1 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:12,520 If you have your copy of God's Word, let me invite you to open 2 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:14,880 up to the approximate middle of it. 3 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:19,080 That's the book of Psalms. There's 150 chapters there, and 4 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,360 we're going to make our way to Psalm 33 this morning. 5 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:26,080 So go and find your place there in Psalm 33. 6 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:33,320 As you know, yesterday marked the 250th anniversary of our 7 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:38,160 Declaration of Independence and the birth of our nation, the 8 00:00:38,160 --> 00:00:43,200 most blessed and prosperous nation that has ever existed in 9 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:46,760 human history, the United States of America. 10 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:52,200 At such a milestone in our nation, in our lives as 11 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:57,560 Americans believe that God would have us process the milestone 12 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:00,720 moment through the lens of His Word. 13 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:03,880 In fact, as we were approaching this milestone, and I was just 14 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:07,680 praying personally and pastorally about it, I just no 15 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:12,520 doubt that I've just felt the burden from the Lord to lead us 16 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:16,720 through this time in celebration and moment in history in our 17 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:21,080 lives from the lens of God's Word and what His Word would say 18 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:22,560 to US. Wine. 19 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:26,280 Well, for the purpose of seeking God's will for our lives and our 20 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:30,720 nation, all for God's glory. And our text today is going to 21 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:34,880 be a portion of Psalm 33, and I'm going to read it in its 22 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:38,760 entirety, but we're not going to be processing all of it, but we 23 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:41,360 will be pulling out principles from it that I believe will give 24 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:45,920 us the right biblical lens to process through God's Word where 25 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:47,720 we are as a country and as a nation. 26 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:49,880 But listen to the entire Psalm as I read it. 27 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:53,920 David Wright. Shout for joy in the Lord, O 28 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:57,640 you, righteous praise benefits the upright. 29 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:00,280 Give thanks to the Lord with the liar. 30 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,200 Make melody to him with the harp of 10 strings. 31 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:06,880 Sing to him a new song, and play skilfully on the strings with 32 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:09,840 loud shouts. For the word of the Lord is 33 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:13,440 upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. 34 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,000 He loves righteousness and justice. 35 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:20,600 The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. 36 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:25,720 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the 37 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:28,480 breath of His mouth all of their hosts. 38 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,800 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heat. 39 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:38,000 He puts the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. 40 00:02:38,640 --> 00:02:41,720 Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in all of him. 41 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:47,800 For he spoke, and it came to be. He commanded and it stood firm. 42 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:51,800 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. 43 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:54,880 He frustrates the plans of the peoples. 44 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:59,240 The counsel of the Lord stands forever the plans of His heart 45 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:04,320 to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God 46 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:10,560 is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen as His heritage. 47 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:15,560 The Lord looks down from heaven. He sees all the children of man 48 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:19,360 from where he sits in throne. He looks out on all the 49 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:23,200 inhabitants of the earth, he who fashions the hearts of them all 50 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:28,560 and observes all of their deeds. The king is not saved by his 51 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,320 great army. A warrior is not delivered by 52 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:35,200 his great strength. The War Horse is a false hope 53 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:39,200 for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. 54 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:44,040 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those 55 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:47,440 who hope in His steadfast love that He may deliver their soul 56 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:49,840 from death and keep them alive and famine. 57 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:55,800 Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our shield, 58 00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:00,640 for our heart is glad in Him because we trust in His holy 59 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:03,920 name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, 60 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:08,200 be upon us even as we hope in You. 61 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:12,600 My purpose this morning is not our usual method of operation. 62 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:16,120 I'm not planning to expose it, this Psalm in its entirety. 63 00:04:16,519 --> 00:04:19,360 But what I am going to do is pull out and point your 64 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:23,280 attention to some principles that the Word of God clearly 65 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:27,760 communicates here that will allow us to process this moment 66 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:31,720 and where we are and where I believe God would have us go as 67 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:33,840 a nation. One of the first principles we 68 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:36,280 learned out of the many in this Psalm, but the first one in your 69 00:04:36,280 --> 00:04:38,400 notes is this. You can write this down. 70 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:42,800 God is sovereign over the rise and fall of nations. 71 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:49,520 God is, this psalmist declares, sovereign over the rise and fall 72 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:51,880 of nations. This comes right out of verses 73 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:55,840 10 and 11. Here David affirms that the 74 00:04:55,840 --> 00:05:01,560 existence and the authority of all nations is an existence, and 75 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:05,520 it is an authority that is always, and I repeat always, 76 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:09,520 under the sovereign authority of Almighty God. 77 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:12,720 Let me just tell you where else in Scripture this is so clearly 78 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:15,160 affirmed. Psalm 22, verse 28. 79 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:19,640 For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the 80 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:24,320 nations. Psalm 47 Eight God reigns over 81 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:28,320 the nations. God sits on his holy throne. 82 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:34,240 Daniel 221 He that's God changes times and seasons, and he that's 83 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:39,080 God removes kings and sets up kings. 84 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:42,160 Let me tell you what a man by the name of George Bancroft, 85 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:45,720 often referred to as the father of American history, wrote about 86 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:48,760 this and even about God's sovereign Providence in our 87 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:51,240 nation. He writes that God rules in the 88 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:56,720 affairs of men is as certain as any truth of physical science. 89 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:01,920 Nothing is by chance, though men and their ignorance of causes 90 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:05,760 may think so. The fortunes of a nation are not 91 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:10,320 under the control of blind destiny, but follow the steps by 92 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:14,240 which a favoring Providence, calling our institutions into 93 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:18,520 being, has conducted the country to its present happiness and 94 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:21,160 glory. Friends, if God is sovereign 95 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:25,240 over the rise and fall of all nations, and he is, then mark it 96 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:28,800 down. America owes its birth to the 97 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:32,360 divine hand and plan of Almighty God. 98 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:36,080 America owes its birth and our very existence and all our 99 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:39,640 prosperity and any good that has ever taken place and takes place 100 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,800 now, we owe to the Divine hand of Almighty God. 101 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:47,480 In fact, the work of God's divine hand in America's birth, 102 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:52,800 in her rise and prosperity has been so overwhelmingly obvious, 103 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:56,960 the many have referred to it throughout history as the 104 00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:01,320 superintending Providence of God, referred to as a golden 105 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:05,080 thread woven throughout America's history. 106 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:09,000 I wish I had time to walk you through all the examples I came 107 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:13,200 across in my study over the last five 6-7 weeks of the evidence 108 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:16,480 of this sovereign hand of Almighty God in our formation, 109 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:18,480 in our birth and rise and prosperity. 110 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:22,760 But I just want to name a few, a couple really, that you may not 111 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:25,960 read in textbooks. All right, the first one is the 112 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:27,880 date of our birth. Here's something you may have 113 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:30,320 never considered, but just a small evidence of the 114 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:33,800 providential hand of God concerning the date of our 115 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:35,200 birth. Let me put it like this. 116 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:41,320 Many historians recognize that if God had not held North 117 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:47,000 America free from European colonization until after the 118 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:51,760 Protestant Reformation had grown and taken root, then America 119 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:56,320 might have become just as corrupt and tyrannical as most 120 00:07:56,320 --> 00:08:00,680 other place in the world. It was the ideas of the 121 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:04,400 Protestant Reformation that led America to being a place unlike 122 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:08,240 almost every other place where things like this could be found. 123 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,000 Religious freedom, representative limited 124 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:14,320 government, free enterprise, jurisdictional authority, rights 125 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:16,880 of conscience, and private property protections that 126 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:20,720 appeared in many of the civil documents of the 17th and 18th 127 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:24,280 century that all had their roots of those ideas. 128 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:27,400 Back to the Protestant Reformation, which had its roots 129 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:31,040 in a rediscovery of this right here and it being in front of 130 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:33,360 people's eyes because of the printing press and the 131 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:36,240 proliferation of the ability of the Word of God to get into home 132 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:39,480 and the hearts and the minds and its effects to spread. 133 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:43,520 Had God not allow the birth of our nation to happen until after 134 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:47,560 that, many of the ideals we know and love would not have been in 135 00:08:47,560 --> 00:08:50,200 the seeds of the soil for the birth of our nation. 136 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:54,840 Let me tell you a second thing concerning the Constitution of 137 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:59,400 the United States. I'm going to quote several men 138 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:02,640 here because if it was just a couple, that would be one thing. 139 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:06,800 But over and over again we see this providential hand of God. 140 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:10,960 Listen to what these men say. Signer William Samuel Johnson of 141 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:14,360 Connecticut declared that the finished constitution was the 142 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:16,800 result of what he described as a signal. 143 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:21,320 That means obvious intervention of divine Providence. 144 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:24,040 Alexander Hamilton affirmed quote. 145 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:29,000 For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system which, 146 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:33,440 without the finger of God, could never have been suggested and 147 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:35,840 agreed upon by such a diversity of interest. 148 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:38,600 Let me keep going. Benjamin Rush, another signer of 149 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:41,800 the Declaration from Philadelphia, He says, and I 150 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:45,560 quote, I do not believe that the Constitution was the offspring 151 00:09:45,560 --> 00:09:50,240 of Divine inspiration, but I am as perfectly satisfied that the 152 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:54,680 union of the States, that in its form and adoption is as much 153 00:09:54,680 --> 00:09:58,600 listen to this the work of a divine Providence, as any of the 154 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:02,360 miracles recorded in the Old and New Testaments were the effects 155 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:04,760 of divine power. I keep going. 156 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:09,040 James Madison says it is impossible for the man of pious 157 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:11,520 reflection not to perceive in it. 158 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:14,760 He means the Constitutional Convention, a finger of that 159 00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:20,120 almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended 160 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:23,840 to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution. 161 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:26,320 And let me quote one more. A man by the name who was 162 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:29,280 obviously not a born again believer by the name of Thomas 163 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,640 Paine, but he wrote this and I just quote part of it. 164 00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:38,040 There has been such a chain of extraordinary events in the 165 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:42,920 discovery of this country at first, and then in the peopling 166 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:46,880 and planting it, afterwards in the rearing and nursing it to 167 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:50,120 its present state, and in the protection of it throughout the 168 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,360 present war, that no man can doubt. 169 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:58,400 But Providence has some nobler in to accomplish then the 170 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:01,720 gratification of the petty Elector of Hanover, or the 171 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:05,080 ignorant and insignificant King of Britain. 172 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:08,760 He wasn't real nice right there, but he's saying you can't miss 173 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:11,560 the providential hand of Almighty God in the birth and 174 00:11:11,560 --> 00:11:14,480 rise and existence and prosperity of this nation. 175 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:17,560 That's the truth coming out of a principle of the Word of God, 176 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:21,560 that he and he alone is ultimately over and overseeing 177 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:25,120 and response for the rise and fall of every nation, including 178 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:29,040 our own, in the hand of God was so clearly in it despite all our 179 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:31,640 imperfection. So God is sovereign you all over 180 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:34,160 the rise and fall of nations, and God has been sovereign over 181 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:38,440 the rise of America #2 The second principle we see, and I 182 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:42,400 want you to to hear from this Psalm out of verse 12, is that 183 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:46,800 God is the blesser of nations and God has blessed America. 184 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:54,040 God is the ultimate blesser of nations, and God has blessed 185 00:11:54,400 --> 00:11:56,480 America. Listen to verse 12 again. 186 00:11:56,760 --> 00:12:02,360 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He 187 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:08,560 has chosen as His heritage. Now, when King David writes 188 00:12:08,560 --> 00:12:13,160 these words, Israel was a theocracy. 189 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:16,080 Say, Kyle, what is that? Let me tell you plainly, that is 190 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:20,680 simply a nation with a government led by God as their 191 00:12:20,680 --> 00:12:23,960 ultimate king. To be more clear, there would be 192 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:27,280 no separation between the spiritual and the civil in a 193 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:30,000 theocracy. There's no separation between 194 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:33,840 the religious and the political. So now in the New Covenant, in 195 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:37,360 the New Testament, God is no longer organizing his people by 196 00:12:37,560 --> 00:12:40,000 theocracy, by national government. 197 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:43,480 He's organizing his people by his church, the assembly of the 198 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:46,520 believers, gathered physically and locally together throughout 199 00:12:46,560 --> 00:12:49,160 any and all and every nation around the world. 200 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:52,800 But here's the reality, whether it be theocracy, whether it be 201 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:57,880 democracy, monarchy, oligarchy, or dictator, 2 truths of this 202 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:00,240 text are still true based on what David writes. 203 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:02,520 I want to tell them to you. And here that's how they go #1 204 00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:05,560 God is still the blesser of nations. 205 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:08,400 God is still the blesser of nations. 206 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:13,800 God is still the one and only sovereign who overseas the rise 207 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:18,800 and the prosperity and the fall of every nation. 208 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:21,760 And let me tell you a second one that you might not think about, 209 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:24,400 but I believe it's true based on the Scripture with all my heart. 210 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:33,800 Nations still choose a God. Nations still choose a God. 211 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:38,160 Let me be more clear. Every nation, collectively 212 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:45,440 speaking, is established on a specific world view, and that 213 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:49,320 world view has a view of God, whether a right one or a wrong 214 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:51,520 1. You see, every nation has an 215 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:55,080 authority by which they choose to judge right and wrong. 216 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:58,160 They're choosing a standard, and where they get that standard 217 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:01,440 from is their higher allegiance is the God of their choosing. 218 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:04,400 Every nation's going to choose a system by which they determine 219 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:07,960 justice or injustice, and every nation's going to possess a 220 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:11,880 system by which they choose to operate, principles by which 221 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:15,040 they choose for their founding. In other words, every nation, 222 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:19,800 whether they realize it or not, has a spiritual foundation 223 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:22,800 whereby God is either honored or he's not. 224 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:28,520 Nation still choose a God, and still to this day, blessed is 225 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:32,520 the nation whose God is the Lord. 226 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:37,960 You say how does that work? How is it that God is the 227 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:39,800 blesser? How is it that blessed is the 228 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:42,560 nation who's God is the Lord? How does that blessing flow? 229 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:44,320 What does that look like? Well let me tell you what it 230 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:45,800 looks like cuz David describes it. 231 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:48,240 I don't have time to get into every detail but just listen 232 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:51,240 again and listen in the context of this is what it sounds like 233 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:53,280 when God is the blessed of a nation. 234 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:55,640 Listen to verse 13 through 19 again here's what he writes. 235 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:59,360 The Lord looks down from heaven. He sees how many of the children 236 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:04,520 of man, all of them from meaning every, every nation from where 237 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:06,800 he sits and thrown. He looks out on all, how many, 238 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:08,720 how many inhabitants of the earth is he looking upon? 239 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:11,920 All the inhabitants of the earth, he who fashions the 240 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:14,880 hearts of how many of them, all of them, observing all of their 241 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:17,400 deeds. And the King, the President, the 242 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:22,360 Prime Minister, the Parliament, the Congress, is not here saved 243 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:26,520 by his great army or military. A warrior, the Army Ranger, the 244 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:29,960 Air Force fighter pilot is not delivered by his great strength. 245 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:33,480 The War Horse, the tank, the Blackhawk, the FFF 18 or 246 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:37,200 whatever number it is now, or the B52, or whatever it is, is a 247 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:41,680 false hope for salvation and by its great mind it ultimately 248 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:44,280 cannot rescue. Behold, the eye of the Lord is 249 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:48,280 on those who what those who fear Him, on those who hope and his 250 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:50,800 steadfast love that He may deliver their soul from death 251 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:52,920 and keep them alive. And family, ladies and 252 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:56,160 gentlemen, the absolute beyond shadow of a doubt reality is 253 00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:58,040 that God is the blesser of nations. 254 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:00,640 He always has been, always and only will be. 255 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:05,440 And God has blessed America, and it's still true that blessed is 256 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:08,760 the nation whose God is the Lord. 257 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:13,320 Now you would think that since this is so obvious, that every 258 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:16,080 American, especially every Christian American, would be 259 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:20,440 proud to be an American, but that is not the case. 260 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:23,680 Let me quote you some statistics. 261 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:29,920 In America, pride has fallen to an all time low, especially 262 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:34,840 among the young. The Harvard Youth Poll reports 263 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:37,640 41%. Less than half. 264 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:43,000 Four out of 10 of 18 to 29 year olds are proud of their country. 265 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:50,920 29% are embarrassed of their country, a Gallup poll finds. 266 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:56,280 Only 38%, only 38% of Americans are extremely proud. 267 00:16:56,480 --> 00:17:00,600 That's the lowest number reported since 2001 since Gallup 268 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:07,119 began asking the question. Disenchantment with the American 269 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:11,800 experiment is at an all time high. 270 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:17,040 Can I put it like this? The nation that God has blessed 271 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:22,079 the most has become a nation. Most of its citizens are not 272 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:27,680 proud of. I want to speak to this just for 273 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:31,800 a moment. There are two types, I believe 274 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:35,640 primarily two types of disenchantment with America. 275 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:37,000 I want to speak to both of them quickly. 276 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:40,800 One is wicked. I believe one is mostly 277 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:42,680 righteous. The first one I want to call 278 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:45,480 wicked disdain. And here's what I mean. 279 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:51,280 This view hates America and wants to see her undone. 280 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:57,160 Much of the embarrassment among the younger generation in 281 00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:00,120 America is a result. Not that they're primarily 282 00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:04,160 responsible, but is a result of a wicked agenda. 283 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:09,800 And it's propaganda to take the sins of our past and claim that 284 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:13,920 anything and everything must be seen through the sins and 285 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:17,080 imperfections of our past, and that the country ought to be 286 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:22,600 thrown out with the bath water. And there's an effort to undo 287 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:26,760 and to take away from any and every principle that was good, 288 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:31,120 that did make our nation and has made our nation great, but that 289 00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:33,840 all that should now be thrown and overthrown. 290 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:37,160 And this agenda, I believe with all my heart, is an agenda 291 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:41,040 driven by the devil who is out to kill, steal and destroy. 292 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:47,200 And there is a war against so many of the ideals that we have 293 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:49,720 fallen far short of in our history. 294 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:53,280 But there is a war against those ideals, claiming that because of 295 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:57,560 our mistakes that everything should be colored by that lens. 296 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:01,040 There's a second type of disenchantment with America that 297 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:06,320 I believe is is more proper. It can grow to a unhealthy 298 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:09,160 degree, but it's like this. It would be what I call a godly 299 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:11,880 sorrow. And this one, this view loves 300 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:16,080 America, but is, and rightly so, honest about her sins. 301 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:22,240 This view rightly recognizes the sins of our past and present, 302 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:26,480 but says just because we've messed up doesn't mean we should 303 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:28,320 give up. It doesn't mean that we 304 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:31,440 shouldn't be proud of where God has blessed us and where we have 305 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:33,960 gotten things right, but we ought to be honest about where 306 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:36,800 we've gotten things wrong. The sins of our past and present 307 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:40,400 don't have to define us if we're willing to repent, recognize 308 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:41,720 them, and make them right and just. 309 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:44,520 While I'm at it, what have been our sins of the past and 310 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:46,840 present? I think to be honest as a people 311 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:48,840 and before God, it's only right to be honest. 312 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:50,000 I'm not. I don't have time to name them 313 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:52,360 all, but I'm going to name some things that we obviously have 314 00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:56,360 not gotten right much of the treatment of Native Americans. 315 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:05,720 Slavery, segregation, abortion, materialism and greed. 316 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:10,560 The redefinition of marriage. The twisting to where gender no 317 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:14,640 longer means a thing. The sexualization of our 318 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:17,840 children. Fatherlessness, The breakdown of 319 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:20,120 the family. Political corruption, 320 00:20:20,120 --> 00:20:24,720 polarization and violence. Do I need to go on now? 321 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:26,240 We've always been far from perfect. 322 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:30,760 And let me just tell you, you know, from our inception, we 323 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:35,080 have never perfectly extended the unalienable rights to all. 324 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:37,200 And we still don't today, especially to the unborn. 325 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,800 We've never been perfect. Praise God He hasn't given up on 326 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:43,400 us. And praise God, we've made 327 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:46,840 massive changes in our nation. And you know what's mainly 328 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:49,680 responsible for that? The effects of the gospel of 329 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:53,160 Jesus Christ coming to fruition in and through our nation. 330 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:56,680 That's not secularism. That is driving fruits that 331 00:20:56,680 --> 00:20:59,240 we've enjoyed for our good. That has been the truth going 332 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:02,880 back to the Word of God. We've are and always have been 333 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:05,360 so far from perfect. We have sinned in some 334 00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:08,880 extraordinary ways, but let me remind us that the Bible says 335 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:11,920 all have. What did we think we were an 336 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:14,960 exception? As Americans, do we think any 337 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:17,200 human enterprise is going to be without sin? 338 00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:21,280 No. So the right route is to always 339 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:24,280 be willing to look within and look at the word and say God, 340 00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:27,480 how would you have us change? Repent and continue to say where 341 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,040 we're sorry, where we've been wrong, and say yes to where 342 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:34,160 you're calling us to be right. I read 1 author who said the 343 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:37,680 political scene doesn't look encouraging right now, but by 344 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:43,960 God's grace we are still here. Let him who boast, boast in the 345 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:48,960 Lord like Paul says. But we can, and hear me rightly, 346 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:52,880 should love our homeland. She still deserves it and even 347 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:58,880 more, she needs it. God is sovereign over the rise 348 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:01,880 and fall of nations. God is the blesser of nations, 349 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:03,680 and God has blessed America. I'm going to give you one more 350 00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:06,840 principle that we see out of this text that I believe we need 351 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:11,920 to process in this moment #3 we need God to once again 352 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:16,360 sovereignly and spiritually awaken America. 353 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:23,120 We need God desperately to sovereignly and spiritually 354 00:22:23,120 --> 00:22:26,720 awaken America. This is verses 20 through 22. 355 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:29,400 Listen to what they say, our soul. 356 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:33,240 Listen to how David describes what it would mean to seek the 357 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:35,520 Lord. Our soul waits for the Lord. 358 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:39,560 He is our help and our shield, for our heart is glad in Him 359 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:41,520 because we trust in His holy name. 360 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:46,320 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us even as we hope in 361 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:49,120 You. The truth is, the soul of 362 00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:58,520 America is in grave danger. The soul of America is in grave 363 00:22:58,520 --> 00:22:59,600 danger. Why? 364 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:04,680 Because collectively speaking, we are no longer a nation doing 365 00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:09,760 these things on a whole that David describes, waiting for the 366 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:13,720 Lord, looking to the Lord as our help and shield, finding our 367 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:16,600 gladness and hard on him, trusting in his holy name, 368 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:20,160 hoping in him, asking for God's steadfast love to be upon us. 369 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,160 The cynic might ask Kyle, have we ever been? 370 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:27,200 I'm glad you asked. Have we ever been? 371 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,480 Many a modern day politician in the media for sure will tell you 372 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:33,000 no. But the facts of history don't 373 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:36,800 lie. And the facts are that in God's 374 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:45,720 Amazing Grace, He gave America not one awakening, but 21 prior 375 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:49,560 in the decades immediately prior to our birth, the First Great 376 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:53,200 Awakening, and then soon after our birth, the second. 377 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:55,760 Can I just take a moment? I want to tell you a little bit 378 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:59,000 about what that First Great Awakening was like. 379 00:23:59,960 --> 00:24:05,440 Follow with me. Throughout the 13 colonies, 18th 380 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:08,960 century America was reported to be drifting spiritually. 381 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:11,960 A couple preachers put it like this. 382 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:14,600 One said the people are generally through the land, 383 00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:18,600 careless at heart and indifferent about the great 384 00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:21,560 concerns of eternity. Would you say that's true today? 385 00:24:24,360 --> 00:24:27,040 Another said the difference between the church and the world 386 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:34,440 was vanishing away. In 1734, the first stirrings of 387 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:38,480 a true culture changing event occurred in Jonathan Edwards 388 00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:42,880 Church in New England. Some of the congregation's young 389 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:47,320 people had responded to his salvation message, and then they 390 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:49,160 responded by holding prayer meetings. 391 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:51,800 We're talking about the youth group at Jonathan Edwards 392 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:56,440 Church, the youth group where they were gathering to pray for 393 00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:58,600 the revival in their church and elsewhere. 394 00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:01,200 And in December of the same year, six people from 395 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:03,320 Northampton and suddenly prayed to receive Christ. 396 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:06,240 Within a few months, that salvation number it was 397 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:09,200 averaging 30 people being saved a week. 398 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:12,800 In six months, approximately 300 people were said to have 399 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:16,680 professed faith in Christ, including almost every adult in 400 00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:19,280 the town. Northampton. 401 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:21,920 And surrounding communities were transformed in the spring and 402 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:26,080 summer that followed, the town seemed, and I quote was full of 403 00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:29,320 the presence of God. From Northampton, the revival 404 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:32,640 spread to the other towns, and everywhere it went, it changed 405 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,720 whole communities, turning them upside down. 406 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:39,920 Fast forward to 1741, when some expected the revival, the 407 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:41,840 awakening, to die down and subside. 408 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:46,440 God fanned the flames to all 13 colonies. 409 00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:49,720 How did it happen? One night, Jonathan Edwards 410 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:52,000 preached A sermon. You might know the title off. 411 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:57,200 Sinners in the. Hands of an angry God, most 412 00:25:57,200 --> 00:25:59,200 people think, Well my goodness, what kind of preacher was he? 413 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:02,440 But they say this topic was not a normal topic for Jonathan, 414 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:05,800 that he normally preach so much more cheerful topics. 415 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:08,800 But on this one, he was describing the wrath of God that 416 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:12,160 we rightly deserve as sinners, as those that have sinned 417 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:14,160 against God, including you and including me. 418 00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:17,080 But in God's great love, he makes the way of escape for 419 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:19,680 sinners who have sinned against him, who deserve death, who 420 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:22,560 deserve punishment, who deserve separation from him forever. 421 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:26,320 But he was describing a way for lost men and women to be saved. 422 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:30,080 And across the crowd, men and women cried out, what must I do 423 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:34,400 to be just like they did in Acts chapter 2 at the first Christian 424 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:36,200 sermon when the Holy Spirit was poured out. 425 00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:37,600 And guess who stood up to preach? 426 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:39,600 The man who had denied Jesus three times. 427 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:42,680 And Peter stands up and said, nobody's inebriated here. 428 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:45,600 This is the Holy Spirit. They're speaking in the tongue 429 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:49,600 of native language of everybody gathered and 3000 people. 430 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:51,320 Get what? Get saved. 431 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:54,280 Have you been saved? Can I just ask you? 432 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:57,640 If you realized you must ask the question, what must I do to be 433 00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:00,520 saved? And that the answer to that is 434 00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:03,040 to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in 435 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:05,400 your heart that God raised him from the dead and you will be 436 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:07,600 saved. The Bible says if you've not 437 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:10,880 been saved, you're facing an eternity separated from God 438 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:13,480 because of your sin. This is what Jonathan preached 439 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:18,360 and all of the sudden people cried out, what must I do to be 440 00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:20,720 say? The mighty wind of change swept 441 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:23,520 through all of New England. It was the greatest revival in 442 00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:25,720 American history. It reinvigorated the biblical 443 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:29,160 fate for decades to come in colonial America, permeating 444 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:31,280 city, town, village and frontier. 445 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:34,040 And it was during those days that God used another man from 446 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:35,920 another country by the name of George Whitfield. 447 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:39,080 If you watched the movie A Great Awakening, If you haven't, you 448 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:41,120 ought to. It'll tell you the story of 449 00:27:41,120 --> 00:27:43,200 God's work in his life in friendship with Benjamin 450 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:46,200 Franklin, as I love the story. Somebody asked Benjamin, hey, 451 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:47,880 why do you come to hear George Whitfield preach? 452 00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:49,360 You don't believe anything he says he says? 453 00:27:49,360 --> 00:27:52,120 Yeah, but he believes it. And he didn't miss a. 454 00:27:52,120 --> 00:27:56,160 Sermon he also profited by publishing those sermons. 455 00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:58,400 But guess what, God may allowed him to profit, but people 456 00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:01,840 profited more by reading them and getting said God will you 457 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:04,680 hit a straight lick with a crooked stick. 458 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:10,920 Whitfield's first spot, You know where he landed the first place 459 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:14,560 in America over 7 trips. 1st place he landed. 460 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:18,960 Was Georgia. He'd makeover over 7 trips, I 461 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:22,840 believe over 30 years preached an average of 40 hours a week. 462 00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:26,320 And there in the wake of Whitfield's preaching, 463 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:29,640 Philadelphia, just to name one city, was so saturated with new 464 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:31,160 believers. Hear that. 465 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:34,040 Saturated with new believers. What if Cartersville was 466 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:36,200 saturated with new believers? What would happen? 467 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:41,000 Philadelphia. There was a reason why it's 468 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:44,120 called the City of Brotherly. You know where that comes from, 469 00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:48,400 Not secular progressivism, that comes from the Bible. 470 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:52,320 Ladies and gentlemen, Philadelphia saturated with new 471 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:56,160 believers that daily life in America's largest city was 472 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:59,680 dramatically altered. Ben Franklin said this is a non 473 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:00,920 believer. Listen to this. 474 00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:03,040 At least not born again from what I can tell. 475 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:05,720 It is a wonder. It is wonderful to see the 476 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:09,160 change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants from being 477 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:11,000 thoughtless or indifferent about religion. 478 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:14,120 It seemed as if the whole world were growing religious so that 479 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:17,000 one could not walk through the town in an evening while hearing 480 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,680 Psalms song and different families of every street. 481 00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:23,920 What if Cartersville was saturated with new believers? 482 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:26,680 What if God sent an awakening to America? 483 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:35,000 What if the Great Awakening left colonial America awash in a 484 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:38,720 flood of faith, transforming the hearts and minds of the American 485 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:40,120 people? Let me just cite you some 486 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:43,640 results of what happened when the Holy Spirit of God blew 487 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:46,760 across our country. Hundreds of new churches were 488 00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:50,200 planted. A wave of missionary activity 489 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:53,080 that impacted the world was unleashed. 490 00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:55,440 Ministries to the poor were created. 491 00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:58,960 A faith-based movement in slavery arose. 492 00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:03,560 Orphanages were established. The revival inspired the parade 493 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:05,800 of new colleges. Listen to the colleges 494 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:08,240 established for the propagation of the Christian Gospel and 495 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:11,200 biblical knowledge. Princeton, Columbia, Brown, 496 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:14,640 Rutgers, Dartmouth and others all dedicated to instilling 497 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:16,720 knowledge from a biblical perspective. 498 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:20,560 More devotion, catechisms, pamphlets and sermons were 499 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:23,840 published in the wake of the revival, then all the works of 500 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:25,840 history, law and science combined. 501 00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:29,520 Can you imagine? If God were to send a Third 502 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:31,880 Great Awakening to America, what would happen? 503 00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:37,600 Can you imagine? Despite denominational 504 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:40,520 differences, the deal was this. Essentially, Christianity and 505 00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:43,440 the truths thereof reigned throughout the land. 506 00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:48,000 The best way to put it is that the God America trusted in was 507 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:49,680 the God of Biblical Christianity. 508 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:55,640 It wasn't Allah, it wasn't Buddha, it wasn't the Hindu God. 509 00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:00,240 The God America trusted in was the God of the Bible. 510 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:03,520 That doesn't mean all of them were born again, and it doesn't 511 00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:05,320 mean the ones who were born again were perfect. 512 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:10,680 You could find flaws in everyone to a man and woman, but the God 513 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:13,040 they were trusting in was the God of the Bible. 514 00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:18,920 What made America great was despite all her her 515 00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:22,520 imperfections, was the leaven of the gospel. 516 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:25,560 Let me tell you what that means. We don't bake bread a whole lot 517 00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:27,080 now, so we don't really know what leaven is. 518 00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:28,680 And I don't even really know what it is. 519 00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:31,960 I just know it makes bread rise when you add it to dough. 520 00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:34,560 Is this right, Lauren? It infects the whole thing. 521 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:38,640 It infects the whole. Thing you don't have to have a 522 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:41,360 whole lot of it. But you put the. 523 00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:46,440 Leaven in the bread, and all the bread is impacted by the leaven. 524 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:50,600 What made America great was a the leaven of the gospel. 525 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:55,440 It wasn't that everybody was saved, but the salt and light 526 00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:58,840 and the illumination and the preservation and the promotion 527 00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:01,120 of righteousness that comes from the gospel. 528 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:03,600 When people's hearts are transformed, that's what made, 529 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:05,480 that's what instilled the values. 530 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:08,560 That's what allowed God's hand a blessing to be but despite all 531 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:12,240 our imperfections. The Bible puts it. 532 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:16,080 Like this Proverbs 1434 Righteousness exalts a nation. 533 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:17,920 Where does righteousness come from? 534 00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:24,000 Human nature, Secularism. Where does righteousness come 535 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:26,240 from? From God and through a 536 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:30,880 transformed heart by the gospel. Proverbs 612. 537 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:32,680 A throne is established by righteous. 538 00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:36,440 The government that can stand and last and have God's blessing 539 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:38,720 on it is only established by righteousness. 540 00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:41,160 Proverbs 29. Two, when the righteous 541 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:42,880 increase, how did the righteous increase? 542 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:47,680 By the spread of the gospel? When the righteous increase, the 543 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:50,680 people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan. 544 00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:53,320 Do we have more rejoicing or groaning in our land right now? 545 00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:01,880 The soul of America is in trouble because we've forgotten 546 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:04,640 where we've come from. Can I show you a picture? 547 00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:06,480 I don't know if you would have see this real. 548 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:10,240 Well I hope you can. I found this cartoon drawing so 549 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:12,320 this is hard to see there. So let me just give you a little 550 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:14,480 description. What you have in the top left 551 00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:18,600 hand corner is the church house. What you have in the bottom are 552 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:22,000 two buzzards. What you have in the middle is a 553 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:26,000 man in a car driving towards what the sign says. 554 00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:30,480 There is a glorious future and the Buzzard, big Buzzard, the 555 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:33,400 little Buzzard is saying this. Patience, my son. 556 00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:37,840 History tells us that we're in for a treat when they forget 557 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:46,810 where they came from. The soul of America. 558 00:33:46,810 --> 00:33:51,170 Is in trouble because we've forgotten where we've come from 559 00:33:51,170 --> 00:33:54,250 and the remaking of America will not come. 560 00:33:55,530 --> 00:33:57,010 With any elected. Official. 561 00:33:58,930 --> 00:34:01,210 The remaking of. America won't come with any 562 00:34:01,210 --> 00:34:04,240 legislation. The remaking of. 563 00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:07,640 American can only come by the leaven of the gospel and the 564 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:11,320 power of the Holy Spirit blowing through every neighborhood, 565 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:15,280 city, town, church, state and our nation, transforming the 566 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:19,080 hearts and minds of men and women, boys and girls, so that 567 00:34:19,080 --> 00:34:21,960 righteousness could exalt a nation. 568 00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:26,080 If America is to have a bright future, she will have to 569 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:29,520 remember the God of the Bible and His righteousness. 570 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:34,679 I want to finish out in some of the time I have left with the 571 00:34:34,679 --> 00:34:37,440 words of one of our most famous US presidents. 572 00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:41,760 And then I've saved our prayer time and response time to the 573 00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:42,880 end. So what I'm going to do is as 574 00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:44,480 soon as I'm done reading this, I'm going to call John and 575 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:46,920 praise team out. I want you to listen to these 576 00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:48,360 words. I don't, I don't know that I 577 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:51,600 could imagine a president speaking or writing words like 578 00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:54,600 you're about to hear. But I think this points us in 579 00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:56,520 the right direction of a right response. 580 00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:01,480 And so when I'm done reading, I'm going to have John and just 581 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:04,880 praise team play for a moment. And then I'm going to invite us 582 00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:08,280 to stay seated, have heads bowed and eyes closed. 583 00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:10,720 And I'm going to ask for us to just have a time of prayer. 584 00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:13,000 And you're going to see why after I read what I'm about to 585 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,320 read. If you're comfortable praying 586 00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:17,120 out loud, I'm going to invite you to pray out loud. 587 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:18,840 Pray where everybody can hear you if you want to. 588 00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:22,200 If not, I'm going to ask you to maybe come to the altar and 589 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:24,280 kneel or come with your family, or come with your spouse, or 590 00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:26,920 come with a child, or come with a friend, or come by yourself if 591 00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:28,920 you're by yourself, or if you want to gather up on your Rd. 592 00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:31,280 where your family is. But I believe you're going to 593 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,120 see how if there's any response we have to today in celebrating 594 00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:36,440 the birth of our nation and God's blessing, it ought to be 595 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:39,600 to pray on behalf of our nation. So now let these words kind of 596 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:41,400 prepare you for that type of response. 597 00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:44,640 And all the while I'm going to stand here and if anybody needs 598 00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:47,080 to say what must I do to be saved, I'm going to be waiting 599 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:50,320 on you right here and then. After we pray, we'll. 600 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:53,520 We'll sing and close out with whatever song John and them have 601 00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:57,880 planned. On April 30th, 1863, Abraham 602 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:01,680 Lincoln appointed a National Fast Day, a national day of 603 00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:06,160 humiliation, fasting and prayer. He says whereas the Senate of 604 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:10,640 the United States listen this, the Senate devoutly recognizes 605 00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:14,160 the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God and 606 00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:15,800 all the affairs of men and of nations. 607 00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:17,360 Can you imagine the Senate saying that today? 608 00:36:19,240 --> 00:36:22,320 Has by resolution. Requested the President to the 609 00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:25,840 Senate has requested the President to designate and set 610 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:28,560 apart a day for national prayer and humiliation. 611 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:33,440 Whereas it is the duty. Of nations as well as of men, to 612 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:37,080 own their dependence upon the over ruling power of God. 613 00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:40,280 To confess their sins and transgressions and humble 614 00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:44,040 sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will 615 00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:48,000 lead to mercy and pardon. And to recognize the sublime 616 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:50,880 truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all of 617 00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:54,440 history, that the nations, that those nations only are blessed. 618 00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:57,400 Whose God is the Lord. That's a president of the United 619 00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:02,360 States quoting Psalm 3312. And in so much as. 620 00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:06,440 We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are 621 00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:10,080 subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. 622 00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:14,680 May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war 623 00:37:14,720 --> 00:37:18,280 which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment 624 00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:22,840 inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins to the needful 625 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:26,760 end of our national reformation as a whole, people have we. 626 00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:29,360 We have been the recipients. Listen to this. 627 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:34,360 We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. 628 00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:37,920 We have been preserved these many years in peace and 629 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:39,920 prosperity. We've grown in numbers. 630 00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:42,880 We've grown in wealth. We've grown in power as no other 631 00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:45,720 nation has ever grown. But we, Abraham Lincoln says not 632 00:37:45,720 --> 00:37:48,120 I. But we, he says, have forgotten 633 00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:52,000 God. We have forgotten the gracious. 634 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,560 Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and 635 00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:58,000 enriched and strengthened us. We have vainly imagined in the 636 00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:00,840 deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were 637 00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:03,760 produced by some superior wisdom or virtue of our own. 638 00:38:04,720 --> 00:38:08,680 Intoxicated with unbroken success, we've become too 639 00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:11,880 self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and 640 00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:14,880 preserving grace. We're too proud to pray to the 641 00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:21,520 God that made us. He says it behooves us then to. 642 00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:26,600 Humble ourselves before the offended power to confess our 643 00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:31,680 national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. 644 00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:34,040 He. Goes on to describe. 645 00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:37,280 Setting a sign, a day of fasting and prayer, and of Sabbath 646 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:40,680 thing, and of public worship, and He closes like this. 647 00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:46,160 All this being done in sincerity and truth, let us then rest 648 00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:49,400 humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings. 649 00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:54,400 That's the Bible, that the United cry of the nation will be 650 00:38:54,400 --> 00:38:57,920 heard on high and answered with the blessings no less than the 651 00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:01,160 pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now 652 00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:04,840 divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of 653 00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:07,960 unity and peace. In WITNESS whereof I have 654 00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:12,560 hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to 655 00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:17,280 be affixed the President Abraham Lincoln. 656 00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:22,480 That was not a pastor. That was the president. 657 00:39:24,720 --> 00:39:28,760 I don't know how God would lead you to pray, but may we not be 658 00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:32,520 too proud to do it. And if ever our country needs 659 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:36,600 it, it is. It is now we're. 660 00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:40,120 Not praying for the right. Politician, we're not praying 661 00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:42,600 for the right legislation. We're praying for the Holy 662 00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:45,520 Spirit to be poured out. That's what made our country 663 00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:48,720 great from the beginning was the movement of God that He gave in 664 00:39:48,720 --> 00:39:51,040 our land. We're praying for the gospel to 665 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:55,440 go forth like leaven, to touch every sector of society, to 666 00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:58,120 change every family and every marriage, for every lost person 667 00:39:58,120 --> 00:40:00,760 to cry. What must I do to be to be 668 00:40:00,760 --> 00:40:04,680 saved? May God do it. 669 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:09,800 Again, would you bow if you? Want to come pray at these? 670 00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:12,200 Steps. If you want to pray out loud, 671 00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:14,880 we're just going to keep eyes closed and heads bowed and we're 672 00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:18,600 going to pray for a few moments. I'm going to ask you to pray and 673 00:40:18,600 --> 00:40:20,520 be bold as you do it. If you need to come talk to me, 674 00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:22,120 I'm going to stand right here as we do. 675 00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:24,600 If you need to say, Pastor Kyle, what do I need to do to be 676 00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:26,440 saved? You come, let's pray. 677 00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:27,320 Somebody start us.