I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb

The theme, as you can see, is the message is about a pledge of allegiance to

the Lamb, and we're looking at both the founding of our country,

but then the assurance of our faith and our pledge in our faith.

This Saturday, this coming Saturday, we will be observing the 4th of July,

as we do every year, and it almost seems like we do it trivially, almost.

I mean, it becomes a point in time where it's really more about the day off

and all of that than it is about what we're doing.

But we celebrate our freedom declared from the monarchy of Great Britain.

And I should not have to remind you that this holiday is about more than hot

dogs, cookouts, swimming, and fireworks.

There was somebody by our house who was shooting them off late last night.

And I kept thinking, okay, I hope they don't land on my roof and start on fire.

But anyway, you know how that is.

When we lived in Peoria, we had to worry about gunshots going off at Fourth

of July and New Year's Eve. But anyway, Fourth of July is about a country founded,

rooted, and established on Christian principles.

In keeping with that tradition, I would like to remind us of some of the words

our founding fathers said in this regard. The first one is this from Patrick Henry.

It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was

founded not by religionists, but by Christians.

Not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Have you heard that before?

Probably not. Not too many times.

This next one is from George Washington in his farewell address to the nation.

Do not let anyone claim tribute to American patriotism if they even attempt

to remove religion from politics.

And John Adams wrote this, we have no government armed with power capable of

contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.

Our constitution was made for a moral and religious people.

It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

And then President Thomas Jefferson in an address to the Danbury Baptist said this,

The First Amendment was created as a wall of separation between church and state,

but that wall is a one-directional wall.

It keeps the government from running the church, but it makes sure that Christian

principles will always stay in government.

Please take note that there is no reference to the separation of church and

state as is currently being proclaimed in any official document,

government document or law, nor in the U.S. Constitution.

What is being promoted today as a wall of separation of church and state simply

does not exist as it is being portrayed.

What Thomas Jefferson wrote in an address to the Danbury Baptists was not included

in any document, in any constitution or amendments or anything like that.

It was a reiteration of the intent of the founders that the state could not

do anything to hinder or infringe on the practice of Christianity.

He actually stated that Christian principles are to be preferred and promoted in government.

Eleven of the 13 colonies, and you may not know this, 11 of the 13 colonies

originally had laws on their books,

that anyone who held a public office had to be a practicing Christian and a

member in good standing of a Christian church.

So you can see that despite what modern politicians, the contemporary media, or the.

History revisionists say, America was founded not on the concept of freedom

to worship any god, like Buddha, Allah, Krishna, or whatever,

but on the freedom to worship the Lord Jesus Christ.

Okay, now that that has been made clear, let me get on to what we'd like to say.

Today I wanted to look at briefly the parallel between our founding fathers'

allegiance to this country and our allegiance to the Lamb of God,

Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

First, we look at them, the patriots, and then the Christians.

First, the patriots. They made a bold declaration.

For more than 14 months after the Battle of Lexington and Concord,

the patriots fought not for their independence, but rather they fought for their

rights within the British Empire.

They were not fighting to be independent from Britain. They were fighting to

have the rights established as British colonists and British citizens.

Rights that had been taken away gradually and even more after the Boston Tea Party.

I got a kick out of, and this is a side story, one year we went on a choir tour

in college. We went out to Boston and,

And driving past the Boston Tea Party, or the Boston Harbor,

there's a big sign talking about Boston Tea Party and all that.

And one girl in our choir, and I won't tell you what hair color persuasion she was, but.

She said, is this where the Boston Tea Party happened?

Here's your sign. It's right there, you know.

But anyway, so we kind of joked about it, and she said, and then we say,

oh, so when was the War of 1812 fought? But anyway.

Hundreds of Americans gave their lives to regain their rights.

400 alone died on the Battle of Bunker Hill.

It was during this time of conflict that Patrick Henry, the fiery politician from Virginia,

gave his most famous speech before the Virginia Provincial Convention,

and here is how he concluded his speech.

Three million people armed in the holy cause of liberty and in such a country

as that which we possess are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us.

Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone.

There is a just God who presides over the destiny of nations and who will raise

up friends to fight our battle for us.

Battle, sir, is not to the strong alone. It is to the vigilant,

the brave, the active. Besides, sir, it is now too late to retire from the contest.

There's no retreat but in submission and slavery. Our chains are forged.

Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston. War is inevitable, and let it come.

I repeat, sir, let it come.

What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear,

so sweet, so peace as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?

Forbid it, almighty God.

I know not what course others may take, but ask for me.

Give me liberty or give me death.

During the Civil War, President Lincoln was asked by someone in the Republic

and the Union, is God on our side?

And President Lincoln responded, it doesn't matter whether God is on our side.

We need to ask, are we on God's side?

And I think that's where we'd look at a nation. Early in the summer of 1776,

at a meeting of the Continental Congress on July 2nd, 1776,

the colonies voted to announce and declare that they would accept nothing less

than absolute freedom from England.

Two days later, on July 4th, after making some minor adjustments to the text,

the final wording was approved by representatives of the 13 colonies.

John Adams, who was a member of the drafting committee, was so excited about

that that he wrote back to his wife on July 2nd when they drafted the original

and didn't get it all signed yet.

He said the 2nd of July, 1776, will be the most memorable day in the history of America.

I believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the greatest anniversary

festival with shows, games, sports, balls, bonfires, and illuminations from

one end of the country to the other, from this day forward and forevermore.

Well, he missed it by two days because we celebrate 4th of July.

But after that declaration was signed, couriers took copies of it to George

Washington who was with his troops in New York. and on July 9th,

the declaration was read before the militia. Think about this.

This was a bold declaration. In it, the Americans were challenging the most

powerful empire of the world at the time, and the Americans entered the war

without a navy or an army.

Their fighting forces consisted of only military units of citizen soldiers in

the various colonies who were ready to defend their homes and their families at all costs.

The colonies could call up military men for service ranging from a few days,

to a few months. On the other side, however, England had an army of well-trained,

highly disciplined soldiers.

These American patriots made a bold declaration. They stood against the tyranny

of Britain, and they had a high price to pay.

After the Americans declared their independence, they had to win it by force.

The task proved especially difficult, particularly because the people never

fully united behind the war effort.

Now, if you've read Revelation, you see about the end days about a third of

mankind does this, and a third of mankind does that, and a third of mankind

does this. Now, let me read this.

A large number of the colonists, about a third, remained unconcerned about the outcome of the war.

They were indifferent and supported neither side. They didn't want to get involved.

And as many as one-third of the population sympathized with Great Britain,

and they called themselves the Loyalists, while the Patriots called them Tories

because of their adamant support for the King of England.

These problems meant that victory in the Revolutionary War depended on Patriots

who made up less than one-third of the entire population.

7,200 Americans were killed in a battle during Revelation Award.

8,200 were wounded, 10,000 died from disease and exposure, an additional 6,500

died in prison after being captured, and 1,400 soldiers were listed as missing in action.

What about the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? Did they pay a price?

They sure did. Their conviction resulted in untold suffering for themselves and their families.

Of the 56 men, Some were captured by the British and tortured.

Some had their homes ransacked and burned.

Some lost their sons in the fighting. Some of the signers were young enough

to actually have to fight in and endure the hardship of war.

Now, it's one thing to make a bold declaration, but it's another thing to put

your money where your mouth is and put your fight in the game.

Our founding fathers made a bold declaration, and they paid a high price,

but they also reaped a great reward.

The war that began on April 19th, 1775. By the way, as I was preparing this

message, I looked at that day, April 19th, 1775.

It officially ended the Treaty of Paris when it was signed in 1783,

but the war that began on April 19th, April 19th, 1995,

220 years later, was the day of the federal Murrow building bombing in Oklahoma

City it's interesting how dates kind of pop up as similar but.

This is where 10,000 British troops laid down their arms and hid in a cave.

The Americans made a bold declaration. They paid a high price,

and they reaped a great reward.

They won their freedom. They won their independence. And a particular kind of

nation was established, a nation where every human being could be free.

In fact, actually, I was looking at something online.

The original writing of the Declaration of Independence really very clearly stated

that all men were equal, and there was a part that was not included in the final

draft that was included in the original, that specified that slaves were men and,

not animals and property, and they were also free.

So it was kind of struck right away, but originally it was all men were to be freeing.

A human being could be free and

have something to say about how they were governed. Remember this phrase?

Of the people, by the people, and for the people?

But not only did the patriots win their freedom, but at the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the U.S.

Territory doubled in size when Britain gave the new nation all of the land east

of the Mississippi River.

And though many signers of the Great Declaration paid a high price,

others reaped a great reward.

Two of the signers became presidents, 10 became U.S. congressmen,

19 were judges, 16 became governors, and dozens held other high political offices.

These patriots made a bold pledge of allegiance.

They paid a great price, and they reaped a great reward. But what about the Christians?

We, too, have made a bold declaration.

If you are here today, and if you are a born-again follower of Jesus Christ,

you too have made a bold declaration.

Do you remember the day when you made the decision to follow Christ and to be

redeemed from your past sinful way of life? I do.

Do you remember when you stood before the body of Christ, when you came forward

and confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, when you stood before the

body proclaiming your desire to be a Christian, to be united with God,

to be bathed in his blood? I do.

Do you remember the day when you made that good confession and when you were

buried with Christ in baptism and were raised to new life in Christ? I do.

And when you did, you were making a bold declaration. You were,

pledging your allegiance, your devotion, your all-time, lifetime loyalty to

and dedication and commitment of your very life to the Lamb of God who takes

away the sin of the world.

Understand that you were at that time proclaiming what Paul proclaimed in Galatians 2, verses 20.

Galatians 2:20

He said, I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live,

but Christ lives in me. The life I live in this body, I live by faith in the

Son of God who loves me and gave himself for me.

That was a really bold declaration, and we have made that bold declaration.

We no longer live for ourself, the root of all sin is self.

That we no longer seek our own will for our life, we seek God's will,

and that we will no longer live for the things of this world,

but rather we are seeking God's will for our life, seeking to do what pleases him, and above all,

that pleases us when we please him.

It's a very bold declaration to say that you will live for him who died for

you, and if you are here today and you are truly a

born-again Christian, you have made that declaration, and you've made it loud,

and I urge you to continue to repeat that boldly, proclaiming Christ.

Here's a declaration just as bold and just as powerful as the one Joshua made

in Joshua chapter 24, verses 14 through 15.

Joshua 24:14–15

Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Make your bold declaration.

Throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord.

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable today

to you, then choose for yourself this day whom you will serve,

whether the gods of your forefathers served beyond the river or the gods of

the Amorites in whose land you're living now.

As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. That is a bold declaration,

and we each need to make that. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

When you came to Christ, you pledged your allegiance to the Lamb,

and you were making a very bold declaration.

You were also, like the patriots, you were prepared to pay a very high price.

It's one thing to make a bold declaration in the comfort of a church building.

Yes, we can stand up and sing songs, and we can give our testimonies,

and we can tell how great God is for us.

But it's quite another to live up to it, to pay the price, to fulfill the declaration

on the battlefields of our daily lives when we face what's outside these walls.

Most of the time, saying words is the easy part.

The actions are what make it tougher. You know, on that day when Joshua made

his bold declaration, he wasn't alone.

He wasn't standing up in a pulpit, yelling out to crowds way over.

He was gathered in the midst of all of his people.

Others were with him, and they said the same words within the comfort of the

assembly of thousands of people.

It says, from Joshua chapter 24, verses 16 and 18, then the people answered,

Joshua 24:16

far be it for us to forsake the Lord and serve other gods.

We too will serve the Lord because he's our God.

How did that work out for them?

Well, it was a declaration by the nation of Israel. They were pledging their

allegiance, but tragically, it didn't last very long.

All you have to do is turn the page over from Joshua's book to Judges' book,

and you'll see how quickly the people turned away from God.

Please understand, wars are not won by those who only make declarations.

No victory is ever achieved by those who lift only their voices.

We cannot talk our way into freedom.

We cannot talk our way into victory. Unfortunately, we who are in the Lord's

army discover, just like the Patriots discovered, that our war is very hard to win.

We can't do it in our own strength.

And for one thing, even in our bold declaration, we're challenging an empire that's very powerful.

We are declaring war against, according to Ephesians chapter 6,

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

we are declaring war against the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this

dark world who are taking a stand.

We are taking a stand against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms.

There are real battles to be fought, real struggles to overcome.

We are called in Scripture by Paul to finish the race,

fight the good fight, and endure hardships like a good soldier.

That doesn't sound like a mamby-pamby faith, does it?

That sounds like a faith that we need to stand up with the armor of God clad

around us, and we need to fight the enemy wherever the enemy is.

Yes, this is a real war. Oftentimes, when we talk about spiritual warfare,

it just kind of goes over people's heads.

But we are in a spiritual warfare. Ephesians 6, we wrestle not against flesh

and blood, but against principalities and powers of darkness in this world.

We have a real enemy. Satan will attack us, pursue us, and tempt us.

He will try to make sin look good.

He will at times come at us head on like a roaring lion. And at other times,

he will appear as an angel of light. Scripture tells us that.

And not only is this war hard to win because we have an enemy,

but it's also hard to win because not everyone is committed to the war effort.

Not everyone who claimed Jesus as their Lord one day in the assembly has lived

up to it in their daily lives. Many are complacent.

Many love comfort and refuse to join the fight of the faith.

They enjoy the pleasures of having their sins forgiven, but they refuse to join

the battle to shun the evil of hell.

Some of these are just like the Tories in the revolution, who by their actions

seem to be more loyal to our enemy, to sin and to Satan.

They'll still worship God. They'll still serve God. They'll still give their

best efforts and time to him, but they still actually surrender and are living for Satan.

A final reason our war is hard is because others like that one-third of the,

colonists that were unconcerned about the outcome of war, they were indifferent,

and many even in this life, this faith, are uninvolved. We've talked about loved ones.

That they don't really have a declaration of their faith. They don't have really

any evidence. They're just more apathetic about their faith.

You know, we need to be bold and consistent and committed to our faith and to our Lord.

Let's make no mistake, there's a high price to pay to fulfill our declaration

that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Our Lord demands total, radical, unswerving allegiance, and the fact that he does is no secret.

I want you to hear the words of Jesus found in Luke 9, verses 23,

Luke 9:23

24, and then Luke 14, verse 33.

Luke 14:33

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life

for me will save it. And then the next verse, anyone who does not carry his

cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

There are serious and severe warnings in Scripture about those merely who make

up a declaration, those who come and say, yes, I want Jesus and my Lord,

but walk out completely unchanged. and uncommitted.

They don't back up their words with action. The scripture says that only those

who do the will of the Father will enter the kingdom of God,

not those who declare, but those who do the will of the Father.

They claim to know God, but by their actions, they deny knowing him.

They are detestable. This is found in Luke chapter 7 and Titus 1.

Luke 7 · chapter mention

They're detestable, disobedient, and unfit for anything good.

That's pretty strong words.

About non-committal followers of Jesus Christ. What is it that gets in the way of people?

Well, the answer can be found in one simple word, self. We get in the way.

Our pride, our opinion, our desires, our comfort, our convenience, and our own will.

Let's just think of some of the slogans, advertising slogans.

Look out for number one. Go for the gusto.

In it for yourself. self in it to win it. Many will say, I pledge allegiance

to the Lamb, but in reality, their allegiance really is still to self.

That's the way Jesus said we must pick up our cross, deny ourself daily in order,

to be his disciples. The people in Jesus's day, picking up one's cross meant

only one thing, and that was death.

To understand the cross of Christ, to understand the cross in that day,

you understood it was crucifixion.

It wasn't, I bear my cross and oh, there's such a weight. It was death.

To declare and mean it when you say, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son

of the living God and I receive him as my Savior and Lord, it was a costly thing.

Many of our ancestors in the faith, the beginning ones of the first few hundred

years, were martyred because of their belief in Christ and they're being sold out for Christ.

But the reward we reap will be a great reward.

John 8, verse 32 says, that you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

John 8:32

John 8, 36 says, so if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Romans 8, 1 says, therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8.18 says, I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing

with the glory that will be revealed in us. We have a huge reward today.

Of truth and faith and life and eternity.

Not only will those who have chosen to pledge their allegiance to the Lamb of

God win their freedom from sin, death, and condemnation, but a particular kind

of church is going to be established and is being established where all people

can come to know Jesus as Lord.

It will be a place where the good news will be preached to the poor,

where freedom will be proclaimed to those in captivity, where recovery of sight

will be proclaimed to the blind, a place where the burdened and oppressed will

be released and the hopeless will find everlasting hope.

It will be a place where those who are found in addictions will be released

from their addictions by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the power of God.

It will be a place of joy during overwhelming circumstances of peace,

even in the midst of grief.

It will be a place of love, forgiveness, healing, and acceptance are a place

for new beginnings for those who are at the end of their rope.

And that's not all. One day we will reap what is perhaps the greatest reward of all.

One day we will stand before the Lord in all of his glory and receive the crown

of life that he gives to those who love him and long for his coming.

And we will hear those most precious words.

What a great reward we are going to hear when we hear those words spoken by

our master. well done, good and faithful servant.

Enter now into the joy of your master's happiness.

Declaration is bold. Jesus is my Lord. The price is high. We have to die to self.

But the reward is out of this world. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the promises that come in your word.

So often, just like the 4th of July, we take the declaration of independence

from our sin and from Satan.

You know, almost take it for granted. before, Lord, we want to declare boldly,

we want to pay the price and we want to reap the rewards of being followers of Jesus Christ,

pledging our allegiance to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of this world,

including ours, and transforms us into a new life.

Father, we ask that we may be a committed people to you in Jesus' name. Amen.