The Main Character

Introduction

Good morning, everyone. It’s really wonderful to be here. Like Brent said, I’ve been anticipating getting to come back. It feels like home. It really genuinely does to be here. So many people we care about. How’s your weekend going? Mine’s going pretty well. First time, grandpa, 28 hours ago, almost on the spot. And all are doing really well. And it was wonderful to be there for that. And then it’s also great that they’re doing perfectly. And I was able to be here. And like I said, I feel like I’m leaving family to be with family. Karen and Ernie are like parents to me. And I could go, I just, how much time will you give me? Like really could go row by row. Caleb is, he’s almost like a brother to me.

I’m pretty sure I did that joke last time too. Lots of stories. Brent’s an inner circle friend, really close confidant and a big help to me. And then of course, Tony is Tony was one of my best friends in the world and kind of how I became connected with this work. I’ve got one picture in my office that’s not immediate family, and it’s Tony and me at Brett’s wedding. And so it just means a lot to be associated with anything he was associated with, if that makes some sense. So glad to be here with you for that. this is gonna go really quickly. we’ve got five lessons. We did two today, of course, now and tonight, and then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

And again, I’m thankful for your patience, but I tell you, we’ll be it’ll be Thursday before you know it, so just kind of stick with me. This will go quick. You gotta stick with me as we move through. But I’m gonna go ahead and get into some of the content. The big theme for the week is finding Jesus first, which should apply to everything that you’re doing and every experience that you’re having, but particularly when you read this book. Every time you open this book, you ought to be looking for something related to Jesus. You ought to be going, what can I learn about him? How can I love him more? What will draw me closer to him wherever we are? And we’re gonna experience that in a couple of ways.

Today, we’ll go to the Old Testament looking for Jesus. We’ll experience things about him even before he was born on this earth. We’ll do that today. And then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we’ll move past the Gospels, which I think we all know is about Jesus, this red letter and everything, and we’ll move into the epistles. Because sometimes we forget that he still comes first when we get to the epistles. And if you’re in Paul’s letters and you’re walking around the ruler in order to get to the rules, you’re going to mess everything up. You’re not going to know what you’re looking at, and you’ll probably end up weaponizing them in the wrong kind of way. But if we find Jesus first in our studies, it’ll change our hearts from the inside out, and I’m really excited to look at that with you.

That theme is very important to me to explore with you. So we’re going to spend a little bit of time as we get started talking about this idea of what it means to find him first in Scripture. That begins by just thinking about this book that you brought with you. I just want to talk about the Bible. I love this book. Do you love this book? I mean, White Knuckle Grip. Absolutely survive because of this book. And if you forget every other point all week, please remember this from a practical teaching standpoint. Read this book every single day. Pause for dramatic effect. Every day. Gentlemen, around my age, a little younger, a little older, busy, right? Life is crazy. Every single day. Students, homework, expectations, moms, triple what the rest of us are going through.

Every day, read this book. It will change you more than anything that is possible in this life. About six and a half years ago, 2,143 mornings ago to be precise. I made a commitment to the Lord that I would read a New Testament chapter every single morning until I saw Jesus. That’s six and a half years every morning. Old Testament, too. I didn’t make that kind of commitment on the Old Testament. I have been reading it ever, but it’s pretty, it can get pretty tough. Nothing has changed the way I think, live, talk, preach. Like reading the scripture, looking for the Lord every day. The scripture will cleanse you. It will cleanse you of the sins that beset you. It will cleanse you of self-focus, which is a huge point we’re going to make today, which is always about me all the time.

1. One Story: This Is a Jesus Book

It will cleanse you of that. And it will also cleanse you of this pesky little thing called bias. That you probably don’t even know you have, and you probably have a lot more than you think you do. But the scripture will wash that away over time until the first thing you see every morning is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you thank heavens that he came for you. And all you want to do is live today for him. And it changes everything. We’ve got to learn what it means to find him first. This book is awesome. It’s diverse. We call it the Bible, which is the book, but really it’s a collection of, and you guys know these numbers, 66 different letters sent out all over the place.

60, that’s a lot. 66 different letters. You know the facts and figures on this. 40 different writers, three continents, three different languages, but the biggest fact of all is 1,500 years. From Moses in Genesis to John and Revelation. 1,500. That’s like six times longer than America’s been a thing. That’s a long space of time. All of these different things come together to tell one story. Not a bunch of different stories that happen to connect. One story. The one story in all the apocalyptic language and poetry and prophecy and narrative and all those, the story is very simple. It can be stated in a bunch of different ways, but this is the way I will state it this morning. The one message of Scripture is God the Father’s plan to redeem sinners through Jesus Christ.

God’s in heaven, you’re here.

And there’s only one way that’s possible through Jesus Christ. This is a Jesus book. Every single page. How many pages? Every page. How many letters? Every letter. Song of Solomon may be an exception, but I don’t think so. All the way through. Jesus told us this. You got your Bibles, I’m sure you do. Let’s dig in. Go to chapter 24, Luke 24. You remember the things that Jesus said after he was raised from the dead before his ascension? When he appeared to the two men on the road to Emmaus, and then later appeared to the apostles. In chapter 24, there are a couple of great passages for this. In verse 27, they knew something amazing had happened, and it related God to them in some way, but they didn’t understand what that relationship was.

And in chapter 24 and verse 27, beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all of Scripture. Once again, in verse 44, when he appeared to the apostles, these are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scripture. What’s Jesus saying? He’s saying, you can go as far back as you want. You can go into the Psalms or Proverbs. You can go into the work of the major and minor prophets. You can go back to the writings of Moses in the beginning, and they are all about, what did Jesus say?

Me, he said. All of them have always been about me. All of the stories are about me, all of the intentionality of what God was doing. Everything leading up to the cross in Scripture is about Christ and the redemption that would come. And everything after the cross in Scripture is about Christ and the redemption that has come. It’s all about the Lord. So I have to ask you a question. You go, yeah, amen. Yeah, that’s that’s right. Is that the way you read it? Wherever you are in your Bible reading, whatever you’re discussing, do you go, okay, first and foremost, I’m gonna love Jesus more here in just a minute. I’m going to read something that reminds me of how great he is. I’m afraid that sometimes we’ve missed this massive step when it comes to Bible reading.

Where we open up Scripture, and the main person we’re thinking about is ourselves. What do I need to learn here? What do I need to do? How do I need to change? And it becomes very works based, very performance-based. I read scripture, I get better, God’s not mad at me. Read it differently. I was homeschooled. Read it differently. Read it as all of this is showing me who he is, which motivates me to do better things. We need to be careful. The Jews, you remember he said in Luke 24, he said, all these Old Testament letters, the Psalms, they’re all about me. The Jewish leaders could quote Scripture up and down, left, right, if it was in Hebrew, right to left. They could quote Scripture. They knew the word.

2. How Far Back Can You Go?

They did not know Jesus. They knew the text. They did not know the whole point of the text. They knew what was there and they missed who it was about. And we’ve got to do better than that. So to test that, let me just, I know it’s not Bible. I know the rules. I’m up here with a coat. You’re not going to answer me. That’s okay. It’s hypothetical anyway, but let me ask you this. How far back in the Old Testament do you think you can go and show that it’s about Jesus? How far? I just want you to think how far back you can go. How many of you can go all the way back to the book of Genesis and go, it was about him, even in the book of beginnings?

You can go back. How far back in Genesis can you go? Who’s our Genesis 12 people? Anybody go back to Genesis 12? The three promises to Abraham, the third promise, and your seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Some of you are going amateurs. I can go way further back than that. How many of you can go to Genesis 3? The first time man blew it, and God initiated his plan, which is what? To redeem the fallen man through Christ. In Genesis 3 and verse 15, when he told Satan, he’s like, You’re gonna get a little shot in on him, but he’s gonna crush you on the head. I think we can do even better. How many of you guys are like Genesis 1?

What verse? Genesis 1 26, maybe, where he talked about, let us make man in our image. You go, wait a minute, Jesus, my Savior, was there for all of it. That’s huge towards the literature that he was there. You go, well, I can go back farther than that. I can too. Go with me to Genesis chapter 1, verses 1, 2, and 3. 1, 2, and 3. You go, okay, you’re going to mention God in verse 1. I am, and I have every right to say that God in verse 1 is Jesus, but we can do even better than that. Look with me in Genesis chapter 1, verses 1 through 3. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth, chapter 1, verse 2, was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

Then God said, Let there be light. And there was light. There is your first reference to the substance of Christ and his value to man. The world was made, but it was dark and chaotic and without form or function. And the first thing God did is not put a sun in the sky or a moon by night. He just brought light into the darkness. He brought vision so that you could bring order out of chaos. The first reference to Christ is the light that brought what was needed into a world that desperately needed it. Those allusions to Jesus fill scripture. You go, I don’t know, Chris. That’s, I mean, is that really about him? Move to the middle of your scripture to John chapter 1. Is this not the very message that John is telling us in John 1 when he opens his gospel?

He begins in the beginning. Not the beginning of the gospel. Jesus didn’t start with his coming. He started in the beginning of all things and before. Look with me in John chapter 1, beginning in verse 1. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him. Apart from him, nothing has come into being that has come into being. In him was life. Now look at this. And the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him.

I mean, every morning, you know, you get up to turn the light on. You bring light into the room so you can see what you’re doing. That’s what every day should be like relative to Jesus. You bring in the light of Christ into every day. If this meeting accomplishes nothing else besides the fact that you’re now a daily Bible reader, if you haven’t been before, one of the first things you think or say every day ought to be, Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being the light in the darkness, the maker, creator, sustainer, and friend, the light from the beginning. How far the other way can you go, by the way? Genesis 1 is pretty good. How far the other way? How about the very last verse of all of Scripture?

3. How Far the Other Way?

Who’s it about? Sometimes when I hear us talk and the way preachers build stuff, I think we think the first verse is going to be me and the last verse is going to be me, and it’s not. It was him, and it will be always. Go to Revelation 22. Very end. Used to be easy to find the end. Now we have all these references and indexes and hang on. Revelation almost. Revelation 22. Revelation 22. The grace. Did you know your Bible ends this way? In the beginning, light into chaos. In the end, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Look back in chapter 21. I’m not real clear. We just got through doing Revelation at home. And I think everybody was like, can we just, is there a way to rush this?

Because Revelation’s tough. It’s challenging, and I’m not that great of a teacher of things that I don’t fully understand. So we would really struggling with Revelation 21, 22. Is it the new form of the church on earth? Is it heaven? I personally see heaven when I read this text. But I want you to notice something. Look in verse 22. This great place at the end. In Revelation 21, 22, I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city, this is just like Genesis 1. No need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illuminated it, and its lamp, its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings will bring their glory into it.

Chapter 22 talks about that very same thing. Jesus is the light and the lamp. So don’t walk one day without recognizing the light that is the warmth and the vision and the hope in your life. Because John 1 says that light is begging to enlighten every man. We must find Jesus first. So like I say, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we’re going to go to an epistle. We’re going to use Colossians as our sample set and how sometimes you get in Colossians, you’re like, all right, what are the rules? And what are the you’re not ready yet? You’ve got to start in Colossians 1 by finding Jesus first and making sure he is to you what he ought to be, and then we’re going to build that out.

4. Usually This Story Is About David and You

But I thought what might be interesting for us today would be to go into the Old Testament and do the same today and tonight. I’ve said this a couple of times already, but I think there’s a reason why when we open scripture, we start studying stories or characters or psalms. I’m in the Psalms each morning now trying to kind of wrestle with why do I always look for me first when I’m reading the Psalms? I think there’s a reason we’re prone to do that because we know humans. You know humans. You is one. You know them. You know about our strengths, you know about our weaknesses. You know what’s right in the world and what’s wrong in the world. And so it’s easy for you to read scripture and go, I can apply that to what I understand, which is me.

That’s fine if you do it secondarily. You may have even been taught throughout your life. That’s the primary purpose of scripture is to go in and compare the truth to you because you’re the one you understand. We understand God a lot less. If you think you fully understand God, it proves how little you do. He is the infinite almighty God. And so to read Scripture and wrestle with what it’s teaching me about God is much more challenging and much more important. Much more important. Your ability to be awesome is only as strong as the depth of the awesomeness of Jesus in you. It’ll never be announced stronger. So we’re going to do that. Now, here’s what we could have done could have done some psalms, said, Hey, you thought that’s about Jesus.

We could have done some prophecy, obviously, but I think it’ll be most advantageous for us if we spend today looking at Bible characters. Bible characters that you know really well. I mean, tonight I’m gonna try something different since we just get one more lesson. We’re gonna kind of do it in class format, and I’m gonna present a series of Bible characters to you and see if you can figure out who they are, and we’ll kind of have some fun with that. But today I want to use one of the most common, best understood stories of all of Scripture, and show you how maybe we’re walking past the ruler to get to the rules, and we need to see him first. Open your Bibles with me to 1 Samuel.

1 Samuel chapter 17. I think everybody here is familiar with this particular event in history. David and Goliath. The shepherd boy with the sling against the impenetrable armor and brute force of an enemy that no one could tackle, and that’s gonna be a big point here in a minute. You ever heard a sermon? Is this the first one? Have you ever heard a sermon on David and Goliath before? We got, where’s Day back there? Josh, you heard a sermon on David and Goliath before? We study it in sermons, we study it in Bible classes, we draw pictures, we know a whole lot about it. And I can speak from experience from my own teaching that usually this story is about two people. David and you.

But you might be missing the bigger point to get to the smaller one. And the problem is you’re not going to do very well with going out and being like David unless we understand that this story is a whole lot bigger than you. Now, I want to give some credibility to that. I know why we do this. I know why we read all these stories. You’ve got four more coming tonight, and we talk about practical application. Because it’s just begging you to do that. Let’s go out and be more like David. We’re going to look at the story together in a minute as we wrap up today, but you probably know a lot of the details of what happened. He shows up and he takes care of business and changes the whole nation.

I know why we do this, because look, like he leaned on the previous victories of God. You remember the lion and the bear and the different things, and we say, hey, you need to go out and do that. You need to go out and lean on the fact that God was with you in the past. And you’ve come through so much, and that’s just showing you that now is your David and Goliath moment because of previous things. I think that’s a good point. Maybe not great, but definitely good and viable. Secondly, we go, hey, he had full confidence in the Lord’s power. This is an excellent point from the story. No one else seemed to. Saul was supposed to be the king. He did not put his faith in the Lord’s power.

The soldiers did not speak the name of the Lord. And David shows up, and that’s what he’s willing to talk about. We serve the Lord our God, and no enemy can stand against the Lord. And he named God’s power and he used it for confidence. Hey, go do that. That’s a tremendous application point if you want to make one that you can name the name of the Lord, do all that we do in word or deed, we do all by the name of the Lord. We use that verse a lot to say, make sure you do it right. I use that verse to say, God is behind what I’m doing. And there’s power in that. Great point. Number three, don’t let other people, you guys, you’re gonna like this better than the real part of the sermon.

You’re gonna go, that’s what that’s what I came here to hear. Me be better. Okay, well, here you go. I mean, I’m giving you what you want. Number three, don’t let others define your limits. You remember what happened when he showed up? His brother’s like, What are you doing here? You smell like sheep. You just want to see what’s going on around here, don’t you? Little brother. And then Saul saw him and said, No way. But he’s like, look, I don’t let people define what I’m capable of. If the Lord is with me, who can be against me? Great point. Great point. Takes action fearlessly. You know the story. He takes action fearlessly, grabs the five smooth stones, and he heads out there, and Goliath’s mocking him, threatening him, and insulting him, and he’s just like, I’m here by the name of the Lord, and he runs out and he makes a good throw.

Here’s another one. I do like this point, by the way. I gotta get to the main point, which is the Messiah. But I do, this is my favorite. If you’re just gonna do it like this is my favorite point. If he had gone out and fought Goliath on Goliath’s terms, what happens? David walks out there with a sword and armor and goes toe to toe with a guy who says, I want to fight with a sword and armor. What happens to David? David dies. But by virtue of changing his approach and altering and saying, I’m not gonna fight on your terms, I’m not gonna fight the way you want me to fight. I’m gonna fight differently in a way that you least expect. David actually became a favorite in this fight.

It’s like a guy putting down a knife and going and grabbing a pistol. They can throw those things like you can’t go YouTube it. They can throw those bad boys. He changed the approach. And I think that’s a great practical point. If you fight the devil on his terms, you use anger to fight anger, you use these kinds of jealousy to fight jealousy, like you’re just gonna fall down. You gotta fight differently. Fruit of the Spirit. How about this one? He slays the adversary. This is what we normally say when we preach this. Go out and slay your Goliath. Never mind that nobody in the entire army is capable of slaying him. You go slay him. Never mind that he is the most dangerous thing in the world, and the whole nation is on the line, and if you fail, everybody becomes a slave.

Go out there, Galen, and slay your giant. Like, okay. Good point. But I don’t know. What if I fail? Wait a minute. Let me rephrase. This is a big impetus to where we’re going this week. I do fail. So now what? Am I dead? Is everybody a slave now? Am I a failure? Because I feel like a failure. We have a lot of Christians that feel like failures. Can I just go ahead and get ahead of myself a little bit? I don’t mind preaching like this and going, hey, you know, look at these stories and find you tonight. We’re going to do a whole series of them that you probably usually only heard about you. But you know, there’s some real setbacks to that because in its best case, when I read about this, in its best case, I just fail a lot.

Anyone with me? I don’t square up the sling a lot. I miss. He strikes me a lot. I falter. At its best, trying to do these things can leave us with a sense of an inability because it just feels unachievable. Has anybody ever felt that when you read these stories? I really want to talk to you about tonight’s characters. I’m holding it back. But you go, oh, I gotta go be like them. And by Tuesday, you’re like, I’m a loser. I’ll never be like them. And you end up feeling worse after reading these stories than before you read them. Do you know why? Because you found the wrong person. At its best, the story to me personally of David and Goliath, it just feels unachievable. At worst, it strips me of all my confidence and makes me doubt that I’m even saved at all.

We have got to be careful, brothers and sisters. This is not a one-off. You will hear more of it throughout the week. We have got to be careful at defining our victory by our achievements. Especially if this is the kind of standard you’re going to set for your achievements. I am completely tired at this point after half my life of preaching, of sitting with older Christians, octogerians, those at the ends of their lives, watching them cry about the fact that they don’t know if they’re saved. Been going to church their whole lives. They don’t know if they’re going to heaven or not. Why not? I didn’t do this, I missed the mark here, he got me here. I faltered in all these things, and I’m going, what are you doing?

Don’t you know that this is about someone bigger and what he has done? You’re making it about what you have accomplished. We’ve got to give them hope. That hope comes in one term, one word, one way. Jesus. I can’t sit with another 17-year-old in my office. I can’t sit with another kid in my office who doesn’t want to go to church anymore and doesn’t want to try anymore because he’s sure he’s a mess up and he’s always going to be a mess up. And why am I even trying? The sermon last week said, go out and slay the giant and win. He keeps losing. He doesn’t even want to come to church anymore. We have missed often the most crucial piece of all.

5. Jesus Is My David

Okay? You’re there. You’re on the battlefield. You’re in 1 Samuel 17, but maybe, bear with me a moment, maybe you’re not the savior of everyone. Is that okay? Is that is that a complex kicker for you? Maybe you’re not the center of everything. And maybe that’s a good thing. Can I show you if you think you got your Bibles open? Let’s walk through it here near the end. Here’s some things we know. Just raise your hand when this is you. And you go, Brett goes, This is me. You’re describing me. Number one, you have been pre-selected by God to be the king of his people. Can you move your head a little bit? Nobody pre-selected by God to rule the people. Chapter 16 and verse 1.

I have selected into the verse, I have selected a king for myself among the people. Verses 11, 12, and 13 in verse 12, they take David. The Lord said, Anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. How about that? That’s not even on the sheet. The Holy Spirit, you are the king to be, the deliverer of everyone by faith. And God has brought his spirit upon you, not me. That’s the first thing.

I’m gonna go miraculous. You can challenge me on this later. But I’m gonna say that before he slayed Goliath, God gave him supernatural, miraculous powers in order to establish for himself and for others what he is capable of. What am I talking about? Look in chapter 17. I’m talking about slaying a lion and a bear. Look with me in verse 34, chapter 17. Your servant, he said, Why am I confident, Saul? Because your servant was tending our father’s sheep when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock. I went out after him and attacked him and rescued it from his mouth. And when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistines will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.

Is that miraculous to you? I YouTube the fire out of this. I was looking for somebody somewhere who just grabbed a lion by the face and punched it and it died. How many? AI can reproduce it, perhaps, but none. I used to, in fact, I’ll tell you what’s funny. I used to, I just forgot this verse. I used to envision that he uses sling. You know, he just sling a lion, kill him, sling at a bear and kill him, because you know, that’s something I could do. I can go, I can get good at my tools, and I can really get proficient, and I can start knocking him down. I think that’s why I did that. I cannot do this. He did this. He shows up and he’s disregarded by the leaders.

This we already noted. Chapter 17 and verse 28, Eliab, his older brother, heard when he had spoken to the men, and his anger burns against David, and he’s like, What are you doing here? And you shouldn’t be here, and you can’t help. And then a little while later in verse 33, he comes before Saul who says, You are not able. You’re not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him. You’re but a youth. And so he’s disregarded by his brothers. Stick with me. And he’s disregarded by the leadership of the people at the time. This is starting to sound like someone else. It’s supposed to start sounding like someone else. The person it was supposed to make us think of to begin with. How about this?

He faced a foe no one could defeat. Chapter 17 and in verse 4, it describes Goliath, this champion. Chapter 17, verse 4, talks about his great height, nine plus feet, the weight of the armor that he has and the spear he has and the shield and all the different things and the sword. He’s this massive army leader. And in verse 23, as he was talking with him, verse 23 of chapter 17, the champion Goliath comes out, and what does everyone do? Not some of the people, not just the cowards. What does well maybe they were, but what does everyone do? They fled from him and were greatly afraid. David faced a foe, even though David was imperfect, and he’s just a shadow of someone better. He was willing to face a foe that no one could defeat.

No one. And did you know this? The whole nation was on the line. Did you know that? It wasn’t like, well, David’s gonna give it a go, and if he succeeds, awesome. And if he fails, we’ll just mark somebody else out there. He went out on behalf of, any hands still raised in the room. Went out on behalf of the whole nation. And the rules were set in chapter 17 and verse 8. Goliath shouts, Why do you draw up in battle array? Am I not the Philistine? And you servants of Saul, choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. If Goliath says, He is able to fight with me and kill me, we will become your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall become our servants and serve us.

Everything on the line. If David dies, the entire nation of Israel becomes enslaved. Are you hearing it? If David fails, the entire nation is now forever enslaved to the enemy. Now you go, wait a minute, Goliath died, and the Philistines did not. Yeah, because he’s a liar. That’s what he does. He lies. But the rules would have been applied in reverse. He fights unlike the enemy and wins. We talked about that already. It’s my favorite part of the story. He doesn’t fight on David on Goliath’s terms. He doesn’t fight toe to toe. He doesn’t use the same weapons of war and destruction. He comes at it in a different way. And he accomplishes the impossible among men. Leads the army to victory. Look at chapter 17, verse 50.

I love this. In chapter 17 and verse 50, he prevails over the Philistine. You know, he strikes him in the head and he falls over. Then he takes his sword and he beheads him. And all of a sudden, all the scared people who rightly were scared. They see that victory, and something changes. Thus David prevailed over the Philistine. Chapter 17, verse 50 with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in David’s hands. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him. Cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. The men of Israel, something changed for them.

The men of Israel who’d been hiding and terrified. They arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines as far as the valley, the gates of Ekron, and the slain Philistines lay along the way, even to Gath. The sons of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines and plundered their camps. What changed for them? What changed was not in them? What changed is what David did for them. When he took out the enemy, no one could defeat. They became courageous again. They were not walking in their own strength. They were walking in the strength of his might. That ought to remind you of a passage. Somewhere, not my strength, but his. He is exalted, and this goes into 2 Samuel chapters 1 and 2. He is exalted. God had a plan.

My plan is he will be king. I will establish his dominance through his life. He will stand up in the face of leaders who doubt him. He will face and defeat the foe and save the nation and become the king on high. Jesus. Jesus is my David. Now, this isn’t saying David is Jesus, and he’s perfect like Jesus. That’s the thing about shadows. They’re two dimensional little black things on the ground with white around them that defines something. But when you trace them to their root, you find a substance that is three-dimensional and strong. You know what I can tell you about Jesus? I can tell you one, two, three, four, eight things. I can tell you that God preselected that Jesus would be the king of his people.

He sent his Holy Spirit to rest upon him and give him miraculous power over the enemy. He was disregarded and disowned by his own brethren and the leaders of the nations. He was willing to face a foe that you couldn’t have even defeated if you wanted to. You would have perished, everyone would have. The entire nation and their souls and who they belonged to, and slavery was on the line when it came to the devil. And yet he chose to fight so differently than the devil. Isn’t that awesome? The devil fights with anger and malice and jealousy and wrath and blood. And Jesus fought with silence, submission. Do your worst, changing out the sword for a sling. And in the end, he defeats the enemy in victory.

I think, remember when we were talking about how far back you could go? How many of you guys got to Genesis 3 15 where it said, He will bruise you on the heel, Satan will bruise him on the heel, but he, born of a woman, will crush him on the head. And you think about Jesus dying on a cross, which was the bruising of the heel, and then he beheads him. You know, when David went out and he wanted to finish Goliath off, he used his own weapon against him, didn’t he? He grabbed him, he said, I’ll use your weapon that you thought was going to destroy me, and I’m going to use it to destroy you. That sword is death. The sword that Satan wanted to use against Jesus was death, and Jesus ended up picking up death and using it against him by defeating it and taking it and controlling it forever.

6. If Jesus Is David, Where Are We?

And now Jesus is our exalted King. So let me ask you a couple questions as we close. Can you see that? We’ve got to become conditioned to find him. If I had another long time, we would just start peppering through the Psalms. You read these Psalms where David is like undergoing all of it, they’re encompassing me, and you’re my Savior, and I’ll lead the people. And like, is that you? Even in those Psalms, we need to see our Savior. But I think it leads to a viable concluding question. Stay open to that text for a minute. If Goliath is Satan, and you’ll know that Goliath is Satan, no matter how you come at this story, he’s the leader of the evil ones and the liar and all of that.

But if Jesus is David, where are we in this? How many of you can now, 1 Samuel 17, find yourself in the story? You were there all along. Where were you? Open your Bibles there if you have not already. Back to verse 23. Chapter 17, as he was talking with them, behold, the champion named Goliath was coming up from the army. Verse 24, when all the men of Israel saw the man. They fled from him and were greatly afraid. Chapter 17, verse 25, the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who is coming up? Surely he is coming up to defy Israel, and it will be that the king will enrich the man who killed. Not me, but whoever does it with great riches.

Give him his daughter, make him great. That’s us. If it’s just us against the devil, we’re gonna run and flee. And we should run and flee because we cannot defeat him on our own. We are those who had no hope, no freedom, with no man who could save us. And then Jesus came. And he did what you could not do. And he did it for you. And he changed everything. And the devil’s reeling, even in this moment this morning. And so now we’re still there. But go to verse 51. This is who we are. Not the David of verse 51, but the men of Israel and Judah. Verse 51, David ran over, stood over him and killed him. And the enemies fled. Verse 52, the men of Israel and Judah arose because of their strength?

No, because of his. They arose, they shouted, they pursued the Philistines as far as the valley. I do get up every morning and go, I’m gonna punch the devil in the nose. I get up every morning and I think I’m gonna chase those demons away wherever they are. I get up every morning and I expect to praise his name and be strong, but not because of my strength. Not because of my victory. Because I am these soldiers who now lives a very different life. Because I know that Satan, sin, and death have already been defeated. They’re already done. Now I live in Him. Let me show you a couple of New Testament verses before we conclude. Ephesians 6. Maybe you think about that. Maybe when we study the story of David and Goliath, we go to Ephesians and put on the full armor of God.

Yes, we do. We’re still soldiers. We’re not completely exempt from it. We’re just doing it in the wake of Jesus. Like we’re following in the wake that he leaves of victory. But in Ephesians chapter 6, I just want you to see verse 10. Finally.

Does not say that. It says, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Every morning. Praise your great name. Thank you for your victory. Thank you for your lordship. Thank you for doing that which not even man welcomed you to do, and you did out of love for us anyway. Thank you for that. So I will put on the armor of God. We’ve got a guy at church named Sean. I did the armor of God less than a year or two ago, and he came up and he goes, I think you missed it on the armor of God. I did one of those sermons, you know, it’s like number one is where are we? Verse loin of truth, and that means here’s three things that means, and breast of righteousness.

He said, Read it again. He said, they’re all one thing. Jesus. Gird yourself with the loins of truth, Jesus. Put on the breastplate of righteousness, Jesus. Shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, ushered in and centered upon Jesus. Take up the shield of faith which he perfected, and you’re just following in his stead. The helmet of salvation, Jesus, and the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, Jesus. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Does that change things? I think it changes things. I think I’m still gonna get up tomorrow. Somebody goes, I don’t like where this series is going. I knew. I knew something was gonna be off here. At some point you’re gonna have this thought in the back of your head that goes, Does this mean I fight less hard?

Conclusion

You’re completely wrong. Stick with me. I fight more valiantly and to be more faithful than at any point in the history of my life when I realize that my perfection is not the only way to heaven. That I’m not the one that has to pave the way for everyone else, but that Jesus has done it all. And now all I have to do is trust him and have faith in him and follow him, and I live for him. I’m obedient out of gratitude. Gratitude will take you a whole lot further than feeling like you’ve got to win the next battle or else. Gratitude will take you a long ways. And then we repent and he forgives us and we move on forward. Is Jesus your Savior?

Has Jesus changed everything for you? When you open this book, you find him, and when you find him, you do what he says. If that Savior has done everything for you and he’s telling you to follow in his footsteps, maybe you need to be baptized in water. Jesus was baptized, you’re just following the victor. If you need to turn from sin and obey the will of God, you’re just following Jesus because that’s what he did. If he has done enough for you to follow him, come now. Please stand and sit.