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." You've offended God. And who can harm us if God
is for us? Isn't that what Romans 8.31 says? If God is for us, who can be
against us? And then David said, after Goliath
said, I'm going to give you to the beasts of the field and the
fowls of the air. He said, this day will the Lord deliver thee
into my hand, and I will smite thee and take thine head from
thee, and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines
this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of
the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God
in Israel. And there's only one God. What's
David saying here? God is going to defeat you and
he's going to deliver your entire army. In that defeat, up to horrible
destruction, carcasses are going to be eaten by birds and bees. Verse 47, And all this assembly
shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear, for
the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands. Whose battle is it? It's the
Lord's. If it's the Lord's battle, can
any man win? Is there anyone in this entire
universe that can win in a battle against God? If God be for us,
who can be against us? And so he says in verse 48, And
it came to pass, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near
to meet David, that David hasted and ran toward the army to meet
the Philistine. And David put his hand in his
bag, and he took thence a stone, and slung it, and smote the Philistine
in his forehead. He pierced through all the armor
that he had, and found the one place he was vulnerable. Remember
the promise God made? The seed of the woman is going
to bruise the head of the serpent. And so the stone went right through
that one spot, smacked him in the head and sunk into his forehead
and he fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed
over the Philistine with a sling and a stone and smote the Philistine
and killed him with a stone. But there was no sword in the
hand of David. Therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistine,
he's already dead, and he took his sword, Goliath's sword, and
drew it out of the sheath, and slew him, and cut off his head
therewith. And when the Philistines saw
their champion was dead, they fled. And the minute of Israel
and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines,
until you come to the valley, to the gates of Ekron." What
just happened? One man. The armies were afraid
and they were powerless. God sent one man, a small man,
who believed God. And that man killed the giant,
the giant enemy of God's people. And all of their army was defeated.
And this is exactly what happened in the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is such an overlap between what the Lord Jesus did
to remove our sin and these constant battles in scripture that He
fulfilled both of them in His one death on the cross. By one
offering, He not only purged our sins, but by His one offering,
He defeated the whole kingdom of Satan. He purged our sins
with His death and with His death He removed the enemies of our
souls from us. He took away our sins, which
are our enemies. He defeated the kingdom of Satan
and He overthrew the world, the kingdom of Satan. And He delivered
us from them. Now this is what Romans 5 is
talking about when we just read that. When we were yet without
strength, just like the armies, just like the people outside
of the tabernacle. We were sinners like the ones
outside the tabernacle. And we were helpless against
the enemy like the armies of Israel and the king of Israel.
And when we were that way, Christ died for the ungodly and in His
death He put away our sins and defeated our enemy. It says,
for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might
destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3 verse 8. And He was
chosen for this purpose. He is called the Captain of our
salvation. In Hebrews chapter 2, it pleads God to make him
the captain of our salvation, that he might destroy the works
of the devil, that he might deliver us who through fear of death
were all our lifetime subject to bondage. Just like the armies
of Israel and King Saul, they were afraid of Goliath, and all
our lifetime we're afraid of what? of perishing in death under
the wrath of God. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
15, and I'm going to close this down here. He says in verse 54,
So when this corruptible, meaning our body, shall have put on incorruption,
meaning our glorious resurrected body, And this mortal shall have
put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying
that is written in Isaiah 25 verse 8, death is swallowed up
in victory. God prophesied that one day death
itself is going to be swallowed up in victory. Oh death, now
think of death as your enemy because that's what victory is
talking about here. A victory over death. Oh death, where is
thy sting? Have you ever been stung by a
bee? It hurts. And it hurts more the longer
it sits in your hand or wherever it stings you, doesn't it? But
I remember learning this through experience. Someone said that
when a bee stings you, they lose their stinger. It sticks in you
and then they leave and it rips it out of their body. They can't
sting you again. Listen to this. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is God's law. So if we are stung by sin,
and the power of that sting is God's law, which brings a curse
upon sinners, then that sting sticks in us, doesn't it? And
it will stick in us for eternity, inflicting the poison from that
sting. and will suffer eternal damnation. But listen to this,
but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. What is he saying here? That
through the law, I died to the law in the death of Christ. The
sting of death, the sting of sin, and the strength of sin
got into, went into the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ. His
body and soul. He suffered for our sins under
the wrath of God. And that sting was left in him. And he went into the grave because
he died in his body because of that sting of sin. Our sins were
laid on Him. His own hands confessed them
over His head like the high priest did. He went into the battle
willingly and went into it in confidence that He was going
to destroy all the works of the devil, sin, death, the grave,
and all that's against us. Even our own sinful nature. And
having borne that, He took away the sting of death, the sting
of sin, and the strength of sin. He satisfied God's law. He removed
it forever. And now you think, well then,
how in the world is this meaningful to me? How does this apply to
me? Because I still think and still
wonder, Did the Lord Jesus Christ, was He a champion for me? Did
He make atonement on that day as the high priest did on the
day of atonement? Did He make that atonement for me? And how
will I know it? I don't feel it. I don't see
in myself any evidence of it. And when I hear about it from
scripture, that Jesus Christ died for the ungodly, I can't
take comfort of that truth to myself because I doubt it. I
wonder. Did the Lord Jesus Christ die
for me? Can I obtain comfort from God
on that truth? What basis do I have for it if
I do? Well, who is it that keeps us
from that comfort? Who is it that holds us in the
fear of death? Isn't it the devil? And how does
he do that? Isn't it through our unbelief?
And what is unbelief? What does it mean not to believe
God? What does that mean? It means that God who is true
and speaks only truth, we call him into question. Like a common
liar. And we think, God has spoken. He said that He gave His Son
and His Son has died and conquered the sins of the ungodly and justified
His people through His blood. And I can't believe it. I can't
believe it. Why? Why can't you believe it?
Because, and as we begin to dig down, we find out the reason
is that we think there's something about me. about myself that I
have to see in order to believe there's some reason why God would
do this for me, or some evidence that God has done this for me.
But listen to the words of Romans 5 verse 6. When we were yet without
strength, Christ died for the ungodly. What did you provide? What did you bring? What did
you have then? You had nothing. Nothing to claim. And God tells you of this. And He doesn't lie. To question
His word is to question God. To make Him a liar. But faith,
saving faith, is not considering what we are. It's considering
only Christ and who He is and what He has done. And that's
the only place of confidence. It's the only place of assurance.
It's the only way that in our hearts we can find comfort. And
in that faith endure trials and walk in life and actually love
God. Because through faith in Christ
we see and know the love of God towards us. Did Jesus die for
everybody? Did He shed His blood to save
the entire world? Does God save every man, woman
and child? No. Who does He save then? Those he has mercy on. How do
we know that he saves us? Because he takes our eyes away
from ourselves and he points them to Christ and he says, stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord which he accomplished
this day. Whose battle is it? It's the
Lord's battle. Who is my enemy? My sin, Satan,
death, the grave, even the curse of God's law, this world, everything
is my enemy that keeps me from God. Who defeats our enemies? The Lord Jesus Christ by His
death on the cross. What are we to do? Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. Look away from yourself. Heed
the words of John the Baptist. Behold the Lamb of God. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we pray
that you would be with us today in all of our lives, in all of
our weakness. Help us, Lord, we are so prone
to look upon ourselves just like Saul and the armies of Israel,
and to be afraid because our enemy is much larger, much stronger
than we could ever imagine. You depict Goliath as our enemy,
as the armies of Israel saw them, and our enemy is much larger
than he. Help us, dear Lord, to see that our Savior is infinitely
greater and more powerful and mighty than he is. If God be
for us, who can be against us? Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea,
rather, who is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also makes intercession for us, and in Him we trust. We who are in ourselves sinners,
without strength, even ungodly, and enemies of God, look to You,
O Lord, to save us in one way only, by the death of Your Son,
to bring us to Yourself, completely reconciled, holy, unblameable
and unreprovable in your sight. And we pray this mercy on all
here today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.