Living Faith Conquers Giants

James 2, let's pray. Father, I pray that You would help us in our weakness. Help me in my weakness.

Lord, I'm asking You to speak. Lord, we want to hear that voice resonate. We're handling the Word of God.

Such a responsibility to preach it. Preach the Word of God. That's the exhortation that we're given.

And the admonition in season and out of season. And I pray, Lord, You would help me to say from Your Word the kinds of things that I should say, that You want me to say, that will be beneficial for Your people. I pray it in Christ's name, Amen.

Okay, James 2, verse 14 and following. Now, brethren, I plan to kind of be here for a little bit. Craig, where are you going in November? Are you hunting? Or are you going to Michigan? So I think I preached three consecutive Sundays in November.

And you know what? They're probably all going to be from here. I don't want to go through this any too fast. And as I told you this before, I've got to use James as a springboard to other places, because James by himself is killing me.

Maybe that's just my own lack of spirituality. But I need more Paul in this. I just need to use James to kind of go some other places.

And I did a message a couple years back over in the UK that some of the thoughts from there are going to resonate with what I want to say today. So if you've heard that, I just ask you to hear me again. But James 2, verse 14 through 26.

Let me tell you something. There are four places in your New Testament that deal with faith more than any other place. There are four places in your New Testaments where you get the word faith and believe with such a concentration, such repetitive use.

It comes at you just in machine gun fashion. Do you know where those four places are? You can probably guess the first one right off. Where? Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11 is one of the places. Romans, like the last seven verses of chapter 3 going through chapter 4 and then the first two of chapter 5, there's a string there. Actually, if you're going to do Hebrews 11, you want to include the last couple verses of chapter 10.

The other place is Galatians 3. And then here. So if we're going to learn about faith, those would be the places where you want to go. And we're going to look more at this in the weeks ahead, but there obviously is a faith that Jesus, you know, the classic text is John chapter 2, Jesus didn't commit Himself to these people that were believing in Him.

And there are many verses we can look at to see that there is a faith that doesn't save. And here, each one of them deals with different nuances of faith. Here, it is as much as anywhere, it deals with a dead faith.

There's a living faith. There's a dead faith. And where works fit in.

What I want you to do is just notice it. Every time faith comes up, every time belief comes up, watch here, let's read this. Verse 14, What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can that faith save him? Answer, what's he obviously looking for? No, it cannot.

So, there is a faith that doesn't save. If you know your Bibles, you already know that's a reality. But if there's any place that that truth gets driven home, it's right here.

There is a faith that doesn't save. That ought to concern us. Because probably most everybody in this room claims to have faith.

So, verse 15, If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? Again, another rhetorical. You've got a question mark at the end of verse 16. Obviously, it's no good.

So also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Some people say that a dead faith can save. Some of these non-Lordship guys want to argue dead faith is still faith and it still saves.

That is not the point at all that he is making here. He is not saying, because the whole point at the end of 14 is can that faith save him? And the obvious answer he's looking for is no, it cannot save him. So, dead faith is a non-saving faith.

Verse 17, so also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Workless faith is dead. What matters is faith working through love.

That's what we find in Galatians. Someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works.

You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe and shudder.

Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless or dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? Let me just say something to you. You know all four of these places that I told you are the places in Scripture you want to go to where there is an emphasis on faith unlike any other place. You know what's interesting about all four of those places? They all talk about Abraham.

Each one of them. And there's a good reason for that. We'll look at that in the future too.

Verse 22, you see that faith was active along with his works. And faith was completed by his works. And the Scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.

And he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Verse 25, in the same way was not also Rahab.

Another interesting thing. Two out of the four of these places in Scripture tell us about Rahab. Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way.

Verse 26, for as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. Now you know what? When I look at this, it's like I feel like James, I want to know more. What he's obviously telling us is that, notice verse 19, you believe that God is one, you do well.

Even the demons believe in shudder. So believing in the existence of the divine reality doesn't necessarily mean that you believe in a way that will do you any good. That's obviously what's being said there.

See, there's a place where Jesus says, seeing they do not see. And when I look at this, I recognize that the object of our faith, get this, the object of our faith is not the factuality of the Gospel. That by itself clearly, you can have right doctrine.

You can believe the right things. The demons believe the right things. And see, he's telling us that if you've got the faith that saves, there's going to be works attached to this.

But see, I want to park somewhere in the middle. I want to say, what is it that's going on in a person's mind and a person's heart that takes a person to produce the action, the deeds that the other guy doesn't have being produced in his life? You see, the guy that has the right doctrine and believes like demons believe, well, he's got a belief system. He's got things he believes.

He may even strongly believe that he's got a certain doctrinal position. He may be able to argue his positions on things. But what is the difference? We recognize the guy that's got the genuine saving faith, it's that faith is going to be vindicated by the fact that there's going to be works attached to it.

But what takes the one guy to the place where all of a sudden works exude from him? Because there's a difference. Something different is happening in the one over against the other. And James doesn't really focus in on this.

He doesn't key in on this. And I want to. The fact is, I can see the factuality and not really see.

Jesus says, they see without seeing. And so you can see the factuality. You can see the doctrine and not see.

And see if you don't see, then the works aren't produced. You can see and then you can see. And the person that really sees, something happens to them.

There's a deeper scene that produces the works. And so here's the thing, I ask myself, what produces the deeper scene? What takes the guy over the threshold or the sister? Well, how do you get there? What is it that happens? And brethren, we know our Bibles. You know what? Paul says, the unbeliever.

And the unbeliever, folks, the unbeliever is basically a guy with a dead faith. With a demon faith. Well, he's a guy with a sword of faith.

Do you know what happens to the unbeliever when they cross the threshold? Paul tells us, the veil is removed. Ooh, what's that all about? Listen to this. If our Gospel is veiled, it's veiled to those who are perishing.

And obviously somebody with dead faith is perishing. Somebody with a faith without works is perishing. Can that faith save him? No, obviously it can't.

In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. And there in 2 Corinthians, if you go to v. 6, God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Here's the thing, the real seeing, the seeing that produces the real tangible... Show me your faith.

Without your works, I'll show you mine by my works. That kind of faith that we can show to people because it's backed up, it's buttressed by these works and these deeds. Brethren, do you recognize this? This faith, that faith, arises from suddenly like you're in darkness and the light comes on.

God says, let there be light. And what do you see? You can't get away from this. Mark this down.

The person that produces works has seen the glory. You cannot get away from that. You can know doctrine.

You can know the systematic theology and you can argue election all day long, but I'll tell you this, the thing that sets a person on fire to live for Christ is when they've seen the glory. You can't get away from it. And brethren, what you need to recognize is faith.

This true faith arises from what is real. You recognize there is a glory that is there. The person can't see it.

Why? Because his eyes are blinded to it. There's a veil. The glory's there.

You don't bring the glory to the table, folks. It's already there. And brethren, I'll tell you, don't you feel that? One of the things that we detest about our lostness is when we saw no beauty and no glory in the God of Scripture and in His Son.

But brethren, that's the kind of thing. It seems obvious that what makes my belief actually saving is when the mind is enlightened to this divine beauty, this divine glory. People have got to come face to face with the glory, with that beauty, with the awe of the divine being.

See, this is the thing. Over in Hebrews, it says it is this conviction of things that are not seen. It's like there is a Christ.

There is this Messiah, the Savior, who we haven't seen. We haven't viewed this with our physical eyes. And yet, we've somehow beheld the glory and we feel it.

We know it. We have spiritual sensors. You know what? If you back up just a little bit in 2 Corinthians, it says as we behold the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed.

Brethren, I'll tell you this, if you're not able to behold the glory, there's no transformation. It's the beholding of glory. Look, the guy's walking along and he goes and sells everything that he has so that he can get the treasure.

Why? Because he's beheld the glory of it. If he looks down there and he sees this thing in the ground, to him, it's no different than dirt. It's a useless thing.

He's not going to go sell all that he has. Brethren, this is what sets it off. It's being convinced and convicted of the glory.

Now, as I was thinking about this, I thought, you know, right now, I'm not going to track down Abraham or track down Rahab. There's an episode that happens in our Old Testaments. And you know the story.

There's 12 spies. Two of them saw the glory. And 10 did not.

And I want to take you there. I want to walk through this. Because, brethren, what I'm really after here is that we get a sense of what sets true faith off from dead faith.

Living faith. The faith that has works. What's the difference? And I'm going to argue all the way through dealing with these passages.

What sets it off is what really will unleash you to do deeds that are pleasing to the Lord is when you are swept away by the glory. Then it causes such things to happen in you that will be evident. Where you can say, show me your faith without that.

I'm going to show you my faith with this. Because there's something you can show. You know what? Faith is something that can be shown.

And when you find a person that's beheld the glory, you can see. I mean, suddenly they light up. Suddenly it's all together there.

It goes way beyond the facts. But okay, here's one of the great Old Testament examples. Two men who see, ten who don't.

Let's go to Numbers 13. Now right here at the beginning, yes, I'm going to read a fair amount of Scripture. Don't drop out.

Don't bail out. Don't let your mind wander towards the meal afterwards. Because there's a narrative here.

This is real life. I mean, I hope you all do recognize that the New Testament says that these things that are recorded back here are for our instruction. Right? Upon whom the ends of the earth have come, the ends of the world.

It's for us. It's for our instruction. It's for our hope.

It's for our encouragement. These things have been preserved. That is one of the main reasons why God has preserved the Old Testament and handed it over to the New Testament church.

I mean, we're under a new covenant. Why not just have the New Testament? Well, one of the primary reasons is because what's in the Old Testament is God's dealing with His people. There's so much true about God.

And God doesn't change. And so what we see and how we see men, there's nothing new under the sun. There's nothing new as far as Adam's offspring.

And okay, look at this. Numbers 13, verse 1. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, send men to spy out the land of Canaan. Now, I want to stop right there.

You recognize that Moses did not dream up the idea of sending the spies into the promised land. Now I want to emphasize that because, let me ask you this, was it necessary to the taking of Canaan to spy out the land first? This wasn't like they sent the Green Beret special forces in there to plant a bunch of booby traps and blow up the giants before the main forces came in. Like we might do.

You know, send some special forces in ahead of time to kind of prep and soften up the enemy. That's not what was happening here. God sends them in for one reason.

Go, you see, we walk by faith, not by sight. And if there's anything that ought to jump out at you here, it is that God wanted their sight full of the reality of what was in there. Because sight tests faith, does it not? And so if you think about was it really necessary? Yes and no.

So, okay, send men to spy out the land of Canaan. Now, you want to get this, which I'm giving to the people of Israel. Okay, you've got a promise.

God says before they go in there and spy out anything, I'm giving that. Hasn't God... Brethren, God was promising that land all the way back in Abraham's day. That was a promise.

I'm going to give it. God has given His Word. You can know that right at the beginning.

Should that somehow affect what they see when they go in there? You would think that that thought would be in the back of their minds all the time or in the front of their minds. That it would just capture everything that they see. You know, you see something in there? God's given it to us.

You see that? God's given it to us. You see that? God's given it to us. But just remember, that is the promise upon which this is built.

So, go to verse 17. Moses sent them to spy out the land, just like God had said, and said to them, Go, verse 18, and see. You see what they're doing? They're seeing.

See what the land is. He wants them to see whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak. He wants them to see whether they're few or many.

He wants them to see whether the land they dwell in is good or bad. Whether the cities they dwell in are camps. You know, camps.

You can think about a camp. You go in there and you look. Is it just a bunch of guys living in tents? Or is it strongholds? Like they've got walled cities like Jericho, and they've got these defenses.

Whether the land is rich or poor, whether there are trees or not, be of good courage. And you know what? In light of verse 1, you would have every reason to believe that they can be of good courage. Bring some of the fruit of the land.

Verse 21, So they went up, they spied out the land. Verse 22, They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron. Now I'm going to talk to you about giants, because giants have a certain impact on the site.

Ahimon, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. Verse 23, They came to the valley of Eshgal and cut down from their branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them.

They also brought some pomegranates and figs. At the end of forty days, they returned from spying out the land. Verse 26, They came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel.

They brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed the fruit of the land. Verse 27, They told him, We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey.

Well, that's exactly what God had always said. He was going to lead them into a land that flowed with milk and honey. And they found it to be exactly that.

They found it to be so fruitful and so rich. And up till now, we've spied it out. We saw what it is.

God has given us this promise. And brethren, the next word in verse 28, However, I don't know how that bounces off your ear. Some of your Bibles may say, Nevertheless, or notwithstanding.

I don't know, when you read your Bible, does language like that ever provoke you? However, God's given us this promise. The land is a goodly land. However, I mean, yes, we've been commanded to go in there.

God said He'd be with us. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong. The cities are fortified and very large.

Besides, we saw the descendants of Enoch there. Brethren, sometimes you get the feeling, among professed Christians, it's almost like doubting and fearing are an acceptable state of believers. Almost like a necessary state of believers.

Yes, God's glory is here. Yes, we've seen God work all these miracles as He led us out of Egypt and He brought these plagues upon Pharaoh. Yes, we've seen all that.

Yes, He's given us a promise that He's going to give this land to us. Yes, all of that is right. It's a goodly land.

However, does anybody stop and say, what? Has faith left the field? Where are the champions who just say, we've got to be done with these howevers? Sinful sight. Brethren, I'll tell you, has sinful sight triumphed? And these things are done for our sake? This is recorded for us. You know what? Unbelief is always so doubtful.

However, do you know how much money we have in the account? Faith ought to triumph here, but doubters... Faith ought to triumph here. And the truth is, doubters ought to be put to shame here. But instead, unbelief is always so full of these doubtful howevers.

However, the people who dwell in the land are strong. The cities are fortified and very large. Besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.

Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Canaanites. But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able. Did you get that? Verse 31, then the men who had gone up with him said, we are not able.

Brethren, that is often what distinguishes. Do you think the ten guys believed that God was real? That God was one? Like James talks about. They believed that.

But you see where it comes? It comes in the work. It comes in what we're willing to do. It comes in what we're willing to press ahead with.

This is where the substance of faith is found. We're able? We're well able. No, we're not.

We're not able to go up against the people. They're stronger than we are. Was that true? Yeah.

But in the end, what does that have to do with it? What does that have to do with faith? You see, that has to do with sight. Verse 32, they brought to the people of Israel bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, the land through which we have gone to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people that we saw in it are great height.

There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak. And so, what they say here is, you know those guys that are talked about all the way back before the flood? Those guys are in there. The sons of Anak who come from the Nephilim.

We seem to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seem to them. And I kind of stop right there and say, how did they know that? Now, they can know we felt like grasshoppers when we walked next to these guys are monsters, these guys are giants, but how did they know that the giants felt like they were grasshoppers to them? I mean, were they just conjecturing that that was probably the case? Or did, I mean, I wonder, did they discuss it? Did they have some dialogue with the giants while they were in there and the giants were mocking them and laughing? You know, you've probably seen giants on a movie or TV. You know, they got these deep baritone voice.

You can imagine them laughing at them. Like, look how small they are. You've seen the thing with David and Goliath acted out.

Does the giant ever have this high, squeaky voice? It's how you got this deep baritone voice, right? They're making him the manly man, the man of all men, the giant Goliath. And, you know, he's laughing at David. Ho, ho, ho, ho.

You know, this small guy over here. But you wonder how they knew that. And we know the story.

The people went to grumbling. Oh, would that we had died in the wilderness. He had brought us up here to die at the hand of giants.

We should have just died out there in the wilderness. Let's all go back to Egypt. It's going to be far better for us there.

And everything was good there. And you know what typically happened? Moses and Aaron, they fell on their face. And this is basically where we're at when we come to Numbers 14, verse six.

Now you got Joshua and Caleb here. They were among those who spied out the land. They tore their clothes.

Verse seven, and said, the land we pass through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, notice this. He'll bring us into this land and give it to us.

A land that flows with milk and honey. Verse nine, only do not rebel against the Lord. Don't fear the people of the land.

They are bred for us. Did you hear what the other guy said? The other guy said back in chapter 13 and verse 32, it's a land that devours its inhabitants. Joshua and Caleb look at that and they say, what? A land that devours its inhabitants? Don't you know God is with us? These guys will be bred for us when we go in there.

Their protection is removed from them. The Lord is with us. You see, when you see a glory in the Lord, you see the power, you see the might, you see the awe, you see the magnificence of Him.

Brethren, then you're unshaken. These men recognize the God of all gods is our God and that God is with us and so do not fear them. Then all the congregation said to stone them.

The glory of the Lord appeared. Verse 11, the Lord said, how long will this people despise me? You see, that's really the issue. When we will not rise up and follow where God calls us to go, what we're actually doing is despising Him.

This is no humility. Oh, we are so weak. No, not when God says He'll be with you.

Then when you don't advance, it is rebellion, not humility. Okay, verse 21, truly as I live and as the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness and yet have put me to the test these 10 times and have not obeyed my voice shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers and none of those who despise me shall see it. Now go to verse 28.

Say to them as I live, declares the Lord, what you've said in my hearing I will do to you. Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. Verse 30, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

And you go to 1436, and the men whom Moses sent to spile to land who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land, the men who brought up a bad report of the land died by plague before the Lord. Now you think about this. Can you see it? Think about the 12.

And you got Joshua and you got Caleb there. And Caleb is somewhat of a spokesman. But you think about it, in the midst of this panic, suddenly, like a great warrior, what happens? Caleb stands in the midst.

Can you see him there? He's separating with no hesitation. He says, let's go for it. It's like he doesn't even hear the other guys.

It's all a bunch of nonsense. We gotta go in there. We can do it.

The other men are saying, those 10 men will be eaten alive. The land devours everybody. Caleb hardly even hears it.

He's like, let's go at once. Let's go in there. It's a great land.

Are there giants? Are there fortified cities? Brethren, all you have to do is ask yourself, you want God to come across as a great God? You want Him to come across as a puny God? What kind of people do you think He'd put in there if He said, look, you guys are gonna go in there, you guys are gonna get the victory, and you're not gonna get the victory by your own strength. You're gonna get the victory by me. And brethren, that is exactly the way, you know what, the gates of hell are not gonna prevail against us.

But that is not in our own might. That is not in our own wisdom. That is not in our own power.

That is in the power of God. That is in the power that is unleashed upon the church with the giving of the Spirit of God in this missionary spirit. Brethren, we walk in the power of another.

Without Christ, you can't do anything. And the reality is right here, it hits us in the face about what's real, about faith. And if God is gonna put Himself forth as this great God, especially giving us things in the Old Testament that are for our admonition, our instruction, for our sake, what do you want? Do you want God going up against butterflies in the Old Testament? What He does is He sends His people in there with giants in there.

That ought to help us. That's for our instruction. That is good.

Brothers and sisters, what else would we imagine that God is gonna do if He desires to put His own power on display and give us an account millennia later that is gonna be for your encouragement? And brethren, what you need to recognize is faith. You can see it in people. Faith always reverses the matter.

These people are saying that land in there devours people. The guy with faith says, we're gonna devour them. You see, there's a reversal there.

Why? Not in our own strength and wisdom. It is because our God is with us and He's given us such promises. Brethren, I just say this.

It's like when you really start thinking about this account, the thing I wanna jump out at you is it's real. It's not a fairy tale. We know a lot of fairy tale stuff about giants.

This isn't that. This giants, brethren, giants, yes, they grip our imagination. But the thing is there were giants back then and God recorded it.

Like He wants us to know it. He put giants in there. He's obviously in control of everything that happens in this world.

He put giants in there and He wants us to know there were giants in there and He wants the spies to go in there and find out there's giants in there. He wants us to know today for our instruction. Numbers 13.22, God wants us to know about Ahimon, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak.

And if you go to Numbers 13.33, there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak who come from the Nephilim. Now, brethren, in our fairy tales, in our stories, in the books we read, in the fiction we read, where have you come across giants? Jack and the Beanstalk? Don't they call it Jack the Giant Slayer? But where else do you find them? Where have you found them? Come on, most of you have read Tolkien. You've read C.S. Lewis.

But you know, basically you've got these giants that come out of all sorts of our giant despair. Is it even Bunyan got that kind of thing? Yeah, some of us know about Gulliver's Travels but Chronicles of Narnia have them. And you start looking at all the different, you know, Hinduism, you find them, the Norse fairy tales and folklore and the Celtic mythology, Greeks.

They got these, and you know, you've seen some of the pictures. Sometimes they're one-eyed, sometimes they got horns and stuff. But brethren, the thing about this, this is not legend.

Nephilim, or sometimes they're called Eemim, Anakim, Zanzumim. You come across those words sometimes when you're reading through and it's like, who are these guys? And some are famous. Goliath is the most famous of all of them.

Because we had David and Goliath. And so anytime you have, you know, the huge thing against the small thing or the, you know, the huge team against the small, you obviously get this, I mean, it's a colloquial expression to talk about Goliath. Og, he's one of the big, what do we know about Og? We know he was defeated by the Israelites, but what was it that stuck out especially that Moses liked to record for us? You remember he had an iron bed? And the thing was like, you know, when you do all the figuring, it's like 13 and a half feet long.

Remember that giant that had six fingers and six toes on each? Remember that guy? Anyways, this is real stuff. And what I think is really interesting is as I got thinking about all this, I thought these guys are of the Nephilim. How'd they get there? Because the Nephilim, Moses specifically tells us were there before the flood.

And God wiped out everybody except for eight. He wiped all the Nephilim out. And you know what I find interesting too, is why does Moses even tell us about, have you ever thought about it? When you go back and read that account, listen to this, the Nephilim were on the earth in those days, those days that were leading up to the flood, and also afterward.

Now that's interesting. How'd they get there afterward? They must have come from Noah somehow. Or unless this whole thing about the sons of God doing things with the women, we don't know all the details.

This is kind of mystery with this stuff, but when the sons of God came into the daughters of man, they bore children to them. They were the mighty men. The Septuagint right there says gigantes, who were of old, the men of renown.

And so it's in that context, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great, and every intention of the thoughts of the heart, only evil continued. But I just find it very interesting that Moses would tell us, God's going to wipe out the world. Why doesn't He just tell us that it's all full of evil? Every imagination, thoughts of their hearts, only evil continues.

Why didn't He just tell us that? Why does He have to actually say these Nephilim were there? Just a very interesting thing for Him to add. The Lord regretted He'd made man, it grieved Him. I'll blot out man whom I have created.

The earth is filled with violence. Behold, I will destroy them from the earth. It's like in the pre-flood wickedness and violence.

Moses wants us to know, you know who was in there that was kind of heading up the violence? These Nephilim. They were in there. Nephilim is Hebrew.

It means to fall. And I read Calvin on this. There's a lot of different theories.

Some think that it's got to do with the fact that they're fallen. The Septuagint calls them earth-born. They're like animals or demons.

They're just an earthy type. Some felt like men fell down before them because they were so big. Or men's expressions fell before them because they were so scary.

You've got all sorts of stuff that people said about this. But, you know what? C.S. Lewis imagines good giants. But the Bible does not.

You never find a good giant in the Bible. Every giant mentioned in the Bible is bad. It's like every giant in the Scriptures is an emblem of what man can do.

What man at his mightiest can look like. The strength man can have. But the fact is, they're always an enemy of God's people.

Always. Goliath. You know some of these names.

Goliath was figured to be... I mean, you start working the span out. He was 9 foot 9 inches tall. You get some other names that pop out.

Ishbi, Banab, Sath, Siphi, Lami. And Christians, here's the thing. We don't want to gloss over the reality of giants.

Why? Because giants play an important role in the biblical story. Particularly in relation to the occupation of the promised land. And that's huge.

You know why it's huge? Because there's no piece of property in all the Bible more promised than this land. And there's giants in there. That's the thing.

And brethren, I'll tell you this. If there's something to provoke you, that however, I hope would provoke you that we already dealt with before. But let me give you another thing to provoke you.

I hope it provokes you. Later, 40 years later, after they don't go in, God confines them to the wilderness and all the dead bodies accumulate out there. Once they're ready to go back in, just Joshua and Caleb of that generation are left alive.

Moses comes back and he says this. They're just getting ready to go in. He reminds them of the fact that these giants are in there.

And listen to what he says. "...a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know..." And listen to this, "...and of whom you have heard it said, who can stand before the sons of Anak?" Brethren, think with me. There is actually a proverb in Israel.

Moses takes for granted that they all had heard and knew about. Who can stand before the sons of Anak? Brethren, I have to think that Caleb and Joshua were just as provoked by that saying. Can you imagine them? 40 years? This kind of proverb is being spoken so much that Moses can assume that everybody in Israel knows and it has resonated.

There's something awful about this. There's something absolutely insulting about this. How does a proverb like that become commonplace with the people of God who have God Almighty in their midst? Something about that ought to resonate with us.

It's like the guy that walks around all the time. It's like there's this thing out there that's impossible for us. There's this thing out there we can't do.

There's a country out there that's closed. There's this, that, or the other thing. It just becomes commonplace expression among the people of God who have God Almighty as their God.

Brethren, can you imagine the scene there? Ten men pathetically are announcing the promised land. Yeah, the one that God promised to Abraham. Well, we're not able.

We're going to be swallowed up. Anakim. Don't you know the giants are in there? You can imagine Caleb and Joshua, they're just assessing the whole scene.

They're looking at this whole thing. This is where the substance of faith is tested. They look at the ten.

Like what are you guys saying? They look at each other in unbelief. Maybe they glanced over at Moses. Like what is Moses saying? Moses is the one that told us that God's going to give us this land.

What is he thinking? I'm turning to the crowd that can hardly contain themselves. We can go in there. We need to go in there at once.

Crying out, so what? I mean, what is the fact that we are grasshoppers to those guys even matter? What does it matter when you compare the giants against us? Why does that even matter? Why does that even come into the equation? Brethren, have you noticed this in the church? That those people that trust in a really big God and His strength, they tend to be baffled. Absolutely baffled by the practical atheism that is exuded by many in the church. Brethren, so what? So what? If God told us to go take the land, brethren, it is absolutely irrelevant if we're grasshoppers.

It's absolutely irrelevant that we're as strong as grasshoppers, or we look like grasshoppers. What does that matter? That absolutely doesn't matter at all. God's glory demands what? That we trust Him and we run into that land immediately.

And you know what the beauty is? Grasshoppers can't boast before the Lord when they get the victory. And so you recognize God did that. Brethren, do you recognize where I'm going with this? This is what James is talking, this is the thing I'm talking about.

How do we get the kind of works that Joshua and Caleb are wanting to advance, advance, advance, let's go. And what is it that separates from the guys that are saying, no, no, no, we can't go, we can't go, we'll be eaten up. What is it? Well, these guys saw glory.

That's the thing, that's what I'm getting at. The other guys recognized many facts about God. They saw the pillar of light, the pillar of fire, the pillar of cloud.

They saw the manna coming down. They knew the Red Sea split open. Brethren, they knew a bunch of facts.

They knew a bunch of stuff about God. But do you know what really separates between the faith that doesn't act and doesn't do these deeds and doesn't advance, and the one that does? It's you see the glory of God. They recognize, wow, our God is great.

What does it matter for grasshoppers? Brethren, the real comparison in all of this is not whether we're grasshoppers and whether these guys are big. I used to think about the warfare. I was thinking about this.

I was thinking about, can you imagine you're going through the ranks and suddenly you come up against these giants. It's like, you imagine warfare in ancient Israel. You didn't have a machine gun and taking the guy out at 200 yards.

You know, if you got a giant out there at 200 yards and you got a gun, that's not very impressive. But if you're fighting with a sword and javelin and a spear and that kind of stuff, handheld things, and even the bows and arrows aren't like our compound bows today that can, you know, so accurate. I mean, you look at those.

When I was in England, I saw this thing on the British that had these long bows. They were almost impossible to keep held back. And they were showing how some of the warfare took place.

You had to be at really close range and they were trying to put them through the seams of the armor. And this isn't something that happened far away. You can imagine, you know what warfare was in those days, especially if you're coming up against a giant.

It is a contest of faith. You know what Scripture says, some trust in chariots and some in horses. We will remember the name of the Lord our God.

Here comes the foe. Can you imagine? God told them, when you see their horses and you see their chariots and you see their numbers greatly outnumber you, He said, don't be afraid. At times, I mean, think about it.

No ordinary foe. You got a guy that's six cubits in a span. He's nine feet, nine inches tall.

At that point, brethren, at that point, a man discovers what he truly believes. It's like, God said He'd be with me. God said He'd be with me.

And brethren, courage doesn't mean that there's never any ounce of fear. Courage is what presses past it because I have a confidence in what I can't see. The God, the Almighty One is here with me and He told me to come in here and take this and He's with me and I'm going to trust Him.

And He is my trust. And even if I die right here, hopefully I'll lay down my body for the advance of the other guys and He's going to take me to glory. But brethren, what we believe really gets tested is the unseen presence of our God real at that time.

You've got this. David. I mean, when David came up, it's like, you know what, Goliath? The same God that delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear is going to deliver me from you.

And so he went out and he said, you defy the God of Israel. Well, you're going to know this day that you come to me with all your weapons and everything, but he says, I come in the name of the Lord of hosts. And brethren, I'll tell you, that cannot be just in theory at that moment.

What do you really believe? You see, what you really believe is going to matter of whether you just sit there and you don't do anything or whether there's an advance, whether you're up, whether you're about these things that God has called us to do. You've got no guns here to shoot with. It's largely hand-to-hand combat.

It's going to be His strength and quickness. You remember David's mighty men? They talk about how one time one of those guys came up against this monstrous Egyptian and he took his own javelin from him or his own spear and he killed him with it. I mean, one of these guys went down in a pit on a snowy day and he's like going after lions with his bear.

Brethren, in those days, your quickness and your agility and your strength against whatever it is, whether it's a lion or whether it's a grizzly bear or whether it's a Goliath. And what you really believe, I mean, brethren, that is a huge test. You know, I saw where the pilgrims, our pilgrim fathers arrived here in the United States, the New World.

And do you know, if you've studied history, you probably recognize, 90% of the indigenous people had been wiped out by plague before those folks got here. They did not arrive on the shores here. And find the full population that had been there previously.

That Mayflower hit the shores in 1620 and largely he had prepared the way for them to come. No such thing with the promised land. They didn't arrive in that promised land and find 80-90% of the people were dead already.

It's just the opposite. He put healthy giants in there. He did that.

He is in control. He meant those spies to see them. It's for our instruction.

But I'll tell you this, it is no joke when God makes a promise. When He says He'll be with us, when He tells us to go, when He's given us a mission. Brother, sister, I'll just say this.

If God gives you some endeavor to do that's ten times harder than you have strength to accomplish, but He says I'll be with you, then go. Go in the strength of the Lord. All things are possible to Him who believes.

And brethren, what we don't want to do is be too quick to say we can't do that. This all has to do with the glory of God. God loves to be trusted.

And so we need to think big, brethren. We need to pray big. Why? Because our God is big.

We need to venture into that realm where we must have God's help or be eaten by the giants. Somebody said one time, attempt great things for God. And brethren, what we want to do is just precisely that and then watch Him work.

And brethren, when the church and its leaders lose faith, there's no giant slain. And you know what happens? The church digs in for safety at that point. It tries to preserve its gains.

Brethren, Moses recounts to the people of Israel 40 years later, and he recounts about those spies. And he said, our brothers made our hearts melt saying the people are greater and taller than we. Again, in numbers, recounting the same incident at another time.

When they went up to the valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the people of Israel from going into the land that the Lord had given them. And you know what I kind of wonder about all that? They were in there for 40 days. They spied out the land for 40 days.

And I wonder, when did the cowardice begin? They probably all set out pretty confident and they got in there. And I don't think those 10 men, it wasn't static. There was kind of this decay of confidence.

You can imagine, they didn't walk through the land for 40 days silent. There were 12 guys. They were talking.

They were pointing out things. What was happening? What's going on? I mean, you know there's that first moment when they beheld a giant. What happened in the heart of the 10? You see, this is where faith is tested.

What happened when they saw Him? Had they 40 nights? They went to sleep. What were they talking about as they drifted off? What images did they have in their mind? What were Joshua and Caleb saying? Were they sitting over there quiet? Or were they more vocal than any of the guys? I mean, I don't know. But I'll tell you this, boldness and courage.

Brethren, it doesn't mean that there isn't at times fear. Giants are scary. You can imagine that.

But you can imagine the 10 guys. What were they imagining? They were looking at the scary giant and they were comparing Him to themselves. The grasshopper.

But you know what happens with faith? Faith compares the giant to the glory of God. And that is the difference. How great His promises are.

Brethren, you leave God out of the equation, it's no surprise what happens. You know that in time, they had a rule for those who leave God out of the equation in war. The officer shall speak to the people and say, is there any man who's fearful and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house, lest he make the heart of his fellows melt like his own.

Brethren, those who blush for God, those who blush for the Gospel, who have no stomach for the conflict with the enemies of our God, confronting error, confronting unbelief, confronting these satanic, held, lost, pagan nations, confronting sin. Brethren, to those who have gotten into the habit of counting their own lives more dear than the King of Glory's cause, who prize this world above the next, who are never serious about grasping the promises of God and really shrink from devils and shrink from Anakim, who are drawing their swords against our Master, what do we say to such people? Brethren, what we need to say is this, courage. You need to take courage.

And you need a reminder of what our God is like. Brethren, our God created this whole universe with a Word. He could take the devil himself out in all the hordes with a Word.

Our God is almighty. Not a little mighty. Not a little more than us.

He is almighty. And the thing that He wants us to do is trust that He is and advance and live as though we believe that. We say, courage, brother.

God is never at a disadvantage because of giants. Not a whole horde of them. Not an army of them.

Not if they're 10 foot tall, 20 foot tall. He is at no disadvantage. Almighty.

You don't even compare Him. You don't even put Him in the same category with giants. And He puts those giants there on purpose.

Soldiers of Christ, we've got to say arise. It is a time to look at the lion of the tribe of Judah that's at our head. He's a champion.

He goes into the battle. He tells us, grab the hilts of your sword. There is a battle.

Find your courage, man. We don't want to be among those that make our fellows melt. God, help us to have that kind of lion-hearted trust that James is talking about.

That we're actually going to launch out and we're going to do things. It's not always fighting the giants. Obviously, He's saying a lot of times what that faith looks like is expressed.

It's doing compassion to somebody in need. But brethren, a whole nation. And listen, this is for our instruction.

Do you recognize the cowardice of ten men proved altogether contagious? And you see what happens. It kept the whole nation from the victory that they were well able to achieve. And that's what Joshua and Caleb said.

We are well able. And you know, the reason we know it is because 40 years they went in and they did it. Of course, they were well able.

God was with them. And you know what the thing is? We abhor the idea of being identified with the ten. We all feel that.

I don't want to be identified with those guys. But brethren, I've witnessed more than one professing Christian over the years unwittingly discourage God's people from advancing and taking the battle to the enemy. Brethren, may the living God give each of us courageous heart in the light of the fact, especially in the light of the fact that brethren, cowards don't finally inherit the kingdom.

You know that. And I just ask this, was God only a little angry that they didn't trust Him? He slaughtered a whole generation in the wilderness. The ten died immediately.

God struck them down. And brethren, this wasn't just some general discouragement. You know what the discouragement was? It was a discouragement of advancing.

Listen to Spurgeon. He says, I would that this age would breed a few extravagant men. We're getting so dull, so cold, so commonplace.

I hate these next words. We all run in the same cart run, imitating one another. In the sight of the heroes of old, we little men do walk under their huge legs and peep about to find ourselves dishonorable graves.

And all this is because we left off faith. Let a man believe that God has called him to a mission. Let him say forward in God's name.

And that man will tell upon his times and carve his name in the rock of ages and leave memorials behind him which angels shall gaze upon while the names of emperors and kings have been swept into oblivion. Brethren, the implication's clear. God's looking for those who are going to trust Him with all their heart and not lean on themselves.

And that produces great works. That, when you've seen the glory and you've got confidence, that produces action. This whole thing's designed, brethren, to lay bare human helplessness.

Brethren, we are grasshoppers. We are little. We are.

But I'll tell you, grasshoppers empowered by God Almighty of the Scriptures, then what can we do? We'll be giant killers. If God says to Caleb and Joshua, why do you trust Me? What do you think they should say? Well, no reason really. We're just taking a risk.

We're taking a leap in the dark. God's not honored by that. Brethren, you know why we trust Him? Because of what He's revealed Himself to be.

We trust. We believe. See, we get gripped.

A heartfelt grip by the reality of how Scripture defines this God for us. We put our weight. We hear His promises.

Brethren, the fact is that a person that hasn't really recognized the beauty and the glory and the awe, the tremendous magnificence of God, they're going to shrivel up. Brethren, I just look around. I look around at all this.

Ruby and I were over there in the UK and we traveled to Mueller's orphanages. The size of these buildings, the scope of what he did. I look at this.

Our God is so great. Do you ever just stop and say, is this all God can do? Is this all God is willing to do through His church? Is this all the blood of Christ was shed to accomplish what we're seeing? Is this all there is? Is this all the mighty Spirit of God that was shed abroad, clothed us with power? Brethren, you know what? Sometimes it's almost like we think, is it all about just reformed men who can get through a decent sermon on a Sunday? Is that all there is? Is this the fullness of God's work? I mean, brethren, do you not feel it? Sometimes I look around and it seems like little, little, little. It's just on everything.

I looked at those orphanages that Mueller did and I just felt little. Little is stamped upon our times. We read about these guys, these champions.

We have the biographies. God gave us the Caleb's and the Joshua's to storm the gates of the devil. So often, we do not do.

We do not dare to do. But don't we always find that God is always bigger than our daring? Whatever we might dare to do, so often our risks are just in the mind too. I'm preaching this to myself.

Our risks are just within this very well-marked boundaries of safety. When we got a God like we've got and there's giants out there, we're going to stay over here where it's safe. Remember, brethren, this is all for our instructions.

Virgin goes on to say, I'm inclined to think that until we see some great and daring deed attempted and some great and marvelous thing done for Christ, we shall not see the glory of the Lord revealed, so that all flesh shall see it together. What are we doing here? All of us cooped up in this little island. All of us living in England.

The world lieth in the wicked one. How is it our hearts beat not for the heathen? And we might say rather than this little island, this little building, we might say that. James is asking whether we are being mobilized, whether we're being energized into action by what we say we believe.

That's back to James. What would we do, brethren, if we but had faith? Oh, we live so much on things seen that we get paralyzed. Woe to Goliath.

You say, woe unto Goliath when God is in our camp. Brethren, young lady, young brother, if God so prompts you to dash into the thick of the battle, I would just tell this as you launch up out of your seat, remember the dead giants. Take hope.

Only dare it and you'll find God greater than your daring. We got to rise to the glory. Have you seen the glory? That's the issue.

You believe that God is one, you do well. Even the demons bleed and shudder. Father, may we live in light of all that You would have us to live up to in light of the dead giants.

I pray it in Christ's name, Amen. You are dismissed.