[0:00] Nathan said earlier is going to be 1st Samuel chapter 17. A very well-known text to us. It's the story of David and Goliath. We've heard this story taught in our own churches that we've been a part of throughout the years.
[0:16] You know, we've all come from different places, walks of life, and this is a text that is touched on a lot from a lot of different circles, a lot of different people, in a lot of different ways. We often hear expressions like conquer your Goliath or throw your stone of faith.
[0:34] Those are references to this text, and it's a way for us to kind of conceptualize, communicate this idea of overcoming trial, overcoming problems in our life.
[0:47] I think it is almost always well-meaning when people say these things, but the reality is I think there's so much more going on in this text than just that, as good as that is.
[1:00] And so my hope and my prayer is that we'll be able to walk through that today and see more of the true glory of this story, the truly good news that we have in Christ in 1st Samuel 17.
[1:12] So we're going to walk through this text together and just kind of highlight that ultimate reality, that redemptive historical reality that is meant to be displayed throughout this text.
[1:25] So again, starting in 1st Samuel 17, verse 1. Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle, and they were gathered at Soca, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Soca and Ezekiah and Ephesdamun.
[1:42] So this is near Bethlehem, about 15 miles from the town. In verse 2, And Saul, he's currently king, right, King Saul, and Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah.
[1:55] And they drew up in the line of battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
[2:13] He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail. The weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze, and he had bronze armor on his legs.
[2:23] And a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders, and the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam. And his spear's head, this is just the head of the spear, not the whole thing, the head, weighed 600 shekels of iron.
[2:38] And his shield-bearer went before him. So a couple notes here so far. This is the only passage in the Bible where the word champion is used. It's used twice in this passage, and it's the only time it occurs.
[2:50] It literally means the man between two, referring to this big man, this Goliath of Gath. He's between the two armies on the two mountains. He was six cubits in a span.
[3:04] Now, most scholars have agreed a cubit is about 18 inches, which means Goliath rings in at 9 feet 9 inches. This is a big boy, right?
[3:15] Pretty big. The coat that weighs 5,000 shekels of bronze is 125 pounds.
[3:27] Now, I'm not a very big guy to begin with, but that's just 15 pounds shy of me. So he's essentially wearing me. He's got like an adult, smaller male on his back.
[3:39] Okay, so this is a real big guy. And he wore it. I mean, he's running around. He's going in battle, wearing 125 pounds. Now, most people in this room, even some of the bigger ones, would have struggle just carrying 60-pound packs, much less fighting with a 60-pound pack.
[3:56] And yet, Goliath doubles that, 125 pounds. And on top of that, he's carrying the spear that the head of which, the end point, and anybody who's ever lifted anything, you know a pole, if it's heavier at the end, it's harder to balance.
[4:11] And his weight of his spear is at the end. It's in the head of the spear. And that spear is going to be roughly 15 pounds. And so here's this guy running around, 125-pound armor, 15-pound spearhead, and he's thrusting it out to stab people.
[4:26] Again, this is a big man, okay? And to have the strength and endurance to fight in war with that armor, that spear, I mean, this is insane.
[4:37] You know, I like sports. In the sporting world, college football, basketball, they give athletes these rankings, you know, one through five-star, five-star being the best. If Goliath was a recruit today, they would create a six-star.
[4:49] I mean, he's that big. He's a difference maker, right? We've never seen anything like this. It's picking back up in verse 8. So this man, this big man, this nine-foot, nine-inch man, he stood, Goliath, and he shouted to the ranks of Israel, Why have you come out to draw up for battle?
[5:07] Or why have you not come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me, right? This is taunt. This is, hey, you're best against me.
[5:18] I'll kill him any day of the week, right? And know the distinction Goliath makes right away between Philistine and Israelite. This is a huge threat in this, and we're going to pick up on this in a bit.
[5:29] Back to the text in verse 9. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, meaning the Israelite, if your best champion can fight me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if we prevail against him and kill him, then you should be our servants and serve us.
[5:45] And the Philistine said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. This is bull talk. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
[6:02] I would be afraid, nine foot, nine inches. Now David was the son of an Ephraite, of Bethlehem and Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons.
[6:14] In the days of Saul, the man was already old and advanced in years. The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to battle. And the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eli, the firstborn, and next to him, Eben-Nadab, and the third, Shammah.
[6:30] But David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul. But David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. Verse 16, For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.
[6:49] So for forty days and forty nights, this nine foot nine man, this beast of a man, he's taunting Israel, saying, send me your best, bring him out, I'll kill him right now. For forty days, forty nights, evening and morning.
[7:02] He's relentless. And I want to say, this is a temptation the Israelites are facing, right? It's a taunt, but it is a temptation, right? What kind of temptation?
[7:13] Temptation to fear, temptation to focus on the things of earth and not the things of God. The men of Israel not only failed as they caved to their fear and worldly thinking, but even Saul.
[7:25] And mind you, Saul, contextually, this is supposed to be Israel's champion. You know, he's a pretty big guy. He stood head and shoulders above the men of Israel. And yet, even he is cowering before Goliath.
[7:38] He's scared out of his mind. But he, too, had fallen away from God along with the rest of the house of Israel by focusing on this Goliath, his armor, his spear, his size, the things of this earth, right?
[7:50] Self-preservation is kicking in. But in the midst of all these failing men who are not obeying God in faith, who are not striking down this Philistine where he stands, we see David highlighted as someone who is from Bethlehem, from the tribe of Judah.
[8:10] Very important to note. So verse 17. And Jesse said to David his son, Take for your brothers an ephaph of this parched grain and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers.
[8:25] Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See if your brothers are well, and bring some token from them. Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah fighting the Philistines.
[8:37] And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper, and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded them. And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry.
[8:52] And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. And David left things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, and ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers.
[9:02] And he talked with them, Behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke the same words as before.
[9:13] And David heard him. All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, they fled from him and were much afraid. And the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who comes up?
[9:26] Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel.
[9:37] I'm going to pause here for a moment. It is so significant, I think, that the men of Israel are recorded first as seeing Goliath, and then fleeing in fear.
[9:49] This is a clear indication, as I already alluded to earlier, that these men are thinking in worldly terms. They're not thinking about God. They're thinking about this nine-foot, nine-inch monster, right?
[10:01] Their focus was out of place. And Israel, like Goliath, like the Philistine, they thought it was merely Israel being defied here, right? Goliath said, I will defy Israel this day, and now Israelite is confirming that and saying he's defying Israel, the nation, the people.
[10:19] And yet, no mention is made of this Philistine defying God by the men of Israel. They had forgotten the lesson of Joshua, where Israel feared many giants when they were about to enter the promised land, right?
[10:33] Many giants, they came back, 12 spies, two said, let's do it. The other 10 said, no, no, those are some big guys. And we all know how that story goes. Because of their sin, because of their lack of faith in God, and trusting the promise to take the land, they end up spending 40 years in the wilderness.
[10:48] It's similar, right? Goliath, for 40 days, morning and night, tempting Israel, saying, come out, fight me. This is similar to Eve, right?
[11:01] The fruit was a delight to her eyes, we know from Genesis, because she focused on the fruit. She looked at the fruit. She was considering the fruit in the words of the serpent, and not the words of God, right?
[11:14] Which was temptation that led to sin. So just as in 1 Samuel 17, the men of Israel set their eyes on Goliath, a man, and it consumed them.
[11:27] But he was just that, a man. In fact, Samuel has set the stage for this in chapter 16, verse 7, right? The prior chapter, where God says, for the Lord sees not as man sees.
[11:38] Man looks on the outward appearance, right? The 9 foot 9 inch man. But the Lord looks on the heart. So this is a big theme. But picking back up in verse 26, And David said to the men who stood by him, What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel?
[12:00] For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him in the same way, So shall it be done to the man who kills him.
[12:13] So again, we just saw how Israel reacted to Goliath, but now we're seeing how David's reacting to Goliath. And what does David do? Well, he talks right back. He says, this is an uncircumcised Philistine who's defying the living God.
[12:27] Right? Now, this is not mere trash talk. This is a serious reminder of the Abrahamic covenant for Israel. Right? The Israelites, along with the Philistines, all believe this is a conflict merely between two countries.
[12:41] Right? They both said that this is a defilement of Israel. But David says it's a defilement of God. Right? It's a worldly concern for both armies, Philistine and Israelite, but a spiritual, God-centered concern for David.
[12:58] And this is why he says uncircumcised Philistine relates to the Abrahamic covenant. In other words, David is reminding the men of Israel that, hey, we are the seed of Abraham.
[13:08] We have promises from the God of Abraham, our father, who carried us through the wilderness, who carried us out of the house of Egypt, out of slavery. He helped us cross the Jordan. He helped us conquer this land that we're now trying to defend.
[13:22] Right? Rise up, men. Do you not believe in the promises of God? It essentially is what he's saying. Right? But more than that, he's also recognizing that Goliath is outside of those promises.
[13:34] He's uncircumcised. Genesis 17, 8, where this covenant is made with Abraham. Right? God says to Abraham, I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.
[13:53] It's an everlasting possession. They don't have to worry about losing it, regardless of what giant Philistine comes at them or what. Have you? And yet the men are cowering, but David remembers.
[14:05] He remembers. This is an uncircumcised Philistine. He's outside of those promises. Let's take hold of the promise. Right? So this promise, this land, it includes Soka, it includes Azekah, it includes Ephesim, where the battle is taking place that we read about in verse 1.
[14:24] Further on in the covenant, though, with Abraham, it's important to note, God warns, any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people.
[14:35] He has broken my covenant. That's Genesis 17, verse 14. Now, of course, Goliath was never in the covenant to begin with, as I've already said, but the warning stands nonetheless.
[14:46] He's outside the covenant. So all is to say, David is the only one in the narrative, not Saul, not the men of Israel, certainly not any of the Philistines.
[14:57] David's the only one who's recognizing this and who's trusting in the promises of God. He's clinging to the covenant. Right? Not himself, nothing, but God. So he has every reason to obey this.
[15:12] He has every reason to have this faith, to have this confidence, because, again, God made the covenant with Abraham. He made his promise. And up to this point in redemptive history, you know, David has read the law.
[15:24] He knows the stories of Moses that he's written down. He knows the story of Joshua, the judges, right? This is just shortly after the period of the judges. So David's able to look at all this history and see God keep his promises time and time again.
[15:37] He's got every reason to have this sure faith. Right? God led the Israelites out of slavery. Despite the delay of the conquering of the land, they see that the world can provide to overcome this man, this Goliath.
[15:53] Right? And similar, that's what he was looking at when he looked at Goliath himself. They're both placing trust in the armor, the helmet, the coat, the sword. Whereas David is placing his trust in God and not these material things.
[16:06] Hence, he put them off. And we'll see this contrast even more in the next section. But this is all part of a buildup leading to the exaltation of David and the lowering of Saul.
[16:19] So verse 41. And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David with his shield bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, there it is again, he's looking, he sees David, he disdained him.
[16:32] He was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. In other words, he was small, he was a runt. He's young, inexperienced. Verse 43. And the Philistine said to David, am I a dog that you would come to me with sticks?
[16:45] Like, who is this would-be poser? Who's this challenger? Right? This pretender. Right? Verse 45. Then David said to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin.
[17:01] But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Third time, he's charging him with that. You've defied God. The author of 1 Samuel further sets the stage by referencing Goliath's gods.
[17:15] Right? He swears to strike down David by his gods. Right? He cursed him in verse 43. In verse 44, he's saying, I'm going to kill you by my gods.
[17:25] And David, no, no. I've come in the name of my God. Right? So this is very much a spiritual battle. Physical, indeed, yes. But spiritual, nonetheless. So the author's pushing harder and harder to draw our attention to something greater than this mere historical account.
[17:43] Right? There's something more important going on than poor little shepherd boy beating nine foot nine Goliath. Right? There's something grander going on. But let's continue our reading first.
[17:55] So verse 46, David's continuing, and he says, This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the hosts of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear.
[18:21] God doesn't save with sword and spear the things of the world. But the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand. Verse 48, When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly, right, without hesitation.
[18:35] David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead.
[18:46] The stone sank into his forehead and he fell on his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone. And he, excuse me, then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it.
[19:06] When the Philistine saw that their champion was dead, that's the second time the champion word occurred, except this time he's dead, right, their champion's dead. They fled. Philistines fled.
[19:17] They were afraid. Verse 52, And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shirem as far as Gath and Ekron.
[19:31] And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines and they plundered their camp. And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.
[19:44] So David won. So yes, this is a rich story of a man of faith and we can certainly learn from this, right? David as an individual, we can learn from his faith.
[19:56] We can learn that David was not consumed with earthly things. His mind was set on the Lord. In the section we just read alone, just that brief paragraph there, I don't mean the whole chapter, just that brief paragraph, there are five direct references to God being the source of David's strength and victory and so forth.
[20:15] Second, we can see David's obedience, right? Multiple times. Verse 48 says he ran quickly, but prior to that we've already seen he's running all over the place. There's no hesitation with this guy.
[20:26] He's moving, right? And if you're reading the whole chapter closely, you would notice that Samuel mentions this. He does it in every phase of the story. David's running all over the place.
[20:37] No hesitation, no doubt, no pondering, no second guessing. But more than David, this is a story that is also about the nation of Israel.
[20:50] As we've already mentioned the numerous stories throughout the Old Testament up to this point, we have seen in this point in the Bible's history, Israel act either faithfully or faithlessly and regardless, God is faithful throughout this entire thing.
[21:04] He's always delivering them always coming through, always upholding his promises. And so this is very much a call to the nation of Israel. Again, this book was written for Israel to hear it, to read it, to know it.
[21:17] It's not merely so they can know who David was, but it's a reminder of God's commitment to the covenant that we mentioned already with Abraham, the covenant with Moses, the covenant with David. So any Israelite reading this would recognize, hey, this isn't just a story about shepherd boy David.
[21:34] This is a story about us. You know, in a sense, this is God's salvific story for the nation of Israel. You might ask, how so? So contextually, as I alluded to earlier, the events in 1 Samuel occur at the end of the Judges period, right?
[21:51] A time of great sin, wickedness, and judgment. But now, in 1 Samuel, we see God begin this work of restoration, redemption for the nation of Israel.
[22:03] Right? And how is he doing this? Well, Samuel the prophet who anoints King David, right? Soon to be King David, not yet, in this text. But that process is beginning now through this battle with Goliath.
[22:14] He's raising up David to be their king, to be a means of restoration. In fact, throughout all of 1 and 2 Samuel, which largely focused on David, the reader will notice that there is this progression.
[22:28] Now, John MacArthur notes, as 1 Samuel begins, Israel was at a low point spiritually, right? He's referring to that end of the judges period. The priesthood was corrupt, 1 Samuel 2, 17 through 12.
[22:41] The Ark of the Covenant was not at the tabernacle. We know that from 1 Samuel 4, 3 through chapter 7, verse 2. Idolatry was practiced, 1 Samuel 7, verse 3 through 4.
[22:53] And the judges were dishonest, 1 Samuel 8, verses 2 through 3. The 2 Samuel concludes with the anger of the Lord being withdrawn from Israel. That's chapter 24, verse 25.
[23:06] So why was the anger withdrawn? What would cause that anger to be pulled back in light of the sin? I mean, even in 1 Samuel, we're still seeing Israel's sin. It's not as if all of a sudden they're a glowing nation.
[23:19] Why is the anger being withdrawn? Ultimately, for the same reason that Goliath is defeated. Because the Lord keeps his covenant with Abraham, with Moses, and with David, with his people, his covenant people.
[23:33] So this would have stuck out to the Israelites. This is a national redemptive story for them. But again, there's so much more that should pop off of the page to us with a story as New Testament readers.
[23:46] So let's go ahead and start reading through the rest again. Picking them up in verse 55. As soon as Saul, Saul David, go out against the Philistine.
[23:58] And I love this because again, it seems to me like the author is still trying to hint at that Saul is considering David in a worldly sense. He saw David go out against the Philistine. He said to Abner, the commander of the army, Abner, whose son is this youth?
[24:12] And Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I do not know. And the king said, inquires whose son the boy is. And as soon as David turned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
[24:28] And Saul said to him, Whose son are you, young man? And David answered, I am the son of your servant Jesse, the Bethlehemite. So this means, excuse me, I got a little ahead of myself.
[24:46] We, as readers of the Old Testament, that should just pop out to us. The son of the Bethlehemite. That's the last word of this story, right? End of the chapter. This is the son of the Bethlehemite.
[24:59] So we understand that immediately in connection with Christ, right? From Bethlehem. We know this because the seed of David described in 2 Samuel 7, verses 12 through 15, is Jesus Christ, the son of God, which is confirmed by the author of Hebrews in the New Testament, who quotes 2 Samuel 7, 14, as well as Psalm 2, 7, in Hebrews 1, 5.
[25:22] It says, For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are my son, today I have begotten you? Or again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. So the seed of David, this seed, this is the Christ, he's the ultimate seed, Jesus.
[25:39] Right? And David is listed in Jesus' genealogy in Luke 3, verse 31. So this means that the Holy Spirit himself, who inspired the scriptures, who inspired 1 Samuel, that Holy Spirit, right, intended David to be seen as a type of Christ.
[25:57] Right? Nathan talked about typology a couple weeks back. It's a simpler word, it could be symbolism, right? This is a specific type of symbolism. Right? David is symbolic of the Christ to come. So David, you might ask, in what ways does he symbolize, what ways does he foreshadow, right, in what ways does he prefiguring Christ from an earthly standpoint?
[26:20] Well, one, we see that David is a shepherd. 1 Samuel 17, 15, right? He was tending his father's flocks in the midst of this battle, running back to and fro. Right? So, Jesus said, I am the good shepherd.
[26:33] John 10, verse 11, right? David was from the tribe of Judah in the town of Bethlehem. So was Jesus. Matthew chapter 2, verse 1, Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea.
[26:45] For 40 days and for 40 nights, David witnessed the taunting and temptation of Goliath, 1 Samuel 17, 16. Again, this is similar to Christ who faced the temptation of Satan in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights.
[27:00] Matthew 4, verse 1 through 2. So you might be asking yourself, does this mean that Goliath is a type of Satan in the way that David is a type of Christ, right?
[27:11] Symbolizing. And the answer is yes. In fact, the parallel is striking. 1 Samuel 17, 49, and David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead.
[27:26] The stone sank into his forehead and he fell on his face to the ground. It seems really repetitive, right? It seems kind of, why is he mentioning this forehead, the face, I mean, three times, right, in one sentence, one breath.
[27:40] But I think it's intentional. I think the author is trying to draw our mind back to what many theologians call the proto-longelion. That's the first gospel, so to speak, which is back in Genesis 3.
[27:51] Genesis 3, verse 14 through 15, the Lord God said to the serpent, being Satan, right, God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field.
[28:06] On your belly you shall go and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.
[28:19] So you see, it is the head of Satan that will be crushed by the heel of Christ, right? We all understand that. That's what Genesis 3 is alluding to, that ultimate decisive moment in which Christ defeats Satan and the power of death and hell and all that, right?
[28:37] That's what that's primarily about. But at the same time, David, Goliath, they are a type of this. They're showing this, right? David is a seed of the woman, right?
[28:49] Goliath is a seed of the serpent and the author goes out of his way to mention that forehead, right? The serpent will be on his belly, right? Well, when you're on your forehead, you're also on your belly, right?
[29:00] And the author goes out of his way to show this Goliath. He's fallen down, face down. His head gets cut off by David, right? And David, David strikes him with a stone, right?
[29:13] Small like a heel. So this is imagery that they're picking up on. There's something greater it's pointing to. And the final parallel that we have time to know is that David was an anointed king.
[29:27] So 1 Samuel, the prior chapter, verse 16, or chapter 16, verse 13. Samuel, the prophet, took the horn of oil and anointed him, referring to David, anointed David in the midst of his brothers.
[29:40] And the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. Now, in the Greek Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, the word for anointed in this passage is ekrisen, right?
[29:54] It's a verb, which is the verbal form of the noun that many of us know, Christos. Now, it sounds like the English. Christos is Christ, as in Jesus Christ, Jesu Christu, right?
[30:05] And so Christos, it means anointing. David is an anointed king, just as Jesus Christ himself, an anointed king. We see this in John 12, verse 1 through 8, in his triumphal entry to the city of Jerusalem.
[30:20] Jesus is anointed as king just prior to his crucifixion, just prior to crushing the forehead of the serpent, the head of the serpent, and having his heel bruised on the cross.
[30:32] So this is partly why it is so significant that Matthew includes David and Jesus' genealogy in the Gospel account, which is primarily focused on proving Christ's kingship.
[30:43] Right? That's what Matthew's all about. This is about Jesus Christ is king and lord, the son of God. Right? So this is all a buildup to pointing to Christ. This entire text is not merely about David.
[30:55] It's not merely about Goliath. It's not merely about Israel. It's not merely about the things of this earth. It's about Christ and his plan to save and his kingship, his identity as the son of God, and his lordship and him keeping his promises, keeping his covenant.
[31:12] So in closing, I kind of want to draw this out more, but we have noticed the individual narrative of David. We've noticed the national narrative for Israel.
[31:23] And now we have seen the narrative of David and Goliath is really much more than that. It's a picture of the overarching redemptive plan of God for all of mankind. Right? For all of his church. For all of his faithful.
[31:35] When we read this story, we fail to really, truly understand it if our eyes do not turn to the anointed King Jesus, the Son of God. Luke 24, 27, Jesus is talking to his disciples and he tells them, he says, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Jesus interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
[31:56] So if we read this text without considering Christ, we don't understand it as Christ would have taught it. Right? For Christ, this isn't a story about David. And so it should not be merely a story about David for us either.
[32:09] So let's not make it a story where it's about David and about us being a hero as so often is taught. Right? This is not merely a story in which we learn to just have faith and overcome difficulties as great as that is.
[32:21] It's pointing to something greater than that. And we're so tempted to do that by our flesh, whether conscious or unconscious. But this would be very bad news because we as sinful and dead men cannot save ourselves.
[32:32] Right? David didn't save himself. David's own trust wasn't in himself. Why are we constantly trying to be like David in that sense when David himself was relying on God? That's how we should be like David by relying on God.
[32:45] Right? This would be bad news if it's merely a story of us because it would put salvation and the redemptive narrative in our hands. But what can a dead hand grasp? I mean, this is bad news.
[32:56] Right? This is bad news because this news would not make or announce Christ as Savior and Lord. And think about that. Rather, let the story encourage us to imitate the faith of David by trusting Christ and his promises to the point of obedience.
[33:14] Right? That is good news. That is full grace, real grace. You know, the other side is what Bonhoeffer would have called cheap grace. It saves you from condemnation but not your nature. But this is a true grace, a full grace.
[33:25] It saves us from the condemnation and the nature. We are able to obey Christ. We are able to look to Christ, follow Christ and to do it rightly. So in that, we can cast off all of our burdens and anxieties when we look to Christ.
[33:40] We can face the hardships of this world knowing that our high priest, Jesus, has done the same and that we will reign with him in glory. Just as he was raised, we will be raised. Jesus has defeated the greatest Goliath in our lives, namely sin, Satan, and death.
[33:57] And so we, as Christians, we can take heart knowing the battle was won. And we, by God's grace, are victors like David. We didn't earn it. We didn't accomplish it.
[34:09] We merely received it by faith in Christ. So do not get bogged down like the men of Israel like Saul or even the Philistines.
[34:19] Do not get bogged down on the troubles of this world considering the things of this world but rather listen to the author of Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely.
[34:36] Every Goliath, so to speak. Every distraction and of course every sin. And let us run with endurance, the author goes on. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
[34:47] Verse 2. Looking to Jesus. Not looking to Goliath, not looking to Saul. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
[35:04] Christ is the ultimate seed of the woman who has defeated Satan. But we too by faith alone through grace alone Christ alone are the seed of the woman. No Cain, no Goliath, no Judas, no nobody, no nothing from the seed of the serpent will be able to overcome Christ.
[35:21] O death, where is your sting? Where grave thy victory? Let's pray. Let's pray.