Right, so we are reading from
1 Samuel chapter 17 and verse 1 and we're going to be introduced
today to this man called Goliath. Here's what the Word of God says.
Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle
and were gathered together at Socho, which belongeth to Judah,
and pitched between Socho and Azica in Ephesdamen. And Saul and the men of Israel
were gathered together and pitched by the valley of Elah and set
the battle in a ray against the Philistines. And the Philistines
stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain
on the other side, and there was a valley between them. And
there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines,
named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had a helmet of brass
upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the
weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had
greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between
his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was
like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred
shekels of iron, and one bearing a shield went before him. And
he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them,
Why are ye come out to set your battle in a ray? Am not I a Philistine,
and ye servants of Saul? Choose ye a man for you, and
let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me
and to kill me, then will we be your servants. But if I prevail
against him and kill him, then shall ye be our servants and
serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy
the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight
together. When Saul and all Israel heard
those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly
afraid. Now David was the son of that
Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse. And he
had eight sons. And the man went among men for
an old man in the days of Saul. And the three eldest sons of
Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle and the names of
his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn
and next unto him Abinadab and the third Shammah. And David
was the youngest, and the three eldest followed Saul. But David
went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. And the Philistine drew near
morning and evening, and presented himself forty days. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. Now, I just want to mention that
there's a few things at the end of chapter 16 that we didn't
read together that I want to draw your attention to because
although the excitement kind of happens in chapter 17 as far
as Goliath and David are concerned. Chapter 16 does give us a little
bit of background as to how David first turned up at the court
of Saul and David's first appearance at Saul's palace or the court
of Saul was to do with trouble that Saul had in his spirit and
in his mind. Probably as a result of the spirit
of the Lord leaving Saul and the spirit of the Lord coming
upon David, we see this difference and this change in the demeanour
of both men. So let me start with David. Probably
as a result of the Spirit of the Lord resting on David, having
left Saul it rested on David, David's reputation as a skilled
musician grew. Now it's possible that he was
a harp player and he was a musician prior to this moment, but certainly
from this moment we learn of David's might and we learn of
his skill as a musician. So there may be a connection
between the spirit of the Lord and the gifts that David possessed. His bravery, having killed a
bear and a lion, may also have been known of at court, because
David's fame would have gone around certainly the local area
when it was learned that he had protected his father's sheep
by killing a bear and a lion, which had probably happened already
by this time. Saul, on the other hand, when
the Spirit of God left him because of his disobedience, was afflicted
by an evil spirit, which the Lord permitted to trouble him
for all his sins. And this evil spirit seems to
have brought a gloominess on Saul, and perhaps a physical
illness which neither Saul, nor his servants, nor his doctors
could cure. And Saul's servants suggested
music to soothe Saul's disturbed mind and to ease his distress. And Saul agreed and David was
the one who was called to play a harp for Saul when these dark
depressions came upon him. And actually, this helped Saul.
And it seems as if David was given what was likely a temporary
position at court when Saul was there. He does seem to have gone
back and forward to his father's house, so it may not have been
a full-time appointment, but certainly at times when Saul
had these depressions, David was called to give him some assistance. And it's useful to notice, I
think, just how God orders and arranges events and circumstances
to bring his purposes to pass. Sometimes we think that meetings
and events and what happens in our lives are just like random
things, just, oh, I don't know, we might say, if something good
happens, oh, that was lucky. or if something bad happens,
we might just think, I was a bit unlucky. But when we trust the
Lord, we should not say things like that and we should not think
like that, because God uses providence. He uses the circumstances of
this life to achieve his purpose and fulfil his will in this world. And he leads and he guides his
people in the same way through these events and circumstances
and meetings and needs that we might have and the good times
and the bad times all come together in order to accomplish God's
purpose and that's why we can say that all things work together
for good to those who love the Lord. And people might wonder,
well, was it good that David was here in the court of Saul? Well, this is how God arranged
it. And he put into the minds of
Saul's servants and he gave these thoughts to them that they should
call David and David proved to be a help. David's servants brought,
sorry, Saul's servants brought David to court because they hoped
that David's music would soothe Saul's troubled spirit. because
they could not get a cure for this evil spirit. They therefore
sought David's help. But I want to mention something
else about that because we might notice that Saul's problem was
deeper than just the soothing of his spirit. They tried, Saul's
servants, to ease the symptoms and perhaps to lessen Saul's
anxiety by getting David to come and play some music for him.
It wasn't going to cure him, but it might make him more peaceful
and ease his symptoms. And I think life is often like
that. It often happens in life like
that, that instead of getting to the source of a problem and
dealing with the cause, We spend our time trying to fix the results
and the effects of the problem. We don't get to the core of the
issue, but we try to deal with the symptoms. Let me give you
an example. I once had a dead mouse under
the floorboard in my house. And I don't know if you've ever
had a dead mouse in your house, but it gives off a smell if you
don't throw it out quickly. And this mouse, under the floorboards,
gave off a bad smell. And I tried to get rid of the
smell with all the air freshener that I could find in the cupboard.
but it didn't work. There was only one way for me
to get rid of that stink. I had to take up the floor and
I had to find that dead mouse. And when people have sin in their
lives, they can try lots of things to cover up the symptoms and
get rid of the bad smell that sin causes. And some people try
good works to make themselves feel clean. And some people try
religion so that other people will say that they smell just
fine. However, it is only when the
Lord Jesus takes away the root cause of the problem, takes away
our sin, takes away our evil heart, that we will truly feel
peace. And perhaps David's music helped
Saul to feel more peaceful in the times of his darkness and
depression and his distress, but it didn't fix his problem.
Saul's problem was an evil heart and that evil spirit remained,
as did Saul's guilt and fear and distress. And as we begin
chapter 17, we learn that not only was this a troubling time
in Israel, it was a troubling time, sorry, not only was this
a troubling time in Saul's life, it was also a troubled time in
Israel. The Philistine people from along
the Mediterranean coast again threatened to overrun the children
of Israel and to take advantage of the instability caused by
Saul's disobedience and his poor leadership. Saul led the army
out to meet the enemy. But what we discover is that
his guilt made him afraid. Maybe the Philistines had heard
that there was trouble in Israel and that was the reason why they
came against the children of Israel at this time. The Philistines
massed on one hill with Israel on another hill facing them and
a valley in the middle, we're told it's called the Valley of
Elah, lying between the two armies on the two opposing hills. And
because of Saul's troubled and angry state, there was a nervousness,
there was a fear throughout the whole army. The whole army of
Israel reflected the distress that Saul felt in his heart.
And just as a courageous leader can instil courage in those who
follow, so a troubled leader will generate doubt in those
who follow him. And the evil spirit that afflicted
Saul influenced many more in Israel than just Israel's king. You know, when sin comes into
a person's life, When sin comes into a person's life, when we
do things that are wrong, it brings guilt and it brings shame. Even if other people don't know
about it, we still in our own hearts, in our own consciences,
feel guilt and shame. And that evil, call it an evil
spirit if you like, that evil can disrupt a whole family. and all those that are round
about us, even if they don't know what we've done wrong, because
our demeanour is disturbed and distressed. An old poet once
said, no man is an island, And what he meant by that is that
the connections that we all have with one another get spoiled
because of the sin that is in our lives. And maybe people don't
understand what it is that's the problem. But it's true when
it comes to sinning. Our sin affects, our sin against
God affects more than just us. Others suffer too. And sometimes
it's those that we love the most and care for the most that end
up suffering the most. And it's now that we meet with
this giant Goliath. Goliath was one of the Philistines
and he was a big man. It's hard to know just how big
because he's measured in cubits and spans and sometimes cubits
and spans were slightly different measurements. Although, In the
olden days, there was a degree of consistency. Sometimes it
could be anything from 15 inches to 21 inches. But it seems likely,
given the way that cubits and spans are used in the Old Testament
writings, that this man was, now listen, over 11 feet tall. That's like me standing on my
own shoulders. Now in modern times, the tallest
man was almost nine feet, and that's still two and a half feet
shorter than Goliath. Goliath and his brothers, because
there were several of them, he had four brothers, I think, we're
told, Goliath and his brothers, all of whom were large, seemed
to have been amongst the last of a race of giants known as
the Anakim. And these were a people, a tribe
of people that had lived in Palestine and in this area of the country
from the times of Abraham. And a lot of detail is given
about Goliath's height and the weight of his armour and the
weight and the size of his weapons. And we're told that for 40 days
he came out of the camp of the Philistines and challenged Israel
to send a champion to fight him in a winner-takes-all contest. If he wins, Israel would serve
the Philistines, and if the Philistine, if Goliath won, then Israel would
serve Palestine. Did I say that wrong? Let me
say it again. If Goliath won, then Israel would
serve the Philistines. And if the champion of Israel
won, then the Philistines would serve Israel. And interestingly,
I find this interesting anyway. If Goliath was the tallest man
among the Philistines, you might expect that Israel would send
out their tallest man to fight with him. Do you remember who
that was? Do you remember who the tallest
man was in Israel? Well, it was Saul. Saul himself,
we're told, was head and shoulders above his fellows. But Saul was
not going out to face this man because Saul was afraid in his
heart and so the whole army trembled with fear. At one time when the
Spirit of the Lord was with Saul he was bold and brave and he
fought the Lord's enemies But now his sin and his guilt and
the displeasure of the Lord had made him a coward, had made him
afraid. So that Saul lost so much more
than just peace with God. and that's what sin does to a
person. Goliath is a picture of sin and
Goliath is a picture of Satan in fact and what the Lord Jesus
calls a strong man armed keeps dominion over all who are weaker
than he is. That's what Satan is like. For Israel, Goliath personified
defeat and slavery and death. And just so, sin rules in our
lives and it binds us in the flesh and ultimately it brings
us to judgment and to death. When Goliath came out in the
morning, morning after morning, to taunt and to mock and to shout
out his challenge, all the eyes of Israel must have been on him. And they must have been wondering
whether or not Saul, their king was going to do anything. What
would Israel's leader, what would Israel's champion do? But the
reality was that Saul wasn't fit to deliver the people. There was nothing that Saul could
do. Saul was now a broken man. He was afraid, he was weak, he
was out of ideas. Israel's king, that they put
so much trust and faith in had let them down. And that's the
problem with sin. Because we are men and women
and boys and girls of a sinful nature, we cannot overcome sin
in our lives by ourselves. We cannot defeat the giant who
is stronger and better armed than we are. We need a champion
who will fight for us, one who will conquer our enemies and
save us from slavery and death. Now, I don't want to run ahead
in our story, but we will see next week, perhaps, how God does
supply a champion for Israel in the person of David. But remember what we said about
David before. He really is a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And more of this another time. But let me just say this. David
was the champion that God sent for Israel at that time. But
the Lord Jesus Christ is the true champion for all time. David could soothe Saul's despair
with his beautiful music, but he could not get rid of Saul's
demons. By God's help, David will defeat
Goliath when Saul could not, but David never finished fighting
battles all his life. Our Lord Jesus Christ fought
one battle on the cross. He defeated our enemy. He led
captivity captive because he, our Saviour, is stronger than
the strong man armed who keepeth his palace. The Lord Jesus Christ
came upon him, overcame him, and took from him his power and
his prize. what we could not do ourselves
to deliver ourselves from sin and death, the Lord Jesus has
done for us. He is a worthy champion. He is
one to be trusted. He is one to be depended upon.
He is one who is able to save and to keep all who come to him
by faith. May the Lord enable us to do
just that today. Amen.