I invite you to open your Bibles with me this morning to the book of 1 Samuel and chapter 17. 1 Samuel 17, if you're using the Bibles on the seats, I believe you'll find it on page 239. The historic books of the Old Testament, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, then 1 and then 2 Samuel. As we continue this series of looking at Taking one look, or two looks if you count morning and evening, so two looks at each chapter in the Old Testament, we're looking for Christ. We're looking for him because he tells us that he's there. He says that the whole of the scripture is about him. And so I've suggested, and these are not original with me, but six ways at least that we can look for Christ when we come to the Old Testament scripture. And I've categorized them with three pairs of letters that start with the same, words that start with the same letter. So two Ps, we look for Christ in the progress and in the promises. Two Ts, we look for Christ in types and in themes. And two Cs, we look for Christ comparing and contrasting how God works with his people. We come to 1 Samuel 17, the story of David and Goliath. And everybody knows the story of David and Goliath. If you do a Google search on the internet for David and Goliath, you'll find, even in the news categories, you'll find all sorts of references. Here are three headlines recently. Beagle breeding protester says high court victory is like David and Goliath. Philippine Coast Guard ships in David versus Goliath face-off. The headline didn't say, but it's against the Chinese Coast Guard. David versus Goliath face-off in West Philippine Sea. So everybody knows the story of David and Goliath, and everybody knows the moral of the story, right? Well, maybe it's not quite so clear. I trust that you know it, but let's read God's word and hear from him. It's a long reading. It's a reading that's full of adventure. Now you've heard it before, so it may not be as exciting as the first time, but perhaps as much as is possible, listen with fresh ears to what God says in this historical true account of his dealing with his people and with his enemies. Hear the word of God, 1 Samuel 17, the whole chapter. Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle, and they were gathered at Succoth, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Succoth and Azekah in Ephesus Daman. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and drew up in battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went with him. He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine and are you not 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 be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. And the Philistine 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 an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul, the man was already old and advanced in years. The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle, and the names of his three sons who went to battle were Eliab, the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third, Shammah. David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. For 40 days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening. And Jesse said to David his son, take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these 10 loaves and carry them quickly to the camp of your brothers. Also take these 10 cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See if your brothers are well and bring some token from them. Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines. And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line shouting the war cry. And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers. As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard them, heard him. All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid. And the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel. And David said to the men who stood by him, What should be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him in the same way, so shall it be done to the man who kills him. Now Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spoke to the men, and Eliab's anger was kindled 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 presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle. David said, what have I done now? Was it not but a word? who turned away from him toward another and spoke in the same way, and the people answered him again as before. When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war since his youth. But David said to Saul, Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by the beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God. And David said, The Lord has delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go, and the Lord be with you. Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. And David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them. So David put them off, and he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in the shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine. And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David and his shield-bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 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. 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. And 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. 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, 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. When the Philistine arose and came and came and drew near to meet David. David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 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. 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. 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. And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Sherem as far as Gath and Ekron. And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent. As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I do not know. And the king said, Inquire whose son the boy is. And as soon as David returned from striking down to the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine 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. This is the word of God, a true account. And having heard from God in his word, let us pray. Father, we do pray that you would teach us from this account in your word of this battle that took place. Many years ago in history, and yet there are lessons for us today, and so open our eyes to see and our minds to understand, open our hearts to believe in you and what you would teach us, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Just briefly before we look at the details of the chapter, kind of what's the context of 1 Samuel 17. 1 Samuel is the transition between the judges, we read about in the book of Judges and the book of Ruth, transition into Israel's kingship. Samuel was the last significant judge and he's introduced in the beginning chapters of 1 Samuel. And he had sons, but his sons were wicked. And the people rejected Samuel's sons and really rejected Samuel. And they wanted a king. They wanted a king so they'd be like all the other nations. And God said to Samuel, they haven't rejected you, Samuel, but they've rejected me as their king. And I will give them a king. And he raised up for them a king named Saul, who's mentioned here in our text. And we're told Saul was a head taller than all those around him. And it started out quite well. And it went badly very quickly. God gave them a king after their heart. And then in chapter 16, which is just before where we are today, God says, I will raise up a king after my heart. And David, this youngest of eight sons of Jesse, was anointed king in 1 Samuel 16, but he was not yet inaugurated. And Saul didn't even know that his replacement had been named by God the Lord. This anointed king, yet not yet serving as king. And what we find in our text this morning is a repeated refrain in the scripture. God's people have an enemy. God's people have an enemy. And the Philistines were a constant enemy against God's people. The Philistines were in the southwest coast of Canaan, along the Mediterranean Sea. They were in the allotment of land that was given to Judah. and they continued to fight against the people of God. Samson was raised up to fight against the Philistines. In chapters four through six, the Philistines came against Israel and captured the Ark of the Covenant from Israel. As you read that account, you'll see that part of the reason they captured that Ark of the Covenant was because Israel treated it as sort of a good luck charm. Nobody can beat us. We've got this magic box. But the Philistines did defeat them and took the ark, and yet having won, the Philistines didn't win, for this ark was a representation of God's presence, and God's presence was hard against the Philistines and against their false god. But that's another story for another account. These Philistines were the national enemy of Israel, and they had a champion named Goliath. Goliath, one writer said, is the enemy of Israel bent on terrorizing, defeating, and ultimately enslaving the people of God. While these qualities don't make him unique in the Old Testament, he's certainly the epitome of evil in this story. Goliath prefigures the adversary who is against the people of God. But what do we know about this enemy? As Israel and the Philistines gathered in their battle lines on both sides of a valley, Well, we know he's powerful. He was somewhere in the vicinity as best we can understand of a little bit under 10 feet tall. And you might say, well, that's impossible. Well, I've never met someone ten feet tall, but that doesn't mean Goliath wasn't ten feet tall. Some, I think maybe because it seems so unlikely that he could have been ten feet tall, think that maybe the cubit was a short cubit, and maybe he was only seven or so feet tall, but if you've ever been close to a seven foot tall person, that's pretty tall. The tallest human in recent history that's been measured was a man named Robert Walden. And he was eight feet, 11 inches tall. So he would have been nearly as tall as Goliath. And he wasn't just tall, but he was strong. The weight of his armor was somewhere around 125 pounds. The weight of the spear point on his spear was somewhere around 15 pounds. And if someone that strong threw that spear at you or me, we'd be in trouble. He wasn't just physically imposing, but he takes charge. And so as the battle lines are drawn, and if you follow historic armies and battles, you'll understand this a little bit better. They weren't dropping bombs from an airplane or a drone far up in the sky. They were drawing up in battle, one side against the other. And then often, they would charge one another with sword and spear. And it was a gruesome way to do battle, and it was a gruesome way to die, but this Philistine preempted that. And so he came out of the battle lines. The battle lines were drawn up, and he came out on the first day. And he would have been imposing, he would have been terrifying. And it's interesting that he brought his armor bearer with him. Why do you need him? He was probably just a little short guy. And he said, I'll fight. I'll fight against your best. Send me your best. I will do battle with him, one on one. We don't have to go to battle. We don't all have to die. I'll do battle. And for 40 days, for 40 days, morning and evening, he shouted this defiance of Israel and of the God of Israel. Over and over, he said, come on, come on, send me your warrior. Send me your warrior. And Israel quaked in fear. Not only did he want to defeat Israel, but he wanted to enslave them. God's people's enemy was powerful and enslaved. He said, if I win this one-on-one battle with your champion, I'll take your best. Give him a shot. If I win, you become our slaves. If he wins, we will become your slaves. But this Goliath of Gath was not merely opposed to Israel, But he opposed God and his people. He fought against God. He defied these people and called upon them that their God could not save them. I defy the ranks of Israel this day. He said over and over and over. They heard this man who reproached Israel day after day after day. I suspect that perhaps the first day that Goliath came out, the Israelite army looked to Saul. He was a head taller than most of them, or all of them, we're told, when he was anointed as king. And they may have thought, well, Saul, you're not quite as big as he is, but you're a lot taller than we are, and we're not gonna fight him. You're the king, you fight him for us. And Saul, it appeared, cowered with the rest of the Israelite army. Perhaps not seeing Saul go forward, some of them might have looked to Jonathan, Saul's son, who we're not told about his size, but we're told of his bravery in battle. Just a few chapters earlier, he goes and does battle with just his armor bearer against a Philistine garrison. Perhaps they thought maybe Jonathan will go, but for whatever reason, even Jonathan was terrified of this giant Goliath. I would have been too, and I suspect so would you have been. God's people have an enemy who's powerful, who enslaves, and he opposes God and his people. But God's people also have a champion. God's people have a champion. Israel was unwilling or unable to send a champion. Saul wouldn't go. Jonathan wouldn't go. And when I think about this, it's easy to think about it when you're not there. I think, why didn't they just rush him? I mean, he couldn't have taken on the whole army all at once. He was a big guy, but he was just one guy. If a thousand of them had rushed him, don't take him on his challenge, just go get him. But they were unwilling, they were unable. And they lined up day after day with no answer to Goliath. And I don't think it's unreasonable to imagine that as Israel came to the battle line day after day after day after day knowing that Goliath is going to challenge us and there's no champion on our side that can defeat him. I think they probably slunk up to the battle line like a whipped pup. They walked up to that line with their tails between their legs every day afraid of this champion Goliath. They had no answer. And so God sends David. He's just a boy. We don't know how old he is, maybe a teenager, maybe a little bit older than that. We don't know how tall he was. We know that he was a little bit good looking, but that's not going to help if you're fighting a 10 foot tall giant, I don't think. This newly anointed king was sent through his father by God to the battle lines. He might have been somewhere around half the size. There's a picture you can find on the internet of this Robert Walden, the tallest man, and he has two women standing next to him. It's a little hard to tell because he's wearing a suit coat, but it looks like they don't come up any higher than his waist. Maybe that was David's size comparison to Goliath. But David was humble and obedient. He was obviously interested in the battle. When his father commanded him to go, he went, but he went back and forth to continue to keep his responsibilities of the sheep for his father. And step by step, we see the contrasts between David and the rest of the Israelites. He was humble, he was obedient. He wasn't even old enough to be in the army, but he did his father's bidding. And his father said, take some food for your brothers, and hear from them, maybe they could send some token that tells me they're still alive, they haven't been defeated in battle. Take also some gifts for their commanding officer, and bring back news of the battle, and so David goes. And as he gets there, we have just this small sentence at the end of verse 23, Goliath issues his challenge to the armies of Israel, and David heard him. Apparently the news of this battle and the news of this champion had not reached Bethlehem where David was with his father as he went back and forth to the battle lines. But David heard this command, this defiance of God and David stood for God. God's people's champion who is humble and obedient stands for God. Over and over, David says, who is this uncircumcised Philistine that defies the armies of the living God? When Israel saw Goliath, they said, this man is huge. And when David heard Goliath, he said, this man is an uncircumcised Philistine, and he is defying the armies of God, and God will win. Now some read David's interaction. What is it that's going to be done for the man who kills this Philistine? Well, he gets the king's daughter as his wife. He and his whole family get a tax-free existence. And some people think that's what motivated David. But in order to think that, you have to ignore what David says. This man is defying the armies of God. and God will give the victory. And so God's people's champion, who's humble and obedient, who stands for God, wins in God's name. Doesn't win in his own strength, doesn't win for his own reputation, but he wins in God's name. See, he tells Saul, when Saul says, you're just a kid, you can't go to battle against this giant, he says, well, I've killed bears and I've killed lions when they tried to take the sheep that I was herding. That's pretty impressive to me. I think it was the first or second time that we were here in Colorado Springs. I think it was after Torrey's wedding, we were driving down to Robin and Dave Steber's house where we were staying, and we saw a black bear rumble across the road. He didn't look terribly frightening, but I was glad we were in the car and he was out of the car. Bears and lions attacking people and it doesn't end up well for the people they attack. David said, God delivered me from the paw of the lion. God delivered me from the paw of the bear. It sounds so benign. But a bear takes his paw and smacks you, you'll be sliced into ribbons. David said, God delivered me from the paw of the lion. And from the paw of the bear, he'll deliver me from the paw of this Philistine." It's the same word, it's hand, but it's the same word as paw. God will deliver me. This man is God's enemy and God will win. And so we read that he wins. He doesn't take Saul's armor because he's not used to it. He takes a slingshot. Takes five stones, he was prepared, he only needed one, but he was prepared. And he ran to the battle line, and he slung that stone, and it embedded itself in the forehead of Goliath, and he fell down dead. David, the champion of God's people, wins in God's name, and we say, go David! And then sometimes we think, well, I'm David. You can be David and I can be David. And I have in the outline, so what? I don't mean that in a flippant way. We should always ask that question when we read the word of God. God, why have you put this here? What's the lesson for me? What am I supposed to see about you and about me and about the enemies of your people and about the champion of your people? And what so many people do is they read the story of David and Goliath. We saw it in those headlines. They say something like this. By faith, you can be a champion over giants in your life, right? Not exactly. There is a measure of truth to that statement. Those who are God's people can, in a measure, defeat the enemies in their life. The whole rest of the Bible tells us about that. We get to Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Probably one of the most taken out of context verses in the Bible. What Paul's really saying is I learned to be content through Christ who gives me strength. And what's significant about that verse is not so much what I can do, but who is Christ and how does he strengthen me for the battles that he sends me to. So there's a measure of truth in the statement by faith you can capture and defeat giants. A measure of truth, but there's not enough truth there because you and I are not David in the story. You and I are not David in this account. You're either Goliath and the Philistines, an enemy of God and his people, and if you've never come to bow your knee to Jesus Christ, to confess your sin, to trust his saving work only for your salvation, then you're with Goliath, and you're with the Philistines, and you are an enemy of God's people. And if you're not Goliath, and I hope you're not, you and I are Saul and Israel's armies. We're terrified, cowards, unable to do battle against the enemy of God. As one pastor said, this story is not about if you have enough faith, then courage will come. What this story is about is that Christ is the champion. Christ is the champion of our faith, the champion of our salvation. David is a type of Christ. He's not pointing to you and me, he's pointing to our champion, the Lord Jesus Christ. Goliath, very much a type of Satan, of the adversary of the people of God, only Satan is even worse. One writer said it this way, Goliath is the enemy of Israel, bent on terrorizing, defeating, and ultimately enslaving the people of God. And David is like Jesus, only Jesus is even better. He is the anointed king. He is ruling now, even though all his enemies are not yet under his feet. How does Christ fulfill the office of a king? Christ fills the office of a king in making us his willing subjects. in defeating, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies. Christ is King, and there's an already but not yet aspect of His kingship, perhaps similar to what was already and not yet aspect of David's kingship. David was the anointed King that hadn't yet been inaugurated. Now Christ has been inaugurated, but the victory is not completely won in time and history. Christ came in weakness. He humbled himself. He gave up a measure of his glory. He lived a poor life on this earth as fully human, even though he was also fully God. He was misunderstood and scorned by his brothers, but he was obedient to his Father, and he was obedient unto death, even the death on the cross. and he was tempted to take other means of victory. I think it was in considering this account of David and Goliath that I was struck again with the 40 days with which Jesus was tempted by the evil one. For 40 days, Goliath stood and opposed the armies of Israel and said, come on, give me your champion. And we read the account of Satan's temptation of Jesus and we're only enumerated three temptations and we think, well, that didn't take very long. I mean, you could do those in about 10 or 15 minutes. But for 40 days, for 40 days, the evil one said to Christ in his weakness, If you are the son of God, make bread out of these stones. Offered him something that Satan had no authority to offer, but nevertheless, there was real temptation and I'll give you the kingdoms, just worship me. Or prove that God is your father and jump off this cliff and his angels will save you. And I wonder how many times those temptations came against our Savior. But it was not only Satan, who tried to give him victory by other means, it was the Israelites as well. They sought to make him king by force, and yet he was obedient. He was obedient to his father. He was obedient unto death, and he fought as our representative. His defeat would have meant our defeat. In fact, Paul stresses that in 1 Corinthians 15. Christ died on the cross, and if he was not raised from the dead, our faith is worthless. If Christ had not been raised, we would be defeated by the evil one. But he was raised from the dead, and he is raised from the dead. He is alive. He fought as our representative. His defeat would have meant defeat for us, but his victory means victory for us. And he won the battle in a way that seemed like sure defeat. We're not told how Satan felt when Christ uttered his last breath and gave up his life on that cross. Thankfully for us, before he did that, he uttered those words that we translate in English, it is complete, it is finished. But even for his own disciples, they thought it was over. They thought his life was finished, his potential for kingship was finished. Christ won the battle in a way that seemed like sure defeat and would continue to be a scandal and foolishness. What is it that Paul writes to the Corinthians? He says, Jews demand science and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles, but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than these men. Christ it seemed was going to be defeated but instead he won in God's name and it was only after he won the battle that his people would fight with strength as the Israelite army did and not cower in fear. Again, this author writes, and one author writes, just as the battle with the Philistines was won by David conquering Goliath, so the battle with sin, evil, and death was won by Jesus conquering Satan. And the grave, and the crucifixion, and the resurrection. And the grave in the crucifixion and the resurrection. We, the church, are like Israel, routing the Philistines. We're in the mop-up of the battle against evil. Let's never retreat from a defeated foe. Let's remember that the battle has been won. The victory has been secured by Christ's victory on the cross and in the grave. To be sure, David is a hero of faith. He's one of those listed that the author of Hebrews writes about in Hebrews 11. Some of those heroes, the author writes in much detail, and some he says, we don't have time to tell you all about these heroes of faith. But then at the end, He doesn't say, let's look to these heroes of faith. No, he says, since we have these witnesses, let's look to Jesus. Look to Jesus. So remember, David, a hero of faith, but look to Jesus, the champion and the finisher of your faith, of my faith, of our faith. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, might we remember what you are teaching us here in this account. To be sure there are enemies that fight against your people and fight against us. And if sure at times you give us the strength to win skirmishes in that battle but the battle has been won in Christ. And so Lord cause us to rejoice that Jesus is the champion and finisher of our faith. And cause us to do battle in his strength as we mop up the enemy as it were. And Lord, if any who are listening are still on the side of the enemy of God's people, would you break their will? Would you bring them to Christ? Having seen their sin, might they see their Savior, that they might join us, giving Him praise and honor and glory now and forever. Amen.