Going Into Battle
ME
Not too long ago, when HBO had a free weekend I watched a war movie called Hacksaw Ridge. The movie is about Desmond Doss. Desmond wanted to help with the war, but he would not kill anyone, he wanted to be a medic and help the wounded. The movie is based on a true story. It’s hard to believe that someone would want to go into war without a gun to protect himself, but this is what Private Doss did.
Matter of fact he had to fight for the ability to do so. He was almost sent to military prison because he would not touch a gun during his training. However at his court martial he was granted to the right to be a medic and to go into battle without a gun.
I’m pretty sure some here have seen this movie so you know what I’m talking about. But the reason the movie is titled Hacksaw Ridge is because in order to go into battle the soldiers had to climb this big cliff to go up onto the ridge to fight the enemy. The had a huge rope ladder on the cliff so the soldiers could climb up.
I remember thinking as I was watching this movie how hard it would be to climb that ladder and go into battle. But how much harder it would be to continue engage the enemy when your brothers in arms all around you are getting shot and blown up. But that is what they did.
All over the battle field men were shot, men were blown up. The enemy kept coming at them and the soldiers pressed forward into battle. All the while Private Doss was attending to the wounded. For the soldiers fighting the battle there was nothing more important than defeating the enemy and for Private Doss there was nothing more important that saving the wounded.
In the movie the soldiers retreat and return down the ladder back to their camp. But Private Doss stays up on the ridge all night helping the wounded. He drags the wounded back to the cliff and one by one he lowers the wounded down the cliff with a rope. He does this even at the threat of his own life because of the enemy.
When I thought Private Doss would be done getting the wounded, lowering them down the cliff and would return himself, I saw him praying. Just one more, God just let me get one more. He gets one more and then prays again and gets another one and this happened with many more men.
When I was done watching the movie I thought this is the best war movie that I had ever seen. But it also left an impression on me and that was of determination and of obedience to our convictions. The soldiers were determined to defeat the enemy at all cost and Private Doss was determined at all cost to save the soldiers who had gone into battle. Not only that but he remained true to his conviction not to pick up a gun against anyone.
WE
I wonder have we ever had determination and conviction like they had in our lives? Have we ever fought that hard to win the battles in our life? We certainly have to fight hard when we battle life threatening health issues. I battled last year and so far have won the battle. I hope I never have to battle like that again, but what I have will never go away so if my method of winning the battle no longer works then I will have to fight hard again.
I know that others have had battles with cancer, heart disease, heart failure, and so on. Some have had accidents at work or in cars, or motorcycles and have found themselves fighting for their lives. And when those things happen to us we step up and we face the battle head on. Most of us face the battle with our trusted doctors and nurses at our side battling with us.
And we trust them, we listen to their advice, we heed their instruction. We make it to our doctors appointments, we spend the time in the hospitals when we need to, we let them do surgery on us to hopefully make us better. Sometimes, like I did, feel like we are ginny pigs and they are just guessing on what will make us better. But we still battle, because our lives are at stake.
It’s something we see before us and we can’t let the enemy, which is death, defeat us. Sometimes there are astronomical odds of wining, but we still battle.
GOD
I want to read you a portion of a story out of the Old Testament this morning. It’s is actually more than just a story because it’s a true story. Let’s turn to 1 Samuel chapter 14. Now let me set the stage for the story. The armies of Israel and the Philistines were set to go into battle.
However, Saul who was king of Israel at the time, had just made a major mistake. He did not wait the Samuel to to offer the sacrifice before going into battle. Because the men were quaking with fear and beginning to scatter Saul offered the sacrifice Samuel was suppose to offer himself, which was a major mistake on the part of Saul.
As a result of this Samuel tells Saul, You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. 14 But now your kingdom will not endure. 1 Samuel 13:13-14. And to make things worse the army of Israel found themselves without weapons. The only people who had weapons were Saul and his son Jonathan. Now let’s read 1 Sam. 14:1-23
The story of Hacksaw Ridge reminded me of this story of Jonathan. — The courage of Private Doss and him praying that God would help him get just one more reminded me of the determination and conviction Jonathan and his armor bearer had going into to battle. And Saul sitting under the pomegranate tree scared to go into battle reminded me of the church today. And that is sad to say.
Hopefully you recall the message last week when I spoke on the cost of being a disciple. I also hope you have finished the challenge from last week and read through the red letters of the Bible. If you did, I’m sure you are better off this week than you were last week. Because reading the words of Jesus can only improve your life.
If you don’t recall let me remind you of the message from last week. To paraphrase the Scripture from last week Jesus said if you don’t hate your family, even your own life you cannot be my disciple. He said with the illustration of building a tower that you have to count the cost so you don’t look like a fool and people ridicule you when you cannot finish.
Jesus said of the illustration of the king going into to battle that the king needs to consider if he can win the battle before going into it otherwise if he cannot win he seeks to make peace with the other king. Jesus said in the same way those of you who do not give up everything cannot be my disciple.
Then Jesus gave the illustration of the salt and how salt that had lost it’s saltiness would made good soil bad and it would even make manure bad.
Why do you think Jesus said all these things to those back then and why to think this was recorded so we could read it? Well, it was recorded so we could read it because what Jesus said was meant for us too. And the application of what Jesus said is that Jesus does not want to go into battle against the enemy, with people who are not truly committed to following Him and obeying His commands.
Those who He wants to go into battle with must not consider their family above Jesus, they must not even consider their own life above Jesus otherwise they will start the battle but fail and Jesus doesn’t want to be let down, nor does He want others who are going into battle with Him to be left short handed by the failure of others.
It is tremendously important for us to obey the commands of Jesus, even in the smallest of things. Saul didn’t wait for Samuel to offer the sacrifice before going into battle and his kingdom was taken from him and given to another man — David who had a heart after God’s own heart.
Some other stories I didn’t read, but Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire when sacrificing to God and God struck them dead. Uzzah, even though when he reached out and touched the ark just to keep it from falling was struck dead because God said no one was to touch the ark.
Moses wasn’t allowed to enter the promise land because when he brought water out of the rock, instead of speaking to the rock and the water coming out it as God said it would, Moses struck the rock twice with his staff to get the water. Therefore Moses disobeyed God and he died without getting to go into the promise land.
All of these examples of God seeking people to obey him and failing should give us chills throughout our bodies because everyone who disobeyed God either died immediately or died without their reward. And Jesus says I want to go into battle with those who will follow me and obey my commands doing the things I have told them to do.
I want to give you a taste of what Jesus and the apostles say about obeying Jesus.
John 14:15 — If you love me, keep my commands. John 14:21 — Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. John 14:23-24 — Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.
John 15:10 — If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. John 15:12 — My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. John 15: 14 — You are my friends if you do what I command.
1 John 2:3-6 — We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.f 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
1 John 3:24 — The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them.
So we see don’t we that obeying Jesus is extremely important to Him and it is extremely important in living the Christian life, in being a disciple of Jesus. Matter of fact I don't see how anyone who doesn’t obey Jesus can enter into heaven. Just as Saul didn’t obey God and his kingdom was taken away from him, I don’t see how that will not be with us a well.
Instead, what Jesus wants are people like Jonathan. People who trust in the Lord. People who are not afraid to go into battle. People who are willing to climb the cliff and go up against insurmountable odds to defeat the enemy.
Can you imagine that battle between Jonathan, his armor bearer, and the Philistines? They get to the top of that cliff and there the Philistines are waiting for him. They attack and within the area of about a half an acre Johnathan and his armor bearer kill some 20 Philistines. And this was with just one sword.
This is what Jesus wants to see of His church today. People who trust in Him. People who obey Him. People who are not fearful of what the world might do to them. People who are willing to sacrifice themselves, their families. People who know the insurmountable odds and know that the enemy who is roaming the earth is much larger than themselves yet they go into battle anyway with Jesus as their commander and other committed disciples at their side like the armor bear for Jonathan.
But the church today isn’t living in power, it isn’t going into to battle and we have a hard time obeying Jesus. Even Christians dislike each other and sometimes even hate each other. Even Christians would rather do worldly things rather than Godly things.
Most Christian just want to go to a church where they can be comfortable like Saul under the pomegranate tree and be served by others. Many Christians want to learn, but they never used what they have learned to bring others to the knowledge of Christ. The church lives a weak existence, all the while, with obedience to Jesus we have all the power necessary to resoundingly defeat the enemy.
But we don’t fight with a sword we hold in our hands like that of Jonathan’s. We fight with a sword, but it is the Word of the God. The Word of God which tells us to love God and to love people. The Word of the God which gives us instruction on how to live and what to do. The Word of God of which we would not be Christian without.
Let me ask, last time I hated when I did this, but who remembered the challenge and did the challenge from last week? Ok, if you didn’t do the challenge I assume it is because you are already involved in reading God’s Word on a daily basis and you didn’t want to take away from what you are already doing.
So my assumption is the everyone of us opened our Bibles daily this week and read the Word of God. If I asked you to raise your hands if you did that, would you be honestly able to. If you would not honestly be able to, I have to say, are you kidding me, are you kidding me.
Don’t we know how important this is. To know and do the Word of God. And if there are leaders in this church how couldn’t honestly raise their hands to the question of opening up your Bible daily and reading the Word of God. May God help us all, because it is the leaders who are responsible for and have oversight the spiritual well being of the people around you and all those who are not here today for what ever reason. And I bear that responsibility as well.
And to stand before God one day having been a leader in Jesus’ church and to have not obeyed. To have not been devoted to the Word of God and to prayer on a daily basis as we are called to be — is a very fearful thing. And the Scripture tells the leaders will have to make an account before God.
Heb. 13:17 — Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account.
So if the leaders can’t honestly raise their hands, why would the rest of the congregation raise theirs? And please don’t hear me saying that our leaders couldn’t do that. They know whether they could or not, just like you know whether you could or not. I do know this after a visit with Bill Vernon this week.
In the church where he is currently serving he told me that his elders never hold a meeting, that they are all spiritual children and the only time they are in their Bibles is Sunday morning. And I also know this that there are churches all over America today in the same situation. And God help them all.
If we would just know the Word of God and obey the Word of God we would live in the power of God and the enemy would have no chance against us. Not in the battle with this lost world or in your personal battles with the sin in your life. Because a Christian with his sword by his side (which is the Word of God) no battle is too big. But it will cost us something.
Luke 9:57-62, As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 59 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” 62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:57-62
YOU
Jesus says those things to them and I say these things to you. Nothing is more important in this world for you to do than to know God’s Word and to do God’s Word. Whatever is holding you back this morning you must let it go.
If it’s pride, let it go. If it’s embarrassment, let it go. If it’s sin, let it go. If it’s the world, let it go. If it’s debt, commit to getting out of it and let it go. If it’s mother or father, sister or brother, son or daughter, husband or wife, make Jesus more important than them and obey Him first. Whatever it is let it go and obey Jesus.
At whatever point you are in, in your life. Maybe you are a spiritual baby, then just clear your schedule so you can be under the teaching of a spiritual parent. Maybe you are a spiritual child, stop arguing and thinking you know it all. Trust the advice of a spiritual parent, following and learn how to study God’s Word.
Maybe you are a spiritual young adult, you should know how to study God’s Word, but you might be fearful of stepping out and caring for those you see need someone to care for them. Take that fearful step and be devoted even when criticized to do what you know God wants you to do.
And maybe you are a spiritual parent. Don’t give up and go backwards. Continue to bring more spiritual babies in the world. Continue to be devoted to God’s Word and to prayer even though you know it and do it, never stop reading it. And be the Jonathan’s who rally God’s army behind you so others can see you winning and want to join in the battle.
WE
Folks, don’t for a minute think that being a Christian is easy. Don’t think for a minute that being a disciple will not cost you something. Don’t think for a minute if you are leader in the church that you will not have to give an account for yourself and those you lead before God. And don’t for a minute disrespect the sacrifice of Jesus that He made for you by not habitually obeying His commands and teaching.
Normally I have a challenge, but not today, because this message it probably challenging enough. I’ll simply leave you with this — know the Word of God and do the Word of God. Trust in God as Jonathan did, go in to battle with God as Jonathan did, pray as Private Doss did to give you just one more, just one more that you may bring to Jesus. Let’s pray.
