Tuesday, August 23, 2005
If you're from Texas, you know that Alamo is more than just a rental car or pie with ice cream on it. The Alamo is that old Spanish mission in the heart of downtown San Antonio where 189 brave freedom fighters took their stand against the army of Mexico in the battle for Texas independence. I visited the Alamo recently, and once again I was moved by the sacrifice of those men who gave their lives for the cause of freedom, but only after inflicting some pretty heavy losses on the enemy army and inspiring the ultimate victory with the Texas battle cry, "Remember the Alamo!" Colonel William Travis was in command of the garrison as his valiant band stood against those overwhelming odds. I was especially moved as I read the letter that Colonel Travis wrote addressed to "the people of Texas and all Americans." In fact, I was so moved that I read part of it to the 5,000 young people I spoke to that night. He said, "The enemy has demanded a surrender. Otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword if the fort is taken. I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat." That's more than history. It's a battle cry for you and me.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "White Flags and Cannonballs."
In the spiritual battle raging all around you, your enemy the devil keeps calling for you to surrender - surrender to discouragement, to despair, to bitterness, to disobedience, to retreat. During those grueling days when Satan tried to get our Lord to surrender to temptation, we learn how those temptations have to be answered.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 4, "For 40 days, Jesus was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them, He was hungry. The devil said to Him, 'If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread'" (vs. 2-3). In other words, "You've got this need, right? Why don't you do something that will meet your need, even if it's a little outside of what God wants you to do?" Jesus answers the call for surrender with a cannon shot! "It is written: Man does not live on bread alone." (vs. 4) Jesus answers with the heavy artillery of a statement from the Word of God.
When Satan then takes Jesus to a mountain and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world, he offers them to Jesus if Jesus will just bow down to him. No cross He'll have to go through. He can have it easily, without all the pain. "Jesus answered, 'It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only'" (vs. 8). Again, the temptation to surrender - answered with the cannonball of God's Word.
It could be that the enemy is working overtime right now to deceive you into some moral or spiritual surrender. He's saying something like, "Things are dark and they don't look like they're going to change. Why don't you give in to discouragement?" Or, "You could really benefit from compromising right now; just giving in a little to this temptation. It's wrong, but it might help you. Surrender to temptation." Or maybe the enemy is saying, "There is no hope for this marriage - surrender to divorce." "There's no hope of an answer - surrender to taking charge of this yourself - surrender to self-solutions or surrender to giving up." He might say this: "If you take a stand for Jesus, it will cost you too much - surrender to denying Jesus."
As Colonel Travis so dramatically demonstrated at the Alamo, when the enemy calls for surrender, you cannot answer that passively. You have to answer aggressively. You can't just say, "Well, I'll try to resist. I'll try to do better." No, you've got to go to God's words about that issue in the Bible, and use those words that the Bible says are like "a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces." Or, a cannonball! Stand on God's truth, in God's strength, in Jesus' name and declare it boldly, "The flag of Jesus still flies proudly from these walls. I shall never surrender or retreat!"