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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/stephen-harper/david-and-his-conquest-1-samuel-17/
I want to return to 1 Samuel, and I am encouraged in the message that Brother Stephen has given us, just given us from the book of Nehemiah. And we've been thinking about opposition, and we've been thinking about both building and fighting.
And I hope that we're not going to go away bruised from this weekend, but I do want us to think again about the need for courage. And I want us just to address this very real fact that we are engaged in spiritual warfare.
And we've been thinking over the course of these couple of days together about the influence of a godly woman, and the fact that she prayed, and she has her prayer answered. And she said, for this child I prayed.
And we've listened to those words of thanksgiving and of praise from dear Hannah. We thought about Samuel and the great influence that his mother obviously had upon him. I was just chatting with a sister at the interval and speaking about the great influence that evidently she had upon her husband too.
I think we see progress in Elkanah as the narrative develops. But she evidently had great influence upon her son, and as she went up year by year and no doubt praying for him while he was at the temple and while she was at home, she was praying for him.
But as she went up year by year, I'm sure she was pouring truth and pouring the word of God as she had it into her little son. And he grows up to be a great man of God. And so, at the time of his rejection, we were thinking yesterday about his words, God forbid that I should sin against you or sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.
This morning we were thinking about David, and we did have to kind of leapfrog the passage that I want to think about this afternoon. We leapfrogged that this morning to think about David, and as he is being persecuted by that wicked king Saul, he says, what is mine iniquity?
What is my sin? But I want to listen to other words from David, much more confident words this afternoon as I bring my little series of messages to a close. And I want to turn your attention to this stirring chapter, which is chapter 17 of 1 Samuel.
And we're going to read about David and his conquest of this giant of a man, Goliath. The little expression that I want to get to is in verse number 29, and it is this. David says, is there not a cause?
And really, I would like to leave that question ringing in our ears, and I think it follows on the back of what Stephen has been speaking about, and the call to rise up in the day of Nehemiah, and I would like us to leave with this call ringing in our ears.
Younger brothers and sisters and older brothers and sisters alike, is there not a cause? Is there not a cause? Is there not something to fight for? Is there not a cause that's worth living for? And that's what I want to leave with us at the close of this part of the conference, at least.
Now, it's hard to know what to leave out from chapter 17. I've got to leave something out for the sake of time, but let's dip into chapter 17. We'll start at verse 1. Now, the Philistines, the Philistines, I suppose I should say in this part of the world, gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shoko, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shoko and Azekah in Ephes Damum.
Now let's just notice there that there is an encroachment into the territory that belonged to Judah. The enemy is encroaching into the land that belonged to the Lord's people. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array 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, do you hear the mockery that Stephen's been talking to us about already? Do you hear the taunting? Do you hear the sarcasm? Do you hear the fear, at least the words that are intended to strike fear into the hearts of God's people?
Well listen, why are you come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. And you know so much of the rest of the story.
Now let's jump down to verse 12. David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons, and a man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul. You know how that he sends David to go and see the battle, and he tells David to take some cheeses.
I don't know whether they were Wisconsin cheeses or not, but they were cheeses nonetheless. And in verse number 19, David is coming to the battle, and in verse number 20, David rose up early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, and took and went as Jesse had commanded him, and he came to the trench as the host was going forth to fight and shout for the battle.
It seems to me, by the way, I could be wrong about this, but it seems to me that the battle is reaching a crescendo. Seems to me that there's been something of a standoff for a while, and now as David arrives on this occasion, things are really coming to a climax, and it seems as if he's arrived just as all the shouting is just about over, and now they're going to really get into the thick of battle.
That's how it appeals to me anyway. So it says in verse number 22 that David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper and ran to the army and came and saluted his brethren. You know what happens then, his brethren, his brothers are angry that he's just come to really for the fun, for the excitement of watching the battle.
That's why I think perhaps the battle was just about to begin. And so it says in verse number 26, David spoke 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? Now just take note of that. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? Lock that in your mind. Verse number 27, the people answered him after this manner saying, so shall it be done to the man that killeth him.
Then his brother Eliab is angry again. And verse number 29, well let's read verse 28, Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spake unto the men and Eliab's anger was kindled against David and he said, why camest thou down hither?
And with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? There's more of the sarcasm and the mockery. I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart, for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.
And David said unto him, what have I now done? Is there not a cause? Is there not a cause? So he turns in verse number 30 and he speaks the same thing to others and asks them, you know, what's going to be done?
What's the prize for killing this giant? And verse number 32, David says to Saul, because the word has got to Saul's ears and Saul has called David to him, and verse number 32, David said to Saul, let no man's heart feel because of him.
Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him. Here's the king who should be instilling courage into his men and he's actually the one who's discouraging David.
You can't go against him. I sometimes say that David must have been either an Irishman or a Scotsman because he's kind of saying, let me at them. And then I realized, no, he wasn't an Irishman because if he had been an Irishman, he would have been fighting all the rest of the Israelites.
So he must have been a Scotsman. But he says, Saul says to him, you can't fight him. You're just a youth. He's been a man of war from his youth. David said to Saul, thy servant kept his father's sheep and there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock and I went out after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth.
And when he arose against me, I caught him by the beard and smote him and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.
The God who delivered the lamb out of the paw of the lion and of the bear, he's going to deliver this Philistine into my hand. So Saul says to him, the end of verse number 37, go and the Lord be with thee.
And Saul armed David with his armor and he put a helmet of brass upon his head and he armed him with a coat of mail. Do you remember what Stephen read to us from the New Testament from 2 Corinthians chapter 10?
I think it was, wasn't it? That the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are spiritual. And here's Saul and he's trying to load David up with carnal weapons of war and carnal armory. So he puts it all on and he can't move in it.
It's just impossible. He says, I'm not even going to try to fight the giant in this stuff. Haven't tested it. I think that was his polite way of saying, I don't need it. So he took his staff in his hand, verse 40, and he chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, put them in his shepherd's bag, which he had even in a script, and his sling was in his hand and he drew near to the Philistine.
Brothers and sisters, I admit to you, see whenever I was reading this just a few days ago and preparing for this message today, my heart was racing. It was absolutely racing. I was full of excitement as I think about, here's this little lad, a little shepherd boy, and he goes down to the brook just with his staff and his little pouch and his sling in his hand and he takes five stones and listen to what happens.
The Philistine came on and drew near unto David and the man that bared the shield went with him. And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him for he was but a youth and ruddy and of fair countenance.
And the Philistine said unto David, am I a dog that thou comest out to me with staves? You come out to me with sticks? You think I'm just a puppy? The Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, come to me and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field.
And David says, thou comest to me with a sword and 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 carcasses 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. Is it beaten? Mine is. I can feel it just now. David defies the giant.
The giant starts to come towards him and David begins to pick up pace and he runs. And you know, that armory would have done him absolutely no good. It was just exactly the wrong thing for this battle because David knew that he needed to be quick.
He needed to be nimble. He needed to be agile. He had proved God so many times and as he goes, he reaches into his pouch, he pulls out the stone, he puts it in the sling and if we were speaking to the kids, we'd be going round and round and round and round and round, wouldn't we?
We know what happened. And the stone went through the air, struck the giant in the center of his forehead, the one place where he was vulnerable because he was wearing a helmet, do you remember? And he had a coat of mail and so that stone was directed by the God of Israel whom he had defied.
That stone was directed to the one place where he was vulnerable and the giant fell flat on his face and he was dead. That all the world may know that there is a God in Israel. You remember how that the Israelites were so poorly armed at that time.
There was a whole host of problems but they were so poorly armed at that time that David goes and takes the giant's own sword and he claims his trophy. He didn't kill Goliath with his sword, he was already dead.
But he uses Goliath's sword to claim the trophy. There is a God in Israel. Brothers and sisters, there is a cause worth fighting for. We've been reminded and I agree completely, I agree 100 with Stephen, you can be on a big downer after a conference weekend.
You can be on a big downer after a conference weekend. I think it's great that you have a picnic by the way tomorrow, I'm just sorry I'm going to miss it. I didn't know about the picnic. A picnic's a great way just to ease yourself down gently.
But you can be on a big downer after a conference weekend. But if you find yourself on a bit of a downer on Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday of this week or whatever, I want you just to stop and ask yourself a question.
Is there a cause worth fighting for? Is there a cause? There is a cause. And so I want us to think just for a second of David's sense of divine purpose. David had a really good sense of divine purpose.
David arrives at the battlefield not as a warrior, but he arrives on the battlefield as a servant just bringing provisions. That was a good exercise, wasn't it? He was there. He was there to feed the warriors.
That wasn't Saul. I'm sorry. I really have to try and resist the temptation to get down on Saul because, well, you know, whenever the men were going into battle, Saul's tactic was to say, cursed is anyone who eats anything this day until I am avenged of my enemies.
You can't eat today until somebody does something about that guy who's my enemy. Saul, go and do something about it yourself. Go and do something about it yourself instead of starving your soldiers until someone does something for you.
That wasn't David. David's bringing provisions. He's bringing food. He's nourishing the people of God. That's leadership. He's just a boy, but he's coming to bring nourishment to God's people. Even young folks can nourish God's people.
In fact, let me speak a word to young folks. Whenever I say even young folks can nourish God's people, I don't mean even young folks. I would say some of the greatest nourishment and encouragement that I have had has been from young folks.
Older guys like me, I'm not as old as them, by the way, but older, not old guys, older guys like me, there's nothing thrills us. Nothing thrills us like seeing younger brothers and sisters who want to serve the Lord's people in whatever way that is and to bring nourishment and cheer to them.
You stick at it. You have no idea how you're thrilling the soul of an older brother or sister whenever you do what you can for the Lord. That's what David's doing. And he comes and he hears the tyranny of this giant.
You can hear him. He's coming out day by day and he's hurling insults. He's hurling insults at God's people. And as David comes and goes, because it seems as if he did do that, he came and went numerous times.
This day that we read about, as I've said, seems to be like the climax of the whole thing. But he's coming and going and every time he comes and goes, he hears this uncircumcised Philistine disdaining the God of Israel and mocking the people of Israel.
And it's burning in his heart. It's burning in his heart. And he's stirred by zeal for God's honour. He's not coming for self-glory. When David comes and he says, is there not a cause? I think he's looking around and saying, why are none of you doing anything about this?
Why are none of you rising up? Why is everybody cowering in fear? Well, maybe the reason, oh here we go again, maybe the reason everybody is cowering in fear is because their leader is a man that's full of fear.
I don't subscribe to the idea, I could be wrong, but I don't subscribe to the idea that initially Saul was a humble man and so he was hiding out of humility. I think he was hiding out of fear. I think when they came looking for Saul, I think he was hiding out of fear.
And I don't think he was ever courageous. As I hinted earlier on, his tactics were always to bully the people of God into doing something for him. There's no evidence of courage on the part of Saul. Even the one victory that is recorded in this section of 1 Samuel, his tactics are to cut in pieces a yoke of oxen and he sends that yoke of oxen through the land and he says, this is what will be done to any of you who don't come to fight for me.
I'll come and I'll cut up your yoke of oxen. From the very word go, he was a tyrant. And all that resulted was fear and there was nothing done, there was nothing done that brought honor to God. Can I say this very tenderly, brothers and sisters?
Tyranny in the assembly doesn't produce godliness. Tyranny in the assembly doesn't produce courage. Tyranny in the assembly does not produce activity that causes the work of God to go forward. It just paralyzes God's people.
I know what I'm talking about. I know what I'm talking about. And David comes with a fresh set of eyes and he hasn't been inflicted with this spirit of fear that has descended upon the people of God. And he looks around all of these seasoned warriors and he says, is there not a cause?
Will someone not rise up and do something? Will someone not silence this uncircumcised Philistine? Oh, that if we were to leave this conference this weekend with a renewed sense of a burden for the glory of God, a renewed sense of a burden for the glory of God and for the furtherance of His kingdom, that is a cause worth living for.
I sometimes say when I'm preaching the gospel, but I think now is a good time to say it to an audience of believers gathered, I'll sometimes ask, what are you living for? We've heard that question or something very, very akin to it this weekend, haven't we?
What are you living for? Can I say this? If what you're living for is not worth dying for, then it's not worth living for. The only things that are worth living for as a Christian is what is worth dying for, because we're going to leave it all behind anyway.
And whatever you're pouring your life into, if it's not worth dying for, it's not worth living for. If I can borrow the words of Jim Elliot, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
And so I'm not going to speculate what it is that you might be living for, but it might be in the world of business, or it might be in the world of sport, or it might be in some other area that I haven't even thought of.
If it's not worth dying for, it's not worth living for. I think this is the attitude that David brings. This is the attitude that David brings to this fight. Not that he, for a moment, thought that he was going to die in the fight, but he's emboldened.
And he hears the word of this uncircumcised Philistine. I've repeated that numerous times. There's a reason for that, and I'm coming to it just in a moment. And it's this. Not only David's sense of divine purpose, but it's David's perspective, his trust in Jehovah.
You see, all of the Israelites, they had covenant promises to claim. And this one who is threatening the people of God, and who is despising the God of the people, he's an uncircumcised Philistine. He's no part in the covenant.
And David's perspective is one of absolute assurance that the promises that God made to his people, he will keep. God always keeps his promises. And so David is not intimidated by the size of the giant, or the reputation of the giant, nor the experience of the giant.
He's been a man of war since his youth. David doesn't care. He's an uncircumcised Philistine. He might be 10 feet tall, or whatever it is. I'm not sure. David doesn't care. He's an uncircumcised Philistine.
David doesn't care about his reputation, or the weapons that he carries. He's an uncircumcised Philistine. He doesn't belong to God, and the God of Israel is on our side. And so, David, he sees this battle.
He sees this fight through the lens of God's promises to Israel. Do we see our lives? Do we see our purpose in life? Do we see the struggles that we engage in? And I'm not now talking just about personal struggles, but I'm speaking now about the assembly and the church at large, and the work of the gospel, and the hostile world around us.
Do we see that through the lens of God's promises concerning his people and concerning the gospel? David says, I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts. How can he fail? How can he fail? God's honor's at stake.
God's word and truthfulness and faithfulness. God's covenant promises are at stake. David says, I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts. And he says, you may have threatened to feed me to the birds, he says.
But this day, I'm going to remove the head from off your shoulders. And he said, the armies of the Philistines this day, they're going to be food for the fowls that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
My brother, my sister, my young brother, my young sister, has God called you to do something? If you're saying to me, I don't think so, then think again, okay? Because God doesn't save people and not call them to do something.
Has God called you to do something? You be bold. You be strong. Whatever the opposition might be, it can't overwhelm you. It can't overwhelm you. If God has called you to do something, the opposition, whatever it might be, as Stephen has been bringing to us from the book of Nehemiah, whatever the opposition might be, however subtle, whatever tactics the enemy might use, if God has called you to do something, the opposition, it cannot overwhelm you.
David says, I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts. Doesn't take long for the word to spread, does it? Everybody starts talking. Because David's saying, what's my prize going to be? What am I going to get for doing this?
Now, he didn't do it for the prize, but I think people were talking about the prize and about the fact that he would get the honor of marrying the king's daughter. And we talked about that this morning and how scurrilous Saul was about that and how he used that to gaslight David.
You catch that, Stephen? But David says, what's my prize going to be? And very soon the word gets to Saul and Saul says, who is this lad? Who is this? Someone said once that attitudes are infectious. Is yours worth catching?
You see, Saul's attitude of fear, Saul's attitude of tyranny had spread through the whole camp. Everybody was afraid. And the soldiers were fighting against each other. That's why instead of encouraging David when he came, his brothers are resentful.
If he was over in our part of the world, they would say, who's that wee squirt? That's what they were saying about David. Who's that wee squirt? Who does he think he is? And instead of being ready to take on, instead of being emboldened, instead of being full of confidence in God, they're full of fear.
It's because that attitude of fear had trickled down from a man who was on the throne and the only tactics that he knew, the only way he could get people to do what he wanted was to terrorize them and to threaten them.
But David is emboldened. David is strong in the Lord. And his attitude starts to, it starts to be talked about, doesn't it? And people are talking about David and they're talking about the courage that he has.
And the word gets back to Saul. I want us to think for a moment or two about David's persistence, his commitment and his courage because when he's brought to speak to Saul and Saul tells him, you could never fight that giant, Saul says, I fought lions and bears.
This giant's a piece of cake. I'm not afraid of him. I fought lions and bears with my bear hands. Why should I be afraid of him? I hope nobody asked me this question, but I'm going to ask you this question.
Would you face off against a lion or a bear for the sake of a sheep? Please don't ask me that question. Please don't ask me that question. Because I think if I saw the lion or the bear coming, I would show the lion and the bear a clean pair of heels, wouldn't you?
Not David. David had a charge. David had a responsibility. How dare his brother say, who did you leave that wee flock of sheep with in the wilderness? As if you don't even care for the sheep. How dare he say that about David?
David had risked his life for the sheep. He'd put his own life in danger for the sake of the sheep. He'd faced off against a lion and a bear, took him by the beard and slew him. It wasn't a high-cal rifle that he took him out with, it was up close and personal.
David wasn't afraid. Do we care for the sheep? If we get a responsibility, if we get a charge from the Lord, do we stick by it? David did. So when the time came that someone with courage was needed, there was someone of courage available because he had been committed and faithful in the little responsibilities.
What does the Scripture say? If you're faithful, if you're not faithful and little, who's going to give you responsibility for much? And those that are faithful and little will be given responsibility for much.
David did not consider his responsibility for his father's sheep. He didn't consider that a light thing, a small thing. As far as David was concerned, responsibility was responsibility. Can I say something to my younger friends here today?
Now please, don't just think that this is an old guy speaking, okay? My generation had its problems, okay? I realize that. My generation had its own peculiar problems, and I know that my generation really stressed out the generation before me.
I know that. I know that. I look back and I can see that I probably really caused them a lot of trouble in some ways. But I want to say something to the younger folks here today. You will be nothing for God unless you learn the meaning of commitment.
Now, there's no way, there is no way for me to sugarcoat that pill. You will be nothing for God if you don't learn commitment, and that can be commitment in little things. Now, I'm sorry if it sounds like an old guy banging on about people coming to meetings and stuff, but that's a good place to start with commitment to the assembly.
And we've already been encouraged about that. It's not the only place to begin when it comes to the issue of commitment, but I want to tell you, if you want to be useful for God. This is what Paul says to Timothy.
Show yourself approved. Study to show yourself approved. And if you want to have influence over the people of God, and I mean in a good way, and if you want God to be able to use you, you will have to demonstrate that in your life by making commitments, and the corollary, the flip side of commitment is sacrifice.
Often commitments mean making sacrifices. I was saying about when I was younger, I probably caused the older brothers in the assembly to be stressed out a little bit. One of the things that maybe I said to stress them, I do remember one time giving a wee word of ministry, and I was speaking about God wanting the first fruits of our life.
I don't think they like it when I said sometimes all we could do is give God the fag ends. You know what the fag ends are? Just the bit that's left over. I know you might use that word another way, but in our part of the world, the fag end is just what's left when you smoke the cigarette down, and there's just a wee bit left, and you stub it out.
That's the fag end. God wants the first fruits. He wants the best of our lives. He doesn't want the wee bit that's left over and no use to anybody. If you're going to be useful for God, you'll need to show the kind of commitment that David did so that when he had charge of his father's sheep, he kept the charge.
He kept the charge. His confidence is not in his own skill, but his confidence is in the fact that God will deliver him. He says, the Lord that delivered me out of the mouth of the lion, out of the paw of the bear.
I'm being very careful with my words because I don't want to get tongue tied and say something really silly. He said, he will deliver me. So David's confidence is not in the fact that he's got great skill with his sling.
He has got skill with his sling. There's no doubt about that. He must have been really, really good with the sling, but that's not where his confidence lies. His confidence lies in the fact that God is going to give him the victory.
So let's not put our confidence in our skill or inability. Just as David, he shunned Saul's armor. He said, this is not going to work for me. I'd be what other kings were, but this is not going to work for me.
He says, I know what I can do with God with just a sling and a stone. I don't want to labor the point. My time is just about gone. Let's not get distracted by the armory of the world. Let's not get distracted by that.
Let's remember that it's the Lord that delivers. And in David's case, he did it with a sling and a stone. That shows prudence on David's part. He knew that the armor wasn't going to work, and so he discarded it.
David's principles, he's faithful in little, and so he's charged with much. He respects the authority of Saul. Even though Saul is not a good king, he honors the king's position, and he honors the king's authority that has been given to him by God.
And even later on, as we were thinking earlier today, he serves Saul loyally, even when Saul is hostile towards him. And here's something that I want us to finish with. I want to leave us with this. David's principle was that God's name and God's people were more important than his own personal ambitions.
That's what he put first. And that would be a good place for us to finish, wouldn't it? And actually a good place for us to start, as we go away from this conference, to realize that the honor of God's name and the care and the upbuilding of God's people must always take precedence over any personal ambition that I might have, because personal ambition is of no value in the things of God.
Is there not a cause? Hannah said, for this child I pray. This child. I was going to say she didn't know what she was praying for. I think actually she did. I think she knew what she was praying for. Samuel, her son, says, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.
David, in chapter 20, he says, what is my sin? What is my iniquity? He's full of doubt at that point, but when he asks the question, is there not a cause, this is not a question asked out of doubt. This is a question that's asked out of incredulity.
Can no one see what I can see? It's a rhetorical question, isn't it? Of course there's a cause. There's a cause, my brother, my sister, there's a cause worth living for. There's a cause, should we be called to, worth dying for.
It is the cause of Christ. May God bless His Word.