Remember, Repent, Return -- A Memorial Day Sermon

The following is from a survey taken by George Barna, founder of The Barna Group and author of books analyzing research concerning America's faith, which appeared in Word Magazine April 14, 2009 titled, “Most U.S. Christians don't believe Satan, Holy Spirit exist.”

· The majority of American Christians do not believe that Satan is a real being or that the Holy Spirit is a living entity. (Perhaps our author should have said “nominal Christians” rather than “Christians.”)
· Nearly six out of ten Christians agreed that Satan "is not a living being but is a symbol of evil." In contrast, about 35 percent of American Christians believe Satan is real.
· Only one-third of Christians believe that the Holy Spirit is a person. Interestingly, about half of those who say that the Holy Spirit is not a living entity, agreed that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches.
· Most Americans, even those who say they are Christian, have doubts about the intrusion of the supernatural into the natural world.
· Hollywood has made evil accessible and tame, making Satan and demons less worrisome than the Bible suggests they really are. It's hard for achievement-driven, self-reliant, independent people to believe that their lives can be impacted by unseen forces.
· More than six out of ten (61 percent) of American Christians strongly agreed with the idea that a person must either side with God or with the devil - that there is no in-between position.

Believing that we all tend to drift from the way of holiness, I have three Scriptures that tell us what we can do about our condition.

1. Israel in the days of the prophets: God spoke through Micah to Israel saying, “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statues and have not kept them. Return to Me and I will return to you....” The people replied, “How shall we return?” Like Micah, I am calling for a return to God and to holiness, and like Israel, Christians are saying, “How hall we return?” This is not a penitent question; it is a denial. “Where have we gone wrong that we should return? What do you mean, ‘Return,’ we haven’t been away!” One must realize that he is away from God before he will return to Him.

2. The prodigal Son in Jesus’ parable. When the prodigal son “came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my fathers hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.’ And he got up and came to his father...The father said...this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found...let us eat and be merry” (Luke 16:17-24).

3. Jesus’ words to the drifting church of Ephesus: “Remember” He said, “from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first” (Rev. 2:5). Remember, repent and return.

Conclusion:
On this Memorial Day We remember those who have gone before us. We remember the truth they taught us and the holy lives they lived before us.
We remember our own sincerity and dedication, from which we have drifted.
· We remember the cause we advanced with zeal but have now largely forsaken. Martyrs die for their cause, which they consider to be greater than their lives. Missionaries deprive themselves of the comforts of life so those who have never known Christ may have life. Dr. Viktor Frankl spent three years in a Nazi concentration camp, and after his release he said, “Somehow, suffering ceases to be suffering when one has a cause.
· How shall we pay tribute to the dear ones who have gone before us? We shall remember, repent and return to God to live holy lives for others as they did for us. This is our memorial to them.

“Return to Him from Whom you have deeply defected” (Isa. 31:6).