David & Goliath

[0:00] We've got one Samuel 17. I'm going to touch on a familiar topic really tonight. And one! that we often hear as a bit of a Sunday school story really and some might think of it just! as that. But really it's so much more. It's about David and Goliath. David and Goliath.

[0:28] We can learn so much from the account of David and of Goliath and what happens in the scripture account which is an account, it's a true account. It's an actual first hand account of the encounter of David with Goliath. We all know that story I'm sure. This monster of a man, this monster of a man, Goliath, this huge man and this little boy really as such, David. And what happened there? And we see, we take the story from 1 Samuel 17 from verse 4 onwards it says, And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath. His height was six cubits and a span. So this was over nine feet tall. Nine feet tall. It's amazing isn't it? Bigger than George. Nine foot tall. It's a giant of a man. And it says that he had a helmet of brass upon his head and he was armed with a coat of mail. And the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of brass. It was a heavy coat of metal that he wore around about him. And he had greaves of brass things on his legs and he had a target of brass between his shoulders. He was really fully armoured. He was heavily armoured. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam. And his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron. And one bearing a shield went before him. What a sight he was. What an amazing sight as he would have stepped out from the ranks of the Philistines wearing all his armour. Nine foot tall. An impressive man. An impressive sight. A giant of a man over nine foot tall. And people today, we face an enemy too. We as Christians, as God's people, as believers in Christ, we have an enemy that might look impressive. He might look daunting. He might look impossible to overcome. Might seem like the odds are against us to fight the giant, the champion. We're talking about the enemy of our soul. The enemy of our soul. The devil. He's an impressive obstacle. An impressive opponent in life that faces us as

[2:48] Christian people, as God's believers. That we have this giant who is the enemy. Satan, the adversary. And we've got lots of other giants too. Maybe you've got giants of depression or discouragement.

[3:02] Or maybe your own ego. Sometimes that can be a giant cancer. The big I, the self. Maybe it's a giant of fear. Of addictions. You know, those little things that look so small, they can be so huge to overcome, can't they? Those things that people put in their mouth, they're such a giant. It's got such a control.

[3:24] It's got such a hold on people. It's a giant in their lives. And Christians too can face such things and find it hard to let go. Find it hard to overcome. Maybe it's the giant of discouragement.

[3:39] You've just had one hit after another. And it just seems like there's too much to overcome. And people today, there's an enemy set against us. Just like this man, Goliath, seems like there's just no way anyone could beat this man. There's no way anyone could knock him down. And we've got that giant, that enemy, that public enemy number one. As well as ourself, which is an enemy we've gone to fight, the flesh. We've got the world, the flesh and the devil. All three. Daunting, strong, mocking God.

[4:14] Here was Goliath. He was mocking God. You could almost see him frothing at the mouth, spitting and spitting chips and just really aggro. You could see the look on his face. You could picture it, couldn't you? If we were kind of a bit artistic tonight, we could imagine what a mean dude he was. What an awful character. You see some of these film stars and these ugly, monstrous baddies in the films. And he could be a hundred times worse than such a character as that. Because he was mocking our God. He was mocking our Saviour. He was mocking the people of God. He was arrayed against them with all his cohort of the soldiers there. And we face a challenge too, as I say.

[4:58] And the account goes on from 1 Samuel 17, from verse 8. It goes on, And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel. He cried out. You could hear that sarcasm in his voice.

[5:12] He said unto them, Why are you come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and ye servants to serve? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. He said to the Israelites there as they were gathered, He said, Choose you a man. Who are you going to choose?

[5:37] Right, you lot. Choose you a man. One of you is going to come and fight me. He says, Where are the men? Where are the men who will fight? Where are the men who will fight? The men with a bit of oomph. A bit of character. A bit of conviction. A bit of courage. Where are the men? Choose you a man.

[5:58] He's going to come and fight. And verse 9, he goes on, 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. He was defiant. He was defying. He was full of mockery and snide. You know, just, you could hear the evil in his voice, couldn't you, if you could picture it, back at that time. And it just seemed like it was a hopeless contest. And verse 11, When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid. Here they were, they were dismayed, they were greatly afraid, they were quaking in their boots, they were, they were really packing it. You know, they were really feeling really under the pump, as they could see this man, and they knew, well, okay, you know, who's going to go? They were looking at everybody else and thinking, who's going to go? Who's going to be that one who's going to say, yeah, I'm going to stand up and fight. And some quake and crumble when they face giants. And that can be true for you.

[7:16] Maybe in your life, you're facing some challenges, some obstacles, some adversities of life. And we can be as those that don't have the assurance, they quake and crumble when their foundation is not faith.

[7:29] Their foundation is not the faith that's in Christ, the foundation of faith for their lives. And we can experience those feelings, those emotions of Saul and the others, as they were greatly afraid.

[7:43] Because they hadn't got that faith to help carry them through to win the fight that was facing them. And there's a challenge that confronts you. It could be tonight. It could be Monday morning.

[7:58] It could be in the workplace. It could be in the schoolyard. It could be in your going around your everyday life. There's a challenge. Maybe Goliath is going to come and cross your path.

[8:09] Maybe he's going to defy the people of God. Maybe he's going to mock your God, your faith, your saviour. I know in the workplace where I work, there's challenges, there's opportunities, but there's challenges.

[8:23] There's opposition. There's a hatefulness to the Word of God, to Christianity. At times we can all face that and we all can confront those things.

[8:35] Will we be afraid? Will we be like Saul and the others? Will we turn tail? Will we turn yellow? Hide and run?

[8:46] Duck for cover? Or have we got what it takes to take it, to take the fight, to press the fight, to take it to the front line? Have we got that faith in Christ, that faith that is a victorious faith?

[8:59] The Bible says this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. This is the victory. We can have that victory. Now we know some might glibly use such scriptures to say Christians are going to be driving Rolls Royces and living it up in the lap of luxury.

[9:17] That's not what it's talking about, but it says we're going to victory where it counts. When we face those day-by-day temptations, when we face those giants, when we face life's obstacles, he will be with us and he will fight the battle for us.

[9:31] And we can know that as we have that confidence of faith. That's what's going to make the difference. Fear is the opposite of faith. Really and truly, as God's people, we shouldn't know that fear of man, but the fear that we have is a fear of our Lord, a fear of wanting to revere and honour and awe of him, to wanting to honour and bless him and please him.

[9:56] And another character now enters the scene. We're seeing this big, ugly, giant Goliath with his massive armoured appearance there, with all of his finery and all of his braggartry.

[10:12] And then young David enters the scene, a man of faith, a man after God's own heart, a man with faults, yes, but he had a heart that was in tune with the Saviour.

[10:24] And we see that from verse 17 of 17. It says, Here was this son, David, one of the youngsters of the family.

[10:39] He says, Here he was, this little tacker. He was left behind, mining the sheep for his dad.

[10:51] And Jesse says, And verse 18, So he said, Go and take these cheese sandwiches down to your mates down there, to the soldiers, to your brethren, because they're probably getting a bit hungry.

[11:15] It's hard work down there at the battle zone. And verse 19, And verse 20, And David rose up early in the morning, and he left the sheep with a keeper, and took and went, as Jesse had commanded him.

[11:34] And he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle. They were really, it's a bit like, you can imagine it, a bit like a footy match.

[11:45] They were all shouting and yelling and screaming. But this was, this was a real contest. This wasn't just kicking a ball around. This was people getting slaughtered and slaughtering.

[11:58] This was an ugly, horrible sight. Down at the very front line, was hand-to-hand combat. And here was David. He had a heart to serve. He was just a shepherd boy.

[12:10] A humble shepherd. He was a humble person. He took the humble job of taking the cheese sandwiches, so to speak, down to his brothers, down to the front line.

[12:21] He was willing to be an errand boy. Maybe that could be true for you too. But you might feel like you're just a David. You're just a servant. You're just minding the sheep, or running the errand for your father.

[12:34] But yet you're faithful. That's what David demonstrated, that he was a faithful servant. And he came down carrying the food for his brothers. And verse 21, it goes on, For Israel and the Philistines have put the battle in array, army against army.

[12:50] Here it was, head-to-head. Army against army. Verse 22, And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren.

[13:02] Came there, and he said hi to his brothers. Verse 23, And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name.

[13:14] Here he was, this massive giant of a man, out of the armies of the Philistines. And he spoke according to the same words. And David heard them.

[13:24] Verse 24, And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid. Soon as Goliath came, they just had to run and hide.

[13:35] They didn't want to be around. They didn't want to face the giant, even from a distance. The people of God, what a mockery. What a tragedy. What a shame that the people of God, God's very own people, were just ducking for cover, hiding from this giant.

[13:52] Even though God had done so much for them, the Lord had done so many marvels on their behalf, as he had rescued them from Egypt, as he blessed them with salvation. The all-powerful God was their God, and yet, here was this man, mocking and laughing and scorning them, and they were just miserable cowards, gutless, crumbling before this, mockeries of this God-hater.

[14:20] And David, what did he think? Verse 26, We see faith in action. We see this man, this faithful servant, starting to take notice of what was going on.

[14:31] Verse 26, it says, Of David, he spoke to the man that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel?

[14:42] Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? It says, Who is this guy, that he should defy the armies of the living God, this uncircumcised Philistine?

[14:55] He's a godless man. How dare he speak this way to the armies of the living God?

[15:06] When faith is real, something happens. David took the challenge. He saw the affront that it was to the Saviour, to the living God. His response was one of challenge, one of faith, of confession of faith.

[15:20] It was not just a talk about it kind of faith, not a some who are all talk, no action kind of faith, but truly it was faith in action. What David demonstrates to us is faith that's got action to it, faith that acts, faith with its boots on, faith with works.

[15:40] It's not dead, it's alive. David had a living faith, a faith that was lived out. It was outlived. And that's the kind of faith God wants us to have.

[15:50] Not a faith that's just a glib, token, words only, but a faith that is living. It's active. It's about what God wants for us to be doing. And we see that then there was various discussion about Saul, offered him his armour, and it was too heavy.

[16:07] David hadn't tried it. Verse 32, And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.

[16:18] And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a youth. You're just a boy. You're just a youth, he said. And he is a man of war from his youth.

[16:31] 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 out after him and smote him, and delivered him out of his mouth.

[16:47] And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him. And here was David. He was recounting that as a shepherd, a lamb was taken by this bear, this lion, and David killed him.

[17:02] He grabbed him and killed him. Verse 36, Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing as he hath defied the armies of the living God.

[17:17] David saw that this godless man was going to be just like that lion and that bear that had taken the lamb. He would put an end to him.

[17:29] He said, verse 37, Moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.

[17:40] And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee. David, the faithful servant, came there, really just running an errand, saw this mockery, and he placed his faith in the living God.

[17:54] He placed his faith in God's keeping care. As he encountered, as he had before the lion and the bear, he knew what it was to trust God, to see him through life's challenges.

[18:06] And he recognised and he gave glory to God for the Lord's help and his keeping power. And in David's past, as he had seen the Lord save and sustain him throughout his life of faithful service, he knew that the Lord would help him in this greater challenge.

[18:21] And so verse 32, David says, Thy servant will go and fight. He says, Saul, King Saul, your servant is going to go and he's going to go and fight.

[18:32] I'm going to go and fight this Philistine. Our faith does not rest upon our own ability or strength, but upon the Lord's sustaining power. And as I say, as we face giants, as we face challenges, as we face the enemy of our faith, in all of these disguises, we have faith that will see us through.

[18:56] The faith that saves our soul. The faith in Christ. The faith of the one who's won the ultimate battle, hasn't he? As the one who's completed that finished work of his bleeding sacrifice on our behalf.

[19:09] As he said, his very precious holy blood. That spotless one took our place so we can have victory over the enemy. And really we already have as we're seated in that place of victory with him.

[19:23] In a sense, that we have a victory already. And it talks in the word how we're going to trample Satan underneath our foot. That there is a victory for the believer that we can know.

[19:35] Just as David knew too. And so David, he did not shy away despite Saul's words that as David heard Saul say, you're not able. How many times have you heard that?

[19:46] People say, you're not able. Or you're just a, you're too young. Young people, and some of us, we might feel we're not too young now. But we can think, you know, we might have heard before, you're too young, you're not experienced, you're not able.

[20:03] You haven't got the credentials for whatever it is that faces you. Yet God says in his word, we can make that profession as Paul did, that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

[20:19] We can have that faith. And so David's reliance, it wasn't in Saul's armour, it was in Christ, in effect. It was in his faith in the Lord.

[20:29] And David's assurance was founded in that faith. He will deliver me. So it goes on, verse 14, And David, he took a staff in his hand, he chose five smooth stones out of the brook, and he put them in a shepherd's bag, which he had even in a script.

[20:45] It was a little bag. And his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. Verse 41, And the Philistine came on and drew near to David. And the man that bore the shield went before him.

[20:58] And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, you know, you can imagine him having a look across this great plain, looking for this army of the Israelites, thinking, well, surely they'll send someone who's a bit of a match for me, someone who's got a bit of beef and a bit of, you know, a bit of impressive qualities about him.

[21:17] And then he said, what's that? He looks out, he's got to take a second look, he doesn't believe his eyes, what's coming towards him is this little tacker, you know, this young boy, David.

[21:28] And it says there that he saw David and he disdained him. You know, he kind of mocked at him. He was but a youth and ruddy, which means that he was, well, he was good looking, in fact, he was a fair countenance, but he was just a boy, he was just a young fellow.

[21:47] And the Philistine said unto David, am I a dog that thou countest to me with staves? You know, David was there carrying his staff. And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

[21:58] Imagine this, nine foot giant cursing you by his gods as you walked towards him. And the Philistine said to David, come to me and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field.

[22:10] I'm going to feed you to the birds and to the beasts. You're going to be eaten up by the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. What a spectacle, what a contest, what an outrage that this man should mock the people of God, mock David by his gods, the giant Goliath.

[22:30] He was really ropeable. He was enraged that they would send out this young boy against him, just a boy. Might have been a boy not much different in age from Henry.

[22:41] Just a young teenager, just a young boy. Just a, a scarcely, had, didn't have very many muscles. You know, not, probably wasn't as muscly as Henry here.

[22:53] But, you know, he was just a young boy, just a shepherd. Boy. But he was a boy, just a boy with a slingshot.

[23:04] But, he was a boy that was backed by and filled with the power of the almighty God. That's what made the difference. David was filled with God.

[23:15] God was with him and in him and for him and behind him and in front of him. And, verse 45, then said David to the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear.

[23:27] and with a shield. But I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts, the Lord of armies, the God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defied.

[23:40] He said, I'm not coming with any great armour to carry or to display, but I'm coming to you in the name of the Lord. David's source of courage was the name of the Lord for believers today too.

[23:54] It's the name of the Lord. As we know, the word has got much to say about the name of the Lord. How it's a call on the name of the Lord. David stood firm in his faith.

[24:08] His trust was in the name of the Lord as it says in Acts 2, 21. It says to us and similar verses in Romans, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

[24:22] There's a wonderful sense that if you call on the name of the Lord Jesus, if you call on him, you cry out to him, Lord, Jesus, and you really, as the Bible says, that if you believe in your heart that Jesus died, he rose again from the dead, that you believe in your heart and you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus shall be saved.

[24:54] It's a wonderful, it's so simple. Now some people think becoming a Christian is something that's very complicated and very difficult, but really and truly he's done everything that's, he's done all the difficult things for us.

[25:09] He's done everything that was difficult. It was difficult to have his nails, his hands nailed. to that rough piece of wood. It was difficult for him to carry it there to that place of Golgotha.

[25:20] It was difficult for him to, most of all, as it says, he did, to carry our sins in his own body on that tree.

[25:31] He did everything that was difficult so we can have his salvation as a gift as we call on his name. I plead with you if you haven't already, call on his name.

[25:45] Call on him and I'm not just meaning just a token glib lip service of saying Lord, Lord as some do and not really doing what he says, but a calling and a meaning and a realising that he is your Lord, that he is your Master, that he is your Saviour, that he is deserving of that place and that he can claim that place of Lordship over your life and that means you are stepping aside, that means you are abdicating from the throne of your life, from being the King of your life, from being the Master of your own destiny and letting Christ be that one.

[26:26] You call on the name of the Lord and Proverbs 18 encourages us too that the name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and is safe.

[26:37] David spoke with faith, he had absolute faith in this one, in this one, the name of the Lord was his strong tower, was that place he could run into and be safe and as God's people we are assured as it says in Nehemiah 4 verse 20 our God shall fight for us, our God shall fight for us.

[26:56] If you are a Christian today, God shall fight for you, he will fight your battles. It says there in verse 46 going on, This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand, David says to Goliath, and I will smite thee, and he says I'm going to hit you, I'm going to take your head from you and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls 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 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.

[27:40] So here was David, he didn't hold back, he didn't tremble and quake like the others, he ran towards the battle. This was faith demonstrated, alive and active. When he faced that opposition and the impossible odds, yet we can also have that calm assurance, that boldness.

[27:58] Just think from a boldness. What did David do? He ran towards the Philistine. David ran towards Goliath. It's like he was running into the mouth of the lion.

[28:09] He was running into the heat of the battle, into the very most dangerous place that he could be in the world was to run towards the very enemy that was threatening to kill him.

[28:21] And the Bible says for Christians that we can be as bold as a lion. as bold as a lion. I do that every so often to wake people up.

[28:32] Proverbs 28 verse 1 it says the wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are as bold as a lion. I'm not very good at lion invitations but seriously you should be if you're a Christian today you should be as bold as a lion.

[28:51] You know? Isn't that scary? Yeah. Was I scary? I'm scary. You should be that way shouldn't we? Now I've seen some preachers down at Rundle Mall in the open air and they're as bold as a lion.

[29:02] And you know the natural instinct I think of all of us is to be a little bit timid. A little bit timid yeah. A little bit guarded a little bit reticent a little bit quiet but God's people should be as bold as a lion.

[29:17] When we're facing opposition when we're facing the enemy and when we're speaking for our saviour we should be as bold as a lion. And we should as it says in Hebrews 4.16 we should come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

[29:33] We can be bold in our prayers in our prayer life we can come boldly to that throne of grace and find his help. And verse 6 of Hebrews 13 it says so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

[29:52] We may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. There's a boldness there. As a Christian and we know when the rubber hits the road when it's the real world when you're in the workplace and you're in the everyday life it's sometimes easier not to be bold.

[30:18] But God wants us to have that faith that confidence that Christ can give to help us be strong be faithful be stalwart be steadfast and speak with boldness act with boldness as God's people we don't have to be afraid.

[30:40] 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 2 it says we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God. I was just doing a bit of searching in fact through the concordance and how you can search with a computer concordance you can match words and it's interesting to look at the word bold and speak or preach or elements of those words and they come very closely together there's various accounts where we see in the scriptures the word speaking or preaching and boldness are linked together they're linked together so whenever we speak for our Saviour whether it's witnessing whether it's personal personal witnessing sharing about your faith with others there's a boldness there there's a confidence there that Christ can give to you and so not only did David speak boldly as we heard him speak to Goliath telling him what he was going to do as God helped him to do he not only spoke boldly he acted boldly he ran towards the battle zone just coming to a close now verse 48 we see the final state of affairs as we see and it came to pass when the Philistine arose he came and he drew nigh to meet David that David hasted as I say and he ran towards the army to meet the Philistine and David put his hand in his bag and he took then to stone and he slung it and smote the Philistine in this forehead that the stone sunk into his forehead and Goliath it says he fell upon his face to the earth so David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and smote the Philistine and he slew him or killed him but there was no sword in the hand of David verse 51 therefore David ran and he stood upon the Philistine he took his sword and he drew it out of the sheath and slew him and cut off his head therewith and when the Philistines saw their champion was dead they fled they saw Goliath was dead the Philistines scarpered they didn't want to hang around they knew that it was over when we face the enemy of our souls people tonight church of God you've got an enemy and he's intent he's committed he's on a war path against you and wherever you go about your lives we see in the word it tells us that he is like a lion he's like a lion carrying on roaming around wanting to devour people he's an enemy he's a giant and he's got his mates too you could say he's got a number of giants with him could be the giant of temptation could be the giant of disappointment the giant of of whatever it might be something that's taking God's place in your life could be a giant could be a giant of your own ego our own selfish fleshly nature and that great giant of temptation the devil and the world is standing against you even it could be it could be

[33:51] Monday morning you'll see the giant do you shy away from standing tall from pressing the fight from meeting the challenge or will you run boldly like David did run to the battle run to the battle be bold with your acting with your speaking being like David standing on the confession of your faith putting your faith into action as David's life of faithful service showed he wasn't just all talk and no action he was showing it even as a shepherd boy doing the faithful service serving faithfully living a life of servanthood as he went just carrying the lunchbox for his brothers David was faithful and he proved himself defending the sheep the lambs God was preparing him for the greater battles that lay ahead and there's greater tests that lie ahead for you it could be what you've been through it's just a lion and a bear but Goliath is around the corner and as God's people be encouraged be like David as a Christian we know that the battle is the Lord's and he will fight for us and he will let us let us let us let us let us let us