This is a passage of scripture
that everybody knows a little bit about and nobody knows much
about. Can you believe that? Genesis chapter six, verse one. And it came to pass. Oh boy,
let me stop. You read that statement lots
of times in the Bible and it came to pass. You do not read. It just so happened. You do not read as luck would
have it. But you do read many, many, many
times and it came to pass. Why? Because it was ordained
to come to pass. It was decreed to come to pass. It didn't just come to pass on
its own. Somebody brought it to pass, and it was God. It came
to pass. When men began to multiply on
the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the
sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and
they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said,
my spirit shall not always strive with man for that he also is
flesh. Yet his days shall be in 120
years. There were giants in the earth
in those days. And also after that, when the
sons of God came in under the daughters of men and they bear
children to them, the same became mighty men, which were of old
men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it
repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth and it
grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy
man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man
and beast and the creeping thing. and the fowls of the air, for
it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. We'll stop with those eight verses.
This is here in verse eight. This is the first time you find
the word grace in the Bible. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And by the way, he never found
grace in the sense that he was looking for it. He found grace
in the sense that God sovereignly chose him and bestowed grace
upon him. We're not going to preach about
Noah this morning, but I wanted to read down through that verse
eight. And most of you know, these are
the conditions existing, uh, before the great flood. And I
do not wish to delve into the various difficulties of this
passage. And there are more than two or
three actually. But I will mention two things before we move on. The debate over what kind of
relationship produced the giants. We read in verse four, there
were giants in the earth in those days. Well, how did that come
about? We do know this apart from sin,
they'd never have existed. They're always spoken of as in
the negative sense as being against God and his people, giants in
the earth. In those days, many have believed
that the sons of God referred to here were angels, which cohabited
with the daughters of men and produce giants. Others insist that the sons of
God here are believers and the daughters of men are unbelievers
that mix and produce giants. I'm not going into all that.
The other thing I want to mention before we move on is the matter
in verse six of the Lord's repenting. Understand the Lord does not
and cannot repent in the same sense that you and I must repent. First Samuel 15, 29, the Lord
is not a man that he should repent. It does not mean here in verse
six, regret of any kind to any degree on God's part. The word
here simply means A sigh, a sigh of distress and weariness. God has had enough. It's time
for judgment and judgment comes in the form of a universal flood. But I want us to consider a principle
this morning and we'll take the thought from verse four. There
were giants in the earth in those days. Later in this same verse,
they are described as mighty men and men of renown giants. Now, if you want to read into
that, that these were fellows that were, uh, 10 feet tall, that's fine with me.
That's okay. But that's not really my interest.
In the giants is their physical size. But as I look this up,
there are three Hebrew words, according to Strong's concordance
that are used in the old Testament for the word giants. And the
first word means a bully, a tyrant. It suggests the activity of intruding
and dominating forbidden territory. The devil is a giant. It's what
he does, intrudes, dominates, forbidden territory. The second
word means powerful, mighty, strong. The devil is a giant. And the
third word means an invigorating force to animate and to stimulate. The devil is a giant. For those who contend for the
free will of fallen man, they are denying the power of our
adversary, the devil. and don't even know it. They listen to these empty-headed
preachers that tell people they ought to just make a decision,
turn their life around. You can't turn your life around
any more than you can fly to the moon. That's God's work. That's God's work. But the devil
is a giant. He's a giant. There's a principle
here that concerns every one of us, every child of God, a principle. And that is, we
have two natures. We are the sons of God by regeneration,
and we are the daughters of men, naturally speaking. Concerning
the first as sons of God, 1 John 3, 1 behold, what manner of love
the father had bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. That's the blessed, blessed side.
But then as humanity chosen, redeemed as part of the
bride of Christ, to whom we should subject ourselves daily. as our
husband, there's a problem with us simply because we are also
the daughters of men that will not subject themselves
to Christ and to that relationship. And these two sons of God and
daughters of men produce giants. And we're not talking about 10
foot tall people. We're talking about intruders into forbidden
territory. We're talking about powerful,
mighty, strong. We're talking about an invigorating
force to motivate and stimulate the sons of God and the daughters
of men come together and produce giants, giants, contrary. to living in peace. Because of
these giants, there is a constant warfare between spirit and flesh
in every single one of God's children. Now we might as well just say
that plainly. We love the Lord at the same time we love our
own flesh. We love God's way. and we despise
God's way. We love sin and we hate sin. That's a predicament. Paul said
in Romans 7, he said, there's a heart in me that loves God,
but there's a giant in me that don't. The things that I would do that
I know is right to do and I ought to do, and I have it in my heart
to do. I wind up not doing it. And he said, there's those things
that I know very, very well that I ought not do. And I wind up
doing it. Giants, giants. I'm in a war
with myself is what he's saying. And that's what we can all say.
And it's because of the giants in the earth, the giants in my
mind, in my heart, in my words, in my thoughts, in my emotions. What are some of these giants?
What do they do? Well, the first thing they do,
they always fight against God. Giants do that in the Bible. That's their game. Unbelief is a giant. Sure is. This giant of unbelief has you
every day that you live struggling and striving for God's approval. But believing on Christ that
we are accepted of God in him ends that struggle. If you can really believe that
the Lord Jesus Christ is not lying to us about what he said
in this book, you can rest in him. You'll never do good enough to
rest in yourself. You'll always come up short. That's why Christ never said
you make the grade and then rest. He said, you come unto me and
rest. Big difference. So unbelief is
a giant that needs slaying in all our hearts this morning.
Unbelief is a giant. Let's try to get simple with
it. If I ask you here this morning, how many believes that this Bible
is the word of God? Probably every one of you. would
raise your hand yes if i ask how many of you believe
that every word of it is divinely inspired true and accurate probably
every one of you would raise your hand if i ask do you believe
what the bible says about those that believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, that they have everlasting life and shall never perish,
you'd say, oh yes, I believe that. If I ask you, do you believe
Romans 10, 13? For whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. You'd say, oh yes, I believe
that. If I ask you, are you one of
those? You'll say, I hope so. I hope so. I'm not sure. This is God's word we're talking
about. If it was a letter from the IRS,
you'd believe what it said. This is God's word. If I ask you, is water wet? You'll
not say, well, I'm not sure, I think it probably is. No, you'll
say, absolutely, water is wet. If I ask you, is grass green,
you'll not say, well, I think it is, I'm not real sure. You'll
say, absolutely, grass is green. If I ask you, do you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and everything that he said, You say, absolutely, I believe
it with all my heart. I don't always act as if I believe
it, but I do believe it with all my heart. Well, now let me
ask you this question. What else did Christ say you
have to do in order to have everlasting life? Nothing. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Not get saved, but be saved. There's a big difference. If you take a can of paint and
paint your house orange, I hope you don't. But when you're finished, it's
not going to get orange. It's going to be orange. Huh? When Christ, our Lord said from
the cross, It is finished. I've conquered. I've accomplished. It's done. It is finished. And
all who believe it can now get saved. No, all who believe it
shall be saved. Believing is not the cause. Believing is the effect. God
hadn't already done his thing, you never would do yours. He's
first. He takes the initiative. You don't jump in the water and
then decide I'm going to get wet. No, if you've jumped in
the water, you're wet. Thou shalt be wet already. We're talking about unbelief.
We're talking about taking God at his word. Unbelief is a giant. Sure is. Then secondly, fear is a giant. Fear of the future. What's going to happen tomorrow?
What's going to happen in November when we go to the polls? This news media will drive you
nuts. I'm telling you. They don't believe in God. You
do. They don't trust in God. We do. God could kill the whole bunch.
The one's right on top of the list before November. And I won't mind if he does. Fear is a giant, fear of the
future. There's fear for family. There's fear for a generation,
a young generation now. As an old man, I can say this,
there's fear for a generation of young adults that have no
ambition, whatever. except to swallow every hellish
fashion and fad that this God hating world throws at us. Why do I need to coat my lungs
with nicotine? Why do I need to pickle my body
with alcohol? Why do I need to fry my brain
with drugs? And why do you need it? Why do I need a ring in my nose? Or in my private parts? So you're
crazy. Yeah, I know. I know. Is this
world crazy or what? Oh, yes. What we all need is to be overtaken
and overwhelmed with God in our lives. We fear for our health. We fear
for our finances. We fear for our families. We
fear for the future. Well, concern is a good thing. But outright fear, I'll tell
you what it is. For God's child, outright fear
is slamming the door in God's face. He said, fear not, fear not,
fear not 365 times in the Bible. That's one for every day of the
year. Do you know that? Fear not. We're dumber than the dumbest
bird God ever created. We're weaker than the weakest
bird God ever created. Oh, yes. Listen to this. Listen to what he said in Matthew
6 about that. Behold the fowls of the air.
That's the birds now. For they sow not. They don't
go out and break up ground, plant seed. Neither do they reap nor
gather in the barns, but your heavenly father feedeth them. Are you not much better than
they? He feeds them. How's he do it? Well, he might,
he might let you see that good looking bag of bird seed at Walmart
and buy it with your hard earned money and go home, put it in
the bird feeder. But he has trees and he has plants
and he has seeds and he has worms in the ground. He feeds the birds. And then this is the Lord Jesus
Christ speaking. Your heavenly father feedeth
them. Are you not much better than they? They're not made in
the image of God. You are. Which of you by taking
thought can add one cubit under his stature? Now, boy, when I was young, I
thought I was short, I was puny, I was the runt in my class. And I thought if I had some shoes that the heels were a little
thicker, it'd make me look taller. That was a real plan, wasn't
it? It didn't much work. Couldn't afford the shoes, first
of all. And why take ye thought for raiment? Why ain't gonna worry about what
you can wear? I'm telling you, we are so blessed. Get ready to go somewhere and
you ladies say, I don't know what in the world I'm gonna wear.
That's what my wife says. And you'd have to have a crowbar
to get one more hanger. in that closet. Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow. They toil not. They don't have
a job. They're unemployed. Neither do they spend. And yet
I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one of these lilies of the field. Wherefore hath God so
clothed the grass of the field? which is today and tomorrow is
cast into the oven, shall ye not much more clothe you, O ye
of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat, or what shall we drink? or with withal shall
we be clothed? For all these things do the Gentiles
seek. That means that's not Gentiles
versus Jews. That meaning of Gentiles there
is unbelievers. For all these things do the unbelievers
seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth
that ye have need of all these things. Now here's the secret.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you. But know we're
so smart. We can do a better job with our
lives than the Lord can. I don't think so. He gives peace. You can't find it yourself. He
gives contentment. You can't find it yourself. You have to spend everything
you can possibly accumulate and make and beg or borrow to try
to be happy. And then live on working to make
more money, to buy whatever the next new trinket is that comes
along. See, that's how we are. Mm-mm. Then one of these days you're
going to lay down and die, leave it for a bunch of young'uns to
cuss over until they die. What's the point? We're like a squirrel in a cage,
running on the wheel 90 miles an hour, 24-7, and going nowhere. Wakes up in the morning still
in the cage. What's the point? I want to tell you, if we don't
seek God in this hour, there's no way out. There's no way out. No wonder so many drink themselves
to death, dope themselves to death, put a gun to their head,
jump off of bridges. They've no hope. That's the trouble. And except you look to God, you've
no hope either. Your intelligence will never
preserve you. Your friends, your influence, your bank account, nothing, nothing
will do. But God, we've got crime. We've got chaos. We've got killing. We've got hatred. We've got taxes. Don't you love that word? We've
got stress, we've got depression, we've got nerve pills, and we've
got a bunch of God-hating millionaires bidding for the White House.
What are we going to do? I'm going to trust the Lord.
I'm going to keep believing He's
on the throne. I know He is. I'm going to keep on striving
to honor Him and His word. Oh my, not but one thing to do, let
go, let go, let go and grab ahold of God. Seek him day and night. There's giants in the earth and you're not a giant killer. I said, there's giants in the
earth, in your life, in your mind, in your heart. They're
giants and you're not a giant killer. I've had people tell me through
the years and I freeze every time I hear somebody say it.
As soon as I get straightened out, when pray tell will that
be? When will you ever get straightened
out? Two steps forward, three steps
back. That's the score about every
day. You'll get straightened out when
the undertaker lays you out on the slab. That's about all the straightening
out there is for us. And until the Holy ghost, the
spirit of God puts you under house arrest. And you're not allowed to go
anywhere. The Psalmist said, I am shut
up. I cannot come forth. That's Psalm 88, eight. Oh, Dr. Caldwell used to preach
a message on that Psalm 88, eight. I am shut up and I cannot come
forth until God shuts you up. There's no hope. You're too busy
running races. Flying over the moon to hear
God until God shuts you up. I can do nothing. I can't fix
myself. I can't fix my problems. I'm hopeless in myself. And until
God shuts you up and his Holy Spirit has you communing with
him and with your own soul. until he brings you to start
asking the question from your heart. And the only question
you have is why, God, have you not already put a wretch like
me in hell? And you ought to ask that every
day. My sister, a retired schoolteacher,
taught hundreds of kids in her career of, I guess, I don't know,
probably about 40 years. What do you think, Margie? I
guess. How many? Thirty-three years. Hundreds of students. And she's
told me, you try not to show favoritism, but she said there is a handful.
A very few that I've kept up with, stayed in contact with, follow their life and their accomplishments
and their success in life and what they do. And she didn't mean this in a
wrong way, but the rest of them are just sort of like stray animals. You don't know and maybe don't
even really care like you should what's become of most of them.
Well, I said that to say this, God's elect, God's church are
a handful that he showed favoritism. He's not an equal opportunity
God. He shows favoritism to his own. Paul says he loved us, chose us in Christ before the
foundation of the world, washed us in his own blood. And 2 Timothy
1.9 says, has given us eternal life, which was given us in Christ
before the world began. Yeah, fear is a giant and we're
not giant killers. Christ is the giant killer. Get
a hold of that. You need to quit believing you
can and start believing he did. How do giants die? Here we go,
and I'll be through. You'll never kill one. You'll
never get him. How do giants die? Well, you
ought to read 1 Samuel 17 pretty often. and meditate on it. David had three older brothers
in Saul's army, big boys, very handsome, very admirable in uniform. They were something. And they
were out there on the battlefield with King Saul. They were really something positionally. But they were weak. They were
like us. They were not giant killers.
And old Goliath, the Philistine giant, was ranting and raving
on a daily basis, 40 days in a row he did it, mocking God,
cursing Israel. And those boys in uniform couldn't
do a thing. Even their king, Saul, wouldn't
lift a finger to confront Goliath. And Goliath would holler every
day and say, send me out your champion, your main man, your
toughest one. Send me out your champion. And they would whisper what we
would, but we don't have one. Nobody here can face that giant.
But one day, one day, little David came walking into
the camp and he heard Goliath boasting and he saw the silence of his
brethren. He said, what in the blankety
blank is going on here? Who is that? uncircumcised Philistine,
that he should defy the armies of the living God. I can imagine David said, I've
never smelled hell so strong in all my life. That's reading
between the lines. He'd spent many a night as a
lad with his father's sheep alone out in the night, in the quietness
and in the dangers, hearing the wolves howl, protecting the sheep. And he had done that with the
blessing of God and smelled the aroma of heaven
many a night. He knew the difference, but he
says to his brothers, This whole situation smells like hell. And you nicey nice religious
boys in your uniforms marked in God we trust. You look like
hell. You're not trusting God. You're
just dodging bullets is about all. This Bible teaches that the church
of Jesus Christ is the church militant. We're not supposed
to just cow down and build walls around us, hoping the devil won't
get in. He'll get in. He'll get in. We'll vote him in. No, here's what we're to do. Ephesians 6, having your loins girt about
with truth. Believe this book, having on the breastplate of
righteousness, not yours, but Christ's breastplate of your
righteousness be made out of cardboard. Devil throw a rock
through it, cut your heart out. The breastplate of righteousness,
Christ's righteousness. And your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. Can't walk around barefooted
on tiptoes trying to face the devil, oh no. Get a hold of this
gospel of peace, gospel of Jesus Christ. And above all, taking
the shield of faith, which is the gift of God, wherewith ye
shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And
take the helmet of salvation. You can't ride a motorcycle without
a helmet, except in South Carolina. Take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Pray
in all ways with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and
watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Having our loins girt, Paul said
in Corinthians, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but
mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. The only
way to fight hell in America is on our knees. The only way
to fight hell in the church is on our knees. The only way to
fight hell in your family is on our knees. And the only way
to fight hell in your individual life is on your knees. The giant killer has come and
we're believing in him. So are there not still giants
in the earth? Yes, but I'm not taking them all. I'm waiting
for him. I'm going to the giant killer
without him with about David went out then, and his brother said, Now, you
just mind your own business. Don't listen to that racket across
the valley. This is none of your concern.
You're not even in uniform like we are. That's good, nice, old-fashioned,
fundamental. Western North Carolina religion. This gets you uniform. That's all you did. No. David
did something about it. He's the giant killer. And when they went home, I'm
about done, but not quite. When they went home, read your Bible. They went home
with David, little David, totin' Goliath's head. It's in there. Blood dripping
from the neck, sloshing all over his legs, feet. It was a bloody
mess. Walking into Jerusalem. Here's
the procession. The army's coming home. Everybody's
uniform is still nice and clean because they hadn't lifted a
finger. But who's this kid with blood
all over him, toting somebody's head? The women start singing, Saul
hath slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands. He's the giant killer. He's the
champion Israel never knew they had. He's the champion some of
you don't know that you have. He can do the job. But no, we'd rather march around
in uniform. Let Goliath cuss. Assuming there's no answer, there
is an answer. As Jesse sent his son, God sent
his son. And as David bruised Goliath's
head, Christ bruised Satan's head. As David came marching home saying,
It is finished. Christ said with a loud voice,
the blood dripping from his body. It is finished. There's giants in the earth. There's giants in the earth.
And I'm telling you, we don't need counseling seminars or rehab. We need the giant killer. We
need the giant killer. Thanks be to God who giveth us
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me tell you
something. I won't quit with this. I was
just thinking about this one. There's a class of men in this part of
the country that the society kind of frowns on because they love game roosters. And I'm going to tell you why
they love them. A game rooster will fight till
there's not but one left standing. He won't stop while the other
one's still limping. Can't move very fast. Oh, no.
He's still on his feet, limping or not. He won't stop till there's
not but one left standing. We're at a chicken fight now,
if y'all didn't know. Christ our Lord was thrown into
the ring with the devil and all the demons of hell and a God-hating
humanity all against him. It's a bloody mess. And when he cried, it is finished. What was he saying? He's the
only one left standing. That's why we love him. That's
why we preach his gospel. That's why we rest in him this
morning. That's why there's no hope for you in anything or anyone
else. But the Lord Jesus Christ, he's
the only hope any of us have. He's the giant killer. He's the
giant killer. Amen.