Sons Of The Promise

As a father, as someone who's involved in I Tenrant ministry. For much of my life as a father, I would try to always remember to bring something back from trips. I have to admit I wasn't always successful at remembering to bring something back from trips, and after a while it gets difficult to bring something back that you haven't brought back before. But I remember one trip that I came back from where I had one of those moments. You know those moments, and if you're a father, you know the moment that I'm talking about where you bring a gift and give that gift to your children and the look on their face is worth ten times what you spent for whatever that gift is. Well, this gift didn't cost me anything to bring them, and it was one of those moments where I gave them the gift and they initially looked at me as though I had lost my mind, because the gift was some stones. And I gave the children the stones, and they looked at me, and I was expecting, you know, one of them to quote scriptures, you know, saying that the Bible says something about fathers would give their children stones. But then I said, these stones came from the valley of Eli, and it was five smooth stones, and I began to tell them about Dad standing in that valley where David slew Goliath, and looking at the mountain range on one side, where the army of Israel would have been encamped, and looking at the mountain range on the other side where the army of the Philistines would have been camped, and standing right there where that giant Goliath would have been, yelling out full throated insults against the armies of God. And all of a sudden it went from what are these two? I want one? Because there was just five and I have nine children. I hadn't exactly worked that one out, but it gave new meaning to the text that we're going to examine today. We won't read all of it, because, like our reading this morning was eighty verses, one Samuel seventeen is fifty eight verses, and so we won't read all of those. But let's go to the beginning of this well known story as we continue our sermon series on what Big Story, and let's look at the way that this story fits into that one big story. Now, the Philistines gathered their armies for battle and they were gathered at Sokko, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Soko and Azekah in ephis demeen, and Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the valley of Ela and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubit and a span, but by the way, that's about three meters tall, in case you're wondering. 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 five thousand shekels of bronze. 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 spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. By the way, the head of his spear, just the head of his spear weighed about six or seven kilos. A shield bearer went before him. He stood and shouted, to the ranks of Israel, why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine? And are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day, give me a man that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. And so begins one of the best known stories in all of the Bible. Just like all of the stories that we're examining in this series, this is one that we know very well. In fact, this is one that we've probably told many times. This is one that we love to tell to our children. And unfortunately, like most of the stories in this series, it's one of those stories that we tell in such a way that we disconnected from the one big story and turn it into something that it was never really meant to be. The fact of the matter is when we tell the story of David and Goliath, ultimately it becomes a story of work's righteousness. David was a man of great faith. You need to be a man of great faith like David so that you can slay the giants in your life. And it's good until you begin to face the giants in your life that you don't slay well, does that mean that you weren't a man of great faith like David? And again, just like all of the messages in this series, are we saying that the Old Testament merely exists to tell us all just try harder and do better. Is there no good news? Because if that's why this story and the other stories in the Old Testament exists, then there is no good news. We come to the New Testament and we say Christ died for all. Yeah, Christ died for sin, once for all the just, for the unjust. Amen, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. We are made righteous by the work of Christ. And then we go back to the Old Testament and say, work harder, do better. Christ died to make you righteous, work harder, do better, to opposing messages be more like David. Is that why this exists? I argue, no, there are a couple of things we need to see here. We do need to see this picture of David versus Goliath, but we also need to see another picture, and that is a picture of David versus Saul. It would seem that they are not opposed to one another here, but they absolutely are. One has been rejected as king over Israel and the other has been anointed as his replacement. And we also need to see the picture of David and Jesus. So as we look at this I want us to see those two pictures. I want us to juxtapose David first with Saul, secondly with Goliath, and then thirdly with Christ. And I believe when we do that, we'll be able to understand this text more appropriately. First, when we look at David versus Saul, one of the things we need to realize is who Saul was. Oftentimes we look at the text and we see Saul and we don't realize why Israel wanted him as their king. It says a great deal about this story. In First Samuel chapter nine, verses one and two, we read there was a man of Benjamin. By the way, that is significant. There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zhor, son of Bekhiath, son of Afia, a Benjamite, a Benjamite. Well, why is that significant? Well, that is significant because if you go back to Genesis chapter forty nine and we begin in verse eight, we find something very significant. As Jacob blesses his sons, we find when he blesses Judah, Judah, your brothers shall praise you. By the way, the name Judah means praise, So there's a play on words here. Judah, brothers shall praise you. Now there are three other brothers who have been blessed before Judah. None of them have been given the right of the first born. None of them have been acknowledged in their position as the one who will lead Ruben and Simeon and Levi not so. But he finally comes to Judah, the fourth born, and he says, Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hands shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons shall bow down before you. It shall bow down before you, Judah. Judah is a lion's cub from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down. He crouched as a lion, and as a lioness who dares rouse him. The scepter shall not depart from Judah. That's that's a sign of the king. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until tribute comes to him, and to him shall be the obedience of the people's first problem with Saul is saulis from the tribe of Benjamin, not from the tribe of Judah, and the king of Israel ought to come from the tribe of Judah. There's problem number one. They have a king who is not of the right lineage, a man of wealth back in on Samuel nine, and he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. Think about this. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward, he was taller than any of the people. What do we know about Saul. First, he's wealthy, he came from a wealthy family. Secondly, he's pretty. Saul was a pretty man. He's the prettiest man in all of Israel. Okay, he's wealthy, he's pretty, and from his shoulders, from the shoulders upward, he's taller than every other man in Israel. All the ladies are smiling. He think, wait, wait, he's wealthy, he's pretty, and he's this much taller than everybody else. Yes, he was fat man, and that's why they wanted him as king, the tallest, most handsome, and one of the wealthiest men in all of Israel. Now, when it comes time to annoint David for Samuel chapter sixteen, look at verse six. When they came. He looked at Ilieb and thought, this is Samuel. Samuel's going He knows the family that he's supposed to go to to annoint the next king. He looks at Ilab and thought, surely the annoyeds the Lord's anointed is before him. Right, we've got a king, We already have a king. This king is going out. There's another king who's coming in. Samuel is sent to anoint the king. The king that we have now is the tallest, prettiest man in Israel, and he's from a wealthy family. You're gonna go to another family and you're going to annoy the king. Okay, fine, And so he looks at the Sun, who looks outwardly, the most promising among all the sons. Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look on his appearance, or on his height or his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. So when you look at David versus Saul, you see, on the one hand, the man that humanly speaking, the people of Israel would look to and say, yes, that's our king. That guy right there, that's our king. He's taller than any of the rest of us. He's prettier than any of the rest of us. He's wealthier than the rest of us. That's what a king is supposed to be. God looks and says, you, fool. Being the king of my people has nothing to do with that. Interesting that when we read about Jesus and Isaiah fifty three, one of the things that we read about him is that in appearance, he had nothing that would attract us to him. It's always amazing to me when we see these pictures, these drawings of Jesus and he's so pretty, soft facial features, soft pretty hands, hair like a shampoo model. But Isaiah says, we would not have been attracted to him physically. Again, when we, in our humanness think about the savior of the world, the Son of God, we think that he should probably be prettier than the rest of us, and taller than the rest of us, and so on and so forth. And when Israel thought about a king, they thought about someone who was tall and handsome and wealthy and strong. But doesn't this get to the heart of how we read the Bible wrong? Be better, do better, work harder at being taller and more beautiful and stronger, because after all, that's what it's all about, right, Absolutely not. Here's the other thing that you need to know when you look at Saul and David. Neither of these men deserved to be a king. God was not looking for a worthy man. There was not a worthy man. We realize this about Saul. We see his presumptuous sacrifice and the loss of the kingdom. We're told in chapter thirteen we see a foolish curse that then turns and falls on Jonathan again. In chapter fourteen, we see that he spared Agag and the flocks, and that he lost the kingdom because of it. In chapter fifteen, we see that he lost fellowship with God and had unanswered prayer. In chapter twenty eight, that he visits a medium and his doom is predicted in chapter twenty eight as well, and that finally in chapter thirty one, he takes his own life and ends his dynasty. But what we don't usually think about is David's failures. But it's important that we think about David's failures because often we read on Samuel seventeen and David and Deliath, and we see this picture of David, as you know, this godly perfection, which is what allows us to say, this text exists so that we can all strive to be more like. Really, you mean the David who committed adultery with Bethsheba and then had her husband murdered. That David, you mean the David who saw Emmon's incest and eventual murder. That David who was such a terrible father that his son absalom Usur is throne and eventually was murdered. That David who was so godly and had so much faith that he took a census when God told him not to take a census, and then Israel endured plagues because of it. No, David is not the great king because of his sinlessness. But in spite of his sinfulness, David does not defeat Goliath because somehow he was pure where Saul was impure. This is not the case. This is not what this text is here to teach us. It's not as much here to teach us something about David as it is to teach us something about God and how God protects and provides for his people. Secondly, we look at David versus Goliath, and as we look at David versus Goliath, we see a couple of things here. First, notice Goliath's insults we already saw in First Samuel, chapter seventeen, verse eight. Am I not a philistine? And are you not servants of Saul? Now, this idea of a battle of champions is not a new or novel thing. In fact, it was very common during that time. Instead of mass bloodshed and two armies colliding in the midst of a field, sometimes it was determined because ultimately the belief was this, if we defer, it is because our God is greater than your God. If you defeat us, it's because your God is greater than our God. This is why, by the way, when Nebeka Nezar comes through and defeats Israel and takes them into captivity, then he also takes away what the elements of their worship from the temple as a symbol of the fact that their gods are greater than the gods of Israel. And so if it is the gods who determine who wins the battle, why massive bloodshed. Our champion will fight your champion, and whomever the God's favor will win, and rather than mass bloodshed, there will just be one man who dies to determine the victor. This was not uncommon. But if that's the way that we think about it, what is he saying when he says, am I not of Philistine and are you not servants of Saul? This in itself is an insult. The armies of Israel did not gather there as servants of Saul. They gathered there as servants of the Most High God. In verse ten, I defy the ranks of Israel. Today he is begging for someone to come and fight him. He is insulting their honor. He is insulting their nation. He is insulting their God. And eventually, when young David comes to bring food to his brothers, David takes it exactly that way. And then we also see Saul's fear in favor. Here is Saul, the prettiest man in Israel, the tallest man in Israel, and one of the most wealthy men in Israel. Here's the great irony from his shoulders up. He's taller than every man in Israel. Yes, Goliath is three meters tall, but Saul was probably two meters tall. He was a giant in his own right. And here's the other thing. A giant who is three meters tall probably has trouble walking and chewing bubblegum at the same time. He is not running the four hundred meters in the Olympic Games. He is probably not playing basketball in the NBA. He is probably so big and lumbering and cumbersome that it is very difficult for him to do much of anything. But a man who's two meters tall can still be swift and agile, And in fact, the fastest human being in history is a man by the name of Usain Bolt. And Usain Bolt is about two meters tall. So one of these men is of a size that would make it difficult for him to fight. He's so big that it would be difficult for him to fight. The other man is of a size that he would be formidable and could probably defeat the giant man. The man, But why didn't he Verse eleven. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistines, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Be careful, ladies, cirl, did you see? Yes, it's the prettiest man I've ever seen in my life. That man is prettier than me. I know, girl, that man probably can't even look at him, so pretty, and he's taught. Yep, Tolly was Yeah, that man is tall. That man is tall, and that man is pretty. And did you see what he was driving? That man is rich. The enemy of God stands in the valley and he wets his pants. He's a coward, a big, tall, pretty wealthy coward. Verse twenty four. All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid. What do they need? They need a king who is everything that God intends for the king to be. And that's exactly what David demonstrates here. And when you juxtapose David and Saw, you see this. When you juxtapose David and Goliath, you see this several things about the shepherd king, and then we'll move to Christ, who is our ultimate shepherd king. First, the King was intended to shepherd God's people. This shepherding thing is something that we see throughout the Bible. For the sake of time, we won't run through all of it. But notice this. First of all, God is a shepherd. We know this not only from Psalm twenty three, that the Lord is my shepherd, but we know this also even from creation, because in Creation God shepherds Adam and Eve in the garden and brings them to a fruitful place. Abel is a shepherd and offers a better sacrifice than Cain. Noah shepherds the animals onto and then off of the ark. Moses had his life divided into three parts. For forty years he is in Egypt as a prince, and then he is in Midian as a shepherd to sheep, and the last forty years he's in the desert as a shepherd to God's people. The patriarchs were shepherds. Jacob became wealthy shepherding Laban's sheep. Joseph was at home helping his father and then going to see about his brothers and their flocks. The twelve were all shepherds, and in fact, after they're reunited. Listen to what Joseph tells his brothers in Chapter forty six of Genesis, verses thirty three and thirty four. When Pharaoh calls you and says what is your occupation? You shall say, your servants have been keepers of livestock or shepherds, from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers, in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen. For every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians. Kings were seen as shepherds. Psalma says he chose David his servant, and took him from the sheep folds from following the nursing news, and brought him to shepherd Jacob his people Israel his inheritance. David is a shepherd king. The king is intended to shepherd God's people. The prophets were seen as shepherd's. All the leaders were seen this way, and so it's fitting that the man who shows up on the scene. Who's been anointed to be the king who replaces Saul is number one from the tribe of Judah, where the king is supposed to come from, and number two, he's a shepherd, which is the primary job the king of God's people. Secondly, not only does the king shepherd God's people, but the king represents God's people. Goliath sought a champion for battle, basically saying, send me a man who will represent you, Golia say, He says, I will represent the Philistines. Send me a man who will represent you. So what God's people need at this moment is someone who will walk down into the valley as a representative of the people of God and face the enemy of the people of God and defeat the enemy of the people of God, so that in him, all of the people of God will be victorious over this enemy because he serves as their representative substitute. Does that sound familiar. David accepted the challenge on behalf of Israel, and he walked into that valley as Israel's substitute to fight their adversary on their behalf. In essence, when David walks down into the valley of Elah, all of Israel is walking down into the valley with him in him. The king also defends God's people, which is exactly what David does Verses thirty four to thirty six. We can't read all of the text, but some of it you just have to read. David comes before Saul. He can't take it. He just can't take it. He's there to bring food to his brothers. He hears this giant and he's looking around, and basically he asked the question, okay, who's going. Then they tell him Saul is offering a mint to anyone who will go and fight. They'll probably get one of his daughters in marriage. And David, this boy says, okay, who's going, and nobody's going, And essentially he says, fine, I'll go, and he goes before Saul. And here he is making his case. Here's a giant in a valley, three meters tall, and he is a trained killer. He has fought many men. Here stands a little shepherd boy who probably still smells of sheep verse thirty four. But David said, Tosaul, 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. 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, for he has defiled the armies of the Living God. That's just good. Why should we send you, little boy? I'm taller than every man in Israel, I'm the king. I can fight. I've got the best armor money can buy. You don't have armor. Why should I send you? And he answers the question, and it's a very simple answer. The answer is this, this man is defiled the armies of the Living God. God's going to get him. Amen. David is not saying no. This has nothing to do with me being a better fighter than he is. This has to do with the fact that he is defiling the Living God, and he's defiling the armies of the Living God. And God's people must be defended. And if God can use me to defend the sheep against the lion or against the bear, and they did not defile God, they don't need the lion didn't stand under God's judgment. The bear didn't stand under God's judgment. But this man stands under the judgment of Almighty God. If God would deliver into my hands a lion, and he would deliver into my hands a bear, this man doesn't stand a chance. Let me go, that's the king. And look at these two men. Look at these two men. How big was David at this time of Dasaul's chest up to his waist. And Saul is afraid. He is not out in front of his men. He's not accepting the challenge. And here is this little boy who says, letting me at him, let me have him, let me take him. Which one ought to be the king of the people of God? For Samuel seventeen twenty six. Who is this uncircumcised philistine that he should defy the armies of God? For Samuel seventeen thirty six, For he has defiled the armies of the Living God seventeen forty five, the god of the armies of Israel, whom you have defiled. This is really simple, This is really simple. David does not believe that the giant will fall because of his great skill. David does not believe that the giant will fall even because of his great faith. David believes that the giant will fall because of his great God. Which is why it's so ironic that when we read this text, what we tell our children is you need to be more like David, because David was of such great faith that David defeated the giant. Well, David stands here in the text and says, no, I can't defeat this man, but this man can't stand against God. This is not about how great David is. This is about how great God is. Amen. Finally, the king executes God's wrath and vengeance against his enemies. It is interesting that we read this story, or we think about this story, and we tell this story the children, because the fact of the matter is, if this story had been caught on film, most of us would not let our children watch it. Amen, if this had been caught on film, let's look at it Verses forty five to forty seven, and then fifty to fifty one. 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 defiled. There it is again 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 I am a great man of faith. No, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all the assembly, 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 hands. This is this is classic. This is classic. David does not believe he's facing this giant. He believes God is Verse fifty. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. He didn't even go with the sword. Saul's sword was too big, huh. He didn't even go with one. He had his sling and a stone, five of them, and he killed him. 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 his sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. The king executes God's wrath and vengeance against his enemies again. If this had been caught on film, we would not show it to our children. But because we have so misunderstood this text, it's a story that we love to tell our children, and we tell them that it's a story about who they can be and what they can be. And what it ends up doing is either creating a sense of work's righteousness, I just have to work harder and be more like David, or a sense of defeat. I'm not overcoming my enemies, so I must not be this great man of faith. The fact of the matter is this is not about the greatness of David. It's about the greatness of God. The other thing is this is a brutal picture, a brutal picture. This is a violent picture. There are people out there who try to present themselves as the representatives of God, and there are people who we think are godly people, and the representatives of God and usually there are people, you know, we what does godliness look like? And we think godliness looks like Gandhi walking around in robes and pacifism, never lifting a finger against anyone, and godliness looks like whatever. On this day, Godliness used a slingshot to shoot a stone into the forehead of a giant and knock him unconscious. And Godliness went and got a sword and, in one of the most bloody acts in all of the Bible, cut off his head. Godliness was not passive. Godliness was not peaceful. Godliness in this text was violent and bloody, and it was godly. Am I arguing that all violence and all that. No, that's not my point. But my point here is if you don't understand this, then you don't understand God's righteousness. You don't understand what the king is all about. Tewod Samuel chapter seven. David has promised that he will always have a man on the throne, a man who will shepherd God's people, represent God's people, defend God's people, and will execute God's wrath and vengeance against God's enemies. Take Samuel seven fifteen to seventeen, and your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me, your throne shall be established forever. In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David, what does that look like? What does it look like? It looks like Jesus as God's shepherd king like his forefather David. And Jesus is a descendant of David in the line of Judah. He is the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the one who wields the scepter. He is the one who will bring all God's enemies to justice. Matthew Chapter two and verse six. And you o beet the ham in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd God's people Israel. Christ also represents God's people Romans, Chapter five, Verses eighteen and nineteen. Therefore, as one trespass led to the condemnation, led the condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. But how is this? First Peter chapter two, verses twenty four and twenty five. He made he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. Here's our representative, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed, for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and seer of your souls. This brings to mind Isaiah chapter fifty three, verse six. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And finally, said Corinthians five twenty one, for our sake, he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God. In him. Christ is our representative and our substitute. And when we watched David, his forefather, walk down into the valley and face Goliath, we are seeing a foreshadowing of Christ, our great shepherd King, who goes into the greatest of all valleys and fights and defeats the greatest of all foes. And all of those of us who place our faith in Christ, are represented in that act as Christ defeats death and hell and the grave, and sin and the consequences of sin are born by Christ, so that our shepherd King, as our representatives, brings victory to us on his behalf. This is what David and Goliath is all about. Christ also defends his people, and he continues to defend us Hebrews Chapter seven, Verses twenty three to twenty five. The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office. But he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for us. Beloved, Jesus is defending us even now Romans eight thirty four. Who is to condemn Christ? Jesus is the one who died more than that who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us at this very moment, our shepherd King is defending us. Finally, Christ executes God's wrath and vengeance against his enemies. We love the picture of lowly Jesus making mild We love the picture of Jesus the beautiful shampoo model, where the sheep draped across his shoulders. We love the picture of Jesus looking soft. But in Relations chapter nineteen, we have another picture. Beginning in verse eleven. Then I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse. The one sitting on it is called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war right. My Jesus is a man of war. His eyes are like flames of fire, and on his head are many diadems, because he's king, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of Heaven, arrayed in fineland and white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written King of Kings and Lord of lords. Christ will execute vengeance and wrath against the enemies of God, just like his forefather David, who took a sword and cut off the head of an enemy of God. Is this to glorify violence? This is absolutely not to glorify violence. But this is the point of the fact that the violent will not get away with it. God's vengeance will come. It will always come, which is why we don't have to vindicate ourselves. How then, do we apply this If the application of this text is not do better, be better, be more like David. Amen, And that wonderful when you tell your children, do better, be better, be more like David, and then you go to David and Bathsheba, and they yes, see, because okay, because when Dave, David, when he when he was, when he was, when he was when he killed the giant, and you said, you said you should be like David. And now David, who's he's the woman she was on the roof and stuff, and he took he took that woman, and I should I be like? Should I be like that? Now? Maybe you have children who don't connect the dots like that yet, but they will if we read the Old Testament like that and the moral of the story like we're reading Esop's fables is be like this guy. What do you do when you get to the text that shows that this guy is a sinner in need of a savior? Well, don't be like this guy. Well then here's my other question, Daddy, how do I know when to be like this guy and when not to be like this guy? But if we teach them that there is one big story and that we always read Old Testament narrative with Christ in view, we don't have to worry about that. What is so great about David here? He is a picture of the king who is to come. He is imperfect, but the King who's coming is not amen. So why do we apply this first? We gotta view David and other Old Testament characters rightly. He's not a picture of what we are to try to be. He's not our savior. He's a picture shadow and the type. David reminds us that we need a savior, just like he did on his best day as he stands there defeating the giant. He is a man in need of a savior. David also reminds us that we have a great shepherd king. God did not leave Israel without a shepherd king, and he will not leave you without a shepherd king. Secondly, the text reminds us that we must learn to trust the Lord. If there's anything that we take away from this, we take away a picture of a young man who trusted God, and he was right to do so. God has never left his people without a shepherd king to defend them. Israel's defenders were temporary and they were imperfect. But our defender is eternal and without sin or spot or blemish. Amen. Our defender will never lead us wrongly. You tell your kids to be like David, and you're gonna have to apologize eventually. In the text, you tell them to be like Jesus, and you can never have to blink. Amen. However, we must remember that we do not belong to an earthly kingdom. This is important. We belong to a heavenly one. So we're not looking for an earthly David who will defend the church. Amen. Our kingdom is not of this world. Our God may not defeat all of our earthly foes in the here and the now. And this is important to remember as well, because this is one of the things we do when we read this text wrongly. We finish on this great high note. If you're like David, you'll be the head and not the tail. If you're like David, then you'll defeat all your enemies. If you're like David, then you'll defeat that hey man, and all of us are sweating and shouting, and then we go outside and you get sick and you die. What does that mean about the text? Well, you just must not have had enough faith, because if you had enough faith, you would defeat the enemy cancer, just like David defeated the enemy Goliath. Raise your hand if you've heard that before. This is the lie that we're told when we read the text wrongly. We don't belong to an earthly kingdom. Our king defends us, our king represents us, and our king will always be victorious. But we do not live for an earthly kingdom. We are waiting for a kingdom that is yet to come, and he will be victorious. You can walk out of here and get hit by a bus, and that will still be true. You can walk out of here and drop dead from an aneurysm, and that will still be true. You can walk out of here and lose everything you own, and that will still be true. But when we read this text wrongly, It calls all of our theology into question, because all of a sudden, when life happens to us like it happens to everyone else, we have to explain why it didn't come true. You read this rightly. You never have to explain anything. Amen. God will defeat all of our enemies. People will mistreat you, will hurt you, people will disappoint you. And what our tendency is is our tendency is to shake our fists and either say, God, make me like David so I can hit him with a slingshot and cut off their head, Or bring me a David who'll do it for me. He already has, He already has, and his name is Jesus. And no one will ever get away with anything. But be careful, saints, because that means you won't either. Huh. The only difference between me and the person who does me harm is that if I have trusted in Christ, the vengeance of God was poured out on Christ instead of me. How dare I How dare I shake my fist at someone else? How dare I accuse God of not being because he does not do harm to someone who did harm to me, when the only reason he hasn't done harm to me is because Christ took my penalty on the cross. How dare I? But here's the other thing. How dare I desire having been freed from my own sin? How dare I desire having been forgiven by Christ? How dare I then turn around toward you and say, what I want for you, more than anything else, is for God to get you for what you did to me. You know what, If I'm truly in Christ, that's not what I want. If I'm truly in Christ, what I want more than anything else is for what you did to me to be nailed to the cross, just like my sin was. If I'm truly in Christ, he is our King and our great defender, and all that is wrong will be set right, and for that we praise God. I can think of no better way to end than to end with the words of Hebrews Chapter twelve. I'm sorry, Chapter thirteen, Chapter thirteen, Verses twenty and twenty one. And I leave you with this. And as you turn there, hear me. You who are saints of God, hear me. He is our shielder defender, He is our great King, He is our great shepherd king. He shepherds us. He represents us, he defends us, and he will avenge us. Amen, you are here today and you have not trusted Christ. You don't get the first three, you just get the fourth. He's not your shepherd, he's not your representative. He's not your defender. But he is the shepherd king who will execute God's vengeance against you. Unless you trust in him, unless you turn from your sin and turn to Christ, you are under the federal headship of another. You are an enemy of God unless and until you have placed you a faith in Jesus Christ. Unless and until you have turned from your sin and you have trusted in Him and him alone, you cannot, must, not, will not have any hope of him as your shepherd king. Only only it's the king of vengeance and wrath to whom you will one day answer. But my prayer for you that that is not the case. My prayer for you, it's the God, by his grace, would grant you faith and that you would flee to Christ, and that you too would enjoy this benedictory word, this dunxy logical word from Hebrews. Now may the God of Peace who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the Eternal Covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen, Father, we thank you for your goodness and your kindness, and your mercy and your grace toward us. We thank you for our King, who shepherds us, who represents us, who defends us, and who defeats all of your foes, which means that he in turn defeats all of our foes. Father, we ask that you would grant us faith, that you would grant us repentance, that you would remind us that this great shepherd King is also the one who died and who endured your wrath that was intended for us. Grant by your grace that we might trust him, that we might praise him, that we might worship him, that we might serve him, that we might delight in him. For we ask this in his name and for his sake. Amenh