SUPER MEN - David: The Giant Killer
July 31, 2024
1 Samuel 17:45-50
Introduction:
When I was growing up my brother Sam and I would be glued to the TV set every Sunday afternoon at 1:30…Why? It was time for Ohio Valley Wrestling…We cheered, booed and sometimes got in trouble for acting out the moves of wrestlers life Jerry “The King” Lawler, Randy “Macho Man” Savage, Tojo Yamamoto, Jimmy “Super-fly” Snuka.
Many of these wrestlers went on to a much bigger stage in the WWF and WWE, but Sammy and I watched them every Sunday in a little arena filled with metal chairs…which would be used as weapons if necessary…and it was always necessary.
Every once in a while they would have midget wrestling…that’s what they called it back then…I suppose now it’d be called “Small People” wrestling. One Sunday afternoon, one of those small people challenged the wicked “Tojo Yamamoto” to a match…both Sam and I thought “He’s gonna die!” Tojo’s gonna kill him…Tojo was not only huge…he was a cheater…He had these wooden platform shoes that he would smack you in the head with…everyone hated this wrestler!
But in the amazing realism of Ohio Valley wrestling “the little guy won.” Not only did he win but he clocked Tojo in the head with one of his own shoes…I remember dancing around the room counting 1…2…3…“YOU’RE OUT!”
We all celebrate when the little guy wins…It doesn’t matter if it’s against Tojo Yamamoto, or Rudy against the world of Notre Dame history…we all pull for the underdog…Hollywood has made a fortune knowing this truth.
So when the shepherd boy David shows up on a mission to deliver a care package to his brothers who are on the battlefield…it gets our attention when a giant named Goliath steps out…He’s over 9 foot tall. His armor alone weights 125 pounds…the shaft of his spear is like a 4x4 beam…and the point weighs 15 pounds…to say the least…this guy is intimidating as he yells…
1 SAMUEL 17:8-11
“Choose your best fighter…C’mon you losers let’s go! Winner takes all…Let’s fight.”
When King Saul and all his soldiers hear the challenge and look at the size of this guy…God’s Word says, “Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.”
It takes faith to come against a giant like this…one that makes us feel defeated and afraid even before the fight…and every one of us have found ourselves
I. IN THE VALLEY OF FEAR
Have you ever had an adversary come at you that was so big it terrified you? Perhaps cancer, a heart attack, the death of a child, divorce, financial collapse, a teenager in horrible rebellion.
What do we do when we find ourselves in the valley of fear?
God’s Word says, “For 40 straight days the Philistine Goliath came forward and took his stand.” Every morning for more than a month the Israelites’ enemy shouted “C’mon losers…Let’s fight…Winner takes all…By the way…Your God ain’t nothin’”
The Israelites including their King were captives to fear for more than a month.
Satan does exactly the same thing as Goliath…He stands next to the casket or in the hospital room, or in our homes and shouts…“I’m too big…this is too big…I’m gonna win…Your God ain’t nothin’.”
Satan operates in the arena of fear. And as our Lord Jesus Christ said, “He is the Father of Lies…it’s his native tongue.”
Satan would have us focus only on the giant standing in front of us…and have our hearts afraid of his message…The opposite of faith is fear. It’s when our hearts tremble. It’s when hope is replaced with dismay and doubt…It’s when the shadows in the valley of death seem too dark.
David would write later in his life these words…“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me God.”
[Suppose a big truck rushes by you one evening when you’re headed home from work…The lighting conditions are just right and it’s shadow falls squarely on your vehicle…it makes you jump…it scares you as the noises of the big truck wash over you…and then it’s gone.]
What God’s Word tells us is that no matter what Satan throws at us, as God’s people, it’s just the shadow…it’s not the truck…and that includes death.
We never face the giant on our own…As David tells Goliath “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands.” (1 Sam. 17:45-46)
You see it’s not what you fight against…It’s who fights for you…
The Israelites found themselves in a valley of fear…They needed a champion.
II. GOD WOULD PROVIDE A CHAMPION
Listen to this section of scripture from 1 Samuel 17.
1 SAMUEL 17:20-25
They all ran because they were afraid…Each of them knew the reward that would be given by the King (Saul) to the man who stepped forward and defeated the Giant. (By the way…notice King Saul isn’t stepping forward either)
God sometimes uses the most unlikely heroes…David a shepherd boy…probably a teenager at this time, steps forward to be Israel’s champion…He even tries on the King’s armor, but it’s too unwieldy…so he chooses the weapon he’s used to fight lions and bears, to protect his sheep…a sling…and five smooth stones (Someone always asks “why 5 rocks if he trusts God so much”…and as one preacher replied “Goliath had 4 brothers.”)
David has faith in God because of what God has already done in his life…“God delivered me from the paw of the lion and the bear…while guarding my sheep. He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine!” He will be like one of them.
King Saul looks at David and says, “Go and the Lord be with you.”
David steps toward the Philistine line…clad only in shepherd’s clothes, his staff, a sling and 5 rocks in his shepherd’s pouch…When Goliath draws near to David and sees he’s just a boy… “He curses David by his gods…Goliath despises him and says “Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks? Come here boy I’ll feed your flesh to the birds and animals.”
David’s reply: “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands…I’ll strike you down and cut off your head…I’ll give your carcass and all the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and wild animals…and the whole world will know there is a God in Israel…Everyone surrounding us will know that this fight wasn’t won by sword or shield…IT’S THE LORD WHO SAVES!”
And what I hope is forever one of my life verses…1 Samuel 17:48 “As the Philistine moved closer to attack him…David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.”
Can you imagine what that looked like…a teenager in a shepherd’s cloak with a sling whipping around his head running at a 9 foot giant clad in armor with a giant spear?
David slings the stone, it strikes Goliath right in the forehead and sinks in…Goliath goes down like a rock (pun intended) face down.
David doesn’t have a sword…so he takes Goliath’s sword…kills Goliath with it and then cuts off his head…God provided a champion…and the Philistines are not the ones running away in fear. And those once fearful Israelites are now chasing the enemy to their front door.
Let me end today with a challenge.
III. WILL OUR RESPONSE TO GOD BE ONE OF FAITH?
1 John 5:4 says, “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”
(When my youngest daughter Karissa was about three I use to look after her on Tuesday afternoons while Kari cleaned an older ladies house...let me tell you, I'm wired to be a Dad, not a Mom....but you get kids about 3 or 4 that have the same intellect and personality as me....and I adore them....love to play with them...and Karissa's favorite game...one Momma didn't know about was "Catch me daddy." What it involved was our big long dining room table and her running across it and jumping into the air and me catching her...She would run jump close her eyes and fly though the air giggling with joy....and I caught her every single time. She wasn't afraid...her fear was replaced with joy and trust that daddy wouldn't let her fall or get hurt...that's what happens when you replace fear with faith...like Abraham...like David with a slingshot....it's what God calls us to do...And as Hebrews 11;6 says...."It's impossible to please God without it!!!!"
Ephesians 2:8 makes it very clear, “It is by grace you have been saved, THROUGH FAITH.”
Faith is an action word…It’s not faith unless you walk up the mountain with your son…It’s not faith until you build the ark…It’s not faith until you run at the Giant.
Jesus is our champion…He ran toward the cross resolutely. The Giant to be defeated was our sin, all sin…and the consequences of all our sin…DEATH. At Calvary Jesus crushed Satan’s head. The resurrection took away Satan’s greatest weapon…the fear of death.
So what’s our response when we hear this message…a message of amazing grace?
Will we believe it? Will we confess him before people? Will we repent of our sinful past and turn toward God? Will we be baptized for the forgiveness of our sin and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit…uniting ourselves with His death, burial and resurrection?
Jesus is our champion…He’s killed the Giant…What we do with His victory determines our eternity.
