TITLE: CHECK YOUR MORAL COMPASS
SCRIPTURE: II CHRONICLES 7:14 / II CHRONICLES 33:10-16 / II KINGS 23:26-27 /
II KINGS 21:16
The events in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend highlighted racism and fear are still present in our country and communities. The carrying of Nazi flags is evil. That flag is a symbol of an evil, failed state that brutally killed more than six million Jews and countless Romani people, homosexuals and others judged to be inferior.
• Those who sacrificed their lives in World War II defeated that evil
• It truly is un-American to carry the flag for an evil dictatorship that our country defeated
• Gospel correctness calls out “evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves”
• I am appalled at the silence of the Presidents Evangelical Council that apparently doesn’t understand this basic Biblical Principle
• Apparently the Presidents now defunct Advisory Council
• Apparently the Presidents now defunct Committee on the Arts and Humanities
• Apparently the Presidents now defunct Manufacturing Council
• All have a better Moral Compass than this Evangelical Council that is supposed to understand the heart of God
I WISH I COULD SAY THAT RACISM IS OVER. I WISH I COULD SAY IT WAS BUT A PASSING ELEMENT OF OUR LIVES. However, racism has existed for a long time. In most of President Trump’s un-presidential moments, he speaks when he should remain silent.
• On Saturday, as Nazis and White Supremacists – many dressed and armed as militias – brought down havoc and death upon Charlottesville, Va. - Trump committed the opposite sin
• He did not say what need saying
Our nation has an unfortunate history with white supremacy. Our founding creed declared that “ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL,” but it took much bloodshed for us to finally live up to that. Now, though, we do try to live up to our founding and belief that no race is superior to others.
• The idea of white supremacy also has no place in science
• We may be of different skin colors, ethnicities, heights, widths, eye colors and genders
• But we are all part of the same human race
• Out of the womb we are all equal, and equally in need of care
Theologically too, the idea of a superior race is anathema to our Judeo-Christian heritage. GENESIS 1 makes clear that all of us are created in God’s image and likeness. To claim one race is superior to others is a sin against God, and Christians in the United States must forcefully condemn this even if this President does not. I challenge us this morning - Check Your Moral Compass.
Don’t get me wrong this morning I LOVE MY COUNTRY AND SERVED MY COUNTRY IN THE ARMED FORCES. Only 2% of all Living Americans are serving or have served in the Armed Forces. I have been around the world. Lived in PANAMA 3 years – Lived in FRANCE 2 years – Lived in GERMANY 3 years – Lived in BELGIUM 4 years and have visited numerous countries. So I can unequivocally say - I love the United States of America and I feel tremendously blessed to be a citizen of this land! There is so much that is special about our country. For instance, someone wrote --
• Only in America are there handicap parking spaces in front of a skating rink
• Only in America do we buy hot dogs in packages of 10, and hotdog buns in packages of 8
• Only in America can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance
• Only in America do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a DIET coke
• Only in America do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions, while healthy people can buy their cigarettes at the front
• Only in America do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our junk in the garage
Some of you may remember GEORGE CARLIN - a comedian who died in 2008. He was foul mouthed and I did not agree with much of what he said, however; there were times when he was serious. And in one of his serious moments he wrote what he called, “THE PARADOX OF OUR TIME.” I would have called it “Check Your Moral Compass” -- Listen to a part of it:
• The paradox of our time in history is that:
• We have taller buildings - but shorter tempers
• We have bigger houses - but smaller families
• We have more conveniences - but less time
• We have more degrees - but less common sense
• We have more knowledge - but less judgment
• We have more experts - yet even more problems
• We’ve learned how to make a living - but not how to make a life
• We spend too recklessly, drive too fast, get too angry, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom
• We have multiplied our possessions - but reduced our values
• We’ve conquered the atom - but not our prejudice
• We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often
• We’ve cleaned up the air - but polluted our souls
• It’s time to Check Your Moral Compass
I must admit I don’t fully understand the BOYCOTT of being seated during the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO OUR FLAG or seated during the singing of STAR-SPANGLED BANNER or GOD BLESS AMERICA. Except for ancient Israel - there is probably no country in the world that has its beginning more ENTWINED WITH RELIGIOUS BELIEFS than the United States.
• Look back over the history of our nation and you will discover that our earliest forefathers came here in search of religious freedom
• They risked their lives, leaving their homes, crossing the ocean
• Because they wanted the right to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience
And as you read the early history of our country, you realize that practically everything they professed was rooted in their religious convictions.
• In schools, the Bible was the main textbook and God was a part of class discussions
• And as children learned to read, they learned to read from the Word of God
• If you visit the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., you'll discover scripture verses all over its walls
• If you take out your coins you'll see the words, "In God we trust"
• Congress still opens its sessions with prayer
• Our Nation’s Largest Sporting Events still begin with Posting our Nations Colors
As you research the early leaders of our nation, you’ll find they unashamedly went to their KNEES IN PRAYER time and time again, seeking both the wisdom and the power of God before important decisions were made. Our country, which is often called "A CHRISTIAN NATION" now leads the world in its DIVORCE RATE – ABORTIONS – ALCOHOLISM – DRUG ABUSE – VIOLENT CRIME – MASS SHOOTINGS. And our whole modern attitude about MORALITY - about what is right and what is wrong, is no longer rooted in what is godly but what is popular.
Every President except for this current President spent their Sunday’s in Church. We now have a leader occupying the White House who does not grace aisles of any Church. There is no record of TRUMP ATTENDING CHURCH except for Inauguration Day and Easter, that’s it! A President who stated he HAS NEVER ASKED GOD FOR FORGIVENESS because he feels he has never done anything wrong! Yet Evangelicals went to the polls to support him!
• I am concerned about the United States
• I am concerned about its loss of Morality
• Have we as a nation, gone too far?
• Can we turn this nation around?
• Is there Hope for our Nation?
• It is time for our nation to Check Your Moral Compass
I BELIEVE AMERICA IS IN A DANGEROUS SEASON. Let us briefly consider the way God has dealt with other countries in the past - those which REJECTED HIM – PUSHED HIM ASIDE – or SIMPLY IGNORED HIM. Let’s examine TWO SUCH NATIONS found in the Old Testament books of KINGS and CHRONICLES.
• It is the narrative of the nations of Israel and Judah
• In the OT, following the death of King Solomon, there was Civil War
• The kingdom was divided into two kingdoms - the Northern Kingdom of Israel
• And the Southern Kingdom of Judah
As you read the history of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, you discover from the very onset – every King was evil –
• Rejecting God
• Leading the people into worshiping pagan fertility gods
• Every king rebels against God's laws
• Until finally God has had enough
• He brings about the destruction of the Northern Kingdom
When you read about JUDAH, THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM - you find a different story - for there were times when it had Good Kings who remained faithful to God and the Kingdom was blessed because of that. But then some of the kings who ruled over Judah were Evil, rejecting God and His laws. And in the books of II KINGS and II CHRONICLES we read about one of them, a very evil king named MANASSEH. His father, HEZEKIAH, had been a good King and faithful to God. But Manasseh did not follow his father's example. And as we read about him, we learn that Manasseh ruled over Judah for 55 years.
• II CHRONICLES 33:2-6 tells us, "HE DID EVIL IN THE EYES OF THE LORD, FOLLOWING THE DETESTABLE PRACTICES OF THE NATIONS THE LORD HAD DRIVEN OUT BEFORE ISRAELITES
• He also erected altars to the Baal made Asherah poles
• He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them
• In both courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts
• He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom
• He practiced sorcery, divination and witchcraft
• He consulted mediums and spiritists
• II KINGS 21:16 adds, "MOREOVER, MANASSEH ALSO SHED SO MUCH INNOCENT BLOOD THAT HE FILLED JERUSALEM FROM END TO END”…”
THERE ARE FOUR (4) RESULTS OF MANASSEH’S RULE OVER JUDAH.
• Manasseh led the people away from God
o He erected altars to pagan gods
o The temple Solomon had built and dedicated to the worship of God was defiled and forsaken
o During that time, almost the whole nation, even many of the priests, became involved with the occult, practicing sorcery and witchcraft, consulting mediums, seeking contact with the dead
• The Bible says the streets of Judah ran red with the blood of innocent people
o Manasseh was cruel and sadistic
o The people became more and more like him, even sacrificing their children in the worship of pagan gods
• The sanctity of marriage, of family and home, was ignored
o Sexual perversion and immorality permeated society during his reign
• The people completely ignored the Prophets that God sent to warn them they were going astray
o II CHRONICLES 33:10 -- "THE LORD SPOKE TO MANASSEH AND HIS PEOPLE, BUT THEY PAID NO ATTENTION"
Then we are told II CHRONICLES 33:11-13 -- "SO THE LORD BROUGHT AGAINST THEM THE ARMY COMMANDERS OF THE KING OF ASSYRIA, WHO TOOK MANASSEH PRISONER, PUT A HOOK IN HIS NOSE, BOUND HIM WITH BRONZE SHACKLES AND TOOK HIM TO BABYLON.”
• In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God
• He humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers
• He prayed and God listened to his plea
• God brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom
• Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God
Stay with me this morning, I am going somewhere --- So for the last three or four years of his life Manasseh acknowledged God and repented of his sins. God accepted his repentance, forgave him, and restored him to his throne. Then Manasseh tried to undo some of the evil he had done.
• He got rid of the foreign gods
• He removed the image from the temple of the Lord, as well as all the altars he had built on the temple hill
• He threw them out of the city
• Then he restored the altar of the Lord and sacrificed on it
• He told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel
Manasseh changed his own life, but he was too late, unable to change his son's life. And when Manasseh died, Amon became King and was just as evil as his father had once been. He abandoned the reforms his father had made, rebuilt the pagan altars and worshipped the pagan gods. And most of the people of Judah were just like Amon. They didn't change for the better either. The nation had sunk so low that FINALLY GOD SAID – ENOUGH!
• But before that happened there was an interesting change
• By Chapter 22 of II KINGS - Amon has been assassinated
• Amon's son, Josiah, becomes King
He was just 8 years old and he ruled for the next 31 years. Josiah became a good king and carried out the reforms that his grandfather Manasseh had started. He restored the worship of God in the temple. And lifted high the principles of the sanctity of life and marriage.
• But despite that, there is a statement in II KINGS 23:26-27 that says, “NEVERTHELSS, THE LORD DID NOT TURN AWAY FROM THE HEAT OF HIS FIERCE ANGER, WHICH BURNED AGAINST JUDAH BECAUSE OF ALL THAT MANESSEH HAD DONE TO PROVOKE HIM TO ANGER”
• “So the Lord said, ‘I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose…"
Understanding the Scriptures this morning, I can’t help but wonder - even though some of our leaders today still acknowledge and cling to the principles that once made our nation great and which brought the blessings of God upon us – is it too late?
• Like Judah, have we already gone too far?
• Have we reached the point of “no return” as far as the standards and morals of our nation are concerned?
• Like other nations before us, have we begun that downward slide to disintegration, destined to drift off into history someplace and be forgotten?
• We have a leader of our Nation with 5 Children from Three Different Wives
• We have a leader of our Nation that brags about grabbing Women by the you know what
• We have a leader that said to his daughter when she was young, if he were not her father they would be dating (who in God’s name says such a thing!)
• We have a leader that forces himself on woman and brags about kissing them
• We have a leader that claims there are many very fine people that are White Supremacists – KKK – Alt Right
• America – It’s time to Check Your Moral Compass!
We must understand ONLY GOD IS THE SOURCE OF ABSOLUTE MORAL VALUES! Mankind is given the right to choose, but mankind does not have the authority to define right and wrong. The only source of moral truth is God’s Word.
• We must know God’s Word
• It must be written in our hearts
• We must be living it so we can then teach it to our children
• If we don’t, our children only learn the ways of this world and all its confusing lies and theories
• ROMANS 12:2 “AND BE NOT CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD: BUT BE YE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, THAT YE MAY PROVE WHAT IS THAT GOOD, AND ACCEPTABLE, AND PERFECT, WILL OF GOD”
Check Your Moral Compass. The Lord wants a life devoted to justice and breaking loose the bonds of injustice and oppression everywhere –– to FEEDING THE HUNGRY – CLOTHING THE NAKED – HOUSING THE HOMELESS – SHARING WHAT WE HAVE WITH OUR NEIGHBORS.
• In our Christian churches the prophet would say that the true test of our Moral Compass isn’t the quality of the organ, guitar, or the choir
• Or even the sermon of the preacher
• The true test of our Moral Compass and the way for a congregation is to be heard by the Lord is to move beyond charity and toward justice
• Then we can declare with Isaiah, “You shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am”
--It is obvious the President of our Nation cannot point us in the proper Moral direction
--White House lacks Moral leadership
--Republican and Democratic parties are lacking the moral leadership that our nation requires
--It is up to the Church
--It is up to every Believer to hold up the Blood Stained Banner
--Our Moral Compass must point toward Jesus
--Our Moral Compass must point toward the Blood of the Lamb
--Our Moral Compass must be found in the Word of God
--II CHRONICLES 7:14 “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 WILL I HEAR FROM HEAVEN AND WILL FORGIVE THEIR SIN AND WILL HEAL THEIR LAND”
--LORD, our Land needs a healing
