WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.880 Well, we read that long passage from 1 Samuel because we are working on Sunday nights through 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:12.919 the narrative of David through the life of David. 00:00:12.919 --> 00:00:17.440 That's the story of David and Goliath, as you know. 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:24.039 David and Goliath is easily the most known and loved story from the Bible in popular 00:00:24.039 --> 00:00:25.760 culture. 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:31.360 Malcolm Gladwell is one very famous American author who wrote a book about David and Goliath. 00:00:31.360 --> 00:00:35.960 It's called David and Goliath, The Art of Battling the Giants. 00:00:35.960 --> 00:00:43.400 And in it, Malcolm Gladwell, he writes about how David and Goliath is the exemplary story 00:00:43.400 --> 00:00:48.840 of what it means for an underdog to face the giants in their life, to face your ultimate 00:00:48.840 --> 00:00:49.840 fears. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:55.480 And he talks about in the book, he has chapters on the advantages of being an underdog. 00:00:55.479 --> 00:01:03.919 Now, let me say, there are absolutely wisdom principles from this story, David and Goliath, 00:01:03.919 --> 00:01:07.799 that teach us something about courage in the face of our fears and the struggles we have 00:01:07.799 --> 00:01:09.759 in our daily life. 00:01:09.759 --> 00:01:12.840 But that is not what David and Goliath is about. 00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:17.560 And Gladwell really missed it when he wrote the book. 00:01:17.560 --> 00:01:20.799 David and Goliath is about something very different from that. 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:27.280 And the key to understanding the David and Goliath story is reading the Bible as one 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:35.560 book and knowing that God is the primary author of every word of the whole Bible. 00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:39.840 And so to really get what's going on in David and Goliath, you've got to read it in the 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:44.200 light of Genesis and Revelation and every single book in between. 00:01:44.200 --> 00:01:45.200 And so we've got to do that. 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:49.679 Now, the second key here, and the reason I wanted to read the whole chapter, even though 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:56.320 it's 60 verses, is because this is actually one of the longest battle accounts in the 00:01:56.320 --> 00:01:59.840 entire Bible, in the Old Testament especially. 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:04.480 And it is the longest battle account in the whole of the books of Samuel. 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:11.159 And there is nowhere equivalent that you have to have this much discourse about a battle 00:02:11.159 --> 00:02:15.960 where the characters are actually speaking about the battle that's coming. 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:17.920 There's nowhere like it really in the whole Bible. 00:02:17.920 --> 00:02:19.280 It's very unique. 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:24.039 And that tells us that the details here are really important, that you can't get the whole 00:02:24.039 --> 00:02:28.920 of the message without paying attention, asking why is it that this battle account gets so 00:02:28.920 --> 00:02:34.639 many verses when almost every other battle account in the Old Testament gets so few. 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:35.960 And so we've got to think about that as well. 00:02:35.960 --> 00:02:41.000 And so we're going to see that these details, the story of David and Goliath in the light 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:43.840 of the whole Bible through looking at three things. 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:48.280 Let's look tonight at the giant, the champion, and the fight. 00:02:48.280 --> 00:02:51.560 Okay, so first the giant. 00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:53.520 The giant is Goliath, right? 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:56.159 Goliath is a giant of a man. 00:02:56.159 --> 00:03:00.719 And he comes from a place called Gath and he is the great warrior of the Philistines, 00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:01.719 we're told. 00:03:01.719 --> 00:03:08.199 And the Philistines in this era are the primary enemy of Israel and they're going to war with 00:03:08.199 --> 00:03:11.120 each other constantly throughout the books of Samuel. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:13.520 And here it is again, they're at war. 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:15.280 And there's some important details. 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:19.039 Remember the details are key, there's some really important details about Goliath. 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:23.800 Let me point out a few of them to you to start to form a picture of what's going on here. 00:03:23.800 --> 00:03:33.120 First, in verse 16 we're told that Goliath comes out every morning and evening to taunt 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:36.960 the people of Israel, the army of Israel. 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:37.960 And that's important. 00:03:37.960 --> 00:03:44.800 The commentators say that the reason for that is because it's during the sacrifices. 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:51.400 That when Israel goes to battle in their army and camps, they would practice the sacrificial 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:55.080 law that God had given them in Genesis to Deuteronomy. 00:03:55.080 --> 00:03:57.520 And that that would happen every morning and every evening. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:01.920 And so we're told, we're given a clue that Goliath is coming out and he's taunting Israel 00:04:01.920 --> 00:04:06.920 every morning and evening because he's taunting them right at the time of the sacrifice. 00:04:06.920 --> 00:04:11.240 And that means that he's not just taunting Israel and saying you're weak and you're cowardly 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:13.040 in the face of me. 00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:16.199 He's actually there to mock God. 00:04:16.199 --> 00:04:20.480 The point, he's coming out at the time of the sacrifice because he's taunting the God 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:22.240 of Israel. 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:23.240 It's religious. 00:04:23.240 --> 00:04:26.399 It's more than just about who's the strongest and bravest. 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:32.240 Goliath is doing this because he's fighting for his God, Dagon, against Israel's God, 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:34.800 the Lord, the Lord of the Bible. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:38.279 Now the second thing is this, the second detail to pay attention to. 00:04:38.279 --> 00:04:44.679 Goliath is a descendant of the Anakim and maybe if you've read through the Old Testament 00:04:44.679 --> 00:04:50.719 at all, you might remember that the Anakim are the giant men, the warriors that were 00:04:50.719 --> 00:04:56.039 living in the Promised Land when Israel was first commanded to go and take the Promised 00:04:56.039 --> 00:04:57.439 Land. 00:04:57.439 --> 00:05:03.919 And we're told in Joshua 11-22 that when Israel defeated and conquered the Promised 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:09.120 Land and took it over that there were a few of the Anakim remaining and they moved to 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:11.120 Gath. 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:16.439 And we're told here that Goliath is from Gath, meaning Goliath is one of the few. 00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:21.120 He's one of the few of the Anakim the men of old left that were the giants, the great 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:25.080 warrior men from the Promised Land. 00:05:25.080 --> 00:05:27.319 And now, do you see? 00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:36.279 Now the Anakim, the giant is back in the Promised Land, in the land of God, facing Israel once 00:05:36.279 --> 00:05:45.079 more and just like the first time, Israel is cowering in fear before the people, the giant 00:05:45.079 --> 00:05:46.079 that's living in the Promised Land. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:49.600 Now that makes sense then of the third detail I want to give you. 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:51.680 And that's in verse 16 also. 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:57.720 It says that he comes out morning and evening to taunt Israel how long for 40 days. 00:05:57.720 --> 00:06:00.759 And why 40 days? 00:06:00.759 --> 00:06:04.199 And that's because Goliath knows the history. 00:06:04.199 --> 00:06:08.360 Goliath is coming out and mocking the fact that this has already happened. 00:06:08.360 --> 00:06:13.280 That the first time Israel went and we're told take the army across the river and go 00:06:13.280 --> 00:06:15.079 to the Promised Land. 00:06:15.079 --> 00:06:20.560 But the Anakim were there and when the spies came back they said these men are too big 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:23.000 for us, we cannot do this. 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:24.720 And what happened to Israel? 00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:28.280 They had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. 00:06:28.280 --> 00:06:34.600 And so Goliath comes, the man, the descendant of the people that Israel feared so much and 00:06:34.600 --> 00:06:40.319 he taunts them for 40 straight days saying this is just like the last time. 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:45.360 You were afraid the first time Israel and we showed that your Lord was not the true 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:47.800 Lord and I'm here to do it again. 00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:49.199 I'm here to do the same thing. 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:55.360 See Israel is back in the wilderness all over again facing the same exact problem and the 00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:59.599 fear of a man is greater to them than the fear of the Lord. 00:06:59.599 --> 00:07:02.000 It's the same problem they've already faced. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:10.199 Now, there's an even bigger picture going on here than just that Israel is reliving 00:07:10.199 --> 00:07:12.120 what they've already been through. 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:14.919 And that is in just a few more details. 00:07:14.919 --> 00:07:18.919 It's not just about the wilderness story being relived here through Goliath. 00:07:18.920 --> 00:07:20.480 There's something else going on. 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:26.960 Just a few more details to take a step back from them to see the big picture. 00:07:26.960 --> 00:07:29.720 And this is it first, three more details first. 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:32.640 In verse four, he's called the champion. 00:07:32.640 --> 00:07:34.600 Goliath is called the champion. 00:07:34.600 --> 00:07:39.400 Now that is a very loose translation. 00:07:39.400 --> 00:07:45.639 Literally what the text says in Hebrew is he is the man between the two. 00:07:45.639 --> 00:07:48.040 That's what the word champion says in Hebrew. 00:07:48.040 --> 00:07:50.200 The man between the two. 00:07:50.200 --> 00:07:57.600 And the reason for that is because a champion in the ancient Near East is a man who steps 00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:02.720 out between the two, between the two armies and what was called at the time the Valley 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:03.720 of Death. 00:08:03.720 --> 00:08:06.200 So two armies would encamp. 00:08:06.200 --> 00:08:11.320 And instead of going toe to toe and so many people being slaughtered, they would each 00:08:11.320 --> 00:08:17.280 send out a representative champion named the man who would stand between the two in the 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:18.839 Valley of Death. 00:08:18.839 --> 00:08:25.799 And whoever would win the battle would representing his army would win the whole of the war and 00:08:25.799 --> 00:08:26.799 vice versa. 00:08:26.799 --> 00:08:33.439 And so that means Goliath, the man who stands between the two here, he's a substitute. 00:08:33.439 --> 00:08:35.240 He's a representative. 00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:39.159 He is substituting for his people. 00:08:39.159 --> 00:08:44.279 And he stands in the place of his people in the Valley of Death. 00:08:44.279 --> 00:08:49.519 And the second thing, now remember, this is God's word and God has a lot going on in the 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:55.759 details here because he's the author of the whole of Redemptive History. 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:58.879 Who is Goliath really representing? 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:01.199 And it's not just the Philistines. 00:09:01.199 --> 00:09:05.480 And we're told in verse five when it gets into that long stretch about Goliath's, the 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:10.559 details of Goliath's armor, which are all very, very significant and how heavy they 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:11.559 are. 00:09:11.559 --> 00:09:16.399 And one main thing that tells us is that he was wearing literally scales. 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:22.799 So the word for armor there in verse five in some texts translated as scaly armor, but 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:26.839 it literally just says he was wearing scales. 00:09:26.839 --> 00:09:32.039 The word for a serpent, the scales of a serpent. 00:09:32.039 --> 00:09:38.639 And you see what's saying that this representative standing in the Valley of Death coming to take 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:42.080 down the people of God he's serpent like. 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:47.199 He's wearing scales all throughout his body. 00:09:47.199 --> 00:09:49.080 Who is it that Goliath represents? 00:09:49.080 --> 00:09:52.840 And this is what Gladwell really misses in the book. 00:09:52.840 --> 00:09:58.720 The point God is saying to the reader that Genesis three is actually the paradigm for 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:01.319 the David and Goliath encounter. 00:10:01.319 --> 00:10:06.720 And we're seeing again once more all over again something that's happened long ago in 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:12.080 the Garden of God where the people of God were confronted by a scaly serpent. 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:17.320 And Goliath is the representative of that serpent just like the serpent brought sin 00:10:17.320 --> 00:10:19.440 and death and destruction into the world. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:22.399 So now the serpent stands again before God's people. 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:25.000 And he's here to bring sin and death and destruction. 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:28.879 There are little serpents all throughout the Old Testament. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:35.920 One that comes before Goliath is Pharaoh and one that will come after Goliath is Nebuchadnezzar. 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:40.159 But here is Goliath the serpent standing in front of the people of God. 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:45.759 And Genesis three is paradigmatic for all understanding the whole Bible. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:50.240 And so it makes sense that in the greatest text, the greatest verse of Genesis three, 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:56.079 verse 15, we read that death did enter the world by the work of this serpent. 00:10:56.079 --> 00:11:02.319 But one day the son of a woman would crush the head of the serpent. 00:11:02.319 --> 00:11:04.599 And that brings us to detail number three here. 00:11:04.600 --> 00:11:11.040 It's not surprising at all that the son of a woman in this passage, you know, if you've 00:11:11.040 --> 00:11:14.519 read this story before, if you were paying attention when we were reading it earlier, 00:11:14.519 --> 00:11:19.600 how does the son of the woman in this passage defeat this scaly giant? 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:24.720 And he'll take a stone and he'll sling it right into the giant's forehead and he'll 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:27.759 cut his head off by a head wound. 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:29.040 And so it's not surprising at all. 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:35.599 It's actually expected that the son of a woman would crush the head of this scaly serpent, 00:11:35.599 --> 00:11:38.559 this giant serpent that we see here. 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:49.120 Now the point is that this passage is not about having courage when you're an underdog, 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:53.199 although that's a good thing and that's something that we can talk about as a wisdom principle 00:11:53.199 --> 00:11:54.360 on a different day. 00:11:54.360 --> 00:11:57.360 But that's not really what the passage is about. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:12:04.600 It's actually about what fearful humans really need and what fearful human beings really 00:12:04.600 --> 00:12:11.360 need in the face of Goliath, in the face of death, representative evil, the serpent himself, 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:15.320 the problem of sin and death from the very beginning of human history that we all stand 00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:21.399 against, what we really need is we really need a champion who would stand in our place. 00:12:21.399 --> 00:12:27.200 And what David, the David and Goliath story is really saying is that people are weak. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:37.120 Now we live today in 2022 in the safest and most secure era of human history that's ever 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:38.120 been. 00:12:38.120 --> 00:12:44.080 We live longer, we live healthier lives today, we have food and water aplenty. 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:49.160 We live in the greatest era for safety, for pushing back the danger that there's ever 00:12:49.160 --> 00:12:55.680 been and yet at the same time we all know that nevertheless anxieties and fears abound 00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:59.439 in our lives and they come forth and confront us all the time. 00:12:59.439 --> 00:13:05.039 And John Calvin actually, even though he doesn't live in 2022, said something really sharp 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:06.039 about this. 00:13:06.039 --> 00:13:07.039 Listen to Calvin on this. 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:13.919 He says, we undertake all things in our lives as if we were establishing immortality for 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:16.479 ourselves on earth. 00:13:16.479 --> 00:13:23.519 If we see a dead body, we may philosophize briefly about the fleeting nature of life, 00:13:23.519 --> 00:13:28.039 but the moment we turn away from that body, from the sight of it, the thought of it, the 00:13:28.039 --> 00:13:32.319 thought of our own perpetuity remains fixed in our minds. 00:13:32.319 --> 00:13:37.039 In other words, what he's saying is here is death, the things that we're ultimately 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:43.600 helpless against are really an abstraction for us most of the time until the moments 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:48.960 in our lives that probably all of us have experienced at some point where we really 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:52.079 see Goliath in front of us. 00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:58.120 And we're confronted with our mortality and our limited natures and our finitude and ultimately 00:13:58.120 --> 00:14:01.720 the problems that we cannot do anything about. 00:14:01.720 --> 00:14:06.200 You can face your fears, but you can't stop death. 00:14:06.200 --> 00:14:10.440 And you can't stop the destructive force of sin across the globe. 00:14:10.440 --> 00:14:14.480 And you see what the story of David and Goliath is really about. 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:16.840 Who are we in this story? 00:14:16.840 --> 00:14:19.640 We're not David. 00:14:19.639 --> 00:14:22.759 And that's what books like Gladwell's misses. 00:14:22.759 --> 00:14:23.879 We're not David. 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:26.080 We're Israel. 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:27.240 We're Adam and Eve. 00:14:27.240 --> 00:14:31.240 We're standing in the midst of the land that God's made and we're cowering in fear because 00:14:31.240 --> 00:14:36.519 we are helpless in front of the great problems of this life. 00:14:36.519 --> 00:14:40.439 And that's death and sin. 00:14:40.439 --> 00:14:48.200 And that means that Christianity, the Bible, says the only way to face your problems really 00:14:48.200 --> 00:14:50.360 is to be weak. 00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:51.360 Is to be weak. 00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:55.080 It says Christianity is on offer tonight for weak people. 00:14:55.080 --> 00:15:00.280 We need something we cannot provide for ourselves. 00:15:00.280 --> 00:15:05.879 Now that leads us secondly then to the champion, the giant, now the champion. 00:15:05.879 --> 00:15:09.200 There's another champion here and that's of course David. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:14.240 David is also called the man who stands between the two here in this passage. 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:21.799 And there are important details about David, three encounters that David has that open 00:15:21.799 --> 00:15:25.840 up the text for us a little bit about what's going on with David. 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:28.240 Three people that David has a big time encounter with. 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:32.759 The first one is his brother, Eliab. 00:15:32.759 --> 00:15:35.960 And this part of the story is not often told when he told the popular story of David and 00:15:35.960 --> 00:15:41.320 Goliath, but David has a really important encounter with his eldest brother, Eliab. 00:15:41.320 --> 00:15:47.320 Now remember last week we saw when Hunter taught from the previous chapter that God 00:15:47.320 --> 00:15:50.840 had rejected Saul, the king of Israel. 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:58.680 And Samuel had gone as a prophet to choose a new king by God's initiative. 00:15:58.680 --> 00:16:06.440 And he went to the house of Jesse and instead of picking Eliab, the oldest or the next six 00:16:06.440 --> 00:16:14.400 of Jesse's sons, he picked God picks the youngest David and he's small and he's unexpected, 00:16:14.400 --> 00:16:16.520 but he's chosen to be the king. 00:16:16.520 --> 00:16:22.840 But now when you flip the chapter, this is probably several years later and David is 00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:28.000 less than 20 years old because you have to be 20 to go to battle for Israel. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:29.960 So David can't go to battle. 00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:38.200 We find David instead living in Bethlehem and working as a shepherd and taking food back 00:16:38.200 --> 00:16:42.120 and forth between the battle line in Bethlehem. 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:48.160 And he's been called by God the king, yet he's still very lowly. 00:16:48.160 --> 00:16:52.680 He's a shepherd and he can't even fight in Israel's army. 00:16:52.680 --> 00:16:57.720 And there's two really clear parallels when you read the commentators about this. 00:16:57.720 --> 00:17:06.680 One is this, Jesse's instructions to David when he tells David, I want you to take cheese 00:17:06.680 --> 00:17:12.720 and all this food and go to the battle line and distribute it, is almost a quotation 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:16.079 of Genesis 37, 12 to 17. 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:24.360 And in Genesis 37, 12 to 17, that is when Jacob, Israel himself, tells Joseph, one of 00:17:24.359 --> 00:17:31.599 his sons, to take a bunch of food and go out to feed it to his brothers who are out working, 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:34.000 just like David's doing here. 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:38.799 And if you remember the story of Joseph, how, what his brothers did, he goes to his brothers, 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:42.479 he takes food to his brothers and what do his brothers do? 00:17:42.479 --> 00:17:45.279 They reject him and they hate him. 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:46.479 Why? 00:17:46.479 --> 00:17:50.879 Because Joseph has been chosen to be greater than his brothers, to be the ruler of the 00:17:50.879 --> 00:17:53.319 land in his dream. 00:17:53.319 --> 00:18:01.639 And once again, we've got David, almost quoting from Genesis 37 here, going to his brothers 00:18:01.639 --> 00:18:06.159 and how does Eliab respond when David steps up and says, we've got to do something. 00:18:06.159 --> 00:18:10.659 We cannot let Goliath taunt the army of the living God. 00:18:10.659 --> 00:18:11.659 What happens? 00:18:11.659 --> 00:18:17.639 Eliab hates David for it and rejects David and tells him that he's evil and the rest 00:18:17.639 --> 00:18:21.000 of David's brothers reject David here. 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:26.160 And even David turns to the other men of Israel and it says they do the same thing, they reject 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:27.160 David. 00:18:27.160 --> 00:18:34.720 And so David, David understand, David is hated in the midst of the army by everyone for standing 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:39.960 up in the midst of their fear and saying, we've got to do something about this. 00:18:39.960 --> 00:18:45.400 They hate him that he's been chosen, his brothers as king above them and they hate him now because 00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:50.480 he's come to be the champion of Israel. 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:54.880 But there's also a second thing and that's just like, just like, remember Joshua, you 00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:59.440 know, the Israelite story, they're in the wilderness and the spies go forth and they 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:03.680 come back and they say the Anakim are there, we can't do this, we can't take the promised 00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:08.720 land, but Joshua comes back and he says, no, we can. 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:09.720 And what happened? 00:19:09.720 --> 00:19:10.720 They rejected him. 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:11.720 They cast him away. 00:19:11.720 --> 00:19:13.960 They said, don't listen to him. 00:19:13.960 --> 00:19:15.759 And David is the same. 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:22.039 There have been so many like it, so many little sons of Adam who have stood up in the Old 00:19:22.039 --> 00:19:28.920 Testament stories and have been rejected for standing in for the people of God. 00:19:28.920 --> 00:19:32.119 And you see what's happening here. 00:19:32.119 --> 00:19:38.960 If we're to look for a champion, help that we cannot provide for ourselves, then here's 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:39.960 the instruction. 00:19:39.960 --> 00:19:49.079 Look for one who comes from Bethlehem and will be despised and rejected by his brothers. 00:19:49.079 --> 00:19:53.880 Now there's a second encounter here and that's David and Saul. 00:19:53.880 --> 00:20:01.480 And in verse 38, Saul attempts to clothe David and Saul's, the armor of the king. 00:20:01.480 --> 00:20:04.079 And a couple interesting things happening here. 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:11.159 One, Saul wants David to dress for war just like a king would dress for war and just like 00:20:11.159 --> 00:20:12.639 Goliath is dressed for war. 00:20:12.639 --> 00:20:20.399 You see, Saul believes that the only hope is to be dressed as well as Goliath if there's 00:20:20.399 --> 00:20:21.399 any chance. 00:20:21.399 --> 00:20:26.519 You know, you say, David, if you want to have a chance at this, you've got to put the armor 00:20:26.519 --> 00:20:30.319 on that's at least equivalent to Goliath's armor. 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:33.679 And you've got to take a sword and you've got to dress yourself like a man. 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:38.519 You've got to go out and you've got to face Goliath and at least the same equipment that 00:20:38.519 --> 00:20:39.640 Goliath is going to have. 00:20:39.640 --> 00:20:40.840 You've got to have every advantage. 00:20:40.840 --> 00:20:46.799 You know, you've got to face your fears and be high tech while you're doing it. 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:53.640 And what happens is David rejects it and he goes low tech and he goes in dressed like 00:20:53.640 --> 00:20:56.759 nothing but a lowly shepherd. 00:20:56.759 --> 00:21:04.519 And you see, on the one hand, that is because the true champion, if we're to look for a 00:21:04.519 --> 00:21:10.920 champion that we need, the true champion is going to be dressed in humility, more like 00:21:10.920 --> 00:21:15.039 a shepherd than like a king to our eyes. 00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:20.400 But at the same time, when Saul, and the commentators talk about this a lot, when Saul puts his 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:26.680 armor on David, Saul without knowing it has committed the act of investiture. 00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:27.680 What's investiture? 00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:33.920 It's when the king coronates the next king by taking off his royal dress and putting 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:37.080 it on the one, his son, who is to be the next king. 00:21:37.080 --> 00:21:42.960 And you see, what Saul has done is he's crowned the king and he doesn't know it. 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:47.960 And at the same time, David has said, but I must go forward as a lowly shepherd. 00:21:47.960 --> 00:21:55.360 And that means, secondly, if you're to look for a champion, then look for one who is both 00:21:55.360 --> 00:21:59.680 a servant and a king simultaneously. 00:21:59.680 --> 00:22:05.319 One who looks both like a shepherd but rules in power like a king. 00:22:05.319 --> 00:22:07.640 That's what we're being told here in this encounter. 00:22:07.640 --> 00:22:14.000 But there's a third and final encounter here with David, David encounters Goliath. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:17.920 And I want to actually say something more about what David says about it before he goes 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:18.920 out to Goliath. 00:22:18.920 --> 00:22:26.559 In verse 34 to 36, David gives his justification for going out and fighting. 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:27.559 And this is what he says. 00:22:27.559 --> 00:22:33.559 He says, I can do this because I've killed bears and lions. 00:22:33.559 --> 00:22:39.440 And when he says that, what's happening is that David sees Goliath like an animal, like 00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:41.319 a beast. 00:22:41.319 --> 00:22:45.599 And he said, I've taken down bears, I've taken down lions. 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:49.919 There's probably a Wizard of Oz reference in that somewhere, an illustration, but I 00:22:49.919 --> 00:22:52.639 didn't think of it till now. 00:22:52.639 --> 00:22:59.799 He says, I can take Goliath too because he's like a beast and I've tamed the beast. 00:22:59.799 --> 00:23:00.799 You see what he's saying? 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:07.559 He's saying, number one, evil makes us beast like because what sin and evil does is it takes 00:23:07.559 --> 00:23:10.599 the image of God and tarnishes it. 00:23:10.599 --> 00:23:13.919 And it makes us more beastly than human. 00:23:13.919 --> 00:23:20.399 And that's Goliath, but at the same time, what's really going on here is David is saying, 00:23:20.399 --> 00:23:26.639 I have already taken dominion over the beast of the earth. 00:23:26.639 --> 00:23:35.839 And I can step into this garden, this valley, and take dominion over the serpent as well. 00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:40.399 And that means that David is a second Adam. 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:46.600 And he's here to step back into the garden of God and take dominion like Adam never did 00:23:46.600 --> 00:23:51.440 and to take dominion particularly over the serpent beast that came to tempt him. 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:57.840 And that means if we're to look for a champion, a champion that we really need, we're to look 00:23:57.840 --> 00:24:04.000 for one who is called the second Adam, who could open the way to the garden of God. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:12.839 Now, if you're looking for a champion tonight to help you, because yes, you can face your 00:24:12.839 --> 00:24:16.559 fears in life, but we know at the end of the road that there's nothing we can do about 00:24:16.559 --> 00:24:18.839 death. 00:24:18.839 --> 00:24:22.920 And there's nothing we can do to ultimately get ourselves out from the judgment that we 00:24:22.920 --> 00:24:24.079 deserve because of our sin. 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:31.279 If you're looking for a champion, then look for one first who came from Bethlehem and 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:34.960 was despised and rejected by his brothers. 00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:39.960 And Matthew 2.6 is the fulfillment of a prophecy from the Old Testament. 00:24:39.960 --> 00:24:46.559 And it says this, And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are not least among 00:24:46.559 --> 00:24:47.639 the rulers of Judah. 00:24:47.639 --> 00:24:54.240 For you, for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd the people of Israel. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:56.759 And that's talking about Jesus Christ. 00:24:56.759 --> 00:25:02.640 And then it says in Luke 22, the Son of man will suffer and he will be rejected by the 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:03.920 people of Israel. 00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:06.440 And he was. 00:25:06.440 --> 00:25:11.640 And if you're looking for a champion tonight, look, we're told, for one who is both a shepherd, 00:25:11.640 --> 00:25:18.359 a servant, dressed in humility, and at the same time a king. 00:25:18.359 --> 00:25:23.720 And in Mark 10.45, we're told that this Jesus Christ, the Son of man, did not come to be 00:25:23.720 --> 00:25:30.200 served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many, that Jesus Christ is the 00:25:30.200 --> 00:25:33.680 servant king of creation. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:39.200 And lastly, if you're looking for a champion, then you've got to look for a second Adam. 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:46.759 And in 1 Corinthians 15.45, we're told that the first man Adam, he became a living being, 00:25:46.759 --> 00:25:52.120 but the second Adam, Jesus Christ became the life giving spirit. 00:25:52.119 --> 00:25:59.919 David and Goliath, this story tells us that in order to face death with any courage, humanity 00:25:59.919 --> 00:26:01.879 needs a champion. 00:26:01.879 --> 00:26:04.319 And that champion is Jesus Christ. 00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:07.839 And there's no other under heaven by which we can be saved. 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:12.519 Now I want to close tonight by just saying, well, what does that have to do with us even 00:26:12.519 --> 00:26:13.959 more in 2022? 00:26:13.959 --> 00:26:15.879 Just very briefly. 00:26:15.879 --> 00:26:20.799 There are three things, two things that David says and then one more sentence to close about 00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:22.879 what this really means for us tonight. 00:26:22.879 --> 00:26:24.519 And thirdly, the fight. 00:26:24.519 --> 00:26:29.720 And this is what David says about what he's doing, what he's up to as a champion in verse 00:26:29.720 --> 00:26:30.720 26. 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:36.079 He says first, in verse 26, I've come to take away the reproach of Israel. 00:26:36.079 --> 00:26:41.200 Now the only hope that we have, that any human being here tonight and in the entire world 00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:48.079 has against sin and against Satan and against death is the substitutionary work of a champion 00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:50.639 on our behalf. 00:26:50.640 --> 00:26:57.280 And David, he says, he says, I've come to take away the reproach of Israel as the champion 00:26:57.280 --> 00:26:59.440 of Israel. 00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:01.600 And he's talking there about his heroism. 00:27:01.600 --> 00:27:08.160 You see, David's heroism is not at all like Achilles or Odysseus or Goliath for that 00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:09.160 matter. 00:27:09.160 --> 00:27:14.440 You know, he's small and he's weak and he can't hold up Saul's armor. 00:27:14.440 --> 00:27:22.559 And yet he saves powerfully as the substitutionary representative of the people. 00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:23.559 And how does he do it? 00:27:23.559 --> 00:27:25.480 He doesn't do it by example. 00:27:25.480 --> 00:27:27.600 He doesn't set an example. 00:27:27.600 --> 00:27:32.240 And he doesn't do it by giving a great speech and leading the charge. 00:27:32.240 --> 00:27:37.080 He doesn't lead the people from the battle and he doesn't. 00:27:37.080 --> 00:27:38.640 He doesn't do any of that. 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:41.640 He does it by imputation. 00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:45.920 He says, I've come to take away the reproach of Israel and I'm going to do it by imputation. 00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:47.520 Imputation, that's how he does it. 00:27:47.520 --> 00:27:49.440 What is imputation? 00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:58.360 Imputation is where whatever is true of the champion becomes true of those he represents. 00:27:58.360 --> 00:28:00.680 That's imputation. 00:28:00.680 --> 00:28:10.080 And the greater David, Jesus Christ, he takes away our reproach in the fact that in his death 00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:16.559 and resurrection whatever is true of him becomes true of the people he represents. 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:21.119 Now that is an invitation tonight. 00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:26.399 If you come to Jesus Christ by faith tonight, know that by imputation he has taken away 00:28:26.399 --> 00:28:28.159 your reproach. 00:28:28.159 --> 00:28:32.119 And let me just tell you three sentences that that means for you this evening. 00:28:32.119 --> 00:28:33.119 Three sentences. 00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:34.119 And that's this. 00:28:34.119 --> 00:28:38.879 That means that he has taken away your guilt. 00:28:38.880 --> 00:28:42.680 You before God are judged innocent forever. 00:28:42.680 --> 00:28:44.080 He has taken away your guilt. 00:28:44.080 --> 00:28:48.440 That means he's taken, secondly, he's taken away your shame. 00:28:48.440 --> 00:28:54.080 That every single thing that you've ever done in the past has been forgotten by the living 00:28:54.080 --> 00:28:55.080 God. 00:28:55.080 --> 00:28:59.960 Every sin, every wrongdoing has been cast from God's thoughts as far as the east is from 00:28:59.960 --> 00:29:03.360 the west because of him, because of this champion. 00:29:03.360 --> 00:29:06.120 And that means he's taken away your reproach. 00:29:06.119 --> 00:29:13.479 You can forgive yourself because the cross was enough for God to forgive you. 00:29:13.479 --> 00:29:14.479 He's taken away your guilt. 00:29:14.479 --> 00:29:15.479 He's taken away your shame. 00:29:15.479 --> 00:29:18.399 He's taken away finally your judgment. 00:29:18.399 --> 00:29:26.919 You will not be judged in eternal death because of your champion, Jesus Christ. 00:29:26.919 --> 00:29:31.039 And that's what it means to have a champion take away your reproach. 00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:33.199 That's the good news of the gospel. 00:29:33.199 --> 00:29:34.199 And it's an invitation. 00:29:34.200 --> 00:29:40.240 That the second thing David says here, second of three, and we'll be finished verse 32. 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:46.039 Therefore, let no man's heart fail because of the giant Goliath. 00:29:46.039 --> 00:29:52.279 Do not let your heart fail then because of this giant, because of this serpent, because 00:29:52.279 --> 00:29:56.519 of sin and the world and the flesh and the devil and Satan and all that we face that 00:29:56.519 --> 00:29:57.680 were helpless before. 00:29:57.680 --> 00:30:02.279 Don't let your heart fail is what David says he came to give. 00:30:02.279 --> 00:30:08.680 All in the army of Israel, their hearts failed very quickly here, just like Israel in the 00:30:08.680 --> 00:30:12.480 wilderness when they faced the giants the first time. 00:30:12.480 --> 00:30:13.480 They had no courage. 00:30:13.480 --> 00:30:15.519 They were paralyzed by the fear of death. 00:30:15.519 --> 00:30:17.240 And we've said this already. 00:30:17.240 --> 00:30:19.879 All of us are afraid of different things. 00:30:19.879 --> 00:30:21.079 We're afraid of physical death. 00:30:21.079 --> 00:30:25.359 We're afraid of losing our reputation and our successes. 00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:26.680 We're afraid of disapproval. 00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:28.680 We're afraid of being humiliated. 00:30:28.680 --> 00:30:36.400 We're afraid of not having specific relationships or losing the relationships we do have. 00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:42.120 But note here just that Saul and Goliath's method of dealing with fear in their lives 00:30:42.120 --> 00:30:49.240 was this, be confident, put your armor on, get out there, pull up your bootstraps, face 00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:50.240 your fears. 00:30:50.240 --> 00:30:52.799 There are advantages to being an underdog. 00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:56.799 That was Saul's method of facing your fears. 00:30:56.799 --> 00:31:03.519 Like Christianity comes in this passage and says to you, don't lose heart tonight. 00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:07.480 Don't lose heart tonight in the face of the world, the flesh and the devil, but not because 00:31:07.480 --> 00:31:10.200 you're strong. 00:31:10.200 --> 00:31:14.579 But because in the midst of your weakness, God did not leave you to die. 00:31:14.579 --> 00:31:17.879 But because you have got a champion who has gone before you. 00:31:17.879 --> 00:31:21.879 Don't lose heart, not because of your strength, but because in your weakness, he's come for 00:31:21.879 --> 00:31:22.879 you. 00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:26.920 He's a champion, and he's come to get you and he's come to save you. 00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:33.800 Because in Jesus Christ, every single danger and fear that you face is relativized. 00:31:33.800 --> 00:31:38.520 You have in you if you believe tonight the hope of the martyrs, and that's, you can kill 00:31:38.520 --> 00:31:42.680 me today, but I cannot die forever. 00:31:42.680 --> 00:31:47.880 And that means in Jesus Christ, there's a way to not lose heart in the midst of our 00:31:47.880 --> 00:31:48.880 fears. 00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:51.080 Now thirdly and finally, and the last word. 00:31:51.079 --> 00:31:58.119 Verse 52, the people respond and it says, the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout 00:31:58.119 --> 00:32:00.799 and they chased the Philistines. 00:32:00.799 --> 00:32:07.679 Now the message of this story is this, you cannot face Goliath without a champion on 00:32:07.679 --> 00:32:08.679 your behalf. 00:32:08.679 --> 00:32:11.679 You cannot face death, sin, the world, the flesh, the devil. 00:32:11.679 --> 00:32:13.399 We need a champion. 00:32:13.399 --> 00:32:19.960 And at the same time, once he won, the Israelite army joined in. 00:32:19.960 --> 00:32:21.079 They fought too. 00:32:21.079 --> 00:32:27.480 And that means, as one commentator puts it, he puts it like this, God alone can crush 00:32:27.480 --> 00:32:34.440 the head of the serpent and he decides to use us to participate. 00:32:34.440 --> 00:32:39.720 And you see this, let me just give you two verses from Romans one and Romans 16, the first 00:32:39.720 --> 00:32:41.559 chapter and the last chapter. 00:32:41.559 --> 00:32:48.480 And Romans one, we're told that the son of God, Jesus, was a descendant of David according 00:32:48.480 --> 00:32:55.039 to the flesh and he is declared to be the son of God in power because of the resurrection. 00:32:55.039 --> 00:32:59.400 Only the son of God, the son of David in power by resurrection could crush the head of the 00:32:59.400 --> 00:33:00.400 serpent. 00:33:00.400 --> 00:33:08.160 And then Romans 16, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet too. 00:33:08.160 --> 00:33:14.480 And so he says that he's also using you, Christian, to do it as well, to participate in this 00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:20.799 task, Jason Hood, one commentator says this, by God's grace, we are simultaneously recipients 00:33:20.799 --> 00:33:27.920 of God's great victory and participant in the battle of the ages between God and the 00:33:27.920 --> 00:33:29.799 serpent. 00:33:29.799 --> 00:33:32.839 And he calls us to join the fight. 00:33:32.839 --> 00:33:39.920 And in Luke 10, 72 of his disciples come to Jesus and Jesus says, I send you out with 00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:44.079 authority over the power of the enemy. 00:33:44.079 --> 00:33:46.839 Go and fight. 00:33:46.839 --> 00:33:51.960 And we do that when we resist the world, the flesh and the devil, when we fight back our 00:33:51.960 --> 00:33:57.199 indwelling sin, when we push back temptation, when we do good works, when we spread the 00:33:57.199 --> 00:34:02.119 good news of Christ across the world enough in many other ways, you participate in the 00:34:02.119 --> 00:34:03.879 fight of the champion. 00:34:03.879 --> 00:34:05.720 He's done it all. 00:34:05.720 --> 00:34:08.799 And then if you rest in him, he invites you to the battle. 00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:15.240 And so we'll give Ephesians 6, verse 10, the final word, which is an invitation. 00:34:15.240 --> 00:34:23.280 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might put on the full armor 00:34:23.280 --> 00:34:31.560 of God so that you too will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 00:34:31.560 --> 00:34:32.560 Let's pray together. 00:34:32.560 --> 00:34:38.760 Father, we give thanks that you preach the gospel to us into the saints of the Old Testament, 00:34:38.760 --> 00:34:43.520 even from times of old, from a place like 1 Samuel 17. 00:34:43.520 --> 00:34:48.840 We give thanks for the great witness of David to us that we need a champion who is greater 00:34:48.840 --> 00:34:51.080 than ourselves. 00:34:51.080 --> 00:34:56.640 And so Father, I pray tonight that you would all give us hearts as we prep to enter Monday 00:34:56.640 --> 00:35:02.400 that are actually weak before they're strong so that they could be strong. 00:35:02.400 --> 00:35:06.080 So we rest tonight in our champion, Jesus. 00:35:06.079 --> 00:35:09.840 And I pray for anybody here who's wrestling with that message, Lord, that you would meet 00:35:09.840 --> 00:35:14.199 with them and speak with them, that they would know how much they need a champion and the 00:35:14.199 --> 00:35:19.279 power of the true champion of Christ himself, and that you would send us forth with the 00:35:19.279 --> 00:35:24.799 armor of Christ, that we would resist the schemes of the devil, we're told about in 00:35:24.799 --> 00:35:32.920 Ephesians 6, and fight with you and for you to push back the work of the serpent. 00:35:32.920 --> 00:35:36.920 And we ask this in Jesus' name.