It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, for Lord, that could not be. Yuba-Sutter Grace Church
would like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Rick
Warda. We currently meet at the Yuba
County Library, located at 303 2nd Street in downtown Marysville,
California, on the corner of 2nd and C Street. Weekly services
are held on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the library. For more information,
visit our website at ysgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Rick Warda.
I have two texts of scripture for our sermon today. The first
is found in Leviticus 16. It has to do with the atonement
made to God by the high priest for the sins of God's people.
The second scripture is found in 1 Samuel 17. It has to do
with David and Goliath. I have entitled this message,
The Battle is the Lord's. There are two major subjects,
two themes, that dominate all of Old Testament scripture. The
first is the sacrifices made to God for the sins of His people.
Much of the Old Testament is occupied with the service of
the priests in the tabernacle. Day in and day out, year in and
year out, they were required to offer gifts and sacrifices
to God for the sins of the people. All sacrifices pointed to that
great sacrifice, that one sacrifice that Christ made of himself to
God to forever put away the sins of his people. This is what our
first scripture summarizes. And the second big theme throughout
the Old Testament is the battles the people of God fought against
their enemies. Together, these two themes make
up most of the subject of Old Testament scripture. The two
texts of scripture for our sermon today, therefore, condense all
of Old Testament scripture. The Spirit of God would have
God's people know what the Lord has done to save them from their
sins and to deliver them from their enemies. If you look back
at your life, if you were enabled to summarize the underlying cause
of all your problems, all your struggles, your greatest fears,
your greatest desires, what would be that one thing that stands
out far above all else? If you were unable to see things
from God's perspective, it would be this, your sin against God. If you were unable to step back
from the busyness of life today, if you could just stop for a
moment and close your eyes and ears to all that demands your
anxious thoughts and attention, what would that one thing be?
It would be your sin against God in heaven. If God is dealing
with you in your heart today, you will find that your greatest
concern and your greatest enemy is your own deliberate disobedience
against God. King David was a man greatly
blessed of God. He was the youngest of eight
sons. He was a simple shepherd. He took care of his father's
sheep. But God raised David up to be king over his people. But
David sinned against the Lord. After the Lord made him king
and gave him victory over his enemies, David disregarded all
of God's goodness to him. His sin was very great. He committed
adultery with another man's wife. Then he tried to cover up his
sin. He tried to hide his sin by murdering that man's wife.
That was horrible enough. But to make matters worse, the
man David killed was his own faithful servant. And to add
to all this, David murdered this faithful man at the hand of his
enemies. Though God had greatly blessed
David by taking him from watching sheep, to be king as shepherd
over the Lord's people, to watch and protect them, to save them
from their enemies, and to provide all for them, yet David disregarded
this great goodness and sinned against God. In the pride and
lust of David's heart, he committed adultery and murder. Then he
went on to live the life of a hypocrite. His heart was not broken. He
did not confess his sin. He tried to cover it up. But
the Lord sent the prophet Nathan to David. And Nathan came to
David and said to him, there were two men in one city, the
one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many
flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing
save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought, and nourished
up, and it grew up together with him and with his children. It
did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay
in his bosom, and was unto that man as a daughter. And there
came a traveler to the rich man. And the rich man spared to take
of his own flock and his own herd to dress for the wayfaring
man that was come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and
killed and dressed it for the man that was come to him. When
Nathan the prophet finished telling David this parable, David's anger
was greatly kindled against this rich man, and he said to Nathan,
As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely
die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did
this thing, and because he had no pity. And Nathan said to David,
Thou art the man." You see, until God makes us know our sin, we
will live as David. We will cover it up. We will
not confess it. We will even sin more and greater
sins to hide our sin. And we will live in hypocrisy.
Though we have been given much and many blessings, we will live
as if we could live without God. The Lord tells me and you that
we are sinners, great sinners, who have committed great and
many sins. He tells us our sin shows how
we despise His goodness. If, by God's grace, you now find
yourself to be a great sinner, then I beg of you, please, listen
carefully to what God has said in these two texts of Scripture
for our sermon today. In them, the Lord tells what
He has done, what He has done all by Himself, out of His grace,
by His great power, for His people, and all to His glory. These two
scriptures summarize for us what God has done for His people to
deal with their sins. Listen to these words in Leviticus
16 verse 30. Does that sound attractive to
you? Oh, it is to me. God set aside one day in the
year. He chose and appointed a high
priest. He told the high priest to kill a goat and sprinkle its
blood on the mercy seat that covered the Ark of the Covenant.
This was to be done only one day in the year. The high priest
was to act alone. There was to be no man with him
when he went in to make atonement on that day until he came out
and had made atonement. One man, appointed by God, acting
on behalf of the people as their mediator, offered one sacrifice
for the sins of the people. He sprinkled that blood in the
presence of God on the mercy seat. He made God propitious,
that is, the sprinkling of blood made just satisfaction to God
for the sins of the people, which was necessary in order that God
might be gracious to them, might accept them, and might be favorable
to them and bless them. Understand this scene very carefully. The people did not help the high
priest. When the high priest went in
on that day to make atonement, the people were outside. The
priest acted alone. When the high priest sprinkled
the blood on the mercy seat, and when he confessed all the
sins of all the people over the head of the scapegoat and sent
that goat away into the wilderness, on that one day atonement was
made for all of the sins of all of God's people. When the high
priest came out, having offered that blood to God for their sins,
God himself said, this is what would happen. He said, 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.
Think of it. One high priest, one offering
on one day. God accepting that offering from
that high priest made atonement for all the sins of all of God's
people. It was not what the people thought
that made the difference. It was not what the people provided. It was not what the people did.
It was what God provided. It was what the high priest did.
It was the offering made to God for the sins of the people and
what God thought of that blood that made atonement. God's justice
was reconciled to his people by the blood of the sacrifice.
God was propitiated. Just satisfaction was made to
God. A full compensation for all the
sins of all of his people was made on that one day. Now, scripture
tells us that what the Old Testament high priest did only typified
what Christ actually did. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the great high priest. He did not enter a tabernacle
on earth. He did not offer the blood of
a goat or of a lamb. He offered himself to God for
the sins of his people, and God received his sacrifice from him
as their high priest. He received Christ crucified
for them, and in receiving him, accepted them. Because the Lord
God accepted the sacrifice of His Son, He is favorable to His
people and blesses them for Christ's sake. They are given His righteousness
and God remembers their sins no more. All of this happened
on one day. Sinners make no contribution
here. Christ did it all. By himself, on one day, he cleansed
his people from all their sins before the Lord. When Jesus hung
on the cross, he cried, it is finished. That is when God was
propitiated. When Jesus rose from the dead,
that is when God justified his people. They are justified by
the blood of Christ. Now God declares this to sinners
far and wide in the Gospel from Scripture. The Lord Jesus says,
look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth for
I am God and there is none else. Isaiah 45 verse 22. Do you, like
David, see the great guilt of your sins? Do you see that you
deserve the condemnation of God for your sins against Him? Do
you now hear what Christ has done from Scripture, what He
has done all by Himself? that he has finished the will
of God, that he obtained our eternal redemption, that he completed
our salvation and now sits as the triumphant victor and reigns
as both king and high priest on heaven's throne? The prophet
Zechariah said this of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He shall
build the temple of the Lord. That's the church. And he shall
bear the glory, because he alone deserves it. And he shall sit
and rule upon his throne. And he shall be a priest upon
his throne. And the counsel of peace shall
be between them both. Zechariah 6, verse 13. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the King of Righteousness and God's chosen, anointed High
Priest who made atonement for the sins of His people. Therefore,
He is the King of Righteousness sitting on the throne of heaven,
because by Himself He made known God's judgments against sin in
favor of His people by His own sufferings and death. He has
answered God's justice to full satisfaction. He has magnified
His law by His perfect obedience in death. By these He established
everlasting righteousness for His people. And that was by God's
design, to judge the sins of His people to the fullest extent
of His law and perfect them that He might lavish His love upon
them in peace. If you own your sin, if you see
that Christ is the answer to all God requires of His people,
then come to God in all the nakedness of your need and the helplessness
of your corruption and ask Him to receive you as clean before
Him for Christ's sake alone. Believe his word. On that day,
one day, Christ by himself, God's high priest, and the high priest
of his people, made a complete purging of their sins. He cleansed
them from all their sins before the Lord, and having finished
all, he took his place on heaven's throne. Hebrews 1.3 says, When
He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high. The Gospel makes a double revelation
to us. It convinces us that we are sinners. It convinces us that our best
is nothing but sin, that we have no righteousness and we cannot
produce any. This is the first revelation
of the Gospel. You and I are sinners. This truth
is the plow of God in our heart that prepares us for the seed
of the Gospel. The gospel is only good news
to sinners. But the gospel is good news to
all who in themselves are blind, who cannot see how God could
accept such a sinner as I am. The gospel tells us of Christ's
solitary work of redemption. His blood alone paid the ransom. He has earned our liberty and
we are accepted by God Himself in all of His strict holiness.
God is favorable to us and blesses us for Christ's sake alone. Is
this good news to you? If not, then you have not yet
believed the gospel. Pray that God would grant you
a change of mind to repent in your heart and believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. You have nothing to bring but
your sin. He has everything to give to
needy sinners. As the Lord has said in Leviticus
16 30, 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. That is the best news this sinner
has ever heard. By one offering he has perfected
forever them that are sanctified by God's eternal electing grace. Hebrews 10 verse 14. Now, the
second scripture in our sermon today is from 1 Samuel chapter
17. That scripture records the great fight between Goliath and
David. Remember, for 40 days, Goliath
challenged the entire army of Israel. He said, I defy the armies
of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight
together. Goliath boasted that there was
no man in all of Israel that could defeat him. He was huge. He was clothed with armor from
head to toe. His weapons were larger and more
powerful than any in Israel. Every man in Israel was greatly
afraid of him. They were sore afraid. But long
before Goliath bellowed his boast over God's people and threatened
to destroy them, God had chosen a champion for himself. He chose
David and anointed David to be king in Israel. David was young. He took care of his father's
sheep. He was the youngest of the eight sons of Jesse from
Bethlehem. And since the eldest son received
his father's inheritance, this made David last in line. He was the youngest and the least
likely. To all who saw David, there was
no reason to expect that God would choose him and would make
him king, especially that he would be able to stand against
this enormous giant. But it was God's plan from before
the world began that David would take care of his father's sheep.
David was faithful to his father. He did not let one sheep, not
even a lamb, perish. When a lion caught a lamb in
his mouth, David rose up against the lion and by the Spirit of
God took hold of its beard and killed the lion. He saved the
lamb from the lion's mouth. And when a bear also came to
take a lamb from his father's flock, David rose up and killed
the bear. He killed both the lion and the
bear. Now it was because of this past
victory that David was emboldened against Goliath. David ran to
the army to deliver them the food his father had prepared.
He loved to do his father's will. He loved his brethren. But when
David came to the army, he heard Goliath defy God's army. When David heard that, and when
he heard Goliath boast that there was none in Israel able to fight
and kill him, David knew exactly what he would do. God put it
in his heart. David told King Saul that no
man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight
with this Philistine. Now, Saul did not believe David. In fact, he did not even know
David. Saul tried to arm David with
his own armor, but David would not wear it. It was the armor
of the king that the people wanted, not the armor of the man of God's
own choosing. So David went against Goliath
with only his shepherd's staff, and a bag he used to put money
in, and his sling. David chose out five smooth stones
from the brook. With only these, by the Spirit
of God, David ran to the giant. David said to the Philistine,
Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a
shield. But I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts,
the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day
will the Lord deliver thee into my hand, and I will smite thee
and take thine head from thee. And I will give the carcasses
of the host of the Philistines this day to 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. All this assembly
shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear,
for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our
hands. And you know what happened next.
David drew one stone from his shepherd's bag. By the Spirit
of God, he slung that stone with the power of God. God guided
that stone to its mark. It hit Goliath in his forehead.
It sank into his skull. Goliath fell on his face. Down,
down he fell, flat on his face, dead. With one stone, David killed
Goliath. But David had no weapon in his
hand, so he drew Goliath's own sword. He used Goliath's own
sword to cut off his head. Then David stood upon the giant
and held his severed head high for all to see that the battle
is the Lord's, that there is a God in Israel, and that he
delivered the enemy into the hands of his people. Now, all
of this is meant to teach us the gospel of the grace of God. This account mirrors what we
just covered from Leviticus 16. Here was a formidable giant. He was huge. He was powerful. He was covered with armor. His
weapons were stronger than any in Israel. The people, the men
of war, were greatly afraid of him. The people could find no
champion to fight Goliath. Do you see in this our own weakness
and helplessness before our enemies? We have no power against our
enemies. Who are our enemies? Satan is
our enemy. He intended to kill the Lord's
people. He tempted Adam. He led them to sin against God,
knowing full well that God, in justice, must punish them and
fulfill His curse that they would surely die. Satan twisted God's
word. He accused God of withholding
good from Adam and Eve. And then, when they sinned, Satan
accused them before God to bring God's curse upon them. But the
Lord promised, the seed of the woman would bruise the head of
the serpent. And that seed is Christ. As David
sunk that stone into Goliath's head, Christ, by his word, pronounced
judgment against the devil. And as David used Goliath's own
sword to cut off his head, our Lord Jesus Christ, by his death
on the cross, used death to destroy the works of the devil. Before
Jesus went to the cross in John 12, 31, he said, now is the judgment
of this world. And in 1 John 3 verse 8, the
Apostle John says, For this purpose the Son of God was manifested,
that He should destroy the works of the devil. Every man feared
because of Goliath, even the mighty men in Israel's army.
Every son of Adam, every elect son of God, was held under the
fear of death because of Satan. But Christ, through His death,
delivered His people from the fear of death. Hebrews 2 verse
14. And what else? What else did Satan unleash on
the Lord's people? He tempted Adam. By that one
man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so that death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. But here is
the superabounding grace of God. Here is the almighty strength
of Christ, our great substitute and mediator. Though sin rules
over us by our own choice, by our own sinful nature and will,
God sees our sin as our great enemy. And though sin rules over
us and brings us to death, Christ, our champion, the Lord's chosen
king, defeated sin and took its sting out of death. Romans 5
verse 21 says, As sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace
reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. Our sin rules over us with an
unbreakable grip. As a cruel tyrant, it constantly
held us under the guilt of our sin and therefore the condemnation
of God against us. But the Lord Jesus Christ, by
His obedience in His suffering and death, brought the judgment
of God against our sins in His own body. 1 Peter 2.24 says,
Who his own self, bear our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, might live unto righteousness
by whose stripes you were healed. And when our Lord comes again
with the voice of the last trumpet, he shall subdue that last enemy,
death. He put death to death in his
own death, but he will subdue that enemy in final and glorious
conquest when he calls his people from the dust of death. Then,
when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this
mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O
death! Where is thy sting? O grave,
where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians
15, verse 54 through 57. The sting of death is sin. The
strength of sin is the law. Sin and death are therefore the
great enemies of God's people. By temptation, Satan brought
men into sin. And out of our own nature, by
our own will, we are the willing servants of sin, Jesus said in
John 8, 34. Whosoever committeth sin is the
servant of sin. Throughout scripture, God confirms
that sin is our great enemy. In Micah 7, verse 7, it says,
I will look unto the Lord. I will wait for the God of my
salvation. My God will hear me. Rejoice
not against me, O mine enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. When
I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear
the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him until
He plead my cause and execute judgment for me. He will bring
me forth to the light, and I shall behold His righteousness. Do
you hear this scripture? The child of God, guided by the
Spirit of God, says that Christ is all of his confidence, trust,
and hope. He will look to the Lord. He
says, I will wait for the God of my salvation. In so looking,
the believing sinner can hold to this promise, God will hear
me, and God will hear me for Christ's sake. Therefore, the
believer says, rejoice not against me, O mine enemy. This sinner,
like David of old, owned his guilt and the justice of his
condemnation. And the good news of the gospel
comes flooding in like a light into the darkness. Every child
of God can say, I will bear the indignation of the Lord because
I have sinned against him until he plead my cause and execute
judgment for me. All who look to Christ agree
with God. They do not hypocritically deny
what they have done, but they also do not despair, because
Christ is revealed in the gospel as the sinner's answer and advocate
to God. Romans 8.34 says, Who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. God has defeated our
sin in the death of Christ. He has made atonement for our
sins in the court of heaven to the satisfaction of God's justice. As the psalmist cried, Iniquities
prevail against me. As for our transgressions, thou
shalt purge them away. Psalm 65, verse 3. As God destroyed
the Egyptians in the Red Sea, He has cast our sins into the
depths of the sea of His judgment in Christ. God in Christ executed
judgment against all our sins. God will therefore subdue our
iniquities by Him. Romans 6.14 says, Sin shall not
have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under
grace. When the Apostle Paul considered
his wretched old man, his sinful nature, he cried out, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Then by the Spirit of God, Paul said, I thank God through Jesus
Christ my Lord. In one day, one champion, without
any contribution from all of God's army, defeated all of our
enemies by himself. He used the enemy's own weapon
to destroy him. None in all of God's army had
any power against the enemy. None in God's army could find
a champion to fight against him. But the Lord Jesus Christ used
the enemy's own weapon to destroy him. By his cross, Christ defeated
Satan and all of Satan's kingdom. He cast Satan out of heaven.
He cleansed his people from all their sins. He justified them
before the Lord. Death, therefore, could not hold
them. God no more remembers their sins. They are clean before the Lord.
It was not what the people did. It was not what the people thought.
It was what Christ did, and it is what God thinks. Christ has
won. He has defeated Satan and sinned
for his people. He has taken the sting out of
death. The Law has been satisfied by His death. It has been fulfilled
by His obedience. The purpose of the Law has been
fulfilled in Christ for His people. Therefore, every demand of God
has been met by Christ for them. Every enemy is defeated. Christ
now rules. The battle is the Lord's. It
was all Christ's doing in His atoning death, and He gives the
victory of the battle to His people. The battle is the Lord's,
and He shall give it into our hands." 1 Samuel 17 verse 47.
Look to Christ alone. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Do not look to yourself for anything. Do not think that your salvation
depends on you. You have no strength in this
fight against this enemy. You invited the enemy in, and
Christ alone by himself defeated the enemy of his people. Only
he can cleanse you from your sins, and only he can give you
eternal life. Therefore, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is your only hope. Christ
overcame by His blood, by His one offering to God for the sins
of His people. He overcame because by His blood
He fulfilled the Word of God. That was the one stone in David's
sling. we overcome by faith in His blood. Therefore look to Him, dear sinner. See the judgment of your every
enemy executed by Christ. Ask Him to be your answer before
God in your conscience and in the day of judgment. You've just heard a sermon by
our pastor, Rick Warda. You may contact us by email or
by phone, or download a copy of this sermon by visiting our
website at YSGraceChurch.com.