"Since he had no sword, he ran over and pulled Goliath's sword from its sheath. David used it to kill the giant and cut off his head!" 1 Samuel 17:50-51
If he had not cut off the giant's head--the old Philistine champion would have gotten up by and by, and walked away; for he was only stunned, not killed, by the stone. David made sure work of his victory!
A great many of our attacks upon sin in our own hearts, and in the world--only stun, and do not kill the evil. We walk away, thinking we have done a fine thing. But shortly, we meet the 'old giant' again, stalking abroad as before! He soon recovers from our blow, and we have to fight the battle over; and perhaps we fight it again in the same half-hearted way--and thus on and on, to the end of our life!
Most of us have had just such experience as this, with our own evil lusts and passions. We overcome them very often, and think each time that we are through with them--but soon again they are as active as ever.
We need to learn a lesson from David--and finish our victories by cutting off the head of every giant we strike down!
There is no other way of killing sins!
The life is in the head--and the head must be struck off--or the enemy will be facing us again in a day or two, with but a scar on his forehead!
The only way to get a real victory over vices--is to decapitate them! Bruises and wounds are not enough. There must be thorough work done, in the name of the Lord. Half-way measures will not avail.
"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry." Colossians 3:5
"Samuel hewed Agag to pieces before the Lord." 1 Samuel 15:33. Like Samuel, we must hew our Agags to pieces!
J.R. Miller -
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Speaking of hewing Agag to pieces, here is a fantastic sermon by John MacArthur on this very subject; "Hacking Agag to Pieces" in which he details how to deal with sin.
Click here to play or download the mp3
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3 comments:
I can definitely relate to that.
"I believe the sovereign God of the universe justifies us freely, and then we are called to run with him in sanctification. In the book of Philippians, Paul tells us to toil, strive, move, and press on. Paul is unbelievably aggressive when it comes to putting sin to death.
That is what drives me mad in evangelical circles, including some young Reformed circles. There is often a sit-on-the-couch-and-wait-for-God-to-do-something mentality that is unbiblical and wicked. It's probably been true of every generation, but I can see it most clearly in the younger crowd. There seems to be so little war when it comes to sin. Like the guy who comes to home group every week and dismissingly says, "Oh, I looked at porn again," "Oh, I looked at porn again," "Oh, I looked at porn again." That drives me insane. I don't even know what to do with him. Where's the war? Where's the hate for sin?" (Matt Chandler)
Excellent. I think we leave the heads intact on purpose. We leave a loophole, we're not accountable, so that we can go back to the sin when our flesh asks for it.
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