Blessed Is The Nation

The following is the transcript of the last part of my sermon on July 4, 2010 called "Blessed Is The Nation." We have forsaken the godly heritage upon which America was built. We have not had a major movement of God in generations. We have traded the worship of God for the worship of false gods.

We have kept God out of our children’s lives. What was once freedom of worship has now become freedom from worship.

Environmentalism is the new civic religion. It’s as if Romans 1:25 was meant specifically for us: "For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator."

When we as a nation exchange God for false idols, God removes His hand of blessing and protection from us. This has led to extensive drug abuse, the deterioration of the family, and widespread dysfunctional behavior. In short, God has given our nation over to depraved minds. "And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper."

We have fallen so far that we have now elected leaders who are causing the largest expansion of government power in history. We have reason to worry about their disregard for limits on the power of government.

While we know that the Constitution was written to ensure that our federal government is one of limited, separated powers, with the states keeping every right not explicitly delineated in the Constitution, we fail to insist on it being a present reality. As a result, the individual rights that our nation should reserve and protect—rights that God, not our government, has granted—have been reduced to shell of their former existences.

We've stood by and watched as "the President and Congress have purchased ownership shares in banks, nationalized car companies, seized control of the student loan industry, taken over large sectors of our nation's health care system, and burdened generations of Americans with crippling debt" (quote from Senator Jeff Sessions).

And today, without even knowing it, we stand at the brink of a total government takeover of all of our freedoms—producing the net effect of Communism, Nazi Germany, or despotic Third World regimes—only we’re accomplishing the same result through elections.

What Benjamin Franklin saw as a possibility, we’re seeing in reality; because he wrote, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

So what can we do?

(1) Take advantage of your right to vote, while there is still time. If anything, the most important time to vote is during the primaries. If your voice is not heard then, you may later likely end up voting for the lesser of two evils.

(2) Re-establish in your heart the eternal principles that made America great.

We believe in America and we love America because of what America once stood for: Justice, individual freedoms, religious liberty, opportunity, possibility, and a hundred other eternal principles. Our devotion is to those principles.

We must always be ready to communicate to the powers that govern us our right to be self-governing. Our Founding Fathers once cast off a tyrannical government and formed one that honored God and preserved individual rights. We’re drawing closer to the time when it may be necessary to follow their example.

It was Benjamin Franklin who said, “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” It is not that we should act aggressively and declare war against a government that mistreats us and takes away our freedoms—to do so would not be in the spirit of Christ. Rather, it is that we reserve the right to declare and form a sovereign government of our own choosing for the betterment of our people and the glory of God, and we reserve the right to defend ourselves from a government that seeks to take away our right to be self-governing.

Not only must we never forget the words that were written exactly 234 years ago, but we must be ready to act upon them again: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness....

“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....”

Never forget that a people not free to govern themselves are not free.

Hopefully, such drastic measures will not have to be taken. Hopefully, there is still the time, ability, and desire in the hearts of the people to return this nation to its roots.

(3) Regardless of what may happen in the future and above all else, we must return our hearts to the Lord.

Whether we are citizens of a government that is of the people, by the people, and for the people, or whether we are subjects of a government that is at the people, on the people, and against the people, we must always remember that our true allegiance is to the Lord.

“If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, of if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:13-14).

Out of our allegiance to the Lord, we must always remember and act upon our responsibility to pray for our leaders. "First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity." (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

In closing, may we never forget the words of George Washington, our greatest president, who, fittingly, in his farewell address, said, “Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”