Greater Than David

Intro

We pick up in 1st Samuel tonight. We talked last week about how there was a period of judges. And we are about to see that transition. First we see the last judge. His name is Samuel. He served God in the temple and acted as a high priest and prophet. He has sons and they do not walk in the way of their father but turn aside for their own gain. The people of Israel have seen the success other nations are having with kings so they decide that this is what they want. They want a king to fight their battles and lead them. In chapter 8 they tell Samuel. And it says in verse 7 they they are rejecting God. How are they rejecting God by asking for a king? Well at this time who led them into battle? Who made the laws? God was. So the nation asking for a king was a direct rebellion against God who was their king. God will grant them this wish but it is definitely a wish the people would come to regret. God chooses the king. He gives the people the type of king that they want. We meet Saul. The most tall, handsome man in all of Israel. He was exactly who the people would have chosen. If you can picture the perfect king, this is him. But it very quickly becomes apparent that this was a man after his own heart. He only cared about himself and his fame and power. Sure he acted the part of a Christian, but there is no evidence that he was one. In fact we see time and time again him go against the command of God. We see Saul make a huge mistake by offering a sacrifice in the wrong way in chapter 13 and another big mistake by making a bad vow in chapter 14 and when we come to chapter 15 God has had enough. God regrets that He made Saul king in 15:11. We saw Him use this word back when we talked about Noah. It grieved Him in His heart. He is heartbroken over Saul choosing his way over God’s way. It breaks God’s heart likewise when we choose sin instead of Him. So God tells Samuel they are going to find a new king. Although this time instead it being a king after the people’s heart, He chooses a king after His own heart. Samuel goes to the house of Jesse. The grandson of Ruth and Boaz. And when Samuel comes to David God tells him to anoint David to be the next king. David was likely a young teen at this time. And we see shortly after this God’s spirit leaves Saul and is replaced with a harmful spirit. The only thing that could help was David coming and playing the lyre to sooth him. So David played music for king Saul.

And we come to chapter 17. Saul is still king and Israel is in battle with the Philistines. The rules of the battle are this. One person from Israel would go battle this Philistine. Whichever nation was victorious in the 1v1 would take the other nation to be their slaves. And this sounds fine… But the one Philistine is a giant warrior named Goliath. The Israelites are scared out of their minds to fight him because it was pretty much a guaranteed way to die. And lose the entire battle. They have no hope of victory and I am sure when the giant yelled at them every day the morale was low. Jesse sends David to check on his brothers and bring food. He hears what Goliath is shouting, and he sees the fear of the Israelites. He goes to King Saul and tells him he wants to go fight him. Saul tells him he cant because he is only a youth. David tells him all of the beasts he has conquered as a shepherd and says in verse 37 that the Lord will deliver him. David doesn’t fit in the armor as he is probably late teens at this point and Saul was a super tall guy. So he goes to battle like a shepherd. 5 smooth stones, a sling, and his staff. And most importantly the Lord was with him. Goliath mocks David and David responds that he comes in the name of the Lord and that He will deliver you into my hands. And one shot with the sling and Goliath is dead. David conquers the giant. The Philistines flee and with that our story comes to a close. We will come back to it but for now lets learn more about this man David. David would continue being a shepherd and helping king Saul by playing music when he was tormented by the spirit. David and Saul’s son Jonathan will become absolute best friends. And David will marry Saul’s daughter Michal. David also gets a bunch of attention and Saul gets super jealous. So while David is playing music, Saul hurls his spear at him trying to kill him. Michal will later find out Saul is planning on killing David and lower him out her window so he could find safety. David will spend the next 10ish years on the run from Saul. He will have multiple opportunities to kill Saul but he shows mercy that Saul was unwilling to offer. Eventually Saul and Jonathan die in battle and in 2nd Samuel 2 David will finally become king. I as always am going to encourage you to read 1st and 2nd Samuel on your own time because there is so much that we just dont have the time to get into. David during his time on the run writes a bunch of Psalms as well.

David is now king and he is a king after God’s own heart. The next chapters give us a great example of the kind of king David was. One of my favorite stories involves Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth. He was lame and couldnt walk. And since he was from the heritage of Saul most kings would have killed him because he could be seen as a threat to the throne. But because David’s friendship with Jonathan he will take Mephibosheth into his own house and treat him like a son. Its such a cool picture. But unfortunately the story I want to focus on is the lowest point of David’s life. It’s found in 2nd Samuel 11. David stays home when he should have gone out to battle. And he sees a woman bathing on her roof. He has his servant bring her to him, sleeps with her, and she becomes pregnant. And to make it worse its one of his faithful men who is at the wars wife, Uriah. So to cover it up he has Uriah killed in battle. This is horrible. No excuses. But I want to look at what he does after this. This is why he is a man after Gods own heart. Saul would have handled this much differently. But with David we see his heart. Turn with me to Psalms 51.

David shows us what repentance looks like. Have mercy on me oh God. Mercy is not getting the punishment we deserve for our actions. He uses language like wash me, cleanse me, make me a new heart, I have sinned against you and you alone! I have done evil in your sight! I am a sinner and you delight in truth and an upright heart. Purge me and I shall be clean, wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, you dont delight in sacrifice but in a broken spirit and a broken heart. This is a beautiful picture of what it looks like to call out to God after sinning.

Christ Connection

Okay now our Christ connection. If you look at David you see a great king after God’s heart. But an imperfect one. Jesus is the perfect king that David himself prophesies about. Jesus was the perfect version of David. The perfect ruling and reigning king. The person that David was striving to be but falling short of. Only Jesus can withstand that weight and pressure.

Closing

Lets wrap up by circling back to the story with Goliath. I want you to think for a moment. Who are you in that story? Are you an enemy of God and His people like the Philistines? Are you David the one who conquered Goliath? Or are you like the people of Israel in the story?

The Israelites were outmatched in every possible way. In front of them stood this giant. They were powerless to defeat this giant. They knew that this giant would lead to lifelong slavery. That is until someone stood between them and the giant, and defeated it. Does that sound familiar? See David was a type of Christ. This is incredible because this is exactly what Jesus would do for us. We all face a giant. That giants name is sin. We are powerless to defeat this giant on our own. We know that a life of sin is a life of slavery. There was not way we could get rid of this sin. But Jesus. The most beautiful words in all the Bible. But Jesus stepped in-between us and that giant. He went to a cross where He would take that sin on Himself. He conquered the evil forces of sin, death, and Satan, allowing us to live a life of freedom in Christ. To be continually sanctified and be made more and more into His image every day. You see we couldn’t be David because that sin was too great of a burden for us to carry. So I love this story so much because it points directly to Jesus. We all no matter unbeliever or believer have sin in our lives. This sin leads to eternal death, unless someone else took that sin upon himself which is what Jesus did.

So if you haven’t yet had the giant of sin defeated by Jesus… What are you waiting for? Romans 10:9-10

Romans 10:9–10 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

And if you have already done this and are saved, well that giant has been defeated. So live in freedom because Christ has already set you free. If there is still sin that you just cant kick let me give you some encouragement. 1st John 1:9

1 John 1:9 ESV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

He is here and He wants to battle all the giants we face for us. He says draw near to me. Confess your sins to me. I will cleanse you. I will show you grace and mercy. I will help you in your time of need. Amen?