Lest Thou Forget
Memorial Day Sermon
Deuteronomy 4:9
We are all prone to forget—We forget names… where we put things… birthdays and anniversaries. Our memories often need to be prompted. [There is an “app” for that.}
The Apostle Peter wrote, “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things… Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance… Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance” (2 Pet. 1:12, 13, 15).
Words such as, “remember,” “memorial,” and “forget” occur over 250 times in the Bible. God knows how forgetful we are. Therefore, He commanded His people in the Old Testament to observe certain days as days of remembrance (Passover, Purim, Feast of Tabernacles).
In the New Testament God ordained the observance of “the Lord’s Supper,” as a way to remember what Christ did for us on the cross.
Tomorrow is “Memorial Day.” It was first observed on May 30, 1868 to honor those who died in the Civil War. Now, on Memorial Day, we honor the memories of all those who have died in military service of the United States. Memorial Day should NOT be just an occasion to give people a three-day weekend of leisure, but rather a call to remembrance of those who have suffered and died to ensure the political and religious freedoms we enjoy today.
Someone has said: A veteran is someone who at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America,” for an amount of “up to, and including his life.” On Memorial Day, we honor those whose check was cashed at the price of our freedom!
I want to focus on three important things we must never forget…
I. Never forget the SOLDIERS who died for our FREEDOM.
A. The danger of forgetting our heritage and those who made the ultimate sacrifice to make America the land of the free and the home of the brave.
War casualties (20151):
- 4,435 Americans were killed in the Revolutionary War
- 6,765 soldiers died in the War of 1812
- 13,283 were killed in the Mexican War
- 2,446 died in the Spanish / American War
- In the Civil War, 498,332 soldiers were killed.
- 116,516 American soldiers were killed in World War I
- In World War II, 405,399 died,
- 54,246 died in Korea,
- 90,220 in Vietnam,
- 1,565 in the Persian Gulf War.
- 6,852 soldiers have died in the global war on terror (Iraq /Afghanistan).
More than a million Americans have died in our wars, each one much loved by someone.
These men, and women are our real heroes! Everyone of those men, and women paid the ultimate price in support of and in defense of our freedoms! We are free today—free to pray, free to worship, free to speak, free to assemble, free to vote because of them!
B. A Man is not Dead until he is Forgotten…
How we need to remember these men and women! Soldiers like Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham, who made the ultimate sacrifice in the spring of 2004.
Dunham was serving with the 3rd Battalion in Iraq – a front- line unit, when he became engaged in a scuffle with an Iraqi who was holding a grenade that had already been disengaged. When Dunham realized this, he shouted a warning to his soldiers and flung his body on top of the grenade, covering it with his helmet.
Michael Phillips, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, was embedded with Dunham’s battalion. He recounts Dunham’s act of heroism in his book, “The Gift of Valor.” Phillips writes: “He had less than five seconds to make a decision to sacrifice himself, and he didn’t hesitate because he wanted to save his men, which he did.” Dunham has been nominated to receive the military’s highest honor—The Medal of Honor.
We must not forget!
II. Never forget the SAINTS who died for their FAITH.
Heb. 13:3—“Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.”
A. We have a church and a Bible today because of Christians down through the ages who paid with their lives.
B. We are Spoiled— Millions do not enjoy the liberties that we do! We take for granted the tremendous blessings we enjoy that were made possible because of the sacrifice of others.
PARTIAL Sermon: FULL PDF HERE
