Now, the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. Last time that happened, you'll remember, Jonathan had gone out of the camp of Israel, and he had struck down the Philistines. You remember the words that Jonathan had said. He had said, nothing will be able to keep the Lord from saving, whether by many or by a few. And Israel learned the lesson that day that if God is on your side, and if you are fighting His battles, He will fight for you. Because you'll remember that when Jonathan was chasing the Philistines, the earth itself began to shake. And so did the Philistines. But now chapter 17 begins, the Philistines gathered their armies for battle, and they were gathered at Soko, which belongs to Judah. The Philistines are once again trespassing. This is the land that the Lord Israel's God had given to them. The Philistines did not belong here. They had no right to this land. There were Philistines, if you will, in the sanctuary. And Israel, of course, had an obligation to chase them out. They didn't belong there. So the Philistines gather for battle over here. The Israelites gather for battle over here. The Philistines on one side of the valley, the valley in between, the Israelites on the other side of the valley. Much the same as what we have seen before, and it's really kind of a game of bluff to see who will make the first move. Nobody wants to fight uphill. It'd be a bloody slog. So days pass, and days pass, and days pass, and they seem to be at a stalemate. And as often happened in these ancient battles, finally, a champion comes forth from the one side and says, I will fight anyone on your side. I will fight on behalf of my army. You pick a guy who will fight on behalf of your army. And we'll duke it out. In place of our armies spilling gallons and gallons and gallons of blood. But the champion that came out of the battle lines of the Philistines was a man unlike anything the Israelites had ever seen. They'd read about men like this. The Anakim, you might remember, the Israelite spies had come into the Promised Land, and they had said, there are men living in that land who make us look like grasshoppers. They are massive. They are the sons of Anak, the Anakim. And that's a callback, actually, to the Nephilim, the sons of the serpent, the sons of the flesh. These miniature versions of Satan, if you will, in the early chapters of Genesis. He's a man of incredible height, this Goliath of Gath, six cubits and a span, a cubit is the distance between one's elbow and one's middle finger. It's about a foot and a half, so six cubits, six times one and a half is about nine, and a span is about this distance here, from here to here, so nearly 10 feet. A man nearly 10 feet tall comes out of the armies of the Philistines, stepping almost, if you will, out of the legends of Israel's history. Israel's terrified. Not only is this man impressively tall, this man is impressively arrayed. The word gets repeated again and again and again, bronze, bronze, bronze, a helmet of bronze and a coat of bronze, 5,000 shekels of bronze, a bronze armor on his legs, a bronze javelin or perhaps a long sword slung between his shoulders, a man covered in bronze. You'll remember that Israel, a few chapters earlier, had had no weapons at all. This walking armory steps out of the camp of the Philistines and Israel is terrified. This man who shines with a gleam of highly polished bronze. A coat of scale even. He's overlapping metal plates that would have covered his entire torso and possibly even down to his legs. A man covered in scales, covered in serpent, no sorry, Bronze. His weapon's also impressive, a bronze javelin, a great, big, iron-tipped spear. All the might of man, all the might of Philistia, all the wealth of the Philistine military-industrial complex steps out of the camp of the Philistines, starts walking toward Israel, and bellows across the valley, saying, you belong to King Saul, don't you? You're the men of Saul. You're Israel's best and brightest, Israel's strongest and greatest warriors. Come on out. Come on out and I'll fight you. You belong to Saul. I belong to Philistia. Let's fight. Let's have this duel of champions. Instead of either side having to To scale a mountain slope, neither of us really wants to do that. Let's have a duel of champions. Bring out your best man, bring out your tallest, bring out your most handsome, bring out a man from among you who is unlike any in all Israel. I defy the ranks of Israel this day. He shames Israel. He shames Israel. He is much like Nahash a few chapters earlier, who wanted to shame Israel, bring disgrace on Israel by poking out the eyes of the men of Jabesh-Gilead. He shames Israel and Israel's God. And how does Israel react? Well, verse 11 tells us, when Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Now, you might be asking, well, who in their right mind would go before Israel's armies and fight this one-on-one battle? Well, they've actually got a man just for that. The tallest man of Philistia has stepped forward. It's time for the tallest man of Israel to step forward. This is what they had a king for. It's Saul. Saul is terrified. Saul is terrified, and this man that is that is calling out Israel, this man that is defying Israel's God, goes unanswered. And we've reached a dead end. A dead end. God's people are doing nothing. And so the author of 1 Samuel, one of the reasons I love this book is because the author writes with such great artistry. He ends the story in verse 11. And then it's almost as though he begins a new story in verse 12. You could put the word, once upon a time, the Philistines gathered their armies for battle, and at the end of verse 11, they were dismayed and greatly afraid, the end. Once upon a time, there was a man named David, the son of an Ephratite of Bethlehem and Judah. A whole new story is begun here, because Israel has reached a dead end. they can't do anything for themselves. They are terrified of their enemies. It's almost a sort of, meanwhile, back at the ranch, because we literally go back to the farm of Jesse. The story is interrupted. But the question we should be asking here is, is the story being interrupted, or was the story itself an interruption? Because verse 12 picks up where chapter 16, verse 23 had left off, or verse 13 had left off. We're reintroduced to David. Saul is a false hope, an empty suit of armor. David, David is the man after God's own heart. David is the man filled with God's Spirit. We should not expect solutions to come from Saul, from this fleshly king. We should expect solutions for Israel to come from David, this man after God's own heart, this man filled with the Spirit. We're reminded of what happened in the first two-thirds of chapter 16, and the question that is on our minds should be this, okay, God's first anointed, Saul, the people's champion, has failed. What will God's new anointed, His true King, His Spirit-filled King do when He hears about Goliath? But of course, David has not heard about Goliath yet. In fact, he's not even at the battle. No, no, no, his three big brothers, his three big strong warrior brothers are with Saul at the battle, Eliab and Abinadab and Shammah. David, again, is back with the sheep. But he's got to get to the front lines. God wants him on the front lines so that Israel might be saved by his anointed. And so Jesse calls David forward one day and he says, hey, tomorrow I want you to go to the front lines, I want you to take this ephah, this most of a bushel of parched grain, take these 10 loaves of bread, bring them to your brothers, carry them as quickly as you can to the camp. And then take these cheeses as a present for their commander, the commander of their battalion. Make sure your brothers are doing all right. Now that's all that David has on his schedule that day. So he rises early in the morning, he honors his father as much as he can, and he's in the camp before the army actually gets ready for battle. He leaves the things that he's brought with the keeper of the baggage, and he runs to the front ranks to meet his brothers. His brothers are there lined up with all the strong men of Israel, and this short little David comes hopping along, trying to find his brothers. And he finds them, and he sees how they're doing. But then he finds out something else as well, that Israel is terrified. God's people are in panic mode. And David hears Goliath, he hears this same speech that Goliath has been uttering these past 40 days, morning and evening. Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Come on Israel, what are you, chicken? I'm a Philistine, you're the servants of Saul, come on down and fight me. If you're able to fight me and kill me, we'll be your servants. If I fight against him and kill him, you'll be our slaves. I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together.' And Israel now is not only dismayed, not only greatly afraid, but when all the men of Israel see the man, this whole army of big, strong Israelites flees from him and were much afraid." And David, I guess he runs with them, not so much because he's afraid, but because he's curious. The men of Israel, have you seen this man who's come up? There's no one like him in all the land. But the king, Saul, he doesn't want to fight him himself, but you know what? He will enrich the man who kills this Philistine warrior with great riches. And it'd be wonderful, yeah, to be living tax-free, to be married to the king's daughter, but I'm kind of scared of this Philistine. I'm kind of scared of this Philistine. But David, He's got a different mind altogether. The fear that has taken hold of the Israelite camp has not yet taken its hold on David's heart. In fact, it will not at all. David knows that he is God's anointed. David knows that he is God's chosen king. David knows that he has been filled with the Spirit of God for God's work. Not only that, David knows that this giant has not only confronted the armies of Israel, he has also confronted the God of Israel. I wonder if you've noticed this or not. The first few times I read through this passage, I did not notice it. But the name of God, the name of God is not mentioned in this passage until the 26th verse. You've got 25 verses of men fighting men, men intimidating men, men dealing with men, and God is not invoked at all. Oh yes, in insulting the armies of Israel, Goliath was insulting Israel's God, but he doesn't even mention God's name. Why do you think that is? Look, and the author of 1 Samuel is showing us that this is a rather godless situation. And Israel, like Philistia, has become a godless nation. Goliath, a godless opponent of Israel, a godless opponent of Saul and of the Lord God. Saul, a godless king. The man who was supposed to know the law of God and love the law of God and restrain Israel has become as godless as the kings of the nations. Israel has become a godless nation. They are not remembering what God did for their nation in days of old. They are not remembering how the land had been given to them. They're not singing Psalm 41. No, they've forgotten. And so they are not even crying out to God. They're not weeping before God like they had before. God has been ignored by everyone, but David. When everyone else is unwilling to speak the name of God, David will. When everyone else is unwilling to stand up when God's name is being blasphemed, David will. Because David is jealous for the honor of his God. And he asks around, what'll be done for the man that attacks and kills this Philistine? David's basically saying, okay, so who do I have to talk to? What do I have to do to go down to the valley? And David's brother, Eliab, hears what David is asking the men. And Eliab, you'll remember, there's one description that's given of him, that's in chapter 16. Eliab is, A tall man, a handsome man, a Saul-like man. Samuel, if he had been left to his own devices, he would have anointed this Eliab as the king of Israel because Eliab was so very much like Saul. And Eliab shows that he also has a heart like Saul by rebuking David. Eliab was there when David was anointed, but Eliab, perhaps in jealousy, his anger is kindled against David, and he says, hey, what are you doing down here? Who'd you leave those little sheepies with in the wilderness? Come on, David, you are little David, the shepherd boy. Get away from the battle. You are a presumptive lad. There is evil in your heart. You've come because you wanna see some blood spilled. You've come because you wanna have a little adventure, because your life watching the sheep is too boring. These are all groundless accusations. Groundless. Entirely groundless. Eliab should have known better. Again, he was there when David was anointed. He's like Joseph's brothers, if you'll remember. Joseph's brothers who hated him because God was planning to honor him over them. But King Saul catches wind because David's been asking around. He wants to find out what it will take for him to fight this giant. And King Saul hears. David comes to King Saul when he's summoned and says, don't be afraid, King Saul. I will go. I will fight this Philistine for you. And Saul, you? You? You are Goliath's polar opposite. He's been a warrior from his youth. You are just a youth. Saul's thinking in fleshly terms, in human terms. He sees David like some teenager who might be the star forward of his pickup hockey team, thinking that he can take on Alexander Ovechkin. You'll get creamed, quit wasting my time. David realizes here, though, that Saul is a fleshly man. He is a man who will not take God into account. He is a man who thinks in purely fleshly, purely physical terms. A man's man. And so David, though he is God's man, he answers a fleshly mind with fleshly reasoning. See, David's real confidence is in the Lord. And we'll see this when David comes at last to fight the Philistine. But he speaks here in fleshly terms. I'm qualified to fight Goliath. I'm qualified to fight this giant. I've fought lions face to face. I have taken on bears. I have pulled lambs from the mouths of lions, and then once the lion got a little rowdy, I socked him in the face and killed him. The Lord has allowed me to fight them. I can fight Goliath too." Yes, he mentions the Lord, because David can't not, but only after talking about the beasts that he's fought off. And did you catch the fact, though, that David is answering a fleshly mind with fleshly reasoning? Or did you just think, well, hey, that makes sense, doesn't it? David's big and strong enough to fight a lion or a bear, so he's warrior enough to fight a Philistine champion. And a lot of worldly commentators on this passage have answered in the same sort of way. Well, David's talking in terms of tactics. Right? Goliath is big and strong, but man, he's slow. I'm a little shepherd boy. I've got my sling. I can sling it on his head at about 120 miles per hour. I could probably do this. I'm a totally different kind of warrior. All your warriors are too heavily armored. They're too slow, but I'm quick and I'm fast. But David's reasoning does not function that way. He's not thinking like a worldly warrior. In fact, he despises the wisdom of the worldly warriors that surround him, Eliab, Saul, and Goliath. He's forced to answer the fool according to his folly. Because you know, if David had just said, well, God will fight for me, what do you think Saul's response would have been? Saul does not respect God. Saul, time and time again, has refused to take God into account, has refused to obey God. Saul is not going to respond to, God will fight for me, very positively. He only respects fleshly might. But at the same time, David's language is still pervaded with faith. When he talks about Goliath, he doesn't even mention his name. He just says, that Philistine, or that uncircumcised Philistine, like, why are you afraid of him, Saul? He's not even circumcised. I trust in God. What can man do to me? Do not fear those who can kill the body but who can't even touch the soul. In the Lord I take refuge. God is my refuge and my strength. The Lord is the strength of His people." What's a puny little Philistine before the Lord, the judge of all the earth? And then Saul finally has something sensible to say. Ah, excellent, okay. Go and the Lord be with you. But then he follows it up with more fleshly nonsense. If Saul had just finished talking and finished acting in verse 37, it would have been wonderful. Go and the Lord be with you. There might have been a glimmer of hope for King Saul. But no, just before sending David off to fight Goliath, Saul clothed David with his armor. And it didn't fit. Well, of course it didn't fit. David, we can assume David's a typical 5'7 or so. Saul is head and shoulders above everyone else in the nation. He's just shy of 7 feet tall. LeBron James' uniform is not going to fit Steph Curry. Jose Altuve can't wear Aaron Judge's uniform. David cannot wear Saul's armor. But there's more to it. If David wears Saul's armor and then trundles down to the battlefield and somehow gets the victory over Goliath, who's going to get the glory? Well, Saul is. Of course. What would the armies of Israel say? They would have said, hey, did you see what Saul did? What a swell king, what a humble guy. He gave his own armor to David so that David would be able to fight Goliath. What a king. David will not go to battle in Saul's armor. David will go to battle in God's hand. And there David goes now, armed with nothing but his staff and his sling. He hadn't even taken stones from home. But he goes down to the stream and he finds whatever stones he can. He takes five of them, places them in his pouch, and then goes to meet the Philistine. And the Philistine comes out to meet him. Ah, finally, the Israelites have chosen a champion. And perhaps the shimmer from the hot ground is clouding his vision somewhat because it's only when David comes a little closer that the Philistine actually reacts. He sees David, short, red, and handsome, and he laughs. Ha! This is Israel's champion? Do they think I'm a dog? Hey, boy, you think I'm a dog? Well, why have you come down here with sticks? Sticks and stones may break my bones, but actually, no, they won't, because I'm covered in armor. And then he curses David by his gods. May Dagon, the great and powerful, the almighty god of the Philistines, whose statue has definitely never fallen down before in its temple, grant me victory. Cursed be you by Dagon, my God. Come on over, and I'll feed you to the birds and the beasts. But David, unfazed by the show of fleshly force, he responds, yeah, you've got a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I'm coming to you in the name of the Lord of heaven's legions, in the name of the God of Israel's armies. You have defied him by defying Israel. And so you have blasphemed his name, but the Lord knows how to protect his reputation. The Lord is going to give you into my hand, and I am gonna strike you, and I'm gonna cut off your head. See, David understands the monumental spiritual significance of this moment. Goliath is a stand-in for Israel's greatest adversary, the devil. Goliath has taken his stand with Satan. He's a man of the serpent. He has blasphemed God's name by defying God's people, God's servants. David might as well be singing Psalm 139 here. Oh, that the wicked you would slay, from men of blood I turn away. They speak against the name divine. I count God's enemies as mine. Do I not hate your haters, Lord? Those fighting you have I abhorred. I hate them all most fervently and count them as my enemies. Reminded of the nations in the book of Revelation who cry out, who can stand before the beast? But the Christian knows better. No human, no matter how great or powerful or wealthy or oppressive he may seem, will be able to stand. When the anointing of the Lord shows up, the battle is the Lord, David says, and he will give you into our hands. David realizes that he has become Israel's champion. His victory is Israel's victory. And not only that, but Goliath's defeat is Philistia's defeat. Once a strong man has been cast down, his house can be plundered. Before you know it, really, the battle is done. It's just verses 48 and 49. That's the whole battle. The Philistine champion lumbers toward David, his long legs eating up the distance. And David, instead of standing his ground and waiting for Goliath, instead of relying on the high ground to give him the tactical advantage, he runs to meet him. He takes a stone from his pouch, he fits it into his sling, he slings it, hits Goliath in the forehead. And Goliath, like Dagon, falls forward on the ground as though he were one of the mighty kings of the earth bowing down before Israel's king and David's God. And then David keeps on running until he's closed the ground between himself and the giant's body. He takes the sword off the Philistine and lops off his head and the battle is done. And the Philistines, they see their champion on the ground and they turn tail and they run. Israel had been spending 40 days running, and now, finally, the Philistines, they run, and the Israelites, they see the Philistines running, and they pursue the enemies that their anointed king has put to flight, and they run all the way to the gates of the Philistine cities. See, this battle, it began in Israelite territory, a place where the Philistines didn't belong, and it ends in Philistine territory, which, according to the Lord, belonged to Israel. And David, he runs with them for a bit, but then he runs back to the body of Goliath, and he takes the head of the Philistine, and he doesn't go to the Philistia, but he goes to Jerusalem. And it's as though he takes the head of Goliath, and he throws it over the wall of Jerusalem, saying, I'm coming for you. I'm coming for you. It's as though he's preaching the gospel of the victory of God there in Jerusalem as well. You see, Jerusalem was a stronghold, a city that was very well defended, again, on a high mountain. And Israel had not taken Jerusalem. It was this pagan stronghold in the middle of Israel's land. And so David is saying, yeah, I struck down the Philistine with the help of my God. I will come for you as well. And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor, Goliath's armor, in his tent. And then in verses 55 through 58, they're rather peculiar. The story has been slowly building and then speeding along, and now you've got some accounting. Saul saw David go out against the Philistine and said to Abner, the commander of the army, Abner, whose son is this youth? See, Saul's got to know who he's going to exempt from taxes. It's tax season for Saul, too. Saul's a bit of a buzzkill, though. He's not watching God's victory. He's not rejoicing in God's victory. He's not chasing God's enemies, no. No, he's just carrying on with matters of administration. Whose family should we exempt from taxes? Abner goes and finds out. Whose son are you, young man? I'm the son of your servant, Jesse, the Bethlehemite. That's the one you have to exempt now from taxes. And perhaps that jarring fleshliness at the end of the chapter reminds us that this story is not simply a story. It's an adumbration. It's a pre-echo. It's a picture of something else, something greater that is to come. Because you remember, again, what I quoted at the beginning of the sermon from Genesis, I will put enmity, God said to Satan, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between her seed and your seed. He's gonna crush your head, though you shall bruise his heel. David comes up against someone who is covered in Nahashet, who is covered in bronze, covered in these serpentine scales. He ran toward him, he killed him, he stood over the Philistine, took his own sword, struck the Philistine, killed him, cut off his head with it. It's almost as though 1 Samuel 17 is saying, hey, you remember, remember Genesis 3. Remember Genesis 3. But David knows there's more to it than simply this. When he writes Psalm 110, he writes, There again, the stepping on heads. David knows that there's someone greater to come, Christ, great David's greater Son. He has triumphed over Satan, our ancient enemy, the persecutor of Christ's people, the one who made us all take to flight and tremble in the garden, the accuser of the brethren. He has bound him. Christ has bound Satan, as he says in Matthew 12, so that he might no longer deceive the nations, as he says in Revelation 20. And the territory that the dragon had claimed as his own, that Satan had claimed as his own, has now fallen under the kingship of Christ, as he tells us in Matthew 28. David killed the champion. David unlocked the doors to Philistia to allow Israel's armies to go streaming in. And so Christ also, in defeating Satan, in binding the strong man, in crushing his head, he has given us the nations. And He has told us to go out with confidence, just like Israel's armies, with the confidence that His victory has given us, knowing that the nations belong to Him. And He tells His people to go forth. And He gives us this promise, Romans 16.20, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. See, Genesis 3 is not only fulfilled in Christ, it's also fulfilled in Christ's people. The grace of our Lord Jesus will be with you. And because of this promise, we have this precept, Romans 12, verse 20, which seems strange. But listen, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by doing so, you will heap burning coals on his head. See, Christians are called to war. They're called to war. They are called to be soldiers. Why else would Paul tell us to put the armor of God on? We are called to war, but we do not fight against flesh and blood. A Christian's warfare, like David's warfare, is entirely unlike that of the world. The Christian refuses to take on the weapons of Saul, the weapons of the flesh, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, because we know, as David did, we know the greatness of our God, and so we leave judgment to him. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay. And we love those who hate us. Yes, this is spiritual warfare. We love those who hate us and show kindness to those who afflict us. Vengeance, we understand, is not our job. God will deal with those who continue to resist Him, who continue to mock Him and His people, who continue to persecute the church. But you understand also that it is through His people, through the work of His church, that Christ is continuing to take as His spoils the nation of the world. He is casting down their idols around the world, around the globe, toppling their feeble deities, showing them the weakness of the deceiver. And He sends us. He sends us, like he says in Matthew 28, he sends us to proclaim his victory like David did when he ran over to Jerusalem to proclaim the gospel of the defeat of Goliath there, to proclaim his victory, to expand his rule, but also to spread his kingdom, Matthew 28, through the sacrament of baptism, as those who were formerly uncircumcised Gentiles become baptized believers. It's what God says in Psalm 87. He says, on the holy mountain stands the city he loved. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. He loves Jerusalem. He loves the holy city, the place where he meets with his people. Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God. But among those who live in Zion, who live in God's city, I mention Rahab and Babylon. Behold, Philistia, with Tyre and Cush. This one was born there. See, the gospel proclaimed is not just that God will destroy His enemies, but that God will rule in the midst of His enemies, that He will make His enemies into His sons. Those who were formerly uncircumcised Philistines become baptized believers. Beloved, we are not David. We are not the champion. We are not the Christ, the anointed, and thank God for that. But your champion who has gone before you, who has won the victory, who has defeated your enemy Satan, who equips you for the fight, who calls you to the fight, he tells you to give yourself, to give your strength, to give your youth. Young people, don't waste the years when you have the most strength and the most vitality, the least pain and the least worry. Don't waste the years of your youth chasing more money, bigger trucks, a paid off mortgage, a fleshly success. Spend those years in service of God. See, the world thinks that you're just like them, that you value the same things as them, that you love the same things as them, that you want the same things as them. And sometimes you think the same thing. But you don't belong to the world. You belong to God. Christ has bought you. You don't belong to yourself. You're not like the young people of the world, so don't you dare act like it. Your captain is calling you, not only you, but all of us, to follow him. to pick up the spoils of his victory, to put his enemies to flight, to sing the songs of his victory, not the songs of the world, not the songs of defeat. Don't waste your time singing along with Taylor Swift when you could be singing the songs of the king, the songs of Zion, the songs of eternal cosmic victory. Take the words of the Psalms upon your lips. The Son of God, the hymn writer says, goes forth to war, a kingly crown to gain. His blood-red banner streams afar. Who follows in his train? Who best can drink his cup of woe, triumphant over pain? Who patient bears his cross below? He follows in his train. The martyr first, whose eagle eye could pierce beyond the grave, who saw his master in the sky and called on him to save. Like him, with pardon on his tongue, in midst of mortal pain, He prays for those that do the wrong. Who follows in his train? Glorious band, the chosen few on whom the Spirit came, twelve valiant saints, their hope they knew. And they mocked the cross and flame. They met the tyrant's brandished steel, the lion's gory mane. They bowed their necks to death to feel. Who follows in their train? A noble army, men and boys, the matron and the maid, around the Savior's throne rejoice in robes of light arrayed. They climbed the steep ascent of heaven through peril, toil, and pain. O God, to us may grace be given to follow in their train. Let's pray.