It's the story of a champion. The champion is a unique person in whatever endeavor or life that he finds himself. A champion is one who accepts the challenge and he has a great disadvantage after giving their all. He perseveres and prevails against all odds whilst depending on the Lord. The biblical account of the battle between David and Goliath is so dramatic that it has become a standard reference in our contemporary culture. When you refer to one entity that has greatly been outmatched by an opponent, you say it's a David and Goliath situation. As a result of this, the Bible account that we find ourselves, in this Bible account and in other accounts of life, we find ourselves cheering for the underdog in the contest, whether it's a sporting event or something else. Today we will revisit the scene of this ancient battle that took place a thousand years before Christ. Saul reigned as the first king of Israel, and he was locked in a constant battle situation with his enemies to the west, who were the Philistines living along the seacoast of the Mediterranean. And so they battled over and over again, as you read through the book of Samuel and on into the other books of the Old Testament. Here's my favorite thing, as you know. I'm sorry to bore you with it, but it gives us a map to show us where this event took place. I do this because it gives the people a sense that it really is a historical event, and there really was a place such as this. You'll see in the middle of the map the red name of Zika. There it is. Oops, let me get back here. Azica and Succo. are the little towns that they were fighting over along the border with the Sea of Galilee. Here's Jerusalem would be up in here, and Bethlehem is here. This is about 20 miles, and this is about 15 miles from the battle site. You can visit it today if you want to. and see where this took place. In fact, I'll show you a picture, a better picture, of the terrain that was involved in that battle. We're informed in 1 Samuel 27, verses 1 through 3, that the Philistines and the Israelite armies were facing one another across the wide Elah a valley that descended down to a narrow creek bed. It was an impressive place and very prone to be a battlefield. In fact, these first three verses of chapter 7, 1 Samuel says that the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle and were gathered at Sukkot which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Succo and Zika was Aphes, and Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the battle of Elah. and drew up in battle array against the Philistines. The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side and the Israelites stood on a mountain on the other side with a valley between them. You can see in this map that the Elah Valley And it was a rather broad valley, but when you came to the center of the valley, there was a creek bed, and the banks on the creek bed are quite steep. So remember that as you think of this occasion. Even by today's standards, this man, Goliath, is an impressive figure. In 1 Samuel 17, verses 4 through 7, It goes into great trouble to give a physical description of this man because he is so impressive and it shows us what odds were against David as he fought him. This man, Goliath, was a giant of a man. He stood nine foot nine. That would make him almost have to stoop to get under a basketball hoop. He's estimated to have weighed between 600 and 750 pounds. His battle gear added another 125 pounds, and the spearhead on his spear weighed, estimated, up to 25 pounds, just that alone. So he was a tank on wheels, so to speak, in those days. By comparison, you basketball fans remember Wilt de Stilt-Chamberlain. Well, he stood a mere 7'1". And he weighed about 250 pounds. No match for Goliath, for sure. This man, Goliath, as indicated in verses 8 through 11, added to his stature and to his size a psychological warfare for his time by shouting challenges to the Israelites across the valley that divided them. We can assume that his voice filled that valley in an awesome way. This terrorized the Israelite armies. The enemy of the Lord, that is Satan, still tries his best to intimidate us servants of the Lord. But we should be reminded that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. David was sent, the narrative in your Bible changes in verse 12 and talks about David for the first time and his home life. We believe that he was about 20 years of age, David was. when he was in his home at Bethlehem and was sent by his father with supplies for three of his brothers who had joined Saul's army in their defense against the Philistines. The journey would have taken David 15 miles to walk it. And he probably was accompanied by several donkeys laden with food for his brother It was a law that those at home would provide for the needs of those that were in the battlefront. And so they were obligated to provide food and other necessities for those who fought. And David was sent, being the youngest, was sent with these supplies for his three brothers who were in the military. After David arrived and began speaking to his brothers, Goliath began his daily routine of ridicule and intimidation toward Saul's army as he had for the last 40 days. They stood in a deadlock there. In verse 23, we're told that when hearing this, Saul's army fled in full retreat in fear. and so on. It reminded me of a little clip that I got in a book and it said this about a person that might be in the position with Saul's army. Perhaps you've heard of a soldier that looked down at his shaking knees at the beginning of battle and said, I don't blame you for shaking. If you knew where I'm going to take you, though, you would shake a lot more than you are. Don't let the humor of this remark cause you to overlook the splendid courage that is behind it. It has been pointed out to us that courage and fear are not unknown to each other, and that the greatest courage is that the one who enters some fearful arena, his heart pounding and his knees shaking with dread, but moved forward by the power of compelling purpose and for the cause. Certainly those who go into battle, which I have never been into, must sense some sense of fear as they face the possibility of injury or even worse. After David arrived and began speaking, They heard this daily, well twice daily, speech by Goliath challenging them to send someone out to fight him. Winner takes all, he said, and loser loses all. Fear, as you know, is the opposite of faith. The Israelites failed to obey the scriptures which admonished them concerning this fact. In Deuteronomy chapter 20, in verses 1 through 4, it says to the Israelites, many years before, of course, this is a known law that was given to them. When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. And so it will be that when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. And he shall say to them, hear, O Israel, Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your hearts be faint. Do not be afraid. Do not tremble. Do not be terrified because of them. For the Lord your God He is He who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you. So this was what their attitude to be, but you can see how they were in a fallen spiritual state, and they let fear overcome them. In verse 26, back in 1 Samuel 17, David wants to know what the reward will be for killing this giant. This is the first time they've heard such a positive statement, and it comes from David about the possibility of taking care of this man. Well, the person that would do that would be given great riches. He'd be given the hand of the king's daughter, and his family would be exempt from paying taxes to the government. That sounds like a good deal in any generation time, wouldn't it? In verse 27, David hears Goliath defying the armies of the living God, and he sees the battle from a spiritual perspective. Would the gods of the Philistines or the true God of Israel prove to be victorious? He thought in himself. In verse 28 of this 17th chapter, it says that just the mention of spiritual things brought a protest from David's oldest brother, perhaps to cover his cowardness and his spiritual weakness. David responds, is this not a cause for which to die? In other words, is it not worthy to go out and give your life to defend the things of God and the people of God? David refuses to be discouraged by his brothers or intimidated by Goliath when God's name is being brought into question. Should we not also stand for the Lord when He is dishonored in our presence, when people say things against Him and challenge Him? David wrote about the security that he felt under such circumstances like this later as he wrote in the Psalms, this time in Psalm 34, verse 7, where he writes these words. The angel of the Lord encamps around about those who fear him and delivers them. And notice that he said, those who fear him, not those who fear them, as though he was to fear the Philistines, not at all, but rather to fear the Lord, that is show awe and reverence and deference to God. And David then is taken to Saul where he mentions that he has a desire to accept the challenge that Goliath is giving. And here he is interviewed by Saul. Saul shows him, that's the king of Israel, Saul showed him that he lost confidence in the Lord. That is, that Saul had lost confidence in the Lord because of Saul's disobedience to the Lord many years before this. Here was young David who showed his courage to face the giant face to face. And he says in verse 32, that no man's heart failed because of him your servant will go and fight the Philistines." Can you imagine this ruddy, complected, red-haired young boy, hardly out of his youth, out of his teens, accepting the challenge that all of these otherwise battle-hardened men refused to accept? They hid wherever they could, any time that he spoke. But David is willing to go out and face him in battle. But Saul dismisses David's offer to do battle with Goliath in verse 33, saying that he's too young and inexperienced. Saul was older and had more experience, but he was unbelieving. What a contrast between Saul and David. Saul, a defeated coward and not a true leader at all, but David was a young man with a spirit and zeal and a desire to serve the Lord. Timothy also was a young man in the New Testament who, as you remember, was a colleague of the Apostle Paul. And Paul writes to him in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verses 34 through 36. I'm sorry, that's second. 1 Timothy 4, 12. He said, let no one despise your youth, but be an example of the believer in word and in conduct and in love and spirit and faith and in purity. In other words, Paul was sending Timothy out to teach these various churches that Paul had founded and to encourage them. But he was considered but a youth. Well, he was more than a youth, but they considered him just a youth because he wasn't as old and gray-haired as some of those men were. So Paul told him, let no one despise your youth, that is to discount your youthfulness, but go out and be an example of the believer. And so he was. David goes to Saul with his resume. His resume was a resume from home. It's found in verses 34 and 36 through 36 of 1 Samuel 17. And I'll read it for you. And David said to Saul, your servant used to keep his father's sheep. And when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb, out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth. And when it rose against me, I caught it by its beard and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing that he has defied the armies of the living God." He, in essence, is telling Saul that he had been willing to risk his life to save a lamb from a predator. In other words, he was willing to sacrifice the most valuable, his own life, for the least valuable, the life of a lamb. He was willing to do that, to risk his life there, and he had learned to take that risk. He had learned to defend what was important to him, his sheep. Just as in John chapter 10, In verse 11, Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. The shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Isn't that an amazing thing? Here the great shepherd is willing to give his life for a lowly, unvalued sheep. But he loved us so much that he was willing to do that. Wouldn't this be the kind of a man you'd want in a trench with you if you were in battle somewhere? A man who is willing to give his life willing to count it all as loss, that He might spare your life, defend you. That's the kind of person young David was. In John chapter 15, verse 13, Jesus said, there's no greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend. So it was that David was willing to lay his life down for his country and for his God who was being defamed and cursed on the battlefield. So, David's past had known faith in God in times of extreme testing and indicated that God could be trusted for future crisis. That's why God sends us trials, is to make us strong in greater crises that may come upon our lives. What trials have happened to each of us that we can testify have made us stronger in the Lord and not weaker. Nothing grows us more than our faith in God. put there during times of trial as we see how he strengthens us and carries us through these trials and crisis. David happened to see things this way. He saw that God was so big that even Goliath seemed to be small by comparison. How do you and I see God? Is He greater than our trials, greater than the testings that we face? Well, Saul had one way of approaching this situation using David, but David had another. And we see that here in verses 38 through 40. Now you remember that Saul is interviewing David and he told him he's too young and too inexperienced. But finally, at last, he wears Saul down and Saul is too coward to go himself, so he dresses up David in his garments. I remember in the Tower of London, if you ever go there, go to see it, there's the armor, the body armor, of King Henry VIII. He was a big man for sure. I'd rattle around inside of that armor. And so I can imagine that Saul was the tallest man in Israel and he was the king. He had the finest and most advanced armor available, yet he showed that he was a failed warrior king. who would do anything to avoid facing this giant. Who would want to go to battle in the armor of a defeated king? The armor of discouragement can never win a battle like this. David wisely insisted that he had not tested the armor. However, David already had armor which the king knew nothing of. It was what Paul would call the whole armor of God in Ephesians chapter 6. Since the war has a spiritual component, a soldier needs both the outer and inner armor. The inner armor is Christ who protects the immortal soul in life's battle. After David removed Saul's armor, his ill-fitting armor, I may add, he put on the shepherd's clothing again, the clothing he wore when he had fought and won previous battles against such things as lions and bears. He took up the familiar weapons, the weapons whose skill he had honed over the years. The tested soldier of Christ knows that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, that is, not physical, but spiritual and mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. 2 Corinthians 20, verse 4. Weapons such as believing prayer, thoughtful Bible study, walking by faith, abiding in Christ are invincible weapons. They were not weapons that David suddenly acquired on the battlefront. He had been testing them and practicing with them for some time before this. This is what I mean when I say, wear your own armor. And that's what we should do. Saul's armor was insufficient for David. He cannot wear another man's armor, nor can we depend upon others to do the spiritual battles that God has assigned for us. We must test and get used to our own armor, our own prayers, our own abiding in Christ, our own walking with him. and not depend upon others to do the work of the heavy lifting for us. So we read through this passage that David chose five stones. Now archaeology indicates to us that the stones were probably about the size of three or four inches in diameter. And here's the kicker of it. Experts tell us that these stones could be slung by a sling such as David used at a speed of up to 100 miles an hour for 100 yards. That's something. He took five stones, as you know, one for Goliath and one for each of his four brothers. He intended to clean out the Klan. A man who is led by the Spirit and guided by God in these things is deadly. He cannot miss. And so it was that our focus should be on the Lord. And at last, David and Goliath stood face to face for the first time. Scripture says that the Philistine disdained him. That is, he discounted David as a mere youth. and as such an unworthy opponent for him, so unworthy that the giant cursed him." In verse 43. These would be the last words that this giant spoke this side of eternity. I can imagine he and many others who die cursing God and rejecting the offer of salvation have wanted to take back their foul disbelieving words many times during the centuries that they have spent now in hell. Romans 3 describes men like this. It says, "...whose mouths are full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their ways, the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." Well, friends, there is today. There's fear in the eyes of this man. It's an awful way to die. David's words to Goliath had been words of confidence in the Lord. David's emphasis was on the might of the Lord's name. The Lord is awesome, David would say. Young David was merely a tool in God's omnipotent hand, and God was going to use him mightily. Like Gideon and his small army, God uses the weak in the eyes of the world to confound the mighty, and he still does that. David sees the whole event as an opportunity for God to show his might and power in the way that the world would forever know that God of the Bible is real. and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God." Hebrews 10, 31. In contrast, for the believer, there is no condemnation to those who abide in Christ, to those who place their faith in Christ. And so we come to this point where we say God honors those that honor him. We always remember that. If you honor God, God will honor you. David runs to close the distance between he and Goliath, not because he was inaccurate, but because he wanted that stone to make its mark, to leave its mark. There's no fear in the man in David, as David would write in Psalm 56 verse four, I will not fear what can flesh do to me. Goliath was full of pride and his puny strength of his arms, he thought he could defeat this young man of God. David arms his sling and takes careful aim and sends the missile on its way. With deadly accuracy, it finds its mark in the center of Goliath's forehead and instantly kills him. He is dead before he hits the ground. While God takes no pleasure in the death of sinners, the scripture says, vengeance is his, and he will repay. The writer of the book of Hebrews writes of David and others like him in the following, in Hebrews chapter 11, verses 33 and 34. Speaking of men like David, it says, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned the flight of armies of the aliens. And so it was with David. He was used of God, and his courage and faith were such that he overcame on that day. David's secret was found in the little statement that's found there in the Scriptures. The battle is the Lord's. And it is for us. We may not have physical battles like David fought, but many challenges come to our lives. And we must see each of these as the battle is the Lord's and not ours. We must learn that secret for ourselves. So I ask you in closing, are you spiritually more like David, compliant with the Lord, or more like Goliath, a rebel at heart? Which is it with you today? Trusting the Lord, your faith being built, that the crisis that you face in life and whatever is before you, that God is your sufficiency. Your weapons are ready. They're spiritual weapons. Our closing hymn this morning is hymn number 472. Our Father, we thank you for your word and for the reminder of these great truths embedded there in your word. Help us to be good students of your word and to seek to mount. We thank you that the battle isn't ours, it's yours. But it is ours to trust you. and to be built up in our faith to walk strong with you, so that when the crisis comes, we find the strength of Christ in us. We thank you for hearing us today, for we ask it in the faithful name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.