God And The Nations - Part 3 - Can The Nation Be Saved
Please stand as we read our newest memory Scripture together
Titus 3:3-5
“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”
And our memory refresher verse(s) for today is(are) …
John 3:16-18
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
“Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
Today we will be reading from Matthew 16:13-28
Two weeks ago we started taking a look at God and His interaction with the nations of the earth.
The first thing we did was to take a look at Acts 17:26 where it says:
From one man, Adam, God made all the nations.
Not only did He make all of the nations but He also ordained or determined when they would take place in history and where on the earth they would be located.
That is what we saw regarding the relationship between the nations and the Lord in general.
But what about the relationship between the Lord and the nation of the USA specifically. What did we find?
Here are two of the questions we asked:
Is America a dominant nation on the world stage because we have made it so or is America a dominant nation on the world stage because the Lord God has raised us up according to His plans and His purposes?
And, did the Lord God raise us up because many of our founding fathers were devout Christians or did He raise us up by selecting devout Christians to be our founding fathers? Or did He raise us up for some other reason altogether, a reason known only to Him?
To help us with the last question we went back and looked at some quotes of our founding fathers and saw that many of them were indeed devout followers of Jesus Christ.
But, does God take that into account? Apparently He does because in Psalm 33:12a it says;
“Blessed is the nation whose God is (Yahweh) the LORD.”
Finally, we looked at another factor in trying to find an answer and we found that the blessing and curse that is repeated three times in the Bible is that, “The nation that blesses (Israel) will be blessed and the nation that curses (Israel) will be cursed.” Numbers 24:5-9
Now, these last two things will certainly help a nation to be a blessed nation but what ultimately happens when the Lord decides to raise up of destroy a nation?
And then last week we took a look at the State of The Nation - the USA.
And we found that the nation is sinful in many ways. In fact the nation has so normalized sin that it revels in sinfulness. We parade our sinfulness right out in the open for the Lord and the entire world to see.
We also found that the blame for much of this falls squarely at the feet of the church in America.
So, the question we are asking today is, “Can the nation be saved?”
With that in mind let’s read Matthew 16:13-28 (prayer for help)
So, how on earth does this Scripture inform us as to whether the United States can be saved or not?
Here we will be trying to see similarities between the relationship of Israel in bondage to Rome and the relationship of America in bondage to sin.
In this passage, in Matthew 16:23 we see the only time in the entire New Testament where Jesus specifically refers to one of His chosen disciples as satan! Not because Peter WAS satan but because his ideas were contrary to the purposes of God.
In Matthew 16:23 Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind Me, satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
In the four Gospels Jesus speaks about the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God over 90 times. But He never speaks of restoring the Kingdom to Israel until He returns.
The great desire of the Israelites was that Jesus, the Messiah, would assume the throne of Israel as David’s son. He is referred to as King David’s son because His family line traces back to David.
This makes Jesus a valid heir to the throne of Israel according to the prophets. We see this sentiment throughout the Gospels.
After Jesus had fed the five thousand with a few loaves and fish John 6:15 recounts that, “Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make Him king by force, withdrew again into the hills by Himself.”
In Matthew 21 we see Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey being heralded by His disciples as if He is a king entering into the nation’s capitol city.
In Luke 24:21 on the day of Jesus’ resurrection one of His followers says, “…but we had hoped that He was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.”
After Jesus had been crucified, raised from the dead and appeared to them for 40 days they asked Him this question as recorded in Acts 1:6b
“Lord, are You at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
You see, the people of Israel were fixated on one thing, the Messiah was going to restore Israel to prominence among the kingdoms of the world.
It was a battle of kingdoms.
Jesus was for the Kingdom of Heaven; the Kingdom of God and the people were for the Kingdom of Israel.
We are having the same battle today as they were having then.
Israel was enslaved by the Romans and much of America is enslaved to sin.
Much of the Jewish leadership was more focused on politics and wealth than on righteousness.
Much of the American church is more focused on politics, church wealth and the size of their crowds than they are on preaching the Gospel and living a holy life.
Many of Jesus’ followers were seeing Him as a remedy for Israel’s woes and not as the Son of God.
Many American Christians see Jesus as a source of power to make America great again and not as Savior of the world.
You see we are still having a battle of the kingdoms; the Kingdom of earth and the Kingdom of Heaven.
What was one of the things Jesus taught His disciples to pray?
Matthew 6:6a, 11 records it as, (Our Father in Heaven … Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
You see, it all boils down to this.
The question, “Can America be saved?” is the wrong question for Christians.
The question that we should be asking is, “Am I part of the kingdom of this world or am I a citizen in the Kingdom of Heaven?”
Don’t get me wrong, in a free country like ours Christians SHOULD be active in the political process. We should vote. We should be informed about where candidates stand and how they vote on moral issues. We should be involved as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven who live in the nation of America.
And, if the Lord prompts us to do so, we should run for political office!
Why is it so important to have living as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven our first priority while we are here on earth?
First we need to realize that the only two real kingdoms that exist are the Kingdom of God (aka the Kingdom of Heaven) and the Kingdom of this world (aka the kingdom of hell).
You see, there are only two eternal destinations where we all will spend eternity in one place or the other.
The Kingdom of Heaven has many eternal benefits and these benefits are for those who have turned away from their sinful life and have come to Jesus for salvation. This Kingdom of Heaven is occupied by those who are truly saved and it is known on earth as the church.
The Kingdom of Hell has many eternal sorrows and it is for those who have rejected Jesus as their Savior and wish to continue living a life of sin. The Kingdom of Hell is occupied by those who are outside the protective forgiveness of Jesus.
These are the only two real kingdoms that exist. If the world continues long enough America will one day become relegated to the history books along with Babylon, the Medo-Persian Empire and the Greek and Roman Empires.
Only the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of Hell are eternal.
Kingdom of Heaven Kingdom of Hell
In the presence of God In the absence of God
Eternal life Eternal death
Absence of sin Consumed by sin
Love Hate
Joy Sorrow
Peace Anxiety
Patience Restlessness
Kindness Cruelty
Goodness Evil
Faithfulness Betrayal
Gentleness Torment
Self-control Chaos throughout the region
You see, when we think on this earthly level we think as Americans think. We visualize a paradise where we can live where we want to live, where we have the freedom to go where we want to go, a land where we can say and think what we want to think, to be what we want to be. A utopia where we can go to bed in safety, a place of abundance of food, a place where we do not have to worry about having a roof over our head. That is our dream.
That dream may be a reality in your life and if it is you may be in grave danger and not even know it. Why? Living in such a reality may blind you to the fact that you need Jesus as your Savior.
Why do you need Him? You have everything you want and need.
You need Him because even though you have everything you may desire if you are not in the Kingdom of Heaven an eternity in the Kingdom of Hell is waiting for you.
This world has an awful way of blinding us to eternity and what awaits us there.
(Refer to the list above re: the differences between the Kingdoms)
This is the only choice that will matter for eternity?
Which will you choose?
