Memorial Day 2024
Tomorrow
is Memorial Day, the day set aside to honor the U.S.
military personnel who died while serving in our country’s armed forces. Across
America people will visit cemeteries to honor our deceased and place flowers or
American flags on their graves.
Those who
died did so to secure freedoms for Americans, freedoms many of us take for
granted. The freedoms bought for us by their blood include the freedom of
speech, freedom to own and legally use firearms, the freedom of religion, and
the freedom to peacefully assemble. The Bill of Rights lists other freedoms
that we will not take the time now to enumerate – but the point needs to be reiterated:
Those men and women fought and died to protect the freedoms we enjoy.
As I reflected
last week on this upcoming national holiday, I realized Memorial Day is also a
very good day to remember another casualty of another war – a war which was the
worst ever fought in history since Genesis chapter one. And the loss of this
particular life resulted in a cost incomparable to the cost of any conflict since
the Garden of Eden.
I’m
speaking of the war waged in heaven and on earth for the eternal souls of men
and women. You probably have guessed that I am speaking of the battle that took
the life of God's only begotten Son. I’m speaking of the battle in which Jesus
sacrificed His life to secure for us freedoms which are far more vital than
even of those critically important freedoms gained for us by our military.
Americans
who know our history recognize the names of places where Americans died for our
freedom, places like Bunker Hill, Gettysburg, the WW1 Battle of Marne, the WW2
battles of Iwo Jima, and Normandy.
But the
battle that cost the life of God's Son occurred in what was then often referred
to as a backwater town of Jerusalem. However, with Christ’s death and
subsequent resurrection – and let us never forget that last point because
without that resurrection, the death of Christ would mean absolutely nothing
for our freedoms – with Christ’s death and resurrection, He alone won for all
humanity freedoms which only HE could secure.
And so,
the question which we ought to ask on this day before Memorial Day – and the
question I hope to adequately answer – is this: What FREEDOMS did Jesus’ death
bring to us? For the sake of time, I will talk briefly of only four. You can
probably think of others yourself.
First,
Christ’s death for us procured for us freedom from the devil’s lie that we have
to earn our salvation, that we have to somehow and in some way warrant God's
grace, the lie that our salvation depends in large part or in small part on something
WE have to do.
Listen to what Jesus said about the so-called ‘righteousness
of works’ and the Biblical truth of the righteousness of humble faith: Luke 18:10-14 “Two men went up into the
temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to
himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust,
adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week;
I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing
some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven,
but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the
sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house
justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Listen: If righteousness was obtainable by keeping the Law, Jesus would
never have had to die. Here is St Paul speaking infallibly: Gal 2:21 “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if
righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died
needlessly.”
And again, Paul to
the Christians at Colossae: (Colossians 2:16,17,20-23) Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard
to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon
or a Sabbath day, things which are a mere shadow of
what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. . . .
If you have died with Christ to the elementary
principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you
submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch . . . in accordance
with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of
wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment
of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”
Not long after Jesus ascended
to the Father, a heresy circulated among the believing Jewish priests and
Pharisees who taught that obedience to the Law of Moses was a requisite for
salvation. At the heart of this issue was circumcision. Because of the
spiritual damage this heresy was causing, the apostles came together at what is
known as the first Jerusalem council. Luke records it this way (Acts 15:7-11):
“After there had been much debate, Peter
stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know that in the early
days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear
the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, testified to
them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their
hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you put
God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke
which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord
Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”
The
heretical idea that our salvation is based on something WE have to do is a Satanic
lie that remains with us to this very day, it is a lie designed by our mortal
enemy to keep even Christians in bondage.
So, the
first freedom Christ’s blood bought us is freedom from the idea that we can do
anything to secure our own salvation. And that freedom brings us to what I am
labeling the second freedom for the Christian (and only for the
Christian): The freedom from God's wrath for our sins.
The Lord Jesus said to the very religious Nicodemus: (John 3:18)
“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not
believe has been judged already, because he has not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Listen also to Peter, speaking of Jesus: (2 Peter 2:24) “He Himself bore our sins in His body
on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to
righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”
Many of you recognize Peter was quoting from Isaiah
53:5-6 “But He was pierced
through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for
our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are
healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own
way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall
on Him.”
Christian – please hear this:
God will never make you suffer after death for your sins. Never. The apostle
Paul didn’t believe in a place called Purgatory. I have shared with you in the
past portions of his other letters that ought to put that terrible idea of
purgatory to rest – such as Philippians 1:21 and 2 Corinthians 5:1-8.
And neither did St John
believe in punishment for the Christian after death. Here is what he wrote in
his first epistle: (1 John 4:18) “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because
fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in
love.”
I know I am quoting a lot of
Scripture, and I will be quoting even more as I continue this message. And if you
have been with me for more than a few months, you know I often quote from God's
word. I do so because you should not at all be swayed by my opinions – unless
my opinions are rooted and grounded in God's infallible word.
And second, I so often quote
scriptures in my sermons and studies because ‘it is only GOD’S truth that can
set us free from bondage. As the Lord Jesus said: (John 8:31-32): “If you continue in My word, then you
are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth,
and the truth will make you free.”
So, the
freedoms Jesus’ blood bought for us on Calvary’s hill included the freedom from
the lie of a works-based salvation, and freedom from the fear of God's wrath
for our sins. The third freedom Jesus secured for us, and related to the
first two, is this: The Christian – and only the Christian – now is free from
the fear of death.
Listen to
Hebrews 2:14-15: “Therefore, since
the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also
partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him
who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of
death were subject to slavery all their lives.”
Death is
an unknown – but it is not a completely indecipherable unknown. God in His
graciousness has given us information in Scriptures that should allay the
Christian’s fear of death.
For one
thing, as we have already seen, death for the Christian is not a time of
judgment, But as for what heaven is like, God has given us sufficient glimpses into our future in heaven in verses
such as these:
Revelation 21:3-4 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne,
saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He
will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will
be among them, and He will wipe away
every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer
be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or
crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
Revelation 22:3 “There will no longer be any
curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His
bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on
their foreheads. And there will no
longer be any night; and they will not have need of the
light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine
them; and they will reign forever and ever.
What will heaven be
like? I don’t know. But I like to imagine colors to be so much more incredibly vibrant than we
see them now with human eyes. Greens greener. Reds redder. Blues bluer. The
colors of the rainbow surrounding us in the nature of heaven all shimmering,
sparkling, yet blending while each remains clearly distinct.
And heaven’s sounds? The psalmist wrote: “Let everything
that has breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150), and
maybe that also works in heaven. EVERYTHING that breathes – animals, insects,
mammals – everything that breathes, and each mingling their breath and voice
into an incredible soul-stirring celestial symphony of praise to God.
I like to also imagine, as Isaiah tells us
(55:12), “The mountains and the hills will break
forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the
field will clap their hands” – The whole
of heaven’s landscape raising voice, and even the wind rustling through trees
and flowers and across my ears will whisper a melody of worship in which all of
creation joins to raise to its Creator.
And for a moment, in my fun speculations, I wondered if after a
millennium of such resonating choruses and beauty – would I get bored with it
all? I wondered that because I know how quickly I get bored with things in life
that once startled me. But then I thought of Jeremiah’s words in Lamentations:
“The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed
never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every
morning.” (Lamentations 3:22-23a). I thought, God's infinite combinations
of sounds and colors and sights are – well, they’re infinite.
So, how could I get bored when His glories and
wonders are new every morning?
A local poet, Betty Smith, thought of it this
way: “There will be joy and laughter – no tears or woes, and we will all be
dressed in the finest of robes, pure white, without spot or blemish, I’m told.
And wine will be served in goblets of gold, the food will be sumptuous, fit for
a king; the music will be heavenly – we’ll hear angels sing. There will be
plenty of time to visit and talk, and after dinner, You and Jesus can walk.”
It is true that no one knows what heaven is actually
like. But I think we can rest on what we DO know for certain, because God's
word tells us what is certain: “Things which eye has not seen and ear has
not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has
prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
I need to
start bringing this message to a close with the fourth freedom bought
and brought to us by the precious blood of our Savior Jesus: Christians, and
only Christians, have the freedom to call
God, our Father.
Listen again to the apostle John: (1:10-13) “He [Christ] was in
the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know
Him. He came to His own,
and those who were His own did not receive Him. But
as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of
God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh
nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Have you ‘received’ Jesus? Have you asked Him to cleanse
your sins, to control your life, to make you His own, and to deepen your life
in holiness? If so, then you ARE a child of God and He has given you the right
to call Him your Father.
But – and this is very important – if you have never
personally asked His cleansing and control over your life and lifestyle, and if
you do not humbly confess to Him your sins and repent, then you might be
religious, and you might be a good person, and you might participate in all the
religious rituals of your church – but you might not actually be a child of God
and do not have the right to call Him your Father.
If what I just said causes some sense of concern in your
heart – then I am glad because this issue of salvation is far too important to
dilute or soft-peddle God's truth. No one will want to say to the Lord Jesus at
the Judgment: ‘We ate and drank
in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’ (Luke 13:26) and then hear Him say in response: ‘I
tell you, I do not know where you are from; Depart from Me, all you
evil doers.’ (Luke 13:27).
In other words, it won’t matter at the Judgment
if we received Holy Communion every day and listened attentively to great
sermons and homilies. What will matter is this: Were we born again through
faith in Jesus as our sacrificial atonement for our sins, and did our
lifestyles reflect an ongoing, day by day desire to live according to His
commandments? Did we confess our sins and repent each time the Holy Spirit told
us we’d done wrong?
Memorial Day is set aside in our nation as a day to
remember with thanksgiving the men and women who died in battles to secure the
freedoms we enjoy in this country. But Memorial Day is also a good day to
remember the One who died in a battle on Calvary’s mountain – who died a death to
secure our freedoms often taken for granted – even by those of us in the pews:
Freedom from Satan’s lie that we have to do something to earn our salvation; Freedom
from God's eternal wrath for our sins; Freedom from the fear of death; and
freedom to be able to call God our very own Father.
No wonder the apostle Paul exclaimed: “Thanks
be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)
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