Does that Star Spangled Banner Yet Wave?
Text: Jude 5-7, Revelation 2:5
WELCOME AND GREETING
Last Sunday we paused our study of Corinthians and looked at Jude, and we saw how Jude was warning us to stay alert, and to be vigilant, and to contend for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints.
Today we’re going to go back to Jude, and look at his command to “Remember”. Because we are a nation and a people who have forgotten.
In the Bible there are many things we are told to remember. We have communion because Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” We gather with the Church on Sundays because Acts 20:7 tells us this became the tradition of the Apostles, and we continue that tradition. And here, in verses 5, 6, and 7 of this epistle, Jude is saying, “Church, I want to remind you of something… I want you to remember.” So let’s read through those 3 verses… Jude 5-7 (READ TEXT).
So Jude says, I want to remind you of these things, you’ve been previously taught… I want to remind you that there were people who thought they were right with God, but they lacked true faith… and I want to remind you about angels, who at one time were even in the presence of God, and they rebelled and fell… and I want to remind you of Sodom and Gomorrah – wicked cities, that forgot their Creator, and instead were given over to depravity, and how that led to their ultimate destruction. Remember those things, and think about where you are now.
In two days we celebrate our nations independence. We’ll probably eat some burgers and hotdogs, watch some fireworks and maybe even sing, “I’m Proud to be an American”. But do we really remember what it took to win our freedom? A lot of people might remember 1776, and the Declaration of Independence, and our war against England to gain our freedom. But what a lot of folks forget, or don’t seem to realize is that the war, was actually fought in two stages… or you might say, in two rounds. We won round one and became independent… but the British weren’t done. They came back in 1812 and tried again. And it was at the Battle of Baltimore, where a man named Francis Scott Key was standing on the deck of a ship, and he watched the British fleet ferociously and relentlessly bomb Fort McHenry. And they bombed it, and bombed it, and bombed it, and eventually the British commander said, “Target the flag! Bring it down!” And so they did. But every time an explosion lit up the night sky, there was our flag, and every gust of wind unfurled its stars and stripes, and the prisoners on that British ship would ask Francis Scott Key, “Is the flag still there?” And he would wait, and once he saw it, he would report back, “The flag still waves.” And a shout would go up from those prisoners, because they knew if the flag was still there, then Americans were still defending the fort, and there was still hope. And history tells us that the British did actually hit the flag, several times, but every time they did, more American patriots would rush to it and hold it up, knowing good and well that in doing that, they would probably be the next to die, because the British were targeting the flag. And the bombs shook the earth all night, and men died, but by dawns early light that the flag was still there. And those heroic American soldiers defended Fort McHenry, and won the battle… and eventually the entire war.
Why? Why did they do that? Why did they risk their lives to hold up that flag? It’s because they understood that the flag is not just a decoration. It is a symbol of national sovereignty. And seeing it wave after the British threw everything they had it meant something. It meant that America was still free and not back under English control. And let me just say this real quickly - I am so thankful that England is now our greatest ally. We have wonderful friends from England, who we care about deeply, and the people of that great country are awesome. But back then it wasn't the case - England was trying to maintain an empire, and we were trying to break free from it. So I love my friends from England, and I love going to the UK, but I'm glad I'm an American. And I'm glad that they didn't bring the flag at Ft. McHenry down that night.
Think about this with me for a second… think about the sight of the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima. It’s an iconic image. But why? Because it meant that we had taken the island.
Or maybe you’ve seen the pictures of Soviet Russia raising their flag over East Berlin…
When a flag goes up, it’s basically a way of saying, “We’re now in control here.” The British desperately wanted to raise the Union Jack up the pole at Ft. McHenry, but they couldn’t do it. The defenders of that fort had resolved that they would fight to the last man to keep that from happening.
And Church… please hear me… this is why when a rainbow-colored flag is unfurled at the White House, you know that we are a nation under judgment. When that flag gets raised up at American embassies all over the world, it is a testament to every nation that America has been defeated. It is a testament to every nation in the world that America has renounced our allegiance to the God of the Bible and is now serving the false god of perversion and sensuality.
If Jude were here today he would say, “Remember Sodom and Gomorrah – those cities that indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire. Remember what became of them because of that.”
Turn with me to the Book of Revelation, chapter 2:5… it’s the very next book after Jude, so you won’t have far to turn. Revelation 2:5 says, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” This was the message to the church in Ephesus. A church that was planted by the Apostle Paul (we read about that in Acts 18:19)… Later on Paul spent about three years in the city – that’s Acts 19:8-10, and his ministry was so successful that people who were into magic brought their books to be burned and people who were idol worshipers stopped buying those idols… it was so effective that the silver-smiths had Paul driven out of town because they were going bankrupt. It’s kind of similar to what the conservative community is doing to Anheuser-Busch, except those silver-smiths didn’t have a Black Rock Financial backing them up and making up their losses. But while Paul was at Ephesus, he wrote 1st Corinthians. Later on Paul met with the leaders of the Ephesian church in Acts 20, and they wept because they knew that Paul was going to his death in Rome. It was about 10 years after that, while Paul was in Prison, that he wrote the letter to the Ephesians, and if you read through that epistle, you’ll see that they were dong pretty good… but later on, Paul writes to Timothy, who was serving as the Pastor at Ephesus at the time and we see the cracks beginning to form. Later on, John the Beloved moved to Ephesus and wrote 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John from there, before he was arrested and exiled to the Island of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of Revelation. And by that time, the church there had lost their first love… this was around 90 AD or so… maybe 95 AD. And so Jesus, by way of John’s writings tells them, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent, and do the works you did at first.”
I would describe the church at Ephesus as having a cold orthodoxy. They said the right things, they were good at defending against false teaching and heresy, but they just stopped loving God and loving their neighbor. They were like so many who know the Bible well, who can explain it, and argue it, and give profound insight – but they didn’t love. They had developed this mindset of “Me and my four and no more.”
Now do you remember what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13? “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” Basically what happened at Ephesus was the people in the church quit loving God and quit loving their neighbors, they insulated themselves and quit sharing the Gospel… and by the early 200’s AD, that church, and the city itself was gone. If you go to Ephesus today, it’s not the same place… the city was relocated because the river silted up.
Now it may be a different scenario for us today, but the same instruction applies – Remember from where you have fallen and repent.
But what happens is we don’t remember. The Bible tells us that there is nothing new under the sun. The attacks against Christianity aren’t anything new, they are re-packaged and given different names, but they are the same things that have been brought against God’s people since the beginning. Attacks on the Inspiration of God’s Word, “Did God really say?”. Attacks upon the Authority of God’s Word, “Does this really apply to me today? Surely not… it’s such an outdated idea.”. Attacks on the sufficiency of Scripture, “Is God’s Word really enough to bring about salvation? We have to have the biggest production, and the flashiest show, and make it entertaining and relevant, and EXPERIENCE so as to reach the world and make the Gospel appealing.” Attacks on the creation ordinances, things like Gender, and marriage, and the family, and the teaching that God created all things. Attacks on the truth.
Those are the same attacks that God’s people have always faced. They are re-packaged, re-branded, re-named, but they’re really just the same old things. But we forget, and so when those attacks come, we often find ourselves floundering.
“Oh it’s not loving to tell the truth.”
Church – please hear me. The most loving thing we can do is tell people the truth and share the Gospel. If you ever see me engaging in a lifestyle that is going to destroy me, and send me headlong into a Christ-less eternity, I would hope that you love me enough to tell me the truth. Now whether or not I listen – that’s a different issue… the issue we have to be concerned with is telling the truth. Sharing the Gospel, loving God and loving our neighbor.
That’s really what Jude is saying in these three verses… There is a way that seems right to man, but the end thereof is destruction. Rebellion against God, and against God’s ways, lead to destruction and ruin. It led to destruction and ruin for those people who were led out of Egypt but refused to believe. It lead to destruction and ruin for the angels who rebelled against God, and it led to destruction and ruin for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The United States of America is not exempt from the righteous and just judgements of God.
Our only hope as a nation is to remember from whence we have fallen, and repent. And if we do that, then when my girls are old and their kids are grown, they might still be able to sing, “O say does that star spangled banner yet wave… o’re the land of the free, and the home of the brave.”
LET’S PRAY
