In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. That is the line of a poem many of us know, that has helped some of us remember a few of our history lessons. It is true that Christopher Columbus was a flawed person, and he made many mistakes, but he had a mission and a purpose. According to his journals, Columbus believed it was his mission and purpose to carry the gospel around the world. That is one of the reasons Ferdinand and Isabelle agreed to finance his expedition in the first place.
Their country had been at war with the Moors for years, and at the end of 1491, when the Moors finally surrendered, and their last foothold in Europe was gone, the war-weary Christian soldiers wept and cried and gave glory to God. The king and queen looked for a way to express their gratitude to God. They considered building a cathedral, or making a pilgrimage, or erecting shelters for the poor; now Columbus was back with his proposal to discover new lands for the glory of God and His church, to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth, to perhaps discover new trade routes where they could make the money to finance a new crusade. Ferdinand and Isabelle agreed to finance Columbus’s trip.
Over the next 6 months, Columbus spent his time gathering a crew, his ships, and supplies. They set out. As Columbus and his crews traveled, each day found them further and further away from home in places man had never ventured before. The crews in the 2 other ships began fretting and wanting to turn back. They were at the brink of Mutiny. Columbus finally agreed to turn back, on the condition that they sail with him 3 more days.
At 2 am, on the morning of the 3rd day, the lookout shouted “Land!, Land!” They had crossed the Atlantic and found a land unknown in Europe.
On every island where they stopped, Columbus had his men erect a large wooden cross, “as a token of Jesus Christ our Lord, and in honor of the Christian faith.”
In later years, Columbus made mistakes, like many in our Bibles did in their last years, but the lands had been found by a man who, at least at first, had good intentions.
Next came soldiers and explorers who came to pillage and rob, but there were also monks and priests, many of whom were sincere, God-fearing folk, who sought to introduce the inhabitants of the new land to the Lord. Spanish priests and missionaries came in from the south. The French priests and missionaries came in from the north.
Fast forward a bit, and you find a group of folks heading to the new world seeking religious freedom. These new folks came seeking to live in a place where they could worship and serve the Lord, the way they believed He had called them to.
When they arrived in the New World, they did not land where they had planned, but ended up in a different area. They were amazed to find, an area that appeared to have been cleared for a town or community, with several streams of clean water nearby, so they settled there.
You know the accounts, of how difficult those early times were. Imagine, then, their surprise, when one Sunday morning an indian walks into the colony. He asks for a drink, which they give him. He spends the night, and leaves the next morning.
A month later Squanto showed up. He told them how he had been a member of a fierce tribe who had once lived where the Pilgrims were now living. They are the ones who had cleared the land the Pilgrims were now using. A number of years before, Squanto had been captured by a fishing ship off the New England Coast. He was sold as a slave back in England, where he learned English. Eventually a priest bought him and gave him his freedom.
Squanto returned to the new world and to his former home, only to find that while he had been away, disease had hit and wiped out his entire tribe, including his family. Being now alone in the world, he adopted the Pilgrims. He taught them. He taught them how to plant corn, and how and when to fish in the local rivers. Taught them how to tap maple trees to make maple syrup.
Fast forward again . . .
Many folks come to this new world, seeking opportunity and religious freedom.
Now, the Puritans were a very Bible-based group. They believed that every man was responsible to understand the Bible. There was a religious controversy in the colonies so the Puritans in Massachusetts decided they would start a college that would train ministers to stay on the straight and narrow so they started Harvard College, the first institution of higher learning in what would become British North America. (Jones et al., Created Equal, 50). As a matter of fact, all of the first universities in the colonies, except 1, were started to train doctors, preachers and missionaries, and that one, was started by a preacher.
In 1647, the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed the “Old Deluder Satan Act”. It stated that since the Devil was always trying to delude people, it was important for folks to be able to read and understand the Bible for themselves. So, it required schools to be set up in every town with 50 families or more to teach children to read the Bible. In every town with 100 or more families, they were to set up grammar schools, to teach children Latin, so the boys would be equipped to attend the University.
The first public schools in our country, were thus, started to teach children to read the Bible.
Fast forward again.
It is now July 4, 1776. Congress has before it a document Which reads in part, “
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —
God gave our Founding Fathers victory over the largest military in the world at the time, and gave them victory a few years later over the same military in the war of 1812, when England tried to regain control over the United States.
You may remember the controversy some years ago (1992) over the statement by Governor Kirk Fordice of Mississippi, that this is a “Christian nation.” It was so intense that he later apologized and one newspaper summed it up by saying, “The label “Christian Nation” has become fighting words!”
That’s pretty amazing when you consider that the United States was founded by Christians for a Christian purpose. So exactly how much is or was the United States founded on Christian principles?
•Christopher Columbus stated that he was led by
the Holy Spirit in discovering America in order that the prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled about turning the heathen to the truth.
•Many if not most of those involved in fashioning
American independence were committed Christians.
•The American patriot Patrick Henry, stated “It
cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!” [p. 67]
•When George Washington was inaugurated as the
first President of the United States in 1789, in New York City, he got down on his knees and kissed the Bible. Then he lead the entire Senate and House of Representatives to a church for a two hour worship service.
•At least fifty of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence were Christians.
•Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of United States once said, “It is the duty of nations as well as men to owe their dependence upon the over-ruling power of God… and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.” [p. 76]
God has blessed this nation, because, I believe, this has been a God-focused nation. Many have forgotten that. We have made mistakes and done things as a country that I am not proud of, but God has blessed this nation, as He blesses us individually, in spite of our mistakes.
We have lived in a God-blessed nation, because God built this nation with God-fearing men and women, who reared and taught God-fearing children. But, look at our country today.
Two years ago, 3 teen volunteers from the National Honor Society, who came to help with Christmas-in-the-Country” were asked to help down at the living nativity, with Jesus, Joseph, and Mary. None of the 3 teens knew who Mary, Joseph and Jesus were. One of them said, “My family’s not very religious.” Columbus would never have believed such a thing. What happened to our country?
The week of June 17th, just a couple of weeks ago, three contestants on Jeopardy, who are supposed to be smart folks failed to answer a question on Tuesday’s episode, asking them to complete a line of the “Lord’s Prayer.” The clue read, “Matthew 6:9 says, ‘Our Father, which art in heaven,’ This ‘be thy name.’” None of the 3 contestants were able to complete that line from the Lord’s prayer. The Pilgrims would never have believed such a thing. What happened to our country?
Most states in our country prohibit children under 18 years old from getting tattoos, they are too young to make that decision, and yet, many of those same states allow minors to have sex altering surgeries and puberty blocker drugs.
We cannot tattoo our children but we can chemically and surgically mutilate them. The Puritans would never have dreamed of such a thing. What happened to our country?
In 1973, the Roe vs Wade decision was passed, making abortion up until the 24th week, legal in the United States. Until the mid 1970’s ultra-sound was not widely used in the United States to examine pregnancies. Since that time, ultrasound use has become almost universal in this country, so people have known the horrors of abortion and that unborn children can feel pain for decades. In spite of that, it wasn’t until last year that our Supreme Court struck down Roe vs Wade nationally, and many stares still allow abortions. 64.5 million babies have been aborted in this country since 1973 on the altar of convenience.
During that time, if someone killed a pregnant woman, they could be charged with 2 murders, but if someone killed the baby on purpose it was ok. George Washington would never have believed such a thing. What happened to our country?
I mentioned earlier that the first public schools in this country were started to teach children to read the Bible.
In the past, many public school districts across America required some portions of the Bible to be read aloud during the day. In Abington Township v. Schempp (1963), the Supreme Court examined laws in two states—Pennsylvania and Maryland—that required Bible readings in public schools and found them to be unconstitutional. In the majority opinion, Justice Tom C. Clark concludes that compulsory religious exercises in public schools are a direct violation of the establishment clause. (The Supreme Court Strikes Down Bible Readings in Public Schools, by Tom C. Clark)
In 1980, the Supreme Court struck down a Kentucky law that required the 10 Commandments to be posted in public schools. Heaven forbid that our children learn that lying, killing, stealing, and adultery are wrong! Benjamin Franklin would never have believed such a thing. What happened to our country?
Today, unbelievably, we have people who believe it is OK for boys and men to go into girls locker rooms; for men to compete against women in sports, for men to dress as women and to perform in front of children. My word, last night at the hospital, one of the nurses taking care of Christina’s sister was a man dressed as a woman.
What happened to our country? God has kept the promise He made in Romans chapter 1 against a people who knowingly suppress the truth. He has turned them over to disgraceful passions.
Open your Bibles this morning and turn with me please to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1 and verse 18 as this morning we attempt to address together, the question, “What happened to our country.” Romans chapter 1, beginning in verse 18.
- Read Romans 1:18-25
I. THE STUPIDITY OF MAN
- Read Romans 1:18
1. We have suppressed the truth
In the founding documents of our nation, our founding fathers wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
In this nation’s founding documents, those who began this nation said, “It is clearly seen, that men are created and that they have Creator.”
An honest examination of the world and the human body demands that there be a Creator. No one would look at a car, with all of its differing parts, and believe that somehow it accidentally evolved and built itself, anymore than someone would believe that a tornado could hit a junk yard and create a new model pickup. There is too much involved and too much that has to be just right for it to be an accident.
Folks my age and older, all of sudden we have to start taking medicine for things that no longer work right anymore, that we never really thought about before. We take medicines to keep the pressure in our eyes just right, and medicines to keep our eyes properly lubricated, and others to keep our blood at the right pressure, and perhaps let’s get an implant to make our heart beat at the right speed, and maybe get an injection to make the tendons in our fingers slide through their pulleys properly, and maybe another shot to make sure the sugar in our blood is at the right level.
When we’re kids, we never even think about such things, but when you sit and study on it, you realize how amazing our bodies are and what complex machines they are. No wonder David cried in Proverbs 139:14, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made!”
Several years ago I was at another doctor’s office sitting looking at all of the anatomical posters hanging on the walls. When the doctor came in I asked him if he was a believer? He said he was and then asked me why I had asked. I said, “Because there is no way you can work around all of these posters each day and not know we have a Creator.”
2. We have denied the obvious
- Romans 1:19-20
The Bible tells us that the attributes of God are clearly seen through what He has made.
Oh my friends, when you stand on the top of the smokey mountains and look out across the peaks and valleys and there is a catch in your heart, that is the universe testifying about the majesty of God.
When you pause on the rim of the Grand Canyon, and look out across the depth and breadth of that great chasm, and your heart wants to sing, that is the universe testifying about the power of God.
When you lay on your back and stare up at the stars on a quiet night, and the sky is so filled that you cannot count them all, and you remember how they all work together perfectly, and you are overwhelmed by the vastness and complexity of it all, that is the universe testifying to the wisdom of God.
> Psalm 19:1-4 The heavens declare the glory of God,?and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge. There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard. Their message has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world.
When you look at a baby and are overwhelmed, and your heart swells to nearly bursting, that is creation testifying to the love of God.
We in our country, and around the world, have denied the obvious. There is a Creator.
3. We have become ungrateful
- Read Romans 1:21
When I think of the blessings we enjoy in this country.
I remember visiting with a 30 something year old doctor in Russia 20 something years ago. We visited on a bus. He was so excited because he and his wife were finally going to get an apartment to themselves. Our houses are getting bigger and fancier each year, and we complain about what we do not have.
We used to have a member of this church, Little Bill, who told me about how excited he was when they were finally able to to get some screen to put in their windows to keep the mosquitos out. Most of us have air conditioning that we take for granted.
In Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi, I had church members who worked as share croppers as children, working in the fields alongside their parents, picking cotton. In January, I preached a friend’s funeral, who first moved here to Florida as a child, working with her parents as a sharecropper, picking strawberries in the Spring each year, just so they’d have enough food to put on the table. In this country, our life expectancy is decreasing, largely due to diseases of abundance, eating too much of the wrong stuff; yet we are ungrateful.
Unemployment is rampant in many countries around the world, and yet in our country, jobs go unfilled.
I remember visiting with a guy from France several years ago. He would come and work in the United States for several months each year. He said he was excited to be here, because in America he could work as much as he wanted, and the hours he worked was not limited by law.
As a people, we have become ungrateful.
II. THE JUDGMENT OF GOD
- Romans 1:26-32
Earlier we asked what happened to our country. The simple answer is, God has judged our nation. God has turned our nation over to disgraceful passions. God has delivered our nation over to corrupt minds. God has done what He said He was going to do.
Several years ago, when Drew was in college, he had a friend who was homosexual. She was also stunningly beautiful. She and a number of other of his college friends, would regularly visit our house. We enjoyed having those kids in our home. This friend of his told Drew that he was her best friend.
After college, this friend of Drew’s took a job in California. Even though she passed through Denver on her way to her new job, and even though she stayed the night in Denver, she wasn’t interested in seeing him or having a meal with him. She told him she had outgrown him.
A while back, she posted a picture of herself online, with her shirt off. She had had a double mastectimy and was growing hair under her arms in her transition to becoming a man.
We are having stores closing because theft has become so rampant that the owners can no longer afford to keep the doors open.
Many of our politicians blatantly lie, are proven to have lied, and yet people reelect them. Others fight to allow criminals and drugs to continue to cross our borders. Does this make any sense to anyone? What has happened to our country?
My friends, we are reaping what we have sown. We have compromised the word of God. We have not kept the Lord the center of our homes. We have placed more value on the created things than we have our Creator, we have sought the hand of God instead of the heart of God, and the chickens have come home to roost. Where we have longed enjoyed God’s blessings due to the faith of our founders, we are now suffering God’s judgment due to the faithlessness of our fathers.
Is there hope? Is there anything we can do?
III. THE RESPONSE OF GOD’S PEOPLE
Yes my friend. There is something we can do. The Bible says, “It is committed unto men once to die and then the judgment.” Well, we aren’t there yet. My word, Jesus saved the thief on the cross just hours before he died. If Jesus can do that, then He can still work a miracle here. So here is what God’s people need to do.
1. Permit no Rivals
> Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain; unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchman stays alert in vain.
In other words, unless the Lord remains front and center in our homes and our thinking we are without hope. So, decide today, right now, that God is going to be the Lord of your home and of your life.
Ambitions, they take a backseat to God. Recreation, it takes a backseat to God. Relaxation, it takes a backseat to God. Bank accounts. They take a back seat to God.
Joshua was surrounded by a bunch of lukewarm, wishy washy, maybe follow God and maybe not people. He stood before them and said,
> Joshua 24:15 . . . if it doesn’t please you to worship the Lord, choose for yourselves today: Which will you worship—the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living? As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord.”
In other words, Joshua says, “I can’t control what you do in your house. I can’t control what my neighbors do. I can’t control the decisions all of the politicians make, but I can do this. I can set a standard in my home. I can take a stand for God in my home.
I am not accountable for your actions. I am not accountable for your homes, but I am accountable for my actions and for my house. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
You don’t start by looking at what everyone else is doing. You start by looking at what you are doing.
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Permit no rivals.
2. Teach for survival
> Deuteronomy 6:4-9 “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates.
Teach your children and grandchildren. Love on and teach your neighbors’ children. Teach them about God. Teach them the Word of God.
I am accountable and responsible for what I teach you. But you are accountable as well, for how well you teach those around you.
I told you about those 3 teens who didn’t know who Jesus, Joseph, and Mary were. There was a time in this country when everyone knew, but there was some point i those teens past, some link in the chain where someone said, “I don’t want to push my religion on my children. I’m gonna let them decide for themselves.” And so a generation never heard.
Don’t be that missing link
Permit no rivals. Teach for survival.
3. Pray for revival.
> James 5:16-18 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
My friends, through the prayers of one man, God brought about a revival in the nation of Israel, because God works through the prayers of His people.
We know God loves people. John 3:16 tells us that, and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ proves that.
> 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
God doesn’t want anyone to perish, but everyone to repent. Pray that God will bring about revival in our country and around the world once again.
Allow no rival. Teach for survival. Pray for revival. Prepare for arrival.
4. Prepare for arrival.
Make sure we do not go empty handed. Do not give in. Do not give up. John tells us that when the light came into the world, that the darkness did not like it. It fought against the light of Jesus. But that light changed the world.
Do not go gentle into that good night
Do not go gentle into that good night,?Old age should burn and rave at close of day;?Rage, rage against the dying of the light.??Though wise men at their end know dark is right,?Because their words had forked no lightning they?Do not go gentle into that good night.??Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright?Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,?Rage, rage against the dying of the light.??Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,?And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,?Do not go gentle into that good night.??Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight?Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,?Rage, rage against the dying of the light.??And you, my father, there on the sad height,?Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.?Do not go gentle into that good night.?Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
(From The Poems of Dylan Thomas, published by New Directions. Copyright © 1952, 1953 Dylan Thomas.)
Do not throw in the towel now. When Paul was on trial and discouraged, the Lord told him, “I have many people in this city you do not know.” And I tell you my friend, God is still alive and well.
When those in Jericho laughed and taunted behind their massive walls and said nothing could get in, God tore their walls down. When the fishermen were weary and discouraged because of fruitless labors, Jesus filled their nets. When the disciples wrung their hands in front of hungry crowds, Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish. When the devil and demons danced a jig in front of a borrowed tomb, God rolled a stone away.
God is still on the throne. He still loves people and He’s still answering prayers. Rage against the dying of the light.
