Sermon on Courage

Thank you everyone again for tuning in to this tonight. I'm super excited to be able to speak to everyone tonight.

If you don't know who I am, my name is Luke Pearson and I'm the discipleship pastor at Apologia Church here in Mesa, Arizona, and also one of the co -founders of In Abortion Now.

And like I said, it's an absolute honor and privilege to be speaking to you tonight.

My dear friend and brother, and really, I consider my father in this fight,

Rusty Thomas, who I see you sitting there in the front row, brother. He asked us to prepare what he called the message that we would give to any magistrate or pastor if given the opportunity.

So you just heard one of my best friends and one of my fellow elders here at Apologia do an excellent job of presenting a biblical view of cowardice.

And now I want to follow up with an open message to any and all pastors or magistrates admonishing you to be courageous and to stand tall in this fight to end the slaughter of our pre -born neighbors and their mother's wombs.

To boldly make decisions based upon biblical principles of truth and to lead by example, even if you're all alone.

I have a quote here from Charles Spurgeon. He once said that the weakest of minds are those which go forward because they are born along by the throng.

The truly strong are accustomed to stand alone and are not cast down if they find themselves in a minority.

So you may feel like you're in the minority, but when you fight on the side of Almighty God, you are never truly alone and never ever in the minority.

Before getting too far into this message, I want to tell you a quick story.

Which by the way, I know Rusty gave the three of us about an hour and a half. So we'll see how we do with that.

We're used to each speaking at least an hour. Pastor Jeff's after me and an hour would be a miracle.

So we're gonna do our best to get done in an hour and a half here. But I want to tell you a quick story. So back in the first week of March of this year,

BC as I call it, before COVID, Pastor Zach, myself and Pastor Jeff, again, who's up next, we had the unforgettable and life -changing opportunity to go on the

Covenanter tour in Edinburgh, Scotland. Without getting too far off topic, it was amazing.

We were able to see the church and the pulpit of John Knox, his house, his grave, where he's literally buried in a parking lot.

And what an amazing man. If you don't know much about him, you need to study up on him.

He was an amazing Scottish reformer. But we also saw, we went to the museum and we saw the

Scottish National Covenant of 1638. And it was literally signed in blood by the

Covenanters. They signed their names in their own blood. So these are the same faithful men who ultimately founded our nation.

We saw the devices used to torture them. We heard incredible stories of their martyrdom and even touched, we laid our hands upon the blood -stained guillotine used to behead them.

And literally, I'm not exaggerating when I say this, as soon as we finished the tour, we stood there in utter awe and amazement.

We were ready and willing and inspired to fight, right? And we literally asked ourselves, we looked at each other and we said, what is

God preparing us for? So the moment we landed back in the US, within two to three days of us landing back,

COVID hit. And immediately we were forced with a decision, even if we should gather or not gather for worship.

Needless to say, we were left with no choice, but to defy tyranny at all costs.

John Knox himself once said, resistance to tyranny is obedient to God.

And I now want to encourage you to do the same. But before going any further, let's look at the main passage of scripture that I want to drive home tonight.

It's Proverbs 24, 10 through 12. It says, if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

Rescue those who are being taken away to death, hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, behold, we did not know this, does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?

Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it? And will he not repay man according to his work?

Before going any further, I'd like to start off in prayer. Lord, I thank you once again for this opportunity to be here tonight and to preach this message,

Lord. And we just, I ask that you get me out of the way. Lord, I ask that you use this conference, these messages tonight,

Lord, for your glory. I ask that you would use them to end this modern Holocaust in our nation. Use them to encourage and inspire and motivate pastors and legislators.

And most of all, Lord, we ask that you would be glorified in Christ's name we pray, amen. So a brief outline of my talk tonight.

First, I want to look at two stories from scripture that I hope and pray will inspire you to take courage.

And then next I will speak directly to pastors and then directly to legislators. And lastly, I will close by admonishing everyone together.

So the stories I want to talk about, the first one is David and Goliath, which we're probably all familiar with.

First Samuel chapter 17. We all know the story, right? But I think we often look what is actually said.

So David first came to the Israelite camp and he saw Goliath for the very first time. And Goliath was, it literally says he was breathing threats against the

Israelite army. Verse 26, here's David's response to Goliath. He says, for who is this uncircumcised

Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? So notice

David's immediate boldness and courage. While the entire Israelite army was hiding in utter fear,

David was not at all impressed by Goliath. After declining Saul's armor, he went and he collected the five stones for his sling and he approached

Goliath. So Goliath's reaction then to David when he approached him in verses 43 and 44 was this, am

I a dog that you come to me with sticks? Come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.

Scripture says that Goliath actually disdained David and cursed him by his gods.

So here's David's reply then in verses 45 to 47. He says, you come to me with a sword and a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the

Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give you the dead bodies of the hosts of the

Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a

God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear, for the battle is the

Lord's and he will give you into our hand. So the point

I want us to get here is how often do we have the same courage that David had? How often do we face our enemies with that much confidence?

I believe Goliath is a perfect picture of the culture that we're currently facing, the same spiteful,

God -hating attitude that we're up against. When the big, mean, haughty culture is bearing down, when they say, are we dogs that you come to us with a book?

Our response should not be to duck and cover or run and hide. We should not cowardly retreat.

Our response should be, who are you, uncircumcised culture, that you should defy the armies of the living

God? When the culture spits and hurls insults and threatens us, our response should not be to find the nearest bunker and wait it out.

Our response should be to confront them in the name of the Lord of hosts, to let them know that they have defied the armies of Israel, or excuse me, the

God of the armies of Israel. For what purpose? The passage we just looked at here, it says that all the earth may know that there's a

God in Israel and to declare that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. So I ask you, if you're watching this, who will have the courage of David?

Who will stand firm, knowing that the battle is the Lord's? Who has enough fortitude to tell the culture, he will give you into our hand?

So the second story then I wanna look at is that of Gideon and Judges six. This is one of my favorite stories.

Without getting too much into the text, God commanded Gideon to literally tear down his community idols.

These are the same idols that his father built with his own hands. They were his father's idols.

Of course, Gideon was very afraid. And God told him in verse 16, I will be with you.

So Gideon was faithful and he followed God and God gave him the courage to obey what he had commanded.

So Gideon pulled down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah pole. And what was the result?

The men of the town immediately went looking for him. They found his father and demanded, bring out your son that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the

Asherah beside it. Yet, just as God promised, he protected him.

So here's the point I want us to get here. Abortion is a cultural idol.

And if you have the courage to end it, you will be attempting to tear down that idol. I promise you that you will be hated.

The culture may even want to kill you, but be faithful to God's commands.

As he said in verse 34, he will clothe you with the spirit of the Lord. This fight will not be easy.

It is hard to be hopeful, but easy to be hopeless. Courage means doing the hard thing and cowardice means doing the easy thing.

So now I want to directly address pastors, if you're watching this and you're a pastor, my challenge to you as shepherds of your flocks and as leaders in your communities is that this starts with you.

It starts in the pulpit. You are not just the watchdogs of your congregations, but also the watchdogs of your culture and of your communities.

There's a saying that says, as goes the church, so goes the nation. This could not be a truer statement.

How you lead your churches directly affects the state of your culture. I recently heard

Brother Rusty say something. He actually was here a couple weeks ago teaching and he said something that I found very profound.

So admittedly, Rusty, I'm stealing this from you and I'm gonna add to it a little bit. So you can feel free to use the part

I'm adding. But speaking of MAGA, right? Make America Great Again. He said this, in order for America to become great again, the church has to become good again.

And then I added this, and in order for the church to become good again, pastors have to guide again.

I'm gonna repeat this. In order for America to become great again, the church has to become good again.

And in order for the church to become good again, pastors have to guide again. So I'm going to tread very lightly here with this next point, because I know that this does not apply to every pastor, but I do think that it does apply to a lot of pastors.

And if it does, I implore you to please listen and to please examine your hearts and motives and to please repent if necessary.

So throughout biblical history, God has notoriously diminished the size of his armies.

Prior to the time of war and also preceding great victory. Doing so makes triumph seem utterly impossible, allowing only him to receive the honor and glory.

So brothers and sisters, pastors, or anyone else watching this, I truly believe that this is what we are witnessing before our very eyes.

Currently in our culture, this is what's happening. And I want to quickly look at another story from the life of Gideon.

Again, one that I'm sure most of us are familiar with. So this is

Judges chapter seven. Remember, we were just in chapter six. Now we're chapter seven, verses one through eight. It says, then

Jeroboam, that is Gideon, and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Herod.

And the camp of Midian was north of them by the hill of Moriah in the valley. The Lord said to Gideon, the people with you are too many for me to give the

Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boasts over me saying, my hand has saved me.

Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people saying, whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.

Then 22 ,000 of the people returned and 10 ,000 remained.

So that's of 32 ,000 people, 22 ,000 of them left because they were afraid and trembling. Verse four, and the

Lord said to Gideon, the people are still too many. Take them down to the water and I will test them for you there.

And any one of whom I say to you, this one shall go with you, shall go with you. And any one of whom

I say to you, this one shall not go with you, shall not go. So he brought the people down to the water and the

Lord said to Gideon, everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, you shall set by himself.

Likewise, everyone who kneels down to drink and the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths was 300 men.

But all the rest of the people who knelt down to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, with the 300 men who lapped,

I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand and that all the others go, every man to his home.

So the people took provisions in their hands and their trumpets. And he set all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men.

And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. So remember we had 32 ,000 down to 10 ,000.

Now we're down to 300 men. And this is the army that God has shrunk and built for victory.

So this is an amazing story, right? And I think it perfectly illustrates my point. Remember what

I said earlier, the reason God does this is so that man can't boast it. He says here in the text, lest Israel boasts over me saying my own hand has saved me.

So again, we shrunk it down to 300. And the test that God used, I think is one that most

Christians probably just overlook, don't understand, haven't spent time examining. And this is actually really important.

So the 9 ,700 soldiers who failed the test failed because they proved themselves not ready for war.

So by kneeling down to drink, they put their faces down to the water, leaving themselves vulnerable and unalert.

But the 300 soldiers who passed the test passed because they proved themselves ready for war. So by cupping the water in their hands, they brought the water up to their mouths so that they could lap it up like a dog.

And in so doing, they left themselves then protected and alert. So I have an honest question

I'm asking here tonight. Are there at this point, 300 pastors left in our nation fully prepared for war that are alert and guarded and protected?

How many pastors have proven themselves unworthy by kneeling before the inviting cool waters of our current culture, ultimately leaving themselves vulnerable and unprepared for the war at hand?

Make no mistake. Not only are these pastors making themselves unworthy for war, but also unworthy for victory.

Now you may be hearing this and you may think I'm crazy. And to be honest, I myself may have felt this same way if I had not just seen with my own eyes, the published list of businesses and organizations that received funds through the

Paycheck Protection Program. This money was loaned by the federal government to help fund operational costs during shutdowns due to COVID.

This was not, or this was money that had to actively be applied for, not just freely given.

If I'm being honest with you tonight, I was completely surprised and appalled by the millions upon millions upon millions of dollars taken by churches, even churches

I would consider to be solid God honoring churches. So now the souls of these churches are owned by Uncle Sam, and in my opinion, have proven themselves unprepared for the war at hand.

I in no way consider myself a prophet, but I can see the writing on the wall. And I do try to view current events through a biblical lens, taking into consideration

God's modus operandi throughout history. So here's a powerful quote

I'm gonna share with you from my good friend, Gary DeMar from his book, God and Government. He said this, the early church was able to grow and have influence because it was decentralized.

When the Christians were persecuted in Jerusalem, they moved on to Judea and Samaria. Even Rome, the center of apostate political power was populated with Christians.

Spain was next in Paul's missionary plans. The decentralized church was a growing and elusive church.

No political power on earth could curtail its efforts. Christians, because ultimately they serve

God, take their religion with them wherever they go. Families no longer look to the state for care.

Education is seen as a parental responsibility. Statist education is opposed. Alternative educational establishments are constructed.

Care for the needy is seen as a Christian responsibility and not the obligation or right of the state. There was little need for fair business laws because Christian employers treated their employees with dignity as individuals created in the image of God.

These early Christians were persecuted for their individualistic beliefs, but with the

Roman empire crumbling around them in time, Christians found themselves in positions of power and authority.

Unfortunately, the church has become anything but elusive. In actuality, the church has succumbed to political power by kneeling before it, leaving the bride of Christ vulnerable.

Our culture, much like Rome, is crumbling around us, and I don't know about you, but when it finally does collapse,

I want to be left in a position of power and authority. As pastors, people will be looking to us to lead, but my question to you, if you're a pastor, will you even still be standing?

Our nation's founding fathers, the Puritans who escaped tyranny and risked their lives to sail across the ocean to live and freedom rightly understood this concept.

They were willing to lie face down in the mud so that generations after them could walk across their backs in freedom.

I'm willing to do the same. Are you? I'm willing to fight, to get beat up, to get my hands dirty.

Are you? Proverbs 29, 18 says, where there is no prophetic vision, the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.

This verse has greatly resonated with me over the last several years. Our culture, the people, have cast off restraint because overall there has been no prophetic vision from our pulpits.

So pastors, consider this a prophetic vision for me to please repent of your lack of prophetic vision and to turn from your failure to not only keep, but also to love the law of God.

I know it's difficult in our day and age, it's very difficult, but we see here that God has promised to bless you for doing so.

So my admonition to you is to be bold, just like Pastor Zach was saying, be bold, be courageous.

Don't buckle under persecution. And my plea to you is to please repent of any apathy about abortion.

Please allow the gospel and God's law to be your standard. Precious little lives literally depend upon it.

My next topic now I want to address magistrates, politicians, legislators that are watching.

So my admonition to you is much more simple. You as lesser magistrates are accountable to God for how you handle your authority and for how you rule those under your jurisdiction.

Looking quickly at Romans chapter 13, verse one states that there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God.

So let me be clear, the authority that you have has been given to you by God.

Then moving down to verse three, it says, for rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.

So your duty is to be a terror to bad conduct and not to good conduct. And then verse four, it says, for he is

God's servant for your good. You are God's servant. Literally the word is you are

God's deacon for our good, your citizens. And then continuing in verse four, it says, but if you do wrong, be afraid for he does not bear the sword in vain for he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out

God's wrath on the wrongdoer. So you are responsible to not bear the sword in vain.

The apostle Paul repeats himself again. He says, you are God's deacon. You are his avenger to carry out

God's wrath upon the evildoer. To summarize, the authority that you have is given to you by God.

And as God's servant, you are therefore to protect the innocent and to seek vengeance on the evildoer.

And you will be held accountable. This means that you are to protect the lives of our innocent pre -born neighbors and wield the sword against the hired assassins who intentionally murder them in their mother's wombs.

Unfortunately, the very opposite of this occurs every single day under your watch.

The sword is being wielded in vain against the innocent while the wrongdoer is not only going free, but in many cases is even being praised.

So legislators, lesser magistrates, please hear me on this. 2020 has thus far been one wild and crazy ride for sure.

And one thing that the COVID pandemic has shown is that politicians are really good at covering their backsides.

You may be able to temporarily and successfully do so during your elected term, but I can promise you that apart from Christ, you cannot eternally cover your backside.

So I implore you to do the right and God honoring thing. Politics are nothing more than legislated morality.

So the question is whose morality will you legislate? Whose morality will you uphold and protect?

The objective morality of your creator who has given you the power you hold, it's one option.

The other option is the subjective morality of sinful men whose standards ebb and flow like the daily updates of COVID -19.

In closing, I would like to admonish everyone. Remember the passage from Proverbs that I read at the very beginning.

I'll read it again. Proverbs 24, 10 through 12. If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

Rescue those who are being taken away to death. Hold back those who are stumbling to the side. If you say behold, we did not know this.

Does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it? And will he not repay man according to his work?

This passage is the driving force behind an abortion now. It's quite simple.

There's nothing tricky nor exegetically difficult to decipher. The bottom line is this.

We are commanded to rescue those who are being taken away to death and to hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.

This clearly and directly describes abortion. So pastors, magistrates alike, it is your responsibility to live this out, to rescue those beautiful children being taken away to death, to hold them back from stumbling to the slaughter.

If you have the opportunity to obey this command and are not doing it, then you are failing in your duties and you are neglecting your

God -given responsibilities. And if you say, we did not know this, you simply are a liar.

And if you're hearing this, you now know and are without excuse. Verse 12 says, does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it?

And will he not repay man according to his work? Again, you will be held accountable whether in this life or the next.

So who here will be this generation's David? Who will be this generation's Gideon? God does not bless cowardice, but does reward courage.

And I can promise you this, if you lead, they will follow. If you are willing to put to death cowardice and courageously stand firm and embed yourselves upon God's righteous and just principles, we will support you.

And we have a growing grassroots army standing behind us waiting for their marching orders. So what do you say?

Who is with me? Isaiah 41, 10, and then I'm gonna close. It says, fear not for I am with you.

Be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous hand.