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Sermon Transcript:

Well, all right, thank you very much for having me back. I kind of assumed you didn't remember I was here before. And that's why you invited me back. So it's really nice to be able to spend the day with you. And what a privilege today because as you're going through the book of First Samuel, your pastor, a lot of pastors won't do this. They won't share a series, you know, with a guest speaker, but he invited me to just continue our journey through First Samuel with you. And I know y'all heard about the decline of Saul and the current, you know, the completely wrong direction. He's taking his kingship at this point. I know y'all heard about that last week, I'm picking up from there starting in First Samuel 16, and 17. That's what we're doing today. And if you're not aware of it, I'm also going to be back next week. So I should tell you now that the good sermon is next week's sermon, just so you will be back for that one, regardless of today, right? Today can't go wrong, though. Because we're covering David and Goliath. I mean, who doesn't know the story of David and Goliath? So if you know the story, as you heard it in vacation Bible school, you probably have a few images in your head like I did. If you're, for those of you who are older adults in the room, you'll know what I'm talking about. I mean, you know, you we learn this as kids and you got some scrawny little David and giant Goliath over there, fighting the battle. And the great news is God loves underdogs. And the weaker little kid is always going to win the battle. It's something along those lines. That's not at all what's actually going on in this story. And there are 100 different ways to come at it and try to figure it out. I just want to show you in the text itself, as we read through three little parts of the story, what obviously, our attention is supposed to be drawn to. And then the very obvious message that that conveys for us as well. And your pastor is right pastor Brent's exactly right, that there's nothing more important about the kingship of David. And that's what this whole book is about. Launching David as the king of Israel. There's nothing more important about that than the fact that David himself is a pointer toward the true King who's to come, who is of course, Christ, that's who we want to arrive at. And David plays a unique role in getting us to that vision about Christ and what we're supposed to understand about Jesus. And it becomes really obvious in what we look at today that this is the case. But I mean, like no one else in the Old Testament. In fact, I even mentioned to you the last time that I was here in passing one thing about David, I mean, he is the Old Testament Messiah. That's how he's understood, even when he's talked about in the New Testament. Now, that doesn't mean he accomplishes what Christ accomplishes. He doesn't. But there is no figure in the Old Testament closer to Jesus than what David is throughout his ministry. Good side, and bad side, he's pointing to what Jesus is. And there are a lot of reasons for that, three of which, at least, we'll bring up briefly today. One, you know, what I want to mention, though, is how close he is to Jesus in this way. Because I you know, so I know the normal thing to do to go to El Paso from DFW Dallas, Fort Worth is to fly, but I still haven't. And as you know, it's not for any particular reason I'm meeting kids and grandkids this time. And, and so we're on our way to something else this week. And I'll come back through here on the way back from that. And so driving for me is the way I've gotten here. And the thing is, I got on the highway. So 10 minutes, I leave my house, and 10 minutes later, I'm on the highway, I pull on to authority, I've got it in my GPS. I don't know how to get anywhere anymore. I'm just like you guys, right? You just put it in your phone and you get there. So I put it in my GPS. And the next thing the phone says is jog. I mean 10 minutes from my house, I pull on the freeway, and it says next turn 576 miles or something like that. Now I know y'all see that all the time. I don't see that very often. So I pointed it out to Jones. Like, look at this. My wife she rode with me today. Shot I'm like, I mean yesterday, I said, Look, we have 576 Miles till we make another turn. I mean, how many times do you see that on your GPS? That's it like That's insane. David is 1000 years removed from Jesus, but he is one turn from Jesus. And I mean that like this. David has a son Solomon who has a son Rehoboam, who has a son, and we could go all the way down the list to get to Jesus. We do that in the genealogies of Matthew one and Luke three, I mean, you can find the genealogy of Jesus. So it only makes sense that people would talk about David in terms of him being the son of Joseph, for instance. Now you and I know there's a lot of complexity to that story, but that's still how he would have been regarded in his day or the son of Mary or whatever. No Nobody calls him that much, much more importantly, nobody calls him the son of Solomon. Jesus is, and he's called this all the time. It's one of the most important titles he receives. Jesus is the Son of David. That's how he's known. Because David fulfills the calling of the Messiah. In the Old Testament, there are so many messianic figures in the Old Testament, I couldn't even begin to name them all. And then I, and then I'm tempted to start to begin to name them, you know, Moses, Esther, there are bunches of Messianic figures in the altar, every prophet is a messianic figure, every king turns into a messianic figure of some kind or another, every hero, every significant figure, Elijah, Jeremiah, every single one, you could name Samson, for crying out loud. They're all messianic figures, but none like David, because Jesus isn't the son of Moses, Jesus. I mean, he's just not he's not the son of any other figure. He is the son of David. So what we learn about David today is central to what it means to be like Jesus, because there's no story that launches the life of David, in the public image of Israel, and in our own recollection of who David is, and this is intentional than the story of David and Goliath, this is what starts the whole issue for us. So we're going to pull onto the highway with David. But we're going to get off 1000 years later, and it is 1000 years from David to Jesus 1000 years later, at Jesus, that's where we want to end up nothing contrived about it, you'll see in the text, there's no way to miss the points that are central to this passage. So how do you know the story of David and Goliath? So I mean, the big thing that's going on with Israel, and I'm going to be reading from First Samuel 17, in just a moment. Now, what our goal is this week is just to cover these two chapters. First Samuel 16, and 17. I'm not going to talk about chapter 16. Very much except just in passing, it's a really important chapter. It's the one where Samuel knowing that Saul has been rejected by God goes down to Jesse's house and anoints David to be the next king. I'll read you a few little sections of that in a moment where it's appropriate, and how we're telling the story today. So I'll come back to it. But most of you know, he goes through and he meets Jesse, and they're all terrified that the profit is their profits are pretty terrifying in the Old Testament, and when they show up, there is often the hack everybody into pieces are as likely to hack everybody into pieces as they are just to offer a word of prayer or something like that. And he's just a different category of representing the Lord. So they're terrified when he shows up. But he says, Hey, I've come peaceably, just give me an opportunity to talk with your man. And he speaks with Jesse. And he says, show me your sons. And they bring out the sons and they marched them in front of him, and none of them are supposed to be the king. And then he says, Isn't there another one, and they get David, and he anoints David to be the next king over Israel. Now, it's not fulfilled yet. But he has said, you're going to be the next king over Israel, you're the one that the Lord has chosen. All of this is transpiring at the time when Saul is still the king. I mean, he's still reigning over Israel, but he's abdicated any real authority that he has. He's, he's a terrible king. He's a self serving king. He's all the things we'll be talking about in a few minutes are the kind of the opposite of what David David is in this story. So as we're, as we're coming up to David, he's been anointed, he's been selected as the king, all of Israel is kind of doing the same thing that they've been doing for the last several months or years, it's kind of hard to tell the way the story is being told. But they're hiding from the Philistines. They're living under oppression from the Philistines who are in the land. I mean, you know, part of the story that's gonna come out in just a second is, none of them even have swords. They don't have anything because the Philistines are afraid if the Israelites get swords, that they'll fight against them, and they will somehow conquer them or oppress them. So they will let them have any swords and there are no blacksmith in Israel. That's one of the descriptions is given to us earlier in the book. And so, yeah, what do they do? They have to go to the Philistines and ask for help, hey, I need my plow fix. They have to get their plow fixed by the Philistines. Nobody's got a sword except, except Jonathan and Saul. They do. And there may be a handful of other people around somewhere who have them but David doesn't have a sword. Nobody else has a sword. So they're all just hiding out. And in the process of doing this, all of Israel knows the oppression of the Philistines and they gather up for battles against each other every once in a while. But it's a pretty intimidating battle when the enemy has all the swords and you don't have any swords. You got a bunch of people who are willing to fight. I mean, it's not really distinct from what you see going on right now kind of in the opposite direction in Gaza, with Israel. You got you have an army that's equipped empowered, not picking sides not trying to like politics today, I'm not jumping into it. It's hugely important. I hope you pray about it. Every day Christians and Muslims and Jews are suffering in that area of the Levant immeasurably. So I hope you pray about it every day. And I hope you pray for God to bring it in to injustice and a lack of peace and the violence that's harming children and fellow believers right now in the land. I hope you pray for that. But you can understand the intimidation that comes when the enemy's got tanks, and you've got nothing. In this case, the enemy has swords and chariots and you've got rocks, you know, that you can throw and that's about it. That's what's going on in Israel. So you know the story of how Goliath comes out and they bring the line of the Philistines and they're ready to fight. They're willing to fight, but they just bring out their great champion. And they say, you know, we can take you guys, but instead of taking you as a whole, we'll just put our representative out. We're not much this way. But in the ancient world, this was a common thing to do. You had a champion who represented all the people. That's why Saul was such a perfect candidate for King. When they selected him. Remember how it describes him head and shoulders above everybody else? I mean, he's powerful, and that's what's being bragged about Goliath. Now he's a giant. So Goliath comes out and says, Give me Give me a champion so that I can fight him. If he beats me. We'll submit to you, we'll stop oppressing you. You can take over the land. But if I beat him, you have to submit to us. That's what you have to do. And they're terrified so they won't come out. We all know the story. David ends up showing up willing to fight Goliath slays Goliath, Goliath is dead and it's not over. That's not the end of it. gulyas dead. Israel comes down from the mountains. Man. They are flowing down. I've been in the valley of Isla. I've stood there collected rocks for my son's like everybody else does. Whoever goes to the Valley of Isla. That's where this battle was fought. I've seen the hills where Israel would have been lined up and standing. And I've seen the hills, hills opposite, where the Philistines were, and they come down to meet in the valley after the Philistines dead in the Philistines turn tail and run all of Israel wins this massive battle, they chase off the Philistines, they become the conquerors in the land, because they have a new champion. They have David so we all know that story. You've heard it 1000 times you've heard since you were young. Here's the thing in the story that we just sort of glance past or draw these trivial conclusions from let me let me just read it to you. I mean, I'm reading it from First Samuel 17. Now I'm going to get to the part of the story where David shows up, right? So what's happening is Israel is lined up as an army against the Philistines. And again, you need to have this perspective at some point anyway. So as as the Israelites are lined up, they have Jerusalem to their back. And they're looking south towards what's called the shift Failla, the the low lands where the Philistines would have been if the low hilly land. And so as they look south in this direction, they're all lined up, and they're in the battle. And so our Jesse's oldest three sons, these are David's brothers, his oldest brothers. And you'll remember that Jesse says to his youngest son, David, who keeps the sheep mean, somebody's got to tend the sheep at home and David's young. So David, staying home tending the sheep, Jesse says to him, hey, on a regular basis, you take this cheese, you take this milk, you take whatever it is, that needs to go to the battle lines for your brothers, and for your brother's commanders. So they'll take good care of them. And by and we don't think about logistics, but it's not like they have logistics arranged the same way. The US Army has logistics arranged right range right now. Somebody's got to get food to them. And so it's a lot and this happened during the Civil War Two, you know, when the battle is in your backyard, you just send food from the houses, you know, somebody's gotta go take food to the troops. And so David is doing that. So he's just this kid that's showing up to do it. David shows up, you know how this happens. Here's the cry of the great champion, Goliath, you know, give me a champion so that I can fight and David hears it, and he's dismayed by it. You remember, right? David is dismayed. They have one man that wants to fight. And they're doing it and y'all are doing this every day. And nobody's going down and fighting this. This Goliath. Goliath big. Admittedly, his armor is 100 pounds or so. So he's a big man. He's capable of handling big things. He's got a sphere that has a head on it. That's something like 10 pounds. That's significant. I know. We describe him as sort of a caricature. Maybe he really was nine feet tall. It's possible. We all know that's possible. But more likely because they're shorter in that day, the way we would see him he'd be probably seven feet tall or something like that. I don't know that for sure, but nobody else knows either. So just go with my estimate. That's the one little word. So gulyas out there, this huge man, you can understand why Israel is afraid of him intimidated. David sees it. He's not intimidated. And so he says, Well, why is anybody going down to fight him? And the soldiers around now David's just there to deliver cheese to his brothers, right? So he shows up, and he's all acting like, Hey, I know how to fight this battle. Why don't you people modified it, so you can understand why his brother gets upset with him. But David says to the men who are around him, why isn't anybody going to fight him? And they say, Yeah, have you seen the man he's huge. And I'll tell you this, he's so big and so powerful. The King Saul has said, if anybody is willing to fight him, he'll give him his daughter to marry and he will become part of the royal family. And that's pretty big deal. And David's like

he, somebody's got to be given something to go do this. I mean, why wouldn't somebody just do it? So his brother gripes at him? Go take care of your few sheep in the wilderness? What are you even doing here? You know how all this happens. But David just reiterates it and somebody gets word back to Saul, that there's this young guy who has shown up who's willing to go fight Goliath. So they take David, to see Saul. And when David sees saw, you know how the conversation goes, Saul is like, like, I mean, I know you're willing to fight. I appreciate it. But you're just you're young, you don't have any experience. So all of this is happening starting in verse 31. And following, and Saul is hearing the words you really don't let any man's heart faint in verse 32, or fail because of him, your server will go and fight the Philistine. And Saul says, Yeah, you're not able to do that. The Philistines have been fighting since from before you were born. And David says to Saul in verse 34. Now, I'll read you this section in a moment, but in just in just he says, I've killed a bunch of things. I'm pretty confident I can kill Goliath as well. Just give me a shot at him. It'll be okay. And Saul doesn't have any other options. So he says, Okay, go. And then this. Now listen to this part of the story. I'm going to read you all three parts, and then we're going to go back and clarify what they're about.

Then saw, this is verse 38. Then saw clothed David with his armor, he put a helmet of bronze on his head. Now, this is not a loose reading. I love to do narrative analysis. I don't have time. I'm for those of you who don't know, I'm the president of Criswell College. I'm the president because I was a professor before that, and I didn't die. And so they needed a president and so I became the president. So but I'm, you know, I like to teach. So I'm not doing that today, I want to I want to preach this passage to you. But I want to teach is this tiny little bit narratives have a fixed structure. And so in the same way, you can analyze sentences and compare them with each other. You can compare narratives to each other objectively and see what the key elements are and where they break down and how they relate to each other, how they're parallel to each other. So these parallels are really strong. They're not just hey, I happen to notice something here. They're really built into the way these stories are told they all culminate with this event. So this is the first time this event shows up I saw clothed David with his armor that we all heard we've all heard this before. Saul gives his armor today. This just sounds so dumb when you're in Vacation Bible School. Yes. Like you got a nine year old kid and a giant man. I mean, he's a head shaved head and shoulders taller than anybody else in Israel gives this little kid his armor to go fight the battle. That's all wrong. It has nothing to do with it not fitting David could wear the armor. He can he can handle the armor. David is a powerful man at this point. I'll come back and talk about that in just a moment. But the reality is he doesn't want this armor but David's giving him as I mean Saul is giving him his armor. Why is he giving him his armor? We talked about it. The second is the image of the story. We don't have to be told this part David doesn't even use it. But the author thinks it's really important for us to notice this saw clothed David with his armor. This is the first exchange of armor. He put a helmet a bronze on his head and he clothed him with a coat of male This is not medieval armor. This is an ancient armor so don't don't have the medieval picture is not that stifling. And David strapped his sword over his armor. David doesn't even have a sword. Now he's got a sword. I mean, you're gonna go fight Goliath. You want a sword, right? So he's got a sword. Now he's got some protective armor, David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go for he had not tested them. It was a waste of time. That doesn't mean he got out and gave it a swing or two and realized it was too heavy for him. It's not too heavy for him. He's gonna take Goliath sword shortly and use that and he never has a problem with that. There's nothing to do with that. It's just not his stuff. This is not who I am. So why would I put all this stuff on to go fight a battle I've already seen in my own head. He already has a way he understands this is gonna go So David's strapped his sword over his armor, and he tried it in vain to go free and not tested them. And so he said to Saul, I can't go with these for I've not tested them. So David put them off. That's the first exchange of armor in this story. The second exchange of armor happens over in verse 4054, I'm sorry, of chapter seven teams just right over across the way, and it's right after they fight. So David fights with Goliath. I mean, it's, you know, it is fighting with Goliath. It's just not hand to hand combat. You know, he slings the stone. David gets hit in the forehead falls, collapses. And then I'll tell you more about in a minute, verse 54. And David took the head of Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem. Now this is after he's fought. David Goliath has fallen, Israel's chased the Philistines down, David stays the battlefield cuts off Goliath head, we'll, we'll talk about the details of that in a minute with Goliath zone sword, and takes his head. So he's got his head, he's got his helmet, David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem. But he put his armor in his own tent. David took Goliath armor, second exchange of armor that happens in the story. Then we're going to read into chapter 18, just enough to conclude what's going on in chapter 17. And you will hear how important this section is. Next week, we'll get to the details of it. But in chapter 18, we have to get to this part today. As soon as so all this battle is over, and they all come back from it, and so on. And Jonathan, it loves David at the beginning of chapter 18. And then you get to verse three. And Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. Jonathan is Saul's son, he's the next king. Jonathan is the next king. He's in this Asal is really upset about everything that's about to happen, because he knows what it implies. Because Saul wants Jonathan to be the next king. Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor. And even his sword, and his bow and his belt. That's three times in this story, that we have an exchange of armor going on with David. The first one is Saul trying to give his armor to David, and David, giving it back. This is not mine. The second time is when David takes it from Goliath. I mean, I'm sure Goliath is, he's dead. So I'm making this up. But I'm sure Goliath is lying there saying that's not yours. And David is like it is now. And he's taking it with him. It's his armor. So he takes gulyas armor. And the third time when Jonathan, Saul son who should be king next, after Saul dies, after Saul gets old and dies, Jonathan gives his armor, to David, to go and continue to fight his battles. So what I want to do is understand what those three exchanges of armor of garments have to do with what we're supposed to learn about David. And as it turns out, they really are the central feature of what we understand about David, from from the beginning to the end of his ministry, I've been working my way through the Psalms, I mentioned this to you back in October, when I was here, I think it was October. And as I have, I've gone through 72 Psalms. So far, that's almost halfway through the book of Psalms. And I mean detail by detail, really understanding for the first time myself what the psalms are about, which tells you what the heart of David is about. Because these are primarily David's Psalms. They're all figured after David in some way. It's been a, it's been a profound journey going through the Psalms. And that's the case here. By the way, if you want to see how David thinks of all these events around Goliath death, and around Jonathan, and Saul, if you want to think about all of that Psalm 68, go read it later. And you'll see him describing in terms of all of Israel's history, what God is doing in Israel, during this period of time. So what's the big event going on with these three exchanges of armor? What does it reveal about David? And let me just clarify from the beginning what that means for us. If we understand what it means about David, and what we're supposed to have learned about David, then we understand what we're supposed to have learned about our Messiah about Christ. And if we understand what we're supposed to know about Christ, then we know what we're supposed to know about ourselves. Because we're supposed to be Christians. We're supposed to be little Christ's. We're supposed to be like, the Messiah. And I can guarantee you in every one of these three ways, we're supposed to learn how to be like Christ by seeing well, in this case, what it is to be like, David. So what are the three things that happened with David Okay, the first one with Saul's armor. This image is so easy. I mean, I'll just hit it real simply. Saul is the king. He should be fighting the battle with Goliath. But he's not. Instead, he's giving his armor today. Even and saying, you take this you be the one who's in charge. And he's giving away any any respectable sense of his own kingship to David in this process. We're looking at it from the outside knowing in the previous chapter, Samuel already anointed David to be the next king of Israel. We should be thinking, this makes sense. So I was giving away the royal armor to David whom God has already chosen to be king over Israel. Saul needs to be displaced. David will take Saul's place. You know the weirdest thing about him, you can read this in Samuel or in the Book of Chronicles, or in any place, any place you see David and Saul, David never takes Saul's place. He never take Saul's place. The only person place the person's place he takes is Jonathan's, he takes that. And Jonathan gives it away freely as well, Jonathan, on purpose, we'll talk about that during the third garment exchange that we have in just a moment. But in this case, David refuses to accept the Armor Assault, it's what we're gonna see repeated When David's hiding in the cave when Saul is chasing him, you know, and David's hiding in a cave, and Saul goes into the cave to go to the bathroom. And while he's exposed there and completely vulnerable, David has the ability to kill him. David doesn't do it. He refuses to raise his hand, as he says, against God's anointed, he refuses to do it. David never steps in to take what isn't already his he never does that. So this first little section that we're going to be talking about has to do with what David doesn't do. Let me also clarify that what it does reveal is who David is, because the very next line after what I read to you in verses 38 and 39, you know, 38, Saul gives him the armor 39.

David gives it back. So it's, I can't go with these. I've not tested them. So David put them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, not his sling, he's gonna take up his sling, and he's going to kill Goliath with the sling and the stone. But he takes up his staff. In his hand, there's no more important line about David in the Old Testament than that he is the shepherd of Israel. That's how he's always referred to. He was a shepherd boy, keeping sheep out with the flocks for his father when he was anointed to be king. He's keeping sheep when he's running cheese, to the armies who are fighting the battle. And when Saul says, Hey, become a soldier, here's a sword, here's my armor, you can be the king as far as everybody else is going to be concerned. David's like, I'm just gonna stick with my staff. That's what I'm going to do instead. Because there's a thing David doesn't do. He doesn't try to be who he is not. In fact, he completely rejects any idea of becoming who he is not. And so consistently, and repeatedly, he chooses the humbler position. And there's a specific way this is humble. He's not he's not humble in the sense, again, that he doesn't have the ability to kill Goliath. He's not going out against Goliath, you know, on a song and a prayer. He's going out against Goliath because he thinks he can kill him. That's when he tells Saul, he doesn't go to Saul and say it like Esther, when she goes to the king. She says to everybody, fast for me, because I have no idea where the king is going to accept me or not, that would work fine. That's not what David does. David comes to Saul and says, I'm gonna fight him. I've killed bears. I've killed lions. I'm not worried about this guy. You want me to kill the guy, I'll go kill the giant. I'm not worried about the giant Let me kill the giant duck has nothing to do with this timidity, some kind of tremulous nature in David that he's unwilling to step into the limelight, he's gonna go fight the great battle. It's not that, but he knows who he is. And that's what he's going to be satisfied with. As you read every part of the story leading up to this, it's all making this point. So if you go back to chapter 16, the part of the story that I didn't read do before, when they have the sons passing by Samuel, Samuel again, the Prophet, he's going to anoint the king. So they have the sons who come out, he says to Jesse, bring me your son, and he brings him a better dad, the oldest son, and he says, Oh, this has got to be him. I mean, look at his stature, and he's powerful, and he's your oldest son, he's bound to be the one. And he says, No, the Lord did not choose this one. So he makes Shama pass by and he makes all other seven sons pass by and then saw Samuel has to say to him, is this all of them because the Lord hasn't improved any of these? And he says, well, there does remain the youngest, but I mean, look, he's out there keeping the sheep we don't even invite him to this meal. And Samuel said to Jesse, send and get him for we're not going to sit down until he comes here. Are this humiliating and it's not humiliating in the in a grievous sense, like there's some injustice being done against them. But it is humiliating. He's the baby of the family, he doesn't have any rights or privileges. And so hey, you go take care of the sheep, we'll take care of eating the meals and welcoming the profit, right. So in that position, David is serving faithfully, and that's who he is. When the Lord says that's the person, I want to make the next king over Israel, the shepherd, the one who's out in the field, and this image has been given since Moses was leading the people through the wilderness, God is searching for a shepherd, not someone who, like you heard last week about Saul is going to defend his territory in his interest. And while I was afraid the people were going to be scattered from me, he's doing it for himself. He's concerned about his own game. David is the opposite of that David is doing whatever service people put in front of him. In fact, at the end of chapter 16, there's an insertion is not part of the flow of this overall story that we're reading. The author puts it in, though, so we'll remember this about David when he was younger, that when Saul had terrible temper tantrums, you know, his mood would go south, so to speak. They wanted to find a musician to help him out. And they picked David. They said, Oh, man, this guy can play like nobody else in the country, you should get him. He'll come and play for him. Well, who is he is a young man. He's Jesse's son. He's a shepherd, you know, he'll come and play, and he served. So in fact, the very language that's used is this. Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, Send me David, your son who's with the sheep. And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and the skin of wine a young goat, because he's not, he's like, Well, you're not gonna like David enough. So I'll send you a bunch of gifts, and maybe he'll be okay then. Then he sent and he sent them by David, his son to Saul and David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became Saul's armor bearers. He's this young man that's helping out Saul for a time d for a while, that story is inserted. So we'll see how much David is doing just to serve exactly the same thing is happening when the Goliath is coming out and making his claims and they're all in a raucous about it. And David shows up on the battlefield because David, the youngest, who was, you know, the three, all the three eldest were following Saul, they were out of the battle. But David went back and forth from Saul to feed his sheep at Bethlehem. So David is going home to Bethlehem feeding the sheep. And then he's running to the battle lines to feed his brothers. And then he's running back to the sheep to keep the sheep. That's who David is, in the story, not a powerful person, not a well represented person. He is young, he is disenfranchised. And that's just who he is. And he's okay with it. He's just doing the job that he's been called to do when alive is angry at him, his brother says, just don't take care of those tiny little few sheep that you take care of in the wilderness and get off the battle lines. I don't even know why you're aggravating everybody like this. David's response we take to be sarcastic. It may have been I mean, we don't know how to read tone into things like this. But his response is simply Hey, all I did was say a word. I wasn't trying to pick a fight with somebody. I'm just, I'm just speaking words, right now. He is just a servant, who has shown up to try to help. So when they bring him to Saul, what does he say to Saul, David says, Don't let any man's heart fail him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, you're not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him. You are but a youth. And he's been a man of war from his youth. This whole story, by the way, doesn't culminate when David defeats Goliath. But like I said to you a moment ago. Instead, after David has killed Goliath, it culminates with this. And this is in verse 52, of chapter 17. And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Akron and it goes on with a slaughter that they have. It's about the people of Israel. David is serving his father. He's serving the sheep. He's serving Israel. He's not serving himself on that drive that I told you I had on the way here, don't think I'm a bad driver, because I tell you this story. I mean, you might think it but just don't say it out loud. If you if you don't mind, because I don't think this was my fault. I'm confident it was not my fault. I'm absolutely certain it was not my fault. And I am I'm a safe driver. Whatever. The point is, I'm feeling a little defensive right now. So I'm on the road yesterday you know, it's an eight hour nine hour drive whatever. So I'm on the highway or trucks everywhere. Hallelujah. Thank you for delivering product if you're a truck driver love you to death unless you're this truck driver. It's so I'm just I'm you know, I'm going faster than the truck that's, you know, we're climbing through the hills coming towards El Paso. Now we're getting out west and there are some hills out here and you know, there's some inclines, and this truck is having a hard time getting up the incline. And so I'm just gonna go around it and even got a blinker on he had got anything going he's behind another truck, I'm looking I'm going 20 miles an hour faster than he's going. And so I'm sure I was going the speed limit and he was going 20 under just to be clear, in case any of you who are DPS anyway, the point is, I'm, you know, what do you got to do, so I put my blinker on, I pull over in the left lane. I'm going up past the truck driver, the truck, and he just decides he's gonna start coming over into my lane. My wife is climbing the inside of the cab of my vehicle. I mean, she is freaked out and she ought to be and I'm not saying he came a foot over into our lane. I mean, he took our lane while I was next to his, you know, trailer, the big part of the truck. And so I'm, you know, I'm there's no going back. It's like, I got one way to go. And it's out there. So I'm using the shoulder and I go around him and I did honk at him. It was not in anger. It was a little frustration. There may have been a tiny bit of anger I just held on but I mean, the guys just kept coming over. There was no reason for him not to stay in his lane. He just kept on coming over. And so I'm like, What on earth are you doing doing the same thing all of us do. We just decide the world is about us life's about us. It's about promoting ourselves, we have our ambition, we know the lane we're gonna get into. And it really doesn't matter who's in that lane right now we're just gonna push them out of the way. I don't know who that truck driver is. He's not a bad guy, I'm sure he just wandered over into the lane or did something I'm not trying to pick on him. But I am trying to say to you

once you become a Christian, and I know not all of your Christian, some of you just hear somebody invited you to church. But for those of you who are following Christ, for those of you who want to be like David, David didn't choose to be the king. David didn't choose to pull into the lane. David didn't choose to run everybody else out of where they were. David was just serving where he was supposed to serve. And what the Lord did with him is what the Lord did with him. That was up to the Lord. In fact, if David was doing anything, he's just clearing the way for everybody else. The whole point at the end of this story is that Israel goes and wins a great battle. He's making everybody else great. So the first thing about David is simply that he's a shepherd. And the idea that he's a shepherd is the acknowledgment. He's not trying to be what he's not. He's not trying to become something he's not. He's just trying to live out what he is. And what he is, is a person made by God, so that he can make other people better. So he can give them room to do the things God's called them to do. And he does that through the rest of his life, even when he is the king. That's what he does. That's what messiahs do, by the way. And it's obviously what Christ does. And it's what we're called to do. So the first part of this is just learning, you know, selfish ambition, the idea that we're supposed to carve out a place to make space for ourselves, is the opposite of any value. We're supposed to have learned from David, or from Christ, you follow Christ through His entire ministry, you will never find him doing that. Follow David through his life, you never find him doing that. He has time and time again, that he would be able to kill Saul and take his kingdom. And he refuses to do it. Now, we'll let the Lord take care of that even when Saul is trying to kill David. David says, No, I'm not going to raise my hand against the Lord's anointed. I don't know why you're chasing me, Saul. I don't think you ought to. But I am not going to take your position. So there's the first thing is what David doesn't do. He doesn't take what's not his he doesn't try to be who he's not, which means he's always a shepherd. The second one, this one I'll be brief run. But the point is massive. The second one is this exchange of armor with Felicity, this exchange is huge for us because David becomes Israel's champion, in this moment in the songs that you will acknowledge your your pastor mentioned it in his message last week, Saul has killed his 1000s. David has killed his 10 1000s. It comes out of this battle, this battle when Goliath dies. And then the Philistines are chased and routed. The whole point is that they're celebrating David now as their champion, the evidence that he's their champion, when Goliath goes out on the field, He's the great champion. And when Goliath is killed by David, David is the great champion. And while we would love to skip this part of the story, because, you know, we just don't think about the responsibility it puts on us. This part of the story is hugely important. This is the part of the story where instead of talking about what David didn't do, we talk about what David did do, and I will repeat for you what he says back in chat earlier in chapter 17 And verse 34. When it says, David said to Saul, you know, when he's telling him hey, I can kill this this giant let me go fight the battle. This is how he says it. You're servant He says to Saul used in this is when Saul says to and you're just you're a kid, you're a youth, this man has been fighting for longer than you've been alive. David says Your servant used to keep the sheep for his father. And when there came a lion or a bear, I don't like doing astronomy in the dark, because I'm afraid there'll be a lion or a bear, where I know there aren't even any lions or bears. I'm still terrified of it. He looks at him in the daytime and says, Yeah, I think I'll go take you. That's, that's a different kind of person. This is a courageous man. So your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. Maybe he used the sling to do that. But listen to the rest of it. And he rose against me. I caught him by his beard and struck him and kill them. Your servant has struck down lions and bears, and this uncircumcised for listing will be just like one of them because he's defied the armies of the living God. David said, The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. If you look at what actually happens with David, he's already an accomplished fighter. He just hasn't been in war. He is a powerful man. You read this story. For those of you know, classical literature, David is Achilles in Israel's history. There are great mighty warriors in Israel. And when it tells the lore of their unbelievable victories, it will always conclude with saying none of them were as mighty as David. David is the great warrior in Israel. He is a champion. When he fights when he fights. We again we read the story like oh, I can't believe this little scrawny kid could beat the great giant. He's not scrawny. He's not a giant. So Goliath has a huge advantage. But David has a little bit of an advantage, too. It's not like David goes out and says, Okay, Goliath, we're gonna fight here, Goliath, I'm gonna pray. Oh, God, please, cause the decline of this giant to the earth. Lord, soon. Now, he doesn't just pray and wait. David knows exactly what he's gonna do. He goes down to the creek. He gathers five stones, he puts them in his bag. He, some people say he gathers five stones because Goliath has four brothers, as we know, in a different part of the text. Maybe, maybe he's aware of how things go in battles, and that people have shields and that he might need five stones instead of one, I don't know. But I know he picked up stones and a sling. And in Israel. When people were good with slings, they bragged about it. Like we brag about how well a person can shoot a sniper can shoot, they talk about the Benjamites, who lived in this one city, being able to throw with a sling and hit something at a hair's breadth from 100 yards away, and so on. That's how they talk about it. So David is an accomplished technician with this method of taking down an enemy and he's used it against animals. And now he's about to use it with Goliath. He knows what he's gonna do. He is a mighty warrior. And he's a smart warrior. And he has technology on his side, he's got a projectile weapon that's not just thrown, it is slung at a high velocity. And so when it sinks into Goliath forehead, yeah, Goliath drops dead. And David is the one who did it. I know, we don't like this part. We just skim over this part. So that we can say, you know, God is the one who fought the battle. God does fight the battle, and David gives him credit for it. But at the same time, here's what the author says about it. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, he struck the Philistine, and he killed him. And there was no sword in the hand of David. So David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath. And he killed him, finished the job and cut off his head with it. Not super excited about the decapitation. I'm just saying, it's what David did. And he holds up the head and he carries it all the way to Saul to say, look, we've done this, we have won the battle and he takes gulyas armor from that point forward. My point here is just a pause and say, David does do what David is supposed to do. David is courageous, He is powerful, and he is skillful. Those are three of the ideas that are built into the story that we're supposed to recognize. And David doesn't talk like he's not. David does not go to Saul. Now again, I'm not against any of the things I'm about to say he could have said they become hugely important in that Next point, which will be briefer than this one, believe it or not. The point is, when David goes to Saul, he doesn't say to him, but Saul, I can pray better than everyone else. He says, I know how to kill things. Give me a chance to kill this guy, and I can kill it. And he does. We have a responsibility that we're supposed to do. It does require courage. But it also requires a strength and a skill that God has given you. These are not things that are outside of what David can do. They are what God has given David that he can do. God has given things you can do. I know students and adults who sit on their hands in their life, saying, I just can't wait to see what God is going to do with me. What God is going to do with you is give you all the things he's given you right now, so that you will step through the doors that he's opening for you, so that you will take responsibility for the opportunities he's giving you and creating you. And that's what David does. David has the courage and the skill and the strength to go and do the thing that's open before Him. And God is the one who blesses it. If he doesn't, nothing would have happened with it at all. So the second exchange of armor, David takes gulyas armor, and it becomes his he goes to his tent, it's a celebration for his victory. And he ends up with that sword again later, as we'll talk about next week. Last one, and this one's this one is very direct. What happens with Jonathan?

Let me just keep it super simple. David, great champion, right? He's not the only great champion in Israel right now. Did you? If you didn't read it, you should go back and read First Samuel 14, two chapters before we started in chapter 16. Two chapters before this. Do you know what Jonathan does? Jonathan by himself while his father just like now, in this story about Goliath, while his father Saul is sitting on his hands and waiting for God to provide some kind of deliverance against the Philistines? Saul isn't doing anything profitable at all. In fact, he has all of his people fasting, Jonathan is unaware of the fact he takes his armor bear. And he says, you know, there's a Philistine garrison up on top of this ridge. I think we should go up there and fight them. It's exactly it's the story of David and Goliath. But it's Jonathan and the Philistine garrison garrison. It's exactly the same thing. So Jonathan gets his armor bearer, and he says, Follow me. Just see what happens. And so they go, and he gives us a little test, you know, are they gonna say, come down, they'll come down, or we should come up, and then we'll know whether God's for it or not, and they say, Come up here. And so he knows there for it. And so Jonathan on his hands and knees, climbs up this route to get to the top of this ridge, where the Philistine garrison is where the Philistines are taunting him and say, Oh, come on up. Oh, yeah, sure, we'll come up, we'll show you a thing is what they say. And Jonathan kills 20 of them. He alone with his armor bear who's not a warrior. It's Jonathan by himself, kills 20 of the Philistines. And as a result of it, Israel hears that there's this great victory taking place with Jonathan, and they chase the Philistines. In chapter 14, go read the story. It's exactly like the one we just read about Goliath. Jonathan is every bit as qualified as David to be the next king over Israel. He is courageous, he's powerful, he's skillful, he's obedient. He does everything he's supposed to do. Why isn't he the next king over Israel? I mean, he's the one who should inherit it from his father. And you know, there's only one answer to this question, because, and we know this is important, because Jonathan literally gives his robes and his armor to David, and says, You take this, this is not mine. This is yours. You know why? Because David is the chosen one. We say that, like it's magic words, like we're watching some old movies, the Highlander or something, there could only be one. There's only one who's chosen, the one who's chosen by God. That's what Messiah means. Anointed means chosen. You are the one who is blessed by me to bring this conclusion. This is the thing. David is the only one who's chosen. Jesus is the only one who's chosen. Your question is whether you're in him. If you are not in Jesus right now, choose Him as your Savior. If you know Christ as your Savior, then know that you are chosen for one reason, because you are in Christ, just like Israel found themselves in the chosen one. Who was David Father, I pray that you would teach us to be patient as shepherds to be obedient as champions, but most importantly, to trust our one champion, you Jesus Christ, our Savior. It says his name that we pray, Amen.