[0:00] Our guest speaker today is Jordan Smyers. Smyers, yes. Smyers, okay. I've just recently met Jordan, and so he just came by church, asked if he could preach sometime, and no.
[0:19] Jordan's an elder at Bree's Reformed Baptist Church in Colorado Springs down off of North Circle. And Rick Fizer, you guys have heard of Rick.
[0:32] Rick, Rick's daughter Hannah, many of you know Hannah, goes to Jordan's church. And so there, Rick kind of introduced us, got us connected, and met with their pastor.
[0:49] Jordan's an elder there, along with Steve, James Medina is their pastor. And I would say they're a kindred sister church to us.
[1:00] We share the same beliefs and goals and values. So, and they've just kind of come alongside. We're looking at kind of coming alongside each other and encouraging each other.
[1:14] And one of the ways they're encouraging us is by giving me a break. Amen. So, I told them this would be the best time because I just finished radiation, and I'd be about as flat as I was going to get.
[1:26] So, appreciate it. So, Jordan, thank you for coming today. All right. Hopefully, my mic is working.
[1:38] Can you guys hear me okay? Yeah. All right. As Bill said, my name is Jordan. I'm so excited to be with you here today to share the Word of God with you. A couple things you didn't mention about me, which I think are worthy of noting, is I'm married to a wife named Andrea Smyers.
[1:54] And she, well, obviously she has my last name, Andrea. And she has a great wife because she has helped me raise six kids, of which one of them is here today. Wesley Smyers out there. One of my, I said his last name again.
[2:05] I don't know. I just want you guys to really get my last name. But I'm super excited. I love being a dad of kids. And that translates very well into being an elder of a church because you deal with a lot of the same things you deal with in a family, you know, as you're dealing with in the church.
[2:21] As I'm sure Bill could attest, it's like an extension of fatherhood. But with that being said, I have noticed that this church has a character to it. Every church does have a character to it.
[2:33] And as I came in here, I felt so loved. The Bible says Christians will be known by their love. And I've been loved from the point I walked in that door until the point I came in the seat.
[2:44] Several people came up to me and said, we're praying for you. And I didn't even feel like a stranger when I walked in. So thank you for that. We're praying for you. You guys were praying for me this morning.
[2:55] That's a beautiful thing. Also, I went over there to the tech team. And they told me they would put my slides up after I didn't prepare. And I just threw that on at the last minute.
[3:05] And they said, yeah, we'll work on that. We weren't able to get it done, but they worked on that for me. So I was super thankful for that. Also, I got a chance to engage with that love a little bit as well because I met two Navy guys when I walked in.
[3:20] And I was in the Air Force for 26 years. And I said, I will forgive you guys for being here. And so I got to exercise a little bit of love and forgiveness as they did for me.
[3:32] And so, but anyway, so I'm super thankful to be here. Thankful that your pastor trusts me to bring the word of God to you this morning. And so let's start out by reading the text.
[3:43] I'll pray and then we'll get right in to our sermon. It's going to be a long reading this morning. But I think Bill said I could go as long as I need to go. So here I am.
[3:56] I might take 60 minutes. You never know. All right. We're going to be in Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 17. And we're going to be reading verses 1 through 24. Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle.
[4:10] And they were gathered at Suk, which belongs to Judah. And they encamped at Suk, and Azekai, and Ephes, Damien. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered. And they encamped in the valley of Elah.
[4:22] And they drew up a line of battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on one side, and Israel on the mountain on the other side with a valley between them. And there came out of the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits in a span.
[4:38] 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 a bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders.
[4:50] The shaft of his spear was a weaver's beam, and the spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him. He stood, and he shouted to the ranks of Israel, Why have you come out and drawn up for battle?
[5:02] Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, we will be your servants.
[5:13] But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. And the Philistines said, I defy your ranks of Israel this day.
[5:25] Give me a man that we may fight together. And when Saul and all of Israel heard these words of the Philistines, they were dismayed, and they were greatly afraid.
[5:36] Now David was the son of an Ephraimite of Bethlehem and Judah named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul, the man already advanced in years.
[5:47] The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle. And the names of the three sons who went with him to battle were Eliab, the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shemma.
[6:02] 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. For forty days the Philistines came forward, and they took his stand morning and evening.
[6:16] And Jesse said to David his son, Take for your brothers an ephah of parched grain and these ten loaves and carry them quickly to the camp for your brothers.
[6:28] Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of the thousands. 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 with Philistines.
[6:42] And David rose early in the morning, and they left the sheep with a keeper, and they took the provisions, and they went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment of the host. The camp of the host was going to battle line, shouting the war cry.
[6:58] And Israel, the Philistines, drew up for battle, army against army. And David left these things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, and he ran to the ranks, and he went, and he greeted his brothers.
[7:09] As he talked with them, behold, the champion of the Philistines of Gath, Goliath by name, came up from the ranks of the Philistines. And they spoke the same words as before, and David heard him.
[7:21] Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we love you. We thank you, God, for your word here this morning. God, we thank you for its continued comfort to us, and its continued challenge to us to become more like you.
[7:34] Heavenly Father, we ask you today that by your spirit you would continue to work in the hearts of your people. We pray, God, that you would bring encouragement where encouragement is needed. God, that you would bring strength where strength is needed.
[7:46] God, that you would bring challenge where challenge is needed. Heavenly Father, we depend upon you to do this work. We recognize that we are unable to produce anything that is good without your help.
[8:00] And so here today, I ask you, Lord, to be with the words that I speak. God, carry them. Use them as you would see fit. Heavenly Father, bless your people today as you promised you would.
[8:12] Your word will not return void. It will bring forth all the fruit that you have desired it to. We participate in this process, trusting that today.
[8:22] We ask you these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. All right. No doubt you have all heard quotes like, you are either part of the problem or you are part of the solution.
[8:36] Or, if you look for problems, you'll probably find them. If you look for solutions, you will find those. Problems are only opportunities with work clothes on.
[8:52] These are sayings that have a ring of truth to them. And we admire people who live this way. We know there are giant problems in the world. And we appreciate people around us and people that we see in the news, our pop culture icons, all these people, politicians, things like that, that jump into problems and solve them.
[9:14] I think of Elon Musk. I know he's a controversial name these days. But for some reason, I'm drawn to him because of all the cool companies that he started. But he's seen great problems in the world.
[9:27] And he's used all the talents that God has given him to jump in and try to fix them. One of them is we are a one-planet species. He thinks that's a problem and he wants to solve that problem.
[9:37] And so he has developed an entire space company to solve that problem. He has jumped in to solve a problem. Well, if you don't like Elon Musk, maybe you probably like Gandhi at least, right?
[9:48] Gandhi, he jumped into a problem in his country. There was war between Pakistan and India. And he jumped in to solve that problem by peacefully protesting the fact that they were under the rule of a foreign power.
[10:02] And he wanted an independent India. And he protested for that, mobilized millions of his fellow Indians. And he brought about peace in his country. And it brought about a new independent India.
[10:15] He saw a problem. And he jumped in to solve it. Maybe you're that type of person. I'm sure there are many people here that jump into problems when they see them and they seek to fix them.
[10:27] Men at your work, you probably jump into the problems that you see and you try to fix them. Women at work as well and at home, you see relationship issues at home and between family members.
[10:40] And you try to fix them, right? Jump in and try to fix. We see the evils that take place in our culture, such as abortion, political woes that are happening.
[10:52] And we jump in and we try to get involved and help them, right? The nativity scene that was mentioned. How's the problem, right? And my brother here jumped in and sought to fix it by God's grace.
[11:04] We do that, right? We see our kids and our grandkids. We want them to come to know the Lord. And so we jump in with both feet and we work at it. Marriages, all kinds of problems in this world.
[11:16] Broken marriages. And we jump in and try to fix these problems. Maybe that's the way you respond to problems. And I admire you if you do. I praise God for that. That's a good thing. Maybe you see giant problems and you respond to it the other way.
[11:33] And you jump in and you say, or you just say, you know what? Those problems are too big for me. I give up. I can't do anything about it anyway. I'm just going to take care of myself.
[11:44] I'm going to take care of my family. I'm going to raise as much money as I can for me and my comforts. And I'm going to live a comfortable life. Maybe that's the way you respond to problems. And many of us do when the problems get too big.
[11:56] But the bottom line is we face giant problems in this world. And I'm sure you guys can sit here and think about 20 of them without breaking a sweat. Especially if you watch Fox News, right?
[12:10] You'll be like, man, there's so many problems. I can't. Or any news channel for that matter. Today we're going to start with a consideration of a familiar story. Most of us are familiar with David and Goliath.
[12:22] Israel is facing a monumental, giant problem. Literally and figuratively. This story is going to illustrate to us today as we get into it how we should face giant problems.
[12:40] And there is another way. There is a third way to face these giant problems. And as Christians, we should face these giant problems in that way. Not just jumping in and solving them.
[12:51] Not going into passivity and just sitting back and saying, I can't do anything about them anyway. But there is a third way. And that's our doctrine for today. The doctrine and the main teaching, I want you to get out of this so you can go to sleep after this.
[13:03] If this is boring to you. Okay. Hope in and join the only one who can slay giants. Hope in and join in the only one who can slay giants.
[13:16] Well, let's look at this giant trouble that Israel has. The Philistines and the Israelites have encamped once again for a great war, a great battle, for who would have dominance over this little small strip of land, which we are still fighting over today in Israel.
[13:36] They have come together and they are facing off again. Now, the Philistines have seen this as a prime opportunity for them to jump into battle because they have heard that Saul has been left by Samuel in previous chapters.
[13:51] Samuel has left Saul. That's the man of God. Okay. That's their God that they depend upon for victory. Now, we've got to get our mindset into the pagan idea a little bit.
[14:03] Okay. Back then, they didn't have the mindset of God like we have where God is everywhere. We think that way and we don't really realize it. But when we think God, yeah, God is the God everywhere.
[14:13] Right. That's what we think. But back then, they thought it's completely different. No, there was gods, little gods over regions. The Philistines had their God, Dagon, and the Israelites had their God, Jehovah.
[14:27] And when they went to battle, it was their gods clashing with one another. Which God would be the one that would come on top? Right. Which God would be the more powerful God? They had experienced a little bit of this God when the ark, when they captured the ark a few chapters earlier.
[14:43] The ark had went down into the Philistines' land. And they had put that ark in Dagon's temple. And Dagon ended up falling on his face before it in their temple, if you remember the story.
[14:56] And the Philistines broke out in tumors. And so they said, we've got to get rid of this ark. And they got rid of it, right, as quick as possible. Because this God is powerful that's in this ark.
[15:06] Right. And so they got rid of it. They had dealt with this God, Jehovah. So now that probably held them back a little bit from attacking again. Because they're like, this God is powerful. But now they see this prime opportunity.
[15:18] Okay. Saul has been left by Samuel. He sinned against God. And Samuel, the representative of God, has removed himself from him. And now they see this opportunity to strike.
[15:31] They stood at the base of the mountain and camped against one another. The Israelites are facing this too. The Israelites recognize that Samuel is gone as well. And so this just brings the fear even more to that higher level.
[15:44] Is God with us or is God not with us? And so they are in fear. This is not an uncommon problem for them. From the, in the pagan mind, in ancient Palestine, gods of the armies would face off.
[16:00] They would face off all the time. This was very normal. But now they find themselves in a particular situation where Saul, the man of God, their giant slayer, is gone. Or he is not with it.
[16:12] He's losing his mind. Okay. And the prophet of God is not on his side. And so now they're like, who is going to have territorial dominance? And this is adding to their fear. This is adding to the problem.
[16:23] But then in the midst of this, as they're encamped facing one another, a champion comes out. The bigger, the representation of the problem they are facing.
[16:33] A champion of the Philistine camp, his name is Goliath. And he issues this challenge of hand-to-hand combat with another man from their army to see which one wins.
[16:46] If one wins, then they don't have to go to battle. They can just submit to the one who won and become slaves to one another. We all know that this was a false promise because later on, we know what happens.
[16:59] David slays Goliath. Okay. And they don't become each other's slaves. Or they don't become the slaves of the Israelites. So this was a false promise. But this representative was a particularly menacing warrior because he was a giant.
[17:17] He was a giant in the literal sense. The Bible says that he was six cubits high. What is a cubit, you may ask? A cubit is 18 inches each.
[17:28] So he was six of these, which would mean that he was nine foot nine inches. And I'm trying to give you guys a good reference point. Maybe up to that exit sign there, this man stood on the battlefield.
[17:42] This is a big, a big boy, as they say down south. My brother actually met Arnold Schwarzenegger.
[17:52] Everybody knows Arnold Schwarzenegger, right? When you see him on screen, he's kind of, you know, you don't really think about how big he is. He said when he met him, because my brother's about the same height as me. He came and he shook at his hand.
[18:04] He said his hands were like just enormous. And he said the guy was, he was towering like over six foot, right? And so that, he said in his presence, he was way bigger than he was on screen.
[18:16] And so I want you guys to imagine they're facing this giant. This is a giant problem. Nine foot nine inches. So Arnold Schwarzenegger, six, what, six, six or something like that. And he's, he's a big guy, but nothing like nine foot.
[18:28] That's crazy. So, but he was not just a physical giant. He was an ancient giant. Okay. What do I mean by this? The Bible makes mention of giants, men of renown in the land before the flood, before the great flood in Genesis chapter six.
[18:46] If you have your Bibles, turn with me in Genesis chapter six, verses two through four. I want you guys to see this. Verses two through four. It says this.
[18:59] The sons of God, they saw that the daughters of man were attracted and they took as their wives, any of them that they chose.
[19:14] Then the Lord said, my spirit shall not abide in man forever for he is flesh. His day shall be 120 years. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days.
[19:29] And also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
[19:43] So here we see that God actually destroys the earth and all the wicked in it. And one of the main features of the wickedness of the earth is that we have these, what they call, the Bible calls Nephilim, men of renown.
[19:58] They're giants. These were weird angel and man offspring. Okay. That's the way the text presents it to us.
[20:09] Okay. And we get into some weird territory here, right? We're like, okay, that's kind of weird because that doesn't happen today. We don't, but we look at the Bible and we need to make sense of this. What are these Nephilim that are here being talked about?
[20:22] And many have proposed many ideas and you might be comfortable with one over the other. It doesn't mean you're unorthodox if you believe one or the other, but the point will be the same. Okay. About these Nephilim.
[20:34] The Nephilim, some people say, were sons of Cain and then sons and daughters of Seth. So Cain being the one who rebelled and killed Abel, he was the evil line that came out of Adam, right?
[20:52] Those are the evil, the ones who lived in rebellion toward God. The other side is the Sethites, which are sons of Seth, the second son of Adam, and they were more righteous in their character.
[21:04] And many think that this is talking about a blending of those two lines, okay? And then creating these men of renown, these men that, and that's what the way the scripture kind of describes it.
[21:18] However, some of the problems with that is in Matthew chapter 19, Jesus says that angels can't be given in marriage or won't be given or given in marriage.
[21:29] Men will be like the angels in heaven. They won't be able to be given in marriage or produce offspring like what happens in a normal marriage. And so that's a problem to this, that's one of the proof texts of this is the way we view this verse.
[21:47] Some people, such as John MacArthur, one of my favorite preachers, he views this, these Nephilim, as probably possessed people because this overcomes the problem of angels not being able to be given or be in marriage or procreate like people can because they're a different substance, right?
[22:08] One's spiritual, one's physical. And so he kind of, he says that possession was probably involved in this. And so men were possessed by demonic powers, angels, fallen angels, and then they produced with women giant offspring.
[22:26] Okay. The main point, however, whatever trek you take on that, so that can be home study if you guys are interested in that. But the main point is these angels here are a representation of direct rebellion against God.
[22:42] Angels of God, they rebel against their place and they enter into a twisted, unnatural desire for those that are outside of their grasp according to God's good design.
[22:54] They rebel against God's order that he's placed in the world that is for his glory and their good. They treated God with ungratefulness, flippant disregard, the way he created things.
[23:09] They are representative enemies of God. And I'm going to make the point that Goliath is one of them. He is connected to them by the scripture. This is what the scriptures want us to see.
[23:21] So he was, how do we make this link? Now, do you remember when the Israelites went into the promised land? Do you remember what they saw in the promised land and what made them so scared not to go in the first time?
[23:35] The 10 spies went in, the 12 spies went in, and the 10 came back with a bad report. Why did they come back with a bad report? Because there were giants in the land. They came back with this report in Numbers chapter 13, and you can turn there with me if you would like, 32 through 33.
[23:54] It says this, so they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land. They had spied out, saying, the land through which we have gone to spy it out.
[24:07] It is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw are of great height. And there we saw Nephilim, the sons of Aenek, who come from the Nephilim.
[24:22] And we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers to them, as we seemed to them. So we see here that the spies, they say that they see giants, and they also call them the sons of Aenek.
[24:36] And it says that they have come from the Nephilim. There are giants in the land, and God wants them to drive them out because they are his enemies.
[24:48] Now, if you remember, Caleb and Joshua, they were ready to face these giants. And later on, as they go into the promised land, after they've been in the wilderness for 40 years, Caleb and Joshua are the two faithful spies that see these giants, and they say, you know what?
[25:01] God can take over. He can take care of these giants. Right? So now they're going to get their chance when they go into the promised land for the second time. And in Joshua 11, verses 21 and 22, we see that Joshua gets his chance to fight and to drive these giants out of the land.
[25:17] It says this, and Joshua came at the time, and he cut off the Anakim. Remember the Anakim? What are they? Also known as the Nephilim. From all the hill country from Hebron, and from Debar and Anad, and from all the hill country of Judah, and from the hill country of Israel, Joshua devoted them to destruction with their cities.
[25:36] There was none of the Anakim left, or we can put a Nephilim again, left in the land of the people of Israel. Only Gaza, and in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain.
[25:48] Where did some remain? Notice there were Anakim, or sons of Anak, still in Gath. This passage leads us to believe, leads us to bring a connection between Goliath of Gath, left in the land, and the Anakim and the Nephilim.
[26:08] So Goliath is not only a huge problem, he's an enemy of God. He's a problem. He's connected to the ancient giants of old. This text wants us to make this connection, that this is more than just a good underdog story, right?
[26:22] This is an epic battle between the people of God and the enemies of God, and the problems that we face in this world. This is an epic battle. And if this wasn't clear enough, we need to make the connection, the text gives us even more of a connection to this, okay?
[26:39] It says this, that he wore snake armor. And you don't pick this up at first. But it describes, it goes into very detail about his armor in this passage.
[26:50] Why does it describe his armor so much? Why do we need to know that? Many times when you're reading the Bible, there's just these weird facts that come up there. And you're just like, why? Why did you spend so much time on the armor?
[27:01] This is an ancient text. They didn't have as much paper as we do. So when they write something down, the Spirit of God is leading them to it. This is important. You have to, and you say, that's weird.
[27:14] Why is that there? Why do they spend that much paper on that? You should stop and go, why? And he spends a lot of time on his armor. And we have to understand, they thought much more visually than we do.
[27:28] So when they heard words, they were making visual connections that sometimes we don't. And so he describes his armor in this passage to resemble the scales of a snake.
[27:41] And then what comes up between his back of his shoulder blades is a spear, like a weaver's beam. And so you're getting in your mind, this is a serpent.
[27:52] This is an ancient. This is a connection. An ancient serpent. He is to be understood not only as a giant, but as connected to that ancient serpent, which is first mentioned in Genesis 3, verse 15.
[28:08] Genesis 3, verse 15. How many of you are familiar? You don't have to raise your hands with Genesis 3, verse 15. We should all be very familiar as Christians with Genesis 3, verse 15.
[28:20] Why? Because it is the first place where the gospel is preached. Also known as the proto-evangelum, if you really want to impress your theological friends.
[28:31] And so hopefully you guys are impressed with me because I know that. The proto-evangelum is the first preaching of the gospel. Adam and Eve are kicked out of the garden.
[28:42] God is pronouncing his curse upon Adam and Eve, what they're going to have to live with. And then now he's pronouncing his curse upon the snake. And he says this to the snake as he's preaching the gospel.
[28:53] We get the inkling of the gospel here. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between the offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.
[29:08] This is what he said to the snake. And do you see the gospel in there? What's going to happen? The snake will go after the offspring. He will try to cut off people from the land that God has given them.
[29:21] Or he cut off people from the earth. He will go after their offspring. Because it's in the woman's offspring that Satan will eventually be defeated.
[29:34] His head will be crushed by her offspring. And so this epic battle starts at the beginning of time where Satan is trying to cut off offspring from Eve. Because he doesn't want the offspring, the son of Eve, to come and crush his head.
[29:51] It says he will crush his head and the snake will bruise his heel. This is the first preaching of the gospel. We know as Christians who that offspring is. We know that it's Jesus. Jesus is going to come.
[30:02] He's going to crush the head of the snake. They did not know when this Savior, this Deliverer would come. They were constantly, those who had faith in Israel, constantly looking forward to this hope that they had.
[30:16] This snake crusher that would come. They didn't know who it would be. We know, again, it was Jesus that he would crush his head. But that hasn't come yet. So they're looking.
[30:27] Also, in Genesis, if you read that, you see that Eve is very excited when she gets her first son. And she thinks, well, maybe this is the one. And so they're looking forward in hope to a Savior that will crush the snake's head.
[30:40] And now we see the text. And it is connecting Goliath with this ancient snake. He is an enemy of God, an enemy of God's people.
[30:57] So we see that snakes, what do they do? They stand between God's people and the Garden of God. The Garden of God, where relationship can be enjoyed with God once again.
[31:08] And we see the giants. What do giants do in the Bible? They stand between the people of God and the promised land flowing with milk and honey. We see these two things.
[31:21] So snakes and giants, they are the problems of us. They are our problems, the people of God's problems. That stand between us and the eschaton.
[31:31] Now, what do I mean by the eschaton? The eschaton means when everything is put right according to Scripture. When sin is done away with. When fellowship is restored with God and man.
[31:43] This is the eschaton. This is what we look forward to. But as of right now, in this world, we face giant snakes. We face giant problems that are results of this curse that we all live under.
[32:00] The curse of sin. This eschaton that we look forward to is described very well in Isaiah chapter 11 verse 6. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb.
[32:11] The leopard shall lie down with the young goat. The calf and the lion and the fattened calf together. And a little child shall lead them. This is what we look forward to. But there are giants in the land and there are snakes.
[32:23] And we should connect these in the text to these battles that we face every day. That are results of the curse of sin. And rightly, we see here, not rightly, they shouldn't have been so greatly afraid.
[32:36] But Israel is greatly afraid. One of the things that exacerbates this fear is that their giant killer, Saul. Remember, Saul was a head and shoulders above everybody that were around him.
[32:47] Saul, he has the weapons of iron just like this giant does. And he doesn't rise up to defend them. And also notice another connection point here.
[32:57] That this giant taunts them for 40 days. What do we know about 40 days? That's the amount of time they spent in the wilderness, right? In fear. Samuel 17, 16.
[33:10] For 40 days, the Philistines came forward and took his stand morning and evening 40 days. Now Saul, he was a giant. Like I said, he had the iron weapons.
[33:21] But he failed to protect Israel. And this just makes the problem even more. When we see problems and even the authorities and the ones that with all the power cannot protect us.
[33:32] They cannot rise to the day and face the challenge. So giant troubles face Israel. They need a stake killer to save them. The king, they chose to save them.
[33:45] He was powerless in the face of the giant. They needed an anointed one or a man of God to save them from this trouble. It seems all is lost. But in the background, God is preparing a salvation for them.
[33:59] And we've kind of seen that as we read through the text. He's preparing a small Messiah. Messiah just meaning an anointed one that can save them. Right? An unlikely savior is going to turn this unsurmounted trouble into a great victory.
[34:17] So now we see a representative of God come on the scene. This representative, as we know, is David. He's from Bethlehem. He's from the house of bread. And so just like a true good king, what does he bring?
[34:28] He brings bread to them. He brings sustenance to them for the battle. All good kings bring sustenance to us for the battle. You can see this symbolism. Jesus provides bread for his people.
[34:40] Moses provides bread in the wilderness for his people. You can see this symbolism in the way Jesus provides bread for us, sustenance for us. Have you ever seen communion as that? It's a reminder that Jesus gives his people sustenance through bread.
[34:54] And we see these just little indicators that here David is one that points to the coming Messiah who will give bread to his people, who will give sustenance to his people to continue to face the problems of this world.
[35:05] This is what we see here as a representative of God comes on the scene. We also see him, and he's carrying, don't miss this, he's carrying what?
[35:16] He's carrying cheese to the commanders. Well, why cheese? Why are you saying that? Why cheese? Well, cheese is solid milk, right? Cheese is milk. He's coming from the land of milk and honey.
[35:28] And here he's bringing. He's bringing little portions of the land to them. Little tastes of the eschaton. This is David. This is David, the pre-incarnate savior we all know here.
[35:39] He's pointing to the Jesus that we know and does the same thing for us. He gives us little tastes of the eschaton, doesn't he? When he comes and abides with us by his spirit.
[35:51] This is David, our representative, who is going to come and face this giant. He's of an unexpected nature. He comes in the form of a shepherd. Shepherds come and care for their sheep, don't they?
[36:04] They lay their lives down for their sheep. I have three pictures on my dining room wall. I love them, right? They encourage me so much because they remind me of a shepherd, and they are all of sheep.
[36:17] Okay? One of them is a sheep with battle hardware on. Okay? So it's a sheep, but it's not a shepherd. But you get what I'm saying. Sheeps sometimes are, and shepherds have to go into battle against the enemies of their flock.
[36:31] Right? And then there's this one where there's a shepherd, and he's out in the rain and in the cold, and he's there just faithfully standing by his sheep. Right?
[36:42] That's the type of, because he cares for them. He's giving, he's in pain and misery. Right? Nobody likes to stand out in the rain. Right? And so that's the other picture that's on my wall.
[36:54] And then the other picture is that you see a sheep, and he's looking at his shepherd. And he's looking at it to which way he will go, and he's just looking off into the distance.
[37:05] And then there's sheep around him that will follow him. Right when the shepherd moves, he'll move. But anyway, so I bring that up to say that these sheep, or that shepherds are a great picture of the way God cares for us.
[37:16] It's not through sheer dominating power. I'm going to tell you what to do. No, he comes alongside of us, and he leads us like a shepherd, and he protects us like a shepherd. And here, this is what God is really showing us in David.
[37:29] In the scripture, he's saying that he's going to lead, not like Saul. That we saw the prophecy of Samuel about Saul, that Saul will take from his people 10%. He'll take the best of all you have. He said, my king, the one that I'm sending to you, is not going to be like that.
[37:43] He's going to be more like a shepherd. He's going to be one who stands with you in the battle, and he helps you through it. Right? He's the one who cares for you, who feeds his sheep. So David is a shepherd. This is the kind of leader that God is raising up.
[37:55] We also recognize he's of an unexpected nature in this way, that he's the eighth son. He's not the oldest. He's the youngest. He's the smallest of stature, as the scriptures teach us.
[38:06] But it is also indicating, as he's the eighth son, that he's something new. He's something new. He's something beyond the old creation that is just about power and dominance that we see in Saul and just self-seeking.
[38:18] Right? We see, as a contrast, David, he's something new. One, like a shepherd, who comes alongside of his people and cares for them and walks with them and suffers for them.
[38:29] Right? So we see all this. He's of an unexpected nature. But God is preparing this new king that will come and deliver them. Everyone's focus, as I said, are on the powers that be.
[38:43] The story tells us that we have no idea who can help. The story tells us that they have no idea who can help them from this predicament. For 40 days, they have been taunted with no help.
[38:56] In the middle of a dark night, God is preparing a Messiah for them. God's help and ultimate salvation is constantly being worked, even when we cannot see that.
[39:08] Even when we cannot see it. It is being worked when we can't find a way out of our current predicament. God is working. And so this is why, as Christians, we recognize this is the way God even works today.
[39:20] As Christians, God is always working a salvation plan for us, if we only see it in the end. But God is always working to save us.
[39:31] And God is always working in this world. We can be so consumed with these giant problems that are around us. But what we need to do in those moments is we need to look for where our Savior is working.
[39:41] This is a practice that we have put into place in our family, which has been very helpful, is we're always calling out how God is working, how Jesus is working, how he's conquering the enemies of sin in our kids' hearts and in our hearts.
[39:55] And so when we see thankfulness or we see things that are not natural to the human spirit, unselfishness, and when we see kids courageously defending their siblings, we call it out and we say, we say, Jesus is working in your heart.
[40:11] He's working. He is working to kill that giant that's in you, that giant of sin, that problem, the source of all the problems is us.
[40:23] Right? He's working always. And we need to call it out and see it because if we're consumed with all the problems of this world, we will become like the Israelites, cynical and unable to see the victory that God is working.
[40:39] He is working it all the time for us. So this comes to the hopeful charge that we get from this. The victory of this Messiah, which is David, it will lead his people to go on a hopeful charge, to jump into battle from fear to faith.
[41:00] So we see here that the victory is assured through this Savior. In the light of the failing leadership, in these insurmountable circumstances, like giant snakes still in the land, God is raising, he's raising up a warrior that's going to crush the head of the enemy.
[41:20] It's easy for us to see this because we know the end of the story, that David will defeat Goliath. And the armies of God will go from fear to faith, pursuing their enemies.
[41:31] This unexpected warrior will push one of the final giants from the land. So what do I mean by this? God is going to even ask this people, after David defeats Goliath, we didn't read that, but we know the end of the story, we're very familiar with it.
[41:48] David will defeat Goliath. And what will happen is all of the children of Israel will rally around this Savior, rally around this Messiah, and then they will pursue their enemies because they know the victory has been given them.
[42:02] And we often wonder, have you ever wondered why David picks up five stones? Why does he pick up five stones? Why does the text tell us that? And many I've heard and many commentators I've read have said he picked up five stones because later on the people that will rally around David, his men, his mighty men, will end up killing all of this giant's brothers.
[42:23] The remainder of the Nephilim that are in the land, the remainder of these ancient giants will be killed by the people that have pursued battle because of this victory that David has won.
[42:34] Five of them will be left. So David, I think, here in faith, is picking up these stones saying, the rest of the giants are going to be rid from the land with these stones that I pick up.
[42:44] And so this just calls to us and tells us that we will be called to join this victorious Messiah. So our victorious Messiah, Jesus, he was just like this because David points to Jesus.
[43:01] He was unexpected. His people didn't see him coming. John 1.11 says, he came to his own and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
[43:17] His own people didn't even see him. Didn't see that God was working right there in their midst. A savior that would come and lay his life down for his people. Jesus was more victorious than David.
[43:28] He conquered our greatest enemies. David was just pointing to Jesus. He conquered our greatest enemies, which are sin. We talked about that a little bit earlier. How in my kids' hearts, when we see sin being conquered by a Messiah, we say, wow, Jesus, you're awesome.
[43:46] Only you can change the heart of a man, of a person like that. And turn them from self-centered living to focusing or living for another's glory.
[43:58] What do we have? Sola De Gloria. I saw that this morning. That is miraculous. You go from living for yourself to living for God's glory, living for self-glory to God's glory.
[44:10] That is the Messiah. He's a work in your heart. And you see that sanctification happening. That is huge. What else? Death.
[44:21] What else do we fear? The biggest enemy. Death. Death is not a problem for us, is it? Death is just a stepping stone into the next life. What a praise.
[44:32] Our Savior did that. What a greater victory, even than the victory that David produced for Israel against Goliath.
[44:43] Wow. What a great God we serve. He conquers sin, which is the source of all of our problems, all the problems that we see all around.
[44:54] He's conquered it, finally, once for all. And with this, he rallies the fearful, those that are passive, those that are sitting on the sidelines, that are afraid of death.
[45:04] They are pursuing their own comfort. They are self-centered. They are living comfortable lives. He says to them, I have won the victory. It's not hopeless. Jump in with both feet.
[45:16] 1 Corinthians 15, 56 through 58. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[45:26] We have the victory over sin. Therefore, what do we do? My beloved brethren, brethren, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain.
[45:41] Those of you that are sitting on the sidelines, you've given up. The problems are too big. Jump in. The victory is yours. Pursue the enemy at every stage of the conflict.
[45:52] Now, the curse produces all kinds of sickness and disease and hardship in this world, doesn't it? The problems of this world are all produced by sin, and I see in this church an avid desire.
[46:03] I see those Christmas boxes back there. I don't even know what they're for, but I think they are for. They are to help somebody. They are to help, to push back against the curse of this world, aren't they? I see the acts of charity and love that are happening in this church, and you guys are participating.
[46:17] You guys are jumping in and saying, we will not be passive. The problems of this world are way too big for us, but Christ has had the victory, so I'm gonna jump in, and I am gonna pursue the battle, knowing that Christ will have the ultimate victory.
[46:30] Wow. What a good encouragement to not be passive. Get involved. You have won everything that you do, and His name and faith in Him will be responded with by Jesus.
[46:41] Well done, good and faithful servant has produced my ultimate victory. I have placed all my enemies under my feet. I have won. What a great, great battle that we get to be a part of because we know the end.
[46:54] It's like when World War II, when Hitler was defeated, right? Right when they invaded Normandy, that's what they said. They said, right when Normandy was invaded, they knew, Hitler knew, his days were numbered because they had a landing pad, didn't they?
[47:09] No. And so here's what's happening with Jesus. He has created the landing pad, the Normandy, the Christian faith, and because of that, we push on because we know the battle is ours, right?
[47:20] We have the victory. Keep pushing. He also, in His victory, He gives rest to the faint-hearted, to those that are active, those who are continually weary and attacking giant problems in their lives.
[47:37] They see the giant problems in their family. You see the giant problems in this world and you're weary. I can't do it, but I just gotta keep going. I gotta keep pushing, right? And sometimes we feel like it all is on us, don't we?
[47:50] I gotta fix it all. Oh my gosh, if I rest for one second, all of the enemies are going to have their heyday and we're gonna see relational discord in our families and we're gonna see people that are homeless not being helped.
[48:06] We're gonna see marriages fall apart. If I'm not in it, if I'm not in it, if I'm not pushing hard, many of us can attest to this, but this is what Christ's victory does for us.
[48:18] He says to this, He says this to you, come unto me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. So those of you that are busy trying to solve the world's problems, Christ gives you rest.
[48:34] His victory is assured. That's why we can come here on a Sunday and we can rest from all of our labors. Why? It's a statement. It's a statement to the world.
[48:45] When we rest on a Sunday, we say, Christ has had His victory and I can rest. I can, I can, I can give up my labors for the day and I can enjoy His victory here with His people.
[48:58] What a blessing that we get to enjoy and what a statement we get to make to the world as we enjoy His victory together here today. Psalms 127, one, another great encouragement.
[49:08] Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. Jesus has won the victory and so, we can rest.
[49:25] Feasting is also another way to show this. feasting and just having a good time. Having some jokes every once in a while, right? We're not so overcome with the problems of this world because we know God has won the battle.
[49:38] So when you feast with your family, when you take a break and you enjoy the gifts of God, you are making again a statement of faith and you're saying, God, you have had the victory and I just get to be a part of it.
[49:51] Praise God. So, for those of you that are active people that are always trying to face the problems, how do we face these problems, these giants? Remember, Christ has won the victory.
[50:03] You can be at rest. But those of you that are passive and you're just kind of on the sidelines, they're just too big for me. Know you can get involved because God has won the victory.
[50:15] All of our great problem solvers, no doubt, have accomplished some great things, but none of them have defeated these problems finally and fully like Jesus.
[50:26] We face giant troubles, but God has sent us an unexpected Messiah to save us. If you have opted into passivity or fear, again, I encourage you, jump in the battle.
[50:39] If you are active, going for it, remember that God has given you rest in his victory. With that, let's, with that encouragement, pray that it was an encouragement to you.
[50:49] Let's pray. Heavenly Father, again, you, we love you so much, Lord. Oh, God, we are so thankful for Jesus.
[51:01] We are so thankful for his victory. He has defeated the ancient serpent, the ancient giants once and for all. And for that, we thank you, we worship you.
[51:14] God, we are so thankful that we get to be involved as your people in this battle that you've called us all to. recognizing, God, that you have won the victory finally and fully.
[51:25] We love you, Lord. We thank you, Jesus. We worship you today. We pray that our worship would just continue through this week. The worship of you are giant slayer. We ask you to do these things for your sake, in Jesus' name.
[51:38] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah.