“ONE NATION UNDER GOD...”
PROVERBS 14:34
INTRODUCTION: Today we celebrate America’s 228th birthday. As a nation we have enjoyed the manifold blessings of God. During the past two centuries the United States has become the world’s greatest economic, political, and cultural power. America has had the privilege of being used by God to carry the Gospel to the world. America has seen more new enterprise and invention, and has seen the people of this nation maintain a higher standard of living, better housing, more food, greater freedom in their civil, religious and personal lives than any other people in history have enjoyed. But the question today is will we continue to enjoy these blessings? Does Proverbs 14 forecast what lies ahead for us?
I. Righteousness exalts a nation
A. Righteousness lifts up or raises a nation to honor.
B. Righteousness--just principles and actions.
C. The word “righteous” goes back to a root word meaning “to move in a straight line.” Thus, “righteous” (rightwise) means “in the straight (or right) way.” Used with reference to morality, “righteous” means living or acting in the right way.
D. History confirms the principle, that a nation’s true greatness is not based on its numbers, its military, or its political structure. Nor is it a nation’s intellectualism, progress, or cultural greatness that determines its true greatness. What determines a nation’s greatness is its private, public, and international conduct. Whether a nation’s conducted is in accordance with the standards of God and according to His moral guidelines will determine the greatness of any nation. Righteousness elevates a nation to a place of prominence and excellence.
E. Psalms 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
F. In the 1830’s Alexis de Tocqueville toured America. When his tour had been completed, he made this observation: "I have toured America, and I have seen most of what you offer. I’ve seen the richness of the fields and the wealth of your mines. I’ve seen your industrial might, the beauties of the rivers, the streams, the lakes, and the grandeur of the mountains. I’ve noticed the abundance of the forests and the marvelous climate with which you are blessed. In none of these things did I see the cause for the greatness of America. It wasn’t until I went into your churches that I saw the reason for America’s greatness. America is great because America is good; and as long as America is good, America will be great. If it ever ceases to be good, it will cease to be great."
G. America had a very honorable history beginning on April 29, 1607, when it was born as travel-weary Englishmen landed at Cape Henry on the shores of Virginia, establishing its first foundations to be followed by the Pilgrims. In the Mayflower Compact of 1620, the Pilgrims reaffirmed the mission set forth by the original Virginia settlers. Later, the Puritans carried the Cape Henry legacy further. On the deck of the Arbella, halfway between England and Cape Cod, leader John Winthrop declared, "We shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world." - Craig von Buseck, Why We Need Revival, The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc. © 2004
H. The godly foundations of our society are further buttressed by the words of many of our forefathers.
1. Patrick Henry – "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not be religionists but by Christians....not on religions but ton the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
2. James Madison, our 4th President – "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."
3. Daniel Webster – "If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering, but it we neglect its instruction and authority, no man can tell how soon a catastrophe may overcome us, and bury all our glory in profound obscurity."
4. James Wilson, co-author of America’s first legal commentaries of the Constitution and original Justice on the Supreme Court – "Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine. Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other. The Divine law...forms an essential part of both."
I. Since the War of 1812 a foreign army has never invaded us. We’ve fought for freedom around the world, but have not been forced to defend our own soil. Until September 11, 2001, we had not faced devastating bombing attacks. Since the American Revolution we have not endured the destruction of our homes or way of life.
II. Sin is a reproach to any people
A. Sin is a disgrace to the people
B. Sin lowers them before God brings them down
C. Proverbs 13:6 Righteousness keeps him that is upright in the way: but wickedness overthrows the sinner.
D. George Mason, Father of the Bill of Rights – "As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, so they must be in this, by an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Providence punishes national sins by national calamities."
E. Psalms 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
F. Isaiah 10:1 Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the scribes who write toil;
G. Acknowledgment of and obedience to God and His law brings prosperity to a nation. Disobedience and sin causes havoc and brings reproach - and ultimately the decline and destruction of once great nations.
H. Deuteronomy 8:17-20 then you say in your heart, ’My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth. And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God.
I. Ronald Reagan said, “Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
III. Our National trend
A. In 1947 the Supreme Court ordered a high, impenetrable wall of separation between church and state be established. On June 25, l962, without historical or legal precedent, by order of the Supreme Court 39 million students were forbidden to do what they and their predecessors had been doing since the founding of the U.S. - publicly calling upon the name of the Lord at the beginning of each school day. On June 17, 1963, Bible reading was outlawed in public schools; in 1967 the court outlawed a nursery rhyme that didn’t even mention the word God, but might cause someone to think of God. On January 22, 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the murder of unborn infants. In 1980, the Ten Commandments were outlawed in public schools. The court said, "If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all it would be to induce school children to read them. If they read them, they may mediate upon them and perhaps obey them. This is not a permissible objective." In November 2003 the Supreme Court struck down a Texas state law banning private consensual sex between adults of the same sex.
B. At the rate our nation is decaying, we shall have to change our national symbol from an eagle to a vulture. - Vance Havner
C. The people of the United States are on a downward course. Disobedience to the Laws of God is commonplace and our disobedience becomes more blatant every year.
D. Some time ago, Pastor Joe Wright prayed this fervent prayer before the State House in Topeka, Kansas: "Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, ’Woe to those who call evil good,’ but that’s exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values. We confess that: We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it moral pluralism; We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism; We have endorsed perversions and called it alternative lifestyles; We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery; We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation;
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare; We have killed our unborn and called it choice; We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable; We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem; We have abused power and called it political savvy; We have coveted our neighbors’ possessions and called it ambition; We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression; We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. "Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. I ask it in the name of Your Son, the Living Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen." – Paul W. Brubaker
E. On April 25, 1779, Thomas Jefferson said, "It was God, who gave us life, gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever."
IV. Our Individual accountability
A. Sin is a reproach to any people (leh-ome’, leh-ome’ From an unused root meaning to gather; a community: - nation, people.)
B. A nation is made of its many people. You aren’t responsible for all of the other people in your country, but what you do or don’t do does have an impact on the whole country.
C. Achan – Johua 7:1, 11-12 But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi,* the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel... Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you.
D. Dan Puckett in The Blessing of Freedom wrote: The key to continued freedom as a nation lies with the individual. It is not too late. The God of heaven who was instrumental in the forming of this nation stands ready to respond to the heartfelt cries of His people as they humble themselves and own their dependence on Him. God is waiting for His people, the Christians, to rise up and commit themselves to the rule of God in their lives and practice the self-government of restraint and responsibility. All of us are guilty of wanting our way and resisting authority. Godliness and righteousness must become the rule. We cannot allow ourselves personal excesses, hoping that somebody else will assume our responsibility... Our survival as a nation depends on our personal repentance. We must turn from independent self-seeking and turn back to God. Freedom is a blessing from God, and He can withdraw it as quickly as He granted it. – Devotional Thoughts, Niles Daily Star, 7/3/1998
E. 2 Chronicles 7:14 If My people, who are called by My name, shall 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 will heal their land.
F. If we are to remain blessed we must be right before God, live right before men, and stand for what is right and not be silent even when it is not politically or culturally correct.
G. Romans 14:11-12 For it is written: “As I live, says the LORD, Every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us shall give account of himself to God
