# Don’t take for granted what was here before you

Category: Special Seasons
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: May 27, 2025

And tomorrow, of course, is the day we celebrate Memorial Day. Sometimes we get Veterans Day and Memorial Day mixed up. I love Veterans Day. It’s wonderful. Thank God for all those that have served. And we honor our veterans. Praise God, for them. But Memorial Day is for those veterans that did not come home. And those that gave the ultimate price of their lives for our freedom.

I think it’s so very, very important that we celebrate Memorial Day weekend. Barbecues, grill out, that’s great, but it’s more than that. We’ve got to remember. We’re going to kind of include it the message a little bit this morning, but if we don’t remember, we’re allowable to not be a grateful nation for one thing. We’ll get this entitlement mentality.

And we’re just treated real lightly. Hey, this thing has been a lot of bloodshed for our country. And we want to remember those that gave their lives. So many of them, so many of them, praise God for them. I’ve did this before giving you numbers and the thousands and the millions and all over the years. Sometimes it’s just a number.

I think just stories about individuals make it real for us. And Brother Goldforth, he served our country in Vietnam, and has a very dear friend that lost his life there for a country. And he’s going to come, and I appreciate him doing it. It just makes it real to us. By the way, I think we need to hear things like this throughout this weekend. Just to remember, I…

read some stories already. I’ll share a little bit towards the end of the message some of those, but I want us to remember. That’s what Memorial Day is all about. You said, well, that makes me mourn a little bit. That’s all right. Blessed are they that mourn, for they should be comforted in the Bible says. Please ask you, it says, better to go to the house to mourning and then just, you know, everything’s wonderful. Sometimes we need to mourn.

And just make us grateful for the sacrifice being paid for our country. Thank God for it, and thank God for the men and ladies over the years that have paid the cost of their lives.

Well, good morning. I wore my dress blues this morning. That’s the reason I joined the Air Force because I liked it.

Blues, okay, like those dress blues. Uh, I know he mentioned about some numbers. War, World War One, 116,000 soldiers lost their life. War Two, over 405,000 lost their life. Vietnam, 58,220 lost their life.

I’m very blessed that my wife didn’t have to receive these. God took care of it. I was in a support group. I was in a support squadron, a max support squadron over in Philippine Islands. And we were, I was about 1,085 miles away from the heat of the action in Vietnam.

But we were all still a part of it. We were all still there. The war ended in 1973 for the U.S. military. It started in 1965.

I recall many, many of my squadron, many of those soldiers lost their life over there. I know some from Murphysburg, others have lost their life in combat. But I have one in particular because we were real dear friends. He was a classmate. He was a friend. He was a buddy of mine. He taught me into singing, starting a singing group with him. We sang folk music for about a year and a half, two years. He taught me enough to be dangerous how to play a bass fiddle, and we did a lot of things together, a lot of things together that I can’t even talk about this morning because we were crazy teenagers. He almost got me killed about two or three days before my graduation. We had a head-on collision. And I wore a huge bandage over my head with my little cap on.

And his name was Mark Babson. Captain Mark Albert Babson, Jr. His OV-1C Bronco plane went down in Vietnam, October the 16th, 1969. They say that’s what they say. The reason I say that is because I was in the Philippines when I heard his plane was missing, and he and one of the crewmen that was with him were missing as well.

So that was not October the 16th, 1969. I was discharged at Travis Air Force Base in California when Armstrong walked on the moon, July 20, 1969. So that’s how I know that. This must have been when they finally found his plane. It took them almost a year to find him, I understand.

I’m sitting in the barracks watching TV, and they’re showing films of the Hanoi—hey, the Hanoi Hilton, if you know what that is, that’s not an inn like you think. It was a prison. I saw him on there. I saw him on the screen, and I called home.

And his mom and dad started looking to the government to give them some answers. The answer they came up with was there was a man that looked like him. If somebody it looked like him, it wasn’t him because he was already dead. His plane had already gone down. He was 23 years old at that time when they found him. I say found him because, again, I don’t think that’s when he went down. He went down months before that.

He was on a reconnaissance mission. He was flying a reconnaissance mission, he and one crew member, and they both lost their lives there.

I think of him often. I think of him often. If you drive down Rutherford Boulevard in Murphysboro, Tennessee, you’ll come across the bridge that says Captain Mark Batson on it. He left a wife of just a few years. He left a daughter who was probably one or two years old and a mother and father. He was an only child. He gave his life for his country, y’all.

Many men, many women have done that over the years. The problem we have is this is about the only day we remember them. We even think about them sometimes. I can assure you those families think about them. I got to meet his daughter just a few years ago. I’d never met her. She was in Murphysboro, and we met. The first thing she wanted to know was about her daddy.

She won’t know about her father. See, they gave it all. Some of those soldiers, they just gave it all. I served, but I didn’t give it all. They gave the ultimate sacrifice. But a man over 2,000 years ago gave the ultimate sacrifice too. He gave his life that you could have freedom from sin.

I tell you this story because in one Saturday night in 1964, when Mark and I were together, he told me about a dream he has. And it’s a continuation of a dream he has two nights in a row. The first dream is he’s flying a plane and it’s going down and he wakes up.

The next night, he has a dream, and there’s a train coming in with a flag-covered coffin on it. And his mom and dad are standing outside on waiting for that train. Actually, that’s the way that Mark passed away. He died that way in a plane that he was flying going down.

Don’t never disregard your dreams, y’all. I know there’s a man in this auditorium that told me a dream he had led him to salvation. I never would forget Ms. Brenda out visiting, telling about a lady they knocked on her door.

And she came to the door and told them this story. That night, hey, the night before, she’d had a dream about, she was on an elevator, and it was going down. And when the door’s open, she is in hell. The doors opened in hell. They tried their best to lead her to the Lord, but she wouldn’t do it. Mark was a Catholic.

I pray, I pray often that he found Jesus before that plane went down. It’s kind of ironic, the group that we were in. He was a Catholic. But Paul Sommino, who sang with us, his daddy was David Sommino, who was the pastor of Riverview Baptist Church in Murseburg, Tennessee, back in the 60s. Then there was me.

The lost one of all in there. But see, God has a way of putting people together. He brought Mark into my life for a reason. And I think of him often. It’s just crazy. I think of him quite often. Let’s don’t forget them, okay? Let’s don’t forget them.

Take your Bibles. Turn over to Deuteronomy. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, chapter number six. And we’re going to try to dive into this thing real quickly here. Deuteronomy was Moses.

Really in some ways kind of rehearsing what all God had done up to that point. And he’s telling the children of Israel now, I’m not going to be the one that leads you into the promised land. A younger guy, Joshua’s going to do it, whatnot, but I want to give you some instructions about when you enter into the promised land.

And what we’re going to read this morning is exactly that about when they enter into that promised land. Now, it says land flowing with milk and honey. That means it’s flown with ice cream. Somebody say amen right here. Come on now. That’s what it means. I have to study that out. But we’re in Deuteronomy 6. And just a couple of verses, verse number 10. Deuteronomy 6.

And verse number 10. If you’re able to, would you stand just to show the word of God respect? And by the way, I appreciate your faithfulness to God’s house on a holiday weekend. That’s just awesome. I know some right of town whatnot, but that faithfulness is key. God, he wants our faithfulness. And I appreciate you honoring the Lord being in this house on a Sunday morning. Deuteronomy 6.

Jump down to verse number 10, would you please there? Verse number 10. And he says, and it shall be, Moses speaking to the children of Israel, and it shall be when the Lord, thy God, shall have brought thee into the land which he swearing to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give the great and goodly cities. Watch this.

Which thou buildest not. There’s actually four nots, I want you to notice. All right, we just read one of those nots right there. These great and goodly cities, and you’re going to just walk into that promised land, and these great and goodly cities, you didn’t build them. You didn’t work for them.

Somebody before you did that. Right? Make note of this. Now, number 11. And houses full of all good things, which thou fillest not. Now you’re going to walk in there, and these houses are going to have all kind of goodies in there. They’re going to have all the modern-day conveniences. And you didn’t put it to me, you didn’t work for them.

You didn’t build those houses and spend the money and the time and the labor to put all those. You’re just going to walk in and have all these things. Watch this. And wells digged, which thou diggest not. Have you ever seen a well digging truck or just pound those pipes down into the ground? You didn’t get the trucks out there and do all that. They didn’t have trucks back in that. They had camels that would knock it down with their nose.

No, I’m teasing. They called them shovels back then, you know. But he said, you didn’t do all that work for this water. You’re just going to walk in and be able to have water right off the back. You didn’t do anything. Just remember, you’ll have wells digged, which thou diggest not.

Vineyards and olive trees. By the way, they can keep the olives. Anybody want to say amen right there? Got a couple of going on board there. You know, the grapes. I like some good grapes now. Anyway, a little side note there. Vineyard and olive trees, which thou plantest not. You’re going to have all this harvest. You didn’t plan it. You didn’t plow it up. You didn’t fertilize it. You’re just going to walk in there and have all these luxuries, which thou plantest not.

And when thou shalt have eaten and be full, here’s the thing. This is pretty amazing. You’re going to go on that and just have all this luxury. And you’re going to be able to eat and just be full. Watch this, verse number 12. Then beware. Wow. When you walk in there and you get all these things, all these blessings that you didn’t pay the cost, you said you better beware of it.

By the way, I can see a pretty good description of modern-day America. And he said, then, you got all this in your fault, then beware, lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt and from the house of bondage.

Fitting of us, me sometime, in America today. Wow. Then be aware for just a little bit. Why do we have Memorial Day? Why do we have Memorial Day? That’d be the title for the Internet. Why do we have Memorial Day? Why do we have Memorial Day? Just for a bit.

I was at a preacher’s meeting in northwest Indiana years ago. An older preacher had they were honoring him, Bobby Roberts, and he was getting up and he was talking about at the beginning days of that conference. He said this, it kind of caught my attention. I’ve been to his church. The guy he was in northwest Indiana, but the guy was speaking, he was from North Carolina, Gospel Baptist Church in Walkertown, North Carolina. I’ve been there.

And he said this, he said, back in the day in the beginning of this conference, years and years ago, he said, me and a couple preachers got together and we drove up. And he said, I can’t remember the exact amount of hours, but it was like just in my mind of the, what did you say? It was like over 20 hours.

He said, well, I know nowadays it would not take near that long to drive from Walkertown, North Carolina, to northwest Indiana. In fact, I looked on Google Maps this morning. It wouldn’t take near that long. But he said, you’ve got to understand, back in the day, there was no such things as interstates.

And if you’re going, you know, across the country, you rode back roads all the way. Now, I’m really on, I’m young, I’m 35 right now, you know.

You need a cough drop there, brother. Okay, plus 20, you know. But honestly, my mind, I never even thought about, you know, just kind of for me, I thought, you know, interstates, you know, just never, I thought they’re always there, kind of like, you know. And sometimes a little bit of things kind of dawns on us, wow, we have been given so much.

I mean, just kind of laid out right in front of us all these things. I was talking with, I hope he don’t mind me mentioning his name. He’s one of these young guys, too. But he’s got a little wisdom about him also. I’m trying to word this thing, right? I should have asked him ahead of time. He’ll be good about it. But I was talking about him, Mark Hardy, a week ago. And grew up, I believe it’s in Winchester, Tennessee out there.

And we were talking about back in the day not even having running water in the house. How many remember not having running water in you have? Yeah, we got some folk. Yeah, yeah. He said, let me think, I don’t know if we had electricity. He said, yeah, we had a little bit of electricity back of the day. But for us young people, I like to call myself, that’s us young people. You notice that, amen. That’s a good preacher right there.

That’s like a strange thing not to have electricity.

How many, anybody here, when you were young, you didn’t have electricity in your house? We got some folk. Yeah, we got some folk like that. Now, look, folk, I’m just saying we have been given so much. I’ve never put up electric pole with lines. I’ve never paved the interstate. I’m not done all those things. I’m saying if we’re not careful, it would be very much like the children of Israel that just marched in.

And they had houses, they had roads, they had electricity, they had all this. And God said, now wait a second, say, when you get all that and you eat and you’re full, better look out.

Beware. And then it’s just going to be brief, but yes, this is going to be one of those messages back of the day, you know. You walk to school uphill both ways, you know, there and back, you know, snowing every day, you know, you didn’t have socks and shoes, you didn’t even have feet back in that day and time, you know.

We don’t preach like this very often, but every once in a while it’s a good, good thing for us to remember a little bit. And he says, you’re going to walk in there and you won’t have a, and this is amazing. Now, I remember this, but you know, there was a day in time when there was no cell phones.

Wow. Anybody remember the landlines? Come on now, you know. Anybody remember the landlines that they had a cord, you know? I mean, you know. I’ll never forget my, yeah, yeah. I don’t know if anybody else remembers you had to write and do all that. Come on now. Did you put it up to you here with them? I don’t remember those. I’ve seen them, you know. But yeah, what about I never forget? My brother, my older brother, he was in high school and he had a girlfriend and all that.

And at you know certain time not supposed to be, you know, and but but he wanted to talk. He’s married to her today. I’ve been married for years and years. But they’re trying to sneak that phone. Well, back then there was a cord and you just follow that cord about 11 p.m. or something everybody’s supposed to be asleep. You follow that cord and and my brother had that phone over to kind of follow that cord around the corner in the kitchen. All the lights were out, you know.

And he’s over there hiding behind the cabinets and he’s talking to his girlfriend.

You can trace them wherever they go back there. Hey, there wasn’t, you know, hundreds of satellites put up back there. And I’m saying these things that say, hey, if we’re not careful, if we forget, the Bible says there’s a warning about that. He said, beware. Why beware? Well, let me mention a couple things. Number one, because you lose your thankfulness, your gratitude.

And it’s a sad thing. You can get a people that have so much. Can I just be honest with you, folks, we’re full rotten. We’ve got everything. And the sad thing is so many times we’ve got so much that we’ll go around complaining and grumbling about some little bitty things that we don’t have. We’ve got everything, folks.

I mean, if you’re a little bit cold, you just push a button. And it’ll warm it up. If you’re a little hot, push a button.

I’ve not lived, you know, super long compared to some, but I remember staying at my granny’s house in Florida where humidity is worse than it is in Tennessee. I mean, Tennessee, you take a shower and you get out of the shower, you’re already sweating. Try Florida. And Granny’s house had one window unit, and it was in Granny’s room.

And rightfully so she had, and I remember trying to sleep with my uncle David in that hot bed and that box man in the window blowing hot air on you. And you’re trying to sleep.

I mean, it’s just hard to sleep when you’ve got to hydrate every half an hour because you’re sweating so much, you know. Now, it’s good for me to be able to remember that, say, hey, I’m just a blessed individual. And, friend, be careful. You have all this and guys, and beware when you got everything because you’re allowed to be some of the most grumbling, complaining people in all the world because you got so much and you forget when you didn’t have all that.

He said, beware. It’s sometimes just good to remember. I don’t cut my grass very often. My wife, she loves to cut the grass. I mean, she just, we have fights over who’s going to cut the grass. You know, she likes it. Miss Louise, Miss Reese, y’all, yeah, yeah, that you all are just same alley, you know, but my wife, they like it.

My wife’s been sick, so I cut the grass the other day. Praise Lord, finally did what I should have did, you know. And we have a nice lawnmower. It’s a ride lawnmower. It’s not zero turn, but it’s nice. But I’m riding that thing, and I thought about when we first moved to that location, we have an acre of land and cutting it with a pushmower.

Or, you know, after that, we stepped up and got a riding mower that worked about 3% of the time. That I met David Jones, putting a new engine, getting by an old engine, putting it on that ride, you know. Or even way back in the day when we were newlyweds living in a trailer, and literally we had that lawnmower you push and it turns those blades. You get your workout. Who needs push-ups when you got a lawnmower like that, you know?

And it made me enjoy cutting the grass so much better riding on that big fence or riding more because I remembered where I came from. And friends, the Bible there said, look, be careful. When you get in that land and you’re going to have all these things and you did not do anything to get them. He said, then beware. Because you’re allowed to complain and grumble and, hey, whatever happened.

To contentment. What does it say over there in Timothy? Godliness with contentment is great gain. What about whatever happened? Just stopping and enjoying what you have. You know, they don’t have front porches, big front porches nowadays, on houses for the most part. You know what? Nobody sets out on the porch and enjoys life.

And we’re not careful, we’re just running, running, running to get more, more, more, and we never enjoy what we have. I’m just saying, God says, hey, beware, beware. Whatever happened, just say, you know what, I’m going to stop being, after getting more, more, more, and I’m just going to stop and enjoy where I’m at. You’re saying, hey, you’re against progress. I’m not against progress. I’m against you going, going, going, and never enjoying what you have. That’s what I’m against.

By the way, our society can get us that way. Real quick.

Hey, you know, in Romans 1, we won’t take time to look at it. But Romans 1, a lot of the commentaries or the titles above of that last part of that chapter will say, seven stages of degeneration. It’s a society when it’s just going downhill. All right? Let me give you the first two. First of all, they knew God from creation.

And yet they would not glorify him as God.

That’s interesting. Boy, nowadays it’s interesting how we’re getting to the Pope. We’re worshipping the creation more than the creator. Or the creation of the animals more than the creator. Come on, don’t get quiet on me. But the second thing over there in Romans 1 is, neither were they thankful. The second stage of degeneration of the people, a nation, the society, they are not.

Thankful for what they have. And woe be to us if I’m not thankful for all the good things we have at our day and time. We’ve got so much. Every modern convenience they can make a dime off of, we have it.

Oh, friend, let’s just stop. And let’s kind of heed the word of God when he says, hey, then when you get all this and you eat, you’re full, then beware. Because we’ll be grumbling, complaining, and we’ve got so much. I don’t know who’s in the nursery this morning, so if your little one’s in the nursery, please don’t take a pinch to it, but I promise you this happens in the nursery all the time.

Some child will have about 2,675 toys around him. And that child over there will have one toy. He or she doesn’t have. And they’re going to do everything they can to get that toy. Come on now. You did the same thing when you were in the nursery, by the way, friend. Hey, just stop and enjoy what you have.

Why did he say this? He said, look, when you go in there, he said, right, you’re going to go in there. You’re going to have these cities. You didn’t build them. You’re going to have all this houses full of good things. You didn’t fill it. You’re going to have these wells, this water. He didn’t dig those wells, these vineyards and alls. You didn’t do. He said, then, beware. Why? Because if you’re not careful, you won’t be grateful for what you have.

I heard about a couple back in World War II that they went to the pastor and they said, hey, our son gave his life in military and we want to write a check to the church for $250 in honor of our son. And another couple was over there heard it out of their earshot, heard of what was going on? They said, what in the world? We’ve never did anything for our son that’s living.

And they say, hey, let’s give. They took a check out and they wrote a check for their living son. I’m just saying it’s a shame sometimes we have to lose something before we appreciate it. Let’s appreciate what we have.

Let’s another thought on this. Why? Why did you say then beware? Sometimes if you don’t realize the cost of something, you treat it very lightly. You don’t respect it like we ought to. Sometimes you’re just so quick to change it without regard to anybody or the cost to other people.

Let’s take America. We’re talking about America for a little bit this morning. Y’all still with me out there? Let’s go back a little bit. And some of you live in this day and time, I was of course living in. I was a boy. But I want to talk for just a second about…

The 60s and 70s and how that generation, and you were the ones typically that were standing against this, but I do want to, a lot of bad things did happen during that day and time. And I want to be honest for a second about that in America. But that generation were handed the greatest nation on the face of the earth. And the greatest by far. And you realize that’s when we have what they call war in court.

And by that, the Supreme Court and so many things began to change. They wanted to change America. In 1963, in Pennsylvania, there was this school, and it was part of the school system. It was state law in Pennsylvania at that time, requiring them to read 10 verses of Scripture every day. The reading was without comment. Students, if they didn’t have to participate, they could request an exemption.

But this lady, Madeline Merle O’Hare, anybody remember her? By the way, it’s amazing years later, her son became a preacher, by the way. But she took that all the way to the Supreme Court and the war in court. In 1963, they kicked the Bible out of our public school system. Just talking about how.

And that they were given so much, the greatest nation on the face of the earth, but they treated it so lightly. Well, that should change it all. 1973, legalized murder. They might call it abortion, a right to live. I call it a right to murder an innocent little bitty baby. Don’t get quiet on me now. Boy, since then, over 63 million, someone will say 65 million babies that have been murdered.

By the way, for years and years, our tax dollars paid for it. Many of them. What a shame. They were given something so great and they, well, let’s just do whatever. Well, let’s just change this thing. They said, well, what about the rights of the mother? What about the rights of that innocent child that did not do anything wrong? Yeah.

Well, let’s just change it. By the way, praise God for June of 2022 when we had a president that had appointed three more good or decent judges to the Supreme Court that overturned Roe versus Wade. Praise your Lord for that. Amen for that. What a blessing. I think one of the greatest political victories by far in the last 50 years. What a wonderful thing.

You realize, let me just talk about how the change of American, you realize in the early 1960s pornography was outlawed and it was, it was really, it was run by organized crime. Now that’s before in our mindset and our day and time, but that’s what it was. And then in 1973, Miller v. California, all that was changed. I’m just saying,

We’re not careful. They were given the greatest nation on the face of the earth, but they changed so much. We’re reaping some of the repercussions today, too. Trying to get it back to somewhat decent and morality. And by the way, sin is a reproach to any people, the Bible says. Righteousness is the result of a nation. Sin is your approach to any people, the Bible says.

I’m just saying it’s so important that we realize this great country there was a cost paid. There was thousands of people that shed their blood. Think about all those that those boys and girls that they lost their dad and their mom sometimes or their aunt or the uncle and they shed their blood. Think about the cost that was paid for for the America for the country we’ve been given.

If not, we won’t be grateful for what we have. We will treat it so lightly, so very lightly. Be careful of change without regard to the cost of others. Former President Barack Obama, that was one of his slogans, change, change, change. One of the most pro-abortion presidents up to that time. Hey, I’ll just say this, keep your change, buddy.

We don’t want it. If it means we don’t stand for the national anthem, keep your change, we don’t want it. If it means we don’t pledge allegiance to the flag, we don’t want your change. You keep the change, friends. Be careful of those who just treat what we’ve been given so light, and they want to change it all. So very, very important, he said, then beware.

Oh, I’ve got to hurry along. Can I just say a word or two about the churches of America? We were given in many, many ways, the most spiritual nation and just great churches, maybe not a whole lot of megachurches, but great, great rock, solid stood for something. Churches across America, and we’re not careful. We have churches want to change everything. We want to make everything easy, ease, no invitation. You might have to get down on your knees and humble yourself. Hey, whatever happened to humble yourself, therefore, under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you. Whatever happened to that?

You know, on a old Sunday night, Wednesday night. Well, everything easy. Be careful. When you start changing everything, apostles lost their life to give us the church. Jesus said his blood for the church. He said, purchased it with his own blood. Beware, then beware.

By the way, David said, I don’t want to serve God and offer up to God something doesn’t cost me anything. I want to cost me something. Come on now.

Yeah. Beware. He said, you’re going to walk into this promised land and this going to, I mean, these houses are going to be the best, the finest. I mean, just, you know, beautiful. They have all the modern convenience. And he said, you’re going to walk in there. They’re going to have food and all these gardens have been planted. He didn’t plant them. He said, when you eat and you get full, then beware.

Why? You allow to not be grateful for what you have. You treat it so lightly, you just want to change everything and do whatever you feel like at the moment. Then what is it saying? Verse number 12. We’ll go back to our text, verse number 12 here real quickly. He said, then, y’all want me verse number 12? Then beware. What’s the next five words? Here we go. Lest thou.

I love that song, America, America. God shed His grace on thee. Can it remind you America? Hey, God is the one that made you great.

Beware, unless you forget, hey, it was the Lord God Almighty, a bunch of 13 ragamuffin colonies winning against the greatest military in the world? That was God that led us win that. Woe be to us if we get proud and cocky and think we’ve got it all together. God shed His grace on America. Don’t forget that. Don’t forget that.

Then we’d be amiss if we didn’t talk about Memorial Day weekend remembering Jesus what He’s did for you and I. The Lord’s supper, two ordinances. God’s given to a local New Testament church, baptism, and the Lord’s supper. The whole purpose of the Lord’s supper, God said, I want you to stop everything, and I want you to remember Jesus giving his body and his blood. That’s the whole purpose of the Lord’s supper. We have it. It’s on our church calendar. You can look and see what we have. I want you to come to it. It’s a wonderful thing, but it’s so important to the Lord that we remember, hey, think about what he did for your sins.

Cat of nine tails, we don’t know exactly what it was like. There’s been a lot of speculations and a lot of studies and videos and everything else about it. But cat of nine tails, I tend to think this is the way they did it. Sometimes it would do it like this. I think of this because Psalms 22, he talked about you can stare at his bones, but sometimes they would take the victims and they would take their hands and they would wrap chains or ropes around them, and they would just suspend them off the ground where their feet were dangling.

And then they would take this whip, had a nine tails, we call it. They would have nine ends to it. Looking for something I could use as a whip. Anyway, but imagine that. And then in those nine ends, they would have woven in their sharp rocks, kind of makeshift glass, if you will.

And they will weave that into those tails, those left. And then they would have this victim there. He suspended off the ground, typically, we don’t know for sure, but typically the Old Testament law was 40, say, 1, 39 times, 36 times on the back and 16 on the chest. And they would take that, and they would whip the victims of that, and it would wrap around their body. And they wouldn’t, they wouldn’t just kind of, well, let me unwind it, they would just pull it.

And as they would pull it, those tails of that, that whip would just rip open the flesh. Kind of like you think about a lion, you know, that would scratch and the claw marks would just dig deep. And that’s the way that whip would do. And they did that to our Savior while he was paying for your blood 39 times and it would just fillet his body. Typically the inner organs were just hanging out when they were done with it.

Not a couple drops of pull of blood down there. You can look at Psalms 22, says you can look in, you can see his bones. I mean, all the way down to his bones after they whipped him with that. And he was doing that to purchase your freedom for my sin and your sin. He was purchasing his church and forgiveness of your freedom from your sin. He was purchasing his own body and his shed blood.

We didn’t have time to go through it all, but they took a crown of thorns, large thorns, and they placed it on his head. Not only did they place it on his head, but along there, they put a reed in his right hand and mocked him as he was king, and then they took that reed out. They spit on him along there, and then they took that reed, and they pounded it on his head. And they beat that…

Crown of thorns down in his skull and his bones there. He was already plucked his beard, already bloody. But they did that, imagine the blood and the bruising that came on Jesus’ head. Talk about a concussion. And they beat that crown down on him. Then they made him carry that cross. They got Simon to carry it up to Golgotha, the place of the skull. And the cross was there, and Jesus, he took his hand, and he put it out there on that cross. And they took that big old…

Big old spike of a nail and they put that on his hand. And boy, that old Roman soldier, he took that hammer and just pounded and went right through his hand. Now I’m saying that, friend, so you and I can remember what Jesus did to purchase your salvation. Lest we get ungrateful, unthankful for what our Savior did. Don’t take lightly your salvation, friend. Praise the Lord, it’s free. It’s God’s grace.

It’s the gift of God, eternal life, a gift. But, friend, that gift was not free. Jesus paid an awful price for my salvation and your salvation. Don’t forget it. We’re so flipping about our salvation sometimes. Yeah, I got saved, so-and-so. Man, never treat your salvation like that. Praise God for the day that he washed my sins away. A child of the King because of his shed blood. Remember what he went through for you.

We want to change Christianity all around. All be so very careful. It was paid a great price to give us the Christianity we have today. Book of Jude, he said, earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. That Christianity. We sometimes joke, I’ll joke sometimes, about 1 John 1:9. That’s my life’s verse.

In some ways it is for a born-again Christian, if you’re going to live close to your heavenly Father. You don’t get saved again, but you get back to your fellowship restored to your heavenly Father.

Quote it with me if you would please. Many of you know, if you don’t, that’s fine, no problem at all. But let’s just if you know it, here we go. 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” And we take that so, and I’ve joked, that’s my last verse. The man when I go to him as a child of God, said, Lord, I’m so sorry.

And he says, I forgive you. Far as the east is from the west, he’s removed our transgressions from us. Won’t remember them anymore, no iniquity anymore. Cast our sins behind us back, buried in the deepest part of the sea. That cost a lot. Never take that lightly.

The right that I can go to him and say, Dad, I’m sorry, and he says, son, I forgive you. It doesn’t lower his righteousness. Oh, the only way we can do that is because Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Woe be to me if I treat it lightly. I’m eating and I’m full.

And God says, hey, be careful there. I just think I’m entitled to that. Jesus shed his blood for that. I don’t want to go changing what Jesus gave to us. I want to keep it the same, the best they can. Yeah. I want to remember what Jesus has done. I’m going to go back, and we’re going to be done in just a moment, Memorial Day.

Three quick, just quick mentions. There’s a 71-year-old lady, Geraldine. Her dad died in Germany in World War II when she was two years old.

She said, I have just a vague memory. I remember him picking me up out of the crib. And I remember him laughing. And she said, I remember him playing with me just glint in the backyard. She said, I was so young. But on that, she said, I had a real good. She had a wax recording.

Any of you remember wax recordings? Kind of like, you know, back of the day you can record tape player, you know, cassette tape. You see before that, she said my mother would play that wax recording of my dad over in a, so I knew my dad’s voice.

She’s 71, and she still tries to remember. She said, in 1985, I got to travel over to the Netherlands where her dad’s body was grave. That’s body was buried there to grave. And she said, that helped me. The way she described it, she says, it was a little bit like a period at the end of his sentence. Just to be able to go, she said, there’s a cross, just, you know, the national cemetery crosses, and she said, I could touch something that had my dad’s name in it. That’s why we have a free America, friends. That’s why we can have church, not fear of persecution.

William, his dad died when he was actually on his two-year birthday, his birthday, World War II.

William said this, he said, you know, I remember when I was in first grade, he said, they wanted us to bring show and tell. How many ever had show and tell, you know, back in school? And he said, I brought my dad’s medals in, Purple Heart and all along. He said, I brought that in, and around Memorial Day they had, they asked us, and said, brought it in.

He said this back in America. He said, actually lunchtime, it was kind of like a neighborhood school. He said, at lunchtime, we went home for lunch. And he said, went home, and mom said, hey, how did it go showing your dad’s medals? And he started trying to tell his mom, and he said, I just burst out in tears. She said, what’s wrong? And he said, my daddy died, first grade. Dad died when he was two years old. That’s why you have a free America.

That’s why you have the right to go to the polls and vote. That’s why you can go to college or school and choose your occupation. That’s why you have freedom to speech to say your opinions. Oh, yeah.

One more. Walter Carter. When he was 73 years old, he said, I’m still, he said, I can’t get closure. You see, his dad died in 1944, right towards the end of the World War II. The sniper shot his dad.

It’s funny. He said, I was going through some of the old stuff, and I found a picture of me and my brother. I’ve seen the picture. Just little fellows just down here. And his mom had taken a picture and sent it to his dad in one or two. And they’re saluting. And he said, I found the letters. And dad said, why are my boys saluting with their left hand? Military, man.

But he said, I still today. He said, I’m a little bit closer to it. 73 years old. He said, but I still don’t quite have closure. I’m working at it. He said, I’m better than ever been. But I just can’t quite get there all those years. Hey, remember.

Be careful. Be careful. You got all this and you don’t remember. Man, it makes us grateful for what we have. We don’t treat it so lightly. Well, let me just change everything. Lord, I don’t want to forget you.

I’m going to close, I got to close, but back in the day when there wasn’t any rain, nowadays if there’s no rains, the farmers can file, and they’ll get government help. But back in the day when it didn’t rain, you know what farmers had to do? Prayed.

Just old-fashioned prayer meetings. He said, be careful when you got all that, lest you forget, you’re God.

Father, thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your grace. All the millions of things you’ve just given to us. Help us not to be, well, we’re just eating full. And we don’t remember. Help us to take heed to your beware. And at that night of time, Jesus, we’ll pray. Amen.

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar ＂Don’t take for granted what was here before you＂ - Sunday AM 05⧸25⧸2025 [ZE8z8df6bEI]