Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 17. This evening is the second installment in our life of David series and this is one of the most famous passages in all of Scripture – the David and Goliath narrative. And the interpretation of this passage has gotten quite a bit of ink in recent years. Some might say the passage encourages us to face the giants in our lives, overcoming things like self-esteem issues with courage. And these interpretations often get reduced to mere moralism. And others will push back against that and say this passage is not primarily about overcoming your giants; this passage is about Jesus. David is a type of Christ. He wins the battle for his people. And so I want to ask, “Which is it? Which is it?” And with this passage and any other we need to hold the truths of interpretation that Scripture gives us together. Jesus said in Luke 24 that all Scripture concerns Him, so surely this is about Jesus. This points us to Jesus. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3 that “all Scripture is profitable for teaching, correction, reproof, and training in righteousness that the people of God may be equipped for every good work, complete, equipped for every good work.” So surely this passage has something to tell us about how we should live. And so I want you to keep that in mind as we read. Let me pray first.
Heavenly Father, we ask that You would be with us by Your Spirit tonight. Lord, we know it is only by the light of Your Spirit that we can see, so we ask for that light as we read Your Word. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
1 Samuel chapter 17. We won’t read the whole chapter but we’ll start in verse 1:
“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. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand 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 six hundred 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 Philistine said, ‘I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.’ When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.”
Now jump to verse 23:
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.’
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.
When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. And David said to Saul, ‘Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.’ And Saul said to David, ‘You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.’ But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.’ And David said, ‘The Lord 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!’
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. 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, ruddy and handsome in appearance. And the Philistine said to David, ‘Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, ‘Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.’ 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.’
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.”
This is God’s Word.
I remember recently, maybe about a year ago, I was in a group text and I can’t remember the exact details of this situation, what the context of the conversation was, but I was in this group text with someone from Scotland; I won’t say who! And I remember mentioning something about soccer and this person responded by saying “Soccer? You mean proper football?” Proper football? Listen, I grew up in Norman, Oklahoma; people are crazy about football there. Teams around the country do a drill called “The Oklahoma Drill,” which is essentially just a dog fight with football pads. So excuse me, I think I know what proper football is, and it’s not soccer! You can tell I wasn’t offended at all!
But if I could borrow that phrase, I might say that this passage is not about courage but it’s about proper courage. David’s courage is clearly on display, but it’s the roots of that courage that are so instructive for us. It’s not a courage that wells up within him that’s because of something in him or because of his own strength. It is courage from without. So the overarching message for tonight is that you, as a Christian, should take courage in the Lord. We’ll look at the passage under three headings – the maker of courage, the mechanism of courage, and the motivation for courage.
So first, the maker of courage. Look at verse 11 with me. “When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine they were dismayed and greatly afraid.” Saul was a king who had been a warrior his whole life. He had slain thousands of Philistines. He had victory under his leadership over 40,000 Philistines in one day. And now, he and Israel hear the words of Goliath and they are greatly afraid, so afraid that Goliath is able to challenge Israel over and over and over again for forty days and they still have no answer. Where is their king? Where is their representative leader? What has happened to Saul?
What’s the difference between the old Saul and this Saul? You know the answer already if you were here last week. Billy mentioned it. David, in chapter 16, has just been anointed. The Spirit of God rushed upon Him and God had taken His Holy Spirit from Saul. You see, courage, or proper courage I should say, is made by the Spirit. It is a fruit of the Spirit. He is the maker of courage. We did a series for our high school large groups at Insight one semester called, “Off Brand Fruit of the Spirit,” Kroger brand fruit of the Spirit, because the list in Galatians 5 is not exhaustive, is it? We talked about things that the Spirit surely produces in Christians that aren’t mentioned in that list. Things like diligence, humility, integrity, discernment. And courage is one of those, clearly, from this passage. Where did Saul’s courage to fight the battles of God go, to fight the battles for God’s people? Where did it go? It left him when the Spirit departed. Why was this shepherd boy suddenly brimming over with courage? He was the Lord’s anointed. He had the Spirit.
One theologian said it this way. “Courage is not merely of nature. Nature is ever like itself. By this rule, he that is once courageous should never turn coward.” In other words, we’re not talking about a pattern of recognizable virtue of someone’s genetic traits – “He was just born bold.” That’s not what we are talking about. We’re not talking about traits of nature. We know this, we know this is true from our own spiritual struggles, don’t we? One day we’re experiencing victory over sin and the next we’re giving ground to temptation. The difference has to do with the Spirit of God. You see this again in verses 24 and 25. Look there with me. “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.’” You see, Saul’s fear is demonstrated in his offer of reward to the one who kills Goliath. He should have stepped up. And to the one who succeeds, he will give his daughter’s hand in marriage, he’ll give riches, he’ll make his father’s house free. It means his father’s house won’t have to pay taxes. Some of us might believe that that would be an incentive enough for us to muster up some courage of ourselves. But it is the Spirit who makes the difference.
And notice one last thing from verse 24. “All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid.” What’s causing their fear? What is it? They are looking at everything in the same way that they did when they chose Saul to be king. They’re looking at the outward appearance. Chapter 16 verse 7. “Do not look on his appearance or the height of his stature. Man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart.” But we get it, right? Don’t we? We understand why they were afraid. I remember going to a professional basketball game in middle school and being amazed at how tall those players were. These guys are huge! We’re not talking about a 7 foot rebounder. We’re talking about a ruthless, seasoned warrior killer, a giant, standing 9 feet 6 inches tall. His armor weight 125 pounds or thereabouts. They looked at him and they were afraid.
We are the same way, aren’t we? When it comes to spiritual courage we are the exact same way. We show off and measure our people or our circumstances by what we can see, by outward appearance. And listen, David, David would be no different if it weren’t for the Spirit of God. Spiritual life, vitality in the life of the Christian comes from the Spirit working in you. As I was reading this week I came across a Ligonier devotional about courage. And it talked about how differently the Christian view of courage is from the philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche. He said that because life is fundamentally meaningless, Christianity actually strips people of their courage because courage is found in casting off conventional morality. Courage is found in defining your own right and wrong for Nietzsche. But the author pointed out that what Nietzsche failed to see, his basic assumptions were wrong. Courage is among the most important of Christian virtues. Courage is not rooted in atheism or relativism, but in the fact that the Lord goes with us. Deuteronomy 31:6 – this isn’t new in 1 Samuel – Deuteronomy 31:6 says, “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them because the Lord your God who goes with you, He will not leave you or forsake you.” How is He with us? What does Jesus say in John 14? “For I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper, and He will be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth in the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
If your faith is in Christ tonight then the Spirit of God is in you. You have been anointed with the Spirit, baptized by the Spirit. And so here’s the question. Do you crave the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life? Are you aware of how you are quenching the Holy Spirit, not listening when you are reminded of the Word of God, of how you are grieving Him, of how you are sinning against Him? Like Jesus says in Luke 11, ask for Him to be with you. Do you crave the presence of the Holy Spirit? Take hold of the means that He ordinarily works through like reading the Bible and prayer, reading God’s Word. That’s how you are fed. We can’t lose the Spirit as Christians, but we can functionally lose His power when we don’t keep in step with Him by His Word and prayer. And as we do that, we lay hold of the spiritual equipment that we need to live the faithful Christian life. So take courage in the Lord. The Holy Spirit is the maker of courage.
Secondly, let’s look at the mechanism of courage. I don’t mean mechanism like it’s mechanical, but this is that means that the Spirit uses. Look at verse 26. “And David said to the men who stood by him, ‘What shall be done for the man who kills the Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel, for who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?’” You see, David is the only one who sees the situation clearly. And it seems strange to him, because he has the Spirit, it seems strange to him that the armies of the living God are afraid of a Philistine whose gods can’t do anything. Notice he says, “the living God.” One theologian put it this way – “His eyes sparkled with holy anger and his heart rose up to his mouth when he heard this proud challenger.” He is laying hold of the promises of God by faith. He sees the situation for what it is. And what’s in his heart rises up to his mouth. This is the mechanism of courage. It’s faith in God and His promises.
We define faith in the youth house all the time. It’s super important to get the basics down at a good age, and so the simple definition that we often use is that faith is confidence in God. It’s confidence in God. Sometimes we say faith is confidence in God’s Word. I am confident that He will make good on those promises and so I act in accordance with that. I trust Him. That’s what faith is. Why can I be courageous in the Lord? Because I know, I know who He is. By faith I know that He is all powerful. I know that He created the universe by the Word of His power. I know that He is the only living God. I know that He rules over every little detail of the world by His providence. How can I not be courageous in Him?
We see David’s faith on display throughout the whole narrative but look again at verses 32 to 37 where David tells Saul, “I will volunteer to fight,” and Saul tells him he doesn’t have the ability to fight Goliath. How does David respond? He tells him what Walter Chantry calls “the unanswerable syllogism of faith.” You see it in verse 37. “And David said, ‘The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and 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.’” And because I think it will help us to think through how David is processing this situation, let me put David’s thinking another way. “The Lord delivers me from danger. He delivered me from the mouth of the lion and the bear, therefore He will deliver me from Goliath.”
Do you process life’s situations like that? That’s how faith processes. He has confidence that God will surely do it based on his past experiences of God’s faithfulness. He’s not bragging about how good of a shepherd he is. He’s not taking courage in his own accomplishments. He is not mustering up the strength; he is rehearsing God’s faithfulness to him. We are so quick to forget how God has been faithful to us, aren’t we? And so often our decisions can come to a crossroads – “Should I take the easy way out? Should I cut that small corner?” – because it’s so easy to look at how the world is processing things, looking at the outward appearance, right, and think, “We need to fall in line with that.” We fear what people will think, what they’ll say about us, how they’ll react if we are faithful to God and His Word. God calls us to see things differently with eyes of faith, trusting His promises. Listen, if you’re here at church tonight that’s evidence of God’s faithfulness right there. God has been faithful to you. What causes you to doubt His faithfulness? What causes you to say that “Things would be worse for me if I actually followed through on Christ and His law?”
We are led to doubt by failing to see, I would say, God’s victory in the way that David sees it here. Look at David’s speech starting in verse 45. “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.’” nThe battle is the Lord’s. It is only by faith that you can see that the battle is the Lord’s. It is only by faith.
Isaiah 9 says this. “Thus says the Lord, ‘Let not the wise man boast in wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this – that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord that practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.’” Courage is not sustained by mustering up your strength. It is not found within you. It’s found through faith in God, which gives David this fearlessness. As Scripture says, he “quickly runs into battle and strikes Goliath on the forehead.” It’s sling versus stone, it’s sword versus shield, it’s cloth versus brass and iron. And one author says, “Faith gives both heart and arms. The inward munition is so much more noble because it is proof for both soul and body, if we are furnished with this – with faith. How boldly shall we meet the powers of darkness and go away more and conquerors.” Goliath learned what it meant to taunt an enemy who was under the invisible protection of the Almighty. In their battle in the valley, the Israelites would have been left hopeless without their promised king. And David uses Goliath’s own weapon to cut off his head.
In our battle with sin and death we would be left helpless without our promised King, Jesus Christ, who used Satan’s own weapon, death, against him, crushing the head of the serpent. He took the death of His people that we deserved, winning righteousness and life for us. Death couldn’t hold him. He is the object of our faith. That’s where courage is found – that the battle is His. The battle is His.
There’s a hymn I like by Red Mountain Church. The words are from the 1700s and it goes like this. “My soul, thou art emerged in sin. Sin so deep that none can trace. Look to the ransom God decreed to clear the guilty race.” And the refrain goes like this. “Had I the guilt of all the world, He is able to forgive. Why should I fear? The debt is paid, if only I believe.” Christian, why should you fear? Why should you fear? The debt is paid. The battle is the Lord’s. Is your faith in Jesus Christ? If it is, take courage. Take courage by the Spirit. He is the maker of courage. Take courage through faith in Jesus Christ. That’s the mechanism.
And last, briefly, let’s look at the motivation for courage. I thought this might happen so I planned ahead. This is going to be a short point! In verses 10 and 25, Goliath defies God’s people. In verses 26, 36, 45, David says, “This Philistine is defying the armies of the living God, defying the Lord of hosts Himself.” Where is David drawing his motivation for courage? Where is he coming from? If it’s not clear from those verses, look at the end of verse 46 – “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all the assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear.” David’s motivation is found in the honor of God and of His name. The honor of God and His name. What’s the first question and answer of the shorter catechism? What is our purpose? “What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” You see, David understands that. What’s the first petition in the Lord’s prayer? “Hallowed by Your name.” God is already holy. We’re not praying that God become more holy. We are praying that His name would be esteemed as holy in the world. In other words, that people would see Him as He is – He is holy.
I think it would have been easy to end after point two, but I think it would be a mistake to say the battle is the Lord’s. Alright, let’s be idle; let’s wait. We’re waiting for the day of the Lord. It’s not simply waiting. That’s not the pattern of David here. That’s not the pattern of Jesus. Jesus actually warns against that in Matthew 24. Paul rebukes spiritual laziness in the Thessalonians. The pattern is, the battle is the Lord’s, so fight! The battle is the Lord’s, so fight! That’s the pattern David shows us. That’s the pattern of Jesus. Paul says, “Put on the whole armor of God.” Go read that armor of God section in Ephesians 6. We are called to put on the armor of God “so that we may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” God has given us the equipment; the motivation is in the honor of God.
My dad, growing up, let us know his favorite football player in history. He says the greatest quarterback of all time, Roger Staubach. Some of you may know who Roger Staubach is, others may not, but if you were to tell my dad that Tom Brady is the GOAT, he would say, “No, no, no, no, no! Let me tell you why it’s Roger Staubach,” and he would rehearse statistics and situational happenings, different games, clutch situations. If you were to talk negatively about my family members in front of me, I would come to their defense. The people we love, we defend. The people we love, we care about the honor of their name. What did David Strain say a couple of weeks ago? That apathy is a failure of love and perfect love casts out fear. Are you apathetic towards the honor of God? You see, the spiritual motivation in David’s actions is the honor of God. We call ourselves Christians. We bear Christ’s title. Can we point to things in our life right now that are not honoring to Him, that mar that title?
Take courage in the Lord by His Spirit through faith for His name’s sake. Courage does not come from within. You cannot get to spiritual courage, proper courage, without first going through Christ. You cannot remain courageous without abiding in Christ by the Spirit. Take courage in the Lord and remember the battle is His. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, we ask that You would help us to be courageous, Lord, not for the sake of courage, but for Your name’s sake. We ask for Your Spirit. We ask that You would give us a greater measure of faith, Lord, that we might live for You, that Your name might be known among the nations, that You might be glorified by what we do, that Christ might be made known. It’s in His name we pray, amen.