"Champion" in its actual meaning is a person who does a great task for others.

• With emphasis on being so FOR OTHERS.
• He fights for people in their place.
• Literally the space between two armies.
• When he fights, it's as if his army is fighting.

His armour alone was 125 pounds.

The head of his spear weighed 15 pounds itself.

1Sa 17:9-11 KJV  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.  (10)  And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.  (11)  When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.


One man would stand for all the enemy forces and one man would stand  for all Israel.

Jesus was the ONE MAN who stood against all hell.

Rom 5:19 KJV  For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

If one man could make us all sinners, and one man, Jesus Christ, made us all righteous, why do we get discouraged that we are not good enough in ourselves?

Personal inadequacy does not mean anything if one man made us all righteous.

Jesus came in a way so different than what Israel expected.

• They wanted a king to come and destroy Rome's power, but He lets Rome kill Him!
• Bethlehem was smallest of towns.
• Nazareth was disdained!

David was despised by his own people and king Saul.

• Not just disdained by Goliath.

1Sa 17:26 KJV  And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?

Not only do our enemies hate and despise us, but our own brothers can be down on us.

1Sa 17:28 KJV  And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; 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, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.

Christians look down on other believers.

• David came for an actual cause!
• There was a need!

Have you ever been around believers who are discouraged, and you try telling them God is there to help, and they mock you?

1Sa 17:32-33 KJV  And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.  (33)  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.

Again our own people can demean us!

• It's one thing to see the enemy fight us, but our own church members?

1Sa 17:34-35 KJV  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:  (35)  And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.

Would David fight against a bear and a lion in his own power?

• Of course not.
• This boy learned to depend upon God and not his own goodness and ability.
• We need to look away from our own goodness, and in faith rely upon Christ's goodness for us and our standing before God!
• Standing in a position of reliance on God and not our own goodness or power, is like standing behind the blood on the doors in Egypt and behind the window with the red rope in Rahab's window.
• When we know we're IN CHRIST, because we depend upon His goodness and power, we will be empowered.

Don't hate yourself, for you're looking for your goodness when hyou hate self, and you're not relying on the righteousness God gave to you in Christ!

When you are down on yourself, you do not understand the gospel!

• There's nothing about you that you need to be down about, because everything you have is from God and His grace!
• You applied that truth to get saved, but you didn't apply it to your life after you're saved!
• You knew you couldn't save yourself, so you trusted in God to do it. 
• Do the same with the crisis you're in now.
• It doesn't matter what we personally do not have or what we lack, it's what God gave to us that only matters.

Rom 10:3 KJV  For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

Would you want to stand before God with your own righteousness, or with God's?

EPHESDAMMIM means BOUNDARY OF BLOOD.

This was where the Philistines encamped to battle Israel.

Like Israel behind the Blood-stained doors, and Rahab behind the red rope, we are behind the bloodline when we trust in God.

1Sa 17:1 KJV  Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.

Azekah and Shochoh both mean FENCED IN.

Imagine Goliath by the boundary of blood and fenced in on both sides, he's defeated before he starts!

To be IN CHRIST is to be in that place of safety.

• Have in-Christed faith!
• God is only pleased with what Jesus did, and you depend upon that for being pleasing to God.
• When you believe that, you're behind the boundary of blood, and your enemies are defeated before they start!

Make sure you're in EPHESDAMMIM when you face the devil.

• Make sure you're trusting IN CHRIST's goodness and power.
• It's a state of mind and of faith,

When we can look at ourselves everyday as being people whose goodness is nothing, but we're in Christ and that is all that matters, then when we face battles we will easily be able to think the same way.

As long as we stay in this frame of mind, that state of faith and trust in HIS goodness, and continue to realize that God put us in Christ, we are safe from all destruction!

• Being IN HIS DEATH means we're in his goodness, and not even trying to impress God with our goodness.
• But people who are down on themselves in everyday life will never rely upon God's goodness and stand on that when they face the enemy.
• What we are in everyday life is how we'll be when we face the enemy.
• I stand in His righteousness that He gave me as a gift.
• Paul said he ensured that when God finds him he is in the righteousness of God and not self righteousness that comes from the law.

However way we look at ourselves in everyday life is how we'll look at ourselves when the enemy attacks, for we are what we are under pressure.

Heb 13:6 KJV  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

That is in-Christ faith!

David's own family criticized him along with his own leader.

• David shrugged it off for he knew what they did not know, and experienced it, relying upon the power of God.
• And even the enemy called him a kid and child.
• If David looked to himself, that would have destroyed his confidence.
• But he did not look to his own power.
• He trusted in THE NAME OF THE LORD!

Who cares what people say about us when we know who we are in Christ and we know the goodness we have is God's?

• Living in that frame of mind makes us indestructible!

Satan could only kill, and he killed Christ only to see Christ resurrect!

• He cannot deal with resurrection from the dead.
• That's why we need that confidence that comes from knowing we're in Christ.
• Looking at ourselves and being discrouaged means we look for adequacy in self, and not in God.
• OUR adequacy is IN CHRIST!

God doesn't look for our goodness, but for the blood!

• Israel was behind the blood and THAT moved God to preserve them.
• Not their good works.
• So many think God looks for their good works to bless them, and they are absolutely ignorant of truth.

Exo 12:22 KJV  And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.

STAY INSIDE.

• Stay IN CHRIST.
• Stay in that dependence upon Christ's goodness instead of your own!

As soon as you look at your adequacy, you've left the house and are open game for the devil.

Jos 2:18-19 KJV  Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee.  (19)  And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.

STAY IN THE HOUSE!

Both in Exodus and the Jericho destruction, someone had to be behind the RED BLOOD.

Col 2:8 KJV  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

SPOIL=steal and rob.

Stay in Christ, because you are complete in HIM!

Col 2:9-12 KJV  For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.  (10)  And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:  (11)  In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:  (12)  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

Don't let anyone remove you from trusting in your position IN CHRIST!

Unless we have full trust in Chirst's goodness, we are NOT IN CHRIST grounded like we should be.

• Looking at yourself  as unfit means you never understood the basics of the Gospel.
• The DOOR with blood on it was for entrance, and means GETTING IN CHRIST.

David struck Goliath in his head, indicating the devil cannot see it coming, because he's so stuck on self and cannot deal with people who trust in God!

You're in Ephesdammim when you are in that mindset.

Rom 6:13 KJV  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

We're in the state of knowing we're alive from the dead.

• You might as well GIVE your hands to sin to use if you rely upon your own goodness!
• Presenting yourself to God as those alive from the dead means you know you were baptized in to the death of Christ and resurrected with Jesus, so as to be alive from the dead now, victorious over sin and death!

Spiritually we're alive from the dead when we are saved!

We know we cannot rely upon our goodness when we present ourselves to God as alive form the dead.

• We know we had to die because we're not good enough on our own, and we had to die since our lives and goodnesses were worth nothing more than death.
• And we know we're worthy of everything because we're in Christ!
• Coming alive from the dead means we're coming in the work of the cross and His goodness and not our own, for that is why we HAD TO DIE!

Goliath's head and power and authority is struck.

1Sa 17:49-51 KJV  And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and 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.  (50)  So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.  (51)  Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.

1Sa 17:54 KJV  And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armour in his tent.

Put his head on your wall like a trophy!

Put a hole in the devil's head!

Jesus is like David.

• Weak fleshly instrumentality but POWERFUL FAITH IN GOD!
• ONE MAN destroyed the devil!

And if one man Christ took down the devil for all of us, then WE are VICTORS OVER THE DEVIL.

• Jesus is OUR Champion!