Modern Truths From the Conflict of David and Goliath — Ian Paisley

Presenting the truth from the Word of God, this is the chapel platform originating from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. A vital factor in the spiritual growth of believers is the biblical preaching at the various chapel and worship services here.

Today's speaker is pastor of Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian Church in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Dr. Ian Paisley. His message was preached at Bible Conference on Thursday morning, April 4th, 1968.

His text is 1 Samuel, chapter 17, verses 38 to 51, and his message is titled, Modern Truths from the Conflict of David and Goliath.

David and Goliath: The Conflict in 1 Samuel 17

I want to turn your attention this morning to the seventeenth chapter of the first book of Samuel. The first book of Samuel at the chapter seventeen. This chapter records the story of the battle between Goliath of Gath and young David.

I am reading from verse thirty-eight, the thirty-eight verse of the seventeenth chapter of 1 Samuel. And Saul armed David with his armor, and he put a helmet of brass upon his head. Also he armed him with a coat of mail.

And David girded his sword upon his armor, and he said to go, but he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with thee, for I have not proved them. And David put them off him. And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, which he had even in a script.

And his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David, and the man that bare this shield went before him. When the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.

The Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with stains? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 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.

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 carcasses of the hosts 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 of 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.

And it came to pass when the Philistine arose and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took thence a stone and slung it and smote the Philistine in his forehead.

The stone sunk into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine and slew him. But there was no sword in the hand of David.

Therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of the sheath thereof and slew him and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

And God shall stamp with his own divine approval this reading from the infallible book, for his name's sake. Amen. Could we stand for prayer, please? Gracious Heavenly Father, as we turn once again to the scriptures of truth, we crave the enlightenment and the enablement of thy Holy Spirit.

Open our eyes this day to behold wondrous things out of thy Word. Lord, forbid that we should be hearers only. Grant that we may be doers of the great lessons that we shall learn from this passage of holy writ.

And grant that we will go out from this house today determined to stand in our place in the great battle which is the Lord's. So fill us with thy power and use us to thy glory, for Christ's sake. Amen.

If you have your Bible, I trust you will open it at this seventeenth chapter of the first book of Samuel. I want this morning to expound to you some of the great truths that lie upon the very surface of this precious portion of holy scripture.

You will notice the setting of this particular chapter. In verse one, there has been an invasion of the territory of Israel. That part that belonged to Judah had been invaded by the ancient enemies of Israel, the Philistines.

It is interesting to note that they invaded that particular portion of Israel which belonged to Judah. Judah, of course, is the royal tribe. Judah was appointed to lead the armies of Israel in their conquest.

And from Judah's tribe, Jesus Christ the Messiah was to come. For he is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And into this particular territory and heritage of Israel there came the invading armies of these usurpers, the Philistines.

It is not hard to draw the lesson for our day. The Lord's heritage today is despoiled by the usurping forces of the great adversaries of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have become so conditioned to this invasion and so conditioned to hearing the forces of the Philistines cry out in defiance of the truth of the gospel that the Church of Jesus Christ has become complacent.

My earnest prayer is that God will awaken each one of us to see how the forces that oppose us are, but that we might also lift up our eyes and see how powerful is our God who has gone by, who is delivering.

He shall yet deliver us. In every territory of the Lord's heritage today we have the invader entrenched, the usurping forces of the enemies of Jesus Christ, the pulpits of the Lamb, the multiplying of false prophets.

They have taken over the great institutions of learning, and today the desks of those particular places of obligation of the faith are used today as the sounding boards of infidelity and hatred of the truth of the gospel.

This is the day in which we live. The imputers, the usurpers, are seen in every hand. You will notice that the men of Israel gathered themselves together to stop this invasion, to resist the ascendancy of the Philistines and their sovereignty over Israel.

In verse 3, the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side. And there was between them a tension between the forces of the Philistines and the forces of God.

This is a day when men are attempting to blur the line of demarcation that divides God's people from the enemies of the gospel. Programs galore today to try and destroy the clear cuts of God from the enemies of the gospel.

And it is this business that we have got to face and resist in the name of the Lord. If any man be in Christ, saith the book, he is a new creation. All things have passed away, and behold, all things are become new.

And if I am a new creature in Jesus Christ, my company will be different company from the company of the haters of Jesus Christ. I will not be in the camp of those that deny His name and repudiate His claims and scorn His testimony and His teaching.

But I want you to notice that although the men of Saul's army took the separated position, they had a last for the fight. And alas, there are many who take the separated position, but when it comes to those to hand the enemy, they are all diligent in their stand for Jesus Christ.

They have no stomach for the conflict. You will notice that there came this great champion, this great bully, out of the camp of the Philistines, and this giant from Gath is, of course, a type of the Antichrist.

You will notice this number six that we were looking at last night in Nebuchadnezzar's image, you will notice it stamped also upon Goliath. His height was six cubits and a span. You will notice his spear's head weighed six hundred shackles of iron.

You will notice that he had six pieces of armor, specially mentioned, the helmet of brass upon his head, the coat of mail, the greaves of brass, the target of brass, the staff of his spear, or his spear, and then the sheath.

I want you to notice that there is no mention here of his sword. His sword is not mentioned here. Just six pieces of armor are mentioned here. The sword is not mentioned. You know why? Because God had written upon that sword the name of David, and Goliath simply carried the sword to the battle for his own destruction.

The Lord had given that sword, as we shall see, into the hands of David. So this is a type of the great Antichrist and the great anti-Christian system that today stands up in this land and in my land and openly defies the God of heaven and openly defies the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And we can hear today the defiant cry of the great bullies of the World Council of Churches. It is easy for them to raise their voices. They control the press media of the land. They control the great radio networks and television networks.

They control the finance. They control the institutions. They control the larger denominations that have apostatized. And so in their strength, in their financial, political, the God of heaven and those that have sworn allegiance to the King of kings and Lord of lords, I have heard their voice of defiance in my land.

They say that God is dead. I have heard their voice as they have ridiculed the miracles, as they have made thy virgin-born Savior a bastard child. I have heard their defiance as they have taken the Word of God and torn it asunder and panned and knifed the Scripture.

Fear, Dismay, and the Man for the Hour

And what has been the result of this defiance? Look what it says in verse 11. Even the separated people of God, even Saul and all Israel, heard the words of the Philistines. They were dismayfully afraid.

I have described the vast majority today of even God's own separated people. There is hand here in the hearts of the people of God. Instead of rising to the challenge, we fall under the dark shadow of satanic depression.

Many of God's people say, What is the use of the battle? What is the use of the struggle? We are defeated of victory. If you look down the chapter to verse 24, this here developed into absolute dismay.

And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were sore afraid. Today we have this dismay in the ranks of those that ought to be standing for the cause of the gospel. But I am glad that in the darkest hour of church history, God has an hour for the man and a man for the hour.

God has never left himself without a witness. And this school is a living testimony to that fact in this day of apostasy and declension. God has given us the great privilege of fellowshipping with those that will take their stand for the glorious truths of Jesus Christ.

And we upkeep it here. He is there with his sheep. He is doing his Father's business. And the man that God is going to use will be about his Father's business. No matter how vigno the task may be, no matter how isolated the place of service, no matter how insignificant the particular part in the vineyard, the man that God uses will be about his Father's business.

He will have had such a close relationship to Christ. He will have entered into Christ in sweet and blessed fellowship, so that he can share the words of his Master, who said, Wish ye not, I must be about my Father's business.

I want you to notice that the Father's business was not only the tending of the sheep, but the looking after the welfare of the brethren. And you know, every man that would engage in the battle for God must also have a heart and a love for the welfare of his brethren.

He must know how to fight, but he must know how to bless with the good things from the Word of God. Spurgeon once delivered a series of lectures called the All-Round Ministry. And he said the minister must be complete in his ministry.

And the passion and the fire for soul winning. And he said he must not only be an ardent soul winner with a zeal that burns with fire, but he must be earnest in the teaching of the Word. He must be obedient to the apostolic injunction pre-tide of season.

And he must know also what it is to fight the good fight of faith and to lay hold of eternal life. When I face up to the responsibilities of the Christian ministry, I cry out in distress, Holy things, but thank God our sufficiency is of the Lord.

And by the power of the Spirit of God, we can accomplish these things in the name of the Lord. And when he came to the battle, he heard the defiant voice of this giant. There was no fear in the heart of the man who had been about his father's business.

There was no fear in the heart of this young man who was doing the Father's will. And if you are walking in the dead, fear nobody. I thank God in my ministry, I often say at home, I fear neither man, woman, or devil.

I will not tell you which is the worst to fear. That is only by the way. But my friend, when you are doing God's will, there will be a fearlessness come upon you, a boldness that is begotten of the Lord.

This is not a physical thing. This is not something that is made up in a man's person. This is something that comes from God. That Jesus was betrayed. He stood and denied his Lord, cursing. But my, when he was filled with the Holy Ghost.

Enemies of the Gospel. We need this power today. The arm of life will fill us. Power of God. Hold to walk in the will of God. Hold to know the Word of God. With such power that we will be fearless of the enemies of the Gospel.

David Takes Up the Challenge

I want you to notice that David took up the challenge immediately. Thank God for those that are prepared to take up the challenge. Thank God for this school that has taken up the challenge of ecumenical evangelism.

And has faced these forces that would destroy pure and separated fundamentalist testimony to the truth of the Gospel. Here was a man who was prepared to take up the challenge. And immediately took up the challenge.

His motives were challenged by his eldest brother. And there always will be Eliabs who will come around. And they will look down their nose at you if you take a stand for God. And they will impute motives to you.

And they will suggest all sorts of things concerning your testimony, and your zeal, and your fire, and your zealousness for the Lord of Hosts. What did Eliab say? Look at this man Eliab. There are many modern Eliabs today.

He says, Why camest thou hither? And with whom hast thou left those pure sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart. For thou wert come down that thou mightest see the battle.

He accused David of being what he was. He accused David of being a spectator. And that is exactly what Eliab was. Just a spectator. And these fundamentalists that will not go into the battle. These separatists that will not fight the enemy.

That want to sit upon the fence. That want to sit in an armchair and view the conflict. This is exactly their attitude today in this evil hour. See these men that are fighting apostasy. They are just interested in a fight.

See that fellow Paisley? He loves the scrap. That is what they say about me. I want to tell you, friend, no man wants to live in the battle. It is no pleasure to me to know that my wife and my family could be attacked at any time.

And my children kidnapped. It does not help me to know that my church has been bombed. An attempt has been made to burn it to the ground. That my ministers have been beaten as they have preached the gospel.

No one wants to live in that situation. Every man of God wants to live at peace with those that are without as far as in them lies. But my friend, this is not a day for peace. This is a day for battle.

And I must be prepared for the sacrifices and the bitterness of the conflict. So Eliab imputes motives and says David is only a spectator. But David was no spectator. And then it came to Saul. Saul summons him before him.

Look what Saul says. He is another of these critics. He said to David, thou art not able to go. Saul himself would not go. He would not draw the sword himself. He was afraid and dismayed. Then he looks down his nose at David and he says to David, thou art not able to go.

That is what these men are saying about us. We are not able to go. We haven't got the equipment. We haven't got the talents. We haven't got the ability. But thank God we have got the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

And any man who has got this sword, not that he has mastered the truth, but the truth has mastered him, he is valuable for the battle. And then when David insisted and said he was able to go, look what Saul said.

Go and the Lord go with you. I will not be going with you, David. But the Lord can keep you company. I have had people who have said to me in my conflict, Ian, that's right, go into the battle. We are right behind you.

And when I looked over my shoulder, they were so far behind me I couldn't even see them. They said, the Lord go with you. And then he was very good, wasn't he, Saul? He said, David, I'll tell you what I'll do.

I'm not prepared to carry my own armor and wear it, but I'll make you a coat hanger for my armor. I'll let you carry my armor into the battle. So he put his helmet on David's head and he armed him with the coat of mail.

And if you turn over to verse 5, that's exactly the equipment that Goliath of Gath had. The helmet of brass and the coat of mail. And there are those who would tell us we have got to fight this battle on the same plane, on the same platform as our enemies.

The Word of God as the Weapon of Battle

I, Fram, this will court disaster and failure on the field of battle. The weapons of our warfare are not Arnold Fitts drilling down on the strongholds of the devil. I'm not going to try and match my wits against the wits of the apostasy.

I'm not going to try and match my skill against their skill. I have a wisdom that is divine. I have a weapon that is invincible. Last year when I was over here, I went on to Canada. And when I was in Nova Scotia, I was asked to go on a nationwide television interview with one of the leaders of the World Council of Churches in Canada, Professor Hardy of the United Church of Canada.

And when I accepted, certain brethren came to me and said, You'll have to be very careful. This is a very clever man, and he's a very dangerous man. You know, they tried to make me afraid. And I said, Well, I'm not going to try and battle my wit against his.

I'm going to use the Word of God. So when I sat down in the chair, I just brought out my sword. I always have it handy. And I just brought it out. And my, he blinked when he saw the Bible. So I got him on the wrong foot right away.

And I just hacked and hewed at that man with the Word of God. Twenty minutes, we had a break. He ran to the water tap to get a drink of water. Then he pulled what we call a coffin tax, the cigarettes out of his pocket.

And he started to smoke, and he wiped his forehead. And then he came back for another twenty minutes. They nearly had to carry him out at the end of the other twenty minutes. I just have the Word of God.

It's all I'm depending on. I've just got this book. That's all I have. That's all I have in my ministry. I have no gimmicks or stumps. I've just got the Bible. And friend, I'm convinced of today. I'm convinced the Word of God is a weapon that we've got to use.

Let's not depend on our own skills. Let's throw ourselves utter bankrupts at the foot of the cross and ask God to fill us with His power that we may be good soldiers of Jesus Christ. What did David do?

He put them off him. He repudiated them. He refused them. He said, I'm not going to have them. And what did he do? Look at the weapons that he took. He took his staff in his hand. That staff speaks to me of the presence of God.

Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. I must have God's presence. If the Lord's going with me to the battle, everything will be well. If I haven't God's presence, I dare not go. If thou go not with us, carry us not up hence.

Up be the man who has the abiding presence of the Lord with him in his ministry and his walk with God. Cherish the realization and the manifestation of the presence of God. And then he chose them five smooth stones out of the brook.

The living waters speak to me of the word of God. And those five smooth stones speak to me of the promises of God. I've got to take the Lord's promise with me. He didn't carry them in his hand. He put them in his shepherd.

And this word be hidden from God before we can use it to the confounding of the enemies of the gospel. A preacher once went to visit a woman who lay sick and dying, an old saint of God. And he lifted her well-marked Bible.

And he saw opposite many of the verses these two letters, T and P. So after he had read a portion of Scripture, he said to her, Why have you these letters opposite the verses in the Word? And she said, Sir, those are the verses I have tried and proved.

I've tried and proved. My, the word of God that's tried and proved will be a source of strength and will give us a victory in the day of battle. And then he took something else. He took a sling in his hand.

What was the sling for? To use the stone. And what do I need? I need the power of God to use the promises of God. If I'm going to battle, I need the presence of God and the promises of God and the power of God.

And if I've got this equipment, I can go confidently to the fight. And my, when the confrontation took place, you can hear all the spleen of the enemy. And my, when we go out to fight and the battle lines are going to be drawn, you'll see all the rage and fury of the enemies of the gospel.

You'll hear their voice of defiance. And you'll hear the curses of those that oppose the gospel. Verse 43, Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods. He said, Am I a dog? He described himself perfectly.

That's what he was. The apostle Paul says, Beware of dogs. Those are two-legged ones. And there's many of them barking today. He described himself perfectly. Now, what did David say? David said, This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand.

And he said something more. All of this assembly shall know. What shall they know? That the Lord saveth not this or that. It's not by human might nor power, but it's by my Spirit, saith the Lord. God is the sovereign of the armies of heaven.

The Sovereignty of God and the Lord's Victory

Our God is the living God. He considers the isles as a very little thing. And the nations are only a drop in a bucket to Him. The Lord can save us. And in this dark and apostate day, let's look up. For Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords.

And the battle is His. And He will give the enemy into our hands. I have often wondered over this story. Goliath of Gath was an old veteran of battles. He saw the sling in David's hand. He knew that David was going to make an attempt to use it.

And yet, he took no evasive action. I wonder why. Well, I believe we get the secret of that in the fact that the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin were very closely associated. And those that used the sling in Benjamin and the tribe of Benjamin, we read in the Scriptures, they could sling stones to a hare's breadth with the left hand.

And I believe that David had his sling in his left hand. And Goliath was waiting for him to change to the right hand. But before Goliath could even nod his head, the stone was in the air. And as Billy Sunday aptly put it, it hit him between the lamps and put him out for the count with a headache that aspirals couldn't cure.

And that was it. He was done. What did David do then? Did he say, well, it's all over. Many a fundamentalist, and when they get one victory, they quit. The bells are ringing. Billy Sunday said, when you hit the bull's eye, the bell certainly rings.

So it's ringing today. David ran, and he jumped from the Philistine. God give us grace to jump on these apostates and to take their own weapons and destroy them in the name of the Lord. The little boy in our country, the stories told of him.

And the teacher at school said to him, son, how many stones did David take to fight with Goliath? And the little boy replied, he took five stones. How many did he use? The little boy said he used one stone.

Then the teacher said, how many did he bring back? The little boy said without hesitation, five stones. Oh, said the teacher, you're wrong. He only brought four stones back. No, the little fellow replied.

He brought back the head of the giant with the other stone in it. So he brought back the five stones. You know what that is, friend? Being more than a conqueror. Going to the battle, winning a victory, and bringing all your ammunition home with you.

And that's what David did. God give us to be more than conquerors through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the encouragement of Thy Word. The enemies are all around us.

Mighty men around us are falling. Courage almost gone. O God, may we know Thy presence. May we know Thy promises. May we know Thy power. And may we be among those who shall stand against the Goliaths of this day.

And by the grace and help of Thy Spirit, be more than conquerors. Keep us, O God, faithful unto Thee. And Thou shalt give us the crown of life for Jesus' sake. Amen.