Sermon Text Psalm 33:8-22
Invocation Scripture Deuteronomy 4:7-9
Main Idea : A Nation who lay s its foundations in God and the roots of His Word will have His power, His Wisdom, His Protection and His Peace
Objective : To help members see that our nation was founded on the God of the Bible and not on a secular idea and to challenge members to make a strong stand and strive in their sphere of influence to reestablish this truth.
Point I: The Power of being one Nation Under God, Psalm 33:8-11
Point II: The Wisdom of being one Nation Under God! Psalm 33:12-15
Point III: The protection of being one Nation Under, God. Psalm 33:16-19
Point IV: The Peace of being One Nation Under God, Psalm 33:20-22
Well beloved... We come back today to our final message in this series entitled, "One Nation Under God." We have carefully considered the truth of these verses here in Psalm 33:8-32 and how they relate to the that which we have given up here in our nation. We have seen the Power, the Wisdom and the Protection of being, "One Nation Under God".
Today we will look at the last point,
The Hope of being One Nation Under God
What is Hope beloved?...
Hope
1. the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best: to give up hope.
4. a person or thing in which expectations are centered:
6. to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence.
Take your Bibles then and turn with me back to Psalm 33 and lets look at those vss 20-22
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Point IV: The Peace of being One Nation Under God, Psalm 33:20-22
Beloved... The world is crying out for Hope, crying out for Help, Crying out for Peace!!!
There are so many places in th world today where peoples lives are shattered, where they have been totally uprooted and had to flee from war, oppression and genocide.
The issues these people face are not so important as the way in which they face them! Look at what our text says today..
{20} Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield.
May I ask you today beloved.... Is that true in your life?
Come on... be honest? Is that really true in our lives?
Do we attend upon the Lord? I don’t mean attend, like going to a concert, I mean as a servant used to attend to the needs of their master.
Attend:
3. to take care of; minister to; devote one's services to:
4. to wait upon; accompany as a companion or servant:
Listen beloved, our founding fathers focused so much on God!! // So much of their daily lives and thoughts seem to have been focused on God... upon His will, His way and His purposes. How do we know this? Because of their writings. As noted earlier many of these founding fathers were prolific writers and it is amazing how they considered deep philosophical truths, amazing how the saw and considered the hand of God as being paramount in the affairs of men. How they recognized the truth that without God’s concurring aid, that they could not succeed in their efforts.
So many of our founders express the fact that worship was an important part of their lives. So important was their sense of the importance of the worship and praise of God that Thomas Jefferson almost wasn’t allowed to run for president because his lack of church attendance caused them to question if he was truly a Christian.
You may recall last week we looked at several state constitutions that required those who would serve as public officials to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and the Bible as the word of God.
We should not soon forget beloved, the tenacious devotion of so many of our founders to the fundamental principles of the Christian religion and the proliferation of reference to the God of the Bible, His providence and His provision, in our founding documents.
May I then ask once again belvoednce beloved....??..
Does the "Soul" of our nation, "wait for the Lord"
Dare I ask the more personal question once again...
"Does Our (individual) soul wait for the Lord... Do we see Him as our help and shield?...
Listen Beloved, don’t be beaten down by this question if the answer is not in the affirmative.
The questions intent is not to demean or demoralize, but rather to challenge, to inspire, and to invoke fervent resolve to make it so!!
For change to occur in our lives, for improvement to be made, we must face the realities of our current predicament and then, with impassioned resolve, and providential intervention seek to aspire to greater things than that to which we have currently attained!!
{20} Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield.
If this is not true for us, IT CAN BE!! And only an act of our will and a choice of our heart and mind can make it so!!
We read further in our text
{21} For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name.
O beloved.... if the previous question was penetrating and convicting, how much more the question implicit in this verse!!
But even more, I see in the end of this verse, the truth that our founding father’s also surely believed this verse, and literally put their whole lives, futures, and fortunes in His hands.
Do you recall the last phrase of the Declaration of Independence.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Listen beloved, you would not make that statement unless you "trust in His holy name."
I don’t think that we fathom the gravity and the magnitude of the decision that these men were making. They were taking on the most formidable power in the world!! England held much reign in the world at large! She was master of the seas and a group of somewhat connected colonies were going to sever their allegiance.
Listen beloved, the nation that Trust’s in the Holy Name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is the nation that can rest in confidence! No matter what the attack, no matter what the circumstances, the providential and protecting hand of God brings to us an internal peace that is beyond what the world can understand.
I commented last Sunday on the fact that the United States of America is the longest lasting form of government in the modern world today. That we are the only country that doesn’t have a major political upheaval very 20 to 25 years! WHY???
Because the reliance of this nation in the last 175 years upon the God of the Bible has provided us with peace in our land.
You say, but Pastor Ken, we have been through the Civil War, two world wars, the Korean Conflict, Vietnam and now Iraq...
Indeed we have, but you are missing the point beloved. As long as there are nations that do not pursue the true and living God of the Bible, there will be turmoil, struggle and war in the world.
The Civil War, in my estimation was Satan’s attempt to destroy what had begun right. And ever since that war, we have fought together, with a united front and a common purpose. We have weathered incredible internal struggle as a nation and come out on the other side stronger and better for it.
The Peace that the Hindu man was praying to who knows what for, is a peace that will not come. World peace is not possible!!
WHY?? Because until the world bends the knee to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, there can be and will be no peace!!
The Bible is clear, very clear beloved, over and over! It is so clearly summed up by Isaiah the prophet and Jeremiah the prophet who both record numerous times, almost identically,
Isa 48:22 "There is no peace for the wicked," says the LORD.
Think of the struggles that our nation has weathered without falling apart... When you consider it, it is staggering. And yet, when you think of it in light of the truth of the God, you can easily see that it has been His providential hand.
The same is true in our lives beloved. Where there is unity in the spirit, there is peace in the body, whether that be in the home, the church, or even a Christian business. But where the unity of the Spirit of God is broken, where one or more individuals do not believe in God, subscribe to His purposes, you can know that there MUST necessarily be turmoil, conflict and problem!
Do you understand then more clearly why Paul call’s upon us in 2 Cor 6:14
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
A Christian should not go into business with a non-Christian! A Christian should not marry a non-Christian. These things should not happen, and if we choose to break God’s law concerning them, we will indeed pay the price.
I am leery beloved of the day when the world is saying peace and safety, peace and safety.... For I read in 1 Th 5:2-3
For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. {3} While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
Listen dear friends.... do you want peace in your life? Peace in your family. Understand this then. If one of them is not saved, then there WILL NOT be peace because God has said that there is no peace for the wicked and that means there is no peace for the believer in relationship to the wicked.
Do you understand then again, just why, and how important it is for us to be involved daily in seeking to evangelize the lost!!!
Whether that be family members, friends, or coworkers!! We need to reach people with the gospel for it is only through accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior that they will experience and achieve true peace.
But there is one last verse here today... Look back at your text.
{22} Let Thy lovingkind-ness, O LORD, be upon us, According as we have hoped in Thee.
Listen friends, when we cry out to God, when we make Him and integral part of our personal, community and national life, we can expect that as we cry out to Him that He will hear us and protect us.
When we are "waiting" on Him, when the very fiber of our nation revolves around Him, we can indeed expect His provision and we can hope in Him!!
The hope of being One Nation Under God, is the hope that God will be our Help and Shield, just as vs 20 says.
O dear friends, who wouldn’t want the peace and loving kindness of God to rest upon us?
And can’t imagine that anyone would NOT want that, and yet in our world today that is exactly what we are seeing!!!
I say to you today, with the weight and witness of the History of this nation that indeed the Loving Kindness of God has been upon us!! It is so abundantly clear that no one can ignore it. That is why there is such a concerted effort to eradicate the truth of the Faith of Our Fathers from the historical record today.
There is an open hostility to God, to the Bible and to true Christianity today, and it is growing.
But beloved, we you look back at this last verse and notice something with me....
{22} Let Thy lovingkind-ness, O LORD, be upon us, According as we have hoped in Thee.
Did you catch it? According as we have hoped in Thee
Do you see the conditional that is noted here.... let me read the verse again...
{22} Let Thy lovingkind-ness, O LORD, be upon us, According as we have hoped in Thee.
: The provision for which we ask, are 100% dependent upon our actions : Let me say that again
O dear friends.... what is it that we are asking... what is it that they psalmist is saying.
It is abundantly clear, but it is also something that we could too easily read past, and totally miss!!
The extent to which the loving kindness of the Lord, the Providential hand of protection, the manifestation of the material blessing at the behest of his hand, are directly proportional to the level to which we have hoped in Him!!!
His blessing upon us, comes in direct proportion to our faith and reliance upon Him!!
I am not trying to confuse faith and works here! This is sheer Biblical truth. There is nothing that we can do to merit the blessing of God, nothing we can do to deserve His forgiveness, much less His love. But What I am saying here beloved, is that the Psalmist dare not ask God to bless them unless they were trusting in Him!!!
I told Penny, that I am increasingly uncomfortable with the phrase "God Bless America" I don’t know that I can speak that in good conscience when it is so clear that America is so Godless!! Sadly this is again so graphically represented to us in the events of July 12, 2007 when Chaplain Rajan Zed opened the senate with prayer.
I was appalled to read Senator Reid’s comments concerning this prayer, he said.
I think it speaks well of our country that someone representing the faith of about a billion people comes here and can speak in communication with our heavenly Father regarding peace," said Reid, a Mormon and sharp critic of President Bush's Iraq policies.
Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Am United for Separation of Church and State, wrote of this recent prayer event with Congress
"shows the intolerance of many religious right activists. They say they want more religion in the public square, but it's clear they mean only their religion."3
He’s exactly right!! I ONLY MEAN THOSE WHO HOLD TO TRUE BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY!
That’s exactly what our founding fathers would say!! Isn’t that exactly what I read to you in numerous state constitutions last week!! That those who hold office have to be true Biblical Christians and that only Christians could serve as leaders in our nation?
It is not Christians who are the threat to this nation, in FACT.... it is we who gave this nation it’s birth, its heart, yea, I dare even say it’s very soul....
It is not the foundational truths of Christianity in which the heart and soul of TRUE freedom and True Liberty reside, that is the threat to this nation, but rather those who would usurp our freedom, and selectively exclude us from the public arena.
It is men like the heretic above, Mr. Lynn, I refuse to call him a minister, who are the threat to our nation and who, if we allow them, WILL bring our nation to destruction!!
Listen beloved...
In 1857 the British historian, Clarence E. Macartney, wrote these words to an American friend, "Your Republic will be as fearfully plundered and laid waste by barbarians in the twentieth century as the Roman Empire was in the fifth, with this difference, that the Huns and Vandals who ravaged the Roman Empire came from without, and that your Huns and Vandals will have been engendered within your own country by your own institutions."
Does that make you quiver....
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Like the Children of Israel, whose freedom was purchased at a great price, but so many years ago that the nation had forgotten, likewise, I fear we may be in that same boat....
Let me close with a quote from Thomas Paine
"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands now, deserves the thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated."4/5
One Nation Under God beloved.. .That is what we were
That is what I pray we can be again
There is an unlimited, undefeatable POWER in being One Nation Under God
There is no Wisdom wiser than being One Nation Under God
There is no Protection more secure than that which comes to the nation that is OnE Nation Under God
And there is no Peace hear me... NO PEACE to any nation that isn’t One Nation Under God!!
Pray for our nation.
Live your own personal life as "One person Under God." Know what you believe and stand for what you believe, and in every venue possible, take a stand to call us back to being "One Nation Under God"
Let Us Pray...
