“Slaying Your Giants”
Introduction:
Dr. Howard, from Australia was a man that preached very strongly on the subject of sin. After the service, a member of the church came to counsel with him in his office. "Dr. Howard," he said, "we don’t want you to talk as openly as you do about man’s guilt and corruption, because if our boys and girls hear you discussing that subject they will more easily become sinners. Call it a mistake if you will, but do not speak so plainly about sin. "The minister took down a small bottle and showing it to the visitor said, "You see that label? It says strychnine -- and underneath in bold, red letters the word ’Poison!’ Do you know, what you are asking me to do? You are suggesting that I change the label. Suppose I do, and paste over it the words, ’Peppermint’; don’t you see what might happen? Someone would use it, not knowing the danger involved, and would certainly die. So it is, too, with the matter of sin. The milder you make your label, the more dangerous you make your poison!"
I want you to know today of the danger and struggle that we all have with sin. Sin is something that we all deal with on a daily basis. We are in a spiritual war, and the Devil tries to tempt us fall into sin, because it is sin that separates from God. We all have different struggles that we face, and I want you to know today that those struggles are possible to overcome and conquer.
I do not know where you stand in your struggle with sin this morning. Perhaps today you come here with a guilty conscience for things that you have done. Perhaps you feel unworthy of the God that has been so merciful and good to you. Perhaps you feel overwhelmed and trapped by certain struggles that you have been dealing with. Maybe those struggles have been a part of your life for a long time, and you just cannot shake that habit. Sin is tough to remove, and impossible to overcome without the help of God. Perhaps today you come calloused, perhaps your sin has been something that you have dealt with for so long it doesn’t even phase you. Perhaps you are self-deceived and you have convinced yourself that your sins are not that big of a deal. Perhaps you feel that your struggles are not that huge and that they are just little sins, and that you are not nearly as bad as some people. Perhaps you feel that you are not really a big sinner, but I want you to know today that we all have sin that we are dealing with. Right now if we were to all write a list of sins that are a part of our lives currently we would probably cover a lot of ground and maybe be shocked by what we saw. I want you to know today that we are not bound to our sin; we are not any longer enslaved to our sin.
Sin really hurts, or at least this morning I hope that we are real enough and honest enough with ourselves to admit that sin happens in our lives. It is never acceptable and justifiable, but we are sinners saved by grace. This morning though I hope that your sin still bothers you. I hope you feel conviction when you sin. You see, it is when we think that we are all right, when we think that we have conquered our struggles that we are actually on a slippery slope. The Scripture says, “Let he who thinks he stand take heed lest, he falls.
This morning our sins are giants, and they are a real foe that we must overcome, a real obstacle. This morning I want to do some giant slaying.
Text: I Samuel 17:32-51
We may not like David, stand in battle against a giant like Goliath, but everywhere we turn we face a different giant. Giants at work, giants at home, giants in the world, giants in the church, and giants when we are alone. Our giants are our toughest battles. If you look honestly today, you will realize you have some battles you may need to deal with.
I. Our Giants Can Be Intimidating
For David and the people of Israel I cannot imagine how intimidating that 9-foot giant must have been. Goliath stood tall over everyone else and the odds were against anyone defeating Goliath in battle because he was well trained. Goliath was so large that his armor weighed 125 pounds alone. The text tells us that David was just a boy and he was probably not the biggest fellow in Israel, in fact Saul’s armor was too big for David to use. Going into battle against such odds and against such a strong enemy must have been intimidating.
We all have giants in our life that we are facing. The only difference is that our giants are not a physical thing, but rather are spiritual. Our giants are those things that stand in our way, those things that oppose us, the sins that we struggle with and deal with. If statistics that I have heard are accurate than there are some here really struggling to do what is right. Most likely we are all battling against certain struggles and sins. Your struggles may be different from the person next to you, but to you the sin you are wrestling with is a 9-foot tall giant that is very intimidating.
Sin intimidates me greatly. 1. Sin intimidates me because I know that the wages of sin is death, and I know that God has to deal with sin. 2. Sin is intimidating to me because I want to live a life pleasing to God and sin is what hinders me from being the person that I want to be and that God created me to be. 3. Sin is intimidating because of the way that all people think of sinners. I don’t want people to know that I am in a battle against a spiritual Goliath. My sins intimidate me and sometimes I am intimidated by sin because it seems that sometimes I am overwhelmed, that the odds are against me, and that I do not have a chance of winning the battle. The reality is sometimes I am even ashamed to let my brothers and sisters in Christ know I am in this great battle. I want people to think I am great, holy, righteous, my sin embarrasses me. But we all have those giants. What is yours this morning?
President Calvin Coolidge went to church, and afterwards was asked by a friend what the minister spoke on. “He preached on sin.” The friend asked what the preacher had to say about sin, and was told, “He’s against it.”...
Sin can be an intimidating thing because of the results and the consequences that come from it.
a. Our Giants May Mock Us
When Goliath saw little David coming into battle, he thought it was funny. He began to mock David and all the Israelites because they didn’t send the strongest warrior into battle. In fact each day that the armies were encamped Goliath came out and mocked and taunted the people.
Mocking is a useful tool in many arenas. Athletes are especially good at using this tool. They use it to intimidate their opponent in hopes that they will cower down. Often time the mocking gets into a players’ head and they don’t do as good as they could because they were intimated.
Sometimes I feel like that with my sin. The world and the Devil are trying to tell us that we cannot overcome sin. Some people say that you were born with tendencies towards certain sins, but God tells us that we can overcome sin. This idea leaves people feeling hopeless and bound in their sin. It leaves them with no sense of personal responsibility for their actions. Our sin mocks us; the Devil uses all the tools he can to convince us that we cannot win the battle. Especially when we are down, when we are low, and after we may have messed up, the Devil tries to make us drown in guilt to the point that we felt that we are hopeless and that there no way that God could ever forgive us. I want you to know today that there is no giant too big for the Lord to handle. There is nothing you have done that is too bad for God to forgive. Like Goliath mocked David, so sometimes we feel mocked by our struggles with sin, we feel low and down, but in the end we can have a victory.
b. Our Giants Seem Unconquerable
I would be willing to bet that nobody put their money on David to win that fight. Goliath was thought to be unconquerable, especially by David, who was not even a warrior. From everybody’s perspective Goliath had an easy victory. I would be willing to bet that Goliath had fought and killed much more fierce warriors than David. He was probably confident. David too was confident, because he had the Lord on his side.
Sometimes sin seems unconquerable. Paul even felt that way on occasions.
II Corinthians 12:8-9
Do you ever get the point in life where you think that you will never be able to overcome certain struggles in your life? Do those giants ever seem impossible to defeat? If you feel that way you are not alone. Sin is something that is very powerful, and we are tempted to give in. The Devil knows our weaknesses and struggles and wants us to give in, and he knows just how to tempt us. Perhaps today you giant is lying, maybe it is lust, maybe it is the way that you talk, or thoughts that go into your head, maybe it is a struggle to forgive or to treat people in a Christ-like way, maybe you struggle with faithfulness or commitment, whatever your giant is sometimes it seems unconquerable. Perhaps you read self-help books, perhaps you’ve at times joined a support group, you’ve tried prayer, study of the Word, removing hindrances from your life, counseling, or whatever it may be and that giant still keeps nagging you. It still stands there mocking you, the sin is still tempting to dive into. I want to tell you that you are not alone in your struggles. Today though you can defeat you giant.
c. Others Don’t Understand the Battle
When David went into battle, everyone thought he had no chance, so everyone thought h was crazy. No one could figure out why David would want to go to battle against Goliath. Everyone saw it as a suicide mission. David, however, saw Goliath mocking his people and knew that the Lord was with His people and he wasn’t going to let some Philistine trash his people. He figured if no one else would step up to the plate then he would. Nobody could understand David’s conviction and passion, and certainty that he would win the battle.
There have been many times that the world does not understand what it means to wrestle and battle with sin. When they hear that we struggle not to sin, the world thinks it isn’t that big of a deal and that we do not need to worry so much about it. Today I hope that you wrestle with the struggles that you have. I am not saying that I hope that you sin, because I know that we all do, but I hope that your sin is a burden to you. I hope that it bothers you. I hope it is a battle that you see worth fighting. The world doesn’t understand we care about the way we act and even the things that go on in our mind. The world does not understand why we care so much about overcoming sin. The world does not understand the standard we are called to. Perhaps the world does not understand the battle that we are in, maybe the do not understand why we would take the risk of going against such a strong opponent seeking to win. Maybe they see it as senseless and a waste of time and energy, but it is a battle worth fighting. We though are in a battle and our giants seem intimidating to us at times.
II. Our Giants Are Real Obstacles
There was a lot at stake with this little fight between David and Goliath. It was a winner take all event, it was a match to replace both armies fighting. One on one winner takes all. The people on the side of the losers would become the servants of the others. When this event took place the Philistines had invaded Israel, that had come pretty deep into their territory, and this battle was highly important from a strategic standpoint, because not much terrain would have been left between there and Israel’s capital Jerusalem.
To be honest I cannot believe that Saul would even allow David to fight Goliath with all that was at stake. If David lost the battle all Israel would be servants to the Philistines. Saul was convinced that the Lord would protect David, especially after hearing stories of David killing a lion and a bear. Goliath was a real obstacle for the people of Israel. These people were in their homeland, threatening to take them over and make them their servants.
I do not know what your giants are in life, I don’t know what giant is in your life now, but those giants are real obstacles to our lives. Sin is something we must always strive to overcome. I want you to know today that God’s ideal, what he intended was for a creation without sin. Sin is an obstacle to being what God intends for us to be.
A. Sin is an Obstacle to the World
"What’s wrong with the world?" a newspaper editorial once asked. G.K. Chesterton wrote in reply, "I am."
We live in a fallen world where our giants are a big part of our lives.
Sin is an obstacle to this world being what God intended for it to be. Sin is an obstacle to us reaching the world for Christ because the world does not understand our struggles with sin. They expect Christians to be flawless and our sin is an obstacle to reaching the world. God created the world and intended for it to be flawless, and if you look around you can see many of the things that happen are the result or the consequences of sin. Our giants are obstacles to the world being what God intended for it to be and as long as sin dominates the world, there will be problems.
B. Sin in an Obstacle to Families
Sin is also an obstacle to families being what God intended them to be. We live in a world where the family is broken down. It is a common thing to hear of families that are having problems of some sort. The reason for that is sin in the world. Our giants are great obstacles to things being the way that God intended them to be in the family.
C. Sin is an Obstacle to the Church
Four preachers met for a friendly gathering. During the conversation one preacher said, “Our people come to us and pour out their hears, confess certain sins and needs. Let’s do the same. Confession is good for the soul.” In due time all agree. One of them said that he had a problem with losing his temper on occasion. The second confessed to liking to smoke cigars and the third one confessed to liking golf so much that he would fake being sick so he could play on weekends.. When it came to the fourth one, he wouldn’t confess. The others pressed him saying, “Come now, we confessed ours. What is your secret or vice?” Finally he answered, “It is gossiping and I can hardly wait to get out of here.”
Well…sin is present in the church too. We should not be blind to the fact that the church is comprised of sinners, people like us who have real struggles to do what is right.
III. Our Giants Are Not Easily Defeated
I wonder what was going through Goliath’s mind as he saw David approach him. Not only did he see David as a youngin’ who did not look like he was rugged enough for battle, David didn’t have a sword or a shield. He came at him with a sling. The text tells us that David grabbed five smooth stones from a stream and proceeded towards Goliath. For David, he placed the stone in the sling and let loose and with one hit Goliath fell dead. Seems like a relatively easy battle, doesn’t it.
Giants however are not easily defeated. Goliath had been to battle many times and survived. He wasn’t easily defeated. He met his match however, in David. During this time it was a common tactic for instead of two armies duking it out in battle to let one representative from each side fight. David marched into battle against Goliath and won and it wasn’t because David was such a great warrior, but rather that the Lord was with him.
Our giants are not easily defeated. Most likely there are some here who have burdens and struggles that they have been trying to overcome for a long time and they just cannot do it. Our giants are not easily defeated.
I want you to know that while our giants are not easily defeated they can be with God’s help. We cannot overcome any struggle with sin on our own, without God’s help. There is a way out though. There is good news. The stone that we put in our sling is the power to defeat our giants. When David went into battle he claimed the promise of the Lord’s power to defeat Goliath. Today we are overmatched, we are the underdogs, and we have no chance. Our enemy is greater than we are, but the good news for us is that we can call on the one who is stronger. We have power to overcome our giants this morning.
Those giants that have intimated you a plagued you for so long can be removed. It doesn’t take a 10-step program.
Hebrews 12:1-2
The story of David and Goliath tells us that David approached a stream and picked out five smooth stones and put them into his Shepherd’s bag. Why he chose those particular five, I do not know.
That stone that rests in that sling of little David’s was the key to victory, and I want to let you in on a secret about the stones that rest in your sling. I picture that as David gathered the stones he looked down and carefully picked out the ones he thought would be the best. The ones he thought would fly the most accurate and with the most strength. Ones just right to fell a giant. The reality is there were good stones for battle and there were bad stones. David carefully selected the right ones. The right stones in the right hands with the right power could do anything. The wrong stones in the wrong hands with the wrong power could be a disaster. Many people go into the battle confidently like David, hoping to defeat the Giant. They approach the stream and they pick out their stones for their sling, but they don’t get the good ones. They just pick some. Some people pick stones to defeat the giants of self-help, of pop-psychology, of medications, of support groups, and all other means, but I want to tell you the right stones to pick out, the smooth one, the ones just right for dropping a giant.
A. The Stone of The Word of God Can Defeat the Giant
We are in a battle, but the victory is possible. We need to realize that victories first come in the training room and not in the playing field. Any athlete or coach will tell you that their success on the court or on the field was because of training. Those athletes no matter how skilled they are could not just jump in with no practice or training and expect to be a success. In the same way we are in a spiritual battle and many times we expect just to be able to jump right into the fray and be fine. The reality is before we can be a success in battle we must train and we must prepare. We must put on the armor of God. In that armor there is one weapon to use for the offensive against the Devil and His schemes, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
I am a sucker for a good war movie. Anything with blood and guts, mixed with some history in it, I love it. I especially love a good sword fight. I remember when I first watched the movie “Gladiator”, I was so impressed with the fight scenes. In that movie a Roman general becomes a slave and is forced to fight as a gladiator. He does well because he knows how to use his weapons. He has trained all his life. If he would have had no training he would have no hope of winning. That training served him well when his life was on the line. In the same way when we are in a spiritual battle we must train before we enter the battle. The Word of God is our weapon against sin and it is the stone that can defeat our giants. Apart from the Word of God we have no hope of knowing how to defeat our giants. No one goes into battle without knowing the enemy, and likewise, no one should enter a spiritual battle not knowing right from wrong. The Word of God tells us right from wrong. Many loose their battles because they fail to read and know what God expects of them. If you remember in the story of the temptation of Jesus, the Devil quoted Scripture to Jesus trying to tempt him to sin, but he took the Scripture out of context, and Jesus responded by quoting the Word of God. We can defeat our giants too with the stone of the Word of God.
B. The Stone of Prayer Can Defeat the Giant
If I were to kneel down and pick up a spiritual stone to defeat my spiritual giants of sin, I would want the stone of prayer.
C. The Stone of Jesus Can Defeat the Giant
I am six years older than my brother Shawn. Ever since I can remember we have fought like cats and dogs. I always saw it as my duty and privilege as an older brother to pick on my younger brothers. So both my brothers go the full torture I could give. There were times of me holding them down and tickling them until the got sick, there were the times of snapping them with towels, tying them up, using them as my wrestling dummies, and the list goes on. I used to really enjoy picking on them. One thing about the rules of being a big brother, I could pick on my brother all I wanted, but if anyone else messes with them, they would have to deal with me. I remember on one occasion someone had been picking on Shawn for a while, and I decided to intervene. This kid was a bully. Now, despite my physique now, it may shock you I wasn’t always this buff. I scared that kid so badly, that Shawn never had another problem again.
Well, we have a help like that, one that is more powerful than the giants we face, one who is better and stronger. His name is Jesus.
A young woman named Florence Chadwick attempted to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast in 1952 in an attempt to set a record for covering that distance. When she entered the water, a heavy fog had settled itself on the path before her. Blinded by fog, she became disoriented and discouraged and gave up. When she finally decided she couldn’t go on, her escorts in a boat helped her out of the water. The escorts feared to tell her the truth – Florence was less than 300 yards from the goal. Her only reply after learning how close she actually came was, ‘All I could see was hopeless.’ Her clouded vision kept her from victory.
Don’t give up, the battle is almost won, our goal is in sight, just take that stone in your sling and let loose and it is sure to defeat the mightiest of giants in your life. Don’t let your giants conquer you.
