[0:00] I'm going to be reading today from 1 Samuel chapter 17, verses 1 through 30. I'll give everyone a moment. Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle, and they were gathered at Soco, which belongs to Judah, and camped between Soco and Ezekiah, and the Ephesimim.
[0:24] And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and drew up a line of battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on one side, and the Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley in between them.
[0:39] And there came from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze.
[0:56] And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spearhead weighed 600 shekels of iron.
[1:11] And his shield-bearer went before him. He stood and shouted at the ranks of Israel, And the Philistines said, When Saul and all the Israels heard this of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
[1:57] Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the day of Saul, this man was already old and advanced in years.
[2:10] The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle. And the names of these three sons who went to the battle were Eliab, the firstborn, and next to him was Abinadab, and the third Shammah.
[2:23] 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. Forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.
[2:38] And Jesse said to David his son, Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers.
[2:50] Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See if your brothers are well and bring some token for them. Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
[3:05] And David rose early one morning and left the sheep with the keeper and took the provisions and went as Jesse commanded him.
[3:19] And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line shouting the war cry. And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers.
[3:35] As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before.
[3:49] And David heard them. All the men of Israel, when they saw the man fled from him, were much afraid. And the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who has come up?
[4:01] Surely he has come to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel. And David said to the men who stood before him, What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel?
[4:19] For who is this uncircumcised Philistine and he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him in the same way. Shall it be done to him, the man who kills him?
[4:30] Now Eliab, the oldest brother, heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab's anger was kindled against David. And he said, Why have you come down?
[4:41] And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumptions and the evil of your heart. For you have come down to see the battle. And David said, What have I done now?
[4:54] Was it not but a word? And he turned away from him toward another and spoke in the same way. And the people answered him again as before. Starting at verse 31.
[5:09] When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul. And he sent for him. And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him.
[5:20] Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him. For you are but a youth. And he has been a man of war from his youth.
[5:33] But David said to Saul, 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.
[5:46] And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears. And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them.
[6:01] For he has defied the armies of the living God. And 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.
[6:15] And Saul said to David, Go and the Lord be with you. Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail.
[6:28] And David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.
[6:39] So David put them off. Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand and he approached the Philistine.
[6:54] And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David with his shield bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance.
[7:07] And the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.
[7:24] Then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
[7:40] This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear.
[8:06] For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand. When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine, and David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead.
[8:28] The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him.
[8:41] There was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it.
[8:52] When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shalraim as far as Gath and Ekron.
[9:09] And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.
[9:22] As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.
[9:35] And the king said, Inquire whose son the boy is. And as soon as David returned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
[9:49] And Saul said to him, Whose son are you, young man? And David answered, I am the son of your servant Jesse, the Bethlehemite. That's God's word.
[10:06] Now, I could imagine not a single person on earth truly enjoys tension that goes unresolved.
[10:20] It's like holding a sneeze the minute the stars aren't aligning, per se. And you just want to solve problems and make things right.
[10:32] I don't think anybody on earth would truly say that that is enjoyable. You see that between friends and even spouses. You know that night when you guys have a hard argument with one another.
[10:45] You don't even want to go to sleep, whether that's a friend or a spouse, etc. And it's as if the more the tension goes on and consumes our lives, the further away any resolution can be found.
[11:05] I'm going deeper here. Here lies a problem, though. Because the Bible tells us that a pretty significant amount of people will, in fact, be born into a tension, born into a tension, live in tension, and die in tension.
[11:33] Not with a tension, not with a friend, but tension with a holy God. The Bible makes it clear.
[11:45] There will be people born into this tension, live in this tension, die in that tension, and that tension will never cease. It's a particular life that lives in tension of unbelief and of cynicism.
[12:04] Just no matter how convincing of an argument you try to tell them how to resolve their tension, they reject it. Because the Bible says that these types of people love the darkness rather than the light.
[12:18] But it's like the longer that festers and grows, the further resolution can be found. And you see, the world desires resolution, but fail to know where to find it with God.
[12:34] Even if they have it posted on a billboard, they will ignore all the signs. But even looking upon the church as well, God's people, we can be some of the most tense people on planet Earth.
[12:53] God's people. We can be. In the face of trouble, we have a hard time believing. Seeing silver lining, if you want to call it that.
[13:05] Or seeing what God is doing in the greater spectrum of life. We fear. We bicker. Among ourselves. And if the world doesn't cause harm to us, we'll surely do a pretty good job of doing it ourselves.
[13:22] This is God's people. And you see, the church desires resolution, but forgets where they found it. Where can resolution be found to the story of life for a believer and a non-believer?
[13:42] Today we drop into a very popular narrative. David and Goliath. David and Goliath. And with these popular narratives come a good warning to us to not graze over the details.
[14:00] Not to act like, oh, well, I guess I'll check my Facebook. Because I've heard this one before. I'd encourage you to take His Word with fresh eyes, fresh heart with fresh ears as we go into that.
[14:19] And see how this fits in the series. While you've heard the story of David and Goliath, you probably haven't heard it within the story and the narrative of the 16 chapters before and the several dozen after.
[14:37] And here we have the beauty of Scripture before us. God's Word to speak. And while it is very popular, we have to be careful.
[14:48] We have to know that just previously, the nation, just a few chapters earlier, they yearned for a king to go out before them and to fight their battles.
[14:59] However, they yearned for something visually appealing. Visually appealing. Logically conducive.
[15:12] And someone who would bring chills down the spine of any threat against them. This is who they yearned for. And I have a sermon title today playing on the popularity.
[15:28] Jesus' resolution. And we'll understand how this ties in as we go into three separate scenes of the nation of Israel seeking resolution.
[15:44] But we have one main point to discover in our time. And I'd be remiss if I started to unpack God's Word for us today and failed to pray.
[15:56] It would be a failure for you. It would be a failure for me. And so let's pray as we go into this and discover this main point.
[16:07] Let's pray. Father, we come to you today. I come to you today, Lord. Father, we come to you as a gathering with needs.
[16:29] With situations in our lives that seem uncontrollable. With circumstances that seem unending. Father, tune our ears.
[16:39] Tune my mouth to your Word today. And the message within your Word. Draw it out like a well of living water for us.
[16:50] And have us to drink. And be filled by your Word. We pray for the Holy Spirit.
[17:01] Your Holy Spirit. You help us. Open our hearts. Open our ears at this time. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You guys still with me?
[17:12] Amen. Amen. So, like I said, three scenes today. And I really want you to see this.
[17:24] So, the first scene, I'm going to label them battle scenes. And what I want us to see is the tension that surrounds in this battle scene.
[17:36] And this is going to lead us all the way to verse 11. And so, within the 58 verses, quite a lengthy passage today. One of the longest in this entire book.
[17:47] I want us to see these three separate things. I can't stress it enough. But not only see the three separate scenes. But see the parallel between each scene. As this nation is seeking out resolution in their turmoil.
[18:03] And I believe the best way to do this is to just lay these three scenes out. Lay God's Word out. And then towards the end of our time, we stand back and connect all the dots of what we just laid out.
[18:15] So, let's do that right now. We see this battle scene. The first battle scene in verse 1. The narrative begins with the greatest threat against God's people.
[18:28] Those pesky Philistines. They were militarily advanced. It's basically if you're going against the Philistines, you might as well just dig your own grave. You're going to be toast.
[18:38] And so, the greatest threat against the nation of Israel was organizing themselves on this opposing hill. Nation of Israel on this hill and the Philistines on this hill.
[18:53] And this is a wonderful scene. The only thing between these two hills between is a mile of valley. It's the Valley of Elah. It's a remarkable sight.
[19:05] If you've been to Israel, you've seen pictures. This exists. It's a massive valley between two hills. And so, if you could picture in your mind throughout the entire time today, Israel on one mountain of one hillside and the Philistines on the other with this valley in between.
[19:24] It's a breathtaking sight. But something occurs here. They're drawing up to the battle line in this battle scene.
[19:36] Philistine versus Israel. Something odd occurs considering this nation's undefeated record against other nations.
[19:49] Look in verse 11. Look at the end of this section. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
[20:04] How on earth does a nation go from undefeated to dismay? To greatly afraid?
[20:16] There appears to be quite a contender among the ranks of the Philistines named Goliath. We could debate how tall he was at another time, but this guy was tall.
[20:31] He had bronze weapons and armor. He had a coat that weighed 120 pounds. That was a sight that Israel saw that caused them to be dismayed and greatly afraid.
[20:48] It was a sight. And open your ears to what's going on. This guy calls out to the servants of Saul. Attributes this entire nation belonging to Saul.
[21:02] The guy who's hiding back in the corner. Goliath kind of creates some terms. Choose a man who will fight and whoever loses will be the servant of the other.
[21:17] And so, one of the most vile things that this Goliath would say is, I defy the ranks of Israel this day.
[21:29] Church, looking out over that valley, do you see it? Looking over that valley from that hillside?
[21:42] Considering their track record, might their actual contender not be flesh and blood, but that of unbelief that would cause them dismay, be greatly afraid?
[21:55] Even for us today, considering the confidence that we have for the basis of our faith, why do we tend to always buckle in fear?
[22:07] Why is it sometimes a challenge for us to find confidence in God? That we're just one game away from ending our undefeated streak, right?
[22:20] Conveniently looking the other way when issues and problems occur. Well, for this nation, this was an ordinary day. This is a quick first battle scene.
[22:31] And what a scene that ends with more tension than it does with any resolution. In verse 16, the next battle scene, we'll see that this actually lasted for 40 days.
[22:44] And so, let's look at that second battle scene. Not only the threat, the tension that is around, but look at the tension that is among.
[22:56] Look at it. Verse 12, the storyteller, the narrator of this narrative still keeps this young David within view. It's like the Lord of the Rings sort of, you go to this flaming mountaintop and then just a scene later going over to Frodo in this little hobbit village, right?
[23:23] And it's like you're in the shire and everything. You can hear the birds. And it's like the storyteller takes us away from that battle scene and begins a new one. The narrator takes us to this young David within view.
[23:37] And this role within the story seems to naturally give us that sense of peace. It's like you kind of forget about the battle for a moment. A sense of peace because of the distance from that battle and the dedication that this young boy has to not only serving Saul.
[23:54] Well, King Saul, as unpleasant as he is, was, he was still dedicated to serving Saul and coming and returning home and caring for his father's sheep in verse 15.
[24:06] And we meet once again Jesse's wonderful family. All those boys, right? But three of the sons are out to that battle.
[24:17] And it's indicated in verse 16 that this took place for 40 days. Sheep need to eat basically every day, right? A couple times a day. Any sheep farmers out there?
[24:28] There we go. Maybe we can get an amen from Shanika. But they eat a lot. And so David's going in between for 40 days in between serving Saul and serving his father.
[24:43] But this one day, concerned as any parent might be because of his ongoing tension, he sent David back with food in verse 17 and 18.
[24:55] Don't take my word for it. Keep your Bibles open. Look at it. In verse 17, he sends David back for food and desired for some token, a message to be returned on how they're doing.
[25:07] They don't have cell phone signal over at the battle lines. They haven't updated their Instagram. No pictures. Nothing. Just silence.
[25:18] Bring back something to see how they're doing. And so David's role in the storyteller's narrative began in service to man.
[25:28] And it brings a little bit of a sense of resolution, doesn't it? A little sense of peace to the reader's mind. But is resolution found solely in service alone?
[25:46] Well, clearly not because David enters into this tension of battle by way of his service. And in verse 19, I would imagine, just like any army, you kind of get the Mel Gibson pep talk in Braveheart.
[26:04] And all of a sudden, they're ready for battle. They probably got this pep talk and they go out to the battle line once again. And we see that similarity in this battle scene, just like it was in verse 2.
[26:14] So too it is again. They draw up to the line of battle in verse 21. And just like before, the mighty Goliath comes out of the ranks of the Philistines.
[26:26] Same sight, same armor, same threat, same sound of his words, same defiance of the living God, and the same fearful response of Israel in verse 24.
[26:40] I don't know what you might consider an ordinary day. I don't know if we would consider anything ordinary after COVID anymore. It's always that mysterious contagion that festers around and makes its presence known every now and then.
[26:58] Living in Ohio, God only knows what it's probably going to snow later. This is an ordinary day with all these unknowns going on.
[27:08] And so I don't know what you would consider an ordinary day, but this would just be an ordinary day in David's life as he served both Saul and his father's sheep.
[27:23] Not on day 30, not on day 35, but on day 40. Something changes. David hears this day in verse 23.
[27:38] And finds great personal interest in all the rumors going around of what in the world is going on. Why are they lining up and then not doing anything about the enemy?
[27:53] Right? It takes great interest in what's going on and the bounty, the extravagant bounty that Saul has put for the victor of this battle. But David finds great interest in who this guy is that he should defy the armies of the living God in verse 26.
[28:15] Who is this guy? You see, for a man whose heart was set upon God, God's heart was set upon him.
[28:28] We can imagine the confusion amid this tension. Do you sense it in this 40-day delay from acting?
[28:41] It's like David would be utterly confused. Lots of questions. We would probably have lots of questions. If you truly had faith in living God, somebody just shut him up.
[28:55] Right? Take care of this guy. The longer he goes about, the more this tension is going to ensue in our lives.
[29:06] We're probably just going to defeat ourselves. If we're not defeated by the enemy attacking, we're probably just going to bicker ourselves to death about this bounty. Somebody shut him up.
[29:19] And as Israel lines up, just as the last scene, you feel the tension as their unbelief is producing dismay and fear. David's oldest brother shows up and we see just that.
[29:33] The bickering happens. David's oldest brother shows up another kind of fruit of unbelief and increased tension.
[29:47] Bickering. David, why have you come down here? Go home, kid. Great. Thanks for the cheese. Tell dad I'm good.
[29:59] Go home. You're just here just to spy. You have those siblings or you've seen the movies or you've heard the stories of just the older brother never getting a chance to just be away from their younger siblings.
[30:18] But you see, when we are threatened, even us today, not only do we fear, but I'll tell you what, we find the dumbest things to bicker about.
[30:34] When tension makes its debut, when things are looking a little uncertain, I'll tell you what, if we can't find something to bicker about, we'll make something to bicker about.
[30:47] This is a human problem. We can be jealous. We can be angry with one another. Any married folks?
[30:58] Watch out where you put that towel after you shower. Never on the bed. Ever. Right? Little things become this abomination in our lives.
[31:11] But for David, the most abominable sight was not the sight of physical threat, but rather the sight of God's people frozen in fear for 40 days.
[31:25] That was abominable. For David, the most abominable sound was not Saul's cowardice bounty for sending someone else and rewarding someone else to fight his battle, but rather it was the sound of defiant words against a living God.
[31:46] That was abominable. And within the crowd, where fear and dismay become the ordinary day, David's anger became the talks of the ranks.
[31:59] Word spread of this young David. And Saul hears and summons David. Verse 31.
[32:10] Verse 32. David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
[32:22] Amen. All strength of God's army, the strength of Saul.
[32:40] Saul was a trustworthy individual. He was tall too. He was visually appealing. The strength of undefeated records of God's people conquering other nations.
[32:57] David indicates that he's quite qualified for the task. He's taken on a lion and a bear in his shepherding days.
[33:21] Goliath would just be a mosquito, if that. But though Saul in unbelief, look how he dresses David and the unbelief is just put upon this poor guy.
[33:35] He dresses him up like little Goliath. The helmet too big for him. Same coat. David rejects it all. All the lavish appeals of man that might help to invigorate their faith.
[33:51] David says, this isn't working. He picks up a staff, stones, and a sling. And still at this point though, there's no resolution.
[34:05] There's no resolution made. Service. Service. Not by service. Not by volunteering. Still no resolution.
[34:16] As David makes his way through the ranks of Israel with his staff and sling in hand, this resolution begins to transpire.
[34:28] And we see this third and final battle scene. the tension that is conquered in verse 40. For a third time, excuse me a second.
[34:43] For a third time, the storyteller takes us to the battle line once again, just like it was in verse 2, just like it was again in verse 21. And now for the third time, they're at the battle line.
[34:59] But this time, God's people have an advocate. And I cannot stress enough the tension, church, that exists right now at this moment.
[35:13] Because the final outcome of this battle is literally God's people's worst fear. This would bring back PTSD for this nation.
[35:28] That the outcome of this, Israel could very well turn out as slaves once again as they were in Egypt. And everything is weighted upon this young man with a staff and a sling.
[35:42] This is huge tension. In verse 40, David draws forward. Verse 41, the Philistine draws forward. And the first swing, as they always are, just words, first swing against David came in the form of words.
[36:01] Disdained him. He's too young. Goliath's pride really ensued and corrupted his heart. It was a spectacle, though, for David of just utter humiliation to hear this Goliath talking about David going out that way.
[36:22] He probably already knew he was weak. He probably knew that people would joke and laugh. And they'd humiliate him. And all the world saw at this time.
[36:34] His words. But David speaks. And I want us to hear his words in verse 45. Then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied.
[37:02] This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the hosts of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hand.
[37:45] Rather quickly they advance to one another in verse 48 and 49. David rather quickly advances, fishes in his pouch for a stone, sets it in his sling and boom!
[38:03] Headshot! Not only that, as this large Philistine is knocked face down upon the ground, he goes, takes the sword intended for David and uses it to cut Goliath's head clear off.
[38:33] This might bring about imagery of the Ark of the Covenant that was brought before Dagon.
[38:44] The most powerful and mighty of the enemy's gods. How it fell before the Lord's Ark head removed from that idol.
[39:00] church, God's people indeed have a living God. And they have an advocate.
[39:16] Where is courage? Who can contend against God's people? Who should we fear?
[39:28] who can save? Who can be trusted? The advocate of the living God alone. The one who ushers in resolution in turmoil and the greatest turmoil being that of sin and death.
[39:48] You see, the living God has given the church His living word to find peace in Him. have you forgotten this living God?
[40:04] Let's unpack this because we have a terrible problem of needing help in this life. Just a shooting star, Lord, just give me something so I know I'm on the right track when He's giving you His living word to guide.
[40:21] We have a problem of trusting. We have a problem of fear, of dismay. This gospel can't get much clearer as the advocacy of Jesus Christ is illuminated all the more brightly through the advocacy of David on this day.
[40:41] Because Jesus Christ, like David, came to serve man. Church, but resolution didn't just come by social service.
[40:54] Jesus Christ, like David, came into our turmoil, but resolution didn't just come by Jesus coming into the tension and putting His arm around us and comforting.
[41:10] No. Jesus Christ, like David, volunteered to go before us against our biggest enemy and threat being sin and death.
[41:22] And Jesus Christ, like David, appearing weak before man's strength and the Sanhedrin was mocked and cursed. And Jesus Christ, like David, disarmed the power of sin and conquered death.
[41:40] death. You see, in a world where there are strength in numbers and appearance and this lavish perspective and viewpoint that may signal that somebody has strength or is prosperous, is competent, God sent one weak though qualified individual to conquer that tension.
[42:06] for those today looking for resolution to their battle against unbelief, you find your resolution in our advocate, Jesus Christ.
[42:21] Hebrews 6 20 says that Jesus Christ has gone as a forerunner before us on our behalf. And yes, this empowers the church.
[42:35] This emboldens the church. And it has nothing to do with what we do, but rather the one we submit to. If we fight, Jesus Christ leads.
[42:48] If we won, it's because Jesus Christ won. And even though we might despair and we might lose in life, guess what? Jesus Christ has still won.
[42:59] What reason do we have to dismay? What reason do we have to fear? In our day, the motto revolves around the art of believing in yourself and the art of positive thinking.
[43:26] There is quite a bit of confusion regarding around where we fit in this story. So where might we find ourselves in this story?
[43:39] Well, verse 52, we find our answer. Just as Israel hid behind the shadow of David, so too we hide behind the shadow of Jesus Christ.
[43:52] By doing so, we enter into salvation as beneficiaries of his accomplishments alone. Do you see it there in verse 52? The nation then, after David conquered, the nation then charged out and became beneficiaries of that conquering.
[44:15] Not because of their effort, but because of his effort. Therefore, church, this is good news for the believer who will themselves, who allow themselves to at times put their weight on their shoulders of being the hero in the narrative.
[44:34] We are not meant to be the hero. Jesus Christ is the hero. Where we fit in the mix of all of this, John the Baptist makes it clear that Christ must increase, but we must decrease.
[44:51] Huh. There is an abundance of blessing on behalf of Jesus Christ who conquered death on our behalf. Freedom from sin, forgiveness against a holy God, all by faith and trusting in him.
[45:10] Huh. And by our faith, we stand in victory. Oh boy, that's good news. Verse 15 though, kind of turns the script.
[45:24] To the unbeliever though, you have to realize that just as Saul ends this narrative with subtle bitterness and jealousy, which is a theme that we'll carry on from this day forward, as there will be a bounty on David's head now, the guy who seems to be better than Saul, Saul, you have to realize that you cannot receive credit for victory.
[45:56] Yes, despite whatever sermons that you've heard on this narrative that make you the hero, having that faith like David. Actually, that's the problem of the narrative.
[46:10] Because Saul wanted to be David. Just as he wanted to be Jonathan, and then put this oath on all the men to not eat anymore within the context, this is the problem.
[46:27] He wanted to be the hero, but never stood a chance. And friends, if you're not in Christ, you are not the hero.
[46:39] You need a Savior. And I pray that you see this today. the secular motto is to believe in yourself, but the biblical motto is actually to die to yourself.
[46:52] This is important for you to understand now before it's too late. Don't complicate what Jesus Christ has made clear. In Christ, the tension that we were born into has been resolved by making mankind and a holy God at peace.
[47:12] choose to follow Christ today. Because when you choose to follow Christ, you follow a Savior who won by dying for you.
[47:26] May we all enter in today, though, under our Savior as solely beneficiaries of His labor and allow His Lordship over our lives to propel us in similar boldness in the season that God brings.
[47:45] Whether we win or whether we lose, Christ has already won, and that is good news. You see, as it were for the nation then, so too will it be for us.
[48:03] When you find the advocate Jesus Christ there and only there, will you find resolution between the tension of mankind and a holy God.
[48:14] Let's pray as we go into our last song and respond to these words. I would invite anyone who wants to turn their life to Jesus Christ today, make those steps of faith, come forward and see me.
[48:29] I would love to pray for you. Let's pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.