God’s Veterans
Romans 3:23
In July of 1863, General Robert E. Lee's Army Of Northern Virginia of 75,000 men and the 97,000 man Union Army Of The Potomac under General George G. Meade met, by chance, at a place called Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
There at Gettysburg on 3 days in July, 1863, more men actually fought and more men died than in any other battle before or since on North American soil.
For three days of brutal fighting, there were over 172,000 troops bombarded and shot each other with over 634 cannon, firing an estimated 569 tons of ammunition and, when the battle had ended, there were over 8,000 dead soldiers, 5,000 dead horses, 27,000 wounded and over 11,000 captured or missing.
The war was to rage for two more terrible and tormenting years but the Confederacy never recovered from the losses of Gettysburg. And through the deepening twilight of Confederate military might, all who had been to Gettysburg would remember.
Four months later, on Nov. 19, the president was there to dedicate the cemetery.
Lincoln was crushed when he saw the carnage and heard the staggering numbers of dead and injured.
In his dedication speech, which begins with those immortal words… he said much that we can learn from today.
He starts with, “Four score… met on a battlefield of that war.”
Then he gets to the part I want to focus on today…
“We have come to dedicate…”
Today we are in much the same position as Lincoln… we have come here to recognize and thank our veterans.
But I feel like Lincoln... we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow THIS DAY…
You and I cannot make this day special, we cannot make their effort, their sacrifice special.
“Those brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have dedicated it far beyond our poor power to add or detract.”
Those veterans who have served in the American Revolution… the Civil War… WWI… WWII… Korean War… Vietnam War… Desert Storm… Operation Enduring Freedom… the Iraqi War… and the continuing War on Terrorism
Whether they were behind the lines… keeping up with supplies so that our soldiers on the front lines could be the best supplied, best equipped soldiers in the world
Whether they were behind the lines maintaining and repairing our equipment or flying above the lines to see that our soldiers on the ground were as safe as they could be in the hell we call war.
We owe our veterans more than we could ever say, more than we will ever know.
They left home, left their wives, husbands, children and parents
They trained and suffered, in the mud, the sweat, the pain and the loneliness so they could be prepared to serve their country
They did not do it for the money… when you’re in the foxhole being shelled by enemy aircraft, when you are shivering in the cold eating k-rations, when you are picking up what is left of your best friend who just drove over an IED… there is no amount of money that is worth it.
They sleep in trenches half filled with water… or under a Humvee to escape the scorching heat of the desert.
They do without… not just without the creature comforts they had at home… they do without food, without sleep.
They get up and go on when their body can hardly respond... they go on when it is hard, when it is dangerous, when there doesn’t seem to be any hope of success… but they go on
So how are we going to dedicate this day to them? How are we going to add one thing to their suffering, their sacrifice, their service?
Like Lincoln said… WE CAN’T
We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this day… those brave men and women who have served, who have sacrificed, who have given so much have already consecrated this day far beyond our poor power to do so.
Then what can we do?
Lincoln said it… It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion
Do you want to know how to thank a veteran?
1. STAND UP FOR OUR COUNTRY
Don’t let people trash it with their words.
Every time you trash our great nation, you dishonor, disgrace and degrade their service.
You spit on their sacrifice, their suffering, and their service.
Yes, our country has its problems… we’re not perfect… neither is our government
But we are the greatest democracy on earth, and democracy is the greatest form of government
They risked everything in their service to this country so don’t disrespect their service by disrespecting our nation.
2. Value your freedoms
In many cases they gave their all so you could have the freedom of speech, freedom to bear arms, freedom to vote, freedom to worship, freedom to assemble and so on.
When you devalue those freedoms, or when you don’t take advantage of them… you make it seem like their service, their sacrifice was in vain.
3. Work to make this nation the greatest, most respected, most honored nation in the world
You can do that by being the best citizen you can be.
Now you may be thinking… this is all well and good. I support our military and our nation as much as any other guy… but this is church and this is supposed to be a sermon.
There used to be a member of this church who was a soldier on D-Day… when the Allied forces landed in France.
Wave after wave of amphibious troop carriers sailed into the surf
The front door would drop and dozens of young soldiers would pile into the water and run for the beach
Nazi soldiers were already entrenched on the beach and hills. They massacred the soldiers as they slowly waded through the water.
Hundreds never made it to the beach… and if they did, hundreds more were cut down by Nazi machine gun fire.
The soldier from this church was one of those shot on the beach. His lifeless body was gathered up by the medics and placed in a pile of dead on the beach. Thankfully someone discovered he was alive.
The soldiers stormed the beach and then spent hours and lives to climb the hills which were peppered with “pill-boxes” which are fortified machine gun pits from which a gunner could control an field of fire.
It was costly to take the pill boxes and it was costly not to.
As the allied forces slowly moved up the hill, the pill boxes were blown up or captured and the machine gunners killed.
When the hill was finally taken…a flag was place on top.
There was another hill in history that had to be taken.
It was called “SIN”
The enemy was entrenched and heavily fortified. He was killing every soldier that tried to climb the hill.
There was no soldier who could get through the enemies fire and take the pill box
Many had tried but all had failed. The situation was hopeless. There was no one to save the world from the enemy.
Headquarters knew there was only one hope, only one who could take the hill, and so he was sent from headquarters.
He began his assault on the hill. He was making progress. People were believing, one by one the strongholds of the enemy were being destroyed.
The Enemy mustered all of his forces for one final, decisive counter assault… the assault that would be the end of the soldier.
It was successful. The soldier was captured. In an attempt to show his victory, the enemy decided to make an example of the defeated soldier.
He decided to take the soldier to the top of the hill, where all could see and there he would hang the soldier from a flag pole for all to see.
He would be killed and his dead body would be a trophy for the enemy.
The enemy placed the soldier on the pole, and shot him in the side, the head and the hands. Blood flowed from the soldier.
The enemy shrieked with glee, glorying in his victory.
Then all at once the enemy noticed something that stopped his laughter. Something that made his blood run cold.
There in the shirt of the dead soldier was a hand grenade… and the pin was pulled.
He could not run… he was paralyzed with fear… and the grenade dropped from the soldiers uniform, landed on the ground… and rolled right between the feet of the enemy.
He had time for one look at the dead soldier… the formerly dead soldier, who was raising his head, he was alive.
Then came the blast… BOOM!!!... and when the smoke cleared, three days later… the cross was empty… the grave was empty… and the soldier was alive and well
And there on the hill, the hill of sin, which was now called Calvary, was the cross, a banner of victory, a symbol of hope.
Now, the hill of sin was taken, the enemy was vanquished and man had new freedom… the freedom to be saved from their sin.
Today is Veterans Day and we thank our veterans…
But mostly we thank the veteran of the greatest war ever fought… the war for our souls, the war for salvation, and the only veteran,… Jesus.
Today we will end our service in an unusual way
We’re going to watch a video called “Thank You for the Cross”
Sing… pray…. Praise… But Thank Jesus for the cross
