[0:00] This morning's reading is taken from the book of 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel, chapter 17.
[0:12] Do have the church Bible page number if you need it. It is page 288. Page 288 in your church Bibles.
[0:22] 1 Samuel, chapter 17. And we're going to just read two sections from this chapter.
[0:34] We're going to read from verse 4 through to verse 16. And then we're going to skip a bit and start again at verse 32. So 1 Samuel, chapter 17, starting at verse 4.
[0:54] And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
[1:05] He had a helmet of bronze on his head and he was armed with a coat of mail. And the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders.
[1:21] The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam and his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron. And his shield bearer went before him. He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, Why have you come out to draw up for battle?
[1:37] Am I not a Philistine? Are you not the 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.
[1:52] But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. And the Philistines said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day.
[2:03] 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.
[2:23] In the days of Saul, the man was already old and advanced in years. The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab, the firstborn, and next to him, Abinadab, and the third, Shammar.
[2:39] 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.
[2:57] And we're going to jump ahead a few verses to verse 32. Verse 32, chapter 17, verse 32. And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him.
[3:12] Your servant will go and fight this Philistine. And Saul said to David, You are not able to go and fight this Philistine. You are but a youth. And he has been a man of war from his youth.
[3:24] But David said to Saul, Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion or a bear who took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth.
[3:39] 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. This uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living gods.
[3:55] 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. Saul said to David, Go, and the Lord be with you.
[4:08] Then Saul clothed David with his armour. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. David strapped on his sword over his armour, and he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them.
[4:21] 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.
[4:35] His sling was in his hand and he approached the Philistine. 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.
[4:52] 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 the beasts of the field.
[5:11] Then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with sword and with 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.
[5:24] This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the hosts of the Philistine 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.
[5:53] When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead.
[6:07] 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.
[6:21] There was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran over and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it.
[6:32] When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. And we'll stop there. Well, good morning.
[6:45] It is good to be with you this morning. As has already been said, my name is Rob Childs. I'm originally from a little town called Bridge North in Shropshire on the English-Welsh border.
[6:58] And Peter was the assistant minister at our church in Bridge North back in the early 90s. So I was sort of 15, 14, 15 years old, something like that when he left.
[7:11] So I've known Peter for most of my life, to be honest. But just six months ago, my wife and my daughter and myself, we moved from Wolverhampton, where we were living, to Manchester, to a little place called Droylesdon, where I'm now working, as has been mentioned, for a small church, a small fellowship, in Droylesdon, Droylesdon Independent Church.
[7:39] And I'm working as the minister in training. I'm there for two years. I'm already nearly six months into it, which is quite scary. But looking forward to what the Lord has for us in the future, whether that's in Manchester or whether that's somewhere else, we'll wait and see what he has for us.
[7:56] But this morning, I want to turn to this passage of 1 Samuel 17, this incredibly well-known and detailed account of David and Goliath.
[8:07] I'm sure many of you are very, very familiar with this story, with this account, this historical account of this great battle that was over before it really got started.
[8:23] Before we dive into that, can I just read for you a few verses from Romans, Romans chapter 5. I'm going to read from verse 12 to 21.
[8:34] I know that was a long reading earlier on, but there are just some things I want to pick out from this passage in Romans chapter 5, verse 12. It's on page 1132 in your pew Bibles, if you're looking it up.
[8:49] Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people because all sinned. To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone's account where there is no law.
[9:06] Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command as Adam did, who is the pattern of the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass.
[9:19] For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many?
[9:31] Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man's sin. The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.
[9:45] For if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
[10:01] Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.
[10:13] For just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man, the many will be made righteous. The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase.
[10:28] But where sin increased, grace increased all the more. Hallelujah. So that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[10:46] So when we come to Old Testament passages, just like this one from 1 Samuel, we find types and shadows and pictures of things which are to come in redemption history, things that are going to happen in the future as from the point of view of the characters we read about in the Old Testaments.
[11:08] Many of the accounts of God's dealings with the people and the rest of the world that we do read about in his word reveal aspects of the redemption that was promised.
[11:20] And when we look back at those Old Testament passages through the lens of the Gospel, through the lens of the New Testament, we find that the relationship between Old and New Testament is vital.
[11:33] It's living. Not just the new for understanding the old, but an understanding of the Old Testament gives us a fuller understanding and appreciation of the new, of the Gospel.
[11:47] And that's what I hope to do this morning as we look into this passage, this really well-known passage. You were probably taught this at Sunday school. You've probably read books about it. You're probably familiar with the story, if not all the details.
[12:04] David, the plucky young man, takes up his sling and defeats the giant warrior Goliath. And the story, it's been used in corporate training sessions, in business magazine articles, in sports columns.
[12:23] They refer to it all the time, don't they, sports commentators, there's a David and Goliath situation and the little guy takes on the big guy and wins. It's a message about overcoming the odds, isn't it?
[12:35] Be it in business or in politics or in sport or any other walk of life. It's a David versus Goliath situation, a giant killing, if you like. The term has sort of passed into modern phraseology.
[12:49] But, but, the message of this historical event is deeper and more subversive than that.
[13:02] It goes much further than what we read on the surface. In fact, I hope by the time that we've finished here this morning, you'll see that from the plain facts of this account, this isn't a lesson at all about overcoming the odds.
[13:15] And that really, this giant warrior Goliath never stood a chance. Not a chance.
[13:27] So, I want to pick up four things in particular from this, from this passage. And I want to focus really on, well, three people and one group of people. So, I want to look at Saul.
[13:39] And I want to look at Israel, the people of Israel, the armies of Israel. And I want to look at Goliath himself and then at the end we'll come and look at David. And I want to look at how these, these characters, how these people in this, in this, in this passage, in this account reflect the, the history of redemption as we know and understand it in the gospel.
[14:04] So, first of all, I want to begin with Saul. And I want to say that I think Saul is a type of Adam, the first man. So, Saul, of course, he's the king.
[14:17] He's the king of Israel, anointed by God and by the prophet Samuel. And there were many nations who threatened the existence of Israel throughout the time of the judges that came before Saul and throughout Saul's reign.
[14:34] And the Philistines are probably the best known, but there were others, the Amalekites and some others, who threatened the existence. They attacked and worried the armies of Israel.
[14:46] They harried and raided Israelite settlements. For generations they had done this. If we read through the book of Judges, we find all this. But Saul and his son Jonathan were great warriors and they won some incredible victories with God's help against the Philistines and against their other enemies, pushing them back into their own territories.
[15:07] The Philistines, though, make a counter-invasion. They invade the territory of the tribe of Judah and they gather their armies. So Saul, too, gathers his army, ready for battle, ready to face the enemy.
[15:22] But the Philistines don't attack. The Philistines don't attack. Instead, they send out this man, this giant of a man, this Goliath, to challenge the Israelite army.
[15:36] And he says to them, if one man can come and stand and defeat me, then the Philistines would become the servants of Israel. But this champion, this Goliath, he's no ordinary man.
[15:51] He stands somewhere between six and a half and nine and a half feet tall. The sources differ on exactly how tall he was, but he was a big, strong, intimidating man.
[16:03] Modern archaeology suggests that the average height of a Hebrew male in this period was about five and a half feet. So that's short even for us. So to be faced with a man the size of Goliath, who was up to two times, twice the height of the average man in the Israelite army, you can see how intimidating that would have been to them.
[16:26] How could a man possibly hope to defeat someone who was twice his size? Saul, Saul, you see, we're told in 1 Samuel chapter 9 verses 1 and 2, Saul was a tall man himself, stood head and shoulders above everybody else in Israel.
[16:44] That's what the text says. He was a big, strong man. It should have been Saul out there on the battlefield facing Goliath, defending his people and winning the day.
[17:00] Why was he not out there? Why was Saul not on the battlefield that day? Well, if we know the story of what happened to Saul, it's very clear why he wasn't there.
[17:12] If we go back a few chapters, we see for all of the man's strength, for all of his stature, for all of his grandeur and all of his victories, Saul was a defeated man because he didn't follow faithfully God's instructions to him through the prophet Samuel.
[17:31] He went his own way. He did his own things. The power that was given to him had gone to his head. Just two years, two years into his reign, two years after he was anointed by God, in impatience, he offers an unlawful sacrifice to God in 1 Samuel chapter 13.
[17:53] Then, after that, in direct violation of God's instructions, he spares the life of the king of the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15. And so, because of these and other failings, because he was not a faithful man, God rejected Saul.
[18:13] He rejected him from the throne and Samuel, the prophet, is told to anoint David instead. Saul was already defeated, already rejected by God, cowering in his tent along with the rest of his army.
[18:29] His failures at Gilgal, his failures with the Amalekites, had left him rejected by God and abandoned by the prophet. But Saul still clung to that power. He clung on.
[18:42] Although, as we can see from what happened in this account, his power and his influence and even his strength and his courage was failing. There was another man, another representative of mankind who failed.
[18:59] Adam. Adam, who fell to temptation, Adam, who cowered in the bushes. And Adam's fall has led to a world which is full of people who refuse to acknowledge God.
[19:14] It has led to untold suffering and slavery to sin. Romans chapter 5, verse 14, reminds us, nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses.
[19:28] and verse 15 says, through one man's offence, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation.
[19:39] Saul's weakness and Saul's failure condemned his people to slavery and death. If the mighty Saul, this giant of a man, this man who had won great victories in the name of God, if he could not defeat this Philistine, then who could possibly hope to triumph?
[20:00] Who could possibly hope to win the victory for them? from Eden, we find ourselves in that same place. If our ancestor, Adam, created perfectly by God, fell to sin, what hope do we have in defeating that same adversary?
[20:21] What hope? What chance do we have when faced with such a giant of an enemy? Let's look at that enemy in a bit of detail.
[20:33] Let's look at Goliath, the adversary, sin. Now Goliath, he fooled the Israelites. That was his very first move.
[20:45] He won the battle straight off with a trick because he proclaimed that should he win this fight, then Israel would be the Philistine slaves.
[20:58] But it's a trick. It's a lie. It's not true. Goliath and the Philistines want Israel to fight on their terms, in their way, with consequences that they determined.
[21:14] Israel's great adversary hoped to fool God's people back into slavery. And many of the people, Saul included, had foolishly fallen for this lie.
[21:27] And this giant of a man stands over the battlefield imposingly covered from head to toe in armour and chain mail, carrying this enormous spear, sword and shield.
[21:41] Who can possibly hope to defeat him? He's too big, too strong, too powerful, too well protected. No doubt Goliath could kill any man who got anywhere near him.
[21:53] And the armies of Israel were afraid of him. And really, they were already enslaved to the Philistines, already enslaved to their adversary.
[22:06] Verse 24 from our reading tells us that. In 1 Samuel 17, verse 24, all the men of Israel fled from him and were afraid. This method of trial by champion was an ancient one.
[22:20] It goes back generations. Opposing armies would choose a man from their ranks. One man to do battle. In theory, the theory being that the gods themselves would decide the outcome or the champion with the stronger God would prevail.
[22:38] So Goliath came out and performed this routine for 40 days, twice a day, calling for someone to come and stand and challenging, cursing the people of Israel by his own gods and defying the one true living gods.
[22:53] He constantly reminded the Israelite armies of their failure. And every time he stepped out and every time he went unchallenged, it became harder and harder and harder for the Israelites to contend with his words.
[23:10] Surely one of the greatest tricks of sin is to fool you into believing that you must face it alone. And this is what Goliath did.
[23:21] He had fooled the whole army and Saul into believing that they had to face him on his terms to meet him where he was strongest. And we'll see in a moment how David subverted that attempt.
[23:36] But this is what this great adversary sin does to us. It tricks us from seeing the world from its point of view. To believe that the words that it speaks to us are true when in reality it's twisting the truth to its own purposes.
[23:55] Our adversary makes us think that sin isn't really sin. That we're okay really. That we don't need saving. We don't need rescuing.
[24:05] It messes with our heads. It messes with our perspective on life and the reality of our situation. Now we're not quite clear exactly how tall Goliath was but I don't think his size is the important part about him.
[24:23] Rather it's the perspective he was seen in. What Saul and his army saw was this powerful self-proclaimed undefeatable foe.
[24:36] And even his speeches against them and against God failed to stir them to action. And the adversary has power over them like the adversary has power over this world.
[24:53] So Israel this great army that was winning all these battles that was going out in the name of the Lord they were doing nothing.
[25:05] Cowering in their tents. I suppose in a way we could say that they were safe. At least for the time being they were safe. There was no danger to them but in reality they were in submission to Goliath and the Philistines.
[25:22] And sin works in the same way. The adversary accuses us and we are guilty. It paralyzes us and we slip into this situation where the Israelite army found itself in.
[25:35] The position that's quite comfortable really it feels safe for now. That is until something happens that makes us realise that we are not safe.
[25:48] That we are when we become convicted of the sin that is in our lives that we do that we say that we think against God. we become convicted of our sin.
[26:02] We realise the true situation and we can only come to that conclusion through the work of the Holy Spirit. Do you know that feeling?
[26:14] That voice that tells you that you'll never be good enough? That you're a disappointment, a failure, a sinner? Are you under conviction that your life and your living does not measure up to the standards God expects?
[26:29] That you're not strong enough to overcome that temptation? Where can we turn? Where can we turn when we're in that place? To the church?
[26:42] Well that's one of the greatest heresies of the Roman Catholic Church, to call people to the church. That the church will take care of your needs, the church will do it for you. But where could Saul turn?
[26:57] Where could King Saul turn in his need? What use were his armies cowering in their tents? No, we can see the church in these events from 1 Samuel 17.
[27:10] But the church is not the hero. We are not the hero of this passage. By Saul's disobedience, many were effectively already enslaved to fear.
[27:26] And by our disobedience, we are already enslaved to sin. The people of Israel did not turn to God for help. They didn't even look back and remember how God had rescued them before, how he had been with them in past battles.
[27:43] They couldn't see anything except for this giant in front of them. they were fooled into being controlled by the fear that crippled their king.
[27:55] And they were a people in great need, chosen of God to be his special people, yet found facing slavery again and helpless before their enemies.
[28:07] Each of them waiting for someone else to do something, to step up and take on the giant, but no one did. They were paralysed with fear, not only because of this imposing gigantic man who faced them, but because none of them wanted to be responsible.
[28:24] Not one of them was willing or able to take on the risk of representing their people because failure, the cost of failure was so high. Failure would bring slavery so that the giant reigned over them.
[28:42] Now I know that I'm often guilty of forgetting how faithfully God has dealt with me in the past and cowering before whatever obstacle faces me. And it's with the armies of Israel I find myself this morning in need of a great saviour, in need of help, cowering before the adversary.
[29:09] And we're great at casting ourselves as the hero, aren't we? We often do this in stories and who doesn't want to do that. You don't want to be the one cowering in the corner, do you, when you paint yourself a picture in your mind of where you fit in this story.
[29:22] But we should never ever make the mistake of thinking that we're the heroes of God's story. Because we're not. We are the damsels in distress.
[29:33] the history of God's redemption. We are not the heroes.
[29:45] We are the ones who need saving. So up steps a hero. Up steps this young boy, David. And he chooses to fight in the place of the formerly strong and powerful king.
[30:02] And he chooses to represent God's people. Why did he do it? Why did he step up? Well, verses 34 to 36 of our reading tells us how God was faithful to this young man, how he protected him, how David had grown up looking after the sheep, how he defeated the lions and the bears that came after the sheep.
[30:26] He had confidence in God. Confidence to do the work. That was laid out before him. So does this teach us that if we have enough faith and trust in God that we too can overcome the odds, we too can overcome the giants that we face?
[30:44] Well, no. If I were to sit on this chair here, believing it would take my weight, is my belief, is my faith in the chair what holds me up?
[31:02] Is it my strength, my belief, my understanding that this chair will not collapse under my weight, going to be the thing that holds me up? Well, no, it isn't, is it? It's the strength of the chair itself.
[31:15] The strength of my trust in its construction will not make a difference. Now, I have to sit down in order for it to work, but that's all I have to do.
[31:27] Whether I throw myself into it, or whether I slowly and gingerly lower myself onto it, testing it as I go, it's only the strength and the ability of the chair to hold me up which does the work.
[31:44] That strength, that ability is the same however I put myself down on it. The only part I have is I must sit. Spurgeon said this, I love quoting from Spurgeon, so I try and get him in where I can.
[31:59] He said this, It is not the strength of your faith that saves you, but the strength of him upon whom you rely. Christ is able to save you if you come to him, be your faith weak or be it strong.
[32:14] David, in a sense, we could say that David laid down his life when he performed his shepherd duties. His life was on the line in the safekeeping of those sheep.
[32:26] And the same was true when he stepped out to face Goliath. There was no way, humanly speaking, no way that he could defeat Goliath. As far as anybody could see, this boy was going to get mashed.
[32:41] He had no chance. Even Goliath laughed. He had no armour. He had no sword or shield or helmet. He had no experience of battle or warfare.
[32:56] Saul tried to prepare him. He tried to give him the tools that he thought he would need, but they were of no use. And rather than taking Goliath on hand to hand, sword to sword, David defeated him from a distance with a ranged weapon.
[33:17] And make no mistake, in the right hands a sling could be a deadly weapon. It was often used as a weapon of war. Because David, you see, refused to fight by Goliath's rules.
[33:30] He rejected the invitation to battle him on equal terms. And David used his superior fire power to defeat him. Goliath never stood a chance.
[33:44] Not a chance. There does the song go. One little stone went up, up, up, up, and the giant came tumbling down. I read once, somebody in a sermon used this, this isn't original to me, but the picture, I think, really helps us understand what's going on here.
[34:07] Now, I think it's one of the Indiana Jones films, I think it's the Temple of Doom. Indiana Jones is running through the streets, he's chasing after the bad guys, and suddenly the crowds part, and he's faced with this swordsman, and this guy's waving his sword around, and he's chucking it around in the air, and he's really showing off, and he wants to fight Indiana Jones.
[34:32] So what does Indiana Jones do? He pulls out his revolver and shoots the guy and carries on chasing the bad guys. And that's kind of what David did. You've got this huge giant, Goliath, with his sword and his shield, so much stuff that was weighing him down.
[34:49] He even needed somebody to carry his shield for him, and David just walked up to him and hit him with a sling from a distance before Goliath even got his sword out of his hilt.
[35:03] Goliath never stood a chance. He brought a knife to a gunfight, or if you prefer, a sword to a slingfight. Not a chance. Goliath was powerless.
[35:14] No power at all. Hidden behind his armour, so much weaponry, so much shielding, he needed somebody's help to carry it all. And his appearance of strength was just a trick.
[35:30] But David, on the other hand, was deadly, and there could only have been one winner. verse 45 to 47, we see how Goliath spoke only curses in the name of his gods, where David, David spoke of the Lord of Lords, the Lord who will deliver, the Lord who does not save with sword and spear.
[35:55] The battle is the Lord, said David. But there's a subtle trap, isn't there, in the story. we can be fooled into thinking that if we just look at things a little bit differently, that we too can overcome like David.
[36:12] And that's the message you'll get from the corporate world, from the sporting world about this account. But it's not true because David isn't a picture of what we can achieve if we trust in God.
[36:24] Rather, David is a type of Christ. He's a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. We, my friends, are Saul, and the Israelite army cowering in our tents.
[36:39] And don't misunderstand this. I said Goliath never stood a chance, but like the bears and the lions that David fought in the fields, he was a dangerous enemy. He'd already enslaved the whole of the Israelite army.
[36:53] And if he got them on his terms, if he could get them one on one to fight with him, he was going to kill them. But David always kept the fight on his terms, never letting the jaws of the lion or the claws of the bear or the sword and spear of Goliath get within striking distance of him.
[37:14] And in this way, the shepherd emerged victorious over the giants, over what seemed like certain death. Christ, he did not fall or fail when faced with temptations, did he?
[37:27] He never let those sharpened daggers of Satan get anywhere near him. And in the end, from the cross, he caught sin and he caught death with a sucker punch when it seemed like he was defeated.
[37:45] Saul's actions, Saul, King Saul's actions, condemned his people to fear and to slavery, but God, but God acted to rescue his people by sending them a saviour in the form of David.
[38:02] For Israel, David's victory brought them their freedom from the fear of their enemy. This enemy who threatened to enslave them, freedom from the fear that paralyzed the armies of the people of God.
[38:16] And in Adam, our entire race is condemned. But God acted to rescue his people, sending his only begotten son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
[38:28] For us, Christ's victory on the cross has redeemed us. Redeemed us from death, redeemed us from slavery to sin, and redeemed us from the fear of death.
[38:40] So whatever giant you have to face this week, whatever temptation to sin, whatever problem it is that is standing in front of you this week, remember we have a Lord and a Master who is able to save us.
[38:56] And we go forward in his strength, not in ours. The failure of Saul and the failure of Adam, our own failure, is great.
[39:11] But in God's providence, that just makes salvation that much greater. Glory be to God for his astounding salvation.
[39:22] Glory be to his holy name for what he has achieved for us and in us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray.
[39:38] Our gracious God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the truths in it. We thank you that we can read it. We can read this history of how you have dealt with your people in the past.
[39:52] And we can have confidence that you will do the same for us. We thank you for your glorious gospel. We thank you for the truth that it is you that has won the victory.
[40:04] And that we go forth not in our own strength, weak and feeble as it is, but we go forward in your strength.
[40:16] Father, help us not to be fooled by the enemy. Help us not to be fooled into believing that sin has the upper hand. Father, guide us and lead us through this world, through the temptations that we have to face, through the problems that we have to face.
[40:37] Father, keep us looking to you for all things that we might defeat sin in our lives, that we might mortify sin in our lives, to put it to death in the power that is ours through the Lord Jesus Christ and in your spirit.
[41:00] Gracious Father, we thank you for the knowledge that you have defeated sin and death, that on the cross the price was paid, that we can come to you freely, so Father, we do that this morning, we come to you freely in the knowledge that you are the one with all the power, you are the one with all the glory and all the honour and we come to worship and praise you this morning.
[41:34] So Father, we pray, remind us of these things. When sin and death and this world try to fool us into playing by its rules, remind us of this story, remind us how you changed things and won the victory on our behalf.
[41:57] May it ever be present in our hearts and in our minds and on our lips and may the name of Jesus be glorified forever.
[42:07] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[42:39] Amen. Amen. The Lord has given us the light to bring. Who will lead the world's side? Who will face the fall?
[42:53] There is no no loss that grew for him. We'll go. Thy, our, our mercy, Thy, our grace divine.
[43:09] We are on the lost side. Savior, we are mine. Chosen to be soldiers in the naked land.
[43:30] Chosen, bold and faithful for our captain's land. In the service royal, let us not grow old.
[43:47] Let us be right loyal, now we'll choose and do. Most of the world will keep us life and grace divine.
[44:04] God is on the lost side. Savior, we are always mine. May the grace together.
[44:16] May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen.