1. "How do you respond to weakness? Are you more indulgent toward your own weakness and harsh on others? Or it could be the opposite: are you severe on yourself but able to excuse just about anything in someone that you love."

2. "Some people think that God only backs winners. That he takes people who are rich and strong and promising and just gives them a power assist. Some people think that if you don't have anything to offer God, then he doesn't have anything to offer you."

3. "We judge by what we can see. Looks, height, clothing, signs of put-togetherness, markers of status, cars, houses, zip codes, degrees, CVs, letters of recommendation. But how does God judge? He judges by what he sees, which is the innermost recesses of every single human being."

4. "God sees in you what you don't want him to. He sees in others what you can't and he sees in you what others can't. Like young little David, weakness is no disqualification for serving him. In fact, it's often a prerequisite."

5. "Saul was chosen as king because he was physically strong. But the departure of God's spirit left him weak. Without divine help, Saul is now helpless. Without God's strength, Saul has no strength left."

6. "The strength that matters most is not the strength you have but the strength God gives. In the Christian life, the only dependable path to strength is dependence on God's strength. In serving Christ, the strength that counts is his strength, not yours."

7. "The way of humility is the way of exaltation. The way down is the way up. If you want God's strength, own up to your own weakness. If you want God's fullness, confess your own emptiness."

8. "David did not need a sword because the Lord of heaven and earth was his sword."

9. "On the cross, Christ triumphed over the greatest of enemies, not through strength, but through weakness. And then having been crucified in weakness, he was raised in power. He emerged victorious from his fight with death."

10. "Your weakness is no hindrance to God using you in powerful ways. He's got more than enough strength to make up for you. Your weakness is a platform for God to show off his strength. Your weakness can even be God's preferred means of broadcasting his power."

Observation Questions

1. In 1 Samuel 16:7, what reason does the Lord give Samuel for rejecting Eliab, and what contrast does God draw between how He sees and how humans see?

2. According to 1 Samuel 16:13, what two things happened to David when Samuel anointed him, and how long did the Spirit's presence with David continue?

3. In 1 Samuel 16:14-16, what happened to Saul after the Spirit of the Lord departed from him, and what remedy did his servants propose?

4. According to 1 Samuel 17:8-11, what challenge did Goliath issue to the Israelites, and how did Saul and all Israel respond when they heard his words?

5. In 1 Samuel 17:45-47, what does David say he comes to Goliath with, and what two groups does David say will learn something from this battle?

6. According to 1 Samuel 17:50, how did David prevail over Goliath, and what significant detail does the narrator emphasize about what David did not have in his hand?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is it significant that God chose David—the youngest, smallest son who was not even invited to the sacrifice—rather than the tall, impressive Eliab? What does this reveal about how God works and what He values?

2. The sermon notes that Goliath's armor is described using a word meaning "scales" (like a serpent) and that he falls face-down like the idol Dagon. What is the theological significance of these details in the larger biblical story?

3. In 1 Samuel 17:26 and 17:45-47, David repeatedly refers to Goliath defying "the armies of the living God." How does David's perspective differ from that of Saul and the Israelite soldiers, and what does this reveal about the nature of faith?

4. How does David's statement in 1 Samuel 17:37—"The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine"—demonstrate the relationship between past experience of God's faithfulness and present courage?

5. The sermon emphasizes that before we can be like David, we are like the trembling Israelites who needed someone to save them. How does David's victory over Goliath point forward to Christ's victory, and what does the narrator's emphasis that "there was no sword in the hand of David" teach us about how God wins?

Application Questions

1. The sermon states that we often judge others by "looks, height, clothing, signs of put-togetherness, markers of status, cars, houses, zip codes, degrees." In what specific relationships or situations this week are you tempted to evaluate people based on outward appearances rather than trusting God's different way of seeing?

2. David's confidence came from remembering how God had delivered him from the lion and the bear. What past experiences of God's faithfulness in your life can you recall and hold onto when facing a current situation that feels overwhelming or impossible?

3. The sermon describes how Eliab's anger at David may reflect how "holy zeal exposes lukewarm faith in others." Have you ever responded with irritation or dismissal when someone's devotion to Christ made you uncomfortable? How might you respond differently?

4. David emptied his hands of sheep, supplies, and Saul's armor before facing Goliath. What forms of self-reliance, worldly resources, or "strength that harms" might you need to set aside in order to depend more fully on God's strength in a specific area of your life?

5. The sermon teaches that because Christ has won the decisive victory, believers are called to "put to death the sin that still dwells within us." What specific sin or pattern of disobedience do you need to actively fight against this week, trusting in Christ's victory rather than your own strength?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Genesis 3:14-15 — This passage introduces the enmity between the serpent and the offspring of the woman, providing the backdrop for understanding Goliath as an embodiment of the ancient enemy whom God's chosen king must defeat.

2. Numbers 13:26-33 — This account of the spies' fearful report about the Nephilim (giants) in Canaan shows Israel's earlier failure of faith that David's courage now reverses.

3. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 — Paul's teaching that God's power is made perfect in weakness directly reinforces the sermon's central theme about God's strength and human weakness.

4. Psalm 18:1-19 — This psalm of David celebrates God as his deliverer from enemies, expanding on the themes of divine rescue and strength that David demonstrated against Goliath.

5. Colossians 2:13-15 — This passage describes how Christ disarmed the powers and authorities through the cross, showing the ultimate fulfillment of the pattern of victory through apparent weakness that David's battle foreshadowed.

Sermon Main Topics

I. Weakness and God's Perspective on It

II. What God Sees: David's Anointing as King (1 Samuel 16:1-13)

III. When God Leaves: The Spirit Departs from Saul (1 Samuel 16:14-23)

IV. How God Wins: David Defeats Goliath (1 Samuel 17)

V. God's Strength Made Perfect in Human Weakness

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Detailed Sermon Outline

When were you last aware of your weakness? It could be that simply getting out of bed this morning was a little harder than it used to be. Or maybe your minutes per mile is not what it was five years ago.

But there are other kinds of weakness than the physical sort. You might not have enough resources to complete a project on time at work. Or not enough resilience to work through a long-term conflict that has been simmering in your life and now it's boiled over and flooded everything.

How do you respond to weakness? Are you more indulgent toward your own weakness and harsh on others? Or it could be the opposite: are you severe on yourself but able to excuse just about anything in someone that you love.

What does God think about weakness? What does he see in it? What does he do with it?

Now, not all weaknesses are the same. Sin is a kind of weakness and God judges it, but he doesn't just judge; he forgives. He cleanses. He renews. And what about the weaknesses that arise simply from having limits and hitting them?

How does God view those? The weakness of simply not being able to handle everything that's coming your way. Some people think that God only backs winners. That he takes people who are rich and strong and promising and just gives them a power assist. Some people think that if you don't have anything to offer God, then he doesn't have anything to offer you.

If that in any way resembles your view of God, you are in for a surprise. We saw two weeks ago in 1 Samuel 13:15 that because Saul rejected God's commands, God rejected Saul from being king. He would have no dynasty and his own days as king are now numbered. God promised to choose another king to replace him. Replace him.

In our passage for this morning, 1 Samuel 16:17, we see how God chose that new king, David, and how David began to replace Saul. Our passage includes David's defeat of Goliath. That's one of the most famous passages in Scripture but not necessarily one of the best understood. So here's a question. To help us get at the main point of the passage.

What does God's strength have to do with your weakness? What does God's strength have to do with your weakness? There are three main movements in the story. Basically, the first half of chapter 16, second half of chapter 16, and then all of 17. So we'll track the story in three parts.

The third point of the sermon will be by far the longest. Point one, what God sees. What God sees. That theme is the key to David's anointing as king, which is narrated in chapter 16, verses 1 to 13. Here we go.

1 Samuel 16:1-13. Starting with the first three verses, page 238 of the Pew Bibles.

The Lord said to Samuel, How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons. And Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.

And the Lord said, Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' and invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you. Samuel was torn up by the failure of Saul's kingship. The Lord had to pick Samuel up and dust him off in order to send him out on his next mission. To where?

Bethlehem. That sounds familiar. That's where the king is from whom God will choose for himself. There's a deliberate contrast with Saul here. Even though God is the one who chose Saul, he chose him in response to the people asking for a king for themselves.

That's what they said. And so he gave them a king who reflected their priorities rather than his. That went poorly. It's going to be different this time. But in verse 2, Samuel fears for his life.

To put it mildly, Saul will not take kindly to any news that Samuel has anointed a new king. So the Lord himself graciously provides Samuel with a cover story. Samuel is to go offer a sacrifice and invite Jesse's family to it. This isn't lying since he really does offer the sacrifice. You might just say it's a kind of strategic misdirection.

Then in verses 4 and 5, Samuel carries out the Lord's directions. Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, 'Do you come peaceably? And he said peaceably, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.

And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. The scene is set. The new king is about to appear. How will Samuel know who to anoint? Who is it who's going to bear the marks of kingship?

Look at verses 6 to 10. When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, 'Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.' But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man sees; Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither has the Lord chosen this one. Then Jesse made Shammah pass by, and he said, Neither has the Lord chosen this one.

And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord has not chosen these.

When Samuel begins, his mindset is the same as the peoples with Saul. He's the tallest, so he must be the one. He's the natural leader, commanding presence, easy to spot at the head of the troops. But Samuel was dead wrong. He hadn't learned the lesson he should have from Saul's failure.

The lesson is, verse 7, second half: the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Here the Lord tells us a universal principle to explain his actions in this particular instance. This is an insight into the infinite difference between God and us. We judge by what we can see. Looks, height, clothing, signs of put-togetherness, markers of status, cars, houses, zip codes, degrees, CVs, letters of recommendation.

Take your pick.

But how does God judge? He judges by what he sees, which is the innermost recesses of every single human being.

There's a bit of a debate over what it means back in 1 Samuel 13:14 when God says in advance of David that he's a man after God's own heart. That links up with our passage since the Lord is saying he looks at the heart. Some scholars say that David being a man after God's own heart in 13:14 simply refers to God's election with no implication of any virtue on David's part. In other words, it's the purpose of God's heart to set David on the throne. That's it.

But that interpretation seems to neglect chapter 15:28 where Samuel tells Saul that the Lord has torn the kingdom from him and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. Remember that this is David's election to kingship, not salvation. It's not smuggling works into the basis of David's relationship before God. It's simply saying, I think, and even here in 16:7, that David's heart is more aligned with the Lord's than Saul's was. Saul had only a kind of outward show of piety, but despite the spectacular sins that David is going to commit, He will prove to be devoted to the Lord from the heart.

I think that's part of what our verse is implying. In any case, the question for you is, in what ways are you tempted to judge based on appearances? Jesus says in John 7:24, Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. Are you tempted to assume that someone who's less educated is less godly? Are you tempted to assume that someone who's more successful is more sanctified?

If you're not a believer in Jesus, I hope that you'll find this verse, 1 Samuel 16:7, both intriguing and unsettling. Intriguing because it says God cares more about what's inside a person than what's outside. He doesn't evaluate people the same ways we do. And God isn't satisfied by outward conformity. He wants more and looks for more.

What that means is that what God wants for you involves a far more radical transformation than simply adopting a new set of religious habits or practices. But if you're not a believer in Jesus, I hope you'll also find this verse unsettling. And here's why. This verse means that God has instant, effortless x-ray vision of everything inside you.

It means there's absolutely nothing you can hide from him. It means he sees through the masks you wear in order to achieve certain effects on other people. There are no masks that work with him. He sees you more accurately than any human being ever will or can. So the question is, does he always like what he sees?

So in verses 6 to 10, God has systematically rejected every single one of Jesse's sons who appeared before him. Is there anybody left? We find out that there is in verses 11 to 13. Then Samuel said to Jesse, Are all your sons here? And he said, There remains yet the youngest.

But behold, he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here. And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. And the Lord said, 'Arise, anoint him, for this is he.' Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward, and Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

David, the shepherd of sheep, is about to become the shepherd of God's people. He's the youngest of Jesse's sons. He's probably in his late teens and so the Hebrew word for youngest likely also implies that he's the smallest. Tall, firstborn Eliab was resoundingly rejected. God chose the runt of Jesse's litter to rule his people.

In verse 12, David's good looks are mentioned but without evaluation. They're neither a qualification nor a disqualification. They'll influence how others treat him, including Goliath, who basically says, why'd you bring this pretty boy out here to me? But David's looks are neither a qualification nor a disqualification. They're strictly irrelevant to God's choice of him as king.

Then in verse 13, like Samuel did to Saul, he anoints David by pouring oil over his head. Again, as we saw a few sermons ago, that's where the title Messiah It comes from the Hebrew word for anointing. Just as the Lord anointed David as king over his people, one day he would anoint a far greater son of David to a far greater kingship. And then, just like what happened with Saul, the Holy Spirit rushes upon David, but this time we learn it's from that day onward. No end points to the Spirit's presence with David.

So David has been both inaugurated into his office and and equipped for his work. But there's still another king on the scene who happens to still be in charge. So the flight might get a little bumpy for a while, like, say, the whole rest of 1 Samuel.

What does God see?

He sees in you what you don't want him to. He sees in others what you can't and he sees in you what others can't. What does that mean for his strength and your weakness? It means, like young little David, weakness is no disqualification for serving him. In fact, it's often a prerequisite.

That's what's God, that is what God has begun to do with Saul. Excuse me, all the way around. That's what God has begun to do with David. Now the camera pans back to Saul. What's going on with Saul?

Point two, when God leaves. When God leaves. In chapter 16, verses 14 to 23, we see what happens to King Saul when God withdraws his holy spirit from him. Look first at verse 14: Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. Remember, the narrative is dealing here not with salvation but with equipping for kingship.

This text does not imply that the Holy Spirit's indwelling in believers is reversible. Instead, since God has deauthorized Saul's reign by anointing another king, here he is unequipping Saul. For the office that in one sense he no longer has. God has announced the end of Saul's reign and now here before that end of the reign, it's as if God is pulling out the power plug of what he had given Saul to equip him for the task. Now before the final end, God withdraws the only strength by which Saul could have effectively led the people.

That is, God withdraws his own strength. Who then occupied the vacancy that the spirit left in Saul? We learn it's a harmful spirit from the Lord himself. Here in verse 14, God is handing over Saul to the consequences of his sins. Saul has turned against God, so God now turns against him.

The judge is handing Saul over to the bailiff to carry out the sentence. But even in handing Saul over to judgment, God still purposes to show Saul some mercy. Look at verses 15 to 18. And Saul's servant said to him, 'Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our Lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you'll be well.

So Saul said to his servants, 'Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.' One of the young men answered, 'Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.' God chose David as a new king for himself. And now Saul chooses David as a music therapist for himself. The irony is that Saul is bringing into his house the very king whose house, that is, his dynasty, is going to displace Saul's. And then the end of verse 18 doubles up the irony: Yes, the Lord is certainly with David, but does Saul even know how thoroughly the Lord has left him? In verses 19 to 23 then, the servants fulfill Saul's orders and David comes in and serves the king.

Therefore, Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, 'Send me David, your son, who is with the sheep.' and Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David, his son, to Saul. And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight. And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand.

So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him. So David comes in and earns himself a place on Saul's royal staff. He becomes his armor bearer, which is like being a personal attendant or assistant. And so every time Saul suffered spiritual attack, David sang the spirit away. Here's a glimpse of David the psalmist.

You know, David who wrote so many of the inspired songs we still sing and pray. Saul was chosen as king because he was physically strong. But the departure of God's spirit left him weak. Without divine help, Saul is now helpless. Without God's strength, Saul has no strength left.

Note the reversal of roles here. Saul, the king, is powerless. David, the teenage shepherd, has power over what disempowers Saul. This is a display of their reversed fortunes. It's a preview of just how low Saul is going to fall and just how high David is going to rise.

What does Saul's sorry state teach us about God's strength and your weakness? The strength that matters most is not the strength you have but the strength God gives. In the Christian life, the only dependable path to strength is dependence on God's strength. In serving Christ, the strength that counts is his strength, not yours. Psalm 127:1-2, Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil, for he gives to his beloved sleep. What does all this mean for the shape of the Christian life? It means that the way of humility is the way of exaltation. The way down is the way up.

It means if you want God's strength, own up to your own weakness. If you want God's fullness, confess your own emptiness. Make confession of sin a way of life. And freely forgive others the way you need to be forgiven.

When God leaves, he takes his strength with him. The only way to keep getting a fresh supply of that strength is to depend on him daily. Now, moving ahead, turning a corner in the story, we see that just like the Lord anointed Saul and then sent him a military test, In chapter 17, he does the same with David, which brings us to point three and most of the sermon with it, how God wins. What God sees, when God leaves, how God wins. Here comes the long point.

We'll see divine victory through human weakness. Play out in all of chapter 17. David and Goliath, here we come. In verses 1 to 3, we get the beginning of the stage setting.

Now, the Philistines gathered their armies for battle and they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.

The two armies are squared off facing each other with a valley in between. Things have only come to this point because the Philistines made inroads into the territory of Judah, part of the land God had allotted to his people and promised to the Israelites. It's almost as if the Philistines are coming in and chomping away at the inheritance God has given his people as if they're undoing the conquest, reversing the clock of redemptive history. Israel's reverse of conquest. Undoing of conquest is going to play out still further in verses 4 to 11.

Look at verses 4 to 11. 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 before 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 Philistines said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

If you run the math based on the standard Hebrew text, Goliath was over nine feet tall. There are other ancient Hebrew manuscripts and Greek translations that put him at 6'6. Either way, nine feet, six six, whatever it was, he was big, he was intimidating, he towered over all the Israelites and so they were afraid. Either way, Goliath also was likely a descendant of the Anakim. The Anakim descended from a line of huge men called Nephilim.

So you can draw a little flow chart, Nephilim, Anakim, Goliath. Way back in Numbers 13, when God commanded Israel to enter the land of Canaan and take possession of it, 10 of the dozen spies they sent out came back terrified because they saw the Nephilim, these giants living in the land. They're like, how are we going to beat them? That doesn't look so good. So God, in response to their faithlessness, judged them.

Made them wander in the wilderness for 40 years until all that faithless generation died. It was because of their fearful response to the Nephilim. Then later, during the conquest, when Joshua conquered the descendants of the Nephilim, the Anakim, they relocated to, among other places, Gath. Which is Goliath's hometown. Back in the wilderness, because of their fear of these giants, God sentenced them to 40 years of suffering.

Here, as we'll see in verse 16, Goliath's coming out and taunting Israel for 40 days straight. It's as if they're facing the same test again, same challenge. What are you going to do about the giant.

Israel's grip on their land is weakening and all may well be lost if they all lack the requisite courage. Why does Goliath come out to taunt the Israelites? It's because the Philistines selected him as their champion. The Hebrew word is literally man in between. The Philistines were offering to settle this conflict by what is called a single combat.

It means when you have two armies squaring off they They pick one warrior who represents each side, they fight against each other, and whoever wins that battle wins the whole battle. Whoever loses then has to, you know, become the slaves of the other side. This was a quicker and less bloody way to fight, especially when Goliath's on your team.

Goliath's height also meant that Saul was a natural candidate to fight him. 1 Samuel 9:2 tells us that Saul was head and shoulders taller than any of the other Israelites. But what's Saul doing now? Verse 11 tells us that he's cowering on the sidelines with the rest of his troops. One more detail we need to consider from this little portion.

Why do verses 5 to 7 pay such detailed attention to Goliath's armor and weapons? One is to show how physically impressive he was and what a military threat he was. But there's also a crucial detail in verse 5. The Hebrew word for coat of mail is literally scales, like the scales of a snake, like the offspring of the serpent that the Lord promised would oppose the offspring of the woman. In Genesis 3:15.

Goliath isn't just a giant, he's also a snake. He's the living embodiment of the enemy of God's people. So just like Saul had to face off against Nahash, the serpent king, at the beginning of his reign, so David is going to have to prove himself by facing off against someone who embodies the ancient threat to God's promises and people. In verse 12, the camera shifts back to David and it sets him in the context again of his home and family. Verses 12 to 27 tell us how David got to the front lines and what happened when he did.

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 the 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 ten loaves and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers. Also take these ten 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 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 shall 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.

Back in verse 15, we learn that David split his time between serving Saul down near the front lines and serving his family, specifically caring for his family's sheep. So he went back and forth. Three of David's older brothers had gone to the battle and their father Jesse wants to hear how they are. So he sends David with supplies for them and a gift for their commander and he asks David to bring back some physical sign of their well-being. That's what the token is.

So David deposits all the supplies where they belong but the token of well-being is going to take a bit more work. In verses 20 and 22, David twice empties his hands. He leaves the sheep with the keeper and he leaves all the goods where they belong. Emptying his hands is something he's also going to do a third time. In verse 23, he hears Goliath taunt, Everybody's afraid.

And then verse 25 trickles out some relevant information. We learn that Saul is going to give a rich reward and he's going to give his daughter in marriage and he's going to exempt the household of the father from taxation of whoever it is who defeats this monster. So there's a big reward in the offing. In verse 26, David asks for confirmation just to be sure he heard that right. And they say, Yes, you did.

Look again at David's question at the end of verse 26. For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? Already David is behaving very differently from every single other Israelite male who's at the battle. And here we get a clue, a big clue, to what makes David different. It's what he sees when he looks at Goliath.

He doesn't just see a tall, intimidating enemy. He doesn't just see a threat to Israel's well-being. Instead, he sees someone defying God. He sees someone bad-mouthing the kingdom of heaven. And so he knows that the Lord himself has, as it were, a vested interest in silencing this blasphemer.

By this knowledge, David proves to be the only character in the narrative so far to show a concern for the interests of the Lord. They're all scared for themselves, He's thinking about, what is this idolatrous giant saying about the living God? David in the Valley of Elah is like Paul in Athens at the Areopagus. He's provoked into action by the idolatry that's all around him.

Verses 28 to 30 narrate one obstacle in the way of David and entering the battle. 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. And David said, what have I done now?

Was it not but a word? And he turned away from him toward another and spoke in the same way, and the people answered him again as before. Some classic big brother, little brother dynamics going on down here. What are you little upstart coming to do here? Get back home to those couple little sheep out on the hillside where you belong.

But I think there's also deeper spiritual dynamics at play. It's always possible to be self-righteous and overzealous. It's always possible to overestimate your own spiritual maturity. But here I think David is an example of what often happens when someone, especially a younger someone, becomes filled with holy zeal and self-forgetful devotion to the Lord. The heat of that person's devotion to the Lord starts radiating outward and raising the temperature on spiritually lukewarm people around them.

Whether parents or siblings or teachers or church members. If a kid goes off to college and starts reading the Bible every day and attending church twice on a Sunday and praying about everything they ever do, mom and dad back home might say, what's all the fuss about? Why are you getting so obsessed with this? It doesn't take all that to be a Christian, does it?

In verse 31, word of David's boldness reaches Saul. Look at verses 31 to 37.

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, were not able to go against his Philistine to fight with him, for you were but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth. But David said to Saul, you, 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 rose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. You' 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 who 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.' Saul attempts to dissuade David from taking on Goliath because of their evident disparity in size and strength.

Goliath, huge hulking war machine of a man. David, diminutive teenage shepherd. Saul's like, you just stick one up next to the other and he crushes you. Saul's saying it doesn't make any sense. He's judging by appearances.

He's running calculations of the flesh. But how does David judge not by his weakness, but by God's strength. David reckons on God's past faithfulness as a guide to how he's going to act now. Verse 37, the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. Then in verses 38 and 39, Saul attempts to outfit David for battle with his own gear, but it's too bulky and unfamiliar.

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. Have you ever wondered why Saul did this? It's tough to be 100% sure, but it seems to be a way of trying to claim some credit in the event that David actually wins. Sure, David struck down Goliath, but he did it with my sword and my armor.

But of course, that's not how David's going to win. The armor won't work for David. He's not used to it. It's too bulky. But there's a deeper point here.

There is a kind of strength. That will hurt rather than help. As we sing in the song Everlasting Arms, save us from the strength that harms. So now finally, David heads out for single combat with Goliath, verses 40 to 47.

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. And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David with his shield bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth. Rudy 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. 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.

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.' To have one's carcass devoured by wild animals, as in the insults Goliath and David traded back and forth in verses 44 to 46, To suffer that fate is a sign of being cursed. So what's going on here is a contest of gods. Whose God is real?

Whose God is living? Whose God can show up and defend himself on the stage of history? Goliath curses David by his gods, but David comes to Goliath in the name that is in the authority of the one true God. And David asserts that his triumph over Goliath will broadcast two messages, one to the surrounding nations and one to Israel. That's what he means by this assembly.

Look again at the end of verse 46 into verse 47: 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. Just like in the Exodus, God is going to teach the nations that he alone is God. And he's going to teach his people that he alone saves.

So how does God do it? Verses 47 to 51.

48, excuse me, start in verse 48. When the Philistine arose 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.

Which way does Goliath fall? Face down. Just like his god Dagon did when Yahweh came to town. What happened next? His head was removed from his body, just like Dagon's was the very next day.

Psalm 115, verse 8 says of idols, those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.

But a few minutes before that decisive defeat, while Goliath is still alive, he sees David's shepherd staff in his hand so he thinks that's the pathetic little weapon that David's going to come out and try to beat him up with. He didn't suspect the sneak attack. So David charges up to Goliath, he emerges alone from Israel's battle line, he gets within range, he quickly pauses, sets up a stone, lets it fly, and the stone sinks into Goliath's forehead. This is perhaps the favorite moment in the Old Testament of every elementary school age boy. Followed closely by the time the knife sinks into the stomach in Judges 3, right?

That's a close runner up. Kids in the congregation including but not limited to elementary school age boys. Here's a good question for you from this passage. What is David's defeat of Goliath teaching us about God? What do we learn so much about David?

But about the God he believes in. It'd be a good question to ask your parents over lunch today. Look again at verse 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.

This little narrator's comment, this repetition, is emphatic. It's underscoring what David David didn't have the weapon he didn't use, the human type of strength that was conspicuously absent.

David did not need a sword because the Lord of heaven and earth was his sword. It's tempting to read ourselves straight into David in this story and there is something to that which we'll come back to. David is a model of the courage of faith. But you know who you are more fundamentally? You know who you are before you ever may be David?

You're Saul, trembling on the sideline, derelict in duty. You're Eliab, maybe with some natural endowment but still scared. You're every single one of those Israelites Trembling, quaking, looking around for someone to save you because you can't save yourself. Your sin has plunged you into a situation far more hopeless than the Israelites in the valley of Elah. You're hopeless to pay the penalty for your sin.

You're hopeless to liberate yourself from sin's grip over your heart. You're hopeless to defeat Satan and destroy the hold he has over you. You need saving and you can't save yourself. If you're not a believer in Jesus, this is your spiritual state as we speak. But God sent his ultimate anointed king, Jesus the Messiah.

God sent his ultimate deliverer, his ultimate man in between. Jesus became incarnate, he joined the ranks of humanity, in order to emerge alone from the battle line. Jesus went out alone against Satan, like we read earlier in Matthew chapter four. He defeated Satan. He defeated him by perfectly trusting God's perfect word.

And Jesus went out alone. Against sin, death, and the devil when he died on the cross. It's the ultimate single combat. Christ destroyed sin, death, and the devil by paying the penalty for all the sins of all those who would turn and trust in him. He died as a sacrifice on the cross to show us all that God alone is God and he alone saves.

When Christ died on the cross, he won the ultimate battle. With no sword in his hand. On the cross, Christ triumphed over the greatest of enemies, not through strength, but through weakness. And then having been crucified in weakness, he was raised in power. He emerged victorious from his fight with death.

And now death flees before him like Philistines fleeing the Israelites. If you've never turned from sin and trusted in Christ, believe in him today. Rely on him alone to save you from your greatest biggest, worst enemies.

So David, like Jesus, won the decisive victory for his people. But then look what happened next. Verses 52 to 54.

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 Shaaraim 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.

There's that token of his brother's well-being. Goliath's head. Nobody else to make them afraid. Because David defeated the Philistine's champion, now Israel enters the battle and drives them away. Because Jesus defeated Satan, every Christian can and must put to death the sin that still dwells within us.

There's only one Christ but all believers share in his anointing. There's only one ultimate victor, but even now, in an already and not yet kind of way, all believers share in his victory. And we're all called to put his victory into practice in fighting against the sin that still dwells inside of us. Now, there are two easy ways to go wrong in reading this chapter, and I've tried to kind of, you know, navigate us through both so we don't hit either one. Just to make it explicit, one way to go wrong in reading this chapter is to jump directly from David to you and say, Do what he did.

Be courageous like David. Confront all the Goliaths in your life with sneaky underdog tactics and God will bless you.

That reading really does miss the heart of the passage. The main point of this chapter is that the king God provides for himself delivers his people from hopeless peril. The main point of the passage is that David is a movie trailer for his greater son to come, the Lord Jesus Christ. But there's another easy way to get the chapter wrong. This other way takes it for granted that David is a type of Christ, that he's pointing ahead to Christ's saving work and therefore refuses to draw any lessons from David for how we should live by faith.

That second reason says, you,'re only Saul, you,'re only Eliab, you,'re only an Israelite quaking in their boots. But ultimately, though that reading attempts to honor the gospel, it ultimately undersells the power of the gospel. Here's how. The gospel is the announcement of what Christ has done outside of you for you.

And the gospel comes to you just as you are, without one plea. But the gospel doesn't leave you as you are. By the power of the gospel, God works on you and in you, transforming you more and more into his character so that you live by faith and so that you develop the kind of courage that David had by faith. And because God works on you and in you by the gospel, he also works by you and through you, just like he worked by and through David. God gets all the credit, God gets all the glory, God delivered his people.

He did it through a human being but the human being did not really contribute much. So there's a picture here, not just of Christ's victory for us, but also of Christ's transforming work in us. The key to all of this is union with Christ. By faith, we're united to him so that his victory is counted as ours. And by faith, through that union with him, we begin to share in his power.

We begin to share in his grace. We begin to share in his spirit at work within us. So, learn from David's confidence in God. Learn from God's victory through David's courage. Learn from how confidence in God enabled David to act decisively when everyone else around him was paralyzed.

Fix your eyes on Christ and you will find that faith produces confidence and confidence produces courage and courage will not put us to shame because God will vindicate all those who take bold action in reliance on him. What did Paul say to the whole Roman church? At the very end of Romans, there's a word you might not have noticed, Romans 16:20, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. We share partially in Christ's victory now and one day Satan himself will be trampled under our feet.

To finish off the passage, let's look at verses 55 to 58.

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 the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hands. And Saul said to him, 'Whose son are you, young man?' and David answered, 'I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.' the puzzle here is why Saul asks David whose son he is.

Doesn't he already know him? Hasn't he been serving in his court? You know, music therapist, armor bearer. But you have to note that he doesn't ask who David is, but who David's father is. So I think he does this, I think he asked this question for two reasons.

The first is that, as we saw, Saul is going to marry his daughter into this family and he's going to exempt the family from revenue raising, from taxation. I think that's what it means to say they're free in Israel. They're exempt from taxes. So who's that family going to be? And the fact that Saul sent to Jesse back in chapter 16 doesn't necessarily mean that he knew him.

It could easily have been a kind of staff member, you know, an assistant, a servant doing the correspondence to bring David in. But I think there's another reason Saul asks this question. Notice he doesn't just ask Abner, he asks David himself. It's as if he's asking, Whose son are you going to be, David? Jesse's or Saul's?

To whom will you be loyal? Are you going to use this newfound glory in my service or in any way against me? Just a couple of verses later, I think we see confirmation of what Saul's doing. Chapter 18, verse 2, we learn that Saul took David into his household and did not let him depart to his father's house. It's as if Saul is answering his own question for David.

Yeah, David, now you're going to be my adopted son. You're going to stay close to me and play on my team and that's final.

Taking the chapter as a whole, zoom out, think about the whole story arc. How does God win? Through making his strength perfect in in human weakness. What does this teach us about God's strength and your weakness? It teaches us that your weakness is no hindrance to God using you in powerful ways.

He's got more than enough strength to make up for you. It teaches us that your weakness is a platform for God to show off his strength. Your weakness can even be God's preferred means. Of broadcasting his power.

What does God think about your weakness? That it's no match for his strength. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. What does God see in your weakness? An opportunity to show off his strength, to show that he alone is God and he alone saves.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

What does God do about your weakness? He pours out grace in power. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat, yet not I, but through Christ in me. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you make your power perfect in our weakness. We pray that that promise would enable us to live by faith. We pray that that promise would humble us. We pray that that promise would motivate in us action that serves others and brings you glory. Because we know that you can do in and through us what we could never do for ourselves.

We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.