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[0:00] 1 Samuel chapter 17. I'll be reading from verse 24 through verse 44.! To the Philistine Goliath, they fled from him and were dreadfully afraid.

[0:37] So the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And it shall be that the man who kills him, the king will enrich with great riches and give him his daughter and give his father's house exemption from taxes in Israel.

[0:55] Then David spoke to the men who stood by him saying, What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?

[1:12] And the people answered him in this manner saying, So shall it be done for the man who kills him. Now Eliab, his oldest brother, heard when he spoke to the men.

[1:23] And Eliab's anger was aroused against David. And he said, Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and your insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.

[1:40] And David said, What have I done now? Is there not a cause? Then he turned from him toward another and said the same thing. And these people answered him as the first ones did.

[1:51] Verse 31. Now when the words which David spoke were heard, they reported them to Saul and he sent for him. Then David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him.

[2:04] Your servant will go and fight this Philistine. And Saul said to David, You are not noble to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.

[2:17] But David said to Saul, Your servant used to keep his father's sheep. And when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went after it and struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth.

[2:32] When it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defiled the armies of the living God.

[2:48] Moreover, David said, The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.

[2:59] And Saul said to David, Go and the Lord be with you. So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head and also clothed him with a coat of mail.

[3:13] David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them. So David took them off.

[3:25] Then he took his staff in his hand, and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook and put them in a shepherd's bag and a pouch, which he had, and his sling was in his hand.

[3:39] And he drew near to the Philistine. So the Philistine came and began drawing near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him.

[3:52] And when the Philistine took, looked about, and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking. So the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?

[4:08] And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.

[4:21] The word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Please be seated. Oh God, we ask that your Holy Spirit will help us to see Christ.

[4:48] We ask that your Holy Spirit will please help the preacher to give your people Christ. And we pray, Lord, that as we leave this short time together here today, we will hold on to one thing, Christ.

[5:03] We ask this for his glory. Amen. Well, dear friends and brothers and sisters, I ask you to reflect and think back on different interactions and relationships on this question.

[5:25] When was the last time you felt accused? Maybe some of you are going through an experience like that right now, feeling accused. Studies have shown that when you're accused, your brain stress response is triggered, activating the amygdala, the emotional control center of the brain, to release hormones like cortisol.

[5:48] This causes your body to go into an immediate fight or flight reaction, increasing blood pressure and heart rate, and temporarily making critical thinking harder, making you more apt to make bad decisions.

[6:06] That's the power of one accusation against a person. But what about chronic accusation? To live constantly, day after day after day, accused.

[6:20] This becomes, for any human being, unhealthy, debilitating, paralyzed, and dysfunctional. People in such a state of chronic accusation suffer strong emotions like anger, fear, and confusion.

[6:39] being accused is one of the most painful and confusing things we can go through. As I've reflected on it, being accused is humbling when there's truth to it.

[6:55] In my case, there often is. It's also torturous when there's truth mixed with untruth in the accusation. The Israelites have been under chronic stress due to accusations from this champion of war, Goliath.

[7:14] You remember how long they've been there by this point when God sends David, the anointed king? They'd been there 40 days, the period of testing, and every morning and every evening, here comes Goliath to accuse God's people.

[7:28] 80 times stressful, a flood of emotions, no doubt. Goliath as the accuser of God's people is really the mouthpiece of Satan.

[7:43] When the great anointed king Jesus came to earth, he said in John 8, 44, that Satan does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.

[7:55] In that same thought, Jesus says, he is a murderer from the beginning. You see, the lies of the enemy are murderous lies.

[8:05] His words lead to death. The words from Satan are words of attack. They're designed to injure. Those who are listening to the accusations of Satan are brought into a bondage of condemnation, of disgrace.

[8:25] Satan will not relent in attacking. And this is how he even recruits others to his cause.

[8:37] His end goal is destruction, murder. Those he accused to either kill themselves or kill someone else unless God would save them out of that.

[8:48] You and I are born accused. We're born having inherited sin from Adam and piling on our own sin throughout our life on top of that.

[9:02] We're a lot like the Israelites, dysfunctional, paralyzed, needing God to graciously make it stop. The good news for you and me, we see this in 1 Samuel 17, is that God did not leave his people accused forever.

[9:21] He did not leave his people disgraced. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to prove to sinners like you and me condemned by Satan's attacks that in Christ God does not leave us disgraced.

[9:38] In 1 Samuel 17, we have a portrait of national Israel needing a champion that God would provide. And this is fulfilled through Jesus Christ ultimately.

[9:50] David is a shadow and Jesus Christ is the substance. So we can see in this shadow of how God provided David for the Israelite nation in this time a picture of how God has provided our Lord Jesus Christ to be the champion of his people.

[10:08] I would like to walk us through five insights from 1 Samuel that foreshadow this wonderful work of Jesus Christ for us. The first is this.

[10:19] Notice how in this passage the king promises a reward for the champion of God's people. The king promised a reward for the champion of God's people.

[10:31] Starting at verse 24, we see this come up over and over and over. all the men of Israel when they saw the man, the Philistine, they fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. But then in verses 25 and 26, David sees Goliath as what he is.

[10:48] He's a worldly blasphemer, one who's taking God's name in vain and cursing God and his people. Goliath, you remember by his armor description, he was clothed in scales.

[11:01] David saw him as one who's outside of the covenant of God, hurling accusations back at God's people, disgracing the armies of the living God. And now this part is surprising because David keeps asking this.

[11:16] He goes to one group, to the other, to the other. He wants to know this question. What will be given to the man who kills him? And in the response, what the men in the camp were talking about, we can detect, this was intended to be the motivation.

[11:35] The first one is the honor of God's name for David. He says, who is it that's disgracing the armies of the living God? What shall be done for the man who kills him and takes away the reproach or the disgrace for God's people?

[11:51] God doesn't want God's, David doesn't want God's people disgraced. David doesn't want the armies of the living God being humiliated this way anymore. His motivation is the glory of God's name that this will be made known.

[12:03] That's his first motivation. But it's not the only one. The people are also talking about how the king has promised to enrich that man, that champion who would go fight for Israel if he is victorious, to give him his own daughter as his wife and to give this champion's father's whole household, all of his household, exemption from taxes.

[12:29] You see how even though the Israelites were warned, they fell for it. They got a king like all the other nations, Saul now enslaved them and was charging them crippling taxes.

[12:41] Israel had made themselves slaves to Saul and Goliath knew that. That was part of his taunt. So now if you're an Israelite, you owe King Saul taxes for the rest of your life.

[12:53] This is a great incentive. Not only that, you're going to get riches, the taxes that others have paid that the king is now hoarding for himself. These riches will be yours. And what's more, you get to marry the daughter of the king, the princess, which means you are now part of the royal court.

[13:11] You belong in the palace of the king. These are the rewards promised. Think of how our Lord Jesus Christ took on flesh to fulfill a mission with a reward promised him.

[13:26] We too were born owing God a debt that we cannot pay. The wages of sin is death. This is the tax that we owe for our sin. But God has graciously decreed our election in Christ before the foundations of the world.

[13:43] Ephesians 1-4 Before you and I had done anything to deserve God's grace. He decreed this. This is God the Father promised to God the Son I will give you the reward.

[13:55] The honor of our name Father, Son, Spirit the one true God and a bride and the riches of heaven poured out on you and your bride.

[14:08] Your bride dwelling with you forever in the house of God. 1 Timothy 2-5 tells us very clearly this is Jesus Christ the champion of God's people.

[14:22] You remember from last week what the word champion means? It means a man in between a man in the middle two opposing sides and someone to stand in between them.

[14:35] 1 Timothy 2-5 says there is one mediator we could say one champion between God and man the man Christ Jesus.

[14:45] Hebrews 9-15 and 17 elaborates his ministry further. Jesus Christ is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.

[14:59] All that God promised as a reward to his son who lacked nothing but accomplished it for our benefit. You'll receive it in Christ. How can this be?

[15:10] Since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed. God the Father promised a reward to Jesus Christ the champion of God's people.

[15:23] God promised to the Messiah to erase the debt of his people. They owe us nothing anymore you've paid it all. God promised to give him a bride his church that he purchased with his own precious blood that can dwell with him forever upon whom he lavishes the riches of heaven already in the spiritual sense and one day consummately forevermore.

[15:50] The king promised a reward to the champion of his people. Second the people proved powerless! to trust the champion God provided!

[16:01] The people proved powerless to trust the champion that God provided! This is illustrated especially with one person and it happens to be David's oldest brother who we've already heard about his name is Eliab.

[16:15] Look at verse 28 Now Eliab his oldest brother his own flesh and blood who ought to have stepped forward in this moment he was the one that Samuel saw and said surely this must be the one the future king the next Saul he was regal looking we can infer surely it's him instead Eliab becomes another accuser from Eliab's mouth come accusations against God's anointed he's fitting more the pattern of Goliath than of an anointed deliverer notice what this older brother does he questions David's motives why did you come here and then he accuses him you forgot your low place brother he says with whom have you left notice the qualifier how many sheep with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness he's saying go back to your low job your small little flock you shepherd boy you belong back in the wilderness and he also accuses him of past pride well David had the anointing of the Holy

[17:32] Spirit but his whole life shows us he was not sinless or infallible so this is where it might be a mixed accusation this is likely true his brother says I know your pride well which brother doesn't know another brother's pride and your insolence of heart now these words are so strong I mean you thought Goliath's accusations were evil listen to the intensity of what Eliab accuses David of insolence of your heart this is translated another English version this way presumption and evil conceited and wicked heart arrogance and deceit for you have come down to see the battle so we now have three tall intimidating worldly impressive men Goliath Saul and Eliab all three standing as figureheads of the type of man

[18:36] Israel wanted in their flesh see how the people are powerless to trust the right man without the help of the spirit we put our hope and our trust in all kinds of men and women and worldly things that fall short of the glory of God sinners in darkness lack saving faith in Jesus Christ isn't that still true today he's just a simple carpenter well he lived here but it was over 2,000 years ago could he really be God the son and Satan slips in and he exists to accuse those that Jesus Christ calls his brothers and sisters Satan lives to accuse you and me he wants to point out our past sins he wants to question motives he wants to do this he wants to freeze us from going to fight by accusing us so much in verse 29

[19:40] David says what have I done now is there not a cause in other words is anyone missing what's going on here it's what he says in verse 26 to paraphrase it this blaspheming slave of the serpent dressed in scales Goliath he keeps disgracing the armies of the living God what shall be done for a man who kills him kills this accuser and takes away the reproach takes away the disgrace from God's people this needs to happen verse 30 then David turned from him his brother toward another and said the same thing and then these people answered him as the first ones did why are we given those words it's it's painting for us what was going on will these men care about the honor of God will these men see that it's it's the people of

[20:41] God the living God it's the name of God attached to his army that's being disgraced who's going to take away the reproach the disgrace does anyone care is anyone bothered by this it can't go on but time and time again the people prove powerless to trust the champion God provided he'd already been anointed it's a failure of faith we are not courageous in our own flesh we're so focused I'm talking about myself without the help of God we are so focused on worldly might physical resources and we so often forget the same thing that the Lord of hosts is alive it's the armies of the living God that he is all powerful that his kingdom is not of this world his kingdom is from above without the Holy

[21:43] Spirit we too prove ourselves powerless to trust to abide to continually rest on the champion that God has provided and then by extension by trusting God trusting that God continues to work through weak servants recall how blind how lost how wretched you and I were and how we would still be if God had not poured out his amazing grace on sinners like us poured out his Holy Spirit to make us able now to trust in the champion he provided number three notice with me please the source of this champion's confidence what was the source of David's confidence in verse 31 the words David had spoken asking this who should care is anyone going to do something about this they were reported to

[22:48] King Saul and so he called for David in verse 32 David said to Saul let no man's heart fail because of him your servant will go and fight with this Philistine the accuser stands over sinners no hope powerless disgraced 40 days 80 times cursing accusing and it's working on them think of how our Lord Jesus Christ had to be born sinless he had to come into the battle in the fullness of time nothing the enemy could accuse Jesus of let no man's heart fail because of Goliath Jesus alone could say he's got nothing on me your servant will go and fight in verse 33

[23:49] Saul said to David you are not able first words out of Saul's mouth passive Saul first words are accusing God's anointed king you are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him for you are a youth and he a man of war from his youth if there's anything to take a courage out of a soldier those words would have done it verse 34 I'm sure by the help of the Holy Spirit he's already been anointed trusting in God by faith David said to Saul you could say it's David's next sermon telling him God has been faithful in the past and God's past faithfulness is what fuels my present trust he says your servant used to keep his father's sheep and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock

[24:51] I went after it and struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth and when it arose against me I caught it by its beard and struck it and killed it your servant was killed both your servant has killed both lion and bear and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them seeing that he has defiled the armies of the living God what's the source of the champion's confidence verse 37 the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine the source of David's confidence was in God to deliver it's God's power who did it in those smaller ways to prepare me to teach me to trust him and it's God who will do it now think of how our Lord Jesus Christ when he came to accomplish the mission his father gave him he was rejected by Israel his own brothers and sisters people in the town he grew up in they knew him from his youth and yet he trusted in God's promises our Lord

[26:05] Jesus Christ delivered people who were possessed by demons gripped by the powers of darkness like wild beasts from the spiritual realm intruding in and devouring these lambs and our Lord Jesus with his words delivered them showing the power of God through him is much greater than the forces of the enemy in the spiritual realms and our Lord Jesus Christ disarmed the forces of hell by the power of his word God gave a shot across the bow to get the attention to let everyone know his word will come true remember that great miracle in preparation for Christ's own death when God delays Jesus from going to see Lazarus Lazarus and his sisters and he arrives in their weeping and Jesus calls for Lazarus by the power of the spirit the man who was dead and stinking came walking out alive that victory of the power of God over the forces of hell and over death itself were a blessing to all the believers to the disciples and according to his human nature to Jesus

[27:22] Christ himself God will deliver me from death I won't go around death I will go through death and my God who has been faithful in the past I've seen his power for myself in my incarnate body he will be faithful for me in the great victory we need our Lord Jesus Christ active obedience and his faith to cover our lack of faith we fail to trust God God I'm speaking of myself this past week most likely even this morning so often I want to put confidence in ourselves in myself in what we can do control or work for that's my sin and yet Jesus Christ he covers that sin by his perfect trust his perfect faith in God he fulfilled the righteousness that I lack and that you lack before he died for us our Lord lived for us he trusted

[28:24] God fully in our place in John 15 10 Jesus could turn and pray and say I have kept your commandments father then he could turn to us his disciples and tell us remain in God's love Jesus said I've remained in my father's love my disciples follow me remain in his love where you can't I already have this was the source of Jesus Christ our champion's confidence according to his human nature he remained in God's love to the very end remember how Jesus was even mocked for this in Matthew 27 43 they accused him they said this is the man who told everyone I am the son of God he trusts in God let God deliver him now if God cares for him and will have him Jesus being accused of not trusting not loving

[29:28] God to the very end did the father care for him did the father have him and accept his purchase! his perfect righteousness in our place yes he did and it's proven because God raised him from the dead you see how every page of the Bible it testifies that God has always been faithful to his word God is always faithful to his promises we just sing this beautiful verse from Amazing Grace and even though it's beautiful it's maybe the less familiar of all the verses!

[30:06] the Lord has promised good to me his word my hope secures he will my shield and portion be as long as life endures David knew that in his context our Lord Jesus Christ according to his human nature knew that and you and I can know that too that's the source of our confidence number four how the champion will go to war so how will this champion this picture of Christ step up and face the champion of the Philistines Saul said to David in verse 37 go the Lord be with you did Saul really trust that having God go with David was sufficient the next verse answers it no look at verse 38 go with the Lord but Saul then clothed David with his own armor does yours say armor that word in verse 38 literally it says

[31:12] Saul clothed David with his own clothes not just any clothes the clothes of a king remember this is a king who is at least a head taller than every other man in Israel these were big royal clothes but then also the armor goes on to describe he put on a bronze helmet on his head and he also clothed him with a coat of mail now what was the material of this helmet that Saul had what is it bronze and do you remember from last week what was the material of Saul or Goliath's helmet it it made of bronze shiny yellow bronze reflecting getting attention I wonder who made this coat of mail and this bronze helmet for Saul we know there were no blacksmiths in Israel we just saw that again last week I wonder where Saul got this these kingly clothes and this shirt of scales that he's putting on top of

[32:19] God's anointed verse 39 David fastened his sword to his armor tried to walk for he had not tested them and David said to Saul I cannot walk with these for I have not tested them so David took them off see God provided a champion to go to war for his people but God is teaching all of Israel and you and me today an important lesson God will conquer in a way that brings all the glory to God not most of the glory to God and some to King Saul not most of the glory to God and some of the glory to David who was wearing armor all the glory will go to God that's the way God will conquer our Lord Jesus Christ went to war think about it not as a picturesque

[33:22] Greek hero our Lord Jesus Christ went to war as a lamb carried off silently to the slaughter our Lord Jesus Christ our champion does not dazzle our eyes he melts our icy hearts amen I can't answer the question of why did David put these clothes on and why do we have all these verses describing it other than the last statement do you see them there so David took them off maybe that's the only reason why did he put them on in order to be able to take them off our Lord Jesus Christ also laid down the armor he took off the royal clothes God's champion would not follow the pattern of this world this is how our

[34:24] Lord Jesus Christ would go to war God the son humbled himself Philippians 2 reminds us he took the form of a slave he put on shame he took on our sin think how far God the creator condescended or stooped to save people like you and me by the incarnate work of God the son our Lord Jesus Christ was stripped of his glory he was weak humiliated falsely accused but trusted God's promises out of love to secure the final victory over our accuser on the cross this is how the champion went to war number five for all the Israelites for you and me who need to look for the champion the Messiah the promised one God would send what should we look for what will he look like what will this champion look like in verse 40 we read he took his staff in his hand and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook and put them in a shepherd's bag and a pouch which he had and his sling was in his hand and he drew near to the

[35:50] Philistine so the Philistine came and began drawing near to David and the man who bore the shield went before Goliath verse 42 when the Philistine looked about and saw David he disdained or belittled him for he was only a youth ruddy which means red and good looking the champion of God's people if you're looking for a coming Messiah through Israel from the tribe of Judah he should look small unexpected unthreatening maybe it's a stretch but you could say even attractive in a manner that contrasts sharply with the world in verse 43 so the Philistine said to David and

[36:51] I love how God puts it in the mouth of the accuser the declaration of what we should look for in a champion am I a dog that you come at me with sticks how did Goliath see David he sees this guy with a leather pouch called a shepherd's pouch and a shepherd's staff Goliath saw a shepherd and he was offended so what should the champion of God's people look like he should look like a simple shepherd Jesus said in John 10 11 I am the good shepherd the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep the hireling he is not the shepherd he does not own the sheep he sees a wolf coming and he leaves the sheep and flees the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them the hireling flees because he is a hireling he does not care about the sheep but

[37:59] I am the good shepherd Jesus says I know my sheep and I am known by them as the father knows me even so I know the father and I lay down my life for my sheep our exalted king is also our caring close self giving shepherd our Lord Jesus Christ was stripped of anything royal impressive to the world in order to defeat the enemy in the final victory on the cross and our Lord Jesus Christ is the living Lord of the armies of heaven and of earth he's alive he reigns now as the king of kings kings where you and I can't withstand the evil one by our own strength and we can't keep marching on under his accusations it's king

[39:00] Jesus who gives us his flock he turns sheep like us into an army and he clothes us like his army Ephesians 6 which we read a moment ago reminds us that we are clothed with the armor of God the armor of God is Christ himself the belt of truth is Christ the truth he said in John 14 6 I am the truth the breastplate of righteousness is Christ who 2nd Corinthians 5 21 says Christ is our righteousness the helmet of salvation is Christ our salvation fulfilling Isaiah 12 2 which we read the sword of the spirit is the word and Jesus Christ is the incarnate word of God John 1 1 and so when we are putting on the armor of God we are clothed in Christ himself Christ and his gospel clothing his army Galatians 3 27 tells us for as many of you as were baptized into

[40:06] Christ have put on Christ God the Son has tested these war clothes for you and me his armor has already won the battle for us here's the gospel for you and me today Jesus Christ replaces all of our passive disobedience with his active obedience love love love love trust in God goodness with his perfect trust in God's love he replaces our fear with his perfect faith and he replaces our guilty accused conscience before God with his peace that passes all understanding brothers and sisters praise God he has provided Jesus Christ our champion and the only mediator for us his people please pray with me

[41:08]  Lord we thank you for Jesus Christ the anointed king the humble shepherd the living king of the armies of God we thank you that we belong to you we thank you Lord that you keep us you lead us help us to walk and step with you to march in a way that's pleasing to you the commander of the Lord's army the king of kings to you be all the glory for our redemption and all the glory in the coming of your kingdom we ask amen