I understand why people want
to be snowbirds, come in this cold weather, but
sure is good to be back with you. Would you turn with me to
1 Samuel chapter 17. I'd like to read verse 25 of
1 Samuel chapter 17. 1 Samuel chapter 17, verse 25. And the men of Israel said, have
you seen this man that has come up? Speaking of Goliath, surely
to defy Israel, is he come up? And it shall 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. What a summary of the gospel.
Let's pray together. Lord, come into your presence
in Christ's name and Lord how we thank you and praise you that
he is thy son and that he is God and that he is the savior
and that he is the one mediator between yourself and men and
we thank you for the salvation that's in him and Lord we ask
that He might be exalted at this time. We pray that your gospel
would be preached, that you'd give us hearing ears and receptive
hearts. Give us believing hearts. Give
us resting hearts. May we be enabled to worship
him. Forgive us of our sins, oh Lord, for his sake and cause
your grace to be poured upon us. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Look in verse 16 of 1 Samuel
chapter 17. And the Philistine drew near
morning and evening and presented himself 40 days. For 40 days, every day they heard
this same challenge. Look back at verse four of 1
Samuel chapter 17. 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. And he had a helmet of brass
upon his head, and 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 between
his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's
beam. And a spearhead weighed six hundred shekels of iron.
And one bearing a shield went before him, 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 Philistine, and
you servants of Saul? Choose you a man for you, and
let him come down to me. And if he able to be fight with
me, and kill me, then we'll be your servants. But if I prevail
against him and kill him, then you should be our servants and
serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel
this day. Give me a man that we might fight
together. And he came down every day for 40 days with this challenge. Give me a man and let him fight
with me. I look back in verse 17 of first
Samuel chapter 17. And Jesse said unto 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 their brethren fare, and take their pledge." Now,
while this was going on, all these challenges, Jesse sent
David his son. Now, he had five other sons he
could have sent. There were only three in the
battle. But he sent David. Now, why did he do this? Well,
I don't think he knew why, but it was God's purpose, wasn't
it? Though nobody else knew it, God
had determined to kill the Philistine by this giant, or by David is
the true giant. And God had determined to kill
this Philistine. And one of the things that that
reminds me of is that God's providence is always at work. Isn't that
wonderful? There's a very real sense which
we ought to get up every day with a feeling of optimism. What's
the Lord going to do today? What's he going to do today?
He's always at work. And I don't think Jesse knew
that Dave, I know Jesse didn't know that David was going to
perform these mighty acts, but the Lord knew that David was
going to perform these mighty acts. Verse 19. Now Saul and
they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah fighting
with the Philistines, verse 20, and David rose up early in the
morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took and went as
Jesse had commanded him and he came to the trench as the host
was going forth to fight and shouted for the battle for Israel
and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against
army. I guess nobody was willing to take on Goliath. And so they
were going to have a battle between the two armies. They were afraid
to do this. And I got to thinking about Jonathan in the last chapter.
Do you remember how he was willing to take on the entire Philistine
army by himself? But here, he's not willing to
take on the giant. What that reminds me of is that
if I have any spiritual courage or ability, it's the gift of
God. And if he withholds it, I won't do a thing. just like
Jonathan. He had demonstrated such courage
at this one time, but it's gone. He's scared to death of the Philistine,
Goliath, just like everybody else is. Verse 22, 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, he'd never heard this before, Behold, there came up
the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out
of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same
words. I defy the armies of Israel this day. I defy the God of Israel
this day. He heard all this. And David
heard them. Verse 24, and all the men of
Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were sore afraid. Even Jonathan was, and I think
of Jonathan's courage in that last chapter when he was willing
to take on the entire army, but no longer. He doesn't want to
now. Verse 25, and the men of Israel said, have you seen this
man that's come up? Surely to defy Israel has he
come up, and it shall be that the man who killeth him King
will enrich him with great riches and will give him his daughter
and make his father's house free in Israel. And the first thing that had
to be done for the children of Israel to be saved from the Philistines
is this giant had to be killed. Goliath of Gath. He had to be
killed. He was Israel's enemy. Now, there
are two deadly enemies that all of us have. Now, this enemy is
not some man or woman who hates you and despises you and wishes
ill against you and would do anything they can to destroy
you. That's not your enemy. Because what if they did? What
if they did put you to death? What if they were used in putting
you out of business? What would that mean? The Lord
said, fear not him who kills the body. And after that, that's
all he can do. Fear him who has power to destroy
both body and soul in hell. Now we have two enemies. And
these are very real enemies that me and you have. Number one,
my big enemy, first of all, is my sin. My sin, myself, that's
my biggest enemy. My sin is what's gonna cause
me to go to hell if God doesn't do something for me. So my first
enemy is my sin. And my second enemy is the law
of God. The law of God, the holy law
of God condemns me for my sin. Now those are the two enemies
that I have, myself, my sin, and God's holy law that condemns
me. Now I can't stand before these
enemies. I have to have somebody to do
something for me. And David, my greater David,
the Lord Jesus Christ, defeated my enemies. by his death. Remember, Goliath had to be killed. That's Israel's enemy. My enemy
is my sin and God's holy law. And Christ, by his death, put
away my sin. That enemy has been defeated.
And he answered The law for me. He was condemned for me. God's
law is now satisfied. God's law has nothing against
me. I'm dead to sin. Sin has nothing
to say to me. Christ died for it. I'm dead.
Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. Think of that
statement. Dead indeed to sin. If God tells
me to reckon myself to be dead indeed to sin, it's because I
am in fact dead to sin. and alive unto God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Sin's been defeated. My enemy
has been defeated, has been put away, and God's holy law, I'm
dead to the law. The law has nothing to say to
me. Now that's what our great David
did in his death. Goliath was put to death, and
I'm so thankful for that. When Christ died, sin was put
away, and all the accusations of the law were answered. Now,
because of his death, He achieved glories. Now this is, look at
verse 25. 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 killeth him, and
that's what our Lord did. He killed our enemies. He destroyed
Goliath. The man who killeth him, the
king will enrich him with great riches. Now here is the, I guess
the first point. The Lord Jesus Christ, by his
death, achieved glories that he would never have had if it
weren't for his death. I want you to think about that.
It's a wonderful thing to think about. To me, one of the most
mysterious things of the gospel, first of all, is that Christ
died in the first place because of who he is. He's the God-man. How did he die? I don't know,
but he did. Jesus Christ, who is God, actually
died. I remember one man wrote me once. He was responding to a message,
either TV or radio or something, and he said, well, the God part
of him didn't die. It was only the man part of him
that did. And I thought, oh, you got it figured out, huh?
I don't understand how the God man died, but he did. He was made sin and he died,
and that's so mysterious. But what good would have done
me and you if Jesus Christ lived, kept God's holy law, and went
back to heaven and never died? What good would it do me and
you? None. As a matter of fact, all it would
do is condemn us. But the fact that he came and
died, He achieved glories that he would have never had had he
not died and accomplished what he accomplished by his death. Turn with me to Philippians chapter
two for a moment. Now Jesus Christ, he's the eternal
God and he already in his person before time began had glory that
We can think about, but we can not understand much. I mean,
he, he's God. And how can he, how can he get
more glory? We'll look in Philippians chapter
two, beginning in verse five. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought
it not robbery. Thought it not a thing to be
grasped for, thought it not a thing to be a rip-off for him to be
equal with God. Now, what a statement regarding
our Lord. He knew himself to be equal with
God. That's altogether glorious, isn't
it? Equal with God. But what did he do, being equal
with God? Verse seven, but he made himself
of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and
was made in the likeness of men. He became flesh. There is one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. what glory he achieved in becoming
flesh. Now let's go on reading. Verse
eight, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, because he humbled
himself to death, even the death of the cross. God hath highly
exalted him. He was given glories that he
would not have had he not done this. And given him a name, which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee
should bow. Of things in heaven and things
in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. Now, how his death magnifies
him in the ultimate act of obedience? Son, go be nailed to the cross. Yes, Father. The ultimate act of obedience,
no obedience like his obedience when he humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Now that
he, he achieved glories in his act of obedience. And think of
this, not only does he achieve glories in his act of obedience,
but he became the savior. He would have never been the
Savior. What would it be to you if you
didn't know him as the Savior? The one who saved you from your
sins. The one who loved you and gave himself for you. Oh, what
glories he achieved as the Savior. He would have never been the
Savior had he not come and become flesh and been made sin and humbled
himself in this obedience to death. glorified Himself as the
Savior. You think of how precious He
is to you as the Savior. Oh, He's my Savior. Yes, He's
my Lord. Yes, He's my Master. Yet, He's
my Savior. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. What glories
He has achieved as the Savior. How He magnified and honored
God's holy law by His death. Do you know in him willingly
giving himself to die, he said by that, he said a whole lot
of things by that, but he said, I'd rather die than let my father's
holy law be dishonored. How he magnified God's holy law. How he magnified the grace of
God. What would we know of the grace
of God had he not come to die? We would know anything about
the grace of God. We would know anything about the forgiveness
of sins. We would know anything about the mercy of God and the
love of God and the wisdom of God, the wisdom of God and him
making a way for him to stay just and completely righteous
and yet justify somebody like me and you. The Lord achieved
glories that he would have never achieved had he not come here
and died. But now he's enriched with great
riches in defeating our enemy. Remember the promise, whoever
defeats Goliath, he's going to be enriched with great riches. And you think of the riches of
the Lord Jesus Christ. I love thinking about that. The
glories that he has achieved because of his death. Now, look
back in our text in 1 Samuel 17 verse 25. 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 killeth him, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, the king will
enrich him with great riches. He'll have riches that he would
not have had had he not done this. And secondly, and he will
give him his daughter. He'll give him his daughter.
He's going to get a bride from this. Turn with me for a moment
to Ephesians chapter five. Hold your finger there in first
Samuel 17, but this is a familiar passage of scripture. Verse 25, husbands, love your
wives, even as Christ also loved the church. and gave himself
for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing
of water by the word that he might present it to himself,
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that it should be holy and without blemish. Now that's what
the Lord accomplished in his death. He got him a bride. I love the way the church is
called the Lamb's Wife, don't you? I'm his wife. The Lord said,
there's my wife, there's my love. And not only that, but I'm a
perfect wife. Every believer is, without spot,
without wrinkle, without blemish, holy and unblameable in his sight. What a glorious thing to think
that the Lord looks at every one of his people, every one
of his people as his only bride. You're his bride, you're his
wife, and you're holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight
by what he has done. Now that's what the Lord did.
Let's go on reading. Ephesians 5. Verse 28, so ought men to
love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife
loveth himself. I think that's one of the most
wonderful statements in the Bible. When the Lord loved me because
of union with himself, another one of the great mysteries of
the scripture, he loved himself. I'm his own body. that he loves. Now, this is the bride that the
Lord got through his death. Verse 29, for no man ever yet
hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the
Lord the church. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church. Now by the Lord's
death, he was given this bride, that he has made perfect in his
sight. What glory comes from his death. Now go back to our text in 1
Samuel chapter 17. And the men of Israel said, verse
25, have you seen this man that's come up surely to defy Israel
as he come up? It shall be that the man who
killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches. He will
achieve glories that he wouldn't have had had he not done this.
And he will give him his daughter to be a bride and make his father's
house free in Israel. Now this is what the Lord achieved
by his death. Everybody he died for is made
free In Israel, when Christ died, I was made free. If the Son shall make you free,
you're free indeed. In reality, absolute, complete
freedom. Boy, that scares religious people
to death, this idea of freedom and liberty. But if the Son has
made you free, You're free indeed. Stand fast in the liberty, the
freedom wherewith Christ hath made us free. And don't you be
entangled again in that yoke of bondage. Freedom. Freedom. Christ made us free.
Well, what is freedom? Well, freedom means basically
two things. Freedom means I don't know anything. I don't know anything. A debt
of love, but I don't owe anything. I'm free. That's what freedom
is. I'm free. I don't owe anything.
If you're free, that means you get to do what you want to do.
You're not doing what you have to do. You're not doing what
you're being forced to. You don't have pressure put on
you. You don't have obligations laid out. You do what you want
to do. That's what true freedom is. In Christ, I'm free. I'm free. I don't owe anything,
and I get to do what I want to do. And you know what I want
to do? I want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to be his
disciple indeed. That's what I want to do. And
that's what happens when you're freed. Freed from the law, oh
happy condition. Now, I think the best illustration
of freedom is found in the year of Jubilee. You read about its
details in Leviticus chapter 25. But in the year of Jubilee, if you were a slave, when that
silver trumpet sounded, you were set free. You're no longer a
slave. You got yourself into trouble,
you got into debt, you had to sell yourself to be a slave in
order to pay your debts. You couldn't get them paid, but
on the year of Jubilee, it happened every 50 years, or it was supposed
to have happened. I think it's interesting that you don't have
one example of this ever taking place in the scriptures. Not
one year was the year of Jubilee kept. As far as we don't have
an example where it really happened. It was the law, but I imagine
the people who had Money owed to them would try to keep it
from taking place. And I probably would have been one of them.
Somebody owed me a bunch of money, I'd be upset if all of a sudden,
hey, that debt's been canceled. I'd be one of those people, I
don't like this. But I'll tell you who did like it. The people
who were in debt. The people who were slaves. If
you were a slave, all of a sudden you were set free. All debts. Canceled. Do you owe any money right now?
Some of you don't. Probably most of you do. Maybe
you owe even hundreds of thousands of dollars, say, for your house
or something. Can you imagine how you'd feel if all of a sudden,
boom, I don't owe a dime? Don't owe anything to anybody.
And whatever you lost in the year of Jubilee, let's say you
lost your house or your land or even your family might have
been sold into slavery, whatever you lost in the year of Jubilee
was restored back again. It was given to you. And the
land was given a year's rest. If you were a laboring man, vacation. Vacation. You know, this week
I spent some time vacating. I loved it. I like what, I think
it was Charles Barkley, when he was going on a vacation, he
said, what are you going to be doing? And he said, sunning and fun
and resting and digesting. And I guess I did some of that.
Vacation is when you, you don't have to work. You don't have
to work. Isn't it a vacation? I love vacation. And the land
was given a year's rest. Now this is freedom. It's an
eternal vacation. And some, don't you like to work?
No, I don't like to work. I like vacation. I like to rest
in Christ. And that's what freedom is. And
when the Lord died, he killed Goliath and all we
needed Goliath killed, didn't we? Our great enemy, our sin,
the law of God. Our sin is what will send us
to hell. Somebody says God loves the sinner and he hates the sins.
Where's that in the Bible? Sins don't go to hell. The people
who committed them go to hell. And I need delivered from my
sins. My sin is my great problem. And it's the law of God that
condemns me. Christ defeated my enemy for
me. He defeated my sin. He defeated
my law, the law's claims against me. And because he did that,
now, He has given great riches that he wouldn't have achieved
had he not done this, but I'm given great benefits had he not
done this. Oh, I think of the benefits I
receive from the Lord's work for me. He got himself a bride,
and what a bride he got himself, one without spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, perfect, perfect, attractive to where he says,
one of your eyes ravishes me. That's what the Lord says to
his bride. Because, you know, we don't much feel this way.
We feel ugly. Not to him, though. And one of
these days we're going to realize it. We feel ugly now, but one
of these days we won't. Because we're going to see where
he says, one of your eyes ravished. Thou art all fair, my love. There's
no spot in thee. That's the way the Lord looks
at his bride. He was given a bride, and he
achieved freedom for his people. And now every believer, isn't
freedom wonderful? I love not being in bondage. I love being free in Christ Jesus. I love not owing anything. Christ paid all my debt. The
sin question has completely been taken care of and I get to do
what I want to do. You know what I want to do? I
want to be found in Christ. That's what I want more than
anything else. And you know what? I get to be found in Christ because
he has made me free. Isn't this a glorious type of
what our great David did for us? How we love our Redeemer. Okay.