I've entitled the message for
tonight, The Greater David and Goliath. I was trying to think of what
would be the most well-known story in the Old Testament. I don't know if it would be this
one, but it may be. This story has very much been
secularized. The term David and Goliath is
a sports metaphor. It's used for the insignificant person taking on
the man. It's used in that light. Against
all odds, the underdog taking on the favorite, David versus
Goliath. We're getting ready in a couple
of months for March Madness, and we'll hear that quite a bit
when the 16 seed takes on the number one seed, David versus
Goliath. Now, I want you to look at the
verses I just read once again, and this is the key to understanding
this story. Let me remind you. Every story
in the Old Testament is given to illustrate the gospel. That's
so. Verse eight, this is Goliath. And he stood and cried unto the
armies of Israel, and said unto them, why are you come out to
set your battle in a ray? Am not I a Philistine, and you
servants to Saul? choose you a man for you and
let him come down to me if he be able to fight with me and
kill me then we will be your servants but if I prevail against
him and kill him then shall you be our servants." And the Philistine
said, I defy the armies of Israel this day, give me a man that
we may fight together. And when Saul and all Israel
heard the words of the Philistine, they were dismayed. Now, only two men will fight. You see the gospel there, don't
you? Only two men will fight, not Israel against the Philistines,
but David versus Goliath. If David wins, all of Israel
wins. He didn't have any help. He fought
by himself. If he wins, all of Israel wins. If he loses, all of Israel loses. And the key word in that passage
of scripture is found in verse nine, if he be able. There's the key. If he be able. Is Christ able to defeat sin
and save His people? That's the issue, His ability. Now, David has not yet come onto
the scene when we read this passage of scripture, but I believe he's
one of the greatest types of Christ in all the Word of God.
He's prophesied in 1 Samuel 13. Would you turn there? This is
after Saul has been rejected for presuming to offer an offering. Only a priest could do that,
and he thought he could do it, and he's rejected by God because
of that. If you come into God's presence
or attempt to come into God's presence apart from the Lord
Jesus Christ, you'll be rejected too. There's only one way into
God's presence, Christ alone. Now here, We read of this first
prophecy with regard to David. I can't find the verse. Oh, here it is. Verse 14, but
now, but now thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought
him a man. after his own heart. And the Lord hath commanded him
to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that
which the Lord commanded." Now here we have David prophesied. After Saul's been rejected, David
is prophesied. Look in the last part of chapter
15, verse 34. This is after Saul failed to
kill the Amalekites, and we're going to consider that next time
when we consider Samuel. Then Samuel went to Ramoth, and
Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul, and Samuel came
no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless,
Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord repented that he'd made
Saul king over Israel. And the Lord said unto Samuel,
How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected
him from reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with oil, and
go, and I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have
provided me a king among his sons." Now, who was born in Bethlehem?
That's the home of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Samuel said, how
can I go if Saul's here to kill me? And the Lord said, take an
heifer with thee, and say, I'm come to sacrifice to the Lord.
And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I'll show thee what thou
shalt do, and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto
thee. And Samuel did that which the
Lord spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled
at his coming, and said, comest thou peaceably? And he said,
peaceably. I'm come to sacrifice unto the
Lord. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.
And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the
sacrifice. Now, of this you can be sure. Jesse had no idea that David
was going to be the one that God called. All of his other
sons were brought there, but not David. Verse six, and came
to pass when they were come that he looked upon Eliab and said,
surely the Lord's anointed is before me. But the Lord said
unto Samuel, look not on his countenance or on the height
of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth
not as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Then Jesse called
Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, neither
hath the Lord chosen this. Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by.
And he said, neither hath the Lord chosen this. Again, Jesse
made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto
Jesse, the Lord hath not chosen these. And Samuel said unto Jesse,
are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth
yet the youngest, we know it's not him. He didn't even bother
to bring him. Behold, he keeps the sheep, a
shepherd. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send
him and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither.
And he sent and brought him. Now he was ruddy and with all
of a beautiful countenance and goodly look on. And the Lord
said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he." Now what a description
we have of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ruddy. That's where the word
Adam comes from. The second Adam. The Lord Jesus
Christ. And I love the way it's pointed
out that he was beautiful countenance. The beauty of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I wish I could describe his beauty the way he ought to
be described, but this represents his attributes, his holiness,
his absolute sovereignty. Beloved, you're in His hand right
now. He can do with you whatever He's pleased to do. He controls
everything. That's who He is. His absolute
justice. All sin must be punished. He's
all-powerful. Whatever He wills, He has the
power to cause it to come to pass. His independence. He has no needs. Oh, the beauty
the Lord Jesus Christ and I love this phrase that he's goodly
to look upon, looking unto Jesus. Is there anything better than
that? To be enabled to look upon him and know that you're complete
in him, know you need nothing else. His beauty, you see his
beauty as Now that's the description of David. He's ruddy, a beautiful
countenance, and goodly to look upon him. That's what faith is,
is looking upon him. Now look in verse 13. Then Samuel took the horn of
oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren, and the Spirit
of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose
up and went to Ramah, but the Spirit of the Lord departed from
Saul. And an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him, and Saul's
servant said unto him, Behold, now an evil spirit of God troubleth
thee. Let our Lord now command thy
servants which are before thee to seek out a man who is a cunning
player on a harp. And it shall come to pass, when
the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with
the hand. And thou shalt be well. And Saul said unto his servants,
provide me now a man that can play well and bring him to me.
And they answered one of the servants and said, behold, I've
seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite that is cunning in playing."
Now, once again, what a description of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
can be troubled. Oh, he's cunning and speaking
peace to the troubled soul. Not only is he cunning and playing,
he's a mighty, valiant man and a man of war, a mighty conqueror,
prudent in matters or prudent in words. He said, the words
that I speak unto you, their spirit and their life. And the Lord, a comely person,
a beautiful person. And I love this, the Lord's with
him. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. Now, all
this took place literally without question. It's an actual historical
event, but what a beautiful sight we're given of the Lord Jesus
Christ from this passage of Scripture. Verse 1 of chapter 17. Now, David
has not come into this story yet. to gather their armies to
battle. And were gathered together at
Shokoth, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shokoth,
and Azekah, and Ephestibam. And Saul and the men of Israel
were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set
the battle in a ray against the Philistines. And the Philistines
stood on one side of the mountain, and Israel stood on the other
side. And there was a valley between
them." Now picture this in your mind. Israel's army. the Philistines army on top of
a mountain and a valley between them. Verse four, and there went
out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath
of Gath. whose height was six cubits in
a span, and he had a helmet of brass upon his head. He was armed
with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was 5,000
shekels of brass, and he had greaves of brass upon his legs,
and a target of brass upon his shoulders, and the staff of his
spear was like a weaver's beam. And his spearhead weighed 600
shekels of iron, and one bearing a shield went before him. Now, Goliath. represents my sin. Anywhere between nine and 11
feet tall, depending upon how long a cubit is, there's different
views. I remember one time when I was
a little boy, there was a man who was eight foot two that came
to Gateway, a grocery store, and he was called the Gateway
Giant. And I can remember seeing him eight foot two. and he had
a robe on with a crown and I remember his shoes were size 22, 8 foot
2, biggest man I've ever seen, but he was so frail looking and
I remember thinking he seemed so unhappy, but that's not the
way this giant was. He was at least nine feet tall. His armor weighed 180 pounds. That gives you some idea of the
strength of this man. He had a spear that was 26 feet
long. That's how long a weaver's beam was. And his spearhead weighed
20 pounds. Now this was a formidable man,
and Israel was scared to death when they saw this man. I mean,
think of how strong he was, where he would wear 180 pounds of armor.
This wasn't like the gateway giant. This was a giant. Goliath of death. Verse eight, nine. And he stood
and cried into the armies of Israel and said unto them, why
are you come out to set your battle in a ray? Am not I a Philistine
and you servants to Saul? Choose you a man from you and
let him come down to me. If he'd 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
the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give
me a man that we may fight together. God has only dealt, now you listen
to me, God has only dealt with two men, the first Adam and the
second Adam. 1 Corinthians 15, 22, for as
in Adam, all die, even so in Christ. shall all be made alive."
Now you think about that statement, in Adam all die. What Adam did, he did as a representative. When he died, me and you died. When he sinned, me and you sinned. Somebody says, I didn't sin,
I wasn't even alive then. When he sinned, you sinned. In
Adam all die. He's the representative man.
When he sinned, you and I sinned. When he died, you and I died. In Adam, How many die? All die. Even so, in Christ shall
all be made alive. Now, not everybody's in Christ.
Only the elect are in Christ. Only those that Jesus Christ
died for are in him. But in Christ, everybody he represented
in Christ, just like everybody Adam represented died, everybody
Christ represents lives. two men to fight this battle. Verse 12, now David comes in. Now David
was the son of the Ephrathite of Bethlehem, 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. And the three eldest sons of
Jesse went out and followed Saul in the battle. And their names
of the three sons were Eliab, the firstborn, the next Abinadab,
and the third Shema. And David was the youngest. And
the three eldest followed Saul. And David went and returned from
Saul to feed his father's sheep." I think it's interesting how
David is pointed out over and over again as a shepherd even
in this passage. Does that ring a bell? A shepherd? The Lord is my shepherd. Most people think David probably
composed Psalm 23 when he was a teenager watching the sheep. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no
evil, for thou art with me." He was a shepherd. Look in verse 22 of the same
chapter. 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. He left his carriage and with
the responsibility of this man to watch his Sheep. Look in verse
28. And Eliab, his eldest brother,
heard when he spake unto the men, and Eliab's anger was kindled
against David. He said, why camest thou down
hither? And with whom has thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, the naughtiness
of thy heart, for thou come down that thou mayest see the battle.
Look at the way his brother slams him, those few sheep. You're
watching. Look in verse 34. And David said,
and to Saul thy servants kept his father's sheep. And there
came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock. And
I went after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth.
And when he rose up against me, I caught him by his beard and
I smote him and slew him. Well, don't you love to picture
this in your mind? A lion comes out, he gets one
of his sheep, he grabs him by the beard and smites him, kills
him. A bear attacks him, he kills
him with his bare hands. He was supernaturally enabled
to defeat any enemy. Goliath's easy for him. If he
can kill a lion, if he can kill a bear, Goliath doesn't have
a chance against him because he's supernaturally enabled to
fight like this. He was a shepherd. Now verse 12, or verse 14, 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. Verse 16, and to Philistine, this is Goliath.
drew near morning and evening and presented himself 40 days. That's how many days the Lord
was tempted in the wilderness. And Jesse said unto David his
son, take now for thy brethren an ephah for this part's corn
and these 10 loaves and run to the camp to thy brethren and
carry these 10 cheeses unto the captain of their hosts and look
how thy brethren fare and take their pledge. Now Saul 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, he was always faithful with the sheep, and took and
went as Jesse had commanded him and 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, there they stood for forty days. 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 of the Philistine
of Gath, Goliath by name. And the armies of the Philistines
spake according to the same words. And David heard them and all
the men of Israel when they saw the man fled from him and were
sore afraid. And the men of Israel said, have
you seen this man that's come up surely to defy Israel as he
come up. And it should be that the man
who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches
and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free
in Israel. That's a sermon, isn't it? The
achievements of the Lord Jesus Christ and that which he does
for his people, making them free and giving them to him. Verse
26, and David spake to the men that stood by him saying, what
should be done to the man that killeth this Philistine and taketh
away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised
Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?
Look at his courage. He wasn't afraid. Why, he'd rip
that lion to pieces, he'd rip that bear to pieces, this giant
was no match for him. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine
that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people
answered him after this manner, saying, so shall it be to the
man that killeth him. Now his brother, this was David's oldest
brother, and I'm sure he looked down on David, and look at the
way he talks to him. And Eliab, his eldest brother,
heard when he spake unto the men, and Eliab's anger was kindled
against David. And he said, why camest thou
down hither? And with whom hast thou left these few sheep in
the wilderness? I know thy pride, the naughtiness
of thine heart, for thou art come down that thou mightest
see the battle. And David said, what have I done now? Is there
not a cause? The glory of God, is there not
a cause? His brother was accusing of a
duplicity of motive, but is there not a cause? And our Lord Jesus
Christ, is there not a cause? The glory of my father, the salvation
of my people. And he turned from him toward
another, verse 30, 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, they rehearsed them before
Saul, King Saul. And he sent for him. He heard
about this young man who said he was, who's defying Israel
like this. Bring him to me. Saul heard this.
Verse 32. And David said to Saul, let no
man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight
with the Philistine. And Saul said to David, thou
art not able to go against the Philistine to fight with him
for your, but a youth. And he, a man of war from his
youth. And David said unto Saul, thy servant kept his father's
sheep. And there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out
of the flock. And I went out after him and
smote him and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he rose
up against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew
him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised
Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the
armies of the living God. David said moreover, the Lord
that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the
paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of the Philistine.
And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee. He
was encouraged by this. And Saul armed David, with his
armor and he put a helmet of brass upon his head and he armed
him with a coat of mail. Saul, do you think he needs this? He just ripped a lion apart.
He ripped a bear apart. Do you think he needs your armor?
The answer is absolutely not. This makes me think of the methods
of human religion to help bring about salvation. They're not
wanted and they're not needed. All that's needed is God, the
Holy Spirit, blessing, the preaching of the gospel. Now look what
it says in verse 39, David girded his sword upon his armor. He
is saved to go for he had not proved it. And David said, and
so I cannot go with these for I've not proved them. And David
put them off of him. And he took his staff in his hand, that shepherd's
staff, and he chose him five smooth stones out of the brook,
and put them in a shepherd's back, which he had, even in a
script, and his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to
the flistings. Now, five, he selected five smooth
stones. Now there's a reason the number
five was selected. A.W. Pink wrote a book on numerology
in the scripture and he pointed out that every number is significant. And five has been said to be
the number of grace. And that's because the way it's
used in the tabernacle. The size of the courtyard, the
height, the width of the tabernacle are all multiples of five. There are five curtains that
cover the tabernacle. There are five ingredients to
the incense that they made, the oil. The altar was five by five
cubits, perfect five square. There were five different offerings
in the scripture. So you can see where this could
be the number of grace. And this is what came to my mind
when I thought about this. And I don't know whether the
five has anything to do with this, but I like to think it
does. In the great chain of salvation, there are five links. Whom he
did foreknow, one. Them he also did predestinate,
number two, to be conformed to the image of his son. that he
might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called three. Whom he called, them he also
justified for, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Now there's the great chain of
salvation. Begins with God's foreknowledge,
and that doesn't mean he just knew, he's a time traveler and
knew what was going to happen beforehand. whom he did foreknow. This is talking about his love. Behold, I've loved you with an
everlasting love. Those persons he loved, he predestinated
for them to be just like Christ. Everybody he predestinates, he
calls with irresistible grace. Whom he calls, he justifies.
He makes it to where I'm sinless before God. And whom he called
justified them, he also glorified. Now he puts these five stones
in this shepherd's bag with a sling. And I love to think of this sling
as a type of the preaching of the gospel. He takes that sling
and he slings that stone, divine omnipotence directs it where
it's supposed to go, and it hits the giant in the head and kills
him. That's the preaching of the gospel.
The stones of his grace, being directed by irresistible power
into the place where God would have it be. So he has his five
stones, stones of grace and a sling. He doesn't need a sword. He doesn't
need a spear. He needs nothing like that. Let's
go on reading verse 41. And the Philistine came on and
drew near unto David, and the man that bared the shield went
before him." Now, think about this man. I don't know how much
he weighed, but his armor weighed 180 pounds. He must have weighed
500, 600 pounds, solid muscle, a 26-foot spear. He wasn't afraid of David. When
he saw this young man coming at him, he was offended. You
bring this man out against me? Do you think he can fight with
me? And the Philistine came on and
drew near unto David, and the man that bare the shield went
before him. And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he
disdained him, for he was but a youth and ruddy and a fair
countenance. He's a pretty boy. There's nothing
to him. He can't defeat me. And the Philistine
said unto David, am I a dog? Yeah, you don't know it yet,
but you're no different than that. Am I a dog that thou comest
to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David
by his gods. And the Philistine said to David,
come to me and I'll give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air
and to the beasts of the field. Then said David to the Philistine,
thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield,
but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God
of the armies of Israel, whom thou has defied this day. will the Lord deliver thee into
mine hand and I will smite thee and take thy head from thee and
I'll give the carcasses of the host of Philistines this day
into the fowls of the air and the wild beasts of the earth
and here's why I'm doing all this that all the earth may know
that there is a God in Israel. Now don't you love to think of
David doing this? One man And oh, he was so confident. He wasn't afraid of this man.
Why? Because he had the name of the Lord behind him. The name
of the Lord is who he is. The name of the Lord is his attributes.
That's the name upon which we call. Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. We call upon his holiness,
his sovereignty, his justice, his righteousness, his grace.
He's coming in the name of the Lord. That's who he is. The lion's
no match for him. His sword and his spear is no
match for him. And I love the way he says, this
day, the Lord will deliver you into my hands. This day. Now this is a reference to the
day of salvation. I know it happened on that calendar
day when that took place, but the Lord lived 33 years upon
the earth. But salvation was accomplished
in a day. The day of his death. Now he had to live those 33 years
and live out that perfect righteousness and keep God's law perfectly.
But what if he would have done that and went back to heaven?
What good that would that do us? None at all. This is the
day of salvation, the day the Lord hath made. This day shall
the Lord deliver you into my hands. And that is exactly what
took place with the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture says on
that day, having, listen to the scripture, having made peace
through the blood of his cross. Next time somebody asks you if
you've made your peace with God, say, no, Christ made my peace
with God. He made my peace. And this is
how complete this victory is because of the blood of His cross.
Every believer, according to Colossians 1.22, is holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in the very sight of God. This day, salvation
in a day, the day of God, the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love that scripture. Who is
he that can condemn? Bring it on. Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died on that
very day. Yea, rather that's risen. That's
the only answer I need. It's Christ that died. It wasn't
Todd that died. It was Christ that died. Oh,
the power, the glory, the sufficiency of his death to put away all
sins. Yea, rather that's risen again. who's even at the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us, being now
justified by his blood." Now, let me remind you, David didn't
have any help here. You know, even that Philistine,
he had his armor bearer going out with him. He tried to have
some help, not David. When he had by himself, Hebrews
1.3, When he had by himself, with no help from you, no contribution
from you, there's nothing you did in this great work of salvation. When he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down. His work was finished. Verse 47. 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," Notice, our hands. Now, David
did this alone but he doesn't say to Goliath, he'll give you
into my hands, he'll give you into our hands. You see what the Lord Jesus did? It was for A big group called
Our. The same ones who are unable
to pray Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. It's something about the elect.
Everything he did, he did for every single one of his people.
He didn't do it, he did it by himself, but he did it for his
people. Verse 48, and it came to pass
when the Philistine arose and came and drew nigh to meet David,
that David hasted and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
Don't you love the picture of this in your mind? The shepherd
boy, that giant with his armor and David with nothing but the
sling just running at him, that sling, getting ready to let it
go. And like I said, I think that's
such a beautiful picture of the preaching of the gospel when
God directs the stone into the place he has ordained. David
put his hand in his bag and took thence a stone and sling it and
smote the Philistine in his forehead that the stone sunk into his
forehead. Evidently, it crashed right through
the skull, went into his brain and he fell upon his face to
the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling
and with a stone and smote the Philistine and slew him. But
there's no sword in David's hand. See, all that's needed is the
preaching of the gospel. Nothing else is needed. What
do you all have to attract people? The preaching of the gospel.
Nothing else? Don't want anything else. It's
all worthless. The only thing that counts is
the preaching of the gospel under the power of the Holy Spirit.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them to
believe. Now you're putting too much emphasis
on the preacher. I'm not putting any emphasis on the preacher.
I'm putting emphasis on the message that he preaches, the gospel
of God. Verse 51, therefore David ran
and stood upon the Philistine and he took a sword. The Philistines
instrument of death and drew it out of the sheath thereof
and slew him and cut off his head therewith. And when the
Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled. And now
here's where the men of Israel come in after the victory has
already been won. This is me and you. And the men
of Israel and Judah rose and shouted and pursued the Philistines
until they came to the valley and to the gates of Ekron. And
they wounded the Philistines and fell down by the way to Sharon,
even unto Gath and unto Ekron. And the children of Israel returned
from chasing after the Philistines and they spoiled their tents."
Oh, the spoils. Justification. Redemption. Regeneration. Preservation. Calling. Oh, the spoils. that our great
David accomplished for us that we just take. No battle on our
part, he won the battle for us. And David took the head of the
Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem and he put his armor
in his tent. Now that's a thrilling story,
no doubt. But if I don't see the gospel
in this story, Two men thought, if David wins, all of Israel
wins. They get the complete victory.
Well, the Lord Jesus Christ won. And everything he achieved by
his death, every believer possesses. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for our
greater David. David's Lord and David's son.
And how we thank you for the salvation that he accomplished. Lord, in Christ's name, we ask
that you take this word and bless it according to your will and
give each of us faith in the greater David. Give us the gift
of faith that we might trust Him who alone won the victory
and gives us the spoils. Bless this message for Christ's
sake, in His name we pray, amen.