God's Glory, God's Kingdom & You

Let's pray together, shall we? Father, now we pray that you would be pleased to speak to our hearts, that you would help us as we seek to understand. Father, we are dependent upon you. Your word is given to us in order for us to understand the world in which we live. It's given to us to understand ourselves and to understand you. And so I pray that that's what would happen this morning.

And Lord, having learned that we would serve you better. So now I pray, help us as we look at your word in Jesus' name. Amen. Catechism asks the question, what is the chief end of man? If you've been in this church for any number of years, you know that the catechism's response as the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Jesus taught us that.

Jesus taught us, as He taught us to pray, that the very first petition in our prayer should be, Our Father in Heaven, what? Hallowed be Your name. In other words, we're praying for the fact that people would count God holy. The very first petition that Jesus taught us to pray was that people would glorify God. We are to glorify God in all that we do. Now, we can consider merely the command of glorifying God and look at that this morning, or we can see him stride on the stage of human affairs and show us how that works.

And so that's what we're going to do today. We're going to look at 1 Samuel chapter 17, one of the most familiar stories in all of the Bible, the story of David and Goliath. And you're saying today, well, what does that have to do with the glory of God? Isn't that about that God gives us courage so we can slay all the giants in our lives? And the answer is no.

That's not why that chapter is there. It's there for a very specific reason. So you follow along as I read most of 1 Samuel 17. Now, this is a very familiar story. So pay attention to the words. Watch what happens, okay?

Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle and they were gathered at Soka which belongs to Judah and encamped between Soka and Ezekiel in Ephesdamim And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the Valley of Elah 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 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. 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 600 shekels of iron. And his 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 might fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Now David was the son of an Ephratite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul, the man was already old and advanced in years.

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 Abinadab, and the third Shammah. David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand morning and evening.

Jesse said to his son David, Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers. Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. So if your brothers are well, see if your brothers are well and bring some token from them. Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines.

And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with the keeper and took the provisions and went as Jesse had commanded him 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. 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. And David heard him. all the men of Israel when they saw the man fled from him and were much afraid and the men of Israel said have you seen this man who's come up surely he's come up to defy Israel and the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel and David said to the man who stood by him what shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel for who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God.

And the people answered him in the same way, So shall it be done to the man who kills him. Now Eliab, his eldest brother, heard what he spoke to the men, and Eliab's anger was kindled against David. And he said, Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you've come down to see the battle.

And David said, What have I done now? what is 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. 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. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.

And Saul said to David, 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. 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, 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 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 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 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. 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. 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 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'll give I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field. 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.

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. When the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.

David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. 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. 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.

He cut off his head with it. When the Philistine saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 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 Sha'arim as far as Gath and Ekron. 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. So reads that very familiar story. I want to take some time to understand more of what God intends for us from this passage. This passage has been used for many, many different purposes. Let's see what it says to us. Let's see what the purpose of this passage is.

What is this story about David and Goliath all about anyway? well here's the first you because this is about you by the way remember what we saw earlier this summer all these things were written for us upon whom the end of the ages has come you as God's people will meet with defiance slander and insult and that will be aimed against the glory of God now the Philistines have once Osmore moved in from the coast to do battle with its arch antagonist, Israel. The Philistines occupied the coastal areas. The Israelites were in the hills.

They hadn't conquered all the land yet. They were to conquer all the way to the coast. The Philistines are a pretty powerful foe. By the way, for some of you history fanatics, let me say this. We're in the transition between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Remember that from high school?

Right? What's going on here? The Philistines have a technological advantage. They have iron. Israelites do not. You see?

And so part of the equation in fighting these Philistines and really believing whether God will deliver is to know Philistines have a technological advantage over the Israelites in terms of their weaponry and their chariots. All right? So they're moving in to fight their arch antagonist, Israel. They encountered the Israeli forces about 12 miles west of Bethlehem, David's town, in a valley called Elah.

Now today if you'd go there, you'd see these hillsides with oak trees growing on both sides with a brook or a stream running in the middle of that valley. The Israeli forces camp on one side, the Philistines camp on the other. But for some reasons, the Philistines aren't going to engage their forces. who knows why not we don know but if you read earlier you know that Saul and his son Jonathan have been a thorn in their side They have been whipping the Philistines like crazy And maybe that why they haven engaged But for some reason, they haven't engaged the Israelis.

The battle lines are established when out from the Philistine line comes this guy who's nine and a half feet tall. He's nine feet, six inches tall. His name is Goliath. He's wearing a bronze helmet, a coat of male armor, that weighs 125 pounds. Imagine fighting with 125 pounds. Well, if you're 9'6", you're probably pretty strong.

Maybe it doesn't make that much of a difference. His huge legs are armored, and his shield, large enough to almost cover his whole body, goes before him. He wears a sword. He carries a javelin slung over his shoulder, and behind him some attendants carry a spear whose point weighs 15 pounds. Can you imagine hurling that thing? Well, the javelin's for hurling.

The spear is for jabbing. All right? But it weighs 15 pounds. The head, the point alone weighs 15 pounds. There's absolutely no opening against this guy. All right?

He comes out to challenge and insult the Israeli forces. Now, this is what you call champion fighting, right? It's where instead of the forces engaging, you send out someone to fight. Whoever wins, wins for everybody. And that's what he's trying to do here. But in the process, he defies and he slanders.

This is the key to understanding Goliath. He's a guy who's insulting them and their God. You've got to see that. In verse 8, he insults Saul. Verse 8, 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 the servants of Saul? Are you not the servants of that great warrior king? Right? Verse 10, and the Philistine said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. He defies Israel's army.

You may say, what's so great about that? Well, look at these verses as we go through. Look at verse 26. And David said to the man who stood by him What shall be done for the man who kills his Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God Now, you may not make much of that, but you've got to understand in the Old Testament, these are God's people by covenant.

That army is God's army. That army are the people of God to accomplish the purposes of God. It's not like the armies we have today. This is God's army. Truly, the only time in the history of the world where an army could be God's, this is it. It's God's army.

It's Yahuwah's army. Look over at verse 36, where David is talking to Saul. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them. For he has, what? Defied the armies of the living God. These are the armies of the living God.

He's insulting the armies of the living God. Now jump down to verse 45. David's still talking to Saul. Then David said to the, I'm sorry, this is him talking to Goliath. You come to me with a sword and 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. All right?

He's defied God. He's defied God. Well, what's so great about that? What's so bad about that? All right? Keep going. 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 for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into my hand.

What's the point? The point is he's insulting and defying God himself. He is defying the glory of God. Alright? This is not about just a couple of armies meeting. This is about God against these guys.

And by the way, later on, and we'll get to it, when Goliath curses David by his gods, when they fought those battles, what they were thinking is, these are the battles between our gods. Alright? It not just us against them it our gods against this thing that you call your god What at stake here What is at stake It's the glory of God. That's what's at stake.

That's what this is all about. Okay? I hope you're getting the, the, sensing this. Alright? This is not written to tell you about a courageous young guy who goes out and kills a bad guy. This is about the glory of God.

This is about someone who is insulting God, who is saying your God is worth nothing. Now you heard the story that happened some 300 years later with Hezekiah. Did you hear that? Did you listen to the scripture reading? I know it was long. I realize it was long.

But did you get it at the end? What did Hezekiah do? He spreads out that letter from the king of Assyria. And what does the king of Assyria said all the way through, through his messenger? What did he say? Your God, all these other gods didn't save their people.

Your God's not going to save you. Right? Did you catch that? And Hezekiah lays that letter out before God and he says, God, your glory's at stake here. Defeat these people so that they know there is a God. Do you see the point?

That's the point of this chapter. Or one of the points of this chapter is that this is about the glory of God. but no one wants to meet the challenge. They all cower in fear, including, note, the warrior king Saul. He too cowers in fear. He's in his tent. He's offering a reward for anybody to go out and fight Goliath.

This defiance, this slander, this insult continues for 40 days, twice a day. And the question is, who will meet the challenge? Now, not to draw, you know, Too broad of a point, but nothing has changed. God's people today are slandered, insulted, and defied. And God's glory, in the same breath, is defied. We have people today who openly defy what God says.

They don't care what he says. They don't care about his glory. Those who live in darkness, who are blind to the glories of God and of Christ, will look upon his people with derision and hate. Who's the person who glorified God the most ever in the history of the world? Who was it? The answer is really simple.

Jesus. And what happened to him? They nailed him to a cross, didn't they? Yeah. Yeah. Right?

That's the way it always happens. It happened to them. It happened to Jesus, who's the apex of it all. It's going to happen to us. And we need to understand that. But who's going to meet the challenge?

All right? Now look, at this point, let's be careful about looking down our noses at Saul and his forces. Because we're like this every day. Right? We don't share the gospel. Or we don't stand for righteousness.

We are not righteous ourselves because we're afraid of the people around us. And when we do that, we're not caring for the glory of God either. Remember, David at one point said, so you and this assembly knows that there's one God, right? Not just you, Philistines, but our own people will know that God is clearly God. We're too much like them to be haughty.

Now, what's the key element that's lacking here? Some would say courage. Yeah, that's partly. Some would say leadership. Yeah, they're not being led very well. There's not a lack of equipment.

What is the lack of? What is missing in this story? Faith. Trusting God. That's what's missing in this story. God had promised that they would clear the land.

They hadn't done it yet. They had to believe the covenant promises of God. they weren't believing it. Alright? Now, pick it up in verse 17 now. We'll go through 17 through 39. By the way, I'm not going to read it again, okay?

You just glance over it and see what we're looking at. 17 through 39. God motivates you to meet that challenge. He motivates you to meet that challenge. It's at this point in the story that David makes his entrance. Now, here's the thing we have to get in our heads, alright?

The book of 1 Samuel is basically the story of God choosing the proper king for his people. Alright? The basic idea of 1 Samuel is about God establishing his king on the throne. The first part of the book, up to chapter 16, is about Saul, the lost king. Saul, the failure king. Saul, the king that people wanted, but that God wouldn have chosen and it tells a story about the kind of king that God wants and the kind of king that God wants to lead his people It's the story of God choosing the proper king.

The intention of this writer in this story is to show that David is qualified to lead the nation. That's the bottom line here. David is qualified to lead the nation. But we have to never forget that the king of Israel was intended to lead not just a nation, but to lead the people of God. To lead the people of God. To lead God's nation in obeying God.

To lead God's nation in serving God. That was the role of the king. Alright? We have to get that in our mind. The king is not just any king. He is actually the king of God's people.

And he is supposed to lead them in obedience and service to God. He's the one who leads them. That's why when you get later in the history, and you see bad king, judgment, good king, blessing. Why is that? Because the king represents the nation. And he's to lead them in obeying God.

Now can I say something here? God was not angry because the people wanted a king. That's what we hear all the time. God was not angry because the people wanted a king. Because long before, in the book of Deuteronomy, the law laid out what a king was supposed to do when he was put on the throne. God always intended them for to have a king.

So why did he get so mad when they asked for a king? Because if you read the story carefully, notice what it says. Give us a king like all the other nations, who will lead us into battle and win our battles. What are they saying? We're not satisfied. God had said, I will win your battles.

You can have a king, but I'm the one who's going to win your battles. They're putting their trust in a man. And what kind of a king do they want? They want a warrior king. Isn't it interesting that the king they get is a big strapping guy, isn't he? And the king they get is a good strategist. when you read the story of Saul and Jonathan, man, they're whooping the Philistines all the time.

Right? Who wouldn't want a king like that? And then when you come to David in chapter 16 what kind of a guy is he He the kind of guy that even his dad says when Samuel says do you have any other sons? And he goes, David, but... David, you don't want that kid for a king. I mean, come on, he's out watching the sheep.

I've got the best guys here. These are the guys you want. Do you see the point? the point is God gets a king that no one else would choose as a king the little guy the one who no one would see as a king that's the point but here's the point that you've got to see why David, why this runt why the runt of the litter why does God want him as king he hasn't proved himself as a mighty warrior why he's a man of faith.

He believes God. You see the point? You can get your king. He's a mighty warrior. He's got everything you might want in a leader. But he's not what I want in a leader.

I want a man of faith. I want a man who believes my promises. I want a man who march believing that I'm the one who'll deliver. You see? so this is the story of a man whose call is evidenced by the faith and the trust in the might and power of god and his desire for god's glory his desire for god's glory so david arrives on the battlefield not to fight but to bring the supplies and he arrives just as the troops are mustering for battle he forgets his errand he gets out in the with the troops and he starts asking questions.

After he hears Goliath's insulting challenge and watching the men's reactions. David knows nothing of the reward that Saul has offered yet. He hasn't heard about that yet. That's not what motivates him. His older brother accuses him of arrogance and a desire for adventure. But what moves David?

This is what motivates him. This is what moves him. Is the fact that this pagan is defying God's army. This pagan is insulting God himself. And that makes him angry. That's the point.

He angry because this man is insulting the glory of God David alone sees what the real issue is David is the one who sees what the real issue is And the issue is, no one is acknowledging God's glory. No one is acknowledging God as God. Not the Philistine. And who else isn't acknowledging God as God? His people. Neither are acknowledging God as the one. who's powerful and mighty and whose glory and fame is the most important thing.

Nobody sees that. You see? Everyone else can only see this incredible warrior. They're only worried about preserving their lives. Word reaches the king about this young firebrand and he's summoned. David commits himself to fight the battle.

Verse 32. He says, I'll do it. Saul's a little reluctant. But David makes his defense. I've killed bears and lions, right? Besides, here's the major point.

This Philistine does not stand a chance because he has defied God. So Saul tries to outfit him. David's not used to those kinds of weapons. And so he declines. And he goes off to battle. Now, let's talk about us now.

What motivates you? Are you motivated by the glory of God? Are you motivated by the fame of God? Are you motivated by the fact that you want other people to acknowledge God? We're too often blinded by the comforts and attractions of this life. We're blinded by those things.

By the way, we don't have people breathing down our necks and chopping off our heads and threatening us. I think our problem is we're too comfortable and we're too distracted by all the junk food of the world out there. But we are afraid to say anything about Christ or for righteousness because we're more interested in ourselves than God's glory. By the way, what's the bottom line?

Why should you witness to people? You say, well, that's easy to get them saved. No. You share the gospel with people so God's name will be hallowed. It's the way God... What answers that first petition that Jesus taught us to pray?

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. How is that going to happen? When people come to Christ and fall before Him, acknowledge Him as Lord, and live for Him, for the glory of God. Why do you go to work in the morning? You say, that's easy, so my family can eat. No! that's the arena where the glory of God will be magnified by the way you work right you see that's what it's about the glory of God that kind of a desire will chase out fear isn't it interesting you know what when I sit down with someone and I hate using the word counseling because it's really discipleship is what it is but when I sit down with someone to counsel there's one thing I want them to get really quickly what's the purpose of all this why are we doing this he says I'll do anything to get my wife back no that's not why we're doing this I'd love to get your wife back and let's see how you can change and maybe make that a little easier but our goal here is this that you glorify God that people will look at you and they will say, wow, God must exist.

Look at what's happened to you. So whether you get your wife back or not, there's one thing you want to do and that's to glorify God. That you're going to change in such a way that people will praise God. That is what ought to drive everything that we do. That's what drove David. This guy.

My people don't see God. That guy certainly doesn't see God. We're here for the glory of God. The fame of God is at stake. What are we going to do about this? That's why he was so angry.

Finally, how does God glorify himself? God uses people of faith to glorify himself. So David goes off to battle. he's armed with a shepherd's staff and his sling but no armor now he not a little boy by the way and I don normally do this but this is the Hebrew word na And that means youth or young man It could be anyone. He could be 20 years old by this time.

He's not a little boy. He's a young man. Probably around 20, maybe a little bit older. And he has a sling. Now understand, a sling is not a child's toy. obviously David has used it alright a sling is not a toy look back at Judges for a moment Judges chapter 20 um Verses 15 and 16. Among all these were 700 chosen men who were left-handed.

Every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. And the men of Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered 400,000 men who drew the sword. All these were men of war. There were 700 guys who were left-handed who could use a sling to kill people. All right? This was a weapon.

I'm sure David used it with the sheep to protect the sheep. It's a weapon, okay? Now, it's not so much of a weapon for us because, by the way, and it's not a slingshot. Right? That's not what he's got. They didn't have rubber back then yet.

Alright? It's a piece of cloth about like that with two strings tied to it. you put a stone in it, you take both those and you go like this and you let one of the strings go and it sends that stone flying. That's what he had. Okay, so all you young people here, all you little kids, it's not a slingshot, okay? It's a sling. It's a weapon.

He picked five stones out of the brook. Why do you think he did that? Because he might not get the job done with the first one. He knows that. He's going into battle. Please note this.

At least understand this When you read this chapter note this Faith does not mean inaction Faith does not mean I don do anything right In fact his faith is proved by what he does He's so confident, he's so confident he's going to kill Goliath, that he goes. He does something, right? And so faith is not inaction. Faith will always express itself somehow. do you believe God? well then go get the job done go do it and God will get the job done for you now Goliath can't believe it he sees this beardless young man come out of the Israeli lines carrying a staff in one hand and a sling in the other and he says am I a dog that you come at me with sticks referring to his staff he's insulting David of course and it's at this point the two warriors engage in what you might call theological trash talk.

Alright? This is theological trash talk. Goliath starts out with cursing him and calling on his gods to make the curse effective. Right? He's going to make the curse effective. So he calls curses down on David in the name of his gods and then says to David I'm going to give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field today.

And then, of course, David responds. This, to me, actually, this is my favorite part of the story. And look how David responds, right? He says, oh yeah? 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. This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down and cut off your head.

And I'll give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day. In other words, I'll give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds. You say, are you going to feed me to the birds? We're going to feed you to the birds. Right? And the beasts.

Why? Why? Again, key phrase, 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 Alright So they engage in that theological trash talk for a while And then they go at it David rushes at him with his sling flying unleashing the stone and bringing Goliath down.

And having knocked him out, he grabs his sword, he kills him, and then whacks off his head. And at that, the Israeli armies come alive. They move down one side of the hills. They run across the valley. They move up the other side of the hill, and they chase the Philistines all the way back home. What's the point?

Simply this. God uses people of faith to glorify His name. God uses people of faith to glorify His name. It's faith that's the key. Not abilities. Not power.

Not what the world would use. It's faith. It's faith. God will show himself great and glorious not necessarily through fantastic, powerful, grand means, but through ordinary people who trust him. You know what? Many of us would rather make America great again than magnify the name of God.

And listen. It doesn't take faith to organize and to grab the levers of political power. That doesn't take faith. It takes organizational skill and the ability to vote. That's not faith. But trusting God in the face of opposition is the best way of magnifying his name. ordinary people exercising faith that's what will change things if they're motivated by the glory of God ordinary people walking in faith trusting God in the midst of evil glorifies God let's look at one passage where all this comes together it's in 1 Peter chapter 2 here's the David and Goliath situation 1 Peter 2 Beginning in verse 18.

This you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree 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 overseer of your soul. Notice what he says here. You're treated badly at work. You've got a horrible master. God doesn't say, then, organize and get rid of the oppressor.

You know what he says? He says, follow the example of Jesus, who trusted God, who put his faith in God, and then endured. Now that not easy to say That how we change the face of things For the glory of God By the way when you do it mindful of God. What do you think he's talking about there? You're mindful of God. You're mindful of His glory.

That's what's motivating you. And he says, follow this example. This is how you magnify God. Why? By faith. Or how?

By faith. Like Jesus, follow His example. He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. He didn't revile. He didn't just give them what they gave. I'm going to give it back to them.

He didn't do that. He entrusted Himself to the judge who judges justly. And He says to us, that's the example you follow. Follow the example of Jesus' faith. You see? Against those overpowering people and situations in your life you live by faith.

Now, you can do this because the one greater than David to whom David pointed has gone before you. This is the very same passage. David's pointing this way. The very person of David and his actions point this way. What did Jesus do? Jesus trusted His Father and defeated our enemies.

Now I don want you to miss this Jesus entrusted himself to God and defeated his enemies Doesn look like looks like they defeated him right Well what happened after he died He was raised God says, he was right. He's the victorious one. What do you think is going to happen to you? The same thing is true of us. Jesus trusted his father and defeated our enemies.

Just like David, if you will, defeated Goliath. and then the rest of the forces fell, defeated the foe. All right? Jesus is like David by his faith. Now look, verse 24 and 25 talks about what Jesus did at the cross. Peter's not changing the subject here. You know what he's saying?

Like David, Jesus by his faith secured the deliverance of God's people. Verse 24 is rightly connected to verse 23. Because Jesus operated by faith. What? He secured our deliverance. By His faith, He secured our salvation.

By His faith, He accomplished the purpose of God. You see? because Jesus entrusted himself to the Father. He was able to fulfill his purpose to deliver the people of God. So, there are still people today as there always has been who defy and blaspheme the name of God How do we fight back We fight back with the weapon of faith and the gospel. David's battle is still our battle.

The question is, how are we going to fight? How are we going to fight? We're going to fight with a faith that moves us to action. We're not going to think about ourselves. we're going to think of the glory of God. The recognition of God's glory is at stake. And we have to be motivated by a desire for people to see God's glory not the rightness necessarily of our cause, but that they will see the glory of God as we fight by faith.

May God help us to do that. And may God help you to see the story of David and Goliath in a totally different light. In the right light. By God's glory and our faith. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word.

We pray, Lord, that we would be a faithful people. That our faith would move us to defend the glory of our God by living in ways that defy the way the world operates. Help us, we pray. We ask this in the name of Jesus, the one who secured our deliverance, who by his death empowers us to live like he did by faith. Amen.