The Nation God Blesses

THE NATION GOD BLESSES

PROVERBS 14:34-35

PSALMS 9:17

JOEL 2:25

1. Illus. of talking to old man

• Had good income, good health, children and grandchildren

• “Pastor, God had really blessed me!”

• Meant God had put His hand upon him in favor.

2. Did you know that God does the same thing on a national scale? OT gives us glimpses into the way God works on a national level. If a nation loves and serves Him, then God will bless that nation. If a nation despises Him and refuses to serve Him, then God will judge that nation.

3. “What is that to me?” How would you like to live in a nation that is being divinely judged by God? How would you like for your children and grandchildren to grow up in a nation that is under the judgement of God? Listen carefully, for there is every indication that God is in process of removing His hand of blessing here in America, and preparing to place His hand of judgment upon us!

4. How does God decide whether or not to bless a nation? What are the qualifications for national blessing?

I. GOD WILL BLESS A HOLY NATION

1. See Proverbs 14:34-35

2. Need to understand that in vs 35, Solomon is picturing God as a King, and the servant is a nation. When a nation is righteous, then God’s favor is toward that nation. When a nation is sinful, then His wrath is against that nation.

3. No nation has ever been completely righteous or completely sinful. There will always be some wicked people mixed into a nation of righteous folk, and vice versa. God is looking at the big picture. Is the general movement of that nation toward righteousness? Or is it toward sin?

4. Illus. of D.Min colloquium

• How to do evangelism in a post-christian America

• Most social thinkers believe America, when you look at the big picture, no longer operates in accordance with Christian beliefs.

• That’s exactly what Proverbs 14: 34-35 is talking about!

5. Some things trouble me about the holiness of our nation. It seems that in America, right and wrong have traded places:

 In 1992, the vice-president of the United States suggested that it would be better for children to be raised by two parents if possible. He was verbally lynched. A year earlier, a famous basketball player revealed that he was HIV positive after having sex with literally hundreds of different women. He was hailed as a hero!

 Hugh Down did a 20/20 show on family values, and the people who promote them. His conclusion? That the leaders of this movement to return to traditional family values, men like James Dobson , are fueled by the same intolerance that fueled Hitler and the Klan!

 Today two million Americans live in prison. There are only a handful of cities with populations of one million!

 Billy, the first openly homosexual doll, went on sale two years ago. With four different models, the homosexual community is promoting the doll in an effort to teach young people that “its o.K to be gay.”

 Every day in America, 2,795 teenage girls get pregnant. Every day 1,106 of those girls snuff out the lives of their unborn children by abortion.

 In a recent colloquium on AIDS, three people sat on the platform. Doctor who said key was $$$ for research, who was cheered. Politician who said key was government taking bigger role in educating people in safe sex, who was cheered. Tim Lahaye, who said key to stopping AIDS epidemic was for one man to marry one women and for them to be sexually faithful the rest of their lives. He was booed off stage and not allowed to continue!

6. God blesses the nation that is holy, and judges the nation that is not!

II. GOD WILL BLESS AN OBEDIENT NATION

1. See Psalms 9:17. Hebraism, a figure of speech. To remember God is to renew your obedience to God. See Ecclesiastes 12: 1a, 6a, 13

2. When speaking nationally, this Hebraism seems to refer to the laws and decrees passed down by the rulers. God will bless a nation that says, “Our laws must come in line with God’s laws.”

3. Did you know:

 In most states, children under 16 have to get a note from their parents to get their ears pierced, but they can have an abortion without parental permission?

 In most states, schools can legally pass out birth control to your children, and yet children are legally banned from passing out Christmas cards?

 Two teens in New Jersey were prosecuted for murder. They got pregnant, so they rented motel room, induced labor, then crushed new born babies skull with blunt instrument. In America, had gone to a clinic instead of a hotel room, paid a physician instead of doing it themselves, and left babies head in birth canal while they crushed it, it would have been perfectly legal? It’s called partial birth abortion, and twice there has been a presidential veto of legislation which would have outlawed this procedure.