1 Samuel 17:40–51
40 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.
41 And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42 And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43 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. 44 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.” 45 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. 46 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, 47 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.”
48 When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 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.
50 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. 51 Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Faith is the main characteristic David exhibits when he faces Goliath – not courage. Of course, David is courageous. There’s no question about that, but David’s courage is fueled by and rooted in faith.
What you just heard isn’t the whole story of David and Goliath. And please know that when I use the word ‘story,’ that doesn’t mean that this is some made-up fairytale. Not at all. This story, this true story, happened. When we talk about Bible stories, we’re doing it in the same way you might ask your parents to tell you the story of how they met. It’s something that actually happened in history.
There was a Philistine warrior named Goliath who was over 9 ft. tall, who had a coat of bronze armor that weighed about 125 lbs., and whose spear tip weighed around 14.5 lbs. (1 Sam. 17:4-7). Goliath and the rest of the Philistine army assembled on one mountain while King Saul and the Israelite army mustered on an opposing mountain with a valley between them (1 Sam. 17:1-3). Every morning and evening for forty days, Goliath would issue a challenge, “Give me a man to fight. If he kills me, we’ll be your servants. But if I kill him, you’ll be our servants” (1 Sam. 17:8-10, 16).
Enter David. David was the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons. David’s three oldest brothers had followed Saul into battle, and Jesse asked David to go and see how his brothers were doing in the battle and bring them some bread and cheese (1 Sam. 17:12-18). While David was there, Goliath issued his challenge again, and David heard (1 Sam. 17:23).
You have to remember the context. Saul is still the king, but we already know that the next king won’t be a descendant of Saul. Back in ch. 16, David was already anointed to be the next king after Saul. After that anointing, the Holy Spirit rushed upon David (1 Sam. 16:6-13). But David doesn’t immediately go to the palace and ascend the throne; instead, David only goes to the palace to play his guitar whenever King Saul is tormented by a demon (1 Sam. 16:14-23). Even though he’s been anointed to be the next king, David fluctuates between serenading Saul and tending his father’s sheep.
David has faith in God’s promise that he’s going to be the next king. David so firmly believes this that, when he’s sitting in the field watching over his sheep, he’s not worried when bears or lions come after his lambs. He figures, “I’m not king yet, so not so fast, bear. Get back here, lion.” And he grabs them by the beard and kills them (1 Sam. 17:34-35). Easy peasy lemon squeezy. In other words, David rightly believes that until he becomes king, God is going to protect him.
It’s the same thing when David hears Goliath defying God and His armies and His people. Since Saul still has the crown that will eventually belong to David, he won’t let Goliath’s mockery stand. God has promised to make David the next king, so what could Goliath possibly do to him before he ascends the throne? It is that faith that gives David courage. So, David accepts Goliath’s challenge.
David simply trots onto the battlefield, reaches into his bag to take out a stone, flings it into the Philistine’s skull, and lops off Goliath’s head with his own blade. David might not have even broken a sweat. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, headless, and utterly defeated, they fled.
Dear saints, last week I mentioned how we wrongly think of ourselves as the heroes of all sorts of Bible stories, and I specifically mentioned how we aren’t David defeating Goliath. Instead, we should see Jesus fulfilling this story. In Jn. 5:39, Jesus says that the Scriptures bear witness about Him (see also Lk. 24:44). While the true story of David defeating Goliath is something that actually happened, even it points us to Jesus who has defeated our greatest enemy.
It’s helpful to start by remembering who your enemy is. Eph. 6:12 says that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Those enemies, who would all easily overpower us, have the devil as their champion, a giant that opposes us and mocks us.
But dear saints, you have a David, a shepherd, who had perfect faith in God’s promises. In our Gospel reading (Mt. 4:1-11), you heard how Jesus perfectly trusted God despite the devil’s temptations. Christ trusted God’s promise to give Him food at the right time. You heard how Jesus perfectly trusted God’s promise to protect Him from danger. You heard how our Lord perfectly trusted God’s promise to give Him all the kingdoms of the world. So, He engaged in the battle and won.
This same Jesus, with the same perfect faith, perfectly trusted that God would deliver Him, would not let Him see corruption (Act. 2:27), and would not abandon Him. So, Jesus engaged in battle against Satan, sin, and death. The odds against Christ looked overwhelming. But on that cross, Jesus dealt the death blow to your enemy. And on the morning of the Resurrection, Christ emerged victoriously holding the crushed, severed head of the devil (Gen. 3:15; 1 Sam. 17:57). Jesus disarmed all the powers of evil and put them to open shame (Col. 2:15).
Jesus is your David, who has defeated your Goliath.
Now, do you have a place in this story? Sure, absolutely you do. You are in the Lord’s army and have endured the bragging, the mocking, and the scorn of the devil. But Jesus brought all of that to an end. Because of His death and resurrection, you know that the Lord saves not with a sword or spear but with the precious blood of Christ.
The battle is the Lord’s, and He has given all your enemies into your hand (1 Sam. 17:47). In the verses that follow our text, Saul’s army pursued the defeated the Philistines and pushed them back until they had plundered their camp (1 Sam. 17:52-53). That’s where you come in.
You, dear saints, are in the mop-up crew. Jesus, your Champion, has won on the field of battle, and His victory encourages you to join Him in the fray. You see Christ’s victory, and it fills you with a newfound strength and courage. Jesus’ triumph fills your mouth with laughter and puts shouts of joy on your tongue (Ps. 126:2). His conquest transforms you.
Before His victory all you could do cower in fear as your enemy boasted and mocked you. Now, that is all over. Now that Christ has won, you are turned into men again. Men who are emboldened to engage in the war.
Now, you participate in the battle – even though that part doesn’t win the war in a meritorious sense. You are heartened and encouraged by Christ, your Champion, and participate in His victory. You wage war against a routed, headless, defeated foe.
God is not mocked. The battle is His. He is risen. He is now seated on the throne with all things subjected under His feat because He has won.
No one would say that the fighting you do is safe or without danger. No one would say that there is no skill needed for the part you have to play. Far from it. To be sure, the challenges you face are real and they are dangerous. But you know that the outcome is not a mystery.
Your Champion has already turned the tide. Jesus has defeated the Goliath of sin, death, and the devil. So the foes you face, whether that foe is temptation or sickness or trauma or whatever, know they all fear you because your Champion has defeated theirs. Goliath is dead and headless. Jesus has won. He brings you in His train and on His team.
Christ has won the victory. He doesn’t need you, but He has won you. Now, you follow Him on the field of victory. What Christian would not want to follow Him? You know who fights for you. You know who has concurred and gives you the victory. And you also know the promises He has made to you. Promises that He will fulfill. Believe those promises, and act and live accordingly. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Your heart has a wrong desire, and that false desire is conceived and eventually gives birth to sin. Then, when sin grows up, it brings forth death. Knowing this, we know Satan’s game plan. But it is helpful for us to see how the devil’s game plan plays out in real time, and we saw it in our Old Testament text (Gen. 3:1-21).
When Eve looked at that fruit, she should have recognized, “That fruit is death.” Instead, she wrongly sees that it is to be desired to make one wise. This is the danger for us. There are things that are put in front of us and God says, “That’s bad, and it leads to death.” But instead of regarding those things according to God’s Word, we regard them according to how we see and think. We put ourselves over and above God and judge Him to be wrong. The devil entices us to think that God is the bad guy who is holding out on us, keeping us from having our heart’s desires. Then, we think we know better than God, and we fall for the temptation and into sin.
Jesus has been fasting forty days and nights. I remember as a kid being hungry forty minutes after dinner. Jesus is famished. He is weakened by this fast. So, this temptation to turn stones into bread is a real temptation. The tempter again tries to exploit the gap between Jesus’ desires and what God has given. Jesus wanted food. Because He is man just like you and me, His stomach and His brain would have been screaming at Him, “Feed us!” But God has not yet given Jesus food. So Satan tries to get Jesus to take for Himself what God has not given.
“to guard you in all your ways.” God the Father will protect Jesus in all His ways. But God didn’t send Jesus to earth to be some X-Games-temple-pinnacle jumper.
So, dear saints, be wise. Know the devil’s attacks and tactics. The devil is going to use those tactics against you, but God has given you weapons against the devil, your flesh, and the world (1 Jn. 2:15-16). When the devil comes to tempt you, take up the weapon of prayer. Pray God’s Word and watch the devils flee. When your flesh tempts you, take up the weapon of fasting. If you are tempted to certain desires of your flesh, fast from those things. Tell your body, “Body, you aren’t in control.” And when the world tempts you with its vain riches, give. Be generous to the point that it makes you unable to afford falling into the temptations of this world.
But even as God does this, we will see the horrific consequences that sin and evil has brought into God’s good creation. God calls to Adam, “Where are you?” God still wants to have fellowship with Adam and the woman even though they have sinned, broken His commandment, and lost their faith. But rather than confessing and repenting of his sin, Adam dodges the opportunity saying, “I hid from You because I was naked and afraid.” So, God gives Adam a second chance to repent, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
gives her the name Eve. She wasn’t called this at any point before in Scripture. Adam gives her the name ‘Eve’ which means ‘life-giver.’ Here’s how we know faith is restored. Eve was already going to be the mother of everyone who would be born. But Adam, the father of faith, changes her name to Eve because she is the mother of all who would believe in the promised Seed who would crush the serpent’s head.
But this also means that, in this life, you are in the devil’s crosshairs. Satan hates you and will tempt you to doubt that God is truly your Father who gives you all things. The devil tempts you to sin by putting God’s promises in front of you, but he wants you to lay hold of those promises in your own way and timing. But Satan’s way never brings the joy that God wants to give you.
The second temptation of the devil is for Jesus to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple. The devil says, “God will protect you by sending angels to make sure you don’t even hurt your foot.”
Instead, rejoice in Jesus’ temptation. Rejoice because Jesus has endured where you have fallen and obeyed where you rebelled. Rejoice because Jesus knows the temptations you face, and He will always provide a way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13).
Pastorsamwise 
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