David's Duel with Goliath, Part 1

If you got your Bible turn to 1st Samuel chapter 17, 1st Samuel chapter 17 and we're going to examine the most famous incident in the life of David. So famous that the world refers to it when the underdog takes on the giant and if you look at a thesaurus and you look up the word giant you'll notice that Goliath is another word for giant. This story is so incredible it portrays to us all kinds of biblical truths.

It talks to us about the providence of God and how he orchestrates the events of life to bring about his perfect purposes and how he orchestrates the events of life to put his people in the right place at the right time. God is in complete control of all things. So it deals with the providence of God, it deals with the power of God, God's ability to overcome the obstacles that we face to show us how great and how strong he truly is.

It even deals with the people of God because for the most part the people of God tend to walk by sight and not by faith and this chapter is about the nation of Israel who walked by sight and not by faith. A lot of us are like that aren't we? We tend to look at our obstacles and see them bigger than they really are and not so sure that we're able to overcome them. This story is for us.

It talks to us about the purposes of God and how he has one great purpose in mind and that is to make sure he receives all the glory no matter what takes place. And so you can go on and on about all the different principles that are portrayed in 1st Samuel chapter 17. But we're going to open your eyes to some things tonight like David had to fight two battles before he fought the ultimate battle with Goliath.

Did you know that? Of course you didn't. You didn't know that. Come on.

1st Samuel 17 there were two battles he had to fight in this chapter before he fought Goliath. Because he had to overcome his own spirit before he could overcome the man with the spear. You'll see that in the story.

So many wonderful truths about why five smooth stones, not four, not six, not three, not ten. Why five? I mean what if you ran out? What if five wasn't enough? Why not 25? Why not take a whole satchel filled with stones just in case Goliath didn't go down on the first go around? Why particularly five smooth stones? Well that's because Goliath had four brothers. Most people don't ever know that.

Most commentators don't even mention it. In fact I've yet to read one that did mention it. So why are we talking about it? Because I think it's important.

Why is it important? Because he chose five, not six, not four, not three, not two, not one. Five. But he only needed one.

He knew that. God knew that. But he had four brothers.

Just in case they were there and didn't flee with everybody else, David was ready. Because he was always ready. It's a great story.

We're going to read it. It's going to take a while. It's over 50 verses.

But 1 Timothy 4.13 says that we are to give special attention to the reading, to the exhortation, and to the interpretation of Scripture. So unless we give special attention to the public reading of Scripture, we don't fulfill the mandate given to the church in 1 Timothy 4.13. So here we go. 1 Samuel 17 verse number one.

Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle, and they gathered at Soco, which belongs to Judah. And they camped between Soco and Azica in Ephistimene. And Saul the men of Israel were gathered and camped in the valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array to encounter the Philistines.

And the Philistines stood on the mountain on one side, while Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, in the valley between them. Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines, named Goliath from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was clothed with scale armor, which weighed 5,000 shekels of bronze.

He also had bronze greaves on his legs, and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders. And the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and the head of the spear weighed 600 shekels of iron. His shield carrier also walked before him.

And he stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, and said to them, Why do you come out to draw up in battle array? Am I not the Philistine, and you 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 become your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall become our servants and serve us.

Again the Philistines 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.

Now David was the son of the Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse. And he had eight sons, and Jesse was old in the days of Saul, advanced in years among men. And the three older sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle.

And the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and the second to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. And David was the youngest. Now the three oldest followed Saul.

But David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father's flock at Bethlehem. And the Philistine came forward morning and evening for forty days and took his stand. Then Jesse said to David his son, take now for your brothers an ephah of this roasted grain.

And these ten loaves and run to the camp to your brothers. Bring also these ten cuts of cheese to the commander of the thousands. And look into the welfare of your brothers and bring back news of them.

For Saul and they are all the men of Israel are in the valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines. So David arose early in the morning and left the flock with the keeper and took the supplies and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the circle of the camp while the army was going out in battle array shouting the war cry.

In Israel the Philistines drew up in battle array, army against army. Then David left his baggage in the care of the baggage keeper and ran to the battle line and entered in order to greet his brothers. As he was talking with them behold the champion the Philistine from Gath named Goliath was coming up from the army of the Philistines and he spoke these same words and David heard them.

When all the men of Israel saw the man they fled from him and were greatly afraid. And the men of Israel said, have you seen this man who is coming up? Surely he is coming up to defy Israel and it will be that the king will enrich the man who kills him and great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel. Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him saying, what will be done for the man who kills the Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should taunt the armies of the living God? And the people answered him in accord with this word saying, thus it will be done for the man who kills him.

Now Eliab the oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men and Eliab's anger burned against David and he said, why have you come down and with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart for you have come down in order to see the battle. But David said, what have I done now? Was it not just a question? Then he turned away from him to another and said the same thing and the people answered the same thing as before. When the words which David spoke were heard, they told them to Saul and he sent for him.

And David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail on account of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. Then Saul said to David, you are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.

But David said to Saul, your servant was sending his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him and rescued it from his mouth. And when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him.

Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them since he has taunted the armies of the living God. And David said, the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine.

And Saul said to David, go and may the Lord be with you. Then Saul clothed David with his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with armor. And David girded a sword over his armor and tried to walk for he had not yet tested them.

So David said to Saul, I cannot go with these for I have not tested them. And David took them off. And he took a stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones for the brook and put them in the shepherd's bag, which he had even his pouch.

And his sling was in his hand and he approached the Philistine. Then the Philistine came on and approached David with the shield bear in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him for he was but a youth and ruddy with a handsome appearance.

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 also said to David, come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field. Then David said to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword, a spear and 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 taunted. This day, the Lord will deliver you up into my hands and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and 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 does not deliver by sword or by spear for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands. Then it happened when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, that David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead and the stone sank into his forehead so that he fell on his face to the ground.

Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone and he struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in David's hand. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took a sword, drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it.

When the Philistine saw that their champion was dead they fled and the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines as far as the valley and to the gates of Ekron and the slain Philistines lay along the way to Shurim even to Gath and Ekron. And the sons of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines and plundered their camps. Then David took the Philistine's head and brought it to Jerusalem and he put his weapons in his tent.

Now when Saul saw David going out against the Philistines he said to Abner the commander of the army, Abner whose son is this young man? And Abner said by your life oh king I do not know. And the king said you inquire whose son the youth is. So when David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the Philistine's head in his hand.

And Saul said to him whose son are you young man? And David answered I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite. Great story. It's all true.

Nothing there is false. And all of it speaks to us about how God eliminates all of our enemies. We all have enemies.

We all have problems. We all have giants. And God deals with them if only we trust him as David did.

Notice the text says, verse 1, now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. We'll stop right there. If we keep stopping that short we're going to take forever to get through all these verses.

But the point of the matter is this. Now the Philistines gathered. When is the now? It is a time in which God had abandoned Saul.

It was a time, it was a time when Samuel alienated himself from Saul. Samuel was the prophet of God. And it was a time where Saul was attacked by an evil spirit from God.

Why is that important? Simply this. Saul stood head and shoulders above all the people in Israel. He was the biggest they had.

Yet he was incapable of leading the nation into war. As you recall the nation had said we want a king like all the other nations have that will go before us in battle and lead us to victory. But if God's abandoned you, the prophet of God has alienated himself from you, and you're attacked by an evil spirit from God, you're in no position to lead anybody anywhere, right? Saul was incapable of leading the nation into battle.

It's a reminder of the fact that, you know what, in order to lead the nation, in order to lead your group of people, your family, you've got to make sure you're right with God. If you're not right with God, you're not going anywhere. You can't do anything.

You can't influence anybody anywhere. David, he was right with God. He won the victory.

He inspired and influenced an entire nation because he was right with God. Saul was not. Saul was not.

He was incapable of doing what he was supposed to do as the king of Israel. As a leader in your home, as a leader in your church, as a leader in your workplace, in order for you to be effective and inspire others and lead them on to victory, you must be right with God. That's what matters.

Nothing else really matters. For David, he was right with God. He was a man after God's own heart.

His character had been tried and proven, and he was ready to go. But Saul, he was in no position to lead. And Saul is a reminder to a lot of people today who have taken on leadership responsibilities, who started out really, really, really, really good, but fell by the wayside rather quickly because of their own sin and disobedience to God and their refusal to repent of their sin.

Therefore, they were incapable of doing a task that God had designed them to do. It's at that time, which brings us to point number one, and that is the conflict that Israel faced. The conflict that Israel faced, seen in four ways.

Number one, the armies of Goliath. It says, now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle, their armies. It wasn't just Goliath.

It was the armies of Goliath. It was the armies of the Philistines. And the Bible tells us in 1 Samuel chapter 14, verse number 52, that as long as Saul was king, Philistines came against Israel.

And Israel had already defeated the Philistines in 1 Samuel 7 and 1 Samuel chapter 14. 1 Samuel 7, we'll look at in a few minutes, that was under the leadership of Samuel, the prophet of God. 1 Samuel 14, it was under the leadership of Jonathan, the son of Saul.

So Israel had already gone against Philistine, the Philistines, had already defeated the Philistines, had shown themselves to be a worthy opponent. But now the armies are continuing to come against them. Why? Because the armies of the enemy are relentless.

They never give up. They never stop trying. They always want to win.

Satan is relentless. He goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, 1 Peter 5, 8, right? He never gives up. There's always another testimony to ruin.

There's always another individual to tear down. There's always another task before him. And Satan and his emissaries are relentless in their attack.

That's why we need to put on the full armor of God that we might be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, because they are relentless in their attacks. And Philistines were relentless. They wanted to win.

They didn't want to lose. And they would do everything they possibly could to win the battle. So the conflict that Israel faced was number one, the armies of Goliath.

Number two, the appearance of Goliath. He was huge. He was huge.

By all measures, he was about 9 1⁄2 to 10 1⁄2 feet tall. That's pretty big when you look at the fact that the Bible says that he was six cubits and a span. A cubit is from the tip of your index finger to the base of your elbow, which could vary depending on how big your arm is.

A span is from the thumb to the index finger. You add all that up, he comes to about 9 1⁄2 feet tall. That's a pretty big man, okay? He's huge.

He's not a small man. He is a big man. But here's the point.

Physical height is not what's important. Spiritual health is what's important. Spiritual health always wins over physical height.

David had spiritual health. Saul did not. That's why he could not go to battle.

He was a coward. He was the biggest man Israel had, but he was a coward. He was a coward because he wasn't with God.

He was far from God. Notice that the Bible says that Goliath was from Gath. Goliath was from Gath.

If you've got your Bible, turn back with me, if you would, to the book of Numbers chapter 13, because he was a descendant of Enoch who produced the giants in the land of Canaan. First Samuel chapter 13, verse number 28, nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong. This is when the spies came back.

They are on the border of the promised land, and the 12 spies went in. Numbers set to 12. I'm sorry.

Numbers 13. I'm sorry. The spies went in, and the 12 spies went in, and 10 came back with a negative report.

Two came back with a positive report. It says in verse 25, when they returned from spying out the land at the end of 40 days, they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Haran at Kadesh. And they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.

Thus they told them and said, we went into the land where you sent us, and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And moreover, we saw the descendants of Enoch there.

Then down in verse number 32, so they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land, which he had spied out, saying, the land through which we have gone and spied it out is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim. The sons of Enoch are part of the Nephilim, and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.

So way back when Israel was about to embark on the promised land, and the spies went in, all they could see were the giants. They didn't see God. They saw the giants.

That's all they could see. And they saw that they were small in their sight. Well, we know that Israel would end up wandering for 40 years, and then they would eventually go into the land.

If you've got your Bible, the book of Joshua says this, Joshua chapter 11, verse number 22, there were no Anakim left in the land of the sons of Israel, only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod some remained. This is very important. Why? Because when Israel went in to the land of promise, when the Jews went in to take the land, they didn't dispel the enemy.

They didn't kill all of the descendants of Anak. They didn't kill all those from Gath. They should have, but they didn't.

Now when you come to the book of 1 Samuel 17, and you have the Philistines, and you had this one called Goliath who was from Gath, he is there because Israel didn't do what they should have done when they entered the land of promise. Here's the point. Listen.

In order to win any battle, you must expel the enemy. You must destroy the enemy. If you don't destroy sin, it just keeps coming back.

It just keeps coming back. It just keeps coming back. That's why the Bible says in Matthew chapter 5, if your right hand defends you, cut it off.

Better for you to enter into hell maimed, or to go through this life maimed, than to enter into hell that way. Better that you pluck out your right eye if it offends you, because you've got to deal drastically with sin. It doesn't mean you've got to go out and literally cut off your hand and pluck out your eyes and all that.

It doesn't mean that. It just means you've got to deal drastically with sin. If you don't deal drastically with sin, it will always come back to haunt you.

Israel didn't do that. They didn't deal drastically with sin. That's a bad habit pattern for most people to get involved in.

Why? Because it always comes back to haunt you. Remember back in 1 Samuel chapter 15, when Saul was to listen to the word of the Lord, that he was to go in and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him, but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey. He was supposed to kill everybody.

He was supposed to kill every one of the Amalekites. He was supposed to kill the king himself. They didn't do that, did they? They didn't do that, because the people wanted to spare some of the things that were there.

And Saul listened to the people. If you've got your Bible, turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter 1. 2 Samuel chapter 1. 1 Samuel 31. Samuel and Jonathan die.

2 Samuel 1. Now it came about after the death of Saul, when David had returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, that David remained two days at Ziglag. And it happened on the third day that, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul, with his clothes torn and dust on his head. And it came about, when he came to David, that he fell on the ground and prostrated himself.

Then David said to him, From where do you come? And he said to him, I have escaped from the camp of Israel. And David said to him, How did things go? Please tell me. And he said, The people have fled from the battle, and also many of the people have fallen and are dead.

And Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also. So David said to the young man who told him, How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead? And the young man who told him said, By chance, I happen to be on Mount Geboa. And behold, Saul was leaning on his spear.

And behold, the chariots and the horsemen pursued him closely. Then he looked behind me, he saw me, and called to me and said, Here I am. He said to me, Who are you? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite.

Then he said to me, Please stand beside me and kill me, for agony has seized me because my life still lingers in me. So I stood beside him and killed him, because I knew that he could not live after he had fallen. And I took the crown which was on his head, and the bracelet which was on his arm, and I brought them here to my Lord.

Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so also did all the men who were with him. And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the people of the Lord and the house of Israel, because he had fallen by the sword. And David said to the young man who told him, Where are you from? And he answered, I am the son of an alien, an Amalekite.

Then David said to him, How is it you were not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed? And David called one of the young men and said, Go cut him down. So he struck him and he died. And David said to him, Your blood is on your head, for your mouth has testified against you, saying, I have killed the Lord's anointed.

Why did I read you that story? What you don't kill will kill you. And Saul was to destroy all the Amalekites. He didn't do that.

He didn't do it. He let some of them live. He disobeyed the Word of the Lord.

He partially obeyed the Word of the Lord. God's not looking for partial obedience, my friends. God's not looking for you to do nine out of ten rules and obey nine out of ten.

I can't say that's good enough. God's looking for total, full, wholehearted obedience. That's what God's looking for.

And because he was unable or unwilling to kill all that God had commanded him to kill, it ended up killing him in the end. Same is true in our story in 1 Samuel 17. They didn't kill all the giants.

They didn't kill the Nephilim. They didn't kill the descendants of Anak. And now they're facing a battle again.

It's relentless. If you got sin in your life, you got to deal with it. You got to deal with it.

If you don't deal with it, it's going to come back. It's going to kill you. Might not kill you physically, but it sure will kill you spiritually.

And so you need to deal with it drastically. Whatever way you have to deal with it, deal with it. Because if you don't, it's going to come back.

It's going to get you. And so we had the story in 1 Samuel 17, the conflict that Israel faced, the armies of Goliath, the appearance of Goliath. And number three, the armor of Goliath.

It says that he had a bronze helmet on his head and he was clothed with scale armor, which weighed 5,000 shekels of bronze. It's about 125 to 150 pounds. Most people don't even weigh that much.

But his armor weighed that much. He also had a bronze greaves on his legs. That means his legs were covered with armor on them so that you couldn't get to his legs.

And a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders. And the shaft of a spear was like a weaver's beam. That's like a telephone pole.

That's pretty big. And the head of a spear weighed 600 shekels of iron. That's about 20 pounds worth.

And so you have the armor of Goliath. This is what Israel was facing as they looked at Goliath. And they also had to face the attitude of Goliath.

His attitude was defiant. And his attitude was one that was deceitful. He said, look, you can send a man out.

If he beats me, we surrender. We're your servants. If we win, you surrender and you are our servants.

Well, when David defeated Goliath, guess who fled? The Philistines. They weren't going to become the servants of Israel. That was never in the deal.

Goliath just said that in order to get them to come out and go to battle. He never intended that to happen. He never thought he was going to lose, number one, but he never intended to be the servants of Israel.

So he was very deceitful, very deceitful. That's the way Satan is, isn't it? Very deceitful. He promises you, he promises you goodness, but he always delivers that which is evil and bad.

He's a liar. He's a deceiver. And Goliath not only was deceitful, he was defiant.

Over and over again throughout the text, he defied the armies of Israel. He defied the living God who was a ruler of Israel. He spoke against all that God had done in the nation of Israel.

He was defiant against God and he did it for 40 days, twice a day. Twice a day, 40 days he would come out. And notice the text says in verse number eight, choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me.

Look at verse 25. In the middle of Israel said, have you seen this man who is, what's the next phrase? Coming up. So not only was he coming down to the valley, now he was coming up the mountain to descend upon Israel.

See, that's what sin does. If you don't go out and defeat sin quickly, it's going to move on you. It's going to get closer.

It's going to approach you. And they had to go out and defeat it. And he, he was coming down.

Now, now he's coming up. He's getting closer and closer to Israel. He's becoming more bold as the days progress because Israel has no one to fight him.

And Saul thought, well, you know what I could do is I could, I could offer them something. I, for the man who goes out there, I'll give him money. I'll give him my, my, my daughter, which Michael was not much of a daughter.

We'll notice that in a couple of, a couple of sermons from now, but they can have my daughter and then they'll have the prominence of being the son of the King. I mean, what, what, what better way to go out than that? You've got money, you've got my daughter, and now you've got the prominence of being in, in the palace with the King and you can have that. You see, listen, here's the deal.

Whenever you decline spiritually, you always result to gimmicks to get people to do work. Don't you? He was over to gimmicks. Do this.

It wasn't a spiritual motivation. It wasn't a motivation that would get people to move against God. Listen, whenever there's spiritual decline in the life of the leadership, carnal methods always trump Calvary's mountain.

Always. Carnal methods always trump Calvary's mountain. What God does for you is no longer good enough.

So I'm going to have to think of all these ways to motivate you, all these little gimmicks that can get you into my church, all these little things I can do to get you to come because you're not going to come because we just preach the Word. You're not going to come because we stand on the truth. So we're going to do all these little gimmicks that get you to come into the church, get you to be a part of the church, get you to serve in the church.

That's what happens when leadership declines spiritually. All the little gimmicks and all the little methods trump the truth of God's Holy Word. So Saul did.

He couldn't get anybody out there to go to battle. That's his job. He's the leader.

He's got to go fight Goliath. He's not about to go out there and fight Goliath. Are you kidding me? He is scared spitless.

He didn't know what to do. He has no idea what's going to happen next. So we can think of some way to gather his people around and say, look, if you do this, I'll give you this.

I'll give you this. I'll give you this. Please, somebody go to war.

That's a conflict that Israel faced. Number two, the circumstances that bring David into focus, the circumstances that bring David into focus. Number one is the inability of Israel to do battle.

The Bible says when Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. But the Bible says in Proverbs 28 verse number one, the righteous are as bold as a lion. That means they're unrighteous.

The righteous are as bold as the lion, but the unrighteous, they're scared to death. Fear, fear has gripped them. They are dismayed.

They don't know what to do. They are afraid. Their inability to do what they should be doing has brought David into focus.

Now, they shouldn't be afraid. They shouldn't be afraid. They should be ready to go to war.

Go back with me if you would to first Samuel chapter seven. First Samuel chapter seven. Look at this.

Samuel is the prophet of God. It says in verse number one, the men of Kiriath Urim came and took the ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill and consecrated Eleazar the son, excuse me, to keep the ark of the Lord. And it came about from the day that the ark remained in Kiriath Urim and from the time was long for it was 20 years and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.

Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel saying, if you return to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtoreth from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve him alone. He will deliver you from the hand of Philistines. So the sons of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtoreth and served the Lord alone.

Remember, Israel has no King at this point. There's no one to organize an army to lead the army. It's just the nation itself with the prophet named Samuel.

Then Samuel said, gather all Israel to mitzvah and I will pray to the Lord for you. And they gathered to mitzvah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, we have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel at mitzvah.

Now, when the Philistines heard the sons of Israel had gathered to mitzvah, the Lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the sons of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. Then the sons of Israel said to Samuel, do not cease to cry to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines.

And Samuel took the suckling lamb and offered it for a whole burnt offering to the Lord. And Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel and the Lord answered him. Now, Samuel was offering up the burnt offering and the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel.

But the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day against the Philistines and confused them. So they were routed before Israel. And the men of Israel went out to mitzvah and pursued the Philistines and struck them down as far as below Beth-char.

See that? God took care of the enemy of Israel. Samuel says, you've sinned against God. You got to get right with God.

You get right with God, He's going to do what? He's going to deliver you. You don't get right with God, no deliverance. So what do they do? They got right with God.

And they saw the Philistines coming and they were scared to death. Samuel go, beseech the Lord on our behalf. What does Samuel do? He beseeched the Lord on their behalf.

And what did God do? God, in a miraculous way, confused the Philistines and they lost the battle. They lost because of the Lord. Now you come to first Samuel 17 and you know, you get the first Samuel chapter 8. We got to have a king.

We don't want to go to war again without a king. The true king of Israel, the Lord God of Israel is not good enough. We got to have an earthly king.

Although He just won the battle for us, we need an earthly king. And they began to pursue an earthly king. And this began their downfall.

And they thought that whoever this king was could lead them to battle, organize their armies and they would be protected from the Philistines. What God did for them in first Samuel 7 wasn't good enough for them. And that's the way it is with a lot of us.

God goes to work and it's just not good enough for us. We got to have something tangible, something we can touch, something we can speak to, something we can argue with. We can't see God, can't touch God, can't argue with God, but a king we can.

So God gave them a king. Now they have a king. And guess what? They're afraid.

They got what they asked for. Be careful what you ask God for, by the way, because you're liable to get it. And the worst thing you can do is get something that you asked for when it's not righteous, when it's not holy.

You get it, you're in trouble. How many times in Psalm 106, God gave them the desire of the heart, but He sent a wasting disease to their souls. How many people you know that have asked the Lord for something and God gave it to them.

And they are wasting away spiritually. They are drying up spiritually because they got what they asked for. Be careful what you ask God for, because if you get it and you don't need it, you're in big trouble.

That's Israel. That's where they're at. First Samuel chapter 17, they asked for the king and they're still afraid, man.

They are still afraid and their inability to trust God and their inability to look to God, their inability to cry out to God. And why can't they do that? It's because of the sin in their lives. They're afraid.

And so God brings in His man and it says, first Samuel chapter 17, now David was a son of the Ephrathite of Bethlehem. And Judah, whose name was Jesse, he had eight sons. Three of them were in battle with Saul, the three oldest ones.

That means how many are left at home? You do the math. Five, right? There's eight sons, three are in battle, five minus three or eight minus three is what? Five. We know that.

We're not morons here. We can add, right? So five are at home, but who's the youngest? David. He's the youngest.

So that means there were four other sons not chosen by Jesse. Just this one, because God was in charge. See, David was not just a son, he was a servant.

He was a shepherd. And he was a son, a servant and a shepherd before he ever became a soldier. But he was effective as a son because he was obedient to his father.

He was effective as a servant because he was diligent in his duty. He was effective as a shepherd because he was able to commune with his God and trust him for everything as he worked on his skills as a shepherd, as a warrior. And God used him in a great and mighty way.

He was used to tend the flock of his father and was used in a great and wonderful way. But notice this, verse 15, David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father's flock in Bethlehem. And the Philistines came forward mourning and eating for 40 days and took his stand.

Then Jesse said to David, his son, take now for your brothers and Ephah of this roasted grain and these 10 loaves and run to the camp for your brothers. Now remember in those days the families had to provide food for their families in battle. So they had to fix it, put together and then take it to them.

That's how they did it. And so Jesse chose David to accomplish this task. And so David did it.

Now notice, he would go, remember we know from last week's lesson that he was the armor bearer for Saul, right? Saul made him his armor bearer. But it wasn't a permanent job. And he would come and he would play his harp for Saul whenever the evil spirit came upon him.

We saw that last time in 1 Samuel chapter 16, that's what he did. But when the evil spirit wasn't there, okay, he would go back to Bethlehem and do his shepherding kind of work. When battle came, Saul didn't use David as his armor bearer.

He used somebody else. It's almost like it's a demotion for David. I mean, he could have said, well, wait a minute, I thought I was your armor bearer.

Why can't I go to battle? I'll lead you into battle, Mr. King. I'll do that. I'm your armor bearer.

But you know, he would go back and do his shepherding duties back in Bethlehem because that was his responsibility. He was submissive to his father. He was a servant.

He was a shepherd. He was a son. He knew all that.

He never complained and said, you know what? This is all right. I deserve to be in battle. I deserve to be with you, Mr. King, because I am your armor bearer.

On top of that, I am the next king of Israel. Shouldn't I get to know the palace a little bit better than I know it now? Never said that because that's the kind of man David was. He never looked out for his own interests.

He looked out for the interests of others. He was willing to serve when called upon. And so this man would be used in a great and mighty way.

Notice this principle, would you please? It's this. Your performance in your lowly position has much to do with your promotion to a lofty position. Your performance in your lowly position has much to do with your promotion to a lofty position.

And David was faithful. He was a man that would do what was ever asked of him. You could count on David.

That's why his father would choose him. Didn't choose the other four boys. He chose David because in the providence of God, God wanted David in the limelight.

He who humbles himself before the Lord, God would exalt, right? And God was going to exalt him at this time. This was the time of David's exaltation. David didn't know it.

He wasn't planning on being exalted, but this was his time. This is when God would exalt him to his highest level because he was faithful in the lowly position, doing what God had called him to do. This man was a servant.

Point number three, the cause of Israel's fear. Twofold, number one, sin. Number two, sight.

They're sin. Back in the first Samuel 15, Saul said, listen, these people, they didn't want to kill all the Amalekites. They want to get rid of all the livestock.

They want to spare some of those things. So I listened to the people. I listened to their voice.

This is what they wanted. And they were people who lived in sin, see? And not only was it their own personal sin, but it was their sight. All they could see was Goliath, not God.

All they could see were the obstacles. All they could see were the negatives. That's all they could see.

They couldn't see God amidst all of the negative circumstances. They were overwhelmed by what God was doing, by what God appeared not to be doing, excuse me, in their lives. God wasn't even a thought in their memory.

And so they were doing the same thing their ancestors did. All they could see were the giants. We know what God said.

We know he said the land is ours. We know he said he would go before us and defeat our enemies. But these guys are just a little bit too big for God to handle.

We're not going in. And God made them wander for 40 years. Here in first Samuel 17, all they could see was Goliath.

All they could see was giant. All they could see was their defeat. And it just engulfed them in fear because they would not trust God.

They could not trust him because their sin, their sin had covered their lives. And all they could see was that which was negative. And therefore, just like Joshua and Caleb, men who were true to the Lord God and wanted to follow him all the way, they succeeded.

David was a lot like Joshua and Caleb. He was a man who fully followed the Lord with all of his heart. He was used by God in a great and mighty way.

But the nation itself, all they could see was sin because that's all they did. That's where they lived. Listen, whenever you live in sin, you can't see what God's doing.

You can't see God in it. You can't see what God wants to do. You're always negative.

You're always fearful. You're always down. You're always discouraged.

You're always depressed. You can't see that God is bigger than all that's out there, but he is. And they couldn't see that.

And it would cost them greatly. Next, I want you to notice the criticism that David found. David follows his father's orders.

He gets the food. He runs to the camp. He gets there.

He goes and he hears what the Philistine, Goliath, has to say and how the people were so afraid and how Goliath kept coming up to them. And so he got there and the first person he comes in contact with is his brother. Now, this is the first of three battles in the chapter.

He has to battle his own brother. Then he has to battle Saul. Once he gains the victory in those two arenas, then he can battle Goliath.

Why? Listen, the first person he has to face is his brother, Goliath. Listen to what it says. It says, now Goliath, as though his brother heard when he spoke to the men, Goliath's anger burned against David.

Why didn't his older brother burn against him? After all, he was bringing food for his brother. He was doing what his father asked him to do. Goliath says, why have you come down? Now, if he would just be quiet enough to listen to the answer, it had been okay, but he wasn't.

Didn't let David answer. And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart for you have come down in order to see the battle. Didn't let David say anything.

He says, first of all, you're imprudent. You're unwise. You came down here for selfish motives.

You're irresponsible and you're insignificant because the sheep you're watching are only a few anyway, but you left them. You're irresponsible, David. You should have been back with the sheep.

Instead, you're irresponsible. You're imprudent. You're unwise.

Not only that, you're insolent and you're filled with iniquity. I know the wickedness of your heart and you're immature. You came down here just to see the battle.

You couldn't stay away. You had to see the action. And David says, what have I done now? Was it not just a question? I was just asking a question.

Just want to know who this guy was and what was going on and what was the reward. And I didn't know. I hadn't been here.

I just asked a question. That's all I asked. He didn't sit there and debate with his brother, argue with his brother.

Didn't need to do that. Why? Because the Bible says in Proverbs 16, verse number 32, he who is slow to anger is better than the mighty and he who rules the spirit than he who captures the city. David had to win the battle of his own spirit before he could win the battle with a man against the man with the spear.

It says in Proverbs 25, verse number 28, these words. Proverbs 25, verse number 28, like a city that is broken into and without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit. David wasn't going to lose control.

Eliah was angry. What are you doing here? How come you're not home with the sheep? There's only a little bit of them back there. You just came down here to see the battle, didn't you David? You couldn't stay away, could you? You were just eaten up by the battle and just ragged on his brother.

But David said, just ask the question. That's all. No big deal.

And he moved on because he had to win the battle of his spirit. So many times we can't face a bigger battle because we can't, we can't win the victory over the inner battle. The inner battle of your soul and your spirit needs to be won first.

You need to learn to control our actions by controlling our attitudes, controlling what's on the inside, calming the spirit so that we don't lose heart. This was David's first battle. Charles Spurgeon said this way.

I love what Spurgeon says. Spurgeon says, we have not sufficiently noticed that immediately before the encounter with the Philistine, David fought a battle which cost him far more thought, prudence, and patience. The word battle in which he had to engage with his brother and with King Saul was a more trying ordeal to him than going forth in the strength of the Lord to smite the uncircumcised boaster.

That's good. It was harder to fight the battle with his brother and the battle with the King than it was to fight the battle with Goliath because one was inward and the other was outward. One deal with the spirit, the other dealt with the spear.

And he was able to conquer his spirit on the inside and not lash out at his brother and not get into a word battle with his brother and not begin to argue with his brother in front of all those men in that camp. He said, I asked a question. That's it.

I won't bother you. See you around, bro. It's okay, man.

I'm moving on, you know? And then it says, and when the words which David spoke were heard, they told him to Saul. He sent for him and David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail on account of him. Your servant will go and fight with the Philistine.

Then Saul said to David, you are not able to go against the Philistine to fight with him for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth. Eliabsee discounted him. Saul discouraged him or at least tried to and Goliath disdained him.

Let me tell you something. Whenever you step out in faith and whenever you stand strong for God, the critics abound. And for the most part, those critics will come from those who are closest to you.

Even your own family, as it was with David that came against him, spoke against him, but he would stand strong in the faith. And what did Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10? He says, a man's enemies will be the members of what? His own household. Look at Joseph, a righteous man.

His brothers hated him, threw him in the pit, sold him into slavery. Moses, the greatest leader in Israel's history, right? Had a huge battle with his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron. When they said to him in the book of Numbers, who do you think you are? That God only speaks through you.

What makes you special, Moses? We can do the exact same thing you're doing. Let me tell you something. God was so angry, God came down.

He struck Miriam with leprosy. You see, when you stand for truth and live for truth, your critics will be huge. Your battles will be huge from those closest to you who want to defy you and speak against you and discount all that you've done, try to discourage all that you've accomplished and disdain everything you do.

But not David, because he could not be discounted, because he could not be discouraged. Even though he was disdained, he would not be defeated. Why? Because God could not be dethroned.

And he knew that. And his trust was in God. It wasn't in his own physical prowess, it was in God.

And he trusted God to accomplish everything for him. And that's exactly what he would do. The next thing you need to see is the confidence in which David himself felt.

But that will be next week. So the four brothers will have to wait till next week. But they are coming.

And they are true. And they are in the Bible. And you'll have to learn to spell all their names.

Or you won't be in the kingdom of heaven. That's not true. Anyway, let me pray with you.

Father, we thank you, Lord, for tonight and a chance to study your word. So much more yet to accomplish. So much more that you have spoken to us through your word in this story of David and Goliath.

Thank you for the testimony of this man, how he lived his life. Our prayer, Father, is that we would not succumb to the critics, even if they're from our own family. If we know that you've called us to battle, you've called us to war for the kingdom of God, we might stand strong for you.

For we know that, Lord, our enemies are great in number. But yet, Lord, with you as our God and us following you, we will always win because you are the great victor. And we follow in your footsteps.

So give us a good night this night. And may we live the rest of this week in the power and glory of Almighty God. We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.