Had the same result, they both rumbled. That's what he said. Now God doesn't have to do that to everybody, but Brother Rick's own testimony, that's what it took for him. He had to come a hard way. Well, I pray you don't have to come a hard way. But I tell you one thing, if God's gonna come after you, if he's gonna save you, he knows how to do it. So when he deals with you, you just yield to him. Amen. God dealing with your heart means He's interested in you. He's chosen you and chose to have mercy on you. You just choose Him, respond to Him. Amen. Thank you, Lord. I want to talk to you about Gentleman Johnny. Gentleman Johnny. You ever heard of that? John Burgoyne. Now, I've been preaching a lot on American Revolution, history, making the application to our daily life. Johnny Bourgoin was a British officer general who led the Northern Campaign to Saratoga. I can't get to Benedict Arnold, the rest of him, without dealing with this man. God's put him on my heart. Handsome Jack, or Gentleman Johnny. Verse number one of Obadiah, the vision of Obadiah, thus saith the Lord concerning Edom, of course that's the offspring of Esau, we've heard a rumor from the Lord, and an ambassador sent among the heathen, arise ye and let us rise up against her in battle. Behold, I've made thee small among the heathen. Thou art greatly despised. Now there's a progression here in this book, and what it is, it is a judgment on the offspring of Edom. And they dwell in a rock city in Jordan, they did, called Petra. If you've ever studied prophecy, then you'll know that a lot of commentators believe that's where the Jews will flee in the wilderness. The one third that'll in the tribulation period to hide from the Antichrist. I don't know if that's true or not. But it's literally a city of rock. And there is a very narrow pathway into that city where people live in the rocks. And even the Lord said it's like an eagle's nest, high up in the air. And there's no way, you got a mile, you got to travel to get in there. I mean, there's no way to get in there without being killed. It's probably the most secure, fortified place in all of the world. And the Edomites took great pride in the fact they could never be brought down. Well, the Lord said, because your attitude, you're small among the nations and your pride has caused the nations to despise you. and this chapter's gonna end up with God blessing Israel, and there's a reason this judgment's gonna fall on Edom. Now remember, Abraham, the patriarch, Isaac, the miracle son, Jacob, who became Israel, had 12 sons who were the 12 tribes of Israel. Jacob had a twin brother. His twin brother was Esau. Esau was the eldest, but God chose Jacob. to be the one that would receive the blessing and the birthright. And Esau and Jacob were in conflict, and their offspring were even in this day. In verse number three, the pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the cliffs of the rock, whose habitation is high, that saith in his heart, who shall bring me down to the ground? Isn't that amazing what Brother Rick just testified? Who shall bring me down to the ground? But that's pride. Though thou exalt thyself as an eagle, though thou set thy nest above the stars, then shall I bring thee down, saith the Lord. So Edom here is representing pride and they represent cruelty. And I'll say a few things about this and then illustrate it in the life of this man. Nothing in the whole world is as deceptive as your heart. Your heart will lie to you. Your heart will deceive you. Your heart will take you to hell. Your heart will tell you you're all right when you're not all right. Your heart will lift you up in pride. Your heart will make you think you're invincible. Pride will cause you to say, I'm better. Pride will cause you to say, I'm different. Pride will cause you to say, I'm too smart, or I'm smarter than you. Pride will cause you to say, I'll not get caught. Pride will have you to say, I'm superior. Pride will have you to say, I'm more important. And I know better, and I am better. And I don't need anyone, and I don't need anybody to tell me what to do. And I don't need God, and I don't need the church, and I don't need to listen to my parents. Pride. That's what pride says. God said here, you're small among the nations, and you're greatly despised. He said though, and that's so of all of us. If any of us are prosperous, or if any of us have a great level of intelligence, you didn't just work that up, God gave you that. Everything we have is a gift of God. The fact you got to be born in America, it ain't a curse, it's a blessing. Listen, I'm not sitting down bowing down to that flag, I'm standing up. Because everything I have is because I live in a land of liberty. and a land where I can express myself and where we can be blessed. 1 Corinthians 4, 7. Who maketh thee differ from another? What is thou that thou didst not receive? If thou receivest it, what is thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? What God is saying, there's no place in the Christian life or anybody's life to be lifted up in pride because you can do something better than somebody else. Because God give you that gift and pride the root of pride and what pride says is I must have made man This is come from me as if we're the source of our our abilities or our greatness But what what Adam done in this story that brought such judgment of God is that they rebelled against God's choice and they rejoiced and When Israel was judged, when Israel was taken into captivity in the north, when Judah fell, they rejoiced in Judah's fall. Never vote yourself and never rejoice in the fall of others. Now, we rejoice that certain ideologies are destroyed, and our enemies are destroyed, that they can't threaten us no more. But we don't vote and rejoice that people go to hell. Obadiah 1.3 talks about all this pride that's in the heart here of these people, this spectacular city carved in stone that these people literally had in their mind. They could not be brought down, but God said, I will bring thee down. Now, if I was gonna read all these chapters, their confidence is not just in their city, but in their confederacy. They've got a lot of allies, they've got a lot of alliances, and they think that that is gonna be the thing that keeps them protected, that if anybody comes, their allies will arise and fight with them. They were known for their great wisdom and their great knowledge. God said, I'm going to expose that you're not above being brought down. And I'm going to expose that you're not half as smart as you think you are. Because their own allies that they trusted in are going to turn on them. and are gonna be part of their destruction. That's what God said, I will bring thee down. And so in history we find out that that's so. Neither shouldest thou rejoice over the children of Israel in the day of their destruction, neither should have thou spoken proudly in the day of distress. They gloated at Judah's misfortune. That's her brother. They didn't rise to help him. Matter of fact, when Israel was in exile and some of them run for their life, these Edomites cut them off. They either killed them or they arrested them, apprehended them and gave them over to their enemies. And God shall judge them for that. They gloated. Do you remember when 9-11 happened in America? You remember how the Palestinians and the Muslims gloated? You remember that? You remember how some of these nations were out in the streets celebrating that we'd been hit? God's gonna judge them for that. That's exactly right. These hurricanes and tornadoes and natural disasters hit America and some people in the world are rejoicing at other people's calamity and their disaster and their misfortune. I tell you, God's coming after them. You better mark that down. When God was gonna raise up a nation that'd be the breadbasket of the gospel and the British come over here to subdue us, God brought them down. That's right. You can't fight God's sovereignty. He's in charge. And when God is gonna do something, he's gonna do it. Now what we see here, they rejoiced in the day of their calamity, these Edomites. Then they took advantage of their vulnerable state. I'll tell y'all something, ever looter is gonna be judged. Somebody vulnerable? And a storm comes, power goes out, people go in stores and loot stores and loot houses. God's gonna judge them. Boy, if you've done that, you better get quick forgiveness. And make restitution. That's right. When people are vulnerable, that's what they've done. When they were vulnerable, they were trying to escape from the Babylonians. They helped the rest of them. For the day of the Lord is near upon the heathen. As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee. Thy reward shall return upon thine own head. But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, there shall be holiness, and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. In other words, if you want mercy, you better show mercy. Here's what I'm getting at. When you see other people fall, don't you ever think that couldn't be you. Don't ever think that. There's not a one of us in this building that can't fall. If we don't walk close to God and in humility, we probably will. There are some things you may not do, but we'll get out of God's will. We are capable of doing that for which we would have declared we could never do. This is what God said. Verse 18, they shall kindle in them and devour them. There shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau for the Lord has spoken it. and there the south shall possess the Mount of Esau, and there the plain of the Philistines, they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. The Edomites were destroyed between 66 and 70 AD by the Roman Empire, but God said the house of Judah shall possess their possessions, and the captivity of the host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath, and Savior shall come upon Mount Zion, to judge the Mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. Now, here's what the Lord's saying. He is saying that Israel is the fire, and the Edomites are gonna be the fuel. And tell you something, folks. There's a different spirit in here, I guess God wants you to hear. You can't do wrong and turn out right. You gonna pay for sin. It's gonna cost you. What Satan does, he blinds us to its consequence. And he extenuates and exalts his pleasure, and it's only for a season. Sin is like a snake. It's like a viper. It'll bite you and fill you full of poison. And you get enough poison in you, it's gonna be death for sure. The Bible says the kingdom shall be the Lord's. He said, don't fret about those that are indifferent to your need. Don't rejoice at the problems and difficulties of others. Don't take advantage of somebody else's crisis and their vulnerability. Who joined hands with others to attack you? God said, I will take care of my own. Now, I said all that to talk about how proud the heart can be. As if God cannot bring us down. God can and will bring America down. All nations are gonna be brought down. And the sin going on in this country is not gonna be overlooked by God forever. And the sin going on in churches shall not be overlooked forever. There's coming a judgment day. And judgment must begin first at the house of God. Where's all these tragedies happening in America? I don't know that this has anything to do with it, it's just in my mind. It's all in the South. Who's had the light? The South. Who's rejected so much light? The South has. Amen. You say, well, that's just geographical positions and where things are on the coastline. It may be so. I don't know, but it's something worth thinking about. I want to talk to you today about gentlemen, Johnny. John Burgoyne, known as Handsome Jack. This boy was raised and petted and pampered all of his life. And he became a great general. He was first called Gentleman Johnny at 15 years old because of the fashion and the dress that he wore. And he stood out as a young man. as you might say, as wealthy as a man could dress in that day. At 15 years old, he purchased a commission to be in the horse guard. At 18 years old, he had to sell it because he was an excessive gambler. This man was a heavy drinker, he was a heavy gambler, and he was a heavy womanizer. But at the same time, he is a gentleman. He wouldn't allow his officers to swear in front of their men. The most British generals and superiors would beat their soldiers. He wouldn't allow them to lay their hands on them. He said, he taught his officers, go among the men and tell jokes to encourage them and to subtly rebuke those that need to be rebuked. Gentlemen, Johnny. Born February 24th, 1723 in Sutton Bedfordshire, England. The first born, a British army captain, John Borgone. Educated at Westminster. A friend of Thomas Gage and of James Strange. A man that got in, that was in the, aristocracy by marriage. He would marry Edward Stanley girl, the 11th Earl of Durban, Lady Charlotte Stanley. So this man is a boy of privilege. Always had the advantage, but this is a man that's full of pride and does not believe he can be brought down. He came to America in the French Indian War. called by the Europeans, the Seven Year War. He became famous in the European, Anglo, Portuguese wars, and won great battles, and won great fame, and he was a man that was looked up to. Three years later, he was elected to Parliament, finally, to Major General, May the 25th, 1772. But, A whole lot like Benedict Arnold, his ego was huge. See, in those days, they didn't have pro football players. They didn't have pro basketball and baseball players. They didn't have race car drivers. They had military heroes. And nothing was greater in Europe than being a military hero. These generals, General Howe, General Clinton, Borgone, all of them, their whole purpose was to bring glory unto themselves. The same way with Benedict Arnold. The same way with Horatio Gates. The same way with all of them but George Washington. He was the most humble of them all. They were trying to get honor and fame. and glory because being a victor on the battlefield was the greatest place of glory in that day among the nations. That's what this man desires. He was at Bunker Hill and observed it when those three frontal assaults went up that hill and many of those British were cut down by militia muskets that day. You know the story, I've already preached at it. But because he was not promoted fast enough, he goes back to England and then comes back again and fights in the Great War of Quebec with Guy Carlton. You remember me preaching the other Sunday on the battle of Valcour Island? He was there, Johnny Borgouin. Guy Carlton was the general. He's second man, second in charge. And old Johnny Borgouin, that night, you remember the story? how they fought for eight hours in the day, and then night time come, and Carlton laid back, and did a blockade on Lake Champlain, and he said, tomorrow morning, we're gonna blast them to splinters. What's left of them? Well, during the night, Benedict Arnold and all of his men escaped around that British forest. You know what bore going to? He was so incensed. He was so angry, he went back to England, went before Parliament and ostracized Carleton and blamed the whole escape of Arnold on Carleton, which I'm sure he deserved a lot of the blame. But he was undermining Guy Carlton for his own advancement and to get the charge of those northern forces. That's the kind of man I'm talking about. I'm talking about a man of dog eat dog, everything, to promote himself, to promote his position, and to gain rank and fame and glory in the nation. In January 1777, Boer Gowan, here's how smart he was. He took a three-pronged attack plan to destroy, or to end the American Revolution. Here's how it is, this is his plan. You've heard about this, I've been talking about this. This is Borgone's plan. He's gonna come from St. John in Canada, come down Lake Champlain, and then you gotta go by land for 23 miles, and then you go to the Hudson River. He's going to Albany, New York. He is expecting General Barry St. Ledger to come from the West with his regulars and all those Indians he's got fighting with him. He is expecting how? Clinton to come up from New York, all emerge on that northern force at Albany. Cut off New England from the South, cut off communications, and if they had done that, the Revolutionary War would have been over. He takes this plan to Lord Germain in the British Parliament. He appears before King George III. King George III approved it. And this seemed like stroke of genius was to be allowed to take place and then Borgone is sent and called his place to bring that northern invasion down to New England. At this time, Borgon was 53 years old. Now just stay with me, there's some real truth in this. The year is 1777, it's spring of the year, Borgon and his men leave to travel 170 miles with eight to 9,000 troops. So this man, it looks like he's got everything in gear and in line. But the problem is, is all of his miscalculations. Is that not the way we are? We got our plans, but we don't plan in the things we don't expect. We don't plan in us losing our health. We don't plan in a financial reversal. We don't plan in our children going bad. We don't plan in the death of our loved one. We don't plan in our wife or husband forsaking us. We don't plan in getting fired. And a lot of things, the uncertainties of life and the miscalculations, that's the problem of Gentleman Johnny. He thinks because he has willed it, it shall come to pass that all of what this man is about to learn will be devastating and a nightmare. He's got 3,800 British regular troops, 3,000 German Hessians, that's German assassins. The rest are Canadians, colonial loyalists or Tories, and 400 Native Americans. He's coming down Lake Champlain with 138 cannon. But here are some of the miscalculations. He had no idea that the American frontier The geography of upstate New York would prove to be his greatest enemy. I tell you, the difficulties in life are a lot of times not what we think they'll be. His passage through the land and the offense that he gave the farmers, the way they treated the colonists turned them against him. He expected, like all generals, And he overestimated the support of the loyalists. I don't know, these British thought that Americans would all rise up with the British. There were loyalists, but a lot of them were not willing to fight. And they would be disappointed time after time after time. time how they had overestimated the numbers that they depended on. They depended on thousands of Native Americans to come to their aid. Instead of 2,000, he got 400. Lord, I'm just going to leave him. He expected 3,000 Canadians. He got 150. I mean, everything he's got on paper, he's gonna be frustrated by lack of the fulfillment thereof. He has a great military miscalculations. He's calculating, he's planning on St. Ledger to come to his rescue. He doesn't know Benedict Arnold is gonna throw a fly in the ointment and mess all that up. He's expecting Hal to come up and help him. Lord Germain in England never made the orders clear. Hal goes off on his own journey to receive glory. And to conquer Philadelphia, the capital of the colonies, but all the colonists fled. He did it all for just about nothing. Hal is in Philadelphia, but God is going to be left by himself and all of his calculations are going to prove to be false. Some of you rebelling against God, what are you calculating on? You think you're going to get the end of life just because God saved me? Everything gonna turn out all right, just keep rebelling against God. What's your calculations? The Native Americans are not gonna rally behind him. All of this is gonna be a great disappointment. He had no idea the difficulty, the forest that he's got to travel through is more dense in upper New York, five times more dense than all of the nation of England. These men have no idea of the hardships they're about to face. But when you're a gentleman, Johnny, everything's gonna turn out right. Because it's you. Because you willed it. Because you've written it down on paper. I'm telling you, the pride of man will deceive him. When he was overwhelmed, he wouldn't retreat. His pride would not allow it. He, at the end of the battle of Saratoga, you talk about humiliation, and he goes back to parliament to stand before the government and to answer, and they despise him because of what his pride's done. They said, why did you not retreat? When St. Ledger didn't come to help you, Hal didn't come to help you, Clint didn't leave New York with his forces to help you, why did you not retreat? He said, because I couldn't bear the thought of what my men or my nation would think of me if I retreated. Now listen, he didn't respect his enemy. He was so assured of victory because of the, I'll tell you how he thought victory was coming. He made a bet with a man, he's an excessive gambler. He made a bet with a man in England, an extreme bet of money that he'd be back by December. Not only would he win the war where he fought, but the Revolutionary War would be over. He boasted of his men. He said, I don't ask for anything better than the army of professionals. Then he bragged on the mob of undisciplined provincials, that's the Americans, who do not have a chance against me. I've instructed my officers to count on the bayonet. Then he laughed. The rebels can't stand up against the bayonet. They hide behind trees, relying on their rifle pieces. So this route of Borgon down Lake Champlain, the Hudson River, the Richelieu River is that north most corridor that he's coming. It's all on paper. It's got to happen. I mean, this is a stroke of genius, the plans he's got, but it's just like life, all those things that we're not counting on come into play and messes all of our plans up. Well, here goes. Burgoyne, he's traveling down Lake Champlain. He's got all of his men on ships, three weeks of smooth sailing. July the 1st, they face their first great obstacle, which is Fort Ticonderoga, which the colonists have held for over two years. When you're coming down Lake Champlain at Narrows, on this side's Mount Independence, over here is Fort Ticonderoga. There's cannon here. You can't pass there. What's Johnny Borgone gonna do? The problem is, is that the Americans have not taken possession of a higher mountain. And it's called Mount Defiance. Mount Defiance sets up above Fort Ticonderoga. And because it is so steep on its slopes, nobody believed that it could be fortified. The Americans never tried to fortify it, but Johnny Bogorin knew better. in the dead of one night. His engineers were so brilliant, they scaled the western slope, that rugged, steep slope of Mount Defiance. And the next morning, the Americans, 2,000 men, and General St. Clair and General Schuyler are looking up at the cannon up above them. They know it is sure death. What Sinclair does and what that Schuyler do, author Sinclair and Philip Schuyler, is that they retreat and they leave the fort. And for that reason, George Washington is incensed. The Continental Congress demotes these men for not staying and fighting for Fort Ticonderoga. But these men said, it would just be a slaughter of our men. So we see that, here's Johnny Borgone. Everything is smooth. Everything's just like he said it would be. Everything's happening just like he put on paper before King George III. Ain't nothing can stop, that's what he said. Ain't nothing or nobody can stop me now. What he did, and here's old King George III over in London. They send word to him of the fall of Ticonderoga. He shouts out, I beat them, I beat them rebels. Boy, they think it's all in the bag. Now the French have serious misgivings about supporting America. I hate to admit this, but we could not have won the Revolutionary War without the French. Benjamin Franklin's been over there and King Louis XVI won't even let him in his court because they don't believe. They don't wanna get brought in this thing. They don't think we can win. And when Fort Ticonderoga fell without a shot, They sure didn't think we could win if it wasn't for Saratoga. That's when the French put their money behind us, their army and their navy. That's how we won Yorktown. That's on down the road. But Saratoga was the turning point in the Revolutionary War that got the French there. And it's all because of the foolishness of gentlemen Johnny. This is a man of luxury. He's a man that was mad with pleasure. When you come to the end, you gotta get this now. I'm gonna go through it as fast as I can, but you gotta get this. When you come to the end of Lake Champlain, you've got a 23 mile trek through the wilderness. that does not have roads, all it has is pies. It's got some bridges, but it's full of deep ravines, it's full of swamps, and it's full of bogs. Here comes Gentleman Johnny. He's not scouted out that wilderness. He doesn't realize, though it's only 23 miles to the Hudson River, he's got no idea what he's about to face. Listen to this. Gentlemen, Johnny is traveling with 2,000 women and a large number of children. behind these 8,000 to 9,000 men are all these wives and these officers' children, and they've got to bring them through this wilderness. Women in the camp done the cooking, they done the cleaning, they nursed the wounded, and they foraged the animals. They were essential, of course, for the army because they depended on them. High-ranking officers and their families lived in style. out in the back side of the desert or the wilderness. Johnny Burgoyne had 30 carriages hauling his champagne, and his wine, and his clothes, and his valuables. Can you imagine that? Coming down, bringing an army of over 8,000 men, you got 2,000 women, and you got a bunch of children, and Johnny Burgoyne lives in such luxury so he can take care of all of his mistresses. He's got all these wagons of champagne and wine. That don't sound like to me a man going to conquer in war. It sounds to me like a man trying to party. Furnishing the army are 2,000 wagons. Now get this stuff in your mind. 2,000 wagons, not even counting all of their carriages. And they're about to enter into a dense forest where there are no roads. The forest in upper New York being so dense that he didn't know where he was going. That's why he thought he was gonna get 2,000 to 3,000 Native Americans. He got 400. And they're his scouts and they're his guides. And without them, he does not know where to go. He didn't just hire the Indians, the Native Americans to be his guides and scouts. He hired them as terrorists to terrorize the colonial people. And all of this we see how these warriors are going 23 miles of dense forests, immense, enormous pine trees, maple trees. I'm talking about trees that's supposed to be building British ships are now having to be cut down to bring 2,000 wagons. All those carriages, all those animals and horses, all those troops, and they're coming again across 23 miles of absolute wilderness. You know what they've got to do? They've got to build roads. You know what I mean? Bridges that engineers aboard going have to build? Over 40 bridges. Think about this for a minute. Here you are in this pompous pride, all this luxury, and you got to build over 40 bridges. They built a causeway. Now think about this. We're talking about, that's why the British were the greatest army in the world. The feats they would do. They didn't just build in six weeks. Listen now, six weeks. He sent out Canadian axmen and his own engineers in six weeks. They built over 40 bridges and over a two mile long causeway. They get through the swamps and the bogs. We're talking about unbelievable feats that these men were doing. It was hot, it was sticky, and then at night it was cold and foggy. Fierce thunderstorms, flies, insects, mosquitoes, snakes at nighttime, and all of this slowing down Burgoyne. Many days, he wouldn't even travel one mile a day. That's starting to sunrise. You know what the Americans done? I'll tell you what old Washington done. He hired a thousand ax men to go through that wilderness and cut down trees in their path and destroy all the bridges that had already been built. He terrorized them every move they made. Cutting down and diverting rivers, making swamps. I mean, it was using nature against them. And the whole war going keeps coming on. And then Washington sent that old warrior, old Virginia, Daniel Morgan, with his sharpshooters. I'm talking about men that's got Kentucky long rifles, a rifle over 40 inches long, the barrel of it, and it being rifled. These men could shoot 250 to 300 yards. And they started picking off those Indian scouts. and they started shooting the British. So here they're coming, they're gumming up the way, cutting down trees, diverting streams, busting dams, doing every kind of nightmare and horror that they can do. And then these sharpshooters are cutting down on them with 50 caliber ammunition that shoots about a half a mile wide. I mean, this is a deadly, it's a great miscalculation. Boy, these men are, you talk about being tired. They can't sleep at night. All these deprivations and all these things that's happening to them. Finally, Borgone clears the dense forest and sends out a proclamation to the colonists. He's sending out these proclamations telling them what they're gonna do. He says, you will not be bothered if you stay in your homes and provide forage for our animals. Now, he's running out of supplies. See, that's what's happening. Nobody's resupplying. Where's Hal? Where's St. Ledger? He spent all this time. He's using up his supplies. You can't bring that many horses. You know how much a horse eats. And you gotta find forage for all these animals. That's what he's up against. It had the opposite effect. When he sent out the proclamation telling the colonists what to do, they dug in with stubborn rebellion. And then he sent out another proclamation. and said, my Indian forces are under my direction. They're gonna seek devastation, famine, every imaginable horror on all of you that resist us. So he's bragging about all the destruction he's gonna cause. Just his baggage train of 500 lot horse carts. He means that they've been made out of green wood. This rough terrain's destroying them. I mean, everything's falling apart. His whole plan's falling apart, but by going in his pride, he is marching forward. You ever seen people, no matter how many disasters happen in their life, they just keep trudging towards sin and nothing turns them back. And no matter what happens to their health, go to jail over and over and they can't be turned back. You know why? They're out of control. And only God can deliver us when we get in a situation like this. You know what old General Phillip Schuyler did? He encouraged the local farmers. This is what you call a score served policy. And I tell you, these colonists are causing havoc on these boys. Old General Schuyler encouraged the local farmers to drive their cattle away, or the British would capture them to eat, because they're gonna get hungry, to hide all their foodstuffs, to burn their grain fields, so the British have to advance through a wilderness wasteland. You know what the Russians did? When, oh, what's his name over there, the little general? Napoleon Bonaparte, when he invaded Russia, you know what they all done? They all retreated to Moscow and they burned the whole countryside down because Napoleon was dependent on the animals and the grain and the food supply to feed his army. Burgoyne is counting on the loyalists and the people of America to feed his army and to feed his horses when he run out of supply. What a miscalculation. July the 29th, 1777, Burgoyne was finally at Fort Edward. Schuyler's delay tactics has brought them to great need and devastation. Schuyler's force at Edward, the colonists, 4,500 men, 2,900 of they were soldiers and 1,600 militiamen. So here's old Johnny McGowan, he's at Fort Edward. a dilapidated fort, and he's trying to get down to the Hudson River, trying to get down to Albany, and everything's falling apart, but he keeps marching on. So we see that he's entreating for the lawless to help him. He needs large supplies of cattle. He's got to feed his men. He's got to feed his horses. He's got to take care of the animals. He's got to feed his soldiers and their families. Here's what he gave the Indians, the native Americans. He commissioned them to go collect taxes. Boy, you talk about pride. Go collect taxes from the colonists in the name of England and to take prisoners. And anybody wouldn't give up their food supply. Go kidnap his wife. Go kidnap the husband. Go kidnap the children. And we're gonna hold them blackmail till they give us their money and give us their food. You know why? Because they're in a desperate situation. So Burgoyne did all of this and this whole thing backfired. And then there's something that's gonna rally the American forces. The American cause would have never won at Saratoga without this action right here. So these Native Americans are sent out to terrorize the countryside. There was a woman, if you've ever studied history, you know this name, Jane McRae. Jane McRae was a blonde-headed loyalist, a Tory, a supporter of Britain. Her husband, or not husband, her fiance, was a British officer. They're gonna get married. These two Indians come in her home and she's resisting, cause they're terrifying her. And they murder her and scalp her. They bring that blonde hair, that scalp, back to General or Gentleman Johnny, when they do. that fiancee British officer sees her hair and knows it's her. Boy, and that happened in the countryside. The militia men poured in to Horatio Gates' army from New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and by the end of Saratoga, the colonists had 18 to 20,000 men that's coming for a bear. Because how they use that for propaganda, if Bargolan, his Indians are so out of control that they kill the lawless, what are they gonna do to your wife and your family? Bargolan hears about a large supply of horses in their wads, and a cattle, and a food at Bennington, Vermont. It wasn't Vermont then. So Burgoyne sends out a thousand Hessians, led by Commander Baum, who didn't even know English, to go get all these supplies, and to go get all that cattle and all those horses, because he's got 200 elite Dragons, Hessian men of the cavalry, that wear eight pound boots. And they don't have a horse to ride on, they're calvary. And all this is gonna backfire on Burgoyne. All this is gonna add up to him losing at Saratoga. Little did he know, there's an old mountain man over there by the name of John Stark, a hero at Bunker Hill. John Stark gathered up 1,500 militiamen. I don't have time to get into all this. They're gonna face the 1,000 Hessians and Native Americans. When Stark got done with these men, 207 are killed or wounded, 700 captured, hundreds of muskets, Jaeger rifles, four ammunition wagons, 250 swords, four cannon, 1,000 men are subtracted from the the force of Burgoyne's troops. He went to get supplies and they got all his. His whole thing's backfiring, but he won't back down. He won't retreat and he won't back up. All these miscalculations is gonna cost him everything. Burgoyne at the Battle of Saratoga, I'm not gonna get into this, I'm out of time. The Battle of Saratoga, it's the whole thing that turned the war. Now listen to this, here's how, he's supposed to be coming up from the South, that's the plan. But Lord Jermaine doesn't make it clear to how. And old William Howe, his brother's gonna be the Howe over the Navy. Old William Howe is in Philadelphia. He's left General Henry Clinton at New York with a small group of forces to hold the city. He can't count on how he's not coming. Old Benedict Arnold heard about over at Fort Stanwyck's, where old Barry St. Ledger has brought his thousand men over there. Here's how smart Benedict Arnold was. They captured a loyalist. by the name of Jan Host. And they take this man, they're gonna kill him as a spy. Already hung one. Arnold's gonna hang him. This loyalist mother comes and begs for the life of her son. He says under one condition, you go to the Indians and you go to St. Ledger and let him know Arnold's coming with a multitude of an army. All he had was 1,200 men. And that man went over there and old St. Ledger thought he was a holy man. He said, how many are they coming with? He pointed up to the trees. Has the leaves that are on the trees. And the Native Americans ran for cover and deserted. Old St. Ledger retreated. Everything that Burgon has got on his little map, all of his plans are folding. and they're disappearing. But he marches on in spite of all these miscalculations and all these things going on. Folks, listen to me. I wonder sometimes how many, how long are people just going to chalk everything up to bad luck? You reckon God might be in your life? You reckon God might be trying to get our attention sometimes? Hey, if God's trying to get my attention, I wanna listen to him, amen. So Benedict Arnold, over an exaggeration, planted that falsehood in the minds of St. Ledger, and he did not come to help him. From the beginning of this campaign, Burgoyne has one aim in mind. That's to be a national hero. to deliver up the rebel colonies back to the crown, and to be the greatest army general in all of England. That's Arnold's problem. That's Howe's problem. That's Gates' problem. Oh, Horatio Gates tried to house George Washington to be the commander in chief. Dog eat dog, everybody want power, everybody want glory, everybody want honor, and nobody want just to fight for the cause. Amen. Cause it's all about them. They don't care me and their men they butcher. It's about them. It's about their fame. It's about their honor and about their glory. But his plans dependent on St. Ledger is dependent on how, and it's dependent on Clinton coming with reinforcements. Well, he finds out they're not coming. But he keeps on marching forward. Burgoyne's forces will suffer complete defeat at the Battle of Saratoga. Don't have time to get into this. The Battle of Saratoga is two wars, two battles. Happens 18 days apart. The first one's at Freeman's Farm and the second one is at Bemis Heights. And in spite of all that went wrong, old Johnny Burgoyne almost won that battle. But here's what it cost him. His forces will suffer 440 killed, 695 wounded, 6,222 of his troops captured. Johnny Burgoyne, in humiliation, had to surrender all of his forces to that patriot rabble, he called them. The Americans only lost 90 killed. It was total devastation. Johnny Burgoyne is going to be arrested. He's going to be taken and put in prison in America for a couple years. He's going to be sent back, and he is being sent back to England. And he's going to have to stand and give an account. The man that's despised now, And give an account how that he surrendered 66,222 men. All those people killed. All of those supplies gone. All those miscalculations. And when the word came how that Saratoga had failed the Americans. Oh, Benjamin Franklin heard that, and Louis XVI let him come into his court. Not only did they pledge millions of dollars, and by the way, it bankrupt the French supporting us. They sent their army, they sent their navy, and now it's a world war, and Britain's gotta fight in Europe. They gotta keep forces there. They can't come all out to America to defeat the rebels, and God put all that together on the back of the pride of men. That's how it all happened. God will humble a person's pride. Let me tell you this and I'm done. There's nothing God hates like pride. Pride is diametrically as opposite from God as night and day. The blackness of the night and the brilliancy of the noonday sun. Pride found its source in the heart of Lucifer. Pride caused Lucifer to fall. Lucifer, who was a brilliant creation of God, had musical instruments built in him. He was above the throne of God and all the glory of God and all the stones and diamonds and the glory of the light of God would shine through Lucifer and be reflected through the heavens. And he led heaven's choir. He was the director in worship. And it got in his heart he was greater than God. Is the moon greater than the sun? The moon has no light of its own. All the moon does is reflect the sun. Lucifer had no light of his own. He reflected the light of God. But he was so persuasive that one third of all the angels followed him to rebel against God. When man fell in the garden of Eden, his heart, God, filled with that same pride. He thinks he can live without God. He thinks he don't have to listen to God. He thinks he can be his own God and do it. Don't matter what God says. Don't matter what God's law says. It doesn't matter about God's moral standard. He can just do what he wants. That's pride. God hates it. So when God, Sister, Chancellor, you come, when God is gonna convert somebody, okay? If you've ever been converted, you know what I'm talking about right here. If you don't, you're not saved yet. When God saves somebody, He humbles them. He humbles their pride. You remember how, listen, I was the same way. I'm not preaching down to you, I'm letting you know I understand you. I remember standing in church, my hands gripped the pew and something pulling me on the inside and my will, I didn't even understand it, my will was so stubborn, it was resisting God and resisting God and resisting God. I didn't even understand what all was taking place, what it was, Lee. I'm talking about this all started when I was a little kid. That's the kind of pride, that's the stubbornness of my will as a child. Y'all remember some of you, you might have got saved literally, the point of conversion was in your home. It might have been you in your bedroom, just you and God. It might have been driving down the road, I don't know, and God, you just cried out to Him and surrendered to Him, I don't know. I know what it was for me, and I know what it was for some of y'all that got saved in maybe a church service. If this didn't happen to you, that doesn't mean you're not saved, but I'm talking about a lot of you that happened this way. You took that first step and something broke in you. Boy, something broke in you. Boy, you started crying. God humbled your heart. You might, and even if you didn't cry, God humbled your heart because the Holy Spirit must bring you to humility before you can go before God and be saved. God can't accept you in your pride. The Holy Spirit has to humble you so you can be accepted and come before God and trust Christ in your pride. You'll not trust Christ. You will trust yourself. You know what God abhors? Somebody stiff in their neck, I'm as good as anybody else. God wouldn't send me to hell. I'm a good person. God abhors that. God wants you to admit you're hell bound and hell deserving. You don't go to hell for what you do, you go for what you are. You gotta be delivered from what you are. God humbles us. Old Borgone was humbled, but you know what he did when he went to England? He's one of our making excuses, justifying himself. And really the culprit was Lord Germain above all. That is the truth. But old Borgone never would take the blame. You and I have to come to that place. Not because some preacher said you as a sinner, you've got to come to that place. God, I'm guilty. I'm lost. I can't save myself. Oh, hallelujah. When the Holy Ghost of God, the precious Holy Spirit humbled my heart. All I wanted was that God give me relief. Oh Lord, I can't stand the thought of you being upset at me. They sat between me and you. I gotta have this sin removed. I've gotta have peace with God. And the Lord makes that possible. You might dwell in the cliff of the rock. God can bring you down a split second. One phone call. Going around one curve. One STD. Oh yeah. One bad report. One devastation. Can't get you off that perch. Maybe the Lord is touching your heart today. You say, well, preacher, I don't want to be God's enemy. Well, God's already humbling your heart. Well, preacher, I'm over here listening to preaching. God's humbling your heart. Some of y'all are still proud, but you ain't proud as you was. God's breaking you. God's breaking you down. God's getting you to where you'll yield to Him. Quit trusting yourself and quit looking for a feeling and trust Christ and Him alone. So if the blessed Holy Ghost is pulling on your heart today, I just respond. I'd say, great God, I'm so glad I get to come the easy way. Thank God the easy way is the best way. Oh yeah. I want Him to humble me to conviction, not with Him getting my attention where I can't do nothing but look up. That's right. May God have mercy on our soul. Help us today. Gentleman Johnny, handsome Jack, he got knocked off that perch, but he never got humbled right. Oh, help God. Some people, it doesn't matter what happens to them, they never get to God. That's why bad things happening by themselves do not bring you to God. Judgment does not bring you to God. Judgment opens your eyes that you need God. It takes the Holy Spirit to bring you to Christ. Jesus died in your place for your sin. Suffered, bled, and died. He rose from the dead. The third day, he ascended back to heaven. He sent the Holy Spirit to draw men to himself to make up a bride, to make up a body, a spiritual body, to bring people to salvation. That's the job of the Holy Spirit, to appoint you to Jesus Christ, who's the Son of God, the Lamb of God, the sacrifice that taken away the sin of the world. I'd come the easy way. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Holy Father, it's been a long sermon. Seems like his history always is. God, I know the truth of this powerful thing. Got all those miscalculations of Johnny Burgoyne. He should have turned back, but he didn't. He should have retreated, but he didn't. It cost a lot of lives, a lot of devastation. God, we pray today you'll deal with us in mercy. Dear God, for that one God under conviction right now, may they come, may they come right now, may they just come.