Good morning. Would you turn
to 1 Samuel chapter 17? Last night, I came out here to
run the bulletins and to turn the baptistry heater on. And
I ran the bulletins and forgot to turn the baptistry heater
on. So hopefully it won't be so bad. Sometimes it gets real
cold, Michael. I'm up, though. 1 Samuel chapter 17, I want to
begin reading in verse 41 and read down through verse 44. And the Philistine came on and
drew near unto David. And the man that bared the shield
went before him. And when the Philistine looked
about and saw David, this is Goliath the giant, he disdained
him. For he was but a youth and ruddy,
and of a fair countenance. And the Philistine said unto
David, 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 will give thy flesh unto the
fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name, that name, which is above every name. And
Lord, we ask that you would give us the grace and the ability
to worship you in spirit and in truth. We pray that we might
hear your gospel in the power of your spirit and that we might
be enabled to believe. Lord, we're waiting upon thee. Lord, we confess our sins. We
pray for forgiveness and cleansing. Lord, we pray for an outpouring
of your spirit upon us. And what we ask for ourselves,
we ask for all your people wherever they meet together. Now bless
us, oh Lord, for Christ's sake. Give us a. View of him that causes us to
trust him completely. Lord, that's above anything that
this flesh can produce. So we look to you to do this
for us and in us. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Now our subject for this morning
is Goliath. What an imposing figure he was,
and you'll remember that he represents salvation by human strength.
He represents salvation by works. Turn to the first of this chapter,
verse four. And there went out a champion
out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose
height was six cubits and a span. That's anywhere between nine
foot nine and 12 feet tall, depending on how big a cubit is. But I
mean, he would have been taller than this ceiling. He had a spear
that was 26 feet long. The spearhead weighed 20 pounds.
He had 180 pounds of armor on. Can you imagine walking around
with 180 pounds? That's how big and strong and imposing this
man was. Eight, and he stood and cried
unto the armies of Israel and said unto them, why are you come
out to set your battle in array? 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 will we be your servants. But if I prevail
against him and kill him, then shall you be our servants and
serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel
this day. Give me a man that we may fight
together. Now this is representation, isn't
it? If Goliath wins, the Philistines win. If Israel sends out a man
that can defeat Goliath, who you know is David, then Israel
wins. Christ Jesus, David represents
Christ Jesus. Goliath represents salvation
by human strength. And indeed, Goliath, I guess,
is about the best humanity can produce. This big, imposing,
strong man. I wouldn't want to fight him,
would you? Now, it's pointed out, verse 10, and
the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give
me a man that we may fight together. I defy. Now that word defy is
used five times in this story. Five times it's pointed out that
he defied the armies of Israel. And when I think of defiance,
I generally just think of somebody that's angry and challenging
him. But that's not really what the word means. I thought this
was very interesting. The word means to denude, to expose. Now, what's the point? He represents salvation by works.
Salvation by works means that what I do, I'm comparing myself
to somebody else, I'm gonna be saved by what I do, and I'm gonna
look at somebody else, I'm gonna think I'm better than they are.
I do something that they don't do, and that's what gives me
my assurance. And if I feel that way, if I've got the religion
of the Pharisee, that's the way the natural man's religion is,
he trusts himself that he's righteous, despises others, he says, I thank
you that I'm not as other men are. Now that is, the religion
of the natural man, comparing ourselves with others. I might
not be perfect, but at least I'm not as bad as so-and-so.
Just all these silly comparisons men make. I may not be, but I'm
this, I'm that, I'm better than that person. And if I have that
kind of mentality, what I want is for you to look bad so I look
better. I want to compare myself to you.
And I want you to look bad so I can feel better about myself.
And so I want to expose you and denude you and show what you're
really like in order to build up myself. Now there's no love
in that, is there? There's not a drop of love in
that. You see, love covereth a transgression. That's what
love wants to do. If you love somebody, you want
everything to look good with them. But if you have a religion
of personal comparison, that's what Goliath was all about. I
want to expose you. I want everybody to see your
weakness, and that way I can feel better about myself. Look
in verse 26 of this chapter. Now remember, we're considering
who this Goliath was. First of all, he wanted to expose
people because he had a religion. He represents man's religion.
And the first thing about man's religion is I want to make you
look bad so I can look better and I can feel better about myself.
I'm comparing myself to others. And that way I'm going to make
you look bad so I come out on top. Now look in 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?" There we have that word defy again, but
he called him an uncircumcised Philistine. Now, circumcision
is physical. It's something that only the
Jews did at that time. And you know what it means. I
don't need to get into that, but it represents something spiritual.
Turn with me to Romans chapter 2. Goliath knew nothing of circumcision. And David pointed that out about
him. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? Romans chapter 2, verse 28. For he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly. Now do you hear that? That takes care of that whole
dispensational view of things where people think that God's
gonna come back and set up a kingdom in Israel and the Jews are all
gonna get together and that person's not even a Jew. That person who
lives in Israel is not a Jew. He is not a Jew, which is one
outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh,
but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly, And circumcision is
that of the heart. Do you remember when Stephen
was preaching in Acts chapter 7, that message that cost him
his life? And he said to his hearers, you uncircumcised in
heart and lips. You're uncircumcised. You don't
know anything about a circumcised heart. Now remember, a Jew is
not one who is circumcised physically. It's one who's circumcised in
the heart. Look in verse 29. He is a Jew, which is one inwardly,
and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in
the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. Now, Goliath,
this man who represents human religion, knew nothing of circumcision. Turn with me to Philippians chapter
three. I tell you, this is such a, an important verse of scripture. Philippians chapter three, Goliath was a complete stranger
to this. Paul says in verse three, for
we are the circumcision. We're the people who are truly
circumcised. This circumcision of the heart,
the circumcision made without hands. This is what God does
for somebody when he saves them. And Goliath was a complete stranger
to this. He was an uncircumcised man. Now here's what a circumcised
person is. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit. We worship God for who he is.
And the only way we do it is in the Spirit, by God the Holy
Spirit causing us to worship. There's no worship of God without
the Holy Spirit. That's why I never invite people
to come worship with us. Only God can enable somebody
to worship. I invite you to come to hear the gospel. I want everybody
to hear the gospel, don't you? I want everybody in Lexington
to come here to hear the gospel. But as far as saying, come worship
with us, Only God, the Holy Spirit, can enable one to worship. God
is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit
and in truth. Now, we are the circumcision,
which worship God in the spirit. And here's what someone does
who worships God in the spirit. They rejoice. And that word rejoice
doesn't just mean be happy. It means you glory. You glory,
you boast, you have confidence in. Here's what people do when
they worship God in the Spirit, they glory in Christ Jesus. That
means the only one I have confidence in is Christ. Paul put it this
way in Galatians 6.14, God forbid that I should glory save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We rejoice in Christ. All that
God looks to is Christ for me. All that I look to is Christ,
that's it. And that's what true worship
is. And whenever someone worships
God in the spirit, what do they do next? They rejoice in Christ
Jesus. And thirdly, we have, what's
it say? How many different ways are to
take this? We have no confidence in the flesh. None at all. No confidence in the flesh. Now,
Goliath was a complete stranger to this. Complete. Now, go back to our text in 1
Samuel 17, beginning in verse 41. And the Philistine, Goliath, came on and drew near unto David,
and the man that bared the shield went before him. And when the
Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him. For he was but a youth, and ruddy,
and of a fair countenance." Now on the surface, he saw a teenage
boy that was a pretty boy. That's all he saw, a teenage
boy's, can this man fight me? Why, this is ridiculous. He looked
at David and he disdained him. Oh God, that is ridiculous that
they would send out such a person to fight such a mighty man as
myself. He disdained him. But I love
this threefold description of David. And this is what he disdained.
First of all, he disdained his youth. Now I understand that if a teenager
coming out against him, but doesn't the scripture say in Psalm 110
verse three, thou hast the due of thy youth, speaking of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He has eternal youth. He doesn't get old. He doesn't
get old. He knows nothing of age because
he's the eternal God. Thou hast the due of thy youth
to describe the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the eternal God. And when
it says he was ready, all that means is that word comes out
of Adam. Adam, red. He was a man. He's
the man Christ Jesus. The eternal God is the man Christ
Jesus. And he disdained him. He saw
nothing glorious in his person. And the scripture also points
out in that verse of scripture I just read, he was of a beautiful
countenance. I want you to think of the beauty
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, true, I saw no beauty in
him, but isn't he beautiful? I mean, I think of his character,
his power. He's all powerful and yet meek
and lowly. He's all wise, kind, and gracious. He's absolutely sovereign. And
he's the Savior. He's glorious. I mean, every
attribute, you think of whatever attribute you want to talk about
the Lord Jesus Christ, he's altogether lovely. He's beautiful. And what
did Goliath do? He disdained him. He thought
there's nothing in him that I'm even interested in. The natural
man, sees no beauty in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the religion
of the natural man sees no beauty in Christ. Now look what he says
in verse 43. He disdained David, and that's
what man's religion does with the Lord Jesus Christ. See no
beauty in him. Verse 43, and the Philistine said unto David,
who do you think I am? Am I a dog? Do you have that
low opinion of me that you'd send this teenage boy out to
fight me? Do you think I'm nothing more
than a dog that you'd throw rocks at me or something? Who do you
think I am? Don't you understand how mighty
I am?" Goliath had a very high opinion of himself, didn't he?
I'm no dog. You can't talk to me that way.
I mean, I'm strong. The religion of the natural man
has a high opinion of the flesh. I'm no dog. Now, I want you to
think about this. Your view, my view of man, there's
four possible views of humanity. The first view is the evolutionary
view. Never quite know exactly how
man came to be. Somehow life's, the chemicals
of the primordial mix got just right and somehow life popped
out and then there was some kind of one-celled creature and somehow
gets out of the water and starts living and evolving and developing
and all that. You know, with regard to evolution,
it takes a whole lot more blind faith to believe that than it
does to believe the gospel. I mean, it just does, that whole view. But the thing is, if you have
that view of man, he's getting better. He doesn't need a savior. He's gone from here to here to
here, and he's going to keep going up. Man keeps getting better. That's what that view is. Now,
the second view, that man doesn't need a savior. He just keeps
getting better. The second view of mankind, me
and you, would be this. Men are born morally neutral. They're born, you might even
give God the credit for creating him, but he's born neither good
nor bad and he just needs the right education and the right
environment to put him in the right position. That's all he
needs. He's morally neutral and if he's
in a bad environment, he'll go bad. That's why it's up to us
to put him in the right environment and give him the proper education
so he can make the right decisions and go in the right direction.
Man's morally neutral. Now, if that's the case, men
don't need a savior. Men need a proper environment
and a proper education to get him in the right direction, if
that's the case. No need for a savior. Now, the
third view that you can possibly have of man is man is fallen.
Man has fallen. Man is sinful. No doubt about
it. But man still has the power of free will. He can choose Jesus
Christ to make his plight better. He's got the power. God wants
to save him. God loves everybody. Christ died
for everybody. God wants to save everybody. Here man is in this
position, and he's got the power to choose Christ. I mean, God
wants to save him, but salvation is ultimately his will. If he chooses Christ, he'll be
saved. If he doesn't choose Christ,
he won't be saved. Now, if that's the case, what
man needs is someone who can persuade him to do what's right.
He doesn't so much need a savior, he needs somebody to do something
for his will, put the pressure on him and to make him go in
a certain direction so he'll choose. He doesn't need a savior,
he needs somebody to talk him into something. He needs somebody
to put the pressure on his will to make him make the right decision.
Now, here's the fourth view. Here's the fourth view. Men are
dead in sins, completely evil, with no ability to save themselves. Now that person needs a savior.
That person needs a savior. I need to be saved from my sins. I need the Lord to do something
for me. I need him to come down and reach down and do something
for me. That man needs a savior. Now,
Goliath knew nothing of this. He said, am I a dog? Do you have
that low opinion of me? Don't you think I can handle
this situation? He had a high view of humanity. This is, look
in 2 Kings chapter 8 for a moment. 2 Kings chapter 8. This was said
by somebody else. Verse 12, and Hazel said, why
weepeth my Lord? And he answered, because I know
the evil that you're going to do unto the children of Israel.
Their strongholds you'll set on fire. Their young men will
you slay with the sword. You'll dash their children and
rip up their women with child. The prophet said to Hazel, you're
going to do these things. And Hazel said, but what is thy
servant, a dog, that he should do this great thing? Do you think
I'm a dog? I would never do anything like
that. And he did all those things. He ended up doing all those things. And this fella says, am I a dog? You know, you're better off if
you are a dog, aren't you? You remember Mephibosheth? That you have mercy on such a
dead dog as me. Remember the Syrophoenician woman,
when the Lord said, it's not right to take the children's
bread and cast it to dogs. She said, that's the truth, Lord.
I agree. but the dogs eat of the crumbs
that fall from the master's table. Now, Goliath was no dog, but
he would have been a lot better off being a dog, wouldn't he?
Am I a dog? Now, look in verse 43. And the Philistines, 1 Samuel
17, verse 43, And the Philistines said unto David, I am a dog,
that thou comest to me with staves. And the Philistine cursed David
by his gods. Now, first question I want to
ask is, these gods he cursed David by, could they curse David?
No. Why? Because they were non-existent. They were the figment of this
giant's imagination. They were false gods. And the religion of the natural
man, the religion of Goliath, is a religion of false gods. Now understand this. The God of all, I don't know
how else to say it, but works religion, free will religion,
the God where salvation is somehow dependent on something you do.
That God is a false God. It's not a real God. Somebody says, well, what's the
difference between what y'all believe and what other folks believe?
Well, we got a different God. That's the main issue. The God of the
Bible is the true God, the God who saves the way he saves in
the Bible. That's the true God. Every other version is a false
God. And this man, he cursed David
with his false gods. And as big and as imposing as
this man is, he's just a man. You reckon the Lord was afraid
when this giant came out at him? No. Was David afraid? No. the best humanity can produce,
but it's not much, is it? It's a false God, a false view
of God, and that's what man's religion is about. It's a false
God. It's not saving. It's idolatry. It's all it is.
It's a false view of God. And this Philistine, he had his
gods that he cursed David with. He cursed him by his God, but
did that curse mean anything? Absolutely nothing, because it
was a false God. and the God of man's religion,
of Goliath. It's a false god. And look in
verse 45. Then said David to the Philistine,
Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a
shield. That's what he was trusting in. You remember last week how
David refused that armor? He wouldn't take that armor.
He didn't need it. But that's all this Philistine
knew anything about. Human armor, human ability. This is what will protect me.
Now it couldn't protect him. He put that big old helmet on,
that brass helmet, and David slung that stone and it went
right through the helmet into his head and he fell down. It
couldn't help him. He thought it could, but it couldn't.
It had no protection against this stone that was directed
by divine energy and power and speed, and it sunk through his
forehead. His armor didn't do him any good,
but he trusted it. He said, you're coming to me
in this armor, but I'm coming to you in the name of the Lord,
our God. Now it's, Goliath has human weaponry,
doesn't he? Human protection, which is nothing
before God. Now look also in verse 44, I
think this is interesting. And the Philistine said to David,
come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air
and to the beasts of the field. This is what I'm going to do.
I will. Now, anything that's got an I will in it, it's just
no good. It's just no good. If any of
your religion is I will do this or I will do that, I will. Will
you? Will you? Anything based upon
man's will is doomed for failure. He said, I will give your flesh
to be food for the birds. Will you? Now contrast this to
David. Look what David says. Then said David to the Philistine,
thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield,
but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God
of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will
the Lord deliver you into my hand. See the difference? Goliath
comes and says, I will do this. And that's basically man's religion. It's a religion based upon human
will. I will. I will. And David doesn't
come that way, does he? He says, this day the Lord will
deliver you into our hands. This doesn't have anything to
do with my will or my decision or what I intend on doing. Remember, It's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy."
Now, Goliath summarizes human religion. First, I defy you. What that means is I'm going
to expose you. I'm going to denude you. I'm going to show you how
sinful you are, and I'm going to feel better about myself.
A religion comparing yourself to others. I might not be perfect,
but I'm better than so and so. At least I don't do this. At
least I don't do that. And if you have that kind of
thinking, what you want about others is you want them to look
bad. You want them to be exposed so you can feel better about
yourself. That's human religion. If it has something to do with
my works, I want to look better than somebody else to get myself
more assurance. That's five times that word is used. I defy. I denude. It is a, and there's
no true love in it, it's a religion where there's no circumcision
of the heart and the ears. And that's what Stephen said
to the people he was preaching to in Acts chapter seven. You're
uncircumcised in heart and you're uncircumcised in ears. There's
no rejoicing in Christ Jesus. There's nothing like that in
human religion, in Goliath's religion. And it has a disdain for Christ himself.
He had such a low opinion of Christ. You're gonna send me
out this youth, this pretty boy, that's this ruddy, he's all flesh,
just a disdain for Christ himself. You see, in true religion, more
than anything else, there is a high view of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That would summarize that which
is true. You can't view him too highly.
You can't view him too awesome and glorious and powerful and
sovereign and gracious and meek and humble and, oh, Christ. But
in human religion, in Goliath's religion, there's a disdain for
the Lord Jesus Christ, and there's also a high opinion of self. You reckon I'm a, you count me
as a dog? You send this guy out to fight
me with all my strength, my supposed strength? There's a high, wherever
there's a low view of Christ, there's always a high view of
self. The two always go together. And it's a religion of false
gods. That's what it's all about, false
gods. Gods that aren't real. He cursed David by his gods,
and it's a religion of will worship. I will. Now doesn't that, Goliath
summarizes human religion, doesn't he? Oh, how thankful I am for
our great David, because Goliath, he summarizes the flesh, the
best the flesh can do. Thank God our David, the Lord
Jesus Christ, defeated Goliath for us. And we're going to consider
next week that great victory that he achieved when he came
running at that Philistine. And I love to think about that.
I try to picture that in my mind right now. I think of that young
teenager running at that giant. No fear at all. Taking that sling,
and he knew it was gonna be divinely directed to crush through his
head. And thus he achieved victory for Israel. I also think it's
funny how that after that, all the Israelites, all of a sudden
they were emboldened to go fight the Philistines and went after
them and spoiled their tents after the victory had already
been won. But we'll consider that next week.