The Savior We Needed

Jason Klebes

The Gospel Project • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

1 Samuel 17:1–11

1 Samuel 17

Salvation

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THE SAVIOR WE NEED

This title is a play on a quote from the movie Batman the Dark Knight were Gordon says “He is not the hero the deserve, but he is the one they need.” This quote is very true when it come to Christ being the savior we need but not the one that we deserve.

Christ our savior came because of the mistakes we made, the sins that we commited and yet He paid the price.

Romans 6:23 ESV

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Intro

If you were to think of the one-thing in your life that stands in your way? that one thing that plagues your mind and your heart? It seems to get to overcome? What would it be?

What is the greatest thing that you need conquered in your life?

I imagine your mind runs to a lot of different things; which may include depression. So you think “my greatest need is to overcome this depression, then I can be better.”

Or maybe you think of low self-esteem. This leads you to think, “If I could only see myself in a better way, then maybe then I will find all healing and be better.”

It could even be hurts from family members or from peers that leave broken. The constant berating of anger and insult, leaves you thinking “maybe I am no good, or I won’t amount to anything.”

These all seem very grand, especially when you are going through them and feel that weight of the brokenness they leave on your life. They leave us discourage and sometimes to the point of just wanting to give up and have all of it end.

Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Discouragement

The devil decided to have a garage sale. On the day of sale, his tools were placed for public inspection, each being marked with its sale price. There were a treacherous lot of implements: hatred, envy, jealousy, deceit, lust, lying, pride, and so on.

Set apart from the rest was a harmless-looking tool. It was quite worn and yet priced very high.

“What is the name of this tool?” asked one of the customers, pointing to it.

“That is discouragement.” Satan replied.

“Why have you priced it so high?”

“Because it is more useful to me than the others. I can pry open and get inside a man’s heart with that, even when I cannot get near him with the other tools. It is badly worn because I use it on almost everyone, since so few people know it belongs to me.”

The devil’s price for discouragement was high because it is still his favorite tool, and he is still using it on God’s people.

But are these truly your greatness need?

In the Story today we are going to look at some people who faced a great need. Here is a picture of what is happening

1 Samuel 17:1–11 ESV

Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. And they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, 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. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred 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? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.” When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

Point one: The People needed a saviour

There are these two great armies facing off with a valley between them. Goliath who is called a giant- About 9’9” tall (the verified tallest person ever recorded is Robert Wadlow (1918 - 1940) who stood an impressive 8 feet, 11 inches, still shorter than the biblical Goliath.) stood before them taunting them, calling them out, and their whole army had no one who would go and save them, not even their own king.

They were afraid of this man, there was no victory unless someone would face this giant. “Who would save them from certain death?” They had a very real and very great need.

1 Samuel 17:38–50 ESV

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.

Point two: God sent a saviour to conquer our greatest Giant

I could really superficial and say “You are David and what are the Goliath’s in your own life that need you need to conquer? Is fear, anxiety, depression, or self worth?” But that isn’t what this story is about and you aren’t David.

I will tell you the death Goliath that each of us face and unless a savior comes to deliver us we will certainly die, and that is our sins, the wrong that we have done the separate us from life itself. Our greatest need is for a savior to come and take down the sin that leads to death.

And who is it that God sends? It isn’t a great conquering king, nor is it a great army.

Christ Connection: David did not look like a king or a mighty warrior, but God chose him to be king over Israel and gave him victory over Goliath. The Israelites were too weak and afraid to face Goliath; they needed David to fight on their behalf. In a similar way, though Jesus did not look like a warrior or king, we need Him to fight for us. Jesus gives us victory over sin and death.

Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Salvation, Consequences of

The movie The Hanging Tree was set in a western gold-mining camp in the late 1800’s. Gary Cooper played the role of doctor for the camp. One day, a young boy was seen robbing gold from the camp. He was shot from a distance but managed to hobble into hiding. All hands in the camp spread out to see who would be the first to kill him for this offense. The doctor found the hurt, frightened youth. He took him into his cabin, nursed him, and removed the bullet. After the boy regained consciousness, he inquired what the doctor would do with him now. The doctor held the slug in the boy’s face and said, “You will be my servant for as long as I want you to be, maybe forever, because that is how long you would be dead if this slug had remained in you.”

That is the length of condemnation for the slug of sin if it remains in us. The Great Physician has already performed the surgery to remove the slug. The painless operation of trust in him is the only requirement. It is our privilege to be servants of the One who healed us forever, for without his healing, we also would be dead forever.

Point three: Only God can save us

We can keep pretending that things will change eventually. That we will conquer our problems, that when we just get older or find love, or have a family, or just get some money, things will get better. And things do change, but as a Man full of the Love of God for you; I have to tell you the truth unless the only hope is Christ Jesus.

He is the only one who makes broken dead things such as ourselves into a New Creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

This amazing work of Jesus Christ is a gift- something we don’t earn, work for, or deserve

Ephesians 2:1–5 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Salvation, Gift of

A group of believers was meeting by a river when one of their group fell into the water. It was obvious that the poor fellow couldn’t swim, as he thrashed about wildly. One of the believers was a strong swimmer and was called on to jump in and save the man before he drowned. But though able to save the drowning man, he just watched until the wild struggles subsided. Then he dove in and pulled the man to safety.

When the rescue was over, the rescuer explained his slowness to act. “If I had jumped in immediately, he would have been strong enough to drown us both. Only by waiting until he was too exhausted to try to save himself, could I save him.”

It seems to be all too easy for us to be like that drowning man. Our self-efforts can actually prevent us from being saved! Unfortunately, some people must reach the point of being too exhausted to continue trying to save themselves (by dealing with their own sin) before they become willing to trust in the Savior and accept his gift of salvation.

WE can continue to try to deal with the issues we have that stem from our greatest need, but that is like picking the flower of the dandelion without dealing with the root- it will just keep coming back.

Ending

About 7 years ago I had really bad shoulder problems, and I couldn’t raise my arm over my head. It hurt so bad, and when I went to the doctor they told me it was bursitis and I would deal with it my whole life.

A few years after it flared up once again and I couldn’t work. I had already tried the doctor but that only brought the news of suffering my whole life with it. My beautiful wife told me to go to the chiropractor. I didn’t like this Idea one bit. I though it was like witchcraft but I was in so much pain I went.

The Chiropractor told me the issue wasn’t my arm but my neck, and if he dealt with the cause of the pain the effect would eventually go away.

And that is exactly what happened.

God sent Jesus Christ to deal with the cause of all the problems in this world, the very thing that we could never conquer, the very thing that leads to death, our Sins.

Jesus offers this beautiful gift to all- and welcomes all to come to Himself. He says, “ If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” This is an invitation to life- Are you dying of thirst then come to the one who can quench it.

What is your greatest need? You need a savior and just like god used David to defeat Goliath, God sent Jesus Christ to conquer our sin.