Maybe it’s just because I’m a guy. Maybe it’s because I was raised watching boxing with my dad. Or maybe it’s entertaining to everybody. I don’t know. But I love to watch a good fight. I’m not talking about street-fighting or when some loser punches his wife. I just mean I like to watch 2 athletes box or wrestle or kick box or Karate or that MMA stuff in a ring. And the best fights are always when the underdog wins.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a whole Rocky movie but isn’t that the premise behind most of them? Rocky is too young or too old or too something and he surely can’t win the big fight…but he does. I think everybody likes a story like that even if you don’t like to watch boxing. Maybe that’s why they made 6 of them and I think they made just about as many Rambo movies but that’s another sermon.
Everybody likes an underdog. It is true in every sport from boxing to tiddlywinks, but it is also true in every other aspect of life. We have a political season coming up and you will hear certain politicians being referred to as the underdog. Don’t be fooled. That is not an accident. If somebody calls them an underdog, they are most likely being paid by that politician to say it because politicians know that being an underdog works heavily in your favor. Studies have shown that being labeled an underdog can make your actions seem more virtuous and your face appear more beautiful. (The Underdog Effect -Why do we love a loser? By Daniel Engber)
Being labeled an underdog gives the impression that you try harder, have more heart, more courage and more gumption. And that may or may not be true but that is how we look at underdogs. What it boils down to is that everybody likes an underdog because everybody sees themselves as an underdog.
We can all relate to being the underdog and for most of us we never seem to win anything and so we root for the underdog because we long for some kind of justice in this world. How much more so when we see the underdog as being young and pure and on the “right” team and his opponent is just a big ol’ meanie-headed jerk! Which is what makes the story of David and Goliath such a timeless classic and the perfect underdog story.
If you would like to read along with that story, turn to 1 Samuel 17. And since most of you have not read this story in a good while, and probably haven’t turned to the book of 1 Samuel in a while, I will set the story up for you as you find your place in 1 Samuel chapter 17. The Samuels are in between the books of Ruth and 1 Kings.
I have been looking forward to preaching from this passage for a long time. It is my all-time favorite story in the whole Bible. I have said many times that I grew up reading about David growing up and now it seems like we are old friends. And this story has fascinated me since before I could read it for myself. And it has continued to fascinate me as I have been studying it lately.
I called my mom just this week and said, “Mama! Did you know that Goliath was 9’6” tall??? His armor weighed 150 pounds! The head of his spear alone weighed like 16 pounds! That’s incredible!” I felt like a little kid again saying, “Mama, look at this!” I love this story! It has action, drama, suspense, an underdog and a big ol’ meanie-headed jerk. And the big ol’ meanie-headed jerk gets his big ol’ meanie head cut smooth off. How great is this?
So, let’s read 1 Samuel 17. I won’t read the whole chapter but I am going to read most of it so just sit back and enjoy the story.
Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. 2 Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. 3 The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them. 4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him. 8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. Skip over to verse 22. 22 David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. 23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. 24 Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.
Now skip over to verse 32. 32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” 33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you.” 38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. 41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42 He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!” 45 David said to the Philistine, “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. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” 48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground. 50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. 51 David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. 52 Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath[f] and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. 53 When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp. 54 David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent.
What a great story! Do you believe it’s true? I hope so. I sure do. And while some scholars disagree about just how tall Goliath was – some say only 6 something while others say he may have been as much as 11 feet tall – it doesn’t matter. Again, as in all great biblical stories, critics want to pick it apart and say that there is no way this could have happened because of such and such reason. I won’t even go into the ridiculous things they said about this story. Either God did a miracle or He didn’t.
Either the story is true or it isn’t. Either the whole Bible is true or none of it is true! And when you get distracted by debating if Goliath’s helmet covered his forehead or not or if both of his legs were covered in armor or just one of them, then you miss seeing what this story is all about. We have started a focus on how to see Jesus in the Old Testament and here, in this great story, David is a type of Messiah. I’m not saying he is the Messiah or a Messiah. He is a type of Messiah.
I have an idea that this story has had as many sermons preached on it as any other story in the Bible and the most common theme you will hear is something along the lines of, “With God, you can face your giant and overcome your adversity” and that’s not wrong, necessarily, but it’s not really the point of the story. I’ve said the last two weeks that it is obvious that the whole Bible is written about Jesus. Even the Old Testament has prophecies, types, pictures, foreshadows and illustrations of Jesus. And while we would all like to envision ourselves as David, the truth is…we are the Israelites cowering in fear because we know we can never face our enemies and we need a David to save us. We need a Savior because we can’t do it.
You see, we have a problem. In fact, we have a huge, giant problem. Scripture calls him Satan, the devil, the enemy, the father of lies, the great red dragon, the old serpent, the prince of this world, the power of the air. Some people believe Satan is just a representation of evil; that he doesn’t really exist but he is named and shown to be real all through the Old Testament and into the New Testament.
Job knew he is real. Jesus knew he is real. Deep down, you know he is real. I heard about the time Satan showed up at a church service one time. Everyone starts screaming and running for the front entrance, trampling each other in their efforts to get away from Evil Incarnate. Soon, everyone is evacuated from the church except for one man, who sat calmly in his pew, seemingly oblivious to the fact that God's ultimate enemy is in his presence. This confuses Satan a bit. Satan walks up to the man and says, "Hey, don't you know who I am?" The man says, "Yep, sure do." Satan says, "Well, aren't you afraid of me?" The man says, "Nope, sure ain't." Satan, perturbed, says, "And why aren't you afraid of me?" The man says, "Well, I've been married to your sister for 25 years."
Maybe that guy wasn’t afraid but we should be. Did you know that nowhere in the Bible does it tell us to fight back against Satan? Nowhere does it tell us to do battle with him or go up against him in any way. In Ephesians 6 and some other places, it tells us to stand against him but the context is standing up behind Jesus and, as it says in Ephesians 6:10, stand in the mighty power of Jesus.
Now, none of us, even on our best day would ever say that we are stronger than Satan on our own. But I see it all the time when people think, “I’m just going to drink a little bit. I’m just going to do a little bit of drugs. It’s just a little porn and it’s not that bad.” I guarantee you that every addict in the world said that, consciously or unconsciously. Nobody ever starts out thinking they can’t wait to become addicted. This is going to be fun. I hope I go to jail and ruin my life and my family’s lives.
Our enemy is too big and too powerful for us to take on in our own strength. Did you see in the story in verses 38 and 39 how Saul tried to dress David in his armor? That just makes sense that we should try real hard to fight against the devil but, just like if David had gone out there relying on that armor to help, so we too would get slaughtered if we try to take on Satan with our own strength, wisdom and willpower.
Just like the rest of the Israelites just allowed David to go out there and fight Goliath, so should we just go to the Lord and say, “God, I can’t do this. I need your help. I’m tempted to do this or that or even just give up but I know I can get through this in victory if You go before me.
I love in verse 45 where it says, “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. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.”
That’s just what Jesus has said, is saying and will say to Satan every time we turn our problems and temptations over to Him. But Satan wants you to think you are pretty strong. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!” Satan says, “You got this. You’ve been a Christian a long time. You are a leader in the church; a pillar of the community. You’re a tough guy.”
But let me tell you, not only is our enemy huge, but he’s also a liar. Look again at verse 9. Goliath steps onto the battlefield and tells the Israelites, “Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” After that, some versions say that Goliath offered to sell him some oceanfront property in Arizona. Yours may not say that. It’s a pretty obscure rendering of the text. 😊
That is a huge man telling a huge lie. But don’t you know it had to be tempting to some of the Israelites? I’m quite sure Goliath wasn’t the only huge warrior they had and the options for getting out of this alive were pretty bleak. But there was no way anybody was going to beat Goliath on their own and even if they did, the Philistines weren’t just going to put down their weapons and surrender.
Has Satan ever lied to you? Of course, he has. He is the father of lies and the truth is not in him. He can’t help but lie. That’s just what he does. And I know that you know that you are spiritually mature and you usually know when Satan is lying to you. But it’s that person sitting next to you in the pew that I’m worried about. Now, don’t be nudging them with your elbow! That’s not helping anything.
They may not be as mature as you are and you remember when you were a young Christian how often you fell for those lies of Satan so show them grace when they fall. You know it’s a lie when Satan says, “That woman did that to you on purpose. She obviously doesn’t like you.” But the young Christian may not discern that.
You know it’s a lie when Satan says, “I know that church is important but the Cowboys come on at noon so maybe next week.” But the young Christian may not discern that.
You know it’s a lie when Satan says, “Just give in. Even God can’t get you out of that addiction.” But the young Christian may not discern that. And the unbeliever can’t discern that. So, show them grace. Show them forgiveness. Show them love because you have been shown grace, forgiveness and love. I’m not saying to overlook unrepentant sin. I’m saying that everybody is struggling with something. Everybody falls for those lies sometimes. Let the church be where the sick come to get well. Let the church be the lighthouse for the blind and the family that loves unconditionally. Lord, help us to do that!
So, we have seen that Satan is huge and he is a huge liar. Now, I want us to see that just like Goliath, Satan is defeated. Let me remind you of verse 51 again where it says, “When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. 52 Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines. Just like those men shouted with victory, let me remind you of the shout of Jesus on the cross.
Just before He died and took all of my sins and shipped them off as far as the east is from the west, He cried out “Tetelestai!” It means it is finished! He wasn’t talking about His life. He was going to rise up and live again in three days. It was a cry of victory! The price has been paid. The sacrifice has been made once and for all. Colossians 2 says, “When you were dead in your sins, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
That means that once Christ died and rose again and you believe in Him with all your heart then sin is no longer what you are expected to do. Unbelievers sin. That’s just what they do. They can’t help it. It’s their nature. But for us as believers in Jesus, we are alive and new creations. We are no longer slaves to sin. The Old Testament Law is not our master. Sin is not our master. Jesus is our Master and He defeated Satan, sin and death when He died and rose again. “Tetelestai!” is the victory cry.
As long as we are alive on this old earth, we will have problems. We will struggle. There will be things we don’t understand. Life will rarely be fair and you will be persecuted for being different from the world. That’s okay. We don’t have to understand. Yes, Satan is huge. He is more powerful than you or me. He will always be a liar. Just be ready for it. But we don’t have to be afraid. We don’t have to worry. Satan is defeated just like David defeated Goliath. All we have to do now is live like it.
Have you trusted Jesus to be your Master and Savior? All you have to do is believe but that belief will be lifechanging. Do you have a problem with that? Well then, how is it working out for you so far with you being in control? I’m not telling you to be a better person. I’m telling you to give up. Tell God you can’t do it anymore and that you want Him to do it through you from now on. Ask Him for forgiveness and then repent of that sinful lifestyle. Turn away from it and let God bring you peace and joy in this life plus the promise of eternity with Him in Heaven. Do it right now as the music plays.
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