Satan, You Can’t Have My Country
(God’s Great Wake-Up Call, Part 1)
(Introduction)
Good morning/evening, everyone!
I want to talk to you about our God, our country, and the war that is going on in our midst today.
(Author’s note: Share about your personal love/gratitude for your country. Or, use the following statement below, as the author, Mike Evans’, personal story.)
I love my country—the United States of America! As a veteran, I have proudly served this nation. I buried my best friend who died defending our freedom. For those reasons, I cannot keep silent. For more than two decades, I have seen Islamic terrorism heading, like a whirlwind, toward our shores, and finally on September 11, 2001, the first terror attack on American soil blindsided this nation.
Friends have said, “Don’t be negative; people want good news. Tell them good stuff. They will not listen to doom and gloom.” Well, my friends, I think they were wrong; and they could be dead wrong! America is plunging headfirst into a lake of fire, and her citizens do not even know it. The hour is too late to tiptoe through the tulips. It is beyond time to face down the Enemy whose singular agenda is to “kill, steal, and destroy!” (See John 10:10) It is time to shout this message from the housetops. If America is to be saved God-fearing Americans have to wake up, and wake up now!
There’s a battle going on, spiritually, and we cannot just sit in the busyness of our schedules and the comfort of our wealth as the Enemy subdues our nation and God’s judgment takes us by surprise.
The prophet Jeremiah said,
“I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!” But they said, “We will not listen.’” (Jeremiah 6:17, NKJV)
The ancient prophet Ezekiel prophesied:
“Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’” (Ezekiel 33:1-6, NKJV)
You and I are the Lord’s watchmen, and we dare not hold our peace! The sad news is that preachers by the thousands in America are not crying out. I hear secular, hardened commentators, ungodly politicians and abrasive talk show hosts crying out, but too many Christians are complacent and silent.
There is no question in my mind that America is receiving its final call to repentance. God is going to judge this nation in the same way He has judged every nation that has rejected His Word, and has challenged His prophetic plan.
Wake up! Today is our day to open our eyes to what is really going on in our country! God’s word is replete with calls to repentance. If we do not turn, we may see our country’s destruction before our very eyes. So, flip with me in your Bibles as we open our ears and our hearts to God’s Word.
Pray.
God’s Great Wake Up Call
Let’s start in Luke 17:26-28.
Jesus, himself, prophesied:
“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.” (Luke 17:26-28)
In Noah’s day, the Bible says, “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” Genesis 6:5. So, God sent a flood on the earth and wiped out the world, sparing only Noah and his family.
In Lot’s day, God rained down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, destroying every living thing there because of their deeply saddening commitment to sin and perversion
Residents of Sodom had no idea that the good times (like the Roaring 20’s before the Great Depression) were God’s final mercy call before destruction. God judged Sodom, yet Sodom had no Bible. America is the Bible capital of the world, with more houses of worship than any other country. If anyone should know what is going on, we should.
I am no prophet, but I say with Amos: “‘I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, “Go, prophesy to my people.’” (Amos 7:14-15)
What is the answer? Again, it is found in II Chronicles 7:14 in the word “turn.” Synonymous with that are “change, convert, transform and act.” It is not a passive word, but one of aggressive action. Don’t stand gazing into the heavens, go!
God is giving us a wake up call today, and it’s this:
Wake Up Call #1: Turn from your sin and go tell this dark land!
As individuals, we are called to take active steps to turn from the sin in our lives. As Americans, we are called to take active steps to go tell the news about God’s coming judgment and the forgiveness He offers through Jesus Christ to our dark and lost nation.
Turning from our sin is impossible without Christ! We’re so busy struggling to live the Christian life we have little energy for outrage. “Lord, help,” we cry. “Help us, Jesus!” The Bible says, “He is able (immediately) to run to the cry of (assist, relieve) those who are being tempted and tested and tried [and who therefore are being exposed to suffering].” (Hebrews 2:18 AMP)
But, if Christ is helping, why are so many Christians going through such hellish circumstances? If Christ is helping, why are so many backsliding and being removed from church rolls? If Christ is helping, why do over 3,000 churches close each year?
“Why stand ye gazing up into heaven?” the angels asked those who had gathered to watch Jesus’ ascension. (See Acts 1:11 KJV)
It’s time that “heaven-gazers” are converted into action figures—and I don’t mean Superman, Batman, Spiderman or Aquaman! I do mean Bible-man, Prayer-man, all those who have been empowered to put on the whole armor of God and stand against the Enemy and shout, “Satan, you can’t have my country!”
The White House is not the key to revival—the church house is! Jesus resides not in the White House or any other building, but within the Believer. Revival in America has to start within the hearts of believers. Our repentance must be at the heart of our country’s turning back to God. Rather than engaging in sin, Christians are to be radically, immediately obedient to the call of God.
Then, we must go into our lost nation and tell them the truth! Let’s not sit here until we die; let’s go!
Turn with me to II Kings 7.
In II Kings 7 the Israelites had been besieged by the Syrians. Four starving, leprous men who had been banished from the city decided to make a change in their lot:
“They said to one another, ‘Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.’ And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there. For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army.” (II Kings 7:3b-6a, NKJV)
The outcasts—a term used by many who feel they have no voice in government—decided to no longer sit idly by while their brothers and sisters died. It was these men who alerted others inside the city that God had performed a miraculous feat; the Syrians who sought to kill them had been routed by a heavenly army! They marched into the enemy’s camp, ate their fill, plundered it for gold, silver and clothing, and then decided that the Israelites holed up in fear inside the city needed to be told of God’s deliverance.
Here’s our second wake up call for today:
Wake Up Call #2: The battle that we’re fighting is spiritual!
God’s armies fought on behalf of the Israelites, and they are actively at war against Satan and his armies in America today. At every turn, it feels like Satan’s armies are gaining ground–abortions are commonplace, gun violence claims the lives of so many individuals, abuse, violence, and corruption cover our daily news headlines! But, a day is coming when Jesus will come back, and we’ll see our true enemy, Satan, be vanquished!
My good friend, the late Rev. David Wilkerson, once preached a sermon entitled, “The Wrath of Satan Shall Praise God.” In it, he proclaimed:
The present wrath that is in the world today is beyond human nature. This wrath is a satanic rage of the powers of darkness against the Lamb of God….When Jesus comes on the scene there is no power of hell that can stand against Him. Where sin abounds the grace of God abounds in a much greater measure. In these last days of darkness there is going to be an out pouring of divine grace on every nation. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church of Jesus Christ. The weapon for every child of God is the power of the promises [the Word] of God.
Where are those who weep for America, who grieve for her sins of arrogance? Millions of professing Christians have closed their eyes to what is happening. Many preachers are even telling jokes in the pulpit, and mocking those who are weeping over impending judgment. They fail to speak against moral decadence in America and refuse to use the word “Republican or Democrat” in the pulpit for fear of being politically incorrect and cause offence. There was a time when bars in the United States were gathering places for party-goers; now it is often church groups filling that role. It’s as if they’ve forgotten that we’re in the middle of a battle!
(Author’s note: Share a personal story of a time you had a conversation with someone who thought he/she was a Christian but lived a life inconsistent with faith in Jesus.) One morning while having my car washed I began a conversation about the Lord with a woman sitting next to me. She informed me that she had no need to hear about God, that she was a strong believer. She avowed her love for the church. The woman admitted to partying and getting drunk most every Saturday night, and then going to church on Sunday to be entertained.
The stakes are high! If our enemy, Satan, is actively working to distort and destroy our country’s faith, then churches need to be battlegrounds not entertainment centers! And, we should be clear with people about the amazing all-consuming commitment it is to decide to follow Jesus.
Our third wake up call today is this:
Wake Up Call #3: We have been warned. Idolatry brings about judgment!
Turn with me to II Chronicles 7:11-14 and 19-24.
What happens when a nation is cursed? God’s hand of protection is lifted, and the powers of Hell take free reign. God, forgive anyone who does not see the warning signs! This is the reason I have repeatedly mentioned II Chronicles 7:14. It is an extremely hope-giving scripture, but its context is in the midst of a warning for Solomon. Look for a moment at the whole passage:
“Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king’s house; and Solomon successfully accomplished all that came into his heart to make in the house of the LORD and in his own house. Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. . . .But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.”
“And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and this house?’ Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.” (II Chronicles 7:11-14, 19-24 NKJV)
Solomon was issued a warning by Almighty God:
Now that you have built your home and your temple, don’t fall into pride and think you no longer need Me. If you begin to fall away, the remedy is simple: Humbly repent, seek My face, and turn from the wickedness you are doing. I will hear your prayers and respond—forgiving your sins, and healing your land. But if you continue to defy Me, regardless of establishing your throne in wisdom on My Name, I will turn from you as you have turned from Me, and instead of being a symbol of My goodness, you will become a symbol of what happens to those who forsake Me. (Paraphrase, II Chronicles 7:14)
This is valuable advice. America has more idols than Solomon could have possibly erected, including relativism and greed. With them, we have made God’s laws and His compassion void and meaningless. We have turned our backs on Him by adopting abominations such as abortion and homosexuality and made them accepted practices. God said if we did that we would be given over to the reprobate minds that perform such acts. (See Romans 1:21-32) If that is the case, how far are we from acquiescing to a New World Order?
Terrorist attacks on the United States and her citizens are simply warning shots across the bow of our Ship of State. God wants His children to wake up before it is too late. He sent us the prosperity of the 1920s to show He loved us. When we failed to heed the warning, He allowed us to experience the Great Depression as a final attempt to inspire us to heed II Chronicles 7:14. But we did not. Thus it was that the world, with the United States leading the way, turned their backs on the Jews, and Hitler’s genocidal extermination machine closed in on them. No one acted to help them until it was too late. A third of the world’s Jewish population was lost. Look around. We are seeing the same danger arising today.
The prosperity of the 1990s did little but make us even more selfish than we were in the decades before. Then in 2001, just after we had entered the twenty-first century, we were hit with something far worse than the crash of the Stock Market on Black Tuesday of 1929. What was one of the main causes of the depression? It was buying on credit. The majority of Americans rushed to freely borrow; the economy soared because of increased consumer spending. When the debts were called in, too few had the cash to pay. America lapsed into the depression, followed by not one, but two, World Wars.
Isaiah 24:6, NIV, declares: “Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.”
The United States is staring down the barrel of a loaded gun and the sound of a ticking bomb brought by terrorists who desire only the destruction of this country. Its citizens will then be expected to pay homage to Allah or face death.
All of our idolatry has caught up with us, and God is perfectly justified in bringing judgment or even curses on our country! But, the battle’s not over yet.
Our fourth wake up call today is this:
Wake Up Call #4: We need God’s Word!
Let’s turn in our Bibles to Joshua 1:6-9.
What is the key to escaping judgment and making God Lord of our lives?
We read in Joshua 1:6-9, NKJV:
“Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
Three times in this portion of scripture God reiterates, “Be strong and of good courage.” How were His people to do that? Was it with calisthenics at sunrise or with courage pills for breakfast? Not at all!
The key to God’s admonition is found in verse 8: The Book of the Law, the Word of God. The people were to meditate on it, ruminate on it, deliberate on it, and contemplate it, until it became an integral part of their lives. They were to study the Words of God, memorize them, and as Deuteronomy 6:8, ESV, reminds us:
“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
God has not changed; He said in Malachi 3:6, “I am the Lord, I do not change.” If we in the United States wish to continue to enjoy success and prosperity and to experience the protection of God Almighty, the gold standard is to return to the law of God—and to meet Him in His grace and mercy.
There are times in the Bible where God used a committed individual to make a decided transformation. Daniel, Joseph, David, Elijah—all were destined to make a difference through intercession and obedience. We need only to look back at Joshua and the Israelites as they entered the Promised Land.
When they were faced with Jericho, God asked only for obedience to His precise instructions: March and be quiet, then blow the trumpet and shout! How that must have vexed some who thought they had a better idea. As a result of doing exactly what God had instructed, the walls fell and the people prevailed. Apart from God, the victory could never have been won.
Can we apply that to America, as did those patriots who desired freedom from King George III? The British were better trained, had more troops and certainly were better armed. As the British regulars faced off against the colonial militia, it must have looked for all the world like David slinging stones at Goliath—yet the revolutionary war was won by ill-equipped men with a mission.
In 1775 at the Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry, attorney, planter and politician delivered this resounding speech as a clarion call to stand up to the tyranny of the king:
There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave….Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
After the dust had settled and the dead were buried; after the war had been won, George Washington stood humbly before those assembled, placed his hand upon the Holy Bible and took the oath of office to become the first president of the United States of America. As his voice died away, he leaned down and kissed the Bible, and then led the group in a two-hour gathering for worship. In his Inaugural address in 1789, President Washington proclaimed:
In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States.
The men who were instrumental in founding this land of ours were unafraid to state unequivocally that the nation had been founded on biblical principles under the hand of the God of the Bible.
After Joshua led the Children of Israel into the land that God had promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the people experienced the hand of God at work on their behalf. And yet, by the end of the book of Judges, the scribe records one of the saddest verses in the Bible in chapter 21, verse 25, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.”
Tragic! We need God’s Word to direct our lives and our country!
(Conclusion)
Can you see the correlation between the Children of Israel then and the United States today, a nation awash in situational ethics and moral relativism; a nation with no absolutes—an “anything goes” society? Where are the sacred foundations upon which this country was built? Rather than embrace them, politicos are intent on rewriting history to delete as much of our godly heritage as possible.
We need an awakening! God has sent us so many warnings in His Word, and we can no longer go on living unaware of how our country has grieved God!
He has given us four wake up calls this morning:
• Turn from your sin and go tell this dark land!
• The battle that we’re fighting is spiritual!
• We have been warned. Idolatry brings about judgment!
• We need God’s Word!
Today as we go forward, what should our response be? Pray! Whether it’s to repent of personal sin or to intercede for our nation, pray that God’s light would invade our land and that Satan would be bound from distorting and destroying any more of our country. Pray that America would lay down its idols and take up God’s Word, which would transform them from the inside out.
Evangelist Dr. Phil Hoskins stated, “America is at a crossroads and I feel that as a nation we face two possibilities, retribution or revival.” Which would you rather see?
Pray.
(Author’s note: The following verses can be made into slides to play during the response worship time at the end of your service. If you would like, encourage people to pray these things for America, as they continue in worship.)
PRAYER FOR AMERICA:
Joel 3:12...........Let the nations be awakened!
Isaiah 1:2..............Let the earth hear the voice of the Lord!
Psalm 9:20............Judge the nations in Your sight, Father, and put them to fear,
Psalm 9:20.............that they might know themselves to be but men.
Romans 8:22..........Father, the whole creation groans and labors
Romans 8:21..........to be delivered from the bondage of corruption,
Romans 8:21..........into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
John 15:26...........Send forth Your Spirit of Truth to bear witness of You,
John 16:8.............and to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.
Ezekiel 14:6..........Cause them to repent and to turn from their idols.
Haggai 2:7............Shake the nations, so they will come to the Desire of All Nations (Jesus).
Numbers 23:24........Father, cause Your people to rise up.
Joel 3:11..........Gather Your mighty ones to prepare for war.
Joel 3:14..........Bring the multitudes into the valley of decision.
Jeremiah 49:14..........Send Your ambassadors into all the nations.
Colossians 4:3............Open to them a door for the Word, to speak the mystery of Christ,
Matthew 24:14...........that the gospel of the kingdom may be preached in all the world.
Psalm 111:6..........You have declared to Your people the power of Your works,
Psalm 111:6...........in giving them the heritage of the nations.
Philippians 2:10...........Let every knee bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord!
Isaiah 61:11...........Cause righteousness and praise to spring forth.
Habukkah 2:14...........Let the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory
Habukkah 2:14...........of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 43:9.............Father, gather the nations together,
Psalm 22:27............that they may worship Thee,
Psalm 46:10............and exult Thee in all the earth.
Galatians 3:8...............Let all the nations be blessed through Your people,
Zechariah 14:14.........and let the wealth of the heathen be gathered together
2 Kings 22:5...........and be delivered into the hands of Your people for the work of the Lord.
Isaiah 49:6............Send forth Your salvation to the ends of the earth,
Mark 12:36...........and make Your enemies to be Your footstool.
