Okay. First Samuel 17. Daniel didn't know what I was speaking on tonight in particular, and I didn't know what he was singing until earlier in the week. And the two just happened to work out really well, timing wise. So we are talking about a boy with a sling this evening as we study David, shepherd boy to king.

Last week, we looked at his heritage and his upbringing. He is a descendant of Ruth, and we find his heritage listed three places in Chronicles at the end of the book of Ruth and then over in Matthew chapter one as the ancestor of Jesus Christ. So so we see all of those places that tells about his heritage. His heritage is important because he is a child of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is a of the tribe of Judah.

He is through a son of Ruth, the son of Ruth and actually Rahab, Boaz's mother. You might recognize more importantly, the Messiah was promised to be of the seed of David, and of course, that is Jesus. And so his heritage is important not only as it in regarding Jesus Christ in the line of the Messiah, but also I think in part becoming the man after God's own heart, his heritage did play at least a part in that because we see the faith in Ruth, we see faith in Rahab and Boaz and others in his family, and he certainly learned from the faith of others that went before him. That brings us to his youth. What did he do in his youth?

Well, he was the youngest of eight boys, and at the time that Samuel comes to see him to anoint him to be king, he is a what? He's a shepherd, okay? He had the lowliest job in the group. Well, he was the youngest and so he was a shepherd but he was he was a good one. He did his job faithfully.

He'll mention that in chapter 17 this evening. Hardworking, humble youth and so, we get to chapter 17 tonight and we're going to read beginning in verse one. And it sets up the scene, the setting for what is about to happen with David and Goliath in this chapter. So we'll start reading. Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle and gathered together to Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah in Ephesdammim.

And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together and pitched in the Valley Of Elah and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side and there was a valley between them. And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath, Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head. He was armed with a coat of mail and the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of brass.

If I remember correctly, that's a 125 pounds, I think. He had greaves of brass upon his legs and a target of brass between his shoulders and the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam and his spear's head weighed 6,000 shekels of iron. One bearing a shield went before him, 600 shekels, 15 pounds. That's just the weight of the spearhead of his spear, not the beam, just the head of the spear. He stood and cried unto the armies of Israel and said unto them, why are you come out to set your battle in array?

Am not I a Philistine and ye servants of Saul? Choose a man for you and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me and to kill me, then will we be your servants? But if I prevail against him and kill him, then shall ye be our servants and serve us. And the Philistines said, I defy the armies of Israel this day.

Give me a man that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. So here is our setting. This is a map here of Israel, Judah, and see, where'd my pointer go? There it is.

And there we go. Right here where this little balloon is is the Valley Of Elah. It says it right there, but it's kinda hard to see. It's faint. So right here is the Valley Of Elah.

Over here to the west or to the east, if you follow here to the east from the balloon, you come to the city of what? You may read that from there? That's Bethlehem. Okay? So that's where David lived with his dad was in in Bethlehem.

And right here in this valley, a few miles away was where the battle was taking place or where the armies were gathered anyway. And so just want you to see that on the map. Here's Ekron, that's the city of the Philistines. Here's Gath, that's another city of the Philistines. And this area right here is an area that they have been fighting over.

So here is a picture taken of the Valley Of Elah. There are mountains on each side. There's a mountain here on this side. You're standing on one side. You're looking across the valley at the hill or mountain on the other side of the valley.

It's kind of hard to see here, but as you're looking down into the valley, there is a bunch of trees right down here in a line. That is a creek that runs through the Valley Of Elah, and that'll come into play here a little bit later. So, that is here is a close-up in the valley and you can see the line of trees right there that are along the little creek that even today runs through this valley. So the armies were gathered, Philistines on one side, Israelites on the other side. You have Saul's camp on the left and then the Philistines on this side.

Okay? And so that gives you a picture there of what's what's going on. And we'll come back to that picture here in a few minutes. So Saul comes down off this side, down into the valley. I like this picture better.

He comes down into the valley with Saul's camp on the other side, and he says, hey, why why lose all these lives in battle? We'll just just send your champion down and fight me and and if I win, then you surrender to the Philistines. If you win, then we'll surrender to you. Now, I don't think there is any truth to Goliath's statement that the Philistines would surrender if he lost, but maybe he thought, well, maybe Israel might, so hey, why not try it? So that's what he did and he was certainly incredibly impressive as a soldier.

He is around nine feet tall, so he's huge. He's not just tall, he is he is strong, he is built, he is a soldier who's been tested in battle. He carries armor. He has a staff that is humongous that can be seen forever away. And he even has an armor bearer that carries his shield.

So he's not really by himself. He's got an armor bearer walking in front of him carrying his shield for him. But but this is Goliath and he walks down the valley and he taunts the Israelites and he tells them, you come down and fight me and and we'll see who wins and the other team will surrender. So, this was his taunt and he did this day after day and the two camps just stayed put. The Israelites did not send anybody down to fight him and so they were kind of at a at a stalemate at the time when David shows up And so, let's get to verse number 12 and we'll read through verse 15 or 16.

So verse 12, now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah whose name was Jesse. And he had eight sons and, the man went among, men for an old man in the days of Saul. And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab, the firstborn, next, unto him Abinadab, and third Shammah. These three were named in the previous chapter as ones that Samuel looked at and God said, no, don't want that one.

No, don't want that one. No, not that one until he got all the way down to David. So, these are the three eldest and they God did not choose them. He chose David And David was the youngest, and the three eldest followed Saul. David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem.

So the three eldest were in the army, followed Saul into battle. David returned at this juncture. David returned to his father's house when Saul went off to battle. The Philistine drew near morning and evening and presented himself forty days. So forty days this went on and nothing happened.

So we'll stop there for just a moment. So what was we asked the question last week, what was David like? What can we learn from the passage about David? We can go back and dig a little more into the history of Goliath and his family if you want. It's interesting.

But this story really isn't about Goliath. We could dig into Saul and we read about Saul and Saul is obviously a lacking leader or he would not have allowed this to go on for forty days unresponded to. He himself was a man of great stature. He was head high above everybody else, but he wasn't gonna go down and fight this guy. But the story isn't so much about Saul, the story is about who?

About David. That's that's the purpose for recording this is so we might learn more about David and learn from David, the man after God's own heart. In what way was he here, the man after God's own heart? Well, David is patient, submissive, and hardworking. Diligent soul.

We we learned can learn these things from these from these past this passage here. David was still continuing to serve to serve as a shepherd to his father's sheep at times while also fulfilling his duties as a musician in the court of Saul and at times armor bearer to King Saul. We learned that from the previous chapter as well. So he came to the palace as a musician. He served at times as Saul's armor bearer.

And yet, when he wasn't needed, he went home and what did he do? He went back. He went back to keeping sheep when he was at home. That's what he did when he went back home. Verse 15 again, but David went and returned from Saul to feed his what?

Father's sheep in Bethlehem. Okay? His position with Saul did not go to his head or keep him from service to his father and his family. He was still part of the family and as such served them as well as Saul whenever possible, even despite being anointed by Samuel to be what? To be the next king.

So the next king, when he wasn't needed at the palace, guess where he went? He went back home and he went back to being a shepherd and keeping his father's sheep. Some certainly would have used their anointing as king or their position in the palace as leverage to get out of serving in the field for his father. But not who? But not David.

Because David was humble despite his appointment. That's one of the reasons God chose David. He was patient. Rather than becoming king right away, here he was back in the field keeping the sheep. The Bible says, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength as he waits on the Lord.

But moving on, we come to verse 17. Verse 17, Jesse said unto David, his son, take now for thy brethren Ephah of this parched corn and these 10 loaves and run to the camp to thy brethren. As we noted, there is a few miles on the map there between Bethlehem and the Valley Of Elah. Running wasn't running around the corner. He had quite a long run to get to where his brothers were at the Valley Of Elah.

Verse 18, and carry these 10 cheeses under the captain of their thousand and and look how thy brethren fare and take their pledge. In other words, check on em, see what see what's going on. They didn't have, you know, TV ten news there on the scene, you know, so you could turn on the TV and see how the battle was going. If you wanted to know, you had to send somebody to check it out. So, now, Saul and they Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley Of Eda, Elah fighting with the Philistines.

They weren't so much fighting as they were just standing around so to speak and David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took and went as Jesse had commanded him and he came to the trench as the host was going forth to fight and shouted for the battle for Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array army against army. So there was some fighting going on. And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage and ran into the ran into the army and came and saluted his brethren. As he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words, and David heard them. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were sore afraid.

So, they're they're engaging a little bit of a skirmish with some of the men and here Goliath comes out and what do they do? They turn tail and run back to the camp again. Okay? This is this is what's going on. And the men of Israel said, have you seen this man that has come up?

Surely to defy Israel, he has come up and it shall be that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and he will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel. David spake to the man that stood by him, saying, what shall be done to the what shall be done to the man that killeth the Philistine and taketh 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 after this manner saying, so shall it be done to the man that killeth him and Eliab, his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the man and Eliab's anger was kindled against David and he said, why camest thou down hither and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, the haughtiness of thine heart for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.

And David said, what have I now done? Is there not a cause? So how did Eliab respond? Well, Eliab accused David of what? Of of pride and of jealousy of his brothers and wanting to be recognized.

More likely, who was it that was proud and wanted to be recognized? It was more likely Eliab and not who and not David. But, you know, David kind of embarrassed his older brother when he started asking questions about why is nobody going to fight this guy? And so Eliab, embarrassed by his lack of courage, lashed out at his brother. So, we see David, first of all, humble, patient, and now we see him offended on behalf of who?

The living God. The living God. In obedience to his father, he took food for his brothers to bring back word on their well-being, and he responded with shock at hearing the words of Goliath and seeing no response from his brothers or the Israelite army. Instead, they turned tail and ran whenever Goliath came out. Why was he shocked?

Because Goliath was insulting not only Israel but Israel's God. And no one was willing to defend God's honor nor trust God to defeat this he was big, yeah, but there was only what? One guy or two if you count his shield guy if he's there. So can't God do that? You are not defending God's honor?

Nobody will go down? David was puzzled and offended. No one, even at the offer of great riches and honor, was willing to defend God's honor. He didn't ask initially what would be done. They just told him.

And then he asked, are you sure? Really? So nobody's willing to go and fight this guy to defend the honor of God? Not only was he offended, but he was compelled to defend God's honor. Sometimes people are offended when God's name is taken in vain or when he is mocked.

But very rarely does anybody feel compelled to what? To stand up, to speak up, and to do anything about it. I'm sure there were others who were offended, but they weren't gonna go down there and face Goliath. No, no, no. No, they weren't gonna do that.

Paul said in the New Testament that the word of God that the love of God constrained him, compelled him to continue day after day to get up and to go into these cities to preach the word, to face the persecution because the love of Christ for him, for the love of Christ for others, and for his love in return. He couldn't just stand there and watch souls go into eternity without telling them about the savior. David couldn't stand there and just watch this guy come down day after day and insult the honor of his God and God's children and not do anything about it. Well, obviously, other people could stand there and not do anything about it. So David was offended and David was compelled to defend God's honor.

He confidently offered his services in defending the offer honor of Israel and God in verse 31. So look in verse 31. And when the words were heard which David spake, he rehearsed them before Saul and he sent for him. They rehearsed them before Saul and he sent for them. So somebody went to Saul and said, this guy over here, he's saying, you know, we should go down and do something.

And he's saying, if you don't do something, maybe I'll do something. And so somebody went and told Saul. And Saul called for David. And David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him, because of Goliath. Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.

And Saul said to David, thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a youth and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, thy servant kept his father's sheep and there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by the beard and smote him and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

Seeing he has done this and defied God and his armies, I am quite sure that this will be his end. David said, moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of the Philistine. And Saul said unto David, go and the Lord be with thee. So David confidently offered his services. He supported his case by personal examples, including God defending him and helping him to defeat a lion and a bear.

And Goliath's big, you know, and he's strong, but, you know, lions and bears are kinda scary too. David said, I'm I'm not worried. God's able to defend me and help me to defeat a lion and a bear. He can help me to defeat Goliath. It is not I alone that can do these things.

David made it clear in verse 37. He said, the Lord delivered me. He gave glory to who? To God. At first glance, you might see David and think, yeah, this kid's a little bit arrogant, you know, little bit overconfident, little bit cocky, but his confidence wasn't in his ability, he makes it clear his confidence is in is in the Lord and in his ability.

God helped him and would do so again. And he convinced Saul to let him go. One of the things when when Saul says, but you're but a youth, David, and this guy is a man of war and a lot of times you see the pictures in the picture book and you have Goliath, the nine foot giant and this little boy who's like eight years old with a sling. David was and probably an older teenager by now. David was accomplished with that sling and slings have actually been used as weapons in warfare.

Not the sling that you had when you were a kid that you had the little that you know, but but this is a is a formidable weapon that he used. He was serving at least part time as Saul's armor bearer. So was he this little tiny frail guy? The answer to that is that is no. He was a a growing, strong, young man.

However, he hadn't fought in battles. However, if he was six feet, Goliath was what? Nine feet. If he weighed two hundred pounds, Goliath probably weighed four and it wasn't all fat. Okay?

He still was no comparison. And and Saul certainly had soldiers who maybe weren't quite as big and accomplished as Goliath, but they were bigger and stronger and older and more experienced in battle than David was. But David said, it's alright. It's not me, it's who? It's God.

And as I am defending God's honor, I am sure that God will defend me. Again, a testament to David's faith and then there's and then in verse 40, he spoke with confidence, courage, and reliance on God. Look at what in verse 40 And he took his staff in his hand and he chose him five smooth stones out of the brook. Okay? Out of the brook.

So, there we go. There's the brook. It's still there. Path may have changed a little bit over time, but there's still a brook there, little creek in the Valley Of Elah. He took five smooth stones from the brook, he put them in a shepherd's bag, which he had even in a scrip, and his sling was in his hand and he drew near to the Philistine.

And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David and the man that bear the shield went before him. So, yeah, the shield bearer is there, isn't he? And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him. For he was buddy, youth, and ruddy, and fair countenance. So, he didn't look like a hardened soldier.

He wasn't there with a bunch of armor on. So Goliath just kinda chuckled and said, what? You know, this guy? Verse 43, the Philistine said unto David, am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves or sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

And the Philistine said to David, come to me and I will give thy flesh into the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field. Now, you know, you thought maybe David would start to get a little bit queasy about that time. Think about maybe this wasn't a wise idea, but that's not the case. The Philistines said to David, I say in verse 45, then said David, the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defied. So you think you've got a lot with you there?

You think you're you're secure and you're and safe with all your armor and your weapons and your your shield bearer and all of this, but I have who? I have God. I have the true and living God, the Lord of hosts. That could also be translated the Lord of armies. In other words, David said, you have those weapons?

Sure. I have the Lord of the armies of heaven with me. So I may look like one little boy, young man standing here in the middle of the field with a sling, but what you don't see is that the God of armies, the living God, the almighty God is with me. And he's he's not done yet. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand, and I will smite thee and take thine head from thee, and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day under the fowls of the air and the wild beasts of the field that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, a real God, not like your statues that you bow down to in your temples, but a living God, a powerful God, an almighty God, a God who cares for his people, a God who is faithful and trustworthy and can be counted on.

These heathen gods were, of course, were nothing but their imagination and made out of stone. But even in their imagination, the gods they worshiped were fickle. That one day they might help you, hey, then one day they don't care. And David said, my God is not like that. He is not like the gods you just cursed me by.

And I come to you to prove today that my God is real. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hands. So David spoke with confidence, courage, and reliance on God. He took his sling, he gathered his stones, he walked calmly over, crossed the field to Goliath. He wasn't dissuaded from his course by the impressiveness of the giant.

Can you imagine? From a distance away, he looks kind of small. But as you're getting closer, he's getting what? He's getting bigger. Yep.

But David didn't stop. He was not dissuaded by the vile taunts of Goliath. And by the way, the fact that he was spewing out these vile taunts tells you a little bit about Goliath. Why was he compelled to do that? Well, because inside, he's really a little bit what?

He's a little bit insecure, and so he has to run his mouth in order to try to scare his opponent. Something told him this isn't gonna go maybe the way I think it's going to go. David spoke back with the same confidence to Goliath, actually with greater confidence because his confidence is not in him but the Lord. He defended God before all that day in his response. He made it clear, I'm here not to defend my honor, I'm here to defend whose?

Gods. Gods. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. David came that day first and foremost to defend the honor of his God, and he knew as he defended God's honor, he could count on God to defend him. So he stood up for God, and God stood up for him.

He knew God would by personal experience. He knew God would by historical record. Josh, turn if you would to Joshua real quick. Joshua chapter one. Joshua chapter one.

Now before you get to to Joshua, we read in in Exodus about Moses, and God called Moses to to go before Pharaoh. And was Moses really excited about that? No. Not at first. He wasn't really excited about that.

But God said, go and I will be what? I will be with you. You don't need to be afraid. And what could God do? Well, God spent 10 plagues upon the Egyptians, the final one upon the very house of pharaoh as his firstborn child died, and God delivered Israel out of out of Egypt.

Part of the Red Sea drowned the Egyptian army so that they couldn't follow them into the desert, and God protected his people. In Joshua chapter one, we read about the handoff from leadership from Moses to Joshua, and it says this, now after the death of Moses, the servant of Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of non Moses, minister saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now, therefore, rise and go over this Jordan, thou and all these people under the land that which I do give you give to them even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness of this Lebanon, even until the great river, the river Euphrates, all of the land of the Hittites under the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your coast.

There shall not any man be able to stand before thee in all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage, for under this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, but thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee.

Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage.

Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. That was God's promise to who? Joshua. Did God keep it? Yeah.

Walled city after walled city and vast army after vast army with greater numbers and great greater weaponry fell before the God of Israel. And Israel quickly conquered the land of Canaan. And nobody could stand and defeat Joshua all the days of his life. And he did divide the land that they're about to go into, starting with Jericho to the people of Israel as God said. Do you think David knew about Moses?

Do you think David knew about Joshua? I dare say he did. And based on his own personal experience and based upon the historical record of how God had defended Israel, David spoke with confidence, went forth with confidence to face the foe, acted in faith in verse 48 and defeated the enemy. It came to pass when the Philistine arose and came and drew nigh to meet David that David hasted. So when he got getting fairly close, what happened when Goliath came out earlier?

What did the Israelites do? They turned tail and they ran away like a bunch of scared sheep. But when David gets to where he can see Goliath and he's coming towards him and this taunting is going on from Goliath and he responds in faith. When he gets done saying that all this assembly will know that there is a God in Israel, he takes off. He runs toward Goliath and the army to meet the Philistine.

David put his hand in his bag and he took thence a stone and he slang it and smote the Philistine in his forehead that the stone sunk into his forehead and he fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and he smote the Philistine, he slew him, but there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore, David ran and stood upon the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of the sheath thereof and slew him and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistine saw their champion was dead, who fled this time? Wasn't the army of Israel, it was the what?

The Philistine army. They were all hiding behind the coattails of Goliath. And when Goliath died, guess who got scared now? It was the Philistine army. It doesn't say they all put their arms down and surrendered, by the way.

They never intended to keep that promise. But they're the ones that ran. So David spoke great words. Did he back them up? Backed them up.

He ran towards Goliath. He picked out a stone. He put it in his sling And did that big shield with that shield bearer, did it stop it? No. When you're taught to to shoot, are you taught to shoot at the top of the head?

No. You're you're taught to shoot at the the body where you have the most likelihood of actually what? Hitting something. But that stone didn't go for the body. It went right for the forehead of Goliath where he wasn't expecting it to go, right over the top of that that shield that that guy was carrying in front of him.

And that little stone took David to the took Goliath to the ground. And whether he was dead fully when David ran up and picked up the the sword, it's hard to say, but it is clear he's dead after he takes the sword and cuts his head off. And who kept his word that day? It wasn't Goliath. He said he would defeat David and tear him apart and but it it was David and God who kept their word that day and won the battle and took home the trophy.

A little bit gruesome, but it's a battlefield and not a schoolhouse, and it was a different day. But the point is a young man acted in faith. He believed in who? He believed in God. He was a man after God's own heart.

He demonstrated it when he stood up for the Lord. What was the result of David's actions? Well, the Philistine army was routed and David was praised. Israel was encouraged. The army was encouraged.

Others were encouraged to put their faith in God because they saw it in one man. That one man made quite a difference, not just in the battle, but I'm sure in the hearts of others that day, and so they praised him. And who got jealous? Saul. Because he didn't have the faith of David.

He wasn't the man after what? God's own heart. I've wondered, did it cross David's mind as he went to fight Goliath that he had been already anointed to be the next what? The king of Israel. And was he king?

The answer is no. So if God said you're gonna be king and you're not king yet, then how likely is it that he's gonna die on that battlefield? Who chose him to be king? God did. So I kind of have wondered through the years, did he realize he was sort of invulnerable?

I'm not sure. But what I do know is David demonstrated a faith and understanding of the big picture that Saul and others could not see or would not see. It was not about them. It was not about him. It was about something bigger.

The honor of the true and living God and His people. And David understood that. And David was willing to put his own neck out on the line for the good of Israel and for the honor of his God. There was something bigger than him. There was a cause greater than his comfort or even his life.

Reminds me of Romans 12. I beseech you therefore, brethren, Paul wrote, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your, what, bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. The one who died for us deserves for us to be willing to step out in faith and trust him and to present ourselves as the servants of Christ to do his bidding even when it is scary, even when the enemy is big. And down through the years, David's not the only one who's done this. There are many examples in scripture and many examples of others.

Adoniram Judson and Hudson Taylor, Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, and their friends who died down in Central America taking the gospel to a tribe that that killed them at the time. But before that generation passed, the gospel did come back, and some of those men that killed them came to Christ. There's something bigger, something worth living for and even one, dying for if need be. Remember the the three Hebrew children standing before Nebuchadnezzar? And they said, we're not, the the King James says, careful to answer you.

It means, well, we're not shaking in our boots here. Okay? We're just going to lay it out. We're we're not going to mince words, but we're not going to bow to your idol. Our God is able to what?

To save us from your fire. But whether he chooses to or doesn't choose to, we are gonna be faithful to him. You do what you have to do. We trust in the Lord our God. And, of course, we know God did defend them and God did bring them back out of the fire untouched by the flames who killed the men who threw them in.

David was one willing to leave his God dishonored. It was just unconscionable to David. How do we respond to the attacks on honor of our God? Do we sometimes even join in using his name loosely or as a curse word? Are we offended when God's word is trampled upon?

Do we have any desire to defend it? Do we believe it to the point of trusting God and stepping out like David did? That's kind of where the rubber meets the road when you're willing to say, no, I must stick with God and I must stick with God and his word. When the chips are down, where will we fall? Are we people of courage or cowardice?

And I am afraid that in many many ways, we are more, as Christians today, people of cowardice than we are courage. If persecution does come, we will be tested and we will find out. Ezekiel recorded these words in Ezekiel 22. The words of God, an explanation for the fall of Israel and Judah. Why did God allow Judah to fall to Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar?

Well, Ezekiel tells us, these are God's words, he says, I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, that should stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it. And the sad four last words of that verse, but I found none. No one would stand. No one would stand in the gap. No one would stand for the Lord.

And so God said, decided to let it be wiped out that I might start over with a new generation. It's the first time God's done that? No. He did that at the flood. He did that in the wilderness, and he did that here once again because there weren't many Davids left in the land in Ezekiel's day.

And sad to say, the man on the throne of Judah that refused to stand in the gap after Josiah died, the last good king of Judah, they were the descendants of who? They were the descendants of David, but they were not men after God's own heart. And so God wiped out the land. Seventy years later, He brought them back to start again. What would he say today in The United States Of America?

If we should fall, just politically, but more importantly, spiritually, as in some ways I fear we already have, whose fault will it be? Who does God want and expect to stand in the gap? Us. The lost world certainly isn't. The Philistines certainly aren't.

It's our turn. David had his faults and his failures and he would struggle with some things later in life. But on this day, he was the one who stood up for the Lord. He was the man after God's own heart, and God needs more of those today in every way. Let's pray.

Dear Lord, thank you for the example that David set for us. Thank you for recording it and preserving it for us. I pray, Lord, as we face enemies maybe of a different sort, Lord, that we would be willing to stand on the Lord's side as well, if need be, to face suffering or in the least mockery for the cause of Christ, that others would see Jesus in us, that we might give you the opportunity by our faith and by our action to show yourself mighty in behalf of your children today as you will do again if we will just trust you as David did. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.