The Battle - 1 Samuel 17:32-58
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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 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 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 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 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 Shaaraim 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. As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this youth?” And Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” And the king said, “Inquire whose son the boy is.” And as soon as David returned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
It’s Superbowl Sunday!
Average margin of victory in Superbowl = 14 points - the generally aren’t much of a contest
1984-1993 – From the time I was 9 to the time I was 18, for the most part, the Superbowl was really boring. It was an absolute rout most years. Average margin = 24 points!
1984 – Raiders beat Washington by 29 points
1988 – Washington beat Broncos by 32
1993 – Cowboys beat the Bills by 35
1986 – Bears beat Patriots 46-10 – 36 point victory
1990 – 49ers beat Broncos by 45! A 55-10 victory
I hope today’s game is better than these.
Because nobody wants a rout like that.
Unless, of course, it’s your team on the right side of the rout.
And I am not here this morning to encourage Eagles fans or Chiefs fans, I am here to encourage Jesus fans. I want to talk about the fact that what we see in our passage today points us to Christ’s victory and the victory we have in Him.
And brothers and sisters, it’s an absolute rout!
Dave H. said to me "the battle itself is the smallest part of this passage" - (2 of 58 verses) - the battle itself wasn’t much of a contest.
Here is the whole battle:
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 on his face to the ground.
Battle over!
Because this chapter isn’t about the battle, it’s about the victory. And even more, about the victor.
And as we saw last week: this passage is not about you overcoming overwhelming odds. It isn’t about us defeating our own giants in our lives.
This is not an underdog story, unless you understand the physical giant is the underdog to the spiritual giant.
This is about the battle between good and evil - between God’s people and the enemies of God. And when it comes down to it - it isn’t much of a contest. Because our God has all the power. And the victory already belongs to Him because He’s already won.
And now, brothers and sisters - even now! - in this life, in this world - God wants us to share in that victory.
And we will see that in this passage.
But understand that there is something so much greater than one single battle in view. Look at how the writer of the book sets this scene up. How the battle is described. And how what happens after the battle is described.
This battle evokes images that are used throughout the Bible to speak of key battles in the history of salvation. This battle is a type of - it brings to mind and points to - four major battles in the Bible.
The first battle was in Eden. Where in Adam, mankind battled against Satan and lost.
Where we got absolutely routed.
But thank God that He fights for us. Thank God that He entered into the battle on our behalf. Like David showed up and fought for the Israelites, our Lord showed up for us. He took on flesh and entered into our fight on our behalf.
Regardless of what David’s older brother thought, David did not come out of curiosity just to see the battle, he came to win the battle.
And that’s what Christ did. He came and learned weakness. He took on flesh and faced temptation. But He didn't just come to see the battle, just understand our plight and our fight.
He came to win the fight!
And that’s the second battle. The one that happened at Calvary. And even though by all earthly standards it looked like our Shepherd and King was defeated, it was a decisive victory for our God. A complete shutout. Niners-Broncos got nothin’ on this!
And Christ defeated the enemy we could not.
And the final battle is yet to come. It is the battle that Satan will presume to fight at Christ’s return, when the victory will be the final and eternal victory of our Lord when He returns in glory. When Satan and his army draw up in line to fight against God and His people, and God’s plan of redemption comes to completion.
It’s gonna be a rout like no other.
But wait, didn’t I say there were four battles that are pictured here. Yes, there are. And we’re going to have to look at the rest of this chapter to see what that fourth battle is.
But first, let’s back up a bit. We saw last week how much detail the writer gives of Goliath - of his size and the size and wight of his armor and his weapons. We see his confidence - even arrogance - in his challenge to Israel.
And I mean, it’s easy to get a little arrogant when you lay down a challenge and your opponent is literally shaking in their armor.
But understand what is being pictured here. This is a historical event and these were real people who actually did these things. But they are all types of spiritual truth.
First, Goliath is a Satan figure. The Philistines are the enemies of YHWH and His people - they are a pointer to the powers of darkness.
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 five thousand shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders.
Coat of mail (only place translated “mail” - always “scales” - literally coat of scales
It is the Hebrew word for the scales of animals: like fish, or some lizards…
…or a serpent.
Also note that Goliath is covered in bronze, from head to toe.
In the Bible, bronze is often used to describe the appearance of heavenly beings. Like in Ezekiel’s vision in Babylon where he describes the four creatures he sees as sparkling like burnished bronze.
Or like when Daniel has a vision of an angel, and we read:
Daniel 10:6 (ESV)
His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze
But there’s more here. The fact that Goliath was a giant from Gath is significant.
We saw this last week about the giant race of Anakim:
There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain.
The Anakim, are who the spies of Israel saw and were afraid to go into the land.
As we read in the book of Numbers, the spies say:
And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
So the Anakim are giants that descended from the Nephilim.
Who are the Nephilim?
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
The Nephilim were the result of fallen angels - spiritual powers of darkness - mating with humans.
The Nephilim were giants who were part human, part evil heavenly being. And the Anakim descend from the Nephilim, and the Anakim settled in the land of the Philistines, namely Ashdod, Gaza, and Gath. And Goliath is a giant from Gath.
In every way, Goliath is a picture of the spiritual powers of darkness.
And remember his challenge to Israel. “Send a man who will represent you, and we will do battle. And if he wins, we’ll serve you. But if I win, you’ll serve me.”
This challenge is more than just about this physical battle. This is the very challenge Satan threw down in Eden. He challenged the man - the representative of the whole human race - to a battle.
And Satan won. And that is why the world serves Satan and serves sin. Mankind lost the battle, and by nature now serves the king of this world.
This is the same challenge Satan threw down when Jesus came. He tried to use the same battle technique he used against Adam when he tempted Jesus before His ministry even started.
And when that didn’t work, he deceived those who served Him into putting Christ on the cross. And Jesus was the One Who represented us in the battle at Calvary. And He - Jesus Christ - stood up in our place, and fought the battle, and won.
And for those who have Him as their King - those who He is a representative or a substitute for - we no longer serve the king of this world. We serve our Champion, Jesus Christ.
And He is in this event in 1 Samuel 17 typified by David. A shepherd from Bethlehem. Of the tribe of Judah. And he stepped onto the battlefield to fight for His people.
And as we saw last week, we need to not do that thing we tend to do, and put ourselves in David’s place. He points us to Christ. Remember, we aren’t David in this story. We are among this group:
All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid.
This is us before the Shepherd of the tribe of Judah wins victory in our place. We are weak. We are quite literally helpless. We are fearful and we want to run from the enemy.
Why? Because we know in our heart what will happen if we step out into battle against the enemy alone. Even Saul - physically taller and stronger than everyone else in Israel - he ain’t even gonna try to fight this battle.
Because he can’t fight the battle. None of the men in that army could. Because they looked at Goliath, and his power, and his weapons, and his methods - and then they looked at themselves.
And while from a worldly perspective they might have been strong. And while they had worldly weapons at their disposal. And while they were trained in worldly ways of combat - they had already failed. The battle was already lost.
Because they kept their eyes on the enemy, and on themselves. They believed it was up to them and nobody else and they stood there shaking in their armor, wanting so desperately to just turn tail and run away from the battle.
They needed their own champion. They needed someone who would stand in their place and fight the enemy.
And there was one who would:
And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
The Shepherd told His people: “don’t be afraid, I’ll fight the battle.”
And why did David believe he could do this? He wasn’t a warrior like the army of Israel. He was never in a battle like this. Why wasn’t he even more afraid than the army? From a worldly perspective, he should have been the first to run when he heard Goliath lay down that challenge.
But he didn’t run away. He wanted to run toward the enemy and meet him head on in his own element.
Because David’s eyes weren’t on Goliath. And David’s eyes weren’t on himself.
David’s eyes were only on God.
David didn’t even consider fighting Goliath using worldly means. In fact, he didn’t think the battle was his. He knew who the battle belonged to.
1 Samuel 17:34–37 (ESV)
But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. 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.”
When the flock needed saving, this shepherd knew that God would do the saving. When the roaring lion comes seeking to devour one of the sheep, the Shepherd fights for the sheep.
And look at how David describes this. There is no contest. When the lion or the bear comes to harm the sheep, David grabs him by the beard and strikes him dead.
And this may sound impossible. Little shepherd boy vs. giant furry eating machine and the shepherd boy wins decisively? How does that work?
Well, God lowers Himself to take on flesh, lives a perfect life - overcomes all the temptations we can’t on our own - and then is abandoned by His friends, convicted by the world, beaten and mocked and hung on a cross where He dies.
And God wins decisively?!?
How does that work?
It works because it isn’t about the bear, or the lion, or the giant - or the sheep, or the scared people of God Who were afraid and fled when faced with the enemy.
It isn’t about the disciples - who were afraid and fled in the face of the enemy. It isn’t about what happened to Christ from a worldly point of view. It isn’t about how Satan used his servants to nail Jesus to the cross.
This is about the God Who fights for us. Whose plan is our victory, even when we don’t know it. Even when we can’t see it. Even when we just can’t understand how He can use circumstances for good, or such loss for victory.
It is about the Shepherd Who keeps His eyes on God, Who protects His flock, and Who fights for His people.
And we shouldn't expect Him to do it our way - He does not do it using earthly means:
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.
Our God doesn’t work the way the world does. He doesn’t fight the same way we do and with the same means. Thank God! Because remember, we have a losing record doing it our way.
No. God fights for us His way. Maybe not the way we’d expect. Maybe even the total opposite way than we’d do it.
We may not understand it. It may even look like foolishness to us.
But the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
So the shepherd doesn’t do things our way:
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.
Shepherd’s staff, check. Shepherd’s pouch, check. Five stones and a sling, check.
OK, ready to fight the killing machine of a giant.
Now, can you imagine what Saul, and David’s brothers, and the rest of the army must have thought? Remember, this is the guy whose victory would be theirs, or whose defeat would be theirs. If David loses, they lose.
And he is going against this giant whose weapons weigh more than he does with a shepherd's staff and a few small rocks??
Let’s be honest, any one of us would have preferred someone else - almost anyone else - to fight in our place. I mean, if our lives were on the line, what would we want in this situation? Who would we want representing us and fighting for us?
Think about Christ. Gentleness, check. Humility, check. Human weakness, check.
OK, I’m ready to fight Satan, and sin, and death.
And we know what people thought about Jesus. Whether they knew it or not, this was the only Person Who could give them victory.
But they didn’t want Him. And I doubt that I would have either. I don’t think any of us would. The Messiah was going to be a great warrior. He was going to overcome the world for His people. He was going to drive out the enemy for His people.
And this meek and lowly man wants to be our Champion?
Let’s be honest, what would we have thought?
What do we think now, when we face the enemy - the powers of darkness, the world, or indwelling sin? Do we fight the battle our way, in our power? Do we still not want Jesus and His ways? Do we still not want Jesus and His victory?
Well, that depends on where our eyes are. That depends on where our minds are. Are they on the enemy? Are they on ourselves? Are they on the world - the circumstances around us?
Or are they on God?
Because understand what that kind of thinking is. Looking at God’s ways and God’s means of working and comparing them to our ways and the ways of the world. Now that is not only true foolishness, but it’s downright Satanic. And if we think that way, we are being deceived.
Because that doesn’t describe how Israel thought, it describes how Goliath thought:
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 will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.”
“This is who you’re going to send to battle me? This physically weak person who doesn’t even use weapons to fight? I’ll destroy him!”
And what did Satan think when Jesus hung on the cross? He thought he had won by beating the physical weakness of Christ. He thought the battle was no contest.
And it wasn’t.
How many of the Israelites do you think were closer to Goliath’s ideas here than David’s?
And that’s why they had already lost the battle. And that’s why they they were afraid. That’s why they wouldn’t and couldn’t fight the battle. That’s why they would have failed if they had tried.
Because they needed to think the Shepherd’s thoughts after Him, rather than think like the enemy. And look at what the shepherd says:
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.”
The enemy threatened God’s people. He told David he would defeat him, that it would be no contest, and that he would give his dead body over to be eaten by the wild animals.
All lies. Do you know what happened? In his arrogance, the enemy deceived even himself.
Because when the Shepherd fights the battle, the fact of the matter is that the powers of darkness fall. They are defeated and it’s no contest. And it is they who are given over to destruction.
What Goliath intended to do to David, David winds up doing to him.
Just like, what Satan intended to do to our Shepherd Jesus Christ, Christ did to Him. Jesus ran into the battle, the Shepherd vs. the champion of the powers of darkness.
And He came in the name of the Lord of hosts. He trusted God to deliver His enemies into His hand. And He did it that all the earth may know there is a God who saves.
The battle, brothers and sisters, belongs to the Lord!
It is no contest.
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 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.
It didn’t happen the way you’d expect it, but God won the victory.
A sling and a stone vs. the giant and all his power and all the weapons at his disposal and all his methods of war? Yes. And with it David destroyed the head of the giant. The one covered in scales who by any worldly standard had all the power, but David defeated him in the power of God.
It didn’t happen the way you’d expect it, but God won the victory.
A physically weak man on a cross vs. sin and death and the powers of darkness? When by any worldly standard, all the power lies with the ruler over this present darkness?
Yes. And on the cross, our Champion crushed the head of the serpent that rules this world.
And He did it in the power of God.
And that means: the battle is won! God sent One to fight the battle in our place, as our representative. As our Hero. As our Champion. And He won.
And now, not only aren’t we under the rule of sin and Satan, but we now have rule over sin. Now, we have authority over the powers of darkness.
Because our Shepherd won the battle.
And now, we have that other great battle before us. This is the fourth battle I was talking about.
It is the battle that has been raging since the coming of the Holy Spirit. It is the battle that will rage until our Champion returns in glory and once and for all defeats the enemies of sin and death, and Satan and the powers of darkness.
It is the battle that you and I - us right here in this sanctuary - it is the battle we have to now fight as those who have been given the victory by our Champion.
And the battle should be no contest. It should be a rout.
Look at what happens after David beats Goliath. Remember those men of Israel - afraid, helpless, weak, doing nothing. Look at them after the shepherd won them their victory:
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 Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp.
Before the battle was won by David, the people of God were helpless. They were only able to fail.
But after David defeated the enemy - and it was a rout - then God’s people were empowered to continue to rout the enemy. And they did. And they plundered them.
And for us, because of Christ’s victory, we can rout the enemy, and we can now plunder Satan.
But only if our eyes are on God. Not the world. Not ourselves. Not the enemy. God.
Because Jesus came so that we would plunder the king of this world of what he has.
In Matthew 12 we read a story about some accusations leveled against Jesus in His fight against the powers of darkness:
Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.
The world accused Christ of fighting Satan by the power of Satan - like Saul wanted David to fight Goliath by wearing armor and carrying a weapon of war like Goliath.
But that is not how Goliath was defeated, and that is not how Satan was defeated.
And now, Christ has bound the strong man. Satan and the powers of darkness are defeated and bound, and the church is here to plunder their goods
We are here to plunder the enemy! And every time we shine the light of God’s love and salvation into the world, and every time we choose Christ over our sin and our ways, and every time that people are drawn to Christ through us, do you know what we do?
We plunder Satan and his kingdom. We take what he has no power to take back. And we win the battle.
And we can do it. Because Christ did it.
Look at what happens next:
And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent. As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this youth?” And Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” And the king said, “Inquire whose son the boy is.” And as soon as David returned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
Think about this scene for a second. After the battle - David takes the armor of Goliath as a trophy - he take the hide of the serpent, as it were, because he defeated him in battle.
And it says that David took his head. The head that he crushed in battle. And when David is summoned to Saul, and he appears before him, he still has the head of the defeated enemy in his hand.
Picture David just walking around with the head of this giant for the rest of the day.
David put on full display what he had done so that everyone would know there was a God Who saves His people.
Just like Christ did for His people.
Colossians 2:15 (ESV)
He (God) disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him (in Christ).
And how did He do this? Not by worldly means. Not by worldly power. Not the way we’d expect it.
But through the cross.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
This is how He won the battle.
MCC, now it’s our turn to win the battle.
How people asked: “Why would Satan try to battle against God again? Doesn’t he know the battle is won?”
And I give the same answer every time: I don’t know. Maybe he’s just that arrogant?
Like he was at the cross. Like Goliath was with David. Maybe Satan is arrogant enough to deceive himself into believing the battle isn’t quite won.
I don’t know. Maybe that’s it.
But here’s what I do know. That we too often forget that the battle is already won. And when we do that, we don’t win the battle we’re in. We’ve already lost.
When we get our eyes and our minds onto the worldly. Onto ourselves. When we see the odds are stacked against us from an earthly standpoint, and they are - we tend to forget that the battle is won.
And we start to think Satan’s lies after him instead of our Lord’s mind after Him. And we deceive ourselves into thinking that there are more important things than the battle. That our lives are about something other than living in Christ’s victory as His people.
We let the distractions of the world take our hearts. And the troubles of this world oppress us. And we allow sin to rule over us even though we are to rule over it.
And we are like the army of Israel at the start of this chapter. Stuck where we are, never entering the battle, with no hope of victory.
But Christ has come and won the battle. And now we are called to rise, and pursue the enemy and plunder him.
And that is why we cannot choose sin. When we do, we choose to live as if the enemy still has the power.
If you are giving in to sin - not repenting and seeking to overcome sin - then you are submitting yourself as a servant of a defeated enemy.
And there is a sin that came to your mind just then - for many of you. And I get it: that sin isn’t dead, but it is defeated.
And here’s the thing, you are not called to win this battle against sin alone. Christ won His battle alone. Like David won his battle alone.
But we together - like the army of Israel empowered by the victory of their champion - we together fight our battle, and win the battle, and plunder the enemy.
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
James 5:16–20 (ESV)
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed...My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
Do not let the defeated enemy of sin rule over you. Let’s win the battle together.
And do not let the defeated enemy of the powers of darkness deceive you.
When you choose to prioritize other things - ANYTHING - over your calling in Christ and the mission of the church - you choose to believe the lies of the enemy. You allow a defeated deceiver to rule over you.
Too often, we hear his subtle challenges, where he places the things of this world before us and tells us it’s okay to pursue them more than Christ. To value ourselves based on those things rather than Christ.
We hear that challenge, and we know what we should do, but we often stand there doing nothing, like Israel when Goliath issued his challenge. But that was before the Shepherd won the battle.
And when we say we know that Jesus comes first, and we live as if anything else does, we are forgetting that our Champion has already won and has given us authority over the enemy.
If you are choosing to devote yourself to anything other than Christ and His kingdom, you are being deceived by a defeated enemy.
But the truth, is Christ. And His victory that is our victory.
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Romans 8:31–39 (ESV)
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 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. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall (anything in this world?) tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is a living and victorious Champion that calls us to follow Him in battle. Jesus Christ, our Shepherd and our King. Let’s rout the enemy! Each of us, and all of us, and it will be no contest.