David and Goliath
Notes
Transcript
This is one of the more famous stories of the Bible
In fact this is one of my most favorite Biblical Accounts and stories to read
If you have been in church for any sort of time you know at least some of the story of David and the Goliath
Before you we get into the actual account we need some back ground on David
We have talked about Saul, if you will recall
Saul was chosen as king because the nation of Israel had rejected God as their king and they wanted an earthly king like the nations surrounding them
So they got Saul who was supposed to lead the people to be obedient to God
And we know that He doesn’t stay faithful to God
So David
David is of the tribe of Judah and the son of Jesse
The youngest son who really had no chance because he was the youngest he was a laborer for the family
He was to care for the sheep of his father
During that time David recalls some of his victories over predators of the sheep
34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.”
This is some background of who David was
David was the shepherd of the family
His 3 oldest brothers are soldiers fighting with King Saul
Now my struggle is when you get the names of the 3 oldest sons and then there is David, not sure how we got that
David being the youngest spent most of his time in the county side in the wilderness caring for sheep
When you are out in nature by yourself you do things
David sang, David worshiped
We see this play out later in life with all the Psalms David wrote
David was so close and intimate with God we can read it today about how dependent on God David is
It should be noted that He didn’t become King and all the sudden start depending on God and writing those pslams
David started very early in his walked with God
David spent so much time in the wilderness caring for sheep
He was not a soldier first but rather he was a shepherd who cared
And maybe a worship leader
He spent so much time with God
What an amazing and intimate relationship David had with God
So David being the baby is asked to go to the front lines and check on his brothers by his father
20 So David arose early in the morning and left the flock with a keeper and took the supplies and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the circle of the camp while the army was going out in battle array shouting the war cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines drew up in battle array, army against army. 22 Then David left his baggage in the care of the baggage keeper, and ran to the battle line and entered in order to greet his brothers. 23 As he was talking with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine from Gath named Goliath, was coming up from the army of the Philistines, and he spoke these same words; and David heard them. 24 When all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from him and were greatly afraid.
We see David showed up during the time Goliath is mocking God
Church it shocked David
David had come up and was talking with the guys on the lines of battle and in the midst of that David hears Goliath mock God
And David is shocked, he is taken back at the audacity of this giant mocking the one true living God
As I was preparing for this sermon this is one of those questions I had to ask myself and so I will ask you
Does it shock you or bother you when people Mock God
This is one of those questions we must ask especially in the world we live in
With what seems to be a world surrounding us and mocking God left and right
Does it bother you
Or have you become so jaded and used to it that we aren’t really bothered by it
If it does bother you what are you doing about it
If it doesn’t bother church your response is to repent from that sin and run to Jesus
It did David to the point he did something
Please hear me you don’t need to defend God, He can handle himself but what David did was so amazing and I believe it is what we are to be doing in a world that tends to mock God
Goliath was defying Israel and Mocking God
8 He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel and said to them, “Why do you come out to draw up in battle array? Am I not the Philistine and you servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. 9 “If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will become your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall become our servants and serve us.” 10 Again the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man that we may fight together.” 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
He was defying which is to resist or refuse to obey
Israel was God’s chosen people and he Goliath was refusing to obey the word of God through Israel
To the point that the warriors of the nation were afraid
But David the shepherd boy
The Young man who spends most of his time in the presence of God and comes and hears this and is shocked
Notice no one else was shocked
David was in a time and place when it should have shocked everyone else but no one else was shocked
I wonder if it shocked him that the nation of Israel did nothing about it
The Chosen People of God who had experienced greatness in battle
The Chosen People of God who had experienced the saving grace and power of God who told their kids for generations to come
Sort of like the church of God to see all the upside down backwrds junk going on in our world and yet we are comfortable and content to just sit idle by and let it happen
Or maybe we are not
They did nothing
David does
26 Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will 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 taunt the armies of the living God?” 27 The people answered him in accord with this word, saying, “Thus it will be done for the man who kills him.” 28 Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger burned 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 insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle.” 29 But David said, “What have I done now? Was it not just a question?” 30 Then he turned away from him to another and said the same thing; and the people answered the same thing as before.
David begins to inquire of what will happen to the man who kills the giant
David was not concerned with the size of the giant and notice David didn’t ask what happens to the man who accepts the challenge but
David goes a set further what happens when a guy kills the giant
David believed that someone could because they were Gods chosen people
David believed that someone would kill the giant because they were part of Gods chosen people
They were children of God
Because David knew God
This is why your personal relationship with God is so vital
Because when you face trials and difficulties as Jesus said you and I would
We can face them with confidence because we know Christ personally
David had faith in God and this is what mattered
33 Then Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.”
David ends up before Saul and Saul explains that there is no way you can defeat Goliath
David was still a youth and just from the outside appeared to not stand a chance against a seasoned warrior like Goliath
Even a giant like Goliath
Notice David was not concerned about the size of the giant
The scripture gives a detail account of Goliaths size and yet here today we have not because it doesn’t matter
Often times we tend to focus so much on the size of Goliath and that stops us from stepping out in faith
Sort of like giving satan to much credit when the truth is that God is bigger and Jesus won
Note it is important to note the size of Goliath but our focus should be on the size of our God and not the size of Goliath
Saul focused so much on the size Goliath and begins to clothe David in his own armor because if you are going to battle a season warrior you had better dress like the world because that giant is big and a seasoned warrior
And David this armor may slow your impending death down a bit
And Saul had experienced God and was still focused on the size of Goliath
Saul had walked away from God and started to be concerned with the size of Goliath
Saul sends David out to fight the giant not believing that David could kill the giant because his focus was on the size of the giant and not the size of God
Do you see what happens in our minds when we start focusiing so much on the size of the giant than on the size of God
I think you have heard this example before but Treasurer agents spend so much like with the real thing they can spot a fake bill like that
They don’t spend time looking at all the ways to create or all the different fakes
They spend time with the real thing
Rather than spending time and energy on the giant in the story let us focus on God in the story
David left that meeting believing he would kill the giant because he was focused on the size of God
Because He Knew the characteristics of God and how God is faithful, how God is mighty, how God cares for his own people
Because David had spent time with God
This is what it is to put our faith into action
Spend time with Jesus
Then go out and be bold because you know Jesus personally
Then David goes and kills Goliath
40 He took his stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd’s bag which he had, even in his pouch, and his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine. 41 Then the Philistine came on and approached David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. 42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance. 43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.” 45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and 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 taunted. 46 “This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.” 48 Then it happened when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, that David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground. 50 Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David’s hand. 51 Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
David goes and kills Goliath
Just because you read this story and think oh yea
I can go be a giant killer
The reality is you are not David
Just because you are in a struggle doesn’t mean it is a giant
What this story does reveal to us
Is David a young man who spent time with God
David had experienced God
David believed what he had experienced about God
That is what we can do
This is not about going to be a giant killer there was only a few of those men
But we can be disciples of Christ
We can spend time with Jesus
You can read your Bible
You can spend time praying
You can be part of a Bible Study and Sunday School class
Church just last week we were challenged to help disciple our youth
I do believe you each need a Paul and Timothy in your life
Someone you are pouring into and someone that is pouring into you
Then church after we have spent time with the God of the universe we go out into a lost and hurting world
And we be bold because we spent time with Jesus
We can put into practice what we read in our Bibles
That is what God has called us to do to be obedient and go out with Him
Like David we go out and are bold because we have spent time with Jesus
So church as we come to a close this morning
This is our time of invitation
A church invitation is an invitation to do business with God
Maybe you don’t know Jesus personally and have some questions or would like to know Him personally
There are people at the front who would love to answer your questions and pray with you
Or maybe there is another decision this morning you need to make, maybe its church membership or baptism
Or maybe you just need to spend sometime in pray at the alter
