“One Nation Under ...?”
July 3, 2011 FBC Chester, IL Dr. Fogerson, Speaker
Introduction:
A Ask not what your country can do for you, but you can do for your country; We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and are endowed by the their Creator with certain inalienable rights that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; I am not a crook; No new taxes.
1 We love sound bits. (Short quips of information, advice or instruction. They are easy to remember, retell)
a They are small nuggets of truth and that is exactly what the book of Proverbs is.
aa 31 chapters of divine sound bites.
bb We are going to focus on Proverbs 14.34, but I want to unlock & unpack some teaching first.
b The Rosetta Stone, or Key that unlocks our understanding of Proverbs is found in 1.7, “The fear of the Lord is beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom & instruction.”
aa The fool is not mentally deficiant, he/she just believes they can have knowledge, wisdom, & instruction outside of God!
bb This key is amplified in 9.10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Fear of the Lord is referred to some 18 x’s in Proverbs alone)
cc “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself”: We know “fear” isn’t one of our favorite words!
dd We cast out the Spirit of Fear, not been given a spirit of “fear”
c In the Old Testament “fear” can describe dread (Deut. 1.29), trembling, dread that paralyzes action, terrified (Jonah 1.10), standing in awe (1 Kings 3.28), or having reverence (Lev. 19.3).
aa It is a paralyzing and compelling fear that draws us forward.
bb Dichotomy. We don’t want to leave, move.
d We love Him so much we will humbly bend ourselves to His what He says.
aa His discipline is so bitter and His love is so sweet we just want to please Him.
bb The danger of our weakness, temptations makes us watchful and fearful.
2 It is not the fear I have of the dark, falling prey to the Mo-Mo Monster, Boggy Creek Monster, Sasquatch.
a Carry enough flashlights & weaponry in the woods I look like Optimus Prime coming through the woods.
b The fear we are to have of the Lord is not that fear.
3 Wednesday night after church, the boys & went out to do some bowfishing, armed w/ a n 8 D Maglight, two small bows w/ fishing arrows attached. (Fishing from a metal bridge on the backside of Turkey Bluff, popular place for kids to drive & run the back roads.)
a Every 15 minutes or so a car would come flying by and we’d hug the rail.
b After we’d been there about an hour a group of about 7 cars comes through and the last is shooting Roman Candles out of the passenger side window.
aa As they come around the corner I flash my light @ them, they see me and shoot their last ball of fire in another direction, “Sorry.”
bb My boys asked the parade of adolescents and told them of the dangers of gravel roads.
cc Why? Did you do that, dad? Did you shoot fireworks from your car? Did you get in trouble? Not yet. Will we do that, too?
c I had a fear of having to call my ol’man to come out to the country pull my sorry tail out of the ditch or a muddy field.
aa My dad would hurt me.
bb I didn’t want to hurt my dad (Disappoint, let him down, embarrass him, hurt his feelings, bring him shame.)
cc “I can’t hurt my parents.” There’s not a parent on the planet who would agree you, kid.
4 If we “fear the Lord” . . .
a We acknowledge Him as Creator and we’re the creatures.
aa He is the Father and we are the children.
bb He is the Master and we are the servants.
b If we fear the Lord we will respect God for who He is ...
aa Listen to what He says.
bb Obey His Word, knowing our disobedience displeases Him, breaks fellowship and invites correction, discipline.
cc Prov.13.13, “The one who despises the word will be in debt to it, But the one who fears the commandment will be rewarded.”
c The way we treat the Bible is the way we treat God.
aa Leave it in the car, on the counter, backseat, under bills/mail.
bb Just a thought!
B The key to understanding Proverbs is “fearing” the Lord is the starting point from gaining an intimate knowledge of Him.
1 If we do not “fear” Him . . . it doesn’t matter who is in the White House, controls the Senate/house, sitting on the Supreme Court, in charge of the FED.
a If we do not “fear” Him . . .we are not “one nation under God” anyway.
b On June 16, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of the a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the POA inclusion of the words, “One Nation Under God.” A week after the decision, NBC caught flack for editing out “under God, indivisible” twice during the U.S. Open Golf Tournament. The segment pieced together images of our military, golfing, children.
aa Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council said, “As a veteran I stood for the pledge and I stood for all of the pledge. It’s not up to NBC to change the pledge of the United States of America.”
bb God was God before America was formed, He’ll still be God after America has been forgotten . . . He doesn’t need us say “one nation under God.”
cc He wants us to be a nation under Him, which is hard to do since we no longer fear Him!
I Knowing that “fear of the Lord” is the key to unlocking Proverbs, let’s turn the lock.
A Proverbs 14.34, “Righteousness exalts a nation,
But sin is a disgrace to any people.” (Sound Bite)
1 Righteousness is a difficult word to understand in the Old Testament because there is an interpretation that is dynamic (loyalty) and another that is static (legality).
a It’s not either or, but both and.
aa Loyalty of people to God and God to people.
bb Legality of the Law, Righteousness of God.
cc Can’t really separate the two meanings (Cheeseburger w/o cheese is a hamburger & w/ the hamburger you have a piece of cheese..both good but you need both to pull it off. It’s a fuzzy brick!)
b I do know that “righteousness” embodies all that God expects of His people.
c Righteousness is Godly people living by just and Godly principles that produce just and godly actions.
2 Our founding fathers knew that no human government could give life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness . . . God given.
a Proverbs tells us that a nations power/prosperity is not what exalts (lifts up) it.
b A nations greatness, potential to rise is based upon it’s loyalty to God.
c Seperation of Church & State!!!
aa SIBRM (Another pastor’s wife complained about why did we have to do it on the courthouse steps? Church & State!!
bb Seperation between Church & State was not so the church couldn’t affect the state, it was so the state couldn’t affect the church.
d Thomas Jefferson, Danbury Baptist Church: “The First Amendment as crated a wall of separation between church and state, but that wall is a one directional wall, it keeps the government from running the church, but it makes sure that Christian principles will always stay in government.”
aa In many European nations the churches are funded by the state (taxes keep the churches running.)
bb Our fore fathers saw “That’s wrong. We don’t want to do that! Keep the church separate from the government, & exempt it from taxation from the government.”
cc Ezra 7.24
dd Our founding fathers knew that “Righteousness exalts a nation!”
II “.... but sin is a disgrace to any people”
A Sin is falling short, missing the mark, disobeying God.
1 disgrace is only used twice in OT (Lev.20.17), revealing the nakedness of another family member.
a Bringing everything out in the open.
b If we’re not obeying God, everybody is going to know it & bring shame to our house!
c Sin finds you out!
2 Should we be surprised that the U.S. is no longer the bastian of liberty, power, greatness she once was?
a 1963 we took prayer out of school
aa The next ruling took reading Bible out of schools.
bb Then 10 Comm. out of schools, federal buildings . . . later, graduates couldn’t pray at their graduations.
cc Next, the Supreme Court ruled that a whole segment of our society didn’t have any rights, unborn. (Over 1 million abortions a year)
bb A little girl wrote a paper on Jesus as the theme to her assignment “The Man I Admire The Most” and got an “F” by her teacher because the teacher said, “It was unacceptable in public school.” Ruling was upheld.
b Now, “One nation under God . . .”! Another blow to our Christian heritage & attempt to remove the sacred foundation of America.
B Our sin is showing!
1 America use to lead the world, respected internationally, smartest, brightest, level headed. . . .
a Highest illiteracy rate in the industrialized world.
b Most violent nation (School & mass shootings).
c We rank near the bottom of every poll we want to on top of and near the top of every poll we want to be last in.
2
19 and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the Lord your God, as He has spoken."
Deut 26:19 (NASB)
1 "Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.2 "All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God:
3 "Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country .
4 "Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.
5 "Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6 "Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
Deut 28:1-6 (NASB)
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Respectfully,
Mike Fogerson
