Our scripture reading this morning is from 1 Samuel 17. If you're looking at your pew Bible, that should be on page 305. 1 Samuel 17, the well-known story of David and Goliath. I'll be reading 1 Samuel 17 all the way down to verse 54. Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. And they were gathered at Succa, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Succa and Asca in Ephestamim. 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. 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, and 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 the words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Now David was the son of an Ephrathite 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 into the battle, and the names of his three sons who went into battle were Eliab, the firstborn, 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. 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. Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousands. 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 a 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 has come up? Surely he has 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 men 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 when 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 have come down to see the battle. And David said, What have I done now? 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. 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, 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. 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 its mouth. 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. When 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 bare 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 at 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. 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 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 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. The stone sank into his forehead and he fell onto 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 its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. 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 Sherem 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 far the reading. that's a long story but it's an inspirational story it's an amazing story it's the kind of story that so rightly lines the hall of faith in Hebrews 11 where the writer says for time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah and David and Samuel who out of weakness were made strong who became valiant in battle and who turned to flight the armies of the aliens It's an amazing story, but it's also a story that is misused on a weekly basis. If you follow sports at all, you probably hear a reference to David and Goliath, I don't know, two or three times a week. And it's always referencing some big money, big market sports team that comes into town against some small local team, and they call it a David and Goliath battle. And the sad thing is that Goliath usually wins in those circumstances. Other big name authors want to use the story of David and Goliath to talk about social struggles. To talk about how the small, agile David really had such an advantage over this great, lumbering Goliath. And how the small, agile David is a metaphor for all the social struggles we see. How oppressed minorities can fight back against great, lumbering bureaucracies. And if you think this is a joke, it's in your local library. David and Goliath is a metaphor for everything from junior girls basketball to the Holocaust. Everything from dyslexia to the fight for civil rights. It's a metaphor for all of life. And there's no God required. Of course, it's one thing if the world misuses the Bible. I mean, we kind of expect that. But preachers want to do the same thing. Preachers always want to take a text and make it so practical. So they ask questions like, what armor are you wearing that is weighing you down? Or where can you find the river to find the five smooth stones to defeat the giants in your life? Or maybe more seductively, they'll ask questions like, are you like David? Do you have faith like David to defeat the evil one? And Christians get burdened with questions like that because when we look inside of ourselves, when we ask ourselves, do I have faith to defeat the evil one time and time again, we look at ourselves and we say no. So often the evil one seems to defeat me. And while it may be easy to see the wrong questions, it's much more difficult to answer the right ones. What does this story tell us? What is God doing here? And are we in this story at all? Brothers and sisters, in this passage, we get to watch as God uses his selected champion to save his hopeless and cowering people. And so the purpose of this passage is to communicate to us that because God's champion has won the victory, we need not cower in fear. Because God's champion has won the victory, we need not cower in fear. And we'll see that in three different sections of the story. First, we will see the cursed challenger, who is Goliath. Second, we will see the chosen champion, David. And finally, the conquering cheer, the place where we find ourselves in the story. The cursed challenger, the chosen champion, and the conquering cheer. And so our text begins, verse 1. Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle, and they were gathered at Succoth, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Succa and Ascah in Ephestamim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the Valley of Elah and drew up in a 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. So the Israelites and the Philistines have come to battle against one another. And they're in this valley, the Valley of Elah. And if we want to picture it, they're on two sides of this valley. And of course, neither army wants to go down into the valley because then you're fighting an uphill battle. So they're at a stalemate. They don't want to retreat and they don't want to move forward. So, in verse 8, we have a solution. Goliath 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. The solution is champion warfare. The sort of battle where one man can go out and represent an entire army. And these kinds of battles were actually fairly common in Greece, in Mesopotamia, in Egypt, in the Arab world. If you want to think of an example, think of Hector and Achilles at the Battle of Troy. How at the end of the battle, all you have left are these two champions. And the winner wins the battle. And at the end of the Iliad, you read that Achilles wins. And so ends the battle of Troy and begins the siege of Troy. And of course, champion warfare was a natural choice for the Philistines. I mean, look at who they have on their side. They have a human tank. He's 10 feet tall. The head of his spear weighs 15 pounds. His armor, 125 pounds. He's a killing machine. As Saul says later, he's trained from his youth as a soldier. while David was only a youth. To be chosen to fight against Goliath is not an opportunity. It's hardly even a fight. It's a death sentence. It's like you or I going hand-to-hand with a Marine. I mean, you don't have a chance. This guy's going to crush you. Quite frankly, Goliath is the single most dangerous enemy to the people of God since the Garden of Eden. Since the Garden of Eden where God said, I will put enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. I will put enmity between your seed and her seed. And while this enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent has been going on throughout the Old Testament, and you see it right away in Genesis 4 where Cain kills Abel, this enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent has now come to a pinnacle. The seed of the serpent has come to its peak in the man Goliath. And so the text begs this question. The enemies of God have presented this champion. And who will represent the seed of the woman? Who will represent God and his people? And we find out pretty quickly that it's not going to be Saul. Verse 11 we read, Saul, who's supposed to be the leader, he's the king. I mean, if you look back at chapter 10 of 1 Samuel, one of the few qualifications that Saul had to be king was that he was taller than everyone else. And yet, now, as before, Saul's overcome by fear. And why is he overcome by fear? Because in chapter 15, Samuel said to Saul, God has torn away the kingdom from you. And God will give the kingdom to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. Saul's afraid because in chapter 16, God took away that equipping work of the Holy Spirit and sent a spirit of fear on Saul. And Saul is not going to test God's curse. So he's afraid. Saul's not going to risk losing his kingdom. He's not going to seek God because he's rejected God's guidance. And he looks at Goliath in a human way. He doesn't see that this is spiritual warfare, that this is Satan's challenge against the people of God. He doesn't even think of God. He doesn't think God has anything to do with this problem. And so often that's how we approach our problems, our spiritual battles, isn't it? Whether it be those spiritual oppressions that come from outside of us, you know, things like Supreme Court decisions, government executive orders, things that put pressure on us, make us fear that we're going to be attacked, legal fears where we're afraid to say what we think we need to say. We have this spiritual warfare constantly coming against us as the church of Jesus Christ. And so often we forget to think of how God may be playing a role in us in that. And yet, it's not only those things. It's not only those external spiritual battles that come against us, but it's also the internal ones. Sins like lying, sins like anger, taking pride in our own intelligence, gossiping, slandering, those battles we fight every day against sin, and sometimes those battles that we give up on, where sometimes we have those sins that we don't hate anymore, where maybe we say to ourselves, this is just how God made me. I just tend to fly off the handle. This is just how I am, and nothing's ever going to change that. I'm 60 years old. It's never going to change. And what we're really saying is, I give up. We're seeing this foe inside of ourselves and we're saying it's too big. It's too strong. And I can't fight it anymore. This is just who I am. And we give in to the power of sin. The devil is too strong for us. Our flesh, our human nature is too strong. And that power, brothers and sisters, that power we feel pressing against us, that is the power we see embodied in Goliath. The flesh and blood representative of the seed of the serpent who attacks the people of God. And as Satan and his forces press against us, and as we forget God's power and protection, we feel like if we fight it in our own strength, we will lose. And the fact is, brothers and sisters, if we were to fight it in our own strength, we would lose. Every single time. But thanks be to God that he has a chosen champion for us. And in our text, while Saul shrinks back, God's chosen champion does not. We're talking about David. David, who after he was made armor bearer in Saul's court, has now been going back and forth to tend the sheep with his father in Bethlehem and now is coming back. As we said last time when we looked at 1 Samuel 16 a couple months ago, part of David coming into Saul's court was for him to be prepared for this very day. That David would now be given the opportunity to see Goliath because he was serving in Saul's court. And so now as he comes back to the battle line to serve at Saul's right hand once again, He sees Goliath, but he sees something even more disturbing in verse 24. All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid. The soldiers, when Goliath steps out, the soldiers scatter. They don't want any part of what Goliath is offering. They're terrified and they're despondent. And Saul is long gone. As the man who hid behind the baggage a few chapters earlier, now we see David step forward, stepping beyond the baggage, and he's shocked. Verse 26, this is what he says. David said to the men 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? This is David's amazing faith. His faith that's not subject to fear. His faith that takes a perspective on what's going on and sees that while Goliath is a tank in the eyes of men, he's nothing in the eyes of God. Even more than that, he's an uncircumcised nothing. And we may want to skip over that phrase, uncircumcised, but we really shouldn't. Circumcision is an essential part of God's old covenant people. Remember in Genesis 17, that circumcision is a sign of God's everlasting covenant with His people. It's a sign and seal of God's faithfulness to His people. That God will be with His people. And passing on that sign and seal of circumcision was an act of obedience on the part of the parents. And what was represented by that sign of circumcision, the blood of circumcision, Because on the one hand, there could be salvation through blood. And on the other hand, those who rejected God would fall under judgment. Blessing and judgment were represented by circumcision. And so David is calling to mind the fact that Goliath is uncircumcised. He is not one of the people of God, but instead he is ready, he is fit for God's judgment. God has no faithfulness for Goliath, but he only has faithfulness for his people. And so David recognizes right off the bat, I will be given the victory. God will not let the seed of the serpent crush his covenant people. And yet, right off the bat, as David becomes motivated, his brothers try to hinder him in verse 28. Now Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab's anger was kindled against David. And he says, 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 have come down to see the battle. And David said, what have I done now? Was it not but a word? There's one thing we get from those two verses. It's that sibling relationships haven't changed much in 3,000 years. David's about to do this great thing, and his brother says, no, don't do it. You can't go and fight Goliath. Reminds us of Peter in Matthew 16 when Jesus said, I need to go to the cross. And Peter said, no, you'll never do that. I will never let you go to the cross. And Jesus said, get behind me, Satan. Because Peter had no clue what Jesus had come for and how eternally significant it was. But David is confident. And David is brought before Saul and he repeats, I will go and I will defeat Goliath. And we ask ourselves, how in the world can David know that? How can David know that he's going to defeat Goliath? I mean, it's so unlikely. It's one thing to have faith in God, but how can he know that he's going to be victorious? Well, I think we can recall in the last chapter, he was anointed to be the next king of Israel. And so first and foremost, David was trusting in the promise that he was going to be king, that God would not let that promise fail. Secondly, in 1 Samuel 16, we also saw that David receives the equipping power of the Holy Spirit. And so often, that equipping power of the Holy Spirit prepares someone for battle. David has been supernaturally prepared for the task. But thirdly, and as David recounts especially, he's already performed some amazing feats. You know, a few months ago, I was reading the news, and there was this guy up in Vancouver, and he was out fishing. And so he was casting his line off the dock, and he had this sort of little dog that was running around, and all of a sudden he hears this yelp, and he sees his dog being dragged away by a cougar. And so, I mean, he then made probably not a very smart decision and went after the cougar. So he chases after it, and it's dragging the dog along, and he grabs his dog by the hind legs and starts pulling and pulling and pulling, and the cougar won't let go because it's starving and so he punches the cougar in the face and the cougar drops his dog and runs off and he saved the dog's life and we look at that and we say that was a few stupid decisions that you made and and probably a really dangerous thing to do to attack a starving cougar and yet a cougar's what 100 pounds 120 pounds maybe our text says that David struck and killed a lion and a bear and Listen to verse 34. When we're talking about this lion and bear, the Syrian brown bear is about 500 pounds. The lion that he mentions, that's the African lion, the kind you see at the zoo. We're talking six to eight feet long, 450, 500 pounds. And for David to be able to attack an animal like that and kill it is not normal. That's crazy. And so it's by this that David knows God has special protection over me. That's what he says in verse 37. 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 the Philistine. See, David knew that he was special. David knew that he was God's chosen man and that he could fight and kill Goliath, that he was picked and placed here to defend God's people from this attack. And so David insists, I will go and kill Goliath, and Saul agrees. This argument has convinced Saul that this is a good idea, and so now Saul wants to help, and he says, here, take my armor. And of course, it doesn't exactly fit David, But our human nature would say, well, just make it work. You know, if it was me, I would have said, well, you know, the breastplate doesn't sit just right, the shin guards are a little loose, and the helmet's a bit big, but I'm going to go fight Goliath. I'm going to take whatever armor I can, anything to protect me from that monstrous spear that he's going to throw at me. But David doesn't, because he has faith that his God will deliver his people. And then you say, well, if you're so sure that David has all this confidence, then why does he take five stones? Why does he go down to the river and get five smooth stones? Why not just the one? Is that maybe a hint of doubt in David? Maybe a little bit of a lack of confidence? Well, I think the reason that David took those five stones is because that's how many fit in his pouch. And I see some quizzical looks. I mean, it sounds like a joke. That's how many fit in his pouch. But the fact is that trusting in God is not an excuse not to prepare, I should say. David knew he would be victorious. David knew that God would protect him, but he didn't know how many shots it was going to take. If David had gone down and grabbed one stone, he would have been saying, this is a test. God, this is going to happen in one shot or it's not going to happen at all. Here's my Gideon's fleece. I'm going to only grab this one stone. But David recognizes he's not in control of the situation. He doesn't know exactly how this battle is going to go. He doesn't know he's going to kill Goliath in one shot. Although he had confidence in God's promise to him, he also made wise preparations for going to battle. And so, having made these preparations, having got his five smooth stones, The two step onto the battlefield. One clad in this monstrous armor and the other trusting in God. Verse 43, the challenger comes cursing the champion. The Philistine said to David, Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And now the future of God's covenant people hangs in the balance. The seed of the serpent threatens to crush the seed of the woman, and Goliath thinks that he will crush David as he has crushed so many people so many times before. And yet, David doesn't respond like anyone else ever has. Verse 45, 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. How foolish is that? Taking a slingshot against a man like Goliath. It's like taking a shotgun against a tank. It's like going barehanded against wild animals. How foolish to think that a shepherd could go against a man like Goliath. And yet, the Word of God tells us that foolishness is exactly how God works. 1 Corinthians 1.27 says this, But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And God will use the foolishness of a shepherd boy with a slingshot to bring down this boaster. Because according to God, the most foolish thing that anyone could see would be to see Goliath as a threat to his covenant people. With confidence in his covenant God, David steps out to face the giant. And he takes off running. And he strikes with deadly accuracy. Not with some sort of magical shot, but David knew what he could do with a slingshot. David knew he could be accurate, and he was accurate. And with the first shot, he knocks down Goliath. And the seed of the woman, the champion chosen by God, cuts off the head of the seed of the serpent. And he's crushed. And at this point, maybe now, we can see what the story is trying to tell us. That when you ask questions like, whose armor are you wearing that's weighing you down? Or where can you find the river to find the five smooth stones to defeat the giants in your life? Or when you ask the question, who are you, David or Saul? Or do you have faith like David to defeat the evil one? Those questions are all wrong-headed because they're asking about me. Those questions are focused on you and what you're doing and what we can do. But the fact is, brothers and sisters, that we are not David. And we're not supposed to be. There was no one else in Israel who could do what David did that day. No one else was anointed to be the next king of Israel. No one was equipped by the Holy Spirit to fight this battle. No one else had this superhuman strength to fight lions and bears and survive. There was one chosen champion who was prepared for the task of defeating Goliath. And so when we apply this text, we have to recognize that we are not the ones who are chosen to defeat Satan, but Jesus was. Jesus, who was the true seed of the woman. Because, brothers and sisters, the same God who chose David and brought him to this battle and protected him, that same God became incarnate to defeat the work of Satan. That same God became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ, who was specially appointed to the task of dying on the cross for our sins. Specially appointed to the task of defeating Satan and all his hosts. We read that in Revelation 17, where it says, And the ten horns you saw are ten kings, who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beasts. These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. But listen, they will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them. For He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with Him are called chosen and faithful. The Lamb will conquer them, and those with Him are chosen and faithful. You see, Jesus Christ was called to defeat sin. Jesus Christ was called to defeat hell and Satan and all his forces, not us. And so then we ask the question, well, who are we? Are we in this story somewhere? And I think if we want to find ourselves in this story, we find ourselves as the soldiers of Israel. Those men who are so terrified, who are cowering before someone who will inevitably crush them, who are standing around waiting for a Savior, who in themselves are too weak to defeat Goliath. And that's okay. That's okay because God provided a man to save them. And as David saved Israel so long ago, so Christ also saves us. And so now what? What is the response to this victory? What's the response to David defeating the seed of the serpent? Verse 51, 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. 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 Sherem as far as Gath and Ekron. You see what happens? Instantly, when David cuts off the head of Goliath, they celebrate. They recognize in that very moment that he has won the victory for them. And all they have to do is run forward and claim that victory. Claim what was won. And that victory means there's no more fear. All that terror that they were experiencing in the face of Goliath has melted instantly. And that is our response too, brothers and sisters. We too celebrate the victory of Jesus Christ. Because the fact is that this passage is not here, first and foremost, to burden you with duties and obligations, to burden you with feeling like your faith isn't adequate, like you can't be like David. But this text is here to tell you about what God did for His people. What God did for you. How Jesus Christ set you free from the tyranny of the devil. How you do not need to live in fear. And to all those here today who believe in that crucified Savior, to all those who stand behind that champion, you have nothing but hope. To those here today who do not stand behind Jesus, the champion, your story is not a happy one. Because if you don't stand behind Jesus, you stand behind Goliath. And your ruler has been crushed. There's only fear on that side of the battlefield. No hope. No safety. Only destruction. And yet, if there's anyone here today who does not cling to that crucified champion, And let me tell you that while in our story there's a valley separating the two armies, that valley is gone. Those barriers of race and of politics and of land wars that existed in this text, Christ has wiped those all away. If there's anyone here who does not stand behind Jesus, let me tell you, Jesus calls to you. And says, come to me. Because no one who ever came to Jesus was turned aside. If you will only believe today, you too will share in his victory. Our hope is expressed nowhere better than in Romans 8. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble, or hardship, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, for your sake, we face death all day long. we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. That is the point of 1 Samuel 17. That the battle is won. That the war is over. And that we will not despair of the powers of this world that are making war against the church. And we will not despair of fighting sin in our own lives because we are not fighting it in ourselves. Because Christ has already broken the power of sin. And he is fighting it in us. We will not say, God has made me this way. Because Christ has defeated the power of sin. And sin no longer reigns over us as our master. Because we have the Holy Spirit living in us. The power of Jesus Christ to fight against sin. making us able to fight against sin. And so, brothers and sisters, while the world will continue to misuse this story, it will be our hope. It will be our encouragement. It will be our courage as we continue to fight the sin that clings to us. As we read in 2 Timothy 1, For the Spirit of God does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. He has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done, but because of His own purpose and grace. For God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. So, brothers and sisters, have confidence, have hope and joy, love one another, be self-controlled. as those who are called, chosen, and faithful alongside the Lamb of God, this is what you have been freed for. And do these things boldly because Christ has already won the victory for you. Let's pray. Our glorious and awesome God, you who in your unending mercy have done so much for us, your sinful people, who have given us more than we could ask or imagine, who has fought the battle for us so that we do not need to cower in fear. We come before you this evening holy in gratitude that we could see in this passage the way that you deal with your people, that you come on their behalf and fight the battle for them, that you raised up a man to fight on our behalf. And so, our great God, we pray that you would help us to go into this week living in that knowledge and that You would bring us back here this evening a second time to hear from Your Word. All this we pray in Your Son's name. Amen.