Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
June 30, 2002 A.M.
Blessed Is The Nation Whose God Is The Lord
Reading - Psalm 33.8-22
America will celebrate her birthday and her freedom this Thursday... She will 226 years old. As the age of NATIONS go, this is not very old. Egypt... China... Japan... Israel... Rome... Greece... They are all much older... They all have a much longer history... But they are not so free.
Even though our country is 226 years old... Her entire history has spanned only four generations.
- When Thomas Jefferson died... Abraham Lincoln was a young man of 17.
- When Lincoln was assassinated... Woodrow Wilson was a boy of 8.
- As our nation mourned the death of President Wilson... Ronald Reagan was a lad of 12.
Even though America has had a relatively short history... God has richly blessed us...
- Our freedoms go well beyond those of other nations.
- We are the richest nation in our world.
- Our natural resources are still well above that of other nations.
Thursday we can also celebrate America's Spiritual history...
-
My County Tis of Thee... was written by a Baptist minister... Samuel Francis Smith.
-
The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by a minister... Francis Bellamy.
- The words,
In God We Trust, are traced to a preacher... W. R. Watkinson.
- John Witherspoon... a Presbyterian preacher... signed the
Declaration of Independence.
America is great because we are free to choose Who... and Where we WORSHIP.
When America was very young... A famous French philosopher, Alexis deToucqueville visited our country in an effort to learn the secret which enabled a handful of people to defeat the mighty British Empire. He traveled from shore to shore... border to border... looking for greatness in our harbors and rivers... Our fertile fields and boundless forests. He studied our schools... our military... Congress... our Constitution. But still he could not find the secret. It was not until he went into our churches and heard our pulpits, with what he called aflame with righteousness, he found the answer. When he returned to Europe, he wrote this: America is great because America is good... And if America ever ceases to be good... America will cease to be great.
- America... You are great because you are good!... Because you are still opening your doors to those of other lands... Remembering that you are made up of those who came to these shores searching for freedom and opportunity.
- You are great because you are still the most GENEROUS of all nations... Giving untold millions in aid... Sending missionaries to feed the hungry and starving souls of our world.
- You are great because you still take the side of the LITTLE GUYS against the bullies of this world.
- You have learned that greatness is not measured in silver and gold... rivers and forests... or in bombs and missiles. Greatness is an inner quality found in what we ARE rather than what we POSSESS.
For our lesson this morning... Let's go to Proverbs 14.34. Here Solomon gives us a blanket truth which applies to any nation of any time. It applied to Israel three thousand years ago... And it applies to America as she prepares to celebrate her 226th birthday... Here it is!! "Righteousness exalts a nation... But sin is a disgrace to any people." Let's see what we can learn from this statement from Solomon...
Our national and personal righteousness must be God's righteousness.
Righteousness is a word seldom uttered outside of conservative churches today.
- We don't hear our politicians speak about righteousness.
- We don't hear the news media say anything about right... And righteousness.
We have replaced RIGHTEOUSNESS with what we call POLITICAL CORRECTNESS. Let me tell you this morning... There is a vast difference!!
Note with me now... Three implications of the word... Righteousness.
First... RIGHTEOUSNESS implies sovereignty.
If there is such a thing as righteousness... Then someone sovereign must determine what it is. We humans could never define and determine righteousness... We just don't have the ability. I believe David tells us what our national... and personal righteousness should be in Psalm 119: May my tongue sing of your word... For all your commands are righteous... I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold... And because I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path.
Church... God's people are blessed individually and corporately as a nation, when we hold God's truth to be right and all other ways to be wrong... All other ways!!
In the Sermon on the Mount... Jesus pronounces a blessing on those who will... Seek first the kingdom and God and His RIGHTEOUSNESS.
We must know this morning that we... Individually... and as a nation ... cannot hold God to be sovereign until and unless we hold His word... His truth... to be right and righteous. Listen to David from our reading... Verses 12 & 18... Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD... The people He chose for His inheritance... For the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear Him... On those whose hope is in His unfailing love... AMEN?... AMEN!!
Secondly... RIGHTEOUSNESS implies a standard.
Our culture does not want a standard... They will not even acknowledge that one exists. This is the reason that the Word of God is attacked and ridiculed today.
Relativism and situation ethics have settled over our nation like a thick, sickening fog, smothering and choking truth. In fact, we are being told that there is no such thing as truth...
The relativist... and the situation ethicist tell us that we all can have our own truth. Today, Political Correctness says... You can have your truth... And I can have my truth... We are being told that truth is whatever we need it to be... Or want it to be.
Folk... This is not Bible...
- Jesus said... You shall know the truth... And the truth will set you free....
- He said... Sanctify them through thy truth... Thy word is truth.
Jesus believed in and taught that there is a standard... There is such as thing as TRUTH.
Listen to this verse in First John 2.21: I do not write to you because you do not know the truth... But because you do know it... And because no lie comes from the truth. Listen to me church.... The Bible teaches that...
(1)... There is a body of truth...
(2)... That we can know that truth.
(3)... And that we can live by truth.
Solomon said it best when he wrote... "There is a way that seems right to a man... But in the end it leads to death." He is saying that there is truth... There is a standard... There is a way. And Jesus declared... I am it!!... I am the way... The truth... The life. At the birth of our nation, this standard... His truth... the Bible... Was held in high esteem.
Thirdly... RIGHTNESS implies a Straightness.
It's one thing to admit that there is a standard... It is quite another to make that standard our life!! Solomon uses a word that demands a personal righteousness... A personal morality. Our forefathers chose the righteousness of the Bible as it's guiding light. Most of them lived out God's righteousness as their own righteousness. In fact... This Judeo-Christian ethic has guided our nation from its founding until the generation in which we live.
Next... Solomon says that God's righteousness exalts a nation.
Who can doubt that America has been exalted among the nations?
Some Americans... Like Nebuchadnezzer in the book of Daniel... Would like to take the credit for such exaltation. The mentality is that we somehow deserve our greatness and power. What a foolish mistake to make..
- America has been exalted because of its citizens' goodness and personal holiness!
- America has been exalted because of the churches that have carried out the great commission both at home and abroad!
- America's greatness is because of her past humility... and obedience to God.
Look at verse 21 of our reading this morning... IN HIM our hearts rejoice... For we trust in His holy name. We must never forget that we have been exalted by Jehovah God... Not by our own efforts.
Well... What does it mean to be exalted by God?
The Exalted Nation is One That is Set-Apart.
The Bible teaches us that...
- God Himself is exalted...
- The scriptures are exalted...
- Old Testament Israel was exalted above the nations.
Listen to the promise of Psalm 37.34... Wait for the LORD... And keep his way... And He will... (WHAT??)... Exalt you.
Surely there is no nation in the history of the world which has been lifted up and exalted more than America! The United States has dominated world history throughout the 20th century.
The Exalted Nation is Safe... Protected by God.
Another meaning of the word exalt is... To raise above the reach of danger. Psalm 32.7 reads... You are my hiding-place... You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.
Psalm 119.114... You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.
Many nations have been destroyed by their enemies... or by God Himself through natural disasters... plagues... pestilence... war... because of their unbelief and wickedness. What a testimony to God's protection and preservation... as America celebrates her 226th birthday.!
The Exalted Nation is strengthened by God.
Exalt means... To triumph over enemies. A mere glance at America's history reveals that the hand of God's divine providence and protection has been over us in both war and in peace.
For instance...
- Think of the odds of the colonies defeating the most powerful nation in the 18th century
world... The British Empire.... Yet... It happened.
- Most of us have taken America's victory in the Revolutionary War for granted. We assume that our power then... resembled our power today... It didn't!! It was the hand of God... That gave America her freedom from England.
- Why didn't the Civil War tear this nation apart?... Could it have been the protection of God?
- In World War II, America took on much of the world... Essentially single-handedly... And
assured freedom throughout the globe. There is no doubt that the hand of God was working in the lives of His people in W.W.II.
I have heard some arrogantly boast... America has never lost a war! We must be careful here... Let us give God the glory for past victories. Indeed... He has protected us. Perhaps our blessings are best verbalized in Psalm 144.1... Praise be to the LORD my Rock... Who trains my hands for war... And my fingers for the battle.
Thirdly... Solomon says... But sin is a reproach in any nation.
Here we come to the depressing aspects of God's promise. You see... As surely as righteousness exalts a nation... Sin destroys it.
It is a shame that today, many people want a buffet-style religion. They want a God who is merciful... loving... gentle... and kind. They love the God of Christianity because He fulfills their desire for mercy and grace. But the God of mercy and grace is also the God of judgment and damnation.
Church... Our nation... We individually, cannot take the good side of God... And reject His judgments. They go together... It's all a part of His absolute holiness. Paul declares both... The goodness and the severity of God. Don't be fooled...
- The truth is that God WILL judge sin!
- He will not... Wink at it... Forget it... Or misplace His records.
Examine with me... The meaning of the word sin.
Sin is an Undisciplined Aim.
To sin is to miss the mark... As an archer misses his target. Sin is falling short of God's glory. Sin is missing God's mark as a result of our own undisciplined aim... Our own undisciplined life.
Rather than accept responsibility for our own behavior, we blame our undisciplined lifestyle on...
- Our culture...
- Our environment...
- Our rearing...
- Our genetics...
- Or dismiss it by saying that our sin is a disease.
The challenge for each of us this 4th of July is to begin today... with this service... to accept the responsibility for our own behavior... For our own sin. Only then will our nation's wounds be healed. "If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves... and pray... And seek My face... And turn from their wicked ways... Then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin... And will heal their land."
Sin is an Unwise Assurance... A Careless Attitude.
Another meaning of sin is to stumble... To stray from the path. Which of us has not stumbled from the path? It is human nature to fail... To stumble. But here it is church... SOMETIMES... our stumbling and erring comes... From a false assurance... From our own careless attitude.
You see... America has taken for granted the blessings of God. We assume that He will continue to bless and protect us in spite of our sins. I think James addresses this very issue when he declares... "He that knows to do good... He that knows to do right... And does it not... To him that is sin."
Church... We cannot think that God turns His head... Or that He winks at our sin.
He does!!... He will... Hold us accountable... He does demand repentance... Both individually and nationally.
Folk...
- We can't kill a million innocent children by abortion each year...
- We can't lie and cheat in business... as did Enron... World Com... and IBM...
- We can't ignore... disregard political integrity in our leadership...
- We can't turn our face from moral purity... and decency.
And assume that God will not judge our behavior... HE WILL!!
Sin is Ungrateful Behavior.
Another meaning of the word sin is that of rebellion against God. Listen to these two scriptures...
Daniel 9.11... All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God,
have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you.
1 John 3.4... Everyone who sins breaks the law... In fact... Sin is a transgression of His law... Sin is lawlessness.
But church... Here is the good news about our sins...
2 Chronicles 7.14... Listen as I read it again... If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear
from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Isaiah 1.18... Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
1 John 1.9... If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Let us celebrate America's greatness this Thursday... However... Let us always be reminded that America has been great because of God. In the future... If we fail... It will be...
- Because of our failure to honor God as our Sovereign Lord and King...
- Because we fail to accept and obey His righteousness.
I believe David sums up our celebration this Thursday with these words from verses 18-22 of our reading this morning... The eyes of the LORD are on those who fear Him... On those whose hope is in His unfailing love, to deliver us from death and keep us alive in famine. We wait in hope for the LORD... He is our help and our shield. In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name. May Your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in You.
Question!!... Is your hope... Is our hope nationally... In the Lord?... In God?... And in His commandments?... I hope we can all say YES!!
During the dark days of the American Revolution, when the Continental Army had experienced several setbacks... A farmer living near the battlefield slipped into Washington's camp. Suddenly his ears caught an earnest voice raised in agonizing prayer. Coming closer... He saw General Washington... On his knees in the snow... His cheeks wet with tears. He was asking God for assistance and guidance. The farmer slipped away. Returning to his family... He said... It's gonna be all right... I heard General Washington pray... Such fervent prayer I have never heard. And God will surely hear and answer that kind of praying.
There is no doubt... That the greatness of our nation has to do with our relationship with God.
What is your relationship with God?... Are you his child? You can become one this morning by faith... repentance... confession... and genuine New Testament baptism... Immersion in water for the forgiveness of sin.
Is God's righteousness... your and my righteousness?... Is He sovereign in our lives?
Are there some things we need to do to make our relationship with God what it should be?
The Elders... and the church are ready to prayer with and for you... And encourage you.
Come... Be blessed of God... As we stand and sing this invitation song together.
