C229 7/3/60 © Project Winsome International, 1999

As a scriptural basis for this fourth of July message, I direct your attention to the Old Testament, 2 Samuel, chapter 10. It's here we read the story of King David's war with the Ammonites.

Now this may seem like a strange text for an occasion like this, but there is a real kinship between the experience of David and that which we, as Americans, are experiencing. I'll not take time to read the story to you this morning, but you'll find it in the first twelve verses of the tenth chapter of 2 Samuel.

The King of the Ammonites had died and Hanun, his son, had ascended to the throne. In his early years as King of Israel, David had been shown many kindnesses by the King of the Ammonites, and so when he learned that his beloved friend had died, he was moved by compassion. He sent a commission of representatives to express his sympathy to Hanun upon the death of his father.

However, his overtures of friendliness were misunderstood. The Ammonites were very suspicious about the emissaries which David had sent. If fact, they stirred up so much doubt in Hanon's mind that he ordered the visitors be taken captive and thoroughly questioned. In the process of this "third-degree" the Ammonites submitted the Israelites to some terrible indignities.

When word got back to David as to what the Ammonites had done, he was quite upset about it. However, he felt sure that if Hanon really knew he was serious in his overtures of friendship, all would be well. By now the Ammonites were trying to justify their completely unwarranted actions and without any warning or provocation declared war upon David. They turned to the Syrians, who were tradition rivals of the Israelites, for help.

Face to face with an inescapable situation, David marshaled his armies together under the leadership of Joab and went forth to fight a war that he didn't want.

When Joab and his men reached the place of combat and had his battle plans ready, the captain called his army together and gave them this message,

"Be of good courage and let us play the man for our people and for the

cities of our God, and the Lord do that which seemeth good to Him."

I have chosen this 12th verse as my text.

One-hundred-eighty-four years have passed since that memorable Fourth of July, when in the year 1776, the American Colonists declared their independence from foreign rule. During the intervening years, the original 13 colonies have grown into a mighty nation of 50 great states. The government of the people, by the people and for the people, has not perished from the earth, but has actually survived a number of terrible wars, periods of great inner conflict, a series of devastating depressions and yet has grown to be the finest, strongest and richest nation on earth.

It has cost us much in terms of labor and suffering. It has called for great ingenuity and resourcefulness. But, under God, a nation has been established where men are free and life is good.

All of our past achievements, however, cannot blind us to the danger which threatens our nation at this time. For surrounding this island of peace and prosperity which we call America, is an evil force which is bent upon our destruction.

To understand its meaning, we must go back 142 years to May 5, 1818. For it was on that day that a Jewish couple living in Trevs, Germany, on the banks of the Rhine, became parents of a son whom they called Karl. That son grew up. He became conscious of the social injustices and economic inequities of his time and was determined to right the wrongs he witnessed.

As a solution, he proposed a revolution, a revolution built upon fear and hate which would ruthlessly stamp out any opposition and would coldly eradicate any who held differing points of view.

Now it seems ridiculous to us here in America that anyone would ever commit their destiny to such a hideous and godless ideology. But people living in war devastated lands suffering from hunger, beset by poverty and troubled by disease have always been ready in their despair to embrace any plan which offered hope. And as result, in the last few decades Communism's influence has spread over almost half of the population of the world.

Followers of Karl Marx have also sent their emissaries to America. But in our country they have found the most formidable resistance to their revolutionary program. This is not an accident. For it so happens that 1800 years before Karl Marx was born, another Jewish mother gave birth to a boy in the little village of Bethlehem in Judea.

His name was Jesus. And, he too, was deeply affected by the cruelties and injustices of mankind. He also proposed a revolution as the solution to the misery which men had inflicted upon other men. His revolution was to be built upon love, not hate. Faith, not fear. Law, not anarchy.

What he proposed was an orderly revolution in which men learned to love the Lord their God with all their heart and mind and soul, and their neighbor as themselves. Then, as if to demonstrate both what the meant by this revolution of love and the high price of loving, he went to a cross and died for those who were both his enemies and friends.

Now it hardly seems possible that any thinking man could ever reject such a noble plan or such a blessed hope. But the power of Satan is real, and there are many who have turned their backs upon Jesus.

There are many who responded to him, of course. They have found happiness for time and salvation for eternity! They have tried to live according to his will, to be guided by the example of his life. They have tried to cut their own behavior according to the pattern he set. Many of our forbearers who came to this continent to establish a new nation were those who marched under the banner of the cross.

They were men of courage. Men who were unashamed of their faith in Christ. Men who boldly set out to build their new homeland upon his precepts. Their Christian faith found its way into everything they did including creating the bill of rights and writing the Declaration of Independence.

Politically they expressed their Christian faith by establishing a republic within a Democracy.

Individually they expressed their Christian faith in personal conduct by living lives of industry, frugality and moral responsibility. Socially, they expressed their Christian convictions by active involvement in seeking to improve the condition of life for all men. This was done so even the poorest could enjoy the necessities of life, the advantages of education and the economic rewards of hard work.

It was their expression of religious faith in daily life which is the real secret of America's greatness. There is no other explanation for the moral strength, the adventurous spirit, the undaunted courage or the material wealth of this great land of ours. The founding fathers set out to build a nation whose God was the Lord, and whose conscience would be guided by the spirit and mind of Christ.

Today this nation and its faith in Jesus Christ, the son of a Jewish mother, is being challenged by another nation and the faith of those who believe in the son of another Jewish mother, Karl Marx.

Unfortunately, many Americans do not realize that the growing struggle which appears to be chiefly a conflict between two different economic systems actually goes much deeper. For in reality, it is a conflict between godliness and godlessness, between materialism and Christianity.

Because many Americans do not grasp this deeper meaning, because they do not realize we war against principalities and powers of darkness, they still complacently think communism can be overcome by expenditures of vast sums of money for military hardware. They think all will be well if we can only sing long enough and loud enough about the glories of free enterprise. The problem is much deeper than that, and the solution is much more radical than that.

Ben Franklin expressed it rather well when, in the midst of ne of the crucial debates of the constitutional convention, he rose to say,

"I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing

proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And

if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that

an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, sir, that

'Except the Lord build a house, they labor in vain that build it.' I firmly

believe this, and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall

succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.

We shall be divided by our little partial local interest. Our projects will

be confound, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and byword

down the future ages."

Those were important words then and they are important words now. For we are engaged in a war of ideas, even as the founding fathers were, and you cannot overcome an idea with an expression of military might. You cannot bomb an idea out of the minds of men. You cannot shoot it down with even the most carefully guided missile. You can only overcome it with an idea that is superior, and which is supported by superior devotion and dedication on the part of its adherents.

Communists are materialists, and all materialists, no matter where they live or which flag they fly have the same basic philosophy of life, God, the dignity of man, spiritual values, eternal life. These are all of no significance. They think of human happiness as something which lies solely in the material or physical side of life. They believe a man who has plenty of things will be a happy man.

This materialistic view of happiness and peace of mind is not the sole possession of the Communists. There are many American materialists who essentially believe the same thing. They worship gladly before the god of gold, and do obesaence before the altar of things. I am persuaded that if they ever became convinced that communism could provide them with more gold and more things they would quickly espouse it, inspite of the fact that it is atheistic to the core.

It is not losing their god these people fear. It's losing their gold! Many of them could care less about losing the right to worship. All they worry about is losing the right to worship as they please which is generally, not at all! The really big worry I have about America's future is not political (although in that regard we must remember that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom) it is spiritual! Here is where we are most vulnerable. Here is where we are most likely to go down. For here it is that so many are so thoroughly lackadaisical and uncommitted.

Communism can never be successfully resisted on the material level. It must be opposed by those deep spiritual convictions which center in the Christian faith. But we must not suppose that pious platitudes and pale anemic forms of Christianity will prove an effective barrier to the armed rush of Communists who are ready and willing to sacrifice, suffer and die if need be for the advancement of the cause in which they believe with such fantastic zeal.

We will never win this war with "the powers of darkness" by serving up half a Christ for tender minds and sensitive feelings. We will never win by remaining part of the cult of the comfortable. If victory comes, it will come because we have listened to the words of Joab when on the verge of a great battle he said to the people of God,

"Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people and for

the cities of our God."

We shall never be part of Christ's triumph over evil if we merely play lip service to his moral principles. If ours is to be a victorious faith, we must have courage enough to be criticized and called fanatics for the sake of Christ.

We must be willing to "play the man for our people and for the cities of our God."

We must begin with a deep personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We must go on to live that faith in our daily lives, for "Faith without works is dead."

We must transmit this faith to our children, both in word and deed. It's not enough that we send our boys and girls to Sunday school, we must take them! And what is more important, we must enter into the experience of learning with them.

We must be willing to really sacrifice, for so much of our giving of either time or money is a matter of our convenience. We must sacrifice if we're going to help Christianity triumph over a militant and highly organized materialism.

We must become informed and articulate spokesmen for this Christian faith. We must know what we believe, why we believe it, and how to communicate it to other people. We must back up what we say with our lips, by what we do with our lives at home, at the office, at the school. If we fail in this, then may God have mercy upon our souls. For we will have delivered our children, lock, stock and barrel, into the hands of godless materialist.

A great question facing us today on the 184th anniversary of our dependence is this: Whose spiritual rule? The spirit of Christ? Or the spirit of Karl Marx? And the question will find its answer, at least as far as we're concerned, in our willingness or failure to,

"Be of good courage, to play the man for our people, and for...our God."

If we will move forward, deeply devoted to the cause of our Lord, inflamed with a passionate love for the Savior who died for us, and filled with concern for our fellow men who do not know the Lord, if we will express our Christian faith in lives patterned after Christ's example, if we will turn our backs upon the god of gold and the altar of things, then, and only then, can we pray "God Bless America" and commit the outcome of this war of ideas into the hand of the Almighty God.

Joab said confidently in his day,

"Be of good courage, and play the man for our people, and for the cities of our

God; and may the Lord do that which seemeth good to him."

In other words, his willingness to leave the outcome in the hands of the Lord was based upon a willingness to be a courageous and effective warrior for the Lord. Because he was willing to do his part, he was not disappointed. The courage and loyalty of the Israelites was rewarded with a glorious victory. So shall it ever be with the cause of Christ.

Jesus has assured us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against us. The forces of godliness shall not take over. The beautiful treasures of life such as the freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our heart, or the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, or any of the other treasure which are symbolized for us by the stars and stripes, shall not be taken from us. If. If we are willing to courageously "be the man" in the face of the forces of evil.

To make our celebration of the Fourth of July in this year of our Lord 1960 have real meaning, and make certain our forefathers did not die in vain, we must rededicate ourselves to the faith of our fathers, lest the spirit of Karl Marx rob us of both our temporal and our eternal inheritance. God Bless America! Yes! But I ask you, how can he? Unless we who are his church begin to live by this formula --

"Be of good courage, and play the man for our people, and for...our God,

and (then) may the Lord do that which seems good to him."