The List

"The List " Hebrew 9:24-28

There were 496 names on the list. 496 names that Johnnie Johnson didn't want anyone to forget. The year was 1950, and Johnson was a army private., just 18 years old thrown into combat in Korea and his regiment was captured. While being held as a POW many men were being killed. Johnson began to worry that these brave men would be forgotten, and their loved ones back home would never know where, when and how they had died.

So he started a list. Using a pencil stub, he wrote their names on anything he could get his hands on: discarded cigarette packages strips of wall paper, pieces of trash. He wrote their names, their units and their dates of death.

After three months, most Johnnie fellow prisoners were sick and malnourished. 70 died as a result also 7 were executed. Then a cruel North Korean army major took control of the POW's 758 in all and forced them to march 120 miles across snowy mountain terrain. The North Korean took away all the remaining prisoners dog tags. American soldiers were shot and left to die if they stumbled or fell over, and Johnson kept focusing on the list as he walked, in order to ignore his own pain. he managed to jot down 110 men who died along the way.

That winter in camp alongside the ice chocked river, 309 more prisoners died. Johnson kept writing, adding their names to his secret list, even risking his own life. When guards discovered the list in the wall, Johnson was made to eat the bread of pain, and drink the waters of tribulation. He was tortured and accused of maintaining criminal propaganda for his government.

The other list he hid in the dirt floor was never discovered and at the end of the war Johnson dug it up. He sealed the list inside a tooth paste tube, and didn't take it out until he was safely on a troop ship home. On the ship an officer asked him, "What have you got there?' Johnnie said, "It's my list sir. “and he showed it to him. 496 names he risked his life to complete. It took many years for people to discover its' value and it remained largely hidden until it appeared in a Readers Digest article and History Channel documentary. Johnson is overwhelmed by relatives who want to hug him and thank him.

Those who lost loved ones are anxious to see the list, which Johnson has in a scrap book. and when they find their loved one's name. You can sense their relief and gratitude. As long as a man is on the list he not truly lost.

Johnnie Johnson risked his life to complete a list -- a piece of paper that has brought true peace to the families of fallen comrades. It is a record that cost him considerable pain and suffering, but in the end he has no regrets about putting it together.

"The List " Hebrew 9:24-28

1. Johnnie was committed to a cause Jesus is committed to a Cause to Convert

• Luke 19:10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

2. Jesus is committed to a cause that you and I will never be forgotten

• Remember that was the purpose of the list

• Job said his friends had forgotten him Job 19:14My kinsmen have gone away; my friends have forgotten me. God does not even forget about the birds so he does not forget about us Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

3. Johnnie risked his life to put a man on the list, Christ laid his life down that your name might be on a list

• . Rev21:27Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

4. Johnnie had no idea what the value of the list was. What is the Value of being on the list

• Consider the Value of Blood, without bloodshed there is no list for you and I.

• .Hebrew 9: 22In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness

• The Value of the list is the sacrifice to obtain it. Johnnie risked his life to make it.

• Jesus gave his life that you may be on the list

• Hebrews 9: 28 Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people or all people.

• The Value of the list is that it brought closure for the families it brought peace