Sermon outline on David and Goliath

Text

Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls 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 all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands.

1 Samuel 17:45-47 · Read the chapter →

Introduction

For forty days, morning and evening, the giant Goliath defied the army of Israel, and Saul and all the people were greatly afraid. David, the youngest of Jesse’s sons, came to the camp only to bring food to his brothers. He saw the same giant everyone else saw — but he looked at the scene differently.

1. Who is this, before the living God?

And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?

1 Samuel 17:26 · Read the chapter →

Everyone measured Goliath by his height and his weapons; David measured him by the God he was defying. His question was not about his own honour but about the honour of “the living God”. Fear grows when a problem is compared with us; faith begins when it is compared with God.

Application: Faced with whatever has paralysed you or your church, ask first who God is.

2. Confidence that remembers

David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.

1 Samuel 17:37 · Read the chapter →

Saul saw a youth with no experience of war. David remembered the lion and the bear in the pasture — and gave the credit to the LORD, who had delivered him from both. His courage was not self-confidence: it was the memory of God’s faithfulness on the days when no one was watching.

Application: Write down how God was faithful in struggles no one saw, and carry that memory into today’s.

3. That all the earth may know

This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls 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 all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands.

1 Samuel 17:46-47 · Read the chapter →

Goliath came with a sword, a spear and a shield; David set aside Saul’s armour and went in the name of the LORD of hosts, with his staff, his sling and five smooth stones. The purpose of the victory was not David’s fame: it was that all the earth might know there is a God in Israel, and that the people might learn the LORD saves not with sword and spear.

Application: When God acts, give him the glory — not your strategy or your courage.

Conclusion

David prevailed with a sling and a stone, with no sword in his hand, and one man’s victory roused the whole people, who rose up and pursued the Philistines. In Christian reading, this victory of one on behalf of all points to Jesus, the Son of David, who faced for us the enemy we could not overcome. The question of the sermon is not the size of the giant, but in whose name we go.