We live in ignoble times devoid of biblical masculinity. It’s more important than ever to train up the next generation of men to engage in the spiritual war and experience the victory found in Christ’s ranks. In this message, Chad Roach will give an urgent call to arms: we must prepare our boys to battle giants.
Well, it is good to be with you this morning. I'm actually going to just share a little picture of my clan here. These are our five and we've got number six coming in August of this year, so my wife and family didn't make it with us this time around to the conference, but it's a it's a joy to be here I love my my children and actually wrote this talk for my boys And so I crafted this because my desire is to see these boys your boys Christian boys all across this country ready to stand up, to lead, to sacrifice. So many men are shackled by sin. It's a travesty.
We're way down and this age in which we live cries out for men. I mean it's just if you can't hear that as you go out into our culture as you come to a conference like this as you go into your churches then I think you're not listening because we need men more than ever before and yet where are godly men? So that's my heart cry, is that God would give us godly men able to take down the giants in their life. But I will say that the scriptural truths that I hope to share today do apply to every person. So if you want to walk victorious in the Pilgrim Pathway, hopefully there will be something here for you today, man or woman, boy or girl.
Some of my illustrations will point to the young men in the room. But I know that every one of us have giants that we're looking to fight, giants to defeat. And I hope that every person leaves this room ready for spiritual combat, ready to grow in faith and experience the victory that the Spirit of God can give you in every area of your life. So let's turn to 1 Samuel 17 and kind of as we're migrating over there, I'm also going to kick us off with a word of prayer. So if you would, pray with me as we come before the Lord today.
God, we come before you and we know that what we seek only can come from your hand. We seek a godly generation of men, men who are willing to stand, men of faith, men of courage, men of conviction, men before whom the enemy trembles and not the other way around. And God we know that this isn't going to come by clever parenting. It's not going to come just by this talk or by anything but the Spirit of God moving in the hearts of pastors, fathers, boys, girls, father, we we know that our need is for You. And so we cry out for You.
We cry out for You to be here this morning in our midst and be with every mother and father here that goes home and for the next days, weeks, months, and years raises these godly men in their homes. So Father, we pray for this generation of men and we pray it now in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Okay, some of you may recognize 1 Samuel 17 as the story of David and Goliath. David and Goliath is one of the best known Bible stories.
A study once found that David and Goliath is actually the number two best known Bible story in the entire scripture. The crucifixion is actually number one. Number three is the birth of Christ. Number four is creation. Number five was the resurrection.
Number six was the flood. Those are the most popular Bible stories that people know. But before I tell you this story, I want you to know that there can be two problems with hearing very well-known Bible stories. And the first is that you can forget that in these well-known Bible stories, these are real events with real people. It really happened.
This isn't just a fictional work. It's not Sleeping Beauty, Lord of the Rings, Arabian Nights, or any of the fictitious, you know, Man versus Giant, or Man versus Dragon stories. These are historical accounts. This is a real story that we're going to read here. And second, as we forget the real history of the story, we are tender and prone to forget the lessons that we're supposed to learn from these stories.
1 Samuel 17 is supposed to do something. It's supposed to change something, it's supposed to challenge us to something, supposed to rebuke and comfort and hope for us as we dive into the scripture. All scripture is given by God for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and training in righteousness. Every one of these historical accounts is given to us for a special reason. So as we dive into the story today, hopefully we can put on a pair of new a new pair of glasses and we're going to ask what real thing does God want me to learn and what truth does he have for me right now as we read this.
So join me in reading the first three verses in 1 Samuel 17. Now the Philistines gathered their army together to battle and were gathered at Soka which belongs to Judah. They encamped between Soka and Ezekiah in Ephesimim. And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together and they encamped in the valley of Elah and drew up in battle array against the Philistines and the Philistines stood on a mountain on one side and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side with a valley between them. There's actually a few places in the Bible that give us such fine detail as this passage does.
I actually want to take a moment. I'm actually going to review with you a map of this place here. This is the actual aerial photography of the valley where this battle happened, okay? And you can see the different locations there. That's the side that the Philistines were on, on that far side of the valley.
On the near side of the valley here, you see where the Israelites were gathered up. And then back there in the corner, you see Gath, which was the very hometown of where Goliath was from. And so I just kind of want you to enter just for a moment into this scene Because this was a real place and as the Israelites were drawn up here They were facing a real giant whose hometown was just over yonder hill This was this was real Sometimes we like think of a hole and sort of like fast forward to the end of the story and we know but like Enter for a moment into this this was a very real problem that the Israelites were facing And I want to re-enter into this chapter here verses 4 through 11 and read to you the next part of this narrative. And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail.
And the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze, and he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels and a shield bearer went out before him. Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel and said to them, why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me.
If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.' And the Philistines said, I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together.' When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid." Wow, what a challenge, what a moment to be in. This word that the Bible uses here, dismayed, it's a Hebrew word. It's the word kathoth.
It means to be shattered, broken, to be terrified. The English translation might better be translated, scared out of their minds. This is the state of the people of Israel. I know this concept of scared out of your mind. When I was young, I was a naughty boy, and I had an older sister that I enjoyed scaring.
One night, it was dark. I thought I would give her a good scare. So I went into her room, hid in her closet, put on her robe backwards so the hands were coming out and the robe was over my face and she opened the door and I came out oh yeah And she screamed and she screamed until, like, no sound was coming out of her mouth, but she was still screaming. And it was a good scare. That was scared out of her mind.
I shouldn't have done it. I did get in trouble. Young men, don't do that. My sister at that point in time vowed that scaring would never be allowed in her house. She now has five children.
It's 25 years later and scaring is still not allowed in her house. So That was a generational scare. But this is what was going on with the Israelites. They were afraid. I'm gonna ask a boy in this room, if you're under the age of 15, can you tell me Why do you think the Israelites were afraid?
Anybody? Why? Yep. You got it. The number one reason I think is because Goliath was really, really big.
He was scary. He was scary. In fact, I want to show you a picture of what Goliath might have looked like. He is a big, big dude. This is what the scripture says.
He was six cubits and a span. Now, we believe that according to the normal measurement of a cubit being roughly, say, 18 inches, that Goliath would have probably been about nine feet, nine inches tall. Now, Matthew Henry thinks that a biblical cubit was actually closer to 21 inches, which means that Goliath could have been over 11 feet tall. But let's use the more conservative measurement of nine feet nine inches. And the Bible actually, in very detailed fashion, records the weight of his armor.
I'm not exactly sure why, but apparently the scripture finds it important for us to know the weight of Goliath's armor. His coat of mail probably weighed around 125 pounds, which is actually incidentally likely as much or maybe even more than David weighed. His helmet, sword, and leg greaves were not weighed, but probably weighed at least another 1 to 200 pounds. The tip of his spear was 15 to 18 pounds. Goliath himself would have been estimated to weigh at least 750 pounds, and so the total, including all of his armor, was over 1, 000 pounds.
Meanwhile, the height of an average Israeli man would have been five foot something, not very tall, and David was a youth. And here he is up against a massive half ton killing machine. And you've got to remember, this is a thousand BC. In this age of fighting, size was everything. Your ability to swing a sword or to throw a spear or to defend against a crushing blow was the difference between life and death.
This is before the era of fighting in which Smith and Wesson made all men equal, right? Size mattered in this moment. And Goliath wasn't actually, in fact, the biggest of the giants, just so you know. The Bible records that Og, king of Bashan, was close to nine cubits, around 13 feet tall. And just to give you a slight perspective, I went ahead and decided to compare what David versus Goliath versus Og would have looked like.
And as you can probably tell, I used AI to create that picture. This is not an actual historical drawing of the three of them together. If the three of them were ever together, that close together, it probably would have looked more like that. OK. But at any rate, OK, so you get the point.
Big, big giants. What's another reason that Israel would have been afraid? Israel was afraid because they were not strong and they were not good at beating giants. In fact, they weren't actually good at beating the Philistines at all for that matter. Just four chapters before, in 1 Samuel 13 verses 20, 22, we read that, now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel So it came to pass in the day of battle that there was neither sword nor spear found in any of the people that were With Saul and Jonathan but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found So we have a context here in which the entire army is essentially borderline unarmed, weaponless.
These were weaponless losers that couldn't get the victory over their opponents. It's something probably like a mismatch of, say, US Special Forces on one side and Falani Herdsmann from Nigeria on the other side, right? I think we all kind of know how that battle would go, right? Well, it's a similar story here. And here in the US, we don't really know what it's like to lose a battle.
We don't really understand what drawing up to a battle in which we're about to lose looks like. We really haven't lost a war in 100, 200 years of American history. We haven't even really had an attack on US soil since World War II. But in Israel, it's just the opposite. There was a whole generation of Israelite men that didn't even know what victory was.
And the reason I share all this with you is because I want to put yourself in David's shoes. And the reason is because I think we are in David's shoes. I have an important message for every man in this room, which is that you have a giant to fight, and I have a giant to fight. These aren't necessarily flesh and blood giants, but they are real nonetheless. Ephesians 6-12 states, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
And brothers, I think it's time that we wake up and realize that we have an enemy. We have giants. And it is a life and death battle with these giants. May we be awakened to these spiritual realities. May we know the hearts of our families and see in our minds the sweet, precious faces of our children and know that it is the enemy's desire to destroy those children.
He would love to pillage your home. He would love to rip the hearts of your children away from God. He hates what you're doing. You know, the future of our nation rests on godly men doing what God calls them to do. And we're running out of the reservoir of Christian character and common grace that we have as a nation.
The enemy is robbing us blind, and every day they gain ground in social, educational, cultural, and political institutions. This is the place in which we find ourselves. The church needs godly men. There's a crying need for elders and pastors. So one of the things I appreciate about this conference, I started coming to this conference about 22, 23 years ago, right when it first started in the early 2000s.
And one of the things I remember coming away was that I wanted to be an elder. And it was super clear in my mind ever since I was a very early teenage boy that it would be amazing to be an elder. And I don't really remember why, but I remember that at that conference there were men that stood up. It was Scott Brown. It was other pastors who I deeply respected and admired and they said it is a wonderful beautiful noble godly thing to be an elder in the church and the church needs godly men and That would be amazing to be that And that's what I walked away with is like that, that's what the real men do.
And it was ingrained in my mind. That's not to say that you're not a real man if you aren't an elder and that God doesn't have different callings. But it's just someone set that out as being beautiful. And someone set that out as being wonderful. And you know what?
That's a battle in our culture. It's a battle for any one of us to lift up the eyes of our attention away from the things that are right in front of us and to serve, to lead. That's why the Bible says if any man aspires to the office of a bishop, it is a good thing. But the devil would say it's not, and there's so many other cool things for a young man to do. So much money to be made, there's so much fame to be had, So many exciting things to be done.
But the battle's not just external, it's also internal. It's our own internal battles with sin and temptation. Hebrews 12, 4 says, you have not resisted yet to the bloodshed striving against sin. And we're called to do battle with our sins every one of us there's only two kinds of men men who are winning in that fight and men who are losing there's no such thing as a man not at war so I hope brothers that we can see and perceive this battle, these giants that we face. I like to take a moment and make this practical for some of the younger men in the room.
You know there are oftentimes areas of sin in our life that we struggle with for months, years, maybe even decades. And so I want to ask you, is there an area of your life that you would like to have victory over? Is there a besetting sin for you that threatens to derail your life and love for God, a habit that holds you back or weighs you down, keeps you from running the race with the victory that you know could be yours. I haven't met someone that didn't have some kind of a giant they were facing. I remember some of these giants from my younger years.
Honor of my mom was one of the great giants that I faced as a young teenager. We would argue I was dishonoring, we would fight, you know, my dad would have to come in and try to make some peace, correct me. I think I mentioned this in the business panel yesterday morning, but there was a moment where my mom came to my dad in a moment of exasperation and said, you know, I think it's your turn to raise your son because he's either going to be Martin Luther or Al Capone, and right now it's not looking good for Martin Luther. And this was a moment where I was struggling with this battle, and had not God worked in my life in a mighty way, that giant may have taken me out. Sometimes it's the giant of laziness, boys, we know this, and you know, sometimes our laziness is obvious.
Sometimes it's a little more sophisticated. Sometimes it's our social media habits, our desire for entertainment. Sometimes it's the cadence of an undisciplined life that holds us back from being a fruitful Christian in the way that God would call us to be. The giant of lust. James says that we want things that we do not have and so we lust.
When we lust we sin, we tear ourselves down, we tear others down as well. It all stems from this desire, this wonder inside of us, this longing for the things that we do not have It's coveting wanting striving Some of you older men in the room, maybe you struggle with fear or anxiousness, maybe you're not sleeping. Anxiety, fear, worry weigh you down. Maybe it's anxiousness over finances or work. Maybe it's your debt, the risk of losing your job, perhaps relational stress, perhaps it's colleagues at work, extended family issues, marriage issues.
Maybe you're trying to lose weight, get control over your health, overcome chronic illness. And Ladies, I would just say a word as well. I've seen so many times that this can be a thing for ladies, for fear. And then fear begets chronic illness and breaks your body down and you get caught in a cycle. And sometimes it's hard for you to battle this.
I don't really know the giant you may be facing in your own life, but it's pretty much a guarantee that there's something there. And the Lord promises that in the world we will have tribulation. That's a guarantee. Ever since Adam and Eve fell, we've been faced with a spiritual force that battles against our souls. But beloved brothers and sisters, let's not stay here because our story continues and this goes somewhere.
Let's look at verses 40 through the first part of 51 in this chapter. So we're going to start back up in verse 40 and we're going to take heart at the next part of this account. Then he that is David took his staff in his hand and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook and he put him in a shepherd's bag and a pouch which he had and his sling which was in his hand and he drew near to the Philistine. So the Philistine came and began drawing near to David and the man who bore the shield went before him and when the Philistine looked about and saw David he disdained him for he was only a youth ruddy and good-looking. So the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?
And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, Come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. Then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you.
And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistine to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, and that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all the assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands. So it was when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. Then David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, and he slung it, and he struck the Philistine in his forehead such that the stone sank into his forehead and he fell on his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him.
But there was no sword in the hand of David therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine Took his sword out and drew it out of his sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it Wow What a story What a story what an ending Actually just about a week and a half ago, I happened to be in France, and we were walking through the Louvre, where there's all this famous artwork, and there's this really famous painting of David coming back from the battle with Goliath, and he has the head of Goliath in one hand and the sword of Goliath draped over his shoulder on the other. It's a glorious painting. It's this glorious scene and you enter into that moment of victory and just a wonderful scene. Victory snatched from the gaping jaws of defeat and terror. And that's what I want for my son.
When I saw that picture, it was almost like I could see, like, God, would you show my son's face in that picture, because that's what I want for him. I want him to be victorious. I want him to conquer his battles and his enemies and to come back with the head of his enemy in his hand by God's grace. And it's funny because I was kind of imagining my son in the painting. I almost wonder if the painter did it as well because the painter in classic Renaissance painting style painted David as a long curly redhead and I thought now he probably wasn't going for historical accuracy I don't know if that was his boy that he thought there or like what But I guess that's the thing with Renaissance art is like you don't paint it You know everybody's like fair skinned and like they were from northern France or something But at any rate, let's let's dive into this text and let's learn a few things about overcoming giants I want to try to draw five lessons about overcoming giants and overcoming the evil one.
I think the first lesson we learn here is that we must have faith and speak the truth in the midst of battle. We must have faith and speak the truth in the midst of battle. What were the first words that came out of David's mouth when he saw Goliath and heard him give that challenge? It wasn't yikes, it wasn't uh-oh, he didn't run. Look at verse 26, For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?
How does that happen? How does a 125 pound boy that has been raising sheep his whole life, walk into the battle and see the taunt of a thousand pound warrior and he goes straight for the truth when the entire rest of the army is cowering in fear. I think it comes down to perspective. The size and veracity of our enemies is all a matter of perspective. As Christians, we must adopt the perspective of faith.
Our enemies may in fact be seven or eight times larger than us but they are so much smaller than God. A flea might be impressed by the size and the power of a grasshopper But a grasshopper is nothing when you compare it to a T-Rex, right? It's just it's a question of perspective. No one would look at a grasshopper in their right mind and a T-Rex standing right beside it and be afraid of the grasshopper, right? David could see his enemy in the perspective of his God and that's what faith does.
It overcomes. It changes our perspective of ourselves, our enemies, and of God. And sometimes in the midst of the battle with our enemies, we have to change our perspective. Don't skip by David's response too quickly. David didn't just have the right perspective, but he also had the faith to speak it.
And sometimes it's important for us to start with admitting vocally, perhaps even, that we are in a battle. We have to begin by confessing our sin by speaking and calling the giant for what it is and speaking the truth about who the giant is and who God is. And I actually encourage you this, if you are facing a besetting sin and a difficulty in your life, speak the truth out loud if needed to that situation. You can do this by writing down in a journal. You can do this by confessing to a family member or a pastor or brother in the Lord Sometimes it starts for me by going on a prayer walk and just speaking and praying out loud the thing and calling it What it is sometimes the moment you put something into words.
It becomes more clear I have the besetting sin of and fill in the blank and say it out loud, put a period on it, and let that stand, because that is the truth. But then it's not the only part of the truth. Then you have to come and you have to cry out to that temptation like David did. Sin, I will feed you to the birds of the air in the name of Jesus. In the name of the resurrected Lord of hosts who fights my battles with and for me, you oh sin will die today.
Start adopting the biblical language of battle against your sin. Number two, overcoming giants happens with humility, happens through humility. Feeding his father sheep in piety made David a greater warrior than all of Saul and his mighty men. David didn't waltz into the army camp with a big Captain D on his spandex suit with a cape flying behind him. That wasn't who David was.
He wasn't a superhero. He wasn't a big shot. He was a shepherd. He watched sheep all day. And I ask you this question, particularly young men.
Young men, Do you consider your life to be unimportant, perhaps a bit boring? Do you feel like you're hidden in the corner of your family or in some backward place where nothing exciting happens? Where no one would ever notice you? Where there's no opportunity for heroism? Well, in his quiet and humble way, God is building you into a warrior that can take down giants, even in that quiet place.
You see, training for Battle isn't about doing big, important things in front of lots of people. Training for battle is listening to your mother as she teaches you about diligence, or about honor, or about kindness. It's humbly receiving a trial without grumbling or complaining. It's speaking up to the person next to you on the airplane about Jesus. It's joyfully serving a single mom in your church when nobody is noticing.
Ninety percent of the time you'll have no clue that you are in a giant killing training program because it will feel like you're literally cleaning toilets Shoveling snow watching sheep or trying to stay awake reading your Bible in the morning But you know what that is giant killing University That is the training ground for God to do something in your life as he did with David's. Number three, you've got to build on the little victories. Build on your little victories. We didn't read this part of the narrative, but if you recall the story, Saul says to David, you can't fight Goliath, you don't have the armor. David says, yes, I can.
I'd be lions and I'd be bears, and I can beat this giant." See, David, he had a conviction that his prior victories had prepared him for this moment of battle. Has anybody in this room here played airsoft or paintball or something like that? Anybody played something like that? Okay, a couple guys. I remember the first time I went out into the airsoft field and I was weak in the knees, my butterfly's in my stomach, this thought that behind any tree, we have lots of trees and we're in the mountains of Colorado.
Behind any one of those ponderosa pine trees could pop out someone with a gun that was gonna shoot me and it was gonna hurt. If you played airsoft, we play in the summer and it's warm, so I'm playing in short-sleeved shirts. And one thing I know is if I get hit it's gonna hurt right and My body like all of a sudden like normal bodily functions start like breaking down, right? And you're like what's going on here like this is airsoft like I even know I'm coming out alive in airsoft I know it's a plastic BB like imagine a real battle, right? But you know, over time, as I played more and more with my boys, those symptoms will subside significantly.
And I was able to be more focused and more effective in the battle. Why? Because the more you fight And the more you win, the more God will give you strength to overcome your next battle. Faith develops muscle memory. We remember what God has done for us last week, last month, last year.
And that strengthens us for the next battle that we have to fight. So when God sends you a five foot bear of a giant in the next day, month, or year, remember that He may be preparing you for your nine foot fighting man giant later on. God uses the little trials, the little things to prepare you for the big things. And then, you know, there's a flip side to this, too. Sometimes you may be losing your little battles, and that just discourages you from thinking that you'll ever win.
I want to share with you a quote here from E.G. White. It is one of Satan's most successful devices to lead men to the commission of little sins, to blind the mind of the danger of little indulgences, little digressions from the plainly stated requirements of God. Many who would shrink with horror from some great transgression are led to look upon sin in little matters as of a trifling consequence. But those little sins eat out the life of godliness in the soul." Brothers, fight the little battles.
There's no battle that's too small to make your first stand against sin. And the little battles are so incredibly important. You know, when I was a teenage boy, around that time that I mentioned to you earlier, when my mom was so exasperated with me and I was exasperating and dishonoring the son. God used something in my life to deeply convict me of that dishonor. I had to stop and pause.
I wrote down two pages of a letter to my parents. It was essentially apology. I went and read that to them, and there were tears, and there was just, you know, there was years of building climax in my life of whether my life would submit to the Lord, to the Spirit, to my parents. And there was a very sweet and refreshing time of reconciliation. I just remember that, and like God was doing all these beautiful things as a result of just finding that one thing that was in front of me and facing that and coming to grips with the one sin that was hanging over me and weighing down.
And I remember that there was a period of deep and sweet spiritual fruitfulness in my life that followed that because of the one battle that was in front of me. And you know, I think that's so important that Wherever you are, whatever battles you face, find the one in front of you. By God's grace, fight the one battle in front of you, and then He will build upon that little victory after little victory, and soon you will fight the big giants and they will come down. Number four, we need to be courageous and run at our enemies. Look at verse 48.
So it was when the Philistine arose and came near and drew to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. David ran in the opposite direction from what everyone else was doing. He wasn't shrinking back in fear or indifference While sin was winning the day, while the giant was winning the day, while Goliath was making a mockery out of the Israelite army, he ran straight at the enemy to kill it. I want to give you young men an exhortation from 1 John 2 14. I've written to you young men because you're strong, because the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one.
The defining mark of a Christian man is that he is an overcomer. Not an avoider, not a compromiser, a settlement negotiator. He's an overcomer. It was an incredible sermon that I just read about recently from John Knox. This was right after he was released from something like 19 months as a galley slave in the French galleys during the 1500s.
It was in February of 1549. Knox obtained his release from these galleys due to a negotiation from the English king. He came to London and he was famously received by Archbishop Cranmer and he was appointed to preach in one of the churches. And he did. He preached a message on the 40-day fast that Christ had in the wilderness.
And I'm going to paraphrase what his message was, but he said that Jesus went and he started out his earthly ministry by picking a fight with his opponent and demonstrating that Satan would have nothing on him during the earthly ministry. He depleted himself of 40 days of food and energy, and he met Satan face to face, and Satan had nothing on him and would have nothing on him through that ministry. He met him on the front side and he completely subjugated his enemy. He did it by the power of the Spirit and the strength of the Word of God. That brothers is overcoming.
Jesus has given us an example of overcoming and that, oh my, it just filled my soul with strength because he is our example in this and if Jesus can face the devil off and he promises his power to us, then we too can face our enemies and get the victory. Fifthly, overcoming giants isn't superhero work. It's just being faithful. Who did David root his faith in? Look at his comment here.
For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? David rooted his faith in the Living God. And just as John Knox preached that sermon about the victory of Christ, we too must root our faith in Jesus Christ, the Living God. Have you heard the story of the Living God? Have you heard what He's done for you?
Have you heard Colossians 2.15 say of Christ at the cross that having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them in it. Jesus made a spectacle of Satan and all the demons at the cross. He brought down the strongest evil that the world will ever know. He used his broken body to overcome your sin and mine. He rose from the dead in complete victory over sin and death and the devil.
He now reigns as King. Jesus is our great hero. He's the strongest prince. He's the mightiest warrior. He is the son of David and yet David's Lord.
He is the great Lord and captain of the giant killer, David himself. And Jesus is a giant killer that's overcome every giant and in him he freely offers you the power to overcome every one of your giants too Because here's the problem. You know, we can't Just go out and remember the story of David and in our own strength and power kill these giants. We can't kill them without the power of Jesus Christ. We must have him.
We must plead for him to act powerfully in and through our lives and the lives of our sons and daughters. And I wouldn't be standing here if Jesus didn't overcome giants in my life. This is a must do, brothers and sisters. Our children must walk in the giant killing power of Jesus if they're going to have victory. So whatever giant may be standing in front of your life, your family's life, your children's lives, Jesus can kill it.
Ask him, plead with him, don't stop, don't give up, Ask Jesus for the victory. There's nothing that His power cannot do in your life and in the lives of your children. Take courage, be filled with hope and joy, because with Jesus' power, every giant can come down. First John 2, 14, I have written to you, young men, because you're strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the wicked one. Brothers, can you feel those verses?
Can you feel that power, that strength, that promise in you? Will you receive it? This is the Word of God for you. Will you receive it or will you reject it? There's only two things you can do with the Word.
There's no other option. You embrace this Word, you receive it, and you say, yes, by God's grace that's me. Or you say, no, I'm opting out of that giant killing. I'd like defeat before the hands of the enemy to be the narrative of my life. Is that what you want, brothers?
I don't think so. I don't think that's what you want. So I plead with you as I do with my own soul, don't grieve the Holy Spirit by living the corrupting weak life of the victory-less Christian. Don't tremble with the thousands to your left and to your right at the giants of our day. Maybe you're the only man in your church that thinks that way.
Maybe you're the only boy. Maybe you have no other friends. Maybe there's no one that feels like will support you in this. So be it. David had not a friend in the entire Israelite army when Goliath came with his boast.
No one else, I mean, his brothers were tearing him down. His brothers basically said, you twerp, you came out here just to see the battle. Go home. Go home. His brothers were no help.
They should have been a help. Hopefully you have some helpful brothers. Maybe if you're an older brother, you can take a little lesson there to encourage your younger brothers to face giants and not to discourage them. But regardless, you may be alone. But alone you are not alone.
For Christ can be with you, and I encourage you, brothers, take heart, pick up the sling and the five stones from the brook, and by the faith and the power of the risen Lord, go kill your giants." Let's pray. Father, I pray for the young men in this room. God, I pray that from this room would come a pack of giant killers filled with an indomitable faith in the risen Lord Jesus Christ. God, I pray that they would hate sin. I pray that every one of us would hate sin, that we would look at the enemy and know the truth of the enemy, an uncircumcised felistin that would defy the army of the living God.
Oh God, may we not see sin wrongly and believe the lie that our culture gives us, that sin is fun. Oh, that the life of self is this rewarding and heroic life. Oh God, may we see it for what it is and may we not cower in fear from these things. Oh Lord, give us this strength. We confess we are weak.
We confess that we do not have naturally within us the spirit of David. But, oh God, I pray that you would do it. I pray by the Holy Spirit of God that you would build up in these boys something that the enemy cannot tear down and take away. God robbed the strong man around us by the power of Jesus Christ. Robbed him through the faith of a generation of men who have the conviction of David flowing through their veins.
Oh God, I pray that every one of us might not get caught up in the deceitfulness of sin. Father, but I pray that we would have victory, freedom. Oh God, I pray for freedom, freedom from sin, freedom from bondage, from slavery, from chains. God, if there be besetting sins, oh God, I know the heavy weight of besetting sin in my own life, and God, if anyone here struggles with this besetting sin in their own life, Father, If there's a bondage and a slavery to these things, God, I pray that You would set them free. Break those chains, O God.
Rob the enemy of a generation so that we might see more Davids, more victory. Less Goliaths, Father. Do this in the powerful and strong name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.