May 26, 2019 NOTES NOT EDITED
Memorial Day
2019: There Will Always Be Giants
1Samuel 17; esp. 40
SIS: There
will always be giants to fight, so we will always need a new generation of men
and women willing to fight them.
The freedoms we enjoy
as Americans, and to a large degree the freedoms any person, anywhere enjoys,
is in serious danger of being lost. This
precious thing we call “freedom,” purchased with the precious blood of sailors,
soldiers, airmen, marines, and many brave civilians, this freedom we hold so
dear, is being threatened by Goliath-sized challengers like never before.
That freedom is being challenged from without by such nations as N. Korea, Iran, China, Eastern Europe, and Russia, among others. An even greater challenge to our blood-bought, God-blessed liberties comes not from without, but from within. Progressive, anti-God, anti-Life, anti-family leftists are pushing us toward a national socialism. It is almost as if the left-wing progressives have made a national suicide pact with the Devil, himself. There is almost “nothing” considered wrong in our nation anymore. Drunkenness is called disease, homosexuality is called an alternative lifestyle, and murder is used as a means of contraception. The former absolute boundary lines between right and wrong, wholesomeness and depravity, truth and personal opinion have been almost completely erased.
America is mired in severe debt and even more severe depravity. Once great, beautiful cities like San Francisco have become human dumping grounds—and I mean that literally. Last year San Francisco officials received 28,000 complaints of human feces on the streets. Used needles of drug addicts literally flow like a river in the gutters. Los Angeles has whole districts which are becoming “tent cities.” America is facing a Goliath-sized challenge like we have never seen before. Lady Freedom is in real danger of being exiled from our shores forever.
700,000 to a million Americans (depending on how casualties are counted), mostly young, gave their lives so that we could live in freedom in what Reagan called, “A Shining City On a Hill.” The shine of our great nation has dulled. Lady Liberty is faltering. The fight for freedom, rather than being over, is greater now than at any time in our nation’s history. We must come to our senses and realize the terrible responsibility we have to be “Champions” of America and keep Her, “One Nation Under God.” If we do not continue to face these new “giants,” then our fallen men and women in uniform will have died in vain. There will always be giants to fight, so we will always need a new generation of men and women willing to fight them.
That freedom is being challenged from without by such nations as N. Korea, Iran, China, Eastern Europe, and Russia, among others. An even greater challenge to our blood-bought, God-blessed liberties comes not from without, but from within. Progressive, anti-God, anti-Life, anti-family leftists are pushing us toward a national socialism. It is almost as if the left-wing progressives have made a national suicide pact with the Devil, himself. There is almost “nothing” considered wrong in our nation anymore. Drunkenness is called disease, homosexuality is called an alternative lifestyle, and murder is used as a means of contraception. The former absolute boundary lines between right and wrong, wholesomeness and depravity, truth and personal opinion have been almost completely erased.
America is mired in severe debt and even more severe depravity. Once great, beautiful cities like San Francisco have become human dumping grounds—and I mean that literally. Last year San Francisco officials received 28,000 complaints of human feces on the streets. Used needles of drug addicts literally flow like a river in the gutters. Los Angeles has whole districts which are becoming “tent cities.” America is facing a Goliath-sized challenge like we have never seen before. Lady Freedom is in real danger of being exiled from our shores forever.
700,000 to a million Americans (depending on how casualties are counted), mostly young, gave their lives so that we could live in freedom in what Reagan called, “A Shining City On a Hill.” The shine of our great nation has dulled. Lady Liberty is faltering. The fight for freedom, rather than being over, is greater now than at any time in our nation’s history. We must come to our senses and realize the terrible responsibility we have to be “Champions” of America and keep Her, “One Nation Under God.” If we do not continue to face these new “giants,” then our fallen men and women in uniform will have died in vain. There will always be giants to fight, so we will always need a new generation of men and women willing to fight them.
Freedom is very costly and it must always have those champions who will
defend it against all challengers.
The cost will always be high.
Champions will always be needed, because there will always be
Challengers.
One of the greatest boxing champions of all time was the “Brown
Bomber,” Joe Louis. He was king of the ring for nearly 12 years,
second only to a Russian boxer who had held it for a few months more. But, when you are “King of the Hill,” there
are always challengers who want to take your place. The “Brown Bomber,” Joe Louis, defended his
title successfully 25 times, the most in boxing history if my research is
accurate. Even Mohammed Ali, much more
well known to modern audiences, only defended his title 19 times.
Just like the man holding the heavyweight title of the world will always have challengers, so too, will freedom always have its challengers. The Devil will always have his giant in the middle of the field challenging freedom: physical, political and spiritual. Because Freedom will always have challengers, we must always have Champions ready to pay whatever the cost to keep people free—whether that means fighting enemies on the land, the sea, and the air, or fighting “the forces of darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Just like the man holding the heavyweight title of the world will always have challengers, so too, will freedom always have its challengers. The Devil will always have his giant in the middle of the field challenging freedom: physical, political and spiritual. Because Freedom will always have challengers, we must always have Champions ready to pay whatever the cost to keep people free—whether that means fighting enemies on the land, the sea, and the air, or fighting “the forces of darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places.”
King David is an
example of such a champion. He defended
Israel’s freedom from
the challenge of Goliath, the Philistine.
In this story we
learn three important facts about freedom.
One, it will always have its challengers; two, freedom will always have
a high cost; and three, God will always have his champions. Before we examine these powerful facts of history,
let’s read our text.
READ: 1Sam. 17, selected passages
READ: 1Sam. 17, selected passages
1.
Freedom Will Always Have Its Challengers (1-8)
(1
Sam 17:1-8) Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and
assembled at Socoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Socoh
and Azekah. {2} Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of
Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. {3} The Philistines
occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them. {4}
A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp.
He was over nine feet tall. {5} He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a
coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels ; {6} on his legs
he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. {7} His
spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred
shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him. {8} Goliath stood and shouted to
the ranks of Israel, "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not
a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him
come down to me.
Like fruit that falls
from a tree and begins to overripen and then rot
on the ground, our
nations morality has softened and has become almost completely rotten. As
one person so el0quently said, and many have repeated, “America is
great because America is good. When America ceases to be good, she will
cease to be great!”
It is the teachings
of Jesus Christ upon which our nation was established. That is
undeniable. He reminds us, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free”
(Jn. 8:32).
Our greatest enemy
today is not some foreign power. Our
greatest enemy is the internal decay of America’s moral foundation.
We see truth under
attack by the Goliath of secularism, or
materialism. Our freedom is being
ravaged on the battlefield of political
expediency. Democrats used to say they abhorred abortion but thought
it necessary. Now liberals in high
society are “bragging about killing their babies.” There’s a new movement, #ShoutYourAbortion. Just
recently, a major Democrat candidate, Kristen Gillibrand, declared, “God is not on the side of pro-life.” Her actual words were, “Pro-life views are
anti-Christian.” There are so many scandals in Washington—both sides of the
aisle—that Congress does next to nothing but “investigate” and
“hyperventilate” about their dubious
discoveries.
Goliath has not only
summoned his brothers (the reason for the other four stones of David some say),
but he has called all his immoral and despotic cousins. Homosexuality, abortion
on demand, and legalized marriages between people of the same sex are
challenging our traditional Judeo-Christian foundations as a nation. With
each new day the challenge gets bigger and stronger. An anti-Christian
sentiment has become our “new Goliath. ”At
a hearing in June, Sen. Bernie Sanders questioned the fitness of Wheaton
College alumnus Russell Vought for the post of deputy director of the Office of
Management and Budget. Mr. Vought had written an article in which he said
Muslims “do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ his Son, and
they stand condemned.” That’s just one of many recent attacks on people
because of their faith.
Goliath is shouting and Christians are sleeping. Just like they were sleeping in Germany as the madman Adolf Hitler came to power. We need to pray that God will awake a champion – many champions – to stand up and defend our America’s freedom. We need a Superman to stand up for “truth, justice, and the American way.” We need a David, to stand up against the Goliath of immorality. Freedom will always have its challengers, whether internal or external.
2.
Freedom Will Always Have Its Cost (9-11)
(1 Sam 17:9-11) If
he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I
overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us."
{10} Then the Philistine said, "This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give
me a man and let us fight each other." {11} On hearing the Philistine's
words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
If a nation is going
to be free, someone, perhaps manymust be willing to die to purchase that
freedom. I read something this week that reminded me again of the cost that was
paid in order for me to grow up in a free nation. A little plague
honoring veterans said, All Gave Some . . . Some Gave All! Freedom
is not cheap.
Thousands, actually
millions, of men, women and children who have made the ultimate deposit in the
bank of freedom. Whether it is on the sandy beaches of Normandy, or the
mosquito infested jungles of Viet Nam, many of Americas brothers, sisters, sons
and daughters paid the ultimate price for freedom.
Saul and his
Israelite Army faced the enemy and they were
“dismayed and
terrified.” Why? Because
they knew the cost for facing such a giant would be a very heavy price to pay.
It is a fact: freedom
will always have its challengers. Some Goliath will always be waiting in
the wings to bring people under the thumb of tyranny. Even today, whether
in North Korea, China, or Iran we have political tyrants who deny people basic
human rights. It is also a fact: freedom will always have its cost.
The cost is high.
Freedom’s price is the lives of a nation’s sons and daughters.
There is one other fact about freedom:
3.
Freedom Will Always Have Its Champions (36-37 )
“36 Your
servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like
one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 Then
David said, “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of
the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine” (36-37)
David faced Goliath
with a stick, a sling, and a stone. In
the spirit of David, Americans faced Goliath with muskets, with heavy wooden-stocked rifles, with the M-16, and with the
weapons of modern war. The weapons have changed from the time of
David’s sling, but the heart of David continues to beat in each new generation
of champions.
Today, we honored
some of those champions. Long gone are the champions of the early wars.
The ranks of WW2 have thinned
to only a few. Our Missing Man
Table reminds us of our former Champions.
Champions that fought in the island
jungles of the Pacific or the fields
and fords of Europe in WWII, are represented by the empty chair. The heroes
of the frozen battlefields of Korea are
remembered at our table today. The fallen dead of the jungles of Viet Nam are honored here
today. Those killed in the Many wars involving the Middle East, and the on-going War
on Terror are remembered here at our table today. America is a nation of Champions—brave men
and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice of full devotion tendered in the
currency of their own blood to buy our freedom.
America will always have our Champions, for it is the only way to enjoy
our freedom.
The Church also needs
Champions like David. The ultimate challenge
to our freedom is not political.
Ultimately, the greatest challenge to our freedom is spiritual. The Church desperately needs more men and
women who with the heart of David to accept the responsibility to stand for
what we believe in. American values are “Biblical values,” and they are under
tremendous attack, today. Openly anti-Semitic, Muslim candidates have
been elected to Congress. They took
an oath, not on the Holy Bible, but on the Koran. The Bible and the Koran are at opposite poles
of truth. They can both be wrong, but
they cannot both be correct. The God of
the Bible and the god of the Koran are totally different Beings as described in
each respective holy book.
We need Champions who will take up the fight for political and spiritual freedom today. We need Champions who understand the nature of the battle and the character of our weapons. The Bible says:
For our battle is not worldly and our weapons are not worldly.
Our fight not for personal or political gain, but national righteousness. Righteousness is the soil in which freedom grows. The Bible reminds us—warns us actually: (Prov. 14:34)
Righteousness Exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people.
Our nation is quickly succumbing to the rot and decay of unrighteousness. We have abandoned God, and we are adrift in the sludge of our own sinfulness. We are a nation being Challenged by an army of Unrighteous Goliaths and we need an army of Righteous David to take up our sling of faith and stones of righteousness and march boldly and courageously into the battlefield of the American marketplace. This is no time for the Church to cower on the hills above the battlefield like the Israelites. Every day for 40 days Goliath had taunted and belittled the Israelites saying:
10 “I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send me a man so we can fight each other!” 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words from the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified.
The Nation of Israel had lost their, “Spirit of Godliness.” Essentially, the fight for freedom in our world is a “spiritual battle.” Each nation we consider an enemy of freedom is guided—or, I should say, misguided—by a particular spirit of evil. Islam, the religion of the Middle East and particularly, Iran, is guided by the strange monotheism of Islam which bastardizes the stories of the Bible for its own evil designs. China’s spirit was shaped by the quasi-religious philosophical pantheism created by the mixture of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Today is a thoroughly godless State Atheism. The second largest religion in Russia is Islam. Russian Orthodoxy is the primary religion but it operates as a handmaiden of the State. Every nation is governed by one of two spirits, regardless of the particular version of that spirit. A nation is either guided by the principles of Almighty God or it is guided by the principles of Satan. There are no other options. So, the challenges to freedom are, at the root, spiritual battles.
Spiritual battles require spiritual champions. Champions who understand that the ultimate victory comes from the sword in our hand but the Hand of God on spirit. Remember, David’s boldness came from God. Remember what we read earlier, 37David said, “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine” (36-37)
We need Champions who will take up the fight for political and spiritual freedom today. We need Champions who understand the nature of the battle and the character of our weapons. The Bible says:
For our battle is not worldly and our weapons are not worldly.
Our fight not for personal or political gain, but national righteousness. Righteousness is the soil in which freedom grows. The Bible reminds us—warns us actually: (Prov. 14:34)
Righteousness Exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people.
Our nation is quickly succumbing to the rot and decay of unrighteousness. We have abandoned God, and we are adrift in the sludge of our own sinfulness. We are a nation being Challenged by an army of Unrighteous Goliaths and we need an army of Righteous David to take up our sling of faith and stones of righteousness and march boldly and courageously into the battlefield of the American marketplace. This is no time for the Church to cower on the hills above the battlefield like the Israelites. Every day for 40 days Goliath had taunted and belittled the Israelites saying:
10 “I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send me a man so we can fight each other!” 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words from the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified.
The Nation of Israel had lost their, “Spirit of Godliness.” Essentially, the fight for freedom in our world is a “spiritual battle.” Each nation we consider an enemy of freedom is guided—or, I should say, misguided—by a particular spirit of evil. Islam, the religion of the Middle East and particularly, Iran, is guided by the strange monotheism of Islam which bastardizes the stories of the Bible for its own evil designs. China’s spirit was shaped by the quasi-religious philosophical pantheism created by the mixture of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Today is a thoroughly godless State Atheism. The second largest religion in Russia is Islam. Russian Orthodoxy is the primary religion but it operates as a handmaiden of the State. Every nation is governed by one of two spirits, regardless of the particular version of that spirit. A nation is either guided by the principles of Almighty God or it is guided by the principles of Satan. There are no other options. So, the challenges to freedom are, at the root, spiritual battles.
Spiritual battles require spiritual champions. Champions who understand that the ultimate victory comes from the sword in our hand but the Hand of God on spirit. Remember, David’s boldness came from God. Remember what we read earlier, 37David said, “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine” (36-37)
Champions of Christ
fight not for political freedom with worldly weapons, but for spiritual freedom
with spiritual weapons. Champions for
Christ fight for the freedom from the tyranny of sin and immorality.
There are Christians in every walk of life who are veterans of the war
against sin. Sometimes the battle is long and the prospects are
bleak–but, true Champions, like David, fight until Goliath falls.
Freedom is dyed red,
like the stripes on our flag, by the blood of Champions who were willing to
give the ultimate sacrifice. The Ultimate Champion, by Whose blood was
achieved the Ultimate Freedom from the bondage of sin, is Jesus Christ. The Devil continues to challenge the Work of
the Lord. The Devil continues to take
lost sinners hostage and it is our calling to rescue them from the enslaving
chains of Satan through the power of gospel of Jesus Christ.
A great hymn of the faith reminds us of our calling and duty as Champions for Christ:
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.
A great hymn of the faith reminds us of our calling and duty as Champions for Christ:
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.
Today . . . when we
remember those who have fallen in battle protecting the freedom we have as a
nation, and to a large degree, any measure of freedom anyone, anywhere is
enjoying. We are forced to admit,
however, with all the wars we have fought and all the blood that has been
spilt, There Will Always Be Giants to Fight.
That is, until that final day described by John the Revelator (20:7-10):
7 When the 1,000 years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 They came up over the surface of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city. Then fire came down from heaven and consumed them. 10 The Devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
7 When the 1,000 years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 They came up over the surface of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city. Then fire came down from heaven and consumed them. 10 The Devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Many
are still not free today.
I am not talking about those who live under the oppressive hand of
totalitarian governments. I am talking about those who are being held captive
by sin. Like Goliath challenged the Israelites with his shield and javelin, so
the Devil is threatening many with His lies and temptations. Many Americans are
losing this battle. The cost of losing this battle is eternal.
But, there is a
champion . . . the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope today, you will appreciate the
sacrifice many have made so you could be politically free. Even greater than
that, I hope you will appreciate the
sacrifice Jesus
Christ made so you could be eternally free.
