I am an American, and I love America. I love America because of its GREATNESS. It is great in territory, resources, strength, beauty, and achievements. I love America because of its GRACIOUSNESS. America has shared its wealth, its scientific discoveries, its medical accomplishments will all mankind. I love America because of its GIFTS to me. I love America because it has given me freedom of religion and speech.
One man asked another, “Isn’t true that both the Soviet and American constitutions guarantee freedom of speech?”
“Yes, but the American constitution also guarantees freedom after speech,” came the reply.
A MAN WHO WON’T USE HIS FREEDOM TO DEFEND HIS FREEDOM DOESN’T DESERVE HIS FREEDOM.
A groom was terribly nervous on the eve of his wedding. “What is wrong? Have you lost your ring?” asked a friend.
“No,” answered the groom sadly. “I have lost my enthusiasm.” Many Christians have lost their enthusiasm for America.
What is it that is going to determine to destiny of our great nation?
Let me give you four things:
I. American’s destiny will be determined by its remembrance of the sacred (Psalm 9:17)
America destiny will be determined by its remembrance of God. A South American president once said, "South America was founded by men seeking gold, but North America was founded by men seeking God.” Another man said, "The Spaniards came here for gold; The French came here for gain, but the original colonists came here for God.”
I believe America has reached the pinnacle of greatness unlike any nation in human history because our founding fathers established America’s laws and precepts on the principles of the Word of God, and this includes the Ten Commandments. God has blessed this nation because in its early days she sought to honor God.
Psalm 33:12 is still in the Bible: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD." When we give God his rightful place again, we will be America blessed. I want to go across this land and scream, “Wake up! Wake up! Let us give God His rightful place in America.”
When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, they knelt down upon the shore and thanked God for giving them a new country. The worship of Jesus Christ was at the center of every new settlement in this land. When the Continental Congress faced great problems and difficulties and knew not which way to turn, Benjamin Franklin called upon the members of Congress to fall upon their knees and pray.
Our founding fathers of the United States of America wrote their faith in God into the Constitution, stamped the words “In God We Trust” onto the coins, and found great educational institutions on the Word of God. The first three American universities established upon this continent - Harvard, Yale, and Princeton - were originally built in order to train pastors for the ministry.
The reason America has stood for more than 200 years is that God has been in her history ever since her beginning. Benjamin Franklin uttered these profound words, “God surely was no idle spectator when this great nation was born in His name and with His grace.” I hear people say, “What about the separation of Church and state?” You will never find that statement, nor anything remotely like that in the Constitution of America. However, you will find in the 1st Amendment these words, “Congress will make no law respecting the establishment of religion nor prohibit the free exercise thereof.” It says nothing about you and me getting involved in government. It just says that the government cannot get involved in the business of the church. The statement “separation of Church and State” was made by Thomas Jefferson, and his meaning of separation of church and state is not how it is being used today. Since he said it, I think he best knows what he meant when he said it. Listen to his own words: “The First Amendment has erected a wall of separation between church and state, but that wall is a one directional wall; it keeps the government from running the church, but it makes sure that Christian principles will always stay in government.”
Our forefathers not one time sought to exclude God from this great nation. Rather, they made every effort to include God in every great document. That is one reason why America has stood as long as she has. I want you to listen carefully to the words of Chief Justice Earl Warren to Time Magazine in 1954: “I believe no one can read the history of our country without realizing the Good Book and the good Spirit of the Saviour have from the beginning been our guiding geniuses ……. Whether we look to the First Charter of Virginia, or the Charter of New England, or to the Charter of Massachusetts Bay, or the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. The same object is present; a Christian land governed by Christian principles. I believe the entire Bill of Rights came into being because of the knowledge our forefathers had of the Bible and their belief in it; freedom of belief, of expression, of assembly, of petition, the dignity of the individual, the sanctity of the home, equal justice of the law, and the reservation of powers to the people. I like to believe we are living today in the spirit of the Christian religion. I like also to believe that as long as we do so, no great harm can come to our country.”
What a heritage we have this morning. Go back with me beyond the Constitution Convention, beyond the Declaration of Independence, beyond the Pilgrims coming to this part of the world. I want you to go back with me this morning over five-hundred years ago, to the days of Christopher Columbus. Listen to what Mr. Columbus said, “It was the Lord who put in my mind to sail from Spain. I could feel His hand upon me. There is no question that my inspiration to sail came from the Holy Ghost of God.” God was even before the beginning of America.
I firmly believe that our national blessings are a result of our remembrance of God, and His remembrance is essential to any future blessings and happiness we may enjoy as a nation.
We have forgotten the miracle of our history!
Benjamin Franklin at 87 years of age once said , “I have lived a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of the truth : ‘that God governs in the affairs of man.’ And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, it is probable that an empire can rise without his aid.” America don’t forget God! Abraham Lincoln said more than 125 years ago, “We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand, which has enriched and strengthen us; and we have vainly imagined that all things were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving Grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us.” We have failed to remember to the role of the Almighty in our country! America must not forget where she came from. See Deuteronomy 8:10,11,18,19.
II. American’s destiny will be determined by its rebuke of sin (Proverbs 14:34)
Abraham Lincoln, “The smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which heaven itself has ordained.”
America is riddled today with ography and perversion. is accepted. Abortion slaughters countless babies every year. Scandals in high places rock the country. Organized crime flourishes. Our nation is engulfed with . Sin, which is a shame, to any people threatens the very foundation of our country.
The issue of homosexuality in American better cause Christians to wake up. If the homosexuals get their rights like they want them, it won’t be long before the child-molesters will attempt to get their rights. They will say, “It is their ual preference just like the homosexuals.”
There are some things that are legal but are not moral and Biblical. Living together outside the bounds of marriage may be legal but it is not moral nor is it Biblical. Fifty percent of Americans will get ually transmitted disease by age 25. The country with highest ually transmitted disease rise of all industrialized countries is the United States.
“The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all civil constitutions and laws,” Noah Webster once said.
“All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.” I told you about several preachers recently just met with several of our Christian senators and representatives to discuss what can be done to stop the moral free-fall of America. One of the greatest concerns of the legislators was expressed several times, “Where is the church?” One senator said, “I receive 16 letters from pro-homosexual marriage people for every 1 letter in opposition. Where are the Christians? Where is the church?” We cannot sit idly by and let America go. We must cry aloud. Christians must vote. Vote principles and not personality. Vote morals and not money.
America needs to repent of its ungodly transgressions. Christians need to wake up!
The word “sin” seems to have disappeared today. Today we tolerate, laugh at, and even enjoy what 30 years ago would have deeply shocked us.
We call sin everything but what it truly is. What God drunkenness we call alcoholism. What God called perversion, we call alternate life style. What God called immorality, we call the new morality. What God called ography, we call entertainment. What God called , we call abortion.
A. Sin damns the soul
B. Sin ens the conscience
C. Sin destroys the home
D. Sin devours the nation
1. There is unresponsiveness - indifferent
2. There is brashness - bold and brash -flaunt their sin
3. There is wantonness -unrestrained
4. There is unfaithfulness
5. There is ungratefulness
General Douglas MacArthur indeed spoke the truth when he said the following words: “History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the normal lapse or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.”
III. American’s destiny will be determined by its respect for the saints
( 2 Kings 2:23; Genesis 18:17-32)
Ten people would have spared the city of Sodom from destruction. During the ers of Germany, Winston Churchill, then Prime Minister of England, paid great tribute to the pilots in a speech before the House of Commons by saying, “Never in the filed of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” The pilots, though few in number in comparison to the number of people they saved, had kept Great Britain from being defeated by the German war planes. The owning of much by many to so few is even more true concerning the righteous in society today. Few, though they are, the righteous have year after year spared many cities of American from destruction. You may not have political power, be famous, be a genius, or have a great fortune; yet you may be of tremendous value to society simply because you are living a holy life.
Little do others know how valuable the righteous are to the well being of their community, city, or country. The righteous and the godly are the ones who keep society from the anathema of God.
A Canadian paper once reported the effects of a recent storm which had wept through the town. The report read, “We are glad to announce that the wind storm which blew down the congregational church did no serious damage to the town.” The church was of such little significance that its destruction was not considered a loss to the town. The church should be and must be a tremendous importance to every town.
A. We need respect for preaching that is pointed
A French diplomat years ago said, "Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.” We need pulpits afire again preaching against sin!
B. We need respect for people that are pious
C. We need respect for prayers that prevail
There needs to be a return to the power of believing prayer.
In 1904 a great revival movement began in Wales. The impact on the moral condition of the nation was overwhelming. Judges had almost no cases to try. There were virtually no s, robberies, or . Drunkenness was cut in half, and many taverns were forced to close for lack of bushiness. The illegitimate birth rate dripped 44% within a year of the beginning of the revival. ALL OF THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE ONE MAN BEGAN TO PRAY.
IV. America’s destiny will be determined by its relationship to the Jewish seed
See Genesis 12:3 “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
God promises to bless people who are a blessing to Abraham’s descendants.
See Psalm 122:6.
American’s destiny is determined by her friendship to Israel, God’s chosen people.
Every nation that has ever persecuted the Jews has felt the hard hand of God on them. Every nation that has ever stood with the Jews has felt the hand of God’s blessing on them. I firmly believe God has blessed America because America has blessed the Jew. If America wants her fields to remain white with grain, her scientific achievements to remain notable, and her freedom to remain intact, America must continue to stand with Israel. GOD DEALS WITH NATIONS IN RELATION TO HOW THOSE NATIONS DEAL WITH ISRAEL.
Conclusion:
There was a man who had just bought a huge clock grandfather clock for his living room. He went to bed that night excited about his new clock. Several nights later something went wrong with his clock. As it began to strike, he counted the striking of his clock (10, 11, 12, 13). He jumped up and shouted to his wife, “Get up, it is later than I ever knew it to be.”
I believe that is true when it comes to America!
CHRISTIANS CANNOT BE SILENT ANY LONGER. ABOUT THE SINS THAT ARE DESTROYING OUR NATION.
Abraham Lincoln declared, “If destruction be our lot, we ourselves will be its author and its
